Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#6xx in the Series) is R.E.O. Speedwagon, Live, You Get What You Play For

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Track listing

1. “Like You Do” (Gary Richrath) – 6:54
2. “Lay Me Down” (Richrath, Gregg Philbin) – 3:39
3. “Any Kind of Love” (Richrath) – 3:34
4. “Being Kind (Can Hurt Someone Sometimes)” (Kevin Cronin) – 6:35
5. “Keep Pushin'” (Cronin) – 4:06
6. “(Only A) Summer Love” (Richrath) – 6:05
7. “Son of a Poor Man” (Richrath) – 5:30
8. “(I Believe) Our Time Is Gonna Come” (Cronin) – 4:49
9. “Flying Turkey Trot” (Richrath) – 2:35
10. “Gary’s Guitar Solo”(*) (Richrath) – 6:10
11. “157 Riverside Avenue” (Richrath, Philbin, Neal Doughty, Alan Gratzer, Terry Luttrell) – 7:38
12. “Ridin’ the Storm Out” (Richrath) – 5:47
13. “Music Man” (Cronin) – 2:58
14. “Little Queenie”(*) (Chuck Berry) – 4:45
15. “Golden Country” (Richrath) – 8:26

Personnel

• Kevin Cronin – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
• Gary Richrath – lead guitar, vocals, production, mixing
• Gregg Philbin – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Neal Doughty – keyboards
• Alan Gratzer – drums, backing vocals

Boomer Guys, the girl of your teen dreams is now 82 years old

Her name is Dolores Erickson and she has been living in the Seattle for around 40 years, after a career that included being an Eileen Ford model in New York.

She appeared at a Seattle record store recently and wants to tell you teen dreamers, “Enjoy the memories.”

You don’t know her by name — maybe as the “Whipped Cream Lady” — but certainly by the album cover on which she is featured: the 1965 Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass‘ Whipped Cream & Other Delights.

There she is, seemingly naked but covered in what is supposed to be whipping cream looking at YOU.

Whenever a list of the most memorable record covers is put together, that album is right at the top.

How did a 2006 New Yorker magazine article explain the impact of that photo?

Oh, yes, it: “fogged the minds of many young men, as they gazed at the… personalized come-hitherhood to the woman staring back … the inner portion of a bare breast protrudes from the foam. She is licking cream from the index finger of her right hand… in the virtually pornless atmosphere of the suburban mid-sixties it was … the pinnacle of allure.”

In later years, at concerts, Alpert would tell audiences, “Sorry, but I can’t play the cover for you.”

For Erickson, the photo shoot was one of many in her career. Her modeling began when she was 14 and won a contest at the venerable Frederick & Nelson department store in downtown Seattle, Washington. Her modeling career blossomed, and she ended up a staff model for Macy’s in San Francisco, in the days when department stores could afford such things.

Erickson spent time in Los Angeles, signed to contracts by Paramount and then Warner Bros., but her movie and TV career mostly consisted of bit parts.

At age 24, she went to New York City and ended up being signed by Eileen Ford. She was in ads for Max Factor and was in all the women’s magazines. Erickson is 5 feet 7, with dark brown hair and green eyes, and still weighs about the same as in the modeling days, which is around 119 pounds.

But she’s cognizant of time having gone by. “Please don’t do any close-ups,” she tells a photographer.

In 1965, she got a call to fly to Los Angeles for a photo shoot for A & M, a new label started by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss. The photographer was Peter Whorf, with whom she had done other covers.

Payment would be around $1,500 ($11,000 in today’s dollars), plus expenses. The shoot began midmorning and lasted through the afternoon. Erickson put on a bikini, but with the straps down.

She was 29 and three months pregnant. “But I wasn’t showing,” she says. Erickson sat on a stool and from the waist down, Whorf placed on her a white Christmas tree blanket. Then shaving cream was sprayed on Erickson. Under the bright lights, whipping cream would melt, although it was real whipping on top of her head.

The shoot kept going, Erickson remembers, and she didn’t notice that the shaving cream kept slipping down.

Months later, Whorf mailed her two outtakes. “He sent them to shock me. And it did shock me. I screamed,” says Erickson. “I was a Christian girl.” Erickson has kept a copy of one of the outtakes, and it is a bit more revealing, but not by that much.

But she worried that her then-husband, a New York shoe manufacturer, and “conservative,” would become upset. She hid the two photos behind the refrigerator at a girlfriend’s home. Later, she’d tear up the photo she deemed the most revealing.

In the mid-70s, raising a young son, Erickson moved to Longview, Wa. to be near her sister, and for years, ran an art studio.

Actually, it was by happenstance that back in 2000, while visiting here, that recognition began for Erickson’s role on that memorable album cover. She had stopped by Golden Oldies to buy some used copies of “Whipped Cream.” She didn’t have any copies herself and wanted to sign some for friends. Before that, the album’s importance in pop culture hadn’t registered with her. But when Dean Silverstone, owner of Golden Oldies, found out he was dealing with the actual Whipped Cream Lady, he thought, “It was like finding a jewel that’s been buried in the desert for 40 years. Everybody knows about the album cover but nobody knows about her.”

By 2012 standards, that album cover is demure. Yet it endures. Teen dreams.

