Old Memories

by

This track kicks off Alice Cooper’s Muscle Of Love, a CD I just received the other day and haven’t heard for easily 30, maybe 35 years. It brought a big smile to my face, taking me back all those years.

Notes:

1) This was essentially my second rock ‘n’roll album. A friend of mine had introduced me to non-radio rock ‘n’ roll via Billion Dollar Babies prior to us starting catechism class together after not seeing each other for a couple years. I believe I was 12. After listening to Babies for months, I remember shoveling snow in order to buy Alice’s newest, Muscle Of Love. With no internet or older sibling guidance, my best guess was to buy the newest one (I often did this), figuring the newest was the best. It took me years to discover that isn’t true and it took me until years later to discover the best Alice Coopers – Love It To Death, Killer and School’s Out.

2) I had bought the Guess Who’s Share The Land and American Woman albums a couple years before, but then lost interest in music for a while (?!). Such is the life of a little kid.

3) Muscle is the last for the Alice Cooper band. Listening to the entire album one can hear the transition to the soon-to-come solo Alice Cooper. The crappy song ratio increases and the guitar sound is radically different as Glen Buxton was too drunk/drugged to play at this point. The Mick Mashbir/Dick Wagner duo is in full swing here. I imagine they let Michael Bruce still play a little rhythm guitar.

4) It’s also a pretty forgotten/ignored Alice Cooper album and that’s legit. Funny, the first two Alice albums are kind of ignored too, the weirdo Zappa-like Pretties For You and Easy Action. I’ve always counted Love It To Death as their debut.

5) No idea what (Hippo) is supposed to mean. Still don’t.

6) The “big” hit off this album was Teenage Lament ’74. If you remember anything from this album, it’s probably that one. Just found Big Country covering it for another hearty (?!).

Obit: Lonnie Mack (1941-2016)

by

lonniemackAgain the cosmic forces have struck the pop music world with the passing of guitar great Lonnie Mack.

To the casual listener, Mack might only be known for his iconic instrumental rendition of Chuck Berry’s Memphis in 1963.

But, the blues player who favored a Gibson Flying V axe fitted with a Bigsby whammy bar played sessions and influenced a generation of players including Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Jeff Beck, and Bootsy Collins, among others, who all noted Mack’s style and attack were pivotal learnings in their own relative development as guitar gods.

Mack also collaborated, recording with Janis Joplin in a duet of George Jones’ Things Have Gone to Pieces, that featured Jerry Garcia on lap steel and Jimi Hendrix on guitar. Mack, who was the Elektra records guitar guru during the 60’s and 70’s also played bass on the first two Doors albums, in addition to his own recordings and performing over the decades.

Lesser known perhaps than his admirers, Mack was considered a “guitarist’s guitarist” and a pioneer within the music industry for his single string phrases accented by the infamous Bigsby.

Ciao Lonnie. Let’s leave you with the killer.

 

Percy Sledge, Out of Left Field

by

When A Man Loves a Woman is such a giant song, it dwarfs everything else. But Percy Sledge was a working singer and musician and was no one hit wonder.

The song I thought of when I heard tonight that Percy Sledge died was this one, a simmering ballad with a heart felt and gorgeously emotional (and nakedly emotional) refrain.

 

Dump, Raspberry Beret

by

I saw the band Dump, which is Yo La Tengo’s bassist James McNew’s side project, in 1998 opening for the Future Bible Heroes in the fun club that once existed under the now defunct Time Cafe. If I’m remembering correctly McNew started the show by saying that he’d seen Prince the night before in the city and they were going to play some covers. And they did.

What I didn’t know is that at some point later the band put out a record of Prince covers. Very much 90s rock, kind of a nice sound.