The Outlaws: Lady in Waiting (Hughie Thomasson)

The Outlaws.  Lady in Waiting.  The inner gatefold.  This band is one of the great southern rock groups.  Lady in Waiting is the 2nd studio album the Outlaws, released in 1976.  The last cut on side two is called "Stick Around for Rock and Roll" (Thomasson), at 6:35, it's great!  I saw Hughie Thomasson play a few years ago while he was briefly a member of Lynyrd Skynrd, outside at Ribfest in Naperville. And I swear, I just found this out - Hughie passed away in 2007.   I am over 50 now and too many of these guys are not around any more.  Can we press the pause button?  The Outlaws do one of my favorite songs of all time, called There Goes Another Love Song.   That song (the first track from their first record - which of course I own) is in a very bright key, has soothing almost lilting vocals, a couple of sweet guitar breaks, an extremely catchy melody, and is easy to sing along with.  It seems incongruous coming from a hard-charging southern rock band.  Here is the front cover:

RIP Hughie...

Jon Bon Jovi vs. Steve Jobs/Apple/iTunes

Sorry for bringing you into this intramural spat between billionaires, but the discussion is relevant.  "Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the [record album] jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album; and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the [record] jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it," says Jon Bon Jovi.  This from an article in Digital Trends: while most artists find fault with illegal piracy and the financial toll it’s taking on their industry, Bon Jovi instead seems to think the processed music environment fostered by iTunes has killed discovering music and the effect that has on a person.  “God, it was a magical time.  I hate to sound like an old man now, but I am, and you mark my words, in a generation from now people are going to say: ‘What happened?’ Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business.”  He had better get used to it — with iTunes asserting its control over the digital music market, competitors are coming out of the woodwork.  How would Judge George, MBE have ruled in this matter?  Likely in favor of Jon.  As the Buggles sang, video killed the radio star.

Bob Seger: Like a Rock, I was eighteen...

Bob Seger - Like a Rock.  Not his best album, but it contains one of his best songs.  My gosh - have we ever seen so much leather on four post peak rockers?  Three are in leather pants, and I have to believe that stuff just does not breath.  OK back to the record.  At this point (1986) the Silver Bullet Band is: Himself on acoustic guitar, guitar, piano, vocals.  Craig Frost - organ, synthesizer, piano, keyboard.  Chris Campbell no bass.  And Alto Reed - baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone.  LAR is his 13th album and the great power hit-the-road athems are in the proverbial rear view mirrow and we may be close to 50 or over (so notwithstanding Fire Inside), we still get that Seger vide that hit un in the gut in late high school in the 70's.   Note also for the title track, that Bob taps Bill Payne for the piano work and the aweome and seemlingly ever-present Russ Kunkel on drums.  More on Payne: he was a founding member Little Feat and has recorded and or played with everyone: J. J. Cale, the Doobies, Emmylou Harris, Bryan Adams, Pink Floyd, Toto, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Nicks, etc.  Click post title for one of my video reviews.

Billy Thorpe - Children of the Sun

Billy Thorpe - Children of the Sun.   First thing I noticed about this record is how awesome it is.  Billy, the record cover, the title track - pure awesome.  On the back cover it reads: Bass- Leland Sklar.   The title track comes in at 6:45.   The label is Capricorn Records - which is shocking because he is NOT from Georgia or Florida and also not a southern fried rocker.  In fact - William Richard "Billy" Thorpe, is/was and English-born yet Australian and musician.  He died in Feb. 2007.  The title track credit for song-writing is the record's producer Spencer Proffer.  You may recall he did a song in the sixties called Poison Ivy, which the Rolling Stones covered.

The other OMD: Ozark Mountain Daredevils

When I read in places about OMD, most often I am reading about Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark.  But is the other, better OMD, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.  The record is called It'll Shine When it Shines.  And this is also a gorgeous record cover.  I bought it today at Chicagoland Record Collectors Show - just outside Chicago.   What an awesome single this record produced - Jackie Blue.   This record contains a masterful liner notes in a separate pullout with such great photos of the band: Michael Granda, Randle Chowning, Buddy Brawfield, Larry Lee, Steve Cash, and John Dillon.  The great Glyn Johns plays High string guitar on the song "Lowlands."   Johns also produced the record.  As for the single Jackie Blue - it was sung by the group's drummer Larry Lee.  The version appearing on this album has a running time of 4:11, while the single was edited down to 3:16.