HOLY COW!!!
BRAND NEW MUSIC FROM AL JARDINE …
JUST IN TIME FOR VALENTINE’S DAY
New East Coast Mix “Waves of Love 2.0” to be released February 12th, 2021
Al Jardine, guitarist, vocalist and songwriter and an original founding member of The Beach Boys, is releasing a new single called “Waves of Love 2.0” on February 12th, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
The song, originally released as a bonus track on Al’s debut studio
album, “A Postcard from California,” has been re-recorded by Al’s longtime
producer and songwriting collaborator Larry Dvoskin, who resides in New York.
The new East Coast mix features classic Beach Boys-sounding vocal dit-dits that
take the listener back to an earlier and more innocent age and the song offers
a ray of sunshine and hope in a time when the world is deeply challenged.
“Waves of Love 2.0” also features one of Al’s last vocal collaborations with
longtime friend and fellow Beach Boy, the late great Carl Wilson.
Says Al, “It’s exciting to share this great East Coast version of ‘Waves of
Love’ with my fans. Larry Dvoskin’s impeccable dit-dits do me proud and
there will also be a new West Coast version on my soon to be re-released solo
album ‘A Postcard from California’!”
“Waves of Love 2.0” will be released as a limited-edition CD single and will
also be available on most digital music platforms, including Amazon Music,
Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music and more. The CD single will also
contain a bonus track, “Jenny Clover,” about a beautiful little milk cow cared
for by The Jardines and written by Al, his wife Mary Ann and Larry Dvoskin, who
also produced the song. It’s sure to mooooooove you!
For more info, please visit Al Jardine’s official website: www.aljardine.com
And yesterday, in honor of his 73rd birthday, Alice Cooper gave US a present …
It’s a brand new single called “Social Debris” and it comes from his forthcoming album “Detroit Stories.” The new track is available as a free download here:
https://alicecooper.lnk.to/SD_Download. Cooper calls the offering “A gift to Detroit, to my fans and to myself.”
The album pays homage to Cooper’s hometown city, where he was born Vincent Furnier on February 4th, 1948. It also features members of other prominent Detroit-based groups like The MC5 and The Detroit Wheels, both of whom were tearing up the charts in the ‘60’s.
But most significantly, this particular track features original
Alice Cooper Band Members Neal Smith,
Dennis Dunaway and Michael Bruce. (Original
lead guitarist Glen Buxton died in 1997.)
Talking
about the early days of the band, Cooper says, “Detroit was heavy rock central
then. You’d play the Eastown Theatre and
it would be Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent, the Stooges and the Who, for $4! The next
weekend at the Grande, it was MC5, Brownsville Station and Fleetwood Mac, or
Savoy Brown or the Small Faces. You couldn’t be a soft-rock band or you’d get
your ass kicked.
“Los Angeles had its sound with the Doors, Love and Buffalo Springfield. San Francisco had the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. New York had the Rascals and the Velvet Underground. But Detroit was the birthplace of angry hard rock. After not fitting in anywhere in the U.S. (musically or image wise), Detroit was the only place that recognized the Alice Cooper guitar driven, hard rock sound and our crazy stage show. Detroit was a haven for the outcasts. And when they found out I was born in East Detroit… we were home.” (I don’t know … I think the Sound of Motown had a pretty hearty impact, too! - kk)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pexlfHkZl5I&feature=emb_logo
We cater to all different kinds of musical taste in Forgotten Hits. (We recently had a discussion about the music of Glenn Miller, which ran side by side with another article about Jimi Hendrix!)
So, it is with THAT thought in mind, that we fill you in on a brand new collection of Louis Armstrong’s COMPLETE works from 1946 to 1966 on both Columbia and RCA Records.
Check out ALL the details here: https://theseconddisc.com/2021/02/02/aint-misbehavin-mosaic-collects-louis-armstrongs-complete-rca-victor-and-columbia-studio-sessions-1946-66/
And for those of us who prefer something a bit more (ahem!) modern, how about this Collector’s Edition version of Al Stewart’s “Year Of The Cat” album!!!
