Jul 232015
“Uh…I don’t think so…”
I don’t know the slightest thing about this band, but everything about their used album covers gives off a vibe of “Uh…I don’t think so…”
- The band name sounds like a cross between a wine cooler and a UK investment firm
- The fonts they use on their album covers support the wine cooler vibe
- The butterfly and landscape motif is unappealing, in terms of how it might suggest anything related to my musical tastes, and is consistently poorly rendered from a graphic perspective
- Their occasional scroll band logo atop some of their album covers (below) supports the UK investment firm vibe.
“Uh…I don’t think so…”
I have never found a reason to even pull a Barclay James Harvest album from a stack of used records and see if there’s anything worthwhile on the back cover or in the credits. For all I know there are tastefully nude models on the back cover, surrounded by butterflies, no less. Maybe someone cool, like Eno or George Martin, shows up in the credits. I’ll never know.
Is there a band/album you’ve consistently bypassed over years of flipping through used record bins?
After Youtubing a very pleasant acoustic number by Chuck Johnson (he’s Fahey-esque), Youtube automatically cycled me to Truth and Janey’s “No Rest for the Wicked Album,” (ca. 1975).
Not two days ago, I bypassed a copy of this very album in my local spot where vinyl goes to die, for what must’ve been the 100th time.
And now the Mod has setup this thread.
Cosmic coincidence?
THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES!
Savoy Brown
Totally! Are they a bad blues band, a Negro League franchise, a dish one might order in a pub?
New Riders of the Purple Sage. They look like some sort of country rock outfit. I’ve seen their albums for a long time but never knowingly heard their music. Frankly, I don’t care to start.
Jackie Lomax. How many times did I flip through him in the cutout bins? Which made the debut record on Rhino Records, Wild Man Fischer’s “Go To Rhino Records” all the better (“You can get Herb Alpert or Jackie Lomax for forty cents”).
I’ve got that Jackie Lomax debut on Apple, thanks to my interest in “Sour Milk Sea.” There are a couple of other decent ’70s Deep Cutz tracks, but his voice is really hard to bear for more than a song at a time. He makes Robert Smith sound understated.
They’re on my short list as well.
Same here, I shelled out good money (maybe $10 at the time) a long time ago for that lp. “Sour Milk Sea” is a great song and recording. But the record as a whole is ho-hum and his voice does indeed wear out its welcome. All in all, George would probably have done well to have kept “Sour Milk Sea” and perhaps given Lomax, say, “Piggies,” instead.
Quite possibly all of the above.
Uriah Heep
Flash & The Pan
Bypassed many times in the cutout bins of the 80s — stupid name and bad album covers.
Another band with entire 54-man roster of former members …
Oh man, you’ve got to at least hear their one solid, minor hit from the New Wave era, “Driver’s Seat”! Oh wait – that’s Sniff & the Tears! Flash & the Pan are Vanda and Young from the Easybeats. They also had a decent New Wave-era single, “Hey, St. Peter,” which if memory serves, did not age as well as “Driver’s Seat.” It hints at subpar, late-period XTC. Here’s the video, if you want to hear it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgOMxTxWPuQ
Definitely an oddball and mildly interesting group from the early New Wave period. It was formed by the guys from the Easybeats (“Friday On My Mind”) but sounds nothing at all like the earlier group. It’s one of those things you either love or hate.
which in turn for some reason reminds of another, Frankie & the Knockouts.
Early Fleetwood Mac is notorious, for me, for producing album covers that promise NOTHING I could imagine liking. This one, in particular, is tough to stomach:
http://recordmecca.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Scan-Nov-17-2014-1.58-PM-page66.jpg
Mick Fleetwood’s words on the shot for this cover are equally disturbing and made realize, on closer examination, this qualifies for an ongoing Last Man Standing.
http://recordmecca.com/products-page/museum-quality-collectibles/fleetwood-mac-original-album-cover-artwork-for-heroes-are-hard-to-find-by-herbie-worthington/
Love “Driver’s Seat.”
You’ve never heard “Easy Livin'”? That song has had a lot of Classic Rock airplay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKxZY0DIxIk
I don’t think so! But it sounds like what I imagined: cut-rate Deep Purple.
And then there’s this one, which might also qualify in the other thread http://img.cdandlp.com/2013/05/imgL/115969062.jpg
Lot potheads used to dig these guys — Panama Red is the big hit. Jerry Garcia was in the band early on.
Aha, well, I do remember hearing that song.
Wishbone Ash
Average White Band.
Well, but I know that you know “Pick Up the Pieces.”
Until somebody did a thread on them a couple of years ago, Gentle Giant. And man, they really sucked. I would pin that one on tonyola but I think it was during his awol years.
