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Song Of The Day – “Too Many Creeps” by Bush Tetras

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bush tetrasThis song used to really set a party in motion back in 1980 when it was released as a single on the New York 99 record label. With its distorted guitar, I-don’t-give-a-fuck vocals and sluggish funky rhythms, Bush Tetras established themselves as part of the downtown Manhattan No Wave dance club scene.

Along with Sonic Youth, Suicide, Glenn Branca, Material, Lydia Lunch, Arto Lyndsay, Lounge Lizards, Teenage Jesus & The Jerks and DNA, Bush Tetras were part of a downtown music scene known as “No Wave” that melded heavy distortion, infectious dance and funk beats and plenty of New York City attitude, creating a wholly original form of dance music that offered a hip alternative to disco and had a huge influence on the industrial music scene of the 1980s.

The group consisted of Pat Place on angular funk guitar (originally of James Chance & The Contortions), Cynthia Sley on half-sung/half-spoken vocals, Laura Kennedy on bass and Dee Pop (no relation to Iggy) on drums.

After the relative success (#57) of today’s Song Of The Day, the group went on to release another EP on Stiff records that was produced by Topper Headon of the Clash. That record was followed by a live album that was released on the cassette only ROIR label.

The group broke up by 1983. By 1995, the original lineup reunited and recorded two more albums that went unnoticed. In fact, their last album Happy was shelved by Mercury Records before it was even released, only to finally appear on ROIR in 2012.

Song Of The Day – “Keep Your Children In A Coma” by Future Bible Heroes

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futurebibleheroesStephin Merritt is one of today’s greatest songwriters. Whether solo or with groups like Magnetic Fields, The Gothic Archies, The 6ths or Future Bible Heroes, Merritt has given us hundreds of great songs over the years with a Broadway sensibility, deadpan delivery and a droll sense of humor. He’s even released a soundtrack to the A Series Of Unfortunate Events books composed with none other than author Lemony Snicket.

Future Bible Heroes, which has served as one of several outlets for Stephin Merritt’s prolific songwriting abilities, features Chris Ewen of Figures On The Beach (who co-writes all of the songs here with Merritt) and Claudia Gonson who also plays the musical foil to Merritt in Magnetic Fields.  In the past, the main distinction between Future Bible Heroes and the mothership group was the Heroes’ penchant for electronic dance music, but with their just-released third album Partygoing, the lines between the two groups have blurred.

Today’s Song Of The Day, “Keep Your Children In A Coma,” is typical Stephin Merritt fare, featuring absurd and shockingly humorous lyrics (“You can’t let them go to school for fear of bullying little beasts / and you can’t take them to church for fear of priests / Keep your children in a coma.”), and a hummable Brill Building melody that supports Merritt’s sad, hound dog delivery.

Like Magnetic Fields, half the songs here are sung by Claudia Gonson, whose distant singing style is the perfect counter to Merritt’s deep basso voice. Her passive delivery on the songs “A Drink Is Just The Thing,” “When Evening Falls On Tinseltown” and “Living, Loving, Partygoing” feels right at home in the intentionally murky girl group production values.

Merritt’s “Sadder Than The Moon” and “All I Care About Is You” would fit comfortably on Magnetic Field’s magnum opus 69 Love Songs, and are every bit the caliper of those on that hallowed record. When the Merritt and Gonson’s voices do come together as they do on the duet “How Very Strange,” they paint a sonic picture akin to having an angel whispering in one ear while the devil is groaning in the other.

Partygoing is by far the best of the three Future Bible Heroes records, and easily better than the last Magnetic Fields offering. However, if you really want the Stephin Merritt experience (and take it from me, you do), start with the three CD magnum opus, 69 Love Songs by Magnetic Fields.

Song Of The Day – “Lose Yourself To Dance” by Daft Punk

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daftpunkSo Daft Punk has released a straight-up ‘70s Disco album and everybody is going nuts.

Daft Punk fans are going nuts because there are real instruments and, gasp, real voices on this record. Critics are going nuts because the group has made a ‘70s disco album, and a ‘70s disco album stands out because it’s the antithesis of the loud-soft dynamic of today’s EDM. This gives critics something to write about, which in turn makes them excited, resulting in amazingly positive reviews. Mind you, these are some of the same critics who back in the ‘70s, wouldn’t have been caught dead listening to a disco record.

That said, although Random Access Memories is indeed a departure for Daft Punk, the ‘70s disco left turn works well for them. Under all of the vocodered voices and electronic rhythms, the songs really have heart and emotion. It’s the clash of heart and transistors that is the key to this record, and you really can’t beat the rhythm section of Nathan East on bass and Omar Hakim on drums laying the groundwork for the guitar dynamics of Nile Rodgers funky-Chic style combined with the lighter, jazzier leanings of Paul Jackson Jr.

The record’s power will be in its ability to blend generations of fans, appealing to today’s dance music aficionado and the disco generation alike. This is probably why the record will end up not only being a multi-hit, multi format smash, but also one of the biggest records of the summer.

Nile Rodgers’ fingerprints are all over several of the album’s best tracks including the album’s lead-off track “Give Life Back To The Music,” “Get Lucky, which is sitting at the #4 position of the pop charts this week, and today’s Song Of The Day, “Lose Yourself To Dance,” which no doubt will also climb the charts in weeks to come. (Note: “Lose Yourself To Dance” and “Get Lucky” feature vocals from producer and Neptunes’ member Pharrell Williams.) The influence the man behind “Le Freak” and dozens of other Chic hits from the ‘70s and early ‘80s brings to this album humanizes Daft Punk’s mechanistic sound, as it harkens back to the production sheen he provided for David Bowie’s Let’s Dance.

Along with “Get Lucky” and “Lose Yourself To Dance,” the album’s centerpiece is clearly the Broadway disco showcase, “Touch,” featuring the dramatic vocals of Paul Williams. The song begins as a dark ruminating electronic soundscape and then bursts alive into Technicolor disco with Williams’ dramatic vocals. I can see this track crossing over big time and sending this album into the stratosphere.

“Georgio By Moroder” pays homage to the disco producer behind Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” with a nine minute moto-disco track that features Moroder talking about his craft over the music. Other cameos include Julian Casablancas, whose co-written track “Instant Crush” is not too different than the direction The Strokes have taken on their latest record, except that his collaboration with Daft Punk has a great hook which is something his own band has been lacking for a while. Elsewhere, Panda Bear lends a Beach Boy’s flavored vocal to “Doin’ It Right.”

I had the pleasure of seeing Daft Punk at Lollapalooza several years ago, and at the time their act relied heavily on spectacle more than songs. That’s not a slam. I love dance music and have for many years, but their live presentation was amazing, sending the audience into a literal frenzy. (I should know, I was up front for a good portion of their set and it was a crush.) Musically however, they were sonically closer to Kraftwerk than Giorgio Moroder or Nile Rodgers.

So who cares if the French duo of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter have a penchant for wearing robot disguises and appearing before audiences in a pod, their new musical direction has resulted in a record for the ages from this group, and one I’ll be coming back to again and again.

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Karn Evil 9 1st Impression” by Emerson, Lake & Palmer

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elpbrainThere was a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I’m not talking about the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Hadrosaurus, or even your garden variety Pterodactyls. These dinosaurs wore coats of proggy sound typified by 20 minute epic-length, multi-movement suites of music. These were dinosaurs that really knew how to play their instruments. Dinosaur’s with classical training, and dinosaurs that went by names like King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Genesis, PFM, The Moody Blues and Yes.

There was no pretention in what they were doing, yet many of them were very, very pretentious. And if you were a rock fan of the 1970s, you ate it up. You loved it. There was nothing better.

But a funny thing happened on their way to extinction…their music has stood the test of time. Sure the punk rock movement temporarily put them out to pasture, but today there is a whole new wave of Prog Rock bands out there (for better or worse), and a whole new fan base along for the ride.

