tatedavis2016

[tatedavis2016]

Sir Lord Baltimore: The Inventors of American Heavy Metal

The year is 1968.  At a high school in Brooklyn, New York, two people are standing in the front of the school.  One of them is a singing drummer who is a die-hard worshiper of the jazz greats of Buddy Rich and Max Roach, while also being a huge admirer of the vocal harmonies of groups like The Beatles and the voices of black rhythm and blues artists such as Chubby Checker.  The other is a virtuoso guitar player who was a massive Jimi Hendrix fan who went to the rival high school.  

The young drummer approached this young guitar player and said “Hey, I’ve heard about you.  Let’s jam sometime.”  

The guitarist agreed, “Yeah, I’ve heard about you too.”

  Looking for a bass player, the two young, ambitious musicians saw a concert in the drummer’s high school gym a few days later.  After the show, the drummer approached the band’s bass player and introduced himself.

“ Hey, me and my friend Louis Dambra are going to jam and we are looking for a bass player,” he said.  The bass player, a massive fan of Jack Bruce of Cream, introduced himself as Gary Justin and a band was formed.

After almost a year of rehearsals, the three members of the band tightened up their sound, which was very loud and raunchy, unlike many of their contemporaries at the time.  The band later auditioned for a young talent agent named Mike Appell, who had put an ad in The Village Voice magazine for a group to record some material in a local recording studio.  Impressed with what he heard, Appell asked if the band had a name.  When told no, he suggested a name that was after a character in the 1969 western film Butch Cassidy and The Sun Dance Kid.  The name was Sir Lord Baltimore.  Not long after, the newly named band went to Vantone Studios in Brooklyn to record their debut album, with Mike Appell and Jim Crestecos at the co-producer’s chair.  What drummer/singer John Garner, guitarist Louis Dambra, and bassist Gary Justin didn’t know, was that these recordings would be seminal in the birth of a very aggressive sub-genre of rock music that the mainstream wasn’t really ready for, called heavy metal.

 “      Hello everyone Tate Davis here with a special edition of Tate’s Tracks.  Today I’m going to be discussing what I consider to be one of the most influential rock bands of all time, Sir Lord Baltimore.  Without these guys, American heavy metal would be a very different thing than what we know it today.  Sir Lord Baltimore released two albums in the very early ‘70′s and they were done, just like that.  

Recorded at Vantone Studios, mixed at Electric Lady Studios and released by Mercury Records in 1970, Kingdom Come immediately greats us with a pumping bass riff by Gary Justin, immediately followed by the pounding fury of heaviness by John Garner and Louis Dambra on “Master Heartache.”  “WOMAN!!!! YOU ARE THE MASTER HEARTACHE!!” yells Garner angrily, beating the absolute hell out of his kit.  The album steamrolls ahead with the next two tracks “Hard Rain Fallin’” and “Lady Of Fire,” before we are greeted with a soothing, folksy number featuring gentle vocals by Garner in “Lake Isle of Innersfree”  The centerpiece of the album though, is the title track, which most likely paved the way for what we later came to know as stoner rock.  John Garner’s drumming was literally like no other drummer I had ever heard from that era, doing all sorts of crazy Keith Moon and Mitch Mitchell-type fills, with a right foot as fast as a rabbit.  When it was released in 1970, the album faded into obscurity without so much as a gasp for the oxygen of commercial success, despite being critically acclaimed.  Creem Magazine even used the words “heavy metal” in their initial review of this album, one of the first times those two words were used to describe a style of music.  The band played live shows in the area, supporting bands like Black Sabbath and The J. Geils Band and became a popular live act.  

Discouraged by the failure of their first effort, Sir Lord Baltimore added Joey Dambra, the brother of guitarist Louis Dambra, as a second guitarist and went into the studio and recorded an album that would see them try to experiment a little bit.  The opening track, the ten-minute “Man From Manhattan,” tells a story where Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and his resurrection in 1970′s New York.  The track features a folksy opening, followed by different musical passages with time changes, very much influenced by the youthful progressive rock genre.  The next track “Where Are We Going” is a “live” recording with crowd noises overdubbed.  The metallic bludgeoning that was present on the first album makes a reappearance on this one with the songs “Chicago Lives,” “Loe and Behold,” and “Woman Tamer.”  However, my favorite song on this album, and possibly my favorite Sir Lord Baltimore song is the closer “Ceaser LXXI.”  John Garner delivers a snarling vocal performance, which tells of the mythology surrounding Roman dictator Julius Ceaser.  The track also features some righteous riffage by the brothers Dambra.  This album, like Kingdome Come  was critically acclaimed, but fell by the commercial wayside in 1971.  

