Paul McCartney And Wings – “Junior’s Farm”

P. McCartney, L. McCartney - Copyright 1974 MPL Communications Ltd.

We celebrate the 201st installment of the podcast by revisiting one of our first subjects– the legendary Paul McCartney and his band Wings, with the non-album single “Junior’s Farm.”

Released in November 1974, this track developed during McCartney’s escape to a Nashville farm during a tumultuous time in his life, following the breakup of The Beatles. Join us as we explore the song’s origins, the dynamic lineup of Wings during this period, and the memorable guitar work of Jimmy McCulloch, who made his mark with this track. We’ll dissect the song’s unique structure, the production choices, and the whimsical lyrics that embody McCartney’s signature style. This episode is a deep dive into a classic that showcases the artistry and evolution of one of music’s most beloved figures.

“Junior’s Farm” (P. McCartney, L. McCartney) Copyright 1974 MPL Communications Ltd.

TRANSCRIPT:

Low life, high life, oh, let’s go down to the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. I’m your host, Brad Page, and we are here on the Pantheon Podcast Network– where fans belong– with another edition of the show where I pick one of my favorite songs and we explore it together.

For those of you keeping count, this is episode 201– the 201st episode of this podcast. Some of you have been with us since the very first episode, and you may remember that on our first show, episode one, we covered a song by Paul McCartney. It was a non-album track; actually, it was a B-Side. Well, here we are, exactly 200 episodes later, so I thought it would be nice to return to McCartney and another of his non-album tracks. This one was released as a single in November 1974; this is Paul McCartney and Wings with “Junior’s Farm”.

The seeds that would eventually develop into this song sprouted back in 1970, during the breakup of the Beatles. It’s a very contentious period for everyone involved; lots of business meetings with lawyers, and McCartney couldn’t wait for those meetings to end so he could escape to his farm in Scotland.

Cut to 1974, when McCartney and the current lineup of Wings, decamped to Nashville, Tennessee. They were invited to stay at a farm owned by Curly Putman, a Nashville songwriter. He was most famous for writing “Green Green Grass of Home”. Putman’s nickname just happened to be “Junior”.

The band’s visit to Tennessee was primarily to rehearse, but Buddy Killen, who had arranged their visit, also happened to own a studio called “Sound Shop”. So, of course, the band eventually ended up at that studio.

They would work up a handful of songs at Sound Shop, including a track called “Junior’s Farm”, which was actually the last song that they laid down at that studio. The band had been rehearsing the track out at the farm, so when they hit the studio, they were ready to record it more or less live.

This was an interesting period for Wings. The previous album, “Band On The Run”, had been recorded as a trio: Paul and Linda McCartney, and Denny Laine. But by this time, they had recruited two new members.

The first new addition was a 20-year-old Scottish guitarist named Jimmy McCulloch. Guitarist Jimmy McCulloch was something of a child prodigy. He started performing professionally when he was 14, and in 1969, when he was just 16, he joined Thunderclap Newman. They had a number one hit in England with “Something In The Air”, a track produced by Pete Townsend of The Who.

After that band split, Jimmy worked on a number of projects and did session work for John Entwistle and Harry Nilsson, and eventually joined the band Stone The Crows. He met Paul McCartney in August of 1973.

Paul’s brother Mike McCartney, better known as Mike McGear, was recording a solo album, and Paul had agreed to produce it. He did more than just produce it, though. He co-wrote most of the songs, and it’s almost a stealth Wings album as Paul, Linda and Denny play on every song… and Jimmy McCulloch was invited to play on the album too. Essentially, it was Jimmy’s audition for Wings, and by May of 1974, Jimmy became a member of Wings.

The next task was to find a new drummer. Paul let the word get out that he was looking for a new drummer, and after his office was deluged with over 400 phone calls, Paul narrowed the list down to 52 drummers who were invited to audition. And out of all those auditions, five finalists were selected. And in the end, a drummer named Geoff Britton was selected.

Geoff was from London, and he had played in a band called East Of Eden, and then with the Wild Angels. One of the songs he jammed on with Paul, Linda, Denny and Jimmy as part of his audition was an early version of “Junior’s Farm”, though it didn’t have a title yet. Like Jimmy, Geoff Britton became a member of Wings in May 1974.

\And this was the lineup that arrived at Curly Putman’s Farm in June of that summer.  Along with Geoff Britton on drums and Jimmy McCulloch on guitar, “Junior’s Farm” features Denny Laine on guitar and backing vocals, Linda McCartney on percussion, Fender Rhodes electric piano and backing vocals, and Paul McCartney on bass and lead vocal. The song was written by Paul and Linda McCartney, and produced by Paul. It was released on November 1, 1974 on Apple Records. This would be McCartney’s final release on Apple.

The song begins with an intro featuring harmonized guitar leads by Jimmy McCulloch and Denny Laine. The core parts of the song had been worked out for a while, but the intro and outro were late additions to the song. They came up with this intro just prior to entering the studio to start recording. Let’s hear just those guitars.

And that brings us into the main groove of the song, which makes up the verse section. You can hear McCartney interject a couple of “Ha”s in there. Before we get to the verse, let’s back that up again.

That is the first of many tasty guitar parts that Jimmy McCulloch adds to this song. This was Jimmy’s debut as Wings’ new guitar player, and he comes out of the gate firing on all cylinders here. Great guitar work by Jimmy all through this song. Jimmy McCulloch is one of my favorite guitar players, so we’re gonna pay attention to his playing throughout this track.

One of the interesting choices in the production of this song is the use of that phasing effect on the vocals throughout the song. That effect is also applied to the guitar at times, too.

That effect was not part of the original recording or the initial mixes done in Nashville. When McCartney returned to England, he made several more attempts to remix the song with various engineers, but he wasn’t happy with any of those mixes. Eventually, in October ‘74, McCartney let an engineer named Alan O’Duffy have a crack at mixing it. And one of the things O’Duffy added was that phasing effect. And this was the mix that finally met McCartney’s approval. That phasing effect particularly stands out on the chorus.

This song has always seemed to have somewhat of an unusual structure, to me anyway.  There are two verses, then the first chorus, and then a guitar solo. Then there are two more verses, two more choruses, a repeat of the intro, then two more verses; one is a repeat of the first verse; two final choruses, and the outro. But it always seemed to me that this guitar solo comes awfully early in the song. I would have expected it to come much later, but here it is, and it is a great guitar solo. It feels improvised. It was clearly done in one take; it’s a little rough around the edges, but it is so well-structured. It flows perfectly, and it’s melodic enough that you could sing it. It’s everything I want in a guitar solo. First, let’s hear the guitar track.

Now let’s hear that in context. And I always loved how McCartney calls out Jimmy by name before he starts to solo.

You get the feeling Paul was happy to show off his hot new guitar player.

That brings us to the third and fourth verses. The lyrics to the song don’t really mean anything. The chorus is just about McCartney’s desire to get out of the city and escape to his farm. The verses don’t really make any sense… they’re not supposed to. McCartney has written a number of songs filled with oddly impressionistic lyrics, and this is one of them. There’s the poker man, the Eskimo, and the sea lion from the first two verses.  This time around, we hear about Parliament, the President. He also references Ollie Hardy– if you remember Laurel and Hardy, the comedy team who were around from the 1920s to the 1950s– and he mentions something about Hardy buying a Gee-Gee who jumped the fence. Gee-Gee is apparently British slang for a race horse.

Let’s bring up the vocals for these two verses.

That brings us back to the chorus. So let’s listen to that, and again, notice that phasing effect on the vocals.

They repeat the chorus again here. That leads into a repeat of the introduction.  The first time around, we listened to just the guitars, so this time let’s hear what the bass and the drums are doing during this part.

Let’s hear the final mix, and notice how that phasing effect is applied to the guitars here.

McCartney’s adding in those “Ha”s again.

Let’s back out the vocals and listen to just the instrumental tracks. For this verse, Denny Laine’s guitar and Linda’s electric piano are primarily in the left channel, while Jimmy McCulloch’s guitar is leaned to the right, and it’s mixed quite a bit higher.

With the vocals in place, there’s one new verse, and then a repeat of the first verse, but this time with harmony vocals added.

Let’s hear just the vocals on that last verse and leading into the chorus.

And that closes out the body of the song and brings us into the outro– completely new part. This was a brand-new section that McCartney came up with in the studio as they recorded it. It was not worked out in advance.

They start to play a few notes of the intro– this time Paul doubles it on his bass– but then they hold a note and shift down to E minor in a dramatically different feel.

Okay, let’s examine a few things here, starting with the guitar part under this section.

And let’s listen to McCartney’s vocal here. This is his most intense vocal performance of the whole song. But before he lays into it, there’s a little bit of studio chatter that was left on the tape. Let’s hear all of that.

And Jimmy McCulloch gets in a few more nice bits before the song plays out. So let’s hear his guitar part.

Let’s put all those pieces back together and listen to the outro in full.

Wings – “Junior’s Farm”.

This lineup of Wings didn’t last long. After recording a handful of tracks in Tennessee, the band returned to England. The McCartneys headed to their High Park Farm in Scotland, where Paul could write some new songs. In late August, the band reconvened at Abbey Road to film a live-in-the-studio performance. Paul had a vision of releasing this as a television special that he wanted to call “One Hand Clapping”. But that footage remained unreleased until 2024.

The band began recording some new material in England in the fall, and then flew to New Orleans to work on what would become the “Venus And Mars” album. But after only a week, it was decided that Geoff Briton just wasn’t the right fit, and he was dismissed in January 1975… his tenure in Wings having lasted seven months.

Jimmy McCulloch was always a mercurial presence in the band; he was young, he was brash, and when he was under the influence of one substance or another, he could be pretty tough to deal with. But he was a brilliant player and a valuable contributor, so McCartney put up with it.  But eventually it just became too much, and Jimmy was let go from Wings in August of 1977.

Jimmy would go on to join the reformed Small Faces, but that didn’t last long. There was a short-lived attempt to put a band together with Brian Robertson from Thin Lizzy, but that fell apart quickly. He recorded one album with The Dukes, which had some promise… but on September 27, 1979, Jimmy McCulloch died from heart failure due to morphine and alcohol poisoning. He was just 26 years old.

Jimmy’s name never appears on the list of top guitarists from the 1970’s, but he’s always on my list of favorites. He could always be relied upon to deliver a concise, tasteful, memorable guitar solo. “Junior’s Farm” is a perfect example of that. I love Jimmy McCulloch’s playing.

 Thanks for listening to this edition of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. I used a few different resources to put this episode together, including an article in Mix Magazine by Barbara Schultz, and especially the fantastic book “The McCartney Legacy, Volume 2” by Alan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair.  Gotta give them all credit for their hard work, and I highly recommend that book for any hardcore McCartney fan.

New episodes of this show come out on the 1st and the 15th of every month, so I’ll meet you back here in about two weeks. If you’d like to support the show, you can head over to oldglory.com and buy yourself a T-shirt or some band merch. They have stuff in stock from all your favorite artists, including plenty of Beatles and McCartney stuff. So place an order and use our discount code “LoveThatSong” to save 15%. That’s oldglory.com, discount code LoveThatSong, save 15%, and you’ll be helping to support this show. So thanks.

You can communicate with us on Facebook, just search for the “I’m In Love With That Song podcast”, you’ll find us.  Or email us at lovethatsongpodcast@gmail.com.

Share this episode with your friends and family and help spread the word. I’ll see you back here next time. Now, let’s all head down to “Junior’s Farm” — everybody tag along. Take me down, Jimmy!

The Police – “Message In A Bottle”

Released in 1979, “Message in a Bottle” was the opening track on The Police’s second album, Regatta de Blanc. The song features the signature sounds of the band: Sting’s evocative vocals and bass, Andy Summers’ intricate guitar work, and Stuart Copeland’s dynamic drumming. But what exactly makes this song resonate with so many listeners, even decades later? Listen to this episode and we’ll find out.

“Message In A Bottle” (Sting) Copyright 1979 G.M. Sumner, published by Magnetic Publishing Ltd and Administered by EMI Blackwood Music in the USA and Canada

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TRANSCRIPT:

Sending out an SOS over the Pantheon Podcast network– it’s time for another edition of the “I’m in Love With That Song” Podcast. My name is Brad Page, and I’m the host of this modest podcast, where each episode we examine a different song, hand-picked from my library of favorite songs. We’ll put the song under the microscope and take a close look at all the elements that make the song work– discovering where the magic comes from. No musical expertise is required here; amateurs and professionals, players and fans, and first-time listeners all are welcome here.

