Posts tagged Progressive Rock
Rock Star Birthday Blurbs – Roger Waters
Sep 6th
I know I’ve shared this with you in the past, but I went to see Roger Waters four summers ago at the venue formerly known as Great Woods Center For The Performing Arts in Mansfield, MA. The date was September 8, 2006. It was the tour that Roger Waters was playing the entire Dark Side of The Moon LP in its entirety. I actually went on a lark as two of my friends had made the concert a priority. I had not. September is usually the time when I start thinking about how much money I blew attending concerts all summer and start dialing it back. In 2006, my friends Mark & Melanie were hell bent on attending this show so I got a single and tagged along. I went onto the Ticketmaster site at 1 PM or so just in case they had released tickets. I plugged in my requirement for a single and up came Section 1, Row F, Seat 3. I figured I was about six rows back and pinned to the right wall. If you’ve ever been to Great Woods you’d probably follow. What I got was a front row seat on the aisle. Sweet.
I wasn’t expecting a heckuva lot that night to be honest. My friend Mark only goes to the most recognizable shows (The Who, ZZ Top, Rolling Stones, etc) and I sometimes blow them off. Sometimes I’ve seen the act too many times. In my case I have half a dozen acts I’ll skip unless a crowd from my circle is going. Some bands I never miss, but those bands usually have new records to tour behind. I get really tired, no matter how much I love the band (I’m talking to you Mick), of watching a great band play the exact same set list every time they tour. They might play 25 songs and 20 of them are the so called “can’t leave ‘em out…somebody might be coming to see us for the very first time.” Fair enough I suppose, but then I reserve the right to blow off shows where the price tag is $150-$450 and the set list is stagnant. The Eagles come to mind. I did go see them last summer, but the concert was FREE or I never would have gone. I love Joe Walsh to death, but the Eagles catalogue can sometimes get a little stale in my opinion. In fairness to that tour, which is always notoriously overpriced, Walsh, Henley and company all mixed in some of their solo hits. I like that. I can only take “Peaceful Easy Feeling” so many times and the expiration date surfaced in 1979 for me.
Where were we? Oh yeah….George Roger Waters was born on this fine day, September 6th, in The Year of Our Lord 1943. On the night in question I was just tagging along, as I said, but what I got, up close and personal, was a big old whale of a concert considering David Gilmour was nowhere in sight. As a jaded concert goer from way, way back; I was impressed. As a result, I’m scheduled to take in Roger Waters performing The Wall on October 1, 2010 and I’m looking forward to it. I never did see Pink Floyd before The Feud broke out, but I did see Pink Floyd on the surprisingly good David Gilmour led Division Bell Tour on May 20, 1994 at Foxboro Stadium. Stadium shows are generally just for the party. You rarely actually see the artists unless you count the five inch figures grinding away on stage about forty yards from the action…no matter how good your seats are. I really enjoyed my one and only Pink Floyd show. If I could put myself in the Way Back machine I would go see a show during The Animals Tour, but I just didn’t get it done at 17. Curses, foiled again…
I took in Roger Waters during the Radio KAOS Tour on Saturday August 22, 1987 at the aforementioned Great Woods venue. That was highly entertaining. My ticket says “comp” on it so maybe I scored a radio station freebie, probably my last, before my non radio career faded to black. If so, it was a good way to go out. Roger Waters apparently became insufferable by the early 80′s so far as David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason were concerned and was basically asked to leave the group he co-founded in 1965. Pink Floyd began as a Psychedelic Rock band led by Crazy Diamond Syd Barrett from roughly 1965 to 1968. Legend has it that Syd indulged in a few too many LSD trips and may have literally fried his talented brain in the process. He had been credited with writing eight of the first 11 tracks Pink Floyd ever released on their 1967 LP Piper at The Gates of Dawn and co-wrote two more. He was the dominant song writer in Pink Floyd until he fell apart.
It was Barrett who coined the band name (Pink Floyd was originally known as The Tea Set until they ran into another band with the same name) by fooling around with two American Blues Singers first names. Pink Anderson and Floyd Council inadvertently contributed to one of the biggest brand names in Rock history. Barrett, however, just couldn’t sustain as his mental health deteriorated. David Gilmour, originally slated to become an additional member to mask the non performing Barrett, essentially wound up replacing him in 1968. Syd Barrett, after releasing two 1970 solo albums, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett respectively, withdrew from the music business and went all Howard Hughes on us. He finally passed away in 2006 due to complications from diabetes and pancreatic cancer after living many years in Cambridge out of the public eye. It has been said that Gilmour made sure that Barrett received all the royalties he was due as the principal song writer in the early days. Sadly, cancer also caught up with keyboardist Richard Wright in 2008 as well. And Then There Were Three…
Pink Floyd took a few records to really gain some traction outside of the UK. They had a seriously psychedelic and esoteric sound that sometimes wasn’t very conducive to commercial radio. The first single “Arnold Layne” and Barrett’s masterpiece “See Emily Play” being the exceptions. There were plenty of long jams; “A Saucerful of Secrets” and “Careful With That Axe Eugene” to name just a couple, but while the critics loved them almost immediately, the record buying public was lagging behind. Once Barrett was thrown clear, Pink Floyd took a while to find its bearings, before exploding in 1971-1979. If they weren’t the biggest band in the world, they were in the discussion. I can’t think of a better brand than Pink Floyd. I’m not saying I inhaled, but anyone who did took an instant liking to the Pink Floyd sound. They just flat out meshed when they released Dark Side of The Moon in 1973. What a monster record. I’ll never forget, as a freshman at North Hunterdon Regional High School in 1975, a full two years after the record was released, listening to that record night and day. I think I heard “Time” on the legendary New York Progressive Rock station WNEW-FM 102.7 (Where Rock Lives) and was just blown away. Yes! No wonder I enjoyed the 2006 Roger Waters show huh? Let’s see, carry the one…that was no less than 33 years after it was released. Forget about the charts and longevity and Classic Rock radio beating the living snot out of Dark Side; it’s still a masterpiece in my book. Groundbreaking as all get out. Wish You Were Here (1975)? And Animals (1977)? Fahgeddaboutit!
