A spooky title cut to Alice Cooper’s 1971 album serves as a sort of Halloween song but it’s more my way of introducing something of a tribute show to Jerry Lee Lewis, who was known as The Killer. The last man standing of the great 1950s rock and rollers, he died last Friday, Oct. 28, at age 87. I had planned to do a ’50s rock and roll show soon, but upon Lewis’s passing I decided to move things up. So, here we are with Lewis and many of his 1950s contemporaries, plus a few cover tunes by some of the later greats who were inspired by them.

1. Alice Cooper, Killer
2. Jerry Lee Lewis, Chantilly Lace
3. Jerry Lee Lewis, Breathless
4. Jerry Lee Lewis, High School Confidential
5. Jerry Lee Lewis, What’d I Say
6. Jerry Lee Lewis, Thirty Nine and Holding
7. Jerry Lee Lewis, Me and Bobby McGee
8. Elvis Presley, Little Sister
9. Screaming Jay Hawkins, Little Demon
10. Chuck Berry, The Downbound Train
11. Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, Shakin’ All Over
12. Gene Vincent, Race With The Devil
13. Little Richard, Lucille
14. Smiley Lewis, I Hear You Knocking
15. Jackie Brenston, Rocket 88
16. Vince Taylor and his Playboys, Brand New Cadillac
17. Duane Eddy, Rebel Rouser
18. Frankie Ford, Sea Cruise
19. Lloyd Price, Lawdy Miss Clawdy
20. Buddy Holly, Well All Right
21. The Coasters, Yakety Yak
22. Johnny & The Hurricanes, Reveille Rock
23. Johnny Burnette and The Rock ‘N’ Roll Trio, The Train Kept A-Rollin’
24. Larry Williams, Short Fat Fannie
25. The Ventures, Walk – Don’t Run
26. Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers, I’m Not A Juvenile Delinquent
27. The Champs, Tequila
28. Dion, Runaround Sue
29. Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry, Ain’t Got No Home
30. Larry Williams, Bony Moronie
31. Danny and The Juniors, Rock and Roll Is Here To Stay
32. The Rolling Stones, Let It Rock (live, Leeds University 1971)
33. Johnny & Edgar Winter, Rock & Roll Medley (Slippin’ and Slidin’/Jailhouse Rock/Tutti-Frutti/Sick and Tired/I’m Ready/Reelin’ and Rockin’/Blue Suede Shoes/Jenny Take A Ride/Good Golly Miss Molly)
34. Eddie Cochran, Twenty Flight Rock
35. The Who, Summertime Blues (Live at Leeds version)
36. The Beatles, Money
37. Big Joe Turner, Shake Rattle and Roll
38. Jerry Lee Lewis, Once More With Feeling
39. Jerry Lee Lewis, Drinking Wine Spo-Dee O-Dee
40. Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls Of Fire
41. Jerry Lee Lewis, Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On
42. Bobby Charles, See You Later Alligator

1. Teenage Head, Disgusteen . . . Nice day for a party, isn’t it? Great spoken intro, plays on scenes from The Exorcist, hypnotic hook, what else can one ask for?

2. Ramones, Do You Remember Rock ‘N’ Roll Radio? . . . The Ramones under the influene of exacting “wall of sound’ producer Phil Spector, from their 1980 album End Of The Century. The marriage was a divorce waiting to happen, given Spector’s painstaking, perfectionist producing of a band that was, by its nature, anything but polished and was used to doing things very quickly and damn the details. Yet for all that, what is something of an outlier album in the Ramones’ ouvre is the highest-charting (No. 44 on Billboard) of their records and achieved its intent – breaking the band to a more mainstream audience.

3. Sex Pistols, EMI . . . An eff you to their previous record company, which dropped them out of fear of the label’s reputation being damaged due to the band’s antics. Kick-butt tune, musically, as is the entire Never Mind The Bollocks album.

