Archive for the ‘The Who’ Category

Thunderclap Newman

Friday, August 13th, 2010

Thunderclap Newman USA

Listen: Accidents / Thunderclap Newman

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Not enough people seem to appreciate Thunderclap Newman.

For such a British sound, they surprisingly had a pretty big US hit with ‘Something In The Air’. It, and their album HOLLYWOOD DREAM, were produced by Pete Townshend. Word is they were a studio concoction put together by Pete to help John ‘Speedy’ Keen, a roadie for The Who. Speedy Keen had indeed quite a talent for songwriting (doing just that for all but one song on the LP) and playing. He later released two solo albums, as well as some great singles including ‘Bad Boys’, a reggae style Chris Blackwell produced favorite of mine.

This track though, was the followup to ‘Something In The Air’. A 9:40 version of ‘Accidents’ can be found on the album, complete with kitchen sink psychedelics during a loooong middle part, but it’s the 7″ version that out-Englishes the Englishness of ‘Something In The Air’, if you can believe that. If not, just listen, Yes, heaven on earth.

Guitarist Jimmy McCulloch was noticeably great – his intertwining parts here (every song actually) are hugely melodic and make all Thunderclap Newman’s songs a little more special.

He later joined Stone The Crows and a very obscure band called Blue. They actually scored a minor hit, ‘Capture Your Heart’, when signed to Elton John’s Rocket label, but previously had two albums on RSO, the first of which included the single ‘Little Jody’, an absolutely perfect, must own pop record, made even more perfect by Jimmy’s playing.

I’m posting the mono single version of ‘Accidents’ here. A stereo version can be found on the cd reissue of that infamous HOLLYWOOD DREAM album, but for some reason they left off the mono. Sloppy….

ALVIN ROBINSON

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

Listen: Down Home Girl / Alvin Robinson

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I saw The Rolling Stones for the first time on October 30, 1965 at the Syracuse War Memorial. I had forged a press pass, a typed note actually, on letterhead from a weekly paper in my little hometown. My Dad had set me up with the pompous owner of it, as I wanted to interview the band for a feature.

Looking back it was quite a good idea on my part, but this self celebrating fellow was nasty and dismissive. Even though I ended up meeting the band, I still loathe him for his attitude, not towards me, but towards my Father. He was so busy being busy, running in and out of his pathetic office, that I just reached over and grabbed a few pages of letterhead when he wasn’t looking. I shook with fear at what I’d done (I was still a good Catholic boy), but too late, I’d done it. So he tells me, “We don’t need a piece on this dirty English combo”, and that was that – or so he thought. Indeed, they didn’t need a a kid in his late single digits writing a review.

To be exact, this was the Canastota Bee Journal, as close as you can get to Mayberry. He and the paper, I’m guessing, are long gone. Still, I composed this laughable letter, claiming to be a writer on assignment – and needing to interview the band.

In those days, arenas were filled with hysterical, screaming kids – so how I managed to slide backstage so easily still baffles. An usher fell for that forged letter, and brought me back, where Bill Wyman was wrapping up his cords. Bill reads it, stares me straight in the eye and says (in hindsight with a knowing smirk), “Come on and we’ll meet the rest”.

Holy shit. Is this really happening? It was the first time I nearly blacked out. I seriously remember that vividly. We are suddenly walking up the steps to the dressing room, knees weak, where in years to follow, I would meet, more like pester, (here goes – I know this is all a bit name droppy, but it really, really happened. I met all these bands and I’m proud of it): The Mindbenders, Them, The Moody Blues, The Nashville Teens, The Yardbirds, The Ikettes, The Who, The Pretty Things, Manfred Mann, The Kinks, Humble Pie, Heads Hands & Feet, Fairport Convention, Free, John Martyn, Steppenwolf, Canned Heat, Caravan, Curved Air, Toe Fat, Derek & The Dominoes, Jethro Tull, The Jeff Beck Group, Grand Funk Railroad, Frampton’s Camel, Family, Wild Turkey, Blodwyn Pig, The Faces, T. Rex, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Mother Earth, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Chambers Brothers, Sly & The Family Stone, Savoy Brown, Ten Years After, Iron Butterfly, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Big Brother & The Holding Company, The Jimi Hendrix Experience – even Vivian Green, who I work with now, was in that very room when on tour with Maxwell. Talk about coming full circle.

