Badfinger (Max)

Books I Would Recommend …Part 1

I thought I would go through my book collection (hardbacks, paperbacks, and audio) and see which ones I really like. I’m more of a non-fiction reader and I love biographies. I also like documentaries which I will do later on. There are some fiction books I’ve read that I will list later on. I thought I would do a few at a time.

1: Harpo Marx – Harpo Speaks – This is my top autobiography of all time. I have read it at least 8-9 times. When I fly, Harpo goes with me on every flight. Harpo was born in the latter half of the 19th century and his life is one of the most incredible stories I’ve read about. This guy adopted enough kids to fill up every window in his house. He would often wake his kids up just to play if he came home late. If rock bands tell sad stories of them just starting and how hard it was…you should read what the Marx Brothers went through. This book goes to 1964 when he passed away. The link on Harpo Speaks goes to my review of it. It was the first book post I did that actually got interest.

2: Beatles – Tune In – The absolute best biography on The Beatles and it only goes to 1962 and it’s well over 1000 pages. Mark Lewisohn wrote it and is planning to write a part two and then a part three. The criticism of this book is there are too many details…” who needs to know the color of George Harrison’s first car?” Well me that’s who! No, I have read at least 15 or more books on them and I learned a lot from this book. Lewisohn interviewed a lot of early fans who saw them in the Cavern and Hamburg. He uncovers events that no one knew before. He also backs things up so it’s the best by far on the Beatles.

Most books on the Beatles I don’t get through because all they are doing is repeating the well-known history…not this one. I’m impatiently waiting the Part II.

3: Keith Richards – Life – This book started a trend among older rock stars. Keith is upfront about his past and doesn’t hide much if anything. He is straightforward and you learn a lot about what was going on when the Stone’s golden years were happening. You would NEVER get a book like this with Mick Jagger. I’ve ranked this 3rd…but the following 2 could have easily switched places with this one but Keith is the one that started it. The format he used was soon used again by Gregg Allman, Robbie Robertson, and Bill Kreutzmann.

4: Gregg Allman – My Cross To Bear – It felt like Gregg was on a back porch telling you his story. I was an Allman Brothers fan but became a huge one after this book. I started to dive into their music and I saw how great they were. He goes through the Duane years, Cher, the narc incident, and up to the modern Allman Brothers. Even if you are not a huge fan…check this out.

5: Robbie Robertson – Testimony – Same as Keith and Gregg…a wonderful book about The Band. I had no clue what they went through before they toured with Dylan. They were as tight as any band could be musically and physically. Robbie is very even-handed about his relationship with Levon Helm…he doesn’t rip him and generally treats him with respect. You also learn more about Bob Dylan than I ever knew about his personality. Robbie is also such a cool guy and very down to earth.

6: Bill Kreutzmann – Deal – OK, you want Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll? You have it here with the Grateful Dead’s drummer. It’s not a complete bio of the Dead but he tells stories that I never heard before. Of all the bands I read about…The Dead probably had more fun than any other. They did have their arguments and Garcia wasn’t always a hippie guy that went along with everything. I did learn more about the Dead’s dynamics from this book than any other.

Lynyrd Skynyrd – 46 Years Ago Today

I don’t do anniversaries very much but some things I try to keep up with and this is one of them. I’ve posted this in the past few years on October 20.

It’s been 46 years since Lynyrd Skynyrd’s plane crashed in a swamp in Gillsburg, Mississippi. The band had just released the album “Street Survivors” and it was probably their best well-rounded album. With new guitarist Steve Gaines, they were primed for commercial success but on October 20, 1977, they lost singer-songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines, and road manager Dean Kilpatrick. The plane crash also claimed the lives of pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray Jr.

I believe that if the crash had not happened they would have moved into the most successful stretch of their career. They were leaving the “southern rock” label behind and into one of the top rock bands in the world.

A year earlier Steve Gaines joined the band and he was pushing them in directions they never had gone. Listening to “Street Survivors” you can hear his influence with the songs I Never Dreamed and I Know A Little. Steve was a super-talented guitarist, songwriter, and singer and I have to wonder where his career would have gone.

On this tour, they were headlining and moving up in status after years of touring as mostly an opening band.

Below is a good Rolling Stone article on the crash. The song below that is “I Never Dreamed,” a song heavily influenced by Gaines.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/remembering-lynyrd-skynyrds-deadly-1977-plane-crash-2-195371/

Janis Joplin – My Baby

As of yesterday, she has been gone for 53 years. She dedicated this song to her dad. It was on her last studio album Pearl released in 1971 right after Joplin died.

Janis’s voice is gold on this one… a pure blues voice. I’m convinced Janis had a built-in dynamic. She had one of the best dynamics in her songs based purely on her building up to the choruses of her songs. Her influences were Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, and last but not least…Otis Redding. She saw Otis a few months before he died and copped some of his stage mannerisms.

