Every time I play a track from what I think is the brilliant 1970 soundtrack version of Jesus Christ Superstar, I say that one of these days, I’ll play the entire album because that’s how the songs are best heard, in my view. That day has come. It’s a terrific album I’ve enjoyed since my older brother and sister got it as members of the old Columbia Record Club back in the mail order days. It’s the best version of the show, in my opinion, featuring such artists as Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan (Jesus), Murray Head (Judas in a brilliant performance), Yvonne Elliman as Mary Magdalene and Mike D’Abo of Handbags and Gladrags song fame (interpreted wonderfully by Rod Stewart) as King Herod. And among those in the band is guitarist Henry McCulloch, who played with Paul McCartney & Wings, Joe Cocker and Spooky Tooth, among others.
So, here it is. I’ve filled in the remaining time in my two-hour slot with somewhat related material from various artists before wrapping with The Who’s Underture, from Tommy, to bracket JC Superstar’s opening Overture.
Balmoral Blues is syndicated on Radio Waterloo from the NCRA’s !earshot Digital Distribution System. Balmoral Blues is not currently on the CKMS-FM schedule.
Welcome to Episode 21 of From the Void – CKMS’ Experimental Music Show
Most of what I’m playing tonight will focus on the Rock in Opposition movement.
Tonight will feature Mike Patton as always, Debile Menthol, The Book of Knots, Estradasphere, The Residents, Weirdorje, Eskaton, The Thinking Plague and the Free Salamander Exabit.
Here is the second Airhead episode where we analyze this article written in 1999 and update it for the current time. For all the articles check out the airhead podcast here: http://www.mamradio.ca
Madness, One Step Beyond . . . Lead and title cut from the UK ska band’s debut album, 1979. It’s a cover of a tune by Jamaican ska singer Prince Buster, recorded in 1964. Madness hooked me with this particular tune, although I’m not a huge fan of the band. I first saw/heard it as a video on Toronto TV station CITY-TVs old The New Music show – predating the more celebrated US MTV. The spoken-word intro makes you sit up and take notice, then off you go riding the main riff and simple lyrics – just the title, shouted occasionally – the rest of the way. Some people I know didn’t get it. To quote one of my younger brothers, used to me mostly listening to raunch and roll stuff like the Stones: “What’s happened to you?” Nothing. It’s called having an open mind.
Doug and The Slugs, To Be Laughing . . . I like Doug and The Slugs anyway but was prompted to play them after watching a terrific documentary, released this year, Doug and The Slugs and Me, on the Documentary Channel in Canada. It’s well worth a look.
The Rolling Stones, Let It Loose . . . We’re about to, er, let loose, via this great gospelish Stones’ tune from Exile On Main St., with the kick-butt tunes that follow.
MC5, Kick Out The Jams (live) . . . What kind of band issues a live album as their first release? The MC5 did. Great intro, to all mothereffers. Listen to it and you’ll hear what I mean, if you don’t already.
The Stooges, 1969 . . . The MC5 album was released in 1969 so I figured I’d play one from their punk-ish brothers, Stooges.
Lou Reed, Vicious . . . From his most commercial album, Transformer, the one with Walk On The Wild Side on it. Vicious was a B-side and then later a single on its own. Didn’t chart. Ridiculous.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse, T-Bone . . . Got mashed potatoes. Ain’t got no T-bone. Seven words. Repeated, around grungy guitars and other assorted instruments, for 9-plus minutes. That takes talent, in my book. Hypnotic.
Argent, Thunder and Lightning . . . Former Zombie Rod Argent, singer-guitarist songwriter Russ Ballard and friends did far more than their well-known song Hold Your Head Up. Here’s an example. This pulsating track reminds me of some of the work of the one-off Deep Purple late 1970s offshoot, Paice Ashton Lord, which reminds me to get back to playing some of their work. So much music, so little time.
Delaney and Bonnie, Soul Shake . . . Funky tune from the then-married singer-songwriter duo of Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, who famously toured with Eric Clapton and other music friends and released a live album from it. Duane Allman guests on guitar, on this one.
Johnny Jenkins, Down Along The Cove . . . Another one featuring Duane Allman I pulled from one of two outstanding Anthology double-disc CD compilations – An Anthology and An Anthology Volume II – that feature his session work and Allman Brothers Band material. This one’s a cover of the Bob Dylan tune, from the 1967 John Wesley Harding album, released by blues master Jenkins on his 1970 record Ton-Ton Macoute!
The Allman Brothers Band, Melissa . . . A single from the Eat A Peach album, didn’t chart. Absurd. One of my younger son’s favorite songs. Good taste.
Eric Burdon & War, Gun . . . An amazing combination of rock, funk, soul and R & B, Burdon and War. This tune is yet another example, from The Black-Man’s Burdon, the second of the two albums (the other, Eric Burdon Declares War) from their collaboration.
Tim Curry, Paradise Garage . . . From the Rocky Horror Picture Show’s Dr. Frank N. Furter’s Fearless album, released in 1979. I was into the movie and its attendant activities at the time and remember being in Toronto’s downtown Sam The Record Man, just browsing one day, and the album was playing on the sound system. It turned into a worthwhile impulse buy.
