Best Classic Bands has come up with an interesting concept …
The Top Ten Best SECOND Albums by a Recording Artist
We’ve seen it more times than we can count …
A brand new, breakthrough artist releases their first LP and takes the world by storm …
Only to have “the sophomore jinx” kick in for their follow-up release, disappointing the majority of the new fans they just won over.
To a degree, it’s inevitable …
Most artists toil for YEARS, building a repertoire of material that helps to identify just exactly who they are … and why they’re different than all the other acts out there.
Then they take all of that material and stick it on their very first album, leaving nothing left in the cupboard for any kind of follow-up release …
Which, of course, the record company wants IMMEDIATELY so it can cash in while the fire’s still hot.
It’s all about shooting your load in the very first shot … and even the few artists who have been able to come back to build a long-standing career typically have had to do so over a period of years and releases, in many cases even reinventing themselves along the way.
But Best Classic Bands salutes ten artists who got it right the first time … AND the second time. (I think most people would agree that for at least one of the artists on the list, their second album was far and away even better than their ground-breaking first. Led Zeppelin, anyone???)
Anyway, check out the list and see what you think …
And if you can think of a few others who also fit the bill, send ‘em along and let’s see what folks think. (kk)
https://bestclassicbands.com/10-best-second-albums-7-1-1666/
Olivia Harrison, George’s widow, has been hospitalized with Covid-19 but is, in her own words, “on the mend.” We certainly all pray for a healthy and speedy recovery. (kk)
Lots of talk last week about John Fogerty’s new video for “Weeping In The Promised Land,” a reflection on 2020, especially poignant in light of the complete craziness of Trump supporters storming the Capitol last week. Seriously, what has happened to our country? And what do we look like today to the rest of the world? (kk)
Indeed, Neil Diamond’s records flowed into my house right beyond his odd dress "Headed for the Future" ‘80's 45. Most nowadays are a bore. I liked "Forever in Blue Jeans" and "America" quite a bit, but the rest bored me after about ‘71 or ‘72. Not sure I would consider intentionally playing any of his Columbia 45s today. That period of "I Am I Said" had many B sides that were played and good songs, too ... "Done Too Soon" and "Crunchy Granola Suite." The LIVE Uni stuff was the start of the downfall of him just yelling lyrics instead of singing properly. That continued for decades, IMO. Made me SICK to hear him do that.
As to his ego and your "being turned off" by that, it reminded me of seeing the late, great Dan Fogelberg in 1980 and him laughingly saying "And here's a slow one" or some such comment kind of dissing "Longer." I loved that song then and was put off by him acting like it was meaningless. I have a short interview my dear departed Illinois rock historian Jeff Lind performed in 1968 with Neil and even that shows a bit of Neil's snobbishness feel to a VERY young and nervous interviewer. Certainly NOT anywhere near as bad as Van Morrison was in ‘67 (and still today) in interviews.
Dave Barry's columns used to run in our paper decades ago and he IS funny. I agree about radio ceasing playing Neil's slow song some, but more "Sweet Caroline." I don't EVER want to hear that song again. To think that Dearborn and Murphy played that song EVERY DAY on ‘CFL at 10 AM in the ‘70's even seems sick. What irritates me most about Neil is MY own mistake. I sold the "Clown Town" 45 for a DIME right after buying it at a record show for that price. I saw a huge Diamond fan there that I knew and showed it to her and she was blown away. I said, "I got it for a dime. You can buy it for that." She did.
That said, there are tons of Neil songs from ’65 – ‘72 that are great that I gladly play. I even throw "Broad Old Woman" on once in a while just to laugh. BUT, all those alternate yelling band recordings and Bang cash ins where we don't know what version we will get and then UNi and MCA doing live and studio versions and Bang re-recordings makes me ill.
As to "I'm a Believer," that song to me is like "I Want To Hold Your Hand" … both were HUGE breakthrough (?) hits to superstardom, yet, I'll take "She Loves You" any day over the latter and still feel that the two early pre-"More of the Monkees" airplay songs, "She" backed with "Nary, Mary" SHOULD have been the second hit single for the pre-Fabs.
