The Sunday Six

Welcome to another Sunday Six! Once again it’s time to embark on some music time travel. As usual, I got six tunes lined up. Let’s go!

Benny Golson/Terminal 1

Today, our trip starts in 2004 with some great jazz by American bebop/hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer and arranger Benny Golson. Before launching his solo career in the late 1950s, Golson had gained prominence in the big bands s of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a performer. Apart from releasing multiple albums as a leader, he co-founded and The Jazztet in 1959 together with trumpeter Art Farmer, which the two musicians co-led until the 1990s. Golson also was a sought-after arranger for film and TV from the late ’60s through the ’70s, a period during which he was less active as a performer. Terminal 1, composed by Golson, is the title track of an album he released in June 2004. Golson, who in January turned 93, was backed by Eddie Henderson (trumpet, flugelhorn), Mike LeDonne (piano), Buster Williams (bass) and Carl Allen (drums).

The Crusaders/Street Life

Staying in the jazz lane but going more pop and funk, our next stop is 1979 and a groovy tune by The Crusaders, featuring great vocalist Randy Crawford. The Crusaders were formed as The Jazz Crusaders in 1960. Their debut album Freedom Sound appeared in 1961. After close to 20 additional records, the group became The Crusaders in 1971 and performed under that shortened name until 2010. Street Life is the title track of the band’s most successful album on the U.S. pop charts, which was released in December 1979. The tune was co-written by Jazz Crusaders co-founder Joe Sample and songwriter Will Jennings. The latter is best known for penning Titanic soundtrack tune My Heart Will Go On performed by Celine Dion, and co-writing Eric Clapton’s Tears In Heaven. Street Life also appeared separately as a single and became a U.S. top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 (no. 36). The single did even better in Europe where it hit the top 10 in the UK (no. 5), Norway (no. 6) and Sweden (no. 8). Here’s the album version in all of it’s 11-minute mighty – my type of music!

Spencer Davis Group/I’m a Man

Time for some ’60s rock and one of my favorite British bands from that decade: Spencer Davis Group. They were formed in Birmingham, England in 1963 by Spencer Davis (guitar), Steve Winwood (keyboards, guitar), his 5-year-older brother Muff Winwood (bass guitar) and Pete York (drums). At the time Steve joined, he was 14 and still in school! I’m a Man was released as a non-album single in January 1967. Written by Steve Winwood and producer Jimmy Miller, the tune became Spencer Davis Group’s last top 10 hit in the UK and U.S. (no. 9 and no. 10, respectively). Three months later, Steve Winwood left the band to form Traffic with Dave Mason, Chris Wood and Jim Capaldi. Spencer Davis Group disbanded in July 1969 and had various reunions thereafter with Davis but sans Steve Winwood. Davis passed away in October 2020 at age 81 while being treated for pneumonia. There’s also an incredible cover of I’m a Man by Chicago, then known as Chicago Transit Authority, which they recorded for their eponymous debut album released in April 1969.

Blue Rodeo/Fallen From Grace

On to the ’90s and a tune by a Canadian band I’ve come to dig: Blue Rodeo. The country rock group was formed in 1984 in Toronto by high school friends Jim Cuddy (vocals, guitar) and Greg Keelor (vocals, guitar), who had played together in various bands before, along with Bob Wiseman (keyboards). Cleave Anderson (drums) and Bazil Donovan (bass) completed the band’s initial lineup. After gaining a local following in Toronto and signing with Canadian independent record label Risque Disque, Blue Rodeo released their debut album Outskirts in March 1987. The band’s fifth studio project 5 Days in July, which appeared in October 1993 in Canada and September 1994 in the U.S, remains their best-selling album in Canada. It’s also my favorite I’ve explored to date, and I’ve featured various of its tunes. Fallen From Grace, co-written by Cuddy and Keelor, is a song off Tremolo, the group’s seventh studio album released in July 1997. It holds the distinction of being Blue Rodeo’s only no. 1 album in Canada.

