Music & makeovers! I swoon for chippy paint, a gorgeous patina and a fabulous song!!! I love great music (read: Bruce Springsteen & Otis Redding), white lilacs, walking in freshly fallen snow, the Golden Girls, road trips and the fall!!!
Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.
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First, let us take a moment to remember that today marks 22 years since 9/11. Prayers for our country and all those still directly affected by the impact of this day. Never forget.
“Raising the Flag at Ground Zero” photograph by Thomas E. Franklin taken on September 11, 2001. (Image found online.)
Now to the music.
In July 2022 I got my tickets to see Bruce in concert on March 12, 2023 in CT. Unfortunately it was cancelled due to illness and rescheduled for September 16. Last week, Bruce revealed he is suffering from peptic ulcer disease so he will need to cancel the rest of his performances for this month, maybe even next. Of course, I am heartbroken but very hopeful he will regain his health soon.
In about two weeks The Boss will celebrate birthday #74. He was born September 23, 1949 in Long Branch, New Jersey and grew up in nearby Freehold. He released his first two albums in 1973: his debut, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., came out on January 5 (read more about that here) and its follow up, The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, which was released 50 years ago today-September 11, 1973-as per The Boss’s website.
These two records predate long time E Streeters-Roy Bittan, Steven Van Zandt and Max Weinberg-who joined the band in time for Bruce’s exquisite third record, Born To Run. But they and two previous members of The E Street Band-Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez and David L. Sancious-were inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame with the rest of the group in 2014. I had the pleasure of attending that show and heard them-with Bruce, of course-perform two songs from the second album: “Kitty’s Back” and “The E Street Shuffle”. I chose today’s track to celebrate the album’s golden anniversary, to honor today being Patriot Day and as a shout out to Bruce recuperating at his residence across the river from my home state of New York.
Happy early birthday, Bossman. Get well soon. Thank you for every note.
“It’s midnight in Manhattan This is no time to get cute It’s a mad dog’s promenade So walk tall or baby don’t walk at all“.
Top: The cover of Springsteen’s second album. Middle: An alternative picture for the album’s back cover (seated: Bruce and Clarence Clemons with Danny Federici standing next to him. Back row (l-r): David L. Sancious, Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez and Garry W. Tallent. Bottom: An alternative picture for the album’s front cover. (Images found online. Original source: David Gahr.)
Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.
(Image found online. Original source unknown.)
In the spirit of the Labor Day holiday, I pay homage to one of the hardest working genres of music which started over six decades ago and remains one of my favorites of all time.
In 1958 Berry Gordy Jr. borrowed $800 from his family (equivalent to about $8,500 today) to start Tamla Records in Detroit, Michigan which became Motown Records. The website does not list an actual date for this event only the year. But many music sites list the founding date as June 7, 1958. Regardless of the actual day it was started, 2023 marks the 65th anniversary of one of the greatest & most soulful styles of music the world ever saw.
Gordy’s affinity for music began when he owned a record store and started composing songs. After co-writing “Reet Petite” for Jackie Wilson and discovering The Miracles in 1957, Gordy was inspired to start his own label (which is owned today by the Universal Music Group) after he received a royalty check for only $3.19 in 1958 after leasing the first two Miracles singles to End Records in New York. Gordy used the knowledge he learned from his time as a Ford automotive worker by using the company’s assembly line philosophy to prepare his artists for musical careers. There were lessons in singing, choreography, stage performance and all night rehearsals of every kind.
Berry Gordy Jr. circa 1961 (top) and circa 2011 (bottom). (Images found online. Original sources unknown.)
From those hallowed halls of Hitsville, USA we were introduced to Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Marvelettes (who had the first #1 hit for the label, the first of today’s three songs), The Supremes, Martha & The Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, Mary Wells, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Junior Walker & The All Stars and more. The label also gave us one of the greatest house bands of all time, The Funk Brothers.
This year two seminal Motown albums celebrate their golden anniversary. Wonder’s sixteenth studio album, Innervisions, was released on August 3, 1973. Gaye’s thirteenth record, Let’s Get It On, was released on August 28, 1973. The title track hit the top spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 on September 8, 1973 for the first of two inconsecutive weeks.
