Joyeux le quatorze juillet!!Today is France’s Independence Day and we here at DFD are celebrating La Fête Nationale with the lead off track from Rush’s 1975 album Caress Of Steel.For those of you used to the more glossy and polished sound from their early ‘80s hits, this rawer, more hard-hitting approach was characteristic of the young band and their early singles, like “Fly By Night,”and albums like 2112.“Bastille Day” was not part of one of their prog rock concept songs that they were known for, but stood on its own, giving drummer/lyricist Neil Pert’s impression of what happened during that fateful time in Paris.
In honor of the late Ronnie James Dio, today we give you “Man On The Silver Mountain.”This track reaches back to Dio’s earlier music career with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, but we could have easily picked any number of classic tracks from his earth shattering days with Black Sabbath, Elf, Dio, and Heaven & Hell.Thank you Ronnie for nearly 50 years of true rock ‘n’ roll.Today our horns are flying at half-mast.
Manfred Mann has become a consummate interpreter of songs, many of which have been his biggest hits. Here is one that I’ve dug for many years. Manfred takes a short folkish Joan Armatrading/Pam Nestor song from Joan’s first album and turns it into a moody keyboard driven prog dirge that sticks with you long after the song is over. Add in the guitar playing of Mick Rogers and you got the perfect recipe for how Manfred Mann can make almost any song his own.
“Kiss and Say Goodbye” could easily stand as the manifesto artistico of Damn Fine Day. Up until their 1975 self-titled debut album, Canadian sisters/chanteuses Kate & Anna McGarrigle served as a cherished secret wellspring of songs, covered by Linda Ronstadt, Maria Muldaur, Emmylou Harris and others. “Kiss and Say Goodbye,” written by Kate (mother of Rufus and Martha Wainwright, by the way), sweetly, meticulously dreams of not just a damn fine day, but the Perfect Day: meet at the airport, catch a film from gay Paree, grab dinner for two in some eastside rendezvous, walk around the block hand in hand, and kiss ’til your mouth gets numb. Backed by a crack studio band featuring Lowell George on guitar and Bobby Keys on saxophone, the McGarrigles’ joyously warbling harmonies paint the everyday contours of domestic and romantic bliss with wit, sophistication, and a dash of sarcasm to leaven the mix. It ain’t easy to swing on a star and catch moonbeams in a jar, but that’s the McGarrigles’ metier artistique.
Bob Marley has been embraced the world over for his message of peace, love, and music. Ranked #11 on Rolling Stone’s list of “The Greatest Artists of All Time”, Marley made a lasting mark on not only Black history but music history as well. Amongst the tumultuous times of the 60’s and the 70’s, which were rich with racial discrimination and cultural intolerance, Bob became a voice of compassion.Like the good Dr. King, he did not fight with anger against hate, instead demonstrated perseverance in the face of people who did not believe in the unity of all humanity. “Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)”, recorded live in 1975, asks you to forget your troubles and dance. So today, “emancipate yourself” and just dance.
Film producer Sig Shore brought the world Superfly in 1972. In 1975, he stepped behind the camera for That’s The Way Of The World, a movie that starred a young Harvey Keitel, and featured rising R&B act Earth Wind & Fire. E,W&F played “The Group”, a band caught in the middle of record company politics with Keitel as the producer who believes in and fights for them. And the music. The soundtrack, provided by Maurice White and the band, was released as Earth, Wind & Fire’s 6th album and went Gold almost immediately – eventually selling over 3 million copies. In addition to hits like “Shining Star,” “Reasons” and the title cut, it included dazzling tracks like “Happy Feelin’”, which features Maurice White on kalimba, an African thumb piano. (Kalimba is also the name of White’s production company.) Kalimba is a Bantu word which means “little music”, but there’s nothing little about E,W&F or this song. And, even though the album was a smash, the film disappeared into obscurity. That’s the way of the world, I guess…
This graceful & meditative track from Morrison Hotel conjures up memories of balmy New England afternoons in late October. One can feel the crunch of leaves underfoot and know that summer has lingered just long enough to make you miss her all the more, as the impending frost approaches. Sorry to get all Walt Whitman on this bitch, but goddamn it, I love this song! Jim’s gentle singing and Robby’s glistening arpeggios are truly sublime. Fun Fact: Even though “Indian Summer” appears on Morrison Hotel, the backing track harkens from the self-titled first album sessions. Jim went on to re-record his vocal and the rest is history. Oh, and happy birthday to you, Mr. Mojo Risin’!
