Category Archives: Music

The Hawkins brothers

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This version of Goin’ Up Yonder! and Oh Happy Day! (below) are the epitome of black Gospel singing to me. I didn’t know them a lick when they came out 40 and 50 years ago respectively. From what I can tell the Hawkins brothers (Walter & Edwin) must have had divine inspiration.  I don’t see how white gospel even exists in comparison. The energy, passion and talent doesn’t even make it a contest. What little I know of it is songs like these 2 and the modern iterations of the Chicago Mass, Atlanta Mass and LA Mass Choirs. Another fabulous song is I Was Standing by the Bedside of a Neighbor (Michelle Lanchester & Sweet Honey In the Rock). Alvin Darling, Nobody But the Lord is another. Angels couldn’t sing any better than this.

The Runaways

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The Runaways in 1976 – Joan Jett, Cherie Currie, Lita Ford, Sandy West, Jackie Fox,

1976, what a time to be alive eh? I was listening to Guess Who, BTO, Grand Funk and the Beach Boys. My musical tastes were soooooo bad…. oh well. A couple of years ago I “discovered” Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. That’s when I found out about her earlier group the Runaways. I saw a real cool picture of them from 1976 and looked up more. Look at those 5 women, people were skinnier back then. Hotter I would say. And those high-waisted bell bottoms, wow.

As one writer put it, “I doubt if the guys lining up around the block to see Cherie Currie in her undies were influenced by the nuances of the feminine mystique.” What’s interesting about that was Currie had an identical twin sister named Marie. Lightening struck twice so to speak. Hooey. Unbeknownst to the public back then I’m sure was the specifics on the same-sex attractions within the band. It never would have occurred to me back then. They were packing heat.

Paul Davis & Todd Rundgren

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I even lived back then and I didn’t have a clue who they were. It was only sometime in 2019 I discovered who they were. We didn’t have the internet in the 70’s. No YouTube. No Wikipedia. Just record shops, album covers and FM radio. So I suppose its not all that weird I’d never heard of 2 major recording artists. Okay it kind of is. Todd Rundgren and Paul Davis moved in and out of group acts but I would guess they were best remembered as solo artists. They were both born in 1948. Todd in Philadelphia and Paul in Mississippi. Todd was associated with a group I’d also never heard of called Utopia, and worked with a really good British group called Badfinger. Paul had a #1 country hit with about my favorite female artist Tanya Tucker.

They both had a string of hits. Todd blew me away when I heard this one for the first time in a gazillion years, I Saw the Light. My favorite of Paul’s is Cool Night. Both are very nice easy listening songs. I Saw the Light being the deeper of the two. The video version at the link I provided looks to have been done by a Larry Hinze. He did a great job of catching the meaning of the song (the light in her eyes) with a series of pictures of beautiful women with stunning eyes. I’m glad I discovered them now at least, 40 some years late.

Paul Davis & Todd Rundgren

 

Blue Skies

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(Willie Nelson’s Stardust album, which I discovered once again 40 years late, highlights in rather dramatic fashion, the deplorable state of today’s music industry.) From Wikipedia:

“Stardust is the twenty-second studio album by Willie Nelson, released in 1978. Its ten songs consist entirely of pop standards that Nelson picked from among his favorites. Nelson asked Booker T. Jones, who was his neighbor in Malibu at the time, to arrange a version of “Moonlight in Vermont”. Impressed with Jones’s work, Nelson asked him to produce the entire album. Nelson’s decision to record such well-known tracks was controversial among Columbia executives because he had distinguished himself in the outlaw country genre. Recording of the album took only ten days.

Released in April, Stardust was met with high sales and near-universal positive reviews. It peaked at number one in Billboard’s Top Country Albums. The singles “Blue Skies” and “All of Me” peaked respectively at numbers one and three in Billboard’s Hot Country Singles. In 1979, Nelson won a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for the song “Georgia on My Mind”. Stardust was on the Billboard’s Country Album charts for ten years—from its release until 1988.

