How the “Nastiest Thing” One Musician Could Think Off Didn’t Become a Throw-Away

Once again, Dave from A Sound Day recently reached out to a bunch of fellow bloggers to invite their thoughts on the latest topic for his monthly recurring fun feature Turntable Talk. This time, his ask was to write about an instrumental we like a lot. Following is my humble contribution, which was first published on Dave’s blog on January 12.

While it’s safe to assume most of us had things we happily kissed goodbye or wish could get rid of once and for all when 2023 came to its close, it’s great to see when beloved things continue. In my mind, the latter include Turntable Talk, which remains one of the most fun blogging activities each month thanks to fellow blogger Dave who always comes up with great topics!

For Round 22, Dave asked us to forget about the words, if you will, and share some thoughts on an all-instrumental we dig. If you’re familiar with my music taste, you know how much I love vocals, especially when sung in perfect harmony. As such, you might think I may have a hard time finding an instrumental I really like. Well, not really.

In fact, I knew right away which tune I would write about. Then I thought, ‘well, perhaps not so fast!’ After all, there are multiple instrumentals I dig, such as Monty Norman’s James Bond Theme, The Shadows’ Apache, Fleetwood Mac’s Albatross and The Allman Brothers Band’s Jessica. Heck, even my favorite hard rock band Deep Purple penned a great instrumental titled April.

After I had thought about the above and a few additional instrumentals, I decided to go Brooklynite, cheerfully concluding ‘fuhgeddaboudit!’ So I went back to my initial pick, hoping nobody else will choose it: Green Onions by Booker T. & the M.G.’s.

Why Green Onions? Coz it’s a friggin’ awesome tune with a cool sound and a simple, yet infectious groove that makes you want to snip your fingers or engage other parts of your body to move along! Green Onions also is an instrumental with a nice background story.

Originally, the 12-bar blues with its distinct Hammond organ sound was composed by Booker T. Jones when he was 17. This was around 1961 and, as such, predated The M.G.s. At that time, remarkably, Jones already was a professional musician and had played baritone saxophone on the recording of Cause I Love You by Carla Thomas and Rufus Thomas – the first hit single for Satellite Records, which soon would become Stax Records.

The M.G.s who in addition to Jones (organ, piano, keyboards, guitar) originally featured Steve Cropper (guitar), Lewie Steinberg (bass) and Al Jackson Jr. (drums), came together in 1962. Serving as Stax’ house band, they played on countless recordings by the label’s artists, such as Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas and Rufus Thomas. And rockabilly singer and Sun Records recording artist Billy Lee Riley.

When on a Sunday in June 1962 Riley didn’t show up for a scheduled recording session, Booker T. & the M.G.s began jamming to a tune Jones initially had written on piano but felt it sounded better with a Hammond organ. Stax co-owner Jim Stewart liked what he heard and decided to record the track, Behave Yourself, with the idea to release it as a single. Once it was in the can, they needed a B-side. That’s when the magic happened.

Jones started playing his “old” composition on the Hammond. The other members of the M.G.’s began improvising to it. The end result was Green Onions, which initially was titled Funky Onions. However, Stewart’s sister and Stax label co-owner Estelle Axton (Stax = Stewart-Axton) felt Funky Onions sounded like swearing. Therefore, it was renamed Green Onions.

After they had recorded Green Onions, Cropper took a copy of the tune to Memphis radio station WLOK where he was friendly with morning DJ Rueben Washington. All Washington needed to hear was part of the track. He cut off the record that was on the air and started playing Green Onions several times. The phone lines lit up quickly and the rest is history.

Green Onions, which subsequently became the A-side of the single, peaked at no. 3 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 in late September 1962. The track also topped the R&B Singles chart for a combined (non-consecutive) four weeks.

About 17 years later, in December 1979, Green Onions entered the UK Singles Chart after it had been featured in Quadrophenia, a 1979 British drama film that was loosely based on The Who’s 1973 rock opera of the same name. Eventually, it peaked at number no. 7 in late January 1980 and stayed on the British chart for 12 consecutive weeks!

I’ll leave you with a few quotes related to Green Onions, as documented by Songfacts:

“If we released this as a record, what would you want to call it?” “Green Onions,” was Booker T. Jones’ reply. “Why ‘Green Onions'” Jim asked. Booker T: “Because that is the nastiest thing I can think of and it’s something you throw away.” – dialogue between Jim Stewart and Booker T. Jones

“‘Green Onions’ appears to be a simple song, but every time I play it, I have to pay attention. I have to remember, and school myself on how the notes go, because it’s just not as simple as it sounds.” – Booker T. Jones

“When you’re a successful songwriter, you might see your songs get in movies, cartoons, commercials. But I never knew that I would be a co-writer on a song for adult diapers (laughs). For four years ‘Green Onions’ was in a commercial for Depends. That song’s gone from adult diapers to pita chips and now it’s in a dog food commercial. As soon as they get through with it someone else will use it.” – Steve Cropper

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube

Best of What’s New

Happy Saturday and welcome to my latest new music revue. Lately, I feel like I’m starting to sound like a broken record. Once again, I found more releases than I can possibly cover – not sure whether this reflects an increased volume of new music, my evolving taste, or a combination of both. All featured tunes are on releases that came out yesterday (June 23).

Ayron Jones/Blood in the Water

My first pick is Ayron Jones, a guitarist and singer-songwriter from Seattle I first featured in a May 2021 Best of What’s New installment. Jones has been active since the age of 19 when he started performing at local bars. In 2010, he formed Ayron Jones and the Way, a trio influenced by the likes of Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, and Prince and the Revolution. Their debut album Dream appeared in October 2013. Later Jones was signed as a solo artist and has since released two albums under his name, including his latest, Chronicles of the Kid. Here’s the cool-sounding Blood in the Water, credited to Jones, Blair Daly, Marti Frederiksen, Scott Stevens and Zac Maloy.

