A program split between ‘fool’ songs, including several from the Deep Purple family, in advance of April Fool’s Day tomorrow, and some random fare. Some of the ‘fool’ songs are repeats from a Saturday morning show I did on April 1, 2023. My track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list.

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1. Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Fool
2. Deep Purple, Fools
3. Deep Purple, You Fool No One, live from Made In Europe
4. Whitesnake, Fool For Your Loving (original 1980 version from Ready An’ Willing album)
5. Peter Green, A Fool No More
6. Joe Jackson, Fool
7. Bobbie Gentry, Find Em, Fool Em, Forget About Em
8. ZZ Top, Made Into A Movie
9. Rod Stewart, Alright For An Hour
10. Jethro Tull, Black Sunday
11. Robert Plant, Wreckless Love
12. Warren Zevon, Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School
13. Moby Grape, Miller’s Blues (live)
14. Nazareth, Telegram (Part 1: On Your Way/Part 2: So You Want To Be A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star/Part 3: Sound Check/Part 4: Here We Are Again)
15. Charlie Watts Quintet . . . Going, Going, Going, Gone

My track-by-track tales:

1. Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Fool . . . My opener this week, a spooky, psychedelic piece that swerves into folk, blues and acid rock, from the San Francisco band’s self-titled 1968 debut that I played late in what became a 28-song set two years ago on April 1. At the time, I marvelled at how many songs have ‘fool’ in their title, particularly deep cuts which are the foundation of my show. Especially when, as I wrote then, I had initially thought I might struggle to fill a set only to find I had four hours’ worth of songs I had to shave down for my two-hour slot.

But it’s not actually April 1 yet so I’m not doing an entire ‘fools’ show this time, as mentioned in my preamble and due to some lengthy songs like this 12-minute voyage, the set is about half the number of tunes, at 15. As for Quicksilver’s The Fool, according to Wikipedia “the multi-sectional, quasi-symphonic psych epic The Fool had begun with lyrics typed on a typewriter during an LSD trip.” And, as I mentioned two years ago, quite the trip it is, in line with what Quicksilver Messenger Service, at least on their various such lengthy tracks like the Who Do You Love suite on the 1969 album Happy Trails, were all about.

2. Deep Purple, Fools . . . A Purple classic in my opinion but, granted, I’m a huge fan of the band, all phases during its long existence. I love the slow, almost sinister buildup until things explode into a hard rocker with progressive accents including the power of Ian Gillan’s vocals, adaptable to any situation, as they were in his prime at the time of the 1971 album Fireball from which Fools comes. Perhaps that’s at least part of why Gillan has said it’s his favorite Purple album although critics tend to find it wanting relatively speaking, coming as it did between the explosive first album of the Mark II Purple unit, In Rock and the Smoke On The Water, Highway Star and other Purple perfections of Machine Head. All I can say is that an album with songs like the title cut, No No No, Strange Kind Of Woman and No One Came along with Fools is equally worthy.

3. Deep Purple, You Fool No One, live from Made In Europe . . . I played this boogie rock tune from the 1974 album Burn the last time I did an April Fool’s show, a four-minutes and change song in its original studio form. I’m going the epic route this time, 16 minutes and 42 seconds from the Made In Europe album, which highlighted the so-called Mark III version of Purple (David Coverdale lead vocals; Glenn Hughes on bass and vocals). Tracks were drawn from the two studio albums done by that lineup – Burn and Stormbringer – during a time when guitarist Ritchie Blackmore was already planning his exit to form Rainbow although he performed remarkably as evidenced on the live material from that Purple period.

Aside from Blackmore’s brilliance and the ever-reliable Ian Paice on drums and Jon Lord on keyboards, it can be risky going with an extended live piece from that era of Purple. Hughes’ vocal histrionics and, particularly, stage patter seemingly trying to upstage Coverdale (although they apparently were and have been great pals) can get annoying. But in fairness, Hughes had come to Purple after being the frontman in Trapeze although from what I’ve read he occasionally had to be reminded that it was Coverdale who was hired as lead singer. That said, I do like his and Coverdale’s tandem vocal work and Hughes’ lead singing efforts in Purple, with Holy Man from Stormbringer a particular standout. Much of Hughes’ solo stuff is worthy as well as are his contributions to hard blues-rocking Black Country Communion alongside guitarist Joe Bonamassa and drummer Jason Bonham.

