1970s – Page 5 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Fleetwood Mac – Kiln House …album review

When most folks hear the words Fleetwood Mac, they immediately think of the Rumours-era band. But rewind just a few years earlier and you’ll find a very different band, one still rooted in the blues, still searching for direction after the departure of founding guitarist Peter Green. Starting that transitional phase is the album Kiln House.

Fleetwood Mac was changing throughout the decade, but 1970s Kiln House was one of their strangest detours. After Peter Green’s sudden exit, the band found itself leaderless. Instead of breaking up, Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan took the lead and led the band through a melodic 1950s-inspired sound with that glorious echo. The entire album isn’t that, but it’s a heavy influence.

This is one of the most interesting bands ever. You can find a song in one of their many eras to satisfy anyone. This album was a departure from the Peter Green era. It didn’t have the intensity that Green brought, but it made up for it in some great songs. It was highly melodic with some complicated melodies, like Station Man (written by Danny Kirwan, Spencer, and John McVie); the later incarnation picked up on that song as well. The first song of this period I took notice of a few years ago was Jewel Eyed Judy from this album.

Jeremy Spencer adored that 1950s rock style, and This Is the Rock is one of his tributes to that era. Another obvious one is the song Buddy’s Song. They also had some nice straight-out rock on the album with Kirwan’s Tell Me All the Things You Do.

This album ties the eras together for me. You had straight out rock, a touch of blues, rockabilly, country, and some pop that foreshadowed what was to come. It is probably the most varied Fleetwood Mac album I’ve listened to. You can hear Fleetwood Mac going toward something new.

The album peaked at #69 on the Billboard Album Charts, #67 in Canada, and #39 in the UK. Christine McVie not only drew the cover, she also contributed to the album with backup vocals, keyboards, and even cover art. After this album, she became a full member.

This Is The Rock

This is the rockWe’ve been talking about (this is the rock)Yeah, this is the rockMakes you jump and shout (this is the rock)This is the rockThat knocks you right out

It makes you loseAll your troubles and caresYou’ll lose your bluesThey ain’t going nowhereThis is the rockThat hits you right there

Well you can get back on the roofAnd shout it all aroundGet up off your seats is what I’m putting downGet ’em all a hoppin’ to that crazy beatGet ’em all a boppin’ and a tappin’ their feet

‘Cause it’s the rockMoves you all day long (it’s the rock)Yeah, it’s the rockGettin’ everyone (it’s the rock)This is the rockIt really turns you on, woo

‘Cause it’s the rock (it’s the rock)Moves you all day long (it’s the rock)Yeah, yeah it’s the rockGettin’ everyone (it’s the rock)This is the rockIt really turns you on

Yeah, this is the rockIt really turns you onThis is the rockIt really turns you on

Well this is the rock

Kolchak: The Night Stalker – They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be…

September 27, 1974 Season 1 Episode 3

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

I’m really liking this series. It’s a shame it only lasted 1 season, but I can see why. It was so different for the time.

This episode isn’t as cut and dry as the others so far. Unlike the zombie, vampire, or werewolf stories that had clear monster traditions, here the writers took a sharp turn into sci-fi, giving us a story about mysterious cattle mutilations, vanishing zoo animals, and an unseen extraterrestrial presence wandering through Chicago. I have said before how this show influenced the X-Files, none more than this episode.

The episode begins with odd reports: animals in the zoo are vanishing, bones are found curiously stripped clean, and a trail of strange electromagnetic interference follows the incidents. Naturally, Carl Kolchak, with his nose for weird stories, senses a huge story. His digging leads him to discover that the culprit may not be human at all.

As always, Kolchak’s determined spirit and undeterred methods make for the typical conflict with authorities, but in this one, that conflict is much more subdued and believable as the police bosses are as much in the dark as he, and prone to benefit from what Kolchak learns on his own.

