https://exchange.prx.org/p/596097
This week we break our all-time record by squeezing 15 tunes (plus a short George Carlin comedy clip) into a one-hour show. And no, we don't expect or even want to do that ever again.
Artist: Beach Boys
Title: You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone
Source: CD: Good Vibrations-Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys (originally released on LP: Carl And The Passions-"So Tough")
Writer(s): Wilson/Rieley
Label: Capitol (original label: Brother)
Year: 1972
1972 saw the Beach Boys going through a period of instability. Brian Wilson had all but relinquished artistic control of the band to his brother Carl while pursuing other interests. Longtime member Bruce Johnston had just quit the band, and Carl had decided to spice up the group's sound with the addition of guitarist Blondie Chaplin. Adding to the band's problems was the fact that drummer Dennis Wilson was temporarily out of commission due to a hand injury, necessitating the addition of Rikki Fataar (who had been Champlin's bandmate in South Africa) as well. The opening track on the album Carl And The Passions-"So Tough" encapsulizes all these elements in one song. Co-written by Brian Wilson, You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone is the only song on the album to be produced by the band's original leader. Vocals on the song, however, are by Carl Wilson, with Fataar on drums and guest musician Douglas Dillard on banjo. In an effort to help sales, Carl And The Passions-"So Tough" was packaged as a double LP, with a reissued Pet Sounds as the second disc. It still was not a major seller and is generally overlooked by Beach Boys afficianados.
Artist: David Bowie
Title: Bombers
Source: CD: Sound+Vision Sampler (originally released as bonus track on CD reissue of Hunky Dory)
Writer: David Bowie
Label: Ryko
Year: Recorded 1971, released 1990
When CDs fist started coming out in the mid 1980s, the track lineups were the same as the album versions. One of the first companies to include bonus tracks was Ryko with its Sound+Vision series of remastered David Bowie albums in 1990. Bombers was an unissued 1971 recording that appeared for the first time on the remastered Hunky Dory CD.
Artist: Foghat
Title: Fool's Hall Of Fame
Source: LP: Foghat (promo copy)
Writer(s): Dave Peverett
Label: Bearsville
Year: 1972
Following the release of the 1970 album Looking In, Savoy Brown bandleader Kim Simmonds decided to take the group in an entirely new direction for their next album, Street Corner Talking. The rest of the members of the band, however, resisted the change, and Simmonds fired the lot of them. The three of them, "Lonesome" Dave Peverett, Tone Stevens and Roger Earl then recruited guitarist Rod Price (formerly of Black Cat Bones) to form a new band, Foghat, in 1971. Their self-titled debut LP was released in 1972. In addition to outstanding versions of blues classics like I Just Want To Make Love To You, the album features several original tunes, mostly credited to Peverett, including Fool's Hall Of Fame. Foghat would go on to have a long and successful career over the next decade, turning out such classics as Slow Ride and Third Time Lucky.
Artist: Black Sabbath
Title: Black Sabbath
Source: CD: Black Sabbath
Writer(s): Iommi/Osbourne/Butler/Ward
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1970
This track has to hold some kind of record for "firsts". Black Sabbath, by Black Sabbath, from the album Black Sabbath is, after all, the first song from the first album by the first true heavy metal band. The track starts off by immediately setting the mood with the sound of church bells in a rainstorm leading into the song's famous tri-tone (often referred to as the "devil's chord") intro, deliberately constructed to evoke the mood of classic Hollywood horror movies. Ozzy Osborne's vocals only add to the effect. Even the faster-paced final portion of the song has a certain dissonance that had never been heard in rock music before, in part thanks to Black Sabbath's deliberate use of a lower pitch in their basic tuning. The result is something that has sometimes been compared to a bad acid trip, but is unquestionably the foundation of what came to be called heavy metal.
Artist: Quicksilver Messenger Service
Title: Hope
Source: LP: Anthology (originally released on LP: Quicksilver)
Writer(s): Chet Powers, aka Dino Valenti
Label: Capitol
Year: 1971
According to legend, Quicksilver Messenger Service was originally the brainchild of Dino Valenti and John Cipollina (and possibly Gary Duncan). The day after their first practice session Valenti got busted and spent the next few years in jail for marijuana possession. Meanwhile, Cipolina and Duncan decided to go ahead with the group and soon recruited bassist David Freiberg and guitarist Skip Spence. The group worked on material during off hours at the Matrix, a club created and managed by singer Marty Balin. Balin was in the process of putting together his own band and managed to convince Spence to switch to drums and join what would become Jefferson Airplane. To make up for stealing one their new bandmates, Balin introduced the remaining trio to drummer Greg Elmore and guitarist–singer Gary Duncan, whose band the Brogues had just called it quits. They still didn't have a name when they played their first gig in December of 1965, but Freiberg and new member Jim Murray figured out that all five members of the band had an astrological connection to the planet Mercury, which in turn led to them adopting the name Quicksilver (another name for Mercury) Messenger (the assigned task of the Roman god Mercury) Service. Murray ended up leaving the band in 1967, leaving the remaining quartet to build up a solid following over the next few years. Duncan temporarily left the group following their second LP, Happy Trails, and was replaced by British keyboardist Nicky Hopkins for the album Shady Grove. The following year Valenti was released from San Quentin and he Duncan rejoined the band for the simultaneous recording of the band's next two albums in Hawaii. More personnal changes resulted in Valenti and Duncan becoming the band's driving force for their 1971 album Quicksilver, with Valenti handling the bulk of the songwriting, including the song Hope. Various lineups continued to perform and occasionally record as Quicksilver Messenger Service for the remainder of the decade, with the group officially disbanding in 1979.
