Lately I have been listening to two of my favorite performers. Willy and Lemmy. Although musically they may seem worlds apart, they actually have a lot in common, namely: successful careers spanning decades.
Upon further inspection the similarities become more apparent: • Both are easily recognizable by just one name • Both are true renegades in their respective styles of music • Neither can be easily labeled • Both have spent the majority of their professional career on the road • Both are Grammy winners (like that really matters) • Both seem to enjoy certain substances, whether liquid or otherwise • Both could be mistaken for homeless drifters • Neither seem ready to stop touring or making music
I could probably find more similarities, but you get the idea. Most important of all the qualities they may share, these two legends have always remained true to themselves and their music.
Wille Nelson & Family- Whiskey River (Live, 1974)
Motorhead- Ace of Spades (The Young Ones, BBC 1984)
Wille Nelson & Family- Angel Flying To Close To The Ground- (Honeysuckle Rose, 1980)
Motorhead- Stay Clean (Live, 1983?)
Willie Nelson- Night Life (Later w/ Jools Holland, 1996)
Tis the season. Well at least it used to be. Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the true spirit of Christmas has somehow been lost, pushed to the back shelf behind the fruitcake that no one will buy. Call me old-fashioned, but I like to keep Christ in Christmas. To this end, I've decided to dedicate some megabytes to Our Lord and some classic tunes inspired by and dedicated to him.
We begin with one of my all time favorites, Neil Diamond's 'Holly Holy'. Hands down one of the most spiritual rock anthems ever created. Heavily influenced by gospel, Diamond released the song in October of 1969, It went on to reached #6 on the pop charts.
Ladies and Gentleman, without further adieu, one of Brooklyn golden throats.
As the mercury approaches 90+ yet again, AM features another summer scorcher from days past. What I believe to be her best song, Madonna's Borderline. The final single released from her self-titled debut, this song and accompanying video really helped put her over the top. There wasn't a boom box or Blaupunkt that wasn't blasting this song in the summer of '84, and her lucky star, which had been rising was beginning to go supernova.
Written by Grammy winning writer/produce Reggie Lucas and mixed by Madonna's then boy- toy, John 'Jellybean' Benitez, the song was released as a single in the US on February 15, 1984 and slowly made it's way up the charts, peaking at No. 10 on the Billboard's Hot 100, becoming her first top ten single.
About a week ago, while down in the Village and suffering another 100+ degree Manhattan summer day, I was reminded of the summer classic by the all girl, brit-pop trio Bananarama, 1982's Cruel Summer.
The video was filmed in and around Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side, back when it was sleazy, dangerous and fun (and gas was $1.48 a gallon).
One on my personal summer faves has always been Journey's 'Stone In Love'. One of the few non-charting songs from 1981's Escape, the song to me is both prophetic and ironic.Here I am almost 30 years later reminiscing about those crazy nights in my own youth.
From what I can still clearly remember about the summer of '81, it was the first year I didn't spend at our summer house in the Poconos, instead forced to attend summer school at what we affectionately referred to as 'Camp Mineola'. Now I can't remember who I was dating back then, but there is no doubt she was a blue jean girl.
Besides stewing in my own juices in July–in a high school–without air conditioning, I can recall feasting on a steady diet of power chords. And there was plenty to be had: Van Halen's Fair Warning, Billy Squire's Don't Say No, Ozzy's Diary of a Madman, Rush's Moving Pictures, Foreigner's 4, and Def Leppard's High and Dry rocked my summer of 1981.
But the album that got the most play was Escape. Between Steve Perry's explosive vocals, and Neal Schon's soaring leads, the album was an instant classic for me and AOR stations across the country. It could be argued that Journey and Van Halen (both at their zenith) shared the monarchy as kings of arena rock.
I recently fashioned myself a Journey playlist and have been listening to Escape over and over. A little over-produced (the style of the day) and a lot adolescent, it still holds up to a serious session of air guitar.
Not exactly a 'summer song', today's selection is still in keeping with the one thing most closely associated with summer, the sun.
The story goes that Harrison, bored with an Apple business meeting and tired of the infighting that was becoming commonplace in the band, absconded to a garden at Eric Clapton's place and wrote the song. The original riff was lifted from 'Badge', a previous collaboration between Clapton and Harrison.
In George's words, from Anthology: "Here Comes the Sun" was written at the time when Apple was getting like school, where we had to go and be businessmen: 'Sign this' and 'sign that'. Anyway, it seems as if winter in England goes on forever, by the time spring comes you really deserve it. So one day I decided I was going to sag off Apple and I went over to Eric Clapton's house. The relief of not having to go see all those dopey accountants was wonderful, and I walked around the garden with one of Eric's acoustic guitars and wrote "Here Comes The Sun".
I bet he wrote it without even breaking a sweat.
I'm just sayin'.
Here Comes The Sun- George Harrison & Friends (Concert for Bangladesh, MSG, 1971)
Just a week into summer and caught in the grip of the first heat wave of the season, AM is dedicating a few posts to some of the all-time hottest hits of summer.
Our first track by R&B crossover sensations, Sly and the Family Stone scorched the Billboard charts in August 1969 peaking at #2.
Hot Fun In The Summertime- Sly And The Family Stone
And since we're talking summer and Sly, we had to include the band's breakout performance at Woodstock. How about 3:30 am, Sunday August 17th to be exact.
I'm just sayin'.
I Wanna Take You Higher- Sly And The Family Stone (Woodstock, August 1969)
First time around it was warm, charming — even sublime. An entire new generation was exposed to the melancholy reverie of Nick Drake. The 2005 spot 'Milky Way' created for the VW Cabrio by Crispin Porter & Bogusky in Miami was actually refreshing. The intimate nature of the song perfectly complimenting the moonlight drive. ScarJo lookalike and other assorted hipsters notwithstanding, the ad is effective. I'm also of the camp that using my favorite music in ads is sacrilege, but in this case–nice job. Well played.
Now let's consider the latest commercial for communications behemoth AT&T—that asks us to 'Rethink Possible', makes me want to rethink my wireless provider.
The ad is a mash up of all things hip, but like three years ago hip. The Christo'Gates' inspired orange drapery flung off monuments and stretched across beaches is a cheap visual cue to represent coverage. Last time I checked, my iPhone got spotty coverage, at best. And enough with the CGI already. No matter how hard it tries, this commercial fails to make me feel an emotional connection to my phone company.
And the use of Drake's dreamy 'From the Morning' is awful, a forced fit. They would have been better served using Lady GaGa. What was captured in the VW ad, as honest (or as honest as a car ad can get) trumps the superficial hubris of the AT&T spot.
As for Nick Drake. He is the innocent victim of some well-negotiated posthumous rights usage. The saving grace is all this is that his songs and legacy remain—eerily frozen in time.
I'm just sayin'.
'Milky Way'- VW Ad (Nick Drake 'Pink Moon')
'Rething Possible'- AT&T Wireless (Nick Drake, 'From The Morning')
From an exchange earlier in the day with Rockturtleneck's own, Stephen J. Walsh:
How was the hipster-palooza? Was it hard to hear the music above all the tweeting, uploading, foursquaring and microblogging via iphone?
Actually the most distracting part of the show was the corralling on the part of the event staff. You had to wait on one line for a wristband, then another to purchase drink tickets, and yet a third to actually purchase drinks. On top of that the drinkers were kept in defined areas along the sides of the stage, while people not imbibing alcoholic beverages were free to roam throughout the outdoor venue. So much for the liberal, free thinking, anti-establishment vibe that Brooklyn gives off.
The show was amazing. We missed Karen Elson and waited on one of the various lines during Grizzly Bear’s set, which was lackadaisical at best. That touchy-feely harmony driven pop just doesn’t translate on the big stage the same way it does when played through headphones.
BoHwas amazing though. Ben Bridwell started off by saying it was the last show of the tour (or this current leg) which had been like 76 shows in 90 days. The band was loose and having fun. They powered through songs like Funeral early in their set, satisfying the frat boy crowd hovering around Brooklyn Brewery’s impromptu beer gardens.
About 4-5 songs in, there was some kind of altercation- an over enthusiastic fan near the front. Ben made reference to it and found out the guy’s name was Andrew. This would become the running joke of the night. Between songs and in place of actual lyrics, he kept referring to this ‘Andrew’ in the crowd. It became such a gag, that some quick-thinking hipstersin an attempt to be instantly ironic, crafted an ‘ANDREW’ banner and hung it from the window they were viewing the show from, part of an old warehouse building directly behind the stage. They pretty much cranked through everything, I mean everything. They even added a few spontaneous little jams between songs with some improvised ‘Andrew’ lyrics. These guys are really a great band. I really like all their albums, no matter how simple. And they have definitely gelled into a tight outfit live.
