
Music (107)
Elton John's 'Madman Across the Water' Gets Deluxe Edition
When Elton John released the album Madman Across The Water in 1971, it came out at a pivotal time in his career. 1970's Tumbleweed Connection was John's second album and while the record label didn't even release a single, it went to the #2 position on the UK album chart and #5 in the U.S. 1971 brought the release of the soundtrack for the movie Friends, followed by the live album 17-11-70, which was taken from a live radio broadcast and only released because it was so widely bootlegged.
So Madman Across The Water found John with a growing reputation, but still unable to follow through with another hit single following 1970s' top ten hit "Your Song." That changed with the release of this album, which included the singles Levon (#24 on the U.S. chart) and the now-iconic Tiny Dancer (#41 on the Top 40 chart). Produced by Gus Dudgeon, Madman was recorded just as John had put together the arguably definitive line-up of his touring band, with guitarist Davey Johnstone joining Dee Murray on bass and Nigel Olsson on drums. While Dudgeon barely allowed them to play on the album, their sound helped form the songs and that vision would explode on the follow-up album, 1972's Honky Chateau. Neither single was a massive hit, but they hinted at what was to come.
Madman fared poorly in the U.K., topping at #41 on the album charts. But it hit #8 on the U.S. album chart and looking back, it's a very underrated album from an artist on the brink of superstardom.
Now it's being re-released today in a 50th anniversary edition that will be available in three different formats, incuding a 3CD/Blu-ray collection that'll offer the original album (remastered by Bob Ludwig in 2016), five rare bonus tracks, a dozen solo piano demos, an unreleased full version of outtake "Rock Me When He's Gone," John's live set from BBC's Sounds of Saturday performing nearly the entire album, surround mixes and more. The packaging features a 104-page book featuring rare photos, memorabilia, liner notes and essays, plus a reproduced concert poster from 1971. (The audio on the three CDs will also be available on four LPs, and a 2CD edition - without the Blu-ray or Sounds of Saturday audio - are also available.
Below is a track listing of the complete set:
CD 1: Original album (2016 Bob Ludwig remaster) and bonus tracks
- Tiny Dancer
- Levon
- Razor Face
- Madman Across the Water
- Indian Sunset
- Holiday Inn
- Rotten Peaches
- All the Nasties
- Goodbye
- Indian Sunset (Live Radio Broadcast)
- Madman Across the Water (Original Version feat. Mick Ronson)
- Rock Me When He's Gone
- Levon (Mono Single Version)
- Razor Face (Extended Version)
Tracks 1-9 released as DJM Records (U.K.) DJLPH.420/UNI Records (U.S.) 93120, 1971
Tracks 11-12 released on Rare Masters - DJM/Chronicles (U.K.) 514 305-2/Polydor/Chronicles (U.S.) 314 514 138-2, 1992
Track 13 released on UNI U.S. single 55314, 1971
Track 14 released (in surround) on Madman Across the Water SACD - Island/Rocket B0003610-36, 2004
CD 2: Demos (previously unreleased except *)
- Madman Across the Water (1970 Piano Demo)
- Tiny Dancer (Piano Demo)
- Levon (Piano Demo)
- Razor Face (Piano Demo) *
- Madman Across the Water (1971 Piano Demo) *
- Indian Sunset (Piano Demo)
- Holiday Inn (Piano Demo) *
- Rotten Peaches (Piano Demo)
- All the Nasties (Piano Demo) *
- Goodbye (Piano Demo)
- Rock Me When He's Gone (Piano Demo)
- Rock Me When He's Gone (Full Version)
Tracks 4-5, 7 and 9 released on Jewel Box - Rocket/EMI/UMC (U.K.) 071 590-8, 2020
CD 3: BBC's Sounds for Saturday - rec. 11/11/1971, transmitted 4/29/1972 (previously unreleased)
- Tiny Dancer
- Rotten Peaches
- Razor Face
- Holiday Inn
- Indian Sunset
- Levon
- Madman Across the Water
- Goodbye
Blu-ray
- Greg Penny 5.1 surround mix of original album and "Madman Across the Water" (Original Version feat. Mick Ronson)
- Sounds for Saturday video footage
- Tiny Dancer/All the Nasties (The Old Grey Whistle Test - 11/17/1971
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Danny Boyle Talks 'Pistol'
FX’s Pistol is a six-episode limited series about a rock and roll revolution, available exclusively on Hulu. The furious, raging storm at the center of this revolution are the Sex Pistols - and at the center of this series is Sex Pistols’ founding member and guitarist, Steve Jones. Jones’ hilarious, emotional and at times heart-breaking journey guides us through a kaleidoscopic telling of three of the most epic, chaotic and mucus-spattered years in the history of music.
Based on Jones’ memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol, this is the story of a band of spotty, noisy, working-class kids with "no future," who shook the boring, corrupt Establishment to its core, threatened to bring down the government and changed music and culture forever.