Which brings us to Prog Rock’s first “supergroup,” Emerson, Lake & Palmer. ELP formed in 1970 and consisted of keyboard wizard Keith Emerson who was formerly with The Nice, Greg Lake who came from the classic Prog pedigree of King Crimson, and Carl Palmer who was originally with The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster.

When the group first formed, Emerson and Lake got together and were looking for a drummer. Their first choice was Mitch Mitchell of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, however this didn’t work out and acting on a suggestion from Robert Stigwood (of RSO Records fame), the pair ultimately chose Carl Palmer.

The uncredited fourth member of ELP was lyricist, Pete Sinfield, who met Lake when he was writing lyrics for King Crimson. Sinfield would later go on to co-write mega pop hits like “Heart Of Stone” for Cher and “Think Twice,” a chart-topper in eight countries by Celine Dion, but I digress….

Today’s Song Of The Day is the centerpiece of ELP’s greatest record Brain Salad Surgery, which was released in 1973 and sent the band’s popularity into the stratosphere. “Karn Evil 9” was an extended piece that took up 2/3 of the album. The piece’s title was a play on the world “Carnival” (Karn Evil – get it?) and appeared in three parts. The “1st Impression” is by far the most popular section mainly for its second part that begins with “Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends.” An instrumental section of the “1st Impression” was also used for many years as a musical bumper by New York City classic rock FM radio station, WPLJ.

“Karn Evil 9’s” perverted circus show lyrics were some of Sinfield’s finest, including the following brilliant cadences: “Soon the Gypsy Queen in a glaze of Vaseline / will perform on guillotine / What a scene, what a scene. / Next upon the stand / will you please lend a hand / to Alexander’s Ragtime Band / Dixieland, Dixieland…Performing on a stool / is a sight to make you drool / Seven virgins and a mule / Keep it cool, keep it cool. / We would like it to be known / the exhibits that were shown / were exclusively our own / all our own, all our own.”

The “2nd Impression” of “Karn Evil 9”is where ELP tried their hand at straight-ahead Jazz and came out winners. Elements of the piece were based on a track by Sonny Rollins called “St. Thomas.” The 3rd Impression” was the least interesting of the three, although it is notable for including Keith Emerson’s only vocal appearance on an ELP record.

The album opens with a stately church hymn called “Jerusalem” that featured lyrics from a poem by William Blake. The song was originally slotted to be the first single, but the band didn’t want to send out a message about themselves that could be misconstrued. It was subsequently released as a single later on.

“Toccata” is a nine minute percussive instrumental that was based on the 4th Movement of Argentine composer, Alberto Ginastera’s “1st Piano Concerto.” After recording the piece, they found out that Ginastera would not give the band permission to interpret his work. So they traveled out to Geneva to meet with the composer face to face. Once Ginastera heard the piece, he gave his approval.

All good ELP albums had a least one ballad that would garner radio play and one throwaway rocker to provide relief from all the bombast. Brain Salad Surgery’s ballad was Greg Lake’s beautiful “Still…You Turn Me On,” which was the big FM radio airplay hit on the album. “Benny The Bouncer” was the throwaway rocker, much like “Are You Ready Eddie” from Tarkus and “The Sheriff” from Trilogy. The song was a piss-take that sounded like a Keith Moon outtake.

The album’s title came from a line in the then-current Dr. John hit “Right Place, Wrong Time,” although the album originally went by the working title Whip Some Skull on Yer,; which was a euphemism for fellatio.

The cover was designed by Swiss artist H.R. Giger, who also designed albums for Debbie Harry (Koo-Koo), Danzig (Danzig III & How The Gods Kill), Celtic Frost (To Mega Therion), and most notoriously, the penis-laden inner poster to The Dead Kennedys’ Frankenchrist album that led to an obscenity trial. The penis was also an integral element to Giger’s design for Brain Salad Surgery, but the offending appendage was airbrushed into a shaft of light under the woman’s chin with the band’s initials on top of it, in order for it to appear on retail record store shelves. The woman on the cover was Giger’s girlfriend, Lil Tobler who committed suicide shortly after the album’s release.