Mercury dropped Sir Lord Baltimore soon after, and when recording a third album, amid drug abuse and infighting, John Garner was fired and the band broke up.  In 2006, Garner and Dambra got together and finished the third album, and released it as Sir Lord Baltimore III/Raw, which is very forgettable.  The band did some more touring until Garner died in 2015, which bought the band to an end for good.

So why is the music of Sir Lord Baltimore largely forgotten today by mainstream rock fans?  In my opinion, they were too ahead of their time.  No fan was ready for the metallic bludgeoning they would receive upon putting on Kingdom Come for the first time.  But without Sir Lord Baltimore, we probably would not have had the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal or the Bay Area thrash metal scene or the stoner rock movement of the early ‘90′s.  I think this band is criminally underrated and so influential.  Sir Lord Baltimore paved the way for a movement, a heavy movement, a metallic movement.  You’ll have one hell of a master heartache when you put those two albums on.         

[tatedavis2016]

Top Ten Rock Songs I Would Love To Cover In A Live Setting

Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of Tate’s Tracks.  This installment of the blog will be taking a look at something very near and dear to my heart, and that is playing the songs of the bands who’s drummers that I idolize and look up too in front of people  Since I only have the intention of playing in a fun little cover band with my buddies at some dive bar on weekends once I hopefully get a steady job in the music industry, I feel that it is worth my time to post something like this and to badger my buddies to play one or more of these tunes on the list.  That being said, there are some artists that go to my college that I think would benefit greatly by trying out these tunes in a live setting, so if I ever get a chance to play with them, I might mysteriously slip one of these tunes into their set list, just kidding.  If anyone who reads this is inspired to do a live cover or attempt to learn them or anything, that’s awesome. My goal with this entry is to spread awareness of these songs and express my interest in performing them. 

The following ten songs are just ten of many songs that I feel both my peers and the public need to hear.  These are tunes that, have not only had a direct effect on my drumming, but that I believe will generate a positive reaction among the audience and will hopefully encourage them to go check out the artist’s discography besides their hits.  This could always change, but as of October 25th, 2018, here are my top ten rock songs that I would like to cover at some point in a live setting:

10. “The Wizard”- Uriah Heep  

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u9TFMzPoOA

You can find out more about why I specifically love this song by reading my “Song Stories”.  While it may be perhaps Uriah Heep’s second most well known song besides “Easy Livin’”, “The Wizard” features an opening acoustic guitar passage that I’m sure any guitar player immediately listening would grab their guitar and find out how Mick Box came up with that.  In addition, a performance of this song could be preluded with a banter to the audience about how we as human beings can put aside our differences and work together to make this world a better place, as expressed in the lyric: “To free the world of its fear and pain, and to help the people feel free again”. There would be a great challenge at trying to replicate the vocal harmonies during the bridge, nothing like a great challenge right?  And let’s be honest: what better audience participation situation, than the repeating of the “Ah Ah Ah” section at the end.  Timeless, in my opinion.

9. “When The Whip Comes Down”- The Rolling Stones

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxkR1gvHq5M

This two chord baller of a song is certainly one of favorites off of the “Some Girls” album.  It’s punk-ish type, energetic feel is sure to get a crowd off of their feet and pumping their fists.  On top of that, this tune would give me a chance to do some cool visuals from behind the kit, due to Charlie Watts’ part being really easy.  Some audience participation could even be implemented with the repeat of the song title.  

8.  “Naked Eye”- The Who

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC7EEo8SlhM

Okay.  Bluntly put, I love this song.  Keith Moon’s drumming is superb, as is Daltrey and Townshend’s vocals, and Entwistle’s bass.  However, the reason I love this song so much is that whenever The Who would play it live, it would sound completely different.  The band playing this song would have the absolute freedom of doing whatever they wanted with it.  Live, Pete Townshend would add-lib lyrics, Daltrey would shriek “EVERYBODY SAYS GOODBYE!!!!”, and Entwistle and Moon would just go off the rails with their playing, deafening the audience with their loudness and intensity.  If any band covered this song, I would predict that any audience would stand up and clap and cheer loudly for them.  And seriously, “It don’t really happen that way at all”, if there is ever an example of where Pete Townshend’s lyrics speak to me, that tune is it. Hopefully they’ll get a chance to speak to an audience after The Who retire.

7. “Best I Can”- Rush

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAKCFxHpKCA

This pick is a little selfish for me. Neil Peart’s drum crash cymbal-sixteenth note- snare- rack tom intro to this tune is reason enough for me to want to cover this song.  The two bar drum break after the chorus would give me room to go ham in a tasteful and creative way like Mr. Peart on the recording. 

6. “Sick Again”- Led Zeppelin

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcEqU4Bmo64

This tune has what I believe to be one of John Bonham’s best drumming performances, both studio and live.  Listening to live bootlegs of this song has made me want to learn those licks and play them in front of an audience.  Despite the fact that Robert Plant’s lyrics talk about Led Zeppelin’s after-show experiences with groupies, I think the awesomeness of the music would overshadow them, at least I hope.  And come on, who wouldn’t want to listen to that vamp at the end of that tune, and sing along with the “AHH AHH AHH”. I could play that pattern all day.

