would love to see the “step back” series reupped. all the 80’s ones seem dead, and step back to 1979 seems gone too. You do amazing work putting these lists and series together. thank you for all your hard work and dedication :)
It’s been years since I checked out a music blog. Your site has convinced me to become a regular reader again. I’ll be back! Thanks for all the hard work – you clearly love what you do here.
I don’t know if you take requests, and I do hope this isn’t insulting (it’s clear from how many amazing compilations you’re created that you don’t require suggestions), but I went back a few years and couldn’t find any collections with the theme “rain.” Am I just missing it/them? If not…well, I just moved from SoCal to the Pacific Northwest and I could surely use a Major Dude rain compilation to help me out with the weather shock…
@halfhearteddude
Well, this cold and rainy day just got a bit brighter! Take your time, obviously—I’m sure it’ll be more than worth the wait. Thanks, friend!
I really like your site and am an especially big fan of your monthly In Memoriam tributes. You are very thorough and I appreciate that. I have just started a new blog and am not sure of the etiquette but, I would like to include you in my blogroll and occasionally direct folks to check you out. Is that OK? My Site is called InfiniteJones,com , take a look if you want.
Thanks.
Time for a pandemic playlist? Obvious ones include
• The Police – Don’t Stand so close to me
• REM- It’s the end of the world
• Peggy Lee – Fever
• Britney Spears – Toxic
• Tommy Roe – Dizzy
• Blue Oyster Cult – Don’t Fear the Reaper
• Killing Joke – I am the virus
• Joy Division – Isolation
• Bob Dylan – Knocking on Heavens Door
• Beatles ( Get by) With a little help from my friends
Hey dude! Just a fan here wanting to say thank you so much for continuing to curate this blog. I absolutely adore the playlists you make. Always excited to check back and see new posts. Keep it up! <3
Hi,
all your post are done with such a fantastic accuracy so I hate to ask for a correction. The name of the late Three Dog Night producer is Richard Podolor, not Polodor.
All the best,
robb
Dude what a great site. its true you are an amazing dude but with a big heart.
I have been following/enjoying for many years now and you never fail to deliver an interesting group of songs. Thanks very much for going to the trouble of using your time and skills to do this. Most appreciated. I’ve spent many a time, headphones cranked up, listening to you music collection in its fantastic breadth and depth!
may it continue for years to come.
Hi,
Dave Rudolf here. Just inquiring to see if you would be so kind as to listen to my newest album (my 41st) “Sit Down, Take a Number” and perhaps give it a review. It would be greatly appreciated. Should you want or need any additional CDs please let me know, I’d be glad to provide them. I’d be happy to send physical cds as well.
Thanks
Dave Rudolf
8 Brookside Rd.
Park Forest, IL 60466
Cell 708-528-6447 http://www.daverudolf.com http://www.daverudolf1.com daverudolf50@gmail.com
Bio
Dave Rudolf is a long time performer and a multi award winning singer/songwriter who just released his 41st Album …He’s a Gold Record, Grammy nominated artist, 15 time nominee for Entertainer of the Year awards from NACA( The National Association for Campus Activities), has 41 albums many of which have won various awards. He is an award winning childrens’ author, wrote for Disney, did a TV pilot for the All New Captain Kangaroo several years back, written for Second City, and lots more stuff we won’t bore you with…Dave is currently touring in support of his new CD.. He’s shared the stage with The Beach Boys, The Everly Brothers, The Mamma and Pappas, Steve Goodman, John Hartford, The Smother Brothers, Michael Smith, Megon McDonough, The Gatlin Brothers, Sha Na Na, and weirdly back in the day, Cheech and Chong to name a few…His latest CD are getting national airplay on various radio stations throughout the country.
Here’s an IN MEMORIAM listing for you. Gary”Chicken” Hirsh (Mar 9, 1940 – Aug 17, 2021) Country Joe & the Fish drummer he replaced John Francis Gunning, but left the band in 1969. later went to NY, before returning to Berkeley. He is said to be the one who altered the FISH cheer at a concert in Central Park.
