TERRY HOKNES - MY FAVORITE SONGS OF ALL TIME !  hoknes@hotmail.com  

401

ABBA

AS GOOD AS NEW

1979

402

KEVIN AYERS featuring SYD BARRETT

SINGING A SONG IN THE MORNING

1970

403

ELVIS PRESLEY

A THING CALLED LOVE

1972

404

LINDA CLIFFORD

HERE'S MY LOVE

1979

405

GRAPEFRUIT

ELEVATOR

1969

406

ASSOCIATION

LOOK AT ME LOOK AT YOU

1969

407

ROY WOOD & WIZZARD

WEAR A FAST GUN

1973

408

DIERKS BENTLEY

UP ON THE RIDGE

2010

409

BARRY GRAY

THEME FROM SPACE 1999

1975

410

WHITNEY HOUSTON

SO EMOTIONAL

1988

411

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE

COMING BACK TO ME

1967

412

CHRIS SQUIRE

HOLD OUT YOUR HAND / YOU BY MY SIDE

1975

413

SPIRIT

IT SHALL BE

1968

414

SPANKY AND OUR GANG

DISTANCE

1968

415

STRAWBS

TEARS AND PAVAN

1973

416

THREE DOG NIGHT

I'D BE SO HAPPY

1974

417

SPIRIT

WORLD EAT WORLD DOG

1976

418

LINDSAY LOHAN

IF IT'S ALRIGHT

2005

419

PAUL McCARTNEY

BIKER LIKE AN ICON

1993

420

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS

SOUR GIRL

2000
    ABBA - AS GOOD AS NEW (1979)

Album:  Voulez Vous (1979)

Voulez-Vous is the sixth studio album by Swedish pop group ABBA, released in 1979. It was the first ABBA album to be recorded at Polar Studios in Stockholm, and the only ABBA album to include a studio recording made outside Sweden. Some of the songs were secretly written and demoed at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, and the title track was recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami. Voulez-Vous was first released on CD in 1984. The album has been digitally remastered and reissued four times; first in 1997, then in 2001 and in 2005 as part of the The Complete Studio Recordings box set, and yet again in 2010 for the Voulez-Vous Deluxe Edition.

ABBA was a Swedish pop/rock/disco group formed in Stockholm in 1972, comprising Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. ABBA is an acronym of the first letters of the band members' first names and is sometimes stylized as the registered trademark ᗅᗺᗷᗅ. They became one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of pop music, topping the charts worldwide from 1972 to 1982. They are also known for winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, giving Sweden its first victory in the history of the contest and being the most successful group ever to take part in the contest.
    KEVIN AYERS featuring SYD BARRETT - SINGING A SONG IN THE MORNING (1970)

Album:  Vegetable Man (bootleg vinyl album)

January 2nd 1988 - my #4 favorite daily song for 5 days in Grade 12 the week before turning 16. The version I learned was from the bootleg album I gave Zender.

December 9th 1988 - my #5 favorite daily song for 2 days at age 17 the fall after graduating high school.  I was taking extra highschool classes for the heck of it guaranteeing more than enough credits for University.  I was self publishing my own fanzine on the history of pop music called Yesterday And Today and I was up to about issue #5 around the time I saw Eric Clapton and Boston in concert.  I had started Yesterday And Today in tribute to Nanny who had died on July 14th 1988.

Syd Barrett was the original lead singer and songwriter for Pink Floyd in the 1960's.  My best friend Zender Miller was a huge Floyd fan and the last christmas gift I ever gave him was in 1987 when I was 16 and he was 18.  I bought him a bootleg vinyl record called Vegetable Man by Syd Barrett that I bought at Records On Wheels when it was located in the bus mall downtown Saskatoon.   The bootleg was expensive I think about $18.00 which was lots for me at that age so I took it home and recorded a copy for myself on cassette before giving it to him.  I landed up becoming a bigger fan of Syd's solo demo's than that of Pink Floyd.
    ELVIS PRESLEY - A THING CALLED LOVE (1972)

Album:  He Touched Me (1972)

September 5th 2002 - my #1 favorite daily song for 68 days and my #1 favorite song of 2002.

