Don Francisco: He's Alive

Happy Easter everyone! To celebrate the most important holiday in Christendom, I thought I would feature a song about the resurrection. In 1977, Don Francisco recorded his landmark LP “Forgiven” that featured his most popular song: “He’s Alive.” The album and single were released on NewPax Records, a label owned by record producer Gary Paxton.

When Contemporary Christian Music Magazine (now CCM Magazine) published its first issue in July 1978, the song “He’s Alive” debuted at the #1 slot and became the longest charting single on Christian radio. In 1980, Francisco won a Dove Award from the Gospel Music Association for “Songwriter of the Year” and “He’s Alive” garnered 1980’s Dove Award for “Song of the Year.”

Francisco had intended to write the song from the Apostle Thomas’ perspective but could not accomplish his goal. He later switched to a view from the Apostle Peter and the rest is history. Francisco’s consummate style is that of a story-teller much like the songs of secular musicians Harry Chapin and Billy Joel. Because of this style, the song made a powerful connection among those who heard it.

Original Recording

Re-recorded Version

All weekend, I’ve been making ridiculous puns. So I feel obligated to add one here. If we would only speak of today’s artist by his first name, would we be referring to him as Don sans Francisco? Use this season of Easter to forgive me for that one. Happy Easter.

Mott The Hoople: All The Way To Memphis

As always on Saturday we feature a bubbling under hit and today we take you back to the fall of 1973 and the opening cut from Mott the Hoople’s sixth album “Mott.” Although released as a single, “All the Way to Memphis” failed to chart in the US – which was highly unusual at the time as the song was well known to their fans. Album radio played it to death and I remember seeing the band perform this tune live on television a number of times – always to the cheers of an approving audience.

While this glam rock outfit fronted by the curly headed Ian Hunter (who is now 72) never transitioned to top forty radio in the US. The closest they came was in the summer of ’72 when “All the Young Dudes” made it to a dismal 37. American mainstream radio was not that accepting of Mott the Hoople – they just weren’t a singles kind of band; however, the album charted at 35 on the Top 200 LPs charts. It was not their highest charting LP, but it started a trend that saw their final two albums, “The Hoople” and “Live,” chart even higher.

“Mott” was their second LP released in the US on the Columbia label; the first four albums by the band were on Atlantic. I can remember sitting in the lobby of Jones Hall – my dorm at the time seeing Ian Hunter, Mick Ralphs, Pete “Overend” Watts, and Dale Griffen doing this and other legendary “Hoople” tunes. While the song is a constant reminder of this period, the picture that comes to my mind is Ian Hunter playing his H-shaped guitar. To see it, check out the following site: http://www.hunter-mott.com/gallery/mth/images/hunter1.html.

The Rolling Stones: 2000 Light Years From Home

Friday’s Flipside takes us back to 1968 and the psychedelic “B” side to the Rolling Stones’ “She’s A Rainbow.” Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a good recording of the single mix which starts right before the bass guitar intro. With that said, here’s the longer LP version of “2000 Light Years from Home.”

It is an interesting song for the Stones and there is a backing vocal that sounds like Yoko Ono; however, Yoko is not credited on the LP. It could be Anita Pallenberg who is the only female credited with singing backup, and who had been the love interest of first Brian Jones and then later Keith Richards. To me it sounds like one of those falsetto faux female voices that are characteristic of Monty Python skits. In reality, it is probably one of the Rolling Stones doing this high harmony.

Demo Recording of the Instrumental Track

The lyrics were written by Mick Jagger while in prison on drug charges and the unusual backing track had been recorded by the band under the working title of “Toffee Apple.” Many times bands would have an initial melody and would sing nonsensical words until the real lyrics were composed. I bet you didn’t know that The Beatles’ “Yesterday” was originally titled “Scrambled Eggs.” Think about singing, “Scrambled Eggs, da da da da da da – scrambled eggs.”

I’m not sure how the Stones sang “Toffee Apple” to the menagerie of psychedelia found in this song. That might be a little difficult. The strings were actually Brian Jones on Mellotron. There are also backwards recordings and the instrument that makes this tune is Bill Wyman’s bass. Check out the original backing track demo. It is missing some of the sound effects that were added for the official release.

ZZ Top: La Grange

Last weekend I caught a commercial for the first time that advertised CanAm Spyder Roadster. In the background, you immediately recognize Frank Beard's characteristic shuffle on the drum rim and the John Lee Hooker style guitar and vocals by Billy Gibbons. It was the band’s first single from their debut 1973 album “Tres Hombres.”; however, "La Grange" barely missed the top 40 charts by peaking at #41.

Live Version

While Billy Gibbons played a Fender Stratocaster on the original studio recording of “La Grange,” he is seen here playing a Gretsch Jupiter Thunderbird – a guitar originally made famous by Bo Diddley. You can see Bo’s original 1959 model on the cover of the LP “Bo Diddley is a Gunslinger.”

