Joe Jackson, Caravan . . . JJ’s take on the Duke Ellington tune, taken from Jackson’s 2012 tribute album Duke, wherein he covered and in some cases reinterpreted the master’s music. It’s a lot of the reason I like Jackson so much, one of those artists I’ve followed since his new wave beginnings into his various musical explorations including classical. So far, he’s never let me down and along the way introduced me to some great music, his own and that of others.
Roxy Music, The Main Thing . . . I played Roxy Music last week (Same Old Scene from 1980’s Flesh and Blood), which prompted a request to play something from the subsequent (and, so far, final) studio work, the brilliant Avalon. So, voila. Great stuff, Roxy, all phases, along with, of course, Bryan Ferry’s ongoing solo work.
Atomic Rooster, Breakthrough . . . Psychedelic rocker, good music, arguably troubling lyrics from a guy, Vincent Crane, who battled lifelong mental health issues and sadly wound up taking his own life via a deliberate overdose of painkillers. Prior to Atomic Rooster, Crane was in The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and co-wrote the hit Fire.
Pink Floyd, The Nile Song . . . Hard rock, arguably uncharacteristic and definitely one of the heavier songs by Pink Floyd, from their 1969 soundtrack album for the movie More.
Aerosmith, Seasons Of Wither . . . I see that now, on Wikipedia, is defined as a power ballad, a term I don’t recall existing in 1974 when it was released on the Get Your Wings album. Of course, ‘classic’ rock wasn’t a term then, either. Aerosmith later had huge commercial success with various ‘power ballads’ but none of them, in my view, could match this beauty.
The Tragically Hip, An Inch An Hour . . . Straight ahead rocker, good lyrics, from 1994’s Day For Night album, named after the 1973 film directed by Francois Truffaut and starring Jacqueline Bisset and many largely unknown (to North Americans) European actors. Recommended, both the album and movie – which is a movie about the making of a movie, and, I thought, quite good. And I’m not even a huge movie buff. But I had heard a lot about the film, it came on TV one time, I watched it, and was rewarded.
Neil Young, Eldorado . . . From Young’s 1989 Freedom album, something of a commercial comeback after his experimental Geffen Records phase, which got him sued (he won) by the company for not doing “Neil Young-type music’ which is interesting in that an artist’s output and creativity should be, and is, whatever they deem that to be at a given time. But I can see Geffen’s view, too; they were expecting stuff like Harvest or After The Gold Rush and got rockabilly on Everybody’s Rockin’ and Kraftwerk-like techno on Trans. Anyway, this is a nice Latin-tinged tune that first appeared on a Japan and Australia-only EP before being remixed for Freedom.
Rory Gallagher, They Don’t Make Them Like You Anymore . . . Appropriate title for the late great guitarist/songwriter. Great jazz/boogie/rock fusion.
The Rolling Stones, Casino Boogie . . . Nice groove tune from Exile On Main St. I love the way Charlie Watts ‘enters’ the tune, as my musician eldest son would say.
Izzy Stradlin, Shuffle It All . . . The former Guns N’ Roses guitarist’s first album, 1992’s Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds, could be a Keith Richards or Ron Wood solo work, so Stones-ish is it. Wood plays on one track, his own Take A Look At The Guy, which appeared on Wood’s first solo album I’ve Got My Own Album To Do, in 1974. Other Stones’ henchmen contributing to the album are former Face Ian McLagan and Nicky Hopkins, both on keyboards/piano.
Patti Smith, Changing Of The Guards . . . Nice cover of the Bob Dylan track which appeared on his 1978 release, Street Legal. The Smith version is on her fine covers album, Twelve, which came out in 2007.
Peter Tosh, Hammer (extended version) . . . Speaking of changing of the guards and shuffling it all, here we come with a style shift in the set. On to some reggae and other departures, the first one via this track that appears on the 2002 expanded re-release of Tosh’s 1977 Equal Rights album.
Santana, Batuka . . . I like most of Santana’s stuff but tend to always gravitate to his first three albums which feature terrific stuff like this instrumental, from the self-titled third album.
The Clash, The Equaliser . . . An intoxicating soundscape of a song from the sprawling and wildly diverse Sandinista!, 1980. Three vinyl records long on the original release, it’s a terrific if sometimes self-indulgent amalgam of so many genres – funk, reggae, jazz, gospel, dub, rap, disco, R & B, you name it. Oftentimes with sprawling release like this, critics suggest it could have been edited down to a single album. A view that has merit, but then you might not get intriguing, hypnotic tracks like this.
Flash And The Pan, Walking In The Rain/Lights In The Night . . . Two songs, two different albums (their first two) but whenever I play Walking In The Rain, I always pair it with the title cut from the next album, since to me they are of a piece, at least in style. Walking In The Rain is the first Flash And The Pan song I ever heard, and I was sold. I thought of playing it due to all the rain we’ve been having where I live, although looks like we’re back to sun for a few days to start the week.
Graham Parker & The Rumour, Local Girls . . . This was the third single from the terrific Squeezing Out Sparks album, which Parker revisited in a decent 40th anniversary all-acoustic version in 2019. I still prefer the original, from a time I was major into Parker. Released as the third single from the album, in North America only, in 1979, difficult to believe it did not chart. But I remember hearing it a lot on radio then.
Ramones, Mama’s Boy . . . I find I don’t know what to think about the Ramones. Sometimes, often, all their songs sound the same to me; other times, I dig ’em. No doubt they were influential, but generally speaking, just a matter of taste, I tend not to listen to a full album of theirs (even though they’re usually pretty short) in one go, due to that sameness thing. But, anyway, here you go, from the Too Tough To Die album in 1984, an album that at the time was considered a return to form as reflected in the band’s first four albums.
Midnight Oil, Run By Night . . . Quite Ramones-like, this one, which means it’s also Stooges-like, as was the previous track by Ramones. This was the first single from the first Oils album, Midnight Oil, in 1978.