This time around, we’re traveling to 1979 and setting our sights on one of the most important bands of the era. Andy Summers, Stuart Copeland, and Gordon Sumner, who you probably know as Sting: Three very different personalities who came together as The Police and recorded a long list of classic tracks, including this one… a Song called “Message In A Bottle”.

In 1976, Stuart Copeland was playing drums for Curved Air, a progressive rock band, and during a tour of England, he met a bass player named Gordon Sumner, who was a semi-pro musician playing in a local jazz band; he worked as a teacher for his day job. Sumner used to wear a black and yellow striped shirt on stage, which earned him the nickname “Sting” from his fellow bandmates.

The two of them decided to form a band and were joined by a guitarist named Henry Padovani. They played some gigs and in May 1977 released a single called “Fallout”.

That would be the only recording of the Police with Henry Padovani. Sting and Copeland had been working in a side project called Strontium 90, which featured Mike Howlett of the band Gong, and a guitar player named Andy Summers. Summers was ten years older than Sting and Copeland, and had played with The Animals, Kevin Ayers and Dantalian’s Chariot. Now, go back and listen to our “Rubble” episode if you want to learn more about Dantalian’s Chariot.

But Andy Summers had a lot of experience and definitely made an impression with his guitar playing, and he was asked to join the band. The police only played two gigs as a four-piece, and then Padovani was fired, and the famous trio was in: Copeland, Summers and Sting.

In February 1978, the band was offered a spot in a Wrigley’s Gum commercial under the condition that they dye their hair blonde. Apparently, that made them look more “punk”. They were a struggling band, desperate for money, so they said, “sure”. And that’s how the police got their distinctive look– those three blond heads. They did end up filming that commercial, but it was never aired.

Stewart’s older brother, Miles Copeland, was an executive in the music biz and got them a deal with A&M Records. On a shoestring budget, they recorded their first album, “Outlandos d’Amour”.

But the band was not a hit right out of the box. When “Roxanne” was first released as a single in the UK, it didn’t chart. The second single, “Can’t Stand Losing You” did better. But the third single, “So Lonely”, that didn’t chart either.

But in February 1979, “Roxanne” was released as a single in the US and it managed to make it to number 32, which in turn caused it to be reissued as a single in the UK. And this time it made it up to number twelve.

The band came to America in 1979 and famously drove themselves and their equipment all around the country on tour in a little Ford Econoline van. About as unglamorous as it gets. But stardom was on the horizon.

By October 1979, they released their second album, “Regatta de Blanc”, recorded earlier that year on another tight budget. This time, though, that was intentional. They had made enough money off of the first album to cover the cost of the second album, as long as they did it cheaply enough, which meant that they could do it all on their own without any record company interference.

The first single released from the album was “Message In A Bottle”. It’s also the song that opens the album– side one, track one. The song was written by Sting, and features Sting on lead vocal and bass, Andy Summers on guitar and Stuart Copeland on drums.

The song kicks off with the drums and some guitars. Let’s focus on those guitars for a minute. What I’m hearing is two guitar parts, one on the left and one on the right. But they both have a heavy amount of chorus effect on them, which thickens them up and can actually make it sound like more than one guitar. So now let’s just hear the guitar that’s on the left channel. And here’s the one on the right. They sound pretty similar when you listen to them separately, but put them back in stereo, panned left and right, and it really sounds three-dimensional.

Okay, so after that intro, there’s a quick drum fill that brings us right into the first verse. Let’s hear what Stuart Copeland is doing on the drums during the verse.

And that brings us to what I would call the pre-chorus. There’s some layered vocals here, along with an organ that’s pretty low in the mix. Listen for that.

That organ is just kind of holding down a drone or what’s sometimes called a “pedal tone”. Again, it’s really low in the mix. This is one of those things that’s kind of meant to be more felt than heard. But let’s bring that to the front and also listen to those overdubbed vocals.

Let’s hear just sting’s lead vocal.

Listening to that, I’m actually surprised at how restrained it is. He’s singing that pretty softly compared to the energy level of the rest of the parts. And I particularly like that gentle “yeah” at the end of “Message In A Bottle”.

Sounds like Sting clucks his tongue there. Let’s back that up and hear that again.

Just a couple of tasty guitar licks there from Andy Summers. Theres also a few simple but well-placed tom hits that lead us into the next verse.

Copeland is playing something completely different on the drums on this verse than he was in the first verse. So let’s hear a little of that.

That brings us to another pre-chorus. This time, that organ is a little bit more to the front. There’s some more guitar licks there, way in the background, almost inaudible. Let’s bring those front and center.

I gotta admit, I never even noticed those were there before. So let’s back it up and listen to the final mix again. And now that we know those guitar licks are there, let’s see if they pop out to us any better now.

Now, these licks are a lot more noticeable. We haven’t really listened to Sting’s bass part yet, and he’s no slouch on the bass, so let’s hear a little of that.

And now let’s bring in Stuart Copeland’s drum part. His work on the hi-hat is especially great.

And meanwhile, to counterbalance all of that, Andy Summers is playing some lush chords, drenched in that chorus effect. Andy also gets in some more of those guitar licks in the background here. So let’s isolate those.

Now let’s put that all back together and hear the final mix.

I like that extra guitar chord flourish at the end there. It’s almost kind of spacey and dreamy for a few seconds there.

And that brings us into the last verse. Let’s hear the vocal.

Fantastic drumming here by Stuart Copeland. Let’s go back and just listen to that.

They’re multitracking the vocals here, and now they’ve added harmony to the vocal.

More Andy Summers guitar. We’ll listen to that.

Do you ever notice at the very end of the fade, sting does something a little different with the vocal? Maybe it’s a mistake. Let’s see if we can crank that up and hear it a little better.

The Police – “Message In A Bottle”

The Police would go on to release three more albums, total of five albums– studio albums– in their career. It’s a relatively small catalog, but every one of those albums is a classic.

They split in 1986. They did one reunion tour in 2007, but otherwise, they focused on their solo career. I suppose it’s possible there could be another reunion, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. They gave us five great albums and establish a sound that still resonates and inspires today. Thats more than most. Thats enough.

Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the “I’m In Love With That Song” Podcast. I’ll be back in approximately two weeks with another new episode. If you’d like to support the show, head on over to oldglory.com and buy a t-shirt or two. They have a bunch of Police shirts, along with all the other bands that you love. And if you use our discount code, “lovethatsong”, you’ll get 15% off, and we get a little kickback. So it’s a “win-win”, as the corporate weasels like to say.

And please tell a friend about this show, because your recommendations really do help to spread the word.

You can find all of our previous episodes on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com, and you can communicate with us on Facebook. If you’d like to find more podcasts like this, check out the Pantheon Podcast network. Its home to a ton of other music related podcasts.

Well, thanks for being a part of this show, and for listening to this episode on “Message In A Bottle” by the Police.

Humble Pie – “Stone Cold Fever”

Steve Marriott, Peter Frampton, Greg Ridley, Jerry Shirley - Copyright 1971 Unart Music Corp (BMI), UMG Recordings, Inc.

Humble Pie is often overshadowed by bands like Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, and Queen, but they were a considered a “supergroup” when they formed in 1969– fronted by Steve Marriott from the Small Faces and Peter Frampton from The Herd. Their first 2 albums are a mixed bag, but by the time they signed with A&M Records in 1970 they had refined their style down to a bluesy, hard-rockin’ sound. Rock On (1971) was their most successful album to date and features “Stone Cold Fever“, which is itself a stone-cold classic.

“Stone Cold Fever” (Steve Marriott, Peter Frampton, Greg Ridley, Jerry Shirley) Copyright 1971 Unart Music Corp (BMI), UMG Recordings, Inc.

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TRANSCRIPT:

I’ve got a Stone Cold Fever, but I don’t need no doctor!  Welcome to the “I’m In Love With That Song”  Podcast. I’m your host, Brad Page. In each episode of the show, I pick one of my favorite songs and we explore it together, looking at it from every angle, trying to get a handle on what makes the song work, and why do I like it so much? Musical knowledge or experience is not a prerequisite here. We don’t get technical. This show is for anyone who loves music.

This episode, we’re taking another look at one of the best hard rocking bands from the 1970’s, a band that’s kind of overlooked now. They’ve been overshadowed by groups like Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Deep Purple, Queen… those all became iconic bands, but for a while there, Humble Pie was right up there with them. This time out, we’re digging into a song that’s one of their classics, from a pivotal album in their career. This is “Stone Cold Fever” by Humble Pie.

Humble Pie were somewhat of a supergroup when they formed in 1969. Steve Marriott had been the front man for the Small Faces, and Peter Frampton was the breakout star from a Band called The Herd. They got together and formed a new band with Greg Ridley on bass– He’d been playing with Spooky Tooth– and a young drummer named Jerry Shirley. He was only about 17 when he joined Humble Pie.

Now we’ve discussed Humble Pie, and the Small Faces. on this show before, so I’m not going to rehash everything again, you can go back and listen to those episodes. But essentially, both Marriott and Frampton wanted to be taken more seriously as musicians. They were tired of being perceived as pop stars, so Humble Pie was their shot at credibility.

They signed with Immediate Records and released their first album, “As Safe As Yesterday Is”, in August 1969. Interestingly, one of the earliest uses of the term “heavy metal” appears in a review for this album. I don’t think anybody today would describe this album as anything close to “heavy metal”. In reality, this record is kind of a mixed bag with some rockers, but also some bluesy numbers, acousticy folk, and even a touch of post-psychedelic rock.

Their second album, “Town And Country”, was released just a few months later, in November 1969. This one was more acoustic than the first album, but Immediate Records was in financial trouble and they quickly went bankrupt. So this album, “Town And Country”, was never even released in the US at the time.

After the collapse of Immediate Records, they signed a new deal with A&M Records, and the band refocused. Most of the acoustic stuff was gone. They developed a harder, heavier sound and they concentrated on the American market, determined to break through here. Their first album for A&M, which most people in America thought was their first album period, was just called “Humble Pie” and came out in July 1970. It features a great version of the Muddy Waters classic “I’m Ready”.

They continued to refine their sound, and in March 1971, they released their strongest, most successful album yet, “Rock On”. There’s a half-dozen rock-solid songs on this album, including “Stone Cold Fever”. Most of the tracks on “Rock On” had been part of their live set for a while, so they’d worked out all of the kinks and they were well rehearsed by the time they hit the studio to record this album.

The album was produced by the band along with Glynn Johns. All four band members share songwriting credit on “Stone Cold Fever”. The song was performed by Peter Frampton on guitar and backing vocals, Greg Ridley on bass and backing vocals, Jerry Shirley on drums and Steve Marriott on guitar, harmonica, keyboards and lead vocals. The track begins with the guitar riff– and what a great guitar riff this is. It’s played by Peter Frampton in the left channel.

After two times around, the rest of the band starts coming in, including Steve Marriott’s guitar in the right channel.

They add these little trills to the guitar riff. Marriott does it first in the right channel, and then Frampton adds a harmony to it.

Let’s back it up a bit and we’ll play into the first verse. It’s an interesting vocal sound on this track. I used to think that they just used some heavy slapback echo on the vocal to get that sound, but now, listening to it more closely, I think that Steve Marriott actually double-tracked his vocal; he sang it twice. So, the natural inconsistencies in any human performance keep the tracks from sounding 100% identical, which produces the sound we hear on the final mix.

So, let’s try to isolate each one of these vocal performances. Here’s the first one.

And here’s the second vocal.

Now, they sound pretty much the same when you listen to them in isolation, but if we can combine them together, you can hear how those slight differences between the two tracks provide the sound we hear in the final mix.

All right, let’s go back, put that all together, and hear that verse again in the final mix.

That leads us into a new riff. The first time through, Marriott and Frampton play it in unison. The second time around, Frampton plays a harmony which climbs with each cycle.

Next is a short harmonica solo played by Steve Marriott over the main riff. Also notice Jerry Shirley’s banging on a cowbell in the background.

Let’s go back and listen to the two guitars during that verse. They’re essentially playing the main riff, but each of them are playing it pretty loosely, improvising around it as they go along. They’re not trying to play it exactly or perfectly, and they’re not trying to match each other. This gives the recording a spontaneous live feel. Again, its Frampton in the left channel, Marriott in the right.

And that brings us to the second riff with the harmonica.

