Music for a Monday night . . .

1. The Guess Who, Key
2. Steppenwolf, Monster/Suicide/America
3. Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Change Your Mind
4. Neil Young, Scenery (from 1995’s Mirror Ball album, with Pearl Jam as Young’s backing band)
5. Dire Straits, Once Upon A Time In The West (live)
6. Headstones, Hotel Room
7. Saga, Humble Stance
8. Klaatu, Around The Universe In 80 Days
9. Queen, The Prophet’s Song
10. Rainbow, Mistreated (live)
11. Mick Taylor, Twisted Sister
12. The Rolling Stones, Around And Around (live, Love You Live El Mocambo side)

A ‘three artists’ set list – John Mayall, Tom Cochrane/Red Rider, Mick Jagger. Of late I’ve been doing ‘three (or maybe two, time permitting) album’ sets, live or studio records, on a Saturday but this time it’s assorted tracks from three artists. Originally, it was going to be two artists: Jagger, who celebrates his 81st birthday today, Friday, July 26 and still going strong fronting The Rolling Stones who just completed a tour, and Cochrane with and without his original band Red Rider, because he’s playing a festival in my town, Kitchener, Ontario on Saturday.

Then came news that this past Monday, July 22, the so-called Godfather of British Blues, John Mayall, had died at age 90. He was an artist and bandleader who had nurtured the careers of guitar greats like Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor, and perhaps less widely known but no less accomplished players like Walter Trout and Coco Montoya, who I saw play with Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in the late 1980s at, Ontario residents will remember, the old rotating stage at the Ontario Place Forum on the Toronto waterfront. Taylor was the opening act that night and then guested with Mayall, who, believe it or not, acted as one of his own roadies. I remember him coming out, pre-set, adjusting and tinkering with the equipment and my younger brother and I exchanged glances like ‘is that him, yeah, it is, wow, cool. Obviously no airs about him.” If you want a job done right, one supposes . . .

Mayall was making music until near the end, consistently releasing new music every year or two, most recently in 2022. Just a few weeks ago on my show I played a track from his 2016 album Talk About That (and he recorded two more studio albums after that) and mentioned how he was still releasing new music although he had retired from touring aside from a gig here or there close to his California home. I most recently saw him at the Kitchener Blues Festival in 2011, a fine afternoon show on the last day of a festival which that year also featured Gregg Allman, the Winter brothers Johnny and Edgar, separately, and Mayall.

And it’s interesting perhaps about Mayall in that although he was thought of as a blues artist, and he was, his horizons were broad if you delve deeply into his music, evidenced by some stuff I’m playing on the show including tracks like Nature’s Disappearing – from the drummer-less album USA Union in 1970 which was my introduction to Mayall as my older brother had the album – and other excursions like his 1972 live album Jazz Blues Fusion. He was forever experimenting, searching for new sounds but for the very most part always based in blues.

So, a three-artist set: Cochrane/Red Rider, Jagger and Mayall. Some hits or at least fairly well-known tunes, some maybe more obscure deep cut stuff, all of it among my favorites by these artists.

1. John Mayall, Wake Up Call (title cut from Mayall’s 1993 album, with Mick Taylor trying to beg off the session on a fun intro phone call, along with Mavis Staples)

2. Red Rider, Light In The Tunnel (first of three tracks from the 1983 album Neruda that are an overall intro piece to the record.)

3. Red Rider, Power (Strength In Numbers)

4. Red Rider, Human Race

5. Mick Jagger, Out Of Focus

6. John Mayall, Nature’s Disappearing

7. Tom Cochrane & Red Rider, Just Like Ali

8. Mick Jagger with Buddy Guy, Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) … a bluesy rearrangement of the Stones’ Goats Heat Soup album tune, released on the 2018 album Chicago Plays The Stones. It’s a tribute to The Rolling Stones by some of the artists who inspired them.

9. Red Rider, Napoleon Sheds His Skin

10. John Mayall, Night Flyer

11. Mick Jagger, Evening Gown . . . the type of country-ish ballad Jagger, in my view, does so well. Along the same lines later in the set are Hang On To Me Tonight and Party Doll.

