Category Archives: Music Monday

Music Monday: June 24, 2024

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week’s edition of Music Monday.

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Sir Raymond Douglas Davies CBE, more commonly known as Ray Davies, turned 80 this month. Born June 21, 1944 in London, England he is best known as the lead singer, primary songwriter & rhythm guitarist for The Kinks. They were founded in 1963 by he and his brother, Dave. Their debut album was released 60 years ago in 1964 and gave them their first hit, “You Really Got Me”. Ray reinvented himself as an MTV star in the early 1980’s which extended the band’s popularity that lasted for over three decades before they broke up in 1997.

Davies, who was knighted in 2017, has received numerous awards and accolades as a performer and songwriter, including a 2014 play based on his life that was named after a Kinks song, “Sunny Afternoon”.

Ray

Ray Davies photographed in 2011 for The Guardian. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Original MTV VJ Nina Blackwood has said that John Waite wrote his biggest hit, “Missing You”, about her.  I do not know if that is true, but we really should thank whomever he did write it about because that experience gave us one of the best broken heart songs out there.  It was released 40 years ago on June 23, 1984. It went to #1 that September for 1 week and came with an equally impressive video. I have loved this song forever and featured it during my Lockdown Countdown on Day 84.

Bluegrass-country artist Alison Krauss covered the song with Waite in 2007. He recorded an acoustic version for his 2004 album, The Hard Way. A documentary by the same name was recorded during the pandemic and released in 2022.

John Waite

John Waite circa 2010. (Image found on his website).

Prince’s sixth studio album, Purple Rain, was released forty years ago on June 25, 1984. It was the soundtrack to the movie of the same name that premiered a month later which served as the singer & multi-talented performer’s acting debut. The album spent 24 weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart and made hits out of the title track (peaked at #2 that year), “When Doves Cry” (#1 for five weeks that year), “Let’s Go Crazy” (#1 for two weeks that year) and “I Would Die 4 U” (peaked at #8 in 1985).

Prince was already a widely popular artist, but the album & the film took him to a level of stardom that was beyond massive. And he deserved every accolade he received. Both projects showed his range, talent, passion, discipline and soul. The title track became so incredibly popular we even heard Sophia singing along to it on “The Golden Girls” while playing air guitar in the season one episode, “That Was No Lady”. Leave it to a little old lady from Brooklyn by way of Sicily to give the legend from Minneapolis such a worthy tribute.

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(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The Kinks: “All Day And All Of The Night” (1964, written by Ray Davies).

John Waite: “Missing You” (1984, written by John Waite, Mark Leonard and Charles Sandford).

Prince & The Revolution: “Purple Rain” (1984, written by Prince).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: June 17, 2024

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week’s edition of Music Monday.

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If I could go back in time to experience music as a full fledged adult, I would choose 1967. Why? For the first 11 months of that year, all of my great musical loves were making music in the universe.

January: The Doors released their debut album which introduced one of America’s greatest bands and the poetry of Jim Morrison to the world.

Doors

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

April: Marvin Gaye finished recording sessions for the biggest hit of his career, “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”, furthering his reign as one of the world’s greatest voices & Motown’s legacy as one of music’s most soulful genres.

Marvin

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

May: The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Beatles

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

June: Otis Redding stole the show at the Monterey Pop Festival.

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(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

November: Eric Clapton was a member of Cream and they released Disraeli Gears.

Cream

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Ongoing: Bruce Springsteen was in his first band, The Castiles. And 1967 was the year that Elton John and Bernie Taupin answered the same ad for songwriters that brought them together, forming one of the greatest partnerships music has ever had.

Castiles

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Bernie Taupin (L) and Elton John (R) circa 1967. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Redding’s performance took place 57 years ago on June 17, 1967. He sang five songs: “Try A Little Tenderness”, “Respect”, “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”, a cover of The Stones’ “Satisfaction” and today’s pick. Redding used every ounce of energy he had for the 20 minute set where he exhibited nothing but pure unadulterated joy on that stage. And his achingly impassioned vocal just shattered the bar for any singer who followed him because no one could come close to his ability for expressing every emotion he had in every note he sang. It was the highlight of a tragically short career that helps in keeping Redding the legend he remains more than five decades after his death. If I could attend ANY show in history, this would be the one.

The entire concert is available on Max along with the stand alone videos of both Redding’s and Jimi Hendrix’s performances from the shows as well. They are well worth every second of your time.

