[Steven Wagenheim]

The year was 1975. Prog Rock was in full swing. I had almost completely
abandoned top 40 radio.

One group, which at the time was pretty big among prog rockers, has really
ended up almost as a non entity. It is almost impossible to find a station (at
least in this area) that plays any of their music. I don't even remember the
last time I heard one of their songs on the air.

This song was my favorite one from 1975. It may be one of my favorite songs
of all time by one of the most beautiful voices to ever front a rock and roll
band.

The voice - Annie Haslam
The group - Renaissance
The song - Ocean Gypsy

YouTube - Ocean Gypsy, Renaissance

[madison_avenue]

Great guitar playing on this.

Lynyrd Skynyrd. Freebird:

YouTube - Lynyrd Skynyrd-Free Bird-BBC 1975

[Steven Wagenheim]

Originally Posted by madison_avenue

Great guitar playing on this.

Lynyrd Skynyrd. Freebird:

YouTube - Lynyrd Skynyrd-Free Bird-BBC 1975

You have NO idea how much restraint I'm showing right now.

Obscure????

Free Bird is about as obscure as the National Anthem at a baseball game.

But maybe in England Lynyrd Skynyrd wasn't such a big deal.

One thing is for sure...if I never hear this song again, it will be too soon.

[madison_avenue]

OK maybe not obscure but not particulary huge in the UK! Remember they were competing against the likes of , Zeppelin, Genesis, Floyd etc. They were sort of band who used to turn up on late night TV stations like the Old Grey Whistle Test. A modern day US Southern rock group, The Kings of Leon, remind me of them.

[Steven Wagenheim]

Originally Posted by madison_avenue

OK maybe not obscure but not particulary huge in the UK! Remember they were competing against the likes of , Zeppelin, Genesis, Floyd etc. They were sort of band who used to turn up on late night TV stations like the Old Grey Whistle Test. A modern day US Southern rock group, The Kings of Leon, remind me of them.

Ah, okay. I get it now. See, here in the US, some stations refuse to even
play Free Bird any longer because people are so sick of hearing it. As a
matter of fact, in a recent fan write in where they picked their top 20
songs of all time, they were specifically instructed NOT to vote for Stairway
To Heaven or Free Bird.

So yeah, I can understand that things might be a little different over there.

[Dave Patterson]

Originally Posted by madison_avenue

OK maybe not obscure but not particulary huge in the UK! Remember they were competing against the likes of , Zeppelin, Genesis, Floyd etc. They were sort of band who used to turn up on late night TV stations like the Old Grey Whistle Test. A modern day US Southern rock group, The Kings of Leon, remind me of them.

Not everyone feels that way here m_a...I've been a hardcore Skynyrd fan since 1971 when they were here in Muscle Shoals to record...

A hardcore fan while it was still about the music, that is.

[Frank Donovan]

Originally Posted by madison_avenue

OK maybe not obscure but not particulary huge in the UK!

lol. you must be one 'o them youngsters LS were pretty huge in the UK when I were a lad.

Here's a vid I was going to post in the punk thread, but the Undertones weren't really a punk band - they just came out of that era.

But's it's still a rollicking good tune!!

YouTube - The Undertones- Teenage Kicks...

Frank

[madison_avenue]

Originally Posted by Frank Donovan

lol. you must be one 'o them youngsters LS were pretty huge in the UK when I were a lad.

Here's a vid I was going to post in the punk thread, but the Undertones weren't really a punk band - they just came out of that era.

But's it's still a rollicking good tune!!


YouTube - The Undertones- Teenage Kicks #147.*T*O*T*Ps*70s*



Frank

Well yeah LS were a bit before my time and might have missed their hey day! Anyway Teenage Kicks is a cool song, I believe John Peel discovered The Undertones and was always a great fan.

[madison_avenue]

Originally Posted by Dave Patterson

Not everyone feels that way here m_a...I've been a hardcore Skynyrd fan since 1971 when they were here in Muscle Shoals to record...

