Cover songs? I thought yuu hated them...

Welcome to thatwasrockandroll.

Way back when, a couple weeks ago when I started this journey, I laid out some ground rules for my tastes in music.  One of those "rules"was that I didn't care much for cover songs, thinking that the original artist had most everything covered when they created it.

But after further review (as they say in the NFL), there are some cover songs that do create something different than the original.  In my meager defense I was thinking about cover songs where the covering artist sticks close to the original material, and tries to use instrumentation or their voice to create something different.

Truly outstanding cover songs (like "Roll Over Beethoven") take the original song and turn it inside out.  That's what today's Time Machine entry does.  Many of you have seen either the original stage production of Guys and Dolls, or the movie version with Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra.  You may have seen the stage revival with Nathan Lane.

Towards the end of the show there is a meeting at the Salvation Army-like headquarters.  Nathan has strong-armed his hoodlum buddies into going as part of his bet with Sky Masterson (who bet Nathan that he could make young member of the Save-A-Soul branch fall in love with him even though he wasn't really interested--at first).  The hoods confess their sins in a rousing number "Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat".  Here's the original Broadway version:

In 1992, Steve Martin starred in a little-seen movie called Leap of Faith.  He played one of those traveling preachers who "healed" audience members to spur contributions.  One night, an audience member actually WAS healed, leading him to question his existence and whether God was actually working through him.

The soundtrack had a variety of songs, but the best of them was Don Henley (ex-Eagle) and his version of "Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat".  It's completely different, a much more languid pace without the manic "Sit Down! Sit Down! Sit Down" of the original.  It's a fabulous tune.  Enjoy your trip to heaven on that tiny boat...

Hope you have a long and joyous Fourth of July weekend.  I'll be back Monday (3) with some truly Amurican music...


Pete

"Ah Ha! Pronoun Trouble!"--part 2

Welcome to thatwasrockandroll.

Yesterday, we played voyeur to Rupert Holmes and his relationship problems.  One too many men, and a problem with "Him".  Today, we find the late '60s supergroup The Monkees having similar pronoun trouble, but this time it's with an evil woman who treats Micky Dolenz (the lead singer on this track) badly.  More on that in a second.

Some denigrate The Monkees--calling them the "Prefab Four" and throwing shade at their lack of songwriting skills at the beginning of their  existence.  But the 4 members of the band had skills, and those became more apparent as their career unspooled.  

The TV show was cast before The Monkees existed, with an ad in Variety asking for Wild Boys 18-21 years old.  Mike Nesmith was the only one who actually saw the ad.  Micky was skeptical, since he was a veteran of showbiz, being the title character in the TV series Circus Boy.  Davy Jones was a stage performer, and was nominated for a Tony Award playing the Artful Dodger in a Broadway production of Oliver!.

Peter learned of the auditions from a friend of his who played the coffee shops in Greenwich Village.  The pal didn't make the cut, but shed no tears for him--it was Stephen Stills.  Mike didn't need the money--his grandmother invented Liquid Paper.  Micky was the son of a character actor (George Dolenz).  Davy was actually in England when the auditions were announced--he flew over and was cast on the spot.  There's a great YouTube video of their screen tests.  For the curious, it's at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63nhSFFFfJ4&t=43s

Back to today's Time Machine entry.  Another pronoun.  A feminine one.  Micky sings his heart out missing his girl who treats him terribly.  Or, put another way, "She" treated him terribly.

For those of you who want to watch Bugs eviscerate poor Daffy for almost 5 minutes, including the aforementioned Pronoun Trouble,  this clip is your huckleberry...

See you tomorrow...


Pete

"Ah Ha! Pronoun Trouble"...

Welcome to thatwasrockandroll.

Everybody has a list of songs that they just HATE.  Unfortunately, many of those are earworms, songs that you can't get out of your head no matter how hard you try.  Songs like "Afternoon Delight", "You Light Up My Life", "The Night Chicago Died", "My Heart Will Go On". You get the drill.

One of the Hall of Famers of Songs You Love To Hate is "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes.  God, how I despised that song when it came out, and if I hear three notes of it now it's like fingernails on a chalkboard.  It was a #1 song, and most of us dismiss it as a One Hit Wonder, and figured Rupert Holmes faded into obscurity afterwards.

