Review: Billy Idol Revisits His Landmark LP, 1983’s – ‘Rebel Yell – Expanded Edition’

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Lately, I’ve been rather focused on the year 1984, having just done my playlist based on tracks from that big year in music, but with Billy Idol releasing Rebel Yell – Expanded Edition, I find myself turning back to 1983… which I thought I was done thinking about after last year’s Playlist: 1983. I’ve been looking forward to Rebel Yell – Expanded Edition since Billy released an outtake from those sessions, the Rose Royce cover “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore.” As I thought about Rebel Yell, I couldn’t help but come to the realization we’ve become pretty big Billy Idol fans around here at B&V over the last decade or so… we’ve seen him twice in concert in both Kansas City and Las Vegas and really enjoyed some of his more recent EPs like The Cage.

Of course, it wasn’t always this way – it took me a while to get into Billy Idol. His debut solo album came out the summer of 1982 and frankly, I didn’t discover Billy until I went to college that fall when I started seeing him on MTV. Billy had come out of the punk rock scene having been in Generation X and still looked the part – buzz cut, bleached blond hair, snarling lip, leather clothes. It may come as a surprise but for Midwest kids who grew up in the suburbs, we didn’t get a lot of exposure to punk. The only punk rock I ever heard was when 60 Minutes did a piece on punk in England in the late 70s… my father was so terrified at the prospect of punk “rubbing off” on me and my brother he threw himself on the television like it was a hand grenade… you’d have thought of a nude lady had popped up on the screen. When I got to college in Manhattan, Kansas the radio was abysmal – no rock n roll, just pop and country – and so my only exposure to Idol was on MTV. Rather than listen to the music and realize that “White Wedding,” “Hot In The City,” or “Dancing With Myself” (which wasn’t on the original album) were great rock n roll songs, we were all just hung up on that punk look. The skinny guy punching his fist in the air was too much for our suburban mind to wrap around… He rocked but he just didn’t have the long hair and spandex we were used to like say, David Lee Roth.

However, when his second album came out in 1983, the landmark Rebel Yell, even those put off by his appearance in the videos – and this may be the only case of a video hurting an artist with his rightful fan base – began to come around. I remember hearing the title track in the car, away from the video, and thinking, “Damn, that’s a great song.” I found out shortly after that from our new roommate Walt (name changed to protect the guilty), that Idol’s guitar player was named Steve Stevens – perhaps one of rock’s greatest underrated players. When “Eyes Without A Face” came out as a single, I began singing at inappropriate moments, at the top of my lungs, “Steal a car, go to Las Vegas, Ooh, gigolo pool…” prompting one of my bosses at the time to ask, “Steal a car? Vegas? What the fuck are you on?”

It was indeed our intrepid roommate Walt who finally turned me fully on to Idol. He sat me down and played “Blue Highway,” and something just clicked. I’d been so locked in musical spelunking from the 60s and 70s, I was blocking out music from “now.” I immediately taped Walt’s copy of the album from his cassette to a blank cassette. Years later I picked the album up on CD… and even later, just recently, on vinyl. It is an absolute masterpiece, there is not a bad song on the album.

The anthem of a title track is a heart thumper. The aforementioned “Eyes Without A Face” is the ultimate “not love” song. “Flesh For Fantasy” just shimmered out of the speakers. Idol came with that punk rock attitude, but he combined New Wave synths – and there are a ton of synths on this record – with Steve Stevens hard rock/classic rock guitar and found gold. Even the deep tracks like “Blue Highway” or “Do Not Stand In The Shadows” or “Crank Call” are just fantastic rock songs. The only track that isn’t a complete 10/10 might be “The Dead Next Door,” the atmospheric closer.

This Expanded Edition provides us with a bonus disc that has mostly demo’s of the songs on the album. There’s the aforementioned Rose Royce cover, “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore” that’s just dynamite. I guess Madonna covered the song in 1984, which I didn’t know about… clearly I’m not a big Madge fan. There was some question as to why Idol didn’t include his version on Rebel Yell, but when you’ve got nine “cooking” originals, who needs a cover? Of equal interest to me was another outtake, an Idol/Stevens original “Best Way Out Of Here.” It’s another great song… a little funky in parts, but I could have seen it replacing “The Dead Next Door” as a closing track. There’s another track, “Motorbikin’ – Session Take” – which brings to mind the Montrose song “Bad Motor Scooter” – that reads as a “live in the studio” track. I wish they’d spent a little more time developing that little rocker, I kind of liked it.

Alas, most of the rest of the bonus material are demos. I’d have loved a live concert from this era. The demos may be of interest to some folks, and there are some interesting moments, but I doubt folks are going to want to pour over Billy Idol’s creative process the way Dylanologists pour over Dylan’s early versions of songs. The exception might be the two demos of “Flesh For Fantasy.” The demo version here is a fast, sped up track. It only shares the title/chorus with the version we all know and love from the album. Then there’s a version from a “session take” which shows they’d started to go from the faster version to the slinky version and back again… Again, some of the early demo versions have different lyrics, but I was impressed at how many of the demos represent a close-to-final vision for the songs. Idol and Stevens were certainly on a roll!

Regardless of having only a handful of gems on the bonus material – and they are gems – if you’ve never bought Rebel Yell this is a nice way to pick it up. After the two main outtakes – “Love Don’t Live Here” and “Best Way Out” – the rest of this is nice to have, not need to have. But Rebel Yell remains a spectacular album and those two tracks are ones fans will certainly want. The source album is so brilliant, I have to recommend this package – on CD so it’s affordable – to any Billy Idol fan. This album plays so well it’s like a greatest hits record. Turn this one up loud and pump your fist in the air, baby!

Cheers!

David Gilmour Of Pink Floyd Announces New LP, ‘Luck And Strange,’ Releases First Song, “The Piper’s Call”

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It appears the rumors I’ve been hearing are true and erstwhile Pink Floyd guitarist/singer David Gilmour is set to release his fifth studio album Luck And Strange this coming September. Today he’s released the first single from the album, “The Piper’s Call.”

It may seem odd that David Gilmour, a very famous musician, has only put out five studio albums (if I include Luck And Strange) over the years. Of course from the 60s through the early 80s he was busy in Pink Floyd with Roger Waters, Rick Wright and Nick Mason. And from the late 80s on he was busy… well, in Pink Floyd with only Rick Wright and Nick Mason. I don’t think there was a more contentious break up in rock n roll history as Pink Floyd’s split between Gilmour/Mason/Wright and Waters. These guys make the Beatles break up look like a slightly unruly evening at a bingo night at the local church.

I have to admit, like most critics I’ve been up and down on Gilmour’s solo career. His guitar playing is some of the most melodic, recognizable, soulful sounds ever generated from the instrument. When Gilmour played guest guitar on a Pete Townshend or Paul McCartney record, you knew it was Gilmour. Pink Floyd ranks amongst Zeppelin and the Stones in the 70s pantheon of “cool” bands that every rock head loved. If you weren’t into those bands you might as well have been listening to disco. You were simply “uncool.”

However, in his solo career Gilmour has been less successful. Of course a lot of Pink Floyd “purist” would say that A Momentary Lapse Of Reason and The Division Bell, Pink Floyd’s albums without Waters are merely Gilmour solo records disguised as Floyd records. Sigh… Most critics will tell you that About Face from 1984 is the “pick of the litter” in terms of his solo career. I would probably agree with that assessment but I really liked his last studio album, Rattle That Lock. One of the issues that most critics, and fans for that matter, bring up is that Gilmour’s songwriting partner and lyric writer is his wife Polly Sampson. You get the usual “Yoko” kind of complaints about that. Hey, the guy can partner with whomever he wants, and he chooses to partner with his wife. Although I’m not immune to the ol’ trope that it’s a bad sign when you invite your significant other into the band.

Having enjoyed Rattle That Lock, I’m actually sort of looking forward to Luck And Strange. I’ve been listening to this new track, “The Piper’s Call” all morning. It wouldn’t have been out of place on his last album. The track starts off with a quiet acoustic guitar, quite lovely actually. It’s almost a Spanish guitar thing. Suddenly Gilmour’s voice – which I’ve always loved – comes on. The guy has lost nothing vocally over the years. The track kind of meanders along until the chorus when some fabulous Gilmour electric guitar comes in. He’s so plaintive in the way he plays. The track is mellow for the first minute and a half. But that chorus with Gilmour’s distressed vocals and wonderful guitar drew me in. His guitar playing is the main reason to stick around. Here’s the track:

It’s not a track that’s going to change anybody’s life or reignite a career the way say, Billy Joel’s “Turn The Lights Back On” did, but it’s not a bad little song. And if you’re a Pink Floyd fan – and who among us isn’t? – you’ll probably dig this one.

The album isn’t out until September but rest assured B&V will be out there with our ear to the ground… heeding the piper’s call, so to speak.

Cheers!

Review: Pearl Jam’s 12th Studio LP, ‘Dark Matter’ – A Triumph!

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While I was in the midst of mourning the loss of former Allman Brothers’ guitarist/singer/songwriter Dickey Betts, who passed Friday – which required me to listen to the entire early Allman Brothers’ catalog over the weekend including “Mountain Jam” – Pearl Jam released their 12th album Dark Matter. My apologies for the delayed reaction to this new Pearl Jam, but everyone mourns in their own way. I hate to be one of those guys who say, “This is Pearl Jam’s best record since…” but this is Pearl Jam’s best record… well, in a long time. It’s only been four years since their last LP, the uneven Gigaton, which of late is rather quick for Pearl Jam. They’d gone 7 years between Lightning Bolt and Gigaton prior to that. That seven year gap didn’t see Pearl Jam disappear. They toured almost every summer. It began to feel like Pearl Jam was treating the studio pretty casually… like they were old buddies from high school who got together every summer for a “guy’s trip.” Only in this case the “guy’s trip” was a world tour.

I began to wonder if they even cared about making studio albums any more which is unfair. Any of us who were fans of their early work – Ten, Vs, or Vitalogy – tend to have very high expectations of any new Pearl Jam release, not dissimilar to the expectations that surround any new U2 release. It’s just that Pearl Jam’s early stuff was so earnest and it touched an emotional chord in so many of us and I think we all long for a similar dopamine hit like we got from those early records. Those expectations were probably a drag for the band. But as everyone knows, Pearl Jam started to change their music – perhaps like a lot of bands it was to shun the fame and attention they’d garnered – and their albums sold less and less. For me, Riot Act was the album where Pearl Jam almost lost me. It may have been “the record they always wanted to make,” but man, it was a grim affair. Although, like every Pearl Jam record there were a few stone cold classic tracks.