Hipsters notwithstanding, the Waterfront venue was great. Reminded me seeing shows at Pier 84 back when I was kid. Just big enough to feel like a concert, but intimate enough to connect with the band. I like the stage setup at Liberty Park better though, where NYC is the backdrop to the stage.
'Cept the ratio of hipsters to musicians isn't nearly as high in Jersey.
Hit after mellow hit, a few things have become apparent. There is a formula to Yacht Rock. All these easygoing tunes share the following:
• Groovy electric piano • Vibraphone, flugelhorn and/or flute • Congas, congas and more congas • A breezy sax solo • Themes of love, boating, exotic locations or all of the above • White men with falsetto voices, bad hair and ill-fitting clothes
I'm just sayin'.
Yacht Rock Vol.3- Sail On
If You Leave Me Now- Chicago Listen To What The Man Said- Wings Diamond Girl- Seals & Crofts Dance With Me- Orleans Please Mr. Please- Olivia Newton John The Best Of My Love- The Eagles Wildfire- Michael Murphy On And On- Stephen Bishop If You Could Read My Mind- Gordon Lightfoot I'm Not In Love- 10cc Thank You For Being A Friend- Andrew Gold Smoke From A Distant Fire- Sanford & Townsend Whenever I call You Friend- Kenny Loggins & Stevie Nicks Love Will Find A Way- Pablo Cruise Ride Captain Ride-Blues Image Chevy Van- Sammy Johns Tin Man- America Margaritaville- Jimmy Buffet Life's Been Good- Joe Walsh Maybe I'm Amazed- Wings Sail On- The Commodores Where Is The Love- Roberta Flack & Donnie Hathaway Breezin'- George Benson Just The Two Of Us- Grover Washington Jr. & Bill Withers Sailing- Christopher Cross Minute By Minute- The Doobie Brothers Give Me The Night- George Benson Escape (The PiñaColada Song)- Rupert Holmes Arthur's Theme (Best That You Ca Do)- Christopher Cross I'm Alright- Kenny Loggins
If You Could Read My Mind- Gordon Lightfoot (Midnight Special, 1974)
I'm Not In Love- 10cc (1975, UK Records)
Wildfire- Michael Murphy (Midnight Special, 1976)
If You Leave Me Now- Chicago (Live, 1977)
Love Will Find A Way- Pablo Cruise (Live, 1978)
Escape (The PiñaColada Song)-Rupert Holmes (Midnight Special, 1979)
Just The Two Of Us- Grover Washington Jr. Feat. Bill Withers (Elektra, 1981)
After spending the better part of a week listening to and compiling the definitive Yacht Rock collection, it is undeniable that there were some truly gifted musicians playing on some of these tracks. Glossy production aside, these soft rock gems sport some shining moments of solid gold songwriting and musicianship.
Steely Dan, the pioneers of over-produced, over-indulgent jazz-rock fusion employed only the best studio session players to achieve their musical aspirations. Core members, Becker and Fagan quickly established a reputation of being control freaks in the studio who used, and subsequently discarded musicians as needed. Preferring studio recording to touring, they were expert producers, focusing on sound quality and absolute perfection in fidelity. They made music that begged to be played on pricey rack systems of the day.
AOR gods, the Eagles are often overlooked for their specific contributions to Yacht Rock. Mainstays in the Soft Rock arena, they released a string of easy listening classics. Between Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Timothy B. Schmit, Joe Walsh and Randy Meisner, there was no shortage of songwriters in the band, and they cranked out at least 10 Yacht Rock chart-toppers including "Take It Easy", 'New Kid In Town", and the signature ballad "Desperado". They were by far, the biggest selling Yacht Rock band in the world.
What I like even better than the established acts are the one hit wonders, the Yacht Rockers that possessed just enough gusto to go for the Schlitz. Exhibit A is Player's "Baby, Come Back", a perfect example.
As the decade progressed and Yacht Rock became an established and lucrative genre, more and more bands crossed over from wherever style of music they had been making to reinvent themselves and cash in on the easy listening craze. Ambrosia began as a Prog-rock band but by the end of the 70's they had released two quintessential Yacht Rock ballads, "How Much I Feel" and "Biggest Part Of Me". Meanwhile, the hard funk R&B sounds of The Commodores (with Lionel Richie at the helm) jumped on the slow jam band wagon with tunes like "Easy" and "Sail On". Lite FM would turn out to be a profitable venture for Mr. Richie, as he would go on to have a half dozen hits in the format.
As we continue to groove through the super mellow 70's, it should be noted that Yacht Rock has a laxative effect. If you listen at night, you're guaranteed regularity by morning.
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