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Otis Redding on stage during the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Otis Redding: “Shake” (Live performance at The Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967. Originally recorded in 1965. Written by Sam Cooke).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: June 10, 2024

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

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Rock & roll singer Gary Levone Anderson-better known as Gary U.S. Bonds-just celebrated birthday #85. He was born June 6, 1939 in Jacksonville, Florida and began singing in church as a child. He followed that by performing with some groups before setting out on his own. He is known for his hits “New Orleans” and “Quarter to Three” in 1960 and “School Is Out” from 1961.

Twenty years later, Bonds had a career resurgence courtesy of Bruce Springsteen. He had a few songs that were not used on his 1980 double album, The River, so he gave them to Bonds: The title track, “Dedication”(the album peaked at #27 in 1981), “Your Love” and “This Little Girl”, which became a Top Twenty hit in April of the same year. Steven Van Zandt contributed the song, “Daddy’s Come Home” and was one of the album’s producers along with Bonds, Springsteen and Rob Parissi, who was formerly the front man of the group Wild Cherry (he wrote their 1976 #1 hit, “Play That Funky Music”) .  

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Top: Gary U.S. Bonds in 1961. Bottom: His 1981 album. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

William Royce “Boz” Scaggs was born in Canton, Ohio 80 years ago on June 8, 1944. The singer, songwriter & guitarist played with friend Steve Miller several times, including a stint as his band’s lead singer in the late 1960’s. Scaggs eventually became a solo performer who achieved success in the 1970’s with hits like “Lido Shuffle” and “Look What You’ve Done To Me”, then “Miss Sun” and “Heart Of Mine” in the 1980’s. The musicians Scaggs chose for his 1976 album, Silk Degrees, went on to form the band, Toto. Scaggs was also the owner of two San Francisco clubs, The Blue Lights & Slim’s but his jazz & blues infused sound is what he is best known for.

Boz circa 1969
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Top: Boz Scaggs circa 1969. Bottom: Scaggs circa 2000. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

I cannot believe it has been nearly 20 years ago since I first discovered Amos Lee. The singer-songwriter who hails from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania released his debut album in March 2005 and I fell in love with his sound especially through the songs “Colors” and “Arms of a Woman”. I had the opportunity to see Lee in concert in 2014 at a small venue on Long Island. He did not disappoint.

Today’s song is from his 2011 album, Mission Bell. I just discovered a new version of this song which he added to his YouTube channel last year. It features an absolutely exquisite string arrangement and I am completely obsessed with it.

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Amos

Top: Amos Lee circa 2000 & 2024, bottom. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

Gary U.S. Bonds: “Jole Blon” (1981, traditional, arranged by Michael Hurley and Moon Mullican).

Boz Scaggs: “Lowdown” (1976, written by Boz Scaggs and David Paich).

Amos Lee: “Violin” (2011, written by Amos Lee).

Amos Lee: “Violin” (With strings. 2023, written by Amos Lee).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: June 3, 2024

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week’s edition of Music Monday.

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Patricia Louise Holt, better known as the iconic Patti LaBelle, celebrated birthday #80 last month. Born on May 24, 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she was another R&B performer who began singing in church as a child. Her self-titled group, LaBelle, had a #1 hit in 1975 with “Lady Marmalade”. She went solo in 1977 and had hits with “New Attitude”, “If You Asked Me To” and a #1 duet with Michael McDonald in 1986. In addition to her music career which earned her two Grammy Awards, she has also acted, written her autobiography, several cookbooks and is well regarded as a fashion & style guru.

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Patti LaBelle circa 2000. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Another musical legend turned 80 in May. Gladys Maria Knight was born May 28, 1944 in Atlanta, Georgia. Regarded as “The Empress Of Soul”, the multiple Grammy Award winner is best known as the lead singer of Gladys Knight & The Pips, who were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1996. She has enjoyed a solo career which includes her performance on the 1985 song, “That’s What Friends Are For”, film & TV acting roles, multiple honors and accolades for her status as one of the greatest singers of all time.

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Gladys Knight circa 2022. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The self-titled debut studio album by supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash was released 55 years ago on May 29, 1969 by Atlantic Records. Each member established themselves in the groups The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and The Hollies, respectively, but together their songs and harmonies put them in their own lane where they made musical history. Even when they were joined by occasional fourth member Neil Young, it is the three core members who are best known as one of the greatest folk rock groups of all time. And their very first album started that legacy.

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(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald: “On My Own” (1986, written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager).

Gladys Knight & The Pips: “Neither One Of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)” (1972, written by Jim Weatherly).

Crosby, Stills & Nash: “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” (1969, written by Stephen Stills).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: May 27, 2024

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week’s edition of Music Monday.

Memorial Day

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Forty years ago Bruce Springsteen’s phenomenal seventh studio album broke through to the mainstream and turned him into megastar. Born in the U.S.A., which was released on June 4, 1984 by Columbia Records, spent four consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart a month later. It reclaimed the top spot again in January 1985 for 3 straight weeks.  

