Sunday, February 7, 2021

Rockin' in the Days of Confusion # 2107 (starts 2/8/21)

https://exchange.prx.org/pieces/357347-dc-2107 


    None of the songs on this week's show got played in 2020 on Rockin' in the Days of Confusion. I mean, who needs any kind of reminder of that particular year, right? Actually, out of a dozen tunes, seven have never been played on the show at all. Stylistically, it's a musical variety pack that gets rockier as the hour goes on and finishes up with a pair of melodic guitar-based instrumentals.

Artist:    David Bowie
Title:    Suffragette City
Source:    CD: The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s):    David Bowie
Label:    Ryko (original label: RCA Victor)
Year:    1972
    Arguably the most popular song from David Bowie's 1972 breakthrough album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, Suffragette City was originally released as a B side a month and a half ahead of the album itself. The song had originally been offered to Mott The Hoople, who decided to instead record All The Young Dudes. Showing the influences of such diverse sources as Little Richard and the Velvet Underground, as well as the novel A Clockwork Orange, Suffragette City was one of the last songs recorded for the album by Bowie's band, the Spiders From Mars, which included Mick Ronson on electric guitar, piano, synthesizer and backing vocals, Trevor Bolder on bass and Mick Woodmansey on drums. Bowie himself, in addition to providing lead vocals on Suffragette City, also played an acoustic 12-string guitar on the track.

Artist:    Renaissance
Title:    Black Flame
Source:    LP: Turn Of The Cards
Writer(s):    Dunford/Thatcher
Label:    Sire
Year:    1974
    Formed in 1969 by former Yardbirds Jim McCarty and Keith Relf, Renaissance was one of the first bands to merge rock, classical and jazz into a coherent whole. By 1974 the band was incorporating excerpts from classical pieces (mostly from the Romantic period) into what was otherwise progressive rock, with very few jazz elements remaining. The lineup had also changed, with a greater emphasis being placed on the vocals of Annie Haslam, who had joined the group in the early 1970s. Black Flame, from the band's fifth LP, Turn Of The Cards, is fairly representative of Renaissance at its most popular.

Artist:    Steve Miller Band
Title:    Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash
Source:    LP: The Joker
Writer(s):    Charles Calhoun
Label:    Capitol
Year:    1973
    Fans of early rock 'n' roll may be familiar with the name Jesse Stone. Although not a major recording star, he wrote some of the top songs of the 50s, including Flip, Flop and Fly, Money Honey, and his most famous song Shake, Rattle and Roll. He also, for reasons having to do with publishing contracts, wrote and performed as Charles Calhoun. One of the songs he published as Calhoun was Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash. The song was covered by the Steve Miller Band on the 1973 LP The Joker and released the following year as a single.

Artist:    Jethro Tull
Title:    Thick As A Brick (part two)
Source:    CD: Thick As A Brick
Writer(s):    Ian Anderson
Label:    Chrysalis (original label: Reprise)
Year:    1972
    By the early 1970s, concept albums from progressive rock bands were becoming a bit of a cliche. In a few cases, such as Jethro Tull's Aqualung, the label was applied without the permission, or even the intention, of the artist making the album. In late 1971 Tull's Ian Anderson decided, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, that if the critics wanted a concept album so badly he would give them the "mother of all concept albums". In the early 1970s a type of humor known as parody was in vogue, thanks to magazines like National Lampoon and television shows like Monty Python's Flying Circus. Anderson, taking his cue from Monty Python in particular, decided that the next Jethro Tull album would combine complex music with wry humor targeting critics, audiences and even the band itself. To begin with, all the album's lyrics were credited to a fictional eight-year-old schoolboy named Gerald Bostock, whose epic poem was stirring up controversy in the small village of St. Cleve. Anderson created an elaborate backstory for the piece, fleshing it out with a 12 page newspaper parody, complete with local news, TV listings, and a sports section (among other things) that folded out when the album cover was opened. Thick As A Brick itself is one continuous musical work consisting of several sections that tie together thematically to lampoon modern life, religion and politics in particular. The piece, which lasts nearly 44 minutes, goes through several tempo and key changes, resembling classical music in terms of sheer complexity. The band also utilized a much greater variety of instruments on Thick As A Brick than they had on previous albums, including harpsichord, xylophone, timpani, violin, lute, trumpet, saxophone, and a string section. Recording took about three weeks in late December, with another month spent putting together the newspaper itself. The entire package was so well presented that many record buyers were under the impression that Gerald Bostock was indeed a real person. Although the album initially received mixed reviews from the rock press, it has since come to be regarded as a progressive rock classic. Indeed, many (including me) feel that Thick As A Brick is Jethro Tull's greatest accomplishment.