Tommy Bolin usually plays with a raw level of excitement that sets his music on fire, however, this particular cut is one of his more mellow tracks.“Savannah Woman” features Bolin on guitar, Prairie Prince (Tubes) on drums, Phil Collins on percussion, and Paul Stallworth on bass.A short but sweet tune flavored with a tasty guitar solo courtesy of Mr. Bolin.
Originally recorded with one set of musicians for the soundtrack album for the film Performance, and then re-cut soon after by members of The Rolling Stones and released later on the uneven 1975 outtakes collection Metamorphosis, “Memo From Turner” is a nasty, gut-wrenching blues-inspired number from Mick Jagger and Keith Richards that’s steeped in attitude. The version featured today is the original from the soundtrack with Ry Cooder on bottleneck slide, Jim Capaldi on drums, and Steve Winwood on bass.Happy Monday!
There are songs that pleasantly pass by and others that make you stop what you’re doing, inhale deeply, and just listen. This instrumental from the Doobies’ fifth album, Stampede, is one of those numbers. Pat Simmons penned the short but sweet tune and it has been a concert staple for the band ever since. Interestingly, the song’s correct title—“Slack Key Soquel Rag”—would not be seen for over 20 years, until the track was included on 1996’s Rockin’ Down The Highway—The Wildlife Concert. Even its appearance on the band’s 1983 Farewell Tour LP still carried the “Slat.” But, who really cares? It’s beautiful however you choose to spell it. Okay? Now, exhale . . .
Brazilian Tropicalia cofounder (with Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil), self-proclaimed “cultural cannibal,” and inveterate experimental prankster Tom Zé managed to trump even himself with his supremely strange proto-industrial instrumental track “Toc.” Originally released on Zé’s 1976 LP Estudando O Samba LP, “Toc” features Zé’s trademark pin-prick guitar, nattering percussion, and honking horns, uniquely accompanied by an instrument of Zé’s own invention: a precariously balanced wooden cabinet shelved with blenders, vacuum cleaners, floor polishers, and other home appliances wired to a “keyboard” constructed of doorbells that rang the machines off and on. If Martha Stewart were to drop acid before whipping up some yummy key-lime empanadas, it might sound something like this.
Fans who purchased 1975’s The Hissing Of Summer Lawns expecting a sequel to Court And Spark were in for a surprise: Joni Mitchell’s interpolation of jazz and other genres into her songwriting had taken a quantum leap forward. There are cuts on the album that sound more startling (the Burundi drums of “The Jungle Line”), but the opening shot was fired by this ditty, featuring guitar by Steely Dan/Doobie Brothers alumnus Jeff Baxter and backing vocals from Graham Nash, David Crosby, and James Taylor. You know that magic trick where the conjurer goes to extract a single scarf out of his or her sleeve, but they just keep coming, forming an endless rainbow of fabric? The seamless fashion in which this nostalgic lyric about the early days of rock ’n’ roll, and the winding melody it rides astride, unfurls in similarly mesmerizing fashion—while seeming deceptively effortless.
In 1974 Led Zeppelin was hard at work with what would become the monumental double-album, Physical Graffiti, a collection of newly written songs plus others that never made it onto Houses Of The Holy or Led Zeppelin III and IV. In a 1975 Rolling Stone interview, Robert Plant said the lyrics came from a relationship he’d been in years before joining Zeppelin. His girlfriend, whom he really loved, told him he had to choose between a life with her or “his fans.” As he told Cameron Crowe, “She’s quite content these days, I imagine. . . . We wouldn’t have anything to say anymore. . . .Ten years gone, I’m afraid.”
