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!

Blue Oyster Cult – “Transmaniacon MC”

"Transmaniacon MC" - Sandy Pearlman, Albert Bouchard, Donald Roeser, Eric Bloom Copyright 1972 Sony/ATV Tunes, LLC

Dive into the world of Blue Oyster Cult with our latest episode, where we explore their fan-favorite track, “Transmaniacon MC” from their debut album. Discover the band’s history, the creative minds behind their lyrics, and the unique sound that defined them as the “Thinking Man’s Heavy Metal Band.” Curious about the story behind their enigmatic lyrics? Tune in now.

“Transmaniacon MC” – Sandy Pearlman, Albert Bouchard, Donald Roeser, Eric Bloom Copyright 1972 Sony/ATV Tunes, LLC

TRANSCRIPT:

Welcome back, all you veterans of the Psychic Wars, this is the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast and I’m your host, Brad Page. Thanks for joining me here on the Pantheon Podcast Network, where each episode, I pick a song from my extensive library of favorites and we listen to it together, listening for all the little moments, those special touches that make it a great song. No musical knowledge or experience is ever required here. This is a show for everybody– all you need is a love for music and you’ll be right at home here.

On this edition of the podcast, we’re gonna climb into our hard-rockin’ Wayback Machine and set the dial for 1972, and explore a track from the debut album of the band that was known as the “Thinking Man’s Heavy Metal Band.” This is Blue Oyster Cult with “Transmaniacon MC.”

This is our second time visiting Blue Oyster Cult; we covered their classic track “Don’t Fear the Reaper” on one of our Halloween episodes a while back, I believe that was episode number 90. It’s one of my favorite episodes of the podcast, actually, so if you haven’t heard that one, go back and listen to it. It’s a good one.

The band that would become Blue Oyster Cult came together in New York in the late 60’s. Albert Bouchard was a multi-instrumentalist, but it was as a drummer that he first hooked up with a guitarist named Donald Roeser. They formed a band called Soft White Underbelly. Soon after, Alan Lanier joined them on Keyboards, and they also made two other key connections, Sandy Perlman and Richard Meltzer. Meltzer was a music critic and a writer who would write lyrics and poems that would become some of the classic Blue Oyster Cult songs. Perlman also wrote a ton of lyrics for the band, and he would also become their manager and record producer.

Along with Meltzer and Perlman, other literary figures would contribute lyrics, including Michael Moorcock and the great Patti Smith. It’s the contribution of these writers that earned Blue Oyster Cult the reputation as the “Thinking Man’s Metal Band”. Of course, at this point, they weren’t quite Blue Oyster Cult just yet.

Still working under the name Soft White Underbelly, with bassist Andy Winters and a lead vocalist named Les Bronstein, they recorded an album for Elektra Records. But that album was never released. Eventually, Eric Bloom was brought in to replace Bronstein on vocals and guitar. And the final piece of the puzzle came into place when Albert’s brother Joe Bouchard replaced Winters on bass.

A few more band name changes happened too. They were the Stock Forest Group for a while, and the Santos Sisters… and another recording session took place again for Elektra Records, but that also failed to be released. This was a band that was at a dead end.

Up until this time, their sound was more of a jammy, psychedelic, San Francisco, almost Grateful Dead kind of thing. But by 1971, change was necessary.

Murray Krugman was a project manager and an A & R guy at Columbia Records. Capitol Records was having success with Grand Funk Railroad, and Black Sabbath was making a lot of waves over at Warner Bros. And Columbia, well, they wanted a piece of that action. They were looking for a band that would be Columbia’s answer to Black Sabbath.

Murray Krugman told the band, if they could work up some new material that was dark and mysterious and heavy, then he could get them a record deal at Columbia. So, along with another name change– Perlman was the one who came up with the name Blue Oyster Cult– they retooled their sound into a harder rock sound. Really, it’s not nearly as heavy as Black Sabbath, but it rocked hard enough. And with their enigmatic foreboding lyrics, Columbia Records signed them up.

The first Blue Oyster Cult album, simply titled “Blue Oyster Cult”, was released in January 1972. It was produced by Sandy Pearlman, Murray Krugman and David Lucas.

“Transmaniacon MC” would be the first sound the world would ever hear from Blue Oyster Cult. It’s the song that opens the the album: Side one, track one. It features Donald Roeser on lead guitar; Perlman would give Roser the nickname “Buck Dharma”, and that nickname has stuck right up till today. Alan Lanier is on keyboards, Albert Bouchard on drums, Joe Bouchard on bass, and Eric Bloom on rhythm guitar and lead vocal. The song was written by Eric Bloom, Albert Bouchard, Donald Roser and Sandy Perlman.

The lyrics are pretty much all Perlman. It’s one of his sci fi conspiracy epics. He loved that kind of thing. He envisioned a story where the disastrous Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California in 1969 was masterminded by a secretive evil motorcycle club called the “Transmaniacon MC”.  MC stood for Motorcycle club. In Perlman’s story, the Transmaniacon MC were behind the violence and murder at that show. And this song was supposed to be their theme song. It was their club song, the song that they would sing before they rode off to create more chaos and terror.

Like all great hard rock songs, the track kicks off with a great guitar riff. Let’s hear the guitar and the bass.

Notice on the second half of the riff that the bass doubles the guitar part. After playing that riff twice, they launch into the verse riff.

Let’s go back to the top and play it through.