It seemed like they’d really re-dedicated themselves on the self titled 2006 LP, Pearl Jam. A lot of bands try to make a major statement with a mid career eponymous album but that record didn’t really take off and was seemingly overshadowed by the Chili Pepper’s Stadium Arcadium at the time. They continued putting out really strong albums every 3 or 4 years since then – Backspacer (2009) and Lightning Bolt (2013) – and I really liked those records. But I don’t know if the sales or the attention were what they expected. So they did what a lot of bands did, they went on tour a bunch and kind of ignored the studio work. Gigaton dropped right before COVID hit so I feel a bit like that was a “lost album” of sorts. I still like “Superblood Wolfmoon.” But I have to admit, I’ve liked all of those Pearl Jam records since Pearl Jam, so it’s hard for me to pin down the “best Pearl Jam album since…” conversation. Pick your last favorite Pearl Jam LP and use that one in that sentence.

Dark Matter is simply put, the best Pearl Jam album I’ve heard in ages. Song by song, it’s their most consistent, strong album in perhaps decades. They just seemed so focused on this record. And while there haven’t been a lot of changes in approach, everything seems to be taken up a notch. Much of this may be because of the presence of producer Andrew Watt who worked with Vedder on Earthling. He’s also worked with Ozzy (Ordinary Man and Patient No. 9), Iggy Pop (Every Loser) and the Stones (Hackney Diamonds). Some of the ol’ audiophiles complain that Watt-produced albums sound “brickwalled” (highly compressed to sound louder), but I’m a huge fan of Watt’s. He seems to pull the best out of the artists he works with by getting them to do what they do best, to “be themselves.” The record was recorded quickly over a three week span, where as the band says, “Watt kicked our ass.” I love Pearl Jam, but if there was ever a band who needed an ass kicking in the studio…

Pearl Jam remains Eddie Vedder (vocals/guitar), Stone Gossard (guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), Jeff Ament (bass) and former Soundgarden member Matt Cameron (drums). Watt also added some guitar and keyboards. The band also brought former Chili Pepper Josh Klinghoffer who has been touring with them – and who was in Vedder’s backing band on his tour for Earthlings – into the studio to play some keyboards and guitar.

With that same personnel, the band sounds like Pearl Jam, but as I said, it’s all taken up a notch. The first thing I noticed was Vedder’s vocals. On their most recent albums, I’ve liked the ballads and slower tracks better because Vedder – who has one of the best and most emotionally expressive baritones in all of rock – actually sings on those songs. On the recent rockers, which often sound very punk influenced (“Mind Your Manners” for example), Vedder almost barks the lyrics, like he’s mad at us for listening. Not so on Dark Matter. From the title track to the ballads, Vedder is emotively singing and that is a very good thing for a Pearl Jam record. And might I say, Watt seems to have just completely unleashed Mike McCready’s lead guitar. I just love it every time he solo’s on this record. With those two stepping up, it makes this a great record, but Gossard/Ament/Cameron lock in the riffs and grooves and create a great foundation for each song.

There’s so much to like here. I loved the title track, “Dark Matter,” but have already posted on that one, I’ll add no more here… While I had to listen to “Scared Of Fear” twice before it clicked, it’s a great Pearl Jam rock song. McCready just shreds. I love the riff and the bouncy nature of the song… “We all like control, I surrender to you, dear,” Oh, yes. “React And Respond” is another tough rocker that may require a little more time to grow on me. I like Ament’s bass on that one. It’s a twitchy, punk thing. “Running” is a meet-me-at-the-finish-line, full tilt rocker. But again, here Vedder sings vs barks and I like it. It’s a heavy track. “Got To Give” competes with “Dark Matter” for my favorite rocker. It starts with some lovely acoustic guitar and then Cameron comes hammering in on the drums (in a good way). It’s an uplifting track and I believe will be sung along to in many a stadium near you this summer.

“Wreckage,” a track I saw someone compare to Tom Petty which I don’t hear, is another personal favorite. It’s a midtempo ear worm that I can’t stop listening to. “Won’t Tell” is another gorgeous tune. I’m calling it midtempo but it’s got a nice riff and beat. I love Eddie’s vocal here, but I’m starting to gush… “Waiting For Stevie” is epic rock at it’s best. It’s a track that must be listened to loud… not to improve it, I just like it loud. “You can be loved by everyone, And not feel, not feel love.” A lot of these lyrics seem to center around loss of some kind – loss of a relationship or the loss of American democracy, it’s hard to tell.

I will admit there are no ballads that hit me as hard as say, “Sirens” or “Yellow Moon” (the Rock Chick’s favorite) that were on Lightning Bolt. But the ballads here are all still great tunes. “Upper Hand” is the first one coming roughly in the middle of the album. It’s probably my favorite of the slower tracks. “Something Special” is another great one. “Setting Sun” ends the album on an atmospheric, acoustic note. They’re all three really good ballads but for the first time in quite a few Pearl Jam albums, my favorite songs are the rockers not the ballads.

Pearl Jam remains one of the greatest American bands ever. It’s nice to see them dig a little deeper, try a little harder, and come up with such a stunning late career album (or it maybe mid-career, one never knows about longevity). A good friend of ours procured a couple of tickets to see these guys on their upcoming tour and the Rock Chick and I couldn’t be more thrilled. It’ll be great to see our good friend and the lads in Pearl Jam as well… they feel like old friends too at this point. In the interim, I’ll just continue to keep Dark Matter on high rotation.

Play this one – one of the best albums of the year so far – up loud. Cheers!

RIP Dickey Betts Of The Allman Brothers, The Ramblin’ Man’s Journey Has Come To An End

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*Photo of guitar legend Dickey Betts shamelessly taken from the internet and likely copyrighted

I had no sooner hit the “send” button on yesterday’s post containing our playlist compiled from rock songs from 1984 when I saw the news that former Allman Brothers Band lead guitar legend Dickey Betts had passed away at the ripe old age of 80. I’m not gonna lie, this one is gonna leave a mark. I had intended to listen to the new Pearl Jam today, but we’re in full Allman mode as a tribute to the man who wrote “Ramblin’ Man.” I’ve gotten through the Allman’s first two studio records, with Live At The Fillmore East – one of, if not the greatest live album ever – teed up next. In unrelated news the Rock Chick is gritting her teeth and rushing to get out of the house. I guess the Allman Brothers are more of a “guy” thing, like Pink Floyd but I digress…

Of the original lineup of the Allman Brothers, with Dickey now gone, there’s only one surviving member, drummer Jaimoe aka John Lee Johnson or Jai Johanny Johanson. Jaimoe has more nicknames than Deion Sanders. It was guitar legend Duane Allman who, with his brother Gregg (vocals/organ) who formed the Allman Brothers. Duane and Gregg had been knocking around in different bands for a while. If you’ve never heard the Hourglass song (Duane & Gregg’s early band) “Power Of Your Love,” you need to. The brothers ended up in California. Duane finally had enough and left. Gregg had to hang for a year…where he befriended singer/songwriter Jackson Browne. Duane ended up pulling a band together down in Florida. He recruited drummer Jaimoe first. Then came Barry Oakley on bass, Butch Trucks on drums as well. Duane wanted a different kind of band, he had a clear vision and he knew he needed a second lead guitar to fulfill his vision and eventually through Trucks he found Dickey Betts. And make no mistake this wasn’t a lead/rhythm guitar situation, both Duane and Dickey played dual leads. Duane’s legend is a bit bigger than Dickey’s but perhaps that’s because he died so young.

Eventually freed from the Hourglass contractual obligation Gregg joined his brother and the rest of the band in Florida. He was a little intimidated by the musicians in the band at first, but his brother told him to “sing his ass off” on a version of Muddy Waters’ “Trouble No More,” and uh, Gregg complied. This was in ’69 and by the end of the year they’d put out their first album, The Allman Brothers, followed in 1970 by one of my all time favorites, Idlewild South. Oddly enough, it wasn’t until I had graduated from college and moved down south to Ft. Smith, Arkansas that I purchased those two records. It’s hard to believe that it took me until my early 20s to find the Allman Brothers… although when I started listening to rock music in say, 1978, the Allmans were broken up.

While the Allman’s debut album consisted of songs written by Gregg Allman and a few covers, Idlewild South saw the debut of Dickey Betts as a songwriter. He contributed the epic instrumental “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed.” In their early days the Allmans used to practice in a cemetery and Dickey pulled the name off a tombstone, which is just damn cool. Dickey also contributed another song on the album, “Revival,” sung by Gregg that’s another all time fav. Although those first two albums are fabulous it wasn’t until their landmark live album, the aforementioned Live At the Fillmore East, that made the Allmans famous. By the time they recorded that live album their reputation as a live band was already immense.

Duane and Dickey – and the rest of the band – played the blues with a jazz ethos. There were long, extended guitar duels between Duane and Dickey that were borderline Miles Davis vibing off of John Coltrane. They’ve been described as “southern rock,” but they were so much more than that…although admittedly it took me briefly moving to the south to get into the Allmans. They’ve been described as a “jam band” but again, they were so much more than that. Many bands struggle to find one competent lead guitar player whereas the Allmans had two (and actually quite a few more if you look at their entire history). The live album was the only way to capture their magic conjured on stage vs a studio. For some bands it takes the live LP to break them.

Alas, tragedy was to hit the Allmans when in late ’71 Duane was killed in a motorcycle crash. Bassist Barry Oakley would suffer the same fate a year later. The Allmans soldiered through but Betts took more of a leadership role in the band and especially on stage. He was largely seen as the front man in the band, likely because Gregg was stuck sitting behind an organ. I think Gregg resented Betts assuming the leadership role in the band – a band with his name on it – and the rest of the Allman’s history was to be a tumultuous one.

Betts continued to develop as a songwriter. Many of his tunes have a country music vibe. But his songwriting credits are quite impressive from instrumentals “Les Brers In A Minor” and “Jessica” to “Ramblin’ Man” (the Allman Brothers biggest “hit”), “Blue Sky” and “Southbound.” After Brothers And Sisters in 1972, whose songs were predominantly written by Betts, Gregg dropped his solo-debut album Laid Back and the band began to splinter. Betts dropped his solo debut in 1974, Highway Call, but neither solo or with Great Southern, his side band, he never achieved the acclaim that Gregg’s solo stuff did.

The Allmans broke up in ’76, and reunited in the late 70s/early 80s, but finally called it quits again in 1982. I remember Allmans playing benefit shows for Jimmy Carter’s campaign. Jimmy Carter at a podium flanked by Dickey Betts and Gregg Allman was quite a sight. The Allman Brothers band lay dormant for a decade, until 1990. Dickey had started to put together a band that included Butch Trucks and Jaimoe and a newcomers Johnny Neal (keyboards), Warren Haynes (guitar) and Allen Woody (bass). I remember reading the band was going to be the Dickey Betts Band but Dickey realized they needed to get Gregg back in the fold and come back out as the Allman Brothers Band, a wise decision. The comeback album Seven Turns was an unexpected hit. Dickey wrote and sang the title track (with a haunting second vocal by Gregg) and co-wrote the hit “Good Clean Fun” with Gregg and Johnny Neal.

