Tag Archives: song of the week

Song of the Week – Pioneering 70s All Women Bands

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I wanted to write a post about some influential, all women rock bands but I was having a hard time getting started. Where would I begin? Who would I include? More importantly, who would I leave out? The more I thought about it, the bigger the project became. To tackle the subject thoroughly, I would have to write a book!

OK, so here’s what I’m gonna do – I’ll focus on pioneering, all women bands of the 70s. So don’t go crazy because I don’t mention earlier woman rock artists like Wanda Jackson, Janis Martin, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Grace Slick (not all women “bands” anyway) or all of the early 60s girl groups (perhaps all women, but usually just singers). And while it’s tempting to include the GTOs (Girls Together Outrageously), were they really a band or just a novelty side project Frank Zappa put together for a bunch of his more interesting groupies? Genya Ravan’s Goldie & The Gingerbreads almost qualify, but they’re from the 60s – anyway, more on that later.

And even though I’m focusing on the 70s, I won’t be discussing folk acts like Kate & Anna McGarrigle (though they’re worthy of a SotW), women in or fronting rock bands like Patti Smith, Pat Benatar, Bonnie Raitt, the Wilson sisters (Heart), Tina Weymouth (Talking Heads) and so many more. And I’m not talking about The Go-Gos or the Bangles – they’re too popular and were 80s bands anyway.

So who’s left? How about Fanny, Isis and The Runaways.

Fanny consisted of sisters June and Jean Millington, Alice De Buhr and Nickey Barclay. They were the first self-contained, all women rock band to get a major label deal. They signed with Reprise and it wasn’t based on the novelty of being an all women group. These chicks (sorry for the sexist adjective, but it fits here) wrote their own songs and could really play. Lowell George (no slouch of a musician) used to hang out at their rehearsal studio.

“Seven Roads” is the closer on their 1970 debut album.  It opens with a very cool Hammond organ intro and a heavy guitar riff. Primal tom-toms enter for the chorus. Enough room is left for heavy guitar and organ solos.

Isis was an all women band that formed out of the ashes of the earlier mentioned Goldie & The Gingerbreads. Former Gingrbreads guitarist Carol McDonald and drummer Ginger Bianco formed an 8 piece horn rock band and released their first album in 1974 on the Buddah label. But major success eluded the band, partly because they had a pretty eclectic repertoire that was hard to pin down; and partly because they promoted overtly gay themes at a time when that didn’t play outside of New York and San Francisco. (Their debut album cover had the band standing naked but covered in silver paint and one of their songs was called “She Loves Me.”)

The Shadow Morton produced “April Fool” is my choice to represent the band. (Morton also produced the mini operas by another girl group from the 60s – The Shangri-Las.) “April Fool” has that big, bluesy, horn rock sound. But it is also driven by infectiously funky, Latin percussion beats. It is so cool, that the drum break was sampled by De La Soul and used on their song “Big Mouf.”

The Runaways were an L.A. based, teenaged, all-female group whose career was launched by manager/producer Kim Fowley. There were personnel changes throughout their history, but the core lineup was Sandy West (drums), Joan Jett (guitar/vocals), Lita Ford (lead guitar), Cherie Currie (lead vocals) and Jackie Fox (bass). The band’s heavy mascara, street tough image converged with the burgeoning punk movement of the late 70s, landing them in the category of a female version of The Ramones (though in reality they were closer to a female version of Aerosmith).

“You Drive Me Wild” was penned by Jett and was on the band’s first album release in 1976. It sounds like it might have been inspired by T-Rex. Jett took the lead vocal on this one. I’m not sure who played the stinging guitar solo, but I assume it was Ford.

It is also interesting how these bands were interconnected in ways beyond the obvious. Kim Fowley was also an early supporter of Fanny and June Millington played guitar the Isis’ second album, Ain’t No Backin’ Up Now.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Rock and Roll Medley – The Everly Brothers

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Last Saturday I was saddened to learn that Phil Everly died. I’ve always been partial to harmony vocals, so the Everly Brothers were one of my favorite groups. I’m clearly not alone in that. Rock bands from the 60s through today have paid tribute to the Everlys, incorporating their close harmony style into their own music or recording covers of their songs.