Written by Dennis Clark and directed by Allen Baron, the episode was praised for its eerie, almost minimalist approach. The producers intentionally avoided showing the alien much, knowing that the limited 1970s TV budget would probably betray the effect. In other words, they didn’t make the same mistake that Star Trek would make at times. The choice worked in their favor; what we don’t see is far scarier.

A funny subplot, as the hometown Cubs are battling the Boston Red Sox in the World Series (both would have to wait decades to end their respective droughts). Darren McGavin later cited this as one of his favorite episodes because it strayed from the usual monster formula and went for something more mysterious and unsettling.

The COMPLETE EPISODE

https://m.ok.ru/video/3288132749931

Derek and the Dominos – I Looked Away

This is the album’s opening track, and it doesn’t so much kick down the door as quietly invite you in. If you only know the Layla album for the title track, you might miss how the whole journey begins with this two-and-a-half-minute sigh of regret.

Unlike Clapton’s past work in Cream or Blind Faith, this wasn’t about ripping incredible riffs. The melody flows with a natural grace, closer to something from The Band than the psychedelic guitar Clapton had been known for.

Derek and the Dominos was a band formed in the spring of 1970 by guitarist and singer Eric Clapton, along with keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle, and drummer Jim Gordon. All four musicians also worked with George Harrison on his All Things Must Pass album. Clapton didn’t want his name in the title and had hoped to keep his involvement as low-key as possible.

The album peaked at #16 in 1970 on the Billboard 100. Although Derek and the Dominos were poised to record a follow-up album in 1971, because of tensions and drug abuse among the band members, along with the tragic death of Duane Allman later that year, this remained their sole album.

This song and Bell Bottom Blues are my two favorites off the album. Everyone knows Layla, but these other songs are great as well. Eric Clapton and Bobby Whitlock wrote this song. As with most of the songs on this album, Patti Harrison was the main inspiration.

I Looked Away

She took my hand
And tried to make me understand
That she would always be there,
But I looked away
And she ran away from me today;
I’m such a lonely man.
It came as no surprise to me
That she’d leave me in misery.
It seemed like only yesterday
She made a vow that she’d never walk away.
First Verse
And if it seemed a sin
To love another man’s woman, baby,
I guess I’ll keep on sinning
Loving her, Lord, till my very last day.
But I looked away
And she ran away from me today;
I’m such a lonely man.

Bill Withers – Lean On Me

I played this single so much when I was around 7 years old. I wore it out and know every nuance of this song. Just a great vocal by Withers on this. The simple piano riff makes this song so powerful to me. Still one of my favorite songs. Sometimes less is better.

It’s been covered by many other artists, but this is my go-to version. Bill Withers wrote this song after he left his childhood town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, to live in Los Angeles in a poor section of town. Members of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band were used on the recording.

Producer Ray Jackson (who doubled as the keyboard player) and engineer Bob Potter kept the recording dry and uncluttered. No strings, no brass, no unnecessary sweetening. Just voice, piano, bass, drums, and a touch of guitar. It’s like Bill is in your living room singing to you.

What’s remarkable is how this song has transcended its era. It’s been sung at weddings, funerals, movies, and classrooms. It’s part of the American pop culture now, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with songs such as Amazing Grace and This Land Is Your Land.

The musicians on this recording were Ray Jackson, Benorce Blackmon, Melvin Dunlap, and James Gadson. Some of these musicians were in The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #18 in the UK, and #20 in Canada in 1972.

Bill Withers: “This was my second album, so I could afford to buy myself a little Wurlitzer electric piano. So I bought a little piano and I was sitting there just running my fingers up and down the piano. In the course of doing the music, that phrase crossed my mind, so then you go back and say, ‘OK, I like the way that phrase, Lean On Me, sounds with this song.’ So you go back and say, ‘How do I arrive at this as a conclusion to a statement? What would I say that would cause me to say Lean On Me?’ At that point, it’s between you and your actual feelings, you and your morals and what you’re really like. You probably do more thinking about it after it’s done.”

Lean On Me

Sometimes in our lives we all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there’s always tomorrow

Lean on me, when you’re not strong
And I’ll be your friend
I’ll help you carry on
For it won’t be long
‘Til I’m gonna need
Somebody to lean on

Please swallow your pride
If I have faith you need to borrow
For no one can fill those of your needs
That you won’t let show

You just call on me brother, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that you’ll understand
We all need somebody to lean on

Lean on me, when you’re not strong
And I’ll be your friend
I’ll help you carry on
For it won’t be long
‘Til I’m gonna need
Somebody to lean on

You just call on me brother, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that you’ll understand
We all need somebody to lean on

If there is a load you have to bear
That you can’t carry
I’m right up the road
I’ll share your load

If you just call me (call me)
If you need a friend (call me) call me uh huh(call me) if you need a friend (call me)
If you ever need a friend (call me)
Call me (call me) call me (call me) call me
(Call me) call me (call me) if you need a friend
(Call me) call me (call me) call me (call me) call me (call me) call me (call me)

Kolchak: The Night Stalker – Zombie

September 20, 1974 Season 1 Episode 2

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This episode was written by David Chase, yes, the same David Chase who would go on to create The Sopranos; the script is one of the tightest of the entire run. You can already see Chase’s fascination with mobsters, moral issues, and revenge from beyond the grave.

In the first two movies and the first episode, we have been visiting different cities in each one. This time, it opens with a string of mob-related murders and he is still in Chicago. At first, the killings look like standard gangland executions, but Kolchak quickly uncovers that something darker is at play: the mob has wronged a Haitian family, and in retaliation, a dead man has been raised from the grave to exact revenge.

This episode leans more on pure horror than the others. Where the pilot movies (The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler) established Kolchak’s mix of noir and horror, The Zombie proved the series could have frights. The scenes of the zombie slowly rising in the mortuary are classic TV horror, low budget, yes, but brilliantly lit and paced.

When this was aired, blaxploitation movies were all the rage, and this does borrow some from them. One actor in this one was Antonio Fargas, who would later become widely known to television audiences as restaurant owner and informant Huggy Bear on Starsky & Hutch.

In a comedy subplot, Vincenzo wants Kolchak to show an executive’s niece from New York the ropes of journalism. Little does she know that it will involve seeing the mangled corpses of mob enforcers lying in the street. This was creepy, moody, and more disturbing than network TV usually allowed in the mid-1970s. A must-watch for fans of horror television.

Well, I had found a full episode of this one, but they took it down. Most of them I will be able to supply, but I struck out on this one. If any of you find it, please tell me.

Here is a video of someone talking about the show, but it plays a lot of the show. I would put my version here, but I know I would violate some copyright.

Kolchak: The Night Stalker – The Ripper

September 13, 1974 Season 1 Episode 1

To view our current progress, click here for a list of episodes.

What better way to kick this series off than by dragging one of history’s most infamous villains out of the fog and dropping him right in 1970s Chicago? The pilot episode, The Ripper, set the tone for the whole series: a mix of supernatural, dark humor, and the persistence of Mr. Carl Kolchak.

Carl Kolchak, now in Chicago working for INS (International News Service) with his old boss Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland), is still involved in supernatural cases. This first episode deals with a rash of murders that have all the trademarks of the London murderer, Jack the Ripper. It has to be a copycat killer, right? Don’t ever count anything out in this series.

The direction and atmosphere are strong here, with nighttime chases through shadowy alleys, and grim murders are more suggestion rather than gore. It’s shot in a way that feels both television-tight and surprisingly cinematic; it shows how much the show did with a limited budget. The Ripper character himself is handled with restraint, making him scarier: he’s often seen in fleeting glimpses, an unstoppable figure who seems both human and otherworldly.

This is one of the best examples of why this show became such a cult classic. It combines a timeless horror with Kolchak’s pursuit of the truth, all wrapped in that 1970s mix of camp and creepiness. That’s the thing about this show: it can be very creepy. While some of the effects may feel dated today, it still works; the suspense and Darren McGavin’s performance more than carry it. For fans of horror television, this episode remains a must-watch, a great marriage of folklore and late-night chills.