Bruce Cockburn, Burn . . . “Never mind what the government said, they’re either lying or they’ve been misled.” Great lyric, pretty much applicable to any government and circumstance.
Murray McLauchlan, Out Past The Timberline . . . I only came to this song some years ago via a compilation album. But to me, lyrically, musically, it’s arguably MM’s best song. It rings so true, as McLauchlan cuts to the bone about elites vs ‘real’ people in terms of who and what truly represents a country.
Syd Barrett, Octopus . . . Solo, weird-ish work from the onetime, late great, Pink Floyd leader.
The Hollies, King Midas In Reverse . . . A song that, apparently, was the impetus for Graham Nash’s eventual departure from The Hollies. He wrote the tune, which was different than most Hollies’ more pop-ish stuff to that point, 1967. It was a hit, but didn’t match their previous chart success and soon enough, Nash had moved on to collaborations with David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Neil Young.
Arlo Guthrie, City Of New Orleans . . . Cover of the Steve Goodman-penned well-known tune was the son of Woody Guthrie’s lone top 40 hit, although he issued much quality music including Alice’s Restaurant.
April Wine, Juvenile Delinquent (live) . . . From April Wine’s Live at the El Mocambo album, recorded the weekend they played there in support of The Rolling Stones’ famous club gigs. It’s written by Bob Segarini, an American singer-songwriter who had some success in Canada in the late 1970s and 80s. He performed at a pub during my college days. As far as I can tell, April Wine never recorded a studio version of it.
Camel, Slow Yourself Down . . . One of those prog songs that neatly wraps up so much, including various time signature changes, all within just under five minutes.
Elton John, Mellow . . . Haven’t played EJ in a while. Overdue. So I threw darts at my Honky Chateau album board and hit this one, not that one could go wrong picking any 1970s Elton John tune.
Jethro Tull, No Lullaby . . . Great drumming by Barriemore Barlow introduces this epic from Tull’s Heavy Horses album.
Wishbone Ash, Time Was . . . An old friend of mine tells me I’ve turned him into a Wishbone Ash fan by my occasional playing of that progressive/hard rock/guitar-oriented band’s stuff. Cool.
The Guess Who, So Long, Bannatyne . . . Title cut story song from the band’s 1971 album. Bannatyne is a common name for streets, schools and other landmarks in Winnipeg, The Guess Who’s hometown, honoring one of the city’s leading citizens.
A week or two ago we did our first listen to the newly released Limblifter album. We made a scary discovery during the listening party that this could be the last Limblifter album. Maybe we interpreted the wording wrong. Join us, take a listen to this album. Give it a purchase – We were right, it is fantastic!
To see all the other albums that make-up the Concept Album Hall of Fame Collage visit our site here:
Introducing Dave Lacalamati from Loon Town and his travelling bandmates. Introducing the band: Danielle Savage from Penticton, Nic Hyatt from Whitehorse, and Milli Hong from Montréal. How they met, how they manage to have a band scattered across Canada. Using Ableton to collaborate remotely. Upcoming shows: Cameron House on Thursday; at Sephora Catana’s studio in the old Boehmer Box Factory building in Kitchener. In Ottawa on Saturday, and Montréal on Sunday. Then band members are doing some playing and writing together, playing in Sarnia a week later, and then Dave follows the others to play in British Columbia. This is the first tour and playing live since the start of the pandemic. And the Slow Space album has just been released on 4 November. Going to play a track from that now.
Identifying the genre of Loon Town music, Dave identifies it as “Synth Pop”, the Exit Strategy album is “Psych Synth Rock”, more heavy guitar, busier drumbeats. Dave is playing an acoustic guitar today, and composes on guitar with a little bit on piano. Nick, Danni and Dave are all songwriters, one goal of the new album is collective songwriting. Bob is surprised that composing is sometimes accidental. New songs are shared with the band by audio clips, written out only to figure out details. Not all the chords have names! Dave and Nick like improv, Milli is a jazz musician. Hoping to incorporate some improv in their live performances. This will be the first time all four musicians have played together in person!
The album version has differences from the live version. Examining Dave’s guitar, which he uses to write music. Talking about how the rest of the band composes. Doing some group composition now that the group is together. And shooting a video when they’re in Montréal, something “upbeat”. Dave is a music teacher at St. Mary’s high school, his students describe all music as “upbeat”. Composing professionally helps teach music to the students; some teachers lack that context. Dave teaches “Music and Computers”, using computers to record, compose. There’s a computer lab, not unlike the CKMS-FM studio. Maybe get some student compositions on the air! So much local talent and local music being produced. A little local community radio history. Dave taught drama during the pandemic, and plays a song about the process of “getting out of your head” and being a bit over-confident.
