Category: Music

Beatles take Top Five!

On this day in music history: April 4, 1964 – The Beatles make chart history when they become the only act to ever place singles in the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously. “Can’t Buy Me Love” leaps from #27 to #1, “Twist And Shout” moves up to #2, “She Loves You” (#1 the previous week) falls back to #3, “I Want To Hold Your Hand” slips back two spots to #4 and “Please Please Me” moves down one spot to #5. In addition to dominating the top five, the band also holds down seven additional spots in that weeks chart. Then one week later on April 11, 1964, they occupy a total of fourteen chart positions on the Hot 100. The band having multiple singles in release on different labels at the time, make this unprecedented chart dominance possible, and to date, has never been duplicated by another recording artist. #thebeatles #billboardtopfivedomination #60s
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Uncle Green

Uncle Green at the Earl 4 years ago today.

I Don’t Wanna Know About It
Formed in Basking Ridge, New Jersey in 1980, the band Uncle Green consisted of Matt Brown (guitar and vocals), Jeff Jensen (guitar, vocals), Bill Decker (bass and keyboards), Pete McDade (drums), and Danny Giordano (tambourine and vocals). Brown and Jensen were the principal songwriters and vocalists for the group.

Adam Schlesinger dies

(From CNN) Adam Schlesinger, the co-founder of pop-rock band Fountains of Wayne and an Oscar-nominated songwriter, has died from complications related to coronavirus. He was 52. “As many of you are aware, Adam had been hospitalized with Covid-19 and although he had been making some small improvements over the last few days, Adam’s condition was critical and he was ultimately unable to recover from Covid-19 complications,” read a statement from the band’s attorney, provided to CNN. “He was truly a prolific talent and even more so, a loving and devoted father, son and friend.” It added: “We are terribly sorry to convey this loss.” Schlesinger’s band, which was co-founded with Chris Collingwood, was best known for its 2003 hit “Stacy’s Mom,” a humorous track about a young boy who has a crush on his friend’s mother. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award.
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The Eagles in Nashville

I listened to the 2017 Eagles Sirius/XM concert recorded in Nashville. As expected, it was great, they played my favorite, Witchy Woman, and Joe Walsh was superb, even playing Funk #49 from his James Gang years. It was in the Grand Ole Opry and Vince Gill had recently joined. I give it 5 out of 5.

[From RollingStone.com] For nearly the same number of years that the Eagles have been together, fusing country and rock and becoming one of the best-selling, most popular bands of all time, the Grand Ole Opry House has been home to country music’s longest-running live radio show. On Sunday night, at a special invitation-only event for Sirius XM subscribers, those two worlds converged as the Eagles, with new touring member Vince Gill, a bonafide Opry star, played their first-ever concert at the hallowed hall.
In a blazing two-hour set that opened with the chilling harmonies of “Seven Bridges Road,” Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit and longtime touring guitarist Steuart Smith, along with Deacon Frey, son of the late Glenn Frey, and Gill ran through nearly two dozen of the band’s best-known hits, staples of AM, FM and now satellite radio. Walsh also took the spotlight for solo tunes, including the decadent rock-star anthem “Life’s Been Good,” the trippy “Rocky Mountain Way,” a part of the group’s second encore, and the James Gang classics “Walk Away” and “Funk #49.” But if this was anyone’s night, it was Gill’s, whose wife, singer Amy Grant, grinned gleefully and danced along to the group’s fiery “Life in the Fast Lane.”
“Pretty good new band I play with,” Gill joked, adding, “It’s very strange for me to hear anybody’s voice but Glenn’s sing these songs.” He dedicated his touching performance of the band’s 1977 Number One “New Kid in Town” to the younger Frey, who took the lead on the group’s early country-tinged numbers “Take It Easy,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and “Already Gone.” Gill took the lead on the Eagles’ biggest crossover hit, 1975’s “Lyin’ Eyes,” as well as “Tequila Sunrise” and 1980’s “Heartache Tonight,” the group’s last Number One single before their 14-year hiatus.
Schmit, who referenced the lengthy break before the group’s cheekily titled 1994 reunion LP Hell Freezes Over, sang a lilting version of “I Can’t Tell You Why,” the first song he contributed to the band when he joined in the late Seventies. Interestingly, it was Gill who contributed a cover of that tune from The Long Run to Common Thread, the 1993 tribute album credited with finally bringing the Eagles back together. Schmit also sang a tender “Love Will Keep Us Alive,” one of the new studio recordings from the predominantly live Hell Freezes Over.
Curiously, the group completely neglected material from their most recent pop- and country-chart-topping album, 2007’s Long Road Out of Eden. However, in spite of selling seven million copies and winning two Grammys, that LP contained no major hits, whereas this recent tour’s set list has leaned heavily on the group’s mighty catalog of familiar and, based on the crowd’s wildly enthusiastic response, beloved singles. In addition to Mrs. Vince Gill, other country luminaries were in attendance for the special event, commemorating the upcoming Sirius XM Eagles channel, Hotel California, and celebrating that landmark album’s 40th anniversary. Reba McEntire, Sheryl Crow, the Oak Ridge Boys, Ronnie Dunn, Nashville actor Charles Esten, the members of Old Dominion and Midland, Mickey Guyton, Sara Evans, Frankie Ballard, Jon Pardi and various label executives were all spotted in the crowd.
While the majority of songs performed throughout the night stuck to the arrangements first heard on the group’s mega-million-selling albums, right down to the guitar solos, one that deviated a bit was “Witchy Woman,” punctuated by a horn section. “Happy Halloween,” Henley quipped before taking the mic to sing, managing to acquit himself quite nicely throughout the rest of the evening after a raspy version of “One of These Nights” early in the set. Still, the night belonged to hometown hero Gill, whose new role in one of the most celebrated bands of all time, was clearly a source of pride for his fellow Nashvillians.

