https://exchange.prx.org/pieces/471617-dc-2318
Only one-third of this week's tunes have been heard on Rockin' in the Days of Confusion before, and it's been over two years since half of those have been played on the show. The "new" tracks are pretty tasty, too, with contributions from Bonnie Raitt, the Allman Brothers Band, Steely Dan and others, including the unedited original version of a Grand Funk Railroad classic from the Survival album.
Artist: Spirit
Title: I Got A Line On You
Source: European import CD: Pure....Psychedelic Rock (originally released as 45 RPM single and included on LP: The Family That Plays Together)
Writer(s): Randy California
Label: Sony Music (original label: Ode)
Year: 1968
Although not an instant hit by any measure, I Got A Line On You, from Spirit's second album, The Family That Plays Together, has proven to be the band's most popular song. Released in October of 1968, the song lingered below the top 100 for several weeks before college radio stations began playing it in late November. The tune finally peaked at #25 on March 15, 1969.
Artist: Wishbone Ash
Title: Queen Of Torture
Source: CD: Wishbone Ash
Writer: Upton/Turner/Turner/Powell
Label: MCA (original label: Decca)
Year: 1970
One of the first bands to use dual lead guitars was Wishbone Ash. When Glen Turner, the band's original guitarist, had to leave, auditions were held, but the remaining members and their manager couldn't decide between the two finalists, Andy Powell and Ted Turner, so they kept both of them. Queen Of Torture, from their 1969 debut album, shows just how well the two guitars meshed.
Artist: Steely Dan
Title: Daddy Don't Live In That New York City No More
Source: CD: Katy Lied
Writer(s): Becker/Fagen
Label: MCA (original label: ABC)
Year: 1975
Walter Becker and Donald Fagen abandoned their usual commentary on the dark side of Southern California life for the even darker tale of an alcoholic low-class criminal from the opposite coast in Daddy Don't Live In That New York City No More, from the 1975 album Katy Lied. The song describes the life "Daddy" led before disappearing, implying that he himself may have been the victim, as well as the perpetrator, of foul play.
Artist: Graham Nash and David Crosby
Title: The Wall Song
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): David Crosby
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1972
Such was the popularity of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young in the early 70s that each of the members, both as solo artists and in various combinations of two or three members, released albums in addition to official group recordings, all of which sold well. One such effort was the 1972 album by Graham Nash and David Crosby. One of the more notable tracks on the album is The Wall Song, featuring (in addition to Crosby and Nash) Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh and Bill Kreutzmann on guitar, bass and drums. The version heard here is the rare mono mix of The Wall Song, issued as a B side in 1972.
Artist: Steeleye Span
Title: The Bold Poachers
Source: LP: Parcel of Rogues
Writer(s): Traditional lyrics w/ music by Steeleye Span
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1973
While groups like Fairport Convention and the Pentangle did electrified versions of old British folk songs, Steeleye Span took it a step further by writing all-new music to go with traditional lyrics on songs such as The Bold Poachers, from their 1973 LP Parcel Of Rogues. Although it was the group's fifth studio album, it was the first to become a top 30 album in the UK.
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Title: Hey, Hey, What Can I Do
Source: Stereo 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Page/Plant/Bonham/Jones
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1970
In their entire existence Led Zeppelin only issued one non-album track. Hey, Hey, What Can I Do was originally released as the B side of Immigrant Song in 1970, and was included on a British anthology album called the New Age Of Atlantic the following year. The song was not available in any other form in the US until 1990, when it was included in the first Led Zeppelin box set. It has since been made available as a bonus track on the Led Zeppelin III CD.
Artist: Bonnie Raitt
Title: Write Me A Few Of Your Lines/Kokomo Blues
Source: LP: Takin My Time
Writer(s): Fred McDowell
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1973
Bonnie Raitt shines on slide guitar as well as vocals on her version of the Mississippi Fred McDowell tunes Write Me A Few Of Your Lines and Kokomo Bkues, presented as a medley on Raitt's third LP, Takin My Time. The album itself was originally slated to be produced by Little Feat's Lowell George, and several members of that band play on the LP, but Raitt replaced him with John Hall from the band Orleans, saying later that with George "It became too emotional. It's hard having a strong woman telling the man her ideas when, in fact, the man wants to take over the situation."
Artist: Allman Brothers Band
Title: Blue Sky
Source: CD: Eat A Peach
Writer(s): Dickie Betts
Label: Mercury (original label: Capricorn)
Year: 1972
When guitarist Duane Allman died in a motorcycle crash in October of 1971, his group, the Allman Brothers Band, had completed only three studio tracks for their next album. The best known of these is Blue Sky, a Dickie Betts composition that would appear in early 1972 on the album Eat A Peach. The song, featuring Betts on lead vocal, serves as an early blueprint for what would come to be known as Southern Rock.
Artist: Santana
Title: Every Step Of The Way
Source: LP: Caravanserai
Writer(s): Mike Shrieve
Label: Columbia
Year: 1972
In 1972, following three artistic and commercially successful albums, Carlos Santana and his band decided to undergo a major change in style, abandoning latin flavored rock in favor of a more experimental jazz sound. The resulting album, Caravanserai, was indeed a departure for the group. The album was made up mostly of long instrumental tracks like Every Step Of The Way, and produced no hit singles. Predictably, this marked the beginning of a commercial decline for Santana, and led to the departure of two of its members, Greg Rolie and Neal Schon, to form Journey in 1973.
Artist: Beck, Bogert & Appice
Title: Superstition
Source: LP: Beck, Bogert & Appice
Writer(s): Stevie Wonder
Label: Epic
Year: 1973
Superstition is a Stevie Wonder composition that grew out of a jam session with Jeff Beck, who came up with the song's opening drum riff. In appreciation for Beck's contribution to the album Talking Book, Wonder gave the song to Beck to release as a single. Beck recorded the song with his new group Beck, Bogert & Appice, but a combination of delays in the release of their debut LP and the insistence of Motown honcho Berry Gordy that Wonder's version had hit potential led to Wonder's version actually being released before Beck's. As Gordy had predicted, Superstition was a huge hit for Wonder, while the Beck, Bogert & Appice version ended up being released only as an album track (except in Japan, where it was released as a single as well).
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Title: All You've Got Is Money (2002 remix of original unedited version)
Source: CD: Survival (bonus track)
Writer(s): Mark Farner
Label: Capitol
Year: 1971
As originally recorded, Mark Farner's All You've Got Is Money ran over eight minutes in length and included a guitar intro, harmonica solo, a double-time section and several extra verses that were edited out of the album version of the song to make it less than five and a half minutes long. In 2002 the original versions of All You've Got Is Money and several other tunes were remixed and included as bonus tracks on the CD version of Survival.
Artist: Jefferson Airplane
Title: Somebody To Love
Source: LP: Vintage Rock (originally released on LP: Surrealistic Pillow)
Writer(s): Darby Slick
Label: K-Tel (original label: RCA Victor)
Year: 1967
If not for Somebody To Love, no one would even remember that Grace Slick and her husband Jerry were once in a band with her brother-in-law, Darby, who wrote the song.
No comments:
Post a Comment