Van Halen, Mean Street . . . Might be my favorite Van Halen tune, certainly one of them, from the David Lee Roth era and I like his vocals on it. It came out on 1981’s Fair Warning (cited lyrically in this song) album.
Curtis Mayfield, Pusherman . . . Great funky soul, from Superfly.
Funkadelic, Super Stupid . . . The late great Eddie Hazel on lead guitar, ably assisted by Lucious ‘Tawl’ Ross on rhythm. From the great Maggot Brain album, the 10-minute Hazel tour de force title cut of which I’ve played before on the show and was tempted to again, but decided on a different selection. This time. But no matter, because the whole album is great, as is much of Funkadelic’s stuff.
Gary Moore, Cold Black Night . . . I’ve been in a Gary Moore phase of late,which tells me I should be in a Gary Moore phase more often. Great stuff from a late great artist who was comfortable in myriad styles/genres including metal, rock, blues and some experimental stuff. And he played in Thin Lizzy for a time, too.
Eric Burdon & War, Sun/Moon . . . Back to Burdon I go, for the first time in a while. Too much great music, too little time in two hours once a week. Smooth, jazzy, funky stuff, this one an extended late night type smoky bar room piece from The Black-Man’s Burdon, the second of the two great albums Burdon did with War in 1970.
Bob Jonkman, Jeff Stager, and Brian Doucet Good news! With the new ventilation system installed, the CKMS-FM studio is re-opening! Starting on Monday, 18 October 2021 you’ll be able to hear your favourite DJs and show hosts directly from our studios again.
There are still a few restrictions in effect — there will be no in-studio guests, but phone and web conference interviews can be held with studio equipment.
DJs and show hosts can check details for studio re-opening to see what they need to do before returning (login required for that link).
Tom Petty, The Last DJ . . . Caustic lyrics about the music industry and commercial radio, pretty much encapsulates why I started and continue to do this show. A minor hit single and title cut from Petty’s 2002 album, the song was banned by many stations – proving Petty’s point.
Roxy Music, Same Old Scene . . . Didn’t do huge business as a hit single, at least in North America, but a great tune from the Flesh and Blood album, 1980 which was panned upon release as I recall . But, as is typical, “retrospective’ reviews have been kinder. All of which proves that early reviews, and in fairness to rock critics, are based on a few listens where many if not most albums take repeated listens to resonate.
The Byrds, Goin’ Back . . . Covered by many artists, by the songwriting team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King. David Crosby didn’t want The Byrds to do it, thought it was fluff, which caused a divide in the band and eventually Crosby left/was fired. Which was probably justified, if he didn’t like this tune. Maybe it’s lightweight. But it’s good.
Talking Heads, Electric Guitar . . . One of those hypnotic Heads’ tunes they started doing once they hooked up with the experimentally-oriented Brian Eno. This one’s from Fear Of Music, which is full of one-word song titles, for whatever that’s worth. Good album, regardless.
Paul Rodgers, Talking Guitar Blues . . . From Rodgers’ first solo, truly solo (he played everything) album, Cut Loose, 1983, after the original lineup of Bad Company broke up. Sounded pretty much like a Bad Co. album, which means it’s good.
Grand Funk Railroad, Paranoid (live) . . . Not the Black Sabbath track. This is Grand Funk’s own song, a guitar workout both in studio and on this live version.
Led Zeppelin, Celebration Day . . . Fantastic intro, fantastic up-tempo tune.
Gordon Lightfoot, Talking In Your Sleep . . . Ah, the secrets we might unintentionally share.
Blackie & The Rodeo Kings, Summer Side Of Life . . . Great cover of the Lightfoot tune by the Canadian collective of Stephen Fearing, Colin Linden and one of my favorite alltime artists, Tom Wilson of Junkhouse and various other projects’ fame.
Sniff ‘N’ The Tears, Rodeo Drive . . . Known best for their big 1979 hit single, Driver’s Seat, this one came a year later, totally different, extended, hypnotic, great stuff. It bombed, alas.
Oasis, I Am The Walrus (live) . . . Oasis worships and acknowledges the huge influence of The Beatles (and the Stones and Who and so on) on their music,so why the heck not do this one? Nice version. As are their stabs at the Stones’ Street Fighting Man and The Who’s My Generation. Worth checking out.
Peter Frampton, Penny For Your Thoughts/(I’ll Give You) Money (live) . . . Nice little guitar ditty from Frampton Comes Alive I segued into the great rocker, Money, from the same monster-selling album.
The Kinks, A Gallon Of Gas . . . 42 years after this song’s release on the Low Budget album, it appears little has changed as gas prices soar.
Elton John, It Ain’t Gonna Be Easy . . . Great extended blues cut from the A Single Man album, 1978. The huge hit 70s glory days had faded, the band was different, Bernie Taupin wasn’t around much, but it’s a terrific album for my money.
Bob Dylan, All Along The Watchtower . . . Call me crazy and I’ve always loved the Jimi Hendrix version, so did Dylan, who attempted to then play it in Hendrix style live, but I’ve always liked Dylan’s original better. The key with Dylan is not only the tunes, which are usually great, but the lyrics, how they fit the tune, and how he enunciates them. No different with Watchtower. First non-compilation Dylan album I remember – my older brother and huge musical influence brought it home. So began my Dylan experience. Tentative at first, then fully immersed.
Jimmy Buffett, He Went To Paris . . . Speaking of Dylan, he apparently liked this story tune. It’s a good one. I confess to knowing little of Buffett aside from obvious hits like Cheeseburger In Paradise. But a fellow music aficionado I’ve ‘met’ on Twitter is a huge fan and posts regularly about him, so I figured I’d dip into the catalog for a tune.