Corvair/Shady Town

Portland, Ore.-based Corvair are an indie rock duo and married couple of Brian Naubert and Heather Larimer. According to their website, between the two, they have played in various bands and can be heard on more than 20 albums. They started Corvair in 2019 and have released two albums to date. The new one is titled Bound to Be, which their website characterizes as veering “from muscular rock songs to languid pop confessionals, from stunning atmospherics to raw intimacy, held together by sharp lyrics and potent imagery.” Based on what I’ve heard thus far, I like their music. Here’s the opener Shady Town, which first appeared as the second single on May 19.

Emily James/New Name to Heartbreak

Emily James is a Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter. From her website: Singer-songwriter Emily James began writing her own music when she was 10 years old, inspired by such musical influences as Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, and Adele. At 16, James moved from New York to Nashville and, a year later, released her self-written EP, Emily James, produced by Grammy award winners Ian Fitchuk (Kacey Musgraves) and Jacquire King (Kings of Leon). She relocated to Los Angeles in 2017 and, soon after, put out her project, Til the Morning, written by James and produced by Ryan Hadlock (The Lumineers, Vance Joy). Off her new release, her third EP called Grey, here’s New Name to Heartbreak, a lovely-sounding ballad about a less-than-cheerful topic.

Pecos & The Rooftops/Bricks

While Pecos & the Rooftops have a website, unfortunately, it doesn’t include any background. According to a recent review by The Music Universe, this Lubbock, Texas-based country rock band was formed in 2019 by college friends and includes frontman Pecos Hurley, Zack Foster (lead guitar), Brandon Jones (rhythm guitar), Hunter Cassell (guitars & keyboards), Kalen Davis (bass) and Garrett Peltier (drums). Their self-released debut single This Damn Song appeared in April 2019. The group’s first EP, Red Eye, came out in January 2020. The latest release is their self-titled full-length debut album. Here’s Bricks, co-written by Hurley, M. Wallace, producer Andrew Baylis and frequent collaborator Michael Whitworth.

Nat Myers/Pray For Rain

Nat Myers is a Korean-American blues poet, according to his website. When he was a child, his mother gave him a guitar, trying to keep him away from his rowdy friends. While Myers developed “a deft picking style,” he didn’t intend to become a musician and was much more interested in poets like Shakespeare and Homer. He ended up studying poetry in New York City while playing music on the side in the subway and on street corners. After COVID had put an end to his public performances, Myers began uploading videos to social media. Eventually, these clips caught the attention of Black Keys frontman and record producer Dan Auerbach who produced Myers’ new debut album Yellow Peril. Let’s listen to Pray For Rain. I love everything about this story and the tune!

Trophy Eyes/Life in Slow Motion

Wrapping up this post are Australian pop punk rock band Trophy Eyes. Formed in 2013, they currently consist of co-founders John Floreani (lead vocals) and Jeremy Winchester (bass, saxophone backing vocals), along with Josh Campiao (lead guitar) and Blake Caruso (drums). Since their November 2014 full-length debut Mend, Move On, Trophy Eyes have released three additional albums including their latest, Suicide and Sunshine. Off the latter, here’s Life in Slow Motion. The song is credited to the group’s former and recently departed lead guitarist Andrew Hallett, Caruso, Winchester and Floreani, as well as producers Fletcher Matthews and Shane Edwards. It’s an edgy, yet quite catchy song!

Last but not least here’s a Spotify playlist of the above and a few additional tunes.

Sources: Wikipedia; Corvair website; Emily James website; The Music Universe; Nat Myers website; YouTube; Spotify

What I’ve Been Listening to: The Heavy Heavy/Life and Life Only

Including Miles and Miles by The Heavy Heavy in my most recent Sunday Six feature made me listen to Life and Life Only, the June 2022 EP, on which the tune by the UK band initially appeared. After starting to check it out, I quickly realized their retro-inspired rock sound is right up my alley.

Led by Will Turner and Georgie Fuller, the five-piece group from the seaside resort town of Brighton in Southern England create what their Bandcamp page describes as “unfettered rock-and-roll that warps time and space, sitting at the reverb-drenched collision of psychedelia and blues, acid rock and sunshine pop.” Their website name-checks Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, British Invasion pop acts like The Hollies and folk-blues duo Delaney & Bonnie. I would add The Mamas and the Papas and Jefferson Airplane.

The Heavy Heavy are led by Georgie Fuller (left) and Will Tuner who their website describes as “lifelong musicians”

I noticed there’s another recent release by The Heavy Heavy, which is also titled Life and Life Only. This album, which came out in March, combines the songs of the EP with four additional tracks, including covers of tunes by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Father John Misty and Jonathan Wilson, as well as a live and an acoustic version of two original songs.

Apparently, The Heavy Heavy are pretty prolific. Their website refers to “hundreds of songs” they have written and recorded in just the past two years. They have also toured “relentlessly” in the United States and Europe and appeared on U.S. national television, including CBS Saturday Morning, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. That certainly ain’t no joke!

Let’s get to some music from the album version of Life and Life Only. Here’s the cool opener All My Dreams. The gorgeous multipart harmony vocals and the retro organ sound are a total turn-on. Immediately, it feels like traveling back to the late ’60s!

Go Down River is the first track Fuller and Turner recorded as The Heavy Heavy. “I’d had this song a while and couldn’t quite finish it, but then once Georgie added her vocals it all came together,” Turner recalls on their website. “The male-female harmonies gave it this whole new sound; it just felt like lying in the green grass on a hot sunny day.” Another outstanding tune!

Man of the Hills is “a groove-heavy homage to Turner’s otherworldly hometown” of Malvern, notes the group’s website. While I’m not familiar with the spa town in the English countryside of Worcestershire, I know this: This song certainly rocks!

Since I just covered Miles and Miles I’m skipping it here and go the catchy Why Don’t You Call, which features more seductive harmony singing.

Frankly, I could highlight any of the album’s remaining tunes. I’d like to leave you with one more track, which is one of the aforementioned covers: Real Love Baby, written by Joshua Tillman, aka Father John Misty, who recorded and released it first as a non-album single in 2016.