This live treatment of You Fool No One starts with Blackmore playfully fiddling around with Hava Nagila before he rips into the song proper, then into some Hendrixian pyrotechnics followed by a bluesy interlude before returning to the familiar tune. Along the way is a short drum solo on what became Paice’s showcase in the Mark III version, replacing The Mule from the Ian Gillan-Roger Glover Mark II lineup as heard on the live classic Made In Japan. Made In Europe doesn’t get the accolades of Made In Japan, but as a high school teen at the time, I embraced both albums equally.

4. Whitesnake, Fool For Your Loving (original 1980 version from Ready An’ Willing album) . . . From the bluesy and my favorite phase of Whitesnake, immediately after David Coverdale left Deep Purple after that band’s first and thought at the time to be final breakup. The later ‘hair metal’ version of Whitesnake redid the song in 1989 after the band became big worldwide, particularly in a United States/North America that had, relatively speaking, ignored them to that point. Here I Go Again, originally released in 1982, was also similarly reworked into a ‘hair metal’ hit. I like all the versions but much prefer the less dressed up with studio gunk originals, which in addition to Coverdale also featured original Purple players Ian Paice on drums and Jon Lord on keyboards who by that point had joined Whitesnake. Interestingly, perhaps, the original Fool For Your Loving charted higher (No. 13) in the UK than did the ‘Americanized’ version that hit No. 2 in the US but only No. 43 in the UK. I’m with the UK listeners.

5. Peter Green, A Fool No More . . . Long and slow and intoxicatingly so, a haunting track from the Fleetwood Mac founder’s 1979 album In The Skies.

6. Joe Jackson, Fool . . . It’s rock, it’s jazz, it’s funk, it’s great. It’s the title cut to JJ’s 2019 album Fool as I continue to travel with him wherever he’s gone since his 1979 punk rock/new wave debut album Look Sharp! New wave, rock, reggae/ska, big band, jazz, classical – I’ve always followed, seen him live twice, never been disappointed.

7. Bobbie Gentry, Find Em, Fool Em, Forget About Em . . . From Gentry’s 1970 studio album Fancy. To quote from my April 1, 2023 track tales: Soul country, I suppose one would describe this one from the Ode To Billie Joe singer, one of the first American women to compose and produce her own material. She had 11 chart hits, including Billie Joe, the 1967 No. 1 that propelled her to stardom. Some years ago I was listening to Ode To Billie Joe, amazing song of course, and decided to dig deeper into Gentry’s work. I’ve been reaping the rewards ever since. One of those music mysteries, too. She was active until April, 1982 when she left the industry and essentially disappeared off the face of the earth after appearing at a country music awards show. She’d just had enough, apparently, which I find kinda cool. I’m done, see ya. She’d be 82 now, with various reports having her living in a gated community near Memphis, Tennessee. Or Los Angeles, depending on one’s source. She was once briefly married to casino magnate Bill Harrah and later to Jim Stafford, known for the 1970s hits Spiders & Snakes and the double entendre My Girl Bill.

8. ZZ Top, Made Into A Movie . . . Slow, hard, swampy almost metallic blues from the 1999 album XXX so named to mark the band’s 30th anniversary during a time when ZZ Top was slowly but surely returning to the blues and blues rock from which the band originated. The shift started with the Antenna album in 1994, a departure or at least the beginning of one from the synthesizer phase of massive hit singles/videos like Legs during the 1980s. In terms of sales, the return to their original foundation didn’t help ZZ Top much through albums like XXX, its predecessor Rhythmeen and later efforts like Mescalaro and La Futura, but there’s loads of quality music within.

9. Rod Stewart, Alright For An Hour . . . From Atlantic Crossing, Stewart’s appropriately-titled 1975 album as he’d crossed the ocean – as shown on the cool album cover – in reality and musically. No longer were members of former band Faces backing him, no longer was he maintaining concurrent careers; now it was Stewart and studio musicians, some of whom eventually morphed into what briefly became known as The Rod Stewart Group at least in terms of studio credits. A great funky, swaggering tune on an album that proved to be the launching point for subsequent hit releases A Night On The Town, Footloose And Fancy Free and Blondes Have More Fun.

