#mitch ryder

[sonicandvisualsurprises]

1966 Little Latin Lupe Lu gets a sly twist!

The rhythm shuffles with confidence, the vocals lean in with just enough bite, and the track moves with a cool, no-nonsense stride.

You can listen to the original by the Righteous Brothers here (realeased in 1963) but Mitch Ryder’s high-gear take was my first encounter with the song, released in

1966

One song, many lives! Explore them all via #double dose, #triple dose or #quadruple dose on the blog (works better in the app).

[boxwright]

Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels - Mitch Ryder

[myimaginaryradio]

Devil With The Blue Dress / Good Golly Miss Molly - Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels

[musickickztoo]

Mitch Ryder *February 26, 1945

[dirtyriver]

Mitch Ryder – Er ist nicht mein Präsident, 1983

I discovered Mitch Ryder thanks to Springsteen's cover of Devil With a Blue Dress On. This 1983 song is sadly still very much topical.

The first time I saw him in a movie

Was in black and white on my colour TV

He was a big star in a football game

When shit hits the fans now we'll know who to blame

He's out of time and old

For him we must pray

For if he should die, in comes the Bush CIA

Er ist nicht mein Praesident

Ich bin aus Amerika

Er ist nicht mein Praesident

Ich bin aus Amerika

[affiches-concerts]

Mitch Ryder, Detroit, Montreat, NC Jumbo Globe, 1972.

[thecoparoom]

Blondie w/Mitch Ryder at the Palladium

Village Voice, October 1978

[vinylspinning]

Target: Target (1976)

Jimi Jamison found fame in 1985 as the singer of corporate rockers, Survivor, and their Rocky IV theme, "Burning Heart" (not "Eye of the Tiger," that was sung by David Bickler), but, almost a decade prior, he could be found paying his dues with the Memphis-based Target.

Isn't it ironic, then, that this largely forgotten band's self-titled debut album for A&M Records features a tiger (or maybe a leopard?) on its cover?

Also, I'm not sure it was a good idea that the inner sleeve design (see above) invited consumers to use the record as a dartboard!

But there's the baby-faced Jamison posing for his close-up on the jacket's rear, alongside guitarists Paul Cannon and Buddy Davis, bassist Tommy Cathey, and drummer David Spain.

Incidentally, prior to Target, which came together in '74, Jamison had put in time with local garage bands like The Debuts, who scored a regional hit with "If I Cry" in 1968 and toured with The Buckinghams, Roy Orbison, and Mitch Ryder's Detroit Wheels.

Anyway, if you take the time to read this LP's credits -- as I always do -- you'll note thank-yous to industry big-wigs like A&M boss Jerry Moss and super talent agent Frank Barsalona, so clearly Target had some major players in their corner.

But their music was basically stuck in a '70s classic rock rut: a no-man's land between early decade blues-rockers like Free and Humble Pie (see "Let Me Live," "Let Me Down Easy") and their end-of-decade AOR descendants ("Just a Little too Much," "Are You Ready") like Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, and, yes, Survivor.

That being said, if you dig this sort of sound and don't come looking for sure-fire hits à la Bad Company (clearly the best-case scenario Target aspired to in '76), then standouts like "Love Just Won't Quit" and the particularly nasty "Can't Fake It" should do just fine.

Although, the album's best showcase for Jamison's soulful grit may be Target's cover of Wilson Pickett's "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)" -- here styled as "99 1/2" -- which proves you simply can't go wrong with the classics.

Target was granted another shot in '77, via a sophomore LP called Captured, but were dropped with a third record in the can (it was finally released in 2017 as In Range), and broke up by decade's end.

Jamison briefly resurfaced in 1983 with a band called Cobra, which curiously featured future members (Mandy Meyer, Jeff Klaven, Tommy Kaiser) of Swiss metal-heads Krokus, before landing that plum gig in Survivor.

And then, beyond the 1990s, the singer spent the rest of his life in and out of the enduring hard rockers while simultaneously pursuing a solo career (to the tune of six records), until his death from a drug-influenced stroke in 2014, at the age of 63.

More Obscure Mid ‘70s Hard Rock: Armageddon’s Armageddon, Baker Gurvitz Army’s Elysian Encounter, Bedlam’s Bedlam, Black Sheep’s Black Sheep, Black Spirit’s Black Spirit, Blackfoot’s No Reservations, Blackfoot Sue’s Nothing to Hide, Bloontz’s Bloontz,  Blue Goose’s Blue Goose, Bux’s We Come to Play, Brownsville Station’s Motor City Connection, Cain’s A Pound of Flesh, Diamond Reo’s Diamond Reo, Dirty Tricks’ Dirty Tricks, Earth Quake’s Rocking the World, Elf’s Trying to Burn the Sun, Epitaph’s Outside the Law, Gedō’s Gedō, Goliath’s Hot Rock & Thunder ...

Even More Obscure Mid '70s Hard Rock: Good Rats’ Ratcity in Blue, Granicus’ Granicus, Granmax’s A Ninth Alive, Growl's Growl, Hammersmith’s Hammersmith, Hustler’s High Street, Legs Diamonds’ Legs Diamond, Max Webster’s Max Webster, Mother’s Finest’s Mother’s Finest, Moxy’s Moxy, Murasaki’s Murasaki, Nitzinger’s Live Better Electrically, Nutz’s Nutz, Painter’s Painter, Pentagram’s First Daze Here, Piper’s Piper, Plus’ No Pisar el Infinito, Primevil's Smokin' Bats at Campton's, Silver's Children of the Lord, Starz’s Starz, Stepson’s Stepson, The Storm’s The Storm, Strider’s Exposed, Strife’s Rush, Tiger’s Tiger, Truth and Janey’s No Rest for the Wicked, Widowmaker’s Widowmaker.

[fantastickkay]

Based on what is in my collection

[julio-viernes]

Psicodelia eléctrica de SRC (aka Scot Richard Case) en “No Secret Destination”, el corte que abrió su estupendo segundo LP  “Milestones” (Capitol, 1969). Un tema muy rock y al mismo tiempo extrañamente muy pop (la melodía, la voz). Crema de la psicodelia americana desde Detroit, con ese imponente y distorsionado punteo solista, el órgano planeador, esa batería rápida y redoblante… Como unos Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels ácidos y evolucionados.

[boxwright]

Mitch Ryder

[musicmags]

[myimaginaryradio]

C.C. Rider - Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels

[music-crush]

Mitch Ryder

Happy birthday, William Sherille Levise Jr. aka Mitch Ryder!

[musickickztoo]

Mitch Ryder *February 26, 1945