I went down to Nashville in August 2002 at age 31 to work on country songs and co-writing.  I drove down to Memphis for 3 days on my own and stayed there filming an Elvis Presley early years documentary showing 30 places Elvis had lived, worked at, hung out at etc   I was there at Graceland for the 25th anniversary Candlelight vigil.   I got on a real Elvis kick for the next 6 months and read numerous books about Elvis and picked up this religious cassette tape He Touched Me.  This was my favorite song on the album and I had never heard it before nor the Johnny Cash version. 

"A Thing Called Love" is a song written and originally recorded by Jerry Reed in 1968. This song has been recorded by many artists, including Jimmy Dean, Elvis Presley and Dave Dudley. In 1971, the song was recorded by Johnny Cash and it became a #1 country hit in Canada. The record was Cash's biggest hit in Europe, charted in Ireland, United Kingdom and Netherlands
    LINDA CLIFFORD - HERE'S MY LOVE (1979)

Album:  Here's My Love (1979)

I picked up this album at the Frances Morrison book/record sale in 1987 for 10 cents !   One of the few disco albums I have really liked and played over and over.    This in fact might be my favorite disco song of all time.  Linda Clifford has had 4 #1 daily songs from this album.

On May 16th 1987 I started writing down my favorite songs that I was listening to every single day.  It didnt matter if the song was a new radio hit or a 20 year old album cut this chart would document everything I was liking at that particular moment.  Linda Clifford had the #1 song on the very first chart.

May 16th 1987 - my #1 favorite daily song for 8 days at age 16 in Grade 11.

May 16th 1988 - my #1 favorite daily song for 8 days at age 17 the week I graduated from high school.

Linda Clifford (born June 14, 1944, New York) is an American R&B, disco and house music singer and actress, who scored hits from the 1970s to the 1980s, most notably "If My Friends Could See Me Now", "Bridge over Troubled Water", "Runaway Love" and "Red Light".  In 1973, she was signed to Paramount Records and her first single, "(It's Gonna Be) A Long Long Winter", became a minor hit on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart in the winter of 1974. She moved to Curtis Mayfield's Curtom Records label in the mid 1970s. 1977 saw the release of her first album, Linda, but it was her dance cover of "If My Friends Could See Me Now" in 1978 that she had club and pop chart success with. It was her first number one on Billboard dance chart. Album of the same name became her most successful and included also "Runaway Love", a mid-tempo R&B track that proved to be one of her most recognizable tunes. In 1979 she released her disco version of "Bridge over Troubled Water" from the album Let Me Be Your Woman, followed by another record the same year, Here's My Love.  The album hit #117 in USA in 1979.
    GRAPEFRUIT - ELEVATOR (1969)

Album: Around Grapefruit (1969)

This would have been a masterpiece if The Beatles had recorded it as it sure sounds like it could have fit on the Magical Mystery Tour album but instead Grapefruit recorded this amazing powerful pop song from a perfect 60's album.   I picked up this album at a garage sale in the mid 80s and it became one of my all time favorites and I have "boosted" this album on my charts 4 different occasions.  They came on the scene possibly a little too late sounding like The Beatles but too early to be Badfinger.

November 20th 1987 - my #7 favorite daily song for 2 days at age 16 in Grade 12.

