A tribute to the songs of JD Souther, the songwriter well known particularly for his collaborations with the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt. Souther died at age 78 on Sept. 17.

So, a lot of Eagles/Don Henley and Ronstadt tracks, one by Warren Zevon, another by Bonnie Raitt and some stuff performed by Souther himself. Included is his biggest hit, You’re Only Lonely plus an early song with Glenn Frey of Eagles fame in Longbranch Pennywhistle plus work with former members of The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers and Poco in the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. My track-by-track tales follow the song list.

Souther was also an actor, with roles in Thirtysomething in 1989 and Nashville in 2012, with his other parts including small roles in the films Postcards From the Edge, Always, Purgatory, Deadline and My Girl 2. A thorough article on him in Variety: JD Souther

The set list:

1. Eagles, The Sad Cafe
2. Eagles, Victim Of Love
3. Bonnie Raitt, Run Like A Thief
4. Linda Ronstadt, White Rhythm And Blues
5. JD Souther, You’re Only Lonely
6. Linda Ronstadt, Prisoner In Disguise
7. Longbranch Pennywhistle, Kite Woman
8. Don Henley, Nobody’s Business
9. Eagles, You Never Cry Like A Lover
10. Linda Ronstadt, Silver Blue
11. The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, The Heartbreaker
12. Eagles, How Long
13. Don Henley, If Dirt Were Dollars
14. Linda Ronstadt, Simple Man, Simple Dream
15. Eagles, Doolin’ Dalton/Doolin’ Dalton instrumental/Doolin’ Dalton/Desperado (Reprise)
16. Don Henley, Man With A Mission
17. Eagles, James Dean
18. Warren Zevon, Trouble Waiting To Happen
19. Eagles, Last Good Time In Town

My track-by-track tales:

1. Eagles, The Sad Cafe . . . A JD Souther co-write along with Eagles members Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh from The Long Run album. Doing a deep cuts show using Eagles songs can be a challenge, since so many of their songs are widely known, like this one, and appeared on ‘hits’ compilations, as The Sad Cafe did on Eagles Greatest Hits Vol. 2 which came out in 1982, after the first breakup of the band. It was also was part of the double-disc 2003 The Very Best Of compilation. Featured is the saxophone playing of David Sanborn, who played on, besides his own, more albums, by myriad artists across the musical spectrum, than one could count. Look him up for the evidence.

2. Eagles, Victim Of Love . . . The B-side to New Kid In Town, also co-written by JD Souther, from the Hotel California album, and renowned in its own right. Nice guitar work by Don Felder, who c0-wrote the tune along with the usual Eagles songwriting suspects Glenn Frey and Don Henley.

3. Bonnie Raitt, Run Like A Thief . . . Nice ballad from before Raitt achieved widespread commercial success, from her 1975 album Home Plate, cover photo showing Bonnie sliding into, well, home plate. Souther recorded it for his 1972 debut solo album John David Souther and this is the first instance in the set of something that is common – Souther’s songs being done by him, and by other artists; sometimes Souther recorded his versions on his own albums first, other times he followed up previous releases of his songs that were done by others.

4. Linda Ronstadt, White Rhythm And Blues . . . From Ronstadt’s 1978 Living In The USA album, the one with her on roller skates on the cover, somewhat of a reminder for males of a certain age, like me, of Raquel Welch in the 1972 roller derby movie Kansas City Bomber. Both Welch and later Ronstadt were wearing old-time roller skates, not the inline skates of today. Anyway, back to the music. A lovely ballad featuring Ronstadt’s amazing voice. Souther, who was Ronstadt’s romantic partner for a time, did his own version, with Phil Everly of Everly Brothers fame, on harmony/backing vocals on Souther’s 1979 album You’re Only Lonely which yielded JD’s lone big individual chart hit, the title cut.