But boy would you be wrong.  Galactically wrong.  Rupert Holmes has had an amazing career.  Born in England but raised in New York, Holmes decided to augment his singing career by writing musicals.  His first effort was to take an unfinished Charles Dickens story called The Mystery of Edwin Drood, later shortened to just Drood for Broadway revivals.

The production invited audience participation, to cheer the hero and boo/hiss the villain.  It also had a different ending each night, as Dickens didn't finish the novel and Holmes wrote multiple endings.  The audience voted on who was the killer and that actor got another song at the end of the play.  I saw The Mystery of Edwin Drood in 1985, my first Broadway experience.  I was a vote-tallier, as I was at the end of a row.  Betty Buckley (Broadway legend) was part of the cast.  Holmes won two Tony Awards.

He went on to write several more musicals over the years, some good, some not so good.  He wrote songs for Barbra Streisand and others, and continued to perform and release albums.  He's currently working on a book on how to kill your boss, and I'd love to see that turned into a musical.

But back to "Escape".  After the success of that song (which, by the way, was the last #1 song of the '70s, in 1979), he released another song.  It didn't get to #1, but it did get to #6 on the Hot 100.  Which brings us to today's Time Machine trip.  A song titled after a pronoun.  A masculine pronoun.  Another earworm.  Join us as Rupert struggles with a second male in his relationship.  And what to do about "Him"...

By the way, the title of today's post is a reference to a classic Warner Brothers cartoon, in which Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny are interacting with Elmer Fudd to determine what hunting season it is.  Duck Season?  Rabbit Season?  And which one should Elmer shoot?  Daffy ends up on the short end of each interaction.  At one point, Daffy demands they run their lines again, breaking the fourth wall and walking through the process by which Daffy gets his bill blown off.  Worth an investment of 19 seconds...

See you tomorrow...


Pete

One after another after another...

Welcome to thatwasrockandroll.

Today's Time Machine trip has in-flight entertainment.  Movies from the '80s.  What do these flicks have in common?

Top Gun
Caddyshack
Footloose
Over the Top
Caddyshack II

Figured it out?  Each of those movies featured at least one song by the "King of Soundtracks", Kenny Loggins.  It would be easy to come to the conclusion that he never had a career outside of recording songs for movies, although that would be an incorrect one.  He had a basket full of Top 40 singles, including "This Is It", "Whenever I Call You Friend" (with Stevie Nicks), "House at Pooh Corner", and songs that he wrote but were performed by others, like "What a Fool Believes" (better known as a Doobie Brothers song, co-written with Michael McDonald).

Today's tune is from Caddyshack II, a dreadful sequel that featured almost nobody from the classic first film.  Writers, directors, actors, you name it--everyone bailed on the second movie.  Except for Kenny Loggins.  He followed "I'm Alright" (from the first movie) with today's Time Machine tune.  While the movie sucked, the quality of Loggins' contribution didn't.  Here's the King, resplendent on his throne, with another upbeat rocker , "Nobody's Fool"

You are now able to use approved electronic devices.  Please keep your seatbelt fastened in case we run into any head-banging turbulence.  See you tomorrow...


Pete

A belated birthday celebration

Welcome to thatwasrockandroll.

Sometimes "Rock and Roll" isn't just "rockandroll".  It's Pop Music (as opposed to "Pop Muzik", that fabulous '80s tune by M).  Especially for me, a child of the '70s and a college student when Disco was king.

Yeah, yeah, I know--"Disco sucks".  Well, no, it DIDN'T suck.  Listen to today's EDM and dubstep and the DNA of Disco is present.  Today's dance music is much more "aggressive" than '70s and '80s Disco, but the base elements are the same.  A beat, driven by a bass line, with a hook-filled chord progression.

Perhaps the best example of "good" Disco was Chic.  Led by the songwriting/production genius of Nile Rodgers and the bass genius of Bernard Edwards, Chic was all over clubs and dorm floor parties in the late '70s (I know, I DJ'd plenty of the latter).  They also lent their talents to other artists, which brings me to the Birthday Girl and today's destination of the Time Machine.

