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Post by razorbacker on Feb 5, 2024 12:32:17 GMT
Van Morrison OBE is a singer-songwriter and musician from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He is now 78. His full name is George Ivan Morrison.
He haswon two Grammy Awards. Both of his wins were for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals. He won in 1995 for Have I Told You Lately That I Love you with The Chieftains & in 1998 for Don’t Look Back with John Lee Hooker.
His album Astral Weeks & his singles Gloria, Moondance & Brown Eyed Girl have all been installed into The Grammy Hall Of Fame.
He won the 1994 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, the 2017 Americana Music Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting.
He has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2016, he was knighted for services to the music industry and to tourism in Northern Ireland.
During his career he has released 45 studio albums, 7 Live albums & 80 singles. This song comes from Hymns to the Silence. It was his 21st studio album. It was also his first studio double album & was released in 1991. The album landed at #99 on the top 200 & has been certified Gold.
All Saints Day by Van Morrison
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 5, 2024 18:00:00 GMT
The New Christy Minstrels are a large-ensemble folk music group founded by Randy Sparks in 1961. There have been dozens of different members over the years. They took a 5 year hiatus in the mid 70’s but have been back together since 1976 & continue to perform.
The group helped launch the musical careers of several musicians, including Kenny Rogers, Gene Clark, Kim Carnes, Larry Ramos and Barry McGuire.
They have recorded dozens of albums & released multiple singles. The song linked to here was released as a single in 1964 & was the title song to their 6th album. The single hit #17 & was their final top 40 hit.
The song was a part of the score for a film comedy set during the Civil War titled Advance to the Rear, starring Glenn Ford, Stella Stevens & Melvin Douglas. The group also performed the music in the movie.
Vocalists during the time of this single included Barry McGuire, later to issue the solo hit "Eve of Destruction", and Gene Clark, who would go on to co-found The Byrds.
Today by New Christy Minstrels
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 6, 2024 12:31:00 GMT
The Beach Boys kicked off their career in 1961 & are still operating today. Group members Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine & Bruce Johnston continue down the road with the band. Carl Wilson passed in 1998 & Dennis Wilson left us in 1983.
The group had 7 top 10 singles between April 1963 and November 1964. They were one of the first American groups to play their own instruments and write their own songs, and they were one of the few American bands formed prior to the 1964 British Invasion to continue their success.
In 1988, the original five members (the Wilson brothers, Love, and Jardine) were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ten years later, they were selected for the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
In 2004, the album Pet Sounds was preserved in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant." Their singles "In My Room", "Good Vibrations", & "California Girls", and the entire Pet Sounds album have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
This was the title song to their 6th studio album. The album was released July 13, 1964 & made it to #4 on the top 200 & has been certified as a Gold record. It appears as though the only single from the album was I Get Around, the song became their 1st #1 hit in the U.S. and was the beginning of an unofficial rivalry between Brian Wilson and the Beatles.
The song later became popular after its use in the ending credits of George Lucas's 1973 film American Graffiti. It was released as a single in the UK, but not here.
All Summer Long by The Beach Boys
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Post by Kao on Feb 6, 2024 15:18:53 GMT
This popped into my head this morning for some reason and I just had to watch it again, lol. Besides the song being groovy, the video has a certain Fellini quality that I like.
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 6, 2024 18:26:02 GMT
Nick Lowe is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer from Walton-On-Thames, Surrey, England. He will be 75 next month.
He began his musical career in 1967, when he joined the band Kippington Lodge, along with his school friend Brinsley Schwarz. They renamed the band Brinsley Schwarz in late 1969 and began performing country and blues-rock. During this period he wrote some of his best-known songs while a member of the band, including "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding", a hit for Elvis Costello in 1979; and "Cruel to Be Kind", also in 1979, Lowe's single and biggest worldwide hit, co-written with bandmate Ian Gomm.