5. “Prince Kajuku”- UFO

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ripqajuAwow

This song is a very little-known song from UFO’s second album from 1971, that featured the original line-up with Phil Mogg, Mick Bolton, Pete Way, and Andy Parker.  I LOVE Andy Parker’s drumming on this song, with the breaks and everything.  Most UFO fans hate their early albums from the Bolton era, but I love them.  Phil Mogg’s lyrics may be stupid, but this tune will hopefully leave audiences going “I don’t know what song I heard, but I love it!!”

4. “Yer Blues”- The Beatles

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEQQ-1rd4A0

One of the classics off the White Album, John Lennon wrote this song while The Beatles were on their spiritual retreat in India.  A 6/8 blues rocker, this song is just very fun to play and it gets even better when it goes into a faster blues shuffle which provides room for some intense guitar soloing. An audience participation situation could happens where the singer says “If I ain’t dead already..” to an audience response of “Well you know the reason why..”  Any artist who plays this song live would make any Beatles fan in the audience a happy person.

3. “Burn”- Deep Purple

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQGstnfTmAk

A Mark III classic that replaced “Highway Star” as an opener for their shows, “Burn” remains a lesser-known hard rock classic among the mainstream.  Ian Paice’s machine-gun like drumming, David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes’ vocals, Ritchie Blackmore’s guitar riff, Jon Lord’s organ solo, so much good can be said about this tune.  Any band covering this song is faced with a huge challenge, especially singers.  Live, Glenn Hughes would sing “You know he had know TIIIIIIIIIIIIME!!!!” in his falsetto, so any die-hard Purple fans in the audience might be expecting that, but it’s a fun challenge.

2. “Turning Japanese”- The Vapors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhD9gyRSz0g

This is a new wave classic.  David Fenton’s lyrics are so stupid, they’re hilarious.  Howard Smith’s drumming is tasteful and great  There’s a great solo at the end, and just a fun energetic song.

AND NUMBER 1.........

“Gloria”- Them

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRyu4NGL3rw

I’m sure to any rock fan of the era, it’s a travesty that young artists are not covering this song live.  This should be one of the first songs that a guitar player should learn, in my opinion.  I’ll tell ya, I’ve played this song numerous times in my practice time, and it never bores me.  There’s so much that can be done with a version of this song.  When Them would do it live during their Maritime Hotel residency in Belfast, they would stretch it out for 20 minutes with Van Morrison ad-libbing lyrics.  I mean, that would just be so much fun, playing that classic chord progression and drum beat, providing a surface for improvisation and ad-libbing.  What a great tune this song is, and it makes a classic set-closer.

Well, that’s it.  These are ten rock songs that I would love to cover at some point in my musical journey.  This list might change tomorrow, but these are songs I feel are very underappreciated by newer artists and covering these and other songs will help keep their music alive for future generations.     

[tatedavis2016]

Song Stories: Never Meant by American Football

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Song Stories.  Today’s song is going to take us back to one year after I was born, 1999, with a band from my home state of Illinois, American Football.  The song that I’m going to discuss is the opener of their self-titled album from 1999, “Never Meant”, which is most likely the band’s most well-known tune.

American Football was a band put together by multi-instrumentalist Mike Kinsella in 1997 when he attended college at the University of Illinois in Urbana, Illinois.  He managed to recruit drummer Steve Lamos and second guitarist Steve Holmes, and they named their project American Football after seeing the words on a poster spotted by Steve Lamos’s girlfriend. After releasing an EP, the trio recorded their album in a studio in Champaign, Illinois and immediately broke up following the release of the product in 1999 on Polyvinyl Records, an fledgling indie label that was based in Champaign at the time.  The break-up was due to the band members graduating from college and moving on with their daily lives, which sometimes can take precedence over playing in a rock band.  American Football’s album went on to receive major critical acclaim, and “Never Meant” became a huge hit on college radio stations around the Midwest.  The band reformed for performances in 2014 and have toured sporadically since.  They also released their second album, also self-titled in 2016 through Polyvinyl Records and their first album has seen the rise of a massive cult following.

“Never Meant”, like many of the songs on the 1999 album, is in an odd time signature, that being 6/4 time.  The song opens up with a 6/4 syncopated drum beat played by Steve Lamos, with some very conveniently placed hi-hat chokes.  The guitars are played by Mike Kinsella and Steve Holmes, with Kinsella singing some deeply personal lyrics like “falling out of love, we never did” and “Let’s just pretend that everything and everything between you and me was never meant.”  Kinsella also plays bass on this track and the entire album. The song does change from 6/4 to 4/4 with some elements of 7/4 as well.  Lamos does eventually move to the ride cymbal with the 6/4 groove, playing sixteenth notes on it and eighth notes during the 4/4 sections. When the song reverts back to 6/4, he plays a cross stick in place of the snare drum hits.  The song eventually fades out after four and a half minutes.

