Podcasts about geils band

Peter Wolf, longtime frontman of the J. Geils Band, guests on this brand new Fake Show with host Jim Tofte...enjoy!!!

"Chestnut-brown canary Ruby-throated sparrowSing a song, don't be long Thrill me to the marrowVoices of the angels Ring around the moonlightAsking me said she so free How can you catch the sparrow?"Please join me on a terrific Spring afternoon for 2 Hours of wonderful song and harmony on this week's Whole 'Nuther Thing on KXFM 104.7. Joining us are T Bone Burnette, Blondie, Love, J. Geils Band, Bob Dylan, Seatrain, It's A Beautiful Day, The Flock, Mamas & Papas, Chuck Berry, Counting Crows, Peter Gabriel Santo & Jonny, REM, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Faces, It's A Beautiful Day, Joe Deninzon Trio, Jimi Hendrix, Donovan, Jefferson Airplane, Simon & Garfunkel, Eric Clapton, Oasis and Crosby Stills & Nash...

DREAMS COME TRUE. Milt (and especially) Dave experience a rock n roll fantasy come true as they (alongside special guest Cha-Chi LoPrete) talk with legendary J. Geils Band front man and best-selling author Peter Wolf. He's the author of 'Waiting on the Moon.' Mysteries are unraveled including the legend of Raputa the Beauta and Peter's favorite J Geils album. They also discuss memorable moments from Peter's career, including his stories about Muddy Waters, Alfred Hitchcock, and Aretha Franklin, and insight into his new book. The episode highlights Peter's knack for storytelling, his views on relationships in the music industry, and his experiences meeting other iconic figures. The conversation also covers Peter's approach to writing his book, his narration of the audiobook, and entertaining anecdotes from his illustrious career.   Topics 03:16 The Story Behind the Book 07:34 Writing Process and Inspirations 14:09 Peter Wolf's Literary Journey 22:37 Cha-Chi's Connection with Peter  26:31 Memories of George Harrison 26:53 Favorite Beatles Discussion 28:07 Peter's Magnetic Personality 29:42 Meeting Music Legends by Chance 37:38 The Challenge of Narrating an Audiobook 42:27 John Lee Hooker and the Blues

J. Geils Band frontman extraordinaire Peter Wolf has released his new memoir Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses and to celebrate sat down for an in-depth conversation with Pierre Robert on WMMR. In this first part, Peter tells Pierre about shaping the book as a set of short stories about the people he has interacted with in his life, like how he met Bob Dylan in a restaurant and interrupts a bathroom business meeting of Sly Stone. Peter also regales us with his time working in radio and how that led to a very memorable interaction with Van Morrison. See more at WMMR.com and follow on Instagram: @PierreRobert933

J. Geils Band front man extraordinaire Peter Wolf has released his memoir Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses and to celebrate sat down for an in-depth conversation with Pierre Robert on WMMR. In the second part of the conversation, Peter Wolf discusses how the personalities of the J. Geils Band clashed to the point the band couldn't continue (even so far as to bring a therapist into the mix), having dinner and flying to Ireland to drink Guinness with Mick Jagger, being an impromptu roadie for Muddy Waters, and he also discusses his upcoming solo material and touring. See more at WMMR.com and follow on Instagram: @PierreRobert933

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we wrap up the first round of a March Madness-style tournament featuring our favorite rock artists.  Show notes: Finishing up the rest of round 1 Stevie Wonder vs. the Pretenders Talking Heads vs. U2 St. Vincent vs. Sonic Youth Elvis Costello vs. the Replacements R.E.M. vs. the Who Beck vs. Dire Straits Jimi Hendrix vs. Jason Isbell Dinosaur Jr. vs. Foo Fighters Drive-By Truckers vs. Tom Petty Pixies vs. Fleetwood Mac Neil Young vs. Sleater-Kinney Steely Dan vs. Husker Du Van Halen vs. Blondie White Stripes vs. the Beatles J. Geils Band vs. Pearl Jam Nirvana vs. David Bowie Coming soon: Round 2, with more tough decisions Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

When it comes to infidelity: can we have our cake and eat it too? In the following two songs, written by the incomparable Don Covay, this theme is explored. The two men narrating these tales of inconstancy are in turmoil - one cheater feels guilty, while the other betrayer is suffering from hurt pride - because his woman is playing the same game. The soulful bard who created these parables of marital strife covers the gamut here: in the first you'll hear the voice of the creator himself, Mr. Covay, on a special alternate track of “I Was Checking Out While She Was Checking in”; the second song, “I Stole Some Love” features one of his best interpreters, Peter Wolf, of the J. Geils Band.Donald James Randolph, aka Don Covay aka “Superdude” left us in 2015 with a legacy of pungent excavations of the human psyche, often delivered with toe tapping, humorous perfection. Although he was a charismatic performer in his own right, he was known predominantly as a songwriter with an unerring instinct for hits. Starting out in the fifties as a chauffeur and opening act for Little Richard, Covay went on to pen a raft of chart toppers such as Mercy Mercy (recorded by the Stones), See Saw, and Chain of Fools, for which Aretha Franklin won a Grammy. But it was in '72, doubling as an A&R man for Mercury Records, that Don hit performing pay dirt with “Superdude,” which contained the following song-monologue, which we are honored to present here with this alternate take, where the singer ruminates on the irony of his unique situation.In '92, Don suffered a stroke, and Ronnie Wood of the Faces and the Stones, produced a tribute album entitled “Back to the Streets” which contained the Covay classic “I Stole Some Love,” delivered here with characteristic swagger by the one and only Peter Wolf - former front man for the J. Geils Band. 79 years old and still going strong, the ex late night DJ “Woofa Goofa”, turned undeniable Rock Star and raconteur, has recently delivered an engrossing memoir “Waiting on the Man: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses” about his life's journey, and the iconic artists he's encountered along the way- starting with his stint studying art at Tufts University, and rooming with David Lynch. (He was also married to Faye Dunaway for five years)…, so he knows a lot about a lot of stuff, including failed romance. And, on this cut, his tortured vocal attests to the emotional vise he's caught in.

It's Episode 70 of the Friday Night Karaoke Podcast, and the theme was Breakup & Heartbreak Songs! Valentine’s Day is over... and love is so last week. This week on the Friday Night Karaoke Podcast, Mike and Joe are diving headfirst into the FNK ExFiles—a heartbreak-fueled, soul-baring, sometimes hilarious, and always powerful collection of breakup and heartache songs brought to life by the amazing FNK community. It’s the ultimate anti-Valentine’s celebration, packed with raw emotion, witty revenge anthems, and the kind of karaoke therapy we all need from time to time. Whether you’re nursing a broken heart or just love a good breakup jam, this episode is guaranteed to hit all the right (and wrong) notes—in the best way possible. FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE ALONGSIDE HOSTS Mike Wiston AND Joe Rubin: Janee Luts D'Ippolito kicks it off with a hauntingly beautiful version of "Creep" by Radiohead. Moody, emotional, and absolutely gripping. Anthony Gorby Sr tugs at the heartstrings with "I Can Still Make Cheyenne" by George Strait. Classic country storytelling at its finest. Angel Lark lets loose with "Love Stinks" by J. Geils Band. It’s bitter, it’s bold, and it’s a total bop. Mike Wiston brings the dramatic flair with "Somebody Kill Me" from The Wedding Singer. Darkly hilarious and oddly relatable. Karen Pavkov says exactly what we’re all thinking with "No More F***s to Give" by Thomas Benjamin. It’s cheeky, empowering, and a total mood. Eric Dubrofsky offers some heartfelt healing with "It'll Be Okay" by Shawn Mendes. Gentle, soothing, and full of hope. Dana LaValle turns the tables with "Gives You Hell" by The All-American Rejects. A perfect revenge anthem with serious singalong energy. Kevin Parish Sr closes the show with a punchy and fun cover of "The Breakup Song" by Greg Kihn Band. A retro jam that still hits hard. So grab some ice cream, throw on your best breakup playlist vibes, and join us for an episode that proves heartbreak sounds a lot better with a mic in hand. Let’s karaoke those ExFiles—FNK style! Love what you hear? Join the Friday Night Karaoke Facebook group here and be part of the magic! It's negativity free, ad-free, and all about the music: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fridaynightkaraoke See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Seem like every time you stop and turn aroundSomething else just hit the groundBroken cutters, broken saws, broken buckles, broken lawsBroken bodies broken bones, broken voices on broken phonesTake a deep breath feel like you're chokin'Everything is broken."Well, not quite everything, please join me for 2 hours of fixing, joining us are Pat Metheny, Laura Nyro, The Doors, Rascals, Beatles, Chambers Brothers, Joe Farrell Quartet, War, Traffic, Dr. John, King Crimson, Love, John Lennon, J. Geils Band, Tim Buckley, Leon Russell, Ian Hunter & Bob Dylan.

Peter Wolf ex lead singer of The J.Geils Band delivers 35 chapters on his encounters with the most unusual, and extremely interesting people who came into his life. Alfred Hithcock, Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, David Lynch, Julia Child, Norman Rockwell, Van Morrison, John Lee Hooker and Faye Dunaway all play a significant part in this story. And that is just a few of the names!! This is one of rock n roll's most unique memoirs. ******This week's SHOUT OUT goes to Mad Music RadioMad Music Radio is a small cluster of five internet-only non-commercial radio stations bringing you fantastic music 24 hours a day. They also publish stories at least twice a week on the Patreon, Substack and the Medium platforms. Mad Music Radio, tunes and tales too good to be ignored. It nice that you get a few options to choose from. They have blues, rock, oldies, The Dead and Jazz stations. Whoever does the programing for this has a great ear, I love the diversity and the way they play cuts so deep I would call them lost. Check em out - Mad Music Radio****** Want more news and reviews of the best new rock n roll books and docs out there? The Rock Talk Studio BLAST!! is a monthly newsletter that comes out on the last Friday of the month that keep you on top of all the new releases. Just send me an email using the address below and say "Big Rick send me that BLAST!!" Support the showemail Big Rick at:info@rocktalkstudio.com

The frontman for the J. Geils Band has a new book out called "Waiting on the Moon" It comes out March 11th, but we take a peek inside today to learn how Peter Wolf handled his woman (Faye Dunaway) disappearing upstairs with Jack Nicholson!

Today:Peter Wolf, lead vocalist for the J. Geils Band, solo artist, and a former Boston disc jockey joins Jim and Margery in Studio 3 to talk about his new memoir: "Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses."And, Boston University professor Anthony Jack discusses threats to the Department of Education, and the impact of Trump's rhetoric in general, on higher education.

Political analyst Chuck Todd reacts to Trump's Tuesday address to congress, plus yesterday's "sanctuary city" hearings and other headlines from D.C.Former public safety secretary Andrea Cabral discusses SCOTUS rejecting Trump's request to freeze USAID funds, plus Tesla protests and reactions to Wednesday's hearing with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.Boston University's Anthony Jack talks about recent education headlines, including Linda McMahon at the helm of the Department of Education --- and her efforts to dismantle it. Plus, how universities are interacting with ICE.Peter Wolf, former David Lynch roommate & lead singer for The J. Geils Band, has a new memoir. He joins in studio to discuss his life and his recent decision to cancel an event at the Kennedy Center.

"Everybody's a dreamer and everybody's a starAnd everybody's in show biz, it doesn't matter who you areAnd those who are successful, be always on your guardSuccess walks hand in hand with failure along Hollywood Boulevard"Please join me and some of our Vinyl Heroes as we get ready for the Academy Awards and our "Celluloid Heroes" this evening with 2 hours of great tunes on this week's Super Sounds Of The 70's. Stopping by are Peter Green, America, Cream, Little Feat, Jackson Browne, Neil Young, Crabby Appleton, Detroit, Free,  Foghat, Tommy James & The Shondells, The Eagles, Supertramp, George Harrison, Pablo Cruise, Crosby Stills, Nash & Young, Grand Funk Railroad, Savoy Brown, The Hollies, Steve Stills, The J. Geils Band, Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Kinks...

Text us about this show.Timothy Donovan cut his musical teeth in Boston where he grew up. He heard the likes of Boston bands like The J. Geils Band, Aerosmith, The Cars, and, of course, Boston, but the local scene also had a band called Orpheus who were regional favorites. After his move to northern New Hampshire, he took time off from music but when he came back to it, he began to forge vital relationships with his co-writers Karen Girard and Willie Cintron. He opened Riverside Recording Studios in Berlin, NH and has now formed the TimothyPaul Band. Tim has taken his 50-plus years of making music and turned it into a career of creating soulful music from the heart. Hear about it here."Heaven" written and performed by TimothyPaul℗ 2021 Timothy Donovan Sr. Used with permission of Timothy Donovan Sr."Soul Again" and "Not Really" performed by the TimothyPaul Bandwritten by Timothy Donovan and Willie Cintron℗ 2023 Riverside Recording Studios. Used with permission of Timothy Donovan Sr."The Void" performed by John Clarke (ft. TimothyPaul)words by Conrad Hermann, music by John Clarke℗ 2025 John Clarke. Used with permission of Timothy Donovan Sr. and John ClarkeSupport the showVisit Into The Music at https://intothemusicpodcast.com!Support the show: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/intothemusic E-mail us at intothemusic@newprojectx.com YouTube Facebook Instagram INTO THE MUSIC is a production of Project X Productions.Host/producer: Rob MarnochaVoiceovers: Brad BordiniRecording, engineering, and post production: Rob MarnochaOpening theme: "Aerostar" by Los Straitjackets* (℗2013 Yep Roc Records)Closing theme: "Close to Champaign" by Los Straitjackets* (℗1999 Yep Roc Records)*Used with permission of Eddie Angel of Los StraitjacketsThis podcast copyright ©2025 by Project X Productions. All rights reserve...

