William's Song a Day Blog - est. September 2007

From: Truth ; Year: 1968; Genre: Hard Rock/Blues Rock This is the second song that I am aware of that was inspired by the late 1950s novel and film On The Beach ; the other being Dancing With Tears In My Eyes by Ultravox. While being the very dark and heavy subject matter of the omnipresent threat of nuclear holocaust experienced by those who lived Post War into the 1990s, it is quite thought-provoking. It was originally written in the early '60s by singer/songwriter Bonnie Dobson and subsequently covered many times since. I really like the overall arrangement and direction on this cover. All of the music is absolutely great as is Rod Stewart's vocals.   Hear Morning Dew on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Carmen - Sailor Song     My song pick 2 years ago today: The Isley Brothers - Hope You Feel Better Love (Part 1+2)     My song pick 3 years ago today: Gary Wright - Dream Weaver   My song pick 4 years ago today: Glass...

From: Chet Atkins Picks on the Beatles ; Year: 1966; Genre: Rock/Pop Records like this is among the reasons I love and respect Chet Atkins as a musician and shredding picker on the guitar. He recorded a few of these "Chet Atkins Pick on X" albums. And whilst he is mostly synonymous with Nashville and country and western, he actually delved into a wide spectrum of music, be it country, folk, bluegrass, blues, jazz, classical, R&B, soul, Spanish/Mexican/Flamenco, rock, pop and basically everything in between. He definitely was without a doubt a musician's musician. What I like most about this one is how his unmistakable picking and sound are in the forefront and ever-present, he keep The Beatles' spirit of their pop rock composition totally intact.  I really wonder though, what John, Paul, George, and Ringo thought of his covers?   Hear Chet's cover of Hard Day's Night on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: R.E.M. - Bang and Blame   ...

From: Four Foot Shack ; Year: 2014; Genre: Folk/Country Got this album the other day and have been bemused and entertained to say the least. Duo De Twang is a weird side-project by Primus frontman and soundtrack maker extraordinare Les Claypool and his longtime friend and guitarist for the band M.I.R.V.: Bryan Kehoe. Everything they do is stripped-back and folk/country covers and original material. Anyway, this has to be one of the most unique covers of the Alice in Chains classic grunge standard, and they do it as weirdly as you would expect.   Hear Man in the Box on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Queen - Don't Try Suicide     My song pick 2 years ago today: Robin Trower - The Fool and Me     My song pick 3 years ago today: Jerry Reed - When You're Hot, You're Hot   My song pick 4 years ago today: Billy Joel - Turn Around   My song pick 5 years ago today: The Jimmy Castor Bunch - Bertha Butt Encounters Vadar ...

From: Rhymes & Reasons ; Year: 1969; Genre: Folk Rock I guess this one is a song that you will not understand unless "you know." Originally penned by folk great Tom Paxton, John Denver does an amazing job with such in the best way he can.   Hear The Ballad of Richard Nixon on YouTube.        My song pick 1 year ago today: The Thermals - Returning to the Fold     My song pick 2 years ago today: The Doors - Twentieth Century Fox     My song pick 3 years ago today: 1984 - There's a Wrinkle In Our Time   My song pick 4 years ago today: Bay City Rollers - Yesterday's Hero   My song pick 5 years ago today: Supertramp - Breakfast in America   My song pick 6 years ago today: Bobbie Gentry - Ode to Billie Joe   My song pick 7 years ago today: Blue Öyster Cult - Eyes On Fire My song pick 8 years ago today: The Beach Boys - All Summer Long My song pick 9 years ago today: Bernard Wright - Who Do You Love My song pick 10 ye...

From: Radio Free Albemuth ; Year: 1988; Genre: Classical/Jazz Fusion One of the odd things I have discovered concerning Stu Hamm is that only musicians seem to know who his is and wot he plays. I mean, he's played on a lot of albums from a lot of artists; mainly guitar shredders like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. Most would likely know about Jaco Pastorius, Victor Wooten, or Steve Bailey before they'd remember Stu Hamm; not to take a single thing from those axe slingers, he is just every bit as good as them in my opinion. But, when you hear his solo works he really just blows you away with not just how great of a player he is, but how inventive and original his playing and style are. After hearing much of his records I was amazed how many odd and new sounds he could make with his bass guitar. Anyway, this one comes off of one of my favourite albums of his. Radio Free Albemuth's title was taken from the Philip K. Dick novel of the same name, as well as the lion's share of...

From: Undead ; Year: 1968; Genre: Blues Rock/Jazz Rock Found another cover of this favourite of mine; this one comes from the first live album from Ten Years After. It's a very interesting take on the Gershwin classic, which is used as an introduction/overture for drummer Ric Lee's  Shantung Cabbage  drum solo.    Hear Summertime/Shantung Cabbage on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: War - Slowly We Walk Together     My song pick 2 years ago today: Normaal - Val Kapot     My song pick 3 years ago today: Brass Construction - Screwed (Conditions)   My song pick 4 years ago today: Procol Harum - Song for a Dreamer   My song pick 5 years ago today: Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Watching Over You   My song pick 6 years ago today: The Charlie Daniels Band - The Devil Went Down To Georgia   My song pick 7 years ago today: Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) - Givin' It All Away My song pick 8 years ago t...

