Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 1929 (starts 7/15/19)

    This week's show is definitely a musical journey, going from 1968 to 1975 one year at a time. But first, a word from the late Dr. John...

Artist:    Dr. John
Title:    Right Place Wrong Time
Source:    Stereo 45 RPM single
Writer(s):    Mac Rebenack
Label:    Atco
Year:    1973
    Mac Rebenack was a fixture on the New Orleans music scene for over 50 years. He first started performing publicly in his teens, lying about his age to able to play in some of the city's more infamous clubs. At age 13 he was expelled from Jesuit school and soon found work as a staff songwriter and guitarist for the legendary Aladdin label. In 1957, at age 16, he joined the musicians' union, officially beginning his professional career. In the early 1960s he got into trouble with the law and spent two years in federal prison. Upon his release he relocated to Los Angeles, due to an ongoing cleanup campaign in New Orleans that had resulted in most of the clubs he had previously played in being permanently shut down. While in L.A., Rebenack developed his Dr. John, the Night Tripper personna, based on a real-life New Orleans voodoo priest with psychedelic elements thrown in (it was 1968 after all). By the early 1970s Dr. John had developed a cult following, but was getting tired of the self-imposed limitations of his Night Tripper image. In 1972 he recorded an album of New Orleans cover songs, following it up with his most successful album, In The Right Place, in 1973. Produced by the legendary Allen Toussaint, In The Right Place provided Dr. John his most successful hit single, Right Place Wrong Time, which went into the top 10 in both the US and Canada and has remained one of the most recognizable tunes of the early 70s thanks to its use in various films over the years. Around this time he returned to New Orleans, but continued to record at some of the top studios in the country, both as a solo artist and as a session player, appearing on literally thousands of recordings over the years. Dr. John continued to perform until shortly before his death on June 6, 2019.

Artist:    Rolling Stones
Title:    Memo From Turner
Source:    LP: Metamorphosis
Writer(s):    Jagger/Richards
Label:    Abkco
Year:    Recorded 1968, released 1975
    There are two distinct versions of the song Memo From Turner. The more famous recording was released in 1970 as a Mick Jagger solo single, and features Ry Cooder on slide guitar. The other version was recorded in 1968, with Al Kooper playing guitar on the track. This version was held back for several years, finally surfacing on an album called Metamorphosis in 1975. The album itself was a collection of outtakes and alternate versions of songs released on Allen Klein's Abkco label, Klein having acquired rights to the Stones' London era recordings.

Artist:     King Crimson
Title:     21st Century Schizoid Man
Source:     CD: In The Court Of The Crimson King
Writer:     Fripp/McDonald/Lake/Giles/Sinfield
Label:     Discipline Global Mobile (original US label: Atlantic)
Year:     1969
     There are several bands with a legitimate claim to starting the art-rock movement of the mid-70s. The one most other musicians cite as the one that started it all, however, is King Crimson. Led by Robert Fripp, the band went through several personnel changes over the years. Many of the members went on to greater commercial success as members of other bands, including guitarist/keyboardist Ian McDonald (Foreigner), and lead vocalist/bassist Greg Lake (Emerson, Lake and Palmer) from the original lineup heard on In The Court Of The Crimson King. Additionally, poet Peter Sinfield, who wrote all King Crimson's early lyrics, would go on to perform a similar function for Emerson, Lake and Palmer, including their magnum opus Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends. Other original members included Michael Giles on drums and Fripp himself on guitar. 21st Century Schizoid Man, as the first song on the first album by King Crimson, can quite literally be cited as the song that got the whole thing started. Enjoy!

Artist:    Chicago
Title:    25 Or 6 To 4
Source:    CD: Chicago
Writer(s):    Robert Lamm
Label:    Rhino (original label: Columbia)
Year:    1970
    For their second LP, Chicago (which had just dropped the words "Transit Authority" from their name in response to a threatened lawsuit) tried out all three of their vocalists on each new song to hear who sounded the best for that particular song. In the case of Robert Lamm's 25 Or 6 To 4, bassist Peter Cetera did the honors. The song became a top 10 single both in the US and UK. Despite rumors to the contrary, Lamm says 25 Or 6 To 4 is not a drug song. Instead, he says, the title refers to the time of the morning that he was awake and writing the tune.