Life and Life Only is beautiful with a seductive late ’60s flower power vibe. It’s perfectly timed for summer. Here’s a Spotify link to the album.

Sources: Wikipedia; The Heavy Heavy website; The Heavy Heavy Bandcamp page; YouTube; Spotify

Best of What’s New

Happy Saturday! Are you ready to listen to some new music? The featured tunes are on brand new albums that came out yesterday (March 3), except for the first, which appeared on Thursday, and the last, released on February 24.

Daisy Jones & The Six/Let Me Down Easy

My first pick this week feels a bit like the return of The Monkees: Let Me Down Easy by Daisy Jones & The Six, a fictional ’70s band loosely modeled after Fleetwood Mac, who are at the center of a new American streaming mini-TV series that debuted yesterday on Amazon Prime Video. According to this story in Variety, actors Riley Keough (Daisy Jones) and Sam Claflin (Billy Dunne), who had no prior professional singing experience, went through an intensive three-month band camp where together with their four fictitious bandmates they learned to sing and play the original music featured in the series. Some of the songs had input from Marcus Mumford, Phoebe Bridgers and Jackson Browne. The outcome is pretty remarkable. Perhaps genes also helped a bit: Keough is the granddaughter of Elvis Presley and daughter of the late Lisa Marie Presley. Here’s Let Me Down Easy, off the group’s debut album Aurora. Whether their life will continue beyond the TV series similar to The Monkees remains to be seen.

Fake Names/Don’t Blame Yourself

Unlike their name may suggest and contrary to my previous pick, Fake Names are a real band. From their AllMusic bio: An international punk supergroup, Fake Names are four musicians with long and impressive resumés who came together to play music that’s lean but full-bodied, melodic, and unpretentiously artful despite its velocity. The lineup includes former and current members of Minor Threat, Refused, Bad Religion, Embrace, Girls Against Boys, and Dag Nasty, and began as an informal collaboration between two longtime friends before it grew into a proper band who issued their self-titled debut album in 2020. While I featured them once before here in August 2021, I still don’t know all these punk bands from which they draw their members. Don’t Blame Yourself is a tune from Fake Names’ sophomore album Expendables. It’s credited to four members of the group: Dennis Lyxzén (lead vocals), Brian Baker (guitar), Michael Hampton (guitar) and Johnny Temple (bass). Brandon Canty (drums) completes the band’s line-up. Their melodic brand of punk is my kind of punk.

JAWNY/Fall in Love

JAWNY (born Jacob Lee-Nicholas Sullenger) is an indie pop singer-songwriter. Originally hailing from the San Francisco bay area, Sullenger picked up the guitar as a six-year-old and by the time he was in his early teens began writing songs. After briefly studying nursing in college, he dropped out to pursue a career in music. In 2016, the then-20-year-old relocated to Philadelphia where he started to make music under the moniker Johnny Utah. In January 2018, he released his eponymous debut EP. After signing with Interscope Records in January 2020, Sullenger changed his stage name to JAWNY and moved to Los Angeles. Fall in Love, co-written by Elie Rizek, Imad Royal and Sullenger (credited as JAWNY), is a tune from JAWNY’s first full-length album It’s Never Fair, Always True. While this song is certainly not in my core wheelhouse, it grew on me in anyway.

David Brewis/Keeping Up With Jessica

My final pick this week is new music by English singer-songwriter David Brewis. Together with his brother Peter Brewis, he is a member of English indie and art rock band Field Music, who they co-founded in 2004. To date, Field Music have released eight studio albums, two compilations, one soundtrack and one live album, in addition to more than 20 singles. During the band’s hiatus from 2007 to 2009, Brewis launched a solo music project called School of Language and has since come out with three albums under that name. His latest solo effort, The Soft Struggles, is the first to be released under his name. Here’s Keeping Up With Jessica, a laid-back lush pop tune with a jazzy vibe. Like all other tracks, it was penned by Brewis.

Last but not least, here’s a Spotify playlist of all the above tunes and a few additional songs by each of the featured artists.

Sources: Wikipedia; Variety; AllMusic; YouTube; Spotify

Song Musings

Hope your Wednesday is treating you nicely. It’s time to take a closer look at another song I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. The context for today’s pick is rather sad – the recent death of Christine McVie who suddenly passed away last Wednesday at the age of 79 after a short illness. The cause was not disclosed. While in Fleetwood Mac McVie oftentimes may have been overshadowed by Stevie Nicks, she wrote and sang some of the group’s most popular songs, including Everywhere, Little Lies, Don’t Stop, You Make Loving Fun and my pick for today: Songbird.

Songbird appeared on the Mac’s magnum opus Rumours, their 11th studio album released in February 1977. The beautiful tune also became the B-side to the record’s second single Dreams, which appeared in March 1977. Two of McVie’s above-noted songs, Don’t Stop and You Make Loving Fun, were A-side singles. Songbird should have been one as well, in my view.

Christine McVie (born Christine Perfect) joined Fleetwood Mac in 1970 after her departure from blues band Chicken Shack who had toured with the Mac, and the recording of her eponymous debut album Christine Perfect. By the time she became an official member of Fleetwood Mac, she had married bassist John McVie. In 1984, she released her second solo album, Christine McVie. By 1999, McVie had not only grown tired from touring but had also developed a phobia about flying, and decided to retire from music. She officially rejoined Fleetwood Mac in 2014 and was part of their last world tour that ended in Las Vegas in November 2019. Mick Fleetwood subsequently said it probably was the band’s last such tour.

In June 2022, Christine McVie released a solo compilation titled Songbird: A Solo Collection. The album features remixed versions of tunes from her above-mentioned 1984 solo album and In the Meantime, another solo record from September 2004, together with two previously unreleased tracks and the following orchestrated version of Songbird.

