Category: <span>Music – General</span>

Musical Imprint – Scene from “Criminal Minds”

April 3, 2017
Music - GeneralRandom Notes
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From Criminal Minds episode “Unusual Suspects” Season 7 episode 12. Still looking for a video to add here

 

Jennifer Jareau: Evanescence, Linkin Park, and Nickelback.
Derek Morgan: So Herman Scobie’s into that nu-metal goth stuff.
Jennifer Jareau: Yeah, and his tramp stamp probably spells out *Massengill*. This guy doesn’t ever have any Rage Against The Machine. I rock.
Dr. Spencer Reid: How old were you when you started listening to that band?
Jennifer Jareau: I was probably a teenager. Why?
Dr. Spencer Reid: You know, 14 is when we start to make our own musical choices. Our cognitive development evolves at that age and we start to form our own cultural identity.
Derek Morgan: We stop listening to the music that our parents put on and we start listening to the music that our friends listen to.
Dr. Spencer Reid: And those musical experiences imprint on us. Our hormonal surges as teenagers may make the choices seem more personal and passionate. And later on in life we might experiment with other musical selections, but no music ever impacts us as much as that which we listen to at age 14.
Jennifer Jareau: Herman Scobie’s what, 30?
Derek Morgan: If that.
Jennifer Jareau: Okay, so mid to late ’90s is when he started to take music seriously, stuff like this.
Derek Morgan: And the Piano Man’s songs were all early ’80s.
Dr. Spencer Reid: Which means the signature doesn’t fit. Herman Scobie’s too young to be the Piano Man.

 

I remember listening to this conversation and thinking it was interesting that Reid chose 14. I was 14 when I made the switch from my parents music, mostly my Dad’s Country music, to the rock and pop music of the day, that impacts what is contained in this blog, as you will notice. Many of the artists who were active in 1967 are favorites of mine, but even beyond that, the songs they released from mid 1967 through 1968 are usually my favorite songs by that artist or group (“Tuesday Afternoon, Forever Afternoon” – The Moody Blues, “To Love Somebody” – The Bee Gees, “Thank The Lord For The Nighttime” – Neil Diamond, just to name a few).

 

I have talked to others about this and it isn’t universal, I was the oldest of five, but I find that those who grew up with an older sibling hit this stage earlier as if on the coattails of that older sibling.

Mississippi Squirrel Revival – Ray Stevens

March 31, 2017
Music - General
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Originally posted June 28th, 2009:

“Driving back from Ellsworth today and this came up on the ipod. I’ve always thought that many a truth is spoke in jest and this qualifies nicely.
For some reason it makes me think of “The Blind Men and the Elephant” that ends:
“So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!”

Having grown up in a holiness church and witnessed the pandering and putting-ons of many a church member, this song has always put a smile on my face, yes, it’s greatly exaggerated but isn’t that what makes good comedy?

As for Ray Stevens, we”ll be visiting with him a few more times along the way.

The Yard Goes On Forever – Richard Harris

March 31, 2017
Music - 1968Music - General
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Indian Summer – Audience

March 31, 2017
Music - early 70'sMusic - General
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Here’s the original Facebook post from July 1, 2009

Another favorite from the distant past ? Summer of 1971 this song spent 5 weeks on the Billboard charts but only peaked at #74. An English band with otherwise strange musical tastes, this has always put a smile on my face. Mary isn’t excited about it, probably because of the chorus line that says “Friends say we aught to marry, I smile and shake my head. One wife will make you happy, 2 will make you dead” Actually Mary is number 2 and if she stays around until I’m gone, I will be happy. ? Very catchy tune!

I am happy to report here in January 2017 that Mary is still hanging out with me and so far I’m still alive and doing quite well.

Audience was a British “art rock” band, all the members had met in a semi-professional soul band named “Lloyd Alexander Real Estate”. I assume that the name refers to the American author who wrote the 5 book series, “The Chronicles of Prydain”,in the mid 60s, read and enjoyed those many moons ago. But that may just be free association and not the gospel truth.

Resurrection Shuffle – Aston, Gardner & Dyke

March 31, 2017
Druggie Hall of FameMusic - early 70'sMusic - General
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My original Facebook post from July 2009:

Back to 70’s “druggie music” ? A one hit wonder from Ashton, Gardner, & Dyke that spent 10 weeks on the Billboard charts in 1971, peaking at #40, another band from England with a devil may care approach to music. If you are a fan of this song, check out this video from youtube, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the Tom Jones version that I didn’t know existed until tonight (not the world’s biggest TJ fan here).


 

 

“Put out your tongue
Put your head in the air.
Make a “V” sign
And you just don’t care.
Now you feel free
You gotta loose control.
All Gods children gotta
Little bit of soul.”

As I ‘m posting this in 2017, I’ll add another version with the same intro, I didn’t know this existed til today, but I am an Osmond fan:


Smell Of Incense – Southwest F.O.B.

March 26, 2017
Druggie Hall of FameMusic - 1968Music - General



Facebook post July 2009

Southwest F.O.B. from Dallas, Texas gave us “Smell of Incense” in October of 1968. Another entry in my druggie music hall of fame ? The surprising thing here is that the vocalist is Dan Seals and the keyboardist is John Coley. Later they would combine as England Dan & John Ford Coley and provide a number of “mellow” hits like “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight”, “Nights Are Forever Without You” and my favorite “It’s Sad To Belong”. Dan Seals had a string of #1 country hits in the mid-eighties, including “Bop”. And one last connection, Dan’s brother Jim Seals was the Seals in Seals & Croft. In 1968, I didn’t care about any of that, “Smell of Incense” was one of my favorite songs with that rolling keyboard melody used as background and between verses.

January 2017 – Still one of my very favorite songs, I did discover that the Southwest F.O.B. “swiped” this from the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, here is their version:



It has it’s own psychedelic feel to it with an extended instrumental section in the middle.

For more here’s the link to my podcast featuring Dan Seals

The Shape Of Things To Come – Max Frost & The Troopers

March 26, 2017
Music - 1968Music - General

 

‎”Wild in the Streets” was the movie, Christopher Jones played the lead role of Max Frost. This song was made in-studio written by Barry Mann and produced by Mike Curb and released as a single by Max Frost & the Troopers. It spent 12 weeks on Billboard’s Top 100 in the Fall of 1968, peaking at #22. Less than 2 minutes long, but between the “revolutionary” theme and the hard hitting rock sound, it became a real favorite of mine. For more on the movie:


Wild In The Streets


Christopher Jones had been the lead in ABC’s Jesse James, which aired 34 episodes in 1964-65 and was involved with Sharon Tate before her death at the hands of the Manson family. He died at the age of 72 from gallbladder cancer.

Forever Autumn – Justin Hayward

March 25, 2017
Music - General
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Original post from July 2009:


Found this one looking for something else, then discovered it’s not in my iTunes collection, which is sacrilege! This song was part of the musical version of “The War of The Worlds” in the late 70s. It is Justin Hayward, lead singer of the Moody Blues, and it is a plaintive, beautiful piece of music written by Jeff Wayne, Paul Vigrass & Gary Osborne. It charted for 13 weeks in the winter of 1978 and peaked at #47. Vigrass & Osborne had released this as the flip side to their one US charting hit “Men of Learning” in 1972, another of my all-time favorite songs.



Re-post February 2015:


“Forever Autumn” is a song written by Jeff Wayne, Gary Osborne and Paul Vigrass. The original melody was written by Wayne in 1969 as a jingle for a Lego commercial. Vigrass and Osborne, the performers of the original jingle, added lyrics to the song and recorded it for inclusion on their 1972 album Queues. Their interpretation was also released as a single and gained moderate commercial success in Japan, selling more than 100,000 copies and becoming a top-20 hit on that country’s record chart.The best-known version is the recording by Justin Hayward from the album Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds(Wikipedia).


Posted this back in July of 2009, it’s a plaintiff, beautiful piece of music. Vigrass & Osborne released this as the “B” side of “Men Of Learning”, that ended up as my #1 song of 1972. More on that in another post.


Here’s the original radio jingle:



 

 

Cheer – Potliquor

March 24, 2017
Music - early 70'sMusic - General
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This song was my first musical Facebook post in 2009:

“Coming back from St. John listening to my late 60’s, early 70’s music that I play at maximum decibel level when Mary’s not around – she refers to a lot of it as “druggie music”. Here’s one that wasn’t a huge hit (11 weeks on Billboard’s top 100 peaking at #65 in February of 1972) but always makes my feet tap, and my head bob.

”The music has no sorrow, I bring it free and clear,
if you will accept, it will bring you…cheer!

By way of explanation, Mary is my wife and St. John is the New Brunswick, Canada version. Seven years ago I lived in Calais, Maine, now I hang my hat in Driggs, Idaho and that’s a story for another time.

Potliquor originated in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The author of the song was keyboardist and lead vocalist George Ratcliff. The group produced 4 albums of material but only managed this one charting single. They are now members of Louisiana’s Entertainment Hall Of Fame. After their breakup, George returned to his gospel roots in a group named Legacy.

The group’s name was derived from pot liquor, the broth left behind after cooking vegetables which was often drank or used in soups or stews.

Windy – The Assocation

March 22, 2017
Music - 1967Music - General

 

The summer of 1967 I found rock and roll music after being brought up on my Dad’s country music. This light, carefree melody was #1 at the time and it still brings back the lazy summer days when I was 14. “Capture that rainbow”!

I’m a little fuzzy on the details but to the best of my knowledge, this is the first 45 I ever purchased. The summer of 67 was a magical time for me musically and this was one of the songs that made it that way.

The above paragraphs were Facebook posts in 2009 and 2011

“Windy” was a landmark song for me, it was #1 when I switched from my Dad’s country music to rock and roll the summer of 1967. as I look back, many of those first songs I heard regularly on the radio became my favorite songs by many of the artists, there will be several examples as I continue to post. “Windy” would become my favorite Association song for about a year before “Time For Livin’” was released. Their greatest hit was “Cherish”, I remember finding WRKO in Boston and their’s was the first All-Time Top 300 I wrote down, I believe it was 1969 that “Cherish” was voted #1. One of these days I’ll have to add a few radio stations and the lists I collected in the late 60’s and early 70’s.