InternetFM.com

Hand Curated Radio

You are here: Home / Archives for Eric Berman

Eric Berman

Song Of The Day – “Saturday In The Park” by Chicago – 4th Of July Playlist

by

ChicagoVamerican-flag

 

 

 

 

 

Eric Berman’s ultimate 4th Of July playlist:

  1. “This Land Is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie
  2. “America The Beautiful” by Ray Charles
  3. “Freedom” by Richie Havens
  4. “Saturday In The Park” by Chicago
  5. “One Time One Night” by Los Lobos
  6. “Pink Houses” by John Mellencamp
  7. “Rockin’ In The Free World” by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
  8. “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty
  9. “4th Of July” by X
  10. “4th Of July” by Aimee Mann
  11. “4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) – Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
  12. “Independence Day” – Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
  13. “Don’t Pull It Down” from the Broadway Musical Hair
  14. “America” – by Chita Rivera and Company, from the Original Soundtrack of West Side Story
  15. “Young Americans” by David Bowie
  16. “America” by Neil Diamond
  17. “American Tune” by Paul Simon
  18. “A Change Is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke
  19. “American Trilogy” by Elvis Presley
  20.  “Ragged Old Flag” by Johnny Cash
  21.  “The Star Spangled Banner” by Jimi Hendrix

Now add your tune to the list and publish on your Facebook feed…Happy 4th Of July!

 

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Soul Kiss” by Joe Jackson

by

45-adapter-logo2JoeJacksonBigWorld

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Soul Kiss” by Joe Jackson

For an artist as ornery as Joe Jackson was on stage berating his audiences regularly; he did come out with some of the sweetest and most articulate music of his time.

While critics were rushing to compare Elvis Costello to Irving Berlin and Cole Porter, they kind of missed out on the real carrier of their torch in Joe Jackson. The Big World album was conceived on stage and recorded in a controlled live environment in front of audiences.

After the three-sided, 2 record set came out in 1986, he took to the road to promote it, hence this video. “Soul Kiss” is one of his funkiest songs, with a piano part that rivals anything Elton John ever came up with. The band on this track consisted of Joe Jackson on piano and vocals, Vinnie Zummo on guitar, Rick Ford on bass and Gary Burke on drums.

Twenty-seven years later, the music resonates and hasn’t dated at all. Indeed, it is still a Big World.

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “State Trooper” by Bruce Springsteen

by

45-adapter-logo2brucespringsteennebraska

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “State Trooper” by Bruce Springsteen

The guttural howls that he lets out at the end of this psychobilly classic mixed with its pleading paranoid lyrics conjures the mood of pure dread…and with Bruce Springsteen’s sixth album, it was all about mood.

Hot on the heels of The River, his biggest album yet from 1980, and after several years on the road with The E Street Band touring to support it, Springsteen found himself back at home in Colts Neck, NJ with some restless free time on his hand and lots of bummer songs rattling around his brain.

A change of work habits was in the air as well. Rather than writing songs in the studio with the band waiting around as he had done up to this point resulting in albums taking years to complete, Springsteen called upon his engineer friend Mike Batlin to set up a primitive home studio so he could create demos of his new set of songs to be presented to the band in the studio. Springsteen worked fast at home and over a period of few days at the end of 1981, he captured fourteen new songs on his very basic Tascam 4-Track cassette recorder including early versions of songs that wouldn’t see the light of day for several years to come including “Born In The USA,” “Pink Cadillac” and “Working On The Highway” (then titled “Child Bride”).

Springsteen proceeded to carry the cassette of his stark new songs around with him for several weeks before making a copy and sending it to his manager, Jon Landau, who was blown away by not only the darkness and depth of the material, but the change of musical direction he heard.

Upon reconvening in the studio with the E Streeters to work up full band versions of the songs, it became evident that the band couldn’t capture the dark, desolate feeling that these songs needed. So a remixed version of the “demo” cassette that Springsteen recorded at home literally became his next record.

Once the bigwigs at Columbia Records got it in their head that they weren’t going to be releasing another blockbuster Springsteen record as the follow-up to The River, they devised a laid-back promotional campaign to suit the material. Springsteen fans were confused with the release of Nebraska in 1982, but the critics were rightfully blown away by its austere grandeur, hailing the record as one of his best…which it, indeed, still is.

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Head Over Heels” by Tears For Fears

by

45-adapter-logo2tears 4

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Head Over Heels” by Tears For Fears

There never was a “sophomore slump” for the duo of Roland Orzabel and Curt Smith, the ‘80s synth-pop duo better known to the world as Tears For Fears. While The Hurting, their debut album topped the charts in their native UK, it was their second album Songs From The Big Chair that did the trick around the rest of the world.

The album’s title was a reference to Sybil , a TV movie that told the story of a child with multiple personality disorder who sought solace in the big chair of her psychiatrist’s office. Chair was a multi-platinum success that spawned several hit singles including the two U.S. chart-toppers “Shout” and “Everybody Wants To Rule The World,” plus “Mother’s Talk” and today’s Song Of The Day and the albums best and most melodic track.

