News for October 2010
Halloween Weekend Special #5
“The Halloween Parade” by Lou Reed from the album “New York”
Halloween is also a time to remember those who won’t be part of the Halloween parade due to AIDS…
Listen: “The Halloween Parade” by Lou Reed
Edited: October 31st, 2010
Song Of The Day – 10/31/10
Song Of The Day – “This Is Halloween” from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” film soundtrack.
Danny Elfman was a founding member of Los Angeles New Wave band Oingo Boingo. While Oingo Boingo made some solid albums during their day, it was Elfman’s soundtracking work that really made a name for him including this Halloween gem from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Indeed, it is Elfman who supplies the voice of Jack in the film and sings many of its most memorable songs.
Listen: “This Is Halloween” from “The Nightmare Before Christmas”
Edited: October 31st, 2010
Halloween Weekend Special #4
Donovan: “Season Of The Witch” from the 1966 album “Sunshine Superman”
Listen: Donovan: “Season Of The Witch”
Edited: October 30th, 2010
Halloween Weekend Special #3
Alice Cooper: “The Black Widow” originally from the album “Welcome To My Nightmare”
This clip features the legendary Vincent Price!
Listen: Alice Cooper: “The Black Widow”
Edited: October 30th, 2010
Song Of The Day – 10/30/10
Song Of The Day – “Scotch And Soda” by The Kingston Trio from the 1958 album “The Kingston Trio.”
Before The Beatles…there was The Kingston Trio! The Trio of Dave Guard, Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane were the most recognized act of the initial folk boom of the late 1950s causing a sensation throughout college campuses. Their brand of exuberantly sung folk songs mingled with a healthy dose of good natured “aw-shucks” humor offered pure entertainment and insured them a place on the charts and on concert stages. Before the Trio ever recorded a note in the studio, they got a booking based on their performances in frat houses opening for Phyllis Diller at a San Francisco club called The Purple Onion. Sending 500 postcards out to everyone they knew inviting them to the week of gigs, they ended up with a sold out engagement causing a sensation for themselves. Their hits included “Tom Dooley,” “The M.T.A.,” “The Tijuana Jail,” “Where Have All The Flowers Gone,” “A Worried Man,” and many others. In 1961, Dave Guard left the group and was replaced by John Stewart a major talent in his own rite who went on to write classics like “Daydream Believer.” I have had the pleasure in my own career of anthologizing The Kingston Trio on CD for both Reader’s Digest and Time Life Music. Although touring members of The Trio still exist, the last version with original member Bob Shane stopped touring in 2004.
Listen: “Scotch And Soda” by The Kingston Trio
Edited: October 30th, 2010
Halloween Weekend Special #2
“Dark Shadows!”
Edited: October 29th, 2010
Halloween Weekend Special #1
For Halloween Weekend: “The Blob” by The Five Blobs.
Believe it or not…here’s an example of early Burt Bacharach and Hal David from 1958.
Listen: “The Blob” by The Five Blobs
Edited: October 29th, 2010
BONUS BIZ!
For Song Of The Day Fans! The diabolical BIZ on the Chris Rock show performing Elton John’s “Bennie And The Jets.”
Listen: Biz Markie: “Bennie And The Jets”
Edited: October 29th, 2010
Song Of The Day – 10/29/10
Song Of The Day – “Vapors” by Biz Markie from the 1988 album “Goin’ Off”
Nobody beats the Biz! Mixing humor, freestyle flow and a goofy sing-song speak, Marcel Hall (aka Biz Markie) broke onto the scene in 1988 with this Marley Marl produced track. Markie provided human beatbox for Marl’s stall of production charges and was featured on records by MC Shan and Roxanne Shanté. Mining the same radio-friendly style as DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Markie struck big with such tracks as “Just A Friend,” “Albee Square Mall” and “Pickin’ Boogers” focusing on what was happening in the suburbs rather than the inner city.
Listen: Biz Markie: The Vapors
Edited: October 29th, 2010
On This Day…10/28
On This Day In 1977: “Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols” is released in the UK!
Listen: Sex Pistols: “Pretty Vacant”
Edited: October 28th, 2010
Song Of The Day 10/28/10
Song Of The Day – “Keep On Truckin’” by Eddie Kendricks from the 1973 album “Eddie Kendricks”
Originally a member of The Primes (to the Supremes’ Primettes), Kendricks possessed one of the most soulful voices in the group that would later be renamed The Temptations. His angelic falsetto voice climbed the charts numerous times on such classics as “Just My Imagination,” “My Girl,” “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,” “Get Ready” and dozens of others too numerous to mention here. He left the Tempts to go solo in 1971 topping the charts in 1973 with this classic that ushered in the era of Disco. This is the long album version of the song for maximum boogie pleasure!
Listen: Eddie Kendricks – “Keep On Truckin”
Edited: October 28th, 2010
On This Day…10/27
On This Day In 1975:
Bruce Springsteen appears on the covers of both “Time” and “Newsweek.” To commemorate, here’s a 1978 version of a “Born To Run” classic recorded at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ.
Play: Bruce Springsteen: “Meeting Across The River”
Edited: October 27th, 2010
Song Of The Day 10/27/10
Song Of The Day – “Funtime” by Iggy Pop from the album “The Idiot”
“FUN! We want some! We want some!” Words to live by from the Iggster with an assist from David Bowie. Bowie came along to offer a little career rehab for Iggy whilst meanwhile rehabbing his own addictions of the time. Recorded at their getaway retreat… in Hansa, Germany, this album was sandwiched in between the recording of Bowie’s “Low” and “Heroes.” This track sounded modern at the time of its release back in 1977 and it still does today, capturing the Teutonic Kraftwerk-inspired sound of Germany and mixing it up with the drug-fueled exuberance of a late-’70s night on the town clubbing.
Edited: October 27th, 2010