The management knew me and my friends well early on, they must’ve gotten a kick out of these crazy little kids, who’s Mom’s & Dad’s would wait patiently for until the shows ended. Our parents befriended the office staff, and in turn, those nice ladies always let us backstage.

The Rolling Stones were great, so nice. No one was in their dressing room except the band, and one other guy, I guess the tour manager. No food, nothing but bottles of Coca Cola. They signed my copy of 12 X 5, it probably lasted all of a minute – but I still can relive it to this day. Here I was, with this exotic band from England that changed my life, which prior I could only see on TV every 3-4 months tops. I thought at that very moment, “This is the life for me”. I’m completely convinced it led to my career in music – no question.

One of their current album at the time, THE ROLLING STONES NOW, was not a real album at all. In those days, the English labels released singles and EPs, in addition to albums. Not only were the EP tracks not on the LPs, but the singles weren’t either. So the US companies were always dropping off intended LP tracks to make room for the singles and sometimes strong ones from those EPs. For this particular release, London Records basically cobbled together some singles and EP songs, as well as unused UK LP tracks (the UK LPs were 14 songs compared to our 10-12, thereby creating even more choices). Probably by coincidence more than design, THE ROLLING STONES NOW actually works as a proper LP. It was certainly a big success – slowly but very solidly scaling the US LP charts and staying Top 10 for ages, as it deserved to. The record’s filled with dark, minor key classics (‘Heart Of Stone’, ‘Little Red Rooster’ and ‘Pain In My Heart’ – which they played on that night, Brian sitting at a huge B3 organ, wailing away).

It’s ok if you’re getting tingles. Take your time. You’ll need it. They were back, nine months later, during the AFTERMATH tour, and that’s whole ‘nother post waiting to be written.

This all leads us to ‘Down Home Girl’, a song on THE ROLLING STONES NOW. Little did I know then that it was a cover. I don’t even think I knew what that meant. They were all Rolling Stones songs to us. Years and years later I wised up, seeked out the original, and became a dangerous Alvin Robinson fanatic.

Here’s his version. Get any of his other releases – all of them actually.

The Who

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Listen: Happy Jack / The Who

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Pull this out and give it a spin. You’re bound to say, “Man I have not heard this in ages”. Well, my guess is you’ll say that. I loved all the singles up through and including ‘Pictures Of Lily’. Then came ‘I Can See For Miles’. Something about that one, it was good but didn’t hit dead center. Was a first real understanding of my body’s reaction to music. ‘I Can See For Miles’ may have been the record that set the template for an A&R career years later: if I didn’t love it – chances were good it’d be a huge hit. Hey, as long as you know how to read the indicators, that’s all that really matters. ‘I Can See For Miles’ was in fact their only ever US Top 10. Hard to believe I know.

Back then, The Who weren’t much different than The Small Faces or The Move when it came to US radio. You never heard them. Yeah radio was much better in the 60’s, but still fairly narrow. These bands just didn’t get national airplay – if they were lucky, regional exposure was usually the extent of it and then maybe a crossover….leads me to an interesting memory about The Who.

I and my Anglophile friends religiously bought every single by The Who. My teenage girlfriend and I missed our junior prom the night I got ‘Substitute’ it was so good – we just played it over and over and fiddled about, as someone once coined. It was the plan anyways.