Under Dickey’s helm the Allmans began touring successfully and put out a string of great late career LPs: Seven Turns (1990), Shades Of Two Worlds (1991), and finally Where It All Begins (1994). That ’94 record was the biggest the Allmans had put out in a long time. That was the first tour I was able to see them live and watching Dickey and Warren Haynes (who was playing the Duane parts) spark off each other was nothing short of breathtaking. Many an air guitar was played that night.

Alas, the old tensions between Betts and Allman began to drag the band down. Betts was drinking pretty heavily (and perhaps was doing drugs as well) and Gregg had finally gotten sober. Betts kept getting into altercations. Eventually the band sent him a fax – demanding that he sober up/get clean and basically fired him. A band who he’d help found went on without him. Betts went on to record and tour solo but never found that solo fame he so richly deserved.

In 2017 we lost both Butch Trucks (alas, to suicide) and Gregg Allman from cancer. And now Dickey Betts has gone to that great concert hall in the sky. The Allman Brothers were a lot like brothers. They made fabulous, epic music but man, they also had a sibling like conflict underlying it all, especially Gregg and Dickey. Maybe if Duane had taken the bus that day in 1971 instead of riding his motorcycle, he could have kept more control over the band. They all worshiped him… Dickey named his kid Duane… but that’s consigned to the “woulda, coulda, shoulda” file.

While Dickey may have had demons – and who amongst the rock stars doesn’t? – his sublime guitar playing and great songwriting make him a legend in the rock n roll world. I was a fan of his and the Allman Brothers for a long time… still am. It’s a sad day here at the B&V labs. There will be many an Allman Brothers’ jam played in this house today…with perhaps a few sips of a sour mash along with the guitar solos… I might need to go buy some Southern Comfort today…

RIP Dickey Betts, guitar legend.

It’s a long, dark ride, take care of each other out there. Cheers.

Playlist: We Look Back 40 Years To The Epic, Blockbuster Year, Rock N Roll In… 1984

~ kcorsini ~ 9 Comments

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We’re fond of constructing playlists here at B&V and have been publishing them pretty much since we started this blog. It wasn’t until three years ago that we did our first playlist built from rock n roll tied to a specific year, in that case it was 1971. What a landmark year for music that was! It was so much fun, the next year we did a playlist of rock n roll from 1972. And after that we’ve had this rolling 50 year-lookback playlist we do to kick off every year. It was when I was doing my 1972 and later my 1973 playlist that I realized looking back 40 years to the 80s would be fun too and ended up doing playlists for 1982 and 1983. I guess I need to circle back and do 1981 at some point, since I didn’t do it the year I did 1971, but I digress. We did 1974 to kick off this year and now seems as good a time as any to look back only 40 years to 1984.

Ah, 1984… It wasn’t the dystopian nightmare of George Orwell’s novel but it was a pretty uptight time. I was in college and was surrounded by some of the most uptight young adults in the history of college. Don’t get me wrong, I met a lot of kindred spirits in those days: Drew, RK, Walt, the accountant, and Stormin’ to name a few who I actually still mention in these pages. While 1984 the actual year looked nothing like 1984 the novel, the Reagan administration was doing everything they could to bring it about. It seems we’ve saved the mass surveillance, permanent warfare, “cult of personality” and doublepeak (and alternative facts) for today’s world. I seem to remember the women had extremely tall hair and wore leg warmers. But then again so did a lot of the rock stars. “Greed is good” was a mantra. There was the L.A. Olympics, sadly boycotted by the Russians. I knew a guy who participated in those Olympics… he introduced me to Belinda Carlisle once after a Go-Go’s concert, but I’ve already told that story. Sadly nothing in that meeting happened that could have made a VH1 Behind The Music episode.

Despite all that grim stuff, we still managed to have a really good time. The movies were exceptional that year. The original Ghostbusters remains one of my all-time favorite movies. Beverly Hills Cop was another great comedy with Eddie Murphy, perhaps his best flick. I also dug the latest installment of the Indiana Jones franchise. I seem to remember watching a lot of Miami Vice and Magnum PI on television. I think the 49ers started their NFL dynasty around that time, but I don’t like the 49ers so I don’t know. But the thing that really got us through 1984 was the rock n roll. What a year that was! It was no 1971, but man it was pretty epic.

When I think about the 80s, and ’84 in particular the first thing I think is: synthesizers. In the 70s bands like Rush, Queen and Van Halen eschewed synths as an evil to be avoided. But by the mid-80s it had invaded the sound of every major band: Rush, Queen, Springsteen even used them, famously Van Halen, and a litany of synth-based pop bands. Along with the all conquering synth the second thing I remember about 1984 is the sound of the acoustic guitar virtually disappeared. It was odd. The main thing about 1984 was the large number of blockbuster records we got that year: 1984, Born In The U.S.A., Purple Rain, Heartbeat City, Learning To Crawl. It seems like every rock group who released an album that year released a huge selling album that spawned multiple hit singles. Granted the production values of the time immediately tie these albums to that particular era, but oh well, I still dig the music.

I also remember a proliferation of the types of music we listened to. Alternative rock was being born on college radio. Hip Hop was beginning to get noticed, even amongst the uptight folks I described earlier. Hair Metal had begun to raise it’s highly coiffed head. Synth pop/synth rock bands began to proliferate. Classic rock still existed but it had begun to change. As mentioned the synth popped up on every classic rock artist’s record. Most of those big 70s bands had split up and the 80s saw either the dawn of a solo career (Roger Waters, Steve Perry) or the continuation of a solo career (David Gilmour, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, John Lennon, Paul McCartney). Let’s admit it, MTV and the visual images the acts chose had a huge influence on what we heard and absorbed. I could sit drunk in front of MTV and watch for hours, mindlessly. Now I’m more likely to see a music video on the Weather Channel than on MTV.

I’ll be the first to admit to you, I was not cool enough to actually have been listening to some of these bands – especially the synth pop or the alternative rock bands – in 1984. Some of these bands took years for me to discover. I was too busy listening to music from the 70s to pick up on the then-current music of the 80s. I’m lucky the Rock Chick was a huge fan of a lot of this music and turned me on to much of it. She lead me to the Cult, Psychedelic Furs, and Echo & The Bunnyman. Some times it matters when you hear a song if you’re going to be a fan… sometimes you have to be ready to hear it. I was not ready for a lot of this in 1984… immature ears. Well, if I’m being honest, my immaturity went way beyond my ears but again, I digress.

With all these great albums and songs from 1984 to choose from, I used my usual tactic. I picked only songs from albums that were released in 1984. I chose only 1 song per album (you may like a different song from the album, which is cool). This is a rock n roll blog so I didn’t put much pop on here – there’s no Madonna or Wham!… although admittedly I like “Careless Whisper.” Kenny Loggins had his big hit “Footloose” but I like ’70s Loggins, not ’80s Loggins… and it’s a song about dancing. I don’t dance. I tried to capture the melange of different styles and moods from ’84 which means I can go from Sade to Metallica. You can listen straight through or you can shuffle. If you hear something you don’t like, skip it… if you hear something you like, turn it up. As always, I put these playlists together to remind you of a song you haven’t heard in a long time or better yet, to turn you on to something you’ve never heard before. Hence, all the different styles of music in one playlist. Below, you’ll see my pithy insights on each track… Enjoy!

