On This Day in Rock 'n' Roll History (metal, Bon Jovi, 2009)

[benshaton]

July 16, 1981 - Harry Chapin, a folk-rock composer and performer active in many charitable causes, was killed when the car he was driving was hit from behind by a tractor-trailer on the Long Island Expressway in Jericho, L.I., the police said. He was 38 years old.

The Nassau County Police said that a flatbed tractor-trailer owned by Rickles Home Center of Paramus, N.J., struck Mr. Chapin's car at 55 miles an hour as the car shifted lanes with its emergency lights flashing near exit 40 at Jericho Turnpike at 12:27 P.M.

[GTB365]

Brian May was born on this day ....

Happy 75th Birthday to Brian May ...Queen guitarist extrodinaire!

Born on July 19th 1947 in England.

Brian May is super smart ....has a Phd in Physics.

Brian May built his own electric guitar way back in 1963 with the help of his dad.

It is called "The Red Special"

It has active electronics ...in and out of phase ...that helps create his unique lead guitar tone...
it is usually set "out of phase"...sounding like he is using a phase shifter but with no "phase shift".

Brian May does not use a pick....he uses an old coin instead...usually a 1970 six pence coin.

Brian May also built his own "treble booster"...a treble booster is the secret sauce for
many well known rock guitarists....Tony Iommi ....Ritchie Blackmore....Rory Gallagher....Mick Ronson...
even Eric Clapton....all used British Pedal Company "Rangemaster" treble boosters.

Brian May uses, almost exclusively, VOX AC-30 amplifiers with "top boost"...
the Beatles used these too ....David Gilmour and The Edge also use in the studio VOX AC-30's.

Brian May uses at least 6 VOX-30's ....each one with echoplex delays to create his thick "multi guitar" sound....one of the best unique tones in rock...

[GTB365]

Happy 79th Birthday Mick Jagger!

Born on July 26th 1943 in Dartford, England.

Still with tons of energy and not an ounce of fat like his father ...Joe Jagger,
his father was a gym teacher....
but unlike his bald father...Mick still has a full head of hair,
let's just say Mick's hair hasn't aged a day in 50 or 60 years

Mick Jagger knew Keith Richards from grade school, both grew up in Dartford.
They bumped into each other years later at a train station and found out they both
loved the same music....blues music and Chuck Berry, ....they started jamming together
soon after...circa 1960-61.

In 1968, Mick Jagger bought a country home (mansion) called "Stargroves".
The Rolling Stones recorded most of their "Sticky Fingers" album at Stargroves in 1970.
3 songs on the album were recorded earlier on december 1st 1969 at Muscle Shoals Studio, in Alabama...."Brown Sugar" ..."Wild Horses" ....and "You Gotta Move".
The Stones played Brown Sugar "live" 6 days later at the infamous Altamont concert.
Wild Horses guitar sounds like a 12 string but is actually a 6 string played in "Nashville Tuning"

Thr Who recorded their epic song "Won't Get Fooled Again" at Mick Jagger's Stargroves home.
That was in april 1971 ...same month Sticky Fingers album was released...the first album on their own record label ....Rolling Stones Records with the "mouth" logo designed by Andy Warhol,
Andy Warhol also designed the album cover, complete with a functioning zipper!
I have an original copy and that zipper is problematic ...it cuts into the album next to it in my record collection!

[benshaton]

Kate Bush, singer of two time hit decades apart "Running Up That Hill" was born on this day in 1958

[SluggoF16]

A local classic rock station plays a song at 4:20 that is relevant to the day, something obscure, etc, and today it was about an album release 35 years ago today.

August 3rd, 1987. Def Leppard's album Hysteria is released. The album is the follow-up to the band's 1983 breakthrough Pyromania. Hysteria's creation took over three years and was plagued by delays, including the aftermath of drummer Rick Allen's accident that cost him his left arm.

The album runs for over 62 minutes, and produced 12 songs. It peaked at #1 in several countries, in the US it was nearly a year before it accomplished that feat. Three singles reached #3 on the charts in the US, "Armageddon It" (#3), "Pour Some Sugar on Me" (#2) and "Love Bites", Def Leppard's only number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100.

The first song on the album released in the US was "Women", but "Animal" was first everywhere else. "Animal" was one of the first songs developed in early 1984, but neither the band nor successive producers Jim Steinman, Nigel Green and Robert John "Mutt" Lange were able to produce the desired sound until two and a half years later.

The album charted singles from August 1987 to January 1989, with sales over 14 million.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gttThxCzv9A

[JGC97]

Happy 96th Birthday Anthony Dominick Benedetto also known as Tony Bennett. Born August 3rd, 1926 in Queens, NY. No surprise that his #1 song is also my favorite.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSIF3KtwGUA

[GTB365]

The Beatles album "Revolver" is released.....August 5th 1966

An amazing album ....possible the Beatles best album!

Rubber Soul is good but I much prefer Revolver.

The Beatles had the first three months of 1966 off after 3 years of living in a whirlwind.

Revolver was recorded between April 6th and June 21st 1966....

The first song recorded became the last song on the record...."Tomorrow Never Knows".

John Lennon wrote the song after reading the book " The Pyschedelic Experience"...
directly quoting the line "Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream..."

Paul McCartney contributed most of the various sound collage tapes ...Paul was into
Stockhausen at the time....Ringos very cool drum pattern was "sampled" on a tape loop....
the "seagull" noises were laughter from altered sped up and reversed tapes...
also featuring backwards guitar solos and lennon singing through a Leslie speaker
to try to make it sound like he was far away on a mountain top....
nothing sounded remotely like this before ...in fact still sounds modern today.

The Beatles might have started out as a "sound" band like AC/DC ...where all the songs
have a certain sound ....but by Revolver, The Beatles totally expanded their range...
from a pretty ballad like "Here, There and Everywhere" to hard driving "Taxman"...
to Indian Raga of "Love You To"...

George Harrison contributed 3 interesting songs....
Taxman....featuring a stinging guitar solo by Paul McCartney....
Paul nailed it on this one ...even playing the solo in an Indian sounding way,
which no doubt pleased Harrison...

I Want To Tell You ...I like this one too...interesting chord choices...

Love You To ....a mix of east meets west...Tambura and fuzz guitar.

This album has some of the best guitar tones the Beatles ever had...
they were now all playing Epiphone Casino electric guitars...
session photos show new Vox Conqueror amps and Fender Dual Showman amps,
not sure if the Fenders were rented or borrowed?

George Harrison also used a 1964 Gibson SG....
John Lennon also used a Gretsch 6120 ....

I like all the songs....even Lennon's weird "I'm Only Sleeping"...
with it's backwards guitar and sped up vocals...

Paul's songs are all very strong...including...

Got To Get You Into My Life....nice brass and guitar tones...a bit of "Stax/Volt" vibe.

Good Day Sunshine....good piano old-timey sounding with interesting coda...

For No One....love it.....nice french horn solo by Alan Civil

Lennon was on fire too....

And Your Bird Can Sing.....outstanding guitar riffs and playing!

She Said, She Said....the last song recorded ....with no Paul McCartney!
Paul had an arguement with John and George and left in a huff....
George plays bass on this one (Nusonic bass guitar)....as well as uber cool leads.
John Lennons vocals are great and I love how the song lurches back and forth
in time signature during the "when I was a boy" sections....love it!
It creates a cool uneasiness that fits perfectly.

Trivia...The Beatles didn't bother playing any Revolver songs live during their
1966 North Ametican Tour.....

[GTB365]

On this date ...Pink Floyd released their debut album..."The Piper at the Gates of Dawn"

Released on August 5th 1967

A very different Pink Floyd to the famous "Dark Side of the Moon" Pink Floyd.

This album is dominated by then group leader, Syd Barrett.....
Syd was the the main songwriter and lead singer....
ironically he suffered a drug induced breakdown around the time the album was released and was
never the same again.