Maybe this song was autobigraphical? Dave didn’t write it with himself in mind. It’s a fun song, and the chords are simple. Talking about what’s happening in the world of education today. Kids are not in school due to an education workers’ strike. Discussing the government’s treatment of hard-working but low-paid workers, which has said that human rights don’t matter here. Dave knew education minister Steven Lecce from their university days, not surprised he’s a politician. Does Loon Town have protest music? Not as such, there needs to be a chantable chorus. But all members of the band are politically engaged, and comment on the state of the world; music is a way of recapturing some of that power. Recap of upcoming performances. Discussing the Loon Town website, a animated map of Loon Town. Clicking on the icons will play music. After Toronto and Kitchener the tour continues to Ottawa, Montréal, Penticton, Nelson, and Vancouver. There are some unused songs for a new album. But Dave is interested in pursuing music with specific sounds that exist in the band. Dave would like to revisit the sound of Exit Strategy, there’s a lot of energy in that album. Dave has done a bit of solo work, an improv piano set, and has been playing a bit with Alison Corbett and Grady Caplan. Dave introduces the last song.
Discussing Great Sorrows, recognizing people’s needs over the last few years. Talking about a future CKMS Community Connections episode with Loon Town, and Bob gives the end credits.
CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Friday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.
A new thing, perhaps for a while; we’ll see how it goes. I’ll be playing classic albums, and others among my favorites, from my own collection. It’s inspired by the commercial FM radio of my youth, where stations, often overnight, would play full album sides or whole albums. The format often introduced me to some albums and artists I may otherwise not have investigated. I may do this every Saturday, or mix and match with ‘single song’ shows, in addition to my Monday 8-10 pm ET show, but in any event here’s ‘album replay’ show 1: Van Morrison’s Moondance, Medusa by Trapeze, a band which featured future Deep Purple bassist/singer Glenn Hughes and the one and only Blind Faith studio album by the late 1960s supergroup of guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker of Cream fame, singer Steve Winwood from Traffic and bass player Ric Grech of Family.
Once I knew a man in love with money He said it solved his worries and his cares Then one day, I heard him say Something I hear everywhere “Tell me now to find true love and happiness In the present day”
Ten Years After, The Sounds . . . Spooky single that, as was the UK tradition at least back then, wasn’t issued on TYA’s 1967 debut album but came out on later compilations and expanded reissues.
Spooky Tooth, I Am The Walrus . . . A Vanilla Fudge-type reinterpretation of The Beatles’ hit. Great stuff.
Vanilla Fudge, Season Of The Witch . . . Speaking of Vanilla Fudge. . . . One of many covers of Donovan’s great song.
Savoy Brown, Money Can’t Save Your Soul . . . Love the wah wah guitar, general vibe and lyrics on this one, from 1970’s Looking In album. It was the sixth Savoy Brown album and last one before three of the four members – guitarist ‘Lonesome’ Dave Peverett, drummer Roger Earl and bassist Tone Stevens – left to form Foghat. That left lead guitarist Kim Simmonds to carry the Savoy Brown torch, which he’s doing to this day, sometimes billed as Kim Simmonds and Savoy Brown and usually now a trio. I saw them at the Kitchener Blues Festival some years back. Good show.
Paul McCartney/Wings, Old Siam Sir . . . This was the first single, in the UK anyway, from 1979’s Back To The Egg. It was the B-side, in North America, to Arrow Through Me. While I’d say it’s a a pretty well-known track, and one of the best on the album (along with Arrow Through Me), it just scraped into the Top 40, making No. 35 in the UK.
Blackfoot, Highway Song . . . A lead-in to some, er, highway type songs. Blackfoot, a southern US rock band led by current Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Rickey Medlocke, like seemingly most such groups has their Freebird-like epic. Medlocke was the drummer in very early versions of Skynyrd, before they released an album although some of his work has long since been available on various archival releases.
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, Truck Drivin’ Man . . . It wasn’t used, but this one, released in 1972, could easily have fit as part of the soundtrack to Smokey and the Bandit, the movie that came out in 1977.
Little Feat, Truck Stop Girl . . . Continuing the life on the road/trucker theme. From the first, self-titled, Little Feat album, released in 1971.
Linda Ronstadt, Willin’ . . . Cover of the Feat classic, from Ronstadt’s 1974 album Heart Like A Wheel.
Outlaws, Green Grass and High Tides . . . Back to the Freebird-ish tunes we go. Likely the Outlaws’ signature song, the epic track closed the band’s self-titled debut album in 1975, and most of their concerts. The late Hughie Thomasson, the Outlaws’ lead guitarist and singer, was in post-plane crash incarnations of Lynyrd Skynyrd before leaving to reform the Outlaws. He died of a heart attack, at age 55, in 2007. The song title is a play on the 1966 Rolling Stones compilation Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass).
Molly Hatchet, Fall Of The Peacemakers . . . One more time with the southern rock epics.
Thin Lizzy, Killer Without A Cause . . . Bad Reputation might be my favorite of Lizzy’s studio albums. Full of great tracks, like this one, the title cut, Dancing In the Moonlight, etc. Maybe that’s why I mine it for my show quite a bit. Either that or, besides compilations, it’s I think the only Lizzy album I’ve gotten off my lazy butt and made time to download into our station’s computer system. It is a great album, though. Really. And I will get cracking on more downloads.