All the latest book buzz and doc news from artists like: Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Tom Petty, Genesis, The Cars, Peter Wolf of The J.Geils Band and many more. Find out the news on all the upcoming titles. *Want to stay on top of the world of Rock N Roll Book and Documentaries? That's also easy. Sign up for the Monthly BLAST!! the newsletter that comes out on the last Friday of the month that features book buzz and doc news, recently released titles, top 5 lists, and more. Just shoot me over an email at the address below  and say Big Rick, send me that Blast!!This weeks SHOUT OUT goes to Mad Music RadioMad Music Radio is a small cluster of five internet-only non-commercial radio stations bringing you fantastic music 24 hours a day. They also publish stories at least twice a week on the Patreon, Substack and the Medium platforms. Mad Music Radio, tunes and tales too good to be ignored. I like that you get a few options to choose from. They have blues, rock, oldies, The Dead and Jazz stations. Whoever does the programing for this has a great ear, I love the diversity and the way they play cuts so deep I would call them lost. Check em out - Mad Music RadioSupport the showemail Big Rick at:info@rocktalkstudio.com

Send us a textJoin me on an exploration of Shangri-La studio's rich musical history. A legendary music studio that was spared from the flames of the devastating Los Angeles wildfires. With intriguing stories of The Band and Bob Dylan and Dylan's iconic tour bus-turned-recording space, you'll gain a fresh appreciation for this studio that's been a haven for music legends like Eric Clapton and Richard Manuel. Together, we reflect on the studio's significant contributions to music, from the albums of Adele, Kings of Leon and Mark Knopfler, and consider the critical importance of preserving our musical landmarks.Shangri-La's walls have borne witness to a kaleidoscope of musical genius, and this episode is a walk through those hallowed halls. Listen as I unravel the story behind a song inspired by Ray Kroc's life. Discover how Mr. Ed, the talking horse, plays into this tapestry of anecdotes, mixing music history with pop culture and a dash of lighthearted trivia. You'll also hear about the studio's eclectic legacy, featuring sessions with Metallica, U2, and Depeche Mode, that continue to captivate artists and audiences alike.From 'Love Stinks' from the J. Geils Band to the iconic song "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds, we journey through transformative songs and bands that have shaped the musical landscape. As we reflect on paths that lead to varying levels of success, there's a heartfelt call to embrace every musical story, big or small. “Music In My Shoes,” where we blend stories of music history with personal reflections and keep the melody playing."Music in My Shoes" where music and memories intertwine.Learn Something New orRemember Something OldPlease Like and Follow our Facebook and Instagram page at Music In My Shoes. You can contact us at musicinmyshoes@gmail.com.

A mix of Top 40 hits from January 1982. Artists include Genesis, J. Geils Band, Rod Stewart, Foreigner, Alabama, Bertie Higgins, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Kool and the Gang, Olivia Newton John and more! (R)

Dustin and Shawn are covering The Wedding Singer! Whoopity doo! If you love 80s music this is the week you've been waiting for! This soundtrack is so chock-full of 80s glory it needed 2 volumes and even that couldn't hold all of the songs. Robbie Hart and his wedding band play all the hits from Madonna, Dead or Alive, Culture Club, The J. Geils Band and a few originals from Adam Sandler himself.

George and Nihal Presents Prog & Roll 0:35 FREE Wishing Well 3:44 Heartbreaker (1973) MAGGIE BELL Wishing Well 3:35 Suicide Sal (1975) THE J.GEILS BAND First I Look at the Purse 3:55 The J. Geils Band (1970) ROD STEWART First I Look at the Purse 4:24 Lead Vocalist (1993) BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Blinded by the Light […]

Jimmy Vivino Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson It had been six long, 4 1/2 COVID years since last I sat down with my old friend, multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer, and long-time musical director for Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Vivino. It was like coming home. Almost the same age, we have many shared (unbeknownst to us at the time) memories of concerts at The Filmore East, Watkins Glen, the glory daze of the NY club scene, and a bounty of mutual friends. Talk about being in one's comfort zone. Jimmy talked growing up in New Jersey, his carpenter trumpet-playing father, his talented brothers, Jerry and Floyd, and how they began and evolved - he talked Conan, Laura Nyro, Phoebe Snow, Donald Fagen, John Sebastian, Al Kooper, Levon Helm, The Allman Brothers, Albert King, Tom Petty, Prince, Bruno Mars, Michael McDonald, Johnny Johnson, Hubert Sumlin, Stevie Wonder, Muddy Waters, Pinetop Perkins, John Sebastian, The Dead, The Band, Harry Shearer, Paul Shaffer, whom he credits as his mentor, Leader of the Pack, Broadway, Ronnie Spector, Felix Cavaliere, The Rascals, Frankie Valli, Slash, Sly Stone, The J. Geils Band, Elvis Costello, and the James Brown and Friends Set Fire To The Soul with Aretha, Robert Palmer, and Joe Cocker, that he orchestrated. Incredible stories all around, and this special is available on YouTube… wow - Snuff and I just watched it. Spectacular. We talked about COVID and Jimmy joining Canned Heat, currently touring with them, and Bill Murray, as well as still doing shows with Will Lee and The Fab Faux. His first all-original album, Gonna Be 2 of Those Days, is due to drop in February, signed copies are available for pre-sale at jimmyvmusic.com He treated us to a track to close the show. Life is busy, busy. busy… just the way Jimmy likes it. And so do we who follow and adore him. I so enjoyed every second of this. Jimmy needs to write a book and get all these stories down. He knows and has played with everyone. Such fun! Jimmy Vivino Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson Wednesday, 12/11/24, 5 PM PT, 8 PM ET Streamed Live on my Facebook Replay here: https://bit.ly/49vuRwT

Please join me as I paint my musical watercolor on a late afternoon in late November on this weeks Whole 'Nuther Thing on KXFM 104.7. Joining us are Pat Metheny, Talking Heads, Christopher Cross, The BoDeans, Linda Ronstadt, Spirit, King Crimson, John Hammond Jr, Sarah McLachlan, Taj Mahal, John Mayall, Chicago, XTC, The Everly Brothers, Sweet, Steve Miller Band, Procol Harum, The Knack, Bonnie Raitt, J. Geils Band, Grass Roots, Big Brother & The Holding Company, Blood Sweat & Tears, The Motels, Electric Flag, Hollies and Simon & Garfunkel...

Win the new Robyn Hitchcock memoir 1967, and the new Rush book- Rush at 50, simply by signing up for the free monthly BLAST!!Shoot me an email at info@rocktalkstudio.com to enter!Rock n Roll Book and Documentary news this month features projects from: The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Mike Campbell, The J.Geils Band, Nicky Hopkins and The Bangles to name a few. Support the showemail Big Rick at:info@rocktalkstudio.com

"I get the news I need on the weather reportOh, I can gather all the news I need on the weather reportHey, I've got nothing to do today but smileDa-n-do-da-n-do-da-n-do here I amThe only living boy in New York"Well, not any more, I've adopted SoCal so please smile with me as we take a 2 hour musical journey on this afternoon's Whole 'Nuther Thing on KXFM 104.7 or on the web, use the link below to join me and my guests, The Blue Dolphins, Nick Drake, Steely Dan, Bill Evans with Jim Hall,, Talking Heads, Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead, Crosby Stills & Nash, The Bee Gees, Brewer & Shipley, Pat Metheny w Lyle Mays, The Byrds, John Mayall, Traffic, The Kinks, Eagles, U2, Donovan, Phoebe Snow, Van Morrison, Thunderclap Newman, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, J. Geils Band, John Mayall and Simon & Garfunkel...

Its been a month and now it is finally time for The Adam Sandler Cinematic Universe podcast to finish their discussion about the Grown Ups films with “Grown Ups 2,”  initially released in theaters July 12, 2013, as part of their Season Eight Theme of The Sandler Sequels.Watch as Devon becomes the teacher and attempts to educate not only Sejohn, but you the listener as to why he enjoys this almost universally despised film.At the very least you'll get to hear real world stories tangentially related to the film like when one of met The J. Geils Band and the continued comedic brilliance of the “I Shipped My Pants” marketing campaign.Comments can be directed to AdamSandlerCinematicUniverse@gmail.com and don't forget to follow us on Twitter @TheASCU  

This afternoon's journey features Flo & Eddie, The Temptations, The Velvet Underground, George Thorogood, The Byrds, ZZ Top, Alan Parsons Project, Supertramp, Flying Burrito Brothers, Joe Jackson, The Cars, Rod Stewart, Lou Reed, The Faces, Marvin Gaye, Santana, The Doors, The Knack, Steve Miller Band, J. Geils Band, Steely Dan and The Police.

The July 2024 New Music train takes its final trip today (before resting and fueling up for next month), so it's appropriate that we have a special episode. Highland Park Harry, Echo Park Jimmy and David Lynch all make appearances, discussing new music from Enumclaw, Fontaines D.C., Cardinals and Billie Joe Armstrong's Jesse Malin tribute. And David was in a J. Geils Band mood.  Rockin' the Suburbs on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or other podcast platforms, including audioBoom, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon, iHeart, Stitcher and TuneIn. Or listen at SuburbsPod.com. Please rate/review the show on Apple Podcasts and share it with your friends. Visit our website at SuburbsPod.com Email Jim & Patrick at rock@suburbspod.com Follow us on the Threads, Facebook or Instagram @suburbspod If you're glad or sad or high, call the Suburban Party Line — 612-440-1984. Theme music: "Ascension," originally by Quartjar, covered by Frank Muffin. Visit quartjar.bandcamp.com and frankmuffin.bandcamp.com.

Welcome to PTBN Pop's Video Jukebox Song of The Day! Every weekday will be featuring a live watch of a great and memorable music video. On today's episode, Andy Atherton is watching “Centerfold” by The J. Geils Band from 1981. The YouTube link for the video is below so you can watch along! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqDjMZKf-wg

Jim Sullivan - a 2023 inductee into the New England Music Hall of Fame - spent 26 years writing for the Boston Globe and two decades more writing for countless national publications. He has interviewed and reviewed countless musicians, many of them multiple times. Last year, Trouser Press Books published two volumes of his music writing. Now, they've been combined into one eBook with eleven new chapters! The 71 chapters feature an eclectic collection of artists, spanning generations and styles:Jerry Lee Lewis, Ian Hunter, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Nico, Brian Eno, Bryan Ferry, King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Jethro Tull, Ginger Baker, Ringo Starr, Warren Zevon, Pete Townshend, the Kinks, Leonard Cohen, Marianne Faithfull, the Rascals, Stevie Wonder, John Fogerty, Tina Turner, Neil Young, Richard Thompson, Darlene Love, Alice Cooper, J. Geils Band, Aerosmith, KISS, Motörhead, George Clinton, Tangerine Dream, Enya, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, k.d. lang, Roy Orbison, the Ramones, Sex Pistols, Clash, Patti Smith, Buzzcocks, Damned, Flipper, the Fall, Joy Division & New Order, Suicide, the Cure, Stiff Little Fingers, Gang of Four, the Pogues, Police, Cramps, Talking Heads, B-52s, Beastie Boys, Elvis Costello, Billy Bragg, Cars, English Beat, Morrissey, Pixies, Feelies, Mission of Burma, Puff Daddy, Spiritualized, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Swans and U2.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.

Jim Sullivan - a 2023 inductee into the New England Music Hall of Fame - spent 26 years writing for the Boston Globe and two decades more writing for countless national publications. He has interviewed and reviewed countless musicians, many of them multiple times. Last year, Trouser Press Books published two volumes of his music writing. Now, they've been combined into one eBook with eleven new chapters! The 71 chapters feature an eclectic collection of artists, spanning generations and styles:Jerry Lee Lewis, Ian Hunter, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Nico, Brian Eno, Bryan Ferry, King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Jethro Tull, Ginger Baker, Ringo Starr, Warren Zevon, Pete Townshend, the Kinks, Leonard Cohen, Marianne Faithfull, the Rascals, Stevie Wonder, John Fogerty, Tina Turner, Neil Young, Richard Thompson, Darlene Love, Alice Cooper, J. Geils Band, Aerosmith, KISS, Motörhead, George Clinton, Tangerine Dream, Enya, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, k.d. lang, Roy Orbison, the Ramones, Sex Pistols, Clash, Patti Smith, Buzzcocks, Damned, Flipper, the Fall, Joy Division & New Order, Suicide, the Cure, Stiff Little Fingers, Gang of Four, the Pogues, Police, Cramps, Talking Heads, B-52s, Beastie Boys, Elvis Costello, Billy Bragg, Cars, English Beat, Morrissey, Pixies, Feelies, Mission of Burma, Puff Daddy, Spiritualized, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Swans and U2.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

Send us a Text Message.Welcome to Guess the Year! This is an interactive, competitive podcast series where you will be able to play along and compete against your fellow listeners. Here is how the scoring works:1 point: get the year correct within 10 years (e.g., you guess 1975 and it is between 1965-1985)4 points: get the year correct within 5 years (e.g., you guess 2004 and it is between 1999-2009)7 points: get the year correct within 2 years (e.g., you guess 1993 and it is between 1991-1995)10 points: get the year dead on!Guesses can be emailed to drandrewmay@gmail.com or texted using the link at the top of the show notes.I will read your scores out on the following episode, along with the scores of your fellow listeners! Please email your guesses to Andrew no later than 12pm EST on the day the next episode posts if you want them read out on the episode (e.g., if an episode releases on Monday, then I need your guesses by 12pm EST on Wednesday; if an episode releases on Friday, then I need your guesses by 12 pm EST on Monday). Note: If you don't get your scores in on time, they will still be added to the overall scores I am keeping. So they will count for the final scores - in other words, you can catch up if you get behind, you just won't have your scores read out on the released episode. All I need is your guesses (e.g., Song 1 - 19xx, Song 2 - 20xx, Song 3 - 19xx, etc.). Please be honest with your guesses! Best of luck!!The answers to today's ten songs can be found below. If you are playing along, don't scroll down until you have made your guesses. .....Have you made your guesses yet? If so, you can scroll down and look at the answers......Okay, answers coming. Don't peek if you haven't made your guesses yet!.....Intro song: Copperhead Road by Steve Earle (1988)Song 1: Batter Up by Nelly (feat. Murphy Lee & Ali) (2000)Song 2: Do You Believe in Love by Huey Lewis & the News (1982)Song 3: Chicago by Michael Jackson (1999)Song 4: Welcome to Your Life by GROUPLOVE (2016)Song 5: Planet Rock by Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force (1982)Song 6: You're the First, the Last, My Everything by Barry White (1974)Song 7: God Almighty's Gonna Cut You Down by Golden Gate Quartet (1947)Song 8: You Got Lucky by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (1982)Song 9: Chicken Fried by Zac Brown Band (2008)Song 10: Angel in Blue by The J. Geils Band (1981)

"Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo.I do believe it, I do believe it's true.It's a light and tumble journey from the East side to the park.Just a fine and fancy ramble to the zoo.But you can take the cross-town bus if it's raining or it's cold.And the animals will love it if you do."I will too, please join me for our Sunday Musical Journey on the Planetary Jam, along for the ride are Frank Zappa, Dave Mason, Them, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, XTC, Styx, J. Geils Band, Tears For Fears, Golden Earring, King Crimson, Sweet, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Mason Williams, James Gang, Spirit, Donovan, Beatles, Derek & The Dominos, Blood Sweat & Tears, Cream, Country Joe & The Fish, McKendrie Spring, George Harrison and Simon & Garfunkel...

