Freebee MP3 Blog

BLUE OYSTER CULT

2010-09-25T07:52:00.000-07:00

BLUE OYSTER CULT PLAYLIST :
Godzilla, (Don't Fear) The Reaper, Golden Age Of Leather,
Burnin' For You, Cities On Flame With Rock & Roll, I Love The Night,
Tainted Love, Shooting Shark, Fire Of Unknown Origin,

When The War Comes, Veteran Of Psychic Wars, Black Blade,

I Just Like To Be Bad, Mistress Of The Salmon Salt (Quicktime Girl),

E.T.I (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)

******

Blue Öyster Cult was the thinking man's heavy metal group. Put together on a college campus by a couple of rock critics, it maintained a close relationship with a series of literary figures (often in the fields of science fiction and horror), including Eric Von Lustbader, Patti Smith, Michael Moorcock, and Stephen King, while turning out some of the more listenable metal music of the early and mid-1970s. The band that became Blue Öyster Cult was organized in 1967 at Stony Brook College on Long Island by students (and later rock critics) Sandy Pearlman and Richard Meltzer as Soft White Underbelly and consisted of Andy Winters (bass), Donald 'Buck Dharma' Roeser (guitar), John Wiesenthal who was quickly replaced by Allen Lanier (keyboards), and Albert Bouchard (drums), with Pearlman managing and Pearlman and Meltzer writing songs. Initially without a lead singer, they added Les Bronstein on vocals. This quintet signed to Elektra Records and recorded an album that was never released. They then dropped Bronstein and replaced him with their road manager, Eric Bloom, as the band's name was changed to Oaxaca. A second Elektra album also went unreleased, though a single was issued under the name The Stalk-Forrest Group.

Cut loose by Elektra, they changed their name again, to Blue Öyster Cult, and signed to Columbia Records in late 1971, by which time Winters had been replaced by Albert Bouchard's brother, Joe. Blue Öyster Cult, their debut album, was released in January 1972 and made the lower reaches of the charts. Columbia sent a promotional EP, Live Bootleg, to radio stations in October, and followed with BÖC's second album, Tyranny & Mutation, in February 1973. Their third album, Secret Treaties, was released in April 1974 and became their first to break into the Top 100 bestsellers (it eventually went gold). BÖC released a live double album, On Your Feet Or On Your Knees, in February 1975. In May 1976, came their fourth studio album, Agents Of Fortune, including the Top 40 (Top Ten on some charts) hit single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (featured in the classic John Carpenter horror film Halloween), which became their first gold and then platinum album (On Your Feet went gold shortly after). BÖC's sixth overall album, Spectres, was released in October 1977 and went gold in January 1978. In September 1978, came a second live album, Some Enchanted Evening, which eventually would become BÖC's second million-seller, followed by the studio album Mirrors, with the gold "Fire Of Unknown Origin", containing the Top 40 hit "Burnin' For You" following in June 1981. in June 1979. A year later, BÖC released its ninth album, Cultosaurus Erectus, with the gold "Fire Of Unknown Origin", containing the Top 40 hit "Burnin' For You", following in June 1981.

In the summer of 1981, drummer Albert Bouchard was replaced by the band's tour manager and lighting designer, Rick Downey. BÖC's third live album, Extraterrestrial Live, was released in April 1982, followed by the studio album The Revolution By Night in October 1983. Downey left in 1984 and was replaced in 1985 by Jimmy Wilcox. The same year, Lanier left and was replaced by Tommy Zvonchek. BÖC released its 13th album, Club Ninja, in January 1986. Bassist Joe Bouchard left in 1986 and was replaced by Jon Rogers. In 1987, Lanier returned to the group, and Ron Riddle replaced Wilcox on drums. BÖC's 14th album, the concept recording Imaginos, became their final new album on Columbia Records in July 1988. BÖC scored the movie Bad Channels in 1992, by which time Chuck Burgi had replaced Ron Riddle on drums. In 1994, Blue Öyster Cult released Cult Classic, an album of re-recorded favorites, in connection with the use of their music in the TV miniseries of horror novelist Stephen King's The Stand. Numerous line-up changes ensued throughout the 1990s (as the band kept on touring the world), and in 1995, were the subject of a double disc anthology, Workshop Of The Telescopes. By the late 1990s, BÖC had signed with the CMC label, resulting in their first album of all-new studio material in ten years, 1998's Heaven Forbid, and three years later The Curse Of The Hidden Mirror. The group's music reached a whole new generation of hard rock fans when Metallica covered the BÖC classic "Astronomy" for their best-selling Garage Inc. album in 1998, as a few other best-of collections surfaced around the same time, Super Hits and Don't Fear The Reaper : The Best Of In 2001, Columbia/Legacy reissued BÖC's first four releases with a newly remastered sound and added bonus tracks.

-William Ruhlmann & Greg Prato, All Music Guide-

THE STYLISTICS

2010-09-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

THE STYLISTICS PLAYLIST :

Hey There Lonely Girl, Sad Tomorrows, Honey,

Give A Little Love For Love, Hurry Up This Way Again, Love Spell,

You Ought To Be With Me, You Make Me Feel Brand New,
You Are Everything, I'm Stone In Love With You

Something's Never Change, We Can Make It Happen Again,

I Can't Give You Anything But My Love,

People Make The World Go Round, Betcha By Golly Wow

******

After The Spinners and The O'Jays, The Stylistics were the leading Philly soul group produced by Thom Bell. During the early 1970s, the band had 12 straight Top Ten hits, including "You Are Everything”, "Betcha By Golly Wow”, "I'm Stone In Love With You”, "Break Up To Make Up”, and "You Make Me Feel Brand New". Of all their peers, The Stylistics were one of the smoothest and sweetest soul groups of their era. All of their hits were ballads, graced by the soaring falsetto of Russell Thompkins, Jr. and the lush yet graceful productions of Bell, which helped make The Stylistics one of the most successful soul groups of the first half of the 1970s.

The Stylistics formed in 1968, when members of the Philadelphia soul groups The Monarchs and The Percussions joined forces after their respective band dissolved. Thompkins, James Smith, and Airrion Love hailed from The Monarchs, James Dunn and Herbie Murrell were from The Percussions. In 1970, the group recorded "You're A Big Girl Now”, a song their road manager Marty Bryant co-wrote with Robert Douglas, a member of their backing band Slim & The Boys, and the single became a regional hit for Sebring Records. The larger Avco Records soon signed The Stylistics, and single eventually climbed to number seven in early 1971.

Once they were on Avco, The Stylistics began working with producer/songwriter Thom Bell, who had previously worked with The Delfonics. The Stylistics became Bell's pet project and with lyricist Linda Creed, he crafted a series of hit singles that relied as much on the intricately arranged and lush production as they did on Thompkins' falsetto. Every single that Bell produced for The Stylistics was a Top Ten R&B hit, and several, "You Are Everything”, "Betcha By Golly Wow”, "I'm Stone In Love With You”, "Break Up To Make Up”, and "You Make Me Feel Brand New", were also Top Ten pop hits.

Following "You Make Me Feel Brand New" in the spring of 1974, The Stylistics broke away from Bell and began working with Van McCoy, who helped move the group towards a softer, easy listening style. In 1976, they left Avco and signed with H&L. The group's American record sales declined, yet they remained popular in Europe, particularly in Great Britain, where "Sing, Baby, Sing" (1975), "Na Na Is The Saddest Word" (1975), "Can't Give You Anything" (1975), and "Can't Help Falling In Love" (1976) were all Top Five hits. The Stylistics continued to tour and record throughout the latter half of the 1970s, as their popularity steadily declined. In 1980, Dunn left the group because of poor health, and he was followed later that year by Smith. The remaining Stylistics continued performing as a trio on oldies shows into the 1990s.

-Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide-

DON McLEAN

2010-09-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

DON McLEAN PLAYLIST :

Vincent (Starry, Starry Night), American Pie, Empty Chairs,

Love Hurts, Crying, Since I Don’t Have You,

Crossroads, Winterwood, Three Flights Up,

Till Tomorrow, Building My Body, Everybody Loves Me, Baby,

And I Love You So, Mother Nature, Castles In The Air

******

Famed for and ultimately defined by his perennial "American Pie”, singer/songwriter Don McLean was born October 2, 1945, in New Rochelle, NY. After getting his start in the folk clubs of New York City during the mid-1960s, McLean struggled for a number of years, building a small following through his work with Pete Seeger on the Clearwater, a sloop that sailed up and down the eastern seaboard to promote environmental causes.

Still, McLean was primarily singing in elementary schools and the like when in 1970 he wrote a musical tribute to painter Vincent Van Gogh. The project was roundly rejected by a number of labels, although Media Arts did offer him a contract to record a number of his other songs under the title Tapestry. The album fared poorly, but Perry Como earned a hit with a cover of the track "And I Love Her So”, prompting United Artists to pick up McLean's contract. He returned in 1971 with American Pie. The title track, an elegiac eight-and-a-half-minute folk-pop epic inspired by the tragic death of Buddy Holly, became a number one hit, and the LP soon reached the top of the charts as well.

The follow-up, "Vincent”, was also a smash, and McLean even became the subject of the Roberta Flack’s hit "Killing Me Softly With His Song". However, to his credit and to his label's horror, the singer refused to let the success of "American Pie" straitjacket his career. Subsequent records like 1972's self-titled effort and 1974's Playin' Favorites deliberately avoided any attempts to recreate the "American Pie" flavor. Not surprisingly, his sales plummeted, and the latter release even failed to chart. After 1974's Homeless Brother and 1976's Solo, United Artists dropped McLean from his contract. He resurfaced on Arista the next year with Prime Time, but when it too fared poorly, he spent the next several years without a label.

McLean enjoyed a renaissance of sorts with 1980's Chain Lightning, his first Top 30 LP in close to a decade, it spawned a Top Ten smash with its cover of Roy Orbison's classic "Crying”, and his originals "Castles In The Air" and "Since I Don't Have You", both also reached the Top 40. However, 1981's Believers failed to sustain the comeback, and after 1983's Dominion, he was again left without benefit of label support. McLean spent the remainder of his career primarily on the road, grudglingly restoring "American Pie" to his set list and drawing inspiration from the country market. In addition to a number of live sets and re-recordings of old favorites, he also returned to the studio for projects like 1990's For The Memories (a collection of classic pop, country and jazz covers) and 1995's River Of Love (an LP of original material).

-Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide-

TEN YEARS AFTER

2010-09-17T03:57:00.000-07:00

TEN YEARS AFTER PLAYLIST :

Rock & Roll Music To The World, Baby, Won’t You Let Me Rock & Roll You,

Me And My Baby, Choo Choo Mama, Think About The Times,

I’d Love To Change The World, Love Until I Die, Love Like A Man,

I Can’t Keep From Crying Sometimes, Help Me, Spider In Your Web,

50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain, Tomorrow I’ll Be Out Of Town,

I’m Going Home, One Of These Days

******

Ten Years After is a British blues-rock quartet consisting of Alvin Lee (born December 19, 1944) on guitar and vocals, Chick Churchill (born January 2, 1949) on keyboards, Leo Lyons (born November 30, 1944) on bass, and Ric Lee (born October 20, 1945) on drums. The group was formed in 1967 and signed to Decca in England. Their first album was not a success, but their second, the live Undead (1968) containing "I'm Going Home", a six-minute blues workout by the fleet-fingered Alvin, hit the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. Stonedhenge (1969) hit the U.K. Top Ten in early 1969. Ten Years After's U.S. breakthrough came as a result of their appearance at Woodstock, at which they played a nine-minute version of "I'm Going Home". Their next album, Ssssh, reached the U.S. Top 20, and Cricklewood Green, containing the hit single "Love Like A Man", reached number four. Watt completed the group's Decca contract, after which they signed with Columbia and moved in a more mainstream pop direction, typified by the gold-selling 1971 album A Space In Time and its Top 40 single "I'd Love To Change The World". Subsequent efforts in that direction were less successful, however, and Ten Years After split up after the release of Positive Vibrations in 1974. They reunited in 1988 for concerts in Europe and recorded their first new album in 15 years, About Time, in 1989 before disbanding once again. In 2001, Ric Lee was preparing the back catalog for rerelease when he discovered The Live At The Fillmore East 1970 tapes. He approached Alvin about getting back together to promote the lost album, but Alvin Lee declined. The rest of the band was up for it, though, and together with guitarist Joe Gooch, Ten Years After started touring again. In addition to touring the world, this new incarnation recorded their first new material in about a decade and a half and released Now in 2004 and added the live double CD set Roadworks in 2005.

-William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide-

EVERLY BROTHERS

2010-09-15T01:51:00.001-07:00

EVERLY BROTHERS PLAYLIST :

Be-Bop-A-Lula, All I Have To Do Is Dream, Till I Kissed You,

Claudette, Let It Be Me, Devoted To You, Oh, Carol,

Problems, Poor Jenny, Crying In The Rain, So Sad, Bye-Bye, Love,

Maybe Tomorrow, Take A Message To Mary, Wake Up, Little Suzie,

Walk Right Back, Cathy's Clown, Cuckoo Bird, Bird Dog, Lucille

******

The Everly Brothers were not only among the most important and best early rock & roll stars, but also among the most influential rockers of any era. They set unmatched standards for close, two-part harmonies and infused early rock & roll with some of the best elements of country and pop music. Their legacy was and is felt enormously in all rock acts that employ harmonies as prime features, from The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, and legions of country-rockers to modern-day roots rockers like Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe (who once recorded an EP of Everlys' songs together).

Don (born February 1, 1937) and Phil (born January 19, 1939) were professionals way before their teens, schooled by their accomplished guitarist father Ike, and singing with their family on radio broadcasts in Iowa. In the mid-1950s, they made a brief stab at conventional Nashville country with Columbia. When their single flopped, they were cast adrift for quite a while until they latched onto Cadence. Don invested their first single for the label, "Bye-Bye, Love", with a Bo Diddley beat that helped lift the song to number two in 1957.

"Bye-Bye, Love" began a phenomenal three-year string of classic hit singles for Cadence, including "Wake Up, Little Suzie", "All I Have To Do Is Dream", "Bird Dog", "Till I Kissed You", and "When Will I Be Loved". The Everlys sang of young love with a heart-rending yearning and compelling melodies. The harmonies owed audible debts to Appalachian country music, but were imbued with a keen modern pop sensibility that made them more accessible without sacrificing any power or beauty. They were not as raw as the wild rockabilly men from Sun Records, but they could rock hard when they wanted. Even their mid-tempo numbers and ballads were executed with a force missing in the straight country and pop tunes of the era. The duo enjoyed a top-notch support team of producer Archie Bleyer, great Nashville session players like Chet Atkins, and the brilliant songwriting team of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant. Don, and occasionally Phil, wrote excellent songs of their own as well.

In 1960, The Everlys left Cadence for a lucrative contract with the then-young Warner Bros. label (though it's not often noted, The Everlys would do a lot to establish Warners as a major force in the record business). It's sometimes been written that the duo never recaptured the magic of their Cadence recordings, but actually Phil and Don peaked both commercially and artistically with their first Warners releases. "Cathy's Clown", their first Warners single, was one of their greatest songs and a number one hit. Their first two Warners LPs, employing a fuller and brasher production than their Cadence work, were not just among their best work, but two of the best rock albums of the early 1960s. The hits kept coming for a couple of years, some great ("Walk Right Back", "Temptation"), some displaying a distressing, increasing tendency toward soft pop and maudlin sentiments ("Ebony Eyes", "That's Old Fashioned").

Don and Phil's personal lives came under a lot of stress in the early 1960s. They enlisted into the Marine Corps Reserves (together), and studied acting for six months, but never made a motion picture. More seriously, Don developed an addiction to speed and almost died of an overdose in late 1962. By that time, their career as chart titans in the U.S. had ended. "That's Old Fashioned" (1962) was their last Top Ten hit. Their albums became careless, erratic affairs, which was all the more frustrating because many of their flop singles of the time were fine, even near-classic efforts that demonstrated they could still deliver the goods.

Virtually alone among first-generation rock & roll superstars, The Everlys stuck with no-nonsense rock & roll and remained determined to keep their sound contemporary, rather than drifting toward soft pop or country like so many others. Although their mid-1960s recordings were largely ignored in America, they contained some of their finest work, including a ferocious Top 40 single in 1964 ("Gone, Gone, Gone"). They remained big stars overseas. In 1965, "Price Of Love" went to number two in the U.K. at the height of the British Invasion. They incorporated jangling Beatle/Byrdesque guitars into some of their songs and recorded a fine album with The Hollies (who were probably more blatantly influenced by The Everlys than any other British band of the time). In the late 1960s, they helped pioneer country-rock with the 1968 album Roots, their most sophisticated and unified full-length statement. None of this revived their career as hitmakers, though they could always command huge audiences on international tours and hosted a network TV variety show in 1970.

