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Extended Podcast 38. Rick Derringer / Rock n Roll Hoochie Coo39. Aerosmith / Baby Please Don't Go40. Long John Baldry / I'm Ready - Baldry met Rod Stewart when Rod was busking a Muddy Waters song on the Streets of LondonAfter the Beatles - Trying Something New41. 1968 - Electric Mud (Rotary Connection) - - Muddy Waters w/Rotary Connection / Let's Spend the Night Together42. 1969 - Fathers & Sons - - Muddy Waters with Paul Butterfield, Michael Bloomfield, Donald 'Duck' Dunn (Booker T & the MGs), Sam Lay, Buddy Miles, Otis Spann/ Mean Disposition43. 1972 - The London Sessions- - Muddy Waters w/ Rory Gallagher, Richard Roman Grechko a/k/a Rick Grech (Traffic, Blind Faith), Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix), and more / Who's Gonna Be Your Sweet Man with I'm Gone? 44. 1975 - Woodstock - - Muddy Waters w/The Band / Mannish Boy / Mannish Boy (The Last Waltz) Electric Guitar & Amplification45. Charlie Christian / Rose Room 46. T Bone Walker / Stormy Monday Blues 47. BB King / The Thrill is Gone Development of a Song 48. (1950) Muddy Waters / Rollin' Tumblin' Blues49. (1928) Gus Cannon & the Jug Stompers / Minglewood Blues50. (1929( Hambone Willie Newburn / Rollin' & Tumblin' Blues [Sleepy John Estes] 51. (1929) Charlie Patton / Banty Rooster Blues 52. (1929) Sleepy John Estes with Yank Rachel / The Girl I Love, She's Got Long Black Wavy Hair 53. (1936) Robert Johnson (Chris Thomas King) / If I Had Possession over Judgement Day- Travlin' Riverside Blues 54. (1969) Led Zeppelin / The Girl I Love, She's Got Long Black Wavy Hair 55. (1969) Led Zeppelin / Travelin' Riverside Blues 56. (2006) Bob Dylan / Rollin' Tumblin' Development of a Song57. Robert Petway / Catfish Blues58. Muddy Waters / Rollin' Stone Blues59. The Rollin' Stones / Catfish Blues (Rollin' Stone Blues above)60. Jimi Hendrix / Catfish Blues
Le guitariste Thomas Naïm est le seul guitariste au monde à proposer un album solo sur Hendrix. La #SessionLive reçoit Thomas Naïm pour la sortie de l'album May This Be Love et le spécialiste français de Jimi Hendrix : Yazid Manou !C'est après un stage d'été au Berklee College of Music de Boston et des cours à l'American School of Modern Music à Paris, que Thomas Naïm fonde avec la chanteuse Joyce Hozé le duo Tom & Joyce. Influencé par la MPB, la bossa nova des 60's et le jazz, le groupe enregistre deux albums : Tom & Joyce sorti en 2002 (Yellow Productions/East West) et Antigua en 2005 (Yellow Productions/Tommy Boy) sur lequel participe le légendaire batteur Tony Allen et dont certains morceaux seront remixés par des producteurs de dance music parmi les plus reconnus (Masters At Work, François Kevorkian ou Bob Sinclar).Par la suite, Thomas Naïm sera sollicité pour accompagner sur scène ou en studio de nombreux artistes venant d'horizons parfois très différents parmi lesquels Youn Sun Nah, Hugh Coltman, Hindi Zahra, Sébastien Tellier, Ala.ni, Mayra Andrade, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Blick Bassy, Idrissa Diop, Bob Sinclar, Salomé de Bahia, Brisa Roché, Bernard Lavilliers, Albin de la Simone, Michel Fugain, Claire Diterzi, Renan Luce…Il mène en parallèle depuis plusieurs années une carrière solo à la tête d'un trio avec le bassiste Marcello Giuliani et le batteur Raphaël Chassin avec lesquels il enregistre en 2018 l'album Desert Highway.En 2020, Thomas Naïm va confronter son trio aux compositions du maître Jimi Hendrix et enregistrer l'album Sounds of Jimi. L'idée de départ n'est pas de reprendre les titres d'Hendrix tel quel mais de trouver pour chaque morceau une esthétique plus personnelle, et à l'exception de trois titres chantés par Hugh Coltman et Célia Kameni, de privilégier l'approche instrumentale. L'album accueillera également en invités Erik Truffaz à la trompette et Camille Bazbaz à l'orgue.En 2022, il retourne en studio avec son trio augmenté de l'organiste/pianiste de Marc Benham pour enregistrer, sous la houlette du réalisateur grand angle Daniel Yvinec, On the Far Side, un album consacré à ses propres compositions dont la sortie est prévue pour février 2023. Thomas Naïm y retrouve ses premières amours, le Jazz, qu'il mêle à ses influences de toujours la pop, le rock psychédélique, les bandes originales de films et mille autres choses. Laurent Bardainne (saxophone) souffle sur trois titres un vent créatif qui donne à cet album unique une force et une couleur presque mystique.Avec May This Be Love, Thomas Naïm devient le 1er guitariste au monde, à reprendre Hendrix en guitare solo.Titres interprétés au grand studio- Hey Joe Live RFI- The Wind Cries Mary, extrait de l'album- Purple Haze Live RFILine Up : Thomas Naïm, guitare.Son : Benoît Le Tirant, Camille Roch, Mathias Taylor.Album May This Be Love (Rootless Blues 2025).Site - YouTube - Bandcamp. Yazid Manou est journaliste, relations presse et spécialiste de Jimi Hendrix en France. en 1990, il organise un concert à l'Olympia pour les 20 ans de la disparition du guitariste américain. Il est le héros du roman « Blues pour Jimi Hendrix » écrit par Stéphane Koechlin. Yazid Manou est le gardien d'un mort comme Anubis dans la mythologie égyptienne, Jimi Hendrix. Il porte des fleurs sur sa tombe, soigne sa postérité, veille à sa gloire... En 1990, vingt ans après la mort de Jimi le 18 septembre 1970, il a organisé le festival « Jimi's Back » à Paris pendant une semaine dont une soirée à l'Olympia qui a bouleversé sa vie. Il y a invité de nombreux artistes pour reprendre les thèmes du bluesman. Il a convié bien sûr en premier lieu l'ex-bassiste de Jimi, Noel Redding, personnage douloureux et attachant, frappé quelques mois plus tôt par un deuil terrible, la mort de sa fiancée Carol Appleby dans un accident de voiture. Depuis, la vie de Yazid - devenu par la suite attaché de presse indépendant - est rythmée par les nouvelles de la « famille Hendrix », disputes avec la soeur adoptive Janie, rencontre avec ceux qui l'ont connu (B. B. King, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Johnny Hallyday, Miles Davis, Taj Mahal), sorties d'albums (Jimi a davantage publié de disques une fois mort que vivant), disparition des témoins, Noel, Buddy Miles, Monika Dannemann (dernière compagne), Al Hendrix (son père) puis Mitch Mitchell. Il a construit sa vie autour d'un mort, de la mort en général. Yazid est un infatigable marcheur africain arpentant le pavé parisien en compagnie de son fantôme.Playlist Jimi Hendrix par Yazid Manou51st Anniversary, Wait Until Tomorrow, Red House & All Along the Watchtower.Concert du 20 mars @ Le 360 Paris.Réalisation : Hadrien Touraud.
Le guitariste Thomas Naïm est le seul guitariste au monde à proposer un album solo sur Hendrix. La #SessionLive reçoit Thomas Naïm pour la sortie de l'album May This Be Love et le spécialiste français de Jimi Hendrix : Yazid Manou !C'est après un stage d'été au Berklee College of Music de Boston et des cours à l'American School of Modern Music à Paris, que Thomas Naïm fonde avec la chanteuse Joyce Hozé le duo Tom & Joyce. Influencé par la MPB, la bossa nova des 60's et le jazz, le groupe enregistre deux albums : Tom & Joyce sorti en 2002 (Yellow Productions/East West) et Antigua en 2005 (Yellow Productions/Tommy Boy) sur lequel participe le légendaire batteur Tony Allen et dont certains morceaux seront remixés par des producteurs de dance music parmi les plus reconnus (Masters At Work, François Kevorkian ou Bob Sinclar).Par la suite, Thomas Naïm sera sollicité pour accompagner sur scène ou en studio de nombreux artistes venant d'horizons parfois très différents parmi lesquels Youn Sun Nah, Hugh Coltman, Hindi Zahra, Sébastien Tellier, Ala.ni, Mayra Andrade, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Blick Bassy, Idrissa Diop, Bob Sinclar, Salomé de Bahia, Brisa Roché, Bernard Lavilliers, Albin de la Simone, Michel Fugain, Claire Diterzi, Renan Luce…Il mène en parallèle depuis plusieurs années une carrière solo à la tête d'un trio avec le bassiste Marcello Giuliani et le batteur Raphaël Chassin avec lesquels il enregistre en 2018 l'album Desert Highway.En 2020, Thomas Naïm va confronter son trio aux compositions du maître Jimi Hendrix et enregistrer l'album Sounds of Jimi. L'idée de départ n'est pas de reprendre les titres d'Hendrix tel quel mais de trouver pour chaque morceau une esthétique plus personnelle, et à l'exception de trois titres chantés par Hugh Coltman et Célia Kameni, de privilégier l'approche instrumentale. L'album accueillera également en invités Erik Truffaz à la trompette et Camille Bazbaz à l'orgue.En 2022, il retourne en studio avec son trio augmenté de l'organiste/pianiste de Marc Benham pour enregistrer, sous la houlette du réalisateur grand angle Daniel Yvinec, On the Far Side, un album consacré à ses propres compositions dont la sortie est prévue pour février 2023. Thomas Naïm y retrouve ses premières amours, le Jazz, qu'il mêle à ses influences de toujours la pop, le rock psychédélique, les bandes originales de films et mille autres choses. Laurent Bardainne (saxophone) souffle sur trois titres un vent créatif qui donne à cet album unique une force et une couleur presque mystique.Avec May This Be Love, Thomas Naïm devient le 1er guitariste au monde, à reprendre Hendrix en guitare solo.Titres interprétés au grand studio- Hey Joe Live RFI- The Wind Cries Mary, extrait de l'album- Purple Haze Live RFILine Up : Thomas Naïm, guitare.Son : Benoît Le Tirant, Camille Roch, Mathias Taylor.Album May This Be Love (Rootless Blues 2025).Site - YouTube - Bandcamp. Yazid Manou est journaliste, relations presse et spécialiste de Jimi Hendrix en France. en 1990, il organise un concert à l'Olympia pour les 20 ans de la disparition du guitariste américain. Il est le héros du roman « Blues pour Jimi Hendrix » écrit par Stéphane Koechlin. Yazid Manou est le gardien d'un mort comme Anubis dans la mythologie égyptienne, Jimi Hendrix. Il porte des fleurs sur sa tombe, soigne sa postérité, veille à sa gloire... En 1990, vingt ans après la mort de Jimi le 18 septembre 1970, il a organisé le festival « Jimi's Back » à Paris pendant une semaine dont une soirée à l'Olympia qui a bouleversé sa vie. Il y a invité de nombreux artistes pour reprendre les thèmes du bluesman. Il a convié bien sûr en premier lieu l'ex-bassiste de Jimi, Noel Redding, personnage douloureux et attachant, frappé quelques mois plus tôt par un deuil terrible, la mort de sa fiancée Carol Appleby dans un accident de voiture. Depuis, la vie de Yazid - devenu par la suite attaché de presse indépendant - est rythmée par les nouvelles de la « famille Hendrix », disputes avec la soeur adoptive Janie, rencontre avec ceux qui l'ont connu (B. B. King, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Johnny Hallyday, Miles Davis, Taj Mahal), sorties d'albums (Jimi a davantage publié de disques une fois mort que vivant), disparition des témoins, Noel, Buddy Miles, Monika Dannemann (dernière compagne), Al Hendrix (son père) puis Mitch Mitchell. Il a construit sa vie autour d'un mort, de la mort en général. Yazid est un infatigable marcheur africain arpentant le pavé parisien en compagnie de son fantôme.Playlist Jimi Hendrix par Yazid Manou51st Anniversary, Wait Until Tomorrow, Red House & All Along the Watchtower.Concert du 20 mars @ Le 360 Paris.Réalisation : Hadrien Touraud.
Ce mardi soir, Marjorie Hache nous convie dans RTL2 Pop-Rock Station pour deux heures placées sous le signe de la pop et du rock alternatif. Parmi les nouveautés, Sparks revient avec "Do Things My Own Way" pour son 28e album à paraître, Squid dévoile "Building 650" extrait de "Cowards", et The Horrors poursuit sa veine goth rock avec "Night Life". L'album de la semaine est toujours Last Train, fier représentant français qui livre "III", un disque brut et industriel. Max Baby propose un EP onirique, tandis que François & The Atlas Mountains fait danser avec "Party". En live, Klone laisse parler la puissance métal sur "Yonder", capté lors d'une session intense. La reprise du jour est assurée par Buddy Miles, qui réinvente "Down By The River" de Neil Young dans une version datant de 1970. Quant au long format, c'est "More Than Life" des Horrors, extrait de leur nouvel album "Night Life" annoncé pour le 21 mars. Les classiques ne sont pas en reste: The Pretenders, les Beatles, Guns N' Roses ou encore Alice Cooper qui fête ses 77 ans, complètent ce panorama. La playlist de l'émission: Sparks - Do Things My Own Way The Raconteurs - Steady As She Goes Alice Cooper - I'm Eighteen Hole - Skinny Little Bitch Squid - Building 650 The Beatles - Yesterday Guns N' Roses - Yesterdays Last Train - How Does It Feel Radiohead - Paranoid Android Julien Baker & Torres Mckenzie Scott - Sugar In The Tank R.E.M. - Supernatural Superserious The Pretenders - Don't Get Me Wrong The Horrors - More Than Life Buddy Miles - Down By The River Feist - Mushaboom Max Baby - Nothing Ever Changes Sly And The Family Stone - Dance To The Music Prince - Dance 4 Me Klone - Yonder (Alive-Live) Blondie - Denis Eagles Of Death Metal - Stuck In The Metal Francois & The Atlas Mountains - Party Stiltskin - Inside Captain Beefheart - Electricity Pantera - Walk The Isley Brothers - Lay Lady Lay
** PLEASE SUBSCRIBE ** Featured in WYGYFF Episode 11: Musician and host of the long-running "A Funk Above the Rest" radio show, Denver's Skip Reeves, a.k.a. "The Funktologist." Starting out as a drummer in the 1970s, he worked with artists like The Marvelettes, Mitch Ryder, The Platters, The Coasters, Buddy Miles, Alphonse Mouzon and The Drifters. In addition to providing a platform for popular and lesser-known funk & soul music, "A Funk Above the Rest" has featured interviews with Otis Williams of The Temptations, Teena Marie, Rare Earth's Peter Rivera, The Four Tops' Abdul “Duke” Fakir, Jeffrey Osborne, Emilio Castillo of Tower of Power, Jimmy Castor, Klymaxx's Cheryl Cooley, comedian Sinbad, ex-Michael Jackson guitarist Jennifer Batten and Mothers Finest. Reeves' distinguished career includes several other media projects, many of which continue today. RECORDED OCTOBER 2024 Hosted by Scott "DR GX" Goldfine — musicologist, author of “Everything Is on the One: The First Guide of Funk” and creator/host of the popular TRUTH IN RHYTHM podcast — "Where'd You Get Your Funk From?" is the latest interview show brought to you by FUNKNSTUFF.NET. Where'd You Get Your Funk From (WYGYFF) is an open format video and audio podcast focusing on the here and now, with a broad range of creative and artistic guests sharing fascinating stories, experiences, and perspectives. WYGYFF is a welcoming avenue to newer and independent musical acts as well as established and still active musicians of any genre; authors; filmmakers; actors; artists; collectors and archivists; radio & podcast personalities; journalists; scholars; sound techs; promoters; photographers; and other creative people. A common thread, is the show's standard opening question: Where'd you get your funk from? This is much deeper than it may seem as the answer need not be strictly about funky music, as not everyone has found the funk. It could hit on whatever type of music touches their soul or pleasure centers. Additionally, the question extends beyond music. Paraphrasing George Clinton, funk is whatever it needs to be to get you over the hump. Thus, guests can explain where they got their grit, perseverance, inspiration, talent, creativity, character or other qualities that shaped them into who they are today. This serves as a springboard into candid, in-depth and engrossing conversations. LEGAL NOTICE: All video and audio content protected by copyright. Any use of this material is strictly prohibited without expressed consent from original content producer and owner Scott Goldfine, dba FUNKNSTUFF. For inquiries, email info@funknstuff.net. Get your copy of "Everything Is on the One: The First Guide of Funk" today! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1541256603/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1541256603&linkCode=as2&tag=funknstuff-20&linkId=b6c7558ddc7f8fc9fe440c5d9f3c400
Label: Mercury 73008Year: 1970Condition: M-Last Price: $15.00. Not currently available for sale.This is the original release of the song, credited to 'Buddy Miles & the Freedom Express.' It was re-released in 1971 on a different catalog number and with a different flip, and became a somewhat bigger Pop hit. The A side is slightly edited from the 3:20 album track. Note: This beautiful copy comes in a vintage Mercury Records factory sleeve. It has pristine Mint audio.
Marcos Coll comenzó a tocar la armónica a los 13 años, influenciado por el legendario armonicista Ñaco Goñi. Ha tocado con leyendas del blues y el rock como Mike Tylor o Buddy Miles y ha estado involucrado en multitud de proyectos que le han llevado a curtirse en multitud de estilos, desde el hip hop hasta la música latina. Desde 2004 vive en Berlín, donde se ha convertido en un músico clave en la escena. En su nuevo trabajo, Nomade, producido por Jairo Zavala (Depedro), indaga en las raíces de la música gallega, manchega y latina.Escuchar audio
El baterista que cantava, amic de Hendrix i Santana, aqu
"That's The Way Life Is" is a track by Buddy Miles, and its title and lyrics describes the humility that one has to feel when summing up the varied feelings they may have about how they are living, Just back from Amsterdam Dance Event, host Chuck Da Fonk cozies up to that sentiment and puts together a jumble of tunes both old and new including a rare classic from Shriekback, new unreleased FSQ, and a special feature on Italian by way of Netherlands disco-don (and more genres) producer Daniel Monaco. Plus lots of unreleased Soul Clap Records productions in the mix. Tune into new broadcasts of FSQ, Thursdays from 6 - 8 PM EST / 11 PM - 1 AM GMT. (Friday)For more info & tracklisting, visit: https://thefaceradio.com/fsq///Dig this show? Please consider supporting The Face Radio: http://support.thefaceradio.com Support The Face Radio with PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/thefaceradio. Join the family at https://plus.acast.com/s/thefaceradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Connor Reid is back in the studio to cohost this show on the eve of his birthday! He's brought in GREAT songs to share with the Coast Highway Shuffle family, including songs by Vulfmon, Buddy Miles, Champions, Jessica Pratt, Shaky Graves, Baby Rose, Meltt and more! Join us for a listen of some real interesting and unique music! {Oh, and.....HAPPY Birthday, Connor!!!}
In the 1960s two bands incorporated multiple musical styles in their arsenal. The Electric Flag played jazz, gospel, blues and experimental psychedelic rock. lead by singer/drummer Buddy Miles and guitarist Micael Bloomfield, the band created a unique new genre in rock. Blood, Sweat & Tears expanded the jazz rock concept to massive commercial success and expanded the audience base for the new adult contemporary sound. If you would, please make a donation of love and hope to St. Jude Children's HospitalMake an impact on the lives of St. Jude kids - St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (stjude.org)Also:Kathy Bushnell Website for Emily Muff bandHome | Kathy Bushnell | Em & MooListen to previous shows at the main webpage at:https://www.buzzsprout.com/1329053Pamela Des Barres Home page for books, autographs, clothing and online writing classes.Pamela Des Barres | The Official Website of the Legendary Groupie and Author (pameladesbarresofficial.com)Listen to more music by Laurie Larson at:Home | Shashké Music and Art (laurielarson.net)View the most amazing paintings by Marijke Koger-Dunham (Formally of the 1960's artists collective, "The Fool").Psychedelic, Visionary and Fantasy Art by Marijke Koger (marijkekogerart.com)For unique Candles have a look at Stardust Lady's Etsy shopWhere art and armor become one where gods are by TwistedByStardust (etsy.com)For your astrological chart reading, contact Astrologer Tisch Aitken at:https://www.facebook.com/AstrologerTisch/Tarot card readings by Kalinda available atThe Mythical Muse | FacebookEmma Bonner-Morgan Facebook music pageThe Music Of Emma Bonner-Morgan | FacebookFor booking Children's parties and character parties in the Los Angeles area contact Kalinda Gray at:https://www.facebook.com/wishingwellparties/I'm listed in Feedspot's "Top 10 Psychedelic Podcasts You Must Follow". https://blog.feedspot.com/psychedelic_podcasts/Please feel free to donate or Tip Jar the show at my Venmo account@jessie-DelgadoII
David Hull has been playing in bands since 1970 and is still going strong. His story is incredible! Buddy Miles, White Chocolate, The Dirty Angels, Arthur Lee, Ted Nugent, The Joe Perry Project, Farrenheit, James Montgomery band, its an impressive list...David also filled in on Bass for Tom Hamilton, when he was ill, on four Aerosmith tours and there's a solo record too! We talk about all this and more in our fantastic interview... Music David Hull "Soul In Motion" https://www.davidhullandthedirtyangels.com Additional Music The Charms "So Pretty" The Dogmatics "I Love Rock N Roll" listen to music from the show(s): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6lHFZxDikYIabX6wKCGchE Produced and Hosted by Steev Riccardo
This week it's damn hot, and we are smellin' sumthin' stanky and funky! It's time to get our groove on and back down to funky town. So, once again: cut your lava lamps on, slip into some velvet and your highest platform boots, and pick your funky-dos to spherical perfection! That's right funky junkies… it's a Funk Rock extravaganza!What is it that we do here at InObscuria? We exhume obscure Rock n' Punk n' Metal in one of 3 categories: the Lost, the Forgotten, or the Should Have Beens. In this episode, we take a listen to all 3, as we move n' groove our way through funk-infused rock n' roll. This genre has a special meaning to the hosts, which is why our longest-running series! Songs this week include:Hardware – “Got A Feelin'” from Third Eye Open(2023)O.G. Funk – “I Wanna Know” from Out Of The Dark (1994) Grace Bowers & The Hodge Podge – “Tell Me Why U Do That” from Tell Me Why U Do That - Single(2024)FunkHammer – “Lawdhamercy!” from Drop The Hammer (2019)Jetboy – “Rich Girl” from Crate Diggin' (2023)Keno Mapp – “America” from Heart Touch(2008)Stone Cold Killers – “Monster” from Stone Cold Killers (2023)Please subscribe everywhere that you listen to podcasts!Visit us: https://inobscuria.com/https://www.facebook.com/InObscuriahttps://x.com/inobscuriahttps://www.instagram.com/inobscuria/Buy cool stuff with our logo on it!: https://www.redbubble.com/people/InObscuria?asc=uIf you'd like to check out Kevin's band THE SWEAR, take a listen on all streaming services or pick up a digital copy of their latest release here: https://theswear.bandcamp.com/If you want to hear Robert and Kevin's band from the late 90s – early 00s BIG JACK PNEUMATIC, check it out here: https://bigjackpnuematic.bandcamp.com/Check out Robert's amazing fire sculptures and metal workings here: http://flamewerx.com/
"Spent some time feelin' inferior, Standing in front of my mirrorCombed my hair in a thousand waysBut I came out looking just the sameDaddy said, "Son, you better see the worldI wouldn't blame you if you wanted to leaveBut remember one thing don't lose your headTo a woman that'll spend your bread"So I got out, wooEvery picture tells a story, don't itEvery picture tells a story, don't it"Yes it does, please join me as I paint from a palate spanning 7 decades. Joining us are Deep Purple, Yes,, The Wallflowers, Tom Petty, Steely Dan, Stanley Clarke, Red House Painters, [Vanilla Fudge](https://www.facebook.com/VanillaFudgeOfficialSite?__cft__[0]=AZV-LGd5dD5qHM0o4k2zucx1NNlKHYygjtKmBofblvXoaIIZeE4PHWO5EDSpF8nV4UMk5QYZ7B9wSpzlgBX9aoOVIQ0r6uOJtfwl93dFRnKcjw&__tn__=-]K-R), Billy Cobham, The Faces, Buddy Miles, Roxy Music, Rickie Lee Jones, Al Kooper w Michael Bloomfield, Stevie Wonder, Sly & The Family Stone, Rolling Stones, and Rod Stewart...