This was written by Jerry Ragovoy and Mort Shuman. Shuman’s credits include Teenager In Love and Let’s Live For Today. Ragovoy also wrote Joplin’s songs Piece Of My Heart and Try. The song was first released by Garnet Mimms in 1966.

I have included the studio version and a live version she did on the Dick Cavett show. Cavett talks about her as if he had somewhat fallen for her. It was an odd combination…Cavett attended Yale and here was Janis…a loud brash blues singer from Port Arthur Texas.

Cavett tells a story about Janis and him eating at a restaurant and the song “Down On Me” is playing while they are at the table. Cavett said to Janis…I bet they don’t play that song on the radio because of it’s sexual nature…Janis then leaned in and told Cavett…Dick…uh it’s a gospel song.

Cavett later credited Joplin for sending so many other major rock stars his way after her first appearance on his show in 1968. She told her fellow musicians that Cavett wasn’t a dreary television personality like many. The fact is…Cavett was different from other talk show hosts…especially now. He would dedicate entire shows to one person and he had conversations with them, not interviews. He also mixed and matched people that you would not see in everyday life. Janis for instance, was on a show with Raquel Welch and Gloria Swanson. Three completely different women but he had all of them in a conversation.

If you see the Cavett DVD’s…get them…if not many of them are on youtube.

The biography I read on Janis was by Holly George-Warren. It was released in 2019 and it is one of the best books about her I’ve read. Here are a few quotes from that author.

Holly George-Warren: You can look to two major influences that Janis had that I think affected her sexuality and the way she expressed it on stage. One was, of course, the great Bessie Smith, whose lyrics Janis knew by heart. She started out singing Bessie Smith songs way before we ever saw her, these images of her with Big Brother and the Holding Company. She started performing Bessie Smith songs around 1963. And those kind of lyrics of sexuality, of sexual longing, sexual betrayal, those very much informed Janis’ own songwriting and the songs that she chose to sing.

The other major influence was Otis Redding. She was a huge Otis fan until the day she died. And she got to see him perform live three nights in a row at The Fillmore back in 1966, and it transformed her because he was a very sexual performer. And he was able to emit this heat on stage that Janis herself was able to do through her own way of manifesting these feelings that she had while singing these songs. And I mean, Janis herself, she compared singing on stage to having an orgasm. She blew some journalists’ minds when she used that expression, but she – it was a very sexual experience for her.

The original version of this song was by Garnet Mimms.

My Baby

And when I work hard all day long
I tell you what, it don’t bother me nohow,
‘Cause how could anything ever go wrong
When I got my baby, Lord, yes,
When I got my baby, oh Lord!

And when they tell me love is pain
I said it might be true for you, honey,
But not for Janis no more, no no no no.
All I’ve ever got to do is call my daddy?s name
Yeah and I got m-my baby, Lord, yeah,
Yes I got my baby, good good God,
Honey, I want to tell you something that I do.

Deep down, h-honey, in the dark of the night,
When I lay my head down, I want to go to sleep,
And I know everything is gonna be alright,
Yeah I got my baby, Lord yeah,
‘Cause I got m-my baby, oh yeah.

And when I want to call the names
Or the things to be that want to be to you.
And when I want to reach out my hand
It always seems you hold me, dear,
Love, don’t you know how long I looked for you
Daddy, daddy, daddy.
Love, don’t you know how hard I tried,
But now I got my baby, Lord, yeah,
Now I got my baby, yeah.

Max Picks …songs from 1973

1973

Pink Floyd released one of the biggest albums of all time…Dark Side of the Moon.

Roger Waters put together the cash register tape loop that plays throughout the song. It also contains the sounds of tearing paper and bags of coins being thrown into an industrial food-mixing bowl. The intro was recorded by capturing the sounds of an old cash register on tape and meticulously splicing and cutting the tape in a rhythmic pattern to make the “cash register loop” effect. Waters also wrote the song.

Like many of their songs, this was not released as a single in the UK, where singles were perceived as a sellout…but it was released as a single in America in 1973

Another positive song that was written by George Harrison. “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” replaced Wings’ “My Love” at number 1 on the Hot 100 singles chart…For the week ending 30 June that year, the Harrison and McCartney songs were ranked numbers 1 and 2 respectively.

This song was based on a true story that happened to the band. Smoke On The Water took inspiration from a fire in the Casino at Montreux, Switzerland on December 4, 1971. Deep Purple was going to start recording their Machine Head album there right after a Frank Zappa concert, but someone fired a flare gun at the ceiling during Zappa’s show, which set the place on fire when Deep Purple was watching. It was released in May of 1973.

Music stores would not be the same without this song. It was written by Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, and Ian Paice.

Allman Brothers released this song in August of 1973. It was the band’s biggest hit that almost didn’t get released. The band thought it was too country and almost didn’t release it. This one was written by Dickey Betts.

