Monday Musical History Day

[Jani]

Wow quite a few more than I imagined.  Some great talent there! 

[Davie]

Great history/great music here:  Apple TV+ announced “1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything,” a docu-series that explores the musicians and soundtracks that shaped the culture and politics of 1971.

[Davie]

Sophie's triumphantly plastic music moulded a new world for Trans People. The producer was “a pioneer of a new sound, one of the most influential artists in the last decade. Not only for ingenious production and creativity but also for the message and visibility that was achieved. An icon of liberation.”

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/feb/02/sophie-triumphantly-plastic-music-moulded-a-new-world-for-trans-people 

Her debut single was: "Nothing More to Say."

 

[Heather Shay]

QUESTION: Can you name someone who sang lead on 3 hit singles for 3 different bands and had a hit single solo? 

ANSWER: Paul Carrack

Who is Paul Carrack, you may ask. I first fell in love with his voice when he sang the first song he ever wrote with his first band ACE - called "How Long.: He's also the voice of "Tempted" by SQUEEZE and "Silent Runnig" The Living Years" and "Over My Shoulder" by Mike + The Mechanics. He also sang lead on song of Roger Waters "Radio K.A.O.S" . The BBC calls him 'the man with the golden voice' and Record Collector noted "that if vocal talent equalled financial success, Paul would be as big as Phil Collins and Elton John." He has written songs recorded by the Eagles, Linda Ronstat and many others and been a session musician with Roxy Music, Eric Clapton, Elton John and the Pretenders among others and let's not forget that he had a hit solo single "Don't Shed a Tear.:

I never have gotten to see him. He was to open for Peter Frampton at Bowling Green State University when I was in college, but someone in his band ACE got sick and they had to cancel.

I got to play "How Long" in one of my first bands and actually played lead guitar.

I love his voice and wish more people knew of this amazing musician, songwriter and vocalist.

[Davie]

13 hours ago, Heather Shay said:

Who is Paul Carrack, you may ask.

Wow. Thanks for this, Heather. I love those songs and now I know why. It'll now be fun to replay those.  —Davie

[Heather Shay]

Thumbs UP

[Heather Shay]

RIP Kris Kristofferson -

I remember the first time I heard of Kris. It was in college and I liked the songs he wrote and it blew my mind that he was a Rhodes Scholar. I had just taken a course in Calculas6 - taught by a Rhodes scholar who was so tough, over half the class dropped out and the highest grade in the class was a C. I took a D and was happy to be done with it. The teacher gave us a test and everyone flunked, so he retested the next week and we did worse.

But I drift.

The second time I thought about Kris was when he and Rita Coolidge were together and I was listening to the second Asylum Choir album (Leon Russell and Marc Benno). You hear a coin drop and Leon asks Ritea if it was heads or tails. She said Tales. When I heard that I realized she sang great and talked horribly but her husband Kris, talked great but sang awful.

I started digging in to Kris and found how rich his songs were, including "Me and Bobby McGee", For the Good Time", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" and "Help Me Make It Through the Night" and it was hooked. He didn't come across as Country but then he played with the Highway men that included Willie Nelson, Wylon Jennings and Johnny Cash and add to that, his appearance in "A Star is Born" with Barbara Streisand and other movie roles. 

Of all the country inclined artists of his era, I never thought of him as country - just a great songwriter, who told a story, told it well and concise.

Again - RIP Kris.

[Heather Shay]

Paul Rodgers is one of my all time favorite singers and his voice was mentoring to me growing up. I highly respect his writing ability and that he chose not to be involved in the drug/drinking culture that saw so many amazing musicians crash and burn.

I first heard Paul when "All Right Now" by the band Free entered the world and his voice amazed me. I became an instant Free fan and bought and listened to everything they did. Speaking of crash and burn, Paul Kossoff was the talented guitarist who indeed sank due to drugs.

Paul co-wrote "All Right Now" and so many of Free's songs. He then formed Bad Company, another gem that I was able to see in concert. I also was playing several of their songs in a cover band I sang lead vocals with.

