Tag: music

The comeback hits, part the second

DeShannon love songs

Roberta Flack.Donny HathawaySome more comeback hits. This is when an artist, who’d had some success on the pop charts, regains that commercial stature. As before, I’m basing these on Billboard’s singles pop charts, because it’s fun!

If I Were A Carpenter – Bobby Darin. After a pair of Top 10 songs in 1963, including 18 Yellow Roses, he returned with this #8 hit in 1967.

Smoke On the Water – Deep Purple. Their 1st Top 30 song was Hush, #4 in 1968. This song, in 1973, also hit #4.

Put A Little Love In Your Heart – Jackie DeShannon. She had only two Top 30 songs, What The World Needs Now is Love, #7 in 1965, and this, #4 in 1969.

Abraham, Martin, and John – Dion. After a couple of #6 hits in 1963, including Drip Drop, he reached #4 in the pivotal year of 1968.

Not Ready To Make Nice – Dixie Chicks. Landslide reached #7 in early 2003. But that was before the Iraq war. This return reached #4 in 2007, long before they were redubbed The Chicks.

What A Fool Believes – The Doobie Brothers. Black Water was their first #1 in 1975. This one, in 1979, was their second, the first Top 20 since Takin’ It To the Streets, #13 in 1976.

Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door – Bob Dylan. This song from Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, #12 in 1973, was his first Top 20 since Lay Lady Lay, #7 in 1969.

F

The Closer I Get To You – Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway. At #2, her biggest hit since her #1 Feel Like Makin’ Love in 1974. His only other Top 20 hit is their 1972 duet, Where Is the Love, which reached #5.

The Old Man Down The Road – John Fogerty. He wasn’t recording much for nearly a decade, in part because he sounded too much like that lead singer of Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Fogerty. This hit #10 in 1985.

I Want To Know What Love Is – Foreigner. They had a couple of Top 5 hits in 1981, including Urgent, with that Junior walker sax solo. But they only had one #1, in 1985, thanks to the New Jersey Mass Choir and Jennifer Holliday.

December 1963 – the Four Seasons. the group had five #1 hits. Rag Doll (194) was the fourth. This, in 1976 was the fifth. Other than Who Loves You (#3 in 1975), it was also their first Top 10 since C’mon Marianne, #9 in 1967.

In 1998, my office was having its holiday party in September (long story). We played a board game. One of the questions was to name songs featuring years, but you needed at least eight words of the lyrics. My response: “Oh what a night, late December back in ’63.”

Ain’t No Woman – Four Tops. Their first Top 5 (#4 in 1973) since Bernadette (#4 in 1967).

Spanish Harlem – Aretha Franklin. QoS had tons of “comebacks”, such as Freeway of Love (#3 in 1985). But I picked this earlier resurgence, #2 in 1971, her first Top 5 since Since You’ve Been Gone, #5 in 1968.

G/H

Sexual Healing – Marvin Gaye. this return to form involved a change of record labels, from Tamla/Motown to Columbia. The song hit #3 in 1983, his highest position since the #1 Got To Give It Up in 1977.

Kiss On My List – Daryl Hall and John Oates. #1 in 1981, their first chart-topper since Rich Girl in 1977.

Got My Mind Set On You – George Harrison. #1 in 1988. the first #1 since Give Me Love in 1973 and first Top Ten since All Those Years Ago, #2 in 1981.

The End Of The Innocence – Don Henley. #8 in 1989, his first Top 10 since All She Wants To Do Is Dance, #9 in 1985. (Live version here.)

Long Cool Woman – the Hollies. #2 in 1972, their first Top 5 since Bus Stop in 1966.

Music collection of my father-in-law

bluegrass, big band, Ernest Tubb

singingAs I’ve noted, my father-in-law, Richard Powell, died on April 22, 2020. we had the funeral a mere 13 months later.

Then we had the task of getting my mother-in-law packed to move to a smaller place. This involved my wife making 70-mile trips, each way, approximately every other weekend to get my MIL prepared. One weekend in June my daughter and I joined them.

I was specifically tasked to go through my FIL’s music collection. He had hundreds of CDs. A lot of them were classical. Most of them I packed up to be sold or given away. But a few – OK, about 100 – I took. Oh, not all for me. My wife’s friend is getting some music from Scotland.

One of his granddaughters is getting some tunes from the Great American Songbook, songs composed by Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hart, et al. One collection contains albums given by Richard’s late son John (d. 2002) to the late Alice Truman, a family friend. So maybe some of my FIL’s collection was inherited.

In any case, I kept quite a few of his CDs, and a lot of them were country artists. Ernest Tubb, Willie Nelson, and more Johnny Cash than I probably need, including one compilation that had never been opened. A few bluegrass compilations. My first albums of Gene Autry and Jimmy Durante.

Lots of classical music. A three-CD set of marches, and not all Sousa. Other themed albums: the music of the flute or trumpet or oboe, et al. Favorite overtures.

I had to limit the number of big band artists I took because there were a lot. Some were musicians I had: Basie, Ellington, Goodman. But quite a few I did not: Fletcher Henderson, Erskine Hawkins, Jimmie Lundsford, Chick Webb.

Two things

There are a couple of things that I found interesting. Many of the items in the collection were used, and/or deeply discounted items. That would be in keeping with his frugal nature, and, knowing my FIL, was understandable.

What I find strange, though, is that I don’t particularly associate him with listening to a lot of music at all. He may have played it in his garage, working on his old cars, but it’s not something I remember hearing a lot in the house, especially in his last residence. Maybe he was enjoying them while driving.

You can tell a lot about a person by the music they own.

How to make George hipper, musically

Blue by Joni Mitchell

George, who I do not know, wrote:

hipperI was taking a shower this morning and “Old Roger draft-dodger” came into my head from outer space. That led me to your column on S and G and to your favorites. I am now 92 and should not have really paid much attention to the music of their era, but as a widower, I was dating younger women and listened to their music to seem hipper than I really was.

I started to really listen to lyrics, not Cole Porter’s masterful words, but to a new generation’s words. S and G knocked me out as did some Beatle lyrics (Eleanor Rigby). My God these kids are thinking! I collected a bunch of CDs.

A decade or so later I started to listen to the Eagles “she’s goin to the cheatin side of town”. That set me to wondering if my old hands are as cold as ice. Oh well, what the hell. Music (to me) nowadays doesn’t sound smart enough. That is why I am writing. What do you suggest? I still want to be hipper. My wife was born in 1952 so you can see where she’s at.

So many choices!

I find recommending music to be difficult unless I know people’s tastes quite well. I was recently listening to Living Colour’s Time’s Up album from 1990, which I don’t know would be your style sonically. But I think it’s strong lyrically.

I’m fond of an alt-country artist named Jason Isbell. In fact, there are a lot of country-related artists I like, such as Mary Chapin Carpenter, Lyle Lovett, and Lucinda Williams.

Steely Dan may be to your liking. John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival may be underrated. Tom Waits is a grand songwriter, but his voice, to be kind, is an acquired taste. Leonard Cohen, who is often covered, is a fine scribe.

In fact, there’s a bit in Stages, more a chat than a song, that I think is hysterical. It’s a conversation he was having with some guys in his band:

And they were talking about the
Various stages that a man goes through
In relation to his allure to the opposite sex
It was not a scientific evaluation
Just something that arose over a cup of coffee.

It went something like this:

You start off irresistible
And, then you become resistible
And then you become transparent
Not exactly invisible but as if you are seen
through old plastic.
Then you actually do become invisible
And then, and this is the most amazing transformation,
You become repulsive.

But that’s not, that’s not the end of the story.
After repulsive then you become cute
And that’s where I am.

And more

If you haven’t discovered him, try John Prine, a songwriter who surely belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Kris Kristofferson is a great writer, often covered by people from Janis Joplin to Johnny Cash.

So many: Randy Newman, Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, Neil Young, David Bowie, John Hiatt. Find Joni Mitchell’s Blue album, which I JUST finished playing again; her other stuff, too. Since you’ve already glommed onto Lennon and McCartney, I should note that solo McCartney can be hit or miss, but you might like his 2007 album, Memory Almost Full.

And of course, there’s a ton of songs written by Smokey Robinson and Bob Dylan, among others. Rolling Stone created a list of the 100 greatest songwriters that you should peruse. 

Hey, people out there, what would you recommend for George to make him hipper? Artists. Specific albums, if you’d like.

Albums almost abandoned, and one that was

Emmylou, Joni, and Herbie

Hissing of Summer LawnsWhile listening to Herbie Hancock in early April, his birth month, I was reminded by two albums almost abandoned by their owners to me. Another one actually WAS given to me.

Around 1995, a choir friend was complaining about the new Emmylou Harris album, Wrecking Ball, that she’d just purchased. She was a huge Emmylou fan, but Wrecking Ball was not her cuppa.

It was produced by Daniel Lanois, who had produced or co-produced albums for U2, Peter Gabriel, and Bob Dylan, among others. Additionally, Lanois was also a solo artist; I’m quite fond of his Acadie album.

My choir buddy decided that maybe she’d get rid of Wrecking Ball. I said, “Give it to me!” But she decided to keep it. I wonder if she ever warmed up to it.

Emmylou, also born in April, shows up on so many of my albums. In addition to her solo stuff, she’s a background singer for Lyle Lovett, Neil Young, and so many more. She’s on albums with Mark Knopfler, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Linda Ronstadt, and of course the Trio albums with Dolly Parton and Linda, the complete set of which I bought in 2020.

Joni and Herbie

Back in 1975, Sue, the girlfriend of my friend Jon – who I’ve lost track of – picked up The Hissing of Summer Lawns, the new Joni Mitchell album. She did not know if she’d keep it because it was too different from what she had expected. I said, “Give it to me!” But she decided to keep it. I wonder if she ever warmed up to it.

The album is transitional to a more experimental sound (Hejira, Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter et al.) I liked it. BTW, her birthday is in November.

My late friend Donna was kvetching about the 1996 Herbie Hancock album The New Standard. It was a jazz cover album of pop songs by Peter Gabriel, the Beatles, Babyface, Sade, Prince, and Simon and Garfunkel. She was a jazz fan, but she did not like this. She said, “Do you want this?” I said, “Heck, yeah.”

Hancock’s 1998 album, Gershwin’s World features Joni on vocals for two songs, The Man I Love and Summertime. His 2007 album River: The Joni Letters is a tribute album featuring cover songs written by Joni, with an eclectic group of singers
Connections

The songs

Though they are very different, because these three artists have been so eclectic, I think of them fondly in the same way.

From Wrecking Ball

Where Will I Be? with the songwriter, Daniel Lanois
Wrecking Ball, written by Neil Young
Orphan Girl, written by Gillian Welch

From The Hissing of Summer Lawns, the first three songs

In France They Kiss On Main Street, which could have fit on her previous studio album, Court and Spark
The Jungle Line, which would not
Edith and the Kingpin – I heard Rebecca Jade do a great cover of this recently

From The New Standard

New York Minute  – co-written and originally performed by Don Henley
You’ve Got It Bad Girl – co-written and originally performed by Stevie Wonder
All Apologies – written by Kurt Cobain, originally performed by Nirvana

1971 #1s: my first year in college

overly Osmond

Three Dog Night.1972
Three Dog Night.1972

The year 1971 was hugely significant in my musical listening development. For one thing, it was my first year in college, my initial time away from home, meeting new people my age and a little older.

There is a book entitled Never A Dull Moment about that year in music, and I wrote at least ten posts about that tome. Some of these songs are great! And then…

Joy To The World – Three Dog Night. #1 for six weeks, gold record. Was Jeremiah REALLY a bullfrog?

Maggie May Maggie May – Rod Stewart. #1 for five weeks., gold record. From the popular album, Every Picture Tells A Story.
It’s Too Late – Carole King. #1 for five weeks, gold record. From the absurdly popular Tapestry album. If you didn’t own this, then your roommate had to.
One Bad Apple – the Osmonds. #1 for five weeks, gold record. Trying to sound like the Jackson Five.

How Can You Mend a Broken Heart – the BeeGees. #1 for four weeks, gold record. Part of that brief resurgence, along with Lonely Days, before falling on commercial hard times. They’d be back.

Knock Three Times – Dawn. #1 for three weeks. Not the dishwashing detergent but the trio fronted by Tony Orlando.
Brand New Key – Melanie. #1 for three weeks, gold record. “Don’t go too fast, but I go pretty far.”
Go Away, Little Girl  – Donny Osmond. #1 for three weeks, gold record. Steve Lawrence went to #1 with this in 1963.
Family Affair – Sly and the Family Stone. #1 for three weeks, gold record. I feel stoned every time I hear this.

The #1s for two weeks

Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves – Cher. Gold record. Would the first word now be Roma or the Romani?
Just My Imagination – the Temptations. The third #1 for the group, as Eddie Kendrick is going out the door.
Theme from Shaft – Isaac Hayes. Gold record. We can dig it.
Me and Bobby McGee – Janis Joplin. The second posthumous #1 pop song.
Brown Sugar – the Rolling Stones. I bought Sticky Fingers and Tapestry on the same day in July 1971. The zipper really worked!

#1s for a single week

Indian Reservation – the Raiders. Platinum record. A very earnest record by the artists formerly known as Paul Revere and… 
The Want Ads – the Honey Cone. Gold record. “Extra, extra!”
You’ve Got a Friend – James Taylor. Gold record. Of course, a Carole King song.
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey – Paul and Linda McCartney. Gold record. From the Ram album. With the Beatles gone, I was always happy to see the solo artist chart.

Parade magazine’s best songs of 1971.

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