Under the Covers

Today's post starts with a song composed by Rudy Clark, which was a minor hit for James Ray in 1962:

In 1962 a group of four youngsters from Liverpool, England were also starting their ascent up the charts.  One of them, George Harrison, was a fan of early American R&B and tried to no avail to get the group to record a cover of Ray's tune.

Some years later George Harrison got the opportunity himself and covered "I've Got my Mind Set on You" for his 1987 Album Cloud Nine.

Covers aren't only limited to rock and roll.  At a whopping fifteen-and-a-half minutes-plus, Herbie Hancock's Chameleon from his 1973 Head Hunters album was and still is full of fertile ground for nurturing that sincerest form of flattery; experimental electro-jazz at its finest.

Maynard Ferguson started with Stan Kenton and struck out on his own in 1957.  In 1974, Ferguson's cover of Chameleon solidified the tune's reputation as a modern jazz standard.

Otis Redding's tragic death at the age of 26 in an airplane crash left much of his work up to that point in some state of unfinish, or unreleased.  

One of Redding's songs released posthumously was "Hard to Handle," on the album "The Immortal Otis Redding:"

A cover of Hard to Handle was the breakthrough hit for brothers Chris and Rich Robinson and their band The Black Crowes, from their 1990 album Shake Your Moneymaker.

X Degrees of Separation

I'm sure that many of my readers are familiar with the "six degrees of separation" principle.   Today's theme on the blog is a musical exercise in finding fun and obscure connections between musical pieces.  It may or may not be six degrees, but it will be interesting.

Of the many musical projects that guitarist Eric Clapton participated in, one of the earlier ones was as the lead guitarist of the group Cream.

Cream was managed by Robert Stigwood.  Among the other acts that Stigwood managed were the Bee Gees, who also contributed heavily to a movie that Stigwood produced: Saturday Night Fever.

After the meteoric rise of the Bee Gees' popularity in the wake of disco fever, Barry Gibb warned his brothers that their fall would be just as sudden, and he was right.  Barry and his brothers spent the last year-and-a-half of the seventies and much of the first half of the eighties maintaining a low profile, writing and producing music for various other acts, such as this duet by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton:
  

Dolly Parton started her musical career in 1967 with her mentor, songwriting, and performance partner Porter Wagoner after being invited to replace Norma Jean Beasler on Wagoner's syndicated television show.

Parton made the choice to strike out on her own in 1973 and wrote "I Will Always Love You" about her enduring respect and affection for Wagoner.  Although Patti Labelle was given several opportunities to cover the tune after its 1974 release, it was not covered until Whitney Houston recorded a version of it for inclusion on the soundtrack of "The Bodyguard."

Where Have I Heard That Before? (KPM)

Today's theme is stock music.  You probably recognize the following tunes, but they weren't written for the purposes for which they became famous.

One of the more prolific producers of stock music over the years has been British production house KPM.  And one of KPM's most well known pieces is "Heavy Action," by Johnny Pearson.  In the UK, it is widely recognized as the theme to the TV show "Superstars," and it is heavily identified in America with Monday Night Football dating back to its origins on ABC in the early 70's.

KPM was also responsible for stock music used in the children's show Sesame Street, most notably the Crayons segment which shows how crayons are made at a Binney & Smith factory.

The Crayons segment actually consisted of two distinct pieces, both penned by KPM composer Richard Harvey for the stock music album "Nifty Digits."  The segment opened and closed with a tune called "Water Course (A)."

And the portion of the segment in the crayon factory contained the song "Exchange."

Metamusic

Today's theme is music about music -- metamusic:

The British group Dire Straits was founded by brothers Mark and David Knopfler, John Illsey, and Pick Withers.  Their fifth album, Brothers in Arms, charted at number one worldwide and gave rise to the single Money for Nothing which proved to be the group's most successful single.

Mark Knopfler described the composition of Money for Nothing as stemming from a visit to an appliance store in New York City where a wall of TVs was tuned to MTV.  He wrote down some of the words that one of the workers there was uttering and later set them to music.

Sting also had a presence on the track in the backing vocals.  His "I want my MTV" line at the beginning and end of the tune led to a co-composing credit with Mark Knopfler.

Haters be hatin', right Chad Kroeger?

Joe Walsh enjoyed stardom with the James Gang before he went on to The Eagles.  The autobiographical tune "Life's Been Good" takes a rather cynical look at rock stardom, though Walsh has stated on numerous occasions that most of the lyrics are true rather than satirical.

The Second British Invasion

In 1983, aided by the rise in popularity of MTV, a new wave of synth-driven pop music crossed the pond from Britain in what came to be known as the second British invasion.

Duran Duran went through several changes in lineup before hitting their stride in 1982 with keyboardist Nick Rhodes, bass guitarist John Taylor, drummer Roger Taylor, guitarist Andy Taylor, and vocalist Simon Le Bon.  Their second album Rio was released in 1982 and the single Hungry Like the Wolf peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts in America in March 1983.

Culture Club was also at the vanguard of British new wave.  The single Karma Chameleon spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard charts in early 1984 and enjoyed heavy rotation on MTV.  

The importance of MTV to the dynamics of the Second British Invasion can not really be overstated.  By the turn of the decade from 1979-1980, Brits were already accustomed to music as a visual artform.  Shows like Ready Steady Go! and Top of the Pops arguably paved the way for American ingenuity to give rise to the all-music-all-the-time Rock format of Music Television.

MTV itself launched at 12:01 AM Eastern Time in a single small cable group in New Jersey.  Its effect was felt instantly in places where it aired since record stores in the area started selling music that local radio stations weren't playing, including many British acts.

The very first two minutes of MTV, including vanity footage of the first launch of Space Shuttle Columbia and the Apollo 11 mission:

With MTV fueling the Second British Invasion in America, it was only a matter of time before the music video became directly responsible for a song's success.  And that distinction is held by I Ran (So Far Away) by British new wave group A Flock of Seagulls which peaked at #9 on the US Billboard charts.

Funky & Chunky

Today's theme is funk.

Frankie Smith's 1981 single "Double Dutch Bus:"

No discussion of funk would be complete without a discussion of brothers Ronald and Robert "Kool" Bell.  Yes, it's that Kool.  And here he is with his gang, fronted by J.T. Taylor:

In America, funk is seen as an Afro-American phenomenon.  While that's fair, it's not always the case.  One of the world's most recognizable instrumental pieces is from a Scottish group which is still performing 46 years after their founding.  Here's the Average White Band with Pick up the Pieces:

Monday Bluesday

Blues is a musical form originating in the United States' deep south region, following from roots and spiritual music.  The form can now be found throughout jazz, rhythm & blues, and rock & roll traditions.

Stevie Ray Vaughan was among the more influential blues musicians during the blues revival of the 1980's.  His tragic death in a 1990 helicopter crash all but assured his immortality and his music is extensively played on classic rock stations to this day.

Though blues had its roots in America, its influence has been felt worldwide.  British supergroup Led Zeppelin found a great deal of influence in American blues and rock.  Nowhere is that more evident than in their 1972 single "Rock and Roll" from the album Led Zeppelin IV.

Jamestown Revival was founded in 2011 by childhood friends Zach Chance and John Clay as a southern rock project with a particular emphasis on the friends' two-part harmonies.  With a minimalistic approach to recording, they brought the 12-bar blues form back to its roots with the album "The Education of a Wandering Man" in 2016, including the single "Company Man."

Old Love Songs

"Baby Come to Me" was written by Rod Temperton, formerly of the band Heatwave. Amongst other well-known tunes, he wrote several hits for Michael Jackson from the albums Thriller and Off the Wall.  Unfortunately, Temperton died in 2016 at the age of 66 after a brief-but-agressive bout with cancer.

Best known as the theme song from the sitcom "Family Ties," "(Without) Us" was written for the show by composers Jeff Barry and Tom Scott.  Though originally performed in 1982 by session singers Dennis Tufano and Mindy Sterling, from the second season on the show used a modified arrangement sung by Johnny Mathis and Deneice Williams.  Fans of the1984 movie "Footloose," which starred Kevin Bacon, may remember Deniece Williams' song "Let's Hear it for the Boy" from that soundtrack.

"I Want to Know What Love Is" was the first single released from Foreigner's 1984 album "Agent Provocateur."  It features backing vocals from the New Jersey Mass Choir affiliated with the Gospel Music Workshop of America and keyboard work from Tom Bailey of The Thompson Twins.