“Sweet Sounds of Heaven” features Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder
Yesterday, The Rolling Stones released their second upfront single from Hackney Diamonds, their long-awaited upcoming first album of original music in 18 years. Sweet Sounds of Heaven features Lada Gaga on backing vocals and none other than the great Stevie Wonder on Fender Rhodes, Moog and piano, as reported by Pitchfork and other entertainment outlets. While I may not exactly go ga ga over the soulful ballad with a gospel vibe, I feel the Stones have done a pretty decent job here and look forward to the album, which is scheduled for release on October 20.
SPINreported Jagger penned Sweet Sounds of Heavenat his London home and was inspired by rustling leaves and slight wind blowing through the trees outside of his window. “Sweet Sounds of Heaven” was written by Jagger and Keith Richards, and was recorded at studios in Los Angeles, London, and the Bahamas. It comes three weeks after the first upfront single Angry.
As a longtime fan of The Rolling Stones, I can’t deny the possibility of bias here. I don’t know about you, after years of speculation about a new Stones album, I had largely given up on it until more specific news reports emerged. The fact that after 18 years since A Bigger BangMick Jagger (80) and his longtime Glimmer Twin Keith Richards (79) pulled off writing new music together is remarkable in and of itself, at least in my book.
‘But Lady Ga Ga?’, some observers may wonder (no pun intended!). Well, I humbly have to agree with Sir Mick who toldZane Lowe in an interview for Apple Music that “she’s really a great singer.” That’s different from saying I love her music. ‘Okay,’ some may think, ‘you can do a lot in the studio to make a voice sound great.’ True, but check out this live performance of Gimme Shelter, captured in 2012 during the Stones’ 50 & Counting Tour. If you’re in a hurry, forward to around 1:30 minutes into the clip and tell me this lady didn’t kill it!
The core members of The Rolling Stones (from left): Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Mick Jagger. Photo: Toby Melville/Reuters
Lady Ga Ga and Stevie Wonder aren’t the only notable guests appearing on Hackney Diamonds. To start with, there are also these two lads who originally hail from Liverpool and 60 years ago were in a band called The Beatles. Of course, I’m talking Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, who appear on one track. Additional contributions include Elton John, former Stones bassist Bill Wyman and even the band’s late drummer Charlie Watts. The album was produced by Andrew Watt who won the 2021 Grammy Award for Producer of the Year. Watt has worked with a diverse group of artists, such as Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Ozzy Osbourne, Pearl Jam and Iggy Pop.
I’m under no illusion there are cynics out there saying the Stones decided to embrace a playbook we have seen before where aging rockers beyond their prime time pack their album with prominent guests. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. All I can say is I’m happy, baby, not angry about what I’ve heard thus far!
Sources: Wikipedia; Pitchfork; SPIN; Apple Music; YouTube
Diamond Dogs, Andrew Cushin, No-No Boy, The Vaughns, The Atom Age and Wilco
Happy Saturday and welcome to the latest installment of my weekly new music revue. All picks are from albums that came out yesterday (September 29).
Diamond Dogs/Get a Rock ‘n’ Roll Record
Diamond Dogs are a Swedish rock band initially formed in the late 1990s. Wikipedia notes their line-up has seen various changes over time, and the band announced their break-up in September 2015. They since reformed and based on a recent Facebook post, co-founder and vocalist Sören ‘Sulo’ Karlsson is part of the group’s current line-up. From Diamond Dog’s 15th and latest album About the Hardest Nut to Crack, here’s the great Get a Rock ‘n’ Roll Record – the title says it all!
Andrew Cushin/Just Like You’d Want Me To
Andrew Cushin is an up-and-coming singer-songwriter from the UK who first emerged in October 2020 with Where’s My Family Gone, a song for which he had teamed up with ex-Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher, as NMEreported at the time. Cushin is now out with his debut album Waiting For the Rain. Here’s the excellent Just Like You’d Want Me To, which also became the sixth upfront single. “It’s a song about resilience, hope and inner belief, standing tall and knowing that better days are gonna come,” Cushin said in a statement included in a recent review by NME. The 23-year-old certainly is off to a promising start!
No-No Boy/Little Monk
No-No Boy is a music project by Asian-American singer-songwriter Julian Saporiti. His website explains, The project developed as the central component of Saporiti’s PhD at Brown University, drawing on years of fieldwork and research on Asian American history to write folk songs with uncommon empathy and remarkable protagonists: prisoners at Japanese American internment camps who started a jazz band, Vietnamese musicians turned on to rock ‘n’ roll by American troops, a Cambodian American painter who painted only the most beautiful landscapes of his war-torn home. Off his third album Empire Electric, here’s Little Monk. It’s impossible to do this unusual artist full justice here, so I encourage you to check out his website.