As a producer he produced Elvis Costello's first five albums, from 1977 to 1981. He also worked with the Pretenders (the 1978 debut single "Stop Your Sobbing", which was a modest UK and U.S. hit); Graham Parker (his well-received first and third albums); Dr. Feelgood (several LPs, and their biggest hit single, 1979's "Milk and Alcohol"); Johnny Cash (his 1980 single "Without Love", a minor hit on the U.S. and Canadian country charts); and his then-wife Carlene Carter (2 albums in 1980 and 1981). From 1982 to 1985, he produced material for Paul Carrack, John Hiatt, the Fabulous Thunderbirds and the Men They Couldn't Hang.
As a solo artist he has released 14 studio albums, 3 Live albums & 23 singles. This song was on his debut album called Jesus of Cool. The album came out in 1978 & hit #127 in the US.
His old bandmate in Rockpile, Dave Edmunds plays guitar on the album, but the lead guitar in this song was played by long time Doobie Brothers member John McFee.
Tonight by Nick Lowe
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 7, 2024 12:26:16 GMT
Paul Winter is a saxophonist, composer, and bandleader from Altoona, Pennsylvania. He turned 84 last August.
He is a pioneer of world music and earth music, which interweaves the voices of the wild with instrumental voices from classical, jazz and world music. The music is often improvised and recorded in nature to reflect the qualities brought into play by the environment.
He won 6 Grammy Awards from 13 nominations between 1986 and 2010. Spanish Angel earned him his first Grammy Award in 1993 for Best New Age Album. His other Grammy wins were for the albums Prayer for the Wild Things (2005), Celtic Solstice (1999), Silver Solstice (2005), Crestone (2007), and Miho: Journey to the Mountain (2010).
In 1967 he started the Paul Winter Consort. He borrowed the name from English Elizabethan theater of the 16th and 17th centuries, when bands combined woodwinds, strings, and percussion, the same families of instruments he wanted to combine in his contemporary consort. With this group, he became one of the earliest creators of world music.
During his career he has released 17 solo albums, 15 with The Consort, & 6 more with The Paul Winter Sextet. This song comes from the 4th album by the Paul Winter Consort. It was released in 1972.
The album was produced by George Martin. The song was written by the guy playing the Oboe, Paul McCandless.
All The Mornings Bring by Paul Winter Consort
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 7, 2024 18:06:57 GMT
Donny Hathaway was a soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, backing vocalist, and arranger from Chicago.
In 1971, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia for which he was prescribed various medications. At one point, he was prescribed fourteen different medications that he was to take twice a day. From 1973 to 1977, his mental instability wreaked havoc on his life and career and required several hospitalizations. He was found dead on the pavement below the window of his 15th-floor room in New York City's Essex House hotel at 160 Central Park South, on January 13, 1979. It was reported that he had jumped from his balcony. The glass had been neatly removed from the window and there were no signs of a struggle, leading investigators to rule that his death was a suicide. He was just 33.
Donny worked as a songwriter, session musician, and producer for Curtis Mayfield's Curtom Records in Chicago. He did the arrangements for hits by the Unifics ("Court of Love" and "The Beginning of My End") and took part in projects by the Staple Singers, Jerry Butler, Aretha Franklin, the Impressions and Curtis Mayfield himself.
He has been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame and won one Grammy Award from four nominations. He was also posthumously honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.
Most of his charting successes came as a duet partner with Robert Flack including the Top 5 hit singles Where Is The Love (that was the song that won him his Grammy) & The Closer I Get To You.
This song was included on his 1st album. It was called Everything Is Everything. It was his debut studio album & was released on July 1, 1970.
The message of the song still rings true today!!
Tryin Times by Donny Hathaway
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 8, 2024 12:28:32 GMT
Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (just Dr. Hook after 1975) is a rock band, formed in Union City, New Jersey in 1968. The band is still up & operating, although with a different lineup.
The founding core of the band consisted of George Cummings, Ray Sawyer, and Billy Francis, who had worked together in a band called the Chocolate Papers. Cummings, Sawyer and Francis started a new band and included primary vocalist Dennis Locorriere, who initially joined as a bass player. Dennis Locorriere is the only original member remaining with the new group. Ray Sawyer & Billy Francis have both passed away.
The band name was inspired by Ray Sawyer's eyepatch and a reference to Captain Hook of the Peter Pan fairy tale, he lost his right eye in a near-fatal car crash in Oregon in 1967 and, after that, wore an eyepatch, leading some people to believe that he was Dr Hook; when asked by fans which band member was Dr Hook, they would all point to the bus driver.