Van Morrison, And It Stoned Me . . . Speaking of great albums . . . Sometimes you know an album so well you rarely play it, because you can essentially call it up in your mind. Then when you actually do play it, it’s like, wow. Moondance is one of those. I had it on in the car last week. This well-known, amazing track wasn’t even a single. I love the way it kicks in, one little lick and then the vocals. I’ve been thinking of doing an ‘album replay’ show at some point, either on a Monday or my still new Saturday (7-9 am ET) morning show. If so, Moondance will definitely be up for consideration.
Queen, Tie Your Mother Down . . . Another of those classic, well-known songs by a great band that was a single, yet perhaps surprisingly, didn’t burn up the charts. It was No. 31 in the UK, 49 in the US and 68 in Canada. The Dutch obviously have more discerning tastes – it made No. 10 there and No. 18 in the primarly Dutch-speaking Flanders region of Belgium. The French in Belgium’s Wallonia region? They were less receptive, with the song hitting No. 42 there. Great opener to the A Day At The Races album, in any event.
The Rolling Stones, Out Of Time . . . This one – and its ‘you’re obsolete, my baby’ – came up during a recent chat with a friend about ‘eff you’ lines in songs. This is the full-length, 5:36 cut from the UK version of the Aftermath album. It didn’t hit the North American colonies until the 1967 Flowers compilation, in abridged form, which is where I first heard it via my older sister’s disc.
The Doors, When The Music’s Over . . . Not quite yet, we have one more, zany, epic to go.
Pink Floyd, Atom Heart Mother Suite . . . I wanted to play a long Pink Floyd track but couldn’t decide between this and Echoes, from Meddle. I’ve played them both, over time. This time, Atom Heart Mother’s cow album cover proved decisive in my thought process.
The Mars Volta released their first album in 10 years and toured for the first time in about the same amount of time. Both were fantastic! This new album is the third Mars volta album added to the Mano A Mano Concept album hall of fame. Check it out here:
Check out all of the other albums featured on the mosaic:
Bobby Keys, Command Performance . . . Longtime Rolling Stones’ saxophone player Bobby Keys kicks us off with a funky tune from his 1972 all-instrumental solo album. It featured a who’s who of players including George Harrison and Ringo Starr, Dave Mason of Traffic and solo fame, Leslie West, Corky Laing and Felix Pappalardi of Mountain, Beatles’ solo album collaborator and bassist Klaus Voorman, Stones’ session and 1970s tour trumpet player Jim Price, Cream’s Jack Bruce and session star to the Stones and other artists, pianist Nicky Hopkins.
Tim Ries, Paint It Black . . . From the first of two “Tim Ries Rolling Stones Project’ albums, released in 2005. The album is made up of jazz and jazz-rock reinventions of Stones songs, put together by Ries, a latter-day tenor saxophonist in the Stones’ touring band. Paint It Black is a 10-minute instrumental jazz take on the Stones’ classic. It starts with the 1966 hit’s recognizable riff, takes flight with a long middle section before closing with the original riff. It’s one of the few of the album’s 11 tracks not to feature any members of The Rolling Stones or their various recent collaborators/touring band members. Backup singers Lisa Fischer and Bernard Fowler, bassist Darryl Jones plus Stones members Keith Richards, Ron Wood and Charlie Watts all appear, together and individually, on various selections.
Charlie Watts and Jim Keltner, Art Blakey . . . From the Charlie Watts-Jim Keltner Project, a collaboration between the late Stones drummer and session ace drummer/percussionist Keltner, released in 2000. Each of the album’s tracks are named after famous jazz-oriented drummers.
Quicksilver Messenger Service, Edward, The Mad Shirt Grinder (featuring Nicky Hopkins) . . . From Quicksilver’s 1969 Shady Grove album on which session man to the stars, including the Stones, Hopkins was actually a full-fledged Quicksilver band member. This epic track showcases “Edward’s” keyboard talents, Edward being a nickname bestowed on Hopkins by original Rolling Stone Brian Jones. Jones, the story goes, was tuning his guitar and wanted an ‘E’ note from Hopkins, on piano, during a 1967 recording session. But due to other studio noise, Hopkins couldn’t hear Jones properly so the guitarist yelled out “Give me an E, like in Edward!”
Bill Wyman, Nuclear Reactions . . . A buddy of mine, after I played Wyman rcently, called him ‘a barnacle on the Stones’. So I thought I’d torture my pal, again. This one’s from Wyman’s self-titled 1982 synth-pop/new wave album that featured Si Si (Je Suis un Rock Star), which made the top 10 singles lists in various countries.
Hopkins/Cooder/Jagger/Wyman/Watts, Highland Fling . . . From Jamming With Edward, “a nice piece of bullshit’ according to Mick Jagger’s liner notes, that the assembled musicians – Nicky Hopkins (Edward), Ry Cooder, Jagger, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts – put together while waiting for Keith Richards to return to the studio during 1969’s Let It Bleed sessions. Richards and Cooder didn’t get along, at least at the time, which apparently accounted for Richards’ absence. Cooder, meantime, accused the Stones of stealing some of his licks, calling them “a reptilian bunch of people.” Richards has been up front about Cooder teaching him open-G guitar tuning, a prominent feature of the subsequent Stones sound on such tracks as Gimme Shelter, Brown Sugar and Start Me Up. Jamming With Edward didn’t see the light of day until its release in 1972.
