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Although Mary Tyler Moore doesn’t conjure up images of rock and roll for most people, she certainly has inspired it in some.
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For instance, take this cover version of the MTM Show theme song — “Love Is All Around” — covered by the Minneapolis based punk band Husker Du.
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And who could forget the reference to MTM in Weezer’s power pop classic “Buddy Holly?”
I just learned Maggie Roche, of the Roche Sisters, died yesterday after a battle with breast cancer. I’d like to pay tribute to her by resubmitting a SotW article I originally posted on December 4, 2010.
Ignored Obscured Restored
When I got my first career job out of college (1978, ouch!) the first priority I made for my new found “wealth” was to buy a hi-fidelity stereo system. Beside the money I had to set aside for rent, utilities, and a little for food and drinking – EVERYTHING else was squirreled away for that first big purchase. About nine months later I had $750 set aside for a stereo. (That’s the equivalent of about $2,200 in today’s money.)
I went out to the Tech Hi-Fi store on Commonwealth Ave in Boston (near BU) and bought an Onkyo receiver, Dual turntable and a set of Infinity Qb speakers. I loved those speakers and they’re still being put to good use at my cousin’s beach house in Florida.
My roommate Jimmy D had a pair of the same speakers, so we set them up in the four corners of our listening room in a faux “surround sound” setup. I can still remember lying on the floor listening to pure sound of certain vinyl records that we loved.
One of my favorite cuts to listen to this way was “The Hammond Song” by The Roches. Their self titled, 1979 album was beautifully recorded in warm, analog sound. It was produced in “audio verite” by Robert Fripp (King Crimson) which in this context means recorded “as is”, substantially without alteration or addition. The Roches wonderful three part harmonies are the focal point of the recordings. They have minimal instrumentation although Fripp provides a very tasteful guitar solo in the middle of “The Hammond Song.”
The lyrics are a bit obtuse abstruse but seem to tell the story of a woman that plans to visit her boyfriend, told from the point of view of her disapproving family.
If you go down to Hammond
you’ll never come back
In my opinion you’re
on the wrong track
We’ll always love you but
that’s not the point
If you go with that fella
forget about us
As far as I’m concerned
that would be just
throwing yourself away
not even trying
Come on you’re lying to me
The dynamics of the Roche’s vocal harmonies ebb and flow to capture the emotional apprehension of the story.
Enjoy… until next week.
After this was posted one of my readers, Tom V., responded with further commentary that adds more insight into my original post so I’ve included it below.
“I’m a couple weeks behind in my SOW observances, so this one caught me by surprise.
Hearing The Roches for the first time at a party somewhere outside Atlantic City, I thought it was the dawn of a new era in songwriting. The words were so organic and conversational and musical all at the same time. “Mr. Sellack” is inspired. The way they leave syllables hanging, then resolve them in a way that should be bad lyric-writing but turns out to be genius. In subsequent work, even they didn’t live up to what I thought was happening that night.
But to the matter at hand, I’m convinced The Hammond Song is an appeal to a younger sister’s better instincts. She’s not visiting, she’s moving in. Moving away to be with him. She’s about to pass up higher education to follow some fella, (quitting school or not getting her masters, who knows)?
“That would be throwing yourself away, not even trying. Come on, you’re lying to me.”
And the lying part is her sisters knowing she’s bullshitting when she says she “really wasn’t all that excited about school in the first place” and how “there’s lots more opportunities in Hammond than you’d think,” and “he’s got a really terrific opportunity there” and on and on.
It just occurred to me that in some ways they were the musical children of J.D. Salinger.
And you’re right, I love the sound of this recording. Never a big Fripp fan, I love him for bringing us this.
Good one, cuz.”
IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED
A few weeks ago I heard from one of my many second cousins. She remembered that I am a vinyl record collector and wanted to know if I would like the collection that came from the home she grew up in. She even went to the trouble of hand writing out information about each disc (artist, title, label, and even condition!) and sent the list to me.
The collection included several hundred records, many of which were mid to late 60s rock. Everything from The Lovin’ Spoonful to Jimi Hendrix. But the one record I can’t wait to get my hands on is Introducing the Beau Brummels. That’s their Sly Stone produced, 1965 debut that featured their two biggest hits – “Laugh, Laugh” and “Just a Little.”