“I looked at it as being an ice cream sundae,” Erickson says. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m very young. I don’t take pills. I have lots of energy. I’m lucky and I enjoy being alive.

by Erik Lacitis, Seattle Times

Seattle Times, here’s more about this piece and more.

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Let me invite you as well to visit the most popular page on our site. THE MOST COMPLETE LISTING OF SHOWS AT CHICAGO’S ARAGON BALLROOM. It even includes the opening acts and is a great browse. That title is the link. You can view it over four decades!

The band The New Barbarians was formed in 1979 as a means to promote Ron Wood’s most recent album Gimme Some Neck. The album was a minor success peaking at number 45 on the billboard charts and was the first to feature Wood’s own artwork on the album cover including a self-portrait. The band and the subsequent eighteen gig U.S. tour may have gone largely unnoticed were it not for the exceptional musicians that accompanied Wood on the tour. The stellar line-up included Ron Wood and Keith Richards on guitar, Stanley Clarke on bass, former Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan, Rolling Stones saxophonist Bobby Keys, and Joseph Zigaboo Modeliste drummer for the extraordinary N.O. funk band The Meters.

This line-up first appeared as the opening act for The Rolling Stones for a charity concert put on in Toronto as part of the fulfillment of Keith Richards’ sentence on Heroin possession in 1978. You and I go to jail for twenty years, Keith Richards puts on a concert and takes more drugs. What started as a benefit concert ended up to be an 18th month “guy’s night out” with the two hardest partying Stones setting off on a “Thelma and Louise” type adventure across The United States.

The tour began immediately after the charity concert and the good vibes were soon marred by a riot at one of their shows in Milwaukee in April of 1979. When the lights came up at concerts end and the rumored and hinted-at guest stars, Neil Young, Mick Jagger, and Bob Dylan, were a no-show, a small riot broke out. Actually, the audience wrath was understandable, because if any band needed to borrow a singer the New Barbarians were at the front of the list. As an attempted make-up to help the promoter recoup some of the damages caused by the riot, a revised line-up with Andy Newmark, Reggie McBride, MacKenzie Phillips (yes THAT MacKenzie Philips), and Johnnie Lee Schell replacing Clarke, Modeliste, and Richards. Shockingly, another riot did not break out.

The group never did make a proper studio album but did record a live double album called Buried Alive: Live in Maryland. The album, a double cd release included a mix of rock, country, and blues numbers along with a healthy dose of Ron Wood solo material, Keith Richards’s solo material, and some Rolling Stones songs for good measure. The album recorded in 1979 was finally released by Ron Woods’s record label in 2006.

The album opens up appropriately enough with the Chuck Berry penned “Sweet Little Rock ‘n’ Roller”. The guitar work as you would expect is stellar on the songs, however the Wood vocal here as well as the subsequent Keith Richards vocals led one Rolling Stone critic that was reviewing the tour to write “Ron Woods Dylan-esque wheeze had all of the nuance of a busy finger nail file, and Keith Richards’ ragged moans, however fervent, needed his legend (Mick) to prop them up”. In other words, these blokes can’t sing. I had a sudden flashback as to how great this band might have been with Paul Rodgers of Bad Company fame on vocals.

But they sure can play, and the chemistry between the two guitar whizzes perfectly complements the rest of the band when they go on their mid song playing sprees. The third song” F.U.C Her”, a Ron Wood tune is a perfect example of the band showing it’s chops and sounding like they had been together for years rather than the reality which was they were hastily brought together at the beginning of this tour with little time for rehearsal. The Bobby Keys solo mid-song is tremendous.

“Rock Me Baby” let’s the band get down and dirty, with the two guitars talking to each other, you almost expect a cat fight to break out between the two instruments. The gritty, dirty vocals actually work on this. This is not a song that should be sung by Freddie Mercury. The vocal needs to be strained and come from the gut. And it is both on this stand out blues tune.
The biggest audience reaction seemed to come from the Stones songs. “Love in Vain” is a good “sway in the audience and light one up” slow blues number, but you really appreciate the Mick Jagger vocal after listening to this version.
Kith Richards gets his Gram Parsons “country jones” in with the David Alan Coe penned “Apartment No. 9”, a slow tear in your beer type of song delivered with passion.

The highlight is probably the snarly version of “Honky Tonk Woman”. Slowed down just a touch it works and allows each musician to stretch their chops in the spotlight.

“Am I Grooving You” provides a brief glimpse of the brilliance of Stanley Clarke with his bass lines holding up the groove side of the song quite nicely with a grand bass solo thrown in for good measure.

The set closes with the Richards classic “Before They Make Me Run” which is a more ragged whiskey and cigarette soaked version than you are probably used to hearing, and Keith appears to wander away from the mike at times, but it is still exciting to hear Keith belt out his own stuff.

The last song of the disc “Jumping Jack Flash” has a feel to hit similar to when you are at a party and the guy with the guitar keeps wanting to play when he has drunk too much, smoked too much, and you haven’t done enough of either and you are ready to go home. It is ragged, the sound quality seems to be diminished on this track, but the energy is certainly there.
Rolling Stones fans will find this album enjoyable and a nice addition to their music collection. Fans of live music will like this because it captures perfectly the 70’s concert experience with the “never know what you are going to get” type of listening experience that was common back in the day.

