LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-JAN 6, 2020…SAMMY HAGAR RELEASED THE ALBUM ‘STANDING HAMPTON’ ON THIS DATE IN 1982. IT WAS ORIGINALLY GOING TO BE TITLED ‘THERE’S ONLY ONE WAY TO ROCK’ UNTIL AN ENGLISH FAN TOLD HIM THE TERM ‘HAMPTON’ IS SLANG FOR THE WORD PENIS.THUS, ‘STANDING HAMPTON’ WAS THE NEW ALBUM TITLE ! THIS WAS SAMMY’S SIXTH STUDIO ALBUM AND HIS FIRST ALBUM FOR GEFFEN RECORDS. ‘STANDING HAMPTON’ WAS SAMMY’S FIRST EVER ALBUM TO GO PLATINUM, AND IT SPAWNED 5 HIT SINGLES. ONE OF MY FAVORITE HAGAR SONGS WAS ON THIS ALBUM, AND HERE’S SAMMY WITH A LIVE VERSION.

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-JAN 6, 2020-SOME CALL IT THE GREATEST LIVE ALBUM EVER RECORDED. FORTY FOUR YEARS AGO PETER FRAMPTON RELEASED THE DOUBLE LIVE ALBUM ‘FRAMPTON COMES ALIVE!.’ THE ALBUM WAS RECORDED PRIMARILY AT THE WINTERLAND CONCERT VENUE IN SF. IT WAS THE NUMBER ONE ALBUM IN AMERICA FOR OVER 10 STRAIGHT WEEKS AND STAYED ON THE CHARTS FOR A WHOPPING 97 WEEKS, SELLING OVER AN ESTIMATED 11 MILLION COPIES. IN 1976 ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE READERS VOTED ‘FRAMPTON COMES ALIVE!’ AS THE ALBUM OF THE YEAR. HERE’S A TREAT, FRAMPTON PERFORMING ‘DO YOU FEEL LIKE WE DO’ IN THE SUMMER OF 1977 AT THE OAKLAND COLISEUM. MAYBE YOU’LL SPOT YOURSELF OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IN THE CROWD.

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-JAN 5, 2020-FIFTY ONE YEARS AGO CCR RELEASED THE ALBUM ‘BAYOU COUNTRY.’ WHAT’S AMAZING ABOUT CCR IS THIS ALBUM WAS THE FIRST OF THREE ALBUMS THE BAND RELEASED IN 1969 ! ALL THREE ALBUMS WENT PLATINUM. THE BAND’S DEBUT ALBUM IN 1968 CONTAINED THE HIT ‘SUZIE Q’ BUT IT WAS THIS ALBUM THAT TURNED THE BAY AREA BAND INTO SUPERSTARS. ‘BAYOU COUNTRY’ FEATURED WHAT IS ARGUABLY JOHN FOGERTY’S MOST HERALDED SONG ‘PROUD MARY’, AS WELL AS WHAT HE ONCE SAID WAS HIS FAVORITE CCR SONG ‘BORN ON THE BAYOU’. THIS IS A REAL TREAT, HERE’S CCR PERFORMING ‘BORN ON THE BAYOU’ AT WOODSTOCK.

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-JAN 5, 2020- THIRTY TWO YEARS AGO AEROSMITH RELEASED THE SINGLE ‘ANGEL.’ IT WAS THE SECOND SINGLE FROM THEIR COMEBACK ALBUM ‘PERMANENT VACATION’.PRIOR TO THIS RECORD, THE BAND’S PREVIOUS HIT WAS A REMAKE OF ‘COME TOGETHER’ IN 1978. AFTER YEARS OF DRUG ADDICTION, AND POOR RECORD SALES, THE GROUP WAS CONVINCED BY THEIR RECORD COMPANY TO BRING IN OUTSIDE SONG WRITERS. THE FIRST SONG OFF THE ALBUM WAS ‘DUDE(LOOKS LIKE A LADY)’. WHEN THE BAND RELEASED ‘ANGEL’ IT CEMENTED THE GROUP’S COMEBACK, BECOMING AEROSMITH’S BIGGEST CHARTING SONG TO THAT POINT IN THE GROUP’S CAREER. TAKING YOU BACK TO 1988, HERE’S THE OFFICIAL VIDEO FROM AEROSMITH