After that nice drum fill by Jerry Shirley– and remember, he was only about 19 when they made this record– that fill takes us into a jazzy section featuring a fantastic guitar solo by Peter Frampton. Frampton’s name doesn’t often come up when listing the great guitarists, but I absolutely think he’s one of the best. So, let’s hear just his guitar first.

Frampton is an incredibly tasteful player, and his jazz-influenced licks are really distinctive. There’s no one else who really plays quite like him. Now let’s hear how that solo works in the final mix.

Then we get a short harmonica break before the guitarists return with another riff.

The next riff is accentuated with some backing vocals. Let’s hear those backing vocals first.

And now let’s hear that in context.

“Stone Cold Fever” by Humble Pie.

“Rock On” was their best-selling album up until this point, but Peter Frampton was feeling frustrated. He was fine with the harder rocking material, but he wanted more than that, too. And he wanted to be more than just the guitar player; he wanted more opportunity to write and sing. And let’s face it, Steve Marriott was not the easiest guy to deal with. So later in 1971, just after they had recorded a live album, “Rockin’ The Fillmore”, Frampton left to pursue a solo career.

When “Rockin’ The Fillmore” was released, it became a big hit. It’s still the album that Humble Pie is most remembered for, and as Frampton watched his former band’s album climb the charts while he struggled to get his solo career off the ground, he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d made a big mistake. But things worked out for him a few years later, though. That’s a topic for another podcast.

As we’ve mentioned on previous podcasts, Steve Marriott died tragically in a fire, in April 1991, age 44. One of the greatest vocalists of his generation.

Greg Ridley died in November 2003 from complications from pneumonia. He was 56.

Peter Frampton suffers from a somewhat rare progressive muscular disorder called Inclusion Body Mitosis. He initially announced his retirement from music, but he’s still been able to play, so he’s kept going. Above all, he is a true guitar player at heart, and he’ll play for as long as he can.

Jerry Shirley is still with us, and thankfully, as far as I know, he’s still healthy and still playing drums today.

Thanks for joining me here on the Pantheon Podcast network for this edition of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. If you’d like to support the show, and I hope you do, zip on over to oldglory.com and buy a t-shirt or two. They carry shirts and merchandise from all of our favorite bands, and if you’re like me, you can never have too many t-shirts. So support your favorite artists, wear their shirts with pride. And when you use our discount code, “lovethatsong”, you’ll get a nice discount and you’ll be helping out this show. That website is oldglory.com and the discount code is lovethatsong. Thanks in advance.

I’ll be back in about two weeks with a new episode, so I’ll see you then. In the meantime, catch up on all of our previous episodes– there’s over 180 of them now– on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com, or find us in your favorite Podcast app.

Now go dig out some Humble Pie records and rock on with “Stone Cold Fever”.

RESOURCES:

Humble Pie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humble_Pie

Peter Frampton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Frampton

Steve Marriott
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Marriott

Rock On album
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_On_(Humble_Pie_album)

Glynn Johns
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyn_Johns

Rockin’ the Fillmore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_Rockin%27_the_Fillmore

Inclusion body myositis
https://www.mda.org/disease/inclusion-body-myositis

Immediate Records
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immediate_Records

A&M Records
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%26M_Records

Small Faces
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Faces

The Herd
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Herd_(UK_band)

Spooky Tooth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spooky_Tooth

Elvin Bishop – “Calling All Cows”

 Click here to play the podcast
by Earley Dranne - Copyright Excellorec Music Co. BMI 

Strap in for a wild ride with Elvin Bishop and his fiery ensemble as they tear through the raucous track “Calling All Cows“, from the rollicking 1977 live album Raisin’ Hell. We dig into this electrifying live performance that showcases a band at the top of their game. A prime example of the musicianship that made the ’70s a golden era for live albums; Elvin Bishop’s Raisin Hell stands out as a testament to that time.

For those who have never heard Elvin’s work, this episode is a perfect introduction. And for long-time fans, it’s a chance to fall in love with his music all over again. 

“Calling All Cows” (Earley Dranne) Copyright Excellorec Music Co. BMI 

Take advantage of our discount code lovethatsong and save 15% off t-shirts & merch from your favorite bands at OldGlory.com!

TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome to the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. You are listening to us on the Pantheon Podcast Network, and I am your host, Brad Page. And each episode of this show, I pick one of my favorite songs and we dive into it together, listening for all of those little moments, the special touches that make it a great song. No musical skill or knowledge is required here– all you need is a love for music, and you’re going to fit right in here.

Now, usually on this show we focus on studio recordings, looking at how songs were put together in the recording studio. But on this batch of episodes, we’re focusing on live recordings, tracks from some of my favorite, and kind of lesser-known, live albums. On this episode, we’re going to listen to a track by Elvin Bishop from his 1977 live album “Raisin’ Hell”, featuring his smokin’ hot band, showing just how exciting it can be when a really tight group of musicians cut loose and play. This song is six minutes of pure fun. It’s called “Calling All Cows”.

Elvin Bishop’s image has always been as a country boy, a real hayseed. But as is often the case, the truth, it’s a little bit more nuanced than that. He was born in Glendale, California, in 1942, but he grew up on a farm in Iowa with no electricity, no running water, no indoor plumbing. His family moved to Oklahoma when he was ten, but he was a smart kid. He graduated from high school as a National Merit scholar, earning him a full scholarship to the University of Chicago. Ostensibly, he went there to major in physics, but not coincidentally, it just happened to bring him closer to the blues and R&B music that he loved.

While at the University of Chicago, he met a harmonica player named Paul Butterfield, and they would visit the Chicago clubs, learn from the blues greats, people like Otis Rush, Hound Dog Taylor, Buddy Guy. They formed the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in 1963. Though Bishop was the original guitarist in the band, he was largely overshadowed by Mike Bloomfield, who joined in 1965. That’s not surprising, as Bloomfield was one of the greatest guitar players of his generation. Almost anyone would have taken second fiddle to him, but Elvin was no second-rate guitarist.

The Butterfield Blues Band released their first album in 1965 and about a year, later cut their second album called “East West”. “East West” is one of the most influential albums of the 1960’s. Along with a selection of typical blues covers, the album features two lengthy instrumental tracks which let the band cut loose, experiment with jazz and elements of Indian ragas. One of the first albums to incorporate these exotic elements in a rock and blues context.

Mike Bloomfield quit the Butterfield band after “East West”. Elvin Bishop would hang on for two more albums, and then he left, too, to start his solo career in 1968. The first Elvin Bishop group album was released in 1969, and over the course of four or five more albums, Elvin built a band around him of tasteful, flexible players who could really jam.

Donnie Baldwin on drums. Michael “Fly” Brooks on bass, Johnny Vernazza on second guitar. These guys were tight, but these albums were all largely under the radar; none of them were close to breaking any sales records.

A singer named Mickey Thomas had been singing background vocals on the last few Elvin Bishop group albums. But on their 6th album, “Strutting My Stuff”, in 1975, Mickey was promoted to full-time band member and got to sing lead vocals on a few tracks, including a little number called “Fooled Around And Fell In Love”.

That was it. That was the secret sauce. The band needed a group of super-tight players who could really hit the groove. Elvin’s guitar out front and Mickey Thomas’ vocals on top. They had a bona fide hit.

They followed the “Strutting My Stuff” album with their next record, “Hometown Boy Makes Good”, and then in 1977 released a live album called “Raisin’ Hell – Elvin Bishop Live”.

1977 was peak Live Album era; everyone was releasing live albums. Many of them became big hits. This is a pretty typical live album of the period. It’s a double album offering a nice retrospective of Elvin’s solo career with a few surprises thrown in. Robert Christgau, the “Dean of American rock critics”, actually gave this album an A minus. So that’s at least one thumbs up. But I really like this album a lot. It’s a selection of tracks recorded across five shows, from March 1976 through February 1977. This particular track, “Calling All Cows”, was recorded at the February 1977 show at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco. “Calling All Cows” originally appeared on the “Juke Joint Jump” album from 1975. Here it’s expanded a bit to really let the band play. And this was a big band. There’s a lot of players on that stage. Of course, you have Elvin Bishop on lead guitar and lead vocal on this track. Mickey Thomas on backing vocals. Johnny Vernazza on guitar. Melvin Seals on keyboards. Don Baldwin on drums. Michael “Fly” Brooks on bass. Billy Slais on saxophone and keyboards, Renee Slais and Debbie Cathey on backing vocals. And Chuck Brooke, Bob Claire, Dave Grover and Bill Lamb on horns. The album was produced by Alan Blazek.

The song kicks off with a drum fill, and it sounds like there’s some percussion, conga drums maybe in there, too. Then the bass and synthesizer play a funky little riff together.

Elvin’s telling someone to wait a minute, I don’t know if he’s talking to the band or the audience, but this song isn’t stopping for anyone.

I love that bass part right there. They’re hitting such a great groove already. Listen to how the horns punch up certain little bits throughout the song. It’s classic.

And now we got a twin guitar part. Elvin and Johnny V playing in harmony. They’re both playing slide guitar here.

Let’s hear just the bass and the drums. Listen to that groove they’re laying down. Here comes the first verse sung by Elvin with, I think, Johnny V singing along with him.

“We’re gonna have a little milk we’re gonna have a little cream, we’re gonna have a little butter, a little margarine”. I mean, come on, is that great or what? I love this song.

There’s a great little lick in there in the left channel. I think it’s played by Johnny V on guitar. But then again, it could be Melvin Seals on keyboards. Let’s back it up a bit and play into that second verse.

Listen to those horn accents and the way they’re locked right in with the drums. This band is tight.

Let’s bring up those twin guitars. Notice how the guitar solo takes a break for the horns to do their thing, before we go back to the guitars. This isn’t just a free form jam. There’s an arrangement here. It feels like they’re just jamming, but there’s a structure behind it all.

Elvin is going to play a little solo. Listen to how the horns are building things up behind the solo, and then they bring it down to just the groove.

The keyboards get a few licks in here. And now another taste of those twin harmony guitars by Elvin and Johnny V. Another crescendo from the horns and back to the twin guitar riff.

And then the last verse. Let’s back off the vocals and just listen to the groove the band is laying down behind them.

Let’s bring the vocals back up now. Here comes a new little piece with some tasty guitar work. On the studio version of this track, the song just fades out at some point. They added this section, and this is actually where they would end the song live, right there. But by this time, they had added the horn section. And here they let the horns pick it back up right at the break and lead the band into an extended finale. It’s an example of how a song can evolve and grow as it’s performed live.

Listen to the bass and drums build the tension here. And then how the whole band just hits this riff. Listen to that bass.

We continue to build to a big finale. They are not done yet. They are going to squeeze every little bit out of this big ending.

The Elvin Bishop Group, “Calling All Cows”.

Commercial success was fleeting for Elvin Bishop. “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” was his one and only hit. But he’s kept making records and touring. He’s a member of both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame, and he’s been nominated for a Grammy for Best Blues Album quite a few times, though he hasn’t won yet. At 83 years old, he’s still playing, still got a shot at that Grammy. Hope he gets one. He deserves it.

Mickey Thomas would leave the Elvin Bishop Group after this live album, and not long after that, he joined Jefferson Starship. I love Mickey Thomas’ voice, and I expect we’ll hear from him on this show again sometime.

You know, Elvin has always portrayed himself as a fun-loving, good time boy, but there’s more to his life than just that image. Honestly, I kind of hesitate to bring this up because I don’t like to sensationalize things, but Elvin has suffered real tragedy and pain in his life. In August of 2000, both Elvin’s wife and his daughter were murdered. I can only imagine the toll that that must have taken on him. And again, I don’t want to play up anyone’s suffering for the sake of a podcast, but I think it’s important to acknowledge Elvin Bishop as a full person and respect what he’s been through and his ability to carry on.

Thanks as always for being a part of this episode. I’ll be back in about two weeks with another new show. Who knows what we’ll be talking about then, but I hope you join us. If you missed any of our previous episodes, you can catch up on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com or find us wherever you listen to podcasts. We’re on iTunes and Spotify and YouTube and pretty much everywhere you can listen to podcasts.

If you’d like to support the show– and I hope you do– he first thing you can do is to just tell someone about the show, share it with your friends or family, because it’s recommendations by smart, knowledgeable people like you that really help us out.

On behalf of all the shows here on the Pantheon Podcast Network, I thank you for listening. Go out and find yourself a copy of Elvin Bishop’s “Raisin’ Hell” album. Crank it up and listen to this version of “Calling All Cows”.

