Category Archives: Music Monday

Music Monday: July 24, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another triple play edition of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Last Friday we lost the man arguably considered to be the greatest crooner who ever was. And yes, even the Chairman Of The Board-Frank Sinatra-called Tony Bennett “the best singer in the business”. Anthony Dominick Benedetto died July 21, 2023 at the age of 96. A native New Yorker born in Astoria, Queens on August 3, 1926, Bennett was probably the greatest champion for the Great American Songbook and many of the most iconic jazz tunes in history. He sang & recorded with everyone from Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louie Armstrong, Count Basie, Paul McCartney, Elton John, James Taylor, Diana Krall, k.d. lang, Bono and countless others. Bennett’s death closes out one of the longest, most prolific, most important & most beautiful chapters of American music we will ever see again. Thank you, Tony, for every single note.

Tony

Tony Bennett circa 1950. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The woman Bennett considered the greatest singer he ever heard held her last U.S. concert 55 years ago on July 20, 1968. Judy Garland headlined the show, held at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which also featured Count Basie and Jackie Wilson. She performed about 20 songs, leaving everyone in attendance clamoring for more.

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Judy Garland circa 1947. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

This month also marks the 75th birthday for Yusuf Islam f/k/a Cat Stevens. Born Steven Demetre Georgiou on July 21, 1948 in London, England, he began his professional musical career in 1967 with the release of his debut album, Matthew and Son. Aside from a 17 year respite between 1978 and 1995 while he devoted himself to religion and his family, Islam’s career spans over five decades. He remains one of the most beloved and inspirational artists of the 1970’s.

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Yusuf Islam in 2014 at his Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in Brooklyn, NY (picture by me).

Tony Bennett: “When Will The Bells Ring For Me” (1990, written by Charles DeForest).

Judy Garland: “Over The Rainbow” (1939, written by Harold Arlen and Edgar Yipsel “Yip” Harburg).

Yusuf Islam f/k/a Cat Stevens: “Trouble” (1970, written by Cat Stevens n/k/a Yusuf Islam).

Stay safe and well.

Music Monday: July 17, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

It is hard for me to understand that today’s song was actually a demo for another singer. The fact that people did not automatically realize the sheer beauty, power, depth, passion and intensity of Otis Redding’s voice the minute they heard it is unfathomable to me. If ever there was clear tangible evidence that God exists in my world, it is because of Otis Redding.

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Otis Redding circa June 1967. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Otis Redding: “You Left the Water Running” (1966, written by Oscar Franks, Rick Hall and Dan Penn).

Stay safe and well.

Music Monday: July 10, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

If you have been lucky enough to see the latest commercial for Bleu de Chanel with actor Timothee Chalamet, then you know it features one of the most hauntingly beautiful songs of the last six decades by the English band, The Moody Blues.

They formed in 1964 but the track was written by Justin Hayward who joined two years later as the band’s lead vocalist, lead guitarist and primary composer. He wrote the song when he was only 19 years old while the group was on tour in Belgium. His credits include about two dozen of the band’s songs including three others I love, “Tuesday Afternoon”, “Question” and “The Story In Your Eyes”.

Today’s song is an elegant testament to how well a fusion of an incredibly gifted rock band worked with a more formal sound courtesy of The London Festival Orchestra. Add to that Hayward’s polished vocals to his moving and eloquent lyrics, Ray Thomas’s flute arrangement and a remarkable production by Tony Clarke and the song had everything necessary to become the impeccable recording it is.

This band is another that somehow stays on my periphery. And each time I hear one of their unmistakable songs, I ask myself why they did not play a more central role in my musical world. But today’s track illustrates how unforgettable they are in any era.

“Beauty I’d always missed
With these eyes before
Just what the truth is
I can’t say anymore“.

“Gazing at people
Some hand in hand
Just what I’m going through
They can’t understand“.

