The Wolfman Howls Again - Mephisto's Rock Gems

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Cat Stevens - Matthew & Son (1966)
2007-10-18 08:30:00
Cat Stevens , born Steven Demetre Georgiou, was the son of a Swedish mother and a Greek father who ran a restaurant in London. He became interested in folk music and rock & roll in his teens while attending Hammersmith College and in 1965 began performing under the name Steve Adams. Mike Hurst, a former member of the folk-pop group the Springfields, who had become a record producer, heard him and... [Please Visit the blog for the full post...]
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Donnie Elbert - I Can't Help Myself (1972)
2007-10-18 08:00:00
Northern Soul legend Donnie Elbert was born May 25, 1935 in New Orleans. His family relocated to Buffalo, New York's east side three years later, and there he learned to play guitar and piano--influenced most profoundly by the Drifters' Clyde McPhatter, Elbert co-founded a doo-wop group called the Vibraharps with friend Danny Cannon in 1955, serving as its guitarist, songwriter and arranger while... [Please Visit the blog for the full post...]

Squeeze - Tempted (1981)
2007-10-18 07:30:00
As one of the most traditional pop bands of the new wave, Squeeze provided one of the links between classic British guitar pop and post-punk. Inspired heavily by the Beatles and the Kinks, Squeeze was the vehicle for the songwriting of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, who were hailed as the heirs to Lennon and McCartney's throne during their heyday in the early '80s. Unlike Lennon and McCartney,... [Please Visit the blog for the full post...]
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Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees (1995)
2007-10-18 07:00:00
Radiohead was one of the few alternative bands of the early '90s to draw heavily from the grandiose arena rock that characterized U2's early albums. But the band internalized that epic sweep, turning it inside out to tell tortured, twisted tales of angst and alienation. Vocalist Thom Yorke's pained lyrics were brought to life by the group's three-guitar attack, which relied on texture --... [Please Visit the blog for the full post...]
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Clarence Carter - Soul Deep (1969)
2007-10-17 08:30:00
Singer Clar ence Carter exemplified the gritty, earthy sound of Muscle Shoals R&B, fusing the devastating poignancy of the blues with a wicked, lascivious wit to create deeply soulful music rooted in the American South of the past and the present. Born January 14, 1936, in Montgomery, AL, Carter was blind from birth. He immediately gravitated to music, teaching himself guitar by listening to the blues classics of John Lee Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Jimmy Reed. He majored in music at Alabama State University, learning to transcribe charts and arrangements in Braille. With blind classmate Calvin Scott, Carter in 1960 formed the duo Clarence & Calvin, signing to the Fairlane label to release "I Wanna Dance But I Don't Know How" the following year. After the 1962 release of "I Don't Know (School Girl)," Clarence & Calvin left Fairlane for the Duke imprint, renaming themselves the C & C Boys for their label debut, "Hey Marvin." In all, the duo cut four Duke singles, none of them ge...
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Blue Mink - Randy (1973)
2007-10-17 08:00:00
One of the giants of British pop in the early 1970s, Blue Mink was formed in fall 1969 by keyboard player Roger Coulam, around a nucleus of musicians based at London's Morgan Studios - bassist Herbie Flowers, guitarist Allan Parker and drummer Barry Morgan were also involved. Having already recorded a number of backing tracks, Coulam then approached soul singer Madeleine Bell and former David & Jonathan star Roger Greenaway as vocalists; Bell accepted, Greenaway declined but recommended his songwriting partner (and fellow David & Jonathan-er) Roger Cook in his stead.With this line-up, Cook and Greenaway's "Melting Pot" was released as Blue Mink's debut single, a plea for multi-racial harmony that reached #3 in the UK that November. An album of the same title was released in the new year, alongside the single "Good Morning Freedom" - for reasons unknown, the single did not originally appear on the LP. However, its swift rise into the UK Top 10 prompted a rethink and subsequent pre...
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Prefab Sprout - The King Of Rock'n Roll (1988)
2007-10-17 07:30:00
One of the most beloved British pop bands of the '80s and '90s, Prefab Sprout has had a minimum of chart success in the United States, where they're all but unknown outside of their devoted cult following, but singer/songwriter Paddy McAloon is regularly hailed as one of the great songwriters of his era. Critics regularly compare McAloon favorably to Elvis Costello, Paul McCartney, and even Cole Porter, but the self-effacing and publicity-shy performer modestly prefers to let his increasingly rare albums speak for themselves.Prefab Sprout was formed in Newcastle, England, in 1977 by McAloon (who sings and plays guitar and piano) and his bass-playing younger brother Martin. In the group's early days, McAloon spun several fanciful tales about the origin of their odd name (one favorite was that the young McAloon had misheard the line "hotter than a pepper sprout" in Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood's "Jackson"), but the prosaic truth is that an adolescent McAloon had devised the me...
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The Exciters - Tell Him (1963)
2007-10-09 09:00:00
With their no-nonsense, street-smart approach, the Excite rs ushered in the heyday of the girl group sound via the 1962 classic "Tell Him." Queens, NY, classmates Brenda Reid, Carol Johnson, Lillian Walker, and Sylvia Wilbur formed the group in 1961 when they were all 17 years old. Originally dubbed the Masterettes, they were the sister act to the Masters, a local doo wop quintet with the End Records single "A Man Is Not Supposed to Cry" to its credit. When the Masters secured a record deal with the Le Sage label, they wrangled session time for the Masterettes as well, and in early 1962 the group issued its debut effort, "Follow the Leader." Wilbur left the lineup soon after, and with replacement Penny Carter, the Masterettes auditioned for the famed writing/producing duo of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller -- Carter's tenure with the group proved brief, however, and following creative differences with his bandmates, Masters member Herb Rooney signed on with the Masterettes in time for...

Billie Davis - I Want You To Be My Baby (1968)
2007-10-09 08:30:00
Carol Hedges was a 16-year-old aspiring singer when she was discovered as the result of a talent contest in 1962. Backed up in the competition by Cliff Bennett's support group, the Rebel Rousers, she won the contest and Bennett got her together with producer Joe Meek. Hedges was recorded by Meek with his resident group, the Tornados, without achieving success. Luckily, a neophyte music talent manager named Robert Stigwood had also seen her and liked what he heard, and he ultimately took her away from Meek. He was impressed with Hedges' singing, a white soul sound similar to (though not as powerful as) Beryl Marsden's work, and also with the fact that her two musical inspirations were Billie Holiday and Sammy Davis Jr.. Stigwood renamed her Billie Davis and teamed her with Mike Sarne, another singer he had under contract, and the two scored a novelty hit in 1962 with "Will I What." For her solo debut, he gave her a song that he had heard on a visit to America. "Tell Him" had been ...
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Manfred Mann's Earth Band - You Angel You (1979)
2007-10-09 08:00:00
The scion of a wealthy South African family, Manfred Lubowitz recognized while still a teenager that his real interests lay far from Johannesburg and its white-dominated culture -- rather, he wanted to play jazz and blues. To do this, he ultimately had to leave South Africa for England, where he picked up a new stage name, Manfred Manne (the last name borrowed from Shelly Manne), later Manfred Mann. He also found a friend and collaborator in one Mike Hugg, a drummer with whom he formed a band that -- against his wishes -- was ultimately christened Manfred Mann. The various incarnations of Manfred Mann, playing jazz and R&B-based rock and later pop/rock and progressive rock, lasted until 1971, when the man took back his name. Future group names, mostly designated Manfred Mann's Earth Band , would have an apostrophe attached to his name, as Mann also embarked on a career as a producer and songwriter. He has also released recordings designated as solo projects, usually under the title ...
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Flash And The Pan - Waiting For A Train (1983)
2007-10-09 07:30:00
The best-known alter ego of the Harry Vanda/George Young songwriting team (the creative force behind the Easybeats), Flash and the Pan began simply as a between-production project in 1976. By 1979, the project had turned out a novelty hit with the single "Hey St. Peter." A second single, "Down Among the Dead," also became a hit throughout Australia and Europe, inspiring the release of the album Flash and the Pan. American radio began playing import copies which led to a deal with Epic Records. The album would soon reach the Top 100 in the U.S. despite the lack of a supporting tour. They released two more albums with some minor success in the U.K., but failed to make much impact due to the part-time nature of the project.(Read more) [Bio & Info © allmusic.com]I'll add this snippet from wikipedia, for completion's sake. ;)After returning to Australia in 1973, Vanda and Young took over as the house producers for leading Australian independent record production company, Albert Pr...