** PLEASE SUBSCRIBE ** Brought to you by FUNKNSTUFF.NET and hosted by Scott "DR GX" Goldfine — musicologist and author of “Everything Is on THE ONE: The First Guide of Funk” ― “TRUTH IN RHYTHM” is the interview show that gets DEEP into the pocket with contemporary music's foremost masters of the groove. Become a TRUTH IN RHYTHM Member through YouTube or at https://www.patreon.com/truthinrhythm. Featured in TIR Episode 326 (Part 2 of 2): Texas-based blues-rock guitar slinger, singer and multi-instrumentalist Lance Lopez. Inspired by giants like Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Billy Gibbons and Johnny Winter, he's released nine albums since his 1998 debut – including 2023's fantastic Trouble Is Good, which was named one of FUNKNSTUFF's Top 10 Rock & Blues Albums of the Year. Though he might not be a household name, Lopez's gritty tone and fretboard agility are prominent in an incendiary, emotive playing style that places him among today's best hard-edged, blues-rooted guitarists. He also talks about his surprisingly close friendship with superstar Prince. Having shared stages with the likes of Steve Vai, Jeff Beck, ZZ Top and Joe Bonamassa, he has also worked with Supersonic Blues Machine, Eric Gales and Buddy Miles. Speaking of which, coming up on March 1st, he is among the performers at For the Love of Buddy Miles Tribute Concert in Dearborn, Mich. RECORDED JANUARY 2024 LEGAL NOTICE: All video and audio content protected by copyright. Any use of this material is strictly prohibited without expressed consent from original content producer and owner Scott Goldfine, dba FUNKNSTUFF. For inquiries, email info@funknstuff.net. TRUTH IN RHYTHM is a registered U.S. Trademark (Serial #88540281). Get your copy of "Everything Is on the One: The First Guide of Funk" today! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1541256603/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1541256603&linkCode=as2&tag=funknstuff-20&linkId=b6c7558ddc7f8fc9fe440c5d9f3c400
** PLEASE SUBSCRIBE ** Brought to you by FUNKNSTUFF.NET and hosted by Scott "DR GX" Goldfine — musicologist and author of “Everything Is on THE ONE: The First Guide of Funk” ― “TRUTH IN RHYTHM” is the interview show that gets DEEP into the pocket with contemporary music's foremost masters of the groove. Become a TRUTH IN RHYTHM Member through YouTube or at https://www.patreon.com/truthinrhythm. Featured in TIR Episode 326 (Part 1 of 2): Texas-based blues-rock guitar slinger, singer and multi-instrumentalist Lance Lopez. Inspired by giants like Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Billy Gibbons and Johnny Winter, he's released nine albums since his 1998 debut – including 2023's fantastic Trouble Is Good, which was named one of FUNKNSTUFF's Top 10 Rock & Blues Albums of the Year. Though he might not be a household name, Lopez's gritty tone and fretboard agility are prominent in an incendiary, emotive playing style that places him among today's best hard-edged, blues-rooted guitarists. He also talks about his surprisingly close friendship with superstar Prince. Having shared stages with the likes of Steve Vai, Jeff Beck, ZZ Top and Joe Bonamassa, he has also worked with Supersonic Blues Machine, Eric Gales and Buddy Miles. Speaking of which, coming up on March 1st, he is among the performers at For the Love of Buddy Miles Tribute Concert in Dearborn, Mich. RECORDED JANUARY 2024 LEGAL NOTICE: All video and audio content protected by copyright. Any use of this material is strictly prohibited without expressed consent from original content producer and owner Scott Goldfine, dba FUNKNSTUFF. For inquiries, email info@funknstuff.net. TRUTH IN RHYTHM is a registered U.S. Trademark (Serial #88540281). Get your copy of "Everything Is on the One: The First Guide of Funk" today! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1541256603/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1541256603&linkCode=as2&tag=funknstuff-20&linkId=b6c7558ddc7f8fc9fe440c5d9f3c400
In this video, we dive deep into the legendary live album "Band of Gypsys" by the iconic Jimi Hendrix. Join us as we take a journey through the history, significance, and musical brilliance that makes this record an absolute classic. Released in 1970, "Band of Gypsys" was a groundbreaking departure from Hendrix's previous work with the Experience. This album was recorded live at the Fillmore East in New York City and it showcases a new musical direction for Hendrix, incorporating funk, blues, and soul elements into his signature psychedelic rock sound. We'll take an in-depth look at each of the album's six tracks, including the mesmerizing "Machine Gun," the groovy "Power to Love," and the soulful "Message to Love." Learn about the stories and inspirations behind these songs and why they remain fan favorites to this day. Hendrix's Band of Gypsys featured the exceptional rhythm section of Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums. We'll explore their chemistry and the impact they had on Jimi's music during this pivotal period. We'll delve into Jimi Hendrix's creative vision during this time in his career and how "Band of Gypsys" represented a departure from his earlier work, showcasing his growth as an artist and his commitment to pushing musical boundaries. Join us as we celebrate the timeless brilliance of Jimi Hendrix and his "Band of Gypsys." Whether you're a longtime fan or new to his music, there's something for everyone to appreciate in this monumental live album. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell to stay updated on our latest explorations of music history. Let us know in the comments your favorite track and the one track you would Scratch from "Band of Gypsys" 0:00 Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsys Album Review 19:45 Who Knows 22:30 Machine Gun 26:35 Changes 29:05 Power to Love 31:10 Message of Love 32:25 We Gotta Live Together 34:45 Grimm's Scratch 35:55 Dude's Scratch #JimiHendrix #MusicHistory #ClassicAlbums
"Phish's Chicago Adventure: Unpacking the Three-Night Run"Larry Mishkin talks about his experience at a recent Phish concert in Chicago. He mentions the uniqueness of this Phish show and focuses on their cover songs, specifically mentioning their cover of Talking Heads' "Remain in Light" album and the way Phish adds their signature jamming style to it. Larry also discusses a rare cover of Neil Young's "Albuquerque" and the joy of seeing a band like Phish covering classics. He mentions the fan culture at Phish concerts, including the prevalence of nitrous oxide vendors in the parking lot. He shares his experience over three nights of the concert and highlights the setlist from each night. Larry also talks about Phish covering Little Feat's "Spanish Moon" and its significance, given that it's a rarely played song by Phish..Produced by PodConx Deadhead Cannabis Show - https://podconx.com/podcasts/deadhead-cannabis-showLarry Mishkin - https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkinRob Hunt - https://podconx.com/guests/rob-huntJay Blakesberg - https://podconx.com/guests/jay-blakesbergSound Designed by Jamie Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-humiston-91718b1b3/Recorded on Squadcast Phish Weekend in ChicagoOctober 13 – 15, 2023United Center Today is the Phish covers which were spectacularPlay amazing covers by incredible artists – sometimes they dig deep into the other performer's catalogue to pull out rarities. Other times they cover the hits. This weekend featured some great examples. INTRO: Cross Eyed and PainlessPhish Cross Eyed and Painless 2023 10 13 Chicago Illinois - YouTube2:00 – 3:40October 13, 2023, Second set, out of Tweezer and into Light. Who doesn't love a cover of a Talking Heads tune, ANY Talking Heads tune. But this one is special. Second song on Remain In Light, one of the greatest albums of all time. Released on October 8, 1980 by Sire Records, the band's fourth album. Last Heads album produced by Brian Eno. Phish debuted the tune on October 31, 1996 at the Phish Halloween show at the Omni in Atlanta, GA, covered Remain In Light as their Musical CostumePlayed 62 times overallThey really jam it out in a way the Talking Heads did not. Always well received and this show was no differentLast played on August 4, 2023 at MSG, 7 shows ago SHOW #1 AlbuquerquePHISH : Albuquerque : [NEIL YOUNG] : {4K Ultra HD} : The United Center : Chicago, IL : 10/13/2023 - YouTube:50 – 2:18October 13, 2023, First set, out of a killer Ghost and into Saw It Again. Beautiful Neil Young tune from Tonight's The Night released in 1975The song sees Young returning to a theme that has filled his music from very early on: the vapidity of fame. It's something he seems to struggle with even more than most other musicians. Or, at least, it's something he's chosen to sing about more often than most. It may in fact be the most common theme of all his music, besides obvious stuff like heartbreak and love.In "Albuquerque," Young is thinking about renting a car and driving from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Santa Fe, just to be alone and "independent from the scene." He never tells us why he's in Albuquerque to begin with, but he does tell us he wants to roll a joint and rent a car and stop to eat some "fried eggs and country ham."The "country ham" bit is kind of interesting, because country ham is a food popular in the southeast, not so much in the southwest. It's probably just a simple oversight on Young's part, but it may also reveal another common thread in Young's music: the escape into rural simplicity as a cure for the craziness and fakeness of modern day life.Phish first played this song on July 26, 1998 at the Starplex Amphitheatre in Dallas, TX.Played a total of 17 timesLast played on June 11, 2011 at Merriweather Post Pavillion outside of D.C., gap of 457 shows SHOW #2: Spanish MoonPHISH : Spanish Moon : [LITTLE FEAT] : {4K Ultra HD} : The United Center : Chicago, IL : 10/15/2023 - YouTube:50 – 2:05October 15, 2023, Second set out of Pebbles and Marbles and into A Wave of Hope Little Feat cover, one of their most popular tunes.From the album, Feats Don't Fail Me Now, released in 1974 "Spanish Moon" was written and sung by guitarist Lowell George, who was a creative powerhouse in the early years of Little Feat. The song is about a fictional place called the Spanish Moon - a seedy club with whiskey and bad cocaine, but a girl singer that made it worth it. There are many dangers at the Spanish Moon, but the ones likely to do you in are the women.Lowell George was an excellent storyteller and created the Spanish Moon from his imagination, but he lived through the vices he describes in the song, especially cocaine. Around this time, his addictions were starting to overpower him, his health started failing, and he developed hepatitis. Feats Don't Fail Me Now was the last Little Feat album where he was clearly the leader; his contributions to the band slowly tailed off, and in 1979 he released a solo album. While on tour supporting it, he died of a heart attack at 34. Phish debuted it live on October 31, 2010 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City when Phish's musical costume was Waiting For Columbus, the famed Little Feat live album.Phish has performed it live only 3 timesLast before this show was on February 21, 2019 at Barcelo Maya Beach, Riviera Maya, Qunitana Roo, Mexico, gap of 170 shows SHOW #3: No QuarterPHISH : No Quarter : [LED ZEPPELIN] : {4K Ultra HD} : The United Center : Chicago, IL : 10/14/2023 - YouTube1:53 – 3:25October 14, 2023, Second Set, out of Everything's Right, into Fluffhead "No Quarter" is a song by Led Zeppelin that appears on their 1973 album Houses of the Holy. It was written by John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant. The song became a centerpiece at all Led Zeppelin concerts thereafter, until their final tour. It appears in both the film versions and both live album versions of The Song Remains the Same, released in 1976 and expanded in 2007. It appeared once more in 1994 on Page and Plant's reunion album as the title track. It also appears on Led Zeppelin's 2012 live album Celebration Day, which documented their 2007 reunion performance at the O2 Arena in London. It was re-released on the deluxe edition of Houses of the Holy. The title is derived from the military practice of showing no mercy to a vanquished opponent and from the brave act of not asking for mercy when vanquished. This theme is captured in several of the song's lyrics. Like "Immigrant Song" two albums prior, it evokes imagery from the Vikings and Norse mythology, with lyrics such as “the winds of Thor are blowing cold.”Record producer Rick Rubin remarked on the song's structure, "It takes such confidence to be able to get really quiet and loose for such a long time. [Led] Zeppelin completely changed how we look at what popular music can be." Phish debuted the song on June 1, 2011 at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ Phish has performed the song 19 times Last before this show was on April 23, 2023 at the Hollywood Bowl, gap of 32 shows SHOW #4 IzabellaPHISH : Izabella : [JIMI HENDRIX] : {4K Ultra HD} : The United Center : Chicago, IL : 10/13/2023 - YouTube:35 – 1:14October 13, 2023, Encore Written by Jimi Hendrix, released on Band of Gypsys, released April 8, 1970After Hendrix disbanded the Jimi Hendrix Experience in early 1969, he formed Gypsy Sun and Rainbows to fulfill his contract to play Woodstock. This was one of the new songs that he introduced at the festival, after which the guitarist was eager to perfect a studio version. Hendrix recruited bassist Billy Cox, who had played with him while they were in the army and his drummer friend Buddy Miles, for a new ensemble, Band of Gypsys. They recorded this as the B-side to his "Stepping Stone" single for Reprise, but it was quickly pulled after Hendrix complained about the mix. The Band of Gypsys made their live debut at the Fillmore East on New Year's Eve, 1969 and this song was played during their first set. Phish debuted the song on June 13, 1997 at The S.F.X. Centre in Dublin, IrelandPhish has performed the Song 17 timesLast before this show July 30, 2023 at MSG in NYC, gap of 15 shows OUTRO: Loving CupPhish Remastered - 10 - 15 - 2023 - United Center, Chicago, Illinois - YouTube2:34:50 – 2:36:23October 15, 2023, Second set, out of Evolve, set closer. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, released on Exile on Main Street (1971)Exile on Main St. has grown to be appreciated with time, and this is an example of a song that become more popular later on. In a 2003 interview, Mick Jagger explained: "On the Forty Licks tour, when we were preparing the set list for a show in Yokohama, Chuck Leavell suggested we play 'Loving Cup,' the ballad from Exile on Main St. I didn't want to play the tune and I said, Chuck, this is going to die a death in Yokohama. I can't even remember the bloody song, and no one likes it. I've done it loads of times in America, it doesn't go down that well, it's a very difficult song to sing, and I'm fed up with it! Chuck went, Stick in the mud! so I gave in and put it in the set-list. Lo and behold, we went out, started the song and they all began applauding... Which just proves how, over time, some of these songs acquire a certain existence, or value, that they never had when they first came out. People will say, What a wonderful song that was, when it was virtually ignored at the time it was released." >> Phish debuted the song on February 3, 1993 at the Portland Expo in Portland, MaineInteresting because they did eventually cover Exile On Main Street as a Halloween musical costume on October 31, 2009 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA, part of Phish Festival 8.Clearly one of their favorite covers, and a crowd pleaser, played 148 times.Last played before this show on August 5, 2023 at MSG, gap of 13 shows
"She was the color of the Indian summerAnd we shared the hours without numberUntil one day when the sky turned darkAnd the winds grew wildCaught by the rain and blinded by the lightningWe rode the storm out there on Thunder Island"Please join me for today's musical trip we'll stop by an Island to catch a cool breeze or two. Joining us are David Bowie, Moby Grape, Punk Floyd, Manas & Papas, Dave Brubeck, Bee Gees, Chicago, Buddy Miles, Deep Purple, Blood Sweat and Tears, Janis Joplin, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, John Mayall, Electric Flag, and Jay Ferguson...
Continuing our conversation with warrior, Tracy Marie. Tracy was born with a very rare, progressive life-long disease called Morquio Type A Syndrome. The syndrome causes cellular damage due to a missing enzyme. Even with all her health challenges and being misdiagnosed until 2017, Tracy forges ahead as a singer, songwriter, producer, and sound engineer who has recorded and produced numerous albums and travelled around the country performing with jazz legends like Stanley Jordan or the legendary drummer, Buddy Miles. Tracy knows firsthand the downfalls in implementing the criteria in the Americans with Disability Act and has taken tremendous strides to fight for herself and others with disabilities and rare conditions by advocating for ADA coordinators and by volunteering at her local government as co-chair of the ADA Transition Plan Task Force and at her local hospital as co-chair of the MetroHealth Patient Family Advisory Committee. As of 2021, Tracy has also been working with RAMPD, Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities, to make the music industry more accessible and to continue her advocacy work on a national level. In Part Two, tune in as Tracy dives into the challenges in getting her city ADA compliant and more about her important advocacy work. Tracy hopes to raise awareness on existing ADA compliancy issues and helps to share the steps we can all take to address them. To learn more about Tracy Marie, go to her website at https://tracymarie.com and go to https://archive.ada.gov/pcatoolkit/chap2toolkit.htm to find the ADA Best Practices Tool Kit for State and Local Governments. This step-by-step kit can help you begin the process of advocating for ADA compliancy in your area.
Meet warrior, Tracy Marie. Tracy was born with a very rare, progressive life-long disease called Morquio Type A Syndrome. The syndrome causes cellular damage due to a missing enzyme. Even with all her health challenges and being misdiagnosed until 2017, Tracy forges ahead as a singer, songwriter, producer, and sound engineer who has recorded and produced numerous albums and travelled around the country performing with jazz legends like Stanley Jordan or the legendary drummer, Buddy Miles. Tracy knows firsthand the downfalls in implementing the criteria in the Americans with Disability Act and has taken tremendous strides to fight for herself and others with disabilities and rare conditions by advocating for ADA coordinators and by volunteering at her local government as co-chair of the ADA Transition Plan Task Force and at her local hospital as co-chair of the MetroHealth Patient Family Advisory Committee. As of 2021, Tracy has also been working with RAMPD, Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities, to make the music industry more accessible and to continue her advocacy work on a national level. In Part One, listen as Tracy shares her story and her opinion on the current ADA compliance issues. To learn more about Tracy Marie, go to her website at https://tracymarie.com and go to https://archive.ada.gov/pcatoolkit/chap2toolkit.htm to find the ADA Best Practices Tool Kit for State and Local Governments. This step-by-step kit can help you begin the process of advocating for ADA compliancy in your area.
Today's guest gives me the blues. But it's OK; that's his job. I welcome Lance Lopez to the podcast. While music wasn't exactly in his DNA, it was a huge part of his family. His dad was in the Army with Elvis Presley and they stayed friends after their time in the service. When he wanted to learn guitar, his dad gave him and acoustic and a Chuck Berry record and said, “Learn this”; no mean feat for a kid not even in double digits. But his world changed when he saw Stevie Ray Vaughan open for BB King. Lance had no idea who Stevie was at the time. But he sure knew who he was after. He moved to New Orleans with his dad, who encouraged him to play gigs in the French Quarter after school. So while most teens are working at McDonald's, Lance was playing three gigs a night and then going to class in the morning. All that work payed off when Buddy Miles saw him play and took him under his wing. After four solo albums and living the blues, Lance's sound changed and songwriting became his craft instead of soloing.He has been unbelievably busy over the years; at one point even hearing one of his songs and not recognizing himself. But when COVID slowed everything down, he turned to writing and recording remotely as well as repairing tube amps as another income source. Lance's new album, Trouble Is Good, is a direct product of the pandemic. It's packed with amazing guests and there's a tribute to one of his favorite guitarists, who we lost during that time. Go to lancelopez.net and grab Trouble Is Good. Because the album is good, whether you're a blues fan or not. Follow him @lancelopezguitarist for info and tour dates. Follow us @PerformanceAnx. You can also check us out at ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety and performanceanx.threadless.com to help support the show. Now get ready to get the best blues around with Lance Lopez on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
There was a time when Eddie Tuduri wanted to be famous, and while he may not be a household name to you, I guarantee you have heard him on countless recordings or seen him sitting on his throne behind some of the 'whose who' of rock n roll history. Eddie has been a career musician, a sideman and session drummer for the better part of 60 years! He's played with Del Shannon, Dobie Gray, Ricky Nelson and the stone canyon band, Dr. John, Ike Turner, “Boxer,” Ronnie Hawkins, The Down Child Blues Band, “Chilliwack,” The Five Man Electric Band, to name a few. Tune in to host Frankie Picasso as she chats with Eddie about his life, and meet his surprise guest bassist, author and ordained minister, Jimi Calhoun, who played with Sly, Dr John, Rare Earth, Buddy Miles, Brian Auger and Oblivion Express!.
