1. Five Man Electrical Band, We Play Rock ‘N Roll . . . And the sign said the band known mostly for that great song, Signs, did a lot of other good stuff. Like this one, cliché band making music lyrics aside.

2. Jethro Tull, When Jesus Came To Play . . . 1991’s Catfish Rising album, from which I pulled this typically hilariously cynical Ian Anderson-penned cut, seems to get short shrift, even from Tull fans of which I am a big one. Not sure why, except for the reality that everyone hears things differently and that’s cool. It’s one of my favorite Tull albums – good hard rocking bluesy stuff for the most part full of great songs like Rocks On The Road, Roll Your Own, this one and many others.

3. Doug and The Slugs, Thunder Makes The Noise . . . The tyranny of too many choices ruling our lives but particularly our TV and internet packages and indeed home entertainment options these days means, unless we’re disciplined, that we often don’t get to or, hell, don’t even know all that’s available to us. Like, for me, The Documentary Channel in my TV package I only recently discovered I have but then I’m not a huge TV or for that matter streaming service consumer. I just have what I have, mostly for sports channels, then find that things like The Documentary Channel come with it. All of which is my usual stream of consciousness way of saying that I recently noticed, and recorded, a documentary on Doug and The Slugs, which prompted me playing the band today. Have I watched the doc yet? Of course not. It’s in my ‘to watch’ list along with books, etc. I’ll get to it, eventually, but definitely sooner than later. I saw the Slugs in 1979 in a bar in Oakville, Ontario thanks to a girl I was dating at the time during my college days, before most people knew of the band.

4. Fleetwood Mac, One Sunny Day . . . Need I tell you the story again of my older brother bringing home the Then Play On album and how much of a great musical influence he was on me? Anyway, another from that terrific album, the last of the Peter Green era.

    

5. The Rolling Stones, Loving Cup . . . This was one of mine when a Twitter music aficionado acquaintance last week asked people to name four favorite tracks from Exile On Main Street. I did add the point that, favorites are, really, each of the 18 songs on arguably the Stones’ best album, and likely my favorite album of theirs although so difficult to pick.

6. Murray McLauchlan, Playin’ Your Emotions . . . He’s obviously well known to people of a certain vintage but the breadth of McLauchlan’s songwriting and musical talent is truly revealed by the 2-CD Songs From The Street compilation, also available online, that came out several years ago and was an important release for those who still like physical product, since many of his albums have gone out of print, alas.

7. The Lovin’ Spoonful, Darlin’ Companion . . . I first heard this song, written by the Spoonful’s John Sebastian, via Johnny Cash covering it in a duet with his wife, June Carter Cash, on my dad’s Johnny Cash At San Quentin live album. Sebastian later wrote Welcome Back, the theme song to the 1970s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter along with of course the big Spoonful hits Do You Believe In Magic and Summer In The City, the latter co-written with his brother Mark and Spoonful bandmate Steve Boone.

    

8. Elton John, Blues For Baby And Me . . . Sometimes credited as Blues For My Baby And Me. Either way, another great early to mid-1970s EJ song, a time when everything he touched turned to gold. Or platinum. Multiple times. This one’s from the Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player album.

    

9. Bob Dylan, Love Sick . . . The joy of having fellow music aficionado friends: You get texts like this, out of the blue: “When was the last time you listened to Time Out Of Mind straight through? Highly recommended for someone in need of something making sense. Just finished! Two bourbons and phew, peace for a minute.” It’s been a while, for me, listening to Dylan’s brilliant 1997 album, front to back but I will again soon, thanks to my friend’s text. And I promised him I’d play something from it today, inspired by his message and reminder of the record. Love Sick, the opening song on the Time Out Of Mind album, was released as a single but as is often now typical for classic rock artists, didn’t chart that I’m aware of and in fact made a list of ‘greatest Dylan songs that aren’t the greatest hits.” It’s pretty great, to me. But then I’m a huge fan and admire and like all his work. And I do mean all of it, even those songs that might be considered by some to be outlier failures, like some of his Christian period material for instance.

10. Meat Loaf, Life Is A Lemon and I Want My Money Back . . . Arguably a guilty pleasure for me, Meat Loaf. Just so over the top and bombastic, it’s great. Plus, sometimes, one can’t help but agree with the song title. This comes from the second Bat Out Of Hell album, Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell, released in 1993. It was almost as good as the first blockbuster, released in 1977. The third and last in the series, Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose, came out in 2006. It wasn’t as successful but it did spawn a tour which yielded a great DVD, 3 Bats Live, taken from a London, Ontario show from that trek. Great show, during which Meat Loaf did justice to the Stones’ Gimme Shelter in a closing concert assault of covers that also featured Black Betty and Mercury Blues. I confess that, while I own a Meat Loaf 2-CD compilation that covers some of his other stuff, all I ever really listen to are the first two Bat Out Of Hell albums. And speaking of Meat Loaf DVDs, also well worth seeking out or finding online is The Original Tour, a 1978 German Rockpalast show from the original Bat Out Of Hell tour.