The Vaughns/Turn Around
The Vaughns are an indie rock band from Springfield, N.J. who were formed in 2014 after their members had met in high school. Their eponymous debut EP appeared in August of the same year. After another EP, they independently issued their first full-length album F.O.M.O. in May 2019. The following year, they signed with Equal Vision Records and are now out with their sophomore album Egg Everything. Here’s Turn Around, a nice song written by co-founding members Anna Lies (vocals, guitar, synth) and Ryan Kenter (drums, percussion). Jordan Smith (guitar, vocals) and Brian Hughes (bass, vocals) complete the band’s current line-up.
The Atom Age/New Season
The Atom Age are a punk band from Oakland, Calif., who have been around since 2009. They describe their sound as follows: A rocket propelled ode to the unhinged power of ‘60s punk and R&B, the Age are more Sonics than Hives, and more Link Wray than Jack White. From their eponymous fifth and latest album, here’s New Season, a charging punk rocker with a garage vibe!
Wilco/Evicted
While I imagine the previous bands and artists may be new to many readers, Wilco is likely a more familiar name. The Chicago alt. country-turned-alternative rock band around Jeff Tweedy emerged in 1994 as one of two groups following the break-up of alt. country outfit Uncle Tupelo. Tweedy’s former bandmate Jay Farrar went on to form Son Volt. Wilco’s new album, their 13th, is called Cousin. Here’s Evicted, which like all other tracks was penned by Tweedy. It had first appeared as a single on August 1.
Sources: Wikipedia; Diamond Dogs Facebook page; NME; No-No Boy website; The Atom Age website; YouTube; Spotify
Happy Wednesday and welcome to another installment of my recurring midweek feature where I take a closer look at a song I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. For most posts in the series thus far it’s been the latter. Today, I’m making an exception with a song I’ve loved since my early teenage years back in Germany. I still fondly remember learning how to play it on the acoustic guitar: Father and Son by Cat Stevens, the artist now known as Yusuf/Cat Stevens.
Father and Son, written by the English singer-songwriter who was born Steven Demetre Georgiou, first appeared in August 1970 as the lead single to his fourth studio album Tea for the Tillerman. Even though it is arguably one of Stevens’ most beloved songs, the single only enjoyed moderate success. In the UK, it evidently missed the main UK Singles Chart and instead reached no. 52 on the Breakers List, which seems to be an independent chart. The single did best in Australia (no. 18) and also charted in The Netherlands (no. 28).
In marked contrast to Father and Son, Tea for the Tillerman enjoyed significant chart success in numerous countries and became Stevens’ international breakthrough. Released in November 1970, apart from Father and Son, the album features various other popular Cat Stevens songs, such as Where Do the Children Play?, Wild World and Miles From Nowhere. In the UK, it hit the top 20 on the Official Albums Chart (no. 20). In Australia, the album surged all the way to no. 2. In the U.S., it climbed to no. 8 on the Billboard 200, marking Stephens’ highest-charting album there at the time. Elsewhere, it reached no. 11 (Canada), no. 13 (Austria) and no. 20 (New Zealand), among others.
Father and Son describes a conversation between a father who doesn’t understand his son’s desire to leave the house and start his own life and a son who feels the need to break away but struggles to find a good explanation. Stevens brings the conversation to life by singing the father’s lines in a deeper voice while going into a higher vocal register for the son. In addition to Stevens, his friend and guitarist Alun Davies provided backing vocals.
In 2007, the singer-songwriter who then was known as Yusuf Islam recorded Father and Son again for a DVD titled Yusuf’s Cafe Sessions. A small backing band featured Davies. Notably, the video includes close-up footage of his wife and daughter holding his infant grandchild.
In September 2020, Stevens released Tea for the Tillerman², a reimagined version of the original Tea for the Tillerman. The version of Father and Son features the original recording of Stevens’ vocals as a 22-year-old alongside the voice of the then-72-year-old artist. Stevens also released the following animated video.
I think it’s great Stevens decided to resume his recording career in the mid 1990s, almost 20 years after he had decided to leave the music business following his conversion to Islam. That said, the original 1970 recording of Father and Son is the one I came to love and remains my favorite. Rolling Stone’s 2021 edition of the Top 500 Songs of All Time ranked Father and Son at no. 408.
Following are select additional insights from Songfacts:
Stevens made up the story, but his relationship with his own father, Stavros Georgiou, was an influence on the song. His dad owned a restaurant in London, and Cat (known to his dad as Steve Georgiou) worked there as a waiter right up until he signed a record deal at age 17. Stavros was hoping his son would join the family business.
When he appeared on The Chris Isaak Hour in 2009, Stevens said: “He was running a restaurant and I was a pop star, so I wasn’t following the path that he laid out. But we certainly didn’t have any antagonism between us. I loved him and he loved me.”
…The generational divide that plays out in the lyric can apply to many families, but Stevens had a specific storyline in mind, writing it from the perspective of a father and son in a Russian family during the Russian Revolution (1917-1923). The son wants to join the revolution but his father wants him to stay home and work on the farm.