*Sorry, I’m late on this post, but work was chaotic this week and looks to be for a while. So, I’ll probably do this post on Fridays instead. I’m sorry about changing it mid-stream, but Fridays will be the best day.

The entire episode is in the link below. It’s on Daily Motion, and if I embed it, it plays automatically and will drive people crazy when they open their browser.

Go to THIS LINK.

Genesis – I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)

Turn on the lava lamps and sit back and relax to some music that has sitar sounds in it, and I’m always up for sitar. When you think of Genesis in the mid-1970s, you don’t immediately picture them as a singles band like the later incarnation. This was the Peter Gabriel era, long concept pieces that made up an album. However, as we will see, not everything was that simple.

This was on their 1973 album Selling England by the Pound, a quirky song that became their first charting single in the UK. The song is only about four minutes long (short by Genesis standards at the time), and it grooves along nicely. The band was almost embarrassed by a hit. Gabriel joked in later interviews that it was Genesis goes Top of the Pops, but the song showed that their long studio work could deliver something catchy and not be super long.

The lineup was Peter Gabriel (vocals, flute), Steve Hackett (guitars), Tony Banks (keyboards), Mike Rutherford (bass/guitars), and Phil Collins (drums/vocals). They were coming off the success of their last album Foxtrot, and there was pressure from their record company to deliver something more commercially accessible without ditching their progressive roots. That is a lot harder than it sounds. The sessions were long and argumentative. Genesis were perfectionists, which paid off with this album.

The song peaked at #21 on the UK Charts in 1974. The album Selling England by the Pound peaked at #3 on the UK Charts and #70 on the Billboard Album Charts. For me, it’s one of those tracks that feels like a bridge, still theatrical but also radio-friendly.

I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)

It’s one o’clock and time for lunch,When the sun beats down and I lie on the benchI can always hear them talk

There’s always been Ethel:“Jacob, wake up! You’ve got to tidy your room now.”And then Mister Lewis:“Isn’t it time that he was out on his own?”Over the garden wall, two little lovebirds – cuckoo to you!Keep them mowing blades sharp…

I know what I like, and I like what I know;getting better in your wardrobe, stepping one beyond your show

Sunday night, Mr Farmer called, said:“Listen son, you’re wasting your time; there’s a future for youin the fire escape trade. Come up to town!”But I remebered a voice from the past;“Gambling only pays when you’re winning”– I had to thank old Miss Mort for schooling a failureKeep them mowing blades sharp…

I know what I like, and I like what I know;getting better in your wardrobe, stepping one beyond your show

When the sun beats down and I lie on the bench,I can always hear them talk.Me, I’m just a lawnmower – you can tell me by the way I walk

…

The Night Strangler …1973 film

This is the second TV movie about Kolchak. This time, Kolchak is run out of Vegas, still unemployed and in that beat-up suit and straw hat, and somehow still covering the weirdest stories on earth. He lands in Seattle, and right on cue, women start turning up strangled in the city’s underground ruins. Their corpses? Bone dry. No blood. No explanation. Déjà vu, but not quite. I’m not going to give away what it was, but it wasn’t what you expected.

It’s a clever move, leaving Vegas and swapping it for Seattle’s underbelly. Parts of 19th-century buildings were left after the great Seattle fire of 1889. The movie makes excellent use of these underground tunnels, where Victorian storefronts and old streets sit buried beneath the modern city. The atmosphere here is claustrophobic and perfect for a monster that hides in plain sight.

The Night Strangler was the follow-up that proved Kolchak wasn’t a one-hit wonder. Dan Curtis, who had already scared TV audiences with Dark Shadows, stepped in to direct again, and Carl Kolchak had room to breathe and dig into another supernatural mystery. Also, the humor intertwined in this movie keeps it moving at a good pace.