4. Graham Parker & The Rumour, Passion Is No Ordinary Word . . . Never a single yet one of those tracks that becomes widely associated with an artist. He even used it as the title to his excellent 1993 two-CD compilation album.

5. Elvis Costello, I’m Not Angry . . . Yes you are. Or were. That’s why I bracketed you with GP and JJ, the other two ‘angry young men’ of that late 1970s period when punk and new wave were all the rage, coinciding with my college years. Great times.

6. Joe Jackson, Mad At You . . . One can never account for why and how some things succeed and others don’t. The easy answer is that if something’s good, it will be successful, and vice-versa. But art is not so cut and dried, obviously. The Beat Crazy album, to me, is one of JJ’s finest achievements, the third and last of his early, new wave period. Cut for cut, it’s easily as good as his first two, Look Sharp and I’m the Man. Yet it didn’t get much airplay and bombed, relatively speaking, as did this infectious, bass-driven beauty, which was the first single.

7. Blondie, 11:59 . . . Up-tempo tune from Parallel Lines, the 1978 album full of well-known tracks like Heart of Glass, Hanging On The Telephone and One Way Or Another, in many ways the core of Blondie’s catalog.

8. Talking Heads, Drugs . . . The hypnotic music perfectly matches the title in this creation by the band and producer Brian Eno, who co-wrote the track with head Head David Byrne.

9. The Clash, Charlie Don’t Surf . . . Cue the classic scene, featuring Robert Duvall, from Apocalypse Now. From Sandinista! It’s a sprawling album, three vinyl records worth upon release in December 1980. It followed the double album mainstream breakthrough London Calling, and while the argument is often made by critics that double or (rare) triple studio albums would be better edited down to one, tighter release, I disagree but grant that it likely depends on the album. I was listening to Sandinista in the car this week, first time in a long time listening to it all the way through. And while one could argue there’s some filler, the album wouldn’t be the same without it as the band fuses myriad genres into an intoxicating whole. It’s akin to The Beatles’ White Album, which acclaimed producer George Martin said would better have been shaved to one disc. With all due respect to Sir George, I disagree.

10. Flash And The Pan, Walking In The Rain/Lights In The Night . . . Two songs from two different albums, Flash And The Pan’s debut and the title cut from the album that followed it, but to me they’ve always been of a piece in style and content, so I always tie them together. Great lyrics, at least to me, particularly in Lights In The Night: Talking to the ceiling, feeling kinda ill, if the radio doesn’t get me, the TV will. . . . Kiss another bottle, sink another drink, throw away the feeling, throw away the pill, if the bottle doesn’t get me, the thinking will.

11. Ian Dury, Wake Up And Make Love With Me . . . So there I was, first year college student still, like the brother back at home with his Beatles and his Stones from Mott The Hoople’s David Bowie-penned All The Young Dudes, and a new classmate puts on the New Boots and Panties album as we drive to a party. I was hooked. My big, tough football teammates thought I was insane and wondered what happened to the Beatles, Stones, Deep Purple, Zeppelin, etc. in my listening habits. I said, open your ears and minds; they’re all still there, you can like more than one thing at once. Then I put on the Talking Heads to drive them even more nuts.  
12. Television, Friction . . . It took me ages to get into Television’s Marquee Moon album. I could never ‘get’ why it was considered such a classic. Then, one day, it all clicked.

13. Dead Kennedys, The Prey . . . Spooky track, scary subject, an assault.

14. The B-52’s, Lava . . . I must admit I’m not that big on the B-52’s, the band I mean. The drink’s ok, although I haven’t had many, never having acquired much of a taste for the so-called hard stuff. I’ve dabbled, just never gone further. As for the band, outside of Planet Claire, easily their best song, and maybe Rock Lobster, which I don’t think has aged well, the B-52’s are more, to me, a goofball curio from a place and time although they’re still around. Anyway, I figured a show featuring late ’70s/early ’80s punk/new wave would be lacking without one of their songs, so here you go. Yeah, I know, what a backhanded endorsement. So be it. 
15. Martha and The Muffins, Paint By Number Heart . . . Third single from their Echo Beach-dominated 1980 debut, Metro Music. Nice saxophone work by Andy Haas.