5. JD Souther, You’re Only Lonely . . . Speaking of which, here’s JD’s big solo hit, Roy Orbison-esque to the point I almost wrote it down as Orbison’s hit Only The Lonely. Both great tunes. You’re Only Lonely hit No. 7 on Billboard and No. 1, for several weeks, on the adult contemporary charts. Among those on the session were David Sanborn on saxophone, studio ace guitarist Danny Kortchmar and Eagles Glenn Frey, Don Felder and Don Henley.

6. Linda Ronstadt, Prisoner In Disguise . . . A beautiful duet with JD and the title cut from Ronstadt’s 1975 album. Souther had previously recorded it for the second Souther-Hillman-Furay Band album (more on them in a bit) and later on Natural History, Souther’s 2011 album of new recordings of his songs that achieved greater success when recorded by many of the artists in this set.

7. Longbranch Pennywhistle, Kite Woman . . . Easily identifiable as a precursor to Eagles music, from the duo of Souther and future Eagle Glenn Frey, 1969.

About Longbranch Pennywhistle, from Wikipedia:
“Longbranch Pennywhistle was a country rock/folk music group featuring Glenn Frey and John David Souther. They originally performed as “John David & Glenn,” but when they added bass player David Jackson, they were encouraged to come up with a new name. Frey suggested “Longbranch,” Souther came up with “Pennywhistle,” and the names were merged at the suggestion of manager Doug Weston. They released a self-titled album in 1969 under Jimmy Bowen’s Amos Records label. Frey had made the migration from Detroit to California and Souther from Amarillo, Texas and were adapting to what would become the California sound. When the Amos Records label dissolved in 1971 the group had already disbanded the year prior.

Frey went on to co-found the Eagles and Souther wrote or co-wrote several of the Eagles’ most popular songs, along with hits for Linda Ronstadt. He also was a third of the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band.”

8. Don Henley, Nobody’s Business . . . Uptempo tune that gallops along, from Henley’s 1982 debut solo album I Can’t Stand Still which featured the hit Dirty Laundry. Co-written, along with Henley, by Souther and Bob Seger, the three of whom combined, with Glenn Frey, to write the earlier Eagles hit Heartache Tonight from The Long Run album.

9. Eagles, You Never Cry Like A Lover . . . Ballad from 1974’s On The Border, which introduced guitarist Don Felder to the Eagles’ lineup.

10. Linda Ronstadt, Silver Blue . . . From Ronstadt’s 1975 album Prisoner in Disguise and another one of those instances where Souther later did his own version of a song he wrote. JD’s Silver Blue came out on his Black Rose album in 1976.

11. The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, The Heartbreaker . . . Funky country rocker from the trio’s 1974 debut album. Group members: JD Souther, Chris Hillman of Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers and Stephen Stills’ Manassas’ fame and Richie Furay of Buffalo Springfield and Poco – which later included future Eagle Timothy B. Schmit.

12. Eagles, How Long . . . Jaunty number from Souther’s 1972 debut album John David Souther. The Eagles covered it on their 2007 album Long Road Out Of Eden, which was their first full album of new material since 1979’s The Long Run.

13. Don Henley, If Dirt Were Dollars . . . From Henley’s biggest hit album, 1989’s The End Of The Innocence. Could easily have been a hit and I think is pretty well known. Great tune, great lyrics, often caustic or world-weary and realistic which is the case any time Henley and Souther are involved. The line “I was flyin’ back from Lubbock I saw Jesus on the plane . . . or maybe it was Elvis, you know, they kinda look the same’ from the first verse is worth the price of admission alone, to me, anyway. Henley had three top 40 singles off the record – The End Of The Innocence, The Heart Of The Matter and The Last Worthless Evening, plus a No. 48, New York Minute.