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Top: The Moody Blues at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in 1970 (L to R): Mike Pinder, Graeme Edge, Justin Hayward, Ray Thomas, John Lodge. Bottom: Justin Hayward circa 2015. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

The Moody Blues: “Nights In White Satin” (1967, written by Justin Hayward).

Stay safe and well.

Music Monday: July 3, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Happy birthday, America. Let freedom continue to ring.

As our great country turns 247 years old, let’s mark the occassion with two takes on the holiday. The first is a not so traditional but unbelievably fabulous rendition of a song celebrating this great land of ours by one of its greatest treasures.

“O beautiful for spacious skies
For amber waves of grain
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea“.

Ray Charles circa 1968. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

And for a fun take, let’s join one of America’s favorite sons in his “boardwalk life” with a stop at a “little seaside bar” to hear one of “Madame Marie’s” fortunes before she gets busted.

“Sandy the fireworks are hailin’ over little Eden tonight
Forcin’ a light into all those stony faces left stranded on this fourth of July
Down in town the circuit’s full of switchblade lovers so fast, so shiny, so sharp
As the wizards play down on Pinball Way on the boardwalk way past dark“.

Bruce Springsteen circa 1985. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Ray Charles: “America The Beautiful” (1976, lyrics written by Katharine Lee Bates, music written by Samuel A. Ward).

Bruce Springsteen: “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” (1973, written by Bruce Springsteen).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: June 26, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Happy 75th birthday to Todd Harry Rundgren who was born June 22, 1948 in Philadelphia, PA. The singer, songwriter, musician and record producer has been part of the music scene for over five decades as a solo performer and as a member of the bands, Nazz and Utopia.

His career has included a few Top 40 hits like “I Saw The Light” (#16 in 1972) and “Can We Still Be Friends” (#29 in 1978). He also produced albums for Hall & Oates, Meatloaf, The New York Dolls, Badfinger and Grand Funk Railroad, amongst others.

Today’s song is from Rundgren’s third solo album, Something/Anything?, which was released in 1972. The track peaked at #5 on the Billboard singles chart nearly 50 years ago in December 1973. The first time this tune came out was in 1968 when Rundgren recorded it with his first band, Nazz. It is a slightly slower version of his solo hit but quite enjoyable as well.

I spotlighted his solo version on Day 388 of my lockdown music countdown. And everything I wrote then (see below) still holds. This song is part of my wonder years. So thank you, Todd Rundgren. And happy birthday.

“A rite of passage for children is their affinity for bubble gum pop music. Every generation has it but if your calling is music like mine was, even during those frivolous years good songs will break through and stay with you for a lifetime. I have written extensively over the last year about the ones that broke through to me. Today’s song is part of that group & can transport back to some of the best days of my childhood in one note. I will love Todd Rundgren forever for this song & the memories I have connected to it.”

“Seeing you or seeing anything as much I do you
I take for granted that you’re always there
I take for granted that you just don’t care
Sometimes I can’t help seeing all the way through“.

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Todd Rundgren performs as a member of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band at Jones Beach in Wantagh, NY in June 2012.  Photo by me.

Todd Rundgren: “Hello It’s Me” (1972, written by Todd Rundgren).

Nazz: “Hello It’s Me” (1968, written by Todd Rundgren).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: June 19, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

I have always swooned for a great singer/songwriter and today’s is no exception. UK artist David Gray’s fourth album, White Ladder, was introduced to the world through a four step process. In November 1998 he released it in Ireland on his own private label. Then in March 1999 it hit the UK and caught the attention of fellow musician Dave Matthews who shared it with US audiences on his own ATO label the same year. Once Warner Brothers East West division got involved in 2000 to release the single, “Babylon”, “the floodgates opened”, per Gray’s website. It went on to report that the single became one of the hits of that summer, the album became a multi-million global phenomenon and Gray’s popularity exploded.