Last but not least, here’s a nice live version of Songbird, which became a beloved tune among Fleetwood Mac fans. It was often performed by McVie and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham as their show closer. This footage was captured in December 2014 at a gig in San Diego, Calif.

Following are some additional tidbits about Songbird from Songfacts.

Christine McVie said that this song held Fleetwood Mac together during their hard times while recording Rumours. Once the members heard this song, they thought about what they had been through and how much love they shared...

…Christine McVie liked to pen her songs from another person’s point of view rather than writing about herself. She told Uncut: “If you take ‘Songbird’ as an example, that was written in about half an hour. If I could write a few more like that, I would be a happy girl. It doesn’t really relate to anybody in particular; it relates to everybody. A lot of people play it at their weddings or at bar mitzvahs or at their dog’s funeral. It’s universal. It’s about you and nobody else. It’s about you and everybody else. That’s how I like to write songs.”

Christine McVie penned the song after she woke up in the middle of the night with it in her head. She recalled to Mojo in 2015: “Stevie and I were in a condominium block and the boys were all in the Sausalito Record Plant house raving with girls and boozer and everything. I had a little transistorized electric piano next to my bed and I woke up one night at about 3:30 a.m. and started playing it. I had all, words, melody, chords in about 30 minutes. It was like a gift from the angels, but I had no way to record it. I thought I’m never gonna remember this. So I went back to bed, and couldn’t sleep. I wrote the words down quickly.

Next day, I went into the studio shaking like a leaf’ ’cause I knew it was something special. I said, ‘Ken, (Caillat, Rumours’ co-producer/engineer) put the 2-track on, I want to record this song!’ I think they were all in there, smoking opium.”

“Songbird” was recorded away from the studio at the University of California’s Zellerbach Auditorium with just McVie alone at the piano. The idea was to have it sound like she was singing alone after everyone had left a concert. It was recorded using a mobile unit.

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube

Song Musings

Welcome to another Song Musings, my weekly recurring feature that takes a closer look at a tune I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. My pick this time is Walls (Circus) by Tom Petty, one of my favorite artists of all time. In fact, I was really surprised it took me six and a half years to write about this song.

Walls (Circus), written by Petty and featuring then-Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham on backing vocals, first appeared in late July 1996 as the lead single of Songs and Music from the Motion Picture “She’s the One”, the ninth studio album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. As the title implies, the album served as a soundtrack to She’s the One, an American romantic comedy picture written and directed by Edward Burns and starring Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz. Here’s the official video clip.

Incredibly, Walls (Circus) only reached no. 69 in the U.S. on the main pop chart Billboard Hot 100, though it did much better on other Billboard charts, including Mainstream Rock (no. 6) and Adult Alternative Airplay, which it topped. In Canada, it peaked at no. 2.

The album fared better overall, climbing to no. 14 on the Billboard 200. Elsewhere, it did best in Sweden (no. 5) and also charted in various other countries, including Germany (no. 20), Norway (no. 22), Austria and Switzerland (each no. 27) and the UK (no. 37).

The soundtrack album also featured a different faster version of the tune titled Walls (No. 3). It has the same lyrics and melody, but the intro is different and the song in general has less emphasis on the instruments. It was later covered by Glen Campbell on his 2008 album Meet Glen Campbell and by The Lumineers on the first anniversary of Petty’s death. Walls (No. 3) also appeared on Angel Dream (Songs and Music from the Motion Picture “She’s the One”), a reconfigured and remastered 25th-anniversary reissue of the soundtrack album, released in July 2021, which I reviewed here.

Following is some additional background on Walls from Songfacts.

Not to be confused with the 2011 track by The View, this 1990s ballad is a favorite of Tom Petty’s fans. It is also the song he “lost,” as he explained to a live audience in a 1999 episode of VH1 Storytellers: “One time this guy come to me and asked me to write some music for his film and that’s another way you can jog your mind into things. I wrote this song for him and I liked it so much I wanted to take it back, but he wouldn’t let me take it back.”

Tom Petty was going through a transitional phase when he wrote this song. In 1994, he released Wildflowers, his second album without The Heartbreakers (following Full Moon Fever in 1989). After touring for the album, his marriage fell apart, and in 1996 he got divorced from his first wife, Jane, whom he married in 1974. He was living on his own in a rented house when he wrote “Walls,” which explores the swingline of life in very poetic terms, starting with the first verse:

Some days are diamonds
Some days are rocks
Some doors are open
Some roads are blocked

In the end, it’s a hopeful song, aimed at a girl with a heart so big she could “crush this town.” She’s bound to reach him eventually, because even walls fall down.

When he played this live, Petty would typically do a downtempo, acoustic version, which is how he played it on Storytellers.

The “Circus” version of this song got a high-end music video directed by Phil Joanou, who also did Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels.” It takes place at a psychedelic circus, where the elephants are purple and the horses are green. It doesn’t contain any footage from She’s The One, but does feature cameos from two of its stars: Jennifer Aniston shows up is leaning against the tiger cage, and Edward Burns is the taxi driver.

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube

The Sunday Six

Happy Sunday and welcome to another trip into the beautiful and diverse world of music, six tracks at a time. Hop on, fasten your seatbelts and let’s go!

Miles Davis/So What

Today, I’d like to start our journey in August 1959 with some early Miles Davis. I have to admit I find this more accessible than Bitches Brew and other of his later more experimental music I’ve heard. I guess I’m not alone. According to Wikipedia, many critics regard Davis’s Kind of Blue album as his masterpiece, the greatest jazz record, and one of the best albums of all time. In 1976, it became his first album to reach Gold certification in the U.S., and as of 2019, it has reached 5X Platinum. More importantly, the album’s influence reached far beyond jazz. None other than the great Duane Allman, guitarist of The Allman Brothers Band, said his soloing on songs like In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, “comes from Miles and Coltrane, and particularly Kind of Blue.” Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright noted the chord progressions on Kind of Blue influenced the structure of the introductory chords to the song Breathe on their 1973 gem The Dark Side of the Moon. Meanwhile, Davis ended up viewing Kind of Blue and his other early work differently. During a 1986 interview, he said, “I have no feel for it anymore—it’s more like warmed-over turkey.” Here’s the album’s opener So What composed by Davis. BTW, Davis (trumpet) was in formidable company on the album, including saxophone greats John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley, pianists Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly, as well as Paul Chambers (double bass) and Jimmy Cobb (drums).