Artist: Doobie Brothers
Title: Toulouse Street
Source: CD: Toulouse Street
Writer(s): Patrick Simmons
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1972
Athough it was the songs of Tom Johnston (in the early 70s) and Michael McDonald (in the late 1970s) that defined the sound of the Doobie Brothers, it is guitarist/vocalist Patrick Simmons that provides continuity for the group he helped found in 1970. One of his many songs the band has performed is Toulouse Street, the title track of the Doobie Brothers' second LP.
Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Title: Lost In The Flood
Source: LP: Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen
Label: Columbia
Year: 1973
Lost In The Flood is a song about people who are just trying to survive in a world that is just too much for them to fully comprehend. Those people include a "ragamuffin gunner", a "pure American brother", "sailors in satin shirts", "the whiz-bang gang" and others, including "some kid" who gets shot in a gun fight. Powerful stuff from Bruce Springsteen's debut LP, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Title: Tumbling Dice
Source: Mono 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Jagger/Richards
Label: Rolling Stones
Year: 1972
The lead single from what is sometimes cited as the Rolling Stones' greatest album, Exile On Main Street, Tumbling Dice was a top 10 single on both sides of the Atlantic, hitting #5 in the UK and #7 in the US. The song started off as a piece called Good Time Woman, but was reworked on August 4, 1971, with a new intro riff and a bass track played by Mick Taylor (Bill Wyman being away from the studio at the time the track was recorded). For some odd reason all copies of the US single of Tumbling Dice were labeled as mono (although at least some of them were actually stereo pressings, while the B side, Sweet Black Angel, was in stereo. Ironically, Tumbling Dice was the first British Rolling Stones single to come out in stereo.
Artist: Doors
Title: (You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further
Source: CD: Weird Scenes Inside The Goldmine (originally released as 45 RPM single B side)
Writer(s): Willie Dixon
Label: Elektra/Rhino
Year: 1971
The Doors only released three non-album tracks during their existence, one of which was recorded after the death of vocalist Jim Morrison. The newer of the two that did feature Morrison, (You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further, was issued as the B side of Love Her Madly, and was released ahead of the L.A. Woman album in 1971. The tune, originally released by Muddy Waters in 1956, was one of several blues covers recorded during the L.A. Woman sessions. The song first appeared in album form in 1974 on the LP Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mine, but remained unavailable on CD until 2006, when it appeared on the Perception box set. Weird Scenes was finally reissued on CD in 2014.
Artist: Earth Disciples
Title: Spirit Of The Bells
Source: LP: Getaway Train
Writer(s): Austin/Reid/Holloway
Label: Solid State
Year: 1970
There is no question that 1970 was a year of experimentation in music. The surface implication of such a statement might lead you to think of bands like Tangerine Dream, who were trying out all kinds of new electronic effects, or Renaissance, who were taking a classical approach to rock. But there were other types of experiments going on as well. New radio formats were developing. Artists were looking at new hybrid genres to explore, such as jazz-rock and soul-funk. One band that went that route was Earth Disciples from the Chicago area. Co-led by guitarist Jimmy Holloway (who also did some keyboard work), Earth Disciples were fond of jazz experimentation, which can be heard on even the mellower instrumental tracks such as Spirit Of The Bells. As to what happened to the band, your guess is as good as mine.
Artist: Steely Dan
Title: I Got The News
Source: CD: Aja
Writer(s): Becker/Fagen
Label: MCA (original label: ABC)
Year: 1977
Both Walter Becker and Larry Carlton got to do guitar solos on I Got The News. The track appeared on the 1977 Steely Dan album Aja, which turned out to be the duo's highest-charting album.
Artist: Edgar Winter Group
Title: Easy Street
Source: 45 RPM single (promo)
Writer(s): Dan Hartman
Label: Epic
Year: 1974
Edgar Winter's saxophone and lead vocals take center stage on Easy Street, the second track on the 1974 album Shock Treatment. The underappreciated song, written by longtime Edgar Winter Group member Dan Hartman, was released as a single but stalled out at #83 on the pop singles chart. The tune was also covered by David Lee Roth on his 1985 solo debut EP Crazy From The Heat.
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: Eric Clapton
Title: Easy Now
Source: 45 RPM single B side (originally released on LP: Eric Clapton)
Writer(s): Eric Clapton
Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year: 1970
When it comes to Eric Clapton's Easy Now (from his first solo album), the word most often used by critics is "underrated". The song was never intended to be a hit single. In fact, it was released as a B side, not once but twice, in 1970 (paired with After Midnight) and 1972 (paired with Let It Rain). Nonetheless, the highly erotic tune holds up better than most of the tracks on the album itself, and has been singled out as one of the best songs Clapton ever wrote. Easy Now was also included on the 1972 LP Eric Clapton At His Best.
Artist: Crosby, Stills And Nash
Title: Pre-Road Downs
Source: CD: Crosby, Stills And Nash
Writer(s): Graham Nash
Label: Atlantic
Year: 1969
The 1969 LP Crosby, Stills And Nash is considered one of the strongest debut albums in rock history, as well as one of the most influential. Against a backdrop of guitar-dominated blues-based jam-oriented bands, CSN shifted the emphasis to vocal harmonies and highly personal lyrics, creating a template for the singer-songwriter movement of the early 70s as well as the so-called California Sound (as typified by the Eagles, Jackson Browne and others) in the latter part of the decade and beyond. One of the harder rocking songs on that first album is Pre-Road Downs, a Graham Nash tune about the various highs and lows associated with touring with a rock band.
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