It’s been said the The Beatles once considered calling themselves The Foreverly Brothers – clearly a tip of the hat to Phil and Don. No less than Bob Dylan included two of their songs on his Self Portrait album that was recently given new life in 2013 due to a Bootleg Series reissue.

In the 1970s Simon and Garfunkle put a (live) version of “Bye Bye Love” on Bridge Over Troubled Water. Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris covered “Love Hurts” and Linda Ronstadt sang “When Will I Be Loved.”

Skip ahead to the new millennium and you have Alison Krauss and Robert Plant doing “Gone, Gone, Gone.” “Cathy’s Clown” gets a shout out in Elliott Smith’s “Waltz 2 (XO).” And just this past Thanksgiving week, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones released a full album of Everly Brothers covers called Foreverly.

The SotW is a cut I discovered last year in MOJO magazine. There was a piece that had Will Oldham (aka Bonnie “Prince” Billy) describing one of his favorite pieces of music – the full album side, 18 minute “Rock and Roll Medley” from the Everly Brothers 1970 album, The Everly Brothers Show.

The Everly Brothers are supported by a really hot band that includes guitar wiz Sam McCue, bassist Robert Knigge and drummer Al “Tiny” Schneider. This medley is like a freight train rolling down the tracks at too high a speed. They round a couple of turns where things get a little wobbly, but always seem to catch up with one another and choogle ahead.

The clip offered here is just a 5 minute sampling of the performance. But the full “Medley” is available on Spotify. Listening to the whole thing is a commitment but, trust me, it’s worth it.

The albums label lists 7 songs in the medley: “Rock and Roll Music,” “The End,” “Aquarius,” “If I Were a Carpenter,” “The Price of Love,” “The Thrill Is Gone,” and “The Games People Play.” But there are more nuggets hidden in the piece. It’s like an Easter egg hunt trying to find them. I hear a bit of The Who’s Tommy near the beginning. Then, just after the drum and bass solos (yes, there are drum and bass solos) the band slips into the riff from “Ticket to Ride” for just a short moment. It’s beautiful.

The boys did have a 10 episode summer replacement television show (for The Johnny Cash Show) on ABC called The Everly Brothers Show, but album of the same name was not a soundtrack. The album was recorded from a live performance at the Grand Hotel in Anaheim, CA.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – The Seed (2.0), The Roots

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I really hate to admit that I don’t like most hip hop music. I like to think of myself as extraordinarily open minded to virtually all types of music but I’ve just never been able to get on board with hip hop. That’s not to say that I don’t like any. But I could probably fit a playlist of all my favorite hip hop songs on a single CD or cassette.

Since the early 2000s I’ve been following the career of The Roots. I like the way they play real instruments and mix traditional R&B stylings into their contemporary sound. They’re smart too.

When I heard that their drummer and musical director, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, had written a book I decided to pick it up and give it a read. (I had also heard that he is an avid record collector and musicologist – my kind of guy!) The book, titled Mo’ Meta Blues – The World According To Questlove, is a good read. It gave me a greater appreciation for the history of hip hop music and specifically the career and influence of The Roots.

Today’s SotW is their best known song, “The Seed (2.0)” from the album Phrenology.

In the book Questlove tells the whole story of how the song came to be. He first heard the song’s writer on a demo CD that was played for him by his friend dream hampton who had received it from Ishmael Butler who made her promise not to identify the artist to anyone. But Questlove was able to sneak a peek at the CD case and identified the artist as Cody ChestnuTT. Through some clever sleuth work he was able to get a copy of ChestnuTT’s full album where he heard the song “The Seed.”

He contacted ChestnuTT and told him the Roots wanted to record a hip hop version with him for their new album. The session was arranged and the recording was cut in just two takes. That’s all that was needed to capture “the feel” that makes the song work.