RESOURCES:

Elvin Bishop
https://www.elvinbishopmusic.com

Raisin Hell Album
Raisin’ Hell – Elvin Bishop | Album | AllMusic

Paul Butterfield Blues Band
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/paul-butterfield-blues-band-mn0000019552

East West Album
East-West (The Butterfield Blues Band album) – Wikipedia

Jefferson Starship
https://jeffersonstarship.com

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
https://www.rockhall.com

Blues Hall of Fame
https://blues.org/blues_hall_of_fame/

Joe Walsh – “Meadows”

 Click here to play the podcast
by Joe Walsh & Patrick Cullie - Copyright 1973 Songs of Universal Inc., Barnstorm Music Inc. and Belkin Music Company

We dive into the electrifying atmosphere of live music on this episode, as we take a detour from studio recordings to explore the raw energy and spontaneous magic of live performances. This time around, we’re sizing up “Meadows” by Joe Walsh, from his dynamic 1976 live album, You Can’t Argue with a Sick Mind.

Join us as we trace the origins of Joe Walsh’s musical journey and examine the intricate layers of “Meadows,” from the driving guitar riff that hooks you in, to the dual drummers and star-studded band lineup that includes the likes of Don Felder, Jay Ferguson, and Willie Weeks. With two drummers, two keyboard players, and a percussionist, you’ll discover how this ensemble manages a tight, uncluttered sound that defines true musicians. Whether you’re a die-hard Joe Walsh fan or just love the thrill of a great live album, tune in and turn it up.

“Meadows” (Joe Walsh & Patrick Cullie) Copyright 1973 Songs of Universal Inc., Barnstorm Music Inc. and Belkin Music Company

TRANSCRIPT:

We are back once again for another edition of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. We’re here on the Pantheon Podcast Network, and I’m your host, Brad Page. Each episode, I pick one of my favorite songs, and we delve into it together to see how it works: what goes into making it a great song? As always, musical knowledge or experience isn’t a prerequisite here. We don’t get into music theory or anything too technical. We’re just going to use our ears and sharpen our listening skills.

Now, usually on this show, we focus on studio recordings, where we can examine how a song was put together, the choices made during production and recording. But in the next few episodes, I want to take a look at some live recordings. There are a lot of great live albums out there, some pretty popular and some really famous ones. You know the ones I’m talking about– from “Frampton Comes Alive” to “Kiss Alive”, Allman Brothers “At the Fillmore East”, Thin Lizzy “Live and Dangerous”, Humble Pie “Performance Rocking The Fillmore”, I mean, there’s just so many great live albums.

But what I want to do is go off the beaten path a little bit and play some probably less familiar tracks that highlight different aspects of what I love about my favorite live albums. This time, we’re looking at a track by Joe Walsh from his 1976 live album, “You Can’t Argue With A Sick Mind”. This is a song called “Meadows”.

Joseph Fiddler was born in Kansas in 1947, but he was an army brat and moved around a lot. His father was killed in a plane crash in Okinawa, Japan, when Joe was only a year and a half old. His mother would later remarry when Joe was five, and he took his stepfather’s surname, Walsh.

Like many kids, he was insecure. Never felt like he fit in. But he had a talent for music. His mom was a classical piano player. Maybe he inherited that from her. He got a guitar when he was about ten years old, but it was hearing The Beatles for the first time that really kicked him into gear.

He went to college at Kent State in Ohio and gigged around regularly with a band called The Measles, and eventually hooked up with the James Gang out of Cleveland and became their guitar player. The James Gang was originally a five-piece. But when their keyboard player and lead singer quit right before a gig in Detroit, Joe stepped up and became their lead vocalist as well.

The James Gang built a following, got a recording contract and released three albums between 1969 and 1971, and they had a pretty big hit with the song “Funk #49”.

But Joe was restless with the limitations of that band, and quit the James Gang in ’71.  He put together a band called Barnstorm and recorded a couple albums with them, which were really marketed as solo albums. The second album featured “Rocky Mountain Way”, which of course became a big hit.

It was around this time that Joe had met Irving Azoff, who became his manager. Azoff was also managing a little band called The Eagles.

In April of 1974, his wife was driving his daughter to school when someone ran a red light and crashed into them. His wife was knocked unconscious, but his four-year-old daughter suffered major head trauma and didn’t survive. As you can imagine, it was heartbreaking and pushed Joe further into alcohol and cocaine abuse.

At the end of 1974, he released his next album titled “So What”. A number of The Eagles appeared on various tracks on that album, and within a year or so, Joe would become a permanent member of The Eagles.

But in November 1975, before he officially joined The Eagles, Joe was invited to appear on “Don Kirchner’s Rock Concert”, one of the all-time great rock music TV shows. So many great performances on that show, and they’re worth watching just for Don Kirschner’s awkwardly stiff introductions. Classic.

Anyway, Joe put together an all-star band and filmed a live show at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on November 26, 1975. It was broadcast on Don Kirchner’s Rock Concert and billed as “Joe Walsh And Friends”. I don’t believe the video of that show was ever officially released; you can find it on YouTube, but the quality is pretty rough. But some of those tracks were released as a live album in March 1976. It was called “You Can’t Argue With A Sick Mind”.

This was the height of live album mania, of course. “Frampton Comes Alive” came out that same year, but this album was a relatively concise single LP. It doesn’t feature everything from the Don Kirchner footage, but it’s really well recorded and well performed. And it’s one of those live albums where I prefer most of these versions over the original studio versions.

This episode we’re listening to the song “Meadows”, which is the second track on this live album. First, let’s have a quick listen to the original studio version, which was released on Joe’s second solo album called “The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get” in 1973.

The live version is a few beats-per-minute faster, as is often the case, but I think the riff and the groove of this song really benefit from being faster. It just feels, well, livelier. And the performance is just great. I mean, look at the lineup of this band:

Of course, you’ve got Joe Walsh on guitars and vocals; Don Felder of The Eagles, also on guitar; Jay Ferguson on keyboards– e was in Jo Jo Gunne and Spirit. We covered one of his Spirit songs in a previous episode. He also had a big solo hit in the seventies called “Thunder Island”.

You also have David Mason on keyboards. This isn’t the Dave Mason who played in Traffic. This is a different David Mason who spent some time playing in Todd Rundgren’s Utopia. You have the great Willie Weeks on bass; he was one of those go-to players. He was on records by David Bowie, George Harrison, Donnie Hathaway, Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder. He just played on tons of albums.

And then there are two drummers on this song, both playing together. Andy Newmark and Joe Vitale. Again, both highly regarded session players. Each of them has a credit list a mile long.

Plus you have a percussionist, Rocky Dzidzornu, also known as Rocky Dejon. He played on tons of tracks, including “Sympathy For The Devil” by The Rolling Stones. Now that is what you call an all-star lineup.

Now, let’s get into the track. It begins with Joe Walsh playing the riff before the whole band joins in. I gotta say, this is one of my favorite guitar riffs of all time. So let’s just hear those guitars for a second.

Let’s go back and hear the full band version. And remember, besides two guitars and bass, there are two keyboard players, two drummers and a percussionist all playing together. But notice it doesn’t sound cluttered. Nobody’s over playing. They’re very tight. Those are signs that you’re dealing with real professionals here.

The verses are a little mellower. The keyboards come more to the front. Jay Ferguson is playing piano while David Mason is on the organ. And of course, Joe Walsh with the lead vocal.

Let’s try to bring up the piano and the organ so you can hear how they interact.

I wouldn’t describe Joe Walsh as a typical singer. There’s a lot of quirks to his voice, but I’ve always loved it. It’s unmistakably him. I think he sounds great on the next part of this verse, so let’s hear that.

The riff comes back. Listen to that bass part by Willy Weeks.

Here’s the next verse. Some things are left unspoken some things are handed down the circle stands unbroken sending it back around.

Around during the verses, Andy Newmark is playing the traditional drum kit, but Joe Vitale is just adding fills, playing kettle drums with a pair of mallets. Listen for that.

Now at this point, we come to a new section featuring a guitar solo played by Don Felder. This is different than the studio version. There’s no guitar solo here on that version.

Now if you listen closely, you can hear a buzzing sound, probably coming from one of the guitar amplifiers.  These days, they’d be able to remove something like that, but I kind of like it when these things are left in. It makes it feel like a genuine live recording, that they’ve captured something real. Let’s bring up Don Felder’s guitar.

Another thing to note about that section is that Joe Vitale switches from playing drums to playing synthesizer. So there’s only one drummer during that section, but there’s actually three keyboard parts.

At this point, the song builds back into the final verse, but there’s still plenty more of the song left to go.

We’re back to two drummers playing here. And this drum fill coming up is one of the few times where it’s very clear there are two drummers on this song.

Some more tasty playing by Willy Weeks on bass and a nice little Joe Walsh guitar lick here.

Now this is interesting: this is where the song seems like it should end. But they add a whole new section– and this is not part of the original studio version. Jay Ferguson is going to play a little bit on piano and then we’re going to get some extended guitar playing from Joe Walsh and Don Felder. That’s Joe Walsh on the right and Don Felder on the left. This is the kind of dueling guitars that these two would perfect on Hotel California, but they did it here first.

And here’s another new piece of music. Again, this is not part of the original studio recording, either. Jay Ferguson is once again going to take the lead on piano and now Joe Walsh is going to take a solo on his own. Let’s bring up Joe’s guitar for a little bit.

Joe Walsh – “Meadows”.

You can find the video of this performance on YouTube. Just search for “Joe Walsh Meadows live” and you’ll find it. It’s worth watching. Joe wears this goofy coon-skin cap through the whole performance. It looks ridiculous, but that’s Joe. It’s such a great performance though.

Of course, The Eagles would go on to massive success before imploding in 1980. Joe continued making solo records, but he descended deeper into alcoholism and drug dependency. When The Eagles started talking about reforming in 1992, they told Joe straight up they couldn’t do it unless he cleaned himself up. And he did. He got sober, and against all odds, Joe Walsh is still with us today– looking, playing and sounding great.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. We’ll be back in two weeks with another new episode. If you missed any of our previous shows, you’ll find them all on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com, or look for them in your favorite podcast app.

Be sure to share your thoughts on this song, or any of the other songs we’ve talked about, on our Facebook page; just search for “I’m In Love With That Song” on Facebook and you’ll find us. And of course, you can always send an email to lovethatsongpodcastmail.com.

And if you’re hankering for even more music related podcasts, well, the Pantheon Podcast Network has a bunch of other great music related shows, just waiting for you to discover them. So check them out.

And as always, if you’d like to support this show, the best thing that you can do is to tell someone about it. Recommend it to your friends, your family, or your coworkers, because your endorsement carries a lot of weight. So thank you.

I’ll see you again soon. Thanks for listening to this edition of “I’m In Love With That Song” featuring “Meadows” by Joe Walsh.

RESOURCES:

Joe Walsh
https://www.joewalsh.com/

The James Gang
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gang

Kent State University
https://www.kent.edu/

Jo Jo Gunne
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Jo_Gunne

Spirit (Band)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_(band)

Todd Rundgren’s Utopia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(American_band)

Willie Weeks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Weeks

The Eagles
https://eagles.com/

Don Kirchner’s Rock Concert
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Kirshner%27s_Rock_Concert

The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get (Album)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smoker_You_Drink,_the_Player_You_Get

Hotel California (Song)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_California_(Eagles_song)

Robin Trower – “Day Of The Eagle”

by Robin Trower - Copyright 1974 Chrysalis Music Ltd

On this episode, we fix our gaze on guitarist Robin Trower. Though he’s not a household name today, he continues to be held in high regard by guitar aficionados. His time with Procol Harum and the formation of his own power trio laid the foundation for a sound that would captivate audiences and inspire countless guitarists. From Trower’s use of the middle pickup on his Fender Stratocaster to the swirling effects of the Univibe pedal, we explore the sonic artistry behind “Day of the Eagle“, and the power of music across decades… from the days when guitars ruled the airwaves and heroes were measured by bend of a string.

“Day Of The Eagle” – Robin Trower Copyright 1974 Chrysalis Music Ltd

TRANSCRIPT:

Greetings, fellow travelers, on the road from yesterday to today… you’ve crossed the bridge into the Pantheon Podcast Network, and your path has brought you here to the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. My name is Brad Page, and each edition of this show, I rummage through my music library and pick one of my favorite songs, and we explore it together. Not in a technical way– we don’t get into music theory here, we’re just listening in a way to uncover those little nuances, those magical moments that make it a great song.

