Brainbuster Question of the Day for Thursday, April 30th, '09

Q: He was born in 1934 in Canada and his son was born in 1967 in London, England. Both father and son grew up to be popular actors. Who are they?



A: DONALD / KIEFER SUTHERLAND

Sensational '70's Tune for Thursday, April 30th, '09

Shalamar's debut album Uptown Festival is a dated set of shamelessly pandering disco that became a hit on the basis of the title track, a clever medley of old Motown hits. "Uptown Festival" — and its less-successful followup, a cover of Smokey Robinson's "Ooh Baby Baby" — were hits simply because they grafted a familiar melody to a disco beat, not because they represented any innovation. The remainder of Uptown Festival suffers from a similar fate. Shalamar sing as if the lyrics met something, but the music on the record is so stilted, the album sounds lifeless. Occasionally, such as the opening cut "Inky Dinky Wang Dang Doo," the music is kitschy fun, but more often than not, it is simply an artifact of its times.

Brainbuster Question of the Day for Wednesday, April 29th, '09

Q: Which of these cities is the shortest distance to San Francisco in air miles? Tokyo, Rio, or Rome?












A: TOKYO - 5100 miles / Rio - 6,600 miles / Rome - 6,300 miles

Sensational '70's Tune for Wednesday, April 29th, '09

In 1970, Tony Orlando was a retired cover singer. He'd had two Top 40 hits in 1961 and another in 1969 as the lead singer for the studio group Wind, but he had not had any further success for the rest of the decade. He stopped singing entirely, publishing music for April-Blackwood Music, a division of Columbia Records, instead.

Orlando discovered a song, "Candida," which he decided to pass on recording. After an insistence by producer Hank Medress that he dub his voice over the male vocals on the original track, the single was released on Bell Records as performed by "Dawn", so if the record did not succeed, he would not be known as the lead vocalist. The background singers were Sharon Greane, Jay Siegel, and Toni Wine, who co-wrote the song. After the single hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Orlando decided to change career tracks. They then recorded the follow-up song "Knock Three Times" with Linda November joining on background vocals.

Bell Records was desperate to have a real-life act to promote Dawn's records. Tony asked former Motown/Stax backing vocalists Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson to become Dawn for real. Now billed as Dawn featuring Tony Orlando, they went on the road after "Candida" climbed the charts and "Knock Three Times" followed, eventually hitting #1 in early 1971. After a tour of Europe, Telma and Joyce assumed background vocal duties in the studio as well. They were joined in the studio by Joyce's sister Pamela Vincent who in addition to singing arranged all the background vocals as well. Prior touring commitments with Aretha Franklin prevented Pamela from appearing with Dawn. The first single with their voices in the background was "Runaway/Happy Together" in 1972.

The group waited until 1973 for their next #1 single, "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree." In terms of sales, this single was the most successful in the group's career.

The group's next single, "Say Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose" (from their concept album Dawn's New Ragtime Follies) went to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. CBS gave the group a television variety show in the summer of 1974, after The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour ended its run. The show was in the same vein as its predecessor, and became a Top 20 hit. It ran until December 1976.

With a new name ("Tony Orlando and Dawn") and a new record label (Elektra), the group continued their string of hit singles during the show's run hitting the Top 10 on the Hot 100 and/or Adult Contemporary Charts including "He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)" (a reworking of Jerry Butler's "He Will Break Your Heart") which went to #1. A remake of the Sam Cooke song "Cupid", was the group's last Top 40 single on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. "Sing" reached #7 on the Adult Contemporary Chart in 1977 and was the last Tony Orlando & Dawn single until 1991's "With Ev'ry Yellow Ribbon (That's Why We Tie 'Em)". The group went their separate ways later in 1977. They reformed in 1988 for a 5 week tour that wound up lasting into 1993 with Pamela finally becoming a visible Dawn member stepping in whenever Telma was fulfilling her television obiligations.

Orlando is still a popular appearance performer on tour regularly with the Lefty Brothers and Toni Wine. Hopkins made a very successful acting career for herself in series like Bosom Buddies, Gimme a Break, Family Matters, and Half and Half. Joyce and Pamela Vincent continue a prolific career as session singers. A DVD compilation from the variety series was released in 2005 along with the group's catalog of albums on CD. Tony Orlando & Dawn released A Christmas Reunion that same year. Publicity events for those releases marked the first time Telma, Joyce, and Pamela appeared onstage together. Toni Wine also participated in those shows. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2008. Tony Orlando & Dawn occasionally reunites for television and benefit performances.