Billy Preston, That’s The Way God Planned It . . Live version from George Harrison’s 1971 Concert for Bangladesh show and album. Preston, of course, played with The Beatles on their Let It Be album, on several of their post-breakup solo albums and was essentially a member of the Stones from Sticky Fingers through the Black and Blue album, both in studio and on tour.
Mick Taylor, Spanish/A Minor . . . Long, bluesy instrumental cut, with a nod to one of Taylor’s finest Stones’ moments, Time Waits For No One. The track appeared on Taylor’s self-titled 1979 debut solo album, five years after he left the Stones.
Keith Richards, Whip It Up . . . From Richards’ solo debut album, Talk Is Cheap, 1988.
Mick Jagger with The Red Devils, Checkin’ Up On My Baby . . . A Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller) tune Jagger did with the California blues band. While working on what became his 1993 solo album Wandering Spirit, Jagger recorded several blues standards with The Red Devils, ostensibly for a possible album but only Checkin’ Up On My Baby eventually was released, on The Very Best of Mick Jagger compilation that came out in 2007. The seeds of a great blues covers album were obviously there.
Ron Wood, Sure The One You Need . . . Mick and Keith wrote and gave this one to Ronnie before he was even in the band. It appeared on Wood’s first solo effort, I’ve Got My Own Album To Do. The album features various members of the Faces and the Stones, including Mick Taylor, who was soon replaced by Wood. For my money, it’s tied with 1992’s check Slide On This as Woody’s best solo record.
New Barbarians (Ron Wood, Keith Richards and friends), Sweet Little Rock ‘n’ Roller (live) . . . Chuck Berry tune that opened most Barbarians shows during the band’s short but spirited life and 1979 tour that included the combined Keith Richards/Stones benefit for the blind concert in Oshawa, Ontario, Richards’ penance for his 1977 drug bust in Toronto. Still amazed that I managed to get tickets and attend the first of the two shows that April afternoon in Oshawa’s 5,000-seat hockey arena.
Keith Richards, Will But You Won’t . . . He is, after all, known as the riff master. From Richards’ second solo album, Main Offender, released in 1992.
Mick Jagger, Evening Gown . . . Jagger is great at ballads like these, whether in the Stones or solo. I’ve selected a series of them, as you’ll see/hear. This one’s from 1993’s Wandering Spirit album, the most Stones-like of his solo releases.
Keith Richards, Yap Yap . . . You talk too much, the lyric goes. Probably talking about Mick.
Mick Jagger, Hang On To Me Tonight . . . Another of those great ballads. I like ’em, anyway. From Wandering Spirit.
Ron Wood & Bo Diddley, They Don’t Make Outlaws Like They Used To (live) . . . From a 1987 show at the Ritz, New York that came out on Live At The Ritz in 1988. A mixture of Bo Diddley, Faces, Stones and solo songs, it made No. 40 in Japan.
Mick Jagger, Party Doll . . . Best song, to me, this ballad from Jagger’s critically-panned 1987 Primitive Cool album. The thing with Jagger solo albums is that, aside from Wandering Spirit, they’re not like Stones albums – because they’re solo albums – so if that’s what people are expecting, going in, chances are their judgments are going to be based on that with the risk being perhaps not granting the work an open-minded listen. I, too, prefer Stones-like material, but repeat listens reveal Primitive Cool, for all its 1980s overly slick production and so on, to be not nearly as bad as the savaging it took upon release. Songs like War Baby, Kow Tow, Peace For The Wicked, the title cut, among others, are pretty good. But Jagger didn’t help himself by releasing Let’s Work, likely the album’s weakest cut, as the lead single.
Ron Wood, Must Be Love . . . From Slide On This, Wood’s excellent 1992 album. It came during a fertile period 1992-93 period, solo-wise, from the Stones. Wood had this album, Keith Richards released Main Offender, also in 1992 and Mick Jagger followed with Wandering Spirit in 1993. All were released once the band realized that solo albums needn’t be a source of friction between them, especially Jagger and Richards, but possible fuel for future band collaborations. The result was 1994’s Voodoo Lounge, one of the group’s best latter-day albums.
Marianne Faithfull, Sister Morphine . . . Twelve-inch single version of the song she co-wrote with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and released as a Faithfull single, produced by Jagger, in 1969. The Stones’ own version, featuring slide guitar from Ry Cooder, was recorded during the Let It Bleed album sessions in 1969 but didn’t appear until 1971’s Sticky Fingers album. This Faithfull version appeared on expanded editions of her 1979 album, Broken English.
Marianne Faithfull, Why D’Ya Do It? . . . My pick for the most vitriolic, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned songs/lyrics ever. It was absolutely jarring to hear on first listen. From the Broken English album.
