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For this episode we're joined – all the way from L.A. – by special guest Bob Merlis. The former head of publicity at Warner-Reprise Records in Burbank talks us through his musical odyssey from his Brooklyn childhood to his continuing PR work for the likes of ZZ Top and Carlene Carter. We hear about Bob's start at Record World in late '60s New York and the early '70s pieces he wrote for that trade publication and for Warners' short-lived Words & Music. Our guest then talks about his brief stints at RCA and Albert Grossman's Bearsville Records before touching on key acts and moments in the nearly three decades he spent in Burbank: Little Feat's Lowell George, Jerry Wexler producing Etta James and Warners president Joe Smith roasting the infamous Morris Levy. Clips from Dave Zimmer's 1988 audio interview with Neil Young prompt discussion of that quintessential Reprise artist (and his comrades in CSNY). After Mark quotes from pieces about Elektra Records dropping the MC5 and free-improv guitarist Derek Bailey, Jasper talks us out with reflections on the musical passions of footballer Rio Ferdinand and Houston rapper Chamillionaire. Many thanks to special guest Bob Merlis. For info on Bob's PR work, visit https://mfhpr.com/m-f-h-at-20. Pieces discussed: R&B is B(l)ack and Involved, Jerry Wexler Crosses Tracks for Tony Joe, Todd Rundgren Warps Time, Lowell George Talks About Little Feat, Little Feat Keeps On Truckin', Little Feat: How To Construct a "Critics' Band", Neil Young audio, Elektra Records Kicks Out MC5, Derek Bailey: Themes on Improvisation, The Record Doctor: Rio Ferdinand and Chamillionaire: Change.
I'm super excited to welcome Bill Payne, founding member of @littlefeat_official, for this week's episode!! For over five decades, Bill has been playing music and delighting fans with his expert piano and keyboard playing, great vibes and amazing songwriting. Bill is also a legendary collaborator and has played on 100s of albums and toured with a legion of amazing bands in addition to his enduring commitment to the music of Little Feat. He's toured with The Doobie Brothers, James Taylor, Simon & Garfunkel, Jimmy Buffett and Bonnie Raitt just to name a few. Bill is also a noted photographer and author, and is currently working on a memoir documenting a life in music and his passion for collaboration.Little Feat is still going strong -- producing music full-time -- and are excited about the release of their first studio album in 15 years, Strike Up The Band, out May 9. They're hitting the road in May with tour dates throughout the remainder of the year.Bill is a stellar human with a terrific sense of humor — he's a kind soul with a firm grasp of the history of music and his place in that world — and it's truly an honor to share this interview with all of you!! Enjoy!!Show Notes:New Little Feat album, Strike Up The Band, out May 9!!More info on Little Feat and tour dates, click here For more info on Bill Payne's artistic and creative efforts, click here for Bill's website: Bill Payne CreativeDon't forget to please leave a review describing what you enjoyed most about this episode!! Thanks for listening!! =============================For more information on Roadcase:https://linktr.ee/roadcasepod and https://www.roadcasepod.comOr contact Roadcase by email: info@roadcasepod.comRoadcase theme music: "Eugene (Instrumental)" by Waltzer
Lou , Mark and Perry listen to Chris Scruggs playing "Long Gone Daddy" by Hank Williams also Lowell George demonstrating slide guitar plus random relish topics and music trivia plus a listen to original and other versions of songs and much more..
El domingo pasado Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna) cumplió 85 años. Y Lowell George (The Factory, Mothers Of Invention de Frank Zappa, Little Feat) hubiera cumplido los 80, pero falleció en 1979. El blues como esencia, la guitarra como instrumento heredado de los grandes Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry… Enormes guitarristas ambos con sello muy propio y genial.DISCO 1 JEFFERSON AIRPLANE Embryonic Journey (ESCA) SURREALISTIC PILLOW 1967DISCO 2 LITTLE FEAT Easy To Slip (SAILIN’ SHOES - Cara 1 Corte 1)DISCO 3 JEFFERSON AIRPLANE Good Shepherd ( )DISCO 4 LITTLE FEAT Willin’ (SAILIN’ SHOES - Cara 1 Corte 5)DISCO 5 JEFFERSON AIRPLANE To Many Years (JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - cara 2 Corte 6DISCO 6 LITTLE FEAT Rocket In My Pocket (TIME LOVES A HERO - 3)DISCO 7 JORMA KAUKONEN Roads and Roads (Side A -ÚltimoTrack)DISCO 8 LITTLE FEAT Long Distance Love (THE LAST RECORD ALBUM Cara A Corte 3)DISCO 9 JORMA KAUKONEN Blue Railroad Train (BLUE COUNTRY HEART -1)DISCO 10 LOWELL GEORGE Cheek To Cheek (Cara 2 Corte 1)DISCO 11 JORMA KAUKONEN There’s A Bright Side Somewhere (RIVER OF TIME - 2)DISCO 12 LITTLE FEAT Fatman On The Bathtube (2) WAITING FOR COLUMBUSDISCO 13 HOT TUNA Watch the North Wind Rise (Live Version) (ESCA)Escuchar audio
If the New Orleans demigod Professor Longhair had played guitar instead of piano and his voice had sounded like a cross between Lyle Lovett and Lowell George, he would have been a dead ringer for Greg Brice, my kitchen session guest in this podcast. This is the free-for-all version featuring the usual mix of Americana, Africana and all-round kicks in the earhole.
Music News: Pink Floyd and Joni MitchellIn this episode of the Deadhead Cannabis Show, Larry Mishkin reflects on the intersection of music and cannabis in the wake of the recent elections. He delves into the Grateful Dead's legacy, highlighting a notable performance from 1973, and explores the lyrical depth of 'To Lay Me Down.' The conversation also touches on music news, including Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon' and Joni Mitchell's recent birthday. The episode concludes with a discussion on recent research indicating that cannabis may serve as a substitute for more dangerous substances. This conversation explores the complex relationship between cannabis use and substance consumption among young adults, the implications of Florida's failed marijuana legalization initiative, and the potential of cannabis as a harm reduction tool for opioid use. It also highlights popular cannabis strains and their effects, alongside a cultural reflection on the Grateful Dead's music. Chapters00:00 Post-Election Reflections: Music and Cannabis08:29 The Grateful Dead's Musical Legacy14:48 Exploring the Lyrics: To Lay Me Down21:59 Music News: Pink Floyd and Joni Mitchell37:06 Weather Report Suite: A Musical Journey43:10 Second Set Highlights: Mississippi Half-Step and Beyond49:36 Marijuana Research: Substitution Effects51:24 Cannabis Use Among Young Adults56:13 Florida's Marijuana Legalization Initiative01:05:01 Cannabis as a Tool for Opioid Harm Reduction01:11:10 Strains of the Week and Cannabis Culture Larry's Notes:Grateful DeadNovember 11, 1973 (51 years ago)Winterland ArenaSan Francisco, CAGrateful Dead Live at Winterland Arena on 1973-11-11 : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive Happy Veteran's Day A very famous show from a very famous year. Many feel 1973 was the peak of the band's post psychedelic era. Certainly right up there with 1977 as top years for the band, even by November they were still in full stride during a three night run at Winterland, this being the third and final night of the run. In 2008 the Dead released the box set: “Winterland 1973: The complete recordings” featuring shows from Nov. 9, 10 and 11, 1973. This was the Dead's second “complete recordings” release featuring all of the nights of a single run. The first was “Fillmore West, 1969, the Complete Recordings” from Feb. 27, 28 and March 1 and 2 (IMHO the best collection of live music ever released by the band). The band later released a follow up, Winterland 1977: The Complete Recordings a three night run June 7, 8 and 9, 1977 that is also an outstanding box set. Today's show has a 16 song first set, a six song second set and a three song encore, a true rarity for a Dead show of any era (other than NYE shows). The second set consists of ½ Step, Big River, Dark Star with MLBJ, Eyes of the World, China Doll and Sugar Magnolia and is as well played as any set ever played by the band. They were on fire for these three days. A great collection of music and killer three night run for those lucky enough to have snagged a ticket for any or all of the nights. Patrick Carr wrote in the NY Times that: “The Dead had learned how to conceive and perform a music which often induced something closely akin to the psychedelic experience; they were and are experts in the art and science of showing people another world, or a temporary altering (raising) of world consciousness. It sounds pseudomystical pretentious perhaps, but the fact is that it happens and it is intentional.” INTRO: Promised Land (show opener into Bertha/Greatest Story/Sugaree/Black Throated Wind) Track #1 0 – 2:10 "Promised Land" is a song lyric written by Chuck Berry to the melody of "Wabash Cannonball", an American folk song. The song was first recorded in this version by Berry in 1964 for his album St. Louis to Liverpool. Released in December 1964, it was Berry's fourth single issued following his prison term for a Mann Act conviction. The record peaked at #41 in the Billboard charts on January 16, 1965. Berry wrote the song while in prison, and borrowed an atlas from the prison library to plot the itinerary. In the lyrics, the singer (who refers to himself as "the poor boy") tells of his journey from Norfolk, Virginia, to the "Promised Land", Los Angeles, California, mentioning various cities in Southern states that he passes through on his journey. Describing himself as a "poor boy," the protagonist boards a Greyhound bus in Norfolk, Virginia that passes Raleigh, N.C., stops in Charlotte, North Carolina, and bypasses Rock Hill, South Carolina. The bus rolls out of Atlanta but breaks down, leaving him stranded in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. He then takes a train "across Mississippi clean" to New Orleans. From there, he goes to Houston, where "the people there who care a bit about me" buy him a silk suit, luggage and a plane ticket to Los Angeles. Upon landing in Los Angeles, he calls Norfolk, Virginia ("Tidewater four, ten-oh-nine") to tell the folks back home he made it to the "promised land." The lyric: "Swing low, sweet chariot, come down easy/Taxi to the terminal zone" refers to the gospel lyric: "Swing low, sweet Chariot, coming for to carry me Home" since both refer to a common destination, "The Promised Land," which in this case is California, reportedly a heaven on earth. Billboard called the song a "true blue Berry rocker with plenty of get up and go," adding that "rinky piano and wailing Berry electric guitar fills all in neatly."[2]Cash Box described it as "a 'pull-out-all-the-stops' rocker that Chuck pounds out solid sales authority" and "a real mover that should head out for hit territory in no time flat."[3] In 2021, it was listed at No. 342 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Apparently played by the Warlocks and the Grateful Dead in their earliest days, Bob Weir started playing this with the Dead in 1971, and it remained a regular right through to the band's last show ever in 1995. Among those deeply touched by Chuck's genius were Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. They often paid homage to Chuck by weaving his songs into their performances, breathing new life into his timeless melodies. "Promised Land," with its relentless drive, became an anthem of journey and aspiration. Their electrifying renditions of "Johnny B. Goode" were not mere covers but jubilant celebrations of a narrative that resonated with the dreamer in all of us. The Grateful Dead's performances of "Around and Around" echoed Chuck's mastery of capturing life's cyclical rhythms—a dance of beginnings and endings, joy and sorrow. And when they took on "Run Rudolph Run," they infused the festive classic with their own psychedelic flair, bridging the gap between tradition and innovation. A moment etched in musical history was when Chuck Berry shared the stage with the Grateful Dead during their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. The air was thick with reverence and electricity—a meeting of titans where the past, present, and future of rock converged in harmonious resonance. Again, in May 1995, Chuck opened for the Grateful Dead in Portland, Oregon. It was a night where legends collided, and the music swirled like a tempest, leaving a lasting impression on all who were fortunate enough to witness it. This version really rocks out. I especially love Keith's piano which is featured prominently in this clip. Played: 430 timesFirst: May 28, 1971 at Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA, USALast: July 9, 1995 at Soldier Field, Chicago, IL, USA SHOW No. 1: To Lay Me Down (out of Black Throated Wind/into El Paso/Ramble On Rose/Me and Bobby McGee Track #6 2:21 – 4:20 David Dodd: “To Lay Me Down” is one of the magical trio of lyrics composed in a single afternoon in 1970 in London, “over a half-bottle of retsina,” according to Robert Hunter. The other two were “Ripple” and “Brokedown Palace.” Well, first—wouldn't we all like to have a day like that! And, second—what unites these three lyrics, aside from the fact that they were all written on the same day? Hunter wrote, in his foreword to The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics:”And I wrote reams of bad songs, bitching about everything under the sun, which I kept to myself: Cast not thy swines before pearls. And once in a while something would sort of pop out of nowhere. The sunny London afternoon I wrote ‘Brokedown Palace,' ‘To Lay Me Down,' and ‘Ripple,' all keepers, was in no way typical, but it remains in my mind as the personal quintessence of the union between writer and Muse, a promising past and bright future prospects melding into one great glowing apocatastasis.” “‘To Lay me Down' was written a while before the others [on the Garcia album], on the same day as the lyrics to ‘Brokedown Palace' and ‘Ripple'—the second day of my first visit to England. I found myself left alone in Alan Trists's flat on Devonshire Terrace in West Kensington, with a supply of very nice thick linen paper, sun shining brightly through the window, a bottle of Greek Retsina wine at my elbow. The songs flowed like molten gold onto the page and stand as written. The images for ‘To Lay Me Down' were inspired at Hampstead Heath (the original title to the song) the day before—lying on the grass and clover on a day of swallowtailed clouds, across from Jack Straw's Castle [a pub, now closed and converted into flats--dd], reunited with the girlfriend of my youth, after a long separation.” Garcia's setting for the words is, like his music for those other two songs, perfect. The three-quarter time (notated as having a nine-eight feel), coupled with the gospel style of the melody and chords, makes for a dreamy, beauty-soaked song. I heard it on the radio today (yes, on the radio, yes, today—and no, not on a Grateful Dead Hour, but just in the course of regular programming), and it struck me that it was a gorgeous vehicle for Garcia's voice. By which I mean: for that strongly emotive, sweet but not sappy, rough but not unschooled instrument that was Garcia's alone. I have started to think that my usual recitation of where a song was first played, where it was last played, and where it was recorded by the band borders on pointless. All that info is readily available. What's interesting about the performance history of “To Lay Me Down” is that it was dropped from the rotation for more than 200 shows three times, and that its final performance, in 1992, came 125 shows after the penultimate one. The reappearance of the song, in the 1980 acoustic shows, came nearly six years after the previous performances in 1974. “Ripple” had a similar pattern, reappearing in those 1980 acoustic sets after 550 performances, or nearly ten years. Of the magical trio from that day of molten gold in West Kensington, “Brokedown Palace” had the most solid place in the Dead's performance rotation, with only one huge gap in its appearances—165 shows between 1977 and 1979. So, in terms of story, what can be discerned? The short version, for me: even if it's just for a day, even if it's just once more, even if it's just one last time—it's worth it. It's golden. It's home. This version is really great to listen to. Jerry's voice is still so young and strong. And the group singing works really well. Jerry's also kills it with his lead guitar jamming. Released on “Garcia” in 1972 Played: 64 timesFirst: July 30, 1970 at The Matrix, San Francisco, CA, USALast: June 28, 1992 at Deer Creek Music Center, Noblesville, IN, USA MUSIC NEWS: Music Intro: Brain Damage Pink Floyd Pink Floyd - Brain Damage (2023 Remaster) 0:00 – 1:47 "Brain Damage" is the ninth track[nb 1] from English rock band Pink Floyd's 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon.[2][3] It was sung on record by Roger Waters (with harmonies by David Gilmour), who would continue to sing it on his solo tours. Gilmour sang the lead vocal when Pink Floyd performed it live on their 1994 tour (as can be heard on Pulse). The band originally called this track "Lunatic" during live performances and recording sessions. "Brain Damage" was released as a digital single on 19 January 2023 to promote The Dark Side of the Moon 50th Anniversary box set.[4] The uncredited manic laughter is that of Pink Floyd's then-road manager, Peter Watts. The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973, by Harvest Records in the UK and Capitol Records in the US. Developed during live performances before recording began, it was conceived as a concept album that would focus on the pressures faced by the band during their arduous lifestyle, and also deal with the mental health problems of the former band member Syd Barrett, who had departed the group in 1968. New material was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London. The Dark Side of the Moon is among the most critically acclaimed albums and often features in professional listings of the greatest of all time. It brought Pink Floyd international fame, wealth and plaudits to all four band members. A blockbuster release of the album era, it also propelled record sales throughout the music industry during the 1970s. The Dark Side of the Moon is certified 14x platinum in the United Kingdom, and topped the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, where it has charted for 990 weeks. By 2013, The Dark Side of the Moon had sold over 45 million copies worldwide, making it the band's best-selling release, the best-selling album of the 1970s, and the fourth-best-selling album in history.[3] In 2012, the album was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. David Gilmour Addresses Synchronicity Theory Between ‘The Dark Side of the Moon' and ‘Wizard of Oz'On Thursday, November 7, 2024, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon amid his extensive run at New York's Madison Square Garden, where he is supporting his latest solo release, Luck and Strange. During the music industry legend's stop by the late-night talk show, he spoke with the program's host, who questioned the theory of synchronicity between TheDark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz, commonly referred to as the Dark Side of the Rainbow.“You said that you think it's your best work since Dark Side of the Moon,” Fallon questioned at the top of the segment, comparing Gilmour's comments regarding his latest release, and the Pink Floyd classic. “When we finished Dark Side, there was a lot of crossfades and stuff between all the tracks. They had all to be done separately and then they all have to be edited in the old days before Pro Tools. When we finally finished, we sat down in the control room at Abbey Road and listened to it all the way through. And, wow. I–I guess all of us–have the feeling that it was something quite amazing–that we got it, and at the same point on this album, I had a very similar feeling, which is why I said that.” Fallon stewed on Luck and Strange during a series of follow-up questions that assisted in painting a portrait of familial involvement during the making of Gilmour's 2024 release–harnessing the conversation to the artist's preferred homebred approach before they segued into the realm of the Emerald City. Fallon landed on the topic of Oz during a bit aimed at busting rumors that have populated throughout the musician's 60-year tenure in the spotlight.“The Pink Floyd album, Dark Side of the Moon, was written to synchronize with the movie Wizard of Oz,” Fallon suggested. Prompting Gilmour's humor-tinged response, “Well, of course it was.” Fallon threw his hands up in response, acting on the comedic angle, before the musician clarified, “No, no. We listened to it, Polly and I, years ago–” Fallon stopped the artist to ask, “There's no planning that out?” Gilmour continued, “No. No, I mean, I only heard about it years later. Somebody said you put the needle on–vinyl that is– and on the third–you know you got the film running somehow–and on the third roar of the MGM lion, you put the needle on for the beginning of Dark Side, and there's these strange synchronicities that happen.” Fallon asked if Gilmour had ever tested the theory, to which he exclaimed, “Yeah!” He went on to admit, “And there are these strange coincidences–I'll call them coincidences.” Joni Mitchell turns 81 - Joni Mitchell was born on Nov. 7th in 1943, making her 81 this past Thursday. Mitchell began her career in small nightclubs in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and grew to become one of the most influential singer-songwriters in modern music history. Rising to fame during the 1960s, Mitchell became a key narrator in the folk music movement, alongside others like Bob Dylan. Over the decades, she has released 19 studio albums, including the seminal “Blue,” which was rated the third best album ever made in Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” In 2023, Joni Mitchell at Newport was released, a live album of her 2022 performance at the Newport Folk Festival. More recently she was the featured performer at the Joni Jam at the Gorge in George, WA in June, 2023 3. Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz to Celebrate 50th Birthday at Sweetwater Music Hall with Members of ALO, Tea Leaf Green and More Sweetwater Music Hall (in Mill Valley, CA) has announced details pertaining to Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz's 50th Birthday Bash. The event is slated to take place on Saturday, November 23, 2024, and functions as a celebratory occasion to honor the jam stalwart and beloved member of the Bay Area music scene's five decade ride. The six-string virtuoso, known for his work with Animal Liberation Orchestra (ALO), Phil Lesh & Friends, and his own self-titled Friends project, has tapped an all-star group of regional talent to assist during the live show. Appearing on the birthday lineup, in addition to the bandleader are Vicki Randle (percussion, vocals; The Tonight Show Band), Steve Adams (bass; ALO), Trevor Garrod (keys; Tea Leaf Green) and Scott Rager (drums; Tea Leaf Green). “Possessing a signature tone, the vehicle for his fluid, buttery sound is a flat top acoustic guitar that he has personally sliced and diced into an electric flat top, with a vintage style humbucker pickup. Inherently committed to an improvisational approach, Lebo embodies the realm of melodic and soulful sounds,” the press release includes, drawing on the unique factors which have made Lebo a standout amongst his musical contemporaries. As an added distinction, and play into the birthday angle of event's surprise and celebration, special guest appearances are slated to occur, as referenced via press release and the artist's post on Instagram, where he noted additional inclusions as TBA. SHOW No. 2: Weather Report Suite Prelude (out of China >Rider/Me & My Uncle/Loose Lucy Track #14 3:10 – end INTO Weather Report Suite Part I (out of WRS Prelude/ into WRS Part II (Let It Grow)/Set break - 16 songs Track #15 0:00 – 1:03 David Dodd: This week, by request, we're looking at “Weather Report Suite,” (Prelude, Part 1, and Part 2). For a short time, the three pieces that comprise the Suite were played as such, but that was relatively short-lived by Grateful Dead standards. The Prelude debuted in November 1972, originally as a separate piece from its eventual companions. The Dead played it, according to DeadBase, four more times in the spring of 1973 before it was first matched up with Weather Report Suite Parts 1 & 2, in September of that year. It was played regularly through October of 1974, and then dropped from the repertoire. The instrumental “Prelude,” composed by Weir, sets the stage for the two pieces to follow. I think it's one of the most beautiful little pieces of music I know—I have never once skipped through it over years of listening. I just let it wash over me and know that its simplicity and beauty are preparing me for the melancholy of Part 1, and the sometimes epic grandeur of Part 2. Part 1 is a song co-written with Eric Andersen, a well-known singer-songwriter who wrote the classic “Thirsty Boots.” He was on the Festival Express Tour (of “Might As Well” fame) across Canada along with the Dead, and I'm guessing that's where Weir and he met and concocted this piece. Happy to be corrected on that by anyone who knows better. Andersen and Weir share the lyric credit, and the music is credited to Weir. Once it appeared in the rotation, in September 1973, it stayed in the repertoire only as long as the Prelude did, dropping entirely in October 1974. The song addresses the seasons, and their changing mirrors the the singer's state of mind as he reflects on the coming of love, and maybe its going, too: a circle of seasons, and the blooming and fading of roses. I particularly like the line “And seasons will end in tumbled rhyme and little change, the wind and rain.” There's something very hopeful buried in the song's melancholy. Is that melancholy just a projection of mine? I think there's something about Weir's singing that gets at that emotion. Loss, and the hope that there might be new love. Weather Report Suite, Part 2 (“Let It Grow”) is a very different beast. It remained steadily in the rotation for the next 21 years after its debut, and the band played it 276 times. Its season of rarity was 1979, when it was played only three times, but otherwise, it was not far from the rotation. It could be stretched into a lengthy jamming tune (clocking at over 15 minutes several times), building to a thundering crescendo. And the “Weather Report” aspect of the song is what was really the most fun many times. Released on Wake of The Flood in 1973. WRS Prelude and Part I:Played: 46 timesFirst: September 8, 1973 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY, USALast: October 18, 1974 at Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA, USA SHOW No. 3: Mississippi Half Step Uptown Toodeloo (Second Set Opener/into Big River/Dark Star) Track #17 3:17 – 4:55 Released on Wake of the Flood in 1973. Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo was first performed live by the Grateful Dead on July 16, 1972. It was a frequent part of the repertoire through to 1974. From 1976 onward it was played less frequently with usually between 5 and 15 performances each year. It was not played at all in 1983 and 1984. The last performance was in July 1995. In total it was performed around 236 times. The majority of performances from 1978 onward were as the opening song of a show. Huner/Garcia special. Great story. Great lyrics: “what's the point of calling shots, this cue ain't straight in line. Cue ball is made of Styrofoam and no one's got the time” Always one of my favorite songs to hear in concert. ½ Step>Franklin's were especially fun as a one two show opener punch. Played: 236 timesFirst: July 16, 1972 at Dillon Stadium, Hartford, CT, USALast: July 6, 1995 at the Riverport Amphitheatre in Maryland Heights (St. Louis), MO MJ NEWS: INTRO MUSIC: Willin' Little Feat Little Feat - Willin' sung by Lowell George Live 1977. HQ Video. 0:10 – 1:32 1977 "Willin'" is a song written by American musician Lowell George, and first recorded with his group Little Feat on their 1971 debut album. The song has since been performed by a variety of artists. George wrote the song while he was a member of the Mothers of Invention. When George sang an early version of the song for bandleader Frank Zappa, Zappa suggested that the guitarist form his own band rather than continue under Zappa's tutelage.[1] He did just that, and the song was subsequently recorded by Lowell's band Little Feat. The song was included on Little Feat's 1971 self-titled debut album. The band re-recorded the song at a slower tempo to much greater success on their 1972 Sailin' Shoes album. A live version recorded in 1977 appears on their 1978 album Waiting for Columbus. The lyrics are from the point of view of a truck driver who has driven from Tucson to Tucumcari (NM), Tehachapi (CA) to Tonopah (AZ)" and "smuggled some smokes and folks from Mexico"; the song has become a trucker anthem. And of course, he asks for “weed, whites (speed) and wine” to get him through his drive. 1. Using Marijuana Is Tied To Lower Consumption Of Alcohol, Opioids And Other Drugs, New Study Reveals 2. Why Florida's Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative Failed Despite Trump Endorsement, Historic Funding And Majority Voter Support 3. Marijuana Has ‘Great Deal Of Potential' To Treat Opioid Use Disorder, Study Finds, Predicting It'll Become More Common In Treatment 4. Colorado Springs Voters Approve Two Contradictory Marijuana Ballot Measures To Both Allow And Ban Recreational Sales Strains of the week: Sub Zero - Sub Zero is a potent Indica-dominanthybrid cannabis strain that combines the robust genetics of Afghan, Colombian, and Mexican origins. This marijuana strain offers a complex flavor profile with notes of apple, menthol, chestnut, lime, and berry, providing a unique and refreshing sensory experience. The aroma of Sub Zero is as intriguing as its flavor, characterized by a rich combination of woody, earthy, and citrus notes, thanks to a terpene profile rich in Humulene, Limonene, Linalool, and Carene. These terpenes not only enhance the flavor but also contribute to the strain's therapeutic properties. Apple Fritter - Apple Fritter, also known as “Apple Fritters,” is a rare evenly balanced hybrid strain (50% indica/50% sativa) created through crossing the classic Sour Apple X Animal Cookies strains. Best known for making the High Times' 2016 “World's Strongest Strains” List, this baby brings on a hard-hitting high and super delicious flavor that will have you begging for more after just one taste. Extract: Dulce Limon – hyrbrid sativa dominant Pineapple Fizz – slightly indica dominant hybrid strain SHOW No. 4: Dark Star (Mind Left Body Jam) Track #18 34:45 – end This is the name given to a 4-chord sequence played as a jam by the Grateful Dead. It is thought by some to be related to the Paul Kantner song "Your Mind Has Left Your Body." The title "Mind Left Body Jam" was originally used by DeadBase. The first Grateful Dead CD to include a version was "Dozin' At The Knick", where the title was "Mud Love Buddy Jam" in a humorous reference to the DeadBase/taper title. But subsequent releases have adopted the "Mind Left Body Jam" title.Here, it comes out of a 36 minute Dark Star that many say is one of the best ever and links it to an excellent Eyes of the World.Fun to feature one of the band's thematic jams every now and then. The truly improvisational side of the Dead and their live performances. Played: 9 timesFirst: October 19, 1973 at Jim Norick Arena, Oklahoma City, OK, USALast: March 24, 1990 at Knickerbocker Arena, Albany, NY, USA INTO Eyes of the World (into China Doll/Sugar Mag as second set closer) Track #19 0:00 – 2:25 David Dodd: “Eyes of the World” is a Robert Hunter lyric set by Jerry Garcia. It appeared in concert for the first time in that same show on February 9, 1973, at the Maples Pavilion at Stanford University, along with “They Love Each Other,” “China Doll,” “Here Comes Sunshine,” “Loose Lucy,” “Row Jimmy,” and “Wave That Flag.” Its final performance by the Dead was on July 6, 1995, at Riverport Amphitheatre, in Maryland Heights, Missouri, when it opened the second set, and led into “Unbroken Chain.” It was performed 381 times, with 49 of those performances occurring in 1973. It was released on “Wake of the Flood” in November, 1973. (I have begun to notice something I never saw before in the song statistics in Deadbase—the 49 performances in 1973 made me look twice at the song-by-song table of performances broken out by year in DeadBase X, which clearly shows the pattern of new songs being played in heavy rotation when they are first broken out, and then either falling away entirely, or settling into a more steady, less frequent pattern as the years go by. Makes absolute sense!) Sometimes criticized, lyrically, as being a bit too hippy-dippy for its own good, “Eyes of the World” might be heard as conveying a message of hope, viewing human consciousness as having value for the planet as a whole. There are echoes in the song of a wide range of literary and musical influences, from Blaise Pascal to (perhaps) Ken Kesey; from talk of a redeemer to the title of the song itself. In an interview, Hunter made an interesting statement about the “songs of our own,” which appear twice in “Eyes of the World.” He said that he thinks it's possible each of us may have some tune, or song, that we hum or sing to ourselves, nothing particularly amazing or fine, necessarily, that is our own song. Our song. The song leaves plenty of room for our own interpretation of certain lines and sections. The verse about the redeemer fading away, being followed by a clay-laden wagon. The myriad of images of birds, beeches, flowers, seeds, horses.... One of my all time favorite songs, Dead or otherwise. A perfect jam tune. Great lyrics, fun sing along chorus and some of the finest music you will ever hear between the verses. First really fell for it while at a small show one night my junior year at Michigan in the Michigan Union, a Cleveland based dead cover band call Oroboros. We were all dancing and this tune just seemed to go on forever, it might have been whatever we were on at the time, but regardless, this tune really caught my attention. I then did the standard Dead dive to find as many versions of the song as I could on the limited live Dead releases at that time and via show tapes. Often followed Estimated Prophet in the first part of the second set, china/rider/estimated/eyes or scarlet/fire/estimated/eyes and sometimes even Help/Slip/Frank/Estimated/Eyes. Regardless of where it appeared, hearing the opening notes was magical because you knew that for the next 10 – 12 minutes Jerry had you in the palm of his hand. This is just a great version, coming out of the Dark Star/Mind Left Body Jam and then continuing on into China Doll (two great Jerry tunes in a row!) and a standout Sugar Mag to close out the second set. Any '73 Eyes will leave you in awe and this one is one of the best. Played: 382 timesFirst: February 9, 1973 at Maples Pavilion, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USALast: July 6, 1995 at Riverport Amphitheatre, Maryland Heights (St. Louis), MO OUTRO: And We Bid You Goodnight (encore out of Uncle John's Band/Johnny B. Goode) 3 song encore!! Track #25 :40 – 3:03 The Grateful Dead performed the song a number of times in the 1968-1970 and 1989-1990 periods but infrequently during the rest of their performing career. On Grateful Dead recordings the title used is either And We Bid You Goodnight or We Bid You Goodnight. The Grateful Dead version of this traditional 'lowering down' funeral song originates from a recording by Joseph Spence and the Pindar Family which was released in 1965. The title used on that recording, as on many others, is I Bid You Good Night. This song appears to share a common ancestry with the song Sleep On Beloved from North East England. I got to see it the first night at Alpine Valley in 1989 (the Dead's last year at Alpine) and it really caught the crowd off guard. Great reaction from the Deadheads. Kind of a chills down your spine thing. I was with One armed Lary and Alex, both had been with us at Deer Creek right before. Lary stayed for all three nights but Alex had to take off after the first show. Great times. Played: 69 timesFirst: January 26, 1968 at Eagles Auditorium, Seattle, WA, USALast: September 26, 1991 at Boston Garden, Boston, MA, USA Thank you for listening. Join us again next week for more music news, marijuana news and another featured Grateful Dead show. Have a great week, have fun, be safe and as always, enjoy your cannabis responsibly. .Produced by PodConx Deadhead Cannabis Show - https://podconx.com/podcasts/deadhead-cannabis-showLarry Mishkin - https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkinRob Hunt - https://podconx.com/guests/rob-huntJay Blakesberg - https://podconx.com/guests/jay-blakesbergSound Designed by Jamie Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-humiston-91718b1b3/Recorded on Squadcast
The band co-founded by Lowell George and led by Bill Payne has flourished with their gumbo approach to rock and roll.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Bill Payne of Little Feat talks about the band's latest album, his book, touring, recording their first album, Lowell George and more!
Salty Dog's FEAT Podcast, August 2024 The DAWG is touring the UK from late August, so no new shows till end of September. This show is something special from LITTLE FEAT, live from the desk at Festival Hall Melbourne Australia, July 1976. Lowell George in his prime, and the band is cookin' brother! Thank you all for your support, enjoy the FEAT and we'll be back real soon. Salty ARTIST / TRACK / ALBUM ** Australia 1. Little Feat / Rock and Roll Doctor / Unreleased, Melbourne Australia July 1976 2. Little Feat / Two Trains / Unreleased, Melbourne Australia July 1976 3. Little Feat / The Fan / Unreleased, Melbourne Australia July 1971. 4. Little Feat / On Your Way Down / Unreleased, Melbourne Australia July 1976 5. Little Feat / Oh Atlanta / Unreleased, Melbourne Australia July 1976 6. Little Feat / Spanish Moon / Unreleased, Melbourne Australia July 1976 7. Little Feat / Willin' / Unreleased, Melbourne Australia July 1976 8. ** The Blow Out / Misadventure / Unreleased, Resonator out track.
Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Mean Ole FiremanMean Old Fireman, the musical brainchild of slide guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Ned Bollé, weaves ample doses of New Orleans grooves, southern rock and old school hard R&B onto a blues roots framework to create their own version of Americana. "Somewhere around age 11, I heard Derek and The Dominoes," Bollé explains, "and those first few notes Duane Allman plays on "Key To The Highway" galvanized me; I wanted to sound like that. That whetted my appetite, and then, like so many people do, I found my way back to the roots of it all - Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, those guys. The same thing happened with my love for New Orleans music, Robert Palmer led me to Lowell George, and that led me to the Meters, the Nevilles, Dr. John, and so on.” http://www.makingascene.org
This week we are delving into one of the greats of Southern Rock. Well, they are southern rock if you count southern California. Little Feat took its name from a comment Frank Zappa made to his band member Lowell George regarding his having little feet. George would become a founder and driving force behind Little Feat, providing guitar and vocals. Other members were Paul Barrere on guitar and vocals, Sam Clayton on percussion and vocals, Kenny Gradney on bass, Richie Hayward on drums and vocals, and Bill Payne on keyboards and vocals.Feats Don't Fail Me Now is the band's fourth studio album, and it went to number 36 on the US Top LP's chart. It is hard to go wrong when, in addition to the regular band members you have the Tower of Power on horns, and backing vocals from Emmylou Harris and Bonnie Raitt. The album was recorded at Blue Seas Recording Studio in Maryland, and it provided two advantages. First, it had just opened and needed a band for their "shakedown cruise," letting Little Feat record on the cheap. Second, it was far away from their home base in Los Angeles, which kept Lowell George away from many familiar temptions of drugs and women.While Lowell George would soon begin to deteriorate in health (he died of a heart attack in 1979), this album shows him and his band at the height of their artistic prowess. The surviving members of Little Feat would regroup in 1987, and the band continues to perform today.Wayne takes us through this little feat of southen rock for this week's podcast. Feats Don't Fail Me NowThe title track received significant airplay on FM radio and it leads off side two of the album. That driving bass line and funky drumbeat is sometimes called Country Funk Boogie. The message of the song is one of perseverance and determination to get back the girl the singer loves.Oh AtlantaIf you were living in the metro-Atlanta area in the 70's or 80's, you definitely are familiar with this song. Billy Payne takes lead vocal duties on this track, and it features Bonnie Raitt and Emmylou Harris on backing vocals. "Well, you can drop me off on Peachtree, I got to feel that Georgia sun. And the women there in Atlanta, they make you awfully glad you come."Spanish MoonThis track was written by Lowell George and features the Tower of Power horn section. This is a deeper cut, but it has a latin groove while maintaining both a bluesy and funky sound. The origin of the song is a dream George had of a dangerous nightclub in New Orleans called the Spanish Moon.Rock and Roll DoctorThe song considered the hit off the album is an anthem to the healing power of music. "Two degress in bebop, a PhD in swing, he's a master of rhythm, he's a rock and roll king." ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:Main theme from the motion picture “Together Brothers”The Love Unlimited Orchestra provided this title track to STAFF PICKS:Radar Love by Golden EarringLynch's starts our staff picks this week with a Dutch rock band originally formed in 1961. Lead vocalist Barry Hay and guitarist George Kooymans wrote this single that reached number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The lyrics describe a man driving a long way to be with his love, and communicating with her through a mystical bond he calls "radar love."Keep on Smilin' by Wet WillieBruce features the title track from Wet Willie's third studio album. It is their biggest hit, reaching number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song itself is rather stoic, encouraging the listener to keep smiling through the difficulties and pain of life.The Night Chicago Died by Paper LaceRob's staff pick is a story telling song that topped the US chart for one week in 1974. The lyrics describe a shoot-out between the Chicago Police and Al Capone's gangsters, and worries from the wife of a police officer that her husband wouldn't make it home. The song ends on a positive note when her husband walks through the door.Beach Baby by The First ClassWayne brings us a British band made up of all session players. They call themselves "the first class" because they considered themselves to be a kind of supergroup of the UK music session set. This song would be a one-hit wonder, reaching number 4 in the US, but other singles would not see the same level of success. NOVELTY TRACK:Rub It In by Billy "Crash" CraddockThis novelty song hit the top of the country charts. It may be more familiar as the jingle from Glade air fresheners, where they sing, "plug it in." 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.