As much as I admire many of his self-penned songs, I also love today’s track which was written and originally released in 1981 by English new wave/pop duo, Soft Cell (on the same album with their big hit, “Tainted Love”). Gray extended his cover by adding lines from two wonderful early Van Morrison songs, “Madame George” and “Into The Mystic”.

Gray’s version is a slowed down, stripped down version free of the synth-pop vibe of Soft Cell’s original. That helped highlight the empowering message of the lyrics sung so beautifully in Gray’s signature laid back reflective style & vibe. It is another example of how a song introduced in one genre can make an even bigger impact in the hands of another artist revisiting a well written tune 20 years later.

“Take your hands off me, hey
I don’t belong to you, you see
And take a look in my face, for the last time
I never knew you, you never knew me“.

David Gray circa 2010. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

David Gray: “Say Hello Wave Goodbye” (1998, written by Peter Mark Sinclair “Marc” Almond, David Ball and Sir George Ivan “Van” Morrison).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: June 12, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

I am woefully behind in streaming many shows and movies, so much so that I will probably never catch up. That has a lot to do with me rewatching the shows I absolutely adore. So really I am OK with waiting to find new ones. Until I stumble upon one that envelops every part of me. Then I am all in.

When I was watching “Veep” during its seven year run (2012-2019), one of the recurring guests I really enjoyed was Hugh Laurie as Senator Tom James. I remember him as Rachel’s airplane seat neighbor on an episode of “Friends” (he broke the news to her that she & Ross were indeed on a break LOL!). I also saw him a lot during several award seasons for his many nominations for his role as the title character in “House” (for which he won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series in 2006 & 2007). But I kept putting off that series. Until now.

It is exactly how every one described-hilarious, sad, touching, quirky, smart, insightful and relatable in more ways than one. And despite the fact that Dr. House acts very much like an adult Eric Cartman most of the time, the doctor’s brilliant diagnostic skills are unmatched by any other medical specialist who might be in a 9,000 mile radius. I fell into the series in the middle when I watched a S5 episode with a friend who told me I was starting with the darkest episode of the series. No spoilers for anyone who has not seen it yet (even though it was broadcast from 2004-2012, but then I was deeply invested in the ABC series, “Lost”). And Laurie is also a musician who plays the piano, guitar and harmonica in the series. How could I not like that?

Like many shows “House” features great acting, great writing, great storytelling and great music. And the episode I started with featured today’s song which fit the arc perfectly. The singer happens to be another guy from New Jersey I am quite fond of, Pete Yorn. His acoustic cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark” made me a fan for life, not to mention so many of Yorn’s original tracks like today’s pick. It is from his incredibly wonderful 2001 debut album, musicforthemorningafter. Every time my intense love of music aligns with my passion for a great series, all is right in my world.

“Stop before you fall into the
Hole that I have dug here
Rest even as you are starting
To feel the way I used to”.

Hugh 1A

Yorn

Top: Hugh Laurie as Dr. House. Bottom: Pete Yorn’s 2001 debut album. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

Pete Yorn: “Lose You” (2001, written by Pete Yorn).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: June 5, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

In January I spotlighted the 50th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen’s debut album. Today the celebration centers around his fourth studio record. Darkness On The Edge Of Town was released 45 years ago on June 2, 1978. It came three years after his breakthrough smash, the masterpiece also known as Born To Run. The delay came from Springsteen’s battle to free himself from the contract with his first manager, Mike Appel, due to conflicts over the direction The Boss’s career should take.

Enter John Landau, the rock critic who befriended the man he called “rock & roll future” in 1974. He has been Springsteen’s manager and ally ever since. Landau co-produced BTR and was the primary producer on all of The Boss’s albums until 2001’s, The Rising.

If BTR was about hope, Darkness expressed what happened when that feeling was gone. One who may “spend your life waiting for a moment that just won’t come”, or those who “walk through these gates with death in their eyes” to kill themselves day by day, piece by piece in the grueling existence of a mind numbing job like one offered by factory life, or those who had nothing but were better off that way because “soon as you’ve got something they send someone to try and take it away” to the ones who “got stuff running ’round my head that I just can’t live down”.