A hardcore fan while it was still about the music, that is.

!971? I didn't realize they started so far back.

[Patrician]

Originally Posted by Dave Patterson

Not everyone feels that way here m_a...I've been a hardcore Skynyrd fan since 1971 when they were here in Muscle Shoals to record...

A hardcore fan while it was still about the music, that is.

Just bookmarked - and it IS like one of the national anthems of rock. RIPNF (Rest In Peace Never Forget).

http://www.tennesseeconcerts.com/planecrash.html

[Frank Donovan]

Originally Posted by madison_avenue

Well yeah LS were a bit before my time and might have missed their hey day! Anyway Teenage Kicks is a cool song, I believe John Peel discovered The Undertones and was always a great fan.

Yeah. Peel was a big fan and he played that track to death on his radio show.

PS What happened to the Jimmy Cliff line from your sig?



Frank

[Patrician]

Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim

The year was 1975. Prog Rock was in full swing. I had almost completely
abandoned top 40 radio.

Hope you are in the mood for a little ribbing, Steven.

You are beginning to sound like Sophia Petrillo - yes the awful Golden Girls - When Sophia tells one of her 'once upon a time in Sicily' stories, she always starts with 'The year was...' and then goes into all the background and then gets to the bottom/punch line.

No offense I am a Sophia Petrillo from way back. You should see me with my purse.

[madison_avenue]

Originally Posted by Frank Donovan

Yeah. Peel was a big fan and he played that track to death on his radio show.

PS What happened to the Jimmy Cliff line from your sig?



Frank

You picked up on that sig? You're sharp man! The Harder They Come a classic album.

[tomw]

Great thread, Steve!

Hey Bjarne,

All those Norwiegian bands and no Thomas Dybdahl!

YouTube - New York City

YouTube - Thomas Dybdahl - From Grace

YouTube - Thomas Dybdahl - Something Real

A bit of crazy 80's Scot's prog rock awesomeness that Ed Dale turned me onto recently.

YouTube - Marillion - He Knows You Know -...

Been getting into a *lot* more Japanese music recently. I've been into it since I first heard Sakamoto's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence in the 80's...the guy's a genius. I've seen him live more time than I can remember.

YouTube - Alva Noto+Ryuichi Sakamoto - Trioon...

Many may recognise this:

YouTube - Ryuichi Sakamoto - Bibo No Aozora

Also been playing a lot of video games and watching a lot of Japanese animation recently this track is a real standout.

YouTube - Dante's Music: Nothing Can Be Explained...

Finally, a real treat for the guitarists out there, I've been really (*really!*) studying this guy, Antoine Dufour, to improve my fingerstyle He has to be seen (and heard) to be believed. Fortunately, you can buy transcriptions along with his albums. You need a Phd just to understand his tunings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu0FjmcJva8

YouTube - Antoine Dufour - Spiritual Groove -...

YouTube - Antoine Dufour - Reality -...

YouTube - Antoine Dufour - Catching the Light -...

Phew..

Tom

[Steven Wagenheim]

Originally Posted by Patrician

Hope you are in the mood for a little ribbing, Steven.

You are beginning to sound like Sophia Petrillo - yes the awful Golden Girls - When Sophia tells one of her 'once upon a time in Sicily' stories, she always starts with 'The year was...' and then goes into all the background and then gets to the bottom/punch line.

No offense I am a Sophia Petrillo from way back. You should see me with my purse.

Actually (hope you're in for a little ribbing now) the actual words she used
were...

"Picture it...Sicily...19 whatever..."

And then she'd go into her spiel. I was a BIG Golden Girl fan and still watch
them with my wife on DVD today. We have all 7 seasons.

Yeah, Sophia could sure tell a story.

[ThomM]

The only thing that may be obscure about this is the album it came from.
The players, Al Kooper and Steven Stills.
The song, It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry by Bob Dylan.
The album, Bloomfield, Cooper, and Stills, Super Sessions from 1968.
None of it is obscure to me as I've owned and listened to either an LP, cassette, or CD of it since 1968
It's an awesome rainy day album.