OK, I need to wrap thing up…The Wall was released in 1979 and took the world by storm. No exaggeration whatsoever. By this time Roger Waters had practically usurped all song writing authority much to the consternation of the remaining members of Pink Floyd. Richard Wright had been forced out due to his perceived lack of contribution, though he did do that final tour for The Wall. Money problems had hounded the band even after several great records in a row. Bad investments and tax problems had them really depending on The Wall when it was released. It’s been said that Waters’ ego essentially split the band. As royalties were at least partially paid based on song writing credit, Waters was making more money than the others. While they resented it, apparently it was his behaviour that did the band in. Happily, three decades later, the remaining living Pink Floyd members are threatening to play together again. Frankly, Roger Waters’ solo career was a bit of a dud. I bought them all and while there is some great material on 1984′s The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, 1987′s Radio KAOS and 1992′s Amused To Death, none of them reached out of the ordinary sales numbers. David Gilmour’s solo records; 1978′s David Gilmour, 1984′s About Face and 2006′s On An Island fared little better. Pink Floyd, sans Roger Waters, was able to score fairly big with 1987′s Momentary Lapse of Reason and 1994′s Division Bell, but the parting of ways Roger Waters and David Gilmour staged way back when seems a real shame today. Here’s hoping they can put their differences aside and wow us one more time. Happy birthday to Roger Waters. See you next month…
Roger Waters – 5:01 AM (The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking).mp3
Roger Waters – Radio Waves.mp3
Roger Waters – What God Wants – Part I.mp3
Buy or Download Flickering Flame: The Solo Years from Amazon here.
Rock Star Birthday Blurbs – Ian Anderson
Aug 10th
Every now and again I feel like a post is going to go over like a Led Zeppelin, to coin a phrase, and this is one of them. I don’t care. I was “hired” to provide content and dad gum it (I obviously listen to too many Hawk Harrelson White Sox broadcasts on the MLB package), that is what I’m going to do. Today is Ian Scott Anderson’s 63rd birthday. Born on August 10, 1947, Anderson has built an empire by mixing Blues, Progressive Rock, Folk, Jazz and some traditional sounds to form a sound no one else has. When you are trying to establish territory in the world of Rock music, the best thing you can do is sound like nobody else…ever. Mission accomplished. Love ‘em or hate ‘em (I think you know where I stand), Jethro Tull has been an institution for some 42 years. Who else could be identified with a mere silhouette to begin the post? Ten, fifteen musicians max? Excepting the blaring headline “Rock Star Birthday Blurbs – Ian Anderson,” even folks who don’t care for Jethro Tull’s music would easily be able to identify the artwork. No words needed. Just black and white. If you are interested in building a rock brand see Anderson, Ian. My friend Mark always asks me to name five rock bands that feature the flute and I always kind of struggle to name bands he might know. The Moody Blues? Horslips? Focus? I give up almost immediately. If I dig deep with the help of the Internet I can now locate Genesis, The Guess Who, King Crimson and The Marshall Tucker Band.
If you have even a modicum of affinity for the music of JT and all you know is Aqualung, Bungle in The Jungle, Locomotive Breath, Living in The Past and the other half dozen tracks still getting Classic Rock airplay, I feel sorry for you. I’ve been a Jethro Tull fan since maybe 1972. Twelve years old. That’s a fair assessment. FM radio, with their new found Progressive formats, incorporated Jethro Tull in the early 70′s like it was going out of style. By the time Benefit, released in 1970, was released, Jethro Tull, the English Rock group with the Scottish lead singer, were already famous. I was watching The Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus the other day for fun and the first band out of the chute is none other than Jethro Tull. That might sound like warm up act material to you, but on the bill were The Who, Taj Mahal, The Dirty Mac, Marianne Faithful (I think she was sleeping with someone we all know at that time), Yoko Ono and you know who. They did a killer rendition of “Song For Jeffrey,” which appeared on This Was as well as opening up 1972′s Living in The Past. This was December 1968. You can bet Mick, Keith, Pete and the rest had respect for this fledgling band back then.
Look, I get that Tull is a polarizing act. I was giving this girl a ride home not six weeks ago and had War Child in my CD player. “The Third Hoorah” to be exact. This woman is sizzling hot and a yoga instructor. Way out of my league. And also twenty years, at least, younger than I am. I didn’t have the thing blasting or even loud, but she felt the need to complain about the music even as I was saving her ten miles worth of cab fare just the same. She asked me who it was and when I told her she said she just could never get into Jethro Tull. At least she knew who they were. I put on the local crappy R&B station after calling her high maintenance for fun. She’s a sweetheart of a woman, but Tull is out of the question apparently. That’s OK, I don’t need anyone to listen to it with me. I’ve been doing it for coming up on 40 years now. I love seeing the other die hard fans at the shows each year and my friend Jefferson, probably the only other Tull fan of any consequence I know, went to the show earlier this summer. We saw WZLX’s Carter Alan there and had a few laughs with him knowing him from our days as glorified gophers at WBCN, The Rock of Boston. Carter, at least, still likes Jethro Tull too. Tull fans are like a dinosaur cult slowly going extinct, probably because we never have sex (kidding!) like The Shakers. And I can’t even make any furniture and Ken Burns isn’t interested in doing a documentary on us. Shocking.