George Harrison, Tired Of Midnight Blue . . . Same Twitter friend was doing a ‘list several tracks from X artist” thing the other day. Harrison was his artist for the day. Being a deep cuts guy, this was one of my offerings. It’s a from 1975’s Extra Texture album.
Freddy Cannon, Tallahassee Lassie . . . Pulled this from a compilation I have that features songs that influenced The Rolling Stones and/or tunes they covered. They did cover this one and released it on the expanded Some Girls album re-release a few years ago but while I like the Stones a lot, Cannon’s version is best.
The Rolling Stones, She Smiled Sweetly . . . I’ve been into the Brian Jones early era of my favorite band of late. So inventive, so different, much pop (which is interesting in that Jones was the sworn blues guy in the band) yet such quality in terms of experimentation and instrumentation, directions the band never reallytook again once Jones was gone. But it’s all down on the albums,forever, thankfully, preserved.
Warhorse, Ritual . . . Original Deep Purple bassist Nick Simper formed Warhorse, a hard rock/progressive band, after he and original singer Rod Evans were sacked in favor of Roger Glover and Ian Gillan. The band released two albums, lasted from 1970-74 and has reunited for live work sporadically since.
Hawkwind, Steppenwolf . . . Epic cut from the space rockers. One of the band members had been reading Herman Hesse’s book, hence the song title.
Steppenwolf, Jupiter’s Child . . . So Steppenwolf the song segues, naturally, into Steppenwolf, the band. And, seeing as I just watched (again) the Jupiter-centric 2001: A Space Odyssey and its sequel 2010 (underappreciated I think) as they both came on TV last week, I figured this would be a logical tune to play. Great song, regardless, by a great band, Steppenwolf, that is so much more than all you ever seem to hear on radio – Magic Carpet Ride and Born To Be Wild.
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Born To Run . . . From 1993’s The Last Rebel album, the second, at the time, from the reconstituted post-crash band. People seem of two views, understandably, about the latter-day Skynyrd. People consider them either a glorified covers band – despite, to me, much quality in the post-crash studio work – or a band continuing to honor the legacy of those who came before. I tend to the latter view, that they continue to honor the legacy. One thing can’t be argued – they still kick butt live. Saw them in 2004. Great show.
Zephyr, Sail On . . . So I was in my favorite local music store, Encore Records, last week and a great tune was on. Turned out to be this one, from one of Tommy Bolin’s early bands. And I thought, I have this tune, and indeed I do on a great (and I believe out of print) 2-CD Bolin compilation (The Ultimate) which features his early work, including Zephyr, plus his solo/session work, and that with Deep Purple and The James Gang. Zephyr had a great singer, the late Candy Givens who to me rivals Janis Joplin and Grace Slick, among others. Great stuff.
Welcome to the Gems Of Life Show, join us for an inspirational conversation as Steve Ashton shares his GEMS of life today at 7pm, please visit our YouTube channel for the complete interview.
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Check out the new Mano A Mano experimental podcast series directed and DJ’d by bands, hosted by DJ Steel. In this Episode we check out the Mouthfeel Play it Forward Playlist. Who did they choose?…..
April Wine, Electric Jewels . . . Terrific title cut from the band’s 1973 album. This is why you buy albums, not just compilations. Unless they’re comprehensive comps like the 4-CD April Wine box set I own and from which I pulled the song.
Ten Years After, Love Like A Man . . . Speaking of compilations, although I own every TYA album, last week, after my show I pulled out an excellent 2-CD collection of theirs, got discussing great British blues rock with a buddy and decided this week would be a TYA week on the show. This is the nearly 8-minute Cricklewood Green 1970 album version. As a single, at less than half the length, went top 10 in the UK, No. 56 in Canada and No. 98 in the U.S.
Rod Stewart, You’re My Girl (I Don’t Want To Discuss It) . . . Rod Stewart, 1969-74 period – with members of Faces usually backing him as he pursued concurrent careers that eventually led to the breakup of that band – was amazing. Scintillating stuff from Stewart during that period, great combination of self-penned and well-chosen and interpreted cover material in a run of albums of rock and roll, roots rock, folk rock and blue-eyed soul.
The Who, In A Hand Or A Face . . . Love the opening riff to this one, from The Who By Numbers, an arguably somewhat overlooked album but one I grew up with, first Who record I bought with my own money and just a terrific platter, regardless.
Paul McCartney/Wings, I’ve Just Seen A Face (live) . . . An almost rockabilly version of one of my favorite mid-period Beatles tunes, from the Rubber Soul album. This version is from McCartney’s massive 1975-76 world tour that yielded the then triple-vinyl Wings Over America live album. I remember playing the heck out of it, great live album, great album, period.
The Rolling Stones, Almost Hear You Sigh . . . Great ballad and one of my favorite tunes from the Stones’ 1989 Steel Wheels album. Co-written by Steve Jordan, now the Stones’ touring drummer in the wake of the death of Charlie Watts. It was originally targeted for Keith Richards’ 1988 solo album Talk Is Cheap, Jordan being part of Richards’ X-Pensive Winos band. But it was reworked and appeared on the Stones’ album and was a single, third from the album although (surprisingly to me) didn’t make a big impact on the charts. I’m a huge Stones fan and often think they choose the wrong singles from their albums. The lead single from Steel Wheels was Mixed Emotions, decent enough tune but I think Almost Hear You Sigh, had it been out first, might have achieved near-Angie level success. The Stones have played it live only rarely, but I’ve been wondering whether they now will on their current tour, with Jordan behind the drum kit and doing a fine job judging by the tour clips I’ve seen. They haven’t played it yet, two shows into the current tour, but we’ll see.
It’s A Beautiful Day, Girl With No Eyes . . . I first heard of this band when I was 19 or so, taking a year off after high school to work for a year and build up some money to put myself through college. A guy at the place I worked, the engineering company at which my dad worked, mentioned them to me and at first, I didn’t pursue them but never forgot the reference and eventually wound up hearing the immortal White Bird, which I’ve played on the show before. That led me to deeper investigation of this San Francisco band and their synthesis of folk, jazz and psychedelia. Terrific band and, with replacement members, still around.