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Faithless - Insomnia (1995)
2007-10-09 07:00:00
A prime house-pop group and consistent club act, Faithless is at its core a duo of producers Rollo and Sister Bliss. Before the group officially came together in 1995, Rollo had produced a previous club hit ("Don't You Want Me" as Felix in 1992), plus an album for Kristine W. and remixes for the Pet Shop Boys, Björk and Simply Red. Sister Bliss, a piano and violin prodigy from the age of five, converted to acid house in 1987, and quickly became one of the UK's best house DJs, also recording several singles as herself. Though the two had begun producing together as early as 1993, Faithless became a stable quartet two years later with the addition of vocalists Jamie Catto (previously in the Big Truth Band) and Maxi Jazz (from the Soul Food Cafe Band). The group reached worldwide status the following year with the singles "Salva Mea" (one of the biggest dance hits of the year), "Insomnia " and "Reverence." The debut Faithless album, also titled Reverence, appeared in late 1996 on Roll...
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Little Willie John - Fever (1956)
2007-10-08 09:00:00
He's never received the accolades given to the likes of Sam Cooke, Clyde McPhatter, and James Brown, but Litt le Willie John ranks as one of R&B's most influential performers. His muscular high timbre and enormous technical and emotional range belied his young age (his first hit came when he was 18), but his mid-'50s work for Syd Nathan's King label would play a great part in the way soul music would sound. Everyone from Cooke, McPhatter, and Brown to Jackie Wilson, B.B. King, and Al Green has acknowledged his debt to this most overlooked of rock and soul pioneers. His debut recording, a smoking version of Titus Turner's "All around the World" from 1955, set the pattern for a remarkable string of hits: "Need Your Love So Bad," "Suffering with the Blues," "Fever ," "Let Them Talk," and his last, "Sleep," from 1961. His version of "Fever" was copied note for note by Peggy Lee and Elvis Presley, both of whom had bigger hits with it; John's version, however, remains definitive. His ...

Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston - It Takes Two (1966)
2007-10-08 08:30:00
One of the most gifted, visionary, and enduring talents ever launched into orbit by the Motown hit machine, Marvin Gaye blazed the trail for the continued evolution of popular black music. Moving from lean, powerful R&B to stylish, sophisticated soul to finally arrive at an intensely political and personal form of artistic self-expression, his work not only redefined soul music as a creative force but also expanded its impact as an agent for social change.Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. (in the style of his hero Sam Cooke, he added the "e" to his surname as an adult) was born April 2, 1939, in Washington, D.C. The second of three children born to the Reverend Marvin Gay, Sr., an ordained minister in the House of God -- a conservative Christian sect that fuses elements of orthodox ... Read More...Best known as a duet partner of Marvin Gaye , Kim Weston also charted with some of her own solo sides during the '60s, although she never had the breakout success of a Martha Reeves or Diana Ross. Bor...
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Raydio - You Can't Change That (1979)
2007-10-08 08:00:00
Ray Parker, Jr. created Raydio in 1977, with vocalists Arnell Carmichael and Jerry Knight. Knight was the lead singer on the group's first big hit, "Jack and Jill," in 1978. Other group members were Larry Tolbert, Darren Carmichael, and Charles Fearing. He maintained the band until 1981, although they became Ray Parker, Jr. & Raydio in 1980. The group had another Top Ten R&B and pop hit with "You Can't Chan g e That" in 1979, and then "Two Places at the Same Time" reached number six R&B in 1980. They topped the R&B charts in 1981 with "A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do)," which also peaked at number four pop. All their songs and LPs were recorded for Arista.Ray Parker, Jr.Guitarist/songwriter/producer Ray Parker, Jr. had hits as Raydio (the million-selling Jack and Jill, You Can't Change That), Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio (Two Places at the Same Time, A Woman Needs Love [Just Like You Do]), Ray Parker Jr. (the number one R&B and pop gold single "Ghostbusters"), and co-wrote hit so...

Loverboy - Lucky Ones (1981)
2007-10-08 07:30:00
With a string of three multi-platinum albums, Loverboy was one of the most successful mainstream hard rock groups of the early '80s. Comprised of vocalist Mike Reno, guitarist Paul Dean, bassist Scott Smith, keyboardist Doug Johnson, and drummer Matthew Frenette, the band formed in Toronto, Canada, in 1980 and immediately signed with CBS Records. Later that year, their Bruce Fairbairn produced debut album appeared. Featuring the slick, hard-rocking singles "Turn Me Loose" and "The Kid Is Hot Tonite," the album went platinum in both Canada and America.Loverboy recorded the follow-up, Get Lucky , in 1981. Driven by the anthemic "Working for the Weekend," the Fairbairn-produced record was a major success in the U.S. and Canada, yet it failed to gain an audience anywhere in Europe. Nevertheless, the band was a staple on AOR stations across North America, as well as a popular concert attraction. The band's good fortunes continued with the 1983 album Keep It Up. Again, Loverboy worked wi...

