Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 1904 (starts 1/21/19)

This week we have another free-flowing show covering a range of styles from a range of years spanning an entire decade. Read on...

Artist:    Rolling Stones
Title:    Jigsaw Puzzle
Source:    CD: Beggar's Banquet
Writer(s):    Jagger/Richards
Label:    Abkco (original label: London)
Year:    1968
    Jigsaw Puzzle, the longest track on the Beggar's Banquet album, comes across as a wry look at the inner workings of a rock and roll band like, say, the Rolling Stones. Founder Brian Jones's only contribution to the recording is some soaring mellotron work toward the end of the song. Not long after the track was recorded, Jones was fired from the band that he himself had founded.

Artist:    Savoy Brown
Title:    All I Can Do
Source:    LP: Street Corner Talking
Writer(s):    Davis/Fuqua/Gordy
Label:    Parrot
Year:    1971
    Following the departure of three of the four members of Savoy Brown to form Foghat, remaining member (and founder) Kim Simmonds recruited members of a band called Chicken Shack, which had fallen apart following the departure of vocalist Christine Perfect, who had left that band to become a member of Fleetwood Mac (becoming Christine McVie around the same time). The first album by the new Savoy Brown lineup was Street Corner Talking, which featured a mixture of Simmonds originals and cover songs from various sources. One of the most notable of the latter group was All I Can Do, which came from the Motown stable of writers.

Artist:    Beach Boys
Title:    You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone
Source:    CD: Good Vibrations-Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys (originally released on LP: Carl And The Passions-"So Tough")
Writer(s):    Wilson/Rieley
Label:    Capitol (original label: Brother)
Year:    1972
    1972 saw the Beach Boys going through a period of instability. Brian Wilson had all but relinquished artistic control of the band to his brother Carl while pursuing other interests. Longtime member Bruce Johnston had just quit the band, and Carl had decided to spice up the band's sound with the addition of guitarist Blondie Chaplin. Adding to the band's problems was the fact that drummer Dennis Wilson was temporarily out of commission due to a hand injury, necessitating the addition of Rikki Fataar (who had been Champlin's bandmate in South Africa) as well. The opening track on the album Carl And The Passions-"So Tough" encapsulizes all these elements in one song. Co-written by Brian Wilson, You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone is the only song on the album to be produced by the band's original leader. Vocals on the song, however, are by Carl Wilson, with Fataar on drums and guest musician Douglas Dillard on banjo. In an effort to help sales, Carl And The Passions-"So Tough" was packaged as a double LP, with a reissued Pet Sounds as the second disc. It still was not a major seller and is generally overlooked by Beach Boys afficianados.

Artist:    Grateful Dead
Title:    New Speedway Boogie
Source:    LP: Workingman's Dead
Writer(s):    Hunter/Garcia
Label:    Warner Brothers
Year:    1970
    The first three Grateful Dead albums were all attempts to capture the energy and experimentation of the band's live sets. Finally, in 1969, the band decided just to release a double LP of live performances. Once this goal had been reached the band began to move into new territory, concentrating more on songwriting and studio techniques. The result was Workingman's Dead, the first Grateful Dead LP to include songs that would become staples of the emerging album rock radio format.

Artist:    Lou Reed
Title:    How Do You Think It Feels
Source:    CD: Rock N Roll Animal (bonus track)
Writer(s):    Lou Reed
Label:    RCA/BMG
Year:    Recorded 1973, released 2000. Recorded live in 1973, How Do You Think It Feels is one of two tracks that was performed as part of the concert that was released on the albums Rock N Roll Animal and Lou Reed Live but not included on either original LP. The song is now available as a bonus track on Rock N Roll Animal.

Artist:    Renaissance
Title:    Song Of Scheherazade-part one
Source:    LP: Scheherazade And Other Stories
Writer(s):    Hout/Camp/Dunford/Thatcher
Label:    Sire
Year:    1975
    Probably the most musically ambitious piece in the entire Renaissance catalog, Song Of Scheheraze takes up the entire second side of the 1975 LP Scheherazade And Other Stories. The nearly 25-minute long suite is made up of several sections, with a break about halfway through. This the first half of that suite. The album itself, the band's 6th studio LP, was the first to not include any compositions from the group's founding members, drummer Jim McCarty having severed ties with the band following the release of Turn Of The Cards.