Christine McVie/One in a Million

For our next stop, we’re jumping 25 years ahead to January 1984. I trust Christine McVie (born Christine Perfect) doesn’t need much of an introduction. It’s safe to assume most folks know her as a long-term member of Fleetwood Mac. She joined the group as keyboarder and vocalist in 1970 after her departure from blues band Chicken Shack and the release of her first solo album Christine Perfect. Following the Mac’s 13th studio album Mirage from June 1982, they went on a temporary hiatus, giving McVie the time to record her second eponymous solo album, Christine McVie. She was backed by Todd Sharp (guitar, backing vocals), George Hawkins (bass, backing vocals) and Steve Ferrone (drums, percussion) who 10 years later would join Tom Petty’s band The Heartbreakers. Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham (guitar) and Mick Fleetwood (drums) had guest appearances on certain tracks, as had Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood. Clearly, McVie didn’t have any challenges to secure high-caliber talent for the album. Here’s One in a Million, co-written by her and Sharp. It’s one of the tunes featuring Winwood who in addition to synthesizer also provided lead and backing vocals. Nice pop-rocker!

The Moody Blues/Watching and Waiting

This next pick has been on my list of earmarked Sunday Six songs for several months – not quite sure what took me so long! Watching and Waiting is the beautiful closer of the Moody Blues’s fifth studio album To Our Children’s Children’s Children, released in November 1969. Co-written by band members Justin Hayward (vocals, guitar, sitar) and Ray Thomas (vocals, flute, tambourine, bass flute, oboe), the tune also appeared separately as a single. It didn’t chart, unlike the album, which climbed to no. 2 in the UK, no. 11 in Canada and no. 14 in the U.S. The band’s remaining members at the time were Mike Pinder (Mellotron, piano), John Lodge (bass) and Graeme Edge (drums, percussion). During a 2014 interview Hayward said, “when we heard that song in its studio beauty, we thought, “This is it! All of those people who had been saying to us for the past 3 or 4 years, “You’ll probably just do another Nights in White Satin with it” — no! We had shivers up the spine, and that kind of stuff. But when it came out and you heard it on the radio, you kept saying, “Turn it up! Turn it up!! Oh no, it’s not going to make it.” So it didn’t happen.”

Tom Faulkner/River On the Rise

On to the ’90s and Tom Faulkner, a great American singer-songwriter who isn’t exactly a household name. My former bandmate and longtime music buddy from Germany brought him and his excellent 1997 album Lost In The Land Of Texico on my radar screen last year, and this is the second track from that album I’m featuring on The Sunday Six. To date, Faulkner has only released two albums. His most recent one, Raise the Roof, appeared in 2002. For the most part, he has made his living with commercial music for radio and TV. According to this bio on last.fm, Faulkner has created hundreds of national jingles and scores, including some of the most memorable commercial music on television and radio. Most notably, he composed and sang the wildly popular “I Want My Baby Back” for Chili’s, a jingle that has since found its way into motion pictures (Austin Powers) and over a dozen major network TV shows. He also created the multi-award winning music theme for Motel 6 and Tom Bodett, the longest running commercial campaign in the history of advertising (23 years, 5 CLIOs, and counting). Check out River On the Rise, a nice bluesy tune!

Joe Jackson Band/Take It Like a Man

It’s time to feature a couple of songs from the current century, don’t you agree? First, let’s go to March 2003 and Volume 4, the 16th studio album by versatile British music artist Joe Jackson, released as Joe Jackson Band. For this project, Jackson (piano, organ, electric piano, melodica, lead vocals) brought back together his original backing band of Gary Sanford (guitar, backing vocals), Graham Maby (bass, backing vocals) and David Houghton (drums, backing vocals). And there’s definitely some of that cool vibe from Jackson’s first three albums Look Sharp! (January 1979), I’m the Man (October 1979) and Beat Crazy (October 1980). Over his now 50-plus-year career, Jackson has touched many different genres ranging from pub rock, new wave, swing, and jazz-oriented pop to even classical music. Here’s the album’s great opener Take It Like a Man, which like all other tunes was penned by Jackson.

Candy Dulfer/Jammin’ Tonight (feat. Nile Rodgers)

And once again, it’s time to wrap up. For this final track, we’re traveling back to the present and a funky tune by Dutch jazz and pop saxophonist Candy Dulfer: Jammin’ Tonight featuring Mr. funky guitar Nile Rodgers. Dulfer, the daughter of Dutch tenor saxophonist Hans Dulfer, began playing the drums as a five-year-old before discovering the saxophone a year later. Since the age of seven, she has focused on the tenor saxophone. By the time she was 11, Dulfer made her first recordings for her father’s jazz band De Perikels (the perils). Three years later, she opened up two European concerts for Madonna with her own band Funky Stuff. Two years later, in 1989, she duetted with Dave Stewart (of Eurythmics) on the worldwide instrumental hit Lily Was Here, from the motion picture soundtrack of the same name. The following year, she put out her solo debut album Saxuality. The above tune Jammin’ Tonight is from Dulfer’s forthcoming album We Never Stop, which is scheduled for October 28. Funky!

Last but not least, here’s a Spotify playlist featuring all of the above tunes. Hope there’s something for ya!

