TERRY HOKNES - MY FAVORITE SONGS OF ALL TIME ! hoknes@hotmail.com
|
461 |
ABBA |
KING KONG SONG |
1974 |
|
462 |
SHANIA TWAIN |
WANNA GET TO KNOW YOU |
2002 |
|
463 |
SPIRIT |
WHAT DO I HAVE |
1975 |
|
464 |
STARS ON 45 |
STEVIE WONDER MEDLEY (ALBUM VERSION) |
1982 |
|
465 |
SPIRIT |
STONEY NIGHT |
1976 |
|
466 |
MELISSA O'NEIL |
JUST LIKE JANUARY |
2005 |
|
467 |
RINGO STARR |
HEY BABY |
1976 |
|
468 |
BEATLES |
BLUE JAY WAY |
1967 |
|
469 |
LOU CHRISTIE |
LIGHTNING STRIKES |
1966 |
|
470 |
LADY GAGA |
SO HAPPY I COULD DIE |
2010 |
|
471 |
URIAH HEEP |
JULY MORNING |
1971 |
|
472 |
THREE DOG NIGHT |
IT'S FOR YOU |
1969 |
|
473 |
ELTON JOHN |
BORDER SONG |
1970 |
|
474 |
ELO |
JUNGLE |
1977 |
|
475 |
DEL SHANNON |
KEEP SEARCHING |
1964 |
|
476 |
SANDI SHORE |
LIKE A MADNESS |
1969 |
|
477 |
VILLAGE PEOPLE |
I AM WHAT I AM |
1978 |
|
478 |
RUTLES |
CHEESE AND ONIONS |
1978 |
|
479 |
THREE DOG NIGHT |
PIECES OF APRIL |
1973 |
|
480 |
FOGHAT |
SLOW RIDE |
1976 |
| ABBA - KING KONG SONG (1974) Album: Waterloo (1974) One of the most fun catchy bubblegum pop rock songs of the 1970s but just an album cut. November 25th 2005 - my #9 favorite daily song at age 34 on my 2nd big Abba kick. King Kong Song" (originally "Mr. Sex"), written and composed by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus, is the name of a 1974 recording by Swedish pop group ABBA, included on their album Waterloo. In 1977, the track was released as a single to coincide with the re-release of the movie King Kong, which charted at #4 on the Tio i topp chart in Sweden, where it was the B-side to Honey, Honey and at #94 in Australia, where it had previously been the B-side to I've Been Waiting for You. It received a substantial amount of unsolicited airplay in Sweden, even though by then three years and two albums had come and gone since its original 1974 conception. The song bears a resemblance to the style of the Beach Boys. |
| SHANIA TWAIN - WANNA GET TO KNOW YOU (2002) Album: Up (2002) I became a fan of Shania from the day she released her first country single in Canada in Summer 1993 when I was 22. When she hit superstardom in 1995 I became a Shania fanatic for the next 10 years. Eventually I had 10 T-shirts and a poster shrine in my office at Eastview and had 3 copies each of all her CD's. I have seen her live in concert 5 times including: Canadian Country Music Awards Calgary 1998 and all 4 shows she did in Saskatoon, SK at SaskPlace on June 4th 1998 (her 3rd live show ever!), March 29th 1999, June 9th 2004 and June 11th 2004 (I had front row seat). She released her 4th CD Up on November 18th 2002 and I bought 62 copies at A&B Warehouse the day it came out as pre-sells that I sold on ebay. Performing on the road with Marilyn we listened to the Up CD everyday on the road for 10 months. December 29th 2002 - my #2 favorite daily song for 73 days at age 31 including Christmas and my 32nd birthday while on the road with Marilyn now for 9 years and living in Dalmeny, SK and selling on ebay now for 4.5 years. Up! is the fourth studio album released in 2002 by Canadian singer Shania Twain. Three versions of the album were released: a pop version (red disc), a country version (green disc), and an international version (blue disc) in the style of Indian music; all three discs contain exactly the same track listing and feature distinctly identifiable picture labels (for example, Shania sports a cowboy hat on the green country disc.) In the U.S., Up! debuted at #1 with sales of 874,000 copies. On September 23, 2004, the RIAA certified Up! at 11× Platinum, giving her the distinction of being the only female artist to have three consecutive Diamond albums released in the United States. As of 2011, Up! has sold 5.5 million copies in the U.S and 20 million copies worldwide. |
| SPIRIT - WHAT DO I HAVE (1975) Album: Spirit Of 76 (1975) I bought this album in 1990 and would listen to it nonstop on Leslie's little portable record player in Nanny's bedroom on Taylor Street which I had moved into 2 years after Nanny died while I was in 2nd year University. January 21st 1991 - my #2 favorite daily song for 3 days the week I turned age 20.