True enough. So I guess it doesn’t count.
But I’ve never heard anything else by them…really.
But you’re definitely right, Mister Ioso!
There are two more second (or third or fourth) tier British blues bands (cf Savoy Brown) – Atomic Rooster and Bloodwyn Pig. At least I think they are British. And I think they are blues. And maybe they are fifth tier.
For sure, I’ve never heard them.
You’ve probably heard “Cut the Cake,” too. But it pretty much sounds just like “Pick Up the Pieces.”
If I may dust off the pince-nez, that’s Blodwyn Pig. Never even heard of Atomic Rooster. But they are spelled correctly.
For a long, long time Spooky Tooth was one of these bands. But a few years ago I heard one or two of their early songs that I kind of liked, like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGxRstWAZBc That kind of spoiled things, in a way.
You know what? I just youtubed it and uhhh…no…I’m not embarrassed to admit that the lifelong impetus to bypass them in record store and thrift shop alike (based almost solely on the suggestion of their mediocrity in the very name they chose for themselves; it’s ironic, i know, but i had no evidence that they were actually able to make good on that irony by doing something above average), combined with living in a radio market that had extremely limited playlists, has kept me free of this retread of which you speak.
Wishbone Ash? Uriah Heap? Come on, let’s get some rock nerd skin in the game! I’ve never heard Forever Changes or Oracle and Odyssey. Maybe I will at some point but I’m pretty ambivalent about them and I’m not sure why. I haven’t even made the effort to click through them on Spotify or Youtube just to get a sense of them for historical context.
Yeah…I mean…I think the answers vary across the Townspeople, no doubt.
Definitely!
Remember the key role that song played in the breakup of Paul McCartney and Hamish Stuart?
https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/pick-up-the-pieces-hamish-stuart-levels/
The little bit I heard/saw of those bands, on an old VHS collection of all kinds of weird British freak-blues-jazz stuff from the late-’60/early-’70s, was unintentionally hilarious. One or both of those bands had ties to Jethro Tull.
Atomic Rooster included Carl Palmer, of ELP, and was originally the backing band for “The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.” While I admit I did verify this info with a web search, both of these unfortunate facts were in my conscious memory.
I was going to nominate them.
Whaaaaa…? cdm, you of all people need to tune into Odessey & Oracle. That album is one of the all-time greats. I mean, it’s essential listening.
Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers for me. I may have heard a few bars of “Roadrunner” many years ago, but quickly switched it off, wondering “what’s the point?” I’m convinced JR & t MLs is (are?) adored for their whole anti-Rock Star schtick, buttressed by a naive/noble savage, child-savant thing that completely escapes me. Am I wrong here?
The same people who like Brian Wilson because of his “child-like innocence” dig Jonathan Richman. He’s like the heroin of child-like innocence in Rock. At least, that’s what I think, having never really heard him.
Oh yeah — some good stuff — and I never miss an opportunity to point out that the man behind the piano, singing the harmony vocals (and the dude who wrote that song) is my man, the Dreamweaver — Mr. Gary Wright! He was Jay Ferguson before Jay Ferguson! Leaving a borderline rock band (Jo Jo Gunne) and having some big 70s hits.
The thing about him, though, is that he’s funny. If he were taking himself seriously, might be unbearable, but I find him (and his music) to be fun.
I have prejudged it to be twee and too precious by 75%.
I’ve heard a few of their albums. Argus is a decent, pleasant listen – sort of CSN meets mellow Yes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH244IPXySE
Mick Jones of Foreigner fame was also in Spooky Tooth. ST is perhaps best known for their heavy version of “I Am the Walrus”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6lUiphOTVY
I actually saw Wishbone Ash play back in their heyday. You have chosen wisely.
Exactly what I thought! And therein lies the problem…
Crack the Sky anyone?
Exactly. I think it was my unwavering affection for “Love Is Alive” that led me to watch that ST clip, which sounds a lot like late Small Faces, in a good way.
I cannot imagine any rock listener not getting the first Modern Lovers album (the one with Roadrunner, Pablo Picasso, Modern World, etc.). A brilliant record. I get that some of the “next phase” Modern Lovers lps is sort of off the charts in the twee department, but much of it is also enjoyable. The mid-to-late 80s records, while having a sort of sameness to all of them (is that song on Having a Party or Modern Lovers ’88 or I, Jonathan? ), are also good. Plus, one of them, I think Having a Party with, has the deathless, never-ceasing-to-be-funny “Monologue about Bermuda” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_SYDA-jVPg
The problem is you are prejudging a record called Oracle and Odyssey. Odessey and Oracle, on the other hand, is a wonderful record.