For those of you interested in learning more about the Tull catalogue the sleepers are Benefit (1970), Living in The Past (1972), Minstrel in The Gallery (1975), Songs From The Wood (1977), Heavy Horses (1978) and Crest of a Knave (1987). Excepting the Classic Rock format, FM radio hasn’t played current Jethro Tull since Songs From The Wood came out in 1977. I remember “Songs From The Wood, Cup of Wonder and The Whistler” getting cursory airplay back in the 70′s, but since then? 1980′s A had “Crossfire” (definitely not to be confused with the Stevie Ray Vaughan classic), 1982′s Broadsword and The Beast had the underrated “Hard Times,” 1984′s Under Wraps had “Lap of Luxury” and 1987′s Crest of a Knave had “Farm On The Freeway,” but Tull’s music had faded to black on the airways. If you listen to Classic Rock radio and you didn’t much care for them before, I can’t imagine your hatred for them now. I remember my friend Jefferson and I went out to the venerable Worcester Centrum on November 21, 1987, taking advantage of our dubious radio contacts, and got backstage to meet Ian. He couldn’t talk due to vocal problems, but we got him to sign our CDs and chatted with ZZ Top, if I have my facts straight, whom I believe were sharing the bill with them that night. A blip on the radar screen of my concert going life, but it’s still fun to look at my Crest of a Knave CD with “Hello John!, Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull” scribbled on it. It sees the light of day once every five years now that the CD is digitized, but it’ll take it’s place next to the other half dozen luminaries I suckered into signing a CD cover for me. Anyway…
My stories always make my posts run long and this was supposed to be about Ian Anderson so here goes…Ian Anderson stumbled on the Rock & Roll life while working as a sales person in a department store in the Blackpool section of England. He was reading Melody Maker and the New Musical Express and decided the Rock life might be fun. He started a band called The Blades and tried his hand at lead guitar. He quickly gave up that aspiration once he heard Eric Clapton play, but he took up the flute and mastered it rather quickly. Apparently he had been playing for only a few months before the tracks for Jethro Tull’s debut album, This Was, were laid down in 1968. Ian is a salmon farmer and has survived a bout with Deep Vein Thrombosis, a disease which he does Public Service Announcements for.
Jethro Tull still releases records every couple of years although they’ve been kind of quiet the last few years since releasing a fantastic Christmas Album in 2003. I hear there is something on the horizon, but Ian Anderson and Martin Barre will doubtless solider on until they feel like quitting. Judging from the performance I saw a couple of months back, I don’t think that will be anytime soon. Happy Birthday Ian from The Giant Panther. I’m posting a couple of my favorites for fun.
Jethro Tull – Up The ‘Pool.mp3
Jethro Tull – Nothing To Say.mp3
Buy or Download The Best of Jethro Tull from Amazon here.
My Insipid Record Collection – Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Aug 7th
I was listening to the Genesis epic classic “Supper’s Ready” at the gym this morning and I starting thinking about posting something from my Prog collection. I decided today was ELP day. Hope you don’t mind. My first exposure to Emerson, Lake & Palmer was probably somewhere around 1971 when I heard “Lucky Man” on the radio. Today, ”Lucky Man” sounds a bit quaint and outdated, but it remains a beautiful song as far as I’m concerned. I remember my friend Jim’s brother used it at his wedding. This was not uncommon in the 70′s. I’m not sure if “Lucky Man” actually hurt the careers of ELP, but it did pigeonhole them a bit. That first record, 1970′s Emerson, Lake & Palmer, had some stellar tracks on it. “Take a Pebble” was absolutely one. “Knife Edge” was probably my personal favorite, but it was “Lucky Man” that carried the day for that first voyage. The rumor mill suggests that “Lucky Man,” allegedly written by Greg Lake at ripe old age of 12, was a throwaway track considered filler at the time. Apparently the record company requested they add it. Neither Emerson nor Palmer thought very much of it the story goes. Wonder what they think of it today all those dollars later? Just curious…
I remember being in the sixth grade, somewhere around 1973, when my music teacher (do they still have those?) brought in a copy of ELP’s 1971 LP Pictures of An Exhibition. Teachers, like Mrs Pritchard (I don’t even recall her first name because we always called her “Mrs” and it was 37 years ago), could get behind ELP because they were classically trained musicians. Pictures at An Exhibition was an interpretation of work originally done by Modest Mussorgsky, a Russian composer in the 1800′s. As a 13 year old kid I didn’t know squat about ELP or Mussorgsky, but if my teacher liked it there’s a pretty good chance it wasn’t very cool. It didn’t seem half bad to me really, but I wasn’t rushing out to find my own copy that’s for sure. It was about that time that Emerson, Lake & Palmer released Brain Salad Surgery complete with it’s interesting cover and design. It was the first time I actually made the connection between Classical Music (not one of my favorite genres) and ELP’s work. When I see the words “Movement, Arrangement, Suite and Impression” I usually start sprinting in the other direction. Now I was interested.
ELP, according to our friends at Wikipedia, sold over 40 Million records worldwide. That’s a lot of records. They were considered something of a Supergroup back in the day because Keith Emerson was playing keyboards in a band called The Nice, Greg Lake was the bassist in the legendary King Crimson and Carl Palmer was drumming for a band called Atomic Rooster. I know I have mentioned that I bought more than the occasional album over the years strictly because the artwork intrigued me. Well, Atomic Rooster became one of those bands in 80′s. A CD called Home To Roost, which apparently was first released in 1977, was one of those records. I had no idea, none, that Carl Palmer was involved with this band when I grabbed the CD out of our used CD bin back when I managed a compact disc store in 1987. I just liked the artwork on the cover. I only found out about it today when I started looking into ELP’s background for this post! Now I have to listen to the CD again to see if I can actually make out Palmer’s drumming. Know what? When I went to look into Atomic Rooster’s background I found out they were predominantly made up of ex-Crazy World of Arthur Brown members. I could not get enough of TCWAB’s 1968 hit single “Fire” when I was a kid. I think I still have that 45 RPM around here somewhere. Small world huh? I know It’s Only Rock & Roll, but I Like It as someone once said.
Brain Salad Surgery was released in November of 1973 and Emerson, Lake & Palmer were instantly international superstars. The album only contained five tracks, but the last one, Karn Evil 9, had several impressions. Radio stations knew it was good, but they had to locate the shortest numbers to fit their formats. “Still…You Turn Me On” was perfect. Two minutes and forty three seconds of I love my girlfriend. Sold. ELP’s other relatively famous track from Brain Salad Surgery would be Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Part II. It contained the “Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends” phrase and it was short enough to play on the radio at 4:46. “Jerusalem” also got some light airplay, but the record sold like hotcakes. The curious thing about Brain Salad Surgery, as good as it was, is that 1972′s Trilogy might well have been Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s finest moment. Trilogy had “From The Beginning” and several other classic ELP tracks. I’m guessing it didn’t sell nearly as well as Brain Salad Surgery though. Including their second record, 1971′s Tarkus, ELP had released their core studio records by the end of 1973. They went on an ostentatious world tour and released and unheard of triple album in 1974 called Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends…Ladies and Gentlemen to commemorate the event, but ELP as we knew them were officially running on fumes. The Moog Synthesizer and the Hammond Organ seemed to be running out of ideas by 1975. Works Volumes I & II, released in 1977, had their moments, but by and large the changing landscape of Rock had passed them by. It was Clash, not Classical any longer.
