CoronaVinyl Day 307 (F): Beautiful, Beautiful by Ferrante & Teicher

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "F," and one of the many albums I randomly acquired as part of a larger lot of records is Ferrante & Teicher's 1975 album Beautiful, Beautiful.

Despite the alluring album cover, I've never listened to the album or done any research on Ferrante & Teicher until today.  As with many of the other bands and artists I haven't previously known much about that I have discovered during this CoronaVinyl journey, I enjoyed learning about Ferrante & Teicher.

Arthur Ferrante and Louis Teicher were piano prodigies who met in 1930 while studying at Juilliard as children (and they later became faculty members there).  They eventually joined forces in the late '40s and began playing classical music together with an orchestra behind them.  In the '50s, they sometimes practiced in the home of the grandmother of future Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler.

Between the '50s and '80s, they released dozens of albums, mostly in the classical, jazz, and easy listening genres.  They were known for their arrangements of movie themes, classical pieces, show tunes, jazz songs, and contemporary pop songs.

Beautiful, Beautiful is an instrumental album, with the duo backed by an orchestra.  It has songs of various genres, including covers of relatively contemporary pop songs Jim Croce's "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" and Stevie Wonder's "You are the Sunshine of My Life," a few songs from movies, Scott Joplin's classic ragtime song "The Entertainer," and the Broadway tune "Over Here" from Over There, among others.  It's a good album to listen to when you need some background music without words while you're working from home during a pandemic.

All in all, Ferrante & Teicher had five Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including four Top 10s.  Teicher died in 2008, just before his 84th birthday, and Ferrante died in 2009, less than two weeks after turning 88 -- and he apparently once said he wanted to live as many years as there are keys on a piano, so that's pretty poetic.

The album isn't on Spotify, but there is a YouTube playlist with the songs on the album, so I embedded that below.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "The Entertainer"
This is probably the most recognizable ragtime song, and Ferrante & Teicher do a good job with it, both on the piano and with the orchestral backing.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "African Echoes"
This one has, as the name of the song implies, an African-inspired drum beat that permeates the song, with various other trippy instruments, before the whole orchestra dramatically kicks in.

CoronVinyl Day 306 (E): Trilogy by Emerson Lake & Palmer

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "E," and like with "D," I don't have any "E" artists left that I haven't already featured.  All I have left are Eagles, Sheena Easton, and Emerson Lake & Palmer, so I'm finishing off ELP, since I've listened to albums by the other two more recently.

The group released their third studio album, Trilogy, in 1972.  They built off of the success of their first two albums, as Trilogy went to #5 on the Billboard album chart -- their highest-charting studio album in the U.S. -- and #2 on their native UK's album chart.  It also featured their highest-charting (and only Top 40) single in the U.S., "From the Beginning," which reached #39 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Given that they were some of the pioneers of prog rock, it's not a shock that this album is all prog.  Lots of jazz, jams, and organs.  The Spotify version of the album has 11 extra tracks, which are all either alternate versions or alternate mixes.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "The Endless Enigma, Part 1"
The album starts off with a nearly-seven-minute jazzy jam that breaks into something resembling rock and roll in the middle.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Living Sin"
This is the song on the album with the most vitriol.  Greg Lake rips it up on the vocals, and the song has almost a funk feel to it in some parts.

Hair Band Friday - 7/23/21

1.  "Fly to the Angels" by Slaughter

2.  "Hot Rod" by Junkyard

3.  "D.O.A." by Van Halen

4.  "Boy Will Be Boys" by Danger Danger

5.  "For the Love of Money" by BulletBoys

6.  "Reason to Live" by KISS

7.  "Heading for a Storm" by Vandenberg

8.  "I Can't See You" by Dokken

9.  "Chain Reaction" by Ratt

10.  "Got You By the Balls" by AC/DC

CoronaVinyl Day 305 (D): The Doors by The Doors

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "D," and I don't have any "D" artists left that I haven't already featured, so I'm going with one of my favorite bands and albums, The Doors' 1967 self-titled debut.

I consider The Doors one of, if not the, best American rock and roll bands ever.  There is only one band who I have honored with permanent place on my body, and that's The Doors.  Within about three days of being at college, I got the lizard from the inner sleeve of the Waiting For the Sun album tattooed on my back, though in color (the lizard on the album is in black and white).  The Doors' dark and delightful music helped me through a rough patch, and it seemed like a worthy "thank you" (and still does).

