https://exchange.prx.org/p/547061
This week we start in the mid-1970s and work our way back to 1968...and then stay there for a set of tunes from Canned Heat, Cream and the Rolling stones. To finish things off we have a track from the first Lou Reed solo album making its Rockin' in the Days of Confusion debut.
Artist: Doobie Brothers
Title: Pursuit On 53rd Street
Source: LP: What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits
Writer(s): Tom Johnston
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1974
Pursuit On 53rd Street, like most Tom Johnston songs, is a highly danceable tune with a solid hook "I believe that the lady's gonna bring me luck". The song, describing a guy on a bus in New York City taking an interest in a woman walking down the street, is featured on the fourth Doobie Brothers album, What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits.
Artist: Mahogany Rush
Title: Land Of 1000 Nights
Source: Canadian import CD: Strange Universe
Writer(s): Frank Marino
Label: Just A Minute (original label: 20th Century)
Year: 1975
Formed in Montreal in 1970, Mahogany Rush was, in its early days, a power trio led by guitarist Frank Marino, along with bassist Paul Harwood and drummer Jimmy Ayoub. Marino's style has often been compared to that of Jimi Hendrix, whom Marino cites as a major influence. Perhaps their most successful album was Strange Universe, recorded in Montreal and released in the US on the 20th Century label in 1975. Later in the decade the trio was joined by Marino's brother Vince on rhythm guitar and began touring as Frank Marino And Mahogany Rush.
Artist: Stray Dog
Title: Bits And Pieces/Pieces
Source: LP: While You're Down There
Writer(s): Dulaine/Roberts
Label: Manticore
Year: 1974
Originally called Aphrodite, Stray Dog started off in Texas, but soon migrated to Denver, Colorado, where they soon became one of the area's most popular bands. A move to London in 1973 led to the band signing with Emerson, Lake And Palmer's Manticore label in 1973. A change in personnel brought guitarist/vocalist Timmy Dulane into the band. Dulane ended up writing most of the material for the band's second LP, While You're Down There, including Bits And Pieces, which flows into an instrumental piece called Pieces written by bassist Alan Roberts. Stray Dog split up in 1976. Lead guitarist W. G. Snuffy Walden went on to have a successful career writing soundtracks for televisions shows, including the Theme from Thirtysomething, for which he received an Emmy nomination.
Artist: Little Feat
Title: Fat Man In The Bathtub
Source: CD: Dixie Chicken
Writer(s): Lowell George
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1973
Lowell George, founder of Little Feat, came into his own as a songwriter with the 1973 album Dixie Chicken. Among the classic tunes on the LP was Fat Man In The Bathtub. There are many theories as to what the song is actually about, but most agree that somebody wasn't getting something he wanted.
Artist: Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina
Title: Danny's Song
Source: 45 RPM promo single
Writer(s): Kenny Loggins
Label: Columbia
Year: 1971 (single edit released 1972)
In 1972 Columbia confused everyone in the radio business by releasing two promo singles by Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina. One was a Jim Messina song called Nobody But You, which was clearly marked as the single's A side, with a Kenny Loggins tune called Danny's Song as the B side. The other had Danny's Song on both sides. The result of this oddity was that Nobody But You rose no higher than #86 on the Billboard Hot 100, while Danny's Song didn't chart at all. Ironically, Danny's Song eventually became one of Loggins's most popular songs, thanks in part to Anne Murray's cover version of the song going into the top 10.
Artist: Focus
Title: Hocus Pocus
Source: British import CD: Spirit Of Joy (originally released on LP: Moving Waves)
Writer(s): van Leer/Akkerman
Label: Polydor UK (original US label: Sire)
Year: 1971
Although it was not a hit until 1973, Hocus Pocus, by the Dutch progressive rock band Focus, has the type of simple structure coupled with high energy that was characteristic of many of the garage bands of the mid to late 60s. The song was originally released on the band's second LP, known alternately as Focus II and Moving Waves, in 1971. Both guitarist Jan Akkerman and keyboardist/vocalist/flautist Thijs van Leer have gone on to have successful careers, with van Leer continuing to use to the Focus name as recently as 2006.
