https://exchange.prx.org/p/638856
This week we're in pure free-form mode, with a baker's dozen of tasty tracks for your consumption.
Artist: Electric Light Orchestra
Title: Roll Over Beethoven
Source: British import 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Chuck Berry
Label: EMI/Harvest
Year: 1973
The first Electric Light Orchestra single to make the US charts was an edited version of Chuck Berry's Roll Over Beethoven from their 1973 album Electric Light Orchestra II. Although the writing credit on the label is for Chuck Berry only, I always thought Beethoven himself should get some sort of mention (other than the song title). Is his Fifth Symphony in the public domain?
Artist: Mothers
Title: Dirty Love
Source: CD: Apostrophe'/Over-Nite Sensation
Writer(s): Frank Zappa
Label: Ryko (original label: Discreet)
Year: 1973
After a series of experimental and jazz-oriented albums, Frank Zappa returned to rock with a pair of albums that defined the direction his live performances would take in the 1970s and beyond. The first, Over-Nite Sensation, was credited to the Mothers of Invention, and was released in 1973. The second was Apostrophe('), which, although recorded at the same time as Over-Nite Sensation, was released as a Frank Zappa solo album the following year. Both albums combine superb musicianship from the likes of George Clinton and Jean-Luc Ponty with Zappa's unique brand of satiric humor, and are among Zappa's most popular releases. One of the highlights of Over-Nite Sensation, Dirty Love, contains the repeated phrase "The poodle bites, the poodle chews it", which also shows up in a track from the Apostrophe(') album, albeit in a different form. In both cases the refrain is sung by the Ikettes, who were, at Ike Turner's insistence, excluded from the album's musician credits, although they did get paid for their work (but, again at Turner's insistence, at the minimum allowable wage rate, or so Turner was led to believe).
Artist: Deep Purple
Title: Woman From Tokyo
Source: Japanese import CD: Who Do We Think We Are
Writer(s): Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice
Label: Warner Brothers
Year: 1973
Deep Purple's most successful period came to an end with the band's seventh LP, Who Do We Think We Are. The album, released in 1973, was the last for vocalist Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover, both of whom had joined the band three years earlier. Those three years saw the group go from semi-obscurity (especially in their home country) to one of the world's most popular rock bands. Songs like Smoke On The Water and Highway Star had become mainstays of FM rock radio worldwide, but tensions within the band itself were starting to tear it apart. Nonetheless, the final album by the classic lineup of Richie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice featured some of the band's best material, including the LP's opening track, My Woman From Tokyo, which is still heard with alarming regularity on classic rock radio stations.
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: Queen
Title: Sweet Lady
Source: LP: A Night At The Opera
Writer(s): Brian May
Label: Virgin (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1975
There are a lot of really good tracks on the 1975 Queen album A Night At The Opera, but thanks to songs like Bohemian Rhapsody and You're My Best Friend, many of them get overlooked. Brian May's Sweet Lady is one of those overlooked tracks.
Artist: Elton John
Title: Young Man's Blues
Source: 45 RPM single B side
Writer(s): John/Taupin
Label: MCA
Year: 1973
Elton John got away with something, releasing this song on a single, albeit on the B side, in 1973. It remains to be seen whether I also get away with something by playing it on the air in 2026.
Artist: Blind Faith
Title: Sea Of Joy
Source: LP: Blind Faith
Writer(s): Steve Winwood
Label: Atco
Year: 1969
At the time Blind Faith was formed there is no question that the biggest names in the band were guitarist Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker, having just come off a successful three-year run with Cream. Yet the true architect of the Blind Faith sound was actually Steve Winwood, formerly of the Spencer Davis Group and, more recently, Traffic. Not only did Winwood handle most of the lead vocals for the group, he also wrote more songs on the band's only album than any other member. Among the Winwood tunes on that album is Sea Of Joy, which opens side two of the original LP.