Spirit of '76, released in May 1975, was the
first of four albums that
Spirit would (initially) release for
Mercury Records. Though all four albums were greatly
influenced by the time that
Randy California spent living in Hawaii, this album
bears that influence more than any of the others (aside from
maybe
Future Games). Though it was largely ignored upon
its first release, many fans consider it to be one of
Spirit's best albums. Most of this
double album was compiled as part of the Mercury
Years compilation in 1997. It was properly reissued on
CD by Beat Goes On in 2003
Spirit was an American jazz/hard rock/progressive rock/psychedelic band founded in 1967, based in Los Angeles, California
In early 1975, the group was supposed to be the
opening act for
Ten Years After at a show in
Florida, but when Ten Years After backed out
at the last minute, Spirit was granted
permission to take over the theatre for the
evening. After going around to local radio
stations to promote the show and setting a low
($3) ticket price, Spirit managed to sell out
the 3,000 seat theatre. Using the profits from
the show, they blocked out as much time as they
could at a
Tampa
studio, "Studio 70". After
recording a huge amount of material at the
studio, their manager at the time,
Marshall Berle (the nephew of
Milton Berle), offered the material to
Mercury Records. On the basis of the
material, the group was offered a contract, and
a double-album entitled
Spirit of '76 was culled from the
material and released in May 1975. The album
garnered a bit of
FM
airplay, so they quickly followed it up with
Son of Spirit, released early the next
year and featuring many songs taken from the
same sessions
|
| STARS ON 45 (STARS ON) - STEVIE WONDER MEDLEY ALBUM VERSION (1982) Album: Stars On Long Play 3 (1982) March 4th 1990 - my #2 favorite daily song for 5 days at age 19 while living at the Monastery at St Peters College in Muenster, SK for 1st year University. This group may be the reason I became an entertainer. The first time I performed singing in front of an audience of strangers was in the summer of 1981 at age 10 singing along with their entire 15 minute Beatles medley which I had memorized as I was in full gear as a Beatles fanatic after John Lennon died. At the time I created a fictional band called The Recorders which consisted of myself, my sister Leslie and my best friend Zender Millar who were all members who in an alternative world we recorded all The Beatles songs ourselves in their place. I designed all the album covers and song lists at that time. I loved the 3 Stars On Long Play albums and bought them all immediately when they were released. It was also a great learning experience to hear many classic songs for the first time before I had even heard the originals.
Stars on 45 was a
Dutch novelty
pop act that was briefly very popular in the
United Kingdom, throughout Europe, the
United States and
Australia in the early 1980s. The group later shortened
its name to Stars On in the U.S., while in the U.K.
and Ireland it was known as Starsound. The band,
which consisted solely of studio session musicians under the
direction of Jaap Eggermont, formerly of
Golden Earring, popularized the
medley, by recreating hit songs as faithfully as
possible and stringing them together, with a common tempo
and relentless underlying drum track. The point was to
provide a danceable
disco record which used familiar tunes—a technique that
was also used in the
Hooked on Classics series of recordings released by
RCA Records and K-Tel Records.
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| SPIRIT - STONEY NIGHT (1976) Album: Farther Along (1976) April 17th 1988 - my #3 favorite daily song for 1 day at age 17 while in Grade 12. I was on a classical music tour to Banff, SK to the music resort with the Saskatoon Youth Orchestra rooming with violinist Darcy Burback. I listened to this album non-stop on that trip. December 17th 1996 - my #6 favorite daily song for 31 days at age 25 while on the road with Marilyn performing for over 3 years now. August 9th 2010 - my #7 favorite daily song for 39 days at age 39 while living at Ave M South with Valerie now married almost 3 years and Nicholas was 4.