Seven of the 12 songs-“Dancing In The Dark”, “I’m On Fire”, “Cover Me”, “Glory Days”, “My Hometown”, “I’m Going Down” & the title track-became Top Ten hits. But all 45 minutes of the album solidified Springsteen’s place in music and pop culture history as it took on a life of its own, thanks in large part to five performance videos that were in heavy rotation on MTV.

To celebrate the record’s 40th anniversary and in honor of those who gave their lives in service to our country, below is my post from Memorial Day 2022.

Mem Day 2024

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Today we pause to honor those who made the greatest sacrifice for our country, our privilege & our way of life. But let us not forget their family, friends and those they fought beside who were left behind as well. They live with that loss every day, not just on Memorial Day. It makes the phrase, “we don’t know them all, but we owe them all” resonate with even more meaning. Thank you to all the heroes & those who will carry them in their hearts and minds always.

When Bruce Springsteen released his 1984 career changing album, I remember reading a review that said in one verse from the title track, The Boss probably gave us the best definition of war ever put into words. And it is not defined by location, generation or ideology. It is defined by duty, sacrifice, bravery, honor and loss. And giving everything you have in the name of freedom.

“I had a brother at Khe Sanh
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They’re still there
He’s all gone“.

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USA back

The front & back covers of Bruce Springsteen’s iconic 1984 album. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

Bruce Springsteen: “Born In The U.S.A.” (1984, written by Bruce Springsteen).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: May 20, 2024

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

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Fifty years ago Steely Dan released their third studio album. Pretzel Logic made its debut in February 1974. The band was formed by core members Walter Becker (1950-2017) on guitar and bass & Donald Fagen on keyboards. Both men, who met when they were students at Bard College in New York, also shared songwriting duties. The album also featured one of the group’s earlier members and future Doobie Brother, Jeffrey “Skunk” Baxter, on guitar and Jim Gordon of Derek & The Dominos on drums.

By May of 1974, the first single from the album became a Top Ten hit on Billboard’s Hot 100. It is highlighted by an incredible musical arrangement including the use of a flapamba, a great lead vocal by Fagan, backing vocals by future Eagles bassist Timothy B. Schmit and a smoking guitar solo by Baxter. No wonder the track become the best selling single of Steely Dan’s career to date.

“I have a friend in town he’s heard your name
We can go out driving on Slow Hand Row
We could stay inside and play games I don’t know
And you could have a change of heart“.

Pretzel Logic
Steely Dan

Top: The band’s 1974 album. Bottom: Steely Dan circa 1974 (L-R): Denny Dias, Walter Becker, Donald Fagen, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter and Jim Hodder. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

Steely Dan: “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” (1974, written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: May 13, 2024

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

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(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The world has officially been listening to The Rolling Stones for six decades. Their first album was released 60 years ago in April 1964. It included covers of songs written by Willie Dixon (“I Just Want to Make Love to You”), Buddy Holly (“Not Fade Away”) and Rufus Thomas (“Walking The Dog”), along with one track written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (“Tell Me (You’re Coming Back)”).

We are blessed to still have both of those men from the group’s original lineup. As for the others, drummer Charlie Watts passed away in 2021, multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones died in 1969 and bassist Bill Wyman retired in 1993.

When Jones placed an ad looking for musicians to form a band in 1962, he envisioned it to be one with a blues sound. But once the Jagger-Richards songwriting partnership took off, the group’s songs shifted more towards rock music. That and some other problems amongst the three men in addition to personal issues Jones was allegedly having led to him being fired from the band a month before his death in July 1969. He was, however, inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame along with his former bandmates in 1989.

But 25 years earlier, The Stones self-titled debut album introduced us to another band from England that shared their love of American music with us. And in 1964, nothing expressed that more than a cover of a Motown song, originally released in the fall of 1963 by my great musical love, Marvin Gaye. And The Stones answered the question asked in that song on the same album with the group effort, “Now I’ve Got a Witness”, which was credited to the band’s collective pseudonym of Nanker Phelge. Ladies & gentlemen, The Rolling Stones.

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The Stones 1964 self-titled debut album (L-R): Brian Jones, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and Mick Jagger. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The Rolling Stones: “Can I Get A Witness” (1964, written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: May 6, 2024

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

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Today marks my dad’s 85th birth anniversary. This was one of his favorite songs. It peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in August 1975. It is from the album released the same year, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. Even now, our love for Elton John keeps us connected.