Thank you, Berry Gordy, for the priceless and phenomenal gift of Motown. And to nearly every artist on the label in its first unbelievably great decade, I remain in complete awe of the beauty of your songs.
Top: A Marvelettes compilation album. Middle: Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions album. Bottom: Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On album. (Images found online. Original sources unknown.)
The Marvelettes: “Please Mr. Postman” (1961, written by Robert Bateman, Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Freddie Gorman and Brian Holland).
Hi, everyone. Welcome to another triple play edition of Music Monday.
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Earlier this month we said goodbye to music mogul & co-founder of A & M Records, Jerry Moss, who died on August 16, 2023 at the age of 88. Best known as the “M” of the label to pair with his friend and partner, Herb Alpert, who was the “A”. Together they brought us music by Cat Stevens n/k/a Yusuf Islam, Carole King, The Carpenters, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Peter Frampton, The Police, Janet Jackson, not to mention Alpert and his group, The Tijuana Brass and so many others.
Known for their artist friendly approach and for giving the ruthless recording industry a human touch, Moss and Alpert nurtured their talent and took their label-which started in a garage for $100 in 1962-and grew it to the $500 million dollar empire they sold to PolyGram in 1989. About a decade later, they received an additional $200 million for a breach of the integrity clause. Both Moss and Alpert reminded us that music is not only about the people who create it, but the people in the industry like they were who gave those artists the platform to make music so it would reach the rest of us.
Top: Herb Alpert (L) and Jerry Moss outside their studio in 1966. Middle: Alpert (L), the A to Moss’s (R) M circa 1972. Bottom: Moss with Richard (L) and Karen Carpenter in 1969. (Images found online. Original sources unknown.)
The Allman Brothers Band fourth studio album, Brothers and Sisters, is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Released in August 1973, it was the group’s first full non-live release after two devastating losses: The death of co-founder & guitarist Duane Allman from a motorcycle accident on October 29, 1971 at the age of 24 and the death of bassist Berry Oakley also as a result of a motorcycle crash a year later on November 11, 1972 at the same age of 24.
Thankfully, he recorded two songs for the 1973 album before he died and one of them is today’s second highlighted pick. Written and sung by guitarist Dickey Betts, who will turn 80 later this year on December 12, it was the lead single from the album and features the musician at his best. The track also gave the band commercial success in the traditional sense as it was their only record to hit the Top Ten, peaking at #2 in October 1973.
(Image found online. Original source unknown.)
I am not a fan of rap. It is just not a genre that ever spoke to me. But when Lauryn Hill’s debut solo studio album-The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill-was released on August 25, 1998, it was everywhere so I could not help but take notice of it. Plus the music was not only rap but a blend of that, hip-hop, R&B and neo soul which gave many of her songs a different and unique type of sound. The first time I heard the third of today’s featured songs, I felt like I had been gut punched. I immediately got its message from the pain and honesty Hill expressed in the lyrics and her vocal delivery. It spoke to me and so many women I knew who had found ourselves in similar situations at one point in our lives, so there was no way we could not relate to the power of her writing.
Hill went on to work with Aretha Franklin and a few other artists and released a live album in 2002 (MTV Unplugged No. 2.0). But despite the enormous success of Miseducation (it won five Grammy Awards in 1999, including Album Of The Year), the former Fugees frontwoman never released another studio record. There are a multitude of stories and theories on that subject and I do not want to take part in any speculation. I just know that the song I fell in love with was fabulous and as someone who lives for music, I wish to acknowledge that.
(Image found online. Original source unknown.)
The Carpenters: “Superstar” (1971, written by Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell).
The Allman Brothers: “Ramblin’ Man” (1973, written by Dickey Betts).
Lauryn Hill: “Ex-Factor” (1998, written by Lauryn Hill).
Hi, everyone. Welcome to another triple play edition of Music Monday.
(Image found online. Original source unknown.)