That said, I'm not NYC born and raised, I'm lost between the west and east side of Lincoln, so who am I to say.
I am ... I said ... well ... "say maybe?"
Clark Besch
After our Neil Diamond tribute ran the other day, David Salidor sent us this photograph of Diamond and Dolenz (as in Micky Dolenz of The Monkees) performing “I’m A Believer” together on stage.
Our coverage of the Neil Diamond / Monkees connection even made The Times Square Chronicles! (Not bad for an article celebrating its 20th birthday, right?!?!?) kk
https://t2conline.com/the-glorious-corner-158/
And, of course, it’s almost impossible to think about The Monkees without thinking about Jimi Hendrix, right?!?!? (huh?!?!?)
After all the craziness of lunatics storming the Capitol last week, this little editorial came out … and I just had to share …
https://crosscut.com/culture/2021/01/editors-notebook-jimi-hendrixs-anthem-2021-america
Editor’s Notebook: Jimi Hendrix’s anthem for 2021 America
The Seattle musician’s iconic Woodstock performance resonates now more than ever.
Brangien Davis
January 7, 2021
Seattle native Jimi Hendrix performs at an unknown location on an unknown date. (AP)
During the tsunami of alarming news from our nation’s capital yesterday, one tweet (by @thequeengeek) stood out to me for both its dark humor and cultural insight:
“A friend just said to me ‘Are we supposed to be working during the coup?’ and honestly, it was the most American thing I’ve ever heard.”
I was one of many Americans attempting a facsimile of work yesterday during the insurrection against democracy. I tried to focus on Northwest arts, tried to prognosticate what the new year might hold for a community that COVID-19 has turned upside down. But with alarming images from the Capitol flooding my feeds, the Seattle artist that seemed most relevant and innovative was one who died 50 years ago.
Jimi Hendrix performed one of the most iconic guitar solos in music history on August 18, 1969. The place was, of course, the legendary Woodstock music festival in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The song was his electric take on “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
While I’ve heard the recording many times over the years, it had been a while since I really listened closely, so yesterday I pulled up the clip on YouTube. I encourage you to do the same, even if you’ve seen it before, as the performance feels almost destined for this historical moment.
There he is, a mixed-race kid from the Central District, now an Army vet resplendent in a red headband, white-fringed jacket and blue bell-bottom jeans. The song is transcendent from the get-go, the first six notes of Francis Scott Key’s composition emerging as a clear and singular voice (“O say, can you see”) from the churning commotion of an improvised jam just before. The anthem was one of the last songs in the set, spontaneous — and one of the final songs of Woodstock, which Hendrix closed, on Monday morning after many thousands had already gone home.
People often characterize his take as “psychedelic,” but on this listen — on this day — what stood out to me was how studied it was. While legend has it the piece was entirely improvised, Hendrix scholars say he’d been working on adaptations of the anthem long before and had performed several dozen other versions already. But this is widely acknowledged to be the best, in part because of the cultural moment it so perfectly captured: young Americans gathering in the name of peace, love and music after years of battling for civil rights and amid protests against the Vietnam War.
Hendrix sometimes called his anthem adaptations “This Is America.” The Woodstock edition is almost straightforward — albeit on a Fender Stratocaster, an American innovation itself — until he reaches “the rocket’s red glare.” That’s when it rips open to reveal the pain and suffering of a nation at war with others, and within.
Distortion. Feedback. Screeching. Hendrix employs his trademark techniques and also replicates the sonic soar of fighter jets, ambulance sirens, artillery fire, combat cacophony and, yes, bombs bursting in air. At one moment he morphs the solo into “Taps,” the melancholy bugle melody that emerged during the American Civil War. He holds the note on “(o’er the land of the) free” for an extended scorch, then resolves the piece with ascendant power chords, triumphant.
In just under four minutes, he completely deconstructs and reconstructs a treasured emblem, and does so with compassion for a broken nation. It might be the most American thing I’ve ever heard.
Was his version patriotic or a protest? I’m certainly no Hendrix expert (for that, look to Crosscut contributor Charles R. Cross), but I know the subject has been long debated. Like America, it’s complicated. Hendrix served in the U.S. Army, earning his “Screaming Eagle” patch in the 101st Airborne Division. He voiced support for troops. He urged peace both verbally and with the V-sign in so many photos.
“I’m an American, so I played it,” he told Dick Cavett on a talk show one month after Woodstock. He pushed back against Cavett’s labeling of the performance as unorthodox, saying, “That’s not unorthodox … I thought it was beautiful.”
In another widely quoted interview, he explained his Woodstock anthem as such: “We’re all Americans … It was like, ‘Go America!’ … We play it the way the air is in America today. The air is slightly static, see.”
In other words, Hendrix was doing what great artists always do: translating the culture and politics of the day into the language of art, so we can see it more clearly and feel the resounding chords of personal impact. His prescient performance rings even truer today.
Brangien Davis Crosscut's arts and culture editor. Prior to Crosscut, she was the arts and culture editor at Seattle magazine, and has contributed cultural profiles, previews and essays to the Seattle Times, Lit Hub, City Arts, Arcade and Ampersand.
In addition, she has been a scholar-in-residence at Town Hall Seattle, an editorial manager at Amazon, founded the literary magazine Swivel, and taught creative writing and arts journalism.
Submitted by Bob Merlis / M.F.H.
And who out there was anticipating or expecting a Syd Barrett tribute album?!?!
But that’s exactly what we’re getting, celebrating the founder of Pink Floyd.
Read on …
New SYD BARRETT Tribute Celebrates 50 Years Since The Release of “The Madcap Laughs” and “Barrett”
“LOVE YOU – a tribute to SYD BARRETT” celebrates 50 years since the release of “The Madcap Laughs” and “Barrett”. The double CD box will be released by the prestigious English label Gonzo Multimedia on the 6th of January, 2021. 75 years exactly from Syd’s birth. “LOVE YOU” is a song recorded by Syd in 1970. It’s included in “Barrett”, the second solo album of his.
The new tribute also includes two particularly significant bonus tracks too: “Astronomy Dominé” and “Vegetable Man” characterizing the beginning and the end of Syd’s Floydian era.
Every single note in these two CD’s has been expressed with love. Love shown by the artists who took part by arranging Syd’s music in their own way.
Our project is to collect, for the first time, all the songs Syd Barrett recorded after his experience with Pink Floyd. To realize it we invited many artists from various parts of the world - Italy, Mexico, France, Ireland, UK, USA, Sweden, Japan, Belgium Germany, The Netherlands - and asked them to choose one song and rearrange it in their own way.
Among them and without detracting from the others, we would like to mention:
Luca Ferrari: journalist and writer; one of the first in the world to publish fanzines, articles and books about Syd.
Dave Harris: former lead singer of “Fashion” he is well known to Pink Floyd fans thanks to ZEE:IDENTITY, the album he released in 1984 – and recently reprinted - together with Pink Floyd’s keyboard player Richard Wright.
John Cavanagh: Voiceover artist, broadcaster, musician, record producer, writer and performer. He is the author of the book “The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn” about the making of the first Pink Floyd album. The book was published in 2003 in the UK and then translated in many languages; Italian and Chinese among them.
Men On The Border: Swedish band devoted to Syd’s repertoire. In 2016 they took part in “Syd Barrett - A Celebration Concert” at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge.
Boris Savoldelli: a gifted vocal performer who is always challenging his “vocal instrument” with new and original ways of singing.
Dario Antonetti: musician from 1984 to today with Kryptästhesie, Gli Acidi Tonanti, Effetto Doppler, Inossidabile Orchestra Valsecchi, La Svolta Psichedelica, La Forma delle Nuvole. Producer of The Vegetable Man Project (a tribute to Syd Barrett focused on the song “Vegetable Man.” Lots of artists from all over the world took part and rearranged the song in their own way. 6 CD’s and a 10” vinyl EP were released between 2002 and 2009).
Nino Gatti: for 40 years historian, expert, biographer and collector of Pink Floyd. He has published fanzines and collaborated with various publications both in Italy and abroad. Author of several books about Pink Floyd and their members, both in his own name and together with The Lunatics. His activity also covers many websites devoted to the band.
On the artwork side:
Ian Barrett: Syd’s nephew; he is a fine visual artist and Jewellery designer. He creates unique jewels using meteorites, fossils and other rare materials.
Matteo Regattin: author of the beautiful graphic novel “Syd Barrett Jugband Blues. A graphic trip on the tracks of Syd Barrett”.
We would like to mention every single musician involved in this tribute, of course. Thanks to their passionate contribution this project has become true.
Track Listing:
CD
1
1 - TERRAPIN - ANDREA ACHILLI (Italy)
2 - NO GOOD TRYING - LUNA PARK (France)
3 - LOVE YOU - EUGENE (Italy)
4 - NO MAN'S LAND - HUMUS (Mexico)
5 - DARK GLOBE - BLUEMOSAIKO (Italy)
6 - HERE I GO - MAX ZARUCCHI (Italy)
7 - OCTOPUS - SHERPA (Italy)
8 - GOLDEN HAIR - IN THE LABYRINTH (Sweden)
9 - LONG GONE - BARYOGENESIS (Italy)
10 - SHE TOOK A LONG COLD LOOK - ALANJEMAAL (Italy)
11 - FEEL - HIS MAJESTY THE BABY (Italy)
12 - IF IT'S IN YOU - HENRIETTA AND THE FIVES (Italy)
13 - LATE NIGHT - DUNCAN MAITLAND (Ireland)
14 - OPEL - GALERIE 65 (USA)
15 - DOLLY ROCKER - THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE (Italy)
16 - WORD SONG - QUARTO STATO DELLA MATERIA (Italy)
17 - SWAN LEE - HIBUSHIBIRE (Japan)
18 - LET'S SPLIT - MICHELE GENTILE (Italy)
19 - TWO OF A KIND - DAVE HARRIS & ZEUS B HELD (UK)
20 - ASTRONOMY DOMINE - BORIS SAVOLDELLI & UMBERTO PETRIN (Italy)
CD
2:
1 - BABY LEMONADE - ST 37 (USA)
2 - LOVE SONG - LA FORMA DELLE NUVOLE (Italy)
3 - DOMINOES - SULA BASSANA (Germany)
4 - IT IS OBVIOUS - STEREOKIMONO (Italy)
5 - RATS - PHOSPHENE (UK)
6 - MAISIE - THEEUNFORESEEN (Belgium)
7 - GIGOLO AUNT - THE AIRWAVES (Sweden)
8 - WAVING MY ARMS IN THE AIR / I NEVER LIED TO YOU - LUCA RAIO (Italy)
9 - WINED AND DINED - KABLE (USA)
10 - WOLFPACK - KEEPER OF ATLANTIS (USA)
11 - EFFERVESCING ELEPHANT - BOTTI & PAVONI from GREENWALL (Italy)
12 - BIRDIE HOP - TRESPASSERS W (The Netherlands)
13 - LANKY PART 1 - ALFREDO LONGO feat. SEBA PAVIA
14 - MILKY WAY - MEN ON THE BORDER (Sweden)
15 - BOB DYLAN BLUES - JOSS COPE (UK)
16 - RHAMADAN - MORNING SCALES THE MOUNTAIN (USA)
17 - VEGETABLE MAN - NICK BENSEN (USA)
For more information: https://www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/products/syd-barrett-love-you-2cd
Frank B. sent us this clip …
kk:
On Thursday (1/7), you said: "GOOD THINGS COMING"
Was That because of:
1/7/1938 = The Late Paul Revere Was Born (???)
FB
Damn … wish I woulda thought of that! (lol) kk
In watching one of the last Alex Trebek Jeopardy shows yesterday, I was somewhat floored when the FINAL JEOPARDY question that usually determines the show's winner of the day seemed like the easiest question I have ever seen asked! On the show were one older and two younger women, which often gave the older one an advantage on questions about things that happened years before the other two were even born.
Yet, SURELY, they all knew the last answer.
I am NOT a good Jeopardy player, but this was in my head before he told the question (answer?).
Clark Besch
Check it out. I'm 99.5% sure everyone I send this to will have correct answer.
Harvey Kubernik was busy all over the place last week!!!
Check out his latest pieces on …
Elvis Presley (Happy Birthday, Elvis!):
https://www.musicconnection.com/kubernik-happy-birthday-elvis-presley/
The Mamas and the Papas:
https://cavehollywood.com/the-mamas-the-papas-if-you-can-believe-your-eyes-and-ears/
And Janis Joplin: (email me for a list of new Joplin products available for 2021)
Kent,
I wanted you to know that seeing and hearing LJ Coon's tribute to Elvis reminded me of the many (150) tribute records that I have of Elvis.
As you know, it was almost immediately of hearing of Elvis' death, that the tribute records started coming out.
To me, the best one I have is of local DJ Ronnie Kaye here in OKC. His song is simply called THE KING IS DEAD. He wrote it and the same song is on both sides of the record. It is some 3:07 long and put out on Scene Record label.
The tribute records I have range from singers Paul Adkins to Bill Yates. That also includes recording groups like the Dire Straits.
Larry Neal
And, speaking of Elvis, here’s a brand new Connie Francis and Elvis Presley clip of “Love Me Tender,” new on YouTube, courtesy of Frank B …
kk …
Sounds Pretty Good To Me.
FB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4nYHpPNmjo
Hard to believe that we lost David Bowie five years ago (January 10, 2016.)
Terrible loss.
Mike Wolstein
David Bowie shared a birthday with Elvis (January 8th … as did Little Anthony!) … and died just two days after his 69th birthday. VERY cool Bowie gif!!! (kk)
Mike also sent us this really cool radio link …
Some of you guys out there are REALLY gonna love this!
Kent,
My cousin sent this to me. I tried it, and it amazed me to no end.
I've been in electronics all my life, have worked with radio and TV
electronics, been a ham, and an avid "DX'er" on AM, FM, and other
stuff. But I've never seen an
Internet site like this one.
Give it a spin.
Technically, it's not impossible, but it's, well ... amazing!
You won't be able to tear yourself away from it.
Mike
---------------
A really amazing website. And it works.
Technology today keeps significantly increasing.
Listen to what’s going on in the rest of the world.....
The green dots on this Google Earth represent a
radio station somewhere
in the world.
Click on any one of the dots and you will
immediately listen to that
station with very good sound. Any of you who are multi-lingual will
certainly
enjoy this. A lot of the stations are FM - and mostly music - not all
music but, mostly.
http://radio.garden/live/toul
Kent,
In today's FH, when I saw the posting by Chuck Buell, in particular, the part that said, "How many Chuckles would a Woodchuck Chuckle if a Woodchuck could Chuck Chuckles?" Kent, the very first thing (record) that came to my mind was a record that came out way back in 1955. I don't know if you are familiar with the singer Billy (the kid) Emerson. He recorded for Sun Records in the mid-fifties when Elvis was there recording as well. His biggest hit(?) would be REDHOT, a song that Sam the Sham and his Pharaohs would record ten years later in 1965. Well, Billy (the kid) Emerson had a record in 1955 called THE WOODCHUCK. In the lyrics of the song is the phrase "How much wood can a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" Try saying that ten times fast. (lol) Anyway, again don't know if you are familiar with that artist or not.
And don't tell anybody, but I always liked DEAD SKUNK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD.
Larry
Too late … the cat is out of the bag … or is that the SKUNK is out of the bag???