Stevens, a huge fan of showtunes, wrote it in 1969 for a musical he was working on called Revolussia, which is set during the Russian Revolution. The song is part of a scene where the son feels it is his calling to join in, but his father wants him to stay home. The musical never materialized, so the song ended up being the first one written for Stevens’ Tea For The Tillerman album.
The song has a very unusual structure, which owes to its provenance as a number for a stage musical. There’s no chorus, but the son’s part is sung louder, providing a kind of hook. The dialogue is an interesting lyrical trick with the father and son expressing different perspectives on the situation.
In 2020, Yusuf Islam told Entertainment Weekly: “The song is a testament to the differences we represent to each other, especially in age and traditions. Traditions have a big impact on our lives, and sometimes you’ve got to walk away.”
This is the song that got Stevens signed to Island Records. His first two albums were issued on Deram, a division of Decca. Stevens met with Island boss Chris Blackwell to talk about the musical he wrote this song for, but when Blackwell heard the song, he set his sights on getting Stevens on his label as an artist. Stevens’ first Island release was Mona Bone Jakon earlier in 1970; it was not just a new label for Stevens, but a new producer as well, with former Yardbird Paul Samwell-Smith taking the helm from Mike Hurst (ex-Springfields), who helped Stevens get his deal with Decca...
Another classic album has hit the big 50. While despite my preview in early January I cheerfully missed the actual anniversary date by about six weeks, I still felt Lynyrd Skynyrd’s debut album (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd) deserved a dedicated celebratory post. Released on August 13, 1973, it features some of the southern rock band’s most beloved songs and is my favorite together with their April 1974 sophomore album Second Helping.
Lynyrd Skynyrd originally were formed in 1964 as My Backyard, featuring Ronnie Van Zant (lead vocals), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Junstrom (bass) and Bob Burns (drums). After five years of touring and various line-up changes, they changed their name to Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1969. While by 1970 they had become a top band in the Jackson, Fla. area, it would still take them another three years before recording their first album. A key moment happened in 1972, when producer Al Kooper discovered Skynyrd and signed them to his Sounds of the South label.
Most of the songs on (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd) had been part of the band’s live set for some time. They still decided to meticulously rehearse and perfectionate the songs before entering the studio. Kooper later said he was impressed how well the group was prepared for the recording sessions. According to Wikipedia, citing a 2018 film documentary (If I Leave Here Tomorrow: A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd, directed by Stephen Kijak), “every note was immutable and absolutely no improvisation was allowed.”
In addition to Van Zant, Rossington, Collins and Burns, the group’s line-up on the album included Billy Powell (keyboards) and Ed King (bass). Only a few months prior to the start of the recording sessions, King had replaced Leon Wilkeson who would rejoin the fold after the album’s release, with Ed King switching to co-lead guitarist.
Time for some music! A good way to start is Side one (speaking in vinyl terms) and Tuesday’s Gone. Co-written by Van Zant and Collins, the song features Kooper on Mellotron, which he used to add the upfront string sounds to the chorus. He’s credited as “Roosevelt Gook” and also plays different instruments on various other tracks. Notably, Atlanta Rhythm Section drummer Robert Nix manned the skins on this track instead of Bob Burns.
Gimme Three Steps, another Van Zant-Collins co-write, became the album’s first single on November 5, 1973. While the lyrics are kind of hilarious, they are based on a true story. Songfactsnotes Rossington recalled Ronnie Van Zant, who was about 18 at the time, used a fake ID to get in a bar while his younger bandmates Rossington and Allen Collins waited for him in a truck. Van Zant danced with a girl named Linda, whose boyfriend, who was not too happy about it, came up to Ronnie and reached for something in his boot. Figuring he was going for a gun, Van Zant told him: “If you’re going to shoot me it’s going to be in the ass or the elbows… just gimme a few steps and I’ll be gone.” He ran to the truck, and he, Rossington, and Collins wrote this song that night.
Next up: Simple Man, the final track on Side one, co-written by Rossington and Van Zant. Songfactsexplains, Shortly after Ronnie Van Zant’s grandmother and Gary Rossington’s mother died, they got together in Van Zant’s apartment and started telling stories about them. Rossington came up with a chord progression, and Van Zant wrote the lyrics based on advice the women had given them over the years. They wrote it in about an hour. To date, Simple Man has more than 403 million streams on Spotify, making it the third most streamed Skynyrd song on the platform. As you might have expected, Sweet Home Alabama leads with more than 1.16 billion streams. Can you guess the no. 2 song? Hint: It’s also on this very album!
This brings us to Side two, which kicks off with Things Goin’ On, another Rossington-Van Zant co-write. Songfactsexplains, This is Ronnie Van Zant’s protest song. Instead of writing from the perspective of the war, it is written from the perspective of the government. Songfacts also notes Things Goin’ On was part of Skynyrd’s initial audition tapes. When Kooper asked the band to record all songs they knew live-in-studio so he could pick the best ones for the album, he liked all 14 cuts and used everything that didn’t fit as B-sides for singles or future albums.
