April may begin with jokes and pranks, but behind the fool festival is a quite extensive soundtrack of “foolish” music, such as the song title in this sentence. Our collection of jovial jams covers all types of foolhardy formats: songs, bands, albums, lyrics, and maybe a movie or two. Some musical April Fool’s day history: 1966 – Pye Records released the first solo single from […]
Go All The Way: Confessions Of A Power Pop Addict
“Go All The Way” was my gateway song. It made me abandon my hard-rock roots, risk everything for a life on the streets in pursuit of the ultimate power pop high. My world was forever altered, with long, sleepless nights and sporadic, meaningless minutes with every one-hit wonder that came along. And it’s not like I hadn’t heard that damn Eric Carmen song before. I […]
Eclipsing Music: Our Burn-Your-Eyes-Out Playlist
Word on the street is that everybody will be staring at the sky Monday, billions of eyes gazing at the heavens. We anticipate that there will be all kinds of theme parties, barbeques and dances and so on. Everybody will take the day off. The highways will be jam packed over the weekend as people pack up and make their way to one of the […]
Backtracks: Journey – Infinity
In late 1977 Journey got a lucky break when they found Steve Perry and added him to the band lineup as their new lead vocalist. Around that time Roy Thomas Baker was putting the finishing touches on The Cars debut album, and we know how that turned out. Journey manager Herbie Herbert put Thomas Baker under contract to produce the fourth Journey album, Infinity. The writing was […]
10 Album Covers Suitable For Framing
The Art of Rock and Roll We’ve titled this piece ‘10 Album Covers Suitable For Framing‘ because ‘10 Compact Disc Inserts Suitable For Framing‘ does very little to stimulate the imagination and has zero visual appeal. That’s due to the fact that record albums are collectible while compact discs are ‘stackable’. Does anyone put their CD collection out on display? Probably not. And if you choose to […]
The Day The Music Had A Heart Attack
Rumors about the health of Rock N. Roll were rampant and varied, and they traveled fast on the streets and in the homes of America. It was the early eighties, and the musical landscape was in the midst of major shifts and rifts. When you look at the record charts of November 30, 1982, the signals of the impending death of rock and roll are […]
Backtracks: The Alan Parsons Project – Eye in the Sky
The motivation for the sixth album from The Alan Parsons Project is related to belief systems, whether they be religious beliefs, political beliefs or belief in luck (as in gambling). Generally, the premise is linked to the universal idea that there is someone looking down on us all. The album title is the expression that is often used in military and surveillance contexts. That’s straight from […]
Backtracks: Dave Mason – Let It Flow
Dave Mason got to play in Traffic on his way to this album, a record that should have made him an absolute star. It didn’t quite happen, but lots of people think that it definitely should have. He took the long way to get to his shot at mainstream fame, spending years honing his skills and talents, learning from and playing with some of the finest […]
Backtracks: Bad Company – Bad Company
Bad Company Goes Public When he heard his first Beatles song, Paul Rodgers was a teenager playing for The Roadrunners, a local band in Middlesbrough, England. The band members at the time included Micky Moody (Whitesnake) and Bruce Thomas (Elvis Costello and The Attractions). They performed assorted cover songs at halls and clubs in the area. In 1967 they had played out the local music scene so […]
Planes, Trains, and Automobile Rock
During a lifetime of travel, you’ve likely discovered how music makes the journey less stressful. We’ve taken this concept and expounded on it, finding a gang of rock groups that have forms of travel in their names. Join us as we explore a handful of groups that know how to get us moving. Gerry Rafferty grew up in Scotland and learned both Irish and Scottish […]
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