My first inductee(s) for my Songwriters Award is Lennon and McCartney, John Lennon’s 2nd time and Paul McCartney’s 3rd time into Doyle’s Space Music Hall of Fame.
Lennon and McCartney complemented one another as personalities and as musicians. McCartney’s melodic facility smoothed over some of Lennon’s rougher edges. Lennon’s grit added texture and leavened some of McCartney’s more saccharine tendencies.
My second 2023 inductee, 14th overall, is Sir Paul McCartney. He is the first to be in my hall twice, once for The Beatles and now for his post-Beatle career.
The Beatles’ bassist, vocalist, and songwriter would continue solo beginning in 1970 at the sign of the break-up of the band. He would release his first LP, McCartney, a month before the release of The Beatles’ swansong Let It Be. The album, rich with experimentation, has McCartney performing all instruments and vocals himself, aside from some backing vocals performed by Linda McCartney. It also contained the song, “Maybe I’m Amazed”.
Heralded songwriter, musician, and producer who wrote numerous hits with lyricist Hal David from the 1950s until the 1980s. He wrote many popular songs, including 73 top 40 U.S. Billboard hit singles.
Burt Bacharach was born May 12, 1928, in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Kew Gardens, on Long Island, graduating from Forest Hills High School in 1946. His dad was Bert Bacharach a well-known syndicated newspaper columnist.
And the long grass blows in the evening cool
And August’s rare delight may be April’s fool
But think not of that, my love
I’m tight against the seam
And I’m growing up to meet you down on velvet green
Jethro Tull is a British rock band formed in Blackpool, England, in 1967. Initially playing blues rock and jazz fusion, the group’s bandleader, founder, primary composer, and only constant member is Ian Anderson, a multi-instrumentalist who mainly plays flute and acoustic guitar, and is also the lead vocalist.
Tell me, what’s that man movin’ cross the stage?
It looks a lot like the one used by Jimmy Page
Venus and Mars was the 4th studio album by Wings and the 6th for Paul McCartney after the break-up of The Beatles in 1970. The album was released May 27, 1975, and was the follow-up to Band on the Run. It was released on Capitol Records and was the springboard to a year-long worldwide tour for the band.
On October 20, 1977, only three days after the release of the Street Survivors album, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s chartered Convair CV-300 ran out of fuel near the end of their flight.
This is where I’ll be talking about the Album Art that I like. That is one of the benefits of 12″ vinyl albums, the cool packaging that surrounded the record. Here I’ll research the creations that we all loved as children, teenagers, and adults. I’ll try to find as much information on the artists as I can.
What is your album choice?
– Windy
Melody Hill was the Circle Sky Records official magazine while we were open between 2002 and 2010.
Greetings From Windy (Melody Hill Executive Editor)
Hello Melody Hill readers. This issue is all about that wonderful musical invention called a record. Vinyl collectors and fans have a culture that is all their own. So if your universe spins at 33 or 45 this issue is dedicated to you. For this issue, we decided to ask the Circle Sky Staff to name the first album that changed their musical world. We then asked some of our musician friends to do the same and the results are
spread out among these pages. Happy reading!
An Ode to Great Album Art
I started a new feature, for my blog, in May of 2022 with posts about “Colored Vinyl“. I’ll be adding Picture Disc posts later on but I thought this would be a good time to review one of my favorite books. Taschen’s latest is a celebration of great album art, of the designs that helped define some of the most iconic artists of all time.
“I wear black for the poor and the beaten down
Living in the hopeless, hungry side of town
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime…
I’d love to wear a rainbow every day
And tell the world that everything’s OK
But I’ll try to carry off a little darkness on my back
Till things are brighter, I’m the Man In Black.”
Inductee number 10 and my second in the country genre is Johnny Cash. He was born February 26, 1932, in Kingsland, Arkansas, and died September 12, 2003, at age 71 just four months after the death of his wife, June Carter Cash. His mother wanted to name him John and his daddy wanted Ray so at birth they named him J. R. Cash.
Yeah, baby, she’s got it
When I was young before I had cassettes, the only good way of making a playlist of songs was to stack 45s on the turntable. I would arrange for them to play my favorite songs in my favorite order. These posts are about records I had in my stacks.