Send us a Text Message.In 1984, Christopher Cross added a unique new entry to his discography. "A Chance For Heaven" was selected as the official swimming theme for the Olympics. I bet you didn't even know there was an official swimming theme that year, did you? Neither did we. Discovering that factoid during our episode about Christopher's 1985 album, Every Turn of the World, was enough to send us out on an important quest.What if we were to discuss the Olympics soundtrack albums for 1984, 1988 and 1992? That's the task that Jeff and Matt decided to tackle on today's episode of The Record Player. It's not an easy one, because none of the three volumes are on streaming. Which means, YouTube to the rescue!Here's streaming links for all three volumes:The Official Music Of The XXIIIrd Olympiad Los Angeles 19841988 Summer Olympics Album: One Moment in TimeBarcelona Gold (1992) - note that a few songs are not streaming officially, but 12 songs are. You'll get the point. But here's the complete rundown.This is a wide-ranging discussion that explores the bulk of the first two compilations track-by-track with scattered thoughts on Barcelona Gold, because we were at the clock limit and honestly, the tone of the song curation changed with Barcelona Gold in a way that felt less specific to the Olympics. But where else are you going to find En Vogue and Damn Yankees back to back on the same album? That's a really good question.There are references along the way to the Ghostbusters soundtrack, the We Are the World album and a bunch of other things -- including the most excellent Little Feat-related tribute album from the '90s, Rock & Roll Doctor: A Tribute to Lowell George. Streaming the Lowell tribute appears to be a bit of a chore -- it's on Apple Music at the very least, but finding it on Spotify was an elusive task.Anyway, we talk about some things and you've got some fresh listening material to enjoy now as well. Thanks as always for listening and don't forget to visit Jefitoblog for even more thoughts from Jeff. Have a good weekend!Support the Show.
This week, New York musician Stephen Bluhm brings us John Cale and his hauntingly beautiful 1973 masterpiece: 'Paris 1919' Songs discussed in this episode: Paris 1919 (live at the Paradiso Amsterdam Netherlands) - John Cale; Any Little Thing - Stephen Bluhm; Big White Cloud - John Cale; No One Is There - Nico; All The Love You Want, Wissahickon - Stephen Bluhm; Satellite Of Love - Lou Reed; China Sea - John Cale; Easy To Slip - Little Feat; A Child's Christmas In Whales, Hallelujah, Hanky Panky Nohow - John Cale; Venus In Furs - The Velvet Underground; The Endless Plain Of Fortune - John Cale; Andalucia - Yo La Tengo; Andalucia, Macbeth, Paris 1919, Graham Greene, Half Past France, Antarctica Starts Here - John Cale; New Age - The Velvet Underground; There Was A Light - Stephen Bluhm
Little Feat's story is one of longevity, an incredible catalogue of tunes, and excellent musicianship. The latest incarnation of the band, might be the closest we've heard since the band was formed back in 1969 by Lowell George, Billy Payne, Richie Hayward and Roy Estrada. The current line up is on tour most of the spring well into the summer, and they're releasing an album full of blues covers and a few originals entitled Sam's Place featuring percussionist turned vocalist Sam Clayton May 17th. I got up with keyboardist Billy Payne and current guitar player and friend of the show Scott Sharrard to get the lowdown on all things Feat. First song: Can't Be Satisfied Second song: You'll Be Mine See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In deze ingelaste Gitaarmannen, de podcast praat ik met BJ Baartmans over de workshops die hij gaat geven vanuit zijn eigen Studio Wildverband. En het leuke is: jij maakt kans op één zo'n workshop! Hoe? Simpel: stuur een mail naar info@gitaarmannen.nl. Uit alle inzendingen trekt BJ een winnaar. Dit zijn de data: Woensdag 24 juli: Slidegitaar Donderdag 25 juli: Songs arrangeren Woendag 31 juli: Sound! Donderdag 1 augustus: In de studio! Meer info: Deze zomer geef ik bij voldoende belangstelling op 4 verschillende dagen workshops in Studio Wild Verband, Boxmeer. Iedere dag heeft een eigen thema en is zowel toegankelijk voor bevlogen beginners als gevorderde gitaristen. We gaan een hele dag samen maar ook individueel aan de slag met het thema. Luisteren, kletsen, dingen uitpuzzelen en bovenal spelen! Inbegrepen bij de workshops is een lichte hap tussendoor, drankjes en een maaltijd aan het eind van de middag. Daarna is er 's avonds ruimte voor het luisteren naar of deelnemen aan een mini concert, een opname luistersessie of terugblik. En de nazit. Voor mensen die twee opeenvolgende workshops willen bijwonen is er gelegenheid tot overnachting. De volgende hoofdthema's had ik in gedachten maar komen er veel specifieke vragen naar bepaalde thema's en kan ik die goed inpassen dan kan daar nog wat in veranderen. Eerst eens kijken wie hier op af komt: 1. Slidegitaar. Een duik in de wereld van bottlenecks en steelbars, open stemmingen, tussen- en boventonen, deltablues, southern rock en Hawaï klanken, helden als Lowell George, Ry Cooder, Derek Trucks en George Harrison. In de lijn van de slidegitaar cursus die ik een aantal jaren geleden maakte voor True Fire. 2. Songs arrangeren. Sounds, hooks, losse noten en accoordenmagie. Over hoe je meer kleur kunt geven aan jezelf of een ander begeleiden binnen een liedje. Werken met voicings, capo's, anders gestemde gitaren, speeltechnieken en geluidseffecten. Aan de hand van een bekend of zelf meegebrachte song. 3. Sound! De weg van gitaar, pedalboard en versterking naar de luisteraar. Hoe vind je je eigen sound? En hoe komt die op een ander over? Welk soort gitaar past het best bij de klank die je zoekt? Welke soort versterking? Hoe beïnvloeden verschillende effectpedalen je toon en elkaar? In de studio is een heel uitgebreide verzameling instrumenten beschikbaar. Archtops, solid en hollow bodies. Pafs, lipsticks en single coils. Drives, fuzzes en boosters. Vibes, phasers, plates, slapbackecho's. Fender, Marshall, Vox… Veel vintage maar ook wat eigentijds. 4. In de studio! Tips en technieken voor zowel werken in een homestudio of professionele studio. Opnames maken van electrische en akoestische gitaren, basgitaar of minder gewone snaarinstrumenten als mandoline, dobro of banjo. Met microfoons, door echte versterkers of via ampsimulatie. Op podium of slaapkamervolume. Binnen een bandkader of soloperformance. Een kijkje in de keuken van microfoonplaatsing, afluistermethodes, gebruik van effectapparatuur, mixen. Over speel en opnamemateriaal. Voor alle workshops geldt dat je je eigen instrumentarium mee kan brengen, en als het zo uitpakt is er ook ruimte om daar specifiek aandacht aan te besteden. Maar je kan ook gebruik maken van de aanwezige instrumenten en apparatuur in de studio. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gitaarmannen/message
The highly-talented Inara George has collaborated with Dave Grohl and Van Dyke Parks, has had Jackson Browne write a song for her, and is one half of the duo The Bird and the Bee (along with nine-time Grammy-winning songwriter Greg Kurstin). The daughter of Little Feat's Lowell George, Inara is no stranger to the music world and specifically the sonic tapestry that makes up Los Angeles. It's no surprise, then, that components of her community arise in her work. “Ventura Blvd.” has a personal narrative from a rare native.
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
Pianist Bill Payne, who founded Little Feat in 1969 in Los Angeles with singer-songwriter-guitarist Lowell George, takes us on this great American band's rollercoaster ride through the 1970s. Payne wrote or co-wrote more than half of Little Feat's self-titled debut album, but the mercurial George came to dominate as the band ascended via the albums Sailin' Shoes, Dixie Chicken and Feats Don't Fail Me Now, the last of which features the Payne standout “Oh, Atlanta.” By the time of the classic 1978 live album Waiting for Columbus, George had pulled back and was struggling with addictions, and tensions ran high — yet the band still cooked. What happened? And how did Payne revive Little Feat after George's death to continue leading it through today?
Few singer/songwriters are as individual and eclectic as Rickie Lee Jones, a vocalist and composer who's able to weave jazz, folk, and R&B into songs for decades. Rickie Lee's greatest commercial success came at the outset of her career with ‘Chuck E's in Love', but a restless creative spirit and a stubborn refusal to be pigeon holed into any one musical niche, ensured her on-going status as a cult hero. Her second LP, 1981's Pirates added rock and soul flavours. Others followed. As the '90s gave way to the 2000s, Rickie Lee continued to explore new directions, experimenting with trip-hop on 1997's Ghostyhead, a personal take on faith with 2007's The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard, and taking an introspective look into her own life on 2009's Balm in Gilead. Assuming full control of her music when she founded her own label to release 2015's The Other Side of Desire and 2019's Kicks, her latest offering is Pieces of Treasure. It's an incredible album that sees her paying tribute to the Golden Age of American Song writing with jazzy accents. In this episode, Rickie Lee Jones tells us how she endured a stormy childhood that saw her moved around from state to state. Eventually as a teenager she fled to seek refuge in Los Angeles in the mid-'70s. There she slept on people's couches, worked a series of waitressing jobs and occasionally performing in area clubs. She found a measure of success when Lowell George, the ex Little Feat frontman decided to record her song ‘Easy Money'. After that, fortune seemed to smile on her as she enlisted Russ Titleman to co-produce her self-titled 1979 debut LP which featured the hit 'Chuck E's in Love'. Have you ever wondered who Chuck E is? I have and she explains all. With that album, Rickie Lee Jones became an overnight smash sensation. Her life was changed forever and a confident, self-assured young trend-setting artist emerged, leaving behind the shy girl who'd always resided in her cocoon. Rickie Lee Jones joins me this week to tell her story and share some of her thoughts around her musical journey. If you'd like to know more about her, head for her website https://rickieleejones.com/ and make sure you take a listen to her latest album. It's Rickie Lee Jones at her very best. Any comments, feedback or suggestions for future guests? Simply send me a message through my website https://abreathoffreshair.com.au/ I hope you enjoy Rickie Lee Jones' story.
This episode of Comes A Time features an interview with Kirk West, a photographer who spent decades documenting the Allman Brothers Band. West provides fascinating insights into the early days of the band, sharing how he first discovered their music in Chicago and then later developed close relationships with the members. West recounts getting exclusive access to shoot iconic album covers like Seven Turns. He also explains how he came to live in the original Allman Brothers Band house in Macon, Georgia, eventually turning it into a museum showcasing his vast collection of ABB memorabilia. The story of creating the museum highlights West's dedication and passion for preserving the band's history. Throughout the show, West shares amazing anecdotes and little-known stories about his experiences with the Allman Brothers and capturing images of legends like Bob Marley and Lowell George. Music fans will appreciate gaining the unique perspective of a photographer who documented some of rock's greatest artists up close. This is an enlightening look into the world behind the camera lens. Kirk West Photography: https://www.kirkwestphotography.com/ Comes A Time Podcast and content posted by Comes A Time is presented solely for general informational, educational, and entertainment purposes. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast is at the user's own risk. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This episode of Comes A Time features an interview with Kirk West, a photographer who spent decades documenting the Allman Brothers Band. West provides fascinating insights into the early days of the band, sharing how he first discovered their music in Chicago and then later developed close relationships with the members. West recounts getting exclusive access to shoot iconic album covers like Seven Turns. He also explains how he came to live in the original Allman Brothers Band house in Macon, Georgia, eventually turning it into a museum showcasing his vast collection of ABB memorabilia. The story of creating the museum highlights West's dedication and passion for preserving the band's history. Throughout the show, West shares amazing anecdotes and little-known stories about his experiences with the Allman Brothers and capturing images of legends like Bob Marley and Lowell George. Music fans will appreciate gaining the unique perspective of a photographer who documented some of rock's greatest artists up close. This is an enlightening look into the world behind the camera lens. Kirk West Photography: https://www.kirkwestphotography.com/ Comes A Time Podcast and content posted by Comes A Time is presented solely for general informational, educational, and entertainment purposes. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast is at the user's own risk. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Formed in 1969 by slide guitar juggernaut Lowell George, disbanded after his death in '79, then revitalized in 1987, Little Feet combines George's bandmate and co-writer Fred Tacket along with virtuoso Scott Sharrad in their new recording and touring lineup. Tacket and Sharrad invited PG's John Bohlinger to their soundcheck at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium to talk gear and tell classic stories from Little Feet's early days.Brought to you by D'Addario XSRR Strings.
"Phish's Chicago Adventure: Unpacking the Three-Night Run"Larry Mishkin talks about his experience at a recent Phish concert in Chicago. He mentions the uniqueness of this Phish show and focuses on their cover songs, specifically mentioning their cover of Talking Heads' "Remain in Light" album and the way Phish adds their signature jamming style to it. Larry also discusses a rare cover of Neil Young's "Albuquerque" and the joy of seeing a band like Phish covering classics. He mentions the fan culture at Phish concerts, including the prevalence of nitrous oxide vendors in the parking lot. He shares his experience over three nights of the concert and highlights the setlist from each night. Larry also talks about Phish covering Little Feat's "Spanish Moon" and its significance, given that it's a rarely played song by Phish..Produced by PodConx Deadhead Cannabis Show - https://podconx.com/podcasts/deadhead-cannabis-showLarry Mishkin - https://podconx.com/guests/larry-mishkinRob Hunt - https://podconx.com/guests/rob-huntJay Blakesberg - https://podconx.com/guests/jay-blakesbergSound Designed by Jamie Humiston - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-humiston-91718b1b3/Recorded on Squadcast Phish Weekend in ChicagoOctober 13 – 15, 2023United Center Today is the Phish covers which were spectacularPlay amazing covers by incredible artists – sometimes they dig deep into the other performer's catalogue to pull out rarities. Other times they cover the hits. This weekend featured some great examples. INTRO: Cross Eyed and PainlessPhish Cross Eyed and Painless 2023 10 13 Chicago Illinois - YouTube2:00 – 3:40October 13, 2023, Second set, out of Tweezer and into Light. Who doesn't love a cover of a Talking Heads tune, ANY Talking Heads tune. But this one is special. Second song on Remain In Light, one of the greatest albums of all time. Released on October 8, 1980 by Sire Records, the band's fourth album. Last Heads album produced by Brian Eno. Phish debuted the tune on October 31, 1996 at the Phish Halloween show at the Omni in Atlanta, GA, covered Remain In Light as their Musical CostumePlayed 62 times overallThey really jam it out in a way the Talking Heads did not. Always well received and this show was no differentLast played on August 4, 2023 at MSG, 7 shows ago SHOW #1 AlbuquerquePHISH : Albuquerque : [NEIL YOUNG] : {4K Ultra HD} : The United Center : Chicago, IL : 10/13/2023 - YouTube:50 – 2:18October 13, 2023, First set, out of a killer Ghost and into Saw It Again. Beautiful Neil Young tune from Tonight's The Night released in 1975The song sees Young returning to a theme that has filled his music from very early on: the vapidity of fame. It's something he seems to struggle with even more than most other musicians. Or, at least, it's something he's chosen to sing about more often than most. It may in fact be the most common theme of all his music, besides obvious stuff like heartbreak and love.In "Albuquerque," Young is thinking about renting a car and driving from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Santa Fe, just to be alone and "independent from the scene." He never tells us why he's in Albuquerque to begin with, but he does tell us he wants to roll a joint and rent a car and stop to eat some "fried eggs and country ham."The "country ham" bit is kind of interesting, because country ham is a food popular in the southeast, not so much in the southwest. It's probably just a simple oversight on Young's part, but it may also reveal another common thread in Young's music: the escape into rural simplicity as a cure for the craziness and fakeness of modern day life.Phish first played this song on July 26, 1998 at the Starplex Amphitheatre in Dallas, TX.Played a total of 17 timesLast played on June 11, 2011 at Merriweather Post Pavillion outside of D.C., gap of 457 shows SHOW #2: Spanish MoonPHISH : Spanish Moon : [LITTLE FEAT] : {4K Ultra HD} : The United Center : Chicago, IL : 10/15/2023 - YouTube:50 – 2:05October 15, 2023, Second set out of Pebbles and Marbles and into A Wave of Hope Little Feat cover, one of their most popular tunes.From the album, Feats Don't Fail Me Now, released in 1974 "Spanish Moon" was written and sung by guitarist Lowell George, who was a creative powerhouse in the early years of Little Feat. The song is about a fictional place called the Spanish Moon - a seedy club with whiskey and bad cocaine, but a girl singer that made it worth it. There are many dangers at the Spanish Moon, but the ones likely to do you in are the women.Lowell George was an excellent storyteller and created the Spanish Moon from his imagination, but he lived through the vices he describes in the song, especially cocaine. Around this time, his addictions were starting to overpower him, his health started failing, and he developed hepatitis. Feats Don't Fail Me Now was the last Little Feat album where he was clearly the leader; his contributions to the band slowly tailed off, and in 1979 he released a solo album. While on tour supporting it, he died of a heart attack at 34. Phish debuted it live on October 31, 2010 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City when Phish's musical costume was Waiting For Columbus, the famed Little Feat live album.Phish has performed it live only 3 timesLast before this show was on February 21, 2019 at Barcelo Maya Beach, Riviera Maya, Qunitana Roo, Mexico, gap of 170 shows SHOW #3: No QuarterPHISH : No Quarter : [LED ZEPPELIN] : {4K Ultra HD} : The United Center : Chicago, IL : 10/14/2023 - YouTube1:53 – 3:25October 14, 2023, Second Set, out of Everything's Right, into Fluffhead "No Quarter" is a song by Led Zeppelin that appears on their 1973 album Houses of the Holy. It was written by John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant. The song became a centerpiece at all Led Zeppelin concerts thereafter, until their final tour. It appears in both the film versions and both live album versions of The Song Remains the Same, released in 1976 and expanded in 2007. It appeared once more in 1994 on Page and Plant's reunion album as the title track. It also appears on Led Zeppelin's 2012 live album Celebration Day, which documented their 2007 reunion performance at the O2 Arena in London. It was re-released on the deluxe edition of Houses of the Holy. The title is derived from the military practice of showing no mercy to a vanquished opponent and from the brave act of not asking for mercy when vanquished. This theme is captured in several of the song's lyrics. Like "Immigrant Song" two albums prior, it evokes imagery from the Vikings and Norse mythology, with lyrics such as “the winds of Thor are blowing cold.”Record producer Rick Rubin remarked on the song's structure, "It takes such confidence to be able to get really quiet and loose for such a long time. [Led] Zeppelin completely changed how we look at what popular music can be." Phish debuted the song on June 1, 2011 at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ Phish has performed the song 19 times Last before this show was on April 23, 2023 at the Hollywood Bowl, gap of 32 shows SHOW #4 IzabellaPHISH : Izabella : [JIMI HENDRIX] : {4K Ultra HD} : The United Center : Chicago, IL : 10/13/2023 - YouTube:35 – 1:14October 13, 2023, Encore Written by Jimi Hendrix, released on Band of Gypsys, released April 8, 1970After Hendrix disbanded the Jimi Hendrix Experience in early 1969, he formed Gypsy Sun and Rainbows to fulfill his contract to play Woodstock. This was one of the new songs that he introduced at the festival, after which the guitarist was eager to perfect a studio version. Hendrix recruited bassist Billy Cox, who had played with him while they were in the army and his drummer friend Buddy Miles, for a new ensemble, Band of Gypsys. They recorded this as the B-side to his "Stepping Stone" single for Reprise, but it was quickly pulled after Hendrix complained about the mix. The Band of Gypsys made their live debut at the Fillmore East on New Year's Eve, 1969 and this song was played during their first set. Phish debuted the song on June 13, 1997 at The S.F.X. Centre in Dublin, IrelandPhish has performed the Song 17 timesLast before this show July 30, 2023 at MSG in NYC, gap of 15 shows OUTRO: Loving CupPhish Remastered - 10 - 15 - 2023 - United Center, Chicago, Illinois - YouTube2:34:50 – 2:36:23October 15, 2023, Second set, out of Evolve, set closer. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, released on Exile on Main Street (1971)Exile on Main St. has grown to be appreciated with time, and this is an example of a song that become more popular later on. In a 2003 interview, Mick Jagger explained: "On the Forty Licks tour, when we were preparing the set list for a show in Yokohama, Chuck Leavell suggested we play 'Loving Cup,' the ballad from Exile on Main St. I didn't want to play the tune and I said, Chuck, this is going to die a death in Yokohama. I can't even remember the bloody song, and no one likes it. I've done it loads of times in America, it doesn't go down that well, it's a very difficult song to sing, and I'm fed up with it! Chuck went, Stick in the mud! so I gave in and put it in the set-list. Lo and behold, we went out, started the song and they all began applauding... Which just proves how, over time, some of these songs acquire a certain existence, or value, that they never had when they first came out. People will say, What a wonderful song that was, when it was virtually ignored at the time it was released." >> Phish debuted the song on February 3, 1993 at the Portland Expo in Portland, MaineInteresting because they did eventually cover Exile On Main Street as a Halloween musical costume on October 31, 2009 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA, part of Phish Festival 8.Clearly one of their favorite covers, and a crowd pleaser, played 148 times.Last played before this show on August 5, 2023 at MSG, gap of 13 shows
Most bands who started in the tumultuous year of 1969 like Little Feat never make it out of that creative cauldron. How many heroes faded away or flamed out and can only be found now on classic rock radio or in dusty record bins? Little Feat is still here. And while the group lost talented but tempestuous lead singer and guitarist Lowell George along the way - as we learned in the first part of our wide-ranging conversation with renown keyboardist, songwriter, photographer and band co-founder Bill Payne, this ever-evolving collective of artists was able to keep the dream alive, delighting devoted fans with seminal live records like Waiting For Columbus and showing off their signature harmony-rich folk and brassy funk with a new tour while reissuing their beloved records Dixie Chicken and Sailin' Shoes with never-before-heard material. The more you look, the more you see that Little Feat is like a fifty year old best kept secret - the genre-bending band that many masters like Elton John and Robert Plant and even The Rolling Stones love to see live - with songs like “Willin'” being covered by everyone from Linda Ronstsadt to Gregg Allman to The Byrds. Meanwhile Payne has had an epic career playing keys in bands like The Doobie Brothers and expanding his creativity into fine art and authorship. Little Feat has always been that special group that, while never achieving world-wide fame, is always waiting to be discovered anew.