I’m something of a fan of early Crack the Sky, and I wrote an article about them here:
https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/coulda-been-a-contendah/
Yeah.
I second that. Odessey and Oracle is one of the better albums of the late ’60s, and that’s saying quite a bit.
Hmm, I’m not so sure there’s much crossover there. I mean, I like them both but I don’t see a whole lot of commonalities.
I agree. While he has his “twee” side, which I also like, his lyrics can be very funny. And he puts on a great live show.
New thread! “Most addicting heroin of child-like innocence”
Naive/noble savage? I’d say his lyrics are more about love for his Boston surroundings and experiences, and while some are pretty earnest, they also can be very funny. As for the music, I can’t comment from a musician POV, but it seems to be basic chord progressions and simple melodies but how would that be very different from other singer/songwriters?
Welll…Oddessy and Oracle has “Time of hte Season on it. So we could do the “but surely, you’ve heard…” here again, too.
And not knowing cdm personally (or maybe I do), I’m pretty sure he’s heard “Time of the Season” before, didn’t know it was on that particular album, or perhaps didn’t know it was by the Zombies, and even if he had, is still saying “nope” everytime he thumbs his way to a Zombies album.
It’s the same with me and that huge Average White Band hit (Pick Up the Pieces). It’s totally ubiquitous, sure, but even though I’ve been a rock fiend since age 6, I can honestly say, without embarrassment, that even though I’ve heard it a million times, I never knew its maker was the same as the totally generic, cut-out-bin kings I had been spurning since the mid-70s known as the “Average White Band.”
Just about every name that someone has posted here has songs that many of the rest of us has heard.
I love that first album, HVB. Everything else by Richman, once he denounced Electricity, bugs the crap out of me. On the topic of that first album, you are WRONG.
True enough. Only a couple, though, I think, have had top 40 hits as ubiquitous (and still well known) as “Time of the Season” or “Pick up the Pieces”.
What about The Brothers Johnson?
I remember seeing this bad boy in the cutouts, and flippin’ right on by:
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0000/616/MI0000616046.jpg?partner=allrovi.com
I’m trying to come up with some…I guess the category would be: “well known songs by anonymous bands,” or better still, “famous songs that we didn’t know were by (somewhat less) famous bands?” (although I don’t think that’s really true of the Zombies, it’s definitely more true of the AWB).
How is this different from the one hit wonder? Maybe by the fame of the artist, even though we don’t
I think one band takes the cake as a maker of hits that managed to outstrip them: Heatwave.
Ask most people who sang “Boogie Nights,” and “Always and Forever,” and “Groovline,” and I’m pretty sure that more than half wouldn’t be able to name the band, even though they’ve heard those songs. They probably think “Always and Forever” is by Lionel Richie.
The Climax Blues Band is another: “Couldn’t Get it Right” is a pretty well known tune, but the band? Not so much.
This is different from the “one hit wonder,” I suppose, because these bands put out a lot of records, and you’d know their name once you heard it. So they’re not one-hit-wonder acts. It’s just that many people don’t realize they had a hit with a particular song.
Inverted, we could ask: what hits did [insert band name here] have? Everybody knows the name Ohio Players, for example, but I’m sure a lot of people would be hard pressed to name a single hit by them.
Agreed. Come ON, HVB.
This takes us back to your disregard or “I-don’t-get-it-ness” for the Velvets, right?
Strawberry Letter 23, man!
Fire and Love Rollercoaster by Ohio Players were huge hits. The legend was that you hear a murdered girl scream at one point in Love Rollercoaster, which was enough to get us pre-teens excited.
What about denziens of the cutouts Ozark Mountain Daredevils — Jackie Blue and maybe another hit? Remember all the ACE albums in the cutouts? They had had that monster hit How Long, but I never even thought about buying one of their records — even after Paul Carrack joined Squeeze.
Right, I just streamed that on Tidal — I withdraw — I do recall hearing that.
Oh, maybe that was the problem. I just looked and it is on Spotify so maybe I will check it out at your suggestion/cajoling.
Sat, we have met briefly once or twice, but I’m pretty nondescript.
I like the three Zombie songs I know, that being one of them. They haven’t tired for me even though they’re overplayed. I didn’t realize that Time of the Season was on Oracle and Odyssey. I guess I always assumed that O&O was a Cups-and-Cakes bit of chamber pop, which, if it were, would be greatly annoying to me.
This thread is about bands we’ve never tried, and see no reason to try. In order for a band to exist in that brain-space in the first place, a great deal of willful ignorance is required. I freely admit to not understanding, and not wanting to understand, JR&TMLs. How much more outrageous is my candor than Mod’s when it comes to Barclay James Harvest? JR&TMLs sounded child-like and purposely naive the one and only time I heard any of their music, and that snippet turned me off. But it was just a snippet, and I admit I could be WRONG about that first album in its totality. In contrast, I am not WRONG about the Velvet Underground. Nor am I wrong about Bobby Dylan, for that matter.