For me this album was like the scene in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest where McMurphy breaks the patients out of the hospital and takes them on a field trip. You like the fact that they have escaped from authority and are singing, laughing, and having a good time, but you also want to see their safe return back to the hospital and the safety of their caretakers.

— Walt Falconer

Track listing

Disc 1

1. “Sweet Little Rock N Roller” (Chuck Berry) – 4:20
2. “Buried Alive” (Ron Wood) – 6:27
3. “F.U.C. Her” (Ron Wood) – 4:48
4. “Mystifies Me” (Ron Wood) – 5:37
5. “Infekshun” (Ron Wood) – 4:56
6. “Rock Me Baby” (Bill Broonzy, Arthur Crudup) – 6:04
7. “Sure the One You Need” (Keith Richards, Ron Wood), (Lead vocal Keith Richards) – 4:49
8. “Lost & Lonely” (Ron Wood) – 4:29
9. “Love in Vain” (Robert Johnson) – 8:38
10. “Breathe on Me” (Ron Wood) – 10:23

Disc 2

1. “Let’s Go Steady” (Arthur Alexander),(Lead vocal Keith Richards) – 3:25
2. “Apartment No. 9” (Johnny Paycheck, Bobby Austin), (Lead vocal Keith Richards) – 4:13
3. “Honky Tonk Women” (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) – 5:50
4. “Worried Life Blues” (Major Merryweather), (Lead vocal Keith Richards) – 4:07
5. “I Can Feel the Fire” (Ron Wood) – 6:44
6. “Come to Realise” (Ron Wood) – 5:11
7. “Am I Grooving You?” (Bert Russell, Jeff Barry) – 9:39
8. “Seven Days” (Bob Dylan) – 6″03
9. “Before They Make Me Run” (Jagger, Richards), (Lead vocal Keith Richards) – 3:23
10. “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” (Jagger, Richards) – 7:38

Personnel

• Ron Wood – Guitar, Harmonica, Pedal Steel Guitar, Vocals
• Keith Richards – Guitar, Piano, Vocals
• Stanley Clarke – Bass Guitar
• Zigaboo Modeliste – Drums
• Ian McLagan – Piano, Organ, Backing Vocals
• Bobby Keys – Saxophone

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1053 in the Series) is Roxy Music, Manifesto

The conventional wisdom surrounding Roxy Music seems to suggest that there are two distinct “periods” of the band’s initial existence.  The first phase, from the band’s inception through 1976’s Siren, was characterized by dual predilections for high-brow artiness and otherworldly glamour; and the second phase, from 1979’s Manifesto through 1982’s Avalon, signaled the band’s transition into a brooding, stylish, and literate pop hit machine, helmed by Bryan Ferry’s inimitable voice and buoyed up by a small army of studio technicians.

However, while there are undeniably two sonic phases to Roxy’s chronology, Manifesto, often hailed as the first album of Roxy’s later period, really finds a band in transition, firmly aware of their stylistic contemporaries but confident in their approach to songcraft.  As such, Manifesto shines as a beacon of late-70s rock and roll, almost serving as a capstone to a tumultuous decade full of stylistic diversity.  Bryan Ferry’s early experiences studying with pop artist Richard Hamilton shaped his interest in the notion of “musical collage”, and, indeed, it is never more evident than it is on Manifesto, which finds the band flitting between styles at the drop of a hat.

Manifesto opens with its title track, an atmospheric jam that transforms into a tense, deliberate art-rock workout before Ferry’s first triumphant entrance signals the return of the mighty Roxy Music, fresh off a three-year hiatus.  From there, the band moves from key to key quickly and effortlessly in a complex formal conceit that suggests guitarist Phil Manzanera’s stint in prog-rock supergroup 801.  One can almost hear the band reverse-engineering Bowie’s Berlin trilogy, and then reintegrating the sound into the Roxy aesthetic (a natural fit, given Brian Eno’s involvement with both Bowie’s Berlin trilogy and Roxy Music).  These prog leanings are scattered throughout the album- the end of “Stronger Through The Years”, in particular, shows off Roxy’s prog side, awash in Krautrock synth arpeggios and fretless bass solos.  “Ain’t That So” takes a different approach to contemporary trends in art-rock, aping the smooth and erudite jazz-rock of Steely Dan’s Aja.

However, the near-inscrutable complexity of these tracks is nicely offset by songs like “Angel Eyes”, a glammy rocker that recalls “For Your Pleasure”-era Roxy Music.  The band that made that album still hasn’t disappeared under a sheen of synthesizer pads and digital reverbs on “Manifesto”- at least, not yet.  This punky bent persists through songs like “Trash”, which recalls the early New Wave of The Cars, and “My Little Girl”, a curious hodgepodge of Steely Dan (dig that faux-Michael McDonald chorus!) and a kind of angular intro riff sound that groups like INXS and Robert Palmer would turn into the sound of pop radio in a few short years.

On the A-side of the album, Roxy Music traverse an incredible amount of stylistic ground- in fact, about the only thing they DON’T sound like is late Roxy Music.  It isn’t until three songs deep on the B-side that Manifesto starts to display a band truly in transition.  Ferry’s “Dance Away” sounds like the kind of lush, mysterious pop that Roxy Music would later perfect on “Avalon”, but, more importantly, it doesn’t sound like anything except, well, late Roxy Music.