Grapefruit was a London-based British band of the late 1960s. Their brand of music was a typical late 1960s blend of rock, which they often fused with psychedelic effects such as phasers and vocoders, or classical arrangements.  Grapefruit's recording career spanned only two years, from late 1967 to the end of 1969. They released two albums (around in 1968, Deep Water in 1969) and several singles, none of which made a significant impact on the charts. Their best-known track is probably the Terry Melcher-produced "Dear Delilah", which was released in early 1968, and peaked at #21 in the UK Singles Chart, while their single "Deep Water" did crack the German Top 20, peaking at #19. Toward the end of their career, following the new material being written by Alexander (with some inclusions by Wale) Grapefruit shifted from melodic pop to more of a rock-based sound, referred to as "Soft Rock" in a full-page Billboard ad for the album "Deep Water".     
    THE ASSOCIATION - LOOK AT ME LOOK AT YOU (1969)

Album: The Association (1969)

I had this album really early and it might have already been in the family because I think I was listening to it by 1982 at age 11 and love this opening album cut.

The Association is the group's eponymous sixth album (# 32). It is an eclectic LP with songs in many different styles including rock, pop, blue-eyed soul, psychedelic, country and novelty, while still staying in the realm of sunshine rock and sunshine pop. Although generally well received by the critics, it did not spawn any hit singles.

It was the last studio album featuring guitarist Russ Giguere, who left for a solo career in 1971

The Association is a pop music band from California in the folk rock or soft rock genre. During the 1960s, they had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts and were the lead-off band at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival.

Jules Alexander (born September 25, 1943, Chattanooga, Tennessee) was in Hawaii in 1962 serving a stint in the Navy when he met Terry Kirkman (born December 12, 1939, Salina, Kansas), a visiting salesman. The two young musicians jammed together and promised to get together once Alexander was discharged. That happened a year later; the two eventually moved to Los Angeles and began exploring the city's music scene in the mid-1960s. (Kirkman played in groups with Frank Zappa for a time before Zappa went on to form The Mothers of Invention). Eventually, at a Monday night hootenanny at the LA nightclub The Troubadour, in 1964, an ad hoc group called The Inner Tubes was formed by Terry, Jules and Doug Dillard, whose rotating membership contained, at one time or another, Cass Elliot, David Crosby and many others who drifted in and out. This led, in 1965, to the forming of The Men, a 13 piece folk-rock band. This group had a brief spell as the house band at The Troubadour
    ROY WOOD & WIZZARD - WEAR A FAST GUN (1973)

Album:  Wizzard's Brew (1973)

Roy Wood was in The Move (1966-1971) and then ELO (1971-1972) and then leader of Wizzard (1973-1975) meanwhile releasing solo songs.  I had been a huge fan of ELO for a while and knew of Roy Wood one of the founding members.  On February 14th 1985 at age 14 (grade 9) I flipped through the bargain bin of records at the Kresge's Department Store in Midtown Plaza shopping mall in Saskatoon and found this new sealed album Mustard priced at 99 cents.   The first time I heard this album that night I knew I had found a masterpiece and Roy Wood would be the first act to ever debut at #1 on my daily favorite music groups chart on that valentines day.  (I declare this to be Roy Wood day).    I flew to New York 17 years later in 2002 to see Roy Wood 3 times in concert and got to meet him backstage 2 times.  I have posted some of those video performances I filmed on www.youtube.com   I became a fan of The Move and Wizzard in May 1985 at age 14.

February 10th 2010 - my #3 favorite daily song for 35 days at age 39 living at Ave M South with Valerie now married 2.5 years celebrating the 25th anniversary of Roy Wood day.

Wizzard Brew is the first album by glam rock group Wizzard, released in March 1973. In the US it was released by United Artists Records as 'Wizzard's Brew' (with a different cover photo) and failed to chart.  In approach, the album was much more experimental than the group's hit singles, with elements of hard rock (an approach Wood's previous band The Move had explored on their 1970 album 'Looking On'), and improvisation, especially on the lengthy 'Meet Me At The Jailhouse'. Wood frequently used ring modulation to give the instruments a harsh, distorted sound, and the album may represent an early foray into recording technique that would eventually be called lo-fi. Critical and popular reaction was mixed
 

 

    DIERKS BENTLEY - UP ON THE RIDGE (2010)

Album:  Up On The Ridge (2010)

February 11th 2011 - my #9 favorite daily song for 42 days.  An odd bluegrass moody song released a single that I was not surprised when it wasnt a huge hit as its not commercial country at all.   Age 40 when I lived with Valerie at Ave M South.