Released only four days into 1967, The Doors (the album) was groundbreaking.  Here, the world got its first taste of the dark side of rock and roll.  To expound on a line from the great Oliver Stone 1991 biopic The Doors, you had Herman's Hermits singing quaint songs like "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter," while The Doors had an 11+-minute Oedipal nightmarish drama of a song, "The End."  And in Jim Morrison, rock and roll got what I consider its first true tormented genius, larger-than-life rock star -- a booze-and-mescaline-fueled poet who could shriek like a banshee while writing intense, introspective lyrics, just as comfortable belting out blues songs as he was singing pop songs as he was hanging off hotel balconies to get a rise out of people as he as whipping his dick out on stage (allegedly).  Morrison was complemented by his band mates and their varied musical influences: keyboardist and Chicagoan Ray Manzarek, who loved the blues and played a double keyboard so that the band didn't need a bassist; guitarist Robby Krieger, who had been taught flamenco guitar; and drummer John Densmore, whose drumming was very much jazz- and Latin-influenced.

Their combination was magic, and their flame burned white hot for the six albums they made together in four years before Morrison's death.  Their debut album was an instant success, reaching #2 on the Billboard album chart and eventually going quadruple platinum in the U.S.  It features several of their best-known songs, like "Light My Fire" -- which was their first of the band's two songs to top the Billboard Hot 100 -- the album opener "Break on Through (To The Other Side)," an unabashed invitation to experiment with hallucinogenic drugs from which the record company had to erase the word "high" in the "she gets high" repeating lyric that, on recordings, was the stuttered "she gets" until the last 10-15 years, and their wailing cover of Howlin' Wolf's "Back Door Man."

The album has rightly received various accolades over the years, including being ranked #42 on Rolling Stone's initial 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time List (it was #86 on the most recent list, in 2020).  If you only own one Doors album, I think this should be the one, and if you're looking to get into The Doors, start with this.  I love every song on the album, so choosing my favorite on each side was tough, but dammit, I managed.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Soul Kitchen"
"Soul Kitchen" is one of my favorite Doors songs, apparently inspired by a soul food restaurant in Venice Beach that Morrison frequented.  It starts off with a catchy organ riff by Manzarek (not unlike the organ riff in "When The Music's Over") and that repeats throughout the song, and a meandering guitar line from Krieger.  The verses are kind of low-key, with the aforementioned organ riff and a James Brown-esque jangly guitar.  But then, everyone turns up the energy for the chorus.  As the band bashes away on their respective instruments, Morrison belts out: "Let me sleep all night in your soul kitchen / Warm my mind near your gentle stove / Turn me out and I'll wander baby / Stumblin' in the neon groves."  I had always assumed this song was about sex (or at least a giant vagina), but I guess it's actually about a soul kitchen.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "I Looked At You"
I could have gone with "Back Door Man" for Side 2, given Morrison's lively yet dark take on the song, but I gave the nod to "I Looked At You," a jazzy psychedelic pop song that kind of predicted the band's rise to success:  "And we're on our way / And we can't turn back."

Major Sports Championship Droughts Update

Last night the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns to win their first NBA championship since Lew Alcindor and Oscar Robertson swept their way to the franchise's first title in 1971.  As I'm wont to do when teams break major sports droughts, I'm going to give you an updated look at a variety of major sports droughts.

I'm going to start micro, focusing on the NBA, then I'm going a little more macro, looking at first title droughts among the four major sports, and then I'm going a little more macro, looking at the longest overall and current championship droughts for major sports franchises, and finally I'm going even more macro, looking at major sports droughts for cities overall.