The take away messages seemed clear but empowering in a sense. Springsteen offered some relief by way of his own experience which was to let go of what he had heard his whole life to make way for the new narrative of real life which is that most people exist rather than live. And life was going to be hard enough to live without those false promises mocking you at every turn. Real life was not going from comfort to comfort to get what you wanted, it was about having to fight hard just to get what you needed. The real world was a harsh unflinching one where surviving day to day without that hope meant acknowledging that no one was coming to save you. You had to do that yourself. And the discovery that even if prayers were heard, sometimes the answer was no.

To mark 45 years of this fabulous record, I am sharing two songs today. The first is one of the songs he performed with his ever faithful E Street Band the night he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1999. It is the track from the album that is my go to when I need to remember I have a choice in how I can react to whatever is going on in my head because of the lies life not only wants to tell us but expects us to believe. It is reclaiming your mind, heart and soul. It is yet another example that even when Bruce does not have a solution, he still has an answer. And it takes me away from life long enough to catch my breath and regain my strength in order to return to the struggle.

“Blow away the dreams that tear you apart
Blow away the dreams that break your heart
Blow away the lies that leave you
Nothing but lost and brokenhearted”.

The second song was featured in the 2001 movie, “Prozac Nation”. It is an outtake from the album that has to be one of the most heartbreaking tales Springsteen has ever told. According to his website, the original 1978 full band version of this song was not released until the 2010 album of the same name. Despite leaving this track off Darkness, he was performing it live during that period so fans were clamoring for it to be made available. He recorded a new stripped down version of this song for the 1999 album, 18 Tracks. And it is this simple sparse yet unbelievably elegant track that has completely captivated me from the very first moment I heard it. The melancoly timbre of his voice accompanied only by a solo piano arrangement underscores the sadness and pain of the story he shares with us. It hits me every time I hear it that this man has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. He sings my existence in every note: the good, the bad, the broken and the dark. Yet somehow I am comforted by the knowledge that he gets it. And no matter what, he is my home. My safe place. My constant.

“All my life I fought that fight
The fight that you can’t ever win
Every day it just gets harder to live
The dream you’re believing in”.

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darkness back

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Bruce zz

Top two images: The front and back covers of Springsteen’s 1978 album. Bottom two images: alternate photos taken during the photo shoot for the album. All photos by Frank Stefanko. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

Bruce Springsteen: “The Promised Land” (1978, wriiten by Bruce Springsteen).

Bruce Springsteen: “The Promise” (1999, wriiten by Bruce Springsteen).

Stay safe and well.

Music Monday: May 29, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Courtesy of Huffpost.com: Christian Jacobs, 4, of Hertford, North Carolina, at the grave of his father, Christian James Jacob, during a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on May 25, 2015. JOSHUA ROBERTS/REUTERS

Freedom is not free. May we never forget what it costs or those who have paid the price.

“Home of the free because of the brave”. On befalf of a grateful nation, thank you.

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

“Far between my finished sundown and midnight’s broken toll
We ducked inside the doorways thunder went crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashin’

Flashin’ for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
Flashin’ for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
And for each an’ every underdog soldier in the night
And we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashin'”.

Bob Dylan: “Chimes Of Freedom” (1964, written by Bob Dylan).

Stay safe and well.

Music Monday: May 22, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Today we celebrate three more milestones, the first involving one of my all time favorite shows. It is still an obsession of mine despite the fact that it concluded its six season run 13 years ago. “Lost” ended on May 23, 2010 and I have not been the same since. It changed me in ways I cannot explain except to say a part of me is still on the island with the characters I adore (and even the ones I don’t). I watched it again a few times in the decade after it ended. But during lockdown, I became more passionate than ever about this phenomenal series. If you never watched it and failed to binge it during the pandemic, do it now.