My sister had a Jim Croce greatest hits album and I played it non-stop. This one is easy for kids to remember. This song has been played to death but I still love it. This one remains one of the most remembered songs from the early seventies. Jim Croce wrote this one.

Action – Brain

My favorite era in rock/pop music is probably the mid-sixties British singles that were released. Between The Who, Stones, Beatles, and Kinks you had some of the best rock/pop singles ever. Along with the other bands, it was a very creative time.

The Action was formed in North West London in 1963. After some member changes, they were signed to Parlophone to work with no other than George Martin. Despite that, they never had a hit. They did release four singles…a cover of A Land Of a 1000 Dances with the B side of “In My Lonely Room” in 1965.

They started off as a Mod band similar to The Who and Small Faces. The band released a second single “I’ll Keep on Holding On” b/w “Hey Sah-Lo-Ney.” That was released in 1966. There is not a lot of info on the band so I emailed my UK friend Colin who is involved in two blogs Once Upon A Time In The Seventies and LOUD HORIZON. So a quick thank you to Colin… Also thanks to CB who sent me a link to the song that neither one of us had heard before.

I’ve added Colin’s research at the bottom for their original discography. This band sounded great but couldn’t get a foothold in the UK charts. That would be their last single. The song Brain was recorded in 1967-1968.

George Martin finally had to let them go because they could not get charting songs. They turned to more psychedelic in 1967 and they continued to record demos and shop the tapes. No other record company ever signed them so they went their separate ways.

In the 1980s a collection of their songs were released with the liner notes written by Paul Weller who was a huge fan. There was also a collection released in 2002 called Rolled Gold… take a listen. In 2018 everything they ever recorded was released in a set called Shadows and Reflections: The Complete Recordings 1964-1968.

The Action reunited in 1998 because of renewed interest… they played to a gathering of mods on the Isle of Wight. It went so well that they continued to play shows for the next few years, their last one being 2004’s Madstock.

Land of 1,000 Dances / In My Lonely Room .. Parlophone R5354 …. 1965 (Rare / Very Rare)

I’ll Keep on Holding On / Hey Sah-Lo-Ney ….Parlophone R 5410 ….1966 (Very Rare)

Baby You’ve Got It / Since I Lost My Baby……Parlophone R 5474……1966 (Very Rare)

**Never Ever / Twenty Fourth Hour Shadows & Reflection / Something Has Hit Me ….Parlophone R 5610 … 1967 (Very Rare)

** Also released as a Promo in the US ( Capitol P 5949)

They were then subsequently released again in 1981 / 82

(Thanks Colin!)

I’m going to include another song by them called Strange Roads. I like the intro and the lead guitar to this one.

Brain

Take Your Brain, Its Time To Go
And You Dont Have Long To Go

Remember Me, Remember Me
Cuz Im The One Who Made You See
Remember Me

Hang Your Brain, Up In The Sky
Hang It Up, Hang It High

Remember Me, Remember Me
Cuz Im The One Who Made You See
Remember Me

Take Your Brain, Its Time To Go
And You Dont Have Long To Go

Remember Me, Remember Me
Cuz Im The One Who Made You See
Remember Me

Take Your Brain, Its Time To Go
And You Dont Have Long You Know

Remember Me, Remember Me
Cuz Im The One Who Made You See
Remember Me

Redbone – Come and Get Your Love

This song was a part of my childhood growing up. I never knew much about them but when I was 7 (1974)…my sister was watching Midnight Special and to see them…you didn’t forget. Then in 2014, the Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy came out and the song was part of my son’s childhood. It is a very good pop song from the 1970s. They were the first Native American band to have a top 5 hit.

Native American brothers Patrick and Candido “Lolly” Vasquez-Vegas were born in Coalinga, California. The brothers played with Oscar Peterson at the Monterey Jazz and Pop Festival before relocating to Los Angeles in 1963. They were serious musicians. They started to play around on the Vegas Strip.

They opened for Lenny Bruce, as well as Richard Pryor while writing and playing on records by Tina Turner, Sonny & Cher, James Brown, Little Richard, and Elvis ( on the soundtrack to the film “Kissin’ Cousins”), among other recording artists.

Jimi Hendrix saw them play and was knocked out. Jimi stated that Lolly Vegas was the best guitarist he had ever heard and suggested that they create a band. Knowing they were Native Americans, Jimi suggested a name that reflected their roots. The name that Jimi suggested was “Redbone”, a Cajun term for a mixed-race person.

The Vegas brothers met guitarist Tony Bellamy, and collaborated on the Jim Ford album “Harlan County”. The trio hired drummer Pete DePoe and signed with Epic Records in 1969.

Come and Get Your Love peaked at #5 on the Billboard 100 and #25 in Canada in 1974. The song has recently gained a new following by being on the “Guardians of the Galaxy” soundtrack. The band was not a one-hit wonder though. They had one other top 40 hit called The Witch Queen of New Orleans.

