A show loosely tied – via song titles, band names and a couple compilations I’ve drawn from – to the Family Day holiday in most Canadian provinces. Also, a ‘winter’ portion as a nod to the relentless snow we’ve been getting in southern Ontario and much of Canada of late. In between, a week late, a celebration of the 55th anniversary release of a classic Doors album – Morrison Hotel – I was reminded of by a friend which was timely, since I was thinking of playing The Doors in any event. My track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list. Audio log will be posted after the show airs. Song clips also available on my Facebook page.

1. Family, The Weaver’s Answer
2. Jethro Tull, Back To The Family
3. John Mellencamp, Case 795 (The Family)
4. The Rolling Stones, Family
5. Danny Kirwan, Ram Jam City (from his solo album Second Chapter via The Fleetwood Mac Family Album compilation)
6. Rossington Collins Band, Tashauna (from the 1981 album This Is The Way via the Lynyrd Skynyrd: Family compilation)
——–
The Doors – Morrison Hotel

Original vinyl

Side One – Hard Rock Cafe (original name for the album)

1. Roadhouse Blues
2. Waiting For The Sun
3. You Make Me Real
4. Peace Frog
5. Blue Sunday
6. Ship Of Fools

Side Two – Morrison Hotel

7. Land Ho!
8. The Spy
9. Queen Of The Highway
10. Indian Summer
11. Maggie M’Gill

——

7. Judas Priest, Winter/Deep Freeze/Winter Retreat
8. Genesis, Snowbound
9. Black Sabbath, Snowblind
10. Joe Jackson, Heart Of Ice
11. J. Geils Band, The Lady Makes Demands
12. Santana, Savor/Toussaint L’Overture (live, from Moonflower)

My track-by-track tales:

1. Family, The Weaver’s Answer . . . From the English progressive rock band’s 1969 album Family Entertainment, their second studio release. Arguably the band’s signature song, it tells the tale of a man looking back on his life as he nears death. Roger Chapman’s vibrato vocals add an urgent, theatrical quality to the shifting time signatures arrangement.

2. Jethro Tull, Back To The Family . . . A track that blends rock and folk, with often sarcastic lyrics contrasting the comforts of family life with its realities and one’s desire for independence from it. The song is from Stand Up, Tull’s 1969 album. It was the band’s second studio release and marked a change in direction – and introduced new guitarist Martin Barre – from the blues-based sound of the 1968 debut This Was that featured guitarist Mick Abrahams. Abrahams and lead singer/songwriter/flautist/multi-instrumentalist Ian Anderson then clashed over musical direction, with Abrahams leaving to continue his blues approach with Blodwyn Pig, a great if short-lived band in its own right I’ve played recently. Anderson has forever referred to This Was as being an appropriate album title, given that it ‘was’ Jethro Tull, at the time, before his creative vision prevailed although Tull has often still delved into the blues, just not in as singularly pronounced a manner as on the debut album.

I remember my musically influential on me older brother, by eight years, bringing Stand Up – and Led Zeppelin II – home upon release. We were living in Peru at the time, where my father was working. My older brother and sister were attending high school in Canada and in those days, the late 1960s, things weren’t as immediate as they are now. So, when the older siblings attending school in North America came home for holidays, it was not only a reunion celebration for all the American and Canadian families in town but a window, via what they brought back with them, through which we could see what was fresh and happening, particularly in entertainment. Hence albums like Stand Up and Zep II, which shook us out of our early Beatles and Stones listening habits, great as they obviously were, and further expanded our musical horizons.

3. John Mellencamp, Case 795 (The Family) . . . A gritty, grisly, bluesy song from Mellencamp’s 1993 album Human Wheels. The lyrics reveal a definitely dysfunctional family where things are rationalized as ‘everything’s all right’ despite various instances of violence amid family struggles, economic hardship and personal conflict. Not exactly Family Day fare, perhaps, but the title fits. Great tune, regardless, nice swampy groove.

4. The Rolling Stones, Family . . . An obscure Stones track, darkly cynical in a spare, mostly acoustic arrangement with unsettling lyrics about dysfunction and decay within a family in which, among other things, a daughter aspires to be a prostitute having her father as a customer and other such upbeat ideas. It’s from the 1968 Beggars Banquet album sessions, finally appearing in 1975 on Metamorphosis, a pseudo-official compilation of outtakes and alternate versions. It was issued by the Stones’ former manager Allen Klein, who at that point still retained rights to the band’s pre-1971 material, coming out on the same day as the Stones’ first authorized 1970s hits compilation, Made In The Shade.

5. Danny Kirwan, Ram Jam City . . . From the former Fleetwood Mac guitarist’s debut solo album, Second Chapter, issued in 1975. It ties into Family Day because I pulled it from a compilation – The Fleetwood Mac Family album – I own that features solo and offshoot band material from Fleetwood Mac members past and present. A melodic track with a folk-rock feel, it’s described in the compilation liner notes, accurately enough, as having a Celtic feel within a bluegrass – and I’d suggest almost rockabilly – context. Engaging stuff.

6. Rossington Collins Band, Tashauna . . . Beautiful, Lynyrd Skynyrd-like track but then that’s to be expected from a band formed from the surviving post-1977 plane crash members of Skynyrd, issued on the Rossington Collins band’s second release, 1981’s This Is The Way. Among the Skynyrd alumni on the album were guitarists Gary Rossington and Allen Collins, bassist Leon Wilkeson and pianist Billy Powell backing the terrifically atmospheric and emotional lead vocals of Dale Krantz-Rossington, Gary’s wife. I pulled it from another ‘family’ album, the 2006 compilation Lynyrd Skynyrd: Family that features various Skynyrd tracks as well as those by offshoot bands.

——–

The Doors – Morrison Hotel

Original vinyl Side One Hard Rock Cafe (original name for the album)

1. Roadhouse Blues . . . Likely the best-known track on the album, a blues-rock anthem driven by a gritty riff and Jim Morrison’s commanding vocal delivery. “Keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel . . . let it roll, baby, roll . . . ”

2. Waiting For The Sun . . . It could have been the title cut to the band’s 1968 album but one of those cases – like Queen’s Sheer Heart Attack just one example – where a song done for one album wound up being held back for a future release. Sheer Heart Attack was left unfinished during the sessions for Queen’s 1974 album of that name and didn’t appear on record until three releases later, 1977’s News Of The World. Similar happened with The Doors on this hazy, dreamlike, spooky track with an anthemic chorus, finally released on Morrison Hotel in 1970.

3. You Make Me Real . . . A fast-paced, piano-driven energetic toe-tapping rocker that showcases Ray Manzarek’s rollicking keyboard work combined with Jim Morrison’s wild and playful vocals.

4. Peace Frog . . . Funky rocker with striking lyrical imagery, referencing police violence and blood on the streets, mentioning various American cities including Chicago, a reference to the violence-plagued 1968 Democratic Party convention. Then the song abruptly stops and we’re into . . .

5. Blue Sunday . . . A slow, crooning love song contrasting sharply with Peace Frog. The pacing on the album is exemplary. It’s why, while hits compilations are great, often it pays to immerse oneself in a full album as a statement designed by an artist.

6. Ship Of Fools . . . A mid-tempo track lyrically playing on the metaphor of a world heading toward destruction. Musically compelling to draw you in, social commentary lyrics to make you think.

Side Two Morrison Hotel

7. Land Ho! . . . A lighthearted sea shanty-style rocker with a catchy chorus. Propulsive.

8. The Spy . . . A slow, sultry blues number I played, independent of the album, some time ago. Dark, mysterious and at once seductive and almost menacing, but such could be the quality of Jim Morrison’s vocals coupled with the band’s music.

9. Queen Of The Highway . . . Hypnotic groove with a driving rhythm fueled by the bassline and percussion.

10. Indian Summer . . . A quiet, meditative piece, sparse instrumentation and gentle delivery. Personal preference of course but it’s one of those songs that is another argument for listening to individual albums over just hits compilations, as good as those usually are.

11. Maggie M’Gill . . . A gritty album closer with a swampy feel arguably presaging the bluesy brilliance of the band’s next album, L.A. Woman. The opening part of this one could easily fit on something like ZZ Top’s Deguello album – nine years before the ZZ record was released. Perhaps the Texas trio was listening.

——

7. Judas Priest, Winter/Deep Freeze/Winter Retreat . . . We start the ‘winter’ portion of the overall set with this trilogy from the first Priest album, 1974’s Rocka Rolla. It was a time before the band fully embraced metal and was more a hard rocking yet bluesy band with progressive rock elements. It’s dark, eerie and atmospheric across the near seven minutes of the combined songs, best heard as a single piece.

8. Genesis, Snowbound . . . A delicate, haunting track from the 1978 album And Then There Were Three which, via its hit single Follow You Follow Me introduced many people to Genesis – which to that point was rarely if ever played on AM radio. It broadened the band’s horizons and fan base while causing many who were more fond of the fully progressive rock epics of the Peter Gabriel era to abandon ship. Still, after Gabriel left, the group was able to strike a balance between prog and mass popularity on albums like 1976’s A Trick Of The Tail, And Then There Were Three and Duke in 1980 before 1981’s Abacab, which I really like, brought a new, even more commercial sound including horns.