14. Linda Ronstadt, Simple Man, Simple Dream . . . From JD Souther’s Black Rose album in 1976, this version cut by Ronstadt for her Simple Dreams album in 1977 which also featured her hit covers of The Rolling Stones’ Tumbling Dice, Buddy Holly’s It’s So Easy, Roy Orbison’s Blue Bayou and Warren Zevon’s Poor Poor Pitiful Me. Souther’s Black Rose also includes his own version of his Faithless Love, which Ronstadt covered in 1974 and I played last Saturday morning in my teaser to tonight’s show featuring Souther’s songs.

15. Eagles, Doolin’ Dalton/Doolin’ Dalton instrumental/Doolin’ Dalton/Desperado (Reprise) . . . Nine minutes or so I’ve pieced together from the Desperado album, where all three songs, including the short instrumental part, appear at different stages of the 1973 release. Doolin’ Dalton leads the album off, then halfway through comes the 48-second banjo pickin’ instrumental featuring Bernie Leadon, before the album wraps up with the reprise including elements of the song Desperado.

16. Don Henley, Man With A Mission . . . From Henley’s second solo album, 1984’s Building The Perfect Beast which gave us the hits The Boys Of Summer, Sunset Grill, All She Wants To Do Is Dance and Not Enough Love In The World. I hadn’t listened to Man With A Mission in a long time but in revisiting it, I hear in it elements, in terms of the arrangement, to the later Eagles’ song Get Over It which was one of the studio cuts on the 1994 reunion live album Hell Freezes Over.

17. Eagles, James Dean . . . A tribute to the actor who died at age 24 in an auto accident. Toe-tapping rocker was the second single, after Already Gone, released from the 1974 album On The Border, but made just No. 77 in the US, No. 56 in Canada. The B-side was Good Day In Hell, the first song on which then-new Eagles guitarist Don Felder announced his musical presence after joining the album sessions midway through.

18. Warren Zevon, Trouble Waiting To Happen . . . Back to Zevon’s 1987 album Sentimental Hygiene I go, was there last Monday, Sept. 16 with The Factory, before JD Souther died and I thought of doing a tribute to him via his songs. Co-written by Zevon and Souther, who also did backing vocals on various Zevon albums.

19. Eagles, Last Good Time In Town . . . Santana-esque hypnotic groove on this one Souther co-wrote with Joe Walsh, from the 2007 Eagles album Long Road Out Of Eden. It rivals the title cut as my favorite from that record.

I’m leading off with three ‘morning’ songs, for my morning show, by Bad Company, early Chicago and The Beatles. I conclude with a couple songs, by the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt, written or co-written by JD (John David) Souther, who died at age 78 this past week. It’s a teaser to a set featuring his songs I’m planning for my next Monday night show, 8-10 pm ET on Sept. 23.

In between, on Saturday’s menu are a pair of one-off studio albums: David + David’s Boomtown, from 1986, and the self-titled album by Arc Angels featuring bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton from the late Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble band, released in 1992. While Arc Angels, also comprised of singers/guitarists Charlie Sexton and Doyle Bramhall II, did later release a live album, neither of these artists, at least collectively, have so far issued any other studio work.

I had already planned to play some Arc Angels, hadn’t done so in a while. I was then inspired to play the David + David record, which I’ve often drawn from, by a conversation I had on X/Twitter the other day when someone asked which great albums one might consider to be underrated or underappreciated. I replied with Boomtown, thus launching a spirited, fun chat about the merits of that album. I then realized that Arc Angels was also a great one-off studio project, and here we are.

Of the two Davids, both of whom helped out Sheryl Crow on her 1993 debut album Tuesday Night Music Club, Baerwald, a singer/guitarist/keyboard player, has released sporadic solo albums I’ve drawn from on the show while delving into film and TV soundtracks, also writing an espionage novel, The Fire Agent. Ricketts, also a singer/guitarist/keyboardist, has done some session work but mostly concentrated on production.

