Murray McLauchlan, Hard Rock Town . . . It’s a deep cuts show but I deviate sometimes. This was a hit and appropriate to a set full of hard rock or at least up-tempo tracks. I also got into a ‘thing’ with song titles about, you’ll see it’s obvious, and couldn’t seem to stop for a while. Whatever, what’s done is done. Good tunes, in any event. Some repeats from fairly recent previous shows I think but again, so be it.
The Beatles, Why Don’t We Do It In The Road? . . . And so starts a sort of topic you’ll see reflected in the song titles of the next several, including another Beatles’ tune.
AC/DC, Givin The Dog A Bone . . . As lead singer Brian Johnson was once quoted as saying, ‘we’re a filthy band.” Applies to the next several tunes, so just listing them, no comment until I pick it up again.
Led Zeppelin, The Lemon Song
Frank Zappa, Dirty Love
Dead Kennedys, Too Drunk To Fuck
Ted Nugent, Just What The Doctor Ordered
Graham Parker & The Rumour, Protection . . . Not really what I’m on about with the topic, but the title fits my silly narrative, ha.
The Beatles, Getting Better . . . Were this song released today, it likely would provoke controversy given the lyrics: “I used to be cruel to my woman I beat her…” But, it’s one of my musical favorites from the Sgt. Pepper album.
Metallica, Ain’t My Bitch . . . From the controversial Load album, where fans accused the band of selling out, even more than they were accused of doing on the previous monster hit ‘black’ album. They still sold millions, attracted new fans, and their entire catalog has merit so, relax.
The Rolling Stones, Bitch . . . One of my favorite tunes by my favorite band, and on Mick Jagger’s birthday, to boot. Still going strong at age 78.
Black Sabbath, Digital Bitch . . . From the one and only album the band did, 1983, with Deep Purple lead singer Ian Gillan. A controversial album, but I and many Sabs fans maintain, a good one.
Deep Purple, Lady Double Dealer . . . Good rocker from the Stormbringer album, typically good co-lead vocals by David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes during that period of the band. Love Hughes’ ‘oh baby’ in one of the verses early in the song, just adds a cool element to the track.
Judas Priest, Ram It Down . . . Title cut from the album and just an absolute scorcher.
Blue Oyster Cult, Hot Rails To Hell . . . Great riff on this pulsating track from the Tyranny and Mutation album.
Midnight Oil, Redneck Wonderland . . . Title cut from the almost metallic, somewhat industrial sound of the band’s 1998 album. One of my favorites by the Oils.
Elvis Costello (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea . . . A single that didn’t do well outside the UK, from This Year’s Model in 1978. Likely has become better known over time as it’s been included on many compilation albums.
Motorhead, Speedfreak . . . The song lives up to the title. Typical Motorhead madness, which is a good thing.
Yes, Machine Messiah . . . And now for a total change of direction, to Yes’s 1980 Drama album, a hard-edged offering by the revamped band now (then) featuring imports from The Buggles in singer Trever Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes. Great song, great album.
Golden Earring, Candy’s Going Bad . . . Love the riff on this rocker from Moontan, the album which of course gave the world Radar Love but revealed the band to be SO much more than that song. A wall to wall great album, this song (among just five extended cuts on the record) an indication of that.
The Kinks, 20th Century Man . . . Said it a million times about Muswell Hillbillies, a criminally underappreciated (at least commercially) album that for my money is one of the greatest rock/pop albums ever released by one of the greatest bands ever.
King Crimson, 21st Century Schizoid Man . . . Lead cut, and the heaviest rocker on the brilliant In The Court Of The Crimson King debut album in 1969. It remains my favorite Crimson record.
The Beach Boys, Sloop John B . . . One of the more commercial cuts from Pet Sounds, the highly-acclaimed album that, aside from this and Wouldn’t It Be Nice, took me about seven billion listens to ‘get’ but I do now ‘get’ it and it’s brilliant. Decided to play this one after discussing great ‘summer’ music with a buddy; he was playing the B-52s so that same day I happened to pop a Beach Boys’ compilation into the car player and thought, yeah, I’ll play this one on my next show.
Johnny Winter, Highway 61 Revisited . . . Yet another great Winter cover, this being the studio version of the Bob Dylan track which Winter released on Second Winter, his 1969 album. It’s the song that got me into Winter, I heard it wherever, found the album, bought it and became a Winter fan. Saw him at the 2011 Kitchener Blues Festival, he along with brother Edgar was one of several big names on the bill that year, the others being Gregg Allman and John Mayall. I saw all four, all were great even if by that time, Johnny was in declining health, needing assistance and sitting down through his set, but still smokin’ hot.
Paul McCartney/Wings, Morse Moose And The Grey Goose . . . A fun extended track by Macca, from 1978’s London Town album. Reminds me in some ways, in terms of structure at least, of McCartney’s Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey in that it’s essentially several songs in one.
Faces, Had Me A Real Good Time . . . I just know I’ve recently closed a show with this track and I don’t like repeating myself (at least, not too closely together) but what the heck. Occured to me as I was prepping the show, because I always have a good time doing it, and so here it is, from one of the great raunch and roll bands of all.