Keith Richards, You Don’t Move Me . . . Well, that’s why I did it, you don’t move me anymore. Actually, it’s a shot at Mick Jagger, during the so-called mid-1980s World War III between the Stones’ leaders, and appeared on Richards’ first solo album, Talk Is Cheap, in 1988.
Heart, Rock and Roll (live) . . . Fun intro from Ann Wilson channelling John Lennon’s “thank you on behalf of the group’ , from the Beatles’ rooftop concert, before Heart rips into covering one of their favorite bands, and inspirations, Led Zeppelin. The live cut appeared on Heart’s Greatest Hits/Live compilation release in 1980.
Rory Gallagher, Big Guns . . . Fast cuts only today, like this one from the late great Gallagher.
Bob Dylan, Neighborhood Bully . . . Dylan is not generally known for rockers but he kicks butt on this defiant defence of Israel. It’s from 1983’s Infidels album as he broke from his Christian-born again album trilogy (Slow Train, Saved and Shot Of Love) on a terrific record which featured Mick Taylor, Mark Knopfler and the Jamaican rhythm section team of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare.
Aerosmith, My Fist Your Face . . . From, in many ways, the last ‘original’ Aerosmith album, Done With Mirrors, 1985. It was their last album before they started using outside writers, ascended to greater commercial mainstream heights, but lost much of their earlier raunch and roll edge.
Jethro Tull, Cross-Eyed Mary . . . I wanted to play a Tull rocker, settled on this one, from 1971’s Aqualung album. Iron Maiden covered it in 1983. Ian Anderson’s reaction: “A spirited rendition by a young Bruce (Dickinson) testing out his vocal range in a key not really suited to him!”
The Rolling Stones, Bitch . . . One of my favorite Stones’ songs, great guitar tandem work by Mick Taylor and Keith Richards including what Taylor described as one of Richards’ best solos, mid song. The story goes that during the recording of the Sticky Fingers album, the band, at first without Richards who was late to the studio, was struggling with the track. He walks in, goes to the studio kitchen, starts eating a bowl of cereal, sits and listens for a bit, gets increasingly frustrated at what he hears as an aimless racket, asks for a guitar, and the song we know is born. It reminds me of another story I’ve read about Richards, and Taylor. It was long after Taylor left the Stones, mid-1980s he’s doing a club tour. I saw one of the shows; he was the opening act to John Mayall at Ontario Place in Toronto and sat in with his old mentor Mayall on some tunes. Due to his contributions to the tune, Taylor generally includes at least the long instrumental passage from Can’t You Hear Me Knocking in his sets. But on this particular night, Richards is in the audience, Taylor calls him up on stage and an intoxicating jam performance of the song results. I have it on bootleg, from a New York state club show, Dec. 28, 1986.
Santana, Hope You’re Feeling Better . . . Nice rocker, outside of Black Magic Woman likely my favorite track from the Abraxas album.
The J. Geils Band, First I Look At The Purse (live) . . . One of my favorite songs, by anyone, done the way Geils ought to be heard, live from Full House. The band was from the Boston area but their second home, due their popularity there, was Detroit, where this was recorded.
Ted Nugent, Motor City Madhouse . . . Speaking of the motor city, and the Motor City Madman . . .
Blue Oyster Cult, Cities On Flame With Rock and Roll . . . All one generally hears of BOC on commercial radio is (Don’t Fear) The Reaper or Burnin’ For You. Excellent songs, obviously, but so is this one, well known to BOC fans and, as a deep cut, a reason why my show exists.
Bob Seger, Heavy Music/Katmandu (Live Bullet version) . . . Speaking, again, of Detroit . . . Michigan guy, Seger, Michigan venue, Detroit’s Cobo Hall, great live album that upon its early 1976 release broke the then-journeyman artist to a wider audience and deservedly so.
Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell . . . Heavy music, indeed…Title cut from one of those albums, like AC/DC’s Back in Black, where a new singer (Ronnie James Dio) comes in to replace an icon like Ozzy Osbourne as Brian Johnson did Bon Scott, the fan base wonders how things will go . . . and all is well.
AC/DC, Evil Walks . . . Speaking of AC/DC, as our songs/titles delve into dark realms.
Atomic Rooster, Death Walks Behind You . . . An old buddy from early in my newspaper career was major into Atomic Rooster who, at the time, early 1980s, I had heard of but not heard. Thanks to him, got into them, and the rest is history.
Budgie, Homicidal Suicidal . . . Not that I’m on a death or downer kick but again, look at the last few song titles. Just coincidence, really, picking out hard rock songs.
Van Halen, D.O.A. . . . I like both the David Lee Roth and Sammy (Van Hagar) versions of Van Halen but this is the type of vocal performance, not to mention the insistent Eddie Van Halen riff, that proponents of the ‘Van Halen is only Van Halen when Roth is singing school’ might point to. Unless, that is, they listened to the Tokyo Dome Live In Concert album, recorded on the reunited band’s 2013 tour and released in 2015. I took it back. It’s terrible. The playing is fine, but Roth can’t sing anymore; if he ever really could, although he sang his way – being more an entertaining and effective ad-libber talk-singer. On the Tokyo album it’s just embarrassing.