9. Black Sabbath, Snowblind . . . A heavy, sludgy slab from 1972’s Vol. 4 album. The musical heaviness is trademark Sabbath of course but what often strikes me about early Sabbath is Ozzy Osbourne’s detached vocals. Perhaps it’s a function of production, or how I hear things, but however it comes about, his voice seems to enter each song from sideways somehow, from parts unknown if that description makes sense. It’s a potent mix of musical talent, both vocal and instrumental.

10. Joe Jackson, Heart Of Ice . . . A moody, jazz-infused track that starts and continues for the longest time in its seven-minute duration as an instrumental but finally incorporates sparse, haunting vocals in an intoxicating arrangement featuring saxophone and keyboards. It’s from JJ’s 1984 album Body And Soul which featured the hit single You Can’t Get What You Want (Until You Know What You Want).

11. J. Geils Band, The Lady Makes Demands . . . Typical J. Geils R & B/rock fusion energy on a track from the band’s 1973 album Ladies Invited. Lyrically, it pretty much sums up the push-and-pull of at least some relationships. From a man’s perspective, at least.

12. Santana, Savor/Toussaint L’Overture (live, from Moonflower) . . . An extended 13-minute jam highlighting Santana’s blend of Latin rock, jazz fusion and typically great playing, from the 1977 album that combined live with studio cuts.

Two classic albums. One of them – Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience – is widely celebrated with at least three songs on it – Crosstown Traffic, All Along The Watchtower and Voodoo Child (Slight Return) – known by even casual rock music fans. The other – Love’s Forever Changes – is arguably relatively obscure to many but an influential album incorporating myriad genres from psychedelia to pop to folk rock.

The artists are connected, as Hendrix and Love leader Arthur Lee had a friendly relationship with Hendrix – then working with The Isley Brothers – playing on some pre-Love sessions of Lee’s as early as 1964. And at one point they discussed forming a band together. Later on, Lee’s 1972 solo album Vindicator, which I’ve delved into on the show and eventually will again, was a guitar-fueled hard rock record reflecting Hendrix’s influence.

I’m starting the set with Love, as a nod to Valentine’s Day. More of my commentary on the albums, under each record’s track list.

Love – Forever Changes

1. Alone Again Or
2. A House Is Not A Motel
3. Andmoreagain
4. The Daily Planet
5. Old Man
6. The Red Telephone
7. Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark And Hilldale
8. Live And Let Live
9. The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This
10. Bummer In The Summer
11. You Set The Scene

It’s been said of The Velvet Underground that the group, noted for its creative force Lou Reed, sold few records, but everyone who bought one started a band. The same could arguably be applied to Love, a brilliant band I was initially drawn to long ago by the critical hype over an album that I’d never heard. Or even heard of. So, I bought it. And soon enough, I ‘got it’, realized why it was so well-regarded, loved the music and by extension the band to the point I over time have accumulated every studio album, all of now late leader Arthur Lee’s solo stuff, and assorted compilations that include previously unreleased tracks.

I agree with most music writer critics that 1967’s Forever Changes is likely Love’s masterpiece but perhaps interestingly, probably my favorite song of Love’s is Signed D.C., a harrowing yet musically beautiful song, a bluesy acoustic ballad about heroin addiction I’ve played before on the show. It’s from the group’s self-titled debut album, released in 1966. As for Forever Changes, it’s a terrific full listen – much as Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland is – but favorite tracks for me are the jaunty pop-rocker Bummer In The Summer, the uptempo, slightly wonderfully off-kilter album opener Alone Again Or followed immediately on the album by A House Is Not A Motel. Highly recommended, all of it, as is the rest of Love/Arthur Lee.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland

1. . . . And The Gods Made Love
2. Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)
3. Crosstown Traffic
4. Voodoo Chile
5. Little Miss Strange
6. Long Hot Summer Night
7. Come On (Let The Good Times Roll)
8. Gypsy Eyes
9. Burning Of The Midnight Lamp
10. Rainy Day, Dream Away
11. 1983 . . . (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)
12. Moon, Turn The Tides . . . gently gently away
13. Still Raining, Still Dreaming
14. House Burning Down
15. All Along The Watchtower
16. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

A few weeks ago I played 1983 . . . (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) and said on air how, by playing the extended psychedelic track, I was reminded how great an album Electric Ladyland is and that I may play it in full on one of my album shows. Here it is. A terrific sonic experience, mind-blowing, really, Hendrix arguably at his creative peak in terms of myriad musical directions and production all on one double vinyl album. It was the final studio release, unleashed upon us in October 1968, by the Experience lineup of Hendrix, drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding, who sings lead vocals on the track Little Miss Strange.

Among those contributing to the album as session players were Traffic members Chris Wood (flute on 1983 . . . ) and Steve Winwood, organ on the lengthy, psychedelic Voodoo Chile, a companion piece to its shorter, better-known cousin Voodoo Child (Slight Return) which features that immortal opening guitar riff, a song that closes the record and is on most Hendrix compilations. Winwood’s presence is interesting in that at one point there was talk of Hendrix forming a band with Winwood and Love’s Arthur Lee, though it never happened. According to Lee, it was to be called Band Aid, suggested by Hendrix. Lee liked the name and wound up using it on the album I mentioned in my overall preamble, Lee’s 1972 Hendrix-like solo album Vindicator, subtitled “With the group Band-Aid.”

My track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list. Song clips also available on my Facebook page.

1. Wishbone Ash, The King Will Come
2. Bill Wyman, Every Sixty Seconds
3. Mick Taylor, Late At Night
4. Mick Taylor, Blind Willie McTell (Bob Dylan cover)
5. The Rolling Stones, Watching The River Flow (Bob Dylan cover)
6. Mark Knopfler, Boom, Like That
7. John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Bare Wires Suite
8. Spooky Tooth, Weird
9. Ian Hunter, Rain
10. Phil Collins, The Roof Is Leaking
11. Robert Palmer, Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley
12. Bruce Springsteen, Missing
13. Johnny and Edgar Winter, Baby, Watcha Want Me To Do (live)
14. Van Morrison, Take Me Back

My track-by-track tales:

1. Wishbone Ash, The King Will Come . . . Progressive rock from arguably the definitive Ash album, 1972’s Argus. Famous for the twin guitar attack of Andy Powell and Ted Turner that proved a big influence on Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, and others. The song has a mythic, medieval feel, common to at least some British bands of the time and beyond, with lyrics that could be interpreted in a biblical or fantasy context.

2. Bill Wyman, Every Sixty Seconds . . . From the former/longtime Rolling Stones bassist’s second solo album, the 1976 release Stone Alone, a title he later used for his 1990 book about the band. It’s a lazy in a great way tune featuring Wyman on bass and guitar, Joe Walsh on slide guitar, Van the Man Morrison on harmonica and session drummer to the stars Jim Keltner. The album overall features a long list of musical luminaries of the time, and forever, like Dr. John, Bob Welch, Nicky Hopkins, Al Kooper and Ron Wood, among others.

3. Mick Taylor, Late At Night . . . Nice groove on this one from the former Rolling Stones’ guitarist’s 2000 release A Stone’s Throw. Some have suggested it could be a Steely Dan track in terms of sound and production, which I can see/hear. It’s an excellent jazz rock tune, written and sung by Taylor, that also features longtime Who collaborator John “Rabbit’ Bundrick on keyboards.

4. Mick Taylor, Blind Willie McTell (Bob Dylan cover) . . . This reinterpretation of the Dylan classic – it starts slow and bluesy before shifting into a harder-edged blues rocker two minutes into its near nine-minutes duration – is also from Taylor’s A Stone’s Throw album. Blind Willie McTell, recorded during the sessions for Dylan’s 1983 album Infidels that Taylor played on, wasn’t released until 1991 when it came out on Dylan’s The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991. That was the first installment of what is now a 17-volume series. When it was revealed that Blind Willie McTell was an outtake from Infidels, the music world was perplexed as to why Dylan had decided to not include such a great track on the album. He later told interviewers that he didn’t think he “recorded it right” but in any event it was finally released and has since been placed on various Dylan compilations. I played it a few weeks ago as part of a blue/blues rock show.

5. The Rolling Stones, Watching The River Flow (Bob Dylan cover) . . . A Dylan tune that appeared on the Boogie 4 Stu tribute album to the late “sixth Stone” pianist Ian Stewart, who was originally in the band but then deemed not to have the right ‘look’ by management although Stewart continued to play on the group’s albums and most tours. Watching The River Flow is not an ‘official’ Stones’ release technically but the various band members past and present at the time were easily convinced to come together in studio or online in tribute to their cherished friend, who died of a heart attack at age 47 in 1985. The Boogie 4 Stu album, released in 2011 and featuring a variety of musicians, was assembled and coordinated by English pianist Ben Waters. He’s worked with the Stones including solo excursions by Ron Wood and Mick Taylor as well as Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck and The Kinks’ Ray Davies.

6. Mark Knopfler, Boom, Like That . . . Up-tempo tune from the former Dire Straits leader’s 2004 album Shangri-La, inspired by Knopfler’s reading of a book about McDonald’s entrepreneur Ray Kroc.