Farther Along was the third album that
Spirit released through
Mercury Records. Though
Jay Ferguson was missing from the lineup, it is
generally considered to be their first "reunion" album.
Out of the four albums that Spirit recorded for Mercury in
the mid-70s, this one is the least influenced by
Randy California's time in
Hawaii. However, it isn't too dissimilar from the
previous two albums in that regard, though the song
structures are very tight throughout. Consequently, it also
bears more than a passing resemblance to
Clear at times, probably because of
John Locke's presence in the group. It is particularly
cherished by fans of that album. The album also includes a
notable version of Nature's Way, which is arranged
for a
chamber orchestra.
Spirit was an American jazz/hard rock/progressive rock/psychedelic band founded in 1967, based in Los Angeles, California. The original lineup of the group evolved from an earlier Los Angeles band, The Red Roosters, which included Randy California (guitars, vocals), Mark Andes (bass) and Jay Ferguson (vocals, percussion). With the addition of California's stepfather Ed Cassidy (drums), and keyboard player John Locke the new band was originally named the Spirits Rebellious (after a book by Khalil Gibran) but was soon shortened simply to Spirit. In 1966 Randy California had also played with Jimi Hendrix (then known as Jimmy James) in his band, The Blue Flame |
| MELLISA O'NEIL - JUST LIKE JANUARY (2005) August 23rd 2006 - my #4 favorite daily song for 40 days at age 35 living on Eastview dating Valerie now for 6 months and Nicholas was 3 months old. December 8th 2010 - my #5 favorite daily song for 65 days at age 39 living at Ave M South married to Valerie for 3 years and Nicholas is now 4.5 years old. Melissa O'Neil is the self-titled debut album by Canadian Idol winner Melissa O'Neil. It was released in Canada on November 22, 2005 through Sony BMG Music Canada. The album was produced by Rob Wells, Adam Alexander & Chris Perry, Jeff Dalziel and Executive Produced by Jennifer Hyland.[ Melissa Crystal O'Neil (born July 12, 1988) is a Canadian singer who was the winner of the third season of Canadian Idol in 2005. She was the first Canadian female winner and is the second youngest idol winner in the world, with the youngest being 2004 Australian Idol winner Casey Donovan . She is of Chinese, Irish and French heritage. Her self-titled debut album Melissa O'Neil, was released on November 22, 2005 and debuted at number sixteen on the Canadian albums chart. The second single from her album, "Let It Go" was released in late 2005 and peaked at number seven on the singles chart. On February 7, 2006, O'Neil embarked on her first solo tour in North Bay, Ontario, named the 'Let It Go Tour' after her second single. Her support act was her Canadian Idol runner-up, Rex Goudie. The third single release from O'Neil's album was "Speechless", which peaked number thirty-one, significantly lower than her two previous songs but still respectable nonetheless. In March 2006, her debut album was certified gold by the CRIA for 50,000 units shipped, and her first single "Alive" was covered by Becki Ryan in the movie Flicka. On September 16, 2006 O'Neil returned to the Canadian Idol stage during grand finale of its fourth season. Here she was surprised with the certified gold presentation disc of her debut album. |
| RINGO STARR - HEY BABY (1976) Album: Ringo's Rotogravure (1976) I had the album and the 8-track both by 1983 at age 12. I bought the 8-track new in the bargain bin upstairs at Sears in the record department at that time. July 14th 1991 - my #5 favorite daily song for 2 days at age 20 before entering 3rd year University and celebrating Ringo's 51st birthday. Hey! Baby" was covered by Ringo Starr and released as a single in 1976 (number 74 US Pop). Hey! Baby" is the title of a song written by Margaret Cobb and Bruce Channel, and recorded by Channel in 1961, first released on LeCam records, a local Fort Worth, Texas label. After it hit, it was released on Smash Records for national distribution. He co-produced the song with Major Bill Smith (owner of LeCam) and released it on Mercury Records' Smash label. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, starting the week ending March 10, 1962 Ringo's Rotogravure is the fifth album by Ringo Starr, released in 1976. Following the end of his contract with EMI, Starr signed on with Polydor Records (which once signed a pre-Ringo Beatles as the backing band of Tony Sheridan) worldwide (Atlantic Records handling US distribution) and was eager to see his solo success continue on in a new era |
| THE BEATLES - BLUE JAY WAY (1967) Album: Magical Mystery Tour (1967) I first saw the movie for free on a Saturday afternoon showing at age 10 at Frances Morrison public library. I doubt I had heard the album yet but not positive - I probably did have the album by late 1981 or might have got it for Xmas 1981 as I have recordings of myself singing along with the album in summer 1982 at age 11 with my sister Leslie age 9.
Blue Jay Way" is a song written by
George Harrison; it was first recorded and released by
The Beatles on their
Magical Mystery Tour album and
EP in 1967. The name of the song comes from
a street located high in the
Hollywood Hills overlooking
Sunset Boulevard where
George Harrison rented a house at 1567 Blue Jay Way
during August 1967. The home affords
panoramic views of
Hollywood and much of the
Los Angeles Basin. It is reached from downtown
Los Angeles via a complicated street route, difficult to
navigate on a foggy night — thus creating the backdrop for
the opening lines of the song:
According to Harrison: "Derek Taylor got held up. He rang to say he'd be late. I told him on the phone that the house was in Blue Jay Way. And he said he could find it OK... he could always ask a cop. So I waited and waited. I felt really knackered with the flight, but I didn't want to go to sleep until he came. There was a fog and it got later and later. To keep myself awake, just as a joke to pass the time while I waited, I wrote a song about waiting for him in Blue Jay Way. There was a little Hammond organ in the corner of this house which I hadn't noticed until then... so I messed around on it and the song came." The song oscillates between C major and C diminished with much use of pedal drone, phasing, backwards tapes and automatic double tracking creating a sense of dislocation. An interesting feature is use of the Lydian mode through a sharp 4th note (F# in the major scale of C) in the lone cello (at 0.19 secs) then in the backing vocals on "don't be long" and in lead vocals on "I may be asleep.". The lyrics "There's a fog upon LA" and "and my friends have lost their way" feature dissonant tritone intervals (root-flat3-flat 5). Everett considers the song related to the Indian ragas Kosalam and Multani. |
| LOU CHRISTIE - LIGHTNIN' STRIKES (1966) hit #1 "Lightnin' Strikes" is a song written by Lou Christie and Twyla Herbert, and recorded by Christie on the MGM label. The song was arranged, conducted, and produced by Charles Calello and was recorded on September 3, 1965. The backup singers on the recording were Peggy Santiglia, Bernadette Carroll and Denise Ferri. It was a giant hit in 1966, making it first to #1 in Canada in January 1966 on the RPM Top Singles chart, then to #1 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in February and #11 on the UK Record Retailer chart. RIAA certification on March 3, 1966, garnering gold status for selling over one million copies. It was covered years later by the New York underground artist Klaus Nomi, appearing on his 1981 debut album Klaus Nomi, and was the A-side of a 1982 single accompanied by a video. Because of Christie's falsetto wail during the chorus, the song is often miscredited to Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.
Luigi Alfredo Giovanni Sacco (born February 19,
1943), known professionally as Lou Christie, is an
American
singer-songwriter best known for three separate strings
of
pop hits in the 1960s, including his 1966 hit, "Lightnin'
Strikes", and his three octave vocal range.