The history of modern music, especially rock music, is replete with brilliant guitar players. So many great guitar players.  We’ve celebrated some of them here. From the earliest sounds of rock and roll, the guitar– and the men and women who wielded them– demanded attention, playing louder, faster, pushing the boundaries of creativity and sonic exploration. Even today, when the guitar is not the ever-present driving force of the music business the way it used to be, there are still plenty of players making an exquisite racket with this infernal instrument.

In some ways, guitar heroes were a dime a dozen. There’s never been a shortage of guitar players. Even now, many of the greats are still celebrated today, but many more are overlooked or just plain forgotten. Well, on this episode, we’re going to shine a light on a player who was one of the biggest guitarists of the 1970’s. He’s not a household name now, but guitarists still hold him in high regard. This is Robin Trower with a song called “Day Of The Eagle”.

Robin Trower was born in March 1945. He was born in London, but during his childhood his family lived in Canada and New Zealand before moving back to London when he was about eight years old. In his teens, he started playing guitar, largely influenced by Cliff Gallup, Steve Cropper, and BB King. He formed the Paramounts with some friends, including keyboard player and vocalist Gary Brooker. They mostly played R&B covers and had a minor hit with their cover of “Poison Ivy”.

The Paramounts eventually split and Brooker went on to form Procol Harum, who had a big hit with “A Whiter Shade of Pale” in 1967. When their guitarist Ray Royer left, they asked Robin Trower to join.

Robin played with them from 1967 to 1971, appearing on their first five albums, though he’s not on “Whiter Shade of Pale”, because that was recorded before he joined. But by 1971, Trower was looking to move on. He was writing more of his own songs, and Procol Harum was dominated by the songwriting of Brooker, Keith Reed and Matthew Fisher. There just wasn’t room for Robin Trower’s songs. Also, Procol Harum was a keyboard-based band, and Robin was itching to play more guitar music.

So he left Procol Harum and put together a band named Jude, a four piece featuring Frankie Miller on vocals, ex-Jethro Tull, drummer Clive Bunker, and James Dewar, who had been playing with Stone The Crows, on bass. But this lineup didn’t work out, and it fell apart before they ever recorded anything.

So, Trower decided to form a power trio, following the example of bands like Cream. Besides playing bass, James Dewar was an excellent vocalist in the Jack Bruce mold, so he took over lead vocals, and they brought in Reg Isidore on drums. The trio of Trower, Dewar and Isidore released their first album, “Twice Removed From Yesterday”, in March 1973.

By this time, Robin was very inspired by Jimi Hendrix, as you can certainly hear on that track. The Hendrix influence is probably most direct on this first Robin Trower album, but the general Hendrix style would remain a part of Trower’s sound.

The band returned to the studio in late 1973 to record new material, which would become their second album, “Bridge of Sighs”, the album that many would consider their peak. It would be their commercial breakthrough, and is still Robin Trower’s most popular album today.

The album was produced by Matthew Fisher, Robin’s old buddy from Procol Harum, and it was engineered by Geoff Emerick, the legendary engineer who worked with the Beatles among many, many others, and is really the one responsible for the incredible sound of this album.

“Day Of The Eagle” is the song that opens the album. Side one, track one. It was written by Robin Trower and performed by Trower on guitar, James Dewar on vocals and bass, and Reg Isidore on drums. The basic tracks were recorded live in the studio. Rhythm guitar, bass, and drums. They nailed it in about two or three takes. The lead vocals and lead guitar were overdubbed shortly after.

The song begins with a heavy guitar riff, accented by the snare drum. Then the bass joins in for the second half of the riff. Let’s hear just the bass and drums there.

Let’s talk about Robin Trower’s guitar sound. He’s using two Marshall 100-watt amp heads with two 4×12 speaker cabs. He’s playing a Fender Stratocaster. It’s just a stock Fender Strat, but one of the unique things about Robin is that he favors the middle pickup. Most guitarists don’t really use the middle pickup much at all, but Robin prefers it, and that does contribute to his sound.

Another highly identifiable thing about Robin’s sound is the use of a Univibe pedal. It creates that swirling, fluid sound, and he uses that a lot on this track. He’s also using a homemade booster pedal, which allows him to drive the amplifier that much harder. There’s no distortion pedal or fuzz box in use here, just the amps cranked up and that boost pedal pushing the sound into overdrive.

Here’s the first verse. James Dewar on vocals.

Let’s back it up and listen to those vocals.

“I’m living in the “Day Of The Eagle” not the dove”. That’s pretty much the chorus. They return to the riff and then the second verse. Let’s pick it up from here.

I Love the way Robin bends those notes there. It’s like he just twists them. We’ll go back just before the second verse.

Back to the riff and then the guitar solo. Very interesting tone for this guitar solo. It’s very mid rangy, a honky, nasal tone. Not a very appealing tone all on its own, but I bet it was chosen for the way it lets the solo sit in the mix. It stands out in contrasts from the other guitar parts.

These tones all start with microphone placement. Jeff Emerick used three mics on the guitar amps: one close up to the speakers, one mic about 15ft away, and a third microphone in between, and he could choose and blend together all three of those microphones. I’d bet that the rhythm guitar is primarily the close microphone, whereas the guitar solo is mostly a blend of the two further away mics. Let’s push the vocals back up again for this last verse.

And now they’re gonna slow it down and change the whole feel of the song.

Let’s hear just the bass and drums for a little bit, and then we’ll bring the guitar back up.

You can hear that they’ve overdubbed an overdriven distorted guitar that takes over the solo here, while the cleaner guitar plays sparingly and quietly in the background.

Robin Trower “Day Of The Eagle”

The “Bridge Of Sighs” album was the record that gave Trower his big break, though he would always be more popular in the US than in his home country of England. Reg Isidore would leave after this album, replaced by drummer Bill Lorden, but James Dewar would stick around for a whole bunch of records: “For Earth Below”, “Long Misty Days”, “In City Dreams”, “Caravan To Midnight”, “Victims Of The Fury”. These were all good records– and great album titles too– though his profile diminished as tastes and trends changed in the eighties.

Record labels and bandmates would come and go, but Robin Trower has released new albums consistently in every decade, a solo career lasting over 50 years.

Reg Isidore passed away in March 2009 – heart attack.  James Dewar suffered from a debilitating condition that caused him to have multiple strokes, eventually succumbing in May 2002. But at the time of this recording, Robin Trower is 80 years old, still with us and still playing.

I hope you enjoyed this journey across the Bridge of Sighs into the “Day Of The Eagle”. New episodes of this podcast come out on the first and the 15th of every single month, so I’ll be back here poking your eardrums again soon. You can catch up on any episodes that you missed on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com, or of course, you can find us in pretty much every podcast player, so wherever you like to listen to your podcast, I’m sure you’ll find us there. And while you’re there, leave a review of the show, and if you’d like to send me a comment, you can do it on our Facebook page or send an email to lovethatsongpodcastmail.com.

To support the show, the absolute best thing you can do is to just share it with your friends. Tell someone about the show because your recommendations carry a lot of weight and I appreciate it.

 On behalf of everyone here at the Pantheon Podcast Network, I thank you for listening. Now it’s time to crank up your turntable, CD player or the mp3 files– however you prefer to listen, and blast out “Day Of The Eagle” by Robin Trower.

RESOURCES:

Robin Trower
https://www.robintrower.com/

Procol Harum
http://www.procolharum.com/

Fender Stratocaster
Fender Stratocaster History: The 1950s | Fender Guitars

Marshall Amplifiers
Marshall Amps – The Complete History (guitar.com)

Univibe pedal
Uni-Vibe – Wikipedia

Cliff Gallup
Cliff Gallup | Vintage Guitar® magazine

Steve Cropper
https://staxrecords.com/artists/steve-cropper/

BB King
https://www.bbking.com/

Gary Brooker:
Gary Brooker – Wikipedia

Geoff Emerick
Geoff Emerick – Wikipedia

Blues Guitar Legends

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 No genre had greater impact of the development of Rock & Roll than the Blues.  And no instrument has contributed more to Rock than the electric guitar.  In this episode, I’m joined by author Pete Prown to talk about the blues guitarists who influenced the sound of Rock (and all the genres & offshoots that followed).  Some of these players became icons, others were forgotten; but they are all important figures in the evolution of the Blues and Rock—and are all featured in Prown’s new book, “The Ultimate Book Of Blues Guitar Legends”, available now.

Get your copy of Pete Prown’s book here:
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-ultimate-book-of-blues-guitars-the-players-and-guitars-that-shaped-the-music-pete-prown/21008373?ean=9780760387566

Wishbone Ash – “Blowin’ Free”

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Wishbone Ash - "Blowin' Free" (Martin Turner, Andy Powell, Ted Turner, Steve Upton) Copyright 1972 Colgems Music Corp./Blackclaw Music Inc - ASCAP

A teenage summertime love affair with a foreign exchange student was the inspiration for this song by Wishbone Ash. Though overlooked in the US, Wishbone Ash reached #3 on the UK charts with the album Argus, which features “Blowin’ Free”. Wishbone Ash’s twin lead guitar sound would inspire many band that followed.

Wishbone Ash – “Blowin’ Free” (Martin Turner, Andy Powell, Ted Turner, Steve Upton) Copyright 1972 Colgems Music Corp./Blackclaw Music Inc – ASCAP

— This show is just one of many great Rock Podcasts on the Pantheon Podcasts network. Gotta catch ’em all!  

TRANSCRIPT:

Hey, it’s Brad Page. I’m back in the studio, powering up the mics and cranking up the headphones because it’s time for another episode of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast, here on the Pantheon Podcast Network. Each episode of the show, we take a song and look at it from every angle, trying to get a handle on what makes a song work. No musical knowledge is required here– you don’t have to be technical, all you got to do is listen.

This time around we are listening to a track from a band that was big in Europe and the UK, but just never really caught on here in America. This is Wishbone Ash with “Blowing Free”.

Wishbone Ash came together in 1969 with Andy Powell and Ted Turner on guitars, Martin Turner on bass and Steve Upton on drums. Though Ted and Martin share a last name, they’re not actually related.

The thing that distinguished Wishbone Ash right out of the gate were those twin guitars of Andy and Ted. Though there had been other bands with two lead guitar players– the Allman Brothers come to mind– Wishbone Ash was one of the first to make harmony guitar parts such an essential element. That was the Wishbone Ash sound.

They released their first album in December 1970. Less than a year later, they released their second record, and in May 1972 they released their third album called “Argus”. It’s the album that most people consider to be their best.

“Argus” was well received, both critically and commercially. It was their biggest selling album, reaching number three on the UK charts. The “Argus” album flirts with progressive rock and hard rock, but it was the upbeat track “Blowing Free”, the closest thing to a pop song on the album, that got them on the radio and exposed to a wider audience, at least in the UK.

The song almost didn’t make it onto the album. The band thought it was too poppy compared to the rest of the record, but Martin Turner insisted that they keep it on the album.

The song is credited to Martin Turner, Ted Turner, Andy Powell and Steve Upton. Martin Turner wrote the lyrics and he plays the bass. Ted Turner and Andy Powell are on guitars and Steve Upton is on the drums. The album was produced by Derek Lawrence and engineered by Martin Birch, both known for their work with Deep Purple.

The song kicks off with a great guitar intro by Ted, and it didn’t have the same impact here in the states, but in the UK, learning that guitar intro was like a rite of passage for British guitar players, like “Stairway To Heaven” or “Sweet Child of Mine”, it’s just one of those intros that seems like every beginning guitar player had to learm. That introduction was actually inspired by an old song by the Steve Miller band called, “Children of the Future”.

They took that and turned it into something of their own.

Before the band fully kicks in, they’re going to change up the guitar riff.

Let’s listen to those guitars again.

You can hear how they’ve panned the guitars to the left and the right to add some differentiation and some dimension to the sound. Martin Turner’s bass part is also great here, too. Let’s listen to some of that.

When Martin Turner was a teenager growing up in a seaside town in southwest England, he had a summertime romance one year with a Swedish exchange student. Her hair was golden brown like a cornfield. When he was looking for lyrics for this song, he reminisced about that relationship and that story of teenage love and loss; that became the song.

Following that verse is a guitar solo played by Andy Powell, most likely played on his Gibson Flying V guitar. He was mostly known for playing Flying V’s. This is a great guitar solo.