The duo stayed together for one more album, the Beatle-esque The Seeds Of Love (featuring the huge hit “Sowing The Seeds Of Love”) before calling it quits, although Orzabel continued to release albums under the Tears For Fears moniker well into the 1990s.

The second version of Tears For Fears, featuring Alan Griffiths and Tim Palmer, released several albums that did well overseas, but tanked in the states. The duo reunited and released the much underrated Everybody Loves A Happy Ending album in 2005, and joined Spandau Ballet on the road for a tour in 2010. The production values of the mid-1980s (tinny electronic drum sounds, overpowering synth washes) have rendered some of their music somewhat dated, but the current Synth Pop revival led by groups like Divine Fits and STRFKR has happily led me to rediscover some of the music of the era, and enjoy it anew.

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Lemmings Lament” by National Lampoon

by

45-adapter-logo2lemmings

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Lemmings Lament” by National Lampoon

“Welcome to the Woodshuck Memorial Festival: Three Days Of Peace, Love And Death!”

So began one of the funniest and spot-on parodies of the Woodstock generation with this announcement made by none other than John Belushi. Lemmings was performed as a stage show by National Lampoon in 1973, and not only launched the career of Belushi, but also introduced many of us to Chevy Chase, Tony Hendra and Christopher Guest.

The show opened at the Village Gate, in New York City, on January 25, 1973, and ran for 350 performances. It included a then-unknown John Belushi performing a parody of Joe Cocker on the song “Lonely At The Bottom” (with fellow Lampooner Paul Jacobs taking on the part of Leon Russell). Belushi’s Cocker would reach a much wider audience on Saturday Night Live several years later.

Other parodies included “Highway Toes” performed by Christopher Guest (This Is Spinal Tap, Best In Show, Waiting For Guffman and A Mighty Wind) taking on James Taylor, “Positively Wall Street” also by Guest, this time as Bob Dylan and “Pizza Man,” a send up of ‘50s Rock and Roll hilariously performed by Alice Playton. Today’s Song Of the Day, “Lemming Lament” was performed by Paul Jacobs, Christopher Guest, Alice Playton and John Belushi, billed as Freud, Marx, Engels and Jung, taking the piss out of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

I’ve been a fan of this album since it came out in 1973, but I never knew of the existence of a filmed performance that was released on VHS many years ago. Of course, it is now out of print on video again, but it turns up in its entirety on YouTube every so often.

The Lemmings album was not National Lampoon’s first foray into musical parody. They released the album Radio Dinner the year before which also featured Christopher Guest and Tony Hendra (who does a great John Lennon on “Magical Misery Tour”), along with SNL alum Michael O’Donoghue and Melissa Manchester. The Lampoon would go to the well again in 1975, with the album Goodbye Pop featuring Christopher Guest, Paul Jacobs, Paul Shaffer, and future SNL alum Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner.

John Belushi as the Woodshuck announcer parodying an actual Woodstock announcement: “There isn’t enough food to go around. There just isn’t enough food. So remember, the man next to you is your dinner.” Classic…all the way!

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Cat’s Squirrel” by Cream

by

45-adapter-logo2cream-fresh-cream

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Cat’s Squirrel” by Cream

“All right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right…all right, all right, all right, all right.”

That pretty much sums up the lyrical content of this scorcher from Cream’s 1966 debut album, Fresh Cream. And for my money, the band’s studio recordings are far more preferable than their live workouts featuring endless jamming extended to maddening proportions.

While some were spray painting the buildings of England with proclamations that Eric Clapton was God, the real star of the show was bassist Jack Bruce. Not only was Bruce the songwriter behind some of the group’s biggest hits, but it was his voice that defined the group’s sound. And one would be hard-pressed not to mention Ginger Baker here as well for his undeniable contributions on drums.

And as for Clapton, he’s been literally coasting on the stellar guitar work he laid down with this group and solo since the late ’70s. Enjoy your retirement and thanks for the memories.

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – Selections from “Popshopping Volume 1” by Various Artists

by

45-adapter-logo2popshopping

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – Selections from “Popshopping Volume 1” by Various Artists

Popshopping is a compilation of German TV commercial production music from the 1960s and 1970s. Compilation producers Sir D’Oeuvre and Senor 45 collected these tracks from flexi discs and dusty TV production tape vaults.

Many may consider this music nothing more than a bunch of blaring, dated background noise, but to others (including me), this is highly stylized and inventive music created by some of Germany’s finest composers including Christian Bruhn, Max Meir-Maltez, Klaus Wuestoff, Gert Wilden and Johnny Teupen.

Today’s Song Of The Day includes Christian Bruhn’s music for Ford Capri, Ford Taurus and “Komm In Fahrt” for Hansa-Pils commercials (all 1973), Klaus Wuesthoff’s “Swing A Little, Kim A Little” (1967), Klaus Doldinger’s “Wild Freshness” (1970) and Max Meir-Maltez’s music for Moulinex (1972). All of the tracks collected here are exceedingly groovy, as is the companion compilation to this one, Popshopping Volume 2!

