... and maybe a bit of Mustard, too!
There has been zero free time of late ... so not even able to put together a few words about our "Rock Radio Revisited" Dee Jay Weekend in time for today's posting ...
But we WILL get around to it, I promise. (SO cool to see some of these guys again ... and meet others who have been email friends for decades now without ever having the pleasure of meeting face-to-face.) Chuck Buell even flew in from Denver ... so we did the whole tourist thing downtown on Saturday and then headed out to The Des Plaines Theatre on Sunday for the big event. (We'll be featuring Chuck's Travelogue down the road apiece, too!)
Meanwhile, we've also been working on the upcoming WLS / WCFL Rewound Radio Labor Day Weekend radio special ... 66 hours of original recordings, broadcast again to celebrate these two amazing radio stations. (We even managed to get a few more jocks onboard to voice promos for the big event.)
A bit more on that later ... including a piece from the great Ron Riley and another from Tommy Edwards!
Read on ...
The Rewound Radio Labor Day Weekend Salute to WLS and WCFL kicks off Saturday Morning, September 3rd, at 6 am Eastern / 5 am Central … and will run continuously around the clock for the next 66 hours, wrapping up at Midnight on Monday / Labor Day.
Top 40 Radio in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s was the most exciting time in music history with brand new musical trends seeming to develop weekly … and nowhere was the competition any fiercer than it was right here in Chicago, where two powerhouse 50,000 watt AM radio stations battled it out for listeners, each trying to out-scoop each other with the latest premiers, imports, album tracks, creative on-air talent and attention to some of our best local talent.
And you’ll hear it all again, just like you heard it then, when WLS/WCFL Rewound kicks off on Saturday Morning, September 3rd, at 6:00 am Eastern / 5:00 am Central and runs non-stop until after Midnight (or later) of Labor Day, for a total of 66 Hours.
The folks at Rewound Radio have sorted through hundreds of hours of original air checks and put together the best quality clips available. They have done their best to enhance the audio to meet the standards of today’s listeners and are fortunate to have a large number of “studio quality” airchecks that have been preserved for five decades, offering exceptional sound quality. All airchecks are all full-length, unscoped actual broadcasts, with music restoration, if necessary, for continual content. You’ll even hear some of the original commercials and newscasts just as they were broadcast at the time … a time capsule portrait of Top 40 AM Radio at its very best.
Several of the deejays have even come back to record new promos and drop-ins that will be featured throughout the 66 hour broadcast.
Just think about the talent that was coming out of our radios back then …
Larry Lujack, Dick Biondi, Art Roberts, Clark Weber, Ron Riley, John Records Landecker, Bob Sirott, Barney Pip, Jim Stagg, Ron Britain, Joel Sebastian, Bob Dearborn, Chuck Buell, Kris Erik Stevens, Steve King, Tommy Edwards, Fred Winston, Jeff Davis, Doug Dahlgren, Bill Taylor, Dex Card and SO many more … all back on the air again, just as you remember them.
It's all happening on Rewound Radio Labor Day Weekend:
Ted Smucker, who has been working feverously putting together this WLS/WCFL Rewound Labor Day Weekend Extravaganza, sent me this clip of him interviewing Pam Pulice and John Records Landecker about the Dick Biondi Documentary from his “Eye On Michiana” television program … another nice tie-in and reminder to help us get this film made.
We had a chance to visit with Ted, Pam and several others (including Scott Childers, Tim Larson, Tommy Edwards, Bob Stroud, John Landecker, Wendy Snyder, Art Vuolo, Bill Taylor, Ron Onesti, Kris Erik Stevens, Connie Szerzen, Ron Riley, Bob Sirott, Bob Dearborn, Steve King and many more), tying into both the Rewound thing and the Museum of Broadcast Communications DJ Forum held on Sunday.
In addition to the long-awaited Dick Biondi documentary, there is ALSO a new documentary in the works profiling legendary '60's WLS Disc Jockey Ron Riley, which we hope will see the light of day shortly. Chicago AM Radio is alive and well … not only in our memories but now back on the air, too!!! (kk)
Speaking of Ron Riley, here’s one of the promos he just waxed for the upcoming WLS / WCFL Rewound Radio Labor Day Weekend special …
And Tommy Edwards, too!
Hi Kent, et al,
I just can’t believe I’ve been subscribed to Forgotten Hits for so long, and it’s still always great, and constantly gets better.
I came across a good deal today and thought I’d pass it on.
I realized after looking at the post on B. J. Thomas, that I only had the first volume of Where Have all the Pop Stars Gone.
