J. Geils Band, First I Look At The Purse (live, from Full House) . . . Probably my favorite J. Geils song and version; they are best served live, terrific band, propulsive track I could listen to 100 times in a row and never tire of.
The Rolling Stones, Rocks Off . . . ‘The sunshine bores the daylights out of me.” etc. That lyric ‘makes’ this song, the opening cut to the Exile On Main St. album, for me.
Groundhogs, Cherry Red . . . Not sure how I got into the Groundhogs, the British blues-rock powerhouse yet something of an underground act. Probably one of those times, ages ago now, I was in a music store, an independent one like Kitchener’s amazing Encore Records, and the band was playing. In any event, glad I did.
AC/DC, Demon Fire . . . Similar riff to Safe In New York City from the band’s 2000 album Stiff Upper Lip but what the heck, it’s 20 years later, this one’s from the most recent record Power Up in 2020 and when has AC/DC not repeated itself – yet remained excellent? And, Angus Young did raid the vaults of unreleased material in putting together the album, which was a tribute to longtime rhythm guitarist and band co-founder Malcolm Young, who died in 2017. He’s since been replaced by Stevie Young, Malcolm’s nephew. The new album was something of a comeback/reunion album for the boys, what with drummer Phil Rudd returning from legal issues, singer Brian Johnson returning from hearing issues and bassist Cliff Williams back in the fold after coming out of retirement. Demonstrating the staying power of classic rock bands, it was a No. 1 album in many countries, including the US, UK and Germany, and was 2020’s sixth-best album, worldwide, in sales counting physical copies, downloads, etc.
Judas Priest, Lightning Strike . . . Smokin’ track from the powerhouse 2018 album Firepower, wherein Priest got away from the somewhat progressive concept metal of their previous two albums, Nostradamus and Redeemer of Souls and largely turned the clock back to the 1970s or 80s. The two previous albums are good, but Firepower is a return to more straight-ahead blistering songwriting, with Lightning Strike, one of the singles from the album, a perfect example. Great stuff, if you like Priest and hard rock/metal.
Black Sabbath, The Shining . . . From The Eternal Idol, from the underappreciated – aside from dedicated Sabbath fans – Tony Martin on lead vocals version of Sabbath. Very interesting period in the band’s history; guitarist Tony Iommi the only constant, holding it all together and producing some terrific, if relatively unheard, material with typically monstrous riffs.
Ozzy Osbourne, Over The Mountain . . . A single and well-known track from Ozzy’s second solo album, 1981’s Diary of A Madman, the second and final Ozzy album featuring the late great guitarist Randy Rhodes. I like the tune, and the album but to me it also marks perhaps the beginning of the overproduced 80s sound that became pervasive in all genres and frankly I don’t like. The sound became the staple of ‘hair metal’ bands, mostly garbage like Poison and Winger and whoever else, Bon Jovi whose success I’ve never understood beyond the song Wanted Dead Or Alive and crap like Motley Crue, which has to be the absolute worst successful band in music history, just shit to my ears . . . OK, stream of consciousness rant over. Ozzy wasn’t shit here, but the sound was getting there. Interestingly, Sabbath, with Dio at the same time doing albums like Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules, avoided the overproduction sound.
Thin Lizzy, Bad Reputation . . . So many great Thin Lizzy songs beyond The Boys Are Back In Town, a great song but which, to some, particularly hockey arena programmers, is the only thing the band ever did. There’s so much depth to Lizzy’s catalog it’s ridiculous. This title cut to the band’s 1977 album is a perfect example.
Rory Gallagher, Big Guns . . . Title cut to a compilation that years ago truly got me deep into Rory Gallagher. The song was originally on 1982’s Jinx album. I love Gallagher’s music and that of his previous band, Taste, but was somewhat late to the party but have long since made up for lost time. I recall Rory auditioning for the Stones at the Black and Blue sessions (that would have been interesting and likely amazing, Rory in the Stones) but more so I recall a college friend late 1970s raving about Rory, which further turned me on to him and so here I am, again, playing the late great guitarist/songwriter.