Al Stewart "Year Of The Cat" 3CD / 1DVD 45th Anniversary Limited Edition Box Set Available For Pre-order (Released March 26, 2021)
• A DELUXE 4 DISC, 45TH ANNIVERSARY
LIMITED EDITION BOX SET OF THE CLASSIC 1976 ALBUM BY AL STEWART
• NEWLY REMASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES BY ALAN PARSONS
• FEATURING AN ADDITIONAL 25 BONUS TRACKS: DRAWN FROM A NEW 5.1 SURROUND SOUND
ALBUM MIX FROM THE ORIGINAL MULTI-TRACK MASTER TAPES BY ALAN PARSONS, A
PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED CONCERT RECORDED IN SEATTLE IN 1976 AND AN OUT-TAKE FROM
THE ALBUM SESSIONS
• INCLUDES AN ILLUSTRATED 68 PAGE BOOK WITH AN ESSAY FEATURING AN EXCLUSIVE
INTERVIEW WITH AL STEWART AND ALSO INCLUDES 4 POSTCARDS AND A REPLICA POSTER
Esoteric Recordings is proud to announce the release of a new re-mastered four-disc deluxe 45th anniversary boxed set limited edition (comprising 3 CDs and a DVD) of YEAR OF THE CAT the legendary 1976 album by AL STEWART.
Recorded in the early months of 1976 at Abbey Road studios (with some sessions and mixing taking place at Davlen Studios in Los Angeles), YEAR OF THE CAT was the seventh album by Stewart and was the second album on which he collaborated with the celebrated producer ALAN PARSONS.
The record was an album of immense musical inventiveness and creativity and was a triumph both in terms of Al Stewart’s song writing and the stunning and sophisticated production by Alan Parsons. Featuring such classic songs as ‘On the Border,’ ‘Lord Grenville,’ ‘Midas Shadow,’ ‘If It Doesn’t Come Naturally, Leave It,’, ‘One Stage Before’ and the classic title track.
YEAR OF THE CAT was a major commercial and critical success on its release, reaching the US Billboard Top Five and was a European hit, eventually earning platinum disc status in the USA by March, 1977. The single ‘Year of the Cat’ was also a Top Ten hit in the States and was a Top 40 hit single in the UK, establishing Al Stewart as a major artist.
This 45th Anniversary edition of this special album has been newly re-mastered for the very first time from the original first-generation master tapes by ALAN PARSONS and also features his stunning new 5.1 Surround sound mix from the original multi-track tapes. In addition, the set includes a complete, previously unreleased concert recorded at the Paramount Theater, Seattle in October 1976 on the YEAR OF THE CAT tour over two CDs and a new mix of the track ‘Belsize Blues’, recorded at Abbey Road Studios in September 1975.
This limited edition boxed set also features an illustrated 68-page book with a new essay featuring an interview with Al Stewart and a facsimile promotional poster and a set of four postcards and is a fitting tribute to a much treasured and legendary masterpiece by a consummate songwriter and performer.
Track Listing:
DISC ONE
YEAR OF THE CAT
RE-MASTERED BY ALAN PARSONS
1. LORD GRENVILLE
2. ON THE BORDER
3. MIDAS SHADOW
4. SAND IN YOUR SHOES
5. IF IT DOESN’T COME NATURALLY, LEAVE IT
6. FLYING SORCERY
7. BROADWAY HOTEL
8. ONE STAGE BEFORE
9. YEAR OF THE CAT
BONUS TRACK
10. BELSIZE BLUES
(RECORDED AT ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS IN SEPTEMBER, 1975)
DISC TWO:
LIVE AT THE PARAMOUNT THEATER,
SEATTLE – OCTOBER 1976
PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
1. APPLE CIDER RE-CONSTITUTION (LIVE 1976)
(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
2. THE DARK AND THE ROLLING SEA (LIVE 1976)
(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
3. ONE STAGE BEFORE (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
4. SOHO (NEEDLESS TO SAY) (LIVE 1976)
(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
5. NOT THE ONE (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
6. ON THE BORDER (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
7. BROADWAY HOTEL (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
8. ROADS TO MOSCOW (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
DISC THREE:
LIVE AT THE PARAMOUNT THEATER,
SEATTLE – OCTOBER 1976
PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
1. NOSTRADAMUS (LIVE 1976)
(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
2. SIRENS OF TITAN (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
3. THE POST WORLD WAR TWO BLUES (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
4. YEAR OF THE CAT (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
5. SAND IN YOUR SHOES (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
6. CAROL (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
7. IF IT DOESN’T COME NATURALLY, LEAVE IT (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
DISC FOUR:
YEAR OF THE CAT THE NEW 5.1 SURROUND SOUND MIX & ORIGINAL 96 KHZ / 24-BIT
RE-MASTERED STEREO MIX BY ALAN PARSONS
1. LORD GRENVILLE (5.1 SURROUND
SOUND MIX)
2. ON THE BORDER (5.1 SURROUND SOUND MIX)
3. MIDAS SHADOW (5.1 SURROUND SOUND MIX)
4. SAND IN YOUR SHOES (5.1 SURROUND SOUND MIX)
5. IF IT DOESN’T COME NATURALLY, LEAVE IT (5.1 SURROUND SOUND MIX)
6. FLYING SORCERY (5.1 SURROUND SOUND MIX)
7. BROADWAY HOTEL (5.1 SURROUND SOUND MIX)
8. ONE STAGE BEFORE (5.1 SURROUND SOUND MIX)
9. YEAR OF THE CAT (5.1 SURROUND SOUND MIX)
To pre-order: https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/al-stewart-year-of-the-cat-3cd-1dvd-45th-anniversary-limited-edition-box-set/
So have you been vaccinated yet? (We’re finding it difficult even to get an appointment!)