I have one or two friends that still swear by classic Emerson, Lake & Palmer and for that I am grateful because I find myself still attached to the bands of my youth on more than one occasion. I look around and most folks my age have long since stopped rocking and I feel like the only idiot alive that loves the history of Rock & Roll as much as I do in my age group. Bleep ‘em. I got to shake Warren Haynes’ hand on Thursday, took in Interpol that night and saw Gov’t Mule at point blank range last night. I don’t care if I’m The Last Man Standing, as Jerry Lee Lewis might say, I’ll be rocking myself to the grave. OK, enough babbling. I’m leaving you with three of my favorite ELP tracks, but I wish it could be more.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Karn Evil 9 1st Impression – Part I.mp3
Emerson, Lake & Palmer – The Sheriff.mp3
Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Knife Edge.mp3
Buy or Download Come & See The Show: The Best of ELP from Amazon here.
Rock Star Birthday Blurbs – Geddy Lee
Jul 29th
Rush are a very polarizing band for some reason. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I’m guessing it has something to do with the sound of Geddy Lee’s voice. It can get shrill at times I suppose, but for some reason it has never bothered me. The good news is Rush doesn’t need everyone to love them. They long ago rose above the discussion as to whether or not they had talent or had anything worth listening to. Not only are they unreal musicians, but they have been making great records for approaching 40 years now. There aren’t many bands over the long haul that cannot be stopped no matter how hard you try to contain them. The Grateful Dead could be considered one. Santana might be another. Yes is in that discussion as well. I’m talking about bands that, for the most part, have been around for 25 years or more and have maybe a handful of hits that anyone on the street can actually recite. Then there are the other 25-30 albums in their respective catalogues that their diehard fans keep buying even though their last hit on the radio was in 1987. That’s when you know a band has a serious following.
I know I’ve mentioned this in previous posts, but my very first Rock concert took place in 1977 at The Tower Theatre in Philadelphia. I just found the ticket stub taped to my copy of 2112! March 11, 1977. I love ticket stubs. How the hell am I supposed to remember what happened on what date decades ago? Now I don’t have to. March 15th is my birthday so I was four days shy of my 17th birthday when my four buddies and I crawled into the back of a baby blue VW Beetle owned by an older brother of a friend of ours for the hour drive to Philadelphia from North Jersey. I don’t recall if my mother actually gave me permission to go, but I do remember pulling it off without incident. I remember falling asleep at the concert during the warm up act as a result of too many party favors, but I’m sure Max Webster and Cheap Trick were fantastic.
I had owned Rush’s 1976 LP 2112 for several months by then and they were still touring behind it. I think their next brilliant LP, A Farewell To Kings, was not due until September of 1977 so I don’t recall if I heard “Closer To The Heart” or what, but it didn’t matter at the time. I wanted to see drummer Neil Peart fire those drums sticks twenty feet into the air during “Temples of Syrinx.” That is what I came for. Naturally he didn’t disappoint. I had no idea the guy would go onto creep into the discussion of who the greatest drummers in the history of Rock. I just knew 2112 was a great record and I wanted to see them perform it live. Even at 16 I was a Rush fan.
As I have gotten older I have come to recognize the bands that critics love to bash, that became associated with Beavis & Butthead, that people look at you 30 years later and say “you still listening to those guys?” and that would seem, on paper, to have a dwindling audience as their core fan base ages. The funniest thing about doubting what you like is that these very same bands; Kiss, AC/DC, Rush, etc are all the ones that are able to withstand awful touring seasons and no record sales. They just keep on doing their thing, their fans still love ‘em and sell their shows out and the world keeps turning. Love ‘em or hate ‘em they aren’t going anywhere. I love that about Rock & Roll. The fad band of the day is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but three to five years on, with no real body of work to point to, they fade from the scene. Were they great? Probably, but real staying power in this business takes more than two or three decent CDs. Touring is very hard work, but you have to be good too. And not just in your own mind or amongst your fan base. It’s so easy to fold your tent these days without record sales to validate what you are doing. I get that completely, but there is a reason why bands like Rush and AC/DC have endured. You may not like their genre or sound, but you have to tip your cap to them. They carved out their respective markets and locked them down. They deliver the goods. Rush is definitely one of those bands. There is nobody that even remotely sounds like them.
Gary Lee Weinrib, better known as Geddy Lee, was born on July 29, 1953. He is the lead vocalist and bass player in the three man powerhouse band Rush. He has been in the band since 1968. Alex Lifeson, the lead guitarist in Rush, had asked him to join after original bassist Jeff Jones left the band. I didn’t know Jeff Jones was in the gospel band Ocean, famous for the 1971 song “Put Your Hand in The Hand.” I’m sure I had a copy of that 45 rpm at one point or another. He also went on the play in Red Rider with Tom Cochrane. You may remember Red Rider for the killer 1981 single “Lunatic Fringe.” Interesting no? See what you learn researching for these posts? Drumming God & lyricist Neil Peart didn’t join Rush until 1974, but the trio has been in place ever since. 20 albums later they are Rock & Roll Hall of Fame candidates. It would a complete shock if they didn’t eventually kick that door down. They are, of course, in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. They are, by any standard of measure, superior musicians.