Episode 76. Host Troy Saunders has his latest conversation with bass player, producer, TV composer and engineer, “Keeper of the Low Notes,” Melvin Lee Davis. Did you know that Melvin's playing on the classic “Soul Train” theme from the 1980s? That's just one amazing fact you'll learn about the baddest bass player you'll ever hear.Davis shares the story of how he started working with Don Cornelius, and basically became the staff bass player for Don Cornelius Productions for several years.Davis' philosophy is to avoid writing for specific genres. He plays and writes what he feels at a particular moment. At one time, he hated being called a “funk bassist,” because he feels it limited him to that genre. When making music, it's important to be able to wear many hats, representing all of the different genres, and be open to all forms of music. This lets a musician be able to step into any session or opportunity and not be mediocre.Davis is one of the few bass players who plays a seven-string instrument. Davis designed his seven-string bass on his own, and had it custom made by Ken Smith Bass to his specifications. Why does he need seven strings? It gives him more range in his role as a bass player, allowing him to play in higher and lower ranges when the song calls for it.Davis' latest project is Output/Input, which he founded with Hamish Stuart from Average White Band, Chaka Khan, and Paul McCartney. They have been releasing singles, and their debut album, “Forward Motion,” is coming soon.Los Angeles native Melvin Lee Davis was discovered at the tender age of 16 by Buddy Miles, when a horn player from Buddy Miles' band heard Melvin playing in a local club. Buddy Miles flew Davis to New York to audition for his band and immediately hired him. After playing the New York club circuit, Melvin found himself working with Don Cornelius of “Soul Train”. He has toured and recorded with the Pointer Sisters, Lee Ritenour, Bryan Ferry, David Benoit, Larry Carlton, Patti Austin, Gladys Knight, and many other top acts. Notably, he played on a number of Will Downing's releases, and has served as musical director for Chaka Khan.Along with "Soul Train's A Coming," Davis wrote the theme for the TV show "The Party Machine," and has appeared on TV with Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Jay Leno, and Arsenio Hall. Melvin has traveled the world and continues to be in high demand across many genres of music because of his incredible talent and positive demeanor on and off stage.Listen and subscribe to the BAAS Entertainment Podcast on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Podchaser, Spotify, Stitcher and TuneIn. “Hey, Alexa. Play the BAAS Entertainment Podcast.”Listen and subscribe to the BAAS Entertainment Podcast on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Podchaser, Pocket Casts and TuneIn. “Hey, Alexa. Play the BAAS Entertainment Podcast.”
Buddy Miles featured artist - Some great tunes from The Buddy Miles Band, The Electric Flag and his work with Jimi Hendrix. Broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin www.oar.org.nz
In tonight's show I will be featuring Lp tracks by artists such as The Exportations, The Originals, The Tymes and Buddy Miles. This weeks listener's Top 7 selected is from Bill Bishop. Tune into new broadcasts of Dab Of Soul every Tuesday from Midday - 2 PM EST / 5 - 7 PM GMT.For more info visit: https://thefaceradio.com/dab-of-soul///Dig this show? Please consider supporting The Face Radio: http://support.thefaceradio.com Support The Face Radio with PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/thefaceradio. Join the family at https://plus.acast.com/s/thefaceradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Erik Lawrence has toured the world as a saxophonist, flutist and composer, sometimes with his own original groups and often in support of a wide variety of legendary artists, from The Band, Levon Helm, Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello to Chico Hamilton and Sonny Sharrock, from Tibetans Yungchen Lamo and Nawhang Khechog to poet Robert Pinsky, from David Amram to the Spin Doctors, My Morning Jacket, Roger Waters, Joan Osborne, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh, Aaron Neville, Hubert Sumlin, Buddy Miles, Henry Butler, Big Chief Russell Moore and countless others. He's currently a member of the legendary band Little Feat and Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra. In addition to a busy concert and recording schedule, Erik performs musically guided meditations, which he calls Sound Sanctuary. Often performed solo or with one, two or three other like minded musicians, these are intended to calm, uplift and respond to the listener and help them to attain a higher sense of peace and confidence. He also offers private sessions, and in both settings Erik engages the listener/participant to release stress, trauma, grief, conflict and anger. Erik has working with physical trauma, illness, migraines, end of life care, grief, with ailing or troubled pets, as well. Erik has given lectures and demonstrations at music therapy pain symposiums (recertification program), nursing continuing education, the New Jersey Piano Tuner's Guild, arts centers, yoga and healing centers, private and public universities and high schools, and in other formal and informal settings. http://www.eriklawrencemusic.com/ Natalie Brown: http://www.soundshealstudio.com http://www.facebook.com/soundshealstudio.com http://www.instagram.com/nataliebrownsoundsheal http://www.youtube.com/soundshealstudio Music by Natalie Brown, Hope & Heart http://www.youtu.be/hZPx6zJX6yA This episode is sponsored by The Om Shoppe. The OM Shoppe & Spa offers a vast array of Sound Healing and Vibrational Medicine tools for serious professionals and for those ready to make sound and vibration part of their ongoing lifestyle. More and more we are coming to understand that our individual wellness is a direct reflection of our personal vibration. How we care for ourselves, our physical bodies, our minds and our spirits. The OM Shoppe is ready to help you today in a variety of ways. They offer the countries largest showroom of Quartz Crystal Singing bowls, sound healing instruments and vibrational medicine tools. If you are ready to uplevel your sound healing practice The OM Shoppe is a great place to get guidance and direction. They are available to consult with you directly by phone or you can shop online. They really enjoy getting to know their clients and customers one on one to better help recommend the right sound healing tools in the right tones for you. Call them today or visit them at http://www.theomshoppe.com. If you are ever near Sarasota, Florida, do consider stopping in and visiting with them or enjoy a luxury spa treatment such as sound healing, energy work, massage, vibroacoustics or hypnotherapy. They truly offer a full holistic experience for practitioners and those seeking healing through natural means.
"When that fog horn blows you know I will be coming homeAnd when that fog horn whistle blows I got to hear itI don't have to fear itAnd I want to rock your gypsy soulJust like way back in the days of oldAnd together we will flow into the mystic"Please join me on this weeks "Red Eye" journey as we flow Into The Mystic. Joining us are Jean Luc Ponty, Booker T & Priscilla, Kenny Rankin, Free, Lovin' Spoonful, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Welch, Electric Flag, Colosseum, Dar Williams, Loggins & Messina, Led Zeppelin, Buffalo Springfield, Donovan, Crosby Stills, Nash & Young, Buddy Miles, Eric Burdon & The Animals, Janis Ian, Dan Foglberg, Blood Sweat & Tears, The Beatles, Dave Mason, Jim Hall w Bill Evans, George Benson and Van Morrison.
Episode 162 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Daydream Believer", and the later career of the Monkees, and how four Pinocchios became real boys. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a twenty-minute bonus episode available, on "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources No Mixcloud this time, as even after splitting it into multiple files, there are simply too many Monkees tracks excerpted. The best versions of the Monkees albums are the triple-CD super-deluxe versions that used to be available from monkees.com , and I've used Andrew Sandoval's liner notes for them extensively in this episode. Sadly, though, none of those are in print. However, at the time of writing there is a new four-CD super-deluxe box set of Headquarters (with a remixed version of the album rather than the original mixes I've excerpted here) available from that site, and I used the liner notes for that here. Monkees.com also currently has the intermittently-available BluRay box set of the entire Monkees TV series, which also has Head and 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee. For those just getting into the group, my advice is to start with this five-CD set, which contains their first five albums along with bonus tracks. The single biggest source of information I used in this episode is the first edition of Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees; The Day-By-Day Story. Sadly that is now out of print and goes for hundreds of pounds. Sandoval released a second edition of the book in 2021, which I was unfortunately unable to obtain, but that too is now out of print. If you can find a copy of either, do get one. Other sources used were Monkee Business by Eric Lefcowitz, and the autobiographies of three of the band members and one of the songwriters — Infinite Tuesday by Michael Nesmith, They Made a Monkee Out of Me by Davy Jones, I'm a Believer by Micky Dolenz, and Psychedelic Bubble-Gum by Bobby Hart. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript When we left the Monkees, they were in a state of flux. To recap what we covered in that episode, the Monkees were originally cast as actors in a TV show, and consisted of two actors with some singing ability -- the former child stars Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz -- and two musicians who were also competent comic actors, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork. The show was about a fictional band whose characters shared names with their actors, and there had quickly been two big hit singles, and two hit albums, taken from the music recorded for the TV show's soundtrack. But this had caused problems for the actors. The records were being promoted as being by the fictional group in the TV series, blurring the line between the TV show and reality, though in fact for the most part they were being made by session musicians with only Dolenz or Jones adding lead vocals to pre-recorded backing tracks. Dolenz and Jones were fine with this, but Nesmith, who had been allowed to write and produce a few album tracks himself, wanted more creative input, and more importantly felt that he was being asked to be complicit in fraud because the records credited the four Monkees as the musicians when (other than a tiny bit of inaudible rhythm guitar by Tork on a couple of Nesmith's tracks) none of them played on them. Tork, meanwhile, believed he had been promised that the group would be an actual group -- that they would all be playing on the records together -- and felt hurt and annoyed that this wasn't the case. They were by now playing live together to promote the series and the records, with Dolenz turning out to be a perfectly competent drummer, so surely they could do the same in the studio? So in January 1967, things came to a head. It's actually quite difficult to sort out exactly what happened, because of conflicting recollections and opinions. What follows is my best attempt to harmonise the different versions of the story into one coherent narrative, but be aware that I could be wrong in some of the details. Nesmith and Tork, who disliked each other in most respects, were both agreed that this couldn't continue and that if there were going to be Monkees records released at all, they were going to have the Monkees playing on them. Dolenz, who seems to have been the one member of the group that everyone could get along with, didn't really care but went along with them for the sake of group harmony. And Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, the production team behind the series, also took Nesmith and Tork's side, through a general love of mischief. But on the other side was Don Kirshner, the music publisher who was in charge of supervising the music for the TV show. Kirshner was adamantly, angrily, opposed to the very idea of the group members having any input at all into how the records were made. He considered that they should be grateful for the huge pay cheques they were getting from records his staff writers and producers were making for them, and stop whinging. And Davy Jones was somewhere in the middle. He wanted to support his co-stars, who he genuinely liked, but also, he was a working actor, he'd had other roles before, he'd have other roles afterwards, and as a working actor you do what you're told if you don't want to lose the job you've got. Jones had grown up in very severe poverty, and had been his family's breadwinner from his early teens, and artistic integrity is all very nice, but not as nice as a cheque for a quarter of a million dollars. Although that might be slightly unfair -- it might be fairer to say that artistic integrity has a different meaning to someone like Jones, coming from musical theatre and a tradition of "the show must go on", than it does to people like Nesmith and Tork who had come up through the folk clubs. Jones' attitude may also have been affected by the fact that his character in the TV show didn't play an instrument other than the occasional tambourine or maracas. The other three were having to mime instrumental parts they hadn't played, and to reproduce them on stage, but Jones didn't have that particular disadvantage. Bert Schneider, one of the TV show's producers, encouraged the group to go into the recording studio themselves, with a producer of their choice, and cut a couple of tracks to prove what they could do. Michael Nesmith, who at this point was the one who was most adamant about taking control of the music, chose Chip Douglas to produce. Douglas was someone that Nesmith had known a little while, as they'd both played the folk circuit -- in Douglas' case as a member of the Modern Folk Quartet -- but Douglas had recently joined the Turtles as their new bass player. At this point, Douglas had never officially produced a record, but he was a gifted arranger, and had just arranged the Turtles' latest single, which had just been released and was starting to climb the charts: [Excerpt: The Turtles, "Happy Together"] Douglas quit the Turtles to work with the Monkees, and took the group into the studio to cut two demo backing tracks for a potential single as a proof of concept. These initial sessions didn't have any vocals, but featured Nesmith on guitar, Tork on piano, Dolenz on drums, Jones on tambourine, and an unknown bass player -- possibly Douglas himself, possibly Nesmith's friend John London, who he'd played with in Mike and John and Bill. They cut rough tracks of two songs, "All of Your Toys", by another friend of Nesmith's, Bill Martin, and Nesmith's "The Girl I Knew Somewhere": [Excerpt: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere (Gold Star Demo)"] Those tracks were very rough and ready -- they were garage-band tracks rather than the professional studio recordings that the Candy Store Prophets or Jeff Barry's New York session players had provided for the previous singles -- but they were competent in the studio, thanks largely to Chip Douglas' steadying influence. As Douglas later said "They could hardly play. Mike could play adequate rhythm guitar. Pete could play piano but he'd make mistakes, and Micky's time on drums was erratic. He'd speed up or slow down." But the takes they managed to get down showed that they *could* do it. Rafelson and Schneider agreed with them that the Monkees could make a single together, and start recording at least some of their own tracks. So the group went back into the studio, with Douglas producing -- and with Lester Sill from the music publishers there to supervise -- and cut finished versions of the two songs. This time the lineup was Nesmith on guitar, Tork on electric harpsichord -- Tork had always been a fan of Bach, and would in later years perform Bach pieces as his solo spot in Monkees shows -- Dolenz on drums, London on bass, and Jones on tambourine: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere (first recorded version)"] But while this was happening, Kirshner had been trying to get new Monkees material recorded without them -- he'd not yet agreed to having the group play on their own records. Three days after the sessions for "All of Your Toys" and "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", sessions started in New York for an entire album's worth of new material, produced by Jeff Barry and Denny Randell, and largely made by the same Red Bird Records team who had made "I'm a Believer" -- the same musicians who in various combinations had played on everything from "Sherry" by the Four Seasons to "Like a Rolling Stone" by Dylan to "Leader of the Pack", and with songs by Neil Diamond, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, Leiber and Stoller, and the rest of the team of songwriters around Red Bird. But at this point came the meeting we talked about towards the end of the "Last Train to Clarksville" episode, in which Nesmith punched a hole in a hotel wall in frustration at what he saw as Kirshner's obstinacy. Kirshner didn't want to listen to the recordings the group had made. He'd promised Jeff Barry and Neil Diamond that if "I'm a Believer" went to number one, Barry would get to produce, and Diamond write, the group's next single. Chip Douglas wasn't a recognised producer, and he'd made this commitment. But the group needed a new single out. A compromise was offered, of sorts, by Kirshner -- how about if Barry flew over from New York to LA to produce the group, they'd scrap the tracks both the group and Barry had recorded, and Barry would produce new tracks for the songs he'd recorded, with the group playing on them? But that wouldn't work either. The group members were all due to go on holiday -- three of them were going to make staggered trips to the UK, partly to promote the TV series, which was just starting over here, and partly just to have a break. They'd been working sixty-plus hour weeks for months between the TV series, live performances, and the recording studio, and they were basically falling-down tired, which was one of the reasons for Nesmith's outburst in the meeting. They weren't accomplished enough musicians to cut tracks quickly, and they *needed* the break. On top of that, Nesmith and Barry had had a major falling-out at the "I'm a Believer" session, and Nesmith considered it a matter of personal integrity that he couldn't work with a man who in his eyes had insulted his professionalism. So that was out, but there was also no way Kirshner was going to let the group release a single consisting of two songs he hadn't heard, produced by a producer with no track record. At first, the group were insistent that "All of Your Toys" should be the A-side for their next single: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "All Of Your Toys"] But there was an actual problem with that which they hadn't foreseen. Bill Martin, who wrote the song, was under contract to another music publisher, and the Monkees' contracts said they needed to only record songs published by Screen Gems. Eventually, it was Micky Dolenz who managed to cut the Gordian knot -- or so everyone thought. Dolenz was the one who had the least at stake of any of them -- he was already secure as the voice of the hits, he had no particular desire to be an instrumentalist, but he wanted to support his colleagues. Dolenz suggested that it would be a reasonable compromise to put out a single with one of the pre-recorded backing tracks on one side, with him or Jones singing, and with the version of "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" that the band had recorded together on the other. That way, Kirshner and the record label would get their new single without too much delay, the group would still be able to say they'd started recording their own tracks, everyone would get some of what they wanted. So it was agreed -- though there was a further stipulation. "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" had Nesmith singing lead vocals, and up to that point every Monkees single had featured Dolenz on lead on both sides. As far as Kirshner and the other people involved in making the release decisions were concerned, that was the way things were going to continue. Everyone was fine with this -- Nesmith, the one who was most likely to object in principle, in practice realised that having Dolenz sing his song would make it more likely to be played on the radio and used in the TV show, and so increase his royalties. A vocal session was arranged in New York for Dolenz and Jones to come and cut some vocal tracks right before Dolenz and Nesmith flew over to the UK. But in the meantime, it had become even more urgent for the group to be seen to be doing their own recording. An in-depth article on the group in the Saturday Evening Post had come out, quoting Nesmith as saying "It was what Kirshner wanted to do. Our records are not our forte. I don't care if we never sell another record. Maybe we were manufactured and put on the air strictly with a lot of hoopla. Tell the world we're synthetic because, damn it, we are. Tell them the Monkees are wholly man-made overnight, that millions of dollars have been poured into this thing. Tell the world we don't record our own music. But that's us they see on television. The show is really a part of us. They're not seeing something invalid." The press immediately jumped on the band, and started trying to portray them as con artists exploiting their teenage fans, though as Nesmith later said "The press decided they were going to unload on us as being somehow illegitimate, somehow false. That we were making an attempt to dupe the public, when in fact it was me that was making the attempt to maintain the integrity. So the press went into a full-scale war against us." Tork, on the other hand, while he and Nesmith were on the same side about the band making their own records, blamed Nesmith for much of the press reaction, later saying "Michael blew the whistle on us. If he had gone in there with pride and said 'We are what we are and we have no reason to hang our heads in shame' it never would have happened." So as far as the group were concerned, they *needed* to at least go with Dolenz's suggested compromise. Their personal reputations were on the line. When Dolenz arrived at the session in New York, he was expecting to be asked to cut one vocal track, for the A-side of the next single (and presumably a new lead vocal for "The Girl I Knew Somewhere"). When he got there, though, he found that Kirshner expected him to record several vocals so that Kirshner could choose the best. That wasn't what had been agreed, and so Dolenz flat-out refused to record anything at all. Luckily for Kirshner, Jones -- who was the most co-operative member of the band -- was willing to sing a handful of songs intended for Dolenz as well as the ones he was meant to sing. So the tape of "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", the song intended for the next single, was slowed down so it would be in a suitable key for Jones instead, and he recorded the vocal for that: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You"] Incidentally, while Jones recorded vocals for several more tracks at the session -- and some would later be reused as album tracks a few years down the line -- not all of the recorded tracks were used for vocals, and this later gave rise to a rumour that has been repeated as fact by almost everyone involved, though it was a misunderstanding. Kirshner's next major success after the Monkees was another made-for-TV fictional band, the Archies, and their biggest hit was "Sugar Sugar", co-written and produced by Jeff Barry: [Excerpt: The Archies, "Sugar Sugar"] Both Kirshner and the Monkees have always claimed that the Monkees were offered "Sugar, Sugar" and turned it down. To Kirshner the moral of the story was that since "Sugar, Sugar" was a massive hit, it proved his instincts right and proved that the Monkees didn't know what would make a hit. To the Monkees, on the other hand, it showed that Kirshner wanted them to do bubblegum music that they considered ridiculous. This became such an established factoid that Dolenz regularly tells the story in his live performances, and includes a version of "Sugar, Sugar" in them, rearranged as almost a torch song: [Excerpt: Micky Dolenz, "Sugar, Sugar (live)"] But in fact, "Sugar, Sugar" wasn't written until long after Kirshner and the Monkees had parted ways. But one of the songs for which a backing track was recorded but no vocals were ever completed was "Sugar Man", a song by Denny Randell and Sandy Linzer, which they would later release themselves as an unsuccessful single: [Excerpt: Linzer and Randell, "Sugar Man"] Over the years, the Monkees not recording "Sugar Man" became the Monkees not recording "Sugar, Sugar". Meanwhile, Dolenz and Nesmith had flown over to the UK to do some promotional work and relax, and Jones soon also flew over, though didn't hang out with his bandmates, preferring to spend more time with his family. Both Dolenz and Nesmith spent a lot of time hanging out with British pop stars, and were pleased to find that despite the manufactured controversy about them being a manufactured group, none of the British musicians they admired seemed to care. Eric Burdon, for example, was quoted in the Melody Maker as saying "They make very good records, I can't understand how people get upset about them. You've got to make up your minds whether a group is a record production group or one that makes live appearances. For example, I like to hear a Phil Spector record and I don't worry if it's the Ronettes or Ike and Tina Turner... I like the Monkees record as a grand record, no matter how people scream. So somebody made a record and they don't play, so what? Just enjoy the record." Similarly, the Beatles were admirers of the Monkees, especially the TV show, despite being expected to have a negative opinion of them, as you can hear in this contemporary recording of Paul McCartney answering a fan's questions: Excerpt: Paul McCartney talks about the Monkees] Both Dolenz and Nesmith hung out with the Beatles quite a bit -- they both visited Sgt. Pepper recording sessions, and if you watch the film footage of the orchestral overdubs for "A Day in the Life", Nesmith is there with all the other stars of the period. Nesmith and his wife Phyllis even stayed with the Lennons for a couple of days, though Cynthia Lennon seems to have thought of the Nesmiths as annoying intruders who had been invited out of politeness and not realised they weren't wanted. That seems plausible, but at the same time, John Lennon doesn't seem the kind of person to not make his feelings known, and Michael Nesmith's reports of the few days they stayed there seem to describe a very memorable experience, where after some initial awkwardness he developed a bond with Lennon, particularly once he saw that Lennon was a fan of Captain Beefheart, who was a friend of Nesmith, and whose Safe as Milk album Lennon was examining when Nesmith turned up, and whose music at this point bore a lot of resemblance to the kind of thing Nesmith was doing: [Excerpt: Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, "Yellow Brick Road"] Or at least, that's how Nesmith always told the story later -- though Safe as Milk didn't come out until nearly six months later. It's possible he's conflating memories from a later trip to the UK in June that year -- where he also talked about how Lennon was the only person he'd really got on with on the previous trip, because "he's a compassionate person. I know he has a reputation for being caustic, but it is only a cover for the depth of his feeling." Nesmith and Lennon apparently made some experimental music together during the brief stay, with Nesmith being impressed by Lennon's Mellotron and later getting one himself. Dolenz, meanwhile, was spending more time with Paul McCartney, and with Spencer Davis of his current favourite band The Spencer Davis Group. But even more than that he was spending a lot of time with Samantha Juste, a model and TV presenter whose job it was to play the records on Top of the Pops, the most important British TV pop show, and who had released a record herself a couple of months earlier, though it hadn't been a success: [Excerpt: Samantha Juste, "No-one Needs My Love Today"] The two quickly fell deeply in love, and Juste would become Dolenz's first wife the next year. When Nesmith and Dolenz arrived back in the US after their time off, they thought the plan was still to release "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" with "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" on the B-side. So Nesmith was horrified to hear on the radio what the announcer said were the two sides of the new Monkees single -- "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", and "She Hangs Out", another song from the Jeff Barry sessions with a Davy vocal. Don Kirshner had gone ahead and picked two songs from the Jeff Barry sessions and delivered them to RCA Records, who had put a single out in Canada. The single was very, *very* quickly withdrawn once the Monkees and the TV producers found out, and only promo copies seem to circulate -- rather than being credited to "the Monkees", both sides are credited to '"My Favourite Monkee" Davy Jones Sings'. The record had been withdrawn, but "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" was clearly going to have to be the single. Three days after the record was released and pulled, Nesmith, Dolenz and Tork were back in the studio with Chip Douglas, recording a new B-side -- a new version of "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", this time with Dolenz on vocals. As Jones was still in the UK, John London added the tambourine part as well as the bass: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere (single version)"] As Nesmith told the story a couple of months later, "Bert said 'You've got to get this thing in Micky's key for Micky to sing it.' I said 'Has Donnie made a commitment? I don't want to go there and break my neck in order to get this thing if Donnie hasn't made a commitment. And Bert refused to say anything. He said 'I can't tell you anything except just go and record.'" What had happened was that the people at Columbia had had enough of Kirshner. As far as Rafelson and Schneider were concerned, the real problem in all this was that Kirshner had been making public statements taking all the credit for the Monkees' success and casting himself as the puppetmaster. They thought this was disrespectful to the performers -- and unstated but probably part of it, that it was disrespectful to Rafelson and Schneider for their work putting the TV show together -- and that Kirshner had allowed his ego to take over. Things like the liner notes for More of the Monkees which made Kirshner and his stable of writers more important than the performers had, in the view of the people at Raybert Productions, put the Monkees in an impossible position and forced them to push back. Schneider later said "Kirshner had an ego that transcended everything else. As a matter of fact, the press issue was probably magnified a hundred times over because of Kirshner. He wanted everybody thinking 'Hey, he's doing all this, not them.' In the end it was very self-destructive because it heightened the whole press issue and it made them feel lousy." Kirshner was out of a job, first as the supervisor for the Monkees and then as the head of Columbia/Screen Gems Music. In his place came Lester Sill, the man who had got Leiber and Stoller together as songwriters, who had been Lee Hazelwood's production partner on his early records with Duane Eddy, and who had been the "Les" in Philles Records until Phil Spector pushed him out. Sill, unlike Kirshner, was someone who was willing to take a back seat and just be a steadying hand where needed. The reissued version of "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" went to number two on the charts, behind "Somethin' Stupid" by Frank and Nancy Sinatra, produced by Sill's old colleague Hazelwood, and the B-side, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", also charted separately, making number thirty-nine on the charts. The Monkees finally had a hit that they'd written and recorded by themselves. Pinocchio had become a real boy: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere (single version)"] At the same session at which they'd recorded that track, the Monkees had recorded another Nesmith song, "Sunny Girlfriend", and that became the first song to be included on a new album, which would eventually be named Headquarters, and on which all the guitar, keyboard, drums, percussion, banjo, pedal steel, and backing vocal parts would for the first time be performed by the Monkees themselves. They brought in horn and string players on a couple of tracks, and the bass was variously played by John London, Chip Douglas, and Jerry Yester as Tork was more comfortable on keyboards and guitar than bass, but it was in essence a full band album. Jones got back the next day, and sessions began in earnest. The first song they recorded after his return was "Mr. Webster", a Boyce and Hart song that had been recorded with the Candy Store Prophets in 1966 but hadn't been released. This was one of three tracks on the album that were rerecordings of earlier outtakes, and it's fascinating to compare them, to see the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches. In the case of "Mr. Webster", the instrumental backing on the earlier version is definitely slicker: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Mr. Webster (1st Recorded Version)"] But at the same time, there's a sense of dynamics in the group recording that's lacking from the original, like the backing dropping out totally on the word "Stop" -- a nice touch that isn't in the original. I am only speculating, but this may have been inspired by the similar emphasis on the word "stop" in "For What It's Worth" by Tork's old friend Stephen Stills: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Mr. Webster (album version)"] Headquarters was a group album in another way though -- for the first time, Tork and Dolenz were bringing in songs they'd written -- Nesmith of course had supplied songs already for the two previous albums. Jones didn't write any songs himself yet, though he'd start on the next album, but he was credited with the rest of the group on two joke tracks, "Band 6", a jam on the Merrie Melodies theme “Merrily We Roll Along”, and "Zilch", a track made up of the four band members repeating nonsense phrases: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Zilch"] Oddly, that track had a rather wider cultural resonance than a piece of novelty joke album filler normally would. It's sometimes covered live by They Might Be Giants: [Excerpt: They Might Be Giants, "Zilch"] While the rapper Del Tha Funkee Homosapien had a worldwide hit in 1991 with "Mistadobalina", built around a sample of Peter Tork from the track: [Excerpt: Del Tha Funkee Homosapien,"Mistadobalina"] Nesmith contributed three songs, all of them combining Beatles-style pop music and country influences, none more blatantly than the opening track, "You Told Me", which starts off parodying the opening of "Taxman", before going into some furious banjo-picking from Tork: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "You Told Me"] Tork, meanwhile, wrote "For Pete's Sake" with his flatmate of the time, and that became the end credits music for season two of the TV series: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "For Pete's Sake"] But while the other band members made important contributions, the track on the album that became most popular was the first song of Dolenz's to be recorded by the group. The lyrics recounted, in a semi-psychedelic manner, Dolenz's time in the UK, including meeting with the Beatles, who the song refers to as "the four kings of EMI", but the first verse is all about his new girlfriend Samantha Juste: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Randy Scouse Git"] The song was released as a single in the UK, but there was a snag. Dolenz had given the song a title he'd heard on an episode of the BBC sitcom Til Death Us Do Part, which he'd found an amusing bit of British slang. Til Death Us Do Part was written by Johnny Speight, a writer with Associated London Scripts, and was a family sitcom based around the character of Alf Garnett, an ignorant, foul-mouthed reactionary bigot who hated young people, socialists, and every form of minority, especially Black people (who he would address by various slurs I'm definitely not going to repeat here), and was permanently angry at the world and abusive to his wife. As with another great sitcom from ALS, Steptoe and Son, which Norman Lear adapted for the US as Sanford and Son, Til Death Us Do Part was also adapted by Lear, and became All in the Family. But while Archie Bunker, the character based on Garnett in the US version, has some redeeming qualities because of the nature of US network sitcom, Alf Garnett has absolutely none, and is as purely unpleasant and unsympathetic a character as has ever been created -- which sadly didn't stop a section of the audience from taking him as a character to be emulated. A big part of the show's dynamic was the relationship between Garnett and his socialist son-in-law from Liverpool, played by Anthony Booth, himself a Liverpudlian socialist who would later have a similarly contentious relationship with his own decidedly non-socialist son-in-law, the future Prime Minister Tony Blair. Garnett was as close to foul-mouthed as was possible on British TV at the time, with Speight regularly negotiating with the BBC bosses to be allowed to use terms that were not otherwise heard on TV, and used various offensive terms about his family, including referring to his son-in-law as a "randy Scouse git". Dolenz had heard the phrase on TV, had no idea what it meant but loved the sound of it, and gave the song that title. But when the record came out in the UK, he was baffled to be told that the phrase -- which he'd picked up from a BBC TV show, after all -- couldn't be said normally on BBC broadcasts, so they would need to retitle the track. The translation into American English that Dolenz uses in his live shows to explain this to Americans is to say that "randy Scouse git" means "horny Liverpudlian putz", and that's more or less right. Dolenz took the need for an alternative title literally, and so the track that went to number two in the UK charts was titled "Alternate Title": [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Randy Scouse Git"] The album itself went to number one in both the US and the UK, though it was pushed off the top spot almost straight away by the release of Sgt Pepper. As sessions for Headquarters were finishing up, the group were already starting to think about their next album -- season two of the TV show was now in production, and they'd need to keep generating yet more musical material for it. One person they turned to was a friend of Chip Douglas'. Before the Turtles, Douglas had been in the Modern Folk Quartet, and they'd recorded "This Could Be the Night", which had been written for them by Harry Nilsson: [Excerpt: The MFQ, "This Could Be The Night"] Nilsson had just started recording his first solo album proper, at RCA Studios, the same studios that the Monkees were using. At this point, Nilsson still had a full-time job in a bank, working a night shift there while working on his album during the day, but Douglas knew that Nilsson was a major talent, and that assessment was soon shared by the group when Nilsson came in to demo nine of his songs for them: [Excerpt: Harry Nilsson, "1941 (demo)"] According to Nilsson, Nesmith said after that demo session "You just sat down there and blew our minds. We've been looking for songs, and you just sat down and played an *album* for us!" While the Monkees would attempt a few of Nilsson's songs over the next year or so, the first one they chose to complete was the first track recorded for their next album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Jones, Ltd., a song which from the talkback at the beginning of the demo was always intended for Davy Jones to sing: [Excerpt: Harry Nilsson, "Cuddly Toy (demo)"] Oddly, given his romantic idol persona, a lot of the songs given to Jones to sing were anti-romantic, and often had a cynical and misogynistic edge. This had started with the first album's "I Want to Be Free", but by Pisces, it had gone to ridiculous extremes. Of the four songs Jones sings on the album, "Hard to Believe", the first song proper that he ever co-wrote, is a straightforward love song, but the other three have a nasty edge to them. A remade version of Jeff Barry's "She Hangs Out" is about an underaged girl, starts with the lines "How old d'you say your sister was? You know you'd better keep an eye on her" and contains lines like "she could teach you a thing or two" and "you'd better get down here on the double/before she gets her pretty little self in trouble/She's so fine". Goffin and King's "Star Collector" is worse, a song about a groupie with lines like "How can I love her, if I just don't respect her?" and "It won't take much time, before I get her off my mind" But as is so often the way, these rather nasty messages were wrapped up in some incredibly catchy music, and that was even more the case with "Cuddly Toy", a song which at least is more overtly unpleasant -- it's very obvious that Nilsson doesn't intend the protagonist of the song to be at all sympathetic, which is possibly not the case in "She Hangs Out" or "Star Collector". But the character Jones is singing is *viciously* cruel here, mocking and taunting a girl who he's coaxed to have sex with him, only to scorn her as soon as he's got what he wanted: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Cuddly Toy"] It's a great song if you like the cruelest of humour combined with the cheeriest of music, and the royalties from the song allowed Nilsson to quit the job at the bank. "Cuddly Toy", and Chip Douglas and Bill Martin's song "The Door Into Summer", were recorded the same way as Headquarters, with the group playing *as a group*, but as recordings for the album progressed the group fell into a new way of working, which Peter Tork later dubbed "mixed-mode". They didn't go back to having tracks cut for them by session musicians, apart from Jones' song "Hard to Believe", for which the entire backing track was created by one of his co-writers overdubbing himself, but Dolenz, who Tork always said was "incapable of repeating a triumph", was not interested in continuing to play drums in the studio. Instead, a new hybrid Monkees would perform most of the album. Nesmith would still play the lead guitar, Tork would provide the keyboards, Chip Douglas would play all the bass and add some additional guitar, and "Fast" Eddie Hoh, the session drummer who had been a touring drummer with the Modern Folk Quartet and the Mamas and the Papas, among others, would play drums on the records, with Dolenz occasionally adding a bit of acoustic guitar. And this was the lineup that would perform on the hit single from Pisces. "Pleasant Valley Sunday" was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, who had written several songs for the group's first two albums (and who would continue to provide them with more songs). As with their earlier songs for the group, King had recorded a demo: [Excerpt: Carole King, "Pleasant Valley Sunday (demo)"] Previously -- and subsequently -- when presented with a Carole King demo, the group and their producers would just try to duplicate it as closely as possible, right down to King's phrasing. Bob Rafelson has said that he would sometimes hear those demos and wonder why King didn't just make records herself -- and without wanting to be too much of a spoiler for a few years' time, he wasn't the only one wondering that. But this time, the group had other plans. In particular, they wanted to make a record with a strong guitar riff to it -- Nesmith has later referenced their own "Last Train to Clarksville" and the Beatles' "Day Tripper" as two obvious reference points for the track. Douglas came up with a riff and taught it to Nesmith, who played it on the track: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Pleasant Valley Sunday"] The track also ended with the strongest psychedelic -- or "psycho jello" as the group would refer to it -- freak out that they'd done to this point, a wash of saturated noise: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Pleasant Valley Sunday"] King was unhappy with the results, and apparently glared at Douglas the next time they met. This may be because of the rearrangement from her intentions, but it may also be for a reason that Douglas later suspected. When recording the track, he hadn't been able to remember all the details of her demo, and in particular he couldn't remember exactly how the middle eight went. This is the version on King's demo: [Excerpt: Carole King, "Pleasant Valley Sunday (demo)"] While here's how the Monkees rendered it, with slightly different lyrics: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Pleasant Valley Sunday"] I also think there's a couple of chord changes in the second verse that differ between King and the Monkees, but I can't be sure that's not my ears deceiving me. Either way, though, the track was a huge success, and became one of the group's most well-known and well-loved tracks, making number three on the charts behind "All You Need is Love" and "Light My Fire". And while it isn't Dolenz drumming on the track, the fact that it's Nesmith playing guitar and Tork on the piano -- and the piano part is one of the catchiest things on the record -- meant that they finally had a proper major hit on which they'd played (and it seems likely that Dolenz contributed some of the acoustic rhythm guitar on the track, along with Bill Chadwick, and if that's true all three Monkee instrumentalists did play on the track). Pisces is by far and away the best album the group ever made, and stands up well against anything else that came out around that time. But cracks were beginning to show in the group. In particular, the constant battle to get some sort of creative input had soured Nesmith on the whole project. Chip Douglas later said "When we were doing Pisces Michael would come in with three songs; he knew he had three songs coming on the album. He knew that he was making a lot of money if he got his original songs on there. So he'd be real enthusiastic and cooperative and real friendly and get his three songs done. Then I'd say 'Mike, can you come in and help on this one we're going to do with Micky here?' He said 'No, Chip, I can't. I'm busy.' I'd say, 'Mike, you gotta come in the studio.' He'd say 'No Chip, I'm afraid I'm just gonna have to be ornery about it. I'm not comin' in.' That's when I started not liking Mike so much any more." Now, as is so often the case with the stories from this period, this appears to be inaccurate in the details -- Nesmith is present on every track on the album except Jones' solo "Hard to Believe" and Tork's spoken-word track "Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky", and indeed this is by far the album with *most* Nesmith input, as he takes five lead vocals, most of them on songs he didn't write. But Douglas may well be summing up Nesmith's *attitude* to the band at this point -- listening to Nesmith's commentaries on episodes of the TV show, by this point he felt disengaged from everything that was going on, like his opinions weren't welcome. That said, Nesmith did still contribute what is possibly the single most innovative song the group ever did, though the innovations weren't primarily down to Nesmith: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Daily Nightly"] Nesmith always described the lyrics to "Daily Nightly" as being about the riots on Sunset Strip, but while they're oblique, they seem rather to be about streetwalking sex workers -- though it's perhaps understandable that Nesmith would never admit as much. What made the track innovative was the use of the Moog synthesiser. We talked about Robert Moog in the episode on "Good Vibrations" -- he had started out as a Theremin manufacturer, and had built the ribbon synthesiser that Mike Love played live on "Good Vibrations", and now he was building the first commercially available easily usable synthesisers. Previously, electronic instruments had either been things like the clavioline -- a simple monophonic keyboard instrument that didn't have much tonal variation -- or the RCA Mark II, a programmable synth that could make a wide variety of sounds, but took up an entire room and was programmed with punch cards. Moog's machines were bulky but still transportable, and they could be played in real time with a keyboard, but were still able to be modified to make a wide variety of different sounds. While, as we've seen, there had been electronic keyboard instruments as far back as the 1930s, Moog's instruments were for all intents and purposes the first synthesisers as we now understand the term. The Moog was introduced in late spring 1967, and immediately started to be used for making experimental and novelty records, like Hal Blaine's track "Love In", which came out at the beginning of June: [Excerpt: Hal Blaine, "Love In"] And the Electric Flag's soundtrack album for The Trip, the drug exploitation film starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper and written by Jack Nicholson we talked about last time, when Arthur Lee moved into a house used in the film: [Excerpt: The Electric Flag, "Peter's Trip"] In 1967 there were a total of six albums released with a Moog on them (as well as one non-album experimental single). Four of the albums were experimental or novelty instrumental albums of this type. Only two of them were rock albums -- Strange Days by the Doors, and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, & Jones Ltd by the Monkees. The Doors album was released first, but I believe the Monkees tracks were recorded before the Doors overdubbed the Moog on the tracks on their album, though some session dates are hard to pin down exactly. If that's the case it would make the Monkees the very first band to use the Moog on an actual rock record (depending on exactly how you count the Trip soundtrack -- this gets back again to my old claim that there's no first anything). But that's not the only way in which "Daily Nightly" was innovative. All the first seven albums to feature the Moog featured one man playing the instrument -- Paul Beaver, the Moog company's West Coast representative, who played on all the novelty records by members of the Wrecking Crew, and on the albums by the Electric Flag and the Doors, and on The Notorious Byrd Brothers by the Byrds, which came out in early 1968. And Beaver did play the Moog on one track on Pisces, "Star Collector". But on "Daily Nightly" it's Micky Dolenz playing the Moog, making him definitely the second person ever to play a Moog on a record of any kind: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Daily Nightly"] Dolenz indeed had bought his own Moog -- widely cited as being the second one ever in private ownership, a fact I can't check but which sounds plausible given that by 1970 less than thirty musicians owned one -- after seeing Beaver demonstrate the instrument at the Monterey Pop Festival. The Monkees hadn't played Monterey, but both Dolenz and Tork had attended the festival -- if you watch the famous film of it you see Dolenz and his girlfriend Samantha in the crowd a *lot*, while Tork introduced his friends in the Buffalo Springfield. As well as discovering the Moog there, Dolenz had been astonished by something else: [Excerpt: The Jimi Hendrix Experience, "Hey Joe (Live at Monterey)"] As Peter Tork later put it "I didn't get it. At Monterey Jimi followed the Who and the Who busted up their things and Jimi bashed up his guitar. I said 'I just saw explosions and destruction. Who needs it?' But Micky got it. He saw the genius and went for it." Dolenz was astonished by Hendrix, and insisted that he should be the support act on the group's summer tour. This pairing might sound odd on paper, but it made more sense at the time than it might sound. The Monkees were by all accounts a truly astonishing live act at this point -- Frank Zappa gave them a backhanded compliment by saying they were the best-sounding band in LA, before pointing out that this was because they could afford the best equipment. That *was* true, but it was also the case that their TV experience gave them a different attitude to live performance than anyone else performing at the time. A handful of groups had started playing stadiums, most notably of course the Beatles, but all of these acts had come up through playing clubs and theatres and essentially just kept doing their old act with no thought as to how the larger space worked, except to put their amps through a louder PA. The Monkees, though, had *started* in stadiums, and had started out as mass entertainers, and so their live show was designed from the ground up to play to those larger spaces. They had costume changes, elaborate stage sets -- like oversized fake Vox amps they burst out of at the start of the show -- a light show and a screen on which film footage was projected. In effect they invented stadium performances as we now know them. Nesmith later said "In terms of putting on a show there was never any question in my mind, as far as the rock 'n' roll era is concerned, that we put on probably the finest rock and roll stage show ever. It was beautifully lit, beautifully costumed, beautifully produced. I mean, for Christ sakes, it was practically a revue." The Monkees were confident enough in their stage performance that at a recent show at the Hollywood Bowl they'd had Ike and Tina Turner as their opening act -- not an act you'd want to go on after if you were going to be less than great, and an act from very similar chitlin' circuit roots to Jimi Hendrix. So from their perspective, it made sense. If you're going to be spectacular yourselves, you have no need to fear a spectacular opening act. Hendrix was less keen -- he was about the only musician in Britain who *had* made disparaging remarks about the Monkees -- but opening for the biggest touring band in the world isn't an opportunity you pass up, and again it isn't such a departure as one might imagine from the bills he was already playing. Remember that Monterey is really the moment when "pop" and "rock" started to split -- the split we've been talking about for a few months now -- and so the Jimi Hendrix Experience were still considered a pop band, and as such had played the normal British pop band package tours. In March and April that year, they'd toured on a bill with the Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens, and Englebert Humperdinck -- and Hendrix had even filled in for Humperdinck's sick guitarist on one occasion. Nesmith, Dolenz, and Tork all loved having Hendrix on tour with them, just because it gave them a chance to watch him live every night (Jones, whose musical tastes were more towards Anthony Newley, wasn't especially impressed), and they got on well on a personal level -- there are reports of Hendrix jamming with Dolenz and Steve Stills in hotel rooms. But there was one problem, as Dolenz often recreates in his live act: [Excerpt: Micky Dolenz, "Purple Haze"] The audience response to Hendrix from the Monkees' fans was so poor that by mutual agreement he left the tour after only a handful of shows. After the summer tour, the group went back to work on the TV show and their next album. Or, rather, four individuals went back to work. By this point, the group had drifted apart from each other, and from Douglas -- Tork, the one who was still keenest on the idea of the group as a group, thought that Pisces, good as it was, felt like a Chip Douglas album rather than a Monkees album. The four band members had all by now built up their own retinues of hangers-on and collaborators, and on set for the TV show they were now largely staying with their own friends rather than working as a group. And that was now reflected in their studio work. From now on, rather than have a single producer working with them as a band, the four men would work as individuals, producing their own tracks, occasionally with outside help, and bringing in session musicians to work on them. Some tracks from this point on would be genuine Monkees -- plural -- tracks, and all tracks would be credited as "produced by the Monkees", but basically the four men would from now on be making solo tracks which would be combined into albums, though Dolenz and Jones would occasionally guest on tracks by the others, especially when Nesmith came up with a song he thought would be more suited to their voices. Indeed the first new recording that happened after the tour was an entire Nesmith solo album -- a collection of instrumental versions of his songs, called The Wichita Train Whistle Sings, played by members of the Wrecking Crew and a few big band instrumentalists, arranged by Shorty Rogers. [Excerpt: Michael Nesmith, "You Told Me"] Hal Blaine in his autobiography claimed that the album was created as a tax write-off for Nesmith, though Nesmith always vehemently denied it, and claimed it was an artistic experiment, though not one that came off well. Released alongside Pisces, though, came one last group-recorded single. The B-side, "Goin' Down", is a song that was credited to the group and songwriter Diane Hildebrand, though in fact it developed from a jam on someone else's