10. Jethro Tull, Black Sunday . . . Ian Anderson goes into the studio in 1980 intending to record a solo album but, under record company pressure which he’s since been quoted as saying he regrets succumbing to, the album comes out as ‘A’ – ostensibly for Anderson solo as the tapes were apparently marked as such – but as a Jethro Tull release. There are myriad tales about what transpired but in short, the musicians Anderson was using for what he initially planned as a solo album became Jethro Tull, in some ways similar to what’s transpired with Tull in the 2020s since Anderson revived the Tull brand. In 1980, it resulted in the dismissal/departure of such 1970s Tull stalwarts as drummer Barriemore Barlow and keyboardist John Evan, among others. As well, Tull, or Anderson, were moving in a more synthesizer and electronic sounds direction, a precursor to the next few albums: Tull’s The Broadsword And The Beast in 1982, Anderson’s first actual solo album Walk Into Light in 1983 and the full-blown, uncharacteristically sounding synth-pop albeit interesting 1984 Tull album Under Wraps which threw me (and many Tull fans) for a loop at first but I’ve come to appreciate.

All of that said, Black Sunday is an, er, A-list track featuring changing time signatures typical of Tull with an ominous, almost progressive-metal feel in places.

11. Robert Plant, Wreckless Love . . . . Speaking of Tull and Barriemore Barlow, the drummer slaps the skins on this funky cool one from Plant’s 1983 album The Principle Of Moments.

12. Warren Zevon, Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School . . . Rollicking title track to Zevon’s 1980 followup album to 1978’s breakthrough Excitable Boy with its hit single Werewolves Of London and other well-known songs from that record. Zevon managed a minor hit with his cover on Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School of the Yardbirds’ song A Certain Girl, written by Allen Toussaint, both versions of which I’ve previously played. Bad Luck Streak may not have sold as much, nor done as well on the charts but it’s Zevon, which means it’s full of typical witty storytelling and acerbic lyrics.

13. Moby Grape, Miller’s Blues (live) . . . . A live version of a blues track, in spots slow and emotionally stirring and in others rousing and raunchy, by the San Francisco psychedelic band, written by Grape guitarist Jerry Miller. It originally appeared in studio form on the Wow album in April of 1968. This version didn’t see official release until the comprehensive 2-CD compilation Vintage: The Very Best of Moby Grape came out in 1993.

14. Nazareth, Telegram (Part 1: On Your Way/Part 2: So You Want To Be A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star/Part 3: Sound Check/Part 4: Here We Are Again) . . . A multi-part ‘life on the road’ suite from Nazareth’s 1976 album Close Enough for Rock ‘n’ Roll, effectively incorporating The Byrds’ So You Want To Be A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star.

15. Charlie Watts Quintet . . . Going, Going, Going, Gone . . . Beautiful, mellow music from the live album A Tribute to Charlie Parker With Strings, released in 1992 in honor of the iconic jazz saxophonist, and jazz in general, including narration and some singing by Rolling Stones’ backup vocalist Bernard Fowler. It was done during the 1992-93 period when the various individual Stones were releasing excellent, worthwhile and satisfying solo projects in between the 1989 studio album Steel Wheels and 1994’s Voodoo Lounge. The so-called World War III of the Dirty Work album era of the mid- to late 1980s had ended in a truce when it seemed to become understood by all parties that solo work didn’t have to detract from the Stones but could in fact fuel the members’ collective creativity. Out of it came excellent albums by Keith Richards (1992’s Main Offender), Ron Wood’s 1992 effort Slide On This and arguably Mick Jagger’s best solo work, 1993’s Wandering Spirit. All of which led to, when the mother ship again sailed, the strong album Voodoo Lounge.

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A soul/funk/R & B album set, something of a progression within those genres starting with a classic James Brown live album followed by Otis Redding and ending with, via the Funkadelic album Maggot Brain and the amazing guitar of the late great Eddie Hazel, an off ramp into heavy acid rock and psychedelic soul. Each album is explosive in its own way—Brown’s live intensity, Otis’s aching soul, Funkadelic’s mind-melting funk-rock.