These are two perfect, British Invasion influenced pop songs. The buying public agreed, pushing “Laugh, Laugh” to #15 and “Just a Little” to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Both songs follow a similar formula – minor key chords, chiming electric guitars, interesting harmonies and prominent use of harmonica (in “Laugh, Laugh”). These all turned out to be hallmarks of the burgeoning folk rock movement led by The Byrds, Mamas and Papas, and others.
Baby boomers might get a chuckle from this Flintstone’s episode where the “Beau Brummelstones” perform “Laugh, Laugh” on Shinrock! (Shindig!) to a lot of groovy dancing.
Salon founder and author David Talbot’s fine modern history of San Francisco, Season of the Witch, contains a playlist of “The Best Songs Recorded by San Francisco Bands, 1965-1985.” Both of today’s SotW are on it!
Enjoy… until next week.
I was born in ’56 so I’m limited to albums from ’69 to ’75.
So I’ll start with the end of the line…
1. Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen
“Thunder Road” is one of the greatest openers on any album… EVAH! “The screen door slams: Mary’s dress waves…”
And “Jungleland” is an equally great closer. “And they wind up wounded, not even dead.”
And everything in between is pretty damn good too.
2.Sticky Fingers – Rolling Stones
Most critics rate Exile higher, but I’m a Sticky Fingers fan. Great rockers (“Brown Sugar”, “Bitch”), blues (“You Gotta Move”), ballads (“Wild Horses”) and one of the greatest jams (“Can’t You Hear Me Knocking”). Mick Taylor on guitar and Bobby Keys on sax make significant contributions to compliment the original Stones band members.
3. Green River – Creedence Clearwater Revival
Hits (“Green River”, “Bad Moon Rising”) and deep cuts (“Lodi”). Gotta love it!
4. Blue – Joni Mitchell
There’s been enough discussion about this album on this blog to fill a book! And maybe I have to hand in my man card to defend it again here and now. This album is effin awesome; Joni at her best. “I want to knit her a sweater and write her a love letter{ to thank her for the one she gave to us.
5. John Barleycorn Must Die – Traffic
An outstanding mix of jazzy numbers like “Empty Pages” and “Glad” with British folk (“John Barleycorn…”). The musicianship is virtuoso and Steve Winwood is in superb voice.
6. Horses – Patti Smith
This album changed me! Everthing about it touched my soul. From the Mapplethorp cover photo to the cover of Gloria (“Jesus died for someone’s sins but not mine”) to the reggae influenced “Redondo Beach” and more. Tom Verlaine spooky guitar on “Break it Up” is amazing, as is the poetic orgasm of “Land.” It still holds up today.
7. Innervisions – Stevie Wonder
In the 70s, Stevie Wonder put out a run of sequential, perfect albums that I’m not sure any artist could match — even my beloved Beatles.
Starting with Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness’ First Finale and Songs in the Key of Life.
My favorite is Innervisions. It opens with the irresistibly funky “Too High” and skips through the guitar focused “Visions” and a few radio hits (“Living For the City”, “Higher Ground”, “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing”). Perfect!!!
8. Can’t But a Thrill – Steely Dan
I heard “Do it Again” on the radio and loved it. Next I heard “Reeling in the Years” and loved that too. They sounded so different to me that I was shocked to learn it was the same band. That ability to play in different genres motivated me to go out and buy Can’t Buy a Thrill. I wasn’t disappointed with the rest of the album and became a loyal Dan Fan.
9. Sail Away – Randy Newman
When my older brother was in college (and I in high school) he brought home a copy of Randy Newman Live. To me it sounded like a bootleg album although it really was an official Reprise release. A few months later I learned that Newman was performing at SUNY New Paltz which was jst 10 miles north of my hometown. I bought tickets and went to the show.
Soon after, Sail away found its way into my record collection. I loved the social commentary of “Sail Away” and “Political Science” and the children’s tale of “Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear.”
Then there’s the timeless “You Can Leave Your Hat On.” So good!
10. Blood on the Tracks –
I was late to grasping the importance of Bob Dylan. Blood on the Tracks was my baptism and the launching point for my re-discovery of his earlier work.
The emotional impact of songs like “Shelter From the Storm”, “Tangled Up In Blue” and “Idiot Wind” was irresistible.
My ADD made it impossible to follow the entire story of the 9 minute “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts.” I’m not sure I ever got there but I loved the challenge.
So there you go. Have at it!
It was 50 years ago tonight that the Rolling Stones appeared on Ed Sullivan and changed the words to Let’s Spend the Night Together to Let’s Spend Some Time Together in order to satisfy Sullivan’s puritanical ethics.