"Up on the Ridge" is a song recorded by American country music artist Dierks Bentley. It was released to radio on April 12, 2010, and serves as the lead-off single to his fifth studio album, also titled Up on the Ridge.   The song is an uptempo bluegrass tune in which the narrator encourages his lover to leave the city behind with him for the night.

Sam Gazdziak of The 9513 gave the song a "thumbs up" review, saying the song "coasts by on style over substance," but calling it "interesting." Country Weekly critic Jessica Phillips, in her review of the album, said that "the song's energetic spirit and banjo-supported melody should be a shot in the arm for country music."   The song debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts at #59 during the week of May 1, 2010. On the Hot Country Songs charts, the song peaked at #21, becoming his first single to miss the Top Ten since "My Last Name" reached #17 in 2004
    BARRY GRAY - THEME FROM SPACE 1999 (1975)

Album: Space 1999 (TV soundtrack) (1975)

Growing up I was not into Star Trek as much as I was into Space 1999. That really was the sci-fi TV series that I loved more than any other being a Star Wars generation child.  Re-runs were on Saturday mornings I would estimate around 1980-1982 at age 9-11.   My best friend Nathan Martens and I sat through all 48 episodes together in 2004 when I bought the complete DVD box set.

Barry Gray (18 July 1908 in Lancashire, England - 26 April 1984 in Guernsey, Channel Islands) was a British musician and composer who is best known for his work for Gerry Anderson.In 1956 he joined Gerry Anderson's AP Films, where he first scored the puppet show, The Adventures of Twizzle. This was followed by Torchy The Battery Boy and then the famed Four Feather Falls, a puppet Western based on a concept suggested by Gray.  Gray's association with Gerry Anderson lasted well in to the 1970s. Perhaps most famous for his score to Thunderbirds and its theme "March of the Thunderbirds", Gray composed the themes to the other Supermarionation shows such as Stingray, Fireball XL5, Joe 90, and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. Additionally, Gray is also known as the composer for the Anderson live-action shows, such as UFO and Space: 1999, as well as the Thunderbirds films and the live action feature Doppelgänger (aka Journey to The Far Side Of The Sun, 1969). Gray's professional association with Anderson ended after the first season of Space: 1999 when Anderson decided to replace Gray's original theme with one by another composer.
 
    WHITNEY HOUSTON - SO EMOTIONAL (1988) hit #1
So Emotional" is a song recorded by American pop/ R&B singer Whitney Houston. The song was the third single from her second album Whitney, and was released on November 12, 1987.

"So Emotional" was written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, who also penned Madonna's "Like a Virgin", Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors", Heart's "Alone", and The Bangles "Eternal Flame", all of which reached #1 on the charts. The song centers on Houston loving being in love, singing "I get so emotional baby / Every time I think of you / I get so emotional / Ain't it shocking what love can do".

The song didn't impress critics, receiving mixed reviews. Commercially, it also failed to achieve the success of her predecessors, peaking outside the top ten in most countries; it did however reach number five in the UK and number one in the Billboard Hot 100, where it became her sixth consecutive number one, and its dance chart. It would go and finish as the sixth best selling song of the year and the fourth most played in clubs; it is her sixth biggest hit on the Hot 100 chart.

At this time Houston already had a string of five consecutive number-one hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. "So Emotional" went to the #1 position as well, giving her six consecutive number-one singles; putting her in a three-way tie with The Beatles and The Bee Gees. It became the first number-one of 1988, eventually receiving gold certification. The single remained in the Top 40 for 14 weeks, and also reached number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart."So Emotional" was ranked sixth on The Billboard Hot 100 year-end charts (1988).

In a 1988, episode of Kids Incorporated called "The Picks Up", "So Emotional" was sung by Stacy Ferguson, who would later be a member of Wild Orchid and, as Fergie, The Black Eyed Peas.

The song was used in the 1993 "The Tangled Web" episode of Melrose Place.
    JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - COMIN' BACK TO ME (1967)

Album:  Surrealistic Pillow (1967)

I first picked up this album used in 1985 at age 14 and always one of my favorite albums to listen to.

Today" is a folk rock ballad written by Marty Balin and Paul Kantner from the band Jefferson Airplane. It first appeared on their breakthrough album, Surrealistic Pillow, with a live version later appearing on the expanded rerelease of Bless Its Pointed Little Head. Marty Balin said, "I wrote it to try to meet Tony Bennett. He was recording in the next studio. I admired him, so I thought I'd write him a song. I never got to meet him, but the Airplane ended up doing it." Jerry Garcia plays the simple, repetitive but poignant lead guitar riff on the song

Surrealistic Pillow is the second album by American psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane, released in February 1967 on RCA Victor, catalogue LPM/LSP 3766 in either mono or stereo.[1] It is the first album by the band with vocalist Grace Slick and drummer Spencer Dryden. The album peaked at #3 on the Billboard album chart, and has been certified a gold album by the RIAA.[4]

Original drummer Alexander 'Skip' Spence had left the band in mid-1966, replaced by Los Angeles jazz drummer Dryden, a nephew of Charlie Chaplin. New lead vocalist Slick, formerly with another San Francisco rock band the Great Society, joined the Airplane in the fall of 1966. Slick and Dryden in place on this album and its attendant singles completed the best-known line-up of the group, which would remain stable until Dryden's departure in early 1970. It is also considered to be one of the quintessential albums of the 1960s counterculture movement

 
    CHRIS SQUIRE - HOLD OUT YOUR HAND / YOU BY MY SIDE (1975)

Album:  Fish Out Of Water (1975)

Yes became my new favorite band in 1984 at age 13 and I bought every album they released that year including venturing into solo albums and I had this album by March 1985 at age 14.  Chris is my all time favorite bass guitarist.

Fish Out of Water is the first solo album by English bass guitarist Chris Squire, released in 1975 on Atlantic Records. It was released during a period of inactivity from his progressive rock band Yes. Bill Bruford and Patrick Moraz of Yes contribute to the record, while Squire employs his signature bass skills as well as 12-string guitars and vocals. Also on the album are Mel Collins on saxophone and Squire's friend Andrew Pryce Jackman on piano. The album is in the same vein as the Yes album of the previous year, Relayer, though the sound is more fleshed out with the help of a full orchestra and the jazz context of "Lucky Seven". It was a moderate success, reaching number 25 on the UK Albums Chart.

Andrew Jackman, Squire's former bandmate in The Syn, partnered with Squire in arranging and conceptualizing the album. Over the course of sketching out the album, he ended up making some compositional contributions. Because of this, Squire offered to give him some co-writing credits, but Jackman declined.   Squire's staple thematic oratorios appear on this album. First, "Fish" (his nickname) appears in the title (being "...Out of Water" referring to being out of the usual Yes oeuvre); second, the number seven, manifested as the seven-minute, 7/8 time signature piece "Lucky Seven". The song's title was drawn from it being in this time signature. Musically, a melodic passage from Yes' song "Close to the Edge" re-appears in the finale of "Safe".

The first track begins with a short fanfare style introduction played on the organ at St. Paul's Cathedral, London by the cathedral organist Barry Rose. The organ continues throughout the song creating an original sound and revealing Squire and Jackman's experience together as church choristers in their boyhood.
    SPIRIT - IT SHALL BE (1968)

Album:  The Family That Plays Together (1968)

I discovered Spirit in February 1988 at age 17 when I took a chance picking up a copy of their album 12 Dreams of Dr Sardonicus for $2.00 at Tramps record store downtown.   They would go on to have more influence on my songwriting and overall varied taste in music as an adult than any other group.  The great thing to note is that my entire journey discovering their music has been documented from day 1 as I was already listing my daily favorite group, album and song by 1987.