7. John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Bare Wires Suite (Bare Wires/Where Did I Belong/I Started Walking/Open Up A New Door/Fire/I Know Now/Look In The Mirror. . . Intoxicating extended trip from Mayall’s 1968 album Bare Wires which featured future Rolling Stone Mick Taylor on guitar. The various parts of the piece feature a host of approaches, mellow to heavy, over the 23 minutes.

8. Spooky Tooth, Weird . . . Non-album B-side to a 1968 single, Sunshine Help Me, which did not chart at least in North America. Weird is, apropos to its title, a moody, atmospheric, psychedelic piece featuring the eerie, hypnotic keyboard work of Gary Wright who later successfully went solo, achieving hit status via his 1975 Dream Weaver album which featured the title cut single along with Love Is Alive. Not on this track but two notables who later passed through Spooky Tooth lineups were Henry McCullough, guitarist/drummer with Paul McCartney’s Wings, and Mick Jones who went on to form Foreigner.

9. Ian Hunter, Rain . . . From 1981’s Short Back N’ Sides album from the former frontman for Mott The Hoople. Hunter was coming off a solo commercial sales rebirth via his excellent 1979 album You’re Never Alone With A Schizophrenic and followup live disc Welcome To The Club. He then released this equally excellent but somewhat different in sound album co-produced by The Clash’s Mick Jones (not the Foreigner guy) and Hunter’s perennial guitarist Mick Ronson. Topper Headon of The Clash is on drums with Ellen Foley of Meat Loaf, Clash and solo fame on backing vocals. It’s a somber and reflective tune with a touch of reggae influence, perhaps a nod, given who was producing, to various Clash tracks from the London Calling and Sandinista! albums of that period.

10. Phil Collins, The Roof Is Leaking . . . One of those deep cuts, this from Collins’ 1981 debut solo album, Face Value, that when I play it, as I did the other day as a possible show candidate, it immediately comes to mind as an ‘oh yeah, I remember this’ tune beyond the hits from that album – In The Air Tonight and I Missed Again. I’ve been doing a lot of that lately, playing albums I have not played in eons, revisiting them, listening to them straight through and being rewarded by their enduring quality at least some of which I intend to keep passing on, via my show, as songs occur.

11. Robert Palmer, Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley . . . I got into Robert Palmer while in college through his 1979 album Secrets which featured hits/great songs like Bad Case Of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor) and riff-rocker Jealous, among many others. I followed him from then on but also went back to things like this earlier relative hit, the title cut from his 1974 debut album. It’s a great funky tune, written by Allen Toussaint of myriad musical genres fame, with Lowell George of Little Feat on guitar and in fact Palmer opens the album with Feat’s Sailin’ Shoes, written by George.

12. Bruce Springsteen, Missing . . . . Sparse, dark, haunting track written during the 1990s but finally officially released on a Springteeen album on the excellent 2003 compilation The Essential Bruce Springsteen. It’s on the limited edition 3-CD bonus disc on that album and also long available on the web. According to Springsteen’s own liner notes on the compilation, after writing it he played it for Sean Penn, who liked and used it in the 1995 movie The Crossing Guard which Penn wrote, directed and co-produced, starring Jack Nicholson.

13. Johnny and Edgar Winter, Baby, Watcha Want Me To Do (live) . . . A rousing 11-minute cover of the Jimmy Reed tune. Johnny’s typically great guitar teamed with Edgar’s sax and keyboard accents is compelling as the Winter brothers’ bands of the time combine forces on the ‘Together’ live album, released in 1976.

14. Van Morrison, Take Me Back . . . A typical Van The Man epic, this one from the Hymns To The Silence album, released in 1991. It’s another of those tracks where his vocalizations are so stirring and compelling. Nobody can repeat lines ‘take me back take me back take me back’ and not bore you but instead draw you further into the song, as Van can as on this musical trip through R & B, folk, pop, Celtic, rock and gospel. It’s a satisfying journey through the mystic, to paraphrase one of his song titles, that Morrison has always travelled.

At risk of being insensitive or seeming to make light of it, no renowned music artist died this past week, that I’m aware of, at least as of Thursday night and Friday morning as I prep the show. So, unlike the past two Saturdays when I played songs from The Band (RIP Garth Hudson) and Marianne Faithfull, no tribute set for this Saturday. That is, unless one looks at this three-album play, delayed for three weeks, as tribute to the following artists’ 1970s excellence. We have Elton John’s Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy from 1975, Pink Floyd’s 1977 album Animals and Who Do We Think We Are by Deep Purple, released in 1973. A commentary on each album appears below each record’s track list. Song clips also available on my Facebook page.

Elton John – Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy

1. Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy
2. Tower Of Babel
3. Bitter Fingers
4. Tell Me When The Whistle Blows
5. Someone Saved My Life Tonight
6. (Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket
7. Better Off Dead
8. Writing
9. We All Fall In Love Sometimes
10. Curtains

A concept album that traces the early careers of Elton John (Captain Fantastic) and lyricist Bernie Taupin (the Brown Dirt Cowboy) as they struggled to establish themselves in the music industry in late 1960s London. There’s loads of available literature on the album, which also works as a collection of individual songs, continuing the duo’s early to mid-1970s hot streak. And, like most EJ albums of that period – and many 1960s and ’70s albums – the so-called deep cuts are as strong as the singles. There was just one single released from the album, Someone Saved My Life Tonight. Two essential songs for me: Tell Me When The Whistle Blows and the title track.

Pink Floyd – Animals

1. Pigs On The Wing 1
2. Dogs
3. Pigs (Three Different Ones)
4. Sheep
5. Pigs On The Wing 2

A concept album about sociopolitical conditions in mid-1970s Great Britain, it doesn’t seem to get the universal critical acclaim of Pink Floyd albums like The Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here or The Wall but it’s always been one of my favorites, and that of many fans, amid that run of albums that was predated by another winner, 1971’s Meddle. The album nicely brackets the three extended pieces with the opening and closing acoustic entries. The centrepiece for me is Pigs (Three Different Ones). It’s in part a diatribe against British morality crusader Mary Whitehouse, with aggressive musical accompaniment adding to the impact of the repeated refrain “ha ha, charade you are.”

Deep Purple – Who Do We Think We Are

1. Woman From Tokyo
2. Mary Long
3. Super Trouper
4. Smooth Dancer
5. Rat Bat Blue
6. Place In Line
7. Our Lady

The last album in the first go-around of the so-called Mark II version of Deep Purple that featured Ian Gillan (vocals), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Roger Glover (bass), Ian Paice (drums) and Jon Lord (keyboards). The guys who did Smoke On The Water, on Machine Head. That lineup reunited for two albums – Perfect Strangers and The House Of Blue Light – and, after another breakup, another album in the 1990s – The Battle Rages On – before Blackmore took permanent leave. Music critics seem to denigrate it, but most Purple fans I know like Who Do We Think We Are and if the band was in tatters in interpersonal terms and supposedly in musical terms, more bands should use that creative formula. And, of course, there are instances where such push and pull in a group setting results in compelling art.

How can an album with songs like opener Woman From Tokyo, Mary Long – another assault on Mary Whitehouse and fellow morality campaigner Lord Longford, four years before Roger Waters/Pink Floyd had at her – and others be deemed so flawed and not rate with Mark II’s other ’70s stuff? I don’t get it, but everyone hears things differently. Another great track, certainly lyrically, is Smooth Dancer. Gillan and Blackmore never got along, at least for very long, which often fueled Mark II’s breakups. However, they did make musical magic together and Smooth Dancer stands out as lyrically, Gillan takes shots at his rival, called ‘black suede’ in a reference to Blackmore’s clothing preferences. Interesting how Blackmore could play so well – or even not apparently raise a stink over such a song being on the album – given the subject matter. Granted, they didn’t necessarily have to be in studio at the same time but Blackmore would have seen/heard the lyrics, so he probably just didn’t care, which would fit his mercurial nature.

My track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list. Song clips also available on my Facebook page.

1. The Rolling Stones, If You Can’t Rock Me
2. Uriah Heep, The Magician’s Birthday
3. Scorpions, Top Of The Bill (live, from Tokyo Tapes)
4. Iron Maiden, When The Wild Wind Blows
5. Judas Priest, Burn In Hell
6. Judas Priest, Invincible Shield
7. Arthur Lee, Stay Away From Evil
8. Jethro Tull, With You There To Help Me
9. Blodwyn Pig, San Francisco Sketches (Beach Scape/Fisherman’s Wharf/Telegraph Hill/I’m Falling Out Of The Room)
10. Tame Impala, Elephant
11. April Wine, Slow Poke
12. Savoy Brown, All I Can Do
13. Simon McBride (Deep Purple guitarist), One More Try
14. U2, Surrender
15. Free, Soon I Will Be Gone
16. Blood, Sweat & Tears, Maiden Voyage

My track-by-track tales:

1. The Rolling Stones, If You Can’t Rock Me . . . Energetic rocker with a great mid-song bass break, it’s the opening track on 1974’s It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll album, guitarist Mick Taylor’s last with the band after five fruitful years. He was replaced by Ronnie Wood, who was at least the inspiration if not an uncredited co-writer of the album’s title track, while still in the Faces but inexorably moving into the Stones’ orbit in large measure via his friendship with Keith Richards. The Stones effectively paired this with a rearranged Get Off Of My Cloud during their 1975-76 tours of North America and Europe – available on the 1977 live album Love You Live plus subsequent archival releases – but to my knowledge and research didn’t get back to If You Can’t Rock Me, on its own and well done, until the 2002 Licks tour celebrating the band’s 40th anniversary. They’ve since gone 20-plus years beyond that milestone.

