LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 23, 2020…FORTY YEARS AGO JOURNEY RELEASED THEIR SIXTH ALBUM ‘DEPARTURE’. THE ALBUM HAD AN EDGIER SOUND THAN PREVIOUS JOURNEY ALBUMS AND WAS THE BAND’S MOST SUCCESSFUL TO DATE, HITTING AS HIGH AS #8 ON BILLBOARD’S TOP TEN ALBUM CHART. THE ALBUM’S SUCCESS WAS FUELED BY THE SUCCESS OF THE SINGLE ‘ANYWAY YOU WANT IT’ AND ‘WALKS LIKE A LADY.’ ‘DEPARTURE’ IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE IT MARKED THE LAST FULL TIME STUDIO APPEARANCE OF FOUNDING MEMBER GREGG ROLIE. ROLIE HAD DECIDED TO LEAVE THE BAND (ON GOOD TERMS)AND LEFT AFTER EVEN HELPING TO HAND-PICK HIS SUCCESSOR JONATHAN CAIN, WHO WAS AT THE TIME A MEMBER OF THE BABY’S
I’M GOING TO TAKE YOU TO THE “WAY-BACK MACHINE” AND RETURN TO 1980 WITH JOURNEY’S VIDEO FOR ‘ANYWAY YOU WANT IT’
LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 23, 2020.. TWENTY ONE YEARS AGO THE RED ROCKER RELEASED THE ALBUM ‘RED VOODOO’. THERE IS SUCH A GREAT PARTY FEEL TO THIS ALBUM. WHEN HAGAR FINISHED IN SUPPORT OF HIS ‘MARCHING TO MARS ALBUM’ HE WENT STRAIGHT INTO THE STUDIO TO RECORD THIS RECORD. I THINK PART OF THE REASON THIS ALBUM HAS SUCH A GOOD VIBE TO IT IS HE RECORDED IT WITH THE WABORITAS. ALONG WITH SAMMY, THE BAND INCLUDED THE GREAT DAVE LAUSER ON DRUMS, JESSE HARMS ON KEYBOARDS, VIC JOHNSON ON GUITAR, AND MONA GNADER ON BASS. THE BIG SONG ON THE ALBUM WAS ‘MAS TEQUILA’. IN THE SONG HAGAR SINGS ABOUT A TRIP TO MEXICO, WHERE HE HAS SOME GOOD TIMES ENJOYING SOME SHOTS OF HIS FAVORITE BEVERAGE , HIS “VITAMIN T.” HAGAR IS SERIOUS ABOUT HIS “VITAMIN T” OR TEQUILA. IN 1996 HE FOUNDED CABO WABO TEQUILA. WHEN HAGAR HAD IT IMPORTED INTO THE USA, IT BECAME A POPULAR PREMIUM BRAND. IN 2007, HAGAR SOLD 80% OF THE COMPANY TO CAMPARI FOR $80 MILLION DOLLARS. HE SOLD THEM THE REST OF HIS STAKE IN THE COMPANY FOR ANOTHER $11 MILLION.
