ProtoPod

Think Apple invented the iPod in the 90s? Think again. A British visionary inventor came up with a startlingly accurate view of the future...in 1979! Kane Kramer invented the idea when flash memory was prohibitively expensive and could only hold 3 minutes of audio. Check out his web site HERE.

What Next? Disco Balls to Return?

The band, Cheap Trick, is releasing a new collection of tunes all these years after they were topping the charts. But they are really pulling a trick with this. The album, entitled The Latest, is being released not only on Compact Disc, but also on vinyl LP, and yes...even on 8-track cartridge!

Get yours HERE.

104 KRBE Hit List

Like every other type of business, radio stations have tried to find ways to market themselves to their communities. Often, these efforts involve bumper stickers, contests, and billboards. Another method used over the years by Top-40 stations has been by publishing a playlist. I have seen these in forms of brochures, but here is one I had totally forgotten about.

Houston's 104.1 FM, KRBE used to publish their playlist on record sleves for 45 rpm singles. Here is one from May 2, 1978. There were some great songs on the top 40 that week, and it is hard to believe that it has been 31 years since these were current. At least it is to me. But then again, I am old!

Just take a look at some of these. Songs like Dust in the Wind, Baker Street, and Runnin' on Empty are there. But most noticeable is the fact that songs from the megahit movie, Saturday Night Fever dominated this chart of the disco fever era. I count at least four from that soundtrack. And take a look at #4. Thank You for Being a Friend by Andrew Gold went on to become the theme song for the television sitcom, The Golden Girls. The show's theme was a cover version by Cynthia Fee. There is also a song in the Top 40 from the movie Grease. You're The One That I Want by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John came in at #9 that week.

On the back among other things, is a list of the disc jockeys who spun those hits on KRBE. As always, you can click on the images to get larger versions.

Interesting Record #3

Here is an interesting find. It is a record by the artist who came to be known as Frankie Valli, lead man for The Four Seasons. At the time this record came out, it was Frankie Vally with a "y", and not even a single season in sight. In fact, Frankie also had records under Frankie Valley, The Four Lovers, The Travelers, Frankie Valle & The Romans, and The Wonder Who among others.

This particular disc came out in 1959, and while a pleasant sounding couple of tunes, it doesn't have that distinctive Four Seasons sound.

As you can see from the photo, this is a DJ sample copy intended for airplay on the radio.

Interesting Record #2

This record is one of the first records I procured in my collection. I got this one as a premium by sending in box tops from Kellogg's Corn Flakes, back in 1965. I would have been 12 years old at the time.

This record actually contains three songs. The side Doin' The Flake is obviously a promotion for corn flakes, and introduces a dance called..what else...The Flake.

The other side has two songs on it The first is the hit single This Diamond Ring, followed by a second track entitled Little Miss Go-Go.

Gary Lewis is the son of comedian Jerry Lewis, but the group didn't promote this fact when they got a gig playing at Disneyland. When producer Snuff Garrett heard the group, he felt that featuring that fact and calling the group "Gary Lewis and The Playboys" rather than just "The Playboys" would help sell records. Garrett wanted this to hit, so he also brought in studio musicians on the lead tracks, relegating the band to playing only backup on the recording. Notable of these session players were drummer Hal Blaine, bassist Joe Osborn, Tommy Allsup on guitar, and Leon Russell playing the keyboards. By the time Garrett was done adding another vocalist and overdubbing Gary singing, little was left of the original band, but it did produce a hit. With that, the group was on their way to producing other hit records.

As you can see, the label shows lots of wear over the years. You can also see where I put my initials on the label in permanent marker all those years ago. This premium originally came with a custom sleeve, something that has long since gone by the wayside.

Interesting Record #1

In browsing through some of the old records I have sitting around in boxes, I have found some of interest for one reason or another. Let's start off with this one.

This particular record, Alvin's Harmonica, reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959. It was the second record issued under the artist name of David Seville and The Chipmunks. Of course David, along with Alvin, Theodore, and Simon, were all the voice of Ross Bagdasarian. The first with this artist credit was The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late).

Bagdasarian played around with speeding up tape recordings to build the tracks for each chipmunk, and hit it big with the resulting novelty records. He also had a huge #1 hit in 1958 without the Chipmunk credit, singing as David Seville. That record, Witch Doctor, was his first experiment with speeded up voices on a commercial recording.

This record also has something I like. That is silver ink printed on a dark colored label. Something about that combination is just pleasing to me.

The Day The Music Died

Fifty years ago, February 3, 1959, a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa took the lives of three popular music stars. Buddy Holly, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, Richie Valens, and pilot Roger Peterson. Waylon Jennings gave up his seat to Richardson, who was not feeling well and was running a fever. Valens had reached overnight success with the hits La Bamba and Donna. Richardson's mega-hit, Chantilly Lace, had been all over the radio in 1958. Holly, best known for songs such as Peggy Sue and That'll Be The Day were on a tour to promote their music when tragedy struck.