  1. Van Halen, “1984” – Well, where else was I going to start? A keyboard instrumental entitled “1984” from an album entitled 1984 that introduced Eddie Van Halen‘s new fascination with keyboards and kicked off the year 1984. I do consider this to be merely the intro to “Jump,” so you’re getting two Van Halen tracks for the price of one.
  2. Van Halen, “Jump” – Such an iconic song all these years later (same for the video). I guess Eddie figured if he can fuel a Michael Jackson song (“Beat It”) to the top of the charts with one of his guitar solos, he could put out a synth heavy track and do the same for his own band.
  3. Bruce Springsteen, “Born In The U.S.A.” – This title track is my favorite song on the album. I can remember where I was when I first heard this album. The story of an anguished Vietnam vet, back in America trying to pull his life together.
  4. Queen, “Hammer To Fall” – Queen pulling out all the stops on this “balls-to-the-walls” rocker. Great guitar from Brian May. This was a comeback of sorts for the band everywhere in the world except maybe… the U.S.A.
  5. Sammy Hagar, “I Can’t Drive 55” – Sammy expressing the collective American highway angst when the speed limits were only 55 mph. Bill Clinton lifted that restriction during his first administration.
  6. Pretenders, “Middle Of The Road” – Chrissie Hynde singing, “I’m not the cat I used to be, I’ve gotta kid I’m 33, baby,” is what I live for. The Pretenders had been through a lot since their sophomore album… they’d lost two members and Hynde had her first kid. We were just glad they were back.
  7. David Bowie, “Blue Jean” – From the much maligned album, Tonight. I still love this track. I think there were 3 separate videos for this song. I considered “Loving The Alien” from this one too, another exceptional song on a so-so album.
  8. The Cars, “You Might Think” – We just posted about the epic record this song was from, Heartbeat City. I could have chosen almost any song on the album but went with this, the first single.
  9. Prince, “When Doves Cry” – From Prince’s masterpiece, Purple Rain. I considered “Let’s Go Crazy” or “Purple Rain” but there’s something about this song that pulls me in, 40 years later.
  10. Bon Jovi, “Runaway” – From their debut. I’m not a huge Bon Jovi fan, but I love this song. When that falsetto comes in at the end… crank that up and hit the gas pedal.
  11. Whitesnake, “Slide It In” – My all time favorite Whitesnake tune. I was playing this song, while doing “research” for this playlist and the Rock Chick wandered by the door and I heard her say, “Ooooh, that’s a great song.” Indeed.
  12. John Lennon, “Nobody Told Me” – From John’s first posthumous release. It was bittersweet hearing it – I dug the song, but it made me miss John Lennon… still do.
  13. General Public, “Tenderness” – Having just seen Dave Wakeling play this song when the English Beat opened for Adam Ant last month, I had to include it. Great, great song! (Great show too).
  14. Christine McVie, “Got A Hold On Me” – Probably her biggest solo hit. I remember the video, which made fun of making videos which was a thing back in ’84. Sad to think we just lost Christine McVie.
  15. Ratt, “Round And Round” – As I mentioned, Hair Metal had started to rear it’s heavily coiffed head by the mid 80s… This was a worthy example of the genre from Ratt’s debut.
  16. Dio, “The Last In Line” – I love Dio’s work in Rainbow, Sabbath and solo… but this is my all time favorite song of his. The video, where a kid gets in the elevator and it freefalls into Hell…and Ronnie has to descend down from a rooftop in New York to save him. Oh, Hell yes! That’s money.
  17. Scorpions, “Rock You Like A Hurricane” – Love At First Sting was the second Scorpion’s album I bought on vinyl (the first was Animal Magnetism). I’d recorded Blackout on cassette… I love this album. The Scorpions put out Rock Believer a while back and it took me back to those glory days.
  18. Talk Talk, “It’s My Life” – Always liked this song… No Doubt did a great cover version of it.
  19. Thompson Twins, “Hold Me Now” – I know nothing about the Twins of Thompson, but everyone I knew dug this song.
  20. The Smiths, “What Difference Does It Make” – From their debut, seemingly answering the question, “Were they always sad?”
  21. Missing Persons, “Surrender Your Heart” – A track I’d completely forgotten about. I quickly added it to my Valentine’s Playlist, Songs About Hearts.
  22. Wang Chung, “Dance Hall Days” – A track the Rock Chick introduced me. “To Live And Die In L.A.” is still my favorite of theirs, but this is a great song.
  23. April Wine, “This Could Be The Right One” – A dying gasp from April Wine… at least for radio play in K.C.
  24. David Gilmour, “Blue Light” – One of two competing albums from former Pink Floyd members on this list.
  25. Joe Jackson, “You Can’t Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)” – Joe Jackson in full jazzbo mode!
  26. The Go-Gos, “Head Over Heels” – I met Belinda Carlisle on the tour for this album in ’84. I wish I’d known more about how hard she partied before meeting her… that meeting could have gone a lot differently.
  27. INXS, “Original Sin” – I never get tired of hearing INXS.
  28. Run-D.M.C., “It’s Like That” – I’m on record as not being a huge Hip Hop fan, but this song did catch my attention way back when. A dude down the hall was a fan. Great stuff from these O.G.’s of Hip Hop.
  29. The Icicle Works, “Whisper To A Scream” – Another great song it took years for me to discover.
  30. R.E.M., (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville” – Reckoning, their second album, was the first one I bought.
  31. Rush, “Red Sector A” – Grace Under Pressure is probably the last Rush album I absolutely loved. This track, which was inspired by Geddy Lee’s family’s experience during the Holocaust, is stunning.
  32. Lee “Scratch” Perry, “Heads Of Government” – It’s always important to have a reggae legend on your playlist. Here he’s spouting truth to, well, the heads of government.
  33. Roger Waters, “5:06AM (Every Strangers Eyes) – From his odd first solo album which details a man’s midlife crisis through an early morning dream cycle. After complaining about Gilmour and guitarists in general he goes out and recruits Eric Clapton to play on The Pros And Cons of Hitchhiking. My buddy Drew bought the album the day it came out and thus has the original album cover where the hitchhiker in question is naked and not obscured. Good for Drew!
  34. Echo & The Bunnymen, “The Killing Moon” – A great tune I included on my Playlist: Songs About The Moon.
  35. Lou Reed, “I Love You, Suzanne” – From Lou Reed’s most accessible album, New Sensations. Lou just sounds happy on this record.
  36. Steve Perry, “Oh, Sherrie” – It’s hard to explain how much we all loved Steve Perry back in the day. I owned this record on vinyl.
  37. Twisted Sister, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” – A nice rallying cry of a song. I saw Dee Snider live in a city park in Winter Park a few years ago.
  38. Stevie Ray Vaughan, “Cold Shot” – From the epic Couldn’t Stand The Weather. I could have gone with the title track, but I’ve always loved this bluesy, post-breakup tune.
  39. Tina Turner, “What’s Love Got To Do With It” – I’m on record as being a bigger fan of Tina’s earlier rock n roll work, but now that we’ve lost her, I’m all in on this song.
  40. Jefferson Starship, “No Way Out” – Another 60s iconic band with an album out in ’84. I bought this record on the strength of this song about a cheating boyfriend and his forgiving girlfriend.
  41. Bruce Cockburn, “If I Had A Rocket Launcher” – A favorite track of my buddy Arkansas Joel. Oh, if I only did have a rocket launcher…
  42. Hagar, Schon, Aaronson, Shrieve, “Whiter Shade Of Pale” – Sammy Hagar and Journey’s Neil Schon form a supergroup (with Schon’s former Santana bandmate Shrieve on drums) and record a Procol Harum song. I do think Annie Lennox’s cover is better but this isn’t a bad track.
  43. Siouxsie & The Banshees, “Swimming Horses” – I feel like I should have been a bigger Siouxsie fan back in the 80s.
  44. John Waite, “Missing You” – My brother bought this song on a 45 for me. It was a song that used to mean something to me in a galaxy far away. It was nice of him to notice how much I liked the song.
  45. Elton John, “Who Wears These Shoes” – I didn’t remember this song until I pulled up the Breaking Hearts track list. I like this one so much more than say, “Sad Songs” from this album.
  46. Rod Stewart, “Infatuation” – At the time, this was his first collaboration with Jeff Beck, who played guitar on the song, in years… it led to Rod singing on Beck’s next album on “People Get Ready.” I wish these guys could have done something else before Jeff Beck’s demise last year.
  47. Elvis Costello & the Attractions, “Only Flame In Town” – Yet another great song from Costello.
  48. Glenn Frey, “Smuggler’s Blues” – A track that help land Frey a role on Miami Vice as, I believe, a drug smuggler. In terms of ex-Eagles I’ve always been more of a Henley guy – or if I’m being completely honest, more of a Joe Walsh guy – but I like this song.
  49. The Time, “Jungle Love” – I was already a fan of Prince’s when I saw the Purple Rain movie (friends had turned me onto 1999), but I left the theater a fan of the Time.
  50. Sade, “Smooth Operator” – Sadly, in ’84 I was far from being a smooth operator. I’m still not a smooth operator but I love this song. A beautiful woman with a beautiful voice singing a beautiful song.
  51. The Psychedelic Furs, “Heaven” – Another great alt rock song that I didn’t hear until well after ’84. There was so much great music out in the mid 80s that I could have discovered if I’d just paused my intense listening of the Faces and Zeppelin.
  52. Lindsey Buckingham, “Go Insane” – I had a roommate named Walt (name changed to protect the guilty) who loved solo Buckingham. He was ahead of his time. I remember him playing this cassette in the room. I must admit, at the time, I didn’t need to “go insane,” I already was.
  53. Billy Squier, “Rock Me Tonite” – I defy you to find anybody who lived through the 80s who didn’t like Squier.
  54. Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Police Helicopter” – I read in Scar Tissue, Anthony Kiedis’ autobiography, that the producer of their debut album labeled this song as “shit.” I’ve always loved it. But then, I used to date women from the sketchy part of town… saw too many police helicopters hovering over the neighborhood… but those records are sealed.
  55. Scandal, “The Warrior” – Scandal opened up for Elton John, the one time I saw him, in 1982. I was never a huge fan, but if Eddie Van Halen considered hiring Patty Smyth to replace Roth, she must have something.
  56. Stevie Wonder, “I Just Called To Say I Love You” – I was told this was the Motown Legend’s biggest hit and that stunned me.
  57. A Flock Of Seagulls, “The More You Live, The More You Love” – Another song I’d completely forgotten about but rediscovered during my “research.”
  58. Hanoi Rocks, “Up Around The Bend” – A Hair Metal band covers a Creedence Clearwater Revival song and scores their biggest hit only to lose their drummer, Razzle – killed by Vince Neil in a drunk driving accident – all in the same year. Is there anything more ’84 Hair Metal than that?
  59. Judas Priest, “Freewheel Burning” – Wonderful, punishing metal.
  60. Metallica, “Ride The Lightning” – The title track from my favorite Metallica album. They are one of the few bands to overcome the sophomore slump and put out an even better second album.
  61. Iron Maiden, “2 Minutes To Midnight” – I forget how melodic Iron Maiden is. This is a great track, even if I don’t have a clue what they’re singing about.
  62. The Cult, “Spiritwalker” – Another debut from a band I love. Dreamtime. And for all of you out there, he’s singing “wind walker” not “weed wacker” towards the end of the song.
  63. Kiss, “Heaven’s On Fire” – I was never a member of the Kiss Army but they always had a handful of decent tunes. Their 80s stuff was pretty paint-by-numbers Hair Metal…melodic but rocking stuff.
  64. Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, “Cherry Bomb” – Where Joan goes back to visit the first big hit from her first band, the Runaways, “Cherry Bomb.” It was originally sung by Cherie Currie but I dig Joan’s turn on lead vocal here.
  65. Depeche Mode, “People Are People” – I love Depeche. Last year’s Momento Mori had to grow on me, but it was a great record.
  66. Midnight Oil, “Minutes To Midnight” – A band my buddy Doug always liked.
  67. Ramones, “Howlin’ At The Moon (Sha-La-La) – I didn’t realize the Ramones were still alive and kicking in ’84. I thought they’d gone their separate ways by then.
  68. U2, “The Unforgettable Fire” – I could have gone with “Pride (In The Name Of Love),” the big hit from this album, but I went with the title track. I’ve always loved this slinky song and the cool video. I once won a bet with Arkansas Joel (a huge U2 fan at the time) who was insisting there was no title track from The Unforgettable Fire.
  69. The Replacements, “I Will Dare” – Hats off to any band who had the balls to name an album Let It Be.
  70. Talking Heads, “Psycho Killer – Live” – I typically skip live albums for these playlists, but I’ve come to realize that’s a mistake. Stop Making Sense is one of the greatest live albums of all time so I had to include a song. I consider this the definitive version of “Psycho Killer.”
  71. Julian Lennon, “Too Late For Goodbyes” – I think this is a first that I have song by both father and son on a playlist. I hated the video for this but I dug the song.
  72. Paul McCartney, “No More Lonely Nights” – Great song, with David Gilmour on lead guitar, from an ill-advised movie and soundtrack.
  73. Autograph, “Turn Up The Radio” – I think these guys recorded a local versions of this song for every market. In Kansas City, I recall hearing the singer at some point sing, “KY102” which was the local rock station at the time. Although my memory can sometimes be fuzzy…
  74. Deep Purple, “Perfect Strangers” – As I said recently when writing about Machine Head, it may be their masterpiece, but for those of us of a certain age, Perfect Strangers was “our” Deep Purple album. This is not only one of my favorite Deep Purple songs, it’s one of my favorite songs.
  75. Philip Bailey (with Phil Collins), “Easy Lover” – I tried to veer away from “pop” songs but this great song from Earth Wind & Fire singer Philip Bailey with Phil Collins on drums/vocals was so popular, it was hard to not hear it. I kinda dug it.
  76. Bryan Adams, “One Night Love Affair” – I’m on record as not being a huge Bryan Adams fan, but I’ve always had a soft spot for this one. The story of two people who end up in a one night stand but just might have been looking for something more substantial. Much more interesting than the usual one night stand songs.
  77. Eurythmics, “Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)” – From a soundtrack for a movie adaptation of Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. A novel that perhaps has more relevance today than ever. This song was actually banned and very hard to find for a long time. Big Brother is out there.
  78. The Honeydrippers, “Rockin’ At Midnight” – Robert Plant’s side project where he played old rock songs. “Sea Of Love” was the big hit, but I always dug this one. Jeff Beck plays guitar on this song! I think Elvis did it back in the day.
  79. Don Henley, “Boys Of Summer” – Henley’s masterpiece song, co-written with Heartbreaker Mike Campbell. The video “made southern California look like the south of France.” I always liked the lyric, “I saw a Dead Head sticker on a Cadillac, a little voice inside my head said “Don’t look back, you can never look back.” A lot to love in this song.
  80. The Kinks, “Do It Again” – The Kinks are just always kick ass. I feel like they deserve even more respect than they already get. This is just a great rock song.
  81. Triumph, “Follow Your Heart” – One of the last songs from Triumph that I remember hearing get radio airplay. Such a great Canadian power trio.

I’m not going to lie to you, my first attempt on this playlist had 120 songs. So there are a lot of songs from a lot of albums that I left “on the cutting room floor,” as the saying goes. There’s only so much typing one man can do in one sitting. If there’s an album you’re fond of from 1984 with a great song you think would be a nice addition to this playlist, drop it in the comments and I’ll add it. I like to think of these playlists as “our playlists” not “my playlists.” I will warn you, I do my homework and will have to verify the record is actually from 1984. Other than that rule, I welcome all suggestions. I do hope I bring a song back to your ears that you haven’t heard in a while and it stirs up a fond memory of those halcyon days… or better yet, you discover a song you haven’t heard before and it causes you to do a little musical spelunking and you seek out that album… You never know where you’re going to find a gem!

Enjoy this one, Cheers!

Review: ‘Steve! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces’ – An In Depth Look At The Legend’s Career & Life

~ kcorsini ~ 2 Comments

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After struggling with my streaming for a week or so I finally got a chance to watch the new documentary on the life and career of comedy legend Steve Martin entitled, STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces. At three-plus hours over two installments the documentary digs deep into Martin’s entire life, leaving no stone unturned, as the saying goes. We’re predominantly a rock n roll blog around here, but I thought we might change lanes on this one to comedy… and Steve is a legend so I feel I can get away with it.

I’ll admit up front, I am a HUGE Steve Martin fan. Even before I started listening to rock n roll I was a comedy fan. We all were. I was introduced to Martin’s comedy from watching Saturday Night Live. How else would I have discovered him? I was a preteen, it’s not like my parents let me hang around in comedy clubs on school nights. That first cast of SNL, “The Not Ready For Prime Time Players,” was legendary and even I got stay up late to watch them on the weekends and that’s where I saw Martin for the first time. The 70s really was a golden age of comedy. The comedians of that era really were the true rock stars: George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Cheech & Chong and then Steve Martin, Robin Williams and so many more. In the 70s some of the comedy albums – usually a recording from a live show – sold more copies than many rock n roll albums.

Martin’s avant garde and just plain wacky brand of comedy just hit my funny bone. I can remember seeing the grey haired man in the white suit with bunny ears on and being blown away. I’ve posted on this blog many times about my first album, Some Girls, from the Stones. That’s a true statement in terms of music… but if I’m being totally honest, my first album was actually Steve Martin’s A Wild And Crazy Guy. And my first concert – at the enormous Kemper Arena no less – was to see Steve Martin on September 30, 1978. I was still nearly 2 years away from seeing a live rock show. The couples in front of us passed a joint around and I thought my father was going to shit himself… Somehow, I’d seen an ad for Martin’s show in the newspaper and begged my parents to take me, “for my birthday present.” I can remember it like it was yesterday. I’d never felt that kind of comedic energy in a room, and this was a large room. I had memorized a lot of his bits from the album and would repeat them at school… My good friend Stormin’ once told me he did the same thing… memorized Martin’s comedy albums and regurgitated the bits at school to make “the chicks laugh.” Well played, Stormin’, well played. The show I saw ended with Martin performing “King Tut.” God it was comedy heaven.

My fandom extends to his movies. I’ve seen most of them. I read his novel, Shop Girl. I saw a performance of his play Picasso At Lapine Agile over at the UMKC theater department. I’ve read several of his books from Cruel Shoes to his comedy memoir Born Standing Up. I say all of this so you can understand the depth of my love of this man’s comedy and artistic work. I actually went into this documentary thinking there was nothing I didn’t already know about Steve Martin… I was, as usual, wrong.

I really liked the documentary. The first piece was all about his stand up career. It starts where all documentaries start, with his childhood. His father was cold and distant, it sounds like an unpleasant childhood. His father always had something shitty to say about his work. Martin seemed like an “overnight sensation” when he hit in the mid 70s but he’d actually been grinding on the comedy circuit for 10 years. He was a writer for the Smothers Brothers television show. You get to see some of his bits develop, which I found fascinating but some people might find dull. The first piece really takes off, like his standup career, towards the end. Part one ends around 1980 when Martin walked away from stand up and transitioned to the movies.

The second piece of the documentary covers not only his movie career, but really his life – who this man Steve Martin is, and who he’s become. I thought it would just be a linear progression through his movie career and then his return to stand up with comedy partner and good friend Martin Short. But it wasn’t linear at all. It was more like an hour and a half of hanging around with Martin. It felt like spending an afternoon with an old friend. He mentions many of his movies – the good ones and the not so good ones. I defy you not to tear up when he talks about John Candy. Martin says in the documentary, “As you age you end up being the worst version of yourself or the best version of yourself,” and that really hit home to me. The whole second part of the documentary was centered around Martin’s personal journey and attempts to be that best version – or at least a better version – of himself.

I thought this thing was a home run. Like his comedy it wasn’t a traditional doc. This really felt personal. I was happy to hear that Martin, now in his 70s, married and a father, is finally happy. That’s a damn good story. If you’re a fan of comedy, or of Martin this is a must see. Jerry Seinfeld and Martin sit down and talk in part 2 of the doc and can I just say, Jerry is just a funny, funny human. This thing is a celebration of a life and a celebration of comedy. And believe me, we could all use a laugh right about now. It was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon laughing and remembering all that great comedy.

Cheers!

Review: Black Keys, ‘Ohio Players’ – Slightly Flawed Albeit Fun & Fabulous Album

~ kcorsini ~ 2 Comments

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Last Friday the Black Keys released their twelfth studio album, Ohio Players. Clearly the title is a tip of the hat to 70s soul masters The Ohio Players who hailed from Dayton, Ohio. The Keys – Patrick Carney (drums/percussion) and Dan Auerbach (guitars/vocals/keys) – are originally from Akron, Ohio. But the album title clearly cuts deeper than mere geography. This is an album that sees the Keys putting some groove into the tunes. And God knows, the Ohio Players were all about groove! “Love Rollercoaster,” anyone? And if I may digress, as a former league bowler as a kid, I love the cover art.

The Black Keys have been putting out consistently great records for so long – and so often by today’s standards, roughly every 2 years – that it’s easy to miss how far they’ve come from those early, raw, garage rock/blues punk days. As I think I’ve shared in the past, I got on the Keys bandwagon on the Rubber Factory album, which was their third album – and as I’ve stated before the third album can be very critical in a band’s career. It was the early 2000’s and I was really into the White Stripes and so it was only natural I’d get into the Black Keys. Although for some reason, after a few listens, I put the album back into our enormous pile of CDs at the time and didn’t return. I wandered into the music room some time later to find the Rock Chick jamming on Rubber Factory. “These guys are kick ass!” she exclaimed… Perhaps this band merited further study…and before I knew it, we had purchased their debut album, The Big Come Up.

I really dug that blues punk, raw rocking sound of the Keys early days, especially that debut. After 2008’s Attack & Release the Rock Chick and I have been all over every album the Keys have put out, save Turn Blue, which I couldn’t connect to. With each successive album, the Keys have developed their sound. They maintain that great, guitar/drums rock base, but have expanded to include additional musicians – bass players, keyboards, back up singers. And I’ve embraced every step they’ve made. But as I listened to Ohio Players, it suddenly dawned on me how far they’ve come since “Do The Rump.” Some of that musical expansion of their sound probably comes from the heavy collaborations on this album with Beck – who was co-wrote 7 tracks and sings backing vocals on a number of songs (and co-lead on one) – and with Noel Gallagher who co-wrote three songs. This album is produced by a gentleman named Dan The Automator, who I’ll admit I haven’t heard of before.

The album is 14 tracks long, but only clocks in at 44 minutes. Many of the tracks glide by on a smooth groove and before you know it, the album is over. I think the collaboration between the Black Keys and Beck is one made in rock n roll heaven. There is a ton I like here on Ohio Players. First and foremost I love the lead single “Beautiful People (Stay High).” I reviewed it when it came out, so I won’t go into too much detail other than to say that song is nothing short of an epic party anthem! That’s a track, co-written by Beck where the collab just works.

And don’t get me wrong, there are songs that are classic Black Keys, thick, fuzzy riffing guitar and insistent drumming. “Only Love Matters,” co-written by Gallagher, is one such great track. “Please Me (Till I’m Satisfied)” is where Auerbach’s guitar really kicks in. It’s a stand out track. In fact, the latter third of the LP reads like a slightly smoother early Black Keys album. All the back end stuff is great – “Live Till I Die” may be my favorite track. “Read Em And Weep” has a noir-ish, James Bond (or maybe Dick Dale) kind of guitar thing that I really like. “Fever Tree,” another Beck co-write is trademark Keys but with a Beck feel. “Every Time You Leave,” co-written by producer Greg Kurstin (who recently produced the Liam Gallagher/John Squire album) ends the album on a bright rocking note.

However, as I said earlier, there are a lot of Beck styled groove tunes here. The album starts with “This Is Nowhere,” with a heavy bass and a smooth groove. It’s a great song, although I’m not sure it’s what I’d have led off with. It leads to “Don’t Let Me Go” which is downright soulful. Auerbach employs a nice falsetto vocal on that one along with a cascading guitar figure. “On The Game,” co-written by Gallagher, has echos of Oasis but maintains the Keys sound. I was kind of hoping we’d see some guitar pyrotechnics and dueling between Auerbach and Gallagher, but alas it didn’t happen. Noel mostly provides backing vocals.  “You’ll Pay” might be my favorite of the Gallagher collaborations. It’s got falsetto vocals and a funky groove. And who doesn’t love a good “you done me wrong but you’re gonna pay” kinda song.