"Before you slip into unconsciousness, I'd like to have another kissAnother flashing chance at bliss, another kiss, another kissThe crystal ship is being filled a thousand girls, a thousand thrillsA million ways to spend your timeWhen we get back, I'll drop a line"Please get you boarding pass ready for this weeks Red Eye Journey on the Crystal Ship. Joining us are Return To Forever, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Tom Waits, Spanky & Our Gang, Orpheus, James Taylor, Maria Muldaur, Shuggie Otis, Traffic, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, Moody Blues, Arthur Lee & Love w Johnny Echols, The Left Banle, Association, Critters, John Lee Hooker, J. Geils Band, Kenny Burrell, Glen Campbell, Jeff beck, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Bee Gees and The Doors...

It's been delayed, but IT COULD NOT BE STOPPED. The PhileApocalypse is here!!! The episode where Philena takes over and subjects the OMFYS olds to MORE RECENT FILMS--movies from this century even! Can they take it?!? The answer may surprise you. First, Philena goes easy on the geezers with BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER (1999)--an actual good movie! Is such a thing possible??? Natasha Lyonne is Megan, a cheerleader whose love of Melissa Etheridge and tofu convinces her god-fearing parents (Mink Stole and Bud Cort!) to pack her off to a conversion camp run to get her off the path to obvious lesbianism. Things don't go as planned, however, when Megan meets and falls for Graham (Clea DuVall) at camp. With Cathy Moriarty as the camp commandant, and RuPaul as a camp counselor, and an amazing cast all the way around. (How did we not mention Michelle Williams is in this???) But before Greg, Bob and Cory could get too comfortable, Philena picks SLEEPOVER (2004) for her second feature. Like MIDNIGHT MADNESS (1980) from the first PhilenApocalypse, this is another scavenger hunt movie, only this one has a band of 13-year-old geek girls taking on the cool kids for the best lunch spot in their future high school. The movie is very mid-2000s, so it has an extended sequence in an Old Navy set to "Freeze Frame" by the J. Geils Band, because I guess a Me First and the Gimme Gimmes version wasn't available. The presence of Jeff Garlin as the clueless dad sets off a substantive discussion of the man's lack of talent. In the opening segment, we discuss the uproar in the comments section (for us anyway) over our YouTube video of Philena's reaction over the existence of Andrew "Dice" Clay + Philena recounts a disastrous screening of SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON (2002) at a wagon museum in the pouring rain so the horse didn't even show up. All this plus Bob delivers the X TWITTER REPORT!!! Hosts: Philena Franklin, Bob Calhoun, Cory Sklar, and Greg Franklin Old Movies for Young Stoners theme by Chaki the Funk Wizard Something You Could Never Own by NEFFEX, Rinse Repeat by DivKid, and Ride of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner courtesy of YouTube Audio Library. Trailer audio via Archive.org. Web: www.oldmoviesforyoungstoners.com Instagram/Facebook (Meta): oldmoviesforyoungstoners Bluesky: @oldmoviesystoners.bsky.social Twitter (X): OM4YStoners Contact: oldmoviesforyoungstoners AT gmail DOT com NEXT EPISODE: Bret Berg of the Museum of Home Video joins us.

A special episode where I showcase my favorite bands in extended sets. In this episode, hear The Allman Brothers Band, Free, Golden Earring, The J. Geils Band, Kansas, Spock's Beard. Do you enjoy Prog-Scure? If so, perhaps you might consider helping me to keep this show afloat by contributing a few dollars at https://patreon.com/zapniles. Any […]

More known as a party band than they were rock royalty, the J. Geils Band is still a rock band of the era that gets tossed aside, despite a decade of incendiary live shows and more hits than some may recall. One of my favorites. Played them loud.  Learned some history too. I seriously rocked the “Blow Your Face Out” live cassette in my $2,000 brown Buick Skylark back in 1986. It's really not just that the J. Geils Band is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But they probably aren't getting in. Yet the bridge they made - from the last 60s blues band era to the time of Seger, Springsteen, Petty, and U2 blowing up - was integral in rock and roll. Their live show.  The R&B fused with rock and roll. The way they hit the stage, took no prisoners, and then blew out of town. That matters.  That's their legacy. That was their time. It was a band more than the perceived one-time splash of "Centerfold" and "Freeze Frame".  The J. Geils Band were road dogs.  They were also a bunch of guys who reintroduced a whole lot of people to songs that were forgotten before they recaptured them.  And they had hits well before they were able to fuse the new wave with the old rock, and did it more seamlessly than lots of others who tried. Take a bouncing ride on this podcast.  We dig into the reasons why this band from Boston, one in a long line of great rock and roll, from The Standells to Aerosmith to the Cars - made in that town, matters.

Here is my radio show "Bluesland" from February 15, 2024. Just click on the link/picture. The music includes Janis Joplin, Long John Baldry, Taj Mahal, The J. Geils Band, Robert Cray, Gary Moore, George Thorogood and The Destroyers plus more fine blues, soul and rock n roll. See you next Thursday 7-9 PM on the radio at KMRE 88.3 FM or www.kmre.org. 

BANG! @southernvangard #radio Ep390! We're a mere TEN episodes away from Episode 400 - if our rudimentary math calculations are correct, we're hitting four hundo around mid-April. Spring time will be a fun time here at the best underground rap show on the planet. Come on - what show do you know wraps up with one of it's co-hosts rocking out to the J Geils Band? The answer - NO ONE. YOU WAAAAALCOME!!!!! #SmithsonianGrade #WeAreTheGard #YouWaaaaalcome // southernvangard.com // @southernvangard on all platforms #undergroundhiphop #boombap #DJ #mixshow #interview #podcast #ATL #WORLDWIDE #RIPCOMBATJACK Recorded live February 5, 2024 @ Dirty Blanket Studios, Marietta, GA southernvangard.com @southernvangard on all platforms #SmithsonianGrade #WeAreTheGard twitter/IG: @southernvangard @jondoeatl @cappuccinomeeks Pre-Game Beats - Selections from Boom Bap Crew Vol. 1 Talk Break Inst. - "Finger Tips" - Kuartz "The Lesson" - Emskee x MiLKCRATE ft. DJ Jon Doe "Pedal To The Floor" - Tha God Fahim & Cookin Soul "More Of The Raw" - Da Flyy Hooligan (prod. DJ Rhettmatic) "Move " - Crotona P x Sinamatik ft. Rico Blox "Hero" - Masta Ace & Marco Polo ft. Inspectah Deck Talk Break Inst. - "Forget About Me" - Kuartz "Murderers' Row" - Reef The Lost Cauze ft. Dillon, Miggs Sonny, Saleem Oxygeen & DJ Skipmode "Late 90's (DK Remix)" - PR Dean ft. Copywrite, Heleos, King Nova & Messiah Kaine "Molly" - Tame One & Parallel Thought ft. Aesop Rock & Breeze Brewin "Man Down" - Napsndreds "Talk Is Cheap" - Crisis ft. Eto Talk Break Inst. - "Stay" - Kuartz "Macys Lo Section" - Jay Royale feat. Nym Lo (prod. Crown, cuts DJ Eclipse) "Must Don't Know" - IamGAWD & Clypto ft. Rufus Sims "Blood In Blood Out" - Bozack Morris ft. Asun Eastwood & Lex Talionis "Mystery Science Theater" - HiDEF x Estee Nack ft. Raz Fresco "Washed Ashore" - Waterr X Wavy Da Ghawd "Dwayne Johnson" - Chuck Chan x Squeegie Oblong "Lion Vs. Panther" - Crimeapple & Preservation "Whats Today Math?" - Al.Divino "1 Way Ticket" - Forever Pavot & XP The Marxman Talk Break Inst. - "Ain't No Way" - Kuartz "Love Stinks" - The J. Geils Band "Big Beat" - Billy Squier

Yes, you are right - Toto IV was released in March of 1982, not April of 1985.  However, the rock group Toto was a celebrity phenomenon in 1985, particularly in Japan.  In April of 1985 MTV broadcast a special episode showcasing a Toto concert from Japan.Toto IV was both a commercial and critical success.  Three of the singles would be top 10 hits, and the album would achieve triple Platinum status as it became known as one of the best albums of the year.  Critically, the group would earn six Grammy awards including Album of the Year, and Record of the Year for the single “Rosanna.”The group would spend much of 1982 and 1983 on tour, though there would be some changes in personnel.  Bassist David Hungate left the group shortly after the release of Toto IV, sensing that the success of the album and the fame of the group would negatively impact time with his family.  Lead singer Bobby Kimball was in and out of court fighting prosecution on drug-related charges.  Those charges would eventually be dismissed in late May 1983, but he would be released from the band after missing many recording sessions.The album is a soft-rock masterpiece, with balanced synth and keyboard sounds and soaring harmonies.  Songs have a jazzy feel, interspersed with piano-based ballads.Lynch has been lobbying for a long time to do this album, and we hope you enjoy it for this week's podcast. RosannaThe biggest hit from the album was often thought to be inspired by actress Rosanna Arquette who was dating keyboardist Steve Porcaro.  However, writer David Paich says the lyrics were based on various girls he had known in the past rather than a single individual.  The shuffle drum pattern is reminiscent of both Bo Diddley rhythms and John Bonham's groove on "Fool in the Rain."Make BelieveThis sunny-feeling single hit number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100.  It describes a time of looking back with an old lover, remembering the moments they shared.  It was the second US single from the album.  David Paich wrote the song, and Bobby Kimball is on lead vocals.I Won't Hold You BackThe piano-oriented ballad peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, and held the number 1 spot on the US Adult Contemporary chart for three weeks.  It looks back on a failed romance as the singer lets go of what he had.  Guitarist Steve Lukather takes lead vocals duties for this track, and Eagles alumnus Timothy B. Schmidt provides backing vocals in the chorus. AfricaWhile this song did well as a single, it has grown into a cultural icon.  It did top the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983, but would see a resurgence in popularity over time, particularly after Weezer's cover in 2018.  The lyrics depict a man struggling between his love for the continent and returning to his relationship elsewhere.  ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:Main theme from the motion picture “Ladyhawke”This fantasy movie starring Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Matthew Broderick hit the big screen in April of 1985. STAFF PICKS:Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the WavesWayne starts us off with a popular and optimistic song that got the band Grammy-nominated for Best New Artist.  It is off their debut and eponymously named album.  It was first released in Canada, though the band was out of England.  It went to number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100.Summer of '69 by Bryan AdamsBruce brings us this well-known song from Adams' album "Reckless," which was released in April of 1985.  The original name was going to be "Best Days of My Life," and in the first draft the lyric "summer of '69" only appeared once.  With the name change, "Summer of '69" replaced several appearances of the phrase "best days of my life," in the track.High On You by SurvivorRob's staff pick is an ode to the intoxication and infatuation of new love.  It is the first top 10 single from their album "Vital Signs," and arose from a jam during touring sound checks.  Mickey Thomas from Jefferson Starship and Peter Wolf from the J. Geils Band are supporting musicians on this track.Silent Running by Mike + the MechanicsLynch finishes the staff picks with a synth-heavy song with science fiction lyrics.  The singer is a father who has journeyed into the future and is now communicating back to his son with instructions for mitigating the coming war and catastrophe.  This is the first single released by Mike + the Mechanics, and it went to number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. INSTRUMENTAL TRACK:Moments In Love by Art of NoiseThis largely instrumental piece is a signature song from the art rock group. Thanks for listening to “What the Riff?!?” NOTE: To adjust the loudness of the music or voices, you may adjust the balance on your device. VOICES are stronger in the LEFT channel, and MUSIC is stronger on the RIGHT channel.Please follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/whattheriffpodcast/, and message or email us with what you'd like to hear, what you think of the show, and any rock worthy memes we can share.Of course we'd love for you to rate the show in your podcast platform!**NOTE: What the Riff?!? does not own the rights to any of these songs and we neither sell, nor profit from them. We share them so you can learn about them and purchase them for your own collections.

Pat opens with a moving tribute to his friend Mark Barnett and plays some J.Geils Band.

