I recently learned that alto sax player David Sanborn died on May 12th. In tribute to his artistry, I’d like to post a SotW essay I originally published on July 5th, 2008.

Sometimes a song immediately transports you back to a certain time and/or place.  When it comes on, you can remember every detail of some moment in your life when it was playing.

This week’s song is that way for me.  It is called “The Finer Things” and is credited to saxophonist David Sanborn.  But it was written by Donald Fagen and is performed by the usual Steely Dan cast of characters (that also included Sanborn), so it sounds to me more like The Dan than Sanborn’s usual smooth jazz.

It comes from the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese’s black comedy, The King of Comedy.  Incidentally, that soundtrack also includes out takes and special one off recordings by several other top notch artists such as Robbie Robertson, Van Morrison and Rickie Lee Jones. It’s worth picking up.

But let’s get back to my visceral connection to this song…  Back in the early 80s I spent a few 4ths of July at the beach in Ogunquit, ME.  At the end of one long day of tanning in the sun, it seemed like the whole beach decided they’d had enough at the same time.  As the exodus of beach goers packed up and started walking back to their cars, bars or motel rooms, I popped a cassette tape of this song into a boom box I was carrying.  The song (more or less an instrumental) seemed to perfectly capture the mood of the moment.  As we walked along, a couple of different strangers even tapped me on the shoulder to ask what was playing.

Every time I hear this song I “feel” the heat of the sun in my tanned skin.  I “see” the tired crowd of people dragging their coolers and beach chairs toward town.  I can “smell” the salt water and sun tan lotion.  (Remember Bumble?  Debbie?)

Obviously, this song won’t have the same meaning for you, but if you like Steely Dan (and who doesn’t?) I know you’ll enjoy this selection.

Until next week.

Ignored             Obscured              Restored

My wife is reading Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks (2017), by Stephen Davis.  She occasionally reads a section to me that she finds to be particularly interesting.  I will have to read it myself when she finishes.

So to celebrate Stevie, I’ll make today’s SotW a Nicks’ obscurity – a cover of the Atlanta Rhythm Section’s “Imaginary Lover.”

April Fools!

This recording is actually the Atlanta Rhythm Section played at a higher speed.  But you have to admit… it really sounds like Nicks!

The legend is that back in 1978, when both Fleetwood Mac and ARS were at the top of their games, a radio DJ accidentally played “Imaginary Lover” at 45 rpm rather than 33 1/3 and was amazed at how much it sounded like Nicks.

A Rolling Stone article by Cameron Crowe reported:

News quickly reached Nicks in Los Angeles. She rushed out to buy the record and played it at the wrong speed. “I got chills,” says Stevie. “It sounds exactly like something I’d sing, the way I’d sing it. I even played it for Christine [McVie], mixed in with some other demos for the new album. She complimented me on it.”

Out of respect for the ARS, here’s their original, played at the proper speed.

Think of the fun we’re missing out on, now that radio stations only play digital recordings!

Enjoy… until next week.

Ignored            Obscured             Restored

Today’s SotW has very little actual music.  Instead, it brings some levity to the holiday with a few bits of ‘70s stoner Christmas comedy.  Who even knew that was a thing!?!

Let’s start with my favorite comedy troupe of all time, The Firesign Theatre.

Only the Firesign would use a Christmas hymn (The First Noel) as a vehicle for their absurdist humor.

“Toad Away” was the lead track from Dear Friends (1972).  Dear Friends was a compilation of routines that the Firesign recorded from the radio show they had on KPFK in Los Angeles, from September 1970 to February 1971.

Who better represents ‘70s stoner humor than Cheech & Chong?  Their first release on a single was their holiday bit, “Santa Claus and His Old Lady” (1971).

Aside from the politically incorrect references to Santa’s wife as his “old lady” and the elves as midgets, this is still a pretty entertaining story.  The part where Santa gets held up at the border shows that things haven’t changed much in 50 years.

I first discovered “Santa Doesn’t Cop Out on Dope” (1972) on the Warner Brothers Loss Leader album All Singing – All Talking – All Rocking (1975).  Do you remember those terrific samplers?

“Santa Doesn’t Cop Out…” is typical snarky Martin Mull humor.  It was later covered by Sonic Youth for the Christmas compilation Just Say Noel (1976).

Now I’m primed to hit the spiked eggnog.  Merry Christmas!

Enjoy… until next week.