Artist:    Paul And Linda McCartney
Title:    Dear Boy
Source:    LP: Ram
Writer(s):    Paul and Linda McCartney
Label:    Apple
Year:    1971
    Although John Lennon at one point said he thought Paul McCartney's Dear Boy, from the Ram album, was about himself and Yoko, McCartney himself stated in a 1971 interview that the song is an autobiographical song about his relationship with his own wife Linda. Thirty years later McCartney admitted that is was also a subtle jab at Linda's ex, who didn't realize what a good thing he had given up on.

Artist:     James Gang
Title:     Funk # 48
Source:     CD: Yer Album
Writer:     Walsh/Fox/Kriss
Label:     MCA (original label: Bluesway)
Year:     1969
    Cleveland's James Gang was one of the original power trios of the seventies. Although generally known as the starting place of Joe Walsh, the band was actually led by Jim Fox, one of the most underrated drummers in the history of rock. Fox, who was the only member to stay with the group through its many personnel changes over the years, shares lead vocals with Walsh on Funk # 48 from the band's debut album on ABC's Bluesway label (they moved over to the parent label for subsequent releases). Yer Album, incidentally, was the only rock LP ever issued on Bluesway .

Artist:    MC5
Title:    Tonight
Source:    LP: Back In The USA
Writer(s):    MC5
Label:    Atlantic
Year:    1970
    Described by one critic as one of the ultimate teenage anthems, Tonight is the second track on the second MC5 album, Back In The USA. The song was released as the album's lead single, but failed to make an impression on the charts.

Artist:     Savoy Brown
Title:     Made Up My Mind
Source:     British import CD: A Step Further
Writer:     Chris Youlden
Label:     Polygram/Deram (original US label: Parrot)
Year:     1969
     To coincide with a US tour, the fourth Savoy Brown album, A Step Further, was actually released in North America several months before it was in the UK, with Made Up My Mind being simultaneously released as a single. Luckily for the band, 1969 was a year that continued the industry-wide trend away from hit singles and toward successful albums instead, at least among the more progressive groups, as the single itself tanked. Aided by a decent amount of airplay on progressive FM radio, however, the album (the last to feature lead vocalist Chris Youlden) peaked comfortably within the top 100.
 
Artist:    Love Sculpture
Title:    Shake Your Hips
Source:    British import CD: Blues Helping
Writer(s):    James Moore
Label:    EMI (original label: Parlophone; original US label: Rare Earth)
Year:    1968
    Formed in Cardiff, Wales, in 1966, Love Sculpture is best known as the band that launched the career of guitarist Dave Edmunds, who went on to have an international #1 hit with his cover of I Hear You Knockin' and later co-founded the influential band Rockpile with Nick Lowe. The first Love Sculpture LP, Blues Helping, consists almost entirely of blues covers such as Slim Harpo's Shake Your Hips, with Edmunds's blistering guitar work dominating the entire album.

Artist:    Rolling Stones
Title:    Bitch
Source:    LP: Sticky Fingers
Writer(s):    Jagger/Richards
Label:    Rolling Stones
Year:    1971
    The teen club I hung out at during my senior year at Alamogordo Senior High School had a jukebox. The record that got the most play on that jukebox during the second semester of that school year was the latest single from the Rolling Stones. Brown Sugar got a lot of radio airplay that spring, but on the jukebox it was the B side of the record, Bitch, that was heard most often. Both tunes were from the album Sticky Fingers, generally considered to be one of the best Rolling Stones albums ever made.

Artist:    Genesis
Title:    Horizons
Source:    CD: Foxtrot
Writer(s):    Banks/Collins/Gabriel/Hackett/Rutherford
Label:    Rhino/Atlantic (original label: Charisma)
Year:    1972
    Although credited to the entire band, Horizons is a short acoustic guitar instrumental written by Steve Hackett, who is the only member of Genesis to actually play on the track. The tune, based on a piece by J.S. Bach, opens side two of the 1972 LP Foxtrot.

Artist:    Jimi Hendrix/Band Of Gypsys
Title:    Villanova Junction Blues
Source:    Mono LP: People, Hell And Angels
Writer(s):    Jimi Hendrix
Label:    Experience Hendrix/Legacy
Year:    Recorded 1969, released 2013
    Usually known as the untitled instrumental that finishes out the Woodstock movie, Villanova Junction Blues was first performed in the studio by Band Of Gypsys (Hendrix, Billy Cox and Buddy Miles) prior to their live performances at Madison Square Garden at the end of 1969. The studio version remained unreleased until 2013, when it was included on the album People, Hell And Angels.

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