Come and Get Your Love

Hail (hail)
What’s the matter with your head, yeah
Hail (hail)
What’s the matter with your mind
And your sign an-a, oh-oh-oh
Hail (hail)
Nothin’ the matter with your head
Baby find it, come on and find it
Hail, with it baby
Cause you’re fine
And you’re mine, and you look so divine

Come and get your love
Come and get your love
Come and get your love
Come and get your love

Hail (hail)
What’s the matter with you feel right
Don’t you feel right baby
Hail, oh yeah
Get it from the mainline, all right
I said-a find it, find it
Go on and love it if you like it, yeah
Hail (hail)
It’s your business if you want some, take some
Get it together baby

Come and get your love
Come and get your love
Come and get your love
Come and get your love

Come and get your love
Come and get your love
Come and get your love, now

Come and get your love
Come and get your love
Come and get your love
Come and get your love

Hail (hail)
What’s the matter with you feel right
Don’t you feel right baby
Hail (hail), all right
Get it from the main vine, all right

La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. la, la
Come and get your love
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. woohoo
Come and get your love
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. la, la
Come and get your love
La, na, na, na, na, na, da, boom
Come and get your love
La, da boom, boom, boom, ta, daba, boom, boom
Come and get your love
La, la, la, la, la, la

Shocking Blue – Out of Sight Out of Mind

Nothing I like better than finding new/old music.

Shocking Blue was a band out of the Netherlands with a sensational singer named Mariska Veres. She sounded like Grace Slick to me… Robbie van Leeuwen was the guitar player and he wrote most of the songs including this one.

This band had the worldwide number 1 hit Venus but I like many of their other songs more like Never Marry A Railroad Man (which should have been a hit), Mighty Joe, their version of I Ain’t Never, and Love Buzz which Nirvana covered.

This one has guitar hooks all over the place. The solo that Robbie Van Leeuwen plays is a huge hook itself. Mariska Veres’s voice is great and she has her own unique style that worked well with this band. This song peaked at #6 in the Netherlands and #13 in Belgium in 1971. This was a non-album single.

Shocking Blue was together from 1968-1974. They were known as a one-hit wonder with Venus but their other songs were hits in the Netherlands and were very good and sold a lot of records. They had some edge on their music and that is why I like them. If you are looking to find some old/new music…check this band out.

Mariska sadly died in 2006. With her voice, I’m shocked she didn’t have a more successful solo career.

Out Of Sight Out Of Mind

Love comes very easy and slips easy away
If you gotta go for a long, long time
Your baby promised you’ll be on his mind
Don’t be surprised if it turns out wrong

Out of sight, out of mind
That’s what happened a million times
Out of sight, out of mind

Yeah yeah yeah yeah

Love has many faces and shows them all
When you have to kiss your baby goodbye
There is a presentiment you can’t deny
Will he come back, yes or no

That’s what happened a million times

Yeah yeah yeah yeah

Dr. John – Right Place, Wrong Time

My sister’s car in the 70s plus AM radio gave me my own soundtrack. This is one of the songs along with Leon Russell’s Tight Rope that was on the most played list on our AM station WMAK in Nashville.

Right Place, Wrong Time was Dr. John’s only trip to the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. It peaked at #9 in 1973 and #6 in Canada. For the longest time, I thought the name was “Brain Salad Surgery”. Emerson, Lake, and Palmer later used that name for their fourth album.

The song was on the album In The Right Place released in 1973. It peaked at #24 on the Billboard Album Charts. Before this album he was a musician’s musician but after he became a pop star.

Dr. John (Malcolm John Rebennack) put a little New Orleans in everything he did. Gregg Allman liked Dr. John when he first met him in Boston before the Allmans made it. Gregg took drugs but after seeing what John took…he thought that the Allmans were tame. Gregg was not a fan of the New Orleans gris-gris that John brought around…and he had a good reason not to be.

Gregg Allman: Dr. John also had a gris-gris situation going on too. Basically they were these bags that he had hanging around each shoulder which were leather or goatskin and smelled kinda funky. Inside the bags was this New Orleans voodoo stuff called gris-gris. He threw that gris-gris shit all in my brand-new Hammond—he was throwing whole handfuls of that shit. Gris-gris, my ass. It was gold glitter, and it went down through the keys, down into the stops, gumming the oil up. They had to take the organ apart and scrape down each piece. They said, “What is this crap?” and they charged me $190, which meant I could eat, but I couldn’t drink a cold beer for two weeks.

Dr. John: “That was my life for a long time. At the same time I was in the wrong place at the right time, and the right place in the wrong time, too. That was the problem. We’re always shifting those gears.”

Dr. John: “Originally, I felt to go commercial would prostitute myself and bastardize the music, on reflecting, I thought that if without messin’ up the music and keeping the roots and elements of what I want to do musically, I could still make a commercial record I would not feel ashamed from, I’m proud of, and still have a feel for – then it’s not a bad thing but it even serve a good purpose.”

