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Today in Rock History – August 26

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1965, The Byrds appeared at the Hollywood Palladium, Hollywood, California.

1965, Sonny & Cher were at number one on the UK singles chart with “I Got You Babe,” the duo’s only British chart topper. Sonny Bono was inspired to write the song to capitalize on the popularity of the term “babe,” as heard in Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe.”

1967, Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull joined up with The Beatles in Bangor North Wales to seek guidance from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

1967, Small Faces, Move, The Gass, Tomorrow, Denny Laine, Jeff Beck, Eric Burdon and Marmalade all appeared on the first day of the 3-day non-stop happening ‘Festival of the Flower Children’ at Woburn Abbey, England.

1967, The Beatles held a press conference at University College in Bangor, North Wales with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The Beatles announced that they had become disciples of the guru and that they renounced the use of drugs. The four had become members of the Maharishi’s ‘Spiritual Regeneration Movement’, which obligated them to donate one week’s earnings each month to the organization.

1969, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young play the Greek Theatre, Los Angeles.

1970, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, (his last ever UK appearance), Donovan, Jethro Tull, Miles Davis, Arrival, Cactus, Family, Taste, Mungo Jerry, ELP, The Doors, The Who, Spirit, The Moody Blues, Chicago, Procol Harum, Sly and the Family Stone and Free all appeared over three days at the third Isle Of Wight Festival.

1970, The Allman Brothers Band perform at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami, Florida.

1971, The Grateful Dead appear at Gaelic Park in the Bronx, New York.

1973, Genesis headlines the closing day of the Reading Jazz, Blues, and Rock Festival. Tickets cost £2.20

1973, 10cc made their live debut at the Palace Lido Isle of Man at the start of an UK tour. Comprising of Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, who had written and recorded together for some three years before assuming the 10cc name.

1974, Rush plays at The Agora in Cleveland, Ohio.

1976, AC/DC appear at the Marquee Club, London.

1977, Uriah Heep, Thin Lizzy, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Golden Earing, Aerosmith, Doobie Brothers, Hawkwind, Racing Cars, John Miles, Graham Parker, The Enid, No Dice and Frankie Miller’s Full House all appeared at the 17th three day Reading Festival, England.

1978, Frankie Valli went to No.1 on the singles chart with the Barry Gibb song ‘Grease’. It went on to sell over 2 million in the US.

1978, Fleetwood Mac, The Cars, Todd Rundgren, Bob Welsh and Eddie Money all appeared at Cleveland Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio.

1988, The first day at this years three day Reading Festival featuring Iggy Pop, Starship, Squeeze, Ramones, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Hothouse Flowers, Deacon Blue, Quireboys, Broken English, three day ticket £24, an increase of nearly £20 from the 1973 festival.

Born on August 26: Nik Turner, Hawkwind (1940); Valerie Simpson,  Ashford and Simpson (1948); Bill and Dick Cowsill (1950); Shirley Manson, vocals, Garbage (1966); and Jeff Tweedy, Wilco (1967)

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Today in Rock History – July 3

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monkees-tv1967, A private party was held at the Speakeasy Club in London, England for The Monkees. Guests included: John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Dusty Springfield, Eric Clapton, Lulu, and all the members from Manfred Mann, The Who and Procol Harum.

1967, Jimi Hendrix performed at The Scene in New York City.

1967, Pink Floyd played at the Bath Pavilion in Bath, Somerset, England.

1968, At an impromptu gathering at Joni Mitchell’s house in Lookout Mountain, Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash played together for the very first time.

1969, John Lennon holds a press conference to announce the release of “Give Peace a Chance,” but can’t show up as he and Yoko are recovering from a car crash in Scotland. Ringo fills in instead.

1969, Brian Jones drowned while under the influence of drugs and alcohol after taking a midnight swim in his pool, aged 27. His body was found at the bottom of the pool by his Swedish girlfriend Anna Wohlin. The coroner’s report stated “Death by misadventure,” and noted his liver and heart were heavily enlarged by drug and alcohol abuse. Jones was one of the founding members of The Rolling Stones.

1969, James Brown, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Sly and the Family Stone, Jeff Beck, Savoy Brown, Johnny Winter, Jethro Tull, Buddy Guy Blues Band, Mothers Of Invention and Ten Years After all appeared at the four day Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island.

