LEGEND Your Song of the Day

[Prime Time]

'Papa Was A Rollin' Stone' by The Temptations
Songfacts®:

This was written by the Motown songwriter Norman Whitfield. It was first recorded by The Undisputed Truth, but Whitfield also had The Temptations record it, with much greater success.

At first, lead singer Dennis Edwards hated the song. His father, who was a preacher, died on September 3rd, the date in the first line of the song. He was irate at Whitfield for choosing that date, and convinced it was not a coincidence.

The B-side of the single was an instrumental version that ran 6:58. It also became very popular and won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Recording.

The version on their All Directions LP ran 11:45.

Speaking about this song's writer/producer Norman Whitfield in a 1995 interview with Goldmine, Motown head Berry Gordy said: "He could take one chord, like on 'Papa Was A Rolling Stone,' and play the same chord and do all these different beautiful melodies and stuff that many people could not really imagine this guy doin'. And I would watch him and he did it all by himself as a producer. He would work with five guys in the Temps and he would change leads on each one. He would pick the right lead for the right song, ya know, and he'd utilize all five of those leads in a song that was just incredible. When I listen to 'em today, now that I have time to listen to 'em, I'm saying, "Wow! This guy was probably the most underrated producer we had."

This was the last big hit recorded in Motown's famous Studio A, located in a two-story house in Detroit. Most of Motown's studio work had moved to Los Angeles by then, but The Temptations still recorded in Detroit.

 

[Oh_Canada]

I hope I get this right! PT ... you know I've always had trouble with these techy thingies, eh!!

Here's a song by Tim Neufeld: "Heart starts beating" (it does wonders for me every time I hear it!)

 

[Prime Time]

You did it perfectly OC. Phx set things up here so easily that even I can do it.

 

[Ramsey]

Love it! Thanks Ramsey. The vibe reminds me a bit of a 70's band called Camel. Saw them in a small venue with around 100 people. They served pitchers of Sangria wine at the tables.

Judging from your avatar you are a fellow Genesis fan. Duh! My favorite music from them is from the beginning with Peter Gabriel through 'A Trick of the Tail.' After that...meh.

Yeah I love Camel, and I'm envious you got to see them. They recently rerecorded their Snow Goose album. I feel the same way about Genesis.

 

[Ramsey]

Welcome Home Rodger Saffold!

 

[Prime Time]

Yeah I love Camel, and I'm envious you got to see them. They recently rerecorded their Snow Goose album. I feel the same way about Genesis.

I saw Genesis twice in the same year when they toured 'A Trick of the Tail.' Phil Collins switched back and forth from standing in front and singing to running back to play drums. I believe Chester Thompson was doing most of the drumming. They were excellent both times.

I was 16 and living in the SF Bay area in 1967 the Summer of Love and got to see every band and artist that came to town - and they all did. The stories I could tell you and probably will.

 

[Thordaddy]

SOOPER LIKE THE OZ song

 

[Selassie I]

Here's one of my favorite songs by Slightly Stoopid. I know I already posted some tunes by these guys, but this live performance has another band (Tribal Seeds) mixing in during the middle of the song. There are really like 3 songs mixed together in this.

Something here at ROD recently has had this song on my mind.

 

[BatteringRambo]

Post-workout; Israel's' Son- Silverchair's 'Frog Stomp' debut, Cherry Cola kush and this bad boy.

 

[Prime Time]

 

[Prime Time]

Carlos Santana/Michelle Branch - 'The Game Of Love'

WIKI

Tina Turner did the original version but I prefer Michelle Branch's playful vocals on this tune a little bit more. Decide for yourself.

 

[Ramsey]

Unexpect is from Quebec. Unexpect couldn't have chosen a better name. Their music is totally unique, although it's not everyone's cup of tea. King Crimson meets 50's era Warner Brother Cartoons sped up, meet Opera, jazz, Eastern Euro Folk and a splash of death metal. The band plays bars in Quebec and Ontario , and I'm so sad I'll probably never see Unexpect. The bass player is amazing. Please don't let the occasional death growl interspersed with an Opera Aria put you off. Put on your headphones! Unexpect- live in a bar somewhere in frigid Ontario!

 

[Prime Time]

Unique sound to be sure plus the ladies are easy on the eyes(where's the sexist pig emoticon when you need it?) I'm guessing when they founded the band that they didn't want to sound like anyone else.

This came to mind while listening to the song...

 

[Selassie I]

If I'm home alone... you're likely to hear some Burning Spear playing loud. These guys are INCREDIBLE. Roots with these guys.

This one is cool because the song is The Sun... about the Sun going down,,, and they play it to coincide with the sunset. Most of their songs are long,,, vocals kick in about half way through.

 

[Ramsey]

Yeah, that King Crimson album is often sited as the first Progressive Rock Album ever! This Next song I'll post is from the 80's German Synth-Pop band Alphaville. The song Fallen Angel is pure 80's ear candy, off the same album that brought so many American and British Proms the song Forever Young.

 

[Prime Time]

It fits right in with Human League's 'Don't You Want Me' and the rest of that 80's genre which I've always enjoyed.

The weather's finally warming up here in the Mid-Atlantic so I've been dreaming of the ocean and the beach - my California roots - so here are The Beach Boys with 'Sail On Sailor.'

Songfacts®:

This song was the centerpiece of a long and convoluted story regarding the recording of the Holland album. The Beach Boys relocated to the Netherlands in 1972 to record this album away from the pressures of Los Angeles. They spent exorbitant amounts of money building a studio on a farm in Baambrugge, Holland recording it.

When the band turned the album over to Dave Bursyn at Warner Bros., he rejected it because there was no potential single. Bursyn called Brian Wilson friend and collaborator Van Dyke Parks, and asked if there was anything they had worked on - even a kernel of a song - that they might be able to transform into a hit. Wilson was still showing flickers of genius at this time, but had become very unpredictable and far less productive.

Parks, who wrote lyrics for Wilson's songs during the Smile sessions, was one of the few people in close contact with Wilson at the time and had a cassette containing fragments of a song that he and Brian started, that being "Sail On Sailor." Parks was able to get Wilson to sit down at a piano and finish the song, a session that was recorded on cassette and reveals Wilson constantly veering off course while Parks exhorts him to "Write a f--king middle-eight" and at one point has to convince Wislon that he is not insane.

When the song was finally written, the other Beach Boys recorded it without Wilson and tacked it onto the album, replacing a Ricky Fataar/Blondie Chaplin/Mike Love song called "We Got Love." This features a soulful lead vocal from guitarist Blondie Chaplin.

Dennis Wilson was the original lead singer of the song. On the day he was supposed to record his lead vocal, he had just purchased a new surfboard and couldn't wait to break it in. His impatience got the best of him, and he left the session with only a partially-recorded vocal and went surfing. Carl Wilson then asked Blondie Chaplin to sing lead. (thanks, Sean - Chicago, IL)
This song was released as a single twice; it reached #79 in the US in 1973. Two years later, it was rereleased and reached #49.

This was one of just two songs Brian Wilson wrote for the Holland album. The other was the closing track "Funky Pretty."

Besides Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, there are three other guys credited for writing this song: Jack Rieley, Tandyn Almer and Ray Kennedy. Almer wrote The Association's "Along Comes Mary" and was friends with Wilson; Rieley was The Beach Boys manager and wrote lyrics for some of their songs; Ray Kennedy was a musician and songwriter that started working on the song with Wilson in 1970.

 

[PhxRam]

I wish I could find a better version of this song. Warren is awesome.

A better version of the song or a better version of THAT song WITH Warren Hayes?

 

[PhxRam]

I wish I could find a better version of this song. Warren is awesome.

You probably know this already but in case you didnt, Warren played with The Dead (what they toured as post Garcia) in 2009.

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I really dig the Dear Mr. Fantasy. Warren, IMO, nails it.

Included is the Scarlet --> Fire which is a Grateful Dead staple.

 

[Prime Time]

Eagles - 'One Of These Nights'

Songfacts®:

Written by Glenn Frey and Don Henley, this song was inspired by the Soul music Frey was listening to when he started writing it on the piano. Artists like B.B. King and Al Green were a big influence on many songs on the album.

In a 1975 interview with Phonograph Record, Frey explained: "It's like, puttin' things off... Everybody I'm sure has said, 'One of these nights I'm gonna...' Gonna drive back to that restaurant an' take that waitress in my arms, whatever. Find that girl, make that money, buy that house. Move to that country. Any of that stuff. Everyone's got his ultimate dream, savin' it for 'someday.' And 'someday' is up to you." (This interview is available at Rock's Backpages).
Don Felder, who was the Eagles newest guitarist, came up with the opening bass line. In a 1975 Rolling Stone interview, Don Henley credited Felder with helping the Eagles get away from ballads: "With Don Felder, we can really rock. He's made us nastier and he's done a great guitar solo on One Of These Nights."

In the same Rolling Stone article, Don Henley said that this song was challenging to sing live: "My voice has to be just right to hit the high notes. Sometimes I make it, sometimes I don't."
Glenn Frey says that this was an example of how he and Don Henley clicked as songwriters. "I'd go over to the piano and say, 'Hey, what do you think of this?,' he told Tavis Smiley. "I'd play something, and he'd go, 'Yeah, I like that, I like that.' Maybe just get up and start singing. That's the way we wrote 'One of These Nights.' I just went over to the piano and I started playing this little minor descending progression, and he comes over and goes, (singing) 'One of these nights.' I go, yeah, yeah."

This was the Eagles second #1 single in America, preceded by "Best Of My Love" a year before.

The album One Of These Nights sold platinum in the UK and Canada, and sold 4x platinum in the US. It was the Eagles highest-selling album to date, but their next album Hotel California sold even better.

A word about that platinum rating: In 1976, album sales were growing at such a fast clip that the RIAA introduced the platinum ranking for the first time. Guess which album was the one to receive the first platinum status? Greatest Hits 1971-1975 by The Eagles.

According to Frank Moriarty's Seventies Rock - The Decade of Creative Chaos, The Eagles' chief influence was The Byrds. Eagles' vocalist and guitarist Bernie Leadon was a former member of the Flying Burrito Brothers, a group which gets two of its members (Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman) from The Byrds.

Another significant development in Eagles history happened around the time of this album, in that Bill Szymczyk (a man whose surname spelling must surely vex the devil himself) had become The Eagles' new producer, joining them from The James Gang; this was their first full album together. Their former producer, Glyn Johns, had left the scene due to artistic differences during On The Border - Johns wanted to keep the Country sound in The Eagles, while The Eagles wanted to break out more into the mainstream rock sound. Good call!

 

[Ramsey]

Please don't throw tomatoes at moi! The Knack are known as a One Hit Wonder, except for a select few of us. RIP Bruce Gary! RIP Doug Fieger! Before The Knack's first album was ever recorded, the Knack exploded on to the LA Club scene, and artists like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Ray Manzarek scrambled to LA to play live with the dynamic pop-punk-rock band!

I absolutely love The Knack's rhythm section. Let's take drummer Bruce Gary, By age 24 Gary was touring with Jack Bruce of Cream and Mick Taylor of the Stones. Gary became an in-demand drummer for studio work and live performance with some of the premier musicians of the era including Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Stephen Stills, Rod Stewart, Sheryl Crow, Bette Midler, Yoko Ono, Harry Nilsson, and Doors guitarist Robby Krieger. He also worked with blues masters Albert King and John Lee Hooker. Is it any Wonder I can't agree The Knack was a One Hit Wonder band? Here is my 20th favorite Knack song, that's right 20th favorite Knack song. So, put your head phones on...It's the only way really.