Brainbuster Question of the Day for Tuesday, April 28th, '09

Q: What is a hemi-demi-semi-quaver?





A: A MUSICAL NOTE: 64-th note

Sensational '70's Tune for Tuesday, April 28th, '09

Neil Diamond's first regular album release for Columbia Records, following the success of the movie soundtrack Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Serenade is a slight effort characterized by Diamond's attempts to make pop sentiments seem more profound by grafting more auspicious art references onto them. But whether he's name-dropping Picasso or Longfellow, Diamond still has greeting card sentiments on his mind. Nevertheless, the catchiest of these autodidactic exercises, "Longfellow Serenade," which combines comments about "winged flight" with the exhortation, "Come on, baby, ride," was a Top Ten hit.

Brainbuster Question of the Day for Monday, April 27th, '09

Q: Which two holidays in this country generate the most sales of candy?





































A: 1: HALLOWEEN / 2: EASTER

Sensational '70's Tune for Monday, April 27th, '09

Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds hold a special place in the annals of rock and not just for their oldies station perennial "Don't Pull Your Love (Out)." Imagine if Graham Nash left Crosby, Stills and Nash yet the band didn't bother to change their name. That's exactly what happened here.

Dan Hamilton, Joe Frank Carollo, and Tommy Reynolds played together in a variety of Los Angeles groups, scoring a hit as part of the T-Bones, a studio group whose "No Matter What Shape Your Stomach's In" was based on a popular Alka Seltzer jingle. Inspired by the summery AM radio pop of Three Dog Night, the trio formed the extremely similar Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds in 1970, signed with Dunhill Records and immediately scored a Top Five hit with "Don't Pull Your Love (Out)." None of the follow-up singles had any success, and Tommy Reynolds left the group in 1973. In an act of cynicism unparalleled in rock & roll, either Hamilton and Carollo or (more likely) Dunhill drafted singer Joe Carrero to take Reynolds' place, yet didn't change the name of the band! The assumption must have been that it was foolish to risk what little name recognition the floundering group already had. It worked, because the refurbished trio hit number one with 1975's "Fallin' In Love" before disappearing for good. Dan Hamilton died of a stroke in December 1994.

Brainbuster Question of the Day for Friday, April 24th. '09

Q: The Pony Express mail service, established in 1860, could carry mail by horseback 2,000 miles in 10 days. What were the easternmost and westernmost states of this rapid mail service?



A: MISSOURI and CALIFORNIA (Between Saint Joseph, Mo., and Sacramento, California)

Fabulous '50's Tune for Friday, April 24th, '09

Thurston Harris recorded with the Lamplighters, one of the many groups on the early R&B scene in South Central Los Angeles, in the early '50s. The group later evolved into the Tenderfoots, then the Sharps, and it was under this last name they were credited to when they backed up Harris on his most famous hit, 1957's "Little Bitty Pretty One" (number two R&B and number six pop) for Aladdin. In 1957, while signed as a solo artist to Aladdin, Harris recorded a cover of Bobby Day's classic novelty number, with a solid band featuring the ubiquitous Earl Palmer on drums and his friends in the Sharps doing background vocals. The single propelled Harris immediately to the front-ranks of the R&B scene. In 1958, Harris scored a Top 20 R&B hit with "Do What You Did," but he failed to have any chart success afterwards. In 1990, Thurston Harris died of a heart attack in Pomona, CA, at age 58. "Little Bitty Pretty One" has gone on to become one of the best-loved oldies of the late '50s.

Brainbuster Question of the Day for Thursday, April 23rd, '09

Q: It is said that when Ernest Hemingway lived in Cuba in the 1940's, he would visit his favorite bar every day and consume up to a dozen of his favorite exotic cocktails, named for a Cuban city. Which drink?



A: DAIQUIRI

Sensational '70's Tune for Thursday, April 23rd, '09

About the video: Badfinger's appearance on the Kenny Rogers and The First Edition television program, "Rollin on The River". Drummer, Mike Gibbins, had quit the band for a period during this time and is replaced by Rob Stawinski. Live vocals from Pete Ham over a pre-recorded backing as Joey Molland, Tommy Evans, and Rob mime.