James Brown – Live At The Apollo (recorded October 1962, released May 1963)

1. Introduction
2. I’ll Go Crazy
3. Try Me
4. Think
5. I Don’t Mind
6. Lost Someone
7. Medley: Please Please Please/You’ve Got The Power/I Found Someone/Why Do You Do Me/I Want You So Bad/I Love You, Yes I Do/Strange Things Happen/Bewildered/Please Please Please
8. Night Train

Otis Redding – Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul (released September 1965)

1. Ole Man Trouble
2. Respect
3. Change Gonna Come
4. Down In The Valley
5. I’ve Been Loving You Too Long
6. Shake
7. My Girl
8. Wonderful World
9. Rock Me Baby
10. Satisfaction
11. You Don’t Miss Your Water

Funkadelic – Maggot Brain (released July 1971)

1. Maggot Brain
2. Can You Get To That
3. Hit It And Quit It
4. You And Your Folks, Me And My Folks
5. Super Stupid
6. Back In Our Minds
7. Wars Of Armageddon

My track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list.

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1. Rush, The Main Monkey Business
2. Rush, The Seeker
3. The Rolling Stones, Stop Breaking Down
4. The Rolling Stones, No Spare Parts
5. Deep Purple, Anthem
6. Chicago, Prelude To Aire/Aire
7. The Moody Blues, The Actor
8. The Silkie, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
9. Billy Joel, Until The Night
10. The Kinks, Supersonic Rocket Ship
11. Montrose, Space Station #5
12. Pink Floyd, Is There Anybody Out There?
13. Heart, Soul Of The Sea
14. John Mayall, Possessive Emotions
15. Headstones, Pretty Little Death Song
16. Bruce Springsteen, Johnny 99
17. John Mellencamp, The Full Catastrophe
18. Tom Wilson, What A Bummer
19. Bob Dylan, Man Of Constant Sorrow
20. The Specials, Maggie’s Farm
21. Gerry Groom, Mick Taylor And Friends, Long Distance Call

My track-by-track tales:

1. Rush, The Main Monkey Business . . . Hard-driving and heavy in spots yet melodic throughout, this six-minute instrumental highlights Rush’s technical prowess. Described by drummer Neil Peart as “a tour-de-force to write, arrange, and perform” it’s one of three instrumentals – the most ever on a Rush album – from the 2007 release Snakes & Arrows.

2. Rush, The Seeker . . . One of my favorite Who tracks faithfully done by Rush on the covers EP Feedback, released in 2004 to mark the 30th anniversary of the band’s self-titled debut album. That record featured original drummer John Rutsey, replaced by Neil Peart the same year, 1974.

Covering songs like The Seeker and others on the EP like Summertime Blues (in the Blue Cheer arrangement of the Eddie Cochran song) and Cream’s fiery take on Robert Johnson’s Crossroads might seem at first glance a departure given Rush’s progressive (albeit often hard rock) leanings. But as Peart points out in the Feedback liner notes, the songs Rush covered were ones he, bassist/lead singer Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson grew up learning and playing in their pre-Rush formative years/bands. And musically, the 1974 debut album was influenced by bands like The Who, Cream and Led Zeppelin, although Rush soon ventured down trails blazed by such British prog rock bands as Yes, Genesis and Pink Floyd.

Members of Rush have suggested in various interviews that they were recharged by the simpler approach taken for the type of songs on Feedback. It inspired them as a working template for their next full studio album, Snakes & Arrows, from which I drew for The Main Monkey Business set opener. Snakes & Arrows is still a typical Rush album in the sense of it having progressive rock elements but I’m forever fascinated by the creative process. For Rush, that included Lifeson meeting Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour during a Gilmour tour stop in Toronto. Gilmour recommended writing songs on an acoustic guitar to best test a song’s strength. The suggestion earned Gilmour a ‘thank you’ from Lifeson in the Snakes & Arrows liner notes.

3. The Rolling Stones, Stop Breaking Down . . . The greatest gift my favorite band gave me besides their own original music is the fact they were rooted in the blues. That sent me down paths in pursuit of the amazing artists who had inspired – and been covered by – the Stones as on Robert Johnson’s renowned piece as interpreted to typically raunchy electrified effect on Exile On Main St.

4. The Rolling Stones, No Spare Parts . . . A country rock road-trip tune done during the sessions for 1978’s Some Girls album. It was dressed up with some new lyrics and vocals by Mick Jagger and came out in 2011 on the bonus disc of previously unreleased material on an expanded reissue of Some Girls.

“The idea for the song began at the Some Girls sessions,” Jagger is quoted in the book The Rolling Stones All The Songs – The Story Behind Every Track. “but I finished the idea and turned it into a complete piece. It’s all about driving from San Antonio to Los Angeles to meet a woman, which I did once, so it’s based on my own experience.”

