Posts Tagged ‘Steve Perry’

Zap-Pow

Sunday, April 22nd, 2012

Listen: This Is Reggae Music / Zap-Pow
This

Recorded and originally released in ’73, don’t be surprised if you think ‘This Is Reggae Music’ is blatantly influenced by HELL UP IN HARLEM Blaxploitation soundtrack production. There was a lot of it about. Harry Johnson and Chris Blackwell must have been knee deep in the stuff at the time.

By then, as a result of ‘Shaft’, the worldwide hit single for Isaac Hayes from the film of the same name, the style pretty much became a mainstay at RnB, or Black radio as it was referred to, finding it’s way into everything including reggae apparently.

Lead singer Dwight Pinkney sure does have a voice that later should have been confused for Steve Perry’s from Journey. In fact, that band could have easily pulled off a version of ‘This Is Reggae Music’ had they known and felt a fondness for the genre, which I’m betting the bank they did not.

The other guys in Zap-Pow played on many of Lee Perry’s Black Ark sessions.

Journey

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

Listen: Just The Same Way / Journey
Just The Same Way / Journey

Yesterday’s post about historic, often unsung producer Owen Bradley had me locked into a historic, often unsung producer funk. Somewhere in my Top 5, Roy Thomas Baker sits.

Well I suppose he’s had various moments in the sun, but not lately. If the great minds decide to ponder the character responsible for inventing corporate rock, then by all means, RTB should get the crown. Seriously, who can touch a production like ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’?

Weened at the Decca Studios in London as an engineer (check your record sleeves from the 60′s) meant learning how to mic and record accurately was his required foundation. So for RTB to build a skyscraper – piece of cake.

When he ran the west coast office of Elektra in ’85, he’d welcome us junior New York A&R guys every time we made our way to Los Angeles. And the action never, not ever, slowed. Honestly, there was no stopping and certainly no sleeping. It was that simple.

When I pull out Journey singles, there are four or five that eat up the next half hour or so of my life, each getting a couple of spins minimum. Tonight, ‘Just The Same Way’ won hands down. Is there anything that isn’t absolutely perfect about this single?

Steve Perry’s call and answer bits push the bar, one classic inflection after the other. Then there’s the guitar solo, and the tones. It’s an AOR radio masterpiece.