Next up is the second verse. Martin’s Swedish girlfriend didn’t speak much English and he didn’t speak any Swedish, but I guess they found some way to communicate. Apparently when he asked her if he could kiss her, she said, “you can try”. That phrase appears a couple of times in this song.

Now the song shifts gears into a quieter, more melancholy section. Every good memory has a tinge of sadness for those lost moments you’ll never relive again.

I really like what Martin Turner’s bass and Steve Upton’s drums are doing behind this section. It’s simple but really effective. This leads us into another guitar solo. This one played beautifully by Ted Turner. Just incredibly tasteful. I think that’s just great. To me, he captures that wistful feeling of recalling old memories.

But that melancholy doesn’t last long. They kick right back into the verse riff, and Andy Powell takes over with another solo.

Let’s listen to some of that guitar.

And they return to the first verse.

More guitar work by Andy Powell. Now some of their trademark guitar harmonies start to appear in the background.

And here we have a slide guitar solo played by Ted Turner. Ted had started to listen to Ry Cooder, one of the great slide players of all time, and it inspired him to play a little slide guitar here. This is the first time Ted had ever tried playing slide.

Guitars start to build up from the background.

“Blowing Free” by Wishbone Ash

In the UK publication “Sounds” magazine, which was a big deal at the time, the readers voted “Argus” the best album of 1972, beating out albums like David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust”, Deep Purple’s “Machine Head” and the Rolling Stones “Exile on Main Street”. That’s some serious competition– that just shows you how big Wishbone Ash was in the UK.

But here in the US, “Argus” didn’t get any higher than 169 on the charts. America just wasn’t that interested in Wishbone Ash, but guitar players– guitar players were paying attention. Bands like Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden would adapt that twin guitar harmony style, and, though largely forgotten by the average listener, Wishbone Ash left their mark on generations of guitar players.

A couple of years ago I was reading an issue of “Classic Rock” magazine and they had an article on this song, which inspired me to dig out that album and eventually inspired this episode. It had probably been 20 years since I last listened to this record, and you know, it’s always great to go back to an old album you haven’t heard in ages and hear it again with fresh ears.  And it reminded me of my past loves, and loves lost.

Thanks for listening to this show. I really appreciate it. New episodes of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast come out on the 1st and the 15th of every month, so I’ll be back soon with another new edition. You’ve been warned.

You can keep in touch with the show on our Facebook page or on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com, where you’ll also find all of our previous episodes. And, of course, we’re available on Amazon, Apple, Google, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, pretty much anywhere you can find podcasts, you’ll find this show.

And we are part of the Pantheon network of podcasts, home to many more music related shows, so check those out too.

Thanks again for listening to this edition of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast on Wishbone Ash and “Blowing Free”.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Wishbone Ash
https://www.wishboneash.com/

Argus Album
https://www.discogs.com/Wishbone-Ash-Argus/master/12065

Pantheon Podcast Network
https://www.pantheonpodcasts.com/

Deep Purple
https://www.deeppurple.com/

Steve Miller Band
https://www.stevemillerband.com/

Ry Cooder
https://www.rycooder.nl/

Classic Rock Magazine
https://www.loudersound.com/classic-rock

Thin Lizzy
https://www.thinlizzy.org/

Iron Maiden
https://www.ironmaiden.com/

Gibson Flying V Guitar
https://www.gibson.com/Guitar/USA3M638/Flying-V

Jeff Beck – A Retrospective

Jeff Beck was the guitar player’s guitar player. Ask the great guitar players who they thought was the best, and chances are they’ll name Jeff Beck. His playing was in a state of perpetual reinvention, always evolving & improving. No mere technician, he was a master of emotion. When Jeff passed away in 2023, we lost a musical giant.

On this, our 150th episode, we pay tribute to Jeff by looking back at his 50+ year career, highlighting some of his finest moments.

Use the discount code “lovethatsong” to save 15% on your favorite band merch at Old Glory!

TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome, friends. I’m Brad Page, host of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. And this just happens to be the 150th episode of the podcast. So, I wanted to do something different, something special with this episode. And one of the things that I’ve been wanting to do for a while is to pay tribute to Jeff Beck, the brilliant guitarist who died last year. Now, I could have rushed out an episode, but I wanted to do this right. Jeff Beck was a legend, an icon, an inspiration to millions of guitar players. And I believe he was the greatest rock guitarist of all time. So I wasn’t just going to throw something together.

Now, usually on this show, we dive into a specific song; we’ve also done shows where we take a look at a particular year, or focus on a certain event or an individual album, but we’ve never done a retrospective on one artist’s career– until now. So, for this, our 150th show, we’re going to explore the extraordinary career of Jeff Beck.

Why? Because you simply can’t capture what made Jeff Beck great in one song, or one album, or even in one decade of his career. Because there is no guitarist in rock history– I repeat, no guitarist– whose style and technique evolved so much over time, that by the end, he was playing like nobody else on the planet. That was no coincidence. It was the result of a restless spirit who could never stay in one musical place for too long. Someone who never stopped learning, who never stopped working on his playing, who just kept getting better. So let’s explore the sound, the passion, and the fury of Jeff Beck.

Jeffrey Arnold Beck was born June 24, 1944, near London. When he was six years old, he heard a song on the radio. “How High The Moon” by Les Paul and Mary Ford.

When he asked his mother what that sound was, she said, “it’s an electric guitar”, as if Les Paul was somehow cheating by using technology. But that made Jeff even more fascinated.

But it wasn’t until Jeff was about 12 years old before he actually played a guitar for the first time. A friend had an acoustic guitar that he wasn’t using, so Jeff borrowed it. That guitar was missing some strings, but Jeff fashioned some, using some wire from an old electric toy airplane. He saw the film “The Girl Can’t Help It”, which featured Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps playing “Be Bop A Lula”. And he was captivated by the playing of Cliff Gallup, the guitarist for the Blue Caps. Gallup would be a big influence on Jeff.

Jeff built his first electric guitar himself out of wood and parts that he scrounged together. He used to carry it around without a case, even strapping it to his back when he rode his bike, so that people would see it. He wanted to be known as a guitar player.

It was around this time that Jeff’s sister told him about this other kid in the neighborhood who also played guitar and decided to introduce them. That other kid happened to be Jimmy Page. Jimmy said “there was a knock on the door one day, and there was Jeff’s sister, with Jeff holding his homemade guitar”. They immediately became friends.

Jeff joined his first band, The Bandits, in 1960 when he was 16, and then joined the Deltones. He bought his first Fender Stratocaster around this time, it’s a big deal.

And in 1963, Ian Stewart, who was playing piano for the Rolling Stones, turned Jeff onto the blues. And Jeff was particularly struck by Buddy Guy, who became another major influence on Jeff.

He eventually joined the Tridents, and this is where he really started making a name for himself. By now, Jeff was playing a Fender Telecaster into a Vox AC30 Top Boost amp, with a Binson Echorec and a fuzz box he made himself. Here’s a recording of the Tridents playing “Nursery Rhyme”, recorded live in 1964.

The Yardbirds had formed in 1963, with Keith Relf on vocals and harmonica, Paul Samwell-Smith on bass, Jim McCarty on drums, and Chris Dreja and Top Topham on guitars. When Topham quit, they replaced him with a hot, young guitarist named Eric Clapton. They were originally a straightforward blues bass band, but when they recorded the more radio-friendly “For Your Love”, that was a bridge too far for Clapton, who immediately quit.

By then, Jimmy Page was an in-demand session player, working in London’s recording studios and playing on hit records. The Yardbirds asked Jimmy to join, but he wasn’t interested. But Jimmy recommended his friend Jeff Beck for the job, and Beck became a member of the Yardbirds.

He joined them just in time to work on their next single, “Heart Full Of Soul”. The story goes that they had hired a sitar player to play on the song, but when they couldn’t get it to sound right, Jeff said, “let me just try it with my guitar”. And using his Fender Esquire and a Sola Sound Tone Bender fuzz box, he put down on tape the first iconic Jeff Beck guitar part.

Many other classic Yardbirds hits followed, including one of the all-time great psychedelic tracks, “Shapes Of Things”, featuring two layered guitar solos incorporating feedback. Groundbreaking stuff.

Another classic was “Over Under Sideways Down”, featuring an eastern-influenced melody from Jeff. Jeff also played bass on this song.

And one of my favorite Yardbird tracks is this one, an instrumental simply called “Beck’s Boogie” that says showcase for everything Jeff had to offer at this time: his tone, his creative playing and his speed.

But Jeff was always temperamental– accent on the temper. If a gig wasn’t going well, or he just didn’t like his sound, he’d kick his amp over or walk off the stage.

In May of 1966, five of the greatest British musicians got together in a London recording studio to form a “supergroup” that lasted for one song. The Yardbirds manager knew Jeff was unhappy and encouraged him to record some solo tracks, thinking that that would ease the frustration. At the same time, drummer Keith Moon from The Who was feeling antsy and looking for a new opportunity. Jeff went over to Jimmy Page’s house; Jimmy was playing his Fender twelve string electric, and they worked up a song that would become “Beck’s Bolero”. A couple of days later, on May 16, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page showed up at the studio; Keith Moon arrived in secret, wearing a disguise; Nikki Hopkins joined them on keyboards, and Jimmy brought in one of his session friends, John Paul Jones, to play bass. Jimmy played his electric twelve string, and Jeff played a Gibson Les Paul.

At one point during the track, Keith Moon screams and he hit the mic with his drumstick, just smashing the mic. From that point forward, all you can really hear of the drums is the cymbals.

There was talk of them forming a band, but they didn’t have a singer. So Keith went back to The Who, Jeff went back to The Yardbirds, and the supergroup never happened.

In June 1966, Paul Samwell-Smith quit The Yardbirds. They had just finished recording the album that became known as “Roger The Engineer” (in my opinion, that’s The Yardbirds’ masterpiece) and they had gigs lined up.  This time Jimmy Page came to the rescue, replacing Samwell-Smith on bass, and on June 21, made his debut with The Yardbirds as their new bass player.

It didn’t take long for Chris Dreja to realize Jimmy Page was just a much better guitar player than he was, so he switched to bass and Jimmy took over on guitar, creating one of the all-time great twin guitar lineups in history: Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, both playing together.

It didn’t last though. Volatile and moody as ever, Jeff finally quit The Yardbirds in the middle of a US tour in late 1966. The Yardbirds continued on as a quartet, with Jimmy handling all the guitar work.

Unfortunately, there are only two tracks that feature the Beck/Page lineup: “Stroll On”, which was featured in the 1967 film “Blow Up “,and “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago”, a psychedelic masterpiece, with Jeff Beck conjuring up everything from police sirens to revving engines and bombs dropping. This track also features John Paul Jones on bass.

So by 1967, Jeff Beck found himself at a crossroads, a situation he would find himself in throughout his career. He’d left The Yardbirds, but what to do next? Mickey Most was one of Britain’s most successful producers, and he figured he could turn Jeff Beck into a pop star. Mickey recorded three pop singles with Jeff. “Hi Ho Silver Lining”, “Tallyman” and “Love Is Blue”.

But Jeff Beck was just not meant to be a pop star. He had no appetite for that side of the business. He started putting together his own band, starting with a lead singer named Rod Stewart and a guitarist, Ron Wood, who switched to bass. Mickey Waller joined them on drums, and the first Jeff Beck Group was born. With the support of Peter Grant, who would become Led Zeppelin’s manager, the Jeff Beck gGroup signed to Epic Records and released their first album, “Truth”, in July 1968.

Whereas the Yardbirds mix blues with pop and psychedelia, the Jeff Beck Group’s debut album is a slab of heavy blues rock, beating Led Zeppelin to the punch by about five months.

Their second album, “Beckola”, followed in June 1969. This album featured Tony Newman on drums with Nicky Hopkins on piano. And if anything, it’s even heavier than its predecessor.

Both albums sold well, but the writing was on the wall and the band split up. They were supposed to play at Woodstock, but Jeff backed out. He didn’t think they were good enough. Rod Stewart, Ron Wood, and Mick Waller would go on to record Stewart’s first solo album, and then Stewart and Wood joined the Faces… but that’s a story for another podcast.

Meanwhile, Jeff formed a new Jeff Beck Group and released two more albums in ‘71 and ‘72. Though both records have their moments, neither is particularly strong and didn’t do particularly well, either critically or commercially. The albums are most notable for introducing two musicians, Max Middleton on keyboards and a drummer named Cozy Powell.