HERE’S SAMMY PERFORMING ‘MAS TEQUILA’ FROM HIS BAR IN CABO
LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 22, 2020…BACK IN 1974 THE EAGLES RELEASED THEIR 3RD STUDIO ALBUM ‘ON THE BORDER’. HERE ARE SOME QUICK NOTES ON THE ALBUM:
-THREE SINGLES WERE RELEASED FROM THE RECORD ‘ALREADY GONE’ ‘JAMES DEAN’ AND ‘BEST OF MY LOVE’
-THE SINGLE ‘BEST OF MY LOVE’ WAS #1 ON BOTH THE BILLBOARD HOT 100 AND ADULT CONTEMPORARY CHART
-‘ON THE BORDER REACHED #17 ON THE BILLBOARD TOP 200 LP’s CHART
-FOR THIS ALBUM, GLENN FREY INSISTED THE BAND BRING IN GUITARIST DON FELDER TO ADD SLIDE GUITAR TO THE SONG ‘GOOD DAY IN HELL’. THE BAND INVITED FELDER TO BECOME THE FIFTH EAGLE. THEY CREDITED HIM AS A LATE ARRIVAL ON THE ALBUM’S LINER NOTES
-’ON THE BORDER’ HAS NOW SOLD THREE MILLION COPIES AND COUNTING
HERE’S A PERFORMANCE OF ‘BEST OF MY LOVE’ FROM 1977. THE HARMONIES WILL BLOW YOU AWAY
LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 22, 2020…IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT 43 YEARS AGO AEROSMITH RELEASED ‘BACK IN THE SADDLE’ THEIR FIRST SINGLE FROM THE ALBUM ‘ROCKS.’ STEVEN TYLER DECIDED TO USE THE TERM “BACK IN THE SADDLE” AS A WAY OF DECLARING THE BAND WAS BACK WITH A NEW ALBUM AND WAS READY TO ROCK HARD. TYLER ALWAYS THOUGHT “BACK IN THE SADDLE” MEANT HAVING SEX WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND MORE THAN ONCE IN A NIGHT, SO HE WROTE THE SONG ABOUT A COWBOY RIDING INTO TOWN TO SATISFY HIS SEXUAL URGES. HE WROTE THE SONG IN THE STAIRWELL OF THE RECORD PLANT RECORDING STUDIO, WHERE HE WOULD OFTEN WRITE ONCE THE TRACK WAS MUSICALLY FINISHED. THE MAIN RIFF OF THE SONG WAS COMPOSED BY GUITARIST JOE PERRY ON A 6 STRING BASS HE HAD RECENTLY PURCHASED. PERRY SAYS HE WAS “LYING ON THE FLOOR STONED ON HEROIN” WHEN HE CAME UP WITH THE RIFF. THIS WAS THE FIRST TRACK ON THE ALBUM ‘ROCKS’. AFTER THE BAND PUT THE TRACK TOGETHER AROUND JOE PERRY’S RIFF, THEY KNEW IT HAD TO BE THE OPENER FOR ‘ROCKS.’ THIS VERSION IS A LITTLE GRAINY, BUT IT’S AEROSMITH PERFORMING THE SONG IN CONCERT ON THEIR 1977 TOUR IN SUPPORT OF THE ALBUM ‘ROCKS’
LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 22, 2020…ON THIS DATE 9 YEARS AGO BABY HUEY BOUGHT A SPOOGE TOWEL AND THEN HE BOUGHT THE NEW GREEN DAY ALBUM ‘AWESOME AS F**K’ , OR ‘AWESOME:LIVE.’ THE ALBUM IS COMPOSED OF TRACKS RECORDED DURING GREEN DAY’S ‘21ST CENTURY BREAKDOWN WORLD TOUR’ IN SUPPORT OF THEIR 8TH STUDIO ALBUM ‘21ST CENTURY BREAKDOWN’. THE GROUP RECORDED EVERY SHOW ON THE TOUR, AND WHEN THE TOUR WAS OVER, ARMSTRONG, DIRNT, AND COOL SORTED THROUGH EVERY PERFORMANCE TO PUT THE VIDEO AND ALBUM TOGETHER. THE ALBUM INCLUDED A DVD OF A FULL SHOW RECORDED IN JAPAN.
LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 21, 2020…EDDIE MONEY WAS BORN ON THIS DATE IN 1949 SO THAT MEANS TODAY HE WOULD HAVE BEEN 71. ORIGINALLY FROM NEW YORK, MONEY MOVED TO BERKELEY IN THE 70’S TO PURSUE A CAREER IN MUSIC. IN THE LATE 70’S HE SCORED HUGE HITS WITH ‘BABY HOLD ON’ AND ‘TWO TICKETS TO PARADISE’ CONTINUED CHART SUCCESS THOUGH THE MID 1980’S. MONEY STILL TOURS AND RECENTLY DID A GEICO COMMERCIAL AND LAUNCHED THE REALITY TV SERIES “REAL MONEY” BASED ON HIS AND HIS FAMILY’S LIFE. EDDIE PASSED AWAY LAST YEAR ON SEPTEMBER 13TH IN A LOS ANGELES HOSPITAL AT THE AGE OF 70. THREE WEEKS EARLIER HE HAD BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH STAGE 4 ESOPHAGEAL CANCER.