The Dandy Warhols - Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth (1998)
2007-10-08 07:00:00
Often compared to the druggy psychedelic pop of the Velvet Underground, the Dandy Warhols do possess more than just a passing resemblance to Lou Reed and company at times, but elements of such modern rockers as Love and Rockets and Ride can be detected in their sound as well. Formed in Portland, OR, during 1994, the Dandy Warhols consist of members Courtney Taylor (vocals, guitar), Zia McCabe (keyboards), Peter Holmstrom (guitar), and Eric Hedford (drums), who signed on with the independent label Tim/Kerr shortly after their formation. In 1995 came the release of the quartet's debut release, Dandy's Rule OK?, and while other rock bands may be a bit hesitant to spell out their influences, the Dandy Warhols decided to openly advertise it, as the album contained such song titles as "Lou Weed" and "Ride." Capitol Records signed the group the same year, but the Dandy's new label rejected a second album they submitted (claiming it didn't have any "hits"). Disappointed but undeterred, ...
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Guitar Slim - Guitar Slim (1955)
2007-10-06 09:00:00
No 1950s blues guitarist even came close to equalling the flamboyant Guitar Slim in the showmanship department. Armed with an estimated 350 feet of cord between his axe and his amp, Slim would confidently stride onstage wearing a garishly hued suit of red, blue, or green -- with his hair usually dyed to match! It's rare to find a blues guitarist hailing from Texas or Louisiana who doesn't cite Slim as one of his principal influences; Buddy Guy, Earl King, Guitar Shorty, Albert Collins, Chick Willis, and plenty more have enthusiastically testified to Slim's enduring sway.Born Eddie Jones in Mississippi, Slim didn't have long to make such an indelible impression. He turned up in New Orleans in 1950, influenced by the atomic guitar energy of Gatemouth Brown. But Slim's ringing, distorted guitar tone and gospel-enriched vocal style were his alone. He debuted on wax in 1951 with a mediocre session for Imperial that barely hinted at what would soon follow. A 1952 date for Bullet prod...

The Joe Jeffrey Group - My Pledge Of Love (1969)
2007-10-06 08:30:00
The Joe Jeffrey Group will go down in history as a one-hit wonder, but what a hit -- their infectious "My Pledge of Love " remains a classic of '60s pop-soul. Little is known about Jeffrey. Born Joe Stafford, he presumably adopted his stage name to avoid confusion with distaff pop singer Jo Stafford, and was a fixture of the Cleveland club circuit before signing to Wand Records. An effervescent, string-sweetened effort closer to sunshine pop than soul, "My Pledge of Love" reached number 14 on the Billboard pop charts in 1969 but conspicuously missed the R&B charts altogether. Jeffrey's career nevertheless seemed promising, but the follow-up, "The Train," tanked and he never recovered his momentum. After a third Wand release, "Chance of Lovin' You," the Joe Jeffrey Group cut "My Baby Loves Lovin'," but a rival rendition of the song by British bubblegum group White Plains captured the attention of radio. After one last gasp, "A Hundred Pounds of Clay," Wand cut its losses and the J...
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The Brothers Johnson - Strawberry Letter #23 (1977)
2007-10-06 08:00:00
Guitarist/vocalist George Johns on and bassist/vocalist Louis Johnson formed the band Johnson Three Plus One with older brother Tommy and their cousin Alex Weir while attending school in Los Angeles. When they became professionals, the band backed such touring R&B acts as Bobby Womack and the Supremes. George and Louis Johnson later joined Billy Preston's band, and wrote "Music in My Life" and "The Kids and Me" for him before leaving his group in 1973.Quincy Jones hired them to play on his LP Mellow Madness, and recorded four of their songs, including "Is It Love That We're Missing?" and "Just a Taste of Me." Jones took them on a Japanese tour, then produced their debut LP, Look Out for Number 1, after they signed with A&M, which was also his label at the time (1976). They scored a number-one R&B and number-three pop hit with "I'll Be Good to You," and enjoyed R&B chart toppers in 1977 and 1980 respectively with "Strawberry Letter 23" and "Stomp!," while sustaining a consistent hi...