This is the sound of a band becoming less interested in the work of their contemporaries than in the future of their own sound.  After “Cry Cry Cry” (an unremarkable piece of blue-eyed soul that would easily find a home among the numerous identical-sounding covers on Ferry’s early solo efforts), album closer “Spin Me Round” demonstrates not only where the band is coming from, but where they’re going.  The knotty chords of the bridge recall early British art rock, and Paul Thompson’s outro drum solo apes Steve Gadd’s “Aja” solo in spirit, but this is a band committed to a new approach, and, on “Spin Me Round”, these collage elements sound less like the point of the exercise, and more like the last vestiges of early Roxy Music.

The band would later refine their new, slick approach on 1980’s excellent, underrated Flesh + Blood, influencing a whole generation of arty electronic pop stars, but on Manifesto, one can still hear Roxy Music conducting the dirty business of stripping away their old aesthetic to find a new sound for the 1980s.  Manifesto might get lumped in with Roxy’s second period, but, really, it’s an album caught between two worlds: the street-ready, glammy art rock of their first period, and the smooth, sumptuous Me-Decade anthems of their second period.  Either way, Manifesto is essential listening for anyone interested in Roxy Music’s unmistakable sound- and, with the best of both worlds present on the album, what is there to lose?

— Charlie Olvera

Track listing

All songs written by Bryan Ferry except as noted.

Side one

1. “Manifesto” (Ferry, Phil Manzanera) – 5:29
2. “Trash” (Ferry, Manzanera) – 2:14
3. “Angel Eyes” (Ferry, Andy Mackay) – 3:32
4. “Still Falls the Rain” (Ferry, Manzanera) – 4:13
5. “Stronger Through the Years” – 6:16

Side two

1. “Ain’t That So” – 5:39
2. “My Little Girl” (Ferry, Manzanera) – 3:17
3. “Dance Away” – 3:46
4. “Cry, Cry, Cry” – 2:55
5. “Spin Me Round” – 5:15

Personnel

• Bryan Ferry – vocals, keyboards
• Andy Mackay – oboe, saxophone
• Phil Manzanera – electric guitar
• Paul Thompson – drums
• Paul Carrack – keyboards
• Alan Spenner – bass
• Gary Tibbs – bass

Additional personnel

• Rick Marotta – drums
• Steve Ferrone – drums
• Richard Tee – piano

Listen to the album in its entirety below.

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1052 in the Series) is Doug Dillard & Gene Clark, The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark

They may have only recorded together for (roughly) eighteen months but in that short but productive period of time Dillard & Clark made some of the best music you’ll ever hear, two albums and a single which still sound fantastic all these years later. Best of the material though is undoubtedly this superb debut album from October 1968.

It’s an album which is a definitive document, and a cornerstone release, of the (then) burgeoning country-rock movement, an album which took the traditional forms of bluegrass, country and folk, gave them a shake, added electric instruments and forged ahead with a modern, progressive mindset. Prog Bluegrass! (Not really).

Gene Clark is a man who needs no introduction. A founder member of The Byrds, indisputably one of America’s greatest ever bands, he was actually their main songwriter in the early, most successful period of the band. He left in early 1966 with the intention of forging a solo career. After releasing a solo album and returning very briefly to The Byrds he teamed up with Doug Dillard and Bernie Leadon for this project.

Doug Dillard may not be a familiar name these days but he was a wonderful banjo player and well known back then, mainly for being an integral part of The Dillards who’d released three albums on Elektra Records and appeared as a fictitious band on The Andy Griffith Show.

Bernie Leadon had been in Hearts & Flowers, a band claimed by some as the very first country-rock band. Given how integral he is to this album, they really should have been called Dillard, Clark & Leadon to be honest. Out of eight original songs, he’s listed as co-writer on six of them, that’s two more than Dillard! Credit where it’s due.

The trio came together through a mix of friendship and circumstance and created some pretty special music together………………

While there’s nothing here that’s less than stellar there are a few stand outs which I’d like to highlight, the four or five songs which regularly crop up on Gene Clark compilations, they can never be left out as they are among the best of his recording career.

Starting us off is “Out On The Side” which is actually atypical, a brilliant song but misleading. It’s the nearest we get to “rock” , featuring a strong organ lead off  reminiscent of The Band maybe, or even Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone.”

Just when the listener thinks they have it pegged, in comes “She Darked The Sun,” a Clark/Leadon original which sounds like it had been written long before, an instant classic, it sticks in your head, seems like you’ve known it for years.

“Don’t Come Rollin’ ” is intro’d nicely with some harmonica, a jaunty banjo led number which never out stays it’s welcome.

If you’re familiar with anything here it will surely be “Train Leaves Here This Morning,” a wonderful mid-tempo gem which Leadon had a hand in writing and which he subsequently recorded with his next band, Eagles, on their debut album. You may have heard of them! A quick listen to both versions confirms that Gene Clark  was a much better singer than his compadre, sorry Bernie! It’s a contender for best song here, that’s for sure.