Episode 260: Darrell Scott emerged in the late 1990s as one of Nashville's most complete folk/roots artists. He had the butter of James Taylor and the grease of Lowell George in his voice. He could pick numerous instruments like a practiced master. And his songs were stunning from the get go, including his widely-recorded “You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive” and his crowd favorite “Great Day To Be Alive” on his debut project. Now, Scott lives mostly on a farm two hours from Nashville tending the land and playing 60-80 dates a year. Recently he issued Old Cane Back Rocker, his first studio album since 2016 and his most bluegrass leaning project ever. I road tripped to Darrell's farm to record this week's atmospheric conversation.
In this episode we invite Richard Grabel to reminisce about his long career as a journalist and music-biz lawyer. We hear how Richard had his mind blown by an early CBGB double-bill of Television and the three-piece Talking Heads — and about his first reviewing efforts as a student at the University of Pennsylvania. He describes how he got his foot in the door at New York Rocker – reviewing one of Lowell George's last shows for editor Andy Schwartz — and then at the NME on a 1978 visit to London. Richard's classic reports on NYC's early rap scene provide a perfect opportunity for us to ask him about his visits to the South Bronx and his interviews with Kurtis Blow and Grandmaster Flash. He's also namechecked in a clip from Bill Brewster & Frank Broughton's 1998 audio interview with Brit rap promoter Kool Lady Blue, whose legendary nights at the Roxy club in Chelsea he discusses with his hosts. After reflecting on the rise of the Beastie Boys and the story of how rap's "flash-in-the-pan" novelty status led to the genre's global domination, Richard explains how he became a high-profile lawyer for such alt-rock bands as Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. After Mark quotes from interviews with Betty Davis, Jackson Browne and George Michael, Jasper concludes the episode with remarks about pieces on Smash Mouth, *NYSNC and the 16-year-old Lorde. Many thanks to special guest Richard Grabel. Pieces discussed: Kurtis Blow, The Funky Four + 1, Grandmaster Flash, Kool Lady Blue, Run-DMC, Beastie Boys, Beastier Boys, Beastiest Boys, Jackson Browne, Ray Parker Jr., Betty Davis, George Michael, Smash Mouth, Blue-eyed soul and Lorde.
Bill Payne, along with Lowell George, formed Little Feat in the early 70's, blending elements of rock, country, blues and New Orleans funk, into an immediately recognizable sound. The band's second album, Sailin' Shoes and their third, Dixie Chicken, have recently been given the deluxe treatment - expanding to triple album sets, including the remastered album, bonus tracks and outtakes, and revelatory live footage. Payne is currently on the road with Little Feat, who later on in the fall will be doing The Albums Tour, choosing one of those two albums and playing them in their entirety each night. Bill has also played with the Doobie Brothers, members of the Grateful Dead and Leftover Salmon.He also talks about writing his memoir, which he hopes to have completed by next year.
The Blues Brothers Original Soundtrack is a powerhouse collection of rhythm and blues that captures the essence of the iconic film. It features a blend of classic blues, soul, and rock 'n' roll performed by legendary artists including Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, James Brown, and Cab Calloway. The Blues Brothers originated as a musical comedy act created by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi on the sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live” in the late 1970's. Inspired by their shared love for blues and R&B music, Aykroyd and Belushi created fictional characters, Jake and Elwood Blues, as their alter egos. The act gained popularity, leading to the release of their self-titled debut album in 1978 and eventually to the creation of the Blues Brothers motion picture in 1980. In the film, parolee Jake Blues is joined by his blood brother Elwood Blues on a “mission from God” to save the Catholic orphanage in which they were raised by reuniting their band and raising the $5000.00 for the property tax bill. Their quest brings them to a number of characters played by iconic artists including Cab Calloway and James Brown. The resulting soundtrack stands as a testament to the enduring power of blues music and left an indelible mark on both the film and music industry.John Lynch dons his suit and dark sunglasses to bring us this feature. Minnie the MoocherCab Calloway originally presented Minnie the Moocher back in 1931, and reprises the song for this film. Calloway was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, and a popular vocalist of the swing era. Calloway plays Curtis in the film, a father figure and mentor to the Blues Brothers, and performs this song as a warm-up to the concert.Jailhouse RockAs the movie ends with Jake and Elwood back in prison after successfully paying off the tax bill for the orphanage. The band plays Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock" for the inmates as the credits roll. Jake Blues (Belushi) takes lead on this upbeat number.ThinkAretha Franklin covers her own song as Mrs. Murphy, trying to persuade her husband Matt Murphy to not join the band. Franklin had a lot of difficulty lip synching the song and would have preferred to just sing it live. The Blues Brothers join her on this cover.Gimme Some Lovin'The Blues Brothers cover this piece originally performed by the Spencer Davis Group and made famous by Steve Winwood. While the song was a top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, in the film it gets a decidedly cooler reception in the honky tonk bar in which it is performed. ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:Lookin' for Love by Johnny Lee (from the motion picture “Urban Cowboy”)With the decline of disco, crossover country & western hits became popular. John Travolta starred in this movie which capitalized on the popularity of country music. STAFF PICKS:Train in Vain (Stand By Me) by the ClashBruce brings us the third single from the Clash's third album, “London Calling.” This was a double album, and a post-punk turn by the group. The song was originally intended to be a giveaway flexi single, but was put on the album at the last minute when that deal fell through. Mick Jones wrote and sings lead on this song, inspired by his tumultuous relationship with Stiltz guitarist Viv Albertine.Free Me Big by Roger DaltreyWayne features the front man for the Who in a solo effort written by Argent guitarist Russ Ballard. The song is on Daltrey's 1980 solo album “McVicar” It also appears on the soundtrack for the movie "McVicar" in which Daltrey plays John McVicar, an inmate in prison for a number of bank robberies. The other members of the Who play on this song as uncredited musicians.We Live for Love by Pat BenatarRob's staff pick is performed by Benatar, but it is often confused for a Blondie song. It is a single from Benatar's debut album, “In the Heat of the Night,” and was written by Neil Giraldo, Benatar's then-guitarist and now-husband (and still guitarist). It was the leading track from side two.Ride Like the Wind by Christopher CrossLynch's staff pick went to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, held out of the number 1 slot by Blondie's “Call Me.” It is Cross's debut single from his Grammy winning 1979 self-titled album. Cross dedicated the song to Lowell George, formerly of the band Little Feat, who had died in 1979. Michael McDonald is easy to identify on backing vocals. NOVELTY TRACK:Turning Japanese by the VaporsSongwriter and Vapors lead singer David Fenton says this is all the cliches about angst and youth and turning into something you didn't expect to. This new wave song went to number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In this episode we welcome Lloyd Bradley into our Hammersmith lair and ask him about his career as a journalist and as the acclaimed author of Bass Culture and Sounds Like London — the latter book celebrating its 10th birthday at the time of recording. We learn what London sounded like to Lloyd as a boy growing up in '60s Hornsey, and how his love for music led to writing for Blues & Soul and then NME and Q. He talks us through some of the key themes of Sounds Like London — his history of "100 years of Black music in the capital" — and particularly the homegrown reggae sub-genre known as "lover's rock" and the rise of grime as a hybrid of UK garage, hip hop, jungle and dancehall. Discussion of lover's rock leads us to clips from a 1998 audio interview with Steve Barrow, founder of dub/roots-reggae reissue label Blood and Fire — and then to how Lloyd came to write 2000's mighty Bass Culture: When Reggae was King. After a short discussion of soul legend Bettye LaVette — and her journey from early '60s Atlantic Records to the Anti- label in the mid-noughties — we pay tribute to the late Tina Turner and her epic story of survival and self-reinvention Mark quotes from highlights of his additions to the RBP library, including Richard Harrington's Washington Post review of the last gig Lowell George ever played and Tony Scherman's exhaustive Musician interview with session drummer Earl Palmer. Finally, Jasper talks us out with his remarks on pieces about Labrinth and London's hyper-eclectic jazz scene. Many thanks to special guest Lloyd Bradley. For more on Bass Culture and Sounds Like London, visit his website at lloydbradley.net. Pieces discussed: George Clinton, Beggar & Co, The Growth of Grime, Blood & Fire's Steve Barrow audio, Bettye Lavette, Bettye Lavette vs. Susan Boyle, Thankful N' Thoughtful, Ike & Tina, Tina Turner, Soulful Queen of Rock'n'roll, Tina Turner roars into Rock Hall, Lowell George, Earl Palmer, Labrinth live and London jazz.
In the rich tapestry of rock and roll history, certain bands stand out for their ground-breaking sound and unwavering commitment to pushing musical boundaries. Among these legends is Little Feat, a band known for their seamless fusion of rock, blues, R&B, and country. At the heart of their unique sound was the exceptional talent of keyboardist BILL PAYNE. This week's episode delves into the remarkable journey of Bill Payne and Little Feat, celebrating their musical fusion and enduring impact. Little Feat burst onto the music scene in the late 1960s, captivating audiences with their melodies and genre-defying style. Led by the charismatic Lowell George, the band's line-up was a powerhouse of musicians, and in the midst of this collective brilliance stood Bill Payne. His virtuoso skills on the piano elevated the band's sound, acting as a melodic thread that seamlessly wove together their diverse influences. What set Little Feat apart was their ability to effortlessly blend musical genres. At the core of this sonic tapestry was Bill Payne's musical intuition. His ability to traverse from bluesy rhythms to soulful ballads, and from rollicking rock to intricate jazz-infused compositions, was unparalleled. Payne's piano became a vessel of expression, transcending boundaries and creating a sound that was uniquely Little Feat. Beyond his instrumental prowess, Bill played a vital role in the band's song-writing process. His compositions often delved into introspective themes, combining poetic lyricism with infectious melodies. Songs like "Oh Atlanta," with its infectious hooks and heartfelt storytelling, and "Dixie Chicken," a timeless anthem of love and longing, showcased Bill's song-writing brilliance and contributed to the band's lasting legacy. Little Feat was known for its amazing live performances. Bill Payne's presence on stage was magnetic, as he effortlessly switched between soulful piano solos and intricate keyboard textures, leaving audiences spellbound. The band faced a devastating blow when Lowell George tragically passed away in 1979. However, instead of succumbing to despair, Bill Payne and Little Feat found strength in their shared love for music. Payne stepped up as a leader, guiding the band through this challenging period and ensuring that their innovative spirit endured. Their subsequent albums showcased their resilience and commitment to carrying forward their musical legacy. Today the band continues to play for audiences around the world with Bill the last remaining original member. In this wee's episode we explore the man and his craft. To learn more about Bill head for his website here If you'd like to get in touch with me to provide feedback, comments or with suggestions for guests you'd like me to interview, please do so sandy@abreathoffreshair.com.au https://abreathoffreshair.com.au facebook:https://www.facebook.com/SandyKayePresents/ instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandykayepresents/ twitter: https://twitter.com/sandykpresents I'd love to hear from you! Hope you enjoy this conversation with Little Feat's Bill Payne.
ABOUT BILL PAYNE: Bill Payne is an American pianist who, along with Lowell George, co-founded the American rock band Little Feat. He is considered by many other rock pianists to be one of the finest American piano rock and blues musicians of all time. ABOUT THE PODCAST: Candid discussions with and about those behind the scenes in the music business including industry veterans representing the segments of: Musician, Design & Live ABOUT THE HOSTS: All three Music Buzzz Podcast hosts (Dane Clark, Hugh Syme and Andy Wilson) have spent their careers working with the biggest names in entertainment and have been, and still are, a fly on the wall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
ABOUT BILL PAYNE: Bill Payne is an American pianist who, along with Lowell George, co-founded the American rock band Little Feat. He is considered by many other rock pianists to be one of the finest American piano rock and blues musicians of all time. ABOUT THE PODCAST: Candid discussions with and about those behind the scenes in the music business including industry veterans representing the segments of: Musician, Design & Live ABOUT THE HOSTS: All three Music Buzzz Podcast hosts (Dane Clark, Hugh Syme and Andy Wilson) have spent their careers working with the biggest names in entertainment and have been, and still are, a fly on the wall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jimmy Ryan has been Carly Simon's guitarist since the 1970s. He's an American artist, composer, producer, and author with a career that has spanned six decades. Beginning at seventeen, he and his college band, The Critters, had their first top forty hit, “Younger Girl,” which was followed by three charting albums and two more top forty hits, “Mr. Dieingly Sad” and “Don't Let The Rain Fall Down on Me.”In 1970, Jimmy's friend, Carly Simon, called him to put a band together for her. She was rising fast on the US and British top 40 charts with “That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be,” as well as her first album “Carly Simon,” on which Jimmy played guitar. Jimmy went on to perform with Carly on most of her future albums and continues to work off and on with her to this day. He's the guitar soloist on many of Carly's hits, the most memorable being “You're So Vain,” and the Academy Award winning song of the year, “Let the River Run,” from the movie, Working Girl. Aside from Carly Simon, Jimmy's also recorded with numerous superstars including no less than: Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Luther Vandross, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Jim Croce, John Entwistle, Elton John & Kiki Dee, The Doors, Rod Stewart, and many more, earning him six gold records and one platinum record. As a studio musician Jimmy has recorded alongside legendary session players, like: Jim Gordon, Claus Voorman, Jim Keltner, Nicky Hopkins, Will Lee, Steve Gadd, Lowell George, Robbie Robertson, Paul Shaffer, David Sanborn and many more. Along the way, he found time to perform in the original Broadway production of Hair. And he was a principal actor and musician in the Broadway production of “Pump Boys and Dinettes.”Jimmy has scored music for TV, creating themes and music for NBC News, CNBC, MSNBC, Lifetime, USA, and PBS. He's also composed, arranged, and produced music for over 500 radio and TV commercials for clients like: Doritos, McDonalds, IBM, Ford, Nikon, Pizza Hut, Budweiser, Chevy, Coke, Diet Coke, and more.In April 2019, he and his touring band, The Hit Men, were honored with the first ever Road Warrior Award from the Nashville Musician's Hall of Fame. In 2022, Jimmy published his memoir, Behind: Autobiography of a Musical Shapeshifter. It's a fascinating look at the life of a musician working at the highest levels of the music industry, especially the life of a working rock musician.And please be sure to stick around at the end of the show for a real treat. Jimmy has generously loaned us an unreleased song that he wrote and produced, Slow Burn.