NBA Droughts

Longest Droughts Before Winning First NBA Title
This year's losing team, the Suns, played their first season in the NBA in the 1968-1969 season, and they got up to a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals, so it looked like they were about to win their franchise's first title.  Giannis had other thoughts, and the Suns will have to wait at least another year.  The Suns' 53 years is the longest an NBA franchise has gone before winning its first title.  Here are the other NBA franchises that took (or are currently taking) more than 25 years to win an NBA title after joining the league (some franchises won ABA titles prior to joining the NBA, which is noted).  For the years, I'm counting the year in which the season ended (i.e., the 1996-1997 season would be considered 1997), and for the teams that have never won, I'm making the countdown from 2022, since that's the first year any of these teams can win a title.  Anyway, here you go (I'm leaving the Charlotte Hornets out, since they've had a strange franchise history):
Phoenix Suns:  53 years (1969-present)
Los Angeles Clippers/San Diego Clippers/Buffalo Braves:  51 years (1971-present)
Detroit Pistons:  49 years (1950-1989)
Utah Jazz/New Orleans Jazz:  47 years (1975-present)
Cleveland Cavaliers:  45 years (1971-2016)
Brooklyn Nets:  45 years (1977-present; but won two ABA titles prior to joining NBA)
Denver Nuggets:  45 years (1977-present)
Indiana Pacers:  45 years (1977-present; but won three ABA titles prior to joining NBA)
Minnesota Timberwolves:  32 years (1990-present)
Orlando Magic:  32 years (1990-present)
Dallas Mavericks:  30 years (1981-2011)
Memphis/Vancouver Grizzlies:  26 years (1996-present)
Houston Rockets/San Diego Rockets:  26 years (1968-1994)

Longest Current NBA Title Droughts
Now that the Bucks have erased 50 years of relative futility, let's take a look at the ten teams with the longest current NBA title droughts.  This will include teams that have never won a title, and it will also exclude ABA titles.  For those Suns fans out there, at least you're not first on this list.  Those teams with an * have never won a title
1.  71 years:  Sacramento Kings/Kansas City Kings/Kansas City–Omaha Kings/Cincinnati Royals/Rochester Royals (1951)
2.  64 years:  Atlanta Hawks/St. Louis Hawks (1958)
3.  53 years:  Phoenix Suns (1969)*
4.  51 years:  Los Angeles Clippers/San Diego Clippers/Buffalo Braves (1971)*
5.  49 years:  New York Knicks (1973)
6.  47 years:  Utah Jazz/New Orleans Jazz (1975)*
7 (tie):  45 years:  Portland Trailblazers (1977); Brooklyn Nets (1977)*; Denver Nuggets (1977)*; Indiana Pacers (1977)*

Major Sports First Title Droughts
With the Suns still in search of their first title, as I've done in years past, I'm going to take a look at the longest first-championship droughts in each of the four major sports leagues –- that is, the longest it has taken a franchise to win its first title since joining its league.  Here are a couple caveats and clarifications:

• I'm not counting AFL, ABA, or WHA championships.  
• I'll be starting a former ABA and WHA team's clock from the year it began playing in the NBA and NHL, respectively.  
• For former AFL teams, I'll be starting from the first Super Bowl season (1966-1967), even though the NFL and AFL didn't merge for another few years.  
• For the NBA, NFL, and NHL, I'm counting the year the season ended as the season, so for instance, Super Bowl XX was played after the 1985 season, but it was played in 1986, so that counts as 1986.  
• For MLB, I am counting 1903 as the first year possible, since that was the year the first World Series was played.  
• For the NHL, I am counting 1927 as the first year possible, since that was the year of the first official NHL playoffs and the year Lord Stanley's Cup became a permanent fixture in the NHL, although that really didn't come into play, since the Original Six all won titles pretty soon after 1927.  
• Since the NBA, NFL, and NHL seasons have ended this year, I've added another year to any current droughts, since obviously a team that hasn't won the title this year cannot win one until 2022.

I'm going to list the following:  (1) ten longest current droughts; (2) ten longest droughts for teams that actually won a championship; and (3) the combined list for each league.  With that, here you go:

Ten Longest Current Droughts for Teams Without Any Championship
1.  61 years
-Minnesota Vikings, NFL (1961-present)
2.  60 years
-Texas Rangers/Washington Senators, MLB (1961-present)
3 (tie).  55 years
-Atlanta Falcons, NFL (1967-present)
-Buffalo Bills, NFL (1967-present)
-San Diego Chargers, NFL (1967-present)
-Tennessee Titans/Houston Oilers, NFL (1967-present)
7 (tie).  53 years
-Cincinnati Bengals, NFL (1969-present)
-Phoenix Suns, NBA (1969-present)
10 (tie).  52 years
-Milwaukee Brewers/Seattle Pilots, MLB (1969-present)
-San Diego Padres, MLB (1969-present)