There were a few shops around town that would get two to five copies of the non hits, or hopeful to be hits – like Walt’s Records or Smith’s Records or that huge record department in WT Grant’s on Salina Street in Syracuse. So starting with ‘I Can’t Explain’, we bought ‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere’, every single right through and including the immaculate ‘Substitute’, ‘I’m A Boy’, ‘The Kids Are Alright’ and this one, the psychedelic ‘Happy Jack’, which actually did crack the Billboard chart peaking at #24 in ‘67. A few years later when TOMMY was released, everyone noticed a rock opera similarity between that and it’s predecessor, The Pretty Things S.F. SORROW, still we listened to them both regularly during several weekend Parcheesi matches. The Who finally made a return visit after opening for Herman’s Hermits a few years earlier. Even though in my opinion the glow of those earlier singles had dimmed down noticeably, of course I went along. TOMMY admittedly wasn’t bad.

After the show, a few of us waited around for autographs, brought albums, singles, the works. I wasn’t quite as fussed and brought nothing, but seriously, was there something better to do in Syracuse as a teenager than possibly say hello to The Who? When my best friend Denny went up to Pete Townshend proudly with his MY GENERATION album to get signed, the guy turned his nose away, dismissiveley refusing to sign anything. He proceeded to make his way toward their station wagon with band members including Keith Moon and Roger Daltry already inside waiting. Even Keith Moon jumped out of the car to oblige, looking at Pete with a ‘you asshole’ glare, I couldn’t resist. So I spoke up.

“Pete, you know those few copies of the older singles you used to sell in towns like this prior to your hits, we were were the kids that bought them.” As the car pulled away, plain as day, I recall him hanging out the window, wearing a coat that looked like a piece of ghastly ornate drapery, middle finger on both hands projecting at me and shouting “you got a show for your $6 prick”.

Hmm. Not really, you didn’t play any of the aforementioned songs I came to hear. Not one. Still it was rude, certainly embarrassing and I never bought another record by The Who. Big deal, basically my bitterness toward he and unfairly the other guys in The Who went unnoticed and I’m sure Pete Towshend never lost a wink of sleep because of me.

About 30 years later, he and then manager were doing the rounds of labels trying to hawk a new, not very good Pete Townshend album. We sat in my office and had a lovely conversation about The Marquee, The Creation, Track Records, Kit Lambert. I did not recap the story. Why bother? We were both kids then. Still, interestingly, Pete Townshend was kissing my ass. I was getting a second show, and this one didn’t cost me $6.

But guess what, I passed on the album and him, his talent to write those gems long ago withered in my opinion. Besides, I’d already experienced his temper. And I finally felt that injustice had come full circle.

Lesson learned: You meet the same people on the way up as you do on the way down. No one is immune. Be careful.

‘Happy Jack’ really is a terrific single.

The Heartbreakers

Monday, February 8th, 2010

HeartbreakersBornPS, The Heartbreakers, Walter Lure, The Ramones, Johnny Thunders, Track,

Listen: Born To Lose / The Heartbreakers

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The Heartbreakers were in London, playing The Marquee around the last week or so of March ‘77. It was luckily during a fortnight visit, seeing a band every night type trip, right at the height of punk. The Roxy was in it’s brief existence and having missed them there in order to see The Damned and Johnny Moped at the LSE, I was anxious to get in early. It’s funny when you go 3,000 miles to see a band that’s from your own backyard. They were both everything New York yet perfectly invented for England too. Recalling the show that night still gives me the shakes.

HeartbreakerOneTrackPS, The Heartbreakers, Walter Lure, The Ramones, Johnny Thunders, Track,

Listen: One Track Mind / The Heartbreakers

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To prove the point about England, they signed to a reactivated (I think just for them) Track Records. Seemingly dormant since the very early 70’s, suddenly Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp were dug up and cleaned off – good as new.

In ‘67, when the label began, those two must have been a real threat with both The Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Who on a roster that overnight put Track in the uh-oh we’re all in trouble now league. Thunderclap Newman and The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown didn’t help, while Marsha Hunt, John’s Children, The Eire Apparent and Cherry Smash made stubbornly difficult to find, must-have flops.