Thank you! Not just for running a consistently thoughtful and diverse music blog. Not just for putting together insightful mixes. But also for your uncanny ability to retrieve songs from my pre-musical subconscious. You’ve included so many songs over the years, which I’ve heard when I was 8 or 9 or 10 and long since forgotten – and here they are again, opening a window to my childhood! Examples? Charlie Dore, “Pilot Of The Airwaves” is just the latest, but also Clout, “Save Me”; La Bionda, “One For You, One For Me”; Raffaella Carrà, “A Far L’Amore Comincia Tu”.
I have just about finished a long-standing project of mine, to upgrade the sound quality of your excellent Covered With Soul comps volumes 1-24
The original mp3s vary widely in bit rate with the majority being just 128k which is a bit harsh to listen to. Some are as low as 96k.
i have managed to find higher resolution copies of all the tracks. 95% are now 320k mp3 files, while the rest are at least 192k, except for one Sharon Cash track that stubbornly remains at 160k stereo, for which i am still hunting for a replacement.
i would be delighted to offer these back to you to upgrade the quality of these downloads for your fans. Let me know, and I will send you a link to all 24 folders
My fundraising album of original Christmas songs for the homeless charity Crisis brings together 108 of the coolest artists on planet pop. Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas, already hailed as ‘the best Indie Christmas album ever’, features Dodgy, St Lenox, Eddi Reader, The Lilac Time, The Popguns, Suzzy Roche, Pete Astor, The Long Winters, Sally Shapiro, The Green Pajamas, Shinyribs, Trembling Blue Stars & Helen Love. You can support the homeless by downloading the album here Music | Various Artists (bandcamp.com). Merry Christmas, everyone.
I have no idea how I came across your site only a few days ago but it is my best Christmas present so far. ( Albeit the only one but no matter!) If you are a one-man Operator, then your knowledge of “popular music” probably cannot be bettered by anybody in ” The business”!
Sincere congratulations and thanks. Le Trev. (A quite ancient lover of many musical genres for over………..many years.) P.S. Should you wish to email me for any reason, you are most welcome.
P.P.S. Are you English, based in England?
Thank you for the kind comments, Le Trev. I hope you’ll find a lot more things of interest that I ran over the years (and, yes, this is a one-man operation). I’m based in South Africa.
I assume this reply will reach ” The Man In Charge “. I appreciate you taking the time to respond to me. I later learned through the Blog your origin in Germany and the early 70’s songs that created your phenomenal knowledge of much popular music. My eclectic taste spreads from the 20’s probably to the end of the 70’s, of course finding good material at times since. Rock’N’Roll, R. & B., Blues, Soul, Doo-Wop. Standards, Sinatra & his ilk. Stand outs, Sam Cooke, Presley, Jerry Lee, Chuck Berry, Fats, Mildred Bailey, Dusty S. and so many more! I have seen all the named apart from Presley, Dusty & of course the great Mildred Bailey. Could, like most music nutters name loads more! I have around 12,000 CDs, 1400 books on music & “film”, some 1200 DVDs. If Ilive to around 350, who knows, they may all be “devoured”……Le Trev.
P.S. I am English but live in Melbourne, Australia & Toulon, South of France. My French wife, Veronique & I are currently working our R’s off to sell up here in Melbourne and move permanently, around the end of next April next year to Toulon. Any thoughts on the cheapest way to send all my CDs, a few hundred of the books & “some” DVDs would be greatly welcomed! Sorry to bore. P.P.S. Almost forgot! Sorry, Billy Fury…………..
Thank you for this wonderful site and the amount of work you must put into it. I have just discovered that somehow I missed getting the In Memorium folders for April, May, June and July 2020. I had just moved and that may be the reason. However I was wondering if they could be re-upped please
You may already know, but just in case. Australia lost one of its grea5test, if not the greatest female vocalist a couple of days ago – Renée Geyer.
Since then my FB pages have been filled with tributes and memories from those whoi knew her and who had played with her. If you need any information regarding Renée, please do ot hesistate to ask
What a great site! I’m a bit of a buff and can recognise the love and scholarship that has gone into this site.
Well done.
Could you pls re-up Any Major Soul 1960-63? Tks in advance!
It’s up now.
Tks a lot! Now I have your complete Soul-Collection (excluding Xmas things).
I love this site very much. Always great curation on the topic and obviously well informed.