In support of the album, ELP embarked on what became their largest world tour ever, titled the “Someone Get Me A Ladder” tour. (The tour name came from the lyrics to “Still… You Turn Me On”). A chart-topping triple live album from the tour was released the following year under the title, Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends – Ladies and Gentlemen: Emerson, Lake  & Palmer.

Song Of The Day – “I Married Myself” by Sparks

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sparkslilbeethovenAmerican brothers Ron and Russell Mael formed the group Halfnelson in 1970. Their first two albums were recorded in Woodstock, New York, produced by Todd Rundgren and released on the Bearsville record label. Both records tanked on these shores, so the brothers broke up the band, changed their name to Sparks, moved to England, got on the glam bandwagon and formed a new band that has gone on to endure for decades.

In a musical world dominated by David Bowie, Mott The Hoople, Lou Reed, The New York Dolls and Queen, the newly reformed Sparks caused a sensation across the pond in 1974 with songs like “This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us,” “Talent Is An Asset” and “At Home At Work At Play,” and classic albums like Kimono My House, Propaganda and Indiscreet. Although considered part of the glam movement, the brothers had a much different persona…visually Russell was the flamboyant lead singer with a hysterical falsetto voice, while Ron was the straight man with the Hitler mustache framing a permanent grimace on his face, who played keyboards and barely moved a muscle except for his eyes which were constantly rolling up into his head every time he gazed upon his brother’s antics.

As the 1970s came to an end, Sparks’ popularity began to wane, so the group began working with dance music pioneer, Giorgio Moroder to freshen up their sound resulting in the 1979 #1 In Heaven record, which re-launched Sparks as an electronic dance group and restored their clout with critics and the hip record buying public. Over the years, they’ve released countless records for countless record labels and while the hits kept on coming overseas, they only scored one big hit on these shores in 1983 with Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go’s called “Cool Places.”

Today’s Song Of The Day is an intimate ballad from their 2002 album Lil’ Beethoven featuring the following hilarious lyrics: “I married myself, I’m very happy together / Long, long walks on the beach, lovely times / I married myself, I’m very happy together / Candlelight dinners home, lovely times / This time it’s gonna last, this time it’s gonna last / Forever, forever, forever.”

Sparks’ concept for Lil’ Beethoven was to pull away from the electronic dance music they had been doing for many years by creating a rather ornate listening experience utilizing lush orchestral backing with a heavy reliance on repetitive piano lines, synthesized orchestration and multi-tracked vocals.

Ornate it is, but all the orchestras in the world couldn’t obscure the singular brand of humor that the Mael brothers continued to bring to their craft — “Your Call Is Very Important To Us, Please Hold” is built around an incessantly repeated business phone answering machine message, while “How Do I Get To Carnegie Hall?” revolves around the oldest joke in the book (practice, man practice), and “What Are All These Bands So Angry About” takes aim at their lack of commercial prospects – “Some might have done it, broken on through /  Wagner, Tatum, or Howlin’ Wolf / Some might have done what we’ll never do / What are all these bands so angry about?”

The Mael Brothers just finished their first solo tour called “Two Hands One Mouth,” and even brought the show to these shores for a few rare dates including two at Coachella, plus stops in San Francisco and New York City, but alas they did not get out here to Chicago. With over 20 albums under their belt, including the just released Two Hands One Mouth live album, Sparks are the glam fad that thankfully never went out of style…

Song Of The Day – “Waiting Is Forbidden” by Rudresh Mahanthappa

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rudreshmahanthappaWelcome to the sonic space where Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time meets King Crimson. Sound intriguing? If it doesn’t, read no further because today’s Song Of The Day is not for the faint of heart or those of closed mind.

Despite his exotic name, Rudresh Mahanthappa was born in Italy of Indian descent, but raised in Boulder Colorado from a very young age. He studied music at Berklee in California and earned his Master Of Fine Arts degree at DePaul University in Chicago. While at Berklee, he was introduced to Indian saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath, and the two traveled to India to play concerts between 2005 and 2008 while working on a grant. He is a Guggenheim fellow and was nominated for the 2012 Downbeat International Critics Poll as Alto Saxophonist of the Year.

