WNEW | Where Rock Lives

Founding Fathers: The C.O.D.’s

2012-01-03T20:45:14Z

Discovered singing in a Chicago park by a rep from Kellmac Records, the C.O.D.’s were a short-lived band of R&B Founding Fathers who exploded on the soul scene in 1965.

It was the song “Michael (The Lover)” that put the swinging Chicago vocal group the C.O.D.’s on the map. Along with songwriter Larry Brownlee and group members Robert Lewis and Carl Washington, singer Ruby Stackhouse added vocals to the tune, the biggest of their short career (and one that was also recorded by the Jackson 5, though not released at the time).

The group’s follow-up, “I’m a Good Guy,” didn’t manage to make an impression and, after a total of five singles, the C.O.D.’s dissolved.

Brownlee went on to be a songwriting member of the Brunswick group Lost Generation, penning “Sly, Slick and Wicked,” before that band also dissolved after just four years together. From ’73 to ’76, Brownlee was a member of Mystique, with former Impression Ralph Johnson, before passing away in 1978.

It’s our Gallery of Greats! Check out more Founding Fathers here…

What Goes On: Jon Lord Updates Fans

2012-01-04T01:48:12Z

One time Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord, who announced last year he will take a break from performing while being treated for cancer, has offered an update for his fans.

“Happy New Year to all of you and thank you so much for your wonderful, kind and inspirational messages over these last few difficult months,” Lord said on his website.

“I have been mightily sustained by reading them and will continue to be so. You are a very special lot indeed. I am doing well and I will be back with more news and updates in the next week or so. In the meantime, party hearty but look after yourselves.”

Lord closed by saying: “I wish you success and happiness, and above all I wish you health. God bless.”

Founding Fathers: Bill Coday

2012-01-03T18:13:12Z

A fine albeit largely unknown soul singer, Bill Coday was a Founding Father of R&B who worked with the famed Willie Mitchell during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Born in Coldwater, Mississippi and raised in Blytheville, Arkansas, Bill Coday started his career in Arkansas jukejoints before moving to Chicago in 1963.

Discovered by singer Denise LaSalle while working in the Black Orchid nightclub, he was introduced to Hi Records producer Willie Mitchell, the man who produced most of his early (and best songs).

The first songs to come from that collaboration were 1970′s “Sixty Minute Teaser,” an organ heavy mid-tempo blues number and the ballad “You’re Gonna Want Me,” both of which appeared on LaSalle’s Crajon label.

It was Coday’s “Get Your Lies Straight” that won his national attention (having been picked up by Galaxy). Two more singles came from Coday while on Galaxy including the strong cut “When You Find a Fool, Bump His Head” before he returned to Crajon with the slinky funk of “I’m Back to Collect.”

Coday finished his career with three fine sets for the Ecko label before he passed away in 2008.

It’s our Gallery of Greats! Check out more Founding Fathers here…

Video Classics: ‘Live and Let Die’ – Paul McCartney and Wings

2012-01-03T18:22:37Z

“Live and Let Die” by Paul McCartney and Wings was the theme song for the first Roger Moore James Bond film of the same name in 1973.

As Wikipedia explains…

After George Martin was hired to score the new James Bond film, the producers of the film asked Paul McCartney if he would be willing to compose the theme song. However, the producers were interested in having another artist perform it. McCartney said that he would be interested, but only if Wings were able to perform the song in the opening credits themselves, and the producers agreed …

Wings recorded “Live and Let Die” during the sessions for the Red Rose Speedway album. The single reached #2 in the U.S. and #7 in the U.K. However, the song made its first album appearance on the soundtrack album, which otherwise featured George Martin instrumentals.

“Live and Let Die” was the first James Bond theme song to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song (which gave Paul his second Academy Award nomination and Linda her first), but it lost to the theme song from The Way We Were.

Make sure to watch the very cool video from the James Paul McCartney show in 1973 after the jump…

http://www.youtube.com/v/nR46gQLyxuE&hl=en

The Archivist (along with plenty of you grammarians out there) cringed at the lyric ‘But in this every-changing world in which we live in’, but it’s still an OK song. Straight from an artist from which lots of OK songs come from, one might say, if one were to be as liberal with prepositions as Sir Paul.

Add your thoughts to the comments below or take a look at Video Classics past…

Going For The Gold: Hot Chocolate

2012-01-03T18:11:21Z

A band that’s been popular in their British homeland since the late 1960s, Hot Chocolate have released nearly 50 singles during the course of their career. Six of them went silver in the UK (for sales of over 200,000 copies) and a pair have scored gold for 1 million sales in the US.

The very first record to go gold for Hot Chocolate in the US was the second of their 45s to go silver in the UK (following the 1974 UK hit, “Emma”). It was their signature song, “You Sexy Thing,” that sold a million on American shores while placing at #3 on the pop chart.,

Strangely, Hot Chocolate’s second gold record in the US didn’t sell enough in their homeland to score a silver disc: “Every 1′s a Winner” stalled at #12 in the UK. But, in the US, it was a #6 hit and their second million-seller.