"Day After Day" is probably Badfinger's most famous single, just nosing out "No Matter What" and "Come and Get It." And, as with most of their famous moments, comparisons to the Beatles, or at least to a Beatlesque sound, were inevitable, although it was written by Badfinger's Pete Ham. At the same time, it was produced by just-ex- Beatle George Harrison, who also played some of the slide guitars on the recording. It would be those slide guitars that made "Day After Day"'s arrangement sound very much like the late Beatles and, more particularly, the early George Harrison solo records. The slide guitars are also among the single's principal hooks, particularly at the very beginning in the opening instrumental section, where a slide guitar statement of the main melody line goes into such a piercing high note that it sounds rather like a siren, or as if it's going to jump right off of the upper end of the scale. The slide guitar goes more into the background during the verse, which has an instantly memorable tune of bittersweet melancholy. Characteristically for both Badfinger and their Beatles models, the chorus goes into a contrasting uplifting mode, filled out by luscious backup harmonies, imbuing the narrator's loneliness with a bit of romantic hope. The slide guitars really zing during the instrumental break, and Leon Russell's piano adds appropriate touches of grandiosity, somewhat in the manner as the piano does during sections of Derek & the Dominos' "Layla." It's also cool how the tempo becomes subtly more urgent on the last runs through the verse and how the song ends with an especially dramatic flourish of slide guitar, seconded by Russell's pseudo- classical piano.

Brainbuster Question of the Day for Monday, April 20th, '09

Q: The modern rules of which sport were drawn up at Cambridge University in 1848?



A: SOCCER

Sensational '70's Tune for Monday, April 20th, '09

This elegant blue-eyed soul classic is fondly remembered as one of Hall & Oates’ best songs but it took a while for this song’s excellence to be recognized. The duo penned this ballad for Abandoned Luncheonette while commiserating over their personal heartbreaks - Hall had broken up with a girlfriend and Oates was stood up by his New Year’s Eve date. Together, they crafted a love lament that expressed cynicism and heartache via some stunning imagery: “Think I'll spend eternity in the city/let the carbon and monoxide choke my thoughts away/and pretty bodies help dissolve the memories/but they can never be what she was to me/She’s gone.” The personalized touch of this narrative inspired Hall & Oates to create an elegant yet heart-tugging melody that built from mellow, gently grooving verses into a heartfelt chorus that combines meteoric high notes with doo-wop frills. Hall & Oates made “She’s Gone” the centerpiece of their Abandoned Luncheonette album, wrapping in an arrangement that represented a state-of-the-art soul sound circa 1973: it starts with a gentle electric piano pulse underscored with wah-wah guitar shadings and synth drones, gradually adding jazzy horns and lush strings to create a gorgeous widescreen soundscape. Hall & Oates lived up to the grandeur of this sound with a vocal performance that cuts right to the listener’s heart: Oates takes the baritone part and Hall takes the tenor, blending their voices to create a seamless performance that affects a soulful croon on the verses but builds into scorching passion on the chorus. The end result was a stunner and the undisputed highlight of Abandoned Luncheonette but it took a while for the song to earn its rightful success. The single passed with little notice in 1974 and Hall & Oates had to settle for success through Tavares, who topped the r&b charts with their cover of the song. It was revived by Atlantic in 1976 - a few years after Hall & Oates had moved to RCA - to capitalize on the success they had enjoyed with “Rich Girl.” The gambit worked and the song earned its long-overdue hit status by sailing into the top ten. “She’s Gone” remains a favorite amongst fans of blue-eyed soul and remains a staple on oldies stations today.

Brainbuster Question of the Day for Friday, April 17th, '09

Q: What is a septuagenarian?






















A: SOMEONE 70 YEARS OLD or between the ages of 70 and 80.

Fabulous '50's Tune for Friday, April 17th, '09

"Sea Cruise" is one of the all-time New Orleans rock'n'roll classics, as ideal a combination of early rock'n'roll with boogying New Orleans R&B as could ever be hoped for. An ingenious, brief burst of sound effects tagged onto the very beginning of the track adds a great deal to the atmosphere, with bells clanging, water churning, and a massive fog horn blast. That blast is the signal for the band to come in with an absolutely irresistible New Orleans R&B shuffle groove, boogie but with a straightahead rock'n'roll charge. Frankie Ford's vocal verges on, but doesn't quite tip over into, over-enthusiasm, his high voice trailing off into near-falsetto yelps, especially in the chorus. Sea cruises promise good times aplenty, and Ford and his backup musicians brim over with exuberance and anticipation of those good times. There's a playful sense of caution-to-the-wind in the giddy jubilation of the lyrics, not only inviting a girlfriend on a sea cruise, but also announcing, most memorably, that he has to boogie woogie like a knife in the back. (A great line and image, and one that's never gotten its just acclaim.) Adding to the sense of happy dementia is the frequent reappearance of those low, impatient, sustained blasts of the foghorn on every chorus, and then again on the fade. Although Ford did a fine job with the song, it later emerged that it was originally recorded by Huey "Piano" Smith, with Ford overdubbing his lead vocal onto the track. "Sea Cruise" become a #14 hit for Ford in 1959.