Carly Simon would never be listed on anybody's list of Disco Queens.  But in 1982 she contributed a song for the movie Soup for One called "Why".   She had stopped touring (due to excessive stage fright) but had found a niche singing on movie soundtracks.  "Why" was written and produced by Nile Rodgers, and the elements of Chic were all over it.  It was barely played on the radio but it holds up nicely 35 years later.

If you insist on lumping all Disco into the same bag, just listen to the first minute or two (or until Carly starts singing if you don't care that much for her voice).  It's pure Chic, with all the components that made them great.  Happy Birthday Carly--72 (!) years old yesterday...

See you tomorrow...


Pete

Everything old was new again...

Welcome to thatwasrockandroll.

At the top of my short list of favorite musicians is the Electric Light Orchestra, or ELO for short.  They came of age about the same time I came of age, although their history reaches back into the '60s.  They were the first band to seriously combine classical instruments to rock and roll music, and they made their first big impression with a hysterical cover of Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven".

From there, they continued their experiment, adding choirs, layers of strings, and spacey instrumentation to their music.  Some of it got played on the radio ("Livin Thing", "Telephone Line", Evil Woman") but the joy in any ELO record was the stuff that didn't make it to commercial radio.

They are finding a renaissance recently, as "Mr. Blue Sky" was featured in the opening credits sequence of Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2.  What's unfortunate is that "Mr Blue Sky" was actually the last song of an arc titled "Concerto for a Rainy Day" that had some really great tunes in it.  Today's Time Machine destination is for one of those songs.

"Standing in the Rain" opens Side 3 of the two-album set Out of the Blue, released in 1977.  All the components of a classic ELO tune are here--strings, vocoder (something Jeff Lynne, brain and soul of ELO) experimented with from time to time.  A long instrumental introduction leads to the song, a mid-tempo song with echo, reverb, and bombastic classical chords.

It's ELO at the height of their powers.  Sit back and enjoy it...

Have a great weekend--see you Monday (26)...


Pete

Beware of Preacher's Kids...

Welcome to thatwasrockandroll.

Vincent Furnier grew up in Detroit, the son of a minister.  He had the typical pressures that Preacher's Kids have--always expected to do the right thing, never straying off the beaten path.  He trod that road for a bit, but there was a rebel (some might say "demon") buried inside waiting to get out.

He decided to become a rock and roller.  He formed a band and off they went.  Dad moved the family to Phoenix, but young Vince decided that he would stay on the new path he chose.  His band had success, but the "demon" grew closer to the surface.

Vince couldn't resist it anymore.  His "demon" came to the surface.  Vince named it Alice.  The rest of us knew him as Alice Cooper.  His contribution to rock music was unprecedented--he introduced full-on theatrics to a rock band.  Yes, David Bowie and others were introducing elements of theatre to their shows, but Alice Cooper refined it.

Banned from certain cities to his "negative impact on the youth of our community", Alice became a icon for teenage angst and the need to express the inner self.  Nightmares, rehab, and the nature of Heaven and Hell were fodder for concept albums in the mid-'70s.  Urban legends persist that he bit the head off a live chicken (before Ozzy Osbourne did), that he was a devil worshipper, and any number of other attributes.  

I saw him live in 1980, when he was promoting an album named From the Inside.  The stage had a projection screen at the back, and the concert opened with a short film of Alice in rehab, and his subsequent escape.  At the end, Alice runs towards the camera.  Unseen by the audience were vertical slits cut in the screen.  As the film Alice approached the camera, the 3-D Alice burst through the slits and ran to the front of the stage.  Nobody else even tried anything like that.

The Time Machine stops today at the leadoff track from Billion Dollar Babies, the album that launched Alice Cooper into the mainstream.  This song also often was the first song played in concert, and in some venues Alice was lowered to the stage from the rafters.  Enjoy "Hello Hooray".

See you Friday (23).  My first airplane in 9 months is tomorrow and I have no idea how I'll do...


Pete

Well, it IS Tuesday...

It would be difficult to find any artist (with the obvious exception of The Beatles) who put together a string of albums with the quality that Stevie Wonder did in the early to mid '70s.  It started with Talking Book, followed by Innervisions, then Fulfillingness' First Finale, and capped with the amazing double album (PLUS a 7" single!) Songs in the Key of Life.  Four works cram-packed with fabulous songs.