The final track I’d like to call out is the big enchilada Free Bird, one of the most epic ’70s rock tunes I can think of. And, yes, it’s the second most streamed Skynyrd song on Spotify with more than 551 million streams. Free Bird, co-written by Collins and Van Zant, is about a man explaining to a girl why he can’t settle down and make a commitment, Songfactspoints out. The opening lines, “If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?” were inspired by Allen Collins’ girlfriend Kathy, who had asked him this very question during a fight. One of the song’s distinct features is the extended instrumental passage that makes up the final 4-plus minutes, which is dominated by Collins’ and Rossington’s guitar action.
(Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd) put the group on the map and became one of their most successful albums. In the U.S., it was certified Gold in December 1974 and reached 2X Platinum (2 million certified sold copies) in July 1987. The album climbed to no. 27 on the Billboard 200, a decent showing for a debut, though their other ’70s albums reached higher peaks, especially Street Survivors (no. 5), the album just released prior to the devastating airplane crash that killed Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and his older sister, backup singer Cassie Gaines, along with the pilot, co-pilot and the group’s assistant road-manager.
In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd) at no. 403 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Unlike many other ’70s rock albums, it gained ground in the list’s 2020 revision, coming in at no. 381. Here’s a Spotify link to the album.
Lynyrd Skynyrd remain a touring act to this day and just finished the cleverly titled The Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour with ZZ Top a week ago. The last original member Gary Rossington passed away in March this year at the age of 71. This makes guitarist Rickey Medlocke who first joined the group in 1971 the longest tenured member, followed by Ronnie Van Zant’s younger brother Johnny Van Zant who has been Skynyrd’s lead vocalist since the band reunited in 1987. The remaining line-up includes Mark Matejka (guitar, backing vocals; since 2006), Peter Keys (keyboards, piano; since 2009), Keith Christopher (bass; since 2017) and Michael Cartellone (drums, percussion; since 1999).
Evidently, Lynyrd Skynyrd aren’t done with touring for the year. Their web site currently lists three gigs for October and a late December date. The schedule is at https://www.lynyrdskynyrd.com/#tour.
Celebrating music with six random tracks at a time
Happy Sunday! It’s a rainy weekend in my neck of the woods of central New Jersey, U.S.A. Because of that and high winds, Rock the Farm, a great annual tribute music festival for an important cause I’ve frequently covered, most recently here, was rescheduled until next June – certainly the right decision under the circumstances but still a bummer!
All of that makes me feel even more like firing up the imaginary music time machine and escape the present reality for some time. Regardless of the weather or other things that may be on your mind, as always, I hope you’ll join me on the trip, and we can have a great time together!
Count BasieOrchestra/Splanky
For our first stop today, we shall set the time controls to January 1958. Picking a winter month in New York City may seem a surprising choice to escape bad present weather, but when the music is great, you can have sunshine on any rainy day. And greatness is certainly what jazz pianist Count Basie and the Count Basie Orchestra, delivered on The Atomic Mr. Basie. Initially titled Basie, aka E=MC2 and reissued in 1994 as The Complete Atomic Basie, this studio album by Basie and his big band features compositions and arrangements by jazz trumpeter Neal Hefti. Here’s the groovy Splanky – feel free to snip along!
Humble Pie/I’ll Go Alone
Next let’s head to August 1969 and As Safe As Yesterday Is, the debut album by Humble Pie. While the English rock band had been formed in January that year by guitarists and vocalists Peter Frampton and Steve Marriott, formerly of The Herd and Small Faces, respectively, the record’s release was delayed due Marriott’s Small Faces touring commitments and Frampton’s legal problems with his old management. By the time As Safe As Yesterday Is appeared, Humble Pie already had recorded enough material for at least three albums. I’ll Go Alone is one of two tracks solely written by Frampton who also sang it. Back in July, I finally caught him alive. While Frampton is battling a progressive muscle wasting disorder and performed seated, he still sounded great!
Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes/If You Don’t Me By Now
Time to pay a visit to the ’70s, more specifically August 1972, which saw the release of an album featuring one of the most beautiful Philly soul ballads I can think of: If You Don’t Know Me By Now by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. The song appeared on the group’s debut album I Miss You, which was later reissued as Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. Yes, it’s lush, but what a vocal gem – I don’t wanna sound overly sentimental, you just don’t hear much singing like this anymore. If You Don’t Know Me By Now was co-written by songwriting and production team Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff who formed their own label Philadelphia International Records and are credited for creating the Philly sound. In 1989, Simply Red recorded an incredible cover of that song and scored a major international hit.
Talking Heads/And She Was
It’s hard to follow the beauty of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, but our trip must continue. And on we go to June 1985 and Little Creatures, the sixth studio album by art pop and new wave band Talking Heads. Overall, it became their most successful album, with more than 2 million copies sold in the U.S. alone and top 20 chart positions in multiple countries, including no. 1 in New Zealand. The big hit single off that album was Road to Nowhere, which was very popular in Germany and got the group on my radar screen. Here’s the follow-up And She Was, which like Road to Nowhere and the majority of the other tracks was penned by front man David Byrne, a vocalist with a distinct style.