Lyrics

I believe in miracles
Where're you from, you sexy thing, you sexy thang you
I believe in miracles since you came along, you sexy thing
Where did you come from, baby
How did you know, I needed you

Get the rest on MetroLyrics »

Lyrics

Never could believe the things you do to me,
Never could believe the way you are.
Every day I bless the day that you got through to me,
'Cause baby, I believe that you're a star.
Everyone's a winner, baby, that's the truth (yes, the truth)

Get the rest on MetroLyrics »

Read about some more Going for the Gold golden oldies (and not-so-oldies).

Best Sellers From The ’90s: Melissa Etheridge And “Yes I Am”

2012-01-03T18:03:47Z

With a pair of Top-30 singles and a #15 showing on the album chart, Melissa Etheridge‘s 1993 release, Yes I Am, was her most successful to date.

Produced by Sting and Phil Collins producer Hugh Padgham and featuring a band that included Waddy Wachtel and ex-Small Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan, Melissa Etheridge’s Yes I Am was an album that was determined to rock from the very first note. Widely considered her coming out statement following her public acknowledgement that she is a lesbian, Yes I Am is a 10-cut, 44-minute set that includes the #25 hit, “Come to My Window,” and the #8 song, “I’m the Only One.”

Along with winning a Grammy for the former tune, Yes I Am won the favor of record buyers, having sold 6 million copies since its release in September 1993.

Can you believe the ’90s were now technically 2 decades ago? Check out their Best Sellers here…

Awesome Album Covers: Hole And “Live Through This”

2012-01-03T18:01:10Z

A mascara streaked “beauty queen” on the front, an innocent picture of 12-year old Courtney Love on the back. As ever, the dichotomy of Courtney is the message of Hole‘s Live Through This.

Live through what, one has to ask? Being a teenager? Being a beauty queen, a distinction that’s as fleeting as beauty and youth itself? The back photo is full of promise, the cover photo (taken by fashion photographer Ellen Von Unwerth) is full of tragedy.

Beauty and sadness, promise and pain: the story of Courtney Love fairly well summed-up on the cover of Live Through This, the record that made them a mainstream success.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP_1uGTV77c

Lyrics

And the sky was made of amethyst
And all the stars are just like little fish
You should learn when to go
You should learn how to say no
Might last a day, yeah

Get the rest on MetroLyrics »

Every picture tells a story … find more Awesome Album Cover stories here …

Number 1 With A Bullet: Mac Davis And “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me”

2012-01-03T17:59:26Z

We feel bad about how we trashed Mac Davis a few months back (Top 10 Songs That Weren’t Mac Davis, 9/22/11). After all, he didn’t intend to hurt anyone. So let’s give some props to that famous #1 of his from September ’72: the hook-laden “Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me.”

Mac had already penned hits for Bobby Goldsboro (“Honey”) and Elvis Presley (“Suspicious Minds”) when he came up with his own #1, “Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me.”

“My producer, Rick Hall, asked me to write a ‘hook’ song,” he is quoted as saying in a Billboard interview from 1973. A “hook” song is “one with a repeat phrase which is singles oriented,” he explained, “so I came up with this phrase and melody line, ‘baby don’t get hooked on me.’”

“Hall tells me, ‘Now that sounds like a number 1 record. Let’s cut it.’ Hell, I hadn’t even written it yet. I wrote the song that night and we cut it the next day.” So it was that Mac Davis found his first #1 hit, a three week resident at the top of the chart in September ’72.

In his defense, Davis says: “I thought it was super-egotistical and pretentious , but Columbia released it anyway.”

Word.

Check out more songs that were “#1 with a Bullet.

What Goes On: New Van Halen Video

2012-01-03T22:13:17Z

Enthusiasm from Van Halen fans is reaching fever pitch as a new promo video for their 2012 tour is making the rounds ’round the internet.

Originally released on Van-Halen.com (with a text crawl along the bottom to promote the tour), a clean (that is, text-free) version has hit the internet via Van Halen News Desk.

Tour dates should be released any minute with tickets scheduled to go on sale January 10. Their new album is scheduled to drop February 7.

Forgotten Favorites: The Beatles (Not Justin Bieber) And “Let It Be”

2012-01-03T17:57:04Z

This isn’t so much a Forgotten Favorite as a Necessary Antidote.

I was neither a Justin Bieber lover nor a Justin Bieber hater. I was “am-Bieber-lent” about Bieber until New Year’s Eve, when he decided to mess with my classics.

We all know Carlos Santana takes his musical direction from Miles Davis during his nightly Ouija board channelings (and Miles says: “they pay, you play”). But did anyone listen to the early rehearsals of Bieber’s version of “Let It Be” and ask themself: “Hmm, is this is good idea?” Did anyone even suggest he might sound like a badly-prepared high school student?

Still with the boy-pop Justin, especially if you’re going to perform in that hat.

It’s our Gallery of Greats! Check out more Founding Fathers here…