Mahanthappa relocated to New York City in 2010 where he leads several different outfits including The Rudresh Mahanthappa Quartet (with Vijay Iyer or Craig Taborn on piano, François Moutin on bass, and Dan Weiss on drums), Raw Materials (with Vijay Iyer), Indo-Pak Coalition (with Rez Abbasi on sitar-guitar and Dan Weiss on tabla), MSG (with Ronan Guilfoyle on bass and Chander Sardjoe on drums) and the electro-acoustic quartet Samdhi featuring guitarist David Gilmore.

Mahanthappa has released 13 albums and has appeared as a sideman on 19 other projects. Today’s Song Of The Day comes from his latest album entitled Gamak featuring David “Fuze” Fiuczynski on electric guitar, Francois Moutin  on acoustic bass and Dan Weiss on drums.

Mahanthappa rips shards of sound from his horn at jaw-dropping break neck speed on “Waiting Is Forbidden,” the album’s opening track, while Fiuczynski, who is one of the most original guitarists I’ve heard in years, lays out some harmolodic sound (in which harmony, movement of sound, and melody all share the same value), taking what Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time was doing and moving it forward. Then right in the middle of it all, the whole band effortlessly goes into full-on King Crimson crunch mode. It’s a track that is both breathtaking and totally original in its scope.

Elsewhere, there are echoes of Cecil Taylor and Albert Ayler sifted through a prog-rock filter. “Lots Of Interest,” finds Fiuczynski shadowing Mahanthappa on the guitar before both go their separate ways and coming back together time and time again. On the track “Abhogi” Fiuczynski plays a slippery slide part on his guitar that is reminiscent of some of the playing of King Sunny Ade, and the track called “F” allows Moutin to set the tone on the bass while the rest of the group answers his call.

Rudresh Mahanthappa is one of the most innovative composers and performers in jazz today and Gamak is as spellbinding an experience that you’re likely to get on any current jazz album.

Song Of The Day – “Follow Your Bliss” by The B-52’s

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b-52scosmicthing“Follow Your Bliss” is perhaps the most unique recording in the entire B-52’s catalog; it is also the perfect closer to their greatest album.

By the time of The B-52’s comeback album Cosmic Thing the group was ten years into their career. After becoming media darlings for the new wave, they soon found themselves in a dramatic free fall that left them practically unable to give their records away at retail.

Formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976, The B-52’s consisted of Fred Schneider on vocals, percussion and keyboards, Kate Pierson on organ, bass and vocals, Cindy Wilson on vocals, tambourine and guitar, Cindy’s brother Ricky Wilson on guitar and Keith Strickland on drums. With an image that looked backwards to the 1950s complete with beehive hairdos and thrift-store attire, and a sound that took elements of ‘60s surf and girl group rock filtered through a contemporary sheen highlighted by Ricky Wilson’s angular playing and unusual guitar tunings, the group hit upon a sound and look that made them the face of New Wave music.

Their self-titled debut album from 1979 included the zany signature hit “Rock Lobster,” plus fan favorites “Planet Claire” and “52 Girls” giving them traction in the world of underground rock. An appearance on Saturday Night Live in 1979 further cemented their popularity with the burgeoning college rock crowd. The 1980 follow-up Wild Planet also sold very well and included another big single “Private Idaho” plus “Quiche Lorraine,” “Strobe Light” and “Party Out Of Bounds” that kept the band’s buzz going. A remix record called Party Mix was released next as a stop-gap while the band continued to tour, and an appearance in Paul Simon’s film One Trick Pony continued to keep the band’s momentum going.

Their 1982 summit with Talking Heads leader David Byrne on production was a real coup, bringing the band added credibility. However, things did not go well in the studio and the sessions were aborted with the resultant record Mesopotamia coming out as an EP instead of a full length LP. While the record didn’t produce any big hits, it was critically acclaimed and the title track was a popular album cut on radio.

Their next album called Whammy came two years later and saw a decline in the band’s fortunes. Although it included several strong tracks like “Song For A Future Generation,” “Whammy Kiss” and the single “Legal Tender,” the album only charted in the top 30 and The B-52’s found themselves in litigation with Yoko Ono over the track “Don’t Worry,” forcing them to pull it off of the album.