“It’s four o’clock in the morning
Damn it listen to me good
I’m sleeping with myself tonight
Saved in time
Thank God my music is still alive“.

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(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Elton John: “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” (1975, written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: April 29, 2024

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

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(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

On January 16, 1964 a little club opened opened on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California. Singer Johnny Rivers was the first performer at The Whisky a Go Go that night. Over the last 60 years hundreds of acts have followed including legendary bands like Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac and Guns ‘N’ Roses. Many of my great musical loves played there as well including Otis Redding, Elton John and The Doors. In fact, the latter were discovered there during their four month stint in 1966 and signed to a contract with Elektra Records.

Their self-titled debut album, released in January 1967, was an instant smash. It included a blues cover-Willie Dixon’s “Back Door Man”-along with original tracks like “Break On Through (To the Other Side)”, “The Crystal Ship” and the #1 hit, “Light My Fire”.

As much as I love this album, I tend to listen to the band’s subsequent ones more because of songs like “Roadhouse Blues”, “L.A. Woman” and “Hello, I Love You”. Then a random online poll asked for the best last track on an album. My usual answer is Bruce Springsteen’s “Jungleland”, a nine minute rock opera which is not only my favorite song of all time, it closed out the 1975 masterpiece, Born To Run.

But then I remembered the epic last track on The Doors first album. An unbelievably haunting, fearless, disturbing, brave and alarming saga set to music. Part song, part spoken word in a musical odyssey that takes us from the sublime (the music, Morrison’s incredibly rich baritone voice) to the shocking (an exploration of the Oedipal complex) while an unbelievably mesmerizing guitar riff flows throughout bookmarked with intense drumming and a remarkable organ & Fender piano bass arrangement. It is an experience, not just a tune.

To have the courage to write and record a psychedelic song of this magnitude is unbelievable enough, but to put it on your first record is just as bad ass as it gets. And it made its debut at The Whisky in 1966. For eleven & a half minutes, the listener is paralyzed into a hypnotic haze inside Jim Morrison’s mind which in this case was not an easy place to go. But what a stunning ride it was and continues to be.

“Can you picture what will be?
So limitless and free
Desperately in need of some stranger’s hand
In a desperate land“.

Whisky circa 1966
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The Doors 1970

Top: The Whisky A Go Go in 1966, the year The Doors were discovered there. Middle: The Doors circa 1966 (L-R): Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek). Bottom: The band circa 1970 (L-R): Krieger, Morrison (back), Densmore and Manzarek. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

The Doors: “The End” (1967, written by The Doors: John Densmore, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: April 22, 2024

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

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(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

“When it’s time for leavin’ I hope you’ll understand”.

The world said goodbye to another Brother last week. Forrest Richard Betts, better known as Dickey Betts, died on April 18, 2024 at the age of 80. He was a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band and the one who took on the daunting task of moving the band forward after the death of its other extraordinary player, Duane Allman. Betts was one of the greatest soulful blues guitarists out there and was the writer behind such classics as “Ramblin’ Man”, “Blue Sky” and “Jessica”.

I know how blessed he was for spending eight decades on this earth and how lucky we were to have him, but this loss just cuts so incredibly deep. Gregg Allman and Betts’ voices were the two recognizable ones from that band and now they are both gone. Sigh. Yet, I can only imagine the endless jam that is taking place now that he is back with Duane, Berry, Butch and Gregg. Rest easy with all of them for all eternity, Dickey. Thank you for every note.

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Dickey Betts circa 1995. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The Youngbloods are best known for their 1967 peace & love anthem, “Get Together”. But for me, it is their third album, 1969’s Elephant Mountain, that has the best song of their career. It was written and sung by the group’s primary vocalist and songwriter, Jesse Colin Young,

The track has been covered over two dozen times, most notably by by Mott The Hoople on their 1972 album, Brain Capers and Robert Plant for his 2002 release, Dreamland. For as good as those versions are, there is a sense of urgency in the original that is unmatched even 55 years later due to its powerful vocal and incredibly intense guitar riffs. The track also features an evocative fiddle/violin arrangement by musician David Lindley and not Charlie Daniels, who produced the album.

“Darkness darkness long and lonesome
Ease the day that brings me pain
I have felt the edge of sadness
I have known the depth of fear“.

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Top: Jesse Colin Young circa 1969. Middle: Young circa 2015. Bottom: The Youngbloods in 1967 (L-R): Jesse Colin Young, Jerry Corbitt, Joe Bauer and Lowell “Banana” Levinger. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

The Allman Brothers Band: “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed” (1970, written by Dickey Betts).

The Youngbloods: ”Darkness, Darkness” (1969, written by Jesse Colin Young). 

Stay safe & well.