In 1984, when it was certified triple platinum, Nelson was the highest-grossing concert act in the United States. By 1977, Nelson had decided to record a collection of American pop standards. During that time, Nelson was living in the same neighborhood in Malibu as producer Booker T. Jones. The two became friends, and Nelson asked Jones to arrange “Moonlight in Vermont”. Pleased by the results, Nelson later asked Jones to produce an entire standards album for him. Nelson selected his ten favorite pop songs from his childhood, starting with “Stardust”. Nelson and his sister Bobbie had sheet music for the song that he had tried to perform with his guitar, but did not like that arrangement. Jones adapted the song for Nelson, who also picked for the album “Georgia on My Mind”, “Blue Skies”, “All of Me”, “Unchained Melody”, “September Song”, “On the Sunny Side of the Street”, “Moonlight in Vermont”, “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” and “Someone to Watch Over Me”.

The executives of Columbia Records were not convinced that the album would sell well, because the project was a radical departure from his earlier success in the outlaw movement. The album included pop, jazz and folk music styles, in addition to country. It was recorded from December 3–12, 1977.” (Not bad for an album Columbia executives didn’t want to make.)

22 male vocalists

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A young person of today wouldn’t believe it, but in the olden days a singer could step up to a mic and sing a melody. He wasn’t lip-synching to a track where he had laid down his own backup vocals and harmony. He had great pitch because he was a natural singer, not because he was auto-tuned in the studio. They weren’t screaming their lungs out. They were just singing. I’m no expert, but I’m guessing the guys on this page weren’t studio created wonders. I think these guys could do it without electronic manipulation. I think they could have walked into your bathroom and belted out a song. I’d love to talk to one of the old time DJs who knew for sure. I do know I’m very tuned to auditory magic, “silkiness” if you will. Some people get into lyrics, I get into voices. Instrumentals are the same way. There are probably 7 wildly different genres I get into that have nothing in common but tonal beauty.

Robert Goulet is a great example. Technically a great singer, but does nothing for me. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger; nothing. Elton John, Billy Joel, Huey Lewis, nope. For the most part my choices had several hits to chose from. And with just one exception they are all from 40 – 50 years ago (1 was ‘just’ 35 years ago).  Some like Allan Clarke of the Hollies, or a group like The Happenings were groups or individuals with a wonderful sound but not quite what I’m talking about here. Just not quite that oral ‘honey’ I’m trying to describe. Probably half are English. The Ray Conniff Singers are a perfect examples of that beautiful harmony. Another were the Cowsills. People whose voices were an instrument unto themselves. There was even an Iowa group that was just pure vocal gold, Rock, Paper, Scissors.

This was written mainly for the younger person who has never been exposed to these artists, as they surely won’t be from what the oldies stations consider ‘popular music’. Next to each name below I included the group if they weren’t a solo artist and what I consider to be their best song. On some I included a YouTube link to their song. If you hear anything before you die, hear that song. Its heaven to the ears. Oh, and these guys had a LOT of hair! Haircare products were big back then. I like to think I’m pretty good at putting words together, but I completely failed to describe these guys.


Engelbert Humperdinck – After The Loving


Neil Sedaka – Laughter In The Rain


Paul Anka – Put Your Head On My Shoulder


Elvis Pressley – Anything


Dennis Yost – The Classics IV – Traces


BJ Thomas – I Just Can’t Help Believing


Frankie Valli – The Four Seasons – My Eyes Adored You


Billy Idol – Eyes Without a Face


Rod Allen – The Fortunes – Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again


Gilbert O’Sullivan – Alone Again Naturally


Dan Hamilton – Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds – Don’t Pull Your Love


Eric Carmen – All By Myself

Tony Orlando will appear at the Hard Rock Casino in Coquitlam on April 9. [PNG Merlin Archive]