And the man keeps on going. He helped Queen come back and play music after losing Freddie Mercury.

He also formed a band with Jimmy Page, called The Firm, formed the band The Law, with Kenney Jones (drummer with Faces and The Who) and of course has released many solo albums.

Even today he looks 20 years younger than many of his contemporories and still maintains a busy schedule and sings as well as he ever did,

Something I did not know, Paul has become a Canadian citizen and has 3 children from 2 marriages. He did suffer 2 strokes but through vigilience and doing what he was requested, he is fully recovered as any human being can.

I have too many Paul Rodgers songs to declare a favorite but among my favorites are: All Right Now, Fire and Water, The Stealer, Can't Get Enough, Seagull, Feeling Like Making Love, The Sky is Burning, Wishing Well........

[Jani]

You are right @Heather Shay Paul has such a distinctive voice.  I too love all his work. 

[Heather Shay]

Donnie Iris,

A friend mentioned the song The Rapper recently and I mentioned how Donnie Iris from Pennsylvania had been part of the Jaggerz who sang that song and when he went solo had a great song called "Ah! Leah". My other friend mentioned Donnie had also been in Wild Cherry (Play That Funky Music) and that was something I didn't know. Turns out Donnie was in Wild Cherry for awhile AFTER the big song Play That Funky Music came out, so he had no part in the recording on the song.

It was during his playing guitar with Wild Cherry, when he met fellow Wild Cherry, Mark Avsec, from Cleveland, who was playing keyboards with Wild Cherry and the 2 co-wrote Ah! Leah and powered Iris's solo career. Interestingly, Ah! Leah was originally based on trying to have a sort of chant ala Buddhist and had nothing to do with a girl and then they realized being about a girl would help sell the song and viola it turned out on of the band members girl friend was named Leah.

Believe it or not, more recently the band released a Christmas album called .... wait for it...Ah! Leluiah!

 

[April Marie]

I love this! "Ah! Leah" is on my playlist and I didn't know that Donnie was a fellow Pennsyltuckyvanian. 

[Jani]

Just now, Heather Shay said:

Believe it or not, more recently the band released a Christmas album called .... wait for it...Ah! Leluiah!

 

Haha, keep your day job!

[Heather Shay]

I remember the night when we at the Collegian (University of Toledo newspaper) had finished the paper and put it to bed. We went to the Brass Bell (we closed after we finished each paper). Our Editor, who was an intern at The Toledo Blade, came in with the next morning's front page, saying Nixon Resigned. Playing on thwe jukebox was one of our favorite songs of the time, "We Got To Get You a Woman" by Runt (our other favorite was "Avenging Annie" by Andy Pratt). At the time I was aware that Runt was a nickname Todd Rundgren had and thought he'd probably be a one hit wonder, like his earlier band Nazz with "Open My Eyes."

When Todd released a mainly one man recording called "Something/Anything" I loved the man's writing and playing. Todd has certainly had an amazing career. One filled with cutting edge exploration, driving the music industry forward. As Wikipedia states, "Rundgren is considered a pioneer in the fields of electronic music, progressive rock, music videos, computer software, and Internet music delivery. He organized the first interactive television concert in 1978, designed the first color graphics tablet in 1980, and created the first interactive album, No World Order, in 1994."

He has been a surehanded producer, working with the likes of The Band, Badfinger, Grand Funk, Bourgeois Tagg, The New York Dolls and The Hello People. My only complaint about his producing is that the bands he works with tend to sound like Todd Rungren and not partricularly the band itself.

Todd played with his other band Utopia and toured with Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band and continues to record and release albums regularly including an album of Robert Johnson covers and an A Capplea album.

Well done, Todd Rungren, Well done.

 

[Cyndee]

@Heather Shay good stuff above. I liked the band Utopia and their music. 

 

Cheers

 

C

[Heather Shay]

When you here "Black Magic Woman", I suspect you think of Santana. Not me. I think of the amazing guitarist, writer and singer, Peter Green. He was another sad victim of mental health that destroyed an amazing talent.