12. Red Rider, Lunatic Fringe

13. John Mayall, Ain’t No Brakeman

14. Mick Jagger, Think . . . cover of a tune made famous by James Brown.

15. John Mayall, Broken Wings . . . beautiful, haunting track from Mayall’s The Blues Alone, just Mayall on guitar with drummer Keef Hartley.

16. Mick Jagger, Hang On To Me Tonight

17. John Mayall, Mail Order Mystics

18. Mick Jagger, Sweet Thing

19. Red Rider, Young Thing, Wild Dreams (Rock Me)

20. Mick Jagger, Too Many Cooks (Spoil The Soup)

21. John Mayall, Spinning Coin

22. Mick Jagger, Party Doll

23. John Mayall, Took The Car

24. Mick Jagger, Mother Of A Man

25. John Mayall, Room To Move

26. John Mayall, Fly Tomorrow

Music for a Monday night. My track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list.

1. Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Nut Rocker (live, from Pictures at an Exhibition)
2. Golden Earring, Sleepwalkin’
3. Deep Purple, A Bit On The Side
4. Jethro Tull, Rock Island
5. David Bowie, Shadow Man
6. The Rolling Stones, Laugh I Nearly Died
7. Elvis Costello, Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down
8. The Byrds, You’re Still On My Mind
9. Warren Zevon, Poisonous Lookalike
10. The Kingsmen, Death Of An Angel
11. Grand Funk Railroad, Creepin’
12. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Don’t Kill It Carol
13. Gov’t Mule, Silent Scream
14. Eric Clapton, Black Summer Rain
15. Rory Gallagher, I’m Not Awake Yet
16. The Butterfield Blues Band, Just To Be With You
17. Kansas, Throwing Mountains
18. Patti Smith, Birdland
19. George Thorogood & The Destroyers, That’s It, I Quit

My track-by-track tales:

1. Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Nut Rocker (live, from Pictures at an Exhibition) . . . One of ELP’s several rock interpretations of classical works, this one from the album where the band put its stamp on the piano suite by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky. Nut Rocker, however, was the last track on the album and lone piece not by Mussorgsky. It was ELP’s adaptation of a work by another Russian composer, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. Nut Rocker was also a hit single in 1962 for American instrumental ensemble B. Bumble and the Stingers, who were famously among the many artists name-checked by the one-hit wonder band Reunion on their 1974 hit Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me), which I played a few weeks ago although B. Bumble is referred to as B.B. Bumble in the first verse of the Reunion song.

2. Golden Earring, Sleepwalkin’ . . . Funky boogie boppin’ single, didn’t chart, from the 1976 album To The Hilt. Much more to the Dutch band than just the songs Radar Love and Twilight Zone.

3. Deep Purple, A Bit On The Side . . . Chugging, driving rocker from the new Deep Purple album, = 1, released this past Friday, July 19, to celebrate my birthday. 🙂 Officially a senior now, at 65. Just coincidence, of course, but a nice birthday present to myself. It’s the first studio album to feature Purple’s new guitarist, Northern Irish player Simon McBride. McBride replaces Steve Morse, who McBride filled in for on tour a couple years ago when Morse took a break from the band to care for his ailing wife who has, alas, since died. Morse eventually left the group and McBride was made a fulltime member. I liked the Morse period, which covered eight studio albums from 1996 to 2021, but McBride has fit right in and the album, rightly, is getting good reviews but I’m probably the wrong person to ask, being a huge Deep Purple fan. As for the album’s title, according to Wikipedia “the album has been described as having a loose concept around the idea that in a world growing ever more complex, everything eventually simplifies down to a single, unified essence. Everything equals one.” There’s a mathematical equation on the inside sleeve of the album cover, which gives me nightmares about high school algebra, but the cover is cool: a simple = 1 and “Deep Purple” on an otherwise entirely white background, somewhat akin to The Beatles’ White Album.

4. Jethro Tull, Rock Island . . . I’ve been going through some of Tull’s more recent albums of late, and played Occasional Demons from 1993’s Catfish Rising a couple weeks ago. This is the title cut from the album preceding that one, released in 1989. Typical Tull, part ballad, some riff rocking, nice.