Overall, while I’m not a huge fan of emo or indie rock music, this album is awesome, but “Never Meant” is the crown jewel of it.  Despite being primarily in 6/4 time and not having many lyrics, this is a tune that can catch the ear of even the most casual of music fans and instantly engage them.  As a drummer, I can say that learning this groove and being able to transcribe Steve Lamos’s part will make you a better drummer and will make you more confident with playing in unusual time signatures.  “Never Meant” is a song that I can also relate to lyrically, due to it being about a couple that had some problems, but seem to put it all behind them.  This is a wonderful song from a great album, and i’m proud to have my home state represented by such a good band.

See for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGj4r8ZtzmM               

[tatedavis2016]

Song Stories: Burnout by Green Day

Hello everyone, Tate here with another edition of Song Stories.  Today’s tune takes us back to 1994 with the release of California punk heroes Green Day’s album, “Dookie”, with the opening song, “Burnout”.  

Like the rest of the album, “Burnout” was recorded at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California.  This studio was famous for being the setting of legendary albums over the years, like Journey’s “Escape” (1981), Europe’s “The Final Countdown” (1986), among others.  Not much is known about the writing or recording of that specific song other than it must have been recorded during the sessions for “Dookie” in the fall of 1993.

What I can tell you is that the song is only two minutes long, but damn is it an awesome two minutes.  Drummer Tre Cool starts off the song with two stick clicks and a “3-e-&, 4-e-&” on the snare drum before Mike Dirnt comes in with a punchy bass line and Billie Joe Armstrong comes in with a power chord and starts spitting out the lyrics.  During the second chorus, Tre moves to the ride cymbal, while Billie Joe snarls out “Am I broken up? I’m just burnin’ out.”  Just before that, Tre does a tom fill that sounds very similar to the famous tom lick that Travis Barker would do on Blink-182′s “All The Small Things”, which came out six years after “Burnout” did.  Finally, the best moment in this song, for me, is when Billie Joe and Dirnt trade ones with Tre, who’s just pounding away on his crash cymbals.  Then, the song goes onto one more chorus and ends abruptly with a power chord.  This song is an example of how a killer song doesn’t always have to be three or four minutes.

See for yourself:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLjo0lY450c 

[tatedavis2016]

Stage Fright: The Concept and How We Can Cope With It

Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of Tate's Tracks. Today, we're going to take a little bit of a detour and talk about something that every musician and performer deals with often, whether they are rock, jazz, pop, metal, or Broadway, stage fright.

DISCLAIMER: This blog is going to explain this concept based on my experiences with it and what I have seen other of my friends involved in the arts have gone through. I am by no means a doctor or theripist, so please concult yours if you are curious about the advanced details about this concept. Also, please realize that everyone's experience with stage fright is different and what I will discuss does not apply to everyone.

Okay, so what is this thing we call stage fright?

Stage fright is this feeling that we artists get just before a performance when we get the feeling that we are going to go out on stage and mess up horribly and embarass ourselves in front of a huge crowd of people. This overwhelming feeling of fear can cause our brain to start thinking irrational thoughts like:

"I'm going to screw up horribly."

"I'm not going on stage."

And for singers: "I'm probably going to forget the lyrics to this song."

This overwhelming sense of fear can envelop our entire body, and can definitely cause some anxiety to ocurr.

Now, I know what you readers are thinking:

"Tate, you're a drummer. What the hell do you know about stage fright? It's easier for you because you have a shell of rack toms, crash cymbals, and your bandmates' rear ends seperating you from the crowd."

Well, I have something to tell you regarding that, YOU'RE RIGHT!!!!! Because of the aforementioned situation, I don't experience stage fright as much as most arists do.

In my opinion, singers have it the worst. They only have a very thin microphone seperating them from the audience. On top of that, they are most likely the one's handling the stage banter in between the songs, which they most likely did not prepare beforehand. As if that wasn't enough, they have to SING THE DANG SONGS, and that means remembering lyrics. Depending on how long the show is, that can be a lot for singers. As if that wasn't enough, most singers will have to make sure their voice is in shape. If you are singing death metal or punk, then that doesn't apply as much, but still.

In my case as a drummer, I have to be able to remember all the songs in the set like the back of my hand and with that what grooves and fills to play when, but singers, for the most part have to worry about all those prievously mentioned things. They have every reason to be anxious before a show.