Artist:    Pavlov's Dog
Title:    Julia
Source:    European import CD: Pure...Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: Pampered Menial)
Writer(s):    Davic Surkamp
Label:    Sony Music (original label: ABC)
Year:    1975
    During my first couple of years living in Albuquerque, NM, I met quite an assortment of strange and unusual people. Among them were a guy who would eventually come to be known as Carlos the Ragman and his roommate, Clint. Clint was, as near as I can tell, possessed of a genius IQ, enhanced by far too many acid trips. He seemed to be in possession of some sort of telepathic powers as well, as was made apparent on more than one occasion. In addition to (or maybe because of) all these things, Clint had somewhat unusual tastes in music. I remember him showing up one evening with an album he had just bought called Pampered Menial, by a band from St. Louis, Mo. called Pavlov's Dog. The opening track, Julia, was truly like nothing I had ever heard before, probably due to the unique vocals of David Surkamp, the writer of Julia. In addition to Surkamp, the band included Steve Scorfina, Mike Safron, Rick Stockton, David Hamilton, Doug Rayburn and Siegfried Carver.

Artist:    Jethro Tull
Title:    Hunting Girl
Source:    LP: Songs From The Wood
Writer(s):    Ian Anderson
Label:    Chrysalis
Year:    1977
    I have to admit that, by 1977, I had pretty much lost interest in Jethro Tull as a band. My interest was temporarily revived, however, when I heard a new song called Ring Out Solstice Bells around Christmas of 1976 on KRST, Albuquerque's local progressive rock station at the time. The following spring the song was included on the album Songs From The Wood. Since the original EP containing Ring Out Solstice Bells was only available on a hard-to-find British import, I went out and bought a copy of Songs From The Wood. To be honest, I never played it much, which explains in part why this copy of Hunting Girl, one of the better tracks on the album, is in pretty good shape.
   
Artist:    Led Zeppelin
Title:    Whole Lotta Love
Source:    CD: Led Zeppelin II
Writer(s):    Page/Plant/Bonham/Jones/Dixon
Label:    Atlantic
Year:    1969
    If any one song can be considered the bridge between psychedelic rock and heavy metal, it would have to be Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love. Released in 1969 as the lead track to their second LP, the song became their biggest hit single. Whole Lotta Love was originally credited to the four band members. In recent years, however, co-credit has been given to Willie Dixon, whose lyrics to the 50s song You Need Love are almost identical to Robert Plant's.


This week we have another free-flowing show covering a range of styles from a range of years spanning an entire decade. Read on...

Artist:    Rolling Stones
Title:    Jigsaw Puzzle
Source:    CD: Beggar's Banquet
Writer(s):    Jagger/Richards
Label:    Abkco (original label: London)
Year:    1968
    Jigsaw Puzzle, the longest track on the Beggar's Banquet album, comes across as a wry look at the inner workings of a rock and roll band like, say, the Rolling Stones. Founder Brian Jones's only contribution to the recording is some soaring mellotron work toward the end of the song. Not long after the track was recorded, Jones was fired from the band that he himself had founded.

Artist:    Savoy Brown
Title:    All I Can Do
Source:    LP: Street Corner Talking
Writer(s):    Davis/Fuqua/Gordy
Label:    Parrot
Year:    1971
    Following the departure of three of the four members of Savoy Brown to form Foghat, remaining member (and founder) Kim Simmonds recruited members of a band called Chicken Shack, which had fallen apart following the departure of vocalist Christine Perfect, who had left that band to become a member of Fleetwood Mac (becoming Christine McVie around the same time). The first album by the new Savoy Brown lineup was Street Corner Talking, which featured a mixture of Simmonds originals and cover songs from various sources. One of the most notable of the latter group was All I Can Do, which came from the Motown stable of writers.

Artist:    Beach Boys
Title:    You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone
Source:    CD: Good Vibrations-Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys (originally released on LP: Carl And The Passions-"So Tough")
Writer(s):    Wilson/Rieley
Label:    Capitol (original label: Brother)
Year:    1972
    1972 saw the Beach Boys going through a period of instability. Brian Wilson had all but relinquished artistic control of the band to his brother Carl while pursuing other interests. Longtime member Bruce Johnston had just quit the band, and Carl had decided to spice up the band's sound with the addition of guitarist Blondie Chaplin. Adding to the band's problems was the fact that drummer Dennis Wilson was temporarily out of commission due to a hand injury, necessitating the addition of Rikki Fataar (who had been Champlin's bandmate in South Africa) as well. The opening track on the album Carl And The Passions-"So Tough" encapsulizes all these elements in one song. Co-written by Brian Wilson, You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone is the only song on the album to be produced by the band's original leader. Vocals on the song, however, are by Carl Wilson, with Fataar on drums and guest musician Douglas Dillard on banjo. In an effort to help sales, Carl And The Passions-"So Tough" was packaged as a double LP, with a reissued Pet Sounds as the second disc. It still was not a major seller and is generally overlooked by Beach Boys afficianados.