5. David Bowie, Shadow Man . . . Haunting, spooky track featuring a stirring vocal performance by Bowie. It was originally recorded in 1971, but left unfinished, during the sessions for the classic 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars. Bowie reworked it in 2000 for the Toy album project, which wasn’t released on its own until 2021 although Shadow Man was included on the 3-CD deluxe edition of the compilation Nothing Has Changed, released in 2014.

6. The Rolling Stones, Laugh I Nearly Died . . . Slow burning bluesy funk track, if that makes sense but I think you can marry myriad genres, a mashup of sorts. Apparently used in the TV series Supernatural, which I’ve never seen but aside from sports, history documentaries and Star Trek I’m not a big TV watcher although all of that consumes enough time. Probably a good thing I’ve not seen Supernatural, although now I’m tempted, because then I’d think of scenes from the show instead of enjoying the song. It’s like when a novel becomes a movie and the paperback is re-released with a character or two, as portrayed by actors, on the cover. Just not my cup of tea – I prefer to imagine what characters look like or interpret the song for myself, but I ‘get’ the tie-ins.

7. Elvis Costello, Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down . . . Just randomly picked Almost Blue, Costello’s 1981 country and western covers album, off the shelf and played it driving back and forth to the gym this past week. A Merle Haggard tune, nicely done, on a solid album. The older I get, the more I seem to enjoy country music. Interesting.

8. The Byrds, You’re Still On My Mind . . . Still in the country groove, here’s another hurtin’ tune, from the Sweetheart Of The Rodeo album, the one record Gram Parsons, who sings the tune, did with the Byrds before leaving to form The Flying Burrito Brothers.

9. Warren Zevon, Poisonous Lookalike . . . About a relationship gone bad, from Zevon’s 1995 album Mutineer. David Lindley helps out on fiddle and cittern, a guitar-like stringed instrument, similar to a lute, dating to the Renaissance. Lindley, who had an extensive session playing history with many artists including Zevon, Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt, is perhaps best known on his own for his 1981 debut solo album El Rayo-X. That record featured the hit single Mercury Blues (also done by Steve Miller on the Fly Like An Eagle album), written by blues musicians K. C. Douglas and Robert Geddins and first recorded by Douglas in 1948.

10. The Kingsmen, Death Of An Angel . . . Slightly speeded up version of a spooky sort of song originally done in 1955 by the Los Angeles-based doo-wop vocal group Donald Woods and The Vel-Aires. It was released on the 1964 album The Kingsmen Volume II, subtitled “More Great Songs From The Group That Gave You ‘Louie, Louie’ “.

11. Grand Funk Railroad, Creepin’ . . . Inspired to play it by a friend mentioning it, an appropriately-titled track from 1973’s We’re An American Band album, it was the B-side to the title cut No. 1 single.

12. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Don’t Kill It Carol . . . Two different English bands with one leader. There’s the 1960s Manfred Mann of hits like Do Wah Diddy Diddy, Pretty Flamingo and their cover of Bob Dylan’s Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn), released as Mighty Quinn by Manfred Mann. Then there’s the 1970s progressive/jazz rock Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, best known for their 1976 hit single cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Blinded By The Light. The trippy, psychedelic Don’t Kill It Carol, from 1979’s Angel Station album, made it just inside the top 50 in the UK.

13. Gov’t Mule, Silent Scream . . . Bluesy, dark, near 11-minute epic from the Mule’s 2004 album Deja Voodoo.

14. Eric Clapton, Black Summer Rain . . . Lovely track from the 1976 album No Reason To Cry. Among the personnel on the album were Bob Dylan, all members of The Band, Ron Wood, ace session guitarist Jesse Ed Davis and Yvonne Elliman, who contributed vocals to four Clapton studio albums during the 1970s and was part of his touring band.

15. Rory Gallagher, I’m Not Awake Yet . . . Typically fine guitar picking on this cantering cut from Gallagher’s second solo album – Deuce, released in 1971 – after the 1970 breakup of Taste.