July 12 marked the 80th birth anniversary for the wonderous musician & human, Christine McVie. After the news of her death last year, I posted the following tribute November 30, 2022 on my Instagram page:
Such sad news about the loss of this incredibly beautiful & talented woman. She was one of the first strong female musicians I loved who left an indelible mark on my heart. She wrote & sang her own songs while playing her signature sophisticated brand of piano, keyboards and synthesizer. Her role in Fleetwood Mac was so strong and powerful she started the group’s string of hits in 1975 and kept them going throughout their historic & phenomenal run as one of rock’s greatest bands.
Four of her songs are featured on 1975’s self-titled album & on 1977’s iconic Rumours (not including her co-writing credits on “World Turning” and “”The Chain”, respectively). Her incredibly lovely contralto voice on hits like “Say You Love Me”, “Don’t Stop”, “You Make Loving’ Fun” and others would have never been the same if sung by any other vocalist nor would they have helped define Fleetwood Mac’s sound. Rest in peace to a true musician, artist & performer who contributed such a major part of classic rock history.
Top: Christine <cVie circa 1997. Bottom: Fleetwood Mac circa 1977 (L-R): Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, McVie and her ex-husband, John McVie. (Images found online. Original sources unknown.)
Founding Doobie Brother Tom Johnston celebrated birthday #75 last week. Born August 15, 1948 in Visalia, California, he learned to play guitar around age 12 (he also plays piano & harmonica). By 1970 The Doobie Brothers were formed and released their first album a year later. Their third album, The Captain and Me, celebrated its 50th anniversary earlier this year as it was released March of 1973.
Johnston was the writer and singer behind many of the group’s hits through 1976 when he left for medical reasons. He rejoined them in 1987 and has been with them ever since except for a current break which started earlier this year due to a back injury. My favorite of Johnston’s tunes is the second of today’s songs. It has been my motto & my philosophy on life since the first time I heard it. It was released on the band’s 1972 album, Toulouse Street. This track also closed out my 550 day music marathon during the pandemic.
Top: Tom Johnston circa 2010. Bottom: The 2020 version of The Doobie Brothers (L-R): Johnston, John McFee, Michael McDonald and Patrick Simmons.(Images found online. Original sources unknown.)
The man considered by many to be the greatest rock singer in history also turned 75 this month. Robert Plant was born August 20, 1948 in the UK. Twenty years later he became & is best known as the frontman of the ultimate classic rock band, Led Zeppelin. But in the nearly 45 years since they broke up in 1980, Plant has enjoyed much success as a solo artist, as a member of The Honeydrippers and as a longtime collaborator with country/bluegrass singer and musician, Alison Krauss. The last of today’s featured songs is from Led Zeppelin’s final studio album, In Through the Out Door, released in 1979. Plant is currently on a European tour in yet another collaborative project, Saving Grace.
Top: Robert Plant circa 2010. Bottom: Led Zeppelin circa 1972 (L-R): Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham and John Paul Jones.(Images found online. Original sources unknown.)
Fleetwood Mac: “Over My Head” (1975, written by Christine McVie).
Hi, everyone. Welcome to another triple play edition of Music Monday.
(Image found online. Original source unknown.)
Last month The Band’s debut record, Music from Big Pink, turned 55 years old. Last week, guitarist and songwriter Robbie Robertson passed away at the age of 80. As much as I loved the group as a whole, it was incredibly heartbreaking to see how they became so divided over songwriting credits and money (his 2020 documentary seems to validate his bandmate’s claims against him, not to mention it was conveniently released after three of them-Richard Manuel, Rick Danko and Levon Helm-died so they could not defend themselves). But for a while what those five musicians created together was incomprable. The Band influenced the likes of The Beatles, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Bernie Taupin, U2 and so many others. That leaves the group’s multi-instrumentalist, Garth Hudson who turned 86 on August 2, as the sole surviving member.
The Band circa 1968 (L-R): Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson and Robbie Robertson. (Image found online. Original source unknown.)
