I didn’t know Erik, I think I emailed him once, but maybe it was someone else in Hans Condor. They were a Nashville band that gloriously went on a Japan tour, and leave behind a great album and at least one terrific video.
So this isn’t a personal reminiscence.
But a lot of Nashville loved Erik. Reading the remarks would be emotional (a young person dies) but his generosity is legend.
Today’s SotW is another installment of the Evolution Series – where I trace a song from its original version through various cover interpretations. Today’s subject is “Groovy Kind of Love.”
“Groovy Kind of Love” was written in 1965 by Toni Wine and Carol Bayer Sager. Wow, I didn’t realize those ladies were in the biz when they were that young – they were only 18!
They picked up on a “new” slang word and decided to write a song using it. When it was done – they claim to have finished it in about 20 minutes – they pitched it to Leslie Gore, but her producer rejected it. He didn’t like the word “groovy.”
So it was recorded by Diane and Annita and proceeded to go nowhere.
There isn’t much information about Diane and Annita on the internet. The most common “fact” about them is that they met working for Ray Anthony’s Bookends.
In 1966, the next version was recorded by Patti LaBelle & the Bluebells and was produced by Bert Berns of Bang Records fame as well as writing and producing songs for the Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, and numerous early soul/R&B acts.
The LaBelle version made it across the Atlantic to England where it was introduced to the Wayne Fontana-less Mindbenders. Fontana was replaced as the group’s lead singer by guitarist Eric Stewart, who would later go on to be a key member of 10cc.
The Mindbenders took the song all the way to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the late Spring of 1966.
The song bounced around on oldies stations for the next 20+ years until Phil Collins recorded a remake in 1988.
Collins was working on the soundtrack for the movie Buster that was mostly a compilation of oldies. He thought “Groovy Kind of Love” would be a good fit and recorded a demo to present to the movie’s production team. They agreed and decided to use his demo, untouched, instead of The Mindbenders’ version. Collins’ recording did even better than the Mindbenders’, topping the charts in both the US and UK and finding its way onto many wedding reception playlists.
Covers have been recorded by Sonny & Cher, Gene Pitney, Petula Clark, and Neil Diamond, among others.
The melody of the song was based on the “Rondo from Sonatina in G Major” by 18th/19th century classical composer Muzio Clement.
In 1974, the ironically named Average White Band (AWB) released their second album, AWB, that contained their biggest hit – “Pick Up the Pieces.” The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
During my freshman year in college – 1974-75 – “Pick Up the Pieces” was ubiquitous. It was on the radio, on friend’s turntables, and always playing in bars and clubs where it was certain to fill the dancefloors. Since those were the days of “disco sucks” and I was a rocker, you would think that I’d hate this song. But I don’t. It’s just too good!!!
The songwriting credit on the album was given to “R. Ball, H. Stuart & AWB.” (Hamish) Stuart wrote the guitar part. Sax player (Roger) Ball wrote the horn melody. But the tenor sax solo was played by Malcolm “Molly” Duncan. And it’s a killer!
Duncan died a little over a year ago, on October 8th, 2019, of cancer.
Tragedy visited the band early on. On September 22, 1974, AWB played a sold-out show at Hollywood’s Troubadour club. After their performance, the band and friends went to a party at the home of Wall Street “whiz-kid” Kenneth Moss. Many guests snorted white powder from a vial they thought contained cocaine, but it was heroin. AWB drummer Robbie McIntosh died from an OD the next day. The band’s bass player, Alan Gorrie, also might have died, but Cher took him back to her place and kept him up and walking until the drugs wore off.
Oh yeah, and the band’s name… It has been attributed to Bonnie Bramlett, of Delaney & Bonnie, because she was amused that these pale-skinned, Scottish boys played such convincing soul music.
This clip is another example of Mike Douglas’s magic. John Lennon meets Chuck Berry for the first time and they do a kind of weak Memphis Tennessee because Lennon seems to be insisting on sharing vocals.
On Johnny B. Goode balance is restored.
I’m a fan of Yoko’s, but her mike seems to be cut in the Johnny B. Goode mix. It’s just weird during Memphis Tennessee.
From “half way to Memphis” to rocking Cleveland and everything in-between, Ian Hunter has now brought us five generations of songwriting wit and musical prowess. This ode to a dear friend, David Bowie, reminds us of better days. Days when we smiled, we laughed, and we enjoyed the camaraderie and friendship shared between two amazing human beings.
“Dandy – the world was black ‘n’ white You showed us what it’s like To live inside a rainbow Dandy – you thrilled us to the core You left us wanting more And then we took the last bus home”
“Out of My League” by Ryan Hamilton & The Harlequin Ghosts has been in heavy rotation on Little Steven’s Underground Garage on SiriusXM radio recently. It was even featured as that station’s “Coolest Song in the World” the week of September 21st.
It is from Hamilton’s latest album, Nowhere To Go But Everywhere, on Little Steven’s Wicked Cool Records imprint. He was quoted in a press release as saying the album is “a group of songs about heartbreak and finding yourself.” He goes on to describe “… League” as “a song idea that was almost 10 years old. I found the old demo, and it rang true, considering what I was going through. So, I revisited the song, and reworked it into the version that it is now.”
What “it is now” is a power-pop classic in the same vein as tracks by Fountains of Wayne. The lyrics are so humble and self-effacing that you instantly fall in love with the singer.
She’s the prettiest thing I think I’ve ever seen.
It’s like she walked right off the cover of a magazine.
Which begs the question.
What’s she doing with me?
and
All my friends are saying she’s just looking to settle.
Guess what? I’m gonna let her.
And you feel his pride when he exclaims “I got a trophy wife!”