song. Nesmith, Tork, Douglas and Hoh attempted to record a backing track for a version of Mose Allison's jazz-blues standard "Parchman Farm": [Excerpt: Mose Allison, "Parchman Farm"] But after recording it, they'd realised that it didn't sound that much like the original, and that all it had in common with it was a chord sequence. Nesmith suggested that rather than put it out as a cover version, they put a new melody and lyrics to it, and they commissioned Hildebrand, who'd co-written songs for the group before, to write them, and got Shorty Rogers to write a horn arrangement to go over their backing track. The eventual songwriting credit was split five ways, between Hildebrand and the four Monkees -- including Davy Jones who had no involvement with the recording, but not including Douglas or Hoh. The lyrics Hildebrand came up with were a funny patter song about a failed suicide, taken at an extremely fast pace, which Dolenz pulls off magnificently: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Goin' Down"] The A-side, another track with a rhythm track by Nesmith, Tork, Douglas, and Hoh, was a song that had been written by John Stewart of the Kingston Trio, who you may remember from the episode on "San Francisco" as being a former songwriting partner of John Phillips. Stewart had written the song as part of a "suburbia trilogy", and was not happy with the finished product. He said later "I remember going to bed thinking 'All I did today was write 'Daydream Believer'." Stewart used to include the song in his solo sets, to no great approval, and had shopped the song around to bands like We Five and Spanky And Our Gang, who had both turned it down. He was unhappy with it himself, because of the chorus: [Excerpt: John Stewart, "Daydream Believer"] Stewart was ADHD, and the words "to a", coming as they did slightly out of the expected scansion for the line, irritated him so greatly that he thought the song could never be recorded by anyone, but when Chip Douglas asked if he had any songs, he suggested that one. As it turned out, there was a line of lyric that almost got the track rejected, but it wasn't the "to a". Stewart's original second verse went like this: [Excerpt: John Stewart, "Daydream Believer"] RCA records objected to the line "now you know how funky I can be" because funky, among other meanings, meant smelly, and they didn't like the idea of Davy Jones singing about being smelly. Chip Douglas phoned Stewart to tell him that they were insisting on changing the line, and suggesting "happy" instead. Stewart objected vehemently -- that change would reverse the entire meaning of the line, and it made no sense, and what about artistic integrity? But then, as he later said "He said 'Let me put it to you this way, John. If he can't sing 'happy' they won't do it'. And I said 'Happy's working real good for me now.' That's exactly what I said to him." He never regretted the decision -- Stewart would essentially live off the royalties from "Daydream Believer" for the rest of his life -- though he seemed always to be slightly ambivalent and gently mocking about the song in his own performances, often changing the lyrics slightly: [Excerpt: John Stewart, "Daydream Believer"] The Monkees had gone into the studio and cut the track, again with Tork on piano, Nesmith on guitar, Douglas on bass, and Hoh on drums. Other than changing "funky" to "happy", there were two major changes made in the studio. One seems to have been Douglas' idea -- they took the bass riff from the pre-chorus to the Beach Boys' "Help Me Rhonda": [Excerpt: The Beach Boys, "Help Me Rhonda"] and Douglas played that on the bass as the pre-chorus for "Daydream Believer", with Shorty Rogers later doubling it in the horn arrangement: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Daydream Believer"] And the other is the piano intro, which also becomes an instrumental bridge, which was apparently the invention of Tork, who played it: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Daydream Believer"] The track went to number one, becoming the group's third and final number one hit, and their fifth of six million-sellers. It was included on the next album, The Birds, The Bees, and the Monkees, but that piano part would be Tork's only contribution to the album. As the group members were all now writing songs and cutting their own tracks, and were also still rerecording the odd old unused song from the initial 1966 sessions, The Birds, The Bees, and the Monkees was pulled together from a truly astonishing amount of material. The expanded triple-CD version of the album, now sadly out of print, has multiple versions of forty-four different songs, ranging from simple acoustic demos to completed tracks, of which twelve were included on the final album. Tork did record several tracks during the sessions, but he spent much of the time recording and rerecording a single song, "Lady's Baby", which eventually stretched to five different recorded versions over multiple sessions in a five-month period. He racked up huge studio bills on the track, bringing in Steve Stills and Dewey Martin of the Buffalo Springfield, and Buddy Miles, to try to help him capture the sound in his head, but the various takes are almost indistinguishable from one another, and so it's difficult to see what the problem was: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Lady's Baby"] Either way, the track wasn't finished by the time the album came out, and the album that came out was a curiously disjointed and unsatisfying effort, a mixture of recycled old Boyce and Hart songs, some songs by Jones, who at this point was convinced that "Broadway-rock" was going to be the next big thing and writing songs that sounded like mediocre showtunes, and a handful of experimental songs written by Nesmith. You could pull together a truly great ten- or twelve-track album from the masses of material they'd recorded, but the one that came out was mediocre at best, and became the first Monkees album not to make number one -- though it still made number three and sold in huge numbers. It also had the group's last million-selling single on it, "Valleri", an old Boyce and Hart reject from 1966 that had been remade with Boyce and Hart producing and their old session players, though the production credit was still now given to the Monkees: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Valleri"] Nesmith said at the time he considered it the worst song ever written. The second season of the TV show was well underway, and despite -- or possibly because of -- the group being clearly stoned for much of the filming, it contains a lot of the episodes that fans of the group think of most fondly, including several episodes that break out of the formula the show had previously established in interesting ways. Tork and Dolenz were both also given the opportunity to direct episodes, and Dolenz also co-wrote his episode, which ended up being the last of the series. In another sign of how the group were being given more creative control over the show, the last three episodes of the series had guest appearances by favourite musicians of the group members who they wanted to give a little exposure to, and those guest appearances sum up the character of the band members remarkably well. Tork, for whatever reason, didn't take up this option, but the other three did. Jones brought on his friend Charlie Smalls, who would later go on to write the music for the Broadway musical The Wiz, to demonstrate to Jones the difference between Smalls' Black soul and Jones' white soul: [Excerpt: Davy Jones and Charlie Smalls] Nesmith, on the other hand, brought on Frank Zappa. Zappa put on Nesmith's Monkee shirt and wool hat and pretended to be Nesmith, and interviewed Nesmith with a false nose and moustache pretending to be Zappa, as they both mercilessly mocked the previous week's segment with Jones and Smalls: [Excerpt: Michael Nesmith and Frank Zappa] Nesmith then "conducted" Zappa as Zappa used a sledgehammer to "play" a car, parodying his own appearance on the Steve Allen Show playing a bicycle, to the presumed bemusement of the Monkees' fanbase who would not be likely to remember a one-off performance on a late-night TV show from five years earlier. And the final thing ever to be shown on an episode of the Monkees didn't feature any of the Monkees at all. Micky Dolenz, who directed and co-wrote that episode, about an evil wizard who was using the power of a space plant (named after the group's slang for dope) to hypnotise people through the TV, chose not to interact with his guest as the others had, but simply had Tim Buckley perform a solo acoustic version of his then-unreleased song "Song to the Siren": [Excerpt: Tim Buckley, "Song to the Siren"] By the end of the second season, everyone knew they didn't want to make another season of the TV show. Instead, they were going to do what Rafelson and Schneider had always wanted, and move into film. The planning stages for the film, which was initially titled Changes but later titled Head -- so that Rafelson and Schneider could bill their next film as "From the guys who gave you Head" -- had started the previous summer, before the sessions that produced The Birds, The Bees, and the Monkees. To write the film, the group went off with Rafelson and Schneider for a short holiday, and took with them their mutual friend Jack Nicholson. Nicholson was at this time not the major film star he later became. Rather he was a bit-part actor who was mostly associated with American International Pictures, the ultra-low-budget film company that has come up on several occasions in this podcast. Nicholson had appeared mostly in small roles, in films like The Little Shop of Horrors: [Excerpt: The Little Shop of Horrors] He'd appeared in multiple films made by Roger Corman, often appearing with Boris Karloff, and by Monte Hellman, but despite having been a working actor for a decade, his acting career was going nowhere, and by this point he had basically given up on the idea of being an actor, and had decided to start working behind the camera. He'd written the scripts for a few of the low-budget films he'd appeared in, and he'd recently scripted The Trip, the film we mentioned earlier: [Excerpt: The Trip trailer] So the group, Rafelson, Schneider, and Nicholson all went away for a weekend, and they all got extremely stoned, took acid, and talked into a tape recorder for hours on end. Nicholson then transcribed those recordings, cleaned them up, and structured the worthwhile ideas into something quite remarkable: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Ditty Diego"] If the Monkees TV show had been inspired by the Marx Brothers and Three Stooges, and by Richard Lester's directorial style, the only precursor I can find for Head is in the TV work of Lester's colleague Spike Milligan, but I don't think there's any reasonable way in which Nicholson or anyone else involved could have taken inspiration from Milligan's series Q. But what they ended up with is something that resembles, more than anything else, Monty Python's Flying Circus, a TV series that wouldn't start until a year after Head came out. It's a series of ostensibly unconnected sketches, linked by a kind of dream logic, with characters wandering from one loose narrative into a totally different one, actors coming out of character on a regular basis, and no attempt at a coherent narrative. It contains regular examples of channel-zapping, with excerpts from old films being spliced in, and bits of news footage juxtaposed with comedy sketches and musical performances in ways that are sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes distasteful, and occasionally both -- as when a famous piece of footage of a Vietnamese prisoner of war being shot in the head hard-cuts to screaming girls in the audience at a Monkees concert, a performance which ends with the girls tearing apart the group and revealing that they're really just cheap-looking plastic mannequins. The film starts, and ends, with the Monkees themselves attempting suicide, jumping off a bridge into the ocean -- but the end reveals that in fact the ocean they're in is just water in a glass box, and they're trapped in it. And knowing this means that when you watch the film a second time, you find that it does have a story. The Monkees are trapped in a box which in some ways represents life, the universe, and one's own mind, and in other ways represents the TV and their TV careers. Each of them is trying in his own way to escape, and each ends up trapped by his own limitations, condemned to start the cycle over and over again. The film features parodies of popular film genres like the boxing film (Davy is supposed to throw a fight with Sonny Liston at the instruction of gangsters), the Western, and the war film, but huge chunks of the film take place on a film studio backlot, and characters from one segment reappear in another, often commenting negatively on the film or the band, as when Frank Zappa as a critic calls Davy Jones' soft-shoe routine to a Harry Nilsson song "very white", or when a canteen worker in the studio calls the group "God's gift to the eight-year-olds". The film is constantly deconstructing and commenting on itself and the filmmaking process -- Tork hits that canteen worker, whose wig falls off revealing the actor playing her to be a man, and then it's revealed that the "behind the scenes" footage is itself scripted, as director Bob Rafelson and scriptwriter Jack Nicholson come into frame and reassure Tork, who's concerned that hitting a woman would be bad for his image. They tell him they can always cut it from the finished film if it doesn't work. While "Ditty Diego", the almost rap rewriting of the Monkees theme we heard earlier, sets out a lot of how the film asks to be interpreted and how it works narratively, the *spiritual* and thematic core of the film is in another song, Tork's "Long Title (Do I Have to Do This All Over Again?)", which in later solo performances Tork would give the subtitle "The Karma Blues": [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Long Title (Do I Have To Do This All Over Again?)"] Head is an extraordinary film, and one it's impossible to sum up in anything less than an hour-long episode of its own. It's certainly not a film that's to everyone's taste, and not every aspect of it works -- it is a film that is absolutely of its time, in ways that are both good and bad. But it's one of the most inventive things ever put out by a major film studio, and it's one that rightly secured the Monkees a certain amount of cult credibility over the decades. The soundtrack album is a return to form after the disappointing Birds, Bees, too. Nicholson put the album together, linking the eight songs in the film with collages of dialogue and incidental music, repurposing and recontextualising the dialogue to create a new experience, one that people have compared with Frank Zappa's contemporaneous We're Only In It For The Money, though while t
Join us for this very first show of 2023! And, yes, as the title suggests, this show is also cohosted by none other than Laguna's own Connor Reid, on loan from Austin, Texas. Connor has joined this show to share a ton of awesome songs he hand picked for the CHSS audience and he has developed another great show! His setlist includes artists like Joe Sample, Robert Palmer, Ty Segall, Timber Timbre, Nazz, Charles Bradley, Grant Green, Marty Robbins, Volker Kriegel, The Avener, Buddy Miles, Peter Green and SO MANY MORE! Join us and enjoy! {and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!}
You have a dream, but something has held you back from pursuing it. It's never too late to start doing what you know God has called you to do. Patrick E Craig started out as a successful musician, but felt something was missing. When he turned to faith, he left the music business to go to Bible school, but something still wasn't right. He finally realized that his passion and his ministry could be found in writing.Get the book – The Men of Amish Fiction, a Christmas Collection - https://amzn.to/3PAeDIGGuest Bio:Best-selling author, Patrick E. Craig, is a lifelong writer and musician who left a successful performance career in 1986 to become a pastor. After pastoring, teaching and speaking at seminars in churches on the west coast for many years, he retired in 2007 to concentrate on writing and publishing fiction books. In November 2011, Patrick signed a three-book deal with Harvest House Publishers to publish his Apple Creek Dreams series. His latest books, The Amish Heiress, The Amish Princess, and The Mennonite Queen, and the reprinted Apple Creek Dreams series are published by his own imprint, P&J Publishing, and all have spent time on the "Hot New releases" and "Amazon Best Seller" lists on Amazon. Harlequin Publishing recently purchased The Amish Heiress for their new Walmart Amish promotion series and that book will is now available in Walmart stores across the country. He also recently signed with Elk Lake Publishing to publish his Middle School/YA mystery series, The Adventures of Punkin and Boo. Patrick is represented by the Steve Laube Agency.Patrick has an extensive background as a writer. Throughout his school years he edited high school and college newspapers. In 1964 he won a national editorial contest sponsored by the Wall Street Journal for an editorial he wrote on the death of President Kennedy, and, in the same year, acted as Senior Editor for a special issue of the University of Washington Evergreen during a summer internship for High School Editors. After a year at Whitman College, where he was a journalism major, he moved to the San Francisco Bay area where he became a fixture on the local music scene.As a professional songwriter, he wrote with and for such artists as Bill Champlin (Chicago), David Jenkins (Pablo Cruise), Buddy Miles, The Tazmanian Devils, and many others in the secular music industry. His songs were recorded by such artists and music groups as West Coast Natural Gas, Indian Pudding and Pipe, Joey Covington's Fat Fandango, The Sons of Champlin, The Tazmanian Devils, Buddy Miles, David Jenkins, Laura Allen, The Fairfax Street Choir and in Europe by the Swedish Band Seid. He had two music albums released on Warner Brothers records with The Tazmanian Devils and contributed as a performer and recording engineer to best selling albums by artists such as Chris Isaak and others. As a performer he played keyboards and sang with bands such as West Coast Natural Gas, Indian Pudding and Pipe, Van Morrison, Joe E. Covington, The Kantner-Balin Band, The New Boogaloo Express, The Fairfax Street Choir, The Tazmanian Devils, David Jenkins, Buddy Miles, and many others. Now as a full-time fiction writer he turns out two to three books every year and is fast-gaining a reputation in the literary world.Support the showLearn more about Radical Abundance at Radical-Abundance.comTeresa Janzen is your host. She ignites a passion for abundant living through radical service. Teresa is an international speaker, author, and coach of speakers and writers. Her experience in leadership and global ministry drives her to share inspiring stories with wit and insight. Her candid and personable style is sure to capture the heart of any audience.
Your Ultimate Blues Music Experience Tonight's Featured Artist Buddy Miles ...
S2, Episode 14: David Hull Is Never Dull Season 2, Episode 14, AJ chats with David Hull. Living in Connecticut in 1970, as a teenager in high school, David is chosen by Buddy Miles to be the bass player in the Buddy Miles Band and had a front row seat to the legend that was Jimi Hendrix. Opening shows for Jimi and even being in the house band at his memorial service, this is the stuff legends are made of. But the story does not stop there, he has also played with Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Joe Cocker, Dirty Angels, Joe Perry Project and Farrenheit. As well as his current solo career he is also the bass player for the James Montgomery Band. Lots to cover, so hit play and enjoy the chat.
Patrick Craig has an extensive background as a writer. Throughout his school years he edited high school and college newspapers. In 1964 he won a national editorial contest sponsored by the Wall Street Journal for an editorial he wrote on the death of President Kennedy, and, in the same year, acted as Senior Editor for a special issue of the University of Washington Evergreen during a summer internship for High School Editors. After a year at Whitman College, where he was a journalism major, he moved to the San Francisco Bay area where he became a fixture on the local music scene. As a professional songwriter, he wrote with and for such artists as Bill Champlin (Chicago), David Jenkins (Pablo Cruise), Buddy Miles, The Tazmanian Devils, and many others in the secular music industry. His songs were recorded by such artists and music groups as West Coast Natural Gas, Indian Pudding and Pipe, Joey Covington's Fat Fandango, The Sons of Champlin, The Tazmanian Devils, Buddy Miles, David Jenkins, Laura Allen, The Fairfax Street Choir and in Europe by the Swedish Band Seid. He had two music albums released on Warner Brothers records with The Tazmanian Devils and contributed as a performer and recording engineer to best selling albums by artists such as Chris Isaak and others. Recently a compilation of his early work was released in Switzerland as a specialty music album. As a performer he played keyboards and sang with bands such as West Coast Natural Gas, Indian Pudding and Pipe, Van Morrison, Joe E. Covington, The Kantner-Balin Band, The New Boogaloo Express, The Fairfax Street Choir, The Tazmanian Devils, David Jenkins, Buddy Miles, and many others. He retired from professional music in 1986 and attended Bible College, after which he became a Pastor, Worship Leader, Speaker and Seminar Leader in churches throughout California and The Pacific Northwest. Now as a full-time fiction writer he turns out two to three books every year and is fast-gaining a reputation in the literary world.
On this Stevie Salas Interview, he dives deep, explaining how he went from being homeless to touring arenas just 2 years later with Rod Stewart… getting fired from Duran Duran, being Native American, Rod Stewart telling him about “mountains & valleys,” dealing with the loss of his girlfriend and how Mick Jagger helped him bounce back, quitting the Rod Stewart gig and LOADS more deep stuff: Cool Guitar & Music T-Shirts, ELG Merch!: http://www.GuitarMerch.com A successful sideman and producer who's recorded on over 70 LPs with artists like George Clinton, Justin Timberlake, Buddy Miles, Mick Jagger, Don Was, Rod Stewart & others… Stevie's also sold over 2 million solo albums. He's also scored music for Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Darfur and other movies, and produced the movie “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World,” which won awards at Sundance Film Festival Subscribe & Website: https://www.everyonelovesguitar.com/subscribe Support this show: http://www.everyonelovesguitar.com/support
On this Barry Richman Interview: Tons of stories about playing with John Lee Hooker (his first gig), Buddy Miles, Eric Johnson, Greg Allman, Clapton, Derek Trucks flipping baseball cards at age 12, Roy Buchanan, Warren Haynes… not selling his ‘57 strat to Jerry Garcia, his cool vintage guitar and amp collection, playing Duane Allman's ‘59 Burst for 6 months… his dad, who was a top NYC session sax player, western wear and all kinds of cool stuff: Cool Guitar, Music & ELG T-Shirts!: http://www.GuitarMerch.com In a career that's spanned 50+ years, Barry has played, toured or recorded with John Lee Hooker, Allman Brothers, Eric Johnson, Gov't Mule, Eric Clapton, Les Paul, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Derek Trucks, Jimmy Herring, Steve Morse, Roy Buchanan, Sonny Landreth, Lee Ritenour, Stanley Jordan, Vivian Campbell, Rick Emmett & others Subscribe & Website: https://www.everyonelovesguitar.com/subscribe Support this show: http://www.everyonelovesguitar.com/support
"The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense.Take what you have gathered from coincidence.The empty-handed painter from your streetsIs drawing crazy patterns on your sheets.This sky, too, is folding under youAnd its all over now, baby blue."Actually, it's just beginning on the Sunday Edition of Whole 'Nuther Thing on 885 The SoCal Sound. Joining us this afternoon are Laura Nyro, Santana, Leonard Cohen, Meat Loaf, Rod Stewart, Jackson Browne, Deodato, The Smiths, Seatrain, Rhinoceros, The Korgis, Return To Forever, Bad Company, Loggins & Messina, Elton John, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Rolling Stones, Buddy Miles, Gary Jules, The Electric Flag and Bob Dylan...
The Electric Flag was the brainchild of guitarist Mike Bloomfield, and Long Time Comin' was their debut studio album. The core of the band was formed by Mike Bloomfield on guitar, Barry Goldberg on keyboards, and Buddy Miles (soon to be with Jimmy Hendrix's Band of Gypsies) on drums. Additionally, Nick Gravenites would sing lead on several tracks.With "Long Time Comin'" Bloomfield wanted to create a sound that would feature what he called "American music." He would draw inspiration from many sources including traditional country, gospel, and R&B, and the result would be a fusion of rock, jazz, R&B, and an early use of a horn section. The sound would be described as an "eclectic approach toward American musical." Critics would complement the group's sound on this album, though it would be somewhat of a failure commercially on the charts.The Electric Flag would put out two albums in 1968, but would break up shortly before their second album was released. Drug use affected the group's ability to perform, and Bloomfield would later admit that heroin caused his playing to fall apart.Wayne brings us this classic of southern rock. WineThe full name for this song is actually "Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee," and is a traditional boogie-woogie blues song about a famous and not very good wine called Thunderbird ("the word is Thunderbird"). It was a creation of E & J Gallo Winery, made cheap with a high alcohol content.Texas Buddy Miles sings lead on this blues track. This sound would find traction with later groups like ZZ Top and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Bloomfield's playing was inspired by groups he heard in Chicago, and he would become known as one of the premier guitarists in rock music. "I Wouldn't be an American, If it wasn't for Texas."Killing Floor This is an updated take on the Howlin' Wolf blues classic. It has a blues feel but with an upbeat tempo. The Electric Flag would cover this long before Led Zeppelin would make it the basis for "The Lemon Song." Jimmy Hendrix would play this at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.Groovin' Is Easy This is the "hit single" from the album. The sound is different from the other blues-based tracks, and is a bit more time stamped for the age. "Groovin's so easy, baby, if you know how. You don't have to keep yourself forever slavin' - go out an chase whatever you're cravin'." ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:main theme from the animated series “Speed Racer”While it would become a staple of after school and Saturday morning cartoons in the United States, this animated series was crossing the finish line of its run in Japan in this month. STAFF PICKS:Summertime Blues by Blue CheerRob starts off our staff picks with a cover of Eddie Cochran's song from 1958. Blue Cheer was a psychedelic band out of San Francisco, and considered a precursor to the heavy metal band. Many consider this song to be the first heavy metal song to chart in the U.S. They were considered the loudest group in concert at the time.I Thank You by Sam & Dave Bruce takes a soulful turn with the final Sam & Dave release on Stax records, as Stax ended a distribution deal with Atlantic Records (from which Sam & Dave were on loan). It hit number 3 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. ZZ Top would cover this song later on, and it would be their second top 40 hit after "Tush."(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding Brian's staff pick is another song from Stax records, and the last single from Otis Redding. Redding died in a plane crash 3 days after recording this song. It was Redding's biggest hit, and the first posthumous release in the U.S. It hit number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love In) by The Chocolate WatchbandWayne closes out the staff picks in fine hippie style with this band out of Los Altos, California. The Chocolate Watchband started in 1965 and would break up by 1970. Supposedly Jerry Garcia plays guitar on this track. The story is that when the band's guitarist was too high to play, Garcia was in another studio in the same building, and sat in. INSTRUMENTAL TRACK:(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay by King Curtis & the Kingmakers"Dock of the Bay" was so popular that it featured both Redding and this instrumental version on the charts.