I scooted over to Amazon, and bought the 2nd and 3rd volumes as kindle books for $2.99 each.
I didn’t take a peak and see the price on Volume one, but I sure got a great deal on 2 and 3!
If some of the Forgotten Hipsters out there don’t have them, it’s a great price.
BTW, I’m excited about the Labor Day countdown on Rewound.
Bill
You will
find something to enjoy in EVERY book in this “Pop Stars” series … fascinating
interviews and remembrances from the artists that made up each band. (The B.J. Thomas one has always been on of my
favorites … look for their “Echoes Of The ‘60’s” volume, too.)
I am also very excited about the Rewound Radio special coming up this Labor Day Weekend. A whole lot of work has gone into putting this thing together and I’m planning on listening to as much as I can. (LOTS of highlights and surprises coming up … so I suggest you all do the same!) kk
Here’s a photo of Debbie Gibson and Olivia Newton-John, from the AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS in 1988 when Debbie was the host - great night.
Olivia was the best - exactly as you hoped she'd be. Major loss!
David Salidor
Billboard Magazine continues its tribute to Olivia Newton-John with this next installment of their “Forever #1” series …
Olivia had FIVE #1 Hits on Billboard’s Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart … and they’ve now profiled four of them, leaving the biggest yet to come …
A look back at “Physical,” which held down the #1 spot for an incredible TEN WEEKS back in 1981. (kk)
Here’s one we missed …
Sam Gooden, Founding Member of The Impressions, Dies at 87
https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/sam-gooden-dead-the-impressions-obituary-1235123415/
Also passing recently (August 11th in this case) was noted Wrecking Crew Guitarist Bill Pitman. He was 102.
Pitman played on hundreds of hits over the years including “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’,” “Good Vibrations,” “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head,” “Be My Baby,” to name just a few. You can find him sharing some of his memories on The Wrecking Crew documentary. (Some of Pitman’s segments were filmed over twenty years ago!) kk
The Loggins and Messina Reunion Concert Event is back on again at The Hollywood Bowl … the two will entertain on September 22nd and September 24th. (I still wish this was a televised event … but maybe they’ll film it to be shown later.) Anyway, tickets from the postponed July shows will be honored. (kk)
More on Elvis … from Mike Wolstein …
8-16-22: Madonna's 64th; Elvis R.I.P. 45 years ...
With the anniversary of Elvis’ death this week (August 16th … can you believe it’s been 45 years?!?!), I found this to be an interesting statistic …
From Geoff Lambert’s weekly sheet …
June 26th represents a very strange date in the life of Elvis Presley ...
Colonel Tom Parker was born on that date in 1909.
Forty five years later, in 1954, Elvis was first called into Sun Records.
Three years later, in 1957, he spent his first night at Graceland
And in 1977, he performed his last show at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis
And then in 1979, his father died.
Meanwhile, Tom Cuddy tells us …
There’s a brand new documentary on Elvis Presley’s ”68 Comeback Special’ Coming
https://www.billboard.com/culture/tv-film/elvis-68-comeback-special-documentary-coming-1235125959/
I read the other day that the new Austin Butler / Tom Hanks film has now grossed $138 Million domestically … still haven’t gone to see it a second time yet (although I almost did a couple of weeks ago.) Then again, it’ll probably be out on dvd before you know it.
Meanwhile, there is also a brand new mega-box set of Elvis’ “Elvis On Tour” live shows … a 6-CD Set in fact … (that’s a bit more Live Elvis than I need to hear … nearly 150 tracks in all … but it’s really cool that RCA keeps pulling stuff out of the vaults to keep The King relevant to today’s times … and they really couldn’t be striking more while the fire is hot right now! (A 7th disc, a BluRay edition of the original film release “Elvis On Tour,” also comes with the deluxe box set.) kk
Tom Cuddy also just sent us this very interesting piece on Otis Williams and Shelly Berger, interviewed when The Temptations’ musical “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” just opened in Detroit …
A 56-year bond: The Temptations' Otis Williams, manager Shelly
Berger pull off a rare feat
https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/brian-mccollum/2022/08/14/otis-williams-shelly-berger-motown-music-manager/10311168002/
I love these Super Charts!
Those #90 and #93 locals are great and besides, they fit with temperatures, right?
Clark Besch
I just saw the Nashville performance of this year’s Happy Together Tour.