Darren McGavin is, once again, the glue that holds the whole thing together. His Kolchak is pushy, sloppy, and never takes “no comment” for an answer. Every scene is like a tennis match between his energy and Simon Oakland’s rage as editor Tony Vincenzo. Honestly, those two could’ve been dropped into a sitcom about running a failing Chicago newspaper, and it still would’ve been gold.

While The Night Strangler didn’t quite capture the lightning-in-a-bottle impact of the original Night Stalker, it proved there was more than enough life in this story to warrant more. The movie’s success led directly to the short-lived but cult-favorite TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker in 1974. Looking back, The Night Strangler remains a strong second chapter anchored by McGavin’s great performance.

The Full Movie

Where is…the hanging letter M from the Mary Tyler Moore Show?

I haven’t done one of these posts in a long time. I have the others linked at the bottom, like the Mustang from Bullitt, the Partridge Family Bus, the Time Machine from The Time Machine 1960 movie, etc. I love finding out what happened to different props.

I love movie and TV show props, especially the shows I grew up with. If I had the money, I would have a warehouse full of props. This is one of the first props I remember seeing. I grew up on Mary Tyler Moore. She was part of the CBS Saturday night lineup that was considered one of the best nights for television in history.

I loved Mary’s first apartment, where she lived downstairs from Rhoda Morgenstern. I always noticed a letter M hanging on the wall. Later in the show, when Mary moved to another apartment, she was shown hanging it up in her new place. It was one of the most recognizable props on television.

Mary Tyler Moore took the prop home and had it for years. She said she accidentally broke it years ago, but she repaired it and still had it when she passed in 2017. It was just sold this year, as were a lot of her personal items. It was sold to a private owner for $35,200.

Front…Back

…

Peter Gabriel – D.I.Y.

I didn’t start really finding out about Gabriel until reading my fellow bloggers. I was burnt out on many of his ’80s hits because MTV loved the man and played them non-stop. Now that I’m finding his seventies catalog, I’m really liking what I’ve been hearing. It’s also strange for me to be listening to Genesis without Phil Collins singing a 3 minute hit.

Peter Gabriel never made it easy for himself or his listeners. While most artists who left huge bands tried to either replicate the formula or tear it down brick by brick, Gabriel decided he was going to build a whole new musical landscape for himself. His listeners would have to catch up with him. Other artists have done some of this, but I’m not sure to the extent Gabriel did. He named his first four albums Peter Gabriel. This was off his second album, Peter Gabriel, known as Gabriel 2: Scratch.

What I like about this song is that it’s not polished to death. It sounds natural and not all studio-created. That small upward musical run he does in this song keeps the energy up and is a great hook. He is known for his theatrical prog rockers, but during this period, he was trying something a little different, and it worked. A big part of the feel of this album came from producer Robert Fripp, the man behind King Crimson. Fripp wasn’t a conventional producer like George Martin. He encouraged Gabriel to take off the polish and to go toward the texture and atmosphere.

Fripp kept the sessions lean and also tense, recording in the Netherlands at Relight Studios. The musicians, Tony Levin on bass, Jerry Marotta on drums, and Larry Fast on synths, were said to be more collaborators than sidemen. They weren’t there to sweeten the songs; they were there to challenge them, to throw odd rhythms into the mix. Gabriel wanted friction, and he got it. The album didn’t chart as high as his later work, but it set the blueprint for the “trying new things” approach that defined his career.

The album peaked at #10 in the UK, #46 in Canada, #45 on the Billboard Album Charts, and #24 in New Zealand in 1978.

D.I.Y

D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y

Don’t tell me what I will do, ’cause I won’t
Don’t tell me to believe in you, ’cause I don’t
Be on your guard, better hostile and hard, don’t risk affection
Like flesh to the bone in the no-go zone
You’re still looking for the resurrection
Come up to me with your “What did you say?”
And I’ll tell you, straight in the eye, hey!