5. Deep Purple, Anthem . . . Psychedelic, progressive, orchestral, classical, rock. This track from 1968’s The Book Of Taliesyn, the second of the three albums released by the first incarnation of Deep Purple, is all of those things. But aside from the hit single Hush, the lineup featuring Rod Evans on lead vocals and Nick Simper on bass along with guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, drummer Ian Paice and keyboardist Jon Lord is largely underappreciated by if not unknown to casual listeners and none of the three albums made much, if any, dent in the charts. To many, Deep Purple really began in 1970 when singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover joined the group for the so-called Mark II unit that debuted with the In Rock album, later went on to record Smoke On The Water and is widely considered the classic lineup. I’m not disputing that but the other ‘Marks’ in the band’s long career – including the various periods with singer David Coverdale, singer/bassist Glenn Hughes and guitarists Tommy Bolin, Steve Morse and new axeman Simon McBride – are worthy of investigation as most, er, deeply invested fans appreciate.

6. Chicago, Prelude To Aire/Aire . . . It was February 24th, interestingly enough given today is March 24th, when I played the 10-minute instrumental jazz-rock fusion piece Devil’s Sweet from 1974’s Chicago VII album that featured the hit singles (I’ve Been) Searchin’ So Long, Wishing You Were Here and Call On Me. At the time, I couldn’t decide between Devil’s Sweet and Prelude To Aire/Aire. So here’s that other option, two pieces totalling nearly 10 minutes and best heard, via direct segue, as one. It opened the album and, with Devil’s Sweet, formed an all-instrumental jazz/progressive rock fusion side one on the original vinyl of the double LP. Like Devil’s Sweet, Prelude To Aire is driven by Danny Seraphine’s drumming before the band more fully joins him nearly three minutes later on Aire, featuring Chicago’s typical for that period intricate horn arrangements and the late great Terry Kath’s guitar. As I wrote a month ago about Devil’s Sweet, it’s a universe away from the schlock show, albeit a commercially successful schlock show, Chicago later became.

7. The Moody Blues, The Actor . . . Beautiful, introspective ballad from In Search of the Lost Chord, released in 1968. A typically lush Moody Blues arrangement featuring the interesting instruments in the band’s arsenal including Mellotron and flute supporting Justin Hayward’s delicate, almost plaintive vocals as he either waits for, or just thinks about, his absent – or former – lover on a rainy day. But who knows? Beyond the obvious, lyrically, songs can be interpreted in as many ways as they have listeners. Which is as it should be, arguably, and also why for me it’s usually music first, or at least at first, lyrics second because if the music isn’t enough to draw you in, you’ll never listen to the lyrics.

8. The Silkie, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away . . . Here’s one that randomly found a spot in the set after I picked up a “British Invasion” compilation while putting CDs back on my shelves. A Beatles’ cover, faithful if softer than the original, released around the same time as the Fab Four’s version on their 1965 album Help! John Lennon and Paul McCartney produced what became the only chart hit – unsurprisingly given the Beatles’ popularity – for The Silkie, an English folk group along the lines of American act Peter, Paul and Mary.

9. Billy Joel, Until The Night . . . From 1978’s 52nd Street, the almost equally-successful in sales followup to Joel’s blockbuster breakthrough 1977 album The Stranger. Apparently written as a tribute to The Righteous Brothers of You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ fame. It does have the feel of a Brothers’ song as written and/or produced by Phil Spector, who did the honors, using his famous Wall of Sound technique, on You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ and others by the duo. According to Wikipedia, one reviewer called Joel’s song “a schlock masterpiece.” Until The Night made No. 50 in the UK but wasn’t released as a single across the Atlantic, although it’s a fairly well-known track as is most of 52nd Street.

10. The Kinks, Supersonic Rocket Ship . . . As we lift off into the ‘spacey’ section of the set via this reggae/calypso tune from the 1972 album Everybody’s In Show-Biz. It was a top-20 hit in the UK but didn’t crack the top 100 elsewhere, sadly par for the course for songs from an album that also featured the brilliant single Celluloid Heroes which, ridiculously, didn’t chart anywhere. I’ll have to play ‘Heroes’ again sometime soon.