Linda Ronstadt's fifth solo studio album would be her breakout one.  Heart Like a Wheel is a folk/country/rock mixture of covers and originals, and was the last album Ronstadt released on the Capitol Records label after she had moved to Asylum records.  It would reach the top of the Billboard 200, spend 51 weeks on the chart, and fuel Ronstadt's rise to the first "arena class" female rock star.Linda Maria Ronstadt is the third of four children born to a family of Mexican and German descent and a long history in Arizona.  Her professional start is considered to be the folk rock trio called the Stone Poneys, who had a hit in 1968 with the song "Different Drum."  Ronstadt is famous for touring in the early 70's with a backing band that included Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner - artists who would go on to form the Eagles.  Her four earlier albums produced only moderate success before her fortune turned dramatically upward with "Heart Like a Wheel."While Ronstadt's style is often referred to as country rock, she called it "Mexican bluegrass" in 1968.  Over time she would record songs in a variety of styles from rock to folk and country, including some Spanish language songs and even rock songs reimagined as lullabies.  Her ability to cross genres contributed both to her success and her share of criticism from those expecting something different.  Success did not always agree with her, as she felt she was encouraged to project a tough rock image that did not accurately reflect her true self.  Linda Ronstadt was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, shortly after her retirement from music in 2011.Bruce presents this breakthrough country rock album in this week's podcast. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)This cover was originally written and recorded by Hank Williams back in 1951.  It went to number 2 on the Billboard country singles chart back then.  A bunch of people have covered this song, but Ronstadt's cover is the most successful, going to number 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and winning her a Grammy in 1976 for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.You're No GoodThe first single released from the album went to number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.  It is a cover of a song written by Clint Ballard Jr. and first performed by Dee Dee Warwick in 1963.  The success of this "glad to be broken up" song would set the template for Ronstadt over the next five years of doing remakes of classic rock and roll songs.Faithless LoveAn original recording rather than a cover, this deeper cut was written by J.D. Souther, who wrote or co-wrote songs for both Ronstadt and the Eagles.  It would hit number 10 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart when Glen Campbell covered it in 1984. Willin'This song was first performed by Little Feat and was written by their front man, Lowell George.  Ronstadt's cover was used in James Cameron's film "The Abyss" in 1989.  Lowell wrote this song while he was a member of the Mothers of Invention. ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:Dance of the Reed Flutes (from the nature documentary "Animals Are Beautiful People")In addition to its frequent use in the Christmas ballet "The Nutcracker," this piece was also used in the nature documentary STAFF PICKS:Whatever Gets You Through the Night by John LennonLynch kicks off the staff picks with a song originally inspired by Lennon's habit of late night channel surfing.  He caught the phrase from Reverend Ike, an evangelist on TV, and turned it into this song.  It went to number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Lennon got Elton John to provide the vocal duet for this song, and in return Lennon appeared onstage with John during his Thanksgiving concert at Madison Square Garden - one of his last major live appearances.I Can Help  by Billy SwanWayne brings us a song we all thought was performed by Ringo Starr.  Billy Swan was better known as a country songwriter than a solo artist, but this single would be his sole number 1 hit.  It is a particularly positive song, with a nice reprise at the end of the album cut.Must of Got Lost by the J. Geils Band Rob features an early hit from the J. Geils Band, reaching number 12 on the charts.  It has a funky hook, and a grammatically incorrect title, with lyrics that explore why a relationship went wrong.Wishing You Were Here by ChicagoBruce closes out the staff picks with a song off the Chicago VI album.  Chicago gets some assistance from the Beach Boys, who contribute to the backing vocals on this song about missing the one you love while on the road with a touring band. COMEDY TRACK:Wildwood Weed by Jim StaffordWe finish off with a story in song about that whacky tobackey in a country setting