D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y. (Do it yourself!)
D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y

Everyone wants to be what he not, what he not
Nobody happy with what he got, what he got
You function like a dummy with a new ventriloquist
Can you say nothing yourself?
Hanging like a thriller on the final twist
Is it true you’re getting stuck on the shelf?
Come up to me with your “What did you say?”
And I’ll tell you, straight in the eye, hey

D.I.Y
Do it yourself
D.I.Y
Do it yourself
D.I.Y
Do it yourself
D.I.Y
Do it yourself

When things get so big, I don’t trust them at all
You want some control, you’ve got to keep it small, hey

D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y

Bad Company – Movin On

Sometimes…I need some arena rock; this is one of those times. If you were a long-haired kid in 1974, flipping through the FM dial in a Chevelle or Mustang with the windows down, odds are this song was the reason for a speeding ticket. This is a straight-ahead blues-rocker that sounds like it was born on a plane, train, and an automobile. The story of many rockers in the 1970s.

Bad Company cut their self-titled debut album at Headley Grange in November 1973, using Ronnie Lane’s Mobile Studio. If that sounds familiar, it’s because Led Zeppelin recorded many of their early seventies albums in the same manor house. There was something about that place that produced a sound that you just can’t manufacture in a sterile studio. Mick Ralphs wrote this song and brought it over from his days in his former band, Mott the Hoople. It was the perfect fit for Paul Rodger’s voice.

Led Zeppelin’s new record label Swan Song got off to a smashing start. Bad Company was the first album released on the new label, followed by Physical Graffiti a few months later. Bad Company was their most commercially successful signing with the label, which included Dave Edmunds, Maggie Bell, The Pretty Things, Detective, and others. The label folded soon after John Bonham’s passing. Swan Song exists now just for reissues.

The 1974 album was a smash; it peaked at #1 on the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, #3 in the UK, and #27 in New Zealand. This single peaked at #19 on the Billboard 100 and #30 in Canada.

Movin’ On
I get up in the morning and it’s just another day
Pack up my belongings, I’ve got to get away
Jump into a taxi and the time is gettin’ tight
I got to keep on movin’ I got a show tonight

And I’m movin’ on, movin’ on from town to town
Movin’ on, baby, never seem to touch the ground

I check in to the ticket desk I have an hour to go
Headin’ for the boarding gate I’m feelin’ pretty low
Fifteen minutes later I’m sittin’ on my plane
Fastening my safety belt I’m takin’ off again

And I’m movin’ on, movin’ on from town to town
Moving on, baby, yeah I’m never touching the ground

Movin’ on, movin’ on from town to town
Movin’ on, I can’t seem to stop now

Movin’
Movin’ on

I got to move on, move on from town to town
I got to move on
And I never seem to slow me down

I’m movin’ on, movin’ on from town to town

I never seem to slow down

Everyday of my life I’m moving on

Freddy Fender – The Rains Came

I was talking to a friend of mine named Greg, who lived in Texas for around 10 years. We were talking about Texas music, and I brought up Freddie Fender. I remember he told me that he met him in Nashville around 1987 when he was around 15.

He saw Freddy and said, “Hey Freddy, I love your music.” Fender was not only polite, but he went over to Greg and called him “little one” because he was so small, and he could not believe Greg was a fan, being that young. He said Fender was such a nice person and thanked him for being a fan. That always stuck with me about Fender.

Fender was one of the many country artists I heard growing up. Wasted Days and Wasted Nights was the song by Fender that I remember the most, and I’ve found that he is much deeper than that. If you’ve only ever dipped into Freddy Fender through the big radio hits, this is a good one to chase down.

This song rides a rail of half Tex-Mex and half Nashville. It was written by Huey Meaux and came out in 1962. A couple of weeks ago, while posting about the Sir Douglas Quintet, I heard this song, and I knew I had heard it before, and this is the version I remember. The song has been covered by many artists over the years, including Ripp Tide, Alvin Crow, Jimmie Vaughan, Doug Kershaw, and B.J. Thomas.

This song peaked at #4 on the Billboard Country Charts and #1 in Canada in 1976. The song was on his album Rock ‘n’ Country that peaked at #3 on the Billboard Country Charts.