Ryan Hamilton & The Harlequin Ghosts are not newcomers. Their previous album, 2019’s This is the Sound, was critically acclaimed and won Album of the Year at the Independent Music Awards. That record was also a big hit in the UK where his ties are strong. The Texan’s band is from the UK and most of the new album was cut while on tour there.
Hopefully “Out of My League” will make it into heavy rotation on your playlist.
Mountain was guitarist Leslie West’s band, but was also a vehicle for the artistic expression of Felix Pappalardi (bass, guitar, keys, vocals, production, songwriting).
Mountain’s second album was Nantucket Sleighride (1971). The title song was written by Pappalardi and his then girlfriend (later wife) Gail Collins, who also painted the album’s cover artwork.
For today’s SotW I’m including the 1 minute long “Taunta” with “Nantucket Sleighride (to Owen Coffin)” because to my ear they are inextricable.
By now, most of you have probably heard that a “Nantucket sleighride” refers to what happens to a boat full of whalers when they harpoon a whale that tries to swim away.
The song was written to fictionalize the true story of a tragic whaling expedition in 1820. The sperm whale they attempted to kill sunk their boat. The crew survived on small whaleboats but most of them died, one-by-one. When it got down to the final four, they drew straws to decide who would be sacrificed for the other three to cannibalize. Poor Owen Coffin, the youngest crewman, lost.
Collins wrote the lyrics to the song that begins:
Goodbye, little Robin Marie Don’t try following me Don’t cry, little Robin Marie ‘Cause you know I’m coming home soon
My ships’ leaving on a three-year tour The next tide will take us from shore Windlaced, gather in sail and spray On a search for the mighty sperm whale
No mention of poor Owen Coffin, but who is Robin Marie? It turns out Robin Marie was a woman Pappalardi was cheating on Collins with. Collins passive-aggressively wrote her into the song and then sent her man away for three years!
Although Pappalardi and Collins ended up getting married, their relationship continued to be stormy. In 1983 she shot and killed him with a gun he had given her as a gift.
My plan for today’s SotW was to write a tribute to Tommy DeVito of the Four Seasons, who died on September 23rd at the age of 92. But this week Eddie Van Halen died and that takes precedent.
Van Halen was playing the clubs in metro LA when they came to the attention of Gene Simmons of Kiss. Simmons was impressed with their talent (and cockiness), so he signed them to a contract and brought them back to New York to record some demos at Electric Lady Studios. This was 1976, two years before their debut on Warner Brothers was released.
Those demos have never seen the light of day on official band releases. But the “Zero” demos have been circulating on bootlegs for years.
Many of the songs on the Zero demos ended up on the band’s first album, though the demo versions were a little rougher and a little faster. But the blueprint for what was to come was already there.
In the New York Times obituary for Eddie Van Halen, writer Jim Faber eloquently described his guitar playing as follows:
Mr. Van Halen structured his solos the way Macy’s choreographs its Independence Day fireworks shows: shooting off rockets of sound that seemed to explode in a shower of light and color. His outpouring of riffs, runs and solos was hyperactive and athletic, joyous and wry, making deeper or darker emotions feel irrelevant.
Van Halen will be missed, but his music will live on for a very long time.
Buddy Holly released his first record – “Blue Days, Black Nights”/”Love Me” – on Decca in April 1956, when he was just 19 years old. He died less than three years later, in February 1959, at the age of 22. In that very short career, Holly recorded eight Billboard Top 40 hits in the US, 3 of which were Top 10.
His discography is so well known and so highly respected that it should be no surprise that his songs have remained alive for generations via cover versions. Today’s SotW post highlights a few of the best.
The Beatles were huge Buddy Holly fans. They chose their name as a play on Holly’s Crickets, but not Beetles, instead making a pun out of their “beat group” music. They also included as many as a dozen of his songs in their early club sets, many of which can be heard on the BBC recordings. So, let’s start with “Words of Love” from Beatles For Sale in the UK and Beatles VI here at home; the only cover to make it onto an official, studio release.
The Beatles don’t stray very far from Holly’s original arrangement – the “handclaps” are a new feature – but the Lennon/McCartney (Lennon/Harrison?) harmony is sublime. The boys laid this track down in two takes – no surprise since it was in the band’s repertoire since their days woodshedding in Hamburg, Germany.
In 1969, Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Rick Grech formed Blind Faith, one of the first rock “supergroups.” The short-lived band released only one album that had only 6 cuts – but one of them, “Well All Right,” was a cover of a Buddy Holly B-side.
Blind Faith made the song their own, adding a heavy opening riff and an improvisational middle section that extended its play time to a whole 4 ½ minutes!
In 1978, Blondie released their power-pop classic, Parallel Lines. On it, they covered Holly’s “I’m Gonna Love you Too” and released it as the first single from the album (though it didn’t chart!).
Deborah Harry’s vocal and the bands aggressive backing adds some punk/new wave fury to the arrangement that modernizes Holly’s original, smoother rockabilly approach.
A Buddy Holly tribute album, Rave On Buddy Holly, was released in 2011. It has covers of Holly songs by contemporary artists The Black Keys, She and Him, Modest Mouse, My Morning Jacket, Fiona Apple, the recently deceased Justin Townes Earle, and classic rockers Paul McCartney, Nick Lowe, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, and Graham Nash. It proves that Holly’s music remains vital. The album is worth a listen.
Arbouretum often draws comparisons to Richard Thompson for their brand of psychedelic folk music and tasteful guitar solos. This holds true on the Baltimore band’s most recent album, Let It All In.
Take a listen to the opening track, “How Deep It Goes.”
It gallops along with a steady rhythm and chiming guitars until it flows into a Grateful Dead-like wig out of guitar soloing (Dave Huemann) over a synth bed (Matthew Pierce), about halfway through.
Arbouretum has been releasing quality records since the early oughts. Let It All In is another in that long line.
