Judas Priest and The Tubes - two great records that go great together

For a Spring Saturday - I thought this would be cool.  Similar, yet different.  These records are Judas Priest's British Steel, from 1980.  And The Tubes' with theirs called Young and Rich, from 1976.  Released in 1976, Young and Rich was the second album released by The Tubes. While Young and Rich is no longer available on CD, all of the songs from Young and Rich and their first record are now available on a single CD from Acadia Records called White Punks on Dope.   Judas Priest came out with British Steel in 1980.  One must wonder about these albums.  I think they go great together, side by side.

Earl Scruggs (1924-2012) Revue - Super Jammin' is right, with cast of all-stars!

Gosh, I hate writing these posts.  This not really an obituary, but it is.  This is one of my all-time favorite records.  Earl Scrcuggs Revue - Super Jammin'  I bought it originally when it came out - back in 1984, it's not a new edition to my collection.  The songs are wonderful, but what's most impressive is the sheer number of all-time great musicians who play on it.  They likely weren't all in the same studio at the same, but this record still has what might be the largest collection of A-listers on any type Revue album.  They are:  Lester's sons Gary, Steve, and Randy, Jimmy Messina, Kenny Loggins, Jim Keltner, Doug Kershaw, Loudon Wainwright III, Joan Baez, Johhny Cash, Michael Martin Murphy, Alvin Lee, Billy Joel, Willie Hall, Bonnie Bramlett, Waylon Jennings, Charlie Daniels, Leon Pendarvis, Ron Cornelius, Larry Gatlin, Dan Fogelberg, the Pointer Sisters, George McCorkle, Jerry Eubanks, and many others.  The song I am featuring a song from this album called Rolling in my Dreams - by Don Nix, click this post's tile to hear it.

ELO Face the Music - with Fire on High and Strange Magic and Evil Woman

ELO Face the Music. ELO's fifth studio LP was released in 1975, and the first to be recorded in Musicland Studios, Munich.  The band featured a newer line-up with bassist Kelly Groucutt and cellist Melvyn Gale replacing Mike de Albuquerque and Mike Edwards respectively.  Evil Woman, Fire on High, and my favorite - Strange Magic are all on this record.  The back cover of the record sleeve shows the members of the band with their faces pressed against a glass panel, supposedly watching the "electrocution" depicted on the front cover.  A bit radical and dramatic for a pop album cover.  The band member who is looking away is Richard Tandy, who didn't like the idea and didn't want to participate.  New member Kelly Groucutt sang lead vocals on "Poker" as well as one of the verses in "Nightrider." (Usually, Jeff Lynne sang all lead vocals for ELO.)   I attribute wiki here about the backmasking on the album's first track:  "Fire On High" contains a backwards message in the beginning. When the song is played backwards, the message voiced by drummer Bev Bevan can be heard stating, "The music is reversible, but time is not. Turn back. Turn back. Turn back. Turn back." — ostensibly Jeff Lynne's shot at backmasking hysteria, after false satanic allegations were made against their song "Eldorado" by Fundamentalist Christianity members.  "Down Home Town" also starts with some backmasking: the refrain from "Waterfall" ("Face the mighty waterfall, face the mighty waterfall"). A portion of the string crescendo from "Nightrider" was used backwards on "Evil Woman."

The Other Sassafras - not the one from Lawton Road

The other Sassafras...I totally freaked when I saw this album.  I thought, could it be?  Really?  A record by a band made up of the way-older guys who lived across the street from me where I grew up?  It could't be - could it?   In the very early '70's, Weedy and Greg Wright (across the street) and one or two of the Gubbins boys from down the block had a band called Sassafras.  I heard and watched them practice in Mrs. Gubbins' garage.  And get this - they even had a old, beat up used panel van that they painted their band name (logo!) on that they used to haul their gear to gigs.  I am sure that Sassafras played gigs in town (Riverside IL) at the what was called The Youth Center.  That was a community building above the municipal truck garages that was used in the day time for dog obedience classes, first aid training, Golden Agers dances, and what not.  But on Friday nights - it was THE place to be.  But I can only imagine, for I was too young to go.  You had to be at least a junior or senior in high school.  I bet beers and pot were smuggled in and local bands played there, maybe also even Styx, the Ides of March, the Second Story or the Cryin' Shames also played.  It was close to the forbidden Swinging Bridge - a pedestrian bridge that led down to Riverside Lawn, where who knew what could happen!  What was also unique back then was in our  small village, when parking on all the streets after dusk, you had to leave your parking lights on and all down Lawton Road, where I grew up - on the nights there was a concert at the Youth Center - there would be hundreds of cars with their amber parking lights all down Lawton Rd., as far as you could see.  But, alas - this record is by some other band called Sassafras - not our Sassafras.  A while back via Facebook I asked Weedy's sister Kathy if anyone in her family had kept any old cassette tapes of the band and sadly, she said no.  For more info. on the Sassafras that came out with the album shown above - click on this post's title.

Humble Pie - Rock On...

This blog's new title page is Humble Pie - Rock On...Rock On is the fourth studio album by the English rock group Humble Pie, released in 1971. It reached #118 on the Billboard 200.  The final studio album to feature guitarist and vocalist Peter Frampton, Rock On saw Humble Pie establishing the heavy blues/rock sound they became famous for, led in no small part by their new manager, Dee Anthony, after the collapse of Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate Records. But this was not where Frampton wanted to be and within a year he had quit the group to pursue his solo career and take his music in a more acoustic direction.  Most of the songs on Rock On were performed live on tour before being recorded for the album. Marriott turned the production into a studio party of sorts, featuring numerous guest performers from the world of blues and soul. Distinguished performers such as PP Arnold, who Marriott knew very well from his Small Faces days, Doris Troy who had a U.S. hit in the early 1960s with her own self-composed song "Just One Look" (later covered by The Hollies), and Claudia Lennear (who had sung backing for artists such as Joe Cocker, Freddie King and Gene Clark), were featured on this album.  The album features the classic rock song "Stone Cold Fever" written by band members Marriott, Ridley, Frampton and Shirley.  Steve Marriott's ballad "A Song For Jenny" (written for first wife Jenny Rylance) features The Soul Sisters (Doris Troy, P.P. Arnold and Claudia Lennear) on backing vocals.B.J. Cole contributes pedal steel guitar. "Strange Days" is a ballsy blues rock song, in which Marriott's powerful vocals soar as close to a live performance as any on this album.  The vocals have a delayed echo, sounding grounded yet "out there," and Frampton's guitar solos weave throughout. It is also the longest song on the album. "Sour Grain" was a joint composition by Peter Frampton and Steve Marriott, keeping the same tempo as "Shine On", but with just Steve on vocals.

The Brothers Johnson - Look Out for #1...back to the music

The Brothers Johnson - Look Out for #1...I am pretty much hooked on the song they do, I'll be Good to You.  It has a great hook and many cool breakdowns.  And according to Nile Rodgers, the first part of songs, to him, are just reasons (mere filler?) in order to get to the breakdown/s in a song.  My pal Scott (Skooter) also really like their other large hit, Strawberry Letter 23.  Click on this post's title to see and hear it.  The funky guitar solo on that song is by Lee Ritenour.  Here is more on The Brothers Johnson, to wit - the brothers are, George aka 'Lightnin' Licks' and Louis E. Johnson aka 'Thunder Thumbs.'   Quincy Jones, I might contend, is the 3rd Johnson brother.  Q produced all but one of their records.  In a documentary on the making of Off the Wall, Q mentions some songs he (Q) had that he was working on with the Brothers Johnson.  One of those songs became Get on the Floor, penned by Louis Johnson, which is track 4 on Off the Wall.  Q gets the best talent in the studio apparently: Billy Cobham plays timbales on our record shown above.  Also credited are Ralph MacDonald, Ernie Watts, Dave Grusin, Harvey Mason, Glenn Faris, and  Toots (Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron) Thielemans, the great Belgian jazz musician known for his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his whistling.  Toots is considered one of the greatest living harmonica players of the 20th century.  In 2009 he became NEA Jazz Master, the highest honour for a jazz musician in the United States.

Duane Allman plays on Herbie Mann's Push Push

This is a find.  A real find.  Yes, I had vaguely heard of Herbie Mann.  But I bought the record because of this hairy-chested guy with a flute slung over his shoulder.  So, it was a great buy, just based on that.  Then, it gets better.  This is Herbie Mann's Push Push.  He is legendary.  Then, it gets even better.  Duane Allman plays a killer jam on this record. Yes, Duane Allman.  Last fall, I read the autobiography of Duane Allman called Sky Dog and I vaguely recall reading about the Push Push sessions.  This is on Embryo, a unit of Atlantic Records.  The inner gatefold photo on the original release (the one I own and shown here) was controversial.  Other performers on this album included Cornell Dupree (guitar), David Spinozza (guitar) (credited as David Spinoza), Gene Bianca (harp), Richard Tee (piano, electric piano, organ), the great Chuck Rainey (see: Steely Dan's Aja), Jerry Jemmott, Donald "Duck" Dunn (bass), Bernard Purdie, Al Jackson, Jr. (drums), and Ralph MacDonald (percussion).  Guitar solos were by Duane Allman, except on "Man's Hope," which was performed by David Spinoza. The recording engineer was Jimmy Douglass and the producer was Arif Mardin - one of the house producers at Atlantic Records.