YouTube - AL KOOPER-STEVE STILLS : IT TAKES A LOT...

[Kurt]

Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim

Ah, okay. I get it now. See, here in the US, some stations refuse to even
play Free Bird any longer because people are so sick of hearing it. As a
matter of fact, in a recent fan write in where they picked their top 20
songs of all time, they were specifically instructed NOT to vote for Stairway To Heaven or Free Bird.

So yeah, I can understand that things might be a little different over there.

I have to laugh...I almost started a thread about "songs you're sick of" and these two are at the very top of my list.

[Steven Wagenheim]

Originally Posted by Kurt

I have to laugh...I almost started a thread about "songs you're sick of" and these two are at the very top of my list.

Yeah Kurt...had my fill of 'em too.

Thank goodness WXRP 101.9 doesn't play either of these. Great alternative
station that plays stuff that most stations in my area (short of the college
stations) don't play.

[Kurt]

Here's one of my very favorite bands, each member is a great musician in their own right. The Dixie Dregs are the ultimate cross-over band, playing a mixture of rock, jazz, bluegrass, classical, all in the same song.

YouTube - Dixie Dregs - Kat Food

Maybe the best guitar player you never heard of, Steve Morse and the Dregs:

YouTube - Dixie Dregs - The Bash (Live 1978)

[KimW]

Originally Posted by madison_avenue

You picked up on that sig? You're sharp man! The Harder They Come a classic album.

One of my favorite albums.

[KimW]

Originally Posted by ThomM

The only thing that may be obscure about this is the album it came from.
The players, Al Kooper and Steven Stills.
The song, It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry by Bob Dylan.
The album, Bloomfield, Cooper, and Stills, Super Sessions from 1968.
None of it is obscure to me as I've owned and listened to either an LP, cassette, or CD of it since 1968
It's an awesome rainy day album.
YouTube - AL KOOPER-STEVE STILLS : IT TAKES A LOT TO LAUGH, IT TAKES

Yeah, I've had many incarnations of that album too Thom. One of my favorite songs off it,and other variations od the same song:

YouTube - Season Of The Witch Al Kooper Steven...

YouTube - Donovan - Season of the Witch

YouTube - Vanilla Fudge - Season Of The Witch

[Patrician]

Originally Posted by ThomM

The only thing that may be obscure about this is the album it came from.
The players, Al Kooper and Steven Stills.
The song, It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry by Bob Dylan.
The album, Bloomfield, Cooper, and Stills, Super Sessions from 1968.
None of it is obscure to me as I've owned and listened to either an LP, cassette, or CD of it since 1968
It's an awesome rainy day album.
YouTube - AL KOOPER-STEVE STILLS : IT TAKES A LOT TO LAUGH, IT TAKES

Yo, Thom - Wasn't it Al Kooper who started Blood, Sweat and Tears? I was looking for them for something obscure but am surprised how many songs they have had that were not obscure. ummm. However the ones I find are all 'old guys' and I don't know what Al Kooper looks like now. I do remember him when he kind of looked like Frank Zappa... Am I confused or just confused?

[Patrician]

Lots of versions of this song and you may never have heard this one.

YouTube - Kronos Quartet - Foxy Lady

[Kurt]

I love Mojo Nixon:

YouTube - Mojo Nixon ~ Redneck Rampage

YouTube - Mojo Nixon - Elvis is everywhere

Here's a cool song from Phantom, Rocker and Slick...Phantom and Rocker are the bass and drummer from Stray Cats, Slick is an ex guitar player for David Bowie:

YouTube - "Men Without Shame" by Phantom Rocker &...

Here's Sly and Robbie...Sly is Ansley Dunbar, a pretty well-known drummer that played with Zappa in the 70s, they now do reggae dubs.

YouTube - Sly & Robbie - Unmetered Taxi

YouTube - Sun Shine. Sly & Robbie Feat. T.O.K.