March 1st 1988 - my #2 favorite daily song for 2 days age 17 after discovering Spirit last month I quickly went out and bought a second album by them which was their 2nd release titled The Family That Plays Together while I was in Grade 12.

September 24th 1988 - my #8 favorite daily song for 2 days at age 17 the fall after graduating high school.  I had given this album heavy rotation only 6 months later but gave it full rotation again.l

The Family That Plays Together, the second of four albums released by the original Spirit lineup, was marketed by Ode Records in 1968. Unlike its predecessor, Spirit, their self-titled and surreal debut, The Family That Plays Together evinces more greatly the band's ability for playing beyond the genre of psychedelic rock than within it. Tracks "It Shall Be" and "Silky Sam" demonstrate the ease with which the ensemble can incorporate jazz into their idiosyncratic form of rock, while "Jewish" and "Aren't You Glad" evidenced the band's competence in exploiting, to their advantage, both world music and jam rock respectively. "Poor Richard," "Jewish," and "All the Same" feature glorious double track lead breaks from guitarist California. The inspiration behind entitling The Family was derived from the stepson-stepfather relationship guitarist Randy California and percussionist Ed Cassidy shared.   The album's arrangements were created by Marty Paich, who likewise arranged and conducted Spirit's eponymous debut album, as well as Model Shop (the soundtrack to a film of the same name, which was recorded after "Family" but not released until 2004) as well as "Clear".
    SPANKY AND OUR GANG - DISTANCE (1968)

February 2nd 2009 - my #2 favorite daily song for 27 days at age 38 living at Ave M South with Valerie now married 17 months and Nicholas is almost 3.

Spanky and Our Gang was an American 1960s folk-rock band led by Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane. The band derives its name from Hal Roach's popular Our Gang comedies of the 1930s (known to modern audiences as The Little Rascals). The group was known for its vocal harmonies.

The group's first album, simply titled Spanky and Our Gang, was released by Mercury Records on August 1, 1967, and included three popular songs that were released as singles. These were "Sunday Will Never Be the Same" (their biggest hit, which reached number No. 9 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in the summer of 1967), followed by "Making Every Minute Count" (reached No. 31) and "Lazy Day" (reached No. 14). Both "Sunday Will Never Be The Same" and "Lazy Day" sold over one million copies. "Sunday Will Never Be the Same" was written by Terry Cashman and Gene Pistilli. In an interview by Cashman with the Songfacts website, he revealed that the song was originally written as a ballad. However, Cashman said the group "changed it, and they added the vocal, 'Ba-da-da-da-da,' which was a great hook."

Their second album, Like to Get to Know You, was released in April 1968. Two singles were released: "Sunday Mornin'" in the spring, which reached No. 30, and "Like to Get to Know You", which reached No. 17 in the Summer 1968. The single's B-side, "Three Ways From Tomorrow", also received considerable airplay. The album included their rendition of "Stardust", and a version of "Everybody's Talkin'", best known as a hit single for Harry Nilsson and the theme song for the movie Midnight Cowboy.
    THE STRAWBS -  TEARS AND PAVAN (1973)

Album:  Bursting At The Seams (1973)

December 29th 1989 - my #5 favorite daily song for 1 day at age 18 while celebrating the 5th anniversary of first becoming a fan of The Strawbs while I was in 1st year University living in Muenster, SK at St Peters College.  I first learned this song in 1984 on The Best Of Strawbs cassette tape.

I became a fan of The Strawbs in December 1984 at age 13 after borrowing The Best Of Strawbs cassette tape from the JS Wood Library due to their connection to my favorite band at the time Yes which they both shared keyboardist Rick Wakeman.  The Strawbs would be one of the most important groups to me from 1984 to 1991 in my teenage years.    I bought this album used possibly around 1986.

