Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

In the UK, the year 1975 is often regarded as a low point in chart music, but I don’t think such a judgment applies to the US — if you like your soft rock, soul, funk and rock. This first volume of Hits from 1975 reflects the US charts of that year. The second volume, covering UK and European hits, will drop later this year.

The US charts were not introducing anything radical or new; for the most part, they were cruising in a comfortable mode, roof down and wind in their hair, leaving behind the concerns of the world. Perhaps the US needed that after the trauma of Watergate.

The one song here that really illustrates my characterisation is Sammy Johns’ Chevy Van. Where Bruce Springsteen, in his 1975 song not featured here, revved up his automobile to escape a death trap of a town with Wendy, Sammy was cruising for hitchhikers who’d give him inspiration for his Penthouse Letter of the Week (to be fair, Bruce has Wendy strapping her hands across his engines for the runner-up Penthouse letter).

Quite the opposite of Sammy’s laid-back horniness was Janis Ian’s anthem to teenage anxiety, At Seventeen, in which “ugly girls like me” were “inventing lovers on the phone who called to say ‘come dance with me’.” Girls who were 17 in 1975 are now hurtling steadily towards their next milestone birthdays. Time for Janis to write a song called At Seventy.

Where Grand Funk and Amazing Rhythm Aces, despite their names, had little to do with funk or rhythm-dominated dance, Tony Camillo’s Bazuka contributed a great slice of funk to the 1975 charts. Camillo was, as his name suggests, of Italian extraction — a slightly overweight and balding record producer in his late forties, rather than some sexy funkster in flares and glitter top who’d get the Soul Train line grooving (the Soul Train dancers were dancing to it, but not with Camillo anywhere near the action). Bazuka was Camillo’s studio band, and the hit Dynomite was a riff on a catchphrase from the sitcom Good Times.

All that might sound novelty-like, but Dynomite is a fine dance number which takes inspiration from the Average White Band, Ohio Players and Funkadelic. Camillo had a superb track record in soul and funk. His crowning glory was arranging and co-producing Gladys Knight & The Pips’ Midnight Train to Georgia. Camillo died in 2018 at the age of 90.

Links for all past mixes in the series are up.  If you dig the feel of 1975, take a look at the collection of posters from West-Germany’s Bravo magazine in 1975 (other years are available, too).

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-tushed covers and the above text in a PDF. PW in comments.

1. Bachman-Turner Overdrive – Roll On Down The Highway
2. Elton John – Philadelphia Freedom
3. B. J. Thomas – Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song
4. Sammy Johns – Chevy Van
5. Blackbyrds – Walking In Rhythm
6. Tony Camillo’s Bazuka – Dynomite (Part 1)
7. Ozark Mountain Daredevils – Jackie Blue
8. Grand Funk – Bad Time
9. Barry White – What Am I Gonna Do With You
10. Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds – Fallin’ In Love
11. Janis Ian – At Seventeen
12. Earth, Wind & Fire – That’s The Way Of The World
13. Tavares – It Only Takes A Minute
14. Bad Company – Feel Like Makin’ Love
15. Amazing Rhythm Aces – Third Rate Romance
16. Melissa Manchester – Just Too Many People
17. Staple Singers – Let’s Do it Again
18. David Ruffin – Walk Away From Love
19. Bee Gees – Nights On Broadway
20. ZZ Top – Tush
21. Kiss – Rock And Roll All Nite (live)

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Any Major Hits from 1944
Any Major Hits from 1947
Any Major Hits from 1961
Any Major Hits from 1970
Any Major Hits from 1971
Any Major Hits from 1972 Vol. 1
Any Major Hits from 1972 Vol. 2
Any Major Hits from 1973 Vol. 1
Any Major Hits from 1973 Vol. 2
Any Major Hits from 1974 Vol. 1
Any Major Hits from 1974 Vol. 2

A Year in Hits
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Over 11 years ago I posted the first Any Major Morning mix, and ten years ago Any Major Morning Vol. 2. In all that time, both collections have remained firm favourites, reliable old friends to which I return when I don’t quite know what to play.

I reposted both in 2023, with a view of that preparing the way for a third volume. Things kept getting in the way, but here it finally is. And I think it’s as good as the first two.

Five or six of the present tracks didn’t exist yet when the first two volumes came out. One of them is Willie Nelson’s 2017 song Still Not Dead. It begins: “I woke up still not dead again today. The Internet said I had passed away. If I died I wasn’t dead to stay… and I woke up still not dead again today.” May there be many such mornings for Willie yet.

Sadly gone already is the wonderful Justin Townes Earle. The featured track is from his final album, 2019’s The Saint Of Lost Causes. It serves to remind us what a fine talent we lost on that August 20, 2020. A week short of exactly a year later, Nanci Griffith died at the more reasonable (but still too young) age of 68. It is by pure coincidence that the featured Nanci Griffith track follows that by Justin.

The penultimate track is by Kurt Vile, whose name sounds like a made-up punk name, to go with Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious. It is actually his real name, which I imagine can’t always have been easy. According to Wikipedia, he cites Randy Newman, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young as influences. Other than Young, all have been the subjects of Any Major Songbooks (the names link to those collections).

One Songbook alumni features here twice: Carole King. She first appears with her lovely Morning Sun, from 1978’s Welcome Home album. She returns a few tracks later as the writer of Laura Yager’s Early Morning Hush, released in 1972 (and covered a year later by BJ Thomas). Singer-songwriter Yager is rather forgotten now, despite having released three albums and five singles between 1971-74.

King appears as a backing vocalist on four tracks on James Taylor’s One Man Dog album of 1972, but not on his version of the traditional song One Morning In May. The backing vocals on that recording are by Linda Ronstadt.I have a shortlist of more great morning songs, so a Volume 4 is inevitable. And it will not take ten years to run it!

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-cornflaked covers. PW in comments.

1. John Wesley Harding – Good Morning (I Just Woke Up) (1997)
2. Leo Kottke – Jack Gets Up (1989)
3. Carole King – Morning Sun (1978)
4. Joni Mitchell – Morning Morgantown (1970)
5. James Taylor – One Morning In May (1972)
6. Laura Yager – Early Morning Hush (1972)
7. Carolyn Franklin – Don’t Wake Me Up In The Morning, Michael (1970)
8. Diana Ross – Touch Me In The Morning (1973)
9. Roberta Flack – ‘Till The Morning Comes (1982)
10. Luther Vandross & Patti Austin – I’m Gonna Miss You In The Morning (1978)
11. The Winans & Anita Baker – Ain’t No Need To Worry (1986)
12. PJ Morton feat. Susan Carol – Good Morning (2023)
13. Hush Kids – Morning Is Made (2019)
14. Ron Sexsmith – The Morning Light (2013)
15. Justin Townes Earle – Mornings In Memphis (2019)
16. Nanci Griffith – Just Another Morning Here (2012)
17. Willie Nelson – Still Not Dead (2017)
18. Tift Merritt – Morning Is My Destination (2008)
19. Bruce Springsteen – Empty Sky (2002)
20. Bright Eyes – I Woke Up With This Song In My Head This Morning (2004)
21. Kurt Vile – Pretty Pimpin’ (2015)
22. The Pogues – Misty Morning, Albert Bridge (1989)

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More Any Major Mornings
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I posted Any Major Southern Rock Vol. 1 in November 2020, and have played that collection often since. Every time I’ve been reminding myself to do the follow-up which the first mix’s designation as “Volume 1” promised. Finally, I got around to doing it.

As promised in the linernotes to Volume 1, this mix includes some latter Southern Rock tracks (but still no Kid Rock). They kick off the mix, with the Drive-By Truckers setting their Southern Rock-citing song in Alabama. It is from their 2001 concept album Southern Rock Opera, which used the story of Lynryrd Skynyrd as a plot device and was recorded in Birmingham, Alabama.  It is on that basis that they qualify for this mix, apart from founders Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley being from The Shoals region of Alabama, and the band having been founded in Athens, Georgia.

Another act that one would not expect to find in a Southern Rock mix is the Bellamy Brothers. They were country singers with a mojo for good pick-up lines. But their 1980 track Spiders And Snakes totally is Southern Rock. Which raises the question whether you need a membership card to create Southern Rock.

Of course, the bulk here are bona fide Southern Rock merchants, even if some of them left that camp to dabble in other sub-genres.

As noted in the In Memoriam – March 2023, with the death of Gary Rossington, there are no more members of the classic Freebird-era Lynyrd Skynyrd line-up alive. However, the track on this mix, One More Time, is from 1977’s Streets Survivors album, from which drummer Artemus Pyle still whiles with us. He survived the plane crash shortly after the album’s release that killed frontman Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and backing singer Cassie Gaines.

As ever, the mix is timed to fit on a CD-R (excluding the bonus tracks, of course), and includes home-guitarsoloed covers. PW in comments.

1. Drive-By Truckers – Let There Be Rock (2001)
2. Doc Holliday – Fire On The Mountain (2005)
3. The Steel Woods – Better In The Fall (2017)
4. The Black Crowes – Wiser Time (1994)
5. Blackfoot – Summer Days (1984)
6. Bellamy Brothers – Spiders And Snakes (1980)
7. Atlanta Rhythm Section – Back Up Against The Wall (1977)
8. Molly Hatchet – Fall Of The Peacemakers (1983)
9. Lynyrd Skynyrd – One More Time (1977)
10. Marshall Tucker Band – Take The Highway (1973)
11. Little Feat – Two Trains (1973)
12. Allman Brothers Band – Midnight Rider (1970)
13. Elvin Bishop – Sure Feels Good (1975)
14. The Outlaws – There Goes Another Love Song (1975)
15. Wet Willie – The Hard Way (1979)
16. Henry Paul Band – Grey Ghost (1978)
17. ZZ Top – It’s Only Love (1976)
18. Black Oak Arkansas – Hey Y’all (1974)
Bonus Tracks:
19. . 38 Special – Hold On Loosely (1980)
20. Georgia Satellites – Battleship Chains (1986)
21. Bishop Black – Southern Hospitality (2009)

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Much of the music in these 14 volumes may be classified by some people as “Yacht Rock”, a term I deeply dislike. But in that, I am probably fighting a losing battle; the recent entertaining HBO documentary on the genre once known as soft rock, AOR or West Coast rock actually celebrated the term “Yacht Rock”, even incorporating it in its title.

The documentary makers seemed to acknowledge that not everybody likes the term “Yacht Rock” when they replayed their phone conversation with Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen. Upon hearing that term, he tells them to get fucked and hangs up on them. It is a stupid term which turns highly-accomplished musicianship into something of a joke. It may be affectionate, but it lacks respect. We might as well call Mozart, Handel and Vivaldi “Wig Concerto” music.

And the sight of crowds wearing skipper caps at “Yacht Rock” revival shows… ugh! You are not Tenille’s husband; take off those damn caps. You don’t see patrons at performances of “The Messiah” turning up wearing powdered wigs, do you?

It seems the makers of the pre-YouTube video series that gave the genre its ridiculous name were inspired more by a Loggins & Messina album cover than by the more obvious suspect, Christopher Cross’ hit Sailing. Both Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina would occasionally venture into the domain of “Yacht Rock”, but as a duo, they were firmly a folk-pop enterprise.

The offending album cover that gave a ridiculous name to a great sub-genre. Not a captain’s cap in sight.

It seems, though, that Christopher Cross has bought into the term. I stand with Fagen. Cross features on this mix, with Michael McDonald on backing vocals — and McDonald comes across really well in the docu. Also appearing in the film was Kenny Loggins. Here we have Loggins with the Bob James-produced original of What A Fool Believes, which he co-wrote with McDonald. The Doobie Brothers’ version, which came out a few months after Loggins’, is superior and rightly regarded as a gamechanger in Not Feeling Guilty music.

This so quintessentially American genre wasn’t confined to only the USA. A number of acts on this mix were not from the USA, though some recorded there.

Dusty Springfield makes another appearance here, after debut in this series on Volume 13.

Morocko hailed from South Africa, comprising musicians who had made their bones before forming their jazz-funk-rock band, most notably South African music legend Cedric Samson, drummer and lead singer of the band. They didn’t last long. Founded in 1980, they released one album in 1981 and then split.

From Australia we have Birtles & Goble, who as Beeb Birtles and Graeham Goble were members of the Little River Band. Goble wrote their finest song, Reminiscing (featured on Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 4), as well as hits like Lady, The Night Owl (on Vol. 2), Take It Easy On Me, The Other Guy, and It’s A Long Way There (on Vol. 6).

Funk-rock duo Denne & Gold, known to their moms as Michael and Ken, were British songwriters for several soul acts, including Aretha Franklin, The Pointer Sisters and Jackie Moore. Their best-known compositions are The Real Thing’s hits You To Me Are Everything and Can’t Get By Without You, and The Delegation’s mighty Where Is The Love (We Used To Know). Denne and Gold wrote many songs together, but recorded only one album as a duo.

Also British is Nigel Olsson, a drummer in the 1970s for Elton John and, briefly, Uriah Heep who decided that, as the title of one of his two albums has it, drummers in fact can sing.

Olsson drummed on Elton John classics like Rocket Man, Honky Cat, Daniel, Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting, Crocodile Rock, The Bitch Is Back, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Candle In The Wind, and Love Lies Bleeding, singing backing vocals on most of them, and played on all of John’s tours in the early- to mid-1970s. Then Elton fired Olsson, who went on to release a few records under his own name, scoring a US Top 20 with the featured Dancin’ Shoes in 1979. Olsson and Elton made up a while ago, and Nigel backed the Elton when he headlined Glastonbury in 2023.

Another non-US act here is Dutch jazz-rock guitar hero and alumnus of prog-rock band Focus Jan Akkerman, whose admirers include Queen’s Brian May. The vocalist on the featured song is a US singer and drummer named Willy Dee (singing drummers is a bit of a sub-theme here, it seems).