Pink Floyd, One Of These Days . . . Classic bass line on this one, the well-known instrumental opener from Meddle, the 1971 album preceding the monster The Dark Side Of The Moon.
Traffic, Rock and Roll Stew, Parts 1 & 2 . . . Traffic recorded various versions of this one, which appeared as a four-minute plus track on The Low Spark OF High Heeled Boys album and then, as Parts 1 & 2, as a longer single that later appeared on expanded reissues of the album and on the 2-CD Gold compilation. Great tune from a great band, in any version.
Pete Townshend/Ronnie Lane, Heart To Hang Onto . . . 1977’s Rough Mix, credited to The Who’s Pete Townshend and Faces’ Ronnie Lane helped out by a host of their musical friends including the likes of Eric Clapton and Charlie Watts, is quite simply one of the greatest albums ever, in my book. This is just one of many terrific songs on it.
Jefferson Airplane, She Has Funny Cars . . . Opening track to Surrealistic Pillow, another of those albums handed down to me, so to speak, by my older siblings, in this case my older sister. The hits were the only two top 40 hits the Airplane ever had, Somebody To Love and White Rabbit, eternal classics of course, but the whole album is amazing.
Murray McLauchlan, Sixteen Lanes Of Highway . . . From McLauchlan’s 1971 debut album, Songs From The Street. The track also appears on the wonderful 2-CD compilation, issued in 2007, The Best of Murray McLauchlan: Songs From The Street.
Junkhouse, Burned Out Car . . . Speaking of McLauchlan, his own version of this song about homelessness is on the Songs from the Street compilation. The Junkhouse version, which came out on the Birthday Boy album in 1995, features duet vocals by Sarah McLauchlan and Junkhouse leader and artiste extraordinaire Tom Wilson.
Headstones, Heart Of Darkness . . . From the Picture of Health debut album, 1993. If Headstones did nothing else, and they’ve done lots since, this album alone would cement their legacy and brilliance, in my opinion. Just kick butt rock and roll.
Bruce Cockburn, You Get Bigger As You Go . . . Another from Humans, arguably my favorite Cockburn album and one I tend to dig into for the show every now and then.
Elton John, Midnight Creeper . . . The last in my Elton John series, for now. It started several weeks ago when I couldn’t decide between this song, Have Mercy On The Criminal and High Flying Bird, all from the Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player album, or Slave, from Honky Chateau. So, over the last while, I’ve now played them all.
Ten Years After, If You Should Love Me . . . Still fresh, bluesy and excellent after all these years. From TYA’s 1969 release, Ssssh.
Little Feat, All That You Dream . . . Linda Ronstadt helps out Lowell George on vocals on this cut from 1975’s The Last Record Album, which it wasn’t as the band kept going Somehow I feel like I’ve said the exact same thing fairly recently after playing this song. Oh well, if so. Great band, great tune.
The Band featuring Van Morrison, Caravan (live from The Last Waltz) . . . Originally on Van the Man’s 1970 Moondance album, this is a terrific live version with The Band.
Savoy Brown, Hellbound Train . . . Spooky, hypnotic, nine-minute blues-rock title cut from the band’s 1972 album.
Tommy Bolin, Post Toastee . . . Another nine-minute epic as we close the show with some extended stuff. Great riff on this one from the late great Bolin’s second solo album, 1976’s Private Eyes, after his version of Deep Purple broke up following that lineup’s lone, and fine, album Come Taste The Band.
Deep Purple, Bird Has Flown . . . Any follower of the show by now knows I’m a huge Deep Purple fan, all eras of the band, and its offshoots like Rainbow, early Whitesnake, Gillan, etc. It wasn’t always this way but in recent years, OK, the last 30, ha, I’ve really come to appreciate the early, progressive/psychedelic material produced by the first incarnation of Purple with Rod Evans on lead vocals and Nick Simper on bass. Like this track, from the third and final album before Evans and Simper left to be replaced by Ian Gillan and Roger Glover for 1970’s In Rock.