Right before the show, there was an announcement that Mark Volman would not be appearing "due to Covid." For most shows, the absence of the only original member of the headlining band might be a problem ... but I doubt if anyone asked for a refund. I spoke with Gary Puckett before the show and he said the success of the show is due to the two dozen familiar hits being performed just like the records the audiences remembers. I recall Richard Nader telling me something very similar. He originally went to a lot of effort to assemble as many original members of the groups as possible, but found it didn't matter that much to most of the audience as long as they sounded the same. The Turtles' hits sounded just like the records. Kudos to lead singer Ron Dante, the band and to Mark Volman, for designing the set so it could go on without him in an emergency.
Gary Puckett made a point of saying he was the senior member of the tour and celebrating his 80th birthday soon. I told my wife that I hope I can look that good when I'M 80. She replied that she's known me nearly forty years, and I've NEVER looked that good.
Ed Salamon
Nashville, TN
Lol! Thanks, Ed! (kk)
OK, it’s not quite Neil and Barbra …
But PR Guy David Salidor sent us this to share …
MICKY DOLENZ & PAUL McCARTNEY 8-15-22
Fool On The Hill - Micky Dolenz & Paul McCartney
Kate Bush has the #1 song of the summer; 37 years after its proper release.
Now, a mash-up of Paul McCartney and Monkee Micky Dolenz singing “Fool On The Hill” could be the next golden-oldie hit.
Put together by a fan of both stars; the track is even generating major radio play.
Dolenz sang the track on his 1991 CD Micky Dolenz Puts You to Sleep; The Beatles did “Fool On The Hill” on their 1997 Magical Mystery Tour release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmWta2sJKpU
And Harvey Kubernik sent us this really cool piece profiling Al Green and Willie Mitchell …
Man, did this team dominate the global record charts during 1971-1974 ...
Thought they needed to be acknowledged.
HK
Al Green: Still In Love with You 50 Year Anniversary;
Interview with Soul Music Pioneer and Record Producer
Willie Mitchell by Harvey Kubernik© 2004, 2022
It has been over a half a century since “Al Greene and the Soulmates,” then based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, released their first album, Back Up Train, on their own Hot Line label. The album became a hit, and the hit begat a tour.
Somewhere in Texas, the Soulmates quit, leaving Greene to work a show date in Midland with bandleader Willie Mitchell, a star artist and producer on Memphis’ Hi Records label, a chance meeting that evolved into a collaboration that would shape both of their careers.
After signing with Hi Records in 1968, Al Green (with Greene’s last “e” dropped) became a soul music sensation within 18 months and an international superstar within seven years. The pair during their initial Hi / London Records period through 1976 did eight albums that sold over 20 million records.
The timelessly sensual groove of Al Green was a staple on the AM and FM radio airwaves in 1972. His album Let’s Stay Together was released on January 31, 1972. The title track reached number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and various R&B sales charts and the LP went gold.
Green’s follow-up, I’m Still in Love with You issued in October, 1972, went platinum, propelled by two top ten hit singles, “Look What You Done for Me” and the title track.
The stage was set for three more top ten singles during 1973: “You Ought To Be With Me,” “Call Me (Come Back Home),” and “Here I Am (Come and Take Me).” Green then had several popular radio hits in 1974, including “Love and Happiness” and “Take Me
To The River,” later covered by Talking Heads.
Backed by The Hi Rhythm Section (the Hi Records house band) and produced by Willie Mitchell, Green merged his inimitable vocals of sultry depths and soaring falsetto heights with the unit’s funk-tinged arrangements, originating a feverish and yearning brand of soul music. Green’s church-soaked voice and soaring falsetto leads are reinforced by the almost-mathematical production work of Mitchell and the soothing and compelling band featuring the Hodges Brothers (Mabon, “Teenie” Hodges on guitar; Leroy “Flick” Hodges on bass; Charles Hodges on keyboard), plus Howard Grimes on drums and percussion, and Willie Mitchell’s brother James Mitchell on strings. The late drummer Al Jackson’s work is also heard.
By 1972, Al Green was preeminent in R&B and one of pop music’s biggest luminaries. Green’s recordings are transcendently brilliant, at once definitive of their time and relevant for the ages. His illustrious career has been chronicled in more than 30 albums and an autobiography, Take Me To The River.
During the course of Green’s career, the Rock and Roll Hall Of Famer, nine-time Grammy winner and ordained minister Al Green has racked up seven number one albums and 16 Top 10 singles in the U.S. alone. Green’s recordings have earned a bevy of gold and platinum sales awards around the world, including, in the U.S., eight gold singles, five gold albums, one platinum album, and one triple platinum album.