The debut album by The Sundays entitled Reading, Writing and Arithmetic introduced the dream pop band to the UK during a time between alternative waves. The Smiths had broken up previously, but it would still be several years before the Manchester sound would take over the indie scene. Vocalist Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin met at Bristol University. The two became a couple, and they formed the band in 1988 after adding bassist Paul Brindley and drummer Patrick Hannan to the group. Neither Wheeler nor Gavurin were pursuing music at the University - Wheeler studied English literature, and Gavurin studied Romance languages.The Sundays' rise to popularity was quite rapid. Their first single hit number 45 on the UK singles chart a year before the album was released. Since the group had only been around for a year or so before that single was released, they didn't have a lot of material developed. Wheeler and Gavurin were also perfectionists, and so they would not work to a deadline for the album.The Sundays would produce 3 albums during the 1990s. However, they never embraced the rock lifestyle. The American tour for their second album (released in 1992) was cut short due to exhaustion and homesickness. The third album wasn't released until 1997, by which time Gavurin and Wheeler had children and were beginning to settle down. While they would continue to make songs in their own studio, no further albums would be released.Bruce brings this group and their debut album to the podcast. Can't Be SureThis is the debut single released in England which hit number 45 on the UK singles chart. It is about desire, but not for a specific person or thing, more as a concept. “And did you know desire's a terrible thing, the worst that I could find. And did you know desire's a terrible thing, but I rely on mine.”You're Not the Only One I KnowThis deeper cut is a break-up song. The lyrics seem to reflect a depressed singer who wants the guy to come back, but is too proud to talk to him about it.JoyThe last song on the album is also one of the last the group wrote for the album. They actually wanted to name the album “Joy,” but someone had already used that title. It is a little heavier than some of the other tracks but keeps the impressionistic feel. Here's Where the Story EndsUS listeners will recognize this song as the hit, going to number 1 on the US Alternative Rock charts. However, it was not released as a single in the UK because the group's record label was in financial trouble. The lyrics are looking back on a past relationship. "It's that little souvenir of a terrible year which makes my eyes feel sore. Oh, I never should have said the books that you read were all I loved you for." ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:Theme to the from the television series “Newhart”The second comedy series starring Bob Newhart ended this month with a big reveal that the entire show was a dream of Bob Newhart from the first series. STAFF PICKS:What It Takes by AerosmithLynch leads off the staff picks this week. Aerosmith could do no wrong at the start of the 90's. This fast ballad chronicles a guy breaking up with his girlfriend and wondering what it takes to get over their relationship. The electric guitars helped remedy a concern that the original takes made the piece sound like a lovelorn, twangy country song.Blues Before and After by The SmithereensWayne features a song telling about a guy that is in love with a woman who only uses him for her own selfish gain, leaving him with the “blues before and after” their encounters. This is off the Smithereen's album, “11,” which was their third studio album. The name is a nod to a skit in the 80's mock-umentary film, “This Is Spinal Tap,” or perhaps the movie “Oceans 11.”All For You by David Baerwald Rob previously brought us “Welcome to the Boomtown” by David and David. This song is from one of the David's after that group split up. It is from Baerwald's debut studio solo album, “Bedtime Stories.” Baerwald is a great storyteller, and most of his songs reflect this. Singer songwriter Joni Mitchell was involved in this album.Texas Twister by Little FeatBruce picks up the pace with this boogie number. Little Feat was formed in 1969, but this 90's iteration of the group is a little different. Founder and front man Lowell George died in 1979, and was largely replaced in this formation of the band by Craig Fuller, founding member of Pure Prairie League. This lead-off track from their ninth studio album is about picking up a girl and wondering if you will survive the evening. NOVELTY TRACK:Hanky Panky by MadonnaMadonna's album inspired by the movie "Dick Tracy" (in which she starred) sported this spanking new single.
In episode no. 147 of the Rock's Backpages podcast, we welcome pioneering '60s rock writer Ellen Sander and invite her to discuss her classic 1973 book Trips: Rock Life in the Sixties, reissued in an "augmented" edition in 2019. Ellen recalls her New York upbringing and initiation into the folk scene in Greenwich Village, then explains how Danny Fields (episode 28) steered her towards writing for Sing Out! and Hullabaloo. With references to David Crosby, David Geffen, Abbie Hoffman and the Monterey Pop festival, she talks about the inextricable relationship between '60s music and the decade's political upheavals. We also hear about her 1968 article on groupies; her troubling experiences on the road with Led Zeppelin; and her relationship with Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman (father of her son Marin), all of which led to the writing of Trips. Attention then turns to two clips from the week's new audio interview, in which suave Yorkshire-born rock'n'soul man Robert Palmer talks about his love of bossa nova and the fun he had on the sessions for 1974's Sneakin' Sally through the Alley with Little Feat's Lowell George. After Mark quotes from new library interviews with the Beatles (1963), B.B. King (1968), and Simpsons creator Matt Groening (1993), Barney cites an early Steely Dan piece from 1973 and Jasper recommends articles about emo stars Paramore (2010), Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor (2014) and – from 2016 – jazz hybridiser Jacob Collier. Many thanks to special guest Ellen Sander. Trips: Rock Life in the Sixties is published by Dover and available now. Pieces discussed: Crosby, Stills & Nash, Robert Palmer audio, Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure, Roxy in retrospect, Chuck Jackson, Chuck Jacksoner, Chuck Jacksonest, The Strokes, B.B. King, The Beatles, Beach Boys, Matt Groening, Steely Dan, Paramore, Trent Reznor and Jacob Collier. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode we welcome pioneering '60s rock writer Ellen Sander and invite her to discuss her classic 1973 book Trips: Rock Life in the Sixties, reissued in an "augmented" edition in 2019. Ellen recalls her New York upbringing and initiation into the folk scene in Greenwich Village, then explains how Danny Fields (episode 28) steered her towards writing for Sing Out! and Hullabaloo. With references to David Crosby, David Geffen, Abbie Hoffman and the Monterey Pop festival, she talks about the inextricable relationship between '60s music and the decade's political upheavals. We also hear about her 1968 article on groupies; her troubling experiences on the road with Led Zeppelin; and her relationship with Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman (father of her son Marin), all of which led to the writing of Trips. Attention then turns to two clips from the week's new audio interview, in which suave Yorkshire-born rock'n'soul man Robert Palmer talks about his love of bossa nova and the fun he had on the sessions for 1974's Sneakin' Sally through the Alley with Little Feat's Lowell George. After Mark quotes from new library interviews with the Beatles (1963), B.B. King (1968), and Simpsons creator Matt Groening (1993), Barney cites an early Steely Dan piece from 1973 and Jasper recommends articles about emo stars Paramore (2010), Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor (2014) and – from 2016 – jazz hybridiser Jacob Collier.
There's really no such thing as an overnight success! Dreams can be experienced but it takes the work of time to find the crossroads between dreams and reality. The Bros. Landreth dreamt of making music, just like their Dad Wally in Winnipeg. Wally wanted that too because he kept spinning vinyl at home, like a music teacher. But no schlock..only the good stuff. Little Feat, The Eagles, Neil Young, CS&Nash, and Bonnie Raitt. Years later the Brothers are playing at the Winnipeg Folk Festival when they were approached by the headliner – none other than Bonnie Raitt. She asked if they would send her songs to record because they reminded her of her friend Lowell George from Little Feat. David and Joey Landreth wrote and rejected many songs. They felt they weren't up to Bonnie's standards but eventually – again years later – they sent a song they had recorded Made up mind. Just so happens it's the same song Bonnie heard them play and she said – that's the song. Two years later the boys hear from friends in Nashville that Bonnie is recording that song and then she makes it the first single off of Just Like That. Both album and song go on to win Grammys this year and The Bros. Landreth has become “a thing”. Here's a discussion with David Landreth about those Grammy moments and the rest of the story. Well done boys. Congrats Wally!! What a win for Bonnie and great music.
Episode 162 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Daydream Believer", and the later career of the Monkees, and how four Pinocchios became real boys. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a twenty-minute bonus episode available, on "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources No Mixcloud this time, as even after splitting it into multiple files, there are simply too many Monkees tracks excerpted. The best versions of the Monkees albums are the triple-CD super-deluxe versions that used to be available from monkees.com , and I've used Andrew Sandoval's liner notes for them extensively in this episode. Sadly, though, none of those are in print. However, at the time of writing there is a new four-CD super-deluxe box set of Headquarters (with a remixed version of the album rather than the original mixes I've excerpted here) available from that site, and I used the liner notes for that here. Monkees.com also currently has the intermittently-available BluRay box set of the entire Monkees TV series, which also has Head and 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee. For those just getting into the group, my advice is to start with this five-CD set, which contains their first five albums along with bonus tracks. The single biggest source of information I used in this episode is the first edition of Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees; The Day-By-Day Story. Sadly that is now out of print and goes for hundreds of pounds. Sandoval released a second edition of the book in 2021, which I was unfortunately unable to obtain, but that too is now out of print. If you can find a copy of either, do get one. Other sources used were Monkee Business by Eric Lefcowitz, and the autobiographies of three of the band members and one of the songwriters — Infinite Tuesday by Michael Nesmith, They Made a Monkee Out of Me by Davy Jones, I'm a Believer by Micky Dolenz, and Psychedelic Bubble-Gum by Bobby Hart. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript When we left the Monkees, they were in a state of flux. To recap what we covered in that episode, the Monkees were originally cast as actors in a TV show, and consisted of two actors with some singing ability -- the former child stars Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz -- and two musicians who were also competent comic actors, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork. The show was about a fictional band whose characters shared names with their actors, and there had quickly been two big hit singles, and two hit albums, taken from the music recorded for the TV show's soundtrack. But this had caused problems for the actors. The records were being promoted as being by the fictional group in the TV series, blurring the line between the TV show and reality, though in fact for the most part they were being made by session musicians with only Dolenz or Jones adding lead vocals to pre-recorded backing tracks. Dolenz and Jones were fine with this, but Nesmith, who had been allowed to write and produce a few album tracks himself, wanted more creative input, and more importantly felt that he was being asked to be complicit in fraud because the records credited the four Monkees as the musicians when (other than a tiny bit of inaudible rhythm guitar by Tork on a couple of Nesmith's tracks) none of them played on them. Tork, meanwhile, believed he had been promised that the group would be an actual group -- that they would all be playing on the records together -- and felt hurt and annoyed that this wasn't the case. They were by now playing live together to promote the series and the records, with Dolenz turning out to be a perfectly competent drummer, so surely they could do the same in the studio? So in January 1967, things came to a head. It's actually quite difficult to sort out exactly what happened, because of conflicting recollections and opinions. What follows is my best attempt to harmonise the different versions of the story into one coherent narrative, but be aware that I could be wrong in some of the details. Nesmith and Tork, who disliked each other in most respects, were both agreed that this couldn't continue and that if there were going to be Monkees records released at all, they were going to have the Monkees playing on them. Dolenz, who seems to have been the one member of the group that everyone could get along with, didn't really care but went along with them for the sake of group harmony. And Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, the production team behind the series, also took Nesmith and Tork's side, through a general love of mischief. But on the other side was Don Kirshner, the music publisher who was in charge of supervising the music for the TV show. Kirshner was adamantly, angrily, opposed to the very idea of the group members having any input at all into how the records were made. He considered that they should be grateful for the huge pay cheques they were getting from records his staff writers and producers were making for them, and stop whinging. And Davy Jones was somewhere in the middle. He wanted to support his co-stars, who he genuinely liked, but also, he was a working actor, he'd had other roles before, he'd have other roles afterwards, and as a working actor you do what you're told if you don't want to lose the job you've got. Jones had grown up in very severe poverty, and had been his family's breadwinner from his early teens, and artistic integrity is all very nice, but not as nice as a cheque for a quarter of a million dollars. Although that might be slightly unfair -- it might be fairer to say that artistic integrity has a different meaning to someone like Jones, coming from musical theatre and a tradition of "the show must go on", than it does to people like Nesmith and Tork who had come up through the folk clubs. Jones' attitude may also have been affected by the fact that his character in the TV show didn't play an instrument other than the occasional tambourine or maracas. The other three were having to mime instrumental parts they hadn't played, and to reproduce them on stage, but Jones didn't have that particular disadvantage. Bert Schneider, one of the TV show's producers, encouraged the group to go into the recording studio themselves, with a producer of their choice, and cut a couple of tracks to prove what they could do. Michael Nesmith, who at this point was the one who was most adamant about taking control of the music, chose Chip Douglas to produce. Douglas was someone that Nesmith had known a little while, as they'd both played the folk circuit -- in Douglas' case as a member of the Modern Folk Quartet -- but Douglas had recently joined the Turtles as their new bass player. At this point, Douglas had never officially produced a record, but he was a gifted arranger, and had just arranged the Turtles' latest single, which had just been released and was starting to climb the charts: [Excerpt: The Turtles, "Happy Together"] Douglas quit the Turtles to work with the Monkees, and took the group into the studio to cut two demo backing tracks for a potential single as a proof of concept. These initial sessions didn't have any vocals, but featured Nesmith on guitar, Tork on piano, Dolenz on drums, Jones on tambourine, and an unknown bass player -- possibly Douglas himself, possibly Nesmith's friend John London, who he'd played with in Mike and John and Bill. They cut rough tracks of two songs, "All of Your Toys", by another friend of Nesmith's, Bill Martin, and Nesmith's "The Girl I Knew Somewhere": [Excerpt: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere (Gold Star Demo)"] Those tracks were very rough and ready -- they were garage-band tracks rather than the professional studio recordings that the Candy Store Prophets or Jeff Barry's New York session players had provided for the previous singles -- but they were competent in the studio, thanks largely to Chip Douglas' steadying influence. As Douglas later said "They could hardly play. Mike could play adequate rhythm guitar. Pete could play piano but he'd make mistakes, and Micky's time on drums was erratic. He'd speed up or slow down." But the takes they managed to get down showed that they *could* do it. Rafelson and Schneider agreed with them that the Monkees could make a single together, and start recording at least some of their own tracks. So the group went back into the studio, with Douglas producing -- and with Lester Sill from the music publishers there to supervise -- and cut finished versions of the two songs. This time the lineup was Nesmith on guitar, Tork on electric harpsichord -- Tork had always been a fan of Bach, and would in later years perform Bach pieces as his solo spot in Monkees shows -- Dolenz on drums, London on bass, and Jones on tambourine: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere (first recorded version)"] But while this was happening, Kirshner had been trying to get new Monkees material recorded without them -- he'd not yet agreed to having the group play on their own records. Three days after the sessions for "All of Your Toys" and "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", sessions started in New York for an entire album's worth of new material, produced by Jeff Barry and Denny Randell, and largely made by the same Red Bird Records team who had made "I'm a Believer" -- the same musicians who in various combinations had played on everything from "Sherry" by the Four Seasons to "Like a Rolling Stone" by Dylan to "Leader of the Pack", and with songs by Neil Diamond, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, Leiber and Stoller, and the rest of the team of songwriters around Red Bird. But at this point came the meeting we talked about towards the end of the "Last Train to Clarksville" episode, in which Nesmith punched a hole in a hotel wall in frustration at what he saw as Kirshner's obstinacy. Kirshner didn't want to listen to the recordings the group had made. He'd promised Jeff Barry and Neil Diamond that if "I'm a Believer" went to number one, Barry would get to produce, and Diamond write, the group's next single. Chip Douglas wasn't a recognised producer, and he'd made this commitment. But the group needed a new single out. A compromise was offered, of sorts, by Kirshner -- how about if Barry flew over from New York to LA to produce the group, they'd scrap the tracks both the group and Barry had recorded, and Barry would produce new tracks for the songs he'd recorded, with the group playing on them? But that wouldn't work either. The group members were all due to go on holiday -- three of them were going to make staggered trips to the UK, partly to promote the TV series, which was just starting over here, and partly just to have a break. They'd been working sixty-plus hour weeks for months between the TV series, live performances, and the recording studio, and they were basically falling-down tired, which was one of the reasons for Nesmith's outburst in the meeting. They weren't accomplished enough musicians to cut tracks quickly, and they *needed* the break. On top of that, Nesmith and Barry had had a major falling-out at the "I'm a Believer" session, and Nesmith considered it a matter of personal integrity that he couldn't work with a man who in his eyes had insulted his professionalism. So that was out, but there was also no way Kirshner was going to let the group release a single consisting of two songs he hadn't heard, produced by a producer with no track record. At first, the group were insistent that "All of Your Toys" should be the A-side for their next single: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "All Of Your Toys"] But there was an actual problem with that which they hadn't foreseen. Bill Martin, who wrote the song, was under contract to another music publisher, and the Monkees' contracts said they needed to only record songs published by Screen Gems. Eventually, it was Micky Dolenz who managed to cut the Gordian knot -- or so everyone thought. Dolenz was the one who had the least at stake of any of them -- he was already secure as the voice of the hits, he had no particular desire to be an instrumentalist, but he wanted to support his colleagues. Dolenz suggested that it would be a reasonable compromise to put out a single with one of the pre-recorded backing tracks on one side, with him or Jones singing, and with the version of "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" that the band had recorded together on the other. That way, Kirshner and the record label would get their new single without too much delay, the group would still be able to say they'd started recording their own tracks, everyone would get some of what they wanted. So it was agreed -- though there was a further stipulation. "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" had Nesmith singing lead vocals, and up to that point every Monkees single had featured Dolenz on lead on both sides. As far as Kirshner and the other people involved in making the release decisions were concerned, that was the way things were going to continue. Everyone was fine with this -- Nesmith, the one who was most likely to object in principle, in practice realised that having Dolenz sing his song would make it more likely to be played on the radio and used in the TV show, and so increase his royalties. A