Artist: Fraternity Of Man
Title: Don't Bogart Me
Source: LP: Fraternity Of Man
Writer(s): Fraternity Of Man
Label: ABC
Year: 1968
In the late 60s there was a certain disconnect between rock musicians and their audience on the subject of country music. Whereas the youth culture of the time associated it with rednecks and conservative attitudes, their musical heroes often held the country music tradition in high regard. One of the first songs to bridge the gap was Don't Bogart Me from the Fraternity Of Man. The band itself was made up of former members of the Factory, a popular L.A. club band led by Lowell George, and the Mothers of Invention, led by Frank Zappa. Although the band's 1968 LP remains somewhat obscure, Don't Bogart Me itself was made famous by its inclusion in the 1969 movie Easy Rider.
Artist: Leigh Stephens
Title: Drifting
Source: LP: Red Weather
Writer: Leigh Stephens
Label: Philips
Year: 1969
After two albums lead guitarist Leigh Stephens left Blue Cheer to work on solo projects. The resulting album, Red Weather, was recorded in England and included some of the UK's top session players such as Nicky Hopkins. Drifting, a semi-acoustic instrumental piece, is stylistically worlds away from the proto-metal sound of Blue Cheer. To my knowledge Red Weather has never been issued on CD (at least not in the US).
Artist: Buoys
Title: Give Up Your Guns
Source: 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Rupert Holmes
Label: Scepter
Year: 1970
Rupert Holmes wrote the 1970 song Timothy, dealing with cannibalism, specifically to get banned from top 40 radio, thus giving him a measure of notoriety. What he didn't bargain for, however, was the song becoming a hit single anyway, despite the best efforts of the shirts at Scepter Records to convince everyone that "Timothy" was in fact, a mule, and not one of the miners caught in a cave-in. Holmes himself set the record straight in an interview, but by that time the song had hit the #17 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Holmes had intended the song to be recorded by a band called the Glass Prism, who had released an album of Edgar Allan Poe's poetry set to music the previous year. The Glass Prism, however, was under contract to RCA Victor, and was unavailable to record the song. Instead, Holmes chose the Buoys, a band from Scranton, Pennsylvania, who had been signed to, and then virtually ignored by, the New York-based Scepter Records. Holmes, who played keyboards on the song, went on to write several more songs for the Buoys, all of which were from the point of view of someone who had committed some sort of crime. Give Up Your Guns, for instance, is a plea from a bank robber's girlfriend to turn himself in and do his time. Holmes ended up becoming more famous (infamous in some circles) for a song called Escape (The Piña Colada Song) that he released under his own name in 1979.
Artist: Rod Stewart
Title: Handbags And Gladrags
Source: Stereo 45 RPM single
Writer(s): Mike D'Abo
Label: Mercury
Year: 1969
Although not released as a single until 1972, Rod Stewart's version of Handbags And Gladrags actually appeared on his debut LP, The Rod Stewart Album, in late 1969. That same album was released in the UK in early 1970 under the title An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down. The song itself was written by Mike D'Abo, the lead vocalist for Manfred Mann. D'Abo arranged the Stewart version of the song, and played piano on the track as well.
Artist: Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Title: Still...You Turn Me On
Source: CD: Brain Salad Surgery
Writer(s): Greg Lake
Label: Victory (original label: Manticore)
Year: 1973
By 1973, Emerson, Lake & Palmer had established somewhat of a pattern with their albums. Most of each LP was dominated by the bombastic stylings of Keith Emerson's keyboards, supplemented by Greg Lake's bass and vocals (and occasional guitar) and Carl Palmer's percussion work. There was almost always one ballad on the LP, however, that was penned by Lake, and often became the only single released from the album. On the album Brain Salad Surgery that ballad was Still...You Turn Me On. By this time, however, ELP was not even bothering to release singles from their albums, although Still...You Turn Me On did show up as a promo B side in 1974 that was never released commercially.
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