The Eagles at Grand Ole Opry House set list:

“Seven Bridges Road”
“Take It Easy”
“One of These Nights”
“Take It to the Limit”
“Tequila Sunrise”
“Witchy Woman”
“In the City”
“I Can’t Tell You Why”
“Peaceful Easy Feeling”
“Best of My Love”
“Lyin’ Eyes”
“Love Will Keep Us Alive”
“New Kid in Town”
“Those Shoes”
“Already Gone”
“Walk Away”
“Heartache Tonight”
“Life’s Been Good”
“Funk #49”
“Life in the Fast Lane”
“Hotel California”
“Rocky Mountain Way”
“Desperado”

Paul McCartney Live at the Apollo – 12/13/2010

Listened to this 2010 concert today on Sirius/XM 30. It was a great show (but I’d say that about all of his! ). I give it 5 out of 5.

[NyTimes.com] Paul McCartney played the Apollo on Monday and was demonstrably proud to do so. “It’s the holy grail,” he muttered early in the set. “I dreamed of playing here for many a year.” Then he touched the Lucky Log, the hunk of elm that’s long been placed onstage as a charm for the theater’s Amateur Night performers.
Luck had little to do with it. The show, a special event and a live broadcast for subscribers to Sirius XM radio in recognition of its 20 millionth subscription, ran two hours and a bit — not quite the epic length of his stadium-and-festival shows over the last decade, but longer than a few “secret” club gigs he played in 2007. And nearly all of it amounted to a serious mission of pleasing: a trail of aesthetic breakthroughs, rave-ups and singalongs, from the beginning of the Beatles through the end of Wings, with one recent solo-album cut (“Dance Tonight”), one very early Lennon-McCartney composition known to most as a late Beatles tune (“One After 909”) and one Christmas song (“Wonderful Christmastime,” with singers from the Choir Academy of Harlem). There are some listeners curious about, and genuinely interested in, Mr. McCartney’s loose moments and toss-offs, who feel that “Hey Jude” has penetrated deeply enough into the world’s culture, who admire the intuitive outtake-i-ness of records like “Ram” and “McCartney II,” and who wouldn’t mind a little more texture in his shows. They may yet have their day, but this concert was not for them.

Setlist

  • Magical Mystery Tour
  • Jet
  • Drive My Car
  • All My Loving
  • One After 909
  • Let Me Roll It
  • Long and Winding Road
  • Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
  • Maybe I’m Amazed
  • Blackbird
  • I’m Looking Through You
  • And I Love Her
  • Petrushka
  • Dance Tonight
  • Eleanor Rigby
  • Hitch Hike (multiple restarts)
  • Band On The Run
  • Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
  • Back In The USSR
  • A Day In The Life > Give Peace A Chance
  • Let it Be
  • Hey Jude
  • Encore: Wonderful Christmastime, I Saw Her Standing There, Get Back,
  • Encore2: Yesterday, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) > Carry That Weight > The End