Artist: Neil Young
Title: Southern Man
Source: CD: After The Gold Rush
Writer: Neil Young
Label: Reprise
Year: 1970
Neil Young stirred up a bit of controversy with the release of the album After The Gold Rush, mostly due to the inclusion of Southern Man, a scathingly critical look at racism in the American South. The song inspired the members of Lynnard Skynnard to write Sweet Home Alabama in response, although reportedly Young and the members of Skynnard actually thought highly of each other. There was even an attempt to get Young to make a surprise appearance at a Skynnard concert and sing the (modified) line "Southern Man don't need me around", but they were never able to coordinate their schedules enough to pull it off.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Living In The Past
Source: LP: Days Of Wine And Vinyl (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Ian Anderson
Label: Warner Brothers (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1969
By the end of the 1960s most UK labels had abandoned the British practice of not including singles on LPs. One notable exception was Island Records, who continued to issue mutually exclusive Jethro Tull albums, singles and EPs into the early 1970s. Among those non-LP tracks was the 1969 single Living In The Past, which would not be included on an LP until 1972, when the song became the title track of a double LP Jethro Tull retrospective. The song then became a hit all over again, including in the US, where the original single had failed to chart.
Artist: Spirit
Title: Uncle Jack
Source: CD: Spirit
Writer(s): Jay Ferguson
Label: Ode/Epic/Legacy
Year: 1968
Despite nearly universal positive reviews by the rock press, the first Spirit album never really caught the imagination of the record buying public. Why this is the case is still a bit of a mystery, as the album is full of outstanding tracks such as Uncle Jack. Perhaps the album, and indeed the band itself, was just a bit ahead of its time.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Sympathy For The Devil
Source: CD: Beggars Banquet
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: Abkco (original label: London)
Year: 1968
Beggar's Banquet was a turning point for the Rolling Stones. They had just ended their association with Andrew Loog Oldham, who had produced all of their mid-60s records, and after one self-produced album were working with Jimmy Miller, who was known for his association with Steve Winwood, both in his current band Traffic and the earlier Spencer Davis Group. Right from the opening bongo beats of Sympathy For The Devil, it was evident that this was the beginning of a new era for the bad boys of rock and roll. The song itself has gone on to be one of the defining tunes of album rock radio.
Artist: Cream
Title: Deserted Cities Of The Heart
Source: LP: Wheels Of Fire
Writer(s): Bruce/Brown
Label: RSO (original label: Atco)
Year: 1968
The most psychedelic of Cream's songs were penned by Jack Bruce and his songwriting partner Pete Brown. One of the best of these was chosen to close out the last studio side of the last Cream album released while the band was still in existence. Deserted Cities Of The Heart is a fitting epitaph to an unforgettable band.
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: Amphetamine Annie
Source: CD: The Very Best of Canned Heat (originally released on LP: Boogie With Canned Heat)
Writer: Canned Heat
Label: Capitol (original label: Liberty)
Year: 1968
By the end of 1967 the Haight-Ashbury scene had taken a definite turn for the worse. Most veterans of the street (i.e. those who had been there before the Summer of Love) placed the blame firmly on the influx of naive runaways that had flooded the area in the wake of calls to "go to San Francisco" earlier in the year, and on the drug dealers who preyed upon them. Methamphetamine (aka speed) was the drug usually singled out as the most destructive force at play. Back then it was the pill form of speed, such as white crosses, that was prevalent among users; the powdered crystal meth that has become a concern in modern rural America would not be used widely until the 1970s. Although originally from Los Angeles, Canned Heat had become closely identified with the San Francisco area following their appearance at the Monterey International Pop Festival and decided it was their civic duty to take a stand against the drug, declaring in the song Amphetamine Annie that "speed kills", a phrase that would show up as graffiti on various walls in the city as well. Ironically, by the time Boogie With Canned Heat, the album containing Amphetamine Annie, was released the band had returned to L.A.'s Laurel Canyon.
Artist: Lou Reed
Title: I Love You
Source: British import CD: The Best Of Lou Reed And The Velvet Underground (originally released on LP: Lou Reed)
Writer(s): Lou Reed
Label: Global Television (original label: RCA Victor)
Year: 1972
I Love You is one of several songs recorded, but not released, in 1970 by the Velvet Underground that ended appearing on Lou Reed's first solo album two years later. It has to count as one of the most honest love songs ever written, maybe even the only one.
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