Questlove writes:

“The Seed (2.0)” was a hit and a big part of our crossover success. It was also Don Was’s favorite record of the year. When he was making “A Bigger Bang” with the Rolling Stones, he played it for the band. “That’s the kind of sound we want,” he said. “This is what you need to be sounding like.”

I think they were on to something. The song came in at #43 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Best Songs of the 2000s.

Now, when you listen to the words, be forewarned that they should not be interpreted literally. The Roots were a band that insisted on taking hip hop into new directions – merging various styles, including rock. The lyrics are a metaphor for the merging of musical styles and their disdain for the direction hip hop was taking at the time (a rote reliance on samples, and lyrics that promoted materialism and created a distance between the artist and audience). Well, that’s how I see it.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Song for Zula, Phosphorescent

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It only seems appropriate that I should dedicate the final SotW for 2013 to a song that was one of the best of the year. It is “Song for Zula” from Phosphorescent’s terrific album Muchacho. (Phosphorescent is the creative outlet for Matthew Houck.)

I was first introduced to the “band” through the terrific LA based music blog Rollo & Grady (www.rollogrady.com). (It’s a great resource for anyone interested in keeping current on emerging bands in the indie rock scene.) Every Phosphorescent song they’ve featured over the years has appealed to me. So I was very excited to learn that a new album, Muchacho, was dropping this year.

And a fine album it is. No, it doesn’t have radio friendly “hits.” No, the songs won’t garner millions of YouTube viewings. No, the album won’t sell hundreds of thousands of CDs. But it is a very well-conceived and executed album in the traditional sense. Not exactly a “concept” album, but still a collection of songs that hang together with a common theme – in this case a break up. Is it possible Houck can express anything new to this universal, but well worn, experience? The answer is a resounding YES.

“Song for Zula” is a beautiful example of the gravity of the songs on Muchacho.

The lyrics have a majestic beauty missing from most of today’s pop music.

You see, the moon is bright in that treetop night
I see the shadows that we cast in the cold, clean light
My feet are gold. My heart is white
And we race out on the desert plains all night
See, honey, I am not some broken thing
I do not lay here in the dark waiting for thee
No my heart is gold. My feet are light
And I am racing out on the desert plains all night

It has the atmospherics and soaring dynamic that Daniel Lanois contributed to U2’s “With or Without You.” You will hear it from the opening notes of the intro. Houck has a thin, fragile voice that compliments this song perfectly. It conveys his sadness and resignation with subtle intimacy.

Best wishes for a happy new year. I can’t wait to share more great music with you in 2014.

Enjoy… until next year.

Song of the Week – Little Girl Blue, Nina Simone

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Christmas music is like Obamacare. Either you like it or you don’t – and no one is going to persuade you to change your mind about it. I happen to like holiday tunes. They even bring a smile to my face when one comes up on “shuffle” in July. But in deference to those of you that are on the other side, I offer a compromise.

Today’s SotW is “Little Girl Blue,” one of Nina Simone’s signature songs. It is an American songbook standard, written by Richard Rodgers and with lyrics by Lorenz Hart in 1935 for the Broadway musical Jumbo. So what does this show tune about time passing have to do with Christmas?

In the hands of Simone, a classically trained pianist, it is transformed into a quodlibet – a song that uses a combination of melodies from different tunes. In this instance, Simone uses the Christmas carol “Good King Wenceslas” as the intro to the Rogers & Hart song.

This reminds me of the way Joni Mitchell used “Jingle Bells” to connect her breakup song “The River” to the wintry feel of the holiday season.

The SotW is a wonderful version of “Little Girl Blue,” beautifully played and skillfully sung by Simone. Whether you like holiday music or not, this recording will warm your holiday.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – By and By (Poor Me), Rising Sons

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We’re in a golden age for music lovers.

As a long time record collector, I can remember having a very long “want list” of records I knew to exist, but had never seen – never mind heard!