Peter joined John Mayal's Bluesbreaker and simply left people in awe of his abilities. He went on to form his own band, Fleetwood Mac (named for Mick Fleetwood the drummer and John McVie the bass player because for some reason Peter new he would not be able to see the band through but didn't know how long he'd lasy), 

This Fleetwood Mac was my favorite version of the band as they played an orignal blend of Delta/Urban/Rural/Chicago type blues. Thbey had hits written by Green that included "Black Magic Woman". "Oh Well" my personal favorite and one I got to play live in my Tom Petty cover band in concert, Green Manalishi, Rattlesnake Shake, and "Man of the World." 

He left the band as his Schizophrenia was compoundeds with his first use of LSD and lead him to psychiatric hospitals, when he tried to give away all the money he earned from his song writing.

He did come back to a certain degree later, forming Peter Green's Splinter Group. Through the years so many well known guitarists cite Green as their favorite guitarit and biggest influence. RIP Peter Green.

 

[Davie]

Just now, Heather Shay said:

Through the years so many well known guitarists cite Green as their favorite guitarit and biggest influence. RIP Peter Green.

Me too. On the other hand, So What?

[Heather Shay]

The fact that we lost so much possibility because of a mental illness :(

[Jani]

but how much of it was brought on by his drug use?

[Davie]

Another great composer who died too young. 39, I believe. Chopin: Waltz in A minor (2024, newly discovered) [Lang Lang, pianist.]

[Heather Shay]

Today I thought I'd mention some of the names of bands and artists before they got famous.

 

The most unusual was - The Polka turk Blues Band became Black Sabbath

Mammoth became Van Halen

Soft White Underbelly became Blue Oyster Cult

Cracker became The Band

Hourglass became The Allman Brothers Band

The JetSet became The Byrds

The Golliwogs became CCR

The Hype became U2

Smile became Queen

The Detours became The Who

The Warlocks became The Grateful Dead

Mudcrutch became Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers

 

 

[Heather Shay]

I remember reading about Traffic in Teen Set and Circus magazine and thinking it was quite a cool name. I knew who Steve Winwood and loved his work with the Spencer Davis Group. A 16 year old singing "Gimme Some Lovin" and "I'm a Man" blew me away. I didn't know, at the time, who Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason were but I mentally bookmarked the band to look into.

Then a friend of mine bought the second album that was self titled. I listened in headphones and for the first time in my life I experienced panning, the effect where a sound, in this case a guitar lead, started in the left side and moved to the right side and back and then ping-ponged left and right. Once again i was blown away.

Through the years I bought all of their albums and went through all of their changes from "Dear Mr. Fantasy" to "W@hen the Eagle Flies" and the trip has been amazing. I loved "John Barley Corn", "freedom Rider", "Low Spark of High Healed Boys", "Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory" and wish they'd received the place in the pantheon of music they well deserved. 

Oh yes, and then there was the Traffic symbol, found on every album. Notice Chris wood pointing to it in the album below.

 

[Jani]

One of my all time favorite bands.  So many iconic songs!  

[Davie]

If you remember the day this song came out, you might have fallen in love with Cathi of the freckles as you danced cheek-to-cheek at the junior high dance. Love spans all divisions.

 

[Heather Shay]

His name is Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend - the writer of amazing songs, rock operas, guitarist, synth, singer and other instruments, name it he can probably play it.

Besides his musical career, he has written many books of essays, children's stories and even served as an "editor" for Faber & Faber publishing in London (apparently in his - hmmm - spare time).

I am amazing how well his synth parts in songs, especially on "Who's Next" still stand up so well.

I love that how he presented his music to the members of the Who - he'd demo the entire song and give to the guys so they so bring their own personality to the song and said it was like taking his skeletal framework and letting the other guys add flesh and blood.

Did you know the original band name used by The Who was The Detours?

Townshend also has made public that he is bisexual.

[KayC]

On 11/11/2024 at 8:16 AM, Heather Shay said:

I remember reading about Traffic

Just recently found an original copy of the Traffic vinyl with 'Low Spark .." on it.  The cover was a bit worn but the vinyl was in great playing condition.  That album is a classic