16. The Butterfield Blues Band, Just To Be With You . . . Soulful blues from Paul Buttefield and friends from the In Your Own Dream album, released in 1968.

17. Kansas, Throwing Mountains . . . Great prog rock from a band that, like a lot of people, I first appreciated during the 1970s for their hits Carry On Wayward Son and Dust In The Wind but investigated more deeply, and was rewarded, as time passed. This one’s from a latter day album with a great title – The Absence of Presence – released in 2020.

18. Patti Smith, Birdland . . . I’d describe this harrowing, nine-minute production from Smith’s debut release, the 1975 album Horses, as progressive punk stirring spoken word art rock. According to Wikipedia, it was inspired by A Book of Dreams, a 1973 memoir of Austrian psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich by his son Peter, and revolves around a narrative in which Peter, at his father’s funeral, imagines leaving on a UFO piloted by his father’s spirit.

19. George Thorogood & The Destroyers, That’s It, I Quit . . . I’m outta here, quitting for the night as Thorogood covers a Nick Lowe-penned song, from The Destroyers’ 2003 album Ride ‘Til I Die. The song was also done by English band Dr. Feelgood, released on the 1977 album Be Seeing You, produced by Lowe.

Another album replay set list for my Saturday show. The three records I’m playing – Black And Blue by The Rolling Stones, In Through The Out Door by Led Zeppelin and Drama from Yes – all came to mind thanks to chats with friends the past week or so.

The Stones and Zep albums, released in 1976 and 1979, respectively, came up in a discussion about albums that may not have been necessarily well received critically upon release but have seemed to stand the test of time and in the view of some, and also in so-called retrospective reviews by journalists, have risen in stature.

There’s the Stones, “auditioning guitar players” as Keith Richards termed Black And Blue. It was recorded in sessions stretching, in various stints, from late 1974 to early 1976 before its April, 1976 release and featured various guitarists including eventual Stone Ron Wood after the departure of Mick Taylor. What resulted was a brew of rock, funk, soul, disco and reggae helped along by the presence, among others, of keyboardist Billy Preston who contributed live and in studio to various Stones projects during that period, and percussionist Ollie Brown. The departed Taylor was on record as saying he enjoyed the album.

Then Zeppelin, in relative tatters with Robert Plant still mourning the death of his young son and Jimmy Page and John Bonham in the throes of drug and booze addiction, releasing a somewhat uncharacteristic, keyboard-heavy album. That’s due in large measure to the influence of bassist/keyboard player John Paul Jones, a noted if perhaps underappreciated session player along with Page in the early 1960s, who co-wrote six of the seven songs on the album, previously unheard of for anyone outside the Page-Plant songwriting duo.

And then there’s Drama, the out of left field in terms of personnel Yes album from 1980 featuring members of The Buggles of Video Killed The Radio Star fame when Trevor Horn (lead vocals, replaced longtime Yes singer Jon Anderson) and Geoff Downes (keyboards) replaced Rick Wakeman. I got talking about it, and Yes in general, when a friend mentioned he was going to see Yes on a bill with Deep Purple coming up in August and we agreed that Drama is a damn fine album. It’s one of my favorites by Yes, I don’t hear much difference between Horn’s vocals and Anderson’s, but that’s not even really the point because I like the almost metallic sound of the record, particularly its opening track, the 10-minute epic Machine Messiah. And the rest of it. So, here you go, three interesting albums for a Saturday morning.

The Rolling Stones – Black And Blue

1. Hot Stuff
2. Hand Of Fate
3. Cherry Oh Baby
4. Memory Motel
5. Hey Negrita
6. Melody
7. Fool To Cry
8. Crazy Mama

Led Zeppelin – In Through The Out Door

1. In The Evening
2. South Bound Suarez
3. Fool In The Rain
4. Hot Dog
5. Carouselambra
6. All My Love
7. I’m Gonna Crawl

Yes – Drama

1. Machine Messiah
2. White Car
3. Does It Really Happen?
4. Into The Lens
5. Run Through The Light
6. Tempus Fugit