Your efforts are appreciated.
Great stuff all around, I appreciate it!
Cool you re-up the Flute in pop series?
love your site, how about a tribute mix of all Allen Toussaint? would love to hear your take on that…thanks for the music adn the history
Oh, I’ve played with the thought. He will get four tribute tracks on the In Memoriam on Thursday.
would love to see the “step back” series reupped. all the 80’s ones seem dead, and step back to 1979 seems gone too. You do amazing work putting these lists and series together. thank you for all your hard work and dedication :)
The series has been supplanted by the Life in Vinyl series, which covers the same ground, though only as of 1977: http://www.halfhearteddude.com/category/a-life-in-vinyl/
It’s been years since I checked out a music blog. Your site has convinced me to become a regular reader again. I’ll be back! Thanks for all the hard work – you clearly love what you do here.
This Year marks the 40th Anniversary of Elvis’s passing. Any plan to review his music in your blog? Looking forward to it.
There’ll have to be something, that’s for sure.
It’s a source of information for us.
http://www.nobodysingsdylanlikedylan.com
I don’t know if you take requests, and I do hope this isn’t insulting (it’s clear from how many amazing compilations you’re created that you don’t require suggestions), but I went back a few years and couldn’t find any collections with the theme “rain.” Am I just missing it/them? If not…well, I just moved from SoCal to the Pacific Northwest and I could surely use a Major Dude rain compilation to help me out with the weather shock…
Oh, what an intriguing idea. I’ll explore it, though I can’t say how long it’ll take before it would run. I’ve done a winter compilation though.
@halfhearteddude
Well, this cold and rainy day just got a bit brighter! Take your time, obviously—I’m sure it’ll be more than worth the wait. Thanks, friend!
I am new to the site and I am really liking what I am seeing right now. I will keep looking at it more. Thanks for publishing it.
I really like your site and am an especially big fan of your monthly In Memoriam tributes. You are very thorough and I appreciate that. I have just started a new blog and am not sure of the etiquette but, I would like to include you in my blogroll and occasionally direct folks to check you out. Is that OK? My Site is called InfiniteJones,com , take a look if you want.
Thanks.
Sure we can do an exchange link. I’ve added your link in my list. Good luck with the blog.
Appreciate it. Thanks.
Until this AM I had never even HEARD of Mieko Hirota. Now, thanks to your Blog, I can see that she was the first artist to record Bobby Hebb’s ‘Sunny’. This is of special note to me, since I run a fan Blog for an artist who began her recording career in 1969, at the age of just seventeen, with a version of that – a version that I note in the relevant post (‘The Originals Vol. 39’, dated August 6th, 2010) is omitted – Valérie ÄŒižmárová. It is therefore trebly strange that I should have happened to have been looking into the career of an Italian singer who appeared in Bulgaria who was born in 1952 (Paola Battista) and in the process of that came across Mieko Hirota…who appeared alongside Salena Jones…with Valérie ÄŒižmárová’s birthday of 29th January! Maybe we could do a link exchange (for both ‘Bananas For Breakfast’ and ‘Girls Of The Golden East’). It increasingly occurs to me that we know just a tiny fraction of the world of Pop Music. Maybe my two Blogs will prove a useful source of information to ‘Any Major Dude With Half A Heart’ (love the memorable name!)…like yours has just done for mine!
Awesome stuff in your Site, I like Football & Music posts, I appreciate it!
Time for a pandemic playlist? Obvious ones include
• The Police – Don’t Stand so close to me
• REM- It’s the end of the world
• Peggy Lee – Fever
• Britney Spears – Toxic
• Tommy Roe – Dizzy
• Blue Oyster Cult – Don’t Fear the Reaper
• Killing Joke – I am the virus
• Joy Division – Isolation
• Bob Dylan – Knocking on Heavens Door
• Beatles ( Get by) With a little help from my friends
You’ve inspired something… Check back on Thursday!
Hey dude! Just a fan here wanting to say thank you so much for continuing to curate this blog. I absolutely adore the playlists you make. Always excited to check back and see new posts. Keep it up! <3
Thanks for the kind words. Keep checking back!
Great website. Visit often. I use your “In Memoriam” page to keep my own “Vitals” pages up-to-date. See it at: http://www.seasonsinyourmind.com/vitals/bd-index.html
Check it out. Lotsa info for bands 65-71.
Please do a Tom waits cover album
Hi,
all your post are done with such a fantastic accuracy so I hate to ask for a correction. The name of the late Three Dog Night producer is Richard Podolor, not Polodor.
All the best,
robb
Oops, thanks for the correction.
Dude what a great site. its true you are an amazing dude but with a big heart.
I have been following/enjoying for many years now and you never fail to deliver an interesting group of songs. Thanks very much for going to the trouble of using your time and skills to do this. Most appreciated. I’ve spent many a time, headphones cranked up, listening to you music collection in its fantastic breadth and depth!
may it continue for years to come.
Wow, thank you!
Hi,
Dave Rudolf here. Just inquiring to see if you would be so kind as to listen to my newest album (my 41st) “Sit Down, Take a Number” and perhaps give it a review. It would be greatly appreciated. Should you want or need any additional CDs please let me know, I’d be glad to provide them. I’d be happy to send physical cds as well.
Thanks
Dave Rudolf
8 Brookside Rd.
Park Forest, IL 60466
Cell 708-528-6447
http://www.daverudolf.com
http://www.daverudolf1.com
daverudolf50@gmail.com
Bio
Dave Rudolf is a long time performer and a multi award winning singer/songwriter who just released his 41st Album …He’s a Gold Record, Grammy nominated artist, 15 time nominee for Entertainer of the Year awards from NACA( The National Association for Campus Activities), has 41 albums many of which have won various awards. He is an award winning childrens’ author, wrote for Disney, did a TV pilot for the All New Captain Kangaroo several years back, written for Second City, and lots more stuff we won’t bore you with…Dave is currently touring in support of his new CD.. He’s shared the stage with The Beach Boys, The Everly Brothers, The Mamma and Pappas, Steve Goodman, John Hartford, The Smother Brothers, Michael Smith, Megon McDonough, The Gatlin Brothers, Sha Na Na, and weirdly back in the day, Cheech and Chong to name a few…His latest CD are getting national airplay on various radio stations throughout the country.
YouTube link to Dave Rudolf “Sit Down Take a Number” album
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lahpit_PE4agOnBtPSWZrgQgMg9ulF0yY
An article in Illinois Rock and Roll Archives about my career
https://www.facebook.com/groups/illinoisrockandrollmusicarchives/permalink/1404871733298544/
Dave Rudolf Albums YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWU6j9NYJMEk3cfQ-HcDt8g
Album Info Sheet
Sadly, the lovely Dod Copland lead singer of legndary Abedeen band Toxik Ephex died on 28th July. An obituary was in the local paper today https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/obituaries/4615027/final-send-off-for-aberdeen-anarchist-punk-singer-dod-copland/ and you can read about the band here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxik_Ephex. It would be good to share his memory with a wider public – he was a thoroughly decent human.
beatles recovered are broken, could you re up
thanks
Here’s an IN MEMORIAM listing for you. Gary”Chicken” Hirsh (Mar 9, 1940 – Aug 17, 2021) Country Joe & the Fish drummer he replaced John Francis Gunning, but left the band in 1969. later went to NY, before returning to Berkeley. He is said to be the one who altered the FISH cheer at a concert in Central Park.
Bad news: It’s a year late.
Good news: He was listed in the In Memoriuam – August 2021: http://halfhearteddude.com/2021/09/in-memoriam-august-2021/
Bad news: He didn’t get a paragraph because 17 (!!!) others did.
Hello
When will You publish In Memoriam – August 2022?
I posted it the day after:
http://halfhearteddude.com/2022/09/in-memoriam-august-2022/
Thank you! Not just for running a consistently thoughtful and diverse music blog. Not just for putting together insightful mixes. But also for your uncanny ability to retrieve songs from my pre-musical subconscious. You’ve included so many songs over the years, which I’ve heard when I was 8 or 9 or 10 and long since forgotten – and here they are again, opening a window to my childhood! Examples? Charlie Dore, “Pilot Of The Airwaves” is just the latest, but also Clout, “Save Me”; La Bionda, “One For You, One For Me”; Raffaella Carrà, “A Far L’Amore Comincia Tu”.
Hi,
congrats on the fab compilations.
I have just about finished a long-standing project of mine, to upgrade the sound quality of your excellent Covered With Soul comps volumes 1-24
The original mp3s vary widely in bit rate with the majority being just 128k which is a bit harsh to listen to. Some are as low as 96k.
i have managed to find higher resolution copies of all the tracks. 95% are now 320k mp3 files, while the rest are at least 192k, except for one Sharon Cash track that stubbornly remains at 160k stereo, for which i am still hunting for a replacement.
i would be delighted to offer these back to you to upgrade the quality of these downloads for your fans. Let me know, and I will send you a link to all 24 folders
All the best
Mark in London
That’s quite project you undertook, Mark. I’d be glad to share a link to these collections with my readers, if that’s okay.
My fundraising album of original Christmas songs for the homeless charity Crisis brings together 108 of the coolest artists on planet pop. Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas, already hailed as ‘the best Indie Christmas album ever’, features Dodgy, St Lenox, Eddi Reader, The Lilac Time, The Popguns, Suzzy Roche, Pete Astor, The Long Winters, Sally Shapiro, The Green Pajamas, Shinyribs, Trembling Blue Stars & Helen Love. You can support the homeless by downloading the album here Music | Various Artists (bandcamp.com). Merry Christmas, everyone.
I have no idea how I came across your site only a few days ago but it is my best Christmas present so far. ( Albeit the only one but no matter!) If you are a one-man Operator, then your knowledge of “popular music” probably cannot be bettered by anybody in ” The business”!
Sincere congratulations and thanks. Le Trev. (A quite ancient lover of many musical genres for over………..many years.) P.S. Should you wish to email me for any reason, you are most welcome.
P.P.S. Are you English, based in England?
Thank you for the kind comments, Le Trev. I hope you’ll find a lot more things of interest that I ran over the years (and, yes, this is a one-man operation). I’m based in South Africa.
@amdwhah
I assume this reply will reach ” The Man In Charge “. I appreciate you taking the time to respond to me. I later learned through the Blog your origin in Germany and the early 70’s songs that created your phenomenal knowledge of much popular music. My eclectic taste spreads from the 20’s probably to the end of the 70’s, of course finding good material at times since. Rock’N’Roll, R. & B., Blues, Soul, Doo-Wop. Standards, Sinatra & his ilk. Stand outs, Sam Cooke, Presley, Jerry Lee, Chuck Berry, Fats, Mildred Bailey, Dusty S. and so many more! I have seen all the named apart from Presley, Dusty & of course the great Mildred Bailey. Could, like most music nutters name loads more! I have around 12,000 CDs, 1400 books on music & “film”, some 1200 DVDs. If Ilive to around 350, who knows, they may all be “devoured”……Le Trev.
P.S. I am English but live in Melbourne, Australia & Toulon, South of France. My French wife, Veronique & I are currently working our R’s off to sell up here in Melbourne and move permanently, around the end of next April next year to Toulon. Any thoughts on the cheapest way to send all my CDs, a few hundred of the books & “some” DVDs would be greatly welcomed! Sorry to bore. P.P.S. Almost forgot! Sorry, Billy Fury…………..
Thank you for this wonderful site and the amount of work you must put into it. I have just discovered that somehow I missed getting the In Memorium folders for April, May, June and July 2020. I had just moved and that may be the reason. However I was wondering if they could be re-upped please
Thanking you
https://rapidgator.net/file/13e62fd32c52328923279439ffd998fd/IM_2004.rar.html
https://rapidgator.net/file/7f66d766772e2051cf5e5b1541203ef8/IM_2005.rar.html
https://rapidgator.net/file/c3149ad84f2365344b7cccf4cf41c1b4/IM_2006.rar.html
https://rapidgator.net/file/e9e21fc03bff4f82ca04326b87b6152e/IM_2007.rar.html
You may already know, but just in case. Australia lost one of its grea5test, if not the greatest female vocalist a couple of days ago – Renée Geyer.
Since then my FB pages have been filled with tributes and memories from those whoi knew her and who had played with her. If you need any information regarding Renée, please do ot hesistate to ask