Iron Butterfly, I Can’t Help But Deceive You Little Girl . . . So much more, these guys, than In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.
Little Feat, Truck Stop Girl . . . Love Little Feat, play them a fair bit on the show. Was reminded to play them this week after a Twitter music friend was canvassing for people’s favorite Feat songs and this one came up.
Elton John, Razor Face . . . I played the title cut from the Madman Across The Water album to great feedback some time back. Then recently, an old friend posted a video to Facebook of someone covering that song which prompted me to think of the terrific album, yet another wall-to-wall great 70s one from Elton John, this being one of those great tracks.
Booker T. and The MGs, Heads Or Tails . . . Everyone knows the fabulous Green Onions but another band that is so much more than one song. Great stuff.
Marianne Faithfull, Running For Our Lives . . . Loads of people, me included, were sort of reintroduced to Faithfull via her terrific Broken English album in 1979 that led to a series of great outings including the subsequent releases Dangerous Acquaintances and A Child’s Adventure, which is referenced in the lyrics to this great track from that album.
Concrete Blonde, City Screaming . . . I’ve had this on the burner, so to speak, for a few weeks but due to show flow or fit or whatever, haven’t managed to get it in. So here it is. Great, perhaps underappreciated band, hest known for their biggest hit, Joey, during the 1990s. Amazing singer in Johnette Napolitano. Ridiculously powerful vocals, probably deserves to be on the level of Janis Joplin in terms of reputation and legacy, but such recognition tends to be of a time and place and Napolitano’s time came arguably after the foundational bedrock of which Joplin was part.
Pretenders, Room Full Of Mirrors . . . Killer cover of the Hendrix tune, from the Get Close album.
Midnight Oil, King Of The Mountain . . . One of those songs, and a great one by the Oils, I came across in the radio station computer system via key words while searching for Mountain songs – one of which I did settle on, Blood Of The Sun, coming later in the set.
Lynyrd Skynyrd, (I Got The) Same Old Blues . . . Another band I love, keep meaning to play, but haven’t managed to work in in recent weeks. Another cover by Skynyrd (they also did Call Me The Breeze) of a great J.J. Cale tune. Cale is/was one of those artists, akin perhaps to Tom Waits, who has wonderful work in his own right but whose songs are arguably more recognized via cover versions done by higher-profile artists. Like Eric Clapton (After Midnight and Cocaine), for instance.
Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mary Had A Little Lamb (live) . . . Now here’s an artist I haven’t played in ages. Oversight corrected.
Roy Buchanan, After Hours . . . This guy’s guitar playing, bluesy and otherwise, was ridiculously great. Another troubled soul lost early, age 48, apparently by suicide though friends and family disputed that finding.
Black Sabbath, After Forever . . . The supposed Satanists embrace god, the Pope and Christianity. But, who knows. Great tune, regardless.
Nazareth, Beggars Day/Rose In The Heather . . . This is from the Hair Of The Dog album, 1975. Love Hurts and the title cut were the hits/best-known tracks. But as someone on YouTube commented, “every song on this record is the best song on this record.” I agree. Fits my belief that the best band, album or song is the one you are listening to now, if you like it.
Mountain, Blood Of The Sun . . . From Mountain before they were Mountain, so to speak. The song originally appeared on Leslie West’s debut album, titled Mountain, which then became the name of the band.
Queen, Bring Back That Leroy Brown . . . Always loved this fun little ditty from the Sheer Heart Attack album, 1974.
Jethro Tull, When Jesus Came To Play . . . From 1991’s excellent, in my opinion, Catfish Rising album, a bluesy record that, on this tune, harkens lyrically back to Aqualung via Ian Anderson’s caustic observations on God, Jesus, religion, faith.
Junkhouse, Jesus Sings The Blues . . . Great bluesy cut from the debut Junkhouse album, Strays, in 1993. It led to my forever following of everything Junkhouse leader Tom Wilson has done – Junkhouse, solo, Blackie and The Rodeo Kings, Lee Harvey Osmond . . .
Savoy Brown, Money Can’t Save Your Soul . . . Another selection that arose, like my playing Ten Years After early in the set, from that discussion I had with a friend about somewhat under the radar British blues rock. Terrific band that at one point early on split in two, the result giving us Foghat.
Jackson Browne, The Next Voice You Hear . . . Great hypnotic track, a new tune at the time, which served as the title cut to a greatest hits compilation released by Browne in 1997. Was used in the TV series Mr. Mercedes, based on the Stephen King series of books, but I only found that out when I searched the song on YouTube since I’m not much of a TV series watcher, though I’m a fan of King’s books. Haven’t got round to reading the Mercedes series yet, though. Too many interests, too little time/inability to make choices sometimes.
Tune in Monday, 4 October 2021 at 11 AM on CKMS 102.7 FM Radio Waterloo for Community Connections; an hour of Oktoberfest music and talk with Dennis Scherer from Retake. Steven Todd hosts!
The Feminist Shift is an advocacy capacity building collaborative between YW Kitchener-Waterloo and YWCA Cambridge that started in 2019. Together, with partnerships in the community, The Feminist Shift is taking on gender-based violence in Waterloo Region and working to improve the lives women and gender-diverse people. Their mission is to build a region that acknowledges and rejects gender-based violence. They will do this through engaging in thoughtful conversations, challenging engrained local issues with other feminist organizations, hosting knowledge sharing and training opportunities and through pointed and strategic advocacy projects.
This project is funded through Women and Gender Equality Canada’s capacity building grant, which allows The Feminist Shift to increase our community’s understanding of gender-based issues and build policy and preventative solutions to tackle these issues. The understanding of feminism is from an inclusive, strengths-based, intersectional lens and they focus on smart advocacy that promotes systemic progress and change.