1969, The Grateful Dead appeared at Reed’s Ranch in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

1970, Gene Ammons,  Sonny Stitt, Kenny Burrell, Miles Davis, Eddie Harris, Herbie Mann, Mongo Santa Maria, Jerry Smith, Oscar Peterson, Roberta Flack, and Sarah Vaughn appeared at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia.

1970, The three day Atlanta Pop Festival took place, featuring The Allman Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, Jethro Tull, Johnny Winter, Mountain, Procol Harum and Rare Earth. Over 200,000 music fans attended the festival.

1971, American singer, songwriter and poet, Jim Morrison of The Doors was found dead in a bathtub in Paris, France, the cause of death was given as a heart attack. No autopsy was ever performed. However other theories exist. Morrison’s girlfriend, Pam Courson, stated that Jim had died of an accidental heroin overdose, having snorted what he believed to be cocaine.

1971, Melody Maker reports on the appearance of a new Who bootleg in the US, Who Unreleased. Seven of the ten tracks are British Who releases that had not yet come out in the States.

1972, Blues singer, guitarist Mississippi Fred McDowell died of cancer aged 68. The Rolling Stones covered his “You Got To Move” on their Sticky Fingers album. He coached Bonnie Raitt on slide guitar technique.

1973, Laurens Hammond the inventor of the Hammond organ died aged 73. Many rock artists including Procol Harum, Keith Emerson, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Allman Brothers and The Faces featured the sound of the Hammond. He also invented a silent spring-driven clock and during the World War II, he helped design guided missile systems.

1973, On the last night of a 60-date tour David Bowie announced he was about to retire from live performing, although it eventually transpires that Ziggy Stardust, the stage persona is being retired and not Bowie himself.

1975, Yes performed at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri.

1975, Lead singer from Three Dog Night Chuck Negron was arrested at his Louisville hotel room on the opening night of the band’s tour and charged with possession of cocaine.

1976, Pete Townshend opens his Meher Baba Oceanic Centre with a week-long convention for his followers and gives away copies of the new Meher Baba tribute LP With Love. It features Pete’s “His Hands,” “Sleeping Dog,” and “Lantern Cabin,” a Pete vocal on “Meher” as well as a Billy Nicholls’ song “Without Your Love,” that will later be a solo hit for Roger.

1976, Brian Wilson played his first live show with The Beach Boys in seven years when they appeared at the Anaheim Stadium, California.

1977, Aerosmith appeared at Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky.

1978, Bob Dylan performed at the Pavillon De Paris, Paris.

1979, James Taylor played at Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee.

1980, Roxy Music appeared at Oberschwabenhalle, Ravensburg, Germany.

1981, bands performing on this date: Kraftwerk at the Hammersmith Odeon, London; Blue Oyster Cult at Autzen Stadium, Eugene, Oregon; Van Halen at Cobo Arena, Detroit; Rush at the Metropolitan Sports Center, Bloomington, Minnesota; and Bruce Springsteen at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford.

1982, The Human League started a three week run at number one on the US singles charts with “Don’t You Want Me,” also a UK chart topper.

1983, Iron Maiden appeared at Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento, California.

1985, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played the first of three sold out shows at Wembley Stadium in London.

1986, U2 crew member Greg Carroll was killed in a motorcycle accident in Dublin while running an errand for Bono. The song “One Tree Hill” on the band’s Joshua Tree album is dedicated to Carroll.

1996, AC/DC played the second of two nights at Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, Spain on their Ballbreaker world tour.

2001, American singer, songwriter Johnny Russell died aged 61. Wrote “Act Naturally” covered by The Beatles and Buck Owens. Jim Reeves, Jerry Garcia, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt all covered his songs.

Born on July 3: David Lynch, The Platters (1929);  Tommy Tedesco, session guitarist for Beach Boys, Everly Brothers, The Supremes, The Monkees, The Association, Barbra Streisand, Elvis Presley, and more (1930); Paul Barrerre, Little Feat (1948); Johnnie Wilder, vocals, Heatwave (1949); Andy Fraser, Free, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (1952); Vince Clarke, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure (1960); and Kevin Hearn, Barenaked Ladies (1969)

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Song of the Day by Eric Berman – “Footprints” by Miles Davis Quintet

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45-adapter-logo2MilesDavisQuintet

Song of the Day by Eric Berman – “Footprints” by Miles Davis Quintet

They were known as Miles Davis’ second great quintet featuring Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, Wayne Shorter on sax and Tony Williams on drums, but to some, they were his most important lineup. It was here that Miles was surrounded by a talented group of musicians who were much younger than he was.