Episode 170 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Astral Weeks", the early solo career of Van Morrison, and the death of Bert Berns.  Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a forty-minute bonus episode available, on "Stoned Soul Picnic" by Laura Nyro. 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/ Errata At one point I, ridiculously, misspeak the name of Charles Mingus' classic album. Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is not about dinner ladies. Also, I say Warren Smith Jr is on "Slim Slow Slider" when I meant to say Richard Davis (Smith is credited in some sources, but I only hear acoustic guitar, bass, and soprano sax on the finished track). Resources As usual, I've created Mixcloud playlists, with full versions of all the songs excerpted in this episode. As there are so many Van Morrison songs in this episode, the Mixcloud is split into three parts, one, two, and three. The information about Bert Berns comes from Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues by Joel Selvin. I've used several biographies of Van Morrison. Van Morrison: Into the Music by Ritchie Yorke is so sycophantic towards Morrison that the word “hagiography” would be, if anything, an understatement. Van Morrison: No Surrender by Johnny Rogan, on the other hand, is the kind of book that talks in the introduction about how the author has had to avoid discussing certain topics because of legal threats from the subject. Howard deWitt's Van Morrison: Astral Weeks to Stardom is over-thorough in the way some self-published books are, while Clinton Heylin's Can You Feel the Silence? is probably the best single volume on the artist. Information on Woodstock comes from Small Town Talk by Barney Hoskyns. Ryan Walsh's Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968 is about more than Astral Weeks, but does cover Morrison's period in and around Boston in more detail than anything else. The album Astral Weeks is worth hearing in its entirety. Not all of the music on The Authorized Bang Collection is as listenable, but it's the most complete collection available of everything Morrison recorded for Bang. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Before we start, a quick warning -- this episode contains discussion of organised crime activity, and of sudden death. It also contains excerpts of songs which hint at attraction to underage girls and discuss terminal illness. If those subjects might upset you, you might want to read the transcript rather than listen to the episode. Anyway, on with the show. Van Morrison could have been the co-writer of "Piece of My Heart". Bert Berns was one of the great collaborators in the music business, and almost every hit he ever had was co-written, and he was always on the lookout for new collaborators, and in 1967 he was once again working with Van Morrison, who he'd worked with a couple of years earlier when Morrison was still the lead singer of Them. Towards the beginning of 1967 he had come up with a chorus, but no verse. He had the hook, "Take another little piece of my heart" -- Berns was writing a lot of songs with "heart" in the title at the time -- and wanted Morrison to come up with a verse to go with it. Van Morrison declined. He wasn't interested in writing pop songs, or in collaborating with other writers, and so Berns turned to one of his regular collaborators, Jerry Ragavoy, and it was Ragavoy who added the verses to one of the biggest successes of Berns' career: [Excerpt: Erma Franklin, "Piece of My Heart"] The story of how Van Morrison came to make the album that's often considered his masterpiece is intimately tied up with the story we've been telling in the background for several episodes now, the story of Atlantic Records' sale to Warners, and the story of Bert Berns' departure from Atlantic. For that reason, some parts of the story I'm about to tell will be familiar to those of you who've been paying close attention to the earlier episodes, but as always I'm going to take you from there to somewhere we've never been before. In 1962, Bert Berns was a moderately successful songwriter, who had written or co-written songs for many artists, especially for artists on Atlantic Records. He'd written songs for Atlantic artists like LaVern Baker, and when Atlantic's top pop producers Leiber and Stoller started to distance themselves from the label in the early sixties, he had moved into production as well, writing and producing Solomon Burke's big hit "Cry to Me": [Excerpt: Solomon Burke, "Cry to Me"] He was the producer and writer or co-writer of most of Burke's hits from that point forward, but at first he was still a freelance producer, and also produced records for Scepter Records, like the Isley Brothers' version of "Twist and Shout", another song he'd co-written, that one with Phil Medley. And as a jobbing songwriter, of course his songs were picked up by other producers, so Leiber and Stoller produced a version of his song "Tell Him" for the Exciters on United Artists: [Excerpt: The Exciters, "Tell Him"] Berns did freelance work for Leiber and Stoller as well as the other people he was working for. For example, when their former protege Phil Spector released his hit version of "Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah", they got Berns to come up with a knockoff arrangement of "How Much is that Doggie in the Window?", released as by Baby Jane and the Rockabyes, with a production credit "Produced by Leiber and Stoller, directed by Bert Berns": [Excerpt: Baby Jane and the Rockabyes, "How Much is that Doggie in the Window?"] And when Leiber and Stoller stopped producing work for United Artists, Berns took over some of the artists they'd been producing for the label, like Marv Johnson, as well as producing his own new artists, like Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters, who had been discovered by Berns' friend Jerry Ragovoy, with whom he co-wrote their "Cry Baby": [Excerpt: Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters, "Cry Baby"] Berns was an inveterate collaborator. He was one of the few people to get co-writing credits with Leiber and Stoller, and he would collaborate seemingly with everyone who spoke to him for five minutes. He would also routinely reuse material, cutting the same songs time and again with different artists, knowing that a song must be a hit for *someone*. One of his closest collaborators was Jerry Wexler, who also became one of his best friends, even though one of their earliest interactions had been when Wexler had supervised Phil Spector's production of Berns' "Twist and Shout" for the Top Notes, a record that Berns had thought had butchered the song. Berns was, in his deepest bones, a record man. Listening to the records that Berns made, there's a strong continuity in everything he does. There's a love there of simplicity -- almost none of his records have more than three chords. He loved Latin sounds and rhythms -- a love he shared with other people working in Brill Building R&B at the time, like Leiber and Stoller and Spector -- and great voices in emotional distress. There's a reason that the records he produced for Solomon Burke were the first R&B records to be labelled "soul". Berns was one of those people for whom feel and commercial success are inextricable. He was an artist -- the records he made were powerfully expressive -- but he was an artist for whom the biggest validation was *getting a hit*. Only a small proportion of the records he made became hits, but enough did that in the early sixties he was a name that could be spoken of in the same breath as Leiber and Stoller, Spector, and Bacharach and David. And Atlantic needed a record man. The only people producing hits for the label at this point were Leiber and Stoller, and they were in the process of stopping doing freelance work and setting up their own label, Red Bird, as we talked about in the episode on the Shangri-Las. And anyway, they wanted more money than they were getting, and Jerry Wexler was never very keen on producers wanting money that could have gone to the record label. Wexler decided to sign Bert Berns up as a staff producer for Atlantic towards the end of 1963, and by May 1964 it was paying off. Atlantic hadn't been having hits, and now Berns had four tracks he wrote and produced for Atlantic on the Hot One Hundred, of which the highest charting was "My Girl Sloopy" by the Vibrations: [Excerpt: The Vibrations, "My Girl Sloopy"] Even higher on the charts though was the Beatles' version of "Twist and Shout". That record, indeed, had been successful enough in the UK that Berns had already made exploratory trips to the UK and produced records for Dick Rowe at Decca, a partnership we heard about in the episode on "Here Comes the Night". Berns had made partnerships there which would have vast repercussions for the music industry in both countries, and one of them was with the arranger Mike Leander, who was the uncredited arranger for the Drifters session for "Under the Boardwalk", a song written by Artie Resnick and Kenny Young and produced by Berns, recorded the day after the group's lead singer Rudy Lewis died of an overdose: [Excerpt: The Drifters, "Under the Boardwalk"] Berns was making hits on a regular basis by mid-1964, and the income from the label's new success allowed Jerry Wexler and the Ertegun brothers to buy out their other partners -- Ahmet Ertegun's old dentist, who had put up some of the initial money, and Miriam Bienstock, the ex-wife of their initial partner Herb Abramson, who'd got Abramson's share in the company after the divorce, and who was now married to Freddie Bienstock of Hill and Range publishing. Wexler and the Erteguns now owned the whole label. Berns also made regular trips to the UK to keep up his work with British musicians, and in one of those trips, as we heard in the episode on "Here Comes the Night", he produced several tracks for the group Them, including that track, written by Berns: [Excerpt: Them, "Here Comes the Night"] And a song written by the group's lead singer Van Morrison, "Gloria": [Excerpt: Them, "Gloria"] But Berns hadn't done much other work with them, because he had a new project. Part of the reason that Wexler and the Erteguns had gained total control of Atlantic was because, in a move pushed primarily by Wexler, they were looking at selling it. They'd already tried to merge with Leiber and Stoller's Red Bird Records, but lost the opportunity after a disastrous meeting, but they were in negotiations with several other labels, negotiations which would take another couple of years to bear fruit. But they weren't planning on getting out of the record business altogether. Whatever deal they made, they'd remain with Atlantic, but they were also planning on starting another label. Bert Berns had seen how successful Leiber and Stoller were with Red Bird, and wanted something similar. Wexler and the Erteguns didn't want to lose their one hit-maker, so they came up with an offer that would benefit all of them. Berns' publishing contract had just ended, so they would set up a new publishing company, WEB IV, named after the initials Wexler, Ertegun, and Berns, and the fact that there were four of them. Berns would own fifty percent of that, and the other three would own the other half. And they were going to start up a new label, with seventeen thousand dollars of the Atlantic partners' money. That label would be called Bang -- for Bert, Ahmet, Neshui, and Gerald -- and would be a separate company from Atlantic, so not affected by any sale. Berns would continue as a staff producer for Atlantic for now, but he'd have "his own" label, which he'd have a proper share in, and whether he was making hits for Atlantic or Bang, his partners would have a share of the profits. The first two records on Bang were "Shake and Jerk" by Billy Lamont, a track that they licensed from elsewhere and which didn't do much, and a more interesting track co-written by Berns. Bob Feldman, Richard Gottehrer, and Jerry Goldstein were Brill Building songwriters who had become known for writing "My Boyfriend's Back", a hit for the Angels, a couple of years earlier: [Excerpt: The Angels, "My Boyfriend's Back"] With the British invasion, the three of them had decided to create their own foreign beat group. As they couldn't do British accents, they pretended to be Australian, and as the Strangeloves -- named after the Stanley Kubrick film Dr  Strangelove -- they released one flop single. They cut another single, a version of "Bo Diddley", but the label they released their initial record through didn't want it. They then took the record to Atlantic, where Jerry Wexler said that they weren't interested in releasing some white men singing "Bo Diddley". But Ahmet Ertegun suggested they bring the track to Bert Berns to see what he thought. Berns pointed out that if they changed the lyrics and melody, but kept the same backing track, they could claim the copyright in the resulting song themselves. He worked with them on a new lyric, inspired by the novel Candy, a satirical pornographic novel co-written by Terry Southern, who had also co-written the screenplay to Dr Strangelove. Berns supervised some guitar overdubs, and the result went to number eleven: [Excerpt: The Strangeloves, "I Want Candy"] Berns had two other songs on the hot one hundred when that charted, too -- Them's version of "Here Comes the Night", and the version of Van McCoy's song "Baby I'm Yours" he'd produced for Barbara Lewis. Three records on the charts on three different labels. But despite the sheer number of charting records he'd had, he'd never had a number one, until the Strangeloves went on tour. Before the tour they'd cut a version of "My Girl Sloopy" for their album -- Berns always liked to reuse material -- and they started performing the song on the tour. The Dave Clark Five, who they were supporting, told them it sounded like a hit and they were going to do their own version when they got home. Feldman, Gottehrer, and Goldstein decided *they* might as well have the hit with it as anyone else. Rather than put it out as a Strangeloves record -- their own record was still rising up the charts, and there's no reason to be your own competition -- they decided to get a group of teenage musicians who supported them on the last date of the tour to sing new vocals to the backing track from the Strangeloves album. The group had been called Rick and the Raiders, but they argued so much that the Strangeloves nicknamed them the Hatfields and the McCoys, and when their version of "My Girl Sloopy", retitled "Hang on Sloopy", came out, it was under the band name The McCoys: [Excerpt: The McCoys, "Hang on Sloopy"] Berns was becoming a major success, and with major success in the New York music industry in the 1960s came Mafia involvement. We've talked a fair bit about Morris Levy's connection with the mob in many previous episodes, but mob influence was utterly pervasive throughout the New York part of the industry, and so for example Richard Gottehrer of the Strangeloves used to call Sonny Franzese of the Colombo crime family "Uncle John", they were so close. Franzese was big in the record business too, even after his conviction for bank robbery. Berns, unlike many of the other people in the industry, had no scruples at all about hanging out with Mafiosi. indeed his best friend in the mid sixties was Tommy Eboli, a member of the Genovese crime family who had been in the mob since the twenties, starting out working for "Lucky" Luciano. Berns was not himself a violent man, as far as anyone can tell, but he liked the glamour of hanging out with organised crime figures, and they liked hanging out with someone who was making so many hit records. And so while Leiber and Stoller, for example, ended up selling Red Bird Records to George Goldner for a single dollar in order to get away from the Mafiosi who were slowly muscling in on the label, Berns had no problems at all in keeping his own label going. Indeed, he would soon be doing so without the involvement of Atlantic Records. Berns' final work for Atlantic was in June 1966, when he cut a song he had co-written with Jeff Barry for the Drifters, inspired by the woman who would soon become Atlantic's biggest star: [Excerpt: The Drifters, "Aretha"] The way Berns told the story in public, there was no real bad blood between him, Wexler, and the Erteguns -- he'd just decided to go his own way, and he said “I will always be grateful to them for the help they've given me in getting Bang started,” The way Berns' wife would later tell the story, Jerry Wexler had suggested that rather than Berns owning fifty percent of Web IV, they should start to split everything four ways, and she had been horrified by this suggestion, kicked up a stink about it, and Wexler had then said that either Berns needed to buy the other three out, or quit and give them everything, and demanded Berns pay them three hundred thousand dollars. According to other people, Berns decided he wanted one hundred percent control of Web IV, and raised a breach of contract lawsuit against Atlantic, over the usual royalty non-payments that were endemic in the industry at that point. When Atlantic decided to fight the lawsuit rather than settle, Berns' mob friends got involved and threatened to break the legs of Wexler's fourteen-year-old daughter, and the mob ended up with full control of Bang records, while Berns had full control of his publishing company. Given later events, and in particular given the way Wexler talked about Berns until the day he died, with a vitriol that he never used about any of the other people he had business disputes with, it seems likely to me that the latter story is closer to the truth than the former. But most people involved weren't talking about the details of what went on, and so Berns still retained his relationships with many of the people in the business, not least of them Jeff Barry, so when Barry and Ellie Greenwich had a new potential star, it was Berns they thought to bring him to, even though the artist was white and Berns had recently given an interview saying that he wanted to work with more Black artists, because white artists simply didn't have soul. Barry and Greenwich's marriage was breaking up at the time, but they were still working together professionally, as we discussed in the episode on "River Deep, Mountain High", and they had been the main production team at Red Bird. But with Red Bird in terminal decline, they turned elsewhere when they found a potential major star after Greenwich was asked to sing backing vocals on one of his songwriting demos. They'd signed the new songwriter, Neil Diamond, to Leiber and Stoller's company Trio Music at first, but they soon started up their own company, Tallyrand Music, and signed Diamond to that, giving Diamond fifty percent of the company and keeping twenty-five percent each for themselves, and placed one of his songs with Jay and the Americans in 1965: [Excerpt: Jay and the Americans, "Sunday and Me"] That record made the top twenty, and had established Diamond as a songwriter, but he was still not a major performer -- he'd released one flop single on Columbia Records before meeting Barry and Greenwich. But they thought he had something, and Bert Berns agreed. Diamond was signed to Bang records, and Berns had a series of pre-production meetings with Barry and Greenwich before they took Diamond into the studio -- Barry and Greenwich were going to produce Diamond for Bang, as they had previously produced tracks for Red Bird, but they were going to shape the records according to Berns' aesthetic. The first single released from Diamond's first session, "Solitary Man", only made number fifty-five, but it was the first thing Diamond had recorded to make the Hot One Hundred at all: [Excerpt: Neil Diamond, "Solitary Man"] The second single, though, was much more Bert Berns' sort of thing -- a three-chord song that sounded like it could have been written by Berns himself, especially after Barry and Greenwich had added the Latin-style horns that Berns loved so much. Indeed according to some sources, Berns did make a songwriting suggestion -- Diamond's song had apparently been called "Money Money", and Berns had thought that was a ridiculous title, and suggested calling it "Cherry Cherry" instead: [Excerpt: Neil Diamond, "Cherry Cherry"] That became Diamond's first top ten hit. While Greenwich had been the one who had discovered Diamond, and Barry and Greenwich were the credited producers on all Diamond's records  as a result, Diamond soon found himself collaborating far more with Barry than with Greenwich, so for example the first number one he wrote, for the Monkees rather than himself, ended up having its production just credited to Barry. That record used a backing track recorded in New York by the same set of musicians used on most Bang records, like Al Gorgoni on lead guitar and Russ Savakus on bass: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "I'm a Believer"] Neil Diamond was becoming a solid hit-maker, but he started rubbing up badly against Berns. Berns wanted hits and only hits, and Diamond thought of himself as a serious artist. The crisis came when two songs were under contention for Diamond's next single in late 1967, after he'd had a whole run of hits for the label. The song Diamond wanted to release, "Shilo", was deeply personal to him: [Excerpt: Neil Diamond, "Shilo"] But Bert Berns had other ideas. "Shilo" didn't sound like a hit, and he knew a hit when he heard one. No, the clear next single, the only choice, was "Kentucky Woman": [Excerpt: Neil Diamond, "Kentucky Woman"] But Berns tried to compromise as best he could. Diamond's contract was up for renewal, and you don't want to lose someone who has had, as Diamond had at that point, five top twenty hits in a row, and who was also writing songs like "I'm a Believer" and "Red Red Wine". He told Diamond that he'd let "Shilo" come out as a single if Diamond signed an extension to his contract. Diamond said that not only was he not going to do that, he'd taken legal advice and discovered that there were problems with his contract which let him record for other labels -- the word "exclusive" had been missed out of the text, among other things. He wasn't going to be recording for Bang at all any more. The lawsuits over this would stretch out for a decade, and Diamond would eventually win, but the first few months were very, very difficult for Diamond. When he played the Bitter End, a club in New York, stink bombs were thrown into the audience. The Bitter End's manager was assaulted and severely beaten. Diamond moved his wife and child out of Manhattan, borrowed a gun, and after his last business meeting with Berns was heard talking about how he needed to contact the District Attorney and hire a bodyguard. Of the many threats that were issued against Diamond, though, the least disturbing was probably the threat Berns made to Diamond's career. Berns pointed out to Diamond in no uncertain terms that he didn't need Diamond anyway -- he already had someone he could replace Diamond with, another white male solo singer with a guitar who could churn out guaranteed hits. He had Van Morrison: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Brown-Eyed Girl"] When we left Van Morrison, Them had just split up due to the problems they had been having with their management team. Indeed, the problems Morrison was having with his managers seem curiously similar to the issues that Diamond was having with Bert Berns -- something that could possibly have been a warning sign to everyone involved, if any of them had known the full details of everyone else's situation. Sadly for all of them, none of them did. Them had had some early singles success, notably with the tracks Berns had produced for them, but Morrison's opinion of their second album, Them Again, was less than complimentary, and in general that album is mostly only remembered for the version of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", which is one of those cover versions that inspires subsequent covers more than the original ever did: [Excerpt: Them, "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"] Them had toured the US around the time of the release of that album, but that tour had been a disaster. The group had gained a reputation for incredible live shows, including performances at the Whisky A-Go-Go with the Doors and Captain Beefheart as their support acts, but during the tour Van Morrison had decided that Phil Solomon, the group's manager, was getting too much money -- Morrison had agreed to do the tour on a salary, rather than a percentage, but the tour had been more successful than he'd expected, and Solomon was making a great deal of money off the tour, money that Morrison believed rightfully belonged to him. The group started collecting the money directly from promoters, and got into legal trouble with Solomon as a result. The tour ended with the group having ten thousand dollars that Solomon believed -- quite possibly correctly -- that he was owed. Various gangsters whose acquaintance the group had made offered to have the problem taken care of, but they decided instead to come to a legal agreement -- they would keep the money, and in return Solomon, whose production company the group were signed to, would get to keep all future royalties from the Them tracks. This probably seemed a good idea at the time, when the idea of records earning royalties for sixty or more years into the future seemed ridiculous, but Morrison in particular came to regret the decision bitterly. The group played one final gig when they got back to Belfast, but then split up, though a version of the group led by the bass player Alan Henderson continued performing for a few years to no success. Morrison put together a band that played a handful of gigs under the name Them Again, with little success, but he already had his eyes set on a return to the US. In Morrison's eyes, Bert Berns had been the only person in the music industry who had really understood him, and the two worked well together. He had also fallen in love with an American woman, Janet Planet, and wanted to find some way to be with her. As Morrison said later “I had a couple of other offers but I thought this was the best one, seeing as I wanted to come to America anyway. I can't remember the exact details of the deal. It wasn't really that spectacular, money-wise, I don't think. But it was pretty hard to refuse from the point of view that I really respected Bert as a producer. I'd rather have worked with Bert than some other guy with a bigger record company. From that angle, it was spectacular because Bert was somebody that I wanted to work with.” There's little evidence that Morrison did have other offers -- he was already getting a reputation as someone who it was difficult to work with -- but he and Berns had a mutual respect, and on January the ninth, 1967, he signed a contract with Bang records. That contract has come in for a lot of criticism over the years, but it was actually, *by the standards in operation in the music business in 1967*, a reasonably fair one. The contract provided that, for a $2,500 a year advance, Bang would record twelve sides in the first year, with an option for up to fifty more that year, and options for up to four more years on the same terms. Bang had the full ownership of the masters and the right to do what they wanted with them. According to at least one biographer, Morrison added clauses requiring Bang to actually record the twelve sides a year, and to put out at least three singles and one album per year while the contract was in operation. He also added one other clause which seems telling -- "Company agrees that Company will not make any reference to the name THEM on phonograph records, or in advertising copy in connection with the recording of Artist." Morrison was, at first, extremely happy with Berns. The problems started with their first session: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Brown-Eyed Girl (takes 1-6)"] When Morrison had played the songs he was working on for Berns, Berns had remarked that they sounded great with just Morrison and his guitar, so Morrison was surprised when he got into the studio to find the whole standard New York session crew there -- the same group of session players who were playing for everyone from the Monkees to Laura Nyro, from Neil Diamond to the Shangri-Las -- along with the Sweet Inspirations to provide backing vocals. As he described it later "This fellow Bert, he made it the way he wanted to, and I accepted that he was producing it... I'd write a song and bring it into the group and we'd sit there and bash it around and that's all it was -- they weren't playing the songs, they were just playing whatever it was. They'd say 'OK, we got drums so let's put drums on it,' and they weren't thinking about the song, all they were thinking about was putting drums on it... But it was my song, and I had to watch it go down." The first song they cut was "Brown-Eyed Girl", a song which Morrison has said was originally a calypso, and was originally titled "Brown-skinned Girl", though he's differed in interviews as to whether Berns changed the lyric or if he just decided to sing it differently without thinking about it in the session. Berns turned "Brown-Eyed Girl" into a hit single, because that was what he tended to do with songs, and the result sounds a lot like the kind of record that Bang were releasing for Neil Diamond: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Brown-Eyed Girl"] Morrison has, in later years, expressed his distaste for what was done to the song, and in particular he's said that the backing vocal part by the Sweet Inspirations was added by Berns and he disliked it: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Brown-Eyed Girl"] Morrison has been very dismissive of "Brown-Eyed Girl" over the years, but he seems not to have disliked it at the time, and the song itself is one that has stood the test of time, and is often pointed to by other songwriters as a great example of the writer's craft. I remember reading one interview with Randy Newman -- sadly, while I thought it was in Paul Zollo's "Songwriters on Songwriting" I just checked that and it's not, so I can't quote it precisely -- in which he says that he often points to the line "behind the stadium with you" as a perfect piece of writing, because it's such a strangely specific detail that it convinces you that it actually happened, and that means you implicitly believe the rest of the song. Though it should be made very clear here that Morrison has always said, over and over again, that nothing in his songs is based directly on his own experiences, and that they're all products of his imagination and composites of people he's known. This is very important to note before we go any further, because "Brown-Eyed Girl" is one of many songs from this period in Morrison's career which imply that their narrator has an attraction to underage girls -- in this case he remembers "making love in the green grass" in the distant past, while he also says "saw you just the other day, my how you have grown", and that particular combination is not perhaps one that should be dwelt on too closely. But there is of course a very big difference between a songwriter treating a subject as something that is worth thinking about in the course of a song and writing about their own lives, and that can be seen on one of the other songs that Morrison recorded in these sessions, "T.B. Sheets": [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "T.B. Sheets"] It seems very unlikely indeed that Van Morrison actually had a lover die of tuberculosis, as the lover in the song does, and while a lot of people seem convinced that it's autobiographical, simply because of the intensity of the performance (Morrison apparently broke down in tears after recording it), nobody has ever found anyone in Morrison's life who fits the story in the song, and he's always ridiculed such suggestions. What is true though is that "T.B. Sheets" is evidence against another claim that Morrison has made in the past - that on these initial sessions the eight songs recorded were meant to be the A and B sides of four singles and there was no plan of making an album. It is simply not plausible at all to suggest that "T.B. Sheets" -- a slow blues about terminal illness, that lasts nearly ten minutes -- was ever intended as a single. It wouldn't have even come close to fitting on one side of a forty-five. It was also presumably at this time that Berns brought up the topic of "Piece of My Heart". When Berns signed Erma Franklin, it was as a way of getting at Jerry Wexler, who had gone from being his closest friend to someone he wasn't on speaking terms with, by signing the sister of his new signing Aretha. Morrison, of course, didn't co-write it -- he'd already decided that he didn't play well with others -- but it's tempting to think about how the song might have been different had Morrison written it. The song in some ways seems a message to Wexler -- haven't you had enough from me already? -- but it's also notable how many songs Berns was writing with the word "heart" in the chorus, given that Berns knew he was on borrowed time from his own heart condition. As an example, around the same time he and Jerry Ragavoy co-wrote "Piece of My Heart", they also co-wrote another song, "Heart Be Still", a flagrant lift from "Peace Be Still" by Aretha Franklin's old mentor Rev. James Cleveland, which they cut with Lorraine Ellison: [Excerpt: Lorraine Ellison, "Heart Be Still"] Berns' heart condition had got much worse as a result of the stress from splitting with Atlantic, and he had started talking about maybe getting open-heart surgery, though that was still very new and experimental. One wonders how he must have felt listening to Morrison singing about watching someone slowly dying. Morrison has since had nothing but negative things to say about the sessions in March 1967, but at the time he seemed happy. He returned to Belfast almost straight away after the sessions, on the understanding that he'd be back in the US if "Brown-Eyed Girl" was a success. He wrote to Janet Planet in San Francisco telling her to listen to the radio -- she'd know if she heard "Brown-Eyed Girl" that he would be back on his way to see her. She soon did hear the song, and he was soon back in the US: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Brown-Eyed Girl"] By August, "Brown-Eyed Girl" had become a substantial hit, making the top ten, and Morrison was back in the States. He was starting to get less happy with Berns though. Bang had put out the eight tracks he'd recorded in March as an album, titled Blowin' Your Mind, and Morrison thought that the crass pseudo-psychedelia of the title, liner notes, and cover was very inappropriate -- Morrison has never been a heavy user of any drugs other than alcohol, and didn't particularly want to be associated with them. He also seems to have not realised that every track he recorded in those initial sessions would be on the album, which many people have called one of the great one-sided albums of all time -- side A, with "Brown-Eyed Girl", "He Ain't Give You None" and the extended "T.B. Sheets" tends to get far more love than side B, with five much lesser songs on it. Berns held a party for Morrison on a cruise around Manhattan, but it didn't go well -- when the performer Tiny Tim tried to get on board, Carmine "Wassel" DeNoia, a mobster friend of Berns' who was Berns' partner in a studio they'd managed to get from Atlantic as part of the settlement when Berns left, was so offended by Tim's long hair and effeminate voice and mannerisms that he threw him overboard into the harbour. DeNoia was meant to be Morrison's manager in the US, working with Berns, but he and Morrison didn't get on at all -- at one point DeNoia smashed Morrison's acoustic guitar over his head, and only later regretted the damage he'd done to a nice guitar. And Morrison and Berns weren't getting on either. Morrison went back into the studio to record four more songs for a follow-up to "Brown-Eyed Girl", but there was again a misunderstanding. Morrison thought he'd been promised that this time he could do his songs the way he wanted, but Berns was just frustrated that he wasn't coming up with another "Brown-Eyed Girl", but was instead coming up with slow songs about trans women. Berns overdubbed party noises and soul backing vocals onto "Madame George", possibly in an attempt to copy the Beach Boys' Party! album with its similar feel, but it was never going to be a "Barbara Ann": [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Madame George (Bang version)"] In the end, Berns released one of the filler tracks from Blowin' Your Mind, "Ro Ro Rosey", as the next single, and it flopped. On December the twenty-ninth, Berns had a meeting with Neil Diamond, the meeting after which Diamond decided he needed to get a bodyguard. After that, he had a screaming row over the phone with Van Morrison, which made Berns ill with stress. The next day, he died of a heart attack. Berns' widow Ilene, who had only just given birth to a baby a couple of weeks earlier, would always blame Morrison for pushing her husband over the edge. Neither Van Morrison nor Jerry Wexler went to the funeral, but Neil Diamond did -- he went to try to persuade Ilene to let him out of his contract now Berns was dead. According to Janet Planet later, "We were at the hotel when we learned that Bert had died. We were just mortified, because things had been going really badly, and Van felt really bad, because I guess they'd parted having had some big fight or something... Even though he did love Bert, it was a strange relationship that lived and died in the studio... I remember we didn't go to the funeral, which probably was a mistake... I think [Van] had a really bad feeling about what was going to happen." But Morrison has later mostly talked about the more practical concerns that came up, which were largely the same as the ones Neil Diamond had, saying in 1997 "I'd signed a contract with Bert Berns for management, production, agency and record company,  publishing, the whole lot -- which was professional suicide as any lawyer will tell you now... Then the whole thing blew up. Bert Berns died and I was left broke." This was the same mistake, essentially, that he'd made with Phil Solomon, and in order to get out of it, it turned out he was going to have to do much the same for a third time.  But it was the experience with Berns specifically that traumatised Morrison enough that twenty-five years later he would still be writing songs about it, like "Big Time Operators": [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Big Time Operators"] The option to renew Morrison's contracts with Berns' companies came on the ninth of January 1968, less than two weeks after Berns' death. After his death, Berns' share of ownership in his companies had passed to his widow, who was in a quandary. She had two young children, one of whom was only a few weeks old, and she needed an income after their father had died. She was also not well disposed at all towards Morrison, who she blamed for causing her husband's death. By all accounts the amazing thing is that Berns lived as long as he did given his heart condition and the state of medical science at the time, but it's easy to understand her thinking. She wanted nothing to do with Morrison, and wanted to punish him. On the other hand, her late husband's silent partners didn't want to let their cash cow go. And so Morrison came under a huge amount of pressure in very different directions. From one side, Carmine DiNoia was determined to make more money off Morrison, and Morrison has since talked about signing further contracts at this point with a gun literally to his head, and his hotel room being shot up. But on the other side, Ilene Berns wanted to destroy Morrison's career altogether. She found out that Bert Berns hadn't got Morrison the proper work permits and reported him to the immigration authorities. Morrison came very close to being deported, but in the end he managed to escape deportation by marrying Janet Planet. The newly-married couple moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to get away from New York and the mobsters, and to try to figure out the next steps in Morrison's career. Morrison started putting together a band, which he called The Van Morrison Controversy, and working on new songs. One of his earliest connections in Massachusetts was the lead singer of a band called the Hallucinations, who he met in a bar where he was trying to get a gig: [Excerpt: The Hallucinations, "Messin' With the Kid"] The Hallucinations' lead singer was called Peter Wolf, and would much later go on to become well-known as the singer with the J. Geils Band. He and Morrison became acquaintances, and later became closer friends when they realised they had another connection -- Wolf had a late-night radio show under the name Woofa Goofa, and he'd been receiving anonymous requests for obscure blues records from a fan of the show. Morrison had been the one sending in the requests, not realising his acquaintance was the DJ. Before he got his own band together, Morrison actually guested with the Hallucinations at one show they did in May 1968, supporting John Lee Hooker. The Hallucinations had been performing "Gloria" since Them's single had come out, and they invited Morrison to join them to perform it on stage. According to Wolf, Morrison was very drunk and ranted in cod-Japanese for thirty-five minutes, and tried to sing a different song while the band played "Gloria". The audience were apparently unimpressed, even though Wolf shouted at them “Don't you know who this man is? He wrote the song!” But in truth, Morrison was sick of "Gloria" and his earlier work, and was trying to push his music in a new direction. He would later talk about having had an epiphany after hearing one particular track on the radio: [Excerpt: The Band, "I Shall Be Released"] Like almost every musician in 1968, Morrison was hit like a lightning bolt by Music From Big Pink, and he decided that he needed to turn his music in the same direction. He started writing the song "Brand New Day", which would later appear on his album Moondance, inspired by the music on the album. The Van Morrison Controversy started out as a fairly straightforward rock band, with guitarist John Sheldon, bass player Tom Kielbania, and drummer Joey Bebo. Sheldon was a novice, though his first guitar teacher was the singer James Taylor, but the other two were students at Berklee, and very serious musicians. Morrison seems to have had various managers involved in rapid succession in 1968, including one who was himself a mobster, and another who was only known as Frank, but one of these managers advanced enough money that the musicians got paid every gig. These musicians were all interested in kinds of music other than just straight rock music, and as well as rehearsing up Morrison's hits and his new songs, they would also jam with him on songs from all sorts of other genres, particularly jazz and blues. The band worked up the song that would become "Domino" based on Sheldon jamming on a Bo Diddley riff, and another time the group were rehearsing a Grant Green jazz piece, "Lazy Afternoon": [Excerpt: Grant Green, "Lazy Afternoon"] Morrison started messing with the melody, and that became his classic song "Moondance": [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Moondance"] No recordings of this electric lineup of the group are known to exist, though the backing musicians remember going to a recording studio called Ace recordings at one point and cutting some demos, which don't seem to circulate. Ace was a small studio which, according to all the published sources I've read, was best known for creating song poems, though it was a minor studio even in the song-poem world. For those who don't know, song poems were essentially a con aimed at wannabe songwriters who knew nothing about the business -- companies would advertise you too could become a successful, rich, songwriter if you sent in your "song poems", because anyone who knew the term "lyric" could be presumed to know too much about the music business to be useful. When people sent in their lyrics, they'd then be charged a fee to have them put out on their very own record -- with tracks made more or less on a conveyor belt with quick head arrangements, sung by session singers who were just handed a lyric sheet and told to get on with it. And thus were created such classics prized by collectors as "I Like Yellow Things", "Jimmy Carter Says 'Yes'", and "Listen Mister Hat". Obviously, for the most part these song poems did not lead to the customers becoming the next Ira Gershwin, but oddly even though Ace recordings is not one of the better-known song poem studios, it seems to have produced an actual hit song poem -- one that I don't think has ever before been identified as such until I made a connection, hence me going on this little tangent. Because in researching this episode I noticed something about its co-owner, Milton Yakus', main claim to fame. He co-wrote the song "Old Cape Cod", and to quote that song's Wikipedia page "The nucleus of the song was a poem written by Boston-area housewife Claire Rothrock, for whom Cape Cod was a favorite vacation spot. "Old Cape Cod" and its derivatives would be Rothrock's sole evident songwriting credit. She brought her poem to Ace Studios, a Boston recording studio owned by Milton Yakus, who adapted the poem into the song's lyrics." And while Yakus had written other songs, including songs for Patti Page who had the hit with "Old Cape Cod", apparently Page recorded that song after Rothrock brought her the demo after a gig, rather than getting it through any formal channels. It sounds to me like the massive hit and classic of the American songbook "Old Cape Cod" started life as a song-poem -- and if you're familiar with the form, it fits the genre perfectly: [Excerpt: Patti Page, "Old Cape Cod"] The studio was not the classiest of places, even if you discount the song-poems. Its main source of income was from cutting private records with mobsters' wives and mistresses singing (and dealing with the problems that came along when those records weren't successful) and it also had a sideline in bugging people's cars to see if their spouses were cheating, though Milton Yakus' son Shelly, who got his start at his dad's studio, later became one of the most respected recording engineers in the industry -- and indeed had already worked as assistant engineer on Music From Big Pink. And there was actually another distant connection to Morrison's new favourite band on these sessions. For some reason -- reports differ -- Bebo wasn't considered suitable for the session, and in his place was the one-handed drummer Victor "Moulty" Moulton, who had played with the Barbarians, who'd had a minor hit with "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?" a couple of years earlier: [Excerpt: The Barbarians, "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?"] A later Barbarians single, in early 1966, had featured Moulty telling his life story, punctuated by the kind of three-chord chorus that would have been at home on a Bert Berns single: [Excerpt: The Barbarians, "Moulty"] But while that record was credited to the Barbarians, Moulton was the only Barbarian on the track, with the instruments and backing vocals instead being provided by Levon and the Hawks. Shortly after the Ace sessions, the Van Morrison Controversy fell apart, though nobody seems to know why. Depending on which musician's story you listen to, either Morrison had a dream that he should get rid of all electric instruments and only use acoustic players, or there was talk of a record deal but the musicians weren't good enough, or the money from the mysterious manager (who may or may not have been the one who was a mobster) ran out. Bebo went back to university, and Sheldon left soon after, though Sheldon would remain in the music business in one form or another. His most prominent credit has been writing a couple of songs for his old friend James Taylor, including the song "Bittersweet" on Taylor's platinum-selling best-of, on which Sheldon also played guitar: [Excerpt: James Taylor, "Bittersweet"] Morrison and Kielbania continued for a while as a duo, with Morrison on acoustic guitar and Kielbania on double bass, but they were making very different music. Morrison's biggest influence at this point, other than The Band, was King Pleasure, a jazz singer who sang in the vocalese style we've talked about before -- the style where singers would sing lyrics to melodies that had previously been improvised by jazz musicians: [Excerpt: King Pleasure, "Moody's Mood for Love"] Morrison and Kielbania soon decided that to make the more improvisatory music they were interested in playing, they wanted another musician who could play solos. They ended up with John Payne, a jazz flute and saxophone player whose biggest inspiration was Charles Lloyd. This new lineup of the Van Morrison Controversy -- acoustic guitar, double bass, and jazz flute -- kept gigging around Boston, though the sound they were creating was hardly what the audiences coming to see the man who'd had that "Brown-Eyed Girl" hit the year before would have expected -- even when they did "Brown-Eyed Girl", as the one live recording of that line-up, made by Peter Wolf, shows: [Excerpt: The Van Morrison Controversy, "Brown-Eyed Girl (live in Boston 1968)"] That new style, with melodic bass underpinning freely extemporising jazz flute and soulful vocals, would become the basis of the album that to this day is usually considered Morrison's best. But before that could happen, there was the matter of the contracts to be sorted out. Warner-Reprise Records were definitely interested. Warners had spent the last few years buying up smaller companies like Atlantic, Autumn Records, and Reprise, and the label was building a reputation as the major label that would give artists the space and funding they needed to make the music they wanted to make. Idiosyncratic artists with difficult reputations (deserved or otherwise), like Neil Young, Randy Newman, Van Dyke Parks, the Grateful Dead, and Joni Mitchell, had all found homes on the label, which was soon also to start distributing Frank Zappa, the Beach Boys, and Captain Beefheart. A surly artist who wants to make mystical acoustic songs with jazz flute accompaniment was nothing unusual for them, and once Joe Smith, the man who had signed the Grateful Dead, was pointed in Morrison's direction by Andy Wickham, an A&R man working for the label, everyone knew that Morrison would be a perfect fit. But Morrison was still under contract to Bang records and Web IV, and those contracts said, among other things, that any other label that negotiated with Morrison would be held liable for breach of contract. Warners didn't want to show their interest in Morrison, because a major label wanting to sign him would cause Bang to raise the price of buying him out of his contract. Instead they got an independent production company to sign him, with a nod-and-wink understanding that they would then license the records to Warners. The company they chose was Inherit Productions, the production arm of Schwaid-Merenstein, a management company set up by Bob Schwaid, who had previously worked in Warners' publishing department, and record producer Lewis Merenstein. Merenstein came to another demo session at Ace Recordings, where he fell in love with the new music that Morrison was playing, and determined he would do everything in his power to make the record into the masterpiece it deserved to be. He and Morrison were, at least at this point, on exactly the same page, and bonded over their mutual love of King Pleasure. Morrison signed to Schwaid-Merenstein, just as he had with Bert Berns and before him Phil Solomon, for management, record production, and publishing. Schwaid-Merenstein were funded by Warners, and would license any recordings they made to Warners, once the contractual situation had been sorted out. The first thing to do was to negotiate the release from Web IV, the publishing company owned by Ilene Berns. Schwaid negotiated that, and Morrison got released on four conditions -- he had to make a substantial payment to Web IV, if he released a single within a year he had to give Web IV the publishing, any album he released in the next year had to contain at least two songs published by Web IV, and he had to give Web IV at least thirty-six new songs to publish within the next year. The first two conditions were no problem at all -- Warners had the money to buy the contract out, and Merenstein's plans for the first album didn't involve a single anyway. It wouldn't be too much of a hardship to include a couple of Web IV-published tracks on the album -- Morrison had written two songs, "Beside You" and "Madame George", that had already been published and that he was regularly including in his live sets. As for the thirty-six new songs... well, that all depended on what you called a song, didn't it? [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Ring Worm"] Morrison went into a recording studio and recorded thirty-one ostensible songs, most of them lasting one minute to within a few seconds either way, in which he strummed one or two chords and spoke-sang whatever words came into his head -- for example one song, "Here Comes Dumb George", just consists of the words "Here Comes Dumb George" repeated over and over. Some of the 'songs', like "Twist and Shake" and "Hang on Groovy", are parodying Bert Berns' songwriting style; others, like "Waiting for My Royalty Check", "Blowin' Your Nose", and "Nose in Your Blow", are attacks on Bang's business practices. Several of the songs, like "Hold on George", "Here Comes Dumb George", "Dum Dum George", and "Goodbye George" are about a man called George who seems to have come to Boston to try and fail to make a record with Morrison. And “Want a Danish” is about wanting a Danish pastry. But in truth, this description is still making these "songs" sound more coherent than they are. The whole recording is of no musical merit whatsoever, and has absolutely nothing in it which could be considered to have any commercial potential at all. Which is of course the point -- just to show utter contempt to Ilene Berns and her company. The other problem that needed to be solved was Bang Records itself, which was now largely under the control of the mob. That was solved by Joe Smith. As Smith told the story "A friend of mine who knew some people said I could buy the contract for $20,000. I had to meet somebody in a warehouse on the third floor on Ninth Avenue in New York. I walked up there with twenty thousand-dollar bills -- and I was terrified. I was terrified I was going to give them the money, get a belt on the head and still not wind up with the contract. And there were two guys in the room. They looked out of central casting -- a big wide guy and  a tall, thin guy. They were wearing suits and hats and stuff. I said 'I'm here with the money. You got the contract?' I remember I took that contract and ran out the door and jumped from the third floor to the second floor, and almost broke my leg to get on the street, where I could get a cab and put the contract in a safe place back at Warner Brothers." But the problem was solved, and Lewis Merenstein could get to work translating the music he'd heard Morrison playing into a record. He decided that Kielbania and Payne were not suitable for the kind of recording he wanted -- though they were welcome to attend the sessions in case the musicians had any questions about the songs, and thus they would get session pay. Kielbania was, at first, upset by this, but he soon changed his mind when he realised who Merenstein was bringing in to replace him on bass for the session. Richard Davis, the bass player -- who sadly died two months ago as I write this -- would later go on to play on many classic rock records by people like Bruce Springsteen and Laura Nyro, largely as a result of his work for Morrison, but at the time he was known as one of the great jazz bass players, most notably having played on Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch: [Excerpt: Eric Dolphy, "Hat and Beard"] Kielbania could see the wisdom of getting in one of the truly great players for the album, and he was happy to show Davis the parts he'd been playing on the songs live, which Davis could then embellish -- Davis later always denied this, but it's obvious when listening to the live recordings that Kielbania played on before these sessions that Davis is playing very similar lines. Warren Smith Jr, the vibraphone player, had played with great jazz musicians like Charles Mingus and Herbie Mann, as well as backing Lloyd Price, Aretha Franklin, and Janis Joplin. Connie Kay, the drummer, was the drummer for the Modern Jazz Quartet and had also played sessions with everyone from Ruth Brown to Miles Davis. And Jay Berliner, the guitarist, had played on records like Charles Mingus' classic The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady: [Excerpt: Charles Mingus: "Mode D - Trio and Group Dancers, Mode F - Single Solos & Group Dance"] There was also a flute player whose name nobody now remembers. Although all of these musicians were jobbing session musicians -- Berliner came to the first session for the album that became Astral Weeks straight from a session recording a jingle for Pringles potato chips -- they were all very capable of taking a simple song and using it as an opportunity for jazz improvisation. And that was what Merenstein asked them to do. The songs that Morrison was writing were lyrically oblique, but structurally they were very simple -- surprisingly so when one is used to listening to the finished album. Most of the songs were, harmonically, variants of the standard blues and R&B changes that Morrison was used to playing. "Cyprus Avenue" and "The Way Young Lovers Do", for example, are both basically twelve-bar blueses -- neither is *exactly* a standard twelve-bar blues, but both are close enough that they can be considered to fit the form. Other than what Kielbania and Payne showed the musicians, they received no guidance from Morrison, who came in, ran through the songs once for them, and then headed to the vocal booth. None of the musicians had much memory of Morrison at all -- Jay Berliner said “This little guy walks in, past everybody, disappears into the vocal booth, and almost never comes out, even on the playbacks, he stayed in there." While Richard Davis later said “Well, I was with three of my favorite fellas to play with, so that's what made it beautiful. We were not concerned with Van at all, he never spoke to us.” The sound of the basic tracks on Astral Weeks is not the sound of a single auteur, as one might expect given its reputation, it's the sound of extremely good jazz musicians improvising based on the instructions given by Lewis Merenstein, who was trying to capture the feeling he'd got from listening to Morrison's live performances and demos. And because these were extremely good musicians, the album was recorded extremely quickly. In the first session, they cut four songs. Two of those were songs that Morrison was contractually obliged to record because of his agreement with Web IV -- "Beside You" and "Madame George", two songs that Bert Berns had produced, now in radically different versions: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Madame George"] The third song, "Cyprus Avenue", is the song that has caused most controversy over the years, as it's another of the songs that Morrison wrote around this time that relate to a sexual or romantic interest in underage girls. In this case, the reasoning might have been as simple as that the song is a blues, and Morrison may have been thinking about a tradition of lyrics like this in blues songs like "Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl". Whatever the cause though, the lyrics have, to put it mildly, not aged well at all: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Cyprus Avenue"] That song would be his standard set-closer for live performances for much of the seventies. For the fourth and final song, though, they chose to record what would become the title track for the album, "Astral Weeks", a song that was a lot more elliptical, and which seems in part to be about Morrison's longing for Janet Planet from afar, but also about memories of childhood, and also one of the first songs to bring in Morrison's fascination with the occult and spirituality,  something that would be a recurring theme throughout his work, as the song was partly inspired by paintings by a friend of Morrison's which suggested to him the concept of astral travel: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Astral Weeks"] Morrison had a fascination with the idea of astral travel, as he had apparently had several out-of-body experiences as a child, and wanted to find some kind of explanation for them. Most of the songs on the album came, by Morrison's own account, as a kind of automatic writing, coming through him rather than being consciously written, and there's a fascination throughout with, to use the phrase from "Madame George", "childhood visions". The song is also one of the first songs in Morrison's repertoire to deliberately namecheck one of his idols, something else he would do often in future, when he talks about "talking to Huddie Leadbelly". "Astral Weeks" was a song that Morrison had been performing live for some time, and Payne had always enjoyed doing it. Unlike Kielbania he had no compunction about insisting that he was good enough to play on the record, and he eventually persuaded the session flute player to let him borrow his instrument, and Payne was allowed to play on the track: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Astral Weeks"] Or at least that's how the story is usually told -- Payne is usually credited for playing on "Madame George" too, even though everyone agrees that "Astral Weeks" was the last song of the night, but people's memories can fade over time. Either way, Payne's interplay with Jay Berliner on the guitar became such a strong point of the track that there was no question of bringing the unknown session player back -- Payne was going to be the woodwind player for the rest of the album: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Astral Weeks"] There was then a six-day break between sessions, during which time Payne and Kielbania went to get initiated into Scientology -- a religion with which Morrison himself would experiment a little over a decade later -- though they soon decided that it wasn't worth the cost of the courses they'd have to take, and gave up on the idea the same week. The next session didn't go so well. Jay Berliner was unavailable, and so Barry Kornfeld, a folkie who played with people like Dave Van Ronk, was brought in to replace him. Kornfeld was perfectly decent in the role, but they'd also brought in a string section, with the idea of recording some of the songs which needed string parts live. But the string players they brought in were incapable of improvising, coming from a classical rather than jazz tradition, and the only track that got used on the finished album was "The Way Young Lovers Do", by far the most conventional song on the album, a three-minute soul ballad structured as a waltz twelve-bar blues, where the strings are essentially playing the same parts that a horn section would play on a record by someone like Solomon Burke: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "The Way Young Lovers Do"] It was decided that any string or horn parts on the rest of the album would just be done as overdubs. It was two weeks before the next and final session for the album, and that featured the return of Jay Berliner on guitar. The session started with "Sweet Thing" and "Ballerina", two songs that Morrison had been playing live for some time, and which were cut in relatively quick order.  They then made attempts at two more songs that didn't get very far, "Royalty", and "Going Around With Jesse James", before Morrison, stuck for something to record, pulled out a new lyric he'd never performed live, "Slim Slow Slider". The whole band ran through the song once, but then Merenstein decided to pare the arrangement down to just Morrison, Payne (on soprano sax rather than on flute), and Warren Smith Jr: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Slim Slow Slider"] That track was the only one where, after the recording, Merenstein didn't compliment the performance, remaining silent instead – Payne said “Maybe everyone was just tired, or maybe they were moved by it.” It seems likely it was the latter. The track eventually got chosen as the final track of the album, because Merenstein felt that it didn't fit conceptually with anything else -- and it's definitely a more negative track than the oth