During their career they have released 12 studio albums, but none since 1983. This song comes from their 1978 album called Pleasure and Pain. It was their 7th studio album. The album charted at #77. It included 4 charting singles. Sharing The Night Together & When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman both landed at #6, Better Love Next Time came in at #12 & the song linked to here was the only one that failed to hit the top 40 when it stalled out at 54.
All The Time In The World by Dr. Hook
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 8, 2024 18:52:07 GMT
Sam Cooke was a singer/ songwriter from Clarkesdale, Mississippi.
During his eight-year career, he released 29 Top 40 singles as well as 20 that hit the Top Ten of Billboard's Black Singles chart.
He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 as a charter member, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987, & in 1989 he was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a second time when the Soul Stirrers were inducted.
This song was not included on an album until they started releasing Greatest Hits compilations. Sam wrote it & it got to #9 on the Hot 100 & #1 on the R&B Charts.
The Wrecking Crew provide the instrumentation. Musicians include Rene Hall as band leader, Red Callender on bass, Earl Palmer on drums, Tommy Tedesco and Clifton White on guitars, Ed Beal on piano, John Kelson, John Ewing and Jewell Grant on saxophone and Stuart Williamson on trumpet.
Twistin The Night Away by Sam Cooke
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 9, 2024 12:15:31 GMT
Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner CBE, got his nickname after his habit of wearing a black and yellow jumper with hooped stripes with the Phoenix Jazzmen. Bandleader Gordon Solomon thought he looked like a bee (or according to Sting himself, "they thought I looked like a wasp"), which prompted the name "Sting". He turned 72 last October.
As a solo performer, he has released 15 albums. This song was included on The Soul Cages, it was his 3rd solo album & was released on 21 January 1991. The album hit #2 on the Top 200 here in the states & has been certified Platinum.
It is a concept album focused on the death of his father. He had developed a writer's block shortly after his father's death in 1987; the episode lasted several years, until he was able to overcome his affliction by dealing with the death through music.
There were 4 singles released from the album. The title song was the 3rd single, it did not chart, but it did go on to win the first Grammy Award for Best Rock Song in 1992. Why Should I Cry For You? & Mad About You were both released, but neither one charted. The song linked to here was the lead single, it was a multi chart hit here landing in the Top 10 on 5 different Billboard charts.
"It's about the death of my father, so it's pretty dark as a record but on this song the words are foiled by this fairly jolly tune. That's something I like to do quite a lot, combine dark subject matter with up music. No, it's not based on a dream. The lyrics seem surreal, but they are all images I remembered from my home town: ferries, priests, shire horses. I grew up by the shipyards. I just wanted to escape. I suppose it was quite a surreal place, though. It is the landscape of my dreams" — Sting, Independent On Sunday, 11/9 All This Time by Sting
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 9, 2024 17:57:03 GMT
The Dictators are an American rock band formed in New York City in 1973.
They have broken up & re - formed multiple times through the years, but they are back together now since 2020.
The original recording line-up consisted of vocalist/bassist/songwriter Andy Shernoff, lead guitarist Ross Friedman (aka Ross Funicello), rhythm guitarist Scott Kempner, and drummer Stu Boy King. It was this line-up–along with roadie/occasional vocalist and "Secret Weapon" Handsome Dick Manitoba–which recorded the band's debut album, The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! And that is the album this song comes from. It was released in 1975 & is considered one of the first examples of punk rock.
The album was also one of two factors influencing the creation of Punk magazine by John Holmstrom and music journalist Legs McNeil. In Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, McNeil said that the album so resonated with him and his friends that they started the magazine strictly so they could "hang out with the Dictators".
I see no evidence that the album charted, nor does there seem to have been any singles released.
Weekend by The Dictators
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 10, 2024 11:54:02 GMT
George Harrison MBE was an English musician, singer and songwriter from Liverpool, England who 1st achieved fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. He died of numerous cancers in 2001 at the age of 58.
He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 2004 and into the Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame in 2006 for the Concert for Bangladesh.
