Rock Hall of Fame to Induct Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Tom Waits

Rock Hall of Fame to Induct Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Tom Waits Billboard.com

It's official -- Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Dr. John, Darlene Love and Tom Waits will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year. The class of 2011 will be formally feted on Mar. 14 at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

  

"Alex Chilton" The Replacements

The odd thing was that I was just listening to this song in my car last night and was singing along heartily. Little did I know.

If he was from Venus, would he feed us with a spoon?
If he was from Mars, wouldn't that be cool?
Standing right on campus, would he stamp us in a file?
Hangin' down in Memphis all the while.

(chorus:)
Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton when he comes 'round
They sing "I'm in love. What's that song?
I'm in love with that song."

Cerebral rape and pillage in a village of his choice.
Invisible man who can sing in a visible voice.
Feeling like a hundred bucks, exchanging good lucks face to face.
Checkin' his stash by the trash at St. Mark's place.

(chorus)

I never travel far, without a little Big Star

Runnin' 'round the house, Mickey Mouse and the Tarot cards.
Falling asleep with a flop pop video on.
If he was from Venus, would he meet us on the moon?
If he died in Memphis, then that'd be cool, babe.

My Amazon Reviews: Cat Stevens "Foreigner"

Felined Ambition

3 Out of 5 Stars

While in his creative and commercial peaks as an artist, Cat Stevens was feeling both an artistic and spiritual restlessness that culminated in "Foriegner" in 1973. He chose to produce himself, composed an 18 minute single side "suite," added a string section, more keyboards than acoustic guitars, female singers, and took artistic aim at the likes of Thick as a Brick or Abbey Road. Folks looking for the delicate folk-songs in the vein of "Peace Train" or "Wild World" were caught off guard by ambitiously orchestrated "Foreigner Suite" and the sad, lonely man singing "How Many Times."

Since this wasn't a rehash of Tea for the Tillerman or Teaser and the Firecat, there was a lot of confusion and outright hostility towards "Foreigner" at the time. Of the four more conventional songs on side two, only "The Hurt" entered the Top 40. Given the benefit of a quarter century, the album has in fact aged nicely. The suite has obviously remained a favorite of Stevens/Yusuf over the years, since his most recent recordings (Roadsinger and An Other Cup) have used some of the musical motifs found therin. He may have been growing weary of the rock star game, but you can't fault him for wanting to stretch out.

My Amazon Reviews: Starz "Brightest Starz"

Super Nova
4 out of 5 Stars

Starz was one of those seventies rock bands that always seemed just on the brink of making it but could never quite seem to hit the tipping point. A great lead singer in Micheal Lee Smith, management by Aucion (the same folks working Kiss), twin lead guitars and even a little controversy (the song "Pull The Plug" from Starz). Brighest Starzshows that all this should have combined to make these guys the next Aerosmith.

For some reason, that never happened. They did manage to squeak out a minor top 40 single in Violation's "Cherry Baby," but that was as close to the brass ring as the band got. A gradual evolution towards less darker fare on Attention Shoppers! probably didn't help; songs like "She" or "Hold On To The Night" were more power pop than hard rock. By Coliseum Rock, the band ran out of gas and broke up, although they still maintain an active website and loyal fan base.

This single disc skims the cream off the band's four capitol albums, and offers no alternate or bonus material. There are a few Sweet/Cheap Trick power-pop gems here that should have been hits, like "Sing It Shout It" and "Hold On To The Night," along with doses of arena ready hard rock in "So Young So Bad" and "Violation." There's even the controversial "Pull The Plug" amd "Subway Terror." Starz had a dash of just about every band mentioned in this review and were probably a radio away from being huge. This is a good starter; all the studio albums have since been re-issued.

I Learned The Truth at 17

Found this while rooting through some old boxes. It's my senior class portrait, wearing a tan leather suit and obvious 70's shirt. My guess is the pic was taken the Summer of 77.

Passings: Teddy Pendergrass

Former Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes lead singer and R&B/disco icon Teddy Pendergrass died in Philadelphia tonight at the age of 59. The singer's son, Teddy Pendergrass II, says his father died Wednesday at Bryn Mawr Hospital. Pendergrass' son says his father underwent colon cancer surgery eight months ago and had "a difficult recovery." The elder Pendergrass was injured in a car accident in 1982. He suffered a spinal cord injury and was paralyzed from the waist down. He spent six months in a hospital but returned to recording the next year with the album "Love Language."

With the Blue Notes, Pendergrass scored 17 Top 40 R&B hits, including three #1's. Their biggest pop hit was the 1972 classic "If You Don't Know Me By Now" which peaked at #3. As a solo artist Pendergrass landed 27 Top 40 R&B hits including three #1's. His biggest solo pop hit was 1978's steamy sex-drenched "Close The Door," which reached #25. But as fantastic as Teddy's trademark sex ballads were, he'll be best remembered here for his early proto-disco hits with the Blue Notes, whose Gamble & Huff produced hits like "The Love I Lost" and "Bad Luck" defined the early Philly-disco sound.

My Amazon Reviews: Angel "White Hot"

White Hot and Cool,
3 Out of 5 Stars

This was Angel's fifth album and their commercial high water mark, peaking at 55 on Billboard. It is just a bit slicker than On Earth As It Is In Heaven (my personal favorite Angel album), but shows that Angel wanted desperately to be a huge rock band along the lines of Kiss. They even dusted off a Rascals' cover as a Top 40 contender, "Ain't Gonna Eat My Heart Out Anymore." The strategy worked as far as sales were concerned, but it was Angel's last grab at the brass ring.

If you have a shelf full of 70's rock that leans heavy on the Styx, Queen or Kansas albums, "White Hot" will make you happy. The under-rated Punky Meadows lets fly with some great guitar and keyboardist Gregg Giuffria's great old school playing on "You Could Lose Me" or the opener, "Don't Leave Me Lonely." And before the term "Power Ballad" became a standard term for every MTV Hair Metal band, the great "Winter Song" and "Flying On Broken Wings" could have been hits had they shown up a decade later.

PS: For pure holiday glamrock cheese, Angel re-cut "Winter Song" as "Christmas Song" on Angel Antholgy.

Tramps like us, Baby, we were born to wed.

Bruce Springsteen backs gay marriage in NJ

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My Amazon Reviews: The J. Geils Band "Best Of"

Not Quite a Full House
4 out of 5 Stars

When The J. Geils Band made the leap from Atlantic Records to Capitol/EMI, the hits started coming and the band suddenly became superstars. This best of compiles mainly from those years, and is heavy on the party hits the band had in the 80's. It nicely replaces Flashback and supplements Best of the J. Geils Band from the late 70's.

The good stuff/hits are here. The streak that started with "Love Stinks" and exploded with Freeze Frame are covered. The party classics "Centerfold" and "Flamethrower" are both here, along with many others. The old greasy bar band is represented by "Sanctuary" and "Night Time." But if you're looking for "Must Of Got Lost" or "Give It To Me," you'll have to go back to the Atlantic best of. I am also a bit disappointed that the band's one album minus Peter Wolf, You're Gettin' Even While I'm Gettin' Odd, and its terrific single, "Concealed Weapons," have seemingly been thrown into history's dust-heap.

But at 13 songs with a couple great semi-hits ("Angel In Blue" and "Come Back"), I'm OK with this album. The old-school gritty R'n'B that gave the band their start can still be had for 70's enthusiasts, but this best of still finds Wolf, J.Geils' guitar and magic Dick's harmonica a wicked blast from the past.

My Amazon Reviews: KC and The Sunshine Band "The Best Of"

KC and the Same Song Band, 3 Out of 5 Stars

Some of the finest radio moments of the 70's are to be found on this best of CD. Howie Casey and Richard Finch created a sunny dance sound that was unique to them, and parlayed that into several number one hits, dance floor smashes and a successful production career as KC and The Sunshine Band. Sparkling guitar and horn charts that blasted like shotguns (to the point of calling one song "Shotgun Shuffle") made their hits stand out among the more pedestrian radio insta-hit fare.

Problem is, they only had one idea. Take away the brilliant hits and the remaining tracks begin sliding into an utter, repetitive blandness. As the disco craze wound down, an attempt at keeping up, "Let's Go Rock and Roll," was almost laughably bad. Kind of like BTO, KC and The Sunshine band kept milking the same general turf until the only thing left was the oldies circuit and state fairs. Ah, but put on "Get Down Tonight" or "That's The Way I Like It" and you'll have no capability to avoid shaking your booty. With it's sped up guitar lick giving the song its spacey opening, "Get Down Tonight" became a number one single and a 70's classic.

Astonishingly enough, this CD contains five number one singles, starting with "Get Down Tonight" and including "That's The Way," "Shake Your Booty," Rob Zombie fave "I'm Your Boogie Man" and the ballad "Please Don't Go." Oddly enough, there's a pair of missing hits in the duet "Yes I'm Ready" and an interesting discofied version of The Four Tops' "Same Old Song." Given the weakness of some of the "bonus" tracks, a substitution would have worked to this CD's favor. If your closet still smells of 12-inch vinyl and polyester, that won't matter to you..."The Best Of KC and The Sunshine" band will make you want to put on those Boogie Shoes.

Glammy Album Covers Through the Ages.

Adam Lambert has been the topic of much discussion about his album cover for the forthcoming "For Your Entertainment."
I have the feeling that most of the youngsters creeped out are of such a tender age as to not remember such seventies covers as these:

Daryl Hall & John Oates, 1976

David Bowie, 1975

Montrose (featuring Sammy Hagar!), 1973

Mr Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo himself, Rick Derringer, 1975

Lambert's cover immediately drew mixed reactions from fans, but Lambert spoke up in defense of the heavily airbrushed image."Thank you to those who appreciate and understand that the album cover is deliberately campy," Lambert wrote. "It's an homage to the past. It IS ridiculous. For those that don't get it: oh well...Glad to have gotten your attention," added Lambert. "Androgyny.... is Rock n Roll."