Concluding the set are Eagles and Ronstadt songs written and/or co-written by Souther, who died on Sept. 17 at age 78. Souther is one of those artists whose songwriting is pervasive, particularly with the Eagles and Ronstadt, yet it was others, like those artists, who had more commercial success with Souther’s songs than he did. That said, Souther related, in a chat with The Creative Independent, how he was sometimes asked whether it disturbed him that the Eagles had so many hits – New Kid In Town, Best Of My Love, Heartache Tonight among them – with songs he’d written or co-written. His reply was, ‘Would you like to see the (royalty) checks? Pissed off? How could I be pissed off?”

I’m planning to dig deeper into Souther and his songs, both performed by him and others, on Monday night’s show (8-10 pm ET, Sept. 23).

Saturday’s set:

1. Bad Company, Early In The Morning
2. Chicago, Wake Up Sunshine
3. The Beatles, Good Morning Good Morning

David + David – Boomtown

1. Welcome To The Boomtown
2. Swallowed By The Cracks
3. Ain’t So Easy
4. Being Alone Together
5. A Rock For The Forgotten
6. River’s Gonna Rise
7. Swimming In The Ocean
8. All Alone In The Big City
9. Heroes

Arc Angels – Arc Angels

1. Living In A Dream
2. Paradise Cafe
3. Sent By Angels
4. Sweet Nadine
5. Good Time
6. See What Tomorrow Brings
7. Always Believed In You
8. The Famous Jane
9. Spanish Moon
10. Carry Me On
11. Shape I’m In
12. Too Many Ways To Fall

And a two-song teaser for a tribute show to singer/songwriter/musician/actor JD Souther coming 8-10 pm ET Monday, Sept. 23. Souther died at age 78 on Tuesday, Sept. 17.

1. Eagles, Teenage Jail (co-written by Souther, Don Henley and Glenn Frey)
2. Linda Ronstadt, Faithless Love (written by Souther)

About half the set is material I couldn’t squeeze into my recent Labour Day work-oriented show from Sept.2. My track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list.

1. Fu Manchu, Neptune’s Convoy
2. Flash and The Pan, Media Man
3. The Godfathers, Birth, School, Work, Death
4. The Police, Dead End Job
5. Devo, Working In The Coal Mine
6. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Workin’
7. Warren Zevon, The Factory
8. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, Makin’ Thunderbirds
9. Neil Young, Union Man
10. ZZ Top, I Gotsta Get Paid
11. Thin Lizzy, Cold Sweat
12. Ron Wood, Shirley
13. Rory Gallagher, Smear Campaign
14. The Moody Blues, In My World
15. Free, Sweet Tooth
16. Concrete Blonde, Beware Of Darkness (George Harrison cover)
17. Dave Davies, God In My Brain
18. The Tragically Hip, Vapour Trails
19. Burton Cummings, Not Too Appealing
20. Traffic, Graveyard People
21. Elton John, Empty Sky

My track-by-track tales:

1. Fu Manchu, Neptune’s Convoy . . . Songs by this California stoner band often start off immediately heavy but this one builds, alternating between slow and spooky, punctuated by heavy flourishes, before all hell breaks loose with heavy rock to take us home for the last minute or so of the five-minute experience.

2. Flash and The Pan, Media Man . . . Damning diatribe against media, came out in 1980 on the Lights In The Night album and, sadly, nearly 45 years later things are arguably worse. And my career was in media where, while I loved what I consider a noble, necessary profession and was well-suited to it, I became disturbed by, as the final litany of lyrics, in list form, concludes, how at least some of it is, or can be, bullshit in terms of whatever agendas can be involved in coverage.

3. The Godfathers, Birth, School, Work, Death . . . Sort of sums things up, no? Aside from sex, I suppose. Nihilism, personified, otherwise. And a great tune, regardless. Title cut from the UK punkish band’s 1988 album. I remember having it on vinyl, lost in the mists of time or trade-ins, it was the only song on the album that truly grabbed me, but definitely a good one and I’ll have to dig deeper and rediscover the entire record sometime. The Godfathers were originally around between 1985 and 2000, disbanded then reunited in various configurations in 2008 and continue to this day.