Rain Parade’s David Roback Dies


[From Wikipedia] David Roback (April 4, 1958[1] – February 25, 2020) was an American guitarist and songwriter, best known as the founding member of the duo Mazzy Star. He died on February 25, 2020.[2] Roback was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and attended Palisades High School, graduating in 1975. He and his brother Stephen Roback, a bass guitarist, formed a band called the Unconscious, which also included Susanna Hoffs, who would go on to become the lead singer and guitarist of The Bangles. Roback was active in the Paisley Underground music scene in Los Angeles in the early to mid-1980s as the leader of the band Rain Parade, which was popular on the local club circuit. Shortly after the release of the band’s first album, Emergency Third Rail Power Trip, in 1983, Roback left Rain Parade to join Rainy Day, a collaborative effort with a number of Los Angeles musicians in the Paisley Underground. After releasing their self-titled album, Roback formed Opal (which was initially called Clay Allison) with vocalist/bassist Kendra Smith, formerly of The Dream Syndicate. After one EP and one album, Smith was replaced by Hope Sandoval, but this lineup never released an album. Roback changed the name of the band to Mazzy Star in 1989.[3] Roback wrote and produced the songs that actress Maggie Cheung sang in the 2004 film Clean. He also played himself in the film. He died on February 25, 2020.[4][5] His songwriting and sound ideas have been quite influential on Lana Del Rey as the Guardian head rock and pop critic Alexis Petridis stated.[6]

Country Top 50

My Top 50

I chose these from the Top 1000 List  played on Sirius/XM 30. I have included the ranking number from the original list.

1) 20 Hank Williams Your Cheatin’ Heart
2) 8 Roger Miller King Of The Road
3) 349 Dwight Yoakam Guitars, Cadillacs
4) 106 Garth Brooks The Thunder Rolls
5) 47 Hank Williams Hey Good Lookin’
6) 407 Alison Krauss When You Say Nothing At All
7) 457 Dolly Parton Jolene
8) 84 Jimmy Dean Big Bad John
9) 122 Floyd Cramer Last Date
10) 109 Tom T. Hall I Love
11) 37 Kenny Rogers The Gambler
12) 107 Roger Miller Chug-A-Lug
13) 87 Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man
14) 160 Garth Brooks Rodeo
15) 116 Hank Williams Cold, Cold Heart
16) 1 Garth Brooks Friends In Low Places
17) 138 Johnny Cash/June Carter Jackson
18) 41 George Strait All My Ex’s Live In Texas
19) 29 Loretta Lynn Coal Miner’s Daughter
20) 64 Johnny Cash Daddy Sang Bass
21) 93 Tennessee Ernie Ford Sixteen Tons
22) 188 Roger Miller England Swings
23) 848 Shelly West Jose Cuervo
24) 792 Taylor Swift Love Story
25) 3 Johnny Cash Folsom Prison Blues
26) 771 Hank Williams Jr. Born To Boogie
27) 736 The Band Perry Better Dig Two
28) 386 Taylor Swift Our Song
29) 13 Willie Nelson On The Road Again
30) 330 Little Texas God Blessed Texas
31) 968 Taylor Swift Mine
32) 945 Dwight & Buck Streets of Bakersfield
33) 163 Alan Jackson Chattahoochee
34) 297 Dolly Parton Coat Of Many Colors
35) 69 Glen Campbell Gentle On My Mind
36) 404 Carrie Underwood Before He Cheats
37) 931 Taylor Swift Mean
38) 140 Don Gibson Oh, Lonesome Me
39) 57 Zac Brown Band Chicken Fried
40) 961 Dwight Yoakam Little Sister
41) 454 Hank Williams Move It On Over
42) 354 Little Big Town Girl Crush
43) 564 Dwight Yoakam Honky Tonk Man
44) 71 Hank Williams Jambalaya (On The Bayou)
45) 710 Randy Travis Diggin’ Up Bones
46) 711 Hank Williams Honky Tonkin‘
47) 484 Lady Antebellum Bartender
48) 774 Hank Williams Lovesick Blues
49) 859 Taylor Swift Back To December
50) 958 Randy Travis Too Gone Too Long
Honorable Mention
300 Don Gibson I Can’t Stop Loving You
177 The Band Perry If I Die Young
12 Garth Brooks The Dance
52 Taylor Swift Tim McGraw
62 Garth Brooks If Tomorrow Never Comes
89 Roger Miller Dang Me
101 Buck Owens I’ve Got A Tiger By The Tail
151 Buck Owens Act Naturally
158 George Strait Ocean Front Property
173 Johnny Cash (Ghost) Riders In The Sky
179 Randy Travis Deeper Than the Holler
225 Glen Campbell Galveston
262 Tom T. Hall Old Dogs, Children And Watermelon Wine
828 John Anderson Swingin’
830 The Band Perry All Your Life
838 Don Gibson Sea Of Heartbreak