Legendary girl group superstar Ronnie Spector was born Veronica Yvette Bennett 80 years ago on August 10, 1943 in New York, NY. She co-founded and sang lead for The Ronettes (which included her older sister, Estelle Bennett, and their cousin, Nedra Talley) who gave us a sound and a style all their own. They played a significant role in 1960’s American music and Spector’s influence was felt by superstars such as Keith Richards, Darlene Love, Steven Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen, amongst many others. Spector’s 1990 memoir, “Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness, Or, My Life as a Fabulous Ronette” (alternatively titled as “Be My Baby: The Autobiography of Ronnie Spector“) is definitely worth the read. Sadly, we lost this incredible woman in 2022.
Bruce Springsteen (center) with Ronnie Spector behind him with The E Street Band circa 1978 (L-R): Danny Federici, Max Weinberg, Steven Van Zandt, Clarence Clemons, Roy Bittan and Gary Tallent.(Image found online. Original source unknown.)
Country star Luke Combs has given a new generation an education in the strength of a great song with his cover of Tracy Chapman’s extraordinary 1988 debut single. It was a #1 hit for her on the Billboard 200 for one week in August that year and Comb’s version is currently #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Back in June the song hit the #1 spot on Billboard’s Country Songwriters chart, making Chapman the first black woman to hit the top of a Country chart as the sole songwriter. It is one of my all-time favorite songs and I think she is a beautiful writer and singer who deserves every accolade that comes her way. Kudos to Combs for bringing this gem back to the charts.
Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs. (Image found online. Original source unknown.)
The Band: “The Weight” (1968, written by Robbie Robertson).
The Ronettes: “Baby, I Love You” (1963, written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich & Phil Spector).
Tracy Chapman: “Fast Car” (1988, written by Tracy Chapman).
Luke Combs: “Fast Car” (2023, written by Tracy Chapman).
Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.
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The Rolling Stones celebrated three major milestones over the last several weeks. I believe that calls for a triple play from the band.
First, their dynamic, enigmatic and legendary frontman celebrated the big 8-0 last month. Sir Michael Philip Jagger was born July 26, 1943 in Dartford, UK. He has been the lead singer of the Stones from the first day they formed the band back in 1962. That is six decades of singing, co-writing the bulk of the group’s songs and taking center stage in every show they have ever performed. A staggering statistic anyway you look at it. He also recorded four solo albums along the way. Happy birthday, Mick Jagger.
In 1973, the Stones released their 13th American studio album, Goats Head Soup. It was released fifty years ago-August 1973-on the band’s own eponymous label which was founded in 1970. Our second feature today is my favorite track off this album and was released as the first single.
Five years later, the band released Some Girls in June 1978. Two months later, the last of today’s three songs hit the #1 spot on the U.S. Billboard chart for one week. The album also includes a salute to one of the Stones’ favorite genres-Motown-with a cover of the Temptations’ “Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)”. After 45 years and despite the controversy surrounding the lyrics on the title track, the album still holds up. But there are not many from The Rolling Stones that don’t.
Top: The band circa 1963 (L-R): front: Jagger and Bill Wyman (front), Brian Jones (center), Charlie Watts and Keith Richards (top). Middle (L-R): Richards and Jagger sometime in the 1970’s. Bottom (L-R): Watts, Richards, Jagger, Ron Wood and Wyman sometime in the 1980’s.(Images found online. Original sources unknown.)
Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.
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Such heartbreaking news last week to learn that former Eagles co-founder, bassist, singer and songwriter Randy Meisner died at age 77. The band was one of my favorite groups when I was growing up but all the fighting really soured me on them. It also bothered Meisner, too, as it was reportedly the main reason for his departure from the group in September 1977, six years after they formed. That and because the band was freezing him out due to his reluctance to be in the spotlight, which never sat well with his ego-driven fame-hungry bandmates and fellow co-founders, Glenn Frey and Don Henley.
Meisner was the one member I always adored. His harmonies were pristine & beautiful, plus his vocals on “Take It To The Limit” (which was the band’s first million-seller, according to a Twitter post by the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame) and today’s song are my top favorite moments by the band. And the latter was written solely by him, a feat one of the primary antagonists for the group-Henley-never accomplished.