vocal session was arranged in New York for Dolenz and Jones to come and cut some vocal tracks right before Dolenz and Nesmith flew over to the UK. But in the meantime, it had become even more urgent for the group to be seen to be doing their own recording. An in-depth article on the group in the Saturday Evening Post had come out, quoting Nesmith as saying "It was what Kirshner wanted to do. Our records are not our forte. I don't care if we never sell another record. Maybe we were manufactured and put on the air strictly with a lot of hoopla. Tell the world we're synthetic because, damn it, we are. Tell them the Monkees are wholly man-made overnight, that millions of dollars have been poured into this thing. Tell the world we don't record our own music. But that's us they see on television. The show is really a part of us. They're not seeing something invalid." The press immediately jumped on the band, and started trying to portray them as con artists exploiting their teenage fans, though as Nesmith later said "The press decided they were going to unload on us as being somehow illegitimate, somehow false. That we were making an attempt to dupe the public, when in fact it was me that was making the attempt to maintain the integrity. So the press went into a full-scale war against us." Tork, on the other hand, while he and Nesmith were on the same side about the band making their own records, blamed Nesmith for much of the press reaction, later saying "Michael blew the whistle on us. If he had gone in there with pride and said 'We are what we are and we have no reason to hang our heads in shame' it never would have happened." So as far as the group were concerned, they *needed* to at least go with Dolenz's suggested compromise. Their personal reputations were on the line. When Dolenz arrived at the session in New York, he was expecting to be asked to cut one vocal track, for the A-side of the next single (and presumably a new lead vocal for "The Girl I Knew Somewhere"). When he got there, though, he found that Kirshner expected him to record several vocals so that Kirshner could choose the best. That wasn't what had been agreed, and so Dolenz flat-out refused to record anything at all. Luckily for Kirshner, Jones -- who was the most co-operative member of the band -- was willing to sing a handful of songs intended for Dolenz as well as the ones he was meant to sing. So the tape of "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", the song intended for the next single, was slowed down so it would be in a suitable key for Jones instead, and he recorded the vocal for that: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You"] Incidentally, while Jones recorded vocals for several more tracks at the session -- and some would later be reused as album tracks a few years down the line -- not all of the recorded tracks were used for vocals, and this later gave rise to a rumour that has been repeated as fact by almost everyone involved, though it was a misunderstanding. Kirshner's next major success after the Monkees was another made-for-TV fictional band, the Archies, and their biggest hit was "Sugar Sugar", co-written and produced by Jeff Barry: [Excerpt: The Archies, "Sugar Sugar"] Both Kirshner and the Monkees have always claimed that the Monkees were offered "Sugar, Sugar" and turned it down. To Kirshner the moral of the story was that since "Sugar, Sugar" was a massive hit, it proved his instincts right and proved that the Monkees didn't know what would make a hit. To the Monkees, on the other hand, it showed that Kirshner wanted them to do bubblegum music that they considered ridiculous. This became such an established factoid that Dolenz regularly tells the story in his live performances, and includes a version of "Sugar, Sugar" in them, rearranged as almost a torch song: [Excerpt: Micky Dolenz, "Sugar, Sugar (live)"] But in fact, "Sugar, Sugar" wasn't written until long after Kirshner and the Monkees had parted ways. But one of the songs for which a backing track was recorded but no vocals were ever completed was "Sugar Man", a song by Denny Randell and Sandy Linzer, which they would later release themselves as an unsuccessful single: [Excerpt: Linzer and Randell, "Sugar Man"] Over the years, the Monkees not recording "Sugar Man" became the Monkees not recording "Sugar, Sugar". Meanwhile, Dolenz and Nesmith had flown over to the UK to do some promotional work and relax, and Jones soon also flew over, though didn't hang out with his bandmates, preferring to spend more time with his family. Both Dolenz and Nesmith spent a lot of time hanging out with British pop stars, and were pleased to find that despite the manufactured controversy about them being a manufactured group, none of the British musicians they admired seemed to care. Eric Burdon, for example, was quoted in the Melody Maker as saying "They make very good records, I can't understand how people get upset about them. You've got to make up your minds whether a group is a record production group or one that makes live appearances. For example, I like to hear a Phil Spector record and I don't worry if it's the Ronettes or Ike and Tina Turner... I like the Monkees record as a grand record, no matter how people scream. So somebody made a record and they don't play, so what? Just enjoy the record." Similarly, the Beatles were admirers of the Monkees, especially the TV show, despite being expected to have a negative opinion of them, as you can hear in this contemporary recording of Paul McCartney answering a fan's questions: Excerpt: Paul McCartney talks about the Monkees] Both Dolenz and Nesmith hung out with the Beatles quite a bit -- they both visited Sgt. Pepper recording sessions, and if you watch the film footage of the orchestral overdubs for "A Day in the Life", Nesmith is there with all the other stars of the period. Nesmith and his wife Phyllis even stayed with the Lennons for a couple of days, though Cynthia Lennon seems to have thought of the Nesmiths as annoying intruders who had been invited out of politeness and not realised they weren't wanted. That seems plausible, but at the same time, John Lennon doesn't seem the kind of person to not make his feelings known, and Michael Nesmith's reports of the few days they stayed there seem to describe a very memorable experience, where after some initial awkwardness he developed a bond with Lennon, particularly once he saw that Lennon was a fan of Captain Beefheart, who was a friend of Nesmith, and whose Safe as Milk album Lennon was examining when Nesmith turned up, and whose music at this point bore a lot of resemblance to the kind of thing Nesmith was doing: [Excerpt: Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, "Yellow Brick Road"] Or at least, that's how Nesmith always told the story later -- though Safe as Milk didn't come out until nearly six months later. It's possible he's conflating memories from a later trip to the UK in June that year -- where he also talked about how Lennon was the only person he'd really got on with on the previous trip, because "he's a compassionate person. I know he has a reputation for being caustic, but it is only a cover for the depth of his feeling." Nesmith and Lennon apparently made some experimental music together during the brief stay, with Nesmith being impressed by Lennon's Mellotron and later getting one himself. Dolenz, meanwhile, was spending more time with Paul McCartney, and with Spencer Davis of his current favourite band The Spencer Davis Group. But even more than that he was spending a lot of time with Samantha Juste, a model and TV presenter whose job it was to play the records on Top of the Pops, the most important British TV pop show, and who had released a record herself a couple of months earlier, though it hadn't been a success: [Excerpt: Samantha Juste, "No-one Needs My Love Today"] The two quickly fell deeply in love, and Juste would become Dolenz's first wife the next year. When Nesmith and Dolenz arrived back in the US after their time off, they thought the plan was still to release "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" with "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" on the B-side. So Nesmith was horrified to hear on the radio what the announcer said were the two sides of the new Monkees single -- "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", and "She Hangs Out", another song from the Jeff Barry sessions with a Davy vocal. Don Kirshner had gone ahead and picked two songs from the Jeff Barry sessions and delivered them to RCA Records, who had put a single out in Canada. The single was very, *very* quickly withdrawn once the Monkees and the TV producers found out, and only promo copies seem to circulate -- rather than being credited to "the Monkees", both sides are credited to '"My Favourite Monkee" Davy Jones Sings'. The record had been withdrawn, but "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" was clearly going to have to be the single. Three days after the record was released and pulled, Nesmith, Dolenz and Tork were back in the studio with Chip Douglas, recording a new B-side -- a new version of "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", this time with Dolenz on vocals. As Jones was still in the UK, John London added the tambourine part as well as the bass: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere (single version)"] As Nesmith told the story a couple of months later, "Bert said 'You've got to get this thing in Micky's key for Micky to sing it.' I said 'Has Donnie made a commitment? I don't want to go there and break my neck in order to get this thing if Donnie hasn't made a commitment. And Bert refused to say anything. He said 'I can't tell you anything except just go and record.'" What had happened was that the people at Columbia had had enough of Kirshner. As far as Rafelson and Schneider were concerned, the real problem in all this was that Kirshner had been making public statements taking all the credit for the Monkees' success and casting himself as the puppetmaster. They thought this was disrespectful to the performers -- and unstated but probably part of it, that it was disrespectful to Rafelson and Schneider for their work putting the TV show together -- and that Kirshner had allowed his ego to take over. Things like the liner notes for More of the Monkees which made Kirshner and his stable of writers more important than the performers had, in the view of the people at Raybert Productions, put the Monkees in an impossible position and forced them to push back. Schneider later said "Kirshner had an ego that transcended everything else. As a matter of fact, the press issue was probably magnified a hundred times over because of Kirshner. He wanted everybody thinking 'Hey, he's doing all this, not them.' In the end it was very self-destructive because it heightened the whole press issue and it made them feel lousy." Kirshner was out of a job, first as the supervisor for the Monkees and then as the head of Columbia/Screen Gems Music. In his place came Lester Sill, the man who had got Leiber and Stoller together as songwriters, who had been Lee Hazelwood's production partner on his early records with Duane Eddy, and who had been the "Les" in Philles Records until Phil Spector pushed him out. Sill, unlike Kirshner, was someone who was willing to take a back seat and just be a steadying hand where needed. The reissued version of "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" went to number two on the charts, behind "Somethin' Stupid" by Frank and Nancy Sinatra, produced by Sill's old colleague Hazelwood, and the B-side, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", also charted separately, making number thirty-nine on the charts. The Monkees finally had a hit that they'd written and recorded by themselves. Pinocchio had become a real boy: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere (single version)"] At the same session at which they'd recorded that track, the Monkees had recorded another Nesmith song, "Sunny Girlfriend", and that became the first song to be included on a new album, which would eventually be named Headquarters, and on which all the guitar, keyboard, drums, percussion, banjo, pedal steel, and backing vocal parts would for the first time be performed by the Monkees themselves. They brought in horn and string players on a couple of tracks, and the bass was variously played by John London, Chip Douglas, and Jerry Yester as Tork was more comfortable on keyboards and guitar than bass, but it was in essence a full band album. Jones got back the next day, and sessions began in earnest. The first song they recorded after his return was "Mr. Webster", a Boyce and Hart song that had been recorded with the Candy Store Prophets in 1966 but hadn't been released. This was one of three tracks on the album that were rerecordings of earlier outtakes, and it's fascinating to compare them, to see the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches. In the case of "Mr. Webster", the instrumental backing on the earlier version is definitely slicker: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Mr. Webster (1st Recorded Version)"] But at the same time, there's a sense of dynamics in the group recording that's lacking from the original, like the backing dropping out totally on the word "Stop" -- a nice touch that isn't in the original. I am only speculating, but this may have been inspired by the similar emphasis on the word "stop" in "For What It's Worth" by Tork's old friend Stephen Stills: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Mr. Webster (album version)"] Headquarters was a group album in another way though -- for the first time, Tork and Dolenz were bringing in songs they'd written -- Nesmith of course had supplied songs already for the two previous albums. Jones didn't write any songs himself yet, though he'd start on the next album, but he was credited with the rest of the group on two joke tracks, "Band 6", a jam on the Merrie Melodies theme “Merrily We Roll Along”, and "Zilch", a track made up of the four band members repeating nonsense phrases: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Zilch"] Oddly, that track had a rather wider cultural resonance than a piece of novelty joke album filler normally would. It's sometimes covered live by They Might Be Giants: [Excerpt: They Might Be Giants, "Zilch"] While the rapper Del Tha Funkee Homosapien had a worldwide hit in 1991 with "Mistadobalina", built around a sample of Peter Tork from the track: [Excerpt: Del Tha Funkee Homosapien,"Mistadobalina"] Nesmith contributed three songs, all of them combining Beatles-style pop music and country influences, none more blatantly than the opening track, "You Told Me", which starts off parodying the opening of "Taxman", before going into some furious banjo-picking from Tork: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "You Told Me"] Tork, meanwhile, wrote "For Pete's Sake" with his flatmate of the time, and that became the end credits music for season two of the TV series: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "For Pete's Sake"] But while the other band members made important contributions, the track on the album that became most popular was the first song of Dolenz's to be recorded by the group. The lyrics recounted, in a semi-psychedelic manner, Dolenz's time in the UK, including meeting with the Beatles, who the song refers to as "the four kings of EMI", but the first verse is all about his new girlfriend Samantha Juste: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Randy Scouse Git"] The song was released as a single in the UK, but there was a snag. Dolenz had given the song a title he'd heard on an episode of the BBC sitcom Til Death Us Do Part, which he'd found an amusing bit of British slang. Til Death Us Do Part was written by Johnny Speight, a writer with Associated London Scripts, and was a family sitcom based around the character of Alf Garnett, an ignorant, foul-mouthed reactionary bigot who hated young people, socialists, and every form of minority, especially Black people (who he would address by various slurs I'm definitely not going to repeat here), and was permanently angry at the world and abusive to his wife. As with another great sitcom from ALS, Steptoe and Son, which Norman Lear adapted for the US as Sanford and Son, Til Death Us Do Part was also adapted by Lear, and became All in the Family. But while Archie Bunker, the character based on Garnett in the US version, has some redeeming qualities because of the nature of US network sitcom, Alf Garnett has absolutely none, and is as purely unpleasant and unsympathetic a character as has ever been created -- which sadly didn't stop a section of the audience from taking him as a character to be emulated. A big part of the show's dynamic was the relationship between Garnett and his socialist son-in-law from Liverpool, played by Anthony Booth, himself a Liverpudlian socialist who would later have a similarly contentious relationship with his own decidedly non-socialist son-in-law, the future Prime Minister Tony Blair. Garnett was as close to foul-mouthed as was possible on British TV at the time, with Speight regularly negotiating with the BBC bosses to be allowed to use terms that were not otherwise heard on TV, and used various offensive terms about his family, including referring to his son-in-law as a "randy Scouse git". Dolenz had heard the phrase on TV, had no idea what it meant but loved the sound of it, and gave the song that title. But when the record came out in the UK, he was baffled to be told that the phrase -- which he'd picked up from a BBC TV show, after all -- couldn't be said normally on BBC broadcasts, so they would need to retitle the track. The translation into American English that Dolenz uses in his live shows to explain this to Americans is to say that "randy Scouse git" means "horny Liverpudlian putz", and that's more or less right. Dolenz took the need for an alternative title literally, and so the track that went to number two in the UK charts was titled "Alternate Title": [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Randy Scouse Git"] The album itself went to number one in both the US and the UK, though it was pushed off the top spot almost straight away by the release of Sgt Pepper. As sessions for Headquarters were finishing up, the group were already starting to think about their next album -- season two of the TV show was now in production, and they'd need to keep generating yet more musical material for it. One person they turned to was a friend of Chip Douglas'. Before the Turtles, Douglas had been in the Modern Folk Quartet, and they'd recorded "This Could Be the Night", which had been written for them by Harry Nilsson: [Excerpt: The MFQ, "This Could Be The Night"] Nilsson had just started recording his first solo album proper, at RCA Studios, the same studios that the Monkees were using. At this point, Nilsson still had a full-time job in a bank, working a night shift there while working on his album during the day, but Douglas knew that Nilsson was a major talent, and that assessment was soon shared by the group when Nilsson came in to demo nine of his songs for them: [Excerpt: Harry Nilsson, "1941 (demo)"] According to Nilsson, Nesmith said after that demo session "You just sat down there and blew our minds. We've been looking for songs, and you just sat down and played an *album* for us!" While the Monkees would attempt a few of Nilsson's songs over the next year or so, the first one they chose to complete was the first track recorded for their next album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Jones, Ltd., a song which from the talkback at the beginning of the demo was always intended for Davy Jones to sing: [Excerpt: Harry Nilsson, "Cuddly Toy (demo)"] Oddly, given his romantic idol persona, a lot of the songs given to Jones to sing were anti-romantic, and often had a cynical and misogynistic edge. This had started with the first album's "I Want to Be Free", but by Pisces, it had gone to ridiculous extremes. Of the four songs Jones sings on the album, "Hard to Believe", the first song proper that he ever co-wrote, is a straightforward love song, but the other three have a nasty edge to them. A remade version of Jeff Barry's "She Hangs Out" is about an underaged girl, starts with the lines "How old d'you say your sister was? You know you'd better keep an eye on her" and contains lines like "she could teach you a thing or two" and "you'd better get down here on the double/before she gets her pretty little self in trouble/She's so fine". Goffin and King's "Star Collector" is worse, a song about a groupie with lines like "How can I love her, if I just don't respect her?" and "It won't take much time, before I get her off my mind" But as is so often the way, these rather nasty messages were wrapped up in some incredibly catchy music, and that was even more the case with "Cuddly Toy", a song which at least is more overtly unpleasant -- it's very obvious that Nilsson doesn't intend the protagonist of the song to be at all sympathetic, which is possibly not the case in "She Hangs Out" or "Star Collector". But the character Jones is singing is *viciously* cruel here, mocking and taunting a girl who he's coaxed to have sex with him, only to scorn her as soon as he's got what he wanted: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Cuddly Toy"] It's a great song if you like the cruelest of humour combined with the cheeriest of music, and the royalties from the song allowed Nilsson to quit the job at the bank. "Cuddly Toy", and Chip Douglas and Bill Martin's song "The Door Into Summer", were recorded the same way as Headquarters, with the group playing *as a group*, but as recordings for the album progressed the group fell into a new way of working, which Peter Tork later dubbed "mixed-mode". They didn't go back to having tracks cut for them by session musicians, apart from Jones' song "Hard to Believe", for which the entire backing track was created by one of his co-writers overdubbing himself, but Dolenz, who Tork always said was "incapable of repeating a triumph", was not interested in continuing to play drums in the studio. Instead, a new hybrid Monkees would perform most of the album. Nesmith would still play the lead guitar, Tork would provide the keyboards, Chip Douglas would play all the bass and add some additional guitar, and "Fast" Eddie Hoh, the session drummer who had been a touring drummer with the Modern Folk Quartet and the Mamas and the Papas, among others, would play drums on the records, with Dolenz occasionally adding a bit of acoustic guitar. And this was the lineup that would perform on the hit single from Pisces. "Pleasant Valley Sunday" was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, who had written several songs