Here’s where Eric Bloom comes in with the first verse. His voice is kind of punky here. As time went on, he developed a lot as a vocalist, but here he still got some of that garage-rock edge.

You can hear the reference to Altamont there as Sandy. Pearlman’s lyrics paint the picture of this fictional motorcycle gang out for violence. Remember that this track was released in January ’72, recorded sometime in 1971; the Altamont concert was in December of ‘69. So the memory of this tragedy was still fresh when the song was written and recorded.

They return to that chromatic riff and then begin the second verse. Let’s listen to what Alan Lanier is doing on the keyboards here underneath this verse. It’s mixed fairly low in the final mix, but he’s got both an organ part and a piano part going on here. So let’s hear some of that.

Okay, now let’s go back and hear that in context of the full second verse.

I want to go back and listen to what the Bouchard brothers, Joe on bass and Albert on drums, are playing during the chorus.

After the chorus, they return to the riff. And then there’s a guitar break courtesy of Buck Dharma.

Nice little bass guitar fill there from Joe Bouchard. Let’s pick it up. Leading into the third verse.

Here, they’re going to pull back, bring the dynamics down before the big conclusion.

Let’s go back and listen to Alan Lanier’s piano part in the right channel.

And now let’s back it up and hear that again in the mix.

And they return to the intro riff.

What’s Eric Bloom saying? There’s well, I can isolate it for you, but I’m not sure it’s gonna make much more sense. Something about a “wheelie”, I guess. Let’s play it through to the end.

Blue Oyster Cult – “Transmaniacon MC”

This was the first of a long run of Blue Oyster Cult albums, and of course they evolved over the years. For some fans, those first three albums are considered their best. Of those three, my personal favorite is the third album, “Secret Treaties”. But I also like a lot of their mid-period stuff and it’s hard to deny how great the “Agents of Fortune” album is; that’s one of my favorites.

Alan Lanier passed away in 2013, but at the time of this recording, the other original members are still with us, and there’s a version of Blue Oyster Cult that’s still out on the road today.

Thanks for hanging in there with me for this edition of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. New episodes of this show come out on the 1st and the 15th of every month, so I’ll meet you back here soon. You can catch up on all the previous episodes of this show on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com, or listen to them on your favorite podcast app. We’re on Spotify, Apple, Google, Amazon, PocketCast, iHeartRadio… ou can listen to us everywhere fine podcasts can be found.  And while you’re there, please leave us a nice review.

If you’d like to support this show, please spread the word about it and share it with your friends and family, because recommendations from listeners like you are the number one way podcasts like this grow.

You can also support this show by buying a T shirt or some band merch from oldglory.com. They carry official band merch from all your favorite artists, and if you use our discount code lovethatsong, you’re going to save 15% and you’ll be helping to support this podcast. That’s oldglory.com with the discount code LoveThatSong. Thanks.

 Once again. I am Brad Page, and this is the Pantheon Podcast Network where fans belong. Now go explore that great catalog of Blue Oyster Cult, and join us again next time here on the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast.

J. Geils Band – “(Ain’t Nothin’ But A) House Party”

"(Ain't Nothin' But A) House Party" - Dal Sharh & Joseph Thomas Copyright 1967 Clairlyn - Dandelion Music BMI

Join us as we kick off 2026 with a celebration of one of America’s most electrifying party bands, The J. Geils Band! This episode dives deep into the infectious “(Ain’t Nothin’ But A) House Party,” a party anthem that perfectly encapsulates the essence of a good time. We explore the band’s origins, looking at how the J. Geils Band blended classic R&B with Rock, creating a legacy that resonates through their catalog. We’ll reflect on the band’s rise to fame, and the bittersweet nature of their journey, culminating in their eventual split after achieving commercial success. Whether you’re a lifelong fan or new to the band, this episode is a perfect way to celebrate the spirit of the J. Geils Band and the joy of their music.

“(Ain’t Nothin’ But A) House Party” – Dal Sharh & Joseph Thomas Copyright 1967 Clairlyn – Dandelion Music BMI

TRANSCRIPT:

Whether you’re doing the Southside Shuffle or the Detroit Breakdown, you’ve danced your way right into the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. I’m your host, Brad Page, and right here on the Pantheon Podcast Network, each episode of this show I pick one of my favorite songs and we look at it from top to bottom, right to left and inside out, as we try to get a better understanding of what makes a great song work. No musical expertise required here– all you gotta do is listen.

This is our first episode of 2026, so what better way to ring in the new year than with a party? A house party to be exact. And what better way to do that than with America’s all-time greatest party band, the legendary J. Geils Band with “(Ain’t Nothin’ But A) House Party.”

John Warren Geils Jr. Was born in New York City in February 1946. He grew up in New Jersey and eventually landed at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts, studying mechanical engineering. But he was already playing plenty of guitar by then. He played trumpet as a kid, but eventually switched to guitar, inspired by the Butterfield Blues Band, Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy. In Worcester, he met Danny Klein, a bass player, and a harmonica player named Richard Salwitz, who became better known as “Magic Dick”. They dropped out of college in 1967 and moved to Boston.