The Subdudes/Need Somebody

The Subdudes are a cool band from New Orleans, blending folk, swamp pop, R&B, Louisiana blues, country, cajun, zydeco, funk, soul and gospel into a tasty musical gumbo. They have been around since 1987 with breaks from 1996-2002 and 2011-2014. The band’s current members include Tommy Malone (vocals, guitar), John Magnie (vocals, accordion, keyboards), Steve Amedée (tambourine, drums, other percussions, vocals), Tim Cook (percussion, bass, vocals) and Jimmy Messa (bass, guitar), which is almost still their original line-up. Since their eponymous debut from June 1989, The Subdudes have released nine additional studio and two live albums. Need Somebody, co-written by Magnie, Malone and the band’s former bassist Johnny Ray Allen, is from their first album. I love this band’s warm sound and want to check them out further.

Jane Lee Hooker/Lucky

Before wrapping up yet another Sunday Six, I got one more tune for you by one of the hottest contemporary bands I know: Jane Lee Hooker. If you’re a frequent visitor of the blog, their cool name may sound familiar. Or perhaps you’ve read about the group on fellow blogger Robert Horvat’s Rearview Mirror, who recently included them in a 2022 best new albums post. Founded in 2013, the band from New York currently features four co-founding ladies – Dana “Danger” Athens (vocals), Tina “T-Bone” Gorin (guitar), Tracy Hightop  (guitar), Hail Mary Zadroga (bass) and Tracy Hightop (guitar) – and one gent: ‘Lightnin’ Ron Salvo (drums). In April this year, Jane Lee Hooker released their third studio album Rollin’, which offers their familiar hard-charging guitar-driven rock, as well as some new elements, including acoustic blues and vibes of soul. Here’s Lucky, a smoking mid-tempo blues rocker credited to the entire band, for which they recently released an official video.

Last but not least, here’s a Spotify playlist of the above tunes.

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Welcome to a new weekly celebration of music in different flavors from different eras, six tunes at a time. Today, The Sunday Six recurring feature is hitting another mini milestone with its 25th installment. And it’s the Fourth of July holiday here in the U.S., so to those who celebrate it, happy Fourth and please be safe!

Teenage Fanclub/The Sun Won’t Shine on Me

Kicking us off today is a band with the somewhat strange name Teenage Fanclub. If you follow the great PowerPop blog, you may have seen this Scottish power pop band was just featured there. In this context, Aphoristic Album Reviews, another music blog I highly recommend, noted that not only are Teenage Fanclub still around (after more than 30 years), but they recently came out with a new album. It’s titled Endless Arcade. Founded in Bellshill near Glasgow in 1989, the band’s initial formation largely included members of The Boy Hairdressers, another local group that had just dissolved. Following a well received more edgy rock-focused debut album, A Catholic Education from June 1990, Teenage Fanclub adopted their signature power pop-oriented sound inspired by groups like Big Star, Badfinger and the Byrds. The third album Bandwagonesque brought them more attention and significant success in the U.S. where the single Star Sign hit no. 4 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Not surprisingly, Teenage Fanclub’s line-up has changed over the decades and currently features co-founding members Norman Blake (vocals, guitar) and Raymond McGinley (vocals, guitar), together with Euros Childs (keyboards, vocals), Dave McGowan (keyboards, guitar, bass, vocals) and Francis Macdonald (drums, vocals). Frankly, I had never heard of the band until the above fellow bloggers brought them to my attention. Here’s The Sun Won’t Shine On Me, written by Blake, which appears on Teenage Fanclub’s new album released on April 30. While the lyrics are blue, I love the tune’s jangly guitar sound!