The first great quintet featured John Coltrane on sax, Philly Joe Jones on drums, Red Garland on piano and Paul Chambers on bass and were responsible for creating a new modal language of cool Jazz on quintessential classic albums like Kind Of Blue, Round About Midnight and Milestones.

The ’60s quintet’s approach to improvisation was far more free-wheeling and the group’s musical language was far more advanced…they were all on the same plane, and that plane was otherworldly.

This quintet were responsible for classic albums like E.S.P., Miles Smiles, Sorcerer, Nefertiti, Miles In The Sky and Filles de Kilimanjaro which were recorded between the years 1965 and 1968, and can be heard live from the concert stage on the 5 CD Complete Live At The Plugged Nickel recorded in 1965 and on the 3 CD Live In Europe 1967 where today’s Song of the Day by Eric Berman was culled.

This version of Shorter’s “Footprints,” originally from the Miles Smiles album, but is heard and seen here from the DVD that came with the Live In Europe 1967 set which was the first volume of the ongoing The Bootleg Series. So far, there have been three volumes in the series…let’s hope Columbia will keep them coming.

Song Of The Day – “Rhapsody In Blue” by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra

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paulwhitemanPaul Whiteman was one of the biggest selling artists of the 1920s, and led one of the best-loved sweet bands of all time. Sweet bands were society or café orchestras. They played music for listening and as a background for dining and conversing, as opposed to swing bands whose music was the main attraction and played specifically for dancing.

Many jazz fans frowned down on Whiteman’s sweet approach to music because he believed that Jazz music could and should be notated, rather than improvised. To that end, Whiteman wrote more than 3000 arrangements for his orchestra. Whiteman also liked to write for larger orchestras in a time when most dance bands consisted of 8-10 players.

However, no matter what the music snobs thought, he still sold more records than virtually anyone else during his time, and is well respected for his contributions to music today.

Some of his biggest records include the number one hits “Whispering,” “The Japanese Sandman,” “Wang Wang Blues,” “My Mammy,” “Hot Lips,” “Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers,” “Cherie,” “Say It With Music,” “Play That Song Of India Again,” “Do It Again,” “Three O’ Clock In The Morning” and “Linger Awhile,” and there were lots more from where these came from. However, Whiteman is probably best remembered for the commissioning and debut of today’s Song Of The Day, George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue.”

“Rhapsody In Blue” premiered on February 12, 1924 in New York at a show billed as An Experiment In Modern Music featuring George Gershwin on piano. The performance took place with John Phillip Sousa and Sergei Rachmaninoff present in the audience.

Whiteman recorded the piece twice. The original was recorded in 1924 acoustically with Gershwin playing the piano parts and released on Columbia Records. He recorded the piece a second time in 1927 electrically. That recording, released on the RCA Victor record label, was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 1974. For today’s Song Of The Day, I’ve chosen the original recording with Gershwin on piano. There is also some great footage of Whiteman and the Orchestra performing this piece from the 1930 film King Of Jazz. Whiteman’s orchestral approach to Jazz on “Rhapsody” was a big influence on Miles Davis and Gil Evans and their seminal recordings Birth Of The Cool, Porgy And Bess and Sketches Of Spain.

Some of the greatest jazz men of their day either got their start or moved through Whiteman’s orchestra including Bix Beiderbecke, Frankie Trumbauer, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Jack Teagarden, Bunny Berigan and Fletcher Henderson. Paul Robeson and Billie Holiday both sang their way through his ranks, and Whiteman also billed a singing trio with the band called The Rhythm Boys whose members included a young Bing Crosby. Whiteman also provided music for six Broadway shows and was responsible for producing more than 600 recordings.

One of the finest compilations of Whiteman’s music was released by Collector’s Choice Music back in 1998, and is still readily available today.

Song Of The Day– “Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy” by Chick Corea and Return To Forever

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return-to-forever-hymn-seventh-galaxyPianist extraordinaire, Chick Corea, got his professional start playing with the likes of Cab Calloway, Blue Mitchell, Herbie Mann, Willie Bobo and Mongo Santamaria. He went on to replace Herbie Hancock in Miles Davis’ band, and played with him from 1968 through 1971 during a crucial time when Miles was moving away from straight-ahead jazz, and toward a more psychedelic rock sound. He appeared on Davis’ seminal albums Filles de Kilimanjaro, In A Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Black Beauty and Miles Davis At Fillmore.

After leaving Miles’ ranks with Dave Holland, he formed the group Circle with Anthony Braxton and Barry Altschul before forming Return To Forever in 1971. The first two Return To Forever albums featured husband and wife Flora Purim on vocals and Airto Moreira on percussion, plus Joe Farrell on flute and soprano sax and Stanley Clark on bass. This group released their self-titled debut album, and 1973’s Light As A Feather. Both albums had a Latin-tinged ethereal sound, highlighted by Purim’s distant vocal style.

For Chick Corea’s second album of 1973, Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira and Joe Farrell were out, and Lenny White (drums) and Bill Connors (guitar) joined Corea (synthesizer, piano) and Stanley Clarke (bass) for an all-instrumental collection that pushed the boundaries of jazz by adding more rock instrumentation to the mix.

The album was recorded twice. The first version featured Steve Gadd on drums who didn’t want to tour with the group, so the complete album was cut again with Lenny White on drums. The unreleased tapes of the Gadd version have been lost to the ages.

Hymn refined Miles Davis’ blueprint for jazz rock by moving it more into the mainstream with electric instrumentation and the sounds of funk, psychedelia, Latin jazz and instrumental prog rock, highlighted by the interplay between Corea and guitarist Bill Connors.

Today’s Song Of the Day is the album’s title track which has become a cornerstone of Corea’s repertoire. The album also features Corea’s “Captain Señor Mouse,” “The Game Maker,” “Theme To The Mothership” and Stanley Clarke’s “After The Cosmic Rain.”

After this album, Al DiMeola would replace Bill Connors and Return To Forever would release best-selling records throughout the 1970s like Where Have I Known You Before, No Mystery, Romantic Warrior and Musicmagic.

Today in Rock History – December 27

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doors-jonathan-winters1967, The Doors appeared on The Jonathon Winters Show on CBS TV from Los Angeles.

1967,  Bob Dylan releases his long-awaited follow-up to the Blonde on Blonde album,  John Wesley Harding. Rolling Stone declares, “Without a doubt this is another major musical step for Bob Dylan. The predominance of country blues, white and black, from Hank Williams to Leadbelly is unprecedented in the new electric music.”

1968, Fleetwood Mac played at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.

1969, Led Zeppelin II was at number one on the album charts, it went on to sell over six million copies in the US.

1969, Diana Ross and the Supremes went to number one on the singles chart with “Someday We’ll Be Together,” the group’s 12th chart topper.

1969, Miles Davis was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, on sale for 35 cents (£0.21).

1969, The Rolling Stones’ Let It Bleed reaches number three in the American album charts.

1971, Alice Cooper performed at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1972, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at the Hollywood Sportatorium in Hollywood, Florida.

1974, KISS played at the Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

1975, Queen started a two-week run at number one on the album chart with A Night At The Opera, the group’s first chart topping album.

1975, The Faces split became official. Rod Stewart had severed all connections with the group to work as a solo artist, Ron Wood was on permanent loan to the Stones, Ronnie Lane went on to form Slim Chance, and drummer Kenny Jones would join The Who in 1979 following the death of Keith Moon.

1975, The Staple Singers went to number one on the singles chart with “Let’s Do It Again,” the group’s second chart topper.

1976, Blues guitarist Freddie King died of heart trouble and ulcers aged 42. Eric Clapton covered his “Have You Ever Loved A Woman” on his Layla album. King was a signinficant influence on British and American blues-rock musicians such as Jimmy Vaughan, Ronnie Earl, Peter Green and Eric Clapton.

1977, Aerosmith appeared at the Coliseum in New Haven, Connecticut.

1978, Willie Nelson performed at the Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee.

1979, The Grateful Dead played at the Oakland Auditorium Arena, in Oakland, California.

john-lennon-double-fantasy1980, John and Yoko’s Double Fantasy album started an eight-week run at number one on the chart. “Just Like Starting Over” started a five-week stay atop the singles charts.

1980, ZZ Top played at Expo Hall, Mobile, Alabama.

1981, American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader Hoagy Carmichael died aged 82. He is best known for composing the music for “Stardust”, “Georgia on My Mind”, “The Nearness of You”, and “Heart and Soul,” four of the most-recorded American songs of all time.