for the group's first two albums (and who would continue to provide them with more songs). As with their earlier songs for the group, King had recorded a demo: [Excerpt: Carole King, "Pleasant Valley Sunday (demo)"] Previously -- and subsequently -- when presented with a Carole King demo, the group and their producers would just try to duplicate it as closely as possible, right down to King's phrasing. Bob Rafelson has said that he would sometimes hear those demos and wonder why King didn't just make records herself -- and without wanting to be too much of a spoiler for a few years' time, he wasn't the only one wondering that. But this time, the group had other plans. In particular, they wanted to make a record with a strong guitar riff to it -- Nesmith has later referenced their own "Last Train to Clarksville" and the Beatles' "Day Tripper" as two obvious reference points for the track. Douglas came up with a riff and taught it to Nesmith, who played it on the track: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Pleasant Valley Sunday"] The track also ended with the strongest psychedelic -- or "psycho jello" as the group would refer to it -- freak out that they'd done to this point, a wash of saturated noise: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Pleasant Valley Sunday"] King was unhappy with the results, and apparently glared at Douglas the next time they met. This may be because of the rearrangement from her intentions, but it may also be for a reason that Douglas later suspected. When recording the track, he hadn't been able to remember all the details of her demo, and in particular he couldn't remember exactly how the middle eight went. This is the version on King's demo: [Excerpt: Carole King, "Pleasant Valley Sunday (demo)"] While here's how the Monkees rendered it, with slightly different lyrics: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Pleasant Valley Sunday"] I also think there's a couple of chord changes in the second verse that differ between King and the Monkees, but I can't be sure that's not my ears deceiving me. Either way, though, the track was a huge success, and became one of the group's most well-known and well-loved tracks, making number three on the charts behind "All You Need is Love" and "Light My Fire". And while it isn't Dolenz drumming on the track, the fact that it's Nesmith playing guitar and Tork on the piano -- and the piano part is one of the catchiest things on the record -- meant that they finally had a proper major hit on which they'd played (and it seems likely that Dolenz contributed some of the acoustic rhythm guitar on the track, along with Bill Chadwick, and if that's true all three Monkee instrumentalists did play on the track). Pisces is by far and away the best album the group ever made, and stands up well against anything else that came out around that time. But cracks were beginning to show in the group. In particular, the constant battle to get some sort of creative input had soured Nesmith on the whole project. Chip Douglas later said "When we were doing Pisces Michael would come in with three songs; he knew he had three songs coming on the album. He knew that he was making a lot of money if he got his original songs on there. So he'd be real enthusiastic and cooperative and real friendly and get his three songs done. Then I'd say 'Mike, can you come in and help on this one we're going to do with Micky here?' He said 'No, Chip, I can't. I'm busy.' I'd say, 'Mike, you gotta come in the studio.' He'd say 'No Chip, I'm afraid I'm just gonna have to be ornery about it. I'm not comin' in.' That's when I started not liking Mike so much any more." Now, as is so often the case with the stories from this period, this appears to be inaccurate in the details -- Nesmith is present on every track on the album except Jones' solo "Hard to Believe" and Tork's spoken-word track "Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky", and indeed this is by far the album with *most* Nesmith input, as he takes five lead vocals, most of them on songs he didn't write. But Douglas may well be summing up Nesmith's *attitude* to the band at this point -- listening to Nesmith's commentaries on episodes of the TV show, by this point he felt disengaged from everything that was going on, like his opinions weren't welcome. That said, Nesmith did still contribute what is possibly the single most innovative song the group ever did, though the innovations weren't primarily down to Nesmith: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Daily Nightly"] Nesmith always described the lyrics to "Daily Nightly" as being about the riots on Sunset Strip, but while they're oblique, they seem rather to be about streetwalking sex workers -- though it's perhaps understandable that Nesmith would never admit as much. What made the track innovative was the use of the Moog synthesiser. We talked about Robert Moog in the episode on "Good Vibrations" -- he had started out as a Theremin manufacturer, and had built the ribbon synthesiser that Mike Love played live on "Good Vibrations", and now he was building the first commercially available easily usable synthesisers. Previously, electronic instruments had either been things like the clavioline -- a simple monophonic keyboard instrument that didn't have much tonal variation -- or the RCA Mark II, a programmable synth that could make a wide variety of sounds, but took up an entire room and was programmed with punch cards. Moog's machines were bulky but still transportable, and they could be played in real time with a keyboard, but were still able to be modified to make a wide variety of different sounds. While, as we've seen, there had been electronic keyboard instruments as far back as the 1930s, Moog's instruments were for all intents and purposes the first synthesisers as we now understand the term. The Moog was introduced in late spring 1967, and immediately started to be used for making experimental and novelty records, like Hal Blaine's track "Love In", which came out at the beginning of June: [Excerpt: Hal Blaine, "Love In"] And the Electric Flag's soundtrack album for The Trip, the drug exploitation film starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper and written by Jack Nicholson we talked about last time, when Arthur Lee moved into a house used in the film: [Excerpt: The Electric Flag, "Peter's Trip"] In 1967 there were a total of six albums released with a Moog on them (as well as one non-album experimental single). Four of the albums were experimental or novelty instrumental albums of this type. Only two of them were rock albums -- Strange Days by the Doors, and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, & Jones Ltd by the Monkees. The Doors album was released first, but I believe the Monkees tracks were recorded before the Doors overdubbed the Moog on the tracks on their album, though some session dates are hard to pin down exactly. If that's the case it would make the Monkees the very first band to use the Moog on an actual rock record (depending on exactly how you count the Trip soundtrack -- this gets back again to my old claim that there's no first anything). But that's not the only way in which "Daily Nightly" was innovative. All the first seven albums to feature the Moog featured one man playing the instrument -- Paul Beaver, the Moog company's West Coast representative, who played on all the novelty records by members of the Wrecking Crew, and on the albums by the Electric Flag and the Doors, and on The Notorious Byrd Brothers by the Byrds, which came out in early 1968. And Beaver did play the Moog on one track on Pisces, "Star Collector". But on "Daily Nightly" it's Micky Dolenz playing the Moog, making him definitely the second person ever to play a Moog on a record of any kind: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Daily Nightly"] Dolenz indeed had bought his own Moog -- widely cited as being the second one ever in private ownership, a fact I can't check but which sounds plausible given that by 1970 less than thirty musicians owned one -- after seeing Beaver demonstrate the instrument at the Monterey Pop Festival. The Monkees hadn't played Monterey, but both Dolenz and Tork had attended the festival -- if you watch the famous film of it you see Dolenz and his girlfriend Samantha in the crowd a *lot*, while Tork introduced his friends in the Buffalo Springfield. As well as discovering the Moog there, Dolenz had been astonished by something else: [Excerpt: The Jimi Hendrix Experience, "Hey Joe (Live at Monterey)"] As Peter Tork later put it "I didn't get it. At Monterey Jimi followed the Who and the Who busted up their things and Jimi bashed up his guitar. I said 'I just saw explosions and destruction. Who needs it?' But Micky got it. He saw the genius and went for it." Dolenz was astonished by Hendrix, and insisted that he should be the support act on the group's summer tour. This pairing might sound odd on paper, but it made more sense at the time than it might sound. The Monkees were by all accounts a truly astonishing live act at this point -- Frank Zappa gave them a backhanded compliment by saying they were the best-sounding band in LA, before pointing out that this was because they could afford the best equipment. That *was* true, but it was also the case that their TV experience gave them a different attitude to live performance than anyone else performing at the time. A handful of groups had started playing stadiums, most notably of course the Beatles, but all of these acts had come up through playing clubs and theatres and essentially just kept doing their old act with no thought as to how the larger space worked, except to put their amps through a louder PA. The Monkees, though, had *started* in stadiums, and had started out as mass entertainers, and so their live show was designed from the ground up to play to those larger spaces. They had costume changes, elaborate stage sets -- like oversized fake Vox amps they burst out of at the start of the show -- a light show and a screen on which film footage was projected. In effect they invented stadium performances as we now know them. Nesmith later said "In terms of putting on a show there was never any question in my mind, as far as the rock 'n' roll era is concerned, that we put on probably the finest rock and roll stage show ever. It was beautifully lit, beautifully costumed, beautifully produced. I mean, for Christ sakes, it was practically a revue." The Monkees were confident enough in their stage performance that at a recent show at the Hollywood Bowl they'd had Ike and Tina Turner as their opening act -- not an act you'd want to go on after if you were going to be less than great, and an act from very similar chitlin' circuit roots to Jimi Hendrix. So from their perspective, it made sense. If you're going to be spectacular yourselves, you have no need to fear a spectacular opening act. Hendrix was less keen -- he was about the only musician in Britain who *had* made disparaging remarks about the Monkees -- but opening for the biggest touring band in the world isn't an opportunity you pass up, and again it isn't such a departure as one might imagine from the bills he was already playing. Remember that Monterey is really the moment when "pop" and "rock" started to split -- the split we've been talking about for a few months now -- and so the Jimi Hendrix Experience were still considered a pop band, and as such had played the normal British pop band package tours. In March and April that year, they'd toured on a bill with the Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens, and Englebert Humperdinck -- and Hendrix had even filled in for Humperdinck's sick guitarist on one occasion. Nesmith, Dolenz, and Tork all loved having Hendrix on tour with them, just because it gave them a chance to watch him live every night (Jones, whose musical tastes were more towards Anthony Newley, wasn't especially impressed), and they got on well on a personal level -- there are reports of Hendrix jamming with Dolenz and Steve Stills in hotel rooms. But there was one problem, as Dolenz often recreates in his live act: [Excerpt: Micky Dolenz, "Purple Haze"] The audience response to Hendrix from the Monkees' fans was so poor that by mutual agreement he left the tour after only a handful of shows. After the summer tour, the group went back to work on the TV show and their next album. Or, rather, four individuals went back to work. By this point, the group had drifted apart from each other, and from Douglas -- Tork, the one who was still keenest on the idea of the group as a group, thought that Pisces, good as it was, felt like a Chip Douglas album rather than a Monkees album. The four band members had all by now built up their own retinues of hangers-on and collaborators, and on set for the TV show they were now largely staying with their own friends rather than working as a group. And that was now reflected in their studio work. From now on, rather than have a single producer working with them as a band, the four men would work as individuals, producing their own tracks, occasionally with outside help, and bringing in session musicians to work on them. Some tracks from this point on would be genuine Monkees -- plural -- tracks, and all tracks would be credited as "produced by the Monkees", but basically the four men would from now on be making solo tracks which would be combined into albums, though Dolenz and Jones would occasionally guest on tracks by the others, especially when Nesmith came up with a song he thought would be more suited to their voices. Indeed the first new recording that happened after the tour was an entire Nesmith solo album -- a collection of instrumental versions of his songs, called The Wichita Train Whistle Sings, played by members of the Wrecking Crew and a few big band instrumentalists, arranged by Shorty Rogers. [Excerpt: Michael Nesmith, "You Told Me"] Hal Blaine in his autobiography claimed that the album was created as a tax write-off for Nesmith, though Nesmith always vehemently denied it, and claimed it was an artistic experiment, though not one that came off well. Released alongside Pisces, though, came one last group-recorded single. The B-side, "Goin' Down", is a song that was credited to the group and songwriter Diane Hildebrand, though in fact it developed from a jam on someone else's song. Nesmith, Tork, Douglas and Hoh attempted to record a backing track for a version of Mose Allison's jazz-blues standard "Parchman Farm": [Excerpt: Mose Allison, "Parchman Farm"] But after recording it, they'd realised that it didn't sound that much like the original, and that all it had in common with it was a chord sequence. Nesmith suggested that rather than put it out as a cover version, they put a new melody and lyrics to it, and they commissioned Hildebrand, who'd co-written songs for the group before, to write them, and got Shorty Rogers to write a horn arrangement to go over their backing track. The eventual songwriting credit was split five ways, between Hildebrand and the four Monkees -- including Davy Jones who had no involvement with the recording, but not including Douglas or Hoh. The lyrics Hildebrand came up with were a funny patter song about a failed suicide, taken at an extremely fast pace, which Dolenz pulls off magnificently: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Goin' Down"] The A-side, another track with a rhythm track by Nesmith, Tork, Douglas, and Hoh, was a song that had been written by John Stewart of the Kingston Trio, who you may remember from the episode on "San Francisco" as being a former songwriting partner of John Phillips. Stewart had written the song as part of a "suburbia trilogy", and was not happy with the finished product. He said later "I remember going to bed thinking 'All I did today was write 'Daydream Believer'." Stewart used to include the song in his solo sets, to no great approval, and had shopped the song around to bands like We Five and Spanky And Our Gang, who had both turned it down. He was unhappy with it himself, because of the chorus: [Excerpt: John Stewart, "Daydream Believer"] Stewart was ADHD, and the words "to a", coming as they did slightly out of the expected scansion for the line, irritated him so greatly that he thought the song could never be recorded by anyone, but when Chip Douglas asked if he had any songs, he suggested that one. As it turned out, there was a line of lyric that almost got the track rejected, but it wasn't the "to a". Stewart's original second verse went like this: [Excerpt: John Stewart, "Daydream Believer"] RCA records objected to the line "now you know how funky I can be" because funky, among other meanings, meant smelly, and they didn't like the idea of Davy Jones singing about being smelly. Chip Douglas phoned Stewart to tell him that they were insisting on changing the line, and suggesting "happy" instead. Stewart objected vehemently -- that change would reverse the entire meaning of the line, and it made no sense, and what about artistic integrity? But then, as he later said "He said 'Let me put it to you this way, John. If he can't sing 'happy' they won't do it'. And I said 'Happy's working real good for me now.' That's exactly what I said to him." He never regretted the decision -- Stewart would essentially live off the royalties from "Daydream Believer" for the rest of his life -- though he seemed always to be slightly ambivalent and gently mocking about the song in his own performances, often changing the lyrics slightly: [Excerpt: John Stewart, "Daydream Believer"] The Monkees had gone into the studio and cut the track, again with Tork on piano, Nesmith on guitar, Douglas on bass, and Hoh on drums. Other than changing "funky" to "happy", there were two major changes made in the studio. One seems to have been Douglas' idea -- they took the bass riff from the pre-chorus to the Beach Boys' "Help Me Rhonda": [Excerpt: The Beach Boys, "Help Me Rhonda"] and Douglas played that on the bass as the pre-chorus for "Daydream Believer", with Shorty Rogers later doubling it in the horn arrangement: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Daydream Believer"] And the other is the piano intro, which also becomes an instrumental bridge, which was apparently the invention of Tork, who played it: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Daydream Believer"] The track went to number one, becoming the group's third and final number one hit, and their fifth of six million-sellers. It was included on the next album, The Birds, The Bees, and the Monkees, but that piano part would be Tork's only contribution to the album. As the group members were all now writing songs and cutting their own tracks, and were also still rerecording the odd old unused song from the initial 1966 sessions, The Birds, The Bees, and the Monkees was pulled together from a truly astonishing amount of material. The expanded triple-CD version of the album, now sadly out of print, has multiple versions of forty-four different songs, ranging from simple acoustic demos to completed tracks, of which twelve were included on the final album. Tork did record several tracks during the sessions, but he spent much of the time recording and rerecording a single song, "Lady's Baby", which eventually stretched to five different recorded versions over multiple sessions in a five-month period. He racked up huge studio bills on the track, bringing in Steve Stills and Dewey Martin of the Buffalo Springfield, and Buddy Miles, to try to help him capture the sound in his head, but the various takes are almost indistinguishable from one another, and so it's difficult to see what the problem was: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Lady's Baby"] Either way, the track wasn't finished by the time the album came out, and the album that came out was a curiously disjointed and unsatisfying effort, a mixture of recycled old Boyce and Hart songs, some songs by Jones, who at this point was convinced that "Broadway-rock" was going to be the next big thing and writing songs that sounded like mediocre showtunes, and a handful of experimental songs written by Nesmith. You could pull together a truly great ten- or twelve-track album from the masses of material they'd recorded, but the one that came out was mediocre at best, and became the first Monkees album not to make number one -- though it still made number three and sold in huge numbers. It also had the group's last million-selling single on it, "Valleri", an old Boyce and Hart reject from 1966 that had been remade with Boyce and Hart producing and their old session players, though the production credit was still now given to the Monkees: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Valleri"] Nesmith said at the time he considered it the worst song ever written. The second season of the TV show was well underway, and despite -- or possibly because of -- the group being clearly stoned for much of the filming, it contains a lot of the episodes that fans of the group think of most fondly, including several episodes that break out of the formula the show had previously established in interesting ways. Tork and Dolenz were both also given the opportunity to direct episodes, and Dolenz also co-wrote his episode, which ended up being the last of the series. In another sign of how the group were being given more creative control over the show, the last three episodes of the series had guest appearances by favourite musicians of the group members who they wanted to give a little exposure to, and those guest appearances sum up the character of the band members remarkably well. Tork, for whatever reason, didn't take up this option, but the other three did. Jones brought on his friend Charlie Smalls, who would later go on to write the music for the Broadway musical The Wiz, to demonstrate to Jones the difference between Smalls' Black soul and Jones' white soul: [Excerpt: Davy Jones and Charlie Smalls] Nesmith, on the other hand, brought on Frank Zappa. Zappa put on Nesmith's Monkee shirt and wool hat and pretended to be Nesmith, and interviewed Nesmith with a false nose and moustache pretending to be Zappa, as they both mercilessly mocked the previous week's segment with Jones and Smalls: [Excerpt: Michael Nesmith and Frank Zappa] Nesmith then "conducted" Zappa as Zappa used a sledgehammer to "play" a car, parodying his own appearance on the Steve Allen Show playing a bicycle, to the presumed bemusement of the Monkees' fanbase who would not be likely to remember a one-off performance on a late-night TV show from five years earlier. And the final thing ever to be shown on an episode of the Monkees didn't feature any of the Monkees at all. Micky Dolenz, who directed and co-wrote that episode, about an evil wizard who was using the power of a space plant (named after the group's slang for dope) to hypnotise