Freddy had three successful careers, as a pop star in the late 50’s, a country pop star in the 70’s, and a member of the Texas Tornados and Los Super 7 in the 90’s.

The Rains Came

The rain keeps falling
Tears keep coming down
I can’t find my baby
I wonder she left town

Rain rain rain rain
I’d like to see my girl again
She broke my heart in two
And caused me so much pain

Rain rain rain rain
My pillow’s soaking wet
I can’t find her in the morning
She’s not home yet

The rain keeps falling
Tears keep coming down
I couldn’t find my darling
I wonder she left town

Rain rain rain rain
My pillow’s soaking wet
Where is she in the morning
She’s not home yet

Rain rain rain rain
Rain rain rain rain
Rain rain rain rain

The Night Stalker … 1972 Film

Before we dive into the TV show, we will cover the two movies that lead up to Season 1. You don’t often see an actor embody a character like Darren McGavin; he IS Carl Kolchak.

Alright, let’s dim the lights, cue up some eerie harpsichord, and head back to 1972, when ABC aired a made-for-TV movie that changed the whole game for supernatural thrillers on television. I’ve seen this described as a noir-horror movie, and that hits the mark. The movie moves at a good pace. You see action right away, and the story doesn’t stall. Mixed in with the thrills is the humor of Kolchak, and that mixes well in the two movies and the TV series.

People were dropping all over Las Vegas with bite marks and loss of blood. Carl Kolchak was a rumpled shirt reporter who would not give up on the truth. He finds clues, and the police shoo him away. He is a thorn in their side, and his boss, Tony Vincenzo, played by Simon Oakland, suffers daily. Although Kolchak is telling the truth, Vincenzo is very hesitant to OK stories to print about a real vampire.

The thing about The Night Stalker is it hasn’t lost its punch. The pacing is different from modern movies, but with the seedy Vegas strip, the sterile hospital halls, and the dusty police files, it feels real. And because it feels real, when the vampire strikes, it’s genuinely unsettling. It’s not gothic castles and bats flapping in the fog. It’s neon lights and the smell of asphalt in the air. That contrast is what makes the horror work.

Carol Lynley plays Kolchak’s girlfriend, and I remember her from the Poseidon Adventure. Claude Akins and Larry Linville are also featured in this movie. This is not your typical TV movie; its quality was better than many horror movies I’ve seen around that time. Kolchak’s character draws you in. It is as if he walked in from a 1940s noir movie.

When The Night Stalker aired on January 11, 1972, it pulled in a staggering 48 share of the audience, which translates to more than half of all TVs in America being tuned to McGavin chasing a vampire around Vegas. It became the most-watched TV movie up to that point. People weren’t used to seeing something this dark and this scary on their living room screens.

Ry Cooder – Do Re Mi

California is the garden of edenIt’s a paradise to live in or seeBut believe it or notYou won’t find it so hotIf you ain’t got the do re mi

Guitar player extraordinaire Ry Cooder… everything he plays has feeling and soul. This song just rolls and doesn’t skip a beat. I want to thank Clive for bringing Ry Cooder up a month or so ago, before I posted another Cooder song. I usually don’t post songs by the same artist so close together, but I made an exception in this case.

Cooder is an excellent musician and one of the great slide players of our time. He contributed to the Rolling Stones’ albums Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers and was briefly considered as a replacement for Brian Jones. Some say he wrote the riff to “Honky Tonk Woman.”

The song was written by Woody Guthrie as a warning to the Okie dreamers heading west during the Great Depression. It’s a cautionary folk tale wrapped in wit. But when Ry Cooder tackles it on his 1970 self-titled debut album, he swaps Woody’s acoustic for a blues groove that you won’t forget.

I’ve talked about guitar tone here before, and this is great. It moans. It sings. It talks back. He plays like he’s got some blues legends in his hand. Each lick feels like it was pulled straight from the dirt.

What makes Cooder’s take so great isn’t just the craftsmanship, it’s the context. Coming out in 1970, on the heels of the Nixon unease and the Vietnam burnout, Ry drags this Depression-era ballad into a new kind of storm.