Headstones, Headlight Holds A Deer . . . Another good one from the just released Flight Risk album from the take-no-prisoners Canadian rockers. I played Hotel Room from the same album last Saturday on my early morning show. It’s a great record, but no surprise, the Headstones I find are pretty consistent.
Accept, Fast As A Shark . . . Fun intro with the Germanic beer/dance hall stuff, then the needle scratching the vinyl, the scream, the riff and we’re into some speed/heavy metal.
Motorhead, The Chase Is Better Than The Catch . . . Often true. Then comes the actual relationship, the compromises, etc. What a concept.
Megadeth, Peace Sells . . . But, as the lyrics go, who’s buying? Nobody, really, ever, if human history is a judge. We humans tend to talk about it a lot, though. Wasted words, apparently, to quote an Allman Brothers Band song title.
Metallica, Better Than You . . . The Load and Reload albums totally split the Metallica fan base, which started splintering an album earlier upon release of the more mainstream monster sales album Metallica, aka The Black Album, 1991. So the band changed their look, got haircuts, changed their sound a bit, so what? The music’s still good, just maybe different, and they’ve since largely returned to their thrash metal roots. All a matter of preference and taste, of course. This one’s from Reload.
Judas Priest, One For The Road . . . Likely largely forgotten track from Rocka Rolla, the band’s debut release in 1974. It was a different Priest, then, heavy, but more progressive and pscychedelic, quite good, to me, although the album stiffed and the band’s future was in question. Still, this song, in spots, could be seen as a precursor to the full hard rock/metal the band later regularly issued, even as soon as the very next album, Sad Wings Of Destiny. That title cut and other songs like The Ripper set Priest on the road to mass popularity.
Deep Purple, Comin’ Home . . . Love this rocker from the very diverseCome Taste The Band album, the one and only record featuring the late great Tommy Bolin, who replaced iconic original guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. Reviews were mixed, even some band members like Jon Lord didn’t consider it truly a Purple album, but its merits have become more appreciated over time since it came out in 1975. I’ve liked it from first listen, upon release.
Today’s show was fun and exciting as always, we continue to experience a bit of hiccup, after all it’s a learning curve but we are getting to where we want the show to be.
For the second half of the show the lines were opened and the question posed “What is the greatest expression of yourself that you can be today?
Last week’s question “What could you spend all day talking about?
Join us on Hello DJ with your boy Terry D the Ice Man, the Nice man, every Saturday 5 am -7am for the best of slow jams and philosiphical thought on CKMS 102.7 FM.
R.E.M. (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville . . . A single from the band’s second album, Reckoning, which failed to chart in 1984 when the group was still something of an underground act, albeit critically acclaimed. It’s about a real place, Rockville, Maryland, part of the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Band member Mike Mills wrote the tune as a plea to his then-girlfriend not to return to the city, where her parents lived.
Atlanta Rhythm Section, Doraville . . . A tribute to the Atlanta suburb where the group formed, originally as the session band at Studio One in Doraville.
Joe Cocker, Inner City Blues . . . Cocker’s cover of the Marvin Gaye tune, from Gaye’s 1971 blockbuster What’s Going On album. Cocker’s version appeared as a bonus track on expanded re-releases of his 1982 album Sheffield Steel.
Led Zeppelin, I’m Gonna Crawl . . . Bluesy cut from the band’s final studio album, In Through The Out Door, released in 1979.
Headstones, Hotel Room . . . Typical blistering track from the Canadian band’s just-released new album, Flight Risk.
David Bowie, Win . . . From Young Americans, 1974. Bowie described the album as ‘plastic soul’, a term for soul music that is believed to lack authenticity. “It’s the definitive plastic soul record,” Bowie was quoted as saying about Young Americans. “It’s the squashed remains of ethnic music as it survives in the age of Muzak, written and sung by a white limey.” I like it. The quote and the music.
Colin James, National Steel . . . Acoustic blues title song, one of the few non-covers of great blues tunes but not at all out of place among them, from James’ 1997 album. The record earned James the 1998 Juno Award for best blues album.
Bill Wyman, Every Sixty Seconds . . . From Wyman’s second solo album, 1976’s Stone Alone, which followed Monkey Grip, released in 1974. A long list of musician friends helped Wyman out on the record, including Van Morrison, Joe Walsh, Ron Wood, Dr. John, Jim Keltner and Danny “Kootch’ Kortchmar. Stone Alone is also the name of Wyman’s 1990 book on The Rolling Stones.
Long John Baldry, It Ain’t Easy . . . Title song from Baldry’s 1971 album. Excellent stuff, with members of Faces and Elton John’s band at the time helping out.
10cc, The Second Sitting For The Last Supper . . . Nice riff to this one from The Original Soundtrack, the 1975 album that featured the band’s big hit, I’m Not In Love.