Before The Eagles, Meisner did session work for James Taylor and Waylon Jennings in addition to playing with Poco and Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band. After he left the Eagles Meisner released three solo albums, had a few bands of his own including Randy Meisner & the Silverados and The Roberts-Meisner Band, while continuing to play on various tours until 2008. He also contributed to records by Linda Ronstadt, Danny O’Keefe, Dan Fogelberg and Richard Marx, amongst others.
Reportedly Meisner was not invited to participate in the 1994 “Hell Freezes Over” tour indicating that both group’s dictators-Frey and Henley-were still harboring resentment over their former bassist’s decision to quit the band 17 years earlier. In 1999 Meisner supposedly asked to take part in the group’s New Year’s Eve show & was refused. Even in the statement on the band’s website about Meisner’s death, they fail to list his contributions as a songwriter, only his roles as a bassist and vocalist. With Frey out of the picture since his death in 2016, this puts the onus clearly on Il Duce, a/k/a Henley. (In the group’s 2013 documentary, he and and Frey made it clear they seized their self-appointed leadership roles using the philosophy that a band is not a democracy but rather an entity requiring leadership. So they ran the show-period. But it made an already bad situation even worse because both men were constantly fighting with each other, too.)
Randy Meisner on stage circa 1970’s.(Image found online. Original source unknown.)
It is not only passive agressive but ironic since Henley is the only founding member who failed to write any of the group’s songs entirely on his own. And after a review of his five solo studio albums, only one track-a filler one at that-on 1984’s Building the Perfect Beast is credited solely to Henley. Despite how famous he became in the group and as a solo artist, I find his need to constantly cause trouble-whether within the band, against his record company, by attacking YouTube’s practices or whomever annoyed him the day before-to be quite distasteful. Add to that Meisner revealed in an interview in 2000 that he & Bernie Leadon (another co-founder) were initially left out of the financial profits for the band’s “Greatest Hits” record. Both men had to formally pursue their share which was not only ridiculous but essentially fraudulent. It left me feeling nothing but disgust for Henley, a singer & musician I once truly admired, especially for his efforts in establishing The Walden Woods Project.
But he or anyone else who might have tried could not stop Meisner’s prescence with the rest of the group at their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1998. And the man who replaced him-Timothy B. Schmit-was all class in his tribute to Meisner that night, recognizing that his predecessor was the man in the “trenches” with the band. Meanwhile, Frey and Henley stayed as far away as possible from where Mesiner was standing. Then Frey rewrote the narrative about the band’s well documented reputation on fighting (including the petty vicious ones between he and Henley) and said the members got along fine, they just disagreed (read: disagreed with him and Henley). And those members who dared to question the two dictators were eventually dismissed and/or robbed of their rightful profits: Leadon, Meisner and Don Felder, who joined the band in 1974. No wonder the two in charge are known as oppressors.
When I went on my first road trip to Vermont in October 2005, I somehow forgot to include my Hotel California cd in my music stash. Within 24 hours I started to have withdrawals. I needed to hear today’s song so badly that I actually went to a record store (remember those?) to buy another copy of it. I listened to this track so much it was as if Meisner was in the car with me. Well, he was but you know what I mean.
His final years were sadly riddled with both physical and mental challenges, but Meisner was one of the good ones. It was all about the music for him, not the fame or the spotlight. And that should have been respected. Rest in peace, Randy. You will be missed.
“Right or wrong, what’s done is done It’s only moments that you borrow But the thoughts will linger on of the lady and her song When the sun comes up tomorrow“.
Randall Herman Meisner: March 8, 1946-July 26, 2023.
Randy Meisner circa 1970’s.(Image found online. Original source unknown.)
Hi, everyone. Welcome to another triple play edition of Music Monday.
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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 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.
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.
Yusuf Islam in 2014 at his Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in Brooklyn, NY (picture by me).
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.
Otis Redding circa June 1967. (Image found online. Original source unknown.)
Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.
(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“.
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.)
Lilacs & Rust 