https://exchange.prx.org/p/547847
Just to prove it can still be done, all the music on this week's show comes from vintage vinyl sources, including the 21 minute long LP version of Rare Earth's first hit, Get Ready. Most of these are album tracks, but there are a few singles thrown in as well, such as our opening number from Procol Harum.
Artist: Procol Harum
Title: Bringing Home The Bacon
Source: 45 RPM promo single
Writer: Brooker/Reid
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1973
After the departure of original lead guitarist Robin Trower, the remaining members of Procol Harum, with new guitarist Dave Ball, continued to record quality albums such as Grand Hotel, although their airplay was limited to sporadic plays on progressive FM stations. One song that probably should have gotten more attention than it did was Bringing Home The Bacon, from the aforementioned Grand Hotel album. The group would experience a brief return to top 40 radio the following year with the release of their live version of Conquistador, a track that originally appeared on the band's 1967 debut LP.
Artist: Neil Young
Title: The Loner
Source: LP: The Big Ball (originally released on LP: Neil Young)
Writer(s): Neil Young
Label: Warner Brothers (original label: Reprise)
Year: 1968
The Loner could easily have been passed off as a Buffalo Springfield song. In addition to singer/songwriter/guitarist Neil Young, the tune features Springfield members Jim Messina on bass and George Grantham on drums. Since Buffalo Springfield was functionally defunct by the time the song was ready for release, however, it instead became Young's first single as a solo artist. The song first appeared, in a longer form, on Young's first solo album in late 1968, with the single appearing three months later. The subject of The Loner has long been rumored to be Young's bandmate Stephen Stills, or possibly Young himself. As usual, Neil Young ain't sayin'.
Artist: Grateful Dead
Title: Sugar Magnolia (live)
Source: 45 RPM single (reissue)
Writer(s): Hunter/Weir
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1972
One of the most popular songs in the Grateful Dead catalog, Sugar Magnolia also has the distinction of being the second-most performed song in the band's history, with 596 documented performances. The song, written by Robert Hunter and Bob Weir, first appeared on the 1970 album American Beauty, but was not released as a single. A live version two years later, however, did see a single release, charting in the lower reaches of the Billboard Hot 100.
Artist: Doors
Title: Gloria
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Van Morrison
Label: Elektra
Year: Recorded 1969, released 1983
Following the release of Oliver Stone's Vietnam War film, Apocalypse Now, in 1983, with its notable use of The End from the first Doors album, there was a renewed interest in the band itself, along with a corresonding demand for "new" Doors recordings. Elektra/Asylum responded by putting out an album called Alive, She Cried. Included on that album was the band's sound check recording from late 1969 of Van Morrison's Gloria, a tune that the band covered often in concert throughout the band's existence. The recording itself had already attained legendary status by the early 1980s. Recorded at the Aquarius Theater in Los Angeles, the tape had been lost for several years, and only found after months of painstaking research by producer Paul Rothchild and his staff. The recording was made on the first day of a series of live concert recordings, many of which had been included on the 1971 album Absolutely Live. The enthusiam that the band itself had for the project was evidenced by the fact that singer Jim Morrison, who usually blew off sound checks, was not only present for this one, but, without a live audience to play to, was completely focused on the music itself. The resulting recording was not only used as the opening track for the album, it was also issued as a single. Of course by 1983 Corporate Rock so dominated the airwaves that a genuine rock recording didn't stand a chance of getting top 40 airplay. Nonetheless, Gloria stands as an appropriate final single for L.A.'s most successful underground club band from the 60s.
Artist: Paul McCartney & Wings
Title: Live And Let Die
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Paul & Linda McCartney
Label: Apple
Year: 1973
The music for the first seven James Bond films was all composed by John Barry, and was very much in sync with the image projected by Sean Connery in the title role of all but one of the films. For the eighth film, Live And Let Die, Barry was unavailable due to prior commitments, so producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli decided that a new James Bond (Roger Moore) should have newer sounding music as well, so even before the screenplay was completed they contacted Paul McCartney about providing a theme song for the new film. The gamble paid off. Live And Let Die by Paul McCartney & Wings (with orchestration by George Martin) became the most successful James Bond theme yet, going into the top 10 in both the US and UK, and snagging an Academy Award nomination as well.
Artist: Santana
Title: Treat
Source: LP: Santana
Writer(s): Santana (band)
Label: Columbia
Year: 1969
Guitarist Carlos Santana's original band was known to the San Francisco area as a jam band with a decidedly Latino flavor. Promoter Bill Graham convinced the band to write more structured material for their first LP, which was released in 1969. Although not an instant success, the album, buoyed by the group's appearance at Woodstock, eventually reached the # 4 spot on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. Treat, a fairly representative example of the group's early style, is indeed structured, yet maintains much of the band's free-flowing energy through several style and tempo changes.
Artist: Rare Earth
Title: Get Ready
Source: LP: Get Ready
Writer(s): William Robinson
Label: Rare Earth
Year: 1969
Arguably the ultimate 60s marathon dance song, Rare Earth's album version of their first hit single, Get Ready, ran well over 21 minutes in length. In the words of hip hop journalist Steven Hager the track "was long enough for the serious dancers to get into the beat. They loved to wait for the song's two-minute drum solo to show their most spectacular moves." The song, written by Smokey Robinson, was originally recorded by the Temptation in 1966 and had gone to the top of the R&B charts and made the British top 10 but had stalled out at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Rare Earth version of the tune hit #4 on the Hot 100 and peaked at #20 on the recently renamed Best Selling Soul Singles chart, but did not chart in the UK (although it did fare well in several European countries).
Artist: Chicago
Title: A Hit By Varese
Source: LP: Chicago V
Writer(s): Robert Lamm
Label: Columbia
Year: 1972
After three double-length studio albums and a four disc box set live effort, Chicago finally released their first single-disc LP, Chicago V, in 1972. Most of the songs on the LP were written by keyboardist Robert Lamm, who shows his versatility on the opening track, A Hit By Varese. The song itself is hard to classify, containing elements of jazz, rock and avant-garde experimentalism. I like it.
Artist: Hot Tuna
Title: Water Song
Source: LP: Final Vinyl (originally released on LP: Burgers)
Writer(s): Jorma Kaukonen
Label: Grunt
Year: 1972
Hot Tuna was originally formed as a side project by Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady in 1969, while Grace Slick was recovering from surgery and was unable to perform. By late 1971 Hot Tuna was a fully functional band that included violinist Papa John Creach (who was also a member of the Airplane) and drummer Sammy Piazza. Although they had already released a pair of live albums, Burgers was the group's first studio effort. The instrumental Water Song, was written by Kaukonen specifically for the album, and has gone on to become one of Hot Tuna's most popular numbers.
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