Artist:    Grateful Dead
Title:    New Speedway Boogie
Source:    LP: Workingman's Dead
Writer(s):    Hunter/Garcia
Label:    Warner Brothers
Year:    1970
    The first three Grateful Dead albums were all attempts to capture the energy and experimentation of the band's live sets. Finally, in 1969, the band decided just to release a double LP of live performances. Once this goal had been reached the band began to move into new territory, concentrating more on songwriting and studio techniques. The result was Workingman's Dead, the first Grateful Dead LP to include songs that would become staples of the emerging album rock radio format.

Artist:    Lou Reed
Title:    How Do You Think It Feels
Source:    CD: Rock N Roll Animal (bonus track)
Writer(s):    Lou Reed
Label:    RCA/BMG
Year:    Recorded 1973, released 2000. Recorded live in 1973, How Do You Think It Feels is one of two tracks that was performed as part of the concert that was released on the albums Rock N Roll Animal and Lou Reed Live but not included on either original LP. The song is now available as a bonus track on Rock N Roll Animal.

Artist:    Renaissance
Title:    Song Of Scheherazade-part one
Source:    LP: Scheherazade And Other Stories
Writer(s):    Hout/Camp/Dunford/Thatcher
Label:    Sire
Year:    1975
    Probably the most musically ambitious piece in the entire Renaissance catalog, Song Of Scheheraze takes up the entire second side of the 1975 LP Scheherazade And Other Stories. The nearly 25-minute long suite is made up of several sections, with a break about halfway through. This the first half of that suite. The album itself, the band's 6th studio LP, was the first to not include any compositions from the group's founding members, drummer Jim McCarty having severed ties with the band following the release of Turn Of The Cards.

Artist:    Pavlov's Dog
Title:    Julia
Source:    European import CD: Pure...Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: Pampered Menial)
Writer(s):    Davic Surkamp
Label:    Sony Music (original label: ABC)
Year:    1975
    During my first couple of years living in Albuquerque, NM, I met quite an assortment of strange and unusual people. Among them were a guy who would eventually come to be known as Carlos the Ragman and his roommate, Clint. Clint was, as near as I can tell, possessed of a genius IQ, enhanced by far too many acid trips. He seemed to be in possession of some sort of telepathic powers as well, as was made apparent on more than one occasion. In addition to (or maybe because of) all these things, Clint had somewhat unusual tastes in music. I remember him showing up one evening with an album he had just bought called Pampered Menial, by a band from St. Louis, Mo. called Pavlov's Dog. The opening track, Julia, was truly like nothing I had ever heard before, probably due to the unique vocals of David Surkamp, the writer of Julia. In addition to Surkamp, the band included Steve Scorfina, Mike Safron, Rick Stockton, David Hamilton, Doug Rayburn and Siegfried Carver.

Artist:    Jethro Tull
Title:    Hunting Girl
Source:    LP: Songs From The Wood
Writer(s):    Ian Anderson
Label:    Chrysalis
Year:    1977
    I have to admit that, by 1977, I had pretty much lost interest in Jethro Tull as a band. My interest was temporarily revived, however, when I heard a new song called Ring Out Solstice Bells around Christmas of 1976 on KRST, Albuquerque's local progressive rock station at the time. The following spring the song was included on the album Songs From The Wood. Since the original EP containing Ring Out Solstice Bells was only available on a hard-to-find British import, I went out and bought a copy of Songs From The Wood. To be honest, I never played it much, which explains in part why this copy of Hunting Girl, one of the better tracks on the album, is in pretty good shape.
   
Artist:    Led Zeppelin
Title:    Whole Lotta Love
Source:    CD: Led Zeppelin II
Writer(s):    Page/Plant/Bonham/Jones/Dixon
Label:    Atlantic
Year:    1969
    If any one song can be considered the bridge between psychedelic rock and heavy metal, it would have to be Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love. Released in 1969 as the lead track to their second LP, the song became their biggest hit single. Whole Lotta Love was originally credited to the four band members. In recent years, however, co-credit has been given to Willie Dixon, whose lyrics to the 50s song You Need Love are almost identical to Robert Plant's.