So Jeff broke up the band and tried his hand at another supergroup, teaming with bassist Tim Bogart and drummer Carmine Appice, who had played together in Vanilla Fudge and Cactus.

Around this time, Stevie Wonder got Jeff to play on the song “Looking For Another Pure Love”, which would appear on Stevie’s next album, “Talking Book”.

One day, while messing around in the studio together, Stevie came up with the riff to “Superstition”. He finished writing the song with the intention of giving it to Jeff, but when Motown heard the song, they insisted that Stevie record it, put it on the album, and release it as a single. But Beck, Bogart, and Appice did record a version of it, and it’s probably the highlight of the one studio album they released together.

Once again, egos and personality conflicts took over and the band split. So Jeff found himself at another crossroads. He wasn’t really getting anywhere in terms of critical or commercial success, and he felt he was spinning his wheels creatively. Something had to change.

So he went into the studio with Max Middleton, who played on the last couple of Jeff Beck Group albums, along with Phil Chen on bass, and drummer Richard Bailey, and a producer named George Martin– the same producer who worked with The Beatles, along with many others, including John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra, who Jeff was really into at that point.

Together, they produced an album that took Jeff into a totally new direction, a jazz/rock/funk fusion that was unique. Didn’t sound like anything else at that time. But it wasn’t just the style of the music that changed. Jeff actually changed the way he played, a different way of approaching the guitar, reinventing his style and technique.

The album was called “Blow By Blow”, and it turned out to be his most commercially successful album ever. An all-instrumental album, no vocals, that made it to number four on the Billboard chart and earned Jeff a whole new level of respect.

Let’s look at a couple of tracks from the “Blow By Blow” album. This is my personal favorite Jeff Beck album. I can’t say for sure, but from what we know, Jeff was probably using his 1954 Gibson Les Paul with an Ampeg VT40 amp, Crybaby Wah Wah pedal, Colorsound Overdrive and a ZB Custom volume pedal.

One of the standout cuts on the album is a song called “Thelonious”, written by Stevie Wonder, and though he’s not credited on the album, Stevie actually plays clavinet on this track.

Another fan favorite is “Freeway Jam”, which became a staple of Jeff’s live performances. Seems pretty clear to me he’s playing a Fender Stratocaster on this one.

One of the outstanding moments on the album is “Because We’ve Ended As Lovers”, also written by Stevie Wonder. Another one of Jeff’s favorite guitarists was Roy Buchanan. Jeff dedicated this song to Roy, and you can hear Roy’s influence on Jeff’s playing here. This is one of Jeff’s greatest performances, and the song remained part of his live gigs for years. On this track, I believe Jeff was playing a modified Fender Telecaster with Seymour Duncan humbucking pickups installed in it.

Jeff hit the road in 1975, touring with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, then he returned to the studio with George Martin to record his next album, “Wired”. This time the band featured Jan Hammer on synthesizer– he played a key role in the sound of this album, pushing the music further into the jazz fusion direction. Jeff toured with the Jan Hammer Group in 1976 and they recorded a live album together.

Here’s another track from the “Wired” album, this is Jeff’s version of the Charles Mingus classic “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”.

Jeff recorded one more album in the jazz fusion arena called “There And Back” in 1980, and then he went quiet for a few years. His next album came out in 1985, called “Flash”. It’s kind of a hodgepodge, probably his most commercially oriented album. It’s also my least favorite Jeff back album.

You got the feeling that Jeff was at another crossroads, not sure where to go next, so he just retreated from the public eye again. But he didn’t stop playing. In fact, his playing went through the most radical reinvention yet. He stopped using a pick, developing his own unique finger style, and he developed a way of incorporating the Stratocaster’s vibrato arm, the whammy bar, into his playing that was entirely unique. Sui generis, unlike anything else. This was not the Van Halen dive bombs or the Hendrix freakouts; this was an extremely controlled use of the vibrato, using sustain feedback and a surgical like use of the whammy bar to create microtones– notes between the notes, sounds you shouldn’t be able to make on a guitar. It took years of painstaking work for him to develop this way of playing. I’m simply in awe of it.

This technique was in full display on his next album, “Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop”. Released in 1989, this album features Tony Hymas on keyboards and legendary drummer Terry Bozzio. And it’s another left-turn for Jeff’s career, incorporating the sounds and technology of the ‘80’s into his music.

But the highlight of the record is a track called “Where Were You” that fully displays his new approach to playing. Using just the volume control on his Strat, along with the vibrato arm, he manipulates fretted notes and harmonics to produce a hauntingly beautiful vocal-like sound.

Jeff went on a co-headlining tour with Stevie Ray Vaughan and it was very successful. But when it was over, he stepped back again, this time due to his increasing issues with tinnitus, a severe ringing in the ears.

Jeff spent the next few years doing occasional session work and guest appearances, turning up on records by John Bon Jovi and Roger Waters. Then in 1992, he released two almost simultaneous projects, and they couldn’t be more different. One of them was the soundtrack to a TV series called “Frankie’s House”. The other was a tribute to his original guitar hero, Cliff Gallup– an album of Gene Vincent covers called “Crazy Legs”. Here, he sets aside all of his newly-developed technique and pays tribute to Gallup by emulating that classic sound and style.

Occasional session work followed, and one big tour in 1995 with Santana, but we didn’t get any new music until 1999, when he released “Who Else!”, The first of three albums inspired by electronica and bands like The Prodigy. It was also the first album where Jeff worked with another guitarist, Jennifer Batten. Jennifer was one of the most sought after hired gun guitarists in the late 80’s and 90’s. She toured with Michael Jackson for ten years. But Jeff was one of her heroes and she jumped at the chance to work with him.

Jennifer was a major contributor to the album and co-wrote the song “What Mama Said”.

That album was followed a year later by “You Had It Coming”, an album that again featured Jennifer Batten, with a guest appearance by Imogene Heap on a version of the old Muddy Waters classic, “Rollin’ And Tumblin’”

This album also features what I think is one of Jeff’s crowning achievements: a simply stunning track called “Nadia”. He had heard the track originally recorded by Nitin Sawhney and was fascinated by the female vocal melody.

This vocal style makes use of microtones that aren’t part of our western musical notation. These are notes that aren’t playable on a traditional guitar. But Jeff, using his meticulous vibrato bar technique, painstakingly learned that vocal melody, phrase by phrase. I can’t even begin to explain the complexity and difficulty of pulling off something like this, but Jeff did it, and would continue to do it as part of his live show.

Jeff released a third electronica-themed album, simply called “Jeff” in 2003, which included another of his vocal adaptations, this time drawing inspiration from the Bulgarian Female Vocal Choir on a track called “Bulgaria”.

That was a very fertile period for Jeff, releasing three albums within four years. He hadn’t been that prolific since the early 70’s. But after that last album, he stepped back again. He did release a live album in 2008 that’s one of my top favorite Jeff Beck records. It’s called “Live At Ronnie Scott’s” and Jeff is just brilliant on that album. It features an amazing version of the Beatles song “A Day In The Life”, which he won a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

In 2009, he was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame for the second time, as a solo artist. (He was already inducted as a member of The Yardbirds.) In 2010, he returned with his 10th studio album called “Emotion And Commotion”. Half of those tracks featured guest vocalists like Joss Stone and Imelda May. The other half were instrumentals. Here’s one called “Hammerhead”.

Absolutely ferocious. Jeff was 65, 66 years old when this record came out, and he was still as fierce a player as ever. But of course, he could also be incredibly delicate. The same album includes a beautiful version of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”, recorded in the studio with a live 64-piece orchestra.

Six years later, in 2016, he released what would be his final solo album, a record called “Loud Hailer”. And this is one of my favorite Jeff Beck studio albums. Jeff had heard these two women, vocalist Rosie Bones and guitarist Carmen Vandenberg– they have a band called Bones UK– and Jeff liked what he heard and asked them to collaborate on this album.

Now, let me point out one thing that’s worth noting here: going back to Jeff’s work with Jennifer Batten, through his tours featuring the great bass players Tal Wilkenfeld and Rhonda Smith, to this album where he shared the spotlight with Rosie and Carmen, Jeff was a real supporter of women musicians.  Not just for novelty or “eye candy”, these were all women who could really play and deserved to be there. But he gave these women a chance in the spotlight and brought them in front of new audiences around the world. He deserves some credit for that.

Almost all of the tracks on “Loud Haler” are co-written by Jeff, Carmen and Rosie, and shows, once again, Jeff fitting his style into a modern context.

Jeff would release one more album, kind of a one-off duo with Johnny Depp in July 2022. And then on January 10, 2023, Jeff Beck died from a bacterial meningitis infection. He was 78 years old.

It was a shock in the guitar playing community. Virtually every guitarist you can think of paid tribute to Jeff.

There have been many great guitar players; I believe Jeff was the greatest. There are many reasons why– I won’t go through them all, but here’s just one reason: Jeff never stopped getting better. His playing grew and changed and improved.

Let’s look at most of the iconic players. Of course, Jimi Hendrix died young, so we don’t know what his playing would be like now. Same for Randy Rhodes and Stevie Ray Vaughan. But let’s look at Eric Clapton, who I really admire as a player, but some people think his playing peaked with cream in the 60’s, others think it peaked in the 70’s… But either way, if you listen to Eric Clapton today, has he evolved much since then?

Let’s look at Jimmy Page– Again, another player who I absolutely love, but has he done anything that surpassed his work in the 70s?

What about Eddie Van Halen? His guitar playing shook the world in 1978, but from then to his death in 2020, can you honestly say his playing radically improved or changed? I don’t hear it.

No disrespect meant to Eddie, or to Brian May or Tony Iommi… Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Steve Morse, Joe Bonamasa, they may all be better technical players, in terms of speed or knowing more theory, but none of them– no one– revamped, revised, rebuilt their style and technique from the ground up as much, or as often, as Jeff Beck. None of them changed and evolved and improved over the course of their career as Jeff Beck. And he was still improving. He was never satisfied and he was always pushing himself to get better.

There is no contemporary or current guitarist who continually developed and improved over their career like Jeff Beck. Nobody who went from this:

To this:

To this.

To the point where he was playing radically different and better in his 70’s than he did in his 20’s. It’s amazing, nobody could touch that technique. He was one of a kind.

There are new generations of brilliant guitarists, from Bumblefoot to Buckethead. players like Omar Garcia-Lopez, Tosin Abbasi, Plini, Rabia Massad… they are all brilliant players at the top of their game, but we’ll see– when they’re in their 70’s, will their playing have evolved and deepened as much as Jeff Beck’s?

Thank you for joining me for this special episode looking at the career of Jeff Beck. Trust me when I say we’ve just scratched the surface of his work. Go pick up some of his albums. A great place to start is the “Live At Ronnie Scott’s” album. There’s also a great documentary called “Still On The Run”, which I highly recommend.

I’ll be back in two weeks with another new episode. Thanks for being a part of the last 150 shows, and if that’s not enough, you’ll find even more shows on the Pantheon Podcast Network, enough to satisfy any music junkie.

Please keep in touch and until the next time, I’ll leave you with one final track. This is from the aforementioned “Live At Ronie Scott’s” album. It’s the live version of Jeff playing “Where Were You”. This is how he closed that show, and it’s a fitting way to close out this episode. Jennifer Batten described this as “basically impossible, it’s an impossible tune”. Well, impossible for anyone– except Jeff Beck.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Jeff Beck
https://www.jeffbeck.com/

The Yardbirds
https://theyardbirds.com/

Les Paul and Mary Ford
https://www.les-paul.com/

Cliff Gallup
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Gallup

Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Vincent

Stevie Wonder
https://www.steviewonder.net/

Rod Stewart
https://rodstewart.com/

The Faces
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faces_(band)

George Martin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Martin

Mahavishnu Orchestra
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavishnu_Orchestra

Jennifer Batten
https://www.batten.com/

Imogen Heap
https://www.imogenheap.com/

Tal Wilkenfeld
https://www.talwilkenfeld.com/

Rhonda Smith
https://www.rhondasmith.com/

Bones UK
https://www.bonesuk.com/

Still on the Run” Documentary
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5256544/

Live at Ronnie Scott’s Album
https://www.discogs.com/Jeff-Beck-Performing-This-Week-Live-At-Ronnie-Scotts/release/1734350

Jimi Hendrix/Band Of Gypsys – “Message Of Love”

"Message Of Love" (Jimi Hendrix) Copyright 1970 Experience Hendrix LLC

It’s never a recipe for making great art when you’re under pressure to deliver an album to a rival record label due to contractual obligations… though Jimi Hendrix was never satisfied with the result, the Band Of Gypsys album became a very influential album and remains a favorite among Jimi fans and guitar players of all stripes. On this episode, we journey back to New Years 1970 to explore “Message of Love” from this legendary album.