He won multiple Grammy Awards with The Beatles, as a solo artist & as a member of The Traveling Wilburys. His album All Things Must Pass has been installed into the Grammy Hall Of Fame.
He was posthumously honored with The Recording Academy's Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in February 2015.
As a solo artist he released 12 studio albums & 35 singles. Somewhere in England was his 9th studio album. It was his 1st album to be released after the murder of John Lennon; the lyrics of the song linked to here pay tribute to John. The album landed at #11 in the US. The song was released as a single & came in at #2.
Here are the musicians playing on the song. George Harrison – vocals, electric guitars, synthesizer, backing vocals, Ringo Starr – drums, Paul McCartney – backing vocals, Linda McCartney – backing vocals, Denny Laine – backing vocals, Al Kooper – electric piano, Herbie Flowers – bass, & Ray Cooper – tambourine.
George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick, and the members of Wings were working on McCartney's Tug Of War album at the time, and had traveled to Harrison's studio to record a Harrison guitar overdub for that album. The session instead turned into a vocal session for "All Those Years Ago", and George's guitar piece for Paul's album was never recorded.
All Those Years Ago by George Harrison
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 10, 2024 20:07:22 GMT
Judy Collins is a singer-songwriter and musician from Seattle. She will be 85 next May.
She won her only Grammy Award- in 1969 for Best Folk Recording & her version of the Joni Mitchell song, Both Sides Now.
Her rendition of "Amazing Grace" was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant" in 2017.
Her discography consists of 36 studio albums, 9 live albums, numerous compilation albums, 4 holiday albums, and 21 singles.
This was the title song to her 7th studio album it was released in 1968. The album got to #29 & has been certified Gold. The song includes help from Stephen Stills who plays both electric & acoustic guitar on this song.
The next year would see the release of Crosby, Stills & Nash’s 1st album & the song Suite Judy Blue Eyes, which was a shout out to Judy who was Stephens former girlfriend.
The song was written by Sandy Denny who at the time was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. Sandy also has a place in rock history. In 1971, she sang a duet with Robert Plant on "The Battle of Evermore", which was included on Led Zeppelin IV, she was the only guest vocalist ever to appear on a Led Zeppelin album.
Who Knows Where The Time Goes by Judy Collins
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 11, 2024 12:48:58 GMT
Duke Ellington wrote & recorded this song for the 1st time back in 1940. It was included on an album called Duke Plays Ellington released in 1954. I don’t see any evidence that he ever released the song as a single, but it has been recorded many times over the years including vocal arrangements with lyrics added by Carl Sigman.
Carl Sigman is in the Songwriters Hall Of Fame.
Over the course of his career he wrote English language lyrics to many songs which were originally composed in other languages, such as "Answer Me", "Till", "The Day the Rains Came", "You're My World", and "What Now My Love?".
During the big band era, he composed works used by top band leaders such as Glenn Miller and Guy Lombardo. These included "Pennsylvania 6-5000". His songs were also hits for individual singers. Some of the best-known are "My Heart Cries for You", which was recorded by three different artists in 1951: Dinah Shore, Guy Mitchell and Vic Damone. Two years later, his song "Ebb Tide" was a hit for Frank Chacksfield; and was a Top 10 hit in 1965 for the Righteous Brothers. It was also recorded by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, the Platters and hundreds of others.
Tommy Edwards had a No. 1 in 1958 with "It's All in the Game", with lyrics by Sigman set to music the future Vice President Charles Gates Dawes had composed in 1912. He also wrote the lyrics for "Where Do I Begin", the theme song for Love Story.
Musicians on this song are Piano: Duke Ellington, Drums: Butch Ballard, & Upright Bass: Wendell Marshall.
All Too Soon by Duke Ellington
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 11, 2024 18:00:43 GMT
Jackie Wilson Jr. was a singer from Highland Park, Michigan. In 1975, he suffered a heart attack during a performance, which left him in a minimally conscious state until his death in 1984. He was in the middle of singing "Lonely Teardrops" when on the words "My heart is crying" he collapsed on stage; the lack of oxygen to his brain caused him to slip into a coma. He briefly recovered in early 1976 but died on January 21, 1984, at the age of 49 from complications of pneumonia.
