HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 136a – JAMES BROWN

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            Today, we start our coverage on one of the most seminal, influential artists of the 20^th century, Mr. Jaaaaaaaaaames Brown! Considering his eventual impact on music and culture, it is amazing to learn how humbles his beginnings were, and how unappreciated he was by the very person who had the job of promoting his music. To overcome such adversity, James Brown really had to be the hardest working man in show business.

            This show covers his earliest work, before he was a household name. It covers the period from his first single release in 1956 until his steady stream of hits in 1961 and 1962. Songs featured include;

1)    Why Do You Do Me?

2)    Please Please Please

3)    Tell Me What I Did Wrong

4)     Try Me

5)    Bewildered

6)    Good Good Lovin’

7)    I’ll Go Crazy

8)    (Do the) Mashed Potatoes, Pt. 1

9)    Shout and Shimmy

10) Think

11)  Baby You’re Right

12)  Night Train

March 1978 – Music at a Crossroads, or Stuck in a Dead End?

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            In the early part of 1978, music fans were confronted with circumstances that forced them to question their own taste in music. Do you really like the music you are listening to, or does it feel stale? Do you feel the need to try something different, or are you satisfied with the way things are? Before 1978, most people latched onto one of the rock and roll ‘branches’. Some latched onto the ‘Led Zeppelin branch’, which included bands like Queen and the other ‘progressive’ acts. Others latched onto the southern rock circuit, which included the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd and country rockers like the Eagles. In between these two ‘extremes’ were blues-based acts like Eric Clapton, and the singer-songwriters like Jackson Browne. This combination of artists provided virtually all of the fodder for FM radio in 1978. Most rock fans professed hatred for disco, but that supposedly despised style continued to spread like a virus, infecting the other styles of music until it became difficult to tell whether a band was selling out, or simply changing with the times.

The punk rebellion had little direct impact in America, but the after effects lingered, and it began to creep into the mainstream. Of the above-mentioned styles, virtually none of them retained a direct correlation with real rock and roll at its rebellious, energetic best. They had grown bloated and self-important. The new punk bands and their descendents sounded drastically different from everything else. To some, it was stupid, brash crap without any artistic merit. To others, it was a fresh start. Either way, it caused us to question the fundamental elements of our selected taste in styles. Did rock and roll music have a future? In March of 1978, every fan of rock and roll was silently asking themselves some form of this question.

Today’s show features a select list of albums, all released in March 1978, that represent the various elements of this stylistic battle. Here’s a list of tracks from today’s show;

1)    Fat Man in the Bathtub – Little Feat (“Waiting for Columbus”)

2)    London Town – Paul McCartney (“London Town”)

3)    Nutted By Reality – Nick Lowe (“Pure Pop for Now People”)

4)    I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass – Nick Lowe (“      “)

5)    Take Me I’m Yours – U.K. Squeeze

6)    Fast Cars – The Buzzcocks

7)    Sixteen – The Buzzcocks

8)    Kaya – Bob Marley & the Wailers (“Kaya”)

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 11 – SERIOUS MUSIC IN AMERICA

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Today’s show covers the development of ‘serious’ music, focusing mostly on its implementation in America, and it’s a bit more complicated than many of our shows. Perhaps that is because we try to cram a LOT of information into one short hour.  Most serious music pieces are long (by definition), which only adds to the difficulty of covering a time period of approximately fifty years in approximately fifty minutes! Nevertheless, we hope that we can at least convey some sense of development, while perhaps ‘turning on’ our audience to composers they may have otherwise overlooked.

Here’s a list of musical pieces covered in today’s program;

1)    To a Wild Rose – Edward McDowell

2)    New England Holidays – The 4^th of July – Charles Ives

3)    Firebird Suite (excerpt) – Igor Stravinsky

4)    Le Sacre du Printemps Part 1 (excerpt) – Igor Stravinsky

5)    Le Sacre du Printemps Part 2 (excerpt) – Igor  Stravinsky

6)    Hoe-Down – Aaron Copland

7)    Fanfare for the Common Man – Aaron Copland

8)     Appalachian Spring (excerpt) – Aaron Copland

MARCH 1968 – A GLORIOUS YEAR FOR POPULAR MUSIC, PART 1

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By 1968, even most fans of serious (‘Classical’) music could no longer ignore pop music. Some critics even began to concede that the most important music being made happened to be on the pop charts. Well, today’s show may partially convey some of that story, but what most fascinates me is the sheer variety of music. If music is like a stew, then 1968 was a bouillabaisse. A stunning variety of songs and artists littered the charts, so we are going to dedicate our next two programs to a few songs semi-randomly plucked from the Hot 100 list of the first week of March 1968.

Here is our first sampling of songs;

1)    Foggy Mountain Breakdown- Flatt and Scruggs

2)    Tin Soldier – The Small Faces

3)    Jennifer Eccles – The Hollies

4)    Sit With the Guru – Strawberry Alarm Clock

5)    I Got the Feelin’ – James Brown

6)    Jennifer Juniper – Donovan

7)    The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly – Hugo Montenegro

8)    Summertime Blues – Blue Cheer

9)    Tapioca Tundra – The Monkees

10)  Love Is All Around – The Troggs

11)  Green Light – American Breed

12)  A Question of Temperature – The Balloon Farm

HOW MUSIC CHANGED – HONORABLE MENTION – THE PRE-ROCK N' ROLL ERA;

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PEREZ PRADO

PATTI PAGE

JULIE LONDON

TENNESSEE ERNIE FORD

SMILEY LEWIS

THE EL DORADOS

JOHNNY ACE

As you probably know by now, our Friday show is dedicated to the “How Music Changed” series, where we discuss one out of 250 specific artists from the past century who had a profound impact on the development of music. From time to time, we also discuss a few ‘honorable mention’ artists who don’t quite make our list of 250, but who deserve mention all the same. Today, we decided to compile a few artists from the pre-rock and roll era who managed to impact music – each in their own way, and often in ways that they never could have imagined.

            Preparing this show was great fun, and I hope it shows. Here’s a list of material covered in today’s program;

1)    Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White – Perez Prado

2)    Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White – The Fabulous Thunderbirds

3)    How Much Is That Doggy in the Window – Patti Page

4)    Tennessee Waltz – Patti Page

5)    Tennessee Waltz – Otis Redding

6)    Vaya Con Dios – Patti Page

7)    You Belong to Me – Patti Page

8)    Cry Me a River – Julie London

9)    Cry Me a River – Joe Cocker

10)  Sixteen Tons – Tennessee Ernie Ford

11)  Sixteen Tons – Johnny Cash

12)  I Hear You Knocking – Smiley Lewis

13)  I Hear You Knocking – Gale Storm

14)  I Hear You Knocking – Dave Edmunds

15)  At My Front Door – El Dorados

16)  At My Front Door – Pat Boone

17)  At My Front Door – Nilsson

18)  Pledging My Love – Johnny Ace

19)  Pledging My Love – Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross

20)  The Clock – Johnny Ace

21)  The Late Great Johnny Ace – Paul Simon

A Few Bright Spots from March 1958

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For today’s show, we thought we’d do something slightly different from our usual format of reviewing debut hits and the top 10 singles by reviewing a few highlights from the Billboard “Top 100 Sides” from the first week of March 1958. What makes this different is that it puts emphasis on the variety of good material that was available, rather than emphasizing the most popular songs. We also focus on Buddy Holly’s debut album (the only album issued during his lifetime), which debuted 50 years ago this month.

Here’s a list of songs featured in today’s program;

1)    Don’t You Just Know It –Huey Piano Smith & the Clowns

2)    Swingin’ Daddy – Buddy Knox

3)    Bertha Lou – Clint Miller

4)    Maybe Baby – The Crickets

5)    The Story of My Life – Marty Robbins

6)    You Can Make It If You Try -  Gene Allison

7)    So Tough – The Casuals

8)    Tequila – The Champs

9)    Who’s Sorry Now – Connie Francis

10) Sail Along Silvery Moon – Billy Vaughn

11) The Stroll - The Diamonds

12) Get a Job – The Silhouettes

13) I’m Gonna Love You Too – Buddy Holly

14) Everyday – Buddy Holly

15)  Words of Love – Buddy Holly