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-JAN 5, 2020-IT WAS 47 YEARS AGO A YOUNG BAND FROM BOSTON RELEASED THEIR SELF TITLED DEBUT ALBUM. THIS IS THE ALBUM COVER FROM THE FIRST PRESSING OF THE ALBUM. ON THE ORIGINAL COVER, THE SONG ‘WALKIN THE DOG’ WAS MISPRINTINTED AS ‘WALKIN’ THE DIG’. IT WAS ONE OF MANY LITTLE THINGS THAT WENT WRONG WITH THE DEBUT. BAD DISTRIBUTION, POOR RECORD COMPANY SUPPORT AND NOT ENOUGH RADIO PLAY RESULTED IN THE LP INITIALLY BOMBED PEAKING AT # 163 ON THE CHARTS. HOWEVER, IN 1975 AEROSMITH RELEASED THEIR THIRD LP ‘TOYS IN THE ATTIC’ AND THINGS TOOK OFF FOR THE GROUP. THANKS TO THE BAND’S HIGH PROFILE, THE SINGLE ‘DREAM ON’ WAS REISSUED AND IT PEAKED AT # 6 ON THE CHARTS AND THE ALBUM IN 1976 RISING TO # 21 IN 1976. WHEN A SECOND PRESSING WAS ISSUED THE MISSPELLING WAS CORRECTED, AND A NEW COVER WAS ISSUED FEATURING NOTHING BUT THE BAND MEMBERS.

TO DATE AEROSMITH’S DEBUT ALBUM IS THE GROUP’S THIRD BIGGEST SELLING ALBUM. ACCOUNTING FOR STREAMING, DOWNLOADS AND ACTUAL RECORD SALES IT HAS SOLD OVER 16 MILLION COPIES TO DATE

HERE’S A GREAT VERSION OF ‘DREAM ON’

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-JAN 4, 2020...FORTY YEARS AGO THE ROMANTICS RELEASED THEIR SELF TITLED DEBUT ALBUM. THE ALBUM WAS DRIVEN BY THE SONG ‘WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU’. THE SONG CRACKED THE TOP 50 SINGLES ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS. IT LATER BECAME A ROCK ANTHEM WHEN IT WAS FEATURED IN A BUDWEISER BEER AD. IN 1987 THE ROMANTICS SUED THE MAKERS OF ‘GUITAR HERO’ FOR INCLUDING A SOUNDALIKE VERSION ON THEIR GAME. THEY LOST THE CASE IN COURT WITH THE JUDGE RULING THAT THE GAME MAKER HAD TAKEN ALL THE NECESSARY STEPS IN RE-RECORDING IT IN THE MAKING OF THE GAME. HERE’S THE OFFICIAL VIDEO THE ‘WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU’ WITH THE BAND SPORTING BACK PLEATHER OUTFITS.

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-JAN 4, 2020...SAD DAY ON THIS DATE IN 1986. PHIL LYNOTT OF THIN LIZZY PASSED AWAY AT THE AGE OF 36. LYNOTT WAS A FOUNDING MEMBER OF THIN LIZZY, AS WELL AS IT’S MAIN SONGWRITER, SINGER AND BASS PLAYER. IN THE LATE 70’S EARLY 1980’S LYNOTT LEFT THIN LIZZY AND SUFFERED FROM DRUG RELATED PROBLEMS, PARTICULARLY HEROIN. ON XMAS DAY 1985, HIS MOTHER DISCOVERED HIM COMATOSE. HIS GIRLFRIEND KNEW HE WAS ON HEROIN, AND TOOK HIM TO A DRUG CLINIC, WHERE HE WAS THEN TRANSFERRED TO A HOSPITAL AND DIAGNOSED WITH SEPTICAEMIA. HE RECOVERED ENOUGH TO BE PUT ON A VENTILATOR, BUT DIED DAYS LATER AT THE AGE OF 36. THE OFFICIAL CAUSE OF DEATH WAS ‘MULTIPLE INTERNAL ABSCESSES CAUSING BLOOD POISONING LEADING TO KIDNEY, LIVER, AND HEART FAILURE’. THIS STATUE OF PHIL LYNOTT WAS ERECTED IN 2005 ON GRAFTON STREET IN DUBLIN TO COMMEMORATE THE IRISH MUSICIAN. HERE’S THIN LIZZY FROM A TELEVISION APPEARANCE IN THE 70’S.