Sacco was born in Glenwillard, Pennsylvania and raised in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He traveled to New York after graduating from Moon Area High School and found work as a session vocalist. |
| LADY GAGA - SO HAPPY I COULD DIE (2010) Album: The Fame Monster (2010) March 25th 2011 - my #5 favorite daily song for 53 days at age 40 while living on Ave M South with Valerie married 3.5 years. Valerie surprised me for tickets to Lady Gaga for Xmas 2010. We saw her in New York on April 24th 2011. My wife bought scalped tickets for about $250 a ticket. We took a $120.00 cab ride from Times Square to the concert which was far south east. We had main floor seats and the show was full of theatrical and unusual performances but was the highlight of the trip for me as I had become such a fan of hers since Bad Romance and Telephone became two of my favorites the year before. So Happy I Could Die" is a song from American recording artist Lady Gaga, taken from her second major released and her third extended play, The Fame Monster (2009). It was written by Gaga, RedOne, and Space Cowboy, with production helmed by RedOne. Inspired by Gaga's "Fear of Alcohol Monster", the song is about the "happy place" people go to when under "the influence". Aside from the prevalent ideas of alcoholism, "So Happy I Could Die" also explores several sexual themes in its lyrics. |
| URIAH HEEP - JULY MORNING (1971) Album: Look At Yourself (1971) Uriah Heep is my all time favorite heavy metal group and I consider them to be the last of my all time favorite bands to be discovered from 1980-1990. The lead singer of Uriah Heep since 1986 is Bernie Shaw who is from Saskatoon, SK who actually was in a band with my friend Doug Hergott. August 20th 1991 - my #2 favorite daily song for 6 days at age 20 just entering 3rd year University and performing in the band Blackberry Way whom we had just released our debut album on cassette and was getting heavy play on CFCR FM radio in Saskatoon. Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969 and are regarded as one of the seminal hard rock acts of the early 1970s. Uriah Heep's progressive/art rock/heavy metal fusion's distinctive features have always been massive keyboards sound, strong vocal harmonies and (in the early years) David Byron's operatic vocals. Twelve of the band's albums have made it to the UK Albums Chart (Return to Fantasy reached No. 7 in 1975) while of the fifteen Billboard 200 Uriah Heep albums Demons and Wizards was the most successful (#23, 1972). In the late 1970s the band had massive success in Germany, where the "Lady in Black" single was a big hit |
| THREE DOG NIGHT - IT'S FOR YOU (1969) Album: Three Dog Night (1969) I bought a budget release cassette tape of various Three Dog Night songs in October 1985 and this was just amazing - so fun to sing along with. I finally saw Three Dog Night in concert in 2011. This may have been my #1 favorite song at that time but no documentation when I was 14. "It's for You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles for Cilla Black for whom it was a UK Top Ten hit in 1964. Three Dog Night recorded an a cappella version of "It's for You" for their eponymous debut album in 1969: a performance of the song is also featured on the group's 1969 live album Captured Live at the Forum. |
| ELTON JOHN - BORDER SONG (1970) Album: Elton John (1970)
January 16th 1987 - my #1 favorite song for 3 days the day after my 16th
birthday. Collecting records as a teenager I had every single Elton John
album and for the longest time this was my favorite Elton song.
I love the gospel ting to this song.
Border Song" is a gospel ballad originally performed by British musician Elton John. Lyrics are credited to Bernie Taupin (although John himself wrote the words to the final verse). The music was composed by John. "Border Song" initially appeared on the 1970 album Elton John, and was released in the spring of 1970 as the LP's first single. A flop in the UK, it was released in North America a few months later. It met with more success there, especially in Canada, where it peaked at #34. The appearance of "Border Song" on the Canadian charts was Elton John's first chart appearance in any country. "Border Song" was also John's first song to chart in the United States, peaking at number 92 on the Hot 100. A cover by soul icon Aretha Franklin (listed with "Holy Moses" following the title in parentheses, from Young, Gifted and Black) fared better the following year reaching the top 40. |
| ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA - JUNGLE (1977)
I first really paid attention to ELO in Feb/March 1986 in grade 10 at age 15 while sleeping in my grandparents room on Taylor Street while they were away on holiday. I played this album a zillion times. This would have been my #1 song in Feb 1986 but no documentation.
Out of the Blue is the seventh
studio album by the British
rock group
Electric Light Orchestra, released in October 1977.
Written and produced by ELO frontman
Jeff Lynne, the
double album is among the most commercially successful
records in the group's history.
Jungle" is a song written by The Electric Light Orchestra
which first appeared as an album track from their 1977
album, Out of the Blue.
