https://open.spotify.com/playlist/26qiiZ3PkmQeOkHf2yLM8s?si=8fb94501c69a4602 ROGER DALTREY "Say It Ain't So Joe" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ergcxC1tcAE Daltrey's debut was famous for its Leo Sayer songs (co-written with David Courtney), before Leo was a solo act, never mind switching gears to being a popster with Richard Perry. It opens jauntily with "One Man Band," but the highlight from that initial solo LP is "Giving It All Away," which was great, but I prefer Sayer's ultimate rendition a year later on his second LP, "Just a Boy," which contained the hit "Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)." Remember when Leo used to take the stage as a clown? That was a big story way back when, no one has mentioned it to me in decades. Anyway... This was a tough one for me... You'll remember after the "Tommy" movie, Daltrey had a career as an actor, first in "Lisztomania," memorably in "McVicar." Daltrey was the frontman, he got the attention, but all these years later it's clear that Townshend is the genius, that without him there is no Who. "McVicar" was actually a decent movie, but it sported a spectacular song on the soundtrack, "Free Me." Daltrey belts right out of 1969 and the Woodstock movie. But the production is bombastic, in a good way, as film music is wont to be. But even more interesting is "Free Me" was composed by Russ Ballard, who was the singer in Argent, but also has an arm's long list of songwriter credits, yet no one ever mentions him as a great songwriter. Of course he wrote Argent's "Liar," one of my most played downloads ever, made into a hit by Three Dog Night, but besides those Argent songs, Ballard wrote: "I Know There's Something Going On," Frida of ABBA's Phil Collins produced MTV hit. "Winning," whose version by Santana, sung by the recently departed Alex Ligertwood, brought the band back to the forefront. "You Can Do Magic" for America. Ace Frehley's "New York Groove." And many more. But as great as "Free Me" is, my favorite Daltrey solo song is his cover of Murray Head's "Say It Ain't So, Joe," the original recording of which I don't think I'd even heard until the days of Napster. I believe Murray's rock career was hampered by his first name, then again, it gave him notoriety. I first encountered Head on the original studio version of "Jesus Christ Superstar," in which he played Judas Iscariot, he was all over the album. And then, seemingly out of the blue, in 1984 he came back with "One Night In Bangkok," from the musical "Chess," which hadn't been produced, never mind have a soundtrack LP, when this single was released. And the song was so unique, so whacked, that FM played it, it sounded like nothing that had come down the pike previously, and whenever it comes up in conversation everybody expresses warm feelings about it. But in between, Murray wrote and performed "Say It Ain't So, Joe," which yes...was partially inspired by Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Black Sox scandal. And after Murray recorded his original, intimate version, Roger blew it up into a radio track, with a rich, emphatic vocal. And you may not know that the song was also overed by Gary Brooker and the Hollies. The Daltrey album "One of the Boys," which contains "Say It Ain't So, Joe" is not on Spotify, et al, but it is available on YouTube. DAVID LEE ROTH "Just Like Paradise" So after his initial EP with "California Girls," Roth made a solo album with Ted Templeman that contained the hit "Yankee Rose" that was all over MTV, but lacked melody, was substandard, but got airplay because Roth was still a star. And then there was another solo LP, "Skyscraper" in 1988, when Roth had been eclipsed by the now Sammy Hagar fronted Van Halen. But still, there was this track... This was during Dave's adventurous phase, he was always testing limits. and we read about it in the rock press. And in the video for "Just Like Paradise," you remember the video, Dave was rock climbing. You also had Dave and Steve Vai strutting, veritably trucking towards the camera. Funny, this paradigm has been completely extinguished, over the top spandex triumphant posturing. However... "Just Like Paradise" is a fantastic record. It had an intro, setting up the story, with keys and guitar and I won't say it was quite magical, but it was close. And then Dave took off on his tear of a verse. But really the essence of "Just Like Paradise" is the chorus: "This must be just like livin' in paradise (just like paradise) And I don't want to go home (and I never wanna go) This must be just like livin' in paradise And I don't wanna go home" And there was a great pre-chorus, but... This was music made for the eighties, in that everybody had a crankable stereo and you could turn the music up and sing along at the top of your lungs and not hear a word you were singing. I love that experience. And