‘One Track Mind’, The Heartbreakers second single, had me thinking they could take over the world. My crystal ball obviously needed new batteries. But the guitar tones of Johnny Thunders and especially Walter Lure were a wall of sloppy sound live and for a brief moment I couldn’t get enough.

Walter played for years on The Ramones albums. His signature sound is a giveaway on TOO TOUGH TO DIE, and a perfect foil to Johnny’s.

Freddie Cannon / Where The Action Is

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

freddycannonaction, Freddy Cannon, Where The Action Is, Dick Clark, American Bandstand

Listen: Where The Action Is / Freddy Cannon

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Let’s face it. The theme song to ABC’s syndicated daily pop show, WHERE THE ACTION IS, titled ‘Action’ by Freddie Cannon, was so good, even The Ramones could have covered it.

I lived for WHERE THE ACTION IS and saw many a great act each day after school. Our local Syracuse affiliate, WSYR-TV, was wishy-washy, and many times pre-empted it with other things. Looking over the complete, chronological list of episodes and guests, I’ve only just discovered missing Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours, The Action and Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich for just that reason. Indeed, I’m a bit crushed having now discovered these atrocities. Scumbags.

But seeing an LA centric act, who were basically down the street from the studios I’m guessing (The Guillteens, The Ikettes with and without Ike & Tina Turner, The Vejtables, The Leaves, The Seeds, Gary & The Hornets, Love, Dino Desi & Billy, The Buffalo Springfield and Jan & Dean) almost daily was bliss.

Not to mention the RnB stuff: Martha & The Vandellas, Doris Troy, The Royalettes, Mary Wells, Brenda Holloway, The Toys, Maxine Brown, Kim Weston, Carla Thomas, Billy Stewart, Bobby Hebb, Alvin Cash & The Crawlers or Felice Taylor. I still replay The Vibrations doing ‘My Girl Sloopy’ vividly in my memory.

Then there were the black and white segments from England, a real high for this sicko: The Small Faces, Gary Farr & The T-Bones, Them, The Mindbenders, The Zombies, The Moody Blues, The Kinks, Unit 4 + 2, The Who, Wayne Fontana, Marianne Faithfull and The Yardbirds. Surviving somehow for all to see, The Cryin’ Shames clip (complete with Dick Clark’s intro):

Thank you Dick Clark.

Billboard Magazines

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

I got a fantastic email today from a reader in France, Bands Michel, who alerted me to a site whereby you can read just about every BILLBOARD from the 50’s, 60’s and onwards. These are mesmerizing. Scrolling through the weekly singles reviews whereby they predict records that will achieve Top 20, Top 60 or simply a ‘Chart’ placing alone is worth the visit. Most of the greats are in that later section, although many a ’should have been a hit’ record features in the other two as well. Not to mention stunning full page tip sheet adds for singles by The Herd, The Who, Mary Wells, Scott Walker, Ike & Tina Turner, The Small Faces, multi artist adverts for Mercury, Okeh, Motown, Fontana, Deram, Ric Tic, Bang, Sue Records plus hundreds and hundreds more. Do yourself a favor:

BILLBOARD MAGAZINE ARCHIVE

Derak Martin

Friday, July 10th, 2009

derakmartindaddyrollingsue, Derak Martin, Sue Records, John's Children, The New York Dolls, Streewalkers,, The Who

Listen: Daddy Rollin’ Stone/ Derak Martin

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Right down to the misspelling of his name, this reeked of street, almost bootleg. The earthy, dirty recording being the kind that would aggressively make the rounds on the underground club circuit, deep south US or deep north UK. It’s reach was validated by the bands that covered it: The Who, John’s Children, The New York Dolls, Roger Chapman’s Streetwalkers. And that’s just the recorded versions.