Sources: Wikipedia; last.fm; YouTube; Spotify

Rock the Farm Once Again Fired On All Cylinders

Saturday, the time had finally come for the long-awaited Rock the Farm to return to the Jersey shore. The annual tribute festival in Seaside Heights, N.J. once again delivered 10 hours of great music for a cause. And that cause – helping individuals and families struggling with addiction to drugs, alcohol and other substances – has gained even more urgency during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rock the Farm is the main annual event of the nonprofit New Jersey CFC Loud N Clear Foundation to raise funds for programs designed to prevent relapse after drug rehab, a particularly challenging time to stay sober. CFC notes that since it was established in 2012, the foundation has assisted over 20,000 families struggling with addiction and has received numerous accolades and rewards for the innovative, groundbreaking approach to recovery. Throughout the event, individuals who have benefitted from CFC’s programs stepped on stage to share some of their stories, which was both pretty inspiring and moving. You can read more about CFC’s important work here. Let’s get to some music!

Kicking off the festival once again were One Fine Tapestry, a great tribute to Carole King and the music she co-wrote with Jerry Goffin for many other artists. At the core of this act are Gerard Barros and Diane Barros, a New Jersey-based versatile husband and wife duo who for many years have performed a variety of tribute shows. My all-time favorite Carole King album remains Tapestry. Here’s I Feel the Earth Move.

We May Be Right are a fun Billy Joel tribute led by pianist and lead vocalist Karl Dietel, a 20-year veteran of the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut tri-state area live music scene. The band also features Perry Andrews (brass, woodwinds, percussion, backing vocals), Derek Davodowich (guitars), Luke Kessel (bass, backing vocals) and Andy Janowiak (drums). I know I’ve said this before, it’s amazing to me how popular Billy Joel remains to this day, nearly 30 years since the piano man released his final pop album River of Dreams. There were definitely many Billy Joel fans among the Rock the Farm audience. One of the tunes they enjoyed was Big Shot, off Joel’s sixth studio album 52nd Street from October 1978.

And then it was time to really put the rock into Rock the Farm with La Grange. This New Jersey-based tribute to ZZ Top includes Sean Peronard as “Billy Fibbons” (Billy Gibbons), Pete Perrina as “Frank Goatee” (Frank Beard) and Jim Capobianco as “Rusty Hill” (Dusty Hill). It was all there: The sound, the singing, the beards and even the fury guitar and bass – the only things missing were the rotation of the instruments and my all-time ZZ Top favorite Tush! But, hey, they played plenty of other great tunes. It was a ball. Check out Cheap Sunglasses from the Texan rockers’ sixth studio album Degüello.

How about some more kickass rock? Ask and you shall receive with Stiff Upper Lip! This New Jersey tribute to AC/DC, formed in 2007, features Glenn Taglieri  (vocals), Joe Witterschein (guitar), Mike Cusumano (guitar), Peter Lee (bass) and Steve Villano (drums). One of my all-time AC/DC favorites is their song with the longest title: It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll). The tune initially appeared on AC/DC’s second, Australia-only record T.N.T. Subsequently, it was also included on their first international release High Voltage, which came out in April 1976. Here we go, featuring some enthusiastic, dancing ladies with glowing devil’s horns!

Okay, I’d say it’s time for a little breather. Here’s a little photo collage with different impressions from Rock the Farm.

Clockwise from upper left corner: Rock the Farm audience with bubbles from foam dance floor; the cameraman with another enthusiastic attendee; Jagged Little Thrill – The Alanis Morisette Experience (https://www.facebook.com/jlttribute); reminder of the event’s purpose; Winslow an Evening of the Eagles (https://www.facebook.com/WinslowEaglestribute); and once again the (exhausted) cameraman after 10 hours on his feet

All right, on to part II of this post and The ELO Tribute Show – yep, they make no bones about whose music they are celebrating! The group of Philly area-based musicians includes Mick Bodine (lead vocals, guitar), Andre “Virus” Karkos (guitars, vocals), Chris McCoy (keyboards, vocals), Julie Meyers (violin, vocals), Tommy Grasso (bass, vocals) and Dave Ramani (drums, percussion). Check out their cool rendition of Evil Woman, a tune from ELO’s September 1975 record Face the Music, their fifth studio release.

One could argue that holding a tribute festival in New Jersey without featuring music by at least one artist from the Garden State would be an oversight. Coming to the rescue were Keep The Faith from – nope, I bet you didn’t guess that one – Canada! This Bon Jovi tribute from Ontario includes Chris Newman (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Tondreau (guitar), Dan Benezra (keyboards, vocals), Doug Adams (bass) and Mark MacPherson (drums). Shall we check out their rendition of Born to Be My Baby, off Bon Jovi’s fourth studio album? Well, it’s really a rhetorical question since it’s my frigging blog! Are you one of the 100,000,000 Bon Jovi fans who can’t be wrong? If so, you should know the title of Bon Jovi’s fourth studio album. Yes, New Jersey!

And then things got pretty groovy with Funky Monks who shall we say aren’t your typical monks. Formed in 2003, this Chicago-based tribute to Red Hot Chili Peppers has performed across the U.S. and even internationally. The band consists of Ryan “Ryanthony” Machnica (vocals), Mike Walker (guitar), Jeff “Jefflea” Genualdi (b-b-b-bass) and Paul Guziec (drums). In case you ever wondered why I like to say bassists are cool dudes, Jeff is one of the reasons. Yes, I know, it’s the obvious Peppers tune to feature, but I couldn’t help it. Here’s Under the Bridge, included on Peppers’ fifth studio album Blood Sugar Sex Magik, released in September 1991.

All things must pass, as the wise George Harrison once sang. This also applies to Rock the Farm, which brings me to the final act of the night: Fleetwood Mac tribute TUSK – what a great way to end yet another outstanding event! Founded in 2008, TUSK primarily focus on the Mac’s pop-rock period. In addition, they feature some music from Stevie Nicks’ solo catalog and on Saturday night also threw in a cool blues medley of the Peter Green era. TUSK are Kathy Phillips as Stevie Nicks (vocals), Kim Williams as Christine McVie (keyboards, vocals), Scott McDonald as Lindsey Buckingham (guitar, vocals), Randy Artiglere as John McVie (bass) and Tom Nelson as Mick Fleetwood (drums). Here’s Little Lies, off Fleetwood Mac’s 14th studio album Tango in the Night, which came out in April 1987.

Rock the Farm 2022 is over. Sadly, the same cannot be said about addiction, which continues to upend the lives of those impacted and their friends and families. Many lives have been lost, even more so during the pandemic, leaving empty chairs in kitchens across this country.

The reality is addiction can happen to all of us. Nobody is immune! People struggling with drugs, alcohol and other substances deserve our compassion rather than stigmatization. That’s why it is so important that organizations like the CFC Loud N Clear Foundation continue their work. Once again, in case you’d like to find out more about their programs, visit https://healingus.org.

Sources: Wikipedia; CFC website; One Fine Tapestry Facebook page; We May Be Right website; La Grange Facebook page; Stiff Upper Lip website; The ELO Tribute Show website; Slippery When Wet website; Funky Monks website; TUSK website; YouTube

Get Ready to Rock the Farm

On September 24, the annual music festival Rock the Farm returns to Seaside Heights, N.J. Since my first attendance five years ago, I’ve loved the idea behind the 10-hour spectacle to combine top-notch tribute acts with a great cause. And with the dreadful COVID-19 pandemic now being well into its third year, that cause has taken on a new urgency: supporting individuals and families struggling to overcome addiction.

Drug overdose-related deaths in the U.S. have soared by 28.5% to an estimated 100,306 during the 12 months ended in April 2021, according to provisional data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in November 2021. That’s up from 78,056 for the corresponding period a year earlier. The latest CDC insights also show that estimated overdose deaths from opioids totaled 75,673 for the latest 12-month period, a 35% increase from 56,064 the year before. Imagining all the empty seats these lost lives have left at kitchen tables around the country paints a pretty grim picture.

While there are no barns and cows and Rock the Farm doesn’t take place on a farm, it rocks anyway!

Rock the Farm is the main annual fundraiser of the CFC Loud N Clear Foundation. The New Jersey non-profit community organization offers programs for individuals and families battling to overcome addiction to opioids, alcohol and other substances. Their efforts aim to fill the gap after clinical treatment in rehab, a period when staying sober and remaining on track can be particularly challenging.

The CFC Loud N Clear Foundation was established by the Regan family in 2012 after their son Daniel Regan had come out of a rehab center and with the help of his mother, Lynn Regan, developed a recovery system for himself. Other people noticed it was working for Daniel and started asking how they did it. That’s when the Regan family realized everyone should have access to an aftercare program, sparking the idea of establishing a foundation.

“CFC Loud n Clear Foundation is celebrating over 10 years of building strong communities of recovery,” said Alyssa Regan, CFC Assistant Executive Director who was kind enough to provide a quote for this post. “Rock the Farm is in its eighth year of bringing family fun and incredible music to Seaside Heights, New Jersey. However, this festival is more than just a great day during summer down the shore! Rock the Farm is about smashing the stigma of addiction, living life in recovery out loud, and the importance of aftercare and relapse prevention! This festival, which hosted 15,000 people last year, is entirely run by our community of recoverees and their families in order to raise funds for the program that has helped them gain a new life!”

Rock the Farm’s foam dance floor is a huge attraction for kids. Many mamas and papas like it as well!

Let’s take a look at the great line-up for the upcoming event, which includes tributes to Fleetwood Mac, Red Hot Chili Peppers, AC/DC, ELO, Eagles, Billy Joel, Carole King, Alanis Morissette, ZZ Top and Bon Jovi. Just imagine for a second seeing all the real acts in one festival, not to mention this particular line-up wouldn’t even be possible any longer, given Carole King has retired from performing! Fleetwood Mac and Carole King tributes TUSK and One Fine Tapestry performed at all four previous Rock the Farm events I attended. On separate previous occasions, I also saw Stiff Upper Lip and Keep The Faith, tributes to AC/DC and Bon Jovi, respectively. The other tribute artists are new to me.

Following are clips to preview some of the tribute acts who will play at Rock the Farm 2022. Kicking things off are TUSK with You Make Loving Fun, footage I captured at last year’s event. Focused on the pop rock period of Fleetwood Mac, the group includes Kathy Phillips as Stevie Nicks (vocals), Kim Williams as Christine McVie (keyboards, vocals), Scott McDonald as Lindsey Buckingham (guitar, vocals), Randy Artiglere as John McVie (bass) and Tom Nelson as Mick Fleetwood (drums).

Next up are One Fine Tapestry with one of my all-time favorite Carole King tunes from the iconic Tapestry album: I Feel the Earth Move. At the core of this tribute act are Gerard Barros and Diane Barros, a versatile husband and wife couple performing a variety of different tribute shows, sometimes as a duo, other times backed by a full band, which was the case here. This clip is also from Rock the Farm 2021.

Let’s do two more, using YouTube clips I didn’t create. Here are Stiff Upper Lip with Back in Black. The New Jersey band has been around since 2007 and includes Glenn Taglieri (vocals), Joe Witterschein (guitar), Mike Cusumano (guitar), Peter Lee (bass) and Steve Villano (drums).

As a blues rock fan, I couldn’t resist including ZZ Top tribute La Grange. The band features Sean Peronard as “Billy Fibbons” (Billy Gibbons), Pete Perrina as “Frank Goatee” (Frank Beard) and Jim Capobianco as “Rusty Hill” (Dusty Hill) – clever stage names! Here’s a fun promo video, including snippets of Waiting For the Bus, Under Pressure and Gimme All Your Lovin’.

In addition to plenty of great music, Rock the Farm features food trucks, a wine and beer garden and beach yoga. They also have some fun activities for kids, including a Kidzone Arts & Crafts, face painting, braid bar and “the world’s greatest FOAM dance floor.” While I can’t verify that claim, I can confirm kids and adults have had a lot of fun with the foam in the past!