He originally gained fame as a member of the R&B vocal group Billy Ward and His Dominoes. He went solo in 1957 and had 16 Top 10 R&B hits, 6 of which hit#1. On the Billboard Hot 100, he had 14 top 20 pop hits, 6 of which reached the top 10.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2005, & the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2013.
In 1999, his songs "Higher and Higher" and "Lonely Teardrops" were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
This song was a non album track, released as a single in 1961. It landed at 37 on the Hot 100 & 25 on the R&B chart.
Years From Now by Jackie Wilson
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 12, 2024 12:14:40 GMT
John Fogerty is a singer, songwriter and guitarist from Berkeley, California. He will be 79 in May.
While in junior high school in 1959, he formed a cover band with bassist Stu Cook and drummer Doug Clifford called the Blue Velvets. Later, John's brother Tom joined the group. In 1964, the band signed with Fantasy Records, which, without the band's knowledge or approval, changed the band's name from the Blue Velvets to The Golliwogs. This group recorded seven singles that were not commercially successful.
And then came Creedence Clearwater Revival. They released their first album and singles in July 1968. Their catalog includes 7 studio albums, 5 live albums, 41 compilation albums, and 29 singles. The band had nine top-10 singles and 8 gold albums between 1968 and 1972. They never had a #1 hit, but they had 5 singles that got to #2.
CCR was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
After the demise of CCR, John has released 10 studio albums & even had the long awaited #1 single in The Old Man Down The Road in 1984.
This song comes from his 2nd solo album. It was called John Fogerty & was released in 1975. It included the singles Rockin All Over The World which came in at #27 & the song linked to here which fell out at #78.
Almost Saturday Night by John Fogerty
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 12, 2024 18:45:47 GMT
Carole Bayer Sager is a lyricist, singer, songwriter, and painter from New York City. She will turn 80 next month.
Her first pop hit, "A Groovy Kind of Love", was written while still a student at New York City's High School of Music and Art. It was recorded by the British invasion band The Mindbenders, whose version was a worldwide hit, reaching number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was later recorded by Sonny & Cher, Petula Clark, and Phil Collins, whose rendition for the film Buster reached number one on both the UK Singles Chart and Billboard Hot 100 in 1988.
She has won an Academy Award for "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)", theme song to the romantic comedy Arthur, a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1987 for the song "That's What Friends Are For", which she co-wrote with Burt Bacharach and two Golden Globe Awards,for Arthur & The Prayer, co – written with David Foster.
She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987.
As a solo artist she has released just 3 albums with the most recent one coming in 1981. This song comes from her debut self titled album from 1976. The song was released as a single & got to #42 in the US but hit the top 10 in other countries including a #1 in Australia. She co – wrote it with Bette Midler who also released it as a single.
You’re Movin Out Today by Carole Bayer Sager
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 13, 2024 11:31:31 GMT
Joshua Redman is a jazz saxophonist and composer from Berkeley. He just turned 55 two weeks ago.
In 1991, he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Social Studies from Harvard University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa Society. He had already been accepted by Yale Law School, but deferred entrance for what he believed was only going to be one year. He relocated to Brooklyn, and became immersed in the New York jazz scene.
He won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1991, and began focusing on his musical career. He was signed by Warner Bros. Records and released his first self-titled album in the spring of 1993, which earned him his first Grammy nomination.
He has been nominated for multiple Grammy Awards including Best Jazz Album 7 different years but he has yet to win.
This song comes from his 1994 album called Moodswing. It was the 1st of 3 albums he released under the name of The Joshua Redman Quartet. The album landed at #7 on the Traditional Jazz Albums chart & was nominated for Soul Train Music Award for Best Jazz Album. He lost to After The Storm by Norman Brown.
The rest of the Quartet are Brad Mehldau on piano, Christian McBride on acoustic bass, and Brian Blade on drums.
Alone In The Morning by Joshua Redman
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 13, 2024 18:21:14 GMT
Galaxie 500 was an alternative rock band that formed in 1987 in Cambridge, Mass. The were named after a friend's car, a Ford Galaxie 500.
The band members were guitarist/vocalist Dean Wareham, drummer Damon Krukowski and bassist and vocalist Naomi Yang who had met at the Dalton School in New York City in 1981, but began playing together during their time as students at Harvard University.