The Ed Sullivan YouTube Channel has just released this historic video of Elvis Presley receiving his polio vaccine backstage before one of his 1956 performances on the show … and encouraging OTHER young people to do the same. (Honestly, I had mixed emotions about being one of the first guinea pigs to do so … but the more I think about it, the safer I think it probably is to just go ahead and get vaccinated, especially with all these new, stronger strands of the disease making their way thru America right now.)
Anyway, check out this special Public Service Clip, provided by The Ed Sullivan YouTube Channel …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlISLBBnYOo&feature=youtu.beMore on Hilton Valentine of The Animals, who we lost last month …
Singer/Songwriter Jim Weatherly joins the list of artists we’ve lost already during the first 35 days of 2021 …
Jim wrote Gladys Knight’s #1 Hit “Midnight Train To Georgia” as well as her hits “Neither One Of Us” and “Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me.” All three songs reached the top of the charts in 1973.
In addition, Jim scored his own pop hit with “The Need To Be,” a #11 record a year later.
His songs were recorded by a widely diverse list of artists, including Glen Campbell, Neil Diamond, Vince Gill, Hall and Oates, Etta James, Dean Martin and The Temptations, along with many others.
He is a member of the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame and, thanks to his old star quarterback days, the Ole Miss Alumni Hall of Fame.
His song “Midnight Train to Georgia” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, and it was ranked at #29 on the RIAA’s list of The Top 365 Songs of the Century.
Weatherly joins Home Run King Hank Aaron, James Purify, Actor Hal Holbrook, Talk Show Host Larry King, Actress Cloris Leachman, Actress Cicely Tyson, Hilton Valentine (founding member of The Animals and referenced above), Dustin Diamond (Screech on Saved By The Bell) and Rennie Davis (one of the Chicago Seven), all of whom have passed within the past two weeks. (kk)
‘60’s FLASHBACK:
From a "Stories Behind The Songs" piece we did several years ago …
Singer / Songwriter Jim Weatherly was visiting his
friends Lee Majors and Farrah Fawcett-Majors one night in the early '70's in
L.A. when Farrah had to leave for a trip to Houston. In fact, she was taking
the midnight plane to Houston.
Something about that phrase clicked with Weatherly and he put his thoughts to
music ... in fact, he recorded "The Midnight Plane To Houston" on his
next LP. It wasn't a hit ... and not too many people ever got to hear his
rendition.
Apparently a record producer by the name of Sonny Limbo (who was working with
Cissy Houston at the time ... she's Whitney's Mom ... and Dionne Warwick's
Aunt!!!) heard Jim's version and thought it'd be perfect for Cissy to record.
He wanted to make a minor change however ... instead of "The Midnight
Plane To Houston", he asked permission to change the lyrics to "The
Midnight Train To Georgia." Weatherly
reluctantly agreed, with the stipulation that he leave the REST of the song
intact as it was written.
Thanks to a much more gospel arrangement, Houston turned an otherwise pretty
wimpy sounding folk song into a much fuller arrangement ... but it STILL failed
to make the charts. Enter Gladys Knight and the Pips (who just happen to BE
from Georgia … and felt an immediate connection to the song) and BOOM!!! A #1
Record! Houston became Georgia ... the plane became a train ... and the song
became an absolute SMASH!!! (In fact, Gladys Knight and the Pips admired Jim's
work so much, they went on to cut his compositions "Neither One Of
Us" and "Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" with great success
... as well as "Between Her Goodbye And My Hello," "Where
Peaceful Waters Flow" and "Love Finds Its Own Way.")
Weatherly went on to have one major hit on his own ... "The Need To
Be" went to #11 in 1974 ... but it was Gladys Knight's version of
"Midnight Train To Georgia" that helped to pay for quite a FEW of his
airline tickets along the way!!! (kk)
Here's the original Jim Weatherly version:
Kent,
Here's the latest on longtime Buddy Holly researcher Sevan Garabedian's plans -- a 20-part video series on the doomed Winter Dance Party Tour.