According to the band member's opinions recording Jungle was a lot of fun owing to the various types of sound effects, the upbeat tune, and the jungle animal noises provided by Lynne, Bev Bevan, and Kelly Groucutt. Like most songs from the LP, the song starts with a fade in sequence by Tandy then continues in a different tune. The A-Side to this song is the 1979 hit single, Shine a Little Love, from the album, Discovery. "On "Jungle," I was inspired by an old Hollywood movie 42nd Street by Busby Berkeley. I liked the sound of the tap dancers so we re-created this dance in the corridor of Musicland." - Jeff Lynne (February 26, 2007 - Out Of The Blue remaster liner notes) "Great fun recording this song with our imitations of bird calls, elephants, Tarzan and even a tap dance sequence performed by Jeff, Kelly and myself." - Bev Bevan (1977 - Japanese Out Of The Blue LP liner notes (United Artists GXG 25/26)) "For Jungle, Jeff, Richard, Kelly and Bev provided their own effects and ably imitated the sound of animals, Tarzan and a dubiously named dance troupe in full swing." - Rob Caiger (February 26, 2007 - Out Of The Blue remaster liner notes) |
| DEL SHANNON - KEEP SEARCHING (1964) This song went to #9 in the USA during the british invasion which this song was truly inspired by and opens sounding a bit like Things We Said Today by The Beatles from that same summer. February 18th 1989 - my #1 favorite daily song for 13 days making it my #3 favorite daily song of 1989 at age 18 while taking extra classes after graduating high school last year at Nutana. February 24th 1990 - my #6 favorite daily songf or 2 days at age 19 while living at the monastery at Muenster, SK for 1st year University. Del Shannon (December 30, 1934 – February 8, 1990) was an American rock and roll singer-songwriter who had a No. 1 hit, "Runaway", in 1961.
On 21 January 1961, he recorded "Runaway", which was
released as a single in February 1961, reaching #1 in the
Billboard chart in April. Shannon
followed with "Hats Off to Larry", which peaked at #5
(Billboard) and #2 on
Cashbox in
1961, and the less popular "So Long, Baby," another song
of breakup bitterness. "Runaway" and "Hats Off to Larry"
were recorded in a day. "Little Town Flirt", in
1962 (with
Bob Babbitt), reached #12 in 1963, as did the album of
the same title. After these hits, Shannon was unable to keep
his momentum in the U.S., but continued his success in
England, where he had always been more popular. In 1963, he
became the first American to record a
cover version of a song by
The Beatles: his "From
Me to You" charted in the US before The Beatles'
version.
|
| SANDI SHORE - LIKE A MADNESS (1969) Album: Strictly Canadian (1969) various artists compilation Unique various artists compilation of unknown groups from across Canada in the 1960's. My grandparents had this in their home and I started listening to it in 1984 at age 13 on Taylor Street. Now my favorite song on that album which featured all genres. I made this video for the obscure song for youtube. July 19th 1989 - my #1 favorite daily song for 6 days. |
| THE VILLAGE PEOPLE - I AM WHAT I AM (1978) Album: Macho Man (1978) April 9th 1991 - my #1 favorite daily song for 11 days at age 20 in 2nd year University I started a 2 year project to listen and learn every 45 rpm I owned this included the A and B sides of 1000 singles I owned. This is why I learned such a large varied odd collection of songs from 1988-1991 but discovered many gems like this song.
Village People is a
disco group that formed in the United States in 1977,
well known for their on-stage
costumes depicting American cultural stereotypes, as
well as their catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics.
Originally created to target disco's gay audience by featuring popular gay fantasy personas, the band's popularity quickly brought them into the mainstream. Village People scored a number of disco and dance hits, including their trademark "Macho Man", "Go West", the classic club medley of "San Francisco (You've Got Me) / In Hollywood (Everybody is a Star)", "In the Navy", "Can't Stop the Music", and their biggest hit, "Y.M.C.A.". They have sold upwards of 100 million records world-wide |
| THE RUTLES - CHEESE AND ONIONS (1978) Album: The Rutles (1978) I bought this album new on cassette at Zellers in December 1984 and loved putting on the headphones and jamming along on the drums with it at age 13 in Grade 9 in the basement at 410 Ruth Street where we lived 1982-1991. The songs were new songs written and inspired to sound like The Beatles using basic musical ideas and varied from actual Beatles songs. The funny thing is that I think all of The Rutles songs are better than The Beatles songs that they parody.