4. The Police, Dead End Job . . . Early Police, straight ahead smokin’ punk rock. It was the B-side on two singles – Can’t Stand Losing You in the UK and Roxanne in the US/North America, both in 1978. It also appears on The Police box set, Message In A Box: The Complete Recordings, released in 1993.

5. Devo, Working In The Coal Mine . . . Infectious groove on all versions in various genres of this Allen Toussaint song, done by the American musician/songwriter/producer himself but likely best known as a hit, produced by Toussaint and his fellow producer and business partner Marshall Sehorn, for pop/R & B singer Lee Dorsey in 1966. It was later done by, among others, the mother-daughter country music duo The Judds. The Devo version also appeared on the Heavy Metal movie soundtrack in 1981 which also featured contributions from Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Sammy Hagar and Nazareth, among many others.

6. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Workin’ . . . The obvious thing, from a ‘work’ songs perspective, would I suppose be to play Skynyrd’s Workin’ For MCA by the original pre-plane crash band, and it came under consideration. But I thought I’d give the post-crash version of the band some love via this hard-rocking number from the 1999 album Edge Of Forever.

I’ve often said and I hold to it: I think the post-crash version of the band is high quality and they still certainly ‘bring it’ live where yes, they rely a lot on the tried and true catalog they’re expected to play and they do it well. But they’ve also released some solid studio albums since reuniting in 1987, some of which they draw from in concert, albeit now with no original members due to the passage of time and, mostly, deaths that have struck even newer members of the apparently star-crossed band whose roots go back to 1964.

Guitarist Rickey Medlocke, who’s been in latter-day versions of the band since 1996, arguably comes as close as possible to being an original member as he was a drummer in very early versions of Skynyrd in 1971-72, just before the release of the 1973 debut record Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd in 1973. Medlocke did record with the group, his early work with the band eventually coming out on the 1978 post-plane crash compilation Skynyrd’s First and . . . Last which was later expanded and re-released as Skynyrd’s First: The Complete Muscle Shoals Album, in 1998.

And, from what I’ve read, original vocalist Ronnie Van Zant supposedly eventually wanted to retire from the road and turn lead vocals over to younger brother Johnny, which wound up happening in 1987, 10 years after the plane crash took Ronnie’s life. There’s so much cross-pollination in so-called southern rock bands. Johnny had his own music career before, apparently at first somewhat reluctantly, taking over fronting Skynyrd, and Donnie, the middle brother of the three Van Zants, was a singer and guitarist in .38 Special before retiring due to health issues in 2013. He also teamed with Johnny to release several albums as Van Zant, a rock outfit which eventually branched into country music. And the late guitarist Hughie Thomasson, a founding member of the Outlaws, teamed with Medlocke and founding member Gary Rossington in the three-axe attack in post-crash versions of Skynyrd.

So, they persevere, it’s what they do, some people like it, some don’t, considering them a glorified tribute band which I can understand but, after some controversies and lawsuits over use of the name, the reconstituted Skynyrd is now doing it with, apparently, the blessings of all concerned, estates of the deceased included. They’re still out there touring, currently co-headlining with ZZ Top, who I’m getting to later in the set. I saw Skynyrd, great show, in 2004, when Rossington and keyboardist Billy Powell, the last remaining members of the band that recorded the first album, were still around. They released a studio album as recently as 2012 and, well, I suppose they’re like Nazareth for me, for some reason, I guess as simple as I still like most of whatever music they’re releasing, I admire their survival instincts and hang with them, loyal, perhaps, to a fault.