Right Place, Wrong Time

I been in the right place but it must have been the wrong time
I’d have said the right thing but I must have used the wrong line
I been in the right trip but I must have used the wrong car
My head was in a bad place and I’m wondering what it’s good for
I been in the right place but it must have been the wrong time
My head was in a bad place but I’m having such a good time

I been running trying to get hung up in my mind
Got to give myself a good talking-to this time
Just need a little brain salad surgery
Got to cure my insecurity

I been in the wrong place but it must have been the right time
I been in the right place but it must have been the wrong song
I been in the right vein but it seems like the wrong arm
I been in the right world but it seems wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong

Slipping dodging sneaking creeping hiding out down the street
See me life shaking with every ho’ I meet
Refried confusion is making itself clear
Wonder which way do I go to get on out of here

I been in the right place but it must have been the wrong time
I’d have said the right thing but I must have used the wrong line
I’d have took the right road but I must have took a wrong turn
Would’ve made the right move but I made it at the wrong time
I been on the right road but I must have used the wrong car
My head was in a good place and I wonder what it’s bad for

Merle Haggard – Swinging Doors

And I’ve got swinging doors a jukebox and a barstool
And my new home has got a flashing neon sign

This is country music I love. I’ve always been a bit jealous of the Country music genre in one area. I’m not sure they still have this but at certain times of year the musicians and artists are out and about and you can meet them. It was really big in Nashville through the years.

It was called Fan Fair. It’s basically like a job fair but with country stars. Can you imagine Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, and others in a building meeting and talking to their fans? How about going up to Bob Dylan and slapping him on the back…” Hey Bob” how are ya? No that would not happen.

I remember this happening in Nashville where you could go and meet Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, and more. Rock and Roll doesn’t have anything like that. Maybe it’s because Country is centered in Nashville where Rock is spread throughout the world? I think it was a great way to spread their music.

In 1966 Merle Haggard traveled to Nashville to record his first-ever collaboration project with The Strangers. They would later on become his backing band. At first, it just didn’t work but Haggard and the band continued. The album ended up with 12 tracks and Swinging Doors was the title track. Haggard wrote all of the tracks on the album. The album peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts. His first number-one album. He would go on to record 66 studio albums and 8 live ones.

The song peaked at #5 on the Billboard Country Charts in 1966. Another song off of this album peaked at #5…The Bottle Let Me Down.

This song takes me back to being a kid. Early morning rides with my dad and him having a country station on.

Swinging Doors

This old smoke-filled bar is something I’m not used to
But if gave up my home to see you satisfied
And I just called to let you know where I’ll be living
It’s not much but I feel welcome here inside

And I’ve got swinging doors a jukebox and a barstool
And my new home has got a flashing neon sign
Stop by and see me anytime you want to
Cause I’m always here at home till closing time

I’ve got everything I need to drive me crazy
I’ve got everything it takes to lose my mind
And in here the atmosphere’s just right for heartaches
And thanks to you I’m always here till closing time

And I’ve got swinging doors a jukebox and a barstool
And my new home has got a flashing neon sign
Stop by and see me anytime you want to
Cause I’m always here at home till closing time

Yeah, I’m always here at home till closing time

…

Yardbirds – Heart Full Of Soul

The Yardbirds had three of Rock’s greatest guitar players pass through them. Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. They had such a raw edge to them with Jeff Beck so that is the version I like best.

Heart Full of Soul peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100, #2 in the UK, and #2 in Canada in 1965. From the opening, it hooks you.

The lead guitarist Jeff Beck used an early version of a fuzz box on his lead part. They tried a sitar in the intro but they instead opted for Beck’s sitar-sounding guitar. “Heart Full of Soul” was the second of three Yardbirds singles written by non-member Graham Gouldman (the first was “For Your Love,” the other was “Evil Hearted You”).

This was the Yardbirds’ first single after Jeff Beck replaced Eric Clapton as lead guitarist. Released only three months after “For Your Love.” The song is interesting because it contains Eastern and Western musical influences.

Jeff Beck gave the song an Eastern feel by the way he played the intro. When Jeff Beck joined the Yardbirds he didn’t have a guitar.

Jeff Beck: I actually didn’t have a guitar of my own, I was so hard up. The Yardbirds sort of sneaked Eric’s guitar out. He’d finished using the red Tele (Fender Telecaster)
and was using a Les Paul, so he didn’t care about the red Tele. The bands manager, said well, ‘You’d better use Eric’s guitar—we can’t afford to go out and buy one now.’ So I borrowed Eric’s for the first couple of gigs”.

Drummer Jim McCarty: “‘Heart Full of Soul,’ which was very moody, gave us the ability to play the riff in sort of an Eastern way, give it an Oriental touch. Another very good song.”