Lyle Lovett/She Makes Me Feel So Good
By now you may have noticed we’re going chronologically this time. Does the lack of the traditional zig-zag time travel reflect my reluctance to go back to the present? Perhaps a bit, though my primary thought is it can’t hurt to change things a little every now and then. Okay, on the ’90s and an artist I pretty much know by name only: Lyle Lovett. The singer-songwriter from Houston, Texas oftentimes appears to be categorized as country. While I no longer regard this label as terrible, I believe there’s much more to his music. Case in point: She Makes Me Feel So Good, a Lovett composition that has a neat jazzy groove with soulful vocals. This great track is from Lovett’s fourth studio album Joshua Judges Ruth, released in March 1992.
Melissa Etheridge/Juliet
For our sixth and final stop, we’re making a big jump back to the present and a great rock artist fellow blogger Dave from A Sound Daycovered earlier this week, which inspired this pick: Melissa Etheridge who I instantly loved when I first heard Bring Me Some Water, off her eponymous debut album from May 1988. Etheridge is currently doing a 10-week residency at New York Broadway venue Circle in the Square Theatre. In an obvious nod to that engagement, she released a cover of On Broadway as part of an EP with the same title on August 25. In addition to the well-known song credited to Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Etheridge’s latest EP includes two originals. Here’s one of them, Juliet. It’s great she’s still out there rockin’!
While I enjoy shaking up The Sunday Six a bit every now and then, what hopefully will never change is including a Spotify playlist of all the tracks we visited during the trip, so here you go! Hope you’ve had some fun on today’s trip and will be back for more music time travel next Sunday!
Teenage Fanclub, Bleach Lab, Stephen Sanchez, Buddy & Julie Miller, Brent Cobb and Paul Rodgers
Hope your weekend is off to a great start. Saturday is the time of the week when I take a fresh look at newly released music. All six songs I picked are from albums that dropped yesterday (September 22).
Teenage Fanclub/Back to the Light
Teenage Fanclub are a Scottish alternative rock band from Glasgow. They were formed in 1989 by former members of The Boy HairdressersRaymond McGinley and Norman Blake (each co-lead vocals, guitar) and Francis Macdonald (drums, backing vocals), who remain with the group to this day. The current line-up is completed by Dave McGowan (bass, backing vocals) and Euros Childs (keyboards, backing vocals). Teenage Fanclub have enjoyed chart success in the UK, including three top 10 albums. From their 12th and latest, Nothing Lasts Forever, here’s Back to the Light.
Bleach Lab/Nothing Left to Lose
Bleach Lab are an indie rock band from the UK, which according to their Bandcamppage, have been inspired by the likes of Mazzy Star and The Smiths and “fused their own introspective yet emotionally frenetic soundscape.” They are now out with their debut album Lost In a Rush of Emptiness. Their Spotify profile notes this was the first record they were able to record together, following three explorative EPs when they were separated to the the COVID lockdown. Here’s Nothing Left to Lose.
Stephen Sanchez/Be More
Stephen Sanchez is a 20-year-old singer-songwriter and guitarist based in Nashville, Tenn. Originally hailing from North Carolina, he emerged in September 21 with a single, Until I Found You, which climbed to no. 23 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100, reached no. 8 in Australia and no. 14 on the UK Singles Chart. After two EPs in 2021 and 2022, he has now released his first full-length album Angel Face. His impressive vocals and the retro sound of this beautiful song drew me in.
Buddy & Julie Miller/In the Throes
Buddy Miller is a Nashville-based country and Americana singer-songwriter and producer. Since 1981, he has been married to fellow singer-songwriter Julie Miller (born Julie Griffin). They each have released a series of solo albums. Starting with Buddy & Julie Miller in September 2001 they also have recorded various collaboration albums. From their fourth and latest In the Throes, here’s the title track written, a nice roots rocker by Julie Miller – love how their vocals together!
Brent Cobb/Southern Star
Brent Cobb is a country and southern rock singer-songwriter from Georgia. In addition to having released a series of solo albums since 2006, Cobb has written songs for the likes of Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert and Little Big Town. Cobb’s 2016 major label debut Shine On Rainy Day received a 2018 Grammy Award nomination as Best Americana Album. From his sixth and new album Southern Star, here’s the title cut.
Paul Rodgers/Photo Shooter
Paul Rodgers I trust doesn’t need much of an introduction. The British-Canadian vocalist and songwriter is best known as the former lead vocalist of various rock bands like Free, Bad Company, The Firm and The Law, as well as a collaborator with the surviving members of Queen as Queen + Paul Rogers. Since 1983, Rodgers has also released various solo studio albums. The latest is titled Midnight Rose and his first in nearly 25 years. Here’s Photo Shooter. This definitely rocks!