In the May, 2001, issue of MOJO magazine in the U.K., writer Robert Gordon described the Hi Studio and the sonic environment Mitchell captured on tape.
“The Hi Studio is located in an old movie theatre, The Royal. The control room used to be in the projection booth but has moved to the back of the studio floor, which still slopes. They began with a two-track machine and by the time they were done with Al Green’s hits, they’d linked four together, wired so that only two machines - four tracks - could record simultaneously. Willie Mitchell was innovative and exacting, and achieved his multi-layered sound with antiquated equipment.”
The Beatles, on a US tour stop, visited Mitchell’s Hi Studio. Willie and his band provided the musical entertainment at several New Year’s Eve parties for Elvis Presley at his Graceland home in Tennessee.
In the late ‘60’s Willie Mitchell had his own instrumental Top 40 single in the US charts “Soul Serenade.” I saw him headline a date at Disneyland in Orange County, Ca.
In 2004, I conducted a phone interview with fellow Pisces Willie Mitchell (March 1, 1928 - January 5, 2010) in Memphis, TN one afternoon. We discussed his monumental musical, recording and production career, working at Hi Records and life in the studio with his most important talent discovery, Al Green.
Q: Where were you born, Willie?
A: Ashland, Mississippi. My parents moved to Memphis when I was three. I studied music at Melrose High and then Rust College. Before I went to college, there was a Memphis musician named Onzie Horn, whom I lived with for a while when I was 16. He showed me the Schillinger system (a music method) he had learned in Chicago. He studied with Billy Strayhorn and Quincy Jones.
Q: There is almost a mathematical production style and the way you employ sparse instrumentation on many of the recordings we’ve heard the last 30 years. I know the Schllinger system involved music notes as mathematics. From listening to the HiRecords box-set, I noticed you used big, semi-jazz chords in your charts.
A: When I began work with Al Green, I applied some of those different things. Especially on “I’m Still In Love With You.” You’ll find lots of those big chords there. I used freak chords on “Let’s Stay Together.” Al would come to the house and eat and sleep. My wife cooked for him. I used to play him records and say, “Listen to the notes and how they are posted.” In fact, me and Al used to spend as much as 10-15 hours a day just studying.
Q: You’ve mentioned former Hi Records owner, Joe Cuoghi, who died in 1970. You said “He was the greatest man (you’ve) ever known … he was the guy that put Memphis on the way.”
A: Joe liked me. He used to say, “Willie, you’re five years ahead of your time.” I kept tryin’ to change rhythms. I changed the rhythm of “The Stomp.” I changed the rhythm on a thing called “The Crawl.” It came out under my name in 1962 and did pretty well. Joe was a supportive person. He was like my father, a real go-getter. He respected musicians. He had a good ear. He knew when he heard a hit record. That’s the main thing.
Q: You were around Hi Records for years before they let you really get close to the board. Green, Ann Peebles, Willie Jackson, O.V. Wright, Syl Johnson, Otis Clay, Bill Black and many more were part of the Hi Records label, launched in 1956 initially as a rockabilly and instrumental label.
A: I had done an album with O.V. Wright, ‘Eight Men and Four Women,’ which became a huge R&B smash for Don Robey and Duke / Peacock Records. Then they sent me Bobby “Blue” Bland and I did an album with them. Then more people began to come. Charlie and Inez Foxx and I would always say to Joe, ‘I don’t like the sounds I’m getting out of this place. We can do better than this.’ I told them I wanted to run the board. For my first session, I cut ‘Soul Serenade,’ which turned out to be a big R&B and pop record. King Curtis had had a pretty good hit on it. I said we’re gonna do it funky and simple. It became a huge hit. Then we started working with Ann Peebles. A trumpet player, Gene “Bowlegs” Miller, brought her up to me and said, ‘Willie, this girl has a good voice.’ I told him, ‘All she needs is material.’ So we went into the studio with her and the first record went around 100,000. She became popular on the blues and R&B market. This was before Al Green.
Q: How did you first meet Al Green in 1968?