Another New York transplant was Peter Wolf. Peter Walter Blankfield was born in New York in March of 1946, attended the High School of Music and Art, and then moved to Boston to attend the School of the Museum of Fine arts. In 1964, he founded a band called The Hallucinations, which included Stephen Jo Bladd on drums. Wolf also had a gig on a local FM radio station, WBCN; If you grew up around Boston, or anywhere in New England, you know those call letters. Well, that’s where Wolf worked the all-night shift as a DJ, where he called himself “Woofa Goofa”.

Eventually, Wolf and Bladd joined with Geils, Klein and Magic Dick. And then, when keyboardist Seth Justman joined the band, that was the final piece to fall into place, and the new J. Geils Band became one of the hottest tickets in town. They signed with Atlantic Records in 1970 and released their first album, self-titled, that same year.

That album was followed by “The Morning After” in 1971. That record includes their version of “Looking For A Love”, which was originally recorded by The Valentines featuring Bobby Womack.

This was the magic of the J. Geils Band: They played classic R&B, but with a rockin’ edge that made these songs their own. Many kids growing up in this era didn’t even know that these were covers; their first exposure to these songs was from the J. Geils versions. They opened a lot of doors and a lot of ears.

This was also a bit of a problem though, because by the mid-70s, radio– which was still the number one way fans discovered new music– radio was becoming tightly formatted, and the J Geils Band was sometimes considered “too white for the black kids” and “too black for the white kids”. So stupid, but that’s how radio could be.

In 1972, they released their first live album, a killer single disc live record called “Live – Full House” that, though it only peaked at number 54 on the charts, it is one of the greatest live records of all time. The band is on fire here, tearing through a brilliant set of some of their best tunes, including Magic Dick’s harmonica horkout, “Whamma Jamma” and a smoking version of “First I Look At The Purse”.

Then in 1973, they released their third studio album, “Bloodshot”, which includes a number of J. Geils classics, including “Give It To Me”. It was their first single to crack the top 20, and it made “Bloodshot” their breakthrough album.

“Bloodshot” also included a little song called “Ain’t Nothing But A) House Party”. And that’s the track we’re gonna be looking at today.  It’s the song that opens the album– side one, track one. And it really gets things started.

The song was written by Del Shah and Joseph Thomas, and originally released as a single by The showstoppers in 1969. Here’s a little bit of that version.

The J. Geils version begins with J. Geils’ guitar part, doubled and panned hard left and right. A cow bell also joins in in the right channel.

The band joins in with Stephen Jo Bladd on drums, Danny Klein on bass and Seth Justman on the organ. And you can hear Seth Justman has added a piano part in the right channel. Peter Wolf comes in with the lead vocals for the first verse. And you can hear Magic Dick playing a simple, sparse harmonica part in the left channel.

Stepen Jo Bladd plays the first part of the verse with a beat on the tom toms. Let’s listen to that, along with Danny Klein’s bass.

For the next part of the verse, he shifts to the snare and hi-hat.

As they hit the chorus, Magic Dick is blowing long sustained notes on his harp in the right channel.

Let’s bring up Peter Wolf’s vocals for the second verse.

I believe it’s Seth Justman joining him on vocals here.

And now it’s time for Magic Dick to really play that harp. And he’s good. His harmonica sound and style was a big part of the J Geils’ sound, a critical element.

Seth Justman is doubling the harmonica part on the organ.

Now it’s J Geils turn. Big guitar solos weren’t really a huge part of the J Geils Band. You kinda get the feeling that Geils himself was pretty content to just lay back and be part of the band. But he would step up front and take a solo now and then.

Before we move on, let’s go back and listen to what the bass and the drums were doing, because this is a pretty great groove here.

And that brings us to a shortened third verse.

And now there’s a little bit of a breakdown here, It’s a classic move.  Primarily bass and drums, with Seth Justman adding some low notes on the piano.

And of course you gotta have a cowbell in there.

Sounds to me like they’ve added some conga drums in there.

They are really building up the energy to a frenetic level here.

That is a really great scream from Peter Wolf there. Let’s see where we can bring that up in the mix.

The J. Geils Band – “(Ain’t Nothin’ But A) House Party

The J. Geils Band would continue to make some great records; “Nightmares…”, “Hotline”, “Sanctuary” and “Love Stinks” are particular favorites of mine. And then, in 1981, they released “Freeze Frame”, and that album was a smash.

Finally, with their tenth studio album, they had their first number one album. They finally reached the top… and then they split up. Peter Wolf was gone and the band limped on with one more album, and then they were gone.

This is one of those things that always baffles me– how a band can slog it out, year after year, through all the hard times, and then as soon as they make it, they fall apart. Whether it’s egos or whatever, you would think that it’s in everyone’s best interest to hold it together for at least another couple of years, or records. But nope. All that hard work, years of logging the miles, and as soon as they make it to the top, they self-destruct.

But the J. Geils Band gave us a dozen albums; many of them are quite good, and a few are true classics. That will have to be enough.

J. Geils passed away in 2017. He was 71 at the time he died. He was living in Groton, Massachusetts… that’s the town that I went to high school in.

The rest of the members of the band are still with us today. Peter Wolf has put out some really good solo records, and last year, he released his autobiography, which is a good read. I recommend it.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the podcast. We’ll be back in two weeks with another new episode. ‘Till then, you can get caught up with all of our previous episodes on our website lovethatsongpodcast.com or just find the show on your favorite podcast app.

If you’d like to support the show, the best thing you can do is to just tell a friend about the show. Share this podcast with your friends and family, because that helps us to grow the audience.