“All of the members of CFC get the opportunity to create something magical that positively impacts the community, be inspired by purpose, and uplift others who are in search of hope and connection,” Regan added. “CFC has impacted over 20,000 families since its foundation and continues to come up with new and innovative ways to make recovery fun. We can’t wait to rock out with everyone on September 24th and end Recovery month in the best way possible!”

If you’re into live music, dig the above bands, want to support an important cause and can get there, I can highly recommend Rock the Farm. For tickets and more info, visit https://www.rockthefarmnj.com. You can also read more about the CFC Loud n Clear Foundation and their important work here.

Sources: CDC National Center for Health Statistics; CFC Loud N Clear Foundation website; TUSK website; One Fine Tapestry website; Stiff Upper Lip website; La Grange Facebook page; YouTube

The Sunday Six

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are when reading this – welcome to another Sunday Six. In this weekly feature, I’m embarking on imaginary time travel journeys to celebrate the beauty of music in different flavors from different decades, six tunes at a time. Hop on for the ride and fasten your seatbelt.

Wayne Krantz/For Susan

Today, I’d like to start our little trip with beautiful instrumental music by Wayne Krantz, an American guitarist and composer who has been active since the ’80s. Telling you he “was good enough” for Walter Becker and Donald Fagen to tour with Steely Dan and appear on Fagen’s 2006 solo album Morph the Cat should suffice. Krantz has also worked with jazz artists Billy Cobham, Chris Potter, David Binney and Carla Bley. And since 1990, he has released eight studio albums as a band leader. Let’s give a listen to For Susan, a soothing track from what appears to be Krantz’s first solo album Signals, released in 1990. Check out this amazing guitar tone – not surprisingly, it was instant love for me!

Fleetwood Mac/Sometimes

I think it’s safe to assume most folks best know Fleetwood Mac from their “classic period” between 1975 and 1987, which among others includes their most successful album Rumours (February 1977). But there’s more to the Mac who started out as Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac in July 1967, a blues rock band led by amazing blues guitarist Peter Green. In April 1970, Green who was in the throes of drug addiction and mental illness left the group. This started an interesting transitional era that initially featured Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan on guitars, in addition to co-founders John McVie (bass) and Mick Fleetwood (drums). They were soon officially be joined by Christine McVie (born Anne Christine Perfect), who in 1968 had married John McVie – the first of many complicated relationships among members of the Mac! By the time they released their fifth studio album Future Games in September 1971, Spencer had been replaced by guitarist Bob Welch. Here’s Sometimes, a great country rock tune off that record, penned by Kirwan – the Mac’s early blues rock days were in the distant past!

Fastball/Fire Escape

With their recent release of a nice new album, The Deep End, Fastball have been on my mind. The Texan band was formed in 1994 in Austin by Tony Scalzo  (vocals, bass, keyboards, guitar),  Miles Zuniga  (vocals, guitar) and Joey Shuffield (drums, percussion), a lineup that remarkably remains in place to this day. You can read more about the group and their ups and downs in this feature I posted in February this year. I’d like to take us to March 1998, which saw the release of Fastball’s sophomore album All the Pain Money Can Buy, their breakthrough and most successful record. Instead of The Way, their biggest hit that initially brought the band on my radar screen, I’d like to highlight Fire Escape, another excellent tune. Written by Zuniga, the song also became the album’s second single. While it made various charts in the U.S. and Canada, surprisingly, it did fare far more moderately than The Way.

World Party/The Ballad of the Little Man

I still remember when I heard Ship of Fools for the first time in the ’80s and thought, ‘gee, the vocalist sounds a bit like Mick Jagger.’ The vocalist, of course, was singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Karl Wallinger, who had started World Party in 1986 as a solo music project after his departure from The Waterboys. His debut album under the World Party moniker was Private Revolution, which came out in March 1987. It would be the first of five released over the following 13 years. In February 2001, Wallinger had an aneurysm that left him unable to speak and sidelined his career until 2006. While over the next 14 years he occasionally toured with a backing band as World Party and released the compilation Arkeology (2012) and a live album, World Party Live! (2014), Wallinger appears to have been inactive since 2015. Here’s The Ballad of the Little Man, a tune from Private Revolution. I love the cool ’60s vibe in many of Wallinger’s tunes!

The Doors/Light My Fire

The time has come to travel back to the ’60s for real. In January 1967, The Doors, one of my favorite groups, released their eponymous debut, and what a great record it was! Break On Through (To the Other Side), Soul Kitchen, Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar) and the apocalyptic The End are among the gems here. And, of course, the mighty Light My Fire, which was primarily written by guitarist Robbie Krieger, though it was credited to the entire band. The song also became the group’s second single and their breakthrough. But I’m not featuring the shortened single edit. At CMM, we don’t do things half-ass! Ray Manzarek’s organ part is sheer magic to my ears. I never get tired of it!

Santana/Anywhere You Want to Go

Once again we’re entering the final stretch of yet another Sunday Six. When it comes to Carlos Santana, who has been a favorite since I listened to the 1974 compilation Santana’s Greatest Hits as an 8-year-old, I’ve always loved his first three albums the most. This “classic period” spanned the years 1969 to 1971 and includes gems like Evil Ways, Jingo, Soul Sacrifice, Black Magic Woman, Samba Pa Ti and Everybody’s Everything. Needless to point out I was intrigued when sometime in early 2016 I learned Carlos had reunited with most of the surviving members from the band’s early ’70s lineup for a new album: Gregg Rolie (lead vocals, keyboards), Neal Schon (guitar, vocals), Michael Carabello (congas, percussion, backing vocals) and Michael Shrieve (drums). Sure, 46 years is a very long time and I couldn’t expect Santana IV would sound the same as those first three records. But I still liked what I heard. Perhaps best of all, I got to see that version of Santana live during a short supporting tour, which also featured Journey. I’m leaving you with Anywhere You Want to Go, penned by Rolie. Feel free to groove along!

Of course, this post wouldn’t be complete without a Spotify list of all the above tunes.

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify