LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-APRIL 7, 2020…IT WAS ON THIS DATE 51 YEARS AGO THE BAY AREA’S SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE RELEASED THEIR FOURTH STUDIO ALBUM ‘STAND!’ THIS WAS THE GROUP’S BIGGEST SELLING ALBUM, CONTAINING ‘EVERYDAY PEOPLE’ THE TITLE TRACK ‘STAND!’ ‘SING A SIMPLE SONG’ AND ‘I WANT TO TAKE YOU HIGHER.’
‘STAND!’ WENT ON TO SELL OVER 3 MILLION COPIES AND IS ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL ALBUMS OF THE SIXTIES. FOUR YEARS AGO THE ALBUM WAS DEEMED “CULTURALLY, HISTORICALLY OR AESTHETICALLY SIGNIFICANT” BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AND WAS SELECTED FOR INCLUSION IN THE NATIONAL RECORDING REGISTRY. HERE’S SLY AND THE BAND PERFORMING ‘I WANT TO TAKE YOU HIGHER’
AND THIS IS JUST A GREAT JAM SESSION FROM 1974 WITH AN APPEARANCE ON ‘THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL’
LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-APRIL 7, 2020…’WHITESNAKE’ IS THE SELF TITLED ALBUM RELEASED ON APRIL 7 1987. IT WAS WHITESNAKE’S 7TH STUDIO ALBUM AND WAS GARGANTUAN FOR THE BAND. IT SOLD OVER 8 MILLION COPIES IN THE U.S. ALONE, AND REACHED #2 ON THE ALBUM CHARTS FOR 1987. THE ALBUM WAS POWERED BY 2 HUGE SINGLES ‘IS THIS LOVE’ AND ‘HERE I GO AGAIN’. ‘HERE I GO AGAIN’ WAS ACTUALLY RELEASED ON A PREVIOUS ALBUM, BUT DAVID COVERDALE RE-RECORDED IT AND RE-MIXED THE SONG FOR THIS RECORD AND IT THAT BECAME A MONSTER HIT. THE SONG ACTUALLY DOCUMENTS THE BREAKDOWN OF HIS FIRST MARRIAGE. I CAN’T THINK OF A BETTER WAY TO GET OVER HIS FIRST MARRIAGE THAN MARRY THE MODEL THAT WAS WRITHING ALL OVER THE JAGUAR CARS IN THE VIDEO FOR THIS SONG. HE MARRIED TAWNY KITAEN IN 1989 (THEY WERE DIVORCED 2 YEARS LATER). BUT THE VIDEO WAS GREAT ! **SIDE NOTE TAWNY KITAEN THEN WENT ON TO MARRY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PITCHER CHUCK FINLEY AND ATTACKED HER HUSBAND WITH HER HIGH-HEALED SHOE AS THEY WERE DRIVING HOME FROM DINNER. SHE WAS CHARGED WITH SPOUSAL ABUSE AND BATTERY. NO WORD IF THE CAR SHE WAS IN WAS A JAGUAR LIKE THE ONES IN THE VIDEO. HERE’S WHITESNAKE WITH TAWNY KITAEN AND THE VIDEO THAT TOOK OVER MTV
LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-APRIL 6, 2020…TO START OFF I JUST WANT TO SAY I LOVE MOTLEY CRUE. TOMMY LEE JUST SEEMS LIKE A REAL FUN GUY TO BE AROUND AND THE KIND OF GUY THAT WILL TRY ANYTHING. ONE OF THE COOLEST STUNTS I’VE EVER SEEN IN CONCERT WAS HIS IDEA FOR A ROTATING/ROLLER COASTER DRUM KIT. THERE WAS ONE NIGHT THOUGH WHERE THE IDEA WENT HORRIBLY WRONG ! ON THIS DATE 30 YEARS AGO, LEE SUFFERED A CONCUSSION WHEN HE FELL AFTER SWINGING FROM THE SCAFFOLDING ABOVE HIS ELEVATED DRUM KIT. THE FALL WOULD HAVE KILLED MOST MORTALS , HOWEVER I FIGURE HE MUST HAVE CUSHIONED HIS FALL WITH HIS HUGE WANG. HERE’S TOMMY LEE WITH HIS SOLO IN OAKLAND 3 YEARS EARLIER (1987)
LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-APRIL 6, 2020…ON APRIL 6TH 1974 IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, THE MASSIVE MUSIC FESTIVAL CALIFORNIA JAM TOOK PLACE AT ONTARIO MOTOR SPEEDWAY IN ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA. THE LINE UP FEATURED THE EAGLES, EARTH WIND AND FIRE, SEALS AND CROFTS, DEEP PURPLE, BLACK SABBATH, RARE EARTH, EMERSON LAKE AND PALMER, AND BLACK OAK ARKANSAS. THE FESTIVAL ATTRACTED APPROXIMATELY 400,000 FANS, AND AT THAT TIME SET THE RECORD FOR THE LOUDEST AMPLIFICATION SYSTEM EVER INSTALLED, THE THE HIGHEST PAID ATTENDANCE, AND THE HIGHEST GROSS FOR A CONCERT. ( TO PUT THIS IN PERSPECTIVE, COACHELLA ATTRACTS 90,000 PEOPLE)
LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-APRIL 5, 2020…JUST 8 YEARS TO THE DAY AFTER DEATH OF KURT COBAIN, ANOTHER SEATTLE GRUNGE ERA MUSICIAN DIED OF THE EXACT SAME WAY. IN 2002 LAYNE STALEY OF ALICE AND CHAINS DIED OF A HEROIN OVERDOSE. HIS BODY WAS FOUND MORE THAN TWO WEEKS LATER ON APRIL 19TH AT HIS HOME IN SEATTLE. A SEATTLE POLICE SPOKESPERSON AT THE TIME OF THE DISCOVERY ANNOUNCED THAT HEROIN PARAPHERNALIA WAS FOUND AT THE SCENE. LAYNE STALEY DIED AT THE AGE OF 34. STALEY HAD A LONG HISTORY OF DRUG USE, AND WROTE ABOUT IT IN HIS MUSIC. STALEY ADMITTED THAT HE WROTE ‘MAN IN THE BOX’ WHEN “HE WAS STONED.” OTHER LAYNE STALEY SONGS ABOUT DRUGS ARE ‘JUNKHEAD’ ‘ANGRY CHAIR’ ‘HATE TO FEEL’ & ‘FROGS’. LAYNE STALEY’S DEATH WAS SUCH A WASTE OF TALENT AND ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A GREAT MUSICIAN THAT DIED WAY TOO YOUNG.
HERE’S STALEY WITH ALICE IN CHAINS AND ‘MAN IN THE BOX’
LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-APRIL 3, 2020…THIRTY FIVE YEARS AGO, ROGER WATERS PLAYED THE OAKLAND ARENA. IT WAS HIS “PROS AND CONS OF HITCHHIKING” TOUR. THIS WAS THE FIRST SOLO CONCERT TOUR BY ROGER WATERS. IT INCLUDED A FULL PERFORMANCE OF HIS FIRST SOLO ALBUM, ‘THE PROS AND CONS OF HITCHHIKING’ AND A MIX OF PINK FLOYD SONGS. THE SHOW IN OAKLAND WAS ONE OF 15 TOUR STOPS FOR HIS U.S. TOUR. FAST FORWARD TO JUNE OF 2017. HERE’S ROGER WATERS PERFORMING ‘COMFORTABLY NUMB’,AGAIN, IN OAKLAND
LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-APRIL 3, 2020…HAPPY 52ND BIRTHDAY TO SEBASTIAN BACH (real name Sebastian Bierk) SEBASTIAN WAS BORN ON THIS DATE IN 1968 IN FREEPORT, THE BAHAMAS, AND RAISED IN CANADA. BACH IS BEST KNOWN FOR FRONTING THE BAND SKID ROW. THE GROUP ENJOYED HUGE COMMERCIAL SUCCESS IN THE LATE 80’S AND EARLY NINETIES WITH THEIR FIRST 2 ALBUMS ‘SKID ROW’ AND ‘SLAVE TO GRIND.’ HERE’S BACH AND SKID ROW WITH THEIR BIGGEST HIT ‘18 AND LIFE’
Lamont and Tonelli present “Real Corona Heroes” saluting Distance Learning Parents who are working their asses off during the Shelter In Place. Thank you for your help during these tough times.
LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-APRIL 2, 2020…IT WAS APRIL 2ND 1979 AND BOB SEGER RELEASED THE SONG THAT HAD TOM CRUISE DANCING IN HIS UNDERWEAR ! FORTY YEARS AGO BOB SEGER AND THE SILVER BULLET BAND RELEASED THE SINGLE ‘OLD TIME ROCK & ROLL’. THIS IS ONE OF THE FEW SONGS SEGER RECORDED THAT HE DIDN’T WRITE. IT WAS WRITTEN BY THE SONGWRITERS GEORGE JACKSON AND THOMAS JONES WHO WORKED AT THE STUDIO WERE THE SONG WAS RECORDED. SEGER DID WORK ON THE LYRICS, ALTHOUGH HE DIDN’T TAKE ANY OF THE CREDIT. ACCORDING TO SEGER HE WAS FEELING GENEROUS THAT DAY AND DIDN’T TAKE ANY OF THE CREDIT. THIS MEANS SEGER DOESN’T CONTROL THE PUBLISHING RIGHTS TO THE SONG, AND JACKSON AND JONES CONTROL WHEN IT’S USED IN COMMERCIALS AND MOVIES. ACCORDING TO SEGER, HIS GENEROSITY WAS “THE DUMBEST THING I EVER DID.”
JERRY MASTERS WHO WAS THE RECORDING ENGINEER AT THE MUSCLE SHOALS RECORDING STUDIO AT THE TIME OF THE RECORDING REMEMBERS THE MAKING OF THE SONG IN AN INTERVIEW: “We cut a demo on the writer of the song, George Jackson, there at the studio when we didn’t have anything else to do. It was a great demo, along with some others we cut that day. Seger liked the song so much he tried to cut it himself, but after numerous tries, with the Swampers and with his band, he finally gave up. He and Punch Andrews decided to buy the demo track from us and put his vocal on it, and that ended up being the record. It’s a classic. We also did ‘Night Moves,’ ‘Katmandu,’ and several more that were on the Silver Bullet Band LP. So the classic ‘Old Time’ was in reality a demo we cut on the writer a couple of years earlier. We had been recording with Bob for some time by then. We knew that Bob didn’t really cut other people’s stuff very much, but we thought, well, there’s a chance. So we sent it to Bob. He liked it, wanted to make a couple of changes to make it suit him a little bit more. So he came back in and re-recorded the song with us and also recorded it with his band, the Silver Bullet Band, and it just never came off. And so he ended up putting his voice on our demo, the demo that we had done at our Studio B with George Jackson. They just took George’s voice off, put Bob’s voice on there, and that’s the hit record.”
THE SONG TOOK OFF AFTER IT WAS FEATURED IN THE MOVIE RISKY BUSINESS. AS FOR SEGER’S FEELING ON HIS SONG BEING CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH AN UNDERWEAR CLAD TOM CRUISE, SEGERE SAYS HE “GETS A KICK OUT OF IT”
HERE’S SEGER PERFORMING THE SONG FOR A HOMETOWN CROWD IN DETROIT IN 1983.