THE GREATNESS OF THIN LIZZY AND PHIL LYNOTT ON DISPLAY WITH THIS FULL CONCERT FROM 1983.

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-JAN 4, 2020…FIFTY THREE YEARS AGO THE DOORS RELEASED THEIR SELF TITLED DEBUT ALBUM. THE FIRST SINGLE FROM THE ALBUM WAS ‘BREAK ON THROUGH’ AND IT SURPRISINGLY FIZZLED ON THE CHARTS. THE RECORD COMPANY DECIDED TO RELEASE THE SINGLE ‘LIGHT MY FIRE’ BUT CHOPPED IT DOWN FROM THE ALBUM VERSION WHICH CLOCKED IN AT 6:50. THE SINGLE VERSION CUT OUT ALL GUITAR PARTS AND WAS 2:52. AFTER GETTING A TON OF AIRPLAY, DISC JOCKEY’S REFUSED TO PLAY THE SHORT VERSION, AND PLAYED THE LONGER ALBUM VERSION. ‘LIGHT MY FIRE’ CATAPULTED THE GROUP INTO INSTANT STARDOM. THIS WAS THE GROUP’S BIGGEST SELLING ALBUM, SELLING OVER 13 MILLION COPIES IN 1967 AND WHAT’S EVEN MORE MIND BLOWING IS IT WAS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL ALBUM OF 1969, EVEN BIGGER THAN THE BEATLES ‘SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND.’ ACCOUNTING FOR STREAMING, DOWNLOADS AND ACTUAL SALES, THE DOORS DEBUT HAS NOW SOLD OVER 38.9 MILLION COPIES. THIS ALBUM WAS INDUCTED INTO THE GRAMMY HALL OF FAME IN 2007. HERE’S A FANTASTIC LIVE VERSION OF ‘LIGHT MY FIRE’

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-JAN 4, 2020-NIRVANA SIGNED WITH GEFFEN RECORDS ON THIS DAY IN 1991. PRIOR TO SIGNING WITH GEFFEN, THE BAND RELEASED THEIR FIRST ALBUM ‘BLEACH’ THROUGH AN INDEPENDENT RECORD LABEL. THEIR FIRST ALBUM FOR GEFFEN WAS ‘NEVERMIND’. TAKING INTO ACCOUNT STREAMING, DOWNLOADS AND ACTUAL ALBUM SALES ‘NEVERMIND’ HAS NOW SOLD OVER 52 MILLION COPIES WORLDWIDE AND HAD BEEN CALLED ONE OF THE GREAT ROCK ALBUMS. NIRVANA HAS SOLD OVER 89 MILLION ALBUMS WORLDWIDE AND IS THE HIGHEST SELLING ACT WITH 4 ALBUMS OR LESS. ‘NEVERMIND’ IS THE SECOND BEST SELLING STUDIO ALBUM OF THE 90’S BY A GROUP. IT IS ONLY TOPPED BY METALLICA’S ‘BLACK ALBUM.’

HERE’S THE FIRST SINGLE RELEASED FROM ‘NEVERMIND’

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-JAN 3, 2020-HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO STEPHEN STILLS.TODAY HE TURNS 75. STEPHEN STILLS IS KNOWN FOR HIS SOLO CAREER AND HIS WORK IN ‘BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD’ , CROSBY STILLS AND NASH, AND CROSBY STILLS, NASH AND YOUNG. STILLS’ SOLO CAREER AND GROUP SALES ARE OVER 35 MILLION ALBUMS. QUICK TRIVIA, HIS FIRST SOLO ALBUM AFTER LEAVING C,S,N & Y IS THE ONLY ALBUM TO FEATURE BOTH JIMI HENDRIX AND ERIC CLAPTON ON GUITAR ON THE SAME ALBUM. THIS IS A SPECTACULAR VH1 DOCUMENTARY ON CSN&Y. ENJOY

photo thanks-Eva Rinaldi