https://exchange.prx.org/p/579691
We're once again in free-form mode with a whole passel of tunes, about a third of which have never been heard on Rockin' in the Days of Confusion before this week.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: It's Only Rock 'N' Roll (But I Like It)
Source: Stereo 45 RPM single (promo)
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: Rolling Stones
Year: 1974
You'd think that after writing such legendary classics as (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, Jumpin' Jack Flash and Honky Tonk Women, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards would be pretty much tapped out for the rest of their lives. But, nope. They had to come up yet another iconic song in 1974, It's Only Rock 'N' Roll (But I Like It). Hell, the title alone probably should be inscribed over the entrance of the Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame. The song itself was reportedly written in response to critics who seemed to think that the Stones, and Mick and Keith in particular, somehow had a responsibility to be role models, and were not living up to those critics' expectations of how they should be conducting themselves.
Artist: ZZ Top
Title: Arrested For Driving While Blind
Source: LP: Tejas
Writer(s): Gibbons/Hill/Beard
Label: London
Year: 1976
Only a band from Texas could get away with recording a song called Arrested For Driving While Blind. ZZ Top even released the song, from their 1976 LP Tejas, as a single. The song apparently confused people, however, prompting bassist Dusty Hill to say this in an interview: "That's not it at all. Billy introduces it: 'Don't get arrested for driving while blind.' We’re not saying, 'Don’t drink.' We're just doing a tune." I'm still confused.
Artist: Grand Funk Railroad
Title: Can You Do It
Source: 45 RPM promo single
Writer(s): Street/Gordy
Label: MCA
Year: 1976
By 1976 Grand Funk Railroad had pretty much been derailed. In the early 1970s they made a deliberate move away from their almost garage-rock sound in favor of tightly produced singles, but by the middle of the decade the singles market had moved toward a sound that was too light for a band like Grand Funk. In fact, the band had already broken up when they got a call from Frank Zappa expressing his desire to produce the band. The band reassembled for their 11th LP, Good Singin', Good Playin', which was released in 1976. The lead single from the album was an obscure Motown cover called Can You Do It that failed to chart. The album itself was, compared to the band's earlier albums, a commercial failure that peaked outside of the top 50 on the Billboard 200. Discouraged, the group once again disbanded, this time permanently.
Artist: Moody Blues
Title: The Story In Your Eyes
Source: CD: The Best Of The Moody Blues (originally released as 45 RPM single)
Writer(s): Justin Hayward
Label: Polydor/Chronicles (original label: Threshold)
Year: 1971
The Moody Blues were riding high in 1971. The previous year they had formed their own record label, Threshold, to give them more artistic freedom than they had enjoyed with the Deram label (although both were considered subsidiaries of the British Decca label), and had successfully released a hit album, A Question Of Balance, with an even bigger hit single, Question. Their first release of 1971 was The Story In Your Eyes, a song by Justin Hayward that peaked at #23 in the US and hit the top 10 on the Canadian charts. It was subsequently included on the LP Every Good Boy Deserves Favour.
Artist: Elton John
Title: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Source: LP: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Writer(s): John/Taupin
Label: MCA
Year: 1973
Although Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was the second single released from the album of the same name, it actually came out nearly a month before the album itself in the UK. The song, which lyricist Bernie Taupin later said was not so much about a desire to escape fame than to be able to take a break from it when needed, hit the top ten in over half a dozen countries worldwide.
Artist: Mahogany Rush
Title: Child Of The Novelty
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): Frank Marino
Label: 20th Century
Year: 1974
The second Mahogany Rush album, Child Of The Novelty, saw the addition of keyboardist Phil Bech (who had played on one track on the band's first LP) as an official member. Although they were not a top 40 kind of band, they did release a song from the album called A New Rock And Roll as a single, with the album's title track on the B side. Although the single was released commercially in stereo, promotional copies were monoraul on both sides.
Artist: Allman Brothers Band
Title: Midnight Rider
Source: CD: Idlewild South
Writer(s): Gregg Allman
Label: Mercury/UMe (original labels: Capricorn/Atco)
Year: 1970
Gregg Allman said it only took him about an hour to come up with most of what would come to be known as his signature song, Midnight Rider. He had problems coming up with lyrics for the third verse, however, and finally turned to Kim Payne, one of the band's roadies, for help. The two of them broke into the Capricorn studios late at night to record a demo of the song, which was later re-recorded by the full Allman Brothers Band and released on their second LP, Idlewild South. The song was released as the second single from the album, but did not chart in its original form, even though that recording is far superior to the various cover versions (including one by Gregg Allman himself as a solo artist) that actually did chart over the years.
Artist: Matthews' Southern Comfort
Title: Woodstock
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Joni Mitchell
Label: Decca
Year: 1971
Some people prefer the original Joni Mitchell version of Woodstock, while others favor Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's harder rocking version. My own favorite is the one released by Matthews' Southern Comfort in March of 1970. The record almost didn't get released as a single at all. The band's British label, MCA, only agreed to do so when it became apparent that the CSN&Y version was going nowhere on the British charts. The Matthews's Southern Comfort version of Woodstock went to the top of the British charts, despite a lack of promotional support from the label. In November the song was released in the US, eventually making it to the #23 spot in early 1971. By that time, however, the band itself had split up, mainly due to bandleader Ian Matthews' inability to cope with the trappings of having a #1 hit single. Matthews had been a founding member of Fairport Convention, but had left the group in 1969 to concentrate on his songwriting and establishing himself as a solo artist. His first solo album was named Matthews' Southern Comfort, a name he used for the band he formed to record two more albums, Second Spring and Later That Same Year. Woodstock was originally slated to appear on Later That Same Year, but was instead issued separately as a single, a common practice in the UK.
Artist: Ten Years After
Title: Gonna Run
Source: CD: Watt
Writer(s): Alvin Lee
Label: Chrysalis (original label: Deram)
Year: 1970
The fifth Ten Years After album, Watt, was somewhat unfairly criticized by the rock press for being "more of the same" from the British blues-rock band. When "the same" refers to an album of the calibur of Cricklewood Green, however, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Indeed, some tracks, such as Gonna Run, are at least the equal of any song on the previous album, and show a growing awareness on the part of the band of how to use the recording studio creatively.
Artist: Ainsley Dunbar Retaliation
Title: Roamin' And Ramblin'
Source: LP: The Ainsley Dunbar Retaliation
Writer(s): Victor Brox
Label: Blue Thumb
Year: 1968
Drummer Ainsley Dunbar is probably best known for being an integral part of several successful bands, including Journey, Jefferson Starship, Whitesnake and the Mothers Of Invention. His career didn't have such an illustrious start, however. In fact, he was actually fired from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers in 1967 and replaced by Mick Fleetwood. After sitting in on a few early singles by the Jeff Beck Group, Dunbar decided to get even with Mayall by forming the Ainsley Dunbar Retaliation. Dunbar recruited multi-instrumentalist Victor Brox, cited by both Jimi Hendrix and Tina Turner as their favorite white blues singer, to be the band's lead vocalist. Brox, who would later become internationally known for his role as Caiaphas on the original Jesus Christ Superstar album, wrote the band's biggest hit, Warning, along with Roamin' And Ramblin', which closes out the first side of the band's debut LP, released in 1968.
Artist: James Gang
Title: Funk #49/Asshtonpark
Source: CD: James Gang Rides Again
Writer(s): Fox/Peters/Walsh
Label: MCA (original label: ABC)
Year: 1970
Following the release of their first LP, Yer' Album, the James Gang toured extensively, giving them little time to work up material for their followup album. Nonetheless, they managed to turn out a classic with the 1970 release James Gang Rides Again. The album starts with the song that all three band members agree was already worked out by the time they hit the studio, Funk #49. The song (which is probably the band's best known tune) is followed immediately by Ashtonpark, a short instrumental that picks up where Funk #49 fades out (and back in). The track is essentially Joe Walsh, Dale Peters and Jim Fox jamming over an echo effect created by cycling the playback of Walsh's guitar back through the record head of the studio tape recorder.
Artist: Guess Who
Title: American Woman
Source: European import CD: Pure...Psychedelic Rock (originally released on LP: American Woman)
Writer: Bachman/Cummings/Peterson/Kale
Label: Sony Music (original US label: RCA Victor)
Year: 1970
American Woman is undoubtably the most political song ever recorded by the Guess Who, a generally non-political Canadian band. My family was living on Ramstein AFB, which was and is a huge base in Germany with enough Canadian personnel stationed there to justify their own on-base school. From early 1969 until mid-1970 (when we moved back to the States) I found myself hanging out with the Canadian kids most of the time and I gotta tell you, they absolutely loved this song. They also loved to throw it in my face as often as possible. I guess that's what I got for being the "token American" member of my peer group.
Artist: Who
Title: Drowned
Source: CD: Quadrophenia
Writer(s): Pete Townshend
Label: MCA
Year: 1973
The oldest composition on the 1973 Who album Quadrophenia, Drowned was originally written as an ode to the Indian spiritual leader Maher Baba in 1970. The meaning of the song is open to interpretation, with the recorded version featuring the protagonist contemplating suicide. In the song's original form, according to songwriter Pete Townshend, Drowned is actually a love song, with "God's love being the ocean and our 'selves' being the drops of water that make it up".
Artist: Jean-Luc Ponty
Title: Waking Dream
Source: LP: Aurora
Writer(s): Jean-Luc Ponty
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1976
Unlike most of the tracks on Jean-Luc Ponty's 1976 LP, Aurora, Waking Dream is a quiet, contemplative piece, designed to finish out the album's second side. As such, it's an appropriate way to end this week's show as well.
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