Hope this week has been treating you kindly so far. We’re at the mid point, where I like to take a closer look at a song I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. For this 50th installment of the weekly feature, I decided to highlight a great song by singer-songwriter Marc Cohn. His name may not immediately ring a bell, but I bet you’ve heard Walking In Memphis, Cohn’s biggest hit from 1991, an amazing song that brought him on my radar screen at the time.
While I was tempted to write about Walking In Memphis, I already featured this gem in a recent Sunday Sixinstallment. Plus, there’s more to Marc Cohn than his most popular song. I was reminded of this the other day when revisiting his eponymous debut album released in February 1991. My pick, off that album, is Silver Thunderbird.
Silver Thunderbird, which like all other songs on the album was written by Marc Cohn, also appeared separately as the second of six singles and became one of three that charted. Notably, it did best in Canada where it climbed to no. 31 on the mainstream chart. In the U.S., it peaked at no. 63 on the Billboard Hot 100. By comparison, Walking In Memphis reached no. 3 and no. 13 on those charts, respectively. Silver Thunderbird also charted in the UK (no. 54) and Germany (no. 87). I definitely remember hearing the song on the radio at the time.
The album became Cohn’s most successful to date, reaching Platinum status in the U.S. and Gold in Australia, Canada and England. In the charts, interestingly, the album did best in Germany (no. 14), followed by Canada (no. 15) and the UK (no. 27). In the U.S., it climbed to no. 38 on the Billboard 200, while in Australia, it got to no. 31. The album also won Cohn the 1992 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. And here’s how Marc Cohn sounded like live in February 2022 – love that version!
As the above clip illustrates, Marc Cohn is still around. His most recent studio release, Listening Booth: 1970, was a collection of his favorite songs from 1970. Unfortunately, Cohn could never replicate the huge success he enjoyed with this debut album. Unlike many other talented music artists who never catch a break, at least he had one biggie!
Following are some additional insights from Songfacts:
A Thunderbird is an American car which is popular among collectors, but contrary to popular belief, this song isn’t about Cohn’s love for the vehicle – it’s about his father who died when Cohn was 12.
In a 1992 interview with Q magazine, Cohn compared his father to the Willie Loman character in Death Of A Salesman, saying: “A guy out there working a seven-day week and not able to support his family. He’s ‘the man with the plan and the pocket comb’ in the song. Only the plan never panned out. But he did have a silver Thunderbird. Yeah, that was his car. ‘You can keep your Eldorados/And the foreign car’s absurd.’ So the story is about a man who’s at the highest comfort level he ever experiences while he’s driving.”
Cohn wrote 15 different songs called “Silver Thunderbird” before finding the one he liked. He says that writing the song was a kind of therapy for him…
…Marc Cohn explained during a live recording sitting at the piano that when he was two or three years old, his Dad came home with a Silver Thunderbird. The most remarkable thing about it he said was that it made his Dad look cool.
He went on to explain the song really deals with what’s it like to not know your parents: “They have a kind of an awe and a mystery about them. I used to wonder where my dad went to work, where does he go in that thing? I recently read in a Psychology Today article – I read that all the time by the way… (this drew laughter from the audience)… that if you don’t know where your dad works, that if you don’t have a picture of it in your mind, it leaves a permanent scar on your psyche, and that explained a hell of a lot to me.”
Purists will probably prefer Cohn’s original – live or otherwise – to the Jo Dee Messina cover version, which she released on her 1998 album I’m Alright. [true, though I think Jo Dee Messina did a nice job with that cover – CMM]
Celebrating music with six random tracks at a time
Hope everyone’s spending a nice weekend. I’d like to welcome you to another imaginary time travel excursion to visit six tracks in different flavors from six different decades. Let’s do it!
Sonny Rollins Quartet/Tenor Madness
Our journey today starts in October 1956 and some neat jazz by the Sonny Rollins Quartet. After tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins had worked with Miles Davis and been part of the trumpeter’s band, he asked the members of Davis’ “First Great Quintet” – John Coltrane (tenor saxophone), Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (double bass) and Philly Joe Jones (drums) – to back him on an album titled Tenor Madness. The album is best known for the title cut, a Rollins composition. It’s the only track on which Coltrane played and, apparently, the sole recording featuring both Rollins and Coltrane.
Marc Benno/Lost in Austin
Our next stop takes us to 1979 and Texas singer-songwriter Marc Benno. I decided to earmark Lost in Austin right away after I had listened to the song at the suggestion of my longtime German music buddy – my not-so-secret weapon any longer! If you’re fan of Leon Russell, you may have heard of The Asylum Choir, a short-lived duo he formed with Benno around 1967. After The Asylum Choir had run its course, Benno launched a solo career in the early ’70s and also worked with the likes of The Doors, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Rita Coolidge. Lost in Austin is the title track of Benno’s fourth solo album – my kind of music!