11. Montrose, Space Station #5 . . . Fifty seconds of floating in space via the atmospheric intro then you’re jolted from your reverie by the riff rock of guitarist Ronnie Montrose coupled with Sammy Hagar’s vocals. It’s from Montrose’s self-titled debut album, released in 1973. The platter was produced by Ted Templeman, which leads into one of those musical family tree tales. Templeman was later at the helm of many Van Halen albums including the 1978 debut where, the story goes, the band asked him to help achieve a sound akin to the first album by Montrose, some of whose songs an embyronic Van Halen had covered. Still later, of course, Sammy Hagar wound up fronting Van Halen after the first departure of lead singer David Lee Roth.

12. Pink Floyd, Is There Anybody Out There? . . . Eerie, minimalist piece from 1979’s The Wall, just the title repeated a few times – after an initial excerpt of dialogue from the old Gunsmoke TV western – followed by an acoustic/classical guitar solo. It’s often paired with the next song on the album, Nobody Home, but in this instance I was looking for the sparse, spooky effect of just the one song, hauntingly reinforcing the album’s concept of isolation.

13. Heart, Soul Of The Sea . . . An ethereal, mystical ballad that gets funky in spots, spoken-word in others, no real chorus or hook but that’s what makes it compelling over its six minutes, complete with sounds of the sea. It’s from Heart’s debut album, Dreamboat Annie, released in 1975 and featuring the singles Magic Man, Crazy On You and the title track.

14. John Mayall, Possessive Emotions . . . Funky blues from the 1970 album USA Union which always reminds me of my late older brother by eight years who I often cite because he introduced me in my pre-teen years to so much music – Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull . . . and John Mayall via USA Union. The album features former Canned Heat members Harvey Mandel (guitar) and Larry Taylor (bass) along with violinist Don “Sugarcane” Harris with Mayall on lead vocals, guitar, harmonica and keyboards. And no drums, as my brother pointed out to my initial disbelief. The album came during a period when the ever-experimenting if not innovative Mayall had, as he wrote in the liner notes to the 1969 live album The Turning Point, “decided to dispense with heavy lead guitar and drums, usually a ‘must’ for blues groups today” in an effort to “explore seldom-used areas within the framework of low-volume music.”

15. Headstones, Pretty Little Death Song . . . Into a dark period of the set, either by song title, lyrics or mood, opening with the Canadian band Headstones. Among my favorite artists, they work within the framework of high volume intensity, evidenced by this catchy riff rocker from the 1996 album Smile & Wave. I was prompted to play them when a friend advised me this week that he’d picked up a cheap used copy of The High Co$t Of Low Living, a 2005 album by Headstones’ lead singer (and actor) Hugh Dillon and his band The Redemption Choir.

16. Bruce Springsteen, Johnny 99 . . . A dark tale of a laid-off worker turning to violence, from Springsteen’s influential, stripped down, lo-fi album Nebraska, released in 1982. It’s just Springsteen, recorded at home on what initially were demos to be worked on by the E Street Band only to be released as a pure solo album when the band sessions failed to capture what Springsteen felt was the spirit of most of what he’d put on tape. It’s one of those creative accidents that can result in highly-acclaimed and lasting art. That said, several demos – Born In The U.S.A, Working On The Highway and Downbound Train – did work in full band treatment, emerging on Springsteen’s blockbuster 1984 album Born In The U.S.A.

17. John Mellencamp, The Full Catastrophe . . . A shufflling jazz/blues song with interesting instrumentation including violins and assorted horns, from the 1996 album Mr. Happy Go Lucky. Lyrically, it’s a reflection on the ups and downs of life inspired by a line by actor Anthony Quinn in the 1964 movie Zorba The Greek. Asked if he is married, Quinn (Zorba) replies: “Am I not a man? And is not a man stupid? I’m a man, so I’m married. Wife, children, house—everything. The full catastrophe.”

18. Tom Wilson, What A Bummer . . . Second song in the set inspired by the same friend who reminded me of the Headstones, in this case advising me he’d also purchased, used, Wilson’s album Planet Love, a 2001 release from which I pulled this hypnotic groove track. As often stated, I’m a big Wilson fan via his work with The Florida Razors, Junkhouse, Blackie and The Rodeo Kings, Lee Harvey Osmond and solo.