16. BB Gabor, Big Yellow Taxi . . . As we transition, via Gabor’s reinvention of the Joni Mitchell hit, from a punk/new wave show into my more typical fare, so-called classic rock. I just realized I forgot to play Devo in the new wave portion, and The Police, too. Probably others. Oh well, the show is set and, well, maybe next time.

17. Bruce Springsteen, Drive All Night . . . I was reading a review of The River album, one of my favorites by Springsteen along with Born To Run and Darkness On The Edge of Town, wherein the critic mentioned Springsteen’s sometimes ‘overwrought’ singing which is the best description I’ve heard and is evident towards the end of this track. Still, it’s a fine, lengthy piece about lost love or, in the words of the same reviewer about the whole album: ‘a bitter empathy, these are the wages of young romantic love among those who get paid by the hour.’ It’s the root of Springsteen’s appeal, or at least was, during his early days.

18. Gregg Allman, Dark End Of The Street . . . Allman’s version of the classic soul song, covered countless times by various artists and worth reading up on. This one’s from Allman’s excellent 1997 album Searching For Simplicity.

19. The Allman Brothers Band, Dreams . . . I was cruising the web the other day and up popped an article detailing ‘the five Allman Brothers deep cuts you must hear”. Maybe because I’m a big fan of the band, I never thought of Dreams as a deep cut; it’s quite well known. At least to Allmans fans. On the other hand, aside from Ramblin’ Man, which made No. 2, the Allmans never had a top 10 single, amazingly enough, perhaps. So, I suppose to casual listeners, Dreams would be a deep cut. Works for me.

20. John Mellencamp, Circling Around The Moon . . . Every now and then you go back to albums you haven’t listened to in ages, like Mellencamp’s 1996 release Mr. Happy Go Lucky and think, wow, that’s a great album, and that’s a great song. And it is. What a relatively unknown, underappreciated gem, musically and lyrically: “On the day we met, I began to want you; on the day we met I began to lose you, too.”

21. Van Morrison, Hymns To The Silence . . . Lengthy title cut, a shade under 10 mnutes, from Van The Man’s 1991 album. A brilliant artist on so many levels, he’s very good at long songs, always compelling, never boring, seemingly shorter than their actual length because time passes quickly listening to them.

22. The Rolling Stones, Goin’ Home . . . From Aftermath, the fine 1966 album which, for the first time, featured no cover tunes, all songs by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards as the band continued to blossom creatively. Going Home is perhaps an atypical Stones’ track, certainly in terms of length. At 11 ½ minutes, it was, at the time, the longest studio track ever released by a major rock band. And, on that note, I am goin’ home.

1. Pink Floyd, Welcome To The Machine . . This song, and much of the Wish You Were Here album, particularly Have A Cigar, is about record company BS but it could also be taken in a dystopian sense which, by titles at least, my first few selections tonight represent although as always there are stories, inspirations and motivations behind playing them.

2. Yes, Machine Messiah . . . This came up by word association while searching Welcome To The Machine. So, while I’ve played it fairly recently but not too recently, I thought what the heck, it fits the early theme of the show in both a prog rock, lyrical and song title sense. It’s from the sort of outlier Drama album by Yes, 1980, when singer Jon Anderson and keyboardist Rick Wakeman had left the band and in came singer Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes from The Buggles and Video Killed The Radio Star fame. It seemed a bizarre addition but then out came Drama, leading off with this epic and it was like relax, Yes fans, we’re still prog rock and . . . perhaps even a bit metallic. Cool cut from one of my favorite Yes albums.

3. Genesis, The Colony of Slippermen . . . Any time I listen to or hear anything from The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway album I inevitably think of an old and still, from afar, buddy of mine, Gerry. He loved and still (I think) loves Genesis and would always wax rapturously about the album, starting by saying simply, “The Lamb…” and then getting into whatever point he was making. He follows the show, much appreciated. This one’s for you, friend. I like it, too.
   