In his song American Pie that became a huge hit in 1972, singer-songwriter Don McLean referred to the day of the crash as "The day the music died". It was so long that the single version had to be in two halves on the "A" and "B" sides of the 45 RPM record. That song also was one of three that I always kept handy back when I was a radio disc-jockey, as the 8:33 length made it the perfect song if you had to make a lengthy trip to the bathroom before the song ran out. What were the others, you ask? In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly, which ran an amazing 17:05 on the album version; and the rock classic of the 70s, Stairway to Heaven, at 8:02. Stairway is still one of my all time favorite songs.

Dennis Yost & The Classics IV

Remember the 1960s hits, Stormy, Spooky, Traces, and Every Day With You Girl? These memorable songs were performed by Dennis Yost and the Classics IV. You couldn't turn on the radio during 1968 and 1969 and not hear one of their records being played.

I just learned that earlier this month, Dennis Yost, the group's mellow-voiced lead singer, died of respiratory failure. Dennis fell down the stairs about 3 years ago, suffering a brain trauma that left him unable to perform. Now at age 65, Dennis has lost his battle to live. Yet another baby boomer cultural icon gone.

Even More Music Reflections

In my last post, I wrote about some 60s & 70s pop songs that I didn't particularly care for. One of these was Angie Baby as recorded by Helen Reddy. In fact, I never particularly cared for her singing. However, if you read the comments from that post, I got a short comment back from Alan O'Day, the song's composer. It simply said, "I'm CRUSHED!!!"

Now while I still don't like that song, Alan I do want to clarify that I do dig Undercover Angel, so my mention of it was to demonstrate that it isn't all of your work I don't like. Just that one song. So I figured I should clarify that. :-) By the way, Rock 'n' Roll Heaven ain't half bad either.

Anyway, I popped over to Alan's website, and found some pretty interesting stuff there. One of the things I saw there was a picture of Alan and Ron Dante. Ron is not one of the better known people in popular music, at least to the general population. However, his voice and recordings are pretty well known by pop music fans. You see, he was the voice behind a number of what were sometimes derisively called "Bubblegum Music" hits. Two you will likely recall if you are of sufficient age are Tracy and Sugar, Sugar. Tracy was really all Ron, and was a big hit in 1969. It was released under the artist name of "The Cuff Links". Sugar, Sugar was of course, released by "The Archies", which was a fictional band of cartoon characters from the Archie comic books.

Ron also has worked with Barry Manilow, Cher, Bette Midler and other prominent artists. But there is one record of his that I recall that most people probably don't. Back in 1974, I was a disc jockey at WCUM Radio in Cumberland, Maryland (yep, those were the real call letters back then), and a record put out under his own name came in the mail. It was on the Bell label, and was titled Midnight Show, about a musician who was torn between being on the road and being with the woman he loves. The song was kind of catchy, so I put it into rotation on the air, and it became somewhat of a local hit, although I don't believe it did much nationally.

So now that I hopefully am back in Alan O'Day's good graces and have removed my foot from my mouth, let's just hope Helen Reddy doesn't stop by!

Not So Great Hit Songs

My recent post about Jersey Boys has been getting lots of hits, especially since the musical's official website linked back to it. While not everyone is a fan of music from the 1960s and 1970s, I happen to enjoy the guilty pleasures of listening to the music I remember from those years.

Now, not all of the songs from that era were great music by any means. In fact, one of the sappiest songs ever was a number one hit from 1968. I would say it is a strong contender for the worst song of all time. Want a clue? Remember these lyrics?

"She wrecked the car and she was sad
And so afraid that I'd be mad
But what the heck"

Yes, it's that saccharine laced song of a dead love, Honey (I Miss You) as sung by Bobby Goldsboro. The song was written by the late Bobby Russell, who penned other hits, such as Little Green Apples for O. C. Smith (for which he won a Grammy award); The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, recorded by his wife at the time, Vicki Lawrence; and had novelty recordings of his own with Saturday Morning Confusion and 1432 Franklin Pike Circle Hero.

Another song that rubs me the wrong way is one I heard on XM's 70s on 7 channel this morning. The song? Angie Baby as recorded by Helen Reddy. This song about a crazy girl who makes a boy "with evil on his mind" disappear into her radio was written by Alan O'Day, who had a hit a few years later with Undercover Angel, yet another song about a mysterious lover who disappears.

I'll stop here for now, before I begin to sound too much like I am channeling Casey Kasem. So, let me know what your picks are for some of the worst songs of the Sixties & Seventies. Until next time, I leave you with Casey's signature sign off . . . "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars".

