It’s my birthday today, so I thought for this post I’d pick a singer also having a birthday today:
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who, with “Giving It All Away”, from his first solo album “Daltrey” in 1973.
I’ll feature supergroup The Who separately, this one’s just for Roger…
And here it is, first the studio version of “Giving It All Away”:
And this is a video of Roger Daltrey singing “Giving It All Away” in 1973:
Happy Birthday Roger!
Paul
Lou Reed (of the Velvet Underground) was and still is a bit different, and “Take A Walk On The Wild Side” is no exception.
Kinda weird, but sticks in your mind…. doop, de doop, de doop, de doop de doop, doop, de doop, de doop, de doop de doop, doooooop… :-).
He did come to New Zealand in the Seventies, as far as I can remember I didn’t go.
If I recall rightly, there may have been some controversy, as in he didn’t play!
Anyway, this is the original, and many say the best, version of “Take A Walk On The Wild Side”:
Another song from Lou Reed I quite like, despite the title, is “Vicious”:
And here’s some live Lou Reed, “Sweet Jane” live in Paris in 1974 (I don’t actually know this, but it sounds cool; just read it was a Velvet Underground song):
I just had a look in my record collection, and I actually have a Lou Reed album, “The Bells”, but it’s from 1979 and none of these songs are on it as they all came out in the early Seventies.
Just read that it’s Lou Reed’s birthday in two days time, the day after mine, and the same day as a friend in Berlin.
By coincidence, one of his albums was titled… “Berlin”.
One of my favourite cities, in fact I nearly moved there in 1983.
Come to think of it, why don’t I just include “Berlin” here as well…
Auf Wiedersehen…
Paul
In the Seventies I used to listen to Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band quite a lot, songs such as “Still The Same” come to mind, “Night Moves”, “Main Street”, “Against The Wind”, “We’ve Got Tonight” or “Old Time Rock And Roll”.
Heartland rocker Bob Seger – born in Detroit, Michigan – combines raunchy rock music with soulful ballads, and presents them with a distinctive raspy voice.
Although in the music business a long time before, he really came into his own from about 1976 onwards.
Here’s the “Still The Same” studio version:
“Still The Same” live in San Diego:
“Night Moves”:
“Main Street” live:
“Against The Wind”:
“We’ve Got Tonight”:
Here’s one I didn’t even realise was a Bob Seger song, “Turn The Page”:
I found this really quiet compared to the versions of the song I’m familiar with, very melancholic in fact.
And now finally, a live version of Bob Seger’s signature song “Old Time Rock And Roll” (the video quality’s not great, but the music is):
Keep on rocking…
Paul
In the late Seventies Jackson Browne wrote a song about being a rock musician on tour called “The Load Out”, which morphed into “Stay”, and featured David Lindley on slide guitar/lap steel guitar (and a falsetto voice on the chorus).
I don’t really remember “The Load Out” part too much, but “Stay” (Oh won’t you stay Just a little bit longer Oh, Please please stay Just a little bit more…) has stuck in my mind all these years.
In 1978 Jackson Browne and David Lindley, together with supporting artists, played “The Load Out” and “Stay” live in England at the BBC Television Centre in the Shepherds Bush Theatre in London:
Another track by Jackson Browne I really like, but either didn’t know or had forgotten it was by him, is “Running On Empty”:
For some reason I connected that song with Bruce Springsteen, and now I see why: the two are friends and have often sung the song together, as here:
Jackson Browne co-wrote “Take It Easy” with Eagles member and neighbour Glenn Frey, which was a hit for that group. Here is his version:
Like so many others, when the Seventies ended, Jackson Browne went on to produce more great music, such as “Tender Is The Night” in 1983, here in a live version from 1986 on German television’s Rockpalast (looks a bit like a long haired Tom Cruise 🙂 ):
Night night, sleep tight…
Paul
Michael Martin Murphey is another one of those names that would have meant nothing to me if you had asked me about him – until just now when I came across the 1975 hit “Wildfire”. Then I knew who he was.
I used to love that song.
“Wildfire” is about a horse, as the video here underlines, actually about a ghost horse and the ghost of a woman who rode it:
And here is “Wildfire” live, with an explanation from Michael Martin Murphey of how the song came about:
We once had a horse called “Wildflower”, so there is an added affinity there. 🙂
If you like horses, western music or just beautiful melodious songs with a story, you’ll probably like this one.
I’ve just learned a little more about Michael Martin Murphey, including that he wrote songs for The Monkees (for his friend Michael Nesmith), Kenny Rogers, Bobby Gentry and John Denver, and that he has become a champion of the nature of the American West.
If you’d like to learn more too, you can do that here: Michael Martin Murphey.
Time to saddle up…
Paul