The Keys pull out a cover song, written by singer William Bell and none other than Booker T. Jones (of Booker T & the MGs), “I Forgot To Be Your Lover” and it’s sensational. I’m always a sucker for a soulful ballad. Sadly, for me there are two missteps to my ears here. “Paper Crown” starts off promising and features Beck singing lead. But at the end they have Juicy J come in and rap. I’m probably showing my rock n roll bias, but I just couldn’t connect with the song. The same story goes for “Candy & Her Friends” which features Lil Noid who raps at the end of the song. Again, it just felt jarring and out of place on a Black Keys album. The Stones had some rapping way back on “Anybody Seen My Baby?” and I liked it… it worked better than this for me. At least “Paper Crown” had that Beck feel and it made more sense to me… I’d have preferred an epic guitar solo.

Again, this is another great album from the Keys. There were a couple of tracks I didn’t connect to, but overall the Keys are so consistently great that the rest of the record overcomes it. I know there are songs on this album that I’ll be coming back to for a long time. I recommend this album highly – as usual played at high volume – but you might end up skipping a couple of the tracks along the way. Overall, this album is gonna get a lot of airplay down here in the B&V labs! And remember, “all those beautiful people stay high,” so try to stay up and good out there.

Cheers!

Artists Who – Surprisingly – Never Put Out A Double-Album?

~ kcorsini ~ 6 Comments

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Despite having a hectic week this week, I found my mind wandering to, what else, rock n roll. For reasons only clear to a neurologist, which I don’t have, I started thinking about all the great double studio albums put out over the years. I’ve done a post on what I think the best old school, double albums are, years ago. I read recently that the first rock n roll double album was Bob Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde, followed only a week later by The Mother’s of Invention’s Freak Out!. Dylan and Zappa are pretty important artists which likely explains why so many other great artists followed their example and put out great double albums over the years.

Now, it’s probably important that I define the whole double album thing. I am not talking about live albums. For the most part, the great live albums over the years were double albums. I’m not counting Live And Dangerous or any other album recorded live, even if they may have been heavily overdubbed in the studio (talking to you Kiss). I’m also not counting what I call “Hybrid Albums” – part live, part studio. I’ve already posted on the best “Hybrid Albums,” again, years ago. When I’m talking about a Hybrid double album I’m thinking of, for example, U2’s Rattle And Hum or the Allman Brothers’ Eat A Peach. Those are great albums and have great studio tunes on them, but they also have quite a bit of live stuff as well. When I say double album, I’m talking about LPs like the one’s I mentioned above by Dylan and Zappa, old school, albums recorded in the studio that cover two vinyl discs. Two “Long Players” in one album sleeve if you will. And, as a bonus, those double albums usually had a gatefold album cover where my friends could clean their pot.

The CD era only confused the whole concept of the double album. Vinyl albums could contain roughly 40 to 45 minutes of music. That’s why cassette tapes were mainly 45 minutes per side, for all of you mix tape folks out there that remember… Anyway, CDs could hold up to, I believe 80 minutes of music. In the 90s when CDs became the predominant format for music, albums just got longer and longer. The 8-song album sort of faded away…which coincidentally led to artists releasing “bonus tracks” on re-releases of older, pre-CD albums. When vinyl made a comeback many of those albums put out on CD were too long for a single vinyl album so they’ve been put out as double albums. For example, I still consider Blood Sugar Sex Magik a single record even though on vinyl it’s a double album. On the other hand I did include a few albums from the CD era on my list of great double albums because they were double CDs: Stadium Arcadium or Use Your Illusions just seemed to belong on the list.

Admittedly, there is nothing more divisive than the double album. There’s an old canard amongst critics that hiding within every double album is a great single album. I will say, when it comes to the Clash’s triple album Sandanista!, they might be right. Record companies used to hate it when artists turned in a double album. They were too expensive, fans didn’t buy as many because of the high price tag etc. Fans sometime complained that some double albums contained too much “filler.” On the other hand, like pizza, when a double album is done right it can be sublime.

I always used to think that in order to be truly defined as one of the “greats” you had to have either a great live album or a great double album. I’m not as religious about that any more. However, so many of the “great” (and important) rock n roll artists have put out stunning double albums: The Beatles, Stones, Stevie Wonder, Dylan, Zappa, Marvin Gaye, just to name a few. Prince, Elton John, and The Who all released two double albums…although admittedly Elton’s Blue Moves is an acquired taste.

As my mind wandered to the subject of double albums this week, I realized there are some really great artists – yes, truly “great” ones – that didn’t put out a double album and the more I thought about it, I was frankly kind of surprised. There are some artists whose ethos probably tended to keep them from the epic double album. Iggy Pop was punk, and that genre didn’t lend itself to grandiose statements…unless you were the Clash who dubbed themselves “the only band who matters.” Aerosmith’s music was short blasts of bluesy hard rock. Again, not a double album staple, although Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti might argue against me here. I also took into account an artists’ demons when I was thinking about this. Both Zevon and Nilsson had addictions that likely prevented them from focusing long enough to get a double album together.

Eventually, after a lot of mulling, I came up with a list of artists whose lack of a double album is surprising if not perplexing. As I scan the list I realize that in many cases these are singer/songwriter types. I guess I sort of think of them as being more prolific. There are also bands on this list that had more than one writer in the band. I feel like those guys are naturals for the double album that somehow never got made. Without further adieu, here is my list:

  • David Bowie – How did Bowie not get a double LP together. Admittedly there was a period of heavy cocaine abuse, but the 70s were such a fertile period for him. I could have seen Diamond Dogs having been stretched out to a double album, but maybe he didn’t have the material? During his Berlin period he did give quite a few songs co-written with Iggy Pop to Iggy. What could have been…
  • Neil Young – Speaking of prolific. How did Neil never deliver a double LP. In the Archives II box there’s a disc entitled Dume. It’s basically what Zuma would have been had it been a double album. I have to admit, it’s sensational. It’s the disc in that box set I go back to most. Neil has released it stand alone as part of his Archives series and it’s worth a spin!
  • Stevie Nicks – In Fleetwood Mac, they had three songwriters (Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, and Christine McVie) which led Nicks to have a massive surplus of songs. I’m surprised she didn’t do a George Harrison, once freed from the confines of the band, and go double album.
  • Tom Petty – Ok, I know I’m cheating here. Wildflowers was originally intended to be a double album but the record company insisted Tom edit it down to a single album. It’s a classic either way, but I wish that great left over stuff had been released in the 90s.
  • Bob Seger – I saw Seger interviewed by like, Matt Lauer or some morning guy, and he was talking about a new album (I forget which), and Bob said, “Oh, we’ve always got way too many songs. On this record we had 80 songs to choose from.” Now, who knows if he was exaggerating but that sounds like double album territory to me. His longtime manager Punch probably veto’d it… much like re-releasing a lot of Seger’s early music.
  • Bob Marley – I think Bob recorded both Exodus and Kaya at the same time so we know he was prolific enough to put out a double album. He also had a back catalog of pre-Catch A Fire songs he could have filled out a double album with…
  • Paul McCartney – The man is a workaholic, how did he not put out a double album in the 70s? Especially the back half of the decade? Harrison put out a triple album, the fact that Paul didn’t ever have an inkling for a double album is perplexing.
  • CSNY – With four singer/songwriters these guys seem like a band who could easily have filled two discs. Of course Young only provided 2 or 3 songs to CSNY in their heyday. He was one toe in, always holding stuff back for his solo career. Maybe the other guys did a little of that too. Listening to the deluxe version of Deja Vu, that one would have been a helluva double album.
  • Queen – A band as epically flamboyant as Queen, also with four guys who contributed tunes, should have gone big for the double LP.
  • Creedence Clearwater Revival – John Fogerty wrote so many great songs for CCR. Every few months another great album came out. I’d have liked to see these guys push themselves for a double disc. Maybe the constant touring got in the way.
  • Elvis Costello – One of the greatest songwriters ever. He had such a purple patch in the late 70s/early 80s… I’m no expert on Costello, maybe he put out a late period double album, but I don’t think so. Could have been something epic.
  • Jackson Browne – He was already an established songwriter before his first album came out. Many of the songs he’d written for others like “Take It Easy,” and “These Days” he recorded himself for his second album. Maybe if he’d pushed himself he could have turned For Everyman into a double album.
  • Steely Dan – These guys were such perfectionists in the studio, maybe that prevented them from driving on to the double album. But they were so great, it seems like they could have pulled it off. Imagine if Aja was a double disc?
  • U2 – These guys have such huge egos, how did they not do a double album back in the day?
  • Rush – Speaking of epic, these guys have long songs divided up with Roman numerals. The “2112 Suite” spreads out over an entire album side. How did they not keep going for the double album?
  • Lou Reed – Lou had such an ability to tell stories, many from the seamy underbelly of life. He had such a flare for the dramatic, a double album seems like a fit for him. He did struggle with demons.
  • Pearl Jam – Hailed as “neo-classicists” rockers when they came along, it seems like a double album would have been right up their alley.
  • Billy Joel – I know Billy quit songwriting for like 30 years until his recent single “Turn The Lights Back On” came out but he used to be quite prolific. And I always thought he was a great songwriter. If Springsteen could do a double album, why not Billy?
  • Grateful Dead – This is another band with multiple guys contributing tunes. Robert Hunter was also contributing. With all that jamming, you’d think they’d have put out a double album. Maybe they did and I just don’t know it, I’m far from a Deadhead expert.
  • John Mellencamp – Mellencamp, like Seger or Petty mentioned before, is a guy who, as his music became more topical and political strikes me as someone who could have pulled off the scope of a double album.

Those are the artists who came to mind to me as great ones whose absence of a double album seems startling. If there’s an artist you think would have put out a great double album but didn’t – drop it in the comments. Maybe I’m a musical obsessive, but I considered this a fun exercise on my end, maybe you will too? I like to mull these things over with a tumbler of dark and murky fluids… maybe you will too?

Cheers!

Review: Deep Purple – ‘Machine Head – 50th Anniversary/Super Deluxe’ – Their 1972 Masterpiece

~ kcorsini ~ 4 Comments

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Happy April Fool’s Day to all of you out there pranking your unsuspecting victims today. And I do hope that for all those who celebrate, you had a happy Easter weekend. While I appreciate the use of the Pagan fertility symbols of the egg and the bunnies, I’ve never been a big Easter guy. I do like the Reese’s egg shaped peanut-butter cups, but who amongst us doesn’t? While most of you were celebrating the revered holiday with your families, I was holed up in a dark room bouncing between my April Fool’s Playlist and the newly released Machine Head – 50th Anniversary/Super Deluxe from the lads in Deep Purple.