First off, I LOVE the Zombies. All of it. They had a youthful spirit, a great singer, a showoff keyboard player, killing vocal harmonies and a really underrated drummer. Oh, and great songs, both covers and originals.
There are certain singers and bands you would always see in the cutout bin who are not rock, so maybe not part of this conversation. Not sure I’ve ever sat through a Barbra Streisand song all the way through. One singer I’d always see in the cheapie bins has a name like Jaynne 0lliver (let’s hide from search engines…), so wasn’t it ironic when, at one point, I ended up working on one of her albums. She called me the wrong name every.single.day. When you’re working with somebody ten hours a day for weeks on end, learn the person’s fukkin name, geez. Never did hear the completed album!
Other ones which fit this bill for me, though probably shouldn’t are Leon Russel, Andrew Gold, Boz Scaggs and never really give a shot to Linda Rondstadt, though I have heard a handful of her tunes.
Just because you’re WRONG doesn’t mean we’re judging you!
Errm, sorry, but if you are referring to him as “Bobby” Dylan than you are wrong about him, ipso facto.
Let’s not forget Funky Worm.
“Stomp” is the other one that comes to mind.
Jane Oliver! That’s funny.
I should have written “Everybody has heard of the name Ohio Players, for example, but I’m sure a lot of people [save the aficionados here at RTH, of course,] would be hard pressed to name a single hit by them.”
That’s actually what I meant. Of course US FOLK can name OP songs, but I’m sure many cannot, despite having heard of them.
I thought the same thing about O&O, actually. Then, about 15 yrs ago, I was asked to contribute to a Zombies tribute comp. Not knowing anything except the hits, I ambled on over to my local insufferable hipster vinyl hive and lurched on back to the Z’s. When I saw O&O, its cover art and title made me think, “Aha, there must be something on this Cups-and-Cakes bit of chamber pop with which I can take liberties.” Alas, when I arrived home and began playing the thing, I couldn’t believe how much I liked it. Great album!
So we’ve met once or twice, eh? Either you’re truthin’ or you’re the drummer in the Photon Band and you’re just playin’ me. I can’t decide which.
Oh and I’ve gotta say…the fact that this thread has gone this long without a mention of Renaissance is pretty crazy. They have tons of vinyl in every record shop I’ve ever frequented. But I am repelled. And am quite sure I’ve never heard one of their songs. Anybody out there familiar with them?
Keith Relf was in Renaissance, yes? I’ve heard a few songs. Terrible.
In the first incarnation, yes he was, along with his wife. Jim McCarty was in Renaissance, too.
But those former Yardbirds left pretty quickly (Relf’s wife stayed on).
Record after record after record…a real slog through the 70s.
Their only charting single was a number 10 from 1979 called “Northern Lights,” which I’ve never heard (I just listened on Youtube; it’s like Yes’s Wondrous Stories reworked by ABBA).
A very apt description! I am surprised not to know this, I figured I knew every song that charted from that era, somehow. Did it chart in both the UK and U.S.? It seems like one of those vaguely Euro-sounding cuts that wouldn’t work here.
Dunno…I suspect it charted in England only. I can’t imagine it being a usa hit here.
I had to go to wiki to find out anything at all about them since the extend of my knowledge of them before now was their origins in Relf-McCarty’s frustration with the heavier direction the Yardbirds had taken under Page, and my own continued tendency to thumb right by their seemingly endless parade of wasted wax (no two albums the same, it seemed!).
Oddly, wiki doesn’t have a list of their charting singles, so I could be wrong about that being their only one.
It also says they were on the Mike Douglas show, so they must have had enough juice to at least get the label to spot them some tickets over here for a tour.
Renaissance is heavy symphonic prog – kind of similar to the Moody Blues but with a female lead singer and even more pretensions of grandeur. I’m not particularly a fan.
Wizzard. I couldn’t be less interested.
Didn’t they have a guy lead singer with a huge vocal range at one point too? Listening to them on Tidal right now. I remember hearing OF them on deep cut FM radio, but can’t place any of the “top songs” so far. Ashes Are Burning seems to be the top album for Tidal listeners. They have really cranked out the albums over the years — incredible! Somebody must like it!
Listening to this stuff reminds me — I had to go to a Manheim Steamroller Christmas concert once. My wife’s aunt, who lives in Omaha, got us tix to see them in DC. Yuck.
HVB, of course you’re entitled to your opinion about all of the above acts you mention.
