Got quite a few responses after The Sunday Comments ran yesterday ...
so I wanted to get a quick jump on a few of these:
so I wanted to get a quick jump on a few of these:
re: ANDREW GOLD:
Kent, How weird about Andrew Gold! Last Thursday (he night before he died), I was bored and decided to tape some of my vinyl on to cassette tapes. One of the albums I picked songs from was a 2-LP K-tel Set called "Super Star Collection". One of the songs on it was "Lonely Boy". I listened and taped it, thinking what a good song it is. Of course, "Thank You For Being a Friend" is one of my faves, too. Very sad. Ed So sad to hear of Andrew Gold's passing. Just last week he joined my "Byrds Enthusiasts" Facebook Page and added a couple of cool comments. As you know, Andrew was a HUGE follower of the Byrds and even put together a Byrds Tribute Band. Here's a tune Andrew did that sounds just like it could have been taken off an early Byrds album: "Somewhere in Space and Time" Wild Bill Cody >>>Andrew Gold, the Burbank, California native who recorded the hits "Lonely Boy" (#7 - 1977) and "Thank You For Being A Friend" (#25 - 1978) died of an apparent heart attack Friday (June 3) at the age of 59. (Ron Smith) >>>I was REALLY sad to hear this one ... I always liked Andrew Gold. I first became familiar with his work through his incredible guitar work on Linda Ronstadt's #1 Hit Record "You're No Good" ... and was SO pleased when he started to have hits on his own: "Lonely Boy" (#3, 1977) and "Thank You For Being A Friend" (#11, 1978). kk This is the biggest loss of musical talent I have read about in quite some time. Andrew Gold was one of the greatest talents of my time! Thanks to my brother Bill, I have his autograph and have emailed with him a few times over the years. His music was the best out there in the late 70's. Certainly, his two big hits will be known and played forever, but his albums (particularly "All This and Heaven Too" and "What's Wrong With This Picture") are some of the best I have ever heard in my life. It is a tragic loss to music. In recent years, he has had a great album out on his own of 60's sounding material (Doug first told me about this one) and for some time, his website had been a "work in progress" that never got completed. Altho his success vaulted him into a TV appearance on "Saturday Night Live" in 1980, performing his then new single, his career suddenly seemed to vanish. Yet, with the internet, interested parties became enriched again by his great music he was still producing without record label support. If you did not witness his great music of the 70's first time around, I suggest you try the two albums I listed above. Last year, at my brother's prodding, I made a list out of my Top 200 faves of the eras 1970 - 1974, 1975 - 1979 and the 80's. From the 75 - 79 list, Andrew held the below spots with these incredible songs. He could have easily had more, but he had to share. Andrew, rest in peace and thanks for sharing your music with us all! Clark Besch 3 Never Let Her Slip Away (a huge UK hit) 6 Thank You For Being a Friend 12 Lonely Boy 14 One of Them is me 56 Oh Urania 62 Still You Linger on 135 Endless Flight Just saw this interview with Andrew's daughter: re: THESE SONGS ARE JUST TOO GOOD FOR WORDS!: Just the other day I was reading about a brand new CD Series that Eric Records is releasing ... EVERY Top 100 Instrumental Hit of the '60's!!! (Talk about your COMPLETE collections!!!) Little did I know, however, that our very own Randy Price (a HUGE supporter of Forgotten Hits over the years) had a hand in assembling and producing this hot new series! You can get a "sneak peak" of Volume One (1960) this week on Randy's Top Shelf Oldies Radio Program ... and read all about this exciting new series at the Eric Records link supplied below. Meanwhile, you can ALSO peruse OUR Official Listing of The Top 50 Instrumentals of All-Time (also compiled with Randy Price's help!) ... along with your-voted Top 50 All-Time Instrumental Favorites ... on the other "official" Forgotten Hits Website: Kent, On my Top Shelf Oldies Show "Randy On The Radio" (topshelfoldies.org) this Wednesday (June 8), 8:00 - 9:00 p.m. ET, I will be featuring a few rare stereo instrumentals from the new CD set Complete Pop Instrumental Hits of the 60s, Vol. 1: 1960. This set, with which I was proud to be involved as a compiler and co-producer, contains all 71 instrumental tracks that peaked on the Hot 100 during 1960 (plus 10 bonus tracks). It's the first in a planned series that will eventually feature the release of every instrumental that made the Hot 100 during the '60s (all in top-notch sound quality, and many in stereo for the first time in their single versions). Complete details are available at the Eric Records website: ericrecords.com. -– Randy Price re: OTHER RADIO TIDBITS: In addition to Randy's Top Shelf Oldies Program airing this Wednesday, here comes word about a special interview that Stu Weiss will be doing on HIS program Friday night: At 9 PM (eastern) I will be having a phone interview with Barbara Harris (of the Toys). You can "Listen Live" here: Click here: TopShelfOldies Stu Weiss re: THE FORGOTTEN HITS BOOK CLUB: Hi Kent, I just found out that Jerry Blavat's autobiography, "You Only Rock Once", is coming out next month. It's available for pre-order at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com and I think other places. I've known Jerry for a few years and was lucky enough to interview him twice, and I can tell you that this is going to be one interesting book! I just ordered mine. Carolyn re: NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE: For the past couple of years we've run several mentions of "Keep Rockin'" Magazine here in Forgotten Hits. Well, you can now receive a FREE online subscription as well ... just visit the Keep Rockin' Website for all the details: www.KeepRockinMag.com And please be sure to tell Liz and Lou that Forgotten Hits sent you! (kk) re: CELEBRITY APPRENTICE: Hey Kent, In response to your question about this season's Apprentice ... I watched the Piers Morgan, Joan Rivers and Bret Michaels seasons but not this latest one. I only watched the Bret Michaels season because I really wanted to see how he would do in something like this and I have to say that the workout commercial he did for his diet Snapple was amazing. I actually had no intention of watching Apprentice again after the Joan Rivers season when The Donald kicked Khloe Kardashian off for missing a day due to having to comply with her community service stemming from her DUI. When the HELL did Donald Trump become the moral compass for society??? Her firing had nothing to do with the game. I guess you have to be a drunken Miss USA to catch a break. I'm just saying ... Stacee This year he excused Jose Canseco when Jose's father took ill ... we never did hear the outcome on that (but we also never saw him again!) Meanwhile, Survivor Richard Hatch was even invited back for the final task ... he couldn't make the season finale, however, because he's incarcerated again!!! (lol) The shows ARE available online and on On Demand TV ... this season is DEFINITELY worth watching. Meatloaf had a complete emotional breakdown during one competition ... as Team Leader, he had begged SO many friends for money for his charity foundation and raised a boatload in donations ... but then was told that if his team lost, all of the money that his team raised would also go to the winner. (Meatloaf said that this would make him feel like taking all the money people had invested because they trusted him and then skipping off to the Cayman Islands or something!) John Rich ... in perhaps the most powerful moment of the season ... then stepped up to the plate ... without having ANY idea as to the outcome of that week's competition ... and promised that no matter WHAT happened, he PERSONALLY would give the money Meatloaf raised to Meatloaf's charity ... out of his OWN pocket ... regardless of the outcome or the amount. I haven't gotten THAT choked up during a TV show in a LONG, long time ... and now hold John Rich in the absolute HIGHEST regard for such a bold and compassionate move. Seriously, if you can watch this past season, do it ... you will NOT be disappointed. (In fact, Sunday Night's just aren't the same now that this interesting crew of competitors have moved on. Hey, John Rich ... can we come over to YOUR house from now on on Sunday nights?!?!? We really enjoyed hangin' out with you!!!) Meanwhile, regarding The Celebrity Apprentice, here's the best line I've heard in a while ... Right before the finale, Trump announced that he would NOT be running for President after all ... but that if he HAD run, he most definitely would have won ... which is EXCEPTIONALLY interesting ... since he couldn't even win his TIME SLOT!!! (kk)
re: GREAT LINE!: From Bob Lefsetz's weekend mail bag ... this one totally cracked me up! Justin Bieber was just voted "Billboard's Best New Artist Of 2011". ... OK ... Guess who "Billboard's Best New Artist Of 1978" was ...? BOB WELCH! ;-) Oh yeah ... (Can you believe this shit!!!) ... Irony,anyone? ;-) Bob Welch By the way, YOU can get on Bob's mailing list, too ... just drop him a line at (and please tell him you read all about it in Forgotten Hits!) bob@lefsetz.com kk |