7. Warren Zevon, The Factory . . . Up-tempo tune from the Sentimental Hygiene album from 1987. Nothing ever approached the commercial heights for Zevon of Excitable Boy, the 1978 album fuelled by the hit single Werewolves Of London, but aficionados know the depth of Zevon’s catalog. Sentimental Hygiene is notable for Zevon’s main backing band – members of R.E.M. – on the bulk of the album, outside of star session players like Bob Dylan, Don Henley of the Eagles, Mike Campbell of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers and Neil Young on a track or two each. R.E.M.’s Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass) and Bill Berry (drums) back Zevon, which led to the apparently drunken session that resulted in the Hindu Love Gods album of covers, recorded around the same time and released in 1990. That album is notable for the cover of Prince’s Raspberry Beret.

8. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, Makin’ Thunderbirds . . . I couldn’t decide between this one and Seger’s Feel Like A Number when I did the ‘work song’ thing on Labour Day, so here it is, a tasty leftover. It’s from his 1982 album The Distance.

9. Neil Young, Union Man . . . Short, sweet, two-minute rockabilly/country/hillbilly tune from Young’s 1980 album Hawks & Doves. I played his Ten Men Workin’ from 1988’s This Note’s For You album in my recent ‘work’ set, meant to juxtapose it with Union Sundown by Bob Dylan, which I did play, but song times and so on didn’t work out that night. So, here’s Union Man.

10. ZZ Top, I Gotsta Get Paid . . . Not to be confused with ZZ Top’s earlier hit, or at least widely known track, Just Got Paid, from the band’s second album, 1972’s Rio Grande Mud. This one’s from 40 years later, from the 2012 La Futura album by which time ZZ Top had long since largely abandoned the successful but divisive among fans and even band members, largely synthesizer approach, for a return to the group’s more bluesy leanings. That said, to me, a band of the quality of ZZ Top, like say The Rolling Stones, can dabble in things yet even if they may appear to go off the rails to some of their fan base (while attracting new fans with new sounds), they’re never too far from their roots, their essence. This track reflects that. It was a single, didn’t chart, classic bands like ZZ Top by now likely don’t give a shit in a totally different musical landscape, yet the song has millions of views on YouTube. Which says something, I think.

11. Thin Lizzy, Cold Sweat . . . Hard rocker from arguably Thin Lizzy’s hardest rocking, almost metal album, 1983’s appropriately-titled Thunder and Lightning which proved to be the band’s last studio release before the death bassist/frontman/songwriter Phil Lynott. The album was also the lone Thin Lizzy studio work featuring guitarist John Sykes. Sykes later joined the hair metal version of Whitesnake – whose roots in part might be found in Sykes’ contribution to the sound of the Lizzy record – and was on board for the monster commercial hit record Whitesnake aka ‘1987’.

12. Ron Wood, Shirley . . . Funky tune from Wood’s first solo album, the 1974 release I’ve Got My Own Album To Do which featured a host of Wood’s musical friends including future Rolling Stones mates Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts. Included in the track listing are the Jagger-Richards songs Sure The One You Need and Act Together, both sung by Richards. Mick Taylor, soon to quit the Stones and be replaced by Wood, contributed guitar, bass, piano and synthesizer to several tracks on the album.

13. Rory Gallagher, Smear Campaign . . . Stop-start sort of hypnotic riff on this one from the late great guitarist/songwriter’s 1987 album Defender. Lyrics applicable to any election campaign.

14. The Moody Blues, In My World . . . Lovely ballad from the band’s 1981 album Long Distance Voyager which I remember being all over radio then via such hits as The Voice and Gemini Dream.

15. Free, Sweet Tooth . . . Heavy blues rock, by a bunch of teenagers at the time, 1968, on the debut album Tons Of Sobs, sounding wonderfully like grizzled blues veterans. Fronted by singer Paul Rodgers backed by guitarist Paul Kossoff, bass player Andy Fraser and drummer Simon Kirke who, with Rodgers, would later form the more commercial, and commercially successful, Bad Company.