Brainbuster Question of the Day for Thursday, April 16th, '09

Q: The Academy award-winning best actress from 1980 played the film role of "the first lady of country music." Name the actress, the film, and the singer portrayed in the film.




Loretta Lynn was one of the first female superstars in country music and remains a defining presence within the genre; with her strong, clear, hard-country voice and tough, no-nonsense songs about husbands who cheat and wives who weren't about to be pushed around, Lynn introduced a feminist mindset to Nashville years before the phrase "women's liberation" became common currency. Coal Miner's Daughter is a screen adaptation of Lynn's autobiography, starring Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn. One of eight children born to Ted Webb (Levon Helm), a coal miner raising a family despite grinding poverty in Butcher's Holler, KY, Loretta married Dolittle "Mooney" Lynn (Tommy Lee Jones) when she was only 13 years old. A mother of four by the time she was 20, Lynn began singing the occasional song at local honky-tonks on weekends, and at 25, she cut (at Mooney's suggestion) a demo tape that earned her a deal with an independent record label. Loretta and Mooney's tireless promotion of the record (including a long road trip through the south in which they stopped at every country radio station they could find) paid off -- Loretta's first single, "Honky Tonk Girl," hit the charts and earned her a spot on the Grand Ole Opry. Stardom called and Loretta never looked back, but success brought with it both joy (a long string of hit records and sold-out concerts and a close friendship with Patsy Cline) and sorrow (a nervous breakdown brought on by overwork and a great deal of stress to a marriage that endured -- but just barely). Sissy Spacek won an Academy award for her vivid, thoroughly natural performance as Loretta (she also did her own singing), and Levon Helm (drummer for the legendary rock group the Band) made an impressive screen debut as her father. Ernest Tubb makes a cameo appearance as himself.

Sissy Spacek - Loretta Lynn
Tommy Lee Jones - Doolittle "Mooney" Lynn
Beverly D'Angelo - Patsy Cline
Levon Helm - Ted Webb
Phyllis Boyens - Clara Webb
Ernest Tubb - Himself
Robert Elkins - Bobby Day
Bob Hannah - Charlie Dick
Bill Anderson, Jr. - Webb Children
Foster Dickerson - Webb Child
Malla McCown - Webb Child
Pamela McCown - Webb Child
Kevin Salvilla - Webb Child
Sissy Lucas - Loretta and Mooney's Child
Brian Warf - Loretta & Mooney's Child
Elizabeth Watson - Loretta and Mooney's Child
David Barry Gray - Doc Turner
Michael Baish - Storekeeper
Doug Bledsoe - Cowboy at Grange Hall
Allison Caine - [Voice]
Royce Clark - Hugh Cherry
Charles Kahlenberg - Business Manager
Merle Kilgore - Cowboy at Tootsie's
Susan Kingsley - Girl at Fairgrounds
Frank Mitchell - Washington Neighbor
Gary Parker - Radio Station Manager
Pat Patterson - Loretta's Children
William Sanderson - Lee Dollarhide
Billy Strange - Speedy West
David Thornhill - The Coal Miner's Band
Jim Webb - Bus Driver
Billy West - The Patsy Cline Band

A: SISSY SPACEK / COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER / LORETTA LYNN

Sensational '70's Tune for Thursday, April 16th, '09

Singer/songwriter Bill Withers wrote "Lean on Me" based on his experiences growing up in a West Virginia coal mining town. During the lean times, neighbors would help each other out. The simple chord progression was created while he noodled around on his just purchased Wurlitzer electric piano. He wasn't a pianist and had no knowledge of the keyboard; he just knew that he liked the sound made when he spaced his fingers a certain way. The sound of the chords reminded Withers of the church hymns that he heard growing up. The song was written before Withers was a recording star, having to come up with "material" for a new album. It was written purely on the basis of the singer wanting to express the "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" sentiment that he'd grown up with. On the session for "Lean on Me," producer Withers used former members of the $Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm and ( "Express Yourself," "Loveland"): drummer James Gadson, keyboardist Ray Jackson, guitarist Benorce Blackman, and bassist Melvin Dunlop. The follow-up to "Ain't No Sunshine" and his second gold single, "Lean on Me" went to the number one spot on the R&B charts and topped the pop charts for three weeks in summer 1972.