Series director Danny Boyle recently spoke with AllYourScreen founder Rick Ellis about the limited series and his efforts to bring to the screen the chaos that surrounded the Sex Pistols.
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'The Masked Singer' National Tour 2022 Opens In St. Louis (Photo Gallery)
The Masked Singer National Tour 2022 kicked off at the Stifel Theatre in St. Louis on Saturday, May 28th, 2022. Special guest celebrity and St. Louis native, Drew Lachey was unmasked.
The Masked Singer National Tour 2022 will travel to 50 cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, Austin, Portland and Los Angeles. Fans can expect to see their favorite characters brought to life on stage in a can’t-miss spectacular live show for audiences of all ages, as well as surprise celebrity guests and amazing new performances.
Natasha Bedingfield will host and perform on the tour, in addition to her costume, “Pepper,” the fan-favorite characters from past seasons of The Masked Singer going on tour include “Queen of Hearts,” “Taco,” “Alien,” “Robot,” “Baby” and “Monster,” plus Season Seven’s “Thingamabob.” The live show will feature one local celebrity at every stop who will perform in a top-secret disguise. The audience will attempt to decipher the clues to guess the identity until the local celebrity is unmasked at the end of the night.
All photos courtesy Reema Shah.
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Today's 70s Song You Should Know: 'I Don't Like Mondays' By The Boomtown Rats
While The Boomtown Rats were nothing much more than a footnote in the U.S., the band had a string of nine Top Ten hits in the U.K. in the late 70s. Late by Bob Geldolf, the band's new-wavish sound combined with socially conscious lyrics hit quite hard in England, where Geldolf had famously written their first hit single while waiting at the unemployment office.
The band's lone appearance on the U.S. singles chart was "I Don't Like Mondays," which only reached #79, although it went to #1 in about a dozen countries. The song was co-written by Geldolf and fellow bandmate Johnny Fingers, after hearing about the shooting spree of 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer. She shot up a San Diego area elementary school, killing two adults and injuring eight children and one police officer. The January 29th, 1979 shooting was the first killing spree in the world conducted by a teen at a school and after she was arrested she famously told a reporter that she did it because "I Don't Like Mondays."
This might seem like the wrong day to highlight this song. But given the fact that we are still dealing with school shootings more than 40 years later, it's worth being reminded just how long this has been going on.
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Today's 70s Song You Should Know: 'Avenging Annie' By Andy Pratt
The 1970s was the decade of the pop singer-songwriter. Carole King, Billy Joel, James Taylor, Jim Croce and a hundred other musicians who cranked out thoughtful pieces of ear candy that are still being sung more than fifty years later. But that explosion of talent also inspired a generation of singer-songwriters who attempted to upend the traditional pop sound of the genre and create something new. And of all of those musicians, few are as musically interesting as Andy Pratt.
Pratt had released a solo album on Polydor to very little attention in 1969, but his self-titled 1973 debut on Columbia Records garnered rave reviews from the rock press, especially for the track "Avenging Annie." The tune was loosely about Annie Oakley and Pretty Boy Floyd the Outlaw and if there is a singer-songwriter equivalent to "Bohemian Rhapsody," it's this spectacularly complex tune. It begins with hoof beats, two gun shots and a soaring piano that propels the rest of the tune. The lyrics tell the story of Annie's devotional love to a man who was cruel and violent to her:
He treat me worse than I ever imagined,
He even say he don't want me around.
Kept it up so long I couldn't be strong,
He run me right into the ground for five long years,
He picked me up and then he slapped me down.
Pratt's voice flows around the lyrics and his rollicking piano, creating a song that is distinctively unlike anything else you're ever heard. "Avenging Annie" wasn't a hit - an edited version of the song only made it to #78 on the Billboard Top 100 Chart. But the album track was a staple on FM Rock radio. It was also covered by Roger Daltry on a solo album, although to be honest, it's a pretty lifeless version.
Pratt signed with Atlantic's Nemperor Records and released "Resolution" in 1976. Helmed by Bee Gees producer Arif Mardin, the album was an attempt at a more commercial sound and indeed was Pratt's best-selling album (it reached #104 on the Billboard album charts). It also earned rave review including this one from Rolling Stone:
"By reviving the dream of rock as an art and then re-inventing it, Pratt has forever changed the face of rock."
Unfortunately, the album didn't break Pratt wide open and neither two other criminally under-appreciated albums he released later in the 1970s. In the early 80s, Pratt converted to Christianity and has continued to release albums of a more spiritual nature.
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Billboard MusicCon Day 2 Concert Ft. Ty Dolla $ign (Photo Gallery)
On Friday, May 14th, Billboard MusicCon continued day two of the inaugural event with a headlining performance by Grammy Award-winning musical powerhouse Ty Dolla $ign. The concert, presented by Smirnoff, kicked off with Ty’s feature on the #1 hit “Hot Girl Summer” by Megan Thee Stallion. Throughout the night, he performed a variety of his features on hit songs including “Swalla” by Jason Derulo, “It’s a Vibe” by 2 Chainz, and “Psycho” by Post Malone. While performing his part in Khalid’s “OTW,” Ty pulled out an electric guitar and rocked out with the crowd. He closed the show with “The Business, Pt. II” and then hopped down into the pit to take pictures with eager fans.