Great Lake Swimmers/Uncertain Country
Ever since I started paying attention again to newly released music, time and again I realized great songs aren’t limited to the past. They’re just harder to find! Case in point: Uncertain Country by Canadian folk rock band Great Lake Swimmers. Granted, as a group founded in 2003, they aren’t exactly new, but my pick Uncertain Country is. It’s the title track of their eighth and latest studio album released in April this year.
Them/(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66
After a stop-over in the present, let’s jump back close to 60 years to June 1965. That’s when Northern Irish garage rockers Them came out with their first album The “Angry” Young Them. While best known for the garage anthem Gloria, it also featured a great cover of (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66, a popular R&B song composed in 1946 by Bobby Troup. Nat King Cole recorded it first that same year with the King Cole Trio. Initially, I heard and came to love the cover by The Rolling Stones. Then I came across this great rendition by Them, a tight sounding band with great musical chops and Van Morrison as a compelling frontman.
Pearl Jam/Even Flow
Time to pay a visit to the ninnnnnnnnnneties. In August 1991, American rock band Pearl Jam released their debut album Ten. While it wasn’t an immediate success, by late 1992, it had reached no. 2 in the U.S. on the Billboard 200. Even Flow was one of three hit singles Ten spawned , which ultimately made it the group’s most commercially successful album with over 13 million copies sold in the U.S. alone. Admittedly, every time I listen to Even Flow, I think of Adam Sandler’s silly spoof, but it’s a pretty good song with lyrics by vocalist Eddie Vedder and music by Stone Gossard, one of the group’s guitarists.
Crowded House/Something So Strong
This leaves us with one more stop. To wrap up today’s trip we shall travel down under to August 1986, which saw the release of Crowded House’s eponymous debut album. The New Zealand-Australian pop rock band had formed in Melbourne the year before. Best known for the beautiful Don’t Dream It’s Over, which became the band’s biggest hit, the album topped the Australian charts and reached no. 3 in New Zealand. Another single that enjoyed decent chart success, especially in these two markets, was Something So Strong. It was co-written by the band’s Neil Finn and producer Mitchell Froom who officially became their keyboarder in 2020 after Crowded House had reemerged from a multi-year hiatus.
Last but not least, following is a Spotify playlist of the above songs. Hope there’s something that speaks to you.
Aaron Skiles, Worriers, Bahamas, Will Johnson, Danko Jones and Stephen Marley
Happy Saturday! Time to take another look at new music releases. All six picks this week are from albums released yesterday (September 15).
Aaron Skiles/Keep Me
Aaron Skiles is an Oakland, Calif.-based indie rock-oriented singer-songwriter. Until earlier this year, he fronted indie rock/alt. country band Bourbon Therapy, together with his wife Rebecca. Since 2014 Skiles has also released three solo albums. Off his latest, titled Whistle Past the Grave, here’s the closer Keep Me. “It’s based on an ancient Jewish meditation for mourners,” Skiles explains. “It talks about the fact that when someone is gone, the love they left behind, remains. And rather than mourn their loss, pass that remaining love onto others.” Melodic tune with a crunchy sound!
Worriers/Cloudy and 55
Worriers are from Brooklyn, New York, playing melodic punk. It’s largely a music project formed in 2011 by guitarist, singer and songwriter Lauren Denitzio who has played with a rotating line-up of touring musicians and in-studio contributors. To date four studio albums have appeared under the Worriers name. This includes the latest, Trust Your Gut, which remarkably is the second full-length studio release this year. Here’s Cloudy and 55.
Bahamas/I’m Still
Bahamas is the moniker of Canadian music artist Afie Jurvanen who is of Finnish ancestry. Jurvanen taught himself guitar and has worked with a variety of other artists, such as The Lumineers, Jack Johnson and The Weather Station. His solo debut album Pink Strat appeared in July 2009. From his sixth studio album Bootcut, here’s I’m Still, a bouncy, groovy track with a catchy melody. Also, check out that great guitar solo starting at around 3:27 minutes – a beautiful late summer tune!
Will Johnson/Sinker, Sinking
Will Johnson is a musician, singer-songwriter, author and painter who has been called “one of the most prolific artists in American indie rock.” From his bio: For more than three decades, Johnson has been a steady, prolific presence in the Texas music scene. In 1991, he broke out with alternative rock band Funland, and was the leader of beloved indie-rock act Centro-matic and alt-country outfit South San Gabriel. He’s also worked with…Jay Farrar, Bob Mould, Jason Isbell, John Moreland and many other iconic American songwriters. Additionally, Johnson has released a series of solos albums since 2002. Off his latest, No Ordinary Crown, here’s Sinker, Sinking.
Danko Jones/Get High?
Danko Jones are a hard rock trio formed in Toronto in 1996 by Danko Jones (vocals, guitar), John ‘JC’ Calabrese (bass) and Michael Caricari (drums). Following a succession of various drummers that started in 1999, the band’s line-up has been stable since 2013 when Rick Knox joined. Danko Jones are now out with their 11th studio album Electric Sounds, from which I previously featuredGuess Who’s Back. Here’s another nice rocker, Get High?
Stephen Marley/Cool As the Breeze
Stephen Marley is a Jamaican-American musician and the second eldest son of Bob Marley and Rita Marley. He started singing professionally as a 7-year-old with his elder siblings Ziggy Marley, Sharon Marley and Cedella Marley in Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. Stephen and Ziggy also performed alongside Bob Marley and the Wailers in the late ’70s and 1980. In addition to backing his brother Ziggy, Stephen worked as a producer before launching his own solo career in 2007. His latest solo album Old Soul, according to Jambands, features numerous prominent guests, such as Eric Clapton, Bob Weir, Jack Johnson and Ziggy Marley. Here’s Cool As the Breeze, a beautiful acoustic tune that based on the lyrics could be about Stephen’s father!
Sources: Wikipedia; Aaron Skiles website; Worriers website; Bahamas website; Will Johnson website; Danko Jones website; Stephen Marley website; Jambands; YouTube; Spotify
Happy Wednesday and welcome to another installment of my weekly feature where I take a closer look at a song I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. The Bangles are a band I dug right away when first hearing their breakthrough single Manic Monday in early 1986. I remember borrowing from somebody a copy of Different Light and taping it on music cassette. Apart from Manic Monday, the pop rock group’s sophomore album spawned various other hit singles.
For this post, I deliberately decided to stay away from Different Light. Since beyond the band’s most successful studio album I was only familiar with a few additional songs, this meant I had to do some research. My pick is Anna Lee (Sweetheart of the Sun), the great opener of The Bangles‘ fifth and most recent album of original music, Sweetheart of the Sun, which came out in September 2011.
Unfortunately, neither the album nor the song went anywhere, which perhaps explains why we haven’t seen any other studio releases of new original music by The Bangles. While many critics viewed the album as a successful reinvention of the band’s early musical style, it merely reached an underwhelming no. 148 in the U.S. on the Billboard 200 – the only country tracked by Wikipedia, in which it charted.
Co-written by group co-founders Susanna Hoffs (vocals, electric guitar, percussion), Vicki Peterson (vocals, electric and acoustic guitar) and her younger sister Debbi Peterson (vocals, drums percussion), Anna Lee (Sweetheart of the Sun) was also released separately as a single but missed the charts altogether. Here are the three ladies with a live rendition of the song, captured in 2014.
Sweetheart of the Sun was the band’s second album since their 2003 reunion, which they had marked with Doll Revolution. It also was their first as a trio following the departure of long-time bassist Michael Steele (born Susan Thomas) in early 2004.
Sweetheart of the Sun was co-produced by Matthew Sweet. The power pop singer-songwriter would subsequently collaborate with Hoffs on a series of three cover albums appropriately titled Under the Covers, featuring renditions of songs from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
Technically, The Bangles are still around. In 2018, co-founding member Annette Zilinskas returned as bassist after a 35-year absence. The most recent evidence of touring activity on Setlist.fm are three gigs in 2019.
Following are some additional insights from Songfacts:
The titular Anna Lee is a fictional person based on some of the women from the late ’60s and early ’70s who inspired the Bangles girls. Hoffs explained to Culture Brats: “There’s a woman named Toni Stern who wrote with Carole King in the ’70s. Vicki (Peterson) and I read a book, Girls Like Us. It was about Carly Simon, Carole King, and Joni Mitchell. There was also a series of books that came out: Hotel California and Laurel Canyon. I read all of these books and recommended them to the other girls in the band. We all loved it.”
“We were so fascinated reading about Carole King and Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell, girls that were big influences on us as female artists and realizing that being little girls growing up in the ’60s and ’70s, these women had a huge impact on our lives. They were icons to us.”
“We were envisioning the world of Laurel Canyon back in the day. I don’t remember if Carly Simon was living up at Laurel Canyon, but Carole King was there, that’s where Toni Stern was living. They got together and wrote together.”
“There were all these women who were strong women who had a very defined sense of self, coming out of an era where the music world was dominated by men, kind of a Boys’ Club. These women were finding their voices and we were commenting on that. It was our nod to the women who came before us.”
“Actually, we got an email from Toni Stern, thanking us for mentioning her and the fact that she was an inspiration to us. There was a really interesting description of her as a female writer and the whole Laurel Canyon scene and her and Carole King writing these great songs together. It became this really inspirational image so we sort of fashioned our own version, our own mythical ‘Lady Of The Canyon’ called Annalee.”
Another inspiration was a lyric from The Band’s “The Weight.” Said Hoffs: “And there was that great song by The Band where’s this little thing ‘keep Anna Lee company.’ Something about that name. For me, I always connected that with that song as well.”
Hoffs told MusicRadar.com how the song came together. “We wrote that in the studio together, all three of us. For some reason, I really wanted to write in the studio, and it’s something Matthew was pushing us to do. The music came together very fast. It started with the riff, and then we all just chimed in singing. It’s very ’60s and ’70s, but hey, that’s fine – that’s the idea. [laughs]”
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