Artist:    Led Zeppelin
Title:    Four Sticks
Source:    CD: Led Zeppelin IV
Writer(s):    Page/Plant
Label:    Atlantic
Year:    1971
    One of the most difficult songs to record in the Led Zeppelin catalog, Four Sticks, from the fourth Zeppelin album, did not have a name until John Bonham's final drum track was recorded. He reportedly was having such a hard time with the song that he ended up using four drumsticks, rather than the usual two (don't ask me how he held the extra pair) and beat on his drums as hard as he could, recording what he considered the perfect take in the process.

Artist:    Santana
Title:    Caravanserai (opening sequence)
Source:    LP: Caravanserai
Writer(s):    Shrieve/Schon/Rutley/Rauch/Rolie/Santana
Label:    Columbia
Year:    1972
    The fourth Santana album, Caravanserai, was an abrupt departure from the formula that had made Abraxas and the band's 1971 self-titled album both critical and commercial successes. For one thing, all but three of the albums 10 tracks were instrumentals, something that didn't sit particularly well with keyboardist/vocalist Greg Rolie, who, along with second guitarist Neil Schon, would soon leave the group to form their own band, Journey. The music itself was not as easily accessible as the band's earlier material, either, which can be heard on the album's opening sequence, which features five separate pieces that run continuously without a break between them. Those pieces are, in order, Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation, Waves Within, Look Up (To See What's Coming Down), Just In Time To See The Sun and Song of the Wind, with Just In Time To See The Sun being the only one of the five pieces with vocals. Carlos Santana would continue to move toward jazz with his next album, a collaboration with John McLaughlin called Love Devotion Surrender.

Artist:    Jo Jo Gunne
Title:    Roll Over Me
Source:    European import CD: Jo Jo Gunne/Bite Down Hard/Jumpin' The Gun/So...Where's The Show (originally released on LP: Bite Down Hard)
Writer(s):    Jay Ferguson
Label:    Rhino/Edsel (original label: Asylum)
Year:    1973
    Jo Jo Gunne was a classic example of a band that got diminishing returns with each successive release. The second act (after Jackson Browne) signed to David Geffen's Asylum label, Jo Jo Gunne scored a top 40 hit right out of the box with Run Run Run in 1972. All subsequent singles, however, went nowhere, making Jo Jo Gunne officially a one-hit wonder despite releasing four LPs. The second of those LPs, Bite Down Hard, was a moderate success at best, peaking at #75 on the Billboard album charts. Nearly every track on the album, including Roll Over Me, was written by vocalist Jay Ferguson, who, unlike in his days with Spirit, was also providing keyboards for the band. Jo Jo Gunne's third LP, Jumpin' The Gun, never went higher than #169 on the charts and their fourth and final effort, So...Where's The Show, failed to chart at all.

Artist:    Joni Mitchell
Title:    People's Parties/The Same Situation
Source:    LP: Court And Spark
Writer(s):    Joni Mitchell
Label:    Asylum
Year:    1974
    Released in January of 1974, Court And Spark was singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell's most successful album, going to #2 on the Billboard album charts (#1 in Canada) and eventually achieving double platinum status. It was her first album since For The Roses, released in November of 1972, and reflected her growing interest in jazz, combined with her own brand of folk-rock to create something that went beyond both genres. This new style is well represented on the final two tracks of side one, People's Parties and The Same Situation, which blend so seamlessly that it's difficult to tell exactly when one song ends and the next one begins.

Artist:    Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso
Title:    L'Albero Del Pane (The Bread Tree)
Source:    LP: Banco
Writer(s):    DiGiacomo/Nocenzi
Label:    Manticore
Year:    1975
    The brand of progressive rock favored by bands such as Yes, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and early Genesis (often referred to as art-rock) was particularly popular in Italy, the traditional home of opera. In fact, the country produced progressive rock bands of its own as well, including Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso (Bank of Mutual Support), which is still in existence. The band originally consisted of:
 •    Pierluigi Calderoni - drums and percussion
•    Vittorio Nocenzi - organ, synthesizers, electronic strings
•    Renato D'Angelo - bass guitar, acoustic guitar
•    Rodolfo Maltese - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, trumpet, backing vocals
•    Gianni Nocenzi - grand piano, clarinet and synthesizer
•    Francesco Di Giacomo - lead vocals
It was this lineup that released the 1975 album Banco in the US. Di Giacomo's opera-styled vocals were a key component of the band's sound, as can be heard on L'Albero Del Pane (The Bread Tree).