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Stock Aitken & Waterman - Roadblock (1987)
2007-10-06 07:30:00
In the mid- to late '80s and early '90s, the London-based team of Mike Stock , Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman was to European dance-pop what L.A. & Babyface and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis were to urban contemporary: a slick, well-oiled producing/songwriting team that had a reputation for cranking out one major after another. Back then, many urban contemporary artists reasoned that the quickest and easiest way to score a big hit was to work with L.A. & Babyface or Jam & Lewis; and in England, dance-pop artists were every bit as anxious to work with Stock, Aitken & Waterman. Many British rock critics hated Stock, Aitken & Waterman with a passion; they detested the threesome's ultra-slick, very glossy approach, which was heavily influenced by the Euro-disco and Euro-pop of the late '70s; Stock, Aitken & Waterman's roots were folks like ABBA, Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, Cerrone, the Village People; and Silver Convention.Stock, Aitken & Waterman were about as commercial as it gets --...
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Sinéad O'Connor - The Emperor's New Clothes (1989)
2007-10-06 07:00:00
Sinéad O'Connor ranked among the most distinctive and controversial pop music stars of the 1990s, the first and in many ways the most influential of the numerous female performers whose music dominated airwaves throughout the decade. Brash and outspoken -- her shaven head, angry visage, and shapeless wardrobe a direct challenge to the popular culture's long-prevailing notions of femininity and sexuality -- O'Connor irrevocably altered the image of women in rock; railing against long-standing stereotypes simply by asserting herself not as a sex object but as a serious artist, she kick-started a revolt which led the way for performers ranging from Liz Phair to Courtney Love to Alanis Morissette.O'Connor was born in Dublin, Ireland, on December 8, 1966. Her childhood was often traumatic: her parents divorced when she was eight, and she later claimed that her mother, who was killed in a 1985 automobile accident, frequently abused her. After being expelled from Catholic school, O'Co...
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Ben E. King - Stand By Me (1961)
2007-10-05 09:00:00
From the groundbreaking orchestrated productions of the Drifters to his own solo hits, Ben E. King was the definition of R&B elegance. King's plaintive baritone had all the passion of gospel, but the settings in which it was displayed were tailored more for his honey smooth phrasing and crisp enunciation, proving for perhaps the first time that R&B could be sophisticated and accessible to straight pop audiences. King's approach influenced countless smooth soul singers in his wake and his records were key forerunners of the Motown sound.King was born Benjamin Earl Nelson in Henderson, NC, in 1938, and sang with his church choir before the family moved to Harlem in 1947. In junior high, he began performing with a street corner doo wop group called the Four B's, which won second place in an Apollo Theater talent contest. While still in high school, he was offered a chance to join the Moonglows, but was simply too young and inexperienced to stick. He subsequently worked at his father...
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The Marbles - The Walls Fell Down (1969)
2007-10-05 08:30:00
Before scaling the hard rock heights with Rainbow and Alcatrazz, Graham Bonnet belted out contemporary covers with his cousin, Trevor Gordon, in the Marbles .Born in Lincolnshire, England, Bonnet performed with a blues band and a jazz trio before hooking up with Gordon, who played with the Bee Gees, and the Marbles caught the interest of media mogul Robert Stigwood at RSO Records. The first Marbles single, "Only One Woman," a Gibb Brothers composition, did well in the U.K. and Australia. Another Gibb tune, "The Walls Fell Down," also received airplay, but the Marbles abruptly broke up. Transitory behavior would become typical of Bonnet's career. Though the band split, the eponymous Marbles debut dropped in 1970.(Read more) [Bio & Info © allmusic.com]» Listen! » Download mp3 eMusic's FREE Daily Download!
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Janis Joplin - Me And Bobby McGee (1971)
2007-10-05 08:00:00
The greatest white female rock singer of the 1960s, Janis Joplin was also a great blues singer, making her material her own with her wailing, raspy, supercharged emotional delivery. First rising to stardom as the frontwoman for San Francisco psychedelic band Big Brother & the Holding Company, she left the group in the late '60s for a brief and uneven (though commercially successful) career as a solo artist. Although she wasn't always supplied with the best material or most sympathetic musicians, her best recordings, with both Big Brother and on her own, are some of the most exciting performances of her era. She also did much to redefine the role of women in rock with her assertive, sexually forthright persona and raunchy, electrifying on-stage presence. Joplin was raised in the small town of Port Arthur, TX, and much of her subsequent personal difficulties and unhappiness has been attributed to her inability to fit in with the expectations of the conservative community. She'd bee...
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The Outfield - Your Love (1985)
2007-10-05 07:30:00
Ironically, given their obsession with America's favorite pastime, the Outfield got their start in London's East End. Playing under the name the Baseball Boys, the trio of bassist/singer Tony Lewis, guitarist/keyboardist John Spinks, and drummer Alan Jackman played around London and recorded some early demos, attracting the attention of Columbia/CBS Records. They were signed shortly thereafter and began working on their debut album, Play Deep, which was released in 1985. The album was a smash success, going triple platinum, reaching number nine on the album charts, and producing their biggest song, "Your Love ," which was a Top Ten hit. To support the album, they launched an international tour opening for Journey and Starship. They began recording their second album in 1986 and in 1987 issued Bangin'. While not duplicating the huge commercial success of their debut, it did produce two hit singles, "Since You've Been Gone" and "No Surrender." The band's third album featured a bit...
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Natalie Imbruglia - Wishing I Was There (1998)
2007-10-05 07:00:00
By mixing Lisa Loeb/Alanis Morissette-like singing with music that sounds similar to a more mainstream Portishead at times, Natalie Imbruglia became one of the biggest pop sensations in Europe. Born in Sydney, Australia, on February 4, 1975, Imbruglia was one of four sisters and grew up in a tiny beach town. After becoming a teen actress and landing a spot on the Australian soap opera Neighbours, Imbruglia decided that she would rather be a singer, and moved to London in 1996 to try her luck. It was a wise move, as she was soon signed to the RCA U.K. label. Deciding to release a single before her full-length debut, the track "Torn" was issued in 1997, and no one could have predicted its wild success. Produced by former Cure member Phil Thornalley and written by Ednaswap, the single spent a total of 14 weeks at number one, sold over a million copies, and broke the record for most airplay in U.K. history. Her debut album, Left of the Middle, was a major hit in Australia, the U.K., and...
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Lloyd Price - Personality (1959)
2007-10-04 09:00:00
Not entirely content with being a 1950s R&B star on the strength of his immortal New Orleans classic "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," singer Lloyd Price yearned for massive pop acceptance. He found it, too, with a storming rock & roll reading of the ancient blues "Stagger Lee" and the unabashedly pop-slanted "Personality " and "I'm Gonna Get Married" (the latter pair sounding far removed indeed from his Crescent City beginnings).Growing up in Kenner, a suburb of New Orleans, Price was exposed to seminal sides by Louis Jordan, the Liggins brothers, Roy Milton, and Amos Milburn through the jukebox in his mother's little fish-fry joint. Lloyd and his younger brother Leo (who later co-wrote Little Richard's "Send Me Some Lovin'") put together a band for local consumption while in their teens. Bandleader Dave Bartholomew was impressed enough to invite Specialty Records boss Art Rupe to see the young singer (this was apparently when Bartholomew was momentarily at odds with his longtime employers a...
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Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich - The Legend Of Xanadu (1968)
2007-10-04 08:30:00
Hook-laden tunes transformed Salisbury, Wiltshire, England-based quartet Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich into one the United Kingdom's top pop bands of the mid-'60s. Performing songs by their managers Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley, the group scored with such Top Ten U.K. hits as "Hold Tight," "Hideaway," "Bend It," "Save Me," "Okay," "Zabadak," "Last Night in Soho," and the chart-topper, "Legend of Xanadu ." Formed as Dave Dee & the Bostons, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich were led by vocalist Dee (born: David Harman), an ex-policeman who had been at the scene of the automobile accident that took the life of American rocker Eddie Cochran and injured Gene Vincent in April 1960. Dee had taken Cochran's guitar from the accident and held it until it could be returned to his family. Although they were among the many British bands who honed their skills while performing in Hamburg, Germany, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich were one of the first to tour the United Kingdom with est...
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Wings - Give Ireland Back To The Irish (1972)
2007-10-04 08:00:00
Following his second solo album, Ram, in 1971, ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and his wife, Linda, formed Wings , which was intended to be a full-fledged recording and touring band. Denny Laine, a former guitarist for the Moody Blues, and drummer Denny Seiwell filled out the lineup and Wings released their first album, Wild Life, in December 1971. Wild Life was greeted with poor reviews and was a relative flop. McCartney and Wings, which now featured former Grease Band guitarist Henry McCullough, spent 1972 as a working band, releasing three singles -- the protest tune "Give Ireland Back to the Irish ," the reggae-fied "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and the hard-rocking "Hi Hi Hi" -- in England. Red Rose Speedway followed in the spring of 1973, and while it received weak reviews, it became his second American number one album. Later in 1973, Wings embarked on their first British tour, at the conclusion of which McCullough and Seiwell left the band. Prior to their departure, McCartney's theme to...