A ‘brothers’ set airing for a Saturday morning. I was undecided as to what direction to go for Saturday’s show until something in my brain told me I had not played The Doobie Brothers in a while. So that led to loading a bunch of Doobies songs into the system, which led to loading songs by bands with ‘Brothers’ in their name, which further led to what I finally settled on, a brother act show featuring bands that include actual brothers and bands which may not be so familial but feature the word ‘Brothers’ in their name. Must be something to do with the fact I am one of four brothers (and one sister).

So: We have AC/DC with the Young brothers, Angus and Malcolm, Collective Soul with the Roland brothers Ed and Dean, the Allmans of Duane and Gregg, The Kinks of the forever fractious Ray and Dave Davies, early Dire Straits which featured Mark and David Knopfler for the first few albums, the similarly to The Kinks at odds Everly Brothers Don and Phil, same with the Oasis brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, the Wilson brothers and cousin Mike Love in The Beach Boys, the brothers Gibb of the Bee Gees, John and Tom Fogerty of CCR, at various points Randy, Tim and Rob Bachman in Bachman-Turner Overdrive, the Van Halen brothers guitarist Eddie and drummer Alex, and Dean and Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots.

My track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list.

1. AC/DC, Let There Be Rock
2. Collective Soul, Disciplined Breakdown
3. The Allman Brothers Band, Heart Of Stone
4. The Doobie Brothers, Toulouse Street
5. The Kinks, Living On A Thin Line
6. Dire Straits, In The Gallery
7. The Flying Burrito Brothers, Wild Horses
8. The Everly Brothers, Crying In The Rain
9. The Beach Boys, Sail On Sailor
10. Bee Gees, Lonely Days
11. Creedence Clearwater Revival, Effigy
12. Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Blue Moanin’
13. Van Halen, Cabo Wabo (Sammy Hagar lead vocals)
14. Van Halen, D.O.A. (David Lee Roth lead vocals)
15. Van Halen, Year To The Day (Gary Cherone lead vocals)
16. Oasis, I Am The Walrus (live)
17. The Chambers Brothers, Time Has Come Today
18. Stone Temple Pilots, All In The Suit That You Wear
19. The Allman Brothers Band, Mountain Jam (live, from Eat A Peach, recorded March 13, 1971 at Fillmore East, New York City)

My track-by-track tales:

1. AC/DC, Let There Be Rock . . . Title cut from the band’s 1977 album, Bon Scott still around and on lead vocals, and it does, er, rock as Bon, lyrically, takes us through the history of rock and roll music, to that point.

2. Collective Soul, Disciplined Breakdown . . . Title cut from the band’s 1997 release, typically grungy, tuneful guitar work.

3. The Allman Brothers Band, Heart Of Stone . . . No brothers in The Rolling Stones, my favorite band who I always play, but I’ll always figure a way to get them in my sets. 🙂 This is the Allmans’ fine cover of the early Stones’ tune, released on the final Allmans’ studio album, Hittin’ The Note, a terrific statement released in 2003.

4. The Doobie Brothers, Toulouse Street . . . Hauntingly beautiful, somewhat spooky title cut from the band’s 1972 album.

5. The Kinks, Living On A Thin Line . . . A minor hit, one of my favorite Kinks tracks, written and sung by guitarist Dave Davies, easily one of his best, a passionate vocal performance commentary on England at the time of writing.

“All the stories have been told of kings and days of old but there’s no England now . . . all the wars that were won and lost somehow don’t seem to matter so much anymore . . . all the lies we were told . . . I see change but inside we’re the same as we ever were . . . Now another century nearly gone, what are we gonna leave for the young? . . . ”

It’s from the 1984 album Word Of Mouth and the song was used later in an episode of The Sopranos but I’m not much of a TV series buff outside of Star Trek and a few others, so never heard it there. But if the show gave the song deserved exposure, that’s great. Word Of Mouth was the last in a commercial hot streak, certainly at least in North America, for The Kinks that started with the 1979 album Low Budget and continued through 1981’s Give The People What They Want and 1983’s State Of Confusion which featured the hits Come Dancing and Don’t Forget To Dance.

6. Dire Straits, In The Gallery . . . Yet another fine, bluesy cut from the band’s self-titled debut album, released in 1978.

7. The Flying Burrito Brothers, Wild Horses . . . A cover of The Rolling Stones’ tune, came out on the Burritos’ second album, Burrito Deluxe, released in 1970, a year before the Stones’ own version appeared on their Sticky Fingers album. By that point, Burritos’ leader Gram Parsons and the Stones’ Keith Richards had become friends and sometime collaborators at least in terms of influencing each other’s music. A nice version of an amazing song, one I was revisiting the other day via the version on the Stones’ live semi-acoustic 1995 album Stripped, a very worthwhile listen.

8. The Everly Brothers, Crying In The Rain . . . A No. 6 hit in the USA in 1961, not quite as successful elsewhere but relatively well-known.

9. The Beach Boys, Sail On Sailor . . . One of my favorite Beach Boys songs, released in 1973 via the Holland album. Sail On Sailor was a single, pretty well known I would think although it made little dent in the charts, grazing the top 50, or worse, depending on country. It was an interesting period for the band, thought by many to be a spent force distanced from their hugely hit successful surfer music of the 1960s, some conflict within the group as to whether they should progress musically or rely on past hits at least in terms of live performance, yet they came up with an excellent track like this, sung by new guitarist Blondie Chaplin, later a studio session player and touring musician with The Rolling Stones.