HERE’S ONE OF HIS BEST…HERE’S EDDIE MONEY IN CONCERT. RIP EDDIE. YOU TRULY ARE MISSED BY YOUR FRIENDS IN THE BAY AREA.
LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 21, 2020…THIRTY SEVEN YEARS AGO PINK FLOYD RELEASED THEIR 12TH STUDIO ALBUM ‘THE FINAL CUT.’ FOLLOWING THE RELEASE OF THIS ALBUM, ROGER WATERS ANNOUNCED HE WAS LEAVING THE BAND, AND LATER ATTEMPTED TO KEEP DAVID GILMOUR AND NICK MASON FROM USING THE PINK FLOYD NAME. IT’S ALSO THE FIRST ALBUM NOT FEATURE KEYBOARDIST RICHARD WRIGHT. THE RECORDING SESSIONS FOR ‘THE FINAL CUT’ WERE FILLED WITH BAND INFIGHTING. A GOOD MAJORITY OF THE ALBUM WAS LEFTOVER MATERIAL FROM ‘THE WALL’ RECORDING SESSIONS. THE FINAL CUT IS AN ANTIWAR ALBUM. ROGER WATERS WROTE THE ALBUM WITH MOST OF THE ALBUM CONVEYING THE CONCEPT OF THE BETRAYAL OF FALLEN SOLDIERS, SUCH AS HIS FATHER, WHO SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES DURING WORLD WAR 2 IN THE SPIRIT OF A POST WAR DREAM. THE POST WAR DREAM WAS ONE IN WHICH VICTORY WOULD USHER IN A MORE PEACEFUL WORLD, WHOSE LEADERS WOULD NO LONGER BE SO EAGER TO SOLVE DISPUTES BY RESORTING TO WAR. ‘THE FINAL CUT’ SOLD OVER 2 MILLION COPIES.
LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 20, 2020…THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST TRAGIC STORIES I’VE EVER HEARD. AS A PARENT ONE CAN’T IMAGINE THE GRIEF ERIC CLAPTON EXPERIENCED. ON THIS DATE IN 1991, ERIC CLAPTON’S 4 YEARS OLD SON, CONOR, DIED AFTER FALLING FROM A 53 STORY APARTMENT WINDOW THAT WAS LEFT OPEN BY A CLEANING WOMAN. AT THE TIME OF HIS SON’S DEATH, CLAPTON WAS PREPARING TO LEAVE HIS HOTEL TO PICK UP HIS SON FROM THE HIGH RISE CONDOMINIUM OF CONOR’S MOTHER, ITALIAN ACTRESS LORY DEL SANTO. ACCORDING TO A REPORT ON FOX NEWS: “He was enchanted by Conor, He had become a companion. Not quite a baby, but more of a boy. Eric was waiting to take him out that day… Conor would normally run into the room and press his nose against the glass of the window. But it wasn’t there that day. He just went out. It was the most dreadful, horrible, unimaginable tragedy.”
IN AN INTERVIEW WITH MOJO, CLAPTON SAID CONOR’S DEATH : “threw me into … a wobble,” and in the immediate aftermath of the accident, he coped by throwing himself into his work — most notably by contributing a trio of new songs to the soundtrack of the 1991 movie Rush, including “Tears in Heaven,” the Grammy-winning hit ballad inspired by the immense grief of his loss.
LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 20, 2020…ON THIS DATE IN 1969, JOHN LENNON MARRIED YOKO ONO. THE TWO MET IN NOVEMBER OF 1966 AT AN ART SHOW. LENNON WAS MARRIED TO HIS FIRST WIFE CYNTHIA. THEY WERE WED IN 1962 AND HAD 1 CHILD TOGETHER, JULIAN. AFTER YEARS OF JOHN’S CHEATING, SHE FILED FOR DIVORCE IN AUGUST OF 1968. ONCE THE DIVORCE WAS FINAL, JOHN AND YOKO PLANNED ON GETTING MARRIED. THE ORIGINAL PLAN WAS TO GET MARRIED ON THE WAY TO PARIS. ACCORDING TO JOHN LENNON: “We wanted to get married on a cross-channel ferry – that was the romantic part,” Lennon said in the Beatles’ Anthology documentary. “We went to Southampton and then we couldn’t get on because she wasn’t English, and she couldn’t get the day visa to go across. They said, “Anyway, you can’t get married. The Captain’s not allowed to do it any more.”
THE SONG THE BALLAD OF JOHN AND YOKO LAID OUT THE JOURNEY OF LENNON’S AND YOKO’S MARRIAGE: “Finally made the plane into Paris, honeymooning down by the Seine. [Apple assistant] Peter Brown called to say, you can make it okay; you can get married in Gibraltar near Spain.” The couple arrived at the British Consulate Office there, and they were married in a 10-minute ceremony performed by registrar Cecil Wheeler. Since Gibraltar was a British colony, and Lennon a British citizen, there was no issue. THEIR WEDDING TOOK PLACE A WEEK AFTER PAUL MCCARTNEY MARRIED LINDA. FOR THEIR HONEYMOON, THE COUPLE STAGED THE FAMOUS “BED IN.” AFTER HIS MARRIAGE TO YOKO, JOHN LENNON CHANGED HIS NAME TO JOHN ONO LENNON.
LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 19, 2020…ON MARCH 19,1971 EVERY KID I KNEW STARTED STARTED SINGING “SNOTS RUNNING DOWN HIS NOSE” BECAUSE IT WAS THE DAY JETHRO TULL RELEASED THEIR FOURTH ALBUM ‘AQUALUNG.’ THE ALBUM ‘AQUALUNG’ WAS A TURNING POINT IN THE BAND’S CAREER.
THE SONG ‘AQUALUNG’ IS JETHRO TULL’S MOST FAMOUS SONG, BUT IT WAS NEVER RELEASED AS A SINGLE. THE STRATEGY WORKED BECAUSE THE ALBUM ENDED UP SELLING MORE THAN 7 MILLION COPIES. THE SONG IS ABOUT A HOMELESS MAN WITH POOR HYGIENE. IAN ANDERSON MADE UP THE CHARACTER BASED ON ACTUAL PHOTOS OF TRANSIENT MEN. ANDERSON SAID THE SONG IS; “a guilt-ridden song of confusion about how you deal with beggars, the homeless.”
HE GAVE THE CHARACTER THE NAME “AQUALUNG” BECAUSE OF THE GURGLING SOUND OF UNDERWATER GEAR. HE FELT THAT’S THE WAY THE CHARACTER WOULD SOUND WHEN HE WAS BREATHING. UNFORTUNATELY ANDERSON DID NOT KNOW THE TERM AQUALUNG WAS A BRAND NAME, AND NOT A GENERIC PHRASE. THE ISSUE WAS SETTLED OUT OF COURT. THE SONG ‘CROSS EYED MARY’ WAS A HUGE SINGLE FROM THE RECORD. IT’S THE SECOND TRACK ON THE ALBUM AND THE SONG IS ABOUT A “SCHOOL GIRL PROSTITUTE TYPE” THAT LIVES A WRETCHED EXISTENCE AND OFFERS HER SERVICES TO THE DREGS OF SOCIETY. SHE’S KIND OF A ROBIN HOOD PROSTITUTE WHO MAKES AS MUCH MONEY AS SHE CAN FROM THE CUSTOMERS THAT CAN AFFORD IT, BUT WOULD GIVE AWAY HER SERVICES FOR FREE TO THOSE WHO CAN’T PAY.” ANOTHER HUGE SONG FROM THE RECORD WAS ‘LOCOMOTIVE BREATH.’ ACCORDING TO ANDERSON IT DEALS WITH OVERCROWDING WITH THE TRAN BEING AN “incessant unstoppable locomotive being metaphor for seemingly the unstoppable population expansion on planet Earth. When I look at it today, it does, for me, become very crystallized in being a song about unmanageable population expansion.”
HERE’S A GREAT LIVE VERSION OF LOCOMOTIVE BREATH
HERE’S JETHRO TULL PERFORMING THE TITLE TRACK AQUALUNG FROM A SHOW IN 1978