You can also support the show by going to oldglory.com and buying some band merch, like, a cool T-shirt. They have a ton of great stuff there, and if you use our discount code LoveThatSong, you’ll save 15% while you’re helping to support this podcast. So please, that’s oldglory.com with the discount code LoveThatSong. Take advantage of it. Thanks.

That’ll wrap up this episode. On behalf of everyone here on the Pantheon Podcast Network– where fans belong– I thank you for listening. Now, go dig out all your old J. Geils albums and crank ‘em up, starting with “(Ain’t Nothing But A) House Party”.

RESOURCES:

J. Geils Band
Official Website

Peter Wolf
Official Website

The Butterfield Blues Band
Wikipedia

Muddy Waters
Wikipedia

Buddy Guy
Official Website

The Showstoppers
Wikipedia

Seth Justman
Wikipedia

Magic Dick
Wikipedia

Bloodshot (Album)
Wikipedia

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.

Deep Purple – “Never Before”

Richie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord & Ian Paice - Copyright 1972 R. Feldman & Co LTD trading as HSC Music

When it comes to classic rock albums, few are as iconic as Machine Head by Deep Purple. Released in 1972, this album has cemented its place in rock history, not just for its groundbreaking music but also for the incredible story behind its creation. In this episode, we take a journey through the making of this legendary album, and focus on the track they *thought* was going to be the hit from this record (and it wasn’t “Smoke On The Water“).

“Never Before” (Richie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord & Ian Paice) Copyright 1972 R. Feldman & Co LTD trading as HSC Music

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TRANSCRIPT:

Whether you’re a child in time, a speed king, or a highway star, you’ve managed to find yourself here at the “I’m In Love With That Song” Podcast. I’m your host, Brad Page, and each episode of this show, I pick a favorite song and we explore it together, on our quest to understand what makes a great song work. You don’t have to play an instrument or read music, we don’t get into music theory here. This is just about listening.

We’ve talked about Deep Purple on this show before, back on episodes 72, 127, and with Greg Renoff on episode 104. But this time, we’re going back to 1972 and their biggest selling album “Machine Head” for a song called “Never Before”.

The most popular lineup of Deep Purple, what fans refer to as the “Mark II” version, came together in 1969 when guitarist Richie Blackmore, keyboard player Jon Lord, and drummer Ian Paice fired their original singer and bass player, and hired vocalist Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover, both from the band Episode Six. The first album from this Mark II lineup was “Concert for Group and Orchestra”, which is really more of an oddity than anything. It was the next album, “In Rock” that really established Deep Purple as a band to be reckoned with.

They followed that album with “Fireball” in 1971. This album gets some mixed response; some people really like it– and I think Ian Gillan has even said it’s his favorite Deep Purple album– but other people thought it was a bit of a letdown after the “In Rock” album. I like it.

One thing that’s definitely true about the “Fireball” album is that most of the songs on the record weren’t really suited for live performance, at least as far as the band was concerned. Most of the tracks from that album were never played in concert. And since Deep Purple were, above all, a band that excelled at live performance, this was a bit of a problem. So when the band set out to record their next album, they specifically wanted songs that would work well in their live set.

In fact, the original plan was to record this next album in a live setting. So they booked the casino in Montreux, Switzerland, with the intention to set up on stage and record just like they were playing a gig. The casino was about to close down for the season, so they’d have the venue all to themselves. There was one last show booked at the casino, a concert by Frank Zappa. And then once that was done, Deep Purple could move in and set up. Perfect.

Except, and everyone probably knows this story by now, but during Frank Zappa’s show, one of his crazy fans shot a flare gun into the ceiling and it set the whole casino on fire. Miraculously– and it really is amazing– everybody made it out alive, partly due to the heroic efforts of a guy named Claude Nobs, who risked his life to get some of those attendees out safely.

So suddenly, Deep Purple’s recording plans went up in smoke… literally. So, what are they going to do now? First, they booked a theater called the Pavilion, but the neighbors complained about the noise, so that didn’t work. Eventually, they landed at the Grand Hotel, which was closed down for the winter. They took over a floor and set up in rooms and corridors of the hotel, and parked the Rolling Stones Mobile studio truck outside and ran all the wires between the hotel and the truck. For the band to get from the truck to their recording positions in the hotel, they had to go past the reception, through the kitchen, across the landing, and then out on the balcony, climb in through a window every time they needed to switch between recording their tracks and listening to the playback. Apparently, this was such a pain in the ass that they were determined to get everything in one take just to avoid that hassle.

In the end, the album was recorded in two weeks. It cost $8,000 to record. When it comes to a recording budget, that’s nothing.

All of this story is told in the lyrics to “Smoke On The Water”. It’s right there in the song. Their biggest hit is a straightforward account of this whole crazy situation in which the album was made. Initially, though, the band didn’t think “Smoke On The Water” was anything special. They certainly didn’t think it would become a big hit. There was another song on the album that the band thought was going to be a hit single. It’s a song called “Never Before”.

“Never Before, like all the songs on the album, is credited to all five band members. It features Richie Blackmore on guitar, Jon Lord on keyboards, Roger Glover on bass, Ian Paice on drums, and Ian Gillan on vocals. All five members are also credited as producers. The album was engineered by Martin Birch.

The song kicks off with a very funky riff. Totally has that live in the studio feel, just the four of them jamming on that riff. Ian Paice is one of rock’s greatest drummers. Let’s hear what he’s laying down.