19. Bob Dylan, Man Of Constant Sorrow . . . My computer screen saver gives me time, date, weather, and current and historical news items and told me last week that it was 63 years ago, March 19, 1962, that Dylan’s self-titled debut album was released. So, I thought I’d play something from it. Dylan became one of the greatest-ever writers of original songs but his first album was comprised mainly of traditional folk and blues standards like Man Of Constant Sorrow. It’s been covered and reinterpreted by many artists including Rod Stewart, whose version was the first I heard. It was released on Stewart’s 1969 debut solo album An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down, retitled The Rod Stewart Album in North America.

20. The Specials, Maggie’s Farm . . . A ska reinvention, great rhythmic percussion/drumming, of the Bob Dylan classic from his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. Another of those choices that came to mind, like The Silkie cover of The Beatles’ You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away earlier in the set, while tidying CDs. In this case I was putting The Specials: The Singles Collection back on the shelf although now, along with the British Invasion compilation, it’s coming with me to the Radio Waterloo studio.

21. Gerry Groom, Mick Taylor And Friends, Long Distance Call . . . . Lengthy, soulful, acoustic blues treatment of the Muddy Waters classic by Groom and former Rolling Stone guitarist Taylor released on the 1991 album Once In A Blue Moon that, Stones’ completist that I am, I picked up somewhere along the way in my musical travels. The album also features drummer Matt Abts, who worked with Dickey Betts of The Allman Brothers Band during the 1980s and in 1994 was, along with guitarist Warren Haynes and bassist Allen Woody, a founding member of the Allmans’ offshoot Gov’t Mule and is, with Haynes, still a Mule member. Woody died, apparently of a heroin overdose, at age 44 in 2000. Groom, who according to the album liner notes died in a scuba diving accident in 1992, was a singer/guitarist from Florida about whom not much information is available other than he was a protege of Duane Allman’s and widely respected and admired within the blues community, having rubbed shoulders with the likes of Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, James Cotton and Willie Dixon.

Three classic albums: Who’s Next along with Pearl, Janis Joplin’s posthumously released last recorded statement, and Led Zeppelin’s fourth album. All came out in the amazing year for popular music that was 1971. More thoughts on 1971 below the show’s track list.

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The Who – Who’s Next

1. Baba O’Riley
2. Bargain
3. Love Ain’t For Keeping
4. My Wife
5. The Song Is Over
6. Getting In Tune
7. Going Mobile
8. Behind Blue Eyes
9. Won’t Get Fooled Again

Janis Joplin – Pearl

1. Move Over
2. Cry Baby
3. A Woman Left Lonely
4. Half Moon
5. Buried Alive In The Blues
6. My Baby
7. Me And Bobby McGee
8. Mercedes Benz
9. Trust Me
10. Get It While You Can

Led Zeppelin (aka IV, Untitled, Zoso, Four Symbols, The Runes)

1. Black Dog
2. Rock And Roll
3. The Battle Of Evermore
4. Stairway To Heaven
5. Misty Mountain Hop
6. Four Sticks
7. Going To California
8. When The Levee Breaks

I went with the three albums I’m playing in part because, to be honest, they’re the ones that best fit my two-hour slot in a three-album play but of course all three are worthy of appearance, among many contenders from that year. And at some point I’ll perhaps do a show filled with songs from 1971, or any other year. It’s the sort of project I started once, beginning in 1964, but only got a couple years into before, well, not continuing. Definitely an idea worth revisiting.

As for 1971 albums there’s almost too many to list but among the other notable records released that year: The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers, Jethro Tull’s Aqualung, Carole King’s Tapestry, John Lennon’s Imagine, Rod Stewart’s Every Picture Tells A Story along with him fronting Faces’ A Nod Is As Good As A Wink . . . To A Blind Horse and before that, Faces’ Long Player in a busy year for Rod; The Doors’ L.A. Woman (which I played recently), Joni Mitchell’s Blue (played last Saturday), Fragile by Yes, Pink Floyd’s Meddle, which I played in full a year ago, Elton John’s Madman Across The Water, The Kinks’ Muswell Hillbillies, Traffic’s The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On . . . and I could go on, and on. So many great years for music, obviously, but an argument can be made that 1971 was among the best. A recent book, Never a Dull Moment: 1971 The Year That Rock Exploded, makes that point and is the basis of a documentary series 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything, available on Apple TV+.