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Turner Classic Movies Celebrates Doris Day's 100th Birthday On Sunday
Tomorrow, April 3rd, 2022, marks the 100th anniversary of Doris Day's birth. And there are a variety of events taking place to honor the singer, actress and television personality.
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will be showing a quartet of her most popular films - including On Moonlight Bay, Calamity Jane, Love Me or Leave Me, and Lover Come Back - beginning at 12 noon Eastern Time on Sunday, April 3. Then at 8pm, TCM will screen four hours of Doris' television performances, beginning with her 1970s CBS specials Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff and Doris Day Today followed by new High-Definition masters of four episodes of The Doris Day Show with guest stars Tony Bennett and Henry Fonda, among others.
Day will also be honored at TCM's annual classic film festival taking place at the Chinese Theatre and Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on April 21st-22nd with screenings of a new 4K restoration of the musical The Pajama Game (1957) and the Rock Hudson co-starring comedy Lover Come Back (1961). A special Club TCM event, hosted by film noir expert and author Eddie Muller, will offer insights from Day's personal friends and dozens of never-before-seen images from her private archive. For more information, go to: filmfestival.tcm.com.
On Friday, Real Gone Music debuted two releases celebrating Day's musical legacy. Early Day: Rare Songs from the Radio 1939-1950 features two dozen rarities from the dawn of Day's career (as well as a booklet with period photographs and a new essay) on one CD, while Day's final album, 2011's My Heart, premieres on vinyl.
Here are the complete track listings from those two releases:
Doris Day, Early Day: Rare Songs from the Radio 1939-1950 (Real Gone Music, 2022)
- Sentimental Journey
- Little Sir Echo
- I'm Happy About the Whole Thing
- The Joint Is Really Jumpin' Down at Carnegie Hall
- Salt Water Cowboy (A United States Marine)
- Take Me in Your Arms
- Easy Street
- Wonderful Winter
- Along the Navajo Trail
- I Wish I Knew
- Sunshine Cake (with Bob Hope)
- Slippin' Around (with Jimmy Wakely)
- My Darling, My Darling
- Hair of Gold, Eyes of Blue
- A Little Bird Told Me
- It's Too Soon to Know
- Buttons and Bows
- Havin' a Wonderful Wish (Time You Were Here)
- Dear Hearts and Gentle People
- Happy Times
- Never Again
- I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine
- Savings Bond Promotional Spot
- Ain't Misbehavin' (Hidden Bonus Track)
Doris Day, My Heart (Arwin ARW-5060, 2011 - reissued Real Gone Music, 2022)
Side One
- Hurry, It's Lovely Up Here
- Daydream
- The Way I Dreamed It
- Heaven Tonight
- My One & Only Love (Doris Day with Andre Previn)
- My Heart
- You Are So Beautiful
Side Two
- Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries
- Disney Girls
- Stewball
- My Buddy (Doris Day with Paul Weston & His Orchestra)
- Happy Endings (Terry Melcher with Introduction by Doris Day)
- Ohio
FX To Premiere Sex Pistols Drama 'Pistol' In May
FX announced on Tuesday that Pistol, its limited series about the legendary Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, will premiere Tuesday, May 31st exclusively on Hulu in the U.S. and on Disney+ in UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. The premiere will feature all six episodes. Pistol will be coming soon to Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ in all other territories.
Based on Jones’ 2017 memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol, Pistol was created and written by Craig Pearce and directed by Academy Award-winner Danny Boyle. The series will be executive produced by Boyle, Pearce, Tracey Seaward, Steve Jones, Gail Lyon, Anita Camarata, Paul Lee and Hope Hartman. The series is produced by FX Productions.
Pistol is a six-episode limited series about a rock and roll revolution. The furious, raging storm at the center of this revolution are the Sex Pistols - and at the center of this series is Sex Pistols’ founding member and guitarist, Steve Jones. Jones’ hilarious, emotional and at times heart-breaking journey guides us through a kaleidoscopic telling of three of the most epic, chaotic and mucus-spattered years in the history of music. Based on Jones’ memoir Lonely Boy: Tales From A Sex Pistol, this is the story of a band of spotty, noisy, working-class kids with "no future," who shook the boring, corrupt Establishment to its core, threatened to bring down the government and changed music and culture forever.
Pistol stars Toby Wallace as Steve Jones, Anson Boon as John Lydon, Christian Lees as Glen Matlock, Louis Partridge as Sid Vicious, Jacob Slater as Paul Cook, Sydney Chandler as Chrissie Hynde, Talulah Riley as Vivienne Westwood, Maisie Williams as punk icon Jordan, Emma Appleton as Nancy Spungen and Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Malcolm McLaren.
