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ROCKOLLECTIONS: WILBURY THEM PT.4 CONCLUSION

The final chapter of the Wilburys that Travel.
Heading right to the music, I’ll open open with Inside Out- the state of the world today, or maybe just the state of my life, lol!
Getting back to that question of why Vol.3 followed Vol.1, the official word was that Vol.3 was recorded by a different group of brothers.
All the remaining members, Dylan, Lynne, Harrison, Petty, took DIFFERENT Wilbury names.
In other words, a Vol.2 could NEVER be done, out of respect for the death of Roy Orbison.
Moving on with the music, got one for my inevitable trip to the Poor House.
The Traveling Wilbury’s CD’s were out of print for many years, mainly because George Harrison owned the rights, and died before he could renew them.
I have an outtake by George. A terrific song called Maxine.
I’ll be quoting from a very perceptive article by a guy named Phil Reed.
Then a song that may have slipped through the cracks, the Travelers contributed the title song on the children’s album, the Romanian Angel Appeal Benefit Album.
Engineer Ken accidentally played Roy Orbison’s last posthumous hit instead.
But we got it all straightened out.
I’ll take it all home with another outtake that is so good I can’t believe it wasn’t released- appropriately called I’m Gone (and I am in more ways than one, lol!)
Just a great rocker!
I owe a great debt of thanks to my pal Mike Hennessy for his contributions to this series.
So I do so publicly- Thanks Mickster!
This last episode is a good one. Hope you like it.

Mike

Tags: Bob Dylan, Engineer Ken, George Harrison, I'm Gone, Jeff Lynne, Maxine, Mike Hennessy, Phil Reed, Poor House, Romanian Angel Appeal Benefit Album, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Traveling Wilburys

ROCKOLLECTIONS: THE FIRST ANNUAL SUMMER LOLLAPALOOZA PT.4 END

 

Before we begin, two things- first a sort of bonus track to open from Gordon Lightfoot, and here are a few signs it might be way too hot:

The pizza you ordered is actually the same temperature
that it came out of the oven when the delivery guy FINALLY
gets it to your door.
The water in your swimming pool can be used to cook
vegetables.
Cows give homogenized milk right there at the Dairy.
Chickens lay hard boiled eggs.
You can cook a full meal in your crock pot without ever
plugging it in.
The frozen pork loin you bought at the grocery on special
is fully cooked by the time you get home and you only live a
two minute drive from the store.
The squash in your garden are fully cooked when you pick
them.
“Ice Cube” forced to change his name to “Wet Spot.”
Too late, you realize that killing someone for a Slurpee
is probably a crime.
Al Gore takes credit for inventing air conditioning.
You shaved ten minutes off the morning commute by cooking
breakfast on your dashboard on the way in.
Your kids are toasting marshmallows — by sticking them
out the window.
Water comes out of the “cold” faucet at the same tempera-
ture as the “hot” faucet.

Wrapping things up all too quickly from that end of August 2006 Summer theme series, we had 17, yes SEVENTEEN, songs left over that went unplayed. Damn time constraints are killing me. I had planned a musical side trip to the water- the beach, etc.
Ah well, maybe next year!
We open with a very odd, unusual set that includes an old folkie doing a Stevie Wonder song, a doo-wop for the Oldies lovers, then something in a style even older than oldies, concluding with a track from a treasured, and very unique vinyl LP. This is the kind of thing I couldn’t get away with anywhere else, and I am eternally grateful to have the opportunity to be able to. It is in fact, the main thing that has kept me there for those near 10 years!
We move on to a universally loved summer song- I have never met anyone who didn’t like it.
Then a song about a summer very close to MY favorite.
We begin the end with an alternate version of a perennial end of summer song, although Engineer Ken couldn’t tell much of a difference.
I would have to play them back to back, but in the released version for instance, BOTH members of the duo sing the opening- here one does, joined by the other shortly after.
This is followed by another end of summer staple.
And we close it all out with a song that was as surprising to me as it may be to you.
This lifetime rocker could never have conceived of choosing this song years ago.
But we all mellow a little and get smarter, and realize that beauty sometimes will wait for us.
Happy Rest Of The Summer!

Mike

Tags: Doo Wop, Engineer Ken, Gordon Lightfoot, Oldies, Stevie Wonder, Summer Of 2006

ROCKOLLECTIONS: MAKING A MOUNTAIN OUT OF A FAT GUY PT.4 END

In this final chapter, I will examine the”supergroup” West, Bruce & Laing.
Jack Bruce coming in from the legendary Cream.
Just 3 years removed from that other “super” teaming of Blind Faith, let’s take a close listen to West, Bruce & Laing, shall we?
I’ll start off with the title track of the LP Why Dontcha?
From a review, “Jack Bruce mixes the blues of Cream with the hard rock of Mountain, while the label gave them maybe a third of Blind Faith hype.”
Flo & Eddie had a surprisingly nasty quote about Mountain keyboardist Steve Knight.
So we will be hearing some very interesting music, to say the least!
Got a terrific song called Pollution Woman.
Then there is the strange tale of Felix Pappalardi’s wife and songwriting partner, shooting him to death in their Manhattan apartment.
I cannot understand the charge nor the incredibly light sentence she received.
I will close it all out with some really good blues, and the favorite of Engineer Ken and I, called Third Degree.
Which may or may not have a particularly different meaning for New Yorkers, lol!
Hope you enjoyed the Mountainous ride!

Tags: Blind Faith, Bruce & Laing, Cream, Engineer Ken, Felix Pappalardi Death, Flo & Eddie, Jack Bruce, New Yorkers, Pollution Woman, Steve Knight, Third Degree, West, Why Dontcha

ROCKOLLECTIONS: SONGS FOR FOOLS PT.2 END

 

I will open the concluding half of our Songs For Fools with one about a guy so dopey he doesn’t even know when to come in out of the rain- or so the expression goes, right?
Then I have a Contrast- 2 versions of the same song (which I would be shocked if you didn’t know), and both of note.
First, after hearing the single for so many years, you will find the longer beginning of the LP version very strange.
Then an unreleased interpretation of that same song by a BIG name group (some guy named Keith Richards does some of his rare lead singing).
After that, a song I HAD to play, or insult my pal, Mike Hennessy.
I don’t remember where or how he found this song, but it was a Top 10 song and I had never heard it!
Just goes to show you, there are little gems out there each of us for some reason has never heard.
Oh, and I also didn’t know the microphone was ON! For the longest time.
Anybody who has been on the radio knows we are constantly clearing our throats for that wonderful rich sound, lol!
Well, I coughed, and Engineer Ken and I just looked at each other like a bomb had exploded!
It was pretty funny, and I don’t have to tell you to listen for it- you will hear it easily enough, lol!
No question, I am a full-time fool, and don’t have to work at it.
I have a song to prove that not just men are fools, women can excel in that department too.
And I will give the final words to the world’s greatest band ever, and a guy named Cliff Edwards.
Happy April Fool’s Day to All Of Us Fools!

Tags: April Fools, Cliff Edwards, Engineer Ken, Keith Richards, Mike Hennessy, Songs For Fools