Steely Dan/Rikki Don’t Lose That Number

On to the great Steely Dan and one of my favorite songs from their early phase as a standing band. Rikki Don’t Lose That Number, off their third studio album Pretzel Logic from February 1974, also became Steely Dan’s biggest hit single, surging to no. 4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It did even better in Canada where it peaked at no. 3. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker were huge jazz fans. When writing Rikki Don’t Lose That Number, evidently, they were inspired by The Horace Silver Quartet and the intro to Song for My Father, which I covered in a previous Sunday Six installment. Pretzel Logic was the final Steely Dan album featuring the full quintet line-up of Becker, Fagen, Denny Dias, Jim Hodder and Jeff “Skunk” Baxter. It was the first to include significant contributions from L.A. session musicians, a concept Becker and Fagen fully embraced on subsequent albums after they had turned Steely Dan into a studio project that became an increasingly sophisticated and complex.

The Youngbloods/Get Together

I’ve always loved this next tune by The Youngbloods, and it’s been on my “list” for a Sunday Six for some time. Get Together appeared on their eponymous debut album from December 1966. Written by Chet Powers, who was also known as Dino Valenti and a member of psychedelic rock outfit Quicksilver Messenger Service, the song first appeared on a 1963 record by bluegrass band The Folkswingers. It was also included as Let’s Get Together on Kingston Trio’s live album Back in Town released in June 1964, as well as on Jefferson Airplane’s debut album Jefferson Airplane Takes Off from August 1966. But it was the rendition by The Youngbloods, which became most successful, giving them their only top 40 hit in the U.S. mainstream charts. Their cover reached a peak there in 1969 when it was reissued as a single and hit no. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s a pity The Youngbloods did not achieve widespread popularity. After their fifth studio album High on a Ridge Top from November 1972, they called it quits.

Dire Straits/Skateaway

This next pick was also inspired by fellow blogger Aphoristic Album Reviews, who recently did a post on the 10 best songs by Dire Straits. I’ve always liked the British rock band and the great melodic guitar-playing by Mark Knopfler, especially on their 1978 eponymous debut album and Making Movies, their third studio release from October 1980. It’s widely considered as one of Dire Straits’ best records. Knopfler’s songwriting had matured, especially in comparison to sophomore release Communiqué from June 1979, which largely sounded like the eponymous debut. Personally, this never bothered me much, since I dig that first album. Here’s the great Skateway. Let’s go, roller girl! And…don’t worry/D.J. play the movies all night long…

Chicago/Saturday in the Park

Given today is the Fourth of July, I thought it made sense to feature a tune that references the holiday. I decided to go with Saturday in the Park by Chicago. Written by Robert Lamm, the track appeared on the band’s fourth studio album Chicago V that came out in July 1972. Why calling it five when it was their fourth, you may wonder? Because the band, which was founded as Chicago Transit Authority in 1967, was in their fifth year at the time. Wikipedia notes two different background stories about the song. According to then-fellow band member Walter Parazaider, Lamm was inspired after he had seen steel drum players, singers, dancers and jugglers in New York’s Central Park on July 4, 1971. Lamm recalled it differently, telling Billboard in 2017 the song “was written as I was looking at footage from a film I shot in Central Park, over a couple of years, back in the early ‘70s.” Regardless of which recollection is accurate, there’s no doubt the tune was inspired by Central Park and that it became Chicago’s biggest U.S. mainstream hit at the time, peaking at no. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1972. It would take another five years before they had an even bigger hit with their single If You Leave Me Now released in July 1976 and topping the Hot 100 in October that year. Chicago are still around and are currently touring. Original members Lamm (keyboards, vocals), Lee Loughnane (trumpet, vocals) and James Pankow (trombone) are part of the present nine-piece line-up. The tour schedule is here. I’ve seen Chicago once more than 20 years ago and recall it as a solid show.

