Today's CoronaVinyl category is "D," and we're going with the debut album from one of my favorite band's, Def Leppard's On Through the Night from 1980.
The boys from Sheffield kicked off their recording career with an an onslaught New Wave of British Heavy Metal. And I do mean boys. When the album was released, lead singer Joe Elliott was the elder statesman at 20 and seven months. Guitarist Pete Willis had just turned 20. Guitarist Steve Clark and bassist Rick Savage were 19. Drummer Rick Allen was a mere 16.
The album was produced by Tom Allom, who cut his teeth as the sound engineer on Black Sabbath's first three albums and was producing another NWOBHM classic -- Judas Priest's British Steel -- at the same time he was producing On Through the Night. While it was well-reviewed, I feel like On Through the Night doesn't get as much love as it deserves or maybe gets lost among the band's excellent and large catalog. The album is a raw, rocking ballbuster, very much in line with the other NWOBHM albums that were being put out at that time. The songs are energetic. Elliott wails. Clark and Willis trade solos, and they occasionally team up for a Thin Lizzy style twin lead attack. Savage and Allen keep a thundering rhythm. If you like Def Leppard, but maybe aren't familiar with this album, definitely check it out.
The album went to #51 on the Billboard album chart and #15 on the album chart in the UK, and it eventually went platinum in the U.S. Two songs from the album charted in the UK, with "Wasted" going to #61 and "Hello America" reaching #45.
On Through the Night laid the foundation for the band, as they would team up with producer Mutt Lange the following year for their next album, High 'n' Dry. Def Leppard and Lange's partnership would prove to be fruitful, as Lange also produced their following two albums after High 'n' Dry, both of which were eventually certified diamond in the U.S. -- 1983's Pyromania and 1987's Hysteria.
Favorite song from Side 1: "It Could Be You" At only 2:33, this is the shortest song on the album, but it packs a punch. It starts off with a great guitar riff, and then it just blisters from there. Willis has a ripping, if not too short, solo.
Favorite song from Side 2: "It Don't Matter" Another hidden gem, "It Don't Matter" is a tight, straightforward hard rock song. Allen's drumming sticks out to me on this one. I often find myself singing the chorus to this song in my head when a decision is being made, and I'm cool with any option. "It don't matter / It don't matter / It don't matter to me."
Today's CoronaVinyl category is "C," and I've already featured the first solo albums from Graham Nash and Neil Young (though not yet by Stephen Stills, but it's coming at some point) following CSNY's breakup after 1970's Déjà Vu, so let's go with David Crosby's solo debut album, 1971's If I Could Only Remember My Name.
Crosby, of course, got his start in The Byrds before forming one of the first true supergroups, Crosby Stills & Nash, with Nash (of The Hollies) and Stills (of Buffalo Springfield) -- and then Young (also of Buffalo Springfield) joined a year later. Then, as quickly as they came, they had broken up and all gone solo.
If I Could Only Remember My Name reminds me a lot of CSN/CSNY, and perhaps that's because both Nash and Young perform a lot on the album. And that's not all! The backing musicians on this album are a who's who of late '60s/early '70s rock and roll. Check out this lineup:
Neil Young plays and/or sings backing vocals on three tracks (and co-wrote two tracks)
Graham Nash plays and/or sings backing vocals on six tracks
Grateful Dead members Jerry Garcia (six songs), Mickey Hart (one song), Bill Kreutzmann (three songs), and Phil Lesh (four songs) play or sing backing vocals on various songs
Jefferson Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen (two songs), Jack Casady (one song), Paul Kantner (one song), and Grace Slick (one song) contributed
Santana lead singer/keyboardist and future Journey co-founder Gregg Rolie plays piano on one song, while Santana drummer Michael Shrieve plays on two song.
Joni Mitchell sings on two songs
Quicksilver Messenger Service and future Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship member David Freiberg sings on one song
The album went to #12 on the Billboard album chart, even though it only had one song that sniffed the Billboard Hot 100 ("Music is Love," which topped out at #95). It was initially reviewed rather harshly by music critics, but it has become more appreciated as time has gone on. I assume it's best enjoyed under the influence of some sort of hallucinogen.
Favorite song from Side 1: "Cowboy Movie" This one is an extended jam in the same vein as CSN's "Wooden Ships" and Young's "Down By the River." It's plodding and trippy, with some great guitars from Garcia, and snarling vocals from Crosby. And the rest of the band ain't bad either, as it's Lesh on bass, Hart on drums, and Kreutzmann on tambourine.
Favorite song from Side 2: "What Are Their Names" This is another trippy song, but I'm choosing it mainly because of the amalgamation of talent that plays or sings on the song. It's Dead-esque musically, and then the lyrics are just a chorus of ten singers. Co-written by five future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers -- Crosby, Garcia, Lesh, Shrieve, and Young -- there are a whopping nine future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers who play and/or sing on this song: (1) Crosby (guitar, vocals); (2) Garcia (guitar, vocals); (3) Kantner (vocals); (4) Lesh (bass, vocals); (5) Mitchell (vocals); (6) Nash (vocals); (7) Shrieve (drums); (8) Slick (vocals); and (9) Young (guitar, vocals).
Today's CoronaVinyl category is "B," and we're getting weird today with The Books' second studio album, 2003's The Lemon of Pink.
The Books were a duo, comprised of guitarist/vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong, that were active in the first decade of this here millennium. Their music was very experimental, often referred to as collage music because they would combine music with clips of random sounds or conversation.
I got The Lemon of Pink years ago when I was in a monthly record club called Vinyl Me, Please. This was the record one month, and I don't think I've ever listened to it all the way through until today. As you can see, the vinyl is a cool sunburst splatter pattern. The music itself is certainly interesting, but it's not really my bag. I liken it to The Beatles' "Revolution #9," but with more music. Sometimes it's acoustic. Sometimes it's electric. Sometimes there's vocals. Sometimes there's random clips of people talking. Sometimes there's just strange groaning. It's weird for the sake of being weird. For the most part, I couldn't really distinguish when one song ended and another started.
Favorite song from Side 1: "Tokyo" This song is okay, I guess.
Favorite song from Side 2: "That Right Ain't Shit" I chose this one solely because I like the name.
Friday is the 30th anniversary of the release of Pearl Jam's mega debut album, Ten. It's a generationally defining album, and along with Nirvana's Nevermind, one of the top two defining albums of the grunge genre.
I very much recall sleeping over at my friend Jeremy's house about 29 years ago and seeing the video for "Jeremy" at about 5 in the morning on MTV for the first time, thinking Hey, this is pretty funny. I'm at Jeremy's house, and there's a song called "Jeremy" playing. Pretty fucked up video, but still, it's a good day for Jeremys. Or is it Jeremies?. Little did any of us know that we were watching the changing of the guard and what would be one of the most revered rock bands of our generation.
Anywho, the entire Ten album is fantastic, and "Alive" is actually the first single they released. It's probably my favorite song off of Ten, so that's why I'm going to make you watch the video now.
Today's CoronaVinyl category is back at "A," and let's fucking rock out, no pun intended, with Aerosmith's fourth studio album, 1976's Rocks.
This is one of the albums that's hanging up in my office, so I can only give you the inside sleeve, but maybe I'll see it again in person before 2023. But seriously, this is one of the great hard rock records that's ever been laid on wax. Coming off of 1975's masterpiece, Toys in the Attic, the guys in Aerosmith were jumping further into the hard drugs and further into the hard rock, cementing themselves as the best American hard rock band at the time.
Rock is, top to bottom, a phenomenal record. There are only nine songs on the album, and there's not a bad one in the bunch. It features the band's third and fourth Top 40 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 (and two Aerosmith classics), "Last Child" (#21) and "Back in the Saddle" (#38), as well as one other song that charted, "Home Tonight" (#71). This was the band's first Top 10 album on the Billboard album charts, reaching #3. It would be their highest-charting album until 1993's Get a Grip, which hit #1.
This is a band peaking, both on drugs and musically. Having read their biography, I know that heroin was becoming a major factor, and the band began to be more focused on the smack than the rock. But thankfully, they still had the rock on their mind when they made this one.
The album was #176 on Rolling Stone's initial 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time list (though it fell to #366 in the 2020 edition, which is probably bullshit), and it's cited by various musicians, from Slash to Kurt Cobain to James Hetfield to Nikki Sixx, as a major influence. Listen to it.
Favorite song from Side 1: "Rats in the Cellar" This song very much foreshadows the New Wave of British Heavy Metal that would come a few years later. It's a frenetic hard rock song with a punk rock feel. And it's about rats in New York. Here's a thought. Maybe don't put your trash on the sidewalk and you wouldn't have so many rats.
Favorite song from Side 2: "Sick as a Dog" Another one that rocks hard and screams hard rock and heroin, "Sick as a Dog" starts off the second side with a pleasant bang.
As you have likely heard by now, earlier today Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts died at the age of 80.
Watts's punchy drumming and timely fills provided the backbone of the group. He joined the band in early 1963 when he was 21 and remaining in the band until his dying day over 58 years later. As I wrote back in 2013 after I saw the Stones at the United Center, Charlie was the glue. He was the distinguished, debonair British gentleman with a wry smile sitting behind the others and bashing away for six decades. He was just so fucking cool. I said then that I'd probably be the saddest when Charlie died. I certainly didn't expect him to be the first to go of the remaining core of him, Mick, Keith, and Ronnie, and just when any legendary musician dies -- especially someone in inarguably one of the top three rock and roll bands ever -- it makes you take stock and appreciate their contributions to the world.
While he did have some issue with alcohol and drugs, particularly in the mid '80s, he was always the guy in the band who seemed to have it all together. Hell, he was married to the same woman since 1964. He wasn't the partier that Mick, Keith, and Ronnie were. And I'll be damned if you can find a better-dressed rock and roll drummer. One of my favorite stories is from the '80s. One night on tour, Mick was hammered and called Watts's hotel room in the middle of the night. Watts answered the phone, and Mick said, "Where's my drummer?" Rather than telling Mick to fuck off or just hanging up the phone and going back to sleep, Watts got out of bed, shaved, put on a suit and tie, went to Mick's phone, and punched him in the face, saying, "Never call me your drummer again."
I have done a Tuesday Top Ten of my favorite Rolling Stones songs twice, once in 2008 and again in 2015. My list evolved somewhat between 2008 and 2021, and it has evolved again in the six-plus years since the last list. That's the beauty of music. So anyway, here are my current top ten favorite Rolling Stones songs.
Honorable mention: "It's All Over Now" (12 x 5, 1964); "I'm All Right" (Out of Our Heads, 1965); "I'm Moving On" (December's Children (And Everybody's), 1965); "19th Nervous Breakdown" (single, 1966); "Paint It Black" (Aftermath, 1966); "Salt of the Earth" (Beggars Banquet, 1968); "Let It Loose" (Exile on Main St., 1972); "Loving Cup" (Exile on Main St., 1972); "Rocks Off" (Exile on Main St., 1972); "Hand of Fate" (Black and Blue, 1976); "Before They Make Me Run" (Some Girls, 1978); "Little T&A" (Tattoo You, 1981).
10. "The Last Time" (Out of Our Heads, 1965) This is the first Stones song written by Jagger & Richards to hit #1 in the UK. I love that swirling guitar riff.
9. "Moonlight Mile" (Sticky Fingers, 1971) This is such a mellow song, but there's something about it that draws me in. The song just kind of washes over you. It reminds me of walking home (probably from a bar) alone in the middle of a street full of snow before the plow has gotten to it, on a quiet winter night when the snow muffles all the ambient noise, and the light from the streetlights illuminates everything as it bounces off the snow. It's not too cold, and I'm probably a little buzzed, but it's a peaceful intoxication because it's one of those rare times that I have completely to myself, even if it's only for a few minutes, so I walk a little slower than I usually would. Anyway, that's what I think of when I hear the song. Stop looking at me like that.
8. "Honky Tonk Women" (single, 1969) From the cowbell intro to the twangy guitars to the lyrics about banging divorcees in New York during a coke binge, this song as a lot to offer. It's also a pretty solid karaoke choice for you guys out there who want to sing the line "'Cause I just can't seem to drink you off my mind."
7. "Rocks Off" (Exile on Main St., 1972) My second-favorite Stones album (after Sticky Fingers) starts off with a bang. "Rocks Off" is a just a solid, uptempo rock song.
6. "Get Off of My Cloud" (December's Children (And Everybody's), 1965) Watts gives us one of the great drum intros of all time on this one. And even though I've never lived on the 99th floor or had a guy fly in dressed up like the Union Jack, the message of this song is something I have always related to.
5. "Some Girls" (Some Girls, 1978) This is a raunchy, bluesy ditty, with fuzzed-out harmonica intro that oozes lust, which make sense, since the song is about the ins and outs of courting and banging women of different races and national origins. It's obviously the kind of song that would never be allowed to be made today, but hey, Jagger's member didn't discriminate.
4. "Midnight Rambler" (Let It Bleed, 1969) It should come as no surprise to you that I enjoy a driving blues song with a badass harmonica played by Mick and lyrics allegedly based on quotes from the Boston Strangler's confession.
3. "Waiting on a Friend" (Tattoo You, 1981) I've loved this video since I first came upon it back in the '90s on an episode of Pop Up Video. That stoop that Mick is sitting on at the beginning of the video is at the same building on St. Mark's Place in New York that formed the image on the cover of Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti. I love the idea that there was some point where the guys in the band were all living in New York, and they'd just kind of stumble upon each other until they ended up at a dive bar, where Charlie and Bill would be waiting (because they had respect for punctuality), so that they could just jam in front of ten people. In recent years, some friends and I have also played this video a ton when we get drunk. It's a great song about just wanting to hang out with your friends.
2. "Dead Flowers" (Sticky Fingers, 1971) This one is still my second-favorite Stones song. And it's the best song in rock and roll history about doing heroin in a basement with some chick as a way to get back at your girlfriend while she's at the Kentucky Derby.
1. "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" (Sticky Fingers, 1971) This is still my favorite Stones song. I still think it's the best and ballsiest opening riff in rock and roll history. As I've said before, I have listened to that riff over and over again, just hitting the "back" button after about 25 seconds into the song. What's crazy is that the song was recorded in just one take, and that extended jam that comprises the last four and a half minutes of the song was completely improvised. The band didn't even know the tape was still rolling.
Today's CoronaVinyl category is "Various Artists," and I'm going with the soundtrack to the 1983 film Flashdance.
Starring Jennifer Beals, Flashdance was a classic story of an aspiring ballerina who's a welder in a steel mill by day and an exotic dancer by night. The movie poster, which is also the cover of the soundtrack, features Beals in a sweatshirt with the neck hole cut out, such that it exposed Beals's shoulder, inspiring an '80s fashion trend, especially with the Jazzercise set. And, of course, it's probably best known for the oft-imitated scene where Beals is dancing on stage, sits down in a chair, arches her back, and then a bucket of water is dumped on her.
The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, and two of those were for Best Original Song -- Irene Cara's "Flashdance . . . What a Feeling" and Michael Sembello's "Maniac." The former won the Oscar, as well as the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Behind the strength of those two songs, the soundtrack was a big hit. It was largely produced by famed producer Phil Ramone (no relation to Joey, Johnny, Tommy, Dee Dee, or Marky) and famed composer and producer Giorgio Moroder (who also scored the film and wrote or co-wrote many of the songs on the soundtrack). It won the Grammy for Best The soundtrack hit #1 on the Billboard album charts, as well as #1 on the album charts in seven other countries and the top ten on the album charts in another four. It has gone platinum six times in the U.S. On top of that, the soundtrack won the Grammy for Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special, and Moroder's "Love Theme from Flashdance" won the Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition.
If Kenny Loggins is the King of the '80s Soundtracks, Irene Cara has to be the Queen. In addition to the aforementioned Oscar and Grammy, "Flashdance . . . What a Feeling" went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the Billboard Dance singles chart, #1 on the pop charts in ten other countries, and Top 10 on the pop charts in another five countries. It ended up as the #3 song on the Billboard Year End chart for 1983 and #34 on the Billboard All-Time Hot 100 chart. In addition, Cara had previous had two hits from the soundtrack to the 1980 movie Fame -- "Fame" (#4) and "Out Here On My Own (#19) -- and later in 1983, she would score another Top 40 soundtrack hit with "The Dream (Hold On to Your Dream)" (#37) from the film D.C. Cab.
Sembello's "Maniac" was also a #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100, and it also topped the Canadian pop chart and went Top 10 on the pop charts in six other countries and ended up as the #9 song on the Billboard Year End chart for 1983. There was one other minor hit on the album, Joe Esposito's "Lady, Lady, Lady," which reached #86 on the Billboard Hot 100, #7 on the Australian pop chart and #19 on the Swiss pop chart. There are also songs performed by the likes of Donna Summer, Laura Branigan, and Kim Carnes on the soundtrack.
Favorite song from Side 1: "Flashdance . . . What a Feeling" by Irene Cara Setting aside that the other songs on Side 1 are nothing special (though I do like Shandi's sultry "He's a Dream"), "Flashdance . . . What a Feeling" is a classic '80s song. It's catchy as hell, and it makes you want to bust out of that working class life to become a professional dancer. And not just for those schlubs down at Mawby's.
Favorite song from Side 2: "Seduce Me Tonight" by Cycle V This song is a glammy rock song, co-penned by Moroder and Keith Forsey (who also co-wrote "Flashdance . . . What a Feeling," along with Cara).
Today's CoronaVinyl category is "Y," and my last album by a "Y" artist is a classic: Neil Young's fourth solo studio album, 1972's Harvest.
I've already featured three other Neil Young album during this lovely pandemic, so I won't bore you with the details of his legendary music career. Instead, we'll just dive right into Harvest, which is considered by many to be his best album. For the album, Young assembled a group of country sessions musicians to back him, calling them The Stray Gators. The result was a melding of country rock with the folk rock Young was known for.
The Stray Gators performed on seven of the ten tracks on the album. Of the other three songs, two were performed with the London Symphony Orchestra ("A Man Needs a Maid" and "There's a World")," while the other ("The Needle and The Damage Done") is a live track. In addition to The Stray Gators, Young had some help from some music legends. All three of his former CSNY bandmates sing backing vocals on two songs -- though never all three at the same time, and the combination is different on each song: Crosby and Nash on "Are You Ready for The Country?," Crosby and Stills on "Alabama," and Stills and Nash on "Words." Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor sing backing vocals on the two biggest hits from the album, "Heart of Gold" and "Old Man."
Harvest is Young's only #1 album on the Billboard album chart, and it also topped the album charts in Australia, Canada, France, The Netherlands, Norway, and the UK. It ended up as the best-selling album in the U.S. in 1972. The album is Young's best-selling in the U.S. (triple platinum) and the UK (quadruple platinum). It also spawned Young's two highest-charting songs on the Billboard Hot 100. "Heart of Gold" went to #1, and "Old Man" went to #31.
Harvest has received various accolades over the years, including being ranked #72 on Rolling Stone's most recent edition of the 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time.
Favorite song from Side 1: "Are You Ready for The Country?" This one is definitely country rock, and it's a little more upbeat than some of the other songs on this side.
Favorite song from Side 2: "Alabama" "Alabama" is kind of the sequel to "Southern Man," and I like it not only because it calls out the South, but also because it rocks a little harder than the other songs on the album.
As a heads up, I'm not going to be posting anything tomorrow, as I'll be indisposed for nearly the entire day. But before then, today's CoronaVinyl category is "W," and we're listening to Joe Walsh's third solo studio album, 1974's So What. As you can see, Walsh was very much in his nudist aviator phase when he made this record.
Though Walsh is probably best known as a member of the Eagles, he was a successful artist in his own right before he joined them in 1975. He got his start as the guitarist and sometimes lead vocalist of the power trio James Gang, whose songs "Funk #49" (which is an absolute delight) and "Walk Away" were AOR hits. He left the band in late 1971 and formed Barnstorm, which operated as his backing band for his first two solo albums.
So What was kind of the bridge between Barnstorm and the Eagles for Walsh. It's a mix of the harder rock that he made with James Gang and Barnstorm and some softer, more introspective stuff that was more reminiscent of the Eagles. And his future Eagles band mates Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Randy Meisner sang backing vocals on several tracks. Also, singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg played guitar and sang backing vocals on one track.
The album is pretty good. As expected, I like the harder songs more than the softer ones, although I would be remiss if I didn't mention the touching last song on the album, "Song for Emma," which Walsh wrote in memory of his daughter Emma, who was killed earlier in 1974 (a few weeks before her third birthday) in a car accident caused by a drunk driver.
The album went to #11 on the Billboard album chart, though it only had one song that sniffed the Billboard Hot 100 -- "Turn to Stone," which reached #93. Early pressings of the album (including mine) have the message "THAT'S NO BANANY, THATS MY NOZE" written on the inner runout groove of the album.
This was Walsh's last solo album before he joined the Eagles in 1975, replacing Bernie Leadon. Walsh brought a harder edge to the band, and his first album with the band was Hotel California in 1976, followed by The Long Run in 1979, before the band broke up for 15 years. In the meantime, Walsh was releasing solo material while he was with the Eagles, and he had his biggest solo hit "Life's Been Good" in 1978 (#12) while he was still a member of the band.
In addition to his work with the Eagles, James Gang, Barnstorm, and his solo work, Walsh has been a member of Ringo Starr's All-Star Band -- and is actually Ringo's brother-in-law, as Walsh married Ringo's wife's sister -- and he has contributed his talents to many an artist as a session musician, from B.B. King to Foo Fighters to The Beach Boys to Bob Seger to Billy Preston to Andy Gibb to Warren Zevon to Wilson Phillips, among many others. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Eagles in 1998.
Favorite song from Side 1: "Time Out" This song starts out with a nice riff, and all in all, it's a solid '70s rock song. These are the types of Walsh songs that I like.
Favorite song from Side 2: "Turn to Stone" "Turn to Stone" was a Barnstorm track that was previously released on the 1972 Barnstorm album. I don't know if you'd call this a cover or a re-recording, but whatever it is, the song is a solid, brooding hard rock song with the heaviest riff on the album.
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