Strawbs (or The Strawbs) are an English rock band founded in 1964. Although the band started out as a bluegrass group they eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock, glam rock and progressive rock. They are best known for their hit Part of the Union, which reached number two in the UK charts in February 1973, and for touring with Supertramp in their Crime of the Century Tour, doing their Hero and Heroine Tour, which drew musical similarities and themes. 

Bursting at the Seams is a studio album by English band Strawbs. It contains their two most successful singles and reached number 2 in the UK Album Chart     
    THREE DOG NIGHT - I'D BE SO HAPPY (1974)

Album:  Hard Labor (1974)

November 3rd 1987 - my #3 favorite daily song for 7 days at age 16 in Grade 12.

I saw Three Dog Night in concert finally in Saskatoon, SK in 2011 and posted one video clip on youtube from the outdoor concert.  One of my favorite groups that I listened to from 1985-1990.

Subconsciously I may have had the guitar riff from this song in my mind when I used a similar riff in my own song I Love All Beauteous Things written in 1990 and recorded in 2001.

Three Dog Night is an American rock band best known for their music from 1968 to 1975. During that time all of the band's 21 Billboard top 40 hits in America were consecutive, three of which reached Number One. As of 2012, they are still recording and making live appearances.   In 1967, Three Dog Night was founded by Danny Hutton, Cory Wells, Chuck Negron, Joe Schermie, Floyd Sneed, Jimmy Greenspoon, and Michael Allsup. The group was a successful live act in Los Angeles and gathered considerable attention by several record labels. After a show at the Troubadour, the group was signed to the Dunhill ABC label, and the band started work on their first studio album. 
  

 

    SPIRIT - WORLD EAT WORLD DOG (1976)

Album:   Farther Along (1976)

April 17th 1988 - my #2 favorite daily song for 2 days at age 17 in Grade 12

December 17th 1996 - my #5 favorite daily song for 31 days at age 25 on the road full time performing with Marilyn now for 3 years.

August 9th 2010 - my #8 favorite daily song for 39 days at age 39 living at Ave M South with Valerie now married almost 3 years and Nicholas was 4.

Randy California (born Randy Craig Wolfe; February 20, 1951 – January 2, 1997) was a guitarist, singer and songwriter and one of the original members of the rock group Spirit, formed in 1967.

Randy was born into a musical family in Los Angeles and spent his early years studying varied styles at the family's Los Angeles folk club, the Ash Grove. Randy's uncle, Ed Pearl, was famous as the founder of the Ash Grove. He was 15 years old when his mother Bernice Pearl and new stepfather, Ed Cassidy (later to become a founding member of the band Spirit, with Randy), moved to New York City in the summer of 1966 because Cassidy had a number of jazz gigs lined up. It was there, at Manny's Guitars, that Randy met Jimi Hendrix. He played in Hendrix's band The Blue Flame that summer. California, Cassidy and Pearl lived in an apartment building in Forest Hills (Queens), New York called the Balfour, whose other residents included future Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker, who cites California's blues-based guitar style as an influence on his own playing.

The stage name "Randy California" was given to him by Hendrix to distinguish him from another Randy in the band (who Hendrix dubbed "Randy Texas"). When Hendrix was invited to come to England by former bassist of British Invasion band The Animals Chas Chandler—who became Hendrix's manager and producer—Randy's parents did not allow him to go so that he could finish high school. So at that time the 15-year-old guitar genius did not become a member of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. By some accounts, Chandler wanted Hendrix as the only guitarist for the band and nixed California's going to England. Hendrix invited Randy anyway, so they could "go find Jeff Beck."

Together with Cassidy, songwriter/front-man Jay Ferguson, bassist Mark Andes (with whom California and Cassidy initially had formed a band called the Red Roosters) and keyboardist John Locke, California founded the band Spirit—originally Spirits Rebellious, after Khalil Gibran's poem—in 1967. The band's demo was produced by Barry Hansen, later to become Doctor Demento.
    LINDSAY LOHAN - IF ITS ALRIGHT (2005)

Album:  A Little More Personal (2005)

October 13th 2006 - my #6 favorite daily song for 29 days at age 35 now dating Valerie for 8 months and Nicholas was now 6 months old.