Joe Rogan Responds To Neil Young, Joni Mitchell
The following statement was transcribed from a podcast statement posted by Joe Rogan on Sunday, January 30th, 2022. The video is his first public response since Neil Young announced his decision to remove his music from Spotify in response to what he described as COVID-19 misinformation on the Spotify-owned Joe Rogan Experience podcast:
Hello friends!
I wanted to make a video addressing some of the controversy that’s been going on over the past few days. And first of all to say thank you to everyone that sent love and support. I truly, truly appreciate it, and it’s been very nice to hear from you.
I wanted to make this video first of all because I think there’s a lot of people who have a distorted perception of what I do, maybe based on soundbites or based on headlines of articles that are disparaging. The podcast has been accused of spreading ‘dangerous misinformation,’ specifically about two episodes. A little bit about some other ones, but specifically about two: one with Dr. Peter McCullough, and one with Dr. Robert Malone.
Dr. Peter McCullough is a cardiologist and he is the most published physician in his field, in history. Dr. Robert Malone owns 9 patents on the creation of mRNA vaccine technology, and is at least partially responsible for the creation of the technology that led to mRNA vaccines.
Both these people are very highly credentialed, very intelligent, very accomplished people, and they have an opinion that is different from the mainstream narrative. I wanted to hear what their opinion is. I had them on, and because of that, those episodes in particular — those episodes were labelled as being ‘dangerous’ — they had ‘dangerous misinformation’ in them.
The problem I have with the term misinformation, especially today, is that many of the things that we thought of as misinformation just a short while ago are now accepted as fact. Like for instance, eight months ago if you said, ‘if you get vaccinated you can still catch COVID, and you can still spread COVID,’ you’d be removed from social media. They would ban you from certain platforms. Now, that’s accepted as fact.
If you said, ‘I don’t think cloth masks work,’ you would be banned from social media. Now, that’s openly stated and repeated on CNN.
If you said, ‘I think it’s possible that COVID-19 came from a lab,’ you’d be banned from many social media platforms. Now, that’s on the cover of Newsweek.
All of those theories, that at one point in time were banned, were openly discussed by those two men that I had on my podcast, that have been accused of ‘dangerous misinformation’. I do not know if they’re right. I don’t know, because I’m not a doctor and I’m not a scientist. I’m just a person that talks to people and sits down and has conversations with them.
Do I get things wrong? Absolutely I get things wrong. But I try to correct them. Whenever I get something wrong, I try to correct it, because I’m interested in telling the truth and I’m interested in finding what the truth is. And I’m interested in having interesting conversations with people that have differing opinions.
I’m not interested in only talking to people that have one perspective. That’s one of the reasons why I had Sanjay Gupta on, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who I respect very much and I really enjoyed our conversation together. He has a different opinion than those men do.
I had Dr. Michael Osterholm on at the very beginning of the pandemic. He is on President Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board. I had Dr. Peter Hotez on, who is a vaccine expert. I’m interested in finding out what is correct, and also finding out how people come to these conclusions, and what the facts are.
Now, because of this controversy — and I’m sure there’s a lot of other things going on behind the scenes with these controversies — Neil Young has removed his music from the platform of Spotify. And Joni Mitchell, and apparently some other people want to as well.
I’m very sorry that they feel that way. I most certainly don’t want that. I’m a Neil Young fan, I’ve always been a Neil Young fan. I’ll tell you a story at the end of this about that.
One of the things that Spotify wants to do that I agree with, is that at the beginning of these controversial podcasts, specifically the ones about COVID, is to put a disclaimer. And say that you should speak with your physician, and these people and the opinions that they express are contrary to the opinions of the consensus of experts, which I think is very important.
Sure, have that on there. I’m very happy with that. Also, I think if there’s anything that I’ve done that I could do better, is have more experts with differing opinions right after I have the controversial ones. I would most certainly be open to doing that. And I’d like to talk to some people that have differing opinions on the podcast in the future. We’ll see.
I do all the scheduling myself, and I don’t always get it right. These podcasts are strange because they’re just conversations. And oftentimes I have no idea what I’m gonna talk about until I sit down and talk to people. And that’s why some of my ideas are not that prepared or fleshed out, because I’m literally having them in real time. But I do my best, and they’re just conversations, and I think that’s also the appeal of the show. It’s one of the things that makes it interesting.
So I want to thank Spotify for being so supporting during this time. And I’m very sorry this is happening to them, and they’re taking so much heat from it. And so now, the Neil Young story.
First of all, I’m not mad at Neil Young, I’m a huge Neil Young fan. I’ve always been a Neil Young fan. When I was 19, I was a security guard at a place called Great Woods in Mansfield, Massachusetts. It’s an outdoor concert amphitheater, and Neil Young was playing there.
And it was the last day I worked there. I quit during the Neil Young concert. The job was kind of crazy, because a lot of times fights broke out and stuff, and I think I probably got $15 an hour. And I was not about to get beat up for $15 an hour.