I must admit to you, after all this time other than including Deep Purple songs on a number of my playlists, this is my first post about Deep Purple. I didn’t make a recent, conscious vow to expand the list of artists I’m writing about but fate seems to be leading me there. I’ve posted for the first time this year about Tracy Chapman, The Cars, Adam Ant and Alice Cooper. Much like I said on my recent post on Alice Cooper’s Billion Dollar Babies, I think I was too young for Deep Purple. I started listening to rock n roll in earnest in say, ’78-’79, and Deep Purple’s real heyday was probably 1970 to 1973. Make no mistake, I’ve always liked Deep Purple, they were once whispered about in the same revered tones as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Together with those two bands Deep Purple were known as the “unholy trinity of British hard rock and heavy metal.” Well, at least that’s what Wikipedia says. But like my mother, you can’t always trust what Wikipedia says. I will say, their 1972 live album, Made In Japan, should have made my List of Essential Live Albums. It’s a double-live album with only 7 songs… a feat the Allman Brothers would be proud of.

Deep Purple went through a lot of line-up changes over the years and they are such an epic band that each era is described as “Mark I,” or “Mark II,” etc, with Roman numerals no less. I’ll use it in a sentence, “The Deep Purple album Machine Head was released in 1972 by the Mark II line-up that included Ian Gillan (vocals), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Jon Lord (organ/keyboards), Ian Paice (drums) and Roger Glover (bass).” I think the Mark II line up, that I just slipped into this paragraph, is the most storied of their line ups. After Gillan split, they recruited David Coverdale as lead singer, later of Whitesnake fame, so this was no slouch of a band.

All of that said, by the time I got into rock n roll – and started collecting music – when I was in junior high, Deep Purple wasn’t talked about as much as other bands. Sure they had great songs that were played on the radio, many of them from Machine Head, like “Smoke On The Water,” or “Highway Star.” Maybe it was because of the line up changes we weren’t as into them as we were Zeppelin or Sabbath. Of course Zeppelin and Sabbath still put out an album or two in the late 70s. Blackmore had split Deep Purple and formed Rainbow, so maybe that was what overshadowed them a bit. For some odd reason it took years for me to dig back through their back catalog and get into this band. That’s on me because peak Deep Purple is simply outstanding.

Frankly, for guys my age, the album that brought us into the Deep Purple fold was 1984’s Perfect Strangers. I absolutely loved the title track on that album and naturally we all liked “Knocking On Your Back Door” as well. It may not have been a great album or “up to par” with their classic early 70s work, but it was a damn strong hard rock album. It was from that album that I went back and started exploring Deep Purple’s back catalog. There was one album that stood out to me the most and probably has stood the test of time and that is the previously mentioned Machine Head from 1972 that is being celebrated with this new 50th Anniversary or Super Deluxe Edition. I’ve seen it described as both so I’m using both in my title. Of course 2022 would have been the actual 50th anniversary, but Covid slowed down a lot of production on box sets.

In this new release, there are two different remastered versions of the album, both done by Dweezil Zappa – for those of you who were wondering whatever happened to him. I already own Machine Head, so in the interest of full disclosure, I’ve just been streaming the album. The remasters sound great, especially in my car, but that’s no audiophile testament to the new sound. I just love this album. It has some of their biggest songs. “Highway Star” is an absolutely kick ass road song. “Smoke On The Water,” a true story about an idiot with a flare gun who burned down a casino Montreux at a Frank Zappa show. Deep Purple were supposed to record Machine Head there and then… “smoke on the water.” The iconic riff to “Smoke On The Water” has been described as “the Beethoven’s Fifth of rock n roll.” “Space Truckin'” is the song that concludes this album and I love that song. It was on my Playlist For The Love Of… Cars. I will admit, the almost 20 minute live version on Made In Japan might be definitive. When you pair Machine Head with Made In Japan which was culled from that tour, 1972 is an incredible year for this band.

Beyond the big hits that every rock fan knows, there are some great album tracks on Machine Head. I love the metal funk of “Maybe I’m A Leo.” It’s one of my all time favorites. “Lazy” is a song both my father and my wife could agree on as my theme song. It’s a long jam of a song. The interplay between Jon Lord’s keyboards and Ritchie Blackmore (truly one of the world’s greatest guitar players) turns this album up to 11. “Never Before” was released as a single, but I never heard it until I bought the album. It’s another great hard rock song. I can’t say enough about Ian Paice’s drumming on this album and this track in particular. Ian Gillan’s banshee wail is ever present, everywhere. “Pictures Of Home” is a song that just blasts out at you. This version includes a great B-Side, almost a ballad, a bluesy thing called “When A Blind Man Cries” that should have made my list of favorite B-sides.

The bonus material in this Super Deluxe Edition, consists of two separate concerts. The first is newly remastered In Concert ’72 taken from a BBC broadcast. I know it was previously released. It’s difficult to describe Deep Purple live. They jam on tunes for 10 or 20 minutes and it never gets mellow or totally bluesy ala Zeppelin. Jon Lord’s organ sounds like suppressing gun fire meant to subjugate a village. I hear him playing and I feel like I’ve just entered a carnival that’s being run by Satan – and I mean that in a good way. Gillan can go from singing to wailing in a sentence. The guy gives his all. And as I said, Ritchie Blackmore is a stupendous guitar player. I always kind of checked the box on Blackmore, “Yeah, yeah, he’s good.” Listen to this live stuff and you realize, oh my, he’s fabulous. I don’t think Ian Paice ever gets his due as a drummer. While I really enjoyed the In Concert ’72 disc, if you’ve got Made In Japan, this is just a nice to have, not essential. They do cover “Lucille” at the end which is interesting.

The second concert disc is a performance from Montreux in 1971, obviously before the idiot with the flare gun at the Frank Zappa show burned the place down. I would tell you, this is a great performance but the sound quality is very bootleg-level. Having heard a lot of bootlegs over the years I didn’t find it as off putting as many will, but its rough. I love that they open with “Speed King.” “Child In Time” is over 20 minutes here… If only the sound quality was a little better. Some of the jamming here is of the “melt your face off” variety. Again, this disc is likely just for the true Deep Purple fanatic.

With it’s expensive price tag – especially for vinyl – I can’t advise everyone to run out and buy this package. But every one should own Machine Head in some form or format. It’s an absolute hard rock masterpiece. I would advise everybody to crank the In Concert In ’72 disc, it’s well worth your time. And if you’re a Deep Purple fanatic, the Montreux ’71 disc is for you… although I’m guessing if you’re a Deep Purple fanatic, you already own this in bootleg form already. And as an aside, check out Made In Japan from the ’72 tour for Machine Head, its a stunner.

Classic rock, done loud and extraordinarily well. There’s nothing not to love about Machine Head.

Turn this one up loud as you shake that Easter family visit out of your system…. Cheers!

Playlist: In Honor Of April Fool’s Day, Our Favorite Songs About…. Fools

~ kcorsini ~ 7 Comments

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“No sooner had I hit the streets when I met the fools that a young fool meets” – Jackson Browne, “Daddy’s Tune”

I realize April Fool’s Day, despite being “celebrated” almost everywhere, is not a real holiday. Much like Valentine’s Day, which I’ve always described as a “Hallmark Holiday,” invented by greeting card companies to boost sales, April Fool’s is an odd, made-up holiday. That made-up nature won’t stop people from perpetrating hoaxes and pranks on people around the world and then yelling, “April Fools” or “April 1st” or whatever your culture yells when they catch someone falling for the annual ruse. I don’t know who invented April Fool’s or when it started, but I read somewhere (probably Wikipedia) that it dates back to Geoffrey Chaucer’s time and the Cantebury Tales. That’s probably apocryphal.

Regardless, when I was in high school and maybe even college, I used to call my dad at work and tell him some outrageous lie every April Fool’s Day. I’d tell him I was suspended from school or worse, expelled. Or I might tell him I was arrested for some nefarious offense against the community. I also remember that I stopped doing that – because it infuriated him, he was a busy guy – and he was just too quick to believe I had fucked up and done something stupid. He’d overreact and I’d meekly say, “Uh, dad, April Fools…” I think it left us both feeling kind of awkward. Pretty soon he caught on and just said, “Yeah, right,” and promptly hung up on me which was actually comforting after those first few years.

I guess I’d rather be a fool than an idiot. An idiot, according to Webster, is “a person of low intelligence.” A fool, on the other hand, again according to Webster, is “a person who acts unwisely or imprudently; a silly person.” As a verb it means “to trick or deceive a person.” It sounds like being an idiot is a permanent malady while merely being a fool is a temporary condition typically based on being deceived or tricked, ala April Fool’s Day. I’d rather be silly than stupid. In Dostoevsky’s novel The Idiot, the title character (i.e. the Idiot) is merely a man with a clean heart and a kindly nature who is driven back into an asylum by the perfidious and evil nature of his fellow man.

While April Fool’s is a bit of a silly holiday, for some reason the idea of a playlist got stuck in my head. It was last year actually, but it wasn’t until the holiday passed that the idea of songs about “fools” popped into my head. The playlist has been hanging around the outer limits of my consciousness for about a year so I figured it was about time to just publish this thing and cleanse my mind. There are so many songs about fools…

As I’ve learned from listening to these songs, there is a lot in the universe we can be fooled by. Perhaps its politics (“American Idiot” or “Won’t Get Fooled Again”), maybe you’re a fool for urban living (“Fool For The City”), or maybe you’re a fool when it comes to directions (“Fool In The Rain”). By far most of the songs about being a fool are related to yes, love. When else are we such fools as people than when we’re in love… especially in the beginning. Our vulnerability leaves us open to deception. I once went to SantaCaliGon Days, an arts and crafts fair, because a woman asked me too… and as you can probably tell, we’re not artsy-craftsy here at B&V (it was an awful day). I once attended a woman’s family reunion and I don’t attend my own family’s reunions. I was single for a long time so my situation is probably more of a “fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me” kind of thing. Of course it’s probably no coincidence that April Fools is so close to Valentine’s Day…Spring has sprung and people’s fancy turns to a new love…but I digress.  But luckily for me, being fooled is a temporary condition. A few shots of bourbon and the feeling goes away. In my opinion, the worst thing you can do is fool yourself… self-deception is almost always dangerous.