4. Soft Machine, Chloe and The Pirates . . . Chloe is stuck with pirates on the colony of slippermen. No, I don’t know that, just felt like connecting the two and who knows what Chloe is or was thinking and doing? Nobody is talking because by this point, Soft Machine was an instrumental jazz progressive rock band.
   
5. Rush, Cygnus X-1 . . . From likely my favorite Rush album, A Farewell To Kings, all things considered. It’s the one I grew up with, know best and play most often although as with any great band, the catalog is deep and worthwhile listening throughout, even some of the mid- to late 80s synthesizer-dominated stuff, to a point. Playing this song tonight resulted from an auto correct typo. I was texting with one of my boys on Saturday evening and one word in whatever it was I said became Cygnus and I didn’t notice it before sending. So, I quickly recouped, blamed auto correct (not my poor editing skills), mentioned it was a Rush song, or at least part of one, and so here we are. Cygnus X-1 is, as many know, a black hole in the constellation Cygnus. Many bands write about sex, drugs and rock and roll. Rush writes about black holes which I suppose could be taken sexually. In fact, I remember although never saw the 1979 movie The Black Hole, which one of my buddies at the time in college referenced with respect to another friend’s girlfriend and, well, I better shut up now especially given the often ‘cancel culture’ nature of society these days. It’s a joke, people! As for Rush, Cygnus X-1 is part one of a two-parter. Full title Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage, it was the last song on A Farewell To Kings. On the next album, Hemispheres, they completed the epic by opening with Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres. Yeah, I know, perhaps I should have paired them today but I did that long ago and, well, just didn’t feel like it but perhaps a revisit is in order on some future full-blown prog rock show. Wonder what might have happened if, after Book I, the band broke up after promising a Book II? Well, it didn’t happen but it’s like when (Van Halen Best of Volume I comes to mind) a band releases a ‘volume I” compilation album but, due to breakup, whatever, there’s never a Volume II. I wouldn’t risk the possible bad karma, but that’s me. Anyway, Rush of course survived until retirement.
   
6. FM, Black Noise . . . From the Canadian band from which Nash The Slash came. Great track. Love the instrumental transition then heavy into the bass around the seven-minute mark of the 10-minute epic. But that’s prog rock for you, and a great thing.
   
7. King Crimson, Moonchild . . . From the ridiculously brilliant debut album, 1969, In The Court Of The Crimson King. Still and forever, although I like all their stuff, my favorite King Crimson album.

8. Joe Walsh, Decades . . . We depart from the prog theme of the first seven songs, although this is still prog-ish, in length at least, at 12 minutes. I wanted to play something from the sometimes almost deliberate but not necessarily true goofball persona that is Joe Walsh and here he, the apparent forever joker, comes with serious shit. It’s Walsh’s overview observations, sometimes autobiographical, decade by decade, of humanity’s various exercises in nonsense, mostly war, over the century of the 1900s. Worthwhile reading of the lyrics, even if you’re not into the music. From his 1992 album Songs For A Dying Planet. It bombed commercially, interestingly enough, since he mentions the A-bomb in this song’s lyrics.
   
9. The Rolling Stones, 2000 Man . . . Walsh’s album came out before the 20^th century was out, so I’m having the Stones fill in the blanks up to 2000, so to speak, by title, in this somewhat prescient tale from 1967 and the Satanic Majesties album. “Well my name is a number a piece of plastic film . . . ” “I’m having an affair with the random computer.” Etc. Kiss covered 2000 Man on their Dynasty album, released in 1979 and containing their disco-ish hit I Was Made For Lovin’ You which, and I’m not a Kiss fan, to me is a brilliant track although it naturally confused and split their fan base.