2. Uriah Heep, The Magician’s Birthday . . . We begin a hard rock/metal segment of the set with this progressive 10-minutes and change title cut to the band’s 1973 album. The track shifts between mellow verses and powerful, heavy, what I term ‘galloping’ choruses including rat-a-tat drumming and great guitar soloing. The future members of Iron Maiden were obviously listening. We’ll get to Maiden in about seven minutes but first we’ll sting you with Scorpions.

3. Scorpions, Top Of The Bill (live, from Tokyo Tapes) . . . Originally a three and one half minute track on the 1975 studio album In Trance, this is the pile-driving live version, or at least more pile-driving than the studio song, at double the length, from Tokyo Tapes. The live set was released in 1978 featuring early Scorpions slabs of heavy rock/metal before they became more a pop-metal and power ballad hitmaking machine. A 2015 expanded re-release of the live album includes an 11-minute version of Top Of The Bill, recorded on the same tour that yielded Tokyo Tapes. That version is also available on YouTube if not various streaming services.

4. Iron Maiden, When The Wild Wind Blows . . . Eleven-minute epic from 2010’s The Final Frontier album. It’s one of Iron Maiden’s lengthy prog-metal excursions, something the band has always done but increasingly so later in its career. This track is loosely based on the 1982 nuclear war-themed graphic novel I’ve not read, titled When The Wind Blows.

5. Judas Priest, Burn In Hell . . . Dun, dun, dun, dun dun nun . . . hypnotic, ever-building opening guitar riff preceding all, er, hell breaking loose on this, my favorite track from the Tim (Ripper) Owens on lead vocals version of Priest. It’s from the 1997 album Jugulator, the first of two, Demolition in 2001 the other, released during the period singer Rob Halford left to pursue other projects including the short-lived thrash-metal outfit Fight.

6. Judas Priest, Invincible Shield . . . Smokin’, immediate, heavy riff rocking metal title cut from the 2024 album. It’s the fifth Priest studio platter, as Priest continues to pack a powerful punch, no treading water or resting on laurels, since Halford returned to the fold for the 2005 album Angel Of Retribution. I saw the reunion tour with Halford in 2004, before any new album was out, Slayer opened, great show by both bands.

7. Arthur Lee, Stay Away From Evil . . . Total change of direction into this toe-tapping bouncy funky wah wah guitar-laced groove tune from the band Love leader’s 1981 self-titled solo album. “I wrote the song about myself,” Love says in the album’s song-by-song liner notes. “It means just what it says, but then how can you?”

8. Jethro Tull, With You There To Help Me . . . Progressive folk-rock fusion might be how best to describe this track, and most of Tull’s material in general, aside from the first, blues-oriented album This Was. That album was so named because it ‘was’ Tull before the split between Ian Anderson and Tull’s first guitarist, blues-oriented Mick Abrahams, over musical direction. This is from the 1970 album Benefit which I’ve always thought of as a two-fer musical piece, stylistically flowing together with 1969’s Stand Up which introduced guitarist Martin Barre to the Tull team.

9. Blodwyn Pig, San Francisco Sketches (Beach Scape/Fisherman’s Wharf/Telegraph Hill/I’m Falling Out Of The Room) . . . . A multi-part suite, each offering a different mood while blending jazz, blues, and rock elements, from the band Mick Abrahams formed after leaving Jethro Tull. The song even features some flute, a seemingly obvious tip of the cap to Tull. San Francisco Sketches is from Getting To This, Blodwyn Pig’s 1970 release and second album, after debut Ahead Rings Out in 1969. Terrific name, Blodwyn Pig, Blodwyn being a Welsh name meaning fair, or white, flower. The band name was apparently coined by a stoned friend of the band.

10. Tame Impala, Elephant . . . Retro-psychedelic rock, great riff, could have come out in the 1960s but it’s actually from 2012 by the one-person (at least in studio) project Tame Impala, aka Australian singer and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. I remember my older son mentioning Tame Impala some years ago and I got into the music for a while but, while I like it, it sort of just faded from my playlists until the other day when, rummaging around, I picked up a compilation CD from a 2012 issue of Classic Rock Magazine and, voila. Tame Impala has become worthy of reinvestigation, for me.

11. April Wine, Slow Poke . . . Bluesy ribald subject matter groove tune from the 1975 album Stand Back which featured the hit single Tonite Is A Wonderful Time To Fall In Love. I was generally more an April Wine compilation collector until the 1977 album Live At The El Mocambo, taken from the famous (or infamous) Toronto club shows April Wine opened for The Rolling Stones, and that April Wine live album is actually where I first heard Slow Poke.

12. Savoy Brown, All I Can Do . . . Lengthy, soulful blues rock track, nearly 11 minutes, from the band’s 1971 Street Corner Talking album. As always, it features the sterling guitar playing of the late Kim Simmonds, who I saw live with Savoy Brown at the 2013 Kitchener Blues Festival.

13. Simon McBride, One More Try . . . Gary Moore-like blues rock ballad, when Moore did blues rock as opposed to his forays into hard rock and metal, and another one I pulled from that Classic Rock Magazine compilation CD I found lying around via which I rediscovered Tame Impala. This is from McBride’s 2012 solo album Crossing The Line. As of 2022, he’s Deep Purple’s new permanent guitarist, having replaced Steve Morse. Morse temporarily left Deep Purple to tend to his ailing wife, who has sadly since passed, with McBride taking over on tour until Morse decided to leave permanently, saying he was ‘handing over the keys to the vault” to McBride who, the always classy Morse added, had ‘nailed’ the Purple gig. That was confirmed by a friend of mine who saw Purple last summer and was impressed by McBride’s playing which had its first studio outing with Purple on the band’s 2024 release = 1.

14. U2, Surrender . . . Great song with a terrific rhythmic groove, from the 1983 album War, U2’s third studio release and one that arguably truly broke them big, featuring such hits as New Year’s Day and Sunday Bloody Sunday. Playing it for the show is a classic case, for me, anyway, of rediscovering a song after not having played an album in ages. As soon as it started I was “oh, yeah, I remember this.” Someone on YouTube put it this way and it would be difficult for me to provide a better analysis, so here’s his: “Every great album has at least one or two songs that weren’t a commercial hit, but add to the feel, acts as connective tissue, and gives an album substance and style. This is one of those songs.” Well put.

15. Free, Soon I Will Be Gone . . . And soon this show will be over, one song to go after this one, a beautiful ballad from the 1970 album Highway as I prepare to hit the road home.

16. Blood, Sweat & Tears, Maiden Voyage . . . A cover of the 1965 Herbie Hancock tune that’s become a jazz standard, blending BS & T’s typical jazz and rock elements and recorded for the band’s 1972 studio release New Blood. The album indeed represented new blood for the band, with lead singer David Clayton Thomas having gone solo although he later returned for a few more 1970s BS & T albums. Clayton Thomas was replaced by R & B singer Jerry Fisher on New Blood and other albums, although Maiden Voyage is an instrumental.

I had a show ready to go, then on Thursday came news that Marianne Faithfull had died. So, my show instead is a tribute to Rolling Stones’ frontman Mick Jagger’s 1960s girlfriend Faithfull who was a great artist in her own right, particularly long after leaving the Stones’ orbit.

That was evident on her return to prominence brilliant 1979 album Broken English which fit with the punk/new wave ethos of that time and was the first in a hot streak trilogy of the albums Broken English, Dangerous Acquaintances and A Child’s Adventure into the mid-1980s. The Broken English album in particular and subsequent releases featured her, well, broken english by booze, cigarettes and substance abuse voice. It was a far cry from the sweet sounds of her 1960s material like the Stones’ As Tears Go By, such that she came across as an entirely new artist, possessed by the passage of time and life experience as one of character and authenticity.

So, I’m playing the entire Broken English album plus assorted tracks, covers and otherwise, from throughout Faithfull’s career. Additional commentary after the bare-bones list. Song clips also available on my Facebook page.

Marianne Faithfull – Broken English

1. Broken English
2. Witches’ Song
3. Brain Drain
4. Guilt
5. The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan
6. What’s The Hurry?
7. Working Class Hero . . . John Lennon cover, brilliantly done.
8. Why D’Ya Do It . . . last but not least, the essential centerpiece of the album, a vitriolic rant over a lover’s infidelity.
——————
9. House Of The Rising Sun
10. The Blue Millionaire (extended 8:23 minute version)
11. A Stranger On Earth
12. Strange Weather
13. Falling From Grace
14. I’m A Loser (Beatles cover)
15. As Tears Go By
16. Intrigue
17. Reason To Believe (Tim Hardin cover)
18. For Beauty’s Sake
19. Sister Morphine (1969 version)
20. Sister Morphine (1979 version)
21. Running For Our Lives
22. Sweetheart
23. Bored By Dreams
24. Truth Bitter Truth
25. Monday Monday (The Mamas And The Papas cover)
——————

My track tales, outside of the Broken English album already covered:

9. House Of The Rising Sun . . . From 1964, Marianne Faithfull’s take on the traditional song done by so many but arguably most notably by The Animals.

10. The Blue Millionaire (extended 8:23 minute version) . . . A shorter version was released on the 1983 album A Child’s Adventure. This is the extended 12-inch vinyl single later also released on the excellent 2-CD compilation Marianne Faithfull A Perfect Stranger: The Island Anthology released on Island Records in 1998.

11. A Stranger On Earth . . . A heartfelt, hurtin’ torch song from her 1987 album Strange Weather.

12. Strange Weather . . . And the title cut from that album, similar vein. Among the luminaries on the album: Dr. John and the recently departed Garth Hudson of The Band fame – who I honored last week via a Band song set – on piano and accordion, respectively.

13. Falling From Grace . . . From that hot streak trio of albums I mentioned once Faithfull returned to prominence late 1970s – Broken English, Dangerous Acquaintances and A Child’s Adventure. This one’s from 1983’s A Child’s Adventure.

14. I’m A Loser . . . Her 1965 cover of The Beatles’ tune, with Faithfull’s then-pristine, beautiful voice carrying it to great effect.

15. As Tears Go By . . . Not her original cover of the song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, which became (to them) an unexpected hit, No. 9 on the UK charts, such that they then quickly recorded it as a Rolling Stones track and made No. 6. What I’m playing, though, is Faithfull’s more haunting version from her Strange Weather album, released in 1987.

16. Intrigue . . . From Dangerous Acquaintances, the 1981 followup to 1979’s Broken English and critically panned, relatively speaking, even by Faithfull herself at the time as it apparently was a difficult recording due to conflicts among the various musicians yet . . . How can an album featuring a compelling ‘lost love’ song like this plus others like Sweetheart, For Beauty’s Sake and Truth Bitter Truth be anything but terrific?

17. Reason To Believe . . . Back to 1967 we go for this Tim Hardin classic also memorably done by Rod Stewart on his 1971 album Every Picture Tells A Story.

18. For Beauty’s Sake . . . Up tempo number from the Dangerous Acquaintances album, a track co-written by Faithfull and Steve Winwood of Traffic/Blind Faith and solo fame.

19. Sister Morphine . . . Faithfull’s original 1969 version, co-written with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, later to appear as a Stones’ track on their 1971 album Sticky Fingers.

20. Sister Morphine . . . And her 1979 version, recorded during the sessions for the Broken English album and later reworked and released in this studio version on the 1998 compilation A Perfect Stranger: The Island Anthology.

21. Running For Our Lives . . . From the 1983 album A Child’s Adventure, it’s always been one of my favorite Faithfull tracks.

22. Sweetheart . . . Back to Dangerous Acquaintances we go.

23. Bored By Dreams . . . A pulsating rock tune, great drumming by various session players, from Faithfull’s 1995 album A Secret Life.

24. Truth Bitter Truth . . . Another of my favorite Faithfull tracks, from Dangerous Acquaintances.

25. Monday Monday . . . Marianne’s 1967 cover of The Mamas & the Papas’ hit as I look ahead to my Monday show, coming up on February 3, 8-10 pm ET.

My track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list. Song clips also available on my Facebook page.

1. Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 5
2. Electric Light Orchestra, Roll Over Beethoven
3. John Mellencamp, Play Guitar
4. John Mellencamp, Serious Business
5. Otis Redding, Satisfaction
6. Ray Charles, Let’s Go Get Stoned
7. Warren Zevon, Bo Diddley’s A Gunslinger/Bo Diddley (live, from Stand In The Fire)
8. Ron Wood & Bo Diddley, Who Do You Love (from Live At The Ritz)
9. The Rolling Stones, Too Tough
10. Pink Floyd, Empty Spaces
11. Pink Floyd, Young Lust
12. Aerosmith, One Way Street
13. ZZ Top, Lowdown In The Street
14. Procol Harum, Long Gone Geek
15. Mountain, Solution
16. Rush, Chemistry
17. Pretenders, Mystery Achievement
18. Van Halen, Up For Breakfast
19. The Black Crowes, Been A Long Time (Waiting On Love)
20. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Ain’t No Sunshine (from Live At The Fillmore 1997)
21. Fleetwood Mac, That’s All For Everyone

My track-by-track tales:

1. Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 5 . . . Everyone knows those first, dramatic notes . . . da na na na! Etc. Depending on version, or excerpt, the piece can go on for half an hour or more, or less. In this case, it’s about six minutes of me having fun throwing a curveball, perhaps, into an otherwise usual rock and roll show but I’ve done it before. As always, it depends on my mood, my thought process at a given time, what I may have been conversing about, reading, watching, listening to, or whatever. Ideas come from everywhere and anywhere. In this case, I was thinking of playing Electric Light Orchestra so then I thought about Roll Over Beethoven, ELO’s cover of Chuck Berry so it then followed that, what the heck, play Beethoven himself. So here we are.

2. Electric Light Orchestra, Roll Over Beethoven . . . The original 8-minutes and change version as it appeared on the ELO 2 album in 1973 when the band was still in its early phases finding its way and experimenting with psychedelic and progressive rock forms, always with an ear to catchy tunes. So, a Chuck Berry cover like Roll Over Beethoven was perhaps an obvious ‘easy’ thing to do, quite successfully; a great hard rocking/prog version.

3. John Mellencamp, Play Guitar . . . “Forget all about that macho shit and learn how to play guitar” the signature line from a great tune from his 1983 album Uh Huh, still in naming transition between early stage name John Cougar then to his actual surname Mellencamp. The album was released under the name John Cougar Mellencamp but in any event nothing truly matters but the music and it’s one of those albums easily listened to, straight through, with not a dud track in the list.

4. John Mellencamp, Serious Business . . . Another from Uh Huh; I couldn’t decide between this and Play Guitar so, I’m playing both.

5. Otis Redding, Satisfaction . . . Otis’s version of The Rolling Stones’ classic, released on his Otis Blue album that came out three months after the Stones’ 1965 hit single. It is, based on available literature, at least somewhat how Keith Richards of the Stones initially envisioned the song as being, complete with horns. Which, interestingly, with the Stones being augmented in concert by various horn sections over the years since, the song has at least somewhat become a hybrid of the original and Redding versions when the Stones play it live. That often depends on where it is in the set. I’ve seen them open with it, playing it ‘straight’ without horns, and seen them close with it in extended almost orchestra versions.

6. Ray Charles, Let’s Go Get Stoned . . . I’ve been in something of a Ray Charles phase of late, likely started when I played Humble Pie’s live version of I Don’t Need No Doctor fairly recently but in any case, always a good time to play something by one of the masters of music.

7. Warren Zevon, Bo Diddley’s A Gunslinger/Bo Diddley (live, from Stand In The Fire) . . . Incendiary stuff, in line with the album title.

8. Ron Wood & Bo Diddley, Who Do You Love (from Live At The Ritz) . . . I hadn’t planned on playing this but when I decided to play Zevon doing Diddley it just seemed to follow that I would or should play Diddley and this version of arguably his signature song, accompanied by the Stones’ guitarist, from the collaborative 1988 album Live At The Ritz.

9. The Rolling Stones, Too Tough . . . Nice riff rocker from the 1983 album Undercover. It’s something of a ‘lost’ album in the Stones’ extensive catalog. The band didn’t tour behind it as the so-called “World War III’ between songwriting principals Mick Jagger and Keith Richards was heating up as Jagger was in process of launching a solo career, splitting his musical focus. That battle went to greater extremes on the subsequent 1986 album Dirty Work which has been savaged by critics and some fans but which I love due to its naked aggression, reflecting band dynamics at the time. More on that, next time I play a song from the Dirty Work album. Suffice it to say that eventually, by the 1990s, all concerned seem to come to the understanding that they could – and did – pursue solo projects without sabotaging the mother ship.

On that score, it’s interesting in The Beatles’ documentary Get Back, there’s a scene where John Lennon and George Harrison are in studio, musing about doing solo albums in parallel with The Beatles. Paul McCartney wasn’t in the room but apparently later said that, had he known of the conversation, he would have been supportive of the idea. It didn’t happen – outside of some members doing experimental music while the band was still together, things like Harrison’s Wonderwall Music in 1968 and Electronic Sound in 1969 or Lennon’s avant-garde experiments with Yoko Ono – so it’s one of those interesting ‘what ifs’ of history. Lennon, Harrison and Ringo Starr did work together on some of each other’s post-breakup solo albums and McCartney joined the others – although not in studio at the same time – on Starr’s 1973 album Ringo.

As for the Stones’ Undercover album, it actually had its share of hits including the top 10 in most countries funk rock title cut plus She Was Hot and the funk rock/rap Too Much Blood. And Too Tough, to me a ‘shoulda /coulda been’ hit that wasn’t released as a single although it did get some radio play.

10. Pink Floyd, Empty Spaces . . . From The Wall, a lead-in into Young Lust, best listened to as a unified piece, as I’m presenting it.

11. Pink Floyd, Young Lust . . . Featuring the immortal line “I need a dirty woman, I need a dirty girl . . . ” Always reminds me of college days in my off-campus apartment when I got home one night to hear my neighbor, apparently impromptu but maybe he was listening to Pink Floyd, cry out “I want a woman!” Apparently, he didn’t have or get one, at least that night.

12. Aerosmith, One Way Street . . . A seven-minute bluesy cut from the band’s self-titled 1973 debut album that featured the hit single Dream On.

13. ZZ Top, Lowdown In The Street . . . Music is, or can be, very much a time and place thing and that’s what ZZ Top’s 1979 album Deguello, from which this track comes, is for me. I had of course known of the band, their various hits to that point like Tush and Le Grange, owned their first compilation featuring those tunes but during college here came Deguello, with hits like I Thank You and Cheap Sunglasses and I was totally sold, prompting me to go back to the individual albums preceding Deguello, with obvious rewards.

14. Procol Harum, Long Gone Geek . . . Heavy rocker was the B-side to the title cut single from the 1969 album A Salty Dog.

15. Mountain, Solution . . . A new track at the time of its release, 1994, on the excellent/comprehensive Mountain compilation Over The Top which has now, according to a magazine I was perusing in my neighborhood record store last Friday, been re-released after going out of print. It’s a worthwhile compilation to pick up or listen to online, showing how Mountain was excellent beyond their best-known hit Mississippi Queen. Solution, the 1994 track in all its heavy guitar glory, is up to Mountain’s established standards.

16. Rush, Chemistry . . . From the 1982 album Signals which featured the hit single Subdivisions. Typical Rush, the song Chemistry, but upon deeper investigation there are musical signs, (maybe that’s why they called the album Signals) in the song of Rush’s impending move into the controversial and divisive to the fan base synthesizer rock phase over the next three albums – Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows and Hold Your Fire.

17. Pretenders, Mystery Achievement . . . Irresistible rocker, great bass line, from the band’s self-titled debut album, 1979. The hits/best known tracks were Brass In Pocket and Precious but it’s one of those albums where every song is superb.

18. Van Halen, Up For Breakfast . . . Perhaps an indication of what may have been but never happened/continued. Up For Breakfast, hard yet melodic stuff from the Van (Sammy) Hagar version of the band was a new track recorded in 2004 along with two others for the 2-disc compilation The Best Of Both Worlds (the David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar on lead vocals versions of the band, totally ignoring the ill-fated Gary Cherone-fronted Van Halen III album). The compilation came out in support of a reunion tour with Hagar. I saw the show in July, 2004 in Toronto and it was terrific but it apparently was an illusion of sorts as relationships within the band were fraying thanks to musical differences compounded by guitarist Eddie Van Halen’s assorted drug and personal demons. There’s many interviews available on YouTube with, at least, Hagar’s views on what transpired.

19. The Black Crowes, Been A Long Time (Waiting On Love) . . . Unapologetically derivative of their heroes like Faces, Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones, among others, with the added influence of ‘jam bands’ that the Crowes – originally a hit singles band via songs like Jealous Again and Otis Redding’s Hard To Handle – have long since become in the vein of The Allman Brothers Band and others. It’s terrific music, regardless, that I haven’t played on the show in ages and thus is long overdue, so here we come with this track from the 2009 album Before The Frost . . . Until The Freeze. It was recorded before a live audience at Levon Helm of The Band fame’s Woodstock, New York studio, The Barn.

20. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Ain’t No Sunshine (from Live At The Fillmore 1997) . . . The Bill Withers classic done by Petty and The Heartbreakers on a terrific live album that came out in physical copies in 2022. It’s a great listen as Petty and pals go through their own material but also covers like Ain’t No Sunshine, J.J. Cale’s Call Me The Breeze, the Stones’ Time Is On My Side and Satisfaction, The Byrds’ Eight Miles High and Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, among others.

21. Fleetwood Mac, That’s All For Everyone . . . And that is indeed all, for this show at least, as we part, until next time, via this cool cut I’ve always enjoyed, from the 1979 album Tusk.

I hadn’t played anything from The Band recently, then this week the group came to mind with the passing, at age 87, of multi-instrumentalist Garth Hudson. All of the original members – Hudson, Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel – are now sadly gone but the music of course lives on. Here they are in all their live glory on the 1972 album Rock Of Ages, followed by some studio tracks by the group to fill out my two-hour slot.

The live album is notable for The Band being augmented by – as Robertson advises in the introduction – something different than the group to that point had tried in the live arena, a horn section arranged by the renowned Allen Toussaint. The result is indeed an album for the ages.

The Band – Rock Of Ages

1. Introduction
2. Don’t Do It
3. King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
4. Caledonia Mission
5. Get Up Jake
6. The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show
7. Stage Fright
8. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
9. Across The Great Divide
10. This Wheel’s On Fire
11. Rag Mama Rag
12. The Weight
13. The Shape I’m In
14. Unfaithful Servant
15. Life Is A Carnival
16. The Genetic Method
17. Chest Fever
18. (I Don’t Want To) Hang Up My Rock And Roll Shoes

Studio tracks:

19. Acadian Driftwood
20. Up On Cripple Creek
21. The Saga Of Pepote Rouge
22. Endless Highway
23. It Makes No Difference
24. Knockin’ Lost John
25. Mystery Train

Song clips also available on my Facebook page. My track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list.

1. The Clash, The Magnificent Seven
2. Television, Torn Curtain
3. Little Feat, Texas Twister
4. Steve Miller Band, Serenade From The Stars aka Serenade
5. Deep Purple, Birds Of Prey
6. Lou Reed, Street Hassle
7. Patti Smith, Are You Experienced?
8. Jimi Hendrix, 1983 (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)
9. Andrew Stockdale, Meridian
10. John Lennon, Steel And Glass
11. The Rolling Stones with Lady Gaga, Sweet Sounds Of Heaven
12. Boz Scaggs, Harbor Lights
13. Bonnie Raitt, Guilty
14. Steve Winwood, Spanish Dancer
15. Blind Faith, Do What You Like
16. Funkadelic, Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow

My track-by-track tales:

1. The Clash, The Magnificent Seven . . . The Clash were often billed as ‘the only band that matters’ – I recall that being a sticker on my original vinyl copy of the London Calling album – and for the period of time between the release of that worldwide commercial breakthrough album in 1979 through Sandinista! in 1980 and Combat Rock in 1982, for me, they essentially were.

I still was into the Beatles and Stones and so on – in defiance of The Clash’s lyrics for the song 1977 “No Elvis, Beatles, or The Rolling Stones in 1977” to which I enjoyed Mick Jagger’s riposte “Keith Richards is the original punk rocker. You can’t really out-punk keith – it’s a useless gesture.” – but had become major into The Clash and all the new wave and punk rock of that time to the point where one of my younger brothers took a look at my record collection and said ‘what’s happened to you?’ lol, to which I replied, ‘nothing, outside of going to college, among other things, expanding my horizons, try it, you might like it” while he went back to his Stones, Elton John and KISS albums.

I think what really did my brother in was the sight of me owning Haircut 100 and Fabulous Poodles albums and such and when I think and/or listen back on it, he may have been on the right track there. Those infatuations didn’t last long – but The Clash did, for me. Meantime, bands like The Clash later admitted to their admiration for and inspiration taken from groups like the Stones that they criticized, partly at least tongue in cheek, in songs such as 1977.

As for The Magnificent Seven, of course an old movie title not sure the song had anything to do with, the flick featuring Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen that served as the title to the opening cut on Sandinista! It was the sprawling 3-album vinyl set that came out in 1980 and featured The Clash in all their by then rock/reggae/dub/rap/funk/terrifically cynical lyrics glory.

“Ring! Ring! It’s 7:00 A.M.!
Move y’self to go again
Cold water in the face
Brings you back to this awful place . . . ”

“Gimme Honda, Gimme Sony
So cheap and real phony
Hong Kong dollars and Indian cents
English pounds and Eskimo pence . . . ”

they’d never get away with, or at least would be censured if not outright censored for, such politically incorrect lyrics nowadays.

“So get back to work an’ sweat some more
The sun will sink an’ we’ll get out the door
It’s no good for man to work in cages
Hits the town, he drinks his wages
You’re frettin’, you’re sweatin’
But did you notice you ain’t gettin’? . . . ”

“Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi
Went to the park to check on the game
But they was murdered by the other team
Who went on to win fifty-nil
You can be true, you can be false
You be given the same reward
Socrates and Milhous Nixon
Both went the same way – through the kitchen
Plato the Greek or Rin Tin Tin
Who’s more famous to the billion millions?
News Flash: Vacuum Cleaner Sucks Up Budgie
Oooohh…bub-bye
Magnificence!!”

Truly magnificent. Great band. And maybe/probably that’s enough verbose commentary for one song, enough for my entire set, but there’s 15 more to go!

2. Television, Torn Curtain . . . I thought of playing this, from Television’s Marquee Moon album (and a great song, that title cut, which I’ve played before on the show) because I was going through all the “I’ll get to it, eventually” shows/movies/documentaries I’ve recorded on my PVR and I have an Alfred Hitchcock movie, Torn Curtain, on my list. It’s a spy movie from 1966. It stars the great actor Paul Newman, but it’s considered by critics to be not up to Hitchock’s usual standard and I’ve seen most if not all of Hitchcock’s classics but I have not seen Torn Curtain so I was curious and recorded it but I’ll reserve judgment until viewed. As for Torn Curtain, the song: A haunting, spooky track, starts with a quick drum roll then into melancholic lyrics – “I’m uncertain when beauty meets abuse, torn curtain loves all ridicule” underscored by stirring guitar work on a seven-minute trip. As I’ve mentioned before, Marquee Moon is a critically acclaimed album I tried several times and never ‘got’ until one day some years ago I happened to be in a used CD store, the title track was playing and, suddenly, I was sold. Funny how music can work that way.

3. Little Feat, Texas Twister . . . From the reconstituted Little Feat that, post-leader Lowell George’s death in 1979, re-emerged in 1988 with most of the key members of the original band still on board for the album and title cut hit single Let It Roll. At the time, I’d barely been aware that Little Feat was back but picked up their trail upon hearing on the radio this uptempo boogie rock toe-tapping minor hit single from the 1990 followup album Representing The Mambo. I eventually saw Little Feat live at a club in Hamilton, Ontario during the summer of 2004; great show.

4. Steve Miller Band, Serenade From The Stars aka Serenade . . . Sometimes you see it listed as Serenade, sometimes as Serenade From The Stars. In any event, this spacey song appeared on Miller’s 1976 hit album Fly Like An Eagle and, although not a big hit single, made the cut for his ubiquitous, massively-selling 1978 compilation Greatest Hits 1974-78. I was reminded of it when I threw another Miller compilation, the 2-CD Ultimate Hits, into the car player during some recent runnings around.

5. Deep Purple, Birds Of Prey . . . One of my favorite bands, Deep Purple has been doing some terrific late-career music, particularly since hooking up with producer Bob Ezrin for the 2013 studio album Now What?! and four more albums since including the 2024 release = 1 with new guitarist Simon McBride. He replaced Steve Morse, whose great work is featured on this sort of psychedelic/progressive rocker from the 2017 album Infinite. Morse – with Purple for eight studio sets since the 1996 release Purpendicular – left the group on good terms as he departed to care for his then-ill wife Janine who, sadly, subsequently died, with McBride at first replacing Morse on tour and then permanently. Ezrin, meantime, is well known for his work with Alice Cooper, particularly during Cooper’s 1970s heyday, and Pink Floyd including The Wall album, among many other credits.

6. Lou Reed, Street Hassle . . . Eleven-minute title track to Reed’s 1978 album exploring, arguably, the seedy sides – depending upon one’s point of view – of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.

7. Patti Smith, Are You Experienced? . . . Smith is rightly renowned for her albums Horses and Easter, among others, but right up there, for me, is her 2007 covers album Twelve (for the number of songs; thirteen if you count a bonus track on some copies, not mine) from which I pulled this haunting Hendrix cover. Among the other songs on the set, some of which I’ve played on previous shows, are the Stones’ Gimme Shelter, The Beatles’ Within You Without You, Bob Dylan’s Changing Of The Guards, Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit and Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit.

8. Jimi Hendrix, 1983 (A Merman I Should Turn to Be) . . . A sprawling, 13-minute psychedelic masterpiece from the Electric Ladyland album, released in October, 1968. It’s a quite remarkable piece of music incorporating all Hendrix blessed us with in terms of riff rock, psychedelia, funk, soul and so on, as I’ve been reminded while playing it while writing these commentary notes. So much so that I’m now tempted to play the entire Electric Ladyland album on one of my Saturday morning ‘album play’ shows.

9. Andrew Stockdale, Meridian . . . Typical riff rocker from Wolfmother’s leader, aka essentially he who is Wolfmother as the songwriting brains behind the operation, from his 2013 solo album Keep Moving. It was originally to be a Wolfmother album but became a Stockdale set after various personnel changes in the band. Stockdale/Wolfmother are essentially one and the same and if you’re not aware of the artist, I refer you to my eldest musician son’s somewhat dismissive assessment when the first Wolfmother album, and a good one, came out in 2005: “Dad, it’s (Led) Zeppelin”. It was a fun chat during which I recall replying, “yup but so what, I can still enjoy it” which I still do.

10. John Lennon, Steel And Glass . . . Spooky cool brooding stuff from the 1974 album Walls And Bridges, a record that featured the hit single Whatever Gets You Thru The Night.

11. The Rolling Stones with Lady Gaga, Sweet Sounds Of Heaven . . . Great gospel type tune from the 2023 album Hackney Diamonds that many – and I agree – think is akin to songs like Let It Loose or Shine A Light and could have fit on those songs’ parent 1972 album Exile On Main St. It features Lady Gaga’s dueling vocal performance with Mick Jagger. It’s perhaps interesting in that I don’t listen to Lady Gaga’s original music much if at all yet I know about her and, as with, say, Taylor Swift, I respect them both because they actually write and play instruments in addition to performing so to me they have credibility even if their material is not to my taste, though I have sampled it. It’s akin I suppose to Norah Jones, a great artist in her own right who I also don’t listen to much. A female friend gave me an album of hers as a gift years ago, but I prefer Jones in the co-lead vocal she did with Keith Richards on the song Illusion from Richards’ most recent solo release, the 2015 album Crosseyed Heart.

Sweet Sounds Of Heaven, also featuring Stevie Wonder on keyboards and synthesizer, was a single and a hit to some degree, depending on whatever chart one consults in our multi-platform world. The song has a false ending 5:10 in which is when the single edit ends but it goes on for two more minutes of Jagger/Gaga vocal vamping on the album version.

12. Boz Scaggs, Harbor Lights . . . Hauntingly smooth jazzy jam love song from the 1977 Silk Degrees album. That record brought Boz – who had previously been in the early blues rock/psychedelic version of the Steve Miller Band and sessions with Duane Allman on songs like the lengthy blues track Loan Me A Dime I’ve previously played – to solo prominence and widespread recognition via the hit singles Lowdown and Lido Shuffle.

13. Bonnie Raitt, Guilty . . . A tender, heart-wrenching cover of a Randy Newman song about relationships and the human condition, from Raitt’s 1973 album Takin’ My Time, long before she became a major hit artist, and deservedly so, in the late 1980s.

14. Steve Winwood, Spanish Dancer . . . From Winwood’s 1980 release Arc Of A Diver, a true solo work where this brilliant artist of Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith and solo fame played every instrument – guitar, bass, drums, keyboards – in addition to producing the album.

15. Blind Faith, Do What You Like . . . Long, always interesting musically, jam from the supergroup’s – Winwood, lead vocals, guitar, keyboards, Eric Clapton guitar, Ginger Baker drums, Ric Grech bass – one and only studio album, the self-titled release that came out in 1969.

16. Funkadelic, Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow . . . Extended acid rock/psychedelic song featuring the guitar playing of Eddie Hazel on this title cut from the band’s second studio album, released in July, 1970.

So Old It’s New blues and blues/rock set of influencers and those influenced by them and on down the line, generation by generation.

I initially was planning a straight blues/rock show and was going to leave it at individual, random songs. But it evolved into direct connections between artists – from a precursor Allman Brothers band playing B.B. King to B.B. King himself to another King, Albert, to Muddy Waters working with Johnny Winter to Johnny Winter on his own to John Lee Hooker to Hooker with Canned Heat, etc. So it’s all of a piece, of sorts, as the sets, to me often wonderfully, can take on lives of their own.

So we have, in some cases, various versions of the same song, like Blind Willie McTell’s original Statesboro Blues as later done by Taj Mahal which then inspired The Allman Brothers Band. Then, things like Leadbelly’s Gallis Pole and Led Zeppelin’s Gallows Pole – both derived from a centuries-old folk song The Maid Freed From The Gallows. And some songs, in a bluesy vein, like Jethro Tull’s It’s Breaking Me Up, just on their own. All of it bracketed by The Rolling Stones’ take on the Little Walter tune Blue And Lonesome, from the Stones’ 2016 blues covers album of the same name, and ending the show with Little Walter’s original version of that song. My track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list. Song clips on my Facebook page.

1. The Rolling Stones, Blue And Lonesome
2. The Hourglass, B.B. King Medley (Sweet Little Angel/It’s My Own Fault/How Blue Can You Get?)
3. B.B. King with Ruth Brown, Ain’t Nobody’s Business (live at B.B. King’s Blues Club, Memphis 1993)
4. Albert King, Cadillac Assembly Line
5. Muddy Waters, Bus Driver
6. Johnny Winter, Lone Wolf
7. John Lee Hooker, I’m Bad Like Jesse James
8. John Lee Hooker with Canned Heat, Burning Hell
9. Canned Heat, Election Blues
10. Jethro Tull, It’s Breaking Me Up
11. Bob Dylan, Blind Willie McTell
12. Blind Willie McTell, Statesboro Blues
13. Taj Mahal, Statesboro Blues
14. The Allman Brothers Band, Statesboro Blues (live, from At Fillmore East)
15. Leadbelly, The Gallis Pole
16. Led Zeppelin, Gallows Pole
17. Robert Johnson, Ramblin’ On My Mind
18. Eric Clapton, Ramblin’ On My Mind (live, from E.C. Was Here)
19. Ten Years After, Help Me
20. Buddy Guy, Baby Please Don’t Leave Me
21. Little Walter, Blue And Lonesome

My track-by-track tales:

1. The Rolling Stones, Blue and Lonesome . . . A cover that not only pays homage to the Chicago blues but also mirrors the Stones’ beginnings as a blues band. Mick Jagger’s harmonica playing echoes Little Walter’s original, but the Stones inject their distinct rock edge, bridging the gap between traditional blues and modern rock.

2. The Hourglass, B.B. King Medley ((Sweet Little Angel/It’s My Own Fault/How Blue Can You Get?) . . . From 1968. The Hourglass was a precursor to the eventual full blown Allman Brothers Band. At first it was Duane Allman on guitar and brother Gregg on vocals and keyboards accompanied by various other musicians, within two years morphing into the initial lineups of the legendary Allman Brothers Band. I first cottoned to this tribute via the first of two Duane Allman compilations – An Anthology and An Anthology Volume II – I investigated once I became, beyond hits compilations, fully invested in the Allmans, who have come to be one of my alltime favorite bands. The Duane Allman anthologies feature Allmans Brothers tracks but more arguably interesting – since one can listen to the Allmans on their own – are the various sessions Duane played on outside of the parent band.

3. B.B. King with Ruth Brown, Ain’t Nobody’s Business (Live At B.B. King’s Blues Club, Memphis 1993) . . . B.B. largely gives the actual singing vocals over to Ruth, adding spoken word ‘accents’ to lead her on in this near 10-minute ribald, flirtatious classic featuring, as always, King’s smooth, tasteful and emotive guitar work that is a language in itself.

4. Albert King, Cadillac Assembly Line . . . A funky, bluesy working-class story set to King’s cutting guitar tone and silky smooth vocals.

5. Muddy Waters, Bus Driver . . . From Muddy’s first of three ‘comeback’ albums produced and played on by Johnny Winter, this extended blues rock tune from Hard Again, released in 1977. The other two albums in the trilogy were I’m Ready and King Bee, King Bee being Muddy’s last studio statement, all released between 1977 and 1981 and all more than worthy listens.

6. Johnny Winter, Lone Wolf . . Up-tempo blues rocker from Winter’s 2004 studio album I’m A Bluesman. I saw him at the Kitchener Blues Festival in 2011, three years before his death by which time Winter’s health was failing. He was playing concerts sitting in a chair up front, helped to the stage, but even so his guitar playing and the overall vibe was smokin’ hot and of course even when standing up during healthier days, Winter “just stood there’ out front, little movement, wailing away, wonderfully.

7. John Lee Hooker, I’m Bad Like Jesse James . . . I was listening to this the other night while prepping the show and, as often happens with great music, I think “why listen to anything else but John Lee Hooker?” But that merely fits my mantra of ‘the best song/band/artist ever is the one you are listening to, now, if you like it.’ Typically haunting if not menacing spoken-word Hooker singing style minimalist mood piece. This version is from the 1967 album Live at Cafe Au Go Go, recorded in New York City in 1966 with Hooker backed by members of Muddy Waters’ band.

8. John Lee Hooker with Canned Heat, Burning Hell . . . Hooker teamed with Heat for the 1971 album Hooker ‘n Heat. . . After about a minute of in-studio chat about record company machinations, various musicians, cooking food, yes they talk about cooking food . . . eventually in comes the music, 90 seconds in, unannounced as the banter just stops, with Hooker’s hypnotic boogie style taking over and blending seamlessly with Canned Heat’s rock and blues energy.

9. Canned Heat, Election Blues . . . Written and released in 1973 as a lament about Richard Nixon having won a landslide victory in the 1972 US election which of course later led to Watergate and Nixon’s resignation in August, 1974. While written back then, the thoughts expressed in the lyrics, about voter turnout or lack of same, about being informed if and before one votes, however one votes, forever resonate. Beyond that, it’s just a great slow blues tune.

10. Jethro Tull, It’s Breaking Me Up . . . Tull leader/singer/songwriter/flautist/myriad instrumentalist Ian Anderson has always said that the title of Tull’s first album, This Was, was appropriate in that ‘this was’ Jethro Tull because by the time the album was released in 1968, original guitarist and blues aficionado Mick Abrahams was already on his way out as Anderson wanted to embrace a different direction (while still sometimes returning to bluesy tracks like It’s Breaking Me Up) as the two men didn’t see eye-to-eye in terms of musical vision. Abrahams went on to form the blues-rock band Blodwyn Pig, great name with some great tunes I’ve played before on the show and must return to at some point.

11. Bob Dylan, Blind Willie McTell . . . It’s among the biggest ‘WTF?’ songs in Dylan’s catalogue in terms of, why did it take so long to officially release? A brilliant tribute to the legendary bluesman I’ll get to in about six minutes of song time but before that, more on Dylan. Mercurial as ever, his tribute to McTell was shelved, inexplicably to most Dylan fans once they knew of it, during the sessions for the otherwise excellent 1983 album Infidels. The song Blind Willie McTell first saw widespread commercial release – emphasis on the plaintive, emotional lyric “And I know no one can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell” that ends most of the verses – on the first of the now 17-volume and counting Booleg Series, Volumes 1-3 1961-1991 released in the spring of 1991. It’s essential Dylan that by now has appeared on various compilations. It’s a worthy introduction to McTell’s own work, including signature tune Statesboro Blues, and some of those who covered that classic.

12. Blind Willie McTell, Statesboro Blues . . . Intricate and influential fingerpicking and lyrical wit. McTell’s relaxed delivery belies the complexity of his technique, making it a blueprint for later interpretations.

13. Taj Mahal, Statesboro Blues . . . A revitilization of McTell’s original via a modern, roots-oriented approach from the multi-faceted Taj, who first recorded the tune in the band Rising Sons, with guitarist Ry Cooder, during the mid-1960s. Mahal reworked it for this version, released on his self-titled debut solo album in 1968.

14. The Allman Brothers Band, Statesboro Blues (live, from At Fillmore East) . . . Blind Willie McTell originally recorded the song in 1928. So it’s now nearly 100 years old! A tribute to the power of excellence and permanence because it doesn’t really age; it just evolves through the ages. Taj Mahal took it further in 1968 and then the Allmans, influenced by Taj’s arrangement, made it their own, transforming an acoustic blues into a rock anthem, upon release of the live album At Fillmore East in 1971 that established the band as a force in blues/rock music.

15. Leadbelly, The Gallis Pole . . . People accuse Led Zeppelin of ripping stuff off from influential blues artists and I’ve been a critic, too, while maintaining enjoyment of Zep’s music although I’ve tempered my tirades over time with the realization that lots of borrowing goes on in music, to varying degrees. And if it’s proven to be plagiarism, then a price is usually paid. The Gallis Pole is another example but at least when Zep covered it and released it on Led Zeppelin III in 1970 it was credited as ‘traditional arranged by’ unlike how they often credited songs they didn’t actually write to themselves – and in some cases later, rightly, paid for it via copyright infringement lawsuits. In any event, Leadbelly’s version wasn’t original, either. It’s all derived from a centuries-old folk song, specific origin unknown, called The Maid Freed from the Gallows, about someone facing the hangman. Great song in all its incarnations including this one featuring Leadbelly’s amazing guitar strumming.

16. Led Zeppelin, Gallows Pole . . . And here’s the Zeppelin version, which arguably many people heard first but the beauty of it all is then you can go back to the original source material. It’s as Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones has said is among the highest compliments that can be paid a musician: They passed it on.

17. Robert Johnson, Ramblin’ On My Mind . . . Amazing the emotional pull one can evoke via just an acoustic guitar and haunting, personal, deeply felt vocals. He inspired so many, of course.

18. Eric Clapton, Ramblin’ On My Mind (live, from EC Was Here) . . . Speaking of those Robert Johnson inspired, Clapton pays tribute to one of his heroes and influences on this extended, guitar solos extraordinaire, live cut from an album released in 1975. Clapton originally sang and played it on the 1966 John Mayall album Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton. It was, with Mayall’s encouragement, an at the time reluctant to sing Clapton’s first solo vocal recording.

19. Ten Years After, Help Me . . . Slow, intoxicating extended blues treatment of a song made famous by Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller), taken from the self-titled debut TYA album, released late in 1967. Williamson’s 1963 version, particularly the bass riff played by Willie Dixon, is based on the Booker T. & the M.G.’s 1962 smash instrumental hit Green Onions and it’s evident in the TYA version as well.

20. Buddy Guy, Baby Please Don’t Leave Me . . . A mesmerizing display of vocal and guitar intensity on this hypnotic cut from Guy’s 2001 album Sweet Tea, named for the Oxford, Mississippi studio in which it was recorded.

21. Little Walter, Blue and Lonesome . . . We finish as we started, sort of, in this case with the original Little Walter tune The Rolling Stones covered to start the set.