Handel and Mozart on a yacht. (Actual photo)

Toby Beau certainly is an American act. The name might suggest a lamé-jacketed country-pop singer. They were not that, but a country-rock act from Texas. Their name was taken from a shrimp boat, which may be a unique source of a band name. They toured with acts like the Doobie Brothers, Bob Seger, and the Steve Miller Band. Between 1978 and 1980 they released three albums, and had one big hit, the featured My Angel Baby. Their recording career might have stalled 44 years ago, but the band is still a going concern.

Also sporting a maritime name are Sea Level, but that moniker is a pun on the name of frontman C(huck) Leavell. The band was formed when members of the Allmann Brothers Band — keyboardist Leavell, drummer Jaimoe, and bassist Lamar Williams — set up their own band, complemented by additional members.  They lasted for five albums, from 1977-80.

Today, Chris Mancini is known as a writer, director, comedian, podcaster and son of legendary film composer Henry Mancini. As a young man, Chris played in his dad’s orchestra; and in 1983 he released a solitary AOR album. Its title, No Strings, might well have been a very clever artistically distancing allusion to his father.

A stalwart of AOR is guitarist Larry Carlton, who was worthy of a Collection of songs he played on. His wife was Christian rock singer Michele Pillar, whom he married in 1988. Her featured song precedes that, but the sound is AOR. Pillar’s voice has featured several times on The Simpsons, including doing the voice of Karen Carpenter.

All previous NFG mixes are live again. As always, this mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and includes home-skippered covers (and, yes, the image on the cover is a bit of a gag) and the above text in a PDF. PW in comments.

1. Jackson Browne – Running On Empty (1977)
2. Kenny Loggins – What A Fool Believes (1978)
3. Christopher Cross – I Really Don’t Know Anymore (1979)
4. Michael Johnson – Right Through The Heart (1980)
5. Bill LaBounty – Nobody’s Fool (1982)
6. Photoglo – Steal Away (1980)
7. Frankie Bleu – Take Your Time (Vanessa’s Song) (1981)
8. Greg Guidry – Show Me Your Love (1982)
9. Michele Pillar – Walk Across Heaven (1982)
10. Denne & Gold – Let’s Put Our Love Back Together (1977)
11. Morocko – Giving It Up (1981)
12. Jan Akkerman – She’s So Divine (1979)
13. Sea Level – Living In A Dream (1978)
14. Jolis & Simone – Roundabout Midnight (1979)
15. Dusty Springfield – Living Without Your Love (1978)
16. Toby Beau – My Angel Baby (1978)
17. Carole King – Dancin’ With Tears In My Eyes (1980)
18. Chris Mancini – Where’s That Feelin’ (1983)
19. Nigel Olsson – Dancin’ Shoes (1979)
20. England Dan & John Ford Coley – It’s Sad To Belong (1977)
21. Birtles & Goble – I Didn’t Stand A Chance (1980)

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Not Feeling Guilty Mix 1
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 2
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 3
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 4
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 5
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 6
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 7
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 8
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 9
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 10
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 11
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 12
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 13

Tomorrow, on January 8, Elvis Presley would have turned 90 years old, which is an absurd thought. Perhaps it is because we never saw Elvis grow old, he will be forever young — like James Dean or Marilyn Monroe, or later Jimi Hendrix or Kurt Cobain. Even if Elvis looked not much like Elvis by the time he departed in 1977 at the age of 42. Like Michael Jackson, he neglected the latter component of the live-fast-and-die-young adage.

To mark the beginning of the last ten years before the King’s centenary, here’s a collection of good songs about Elvis. Some are directly about him, and others more by implication or tangential reference. So a song like Black Velvet might not seem to be about Elvis, but it was inspired by the writer’s visit to Graceland, and is about Presley.

I have stayed away from novelty numbers — there was an industry of those in the 1950s and early ‘60s, including the inevitable musical call for Elvis to be president — and also from mawkish tributes issued in 1977. Both of these types may find inclusion in a possible Volume 2, to accompany the various tracks by the likes of U2, Frank Zappa, Queen, Billy Joel and others which found no inclusion on this mix.

At least one person appears here twice: Mark Knopfler in his 2004 song, and almost a quarter of a century earlier on Phil Lynott’s tribute to Presley, to which he contributed the guitar, including a quite lovely solo. Lynott wrote and co-produced the song, but it sounds a bit like a Dire Straits track.

As ever, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and inludes home-gracelanded covers and the present text as an illustrated PDF. PW in comments.

1. Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper – Elvis Is Everywhere (1987)
   What the Presley: Look, Elvis isn’t dead.
2. Alannah Myles – Black Velvet (1990)
   What the Presley: The titular fabric is a metaphor for Elvis’ voice.
3. Bruce Springsteen – Johnny Bye-Bye (1985)
   What the Presley: “The man on the radio says Elvis Presley’s died.”
4. Cowboy Junkies – Blue Moon Revisited (A Song For Elvis) (1989)
   What the Presley: Dedicated to Elvis; not much else.
5. Gillian Welch – Elvis Presley Blues (2001)
   What the Presley: He shook it like a chorus girl, a Harlem queen and a midnight rambler.
6. Kate Bush – King Of The Mountain (2005)
   What the Presley: “Elvis, are you out there somewhere, looking like a happy man?”
7. Prefab Sprout – Moon Dog (1990)
   What the Presley: “Beyond the Colonel’s arms, handsome doggone rake the truly weightless…”
8. Marc Cohn – Walking In Memphis (1991)
   What the Presley: “Saw the ghost of Elvis on Union Avenue, followed him up to the gates of Graceland…”
9. Steve Forbert – House Of Cards (1978)
   What the Presley: The sorry tale of the “hillbilly singer who conquered the world.”
10. Mark Knopfler – Back To Tupelo (2004)
    What the Presley: He could’ve been Marlon Brando and the King of Rock & Roll.
11. Jimmy Webb – Elvis And Me (1993)
    What the Presley: The story of Jimmy and Elvis in Las Vegas.
12. Rickie Lee Jones – Elvis Cadillac (2007)
    What the Presley: Riding around heaven in Elvis’ upscale automobile.
13. Emmylou Harris – Boy From Tupelo (2000)
    What the Presley: “Just ask the boy from Tupelo. He’s the king and he ought to know.”
14. Warren Zevon – Jesus Mentioned (1982)
    What the Presley: Going down to Graceland to think about the King.
15. Phil Lynott – King’s Call (1980)
    What the Presley: What Phil did the night Elvis died.
16. Gruppo Sportivo – I Said No (1978)
    What the Presley: “I told her all about Elvis. She begged me to go on.”
17. The Screaming Jets – Elvis (I Remember) (1997)
    What the Presley: “It’s not enough to be like Elvis, the subjects only have one king.”
18. Wall of Voodoo – Elvis Bought Dora A Cadillac (1987)
    What the Presley: Elvis tips a waitress, and a story begins.
19. Belle And Sebastian – A Century Of Elvis (2005)
    What the Presley: Elvis is still alive, standing next to the postman’s van.