Bo gave this same guitar to Billy Gibbons – which Gibbons later modified. A few years ago, a reconstituted Gretsch Guitar Company began marketing the Jupiter –Thunderbird as the “Billy-Bo” model and that moniker can be found on the back of the headstock.

The guitar and the man behind the guitar – rocks.

CanAm Spyder Roadster Commercial

Tin TIn: Toast and Marmalade For Tea

Today’s one hit wonder comes from a pair of Australians living in the United Kingdom. Named after a Belgian cartoon character named Tintin, Tin Tin was formed by Steve Kipner and Steve Groves. Kipner and Groves were joined by bassist Johnny Vallins and drummer Geoff Bridgford

Because of their friendship with Bee Gee Maurice Gibbs, the band was signed to a one album contract with the Robert Stigwood Organization – the company that managed a number of musical acts including Eric Clapton and the Bee Gees.

Gibbs produced and played a number of instruments on both of Tin Tin’s albums. The self-titled debut album barely made Billboard’s Top 200 Album Chart by peaking at 197. The LP’s single release “Toast and Marmalade for Tea” charted in the US at #20 in 1971 and was their only top 40 hit.

In the US, Tin Tin’s records were released on ATCO like many of Robert Stigwood’s other acts. By 1973, Stigwood incorporated RSO Records and his acts, sans Tin Tin, moved to the new label. Steve Kipner continued in the music business and has produced a variety of artists such as Chicago, George Benson, Olivia Newton-John, and Christina Aguilera.

This psychedelic/bubble gum hit is rarely heard today even on oldies stations. Dick Bartley used to play it quite a bit. Lyrically the song is banal, but it has some interesting instrumentation starting with acoustic guitar and a strange sounding keyboard. I’ve read that it was a distorted piano, but I am not convinced of that – it sounds like a synthesizer to me. There is one musical mistake in the song – see if you can catch it? It drives me crazy. Listen to the song and the answer will appear below.

OK, if you haven’t found it, listen when the bass enters. The third note (28 seconds into the recording) is about a half of a beat too late. With multi-tracking available at the time, you would think that Gibb would have fixed this. With today’s computer technology, the note would not need to be re-recorded – just moved digitally. Don't you just love technology.

Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts: Fleetwood Fair

Our Traditional Tuesday song was suggested by my brother Chuck this week: Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts with “Fleetwood Fair.” The song recently won a Hancock Award for the “Best Original Song.” The Hancock Award is sponsored by TalkAwhile – an acoustic music forum. Dave Swarbrick, formerly of Fairport Convention, is the honorary president of the awards.

I am really impressed by the song, the arrangement, and video. The harmonies are nearly perfect. There are also some interesting instrumental things occurring with “Fleetwood Fair.”

While Katriona Gilmore plays the mandolin left-handed, she plays violin and viola right-handed. She also is apparently small in stature as I originally thought the instrument was a larger mandola as it dwarfs her; however, its tonality and the credits rightfully identify the instrument as a mandolin. Its presence as an accompaniment instrument provides bell like accents and chunky rhythm when necessary.

Jamie Roberts is simply amazing on the percussive lap guitar on this tune. It is different enough to draw attention to this song. The sight of someone playing a guitar in a nontraditional way is exciting, but close your eyes and listen and Jamie’s guitar evokes a synthesis of an Appalachian dulcimer, Chapman Stick, and a cajon all in one.

The song is Em; from doing some research on Jamie’s technique, I learned that he uses a D modal tuning that he capos at the fifth fret to play in G – the relative major of Em. The tuning he employs is D A D A A D and when capoed is a fourth higher at G B G B B G. I tried both the tuning and his technique.

The tuning I was able to handle – the lap/percussive style is quite another thing. Doing this would take quite a bit of practice as it requires both hands to be on the fret board (much like the Chapman Stick). The acoustic I used was a thin Ibanez acoustic/electric and did not lend itself to the sound Jamie gets from a dreadnaught guitar. I’ve got another guitar I can try, but I doubt if I’ll master this style anytime soon.

Jamie’s Tutorials on his Lap Style Percussive Guitar

4 Non Blondes: Misty Mountain Hop

If someone would have said in the early 1970s that there would be a vocalist that could rival Robert Plant, I would have laughed. But then again, I hadn’t heard of Linda Perry and 4 Non Blondes. Today we feature their cover recording of “Misty Mountain Hop.”

The song starts off with the opening piece from another Zep tune – “Black Dog” and moves into the characteristic electric piano part. The sound is a little different than the piano on “Led Zeppelin IV,” and I believe that is because it appears to be a Wurlitzer Electric Piano with the tremolo turned up part way, while the instrument played by John Paul Jones (according to the live videos and its bell like sound) was a Rhodes Piano.

4 Non Blondes released their cover on Atlantic Records’ 1995 album: “Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin.” “Misty Mountain Hop” was also released as a single for this short lived San Francisco band, but the single failed to chart.

Led Zep Original

Kicking off side two of Led Zeppelin’s best selling fourth album is their version of “Misty Mountain Hop.” Need I say anything more?