1983, The Police played the first of four sold-out nights at Wembley Arena in London, England, on their Synchronicity world tour.

1984, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Madness, Nik Kershaw, Gloria Gaynor, Spandau Ballet, The Flying Pickets and Helen Terry all appeared on the Granada TV music show Brighton Rock.

1986, Jackie Wilson had the UK Christmas number one single with “Reet Petite” two years after Wilson’s death, following its use in a commercial for Levi’s. Written in 1957 by Berry Gordy and Tyran Carlo, the success of the song helped Gordy fund the launch of Motown Records.

1999, Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs and his girlfriend Jennifer Lopez were arrested after a gun was found in their car as they left a Manhattan nightclub. Police were investigating a shooting in the club.

2008, Singer, songwriter, guitarist, Delaney Bramlett died in Los Angeles from complications after gall bladder surgery. He was a member of Delaney, Bonnie & Friends, and worked with George Harrison, The Everly Brothers, John Lennon, Janis Joplin, J.J. Cale, and Eric Clapton.

Born on December 27: Scotty Moore, Elvis Presley guitarist (1931); Mike Pinder, Moody Blues (1941); Pete Quaife, bass, The Kinks (1943); Mick Jones, Foreigner (1944); Lenny Kaye, guitarist, Patti Smith Group (1946); Peter Criss, Kiss (1947); Tracy Nelson, Mother Earth (1947); Terry Bozzio, drummer, songwriter, Missing Persons UK (1950); Karla Bonoff (1952); David Knofler, Dire Straits (1952); Matt Slocum, guitarist, songwriter, Sixpence None the Richer (1972); Hayley Williams, singer-songwriter, Paramore (1988)

Link to Today in Rock History archive.

Song Of The Day – “Simbah” by Gerry Mulligan Tentette

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GerryMulligan1The innovative instrumentation and arrangements of Miles Davis’ landmark Birth Of The Cool nonet sessions from 1948, on which Gerry Mulligan played baritone saxophone, was a major influence on Mulligan’s Tentette recordings from January of 1953 that included “Simbah,” today’s Song Of The Day. But even though the Tentette recordings are less well known than the storied Birth Of The Cool sessions, they are every bit as essential and influential.

Sessions for the songs “Westwood Walk,” “A Ballad,” “Walking Shoes” and “Rocker” took place in Los Angeles on January 29th 1953, while the recordings of “Flash,” “Ontet,” “Taking a Chance On Love”  and today’s Song Of The Day “Simbah,” took place on January 31st, 1953. Seven of the eight compositions were penned by Mulligan and the doubling up of the voices of the trumpet, baritone saxophone and drum parts was inspired by the arrangements from Davis’ Birth Of the Cool session.

The Tentette line-up consisted of Chet Baker and Pete Candoli on trumpet, Bob Enevoldsen on ventile trombone, John Graas on the French horn, Ray Siegel on tuba, Bud Shank on alto saxophone, Don Davidson and Gerry Mulligan on baritone saxophone, Joe Mondragon on bass and Larry Bunker and Chico Hamilton on drums.

While Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan had an, at-best turbulent relationship, there is no sign of animosity in the grooves of the eight tracks from the session that are featured on the album Walking Shoes,”  a 1972 vinyl Capitol compilation album. In 1971, Mulligan commented “The tentet (sic) is essentially my original quartet with Chet Baker combined with the instrumentation of the Miles Davis nonet…I would have liked to pursued (the tentette) further at the time, but c’est la vie.”

The recordings of the Mulligan Tentette and Davis’ Birth Of The Cool both marked a major development in post-bebop jazz whilst casting a long, lingering shadow on all that would follow in symphonic jazz.

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Walkin’ The Dog” by Grateful Dead/Record Store Day Recap

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GratefulDead1966I’m a dyed in the wool, straight up record collector. I’ve been collecting records for more than 40 years and my thirst for music is pretty much insatiable.

Today, I got totally played on by “the man.” I’m talking about “the man” who presses the records I buy. The man that I help keep relevant by going back to the tap and sipping in new music in all different formats. It gives me pleasure and enjoyment.

By now, record labels fully how to push record collector buttons to get me back into the record store. They’ve turned record buying into a holiday, an event that I literally totally buy into. All the buzz words are fully at play here: “limited edition,” “180 gram,” “colored vinyl,” “MONO,” “previously unreleased,” I’m a total sucker for all of the above. It’s much more than my love for the music; it’s also the appreciation of great sounding physical product.