Never one of my favorites (I didn’t care for Junk Food Junkie either which, for some reason, I always associate with this song.) And whenever I think of any type of skunk encounter or experience, I always flashback to that Partridge Family episode where the skunk got on their bus … and the band had to perform “in quarantine” in the operating room!
Not familiar with “Red Hot” or “The Woodchuck” by Billy (the Kid) Emerson … and it doesn’t look like either record charted nationally … but that doesn’t mean we can’t still feature them here today!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klaAcWJVyUY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2SRmaTUzNs
Hi to my fellow oldies lovers,
Sorry I haven’t been seen for a while, but I’ve been involved in a project since March of last year. I will certainly bring you more news about the project as soon as it’s ready to go.
I just came upon a recording of my 1990’s group, Group 5ive. I can’t think of a better group than you all to send it to. It’s 7 minutes worth of the Great Groups from the Modernaires (1942) to the 5th Dimension (1967).
Our group consisted of five jingle singers who wanted some “live" action. We toured the New York area, played in Michigan and Pennsylvania, appeared at jazz Festivals in Scandinavia and backed up the 50’s artists on Public Televisions’ “Magic Moments: The Best of 50’s Pop”.
Please sit back a enjoy Group 5ive’s “Great Groups”.
Wishing you all a wonderful, safe 2021
Paul Evans
If you’ve been following our “This Week in 1971” feature running every Sunday, you know that this week marks the 50th Anniversary of the debut of “All In The Family” on American television.
It sounds like Sammy will be spotlighting this series in some fashion (he won’t tell me how!!! Lol) this weekend on his Lost And Found Oldies Show …
And Ultimate Classic Rock ran a special piece on ten “Must See” episodes as well …
(I can EASILY think of at least two dozen more that set the audience on its ear when they first aired.) This landmark series marked many firsts in the way of pushing the envelope … definitely watching some of these again. (While some of these haven’t aged as well as others, MOST of them will get you right in the heart, thanks to the brilliant writing and exemplary acting of the entire cast.) kk
I just spotted this great outtake footage from Monterey ’67.
There’s great stereo audio of The Mamas & Papas, The Who, Blues Project, Janis AND the OTHER Janis, too, the Airplane, Buffalo Springfield and even TINY TIM!!!! And it looks great as it’s in 1440p (3k):- Maybe it is on DVD somewhere. Maybe? Great stuff no matter what! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jpj7xx4MIA
Clark Besch
Wow, there’s a TON of stuff here! Will have to find a couple of hours this weekend to check it out! (kk)
And here’s some more “This And That” from Clark …
>>>The only thing Randy and I seriously disagreed on when compiling these charts was “Good Vibrations” not making #1 on what we were claiming to be the most accurate charts out there. I felt very strongly that if a record made it to #1 on all three national charts, it just HAD to make it to #1 on our consensus chart as well in order for the information to be taken seriously. (kk)
Well, it's just the way the votes flow. Don't try to recount because they are done the same for EVERY song and that's how it happens. The Bucks spent some time at #1 on Billboard and never made it to #1 on WLS with "Kind of a Drag." It just happens. "Vehicle" didn't make the WLS year end 1970 chart. It is what it is.
I LOVE all three charts the Super Charts are made from and I love the SUPER CHARTS, too!
All of those above aside, I BELIEVE the official charts were made by 10 year old Clark Besch, who DID take "Good Vibes" to #1 on November 8, 1966! My new fave band is rolling up the chart from #23 to #13 (artist misspelled like so often), while another brand new fave Chicago band debuts at #29!
The following week, the Shames would move to #2 and then #1, while "Cherry, Cherry" beats them to #1 from #9.
And what 10 year old didn't think HE would become a rock star, too? I weigh in at #23 myself! I have no idea what that sounded like.
Great to see Mike Markesich weigh in.
As to dumbest songs list, it was not my choices ... I just thought it was funny.
As to Pepsi vs. Coke, for me, PEPSI by far. BUT, Coke for all those amazing little vignettes for ads. Incredibly cool jingles for Coke. I wish someone in charge of that department at Coke would write a book just on those songs!
Clark