10. Bee Gees, Lonely Days . . . The Bee Gees tend to get pigeonholed by some as a disco band given their contributions to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, late 1970s but they were truly an amazing band well before that, as this earlier multi-part track from the 1970 album 2 Years On demonstrates.

11. Creedence Clearwater Revival, Effigy . . . Extended cut from CCR’s 1969 album Willie and the Poor Boys, remarkably perhaps the prolific band’s third studio album release that year. Obviously known for their well-known hit singles, CCR was, as demonstrated by songs like this jam, far more.

12. Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Blue Moanin’ . . . A typical BTO chugger, particularly when C.F. (Fred Turner) is singing.

13. Van Halen, Cabo Wabo (Sammy Hagar lead vocals) . . . First of three from the various configurations of Van Halen, this the Van Hagar version, from the OU812 album, the second of four studio records with Hagar on lead vocals.

14. Van Halen, D.O.A. (David Lee Roth lead vocals) . . . One of my favorites from the Roth version of the band, a kick butt tune from VH II.

15. Van Halen, Year To The Day (Gary Cherone lead vocals) . . . From the ill-fated Van Halen 3 version, which is what that lineup’s lone studio album, released in 1998, was called. It bombed, relatively speaking, although it was a top five charting record, actually but of course many fans would buy it out of brand recongition and curiousity about the new lineup. It took me many listens but I did finally ‘get’ the record although I think it simply wasn’t to most VH fans’ taste. Many never accepted Cherone, the style of music was different, most of the songs, like this near-nine minute track, were longer, less immediate and with fewer obvious hooks, almost progressive rock in spots, than what the band had produced to that point, although Cabo Wabo from OU812 checks in at seven minutes. Still, aside from two short instrumental interludes, every song on Van Halen 3 was at least 5:30 in length, somewhat atypical for the band. Soon enough, Hagar was back to record some new tracks for a double disc compilation. What then followed was what became an ill-fated reunion tour of the Van Hagar lineup, although I saw the first leg of the trek in Toronto and it was a great show. But a big Van Halen fan friend of mine, who had seen the Toronto concert, also saw a later gig, five months later in Hamilton, Ontario and said it was awful, the conflicts within the band evident on stage and affecting the music, as were Eddie Van Halen’s struggles with substance abuse.

16. Oasis, I Am The Walrus (live) . . . The Gallagher brothers pay homage to one of their acknowledged influences, The Beatles. The track was recorded at a concert in Glasgow, Scotland in 1994 and first released in an 8-minute version as the B-side to the hit single Cigarettes and Alcohol. I’m playing the edited 6:25 version that appeared on The Masterplan, a 1998 compilation of B-sides that hadn’t made it to albums at that point.

17. The Chambers Brothers, Time Has Come Today . . . Yeah, it was a hit, No. 11 in the US, No. 9 in Canada, but it’s by a band of real brothers and I occasionally play singles one might not have heard in a while, despite mine being for the very most part a deep cuts show. What’s interesting about Time Has Come Today is the number of versions of it that were done. The original 1966 version, clocking in at 2:37, was rejected by Columbia Records. The band then released the full 11:06 epic version of psychedelic soul as the ostensible title cut of the 1967 album The Time Has Come. Then came two hit single versions, both released in 1968 – one a 3:05 edit and the other 4:45. I’m playing the 4:45 version but all of them are of course excellent.

18. Stone Temple Pilots, All In The Suit That You Wear . . . A to that point unreleased track that came out on the band’s hits compilation, Thank You, in 2003. I like a lot of STP’s stuff, saw them as an opening act for The Rolling Stones on the Voodoo Lounge tour stop in Toronto in 1994, one of the more memorable performances I’ve experienced from Stones’ opening acts I’ve witnessed over many shows over the years. Some of them: AC/DC at the 2003 SARS Toronto Rocks show (also have seen AC/DC on their own) and also at SARS, Rush, The Guess Who including Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings at a time before legal issues over naming rights cropped up, The Isley Brothers, The Tea Party, Sass Jordan, Blue Rodeo, The Flaming Lips . . . at other Stones shows: Atlanta Rhythm Section, Big Sugar (have also seen them separately in a small venue, great band but too bloody loud for my ears, frankly; I wore ear plugs but was seriously worried until the ringing stopped three days later), The White Stripes, No Doubt, Beck. That’s the great thing sometimes, going to concerts by iconic acts like the Stones; the undercard so to speak can be so rewarding which is why I always take in opening acts. Like Pretenders opening for The Who in Toronto in 2006, or Slayer for Judas Priest in 2004, etc.

19. The Allman Brothers Band, Mountain Jam . . . (live, from Eat A Peach, recorded March 13, 1971 at Fillmore East, New York City) . . . 33 minutes the Allmans had the great ability to jam for almost literally hours on end and never be boring. This version was originally split in two on first vinyl pressings of Eat A Peach but has since come out as the one full version on CD reissues of the album and various expanded re-releases of the At Fillmore East album.