So, Record Store Day (RSD) comes twice a year, once in April, and once on Black Friday in November. The Black Friday RSD is a recent addition, and judging by the turnout last November, is here to stay. Today was the seventh RSD, and while this is only the fourth I’ve participated in, I do find myself getting exciting, and yes sometimes a little apprehensive, about getting the titles I’m interested in as I begin to drink in the hype well in advance of RSD.

I go to this store in Barrington, Illinois called Rainbow Records. This morning, I got there at 8:15 and found my place in line was already at 13. The store is just the kind of record store I like, a great selection of used records at reasonable (for retail) prices, and a well-curated selection of new releases by longtime owner, John Thominet. Thominet is the fifth owner of Rainbow which has been around since the 1970s. Thominet is also the kind of guy who fosters community around him which breeds a great atmosphere to hang out in.

My wife, who tolerates all of this nonsense (and has done so for years), gamely went with me for the ride although she stayed in the car where it was warm and enjoyed the parade of males before her, all of paunch and receding hairlines, including of course, me in line. However, there were plenty of younger people in line as well. It was a cool enough group of people. We all swapped war stories about record collection and past RSD and what we were hoping to add to our collections.

I did very well. I was most interested in obtaining the Grateful Dead’s 2 LP Rare Cuts & Oddities 1966. The album was originally released over ten years ago through the band’s distribution channel as a limited edition CD only, and it has long been out of print. I love 1966 Grateful Dead. Garcia was a much different guitar player back then. He was a far more conventional and played much harder then, but boy he sure could ramble. It was far different than the type of fluid/noodling kind of jamming he ended up doing. The material on this album is all stellar too. Lots of organ-drenched covers including rare studio demos and alternate takes of “Good Lovin,” “Walking The Dog,” “Silver Threads And Golden Needles,” and very early versions of “Not Fade Away” and “Promised Land” (with Jerry on vocals instead of Bob)that never ever left their repertoire.

I also picked up a couple of the Miles Davis reissues today. I originally purchased most of my Miles vinyl in college during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s when I worked in record stores. At the time they were only selling re-channeled fake stereo pressings of the albums Milestones and Round About Midnight. It never really bothered me; it was the only way I knew the records until they were properly reissued on CD many years later. So today, I picked up MONO 180g individually numbered pressings of both records. I listened to them in their entirety this afternoon at a pretty nice volume and, I’m here to say, that these records have never sounded better. The bass on this pressing is so vivid, it generates an energy that just couldn’t be felt on my old pressings of these two classic albums.

I also got several other albums by the likes of The White Stripes (Elephant), Flaming Lips (Zaireeka), Shuggie Otis (Introducing) and also some cool singles by Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Frank Zappa and Pink Floyd.

Yup, I got played by “the man.” I took the bait like catnip, and I’m happy I did. I’ll write about some of these other records as I ingest them, so stay tuned.

Fantasy on The 3D RadioActivity!

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Fantasy comes in several forms, some of which is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within take place in imaginary worlds where paranormal is common. Fantasy is generally distinguished from science fiction by the expectation that it steers clear of those themes, though there is a great deal of overlap between the two.  In the musical viewpoint, it also takes many forms ranging from surreal to the obvious.  Fantasy Records on the other hand, is a United States-based label that was founded by Max and Sol Weiss in 1949 in San Francisco, California.   We cover all of the bases on this program, and overlap where possible, because that is exactly what we do as we let you fantasies take over this broadcast of The 3D RadioActivity.

Please step this way…

2012/08/27 - Fantasy
2012/08/27 – Fantasy

Be sure to tell me what songs pop into your thoughts when you focus on the word “Imagine”.  You can be sure that we will hear John Lennon, Alan Parsons will tell us a tale of Mystery and Imagination, and The Atlanta Rhythym Section will sing about Imaginary Lovers, a song I nearly played for this Fantasy theme, however it spurred my imagination to use this idea for a whole show.  The same thing happened when I recently heard the phrases “Give and Take” along with “Lost and Found”.  Its’ truly amazing to me how this creative process works.  I want to invite you to participate by telling me your favorite lost, found, give, take and imaginary songs so I can play what you want to hear.  As another phrase goes, the more the merrier.