From: Ghost Stories ; Year: 2024; Genre: Hard Rock Just happened to have BÖC on the brain and was listening to their latest album release, Ghost Stories , which is a collection of remastered and unreleased tracks from the late 1970s to early 1980s. I'm not 100% sure, but close to it, from all I can tell, this cover of the immortal emotional song by The Animals, is a remix/remaster from Blue Öyster Cult's '78 live album Some Enchanted Evening .   Hear We Gotta Get Out of This Place on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Tim Hardin - Reason to Believe     My song pick 2 years ago today: Eric Burdon and War - Spirit     My song pick 3 years ago today: Jigsaw - Life Insurance   My song pick 4 years ago today: Tesla - Edison's Medicine   My song pick 5 years ago today: The Grateful Dead - Throwing Stones   My song pick 6 years ago today: Redbone - When You Got Trouble   My song pick 7 years ago today: Blue Öyster ...

From: Here's to the People ; Year: 1991; Genre: Cool Jazz/Jazz Fusion Most into jazz and associated genres are most likely aware of the passing of jazz giant Sonny Rollins a couple of days ago. It is just so mind-blowing to think of all the music, musicians, and history he experienced in his 95 years on this Earth, let alone all of the decades he was active. To think, that he took a large part in and saw all the new forms of jazz and the people he played with. It is a rarity to see an active musician touring for so many years, especially in jazz live so long. He definitely will be missed and then some. Anyway, I had a lot of music from many eras to choose from for this song pick. My thoughts went to the '60s or '70s, but then I have noticed that jazz, overall, at least here in the U.S. was kind of in the background by the 1990s, so I checked out one of his albums from the early part of the decade. I have to say, I am overjoyed that I did so. This one in particular I found a...

From: What Cha Need/I'll Take You There (single); Year: 1972; Genre: Soul/Funk Here is a deeper cut for this Friday; an instrumental cover of the Staple Singer's classic written by Al Bell.   Hear I'll Take You There on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Midnight Oil - Nobody's Child     My song pick 2 years ago today: Dr. John - Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive   My song pick 3 years ago today: Herman's Hermits - End of the World   My song pick 4 years ago today: Alice in Chains - The One You Know   My song pick 5 years ago today: Yes - Going for the One   My song pick 6 years ago today: Dayton Sidewinders - Phoenix   My song pick 7 years ago today: The Police - Synchronicity I My song pick 8 years ago today: Pink Floyd - Dogs My song pick 9 years ago today: Ozzy Osbourne - See You on the Other Side My song pick 10 years ago today: Queensrÿche - If I Could Change it All My song pick 11 years ago today: Kl...

From: George Thorogood and the Destroyers ; Year: 1977; Genre: Blues Rock Wot the heck, I'm picking the George Thorogood cover after picking the John Lee Hooker version yesterday; seems like a great idea! Yeah. Anyway, as I wrote in my last post, this is a cover of two songs from the legend of a Bluesman: House Rent Boogie and One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer . He used the first song to tell the tale as to why the guy is in the bar drowning his blues in the iconic second piece. I have to say that he and his Destroyers did the songs great and probably turned a lot of new listeners on the original John Lee Hooker tracks; I know it did with me.   Hear One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Shocking Blue - Roll Engine Roll     My song pick 2 years ago today: Pat Benatar - My Clone Sleeps Alone   My song pick 3 years ago today: The B-52's - Love Shack   My song pick 4 years ago today: Bootsy's Ru...

From: The Real Folk Blues ; Year: 1966; Genre: Blues I do not know why, but it just felt like a perfect time for a John Lee Hooker blues; why not this great track. Probably many my age and younger were introduced to this track by George Thorogood and the Destroyers who fused it with another John Lee Hooker tune House Rent Boogie , which preceded it in the medley. Apparently George Thorogood asked him for his bless in doing it and John Lee Hooker was all for it. Anyway, this blues is actually a cover, (depending on whom you ask apparently). The authorship and who recorded it first is not in question, (Rusy Toombs and Amos Milburn), just how much Hooker added to it to make it one of his signature songs. It appears that there are some music historians out there that state that Hooker's version is different enough that it is an original. Frankly I do not really care, I just enjoy listening to it; whoever it is performing it.   Hear One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer on YouTube.   ...

From: Sloppy Seconds ; Year: 1972; Genre: Country Rock/Comedy Yesterday I heard of Dennis Locorriere's passing; he was the lead vocalist and whilst played the lead guitar primarily, he basically at one time or another played almost every instrument with Dr. Hook. This rather fun comical track with its old timey sound really opens up the record beautifully. As with all the material on Sloppy Seconds , it was written by noted song-smith  Shel Silverstein , who earlier the same year recorded it as the title track to his own album.    Hear Freakin' at the Freaker's Ball on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Soundgarden - Searching WIth My Good Eye Closed     My song pick 2 years ago today: John Cougar Mellencamp - R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to 60's Rock)   My song pick 3 years ago today: ABBA - Bang-A-Boomerang   My song pick 4 years ago today: Faster Pussycat - Nonstop to Nowhere   My song pick 5 years ago t...

