Too many years of music to compare. Comparing the music of today to the music of yesterday is like comparing apples to oranges.

Thanks aflem. Another great article. Both of these articles show what so many of the artists in the 70's and 80's went through to get on the radio and achieve success. It was years of playing here, there and everywhere and not being sure where or how far they would go. Through it all they looked for the hook, lick or song that would propel them on to the radio and greater success. A couple of other groups that come to mind with great stories like that are Hall & Oates and Huey Lewis and the News. John Oates book "Change of Seasons provides a great look into how H&O started in the early 70s and worked their buns off before they became mega stars in the 80s.

So sad. I still listen to his Footprint album. 

Merry Christmas Darling - Carpenters
Little St. Nick - Beach Boys
Driving Home for Christmas - Chris Rea

I love Year of the Cat - one of my favourite songs. I've seen a number of interviews with Al Stewart and he always comes across as such an amiable person. And I love his laugh!! I found another video interview of Al in which he and Alan Parsons talk about Year of the Cat and how Al didn't initially like the idea of the sax solo in the song.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYN_QupQJ_M

 

I wouldn't exactly call Billy Joel chopped liver!

Kiss me Baby - Beach Boys
Johnny Angel - Shelly Fabares
String Along - Ricky Nelson

 

Willy Leacox, the drummer for the band America for 41 years, passed away at his home in Stockton, CA this week at the age of 74. He was first heard playing with America on their 4th album, Holiday. He was one great drummer.

I can't believe that Ticket to Ride didn't even make it on the list!

That is a great article. In addition to a great story, I really enjoyed the two videos that were featured in. It was very interesting to see Don singing the song live in 1971 and 28 years later in 1999. Thanks for posting this aflem.

Speaking of Gordon, I ran across one of Rick Beatto's "What Makes This Song Great" and he beautifully analyzes "If You Could Read My Mind", which truly is one of the most beautiful songs written. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X33YyowZZxQ

gopher wrote:

alangee wrote:

Back in the day, many years ago when I was learning to play drums, Roger Hawkins was the first drummer I actually took note of. His work on Aretha Franklin's songs, especially "The House that Jack Built" totally blew me away. I loved his funkiness, crispness and precision. He was a major influence in my drumming.

that's really great. if you came up past those surf drum disco platters, i can see how hawkins would have brought something meatier to your attention.

i'm wondering, though, in light of your attraction to hawkins, what, if anything, did you make of al jackson? too thin, perhaps? or, had jackson passed before you picked up on him or hawkins?
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/nov/25/al-jackson-jr-memphis-sunset-the-mysterious-death-of-stax-heartbeat
 

To be perfectly honest, I was never a true student or follower of specific drummers. (I was never a that great drummer either. I just enjoyed playing them and being in the local garage bands!) I only knew of Hawkins from Aretha's Greatest Hits album because his picture and name was on the album and I wore out the grooves listening to it. That is how I remember him. I also became aware of Hal Blaine when I first saw his name on one of my Fifth Dimension albums. As for Al Jackson I didn't know about him until I just read his bio on Wikipedia because you mentioned him and obviously he was a great drummer. If I'd had a Booker T & the MGs album I might have learned about him sooner!

Yes, it's nice to see Carole and Tina get in, but I'm no longer a fan of the Hall. The list is massive of deserving artists who are not in the Hall let alone not even being nominated. Right now IMHO the R&RHOF has about as much relevance and credibility as a Rolling Stone top 100 list.

Steve Douglas and Jay Migliori were session saxophonists who played with the Beach Boys, Phil Spector and others. You can actually hear them playing on this "Fun Fun Fun" remix/remaster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTAR-xR_hWo . Until I had heard this remix I never even knew there were saxophones on the original recording.

Lorne wrote:

A regular named Fitz on my local radio/tv forum posted tonight that someone came up with the answer on the Steve Hoffman Music Forums. The song is called The Livin' And The Dyin' and it's by Jim Dawson. You can hear the song at http://www.jimdawson.com/livin.html. Very glad to see this mystery has finally been solved. 

Bravo to the power of the Internet!! So glad I could hear the whole song. I really like it. In fact I like a lot of the music on his web site. He wrote some very fine songs. Too bad he didn't get the big break that some of the others in his day got. I think his music would have fared well on the charts if he'd had a bit of promotion.