Do Re Mi

Lots of folks back east they sayLeaving home most every dayBeating the hot old dusty wayTo the California line

Across the desert sands they rollGetting out of that old dust bowlThink they’re coming to a sugar bowlBut here’s what they find

Police at the port of entry sayYou’re number fourteen thousand for today

Hey, if you ain’t got the do re mi, boyIf you ain’t got the do re miWell, you better go back to beautiful TexasOklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee

California is the garden of edenIt’s a paradise to live in or seeBut believe it or notYou won’t find it so hotIf you ain’t got the do re mi

You want to buy a home or a farmThat can’t do nobody harmTake your vacation by mountains or seaDon’t swap your old cow for a carYou better stay right where you areBetter take this little tip from me

Well, I look through the want ads every dayThe headlines in the papers always say

Hey, if you ain’t got the do re mi, boyIf you ain’t got the do re mi…

California is the garden of edenIt’s a paradise to live in or seeBut believe it or notYou won’t find it so hotIf you ain’t got the do re mi

Modern Lovers – Roadrunner

I posted this song, covered by Greg Kihn a while back.

The simplicity is what gets me about this song. It reminds me a little of the Velvet Underground in that way. Jonathan Richman, who wrote the song, had seen the VU many times, and this was influenced by the Underground song Sister Ray. John Cale produced the 1972 version.

Jonathan Richman grew up in Natick, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. As a teenager in the mid-60s, he became obsessed with The Velvet Underground. He wasn’t just a fan; he followed them around New York City, crashing on couches, walking down the same streets Lou Reed walked. He took their sound and feel and made something a little brighter.

It was first recorded in 1972 with John Cale producing, but it would be recorded with different producers through the years. Roadrunner exists in multiple versions, some faster, some longer, some even sloppier, and it works in each version.

Richman takes the Velvet Underground’s art style and replaces it with suburbia. He created a song that manages to be a blend of punk, power pop, and garage rock all at once. It’s a great song to blast out of your windows while driving down the road. Richman took the Chuck Berry/Springsteen dream of a car equaling freedom and ran with it.

Here are two versions of the song. I like the original 1972 the best.

Roadrunner

Roadrunner, roadrunnerGoing faster miles an hourGonna drive past the Stop ‘n’ ShopWith the radio onI’m in love with MassachusettsAnd the neon when it’s cold outsideAnd the highway when it’s late at nightGot the radio onI’m like the roadrunner

AlrightI’m in love with modern moonlight128 when it’s dark outsideI’m in love with MassachusettsI’m in love with the radio onIt helps me from being alone late at nightHelps me from being lonely late at nightI don’t feel so bad now in the carDon’t feel so alone, got the radio onLike the roadrunnerThat’s right

Said welcome to the spirit of 1956Patient in the bushes next to ’57The highway is your girlfriend as you go by quickSuburban trees, suburban speedAnd it smells like heaven, I sayRoadrunner onceRoadrunner twiceI’m in love with rock and roll and I’ll be out all nightRoadrunnerThat’s right

Well nowRoadrunner, roadrunnerGoing faster miles an hourGonna drive to the Stop ‘n’ ShopWith the radio on at nightAnd me in love with modern moonlightMe in love with modern rock & rollModern girls and modern rock & rollDon’t feel so alone, got the radio onLike the roadrunnerO.K. now you sing Modern Lovers

I got the AM(Radio on!)Got the car, got the AM(Radio on!)Got the AM sound, got the(Radio on!)Got the rockin’ modern neon sound(Radio on!)I got the car from Massachusetts, got the(Radio on!)I got the power of Massachusetts when it’s late at night(Radio on!)I got the modern sounds of modern MassachusettsI’ve got the world, got the turnpike, got theI’ve got the, got the power of the AMGot the, late at night, hit ’em wide, rock & roll late at nightThe factories and the auto signs got the power of modern soundsAlright

Right, bye bye!

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