But technology caused things to change very quickly. First there was the CD boom of the 90s that made it economically viable for record labels to reissue long lost cult favorites. Soon you could by CDs by obscure groups, classic albums with bonus cuts and boxed sets with tons of previously unreleased cuts and alternate takes.

Next came peer to peer file sharing and blog sites that posted full albums “in the cloud” for download. The treasure trove of bootlegs available on the internet is incomprehensible. And now we have YouTube, Spotify, Pandora and other streaming services that put the entire history of recorded music at our fingertips – mostly for free!

There’s hardly any artist’s repertoire that can’t be found with a little persistence. The SotW would be impossible – or at least a whole lot less interesting – if it weren’t for these advancements.

So then, what does all of this have to do with today’s SotW? Well, today I’m featuring a song by Rising Sons.

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Rising Sons was a band formed in LA in the mid-60s. The band included Taj Mahal and a very young Ry Cooder (only 16 when the band was founded) in addition to Gary Marker, Jesse Lee Kincaid and Kevin Kelley. (Kelley replaced original drummer Ed Cassidy who went on to later fame with Spirit.)

The band played gigs all around LA and attracted kudos from a who’s who of record business stars. This led them to a signing by Columbia Records who quickly sent them into the studio to record. They laid down about 20 tracks of American roots music (blues, folk and country) and several originals penned by Kincaid. Columbia was unhappy with the results and never released the album. The band broke up in 1966 and the tapes languished in the Columbia vaults until 1992 when the album was finally released during the aforementioned CD boom.

Have a listen to their take on Charley Patton’s “Poor Me” retitled by Rising Sons as “By And By (Poor Me).”

By And By (Poor Me) by Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder on Grooveshark
This isn’t the most rockin’ cut on the album, but to my ear it’s the one that shines the brightest light on the early work of Mahal and Cooder. It has some very tasteful guitar interplay and a nice country-blues vocal by Mahal.

Thank goodness that this record was finally released so we can all hear and enjoy these early recordings.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Am I Wrong, Mikal Cronin

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Occasionally we’re pleasantly surprised when an artist steps out of their more recognized bandmate’s shadow to offer us a gem of an effort that exceeds expectations.

Based on George Harrison’s earlier Beatles contributions (excepting, of course, his two awesome contributions to Abbey Road), who would have thought he could deliver the triple album of influential, majestic songs that was All Things Must Pass. Mick Jones amazed many when his Big Audio Dynamite albums were more contemporary sounding than much of Joe Strummer’s work after The Clash. And although no one would dispute Paul Westerberg was the leading creative force behind The Replacements, you have to give credit to bandmate Chris Mars for his solo work on Horseshoes and Hand Grenades.

Sticking with this theme, today’s SotW is by Mikal Cronin, best known for his work as the bass player for the prolific Bay area garage rocker Ty Segall. But Cronin released his second solo album this year, MCII, and it is a jewel. The album is chock full of power pop songs, with strong, memorable melodies and nice harmonies.

The song most recognized (and with the most plays on Spotify) is “Weight.” But I like “Am I Wrong” a little better, so that’s today’s SotW.

The song follows the template for muscular pop records used by Big Star, Cheap Trick and Matthew Sweet. It has a driving beat, a tough, distorted guitar sound and a slightly out of tune piano solo. Cronin played all of the instruments himself.

The lyric is simple – just a guy wondering if he’s reading the signs correctly. “Am I wrong? I don’t think so.”

As we approach year end, I’m starting to make a mental list of some of my favorite albums for 2013. MKII is on it.

Enjoy… until next week.

Songs of the Week – Negro y Azul: The Ballad of Heisenberg, Los Cuates de Sinaloa & Crapa Pelada, Quartetto Cetro

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OK, I have to start this post by admitting that I was a latecomer to the hit television show Breaking Bad. I didn’t watch a single episode until this October; right after the series finale was aired.

But I started to binge on it and I’m now in the middle of the fifth and final season. (I probably would have finished it by now, but the Red Sox kept winning all the way through the World Series and sucked up a lot of my screen time.)