Due to copyright issues the televised Sullivan performance isn’t available on YouTube, but a bootleg taping of the rehearsal is. Here it is but you have to watch “Ruby Tuesday” first (and tolerate the girls’ screaming).
Enjoy!
IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED
Today is the 50th anniversary of the Human Be-In that took place in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on Saturday, January 14, 1967.
Some historians credit this “gathering of the tribe” for kicking off the 60s counter culture revolution and the precursor to the “summer of love.”
The celebration attracted a crowd estimated to be between 20,000-30,000 people for an afternoon of lectures, poetry and music provided by LSD advocate Timothy Leary, beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and the popular Bay area bands – Big Brother & the Holding Company, the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane.
At the end of the day’s events, Ginsberg requested that everyone do their part to clean up the park to make sure it was left as clean as it was when the day began. True to the ethos of the day, the participants happily cooperated and left the park in pristine condition.
Today’s SotW is “Won’t You Try/Saturday Afternoon” from the Airplane’s third album, late 1967’s After Bathing at Baxter’s. (I once read that Baxter was JA’s code named for LSD making the title’s translation After Tripping on Acid.)
“Saturday…” was written by Paul Kantner – who passed away a year ago – to commemorate the essence of the day.
Saturday afternoon,
Yellow clouds rising in the noon,
Acid, incense and balloons;
Saturday afternoon,
People dancing everywhere,
Loudly shouting “I don’t care!”
It’s a time for growing,
And a time for knowing love;
Saturday afternoon,
Saturday afternoon;
It has often been reported that Kantner’s lyrics were inspired by a column in the San Francisco Chronicle written about the event by Ralph J. Gleason. I’m not sure that’s the truth although Gleason’s article does make references to LSD, incense, balloons and dancing; but those things would have been observed by anyone that was there. You can read the article at the link below and make your own judgement.
Ralph J. Gleason – The Tribes Gather – January 16, 1967
The “Saturday…” parts of the song are less about the music and more focused on the trippy harmony vocal arrangement.
The band would reprise the song to capture the vibe at the Woodstock hippie festival (“three days of peace and music”) a couple of years later in the summer of 1969. The song was not included in the original release of the movie or the 3 album set. But it was on the less successful Woodstock Two and the longer director’s cut of the film seen here.
Enjoy… until next week.
IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED
Today’s SotW will recognize another important milestone in Rock history – The Doors’ self-titled debut was released 50 years ago this month. Most rock fans agree that it is one of the best and most influential albums ever released.
In the summer of ’66 The Doors were “discovered” by Elektra Records producer Paul Rothchild during the band’s residency at LA’s Whiskey A-Go-Go. He was impressed with the rock and roll stew they concocted – Ray Manzarek’s classically influenced psychedelic keys, Robbie Krieger’s jazzy guitar runs, John Densmore’s Latin influenced drumming and, of course, Jim Morrison’s charismatic baritone vocals and poetic lyrics.
The SotW is the lead track, “Break on Through.”
“Break on Through” was the lead single from the album but flopped as it stalled at #126 on the singles chart. It wasn’t until an edited 3 minute version of “Light My Fire” (shortened from the 7 minute album cut) was released and reached #1 in the Summer of Love that people started to pay attention to The Doors and their album.
It is common knowledge that The Doors took their name is tribute to Aldous Huxley’s book The Doors of Perception – an essay documenting his experiences on mescaline. “Break on Through” then is the perfect salute to lead off The Doors’ classic album.
Check out the complete track list:
Break On Through (To The Other Side) 2:25
Soul Kitchen 3:30
The Crystal Ship 2:30
Twentieth Century Fox 2:30
Alabama Song (Whisky Bar) 3:15
Light My Fire 6:50
Back Door Man 3:30
I Looked At You 2:18
End Of The Night 2:49
Take It As It Comes 2:13
The End 11:35
An eclectic mix of styles and not a dud in the bunch.
The Doors was recognized by Rolling Stone as #42 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Mojo has included it in their list of the Greatest Albums of All Time as well.
It is hard to disagree.
Enjoy… until next week.
IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED
Today’s post comes to you from sunny Jamaica. So I feel compelled to go with the obvious and feature some reggae music from Bob Marley. But beyond the Jamaica connection, the other reason to pick Marley for today’s SotW is because today is New Year’s Eve. As we put 2016 and the ugly presidential election campaign behind us, we need to focus hard on positive messages for 2017.