11. Van Morrison, T.B. Sheets . . . I think this is one of Van The Man’s best but of course they are so many, this one being yet another of those where his voice is an amazing instrument in itself. A dark tale about tuberculosis, I can’t do justice to analyzing it but it is worth reading the Wikepedia entry on it which delves into various reactions to and interpretations of it.

12. Eric Burdon and War, Blues For Memphis Slim . . . Extended, 13-minute piece of jazzy funk blues including the “Mother Earth’ segments noting the truism of men (and some women) coming out of somewhere then spending the rest of their lives trying to get back in. Burdon and War were an amazing combination over the three studio albums they did together.

13. Jon Lord with The Hoochie Coochie Men and Jimmy Barnes, 12 Bar Blow Jam (live) . . . The late great Deep Purple keyboardist at the helm for this kick ass jam from the Live At The Basement album, recorded in Australia and released in 2004.

14. John Mayall/Bluesbreakers, Ain’t No Brakeman . . . I was playing a 1990s period Mayall compilation, from his days on the Silvertone label, in the car last week. This came up, so in it goes, on the show. Originally on 1995’s Spinning Coin album.

15. Stephen Stills, Johnny’s Garden . . . Amazingly, this was not a single from the Manassas album, released in 1972. It’s well-known though, and rightly so.

16. Bloomfield/Kooper/Stills, His Holy Modal Majesty . . . Speaking of Stills, he’s credited on the overall Super Session album project but didn’t play on this tribute to John Coltrane. It’s Mike Bloomfield on guitar, before he left the sessions claiming he was having issues sleeping. So Al Kooper, who was running the show, called Stills in for the songs – including a great, extended cover of Donovan’s Season Of The Witch – that appeared on side 2 of the original vinyl album release.
    
17. The Moody Blues, English Sunset . . . I’m not typically fond of synthesizer-driven tracks but I do like this up tempo one from the 1990 Strange Times album, which barely scraped into the Top 100. English Sunset, the opening cut on the album, was the only single. It didn’t chart.

     

18. Love, You Set The Scene . . . From the the Forever Changes album, Love starts us down the scenic route (you’ll see) to close the show.

19. Billy Joel, Scenes From An Italian Restaurant . . . From the blockbuster The Stranger album. Interestingly, his record company was close to dropping Joel before he produced arguably his finest work and a deserved hit album commercially and creatively. Not a single although a well-known and popular Joel track. As for the wine of which he speaks, I started with whites but once I took a chance and realized it didn’t trigger my migraine headaches, moved to reds. And, thankfully, the migraines have faded to almost never having them, as I’ve aged. Must be the red wine. Who knew?

20. Bob Seger, The Famous Final Scene . . . Haven’t played Seger in a while. This is a studio cut from Stranger In Town but occurs to me in playing it that I meant to include something from Seger’s Live Bullet on last Saturday’s all live albums show, but I forgot amid the various other tracks. So many great songs, so little time, even with now two, two-hour shows for me each week. I’m sure I’ll get to Live Bullet again, either independently or on another live albums show somewhere down the line.

1. Paul McCartney and Wings, Venus and Mars/Rock Show/Jet (from Wings Over America)
2. Paul McCartney and Wings, Beware My Love (Wings Over America)
3. The J. Geils Band, (Ain’t Nothin’ But A) House Party (Blow Your Face Out)
4. Blue Oyster Cult, Dominance and Submission (Extraterrestrial Live)
5. The Rolling Stones, Dance Little Sister (El Mocambo 1977)
6. Ted Nugent, Yank Me Crank Me (Double Live Gonzo!)
7. Roxy Music, In Every Dream Home A Heartache (Viva! Roxy Music)
8. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Searching (One More From The Road)
9. Peter Tosh, Coming In Hot (Captured Live)
10. Bob Marley & The Wailers, War/No More Trouble (Babylon By Bus)
11. Eric Clapton, Driftin’ Blues (E.C. Was Here)
12. The Guess Who, Pain Train (Live At The Paramount)
13. Rory Gallagher, Too Much Alcohol (Irish Tour ’74)
14. The Allman Brothers Band, Instrumental Illness (One Way Out)
15. Yes, Close To The Edge (Yesssongs)

1. Ian Hunter, Cleveland Rocks
2. Judas Priest, Ram It Down
3. Black Sabbath, Disturbing The Priest
4. KK’s Priest, Return Of The Sentinel
5. Deep Purple, Pictures Of Home
6. Robert Palmer, Love Stop
7. Trooper, Baby Woncha Please Come Home
8. Blodwyn Pig, Ain’t Ya Comin’ Home, Babe?
9. Stray, Mama’s Coming Home
10. The Doors, Been Down So Long
11. David Bowie, Be My Wife
12. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, You Can Still Change Your Mind
13. David + David, Being Alone Together
14. David Wilcox, Between The Lines
15. Carlos Santana and Buddy Miles, Them Changes (live)
16. Stories, Brother Louie
17. Robin Trower, Confessin’ Midnight
18. Van Halen, Can’t Get This Stuff No More
19. Chicago, It Better End Soon suite from Chicago II/movements 1-4 plus Where Do We Go From Here?
20. Sea Level, That’s Your Secret
21. New Barbarians (Ron Wood/Keith Richards and friends), F.U.C. Her (live)
22. The Rolling Stones, Please Go Home
23. Tom Waits, Earth Died Screaming

1. Maria Muldaur, I’m A Woman . . . Perfect song to kick off my all-woman lead vocals show (with one sneaky exception you’ll see, coming up). Muldaur is argualby best known for her 1973 hit, Midnight at the Oasis, from her first, self-titled album but in many ways that song isn’t representative of some of her bluesier, swampy style stuff she once termed “bluesiana’ – a combination of blues and Louisiana good-time music. I’m A Woman, once done by Peggy Lee, is from her second album, Waitress In A Donut Shop.