10. Deep Purple, Flight Of The Rat . . . Propulsive rocker from In Rock, the brilliant first album (and fourth overall under the Deep Purple moniker) released in 1970 by the Mk. II and most famous and successful version of the band: Ian Gillan (vocals); Ritchie Blackmore (guitar); Roger Glover (bass); Ian Paice (drums); Jon Lord (keyboards).

11. Led Zeppelin, Four Sticks . . . From Zep IV, the one with the overplayed (albeit great) Stairway To Heaven on it. Hypnotic stuff.

12. Saga, The Security Of Illusion . . . From the Canadian prog rockers, and they’re from my hometown of Oakville, Ontario, too. Nice lyrics. Sort of fit, or could be applied to, my concluding two tracks from Jethro Tull and Ian Anderson’s diatribes against organized religion. As a recovering Catholic long distanced from the church or any organzied religion, I approve of such diatribes. There is faith, especially in oneself, there is spirituality. Religion and especially religious dogma are irrelevant societal/business constructs.

13. Jethro Tull, My God . . . I blew my then age 9 or 10 elder son’s mind playing this track from Aqualung for him one night. To that point, he had only heard or been into Tull’s best-known songs/hits. So, we laid on the floor, between two speakers, and just let it wash over us. He popped up and said “dad, holy shit.” About the lyrics. And the music. Later on, as he was learning/becoming expert on guitar, we did the same between the headphones thing one night listening to the live version of the Stones’ Sympathy For The Devil, from Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out as my son so wonderfully explained the separation in a great guitar tandem (Keith Richards and Mick Taylor then) between rhythm and lead playing as so well exemplified on that Stones track where first Richards, with a brilliant solo, then Taylor to finish up, are out of this world.

14. Jethro Tull, Wind Up . . . Another perfect title to end a show and, while I usually, unless I’m doing a themed show, don’t play two in a row from a band, I’ve always seen My God and Wind Up, also from Aqualung, as lyrically connected although they are separated by other songs on the album.

Here, there and everywhere we go with the Fab Four. My Beatles’ listening habits tend to focus on the Rubber Soul album forward, Rubber Soul being the first of the band’s studio albums I ever heard, upon release in 1965 via my older sister’s collection. But in putting together today’s show, I found myself rediscovering albums I like a lot but seem to play less often, like the UK version of Help! and, in particular 1963’s With The Beatles from which I drew Please Mr. Postman, You Really Got A Hold On Me, Not A Second Time and the relatively obscure gem Don’t Bother Me. Don’t Bother Me was George Harrison’s first credited composition on a Beatles’ disc. I hadn’t heard it in ages but, as with many relatively obscure Beatles’ tunes, my reaction was “oh,  I remember this.”

Great stuff from an amazing band, particularly when one considers how these are deeper cuts yet because it’s The Beatles, many of the songs are as well known as their big hit singles. Like, for instance,  the slowed down White Album version of Revolution 1, coupled with the wacky weirdness of Revolution 9. Numbah 9…Numbah 9…on with the show which, as is often my wont, in several spots tells interconnected tales via song titles and lyrics within.

1. Good Morning Good Morning
2. I’m Only Sleeping
3. I’m So Tired
4. The Night Before
5. Dizzy Miss Lizzie
6. Getting Better
7. And Your Bird Can Sing
8. Blackbird
9. Hey Bulldog
10. Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
11. Fixing A Hole
12. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite
13. Please Mr. Postman
14. Dear Prudence
15. For You Blue
16. Girl
17. I’m Looking Through You
18. Not A Second Time
19. Cry Baby Cry
20. Oh! Darling
21. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
22. You Won’t See Me
23. Lovely Rita
24. Wait
25. I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
26. You Really Got A Hold On Me
27. Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?
28. When I’m Sixty-Four
29. Dig It
30. The Word
31. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
32. Don’t Bother Me
33. Think For Yourself
34. She Said She Said
35. Tomorrow Never Knows
36. Glass Onion
37. Rain
38. Revolution 1
39. Revolution 9
40. Long, Long, Long
41. The End

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.