But they all, even JR&tMLs, come with quite a bit more acclaim (and from people you trust, no less) than does Barclay James Harvest.
You may not have heard them, but you’ve heard OF them via more channels than simply seeing their dusty vinyl at the local Salvation Army.
And that brings me to another difference between JR&tMLs and the bands this thread asks for is…you’ll never see their vinyl in mass quantities in cut-out-bin / thrift store environments because it’s well loved and widely collected.
So…no, your willful ignorance of them is not of the same stripe as the Mod’s willful ignorance of Bartles and James Berry Coolers, or even my willful ignorance of AWB, for whom I’ve never heard anyone vouch.
This is the one I remember from the cutouts — the price couldn’t be nice enough for me.
http://www.vinyltap.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/0/image/500x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_178687.jpg
The Zombies may not fit into this category, but what about Argent? This thread seems to be dominated by bands with proggish tendencies.
I actually saw Renaissance play in early 1970, which research indicates would have been the original version of the band. I remember very little about it, except that they were opening for Pacific Gas & Electric. I went the wrong night. The following night they apparently opened for the Rascals, which would have been a much cooler memory.
Yes, with the exception of “Hold Your Head Up” I have never heard anything and have no intention to do so.
This seems to fit the category that saturnismine was trying to sketch out before. Argent is, by one definition, a one-hit wonder. But they were a one-hit wonder that wasn’t really a singles band anyway, so that doesn’t seem to count. They were an album band from something like the heyday of a certain kind of album-oriented rock. (This is not meant as an endorsement, just as a description.) So, it’s like the one (or two, I think, in my case) songs you happen to know by Ozark Mountain Daredevils and might even sort of like even though you know damn well you’re never going to sit down and listen to an Ozark Mountain Daredevils (or Argent) album. If you get my drift.
“God Gave Rock and Roll to You”, which was famously covered by Kiss, was originally an Argent song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Mc94LfQtOg
Wow, that’s a slab of Tap-esque crap!
The entire discography of Roger Daltrey’s solo career.
Good Lord, yes.
No trip through the milk crates of a yard sale is complete without seeing that damn half-horse half-Daltrey album.
I have no clue what is his best known solo song.
I will be happy to be wrong about O&O.
I will also reveal my identity to you on FB.
Yes, that is so true! Also one of the records available in my local library’s small collection, in the day.
Excellent description Tony. My prog-minded brother made me go to see them in the early 80s. Horrible. I think their song Carpet of the Sun used to get some airplay in Philly.
Ride a Rock Horse! Whatever *that* means…
“Free Me,” from the McVicar soundtrack, may be Roger’s best case for fronting Power Station.
You folks have also likely heard Roger’s vaguely New Wave single Walking in My Sleep, which I think was undone as a single by similarly titled song by the Romantics released about the same time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz9XNjFmrzE
Okay, okay. Perhaps more in the spirit of this topic: Aldo Nova. Oh, and anything by Les Dudek.
Daltrey also got some radio play in 1973 with “Giving It All Away”, a song written by Leo Sayer of all people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYtz3aooBqk
Did you know the founder of Foghat was in Savoy Brown? I wish I didn’t know . . .
And in conclusion…Chuck Mangione.
I’d rather listen to Wishbone Ash and Uriah Heep all day before I suffer through Odyssey and Oracle again. The one good song the Zombies have is on it, but I’m sure if you really needed to hear it, K-Tel put it on something with some other hits by bands that only have one good song. You can have my cd if you want it.
I never heard anything by Quicksilver Messenger Service. What a stupid name. I put them in with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. whom I’ve never heard, either. They both sound like they’d send you a bill after boring you to death.
I kind of like Crack the Sky sometimes, and I know Jackie Blue and If you Wanna Get to Heaven by Ozark Mountain Daredevils. I like both of those songs but I’ve never bough an album because those songs aren’t on the same record and I seem unable to take that leap of faith. Like since 6th grade, I haven’t been able to take one of their records all the way to the register!
I always thought I should check out Atomic Rooster, and I’m working on that. Same with Chicken Shack, but I have no problem with lower tier Blooze Rock. I have a Savoy Brown album and it sucks quite horribly as I recall. It’s called Hellbound Train, and I figured it would bring the Rock. It does not do that in any way. shape or form.
I remember listening to that Les Dudek album with him and a parrot on the cover. I remember a friend playing it a lot, and I seem to remember liking it. I never see it anymore.
I’ll nominate Spyro Gyro. I remember people really getting into fusion with Jeff Beck and Jan Hammer and I think Spyro Gyro was like that. Since Jeff Beck didn’t sound like The Yardbirds, I always figured there was no point to that stuff, and that a band that was influenced by THAT Jeff Beck instead of the Yardbirds Jeff Beck, instantly made them suck. I don’t think I could like them by now, even if I heard a song and actually liked it before someone told me it was them.