there's a great break, and Steve Vai exercises, but as talented as Steve is, Eddie Van Halen was on another level. That's the eighties. The world was driven by MTV and there was plenty of money and there was a level of hedonism... It was fun. As is the a cappella outro to this song. LOU GRAMM "Just Between You and Me" I remember Bud Prager telling me that "I Want to Know What Love Is" was the crowning achievement of Foreigner, the highlight. I disagreed and still do. If you want go for a ballad, you've got to go for "Waiting for a Girl Like You" from the Mutt Lange produced "4." "I Want to Know What Love Is" was exploitative, not quite lowest common denominator, but close, whereas "Waiting for a Girl Like You" was ethereal, yet wholly believable. And you discovered it on the LP before it hit the radio, which was focused on the initial single, "Urgent." "Waiting for a Girl Like You" was one step beyond what Foreigner had done before. Then again, I'd still have to say that the band's initial track, "Feels Like the First Time," is the best, talk about a one listen smash... And after that...I didn't buy the next two LPs, but when I hear those hits now I smile, I love hearing them..."Head Games," Dirty White Boy" and "Hot Blooded." So Lou Gramm goes solo and puts out an album with his best work, "Midnight Blue," but that's not my favorite, no, my favorite is "Just Between You and Me" from 1989's follow-up, "Long Hard Look." This was the last gasp of this kind of music, it was soon to be eclipsed by Nirvana and grunge, but...this is a great exponent of what once was... Once again, it's the chorus that contains the magic: "Even if heaven and earth collide tonight We'll be all alone in a different light I don't care what the world can't see It's just between you and me" It's the way Gramm sings, and you sang along with him... And there's a great bridge... "If we don't work this out we won't recover We'll lose this soulful love for one another But with all I've heard and all I've seen I'm still lost in your mystery" And then Lou was replaced in Foreigner and became seriously ill and disappeared, and then reappeared looking beefy, but with his pipes intact. But Foreigner could sell tickets with a faux lead singer, and at this late date Gramm occasionally appears with the band, then again...there was that replacement singer not wanting Lou to sing "his," i.e. the replacement's, signature songs...which, of course, Lou sang originally. And now Mick Jones is ill and the Foreigner you see on the road is totally faux. GREGG ALLMAN "Anything Goes" From the comeback album, "I'm No Angel," a complete return to form. So, Steve Massarsky invites me to the Greek, he represented Dickey Betts, got him some money. And I spoke with Dickey, however... I'm engaging with Gregg and I tell him how much I love this song, how he hits that high note after the break, singing "ANYTHING GOES!" Now Gregg was tall and skinny and wearing heeled-boots and he leaned down, very close, very intimately, almost scarily close, and he's whispering in my ear and he's telling me this story and he says... "I can't hit that note every night, but sometimes I lean over the keyboard and my left nut gets caught under my leg and I sing "ANYTHING GOES!!" And then Gregg leans back and looks me in the eye. And I look back at him. And that was the end of the conversation. JOE WALSH "Rivers (of the Hidden Funk)" This is not my favorite Joe Walsh track, I'd have to go with "Meadows" or "Welcome to the Club" or "County Fair" or "Take a Look Around" from the first James Gang album, but I play this one so much and it's been completely forgotten... I had it on a compilation cassette with the Clash's "The Call Up," there was a distinct mood... And the Eagles had broken up and Joe was opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at the Forum, touring this album. Now of the post-Eagles breakup albums, the best is 1985's "The Confessor," and "There Goes the Neighborhood" was uneven, yet it did contain the hit "A Life of Illusion," but "Rivers (of the Hidden Funk)" is a subtle not quite masterpiece, certainly something that penetrates you and stays there. I'm not exactly sure what the song is about, even though certain lines create memorable images, but.... There's a hooky chorus. And a changing groove. And the sounds of the guitars and other instruments. I love this, I want to shine a light on it. JOHN LENNON "Steel and Glass" Lennon had an uneven solo career. Despite all the latter-day hosannas, 1970's "Plastic Ono Band" did not sell prodigiously, nor was there much airplay. But then he followed this up with the "Imagine" album, whose title song has become a standard, even though I thought it was too obvious, even back then. But "Imagine" also has "Jealous Guy," which Bryan Ferry covers so well, and "Gimme Some Truth" and the McCartney put-down "How Do You