The Rutles is a
soundtrack album to the 1978
telemovie
All You Need Is Cash. The album contains over 14 of
the tongue-in-cheek, pastiches of
Beatles' songs that were featured in the film.
Multiple listenings are required to discern all the sources referenced in titles, lyrics, melodies, and song structures. The primary creative force of the Rutles music was Neil Innes, the sole composer and arranger of the songs. Innes had been the 'seventh' member of Monty Python, as well as one of the main artists behind the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band in the late 1960s, who had been featured in the real Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour movie performing "Death Cab For Cutie". Innes himself credits the three musicians he recruited to assist him on the project as having been enormously important in helping him capture the feel of The Beatles. Guitarist/singer Ollie Halsall and drummer John Halsey had played together in the groups Timebox and Patto. Multi-instrumentalist Rikki Fataar had played with The Flames before joining the Beach Boys in the early 1970s. |
| THREE DOG NIGHT - PIECES OF APRIL (1973) hit #19
The band started in 1968 with three lead vocalists,
Danny Hutton (who got his start with Hanna-Barbera
Records in 1965),
Chuck Negron, and
Cory Wells (who landed a recording contract with Dunhill
Records). They had made some early recordings in 1967 with
Brian Wilson and initially went by the name of Redwood.
Shortly after abandoning the Redwood moniker, the vocalists
hired a group of backing musicians –
Michael Allsup on guitar,
Floyd Sneed on drums,
Joe Schermie from the Cory Wells Blues Band on bass, and
Jimmy Greenspoon on keyboards–and soon became one of the
most successful bands in the United States during the late
1960s and early 1970s.
Three Dog Night earned 13 gold albums and recorded 21 Billboard Top 40 hits, seven of which went gold. Their first gold record was "One" (US #5), which had been written and recorded by Harry Nilsson. The group had three US #1 songs,: "Mama Told Me Not to Come" (Cory Wells on lead), which was also their only Top 10 hit in the UK; "Joy to the World" (Chuck Negron on lead); and "Black and White" (Danny Hutton on lead). Coincidentally, each one featured a different lead singer. Dunhill Records claimed 40 million record albums were sold by the band during this time period. As its members wrote just a handful of songs on the albums, most songs Three Dog Night recorded were written by outside songwriters. Notable hit covers include Randy Newman "Mama Told Me Not to Come" (US #1), Laura Nyro "Eli's Coming" (US #10), Russ Ballard of Argent "Liar" (US #7), Hoyt Axton ("Joy to the World" (US #1) and "Never Been To Spain" (US #5)), Elton John and Bernie Taupin ("Lady Samantha" & "Your Song"), John Hiatt "Sure As I'm Sittin' Here" (US #16), Bush "I Can Hear You Callin'", Leo Sayer "The Show Must Go On" (US #4) and Harry Nilsson's "One" (US #5). The band also popularized songs by Paul Williams ("An Old Fashioned Love Song" (US #4) and "Out in the Country" (US #15)) as well as "Easy to be Hard" (US #4) from the musical Hair |
| FOGHAT - SLOW RIDE (1976) hit #20
Slow Ride" is the title of a song composed by
Dave Peverett and recorded by the British
rock band
Foghat, appearing on their fifth album
Fool for the City (1975). This was Foghat's top
single, peaking at number 20. It also appears on
Foghat Live (1977), which was their best selling
album at over two million copies. In 2009, it was named the
45th "Best Hard Rock" song of all time by
VH1.
There are 5 versions of this song on the market. The original LP version from Fool For the City lasts 8 minutes and 14 seconds. The single version, found in several compilations was truncated to 3:56 with a fade-out ending. The 1977 live version is 8:21, the King Biscuit Flower Hour Foghat version is 10:37 and the 2007 live version is 9:44. The song is featured in Richard Linklater's 1993 film Dazed And Confused and appears on the fictional radio station K-DST in video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It also appears in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and is the first song in the campaign. Foghat are a British rock band that had their peak success in the mid- to late-1970s. Their style can be described as "blues-rock", or boogie-rock, dominated by electric and electric slide guitar. The band has achieved 8 gold records, one platinum and one double platinum records. The group remained popular during the disco era, but their popularity waned in the early 1980s |