From: Get Ready ; Year: 1969; Genre: Blues Rock Kind of felt like going for one of Rare Earth's extended tracks, of which I have already picked a lot. This is, of course, the modern classic standard originally written by John D. Loudermilk and has been covered and recorded many times. I'll always love this heavy blues version that I heard a lot over the years; all the instruments are incredible, but especially that organwork; and those guitars are spectacular.   Hear Tobacco Road on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Devo - Jocko Homo     My song pick 2 years ago today: Three Dog Night - Pieces of April   My song pick 3 years ago today: Alice in Chains - Hate to Feel   My song pick 4 years ago today: Midnight Oil - Sell My Soul   My song pick 5 years ago today: Ohio Players - Love Rollercoaster   My song pick 6 years ago today: Fairport Convention - Expletive Delighted   My song pick 7 years ago today: The Holli...

From: Live!-Live!-Live! ; Year: 1986; Genre: Hard Rock Totally forgot about this cover of the Mountain classic until had it come on random whilst driving. Without a doubt, Turner's vocals are the best part of it; he just blows you away with those powerful pipes. Of course, the entire band played this one live like a well-oiled machine, showing off their chops and then some.   Hear Mississippi Queen on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Tippa My Tongue     My song pick 2 years ago today: Wednesday - Last Kiss   My song pick 3 years ago today: Jigsaw - Prizefighter   My song pick 4 years ago today: Molly Hatchet - Boogie No More   My song pick 5 years ago today: The Hollies - The Air That I Breathe   My song pick 6 years ago today: Gloryhammer - Masters of the Galaxy   My song pick 7 years ago today: Gloryhammer - Legend of the Astral Hammer My song pick 8 years ago today: John Fogerty -...

From: Theme From "A Summer Place" ; Year: 1959; Genre: 20th Century classical Re-watching the new series based on Stephen King's novel It ;  It: Welcome to Derry . I'm really enjoying seeing wot I have missed the first time through; there is a great deal going on throughout. Anyway, I have heard this song in a few of the Stephen King miniseries/films and it almost always is the prelude to a disturbing scene. Kind of a "bait and switch" where this light and pretty piece puts the viewer at ease just to "pull the rug out" and leave you reeling. Its to the point that when I happen to hear this one outside of a King film I expect something bad to happen; I guess I watch too much of those. Anyway, this may be the most popular version of it, but is not the original and, funny enough, was never the actual theme to the 1959 movie , but rather a tune played in the background sporadically throughout the picture. I guess this is a case of the song staying fam...

From: The Spice of Life ; Year: 1969; Genre: Soul/Funk This track always puts me in a better mood than I was in when I hear it. It is definitely not in a sugary pop track kind of way, a very soulful and uplifting kind of way. Recently discovered that Marlena Shaw's recording of this track is actually a cover that was recorded a few times prior and since; I always assumed it originated with her, but I was in error. California Soul was originally written by the legendary husband-and-wife writing duo Ashford & Simpson and recorded first by The Messengers. Wotever the case, I still love this rendition/recording; there's just more great versions out there to hear.   Hear California Soul on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Fleetwood Mac - Sands of Time     My song pick 2 years ago today: Sol Ho'opi'i - Fascinating Rhythm   My song pick 3 years ago today: Kenny Rogers & the First Edition - Something's Burning   My song pic...

From:  H 2 O ; Year: 1982; Genre: Rock/Soul Never knew that this track was a cover; always was under the impression that it was a Hall & Oates original. Mike Oldfield , who was also one of the song's writers, recorded and released it just prior. While it charted originally for Oldfield, it charted much better and in more territories for Hall & Oates, which is not surprising with them being such a giant musical powerhouse back in the 1980s.   Hear Family Man on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Lighthouse - Man, Woman, Child     My song pick 2 years ago today: Cameo - Attitude   My song pick 3 years ago today: Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) - The Lights Go Down   My song pick 4 years ago today: Lawrence Gowan - The Dragon   My song pick 5 years ago today: Alice Cooper - I'm Eighteen   My song pick 6 years ago today: U.K. - Rendezvous 6:02   My song pick 7 years ago today: Parliament - Aqua Boogie (A ...

From: Running Down the Road ; Year: 1969; Genre: Folk Rock/Jazz/Blues Played this record once more yesterday and was again just mesmerized by almost every facet of it; it's just one of those "historic" albums. Stealin' is a blues standard that is kind of nebulous as to its authorship, but has been one that many a wandering troubadour has played it live and in the studio over the last century. This recording of the track also has the distinction as being part of the soundtrack to the 1971 cult classic film Two-Lane Blacktop , which has most likely increased its popularity to some degree. There is a noted Dixieland Jazz feel to Arlo's rendition, which gives it a "singalong" feel; even when you have the record playing you get the compulsion to sing with everyone, even when you're by yourself with headphones on. Arlo Guthrie's music and attitude though is as such; his style is so inclusive to anyone listening. Just join in the chorus and become part ...