In the broadest reference possible, and at its very core, “Lost” is like “The Island Of Misfit People” who find where they belong. And who they belong with. One of the things the series focused on was the importance of certain numbers, 23 being one of them. So if you have never been to the island, you must-MUST-afford yourself this beautiful experience and make 2023 your year to get “Lost”. You will not regret it. The first of today’s three songs was used in a S3 episode which helped turn it into one of the best scenes ever in a television series. There is no way to watch it and not be moved.

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Three memorable moments from “Lost”: Top: A montage of the glorious van ride in S3. Middle: A scene from S1’s finale, “Exodus”. Bottom: Vincent the dog joins Jack (Matthew Fox) in the jungle in the series finale. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

Rosemary Clooney was born 95 years ago on May 23, 1928 in Maysville, KY. The incomprable vocalist with the velvet & satin sound enjoyed a long career as a big band singer, jazz artist, actress and author. From her less than stable childhood she became a teenage radio singer as one half of the “The Clooney Sisters”. That led to a stint performing with bandleader Tony Pastor. When her sister, Betty, left the act in 1949, Rosemary was on her own in NYC and signed to Columbia Records. There she met Mitch Miller who persuaded her to record, “Come On-A My House”. With that, Rosemary Clooney the star was born.

The song I chose by her ties in with four other women I adore. The incredibly talented Bea Arthur, who was born 101 years ago on May 13, 1922, and the rest of “The Golden Girls” who ended their seven season run 31 years ago on May 9, 1992 (days before Arthur’s 70th birthday). She performed Clooney’s pick as Dorothy Zbornak in S7 E19, “Journey to the Center of Attention”. And talk about timeless-this song was written 100 years ago by the one and only Irving Berlin. I would be remiss not to add that Rosemary’s nephew, the dashing George Clooney, appeared in a GG episode, too: S2 E24, “To Catch A Neighbor”.

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Top: Rosemary Clooney at a Columbia Records recording studio circa the 1950’s. Middle 1: Bea Arthur as Dorothy in “The Golden Girls”. Middle 2: The four GG’s: Dorothy (Bea Arthur), Blanche (Rue McClanahan), Rose (Betty White) and Sophia (Estelle Getty). Bottom (L-R): Another famous Clooney, George. appeared in a S2 episode of The GG along with Joseph Campanella, pictured with McClanahan & White. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Stephanie Lynn Nicks will celebrate birthday #75 this week. She was born May 26, 1948 in Phoenix, AZ. She started her recording career in 1973 as part of a duo with Lindsey Buckingham before he was recruited by Mick Fleetwood to join his band. But Nicks’ boyfriend at the time would not go without her, so they both joined Fleetwood Mac. In 1975 the band’s self-titled album and its first with Nicks, included one of today’s songs and what has arguably become her most beloved track, “Landslide”.

From the group’s #1 iconic Rumours record, Nicks’ song, “Dreams”, became the band’s only #1 single. She started a successful solo career in 1981 with the release of her debut record, “Bella Donna“. That led to her becoming the first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame twice as a performer-first with Fleetwood Mac in 1998 and then in 2019 for her solo work. Nicks is currently on a U.S. tour with dates into 2024.

Stevie circa 1978

Top: Nicks circa 1977 (Image found online. Original source unknown). Bottom: Photo taken by me 9/4/2011 in Wantagh, NY. 

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Three Dog Night: “Shambala” (1973, lead vocal by Cory Wells (February 5, 1941 – October 20, 2015), written by Daniel Moore. Featured in Lost S3 E10, “Tricia Tanaka Is Dead”).

Rosemary Clooney: “What’ll I Do” (2002, written by Irving Berlin).

Fleetwood Mac: “Rhiannon” (1975, written by Stevie Nicks).

Stay safe & well.