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Fight The Power” by Public Enemy

by

45-adapter-logo2publicenemy

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Fight The Power” by Public Enemy

This track is ground zero in all of hip hop and perhaps the most in your face rap single of all time! While Public Enemy are no doubt the most influential rap group of all time, they were also the most innovative with their sampling and dynamic backing tracks provided by brothers Hank and Keith Shocklee, also known as The Bomb Squad.

The Shocklee brothers had their own mobile DJ business called Spectrum City DJs who also counted Professor Griff amongst its employees. Carlton Ridenhour, also known as Chuck D, was an aspiring graphic designer who offered to design some posters for the Spectrum City crew while he was a radio DJ at WBAU, the Adelphi College radio station. At one point, he also told them he could emcee, and along with another WBAU regular, Flavor Flav (William Drayton Jr.), and local DJ, Terminator X (Norman Rogers), Public Enemy was born.

Right from the start, PE’s sound was a mix of the serious brought out by Chuck D’s politically charged topical messages cooled off by the somewhat slacker presence of D’s amiable sidekick Flavor Flav, all supported by the hyper-charged backing tracks of The Bomb Squad.

It was through WBAU program director Bill Stephney that they came to the attention of producer Rick Rubin who signed them to his Def Jam record label and released their first album Yo! Bum Rush The Show in 1987. The group followed that record with the earth shattering It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, which was the first rap album to top the Village Voice’s Pazz and Jop Poll in 1988.

This song comes from their no less essential third release Fear Of A Black Planet from 1990 and it later turned up as the centerpiece of the “Spike Lee joint” Do The Right Thing. Other singles on this album included “Welcome To The Terrordome” and “911 Is A Joke” in which, Flavor Flav and company take on the response times of 911 in black neighborhoods.

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Reincarnation Of A Lovebird” by Charles Mingus

by

45-adapter-logo2charlesmingus

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Reincarnation Of A Lovebird” by Charles Mingus

You can almost see the flight of the bird in question during the introduction of this masterwork by bassist Charles Mingus.

However, this bird is actually Charlie Parker, with whom Mingus performed on many occasions and to whom this song is dedicated. In Mingus’ own words: “I wouldn’t say I set out to write a piece on Bird. I knew it was a mournful thing when I was writing it. Suddenly I realize it was Bird. […] It’s mainly about my misunderstanding of Bird […] In one way, the work isn’t like him. It’s built on long lines and most of his pieces were short lines. But it’s my feeling about Bird. I felt like crying when I wrote it.” (Nat Hentoff from The Clown liner notes)

Mingus was a master at orchestral Jazz in the same category as Duke Ellington, but where Ellington was always tasteful and pleasing; Mingus’ M-O was more challenging and deeply emotional, with a penchant for the jagged and gnarly alongside the tuneful and lovely. And with Dannie Richmond on drums to complete the rhythm section, Mingus could certainly swing, as evidenced on this classic from the 1957 album The Clown. The lineup on this track includes Shafi Hadi (aka Curtis Porter) on alto and tenor saxophone, Jimmy Knepper on trombone, Wade Legge on piano and Dannie Richmond on drums.

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Easy Come Easy Go” by Cass Elliot

by

45-adapter-logo2CassElliot

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Easy Come Easy Go” by Cass Elliot

Only in the 1960s could someone as robust as Cass Elliot become an equally big star. Sure, she had talent to burn and a set of unrivalled pipes, but in this day of the thinner than thin in showbiz, she just would not have stood a chance…and a shame it would have been indeed.

The former Ellen Cohen was born in Maryland and got her start as part of the folk trio, The Big Three along with James Hendricks, whom she was married to for a time in an effort for him to avoid the draft, and Tim Rose. When Rose left the group in 1964, future Lovin’ Spoonful member Zal Yanovsky and Denny Doherty joined their ranks and they became The Mugwumps.

Shortly thereafter, Yanovsky joined forces with John Sebastian while Doherty joined The New Journeymen who counted John Phillips and his wife Michelle amongst their ranks. After Cass joined the fold, the group would soon become The Mamas And The Papas. Of course you can listen to their track,“Creeque Alley” to have the blanks filled in for you.

It would only be a matter of time before Cass, the ultimate hippy chick would record on her own, and with the help of extensive television work, she began to have her own hits. Her records were pure pop affairs cut at Western Recorders in LA in the late 60s and early 70s featuring a who’s who of Wrecking Crew favorites including on this track Hal Blaine, Joe Osborne, Larry Knechtel, Steve Barri and Phil Kaye.

Today’s song of the day is better known for Bobby Sherman’s version than Cass’, but I think the 1971 production values and arrangements on this version make it much better. It is originally from her album Bubble Gum, Lemonade &…Something For Mama whose cover image was framed in chewed bubble gum. Elliot died in London in 1974 of a heart attack (and not from choking on a ham sandwich) in the same flat that Keith Moon would die, at the same age four years later.