CoronaVinyl Day 207 (R): Takin' My Time by Bonnie Raitt

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "R," and apparently I have two Bonnie Raitt albums, so let's listen to one, okay?  I'm going with her third studio album, 1973's Takin' My Time.

Raitt is one of those "musician's musicians" that everyone seems to love.  Perhaps it's because she always comes across as having a very pleasant demeanor, she was one of the first prominent female guitarists, and she's always made the kind of music that she wants to make -- which has generally been critically acclaimed -- rather than trying to please mainstream audiences.  Of course, that's not to say she hasn't had mainstream success.  She had three multi-platinum records from 1989 to 1994 (two of which hit #1 on the Billboard album chart, and the other one went to #2), and her 1991 song "Something to Talk About" was a Top 5 hit, and pretty much all of that happened after she turned 40.

As it turns out, she was making music for nearly two decades before then.  Her parents encouraged her and her siblings to play music, so she was playing guitar at an early age.  She attended Harvard's then-female counterpart Radcliffe, but ended up turning to music prior to graduation.

Takin' My Time is an amalgamation of various genres, from blues to New Orleans R&B/soul to calypso to folk to jazz.  There are slower songs and more uptempo songs, and all ten songs on the album are covers.  The description makes it sound like the album is disjointed, but I think it all works well together.  It didn't hurt that her backing musicians were pretty damn good.  Among others, blues legend Taj Mahal, legendary session drummers Jim Keltner and Earl Palmer, most of the band Little Feat, John Hall of Orleans (who also produced the album and was later a U.S. Congressman!), and Beach Boys/Brian Wilson collaborator Van Dyke Parks all made appearances on the album.   While the album was critically praised, it only went to #87 on the Billboard album chart, though it was her highest-charting album up to that point in time.

She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  She was ranked by Rolling Stone as #50 on its list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and #89 on its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.  She has won 10 Grammy Awards, in pop, rock, and Americana categories, no less.  And I just found out today that she was also married for eight years to actor Michael O'Keefe, who is best know for playing Danny Noonan in Caddyshack.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Let Me In"

This is a cover of The Sensations' 1961 hit R&B song, but Raitt and friends give it a New Orleans-style jazz send-up with a great brass section and piano that make it sound like it belongs in Preservation Hall.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Write Me a Few of Your Lines/Kokomo Blues"
This one is a cover of a song by bluesman/slide guitarist Mississippi Fred McDowell, who helped teach Raitt slide guitar techniques a few years earlier.  I love a good slide guitar blues song, and Raitt has some nice bottleneck work on this song.

Hair Band Friday - 1/29/21

1.  "Little Suzi" by Tesla

2.  "Don't Give Up" by White Lion

3.  "Beating Around the Bush" by AC/DC

4.  "Life, Life, Life" by Y&T

5.  "Welcome to the Jungle" (live) by Guns N' Roses

6.  "Best of Both Worlds" by Van Halen

7.  "Screaming for Vengeance" by Judas Priest

8.  "Drive Me Crazy" by Ratt

9.  "School Daze" by W.A.S.P.

10.  "Rock On" by Vandenberg

Retro Video of the Week: "Rise" by Public Image Ltd.

Thirty-five years ago today, Public Image Ltd. released their fifth studio album, the aptly titled Album.  Of course, Public Image Ltd. was Johnny Rotten's post-Sex Pistols band, though by then, he went by his real name, John Lydon.  In addition to the regular band members, Album featured contributions on multiple tracks from the likes of former Cream drummer Ginger Baker, Japanese composer/musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, guitar legend Steve Vai, and former Miles Davis drummer Tony Williams.

Anyway, the band's biggest hit from Album was "Rise," a song that Lydon and producer Bill Laswell wrote about apartheid and Nelson Mandela, and there's also a reference to the Royal Ulster Constabulary's torture techniques.  Sakamoto played the synthesizer/digital effects, Vai played the guitar, and Williams drummed on the song.  It's majestic, anthemic song that is perfect for poignant movie scenes -- and it has been featured in a few movies and TV shows.  The chorus has the repeated phrase "'may the road rise with you," an old Irish blessing.

"Rise" went to #11 on the UK pop chart, #10 on the Irish pop chart, and the Top 40 in Belgium and New Zealand.

CoronaVinyl Day 206 (P): Live at Third Man Records 6.09.16 by Pearl Jam

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I had to skip yesterday because I had too much going on to post anything, but I'm going to make up for it with a nice little nugget.  I don't have any more albums by "O" artists, so today's CoronaVinyl category is "P," and I'm going with Pearl Jam's Live at Third Man Records album.