Episode 152 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “For What It's Worth”, and the short but eventful career of Buffalo Springfield. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a twenty-five-minute bonus episode available, on "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" by Glen Campbell. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources As usual, there's a Mixcloud mix containing all the songs excerpted in the episode. This four-CD box set is the definitive collection of Buffalo Springfield's work, while if you want the mono version of the second album, the stereo version of the first, and the final album as released, but no demos or outtakes, you want this more recent box set. For What It's Worth: The Story of Buffalo Springfield by Richey Furay and John Einarson is obviously Furay's version of the story, but all the more interesting for that. For information on Steve Stills' early life I used Stephen Stills: Change Partners by David Roberts. Information on both Stills and Young comes from Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young by David Browne. Jimmy McDonough's Shakey is the definitive biography of Neil Young, while Young's Waging Heavy Peace is his autobiography. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript A quick note before we begin -- this episode deals with various disabilities. In particular, there are descriptions of epileptic seizures that come from non-medically-trained witnesses, many of whom took ableist attitudes towards the seizures. I don't know enough about epilepsy to know how accurate their descriptions and perceptions are, and I apologise if that means that by repeating some of their statements, I am inadvertently passing on myths about the condition. When I talk about this, I am talking about the after-the-fact recollections of musicians, none of them medically trained and many of them in altered states of consciousness, about events that had happened decades earlier. Please do not take anything said in a podcast about music history as being the last word on the causes or effects of epileptic seizures, rather than how those musicians remember them. Anyway, on with the show. One of the things you notice if you write about protest songs is that a lot of the time, the songs that people talk about as being important or impactful have aged very poorly. Even great songwriters like Bob Dylan or John Lennon, when writing material about the political events of the time, would write material they would later acknowledge was far from their best. Too often a song will be about a truly important event, and be powered by a real sense of outrage at injustice, but it will be overly specific, and then as soon as the immediate issue is no longer topical, the song is at best a curio. For example, the sentencing of the poet and rock band manager John Sinclair to ten years in prison for giving two joints to an undercover police officer was hugely controversial in the early seventies, but by the time John Lennon's song about it was released, Sinclair had been freed by the Supreme Court, and very, very few people would use the song as an example of why Lennon's songwriting still has lasting value: [Excerpt: John Lennon, "John Sinclair"] But there are exceptions, and those tend to be songs where rather than talking about specific headlines, the song is about the emotion that current events have caused. Ninety years on from its first success, for example, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" still has resonance, because there are still people who are put out of work through no fault of their own, and even those of us who are lucky enough to be financially comfortable have the fear that all too soon it may end, and we may end up like Al begging on the streets: [Excerpt: Rudy Vallee, "Brother Can You Spare a Dime?"] And because of that emotional connection, sometimes the very best protest songs can take on new lives and new meanings, and connect with the way people feel about totally unrelated subjects. Take Buffalo Springfield's one hit. The actual subject of the song couldn't be any more trivial in the grand scheme of things -- a change in zoning regulations around the Sunset Strip that meant people under twenty-one couldn't go to the clubs after 10PM, and the subsequent reaction to that -- but because rather than talking about the specific incident, Steve Stills instead talked about the emotions that it called up, and just noted the fleeting images that he was left with, the song became adopted as an anthem by soldiers in Vietnam. Sometimes what a song says is nowhere near as important as how it says it. [Excerpt: Buffalo Springfield, "For What It's Worth"] Steve Stills seems almost to have been destined to be a musician, although the instrument he started on, the drums, was not the one for which he would become best known. According to Stills, though, he always had an aptitude for rhythm, to the extent that he learned to tapdance almost as soon as he had learned to walk. He started on drums aged eight or nine, after somebody gave him a set of drumsticks. After his parents got sick of him damaging the furniture by playing on every available surface, an actual drum kit followed, and that became his principal instrument, even after he learned to play the guitar at military school, as his roommate owned one. As a teenager, Stills developed an idiosyncratic taste in music, helped by the record collection of his friend Michael Garcia. He didn't particularly like most of the pop music of the time, but he was a big fan of pre-war country music, Motown, girl-group music -- he especially liked the Shirelles -- and Chess blues. He was also especially enamoured of the music of Jimmy Reed, a passion he would later share with his future bandmate Neil Young: [Excerpt: Jimmy Reed, "Baby, What You Want Me To Do?"] In his early teens, he became the drummer for a band called the Radars, and while he was drumming he studied their lead guitarist, Chuck Schwin. He said later "There was a whole little bunch of us who were into kind of a combination of all the blues guys and others including Chet Atkins, Dick Dale, and Hank Marvin: a very weird cross-section of far-out guitar players." Stills taught himself to play like those guitarists, and in particular he taught himself how to emulate Atkins' Travis-picking style, and became remarkably proficient at it. There exists a recording of him, aged sixteen, singing one of his own songs and playing finger-picked guitar, and while the song is not exactly the strongest thing I've ever heard lyrically, it's clearly the work of someone who is already a confident performer: [Excerpt: Stephen Stills, "Travellin'"] But the main reason he switched to becoming a guitarist wasn't because of his admiration for Chet Atkins or Hank Marvin, but because he started driving and discovered that if you have to load a drum kit into your car and then drive it to rehearsals and gigs you either end up bashing up your car or bashing up the drum kit. As this is not a problem with guitars, Stills decided that he'd move on from the Radars, and join a band named the Continentals as their rhythm guitarist, playing with lead guitarist Don Felder. Stills was only in the Continentals for a few months though, before being replaced by another guitarist, Bernie Leadon, and in general Stills' whole early life is one of being uprooted and moved around. His father had jobs in several different countries, and while for the majority of his time Stills was in the southern US, he also ended up spending time in Costa Rica -- and staying there as a teenager even as the rest of his family moved to El Salvador. Eventually, aged eighteen, he moved to New Orleans, where he formed a folk duo with a friend, Chris Sarns. The two had very different tastes in folk music -- Stills preferred Dylan-style singer-songwriters, while Sarns liked the clean sound of the Kingston Trio -- but they played together for several months before moving to Greenwich Village, where they performed together and separately. They were latecomers to the scene, which had already mostly ended, and many of the folk stars had already gone on to do bigger things. But Stills still saw plenty of great performers there -- Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonius Monk in the jazz clubs, Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce, and Richard Pryor in the comedy ones, and Simon and Garfunkel, Richie Havens, Fred Neil and Tim Hardin in the folk ones -- Stills said that other than Chet Atkins, Havens, Neil, and Hardin were the people most responsible for his guitar style. Stills was also, at this time, obsessed with Judy Collins' third album -- the album which had featured Roger McGuinn on banjo and arrangements, and which would soon provide several songs for the Byrds to cover: [Excerpt: Judy Collins, "Turn, Turn, Turn"] Judy Collins would soon become a very important figure in Stills' life, but for now she was just the singer on his favourite record. While the Greenwich Village folk scene was no longer quite what it had been a year or two earlier, it was still a great place for a young talented musician to perform. As well as working with Chris Sarns, Stills also formed a trio with his friend John Hopkins and a banjo player called Peter Tork who everyone said looked just like Stills. Tork soon headed out west to seek his fortune, and then Stills got headhunted to join the Au Go Go Singers. This was a group that was being set up in the same style as the New Christy Minstrels -- a nine-piece vocal and instrumental group that would do clean-sounding versions of currently-popular folk songs. The group were signed to Roulette Records, and recorded one album, They Call Us Au-Go-Go Singers, produced by Hugo and Luigi, the production duo we've previously seen working with everyone from the Tokens to the Isley Brothers. Much of the album is exactly the same kind of thing that a million New Christy Minstrels soundalikes were putting out -- and Stills, with his raspy voice, was clearly intended to be the Barry McGuire of this group -- but there was one exception -- a song called "High Flyin' Bird", on which Stills was able to show off the sound that would later make him famous, and which became so associated with him that even though it was written by Billy Edd Wheeler, the writer of "Jackson", even the biography of Stills I used in researching this episode credits "High Flyin' Bird" as being a Stills original: [Excerpt: The Au-Go-Go Singers, "High Flyin' Bird"] One of the other members of the Au-Go-Go Singers, Richie Furay, also got to sing a lead vocal on the album, on the Tom Paxton song "Where I'm Bound": [Excerpt: The Au-Go-Go Singers, "Where I'm Bound"] The Au-Go-Go Singers got a handful of dates around the folk scene, and Stills and Furay became friendly with another singer playing the same circuit, Gram Parsons. Parsons was one of the few people they knew who could see the value in current country music, and convinced both Stills and Furay to start paying more attention to what was coming out of Nashville and Bakersfield. But soon the Au-Go-Go Singers split up. Several venues where they might otherwise have been booked were apparently scared to book an act that was associated with Morris Levy, and also the market for big folk ensembles dried up more or less overnight when the Beatles hit the music scene. But several of the group -- including Stills but not Furay -- decided they were going to continue anyway, and formed a group called The Company, and they went on a tour of Canada. And one of the venues they played was the Fourth Dimension coffee house in Fort William, Ontario, and there their support act was a rock band called The Squires: [Excerpt: The Squires, "(I'm a Man And) I Can't Cry"] The lead guitarist of the Squires, Neil Young, had a lot in common with Stills, and they bonded instantly. Both men had parents who had split up when they were in their teens, and had a successful but rather absent father and an overbearing mother. And both had shown an interest in music even as babies. According to Young's mother, when he was still in nappies, he would pull himself up by the bars of his playpen and try to dance every time he heard "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie": [Excerpt: Pinetop Smith, "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie"] Young, though, had had one crucial experience which Stills had not had. At the age of six, he'd come down with polio, and become partially paralysed. He'd spent months in hospital before he regained his ability to walk, and the experience had also affected him in other ways. While he was recovering, he would draw pictures of trains -- other than music, his big interest, almost an obsession, was with electric train sets, and that obsession would remain with him throughout his life -- but for the first time he was drawing with his right hand rather than his left. He later said "The left-hand side got a little screwed. Feels different from the right. If I close my eyes, my left side, I really don't know where it is—but over the years I've discovered that almost one hundred percent for sure it's gonna be very close to my right side … probably to the left. That's why I started appearing to be ambidextrous, I think. Because polio affected my left side, and I think I was left-handed when I was born. What I have done is use the weak side as the dominant one because the strong side was injured." Both Young's father Scott Young -- a very famous Canadian writer and sports broadcaster, who was by all accounts as well known in Canada during his lifetime as his son -- and Scott's brother played ukulele, and they taught Neil how to play, and his first attempt at forming a group had been to get his friend Comrie Smith to get a pair of bongos and play along with him to Preston Epps' "Bongo Rock": [Excerpt: Preston Epps, "Bongo Rock"] Neil Young had liked all the usual rock and roll stars of the fifties -- though in his personal rankings, Elvis came a distant third behind Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis -- but his tastes ran more to the more darkly emotional. He loved "Maybe" by the Chantels, saying "Raw soul—you cannot miss it. That's the real thing. She was believin' every word she was singin'." [Excerpt: The Chantels, "Maybe"] What he liked more than anything was music that had a mainstream surface but seemed slightly off-kilter. He was a major fan of Roy Orbison, saying, "it's almost impossible to comprehend the depth of that soul. It's so deep and dark it just keeps on goin' down—but it's not black. It's blue, deep blue. He's just got it. The drama. There's something sad but proud about Roy's music", and he would say similar things about Del Shannon, saying "He struck me as the ultimate dark figure—behind some Bobby Rydell exterior, y'know? “Hats Off to Larry,” “Runaway,” “Swiss Maid”—very, very inventive. The stuff was weird. Totally unaffected." More surprisingly, perhaps, he was a particular fan of Bobby Darin, who he admired so much because Darin could change styles at the drop of a hat, going from novelty rock and roll like "Splish Splash" to crooning "Mack The Knife" to singing Tim Hardin songs like "If I Were a Carpenter", without any of them seeming any less authentic. As he put it later "He just changed. He's completely different. And he's really into it. Doesn't sound like he's not there. “Dream Lover,” “Mack the Knife,” “If I Were a Carpenter,” “Queen of the Hop,” “Splish Splash”—tell me about those records, Mr. Darin. Did you write those all the same day, or what happened? He just changed so much. Just kinda went from one place to another. So it's hard to tell who Bobby Darin really was." And one record which Young was hugely influenced by was Floyd Cramer's country instrumental, "Last Date": [Excerpt: Floyd Cramer, "Last Date"] Now, that was a very important record in country music, and if you want to know more about it I strongly recommend listening to the episode of Cocaine and Rhinestones on the Nashville A-Team, which has a long section on the track, but the crucial thing to know about that track is that it's one of the earliest examples of what is known as slip-note playing, where the piano player, before hitting the correct note, briefly hits the note a tone below it, creating a brief discord. Young absolutely loved that sound, and wanted to make a sound like that on the guitar. And then, when he and his mother moved to Winnipeg after his parents' divorce, he found someone who was doing just that. It was the guitarist in a group variously known as Chad Allan and the Reflections and Chad Allan and the Expressions. That group had relatives in the UK who would send them records, and so where most Canadian bands would do covers of American hits, Chad Allan and the Reflections would do covers of British hits, like their version of Geoff Goddard's "Tribute to Buddy Holly", a song that had originally been produced by Joe Meek: [Excerpt: Chad Allan and the Reflections, "Tribute to Buddy Holly"] That would later pay off for them in a big way, when they recorded a version of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' "Shakin' All Over", for which their record label tried to create an air of mystery by releasing it with no artist name, just "Guess Who?" on the label. It became a hit, the name stuck, and they became The Guess Who: [Excerpt: The Guess Who, "Shakin' All Over"] But at this point they, and their guitarist Randy Bachman, were just another group playing around Winnipeg. Bachman, though, was hugely impressive to Neil Young for a few reasons. The first was that he really did have a playing style that was a lot like the piano style of Floyd Cramer -- Young would later say "it was Randy Bachman who did it first. Randy was the first one I ever heard do things on the guitar that reminded me of Floyd. He'd do these pulls—“darrr darrrr,” this two-note thing goin' together—harmony, with one note pulling and the other note stayin' the same." Bachman also had built the first echo unit that Young heard a guitarist play in person. He'd discovered that by playing with the recording heads on a tape recorder owned by his mother, he could replicate the tape echo that Sam Phillips had used at Sun Studios -- and once he'd attached that to his amplifier, he realised how much the resulting sound sounded like his favourite guitarist, Hank Marvin of the Shadows, another favourite of Neil Young's: [Excerpt: The Shadows, "Man of Mystery"] Young soon started looking to Bachman as something of a mentor figure, and he would learn a lot of guitar techniques second hand from Bachman -- every time a famous musician came to the area, Bachman would go along and stand right at the front and watch the guitarist, and make note of the positions their fingers were in. Then Bachman would replicate those guitar parts with the Reflections, and Neil Young would stand in front of him and make notes of where *his* fingers were. Young joined a band on the local circuit called the Esquires, but soon either quit or was fired, depending on which version of the story you choose to believe. He then formed his own rival band, the Squires, with no "e", much to the disgust of his ex-bandmates. In July 1963, five months after they formed, the Squires released their first record, "Aurora" backed with "The Sultan", on a tiny local label. Both tracks were very obviously influenced by the Shadows: [Excerpt: The Squires, "Aurora"] The Squires were a mostly-instrumental band for the first year or so they were together, and then the Beatles hit North America, and suddenly people didn't want to hear surf instrumentals and Shadows covers any more, they only wanted to hear songs that sounded a bit like the Beatles. The Squires started to work up the appropriate repertoire -- two songs that have been mentioned as in their set at this point are the Beatles album track "It Won't Be Long", and "Money" which the Beatles had also covered -- but they didn't have a singer, being an instrumental group. They could get in a singer, of course, but that would mean splitting the money with another person. So instead, the guitarist, who had never had any intention of becoming a singer, was more or less volunteered for the role. Over the next eighteen months or so the group's repertoire moved from being largely instrumental to largely vocal, and the group also seem to have shuttled around a bit between two different cities -- Winnipeg and Fort William, staying in one for a while and then moving back to the other. They travelled between the two in Young's car, a Buick Roadmaster hearse. In Winnipeg, Young first met up with a singer named Joni Anderson, who was soon to get married to Chuck Mitchell and would become better known by her married name. The two struck up a friendship, though by all accounts never a particularly close one -- they were too similar in too many ways; as Mitchell later said “Neil and I have a lot in common: Canadian; Scorpios; polio in the same epidemic, struck the same parts of our body; and we both have a black sense of humor". They were both also idiosyncratic artists who never fit very well into boxes. In Fort William the Squires made a few more records, this time vocal tracks like "I'll Love You Forever": [Excerpt: The Squires, "I'll Love You Forever"] It was also in Fort William that Young first encountered two acts that would make a huge impression on him. One was a group called The Thorns, consisting of Tim Rose, Jake Holmes, and Rich Husson. The Thorns showed Young that there was interesting stuff being done on the fringes of the folk music scene. He later said "One of my favourites was “Oh Susannah”—they did this arrangement that was bizarre. It was in a minor key, which completely changed everything—and it was rock and roll. So that idea spawned arrangements of all these other songs for me. I did minor versions of them all. We got into it. That was a certain Squires stage that never got recorded. Wish there were tapes of those shows. We used to do all this stuff, a whole kinda music—folk-rock. We took famous old folk songs like “Clementine,” “She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain,” “Tom Dooley,” and we did them all in minor keys based on the Tim Rose arrangement of “Oh Susannah.” There are no recordings of the Thorns in existence that I know of, but presumably that arrangement that Young is talking about is the version that Rose also later did with the Big 3, which we've heard in a few other episodes: [Excerpt: The Big 3, "The Banjo Song"] The other big influence was, of course, Steve Stills, and the two men quickly found themselves influencing each other deeply. Stills realised that he could bring more rock and roll to his folk-music sound, saying that what amazed him was the way the Squires could go from "Cottonfields" (the Lead Belly song) to "Farmer John", the R&B song by Don and Dewey that was becoming a garage-rock staple. Young in turn was inspired to start thinking about maybe going more in the direction of folk music. The Squires even renamed themselves the High-Flying Birds, after the song that Stills had recorded with the Au Go Go Singers. After The Company's tour of Canada, Stills moved back to New York for a while. He now wanted to move in a folk-rock direction, and for a while he tried to persuade his friend John Sebastian to let him play bass in his new band, but when the Lovin' Spoonful decided against having him in the band, he decided to move West to San Francisco, where he'd heard there was a new music scene forming. He enjoyed a lot of the bands he saw there, and in particular he was impressed by the singer of a band called the Great Society: [Excerpt: The Great Society, "Somebody to Love"] He was much less impressed with the rest of her band, and seriously considered going up to her and asking if she wanted to work with some *real* musicians instead of the unimpressive ones she was working with, but didn't get his nerve up. We will, though, be hearing more about Grace Slick in future episodes. Instead, Stills decided to move south to LA, where many of the people he'd known in Greenwich Village were now based. Soon after he got there, he hooked up with two other musicians, a guitarist named Steve Young and a singer, guitarist, and pianist named Van Dyke Parks. Parks had a record contract at MGM -- he'd been signed by Tom Wilson, the same man who had turned Dylan electric, signed Simon and Garfunkel, and produced the first albums by the Mothers of Invention. With Wilson, Parks put out a couple of singles in 1966, "Come to the Sunshine": [Excerpt: The Van Dyke Parks, "Come to the Sunshine"] And "Number Nine", a reworking of the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony: [Excerpt: The Van Dyke Parks, "Number Nine"]Parks, Stills, and Steve Young became The Van Dyke Parks Band, though they didn't play together for very long, with their most successful performance being as the support act for the Lovin' Spoonful for a show in Arizona. But they did have a lasting resonance -- when Van Dyke Parks finally got the chance to record his first solo album, he opened it with Steve Young singing the old folk song "Black Jack Davy", filtered to sound like an old tape: [Excerpt: Steve Young, "Black Jack Davy"] And then it goes into a song written for Parks by Randy Newman, but consisting of Newman's ideas about Parks' life and what he knew about him, including that he had been third guitar in the Van Dyke Parks Band: [Excerpt: Van Dyke Parks, "Vine Street"] Parks and Stills also wrote a few songs together, with one of their collaborations, "Hello, I've Returned", later being demoed by Stills for Buffalo Springfield: [Excerpt: Steve Stills, "Hello, I've Returned"] After the Van Dyke Parks Band fell apart, Parks went on to many things, including a brief stint on keyboards in the Mothers of Invention, and we'll be talking more about him next episode. Stills formed a duo called the Buffalo Fish, with his friend Ron Long. That soon became an occasional trio when Stills met up again with his old Greenwich Village friend Peter Tork, who joined the group on the piano. But then Stills auditioned for the Monkees and was turned down because he had bad teeth -- or at least that's how most people told the story. Stills has later claimed that while he turned up for the Monkees auditions, it wasn't to audition, it was to try to pitch them songs, which seems implausible on the face of it. According to Stills, he was offered the job and turned it down because he'd never wanted it. But whatever happened, Stills suggested they might want his friend Peter, who looked just like him apart from having better teeth, and Peter Tork got the job. But what Stills really wanted to do was to form a proper band. He'd had the itch to do it ever since seeing the Squires, and he decided he should ask Neil Young to join. There was only one problem -- when he phoned Young, the phone was answered by Young's mother, who told Stills that Neil had moved out to become a folk singer, and she didn't know where he was. But then Stills heard from his old friend Richie Furay. Furay was still in Greenwich Village, and had decided to write to Stills. He didn't know where Stills was, other than that he was in California somewhere, so he'd written to Stills' father in El Salvador. The letter had been returned, because the postage had been short by one cent, so Furay had resent it with the correct postage. Stills' father had then forwarded the letter to the place Stills had been staying in San Francisco, which had in turn forwarded it on to Stills in LA. Furay's letter mentioned this new folk singer who had been on the scene for a while and then disappeared again, Neil Young, who had said he knew Stills, and had been writing some great songs, one of which Furay had added to his own set. Stills