The band broke up in 1991 after releasing their 3rd album. This song was a part of On Fire. It was their 2nd album & was released in 1989. They charted on the UK Independent Albums charts, but not here in the US. The album landed at #7 over there on initial release & #10 when it was re released in 2010.
The Rolling Stone Album Guide called it Galaxie 500's "best album by far". In 2002, Pitchfork placed it at number 16 on its "Top 100 Albums of the 1980s" list. In 2013, Fact placed it at number 51 on its "100 Best Albums of the 1980s" list. In 2018, Pitchfork ranked it fourth on its "The 30 Best Dream Pop Albums" list.
Another Day by Galaxie 500
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 14, 2024 12:02:31 GMT
During his career Rod Stewart has released 32 studio albums, 4 Live albums been a part of 22 compilation albums & there have been 147 singles.
He has sold 120 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. According to Recording Industry Association of America, he has sold 46.6 million albums and singles in the US. Billboard ranked him as the 15th Greatest Artist of all time (6th among male soloist). He is also the 20th Greatest Hot 100 artist of all time and the 13th Greatest Billboard 200 Artist of all time.
This song comes from Atlantic Crossing, it was his 6th studio album & was released in 1975. The album was recorded in five American studios including Muscle Shoals, Alabama, between April and June 1975, it was produced by Tom Dowd.
It got to #9 on the top 200 albums charts in the US, but was his 4th #1 album in the UK. It has been certified as a Gold record here. Singles released included Sailing, which hit #58 on the Hot 100 & his cover of The Isley Brother’s, This Old Heart Of Mine which stalled out at #83.
He co wrote this song with Jesse Ed Davis who also plays guitar. There are tons of people that play on the album including multiple members of The Wrecking Crew, Nigel Olsson, The Memphis Horns & all members of Booker T. & The MG’s.
Alright For An Hour by Rod Stewart
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 14, 2024 18:24:54 GMT
Al Jolson was a singer, actor, and vaudevillian born in Sredniki, Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire. His real name was Asa Yoelson. He died of a massive heart attack on October 23, 1950. His last words were said to be "Oh ... oh, I'm going." He was 64.
He was one of the most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer." He was known for his sentimental, melodramatic approach"towards performing, as well as for popularizing many of the songs he sang.
He is probably best remembered today as the star of the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer (1927), but he also starred in many successful musical films during the 1930s. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he was the first star to entertain troops overseas.
This song comes from 1921. It was written for the Broadway musical "Bombo." where he 1st introduced it. It became a well-known Jolson standard: the first of his several recordings of the song was on Columbia Records in October 1921. The song was composed by Louis Silvers with lyrics by B. G. De Sylva.
April Showers by Al Jolson
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 15, 2024 12:15:30 GMT
Tom Petty had a pretty sterling career & many organizations recognized him for it.
In April 1996, he received UCLA's George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement. The next month, he won the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers' Golden Note Award.
In December 2001, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
He received the Billboard Century Award, the organization's highest honor for creative achievement on December 6, 2005.
He was honored as MusiCares Person of the Year in February 2017 for his contributions to music and for his philanthropy.
He has 3 albums, Wildflowers, Damn the Torpedoes, and Full Moon Fever, on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. He also has two songs on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. "American Girl", and "Free Fallin'".
And Full Moon Fever is where we pick up the conversation. That is the album that included this song. It was his 1st solo album it landed at #3 on the top 200 albums charts & has been certified as 5X Platinum. The album also included the singles I Won’t Back Down #12 on the Hot 100, Runnin Down A Dream #23, Free Fallin #7, A Face In The Crowd #46 & You’re So Bad which did not chart in the US but did land in Canada.
The album is filled with famous folks lending a hand including all of the Travelin WIlburys’ except Bob Dylan, & even Del Shannon makes an appearance.
Alright For Now by Tom Petty
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 15, 2024 18:29:45 GMT
Ray Anthony is a retired bandleader, trumpeter, songwriter and actor born in Bentleyville, Pennsylvania. His birth name was Raymond Antonini. He is the last surviving member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra & is now 102!!!
