Lamont

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-APR 16, 2020- ON THIS DATE IN 1987, THINGS WERE GETTING REAL UGLY IN THE PINK FLOYD CAMP. ROGER WATERS HAD LEFT THE BAND, AND THE REMAINING MEMBERS DECIDED TO CARRY ON WITHOUT HIM. SO ON THIS DATE TO ESCALATE THE BATTLE, ROGER WATERS ATTORNEY’S ISSUED A STATEMENT THAT ROGER WATERS BELIEVED HIMSELF TO BE THE CREATIVE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND PINK FLOYD, AND THEREFORE HE WOULD CONTEST THE USE OF THE NAME BY ANYONE ELSE AND ANY FORMER MEMBERS OF PINK FLOYD. HERE’S VIDEO FROM THE BAND’S REUNION CONCERT IN 2005 WHEN THEY PUT ASIDE ALL THE PETTY B.S. AND MADE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC ONCE AGAIN.

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-APR 16, 2020-29 YEARS AGO TEMPLE OF THE DOG RELEASED THE SELF TITLED ALBUM ‘TEMPLE OF THE DOG.’ TEMPLE OF THE DOG WAS A SUPERGROUP PUT TOGETHER BY CHRIS CORNELL IN 1990. CORNELL FORMED THE BAND IN HONOR OF HIS FRIEND ANDREW WOOD WHO DIED OF A HEROIN OVERDOSE. WOOD WAS KEPT ALIVE FOR 3 DAYS ON LIFE SUPPORT, AND WHEN CORNELL AND HIS BANDMATES WENT TO VISIT HIM THEY THOUGHT THAT A ONE OFF ALBUM WOULD BE A FITTING TRIBUTE. THE ALBUM WOULD CONTAIN WOOD’S SOLO SONGS, ALONG WITH 2 SONGS WRITTEN BY CORNELL. RESPONDING TO CONCERNS THAT THEY WERE SOMEHOW EXPLOITING WOOD’S WORK, THEY DECIDED INSTEAD TO RELEASE AN ALBUM OF ALL ORIGINAL MATERIAL, AND CALLED THE PROJECT ‘TEMPLE OF THE DOG.’ ‘HUNGER STRIKE’ WAS THE LAST SONG RECORDED FOR THE ALBUM ON THE DAY EDDIE VEDDER FLEW IN TO SEATTLE TO MEET HIS NEW BANDMATES IN WHAT WOULD BECOME PEARL JAM. CORNELL HAD HOPED TO SING THE HIGH AND LOW PARTS OF THE SONG HIMSELF AND JUST OVERDUB THE VOCALS. BUT HE WAS STRUGGLING WITH THE LOW REGISTER. VEDDIE STEPPED UP TO THE MICROPHONE AND IT MADE IT CLICK FOR CORNELL. IT ALSO MARKED THE FIRST RECORDED VOCAL FOR VEDDER ON A MAJOR RECORD. IT WAS THE FIRST SONG RELEASE FROM THE PROJECT AND WENT TO NUMBER 4 ON BILLBOARD’S CHARTS.

A TOUCHING TRIBUTE TO WOOD WAS WRITTEN BY CORNELL. IT WAS CALLED ‘SAY HELLO TO HEAVEN’ AND WAS THE SECOND SINGLE RELEASE FROM THE PROJECT. IT WAS A HUGE SUCCESS, HITTING NUMBER 5 ON THE ROCK CHARTS. HERE’S THE VIDEO FOR ‘SAY HELLO TO HEAVEN’

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-APRIL 15, 2020…TODAY MARKS THE 46TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE RELEASE OF LYNYRD SKYNYRD’S EPIC ALBUM ‘SECOND HELPING.’ AS THE FOLLOW UP TO SKYNYRD’S DEBUT, IT HELPED ESTABLISH THE GROUP AS ONE OF THE TOP ROCK ACTS OF THE 70’S. THE ALBUM FEATURES TRACKS ‘WORKIN’ FOR MCA’ ‘THE NEEDLE AND THE SPOON’ ‘DON’T ASK ME NO QUESTIONS’ ‘CALL ME THE BREEZE’ AND THE GROUP’S BIGGEST HIT, THE ANTHEM ‘SWEET HOME ALABAMA.’ THE ALBUM WENT DOUBLE PLATINUM, AND IN TERMS OF STREAMING,  ‘SWEET HOME ALABAMA’ IS THE 6TH MOST STREAMED SONG OF THE 70’S WITH A 73 MILLION LEAD OVER THE RUNNER UP. HERE’S SKYNYRD WITH A LIVE VERSION FROM 1977’S “A DAY ON THE GREEN” 

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-APR 14, 2020- YOU WANNA FEEL OLD !? IT WAS 38 YEARS AGO VAN HALEN RELEASED THEIR 5TH STUDIO ALBUM ‘DIVER DOWN.’ I FREAKIN’ LOVE THIS ALBUM, HOWEVER THE CRITIC’S CRAPPED ALL OVER THE BAND BECAUSE IT CONTAINED FIVE COVER SONGS. I SAY THE CRITICS CAN SUCK IT !!  ‘DIVER DOWN’ SPENT OVER A YEAR ON THE CHARTS AND TO DATE HAS SOLD OVER 5 MILLION COPIES. HERE’S SOME DIVER DOWN TRIVIA-

1-The instrumental track “Intruder” was written as a kind of filler. The band put together the video for “(Oh) Pretty Woman” but the clip was too long so the band added “Intruder” to put before “(Oh) Pretty Woman” and run at the beginning of the video so the film they made would fit.                                                                                                                                                                                              2-The video for the band’s cover of “(Oh) Pretty Woman” is one of the first to get banned by MTV. The network shunning it because in it, two little people appear to molest a woman, who is actually a drag queen.                                                                                    3-The album opens with a cover of The Kinks’ “Where Have All the Good Times Gone,” Van Halen’s second time doing a Kinks cover – their first was “You Really Got Me” on their 1978 debut. David Lee Roth said the group could have done any number of Kinks songs since they knew tons of them and played them nightly when they had club gigs.
4-Eddie thought “Cathedral” sounded like a Catholic church organ, so that’s how the song got its name.
5-The lyrics to the song “Secrets” came from greeting cards and get-well cards that David bought in Albuquerque, New Mexico that were written in the style of American Indian poetry.
6-“The Full Bug” got its title from a saying that originates from killing a cockroach by stepping on it. The goal is to step on the whole thing, to get the “full bug,” and according to Roth, it means to make the maximum effort.
7-Roth said that “Happy Trails” was included in the album because they wanted to do “something wonderful and different.            8-The cover art for the album features a “diver down” flag, which is used when a scuba diver is underwater in the area.                    9-The photo of the band on the back cover of the album was taken while they were on stage at the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando on October 24, 1981. During that time they were the opening act for The Rolling Stones.                                                                                       10-The album is one of Eddie Van Halen’s least favorites because it features five covers. He once said, “I’d rather have a bomb with one of my songs than a hit with someone else’s.”

OKAY, EVERYBODY BUT EDDIE CAN SUCK IT !! I STILL LOVE THIS ALBUM. HERE’S ‘INTRUDER/DIVER DOWN’ FROM VAN HALEN (AND NO THAT IS NOT EDDIE MONEY AS QUASIMODO)