2. Koko Taylor, I’m A Woman . . . Not the same song as the Muldaur track. This one is blues belter Taylor’s reinterpretation, lyrically, from a woman’s point of view, of the Muddy Waters/Bo Diddley/Mel London-penned Mannish Boy. Da na na na num, boom de boom.

3. Pretenders, Stop Your Sobbing . . . A cover of the Ray Davies-written Kinks’ tune, which led to a relationship between Pretenders’ frontwoman Chrissie Hynde and Davies. The song appeared on the Kinks’ first album in 1964 and the Pretenders’ debut in 1979. It’s one of those few instances where I prefer the cover version and I’m a huge Kinks fan. It’s not markedly different, just sounds better to me, perhaps due to more advanced sound and production techniques. The Kinks’ version on their live One For The Road album kicks better butt given it was done later, on their tour promoting the 1979 major comeback Low Budget album.

4. Bonnie Raitt, Spit Of Love . . . Raitt’s albums are usually heavy on covers of songs by great writers like John Hiatt but she wrote this nice groove tune, from her 1998 album Fundamental.

5. Linda Ronstadt, Mental Revenge . . . A Mel Tillis song from her 1970 album Silk Purse. Early stuff. Very country, more so, arguably, than Tillis’s own version. Like Raitt, to an even greater degree Ronstadt was more an interpreter, and a great one, of songs written by others, than a writer herself. That’s not meant as a criticism by any stretch. There have been many artists – Elvis Presley for one – who didn’t write much of their own material although in Elvis’s case, he might have written but it was more a matter of that’s how the industry worked then; writers and performers were often separate. And in any behind-the-scenes looks at Elvis recording, it’s apparent he’s in command of the sessions so it’s not as if he and those like him were just voices for other people’s words. In Ronstadt’s case, there’s lots to be said for an artist’s ability to select great material to cover and she once said that some of the favorites among the songs she sang were not her hits, but deeper cuts. Like this one. Sadly, I had to say Ronstadt ‘was’ more an interpreter because she’s long since retired – her amazing and versatile voice has been silenced by progressive supranuclear palsy, a degenerative disease affecting the brain. Her wonderful career, including her sad decline, is well covered in the excellent documentary, The Sound of My Voice. A must watch for any music fan.

6. Pat Benatar, Rated X . . . Likely my favorite Benatar tune from my favorite album of hers, the debut In The Heat Of The Night, 1979. Rated X, surprisingly to me not on any compilation Benatar has released, was the first song I heard from the album and hence the first Benatar I ever heard, back when commerical rock radio dug a little deeper, because the song was only released as a single in France where it made No. 30. Written and also performed by England-born, Vancouver-raised Nick Gilder of Sweeney Todd and solo fame.

7. Keith Richards/Norah Jones, Illusion . . . Here’s my sneaky exception to the all-woman show theme, although there are occasional male voices on other songs in the set, via backing vocals. But no outright duets like this one with Jones from Richards’ most recent solo album, Crosseyed Heart, released in 2015. I play something from my favorite band, the Stones or Stones-related (what I call Stones, Inc.) material every Monday on my other show. And while I don’t intend to do that on this still-new Saturday gig (although I do plan to do a solo Stones show at some point along with solo Beatles, etc.), I wanted to play something from Jones and, well, this came up first in the computer when I was searching Heart tracks. Later, I saw other Norah stuff but, by then I was set so . . .

8. Marianne Faithfull, Guilt . . . Another from Stones, Inc. I suppose one could say, Faithfull of course once having been involved with Mick Jagger. From her brilliant Broken English album.

9. Fleetwood Mac, Storms . . . Stevie Nicks wrote and sang this one, from 1979’s Tusk album. Some people, critics included, were perplexed by the double album given the immediacy and more commercial appeal of the two records – the self-titled so-called white album and Rumours – that preceded Tusk but like so many doublt albums, it’s full of gems that reward repeat listens.

10. Alannah Myles, Rockinghorse . . . Myles had the massive hit with Black Velvet, from her debut album, along with several other big singles but this title cut from her second album, while not released as a single, remains one of my favorites of hers.