Heart Full Of Soul

Sick at heart and lonely, deep in dark despair
When you want her only, tell me where is she where?
And if she says to you, that she don’t love me
Just give her my message, tell her of my plea
And I know, if I could have her back again, I would never make her sad
I got a heart full of soul I got a heart full of soul
She’s been gone such a long time, longer than I can bear
But if she says she wants me, tell her I’ll be there

And I know, if I could have her back again, I would never make her sad
I got a heart full of soul I got a heart full of soul
Sick at heart and lonely, deep in dark despair
When you want her only, tell me where is she where?
And if she says to you, that she don’t love me
Just give her my message, tell her of my plea
And I know, if I could have her back again, I would never make her sad
I got a heart full of soul I got a heart full of soul
I got a heart full of soul!

Blasters – Trouble Bound

This song has a cool groove to it. A little gospel touch at first and then Dave Alvin’s guitar lifts it up and is quite loud in the mix which is fantastic.

The Blasters never had mainstream success…but popular radio back in the 80s would have been greatly improved by these guys. The band has a cult following and during the 80s they had critical acclaim and recorded for Warners, but no big hits.

The Blasters are a rock and roll band formed in 1979 in Downey, California, by brothers Phil Alvin (vocals and guitar) and Dave Alvin (guitar), with bass guitarist John Bazz and drummer Bill Bateman.

This song was on their fourth album which was Hard Line which was released in 1985. This is it was written by Phil Alvin who was the guitarist, singer, and main songwriter for the band. The band produced a range of “rockabilly, country, blues, and New Orleans roadhouse R&B.” This album peaked at #86 on the Billboard Album Charts.

I’ve said this before but some rockabilly bands, or roots rock bands, sound like they came in on a nostalgia wave from the 1950s. There is nothing wrong with that but…not the Blasters. They sounded contemporary in the 80s even in the middle of an era where production was at its height and overkill. Their music still sounds timeless now…years after it was released and you can’t peg it to a decade.

The Blasters promoted the album heavily and did a bunch of radio concerts and TV appearances including their third appearance on American Bandstand, a taped concert for MTV, and Farm Aid. In the summer a full concert was taped while on their European tour for a show called Rockaplast. The concert was aired only in Europe and was an outstanding performance.

Dave Alvin left right after the release of this album.

Dave Alvin: “The night that Gene Taylor (piano player) left the Blasters was this gig in Montreal (Nov. 1985) and it was maybe the worst gig that I ever played. It was obvious that this wasn’t working anymore. The Thunderbirds had opened up the show and Gene just walked off stage at the end of the night and went right out the back door and got on the Thunderbirds bus and left. That night I decided I’m quitting. Everybody was so pissed off at each other. I flew to New York the next morning to do a Knitters gig at Irving Plaza and when I got to the gig, John said, ‘Billy’s (Zoom of X) leaving the band, you want to join?’ I said ‘Yeah!!’ without hesitation. Once I became a member of X, the Knitters became X.”

Trouble Bound

I’m old enough to know the score
But I’m young enough to want more more more
They say it means nothing all said and done
But that’s alright, I’m just here for the fun

And I don’t think twice
When the sun goes down
I’m trouble bound

There’s a demon deep inside of me
Sometimes I let the old boy run free
Trying to make a living during the day
Deep in the night I throw it all away

But I don’t think twice
When the sun goes down
I’m trouble bound

You see that girl lookin’ fine fine fine
I’m gonna throw her a good time line
If she bitеs I’ll reel her in
But if she don’t I’ll throw my line again

I’m old еnough to know the score
But I’m young enough to want more more more

And I don’t think twice
When the sun goes down
I’m trouble bound

You see that girl lookin’ fine fine fine
I’m gonna throw her a good time line
If she bites I’ll reel her in
But if she don’t I’ll throw my line again

This old world is a tired place
The same sad story on every face
Trying to make a living during the day
Deep in the night I throw it all away

And I don’t think twice
When the sun goes down
I’m trouble bound

…

Delaney and Bonnie – Never Ending Song Of Love

I heard this song as a kid constantly but never knew who was singing it. It was written by Delaney Bramlett, and, according to some sources, by his wife Bonnie Bramlett. It was originally recorded with his band, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, in 1971 on the album Motel Shot.

So many great musicians played on Motel Shot. Duane Allman, Joe Cocker, Jim Keltner, Bobby Keys, Dave Mason, Gram Parsons, Leon Russell, Clarence White, and Bobby Whitelock just to name a few. Delaney and Bonnie were important in the lives of Eric Clapton and George Harrison.

Coming out of Cream…Eric liked the looseness of the band as they traveled around with members going in and out. He jumped in and toured and brought George Harrison with him. Both men developed a deep, abiding, and…as it would turn out, decades-long fascination with acoustic-based music. And a musical linchpin for both of them was the husband and wife duo, Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett. Though they enjoyed success on their own, the Bramletts are most often remembered for their associations with other musicians.