people through the TV, chose not to interact with his guest as the others had, but simply had Tim Buckley perform a solo acoustic version of his then-unreleased song "Song to the Siren": [Excerpt: Tim Buckley, "Song to the Siren"] By the end of the second season, everyone knew they didn't want to make another season of the TV show. Instead, they were going to do what Rafelson and Schneider had always wanted, and move into film. The planning stages for the film, which was initially titled Changes but later titled Head -- so that Rafelson and Schneider could bill their next film as "From the guys who gave you Head" -- had started the previous summer, before the sessions that produced The Birds, The Bees, and the Monkees. To write the film, the group went off with Rafelson and Schneider for a short holiday, and took with them their mutual friend Jack Nicholson. Nicholson was at this time not the major film star he later became. Rather he was a bit-part actor who was mostly associated with American International Pictures, the ultra-low-budget film company that has come up on several occasions in this podcast. Nicholson had appeared mostly in small roles, in films like The Little Shop of Horrors: [Excerpt: The Little Shop of Horrors] He'd appeared in multiple films made by Roger Corman, often appearing with Boris Karloff, and by Monte Hellman, but despite having been a working actor for a decade, his acting career was going nowhere, and by this point he had basically given up on the idea of being an actor, and had decided to start working behind the camera. He'd written the scripts for a few of the low-budget films he'd appeared in, and he'd recently scripted The Trip, the film we mentioned earlier: [Excerpt: The Trip trailer] So the group, Rafelson, Schneider, and Nicholson all went away for a weekend, and they all got extremely stoned, took acid, and talked into a tape recorder for hours on end. Nicholson then transcribed those recordings, cleaned them up, and structured the worthwhile ideas into something quite remarkable: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Ditty Diego"] If the Monkees TV show had been inspired by the Marx Brothers and Three Stooges, and by Richard Lester's directorial style, the only precursor I can find for Head is in the TV work of Lester's colleague Spike Milligan, but I don't think there's any reasonable way in which Nicholson or anyone else involved could have taken inspiration from Milligan's series Q. But what they ended up with is something that resembles, more than anything else, Monty Python's Flying Circus, a TV series that wouldn't start until a year after Head came out. It's a series of ostensibly unconnected sketches, linked by a kind of dream logic, with characters wandering from one loose narrative into a totally different one, actors coming out of character on a regular basis, and no attempt at a coherent narrative. It contains regular examples of channel-zapping, with excerpts from old films being spliced in, and bits of news footage juxtaposed with comedy sketches and musical performances in ways that are sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes distasteful, and occasionally both -- as when a famous piece of footage of a Vietnamese prisoner of war being shot in the head hard-cuts to screaming girls in the audience at a Monkees concert, a performance which ends with the girls tearing apart the group and revealing that they're really just cheap-looking plastic mannequins. The film starts, and ends, with the Monkees themselves attempting suicide, jumping off a bridge into the ocean -- but the end reveals that in fact the ocean they're in is just water in a glass box, and they're trapped in it. And knowing this means that when you watch the film a second time, you find that it does have a story. The Monkees are trapped in a box which in some ways represents life, the universe, and one's own mind, and in other ways represents the TV and their TV careers. Each of them is trying in his own way to escape, and each ends up trapped by his own limitations, condemned to start the cycle over and over again. The film features parodies of popular film genres like the boxing film (Davy is supposed to throw a fight with Sonny Liston at the instruction of gangsters), the Western, and the war film, but huge chunks of the film take place on a film studio backlot, and characters from one segment reappear in another, often commenting negatively on the film or the band, as when Frank Zappa as a critic calls Davy Jones' soft-shoe routine to a Harry Nilsson song "very white", or when a canteen worker in the studio calls the group "God's gift to the eight-year-olds". The film is constantly deconstructing and commenting on itself and the filmmaking process -- Tork hits that canteen worker, whose wig falls off revealing the actor playing her to be a man, and then it's revealed that the "behind the scenes" footage is itself scripted, as director Bob Rafelson and scriptwriter Jack Nicholson come into frame and reassure Tork, who's concerned that hitting a woman would be bad for his image. They tell him they can always cut it from the finished film if it doesn't work. While "Ditty Diego", the almost rap rewriting of the Monkees theme we heard earlier, sets out a lot of how the film asks to be interpreted and how it works narratively, the *spiritual* and thematic core of the film is in another song, Tork's "Long Title (Do I Have to Do This All Over Again?)", which in later solo performances Tork would give the subtitle "The Karma Blues": [Excerpt: The Monkees, "Long Title (Do I Have To Do This All Over Again?)"] Head is an extraordinary film, and one it's impossible to sum up in anything less than an hour-long episode of its own. It's certainly not a film that's to everyone's taste, and not every aspect of it works -- it is a film that is absolutely of its time, in ways that are both good and bad. But it's one of the most inventive things ever put out by a major film studio, and it's one that rightly secured the Monkees a certain amount of cult credibility over the decades. The soundtrack album is a return to form after the disappointing Birds, Bees, too. Nicholson put the album together, linking the eight songs in the film with collages of dialogue and incidental music, repurposing and recontextualising the dialogue to create a new experience, one that people have compared with Frank Zappa's contemporaneous We're Only In It For The Money, though while t
In this episode we welcome the truly legendary Pamela Des Barres, all the way from her native San Fernando Valley, and invite her to reminisce about the all-girl GTOs, Frank Zappa, Lowell George... and plenty more besides. The bestselling author of 1987's groupie confessional I'm With The Band describes how she entered the Laurel Canyon orbit of ringmaster Zappa, and how the motley troupe he christened Girls Together Outrageously came into being. The former Miss Pamela talks about her fellow "Misses" Mercy and Christine, then describes the sessions for the group's unruly 1969 classic Permanent Damage. This leads on to a discussion of the Groupie phenomenon and its problematic nature in the #MeToo era. In passing, we hear about Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco and 1974's Hollywood Street Revival and Trash Dance show. The somewhat different — yet not entirely unrelated — L.A. domain of the canyon singer-songwriter crowd is considered as we hear clips from co-host Barney Hoskyns' 2003 audio interview with James Taylor/Linda Ronstadt producer Peter Asher. Following discussion of Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell and their mutual paramour John David Souther, we circle back to the GTOs and the guest appearance of the late Jeff Beck on Permanent Damage. We then pay extensive tribute to Beck's eclectic genius and unique technique. We conclude with quotes from notable RBP library additions, including pieces about Bonnie Raitt recording at Bearsville, L.A. session bassist Carol Kaye and apocalyptic jazz trio Comet Is Coming. Many thanks to special guest Pamela Des Barres. Visit her website at pameladesbarresofficial.com for details of her podcast, books and more. Pieces discussed: The GTOs by Miles, A Requiem for Miss Christine, Girls Together Outrageously, Miss Mercy, Los Angeles Clubs, Rodney Bingenheimer, The GTOs live, Peter Asher audio, Jeff Beck audio, Jeff Beck by Eden, Jeff Beck by Alan Light, Jeff Beck by Kate Mossman, Bonnie Raitt, Ethel Merman, Carol Kaye, Compiling by gender and The Comet is Coming. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode we welcome the truly legendary Pamela Des Barres, all the way from her native San Fernando Valley, and invite her to reminisce about the all-girl GTOs, Frank Zappa, Lowell George... and plenty more besides. The bestselling author of 1987's groupie confessional I'm With The Band describes how she entered the Laurel Canyon orbit of ringmaster Zappa, and how the motley troupe he christened Girls Together Outrageously came into being. The former Miss Pamela talks about her fellow "Misses" Mercy and Christine, then describes the sessions for the group's unruly 1969 classic Permanent Damage. This leads on to a discussion of the Groupie phenomenon and its problematic nature in the #MeToo era. In passing, we hear about Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco and 1974's Hollywood Street Revival and Trash Dance show. The somewhat different — yet not entirely unrelated — L.A. domain of the canyon singer-songwriter crowd is considered as we hear clips from co-host Barney Hoskyns' 2003 audio interview with James Taylor/Linda Ronstadt producer Peter Asher. Following discussion of Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell and their mutual paramour John David Souther, we circle back to the GTOs and the guest appearance of the late Jeff Beck on Permanent Damage. We then pay extensive tribute to Beck's eclectic genius and unique technique. We conclude with quotes from notable RBP library additions, including pieces about Bonnie Raitt recording at Bearsville, L.A. session bassist Carol Kaye and apocalyptic jazz trio Comet Is Coming. Many thanks to special guest Pamela Des Barres. Visit her website at pameladesbarresofficial.com for details of her podcast, books and more. Pieces discussed: The GTOs by Miles, A Requiem for Miss Christine, Girls Together Outrageously, Miss Mercy, Los Angeles Clubs, Rodney Bingenheimer, The GTOs live, Peter Asher audio, Jeff Beck audio, Jeff Beck by Eden, Jeff Beck by Alan Light, Jeff Beck by Kate Mossman, Bonnie Raitt, Ethel Merman, Carol Kaye, Compiling by gender and The Comet is Coming.
Such a fun way to kick off 2023! This outing isn't meant to settle all of those lunch room fights over this topic in the actual 1970s, it's just Markus and Ray sharing their faves from a very influential time in both of their musical lives.It's the podcast that acts like a game show whenever they do an episode of Five Favorites! Feel free to post yours on our social media, or email them to us at: imbalancedhistory@gmail.com! We love our sponsors!!! Please visit their web sites, and support them because they make this crazy show go:Boldfoot Socks https://boldfoot.comCrooked Eye Brewery https://crookedeyebrewery.com/Don't forget that you can find all of our episodes, on-demand, for free right here on our web site: https://imbalancedhistory.com/
Sam Paddor interviews Bill Payne, keyboardist from Little Feat. Little Feat are an incredible band whose hits include "Willin'", "Dixie Chicken" and many more. Bill Payne's Website: https://billpaynecreative.com Little Feat Website: https://www.littlefeat.net My Back Pages Website: https://www.mybackpages.org
On this weeks episode, we dive deep into Heart Like A Wheel, the 1974 LP from Linda Ronstadt. Possessing one of the strongest, versatile, and distinctive voices in rock has allowed Ronstadt to sing some of the greatest songs ever written in just about every musical genre. On this album, she interprets songs by variety of singers and songwriters to stunning effect, including James Taylor, Lowell George, Phil Everly, and Kate McGarrigle. While this was her fifth album, is was also her break out largely due to the quality of Ronstadt's voice (which is is on full display here) and her intelligent rendering of the tunes within.
Today Amy Wright gets to chat with Bill Payne, the Waco, Texas native who, along with Lowell George, co-founded the legendary and incomparable rock band Little Feat. When it comes to piano and organ work and the mix of genres that are rock, blues, funk and jazz, no one does it quite like Bill Payne. Outside of Little Feat, Payne has also recorded and worked with J.J. Cale, Jimmy Buffett, The Doobie Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Pink Floyd, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt and countless others. A shockingly impressive list of artists, for sure. He's a true creative, with a distinct voice and perspective, with great skills. Reaching into photography, writing and other realms.Part of Pantheon Podcasts
You might know Mr. Tackett as Little Feat's guitarist, but Fred's contributions to the musical world are simply staggering, with literally hundreds of sessions to his credit, on mandolin and trumpet, as well guitar. Bob Dylan, Bob Seger, Nicolette Larson, Barbara Streisand, Jimmy Webb, and countless others have called on Fred's musical services over his incredible career. Why? Because Fred is a monster player and genuine gentlemen to boot! He gets into the gristle with Greg on today's episode.1:34 - Fred's signature ‘Texas Twister' guitar lick3:48 - Fred's INSANE discography as a session guitar player, trumpet player, and mandolinist, and what it was like back in the heyday of session work11:26 - How Fred's gear changed over the years as a session player, and packing days to pack the bank15:27 - Fred's time with Little Feat - the how, the when, the where…24:46 - Transitioning from the studio to the road…with Bob Dylan34:51 - Fred's rig while playing with Dylan36:13 - From Bob Dylan to Bob Seger37:05 - How session musicians most often get paid39:42 - Little Feat's ‘Let It Roll' record, balancing the line between session and tour work, adjusting band members, a few of Fred's favorite tunes, and guitars!51:52 - Fred's musical background growing up in ArkansasTotal Length: 68:03Fishman Dedicated to helping musicians achieve the truest sound possible whenever they plug-in. Wildwood Guitars One of the world's premier retailers of exceptional electric and acoustic guitars.
In this episode we invite SST legend Joe Carducci to join us — all the way from Las Vegas — and talk about his life and career in music from the mid-'70s to the present day. We hear about Joe's childhood in Illinois, his move to L.A. in 1976 and his first pieces for Eurock and anarchist rag The Match! From there we learn about his forming record distributor Systematic in Portland; his working with Rough Trade US in Berkeley; and his helming of Black Flag's SST label from 1981 to 1986. Following his reminiscences of SST producer Spot and photographer Naomi Peterson, we hear clips from a 1994 audio interview with Henry Rollins — including the former Black Flag frontman's thoughts on his old band and its influence on the recently-deceased Kurt Cobain. Joe also discusses his controversial 1990 book Rock & the Pop Narcotic, as well as the legendary Sing Out!/Circus/Rolling Stone writer Paul Nelson and the vital importance of his Little Sandy Review fanzine (1959-1967).After paying our respects to Timmy ('Why Can't We Live Together') Thomas and NME/Daily Mirror journalist Gavin Martin, we hear from Mark about pieces on Country Joe & the Fish, Bette Midler and the Sex Pistols' famous Screen On The Green gig; from Jasper about Chicago's Tortoise and French pop; and from Barney about Little Feat's Lowell George, Texan "artlaw" Boyd Elder and Canadian rock'n'roller Jack Scott.Finally we hear a third clip from the Rollins audio, in which Henry harks back to his teenage infatuation with Ted Nugent.Many thanks to special guest Joe Carducci; find his blog at newvulgate.blogspot.com and his books, including Rock & the Pop Narcotic, in all good bookshops.Pieces discussed: Meat Puppets, The Descendents, Black Flag/SST, Henry Rollins audio, Paul Nelson, Timmy Thomas, Gavin Martin, Stiff Little Fingers, Bette Midler, Nirvana, Rolling Stones, Country Joe & the Fish, Sex Pistols/Slits, Tortoise, French pop, Lowell George, Boyd Elder and Jack Scott.
In this episode we invite SST legend Joe Carducci to join us — all the way from Las Vegas — and talk about his life and career in music from the mid-'70s to the present day. We hear about Joe's childhood in Illinois, his move to L.A. in 1976 and his first pieces for Eurock and anarchist rag The Match! From there we learn about his forming record distributor Systematic in Portland; his working with Rough Trade US in Berkeley; and his helming of Black Flag's SST label from 1981 to 1986. Following his reminiscences of SST producer Spot and photographer Naomi Peterson, we hear clips from a 1994 audio interview with Henry Rollins — including the former Black Flag frontman's thoughts on his old band and its influence on the recently-deceased Kurt Cobain. Joe also discusses his controversial 1990 book Rock & the Pop Narcotic, as well as the legendary Sing Out!/Circus/Rolling Stone writer Paul Nelson and the vital importance of his Little Sandy Review fanzine (1959-1967). After paying our respects to Timmy ('Why Can't We Live Together') Thomas and NME/Daily Mirror journalist Gavin Martin, we hear from Mark about pieces on Country Joe & the Fish, Bette Midler and the Sex Pistols' famous Screen On The Green gig; from Jasper about Chicago's Tortoise and French pop; and from Barney about Little Feat's Lowell George, Texan "artlaw" Boyd Elder and Canadian rock'n'roller Jack Scott. Finally we hear a third clip from the Rollins audio, in which Henry harks back to his teenage infatuation with Ted Nugent. Many thanks to special guest Joe Carducci; find his blog at newvulgate.blogspot.com and his books, including Rock & the Pop Narcotic, in all good bookshops. Pieces discussed: Meat Puppets, The Descendents, Black Flag/SST, Henry Rollins audio, Paul Nelson, Timmy Thomas, Gavin Martin, Stiff Little Fingers, Bette Midler, Nirvana, Rolling Stones, Country Joe & the Fish, Sex Pistols/Slits, Tortoise, French pop, Lowell George, Boyd Elder and Jack Scott. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, Barney, Mark & Jasper invite counterculture chronicler and "father of country punk" Michael Simmons to join them in RBP's virtual cupboard… all the way from his Culver City lair in small-hours Southern California.Michael talks very entertainingly about his dad Matty's '60s "hippie mag" Cheetah and about National Lampoon, the satirical '70s institution that succeeded it. Yarns about John Belushi and chums lead into Simmons Jr.'s unlikely but lifelong love of country music; his New York band Slewfoot; depping for George Jones at the Bottom Line; and his late '70s stint as one of Kinky Friedman's self-styled "Texas Jewboys".We also hear about our guest's parallel writing career and his move to Los Angeles, from whence he has long contributed to such outlets as the L.A. Weekly and (from the mid-noughties on) MOJO. He reminisces about his teenage Greenwich Village obsession with Bob Dylan, and talks about the liner notes he's penned for three of Bob's Bootleg Series box sets.Mention of a Van Dyke Parks piece Michael wrote in 2013 takes us into clips from John Tobler's long 1973 audio interview with that eccentric L.A. genius & Beach Boys/Randy Newman acolyte. At the end of the episode you will hear amusing banter between Van Dyke and a passing Lowell George (who'd just been interviewed next door by Pete "Family Trees" Frame).After paying our respects to departed heroes Ronnie Spector and Michael Lang, Mark & Jasper take us out with quotes from their favourite new additions to the RBP library. Mark mentions the late Maureen Cleave's 1965 interview with Nina Simone, Lon Goddard's 1970 encounter with Joni Mitchell & Ed Jones' 1975 review of Motörhead at the Roundhouse, while Jasper cites a Simon Reynolds special on "digital maximalism" and Mark Sinker's reflections on COVID and rock nostalgia.Please note that this episode was recorded before news of Meat Loaf's death reached us.Many thanks to special guest Michael Simmons; find his writing on RBP as well as in the Huffington Post and LA Weekly. Follow him on Twitter @the1stmunz.Pieces discussed: I was a Texas Jewboy, Bob Dylan turns 70, Van Dyke Parks keeps on cyclin', Van Dyke Parks audio, Nina Simone, Linda Ronstadt, Mick Jagger, The Band, Joni Mitchell, Motörhead, Fleetwood Mac, Maximal Nation, Covid & pop culture nostalgia and Ronnie Spector.
We are extremely honored to have Bill Payne of Little Feat as our guest on No simple Road this week! Payne, who co-founded Little Feat with the late, great Lowell George 35 years ago, has been Little Feat's keyboardist – and its pilot – throughout the band's existence, writing and singing such beloved classics as "Oh Atlanta," "Day or Night," "Time Loves a Hero“ and ”Gringo,“ while ”steering a ship that was rudderless," as he puts it. He's also contributed to hundreds of records as a sideman. The list of the artists Payne has recorded with is as lengthy as a small-town telephone book, ranging from Jackson Browne to Beck to Jimmy Buffett – and that's just some of the "B"s.As you can guess Bill has no shortage of stories to tell and we get down to business immediately in this wonderful conversation. We talk about creating the new single 'When All Boats Rise', getting the band back together, leaving The Doobie Brothers to rejoin Little Feat, how it feels to be going back to his musical roots after all these years away, and so much more!For more on Bill and Little Feat head over to: www.littlefeat.netSONG AT THE END OF THE CONVERSATION: the single 'When All Boats Rise' by Little FeatFOR FREE SHIPPING from Shop Tour Bus Use The PROMO CODE: nosimpleroadFor 20% off Sunset Lake CBD PROMO CODE: NSR20 For 25% off Electric Fish Lights PROMO CODE: NSR INTRO MUSIC BY AND USED WITH OUR GRATITUDE AND THE PERMISSION OF:CIRCLES AROUND THE SUNOUTRO MUSIC BY AND USED WITH OUR GRATITUDE AND THE PERMISSION OF:CHILLDREN OF INDIGONo Simple Road is part of OSIRIS MEDIA. Osiris is creating a community that connects people like you with podcasts and live experiences about artists and topics you love. To stay up to date on what we're up to, visit our site and sign up for our newsletter. Osiris works in partnership with JamBase, which connects music fans with the music they love and empowers them to go see live music!Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/nosimpleroad. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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