11. Sass Jordan, Ugly . . . Kick butt rocker from the Rats album. George Clinton of Parliament/Funkadelic fame is credited with ‘talking, backing vocals’ on the record and I’m pretty sure that’s him yakking on the intro and outro although there’s other guys playing instruments and providing backup singing on the track. Jordan has entered the covers album industry and that’s a good thing. She’s released two blues covers albums since 2020, the latest coming out in June of 2022. Rebel Moon Blues and Bitches Blues are terrific albums and unsurprisingly so, given Jordan’s throaty, seductive voice. It’s made for deep blues.

12. Jefferson Airplane, Greasy Heart . . . One of the great examples, to me, of Grace Slick’s singing. Viciously aggressive I’d call it, over top of great rhythm guitar work by Martin Balin and Paul Kantner. Jorma Kaukonen provides the lead guitar theatrics.

13. Janis Joplin, Half Moon . . . From Pearl, her final album, released in January of 1971, three months after Joplin died. Track for track, it’s her best, in my opinion but it’s the one I know best since I grew up with it thanks to my older sister playing the shit out of it and why wouldn’t she? It’s a great album. I had great sibling role models for my music in my older sister and brother, who I’ve often mentioned.

14. Bobbie Gentry, Apartment 21 . . . I’ve said it enough whenever I play her but it bears repeating for those who only know Gentry for her big hit, Ode To Billie Joe. I strongly suggest digging deeper. Great artist, one of the first women who wrote and produced much of her own material. She quit the music industry in the late 1970s, having had enough. I find that kinda cool. I’ve done it, I’m done, kind of thing. I like nonconformists, being one myself and it’s not contrived, it’s just one’s nature. She last performed publicly in 1981 and last appeared in public at the Academy of Country Music Awards in 1982 after which she essentially disappeared off the face of the earth. Now 80, presuming she’s still around, she lives in a gated community near Memphis, Tennessee, according to some reports. Or, according to other reports, she’s in Los Angeles.

     

15. Heart, Bebe Le Strange . . . Title cut rocker from the band’s 1980 album. It was released as a single but, ridiculously, didn’t make the top 100 on Billboard, the first Heart single not to achieve that status.

16. The Mamas & The Papas, Dream A Little Dream Of Me . . . Mama Cass, Cass Elliott, takes lead vocals on this standard that dates to 1931. John Phillips, prime papa, says so at the beginning of the song. And I trust him.

17. Melissa Etheridge, Refugee . . . Yes, it’s the Tom Petty song, done semi-acoustically, at least to start things off. It was a ‘new’ track on Etheridge’s 2005 greatest hits album. Nice version.

18. Martha and The Muffins/M + M, Obedience . . . This is an outlier among the more rock and blues-oriented sound of this set, a new wave, techno Talking Heads-type track from 1983’s Danseparc album, issued during the band’s brief and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to rebrand as M + M. The evolution of the band’s name is interesting reading. Originally, Martha and The Muffins was supposed to be a temporary name, but the name stuck, thanks in large measure to the band’s first and best-known hit, Echo Beach.

19. Patti Smith, Soul Kitchen . . . Cover of the Doors’ song, from the excellent all-covers album, Twelve, which I often mine for my shows if and when I play Patti.

20. Nina Simone, Wild Is The Wind . . . Great song, amazing voice. Thanks to David Bowie for introducing me to it via his version that appeared on the 1976 album Station To Station. Johnny Mathis also did it.

21. Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, Hound Dog . . . Made famous in the mainstream by Elvis Presley, this is the original version of the Jerry Leiber-Mike Stoller track, recorded by Thornton in 1952 and released in 1953 and a big hit for her on the blues and R & B charts. Elvis followed it in 1956.

22. Joni Mitchell, The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey . . . Terrific experimental track from Mingus, the 1979 album Mitchell recorded with jazz legend Charles Mingus, his final musical project, recorded in the months before he died. Other jazz and jazz-fusion luminaries on the album are bassist Jaco Pastorius, sax player Wayne Shorter and pianist Herbie Hancock.

23. Blackmore’s Night, Fires At Midnight . . . From former Deep Purple founding guitarist Ritchie Blackmore’s folk, rock and medieval rock project in collaboration with his wife and lead vocalist, Candice Night.

24. Fairport Convention, Who Knows Where The Time Goes . . . Where does it go, indeed? The wonderful voice of the late great Sandy Denny, who also wrote the song, searches for answers. Led Zeppelin fans likely cottoned to her via her shared vocals with Robert Plant on The Battle of Evermore, from Zep IV.

25. Joan Baez, Simple Twist Of Fate . . . Baez covers one of her former flame’s tunes. I love how Baez, starting at the 2:24 mark for 25 seconds, sounds almost exactly like Bob Dylan. Maybe it is him. Good sense of humor, Joan.

26. Billie Holiday, Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off . . . I played Billie’s Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do on my Monday show last week. It came down to a choice between that song and this one, so I pushed this to Saturday, knowing I’d be doing a women’s artist show.

27. Dinah Washington, Baby Get Lost . . . All right, I’m leaving soon. Calm down, Dinah, alhough you’re sexy when you’re angry. Be happy you had a No. 1 R & B hit with this in 1949. I wasn’t even around then, so gimme a break; you’re obviously mistaking me for someone else. I showed up on the planet 10 years later.

28. Blondie, Fade Away and Radiate . . . From Parallel Lines, the 1979 album that broke Blondie big with hits like Heart of Glass, Hanging On The Telephone and One Way Or Another. This has a much different vibe than those songs, almost progressive rock in spots, and one of my favorite Blondie tracks.

1. R.E.M., Radio Song . . . Fun ditty spoofing radio was the fourth single from Out of Time, the band’s blockbuster 1991 album that featured the big hit single Losing My Religion. Radio Song was a minor hit everywhere and did make No. 5 in Ireland. The ‘hey hey hey’ refrain, as I remember it, was a bit of a shot at The Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction or, at least, classic rock radio playing the same songs by the same bands over and over again – which is exactly why I started this deep cuts show long ago.

2. Ian Dury, Dance Little Rude Boy . . . So much music, so little time that sometimes, one discovers ‘new’ music among stuff you already own but have never made the time to fully go through, or listen to very much. Such is the case for an Ian Dury compilation I own, The Very Best of Ian Dury & The Blockheads – Reasons To Be Cheerful. I own his early studio albums like New Boots and Panties!! but picked up the compilation some years ago to fill in the blanks, so to speak. And, on that compilation, up pop a few cool cuts, like this one, from his final, posthumous album, Ten More Turnips for the Tip.

3. The Rolling Stones, Suck On The Jugular . . . I almost played this funk tune from the Voodoo Lounge album last week but settled on Sparks Will Fly to open the show. But I kept it in mind so, sticking with the same album for my weekly Stones’ cut, here it is.

    

4. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Blind Leading The Blind . . . Bluesy, funky, horn-drenched catchy tune from the final album, Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin’, under the Butterfield Blues Band moniker, before he formed Paul Butterfield’s Better Days.

5. Roxy Music, The Space Between . . . An old work colleague of mine swears by the Avalon album, with good reason. So when I decided to get back to a Roxy Music cut this week, to that album I went. It’s an intoxicating listen, track for track.

6. Blue Cheer, Fruit And Icebergs . . . Somewhat spooky psychedelic hard rock from the band’s third album, New! Improved! Released in 1969, it’s a hybrid album in that the two sides of the original vinyl release were recorded by two different band lineups. Side two, including this track, features the writing and playing of new guitarist Randy Holden, who replaced original axeman Leigh Stephens.

7. Bad Company, Electricland . . . The only single from the original lineup’s final pre-breakup studio album, 1982’s Rough Diamonds. There’s been various reunions since for live work but it remains the last studio work with Paul Rodgers on lead vocals. The album and single were among the worst performing, commercially speaking, for the band. Good tune, though.

8. Dire Straits, Once Upon A Time In The West . . . I had a plan in mind to pair this with R.E.M.’s How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us and perhaps should have. But, best laid plans fell apart when I decided to open with R.E.M.’s Radio Song. I suppose I could have played two R.E.M. songs, and considered that, but I tend not to have a one-band, one-song policy. Enough of my mental, retrospective, gymnastics. Next tune . . .

9. The Monkees, Mary, Mary . . . Another great Mike Nesmith-penned Monkees song. The Butterfield Blues Band, who I played earlier in the set, covered it on their second album, East-West, released in 1966.

10. Billie Holiday, Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do . . . What a singer the lady was. And I agree with her sentiments as expressed in the title and lyrics.

11. Marvin Gaye, Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) . . . As we now enter the ‘message’ song segment of tonight’s set. Just listen to the lyrics of the next few songs. I was inspired to play Gaye in perhaps a surprising way: Members of a nostalgia football group I’m in on Facebook were discussing Lem Barney, a defensive back for the Detroit Lions of the 1960s and 70s and someone asked, ‘wasn’t he one of the voices on Marvin Gaye’s song What’s Going On?” Yes, he was, along with his teammate Mel Farr. So, I dug up my What’s Going On album, and here we are.

12. Stevie Wonder, Black Man . . . Not sure what to say so I’ll keep it short. Wonder is a, er, wonder. Musical genius.

13. Queen, White Man . . . I played this fairly recently if I recall correctly and too lazy to look it up. But it fits with the ‘message’ theme, lyrically. Musically, a terrific cut from A Day At The Races, 1976.

14. Joe Jackson, Battleground . . . JJ likely would never get away with the lyrics to this song, from 1980’s Beat Crazy, in today’s so-called cancel culture. But again, there’s a message beyond superficial assessments.

15. Peter Tosh, Babylon Queendom . . . One of those tunes I came upon, as often happens, when I go searching for one band (Queen) in our station computer that’s filled with so many downloads from my personal collection I ought to be getting royalties. An outtake from the Equal Rights album, it later appeared on expanded re-releases of that record.

16. Golden Earring, Vanilla Queen . . . Another from the Queen (band) search. It’s like throwing darts and often works for me at least some of the time. Killer cut from the band’s most well-known album (and rightly so), Moontan.

17. Screaming Trees, Alice Said . . . From the Seattle sound of things. Screaming Trees never seemed to get the hype of other such bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains but there’s lots of great stuff in their catalog. Good riff rocker.

18. Neil Young, Hangin’ On A Limb . . . Beautiful song from Young’s 1989 album Freedom. That’s Linda Ronstadt helping Neil out on vocals.

19. Free, Be My Friend . . . Another beauty, from the great if relatively unheralded band Paul Rodgers was in before Bad Company. Free is/was so much more than All Right Now, which is all one ever hears on commercial rock radio.

20. Patti Smith Group, Privilege (Set Me Free) . . . Interesting how one gets into bands/artists. I was a doorman in a bar, working my way through college. A covers band we had in one weekend played Because The Night, co-written by Smith and Bruce Springsteen. So I went out and bought her Easter album, from which this song comes. And the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

21. The Beatles, Because . . . One of those songs that, as a kid, was perhaps one of my least favorite from Abbey Road, as was the case with Within You Without You from Sgt. Pepper. Slow, boring, whatever. Then you start growing up, and things change.

     

22. The Byrds, Tiffany Queen . . . Yup, from that Queen search mentioned earlier. See what I mean, though? Throw darts at the board and…great little pop rocker from the later version of the band featuring the late great innovative and influential guitarist Clarence White.

23. Gillan and Glover, I Can’t Dance To That . . . From one of the many branches of Deep Purple, Inc. This rocker appeared on Accidentally on Purpose, released by Purple singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover in 1988. Well worth a listen. Dr. John (piano) and session ace Andy Newmark (drums) are the ‘name’ musician friends lending a hand. Ira Siegel and Nick Maroch aren’t household names but shine on guitars.

24. ZZ Top, 2000 Blues . . . The band was still immersed in its big commercial success synthesizer sound by 1990’s Recycler album, but a return to their blues roots was obviously brewing.

25. Gov’t Mule, I Shall Return . . . And I shall return – Saturday with my new So Old It’s New ‘2’ show, from 7-9 am ET and my regular Monday 8-10 pm ET gig.

1. Are You Ready (Brian Johnson vocals)
2. For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) (Johnson)
3. If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It) (Bon Scott vocals)
4. Bad Boy Boogie (Scott)
5. Whole Lotta Rosie (Scott)
6. What Do You Do For Money Honey (Johnson)
7. Soul Stripper (Scott)
8. Let’s Get It Up (Johnson)
9. Go Down (Scott)
10. Givin The Dog A Bone (Johnson)
11. Girls Got Rhythm (Scott)
12. Got You By The Balls (Johnson)
13. Problem Child (Scott)
14. Walk All Over You (Scott)
15. Shot Down In Flames (Scott)
16. Baby Please Don’t Go (Scott)
17. Down Payment Blues (Scott)
18. Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be (Scott)
19. Live Wire (Scott)
20. High Voltage (Scott)
21. Jailbreak (Scott)
22. Bedlam In Belgium (Johnson)
23. Night Prowler (Scott)
24. Overdose (Scott)
25. Rock N Roll Damnation (Scott)

So, behold my AC/DC show for Saturday, Oct. 1. Of the 25 studio recordings, 18 are sung by the late Bon Scott, the band’s original lead vocalist, and seven by Brian Johnson, who replaced Scott starting with 1980’s blockbuster Back In Black album. The numbers don’t lean heavily one way because I like Scott’s songs better; I’m a big AC/DC fan and have no preference between the singers. But, in putting the set together I was cognizant of the fact Johnson’s been at the helm vocally for just over 40 years now while Scott was the frontman for about five years before his death so perhaps subconsciously I wanted to favor Bon in terms of volume, since he obviously can’t contribute anymore. So the set just came together as it did. For my own listening pleasure, some years ago I burned seven (!?) CDs of AC/DC material – two discs featuring both singers plus a Bon 1 and 2 and a Brian 1, 2 and 3, from which I drew much of this set. At some point I may do separate shows with each singer, or a set more heavily featuring Johnson-sung material. I couldn’t help but smile while putting it together, given some of the song titles and lyrics, which support what Johnson was once quoted as saying: “We’re a filthy band.”

1. The Rolling Stones, Sparks Will Fly . . . One of those latter day Stones’ songs, from 1994’s Voodoo Lounge album, that perhaps is known only to aficionados of the band but, in another time, might have been a hit single. The whole album is arguably that way. Guitar World magazine, in a retrospective 2014 review, had the record at No. 42 on its ‘Superunknown Top 50 iconic albums that defined 1994’ list which, naturally, featured Soundgarden’s great album Superunknown from that year.

2. Dead Kennedys, Police Truck . . . It’s fun perusing YouTube comments on songs. Two come to mind re this ‘message track’, musically speaking, which could apply to most if not all Dead Kennedy’s songs: “This band has a kinda creepy sound to their music,’ says one observer. “It’s due to the guitar playing. It’s like evil surf rock,” responds another person. Yes.

3. David Bowie, D.J. . . . That’s me, your DJ. A minor hit single, Talking Heads-like, from Bowie/s1979 Lodger album.

4. Talking Heads, Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) . . . And here’s they are, from the excellent Remain in Light album, in their style of the time.

5. Sugarloaf, Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You . . . Little wonder this was a hit single, from two-hit wonders Sugarloaf, the other being Green Eyed Lady. I don’t usually play hit singles on this deep cuts show but, what the hell. Sometimes I do, and after all, It’s So Old It’s New. It came up while searching something else. A nascent Van Halen, I also discovered, did a cover of Don’t Call Us in 1975. That version is available on a bootleg recording on YouTube. David Lee Roth introduces it by saying “I was against doing it when we learned it, but check it out, it’s good.” And it is.

6. Big Sugar, Skull Ring . . . Reggae rock from the Canadian band. Good thing we’re listening to it on the radio, not live, so you can control the volume. Great band, but geez they play too effing loud, or at least did. Saw them once in a club in Toronto, 2004. Good show but my ears were ringing for three days and I was on the verge of seeking treatment, really, before things got back to normal, thankfully. One and done seeing them live, for me, as a result. Yeah, call me an old fart but try them sometime. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Unnecessarily loud.

    

7. The Police, Shadows In The Rain . . . It was raining, on and off in my town this weekend, perhaps inspiring this terrific track from Zenyatta Mondatta.

8. Fleetwood Mac, Sugar Daddy . . . I came upon this one, written and sung by Christine McVie, in the station computer system while searching Big Sugar songs. It wasn’t a single, but may as well have been given the airplay the band’s self-titled 1975 album justifiably received. It was the first one with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham in the band, marked a shift in musical direction, yielded hit singles like Over My Head, Rhiannon and Say You Love Me and two years later came the similar but bigger commercial monster Rumours.

9. Jeff Beck, Head For Backstage Pass . . . To say Jeff Beck is eclectic is, well, it goes without saying. Short, sweet, superb, from his 1976 album Wired, his second straight great instrumental album, Blow By Blow the previous one.

10. Peter Frampton, White Sugar (live) . . . Another one I noticed during the Big Sugar search. Originally on the Frampton’s Camel studio album in 1973, it was played on the tour that yielded the blockbuster breakthrough Frampton Comes Alive in 1976 but didn’t appear on the first issue of that album but was included on subsequent expanded re-releases, beginning with the 25^th anniversary set. It’s interesting how Frampton’s solo studio stuff was not so much ignored as it didn’t do well, commercially, when he came out of Humble Pie but then boom, the live album happened and the rest is history. Same thing happened, to varying degrees, with Kiss and Kiss Alive and Bob Seger and Live Bullet, both of which arguably fueled the double live album trend of the 1970s that Paul McCartney took one full vinyl record further with his triple Wings Over America.

11. Bob Dylan, Man Of Peace . . . Put on your best “how does it fee-el” Bob Dylan voice and sing “you know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.” Yes, evil people do just that and there are many in our midst, always. Great song, great lyrics, from 1983’s Infidels.

12. Electric Light Orchestra, Tightrope . . . Never a single but a well-known cut by ELO. It’s the first song on the 1976 album A New World Record, was played extensively live and to me with its orchestral opening seguing into rock and roll would have been a great concert opener and perhaps it was although I can’t find much evidence of that on the various set list sites. ELO lost me after the 1970s but boy, were they big then. I remember the Out Of The Blue album tour, 1978. Well, not actually, I didn’t go so I wasn’t among the 70,000 or so at Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium. I didn’t like ELO THAT much and, frankly, glad I didn’t because from what I’ve seen they’re kinda boring live. Great studio band and songs, though. And, I have seen the show on YouTube (search Electric Light Orchestra Live in USA 1978) and I remember reading about it. They had a flying saucer stage setup that opened to reveal the band, although you don’t see the saucer on the concert film which tells me whoever posted the video should have prefaced it with Jefferson Airplane’s song Have You Seen The Saucers? But you can’t expect such depth of music knowledge from most people. And besides, a flying saucer opening I don’t think compares to Pink Floyd crashing a model airplane while playing On The Run live.

13. Donovan, Atlantis . . . It’s worth reading about this great song, how the various record company people on either side of the pond debated it as being either an A- or B-side, thinking its spoken-word early part would not resonate. But as often happens, the execs didn’t properly read how the public hears or otherwise accepts things that the so-called experts deem to not be of value. In short, it became a hit, and justifiably so.

14. Flash and The Pan, Atlantis Calling . . . Well, I just had to play this after playing the Donovan track. And, as listeners/followers of the show know, Flash and The Pan remains one of my favorite bands. I won’t drone on, OK maybe just a bit, about how Harry Vanda and George Young, the brains behind the band, produced early AC/DC records, with George Young being the older brother to AC/DC’s Angus and Malcolm Young.

15. Streetheart, Can You Feel It . . . I originally had this rocker pegged for my debut So Old It’s New ‘2” show this past Saturday which featured kick-ass hard-rocking tunes but given the nature of much of what I played, I took it out as not ‘hard’ enough to fit the theme. It could have, still, but anyway I went with a different lineup so here it comes at you tonight.

16. The Yardbirds, A Certain Girl . . . I’ll be honest. I actually prefer Warren Zevon’s cover of this to the Yardbirds’ version but I’ll admit it’s also perhaps a production thing, 1960s to 70s-early 80s achievable sounds, akin to Aerosmith maybe doing a better job on Train Kept A Rollin’ than did the Yardbirds. Then again, the guitar solo just kicked in so dismiss everything I just said and besides, given Clapton was in the Yardbirds, it sets up the next song, which was my intention in the first place.

17. Eric Clapton, Next Time You See Her . . . A Certain Girl…Next Time You See Her…Get it? Oh, shut up, Bald Boy with your silly word play. Always loved this one, from Slowhand which, as I’ve said before when I’ve played stuff from it, is just a brilliant album, excellence personified track for track.

18. Neil Young, Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown . . . Great song from Tonight’s The Night and another deliberate setup for my next tune.

19. Petula Clark, Downtown . . . I’ve always loved this song and forever will. One of the first songs I remember hearing, in 1964, age 5, along with early Beatles and Rolling Stones songs. Was a hit, of course, and this is a deep cuts show but as my mantra goes, So Old It’s New (with occasional long lost or unknown singles like the Sugarloaf song I played earlier) and to some or many, it may be new. Clark never matched Downtown commercially but she had lots of great stuff like I Know A Place, My Love and many more. Just a great singer, one of those you might listen to beyond Downtown and think, oh, that’s her?

20. John Lee Hooker and Canned Heat, Burning Hell . . . This is the full version, from Hooker N Heat, with about 90 seconds of pre-song dialogue between Hooker and the band, well worth hearing before the typical sort of Hooker shuffle backed the Heat.

21. Canned Heat, Fried Hockey Boogie . . . And here’s the Heat, on their own. Playing it largely because not only do I like Canned Heat but perhaps unbelievably, although it’s believable of course because it’s happening, it’s already hockey season again with teams in camp and pre-season games at all levels being played.

22. Faces, Wicked Messenger . . . Faces do Dylan, from their first album, First Step, after the breakup of The Small Faces, with Rod Stewart and Ron Wood now in the band. Dylan’s song appeared on his 1967 John Wesley Harding album. Another of those tunes that’s worth reading up on, given its Biblical inspirations, that space here does not permit.

23. Tom Waits, Clap Hands . . . I love Tom Waits’ music, which sometimes isn’t even conventional music. Sometimes he reminds me, vocally, of the teacher in the old Charlie Brown cartoons you’d see on TV, wah wah, wah wah wah, wah. Like Dylan sometimes, almost not understandable. Yet great, This song isn’t one of those but I just thought I’d mention it. Not to mention the fact Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, my favorite band, played on the album from which this comes, Rain Dogs.

24. Van Morrison, Till We Get The Healing Done . . . Maybe a sequel, sounds sort of like one, from his 1979 song I cherish, And The Healing Has Begun from Into The Music but regardless, another brilliant, extended, Van The Man tune. From 1993’s Too Long In Exile album.

25. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Don’t Ask Me No Questions . . . I haven’t played Skynyrd in a while. Wanted to play some. I threw darts at the board because you can’t go wrong with Skynyrd. This hit the bullseye.

26. Pink Floyd, Eclipse . . . I spoke of Pink Floyd and crashing a plane and all that, earlier in tonight’s set. So, here they are. It’s perhaps folly to pull a separate track from an album like The Dark Side Of The Moon because all of the songs flow together in an artistic statement, but so be it. It’s probably, even subconsciously, why thanks to a station slot opening I’ve started my new Saturday morning show (7 to 9 am ET) because not only does it give me two more hours a week to play with but will enable me to not only fit more music in beyond Mondays but do themed shows, full album plays and so on. And The Dark Side Of The Moon is obviously and definitely a full album play candidate. This coming Saturday, Oct. 1, though, I’m leaning towards an AC/DC show split between Brian Johnson and Bon Scott vocals.

1. Murray McLauchlan, Hard Rock Town . . . not the hardest rocking tune, but appropriate to introduce the rest of this week’s ‘wake up the neighbors’ hard rocking show. I plan to get back to full commentaries for this new Saturday show (in addition to my 8-10 pm ET Monday show), next week. 
2. Judas Priest, Delivering The Goods
3. Blue Oyster Cult, Before The Kiss, A Redcap
4. Accept, Balls To The Wall
5. AC/DC, Let Me Put My Love Into You
6. Soundgarden, Birth Ritual
7. Black Sabbath, A National Acrobat
8. Pantera, Drag The Waters
9. Slayer, Dead Skin Mask
10. Queen, Brighton Rock
11. Led Zeppelin, Communication Breakdown
12. Whitesnake, Ain’t Gonna Cry No More
13. Rainbow, Gates Of Babylon
14. Mountain, Back Where I Belong
15. Deep Purple, Bad Attitude
16. The Rolling Stones, Lies
17. Headstones, Hindsight
18. Aerosmith, Nobody’s Fault
19. Pink Floyd, The Nile Song
20. April Wine, 21^st Century Schizoid Man
21. Metallica, The Outlaw Torn
22. Megadeth, Tornado Of Souls
23. The Amboy Dukes, Flight Of The Bird
24. Iron Maiden, Where Eagles Dare