As the title suggests…they did record some of the album in a motel room and in Bruce Botnick’s (audio engineer and record producer) living room. They treated the recording like a party. Whichever musicians were there…that was who was on the song. They recorded this in the summer of 1970 and after switching record companies…it was released in 1971. There is still confusion on who played on what track.

The song peaked at #1 in New Zealand, #13 on the Billboard 100, and #6 in Canada in 1971.

Never Ending Song Of Love

I’ve Got A Never Ending Love For You
From Now On That’s All I Wanna Do
From The First Time We Met I Knew
I’d Have Never Ending Love For You

I’ve Got A Never Ending Love For You
From Now On, That’s All I Wanna Do
From The First Time We Met I Knew
I’d Have A Never Ending Love For You

After All This Time Of Being Alone
We Can Love One Another
Feel For Each Other
From Now On

It’s So Good I Can Hardly Stand It

Never Ending Love For You
From Now On That’s All I Wanna Do
From The First We Met I Knew
I’d Sing My Never Ending Song Of Love For You

Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do….

After All This Time Of Being Alone
We Can Love One Another
Feel For Each Other
From Now On

It’s So Good I Can Hardly Stand It

Never Ending Love For You
From Now On That’s All I Wanna Do
From The First We Met I Knew
I’d Sing My Never Ending Song Of Love For You

I’ve Got A Never Ending Love For You
From Now On That’s All I Wanna Do
From The First Time We Met I Knew
I’d Sing My Never Ending Song Of Love For You

Tom Petty – Spike

Boys, we got a man with a dog collar on
Maybe we ought to throw old Spike a bone?

This song is not the best song that Petty ever recorded… but it’s fun and I like it. He has a little of a Booker T. and the MG’s vibe going on in the intro.

In the mid-eighties, we would cruise around in my Toyota Celica with a massive sound system and this is one of the songs we would play. The song was on Petty’s Southern Accents album. Tom Petty said it was about: “a really kind of ignorant redneck guy who is kind of shaken up when he sees a punk rocker.”

Southern Accents was his sixth studio album and it was released in 1985. He damaged his hand while making this album. He was frustrated with the song Rebels and listened to the song that the band and he were working on and realized…the demo he made was better. In a fit of frustration, Petty hit the wall a little too hard and severely damaged his bones and tendons. He said: “all of a sudden, I got Mickey Mouse’s hand. I get to the hospital, and it’s so bad that other doctors are being called in like, ‘hey, get a load of this’. I had to be given electro-shock therapy. The electrodes would force my hand to shut because the hand didn’t want to close because it hurt so bad.”

The album was not easy to make. When guitarist Mike Campbell came and played him his progression for a song…Petty scrapped it for something else. Later on, he would regret that decision because the progression turned out to be Boys of Summer which would become a massive hit for Don Henley.

Petty had wanted to make an album about the South because he was from Florida. That went out the window when he got to the studio but still did incorporate some into the songs. The album didn’t end up like Petty intended but he became really proud of the album because of all the hardships involved in making it.

The album peaked at #7 in the Billboard Album Charts, #16 in Canada (from what I found), #23 in the UK, and #25 in New Zealand in 1985.

Spike

Look out, another one, just like the other ones
Another bad-ass, another troublemaker
I’m scared, ain’t you boys scared?
I wonder if he’s gonna show us what bad is?
Boys, we got a man with a dog collar on
Maybe we ought to throw old Spike a bone?

Make me say

Here’s another misfit, another Jimmy Dean
Bet he’s got a motorbike, what do y’all think?
Bet if we be good we get a ride on it
If he ain’t too mad about the future
Maybe we ought to help him see
The future ain’t what it used to be

Listen
Hey Spike, what do you like?
Hey Spike, what do you like?

Oh, I say

Hey Spike, what do you like?
Hey Spike, you’re scaring my wife
Hey Spike, tell us about life
Could you tell me about life?
I might need need a dog collar too, boy
He might make me say say
I might say, might say

Tommy James and The Shondells – Crimson And Clover

I grew up with this single…I’ll never forget the orange Roulette Label going round and round. It’s a mystical and magical song to me. I fell in love with the tremolo effect that is throughout the entire song.

The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, and #1 in New Zealand, in 1968. I still am shocked that it either wasn’t released in the UK or it just failed to chart there. Joan Jett’s version peaked at only #60 in the UK. My friend at the UK Number Ones blog and I talked about it. Their song Mony Mony peaked at #1 in the UK earlier…maybe that was enough for them.

On this song…Tommy James is playing all the instruments except drums and they were played by Pete Lucia. James and Lucia wrote the song.

Bo Gentry was writing most of their hits until this point. He didn’t feel like he was getting paid enough from Roulette Records (which was partly run by the mob) so he quit. Tommy James was told that he better get someone to write songs for him or his career would sink since Bo Gentry refused. The record executives told him that he could not write a hit song and to find someone. Tommy James showed them all… he and his drummer wrote this massive hit song.