So I would bring a hoodie with me whenever I worked. So in case the s—t hit the fan, and it got too crazy, I would just put my hoodie on and leave, and cover up my security outfit — my security shirt. So, one day during a Neil Young concert — the amphitheater, the way it’s set up is there’s a covered area outside that has seats, and then there’s a lawn area behind it. And the lawn area, during the Neil Young concert, they got a little rowdy. It was cold out and they started bonfires.
So they had these raging fires on the lawn and we were supposed to put these fires out and stop them. So we tried for a little while, but then brawls started breaking out, and it started getting crazy. And I was like, ‘f—k this,’ so I put my hoodie on, I zipped it up, and I left. And I drove home. And as I was driving home, I was singing, ‘keep on rockin’ in the free world!’
That was my last day on the job. I don’t think I even collected my last check.
So no hard feelings towards Neil Young. And definitely no hard feelings towards Joni Mitchell. I love her too, I love her music. ‘Chuck E’s in Love’ is a great song.
I don’t know what else I can do differently, other than maybe try harder to get people with differing opinions right afterwards. I do think that that’s important. And do my best to make sure that I’ve researched these topics, the controversial ones in particular, and have all the pertinent facts at hand before I discuss them.
Again I’m not trying to promote misinformation. I’m not trying to be controversial. I’ve never tried to do anything with this podcast other than just talk to people, and have interesting conversations. I didn’t plan it, I can’t believe it’s as successful as it is. It was never really an idea that I had.
The podcast started out as just f—king around with my friends and having fun and talking. And then when it became popular, other people wanted to come on and I was like, ‘oh, it’d be cool to talk to that person,’ ‘oh, he’s interesting,’ ‘oh, she’s got a cool book out’ — and boom, it’s become what it is today, which is some out of control juggernaut that I barely have control of.
So, my pledge to you is that I will do my best to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people’s perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view. I don’t want to just show the contrary opinion to what the narrative is. I want to show all kinds of opinions, so we can all figure out what’s going on. And not just about COVID, about everything. About health, about fitness, wellness, the state of the world itself.
It’s a strange responsibility to have this many viewers and listeners. It’s very strange, and it’s nothing I’ve prepared for and it’s nothing that I ever anticipated. I’m gonna do my best in the future to balance things out. I’m gonna do my best. But my point in doing this is always just to create interesting conversations and ones that I hope people enjoy.
So if I pissed you off, I’m sorry, and if you enjoy the podcast, thank you.
Thank you very much, thank you to Spotify, thank you all the supporters, and even thank you to the haters. Because it’s good to have some haters. It makes you reassess what you’re doing and put things into perspective, and I think that’s good too.
Alright, much love to you all. Thank you to everyone, and I’m gonna do my best.
New In Dad Rock: The Beatles, Daryl Hall, Elvis Costello, Leo Sayer & More
Here is a rundown of some notable new releases for the Dads in your life (or those of us who just have a Dad rock soul):
The Beatles: Get Back: The Rooftop Performance
The Beatles last live public performance was the iconic January 30th, 1969 rooftop concert that was shown in full as part of the recent Peter Jackson-produced documentary. Now the entire 42-minute set is available for streaming, featuring nine complete takes of five songs.
Newly mixed in stereo and Dolby Atmos by Giles Martin, this is the first official audio presentation of the entire concert. No physical release has been announced.
- Get Back (Take 1)
- Get Back (Take 2)
- Don't Let Me Down (Take 1)
- I've Got A Feeling (Take 1)
- One After 909
- Dig A Pony
- Jam/excerpt of God Save The Queen (tape change interlude)
- I've Got a Feeling (Take 2)
- Don't Let Me Down (Take 2)
- Get Back (Take 3)
Bryan Adams: Never Gonna Rain
His hit radio days might be behind him, but Adams continues to crank out ear candy so catchy it would be a hit in a better world.
This four-track EP sampler from his upcoming album "So Happy It Hurts" includes "So Happy It Hurts," a song co-written by Robert John Lange that is as solid as anything on one of Adam's greatest hits albums. "Kick Ass" might be trying a bit too hard, but it's produced by Mutt Lange and you'll find yourself bopping your head along with the guitar riffs whether you want to or not. "On The Road" is a solid deep album track that is perfectly serviceable pop rock. The only real misstep is "Never Gonna Rain," which never quite jells.
There aren't many rockers from the 80s still knocking out great new music and if you're a Bryan Adam fan who hasn't kept up with his new music, you're really missing out.
Daryl Hall: BeforeAfter
While still best known for his Hall & Oates, Daryl Hall has had an extensive and diverse solo career. And if you need an introduction to those works, this collection of songs highlights tracks from his five solo releases: the Robert Fripp-produced Sacred Songs (1980), Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine (1986, including the top five hit "Dreamtime" and top 40 success "Foolish Pride"), Soul Alone (1993), Can't Stop Dreaming (1996), and Laughing Down Crying (2011).
But BeforeAfter also includes eight previously unreleased tracks from Live from Daryl's House, including duets with Dave Stewart ("Here Comes the Rain Again"), Monte Montgomery ("North Star"), and Todd Rundgren ("Can We Still Be Friends"). The set also includes some previously unreleased solo performances from Hall, Jim Weatherly's "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)," Mort Garson and Bob Hilliard's "Our Day Will Come" (a 1962 chart-topper for Ruby and The Romantics), and Hall's "Laughing Down Crying" and "Problem with You."
Disc 1
- Dreamtime
- Babs and Babs
- Foolish Pride
- Can't Stop Dreaming
- Here Comes the Rain Again (Live from Daryl's House) - Daryl Hall & Dave Stewart *
- Someone Like You
- Talking to You (is Like Talking to Myself)
- Sacred Songs
- Right As Rain
- Survive
- North Star (Live from Daryl's House) - Daryl Hall & Monte Montgomery *
- In My Own Dream (Live from Daryl's House) *
- NYCNY
- What's Gonna Happen to Us
Disc 2
- Love Revelation
- Fools Rush In
- I'm in a Philly Mood
- Send Me
- Justify
- Borderline
- Stop Loving Me, Stop Loving You
- Eyes for You (Ain't No Doubt About It)
- The Farther Away I Am
- Why Was It So Easy
- Can We Still Be Friends (Live from Daryl's House) - Daryl Hall & Todd Rundgren *
- Cab Driver
- Our Day Will Come (Live from Daryl's House) *
- Laughing Down Crying (Live from Daryl's House) *
- Problem with You (Live from Daryl's House) *
- Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye) (Live from Daryl's House) *
Disc 1, Tracks 1, 3, 6, 9 and 14 from Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine (RCA, 1986)
Disc 1, Tracks 2, 8, 10 and 13 and Disc 2, Tracks 9-10 from Sacred Songs (RCA, 1980)
Disc 1, Track 4 and Disc 2, Tracks 2, 5 and 12 from Can't Stop Dreaming (BMG (Japan), 1996)
Disc 1, Track 7 and Disc 2, Tracks 8 and 12 from Laughing Down Crying (Verve Forecast, 2011)
Disc 2, Tracks 1, 3-4 and 6-7 from Soul Alone (Epic, 1993)
Elvis Costello and The Imposters, The Boy Named If
I'm a huge fan of Elvis Costello, even though I find that while I admire his willingness to experiment and shake up expectations, I wish he didn't seem to spend so much time running away from the hooks he can write so well.
The Boy Named If is somewhat of a return to his earliest rock sound, and although the sound is there, the songs don't quite jell the way I was expecting. I'm not sure if the work-from-home production approach was the issue, but there aren't a lot of tracks on the release I'll regularly revisit. "Paint The Red Rose Blue" is a classic Costello ballad and the single "Magnificent Hurt" is a great chunky rocker. But tracks such as "Mistook Me For A Friend" sound like lesser unreleased tracks from his "This Year's Model" sessions and the album in general is erratic and uneven. It's a return to classic Elvis Costello sound, but in the end, the songs let him down.
- Farewell, OK
- The Boy Named If
- Penelope Halfpenny
- The Difference
- What If I Can't Give You
- Paint The Red Rose Blue
- Mistook Me For A Friend
- My Most Beautiful Mistake
- Magnificent Hurt
- The Man You Love To Hate
- The Death Of Magic Thinking
- Trick Out The Truth
- Mr. Crescent
Leo Sayer, Northern Songs: Leo Sayer Sings The Beatles
45 years after the release of his "Endless Flight" album (which produced two #1 hits), Leo Sayer's latest release focuses on the music of The Beatles. Sayer has been working on the tracks sporadically since 2011, and was reportedly nervous about releasing these reimagined takes on such classic songs. And while I admire the ambition of the effort, I'm still a bit unsure if I'm quite onboard for his "Billi Jean"-inspired take on "Eleanor Rigby" or soft rock rendition of "Get Back." I don't think is an album I'll be buying, but if you're a fan of either Sayer or The Beatles, it's worth giving it a stream, if for no reason other than to play the musical game "Tribute or Train Wreck?"
- Eleanor Rigby
- Strawberry Fields Forever
- Revolution
- Get Back
- Across The Universe
- A Day In The Life
- Girl
- A Hard Day’s Night
- Magical Mystery Tour
- Julia
- Can’t Buy Me Love
- Norwegian Wood
- Here Comes The Sun
- Only A Northern Song
- Yesterday
- I Feel Fine
- Nowhere Man
- Hey Jude
- Eleanor Rigby #2
Richard Carpenter, Richard Carpenter's Piano Songbook
Originally scheduled to be released in 2021, this is Carpenter's first solo album in nearly 25 years. It includes newly-recorded solo piano renditions of a number of classic Carpenters hits, including Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "(They Long to Be) Close to You," "For All We Know," "Yesterday Once More," "I Need to Be in Love," "We've Only Just Begun," "Rainy Days And Monday," "I Won't Last a Day Without You," and more.
The all-instrumental release is not exactly a barn-burner. But it's the perfect accompaniment for a quiet evening with an adult beverage as you wade into that book you've been meaning to read. Describing an album as "gentle" might sound like a back-handed compliment. But it's actually an apt way to categorize this release that is good soothing the troubled soul.
- Medley: Sing, Goodbye to Love, Eve, Rainy Days and Mondays
- I Won't Last a Day Without You
- For All We Know
- Close To You
- Yesterday Once More
- I Need to Be In Love
- The Rainbow Connection
- Top of the World
- We've Only Just Begun
More...
Joni Mitchell Latest To Remove Music From Spotify
Joni Mitchell has joined the list of musicians asking to have their music removed from the streaming service Spotify.
Earlier this week, Neil Young announced he was pulling his albums from Spotify (via Warner Records) following the service's refusal to remove podcast episodes from Joe Rogan. At the time, Young called on his fellow artists to "move off the Spotify platform." Some musicians have followed his move, including Barry Manilow.
Now Joni Mitchell as done the same, announcing the decision Friday in a post on her official web site:
"I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue."
At the time this story was posted, a number of Mitchell's most familiar albums have been removed from Spotify, including Blue (1971), Clouds (1969), For The Roses (1972), Court And Spark (1974), and Both Sides Now (2000). All of these records are distributed by Warner Music Group and its labels.
All of the Mitchell albums distributed by Geffen/Universal - including Wild Things Run Fast (1982), Dog Eat Dog (1985) and Night Ride Home (1991) – currently remain on Spotify.
The Weirdest Songs Of Christmas: Boston's 'God Rest Ye Metal Gentlemen'
Each day between now and Christmas, we highlight one of the weirdest Christmas songs you'll ever hear. Today, it's the lone holiday track by an iconic classic rock band:
Released in 2013, this one-off Christmas single was produced by Boston founder/guitarist/studio wizard Tom Scholz and performed by him along with Kimberley Dahme, Gary Pihl, and Tom Hambridge. The single came on the heels of the release of "Life, Love & Hope," which was the band's first new music in more than a decade. Like the album, the Boston wall of guitar sound is evident in all its glory. Now if the rest of the track was even 20% as interesting as the riffs.
Deep Cuts: Five Successful Rock Bands From The 1970s You've Probably Forgotten
This week, we highlight five bands that were wildly successful in the 1970s. But you've probably never heard of them if you're under the age of 50.
THREE DOG NIGHT
If you're judging success solely by the number of hit singles, the trio of Cory Wells, Chuck Negron and Danny Hutton were arguably one of the most successful rock bands of the early 1970s. They had a string of 21 consecutive Top 40 hits between 1969 and 1975. Even more impressive, many of those hits were songs from little-known songwriters ranging from Laura Nyro and Hoyt Axton to Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson. But for all their success then, their musical legacy now is spotty at best. Some of their songs get played on Oldies stations, but few people under 50 can even identify the band.
Part of the problem is that even at the height of the band, it was a fairly anonymous group. And since they didn't write most of their hits and swapped off lead vocals from song to song, no real "star" emerged from the group. And to be blunt, even at their creative peak, the band's live performances were half-ass at best. It also doesn't help that the band dissolved the first time in 1976, due in large part to Negron's then $2,000-a-day drug habit. The band has reunited several times in the interim and continues to tour today with two of the three original band members. But they never have managed to break through to the pop culture zeitgeist.
GRAND FUNK RAILROAD
There's probably no better example of a hard-charging 1970s American rock band than Grand Funk. Mark Farner, Don Brewer and Mel Schacher were loathed by critics and dismissed by serious music fans. But thanks to savvy marketing by manager Terry Knight and a relentless touring schedule, the band was a huge concert draw and staple of early 1970s album rock radio stations. They formed in late 1969 and by their second album, they were cranking out rock radio classics like "I'm Your Captain (Closer To Home)." But the band was plagued by friction with their label, manager and often each other. A dispute with manager Terry Knight led him to repossess the band's instruments before a 1972 performance at Madison Square Garden.
The band regrouped and attempted to hire Peter Frampton to join the band, but he had already signed a solo recording deal. They added Craig Frost on keyboards and convinced Todd Rundgren to produce their next two albums. The result was a string of slicker rock hits, including the #1 singles "We're An American Band" and "Locomotion." The next couple of years brought new producers (including Frank Zappa) and some more hits ("Some Kind Of Wonderful," "Bad Time"). But by 1976 the stress of non-stop touring and disputes with their label ended the band. Mark Farner later released two solo albums and later toured as a Christian rock artist. Don Brewer toured for a number of years as part of Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band.
The band has reunited a number of times in the years since and have released several albums of original material, but like a lot of bands of that era, the creative spark had just dissipated. They left behind some great tracks but I suspect their music hasn't connected with later generations because much of it has a very specific 1970s feel to it that seems dated in 2021.
JETHRO TULL
Although Jethro Tull was founded in the late 1960s and released several of its biggest U.S. tracks in 1969, the band hit its biggest commercial peak in the early 1970s. More artsy progressive rock band than traditional classic rock group, Jethro Tull had a series of hit singles and albums in the middle of the decade. The band was popular enough that its first #1 album in the U.S. - "Thick As A Brick" - consisted of one long 43-minute track split onto both sides of an album. By the end of the 1970s, the band had gone through a dizzying series of personnel changes and released three increasingly folk-inspired albums. By 1980, the band had released "A," a more electronic-sounding album that had been originally planned as a solo album by the band's singer and lead songwriter Ian Anderson.
Despite the fact that the song "Aqualung" has one of the most distinctive opening guitar riffs of the era. Jethro Tull is little appreciated by younger audiences. Part of the problem is the band's music has a wide range of sounds and styles, making it difficult to pigeonhole the band. Also, lead singer Ian Anderson never really became a well-known name to audiences, leading more than one person to ask band members "which one is Jethro?"
RARE EARTH
While 95% of Motown's acts in the 1960s and 1970s were African-American, the label did try and expand into other directions-albeit with mixed success. When the label signed Rare Earth in 1969, it put the band on the "Rare Earth" label because they hadn't yet come up with their "non-Motown white guy" record label name.
Rare Earth had released one unsuccessful album for Verve in 1968, but the band thrived at Motown. The band had a traditional 1970s rock sound, but Peter Hoorelbeke had a vocal style that hit the sweet spot between rock and R&B. Rare Earth had its first two hits in 1970 with songs that were originally released by The Temptations: "Get Ready" and "(I Know) I'm Losing You." But the band began losing members at the end of 1971 and the continuing procession of changes didn't help the band build a long-term image in the public eye.
"I Just Want To Celebrate" was a Top Ten hit in 1971 and there was some mid-level hits over the next couple of years. But while the band remained a popular live act going into the end of the decade, other than an odd barely Top 40 1978 hit penned by the Bee Gees, the golden days of the band were over.
In 2021, most people are familiar with "I Just Want To Celebrate," but they have no idea who originally made it a hit.
ATLANTA RHYTHM SECTION
There was once a genre of music called "soft rock," which was really a nice way of saying "gentle pop music with the hint of guitars." The Atlanta Rhythm Section became a successful band in the late 1970s and early 1980s by cranking out a stream of catchy, if forgettable soft rock tunes. "So Into You," "I'm Not Going To Let It Bother Me Tonight," "Doraville," "Imaginary Lover," "Spooky," "Champagne Jam," and a few other minor hits made the band a staple of radio, even though they never quite broke into the ranks of fellow Southern bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Part of the problem was that while the band's sound was much edgier in concert, their radio hits always sounded like they were just ten seconds away from rocking, even though they never quite managed the stones to do it. The result was a band that cranked out a string of successful and ultimately forgettable tunes.
To be fair to ARS, I could have picked a half-dozen other bands of the era for this spot, including Australia's contribution to half-ass pop-rock, The Little River Band.
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Reissue Of The Classic 'Merry Christmas Baby' Album Coming In November
When it comes to Christmas music, my favorites tend to be the old classic R&B and soul tracks. The holidays are an emotional time for everyone and no genre of music is filled with more emotion than R&B and soul. And of all the great tunes in those genres, one of the best is the Charles Brown hit "Merry Christmas Baby."
Released in 1947 while Brown was still part of the Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers, the song eventually peaked at No. 3 on Billboard‘s R&B Jukebox chart. Brown re-recorded it several times over the years and it has been covered by everyone from Otis Redding and Bruce Springsteen to Chuck Berry and BB King.
The song's first appearance on an album was on the 1956 Hollywood Records release "Merry Christmas Baby," which was one of the earliest R&B Christmas compilation albums. It has been out of print for decades, but on November 5th, it is being rereleased by Real Gone Music. This is the first time it has been released on CD, and it has been remastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVison and features liner notes by Bill Dahl.
Along with the Charles Brown hit, the album includes Lowell Fulson’s "Lonesome Christmas (Parts 1 and 2)," which went to #7 on the R&B charts when it was released in 1950. Mabel Scott’s 1947 single "Boogie Woogie Santa Claus" topped out on the R&B charts at #14 and the album also includes the classic Jimmy Witherspoon track "Christmas Blues." The entire album is just spectacular and even though you've probably never a number of these songs, you'll add this release to your rotation every Christmas.
Here is the complete track list for the CD, which can be ordered here on Amazon:
- Merry Christmas, Baby – Charles Brown
- Sleighride – Lloyd Glenn Trio
- Christmas Everyday – Johnny Moore’s Blazers
- Boogie Woogie Santa Claus – Mabel Scott
- Lonesome Christmas (Part 1) – Lowell Fulson
- Christmas Dreams – Johnny Moore’s Blazers
- Christmas Eve Baby – Johnny Moore’s Blazers
- Christmas Letter – Johnny Moore’s Blazers
- Love for Christmas – Jackson Trio
- Lonesome Christmas (Part 2) – Lowell Fulson
- Christmas Blues – Jimmy Witherspoon
- Jingle Bell Hop – Jackson Trio