Benny Spellman

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

bennyspellmanfortuneuka, Allen Toussaint, London, Decca, Benny Spellman, The Rolling Stones

Listen: Fortune Teller / Benny Spellman

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One hit wonder – but what a hit. An early staple for many a London RnB combo in the mid sixties, ‘Fortune Teller’ proved essential for The Rolling Stones, The Merseybeats, The Who and The Downliners Sect.

Hailing from Florida, Benny Spellman had a foot in both blues and rockabilly, via New Orleans. It was writer Allen Toussaint who provided the song, somewhat reminiscent of Bo Diddley. I guess it was the maracas. Originally released by LA’s Minit label, word is Benny was signed during the thriving New Orleans RnB goldrush at the turn of the decade.

Spirit

Saturday, May 2nd, 2009

Mechanical World / Spirit

Listen: Mechanical World / Spirit

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Spirit / I Got A Line On You

Listen: I Got A Line On You / Spirit

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Dark Eyed Woman / Spirit

Listen: Dark Eyed Woman / Spirit

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1984 / Spirit

Listen: 1984 / Spirit

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Animal Zoo / Spirit

Listen: Animal Zoo / Spirit

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Mr. Skin / Spirit USA

Listen: Mr. Skin / Spirit

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Luckily, despite the revolution in stereophonic sound that was going hand in hand with the album format of 1968, most singles were still issued in mono. Such was the case for Spirit’s first release, on both the promo (listen above) and stock copies. ‘Mechanical World’ epitomized the dark side of the LSD generation, and defined late night radio. I always had fantasies of this and many tracks by The Doors being the soundtrack to driving through a pitch dark desert in the wee hours. God knows why – I’d never even been to a desert. There wasn’t one near Syracuse although I certainly felt like I was growing up somewhere equally deserted, hence the possible connection in my brain.

I loved Spirit from the get go. They didn’t sound English which was a strict requirement, but thankfully they didn’t sound Americana either. Plus they looked good. LA bands tended to.

Somehow rather quickly, Spirit had a hit with their second 45, ‘I Got A Line On You’. It was welcomed. Their albums were great and hearing them on Top 40 radio made us all feel liberated. Things were pretty good on the airwaves. The Who and The Cream were getting some play, as were Big Brother & The Holding Company, Iron Butterfly and The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown. I was rather content.

‘Dark Eyed Woman’ was the lead track and first single from the difficult 3rd album CLEAR. Difficult (as a second album is known to be these days) because they’d had a hit despite the ‘album band’ and ‘live band’ habitat from which they came. Top 40 was developing it’s evil lack of loyalty way back then, and ‘Dark Eyed Woman’ didn’t get much play. But FM radio, much like today’s Sirius satellite stations, made up for it. Touring in support of it’s release, I finally got to see the band live. Despite how fantastic they were – and believe me, fantastic is putting it mildly, I was reeling from the support acts that night (October 18, 1969): The Kinks and The Bonzo Dog Band. Reeling indeed.

It was The Kinks first US show after the three year musician’s union ban. They had just released ARTHUR, much of which they played along with tracks from THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY, ‘Waterloo Sunset’, ‘Autumn Almanac’, ‘Sunny Afternoon’, ‘Death Of A Clown’ and ‘Til The End Of The Day’, their opening song. Jawdropping. Plus third on the bill: The Bonzos. I walked out of the venue never to be the same again.

I digressed, sorry.

Spirit released ‘1984′, a non LP single, next. This was not a common move in the day. Still, it’s forever attached to Spirit’s CLEAR era, being of same time period. Actually, ‘1984′ only ever appeared on LP once BEST OF SPIRIT was issued years later. The year 1984 seemed an eternity away on release and the record contributed to a political and ecological slant the band had taken from inception. Remember ‘Fresh Garbage’ from that first album?