The Feminist Shift airs on CKMS-FM alternate Wednesdays from Noon to 1:00pm starting on 6 October 2021 and runs to 12 January 2022.
Pink Floyd, Welcome To The Machine . . . The B-side, in North America, to the Have A Cigar single from Wish You Were Here but like all great albums, anyone who knows anything about the band in question knows all the songs so well they all may as well be hit singles.
The Who, Amazing Journey/Sparks (from Live at Leeds expanded version) . . . fierce live version of the back-to-back tracks from the Tommy album.
The Beatles, I Want You (She’s So Heavy) . . . One of my favorite Beatles’ tracks, heavy, bluesy, great. With the abrupt ‘cut it right there’ ending John Lennon decided upon rather than having the song fade out.
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, Heavy Music/Katmandu (from Live Bullet) . . . What a great album Live Bullet is, and it proved to be Seger’s breakthrough to a wider audience outside Detroit and Michigan. Deservedly so. Heavy music segues into Katmandu on the album, so I kept them together for the show for 14 minutes of sterling Seger.
Budgie, Breadfan . . . hellacious riff on this one from the influential yet never super successful commercially Welsh hard rockers. Metallica covered it on their Garage, Inc. album.
Jethro Tull, For A Thousand Mothers . . . So many great albums and songs by Tull, one of my favorite bands so I can’t say Stand Up is my favorite album of theirs, but definitely one of them. All killer, no filler, as the saying goes. This one’s special for me, too, since the band opened with it when I took my older son, then 12, to his first Tull show, at Hamilton Place in 2000. It was the first of four Tull concerts we saw together.
The Rolling Stones, 100 Years Ago . . . Great stuff from Goats Head Soup and the first song I ever played on this show, many moons ago now. I figured the title fit the name I coined for my show, So Old It’s New.
Blue Oyster Cult, Harvester Of Eyes . . . Typically dark, spooky stuff from the early and arguably best days of Blue Oyster Cult, this one from Secret Treaties,their third album, in 1974.
Headstones, Cemetery . . . Kick butt rocker from one of my favorite Canadian bands, and bands in general.
Led Zeppelin, Trampled Underfoot . . . dune da dune da dune, dune da dune, dune da dune da dune, dune da dune…etc. Hypnotizing stuff from Physical Graffiti.
Deep Purple, Sail Away . . . I’ve always thought this sounded at least somewhat like a slower version of Zep’s Trampled Underfoot, hence why I put them back-to-back. It’s from Purple’s Burn, the first album from the Mk. III lineup featuring David Coverdale (vocals) and Glenn Hughes (bass, vocals) which was recorded starting in late 1973 and released in February ’74. Physical Graffiti came out in 1975 so I’m not saying Zeppelin ‘pinched it’, as the Brits say, because Graffiti was recorded at various points between 1970 and 1974, although Trampled Underfoot itself was recorded in January-February 1974. I just find it interesting, being a Purple/Coverdale fan, how Robert Plant, when Coverdale’s Whitesnake was huge commercially in the late 1980s, called him David Cover-version when Zeppelin has had some issues of its own with ‘borrowing’. I always thought it was a clear case of pot, meet kettle and besides which, the earlier, bluesier Whitesnake fronted by Coverdale, was a much different beast than the later, more overproduced yes somewhat Zep soundalike Whitesnake that was deliberately tailored for the American market. Anyway all three – Zep, Purple, (especially to me early) Whitesnake – are great bands, great tunes, moving on to the next track now, ha.
Blind Faith, Presence Of The Lord . . . Eric Clapton’s guitar solo alone makes this one worth the price of admission.
Rainbow, Self Portrait . . . Speaking of Deep Purple, another from the family tree, this from Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, the first album he did, backed by lead singer Ronnie James Dio’s then-band Elf, after leaving Deep Purple after 1974’s Stormbringer album. I’ve said it before but I’ve always liked Dio’s work with Rainbow and Black Sabbath better than his own stuff fronting his namesake band, Dio. I like Dio, the band, but not to me as good as the Rainbow and Sabbath stuff.
The Guess Who, Proper Stranger . . . Bouncy tune from the American Woman album with some nice guitar from Randy Bachman.
Goddo, Under My Hat . . . I saw the reunited (then) Goddo at a gig in Cambridge a few years ago that also served as a reunion fun time with two childhood friends from our time in Peru that, at that point, I had not seen in 40 years. Was a great show, a great time and we’ve stayed in touch.
Van Halen, Ice Cream Man . . . From Van Halen’s great self-titled debut album in 1978, a cover of a tune by Chicago blues guitarist/songwriter John Brim.
Chicago, I Don’t Want Your Money . . . Early Chicago, particularly the first three albums, on up to the time Terry Kath died, is the only Chicago for me. Here’s another great one, from Chicago III, featuring Kath’s amazing guitar playing, Robert Lamm’s vocals and that early, brilliant, jazz-rock fusion that made the band so terrific.
Jimi Hendrix, Machine Gun (live, Band Of Gypsys album version) . . . Speaking of great guitarists (and Hendrix was quoted as saying he thought Kath was better than him) . . . Doesn’t matter, so many great ones out there and through history but Hendrix obviously at or near the summit, in anyone’s book. Terrific cut demonstrating his abilities, from the live Band Of Gypsys album, recorded in New York as 1969 became 1970. Copyright issues make it difficult to access Hendrix stuff online, so I’ve used a clip, same song length, from a Copenhagen, Denmark performance of Machine Gun, later in 1970.
Queen, It’s Late . . . Late in the show, but never too late for another great Brian May penned Queen track. This one’s from News Of The World, the album featuring the We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions (overplayed,alas) monster hit. It’s Late was the third single from the album in some countries including North America, albeit at about half its 6:32 album length, but didn’t make the top 50.