Let me go ahead and tell you a story that ties all this together:

In the summer of 2016, I was in a band that I had formed with some really good friends of mine and we were due to play a huge showcase at a friend's good bye party in front of our crew of friends and their families. We had prepared rigerously for this show, picking a wide variety of rock tunes that satisfied all of our musical abilities. When the day of the show arrived, my bandmates and I arrived at my friend's house and set up our equipment. The show was to start at 7pm, and by 6:45 we were all set up and ready to play except for one tiny little thing:

OUR SINGER WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!!!!!

My guitar player went to look for her and came out 25 minutes later with our singer, wiping her eyes.

It turns out she had a huge case of stage fright and had locked herself in a bathroom to cope with her overwhelming fear.

We started playing at 7:15pm, and played one of the best shows that I have ever played in my life so far as a drummer. At one point, we were playing King Crimson's 1969 classic tune "The Court Of The Crimson King", and during the third verse, our singer forgot the lyrics and improvised some "na na na na"'s to cover the mistake. Other than that, she fucking nailed the show and performed pheonominally.

So what's the point here?

My point is that everyone has stage fright. Just because I have a shell of drum gear in front of me does not mean that I don't have stage fright.

And if you mess up, who cares? We're all human. We mess up sometimes. We all going to have bad performances once in a blue moon. That's part of being an artist.

That being said, we have one goal as artists: To express ourselves and have other people enjoy it. We are all connected in some way, shape or form. Let's not a little fear that we get all time take that away from us!!!!

I want to thank all you guys for reading and I hope you learned something from it.

[tatedavis2016]

Rainbow “Rising” Album Review

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Tate’s Tracks.  I’m going to do another album review today of one of my favorite hard rock bands, Rainbow, and their widely regarded masterpiece album from 1976, “Rising”.  By 1976, former Deep Purple guitarist Richie Blackmore had left his former band and teamed up with Ronnie James Dio and his band Elf to record Rainbow’s self-titled debut album in Munich, West Germany at Musicland Studios.  The album was released to critical acclaim and performed modestly well on an international scale, but Blackmore was beginning to question the ability of the former Elf musicians and eventually ousted keyboardist Mickey Lee Soule, bassist Craig Gruber, and drummer Gary Driscoll out of the band, while keeping Dio.  In their place, Blackmore recruited Tony Carrey on keyboards, Jimmy Bain on bass, and hard-hitting skinsman Cozy Powell on drums.  This new lineup returned to Musicland in early 1976 to record their follow-up album.  Clocking in at just over 33 minutes, this is not my favorite Rainbow album, but one that I love a lot and have a great amount of respect for.  

Let’s get to the songs:

1. “Tarot Woman”:  

To be honest, I have no earthly idea what a tarot woman is.  What I do know, however, is that the tune begins with a wonderful Tony Carrey synth solo that lasts for two minutes before Blackmore’s guitar comes in, followed by Cozy’s triplet work on the toms.  It’s a great rocker, but I will say that I don’t think Dio’s lyrics make much sense.  Rank: 9/10

2. “Run With The Wolf”:

Welcome to another three and a half minutes of Cozy Powell tripletdom.  This really swinging tune features some very aggressive vocals by Dio when he sings the phrase, “To RUN with the wolf!!”  Blackmore does a cool solo on it as well. Not much to say.  Rank: 9/10

3. “Starstruck”:  

My younger readers might remember this Disney Channel movie from years ago.  Anyway, there’s really not much to say about this song.  Dio sings about a crazed female fan that stops at nothing to screw one of the band members.  Cozy’s crash cymbal choking at the beginning of this song is worthy of note as well.  Rank: 10/10

4: “Do You Close Your Eyes”:

THIS SONG MAN!!!!! It’s only three minutes long, but I don’t give two rat’s asses about that fact.  Cozy Powell’s drumming is outstanding here, especially the way he smacks the crashes during the “Poor man, rich man” part, which is wonderfully sung by Dio. Blackmore is restrained a lot here, I think Jimmy Bain’s bass part might be busier.  Rank:10/10

5: “Stargazer”: 

This 8-minute-epic is epic indeed.  Ronnie James Dio sings about a village whose residents are taken into slavery by an insane wizard who wants to build a stone tower to climb to the stars.  However, he tries to fly out of the tower and dies from his fall, meaning all the lives lost during the labor was for nothing.  Everyone in the band is playing their asses off on this track.  Cozy Powell’s insane drum introduction showcases his skill with 32nd notes being split between the snare and the two bass drums with off-beat hi hat chicks.  Blackmore’s solo takes noted from some God-knows what scale, but it’s awesome.  Rank: 10/10

6: “A Light In The Black”: 

This is my least favorite song on the album.  Dio sings his ass off on this song and Cozy’s train beat-style drumming is great, but this song does not need to be 8 minutes long.  The solos are self-indulgent and I think it would have been okay if Blackmore or Tony Carrey didn’t want to self-indulge themselves.  This song is good, but not great.  Rank: 7/10

Well that’s it! See you next time!!!

[tatedavis2016]

Song Stories: The Wizard by Uriah Heep

 Hello everyone, Tate Davis here with another edition of Song Stories.  This one takes us back to 1972 with the release of Uriah Heep’s “Demons and Wizards” album with a beautiful acoustic power ballad about a wizard, called “The Wizard”.  

“The Wizard” is the opening track off of Heep’s fourth album, “Demons and Wizards”, released in 1972 and produced by their manager-producer, Gerry Bron.  The song, along with the album, was recorded in Landsowne Studios in London and was written by guitarist Mick Box and bassist Mark Clarke, although he left during the recording sessions and was replaced by New Zealander Gary Thain.  

The song opens up with an acoustic guitar passage played by Box and lead vocalist David Byron sings about “the wizard of a thousand kings” and the protagonist “meets him while wandering”.  After the first verse, drummer Lee Kerslake plays three bass drum notes and does an eighth note tom fill before Byron is joined by Mick Box and organist Ken Hensley in singing the next verse while Kerslake and Clarke play a strong foundation without overpowering the rest of the band.  The second verse talks about themes of pain and suffering and the desire from the young protagonist to make the people free again.  During the bridge/key change, all five band members join in with beautiful harmonies and sing two lines before reverting to the original key and singing the last verse.  The last verse seems to discuss the things the protagonist has learned from meeting with the wizard, and their realization that we are never truly alone and that there is always someone watching over us.  “The Wizard” fades out with the members of Uriah Heep repeatedly singing a refrain of “Ahh, Ahh, Ahh”. 

See for yourself. 

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u9TFMzPoOA 

[tatedavis2016]

Song Stories: Hickory Wind By The Byrds

Hello everyone, Tate Davis here with another edition of Song Stories. Today's song takes us back to 1968 with the release of The Byrds' country rock album "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo".

"Hickory Wind" was written by country singer Gram Parsons before he joined The Byrds with a bandmate of his from the International Submarine Band. When Parsons joined The Byrds, the only original members left were guitarist/vocalist Roger McGuinn and bassist Chris Hillan, augmented by drummer Kevin Kelley and session guitarist Clearence White. McGuinn expressed a desire to record a concept album exploring the history of 20th Century popular music up to that point. Gram Parsons wanted to record an album that married his love of country and rock and roll. McGuinn was eventually convinced by producer Gary Usher to go along with the country rock idea and he was convinced by Parsons to record the album in Nashville.

The Byrds recorded "Hickory Wind" at Columbia Studios in Nashville in early 1968. Musically, there isn't much to the song. Parsons sings the tune with a country-twang augmented by Hillman's bass, McGuinn's 12 string guitar, and Kevin Kelly's country waltz drum pattern with cross-sticking on the second and third beats. Another thing to mention is that "Hickory Wind" is in a waltz style in 3/4 time. The tune was the second performed by The Byrds during their controversial set at the Grande Ole Opery in March of '68, with Parsons deticating it to his grandmother.

What do you think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZkR9nbCbMc

[tatedavis2016]

Song Stories: We Used To Know by Jethro Tull

Happy New Year everyone, Tate here with a quick edition of Song Stories. This installment will focus on a Jethro Tull song recorded for the "Stand Up" album who's chord sequence is identical to that of The Eagles' "Hotel California".

"We Used To Know" comes off of Tull's second album, "Stand Up", from 1969. It was written by lead singer and flautist Ian Anderson, and features Martin Barre on guitar, Glenn Cornick on bass, and hard-hitting skinsman Clive Bunker on drums. The song is a slow, somewhat rocky, composition in 6/8 time that uses the exact same chords that Eagles guitarist Don Felder would coincidentially write for the verse part of "Hotel California". However, aside from that, the two songs are very different:

"We Used To Know" is in 6/8 time, "Hotel California" is in 4/4 time.

"Know" had Clive Bunker throwing in 32nd note fills around the during Martain Barre's guitar solo, "Hotel" has drummer Don Henley keeping the roughly same groove throughout the solo section.

"Know" has a flute solo by Ian Anderson, "Hotel" doesn't.

"Know" has one guitar player soloing, "Hotel" has Joe Walsh and Don Felder guitar dueling at the end.

Despite its similarities and differences with The Eagles classic, "We Used To Know" is one of my all time favorite cuts in the Jethro Tull catalogue.

What do you think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGvux7w1Ea4

[tatedavis2016]

Song Stories: The Mirror by Spooky Tooth

Hello everyone, Tate Davis here with another Song Stories. Today's segment takes us to the title track if the last Spooky Tooth album "The Mirror" from 1974.

During the time of "The Mirror"'s recording in '74, Spooky Tooth had undergone numerous personell changes, retaining original drummer Mike Kelley, organist/vocalist Gary Wright, while recruting new members Mike Platto on vocals, future Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones, and new bassist/vocalist Val Burke. Bryson Grahm also played drums on the album.

Musically speaking, "The Mirror" does not sound anything like the earlier albums by Spooky Tooth, with the exception of the title track. The song opens with a Mick Jones accoustic guitar passage before Wright's vocals come in. The lyrics mention subjects as self-doubt and Satanism as the protagonist peers into a mirror. Eventually, Kellie comes in with a sixteenth-note hi-hat groove with a cross-stick on beats 2 and 4, as Mick Jones's guitar passage continues. During the chorus, a combination of backing vocals from what is most likley Wright, Burke, Platto, and Jones sing with a chorus-like vibrato, eventually with repeated sayings of "See The Light" with a swishy open hi hat beat played by Kellie as the song gracefully ends.

See for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P73XjpcDAs

[tatedavis2016]

Merry Christmas to all my readers!!! Hope it's great!!!

[tatedavis2016]

Song Stories: Easy Livin' by Uriah Heep

Hello everyone, Tate here with another Song Stories. This one takes us back to 1972 with the release of British proto-prog metal band, Uriah Heep's album "Demons and Wizards", particularly the band's signiture song "Easy Livin'".

"Demons and Wizards" is the first Uriah Heep album to feature the classic line up of vocalist David Byron, guitarist Mick Box, keyboardist Ken Hensley, and the energetic rhythym section of bassist Gary Thain and drummer Lee Kerslake. It was recorded in London at Lansdowne Studios and produced by Heep's manager, Gerry Bron.

"Easy Livin" is a fairly straightforward song with a shuffle feel, punctuated by Kerslake's swing eigth notes on both the hi hat and snare with his right foot smacking the bass drum with a four-on-the-floor. David Byron is seemingly backed up by Ken Hensley and Kerslake on the vocals. After about two and a half minutes, the song ends with a two measure long triplet drum fill by Kerslake that goes from the snare all the way to the floor tom before a final crash.

See for yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ayP7G0HOP4

[tatedavis2016]

Song Stories: Space Station #5 by Montrose

Hello everyone, welcome to another "Song Stories" edition. In this installment, we're going to go back to 1973 with guitar virtuoso Ronnie Montrose's namesake band with a cut off their debut album, "Space Station #5".

"Space Station #5" was recorded at Warner Bros.-owned Sunset Sound Studios in San Fransisco along with the rest of the "Montrose" album and was produced by Ted Templeman. The personell on this song includes Ronnie Montrose on guitar, Bill Church on bass, hard-hitting skinsman Denny Carmassi on drums, and future Van Halen vocalist Sammy Hagar on lead vocals.

"Space Station #5" opens with a sound collage of extra-terrestrial noises along with an accoustic guitar played by Ronnie Montrose. After this fades out, Montrose plays a Chuck Berry-influenced riff with some beautiful tom tom punctuation by Carmassi before the entire band comes in. Sammy Hagar sings his hard out, seemingly trying to be heard over Montrose's riff, all while Carmassi and Bill Church provide the pulse, with the former beats the shit out of his hi-hat. The bridge in the song sees Carmassi playing some beefy sixteenth notes on his hi-hat with Hagar's vocals sounding slightly quieter. The tune ends with Montrose and Church vamping on a Chuck Berry chord with Carmassi moving to the ride cymbal and getting faster, faster, until the ensemble suddenly stops.

Why don't you take a listen?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7ol4WW71W8

[tatedavis2016]

Song Stories: Hold On by Badfinger

Hello everyone, welcome to another Song Stories. Today's installment is going to take us back to 1981 and the second post-Pete Ham Badfinger album "Say No More" and a song called "Hold On".

"Hold On" was written by Badfinger bassist Tom Evans and guitarest/songwriter Joe Tansin, who had briefly joined Badfinger Mark II for the "Airwaves" album in 1979, before abruptly leaving shortly after the recording. Evans and lead guitarist Joey Molland were trying to keep Badfinger alive since the tragic suicide of songwriter and bandleader Pete Ham in 1975. "Airwaves" had sold poorly, and Evans, Molland, and a group of session musicians came together to record "Hold On" and other songs for the follow-up "Say No More".

"Hold On" is one of my favorite songs in the Badfinger catalogue. It opens immediately with a piano riff played most likely by ex-Yes keyboardest Tony Kaye with an impeccable backbeat played by session skinsman Richard Bryans, who's eigth note hi-hat timing is sometimes musically substituted for the occassional two sixteenth notes. Tom Evans sings the song with such ferocity, especially during the chorus. However, that's pretty much it for the song.

As a tragic footnote to the story, "Say No More" was released in 1981, and while it fared better than "Airwaves", "Hold On" only reached the top 60 on the "Billboard Hot 100" singles chart. After that, Joey Molland and Tom Evans each formed their own version of Badfinger, until the former won the rights to the name. After a disagreement over song royalties, Tom Evans hung himself in his guardian in 1983. He was 36.

Here's "Hold On":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ooMpuWjc7M

[tatedavis2016]

Song Stories: Catch The Rainbow By Rainbow

What’s up everyone? Tate Davis here with another edition of Song Stories. Today’s song is what some might consider a “Little Wing” rip off, Rainbow’s “Catch The Rainbow”.  

This song originally appeared on Rainbow’s first album “Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow”, which was released in 1975.  This song was one among several that former Deep Purple guitarist Richie Blackmore recorded with vocalist Ronnie James Dio and members of his band Elf, who had opened up for the former’s band during the “Stormbringer” Tour.  Blackmore and Dio got along swimmingly and he took him, keyboardist Mickey Lee Soule, bassist Craig Gruber, and hard-hitting drummer Gary Driscoll to Musicland Studios in Munich, West Germany in early 1975 to record the first album, with producer Martin Birch overseeing the sessions.  I should note that, shortly after the album was released in August of ‘75, Blackmore fired all of the Elf members except for Ronnie James Dio.  

“Catch The Rainbow” is the song that closes out the first side of “Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow” and is the longest song on the album, clocking in at six and a half minutes.  This song is a ballad, and the way that Dio sings the words is seemingly giving his voice a break after the rockers that preceded it in the track listing.  Blackmore plays his ass of with a beautiful chord progression that sounds like “Little Wing” by Jimi Hendrix, while Dio sings like an angel especially the way he sings the “Bless me!!!” line. 

One thing of note in the beginning of the song is done by drummer Gary Driscoll nearly thirty seconds in.  Similar to John Bonham on “Good Times Bad Times”, Driscoll plays a series of sixteenth note triplets with what I assume is with one foot, split between one on the hi-hat and two on the bass drum, albeit seemingly busier than Bonham.  Sorry, as a drummer, I had to point that out, it’s so freaking cool!!!!

Why you don’t you listen? 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO93F_Td72U

[tatedavis2016]

Song Stories: “Slip Kid” by The Who

Hello everyone, Tate Davis here with another edition of Song Stories.  Today’s song by The Who will take us back to the year 1975 with the release of the corresponding album, “The Who By Numbers”.  “Slip Kid” was released as the follow-up single to “Squeeze Box” with another Pete Townshend composition, “Dreaming From The Waist”, as its B-side.  It didn’t chart in any major territories, however.  

Who guitarist Pete Townsend wrote “Slip Kid” a very personal song that reflected his ever-growing anxiety that The Who would no longer be relevant in the world’s continually-changing music scene.  The song, along with the rest of “The Who By Numbers” album, was recorded at Shepperton Studios in London using equipment from Island Record’s mobile recording studio.  

The song begins with a samba-like percussion break, emphasized by lead singer Roger Daltrey’s maraca playing and drummer Keith Moon’s hitting of the cowbell, before a voice (most likely Daltrey’s) counts “1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8..” before the entire band comes in with session pianist Nicky Hopkins’s signature piano riff.  Daltrey sings the lyrics to reflect Townshend’s growing frustration with trying to make The Who stay relevant in the current music scene.  Accompanying Daltrey’s powerful vocals during the verses are Pete’s power chords, bassist John Entwistsle’s strong plucking, the aforementioned Nicky Hopkins on piano, and an unusually tame drum groove by the normally rambunctious Keith Moon.  Pete Townshend’s solo is worthy of note, just sounding so simple and melodic with no too many notes, although it doesn’t last long.  The song ends with all Daltrey and Townshend harmonizing on the phrase “No easy way to be free” to reflect the pains of growing up to face reality.  

As a huge Who fan, this song is exceptional, and I think everyone can relate to it.  Why don’t you give it a listen? 

           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rHk3MZ9YoI

[tatedavis2016]

Song Stories: White Tornado by R.E.M

Hello everyone, Tate Davis here with another edition of Song Stories. Today's installment will take us back to a compilation album of outtakes and B-sides from 1987 by R.E.M called "Dead Letter Office", particularly an instrumental called "White Tornado".

"White Tornado" was orginally recorded during the sessions for R.E.M's first album, "Murmur" and released as the B-side to "Superman" in 1986.

The track is an instrumental, and is one of the few R.E.M songs that doesn't feature lead vocals by Micheal Stipe. "White Tornado" opens up with some fierce sixtheenth notes with accented upbeats played by drummer Bill Barry before bassist Mike Mills and guitarest Peter Buck come in with a surf-type melody line. The song eventually alternates between Barry's fluid-snare drum work and Buck's surf-style guitar soloing before ending abruptly.

See what you think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VlLFj8YeVU