“Message Of Love” (Jimi Hendrix) Copyright 1970 Experience Hendrix LLC

 — Hey, I was just thinkin’… now would be as great time for you to check out the other Rock Podcasts on the Pantheon Podcasts network!

TRANSCRIPT:

Greetings to all, here on the third stone from the sun and beyond. This is the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast beaming across the cosmos on the Pantheon Podcast Network. I’m your host, Brad Page, and each episode of the show, I pick a song and we explore it together, listening to all the nuances that make it one of my favorite songs. You don’t need any musical skill, knowledge or experience here– just a love for music and a little curiosity.

Well, here we are at the start of a brand new year, and I was trying to think of an appropriate subject for a January 1st episode. I thought, “we’ve talked about a lot of guitar players on this show…” I love guitar players. But I realized that, after over 140 shows, we’ve still never talked about one of the most important guitarists of all time. So let’s rectify that. It’s about time we talked about Jimi Hendrix.

Of course, Jimi Hendrix is a legend, with a legacy of some really important and influential records. It’d be tempting to pick a song like “Purple Haze” or “Voodoo Child”, “All Along The Watchtower”, or his version of “The Star Spangled Banner”. Those are all historically important tracks. But I wanted to do something different.

So, I chose a song from very late in his career when Jimi was at a turning point in his career– at a crossroads, to use a cliche. So, we’re going back to a New Year’s Eve over 50 years ago, when 1969 gave way to 1970, with Jimi Hendrix and the Band of Gypsys ringing in the new year at the Fillmore East, playing “Message Of Love”.

[Music]

Everybody knows that Jimi Hendrix is a legend, an icon. There are literally dozens of books written about him; there are documentaries. So I’m not going to go over a detailed history of Hendrix, but to understand how Jimi Hendrix ended up playing at the Fillmore East on New Year’s Eve, first we have to go back to his early years in New York City.

Jimi Hendrix was a working musician, paying his dues and playing as a sideman to people like the Isley Brothers and Little Richard. In 1965, he ended up as a guitarist in Curtis Knight’s band, playing cover songs on the New York and New Jersey circuit. Jimi eventually grew tired of that and formed his own band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames.

It was during a stint playing in Greenwich Village, New York, when he was“discovered” by Chas Chandler, former bassist for The Animals, who was transitioning into being a manager. Chandler brought Jimi over to England, and they put together the Jimi Hendrix experience with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell. And the rest, as they say, is history.

 Now here’s where things get messy. Back in ‘65, when he was playing with Curtis Knight, Jimmy had signed an exclusive recording contract with a guy named Ed Chaplin. Jimi had also signed a contract with producer Juggie Murray. But hey, look, Jimi was a struggling musician, just trying to find some success– any success. He was a guitar player, not a lawyer, and he was naive. He’d sign anything if he thought it could help him at the time.

But now, with the Jimi Hendrix Experience having hit records on the Warner Brothers label, Ed Chaplin came a calling in 1967 with his contract from two years earlier, and he sued.

Hendrix had made some recordings with Curtis Knight back in ‘65. Those records are not very good, but Chaplin licensed them to Capitol Records, who then released two albums worth of that stuff. In fact, at one point, you had the legit Warner Brothers records competing against the Capitol stuff at the same time.

Here’s a song from the Curtis Knight sessions; it’s an instrumental called “Knock Yourself Out”, which Jimi got a co-writing credit on.

{music]

Eventually, a settlement was arranged with an agreement that Ed Chaplin and Capitol Records would get the rights to one Jimi Hendrix album. Hendrix had just finished recording “Electric Ladyland”, which was a double album, so it was agreed that the next album would be given to Capitol.

But things in the Hendrix camp were tough. First, Chas Chandler had left the fold, and not long after, Noel Redding quit.  Jimi brought in his old army buddy, Billy Cox, to play bass. Then Jimi rounded up a bunch more musicians, adding additional percussionists and a second guitar player. He called the band “Gypsy Sun and Rainbows”, and this was the band that played at Woodstock.

[Music]

But a month later, Jimmy broke up that band. It just wasn’t working for him.

Meanwhile, the pressure is on. He still owes one album to Capitol, and Jimi didn’t even have a band. So, Jimi, Billy Cox, and drummer-vocalist Buddy Miles put together a band. They made a deal with promoter Bill Graham to play four shows at the Fillmore East in New York: two shows on New Year’s Eve, and two shows on New Year’s Day, 1970. All four shows would be recorded, and they would release the best tracks as a single live album to fulfill the Capitol Records contract.

Before the show, Jimi, Buddy and Billy, calling themselves “Band of Gypsys”, worked up a set consisting mostly of new material, including “Machine Gun”, one of Jimi’s most incredible guitar performances.

Both Buddy and Billy were veterans of R&B bands, and they brought a funkier, soulful groove to the songs that the Jimi Hendrix Experience just never had. Buddy was also a great singer, too. His lead vocals are featured on two songs on the “Band of Gypsys” album. Buddy introduces this track on the record.

[Music]

The song starts off with a chromatically ascending riff before kicking off into the main riff of the song.

[Music]

Let’s just hear Jimi’s guitar on that riff.

[Music]

Behind that, Billy Cox is playing a pretty busy bass part over a pretty simple drumbeat, laid down by Buddy Miles. Let’s hear their parts.

[Music]

They only play through that riff twice before starting the first verse, which is a variation on the main riff, simplified a bit to leave room for the vocals.

[Music]

I really like the backing vocals there. One of the things about Jimi’s previous band, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, was that they didn’t have a strong vocalist in the band to back up Jimi. Buddy Miles was a powerhouse singer, and he adds a lot. And with Billy Cox chipping in, these backing vocals were kind of a whole new sound for Jimi.

[Music]

After a few lines of the verse, we get a new short riff with Jimi and Billy playing the same part together mostly. And that brings us back to the verse riff.

[Music]

And that brings us to another new riff. This one’s a little more rapid fire, with Jimi and Billy doubling the part, and Buddy scat singing the riff with them.

[Music]

Now here we have a somewhat quieter or gentler part. Jimi is playing some of those chords he was famous for; as much as he’s thought of as an incredible lead guitarist– and he was– he was also a killer rhythm player.

[Music]

Jimi’s rhythm guitar playing is as identifiable as his lead playing. Let’s hear this part again without the vocals, so that we can hear a little more of his guitar.

[Music]

The verse riff, the backing vocals come back in, but this time, Jimi’s just going to vamp a bit around the riff. At this point, Jimi is going to crank up the volume and play a solo, and I think now is as good a time as any to talk about Jimi’s guitar sound. Though he played other guitars, Jimi was primarily associated with the Fender Stratocaster. As a left-handed player, he would take a right-handed Strat, flip it upside-down and restring it, and that’s what he was playing this night with the Band Of Gypsys.

Now, playing the guitar upside-down like that meant that things like the volume & tone controls and the vibrato arm were in a different position than they would be if you were playing it normally. And Jimi was able to take advantage of that, particularly with the vibrato or whammy bar.

Jimi also pretty consistently used Marshall amplifiers, I think typically Super 100’s, but don’t quote me on that. But that was the standard beginning and end of his signal chain: a Fender Strat into a Marshall amp. But what went between his amp and guitar? That’s another story that changed frequently.

Jimi was always looking for new sounds, and he would explore any new effects gadget that came his way. Guitar effects pedals were still a relatively new thing in the late 60’s. Jimi was friends with a guy named Roger Mayer, an electrical engineer who had worked for the British Navy. He started building effects devices for guitars, like fuzz pedals, and one of the earliest units he built was the Octavia, which takes the input signal from the guitar and generates that sound one octave higher, then mixes it back in with the original guitar sound, and adds distortion or fuzz. Like most guitar pedals, it would sit on the floor between your guitar and amp, with a button you’d press with your foot to turn it on and off.

Jimi first used the Octavia on the solo for “Purple Haze” in 1967. Roger Mayer would continue to tweak and modify the Octavia for Hendrix. And Jimi was using one of those later versions for this Band Of Gypsys show.

You can hear the Octavia most notably on the song “Who Knows” from this show. Jimi was also using a fuzz pedal built by Roger Mayer. It was either a Fuzz Face or an Axis Fuzz, depending on what you read. He had two other effects pedals on stage this night: a Vox wah-wah pedal, which you can hear on the song “Changes”:

[Music]

And he was using a Univibe, a new and pretty innovative pedal for its time. It’s a little tough to explain what a Univibe actually sounds like– it’s a cross between phasing, a chorus sound, and vibrato, but you can hear it in action on the song “Machine Gun”.

[Music]

Now, there is one other thing to take into account regarding Jimi’s guitar sound, and that’s the order in which the effects are plugged into each other. Believe it or not, it makes a big difference in the sound. For example, a wah-wah pedal plugged into a fuzz pedal sounds significantly different than the other way around, a fuzz pedal plugged into a wah. This can lead to endless rounds of debate and conjecture, but luckily, we have some photographs from this show that pretty clearly show the sequence of his pedals that night:

His guitar is plugged into a Vox wah-wah pedal, which is plugged into the Octavia, which is plugged into the Fuzz Face, that’s plugged into the Univibe, and then that is finally plugged into his Marshall amplifier. Wah pedal, Octavia, Fuzz pedal, Univibe.

Okay, so back to “Message Of Love”. At this point, the fuzz is really going to kick in, and Jimi’s going to go for his first solo.

[Music]

And now, Jimi’s going to step on that wah-wah pedal.

[Music]

Now Jimi’s gonna hit a harmonic and quickly bend it down with the whammy bar, then turn off the wah pedal for the rest of the solo.

[Music]

You can hear them slow the tempo down there.

[Music]

The band is going to break, and then Jimi is going to do a little scat singing, this time singing along to his guitar part.

[Music]

They’re gonna build it back up here. Jimi and Buddy are gonna add some vocals.

[Music]

It sounds a little rough coming back into the riff there. I can’t imagine they had more than a handful of rehearsals before these shows, so there’s bound to be some rough spots. But that’s what makes this a truly great live album. There’s a real “edge of your seat” energy to this record. They didn’t go back and fix up every mistake– this is how it really went down that night, New Year’s 1975.

Jimmy’s gonna cut loose with the second solo. Let’s focus in on Jimmy’s guitar.

[Music]

They bring back that chromatic climb from the beginning of the song to wrap it all up. Jimi’s just messing around with the whammy bar and some feedback.

[Music]

The Band of Gypsys – “Message Of Love”

The song has also been credited as “Message To Love”, but on all the versions of “Band of Gypsys” that I have, it’s referred to as “Message Of Love”. So that’s what I’m sticking with.

The “Band of Gypsys” album was commercially very successful. Critics didn’t necessarily love it, and Hendrix himself was never satisfied with it; he felt it was rushed and it didn’t sound great, and if it wasn’t for the contractual obligations, he wouldn’t have released it. Not that it mattered. By the time the album was released, the band had already broken up.

But the album has gone on to be very influential, paving the way for future funk rock acts. And it was an important touchstone, particularly for black artists making their mark in the rock world, like Living Color and Lenny Kravitz. And it remains one of my favorite Jimi Hendrix records, and just favorite guitar records in general.

Thanks for joining me for this musical journey on the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. As always, I’ll be back in about two weeks with another new episode. Until then, get your fix of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast by listening to any of our previous shows on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com, or find us on your favorite podcast app.

You can keep in touch with us on Facebook, just look for the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast to find our page. And please support the show by sharing it with your friends and just telling somebody about it.

On behalf of the Pantheon Network of podcasts, I gently remind you to support the artists that you love by buying their music, and I’ll see you back here next time. Thanks for listening to this episode on Jimi Hendrix and the Band of Gypsys. Happy New Year, everyone.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Jimi Hendrix
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Hendrix

Band of Gypsys
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Band_of_Gypsys

Message of Love
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Message_of_Love

Fillmore East
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fillmore_East

Fender Stratocaster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Stratocaster

Marshall amplifier
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Amplification

Octavia pedal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavia_(effect)

Fuzz Face
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuzz_Face

Univibe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univibe

Wah-wah pedal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wah-wah_pedal

Billy Cox
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Cox

Buddy Miles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Miles