Their litany of fantastic singles is a long one; “Working Man, Fly By Night, Closer To The Heart, Circumstances, The Spirit of Radio, 2112/The Temples of Syrinx, Freewill, Limelight, Tom Sawyer, Distant Early Warning, Subdivisions, Time Stand Still, New World Man, Vital Signs, Bastille Day, Lakeside Park, In The Mood, You Bet Your Life, Nobody’s Hero, Cinderella Man, Anthem and I Think I’m Going Bald” just to name a few off the top of my head. People love ‘em or they want no part of them. That’s too bad because they are fantastic in concert. I’m going to see them perform Moving Pictures live this fall and I’m really looking forward to it. They are a synthesizer based Progressive Rock band, but they have always been musician’s musicians. Rush rocks, period. End of story. I just felt like it was important to wish Geddy Lee a Happy and Healthy 57th birthday today. I hope their forthcoming record, tentatively called Clockwork Angels and scheduled to be released in 2011, will on a par with some of their very best.
Rush – Distant Early Warning.mp3
Buy or download Rush’s Greatest Hits from Amazon here.
My Insipid Record Collection – Golden Earring
Jul 10th
On of my favorite albums when I was a kid was Golden Earring’s 1973 LP Moontan. It only had five songs on it, but one of them was the legendary “Radar Love.” A 13 year old kid in the United States, New Jersey no less, is clueless about where a particular band might hang its hat. Now that the adult John knows where Amsterdam is, The Netherlands has some appeal. Back then I didn’t know anything about being Dutch other than they seemed to have funny shoes and there seemed to be a lot of windmills in their pictures. I later found out they also brew a mean beer, but all that stuff didn’t matter to me back in 1973. I had to have the album that had “Radar Love” on it. I didn’t see Moontan as Progressive Rock, but then again I don’t see a lot of music as necessarily Progressive Rock. I’m a little slow there. I just looked at “Radar Love” as an iconic rock song along the lines of Free’s “All Right Now.” It was a must own once upon a time. Ironically, the Dutch band Focus also had a big hit around this time called “Hocus Pocus” complete with yodeling. Other Dutch acts such as The Outsiders (who had a 60′s Garage hit with “Time Won’t Let Me”) and The Shocking Blue (who rocked our world with the 1970 classic “Venus”) made some noise, but that was basically it. So much for the Dutch Invasion huh?
Moontan is a very cool record. Yeah I know you’ve heard “Radar Love” so many times it’s making you sick, but that’s not really Golden Earring’s fault. The song I have come to like the most is “Candy’s Going Bad,” but “Vanilla Queen” is outstanding as well. I will remind you again that back in the early 70′s, when you bought an LP, you usually played the whole thing on the order of 50 times before you decided if it was worth its salt. I’m not kidding. Every song. Moontan passed that test decades ago. The two songs I haven’t mentioned, “Are You Receiving Me?” and “Big Tree, Blue Sea” are also great tracks. I didn’t bat an eye playing side two of the LP even thought it just had these two songs on it. By definition, the extended length of a given track sort of lends itself to be thought of as a “composition” which roughly translates into “Progressive” where Rock is concerned. I suppose I can live with that. Everyone knows radio friendly music is normally much shorter than seven minutes, but the emergence of FM radio back then allowed for longer tracks. Truthfully the DJs needed to fill time and often needed songs long enough to tolerate bathroom breaks. Frequently late night talent would be lucky if there was an engineer on the premises in those days. Long songs had a place on the FM dial. Not so much anymore.
There isn’t a lot more to say about this record. I don’t have any little known tidbits, but in the larger scheme of things I was astounded to find out that Golden Earring has some 24 studio albums and one scheduled to be released later this year. I believe Moontan was their first release in the United States and it came with a different LP jacket. Apparently the one above was a bit too racy for 1973. I didn’t know any different, but it’s interesting to learn today. I know they had to take a hatchet to “Radar Love” in order to make it radio friendly. I don’t recall how much time was chopped off, but the long version released on Moontan was around 6:25. I know the version they played on U.S. radio was shorter than that. It probably had no drum solo. I just found out there was no “Big Tree, Blue Sea” on the Dutch version and it had two other tracks called “Suzy Lunacy” and “Just Like Vince Taylor.” Fun facts. I should track down those two tracks sometime soon. I’ll bet they’re pretty good. These guys were on a roll.
The unfortunate truth about Golden Earring in the United States is that aside from the 1982 single “Twilight Zone,” which can be found on their album Cut, Golden Earring failed to take over the world. In The Netherlands this band is understandably legend, but much like the band Status Quo in England, Golden Earring remained mostly a territorial phenomenon. Sadly, Moontan is the only Golden Earring record I own, but that doesn’t diminish the ardor I have for this record. If you are of a certain age you may want to download these five songs and turn on the Way Back Machine. They Don’t Write ‘Em Like That Anymore as someone once said. I’m purposely not posting “Radar Love” so you can get the most bang out of this post. Thanks for reading.
Golden Earring – Candy’s Going Bad.mp3
Golden Earring – Vanilla Queen.mp3
Golden Earring – Big Tree, Blue Sea.mp3
Buy or download Moontan from Amazon here.
Guilty Pleasures – Supertramp
Apr 18th
If you are like me, you don’t care if you ever hear “The Logical Song” or “Breakfast in America” ever again. Thanks to the ridiculously tight formats of so called Classic Rock radio, some bands that have a very nice catalogue are looked upon as two or three hits wonders by the masses. I believe Supertramp to be one of them. Few bands can point to four consecutive quality records like Crime of The Century (1974), Crisis? What Crisis? (1975), Even in the Quietest Moments (1977) and Breakfast in America (1979). Breakfast in America, easily the weakest of this foursome, was their biggest selling record ever and hit number one in the U.S. You can go ahead and add “Goodbye Stranger” and “Take The Long Way Home” to your list of songs from that record crushed by too much radio exposure. It’s really no disgrace to be honest, but it takes away from the great music Supertramp recorded decades ago because, as the suits never quite understood, that kind of thing turns people off to both the band and the radio station. I don’t care what their “market research” says.
The 70′s were a very experimental time. Supertramp’s first two records would probably never fly today. They were progressive, spacey and uneven, but you could just feel them developing nicely. Largely a cult band prior to 1974, it doesn’t seem likely anyone could have seen what was about to transpire. I need to be honest here and tell you I bought Supertramp (1970) and Indelibly Stamped (1971) long after I bought my very first Supertramp album; Crisis? What Crisis? in 1976. I know I have mentioned in the past buying, or more accurately choosing, this record as a birthday gift from a childhood buddy. We were both in a record store, somewhere in Chester, NJ, when my friend John offered to buy me any record I wanted for my birthday. Albums were only $3.99 in those days, but it was still a ton of dough for a teenage kid cutting lawns for a living. I told my friend I wanted this Supertramp album (image above). I didn’t tell him I didn’t know a note on the record and really didn’t know a thing about the band. Crime of The Century had been out for at least a year by then, but I didn’t know anything by Supertramp. I knew I liked the name and I knew I loved the cover of Crisis? What Crisis? I had no idea how great a choice it was at the time. Thank you John. I couldn’t have been more than 16 years old, but I as already a big fan of rock album artwork.
Crisis? What Crisis? has no Supertramp “hits” on it. I still think, some 35 years later, that this record is tremendous. I must have played this thing end to end a thousand times. I just love “Sister Moonshine” and “Lady,” but there isn’t a bad track on this release. It was only then that I went back and purchased Crime of The Century and found out about “School into Bloody Well Right” and Supertramp’s other overplayed track in “Dreamer.” Still, this record, with “Rudy” and “Asylum” is heavenly. When Even in The Quietest Moments was released in April of 1977 I had high hopes. ”Give a Little Bit” hit the airwaves and I thought; “hey, not bad.” I went out and bought the record. Many Supertramp fans will quibble about which of their records is the best. That’s a good thing. You heard what I had to say about Crisis? What Crisis? My vote goes to Even in The Quietest Moments. What a great record. You could argue that each record was better than the last right up until this time. I don’t have any problem with Breakfast in America as a rule, but it was definitely a half step back from Even in The Quietest Moments as far as I’m concerned.
I just love the cover of this record as well. I’m going to find a poster and have it framed some day when I have money to burn. I don’t play piano, but I’ve always had a soft spot for great piano rockers like Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Elton John and Billy Joel. There, I said it. Sue me. Guilty as charged. Even in the Quietest Moments is hard to describe for me. Tracks like “From Now On, Babaji, Loverboy and Fool’s Overture” are just masterpieces in my humble opinion. I pick this record up at least once a year for a complete listen. Like I’ve stated before, that may not sound like much to you, but I’ve got over 5000 choices here. I always come back and give this baby a good listen. There are only 7 tracks, but they are among Supertramp’s finest. I know they burned brightly from 1974-1979 and lost considerable steam, but I don’t mind a bit. It’s better to burn out than it is to rust I guess.
Supertramp was a British Progressive Rock group and one of the very first bands signed to the UK arm of A&M Records. They almost packed it in around 1972, but fortunately they made wholesale personnel changes and soldiered on. Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies found bassist Dougie Thomson, drummer John Siebenberg and saxophonist John Helliwell and off they went. I was a bit young to be trucking into Madison Square Garden to see them in the late 70′s and it’s one of my regrets that I never had the chance to see them perform live. According to our friends at Wikipedia Roger Hodgson doesn’t see a reunion in the cards. So be it. These guys were great musicians even if most people only really know them for Breakfast in America. I hope they are extremely proud of what they did. They should be. There’s never been anybody like them.
Supertramp – Sister Moonshine.mp3
Buy or download Even in The Quietest Moments from Amazon here.
My Insipid Record Collection – Genesis
Mar 6th
They say March either comes in like a lion or a lamb. From the looks of this early March day here in Massachusetts, we’ve got the look and feel of lamb big time. Not too many records revolve around lambs, but I found this chestnut from Peter Gabriel era Genesis to discuss today. I don’t know how many of you are old enough to understand how great early Genesis really was, but I have to give some education here a shot. For those of you who feel like Genesis began with advent of their last decent record, 1981′s Abacab, we have a lot to talk about this afternoon.
I have very little interest in Pop Genesis. I have even less interest in Phil Collins’ solo career. I tried hard to follow Phil through his first two solo records, 1981′s Face Value and 1982′s Hello, I Must Be Going, but after that I bailed in a big way. Each of these records had something of redeeming quality in my opinion. I thought Phil and his Genesis lite solo Face Value record was listenable until radio began abusing “I Missed Again” and “In The Air Tonight.” I still like his version of The Beatle’s classic “Tomorrow Never Knows,” but by and large Face Value is forgettable fluff. No offense Phil. I’ll have more to say positive about the 1976-1980 Phil Collins led Genesis period in a minute. Hello, I Must Be Going had at least one track I loved in “Like China,” but that was cancelled out by the Supreme’s cover “You Can’t Hurry Love.” Look, I’m a huge Diana Ross & The Supreme’s fan myself, I heard “Love Child” in the dentist’s chair not three days ago and was loving it, but there is something about covering the Supreme’s that seems to fail most of the time. The J. Geils Band covered a few of them with less than type results in my opinion. I will say that both Rod Stewart and Vanilla Fudge did fantastic versions of “You Keep Me Hanging On” though. It’s such a great song it’s hard to screw it up, but I’m sure some folks have.
I have to say that I even liked Phil’s 1984 duet with Earth, Wind & Fire’s Philip Bailey called “Easy Lover,” as poppy as it was. But when No Jacket Required surfaced in 1985 I totally lost it. Phil Collins went on to become one of the most successful solo artists of the 80′s, but I wasn’t among the faithful. I was working at WBCN at the height of his popularity and they just crushed that record. I couldn’t stand it. I’m aware he was probably able to retire based on that one record, but songs like “One More Night” and “Take Me Home” went right through me. I remember that track “Against All Odds” from the soundtrack of the movie was the last straw. I guess the women loved that sort of thing, but not me. I had to divorce Phil. The thing is, I had a lot of respect for the way he pulled up Genesis from the crushing loss of then lead singer Peter Gabriel (who went on to have a pretty fair solo career in his own right he said with a trace of sarcasm…Gabriel is and was tremendous). Few folks really know or remember how great the first five post Gabriel Genesis records really were. A Trick of The Tail, Wind & Wuthering, …And Then There Were Three, Duke and Abacab are all fantastic records. Really. They all had just enough of the original sound to be more than credible. My hat is still off to Collins for picking up lead singer duties and releasing such quality in the wake of the loss of Gabriel.