Sleep." And then Lennon steps in it with "Some Time in New York City," made with the now forgotten Elephant's Memory. But at the end of 1973, John had another big hit with "Mind Games,' however at this point McCartney was on a tear, with "Red Rose Speedway" and "My Love" and then "Band on the Run." Lennon responded in the fall of '74 with the uneven "Walls and Bridges," and then stopped recording for six years, returning in 1980 with "Double Fantasy," which was a veritable stiff before the tragedy powered it into ubiquity. But going back to "Walls and Bridges"... I'd just moved to L.A. and made a pilgrimage to the legendary Tower on Sunset whose most salient feature was the stacking of records in piles on the floor just inside the door. The stacks were endless, a hundred copies of an album that you thought only you knew. And one of those albums was "Walls and Bridges," and over the in-store stereo was playing "Steel and Glass." Now the funny thing about "Steel and Glass" is it's not that different from "How Do You Sleep," and Lennon acknowledged this, but in this case his target was Allen Klein... Imagine if John had not been hoodwinked by this shyster and had gone with Paul's relatives the Eastmans in the first place... Anyway, one of the defining features of "Steel and Glass" is the treatment on John's voice. Just like Howard Stern has his voice tweaked for radio. And if anybody else did this track you'd say it was bombastic, but in this case the music has a transcendent quality, this was definitely a Beatle, no one else could create this exact sound. DARYL HALL "Foolish Pride" The first solo LP, 1980's "Sacred Songs," produced by Robert Fripp, was perceived to be experimental, and it was also released before Hall and Oates's comeback. Yes, Hall and Oates moved from Atlantic to RCA and suddenly had gigantic hits, first with "Sara Smile" and then "Rich Girl" and Atlantic re-released "She's Gone" and the band was everywhere, but then they ran out of steam, to the point where they were even playing clubs, I saw them at the Roxy, but then... Mere months after the release of "Sacred Songs" came "Voices," whose success was pinned on a cover of "You Lost That Lovin' Feelin'." That's how low the band had fallen, they were scrounging for something that would be easy for radio programmers to add, but then came... "Kiss on My List" and "You Make My Dreams," never mind "Everytime You Go Away," which Paul Young built a career upon. And then the juggernaut continued. With "Private Eyes" and "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" and "Maneater," and who'da thunk of all the seventies bands to survive and thrive in the MTV era it would be Hall and Oates? And they'd have had a slew more hits if they hadn't made the mistake of leaving RCA for Arista and manipulative Clive Davis, who meddled to the point that there was no new music. But during the height of the band's renaissance, in 1986, Daryl released his second solo LP. "Foolish Pride" is the best song on it. It got some video airplay, yet it was never ubiquitous, but it should have been. JIM MESSINA "It's All Right Here" He reined Loggins in. And when released Kenny may have had solo hits, but they were unmemorable pop fodder, whereas the music he made with Messina... Forget "Your Mama Don't Dance," the initial LP is in the same league as the initial Poco LP, if not better. And Jim had a sound, heard with Loggins on "Changes" from "Mother Lode," the duo's brilliant 1974 album. Messina's solo debut was not memorable, except for this...with a great sound, exquisite playing and...this is just a great track. It deserves to be heard. DEBBIE HARRY "Rush, Rush" From the soundtrack to "Scarface," the movie which became a blueprint for dealers and... Blondie was done and Debbie worked with Giorgio Moroder, whom everybody pooh-poohed unjustifiably, wasn't he just a disco producer? But then Moroder did the soundtrack for "Midnight Express" and he was embraced by the rockers... And then, as years went by, they realized how good the "Bad Girls" album was. "Hot Stuff" was ROCK! So the white boys in charge of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are bending over backwards to not appear racist, inducting rappers, and now even popsters, but somehow Giorgio Moroder has been overlooked? But these were the guys who hated "Love to Love You Baby," all disco records. They cheered Steve Dahl on with his Disco Demolition, but... The funny thing is all these years later, disco has survived and it's rock that's on life support. Oh, they don't call it disco, but if you listen to the roots... Even the most dyed-in-the-wool rocker will find his body moving while listening to "Rush Rush." Debbie Harry's breathy delivery of her lyrics is important, but what puts the track over the top is Giorgio Moroder's music. -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