Lindsay Morgan Lohan born Lindsay Dee Lohan on July 2, 1986) is an American actress, singer, fashion designer, and model. She began her career as a child fashion model when she was three. She was on the TV soap Another World for a year at the age of 10. At age 11, she made her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap, a critical and commercial hit. She made two Disney TV movies, Life-Size in 2000 and Get a Clue in 2002. Her next major motion picture was Disney's Freaky Friday remake in 2003 which was a success at the box office and with critics. With Mean Girls in 2004, another critical and commercial success, she became a household name and a frequent target of paparazzi and tabloids. The two films earned her several MTV Movie Awards and Teen Choice Awards.

In 2004, Lohan's debut album as a recording artist was released, Speak, which went platinum. It was followed by A Little More Personal (Raw) in 2005 which was certified gold. The same year she starred in the Disney movie Herbie: Fully Loaded, another box office hit. In 2006 she received positive comments on her work in independent films including Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion and Emilio Estevez's Bobby. In 2007 two driving under the influence incidents led to Lohan being put on probation, and together with three visits to rehabilitation facilities caused the loss of several movie deals.

 
    PAUL McCARTNEY - BIKER LIKE AN ICON (1993)

Album: Off The Ground (1993)

July 14th 1993 - my #3 favorite daily song for 29 days at age 22 the summer I joined Marilyn Parney's band after finishing 4th year University.

 

Off the Ground is the ninth solo studio album by former Beatles member Paul McCartney, released in 1993. As his first studio album of the 1990s, it is also the follow-up to the acclaimed Flowers in the Dirt (1989).

After planning another world tour in 1993 to promote the album, McCartney opted to record Off the Ground with his touring band. Blair Cunningham joining on drums to replace Chris Whitten, who departed to join Dire Straits. McCartney decided to record the album "live in the studio", meaning that the band would rehearse an entire song then record it in one take, instead of recording each vocal track and instrumental track separately. This approach gave a new, raw and direct feel to the work, but was not overly liked by critics. The compositions also seemed less complex than on Flowers in the Dirt, with some of them having been out-takes from the earlier album. "Mistress and Maid" and "The Lovers That Never Were", which emerged from McCartney's songwriting collaboration with Elvis Costello, made their appearance on this album. Unlike Flowers in the Dirt, however, Costello did not appear on Off the Ground.
    STONE TEMPLE PILOTS - SOUR GIRL (2000)

July 25th 2000 - my #2 favorite daily song for 45 days at age 29 just moved into Dalmeny SK with Marilyn and now selling on ebay for 2 years.

Sour Girl" is a song by Stone Temple Pilots. The song was written by singer Scott Weiland and guitarist Dean DeLeo for their band's fourth album, aptly titled No. 4. "Sour Girl" also appears on the compilation albums Thank You and Buy This. It is the only STP song to enter the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 78. "Sour Girl" was one of STP's biggest hits since the Core and Purple era. Billboard ranked "Sour Girl" at #88 on its list of the 100 Best Rock Songs of the 2000s.

While writing the majority of No. 4, Weiland was in jail for various drug charges. During that time, he became a fan of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He also became enamored with the show's star, Sarah Michelle Gellar. When it came time to make the video for "Sour Girl", Weiland requested that she be in the video.[citation needed]

The video for "Sour Girl" is characterized by its small background setting, camera work and cinematography. Weiland sings the lyrics while rhythmically moving his arms and body. Gellar initially appears in a gothic outfit, acting as a guardian angel to Weiland. Later, she returns to her regular appearance, acting as Weiland's love interest. Weiland's current wife at the time, Mary Forsberg, acted as the go-between for Weiland and Gellar. Other band members appear in the video as well, interacting with bunny-suited characters the size of Teletubbies. Two of the bunny characters are especially prominent in the choreography: one of them has happy features, while the other has an eerie, almost evil expression.