Around this time James got involved with politician Hubert Humphrey and they were trying to turn from a singles band to an album band. This song helped them. Below is a very long quote by Tommy James about that time. It does say a lot about the business in the late sixties.

Tommy James: “They were just two of my favorite words that came together. Actually, it was one morning as I was getting up out of bed, and it just came to me, those two words. And it sounded so poetic. I had no idea what it meant, or if it meant anything. They were just two of my favorite words. And Mike Vale and I – bass player – actually wrote another song called ‘Crimson and Clover.’ And it just wasn’t quite there. And I ended up writing ‘Crimson and Clover’ with my drummer, Pete Lucia, who has since passed away.”

Tommy James: ‘Crimson and Clover’ was so very important to us because it allowed us to make that move from AM Top 40 to album rock. I don’t think there’s any other song that we’ve ever worked on, any other record that we made, that would have done that for us quite that way. And it came out at such a perfect moment because we had been out with Hubert Humphrey on the presidential campaign for several months in 1968. And we met up with him right after the convention. The convention where all the kids got beat up. And we met up with him the following week in Wheeling, West Virginia, and of course we didn’t know where all the rallies were gonna be, like the convention. What have we gotten ourselves into? We had been asked to join him. And this really was the first time, I think, a rock act and a politician ever teamed up. But it was an incredible experience.

But when we left in August, all the big acts were singles acts. It was the Association, it was Gary Puckett, it was the Buckinghams, the Rascals, us, I’m leaving several people out. But the point was that it was almost all singles. In 90 days, when we got back, it was all albums. It was Led Zeppelin, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Joe Cocker, Neil Young. And there was this mass extinction of all of these other acts.

It was just incredible. Most people don’t realize that that was sort of the dividing line where so many of these acts never had hit records again. And we realized while we were out on the campaign that if our career was gonna continue, we had to make a move. We had to sell albums, which is something Roulette had never really done. The album, up to that point, had been whatever wasn’t the single. And then it was usually named the single, which I thought was a great idea. Morris (Levy) usually would name the album the same title as the single, so it would get kind of a head start. But the point was we knew we had to sell albums. Also that year the industry went from 4-track to 24-track in about the same period of time. So if we were gonna sell albums, we had to completely reinvent ourselves. And so it was a very dramatic moment. And the record we just happened to be working on at that moment, at the end of the campaign, was ‘Crimson and Clover.'”

Crimson and Clover

Ah, now I don’t hardly know her
But I think I could love her
Crimson and clover

Ah when she comes walking over
Now I’ve been waitin’ to show her
Crimson and clover over and over

Yeah, my, my such a sweet thing
I wanna do everything
What a beautiful feeling
Crimson and clover over and over

Crimson and clover over and over
Crimson and clover over and over
Crimson and clover over and over
Crimson and clover over and over

Max Picks …songs from 1972

1972

Everyone…I messed up last week. While making these, I go to Wiki’s Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Singles to go over some of the singles and then… I look at album cuts. Well, I didn’t check to see when American Pie was released…it was released in late 1971…but I would never have left that one off…ever. So forgive me…I won’t do this again…but I am leading off with it. It did its damage on the charts in 1972…so this one time I’m breaking my rule. It’s too important of a song.

American Pie… by Don Mclean. Where do I begin with this one? The song has so many references that it acts as a pop culture index itself. We do know the song was inspired by Buddy Holly’s death… What does it all mean? While being interviewed in 1991, McLean was asked for probably the 1000th time “What does the song ‘American Pie’ mean to you?,” to which he answered, “It means never having to work again for the rest of my life.” Now that is a great and honest answer by Mclean.

The holy trinity of power pop for me is…Badfinger, Big Star, and The Raspberries…those were the 70s pioneers. Badfinger was the most successful out of the three…hit wise anyway. You can hear later bands like Cheap Trick, The Posies, Teenage Fanclub, Matthew Sweet, and even KISS get something from each three.

This is my personal number 1 Power Pop song of all time. Baby Blue was written by Pete Ham.

He was playing in a Rock and Roll revival show in 1971 at Madison Square Gardens with other artists such as Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Bobby Rydell. Ricky Nelson was releasing new music and he did not look the way he did in the 50s. He had long hair and dressed modern. He started off with some of his old songs the fans responded enthusiastically but then he played “Country Honk” a country version of the Rolling Stones “Honky Tonk Women.” That is when it went south.

Arlo Guthrie seems like the most laid-back guy in the world. His father was the great singer-songwriter, Woody Guthrie. Arlo wrote some very good songs but he didn’t write this one. The City of New Orleans was written by Steve Goodman. Steve did a great job writing this song. Its structure and imagery are fantastic.

After seeing the screenplay, Mayfield jumped into this movie project and was given complete creative freedom. He wrote the songs to suit the scenes, but he made sure they could stand on their own, telling the stories even without the visuals. “Superfly” works very well outside of the film. It was written by Curtis Mayfield. I saw this on the big screen a few years ago.

…