Ignored             Obscured              Restored

For the second time this week, I’m posting an extra SotW.  This time it is to pay tribute to Savoy Brown guitarist Kim Simmonds.  He died on December 13^th at the age of 75.  His full obituary can be read here:

I believe Simmonds was one of the most underrated (or at least unheralded) rock guitarists ever.  So check out this SotW post I originally published on March 21, 2009.

In 1975 my college roommate, Dabinsky, recorded this cool radio broadcast of a Savoy Brown concert on this little, high quality cassette deck he owned (was it a Wollensak?).  “Back in the day” that was the primary vehicle for collecting and sharing bootleg recordings.  We played that tape an awful lot.  The broadcast was eventually “officially” released in 1998 as an album called Live at the Record Plant.  The highlight of that tape, for me, was the number “Hero to Zero” – the song of the week.  I’ve attached the studio version from the album Wire Fire.

Savoy Brown was a blues based rock band led by the (sadly) under recognized lead guitarist Kim Simmonds.  Savoy Brown had several albums that charted in the U.S., including Raw Sienna (1969), Looking In (great cover, [looking in cover] 1970), Street Corner Talking (1971) and Hellbound Train (1972).

If you like blues based rock guitar, you’re really going to like this one.

Enjoy, until next week…

Ignored            Obscured             Restored

On Thursday, December 15^th, we lost the great drummer for the (Young) Rascals, Dino Danelli.  His New York Times can be read here:

In tribute to Danelli I’m reposting a SotW I first published on June 21, 2008.

In the mid 60s, The (Young) Rascals epitomized the genre that was to become known as “blue-eyed soul.”  Naturally, we associate them with a slew of Top 40 hits beginning with “Good Lovin’” and running through “Love Is A Beautiful Thing”, “Lonely Too Long”, “A Girl Like You,” “How Can I Be Sure” and their #1 summer smash, “Groovin’”.  Most of these also made the R&B charts.

But few are familiar with some of the garage/psych cuts buried deep in their albums.  This weeks’ song, “Find Somebody”, is from their 1967 album Groovin’.  Check out the fuzztone guitars, Eastern influenced chords (all the rage in the “Summer of Love”) and exploitation of the early stereo “ping pong” gimmick (listen on headphones).

This is a very cool song.  Enjoy.  Until next week.

Ignored            Obscured             Restored

Atlanta Rhythm Section (also known as ARS) was formed in 1971.  The band was formed by combining members of The Candymen (sometimes backing group for Roy Orbison) and Classics IV (whose hits included “Spooky”, “Stormy”, “Traces”).  They served as the session band for Studio One in Doraville, GA.  They had substantial success in the ‘70s when their brand of Southern Rock was in vogue. 

The band’s first five albums – ending with Red Tape (1976) – were not very successful, except with a loyal group of fans that followed the band in concert.  Then 1976’s A Rock and Roll Alternative changed everything.  It included the Top 10 hit “So in to You” and was given five stars in the first edition of the Rolling Stone Record Guide (1979).  Champagne Jam (1978) followed and offered another Top 10 with “Imaginary Lover.”

ARS toured extensively and was a very successful live act.  They released an album to document their live prowess called Are You Ready! (1979).  It included a 15 minute version of the concert favorite “Another Man’s Woman”, the third time they released the song on an album.  The first was on their debut release – a five minute track on the eponymous Atlanta Rhythm Section (1973).  To me, the definitive recording is the closing cut on Red Tape (1976).  Coming in at about 10 minutes, it is tighter and has more energy than the live take, but still leaves room to show off the band’s soloing skills.  It is ARS’s “Free Bird.”

Enjoy… until next week.

The moral is trad but the space in between is where everything happens. But the song grabs.

As Tom posted, Chick Correa died this week. We’re of a similar age, so we’re both wowed (I suspect) about how big an audience jazz music had at some shows in the mid 70s. When in the mid 70s we were going to shows featuring Return to Forever and the Mahavishnu Orchestra in arenas, not clubs.

And Chick Correa’s life story is mixed in with that cultural moment.

I don’t know the details of the way jazz embraced rock in the 70s, or maybe rock embraced jazz. I do have all the records. Chick Correa was a piano player then who played on the big jazz albums of that time and made his own albums, which got into a lot of Scientology stuff (which isn’t totally disqualifying) but makes you look more closely.

But let’s get back to the music. This is a track Correa plays electric piano on, one of his first with Miles, in which Miles adulates his second wife, a giant soul performer and personality, Betty Davis. I didn’t know this one (there is a lot of music out there).