Bouncing Off The Satellites was guitarist Ricky Wilson’s last album. Unbeknownst to the rest of the band, he was suffering from complications of HIV/Aids during sessions for the record and he succumbed to his illness in October 1985 at the age of 32. The band did not tour in support of the record, resulting in poor sales and no hit singles. It was a shame too, because the record included one of their greatest singles “Summer Of Love” and the song “Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland.” With the band’s future in question in the aftermath of Wilson’s death, they took almost two years off to regroup.

When they reconvened in 1988 to work on a new set of songs, Keith Strickland had moved over to guitar and Don Was and Nile Rodgers were brought in to handle the production duties. The resultant album Cosmic Thing is the band’s ultimate party disc featuring an updated sound on a very strong collection of songs including the first single “Channel Z” which went to number one on the Modern Rock charts, reestablishing them with the college rock crowd.

But it was the group’s next single “Love Shack” that found them propelled into stratosphere of popularity. You couldn’t turn a radio on in 1989 for any amount of time without hearing the jubilant party strains of “Love Shack” filling the air, and the single still remains a popular favorite today. The song was inspired by a real cabin with a tin roof in Athens, GA where the band composed their first big single “Rock Lobster.”  Kate Pierson lived there for a time as well, and yes, it did have a “tin roof rusting.”

The album also includes a clutch of contagious dance rock confections like “Channel Z,” “Junebug” (later used in a Target commercial), “Dry County” and “Deadbeat Club.” The latter track also featured a guest shot by Michael Stipe of R.E.M in its video clip.

The follow up single to “Love Shack’s” was called “Roam,” which also climbed to the number three slot on the charts on the wings of a great melody and Kate Pierson’s distinctive vocals. Around this time, Pierson also appeared on Iggy Pop’s single “Candy” landing him into the top forty for the first time in years, and also sang on R.E.M.’s “Shiny Happy People.”

Today’s Song Of The Day, “Follow Your Bliss” is the sole instrumental on the record and is a perfect melding of the symphonic sound The Beach Boys perfected on Pet Sounds with the twang of surf guitar that lies at the heart of The B-52’s sound, bringing the ultimate party that is Cosmic Thing to a chilled out close. And after all was said and done, Cosmic Thing climbed into the U.S. top five and was certified multi-platinum.

By 1990 Cindy Wilson left the group and they continued on as a trio for their next album Good Stuff. Although the album made it into the U.S. top twenty, it was an anemic collection of tired second rate material that failed to gain the group any new momentum.

Wilson rejoined the band in 1998 to record two new songs for their Time Capsule compilation and stayed on for the tour that supported its release. While the group became a popular touring attraction, they wouldn’t release any more new music until 2008’s Funplex.

Funplex debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard album charts in the U.S., immediately making it the second-highest charting album in the group’s career. Although they heavily supported its release with television appearances and extensive touring, the record barely made any money for the group putting the likelihood of any future releases of new B-52’s material in jeopardy.

Meanwhile, the band hits the road every year, sometimes in package tours with like-minded groups of their era like The Go-Gos, Blondie and Cyndi Lauper, making them a top attraction on stage. The touring band includes musicians Sterling Campbell on drums, Paul Gordon on keyboards and guitar and Tracy Wormworth on bass.  At the end of 2012, Keith Strickland gave notice that he would not continue touring with the band leaving them as a trio of Cindy Wilson, Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider. They will once again tour with Blondie this summer in Europe and America.

Song Of The Day – “Bond Street” by Enoch Light

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EnochLightShagadelic indeed! Literally hundreds of records were released during the 1950s and 1960s carrying the Enoch Light name. Light was born in Ohio and led The Light Brigade, which was a big band that primarily played on the radio and in theaters that scored the 1937 hit “Summer Night.” After they disbanded, they became a studio-only entity.