This is the only time they play that riff. It’s right here at the beginning of the song, then they never return to it again. It’s too bad, because I could listen to them vamping on this riff all day. Such a great groove.

But before we move on to the rest of the song, I just want to point out one thing about the recording. You can really hear the sound of the room. Listen especially to Richie Blackmore’s guitar part: you can really hear that room sound.  For an album that wasn’t recorded in a real studio– remember, they’re set up in a hotel, just trying to make it work– considering the circumstances, this is a great sounding record.

Let’s back it up and listen to just the instrumental part under the vocal, because this is a great riff, too. Deep Purple were one of the tightest ensembles out there when they locked in. You just can’t beat them.

That’s the chorus. And you can see why the band thought that this was going to be the hit, because that’s a damn catchy chorus. Let’s listen to the instrumental track underneath the vocal. The real magic here is the piano part that Jon Lord overdubs on the chorus. It’s a rollicking, fun part that really adds a lot, makes the chorus stronger. And the chorus ends with a nice little riff that leads us right back into the verse.

Let’s go back and hear that drum fill by Ian Paice. Then we’ll move on to the next verse.

Let’s go back and bring up Ian Gillen’s vocals on this verse.

This time, that riff leads us into the bridge, which is a whole different feel than the rest of the song. Also notice that Gillan doubles his vocal part here rather than harmonize.

That descending part feels very orchestral to me, but it’s just one guitar part playing off of the organ. The organ and the guitar hold a chord there, but the bass climbs up the scale.

And that takes us right into the guitar solo. It’s a great solo by Richie. Richie Blackmore’s never played a solo that wasn’t great, but this solo is more old-school rock and roll than what you typically get from Richie; it’s even some Chuck Berry-style licks at the end. Richie said that with the exception of “Highway Star”, all of the solos on this album were not worked out in advance, he’d just improvise. That just goes to show what an innate sense of melody, flow and structure he has. He’s one of the greats.

Pretty sure he’s overdubbed another guitar on that last chord to thicken it up. And because it’s not 100% matched perfectly, the slight deviation in the bending of strings makes it sound fuller.

And that takes us into the last verse.

Then we have the last chorus. First, let’s hear the bass and drums together. Roger Glover on bass; he’s certainly the least flashy player in the band, but he’s more than just rock solid. He and Ian Paice on drums make a mighty rhythm section.

And now let’s hear that all together.

Next up is a piano solo by Jon Lord. He’s playing an electric piano, but he’s also running it into a Marshall guitar amplifier to get that distorted sound. Also, notice how the guitar is panned to the left and the organ to the right.

Deep Purple – “Never Before”

 When “Never Before” was released as a single, it kind of flopped. Didn’t get past # 35 on the charts. But when they released the album, which they named “Machine Head”, in March of 1972, the album became a hit, of course, driven by the success of “Smoke On The Water” and all the other great tracks on that record.

By any measure, “Machine Head” is a classic album. You’ll find it on just about every list of classic albums that’s ever been made. I love every track on this album. In fact, one of my favorite Deep Purple tracks was recorded for this album, but it never made it onto the record. Just too many good songs to choose from, they couldn’t fit them all. It’s called “When A Blind Man Cries”, and it was only issued as the B-side of the “Never Before” single.

Thanks for listening to this edition of the “I’m In Love With That Song” Podcast. I really do appreciate it. New shows come out on the 1st and the 15th of every month, so I’ll be back here soon with another new episode. That’s your warning.

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, were also available on Amazon, Apple, Google, YouTube, Pandora, Spotify, iHeartRadio, pretty much anywhere you can find podcasts, you will find this show.

If you’d like to support the show, the best thing you can do is to tell your friends about it, share it with your friends and family, because your word of mouth carries a lot of weight and really helps us to grow our audience. So thanks for that.

We are part of the Pantheon family of podcasts, where you’ll find a ton of other music-related shows. So if you like this kind of thing, check some of those shows out too.

Thanks again for listening to this edition of the I’m in Love With That Song Podcast on “Never Before” by Deep Purple.

Elvin Bishop – “Calling All Cows”

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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 

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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”

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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

Iggy & The Stooges – “Search And Destroy”

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“Search And Destroy” (Iggy Pop & James Williamson) Copyright 1973 by Bug Music (BMI) and EMI Music Publishing Ltd.

Iggy Pop made his (first) comeback with the Raw Power album, released in 1973. The album opens with the ferocious track “Search And Destroy”.  Produced by David Bowie and powered by the savage energy of the reconstituted Stooges (featuring James Williamson’s guitar fury), this track set the tone, not only for this album, but for decades of punk and heavy metal to come.

“Search And Destroy” (Iggy Pop & James Williamson) Copyright 1973 by Bug Music (BMI) and EMI Music Publishing Ltd.

— This show is part of the Pantheon podcast network — THE place for music junkies, geeks, nerds, diehards and fans!

TRANSCRIPT:

Greetings, wild ones. I am Brad Page, your host here on the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast, one of many great shows on the Pantheon Podcast Network. Each episode of this show, I pick a song and we dig into it together, trying to get a handle on what makes it a great song. You do not have to be a musical expert to enjoy this show; we run a jargon-free, low-tech shop here that’s light on music theory and heavy on just listening.

There are rock stars, there are legends, and there are huge personalities. And then there are people like Iggy Pop, who somehow manage to transcend all of that, who reach beyond genre. You like hard rock or heavy metal? Iggy Pop was kicking ass with the originators of those sounds. You like punk? Iggy is one of the founding fathers of punk. If you prefer new wave, Iggy made his mark there, too. The dude even released a jazz album.

What a career.

On this episode, we’re heading back to 1973 for “Raw Power”, Iggy’s third album with the Stooges, and one of their all-time classic songs. Buckle up, because this is Iggy & The Stooges with “Search And Destroy”.

James Osterberg, Jr. Was born in Michigan in April 1947. His dad was an English teacher and he grew up modestly living in a trailer park in Ypsilanti. But his parents were supportive of his musical endeavors, even making room in the trailer for his drum set. He played drums for some local bands, including the Iguanas, which is how he would earn the nickname “Iggy”. He eventually landed in Chicago and started a band called the Psychedelic Stooges. Iggy became the lead singer, with Ron Ashton on guitar, his brother Scott Ashton on drums, and Dave Alexander on bass. They started calling him “Pop”.  And so Iggy Pop was born.

In 1968, they signed with Electra Records and their first album, “The Stooges”, produced by John Kale, was released in August 1969.

They followed that with their second album, Funhouse, in 1970.

Neither album was commercially successful. Of course, they’ve gone on to become classics, but at the time, few people were interested. But one person who was listening was David Bowie. By then, the Stooges had split up and Iggy was pretty deep into his heroin addiction. But Bowie scooped him up, along with guitarist James Williamson, who had joined the Stooges at the tail end. Before they split, Bowie took them both to London, hoping to hook them up with some British players to form a new band.  But that just wasn’t working out. Iggy and Williamson were just too “Detroit” for these London glam musicians, so they brought back Ron and Scott Ashton, with Williamson on guitar. Ron switched to bass. He wasn’t exactly happy about that, but he did it.

They signed a deal with CBS Records and recorded the new album at CBS Studios in London. Iggy originally produced and mixed the album, but apparently that mix was kind of a mess and CBS wouldn’t release it. So Bowie was brought in to remix the record. Working under a limited budget, and with limited time, he had to mix the album in one day and it kind of shows it’s a rough and raw mix.

Released in February 1973, the album, called “Raw Power”, wasn’t any more commercially successful than his first two albums. But like those records now, “Raw Power” is considered a classic.

Now, before we delve into the album, there’s one thing we have to discuss, and that is these various mixes. As I mentioned before, David Bowie had mixed the album under less-than-ideal conditions and that is the version that was released on vinyl in 1973. But when the album was rereleased on CD in 1997, Iggy Pop remixed the whole album, and this has led to differing opinions. Some, like the legendary critic Robert Christgau, prefers Iggy’s remix. But many fans, including both James Williamson and Ron Ashton, who were in The Stooges, didn’t like Iggy’s new remix at all, and say the original Bowie mix was better. Now, none of this really matters if you’re listening to the album on vinyl– that’s the original mix. But if you’re listening on CD, well, which one are you really listening to?

There’s the first CD version from 1989, which, like many early CD’s, was not a great transfer. Then there’s Iggy’s remix from 1997. And then there’s the deluxe “Legacy” version CD released in 2010 that restored Bowie’s original mix. And, if you’re listening to it by streaming, well, good luck, because who knows which version you’re getting?

Let’s quickly compare the two. Here is the original Bowie mix and as acknowledged, it’s far from perfect:

And this is the 1997 Iggy remix.  You can hear he’s pushed everything into the red. It’s a lot louder, but there’s also a lot of digital distortion which you can clearly hear:

The version that I am going to use here is from the 2010 “Legacy Edition” CD with the remastered and restored Bowie mix. I think that gets us closest to the original version and the original intent. Again, it’s not a great mix, but I think it’s the best of the choices available.

Ok, so the album opens with “Search And Destroy”. Like all the tracks on the album, it was written by Iggy Pop and James Williamson. It features James Williamson on guitar, Ron Ashton on bass and backing vocals, Scott Ashton on drums, and Iggy Pop on lead vocal.

The whole band launches in from the start. A couple of bars in, James Williamson overdubs a few guitar licks.

The song was inspired by an article in Time magazine about the Vietnam War. It’s always been assumed that the character in the song is a soldier, but there’s plenty of Iggy in this character, too. On the back of the album cover, there’s a photo of Iggy in one of his favorite jackets with a cheetah sewn on the back. So Iggy himself could be the “street walking cheetah”.

Let’s look at each element of the second verse. First, let’s hear the bass. Ron Ashton is using a really gnarly, fuzzed out bass sound on this track.

And now let’s hear Scott Ashton on the drums. I really like what he’s doing here.

And let’s check out guitar.

And listen to that second verse.

Let’s listen to the guitar in this section again. You can hear that there’s a second rhythm guitar overdubbed on this part, which adds a little extra punch to this already pretty powerful tracker.

You can barely hear the bass and the drums, they’re mixed so low.

Let’s go back and listen to just the bass and drums.

There’s let’s hear that all together again.

And there’s another short solo from James Williamson.

James Williamson really tearing it up here. Listen to his guitar behind the vocal.

“Search And Destroy” by Iggy and The Stooges.

Whether you want to call it proto-punk, primitive, heavy metal, or just the purest form of rock and roll, there is no denying how influential Iggy and The Stooges were, and how important “Search And Destroy” was in particular.

As always, I thank you for joining me for this edition of the “I’m In Love With That Song” podcast. New episodes are released into the wild on the 1st and the 15th of every month, so I’ll join you again then. And if you’re still jonesing for more, there are a ton of old episodes just waiting for you to discover them.  You’ll find them on our website, lovethatsongpodcast.com, or just look for them in your favorite podcast app.

You can support the show by writing a review and by telling a friend about the show. The power of your recommendation is the strongest advertising tool that we have. So, thanks for spreading the word.

On behalf of everyone on the Pantheon network, I remind you to support the artists you love by buying their music. And I thank you for listening to this episode on Iggy Pop and The Stooges and “Search And Destroy”.

REFERENCES:

Iggy Pop
https://www.iggypop.com/

The Stooges
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stooges

Raw Power Album
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_Power

David Bowie
https://www.davidbowie.com/

James Williamson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Williamson_(musician)

Ron Ashton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Asheton

Scott Ashton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Asheton

CBS Records
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBS_Records_International

Time Magazine
https://time.com/

Robert Christgau
https://www.robertchristgau.com/

Pink Floyd – “Have A Cigar”

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by Roger Waters - Copyright 1975 Roger Waters Overseas, Ltd

Pink Floyd has been a cornerstone of rock history, producing some of the most iconic albums ever recorded. One song that stands out in their catalog is “Have a Cigar” from the album Wish You Were Here, a track that offers a scathing critique of the music industry. In the latest episode of the podcast, we dive deep into this song, uncovering what makes “Have a Cigar” a classic.

“Have A Cigar” (Roger Waters) Copyright 1975 Roger Waters Overseas, Ltd

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TRANSCRIPTS:

Come on, you ravers, you seers of visions– shine on with the “I’m In Love With That Song” Podcast. I’m your host, Brad Page, and every two weeks, we come together here on the Pantheon Podcast Network to explore a different song. Each episode, I pick one of my favorite songs and we dig into it together, uncovering all the elements that go into making a great song. You don’t have to be a musician or have any technical knowledge– this isn’t a show for just the experts, this is for anyone who just wants to listen and explore what makes a good song great.

In this episode, we’re exploring a real classic. By any measure– artistically, commercially– Pink Floyd were one of the most successful bands of all time. They created a handful of the greatest albums ever released. On this episode of the podcast, we’re exploring a song from an album that came out just about in the middle of their career, an album that represents many things for this band, and the stories of making it are the stuff of legend. From the album “Wish You Were Here”. This is a song called “Have A Cigar”.

Pink Floyd have been covered on this show before: In episode 58, we looked at “Us And Them”, and episode 114 featured “See Emily Play”. If you haven’t heard either of those episodes, go check them out. I’m not going to go over their history again, you can revisit those previous episodes if you’d like. We’re going to pick up where we left off after “Dark Side Of The Moon”.

“Dark Side Of The Moon”, of course, was their breakthrough album. I don’t need to tell you how big that album would become, but it was an important, significant record from the moment it was released. So, for Pink Floyd, the challenge was: what to do next?

The band was searching for a direction. First weeks, then months, went by with not much to show for it. Endless sessions in their rehearsal studio, trying to come up with something. Something not just good, but something to match or top “Dark Side Of The Moon”. That’s no easy task.

Compounding the problem was the fact that fractures were beginning to occur within the band. The pressure of what to do next exacerbated the disagreements between the four band members. Initially, they returned to a concept that they first explored back in 1970. It was a project called “Household Objects”, where they would forego the use of their traditional instruments and create songs using rubber bands, broomsticks, wine glasses, aerosol cans, smashed Light bulbs. They had abandoned that idea before, but now, without any better ideas, they returned to “Household Objects” and spent at least a month in 1973 trying to conjure music from kitchen appliances and hand tools. But ultimately, they abandoned the idea again.

To my knowledge, the only thing that survived from the “Household Objects” project is a two-minute recording of tuned wine glasses, and a three-minute track called “The Hard Way”.  The sound of those wine glasses would be used at the beginning of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, but the rest of it all went by the wayside.

Finally, in January 1974, during one of those endless jam sessions, guitarist David Gilmour stumbled across a four-note phrase. Almost by accident, they took that idea and expanded it, pushing it in different directions and adding new elements, eventually forming it into a song called “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, a multi-part suite that would open and close their new album. They would also take the sound of those wine glasses and incorporate a little bit of that into “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”.

The subject of that song, as all Pink Floyd fans know, was their former singer, guitarist and bandleader Syd Barrett. “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” is a fascinating piece of music worthy of an exploration all on its own. But not in this episode… we’re here for a different song.

So now Roger Waters, the bassist and primary lyricist, had some themes to work with: absence and the harsh realities of the music business, both of which directly related to Syd Barrett, but also extended beyond him.

The actual recording sessions for the album, which would be called “Wish You Were Here”, began at Abbey Road in January 1975, a year after they first came up with that riff that inspired the album. One of the tracks they worked on was a darkly funky track called “Have A Cigar”, a ripping takedown of the music industry, sung from the perspective of a typically greedy, self-serving record executive. It was written by Roger Waters, produced by the band, and performed by David Gilmour on guitars, Richard Wright on keyboards, bass by Roger Waters, drums by Nick Mason and vocals… well, we’ll get there in a minute.

The song begins with a riff played together on the bass and the guitar. Sounds like both the guitars and the bass have a flanger effect on them.

After a couple of playthroughs of the riff, the drums and the keyboards come in. There’s a little whoop sound in there. Let’s back it up a bit.

I like that descending guitar part that leads back into the riff. Here comes the second riff.

There are two synthesizer parts plus an electric piano, each one placed in a different spot in the stereo mix that allows each part to occupy its own space. When you add in the bass, drums and guitars– and I’m sure there’s more than one guitar track here– there’s a lot of music here, but the mix doesn’t feel cluttered at all.

That’s the first of these little guitar and keyboard fills that play off of each other, answer each other. It’s nothing fancy, but I just like the dialogue between the guitar and the piano throughout the song. Let’s pick it back up from there.

And it sounds to me like Richard Wright has also added a clavinet part now. 

And here’s the first verse. But that voice doesn’t belong to anyone in Pink Floyd. When it came time to record the vocals for this track, both David Gilmour and Roger Waters took a stab at it, but neither of them were happy with their performance. Just by happenstance, a singer songwriter guitarist named Roy Harper was recording his own album next door. Roy Harper is a fairly obscure figure, certainly in the United States, he’s never had any hits here and never got much radio play. If Americans know his name at all, it’s likely from the song title of the Led Zeppelin song “Hats Off To Roy Harper”. But Roy Harper is a brilliant British folk-rock songwriter and performer who has released a number of unique, and you could say eccentric, albums. He’s a musician’s musician, a songwriter’s songwriter. And he was friendly with the guys in Pink Floyd. Since they were both working on albums at Abbey Road, they would pop in to visit each other’s sessions. He watched Pink Floyd wrestle with the vocals on this track for days and eventually, he offered to sing it for them.

Here’s a little bit of the version with Roger Waters attempt at the vocal. It’s really not that drastically different, but Roy Harper brought a wonderfully acerbic tone to the track. Roy had his share of misfortune at the hands of record companies, so he could relate to these lyrics for sure.

That’s one of the best lines in the whole Pink Floyd canon. The idea that this record company bigwig who’s trying to schmooze them doesn’t even know that there’s no one in the band actually named Pink Floyd.

I love the way he elongates the word “train” and twists his phrasing at the end.

Sounds like he’s double tracked his vocal there too.

Here comes the second verse. You know, I’ve listened to this song so many times, but I never really noticed until now just how much work the keyboards are doing here. I’m even hearing a little bit of Stevie Wonder influence in there.

Let’s bring up the vocals again. Roy Harper is just killing it here.

So that brings us to the guitar solo. It’s another classic solo by David Gilmour. And we’ll listen to that in a minute. But first I wanted to focus on the rhythm section for a bit. I think it’s fair to say that neither Nick Mason or Roger Waters are virtuosos. Nick Mason is not a flashy drummer, but he’s rock solid. And neither he or Roger Waters are exactly funky players, but they’re laying down a pretty cool groove here. So let’s just listen to that for a while.

Alright, now let’s go back and listen again with the guitar solo.

Let’s bring up that guitar.

And now, we get a change of audio perspectives, as a synthesized “whoosh” repositions us,  as though were listening to the song now through an old transistor radio.

And that, of course for everyone who’s familiar with the album, leads us into the next song, “Wish You Were Here”. But that’s another story.

“Have A Cigar” by Pink Floyd. The “Wish You Were Here” album was released in September 1975 and topped the charts in the US and the UK. It is still regarded as one of Pink Floyd’s best albums. In fact, I believe it is David Gilmour’s favorite Pink Floyd album.

But it was the beginning of the end of the band. Roger Waters had taken over creative control and over time, would push the other members further away. Richard Wright was essentially fired from the band and then rehired as a session player for the group. Eventually, Roger Waters pushed himself out of the band.

But despite the personal unpleasantness, “Wish You Were Here” is a really cohesive album. Every band member contributes excellent performances, and the album flows perfectly as a whole. It’s a masterpiece.

Richard Wright died from lung cancer in September 2008. He was 65. Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Roy Harper are still with us today at the time of this recording.

Thanks for being a part of this edition of the “I’m In Love With That Song” Podcast. If you’d like to support the show, why don’t you head over to oldglory.com and buy a t-shirt or two? They have a bunch of Pink Floyd shirts in stock, along with a ton of other bands, and if you use our promo code, “LoveThatSong”, you’ll get 15% off and you’ll be supporting the show. So thanks in advance.

You can find our previous episodes on Pink Floyd, along with over 150 other songs that we’ve covered, on our website lovethatsongpodcast.com, or just look for them in your favorite podcast app. Send us an email to lovethatsongpodcast@gmail.com or post your comments and feedback on our Facebook page. And of course, it would be great if you left us a rating or a review wherever it is that you listen to this show.

We are part of the Pantheon family of podcasts, home to a ton of other great podcasts, all featuring the music we love.

I will be back in about two weeks, so let’s meet here again. Until then, thanks for listening to this episode on Pink Floyd and “Have A Cigar”.

RESOURCES:

Pink Floyd
https://www.pinkfloyd.com

Wish You Were Here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wish_You_Were_Here_(Pink_Floyd_album)

Dark Side of the Moon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Side_of_the_Moon

Roy Harper
https://royharper.co.uk

Abbey Road Studios
https://www.abbeyroad.com