Fleetwood Mac, That’s All For Everyone . . . That’s it, that’s all for this week, taking my leave via one of my favorite songs from the Tusk album, 1979.
Last week I promised to play a bunch of Canadian Content and KW Content music. In a weird way, it was good that I couldn’t play it, because Mo Markham was a great guest with lots of info about KW Vegfest. So, mea culpa, and here are all the songs and artists I didn’t play last week. No commentary on this show, but I hope to invite all the artists into the studio once it re-opens.
Mo Markham of KW Vegfest Mo Markham joins me on a web conference to talk about the upcoming KW Vegfest 2021, and tells us about the speakers and vendors who will be at this year’s Vegfest. We talk about veganism, the need for a plant-based diet, and the “Ag Gag” laws that try to suppress publication of the problems with industrial agriculture. The speaker presentations are being recorded, so we’ll have Mo back in a few weeks to as we put some on the air.
I promised to play a bunch of new CanCon and KWCon music today, but there was so much Vegfest to talk about we didn’t get to it. We’ll definitely have a full music episode next week, and I’ll invite the musicians to come into the studio (when it re-opens) for a Live, On-Air, In-Studio performance!
Mo Markham tells us about this year’s KW Vegfest, being held in-person at the Kitchener Market. She gives a little history, and then goes over the Covid protocols in place, done by the Kitchener Market staff. There’s no online component, but presentations will be recorded and we’ll air excerpts on a future CCC. Mo tells us about the KW Vegfest programme, and tells us about some of the musical guests. There’s more stuff happening outside, and Mo goes over the list of vendors. We talk about transitioning to a vegan lifestyle, there are Vegan Societies to help people with this, for example the KW Vegan Society and the Cambridge, Ontario Vegan Society. KW Vegfest is put on by KW Animal Save.
Veganism is one of the ways to address climate change — animal agriculture is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Plant Based Treaty was recently set up to bring attention to this, and some municipal councillors are already on board.
Mo’s cat Joanie introduces herself, and we talk about plant-based cat food. Cats are obligate carnivores, they’re required to eat meat. But the only nutrient needed by cats missing in plants is taurine, so adding a taurine supplement makes plant-based cat food completely nutritious for cats.
We talk about “vegan” as an ethical choice, separate from eating a plant-based diet. Veganism includes not using any animal based clothing, not going to the zoo, not riding a horse, not using animals in any way. It’s not only animal welfare that drives people to veganism, but also climate change. Mo tells us of her experiences in seeing the effects of climate change herself.
Talking about “Ag Gag Laws”, to suppress information about the conditions for animals in industrial agriculture. Mo gives details about some of these “acceptable” practices. Content Warning: Mo gives some explicit descriptions of animal abuse. Talking about the specifics of the law, how it doesn’t do what it claims to do. There have been no incidents of disease brought in my activists. But it’s foreign and low-paid workers who are most at risk of the zoonotic diseases spread by poor working conditions in these places. Strong agricultural industry lobbying keeps this law on the books.
54m34s
Hardest Part (vocals by CJ Cooper) and Bob gives the closing credits
Fu Manchu, Cyclone Launch . . . Launching with Fu Manchu’s heavy heavy monster sound of stoner rock.
Flash and The Pan, Don’t Vote . . . Not a commentary on the Canadian federal election, honestly. Wasn’t going to even remotely touch on it but this tune, from the Headlines album, happened to come up in the station computer system while I was searching for something else. And it’s a nice up-tempo rocker with those distinctive Flash and The Pan vocals, with lyrics that I suppose could be interpreted in myriad ways.
AC/DC, Down Payment Blues . . . from the Powerage album, Bon Scott era.
Family, A Song For Me . . . Nine minutes of powerhouse psychedelic/hard rock from these arguably underappreciated Brits. The band from which Ric Grech of Blind Faith fame came, although by the time of this title cut from Family’s 1970 album, he was already in Blind Faith. And then out, as that supergroup (Cream’s Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker, Traffic’s Steve Winwood) flamed out after their one amazing studio album.
Link Wray, Switchblade . . . it cuts like a, er, switchblade. Great stuff from one of the highly influential early doctors of distortion.
Dire Straits, Six Blade Knife . . . Another of those tracks that came up while searching another (Link Wray’s Switchblade, above) I’d earlier downloaded into the station system. I’ve thrown so many tracks in there now over the last year or so, thousands, that my shows are starting to schedule themselves, in a manner of speaking. I look for one song, many others yielded from the word search come up and I think, heck yeah, I like that one, too. Hence of late, if anyone’s noticed, many songs with similar words in their titles. More coming, as you’ll see. Anyway, Six Blade Knife is a typically nice, Dire Straits shuffle, much in the vein of J.J. Cale, from the debut album in 1978.
Kris Kristofferson, Blame It On The Stones . . . I came to the multi-faceted Kristofferson long ago now, probably sometime in the 1990s but still relatively late. Always knew, of course, about his acting – I remember seeing the football movie Semi-Tough, and that he wrote Me and Bobby McGee which Janis Joplin (who he briefly dated) made famous. But never delved into his music much beyond that but once I did, was rewarded with his deep catalog. This one, a fun take on the often negative views older generations held about the ‘bad boy’ Rolling Stones, was the lead track on Kristofferson’s self-titled debut album in 1970. The album, which also featured Me and Bobby McGee, didn’t sell particularly well until Joplin took that song to the top, after which Kristofferson’s album was re-released with a new title, Me and Bobby McGee, and hit the charts.
The Rolling Stones, Down In The Hole . . . Great original blues from the Emotional Rescue album.
Tom Waits, Way Down In The Hole . . . Used as theme music, in various versions including Waits’ own, for the TV show The Wire. That was news to me since I don’t watch much TV, besides sports and documentaries. I hear it is/was a good show. Good song, regardless. It’s arguably amazing how many Waits warbles have been covered into hits by other artists, or used on TV shows or movies, yet he’s always remained something of a cult artist, certainly widely known, immensely respected, yet not to wide commercial tastes.