He played in Glenn Miller's band from 1940 to 1941 and appeared in the movie Sun Valley Serenade before joining the U.S. Navy during World War II.
The Ray Anthony Orchestra which became popular in the early 1950s with "The Bunny Hop", "Hokey Pokey", and the memorable theme from the radio / television police detective series Dragnet.
This song has been recorded a bazillion times over the years. The original lyrics were written by Jacques Prévert in French, and the English lyrics were by Johnny Mercer.
It has become a jazz standard and it is one of the most recorded songs by jazz musicians. More than a thousand commercial recordings are known to have been released by mainstream and jazz musicians. Ray released it as a single in 1950 with a “B” side called Mr. Anthony’s Boogie. It included lead vocals by Ronnie Deauville & backing vocals by The Skyliners. The Skyliners were Pat Baldwin, Ralph McGrew, Larry Marker, & Joe Glock. They were not the doo wop group with the same name.
Autumn Leaves by Ray Anthony
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 16, 2024 12:25:40 GMT
Gloria Estefan is a singer, actress, and businesswoman born in Havana Cuba. Her birth name is Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García. She is now 66.
She rose to fame as the lead singer of Miami Latin Boys, which was later renamed Miami Sound Machine. She and Miami Sound Machine earned worldwide success with their 1985 single "Conga", which became her signature song.
She is an eight-time Grammy Award winner, a 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has been named one of the Top 100 greatest artists of all time by both VH1 and Billboard.
She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and has received multiple Billboard Music Awards.
During her career she has released 14 studio albums with the most recent one being a Christmas album in 2022. The Miami Sound Machine has released 11 studio albums of their own.
This song was released as a single in 1992 as the first single from her Greatest Hits album. The song had not previously been released as a single or included on an album. The song stalled out at #81 on the Hot 100 but got to #5 on the Adult Contemporary charts. The album got to #15 & has been certified as 4X Platinum.
Always Tomorrow by Gloria Estefan
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 16, 2024 17:49:35 GMT
Peter Cetera is a retired musician best known for being a frontman, vocalist, and bassist from the band Chicago. He is now 79.
He began his career as the bass player for Chicago in 1967 & remained until his departure in 1985.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Chicago in April 2016, and he, Robert Lamm, and James Pankow were among the 2017 Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees for their songwriting efforts as members of the group. Peter, along with other members of Chicago, received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.
His career as a recording artist encompasses 17 studio albums with Chicago and 8 solo studio albums. He has not released an album nor a single since 2001. Other than Christmas music in 2005.
This song was the opening track to his 3rd solo album and his 2nd album after leaving Chicago. It was called One More Story & was released in 1988. The album peaked at number 58 on the Billboard 200 chart. Singles include the hit, "One Good Woman," which made it to#4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the song linked to here which stalled out at #59.
Best Of Times by Peter Cetera
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 17, 2024 12:17:13 GMT
George Strait is a country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer, born in Poteet, Texas. He will turn 72 this year.
He has been named the "King of Country Music" by writers and music critics.
He was elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006. He has won tons of awards from the Country Music ceremonies, but he has just 1 Grammy win out of 16 nominations & that came in 2009 for the album Troubadour.
During his career he has released 30 studio albums, 3 live albums, and 11 compilation albums. He holds the RIAA record for most certified platinum albums by any artist, with 33, he also has 13 multi-platinum and 38 gold albums.
This song was included on Strait From The Heart. It was his 2nd studio album & was released in 1982. The album landed at #18 & has been certified Platinum. In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked the album 19 on its 100 Greatest Country Albums of All Time publication.
The album included the singles Fool Hearted Memory #1 on Country, Marina Del Rey #6, A Fire I Can’t Put Out #1 & the song linked to here was the 3rd release, it got to #4 & has been certified as 4X Platinum.
The song was co – written by Terry Stafford who had a #3 pop hit single in 1964 with the song Suspicion.
Amarillo By Morning by George Strait
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 17, 2024 18:20:02 GMT
Illinois Jacquet was a jazz tenor saxophonist.