Syd was the odd man out....
the other three ...Roger Waters...Rick Wright and Nick Mason were architecture students
about the same age....born in 1943....and had been playing conventional blues music in a band
called "The T- Set"
Syd Barrett was 3 years younger....born in 1946 and an art student.....he was into
drugs ....LSD ...(the others weren't) ...and into playing spacey psychedelic music ....
he joined about late 1965 and created their new sound with a new group name "The Pink Floyd",

Syd approached electric guitar playing in a new way, relying heavily on a Binson echo unit
to help create otherworldly sounds on his guitar....just listen to their instrumental,
"Interstellar Overdrive" ....a good example of the extended freaky jams that Pink Floyd were
known for when they played London's 'UFO Club" in late 1966/early 1967...
UFO in this case stands for "Ultimate Freak Out"....it was the cutting edge club at the time,
other musicians would eagerly attend to hear Pink Floyd ...including The Beatles....Hendrix...
and Pete Townshend, usually with his buddy at the time, Eric Clapton.

I don't like every song on the album...some are a bit too whimsical for my taste....
but I have always loved....

Lucifer Sam....both the music and lyrics are great....
the "cat" refered to could be a " hip cat" person ...or Syd's girlfriend's cat actual cat ...not sure,
maybe both.

Matilda Mother....love the hammond organ ....gorgeous sounding....

Astronomy Domine ....wow....love it.....became even better when David Gilmour joined in 1968,
live it was much longer with a fantastic keyboard solo section in the middle...Rick Wright
playing a Farfisa organ (I think)....

[GTB365]

The Beatles released their 5th studio album...."Help!"

Released in the UK on August 6th 1965 on Parlophone label.

I have the album on vinyl ....I bought in London, England...also have it on CD.

It is considered a "transition" album ...not one of their best....but even an ok Beatle album is very good.

It was recorded between February 15th and June 17th 1965.

Not that it really took that long to record....big gaps as The Beatles were busy filming
the movie "Help!"

Their 1964 movie "A Hard Day's Night" was such a hit ....director Richard Lester was given a much bigger budget and to film this time in color...

The director asked the Beatles where they wanted to film....
they said somewhere warm.....the Bahamas....and somewhere cold ...skiing in Austria.

The album contains the usual 14 songs....

Help!....the title track....is a good one, always love the chord progressions...
starts off with the chorus...has that tricky George Harrison riff bit that I fake ...
never got it completely correct. Features a nice 12 string acoustic by Lennon.

The Night Before ....McCartney was learning piano and is featured playing electric piano,
also a short but sweet double tracked guitar solo.

You've Got To Hide Your Love Away....John formly in Dylan mode...again, nice 12 string acoustic,
and a flute solo by John Scott.

I Need You ....George Harrison stepping uo as a songwriter...I like this one,
has George playing guitar with a volume pedal....nice.

Another Girl...a McCartney special....also like this one...has that deliberately sloppy ending.

You're Going to Lose That Girl....fine vocals by John....features Fender Strat guitars,
for the first time on a Beatles song.

Ticket To Ride...wow...I love this one....I love to play it on guitar...chord progression
is top rate ....A Bm E ...then F#m D F#m G7 F#m E ....not sure about the G7 ...but that's how I play it (by ear).
The Beatles were masters of inventive chord progressions...today's music is blah...no pre chorus...
no bridge....just 3 or 4 simple chords going on and on...
Ticket to Ride was a hit single and has Paul McCartney playing those lead guitar fills...
also has a double time weird "sloppy" ending bit.
The simple but classic riff has a nice fat sound (electric 12 string by Harrison),
also the verses have an unusual drum beat by Ringo (McCartney showed Ringo the drum pattern).

Act Naturally...well Ringo has to sing one song...it was in his contract
This is an ole Buck Owens country tune that fits Ringo to a T ....he always wanted to be an actor...

It's Only Love....John knocked it as being garbarge he wrote as filler...it's a bit better than that,
The Beatles from this point on would sneak in drug references in their lyrics...
"I get high when I see you go by"....easily got past the censors in 1965.

You Like Me Too Much....album filler from George ...just ok at best...

Tell Me What You See....album filler from Lennon-McCartney....nice electric piano from Paul.

I've Just Seen A Face...McCartney likes this one ...even played it years later at some of his solo gigs.

