https://exchange.prx.org/p/539405
This week we start off with some high-energy rock, and pretty much stay there for the entire show. Seat belts recommended.
Artist: Steppenwolf
Title: The Ostrich
Source: CD: Born To Be Wild-A Retrospective (originally released as 45 RPM single B side and included on LP: Steppenwolf)
Writer(s): John Kay
Label: MCA (original label: Dunhill)
Year: 1967
Although John Kay's songwriting skills were still a work in progress on the first Steppenwolf album, there were some outstanding Kay songs on that LP, such as The Ostrich, a song that helped define Steppenwolf as one of the most politically savvy rock bands in history. An edited version of The Ostrich was released several weeks earlier than the album itself as the B side of Steppenwolf's first single, A Girl I Knew.
Artist: Joni Mitchell
Title: Big Yellow Taxi
Source: LP: Ladies Of The Canyon
Writer(s): Joni Mitchell
Label: Reprise
Year: 1970
One of Joni Mitchell's best-known tunes, Big Yellow Taxi was originally released on the 1970 album Ladies Of The Canyon. The original studio version of the song hit the top 10 in Australia and the top 20 in the UK and Mitchell's native Canada, but only reached the #67 spot in the US. A later live version of the song, however, cracked the top 30 in the US in 1974. Mitchell says she was inspired to write the song on a visit to Hawaii, where she looked out her hotel window to view a mountain vista in the distance, only to be shocked back to reality when she looked down to see a parking lot "as far as the eye could see".
Artist: Wishbone Ash
Title: Blowin' Free
Source: CD: Argus
Writer(s): Upton/Turner/Turner/Powell
Label: MCA/Decca
Year: 1972
Known to the band's fans as the "Ash Anthem", Blowin' Free is probably the single most popular song Wishbone Ash ever recorded. The song, with lyrics written by bassist Martin Turner before Wishbone Ash even formed, is about Turner's Swedish ex-girlfriend.
Artist: Jo Jo Gunne
Title: Run Run Run
Source: 45 RPM single (stereo promo)
Writer: Ferguson/Andes
Label: Asylum
Year: 1972
After Spirit called it quits following the disappointing sales of Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, lead vocalist Jay Ferguson and bassist Mark Andes hooked up with Andes's brother Matt and William "Curly" Smith to form Jo Jo Gunne. Their best known song was Run Run Run, which hit the British top 10 and the US top 30 in 1972, receiving considerable amount of airplay on progressive rock stations as well as being the highlight of the band's live performances.
Artist: Gun
Title: Race With The Devil
Source: German import CD: Gun
Writer(s): Adrian Gurvitz
Label: Repertoire (original label: CBS)
Year: 1968
One of the most popular songs on the jukebox at the teen club on Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany in 1969 was a song called Race With The Devil by a band called Gun. The song was so popular, in fact, that at least two local bands covered it (including the one I was in at the time). Nobody seemed to know much about the band at the time, but it turns out that the group was fronted by the Gurvitz brothers, Adrian and Paul (who at the time used the last name Curtis); the two would later be members of the Baker-Gurvitz Army with drummer Ginger Baker. I've also learned recently that Gun spent much of its time touring in Europe, particularly in Germany, where Race With The Devil hit its peak in January of 1969 (it had made the top 10 in the UK in 1968, the year it was released).
Artist: Robin Trower
Title: Little Bit Of Sympathy
Source: CD: Bridge Of Sighs
Writer(s): Robin Trower
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol
Year: 1974
Released in 1974, Bridge Of Sighs was the second solo LP by former Procol Harum guitarist Robin Trower. The album was Trower's commercial breakthrough, staying on the Billboard album charts for 31 weeks, peaking at #7. In addition to Trower, the album features James Dewar on lead vocals and bass, along with Reg Isidore on drums. The album was a staple of mid-1970s progressive rock radio, with several tunes, including album closer Little Bit Of Sympathy, becoming concert favorites.
Artist: Rod Stewart
Title: True Blue
Source: 45 RPM single B side promo (from LP: Never A Dull Moment)
Writer(s): Stewart/Wood
Label: Mercury
Year: 1972
Rod Stewart and Ron Wood started performing together in 1967, when they were both members of the Jeff Beck Group. When that group disbanded, the two of them joined up with the remnants of the Small Faces to form Faces. Even as Faces was growing in popularity, Stewart was pursuing a parallel solo career. This has led to some confusion over which songs were Faces tunes and which ones were Stewart's. Complicating things further is the fact than most of the members of Faces (including Wood) played on many of Stewart's records, including the hit single You Wear It Well, which appeared on Stewart's 1972 LP Never A Dull Moment. The B side of that single was True Blue, a Stewart/Wood collaboration that also served as Never A Dull Moment's opening track. Things got considerably less confusing in 1975, however, when Wood accepted an invitation to replace Mick Taylor in the Rolling Stones, a position he has held ever since.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Loose Lucy
Source: CD: From The Mars Hotel
Writer(s): Hunter/Garcia
Label: Rhino (original label: Grateful Dead)
Year: 1974
Loose Lucy may not be the most politically correct song ever written by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia, but, as one of our listeners pointed out, it's always a great jam and one of the higher-energy tunes on the 1974 album From The Mars Hotel.
Artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Title: Keep On Chooglin'
Source: LP: Bayou Country
Writer(s): John Fogerty
Label: Fantasy
Year: 1969
There are a lot of theories out there about the meaning of the word "chooglin", but according to John Fogerty, it's simply a word he made up to describe Creedence Clearwater Revival's music. I guess you'd have to say it applies to Fogerty's later solo work as well. Keep On Chooglin' John!
Artist: Canned Heat
Title: Woodstock Boogie (part one)
Source: CD: Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur's Farm (originally released on LP: Woodstock 2)
Writer(s): Canned Heat
Label: Rhino (original label: Atlantic)
Year: 1969
One of the highlights of any Canned Heat performance was Refried Boogie, an extended jam piece often lasting up to an hour in length. For the Woodstock festival the band shortened it to just under 30 minutes, including solos from every band member, including the recently recruited guitarist Harvey Mandel, who had replaced founding member Henry Vestine. The song was originally issued on the album Woodstock 2 in highly edited form, cutting the running time in half. The full-length version, including a solo guitar intro, was released in 2009 as part of Rhino's six-disc Woodstock anniversary box set. Due to time constraints we're only presenting the first two-thirds of Woodstock Boogie, up through Larry "The Mole" Taylor's lengthy bass solo this week.
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