YouTube - Sly & Robbie - Stepping Out Dub

[Kurt]

One of my favorite mellow songs, from flooglehorn player Art Farmer.

The bassist is Will Lee before his days on Letterman. Lee couldn't have been much older than 18-20 when he played on this album.

YouTube - Art Farmer - Crawl Space

Not really obscure, but good to hear again...

YouTube - Clarence Carter- Strokin'

[Steven Wagenheim]

I officially concede that Kurt knows more about obscure music stuff than I
ever will in my life.

He has come up with stuff that I have not only never heard of, but wouldn't
have believed existed had he not just shown me right in front of my eyes.

I don't know how much time you spent in record stores, clubs, listening to
the radio or what, but I tip my hat to you.

I could build another music library with the tunes Kurt's come up with alone.

And where the hell would I put it?

[KimW]

Kurts Clarence Carter made me thinik of this song, made famous by Clarence,but I'm pretty sure it was written by this guy singing it here,who is actually more known for singing Gimme Just a Little More time:

YouTube - Chairmen Of The Board - Patches (LIVE,...

YouTube - Chairmen Of The Board - Give Me Just A...

[KimW]

Someone mentioned Roxy Music,but I've yet to see anyone mention or post anything by these people:

YouTube - 801-That Falling Feeling

[Patrician]

Love Roxy Music - (thanks for another for my bookmarks, Daleron)
Won't put Love is a Drug here because it is not obscure.

Maybe this is.

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

[Steven Wagenheim]

I may get run out of the forum for this one.

In 1973, The Sweet hit the scene with their smash hit "Little Willy" They went
on to have a few more decent sized hits including "Love Is Like Oxygen"
and "Ballroom Blitz"

But The Sweet had a lot of songs that not only didn't make much of a dent
in the charts but hardly ever got played...then OR now.

So in memory of such a great glam rock band...

Wig Wam Bam and Blockbuster

YouTube - The Sweet: Wig Wam Bam

YouTube - Sweet - Blockbuster [totp2]

[Frank Donovan]

Between the years 1978 - 1982, the band "Doll By Doll" released four studio albums to high critical acclaim but few sales.

Their lead singer and songwriter was a Scotsman called Jackie Leven, who had a fabulous voice. Tragically, following a street assault in 1984 in which he was all but strangled, he was unable to even talk for two years.

That left him depressed and he became a heroin addict.

However, he has since recovered and embarked on a prolific solo career.

Here he is in his prime, with his band, Doll By Doll:

YouTube - Doll By Doll - Main Travelled Roads

Frank

[ThomM]

Originally Posted by Kurt

Here's one of my very favorite bands, each member is a great musician in their own right. The Dixie Dregs are the ultimate cross-over band, playing a mixture of rock, jazz, bluegrass, classical, all in the same song.


YouTube - Dixie Dregs - Kat Food

Maybe the best guitar player you never heard of, Steve Morse and the Dregs:

YouTube - Dixie Dregs - The Bash (Live 1978)

I saw them when I lived in Tampa in the 70's, excellent live.

Originally Posted by KimW

Yeah, I've had many incarnations of that album too Thom. One of my favorite songs off it,and other variations od the same song:

YouTube - Season Of The Witch Al Kooper Steven Stills Mike Bloomfield

YouTube - Donovan - Season of the Witch

YouTube - Vanilla Fudge - Season Of The Witch

Every song on Super Sessions is great, and that's after listening to it for 41 years
I like all 3 versions of witch.
I saw Vanilla Fudge preform it at one of the first concerts I ever went to.

Originally Posted by Patrician

Yo, Thom - Wasn't it Al Kooper who started Blood, Sweat and Tears? I was looking for them for something obscure but am surprised how many songs they have had that were not obscure. ummm. However the ones I find are all 'old guys' and I don't know what Al Kooper looks like now. I do remember him when he kind of looked like Frank Zappa... Am I confused or just confused?