When you talk about Progressive Rock most folks think King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Pink Floyd for the most part. Chances are, most folks that have a copy of, say, 1986′s Invisible Touch do not have a copy of 1971′s Nursery Cryme or 1972′s Foxtrot. That is a crime in my book, but Progressive Rock isn’t for everyone I guess. Even the most diehard Prog Rock fans probably wondered where Genesis was headed with 1969′s From Genesis To Revelation and 1970′s Trespass. These two records definitely forshadowed vintage Genesis, but it wasn’t until Phil Collins came aboard just before Nursery Cryme that Genesis began to really take shape. It might have been a natural progression, to coin a phrase, and Collins just happened to be Philly on the spot, but whatever the case, Genesis definitely had an identity by 1971. I’m no expert on Progressive Rock, but I Know What I Like (in Your Wardrobe).
Long time Genesis fans will probably tell you their sweet spot was from 1971 to 1975. 1973′s Selling England By The Pound is probably the high point of that era, but 1974′s The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is in the discussion. I can remember not really discovering Genesis until many years later. I had heard great songs like “Your Own Special Way” and “Follow You, Follow Me” over the latter part of the 70′s, but I really didn’t own a Genesis record until I got to Emerson College. First, I taped 1980′s Duke off of the radio, but it was two of my close friends who pointed me back in time to earlier Genesis. My friend Richard, whom I roomed with for a couple of years, was a fellow NJ boy who just loved Genesis. He turned me onto the previous eight or nine records because he just would not stop playing them. My friend Jefferson, a native of a suburb of Philadelphia, shared Richard’s zeal for Genesis though I’m not quite sure they were ever really friends at Emerson. Jefferson sort of took over tutoring me on the greatness of Genesis after Richard left town after graduating in 1982. He went on to be a big time Emmy Award winner at ESPN. Jefferson and I became friends in 1979 while sharing a class, but we bonded more over our mutual love of Jethro Tull than Genesis at first. Soon after though, I had it drilled into me that Selling England By The Pound was more than a decent record.
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is a sprawling double record that might well have benefited from some editing. I don’t say this to disparage, but sometimes double LPs can go on a bit long. If they had been released as a single record they can garner accolades that double albums have trouble getting sometimes. If nobody had the patience to sit through a double album back then, today it’s foolhardy to have a CD with more than nine songs on it seems. I saw a feature on Coldplay on 60 Minutes and if I remember correctly Chris Martin’s rule for Coldplay records is no more than nine songs. That kind of stuck with me. If your CD has 14 tracks you can bet folks are almost always least familiar with the last few tracks. Back in the day you played a 20 minute album side and if you had time you flipped the record. You could also go onto to another record entirely. Today you either play single mp3 tracks or lose interest in a CD after half an hour or whatever. The music business faces so many hurdles these days I can’t even cover them in one post.
OK, I’ve reached the 1200 word count in my post. Time to wrap it up. I have no off switch so I try to keep the posts within reason because I know many of them are never read anyway. If you made it this far, thank you. Peter Gabriel led Genesis unraveled for a number of reasons, but suffice to say the usual creative control and perceived lead singer more important than the band issues in addition to personal problems (including divorce) plagued the band around this time. The parting was amicable for the most part. It did seem that the theatrics and costumes started to detract from the music as time went on, but then again those very theatrics and costumes are part of what made Genesis so intriguing. And it should be said, reluctantly, that Genesis, post 1980 and still led by Phil Collins even with all the personnel changes over the years, was the most financially successful version of Genesis. Invisible Touch might have been their highest charting record, but no way was it their best. I’m leaving you with three of my favorites from The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Happy March.
Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.mp3
Genesis – The Carpet Crawlers.mp3
Genesis – The Carpet Crawlers.mp3 YSI
Buy or download The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway from Amazon here.
My Insipid Record Collection – King Crimson
Sep 14th
I don’t know if there is such a thing as the Big Bang Theory, but if one exists for Progressive Rock, I’m of the opinion that it begins with King Crimson’s 1969 debut LP In The Court of The Crimson King. I could be wrong of course, but I feel this record just created an Autobahn for groups like Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Rush, Pink Floyd, Focus, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Rush, Golden Earring, Porcupine Tree, The Mars Volta, Dream Theatre, Be Bop Deluxe, Bigelf, Kansas, Tangerine Dream, Marillion, Pendragon, Camel, The Flower Kings, Spock’s Beard, Hawkwind, Renaissance, The Strawbs, Electric Light Orchestra, The Alan Parsons Project and countless other bands to speed right on into the public consciousness. Obviously some of these bands pre-date King Crimson, but after In The Court of The Crimson King the game had changed. There was no longer any doubt that a market for this stuff existed. I know there will be Pink Floyd backers out there claiming they led the way, but this album was something else entirely. More importantly it actually sold records. That made people pay attention.
Many rock fans have a love-hate relationship with Prog Rock. I’m not one of them. I really enjoy the stuff. I know a lot of folks like to include Jethro Tull in the Prog Rock discussion, but I look at them as more of a Blues band. I love them too, but most people don’t. Prog Rock is very polarizing for some reason. Sometimes I think it’s about having the patience to sit down and take in a long composition, a skill most rock fans don’t seem to have. I love the three minute single too, but sometimes I want to immerse myself in classic records like Genesis’ Selling England By The Pound, Pink Floyd’s Animals, or Rush’s 2112. Jethro Tull’s Thick As A Brick or side three of the great double album Living in The Past are mostly why Jethro Tull has that Prog tag, but Prog Rock to me, is Yes and the 10 tracks that make up Close To The Edge (1972), Tales of Topographic Oceans (1974), and Relayer (1974). Today’s Prog Rock leader is probably Porcupine Tree, but there are several great Prog Rock acts trying to make a name for themselves right now. You just don’t ever hear them on any terrestrial radio station. If I didn’t own a monster collection myself, I’d probably subscribe to a satellite radio station just to find a station that zeroed in on specific genres like Prog Rock.