The other band I never heard but saw all the time, and loved their album covers was Osibisa Woyaya. I’m sorry, but I can just tell you guys suck.
Unfortunately, I can say that “Feels So Good” was part of my school experience.
Great call on Spiro Gyra. And their album art sucked.
Oh come on, there’s no way you didn’t hear “Feels So Good” 10,000 times, unless you’re a lot younger than I think. You’ve never knowingly heard that cliff?
As much as I love the Move and Roy Wood’s Boulders album, you’re not missing anything by missing Wizzard.
Right. Between radio, ads, public service announcements, piped in Muzak, and plenty of other venues, it would have been nearly impossible to avoid “Feels So Good” over the past 38 years (it came out in 1977). I once called it “restaurant jazz” here because a local restaurant used it as background music in their TV commercials.
I had seen Fairport Convention albums seemingly forever, most notably in the import bins during the ’70s and ’80s. From what I understand, they’re a British band who specialize in folk music – sometimes acoustic and sometimes semi-electric. I’ve never felt the impulse to investigate further, so they remain unheard by me to this day.
Isn’t that where Richard Thompson came from? He’s a genius. I’ve never heard him, but I see people say he’s a genius all the time. I just feel like I’ve been bit by that dog before.
You’re right – Thompson was with Fairport Convention until early 1971. I haven’t knowingly heard him either, so that’s another artist on the list of the unheard.
Thompson doesn’t belong on this list at all. You really should give Shoot Out The Lights a spin — the Richard and Linda Thompson album that is a hipster classic — and deserves the hype.
Lady Miss, were you here when we had a contest to write lyrics for Feels So Good? It might have even been back on the list serve days. There were some really strong entries as I recall.
https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/rock-town-hall-contest-write-lyrics-to-c/
Hey, there’s no such thing as any entry “belonging” or not if it’s true to one’s experience. That said, I think Shoot Out the Lights is overrated. There are better solo R&L Thompson albums that preceded that one, not to mention Richard’s first solo album, Henry the Human Fly. Sorry, I found Linda Thompson to be no substitute for Sandy Denny.
Well, possibly true to the spirit of the thread, I don’t care. I’m ignoring him and looking for yet another band that sounds like all the other bands I like.
Absolutely. Hearing it makes me think of scrolling school cancellations or football scores. Oh, and his stupid-ass hat.
Quicksilver Messenger Service is one that came to me in the car over the weekend. I know, and even like, “Fresh Air,” but there’s no way I’m going any further than that.
Agreed. I too will continue ignoring the great Richard Thompson, his ex-wife, and the rest of the lot.
I still associate Quicksilver Messenger Service with some SCTV skit. I don’t think I’d ever heard of them before then. I eventually tracked down their records and realized why.
A hippie friend who still goes to see shows featuring what’s left of Jefferson Airplane/Starship, once convinced me to listen to Quicksilver’s version of Mona. It was so appallingly hamfisted that I don’t think I made it to the one minute mark.
How about 10CC. I know “I’m not in love,” but that’s it. Feel like I see those records fairly often. I know some friends of mine dig them, but I can’t find the motivation…
Nope, actually knowing one song well only makes them a 1-hit wonder you’ve never investigated further. (Not to mention opens the door for one of use to throw out one of their lesser semi-hits that you may also know.) This thread is reserved for bands you’ve actually never knowingly heard despite numerous opportunities to grab a dollar bin record for the hell of it.
10cc isn’t a one hit wonder. In addition to Not In Love, they had other hits like Things We Do For Love, Dreadlock Holiday (which I believe shawnkilroy will back me up as being an excellent song) and that really annoying song Cry that got a lot of airplay on MTV because of the video.
Fun fact: Graham Gouldman from 10cc wrote Bus Stop for the Hollies, and Heartful of Soul and For Your Love for the Yardbirds.
I just listened to Feels So Good and I can honestly say I’ve never heard it before. Maybe I didn’t spend enough time in elevators. Or perhaps my brain turns off my audio processor when it detects shit like this.
I was 7 when this song was released. I remember a whole lot of disco, AOR rock and MOR pop tunes but no Mangione.
cdm, your fun fact reminds me of that Clapton interview where he says he left The Yardbirds because they were moving towards what he referred to as “10 CC music”.
Also, I don’t have a copy of Things We Do For Your Love but I never failed to change the station when I hear it on the radio.
See what I meant about opening the door to one of those nerdy corrections that people at that Rock Town Hall site seem to specialize in doing? I think they even have some insider term for that practice. Sheesh!