Many rightfully consider the original lineup’s fourth and final album, THE TWELVE DREAMS OF DR. SARDONICUS, to be their art rock pinnacle. At least I read something to that effect recently. The two singles released from it are seminal. In fact the first, ‘Animal Zoo’, came out seemingly months prior to the album. I swiped it from a local album rock station whose late night dj occasionally let me visit. I honestly don’t remember their call letters, and he was a rather unpleasant know-it-all. I once recall him adamantly arguing with me about Humble Pie, claiming all their members, instead of just one, were from The Small Faces (wrong) and that none were from The Herd or Spooky Tooth (wrong) – which I desperately tried to point out for his benefit. He wasn’t having it, his loss. Nonetheless, I would tolerate him to get the records. This became mine one summer night along with the Juicy Lucy, Sea Train and Vivian Stanshall singles.

The Move / The Who / Small Faces / Cream

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008

I Can Hear the Grass Grow / The Move

Listen: I Can Hear The Grass Grow / The Move

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Pictures of Lily / The Who

Listen: Pictures Of Lily / The Who

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Patterns / Small Faces

Listen: Patterns / Small Faces

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I Feel Free / Cream

Listen: I Feel Free / Cream

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Irish record shop bag 67

Ok. So these are fairly recognizable records. Certainly The Who and Cream songs are, probably the most obscure being The Small Faces’ ‘Patterns’. Although on many comps, it’s their hardest Decca single by far, and was never issued in the US on a 7″. The reason I have them clumped together: they all travelled back to The States with my Mom from Ireland in June ‘67. She had gone off to see my Aunt for a few weeks and I loaded her down with a list and a half of records to please, please, please buy me. She came back with four (all she could probably afford but I was totally content, for good reason); my Aunt Connie ordering the one I wanted most (Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich ‘Okay’) and sending it on later. Luckily I had the greatest parents in the world for millions of reasons, two being their patience with my record fetish and generosity toward the addiction. I found that I had housed The Cream single in the actual bag they all came in (notice the address matches the stamp on the sleeve), so when pulling it to play tonight, I thought it would be fun to bunch them together for this little, but true, story. Thanks Mom.

The Who

Monday, August 11th, 2008

Substitute / The Who

Listen: Substitute / The Who

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WOLF Charts May 7, 1966

I missed the junior prom because of this record. My girlfriend Marianne was an Anglophile like me, most kids were back then really. But we were hardcore. As soon as I’d get home from school on Fridays I would head to Smith’s Records in Oneida, either on my bike or my Dad would drive me. Mrs. Smith gave me her week old Billboard magazines like clockwork, but I’d always buy something too. Occasionally, one of the special orders she’d put through for me would actually show up. And every time, she’d buy two extras for the shop. Usually Mark or Denny, or both, would buy those copies. Some pretty great things ended up in our collections that way, like ‘See Emily Play’ or The Yardbirds ‘Gooodnight Sweet Josephine’. On this particular day in May ‘66, I was shocked to hear that ‘Substitute’ had come in – only a week after placing the order. Most records never did turn up as she was buying from a one-stop, and they’d pretty much stick to the mainstream hits. You had to be buying direct from the major labels to get their obscure non-hits. Being a tiny Mom & Pop store, you could never do enough business for them to open you up as a direct client. I ran into her little listening booth seconds after she said ‘One of your records came in’ upon entering the shop. My hands were shaking. I’d heard so much about this single, with it’s controversial lyric and couldn’t wait. The Who were very left of center then, not having a US hit until the next year with ‘Happy Jack’. They got no airplay to speak of nationally but our crazy local Top 40, WOLF, played all their singles (see chart above). This US version is the lyric-changed (’I look all white but my Dad was black’ is replaced with ‘I try moving forward but my feet walk back’ ), only available on Atco (6409), superior version and mix. A year or so later, they re-released this version (as Atco 6509) although via a safer, not so wild mix. Neither has ever appeared on a compilation that I know of. The opening chords bring me right back to that moment if I let them. I called Marianne from the shop, told her it had come in and we spent the night listening to the single over and over and over. True. We missed the prom.

Cast

Monday, July 7th, 2008

Free Me / Cast

Free Me / Cast

Listen: Free Me / Cast

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I hadn’t realized Cast scored eight UK Top Ten’s between ‘96 – ‘99, and more chart success into ‘01. I always thought this to be a pretty under appreciated record, but indeed it reached #7. Very good. Well deserved. I suppose it’s a bit too early in their curve to hear the press singing praises just yet, but then again I don’t read most of it, well any of it to be precise – so they might be. Except Record Collector and Mojo, but haven’t spotted a Cast mention in ages. Soon come, one hopes. John Power was the guitarist for The La’s, and it’s all politically correct to like them so…….I’ve been very lucky, ever since HT gave me that Elektra job, I’ve gotten to visit the UK many, many times. Always liked hearing Cast on the radio there, it just was a natural soundtrack. But I’ll never forget when this came on one morning. You know those moments when a song is an everlasting imprint of a time and place on the brain? I remember that moment, right down to the weather, what I’d just eaten for breakfast and the hotel room I was in while listening to Radio 1’s Breakfast Show, readying myself for the day. It sounded modern and perfectly ’60’s at the same time. I had to have the record THAT DAY. I immediately called my pal, Jim Lahat, at BBC London and asked if he had a copy. Bless him, he always made sure I got everything, still does. He said, don’t worry, it’s in your pile, adding ‘why do you want it anyways?’. He’s a riot like that. We were seeing each other later at our usual haunt, EAT & 2 VEG, which, by the way, a is killer vegetarian joint just down Marylebone High Street from his office. And Jim outdid himself, getting his Polydor guy to bike over one of the promo-only vinyl pressings they’d done as a surprise (it was the cd he had in that pile). Jim has a heart of gold this way, always doing generous things for friends. So ‘Free Me’ has great memories attached to it. Despite endless plays, I still can’t put my finger on exactly who this reminds me of – let’s say The Who and The Creation for sure. Anyways, it’s a classic.

Angie / Pete Townshend

Monday, June 9th, 2008

Peppermint Lump / Angie

Peppermint Lump / Angie

A few years back, there was a moment when Pete Townshend was suddenly in hot water….I think he brought a computer in for repair, whereby a bunch of child porn was discovered on the hard drive or some such story. The official response was research, and on his way Pete went. I thought sure Angie’s record might suddenly get some attention as a result. She was a very young girl who was recording with Pete Townshend back in ‘79 for Stiff – and you know how the haters come out pretty easily. If that had happened, at least this terrific single would have been heard again. It’s certainly a lost gem in my universe nonetheless. I was thumbing thru a box last night and found it. I couldn’t get up fast enough to give it a spin. Pete’s signature playing is all over this – as well as his arrangement style and vocals. It sounds great still. I was very down back in ‘68 when The Who played Syracuse, Pete chose to refuse my friends and I autographs. They were a bit more upset than me, I wasn’t really feeling ‘I Can See For Miles’, which had just been released (and still their only US Top 10 single – great radio market we have here eh?). I admit the followup ‘Pictures Of Lily’ is fantastic and almost tricked me into thinking my instincts were wrong – but after that, nothing hit the way ‘Substitute’, ‘I’m A Boy’, ‘The Kids Are Alright’, ‘Happy Jack’ or ‘Anyway Anyhow Anywhere’ had. I mean, The Who were opening for Herman’s Hermits that night – and our crowd were the only ones buying those non-hits off the little racks in the back of Walt’s Records or Smith’s Records; both housing 5-10 copies tops of non-hits. Plus I was desperate to impress my new girlfriend Mary Ann. Instead he got into the awaiting station wagon, hung himself out the window and while giving us the finger with BOTH hands shouted ‘You got a show for your $6 pricks’. No lie. We were speechless. All we wanted were autographs. I remember the other band members seriously looked embarrassed. Never mind, many years later at Columbia, I got to pass on his new album – so we’re even.