Light was a vice president of easy listening record label, Grand Award, before founding Command Records in 1959. Light’s stock in trade was state-of-the-art mood music records pressed on virgin vinyl that took full advantage of the capabilities of stereo hi-fi systems of the day by featuring ping-pong stereo effects. The albums were some of the first to use 35mm film as a recording method instead of tape, providing crystal-clear distortion free sound.

The packaging on his records, like the classic Persusasive Percussion and Provocative Percussion albums, featured minimalist modern art usually designed by Josef Albers on the covers. The covers were designed to stand out in record bins with heavy cardboard gatefold sleeves featuring copious liner notes about the recording techniques employed within. When you saw one of the covers, you automatically knew it was a Command release.

Light sold the label to ABC in 1965, who in turn sold it to MCA. MCA proceeded to run Command as a budget label, reissuing the records on cheap vinyl with abbreviated single-pocket sleeves minus the original high-gloss art. Light continued to run the label under the new ownership where his later recordings were still recorded, packaged and marketed with the same attention to detail as they were from before the sale.

Today’s Song Of The Day comes from one of Light’s later Command projects, the 1969 album Spaced Out. The album included super swingin’ stereo versions of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David songs “Walk On By,” “What The World Needs Now Is Love” and “Knowing When To Leave,” plus Beatle covers of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” “Get Back,” “Norwegian Wood” and “Eleanor Rigby.” The cover had some of the coolest period graphics I’ve ever seen on any record cover ever.

By 1970, the label was no longer profitable and MCA shut it down. Light continued working, both as an arranger/conductor and headed up an all new audiophile record label, Project 3 Records, which was marketed by London Records.

Today in Rock History – November 6

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1965, The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane played at the opening night of San Francisco”s Fillmore West.

1965, The Rolling Stones started a two week run at number one on the singles chart with “Get Off Of My Cloud,” the group’s second chart topper. The song knocked The Beatles “Yesterday” from the top spot.

1966, The Who play the Kongresshalle in Cologne, Germany.

1967, The Beatles mixed four songs at Abbey Road studio in London, “Hello Goodbye,” “Your Mother Should Know,” “Magical Mystery Tour,” and “I Am the Walrus.” Due to the radio feed used in “I Am the Walrus” being recorded in mono, the song changes from stereo to mono at the line “Sitting in an English garden.”

1967, During a three hour session Bob Dylan recorded “All Along The Watchtower” and “John Wesley Harding” at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.

1968, Joe Cocker was at No.1 in the singles chart with his version of The Beatles song “With A Little Help From My Friends”. The song was also a UK No.1 for Wet Wet Wet in 1988.

1968, The Monkees’ $750,000 (£468,750) feature film, Head opened in New York City. Instead of being aimed at their target audience of teeny boppers, the film contained a dark theme about the manipulation of the group with walk-on appearances by inappropriate guests and scenes of Vietnam War atrocities. Reviews were harsh and the picture was a box office disaster.

1970, Pink Floyd performed at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

1970, Aerosmith performed their first ever gig when they played at Nipmuc Regional High School in Mendon, Massachusetts.

1971, The soundtrack to “Shaft” by Isaac Hayes went to number one on the album chart.

1971, In Melody Maker, Pete Townshend writes another defense of The Who’s higher ticket prices but apparently runs out of patience and says sarcastically that he only pretends to believe in what he says and is only doing it for the money. The Who play the Rainbow Theatre in London.

1972, Rolling Stone Bill Wyman lost his driving license and was fined £20 ($32) by Chelmsford Magistrates court after being caught speeding in his Mercedes on the A12.

1972, Queen played at the Pheasantry Club, London.

1973, Roxy Music performed at Winter Gardens, Bournemouth, England.

1973, Michael Martin and Phil Kaufman were charged and fined $300 (£187.50) each for the theft of a coffin containing Gram Parsons body. The court heard that the two men were merely carrying out Parsons’ wishes to be cremated in the desert.

1973, Grand Funk Railroad performed at The Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1974, David Bowie appeared at the Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio during the Philly Dogs tour. After the show, Bowie stayed up all night in the hotel bar dancing and miming.