David McPherson is a Waterloo, Ontario-based author, freelance writer, and communications consultant. Ever since attending his first rock concert in 1989 (The Who) and buying his first LP (Freeze Frame by The J. Geils Band), music has become “the elixir of his life.” With more than 18,000 songs on my iPod, and an ever-growing vintage vinyl collection, it's a joy to discover new music; he loves sharing these discoveries with his wife and two children. After watching his first show [The Old 97s] at the Horseshoe Tavern more than twenty years ago, he was in love with this iconic venue. David's first book: The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern: A Complete History chronicled the history of this Toronto institution; it was published in 2017. Since, he has published two more books: Massey Hall (2021) and 101 Fascinating Canadian Music Facts (2023).  A regular contributor to Words + Music, GRAMMY.com and the Globe & Mail, over the years, his writing has appeared in countless publications including: Zoomer!, Sharp, No Depression, Paste, American Songwriter, Bluegrass Unlimited, Exclaim! and Canadian Musician. As president and chief creative officer of McPherson Communications, David helps clients get the words right. Clients, past and present, include: Osler Bluff Ski Club, the University of Waterloo, Westmount Golf & Country Club and TELUS International. Website: https://davidmcpherson.caInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mcphersoncomm/ Buy the book: https://www.dundurn.com/books_/t22117/a9781459751583-101-fascinating-canadian-music-facts This episode is brought to you byGo to BETTERHELP.com/apologue for confidential online counselling.use the code word Apologue for a 7 day free trial Pledge monthly with Patreon https://www.patreon.com/apologueShop Apologue products at http://apologue.ca/shop Go get the 1 hour mini Documentary on Lowest of the Low's Classic Album Shakespeare my Butt at https://thelowdoc.gumroad.com/l/SMB