King Crimson, Frame By Frame . . . From the second phase of Crimson’s career, the new wave-like, Talking Heads-ish period that yielded the trio of albums that are somewhat of a piece – Discipline, Beat and Three Of A Perfect Pair, starting in 1981. This one’s from Discipline.
Soft Machine, Drop . . . From 5, the, yeah, fifth Soft Machine album. I find this progressive/jazz/rock/experimental band fascinating for their numerous lineups alone and how they developed and changed musically. This album is a perfect example. Recorded in 1971 and ’72, it was released in 1972. The 1971 sessions formed side one of the original vinyl album, with 1972, featuring some different personnel, featured on side two. Drop is from side one, after which some members, in true Soft Machine fashion, dropped out.
Spooky Tooth, Lost In My Dream . . . I own just two Spooky Tooth releases. One is a terrific two-CD compilation I’ve drawn from for, as an example, their progressive, Vanilla Fudge-like treatment of The Beatles’ I Am The Walrus which, come to think of it, I should soon revisit. The other album I own is Spooky Two, arguably the band’s finest individual album and from which Lost In My Dream comes. The album includes the killer nine-minute cut Evil Woman, which I’ve played before, and the Gary Wright-penned By You, Better Than Me, which Judas Priest later covered to such effect that many consider it a Priest original. Wright, of course, went on to solo success, best known for Dream Weaver and Love Is Alive.
Bad Company, Cross Country Boy . . . Jaunty little track from Rough Diamonds in 1982, the last studio album by the original Bad Co. lineup. Not just due to the title but this song always reminds me on Peace River, Alberta, where I lived briefly to start my journalism career, and where I first bought the Rough Diamons album, on vinyl.
Bobbie Gentry, Big Boss Man . . . Best known for Ode to Billie Joe, Gentry has a very deep catalog of great material I like to dip into periodically both for listening pleasure and my show. She was among the first women to compose and produce her own material. And then she essentially disappeared, by choice. Fascinating story.
Cowboy Junkies, Black Eyed Man . . . Second of several songs in the ‘man’ phase of the show again, as described earlier in my commentary, arrived at via search words in the station computer as I hunt for songs. Inn this case Bobbie Gentry search yielding this one and it’s never a bad thing to listen to the Junkies and Margo Timmins’ ethereal voice.
Gov’t Mule, Blind Man In The Dark . . . The Mule takes us into a three-song Allman Brothers Band-related set. This tune originally appeared on the band’s second studio album, Dose, in 1998. This version is a similar but more raw treatment released on the archival Tel-Star Sessions album in 2016.
Gregg Allman, Whippin’ Post . . . A more acoustic arrangement of the tune he wrote for the Brothers, it appeared on Allman’s terrific 1997 solo album, Searching For Simplicity. Nice playing by short-lived Allman Brothers’ Band guitarist Jack Pearson. Pearson, widely acclaimed in the music industry, was in the Allman Brothers from 1997-99 until he reluctantly left due to tinnitis (ringing in the ears).
Sea Level, Canine Man . . . Up tempo tune by Sea Level, a rock/jazz fusion outfit led by keyboard player Chuck Leavell that grew out of the late 1970s breakup of the Allmans. The band name comes from a play on C. Leavell. Leavell has since been a regular touring and recording partner of The Rolling Stones.
Fairport Convention, Cajun Woman . . . Fast-paced tune from the fine British folk-rock artists, founded by guitarist Richard Thompson and, in the early days, featuring the wonderful vocals of the late great Sandy Denny. They’re still around and still in the lineup is guitarist/singer Simon Nicol, a founder member, and longtime member Dave Pegg who also had various stints in Jethro Tull.
Pretenders, Walk Like A Panther . . . Slinky tune, slinky vocals by Chrissie Hynde, from the band’s solid 2002 release, Loose Screw.
Ian Gillan, Candy Horizon . . . Kick-butt rocker from Gillan’s 1991 solo release, Toolbox. Arguably the last album on which he could still scream like the banshee that did such Deep Purple classics as Child In Time. Great stuff.
Eric Burdon, Can’t Kill The Boogieman . . . From Burdon’s 2004 album, My Secret Life. Great album. The riff to this tune sounds like ZZ Top’s La Grange, which in turn sounds like John Lee Hooker’s Boogie Chillen and Slim Harpo’s Shake Your Hips. When the ZZ Top tune came out in 1973, the band was sued by the copyright holder to Boogie Chillen but it was found that the traditional boogie blues rhythm was in the public domain.
Bob Dylan, What Was It You Wanted . . . Caustic lyrics, at least I find them so, in typically great Dylan fashion, on this song from, for my money, one of his best albums,1989’s Oh Mercy. Produced by Daniel Lanois, who tends to bring out the best in anyone with whom he works.
Tracy Chapman, Change . . . She’s so great, lyrically and musically, although dormant as far as new material since her last studio album in 2008. Hope she does new music soon but if not, we have the brilliance she’s left us to date.
Van Morrison, And The Healing Has Begun . . . Haven’t played Van the Man, one of my favorite artists, in a while. Just beautiful stuff, this.
Here is the starting episode of this experimental podcast series. DJ Steel chooses the starting 3 bands based off various past interactions, set the rules and gets the project in motion.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Still . . . You Turn Me On . . . Well-known and beautiful ELP song. It was considered as a single from the Brain Salad Surgery album, and is somewhat in the vein of Lucky Man from the debut. But the band decided against it since drummer Carl Palmer didn’t play on the song, and the ballad didn’t fit with the overall more aggressive tone of the album.
