An assortment of talented artists recording years away from their prime.
The Hollies – The Baby (1974) This was the weak-selling debut of Mikael Rickfors, the replacement for Allan Clarke, who was off to ‘officially’ commit to a solo career. Allan Clarke released a pretty good, but pretty rote cover of “Born To Run” two months after the Springsteen album. Mikael Rickfors appeared on a couple of albums and some poorly selling singles, and he was off to Jimmy Nicols-land. The Hollies didn’t do much better.
Barry Goldberg – Carry On (1967) Listen for Frank Zappa on guitar.
Captain Zero – I’m Only an Elf (1975)
Chicago – Saturday in the Park (1971) Live, newly written, and featuring Peter Cetera only on lead vocals during the verses, whereas the recording featured Robert Lamm as well. I always think it’s a good idea to split lead vocals. You can judge yourself. Robert Lamm was no joke, of course. None of these guys were yet. One drug-fuelled hippy fucking around with a loaded gun, and the band’s heart basically splayed all over the latter part of the ‘70s.
Listen to Chicago V, VI, and VII, and tell me I’m wrong. One of the strongest 3-album runs of the ‘70s.
Chuck Berry – Wuden’t Me (1979)
Exotic Adrian Street and the Pile Drivers – Imagine What I Could Do To You (1980)
Fats Domino – So Swell When You’re Well (1969)
Genius – Bermilya Avenue (Complot) (1974)
Jerry Lee Lewis – Just Dropped In (1967) This was the first recording of the Mickey Newbury oddball paean/parody to/of psychedelia. The first RELEASE was by Teddy Hill and the Southern Soul, a single that went nowhere.
Fats Domino – Work My Way Up Steady (1967)
Jerry Lee Lewis – Lincoln Limousine (1966)
Roy Orbison – So Young (1970) This is the ‘love theme’ from the movie “Zabriskie Point”. I fell asleep 1/3 of the way through it, so I didn’t hear it.
Dr. Jim Matthews “The Singing Surgeon” – Me Love You Dad (197?)
Johnny Mathis – Evil Ways (1970)
Jerry Lee Lewis – Too Young (1969) I swear, Shelby Singleton must have had incriminating pictures of The Killer.
The Hollies – Elevated Observations? (1967)
Little Richard – King of Rock and Roll (1971)
Little Milton – Grits Ain’t Groceries (All Around The World) (1969)
Little Richard – Sanctified, Satisfied Toe-Tapper (1972)
Moe and Joe – Where’s The Dress (1984)
Wikipedia: “Where’s the Dress” was the first collaborative effort between Moe Bandy and Joe Stampley since their 1981 album Hey Joe! Hey Moe!, which included the singles “Hey Joe (Hey Moe)” and “Honky Tonk Queen”. The song is a parody of Culture Club and its lead singer Boy George’s androgynous fashion styles, with the two singers pondering adopting a similar fashion sense in order to become more successful.
Joe Stampley’s son, Tony, is one of the song’s co-writers, and Blake Mevis is the song’s producer. To promote the song, Bandy and Stampley wore dresses and earrings when distributing the singles to radio stations; they dressed similarly on the cover of the single, as well as using a similar style to many of Culture Club’s single covers.
While Boy George himself otherwise liked the song, he later sued Bandy and Stampley for incorporating the intro of “Karma Chameleon” into the song without his permission. The three parties later settled the matter out of court.
Roy Orbison – (I’m A) Southern Man (1976) That Tony Joe White.
Roy Orbison – The Morning After (Song From “The Poseidon Adventure”) (1973)
The Heart Beats – Cryin’ Inside (1969)
The Hollies – Heartbeat (1980)
The Merrie Motor Company – Walkin’ Down This Road To My Town (1968)
Fats Domino – Domino Twist (1965)
Little Richard – I Saw Her Standing There (1970)
Chuck Berry – Sue Answer (1975)
Sam Chalpin – Leader of the Pack (1966) An excellent article about this case of parental abuse.
Andy Williams – (Where Do I Begin) Love Story (Disco version) (1979) Andy was 52 when he sang this, and I enjoyed it on some level. His performance is incredible.
The Bus Boys – Heart and Soul (1982). Neither this nor the Huey Lewis and the News version was the original. Whose was? I like this version the best. This Chinn/Chapman song was meant to recapture the lightning in a bottle for Exile, who’s “I Wanna Kiss You All Over” was perfect in timing, execution, and mood.
The Carpenters – California Dreamin’ (1967/1999)
Richard Carpenter: “From Joe’s Studio, circa 1967. This is the one tape, 4-track or otherwise, that survives, as, for some reason, Joe gave it to me.
Even though the most important ingredient on tape, the lead, is on its own track, the bass, piano, drums, and string machine were all bounced to another track, leaving two open…for what, I can’t remember.
As a result, in 1999, we transferred the 4-track to 48-track and re-did everything, including a reproduction of my original electric piano solo. I finally got around to putting real strings on the track instead of those on the Chamberlain Music Master that was on the demo. This is one of my favorite tracks on this collection. Karen, at 17, is a marvel. I especially like the way she jumps an octave, from chest voice, to head voice on the letter (and note) “A” in the opening and then seamlessly back to chest on “Dreamin'”.
There is some electronic noise on the lead track; we don’t know why. And I realize now and I should have then, that we have an incorrect word in the second verse: “began to pray” should be “pretend to pray”.
When Karen Carpenter returned from NYC with her solo album in tow, she made the mistake of playing it for Richard. “Oh, Karen, not disco…” was the first thing he said. It really wasn’t disco. In fact, the songs on Off The Wall were some of the songs offered to her. It sounded like that kind of pop. Anyhow, his lack of approval helped her gently back into the arms of a depression from which she would never recover.
Franki Valli, 4 Seasons – Silver Star (Live) (1981)
The Four Seasons – Emily’s (Salle De Danse) (1975)
The Four Seasons – Mystic Mr. Sam (1975)