The Band- Stage Fright

Yes, it has come to this. 1970 and Capitol Records. I paid $10 for this as it was from The Band.

If I knew this was a popular song, I would have posted another but here we are in the final days so here is ” The Shape I’m In” which reminds me just how much I am going to miss run in sentences when this is done.

The Shape I’m In

Black Oak Arkansas- Live Mutha

I have several Black Oak Arkansas records which I have saved for Saturday consideration. Not sure why this one made the list. Atco Records. 1976. $4.

Decent record. Actually, a little more than decent. Not sure why I waited til the very end for these guys, but better late than never. Here is ” Fancy Nancy”. If the title does not give it away, this is a live album.

Fancy Nancy

The Rolling Stones- 12 x 5

I truly thought my birthday would be on a Saturday this year so you can imagine how disappointed I was to find out last week ( it is Feb 28 at time of writing) that it was on Sunday, Had to back track all those Saturday night plans. Regardless, let us celebrate whatever now with this early record from the Stones ( their 2nd US effort) , which came out in 1964 ( before “Satisfaction” broke”. I paid $8 for this from London Records.

Really heavy on R & B and does not sound like the Stones we know today. For a sample, here is their take on “Under The Boardwalk”.

Under the Boardwalk

The Doors- Other Voices

Between wanting to finish this blog, borrowing WI-FI ( Thank You Maple Leaf) and the fact that this is Saturday, we are goign to fly thru this with even faster speed than normal. Elektra Records. 1971. Ever wonder what the Doors would sound like without Jim Morrison? I did. That is why I paid $1 for this.

This actually is not bad but it still missing that one piece of the puzzle, which is probably unfair to the rest. The band was actually waiting for Morrison to return from Paris to finish the album. Robbie Krieger and Ray Manzarek took over vocal duties on this. Here is “Ships W/ Sails” which was the second single.

Ship With Sails

Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship- Blows Against the Empire

I had a slew of rock records I had been holding off on. so, as this is the last month, I am rolling them out each Saturday. Starting with this one. From RCA in 1970, I paid $1 which seemed pretty reasonable at the time. I had been passing it up for some time for no discernable reason.

Featuring guests such as Grace Slick, Jerry Garcia, both Dead drummers, David Crosby, and Graham Nash among others. It is a concept album which I really struggled to follow. A bunch of hippies hijacking a UFO , punctuated by the fact that Kantner and Slick were having a child together in real life. But that said, decent enough. Here is “Mau Mau”. Please note, it has scattered profanities, those dirty hippies. Please note that you really need to strain to hear them.

Mau Mau

Steeleye Span – Sails of Silver

Here is a record I got for $6 from one of my favorite groups, Steeleye Span. As I have been slighting away from recording whole records in previous months this year, I seem to have went the other way in March and went heavy on the process.

So, my participation in writing these blogs has wavered over the last couple of years. Therefore, as AI ChatGPT is the current biggest rage, I thought why not employee technology to do the things I have been reluctant to do on my own. I presnet to you the results I achieved on this subject, starting out first with just general info on the band.

This is largely accurate. I am unsure, though about the collaborations between the group and Bob Dylan, Robert Plant, and Van Morrison and believe this claim to be erroneous. Let’s move on to the album itself.

First off, Sails of Silver was the band’s 11th studio album and it came out in 1980 ( Chrysalis Records). Technically, the album marks a return to the classic line up of Maddy Prior, Tim Hart, Rick Kemp, Nigel Pegrum and returning to the fold, Bob Johnson and Peter Knight. Three tracks do include prior members Liam Genockey and Tim Harries. Ken Nichol played with the band thru 2002-2010 and was absent from this. Finally, this album was not a commercial success at all. In fact, its failure led to the departure of Hart. So basically, AI was pretty inaccurate with this. Oddly enough, I did out the wrong album title the first go around and came up with this tidbit of facts

Where to start here? Well, the 15th album was 1998’s Horkstow Garage, at which point the band consisted of Johnson, Knight, Harries, and original singer Gay Woods. Neither that album nor this album contained any of the songs listed. So I rest confident in my ability to do this without AI taking my job. Of course now, wanting to do it is a different story.

Decent album but I can see where perhaps this would have ran off the tracks and not done as well as expected. Also, what AI fails to point out, is that many of the songs on here are original compositions, a trend that would continue on future albums. For a sample, I went with “Senior Service”, written by Kemp and Prior.

Senior Service

Cliff Richard & The Shadows- History of British Pop – Vol 2

Ah, The end of the month. Here we are at the point whereas I just want to get this finished. So here is a compilation album from the History of British Pop series, which ran in the 70’s. I think this was originally from Columbia Records but this version is Dutch from Odeon.. I paid $6 and have also had this record in que to blog about for some time over the last year when I bought it. Why did I buy it you may ask?

Pretty busy weekend here which I am totally going to gloss over but just briefly, I say Marriage of Figaro at the HGO ( second time seeing it), my friends rock band at Leon’s, and Rite of Spring by the Houston Symphony. I am not going to extend any more detail than that.

So, to tie it all up, here is ” When Blue Turns to Grey”. See you next month for what is most likely to be the last month of blog.

When Blue Turns to Grey

Argent – Encore

You would think I would be more sentimental seeing that this blog is coming near completion. You would think I would spend more time on these now that I have much at my disposal. Well, no. Here I am again, trying to get this month done. Here is a 1974 live album from ex-Zombies keyboardist Rod Argent and his post Zombies band, Argent. Epic Records. I paid $3 for this two record set back in 2018.

I should write something about their biggest hit ” Hold Your Head Up” or the lessor track ” God Gave Rock and Roll To You” which was probably the reason I bought this. Nah. Instead, here is their version of the Zombies hit ” Time Of The Season”.

Time Of The Season

The Motors- Tenement Steps

Here is a more modern piece of music to grace this blog. I paid $4 for this at Cactus. Somewhat odd packaging. Virgin Records. 1980. Slow internet and now my phone is on the brink so I am fighting technology on many fronts.

The Motors were an English band which Wikipedia classifies as Pub Rock. In all honesty, well.. in all honesty, I am running out of stock phrases but , in all honesty, these folks could have fallen under many labels. Active from 1977 to 1980, their biggest hit was “Airport”.

This would have been their last album. Decent enough. Would have been a Saturday record ha dI not run oput of Saturdays. These struggles with modern devices have severely limited my excitement to work on posts, so I am ending this one with ” Nightmare Zero”.

Elvis Presley- Elvis sings Flaming Star

Here is a Pickwick/ Camden 1969 record from the King, whose daughter, Lisa Marie, recently passed. I paid $6 for this recently. I had another Elvis record lined up for this month, one of which I inherited thru various sources. However, when I saw this on sale, I bit.

Back on Labor Day of last year, I saw the Elvis movie, which was quite entertaining if not historically horse shit. I felt it was more an homage to the artist and for that reason, I quite enjoyed it. I went back and watched some of the live performances which were shown in the movie. Most notably, this one, which while phoned in, is still amazing.

This record is one part sound track from Live A Little, Love A Little and one half recorded live from NBC studios. The track list is what drew me in but I was really hoping for the Willie Nelson version of “Night Life” ( this album does not have it).

I think the Yardbirds did a better version but here is Elvis with ” Too Much Monkey Business.” One more week of February in the can.

Too Much Monkey Business