(I got to help Sevan during his 2009 research on the St. Paul concert.)
Here are some of the documentary details regarding Buddy Holly's final tour …
and the St. Paul concert.
https://t.co/aV21KSLSfm https://twitter.com/DonEffenberger/status/1356693671450615809?s=20
Don
Here’s a trailer for a new music documentary airing on PBS that I think most of us would agree we would have NEVER expected to see coming …
Harvey Kubernik fills us in on some of the details regarding this new film …
Billy Stewart (1937-1970) is considered one of the most prolific and stylish rhythm and blues singers of the 1960s, although his career was cut down in its prime when he passed away in an accident. Fat Boy: The Billy Stewart Story, a documentary produced for PBS, is the first to tell the story of this exceptional but unsung talent.
Stewart’s electrifying and unique style of singing was untouchable as he mastered word doubling and scatting throughout his songs and performances. His original hits included “I Do Love You,” “Sitting in The Park” and his masterful remake of the DuBose Heyward/George and Ira Gershwin standard “Summertime,” from the opera Porgy & Bess, which peaked at #10 on the Billboard pop chart in 1966.
Produced and directed by Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker Beverly Lindsay-Johnson, with major funding provided by Humanities DC, Fat Boy: The Billy Stewart Story explores the journey of this singer from his days as a young piano player discovered by rock and roll legend Bo Diddley, to a famous R&B balladeer.
The documentary is filled with imagery and footage from Stewart’s early years, including special interviews with his Chess Records label mates Mitty Collier, Curtis Prince, session musicians Raynard Miner and Willie Henderson, and blues legend Sugar Pie DeSanto.
A rare interview with Anthony “Little Anthony” Gourdine, of doo-wop legends Little Anthony and the Imperials, recounts the 30-day cross-country concert tour he and Stewart performed on the Dick Clark Caravan of Stars in the 1960s.
Never-before-seen clips of 16mm films of Stewart — with his family, performing in various night clubs, as well as his funeral — are included. A special bonus segment titled “Keeping the Legacy of Billy Stewart” describes the influence Stewart and his music have had on contemporary artists.
Stewart was tragically killed on January 17, 1970, in Smithfield, N.C., en route to a performance in Columbia, S.C. He and three of his band members plunged into the Neuse River in Smithfield, killing all occupants as the car sank.
Lindsay-Johnson’s documentary made its broadcast premier in October 2020 on WHUT in Washington, D.C. Fat Boy: The Billy Stewart Story will now air on over 100 PBS stations nationwide during February beginning today, Feb. 3, 2021.
HK
Other than Billy’s monster hit recording of “Summertime” (#7, 1966), the music of Billy Stewart didn’t really make much of a long-lasting impact on the pop charts, despite earning three other National Top 40 Hits: “I Do Love You” (#22, 1965), “Sitting In The Park” (#19, 1965) and “Secret Love” (#29, 1966, styled very much like his interpretation of “Summertime.”)
The new documentary began airing earlier this week. Check your local listings for PBS airtimes near you. (kk)
>>>I was absolutely AMAZED by the Coven / Black Sabbath connection ... how can it NOT be true?!?! Just WAY too many coincidences. And that Martha Quinn interview is to die for! (kk)
The Black Sabbath thing was also new to me. Who'd a thunk that? How cool to get some of this so far down the line.
David Lewis
Fascinating about Coven and Sabbath..
Sam
Yeah, obviously people have been buzzing around about this connection for a while now … so weird to just first be hearing about it now in our world! Especially since Coven hails from right here in Chicago.
I tried to call Jim Pilster (Hooke from The Cryan’ Shames) the other night to talk to him a little bit about Jinx Dawson … he was involved with Coven’s first album and I remember it coming up before in one of our conversations … but he didn’t answer the phone. (Pick up the phone, Jimmy!!!) Was wondering if he might still be in contact with her, as I’d like to talk to her about, too. I know she’s still around because she was already planning shows with her new band after the Covid ban was lifted. Stay tuned … it could still happen. (kk)
kk …
I never thought you'd be able to better Wild Wayne's Jimmie Rodgers story … but you got a lot more from Jimmie’s son Michael. I passed it on to the others I originally sent it to.
Wild Wayne also said the cops got suspended for a couple of weeks. That was because they left him in the car when he was injured. They couldn't prove anything else.
He said that Jimmie got $200,000 from lawsuit. Do you know if that's true?
FB
There were a lot of VERY mysterious circumstances surrounding Jimmie Rodgers being pulled over that night. Speculation for years was that Morris Levy was behind it in some fashion, because Jimmie had moved on to A&M Records and was currently having a hit with “Child Of Clay,” his last Top 40 Record. (In fact, Tommy James pretty much says as much in his book “Me, The Mob And The Music.”)
More information has come out over the years (and since our piece first ran back in 2007) that cast some doubt on these “presumed” facts.
Still, if you want to read more, be sure to check out:
http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2009/05/jimmie-rodgers.html
Please keep implementing the baseball action on your site.
The Hank Aaron loss hits me hard.
During 1957, in downtown Los Angeles at Coliseum Street Elementary School, my kindergarten teacher was Miss Haney, daughter of Fred Haney, who managed the Milwaukee Braves. She let us hear the entire '57 World Series on her radio! Recess on the playground was three hours. Plus, she had a TV set on her desk. When the Braves won the championship, she cried. I did not realize what was happening at that moment. We thought something was wrong with her.
In 1958, the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn and were now were in Los Angeles and my father and I went to the Coliseum to see the Braves and Dodgers play. Hank, Del, Eddie and Warren Spahn. The Braves were the only team I knew of as major league baseball came to the west coast. I was sort of into the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League because they were on television and on our home radio.
In 1959, I figured out why my teacher cried that day in front of us in 1957 when the Dodgers beat the Braves in a playoff game to go to the World Series. That’s when I connected the name Haney to Fred and his daughter. Announcer Vin Scully made some sort of reference to Fred's daughter living in Los Angeles. We were glued to the TV watching that playoff series. When the winning run crossed the plate, Vin exclaimed, "Hodges scores and we go to Chicago!" The Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox for the crown. My dear friend David Wolfe in 1960 was the first guy in the neighborhood to buy the LP "Dodgers '59," which contained the radio highlights of that cherished season.
I have a fond memory of Hank Aaron and Mickey Mantle, circa 1960, on TV for "Home Run Derby," that was filmed in Los Angeles at Wrigley Field, probably in 1959. Mark Scott was the announcer, who was a voice of the Pacific Coast League. I think Hank won. Maybe the prize was 500 dollars or a thousand. My dad said, "Look at the way he uses his wrists when swinging." I wasn't a hitter. I wanted to pitch like Sandy Koufax and Larry Sherry, who went to Fairfax High School, where I later attended. It was Larry's brother Norm who played a pivotal part in shaping the early career of Koufax with some tips when he was a catcher on the Dodgers.
In 1961, Fred Haney became the first general manager of the Los Angeles Angels American League team. But I'm a National League guy. Besides, the Beach Boys, Jan & Dean, Dick Dale, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Don & Dewey, Dion, and Elvis were all over my new transistor radio dial and I had to make constant decisions about buying 45RPM's weekly or attending a baseball game on a homestand.
Jackie Robinson will always be my main man. Hank was number two. Jackie graduated UCLA and was a local product from Pasadena. He went to Pasadena City College before UCLA. I worked for a year at the PCC radio station.
Even to this day I cannot believe the shit these two people endured just trying to play a game on the diamond and they still delivered. Inspiring.
Harvey Kubernik
I think most of us boys grew up in similar situations, regardless of where we grew up. I loved music and baseball during this era, too, and alternated between the latest Top 40 Hits on WLS and WCFL and the White Sox games being broadcast on ‘CFL at the time. I collected the Top 40 Charts … and the baseball cards. (Never put ‘em in the spokes of my bike ‘tho ... FAR too precious to me to see them eaten up that way!) And let’s not forget comic books … just HAD to have the new Superman and Batman magazines each month!
Our tastes in music may have varied some … you were hearing much heavier sounds out San Francisco way while I remain, to the day, a sucker for a great pop song melody … but there remains a common bond between ALL of us that read, write and enjoy Forgotten Hits … so yeah, since we’ve branched out and begun covering more ground in our annual looks back, it’s allowed us to cover a little more ground … and I, for one, actually enjoy writing about something other than music once in a while … even if it does require a considerable amount of research since it isn’t quite as familiar and second nature to me.
Hank Aaron was a big one for everybody … the guy stood like a giant among all the other players of his era … but he never really got the FULL respect he deserved.
History has shown him to be one of the all-time greats … and THAT is the way he should be remembered. (kk)
AND ANOTHER THING: I think you’ll like our piece on Satchel Paige going out next week. Talk about playing baseball at an oppressed time! This guy was King of The Negro Leagues, for God’s sake! (kk)