The decades of enforced professional togetherness finally took their toll on the pair in the early 1970s, which saw a few dispirited albums and, finally, an acrimonious break up in 1973. They spent the next decade performing solo, which only proved, as is so often the case in close-knit artistic partnerships, how much each brother needed the other to sound his best. In 1983, enough water had flowed under the bridge for the two to resume performing and recording together. The tours, with a back up band led by guitarist Albert Lee, proved they could still sing well. The records (both live and studio) were fair efforts that, in the final estimation, were not in nearly the same league as their 1950s and 1960s classics, although Paul McCartney penned a small hit single for them ("On The Wings Of A Nightingale"). One of the more successful and dignified reunions in the rock annals, The Everlys continued to perform live, although they didn't release albums together after the late 1980s.

-Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide-

JAMES GANG

2010-09-14T09:21:00.001-07:00

JAMES GANG PLAYLIST :

Funk #49, Walk Away, Ride The Wind,

Midnight Man, Woman, Must Be Love,

My Door Is Open, Collage, Yadig, Thanks

******

With the emergence of Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience during the late 1960s, the path was cleared for other hard-rockin' trios. Arguably, the finest to emerge from the subsequent American crop was the James Gang. Despite penning a few of classic rock radio's most enduring songs, the James Gang ultimately failed to deliver on their initial promise, as constant line-up juggling ultimately derailed the group.

The Gang's roots stretch back to 1966 in Cleveland, OH, where drummer Jim Fox formed the group with a few fellow Kent State University students, guitarist Glenn Schwartz and bassist Tom Kriss. But when Schwartz left to join Pacific Gas & Electric, Fox and Kriss opted to carry on with new singer/guitarist Joe Walsh. The James Gang's debut album, Yer' Album, followed in 1969, and while it didn't spawn any hits, it did set the stage perfectly for their next few releases (the album was also one of the first recordings that noted producer Bill Szymczyk worked on). Prior to sessions for the group's sophomore effort, Kriss exited the group, and was replaced by Dale Peters, resulting in the James Gang's definitive line-up. Peters soon proved to be the missing piece to the puzzle, as evidenced by the group's subsequent album, 1970's classic Rides Again, which spawned the rock gem "Funk #49". Although the song didn't come close to the top of the singles charts at the time of its release, it later became one of rock's most instantly identifiable tracks, and also established Walsh's talent for penning exceptional guitar riffs (Pete Townshend became a vocal supporter of Walsh's guitar skills, and The Who took the James Gang on a European tour around the same time).

Although it appeared that the James Gang was just hitting their stride, Walsh was growing increasingly disinterested with the group. He longed to launch a solo career. He managed to hang in there for another top-notch studio album, 1971's Thirds, which spawned an additional classic rock radio standard, "Walk Away". Around the same time as the appearance of a live set later the same year (Live In Concert), Walsh departed the group, first focusing on solo work before joining up with one of the 1970s' biggest bands, the Eagles. Once more, Fox opted to keep the group afloat and expanded the band to a quartet, greeting new bandmembers Roy Kenner (vocals) and Domenic Troiano (guitar). Walsh's shoes proved hard to fill, though, as two lackluster albums released back-to-back in 1972, Straight Shooter and Passin' Thru, failed to expand the group's following.

Troiano exited the group to join up with The Guess Who, leaving the James Gang's guitar slot vacant once more. Troiano's departure proved to be a blessing in disguise, however, as the guitarist who replaced him, Tommy Bolin (supposedly at the recommendation of old friend Walsh), instantly breathed life back into the floundering group. Bolin's red-hot and versatile guitar playing (as well as compositional talents, he and songwriting partner John Tesar wrote the majority of the songs) helped reinvigorate the group, as two fine yet underrated albums followed : 1973's Bang! and 1974's Miami. However, just like the previous guitarists to play with the James Gang, Bolin grew disenchanted quickly, and exited in 1974. Following in Walsh's footsteps, he subsequently launched a solo career of his own before briefly serving as a member of Deep Purple. Sadly, Bolin passed away from a senseless drug overdose in 1976.

The James Gang decided to call it quits after Bolin's departure, but not for long. Fox and Peters launched a new version of the group in 1975, complete with new members Bubba Keith (vocals, guitar) and Richard Shack (guitar). Predictably, the latest version of the group only lasted for a pair of ignored recordings, 1975's Newborn and 1976's Jesse Come Home, before the James Gang finally called it a day for good. Subsequently, little was heard from the group besides the appearances of several best-of compilations (including 2000's Greatest Hits). By the late 1990s, the group (with Walsh) reunited for sporadic appearances, including a performance at the 1996 election rally for then-President Bill Clinton at the Cleveland State University Convocation Center, as well as an appearance on The Drew Carey Show. In February of 2001, the James Gang played at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH, and performed a pair of sold-out shows the same week at the Allen Theater.

-Greg Prato, All Music Guide-

JAMES LAST

2010-09-14T08:58:00.001-07:00

JAMES LAST PLAYLIST :

The Lonely Shepherd, Kalinka, Brazil,

Tico-Tico, Popcorn, Biscaya, Hava Nagila,

Little Man, Happy Music, Morning,

Inner City Blues, Night And Day, Cavalleria Rusticana,

Ballade Pour Adeline, Exodus, The Mouldau

******

James Last is a German big band leader with a large fan base in Europe, although he has never had a comparable following in the United States. Last's trademark is arranging pop hits in a big-band style. His series of 'party albums' is equally well-known. Over the course of his career, he has sold well over 50 million albums.

Last learned how to play piano as child, switching to bass as a teenager. He joined Hans-Gunther Oesterreich's Radio Bremen Dance Orchestra in 1946, when he was 17 years old. In 1948, he became the leader of the Becker-Last Ensemble, which performed for seven years. During that time, he was voted as the best bassist in the country by a German jazz poll for three consecutive years, from 1950-1952. After the disbandment of the Becker-Last Ensemble, he became the in-house arranger for Polydor Records, as well as for a number of European radio stations. For the next decade, he helped to arrange hits for artists like Helmut Zacharias and Caterina Valente.

Last released his first album, Non-Stop Dancing, in 1965. The record of brief renditions of popular songs, all tied together by an insistent dance beat and joyous crowd noises. It was a hit and helped make him a major European star. Over the next two decades, Last released over 50 records, including several more volumes of Non-Stop Dancing. On these records, he varied his formula by adding different songs from different countries and genres, as well as guest performers like Richard Clayderman and Astrud Gilberto.

Though his concerts and albums were consistently successful, especially in England, where he had 52 hit albums between 1967-1986, which made him second to Elvis Presley in terms of number of charting records, he only had one hit single with "The Seduction", the theme from American Gigolo (1980).

-Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide-

CREAM

2010-09-13T01:49:00.001-07:00

CREAM PLAYLIST :

Tales Of Brave Ulysses, Sunshine Of Your Love, Dance The Night Away,

I Feel Free, I'm So Glad, Passing The Time,

Sitting On Top Of The World, Deserted Cities Of The Hearts,

Born Under A Bad Sign, Outside Woman Blues, Crossroads,

Take It Back, Badge, Spoonful, Toad

******

Although Cream was only together for a little more than two years, their influence was immense, both during their late 1960s peak and in the years following their breakup. Cream was the first top group to truly exploit the power-trio format, in the process laying the foundation for much blues rock and hard rock of the 1960s and 1970s. It was with Cream too, that guitarist Eric Clapton truly became an international superstar. Critical revisionists have tagged the band as overrated, citing the musicians' emphasis upon flash, virtuosity, and showmanship at the expense of taste and focus. This was sometimes true of their live shows in particular, but in reality, the best of their studio recordings were excellent fusions of blues, pop, and psychedelia, with concise original material outnumbering the bloated blues jams and overlong solos.

Cream could be viewed as the first rock supergroup to become superstars, although none of the three members were that well-known when the band formed in mid-1966. Eric Clapton had the biggest reputation, having established himself as a guitar hero first with The Yardbirds, and then in a more blues-intensive environment with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. In the States, however, he was all but unknown, having left The Yardbirds before "For Your Love" made the American Top Ten. Bassist/singer Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker had both been in the Graham Bond Organization, an underrated British R&B combo that drew extensively upon the jazz backgrounds of the musicians. Bruce had also been, very briefly, a member of the Bluesbreakers along Clapton, and also briefly a member of Manfred Mann when he became especially eager to pay the rent.

All three of the musicians yearned to break free of the confines of the standard rock/R&B/blues group, in a unit that would allow them greater instrumental and improvisational freedom, somewhat in the mold of a jazz outfit. Eric Clapton's stunning guitar solos would get much of the adulation, yet Bruce was at least as responsible for shaping the group's sound, singing most of the material in his rich voice. He also wrote their best original compositions, sometimes in collaboration with outside lyricist Pete Brown.

At first, Cream's focus was electrified and amped-up traditional blues, which dominated their first album, Fresh Cream, which made the British Top Ten in early 1967. Originals like "N.S.U." and "I Feel Free" gave notice that the band were capable of moving beyond the blues, and they truly found their voice on Disraeli Gears in late 1967, which consisted mostly of group-penned songs. Here they fashioned invigorating, sometimes beguiling hard-driving psychedelic pop, which included plenty of memorable melodies and effective harmonies along with the expected crunching riffs. "Strange Brew", "Dance The Night Away", "Tales Of Brave Ulysses", and "S.W.L.A.B.R." are all among their best tracks, and the album broke the band big time in the States, reaching the Top Five. It also generated their first big U.S. hit single, "Sunshine Of Your Love", which was based around one of the most popular hard rock riffs of the 1960s.

With the double album Wheels Of Fire, Cream topped the American charts in 1968, establishing themselves alongside The Beatles and Hendrix as one of the biggest rock acts in the world. The record itself was a more erratic affair than Disraeli Gears, perhaps dogged by the decision to present separate discs of studio and live material. The concert tracks in particular did much to establish their reputation, for good or ill, for stretching songs way past the ten-minute mark on-stage. The majestically doomy "White Room" gave Cream another huge American single, and the group was firmly established as one of the biggest live draws of any kind. Their decision to disband in late 1968, at a time when they were seemingly on top of the world, came as a shock to most of the rock audience.

Cream's short lifespan, however, was in hindsight unsurprising given the considerable talents, ambitions, and egos of each of its members. Clapton in particular was tired of blowing away listeners with sheer power, and wanted to explore more subtle directions. After a farewell tour of the States, the band broke up in November 1968. In 1969, however, they were in a sense bigger than ever. A posthumous album featuring both studio and live material, Goodbye, made number two, highlighted by the haunting Eric Clapton-George Harrison composition "Badge", which remains one of Cream's most beloved tracks.

Clapton and Baker would quickly resurface in 1969 as half of another short-lived supergroup, Blind Faith, and Clapton of course went on to one of the longest and most successful careers of anyone in the rock business. Bruce and Baker never attained nearly as high profile after leaving Cream, but both kept busy in the ensuing decades with various interesting projects in the fields of rock, jazz, and experimental music.

-Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide-

MELISSA MANCHESTER

2010-09-12T11:17:00.001-07:00

MELISSA MANCHESTER PLAYLIST :

Don't Cry Out Loud, Looking Through The Eyes Of Love,

Whenever I Call You Friend, Lovers After All,

You Should Hear How She Talks About You, Midnight Blue, Ice Castle,

Thief Of Hearts, Just Too Many People, My Christmas Song For You

******

MOR singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester, whose father was a bassoonist for the New York Metropolitan Opera, began singing commercial jingles at age 15 and went on to become a staff writer for Chappell Music while attending the High School of Performing Arts. After taking a songwriting class at New York University taught by Paul Simon, Manchester took her talents to the Manhattan club scene, where she was discovered by Bette Midler and Barry Manilow. The two hired her as a backup singer in 1971. She recorded her debut album, Home To Myself, in 1973, co-writing many of the songs with Carole Bayer-Sager. 1975's Melissa produced her first Top Ten hit, "Midnight Blue", and set the tone for most of her career with its direct, slickly produced MOR pop sound. She and Kenny Loggins co-wrote the latter's 1978 duet hit with Stevie Nicks' "Whenever I Call You Friend", and the following year, Manchester returned to the Top Ten with "Don't Cry Out Loud". 1980 saw Manchester become the first singer to have two movie themes nominated for Academy Awards (Ice Castles and The Promise). Two years later, she achieved her highest Billboard singles chart placing with the number five hit "You Should Hear How She Talks About You", which won a Grammy for Best Female Vocal Performance. Through the 1980s and 1990s, Manchester has alternated occasional recording with scriptwriting and acting, appearing with Bette Midler in For The Boys and on the television series Blossom as the title character's birth mother. In spring 2004, Manchester returned with her first album in 10 years. When I Look Down That Road, which included collaborations with Beth Nielsen Chapman and Keb' Mo, marked her first proper release with Koch.

-Steve Huey, All Music Guide-

KENNY ROGERS

2010-09-11T06:02:00.001-07:00

KENNY ROGERS PLAYLIST :

Through The Years, Lady, I Can't Unlove You,

She Believes In Me, The Greatest, Mary, Did You Know?,

You Decorated My Life, For The Good Time, Buy Me A Rose,

The Gambler, Twenty Years Ago, Just Dropped In,

Lucille, Love Will Turn You Around, You And I,

Island In The Stream, I'll Be There For You

******

It took several tries before Kenny Rogers became a star. As a member of the First Edition (and the New Christy Minstrels before that), he shared in some million-sellers, among them "Reuben James" and "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town", an excellent Mel Tillis' song about a disabled veteran. But superstardom lay ahead for this Texan, and it arrived in the late 1970s. His experience with the two previous pop groups had prepared him well. He knew the easy listening audience was out there, and he supplied them with well done middle-of-the-road songs with a country flavor. Having gone solo, in 1976, Rogers charted with "Love Lifted Me". But it was with an outstanding song by writers Roger Bowling and Hal Bynum, "Lucille", that his star shot upward.

The rest (as they say) is history. Award-winning duets with Dottie West and Dolly Parton, 12 TV specials, another song of the year with "The Gambler", "Daytime Friends", "Coward Of The County", "We've Got Tonight", "Crazy", "Lady" (his first pop number one), etc. And that's just the musical side of Rogers. In 1980, the made-for-TV movie The Gambler blasted the competition, followed quickly by Coward Of The County, then enough sequels to The Gambler to get him to Roman numeral IV. Throughout the 1980s, Rogers remained a celebrity, even when his sales were declining. Even during the 1990s, when he rarely charted, his name, face, and music were recognizable in a series of concerts, television specials, films, and even fast-food restaurants.

Like many country superstars, Rogers came from humble roots. Born in Houston, TX, Rogers and his seven siblings were raised in one of the poorest sections of town. Nevertheless, he progressed through high school, all the while learning how to play guitar and fiddle. When he was a senior, he played in a rockabilly band called The Scholars, who released three singles, including "Kangewah", which was written by Louella Parsons. Following his graduation, he released two singles, "We'll Always Fall In Love Again" and "For You Alone", on the local independent label Carlton. The B-side of the first single, "That Crazy Feeling", was popular enough to earn him a slot on American Bandstand. In 1959, he briefly attended the University of Texas, but he soon dropped out to play bass in the jazz combo the Bobby Doyle Three. While he was with the group, Rogers continued to explore other musical venues and played bass on Mickey Gilley's 1960 single "Is It Wrong". The Bobby Doyle Three released one album, In A Most Unusual Way, before Rogers left the group to play with The Kirby Stone Four. He didn't stay long with Stone and soon landed a solo record contract with Mercury.

Rogers released a handful of singles on Mercury, all of which failed. Once Mercury dropped the singer, he joined the New Christy Minstrels in 1966. He stayed with the folk group for a year, leaving with several other bandmembers, Mike Settle, Terry Williams, and Thelma Lou Camacho, in 1967 to form the First Edition. Adding drummer Mickey Jones, the First Edition signed with Reprise and recorded the pop-psychedelic single "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)". The single became a hit early in 1968, climbing to number five. Within a year, the group was billed as Kenny Rogers & the First Edition, and in the summer of 1969, they had their second and final Top Ten hit, "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town". The country overtones of the single hinted at the direction Rogers was taking, as did the minor hit follow-up, "Reuben James". For the next two years, the First Edition bounced between country, pop, and mild psychedelia, scoring their last big hit with Mac Davis' "Something's Burning" in early 1970. By the end of 1972, the group had its own syndicated television show, but sales were drying up. They left Reprise the following year, signing to Rogers' new label, Jolly Rogers. None of their singles became major hits, though a version of Merle Haggard's "Today I Started Loving You Again" reached the lower regions of the country charts late in 1973. Rogers left the group in 1974, and the band broke up the following year.

At the time the band broke up, Rogers was severely in debt and Jolly Rogers was out of business. In order to jump-start his career, he signed to United Artists in 1975, and with the help of producer Larry Butler, he devised an accessible, radio-ready, and immaculately crafted take on country-pop that leaned toward adult contemporary pop, not country. "Love Lifted Me", his debut single for the label, was a minor hit early in 1976, but it took a full year for Rogers to have a genuine breakthrough hit with "Lucille". Climbing to number one early in 1977, "Lucille" not only was a major country hit, earning the Country Music Association's Single of the Year award, but it also was a huge crossover success, peaking at number five on the pop charts. For the next six years, Rogers had a steady string of Top Ten hits on both the country and pop charts.

His crossover success is important. His lush, easy listening productions and smooth croons showed that country stars could conquer the pop audience, if produced and marketed correctly. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, much of country radio was dominated either by urban cowboy or country-pop in the vein of Rogers' own singles. Between 1978 and 1980, he had five straight number one country singles, "Love Or Something Like It", "The Gambler", "She Believes In Me", "You Decorated My Life", "Coward Of The County", most of which also reached the pop Top Ten. In addition to his solo hits, he had a series of Top Ten duets with Dottie West, including the number one hits "Every Time Two Fools Collide" (1978), "All I Ever Need Is You" (1979), and "What Are We Doin' In Love" (1981). Not only did his singles sell well, but so did his albums, with every record he released between 1976's Kenny Rogers and 1984's Once Upon A Christmas going gold or platinum.

By the beginning of the 1980s, Rogers' audience was as much pop as it was country, and singles like his cover of Lionel Richie's "Lady" confirmed that fact, spending six weeks at the top of the pop charts. Rogers also began performing duets with pop singers like Kim Carnes ("Don't Fall In Love With A Dreamer", number three country, number four pop, 1980) and Sheena Easton ("We've Got Tonight", number one country, number six pop, 1983). Rogers also began making inroads into television and film, appearing in a number of TV specials and made-for-TV movies, including 1982's Six Pack and two movies based on his songs "The Gambler" and "Coward Of The County". Late in 1983, he left United Artists/Liberty for RCA Records, releasing a duet with Dolly Parton called "Islands In The Stream" as his first single for the label. Written by the Bee Gees and produced by Barry Gibb, the record became one of his biggest hits, spending two weeks on the top of both the country and pop charts.

Rogers stayed at RCA for five years, during which time he alternated between MOR, adult contemporary pop, and slick country-pop. The hits didn't come as often as they used to, and they were frequently competing with releases from Liberty's vaults, but he managed to log five number one singles for the label, in addition to "Islands In The Stream" : "Crazy" (1984), "Real Love" (1985), "Morning Desire" (1985), "Tomb Of The Unknown Love" (1986), and the Ronnie Milsap duet "Make No Mistake, She's Mine" (1987). Despite his country successes, he no longer had pop crossover hits. Nevertheless, Rogers' concerts continued to be popular, as did his made-for-TV movies. Still, the lack of blockbuster records meant that RCA failed to renew his contract when it expired in 1988. Rogers returned to his first label, Reprise, where he had one major hit, 1989's Top Ten "The Vows Go Unbroken (Always True To You)", taken from the gold album Something Inside So Strong, before his singles started charting in the lower half of the Top 40.

Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, Rogers kept busy with charity work, concerts, his fast-food chain Kenny Rogers' Roasters, television specials, movies, and photography, publishing no less than two books, Kenny Rogers' America and Kenny Rogers : Your Friends And Mine, of his photos. Rogers continued to record, releasing albums nearly every year, but they failed to break beyond his large, devoted fan base and only made a slight impact on the charts. With 1998's Christmas From The Heart, he established his own record label, Dreamcatcher. She Rides Wild Horses followed a year later, and There You Go Again was issued in mid-2000. A&E Live By Request appeared in 2001, followed by Back To The Well in 2003, Me & Bobby McGee in 2004, and Water & Bridges in 2006.

-David Vinopal & Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide-

JIMMY CLIFF

2010-09-10T15:53:00.001-07:00

JIMMY CLIFF PLAYLIST :

Reggae Night, I Can See Clearly Now, Love Comes,

You Can Get It If You Really Want, Dance, They Harder They Come,

Wonderful World, Beautiful People, People, Good Life,

Sitting In Limbo, Bongo Man, Over The Border,

Many Rivers To Cross, A Hard Road To Travel, Rivers Of Babylon

******

It's one of life's great ironies that today, outside of reggae circles, Jimmy Cliff is better known for his film appearances than his music. Even after a string of hits, the singer never quite managed to break into the mainstream, although in the late 1960s-early 1970s, he seemed poised for international stardom. The singer was born in St. Catherine, Jamaica, on April 1, 1948, with the less prosaic name James Chambers. His talent was obvious from childhood, and he began his career appearing at local shows and parish fairs. At 14, he felt ready for the big time, moved to Kingston, and took the surname Cliff to express the heights he intended on reaching. Cliff recorded two unsuccessful singles before he was spotted by Derrick Morgan, who brought him to Leslie Kong. His first single for the budding producer, "Hurricane Hattie", was an instant hit. Unusually, Cliff remained with Kong until the producer's death. Most Jamaican artists flit from studio to studio. The singer's loyalty was rewarded, however, as the hits just kept coming. In the early years, the pair helped set the ska scene alight, both in Jamaica and in Britain, where the singer's singles were picked up by Island Records. "Miss Jamaica", "King Of Kings", "One Eyed Jacks", and "Pride And Passion" were all classics from the ska era.

By 1964, Cliff's star was so bright that he was selected as one of Jamaica's representatives at the World's Fair. A successful residency in Paris followed, and soon Island head Chris Blackwell had convinced the singer to relocate to Britain. The label itself was in the process of shifting away from Jamaican music and into progressive rock, and thus Cliff began composing songs with an eye to cross over into that market.

It was a risky plan, but a successful one. In 1968, Cliff released his debut album, the excellent A Hard Road To Travel, and won the International Song Festival with "Waterfall", a song which was a smash hit in Brazil. He swiftly moved to that country to take advantage of his success, but even greater heights were in the offing. The following year, "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" proved to be his international breakthrough. The single soared to number six on the British charts, and charmed its way into the Top 25 in the States. Not surprisingly, the anti-war follow-up, "Vietnam", proved to be less popular, even if Bob Dylan called it the best protest song he'd ever heard. Regardless, Cliff's new album, 1969's Wonderful World, was critically acclaimed, and saw the singer starting to build a following amongst the AOR crowd.

The title track, a cover of Cat Steven's "Wild World", was another smash in 1970, while Desmond Dekker took Cliff's own "You Can Get It If You Really Want" to number two in Britain. And then tragedy struck. Leslie Kong, who had continued to oversee Cliff's career during this entire period, died unexpectedly of a heart attack in August, 1971. The singer was at a loss as he'd grown up under the producer's wing and was forced to fend for himself. Another Cycle, which arrived later that year, was proof that Cliff was beginning to get his career back on track. One of the last projects Kong had undertaken was overseeing the soundtrack to the movie The Harder They Come. Produced and written by Perry Henzell, this powerful film featured Cliff in the leading role, and upon its release swiftly became an underground classic. The soundtrack, which boasted a clutch of Cliff's own compositions, was an equally seminal record.

This should have pushed the singer into the mainstream, but Island dropped the ball and turned their attention to Bob Marley. The timing was also off in the U.S., where the movie didn't see release until 1975. Cliff departed Island and signed to Reprise in the U.S. and EMI in the U.K., but fared no better there. 1973's Unlimited, 1974's Struggling Man, and the following year's Brave Warrior were unable to sustain the success of Another Cycle, never mind improve on it. During this time, Cliff had converted to Islam and traveled to Africa in search of his roots. His new found religious devotion began to heavily influence his music. In 1975, with the release of The Harder They Come in the U.S., Cliff's second album for the year, Follow My Mind, immediately grabbed America's attention and became his first album to reach into the bottom of the chart. Reprise now decided it was time for a greatest-hits collection, although this would be accomplished via a live album. Rolling Stones' producer Andrew Loog Oldham was brought in to oversee the project, and Cliff was sent out on the road to tour and record. What the label then received was one of Cliff's most ferocious albums to date, Live In Concert. The singer was not ready to wallow in nostalgia, and across the rest of the decade, he continued releasing albums that were thoroughly modern in sound and fierce in delivery. Cliff closed his account with Reprise in the new decade with 1981's Give The People What They Want, and moved to Columbia. He formed a new backing band, Oneness, and embarked on a tour of the U.S. with Peter Tosh, there was also a fabulous performance at Reggae Sunsplash that year. 1983's The Power And The Glory inaugurated his partnership with Kool & The Gang, and the album was nominated for a Grammy. Its follow-up, Cliff Hanger, would win the award in 1985. However, 1989's Hanging Fire would be his last for Columbia, although the singer continued to release both singles and albums both in Jamaica and the U.K. During this period, Cliff also co-starred in the movie Club Paradise. He returned to the U.S. charts in 1993, when his cover of "I Can See Clearly Now", from the soundtrack for Cool Runnings, glided into the Top 20. More singles and albums have followed, and the singer remains a potent musical force. A comeback album of sorts, Black Magic, which featured duets with high profile stars like Sting, Joe Strummer, Wyclef Jean and others, appeared from Artemis Records in 2004.

-Jo-Ann Greene, All Music Guide-

JETHRO TULL

2010-09-09T21:19:00.001-07:00

JETHRO TULL PLAYLIST :

Living In The Past, Too Old To Rock & Roll, Too Young To Die,

Cat's Squirrel, Steel Monkey, Aqualung, One White Duck,

A New Day Yesterday, Bouree, Broadsword, Minstrel In The Gallery,

Rocks On The Road, The Witch's Promise, Songs From The Wood,

Heavy Horses, Bungle In The Jungle, War Child

******

Jethro Tull was a unique phenomenon in popular music history. Their mix of hard rock, folk melodies, blues licks, surreal, impossibly dense lyrics, and overall profundity defied easy analysis, but that didn't dissuade fans from giving them 11 gold and five platinum albums. At the same time, critics rarely took them seriously, and they were off the cutting edge of popular music since the end of the 1970s. But no record store in the country would want to be without multiple copies of each of their most popular albums (Benefit, Aqualung, Thick As A Brick, Living In The Past), or their various best-of compilations, and few would knowingly ignore their newest releases. Of their contemporaries, only Yes could claim a similar degree of success, and Yes endured several major shifts in sound and membership in reaching the 1990s, while Tull remained remarkably stable over the same period. As co-founded and led by wildman-flautist-guitarist-singer-songwriter Ian Anderson, the group carved a place all its own in popular music.

Tull had its roots in the British blues boom of the late 1960s. Anderson (born August 10, 1947, Edinburgh, Scotland) had moved to Blackpool when he was 12. His first band was called The Blades, named after James Bond's club, with Michael Stephens on guitar, Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond (born July 30, 1946) on bass and John Evans (born March 28, 1948) on drums, playing a mix of jazzy blues and soulful dance music on the northern club circuit. In 1965, they changed their name to the John Evan Band (Evan having dropped the 's' in his name at Hammond's suggestion) and later the John Evan Smash. By the end of 1967, Glenn Cornick (born April 24, 1947, Barrow-In-Furness, Cumbria, England) had replaced Hammond-Hammond on bass. The group moved to Luton in order to be closer to London, the center of the British blues boom, and the band began to fall apart, when Anderson and Cornick met guitarist/singer Mick Abrahams (born April 7, 1943, Luton, Bedfordshire, England) and drummer Clive Bunker (born December 12, 1946), who had previously played together in the Toggery Five and were now members of a local blues band called McGregor's Engine.

In December of 1967, the four of them agreed to form a new group. They began playing two shows a week, trying out different names, including Navy Blue and Bag Of Blues. One of the names that they used, Jethro Tull, borrowed from an 18th-century farmer/inventor, proved popular and memorable, and it stuck. In January of 1968, they cut a rather derivative pop-folk single called "Sunshine Day", released by MGM Records (under the misprinted name Jethro Toe) the following month. The single went nowhere, but the group managed to land a residency at the Marquee Club in London, where they became very popular.

Early on, they had to face a problem of image and configuration, however. In the late spring of 1968, managers Terry Ellis and Chris Wright (who later founded Chrysalis Records) first broached the idea that Anderson give up playing the flute, and to allow Mick Abrahams to take center stage. At the time, a lot of blues enthusiasts didn't accept wind instruments at all, especially the flute, as seminal to the sound they were looking for, and as a group struggling for success and recognition, Jethro Tull was just a little too strange in that regard. Abrahams was a hardcore blues enthusiast who idolized British blues godfather Alexis Korner, and he was pushing for a more traditional band configuration, which would've put him and his guitar out front. As it turned out, they were both right. Abrahams' blues sensibilities were impeccable, but the audience for British blues by itself couldn't elevate Jethro Tull any higher than being a top club act. Anderson's antics on-stage, jumping around in a ragged overcoat and standing on one leg while playing the flute, and his use of folk sources as well as blues and jazz, gave the band the potential to grab a bigger audience and some much-needed press attention.

They opened for Pink Floyd on June 29, 1968, at the first free rock festival in London's Hyde Park, and in August, they were the hit of the Sunbury Jazz & Blues Festival in Sunbury-On-Thames. By the end of the summer, they had a recording contract with Island Records. The resulting album, This Was, was issued in November. By this time, Anderson was the dominant member of the group on-stage, and at the end of the month, Abrahams exited the band. The group went through two hastily recruited and rejected replacements, future Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi (who was in Tull for a week, just long enough to show up in their appearance on the Rolling Stones' Rock & Roll Circus extravaganza), and Davy O'List, the former guitarist with The Nice. Finally, Martin Barre (born November 17, 1946), a former architecture student, was the choice for a permanent replacement.

It wasn't until April of 1969 that This Was got a U.S. release. Ironically, the first small wave of American Jethro Tull fans were admiring a group whose sound had already changed radically, in May of 1969, Barre's first recording with the group, "Living In The Past", reached the British number three spot and the group made its debut on Top of the Pops performing the song. The group played a number of festivals that summer, including the Newport Jazz Festival. Their next album, Stand Up, with all of its material (except "Bouree", which was composed by Johann Sebastian Bach) written by Ian Anderson, reached the number one spot in England the next month. Stand Up also contained the first orchestrated track by Tull, "Reasons For Waiting", which featured strings arranged by David Palmer, a Royal Academy of Music graduate and theatrical conductor who had arranged horns on one track from This Was. Palmer would play an increasingly large role in subsequent albums, and finally join the group officially in 1977.

Meanwhile, "Sweet Dream", issued in November, rose to number seven in England, and was the group's first release on Wright and Ellis' newly formed Chrysalis label. Their next single, "The Witch's Promise", got to number four in England in January of 1970. The group's next album, Benefit, marked their last look back at the blues, and also the presence of Anderson's longtime friend and former bandmate, John Evan, who had long since given up the drums in favor of keyboards, on piano and organ. Benefit reached the number three spot in England, but, much more important, it ascended to number 11 in America, and its songs, including "Teacher" and "Sossity, You're A Woman", formed a key part of Tull's stage repertory. In early July of 1970, the group shared a bill with Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, and Johnny Winter at the Atlanta Pop Festival in Byron, GA, before 200,000 people.

By the following December, after another U.S. tour, Cornick had decided to leave the group, and was replaced on bass by Anderson's childhood friend, Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond. Early the following year, they began working on what would prove to be, for many fans, the group's magnum opus, Aqualung. Anderson's writing had been moving in a more serious direction since the group's second album, but it was with Aqualung that he found the lyrical voice he'd been seeking. Suddenly, he was singing about the relationship between man and God, and the manner in which, in his view, organized religion separated them. The blues influences were muted almost to non-existence, but the hard rock passages were searing and the folk influences provided a refreshing contrast. That the album was a unified whole impressed the more serious critics, while the kids were content to play air guitar to Martin Barre's high-speed breaks. And everybody, college progressive rock mavens and high-school time-servers alike, seemed to identify with the theme of alienation that lay behind the music.

Aqualung reached number seven in America and number four in England, and was accompanied by a hugely successful American tour. Bunker quit the band to get married, and was replaced by Anderson's old John Evan Smash bandmate, Barriemore Barlow (born September 10, 1949). Late in 1971, they began work on their next album, Thick As A Brick. Structurally more ambitious than Aqualung, and supported by an elaborately designed jacket in the form of a newspaper, this record was essentially one long song steeped in surreal imagery, social commentary, and Anderson's newly solidified image as a wildman-sage. Released in England during April of 1972, Thick As A Brick got as high as the number five spot, but when it came out in America a month later, it hit the number one spot, making it the first Jethro Tull album to achieve greater popularity in American than in England. In June of 1972, in response to steadily rising demand for the group's work, Chrysalis Records released Living In The Past, a collection of tracks from their various singles and British EPs, early albums, and a Carnegie Hall show, packaged like an old-style 78 rpm album in a book that opened up.

At this point, it seemed as though Jethro Tull could do no wrong, and for the fans that was true. For the critics, however, the group's string ran out in July of 1973 with the release of A Passion Play. The piece was another extended song, running the length of the album, this time steeped in fantasy and religious imagery far denser than Aqualung, it was divided at the end of one side of the album and the beginning of the other by an A.A. Milne-style story called "The Hare That Lost His Spectacles". This time, the critics were hostile toward Anderson and the group, attacking the album for its obscure lyrical references and excessive length. Despite these criticisms, the album reached number 1 in America (yielding a number eight single edited from the extended piece) and number 13 in England. The real venom, however, didn't start to flow until the group went on tour that summer. By this time, their sets ran to two-and-a-half hours, and included not only the new album done in its entirety ("The Hare That Lost His Spectacles" being a film presentation in the middle of the show), but Thick As A Brick and the most popular of the group's songs off of Aqualung and their earlier albums. Anderson was apparently unprepared for the searing reviews that started appearing, and also took the American rock press too seriously. In the midst of a sell-out U.S. tour, he threatened to cancel all upcoming concerts and return to England. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, especially once he recognized that the shows were completely sold out and audiences were ecstatic, and the tour continued without interruption.

It was 16 months until the group's next album, War Child, conceived as part of a film project that never materialized, was released, in November of 1974. The expectations surrounding the album gave it pre-order sales sufficient to get it certified gold upon release, and it was also Tull's last platinum album, reaching number 2 in America and number 14 in England. The dominant theme of War Child seemed to be violence, though the music's trappings heavily featured Palmer's orchestrations, rivaling Barre's electric guitar breaks for attention. In any case, the public seemed to respond well to the group's return to conventional length songs, with "Bungle In The Jungle" reaching number 11 in America. Tull's successful concert tour behind this album had them augmented by a string quartet.

During this period, Anderson became involved with producing an album by Steeleye Span, a folk-rock group that was also signed to Chrysalis, and who had opened for Tull on one of their American tours. Their music slowly begun influencing Anderson's songwriting over the next several years, as the folk influence grew in prominence, a process that was redoubled when he took up a rural residence during the mid-1970s. The next Tull album, Minstrel In The Gallery, showed up ten months later, in September of 1975, reaching number seven in the United States. This time, the dominant theme was Elizabethan minstrelsy, within an electric rock and English folk context. The tracks included a 17-minute suite that recalled the group's earlier album-length epic songs, but the album's success was rather more limited.

The Jethro Tull line-up had been remarkably stable ever since Clive Bunker's exit after Aqualung, remaining constant across four albums in as many years. In January of 1976, however, Hammond-Hammond left the band to pursue a career in art. His replacement, John Glascock (born 1953), joined in time for the recording of Too Old To Rock & Roll, Too Young To Die, an album made up partly of songs from an un-produced play proposed by Anderson and Palmer, released in May of 1976. The group later did an ITV special built around the album's songs. The title track, however (on which Steeleye Span's Maddy Prior appeared as a guest backing vocalist), became a subject of controversy in England, as critics took it to be a personal statement on Anderson's part.

In late 1976, a Christmas EP entitled Ring Out Solstice Bells got to number 28. This song later turned up on their next album, Songs From The Wood, the group's most artistically unified and successful album in some time (and the first not derived from an unfinished film or play since A Passion Play). This was Tull's folk album, reflecting Anderson's passion for English folk songs. Its release also accompanied the band's first British tour in nearly three years. In May of 1977, David Palmer joined Tull as an official member, playing keyboards on-stage to augment the richness of the group's concert sound.

Having lasted into the late '70s, Jethro Tull now found itself competing in a new musical environment, as journalists and, to an increasing degree, fans became fixated on the growing punk rock phenomenon. In October 1977, Repeat (The Best Of Jethro Tull, Vol. 2), intended to fill an anticipated 11 month gap between Tull albums, was released on both sides of the Atlantic. Unfortunately, it contained only a single new track and never made the British charts, while barely scraping into the American Top 100 albums. The group's next new album, Heavy Horses, issued in April of 1978, was Anderson's most personal work in several years, the title track expressing his regret over the disappearance of England's huge shire horses as casualties of modernization. In the fall of 1978, the group's first full-length concert album, the double-LP Live-Bursting Out, was released to modest success, accompanied by a tour of the United States and an international television broadcast from Madison Square Garden.

1979 was a pivotal and tragic year for the group. John Glascock died from complications of heart surgery on November 17, five weeks after the release of Stormwatch. Tull was lucky enough to acquire the services of Dave Pegg, the longtime bassist for Fairport Convention, which had announced its formal (though, as it turned out, temporary) breakup. The Stormwatch tour with the new line-up was a success, although the album was the first original release by Jethro Tull since This Was not to reach the U.S. Top 20. Partly thanks to Pegg's involvement with the Tull line-up, future tours by Jethro Tull, especially in America, would provide a basis for performances by re-formed incarnations of Fairport Convention.

The line-up change caused by Glascock's death led to Anderson's decision to record a solo album during the summer of 1980, backed by Barre, Pegg, and Mark Craney on drums, with ex-Roxy Music/King Crimson multi-instrumentalist Eddie Jobson on violin. The record, A, was eventually released as a Jethro Tull album in September of 1980, but even the Tull name didn't do much for its success. Barlow, Evan, and Palmer, however, were dropped from the group's line-up with the recording of A, and the new version of Jethro Tull toured in support of the album. Jobson left once the tour was over, and it was with yet another new line-up, including Barre, Pegg, and Fairport Convention alumnus Gerry Conway (drums) and Peter-John Vettesse (keyboards), that The Broadsword And The Beast was recorded in 1982. Although this album had many songs based on folk melodies, its harder rocking passages also had a heavier, more thumping beat than earlier versions of the band had produced, and the use of the synthesizer was more pronounced than on previous Tull albums.

In 1983, Anderson confined his activities to his first official solo album, Walk Into Light, which had a very different, synthesizer-dominated sound. Following its lackluster performance, Anderson revived Jethro Tull for the album Under Wraps, released in September of 1984. At number 76 in the U.S., it became the group's poorest selling album, partly a consequence of Anderson's developing a throat infection that forced the postponement of much of their planned tour. No further Tull albums were to be released until Crest Of A Knave in 1987, as a result of Anderson's intermittent throat problems. In the meantime, the group appeared on a German television special in March of 1985, and participated in a presentation of the group's work by the London Symphony Orchestra. To make up for the shortfall of new releases, Chrysalis released another compilation, Original Masters, a collection of highlights of the group's work, in October of 1985. In 1986, A Classic Case : The London Symphony Orchestra Plays The Music Of Jethro Tull was released on record, and Crest Of A Knave performed surprisingly well when it was issued in September of 1987, reaching number 19 in England and number 32 in America with the support of a world tour.

Crest Of A Knave was something of a watershed in Tull's later history, though nobody would have guessed it at the time of its release. Although some of its songs displayed the group's usual folk/hard rock mix, the group was playing louder than usual, and tracks like "Steel Monkey", had a harder sound than any previous record by the group. In 1988, Tull toured the United States as part of the celebration of the band's 20th anniversary. In July, Chrysalis issued 20 Years Of Jethro Tull, a 65-song boxed-set collection covering the group's history up to that time, containing most of their major songs and augmented with outtakes and radio performances. In February of 1989, the band won the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance for Crest Of A Knave. Suddenly, they were stars again, and being declared as relevant by one of the top music awards in the industry, a fact that kept critics buzzing for months over whether the group deserved it before finally attacking the voting for the Grammy Awards and the membership of its parent organization, the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Rock Island, another hard rocking album, reached a very healthy number 18 in England during September of the same year, while peaking only at 56 in America, despite a six-week U.S. tour to support the album. In 1990, the album Catfish Rising did less well, reaching only 27 in England and 88 in America after its release in September. And A Little Light Music, their own 'unplugged' release, taped on their summer 1992 European tour, only got to number 34 in England and 150 in the United States.

Despite declining numbers, the group continued performing to good-sized houses when they toured, and the group's catalog performed extremely well. In April of 1993, Chrysalis released a four-CD 25th Anniversary Box Set, evidently hoping that most fans had forgotten the 20th anniversary set issued five years earlier, consisting of remixed versions of their hits, live shows from across their history, and a handful of new tracks. Meanwhile, Anderson continued to write and record music separate from the group on occasion, most notably Divinities : Twelve Dances With God, a classically-oriented solo album (and a distinctly non-Tull one) on EMI's classical Angel Records. J-Tull.Com followed in 1999.

-Bruce Eder, All Music Guide-

MICHAEL FRANKS

2010-09-09T01:18:00.001-07:00

MICHAEL FRANKS PLAYLIST :

Popsicle Toes, The Lady Wants To Know, When I Give My Love To You,

Tiger In The Rain, That's How I Remember You, Antonio's Song,

Dragonfly Summer, Barefoot On The Beach,

All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go, When The Cookie Jar Is Empty

******

An enormously popular performer in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Franks performed folk/rock songs while in high school, then became a literature student at UCLA and a part-time performer. He taught undergraduate music courses in the early 1970s at both UCLA and Berkeley, then provided scores for the films Count Your Bullets and Zandy's Bride. He made his first album in 1973, then enjoyed success with a string of late 1970s albums on Warner Brothers. He has worked with the likes of Flora Purim, Kenny Rankin, Ron Carter, The Crusaders, David Sanborn, Toots Thielemans, Eric Gale, and others, and has had songs recorded by The Manhattan Transfer, Patti Labelle, Carmen McRae, and The Carpenters.

-Ron Wynn, All Music Guide-

BOBBY VEE

2010-09-08T08:55:00.001-07:00

BOBBY VEE PLAYLIST :

Rubber Ball, Lollipop, Take Good Care Of My Baby,

Suzie Baby, True Love Ways, I Love You More Than I Can Say,

The Night Has A Thousand Eyes, Devil Or Angel, High Coin,

Poetry In Motion, A Letter From Betty, Come Back When You Grow Up,

Someday, Run To Him, Brown-Eyed Handsome Man

******

His career launched as a fill-in for the recently deceased Buddy Holly, Bobby Vee scored several pop hits during the early 1960s, that notorious period of popular music sandwiched between the birth of rock & roll and the rise of the British Invasion. Though a few of his singles, "Rubber Ball", for one, were as innocuous as anything else from the era, Vee had a knack for infectious Brill Building pop, thanks to his ebullient voice as well as the cadre of songwriters standing behind him.

Born in Fargo, North Dakota in 1943, Robert Thomas Velline was still in his teens when he formed his first combo, The Shadows, with his brother, Bill and their friend, Bob Korum. The trio were playing around the area when their big break came, at the expense of one of Bobby's musical idols, The Winter Dance Party package tour, with Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper were on their way to Fargo when their plane went down in Iowa, killing all three. The Shadows were scheduled to play the date instead of Holly, and several months later, producer Tommy 'Snuff' Garrett supervised their first recording session and the release of the single "Suzie Baby" on Soma Records. Liberty/RCA picked up the single later in the year, and though it just barely scraped the pop charts, the label kept plugging with Vee as a solo act, recording him on Adam Faith's "What Do You Want?", which also failed to move.

With the collective might of the Brill Building behind him, though, Vee was guaranteed to make it. His third single, "Devil Or Angel", hit the Top Ten in mid-1960, followed by "Rubber Ball" later that year. One year later, Vee's biggest hit, "Take Good Care Of My Baby", spent three weeks at number one, followed by the number two "Run To Him". His fame appeared to wane after the 1962 Top Ten single "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes", due in large part to the success of The Beatles and other English acts. Vee appeared in several movies (Just For Fun, Play It Cool) and briefly tried to cash in on the British phenomenon, with the disappointing Bobby Vee Sings The New Sound From England!, but also recorded songs by his early influences, including Buddy Holly and The Crickets. Bobby Vee continued to chart throughout the 1960s, and even hit the Top Ten again in 1967 with "Come Back When You Grow Up", but after a brief attempt at more serious recordings, he hit the rock & roll oldies circuit.
-John Bush, All Music Guide-

THE MANHATTANS

2010-09-07T08:23:00.001-07:00

THE MANHATTANS PLAYLIST :

Hurt, Kiss And Say Goodbye, Do You Really Mean Goodbye,

Am I Losing You, Don't Take Your Love, I Kinda Miss You,

There's No Me Without You, Just The Lonely Talking Again,

Everybody Plays The Fool, Follow Your Heart, Everybody Has A Dream,

You'd Better Believe It, Shining Star, We Made It,

Forever By Your Side, Always And Forever

******

The Manhattans were one of those classic R&B vocal groups who manage to achieve incredible career longevity by adapting their style to fit changing times. Formed in the 1960s as a doo wop-influenced R&B quintet, The Manhattans reinvented themselves as sweet smooth soul balladeers during the 1970s. In doing so, they somehow overcame the death of lead singer George Smith, and with new frontman Gerald Alston became more popular than they'd ever been, landing an across-the-board number one hit in 1976 with "Kiss And Say Goodbye". Under the leadership of Winfred 'Blue' Lovett (who also composed some of the group's biggest hits), The Manhattans survived as a viable chart act well into the 1980s, over two decades after their formation.

The Manhattans got together not in their namesake location, but in nearby Jersey City, NJ, in 1962. The group was centered around lead singer George 'Smitty' Smith and bass (and sometime lead) vocalist Winfred 'Blue' Lovett. The other original members were Kenny Kelley, Richard Taylor, and Edward 'Sonny' Bivins, the latter of whom sometimes co-wrote material with accomplished songwriter Lovett. In 1964, The Manhattans signed with the Newark-based Carnival label and teamed up with producer Joe Evans. They scored their first hit in early 1965 with "I Wanna Be (Your Everything)", a number 12 R&B hit that established their way with a ballad right from the beginning. It was the first of eight singles for Carnival, a string that continued up through 1967. None were huge hits, but nearly all of them reached the Top 30 on the R&B charts, and are still prized by collectors of vocal-group soul for their aching harmonies, Smith's intense leads, and lack of concession to mainstream pop audiences.

In 1969, The Manhattans signed on with DeLuxe and issued several singles over the course of 1970. Unfortunately, Smith fell ill that year, and the group hired Phil Terrell as a temporary fill-in. Sadly, Smith passed away in 1971. He was replaced on lead vocals by Gerald Alston, who brought a smoother, more pop-friendly sound to the group. That quality soon became apparent when the Lovett-penned "One Life To Live" zoomed into the R&B Top Five in late 1972, giving The Manhattans their first major hit. The following year, they left DeLuxe for Columbia, where their debut single, "There's No Me Without You" (written by Sonny Bivins), equaled the R&B chart peak of "One Life To Live" by reaching number three. Initially working with producer Bobby Martin, The Manhattans' records now fell into line with the sweet, string-laden sound of contemporary 1970s soul. The Manhattans hit the R&B Top Ten again in 1974 with "Don't Take Your Love" and 1975 with "Hurt", but their biggest success was still to come.

In early 1975, The Manhattans had recorded a Blue Lovett composition called "Kiss And Say Goodbye", which was released as a single almost a full year later. It became the second platinum single in history (after Johnnie Taylor's "Disco Lady") and their first number one hit in the spring of 1976, not just on the R&B charts, but the pop side as well, a remarkable feat, considering that they'd never had a single peak higher than number 37 on that survey. While it proved difficult to match the crossover success of "Kiss And Say Goodbye", The Manhattans reeled off a string of Top Ten R&B hits, "I Kinda Miss You", "It Feels So Good To Be Loved So Bad", "We Never Danced To A Love Song", and "Am I Losing You", that lasted into early 1978 and made them staples on the newly emerging quiet storm radio format. Their momentum slowed over the next couple of years, but they came back strong in 1980 with "Shining Star", not a cover of the Earth, Wind & Fire hit, but a co-write by their new producer Leo Graham. "Shining Star" reached the Top Five on both the pop and R&B charts, went gold, and won a Grammy, overall, not a bad haul.

The Manhattans' last major hit came with 1983's "Crazy", which put them in the R&B Top Five for the final time. They bade farewell to the Top 40 in 1985 with a cover of Sam Cooke's "You Send Me". That year, Richard Taylor left the group which carried on as a quartet for a few years. Taylor passed away in December 1987. Gerald Alston signed with Motown as a solo artist in 1988, upon which point the group finally parted ways with Columbia and recorded an album for the small Valley Vue label before disbanding. Alston and Lovett reunited in 1993 with new members Troy May and David Tyson. They toured regularly into the new millennium, with the occasional recording appearing on a small label.

-Steve Huey, All Music Guide-

SPIRIT

2010-09-06T06:44:00.001-07:00

SPIRIT PLAYLIST :

I Got A Line On You, Dark-Eyed Woman, Love Has Found A Way,

Dream Within A Dream, Mechanical World, Taurus,

My Friend, Fresh Garbage, New Dope In Town, Uncle Jack

******

Spirit was a highly regarded rock band that achieved modest commercial success, charting 11 albums in the U.S. between 1968 and 1977. Founded in Los Angeles in 1967 by musicians who had a mixture of rock, pop, folk, blues, classical, and jazz backgrounds, and who ranged in age from 16 to 44, the group had an eclectic musical style in keeping with the early days of progressive rock. They were as likely to play a folk ballad featuring fingerpicked acoustic guitar, a jazz instrumental full of imaginative improvisation, or a driving rhythm tune dominated by acid rock electric guitar playing. The diverse tastes of the original quintet produced a hybrid style that delighted a core audience of fans but proved too wide-ranging to attract a mass following, and at the same time the musicians' acknowledged talents brought them other opportunities that led to the breakup of the original line-up after four years and four albums, then kept them from committing fully to regroupings as their music began to be recognized in later years. While two band members, singer/guitarist Randy California and drummer Ed Cassidy, maintained the Spirit name, the others came and went as their schedules allowed, such that the group never fulfilled its early promise, although, as a vehicle for California's songwriting and guitar playing, it continued to produce worthwhile music until his death.

Randy California was born Randolph Craig Wolfe on February 20, 1951, in Los Angeles, CA. His mother, Bernice Pearl, was the sister of Ed Pearl, who owned the Ash Grove, a night club in Hollywood, and California, who began playing guitar as a child, grew up listening carefully to the folk, blues, and jazz musicians who performed there. In early 1965, The Rising Sons, a folk-blues group featuring Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder, played the Ash Grove. The band's drummer was Ed Cassidy (born May 4, 1923, in Chicago, IL), who met and married California's recently divorced mother, becoming his stepfather. Cassidy had been drumming professionally since his teens in almost every conceivable style, though lately largely in jazz groups before he joined The Rising Sons. He left the band after injuring his wrist during a solo. Meanwhile, California had met two aspiring musicians from the San Fernando Valley, singer/percussionist Jay Ferguson (born John Arden Ferguson, February 5, 1947, in Burbank, CA) and bassist Mark Andes (born February 19, 1948, in Philadelphia, PA) at a folk music camp, and in September 1965, along with Cassidy, and a second guitarist, they formed a band called The Red Roosters that played the Ash Grove.

The Red Roosters broke up when Cassidy moved his family to New York in search of work in the spring of 1966. There California had a fateful encounter with another guitarist at a music store in Manhattan. He met the still-unknown Jimi Hendrix, then going by the name Jimmy James, who invited him to join his band, Jimmy James & The Blue Flames, which was appearing at the Café Wha? in Greenwich Village. Since there was already a musician named Randy in the band, bass player Randy Palmer, Hendrix distinguished the two by their home states, calling Palmer 'Randy Texas' and Randy Wolfe 'Randy California', which he subsequently retained as a stage name. California played with Hendrix that summer, which was when Hendrix was spotted by Animals' bassist Chas Chandler, who became his manager and took him to England to form the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Hendrix asked California to come to England with him, but at 15, he was too young. Instead, California moved back to his home state with his mother and stepfather.

After returning west, California and Cassidy formed a band called Spirits Rebellious, after a book by the religious mystic Kahlil Gibran, also featuring pianist John Locke (born September 23, 1943, in Los Angeles, CA), who had played with Cassidy previously in the New Jazz Trio. In the spring of 1967, California and Cassidy ran into Ferguson and Andes, who had continued to work as musicians while attending UCLA. After the demise of the Red Roosters, they had a band called Western Union, also including Andes' guitar-playing brother, Matt Andes, then Ferguson had tried to launch a solo career while Mark Andes served brief tenures with Yellow Balloon and Canned Heat. Now, they joined Spirits Rebellious, a name soon shortened to Spirit. By June, they were playing gigs and looking for a record contract. With Barry Hansen (later known as Dr. Demento, the novelty song radio host) producing, they cut a demo tape that finally found commercial release 24 years later on the anthology Chronicles (1967-1992). They also auditioned for record executive and producer Lou Adler. Adler, best known for his work with The Mamas & The Papas and his company Dunhill Records, had sold Dunhill to ABC Records and formed a new label, Ode Records, which had a distribution deal with Epic Records, an imprint of the major label CBS Records. Adler signed Spirit to Ode in August 1967.

Adler produced Spirit's self-titled debut album, which was released in January 1968. Most of the songs were written by Ferguson, though California contributed a delicate instrumental called "Taurus" that would prove inspirational to Led Zeppelin, which based the introduction to the 1971 standard "Stairway To Heaven" on it. Spurred by the single "Mechanical World", which had some regional success, the LP entered the Billboard chart in April and spent more than six months there, peaking in the Top 40 in September. Spirit toured extensively while working on their second album and preparing a score for French director Jacques Demy's film Model Shop (January 1969), in which they also appeared. Sundazed Records belatedly released a soundtrack album from the film in 2005. In October 1968, they issued a single, "I Got A Line On You", a driving rocker written by California. Peaking at number 25 in the Hot 100 in March 1969, it was the group's only Top 40 single. The second album, The Family That Plays Together, followed in December 1968. With the hit single spurring sales, it peaked at number 22 in March 1969. Ferguson again dominated the songwriting, penning six of the 11 tracks, although California wrote or co-wrote the other five.

With the accelerated schedules typical of record releases in the 1960s, Spirit had to have another album ready quickly, and Clear appeared in July 1969. The album led off with the California/Ferguson composition "Dark-Eyed Woman", another rocker in the "I Got A Line On You" mold that was released as a single but did not hit. The LP also contained material written for the Model Shop score that, not surprisingly, sounded like background music. Clear was a disappointment after the success of The Family That Plays Together, peaking at number 55 in October. In December, the band released a one-off single, California's "1984", and it gave early indications of becoming a hit, rising to number 69 by March 1970 before radio became resistant to its ominous lyrics, which referred to the dystopian novel of the same name by George Orwell. Produced by the band itself, it was their last release on Ode. Adler had negotiated a split from CBS in order to move his label to A&M Records, and in so doing, he agreed to leave Spirit with Epic. The band then hired David Briggs, who had worked on Neil Young's albums, to produce its fourth LP. Sessions for that album commenced in April 1970, but they were interrupted when California suffered a fractured skull due to a fall from a horse and spent a month in the hospital. A single, Ferguson's "Animal Zoo", emerged in July and grazed the bottom of the charts, but ultimately, it took six months to complete the LP, released as Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus in November.

Spirit toured in support of the album during the winter and spring of 1971, but Epic failed to break a successful single from the LP, and it peaked at number 63 in February. Ferguson and Andes, frustrated at the band's lack of broad commercial success, quit Spirit to form a new band, Jo Jo Gunne, with Matt Andes and drummer Curly Smith. Initially, Spirit hired bassist John Arliss and played as a quartet. Then, California quit to launch a solo career. Remaining members Cassidy and Locke brought in two new musicians, brothers Al Staehely (bass) and Chris Staehely (guitar), and in November they began recording a new Spirit album. It appeared in February 1972 under the title Feedback. Like Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus, it peaked at number 63 in the charts. When Cassidy left the band, followed by Locke, the Staehely brothers brought in a drummer and briefly toured as Spirit. They didn't get away with that for long, but it was easy to see why promoters were interested in having a Spirit band on the road, no matter who was in it. Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus, though off the charts, had become an FM radio favorite and a perennial seller (it would be certified as a gold record in 1976), and Epic re-released The Family That Plays Together, which reentered the charts in July 1972.

Meanwhile, Randy California had signed a solo contract with Epic and in the fall of 1972, he released his debut album, Kapt. Kopter & The (Fabulous) Twirly Birds. He reconnected with Cassidy, and the two hired a bass player, Larry 'Fuzzy' Knight to tour Europe as Spirit during the spring of 1973. They also worked on a concept album called Potatoland, but Epic rejected it, and California temporarily dropped out of the music business and moved to Hawaii. Epic released a compilation album, The Best Of Spirit, in the summer of 1973 and saw it reach the charts along with a single release of "Mr. Skin", a song from Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus that was a sly allusion to Cassidy's shaved head. Epic also released a two-fer LP combination of Spirit and Clear, and it too got into the charts. Responding to the resulting demands for a live act, Cassidy now hired some side musicians and hit the road as Spirit.

In 1974, Randy California returned from Hawaii and got back in touch with Cassidy. Briefly joined by Mark Andes, who had left Jo Jo Gunne, they began playing dates. John Locke also performed with them for a time, but neither he nor Andes stayed permanently. Instead, California and Cassidy hired another bass player, Barry Keene, and carried on. They recorded an album that they shopped, signing to Mercury Records, which released the double-LP Spirit Of '76 in May 1975. It made the lower reaches of the charts. They quickly followed in October with Son Of Spirit, another modest seller. For Farther Along, released in June 1976, they were again joined by Andes and Locke, as well as Matt Andes. The album spent several weeks in the charts, and in August, Ferguson, who had folded Jo Jo Gunne and was preparing a solo career, rejoined for a few shows, marking the first reunion of the original quintet in five years. He did not stay, however, and Mark Andes, who had already launched his new band Firefall, also departed, as did Locke. Once again California and Cassidy engaged a bassist, John Turlep, to continue as a trio.

Future Games (A Magical Kahauna Dream), the fourth Spirit album on Mercury, released in January 1977, found California standing alone and bare-chested on the front and back covers, and he played all the instruments on the record. Sales again were modest, and the Mercury contract expired. The band toured as a quartet including Locke and Knight, then carried on as a trio when Locke dropped out again. In March 1978, the group toured Europe, and their show at the Rainbow Theatre in London on March 11 was recorded for a live album. The LP appeared that fall on different record labels and in different configurations in different countries. The U.K. version of Live Spirit, released by Illegal Records, contained the Rainbow show. The American version, issued by Spirit's own Potato imprint, substituted some tracks recorded in Florida, and the German version, titled Made In Germany, included a single track recorded in Germany.

Spirit became inactive in 1979, as California formed the Randy California Band and Cassidy began playing in a group called The Urge, then joined Rainbow Red Oxidizer. But by the fall of 1980, however, they were back together, adding bassist Steve 'Liberty' Loria and later keyboardist George Valuck to perform again as Spirit. Spurred by a fan petition sponsored by the British music magazine Dark Star, they found a label, Beggars Banquet, interested in issuing the early 1970s Potatoland project, and they reworked it for release in April 1981, when it appeared under the title The Adventures Of Kapt. Kopter And Commander Cassidy in Potatoland and briefly made the U.K. charts. Rhino Records brought the disc out in the U.S. In 1982, California again began performing under his own name, as he released his second solo album, Euro-American, in Europe. The album featured guest performances by the other four original members of Spirit, though all five were never together on one track.

By the end of 1982, however, the quintet did re-form. In the interim since 1976, Ferguson had enjoyed a successful solo career including the Top Ten hit "Thunder Island" and was moving into film soundtrack work. Andes had joined Heart, and Locke had joined Nazareth. Nevertheless, they reunited with California and Cassidy to make a live-in-the-studio recording at the A&M Soundstage in Hollywood that included re-recordings of old Spirit favorites and a few new songs. The album was shopped around and eventually sold to Mercury, which released it in March 1984 in the U.K. under the title The Thirteenth Dream. It appeared that summer in the U.S. renamed Spirit Of '84, and the band played a few dates on the West Coast to promote it, but their various commitments made the reunion short-lived. California and Cassidy then recruited keyboard player Scott Monahan and bass player Dave Waterbury and continued to tour into 1985. That spring, California released his third solo album, Restless, again only in Europe, and toured the continent under his own name to promote it. But by late summer, Spirit was again on the road as part of a package tour of 1960s acts raising money for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty in a line-up that included California, Cassidy, and Ferguson, along with bassist Freeman James and keyboardist Michael Lewis.

California and Cassidy continued to lead configurations of Spirit over the next few years. After California participated in I.R.S. Records' "Night Of The Guitar" tour, the label signed Spirit for a new album, and Rapture In The Chambers appeared in April 1989 with California, Cassidy, and Locke listed as the band members and Mark Andes, who played bass on two cuts, credited as a guest artist. A year later, Spirit released another new album, Tent Of Miracles, on its own Dolphin label with a line-up consisting of California, Cassidy, and Mike Nile. By now, the band had become an established U.S. club act that also undertook yearly tours of Europe. In July 1991, Epic/Legacy released the two-disc retrospective Time Circle (1968-1972), and two months later, Spirit issued its own complementary collection, Chronicles (1967-1992), consisting of previously unreleased recordings, on its own W.E.R.C. C.R.E.W. Records label. In October, the original line-up of California, Cassidy, Ferguson, Andes, and Locke played two concerts opening for The Doobie Brothers, their first appearances together in seven years and the last time that the group was reunited. But California and Cassidy continued to lead other configurations as Spirit for the next five years, releasing Live At La Paloma in 1995 and completing California Blues in 1996. On January 2, 1997, California was swimming with his family off the coast of Molokai, HI, when he and his 12-year-old son Quinn were caught in a riptide. California succeeded in pushing his son to shore, but he was swept out to sea, and his body was never recovered.

Randy California's death meant the end of Spirit, of course, although the indefatigable Cassidy, by now in his seventies, toured with a band called Spirit Revisited. Music journalist Mick Skidmore, while working on a Spirit biography, began to assemble collections of unreleased recordings from California's extensive archives, which were issued in the early years of the 21st century. These included Cosmic Smile (2000), Sea Dream (2002), Blues From The Soul (2003), and Live From The Time Coast (2004), the last three put out by the British Acadia label. Meanwhile, Sundazed Records released LPs containing outtakes from Spirit's Ode/Epic discs, Now Or Anywhere and Eventide, in 2000, before issuing Model Shop in 2005. Ode/Epic/Legacy had reissued Spirit, The Family That Plays Together, Clear, and Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus, each with bonus tracks, in 1996, and Mercury had had California compile the two-disc The Mercury Years just before his death. All of this assured that Spirit's music would continue to be heard for years to come.

-William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide-

JAMES TAYLOR

2010-09-01T06:30:00.001-07:00

JAMES TAYLOR PLAYLIST :

Sweet Baby James, How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You),

All I Want Is Forever, Everyday, Sunny Skies,

Summertime Blues, You've Got A Friend, Your Smiling Face,

Something In The Way She Moves, Fire And Rain, Steamroller,

Up On The Roof, Enough To Be On Your Way,

Shower The People, The River

******

When people use the term 'singer/songwriter' (often modified by the word 'sensitive') in praise or in criticism, they're thinking of James Taylor. In the early 1970s, when he appeared with his introspective songs, acoustic guitar, and calm, understated singing style, he mirrored a generation's emotional exhaustion after tumultuous times. Just as Bing Crosby's reassuring voice brought the country out of the depression and through World War II, Taylor's eased the transition from 1960s activism and its attendant frustrations into the less political, more inward-looking 1970s. He was rewarded with a series of hit albums and singles (surprisingly, many of the latter were covers of old songs rather than his own compositions), and he managed to survive his initial fame to achieve lasting popularity. He continued to tour successfully for decades, and, starting with his 1970 breakthrough Sweet Baby James, all but one of his regular album releases for the rest of the century went gold or platinum, while his 1976's Greatest Hits album achieved a diamond certification reflecting sales of more than ten million copies.

Taylor was the son of Dr. Isaac and Gertrude Taylor. His three brothers, Alex (1947-1993), Livingston, Hugh, and his sister, Kate, all became musicians and recorded albums of their own. In 1951, Dr. Taylor was appointed dean of the medical school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the family moved from New England to the south. Taylor studied cello as a child, but first took up the guitar in 1960. In 1963, he began attending Milton Academy, a prep school in Massachusetts. That summer, he met fellow guitarist Danny 'Kootch' Kortchmar while staying on Martha' s Vineyard, and the two formed a folk duo. Taylor dropped out of school at 16 and formed a band with his brother Alex. Having moved to New York, he suffered from depression and checked himself into McLean Psychiatric Hospital in Massachusetts, a stay that would inspire some of his early songs. While there, he earned a high-school diploma. Upon release, he returned to New York in 1966 and formed a new group, The Flying Machine, with Kortchmar and Joel O'Brien. The band played in Greenwich Village and was signed to a fledgling record label, Rainy Day Records (the name taken from Taylor's song "Rainy Day Man"). It released one single, "Brighten Your Night With My Day" and "Night Owl", both songs written by Taylor. The record was unsuccessful, and the band broke up in the spring of 1967.

By 1968, Taylor had become addicted to heroin. In an attempt to overcome his addiction, he moved to London, where he submitted a demo tape to Peter Asher, former member of Peter & Gordon, then working for the Beatles' Apple Records label. As a result, Taylor was signed to Apple and recorded his debut solo album, James Taylor, released in the U.K. in December 1968 and in the U.S. in February 1969. Initially, it received little attention. A more pressing concern, however, was that Taylor had not been able to kick heroin. As a result, he returned to the U.S. and checked into the Austin Riggs Hospital in Massachusetts. By July 1969, he had recovered sufficiently to make his solo debut at the Troubadour nightclub in Los Angeles, but soon after, he was in a motorcycle accident and broke both of his hands, which put him out of commission for several months.

Freed of his Apple Records contract, Taylor signed to Warner Bros. Records, moved to California, and, retaining Asher as his manager and producer, recorded his second album, Sweet Baby James. It was released in February 1970 and became a major success during the course of the year, spurred by the single "Fire And Rain", a song that reflected on his experiences in mental institutions, which peaked in the Top Five in October, the same month that Sweet Baby James achieved the same status on the LP charts. With that, interest in Taylor's first album was re-stimulated, and it belatedly reached the charts along with the single "Carolina On My Mind", as did James Taylor and the original Flying Machine's 1967, a short collection of unfinished recordings made by his 1960s band. Sweet Baby James then spawned a second hit single, "Country Road", which peaked in the Top 40 in March 1971. The same month, Taylor appeared on the cover of Time magazine, touted as the founder and leading proponent of the 'singer/songwriter' trend in popular music.

Meanwhile, Taylor had acted in a feature film, Two-Lane Blacktop, co-starring with the Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson. It was not successful, and Taylor never pursued an acting career, though it has been well reviewed subsequently. Taylor also worked on a new album, returning to record stores in April 1971 with Mud Slide Slim and The Blue Horizon. As he toured the U.S., the LP spent the summer in the Top Ten, eventually peaking just below the top of the charts, paced by its first single, "You've Got A Friend", written by Carole King, which hit number one in July and went gold. A second single, "Long Ago And Far Away", reached the Top 40, and the album eventually sold more than two million copies. On March 14, 1972, Taylor won the 1971 Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, for "You've Got A Friend".

Taylor took what was then considered a long time, more than a year and a half, to come up with his next album, One Man Dog, released in November 1972. On November 3, 1972, during an appearance at Radio City Music Hall in New York, he announced to the crowd that he had married singer/songwriter Carly Simon earlier in the day. Simon was already well known for the hits "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" and "Anticipation", and would soon top the charts with "You're So Vain". One Man Dog marked a fall-off in Taylor's record sales, though it went gold, reached the Top Five, and spawned a Top 20 single in "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight".

Taylor was next heard from in January 1974, when he sang a duet with his wife of "Mockingbird", a cover of the 1963 hit by Inez & Charlie Foxx, on her Hotcakes album. Released as a single, the recording reached the Top Five and went gold. That spring, Taylor launched a major tour in anticipation of his next album, Walking Man, released in June. Though it reached the Top 20, the album was a commercial disappointment, failing to go gold or produce a chart single, but Taylor bounced back the following year with the May release of Gorilla. Again, he succeeded by reviving an old hit, this time Marvin Gaye's 1964 song "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)", which reached the Top Five, helping the album become a Top Ten gold-selling hit.

In The Pocket, Taylor's seventh album, was his third annual warm-weather release, appearing in June 1976. Its single was the singer's own "Shower The People", which reached the Top 40, while the album made the Top 20 and went gold. Nearing the end of his Warner Bros. contract, Taylor re-recorded a couple of his Apple songs for his Greatest Hits LP, released in November. It became a perennial seller. With that, in a major coup, he was signed by Columbia Records. His debut for the label, JT, was released in June 1977. Once again, a revival spurred its sales, as Taylor covered Jimmy James' 1959 song "Handy Man" and took it into the Top Five, followed by a Top 20 showing for his own "Your Smiling Face". With such stimulation, JT reached the Top Five and sold over two million copies. On February 23, 1978, Taylor picked up a second Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, for "Handy Man".

Along with Paul Simon, Taylor was a featured singer on Art Garfunkel's cover of "(What A) Wonderful World", previously a hit for Sam Cooke and Herman's Hermits, which peaked in the Top 20 in March 1978. Taylor next became involved with the Broadway musical +Working, based on Studs Terkel's best seller, writing three songs for it. The show ran a scant 25 performances after opening on May 14, 1978, but Taylor reclaimed "Millworker" and "Brother Trucker" for his next album. Meanwhile, his duet with Carly Simon on a revival of the Everly Brothers' "Devoted To You" peaked in the Top 40 in September.

Flag, marking a nearly two-year break between albums, appeared in April 1979, its Top 40 hit single being a revival of the 1963 Drifters' hit "Up On The Roof". Despite the lack of a really big hit single, the LP reached the Top Ten and went platinum. That September, Taylor performed at Madison Square Garden in the No Nukes concerts, later being featured in the No Nukes triple LP and in the No Nukes concert film.

Taylor embarked on a national tour in the summer of 1980, despite not having a current album to promote. From here on, recurrent touring became a regular part of his career and contributed to his longevity as an artist. That fall, he appeared on the Children's album In Harmony 2, singing "Jelly Man Kelly". The album won the 1981 Grammy for Best Recording for Children. He toured extensively during 1981, releasing Dad Loves His Work in February. The album reached the Top Ten and went gold, spurred by the Top Ten success of the single "Her Town Too", written by Taylor, J.D. Souther, and Waddy Wachtel, Taylor's most successful original composition since "Fire And Rain".

Taylor continued to tour frequently in the early 1980s, a period when his marriage to Carly Simon came to an end (they were divorced in 1983). Often, his performances took place overseas. In January 1985, he performed at the Rock in Rio concert in Brazil, a show that resulted in the Brazil-only release, Live In Rio. His next studio album, following a gap of more than four years, was That's Why I'm Here, released in October 1985. As usual, his record label issued a cover song as the single, in this case it was Buddy Holly's "Everyday", which didn't get very far up the charts. Nevertheless, Taylor's long career and constant touring had brought him a permanent audience ready to buy his records, and the album eventually went platinum. On December 14, 1985, he married for the second time, to Kathryn Walker. A month later, he was on tour in Australia.

Road work continued to be Taylor's primary occupation in the mid-1980s, but he came off tour long enough to finish another album, Never Die Young, only a little more than two years after That's Why I'm Here, released in January 1988. The title song, issued as a single, barely reached the charts, but Never Die Young was another million-seller. The late 1980s and early 1990s saw more extensive worldwide touring. New Moon Shine, Taylor's 13th regular album release, came in October 1991, the same month that he sold out six consecutive shows at the Paramount Theater in New York. The disc stayed in the charts nearly a year and sold a million copies.

Despite his consistent draw as a concert attraction, Taylor had never released a live album in the U.S. until the August 1993 appearance of Live, a two-CD set that went platinum within months. Columbia Records, which had never had a Taylor compilation to promote, trimmed the album down to a single disc of hits for the 1994 release (Best Live). Taylor was divorced from his second wife in 1996. His next album, Hourglass, released in May 1997, demonstrated his continuing appeal by entering the charts in the Top Ten. On February 25, 1998, it won the 1997 Grammy for Best Pop Album. In October the same year, Columbia issued the DVD Live At The Beacon Theatre while Billboard magazine was honoring Taylor with their highest accolade, the Century Award.

By 2000, Taylor's first Greatest Hits collection had sold over ten million copies, earning him the RIAA's Diamond Award. Taylor was also inducted into both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 2000, and at the end of the year, Columbia issued Greatest Hits, Vol. 2, covering the years 1977-1997. Fans who had waited five years for new material were awarded with October Road in 2002, an album that earned two Grammy nominations and eventually went platinum. A year later, The Best Of James Taylor became the first compilation to cover material from his years with Apple, Warner Bros., and Columbia. In 2004, he appeared on the television show The West Wing, released a Christmas Album, and sang the national anthem before game two of the World Series. Two years later, Taylor released James Taylor At Christmas and made an appearance on the soundtrack for the Pixar film, Cars. In 2007, the CD/DVD One Man Band was released on the Hear Music label. An album featuring a dozen cover versions of various songs, simply and appropriately called Covers, followed a year later in 2008, also from Hear Music. A sequel, Other Covers, appeared in 2009.

-William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide-

GOLDEN EARRING

2010-08-29T12:09:00.001-07:00

GOLDEN EARRING PLAYLIST :

Twilight Zone, Radar Love, Going To The Run, Another 45 Miles,

Back Home, When The Bullet Hits The Bone,

Sound Of The Screaming Day, That Day, In My House,

When The Lady Smiles, She Flies On Strange Wings,

The Road Swallowed Her Name, Together We Live, Together We Love,

Just A Little Bit Peace In My Heart, Please Go

******

Best known in the U.S. for its hard rock material, Golden Earring has been the most popular homegrown band in the Netherlands since the mid-1960s, when they were primarily a pop group. The group was founded by guitarist/vocalist George Kooymans and bassist/vocalist Rinus Gerritsen, then schoolboys, in 1961. Several years and personnel shifts later, they had their first Dutch hit, "Please Go", and in 1968 hit the top of the Dutch charts for the first of many times with "Dong-Dong-Di-Ki-Di-Gi-Dong", a song that broadened their European appeal. By 1969, the rest of the line-up had stabilized, with lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Barry Hay and drummer Cesar Zuiderwijk. They experimented with their style for several years before settling on straightforward hard rock initially much like that of The Who, who invited them to open their 1972 European tour. Golden Earring signed to The Who's Track label, which released a compilation of Dutch singles, Hearing Earring, helping the group break through in England. 1974's Moontan LP spawned the single "Radar Love", a Dutch number one, U.K. Top Ten, and U.S. number thirteen hit. The group toured America opening for The Doobie Brothers and Santana, but the lack of a follow-up ensured that their popularity remained short-lived in America, even though they remained a top draw in Europe over the rest of the 1970s. 1982 saw a brief American comeback with the album Cut and the Top Ten single "Twilight Zone", but as before, Golden Earring could not sustain its momentum and faded away in the U.S. marketplace. All of Golden Earring's basic line-up has recorded as solo artists in Europe. "Radar Love" enjoyed a second round of popularity when pop-metal band White Lion covered the song in 1989.

-Steve Huey, All Music Guide-

DAN FOGELBERG

2010-08-29T01:45:00.001-07:00

DAN FOGELBERG PLAYLIST :

Leader Of The Band, Hearts And Crafts, Same Old Lang Syne,

Looking For A Lady, Souvenirs, Part Of The Plan,

Longer, Better Change, As The Raven Flies,

To The Morning, Nether Lands, Nexus,

Rhythm Of The Rain, Mountain Pass, At Christmas Time

******

If James Taylor epitomized the definition and the original, late 1960s incarnation of the term singer/songwriter, Dan Fogelberg exemplified the late 1970s equivalent of that term at its most highly developed and successful, with a string of platinum-selling albums and singles into the early 1980s and a long career since, interrupted only by a health crisis in more recent years. He came out of a musical family, born Daniel Grayling Fogelberg on August 13, 1951, in Peoria, IL, where his father was an established musician, teacher, and bandleader. His first instrument was the piano, which he took to well enough, and music mattered to him more than the sports that were the pre-occupation of most of the boys around him. At age ten, he was saving and listening to any old records he could find. And if there's a 'God-shaped space' in everyone, Fogelberg's was filled with music, something his family might've guessed if they'd seen how much he loved the music in church, but was bored by the sermons. His other great passions were drawing and painting. His personal musical turning point came in the early 1960s, before he'd reached his teens. A gift of an old Hawaiian guitar from his grandfather introduced him to the instrument that would soon supplant the piano, and at age 12, he heard The Beatles for the first time, which not only led him to a revelation about how electric guitars could sound, but also made him notice for the first time the act of songwriting as something central to what musicians did. It was also at that point that he began picking up on the music of Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Buddy Holly, all of whom were, of course, in The Beatles' repertory.

He started writing songs soon after, and by the time he was 13, he was in a band called The Clan, playing school events with a repertory that mostly consisted of The Beatles songs. Of all the members, he was the one who stayed with music, and his taste and interests evolved with the music around him. By the time he was in his mid-teens, he was listening to The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, and was finding inspiration in the sounds and songs of Gene Clark, Stephen Stills, Chris Hillman, Neil Young, and Richie Furay, among others. His second band, The Coachmen, who'd started out doing Paul Revere & The Raiders-style dance-oriented R&B, evolved into a more progressive folk-rock outfit, even embracing some of Springfield's more ambitious repertory. Yet, somehow, for all of that devotion to music, he didn't plunge directly into the field. Had he been living in California, in Los Angeles or San Francisco, it might've been different, but in the absence of a highly receptive audience, or a surrounding coterie of serious musician friends, or much encouragement anywhere in Peoria to pursue music, he ended up embracing other goals. After finishing high school, it was on to the University of Illinois at Champaign as a drama major, in hopes of an acting career, and then a switch to painting.

This was all going on amid the political agonies of the Vietnam War, which was still going on full-tilt at the time, and Fogelberg wasn't isolated from the tensions over the war as they manifested themselves. He fell back into music through one of the relatively few public centers for what passed for a counterculture in central Illinois, a club called The Red Herring, owned by a friend named Peter Berkow. The latter invited Fogelberg to play, and soon he was building a local audience with his sound and his songs, and it was from that beginning that Fogelberg came to the attention of a University of Illinois alumnus named Irving Azoff, who at the time was managing REO Speedwagon and was thinking that it was time for him to move up to the next level in the music business. One performance by Fogelberg, accompanied by his solo acoustic guitar at an otherwise drunken fraternity event in front of a singularly oblivious audience, sold Azoff on his prospects and the idea that his own future might well be quite favorable if tied to Fogelberg. He moved to Los Angeles and Azoff began the task of getting him signed. In the interim, he played some sessions and even rated a support gig on tour with Van Morrison, in a series of shows that also included Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks. His demo tape was good enough to get serious attention from Jerry Moss at A&M Records and David Geffen at the newly established Asylum Records, but it was the legendary Clive Davis, then still at Columbia Records, who got Fogelberg under contract.

Fogelberg's debut album, Home Free (1972), recorded in Nashville, with Norbert Putnam producing, was an embarrassment of riches, musically speaking. It was a sublimely beautiful melding of country-rock with the personal level of a singer/songwriter, reminiscent at times of Gene Clark's solo work, and also encompassing sounds derived from the likes of Stephen Stills, David Crosby, Graham Nash, and Neil Young, yet never sounding too much like the joint work of those three (or four) and always sounding like Fogelberg. But it was a lot like several other brilliant debut albums to come out of the Columbia Records orbit during Davis' tenure, including Child Is Father To The Man by the original Blood, Sweat & Tears and Greetings From Asbury Park by Bruce Springsteen, in that it never generated a hit single to help drive sales. Everyone who heard the album loved it, but without a single to generate AM radio play, very few people heard it. In Davis' view, fine as it was, Home Free was a little too country-ish for mainstream radio, and fell between the cracks between pop/rock and country playlists. A few years later, after the success of acts such as The Eagles, such distinctions would matter less, but in 1972, the music marketplace was that segregated stylistically. Fogelberg kept working, mostly as a session musician, turning up on Buffy Saint-Marie's MCA debut LP, Buffy, and on Jackson Browne's Late For The Sky, among other early to mid-1970s albums. He also managed to continue with Columbia with help from his manager. Azoff's own Full Moon label had a production and distribution deal with Columbia, through its Epic Records imprint, and it was by way of Epic/Full Moon that he got a second chance. This time out, however, Fogelberg would record in Los Angeles with guitarist/producer Joe Walsh. Fogelberg quickly discovered that he had a sympathetic and enthusiastic partner in Walsh, and everything literally fell into place, even Graham Nash's presence (at Walsh's request) singing harmonies on the resulting album, Souvenirs, which featured a range of renowned Los Angeles-based musicians. The results were more than golden, they ended up double platinum, as "Part Of The Plan" reached the Top 20 in 1974 and Souvenirs rode those charts for six months and sold steadily for years after. The album had mostly the same mix of elements as its predecessor, but this time it was widely heard and accepted. The country-flavored rock of "Part Of The Plan", the reflective singer/songwriter work of "Song From Half Mountain", the bluegrass-flavored "Morning Sky", and the heavier "As The Raven Flies" (which recalled Neil Young's "Ohio"), all seemed to fit together perfectly.

Now Fogelberg was a star, leading an Illinois-spawned band called Fool's Gold and touring almost constantly for the next two years. In the midst of it all, he completed a third album, Captured Angel (1975), which he produced himself this time, which showed him extending his sound in more ambitious directions, and in surprising circumstances. It was during 1975 that he'd returned home to spend time with his father, who had been hospitalized, and afterward, while staying in Peoria, cut what were supposed to be demos of the songs he wanted to use on his new album, with Fogelberg playing every instrument and doing all the vocals. Instead, when Azoff and Davis heard the demos, they insisted that this was the album, and that he could never recapture the feel he'd gotten on songs like "Comes And Goes" working with other musicians. He eventually came to an agreement with the label that the percussion parts would be re-done by Russ Kunkel, and the final version of Captured Angel included Norbert Putnam on bass on certain tracks, Al Perkins on pedal steel guitar, and David Lindley on fiddle, plus some string arrangements by Glen Spreen, but otherwise, it was truly a Fogelberg solo effort. That album only solidified his fame, as well as making him a special favorite of college students (especially coeds) across the country, and a tour with The Eagles in 1975, who, by then, were being managed by Azoff, only enhanced his profile.

Fogelberg moved to Colorado in the mid-1970s, and his initial time there resulted in the songs that became the basis for his next album, Nether Lands (1977). Ironically, the songs came at the end of an extended dry spell as a songwriter, the first of his adult life. He found himself unable to compose for months, and then, suddenly, he started writing again, but in a much more ornate, elaborately conceived, classically influenced idiom. The songs were bolder both lyrically and musically. The title track, in particular, was notable for employing the services of composer/arranger Dominic Frontiere in orchestrating it. The album was a hit, and he was still riding that initial wave of recognition and the concertizing that went with it, even if he was now taking the audience in some unexpected directions. Fogelberg decided at this point to step back a bit, get off that wave, and do something purely for his own satisfaction musically. In 1978, he began work on a record that was to be more of a personal indulgence than anything else, the non-commercial side of Dan Fogelberg, sort of his equivalent to those instrumental albums that Frank Sinatra had issued as a conductor a couple of times in his career, or Neil Young's late Everybody's Rockin'. He teamed up on what became a duo album with jazz flutist Tim Weisberg for the album Twin Sons Of Different Mothers (1978), but instead of being a curio or a footnote in his output, it ended up charting high and generating a huge hit single in the guise of "The Power Of Gold" (which, ironically, had been added to the LP at the last minute). The album ended up in the Top 20 and was embraced by critics and the public alike. For the next few years, Fogelberg was literally riding a creative and commercial whirlwind, peaking with his 1980 album Phoenix, which was propelled to platinum status with help from the number two single "Longer". The year before, he also fulfilled a longtime career goal by playing Carnegie Hall in New York, to a sell-out audience that included his parents.

Fogelberg's career in the 1980s began with an unexpected turn, concept albums were common enough by then, but most record labels also tended to strongly discourage the recording of double LPs, owing to the expense and the difficulties in selling and marketing them. But mid-way through finishing his next album, and with the single "Same Old Lang Syne" already in release and record stores and buyers poised for a new LP, he suddenly decided to expand the planned record, writing new songs and effectively doubling its length, as well as delaying it well into 1981, the better part of a year beyond what the label or his manager had planned on. The result was his boldest production to date, The Innocent Age (1981), a massive project featuring some VIP collaborators (including Joni Mitchell and Emmylou Harris), from which four hit singles, the earlier "Same Old Lang Syne" plus "Run For The Roses", "Hard To Say", and "Leader Of The Band" (the latter a tribute to his father), were ultimately extracted. That album marked his commercial peak, and seemed to end a phenomenally popular and productive phase of his career. As though to mark the transition, the following year Epic released its first hits compilation on Fogelberg, a ten-song LP on which four of the slots were filled by the singles off of The Innocent Age.

It was three years before his next new album, during which time Fogelberg's musical sensibilities evolved in new and more specialized directions. He turned toward more personal and experimental forms of music, none of which proved remotely as popular with the public or with critics as his 1970s work. Additionally, as was the case with many artists of the 1970s and earlier, the playing field was fundamentally altered in the 1980s. MTV and music videos as promotional devices became central to getting exposure and airplay, and recording artists now needed a distinct visual style as well as a sound to make it to the front rank. Additionally, a new generation of music critics, most of whom were bent on showing contempt for most of the favored artists of the previous decade or two, were now speaking in the press. His 1984 album, Windows And Walls, did reach the fans, and even generated a hit in "Language Of Love", but got a hostile reception from the critics of the period. And his turn toward bluegrass music, helped in part by his contact with Chris Hillman, who'd also turned back toward his bluegrass roots at the time (and recorded Fogelberg's "Morning Sky" as the title track of his latest album), didn't make him any more accessible to the mainline music critics of the day. The resulting album, High Country Snows (1985), was a good seller and showed off Fogelberg's roots brilliantly, but did nothing to enhance his pop credibility, which had waned considerably over the previous three years.

Fogelberg withdrew somewhat in the years that followed, playing anonymously in bars around Colorado as part of an outfit called Frankie & The Aliens, formed by Joe Vitale. He seemed to be headed back to his teenage roots, and in the process redefined himself musically. When he re-emerged with The Wild Places and the worldbeat-flavored River Of Souls in the early1990s, he was writing what amounted to topical songs about the environment, a subject with which he'd become much concerned since moving permanently to Colorado. By that time, he'd established a fully equipped home studio that provided him with the independence that he craved, and he was beholden to the record label merely as a conduit for his work. Epic, for its part, kept releasing Fogelberg's music, including a superb 1991 live album called Greetings From The West, and his earlier albums made perennially popular CD releases. Home Free was also extensively remixed by Norbert Putnam for its CD re-release in 1988 (those desiring to hear the original mix can find it on BGO's U.K. double-CD reissue of Home Free/Souvenirs). Indeed, all of Fogelberg's compact discs reflected an unusual degree of care in their production, especially for Columbia catalog reissues of the era, when the label was often just slapping down the digital masters and batting them out without an eye toward quality.

In 1995, he and Tim Weisberg did another collaboration together, No Resemblance Whatsoever, which seemed to pick up right where their 1978 album had left off without skipping a beat. In 1997, Columbia honored Fogelberg with a four-CD career retrospective compilation entitled Portrait : The Music Of Dan Fogelberg From 1972-1997, looking back over his previous 25 years of work. Fogelberg closed out the old century with First Christmas Morning, which saw him plunge several centuries into the past in pursuing traditional holiday music, evoking sounds that, in the context of work from a pop/rock artist, had previously only been heard from Jan Akkerman on his Tabernakel album and the work of the Amazing Blondel, nearly30 years before. Finally in 2003, Fogelberg went back to the acoustic singer/songwriter sound of his early career with the appropriately titled Full Circle album. This seemed like the possible opening of a promising new phase to his work and career. Those prospects were dashed in mid-2004, however, when Fogelberg was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, to which he finally succumbed in late 2007.

-Bruce Eder, All Music Guide-

BOB MARLEY

2010-08-28T12:00:00.001-07:00

BOB MARLEY PLAYLIST :

The Sun Is Shining, Everything Is Gonna Be Alright,

Get Up, Stand Up, Is This Love, One Love, Redemption Song,

Revolution, Rebel Music, Positive Vibration, Could You Be Loved,

Satisfy My Soul, Lonesome Feeling, Waiting In Vain,

Cry To Me, No Woman, No Cry

******

Reggae's most transcendent and iconic figure, Bob Marley was the first Jamaican artist to achieve international superstardom, in the process introducing the music of his native island nation to the far-flung corners of the globe. Marley's music gave voice to the day-to-day struggles of the Jamaican experience, vividly capturing not only the plight of the country's impoverished and oppressed, but also the devout spirituality that remains their source of strength. His songs of faith, devotion, and revolution created a legacy that continues to live on not only through the music of his extended family, but also through generations of artists the world over touched by his genius.

Robert Nesta Marley was born February 6, 1945, in rural St. Ann's Parish, Jamaica. The son of a middle-aged white father and teenaged black mother, he left home at 14 to pursue a music career in Kingston, becoming a pupil of local singer and devout Rastafarian Joe Higgs. He cut his first single, "Judge Not", in 1962 for Leslie Kong, severing ties with the famed producer soon after over a monetary dispute. In 1963, Marley teamed with fellow singers Peter Tosh, Bunny Livingston, Junior Braithwaite, Beverly Kelso, and Cherry Smith to form the vocal group The Teenagers, later rechristened The Wailing Rudeboys and later simply The Wailers. They signed on with producer Coxsone Dodd's legendary Studio One and recorded their debut, "I'm Still Waiting". When Braithwaite and Smith exited The Wailers, Marley assumed lead vocal duties, and in early 1964, the group's follow-up, "Simmer Down", topped the Jamaican charts. A series of singles including "Let Him Go (Rude Boy Get Gail)", "Dancing Shoes", "Jerk In Time", "Who Feels It Knows It", and "What Am I To Do" followed, and in all, The Wailers recorded some 70 tracks for Dodd before disbanding in 1966. On February 10 of that year, Marley married Rita Anderson, a singer in the group The Soulettes. She later enjoyed success as a member of the vocal trio The I-Threes. Marley then spent the better part of the year working in a factory in Newark, DE, the home of his mother since 1963.

Upon returning to Jamaica that October, Marley re-formed The Wailers with Livingston and Tosh, releasing "Bend Down Low" on their own short-lived Wail 'N' Soul 'M label. At this time, all three members began devoting themselves to the teachings of the Rastafari faith, a cornerstone of Marley's life and music until his death. Beginning in 1968, The Wailers recorded a wealth of new material for producer Danny Sims before teaming the following year with producer Lee 'Scratch' Perry. Backed by Perry's house band, The Upsetters, the trio cut a number of classics, including "My Cup", "Duppy Conqueror", "Soul Almighty", and "Small Axe", which fused powerful vocals, ingenious rhythms, and visionary production to lay the groundwork for much of the Jamaican music in their wake. The Upsetters' bassist Aston 'Family Man' Barrett and his drummer brother Carlton soon joined The Wailers full-time, and in 1971, the group founded another independent label, Tuff Gong, releasing a handful of singles before signing to Chris Blackwell's Island Records a year later.

1973's Catch A Fire, The Wailers' Island debut, was the first of their albums released outside of Jamaica, and immediately earned worldwide acclaim. The follow-up, Burnin', launched the track "I Shot The Sheriff", a Top Ten hit for Eric Clapton in 1974. With The Wailers poised for stardom, however, both Livingston and Tosh quit the group to pursue solo careers. Marley then brought in The I-Threes, which in addition to Rita Marley consisted of singers Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt. The new line-up proceeded to tour the world prior to releasing their 1975 breakthrough album Natty Dread, scoring their first U.K. Top 40 hit with the classic "No Woman, No Cry". Sell-out shows at the London Lyceum, where Marley played to racially mixed crowds, yielded the superb Live! later that year, and with the success of 1976's Rastaman Vibration, which hit the Top Ten in the U.S., it became increasingly clear that his music had carved its own niche within the pop mainstream.

As great as Marley's fame had grown outside of Jamaica, at home he was viewed as a figure of almost mystical proportions, a poet and prophet whose every word had the nation's collective ear. His power was perceived as a threat in some quarters, and on December 3, 1976, he was wounded in an assassination attempt. The ordeal forced Marley to leave Jamaica for over a year. 1977's Exodus was his biggest record to date, generating the hits "Jamming", "Waiting In Vain", and "One Love/People Get Ready". Kaya was another smash, highlighted by the gorgeous "Is This Love" and "Satisfy My Soul". Another classic live date, Babylon By Bus, preceded the release of 1979's Survival. 1980 loomed as Marley's biggest year yet, kicked off by a concert in the newly liberated Zimbabwe. A tour of the U.S. was announced, but while jogging in New York's Central Park, he collapsed, and it was discovered he suffered from cancer that had spread to his brain, lungs, and liver. Uprising was the final album released in Marley's lifetime. He died May 11, 1981, at age 36.

Posthumous efforts including 1983's Confrontation and the best-selling 1984 retrospective Legend kept Marley's music alive, and his renown continued growing in the years following his death, even decades after the fact, he remains synonymous with reggae's worldwide popularity. In the wake of her husband's passing, Rita Marley scored a solo hit with "One Draw", but despite the subsequent success of the singles "Many Are Called" and "Play, Play", by the mid-1980s, she largely withdrew from performing to focus on raising her children. Oldest son David, better known as Ziggy, went on to score considerable pop success as the leader of The Melody Makers, a Marley family group comprised of siblings Cedella, Stephen, and Sharon. Their 1988 single "Tomorrow People" was a Top 40 U.S. hit, a feat even Bob himself never accomplished. Three other Marley children, Damian, Julian, and Ky-Mani, pursued careers in music as well.

-Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide-

GRAND FUNK RAILROAD

2010-08-27T10:06:00.001-07:00

GRAND FUNK RAILROAD PLAYLIST :

We're An American Band, Got This Thing On The Move,

Feelin' Alright, Somekind Of Wonderful, I'm Your Captain (Closer To Home),

Inside Lookin' Out, The Loco-motion, I Can Feel Him In The Morning,

Loneliness, Winter And My Soul, Nothing Is The Same,

People, Let's Stop The War, It's A Man's World,

Paranoid, High Falootin' Woman

******

One of the 1970s' most successful hard rock bands in spite of critical pans and somewhat reluctant radio airplay (at first), Grand Funk Railroad built a devoted fan base with constant touring, a loud, simple take on the blues-rock power trio sound, and strong working-class appeal. The band was formed by Flint, MI, guitarist/songwriter Mark Farner and drummer Don Brewer, both former members of a local band called Terry Knight & The Pack. They recruited former ? & The Mysterians bassist Mel Schacher in 1968, and Knight retired from performing to become their manager, naming the group after Michigan's well-known Grand Trunk Railroad.

They performed for free at the 1969 Atlanta Pop Festival, and their energetic, if not technically proficient, show led Capitol Records to sign them at once. While radio shied away from Grand Funk Railroad, the group's strong work ethic and commitment to touring produced a series of big-selling albums over the next few years. Five of their eight releases from 1969 to 1972 went platinum, and the others all went gold. Meanwhile, Knight promoted the band aggressively, going so far as to rent a Times Square billboard to advertise Closer To Home, which turned out to be the band's first multi-platinum album in spite of a backlash from the rock press. However, Grand Funk Railroad fired Knight in March of 1972, who promptly sued. The band spent most of the year in a court battle that ended when they bought Knight out.

Keyboardist Craig Frost joined the group for the Phoenix LP at the end of 1972. Following that album, the band's name was officially shortened to Grand Funk, and the group finally scored a big hit single (number one, in fact) with the title track of the Todd Rundgren-produced, "We're An American Band". The follow-up, Shinin' On, contained another number one hit in a remake of Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion". However, following Grand Funk's next album, All The Girls In The World Beware!!, interest in the group began to wane. Reverting back to Grand Funk Railroad, they remained together in 1976 solely to work with producer Frank Zappa on Good Singin', Good Playin'. Farner left for a solo career, and the remainder of the band released an album as Flint with guitarist Billy Elworthy.

Grand Funk Railroad re-formed in 1981 with Dennis Bellinger on bass and released two albums, only Grand Funk Lives even managed to scrape the bottom of the charts. The group disbanded again, with Brewer and Frost joining Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band and Farner embarking on a new career as a CCM artist. His "Isn't It Amazing" was a number two gospel hit in 1988. In 1997, Grand Funk Railroad reunited once again to record a benefit album titled Bosnia. Two years later, Capitol issued a three-disc box set retrospective, Thirty Years Of Funk : 1969-1999.

-Steve Huey, All Music Guide-

DORIS DAY

2010-08-26T10:16:00.001-07:00

DORIS DAY PLAYLIST :

Summertime, Sleepy Lagoon, Quarantine Girl,

There Once Was A Man, Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps, Secret Love,

If I Give My Heart To You, The Very Thought Of You,

Oh, What A Beautiful Dream, Tea For Two, Fly Me To The Moon,

Sentimental Journey, Here We Go Again, Booglie Wooglie Piggy,

How Much Is That Doggie In The Window, Buttons And Bows

******

Doris Day has packed four careers into one lifetime, two each in music and movies. The pity is that all most people remember are her movies from Teacher's Pet (1957) onward, as the quintessential all-American girl, the perpetually virginal screen heroine, cast opposite such icons of masculinity as Clark Gable and, rather ironically, Rock Hudson. She also transposed this following to television at the end of the 1960s with a situation comedy that lasted into the early 1970s. If most people remember her as a singer, it's usually for such pop hits as "Secret Love" and her Oscar-winning "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" which became her signature tune.

But before all of that, from 1939 until the end of the 1940s, Doris Day was one of the hottest, sultriest swing band vocalists in music. That body of work, which contains at least one unabashed classic early 1940s recording, "Sentimental Journey", is one of the most impressive in the fields of swing and popular jazz, and deserves to be heard far more than it is. Moreover, before those late 1950s comedies, Day had a film career that included adaptations of Broadway musicals (The Pajama Game), classic thrillers (The Man Who Knew Too Much), and searing social drama (Storm Warning).

She was born Doris Mary Anne Von Kappelhoff on April 3, 1924, in Evanston, OH, a suburb of Cincinnati. Her father was a music teacher, choir master, and church organist. Her mother loved popular music, especially (surprisingly) country music. Her parents divorced when she was 12, and Doris lived with her mother and older brother in College Hill, OH. From age six, she had taken dancing lessons, and that was the career she ultimately intended to pursue. In 1937, when she was 13, she and a young male partner won a 500 dollar prize in an amateur dance contest. The family decided to pursue stardom for their young child in Hollywood. Her hopes for a career in dance were shattered on the trip out West in an automobile accident that severely injured her right leg.

Her recuperation, over the Cincinnati tavern owned by an uncle, gave the young teenager access to a jukebox that played the hits of the day, and by the time she was 14, she had developed a taste for swing stars such as Benny Goodman and The Dorsey Brothers, among numerous other bands. She also started singing along with Ella Fitzgerald's records and tried to develop her own style. Music became a new aspiration, and the timely intervention of voice coach Grace Raine helped her develop the approach to song that was to characterize her career. Raine arranged for Doris to appear on the Cincinnati radio station WLW on an amateur showcase. The song that she sang was Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz's "Day After Day", from 1932, which earned her a featured spot on the station.

She was still known as Doris Kappelhoff when she got a job singing at a local club, but when a chance for radio broadcasts from the club was brought up, she ultimately took the name Doris Day, owing to the popularity of "Day After Day", and while the gig didn't last, the name did. In 1939, however, she was told of the opening for a vocalist in the band of Bob Crosby, Bing's brother and a star bandleader in his own right. Day auditioned and got the job at age 17. She stayed with Crosby's band for three months before she was approached by band leader Les Brown. This was 1940, and the musical world was dominated by the big bands, jazz-influenced swing outfits that gave singers like Sinatra (who was just getting rolling himself as a star vocalist) extraordinary opportunities to interpret the songs of the day. Tin Pan Alley still ruled the airwaves (though country and, to a lesser degree, blues were making inroads), and there was no shortage of great songs. In the middle of all that was this little 17-year-old girl, who could impart a feeling of world-weary sensuality or sensual innocence to a song, shading her voice in textures almost too delicate to analyze. And Doris Day became a budding star, in an era in which Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, not to mention Ella Fitzgerald, were just a few of the vocalists competing for public attention.