I don't know if he started it, but I know he was in BST.
I also know Bloomfield played with them for a while.

[KimW]

YouTube - Phil Manzanera - Listen Now

[Steven Wagenheim]

The year was 1973. I wasn't at all into country music at the time, but this
song crossed over onto the pop charts. While it was a moderate country
hit, it barely made a dent in the pop charts and today, well, forget it...nobody
plays this song anymore.

Here he is, Billy Crash Craddock and "Till The Water Stops Running"

YouTube - Billy Crash Craddock- Till The Water...

I'm gonna get run from this forum yet.

[Steven Wagenheim]

The year was 1977. I was pretty much listening to FM radio all the time now.

This band, while actually pretty big in Canada (yea Canada) only had limited
success in the US and today, you'd be hard pressed to hear any of their
stuff on the radio.

What most people don't know is that this band actually started recording in
the 60s but took many years to finally get any recognition at all.

Long gone and forgotten...Chilliwack.

And "Fly At Night"

Here, on the all oldies, all the time rock and roll radio station of the IM stars.

YouTube - Chilliwack (Fly At...

[Steven Wagenheim]

Here is another one from The Sweet that not only didn't chart in the US, it
wasn't even released here. I had to get this as an import single from England.

The year...1975

The song..."The Lies In Your Eyes"

YouTube - the sweet the lies in your eyes

[KimW]

Steven,
I can't believe it wasn't till 1977 that you were listening to FM full time, it was early 70s that it took over the airwaves over AM in most metro areas.

[Steven Wagenheim]

Originally Posted by KimW

Steven,
I can't believe it wasn't till 1977 that you were listening to FM full time, it was early 70s that it took over the airwaves over AM in most metro areas.

I started listening to FM in 1971. I started listening exclusively to FM
around 1977. By 1975, I'd say I listened to FM about 80% of the time. By
1977, I forgot I had an AM radio. But no, I'd already been listening to FM
for 6 years.

And the reasons I still listened to AM?

I'll give you 4 of them.

Harry Harrison
Ron Lundy
Dan Ingram (funniest DJ ever)
Bruce Morrow

They made WABC worth listening to, even though the music was seriously
lacking.

But by 1977, even they couldn't keep me around.

[CDarklock]

Here's an obscure band I've always loved... which is so obscure, there's NO YouTube footage to be found. So you'll have to be happy with the Wikipedia entry... and maybe a trip to pick up the new 40th-anniversary CD:

Cartoone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Kurt]

Not really obscure, but probably been a long time since you've heard it:

YouTube - Daddy Dewdrop - Chick-A-Boom

Here's another of my favorites...Dread Zepplin, which is a Led Zepplin/reggae cover band, with a big splash of Elvis mixed in...I'm serious! (Robert Plant loves them!)

YouTube - DREAD ZEPPELIN Good Times Bad Times

YouTube - Dread Zeppelin - Immigrant Song

YouTube - Dread Zeppelin Heartbreaker

YouTube - Dread Zeppelin

YouTube - dread zeppelin - "ramble...

Here's Honey Davis, a San Franciso blue/rock guitar player that's been around forever, but never made it big:

YouTube - HONEY DAVIS ROCKS VENICE BEACH

Here's Roy Rogers (not the cowboy), another Bay area bluesman. Roy's one of the greatest slide players alive and played with John Lee Hooker's band in the 80's-90's:

Guitar lovers...Check out Roy's guitar, one of the coolest I've ever seen:

YouTube - Roy Rogers (slide guitar) - Walkin Blues

A great cover of Elmore James' The Sky Is Cryin:

YouTube - Roy Rogers (slide guitar) - The Sky Is...

A little more:

YouTube - Roy Rogers (slide guitar) - Outro Slide...

And here's Robben Ford, another great blues/jazz guitar player (Robben is the lead singer/lead guitar):

YouTube - Robben Ford - Talk To Your Daughter

[Kurt]

Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim

I officially concede that Kurt knows more about obscure music stuff than I
ever will in my life.