Author, journalist, music critic Jim Sullivan joined us about his new book "Backstage & Beyond Vol. 2: 45 Years of Classic Rock Chats & Rants. This is a follow up to his volume 1 edition. The difference between the two comes down to a split between eras. Volume 1 covers Classic Rock from the '50s and 60s. Vol 2 picks up where that one leaves off covering the '70s '80s and '90s. Twenty-one of them are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.Jim Sullivan — a 2023 inductee into the New England Music Hall of Fame — spent 26 years writing for the Boston Globe and two decades more writing for national publications. He has interviewed and reviewed countless musicians, many of them multiple times. Access to such A-list stars is hard to come by in the first place, but Sullivan got to know many of them well enough to engage on a far more intimate level than journalists usually can or do.Rather than simply collect up previously published articles as they originally appeared, Sullivan combed through his archive to find everything he wrote about each artist and worked them together into a more expansive time-passages view that chronicles their changing situations, outlooks and experiences. Backstage & Beyond Volume 1 includes fascinating, entertaining and occasionally hair-raising profiles of Jerry Lee Lewis, Ian Hunter & Mott the Hoople, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Nico, Brian Eno, Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music, Robert Fripp & King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Warren Zevon, Pete Townshend, Ray Davies & the Kinks, Dave Davies, Ginger Baker, Leonard Cohen, Marianne Faithfull, John Fogerty, Tina Turner, Neil Young, Richard Thompson, Darlene Love, Alice Cooper, Peter Wolf & the J. Geils Band, Joe Perry & Aerosmith, Lemmy & Motörhead, George Clinton, Tangerine Dream, Joan Baez, k.d lang and Roy Orbison. Backstage & Beyond Volume 2, his music-writing anthology, focuses on artists who came to prominence in the 1970s and '80s: punk, new wave, post-punk and beyond. Eleven of them are already in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.Chapters on: The Ramones, The Sex Pistols / Public Image Ltd., The Clash, Patti Smith, Buzzcocks, The Damned, The Fall, Joy Division / New Order, The Cure, Stiff Little Fingers, Gang of Four, The Pogues, The Police, The Cramps, David Byrne / Talking Heads, Beastie Boys, Elvis Costello, Billy Bragg, The Cars, English Beat, Morrissey, Pixies, Mission of Burma, Feelies, Puff Daddy, Spiritualized, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Swans and U2.For more information about the Musicians and Beyond Podcast with hosts Mark Lawhorne and John Surabian visit ⁠www.musiciansandbeyond.com⁠. IG: @musiciansandbeyondFB: @musiciansandbeyondX: @MusiciansBeyondYouTube: ⁠ @musiciansandbeyond ⁠ Email: musiciansbeyond@gmail.comIf you would like to be a main sponsor our show or offer an item to be presented to our guests reach out to us at musiciansbeyond@gmail.com.Make sure you visit our friends at:Angle Tree Brewery - ⁠https://angletreebrew.com/ ⁠45 Elm Street North Attleborough, MADistillery 43 in Lakeville, MA is a local distillery that has small batch, hand crafted spirits (Blanco Agave and Spiced Rum) being sold in South Shore liquor stores and local restaurants.Connect with Jim Sullivan - Facebook - jimsullivanink - Twitter - jimsullivanink #musiciansandbeyond #LawhorneandSurabian #podcast #interview #boston #humorforhumanity #massachusetts #author #vodcast #conversationsthatmatter #jimsullivan #music #classicrock #davidbowie #loureed #behindthescenes #behindthemusic #author #books #newbook #bostonmusicscene #bostonmusic #backstageandbeyond #musicpodcast #Elviscostello #ramones #paradiserockclub  @paradiserockclub7470  @jimsullivanink --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/musiciansandbeyond/support