The series is outstanding; a compelling premise with great story line development and terrific characters. But one of the pleasant surprises to me was the ingenious use of music in the soundtrack. Most of the music is obscure, but when the producers chose popular songs they used them to great effect (“A Horse with No Name” “Tush”).

This week let’s listen to a couple of my favorite songs from the series. First up is “Negro y Azul: The Ballad of Heisenberg” by Los Cuates de Sinaloa.

The song is in the Mexican style called Narcocorrido. A corridor is a traditional Mexican story song. A narco-corridor is… well you get it. “Negro y Azul” translates to “Black and Blue,” a clear reference to Walter White’s (Heisenberg) hat and product.

My next choice is “Crapa Pelada” (1945) by the Italian vocal quartet, Quartetto Cetro.

This is such a quirky song that it is irresistible — kind of jazzy with a machine gun rat-a-tat-tat of words flowing in tight harmony. I’m pretty sure I’d like this song anyway, but the associated image of Gale (Walt’s lab assistant) singing it as he watered his plants while cooking his dinner is indelible. The song perfectly captured Gale’s idiosyncratic personality of which to that point, we knew little about outside of the lab.

There are dozens of other great songs featured in the series. I like most of them other than the rap/hip hop. (I know I’m proving that I’m an old man.) Some people have compiled Breaking Bad playlists on YouTube that are worth checking out.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Love Me Hard, Dust

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Back in the early 70s a pioneering heavy metal rock band called Dust put out a couple of albums that were largely ignored. The Brooklyn based band soon faded into the dustbin of rock history – nearly, but not totally forgotten. But not the individual band members – Richie Wise, Marc Bell and Kenny Aaronson.

Wise was the band’s leader; lead singer, lead guitarist and main songwriter. He went on to co-produce the first two Kiss albums.

Marc Bell was the groups over the top drummer. This dude really pounds the skins. After Dust, he made his way through a few of the New York City based punk bands, including Wayne County and Richard Hell & the Voidoids. In 1978 he settled in for a 15 year stint as the Ramones drummer using the moniker Marky Ramone.

Bass player Kenny Aaronson scored a big hit with the song “Brother Louie” when he played with The Stories. Then he became an “in demand” road/studio musician working with the likes of Bob Dylan, Hall & Oates, Mick Taylor, Graham Parker, Billy Idol, and Billy Squier and serving as a full time member of Joan Jett’s Blackhearts in the first half of the 90s.

Today’s SotW is from their self-titled, 1971 debut, “Love Me Hard.”

The song rocks with the best of other early 70s hard rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and the James Gang.

It opens with a heavy guitar riff, then in comes the pounding rhythm section and vocals. Midway through is an interlude that starts with acoustic guitar and then turns really heavy before returning to the main riff for some guitar soloing and the big rock ending.

Their two albums are available to stream on Spotify. Search for them under the album name Hard Attack.) This music is really deserving of a listen, even if you’re not a big hard rock fan. The songs are inventive and each has its own interesting details and flourishes.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – The Wolf, Darondo

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Back in the early 70s there was this cat from Berkeley/Oakland whose music sounded like a psychedelic Al Green. He went by the name of Darondo. He was a colorful character that drove a white Rolls Royce and wore lots of custom jewelry. His music has been mostly forgotten except by soul music connoisseurs.

But in recent years he has undergone a mini revival. A 2011 release called Listen To My Song – The Music City Sessions (and available on Spotify) compiled 16 songs so a new audience could discover his talent. His best known song, “Didn’t I”, has been used on several soundtracks including a season 1 episode of Breaking Bad.

But I really like another one of his songs better, so today’s SotW is “The Wolf.”

“The Wolf” is slow burner that has this irresistibly funky groove. It could go on for hours and I would never tire of it. It’s a very simple arrangement with a funk guitar riff, a spooky bass line and a solid beat.

Unfortunately, just as he was finding a new, younger audience, Darondo died earlier this year. At least he lived long enough to see that the music he made was still valued over 40 years later.

Enjoy… until next week.