In 1939 at the age of 17, he moved to Los Angeles where he met Nat King Cole who introduced him to Lionel Hampton who had returned to California and was putting together a big band. Hampton wanted to hire Jacquet, but asked the young Jacquet to switch to tenor saxophone.
He released his 1st album in 1951 & his final album was released posthumously in 2014.
The has become a pop standard and is generally considered to be part of the Great American Songbook. The music was written by Harold Arlen, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, for a 1941 film released as Blues in the Night. Baritone William Gillespie was hired to perform the song in the jail cell for the film. In his review of the film, critic Howard Thompson of The New York Times argued that Gillespie's "superbly chanted" version of the Arlen–Mercer song transformed the motion picture and arguably "nailed the film down for posterity.
This song has been recorded so many times that this version by Illinois isn’t even included on any of the lists of prominent versions. It seems to have been released in 1952.
Blues In The Night by Illinois Jacquet
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 18, 2024 12:31:05 GMT
Sun Ra, was a jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet from Birmingham, Alabama. He died of congestive heart failure, respiratory failure, strokes, circulatory problems, and other serious maladies on May 30, 1993, he had just turned 79. His real name was Herman Poole Blount.
He 1st became involved in the Chicago jazz scene during the late 1940s.
He soon abandoned his birth name, taking the name Le Sony'r Ra, shortened to Sun Ra (after Ra, the Egyptian god of the Sun). Claiming to be an alien from Saturn on a mission to preach peace, he developed a mythical persona. Throughout his life he denied ties to his prior identity saying, "Any name that I use other than Ra is a pseudonym.
In Chicago, in the mid-fifties, he began experimenting with extraterrestriality in his stage show, sometimes playing regular cocktail lounges dressed in space suits and ancient Egyptian regalia. By placing his band and performances in space and extraterrestrial environments he built a world that was his own view of how the African diaspora connected.
During his career recorded dozens of singles and over one hundred full-length albums, comprising well over 1,000 songs, and making him one of the most prolific recording artists of the 20th century. He has so many albums that it is difficult to pin down exactly which album this song appeared on first but it was definitely on a 1952 album called Jazz In Silhouette.
Ancient Ethiopia by Sun Ra
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 18, 2024 18:29:31 GMT
Joni Mitchell is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter born in Fort MacLeod, Alberta, Canada. Joni turned 80 last November.
She has won 11 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Rolling Stone called her "one of the greatest songwriters ever", and AllMusic has stated, "Joni Mitchell may stand as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century.
She received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002, with the citation describing her as "one of the most important female recording artists of the rock era" and "a powerful influence on all artists who embrace diversity, imagination and integrity".
She was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1981 and received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honor in the performing arts, in 1996.
During her career she has released 19 studio albums, most recently 2007's Shine. She has released 6 Live albums including her Grammy winning 2023 album called Joni Mitchell at Newport. There have been 33 singles including the song linked to here.
The song comes from her 2nd album. It was called Clouds & came out in 1969. The album landed at #31 & has been certified Gold. Stephen Stills plays bass on the album.
She released the song as a single, but it did not chart for her. It did hit the charts for Fairport Convention in 1968, and for Judy Collins earlier in 1969. Chelsea Morning by Joni Mitchell
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Post by razorbacker on Feb 19, 2024 12:13:08 GMT
Dion is a singer and songwriter from The Bronx. He will be 85 in July. His full name is Dion Francis DiMucci.
In a rarity for the rock & roll generation, he has been married to Susan Butterfield since March 25, 1963.
He 1st gained fame as the lead singer of Dion and the Belmonts. He then began a solo career, and was one of the most prominent rock and roll performers of the pre-British Invasion era. He had 39 Top 40 hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, some were with The Belmonts, others were solo efforts.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. & "Runaround Sue” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.
This song was included on his album from 1989 called Yo Frankie. The album marked a comeback for him as he had spent much of the 1980s recording Christian music. The album peaked at No. 130 on the Billboard 200.
The album was produced by Dave Edmunds & had appearances by Paul Simon, Patty Smyth, Lou Reed, k.d. lang, & Chuck Levell among others. Dave Edmunds also played the lead guitar on this song & provides backing vocals along with Patty Smyth. The song was written by Dianne Warren.
And The Night Stood Still by Dion
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