16. Concrete Blonde, Beware Of Darkness (George Harrison cover) . . . Nice treatment, on Concrete Blonde’s self-titled 1986 debut album, of the George Harrison classic from All Things Must Pass which, apparently, the former Beatle approved of and enjoyed. Always worth listening to the expressive voice of Concrete Blonde’s singer/bass player Johnette Napolitano. Fantastic singer, great band, yet for whatever reason, despite solid albums, never found much further major success after their breakthrough 1990 album Bloodletting which gave us the hit singles Joey, in particular and to a lesser extent Caroline and Tomorrow, Wendy.

17. Dave Davies, God In My Brain . . . A remarkable track, not only in its hypnotic psychedelic sort of industrial sound but more so because Davies, best known as The Kinks’ lead guitarist and forever battler with brother Ray, wrote and recorded it shortly after suffering a stroke, which the song addresses to a degree, in 2006. It was a new track recorded for the 2006-released compilation Kinked, comprised of Davies’ earlier solo work outside of the parent band which, by then, had not existed for a decade and seems forever dormant. And that’s OK. I’m a huge Kinks’ fan but I say, despite occasional rumors of a reunion, best at this point, 30 years after the last album, to let it be and not just because time has marched on and the brothers are 80 (Ray) and 77 (Dave), respectively, now. The legacy is assured, the influence of their talents widespread, nothing to prove.

18. The Tragically Hip, Vapour Trails . . . Nice groove, guitar work on this one from the renowned Canadian band’s 1998 release Phantom Power which contained the hits Poets, Fireworks and Bobcaygeon. If the song Fireworks doesn’t come immediately to mind via the title, it’s the one that starts with these lyrics; Canadians, at least, of a certain age will likely recall the subject matter of the first two verses:

“If there’s a goal that everyone remembers
It was back in ol’ 72
We all squeezed the stick and we all pulled the trigger
And all I remember is sitting beside you

You said you didn’t give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that before
You held my hand and we walked home the long way
You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr”

19. Burton Cummings, Not Too Appealing . . . A song I rediscovered the other day, going through CDs and finding an old Cummings compilation. I like when that happens, you dust something off you haven’t listened to in ages and are rewarded. Anyway, I put it on and the song sounded instantly familiar, although it wasn’t if that makes sense, because I can’t remember when I last heard it, but I obviously must have although it’s not one of his big solo hits on the order of, say, the Guess Who singer’s better-known tracks like Stand Tall, I’m Scared, My Own Way To Rock, Break It To Them Gently and I Will Play A Rhapsody. But it has an irresistible hook, I find. To quote Cummings from his own liner notes on The Collection compilation: “Not Too Appealing was a stream of consciousness song that rolled out one day while I was staying at my then-manager’s house on Maui. . . . I picked up an old acoustic guitar and out came . . . ” The song was released on Cummings’ 1984 album Heart, long after his earlier commercial peak in Canada if not elsewhere had largely waned, and features Timothy B. Schmit, of Poco and Eagles fame, on backing vocals.

20. Traffic, Graveyard People . . . Intoxicating musical and biting lyrical brew from Traffic’s 1974 album When The Eagle Flies by which time the band was long into its latter-day jazz rock mode, long instrumental passages of terrific ensemble playing highlighting keyboards, percussion, bass and saxophone. It was the last Traffic album until Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi reunited for Far From Home in 1994. That album was decent enough but a bit overproduced to my ears and came off sounding more like a Winwood solo album and in fact he played and sang virtually everything on it, leaving drums, percussion and some backing vocals to Capaldi.

21. Elton John, Empty Sky . . . Strangely, perhaps, since I’m a huge Rolling Stones fan, that it took a while for me – until I recently read someone commenting on it in a YouTube clip – to clue in to the fact that the percussion intro to this title cut epic from EJ’s first album, 1969, is essentially a copy of Sympathy For The Devil done by the Stones a year earlier as the opening cut on Beggars Banquet. Paying deliberate homage to Sympathy, perhaps. In any event, not a criticism because I’ve always liked the song as Elton then goes off onto other lyrical and musical tangents, perhaps presaging future lengthy triumphs like Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, from 1973’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.