Brainbuster Question of the Day for Wednesday, April 15th, '09

Q: Which one of the Beatles, in 1968, was first to release a solo album? Was it Ringo, George, John, or Paul?

















A: GEORGE HARRISON

Sensational '70's Tune for Wednesday, April 15th, '09

"We've Got Tonight" (originally titled "We've Got Tonite") is a 1978 song written by American heartland rocker Bob Seger, off his album Stranger in Town. A melodic, piano-based seduction ballad, it was a hit single for Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, reaching number 13 on the U.S. pop charts and becoming a mainstay of adult contemporary radio airplay ever since. Seger's recording was not an immediate hit in the UK, reaching number 41 there, but made it to number 22 during a 1995 re-release.

In 1983, country-pop star Kenny Rogers recorded the song as a duet with Sheena Easton, and made it the title track of his album We've Got Tonight. This time it was a huge crossover hit in the U.S., reaching number one on the Billboard Country Singles chart, number six on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, and number two on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. It also reached the top 30 in the United Kingdom.

Irish singer Ronan Keating featuring British star Lulu released their duet version in 2002. This reached number four on the UK Singles Chart and also did well in a number of countries in Europe. In 2002 he also released a German version with German actress and pop singer Jeanette Biedermann peaked at number 7 in Germany and number 6 in Austria and an Italian version with the Italian singer Giorgia.

Brainbuster Question of the Day for Tuesday, April 14th, '09

Q: One of the greatest celebrations ever seen in New York City occurred in May, 1883, when millions celebrated the completion of what engineering marvel?



















A: BROOKLYN BRIDGE

Sensational '70's Tune for Tuesday, April 14th, '09

Wadsworth Mansion was a one-hit wonder rock band in the early 1970s. As an American group from Providence, Rhode Island, they released a self-titled album on Sussex Records in 1971, and had a hit single that year with "Sweet Mary". The tune, written by guitarist Steve Jablecki, reached #7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Brainbuster Question of the Day for Monday, April 13th, '09

Q: Which four U.S. states meet at one point, called the four corners?






















A: ARIZONA / COLORADO / NEW MEXICO / UTAH

Sensational '70's Tune for Monday, April 13th, '09

"When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" was a popular single by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show. It was recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Muscle Shoals, AL.

Written by Evan Stevens, When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman first appeared on the band's 1978 album Pleasure and Pain. Riding the disco wave in 1979 it belatedly became an international hit, reaching #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the USA and doing even better in the UK where it spent three weeks at #1 in November 1979. The song was subsequently added to the band's 1979 album A Little Bit More.

Brainbuster Question of the Day for Friday, April 10th, '09

Q: What word can refer to a soft, creamy European cheese, or to the fundamental units of matter, smaller than an electrons (as surmised by scientists).










































A: QUARK

Super 60's Tune for Friday, April 10th, '09

The pride of Australia, the Easybeats scored a true international hit with this anthemic slice of psychedelia. Filled with Mideastern guitar riffs and ascending chord progressions, the song's melody is one of the most remembered of the era. A powerful, churning rhythm drives the song from start to finish, and again, co-writer Harry Vanda's wicked guitar riffing and harmony vocals take the song over the goal line. However, despite this excellence, it's the point of view of the average working/school-attending, Monday-through-Friday person that makes this song so commercially appealing, allowing the promise of release at the weekend as the reward that almost every listener can relate to.

Brainbuster Question of the Day for Thursday, April 9th, '09

Q: Besides X, Y, and Z, what three letters do not begin the name of any U.S. state?














A: B, E, J (Bonus: Q too!)

Sensational '70's Tune for Thursday, April 9th, '09

Andy Gibb said that "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" was one of the most personal and meaningful songs he ever preformed. Co-written with his brother Barry Gibb in Bermuda, the song was not only the perfect tribute to his wife and newly wedded state, it was also the perfect foil for his U.S. debut as Robert Stigwood's newest RSO signing.

The first track on 1977's Flowing Rivers LP, the song was to be Gibb's first single release outside Australia and proved to be a more successful masterpiece than anyone had expected. Catchy and driven by an absolutely pure pop hook, the song is indeed in a light disco vein -- closer to the material the Bee Gees themselves were focusing on than to Gibb's own rock leanings. Regardless, it was perfectly suited to his sweet, yet sensual image.