Jersey Boys

A few days back, I wrote about catching a special on TV called Frankie Valli - A Tribute on Ice. Well, tonight (actually Friday night...it's past midnight) the lovely spouse's boss and his wife took us to see the musical Jersey Boys, a show that chronicles the history of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. The performance was at the Buell Theatre in downtown Denver, and I have to say, the guys portraying the group were dead on with the sound and the music. You could almost swear you were watching the Four Seasons as they were back in the 1960s. The show follows the formation of the group, originally known as The Four Lovers, and follows their path from the first big hit, Sherry, through hit after hit after hit; like Big Girls Don't Cry, Walk Like A Man, Dawn (Go Away), Rag Doll, Who Loves You, and many more. If you get the chance, and like The Four Seasons or sixties pop music, it is definitely a show to see.

This performance was interrupted during the second act when an audience member started choking. You could hear him being pounded on, and it appeared that he may have been having a heart attack. The commotion quickly spread, and finally they had fire department personnel come in and brought up the house lights, but by then, the man had ejected whatever he choked on. At first, the performers were oblivious, as all they can see is the spotlights in their eyes, but once the excitement subsided, they requeued to a point to restart, and the artists continued the performance flawlessly.

Sunday Evening Random Ramblings

It's Sunday night, and the weekend is wrapping up. For some, it was a long holiday weekend, but my employer doesn't give us the Friday after Thanksgiving off, so it was a regular weekend for me. With the first significant snow storm of the season blowing through since Friday night, it was good timing that is was the weekend, even if it did screw up the lovely spouse's plans for me to put some Christmas lights up on the house. But I suppose that only delays the inevitable. So in keeping with this blog's theme of random ramblings, lets touch on a few things before we shuffle off to bed.

An Odd Show

This morning when I turned on the television, I saw something that struck me as somewhat bizarre. It was a program that apparently was broadcast earlier this month on NBC, but was being rerun on the Style network. It was called Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons - A Tribute on Ice. Now don't get me wrong, I have always been a fan of the unique sound of this group that sprang up from doo-wop music, but there were several things that just didn't seem right.

First of all, there was Frankie himself, singing a very listenable, if lifeless performance. He looked pretty old, but hey, it happens to all of us, doesn't it? But his new group of Seasons appeared to be in their late 20s to early 30s, young enough to be Frankie's kids. What the hell did he do with the other guys?

Then there was the fact that ice skaters were skating his songs as he sang them. For example, when Frankie and his new boys were singing Tell It To The Rain, a female skater was doing some skating with an umbrella. Now, ice skating is okay, pop music is fine, but putting them together seemed just a bit, twisted. Kind of like those Tropicana Twister commercials of years ago, talking about flavors Mother Nature never intended. It made me wonder what next? Perhaps "A Bullfighting Tribute to The Village People"? Maybe "The Monkees - A Shuffleboard Tribute".

Still, I never fail to enjoy a nice dose of Four Seasons music, be it the early stuff like Dawn Go Away or Mary Ann; to the later stuff like Grease or maybe Swearin' to God.

TV or Not TV, That is the Question

Everytime I go to Costco or Sam's Club, I see the deals getting better and better on new HDTV sets. Part of me really wants to get one, but after looking at them, I always walk away. Even the lovely spouse says to get one if I want it, but so far, I have resisted the siren call of HD. I probably will give in sooner or later, but several things hold me back. First, I hate to spend the money when my 36" regular TV still looks as beautiful as it did when brand new eight years ago. In some ways, you can't beat a direct view CRT. Second, it is the start of an entire series of upgrades. Upgrade my DISH Network setup, upgrade my DVD recorder to Blue Ray, upgrade my audio-video receiver to handle HD. Then I would have to figure out how to move the massively heavy old TV down to the basement. Plus, in these uncertain economic times, bargain or not, I am not too hot on buying much of anything.

Shivering, Hungry Squirrels

This morning, the LS and I were watching a couple of squirrels shivering up in the branches of a neighbors tree. They were eating what few leaves are clinging on, and trying to stay warm as the snow was coming down. I meant to get some squirrel peanuts or corn for them, but forgot as the day wore on. That is something I will still have to do. They can be pesky, but I don't want the bushy tailed little guys to starve during the cold weather. Here is one of them chewing on a leaf this morning.

Sounds Good Enough?

About a year ago, and shortly after I got my car that has an integrated XM Satellite Radio tuner, XM did some processor upgrades that greatly improved the sound quality on their music channels. With the built in radio in my Hyundai Santa Fe, they even sound downright good. The talk and information channels are another story altogether. The traffic and weather channels are barely listenable, but that doesn't bother me since they are not meant to be listened to for more than a couple of minutes at a time; and they don't have a Denver station anyway.

So, I have to wonder, what will the newly merged Sirius XM Satellite Radio service do to XM? Will the quality go in the crapper? If it does, I likely won't resubscribe, as why should I pay for junky sound? I will say, I loved having XM during April's trek across Texas on the road trip to Houston. Even in the middle of nowhere, I had 170+ channels of reception as good as I get in town. Also, the leftie political channel was a welcome relief, as finding something on the order of Air America in the heart of Bush's home state over the air is an exercise in futility.

But lets get back to sound quality. I believe that rather than even knowing what quality sounds like, Americans are getting used to "good enough" sound. Yes, there are conveniences to compressed MP3 files, compressed satellite radio, voice over internet protocol services (ala Vonage), and iffy cellular phone services. It appears we are willing to trade audio quality for ubiquity and convenience. To some extent, so am I. However, I am wondering if there is a place left for the audiophile. A harbor for someone who knows what an analog recording pressed on high quality vinyl and played through a quality amplifier and speakers even sounds like? Even with the inevitable pops that happen when a record gets scratched, there are no bit sample rate issues with analog, which renders a perfect waveform. After all, our ears are analog, not digital. And do the younger folk of today even know where the idiomatic expression, "He/She sounds like a broken record" comes from? (Of course, this way of describing someone who repeats themselves incessantly comes from a scratch or break that causes the stylus to jump back to the previous groove and constantly replay the same loop).

Am I the only one who misses the experience of pulling a pristine vinyl 33-1/3 RPM record album out of the cover, smelling the fresh vinyl, and reading the liner notes that had ample room on the cover of those 12" disks? Even the manufacturing process was quite an amazing thing. An analog wave was cut into wax which was used to mold a metal "mother" disk. The mother had grooves that were ridges standing up, and when pressed into hot vinyl, could replicate thousands of freshly-minted recordings. One groove could contain stereophonic sound since each side of the groove contained one channel of information, and the stylus cartridge could detect the difference in motion as the surface of the record passed by.

This also makes me wonder if there are very many radio DJs left working in the business who remember queuing up a record on a turntable. You would spin the turntable to find the point in the groove where the music started, then back off a quarter turn so that the table was up to its play speed before hitting the first note after you hit the switch. How many would even make sense of the neophyte mistake and horrifying sound of queuing up a record at the wrong speed and not noticing until it went out on the air?

During the Arab Oil Embargo of the early 1970s, many records began to be pressed on cheaper plastic rather than quality vinyl. The material was more like Bakelite than vinyl, as it was hard, brittle, and overall poor quality. Usually it was the 45 RPM singles that had this issue. These records were very susceptible to "queue burn", or scratching up the record where the music started during the queuing process, causing the song to start with an audible scratchy background. During this time, it became more common to copy a fresh record to a broadcast tape cartridge, or cart. I remember having to go out and buy new copies of hit records at the music store due to queue burn.

Now where did I put my Spirit of '67 album by Paul Revere and The Raiders?

The Mandolin Is Here!

I have a great affinity for acoustic string music. Yes, electric instruments have their place, but there is something in the tone of acoustic instruments that is pleasing to my ear. Not only that, but acoustic instruments can be taken anywhere and played anywhere. If you need electronic amplification, you can always add a pick-up to enable the ability to plug in.

While I am far from acheiving virtuoso status on my guitar, I am about to expand my horizons. I have just received the gift of a new mandolin, and am determined to learn how to make something that is akin to music with it. Mandolins were largely popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as mandolin bands became commonplace. The advent of big band music consigned the mandolin to the attic, until Bill Monroe stepped onto the stage of The Grand Ole Opry in 1939. Since then the instrument has become a staple of bluegrass bands, as well as finding a home in country, blues, rock, and pop music genres. Remember the mandolin licks that were the opening to Rod Stewart's 1971 hit, Maggie May? Or how about Bruce Hornsby's Mandolin Rain?

Much to the lovely spouse's chagrin, I have developed a taste for bluegrass music. You'd think that her West Virginia upbringing would make her a fan, but no. She absolutely despises "that crap", saying she grew up hearing it at her grandparents, so now she doesn't have to listen to it. So in my house, bluegrass is a lonely affliction. Still, the appeal of a combo featuring mandolin, guitar, fiddle, banjo, and bass call out to me. I sometimes wish my commute were a bit longer so I could listen to the Bluegrass Junction channel on XM a bit longer. I cannot listen while the spouse is in the car with me on weekends.

Saturday, I picked up the mail from the post office box, and found a card saying they had a package that was too big to fit in the box. I knew it was the mandolin! Since the counter was closed, I stopped by the Post Office on the way to work this morning and picked it up. Now it is still boxed up in my car. Tonight ought to be fun, unpacking and tuning this fine instrument. If you hear screams coming from Colorado, it may be the lovely spouse being subjected to the sound of the mandolin! :-) I will take pictures of it and post them soon.