Ten Longest All-Time Droughts For Franchises That Won a Championship (from founding to first championship)
1.  77 years
-Philadelphia Phillies, MLB (1903-1980)
2.  63 years
-Baltimore Orioles/St. Louis Browns, MLB (1903-1966)
3.  55 years
-Houston Astros/Houston Colt .45s, MLB (1962-2017)
4.  52 years
-Los Angeles Dodgers/Brooklyn Dodgers/Brooklyn Robins/Brooklyn Superbas, MLB (1903-1955)
5.  51 years
-St. Louis Blues, NHL (1968-2019)
6.  50 years
-Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos, MLB (1969-2019)
7.  49 years
-Detroit Pistons/Ft. Wayne Pistons, NBA (1950-1989)
8.  45 years
-Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA (1971-2016)
9.  44 years
-Los Angeles Kings, NHL (1968-2012)
10.  43 years
-Washington Capitals, NHL (1975-2018)

MLB Overall
1.  77 years:  Philadelphia Phillies (1903-1980)
2.  63 years:  Baltimore Orioles/St. Louis Browns (1903-1966)
3.  60 years:  Texas Rangers/Washington Senators (1961-present)
4.  55 years:  Houston Astros/Houston Colt .45s (1962-2017)
5.  52 years:  Los Angeles Dodgers/Brooklyn Dodgers/Brooklyn Robins/Brooklyn Superbas (1903-1955)
6 (tie).  52 years:  San Diego Padres (1969-present); Milwaukee Brewers/Seattle Pilots (1969-present)
8.  50 years:  Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos (1969-2019)
9.  44 years:  Seattle Mariners (1977-present)
10.  41 years:  Los Angeles Angels/Anaheim Angels/California Angels (1961-2002)

NBA Overall
1.  53 years:  Phoenix Suns (1969-present)
2.  51 years:  Los Angeles Clippers/San Diego Clippers/Boston Braves (1971-present)
3.  49 years:  Detroit Pistons/Ft. Wayne Pistons (1950-1989)
4.  47 years:  Utah Jazz/New Orleans Jazz (1975-present)
5 (tie).  45 years:  Cleveland Cavaliers (1971-2016); Brooklyn Nets/New Jersey Nets/New York Nets (1977-present)*; Denver Nuggets (1977-present); Indiana Pacers (1977-present)**
9 (tie).  32 years:  Minnesota Timberwolves (1990-present); Orlando Magic (1990-present)
*The Nets won ABA titles in 1974 and 1976 prior to joining the NBA
**The Pacers won ABA titles in 1970, 1972, and 1973 prior to joining the NBA

NFL Overall
1.  61 years:  Minnesota Vikings (1961-present)
2 (tie).  55 years:  Atlanta Falcons (1967-present); Buffalo Bills (1967-present)*; San Diego Chargers (1967-present)**; Tennessee Titans/Houston Oilers (1967-present)***
6.  53 years:  Cincinnati Bengals (1969-present)
7 (tie).  42 years:  Pittsburgh Steelers/Pittsburgh Pirates (1933-1975); New Orleans Saints 1968-2010)
9.  37 years:  Seattle Seahawks (1977-2014)
10.  36 years:  San Francisco 49ers (1946-1982)
*The Bills won AFL titles in 1964 and 1965 prior to joining the NFL
**The Chargers won the AFL title in 1963 prior to joining the NFL
***The Oilers won AFL titles in 1960 and 1961 prior to joining the NFL

NHL Overall
1 (tie).  51 years:  St. Louis Blues (1968-2019); Buffalo Sabres (1971-present); Vancouver Canucks (1971-present)
4.  44 years:  Los Angeles Kings (1968-2012)
5.  43 years:  Washington Capitals (1975-2018)
6.  42 years:  Arizona Coyotes/Phoenix Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets (1980-present)*
7.  31 years:  Dallas Stars/Minnesota North Stars (1968-1999)
8.  30 years:  San Jose Sharks (1992-present)
9.  29 years:  Ottawa Senators (1993-present)
10.  28 years:  Florida Panthers (1994-present)
*The Jets won WHA titles in 1976, 1978, and 1979 prior to joining the NHL

Major Sports Droughts Between Titles
With a half a century between titles, the Bucks take the cake when it comes to longest droughts between NBA titles, but no one can touch the Chicago Cubs and their 108 years between World Series titles.  Here are the ten longest overall droughts between championships across all four major sports, and the ten longest current championship droughts (including teams that have never won titles).  For purposes of this, I'm counting ABA, AFL, AAFC, and WHA titles.