Magic Castles/Sunburst

Let’s wrap up this installment of The Sunday Six with some more recently released music. Again, I’d like to acknowledge a fellow blogger, Angie from The Diversity of Classic Rock, where I first read about psychedelic rock band Magic Castles. For background, here’s an excerpt from their Apple Music profile: The band formed in Minneapolis in 2006, growing out of singer/guitarist Jason Edmonds’ home-recording project as he tapped singer/guitarist Jeremiah Doering, bassist Paul Fuglestad, drummer Brendan McInerney, and Kait Sergenian. Magic Castles played their first show at a friend’s birthday party later that year, began recording their first record the following summer, and by June 2008 offered their self-released debut, The Lore of Mysticore. By then, the group had added keyboardist/singer Noah Skogerboe to further flesh out their sound, and Matt Van Genderen had replaced McInerney on the drums. This new incarnation pulled double duty in 2009, offering sophomore album Dreams of Dreams plus a limited-edition cassette, Sounds of the Forest. Fast-forward some 12 years to April 30, 2021 and Sun Reign, the band’s sixth studio album and their first since 2015. Here’s the seductive opener Sunburst. Written by Edmonds, the band’s only constant member, the tune has a cool ’60s garage rock vibe, featuring a great jangly guitar sound reminiscent of the Byrds. I’m definitely planning to take a closer look at the group.

Sources: Wikipedia; Billboard; Apple Music; Chicago website; YouTube

The Venues: Beat-Club

A YouTube clip from Beat-Club I coincidentally caught on Sunday reminded me that I hadn’t done a post in my series about popular concert halls and music programs since July 2020. So I felt the popular German TV music show, which aired monthly between September 1965 and December 1972, would be a great topic for another installment.

Beat-Club was created by music producer Gerhard Augustin, who according to Wikipedia was Germany’s first professional disc jockey, and film director and writer Mike Leckebusch. Broadcast on one of Germany’s main national public TV channels ARD, the show was hosted by German architect-turned-singer-turned-TV presenter Uschi Nerke. Until early 1969, she was joined by Augustin and afterwards by Dave Dee, of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, before Nerke started hosting alone in 1970.

Uschi Nerke

Beat-Club began as a live program with music guests performing in front of a plain brick wall. In 1967, the program was revamped to adapt a “more professional look,” which among others included large cards in the background that displayed the names of the performers. The new format also allowed for inclusion of artists who could not appear live. In these cases, a troupe of young women called the “Go-Go-Girls” was dancing to the featured songs – ouch! On a cooler note, in its later years, Beat-Club incorporated psychedelic visual effects during many performances. These effects became much more pronounced after the program switched to color in late 1969.

German TV personality Wilhelm Wieben opened Beat-Club’s first episode with the following words: “Hello, dear beat friends. The time has finally come. In just a few seconds starts the first show on German television, which exclusively was made for you. Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you who may not enjoy beat music for your understanding. It’s a live program with young people for young people. And now, let’s go!”

Led Zeppelin at Beat-Club, March 1969

I guess Wieben and the master minds behind the program pretty much foresaw what would happen: While Beat-Club’s target audience embraced the show right way, the older generation in Germany was horrified. This probably ensured young people liked it even more. In fact, the show quickly reached “cult” status.

Over its seven-year run, Beat-Club featured an impressive array of music artists and bands. Badfinger, Chuck Berry, Cream, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and The Who were some among many others. Now on to the real fun part: Clips that capture some of the action. The year in parenthesis after each title marks the timing of the show episode. It’s all based on Beat-Club’s YouTube channel.

Cream/I Feel Free (1967)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience/Purple Haze (1967)

Canned Heat/On the Road Again (1968)

Joe Cocker/With a Little Help From My Friends (1968)

Chicago Transit Authority/I’m a Man (1969)

The Who/Sally Simpson & I’m Free (1969)

Black Sabbath/Paranoid (1970)

Muddy Waters/Honey Bee (1970)

Fleetwood Mac/Dragonfly (1971)

T. Rex/Jeepster (1971)

Ike & Tina Turner/Get Back (1972)

Manassas/Rock & Roll Crazies

Beat-Club eventually was replaced by another music program called Musikladen (music store). While I was too young to watch Beat-Club, I have some nebulous memories of Musikladen, and I’m afraid they aren’t great! Nerke co-moderated the program with main host Manfred Sexauer until September 1978. Subsequently, she hosted her own radio show Beat-Club until January 2013.

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube