Brad Delp

I haven't updated this blog in quite a while, but feel the need to do so now. I am pretty bummed over the suicide of Brad Delp. Those first two Boston albums were in heavy rotation on my turntable when I was in high school. The main attraction for me was the great vocals of Brad Delp.

The third album was good as well, though didn't match the first two in my mind. Brad did a lot of things over the years, including singing with the band RTZ and singing on Barry Goudreau's solo album (which when you couple Barry's guitar with Brad's vocals and the drumming of Boston's Sib Hashian, made parts of it sound a lot like Boston).

Clip #1 is poor quality, but it is "Dreams" from that Barry Goudreau album. If you have never heard it, and love Boston, you will really dig it.

Clip #2 is a live take of "Let Me Take You Home Tonight" from 2004.

Clip #3 features the original lineup of Boston...the promo for "More Than A Feeling".

Rest In Peace, Brad.

John Entwistle

Why not another solo Who clip? John Entwistle was probably the most active solo Who member in the 1970's. With The Who, Townshend wrote the bulk of the songs, and Daltrey sang. John Entwistle did both, but not as much as he might have liked with The Who. This first clip is a solo rendition of "My Wife" from Entwistle's album "Riger Mortis Sets In".

The second clip is from the same performance. The song is "Peg Leg Peggy".

Clip three is a 1975 Who performance of "Boris the Spider".

RIP Ox.

Roger Daltrey

A clip from my favorite Daltrey solo album, "One of the Boys". The song is called "Say It Ain't So". Roger is obviously lip syncing here, but check out the 'back up band'....Keith Moon on drums, John Enwistle on bass and Jimmy McCulloch (of Wings!) on guitar!

At one time, the guys in The Who were actually worried that Rog would leave the band for a solo career. His 1970's solo albums are very good, but he has always been at his best singing Pete Townshend songs.

The Who

I love this video. It features my favorite song from "Quadrophenia", "Bell Boy" featuring a great vocal from Keith Moon! I love the line "spend my day licking boots for my perks"...I feel that way a lot of days. I love the way that Roger just hands him the mic...and when he's done he hands it back!

Clip number two is The Who on "Beat Club" in 1969 doing "Tommy's Holiday Camp" (with Keith on lead), "We're Not Gonna Take It / See Me Feel Me". They are miming but still, it's a cool clip.

The Small Faces

While I was looking through the videos that make up my last two posts on The Faces and Ronnie Lane, I stumbled across these two videos. Steve Marriott had left The Small Faces in 1969 to form Humble Pie with Peter Frampton. The remaining Small Faces carried on with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood first as The Small Faces...then just The Faces.

Well, after The Faces and Humble Pie both went belly up circa 1975-1976, The Small Faces reunited for two albums. However, Ronnie Lane left early in the recording of the first reunion album (co-writing one song), replaced by Rick Wills (formerly of Frampton's Camel).

Apparently what sparked the reunion was the boys getting together to mime to a couple of old Small Faces hits...and that's what you have here. A mid-70's Small Faces with lane) miming to "Lazy Sunday" and "Itchycoo Park".

For good measure, I'm throwing up a promo clip of "All or Nothing". Check out that hair...now you know where Paul Weller got his Jam era hairstyle!

Ronnie Lane

A couple clips of Ronnie post-Faces, singing Faces songs.

Clip one is "Debris", a song Ronnie wrote and sang that was found on the "A Nod is As Good As a Wink" album.

Clip two is Ronnie singing "Ooh La La". This song was written by Ronnie with Ronnie Wood. Wood sings The Faces version.

For good measure....clip three is one I think I may posted before! It is The Small Faces on "Colour Me Pop". Ronnie sings the first song, "Song of a Baker".

The Faces

VH1 Classic has recently been running a show called "BBC Family Jewels" that features many live shows played on the BBC in the 1970's. My fav by far is the live show from The Faces. I love that band. The show reminds me of how good Rod Stewart once was...the whole band is great. Ronnie Wood's guitar prowess and songwriting ability, so poorly utilized with The Rolling Stones really shines here. And let's not forget the remaining members of The Small Faces....Ronnie Lane, Ian MacLagen and Kenney Jones...a great trio. Kenney Jones was ripped to shreds when he replaced Keith Moon in The Who...but who could really replace Moon? Kenney was great with both The Small Faces and The Faces.

For me, some of the best things The Faces did came from Ronnie Lane. I used to be upset with Rod as Lane had said he co-wrote "Mandolin Wind" but got no credit...but later read that when Ronnie was so sick with ALS at the end of his life, Rod took care of his bills....a classy move.

Clip one is from the 1971 BBC show..."Stay With Me".

Clip two is from 1974. Ronnie Lane had already left the band by this time. Joining the band is Keith Richards. The song is "I'd Rather Go Blind".

Clip three is from the same show as clip one. The Faces do a fantastic version of Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed", which features some lead vocals from Ronnie Lane. Ronnie had a charming stage presence, and was a great writer and bassist.

The Ronettes

I think Phil Spector's best records were the ones he recorded with The Ronettes. Ronnie Spector had (or has) a very unique voice. "Be My Baby" is supposedly Brian Wilson's favorite song.

Clip number one is "Be My Baby".

Clip two is "Born to Be Together".

Clip three is from 2000. Ronnie sings "I Can Hear Music" with backup from Brian Wilson.

Golden Earring

This band is best known in the US for two big hits, "Radar Love" and "Twilight Zone". Both are songs that I really like. However, this group has been big in Europe since the mid-1960's when they were known as The Golden Earrings.

Clip number one is "Radar Love".

Clip number two, from 1966, is "Daddy Buy Me a Girl".

Paul McCartney

I can hardly wait for the next Macca solo pop album. He certainly has a lot of heartache to draw on this time. It seems like whenever Paul is having a bad time, he spits out a great album. The Beatles are breaking up? "Abbey Road". 2/5 of Wings quits just as they are to leave for Africa to record? "Band on The Run". His old pal John is killed? "Tug of War".

I was expecting something great after Linda died, but by the time he put out an album of original tunes, he had already remarried. I guess it would be bad form to pine away for your dead wife when you have a new wife. Anyway, now is the time to let it all out Paul! His last album, "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" was great. His new producer, Nigel Godrich, seems to be able to get great stuff out of him. Hopefully Nigel will be back. I think it's his best album since "Venus and Mars" in 1975.

Clip one is from "Chaos", a promo for the single "Fine Line".

Clip two, also from "Chaos" is the very beautiful "Jenny Wren".

Clip three is an interesting Wings in-studio performance of "Maybe I'm Amazed" circa 1974. This was recorded by a short lived version of the band that recorded "Junior's Farm" and included Paul, Linda, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch and Geoff Britton. Britton would leave shortly to be replaced by Joe English. This version would remain together until 1977-1978 when Jimmy and Joe would leave during the recording of "London Town".

Larry Williams

"Larry Williams?" some might say...but Larry is amongst the few to have songs covered by both The Beatles (including solo recordings from both Lennon and McCartney) and The Rolling Stones as he wrote and recorded "Dizzy Miss Lizzie", "Bad Boy", "Slow Down" and "She Said Yeah" among other great songs. I have Larry's version of "She Said Yeah" on a 45, and it cuts both the Stones and Paul McCartney's fine versions to shreds!

Clip one is Larry performing "Short Fat Fannie".

Clip two is The Beatles performing "Dizzy Miss Lizzie".

Clip three is The Rolling Stones doing "She said Yeah" in 1965. Notice an animated Bill Wyman at a time when he still sang backing vocals.

The Beau Brummels

San Francisco's answer to The Beatles! These guys came out of the box with two great singles, performances clips of which you will find below. They didn't have much success after that, though I do remember them appearing on Bandstand in the mid-1970's after releasing a reunion album.

Once upon a time I was on AOL, and lead singer Sal Valention was known to converse with fans on the Beau Brummels message board. he seemed like a nice guy.

Clip one is "Just a Little". Clip two is "Laugh Laugh"

Simon and Garfunkel

I'll admit it, I prefer Garfunkel to Simon (I have way more Garfunkel solo albums than I do Simon solos), but mostly I love to hear Artie sing Paul Simon's songs. Harry Nilsson once did a record called "Nilsson Sings Newman"...an album of nothing but Randy Newman songs. My fervent wish is for an album called "Garfunkel Sings Simon", where Artie covers some of Paul's post-S&G tunes. Before you scoff, remember the beautiful job Art did sing "American Tune". That song was perfect for him.

Clip number one appears to be from 1968 or 1969. Paul plays the guitar while Art sings "For Emily Wherever I May Find Her". I waited to post anything by S&G until a pre-1971 clip of "For Emily" appeared...and it is here!

Clip two is a nice live performance of "Overs".

Clip three is a video for the 1975 reunion single "My Little Town". They look so uncomfortable together that it makes my cringe!

One more...Artie appears on a Paul Simon TV special and they sing "Old Friends". A lovely performance. They actually look they like each other!

Badfinger

Badfinger is one of my top five favorites (the others being The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Byrds and Raspberries). The story of Badfinger is probably the saddest in Rock history. The short version is that a manager screwed them and cheated them out of the money and royalties they had earned. This crime lead to the suicides of both Pete Ham and Tom Evans.

Ironically, Ham and Evans wrote the classic ballad "Without You". Now, writing one song like that should set you up for life. You may not live like a king, but you can live comfortably. I once read a story on MOJO about The Village People. The original lead singer of the song "YMCA" was one of three co-writers of that song. Thanks to that one song, he made about $50,000 a year in royalties...$50,000.00!

Tom and Pete would have probably made more, given the number of cover versions this song generated (including massive hit versions by Nilsson and Mariah Carey). It really is a crime.

To read about this tragic story, you have to get get "The Tragic Story of Badfinger" by Dan Matovina. Even if you are not a fan, it will break your heart.

The moral story for young bands- hire a competent attorney before signing any contracts.

Clip number one is low quality, but it is Badfinger lip syncing to "Without You".

Clip number two is a live performance of "No Matter What" on British TV from 1972. This was an amazing band.

Drummer Mike Gibbins died last year. Only Joey Molland survives from the classic version of the band (unless you count Ron Griffiths of the Iveys, who did record their first single as Badfinger, "Come and Get It").

RIP Pete, Tommy and Mike.