Released in spring 1977, the song climbed straight to the top of the U.S. pop charts, settling the 19-year-old Gibb in for a comfortable reign at that pinnacle, and setting rabid fans loose upon him as teenybopper magazines across the country posed the burning question -- "Could You Be Andy's Everything?" It was a heady time for the young singer, but the rapid ascension into bubblegum dreams that many credited to the success of his brothers would prove to be a bitter pill.

Brainbuster Question of the Day for Wednesday, April 8th, '09

Q: The earliest account of European travel to the far east was provided by what Venetian traveler who explored Asia from 1271 to 1295?


















A: MARCO POLO His Travels of Marco Polo was the only account of the Far East available to Europeans until the 17th century.

Sensational '70's Tune for Wednesday, April 8th, '09

Stylistically, singer/songwriter Michael Johnson has been all over the map, ranging from folk to pop and soft rock to country. But no matter what kind of music he recorded, he maintained a mellow, pleasant tone that served as his hallmark. Johnson was born in Alamosa, CO, in 1944 and started playing the guitar as a teenager, studying both rock & roll and jazz. At 21, he traveled to Barcelona and studied classical guitar with Graciano Tarrago for a year, then returned to the U.S. and joined the later version of the folk group the Chad Mitchell Trio (when John Denver was a member). Initially signing to Atco, Johnson released his first album, There Is a Breeze, in 1973 and displayed a gentle, folk-influenced sound. He recorded three more albums for smaller labels in the mid-'70s, gradually transforming into more of a soft rock artist, and signed with EMI in 1978 in that capacity. He scored a number one hit on the adult contemporary charts that year with "Bluer Than Blue," which almost made the pop Top Ten, and also made the adult contemporary Top Five with 1978's "Almost Like Being in Love" and 1979's "This Night Won't Last Forever." Johnson recorded five albums in all for EMI and in 1985 moved over to RCA, where he adopted a contemporary country style that stayed compatible with his soft, mellow leanings. He was surprisingly successful, scoring a total of five Top Ten country hits from 1986-1989, including the chart-toppers "Give Me Wings" and "The Moon Is Still Over Her Shoulder." After three country albums on RCA, Johnson moved over to Atlantic in 1991, which effectively halted his commercial momentum. He recorded very sporadically in the '90s for smaller labels.

Brainbuster Question of the Day for Tuesday, April 7th, '09

Q: Elvis Presley's double sided hit Hound Dog / Don't Be Cruel was #1 on the charts for 11 weeks in 1956. This longevity record was broken in 1992 when a Whitney Houston, written by Dolly Parton, stayed at #1 for 14 weeks. What's the song title?



A: I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU

Sensational '70's tune for Tuesday, April 7th, '09

The first in an incredible series of huge hits for the newly California-based Fleetwood Mac, "Over My Head" is another great example of Christine McVie's restrained craftsmanship. Always an excellent musical chameleon, McVie easily absorbed the cool, artless pop style of '70s Southern California, and with this song, she does it without compromising her English pop roots. A beautiful, almost jazzy melody is surrounded by a series of almost Burt Bacharach-inspired chord changes, and this is lifted to even greater heights by the rhythm section of John McVie and Mick Fleetwood. The lyrics are a simple but eloquent reflection of being lost in love, and McVie captures it all in her simple and literate style.

Super 60's Tune for Friday, April 3rd, '09

When "Polk Salad Annie" blared from transistor radio speakers in the summer of 1969, the first thought was of Creedence Clearwater Revival, for Tony Joe White's swamp rock bore more than a passing resemblance to the sound John Fogerty whipped up on Bayou Country and Green River. But White was the real thing -- he really was from the bayou country of Louisiana, while Fogerty's bayou country was conjured up in Berkeley, CA. Plus, White had a mellow baritone voice that sounded like it had been dredged up from the bottom of the Delta. Besides "Annie," side one of this album includes several other White originals. The best of these are "Willie and Laura Mae Jones," a song about race relations with an arrangement similar to "Ballad of Billie Joe," and "Soul Francisco," a short piece of funky fluff that had been a big hit in Europe in 1968. "Aspen, Colorado" presages the later "Rainy Night in Georgia," a White composition popularized by Brook Benton. The second side consists of covers of contemporary hits, with the funky "Who's Making Love" and "Scratch My Back" faring better than the slow stuff. Dusty Springfield had a minor hit with "Willie and Laura Mae Jones," and White's songs were recorded by other performers through the years, but "Polk Salad Annie" and the gators that got her granny provided his only march in the American hit parade.