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More Elvis-related stuff:
The Originals: Elvis Presley Vol. 1
The Originals: Elvis Presley Vol. 2
Any Major Elvis Covers
Any Major Movie Elvis (and a quiz)

On Saturday, December 7, Tom Waits turned 75, which is a good occasion for a Songbook. In this case, though, the idea was mooted a while ago by reader Karsten, who noted in January that the singer-songwriter’s jubilee was this year — rather than by my own brilliant foresight.

I am certainly not alone in finding Tom’s voice difficult to navigate. It isn’t just that his voice lacks melodic loveliness, but on the output of half his career, he sounds like he is in pain. That voice — which, of course, some people cherish — apparently is not the result of an injury or illness. According to Waits, his unique voice developed over time through a combination of factors, including years of singing in smoky bars, performing late-night gigs, and experimenting with different vocal styles.

This rough, growling voice became his trademark, and he embraced it as part of his artistic persona. It certainly gives his songs a unique personality, which is a good thing, given the range of genres these songs cover, from Weil-Brecht Lieder to honky tonk.

But… the voice is an acquired taste, and I’ve not managed to acquire it, at least not wholesale. Of course, there are the earlier albums — songs like Ol’ 55 or San Diego Serenade — and some older Waits songs I do love. His version of Way Down In The Hole is by far my favourite of the five versions used as themes of The Wire (though I feature Steve Earle’s version here), and I love the gospel of Come On Up To The House or the loveliness of the great love song Picture In The Frame.

For those who are dissuaded from exploring Waits’ by his voice, this collection of covers (and, in the case of the Crystal Gale song, an original written by Waits) might serve as a good introduction to the man’s repository of songs, one that reveals the man’s genius, especially as a lyricist.

It includes the obvious songs, such as Downtown Train (covered here by Bob Seger, though I also recommend the Everything But The Girl version), I Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love With You, Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis, (Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night, Tom Traubert’s Blues, and Jersey Girl, made famous by Bruce Springsteen’s live cover.

Some other better-known songs didn’t make the cut, for lack of covers that I liked. But at 34 tracks, I think this set provides a fair overview of Waits’ catalogue. All are written by Waits, four of them with his wife Kathleen Brennan (they are marked in the ID3 tags, two of them I namechecked above). I think it’s fair to say that Waits’ output after 1980 is greatly influenced by his wife, who herself is a musical artist.

Of the songs here, Jersey Girl tends to be dismissed by Waits afficionados; I struggle to understand that. It’s a perfectly lovely song, even if it sounds more like the lovechild of Springsteen and Van Morrison than cutting-edge Waits. I also like Waits’ 1980 original. It’s dedicated to Kathleen, so it seems a bit churlish to spurn it.

The lot ends with an aptly titled Waits original, Midnight Lullaby, from his 1973 debut album, Closing Time. It closes with the wonderful lines, “When you are much older, remember when we sat/At midnight on the windowsill, and had this little chat/And dream/Come on and dream/Come on and dream/And dream, and dream/Come on and dream.”

Tracks 1-21 are timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and the lot includes the above text in an illustrated PDF and home-wired covers. The image used on the cover is by ch_stencil. PW in comments.

1. Ramones – I Don’t Want To Grow Up (1995)
2. Grievous Angels – Cold Cold Ground (1998)
3. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – Jersey Girl (1981)
4. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band – Downtown Train (1989)
5. Eagles – Ol’ 55 (1974)
6. Crystal Gayle – Take Me Home (1983)
7. Jerry Jeff Walker – (Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night (1976)
8. Barbi Benton – San Diego Serenade (1976)
9. 10,000 Maniacs – I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You (1992)
10. Willie Nelson – Picture In A Frame (2004)
11. Johnny Cash – Down There By The Train (1994)
12. Sarah Jarosz – Come On Up To The House (2009)
13. Steve Earle – Way Down In The Hole (2007)
14. Blind Boys of Alabama – Jesus Gonna Be Here (2002)
15. Dave Alvin – Blind Love (2006)
16. Neko Case – Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis (2000)
17. The Holmes Brothers – Train Song (1998)
18. Elvis Costello – Innocent When You Dream (1995)
19. Los Lobos – Jockey Full Of Bourbon (2004)
20. Norah Jones – The Long Way Home (2004)
21. Bettye LaVette – Yesterday Is Here (2012)
BONUS TRACKS
22. Floyd Dixon – Blue Skies (2000)
23. James Taylor – Shiver Me Timbers (2009)
24. Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes – New Coat Of Paint (1984)
25. T Bone Burnett – Time (1986)
26. Tim Buckley – Martha (1973)
27. Rod Stewart – Tom Traubert’s Blues (Waltzing Matilda) (1992)
28. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Trampled Rose (2007)
29. Linda Thompson – Day After Tomorrow (2007)
30. Nanci Griffith – Please Call Me, Baby (2006)
31. Mary Foster Conklin – Broken Bicycles (2000)
32. Ute Lemper – Grapefruit Moon (2006)
33. Anna Ternheim – Anywhere I Lay My Head (2005)
34. Tom Waits – Midnight Lullaby (1973)

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Previous Songbooks:
ABBA
Ashford & Simpson
Barry Gibb Vol. 1
Barry Gibb Vol. 2
Bill Withers
Billy Joel
Bob Dylan Volumes 1-5
Brian Wilson
Bruce Springsteen
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 1
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 2
Burt Bacharach’s Lesser-Known Songbook
Carole Bayer Sager
Carole King Vol. 1
Carole King Vol. 2
Chuck Berry
Cole Porter Vol. 1
Cole Porter Vol. 2
Elton John & Bernie Taupin
George Harrison
Gordon Lightfoot
Hank Williams
Holland-Dozier-Holland
John Prine
Jimmy Webb Vol. 1
Jimmy Webb Vol. 2
Jimmy Webb Vol. 3
Kris Kristofferson
Lamont Dozier
Laura Nyro
Leonard Cohen
Neil Diamond
Paul McCartney Vol. 1
Paul McCartney Vol. 2
Prince
Rod Temperton
Rolling Stones Vol. 1
Rolling Stones Vol. 2
Sly Stone
Steely Dan

More Songbooks
More Covers Mixes
More CD-R Mixes

Backing singers tend to be taken for granted, maybe less so than the bass player, but still, they are just there. Sometimes they stand out so much that you have to take notice, but usually the focus is firmly on the lead singer. That’s how it should be — the backing singers and the bassist are auxiliaries to the singer, whose performance they are to enrich, not to eclipse.

But even the greatest singers need good backing singers. Imagine Elvis without The Jordanaires, or Aretha Franklin without her sisters (and whoever else). Imagine Respect without Erma and Carolyn’s urging “just a little bit…” and that percussive “sockittome”.  Aretha would just be shouting into the air.

So here’s the first collection of songs that are elevated by great backing vocals. The mix starts off, deliberately, with the voices of backing singers, going “Doop doo doop wow”. More on them shortly. And then the Franklin sisters and others match the genius of Respect.

Aretha Franklin and backing singers.

Of course, we could quibble about what constitutes backing vocals. Is Cheryl Lynn, a great recording artist in her own right, providing backing vocals on Toto’s on Georgy Porgy, or is she singing co-lead? What about Clare Torry on Pink Floyd’s The Great Gig In The Sky? Or Carol Kenyon on Heaven 17’s Temptation (she later became the lead singer of Soul II Soul). Or, not featured here, Merry Clayton on Gimme Shelter, or Emmylou Harris harmonising with Gram Parson on a record on which she was originally supposed to have been co-headliner?

The approach I have taken here is that if they are credited as backing vocalists, as Lynn and Torry are, or otherwise not billed as duet partners, then they qualify for this collection. So band members harmonising with their lead singer don’t qualify. Alas, this also rules out The Pips, whose vocals on Midnight Train To Jordan would qualify them as inaugural members of the Backing Singers’ Hall of Fame (I assume there is no such thing).

Sometimes backing singers came as a band. The Sweet Sensations are a famous example of that. They feature here backing Aretha Franklin— and by the virtue of that, the recently late Cissy Houston features twice on this mix (on Chain Of Fools and on Sweet Revenge by John Prine). On A Stubborn Kind Of Fellow, Marvin Gaye is backed by a trio called The Del-Phis, plus Martha Reeves. Soon Martha joined forces with The Del-Phis, now renamed The Vandellas.

Then we have Hot, Buttered & Soul — the sisters Pat and Diane Lewis and Rose Williams — which was assembled by Isaac Hayes to tell him to shut his mouth when he’s talking about Shaft. Thunderthighs — Casey Synge, Dari Lalou and Karen Friedman — backed Lou Reed on Walk On The Wild Side, and they were not “colored girls”, as falsely announced by Reed. Thunderthighs might also have featured here for their work on Mott The Hoople’s Roll Away The Stone.

The question now is: are The Ikettes backing singers, or rather an integrated part of the Ike & Tina Turner revue?

Talking of Marvin Gaye, there’s another track of his waiting for Volume 2 (you can guess which; it’s the obvious one). I suppose one could do a Motown Special of great backing vocals. One track that would have been an automatic choice is Diana Ross’ version of Aint’ No Mountain High Enough, but that featured recently on Diana Ross Sings Covers, so it would have been too much of a good thing. It might yet find inclusion in a future mix (FYI, the monumental backing vocals on that track are by The Andantes, Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson, Jo Armstead, Jimmy Beavers, Brenda Evans and Billie Calvin).

I mentioned above that Merry Clayton is missing here. Gimme Shelter is shortlisted; in the event I went for a different Stones song for this mix. Clayton is sort of a gold standard for backing singers, but it wasn’t she who first inspired this mix. The concept came to me when I saw Ednah Holt and Lynn Mabry backing Talking Heads on stage in the film Stop Making Sense.

Michael McDonald must have had a lot of time on his hands at the height of his success with the Doobie Brothers. A bit like Michael Jackson, who popped up on the most unlikely records, McDonald’s distinctive voice was everywhere. I will grant anyone the right to dislike McDonald’s voice on lead vocals, but as a backing singer the man made every song on which he appeared better. I was seriously torn between two contenders for inclusion on this mix: Christopher Cross’ Ride Like The Wind and Steely Dan’s Peg. On both, McDonald is the actual star turn. I went for the latter, and sort of regret it now. But then I hear Peg, and I sort of don’t…

I always thought that George Michael’s Father Figure had a bunch of backing singers; it turns out there was only one, Shirley Lewis. The sister of the wonderful, late Linda Lewis, Shirley backed acts like Millie Jackson, Miquel Brown (on Close To Perfection), Matt Bianco, Elton John (also on the Live in Australia recording), Evelyn Thomas (on High Energy), Spandau Ballet (on Through The Barricades), Swing Out Sister, Rick Astley (on Whenever You Need Somebody), Pet Shop Boys (on I Get Excited), Bros (she was married to one of them), Sting, and others.  She was also on duty when Elton John and George Michael recorded the hit live version of Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, and did superb work on another GM track, Freedom 90.

I have a long shortlist (!) of candidates for Volume 2. But which backing vocal performances do YOU love?As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-scenestealing covers, and the above (and below) in a PDF.

1. Marvin Gaye – Stubborn Kind Of Fellow (1962)
The Voices: Martha Reeves, Del-Phis (Rosalind Ashford, Gloria Williams, Annette Beard)

2. Aretha Franklin – Chain Of Fools (1967)
The Voices: The Sweet Inspirations, Carolyn Franklin, Erma Franklin, Ellie Greenwich

3. John Prine – Sweet Revenge (1973)
The Voices: Cissy Houston, Deidre Tuck, Judy Clay

4. Wet Willie – Country Side Of Life (1974)
The Voices: Donna Hall, Ella Avery, Joyce Knight

5. The Rolling Stones – Tumbling Dice (1972)
The Voices: Clydie King, Venetta Fields, Sherlie Matthews

6. David Bowie – Young Americans (1974)
The Voices: Ava Cherry, Robin Clark, Luther Vandross

7. Talking Heads – Slippery People (1984)
The Voices: Ednah Holt, Lynn Mabry

8. Heaven 17 – Temptation (1983)
The Voice: Carol Kenyon

9. Primal Scream – Movin’ On Up (1991)
The Voice: Denise Johnson

10. Terence Trent D’Arby – If You Let Me Stay (1987)
The Voices: Lance Ellington, Tony Jackson

11. George Michael – Father Figure (1987)
The Voice: Shirley Lewis

12. Steely Dan – Peg (1977)
The Voice: Michael McDonald

13. Boz Scaggs – What Do You Want The Girl To Do (1976)
The Voices: Maxine Green, Pepper Swenson

14. Toto – Georgy Porgy (1978)
The Voice: Cheryl Lynn

15. Isaac Hayes – Theme from Shaft (1971)
The Voices: Pat Lewis, Diane Lewis, Rose Williams

16. Barbara Jean English – So Many Ways To Die (1972)
The Voices: not credited!

17. Elvis Presley – Suspicious Minds (1969)
The Voices: Donna Thatcher, Jeannie Greene, Ginger Holladay, Mary Holladay

18. Joe Cocker – With A Little Help From My Friends (1962)
The Voices: Madeline Bell, Rosetta Hightower, Sunny Wheetman

19. Lou Reed – Walk On The Wild Side (1972)
The Voices: Thunderthighs (Casey Synge, Dari Lalou, Karen Friedman)

20. Pink Floyd – The Great Gig In The Sky (1973)
The Voice: Clare Torry

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Lately I have been reading a lot about the summer of 1974. This year marked the 50th anniversary of West Germany winning the football World Cup, which the country also hosted. I was eight years old and approached the tournament with as much wide-eyed excitement as I do modern sports with squinting cynicism. Hence my wide reading on the subject.

In my memory, the summer of 1974 was long and filled with nothing but sunshine and all the fun that brings. The reports from the World Cup suggests otherwise. In June and July, the weather was wet and awful. But photos in the family album testify to some hot days, and the music does the rest.

There was a lot of sunshine music in 1974. George McCrae’s Rock Your Baby was the big summer hit in Europe, and as summer faded, The Hues Corporation’s Rock The Boat was ubiquitous. But even the winter hits sounded like they come from summer.

This mix reflects an upbeat mood, though early in the sequence we have a double-whammy of downbeatness provided by Hot Chocolate’s tragic Emma, whose protagonist dies by suicide, and Gigliola Cinquetti’s Go (Before You Break My Heart). The latter was titled Si in the Italian original, which was the runner-up to ABBA’s Waterloo in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest (read all about that contest in the text for Any Major ABBA Songbook). Cinquetti’s English version reached #8 in the UK.

ABBA feature later in the mix with I Do I Do I Do I Do, a song that exposes the profound influence of schlager music on the Swedes. It was a Top 10 hit throughout Europe, and topped the charts in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, but stalled at #38 in the UK. Surprisingly, the song, hardly ABBA’s finest moment, reached #15 in the US Billboard Top 100, doing better than Mamma Mia, Money Money Money, Chiquitita, Gimme Gimme Gimme or Super Trouper.

This compilation follows Any Major Hits from 1974 Vol. 1, which reflected the US experience of the charts; this lot draws from the US and European charts, though on both playlists there are obviously songs that were hits on both sides of the Atlantic. It is sequenced in a roughly chronological order, according to the UK charts, kicking off with Who Do You Think You Are, a #21 hit in the UK for Candlewick Green but in the US in the cover version by Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods (and much later a hit for Saint Etienne). The mix ends with a track by Italian singer Drupi which wasn’t a hit in the UK but was huge in Germany and other parts of Europe. Drupi had hit the UK Top 20 in 1973 with Vado Via.

Recently I watched a video of The Rubettes performing Sugar Baby Love on German TV. It’s a great pop song, but seeing lead singer Alan Williams lip-synching the falsetto parts as if he had actually sung them in the studio was a bit off. Sugar Baby Love is one of those songs that preceded the formation of the group to which it was credited; the Rubettes were initially really a bunch of session musicians, and Williams was a backing vocalist on the recording. The lead vocals on the record were performed by Paul Da Vinci, but when he declined to be a Rubette, Wiliams became the frontman.

The song was initially offered to Showaddywaddy (also featured here with the thumping Hey Rock & Roll), but they turned it down, despite the backing vocals that go “oop-showaddy showaddywaddy”. At that point the producers told the session musicians that they could have Sugar Baby Love, provided they form a group. The Rubettes went on to top the charts with the song in the UK, West Germany, Netherlands and other countries, and had six further UK Top 20 hits, most of them riffing on the 1950s nostalgia wave, until their chart career fizzled out in 1977.

Around the same time the run of success of the Bay City Rollers came to an end. The biggest teen band of the 1970s became the acme of uncool for the longest time, but a sober reappraisal reveals a string of fine pop records. I made that point many years ago, in 2008.

In Germany, there was a war between the Bay City Rollers and the Sweet. Much as I’m inclined to defend BCR, in a teen-off, Sweet must be the winner. Summerlove Sensation is very good, but The Six Teens is a fantastic song. There were two versions, the album one and the much brighter single version featured here.

Elsewhere, the teen war of 1974 was between BCR fans and those of The Osmonds. In that battle I must have been in the BCR camp, though the toothy Mormons had a few songs that, with the benefit of solemn revision, are stone cold pop classics: Crazy Horses and the featured Love Me For A Reason.

It is interesting to note how well US soul was doing in the UK. Six of the tracks on this mix are soul numbers, including Johnny Bristol with Hang On In There Baby, which climbed up the UK charts to #8 at around the same time The Osmonds were climbing down from the top with Love Me For The Reason — which had been written by Johnny Bristol.

Links for all past mixes in the series are up.  If you dig the feel of 1974, take a look at the collection of posters from West-Germany’s Bravo magazine in 1974 (other years are available, too).

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-lipsynched covers. PW in comments.

1. Candlewick Green – Who Do You Think You Are
2. Alvin Stardust – Red Dress
3. Slade – Everyday
4. Hot Chocalate – Emma
5. Gigliola Cinquetti – Go (Before You Break My Heart)
6. The Rubettes – Sugar Baby Love
7. Showaddywaddy – Hey Rock And Roll
8. 10cc – The Wall Street Shuffle
9. The Arrows – Touch Too Much
10. The Sweet – The Six Teens
11. Bay City Rollers – Summerlove Sensation
12. George McCrae – Rock Your Baby
13. The Main Ingredient – Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely
14. The Hues Corporation – Rock The Boat
15. The Osmonds – Love Me For A Reason
16. Sweet Sensation – Sad Sweet Dreamer
17. Johnny Bristol – Hang On In There Baby
18. Abba – I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do
19. David Essex – Gonna Make You A Star
20. Pilot – Magic
21. Barry White – You’re My First, My Last, My Everything
22. Drupi – Piccola e fragile

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Any Major Hits from 1944
Any Major Hits from 1947
Any Major Hits from 1961
Any Major Hits from 1970
Any Major Hits from 1971
Any Major Hits from 1972 Vol. 1
Any Major Hits from 1972 Vol. 2
Any Major Hits from 1973 Vol. 1
Any Major Hits from 1973 Vol. 2
Any Major Hits from 1974 Vol. 1

A Year in Hits
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The fun in compiling a list of “favourite” albums of a year for this series resides in revisiting LPs I haven’t listened to, or maybe even thought of, for ages. And in the case of 1974, few artists released their best work that year. There is no pressing reason to play Carole King’s perfectly likeable Wrap Around Joy album when you’re much better served by 1971’s Music or, obviously, Tapestry.

Other albums on my shortlist were old favourites I had not heard for a very long time. Since I was a teenager many moons ago, I have rather gone off Supertramp. But listening again to Crime Of The Century, I recalled what I liked about them back then. To my surprise, Supertramp slipped into my Top 20 — ahead of Dolly Parton’s Jolene and John Lennon’s Walls And Bridges. Any other day, one of these two or both, might make it into my Top 20. But not today (I’ll show due respect by bonus-tracking them).

Then there are those sets I got into later in life. At some point, the venerable Whiteray of the now-defunct Echoes In The Wind blog turned me on to country-rock outfit Heartsfield. Their Wonder Of It All album earned repeated spins on my well-worn WinAmp.

Some albums, of course, pick themselves. Stevie Wonder’s Fulfillingness First Finale is one of these. Chronologically sandwiched between two masterpieces, Fulfillingness comes a bit short in critical appreciation. But if Innervisions and Songs In The Key Of Life didn’t exist, I suspect that people would speak of Fulfillingness in hushed tones. Generally, 1974 was a great year for soul albums.

By the time his marvellous Grievous Angel album came out, Gram Parsons was dead, having died at the age of 26 on September 19, 1973. The album had been recorded in the summer of 1973 and was released in January 1974. Originally it was to be credited to “Gram Parsons with Emmylou Harris”, with the cover featuring both of them. Parsons’ widow Gretchen used her powers to withdraw Harris’ billing and change the cover to feature only her husband. Sales of the album were poor, and only later did it come to be regarded as a classic in the country-rock canon.

Also ignored by the US album-buying public was Shuggie Otis’ pioneering Inspiration Information, a superb genre-defying album by a massively talented kid who was a teenager when he started recording it, and was only 21 when it was released. He played most instruments on it, wrote all songs and arranged them. On it Shuggie innovated with new technology, especially the analogue drum machine which Kraftwerk used on their Autobahn album (also featured here). Stevie Wonder and Sly Stones were fans of Shuggie’s, and Prince would later cite Inspiration Information as an influence, but Epic records looked at the bottom line and dropped him (not helped by the artist’s own loose attitude to deadlines). Shuggie Otis, who also featured on Any Major Albums of 1971 Vol. 2, didn’t release another album until 2018!

One act here featured just last month, even with the same song, albeit a different (and superior) version. Nino Ferrer was the letter  N in the Any Major ABC of France mix. Ferrer was an Italian-born French musician who traversed the genres, from European pop to R&B to jazz. A showbiz outsider by choice and design, he was nevertheless a popular figure in France. He died of suicide in 1998, aged 63.

On Nino And Radiah he collaborated with the US model, singer and erotic movie actress Radiah Frye, who dropped all for the LP’s cover. The standout track is the opener, South, which in its French version, Sud, was a hit in France. The album is an eclectic affair, with prog-rock stuff (New York), jazz-funk (Moses), Funkadelic-style funk (Vomitation), and in Mint Julep a song that draws from disco, prog and whatever the roots of New Wave were in 1974. A contender for Album of the Year.

I have in the past discussed the cover art of the Winter In America album by Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson. It didn’t include the powerful song of the album’s title — the album title inspired the tremendous track, which would come out the year after — but it featured the great rap H20gate Blues, which with updated lyrics (the modern term is, I suppose, rebooted) would still be relevant today, 50 years later.

The playlist ends with the whole Side 1 of Dollar Brand’s Mannenberg – Is Where It’s Happening. It’s a gorgeous Afro-jazz suite named after the ghetto in Cape Town created by apartheid after the forced removals of the urban District Six neighbourhood, which was populated by the oppressed “Coloured” people (it’s the term apartheid used for people of mixed race heritage). The track is not so much a celebration of the ghetto — which did become a jazz stronghold in the city — than a lament for apartheid’s ethnic cleansing. It would become an anthem in the struggle for freedom.

Dollar Brand is better known as the jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, a name he took on after his conversion to Islam. The magnificent tenor saxophone solo on the track is played by Basil Coetzee, who died in 1998 at only 54. The alto sax is played by two other greats, the late Robbie Jansen (I think the voice towards the end is his) and Morris Goldberg (the latter played on Paul Simon’s You Can Call Me Al).

The mix opens with a track from the album that features the Steely Dan song which inspired the name of this blog. Any Major Dude featured on a recent mix, so I’ve gone for a track which, as home video evidence shows, my son used to sing along to as a three-year-old.

And if there was only one album I may keep from 1974? I think it would be the Dollar Brand LP. On vinyl. So, what are your albums of 1974?

This mix won’t fit on a CD-R but I’ve made covers anyway, and the above text in PDF format. PW in comments.

1. Steely Dan – Barrytown (Pretzel Logic)
2. Joni Mitchell – Help Me (Court And Spark)
3. Stevie Wonder – Creepin’ (Fulfillingness First Finale)
4. Betty Wright – That’s When I’ll Stop Loving You (Danger High Voltage)
5. The Soul Children – I’ll Be The Other Woman (Friction)
6. Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan – Walkin’ In The Sun (Rags To Rufus)
7. Gram Parsons – $1000 Wedding (Grievous Angel)
8. Rusty Wier – Railroad Man (Stoned, Slow, Rugged)
9. Nino Ferrer – South (Nino And Radiah)
10. Heartsfield – House Of Living (Wonder Of It All)
11. Carole King – You Go Your Way, I’ll Go Mine (Wrap Around Joy)
12. Supertramp – Hide In Your Shell (Crime Of The Century)
13. Kraftwerk – Kometenmelodie 2 (Autobahn)
14. Little Feat – Oh Atlanta (Feats Don’t Fail Me Now)
15. Shuggie Otis – Sparkle City (Inspiration Information)
16. Grady Tate – Love Has No Pride (Movin’ Day)
17. Minnie Riperton – The Edge Of A Dream (Perfect Angel)
18. The Crusaders – Southern Comfort (Southern Comfort)
19. Gil Scott-Heron – H2Ogate Blues (Winter In America)
20. Dollar Brand – Mannenberg (Mannenberg – ‘Is Where It’s Happening’)
Bonus Tracks:
John Lennon – Bless You (Walls And Bridges)
Dolly Parton – Jolene (Jolene)

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Previous Albums of the Year mixes:
1971 Vol. 1
1971 Vol. 2
1972
1973
1982
1983

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A few years I started this series of songs that feature guitar parts, mostly solos, which I particularly like. In doing this, I don’t aim to collate the best-ever solos — Slash is not going to feature, nor Vai, nor Satriani, nor the guy from Metallica — or even the best guitar work of the featured axemen.

For example, no person in their right mind would describe Richie Blackmore’s solo in Rainbow’s Since You Been Gone as his best. That might be his solo on Smoke On The Water, even if it is rather overshadowed by that incredibly intro riff, also by Blackmore. And if it must be a Rainbow song, something like Long Live Rock & Roll would be superior. But I just love Since You Been Gone and its solo and riffs better than all other Blackmore work. So it features here.

As does AC/DC’s Ride On, and with that group I was really for spoiled for choice, with the guitar work of the Young brothers. Why go for the slow, brooding deep cut from the Dirty Deeds Dine Dirt Cheap album ahead of AC/DC’s many hard rock anthems? Maybe because it deviates from the band’s template. In any case, Ride On has been a favourite of mine since I was a teenager.

There are some great guitarists who have not featured yet, such as Hendrix, George Harrison, Jimmy Page, Brian May, Keith Richards or The Edge. I have shortlisted tracks for all of them, but in all cases I’m not sure which ones to choose for them. And given my rule that a guitarist may feature only once, choosing the right track is a weighty decision!

Any Major Guitar Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, and the shortlist for future volumes are among my go-to mixes, especially when I’m cooking and Any Major Dudette is out of the house, which means that I can play it loud and I can practice — without getting caught in the act — my axeman moves for when I grow up and become a rock star.

You might ask what took me so long to produce a Volume 3, after the first two mixes came out six years ago, in January and July 2018 respectively. Well, it’s because putting together and writing these things is an intimidating amount of work. Of course, all mixes take time to put together — the sequencing alone is big job — but the present post is extraordinarily time-consuming. Still, I promise to post Volume 4 in less than six years time.As always, CD-R length, home-stratocastered covers, the text here in PDF. Password in Comments.

1. Booker T & The MGs – Green Onions (1962)
Byoong moment: 1:13. Booker T’s organ dominates this early soul instrumental, which originally was released as a b-side. But then the legendary Steve Cropper, who was more often rhythm guitarist than axeman, offers relief from the driving organ with a guitar solo which is at once restrained and imposing.

2. Tom Robinson Band – 2-4-6-8 Motorway (1977)
Byoong moment: 1:23 and 2:37. Tom Robinson’s bass drives this driving song, along with the energetic drums by Dolphin Taylor, but Danny Kustow’s two guitar solos are its fuel. Kustow’s riffs are great, too. Sadly, Kustow died in 2019 at the age of 63.

3. Rainbow – Since You Been Gone (1979)
Byoong moment: 2:24. Rainbow at their poppiest, and Richie Blackmore plays a great riff which serves as the song’s signature (based on the keyboard riff of the Russ Ballard original). But Richie can suffer going without guitar doodling only for so long, for he is fucking Richie Blackmore. When it sounds like the songs is about to wrap up its business, he restarts the operation and lets rip with a solo.

4. Cheap Trick – Dream Police (1979)
Byoong moment: 2:02. The guitar solo by the song’s writer Rick Nielsen follows the most paranoid section of this track about mental illness, and provides some relief from the building pressure, though even that is accompanied by weird background noises. Apart from the insistent power-chord riffs, the guitar builds up to the disconcerting crescendo. A mighty track!

5. Journey – Wheel In The Sky (1978)
Byoong moment: 2:30 & 3:15. The guitar, played by Neal Schon, rules this anthemic number with riffs and licks, but really takes off with his solo. It reappears at 3:15, with Steve Perry’s vocals on top of it, to see the song into the power chord fade.

6. Dire Straits – Sultans Of Swing (1978)
Byoong moment: 3:27 & 4:57. It’s Mark Knopfler’s song, so his guitar runs prominently through the track which Knopfler sings with off-key voice (smoothed-out Dylan, I’d call it). Finally he shuts up and launches into a wonderful finger-picking solo. The second solo, which kicks in at 4:57 and takes us to the end of the song, is even better.

7. Steely Dan – Peg (1977)
Byoong moment: 1:45. The Dan featured on Vol. 1 with Elliott Randal’s solos on Reeling In The Years. They were astute in choosing the finest musicians, including several great guitarists (including Larry Carlton, whom we’ll encounter in a moment). The fine guitar solo on Peg is by Jay Graydon. Graydon was a sought-after session guitarist, and was also a producer and songwriter. One of the songs he co-wrote was After The Love Has Gone by the next act.

8. Earth, Wind & Fire – Love’s Holiday (1977)
Byoong moment: 3:34. In soul music, there are the Ernie Isley solos and Thomas McClary’s fuzz guitar solo on The Commodores’ Easy. And then there is Johnny Graham’s magnificent solo on this beautiful seduction song. Meanwhile Al McKay plays the (possibly multilayered) hook that governs the song. Both were members of EWF, a collective of superb musicians.

9. Randy Crawford – Imagine (1982)
Byoong moment: 4:08. Randy sings the dreamers’ anthem beautifully in this gorgeously arranged live version — it is by a distance the best cover of the song — and you wonder whether it could get any better. Then Robben Ford comes in with a brief solo that just lifts the whole thing a notch higher. Ford was a member of the backing band on the song, the jazz-fusion outfit Yellowjackets. On drums was the great Ricky Lawson, subject of two Session Player Collections (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2)

10. Donny Hathaway – We’re Still Friends (1971)
Byoong moment: 3:10. We’re taking things a bit slower now, with this cut from Hathaway’s live album. Throughout the album Cornell Dupree is playing beautiful fills. On this track he takes centrestage with a lovely blues-shaded solo. It is rather low in the mix, but that helps make it softer and more intimate. Can Eddie van Halen do that?

11. Pacific Express – Love Your Baby Right (1976)
Byoong moment: 1:55. A deep cut from the first of three albums recorded in the 1970s by South African jazz-funk band Pacific Express (whose alumni included Jonathan Butler, also a great guitarist, before he became an international star). The solo is by Issy Ariefdien, who later became a producer, and is still performing.

12. Player – Baby Come Back (1977)
Byoong moment: 3:20. The solo that sees out the song is played by singer Peter Beckett, who does all the exquisite guitar work on the track. The solo was cut from the mix of the hit single (featured on Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 1) but appears on the original album version, which is 47 seconds longer than the single.

13. Christopher Cross – Never Be The Same (1979)
Byoong moment: 2:32. I have done several mixes dedicated to specific session musicians. Most of them are drummers, but there has been only one guitarist so far: Larry Carlton (the Session Player Collection dedicated to him is here). The solo on this track is beautiful. It might not be Carlton’s greatest solo (Steely Dan’s Kid Charlemagne or Josie maybe, or the solo on the theme of Hill Street Blues), but it’s the one I love the most.

14. Wings – My Love (1973)
Byoong moment: 2:06. McCartney’s pretty but not really spectacular ballad ambles along nicely, but then Henry McCullough’s solo gives it a little muscle. McCullough left us in 2016.

15. Al Stewart – Valentina Way (1978)
Byoong moment: 2:33. The song chugs along nicely in its mid-tempo ways, Al Stewart singing warmly and Peter Robinson issuing delicious piano fills. Then Peter White comes in with an uncompromising rock solo that carries the track to the end. White also wrote the superb title track of the album this song is from, Time Passages. Before you ask, Year Of The Cat has a different guitarist; it might feature in a future installment in this series.

16. The Who – Behind Blue Eyes (1971)
Byoong moment: 2:18 & 2:59. Pete Townsend wrote this song, and he’s all over it, from the sweet acoustic guitar that scores the tracks until it becomes loud, to the rather too brief solo, to the riff starting at 3:06 which was also used on Won’t Get Fooled Again.

17. AC/DC – Ride On (1976)
Byoong moment: 3:39. The star on this whiskey-soaked blues lament is singer Bon Scott, but Malcolm Young’s rhythm guitar guides Scott, and Angus Young lays a few nice licks before launching into a bluesy solo 3 minutes and 39 seconds into the song. Some AC/DC fans seem to think this song is redundant; I think it’s one of AC/DC’s best.

18. The Police – So Lonely (1978)
Byoong moment: 2:26. The song has a reggae beat, but Andy Summers solo draws from blues. Summers’ guitar shimmers through the song.

Bonus track: Funkadelic – Maggot Brain (1971)
Byoong moment: 1:15 and counting. The 10-minute slow-burner is basically a long guitar solo, with Eddie Hazel’s sound calling to mind what might be created if Carlos Santana was going into space and Jimi Hendrix on an LSD trip. Apparently Maggot Brain was the nickname of Hazel, who died in 1992 at the age of 42. Funkadelic chief George Clinton told Hazel to play as if his mother had just died. Tawl Ross does rhythm guitar duties. Like Hazel, he split from Funkadelic later in 1971. He died in January this year.

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