Without further adieu, here is our playlist for April Fool’s Day, Songs about Fools. As usual you can find us on the dreaded Spotify. You can play it straight through or on shuffle, it’s dealer’s choice. If there’s a song you don’t like, skip it. If there’s a “fools” song we missed, let us know in the comments and we may add it to the list. While as usual we’re all over the place stylistically, our goal is to just introduce you to a song you may not have heard or at the very least put a song you haven’t heard in a while back in your ear. Pour a tumbler of the good stuff and turn it up loud…

  1. Aretha Franklin, “Chain Of Fools” – I had to start with the Queen of Soul. I wonder how many women from my past count me amongst the “ch-ch-chain, chain of fools” they’ve dated… sigh.
  2. Foghat, “Fool For The City” – A friend of mine is moving to some small town in Wyoming or Idaho, I forget which. He told me I should do the same… I said, “Uh, man, I love the smell of smog in the morning… it smells like victory.” I can remember standing on the curb in “downtown” Ft. Smith, Arkansas early one morning watching all the traffic pour in from Sallisaw and eastern Oklahoma while my co workers laughed about me missing the city.
  3. Black Crowes, “Only A Fool” – “Only a fool would let you go, only a fool and I should know.” Oh, how I could relate to those lyrics in the old days. I love the new LP, Happiness Bastards.
  4. Green Day, “American Idiot” – Still hard to believe how relevant this song is today. Green Day’s latest, Saviors, is a real return to form, by the way.
  5. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, “Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It)” – Well, who would like to be fooled… again. But then again, like I said earlier, “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”
  6. Led Zeppelin, “Fool In The Rain” – From an LP maybe only I like, In Through The Out Door. A song in which our hero fears his love has forsaken him, in the rain no less, only to find he’s waiting for her on the wrong block. One of the few songs in the Zeppelin catalog that shows a sense of humor.
  7. Steve Perry, “Foolish Heart” – From the erstwhile lead singer of Journey’s first solo LP. Laugh at this song’s inclusion, but everyone I knew liked this album.
  8. The Beatles, “The Fool On The Hill” – From their psychedelic period. “They can see that he’s just a fool…”
  9. Def Leppard, “Foolin'” – Def Leppard is a band I always dug and they should be on more of my playlists. Always dug this one.
  10. The Who, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” – Fascism rose in the 1930’s out of the crippling world wide Great Depression. Let’s hope Western Civilization doesn’t get fooled again in November.
  11. John Mellencamp, “American Fool” – “Some people say I’m obnoxious and lazy…” Perhaps…
  12. ZZ Top, “A Fool For Your Stockings” – Well, if you’ve gotta be a fool…
  13. Muddy Waters, “Still A Fool” – Muddy bringing it home. I hope I’m not still a fool but I’d wager the Rock Chick would side against me on that.
  14. Bob Dylan, “Idiot Wind” – Dylan’s most gripping, painful song. The disintegration of a relationship or a marriage is a brutal thing in this cold world. “We’re idiots babe, it’s a wonder we can even feed ourselves.”
  15. Grateful Dead, “Foolish Heart” – Great deep track from the Dead.
  16. Ray Charles, “A Fool For You” – The music of Ray Charles should be required learning in every high school in the world.
  17. Robert Plant, “Ship Of Fools” – The first of a number of songs about sailing ships full of fools. A fleet of fools perhaps? Always loved this track from Plant.
  18. The Rolling Stones, “Fool To Cry” – An all time favorite Stones’ tune of mine. Years ago, before the Rock Chick, I dated a woman, “and she live in the poor part of town…” And come to think of it, she did say, “Tell me all your troubles…”
  19. Dave Matthews Band, “Fool To Think” – From the DMB’s glory days.
  20. Doobie Brothers, “What A Fool Believes” – Co-written by Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins. You couldn’t escape this track when I was in junior high. It may be yacht rock, but it’s good yacht rock.
  21. Southside Johnny And the Asbury Jukes, “I Played The Fool” – How many times, when we’re being a fool, do we consciously know we are being a fool? That sentence reads like Marcus Aurelius, with my apologies.
  22. Bob Seger, “Ship Of Fools” – This boat Seger is on may be the worst one in the fleet. Great tune though.
  23. Whitesnake, “Fool For Your Lovin'” – Whitesnake making a rare appearance on B&V! There comes a time when you can’t be a fool anymore. It’s a liberating realization. Bring on Tawny Kitaen.
  24. Frank Zappa, “Dancin’ Fool” – Also included on our Playlist Songs About Dancing For Wallflowers, I’ve known some fools for the dance… When it comes to dancing for me though, “the beat goes on and I’m totally wrong.”
  25. Rod Stewart, “Foolish Behavior” – Having watched the ID Channel with the Rock Chick enough, lyrics like “Why I wanna kill my wife? I have this urge to take her life,” this really is foolish behavior. Might I suggest counseling.
  26. Elvis Costello & The Attractions, “You Little Fool” – Great tune from one of the world’s greatest songwriters. Just who is the fool in this song?
  27. Joe Jackson, “Fools In Love” – I should have included this in my original Playlist: Rockers Doing Reggae. “Fools in love, are there any other kind of lovers?” So true, Joe, so true.
  28. Randy Newman, “You Can’t Fool The Fat Man” – I know two things listening to this song. Life is hard and you really can’t fool the Fat Man.
  29. The Rolling Stones, “Just Your Fool” – Fabulous tune from the Stones’ blues covers record Blue And Lonesome.
  30. Foreigner, “Fool For You Anyway” – This just sounds like an awful situation. I should know, I went through it once upon a time. “Oh to be young and feel loves keen sting.”
  31. Rival Sons, “Play The Fool” – Better to play the fool than to actually be the fool.
  32. Steely Dan, “Only A Fool Would Say That” – Steely Dan sounding almost calypso under the usual cryptic lyrics.
  33. Elvis Presley, “(Now And Then There’s) A Fool Such As I” – Even a King can be a Fool. Love is tough, baby.
  34. Jack Johnson, “Fortunate Fool” – Isn’t this an oxymoron?
  35. Ronnie Wood, “If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody” – From Wood’s first solo album… with Rod Stewart on harmony vocal this sounds more like a Faces outtake than a Ronnie solo song. Oh, what could have been if the Faces could have held it together. Bonnie Raitt covered this song very ably on an early LP, but I went with the original.
  36. Alice Cooper, “Hey Stoopid” – Ok, its not nice to call somebody stupid… but this song has Slash on guitar and Ozzy on backing vocals. How could I resist?
  37. Rod Stewart, “Fool For You” – From Rod’s Tom Dowd-produced, more soulful period. It’s a lovely ballad. If I was dating Britt Ekland back then I’d probably a little googly eyed too but then I was in junior high.
  38. Eagles, “Certain Kind Of Fool” – The late Randy Meisner wrote this song (with Henley and Frey) and takes the lead vocal.
  39. Steely Dan, “Dirty Work” – Another track from their superb debut album, Can’t Buy A Thrill. “I’m a fool to do your dirty work…” Indeed you are.
  40. Prince, “There’s Something I Like About Being Your Fool” – Sure, it’s fun for a while… A superb outtake from Sign O The Times.
  41. Gene Clark, “Life’s Greatest Fool” – From the forgotten gem, No Other. Former Byrd Gene Clark couldn’t get a break commercially but man, did he write some great tunes. He was able to effortlessly accomplish the rock/country hybrid that Gram Parsons tried so desperately to create.
  42. Styx, “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)” – The worst person to lie to is yourself. I used to tell an ex of mine, “You can lie to yourself babe, but don’t lie to me.” Styx were from Chicago, but I would have sworn they were from London when I was in high school.
  43. Van Halen, “Fools” – Heavy riff here. “Fools, who makes the rules?” For a guy in his 20s singer David Lee Roth sure could write from the perspective of a high school kid. I love the bluesy intro… god we miss Eddie Van Halen.
  44. Cinderella, “Nobody’s Fool” – These guys are one of my favorite hair metal bands. The Rock Chick turned me back onto them when we met, but I’d always liked them. They had just a touch of blues in their sound, which obviously, I’m a sucker for.
  45. Social Distortion, “King Of Fools” – I told an old boss one time that I was surrounded by morons on my new team. He said, “Yes you are. Just don’t become their king.” Wisdom or snark?
  46. Triumph, “Fool For Your Love” – From the fabulous album, Allied Forces. I needed some more riffs on this list.
  47. Bonnie Raitt, “Fool’s Game” – For some reason this track has always sounded like New Orleans to me. It might be the piano.
  48. Little Feat, “Fool Yourself” – Little Feat had such a distinctive sound back in the day. I just love the vibe they put out.
  49. Eddie Money, “Maybe I’m A Fool” – From Money’s sophomore album – the difficult sophomore album – Life For The Taking. Money was exhausted from constant touring, so it’s hard to blame him for this foray into disco. Many rock bands had disco tracks…
  50. Pretenders, “You Can’t Hurt A Fool” – Um, I’m proof you can… From the great Hate For Sale.
  51. Jackson Browne, “The Pretender” – “I’m gonna be a happy idiot and struggle for the legal tender.” Perhaps slightly out of the purview of this list, but I felt it fit…
  52. Grateful Dead, “Ship Of Fools” – At least if you were stuck on this boat, you’d have the Dead to hang out and party with. From the album From The Mars Hotel.
  53. The Doors, “Ship Of Fools” – Coincidentally, like the last tune this one’s from an album named after a hotel, in this case, Morrison Hotel. Probably on the same street.
  54. Doobie Brothers, “How Do Those Fools Survive” – Another song about fools from Minute By Minute.
  55. Rockpile, “Fool Too Long” – Any amount of time spent as a fool is too long.
  56. Elvis Presley, “Can’t Help Falling In Love” – I love to sing this song in the shower… “Wise men say, only fools rush in, Oh but I, I can’t help falling in love with you.” Damn, the King was on fire on this song.
  57. Aretha Franklin, “Running Out Of Fools” – A younger Aretha finds herself on the opposite end of the fool equation on this one… What a voice!
  58. James Taylor, “I Was A Fool To Care” – I love J.T.’s early stuff. While you may be a fool for caring, it is a sign you’re human.
  59. Pete Townshend, Ronnie Lane, “April Fool” – Sometimes I put songs on these lists only for me. Ex-Faces member Ronnie Lane with the Who’s Pete Townshend on a beautiful song that for me commemorates April Fool’s Day.

That’s our list. Did I miss any good ones? Let me know in the comments section. Whatever you’re doing or wherever you are, I hope nobody’s foolin’ you? And if you are under some delusion, hopefully now that spring has sprung, your mind will clear and you’ll come out of it. As Cher’s character in the movie Moonstruck exclaimed, “Snap out of it…” If you’re the victim of an April Fool’s joke, take it in good stride. Some day we’ll look back on this and laugh…

Cheers to all my fellow fools out there…