As with some other albums I've featured during CoronaVinyl, I got this album as part of my subscription to the Third Man Records Vault record club.  As the title implies, this album was recorded live at Third Man Records in Nashville in June 2016.  It was a secret show, recorded a couple days before the band headlined Bonnaroo that year.  Only 250 people were there.  The coolest part is that the album was recorded direct to acetate and then released a couple weeks later to Pearl Jam Ten Club members and then a couple months after that, it was sent to Third Man Vault club members.  As you can see, the album was pressed in a cool half-black, half-gold vinyl pattern.

Their set featured songs from various albums on the first side and then three non-album tracks (two of which were released on their 2003 Lost Dogs album, which featured b-sides and unreleased songs), and there's even an appearance from Jack White (Third Man's co-founder/co-owner).  All in all, it's a pretty damn good live album, and I'm definitely jealous of the 250 lucky souls who got to attend.

The album is not available on Spotify or any other service, so I can't embed anything and you'll just have to take my word for it.  Here is the setlist, with the Pearl Jam album that the song was originally from (with the original release date):

Side 1
1.  "Pendulum" (Lightning Bolt, 2013)
2.  "Mind Your Manners" (Lightning Bolt, 2013)
3.  "1/2 Full" (Riot Act, 2002)
4.  "Life Wasted" (Pearl Jam, 2006)
5.  "Deep" (originally from Ten, 1990)

Side 2
1.  "Of the Earth" (with Jack White) (unreleased song originally from around 2006)
2.  "Hard to Imagine" (unreleased song originally from 1993)
3.  "Let Me Sleep (unreleased song originally from 1991)

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Mind Your Manners"

This is a frantic, hard rocking song that you would expect from Pearl Jam.  Though it was originally released in 2013, it sounds like vintage '90s PJ.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Off the Earth"
This song kicks off the second side, and for it, Pearl Jam invited Jack White (Third Man co-owner/co-founder) to join them.  You know I love Jack White, and he and Mike McCready trade off some awesome guitar solos on this one.

CoronaVinyl Day 205 (N): Tooth, Fang & Claw by Ted Nugent's Amboy Dukes

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "N," and I only have albums by the Nug' or his bands left.  Since I've already done a solo Nugent album, I'm going with his last album with the Amboy Dukes, 1974's Tooth, Fang & Claw.  Alright, alright alright.

As you may or may not know, before he was ripping sweet solos and singing various songs with not-so-subtle references to the female sex organ in the '70s, and then becoming an outspoken raging right wing dickhead over the following decades, Ted Nugent was in a psychedelic rock band called The Amboy Dukes, which formed in Chicago in the mid '60s, before relocating to Detroit.  They had a hit with the very psychedelically titled rock song "Journey to the Center of the Mind" in 1968, which went to #16 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Over time, the Amboy Dukes had a lot of turnover, with Nugent being the only remaining original member of the band by 1971, so they became Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes.  On Tooth, Fang & Claw, the album is credited to "Ted Nugent's Amboy Dukes," and as I said before, it was the last album to feature the Amboy Dukes' name.  After the album, Nugent disbanded the band and truly went solo, although he took Amboy Dukes bassist Rob Grange with him.  If I knew Grange, I would definitely call him "Red," until he dies.  Then I'd call him the Galloping Ghost.

Anywho, Tooth, Claw & Fang didn't chart and didn't have any songs that charted, but it's a pretty solid '70s rock album.  It definitely still has one toe in the psychedelic era (not a whole foot, though), while mainly featuring the kind of hard rock the world would come to expect from Nugent.  There's a rip-roaring cover of Chuck Berry's "Maybellene," a nine-minute post-psychedelic instrumental jam ("Hibernation"), and a rare soft and sweet song dedicated to his newborn daughter ("Sasha"), but it's mostly just good, straightforward rock and roll.

For me, the most important and lasting impact of the album is that the album cover is the one that is displayed on Wooderson's t-shirt in Dazed and Confused -- and I actually bought the same t-shirt myself a few years ago for a Wooderson Halloween costume.  Obviously, I still wear the t-shirt now and then.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Living in the Woods"

"Living in the Woods" starts off with a metal-esque riff, and then there's Nugent's little guitar melody during the choruses that I like.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "The Great White Buffalo"
This song ended up becoming a Nugent concert staple, and you can see why.  That nifty little guitar riff at the beginning paves the way for a rollicking rock song.

CoronaVinyl Day 204 (M): A Question of Balance by The Moody Blues

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "M," and apparently I own four Moody Blues albums, so we might as well knock one out.  Today's selection is their sixth studio album, 1970's A Question of Balance.  As you can see, it has a sweet gatefold album cover with various chaotic scenes that are apparently in the sky above a beach.  It's what you'd expect from a prog band.

The Moody Blues formed in 1964 in Birmingham, England.  Future Wings bassist Denny Laine was a founding member, but left the band after two years.  They started as an R&B band before changing their direction in 1967 and becoming pioneers of art rock and prog rock.  They've always been one of those bands that I kind of forget about, perhaps because I'm not a huge prog fan.  That said, when I looked at their discography, I was surprised at how many of their songs I know, thanks to years of steadfast classic rock radio listening.

A Question of Balance was apparently written to kind of dial back their then-usual psychedelic/prog sound and make songs that would be easier to play live.  I can't tell if they succeeded or not because there's still a lot going on here musically.  All five band members contributed songs to the album, and lead vocal duties are shared among four of them.  Whatever they did, it worked, as the album went to #3 on the Billboard album chart and #1 on the UK album chart (matching their highest-charting albums on both charts to that point).  The album eventually went platinum in the U.S.  They only released one single from the album, "Question," which went to #2 on the UK pop chart, #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 (their third Top 40 hit), #1 in The Netherlands, and #8 in Canada.

The band would go on to have success throughout the '70s and even into the '80s, both in the U.S. and UK (and elsewhere).  All told, they had nine studio albums that reached the Top 20 of the Billboard album chart, five of which were Top 5, including two #1s.  In the UK, they had 8 Top 10 albums, including three #1s.  However, the band's singles charted better across the pond than they did in their native UK.  On the UK pop chart, they had 9 Top 40 hits, including three Top 10s and one #1.  On the Billboard Hot 100, they had 13 Top 40 hits, including three Top 10s (the latest of which came in 1986 with "Your Wildest Dreams," which went to #9).  They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

The Spotify version of the album contains six extra tracks, including a previously unreleased track and alternate or demo versions of five album tracks.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Question"

Written and sung by guitarist Justin Hayward, the first track on the album is one of my favorite Moody Blues songs, probably because it's one of the more rocking songs.  It goes back and forth between frantic acoustic rock (supplemented by brass) and slower, more poppy parts.  I have always enjoyed the drum fill that sounds like knocking after the line "Why do we never get an answer / When we're knocking at the door?"

Favorite song from Side 2:  "The Balance"
Written by drummer Graeme Edge and singer/flutist Ray Thomas, the last song on the album is orchestral psychedelic song with quiet, spoken-word verses by keyboardist Mike Pinder and louder, singalong choruses sung by everyone, and the song kind of crescendos towards the end, until fading away.

CoronaVinyl Day 203 (L): Loggins & Messina by Loggins & Messina

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "L," and I happen to have three Loggins & Messina albums, so why don't we check one off the list.  I'm going with their self-titled second album from 1972.

Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina teamed up in the early '70s, after Messina had left the country rock band Poco and had signed a production contract with Columbia Records.  At the time, Loggins was a staff songwriter for ABC Dunhill, but wasn't a performer.  At first, Messina was only there to kind of help launch Loggins's career, but then they officially became a duo and put out six studio albums between 1971 and 1976.

This album is kind of a mix of rock, soft rock, mellow funk, country rock, and folk.  It reached #16 on the Billboard album chart and eventually went platinum in the U.S.  They trade off lead vocal duties and sometimes handle vocals together.  The album spawned their biggest hit, "Your Mama Don't Dance," which reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as another Top 20 hit, "Thinking of You," which went to #18.

In 1976, they decided to both pursue solo careers.  Until Hall & Oates surpassed them late in the decade, they were the best-selling duo of the '70s.  Of course, Loggins went on to a very successful solo career and was the king of movie soundtrack songs in the '80s, with "I'm Alright" from Caddyshack, "Footloose" from Footloose, and "Danger Zone" from Top Gun, among others.  Messina's solo career was less successful.  The two reunited in the mid 2000s for a reunion tour and live album.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Good Friend"

The first track on Side 1 is kind of a funky pop-rock song that kind of foreshadowed the soft rock sound that would become popular throughout the '70s that we know today as yacht rock.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Angry Eyes"
The last song on the album is a nearly eight-minute soulful country rock jam that sounds like it could very well be on a Neil Young album.

Hair Band Friday - 1/22/21

1.  "Shot in the Dark" by Ozzy Osbourne

2.  "I'll Fight Hell to Hold You" by KISS

3.  "Children of This Time" by Europe

4.  "Breathless" by Dio

5.  "Save Our Souls" by Mötley Crüe

6.  "Kicks After Six" by Scorpions

7.  "Dirty Love" by Thunder

8.  "Ez Come Ez Go" by Tesla

9.  "Someone Like You" by Bang Tango

10.  "10,000 Years" by Hurricane

Retro Video of the Week: "Rock 'n' Roll High School" by The Ramones

As you may have heard, Phil Spector died last week.  His legacy is, of course, quite mixed.  On one hand, he was one of the greatest and most innovative music producers in rock and roll history, thanks to his iconic Wall of Sound production technique that has been copied many times over the years.  When I hear the name Phil Spector, I immediately think of The Ronettes' "Be My Baby," The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," or my favorite holiday album ever, 1963's A Christmas Gift For You from Phil Spector, but he also produced songs and albums for the likes of The Beatles, John Lennon, George Harrison, The Ramones, Ike & Tina Turner, and Leonard Cohen.

On the other hand, he was convicted of the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson in his California home, and in 2009, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison for second-degree murder and using a firearm to commit a crime (and he died in prison while serving his sentence).  He was also a complete control freak.  During much of his six-year marriage to Ronettes lead singer Ronnie Bennett Spector, he kept Ronnie captive in their home, rarely letting her leave, he subjected her to various forms of psychological torment, and he refused to let her perform, which essentially ruined her career.  And more apropos to this post, while producing The Ramones' 1980 album End of the Century, at one point, Spector allegedly held The Ramones hostage at gunpoint in his home during the recording sessions.

The song "Rock 'n' Roll High School" from that album was previously released in 1979 in conjunction with the campy musical comedy of the same name.  There are three versions of the song, two of which were produced by Spector, including the one in the video below.  Even though it's technically not within the parameters of the "MTV Era," I made an exception, as I think it's one of the few (if not the only) Spector-produced songs close to that time period for which a music video was made.

By the way, if you're interested in learning more about the ups and downs of Spector's life, I highly recommend Tearing Down the Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector by Mick Brown, which was written in 2008, before Spector was ultimately re-tried for Clarkson's murder and sentenced, but it delves deep into Spector's psyche, brilliance, and madness.

CoronaVinyl Day 202 (K): What Cha' Gonna Do For Me by Chaka Khan

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "K," and the only album by a "K" artist other than KISS that I have left is Chaka Khan's third solo studio album, 1981's What Cha' Gonna Do For Me.

If you're like me -- and you better pray to Quetzalcoatl, Qebehsenuf, QAnon, or whatever other Q deity you worship that you're not -- then you can't hear the name Chaka Khan without repeating it over and over in your head, like at the beginning of her 1984 hit song "I Feel For You."  Chicago's own Chaka Khan -- nicknamed the Queen of Funk -- was the lead singer of '70s funk band Rufus, which was formed by several former members of the Chicago-based '60s rock group American Breed in the early '70s.  After Khan came on board in 1972, the band became a premier force in funk and released a string of successful records and hits throughout the '70s, probably best known for their Top 10 hits "Tell Me Something Good," "Sweet Thing," and "Once You Get Started."

Rufus eventually broke up in the early '80s, although by that time, Khan had already been moonlighting as a solo artist while still a member of Rufus.  She released her first solo album in 1978, and What Cha' Gonna Do For Me was released in April 1981.  It's an amalgamation of funk, soul, and jazz, so it's not surprising that it charted on a few different album charts, going to #17 on the Billboard album chart, #3 on the Billboard R&B album chart, and #33 on the Billboard Jazz album chart.  The title track is the only song from the album that charted on the Billboard Hot 100, topping out at #53, but it also went to #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart.  Her cover of The Beatles' "We Can Work It Out" went to #34 on the Billboard R&B singles chart.  In addition, she covers Dizzy Gillespie's "Night in Tunisia" on "And The Melody Still Lingers On (Night in Tunisia)," which features a cameo from Gillespie himself on trumpet, as well as Herbie Hancock and David Foster on keyboards and synthesizers.

Khan has continued to make music over the past several decades.  VH1 ranked her #17 on its list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll.  Overall, she has won 10 Grammy Awards, including two as a member of Rufus.  More recently, she was on the Masked Singer last year, and she also sang the national anthem at last year's NBA All-Star Game here in Chicago.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "We Got Each Other"

The final track on Side 1 is a catchy, uptempo jazzy funk song.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Fate"
This is another typical early '80s soul/funk/pop/dance song.  I dig the bass line, which can be said about most songs that have elements of funk.

CoronaVinyl Day 201 (J): The Worst of Jefferson Airplane by Jefferson Airplane

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As we enter our third century of CoronaVinyl, we're sticking with the '60s for the third day in a row.  Today's CoronaVinyl category is "J," and I'm listening to Jefferson Airplane's 1970 greatest hits compilation, the sardonically titled The Worst of Jefferson Airplane.

Jefferson Airplane was one of the premier San Francisco rock groups of the late '60s, helping to pioneer psychedelic rock and becoming the first Bay Area rock group of that era to achieve wide success.  For the band's first album, Signe Toly Anderson was the female vocalist and Skip Spence was the drummer, joining Marty Balin on vocals/rhythm guitar, Jack Casady on bass, Paul Kantner on rhythm guitar/vocals, and Jorma Kaukonen on lead guitar.  Spence and Anderson left the band in 1966, and were respectively replaced by Spencer Dryden and Grace Slick.  With Dryden and Slick, the band's "classic" lineup was formed.  The band went on to considerable success and influence over the remaining years of the decade, and they have the distinction of being the only band that performed at all three of the iconic rock festivals of the 1960s:  June 1967's Monterey Pop Festival, August 1969's Woodstock, and December 1969's Altamont Free Concert (which was a disaster and, for all intents and purposes, was the death knell of the peace and love vibe of the '60s).

The Worst of Jefferson Airplane features songs from the band's first five studio albums, released between 1966 and 1969, as well as one track from their 1969 live album Bless Its Pointed Little Head.  The Worst went to #12 on the Billboard album chart and eventually went platinum in the U.S.  It features their most well-known songs and biggest hits, including "Somebody to Love" (#5 on the Billboard Hot 100), "White Rabbit" (#5), "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil" (#42), and "Volunteers" (#65).

As is typical, the band struggled with internal fighting, side projects, pregnancy, and drugs, and the classic lineup began to splinter in the late '60s and early '70s.  The band played its last show as Jefferson Airplane in late 1972, and then in 1974, Jefferson Airplane morphed into Jefferson Starship, and then in the early '80s, after more original members left and there were lawsuits and such, Jefferson Starship morphed into Starship and reminded us that San Francisco is not built on rock and soil, but rather on rock and roll.  Jefferson Airplane was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "White Rabbit"

This is my favorite Jefferson Airplane song.  It's just so creepily good.  Though "White Rabbit" is in theory a song about Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, it rightfully became an anthem for the psychedelic era, with its references to Alice taking pills, a hookah-smoking caterpillar, mushrooms, and, of course, the iconic final line belted out by Grace Slick:  "Feed your head! Feed your heeeaaaadddd!"

Favorite song from Side 2:  "We Can Be Together"
At first blush, given its 1969 release date and title, you might think "We Can Be Together" is a hippy love song.  But behind its façade, there's a subversive message.  Inspired by the Black Panther Party's use of the phrase "Up against the wall, motherfucker," Kantner included that in the chorus, which was, of course, controversial at that time because, you know, swearing!  "Motherfucker" was actually somewhat muted on the original LP so that you couldn't hear it very well, but the 45 version was full audio.  Even so, it's with the harmonies, it's probably the most pleasant "motherfucker" ever sung in a song. 

Tuesday Top Ten: Songs for Trump's Last Day

To quote Gerald Ford -- something I can honestly say I never thought I'd write -- "My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule."  As we are now less than 24 hours until the end of the Trump presidency, most of our country is rejoicing.  Despite his constant lies and disillusionment, his conspiracy theories, his inflammatory words, and his efforts to steal the election from the American people, we can take solace in the fact that our Republic is stronger than a huckster wannabe despot.  And I have some music to help you celebrate it!

I can't tell you how glad I am to be writing this post, rather than a despondent, vague apocalyptic, and unfortunately somewhat prescient post about the misery of the next four years, like I did shortly after the election in 2016.  God dammit, we did it.  And let us never forget that Donald Trump was the third-biggest losing incumbent president in U.S. history in terms of the popular vote (and less than 300 votes from being the second-biggest loser -- maybe Biden can call the Secretary of State in California or New York and ask them to find 300 more votes!), and when you combine his popular vote margin losses from 2016 and 2020, over 9.9 million more voters voted against him than for him, making his combined popular vote margin deficit the sixth largest among all presidential candidates in U.S. history.  But it was stolen!

Here are ten songs you can play tomorrow, as you're watching an overweight orange charlatan being dragged out of the White House.  While I'm sure there are many more songs that could have made the list, these are the first ten that popped in my head that seemed to capture my emotions (in alphabetical order by artist).

1.  "Get The Fuck Out Of My House" by 2 Live Crew
If Biden isn't blaring this on his way into the White House, I'm happy to apply to be his new White House Music Director.  I assume that's a real position.

2.  "I Feel Free" by Cream
For a lot of Americans who aren't straight white males, the last four years weren't so great.  Hopefully this can be their anthem as we transition to an administration with decency.

3.  "Return of the Mack" by Mark Morrison
Not only is "The Mack" (I assume that's Biden's Secret Service nickname) returning, but the chorus applies to Donny:  "You lied to me."  After all, he did lie more than any other president in our country's history.

4.  "It's Over" by Roy Orbison
Orbison was a master of dramatic rock and roll ballads, like "In Dreams," "Running Scared," and this one, "It's Over."  I really wish I had the time and technical know-how to make a montage of pictures of Trump and his merry band of idiots over the last few months set to this song.

5.  "Don't Come Around Here No More" by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
It's not just that Trump lost, but I think one of the messages starting tomorrow is that the brand of fraud, lies, and hate that he has espoused and encouraged the last four-plus years should no longer be tolerated, and we, as a country, should push that shit out.

6.  "The Loser in the End" by Queen
For a man who claimed that "we're going to win so much, you're going to be so sick and tired of winning" to end up being someone who will likely go down as the worst president in American history (sorry, Buchanan) is perhaps the biggest compliment to his ability to his cult leader-like ability to pull the wool over so many people's eyes.  But thankfully, he is a loser in the end. 

7.  "Goodbye to You" by Scandal
I've basically had this song in my head since November 7.

8.  "Party's Over" by Tesla
Perhaps a bellwether of the GOP.

9.  "Get Out of Here" by Thin Lizzy
"Do I make myself plain? / I don't every wanna see you again."

10.  "New Age" by The Velvet Underground
Thanks to alphabetism (that's a word, right?), it just happened that the last song on the list is about "the beginning of a new age."

CoronaVinyl Day 200 (I): The Unicorn by The Irish Rovers

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Just like we did on the first day of CoronaVinyl, just over ten months ago, on our 200th edition of CoronaVinyl, we're going with an Irish group.  It just happened to work out that way, as today's CoronaVinyl category is "I," and I only have one album by an "I" artist that I haven't yet featured on CoronaVinyl.

It's The Irish Rovers' first studio album, 1967's The Unicorn.  The Irish Rovers were comprised of guys from both Northern Ireland and the Republic, although they formed in Canada and gained popularity by playing various folk clubs in California.  They are credited with popularizing traditional Irish music in North America.

The Unicorn was their highest-charting album in the U.S., reaching #24 on the Billboard album chart.  Most of the songs are traditional Irish folk songs, although there are a few that aren't, including the title track, which was written by Shel Silverstein and originally recorded by Silverstein on a his own 1962 folk album.  The lyrics were also written out in Silverstein's classic 1974 book Where the Sidewalk Ends.  The Irish Rovers' version was their biggest hit internationally, reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 (their biggest hit in the U.S.), #2 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, #4 on the Canadian pop chart, and #5 on the Irish pop chart.  The songs are definitely the kind of songs you would want to include on a St. Patrick's Day party playlist -- well, in years in which you aren't limited in your partying by a pandemic.

The band has continued to make music over the last five decades (and had a second Top 40 hit in the U.S. in 1980 with the country folk song "Wasn't That a Party"), even releasing an album last year, although The Unicorn remains their biggest album. 

Favorite song from Side 1:  "The Orange and Green"

This song is a funny folk song about an Irish lad whose dad was a Protestant (Orange) and mother was Catholic (Green).  Hilarity ensues, as his father calls him William and his mother calls him Pat.  There is no mention of whether he was killed by a car bomb planted by the IRA or the UDA.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "The First Love in Life"
This one is about traveling around Ireland and spending all your money having a good time because "my first love in life is the pure whiskey."  I get it.

CoronaVinyl Day 199 (H): Hot Buttered Soul by Isaac Hayes

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Hello, children!  Today's CoronaVinyl category is "H," and my choice is a soul classic, Isacc Hayes's second studio album, 1969's Hot Buttered Soul.

For much of the '60s Hayes had been working behind the scenes as a songwriter, producer, and backing musician at what, in my opinion, is the best soul record label there ever was, Memphis's Stax Records.  Along with his Stax songwriting partner David Porter, Hayes co-wrote many soul classics for other artists, including Sam & Dave's "Soul Man" and "Hold On, I'm Comin'," among others.

In 1968, Hayes released his first solo album, Presenting Isaac Hayes, which was a commercial failure and failed to chart.  Hot Buttered Soul certainly made up for it, going to #8 on the Billboard album chart, becoming the first of seven of his albums that reached #1 on the Billboard R&B album chart.  Hayes is backed by the legendary Bar-Kays, formerly Otis Redding's backing band who had re-formed after several of the members died in the same December 1967 plane crash that killed Redding, so the Memphis soul pedigree on this album is top notch.  Hot Buttered Soul is an exhibition in psychedelic soul jamming.  There are only four songs on the album, clocking in at an average of over 11 minutes each.  Rather than choosing a favorite from each side, I'll just briefly discuss all four songs.  

Side 1
The first song is a 12-minute cover of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David-penned song "Walk On By" that had been a Top 10 hit for Dionne Warwick in 1964.  Hayes's version is darker and more brooding than the original.  It was cut down to five minutes for a single version, which reached #30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #13 on the Billboard R&B singles chart.  Hayes's version has been sampled by various rap and hip hop artists over the years, including both 2Pac and Notorious B.I.G.  

The second song on Side 1 is the 9+-minute "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic," which Hayes co-wrote with Stax producer/songwriter/executive (and future co-owner) Al Bell, who co-produced Hot Buttered Soul.  It has some early funk elements, but it's mostly just a soul jam.  Without doing any research, I'm assuming the long title of combined words was an influence on Parliament and Funkadelic's song titling, which often did the same type of thing.

Side 2
The first track is "One Woman," which is a mere five minutes long.  It's a little sappier than the other songs on the album, with more strings, which doesn't tamper the message of the song, which is "One woman's makin' my home / While the other woman is makin' me do wrong."  

The final track on the album is a nearly 19-minute cover of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," which was the third-most performed song between 1940 and 1990, according to BMI.  Written by Jimmy Webb, it was most famously recorded by Glen Campbell in 1967 and was a huge hit for him.  In Webb's original version, the singer explains that he left a Dear John note for his woman, and that he would be (1) in Phoenix by the time she read it (and she would probably think it's a joke because he's told her many times before that he was going to leave her, but he never did, presumably because he's outkicking his coverage), (2) in Albuquerque by the time she tried to call him during her lunch break at work, and (3) in Oklahoma by night, when she finally realized he was gone for good and maybe she shouldn't have been such a bitch (paraphrasing).  Hayes's version expounds on the original, explaining what happened leading up to the singer's decision to leave his lady.  A shortened version was released as a single and went to #37 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard R&B singles chart.

Hayes would go on to a long and successful career in music, as a recording artist, songwriter, film score composer, and producer.  Perhaps his best-known work is his score for the 1971 blaxploitation film Shaft, which garnered Hayes two Grammy Awards, as well as the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Theme from Shaft."  He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 and, along with Porter, into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005.  Of course, he was also the voice of Chef in South Park from 1997 to 2006.  He died in 2008 at the age of 65.

Hair Band Friday - 1/15/21

1.  "Smokin' In the Boys Room" by Mötley Crüe

2.  "Wheels of Fire" by L.A. Guns

3.  "Shotgun Man" by Bang Tango

4.  "All the Fools Sailed Away" by Dio

5.  "Killer of Giants" by Ozzy Osbourne

6.  "Ship Rolls In" by Faster Pussycat

7.  "Long Way From Home" by Britny Fox

8.  "Dreams" (live) by Van Halen

9.  "I Wanna Be Her Slave" by Thunder

10.  "Piece of the Rock" by King Kobra

CoronaVinyl Day 198 (G): So by Peter Gabriel

For an explanation of CoronaVinyl, click here.

Today's CoronaVinyl category is "G," and I'm going with a big one:  Peter Gabriel's 1986 album So.

Gabriel had left Genesis in 1975 to pursue a solo career, and he had a good amount of success in his native UK, but not a ton of success in the U.S.  After releasing his first four solo studio albums between 1977 and 1982, Gabriel took an album recording break for a few years before releasing So in 1986 (though he did do a soundtrack in 1984).

Gabriel's first four albums all cracked the Top 10 of the UK album chart (with his third eponymous album reaching #1), but until So, his best-charting album in the U.S. only reached #22 (also his third album).  Likewise, until So, 1982's "Shock the Monkey" was Gabriel's only Top 40 solo hit in the U.S., reaching #29 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Needless to say, So shattered his previous highs.  It went to #1 on the album charts in the UK and six other countries, #2 on the Billboard album chart, and the Top 5 on the album charts in four other countries.  The album has gone 5x platinum in the U.S. and triple platinum in the UK.

All five singles released from the album charted in the UK or U.S.  

• "Sledgehammer" was Gabriel's first (and as of today, his only) #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100, and it knocked "Invisible Touch" by his old band mates Genesis out of the top spot.  It also topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock tracks and Dance Club singles charts, went to #4 on the UK pop chart (tying his all-time high), and it reached the Top 10 on fourteen other international pop charts, going #1 in Canada.
• "Big Time" reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, #3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock tracks chart, #13 on the UK pop chart, and the Top 20 on four other international pop charts.
• "In Your Eyes" went to #26 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock tracks chart.
• "Don't Give Up" -- a duet with Kate Bush -- went to #9 on the UK pop chart, #72 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the Top 10 on seven other international pop charts.
• "Red Rain" reached #3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock tracks chart and #46 on the UK pop chart.

Of course, what many of us of a certain age remember most about this album were the iconic videos for "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time," which undoubtedly helped the success of the album.  "Sledgehammer" won a record nine MTV Awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards and was reported to be MTV's most played music video of all time.  The videos were so good that I couldn't leave them out, so I embedded them below after the album.

And "In Your Eyes" became known as the song that Jon Cusack's character plays while holding his boombox over his head in 1989's Say Anything... while trying to woo Ione Skye's character.  That scene's popularity was big enough that the song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 again in 1989 and just missed out on making the Top 40, topping out at #41.

All in all, I think the album is hit (literally) or miss.  Other than "Sledgehammer," "Big Time," and to a certain extent, "Red Rain" and "In Your Eyes," the album is pretty mellow and kind of drony.  The Spotify version of the album has an extra song.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Sledgehammer"

There's a reason this song was so successful.  It's a great pop song, and it has a funky element to it too -- which explains why it also topped the Billboard Dance Singles chart.  It's also the peppiest song on Side 1.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Big Time"
Like "Sledgehammer" on Side 1, "Big Time" is not only a great pop song, but easily the most energetic song on an otherwise mostly drowsy side.

Retro Video of the Week: "Fruitcakes" by Jimmy Buffett

This Saturday will mark the 25th anniversary of that one time Jamaican authorities mistook Jimmy Buffett's seaplane, the Hemisphere Dancer, for a drug trafficker's plane while it was taxiing in the waters near Negril, and they shot at the plane.  In addition to Buffett and his co-pilot, U2's Bono and his wife and two children, and Island Records producer Chris Blackwell were on board.  Thankfully no one was injured, and the Jamaican government eventually acknowledged the mistake and apologized.  Buffett used the experience as inspiration for his song "Jamaica Mistaica" on his 1996 album Banana Wind. The Hemisphere Dancer is now at Orlando City Walk's Margaritaville.

Unfortunately, there's no video for "Jamaica Mistaica," so I'll have to go with another Buffett song, "Fruitcakes," the title track off of his 1994 album.  The song is Caribbean-infused song about how we're all a little crazy.  The video features Buffett driving around in a Volkswagen Thing and generally being Jimmy Buffett.  The song went to #29 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.

CoronaVinyl Day 197 (F): Night Shift by Foghat

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "F," and I have more F options than I thought I did.  I'm going with British rockers Foghat's sixth studio album, 1976's Night Shift.

Back during my high school football days, a few of my teammates and I were talking about music, either during practice or in the locker room.  One guy said something about "foe got," and the rest of us were like, "Foe got?  What the fuck are you talking about?," and then we figured out he was talking about Foghat.  Then again, this same guy also later revealed that he smoked weed before games so that he didn't feel the hits as much.  Such is the life of a fullback in a triple option offense.  Regardless, I can't see the name Foghat without thinking "foe got" in my head.

Formed by three former members of Savoy Brown in 1971, Foghat quickly gained acclaim with their 1972 cover of Muddy Waters's "I Just Want to Make Love to You," which only peaked at #83 on the Billboard Hot 100, but managed to get a lot of FM airplay and gave the band a good start (and the live version of the song would reach #33 in 1977).  In addition to that song, they're probably best known for 1975's "Slow Ride," which reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and is featured at the end of Dazed and Confused), and "Fool For the City," which went to #45 in 1976.

Foghat is one of those bands that was a staple on classic rock radio when I was growing up, and I have always liked what I've heard, but for whatever reason, I haven't attempted to venture past the few of their songs I know.  This was the first time I've listened to Night Shift, and I quite enjoyed it.  It's full of great '70s hard rock.  The album was produced by Dan Hartman, formerly of Edgar Winter Group, who went on to a successful producing and songwriting career, scoring a solo hit in 1984 with "I Can Dream About You," among various other successes.  My copy of the album must be an early pressing because it lists the producer as "Don" Hartman.  Later pressings apparently corrected the typo.  Making matters more confusing and maddening, this is another album where the song listing on the back of the album cover is not in the proper order, and there is a song listed on the album cover that is not actually on the album ("New Place to Call Home").

Anywho, Night Shift went to #36 on the Billboard album chart, and two songs from the album charted on the Billboard Hot 100.  "Drivin' Wheel" went to #34, and "I'll Be Standing By" reached #67.

The band continued pretty decent success through the end of the '70s before changing their sound and going through a bunch of lineup turnover.  They continued in various forms (like many bands, sometimes with competing versions of the band), and have released albums even well into the last decade.

For some reason, the Spotify version of the album does not include one song on the album. 

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Drivin' Wheel"

Their biggest hit from this album is a really solid, driving (pun intended, motherfuckers!) hard rock song.  Apparently, it has been featured on several driving-themed video games, which makes sense.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Night Shift"
The title track has kind of a '70s Deep Purple vibe to it, so I can obviously appreciate that.