He has come up with stuff that I have not only never heard of, but wouldn't
have believed existed had he not just shown me right in front of my eyes.

I don't know how much time you spent in record stores, clubs, listening to
the radio or what, but I tip my hat to you.

I could build another music library with the tunes Kurt's come up with alone.

And where the hell would I put it?

Hey Steven,

We're the same age and I turned off most AM AND FM stations by about 1980. I'd listen to a few college stations and blues shows. CU in Boulder had a great blues radio show every Sunday night, it won awards every year: The Red Rooster Lounge.

I've spent most of my life seeking out songs/bands that I thought were great, but didn't get any play time. It's almost if a band/song became a "hit", I'd tune out.

I've also always been into "covers". Many say that only original music is cool, but I disagree strongly. Classical music is a great example...It's all covers, but a great song is a great song.

I like when an artist takes a song that isn't theirs and makes it their own...The best example is Hendrix doing Dylan's All Along the Watchtower. Even when Dylan does the song himself, he said he feels it's a tribute to Hendrix, because Hendrix added so much to the tune.

Today, iTunes makes this so easy...You can listen to 30 seconds clips of people doing the same song for free...There's like 25 versions of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire". Elvlis Costello, Eric Burdon, Grace Jones, Ray Charles, Wall of Voodoo, Blondie, plus tons more. There's punk versions, metal versions, hillbilly, country, rock.

I love hearing different "interpretations" of the same song.

Today, this is how I find some great "obscure" artists, just browsing iTunes.

[madison_avenue]

This is from the 1960's Mersey beat group, Gerry and The Pacemakers, they also did: Ferry Across The Mersey. Gerry Marsden is still singing these days, I heard him on the radio chatting with someone a couple of days ago:

YouTube - Gerry and The Pacemakers

[Paul Myers]

Kim,

Some of you that are as strange as I am may have heard this before:

[chuckle] Why does this not surprise me?

My favorite Laurie Anderson tune is "Language is a Virus." I have to dig those albums out. Haven't listened to them in too long.


Paul

[John Rogers]

Kurt, thanks for posting the Mojo Nixon and Dread Zeppelin. Those are two of my old faves that I haven't listened to in years.

John

[John Rogers]

More Bon Scott, this time with The Spektors. He played drums and sang with this group.

YouTube - The Spektors - Gloria - Bon Scott...

[Steven Wagenheim]

The year was 1971. This song was a mild hit, peaking at number 20 on the
Billboard charts. But it's been quite some time since any station around
these parts has played it.

Another group by the name of Middle Of The Road had a number 1 smash
with this song in the UK. Oddly, their version never even made it to the
states. Ironically, this version was the original and yet failed miserably in
England. Go figure.

Well, that got me curious, so I had to listen to the version I never heard
before.

Anywhere, here are both of them so you can decide which one YOU like
better.

Mac And Katie Kissoon

YouTube - Mac & Katie Kissoon - Chirpy Chirpy...

Middle Of The Road

YouTube - Mac & Katie Kissoon - Chirpy Chirpy...

[Steven Wagenheim]

It's hard to think of a group that's had as many hits and almost as many
duds as the Hollies. These are just 2 of the many songs from this super
group that have disappeared into obscurity. The one, made 26 on the
Billboard charts. The other, never made it out of Europe.

From 1972 - "Long Dark Road"

From 1976 - "Write On"

YouTube - Long Dark Road

YouTube - Hollies - Write On

[Steven Wagenheim]

This obscure tune is fitting for today as it's John Lennon's birthday.

Not one of his more played tunes but a great one nonetheless.

From Sometime In New York City

"Luck Of The Irish"

YouTube - John Lennon- "Luck of the...

[madison_avenue]

Here's Gary Numan : Friends Electric; Cars is a great track too.

YouTube - Tubeway Army / Gary Numan - Are...

[Kurt]

YouTube - Nick Lowe - "I Knew The Bride When She...