Both of these bands had similar, yet different opinions on love. Which was correct? J. Geils Band vs. Nazareth: the definitive answer on the pain and/or stench of love. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hour 1 The Giants lost to the Niners last night 30-12. The Niners dominated time of possession but the Giants were able to hang in there for most of the game. There were a couple of key penalties called on the Giants that seemed unfair to the Giants. The Thursday Night pregame show had terrible things to say about Zach Wilson. Ryan Fitzpatrick said the Jets are going 1-5. Fitz said Jameis Winston is a good option for the Jets. Last night the Giants defense could not get off the field. Gio said the most concerning thing was how the Giants defense was just getting trucked. Jerry is here for his first update with the sounds from last night's game. Brian Daboll said third downs killed the Giants' defense. Al & Eddie have a new Zach Wilson song to a J. Geils Band classic. Joe Burrow talked about his calf injury. Jerry has audio of a man going off on somebody on the golf course. In the final segment of the hour, Saquon Barkley revealed he has a high ankle sprain. Gio thinks Saquon revealed it because Taylor Rooks is attractive. He thinks attractive women should do interrogations.  Hour 2 With horrendous weather coming to the area this weekend, can the wind and rain actually help the Jets this Sunday? Boomer just said, ‘take the under'. Boomer doesn't think Zach will throw more than 20 passes if the weather is nasty. Have to ground and pound it. Boomer expects a much better performance from the Jets defense this week because they were embarrassed last weekend. Jerry returns for an update and has all the sounds from last night's Giants loss in San Francisco. Daniel Jones said they didn't have any rhythm. Nick Bosa was surprised the Giants didn't go with the zone read. Nathaniel Hackett talked about having a bad game plan for Micah Parsons. In the final segment of the hour, the Daily Mail found the crazy guy who went off on people at a golf course in Michigan. Guy Adami from CNBC calls in to say nice things about Al for his birthday Hour 3 Gio said last night's game did not feel like the Giants got their ass kicked, but the statistics shows that they did. It sets up a must win for the Giants on Monday night against Seattle. Boomer is going into the Bengals Ring of Honor on Monday night. Jerry returns for an update and starts with the sounds from last night's Giants loss in San Francisco. Gerrit Cole had another great outing setting himself up to win the CY Young. Stephen A. Smith threw out the first pitch at the Yankees game and he one hopped it. In the final segment of the hour, Mike Francesa announces he will have video on his podcast. Steve Somers is going to be working Friday nights and Gio said it bums him out when retired guys come back to do shows.  Hour 4 The Jets host the Patriots on Sunday and Gio said if Zach Wilson has a bad first half they need to sit him and bring in Tim Boyle. Boomer is also looking ahead to the Giants/Seattle game and said it's a must win or things will turn south in a hurry. The Jets season could also get to 1-5 real quick. Jerry returns for an update and starts with the Giants losing to the 49'ers 30-12 last night. Gerrit Cole had another great outing and is on his way to a Cy Young. Moment of The Day involves a very angry golfer that ‘went to heaven'. In the final segment of the hour, our NFL picks with Yussef!

The Giants lost to the Niners last night 30-12. The Niners dominated time of possession but the Giants were able to hang in there for most of the game. There were a couple of key penalties called on the Giants that seemed unfair to the Giants. The Thursday Night pregame show had terrible things to say about Zach Wilson. Ryan Fitzpatrick said the Jets are going 1-5. Fitz said Jameis Winston is a good option for the Jets. Last night the Giants defense could not get off the field. Gio said the most concerning thing was how the Giants defense was just getting trucked. Jerry is here for his first update with the sounds from last night's game. Brian Daboll said third downs killed the Giants' defense. Al & Eddie have a new Zach Wilson song to a J. Geils Band classic. Joe Burrow talked about his calf injury. Jerry has audio of a man going off on somebody on the golf course. In the final segment of the hour, Saquon Barkley revealed he has a high ankle sprain. Gio thinks Saquon revealed it because Taylor Rooks is attractive. He thinks attractive women should do interrogations. 

Welcome to Live From Progzilla Towers Edition 489. In this edition we heard music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Beardfish, Crack The Sky, Clive Mitten And Geoff Mann, Igra Staklenih Perli, The J. Geils Band, Spock's Beard, Cardiacs, Lalu, Palefeather, Alex Palheta, The Swan Chorus, Soft Machine, TesseracT, Zopp, Karmamoi, Kevin Gilbert, The Quest, Van Der Graaf Generator, David Bowie & Peter Gabriel.

The Hollywood Allstars are the brainchild and handpicked Supergroup of Grammy Nominated Songwriter/Producer/Keyboardist, and former Epic/CBS Recording Artist, Steve Gaspár on Hammond Organ & Piano. Steve has performed with James Brown, B.B. King, Gene Cornish (the Rascals) and Peter Criss (KISS). Gaspár has put together music's supergroup of session royalty for The Hollywood Allstars release “FIELD OF GRACE” on Deko Entertainment. Featuring vocalist Tommy Bowes, who for seven years sang with the incredible Tower of Power. Music journalists have consistently praised Bowes' high range, powerful voice, and unique versatility, after hearing his performances on TOP's debut album on Epic Records, Monster on a Leash. Also appearing will be the legendary Uptown Horns. The Uptown Horns played with The Rolling Stones on the Steel Wheels Tour. Keith Richards personally praised them as being the “only horn section up for the job,” before they went on to work with Joe Cocker, the J. Geils Band, and providing the horns on James Brown's Grammy Award Winning Single, “Living in America.” Guitarist Andy Abel has played with Blood Sweat & Tears and The Talking Heads. In addition to co-producing with Steve Gaspár, the bands new release “FIELD OF GRACE”, Andy also served as the projects chief recording and mastering engineer. And fresh off the heels of Edgar Winters Grammy Win, will be Scott Spray on Bass. Scott toured and recorded with both the Johnny Winter and the Edgar Winter Groups, and has recorded on over 800 albums. On Drums will be Tony Cintron. A tour with Joe Bonamassa placed Cintron on stages with the Derrick Trucks Band, the Doobie Brothers, Dr. John, and the legendary vocalist Roberta Flack at Carnegie Hall. Eddie Torres (Percussionist), best known for “Turn the Beat Around” with singer Vicki Sue Robinson.www.thehollywoodallstars.net

In an era brimming with instant gratification, some things are worth the wait. This is an apt takeaway from our chat with photographer Charles Daniels about his long-outdated film from the legendary Boston Tea Party and other 60s-era music venues, rarely processed until recently. Joining Daniels in conversation is his long-time partner Susan Berstler, and Gerald Freyer from Film Rescue International, the unique image processing and digitization specialists entrusted with his mother lode of 4,000 plus rolls. Listen in as Daniels tells of his rise from club denizen to emcee to cultural ambassador, introducing 60s-era British invasion rockers to America, with a Leica, two Nikons and a mic in hand. Berstler describes how the unprocessed rolls stockpiled in their home became a COVID project, which then went viral after the launch of a Go-Fund-Me campaign. After a break, Freyer explains how Film Rescue International's unique processing and scanning technologies can breathe new life into lost and found film, saving untold stories from oblivion. Freyer also recounts his epic drive from Saskatchewan to Somerville (and back!) to safely collect the film for processing, without risking x-rays or other shipping hazards. As Daniels notes during the show, “For years, I never really developed any film, but I was shooting all the time. It was just there, and then at some point I realized that I needed to bring some of this older stuff to light.” With a nod to Daniels's 80th birthday on November 30th, the pictures may have been a long time coming—but what a fabulous gift to photographers and music aficionados alike! Guests: Charles Daniels, Susan Berstler, Gerald Freyer Photographs © Charles Daniels For more information on our guests and the gear they use, see: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/podcasts/photography/master-blaster-charles-daniels-reveals-his-unseen-60s-era-photo-archive Guest Bios: Charles Daniels was born in segregated Alabama, where his parents ran a late-night speakeasy after farming cotton all day; maybe that's how outlaw music got into his blood. After moving to Boston's Roxbury neighborhood with his family in the 1950s and teaching himself photography with a camera he found in his parent's closet, Charles began capturing whatever caught his eye on city streets and in the era's legendary music venues. Soon he was serving as emcee for the bands, which provided unique access and strong friendships. This led to Lear Jets and tours with the likes of Rod Stewart, Ron Wood, and the Rolling Stones. Since his start in rock-and-roll, Charles has expanded his photography to embrace a wide range of subjects from music and fashion to dance, performance, and everything in between. Susan Berstler has a long history as a visual artist, curator, and arts producer, deeply immersed in the vibrant arts scene of Somerville, Massachusetts. One of her primary interests is transformative events and media, especially within public art. Her passion for this medium is further enhanced by her work as an Emerging Technology Specialist for Creative Technologies at Harvard University's Cabot Science Library. After a small grant from the Somerville Arts Council allowed her to begin developing Charles's treasure trove of film, the Go-Fund-Me campaign set up by a friend quickly went viral, raising more than $70,000 to date. Susan was referred to the company Film Rescue International, which became an ideal solution for film processing and creating high-resolution archival files from the negatives. At present, she is also in discussions with publishers and university archives to identify a final home for this unique image collection. Gerald Freyer is a technically trained photographer who also studied folklore, monument preservation and cultural history at the University of Bamberg in Germany. After working as a research assistant in museums, he became a consultant for digital imaging pioneer Phase One. Since 2007, Gerald has trained museum and archive staff in the use of high-end digitization systems, completing both archival and 360-degree photography projects for international museums and cultural institutions. In 2021, he joined Film Rescue International to work on digitization projects for its clients. Stay Connected: Charles Daniels Go-Fund-Me Website: https://www.gofundme.com/f/2500-rolls-Charles-Daniels Charles Daniels Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088252000625 Film Rescue International Website: https://www.filmrescue.com Film Rescue International Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/filmrescueinternational/ Episode Timeline 4:15: Charles Daniels's start as a music emcee and his most productive years for photography: 1967 – 1969 6:36: A friendship with J. Geils Band front man Peter Wolf and coming up with his Woofa Goofa nickname 8:20: Hanging out with the bands during the day provided easy access and authentic pictures 10:07: Daniels's most enjoyable Rock & Roll subject and co-photographer mate: Alvin Lee from 10 Years After 13:26: How far to push black and white film for best results with concert pictures in low light   14:32: Using a handheld light meter, and shooting with Nikons and Leicas for best results 15:10: Daniels's go-to lens: a 21 mm wide-angle for a different look 15:41: The challenge of pushing black and white film and not labeling it with the ISO 18:34: Daniels's shooting strategy as emcee: a microphone in one hand and a camera in the other 20:53: Finding Charles's undeveloped film became a COVID project   21:55: Unprocessed color film includes several rolls of Kodachrome, which was developed as black and white 22:16: Juggling an active Go Fund Me campaign with Charles's recent health issues 24:30: Connecting with the lab Film Rescue International after developing initial rolls locally 25:35: Episode break 26:43: The back story to Canadian lab Film Rescue International in processing lost and found film 27:45: Effects to undeveloped film over time is based on cold storage and other environmental factors 28:46: A two-step process for developing old color film, including Kodachrome 30:35: The first step in Film Rescue's development process with lost and found film 33:34: Proprietary chemistry for film development, plus years of experience 34:22: Processing and scanning movie film, 16mm, and Kodachrome Super-8 with high end laser graphic film scanner 35:10: Do certain types of film hold up better over time than others? 36:05: The importance of scanning old transparencies to maintain color integrity and save the image 37:46: Digital scanning of slides and negatives can offer more detail and better quality than the original photo 39:50: Film Rescue International's workflow and time distribution between film development and scanning 41:14: Gerald Freyer's epic 7-day trip from Saskatchewan and Somerville to pick up Charles's film 43:08: Safety issues when shipping film and the risk of x-rays 45:59: Gerald's favorite picture from Charles's film: Joe Cocker 46:36: An update on Charles's project and the potential for a book and documentary 48:04: Susan's favorite roll of Charles's film: Jeff Beck Group on the tarmac 49:09: The thousands of stories Film Rescue discovers in its work, and how to reach them 50:54: Contact details for Charles Daniels and the project's Go-Fund-Me page