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

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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

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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 – “Head Over Heels” by Tears For Fears

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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.

Stay 3D 1ce More

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It’s your Uncle Marty here on our 540th get together as we go back to our quarantined themed stylings with another show advising all to keep a sensible distance while you STAY together one more time with  The Award Winning 3D RadioActivity.

Download or play here
https://archive.org/download/The3dRadioactivity/3dradio_20200621-Stay3D1ceMore.mp3

We’re nearing the finish line for this STAY, the plan is to STOP one more time on our next quarantined audio adventure as we continue to offer sage Corona advice to all who have ears.  If you have any suggestions, tell me by messaging me on our Facebook page which has links to the archives of all the earlier episodes and graphics in the photo section, or by email .  Remind your circle of best friends and family to look for us on Theacidflashback.com,   http://www.villageconnectionmagazine.com/Long Island, New York;  Denver’s MileHiRadio,  TuneIn and  InternetFM dot com, because the best FM radio is now on the Internet.

Until we meet again, as Al always says, “Rock On!”

…Uncle Marty

“It’s not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.”

…Marilyn Monroe

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

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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 – “Easy Come Easy Go” by Cass Elliot

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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.

Song Of the Day by Eric Berman – Album Review: “The Cautionary Tales Of Mark Oliver Everett” by Eels

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Song Of the Day by Eric Berman – Album Review: The Cautionary Tales Of Mark Oliver Everett by Eels

(Editor’s note: This review originally was published on April 29, 2014)

I love Eels. Mark Oliver Everett (aka “E” aka “Eels”) is a terrific songwriter with an interesting back story which has become the basis for subject matter on his finest albums including Hombre Lobo, Blinking Lights And Other Revelations, Daisies In The Galaxy, Electro-Shock Blues and Souljacker.

However, Everett has been making essentially the same record now for the last few years, and as a fan of the man and the band, most of the records have much to offer especially upon repeated spins. Yet this year’s model, The Cautionary Tales Of Mark Oliver Everett is a ballad-laden entity, totally bereft of the gnarly rockers that many have come to love Eels for.

Eels have been very prolific over the last few years and what initially seemed like a boom for fans several years ago when they released three records in the span of 12 months has now begun to weigh heavily on the quality of their output which is getting a little tiresome. The suite of three albums from 2011-12 focused on three different aspects of Everett’s life: lust (Hombre Lobo), middle age (End Times) and optimism (Tomorrow Morning). Unfortunately, on Cautionary Tales, we get to reexamine the very same relationship territory in a musically much less interesting manner.

Don’t get me wrong, E is always good for a few classic Eels songs per record, and this one is no different with tracks like “Parallels,” “Where I’m From,” “Answers,” “Series Of Misunderstandings” and “Mistakes Of My Youth,” all early contenders for a coveted place high within the Eels canon. But there’s a sameness to the new Eels material that’s hard to shake making it also very hard to get through. (C’mon E! Eels records shouldn’t be and never were a chore to listen to!)

Gone are the hummable melodies, ecstatic outbursts of pure abandon and wiggy instrumentation that has traditionally made most of Eels output a joy to listen to. In its place is a collection of mostly acoustic based songs that don’t change that dynamically from one to the other. Add to that, E’s growl of a voice has gotten rougher and less emotional which also weighs down this collection of stylistically very heavy and downtrodden songs.

The album is framed by three tracks, the superfluous opening instrumental “Where I’m At,” “Where I’m From” in the center of the record, and “Where I’m Going” at the end, however the feeling one gets from listening to the whole record is “I’ve been here before and I’m still in the same place.”

Adding to the album’s thirteen track tune stack is an additional seven new tracks (plus six live songs from their Wonderful Glorious tour) on the bonus addition. That’s twenty new songs adding up to some serious (and I mean very serious) material to sift through.

The Cautionary Tales Of Mark Oliver Everett is the opposite of Eels last wonderful and glorious outing Wonderful Glorious. It would be great if the upcoming Eels tour featured a solo acoustic segment where many of the new songs would benefit from an intimate presentation, however as the latest chapter in the Eels story, you should proceed with caution with Cautionary Tales.

FULL ALBUM:

Today in Rock History – June 17

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beatles-help1965, Working at Abbey Road studios in London The Beatles completed work on the new Paul McCartney song “Yesterday” with the overdubbing of an additional vocal track by McCartney and a string quartet. They also recorded “Act Naturally” for Ringo’s vocal contribution on the Help! album and the song “Wait” in four takes. “Wait” will not be included on ‘Help!’, it was included on the following LP, Rubber Soul.

1965, The Kinks and the Moody Blues made their US concert debut at the Academy of Music in New York City.

1966, The Who performed at City Hall in Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

1966, Guitarist Peter Green joined John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers.

1966, Paul McCartney buys himself a farm in Kintyre, Scotland. He would later write the song “Mull of Kintyre.”

1967, Pink Floyd played at the Ballroom, Dreamland Amusement Park in Margate, Kent, England, supported by the Tony Merrick Set.

1969, Neil Young & Crazy Horse appeared at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, California.

1971, Carole King went to number one on the album chart with Tapestry for the first of 15 consecutive weeks. The album contained “It’s Too Late,” “I Feel the Earth Move,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” and “You’ve Got a Friend.”

1971, Black Sabbath and Ted Nugent played at the West Palm Beach Auditorium in West Palm Beach, Florida.

1972, The Allman Brothers Band performed at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

1972, Don McLean had a number one UK single with “Vincent.” The song was written about the 19th century artist Vincent Van Gogh. The song is played daily at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

1972, David Bowie performed at Town Hall in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England.

1972, Organist Ron “Pigpen” McKernan plays with the Grateful Dead for the last time at the Hollywood Bowl.

1972, Pink Floyd release their soundtrack Obscured by Clouds in the US.

1972, The Rolling Stones album Exile On Main Street started a four-week run at the top of the charts.

1973, Dolly Parton recorded “I Will Always Love You” in RCA’s Studio “B” in Nashville. Written for her one-time partner and mentor, Porter Wagoner (the two were splitting professionally at the time). The song was later a world-wide hit for Whitney Houston.

1974, KISS played at the Sunshine Inn, Asbury Park, New Jersey.

1975, Aerosmith appeared at McNichols Sports Arena, Denver, Colorado.

1976, The Grateful Dead begin the first of  three nights at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey.

1976, Ian Dury played his last gig with Kilburn and the High Roads before starting his solo career. The show at The Assembly Hall, Walthamstow also had The Sex Pistols, and The Stranglers on the bill.

1976, Neil Diamond performed at Pine Knob Music Theatre, Clarkston, Michigan.

1977, Steve Winwood releases his first self-titled solo album, three years after leaving Traffic.

1977, Eric Clapton played at Rhein-Neckar-Halle, Heidelberg, Germany.

1978, Andy Gibb became the first solo artist in the history of the US charts to have his first three releases reach number one. “Shadow Dancing” hit the top of the charts, spending seven weeks at the top, and becoming the best selling single in the US that year.

1978, Bob Dylan performed at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London.

1978, “You’re The One That I Want” by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John started a nine week run at number one on the UK singles chart. The song was from the film Grease.

1978, As Jefferson Airplane prepare to play Germany’s Lorley Festival, Grace Slick is discovered too inebriated to perform. The band cancels.

1979, Yes played at New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum, New Haven, Connecticut.

1980, Led Zeppelin performed at Westfalenhalle, Dortmund, Germany.

1981, Pink Floyd performed The Wall at Earl’s Court Exhibition Hall, Earl’s Court, London.

1983, David Bowie appeared at Freilichttheater, Bad Segeberg, Germany.

1983, James Brown, UB40, Fun Boy Three, The Beat, Curtis Mayfield, Jimmy Cliff, Marillion and Melanie all appeared at this years Glastonbury CND Festival, Shepton Mallet, England.

1984, Van Halen played at the Kansas Coliseum, Valley Center, Kansas.

1987, Florida real estate agent Vittoria Holman sued Motley Crue and their concert promoter for hearing loss allegedly incurred at a concert in December 1985. Holman and her daughter had front row seats less than 10 feet (3 meters) from the speakers. The case was settled out of court with the band’s insurance company paying Holman over $30,000. (£18,200.)

1997, Fans rioted at an Ozzfest concert in Columbus Ohio, after Ozzy Osbourne couldn’t perform due to throat problems. Angry fans broke windows, uprooted trees, and turned over a parked car.

2007, The Traveling Wilburys went to number one on the UK album chart with Collection. The lineup of the Wilburys was: George Harrison, (Nelson Wilbury,) Jeff Lynne, (Otis Wilbury,) Roy Orbison, (Lefty Wilbury,) Tom Petty, (Charlie T. Wilbury Jr.,) and Bob Dylan, (Lucky Wilbury.)

2012, Bruce Springsteen played his longest show when he turned in a three-hour-and-48-minute, 32-song, set at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid. This surpassed the previously longest show, Dec. 31, 1980 at the Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, New York, which clocked in at 3:43.

Born on June 17: Norman Kuhlke, The Swinging Blue Jeans (1942); Chris Spedding, session guitarist for Donovan, David Essex, Brian Eno, Bryan Ferry (1944); Barry Manilow (1946); Greg Rolie, Santana (1947); and Jello Biafra, Dead Kennedys (1958)

Get more Today in Rock History

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Graduation Day” by The Beach Boys

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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Graduation Day” by The Beach Boys

The Four Freshman took this song to the top twenty back in 1956 and the Wilson brothers were listening. And while The Beach Boys certainly were influenced by the Freshmen, the Freshmen were in turn influenced by vocal groups of the Big Band Era like The Pied Pipers and The Modernaires, as well as the close harmonies employed by numerous Barbershop Quartets that came before them. The song celebrates a rite of passage that many are embarking upon as we speak. I was torn between choosing this vocal group gem, or to let it all hang out and go with “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper.

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Slow Down, Love” by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Slow Down, Love” by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

I got dap dipped several years ago. What’s that? You say you don’t know what it is to be dap dipped? Well, I’ll tell you…

The moment you first lay your lucky ears onto the retro-soul sound of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings is when you’ve been dap dipped. It’s kind of a “daptism” of sorts.

Jones and her band have been releasing records over the last fifteen years that sound like they were recorded in the late 1960s…and that’s not just a good thing, it’s a great thing! So convincing is their sound and presentation, that many people think Sharon Jones has been in the public eye for many more years than she really has.

Jones was a soul singer since she was a child in Georgia, singing in church and local talent shows while also backing local soul bands in the 1970s and taking on any kind of recording session work she could get. Without a recording contract of her own, she became a corrections officer at Riker’s Island and an armored car guard for Wells Fargo before receiving her big break in 1996 while singing background vocals for soul legend Lee Fields.

That session was organized by owners of Pure Records, a French record label owned by Gabriel Roth (aka Bosco Mann) and Philip Lehman. Jones was the only one of three background vocalists booked to show up for the session, so she recorded all of the backing vocals herself which impressed Roth and Lehman. At the end of the session, they recorded her first single “Switchblade” (b/w “The Landlord”) backed by members of the Brooklyn, New York bands Antibalas and The Mighty Imperials who later became her backing band The Dap-Kings. The song was released on the compilation album The Soul Providers in 1996.

Lehman and Roth formed the new Desco record label out of Brooklyn specializing in retro soul and funk releases that many fans believed to be original recordings from the late 60s and early 70s. Jones recorded three more singles for the label. After releasing records by Lee Fields, The Sugarman 3 and The Daktaris, Lehman and Roth parted ways in 2000 over creative differences paving the way for Roth to start a new label with Neal Sugarman (of Sugarman 3) called Daptone Records. The label has been Sharon Jones’ musical home ever since and all of her recordings have been under the direction and production of Bosco Mann.

Each record Jones & the Dap-Kings released for the label has garnered more fans than the one before. There was Dap Dippin’ With Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (2002), Naturally (2005), 100 days, 100 Nights (2007), I Learned The Hard Way (2010), the Soul Time compilation (2011) and her most recent album where today’s Song Of The Day comes from Give The People What They Want.

While Jones’ rise to dominance in the retro soul world may seem somewhat effortless once she met Roth, it hasn’t been without its trials and tribulations beginning during the summer of 2013. With a tour to promote a new album set to release during the summer of 2013, it was announced that Jones had been diagnosed with bile duct cancer which was later changed to stage two pancreatic cancer. As a result, Jones underwent surgery and chemotherapy cancelling the release of her fifth album and the tour.

On the mend, Jones returned to the stage in November 2013 and her Give The People What They Want album was released to positive reviews in January 2014. She will bring her tour to Chicago tomorrow night. One of the songs on the album is called “People Don’t Get What They Deserve” and in light of Jones’ health issues, the song should probably take on a whole new meaning tomorrow night.

Today’s Song Of The Day was the first single released from her latest album which was given away with pre-orders for the album when Jones’ announced her illness last summer. The track has an “end of the party” kind of groove that is chock full of ennui. Unfortunately, the song is not available on its own on Youtube; however I’ve uploaded a link to the whole album. While brief at only 33 minutes, the album comes chock full of great tunes that will surely be exciting to see her bring to the concert stage tomorrow night. It’s certainly worth a spin while you’re online reading this piece.