By the way, and off topic: can we all agree that the Yardbirds made their best music after Clapton left (and before Jimmy Page joined)?
This topic came up briefly at a party I hosted over the weekend. The 5 Live Yardbirds album is pretty great, but I do agree that their strongest record is with Jeff Beck – I’m blanking on the title for the moment, but it’ the one with that weird black & white sketch – maybe it’s called Roger the Engineer?
I’d feel bad about it, but I am tempted to put the Move on this list. Except I do know a few Move songs and don’t mind a few. But all in all, man are they colossally overrated. But this isn’t a thread about incredibly overrated bands. So I won’t mention the Move. Other than this.
Oh, I know another one. They may be Prog or Metal or both, I don’t know. Amon Duul II. Was there and Amon Duul 1? Does anyone care?
Fine fine fine. So 10CC join the ranks (for me) of Molly Hatchet, Sugarloaf and the Little River Band. Oh, and Blue Oyster Cult. 70’s bands of whom I’ve heard only one song.
There was! I have a perverse interest in those bands.
Amon Duul II is guitar-based Krautrock prog that lasted pretty much throughout the ’70s, though their best period was the first half of the decade. I’d say that they are worth exploring. Amon Dull I was a loose jam band that put out several albums in the late ’60s and early ’70s. I’ve never heard them.
Yes Five Live is great but Jeff Beck era greater.
Granted that the Beck era is longer than the Clapton (or Page) era for the Yardbirds, and that it may not be a fair comparison: but while 5 Live is terrific and all, I reckon that about 90% of what I think are the best Yardbird tracks are with Beck, esp. the post-Clapton, pre-Page recordings of 1965 and 1966.
I bought that first Foreigner album because I liked their look. Those cool looking long coats, the suitcases, the greyish background. I thought my god, this looks like the greatest band ever. I can learn from these cats. From there I immersed myself in all of their studio work, up to and including the Lou Gramm so album. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Mick Jones was in this band, the producer of my favorite album of all time, 5150. If you dont know that one, do yourself a favor and check it out. Any way, the point of this story is that I refuse to buy any Ozark Mountain Daredevils album no matter how enticing the covers are.
Nope, had not joined the clan yet. But I’ll check this out. After reading my work email today, I could use some cheering up.
Ok, just read. Too awesome for words/lyrics.
And since it was so great, I think RTH needs to come up with another song to write lyrics to. “Blurred Lines” anyone?
A timely article about the Yardbirds: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/how-the-yardbirds-revolutionized-rock-live-on-the-bbc-20150724
As you may know, there’s another album called 5150 that Mick Jones produced, the first hunk of crapola from Van Hagar. Interesting coincidence.
Jones also produced Billy Joel’s Storm Front, including “We Didn’t Start the Fire”. Erk.
Mahogany Rush
see, that’s what I’m talking about, the man is a genius. He took a track from a weak band like REM and gussied it up, and said Billy, why don’t you try this, we can basically print our own money when this thing hits big, baby
that’s the record I’m referring too, and not only is it the finest VH album, it’s the 4th best album of the 80’s
No, I’m pretty sure you must be talking about a different record.
Montrose
You’ve never heard any Montrose? their first wo albums, from when it was Sam (not Sammy) Hagar singing are pretty good. Rock radio around here has played Rock Candy, Bad Motor Scooter and Space Station #5 from the first album pretty steadily since 1974. They played the title track from Paper Money and the absolutely laughably bad cover of The Stones’ Connection. The first album is pretty good stoner music. They got really spotty really fast but the first album is good.
Funny, I just heard that first Montrose album a few weeks ago. The guy who played it for me was sheepish about it and seemed surprised that he liked it so much himself. It was surprisingly solid,if we are grading on a scale that takes into account that there is a place in the world for lunkhead riff rock with juvenile lyrics.
No wonder I hate the ’80s! But I love kpdexter.
I described that Montrose record to one of my cool kid friends once. You know the type, they listen to music ironically. Anyways I said Matt, you might like this record, its like the MC5 except it is actually good
It could well be that I have, back in whenever, listening to WCOZ (‘Kick-Ass Rock ‘n’ Roll’) out of Boston, or whatever. But it made no impression on me. Also, it’s hard for me to convey how off-putting I find Sam(my) Hagar.
Ah, it could be that on the (general lack of) merit of the MC5 we find common ground.
If there’s no place in the world for lunkheaded riff rock with juvenile lyrics, then that’s a world I don’t want to live in! You can’t have a steady diet of it, it will give you indigestion something fierce and lead to something like Def Lepparditis or even Bon Joviism in extreme cases. It can go south fast, like this:
https://youtu.be/L_2tb_65FcM
Yeesh. In something of a violation of the spirit of this thread, I just dipped my toes in some Montrose on Spotify, a sort of mini-greatest hits collection (one of Rhino’s HiFive collections, for people too busy, or uninterested, to listen to a whole a whole best of). What a load of crap. Was their mission to make Bad Company look clever and interesting by comparison? If that’s the case, then well done, fellows.