Steely Dan, Kings . . . Speaking of nice guitar playing, check out the solo by session ace Elliott Randall, who also did the well-known solo and played lead on Reelin’ In The Years, also from the band’s 1972 debut album, Can’t Buy A Thrill. I didn’t play a track from the album for this reason, but noticed in putting the set together that Can’t Buy A Thrill is 50 years old now (!!??), released in November 1972. Where does the time go?
Neil Young, Coupe de Ville . . . I love this spooky, brooding track from Young’s 1988 This Note’s For You album.
Donovan, Young Girl Blues . . . One of those songs – and a good one it is – that comes up, via title association, while I’m searching from something else among the many tunes from my collection that I’ve downloaded into the station’s computer. It’s a fun, somewhat random way of putting together at least part of my sets each time.
Townes Van Zandt, Colorado Girl . . . Same ‘related search’ thing with this tune from the troubled Townes, whose own demons of drugs and alcohol often inspired his art but, ultimately, sadly did him in at 52.
David Wilcox, My Eyes Keep Me In Trouble . . . Title song from the Canadian icon’s 1983 album. Many men can relate to the sentiments expressed within, I’d suggest. Not that one necessarily acts on those sentiments.
Simon and Garfunkel, Cecilia . . . It’s a deep cuts show and this was a big hit, top five and better in most countries, but what the heck? My show is called So Old It’s New, after all, and when’s the last time you heard it unless you’ve listened to the Bridge Over Troubled Water album or a Simon and Garfunkel compilation, lately? I knew a Cecilia in Grades 7 and 8. Pretty girl, very nice, had the last (slow) dance with her at a school dance in Grade 8. Nothing developed, though, given my not finely-tuned antennae at the time.
Rod Stewart, You’re My Girl (I Don’t Want To Discuss It) . . . So, here’s the ‘girl’ song I was actually looking for when all the other ones preceding it in my set list came up. Nice rocker from Gasoline Alley, Stewart’s second solo album, 1970, when he was maintaining parallel careers alongside Faces, most members of whom backed him on his terrific solo releases between 1969 and 1974.
Dickey Betts, Bougainvillea . . . Co-written by actor and sometime musician Don Johnson, probably best known via the 1980s TV show Miami Vice. Johnson also does backing vocals on the track, a seven-minute piece featuring typically fine guitar from Betts, of Allman Brothers fame. It’s from the 1977 album, Dickey Betts & Great Southern (his backing band).
Steppenwolf, Monster/Suicide/America . . . Extended title cut from the band’s most politically-charged album in a career full of them, released in 1969.
The Notting Hillbillies, Railroad Worksong . . . From the wonderful one-off project by Mark Knopfler and then-Dire Straits bandmate Guy Fletcher. It resulted in just the one album, 1990’s Missing . . . Presumed Having A Good Time.
Dire Straits, Telegraph Road . . . Epic, 14-minute opener to the band’s 1982 Love Over Gold album.
Trapeze, Medusa . . . This is what happens when you get around to at least sort of tidying your place, specifically your spare room where the CD shelves are housed . You find and remember albums and songs from bands you’ve never played on the show because, well, you couldn’t find the damn record to download into the studio computer. Anyway, title cut from the 1970 album by Trapeze, the band singer/bassist Glenn Hughes was in before he was recruited for and joined Deep Purple in 1974. Hughes re-recorded the track for the 2010 debut album by Black Country Communion, the hard rock band also featuring guitarist Joe Bonamassa, drummer Jason Bonham and keyboardist Derek Sherinian.
Deep Purple, The Battle Rages On . . . Title track from the band’s 1993 album, the last one featuring the classic so-called Mk. II lineup of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, singer Ian Gillan, bassist Roger Glover, drummer Ian Paice and keyboardist Jon Lord. It was the second reunion of the lineup, during which Blackmore finally had enough, mostly about fighting with Gillan in their mutual loathing society, and quit in the middle of the tour promoting the record. Guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani came to the rescue to finish the tour and was asked to join the band but declined, preferring to focus on his solo career although he did open for Purple on subsequent tours, one of which I saw in 2004 with Steve Morse on guitar. Purple’s productive and excellent Morse period, which included eight studio albums between 1996 and 2021, ended in 2022 when Morse took first a temporary hiatus and then permanent departure to care for his wife, who is battling cancer. Simon McBride, an Irish singer/guitarist who stepped in for Morse on tour, has since been named a permanent replacement/full fledged member of Deep Purple, which is planning a new studio album for 2023.
In 2002 Cyanide Kiss released their first demo CD. Created in a basement studio created with minimal effects and all running through a tape machine for playback/input separation. 20 years after this first music release Rob & Jeff McKenna combine solo audio projects Audio Boffins and All Weather haulage to create a combination track that can be heard at the Mano A Mano Bandcamp page.
Last week we celebrated halloween a little bit early, playing some spooky scary songs that’ll frighten the bejeezus out of you! Celebrate the day with some Wam!
Hitting you with the last 3 episodes that haven’t been uploaded yet. This one is from August, where me and my brother looked at some cool protest songs! Lots of fun, and some fun history too! Wam on!
Balmoral Blues
Quinte Jazz
Subscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!
See all CKMS Community Connections shows!
Creative Commons Attribution Only