Today's Time Machine trip takes us, fittingly, to Tuesday.  As in "Tuesday Heartbreak", an underrated mid-tempo tune that portends for what's to come from Stevie.  I always liked it, even better than some of the stuff that was played on the radio.  An artist coming into his own.  at 21 years old.

Enjoy the ride.  Please exit using the side doors.  See you tomorrow...


Pete

The "other" Aid for Africa song

Welcome to thatwasrockandroll

in 1984, musicians around the world did charity fundraisers for African countries beset by famine, plague, internecine warfare, and various other sundry afflictions.  It started with the British, a song called "Do They Know It's Christmas?" was released, along with a video chock full of rockstars singing their heart out to raise money.  

Not to be outdone, the Americans (with help from some native Canadians, like Dan Ackroyd), sang "We Are the World".  It became a game to figure out who's singing you liked better (my money was always on Bob Dylan, with Huey Lewis a close second), and the subsequent Live Aid concerts in London and Philadelphia brought out the firepower. 

An album was released, with tracks donated by members of the American effort.  But the album also included a song made by Canadian stars, a tune written by David Foster (a producer/songwriter with a long list of clients).  For my money it's better than "We Are the World" if for no other reason than it has a Geddy Lee vocal.  And Gordon Lightfoot.  And Mike Reno from Loverboy.  And Corey Hart (no sunglasses?).  And Neil Young.  And Bryan Adams.  

Have a seat in the Time Machine and enjoy "Tears Are Not Enough" by Northern Lights.  My link is pretty low-res, but it does have names to put with the faces.  Boy, does Neil Young look rough...

See you tomorrow...

Pete

Not bad for a "dead" guy...

Welcome to thatwasrockandroll

In the late '60s, a rumor turned urban legend offered Paul McCartney, then of The Beatles, had died in a car accident.  The band, in cahoots with Capitol Records, decided to hire a look-alike (and, presumably, a sound-alike) for photos and other public events.  But somehow, they inadvertently left clues as to Paul's demise in Beatles songs and album artwork.

It became an obsession in the pre-internet days, as college students scoured album covers, played records backwards (can you even PLAY an MP3 backwards?)  to get "hidden" messages.  It swept the world for about six months, until the gig finally was up and it was obvious that Paul was very much alive.

Alas, The Beatles broke up, and the four of them went their separate ways.  Paul was the most prolific, releasing 3 albums in the space of 2 and a half years.  The fourth album was the one that really blew up--Band on the Run.  It was typical McCartney--ballads and the occasional mid-tempo song.  But the record ended with something out of character, and that's our destination for today's Wayback journey.

Enjoy Paul (very much alive) singing a rowdy love song to his beloved Linda Eastman (who, the rumor went, was part of the Eastman Kodak family, untrue as it turned out).  Paul outlived the rumors, outlived Linda (unfortunately), and in his mid-70s continues to amaze and astound us.  

I'll take the weekend off.  See you Monday (19)...

Pete

Too much, too little, too soon...

Welcome to thatwasrockandroll

Queen is one of those "polarizing" bands--you either really like them or you can't stand them. In the '70s, they became global superstars behind a 6-minute song that radio had to play because kids were calling so much to request it.  "Bohemian Rhapsody" was so different than anything anybody was putting out there, and in particular it showcased the distinctive voice of one Freddie Mercury.

Mercury's voice was so unique, and the overdubbed harmonies made Queen sound like they had an entire chorus on their team.  Later, I learned that Mercury sang with a vibrato that was incredibly rare and that created the difference in how he sounded versus most other singers.  It hasn't been repeated.

Mercury contracted AIDS sometime in the late '80s.  I was living in China in fall 1991 when the news of his death came--it was top of the front page in Hong Kong's newspaper.  He was far too young to be leaving us, and a few years later the band decided to take work that had been shelved and release it.

The album was called Made in Heaven, and while certainly not their best, it was underrated.  I had trouble listening to it at first, as the truth about what happened colored the work.  But if there is ever a Queen-only themed musical, the end of Act 1 will be the song we're featuring today.  It's a ballad where Mercury cautions against the effects to too much love (a sly nod to his bisexuality).  But it's a great ballad with a great Brian May solo.  Enjoy--just not too much...