While singing with Bob Crosby's band, she first worked with many of the sidemen, they were Bob Haggart, William Stegmeyer, Billy Butterfield, and Zeke Zarchy, who would later work on her own recording sessions. It was with Les Brown's band, however, that the public first got to hear her voice and know her name, initially on the radio and then on Brown's recordings. From 1940 until 1946, with a two-year break for an unhappy marriage, Day was a star vocalist, most notably on hits like "Sentimental Journey" and "My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time", both of which were monster hits for the band. "Sentimental Journey" also became especially popular among American soldiers stationed overseas during World War II. By the end of the war and her time with Les Brown, when she was barely into her twenties, Day was considered one of the top band vocalists in the world. Apart from having a beautiful voice and command of its every shading, Day's success was based on her approach to songs and audiences. When she sang, she sounded as though she were singing not to a crowd or a mass 'audience', but to each individual listener. People resonated to her records and her performances personally, and coupled with the considerable merits of her voice and the quality of Brown's band, it made her a huge favorite with almost anyone who heard her.

Her tenure with the band was interrupted by another unsuccessful marriage, and when it ended, Day, with a young son named Terry from her first marriage to provide for, was ready to return to Cincinnati and forget about music. So the story goes, her agent persuaded her to attend a party in Hollywood where she impressed songwriters Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn with an impromptu performance of "Embraceable You". They were writing the score for a Warner Bros. movie called Romance On The High Seas, which had been planned for several leading ladies, all of whom fell out for one reason or another. Sammy Cahn got Day and her agent down to the studio, and she auditioned before director Michael Curtiz, who ordered a screen test for her. Day's screen test was run for the studio executives alongside two actresses whom they'd previously asked to audition, and she won the role.

The movie was a hit, and Day became a star, not in the perky, virginal persona that people remember today, but as a top-flight singer and actress. After that, Day's two careers went along in tandem, as she starred in movies and often turned their songs into hits. She also appeared in non-musical films, and revealed herself a superb dramatic actress in the groundbreaking topical dramatic thriller Storm Warning (1950), in which she played the victimized wife of a boorish, murderous Ku Klux Klan member (Steve Cochran), but she could also play perky tomboyish parts in movies like On Moonlight Bay (1951).

Day resumed her recording career in 1947, and even amid the growing number of ballads in her output, her early solo sides remained very jazzy, and are among her best sides. Her music softened somewhat as the 1940s wore on, although she did record some superb jazz-style sides for the 1950 movie Young Man With A Horn. But her most visible sides from the 1950s onward were pop songs. She had huge hits with "Secret Love", a song derived from the movie Calamity Jane (1953), and "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)", which she'd sung in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), in which she co-starred with James Stewart. During the 1950s, Doris Day was the most popular and one of the highest paid singers in America, and the sudden burst of popularity of her movies, beginning with Teacher's Pet (1958), only added to her overall impact on the country's popular culture, though the movies ultimately eclipsed the music career. In the midst of her pop music/movie career, Day recorded an entire album of jazz with André Previn as her accompanist, entitled Duet. Its impact was muted by the popularity of her movies, which by the early 1960s had turned her into a cultural icon, her wholesome innocence the perfect non-threatening match for Marilyn Monroe's innocent sexuality.

The growth of rock music as the dominant force in popular music in the mid-1960s left Day on the musical sidelines. Ironically, her son, Terry Melcher, became one of the most successful rock producers of the period, most notably in association with The Byrds' early work and Paul Revere & The Raiders. Day's personal and professional life took a bad turn in the wake of the death of her third husband, Marty Melcher, in 1968. Melcher had managed her business affairs for 17 years, and she learned after his death that he had lost or embezzled her entire career's earnings. Day was left broke, and the ensuing stresses led her to a nervous breakdown. Her recovery came in 1968, when she began work on her CBS network situation comedy. Melcher had committed her to doing the show immediately prior to his death, without her consent, but the program was a success and Day was restored to solvency during the series' five-year run. A year after the program ended, she was awarded a $22 million judgment against her former attorney for his role in Melcher's handling of her finances. Since the cancellation of the CBS series in 1973, she has been less visible, although she did a cable television series, Doris Day And Friends, in the mid-1980s.

-Bruce Eder, All Music Guide-

T. REX

2010-08-25T11:56:00.001-07:00

T. REX PLAYLIST :

20^th Century Boy, Baby Strange,

Bang A Gong (Get It On), Cadillac, Children Of The Revolution,

Hot Love, Raw Ramp, Summertime Blues,

Wreckin' Ball, New York City

******

Initially a British folk-rock combo called Tyrannosaurus Rex, T. Rex was the primary force in glam rock, thanks to the creative direction of guitarist/vocalist Marc Bolan (born Marc Feld). Bolan created a deliberately trashy form of rock & roll that was proud of its own disposability. T. Rex's music borrowed the underlying sexuality of early rock & roll, adding dirty, simple grooves and fat distorted guitars, as well as an overarching folky/hippie spirituality that always came through the clearest on ballads. While most of his peers concentrated on making cohesive albums, Bolan kept the idea of a three-minute pop single alive in the early 1970s. In Britain, he became a superstar, sparking a period of 'T. Rextacy' among the pop audience with a series of Top Ten hits, including four number one singles. Over in America, the group only had one major hit, the Top Ten "Bang A Gong (Get It On)", before disappearing from the charts in 1973. T. Rex's popularity in the U.K. didn't begin to waver until 1975, yet they retained a devoted following until Marc Bolan's death in 1977. Over the next two decades, Bolan emerged as a cult figure and the music of T. Rex has proven quite influential on hard rock, punk, new wave, and alternative rock.

Following a career as a teenage model, Marc Bolan began performing music professionally in 1965, releasing his first single, "The Wizard", on Decca Records. Bolan joined the psychedelic folk-rock combo John's Children in 1967, appearing on three unsuccessful singles before the group disbanded later that year. Following the breakup, he formed the folk duo Tyrannosaurus Rex with percussionist Steve Peregrine Took. The duo landed a record deal with a subsidiary of EMI in February 1968, recording their debut album with producer Tony Visconti. "Debora", the group's first single, peaked at number 34 in May of that year, and their debut album, My People Were Fair And Had Sky In Their Hair, But Now They're Content To Wear Stars On Their Brow, reached number 15 shortly afterward. The duo released their second album, Prophets, Seers & Sages, The Angels Of The Ages, in November of 1968.

By this time, Tyrannosaurus Rex was building a sizable underground following, which helped Bolan's book of poetry, The Warlock Of Love, enter the British best-seller charts. In the summer of 1969, the duo released their third album, Unicorn, as well as the single "King Of The Rumbling Spires", the first Tyrannosaurus Rex song to feature an electric guitar. Following an unsuccessful American tour that fall, Took left the band and was replaced by Mickey Finn. The new duo's first single did not chart, yet their first album, 1970's A Beard Of Stars, reached number 21.

The turning point in Bolan's career came in October of 1970, when he shortened the group's name to T. Rex and released "Ride A White Swan", a fuzz-drenched single driven by a rolling backbeat. "Ride A White Swan" became a major hit in the U.K., climbing all the way to number two. The band's next album, T. Rex, peaked at number 13 and stayed on the charts for six months. Encouraged by the results, Bolan expanded T. Rex to a full band, adding bassist Steve Currie and drummer Bill Legend (born Bill Fifield). The new line-up recorded "Hot Love", which spent six weeks at number one in early 1971. That summer, T. Rex released "Get It On" (retitled "Bang A Gong (Get It On)" in the U.S.), which became their second straight U.K. number one. The single would go on to be their biggest international hit, reaching number ten in the U.S. in 1972. Electric Warrior, the first album recorded by the full band, was released in the fall of 1971. It was number one for six weeks in Britain and cracked America's Top 40.

By now, 'T. Rextacy' was in full swing in England, as the band had captured the imaginations of both teenagers and the media with its sequined, heavily made-up appearance. The image of Marc Bolan in a top hat, feather boa, and platform shoes, performing "Get It On" on the BBC became as famous as his music. At the beginning of 1972, T. Rex signed with EMI, setting up a distribution deal for Bolan's own T.Rex Wax Co. record label. "Telegram Sam", the group's first EMI single, became their third number one single.

"Metal Guru" also hit number one, spending four weeks at the top of the chart. The Slider, released in the summer of 1972, shot to number one upon its release, allegedly selling 100,000 copies in four days. The album was also T. Rex's most successful American release, reaching number 17. Appearing in the spring of 1973, Tanx was another Top Five hit for T. Rex. The singles "20th Century Boy" and "The Groover" soon followed it to the upper ranks of the charts. However, those singles would prove to be the band's last two Top Ten hits. In the summer of 1973, rhythm guitarist Jack Green joined the band, as did three backup vocalists, including the American soul singer Gloria Jones. Jones would soon become Bolan's girlfriend. At the beginning of 1974, drummer Bill Legend left the group and was replaced by Davy Lutton, as Jones became the group's keyboardist.

In early 1974, the single "Teenage Dream" was the first record to be released under the name Marc Bolan and T. Rex. The following album, Zinc Alloy and The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow, was the last Bolan recorded with Tony Visconti. Throughout the year, T. Rex's popularity rapidly declined. By the time "Zip Gun Boogie" was released in November, it could only reach number 41. Finn and Green left the group at the end of the year, while keyboardist Dino Dins joined. The decline of T. Rex's popularity was confirmed when 1975's Bolan's Zip Gun failed to chart. Bolan took the rest of the year off, returning in the spring of 1976 with Futuristic Dragon, which peaked at number 50. Released in the summer of 1976, "I Love To Boogie", a disco-flavored three-chord thumper, became Bolan's last Top 20 hit.

Bolan released Dandy In The Underworld in the spring of 1977. It was a modest hit, peaking at number 26. While "The Soul Of My Suit" reached number 42 on the charts, T. Rex's next two singles failed to chart. Sensing it was time for a change of direction, Bolan began expanding his horizons in August. In addition to contributing a weekly column for Record Mirror, he hosted his own variety television show, Marc. Featuring guest appearances by artists like David Bowie and Generation X, Marc helped restore Bolan's hip image. Signing with RCA Records, the guitarist formed a new band with bassist Herbie Flowers and drummer Tony Newman, yet he never was able to record with the group. While driving home from a London club with Bolan, Gloria Jones lost control of her car, smashing into a tree. Marc Bolan, riding in the passenger's seat of the car, was killed instantly.

While T. Rex's music was intended to be disposable, it has proven surprisingly influential over the years. Hard rock and heavy metal bands borrowed the group's image, as well as the pounding insistence of their guitars. Punk bands may have discarded the high heels, feather boas, and top hats, yet they adhered to the simple three-chord structures and pop aesthetics that made the band popular.

-Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide-

ARETHA FRANKLIN

2010-08-25T09:33:00.001-07:00

ARETHA FRANKLIN PLAYLIST :

(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, Baby, I Love You,

Good To Me As I Am To You, Happy Days, Wonderful,

Freeway Of Love, I Wish It Would Rain, People Get Ready,

Do Right Woman, Do Right Man, Respect

******

Aretha Franklin is one of the giants of soul music, and indeed of American pop as a whole. More than any other performer, she epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged. Her astonishing run of late 1960s hits with Atlantic Records : "Respect", "I Never Loved A Man", "Chain Of Fools", "Baby, I Love You", "I Say A Little Prayer", "Think", "The House That Jack Built", and several others, earned her the title "Lady Soul", which she has worn uncontested ever since. Yet as much of an international institution as she's become, much of her work, outside of her recordings for Atlantic in the late 1960s and early 1970s, is erratic and only fitfully inspired, making discretion a necessity when collecting her records.

Franklin's roots in gospel ran extremely deep. With her sisters, Carolyn and Erma (both of whom would also have recording careers), she sang at the Detroit church of her father, Reverend C.L. Franklin, while growing up in the 1950s. In fact, she made her first recordings as a gospel artist at the age of 14. It has also been reported that Motown was interested in signing Aretha back in the days when it was a tiny start-up. Ultimately, however, Franklin ended up with Columbia, to which she was signed by the renowned talent scout John Hammond.

Franklin would record for Columbia constantly throughout the first half of the 1960s, notching occasional R&B hits (and one Top 40 single, "Rock-a-bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody") but never truly breaking out as a star. The Columbia period continues to generate considerable controversy among critics, many of whom feel that Aretha's true aspirations were being blunted by pop-oriented material and production. In fact, there's a reasonable amount of fine items to be found on the Columbia sides, including the occasional song ("Lee Cross", "Soulville") where she belts out soul with real gusto. It's undeniably true, though, that her work at Columbia was considerably tamer than what was to follow, and suffered in general from a lack of direction and an apparent emphasis on trying to develop her as an all-around entertainer, rather than as an R&B/soul singer.

When Franklin left Columbia for Atlantic, producer Jerry Wexler was determined to bring out her most soulful, fiery traits. As part of that plan, he had her record her first single, "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)", at Muscle Shoals in Alabama with esteemed Southern R&B musicians. In fact, that was to be her only session actually at Muscle Shoals, but much of the remainder of her 1960s work would be recorded with the Muscle Shoals Sound Rhythm Section, although the sessions would actually take place in New York City. The combination was one of those magic instances of musical alchemy in pop : the backup musicians provided a much grittier, soulful, and R&B-based accompaniment for Aretha's voice, which soared with a passion and intensity suggesting a spirit that had been allowed to fly loose for the first time.

In the late 1960s, Franklin became one of the biggest international recording stars in all of pop. Many also saw Franklin as a symbol of black America itself, reflecting the increased confidence and pride of African-Americans in the decade of the civil rights movements and other triumphs for the black community. The chart statistics are impressive in and of themselves : ten Top Ten hits in a roughly 18-month span between early 1967 and late 1968, for instance, and a steady stream of solid mid-to-large size hits for the next five years after that. Her Atlantic albums were also huge sellers, and far more consistent artistically than those of most soul stars of the era. Franklin was able to maintain creative momentum, in part, because of her eclectic choice of material, which encompassed first-class originals and gospel, blues, pop, and rock covers, from The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Sam Cooke and The Drifters. She was also a fine, forceful, and somewhat underrated keyboardist.

Franklin's commercial and artistic success was unabated in the early 1970s, during which she landed more huge hits with "Spanish Harlem", "Bridge Over Troubled Water", and "Day Dreaming". She also produced two of her most respected, and earthiest, album releases with Live At Fillmore West and Amazing Grace. The latter, a 1972 double LP, was a reinvestigation of her gospel roots, recorded with James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir. Remarkably, it made the Top Ten, counting as one of the greatest gospel-pop crossover smashes of all time.

Franklin had a few more hits over the next few years, "Angel" and the Stevie Wonder cover "Until You Come Back To Me" being the most notable, but generally her artistic inspiration seemed to be tapering off, and her focus drifting toward more pop-oriented material. Her Atlantic contract ended at the end of the 1970s, and since then, she's managed to get intermittent hits : "Who's Zooming Who" and "Jump To It" are among the most famous, without remaining anything like the superstar she was at her peak. Many of her successes were duets, or crafted with the assistance of newer, glossier-minded contemporaries such as Luther Vandross. There was also another return to gospel in 1987 with One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism.

Critically, as is the case with many 1960s rock legends, there have been mixed responses to her later work. Some view it as little more than a magnificent voice wasted on mediocre material and production. Others seem to grasp for any excuse they can to praise her whenever there seems to be some kind of resurgence of her soul leanings. Most would agree that her post-mid-1970s recordings are fairly inconsequential when judged against her prime Atlantic era. The blame is often laid at the hands of unsuitable material, but it should also be remembered that, like Elvis Presley and Ray Charles, Franklin never thought of herself as confined to one genre. She always loved to sing straight pop songs, even if her early Atlantic records gave one the impression that her true home was earthy soul music. If for some reason she returned to straight soul shouting in the future, it's doubtful that the phase would last for more than an album or two. In the meantime, despite her lukewarm recent sales record, she's an institution, assured of the ability to draw live audiences and immense respect for the rest of her lifetime, regardless of whether there are any more triumphs on record in store.

-Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide-

KENNY RANKIN

2010-08-24T13:32:00.001-07:00

KENNY RANKIN PLAYLIST :

Haven't We Met, Sunday Kind Of Love, Silver Morning,

Peaceful, What Matters Most, When Sunny Gets Blue,

Here's That Rainy Day, Hiding Inside Myself, Blackbird,
Pussy Willows Cat-Tails

******

A pop and standards singer during his long career, Kenny Rankin debuted in 1967 with his first album, Mind Dusters, which featured the soft rock hit "Peaceful". Over the course of the early 1970s, Rankin slowly built up a following with a steady stream of records and performances that balanced originals, new songs, and standards. As the decade drew to a close, he began to return to his singer/songwriter roots, particularly on After The Roses, his 1980 debut for Atlantic Records. He continued to perform during the 1980s, but he only recorded sporadically. In 1991, he recorded a pair of albums, Hiding Inside Myself and Because Of You, for two separate labels. Three years later, he signed with Private Music and released Professional Dreamer, an album that found him concentrating on standards. That record was followed in 1997 by Here In My Heart, which had a Brazilian flavor. Throughout the rest of the 1990s, Rankin focused on touring and, in 1999, he issued The Bottom Line Encore Collection, his first live recording in two decades. He passed away in 2009.

-Scott Yanow & Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide-