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RockRoll360 #107 Golden Age of Underground Radio Vol. 2 (Part 1)

   

Front yard of Estrellas house above, MJL plays guitar. Around this time, early 70s, she and her friends recently made a jingle for KMET radio station. “A little bit of heaven, ninety-four point seven, KMET twiddle-dee”

RockRoll360 #107  Golden Age of Underground Radio Vol. 2 (Part 1 )

Various Artists - Golden Age of Underground Radio
              (1989 Dcc Compact Classics ) (CD)   (Part 2)

A logical and proper extension of the first volume of the series (which spotlighted FM underground pioneer Tom Donahue), Golden Age of Underground Radio, Vol. 2 features recordings of the legendary Los Angeles disc jockey B. Mitchell Reed, who was one of the mainstays on KMET FM, as well as an extremely important mover and shaker in the city in its prime. Taken from shows of the 1968-1971 period, this show showcases what FM radio was, as well as its necessity and artful production. Around fabulous (full-length) versions of FM staples by Love (”Alone Again Or”), Donovan Featuring the Jeff Beck Group (”Barabajagal”), and about a dozen other turntable hits, Reed keeps the flow going with smooth, hip, and very honest raps that capture the moment in tact and in real time. Commercials of the era (such as “The Hip Bagel”) and news reports only add to the period charm and transport the listener to a very real evening of music and intelligent thought. Like Donahue, Reed started in AM radio, during its loud, fast, mile-a-minute Top 40 heyday. The metamorphosis that he and the audience were going through at the dawn of the 1970s is captured here in all of its glory, making this an exquisite social, spiritual, and political document, not to mention an artistic one as well.

                                                                    ~ Matthew Greenwald, All Music Guide

B. Mitchell Reed’s Sign-On Sound bite from KMET FM’s B. Mitchell Reed
I GOT A LINE ON YOU  /  SPIRIT
BARABAJAGAL ( Love Is Hot )  /   JEFF BECK GROUP & DONOVAN
B. Mitchell Reed  ( Thoughts )  Sound bite from KMET FM’s B. Mitchell Reed
HONKY TONK WOMAN /  IKE AND TINA TURNER
B. Mitchell Reed [Hip Bagel Commercial] Sound bite from KMET FM’s B. Mitchell Reed
ROLLIN’ AND TUMBLIN’  /    CANNED HEAT
KILLING FLOOR  /    THE ELECTRIC FLAG
Leather Ltd.  KMET Progressive Radio commercial
B. Mitchell Reed [Jeans West Commercial] Sound bite from KMET FM’s B. Mitchell Reed
ONLY YOU KNOW AND I KNOW  /    DAVE MASON
B. Mitchell Reed  ( Beatle Record)  )  Sound bite from KMET FM’s B. Mitchell Reed
YOU CAN’T DO THAT  /    HARRY NILSSON
B. Mitchell Reed Sound bite from KMET FM’s B. Mitchell Reed
EIGHT MILES HIGH  /    THE BYRDS

Tags: aaa radio, b. michell reed, canned heat, Classic Rock, dave mason, Donovan, eclectic, free mp3, freeform, Harry Nilsson, ike and tina turner, jeff beck group, kmet, mp3, music, progressive album rock, Rock, RockRoll360, Spirit, The Byrds, the electric flag, WLSO

ROCKOLLECTIONS: HALLOWEEN PT.1

Well it’s that enjoyably creepy time of the year, Halloween.
And I usually try to acknowledge it on the show with themes within a Theme.
But first, I’ll start with a fellow you may remember from TV, radio and a hit record who was nicknamed the Cool Ghoul, John Zacherle.
I met him some years ago for the 2nd time, and what a nice guy he is.
And Zacherley is around 90 years old but you’d never know it- not by his looks or behavior.
He for some reason kinda latched onto and hung with me at this party, and we laughed and laughed.
One of the friendliest and funniest people I have ever met.
After a couple of things from him, we’ll take on some Haunted Houses.
This will include a song that is not a Halloween tune or scary song per se, but I always had it in the back of my head that it could be played for Halloween.
See what you think.
Then a couple of the ladies to sing about how your own house can seem haunted because of not having been able to get along with your significant other…you can even be a Ghost in your own home!
To close out this first half, a song based on the classic Agatha Christie story 10 Little Indians.
It is by my favorite madman Harry Nilsson, and I plead with you to listen to the lyrics- the humor and the plays on words, a truly funny song.
Interspersed throughout both halves is something by Tom Waits that became a Halloween tradition for Engineer Ken and I, and was a great source of laughs for us over the years.
Part Two will be Wolves and Werewolves.
You have been warned…

Mike

Tags: 10 Little Indians, Agatha Christie, Engineer Ken, Harry Nilsson, Haunted Houses, John Zacherle, The Cool Ghoul, Tom Waits, Zacharley

ROCKOLLECTIONS: 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF EAGLE LANDING-SPACE:THE FINAL FRONTIER PT.5

I really couldn’t wake up the day I recorded this show- and would have preferred staying in bed.
So I needed something to get me Higher & Higher, maybe something along the lines of 10 Billion Butterfly Sneezes, and that is just what this chapter opens with.
I will have more interesting info about the Moon Landing, including NASA sending Neil Armstrong a secret code word to tell him to slow down.
We’ll have a Harry Nilsson song about moonbeams, done by Steve Forbert, from a tribute album to the late Nilsson called For The Love Of Harry.
Buddy Holly after that, with a strange song from him that sounds much older than it is, also dealing with moonbeams and moondreams.
And as long as I was in that period, a great moon oldie.
Putting these shows together and pulling out Moon songs, I noticed how possessive we are about the Moon.
By that I mean, if I look at the Moon from where I am, it becomes a Brooklyn Moon or a New York Moon.
For someone else, it would be wherever THEY are- say, an Atlanta Moon, or a South Carolina Moon, or a Chicago Moon, or a Moon Over Miami- even though we are all looking at the SAME Moon!
So, we will begin a long set of music I am calling Proprietary Moon Songs.
Checking in with some examples, includes another from the early Sun Records (hey, another Moon song from  Sun!).
We will continue with these Proprietary Moon songs next episode- and I had to limit myself- there are dozens of them.

Mike

Tags: , 10 Billion Butterfly Sneezes, Buddy Holly, For The Love Of Harry, Harry Nilsson, Higher & Higher, NASA, Neil Armstrong, Proprietary Moon Songs, Steve Forbert, Sun Records