Overall Droughts Between Championships
1.  108 years:  Chicago Cubs, MLB (1908-2016)
2.  88 years:  Chicago White Sox, MLB (1917-2005)
3.  86 years:  Boston Red Sox, MLB (1918-2004)
4.  63 years:  Minnesota Twins/Washington Senators (1924-1987)
5.  58 years:  Philadelphia Eagles, NFL (1960-2018)
6.  56 years:  San Francisco/New York Giants, MLB (1954-2010)
7.  54 years:  New York Rangers, NHL (1940-1994)
8 (tie).  50 years:  Milwaukee Bucks, NBA (1971-2021); Kansas City Chiefs, NFL (1970-2020)
10 (tie).  49 years:  St. Louis/Los Angeles/Cleveland Rams, NFL (1951-2000); Chicago Blackhawks, NHL (1961-2010)

Current Longest Championship Droughts
1.  75 years:  Arizona/Phoenix/St. Louis/Chicago Cardinals, NFL (1947)
2.  73 years:  Cleveland Indians, MLB (1948)
3.  71 years:  Sacramento Kings/Kansas City Kings/Kansas City–Omaha Kings/Cincinnati Royals/Rochester Royals, NBA (1951)
4.  65 years:  Detroit Lions, NFL (1957)
5.  64 years:  Atlanta Hawks/St. Louis Hawks, NBA (1958)
6 (tie).  61 years:  Minnesota Vikings, NFL (1961)^; Tennessee Titans/Houston Oilers, NFL/AFL (1961)*
8.  60 years:  Texas Rangers/Washington Senators, MLB (1961)^
9.  59 years:  Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers, NFL/AFL (1963)*
10.  58 years:  Cleveland Browns, NFL (1964)
^Franchise has never won a title
*Franchise won last AFL title in year indicated, prior to joining NFL in 1967

Major Sports Whole City Futility
Now, I'd like to run through some championship futility statistics for entire cities.  As above, I am considering the championship year to be the year in which the championship was won.  For example, Super Bowl XX was played after the 1985 season, but it took place on January 26, 1986, so I will consider that to be 1986 for purposes of the stats below.  There are 52 cities that currently have a professional sports team in at least one of the four major sports leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL), and for purposes of this, I'm going to count the AFL and ABA as "major" sports.

Droughts of at least 25 years between major sports championships for cities
For this one, I am including all cities that currently have a major professional sports franchise, and only cities that have won a major sports championship in the past.  For instance, in 2001, the Arizona Diamondbacks won the first championship for the city of Phoenix, but I'm not going to include all the years before 2001 in which Phoenix had a professional sports team but had not won a championship.
-Ottawa:  95 years (1927 Senators to present – Ottawa did not have a hockey team between 1934 and 1990, so this one is somewhat skewed)
-San Diego:  59 years (1963 Chargers to present)
-Buffalo:  57 years (1965 Bills to present)
-Cleveland:  52 years (1964 Browns to 2016 Cavaliers)
-Salt Lake City:  51 years (1971 Stars to present – there was a three year gap between 1976 when the Stars folded and 1979 when the Jazz moved to Salt Lake City)
-Milwaukee:  50 years (1971 Bucks to 2021 Bucks)
-Portland:  45 years (1977 Trail Blazers to present)
-Washington:  36 years (1942 Redskins to 1978 Bullets)
-Cincinnati:  35 years (1940 Reds to 1975 Reds)
-Pittsburgh:  35 years (1925 Pirates to 1960 Pirates)
-Seattle:  35 years (1979 SuperSonics to 2014 Seahawks)
-Indianapolis:  34 years (1973 Pacers to 2007 Colts)
-Houston:  33 years (1961 Oilers to 1994 Rockets)
-Minneapolis:  33 years (1954 Lakers to 1987 Twins)
-Calgary:  33 years (1989 Flames to present)
-Cincinnati:  32 years (1990 Reds to present)
-Edmonton:  32 years (1990 Oilers to present)
-Minneapolis:  31 years (1991 Twins to present)
-Kansas City:  30 years (1985 Royals to 2015 Royals)
-Green Bay:  29 years (1968 Packers to 1997 Packers)
-Oakland:  26 years (1989 Athletics to 2015 Warriors)
-Toronto:  26 years (1993 Blue Jays to 2019 Raptors)
-Philadelphia:  25 years (1983 76ers to 2008 Phillies)
-Toronto:  25 years (1967 Maple Leafs to 1992 Blue Jays)

Current major sports championship drought of 20+ years for cities with at least two professional sports teams
There are eleven cities with two or more professional sports teams who have current championship droughts of over 20 years, with San Diego leading the way.  To the extent there are cities whose last championship came at a time when the city only had one major sports team, but the city has since gained a second major sports team, the drought below only starts from the point there were at least two major sports teams in the city.  For instance, the Buffalo Bills won the AFL title in 1965, but were the only sports team in Buffalo until the Sabres and Braves came along in 1970.  With that, here are the cities with at least two professional sports teams with current championship droughts of at least 20 years, with the year of the last championship or the year in which the city gained a second major sports team:
-San Diego:  1969 (Padres founded in 1969; last championship was 1963 Chargers)
-Buffalo:  1970 (Sabres and Braves founded in 1970; last championship was 1965 Bills)
-Cincinnati:  1990 (Reds)
-Minneapolis:  1991 (Twins)
-Atlanta:  1995 (Braves)
-Phoenix:  2001 (Diamondbacks)
-Nashville:  never (1999-present)
-Charlotte:  never (1995-present)

Retro Video of the Week: "I Wanna Sex You Up" by Color Me Badd

This Friday marks the 30th anniversary of the release of R&B group Color Me Badd's debut album, C.M.B.  The album made an immediate and lasting splash, reaching #3 on the Billboard album chart and staying on the Billboard 200 for 77 weeks.  Within a year, it was certified triple platinum in the U.S.

Five singles from C.M.B. reached the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, with three Top 10s and two #1s:  "I Adore Mi Amor" (#1), "All 4 Love" (#1), "I Wanna Sex You Up" (#2), "Thinkin' Back" (#16), and "Slow Motion" (#18).  In my opinion, "I Wanna Sex You Up" -- with it's sampling of "to the tick tock ya don't stop" from Slick Rick''s "La Di Da Di" -- is the best of the bunch, and it was a particularly popular song during my eighth grade year, when everyone wanted to sex others up, but we had no idea how to do so, despite our science and health teachers' best efforts at teaching us the ins and outs of sex education.

The song was a huge international hit, not only going to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard R&B Singles and Dance Singles charts, but also #1 in the UK and New Zealand, and Top 10 on eleven other international pop charts.

The video for "I Wanna Sex You Up" is a clinic in the ridiculousness of early '90s fashion, from the Kenny G lookalike to the George Michael lookalike to the Terence Trent D'Arby lookalike to the Vanilla Ice lookalike.  And, of course, there's the synchronized dance moves that are superb.

CoronaVinyl Day 304 (C): Bop Till You Drop by Ry Cooder

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I didn't have time to post this yesterday, so it's been two straight days of listening to the same album for me.  Today's CoronaVinyl category is "C," and I gained two Ry Cooder albums when from my neighbor a few months back, and I've been listening to his eighth studio album, 1979's Bop Till You Drop.

Cooder is one of those musicians whose name I've heard many times over the years, but for whatever reason, I'm not familiar with his music.  He's a renowned guitarist -- ranked #31 in Rolling Stone's 2015 list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All-Time -- who got his start in the '60s as a blues-based guitarist playing with Taj Mahal and then with Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band.  He also played on two Rolling Stones tracks around that time, playing the mandolin on their cover of Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain" on Let It Bleed and slide guitar on "Sister Morphine" on Sticky Fingers.

He then went solo, releasing his first album in 1970, and throughout his career, he's been kind of a chameleon, playing music in various genres from blues to folk to roots rock to jazz to Latin to country to world music.

Bop Till You Drop has the distinction of being the first digitally recorded major-label popular music album.  It's a covers album, featuring early R&B and rock and roll songs, like Elvis Presley's "Little Sister," Arthur Alexander's "Go Home Girl," Ike & Tina Turner's "I Think It's Going to Work Out Fine," and the Fontella Bass and Bobby McClure duet "Don't Mess Up a Good Thing."  There's also one original, "Down In Hollywood."

Cooder had help from some pretty great fellow musicians, like Chaka Khan (who provides vocals on a few tracks), legendary session drummer Jim Keltner, and soul singer and Cooder collaborator Bobby King, among others.  Overall, it's a pleasant album, although given the title, I expected more bopping.  Many of the songs aren't as peppy as I would have imagined, and some almost have a Jimmy Buffett feel to them.  The album went to #62 on the Billboard album chart, as well as #7 on the Australian album chart.

Cooder has continued to make music in the 40+ years since then, in a variety of genres.  He scored over a dozen films, played slide guitar on The Beach Boys' massive 1988 hit "Kokomo," and during his career, he has performed as a guest musician on recordings by dozens of other artists, including Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, The Everly Brothers, Randy Newman, Arlo Guthrie, John Lee Hooker, Judy Collins, and The Doobie Brothers.  He has won six Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he was awarded the AMA Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalists at the American Music Awards.

Also, if there isn't something like this out there already, I think it's time for there to be a Ry Cooder cover band comprised only of octogenarian females called Dry Cooder.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor)"
This is a country-ish bluesy song, with an interesting title.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Don't Mess Up a Good Thing"
Cooder and Chaka Khan share lead vocals on this one.  It's a bluesy, soulful little number.

CoronaVinyl Day 303 (B): Careless by Stephen Bishop

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "B," and among my vinyl acquisitions a couple months ago from my neighbor were a few Stephen Bishop albums, so I'm going with his 1976 debut album Careless.

Bishop is a singer-songwriter who got his break by writing a couple songs for Art Garfunkel's 1975 album Breakaway.  Thanks to Garfunkel's endorsement, Bishop got a record contract and released Careless the next year.  

It's mostly standard mid-'70s singer-songwriter soft rock, which isn't particularly my bag, but I will say that when I was looking at the back of the album and seeing all of the major artists who contributed to the album, I was pretty impressed.  Among others, Eric Clapton plays guitar on a few songs, Garfunkel and Chaka Khan provide backing vocals on several songs, former Derek and The Dominos' drummer Jim Gordon drums on three tracks.

The album went to #34 on the Billboard album chart, and it netted Bishop his first two Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, "On and On" (#11 -- his highest-charting song ever), and "Save It For a Rainy Day" (#22).

Bishop has continued to release music throughout the nearly five decades since then, and I was most familiar with him because of the songs he wrote and performed for the Animal House soundtrack.  I discovered today that he also had a cameo in the movie, playing the guy singing "I Gave My Love a Cherry" on the Delta Tau Chi stairwell whose guitar Bluto (John Belushi) grabs and smashes.  Bishop kept the smashed guitar, as he should have.

He has also appeared in small roles in several other movies, almost always as a "charming" character.  For instance, he was "Charming Trooper" in Blues Brothers (the one who breaks his watch in the mall chase scene), and he was "Charming Guy" in the notorious "Catholic School Girls in Trouble" sketch in the Zucker Brothers' hilarious cult classic Kentucky Fried Movie.

In addition to his songs for Animal House, Bishop also wrote and/or performed songs in various other movies in the '80s and early '90s.  Two of his songs were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song:  "It Might Be You" (which he performed, but didn't write) from 1982's Tootsie and "Separate Lives" (which he wrote, but which was performed by Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin) from 1985's White Nights, which Bishop wrote about his breakup from Karen Allen, who played Katy in Animal House (and, more famously, Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark).

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Sinking in an Ocean of Tears"
This one borders on yacht rock, and it features Clapton on guitar.  It's a little peppier than the other songs on the side.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Save It For a Rainy Day"
This is another one where Clapton plays guitar, although only the solo apparently.  Chaka Khan provides backing vocals.  It's another yacht rocky song.

Hair Band Friday - 7/16/21

1.  "Love Song" (live) by Tesla

2.  "Little Bit of Lovin'" by Europe

3.  "So Many Girls, So Little Time" by Keel

4.  "Being There" by Tora Tora

5.  "Crazy Crazy Nights" by KISS

6.  "Mr. Rainmaker" by Warrant

7.  "Take What You Can" by XYZ

8.  "Only Lonely" by Bon Jovi

9.  "Raise Your Hands to Rock" by King Kobra

10.  "Mystified" by Damn Yankees

CoronaVinyl Day 302 (A): An Anthology by Duane Allman

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

We're back to the start of the alphabet with "A," and while I've featured an Allman Brothers album and a Gregg Allman album, the only "A" artist I have left that I haven't already featured is Duane Allman.  I have his 1972 compilation album, An Anthology.

Allman, of course, is one of the most beloved guitarists in rock history, who was taken from us far too early, in a motorcycle crash in October 1971, just weeks before his 25th birthday and six years to the day before this here blogger was born.  But the mark he left on rock and roll is indelible, and what he accomplished by such a young age is remarkable.

We all know that Allman was the lead guitarist in The Allman Brothers Band and he dabbled with Eric Clapton, playing on most of the tracks on my favorite album of all-time, Derek and The Dominos' Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs -- including that iconic soaring slide guitar coda to "Layla."  But depending on how big of a Skydog fan you are -- well, I guess if you're not that big of a Duane Allman fan, you don't know his nickname is Skydog -- what you may not know is that he was also a session musician in the late '60s at the famed (pun intended, motherfuckers!) FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where he played guitar for various soul legends like Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Clarence Carter, Percy Sledge, and King Curtis, among others.

Admittedly, I haven't listened to this album before today, as I assumed it was just a compilation of Allman Brothers songs.  Now I'm kicking myself -- literally and figuratively -- because this is just a fantastic double album spanning Allman's entire career, from The Hour Glass (his and Gregg's pre-Allman Brothers Band) to session musician to Allman Brothers Band, with some previously unreleased tracks in between.  There's even a Duane solo song -- a cover of the blues classic "Goin' Down Slow."  I don't think I had ever heard Duane Allman's voice before today.

Needless to say, I'm a little bit unexpectedly geeked as a result of this album.  Here is the track listing

Side 1
1.  "B.B. King Medley" by The Hour Glass
2.  "Hey Jude" by Wilson Pickett
3.  "The Road of Love" by Clarence Carter
4.  "Goin' Down Slow" by Duane Allman

Side 2
1.  "The Weight" by Aretha Franklin
2.  "Games People Play" by King Curtis
3.  "Shake for Me" by John Hammond
4.  "Loan Me a Dime" by Boz Scaggs
5.  "Rollin' Stone" by Johnny Jenkins

Side 3
1.  "Livin' on the Open Road" by Delaney & Bonnie & Friends
2.  "Down Along the Cove" by Johnny Jenkins
3.  "Please Be with Me" by Cowboy
4.  "Mean Old World" by Eric Clapton and Duane Allman
5.  "Layla" (alternate mix) by Derek and The Dominos

Side 4
1.  "Statesboro Blues" by The Allman Brothers Band
2.  "Don't Keep Me Wonderin'" by The Allman Brothers Band
3.  "Standback" by The Allman Brothers Band
4.  "Dreams" by The Allman Brothers Band
5.  "Little Martha" by The Allman Brothers Band

Favorite song from Side 1:  "B.B. King Medley" by The Hour Glass
The first track on the album is a previously unreleased song from The Hour Glass -- a medley of three B.B. King songs, "Sweet Little Angel," "It's My Own Fault," and "How Blue Can You Get."  With Gregg's bluesy voice and Duane's fantastic blues guitar, if you would have told me this was an Allman Brothers Band song, I would have believed you.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "The Weight" by Aretha Franklin
Aretha's cover of The Band's classic is expectedly soulful, but did you know that Duane Allman plays guitar on the song?

Favorite song from Side 3:  "Layla" by Derek and The Dominos
Like I could choose another song from this side.  It's an all-time classic.

Favorite song from Side 4:  "Statesboro Blues" by The Allman Brothers Band
Side 4 is all Allmans, starting off with the live version of this Blind Willie McTell blues classic from the band's legendary At Fillmore East live album from 1971 (and it's also the first song on that album).