got in touch with Furay and told him about this great band he was forming in LA, which he wanted Furay to join. Furay was in, and travelled from New York to LA, only to be told that at this point there were no other members of this great band, but they'd definitely find some soon. They got a publishing deal with Columbia/Screen Gems, which gave them enough money to not starve, but what they really needed was to find some other musicians. They did, when driving down Hollywood Boulevard on April the sixth, 1966. There, stuck in traffic going the other way, they saw a hearse... After Steve Stills had left Fort William, so had Neil Young. He hadn't initially intended to -- the High-Flying Birds still had a regular gig, but Young and some of his friends had gone away for a few days on a road trip in his hearse. But unfortunately the transmission on the hearse had died, and Young and his friends had been stranded. Many years later, he would write a eulogy to the hearse, which he and Stills would record together: [Excerpt: The Stills-Young Band, "Long May You Run"] Young and his friends had all hitch-hiked in different directions -- Young had ended up in Toronto, where his dad lived, and had stayed with his dad for a while. The rest of his band had eventually followed him there, but Young found the Toronto music scene not to his taste -- the folk and rock scenes there were very insular and didn't mingle with each other, and the group eventually split up. Young even took on a day job for a while, for the only time in his life, though he soon quit. Young started basically commuting between Toronto and New York, a distance of several hundred miles, going to Greenwich Village for a while before ending up back in Toronto, and ping-ponging between the two. In New York, he met up with Richie Furay, and also had a disastrous audition for Elektra Records as a solo artist. One of the songs he sang in the audition was "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing", the song which Furay liked so much he started performing it himself. Young doesn't normally explain his songs, but as this was one of the first he ever wrote, he talked about it in interviews in the early years, before he decided to be less voluble about his art. The song was apparently about the sense of youthful hope being crushed. The instigation for it was Young seeing his girlfriend with another man, but the central image, of Clancy not singing, came from Young's schooldays. The Clancy in question was someone Young liked as one of the other weird kids at school. He was disabled, like Young, though with MS rather than polio, and he would sing to himself in the hallways at school. Sadly, of course, the other kids would mock and bully him for that, and eventually he ended up stopping. Young said about it "After awhile, he got so self-conscious he couldn't do his thing any more. When someone who is as beautiful as that and as different as that is actually killed by his fellow man—you know what I mean—like taken and sorta chopped down—all the other things are nothing compared to this." [Excerpt: Neil Young, "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing (Elektra demo)"] One thing I should say for anyone who listens to the Mixcloud for this episode, that song, which will be appearing in a couple of different versions, has one use of a term for Romani people that some (though not all) consider a slur. It's not in the excerpts I'll be using in this episode, but will be in the full versions on the Mixcloud. Sadly that word turns up time and again in songs of this era... When he wasn't in New York, Young was living in Toronto in a communal apartment owned by a folk singer named Vicki Taylor, where many of the Toronto folk scene would stay. Young started listening a lot to Taylor's Bert Jansch albums, which were his first real exposure to the British folk-baroque style of guitar fingerpicking, as opposed to the American Travis-picking style, and Young would soon start to incorporate that style into his own playing: [Excerpt: Bert Jansch, "Angie"] Another guitar influence on Young at this point was another of the temporary tenants of Taylor's flat, John Kay, who would later go on to be one of the founding members of Steppenwolf. Young credited Kay with having a funky rhythm guitar style that Young incorporated into his own. While he was in Toronto, he started getting occasional gigs in Detroit, which is "only" a couple of hundred miles away, set up by Joni and Chuck Mitchell, both of whom also sometimes stayed at Taylor's. And it was in Detroit that Neil Young became, albeit very briefly, a Motown artist. The Mynah Birds were a band in Toronto that had at one point included various future members of Steppenwolf, and they were unusual for the time in that they were a white band with a Black lead singer, Ricky Matthews. They also had a rich manager, John Craig Eaton, the heir to the Eaton's department store fortune, who basically gave them whatever money they wanted -- they used to go to his office and tell him they needed seven hundred dollars for lunch, and he'd hand it to them. They were looking for a new guitarist when Bruce Palmer, their bass player, bumped into Neil Young carrying an amp and asked if he was interested in joining. He was. The Mynah Birds quickly became one of the best bands in Toronto, and Young and Matthews became close, both as friends and as a performance team. People who saw them live would talk about things like a song called “Hideaway”, written by Young and Matthews, which had a spot in the middle where Young would start playing a harmonica solo, throw the harmonica up in the air mid-solo, Matthews would catch it, and he would then finish the solo. They got signed to Motown, who were at this point looking to branch out into the white guitar-group market, and they were put through the Motown star-making machine. They recorded an entire album, which remains unreleased, but they did release a single, "It's My Time": [Excerpt: The Mynah Birds, "It's My Time"] Or at least, they released a handful of promo copies. The single was pulled from release after Ricky Matthews got arrested. It turned out his birth name wasn't Ricky Matthews, but James Johnson, and that he wasn't from Toronto as he'd told everyone, but from Buffalo, New York. He'd fled to Canada after going AWOL from the Navy, not wanting to be sent to Vietnam, and he was arrested and jailed for desertion. After getting out of jail, he would start performing under yet another name, and as Rick James would have a string of hits in the seventies and eighties: [Excerpt: Rick James, "Super Freak"] Most of the rest of the group continued gigging as The Mynah Birds, but Young and Palmer had other plans. They sold the expensive equipment Eaton had bought the group, and Young bought a new hearse, which he named Mort 2 – Mort had been his first hearse. And according to one of the band's friends in Toronto, the crucial change in their lives came when Neil Young heard a song on a jukebox: [Excerpt: The Mamas and the Papas, "California Dreamin'"] Young apparently heard "California Dreamin'" and immediately said "Let's go to California and become rock stars". Now, Young later said of this anecdote that "That sounds like a Canadian story to me. That sounds too real to be true", and he may well be right. Certainly the actual wording of the story is likely incorrect -- people weren't talking about "rock stars" in 1966. Google's Ngram viewer has the first use of the phrase in print being in 1969, and the phrase didn't come into widespread usage until surprisingly late -- even granting that phrases enter slang before they make it to print, it still seems implausible. But even though the precise wording might not be correct, something along those lines definitely seems to have happened, albeit possibly less dramatically. Young's friend Comrie Smith independently said that Young told him “Well, Comrie, I can hear the Mamas and the Papas singing ‘All the leaves are brown, and the skies are gray …' I'm gonna go down to the States and really make it. I'm on my way. Today North Toronto, tomorrow the world!” Young and Palmer loaded up Mort 2 with a bunch of their friends and headed towards California. On the way, they fell out with most of the friends, who parted from them, and Young had an episode which in retrospect may have been his first epileptic seizure. They decided when they got to California that they were going to look for Steve Stills, as they'd heard he was in LA and neither of them knew anyone else in the state. But after several days of going round the Sunset Strip clubs asking if anyone knew Steve Stills, and sleeping in the hearse as they couldn't afford anywhere else, they were getting fed up and about to head off to San Francisco, as they'd heard there was a good music scene there, too. They were going to leave that day, and they were stuck in traffic on Sunset Boulevard, about to head off, when Stills and Furay came driving in the other direction. Furay happened to turn his head, to brush away a fly, and saw a hearse with Ontario license plates. He and Stills both remembered that Young drove a hearse, and so they assumed it must be him. They started honking at the hearse, then did a U-turn. They got Young's attention, and they all pulled into the parking lot at Ben Frank's, the Sunset Strip restaurant that attracted such a hip crowd the Monkees' producers had asked for "Ben Frank's types" in their audition advert. Young introduced Stills and Furay to Palmer, and now there *was* a group -- three singing, songwriting, guitarists and a bass player. Now all they needed was a drummer. There were two drummers seriously considered for the role. One of them, Billy Mundi, was technically the better player, but Young didn't like playing with him as much -- and Mundi also had a better offer, to join the Mothers of Invention as their second drummer -- before they'd recorded their first album, they'd had two drummers for a few months, but Denny Bruce, their second drummer, had become ill with glandular fever and they'd reverted to having Jimmy Carl Black play solo. Now they were looking for someone else, and Mundi took that role. The other drummer, who Young preferred anyway, was another Canadian, Dewey Martin. Martin was a couple of years older than the rest of the group, and by far the most experienced. He'd moved from Canada to Nashville in his teens, and according to Martin he had been taken under the wing of Hank Garland, the great session guitarist most famous for "Sugarfoot Rag": [Excerpt: Hank Garland, "Sugarfoot Rag"] We heard Garland playing with Elvis and others in some of the episodes around 1960, and by many reckonings he was the best session guitarist in Nashville, but in 1961 he had a car accident that left him comatose, and even though he recovered from the coma and lived another thirty-three years, he never returned to recording. According to Martin, though, Garland would still sometimes play jazz clubs around Nashville after the accident, and one day Martin walked into a club and saw him playing. The drummer he was playing with got up and took a break, taking his sticks with him, so Martin got up on stage and started playing, using two combs instead of sticks. Garland was impressed, and told Martin that Faron Young needed a drummer, and he could get him the gig. At the time Young was one of the biggest stars in country music. That year, 1961, he had three country top ten hits, including a number one with his version of Willie Nelson's "Hello Walls", produced by Ken Nelson: [Excerpt: Faron Young, "Hello Walls"] Martin joined Faron Young's band for a while, and also ended up playing short stints in the touring bands of various other Nashville-based country and rock stars, including Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison, and the Everly Brothers, before heading to LA for a while. Then Mel Taylor of the Ventures hooked him up with some musicians in the Pacific Northwest scene, and Martin started playing there under the name Sir Raleigh and the Coupons with various musicians. After a while he travelled back to LA where he got some members of the LA group Sons of Adam to become a permanent lineup of Coupons, and they recorded several singles with Martin singing lead, including the Tommy Boyce and Steve Venet song "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day", later recorded by the Monkees: [Excerpt: Sir Raleigh and the Coupons, "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day"] He then played with the Standells, before joining the Modern Folk Quartet for a short while, as they were transitioning from their folk sound to a folk-rock style. He was only with them for a short while, and it's difficult to get precise details -- almost everyone involved with Buffalo Springfield has conflicting stories about their own careers with timelines that don't make sense, which is understandable given that people were talking about events decades later and memory plays tricks. "Fast" Eddie Hoh had joined the Modern Folk Quartet on drums in late 1965, at which point they became the Modern Folk Quintet, and nothing I've read about that group talks about Hoh ever actually leaving, but apparently Martin joined them in February 1966, which might mean he's on their single "Night-Time Girl", co-written by Al Kooper and produced and arranged by Jack Nitzsche: [Excerpt: The Modern Folk Quintet, "Night-Time Girl"] After that, Martin was taken on by the Dillards, a bluegrass band who are now possibly most famous for having popularised the Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith song "Duellin' Banjos", which they recorded on their first album and played on the Andy Griffith Show a few years before it was used in Deliverance: [Excerpt: The Dillards, "Duellin' Banjos"] The Dillards had decided to go in a country-rock direction -- and Doug Dillard would later join the Byrds and make records with Gene Clark -- but they were hesitant about it, and after a brief period with Martin in the band they decided to go back to their drummerless lineup. To soften the blow, they told him about another band that was looking for a drummer -- their manager, Jim Dickson, who was also the Byrds' manager, knew Stills and his bandmates. Dewey Martin was in the group. The group still needed a name though. They eventually took their name from a brand of steam roller, after seeing one on the streets when some roadwork was being done. Everyone involved disagrees as to who came up with the name. Steve Stills at one point said it was a group decision after Neil Young and the group's manager Frazier Mohawk stole the nameplate off the steamroller, and later Stills said that Richey Furay had suggested the name while they were walking down the street, Dewey Martin said it was his idea, Neil Young said that he, Steve Sills, and Van Dyke Parks had been walking down the street and either Young or Stills had seen the nameplate and suggested the name, and Van Dyke Parks says that *he* saw the nameplate and suggested it to Dewey Martin: [Excerpt: Steve Stills and Van Dyke Parks on the name] For what it's worth, I tend to believe Van Dyke Parks in most instances -- he's an honest man, and he seems to have a better memory of the sixties than many of his friends who led more chemically interesting lives. Whoever came up with it, the name worked -- as Stills later put it "We thought it was pretty apt, because Neil Young is from Manitoba which is buffalo country, and Richie Furay was from Springfield, Ohio -- and I'm the field!" It almost certainly also helped that the word "buffalo" had been in the name of Stills' previous group, Buffalo Fish. On the eleventh of April, 1966, Buffalo Springfield played their first gig, at the Troubadour, using equipment borrowed from the Dillards. Chris Hillman of the Byrds was in the audience and was impressed. He got the group a support slot on a show the Byrds and the Dillards were doing a few days later in San Bernardino. That show was compered by a Merseyside-born British DJ, John Ravenscroft, who had managed to become moderately successful in US radio by playing up his regional accent so he sounded more like the Beatles. He would soon return to the UK, and start broadcasting under the name John Peel. Hillman also got them a week-long slot at the Whisky A-Go-Go, and a bidding war started between record labels to sign the band. Dunhill offered five thousand dollars, Warners counted with ten thousand, and then Atlantic offered twelve thousand. Atlantic were *just* starting to get interested in signing white guitar groups -- Jerry Wexler never liked that kind of music, always preferring to stick with soul and R&B, but Ahmet Ertegun could see which way things were going. Atlantic had only ever signed two other white acts before -- Neil Young's old favourite Bobby Darin, who had since left the label, and Sonny and Cher. And Sonny and Cher's management and production team, Brian Stone and Charlie Greene, were also very interested in the group, who even before they had made a record had quickly become the hottest band on the circuit, even playing the Hollywood Bowl as the Rolling Stones' support act. Buffalo Springfield already had managers -- Frazier Mohawk and Richard Davis, the lighting man at the Troubadour (who was sometimes also referred to as Dickie Davis, but I'll use his full name so as not to cause unnecessary confusion in British people who remember the sports TV presenter of the same name), who Mohawk had enlisted to help him. But Stone and Greene weren't going to let a thing like that stop them. According to anonymous reports quoted without attribution in David Roberts' biography of Stills -- so take this with as many grains of salt as you want -- Stone and Greene took Mohawk for a ride around LA in a limo, just the three of them, a gun, and a used hotdog napkin. At the end of the ride, the hotdog napkin had Mohawk's scrawled signature, signing the group over to Stone and Greene. Davis stayed on, but was demoted to just doing their lights. The way things ended up, the group signed to Stone and Greene's production company, who then leased their masters to Atlantic's Atco subsidiary. A publishing company was also set up for the group's songs -- owned thirty-seven point five percent by Atlantic, thirty-seven point five percent by Stone and Greene, and the other twenty-five percent split six ways between the group and Davis, who they considered their sixth member. Almost immediately, Charlie Greene started playing Stills and Young off against each other, trying a divide-and-conquer strategy on the group. This was quite easy, as both men saw themselves as natural leaders, though Stills was regarded by everyone as the senior partner -- the back cover of their first album would contain the line "Steve is the leader but we all are". Stills and Young were the two stars of the group as far as the audience were concerned -- though most musicians who heard them play live say that the band's real strength was in its rhythm section, with people comparing Palmer's playing to that of James Jamerson. But Stills and Young would get into guitar battles on stage, one-upping each other, in ways that turned the tension between them in creative directions. Other clashes, though were more petty -- both men had very domineering mothers, who would actually call the group's management to complain about press coverage if their son was given less space than the other one. The group were also not sure about Young's voice -- to the extent that Stills was known to jokingly apologise to the audience before Young took a lead vocal -- and so while the song chosen as the group's first A-side was Young's "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing", Furay was chosen to sing it, rather than Young: [Excerpt: Buffalo Springfield, "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing"] On the group's first session, though, both Stills and Young realised that their producers didn't really have a clue -- the group had built up arrangements that had a complex interplay of instruments and vocals, but the producers insisted on cutting things very straightforwardly, with a basic backing track and then the vocals. They also thought that the song was too long so the group should play faster. Stills and Young quickly decided that they were going to have to start producing their own material, though Stone and Greene would remain the producers for the first album. There was another bone of contention though, because in the session the initial plan had been for Stills' song "Go and Say Goodbye" to be the A-side with Young's song as the B-side. It was flipped, and nobody seems quite sure why -- it's certainly the case that, whatever the merits of the two tracks as songs, Stills' song was the one that would have been more likely to become a hit. "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" was a flop, but it did get some local airplay. The next single, "Burned", was a Young song as well, and this time did have Young taking the lead, though in a song dominated by harmonies: [Excerpt: Buffalo Springfield, "Burned"] Over the summer, though, something had happened that would affect everything for the group -- Neil Young had started to have epileptic seizures. At first these were undiagnosed episodes, but soon they became almost routine events, and they would often happen on stage, particularly at moments of great stress or excitement. Several other members of the group became convinced -- entirely wrongly -- that Young was faking these seizures in order to get women to pay attention to him. They thought that what he wanted was for women to comfort him and mop his brow, and that collapsing would get him that. The seizures became so common that Richard Davis, the group's lighting tech, learned to recognise the signs of a seizure before it happened. As soon as it looked like Young was about to collapse the lights would turn on, someone would get ready to carry him off stage, and Richie Furay would know to grab Young's guitar before he fell so that the guitar wouldn't get damaged. Because they weren't properly grounded and Furay had an electric guitar of his own, he'd get a shock every time. Young would later claim that during some of the seizures, he would hallucinate that he was another person, in another world, living another life that seemed to have its own continuity -- people in the other world would recognise him and talk to him as if he'd been away for a while -- and then when he recovered he would have to quickly rebuild his identity, as if temporarily amnesiac, and during those times he would find things like the concept of lying painful. The group's first album came out in December, and they were very, very, unhappy with it. They thought the material was great, but they also thought that the production was terrible. Stone and Greene's insistence that they record the backing tracks first and then overdub vocals, rather than singing live with the instruments, meant that the recordings, according to Stills and Young in particular, didn't capture the sound of the group's live performance, and sounded sterile. Stills and Young thought they'd fixed some of that in the mono mix, which they spent ten days on, but then Stone and Greene did the stereo mix without consulting the band, in less than two days, and the album was released at precisely the time that stereo was starting to overtake mono in the album market. I'm using the mono mixes in this podcast, but for decades the only versions available were the stereo ones, which Stills and Young both loathed. Ahmet Ertegun also apparently thought that the demo versions of the songs -- some of which were eventually released on a box set in 2001 -- were much better than the finished studio recordings. The album was not a success on release, but it did contain the first song any of the group had written to chart. Soon after its release, Van Dyke Parks' friend Lenny Waronker was producing a single by a group who had originally been led by Sly Stone and had been called Sly and the Mojo Men. By this time Stone was no longer involved in the group, and they were making music in a very different style from the music their former leader would later become known for. Parks was brought in to arrange a baroque-pop version of Stills' album track "Sit Down I Think I Love You" for the group, and it became their only top forty hit, reaching number thirty-six: [Excerpt: The Mojo Men, "Sit Down I Think I Love You"] It was shortly after the first Buffalo Springfield album was released, though, that Steve Stills wrote what would turn out to be *his* group's only top forty single. The song had its roots in both LA and San Francisco. The LA roots were more obvious -- the song was written about a specific experience Stills had had. He had been driving to Sunset Strip from Laurel Canyon on November the twelfth 1966, and he had seen a mass of young people and police in riot gear, and he had immediately turned round, partly because he didn't want to get involved in what looked to be a riot, and partly because he'd been inspired -- he had the idea for a lyric, which he pretty much finished in the car even before he got home: [Excerpt: The Buffalo Springfield, "For What it's Worth"] The riots he saw were what became known later as the Riot on Sunset Strip. This was a minor skirmish between the police and young people of LA -- there had been complaints that young people had been spilling out of the nightclubs on Sunset Strip into the street, causing traffic problems, and as a result the city council had introduced various heavy-handed restrictions, including a ten PM curfew for all young people in the area, removing the permits that many clubs had which allowed people under twenty-one to be present, forcing the Whisky A-Go-Go to change its name just to "the Whisk", and forcing a club named Pandora's Box, which was considered the epicentre of the problem, to close altogether. Flyers had been passed around calling for a "funeral" for Pandora's Box -- a peaceful gathering at which people could say goodbye to a favourite nightspot, and a thousand people had turned up. The police also turned up, and in the heavy-handed way common among law enforcement, they managed to provoke a peaceful party and turn it into a riot. This would not normally be an event that would be remembered even a year later, let alone nearly sixty years later, but Sunset Strip was the centre of the American rock music world in the period, and of the broader youth entertainment field. Among those arrested at the riot, for example, were Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda, neither of whom were huge stars at the time, but who were making cheap B-movies with Roger Corman for American International Pictures. Among the cheap exploitation films that American International Pictures made around this time was one based on the riots, though neither Nicholson, Fonda, or Corman were involved. Riot on Sunset Strip was released in cinemas only four months after the riots, and it had a theme song by Dewey Martin's old colleagues The Standells, which is now regarded as a classic of garage rock: [Excerpt: The Standells, "Riot on Sunset Strip"] The riots got referenced in a lot of other songs, as well. The Mothers of Invention's second album, Absolutely Free, contains the song "Plastic People" which includes this section: [Excerpt: The Mothers of Invention, "Plastic People"] And the Monkees track "Daily Nightly", written by Michael Nesmith, was always claimed by Nesmith to be an impressionistic portrait of the riots, though the psychedelic lyrics sound to me more like they're talking about drug use and street-walking sex workers than anything to do with the riots: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Daily Nightly"] But the song about the riots that would have