Bob Marley offers that to us with the lead off track, “Positive Vibration” from the 40 year old album, Rastaman Vibration.
Rastaman Vibration was the first Marley album that I really paid a lot of attention to, so it is one of my favorites. When it was released in the first half of 1976, it went all the way to #8 on the Billboard album charts. That was Marley’s best showing in the US.
Interestingly, Rastaman Vibration included some of Marley’s most political songs such as “Crazy Baldhead” (racial themes), “War” (adapted from a speech by Haile Salassie to the UN) and “Rat Race” (Jamaica’s role in the cold war). One wouldn’t think this would be the music embraced in the US at the height of the disco boom but I guess they were totally different audiences.
Another peculiar thing about Rastaman Vibration is that not a single song from this popular album was included in Marley’s massively successful “best of” album, Legend; not even the popular “Root, Rock, Reggae.”
If you check out the writing credits for the compositions on Rastaman Vibration, most of them are by friends and relatives of Marley. However there’s no question about it the Bob Marley wrote the songs. Apparently he did this due to a contractual dispute he was having with his publishing company at the time.
So let’s get back to “Positive Vibration.”
Rastaman vibration, yeah, positive
Live if you want to live
I’n’I vibration yeah, positive
Got to have a good vibe
I a man Iration, yeah, Irie ites
Positive vibration, yeah, positive
If you get down and you quarrel everyday
You’re saying prayers to the devils, I say, wooh
Why not help one another on the way?
Make it much easier (just a little bit easier)
Say you just can’t live that negative way
You know what I mean
Make way for the positive day
‘Cause it’s a new day
And it’s a new time
Yes, it’s a new feelin’
Said it’s a new sign
Oh, what a new day
Happy New Year, and enjoy… until next week.
IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED
It seems like every rock music critic/writer has put together a list of “the best albums you’ve never heard.” And one of the albums that is on just about everyone’s list is Oar by Alexander “Skip” Spence.
Spence was the drummer in the original Jefferson Airplane and one of the founders of San Francisco’s Moby Grape. In 1968, after he left the group (after attempting to go all Lizzy Borden on a couple of his bandmates), ended up in New York’s Bellvue Hospital for about 6 months. There he wrote the songs for Oar that he recorded in Nashville, playing all of the instruments himself – about a year before Paul McCartney pulled the same trick on his own debut solo album.
Oar is emotionally raw and can be very depressing at times. But it is also one of the most authentic records I’ve ever heard and that’s what ultimately give it its legs.
The SotW is “War in Peace.”
I discovered a website called Julian Cope’s Head Heritage that has a feature called The Book of Seth. Several times a year Seth writes a review of an Unsung album or 45. In February 2004 he featured Oar. Here’s what he had to say about today’s SotW:
“The weightless “War In Peace” is an emanation from eternity’s echo chamber. Spence’s electric lead guitar bursts in midway — chipped, fragmentary and falling like glittering silt as echoed whispering and whistling crisscross the patch of snapped tight hit-hats and bass lines like posts demarcating an unswerving boundary into the distance. By the time the electric guitar solo arrives, the infamously shattered “Sunshine Of Your Love” riff is already stumbling down a ravine in slow motion hitting branches, bouncing off rocks and causing landslides while atomic particles just collect and disperse in its wake until finally breaking down into a cosmic freefall beyond their once dimensional limitations.”
There’s not much I can add to that!
Wikipedia reports that the album was the lowest selling record in the Columbia Records catalog, deleted and relegated to the cut out bins in less than a year. I’d love to have one of those copies!
Enjoy… until next week.
IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED
Vladimir Putin and Russia have been in the news quite a bit lately. The annexation of Crimea, bombing of Syrian rebels and civilians in support of the Assad regime and cyber hacking interference in our 2016 presidential election have left US-Russian relations in worse shape since the end of the Cold War.
This reminded me of the song “Mother Russia” by the 70s prog rock band, Renaissance.
“Mother Russia” was inspired by the Soviet treatment of writer/political activist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn who was sent to a labor camp for 8 years for criticizing Joseph Stalin (in private letters).
Punished for his written thoughts
Starving for his fame
Working blindly, building blocks
Number for a name, his blood flows frozen to the snow
Red blood, white snow
He knows frozen rivers won’t flow
So cold, so true
Mother Russia-he cries for you
This is a heavy song, musically and lyrically, written about a weighty subject at a time when artists did such things.
Enjoy… until next week.