Tony Orlando – Tie A Yellow Ribbon


Ronnie Milsap – Any Day Now


Dwight Yoakam – Guitars, Cadillacs


Alan Jackson – Chattahoochee


Gordon Lightfoot – If You Could Read My Mind


Ronnie Hammond – Atlanta Rhythm Section – Spooky


Dan Fogelberg – Missing You


Peter Frampton – Baby I Love Your Way


Pat Upton – Spiral Starecase – I Love You More Today Than Yesterday


Michael Jackson – Jackson 5 – Never Can Say Goodbye

Jay Black – Jay and the Americans. I can’t believe I left him out of the original post. Such a monumental oversight. Just a beautiful voice. So he makes 23. (This Magic Moment, Come A Little Bit Closer) As I was listening to his songs tonight I initially thought, “That’s the most beautiful thing I ever heard!” Then I looked at the 22 men above him and thought, “Nope.” I don’t have a clue what makes the singers be on my list. But they are.

I bow at the altar of Chaka Khan!

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Oh my gosh what a find! Etta James, Gladys Knight and Chaka Khan singing ‘Ain’t Nobody’s Business’ with BB King on guitar (1987). In typical fashion I discover this singing goddess 40 years late. James and Knight are incredible, but Chaka…. luckily we have YouTube. She’s a saucy little tart. My gosh I miss the 70s.


aka Yvette Marie Stevens

“Yvette Marie Stevens, better known by her stage name Chaka Khan, is an American singer and songwriter. Her career has spanned nearly five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus.” – Wikus Pedius

Polly Browne and Pickettywitch

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polly browne

In 1947 a goddess was born in the British Isles named Polly Browne. I first came across her music on YouTube with the song, Same Old Feeling with her group Pickettywitch from 1970. I thought I was gone with that one. Then I heard, Freedom,  from her ‘Blues Collection’. That’s when I realized what gone was. When nature combines to put the voice of an angel with the face of an angel, that’s pretty awesome. Estimating I “discovered” her two years ago, that puts me at exactly… 46 years late! My track record is complete.

Judy Henske

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“If Linda Ronstadt’s a torch singer, Henske’s a flame thrower.”

Judy! Judy! Judy! Where have you been all my life??? So I’m watching TCM and a bizarre 60’s movie with Peter Breck comes on called “Hootenanny Hoot” (1963). It’s about a local TV producer searching the backwoods of Missouri for folk and bluegrass music talent. And low and behold there appears this interesting young woman belting out this amazing song, ‘Wade In the Water’. Talent on loan from God. No other way to explain it.

A quick trip to the Amazon Music store nets me two MP3 album downloads. ‘Judy Henske’ and ‘High Flying Bird’. She is part Janis Joplin and Mama Cass, without the suicidal tendencies. Part Cher, part Pink, part Grace Slick. She strikes me as the bad girl of folk, if there is such a thing. A total delight. No auto-tune, no triple track overdubbing of her own harmony and backups, she just gets out on a stage and belts it out. Raw and naked.

What is rather amazing is that she never hit the big-time. It’s right in that period of the early sixties where folk music was going bonkers. America was told Bob Dylan was a singer? What was that all about? There is no comparison. How the hell are we sold the bill of goods that a clown like Bob Dylan is a singer, and Judy Henske languishes in obscurity? What the hell is that about?

On the local oldies station every other song is either Billy Joel or Elton John. Radio stations can only play the same 83 songs? And a phenomenal talent like Judy lives in relative obscurity? Glad I found her now. Thank you Chippewa  Falls, WI.

 

Kurt Cobain… who?

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[USA Today, 4/4] “Check our photo gallery this afternoon of rock legend Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide 20 years ago Saturday at age 27. The pictures are from Life’s new book about the Nirvana frontman. See the photos and remember at usatoday.com/life.”

Never got this one. Never heard him. Never saw him. Don’t think I want to. I know the media is obsessed with him and his very strange widow Courtney Love. Never got her either. So Time/Life comes out with a book on this very hairy dead man? Hmm. Pop culture, go figure. I wonder who owns the rights to his music? Follow the money. That’s the only thing I can figure.

The other thing I’m curious about, is how can you be a “legend” when 90 % of the world has never heard what it is you are supposedly so famous for?