By the way--that's DOCTOR Brian May to you--PhD in Astrophysics.  See you tomorrow....


Pete

Lost--then found...

Welcome to thatwasrockandroll.

Today's trip into the Ether surrounds one of my favorite bands.  In the late '60s Chicago Transit Authority (shortened to "Chicago" after the real CTA complained) made iconic music that featured a tight horn section and multiple singer/songwriters to mix up tempo and subject matter.

People came and went (one accidentally killed himself), and Peter Cetera went on to become an '80s soft ballad specialist.  The core remained (specifically, Robert Lamm, the brains of the outfit in their early years) and the band toured all over Creation for decades.

A unique identifier for Chicago was that they numbered their albums rather than give them names.  With the exception of what should have been XII (the album after guitarist Terry Kath killed himself with a revolver), called Hot Streets, they stayed with the naming nomenclature.

What was supposed to be Chicago XXII was rejected by their record company, leading to an urban legend as to what that record might be--Big Band?  A covers album?  Cetera returns?  It took 15 years and 10 more Chicago albums before they got enough control over their catalog to release what was called Stone of Sisyphus in 2008.  They always planned to name it that--ironic given the gestation period and the frustration in getting it out there.  As Morpheus said--"Fate, it would seem, is not without a sense of irony".

It was a dated record, and critical/commercial response was less than stellar.  But the title track is pure Chicago, the sound I grew up with and always can identify in 10 notes or less.  Listen, and enjoy what could have been...

See you tomorrow...


Pete

The Artist Formerly Known As...

Welcome to thatwasrockandroll

Thought I'd put down some ground rules so you know what's coming, and what's not coming.  In no particular order, here are The Rules:

• I'm not big on cover songs.  Yes, "Ice Cream Man" by Van Halen, "Big Ten Inch Record" by Aerosmith, and "Roll Over Beethoven" by ELO are indeed excellent examples where the cover is at least as good as the original ("The First Cut is the Deepest" by Rod Stewart).  But for every one of those, there are dreadful attempts and outright misses.  Tell me I'm wrong, and I'll make you listen to Taylor Dayne try to sing "Can't Get Enough of Your Love".  Did Taylor think she was bringing anything to the party that Barry White didn't already bring in bushel baskets?  The Prosecution rests.
• I'm a studio guy.  Yes, I ernjoy concerts, but the perfection of the studio brings me to bands like Steely Dan, Alan Parsons, ELO, and the like.   I'll be putting some live stuff in from time to time, but few bands took the time and expense to record live shows with the quality they deserve.
• I don't hold grudges.  I like the Sammy Hagar iteration of Van Halen just as much as I liked the David Lee Roth version.  I'm OK that Bobby Kimball left Toto, because it allowed us to get Joseph Williams (and then Bobby returned for a bit, which was also fine).  I'm more about the music they made when they were wherever they were, and forget the rest.

Which brings us to today's destination for the Wayback Machine.  Before he became Yusuf Islam and alienated his entire American audience, he was Cat Stevens.  He made some great music that permeated the radio when I was growing up.  

I saw him perform in Indianapolis when I was in college.  His opening act was a magician, and his last trick was sawing a volunteer in half.  They raised the box, opened the door, and Cat Stevens walked out.  Pretty snifty.  Anyway, here's a Cat Stevens tune I'm pretty sure you haven't heard in years.  That doesn't make it any less great...

Enjoy the ride.  See you tomorrow...

Pete

Welcome to thatwasrockandroll.

I've decided to put my encyclopedic knowledge of Rock's Golden Era, from the '60s to the '80s to use, with some pre-and-post stuff added.

Each day I will post a link to a YouTube video that transports us back to when guitars were the lead instrument (sometimes, not always), when distinctive voices were everywhere (Freddie Mercury, Eric Carmen, Elton John, Cat Stevens, etc.).

Nothing else--just a trip into your past (I'll assume a typical visitor will have white or no hair and have an AARP card).  Let's start.  Remember Eric Carmen?  Lead singer of the Raspberries?  Author of "Hit Record", one of the '70s most epic tunes?  A fabulous instrumental introduction, and another one at the end.  Press "Play" and enter the Wayback machine...

See you tomorrow...


Pete