Robert Palmer, Love Stop . . . Cool song from the Secrets album, 1979, which along with the next year’s Clues record, are my two favorites from the late Palmer. And I just realized I opened with Emerson, Lake & Palmer and then here I come with Robert Palmer. Although of course we’re talking Robert, not Carl. Must be some sort of Freudian thing, but enough of that rot. Robert Palmer’s cover of Moon Martin’s Bad Case Of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor) was the big hit single from Secrets, Jealous (which I’ve played before) less so, but the whole album is quality and another of those I got into during my college days.
Joni Mitchell, Passion Play (When All The Slaves Are Free) . . . From 1991’s Night Ride Home, which I don’t own. But I got into a lot of Mitchell’s great deep cuts, like this one, via her Misses compilation album, released on the same day in 1996 as Hits. Her record company wanted to issue a greatest hits album so Mitchell said, fine, but how about you agree to also issue an album collecting some of my own favorite deep cuts. She picked the tunes and voila, Misses. It’s a great way to get into lots of her lesser-known and perhaps less commercial work.
The Rolling Stones, If You Really Want To Be My Friend . . . American R & B and soul group Blue Magic contributes backing vocals on this one from the It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll album. Every time I hear it, and it’s a great tune, I think of an old high school and college football teammate just breaking into the opening verse one day as we hung around either waiting for class or practice.
Boz Scaggs, Loan Me A Dime . . . Before his 70s hits like Lowdown and Lido Shuffle, Scaggs played in early, bluesy and psychedelic versions of the Steve Miller Band (before that group’s big commercial hit singles success) and then went solo. This great blues track, written by singer/guitarist Fenton Robinson, appeared on Scaggs’ second solo album, Boz Scaggs. It came out in 1969 and features Duane Allman on guitar on four songs, including this one.
Elton John, (Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket . . . Good rocker from Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirty Cowboy. EJ was so consistently excellent during the 1970s, one of those artists whose deep cuts could easily have been singles.
Chris Smither, Rock & Roll Doctor . . . A different, up-tempo shuffle treatment, complete with foot percussion, of the Lowell George-penned Little Feat tune, from the veteran American singer/songwriter/guitarist Smither. Great stuff.
Steely Dan, Show Biz Kids . . . Typically great playing and caustic lyrics on this one from Countdown To Ecstasy, in 1973. The boys in the band foresaw, nearly 50 years in advance, the arguably vaccuous selfie culture to come via lyrics like “show biz kids making movies of themselves you know they don’t give a fuck about anybody else.”. Lead single from the album, it managed to make No. 61. Rick Derringer is on slide guitar on the track.
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Luna . . . I’ve always really liked this one, from Petty’s debut album in 1976. Kinda spooky, with those unique Petty vocals.
John Lennon, I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier Mama . . . Producer Phil Spector’s ‘wall of sound’ comes into play on this dirge-like track from the Imagine album. Canada’s Cowboy Junkies had an interesting take on it – including a rap segment – on their 2005 covers album, Early 21st Century Blues. Mad Season, the grunge supergroup made up of members of Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Screaming Trees, covered it 10 years earlier on their lone album, Above.
Black Sabbath, Supernaut . . . And now for a two-song hard rock/metal interlude, starting with what I consider maybe Tony Iommi’s best Black Sabbath riff, although there’s so many great ones it’s obviously difficult to pick.
Metallica, My Friend Of Misery . . . From the self-titled monster ‘black’ album that opened all kinds of doors in terms of audience for Metallica, ticking off some fans who wanted them to forever stay in thrash mode. Great bass intro by the since departed Jason Newsted and wicked guitar soloing by Kirk Hammett starting around five minutes into the nearly seven-minute track.
Ian Hunter, The Outsider . . . Not a bad tune, including this slow-building one, on Hunter’s You’re Never Alone With A Schizophrenic album, from 1979. With his trusted sidekick, the late great Mick Ronson, on guitar.
David Bowie, Saviour Machine . . . Speaking of Ronson, he of course also worked extensively with David Bowie including on this rather amazing rocking, almost prog track from Ronson’s first album with Bowie, 1970’s The Man Who Sold The World.
Johnny (Guitar) Watson, A Real Mother For Ya . . . Great funk rock from the widely influential Watson. Among those inspired by him were Frank Zappa, who took up guitar after listening to Watson’s 1950s work, with Watson later appearing on several Zappa albums. This song was Watson’s highest charting single, making No. 41 on the pop charts and No. 5 on the R & B list in 1977. He died at age 61 in 1996, on stage during a gig in Japan. Not a bad way to go, doing what you love.
Johnny Winter, All Tore Down . . . Great blues rocker, gritty vocals from Winter, from 1973’s Still Alive And Well album.
Ten Years After, The Stomp . . . Hypnotic John Lee Hooker type track from 1969’s Ssssh album.
John Lee Hooker, Back Biters and Syndicators . . . Speaking of whom, here’s the real thing.
Mose Allison, Swingin’ Machine . . . The song does just that, swing. So influential an artist, Mose Allison. Lots of people, like The Who, covered his songs. Space does not permit. Read up on and better yet, listen to him.
Dr. John, Iko Iko . . . Typical, er, gumbo from Dr. John’s Gumbo, his 1972 covers album of New Orleans classics.
Steve Earle, Back To The Wall . . . Fairly well-known tune from Copperhead Road, the title cut from the album likely is the best known yet no singles, surprisingly, were officially released from the album in North America. This was released as a single in the UK but didn’t chart.
Free, Walk In My Shadow . . . Perhaps amazingly, given the heavy blues nature of the album, none of the members of Free were even 20 years old when Tons Of Sobs was released in 1969. Walk In My Shadow was co-written by all four band members – Paul Rodgers, Paul Kossoff, Andy Fraser and Simon Kirke. Rodgers and Kirke, of course, later went on to form Bad Company.
Creedence Clearwater Revival, Keep On Chooglin’ . . . CCR is so well-known, and rightly so, for their many hit singles but they’ve got some amazing extended pieces, like this one.
The Feminist Shift
You & Me & Everything
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