Wow. Can the Rock Crimes police force, Atrocious Covers Special Division, be summoned?
That really is disgraceful.
I’ve got a good Montrose story I need to flesh out in full some day, but let’s just say I could have lost my virginity to one of their albums. It was the first and last time I ever heard Montrose, and the first and last time I would have the opportunity to lose my virginity but not take advantage of that opportunity.
I can well imagine that Montrose was a mood killer.
It was actually better than expected. The issue was that I was a hopeless romantic. I had TRUE LOVE waiting for me a week away. I didn’t want to spoil that, because lord knows TRUE LOVE is forever. In retrospect, I truly regret not getting all I could out of that Montrose record and the young woman I’d just met 2 hours earlier.
Now THERE is a great idea for a topic: What music did you lose your virginity to?
Boy, that’s really bad. “Connection” might not be the most memorable of Stones songs, but Montrose really botched it up with their re-interpretation.
Was just in a rural hipster coffee shop outside of SF, a place that proudly displayed and sold all manner of vintage albums. They succeeded with their Shock and Awe tactic by spinning an album I horrifyingly identified as Chuck Mangione (“Chase The Clouds Away”). They also sold me a cup of coffee.
Rainbow?
I know Krautrock is a thing, and it’s always been a thing, but isn’t it offensive? Why don’t we have Chinkrock, Spicrock and Frogrock? I mean, I get it, rock and roll is far from politically correct and when it comes to women it’s pretty horrible for the most part, but I’ve never understood why we all seem to be just fine with Krautrock. I’m not saying I’m personally offended because I’d have to be one of those people taking offense for someone else in that case, but always seemed odd to me that everyone uses that term and no one ever says anything.
I’ve been seeing Dr. Feelgood albums and CDs in stores and collections since the mid-’70s yet I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything by them. I notice that a couple of their complete albums have been posted on Youtube, so I’ll make up for that gap in my musical knowledge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPTvaBYuilw
Agreed, it is an odd term that only people we would expect to be enlightened enough to know better than to use it use it,
Really? Man, they’re one of my favorite bands. They were best with Wilko Johnson on guitar, which would be the Down By the Jetty, Malpractice, Sneaking Suspicion and Stupidity albums. Gypie Mayo replaced Wilko, and he’s a good guitar player, but Wilko wrote most of their original songs and when he left those songs went with him (not that Wilko did much with himself after he left). A Case of the Shakes is the best Gypie album. There’s some BBC cd’s that are worth hearing, too. After The Big Figure and John Sparks left, then they kind of became The Lee Brilleaux Project to me. What they had that was special seemed gone, but the albums I mentioned are some of my absolute favorite records.
I started listening to them in Jr. High. I have no idea how two kids from the suburbs of Cleveland in 1975 figured out that these guys even existed, let alone listened to them all the time. I think they’re one of the bands that never got airplay here that made me start questioning just what the hell the radio was doing by avoiding these great records and playing shit like Styx and Kansas instead.
I listened to Down By the Jetty last night. Pretty much basic rock and roll – not bad at all. The Stones should have been so good in the mid-’70s. You’re right about the lack of airplay in the US being an unaccountable mystery.
For better or worse, the term “Krautrock” is still used in Rolling Stone, Last.FM, Allmusic.com, Trouser Press.com, Progarchives.com, Spotify, and other music sites and outlets. I certainly meant no offense, but the word is still widely used, not least by the German bands themselves.
The lead track on the Faust album IV, which came out in 1973, is called Krautrock. So I think, since it’s first use was a joke by one of the founding fathers of German ‘kosmische’ music (which is what they called it themselves), it gets a pass.
The track itself btw is not a joke at all :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzPUoG3M9gA
It’s a first rate example of the genre.
Here’s a clip of Dr Feelgood that suggests that their live show was even better than the albums: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-gObDe2Hio Notice how Lee Brilleaux looks like he’s fighting off cardiac arrest at 0:43.
The clip also makes a strong case for the artistic benefits that come from the recreational use of amphetamines.
Side note: when Wilco Johnson was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he decided to forgo traditional treatments and opted to book a world tour instead. I think his illness has taken a turn for the better. I could easily look up the details but I prefer to think it was because of the redemptive powers of rock and roll.
Yes, except that in the back of my mind I am sure I’ve heard something by them. But if I haven’t, I certainly don’t ever plan to.
Just thought of one: Beat Happening.