“Radio Song” is the next classic, about a man travelling home to see his girl after far too long on the road with only a radio playing songs of lost love and heartbreak for company:

“I’ve listened to the radio, all the music that is on , but every song they’re playing is about a love that’s gone”

“Git It On Brother” is easily the most traditional sounding song here, hardly surprising as it’s a cover of a Lester Flatt tune, wisely they play it relatively straight. Sublime though, both musically and vocally.

That’s about it apart from a final gift, “Something’s Wrong,” wondrous. A total joy and a fitting end to one of the very best 60’s albums, scandalous to think it hardly even scraped the charts.

I said I’d mention four or five songs but I just checked and I’ve mentioned seven ! Believe me, the other two are almost as good. If you don’t know this one it’s just been re-released (yet again), it never seems to stay out of print for long. So you’ve no excuse now have you……………..

— Stephen Dalrymple, Glasgow, Scotland

Track Listing

1. Out On the Side
2. She Darked the Sun
3. Don’t Come Rollin’
4. Train Leaves Here This Mornin’
5. With Care From Someone
6. The Radio Song
7. Git It On Brother (Git In Line Brother)
8. In the Plan
9. Something’s Wrong

Personnel

• Gene Clark – guitar, harmonica, vocals
• Doug Dillard – banjo, fiddle, guitar
• Bernie Leadon – banjo, bass, guitar, vocals
• Chris Hillman – mandolin
• Sneaky Pete Kleinow – pedal steel guitar
• Jon Corneal – drums
• Michael Clarke – drums
• David Jackson – bass, piano, cello, vocals
• Byron Berline – fiddle
• Donna Washburn – guitar, tambourine, vocals
• Donald Beck – mandolin, fretted dobro
• Andy Belling – harpsichord

I wasn’t familiar with Jenny Lewis when she appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel Show a few years back. I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of her, since I was a little familiar with her band Rilo Kiley. I guess just not enough.

I had just walked in the door, flipped on the TV as they took the stage on that Kimmel episode.  I really liked what I was hearing. This was my sound. This was square in “my wheelhouse” to lean on a cliche.

It was at the end of a day when I was in one of my “Gram Parsons moods” so her timing was right. I’ve attached a video of that performance below.  I apologize for it not being that great of quality, but it’s the only one I could find of them doing “The Charging Sky” from the Jimmy Kimmel Show. If you’re not familiar with this act then check out that video and you can be introduced the exact same way that I was, from that old Jimmy Kimmel appearance.

The sound of that one song intrigued me.  Then I went out and bought the album and found that I loved it.  All of it!  It really is that consistent.

They open with a short a capella song called “Run, Devil Run” which smoothly segues into “Love Big Guns.” The performance of these two songs on Letterman’s show is also below.  The quality of that is superb!  Also look for a great rendition of The Traveling Wilbury’s hit “Handle With Care.” Another song to highlight is the playful, “It Wasn’t Me.”

As I mentioned earlier, there isn’t a bad note of music on this album.  I highly recommend it. Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins Rabbit Fur Coat was released in 2006. It peaked at #88 on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart. Jenny Lewis has since released another album with Rilo Kiley and an album with her main man, Jonathan Rice. It’s called I’m Having Fun Now. They call themselves Jenny and Johnny so look out for them.

Check out the videos below. You can listen to the full album or see the live performances that I wrote about above.

— Larry Carta

Track listing

(all tracks written by Lewis except where noted)

1. “Run Devil Run” – 1:06
2. “The Big Guns” – 2:32
3. “Rise Up with Fists!!” – 3:36
4. “Happy” – 4:14
5. “The Charging Sky” – 2:56
6. “Melt Your Heart” – 2:50
7. “You Are What You Love” – 2:51
8. “Rabbit Fur Coat” – 4:32
9. “Handle with Care” (Bob Dylan/George Harrison/Jeff Lynne/Roy Orbison/Tom Petty) – 2:56
10. “Born Secular” – 5:07
11. “It Wasn’t Me” – 4:10
12. “Happy (Reprise)” – 0:48

Links

• Jenny Lewis Official Web Site
• Rilo Kiley Official Website
• The Watson Twins Official Website

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Here’s the album

Back in the early 90s I worked as a District Manager for a music distributor.  One of our accounts was Wal-Mart.  We would stock them with their music and make sure they were fixture properly etc.  (BTW, back then, they refused to stock AC/DC because their albums had parental warning stickers on them. Later there was a new AC/DC release and the ONLY place you can get it was Wal-Mart!)

At one point, we were doing some major renovations that had to be done only at night after the stores closed.  I was the head of one of these projects.  I had to use existing employees or even hire additional personnel. Then move them around the mid-west and take on this night –by-night challenge.

I’ll never forget the night we had just finished the Ames, Iowa location.  After that was finished, the next one would be in Albert Lea, Minnesota.   It was still pretty dark when I left Ames and started heading up north via I-35.  The sun was just starting to rise; it was foggy and dreary when I saw a sign that said “Clear Lake.” I was passing by Clear Lake, Iowa…. I knew I knew that name. I knew that name, but I didn’t know why. Then it hit me like.  They Day The Music Died! That was the scene of the crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the “Big Bopper” amongst others.  It was really an eerie scene. It was surreal actually.

What an effect that Buddy Holly left on the music world.  Do you realize he did all this and was only 22 years old when he left us?  He also seemed like one of the great 60s singers because his music was so far ahead of its time.  Well, he died in 1959.

This gets us, finally I guess, to this spectacular album of a wide-variety of artists paying tribute to Buddy.  How good is this thing? Let me say this. I think that Sir Paul McCartney covering “It’s So Easy” may be my least favorite song of 19 that are included here.  Paul- Don’t change the melody on a tribute album. It’s his, not yours.

Worth mentioning are:  Fiona Apple and Jon Brion do a nice mellow version of “Every day.”  I’ve heard this done many times by many artists. This subtle version is a standout.   “(You’re So Square) Baby, I Don’t Care” via Cee Lo Green is another killer track.  This could get airplay all over the dial. He’s got a way of doing that.

I really like “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” – Karen Elson.  At first listen I thought this was Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins.  That’s the feel I get from it.

One of my favorite artists, Justin Townes Earle does a good job on “Maybe Baby.” It’s pretty true to the original.   “Oh Boy” really works. I think mainly because Zooy voice sounds great.

One of the reasons that I like “Changing All Those Changes” from Nick Lowe is that I’ve been waiting a long time to hear him sing something like this again. I love his “mature” albums but it’s great to hear him approach a song like he did in the Rockpile day. We need more of this Nick.

Patti Smith does an absolutely moving version of “Words of Love.”  This is one of the best tracks here.  If that’s not the highlight on the album then “True Love Ways” by My Morning Jacket is.  These two songs back to back are just perfect.  I didn’t expect to like this this much.

The biggest surprise on the album for me is easily Kid Rock and his reading of “Well All Right.”  His version is an Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, James Brown soul version and he out right nails it.  Believe me, I’m not a fan of Kids.  That doesn’t matter.  He really does a great job on this.

A band I’m not familiar with at all called the Detroit Cobras does a killer version of “Heartbeat.” I’m going to find more Detroit Cobras. I think they sounded great.

Lou Reed does a grungy, hard version of “Peggy Sue.” I guess it’s OK.  The more I hear it the more I like it.  Grunge with strings in the back, yeah, why not, some great guitar on it.

I really also like John Doe’s version of “Peggy Sue Got Married” and can’t say enough about the final track either, Graham Nash on “Raining In My Heart.”

I always respected and liked Buddy Holly. I’m not usually a big fan of these tribute albums. I always felt, why not just listen to the original.  This album is an exception to that. Maybe since these songs are all over 50 years old, I’m not sure why, but nearly this entire album works for me.   And much of it surprised me as well!

I started thinking after I listened to this whole album. I started wondering how things would have been different if Buddy Holly hadn’t lost his life that night in Clear Lake.   I’ll go as far as to say that I don’t think the British Invasion would have had the impact that did have.  There was a real void after Holly left. We had “performers” before, but none that really could have impacted the rock and roll world as a performer and more so as an absolute fantastic songwriter as well. His impact would have been huge. With out that void.. who knows what would have happened, or maybe, not happened.

Track listing

1. “Dearest” – The Black Keys (2:06)
2. “Every Day” – Fiona Apple and Jon Brion (2:19)
3. “It’s So Easy” – Paul McCartney (4:35)
4. “Not Fade Away” – Florence and the Machine (4:02)
5. “(You’re So Square) Baby, I Don’t Care” – Cee Lo Green (1:31)
6. “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” – Karen Elson (2:25)
7. “Rave On” – Julian Casablancas (1:55)
8. “I’m Gonna Love You Too” – Jenny O. (2:11)
9. “Maybe Baby” – Justin Townes Earle (2:06)
10. “Oh Boy” – She & Him (2:18)
11. “Changing All Those Changes” – Nick Lowe (1:41)
12. “Words of Love” – Patti Smith (3:20)
13. “True Love Ways” – My Morning Jacket (3:25)
14. “That’ll Be the Day” – Modest Mouse (2:15)
15. “Well… All Right” – Kid Rock (2:09)
16. “Heartbeat” – The Detroit Cobras (2:20)
17. “Peggy Sue” – Lou Reed (3:19)
18. “Peggy Sue Got Married” – John Doe (3:57)
19. “Raining in My Heart” – Graham Nash (3:30)

Give it a listen!!

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1050 in the Series) is Digital Sex, Essence 

Do you know this one? No you say? I somewhat expected that. No, not because the band wasn’t good enough or deserving enough because they indeed were. They were quite good but they were unfortunate to be another one of those talented acts that fell through the cracks. I don’t remember seeing them on MTV and that was the quickest and easiest way to get your name in front of people back in 1986. This was the indie rock of the time period. This was an Indie rock act back when you didn’t have the internet to help promote the little guy. It was a tough task to break out of the pack.

So how did I know about the band Digital Sex then? I learned about them the way that I learned about many bands at that time. A way that is completely 100% (or at least darn close to 100%) gone from this era of music and music discovery. That way was the record store and more specifically, the Mom and Pop record store.

By this time I had lived in a number of different places in the Midwest. Places such as Chicago, Steger, Appleton Wisconsin, Milwaukee Wisconsin and eventually Oak Lawn, Illinois.  At every stop I would find and then hang out whenever I could at the local store. Roseland Music Shop, Hegewisch Records, In Sound, The Exclusive Company all helped lead the way to Wind Records. Not only was this the store to be at, it really became a second home.  I would hang there for what seemed like hours. It was owned by a couple named Steve and Doreen Wind. They were quickly becoming friends of mine. Heck, I was there almost every day. (We had some great Christmas Eve parties at that place too!)  The subject was always the same. “Have you heard so-and-so’s new album?” or “Have you heard of these guys” as he’d gesture and I’d glance at the wall towards the “Now Playing” rack to see who was filling my ears. They or another cat that worked the store named Phil always had something to offer. Phil was a little younger so he would turn all of us on to sounds I might have otherwise missed.

I remember when Steve first played Digital Sex, a new band that called the music hotbed of Omaha, Nebraska home. It had many characteristics that I loved including some jangly guitar and layered harmonies. The first track which you can hear below reminded me as something that might have been influenced, as I had, by the REM EP Chronic Town. No, it didn’t sound like Chronic Town, but it sounded like a band that might have liked that release. I also think they may have listened to a little bit of The The or The Stranglers as well.

Stephen Sheehan, Dereck Higgins and John Tingle made up the band.  I’ve included three songs below for you to listen to. That’s all I could find. Be sure to give them a listen. Google the band as well but make sure you include the word “band” in the search or you might find some things that…. well, you know what you’d find.

I hope you give this a listen and pretend that you heard about it when you were hanging out at your local record store, just like you might have in 1986. If you missed that era, you missed a bunch of fun.

— Larry Carta, Chicago, Illinois USA

Track Listing

1. Whisper Words
2. Steps Toward Freedom
3. In Her Smile
4. Oceans of Space
5. Second Wind
6. Sex in the Spring
7. Roses on Wednesday
8. Within These Walls
9. I Can’t Wait

Personnel

• Stephen Sheehan – Lead Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
• Dereck Higgins – Guitar, Keyboards
• John Tingle – Guitar, Keyboards
• ————————————–
• Maureen Evans-Hansen – Keyboards
• Kevin Kennedy – Drums

Related Links

• Cool Digital Sex Website with nice history
• Digital Sex feature 

A live cut from a 1989 show.

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#1049 in the Series) is Styx, Styx II

All I have to do is look at that Styx II album cover and I immediately feel a smile forming on my face as all these wonderful childhood memories return.

I was raised in the far Southside neighborhood of Chicago called Roseland.  A place that while part of a huge metropolis, still felt like small town America to us. It was a small town that was made up of many immigrant families.  There was a Polish area, a Mexican area, a Lithuanian area (that gave us director Robert Zemeckis. Back to the Future, Forest Gump) an area called “Bum Town” (that gave us Elliot Ness), and my area, the Italian area that gave us among others, the Panozzo twins, Chuck and John.

Chuck was a bass player and John a drummer (when he wasn’t thinking about replacing goaltender Glenn Hall on the Blackhawks or Father Nalin at St. Anthony’s Parish), the two of them along with another Roseland boy, Dennis DeYoung would form the core of Styx. Those three, along with guitarists John “J.C.” Curulewski and James “J.Y.” Young  would eventually form the band, Tradewinds, after a short period of being called TW4, they would change their name to Styx.

Chuck, John and Dennis

They would play all the dances at our local  high schools, make frequent stops at the Calumet Park “Rec” Center with the other hot local band, Heartsfield. Some of the members would even play “guitar masses” at St. Anthony’s on selected Sundays. (Update: I could have sworn they did but after messaging with Chuck Panozzo he doesn’t think it was them.)

In 1972 or there about, they would sign their first record deal with local label, Wooden Nickel Records.  Their debut album simply titled Styx was released that year.  The next year would see the release of the album Styx II, it would be produced by John Ryan and Bill Traut. Oddly enough John would also lend a hand on Heartsfield’s second  album “The Wonder of It All“ as well, they having just recently signing a long term deal with Mercury Records out of Los Angeles.

The first Styx album had a local feel as it included an interview piece recorded straight off the streets of down town Chicago. Styx II continued with a local taste in even more ways.  Bach’s “Little Fugue  in G” was recorded with Dennis playing the massive pipe organ at Holy Name Cathedral. This piece was the perfect intro for a song called “Father O.S.A. I’ve heard the inspiration for this song was a priest at local Mendel High School called “Father O.S.A.” Was that the truth or was that just a story floating thru the hood? I guess thru the years we could have just asked, but just never did….   (Update: There is some truth to this as O.S.A. as I’ve learned did stand for  “Order of St. Augustine.” They were indeed the order of the priests at our famed local high school)

Styx II was also the home of their first massive hit that would of course be Dennis’ “Lady.” (We’d all mimic  John’s “click-ding” intro on the finger cymbals!) However, it was not a hit when this album was current in early 1973.  It would take until 1975 for this song, and the album, to catch on nationally.  I remember sneaking into the basement to make countless calls to local am-rockers, WLS and WCFL trying to get it some air play.  How we laugh at the things that we did yesteryear.

One of my favorites on the album was J.C.’s “A Day.”  I thought, and still do, that this was a fantastic track.  I remember being heartbroken when my close friend, Mike Panozzo (a lad obviously with inside-knowledge of the band), once called this song, “just filler.” I should have called him on it!  I’m sure he was just joking anyway, he knew I liked the song.

I can’t close this with-out mentioning the band’s ode to our local people and our neighborhood called “The Earl of Roseland.” We loved that it mentioned everyone’s favorite hang-out Gately’s Peoples Store, “morning leaves for the afternoon, the boys show up on time, in the streets near the People’s Store below the electrical sign” or even about those times when the band was just being formed, “I can see Charlie on the porch, Johnny clicking his sticks, and two boys I don’t even know rehearsing electric string tricks.”

I never really knew who Dennis was writing about there. My guess it was a fictional character. I guess it’s another thing that I had better ask.

Styx is still out there touring, some say it’s not the same with all these “outsiders” in the band, but they’re all darn good players and it’s good to see James Young and Chuck Panozzo still getting it done. Dennis is also on the road. Look for him as he brings his version of Styx’ songs to life. John Panozzo and John Curulewski have left us over the years. We miss them.

Update #2. After publishing this piece I received this back story from Styx II producer John Ryan:

— Larry Carta

Continuing ..

Track listing

Side One

“…the electrical sign.”

1. “You Need Love” (Dennis DeYoung) – 3:44
2. “Lady” (DeYoung) – 2:56
3. “A Day” (John Curulewski) – 8:19
4. “You Better Ask” (Curulewski) – 3:54

1. “Little Fugue in G” (Johann Sebastian Bach) – 1:17
2. “Father O.S.A.” (DeYoung) – 7:08
3. “Earl of Roseland” (DeYoung) – 4:39
4. “I’m Gonna Make You Feel It” (DeYoung) – 2:23

Personnel

• John Curulewski – guitar, arp synthesizer, autoharp and vocals
• Dennis DeYoung – organ, pipe organ, arp synthesizer, piano, and vocals
• Chuck Panozzo – bass
• John Panozzo – drums, percussion and vocals
• James Young – guitar and vocals

Links

• Official Styx Website
• Official Dennis DeYoung Website
• Read more about the talented John Curulewski
• Petition to induct Styx into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• See more from 1973
• Back to the Cool Album of the Day Home Page

Here’s the album in it’s entirety on a playlist

Here is a live video of “Lady” from ’76. Listen for the finger cymbals! 

These three pictures are from “Cool Album of the Day’s” regular contributor Tim Shockley’s private collection. They were shot at the Hammond Civic Center in 1973.  Click to enlarge.

“JY” + “JC” in ’73

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Curelewski in ’73

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John “The Legend” Panozzo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dennis and Chuck

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is the Original London Cast recording of  Jesus Chris Superstar. It”s now our Cool Album of the Day every Easter Sunday.

Don’t give me the knock-offs. Give me the original 1971 release featuring Ian Gillian as Jesus. I remember playing the hell out of this back in the day. To me this has always been the definitive version of  Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s rock opera.  It’s the Original London Concept Recording.  Yes, I also realize that the story told in the opera ends on Good Friday.  We still feel that it’s fitting for Easter Sunday.

The music here is absolutely brilliant.  It includes some wonderful performances from Deep Purple lead vocalist Ian Gillan as Jesus, Yvonne Elliman as Mary Magdalene and Murray Head as Judas. Also be sure to listen for Victor Brox as Caiaphas and Mike d’Abo as King Herod.  Another highlight is the guitar work provided by former Roxy Music/Joe Cocker guitarist Neil Hubbard.  Drummer Bruce Rowland was from Fairport Convention.

This annual feature is dedicated to Chicago’s  St. Anthony of Padua 1971 seventh grade Teacher, Mr. Nielson. I’m sure his dissection of this album in class had much to do with not only my lifetime love of music, but also started me on a path of  listening to music in a different way, a critical way if you will.  But it wasn’t just that. He also taught me and I’m guessing many of my classmates to look at many things differently. To ask questions, and yes, those questions could even be asked about what you were taught about religion. It was okay  It didn’t mean you were running from it just that you wanted to say “Hey stop there for a second, Let me ask you about something.”  That is a good thing. You very well may have come to the same conclusions about things anyway, but questioning is always good.  I think that’s what this album will always remind me of the ability to take on and question the establishment. I’m sure I began learning to ask question and propose challenges before 7th grade, but this solidified it.

Do you have any childhood stories regarding this album or even what I’ve mentioned above?  If you do, please post them below and I’ll add them permanently to the piece. We can grow it over the years. Happy Easter everyone.

— Larry Carta

Musical numbers

Main Players

• Ian Gillan – Jesus Christ
• Murray Head – Judas Iscariot
• Yvonne Elliman – Mary Magdalene
• Victor Brox – Caiaphas, High Priest
• Brian Keith – Annas
• John Gustafson – Simon Zealotes
• Barry Dennen – Pontius Pilate
• Paul Davis – Peter
• Mike d’Abo – King Herod

Musicians

• Neil Hubbard – electric guitar
• Henry McCulloch – electric guitar, acoustic guitar
• Chris Mercer – tenor sax
• Peter Robinson – piano, electric piano, Organ, positive organ
• Bruce Rowland – drums, percussion
• Allan Spenner – bass guitar