Robert Fripp, Peter Sinfield, Ian McDonald, Greg Lake and Micheal Giles were the incarnation of King Crimson that started this band and are credited with these five masterful songs. King Crimson has gone through a ton of personnel changes over the years, but the brand still exists and their catalogue is very impressive. I’ve got them all, which is probably over 30 when you consider all the live records they have, but I haven’t followed all of their changes. In The Court of The Crimson King has five songs; “21st Century Schizoid Man, I Talk To The Wind, Epitaph, Moonchild” and the title track. Without intending to aggravate anyone, 21st Century Schizoid Man could very well have been the blueprint for Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man.” They both have a mechanical and robotic feel to them. I’m probably not doing a very good job of conveying that sentiment, but for some reason the two songs feel linked to me for some reason. Hopefully somebody out there will be able to read my mind.
In The Court was released in October of 1969 and shot all the way up to #3 on the British Charts and went Gold in the United States. That is nice and everything, but this record is insanely influential. I think I mentioned in the past that a New York area DJ, the late Alison “The Nightbird” Steele, used to begin her late night radio show on WNEW-FM with King Crimson on an almost nightly basis for many years. In fact, Steele, who passed away in September 1995 at age 58 is not only a member of The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but is also widely revered for championing Progressive Rock music in the 70′s. She had a sultry voice and was playing the music I was most curious about as a teenager. Not only was she female (no small feat in the good ol’ boy male dominated world of radio in those days), but she was pioneering music you never heard during the day. Alison Steele was a consumate entertainer and a trailblazer. I’ll always remember her fondly. She helped make my childhood.
It is said that King Crimson is actually a synonym for Beelzebub, the Prince of Demons, but this album wasn’t really about that. The pageantry of this record is hard to describe. It is essentially three compositions with two soft bridges between them. “I Talk To The Wind” and “Moonchild” are lovely tracks, but the meat and potatoes of this record is “21st Century Schizoid Man, Epitaph and The Court of The Crimson King.” A painter named Barry Godber did the infamous cover although he died shortly after it’s release in 1970. It is one of the very best covers in rock music history from this writer’s point of view. Robert Fripp has been quoted as saying that the cover is the Schizoid Man and the inside jacket is The Crimson King. I just located the actual album I own on Atlantic Records and it’s worth noting that the band made sure to print the lyrics on the inside jacket. That was very rare in those days and I’ve long felt it was crucial for fans like me to actually understand the lyrics. This record isn’t as hard to decipher as say, Mick Jagger’s vocals in “Brown Sugar,” but when you can sit down with your favorite party favor and follow along as the record plays it creates a real bond between band and fan. At least it did for me. I can’t carry a tune, but I love my lyrics…
I don’t have enough superlatives to describe my affinity for this record and what it helped to influence so I’m going to stop blabbering now. I’ve heard this record thousands of times, but I feel like it is in the rare company of personal favorites that I need to go back and listen to in full a couple of times each year. It’s bombastic, it’s religious sounding, it’s ethereal and it’s just plain great. My Wonder Years were so long ago it’s not true, but I literally looked up to this record. Probably because my best friend’s older brothers and sisters loved it, but I swear the thing had mystical powers. It’s like going to church listening to it and I never much cared for church. I realize many of you folks might not appreciate this record the way I do, but I just felt like the ground breaking story of In The Court of The Crimson King needed to be told (again). Thank you very much for reading…
One Track Mind – Marillion
Dec 13th
I’m going to start mixing in some shorter passages next to my notoriously long entries. It will hopefully be a bit more digestible for whatever audience The Giant Panther has created. I’m calling the feature One Track Mind because I’m going to stick to individual cuts in some of my posts. Unfortunately for artists, but great for Apple, we live in an iPod world now that seems to exist solely for singles. I don’t mean singles in the traditional sense as the song they play on the radio. I’m referring to the way we slice and dice only our favorite cuts from each CD or artist. It’s regrettable from my point of view, but as I was making mixed tapes (remember those?) for my mobile entertainment needs for years (think the beach or just about any party where I got to be Mix Master Jay in the 80′s or early 90′s), what’s the difference right? The difference is most of today’s music buyers are not listening to the whole CD. Nine out of ten times that is where the gems are. OK, I promised to keep things on the shorter side…here is a case in point…
I wouldn’t dream of calling myself a Marillion aficionado. I would say I’m very well versed in the Peter Gabriel era Genesis though. I was just reading about Selling England By The Pound today in Classic Rock Magazine at the gym this morning. They run a cool feature called Every Home Should Have One where they feature a CD from days of yore and this Genesis record was this month’s gem. If you don’t own Selling England By The Pound I kind of feel sorry for you, but that is another story. I have been doing a bit of progging lately and came across my copy of Marillion’s Marbles. You will notice I am not even attempting to go down the road of the long standing debate on the lead singing merits of Fish vs Steve Hogarth because I am definitely not qualified to weigh in on that matter. Fish, apparently the Sting of his genre since he had no need of a second name to identify him, left the band after the first four (sometimes) legendary albums beginning in 1983. In fairness, if your given name was Derek Dick you might be in search of alternatives too. That aside the band has more than thrived with Steve Hogarth manning the mike over the years. I want to draw your attention to a cut from 2004′s Marbles called Neverland that I got stuck on the first time I heard it. It’s an opus so strap yourselves in, but in my view it’s worth the ride. It’s got an other worldly cadence and a kind of driving operatic sound to it. Top that off with some voice echo and I’m in a trance. 21st century British Prog Rock at its finest. I was playing this song non stop for about two weeks last month and I’m just getting around to writing about it. I hope you like it. Check out the video on YouTube as well to really get the feel for it. Call them a poor man’s Genesis if you must, but they need make no apologies in my book. I love to mix stuff like this in next to my normal (but widely varied) fare.