Yesterday....McCartney's masterpiece....no other Beatle, only Paul is on the recording,
except for a string quartet...weird thing is ...when I try to play to the record...Yesterday is in the key of F....
but when McCartney plays it he is chording it on his guitar in "G"....he detuned his guitar to keep the key in F
but "play" it G ...as playing the chord progression in G is easier. I don't bother and just play it in F.

Dizzy Miss Lizzy....album filler for sure....an old 50s rocker written by Larry Williams,
the Beatles also recorded around this time another Larry Williams song, "Bad Boy".
Both songs sung with gusto by John Lennon...he loved those 50s rockers!

[GTB365]

The Who released the album "Who's Next"

It was released on August 14th 1971 on Decca Records....soon to be bought out by MCA...
my vinyl copy is an early MCA pressing.

One of the best Who albums ...and one of the best rock albums of all time.

It was not an easy album to record....

The Who had been touring for months in 1969 and 1970 ...playing the entire Tommy album...
Roger Daltrey mentioned during their Isle of Wight set in august 1970 that they were about halfway finished recording their "next" album....and they proceed to play a couple of new songs....
"Water" and "I Don't Even Know Myself"....in reality ...they were nowhere near finished and the songs they had recorded in 1970 ended up not being on their next album.

The Who played a lot of the big festivals of that era and Pete Townshend wrote a song called
"Pure and Easy" about the festivals and search for "the universal chord within us all" ....hence the key lyric repeated in the song, '"There one was a note...listen".
A really good song that jump started Pete Townshend's "Lifehouse" concept.

On january 13th 1971, Pete Townshend held a press conference to explain "Lifehouse"....
most just didn't get it...even the others in The Who were trying hard to get grasp of the concept.

The Who then played a series of semi public gigs at the Young Vic Theatre...attended mostly by hard core young London Who fans ...yelling out for the band to play their favorites..."Magic Bus...My Generation..."

Disillusioned the group flew to New York City to record at The Record Plant....with Kit Lambert again being the producer....with Leslie West helping out on guitar and Al Kooper on keyboards....

Unfortunately it was a disaster....Kit Lambert was hooked on heroin...Keith Moon "the loon" was also out of control....Pete Townshend suffered a nervous breakdown ...at one point wanting to jump out of
NYC highrise building window!

Returing to London, Pete called up Glyn Johns and asked him to engineer the album...
The first song recorded was "Won't Get Fooled Again" ...recorded in april 1971 at Stargroves,Mick Jagger's country manor.

Glyn then advised the band that the rest of album should be recorded at a proper studio ....Olympic Studios.

Pete Townshend had been experimenting with his ARP2600 synthesizer and in the case of the song, Baba O'Reilly...encorporating the synth pattern like a sample loop...to create it, Pete actually patched a Lowry organ into
his ARP2600....the result was amazing, revolutionary.

Other standout songs include...

"Bargain" ....always loved this song...love playing it on guitar...powerchords and acoustic picking...
light and heavy ....something that Led Zeppelin was doing too...(Glyn Johns also engineered Led Zeppelin's debut album, also recorded at Olympic Studios in october 1968).

"Behind Blue Eyes"....fantastic song...again, light and heavy...love the chord progressions...
and also the powerful lyrics, like "And if I swallow anything evil, stick your fingers down my throat"

"My Wife"....one of John Entwistle's best songs ...played at most Who concerts in the 1970s.

....."Who's Next" .....their "next" album after the "Tommy" juggernaut....

The final lyric in 'Won't Get Fooled Again" says it all...
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss"
....now, ain't that the truth!

Trivia....the cover photo was shot by Ethan Russell (Yes that same Ethan Russell who was the official photographer for the Beatles "Get Back/Let It Be"sessions).....
Ethan hung out with The Who during their spring 1971 UK concerts and while travelling back to London from a gig in Sunderland, noticed a big piece concrete sticking out from a slag heap at a mine...
immediately stopped the convoy and told the group it could make a great cover shot....
Pete thought..."ah, yes ...like that monolith in 2001" and then decided they should pee on it...
however, only Pete actually had to pee ...so the other urine markings were "faked" using water!