1975, The Sex Pistols made their live debut at St Martin’s School Of Art in central London, supporting a band called Bazooka Joe, which included Stuart Goddard (the future Adam Ant). The Pistols’ performance lasts ten minutes.

1976, The Steve Miller Band went to number one on the singles chart with “Rock ‘n’ Me,” the group’s second number one.

1977, Yes played at The Apollo, Glasgow, Scotland.

1978, Eric Clapton performed at Palau d’Esports Juventud de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

1979, Bob Dylan appeared at the Fox Warfield Theatre, San Fransisco.

1980, The Allman Brothers Band played at the Saenger Theatre, New Orleans, Louisiana.

1981, Blue Oyster Cult performed at Lake View Arena, Marquette, Michigan.

1982, Jennifer Warnes and Joe Cocker started a three week run at number one on the US charts with “Up Where We Belong,” a song taken from the film An Officer And A Gentleman’,

1982, Soft Cell’s ‘Tainted Love’ achieved the longest unbroken run on the UK charts when it logged its 43rd week in the Top 100. 

1993, Meat Loaf started a five week run at number one on the US singles chart with “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That.”) It was also a chart topper in the UK.

1993, Pearl Jam went to number one on the US album chart with Vs’ selling 950,378 copies making it the highest sales in US album history in one week.

2003, Metallica kicked off their 137-date Madly in Anger with the World Tour at Yoyogi Taiikukanin Tokyo, Japan. The Madly in Anger with the World tour was the fourth-highest grossing tour of 2004, reaping $60,500,000 (£37,812,500) in ticket sales.

Born on November 6: Guy Clark, singer, songwriter, (1941); Doug Sahm, Sir Douglas Quintet (1942); George Young, The Easybeats (1947); Glenn Frey (1948); and Corey Glover, Living Colour (1964);

Link to Today in Rock History archive

 

Song Of The Day – “Speak To Me/Breathe/On The Run/Time” by Pink Floyd

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 PinkFloydDarkSo Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon hit its 40th anniversary this past week,  and not only did most of us know upon first hearing it that it was a classic, but it has also held up awfully well over the years.

The anniversary got me thinking about some of my favorite records from 1973. Back then, a new record was a much anticipated event. Sure, I still look forward to some new releases (like the new Bowie album, coming out this week), but with the advent of downloaded music, it’s nearly impossible to have a cultural moment anymore just by releasing a new record.

That’s because nobody experiences new music at the same time anymore. We all listened to radio back then; making it more likely we’d all experience a new record roughly at the same time. However with the internet as the primary channel for music distribution, music is either leaked early or streamed before the release date to build hype. As a result, people tend to experience a new song or album at different times. (The new Bowie album has been streaming on iTunes for over a week.) And when you finally get a copy of the record after hearing it online, it somehow lessens its impact.

The early ‘70s was the height of what would end up being the era of classic rock radio. And I still regularly turn to so many of the great albums that came out that year, records like Todd Rundgren’s A Wizard, A True Star, The Rolling Stones’ Goats Head Soup (which most people hated back then), Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions, Alice Cooper’s Billion Dollar Babies, David Bowie’s Pin Ups, Gentle Giant’s Octopus, The World Is A Ghetto by War, Foreigner by Cat Stevens, Led Zeppelin’s Houses Of The Holy, The Doobie Brothers’ The Captain And Me and even Chicago VI.

And, of course each of the ex-Beatles was in the early stages of a solo career. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr each released a career-best album in 1973 with Band On The Run and RINGO respectively. Meanwhile George Harrison and John Lennon were hardly slouches with their albums Living In the Material World (by George) and Mind Games (by John) either.

Neil Young’s Time Fades Away and Lou Reed’s Berlin were both totally misunderstood and much maligned when new in 1973, and I can remember initially not liking them much either, but each is rightly recognized as a classic today.

So, no matter how many times they get around to re-releasing them, or how many multi-disc permutations they can manage to squeeze out of a classic album over the span of 40 years (immersion editions anyone?), we still seem to always come back to the original.

OK, so now I toss the ball to you…what were your favorite albums from 1973?