the most lasting effect on popular culture was the one that Steve Stills wrote that night. Although how much he actually wrote, at least of the music, is somewhat open to question. Earlier that month, Buffalo Springfield had spent some time in San Francisco. They hadn't enjoyed the experience -- as an LA band, they were thought of as a bunch of Hollywood posers by most of the San Francisco scene, with the exception of one band, Moby Grape -- a band who, like them had three guitarist/singer/songwriters, and with whom they got on very well. Indeed, they got on rather better with Moby Grape than they were getting on with each other at this point, because Young and Stills would regularly get into arguments, and every time their argument seemed to be settling down, Dewey Martin would manage to say the wrong thing and get Stills riled up again -- Martin was doing a lot of speed at this point and unable to stop talking, even when it would have been politic to do so. There was even some talk while they were in San Francisco of the bands doing a trade -- Young and Pete Lewis of Moby Grape swapping places -- though that came to nothing. But Stills, according to both Richard Davis and Pete Lewis, had been truly impressed by two Moby Grape songs. One of them was a song called "On the Other Side", which Moby Grape never recorded, but which apparently had a chorus that went "Stop, can't you hear the music ringing in your ear, right before you go, telling you the way is clear," with the group all pausing after the word "Stop". The other was a song called "Murder in my Heart for the Judge": [Excerpt: Moby Grape, "Murder in my Heart for the Judge"] The song Stills wrote had a huge amount of melodic influence from that song, and quite a bit from “On the Other Side”, though he apparently didn't notice until after the record came out, at which point he apologised to Moby Grape. Stills wasn't massively impressed with the song he'd written, and went to Stone and Greene's office to play it for them, saying "I'll play it, for what it's worth". They liked the song and booked a studio to get the song recorded and rush-released, though according to Neil Young neither Stone nor Greene were actually present at the session, and the song was recorded on December the fifth, while some outbursts of rioting were still happening, and released on December the twenty-third. [Excerpt: Buffalo Springfield, "For What it's Worth"] The song didn't have a title when they recorded it, or so Stills thought, but when he mentioned this to Greene and Stone afterwards, they said "Of course it does. You said, 'I'm going to play the song, 'For What It's Worth'" So that became the title, although Ahmet Ertegun didn't like the idea of releasing a single with a title that wasn't in the lyric, so the early pressings of the single had "Stop, Hey, What's That Sound?" in brackets after the title. The song became a big hit, and there's a story told by David Crosby that doesn't line up correctly, but which might shed some light on why. According to Crosby, "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" got its first airplay because Crosby had played members of Buffalo Springfield a tape he'd been given of the unreleased Beatles track "A Day in the Life", and they'd told their gangster manager-producers about it. Those manager-producers had then hired a sex worker to have sex with Crosby and steal the tape, which they'd then traded to a radio station in return for airplay. That timeline doesn't work, unless the sex worker involved was also a time traveller, because "A Day in the Life" wasn't even recorded until January 1967 while "Clancy" came out in August 1966, and there'd been two other singles released between then and January 1967. But it *might* be the case that that's what happened with "For What It's Worth", which was released in the last week of December 1966, and didn't really start to do well on the charts for a couple of months. Right after recording the song, the group went to play a residency in New York, of which Ahmet Ertegun said “When they performed there, man, there was no band I ever heard that had the electricity of that group. That was the most exciting group I've ever seen, bar none. It was just mind-boggling.” During that residency they were joined on stage at various points by Mitch Ryder, Odetta, and Otis Redding. While in New York, the group also recorded "Mr. Soul", a song that Young had originally written as a folk song about his experiences with epilepsy, the nature of the soul, and dealing with fame. However, he'd noticed a similarity to "Satisfaction" and decided to lean into it. The track as finally released was heavily overdubbed by Young a few months later, but after it was released he decided he preferred the original take, which by then only existed as a scratchy acetate, which got released on a box set in 2001: [Excerpt: Buffalo Springfield, "Mr. Soul (original version)"] Everyone has a different story of how the session for that track went -- at least one version of the story has Otis Redding turning up for the session and saying he wanted to record the song himself, as his follow-up to his version of "Satisfaction", but Young being angry at the idea. According to other versions of the story, Greene and Stills got into a physical fight, with Greene having to be given some of the valium Young was taking for his epilepsy to calm him down. "For What it's Worth" was doing well enough on the charts that the album was recalled, and reissued with "For What It's Worth" replacing Stills' song "Baby Don't Scold", but soon disaster struck the band. Bruce Palmer was arrested on drugs charges, and was deported back to Canada just as the song started to rise through the charts. The group needed a new bass player, fast. For a lipsynch appearance on local TV they got Richard Davis to mime the part, and then they got in Ken Forssi, the bass player from Love, for a couple of gigs. They next brought in Ken Koblun, the bass player from the Squires, but he didn't fit in with the rest of the group. The next replacement was Jim Fielder. Fielder was a friend of the group, and knew the material -- he'd subbed for Palmer a few times in 1966 when Palmer had been locked up after less serious busts. And to give some idea of how small a scene the LA scene was, when Buffalo Springfield asked him to become their bass player, he was playing rhythm guitar for the Mothers of Invention, while Billy Mundi was on drums, and had played on their second, as yet unreleased, album, Absolutely Free: [Excerpt: The Mothers of Invention, "Call any Vegetable"] And before joining the Mothers, Fielder and Mundi had also played together with Van Dyke Parks, who had served his own short stint as a Mother of Invention already, backing Tim Buckley on Buckley's first album: [Excerpt: Tim Buckley, "Aren't You the Girl?"] And the arrangements on that album were by Jack Nitzsche, who would soon become a very close collaborator with Young. "For What it's Worth" kept rising up the charts. Even though it had been inspired by a very local issue, the lyrics were vague enough that people in other situations could apply it to themselves, and it soon became regarded as an anti-war protest anthem -- something Stills did nothing to discourage, as the band were all opposed to the war. The band were also starting to collaborate with other people. When Stills bought a new house, he couldn't move in to it for a while, and so Peter Tork invited him to stay at his house. The two got on so well that Tork invited Stills to produce the next Monkees album -- only to find that Michael Nesmith had already asked Chip Douglas to do it. The group started work on a new album, provisionally titled "Stampede", but sessions didn't get much further than Stills' song "Bluebird" before trouble arose between Young and Stills. The root of the argument seems to have been around the number of songs each got on the album. With Richie Furay also writing, Young was worried that given the others' attitudes to his songwriting, he might get as few as two songs on the album. And Young and Stills were arguing over which song should be the next single, with Young wanting "Mr. Soul" to be the A-side, while Stills wanted "Bluebird" -- Stills making the reasonable case that they'd released two Neil Young songs as singles and gone nowhere, and then they'd released one of Stills', and it had become a massive hit. "Bluebird" was eventually chosen as the A-side, with "Mr. Soul" as the B-side: [Excerpt: Buffalo Springfield, "Bluebird"] The "Bluebird" session was another fraught one. Fielder had not yet joined the band, and session player Bobby West subbed on bass. Neil Young had recently started hanging out with Jack Nitzsche, and the two were getting very close and working on music together. Young had impressed Nitzsche not just with his songwriting but with his arrogance -- he'd played Nitzsche his latest song, "Expecting to Fly", and Nitzsche had said halfway through "That's a great song", and Young had shushed him and told him to listen, not interrupt. Nitzsche, who had a monstrous ego himself and was also used to working with people like Phil Spector, the Rolling Stones and Sonny Bono, none of them known for a lack of faith in their own abilities, was impressed. Shortly after that, Stills had asked Nitzsch
Classic soul music that's been remixed, re-edited, reshaped and re-loved by myself and today's most gifted DJs and producers from around the world. "Quality Edits for Beautiful People" Episode 25 features songs by; Ghost, Roy Ayers, Idris Muhammad, James Brown/Karizma, Chicas/Roy Ayers, Prince, Buddy Miles, Peech Boys/Jeff Swiff, Yasuko Agawa, and Common Saints.
Brother Dave Schools us on How to Rock Out with Passionate BluesBrother Dave is a guitarist/vocalist whose passionate and eclectic style defies categorization!We learn of Dave's unique background, and his love of the guitar, especially the pedal steel. We'll hear three of his latest songs, Bak'n Blues, Lonely & Blue, and Road Trip. While his musical influences are firmly based on Roots and Blues, his stylings are infused with Country, Rock, and Jazz sounds that embody both classic and modern sensibilities. Dave's vocals are a cross between Gregg Allman, B.B. King, Bobby “Blue” Band, Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top, and even Bonnie Raitt. His guitar stylings are a diverse blend of the earlier accomplished guitarists…..Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Freddie, B.B. and Albert King, Chet Atkins, Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, Johnny Winter, as well as contemporary artists such as Joe Bonamassa, Kirk Fletcher, and Eric Gales.Since the age of 17, Brother Dave has been gigging with various NYC-based bands, touring all over the East Coast and Europe, and performing for audiences of all ages and tastes.While he has the distinction of having opened for such world-class performers as Johnny Winter, Dickey Betts, Buddy Miles, Elvin Bishop, Debbie Davies, Room full of Blues, Shemieka Copeland, and Little Charlie and The Night Cats, he is just as likely to be seen entertaining the patrons of a small intimate lounge or private party.These days you can catch Brother Dave playing Solo Acoustic or with his Band, Brother Dave & The Brave, in Restaurants, Pubs, Clubs, and a variety of music venues all over Long Island, New York City, Connecticut, and the entire tri-state region. You'll find him backing up some of the area's finest Vocalists and Bands playing: Jazz, Classic/90's Rock, Blues, Swing, Reggae, Indian, Country; whatever the genre!His guitar and gritty well-honed vocals can be heard on many recordings created by our local musicians.No matter your age, musical taste, or where you call home, Brother Dave and The Brave has something to inspire everyone as they effortlessly tap the soul of American music, fusing the familiar with the new and vibrant.Brother Dave is an act not to be missed! Connect with The Long Island Sound Podcast:Website: Https://GigDestiny.com/podcast Follow Steve Yusko, GigDestiny.com, and his adventures: Website: https://www.GigDestiny.com Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, FacebookSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/21aCeQWDmD4fkucpfVf9Email: Steve@GigDestiny.com IThe growth of The Long Island Sound Podcast has been exponential. Help us grow the show!Subscribe to the GigDestiny.com Site here for bonus contentSubscribe to our YouTube ChannelCall the Listener Line & leave your comments: (631) 800-3579 Remember to Rate & Review the show! Help us keep the conversation going with your donation - Click Right Here or go to GigDestiny.com Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREE
Welcome to Season 7 of Spotlight On! We're excited to be partnering with our friends at Osiris, the leading storyteller in music, for this season. The first episode is a conversation between LP and Steve Kimock, once touted by Jerry Garcia as his “favorite unknown guitar player.” Now Steve is known for his guitar playing in Zero, KVHB, Bob Weir's Kingfish, Ratdog, in addition to post-Grateful Dead ensembles including The Other Ones, Phil Lesh & Friends, and the Rhythm Devils featuring Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann. Steve Kimock has proved himself a master of fluid improvisation for over four decades, in the process inspiring music fans with his transcendent guitar speak voiced through electric, acoustic, lap and pedal steel guitars. With his multi-decade reputation as a blazing psychedelic guitarist versatile enough to touch almost all aspects of American music, Steve Kimock continues to evolve creatively as illustrated in his last two critically acclaimed records, a romantic pop collaboration in Satellite City and an experimental solo effort in Last Danger of Frost.While one can say that his genre is rock, no one niche has ever confined him. Instead, through the years, he's explored various sounds and styles based on what's moved him at the time, whether it's blues or jazz; funk or folk; psychedelic or boogie; gypsy or prog-rock; traditional American or world fusion. Threaded through this expansive and highly nuanced musical landscape is Kimock's signature sound, the prodigious product of his ability to articulate crystal-clear tone, melody and emotion into intricately woven music crafted with technical brilliance. His passion and devotion to performing live is matchless, and his unparalleled ability to embrace and capture his audiences musically is the stuff of legend.Kimock co-founded the jazz/rock band Zero in the ‘80s and KVHW in the ‘90s; since then, he has recorded and toured in various outfits under his own name. His collaborations with assorted band mates and groups have provided an everlasting wellspring of inspiration for the guitarist, and he has shared the stage with a seemingly endless array of international musical luminaries. After more than 40 years on stage, Kimock is more committed than ever to a jubilant spirit of musical diversity — the same spirit that has fed his desire to pursue an authentic relationship with the guitar since the day he realized his calling.A musician's musician, Kimock has also shared the stage with countless other musical luminaires such as Taj Mahal, David Lindley, Jorma Kaukonen, Hot Tuna, Bonnie Raitt, The Allman Brothers, Merl Saunders, Buddy Miles, Derek Trucks, Elvin Bishop, Grace Potter, Grace Slick, Little Feat, Nicky Hopkins, Norton Buffalo, Papa John Creach, Peter Frampton, all members of Phish, Screamin' Jay Hawkins and more.Go see Steve on the road and support his music. Lean more about Lyte.Find more great podcasts from Osiris Media, the leading storyteller in music. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Welcome to Season 7 of Spotlight On! We're excited to be partnering with our friends at Osiris, the leading storyteller in music, for this season. The first episode is a conversation between LP and Steve Kimock, once touted by Jerry Garcia as his “favorite unknown guitar player.” Now Steve is known for his guitar playing in Zero, KVHB, Bob Weir's Kingfish, Ratdog, in addition to post-Grateful Dead ensembles including The Other Ones, Phil Lesh & Friends, and the Rhythm Devils featuring Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann. Steve Kimock has proved himself a master of fluid improvisation for over four decades, in the process inspiring music fans with his transcendent guitar speak voiced through electric, acoustic, lap and pedal steel guitars. With his multi-decade reputation as a blazing psychedelic guitarist versatile enough to touch almost all aspects of American music, Steve Kimock continues to evolve creatively as illustrated in his last two critically acclaimed records, a romantic pop collaboration in Satellite City and an experimental solo effort in Last Danger of Frost.While one can say that his genre is rock, no one niche has ever confined him. Instead, through the years, he's explored various sounds and styles based on what's moved him at the time, whether it's blues or jazz; funk or folk; psychedelic or boogie; gypsy or prog-rock; traditional American or world fusion. Threaded through this expansive and highly nuanced musical landscape is Kimock's signature sound, the prodigious product of his ability to articulate crystal-clear tone, melody and emotion into intricately woven music crafted with technical brilliance. His passion and devotion to performing live is matchless, and his unparalleled ability to embrace and capture his audiences musically is the stuff of legend.Kimock co-founded the jazz/rock band Zero in the ‘80s and KVHW in the ‘90s; since then, he has recorded and toured in various outfits under his own name. His collaborations with assorted band mates and groups have provided an everlasting wellspring of inspiration for the guitarist, and he has shared the stage with a seemingly endless array of international musical luminaries. After more than 40 years on stage, Kimock is more committed than ever to a jubilant spirit of musical diversity — the same spirit that has fed his desire to pursue an authentic relationship with the guitar since the day he realized his calling.A musician's musician, Kimock has also shared the stage with countless other musical luminaires such as Taj Mahal, David Lindley, Jorma Kaukonen, Hot Tuna, Bonnie Raitt, The Allman Brothers, Merl Saunders, Buddy Miles, Derek Trucks, Elvin Bishop, Grace Potter, Grace Slick, Little Feat, Nicky Hopkins, Norton Buffalo, Papa John Creach, Peter Frampton, all members of Phish, Screamin' Jay Hawkins and more.Go see Steve on the road and support his music. Lean more about Lyte.Find more great podcasts from Osiris Media, the leading storyteller in music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Here is my podcast of my radio show "Bluesland" from June 30, 2022. Included is the music of Jeff Beck w/Rod Stewart on vocals, Buddy Miles, The Allman Brothers, Hound Dog Taylor and more. Enjoy and tell all your friends the blues is on the air Thursday's 7-9 PM on KMRE 102.3 FM. Also webstreaming at kmre.org. Thanks for listening.
“The Mighty Jim McCarty”, as his friend Ted Nugent calls him, is one of the great legendary blues rock guitarists of the rock era. He hit the top of the charts as a teenager playing with Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels on “Devil With The Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly”. He's gone on to play with a Who's Who including Buddy Miles, Cactus (with Carmine Appice and Tim Bogert of Vanilla Fudge fame), Mystery Train and others. He recorded with Jimi Hendrix and Bob Seger. We talk about his life in rock and roll, and we do a Songfest.My featured song in this episode is “The One I'm Not Supposed To See” from the album East Side Sessions by my band Project Grand Slam. Spotify link HERE.-------------------------------------------- Jim and I discuss the following:Mitch Ryder and the Detroit WheelsSiegel-Schwall BandBuddy MilesJimi HendrixTed NugentCactusRockets Songfest:“Devil With The Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly”“Juggernaut”“Dexter Digs In”“Excelo Boogie” (live)“Blues For Mr. Boiteau” If you enjoyed the show, please Subscribe, Rate, and Review. Just Click Here. “The Shakespeare Concert” is the new album by Robert's band, Project Grand Slam. It's been praised by famous musicians including Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad, Jim Peterik of the Ides Of March, Joey Dee of Peppermint Twist fame, legendary guitarist Elliott Randall, and celebrated British composer Sarah Class. The music reviewers have called it “Perfection!”, “5 Stars!”, “Thrilling!”, and “A Masterpiece!”. The album can be streamed on Spotify, Apple and all the other streaming services. You can watch the Highlight Reel HERE. And you can purchase a digital download or autographed CD of the album HERE. Robert's “Follow Your Dream Handbook” is an Amazon #1 Bestseller. It's a combination memoir of his unique musical journey and a step by step how-to follow and succeed at your dream. Available on Amazon and wherever books are sold. Get your Complimentary DREAM ROADMAP with Robert's 5 steps to pursue and succeed at YOUR dream. Just click here: https://www.followyourdreampodcast.com/DreamRoadmap Connect with Jim and buy his music at:jimmccarty3@gmail.comwww.facebook.com/jim.mccarty.184www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063571627797www.facebook.com/Mystery-Train-130872343609817/ Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website: www.followyourdreampodcast.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/FollowYourDreamPodcastEmail Robert: robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website: https://www.projectgrandslam.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/projectgrndslamStore: https://www.thepgsstore.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/PGSjazzFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectgrandslam/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/04BdGdJszDD8WtAFXc9skWApple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/project-grand-slam/274548453Email: pgs@projectgrandslam.com
Rocky Athas, also known by fans as the Texas Tornado-The Malice from Dallas- & The Last Great Bluesbreaker Guitarist, is this week's guest on The Jay Jay French Connection: Beyond the Music! The legendary Texan Blues guitarist & songwriter has collaborated with the likes of Buddy Miles, Glenn Hughes, Black Oak Arkansas & John Mayall - to name a few. Jay Jay & Rocky talk all things Blues guitar - discussing how the Blues came into both their lives, and how deeply it impacted their lives & playing over the years. Don't miss their conversation, and be sure to keep up to date on Rocky's work by checking out his website www.rockyathas.com, Instagram @rockyathas & Twitter @RockyAthas Produced & edited by Matthew Mallinger
Lloyd SegalFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaLloyd Segal (born 22 March 1948) is the President of the Los Angeles Real Estate Investors Club, author, real estate investor, mentor, and national public speaker.[1][2] He is also the former President of the Will Rogers Polo Club.[9]Early life and educationLloyd Segal was born and raised in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the eldest of five children of Seretta (nee Ruben) and Harold Segal, both business leaders in Pittsburgh. The family belonged to the Tree of Life Synagogue, where Segal celebrated his bar mitzvah.Segal attended Wightman Elementary School and Taylor Allderdice High School, graduating in 1966. In high school, Segal was on the cross-country, basketball, and debate teams. In the summer after graduating high school, Segal worked for Jett's Traveling Circus and Petting Zoo, traveling all over the Midwest. During his senior year, Segal was the student producer of the television program “Our Place” on WQED-TV. During the summer of 1965, Segal attended Camp Graylag in Pittsfield, New Hampshire. The camp was owned and operated by legendary Boston Celtic and basketball Hall of Fame star Bob Cousy.Segal attended Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, from 1966 to 1970, graduating with honors in Business Administration, pre-law. In his freshman year, Segal was a disc jockey on WTBU-AM, the university's popular radio station. During his senior year, Segal was Concert Director, producing musical concerts on campus, including The Who, James Taylor, the Jefferson Airplane, Richie Havens, Dione Warwick, Seals & Crofts, Buddy Miles, Tim Hardin, Chamber Brothers, Tom Rush, Melanie, Chicago, and Chuck Berry. After graduation, Segal hitch-hiked across Europe and then spent a year as a volunteer at Kibbutz Amir, in Kiryat Shimona, Israel.After taking two years off, Segal attended Southwestern University School of Law, Los Angeles, graduating with a Juris Doctor in 1975. During his junior year at Southwestern, Segal originated the University's Speakers Program and acted as its Chairman. He brought such legal scholars to the school as former U.S. Supreme Court Judge Tom Clark, attorney Louis Nizer, Watergate attorney (and future TV star) Fred Thompson, former attorney general Ramsey Clark, author Mark Lane, Secretary of Interior Stewart Udall, Presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy, attorney F. Lee Bailey, Robert Kennedy's campaign director, Frank Mankiewicz, California Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk, and Congressman Paul McCloskey. At the end of the school year, Segal was awarded a “Distinguished Service Award” by Southwestern's Student Bar Association. In his senior year, Segal was elected President of the Student Bar Association. During his senior year as President of the SBA, Segal also wrote a weekly column entitled “The President's Message” in the law school newspaper, “The Commentator.” In addition, Segal wrote an opinion piece entitled “Glut of White Faces” which was published in the January 1975 edition of Juris Doctor national magazine. By the end of his senior year, Segal was selected for the 1974-75 edition of the “Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges.” Southwestern's Student Bar Association also honored Segal with its highest award, “Certificate of Distinguished Service,” the first time a student had won the award two years in a row. On March 9, 1975, the American Bar Association (law student division) honored Segal with an award for “In recognition of Outstanding Contribution.” Segal also studied international law at the University of Innsbruck, Austria.[11]CareerSegal began his legal career in 1977 as an attorney at Diamond, Tilem, Colden and Emery, in Beverly Hills, California, specializing in entertainment law, with an emphasis on music performers and recording artists. In 1978, Segal transitioned to Of Counsel to the law firm so that he could open..
Just chopsing today with lance Lopez about how he became a professional at 14, the various artists he's played with like Billy Gibbons, Buddy Miles and more. Also his honesty on late night parties and the struggle to get clean . We wish him all the best on his journey so far and what's in store for the future.
Host Nate Wilcox and Ed Ward spoke in 2018 about Ed's book Michael Bloomfield: The Rise and Fall of an American Guitar Hero. Ed tells Nate about The Electric Flag, Bloomfield's attempt to build a "supergroup" incorporating horns and drummer Buddy Miles. The band's struggles with direction and drugs. Bloomfield's part in Al Kooper's successful "SuperSession" album and Bloomfield's withdrawal from the rock music rat race and tragic passing.Let It Roll is Proud to be a part of the Pantheon Podcast Network.
Iggy warbles with Buddy Miles. Mark Hannah joins the show. Talk of holes and the affects of the election on the market. Fungo controversy. HB Stacey Nelkin. Rock has legs for days. EMOTD.