A: We were booked in Midland, Texas. It was a real hot day. 109 degrees in the shade. It was a huge club that seated 2,500 people. When I pulled in, Al Green came up to me and said, ‘Hey man, I’m stranded here. Could I sing a couple of songs? You could give me enough money to get me back home to Michigan.’ So I let him and Al starts singing a Sam & Dave song when we were going over what songs we were gonna do. I was gonna give him $50.00. Then he starts singing and I told my brother, ‘Hold the band a minute.’ I said, ‘Come over here, kid. Man, you got a great voice. Why don’t you go back to Memphis with me? We got a little label called Hi Records and we can cut some records.’ And he said, ‘Well, how long will it take for me to be a star?’ I told him about 18 months. He said, ‘I don’t have that long.’ So, we played the gig that night. I was really amazed at his voice. The way he sounded, the way he delivered a song. So after the gig, we were packing up the bus and a car had blocked the driveway and we couldn’t leave. We were sitting there ready to go. So there’s a knock on my window. ‘Hey man, you said it would take 18 months for me to become a star.’ I said, ‘Somewhere in that area.’ He said, ‘Nah. I’m not going.’ Then the car in front of me got started and we went to pull out and he said, ‘Yeah, I’m going.’ So, he came to Memphis. We are about ten minutes from Memphis, about to cross the bridge and he says, ‘I have to go back to Grand Rapids, Michigan … I‘m gonna need some money.’ “Uh-oh. Here it comes.” ‘To get myself straight in Grand Rapids so I can come back and work, I’ll need $1,500.00. That was big money in 1969. So, I said, ‘O.K. kid, I’m gonna give you this money. Now go back, straighten yourself out and come back.’
He was really cocky, but I liked his attitude. I put him on the bus and three months later, I would think, ‘That little … took my money and I don’t even have an address or phone number with his name.’ Then one night, we played a college in Louisville, Kentucky, came home at 6:30 a.m. and somebody starts bangin’ on the door and Al Green is standing there. I let him in and showed him where he needed to go. He said, ‘Don’t you remember me? I’m Al Green.’ I had forgotten him. He had my money. I got him an apartment, but he was getting frustrated. He cut a version of the Beatles’ ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand.’ We came up with a thing called ‘You Said,’ which did about 100,000. I wasn’t satisfied with that. I said, ‘We’re off on a Sly Stone groove and we’ve got to find our own thing.’
Q: What was the initial session like in 1970?
A: He was singing too hard. I told him he had to soften down. Then we cut a version of the Temptations’ ‘I Can’t Get Next To You’ that did about 700,000. It showed that he was still singing hard but he had such command. That sort of launched him into getting some gigs. Then we started cutting an album, ‘Green Is Blue.’ He was up in Detroit and brought in this song, ‘Tired Of Being Alone.’ And when I heard the song, I knew that was gonna be it. "It took a long time to find it, but we did it by working from 11 am 'til two in the morning, every day. 'Can't Get Next to You' was close, but 'Tired of Being Alone' was it." It hung around February to July and we sold about 900,000 of ‘em. And I said, ‘I can’t be this wrong. This song was gonna be a hit.’ So I went to Atlanta, Georgia, to radio station WAOK. I sat with the DJ and the record busted there. We did 30,000 the first week. I called back to Memphis at WGIA, who I dropped the record already and told them, ‘We got somethin’ goin’ on.’ Then I went to
New York and all hell broke loose. It ended up doing 1.5 million. I told Al, ‘You’ve been singing hard.’
Q: I always heard that when Al was in England on his first tour, you really developed your own sound for him at that point back home.
A: When Al was in England, I came up with the melody for ‘Let’s Stay Together.’ When he came back, we would stay at the piano from 9 in the morning until 11 at night. Just a piano and a tape recorder and he’d sing. In 15 minutes, all the lyrics were down for ‘Let’s Stay Together.’ I was getting’ hot. I wanted 500,000 copies pressed on ‘Let’s Stay Together.’ They thought I was crazy. The record came out on Monday and by Thursday it was gold. Then, ‘Call Me.’
Q: What were Al Green’s greatest strengths in the recording process?
A: The main thing is, Al could sing in tune. Once he got a hook on a song, it was hard to beat him. The song was dead. We had six years of nothing but gold and platinum records with Al. Then we finally hit with Ann Peebles’ ‘I Can’t Stand the Rain.’ That was good. Did some really good stuff with Syl Johnson. We did the rhythm tracks, Al Green or whoever would sing their part, and we’d build from that.
Q: I’m amazed just listening to the drum sounds on your productions, with Al Jackson’s pulsating drums and Howard Grimes on congas.
A: Al Jackson was my drummer until his death. Howard Grimes had cut for Stax, recorded with Rufus Thomas and still worked with me. Every time I cut Al Green, I would have both Howard and Al on hand to play.
Q: You also worked with the fantastic blues singer O.V. Wright, who is still being recognized by new record buyers.
A: O.V. Wright, in my opinion, is the
greatest blues singer that ever lived. I don’t think there’s anybody close to
him for the feeling he had and the way he approached a song.
