Today’s “Wordless Wednesday” release is “Mike Oldfield’s Single (Theme from Tubular Bells).” This was UK single release that differed from his American 45, which became the theme for The Exorcist. While both singles came from the progressive rock LP “Tubular Bells,” they were different movements from this album. “Tubular Bells” was the first album release from Virgin Records in both the US and the UK, and the respective singles were the first Virgin 45s issued in both countries.
Although originally released in 1974, I procured my copy of this import single in 1978 from a record store in Barboursville, West Virginia. Its pastoral theme that hearkens to the traditional music of a previous century struck a chord with me – I believe that chord was a Bm. I actually prefer this movement than the one that was popular in the US. It is believed that Oldfield played all of the instruments in this movement except the oboe, which featured Lindsay Cooper.
While the American single release had a flip that was an edit of a different movement from the same album, the UK single’s B-side did not come from the “Tubular Bells” – it was the traditional song “Froggy Went A-Courting.”
Day four of our look at the production work of George Martin with a cut from guitarist Jeff Beck’s instrumental album “Blow by Blow.” This LP was a departure for Beck and moved him into more of a jazz vein. “Blow by Blow” was the second album that credited him as a solo act – the first being 1968’s “Truth.”
Recorded in 1974 at the end of the run of Beck, Bogart, & Appice, “Blow by Blow” was produced by George Martin – one of two of Jeff Beck’s LPs where he shaped the sound – the second was “Blow by Blow’s” follow-up: “Wired.”
This 1975 release is truly a great album. I happen to have a half-speed master of the vinyl edition that a friend at Epic Records gave to me in the 80s. At #4, it was Jeff Beck’s highest charting LP of his career. Our featured selection, “Cause We've Ended as Lovers,” was written by Stevie Wonder and is one of two of his compositions appearing on the album. Beck’s guitar emotes passion, grief, angst, and excitement all in a single song.
“Cause We've Ended as Lovers” features the keyboard work of Max Middleton – a former member of the Jeff Beck Group. Middleton uses a Fender Rhodes electric piano with a Super Satellite Speaker System that gives the characteristic Rhodes vibrato that sounds so good in stereo. The Super Satellite System contained two twin-12 cabinets each with its own 100 watt amp. One acted as the master unit and the other as the slave.
In addition to Beck and Middleton, the album also featured Phil Chen on bass and Richard Bailey on drums and percussion. Although not credited, Stevie Wonder adds clavinet to his other composition: “Thelonius.” Great stuff and wonderful production by the master – George Martin.
For our Wordless Wednesday song from Deram Records, it was a competition between Whistling Jack Smith’s “I was Kaiser Bill’s Batman,” which charted at #20, and Procol Harum’s “Repent Walpurgis,” which failed to chart. Duh!!! Well, if you know me well enough, you would have guessed “Repent Walpurgis” won that battle. Since I had previously featured the band’s only hit on Deram, “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” I had to cull something else from their debut LP.
In Britain, only the “Whiter Shade of Pale” single was released on Deram Records. Their self titled debut LP would be the first release on the newly resurrected Regal Zonophone label – a subsidiary of EMI. In the US, the first Procol Harum LP was issued on Deram and led with “A Whiter Shade of Pale” and eliminated “Good Captain Clack” from the LP’s lineup. Additionally, the song order varied between the transatlantic versions, but “Repent Walpurgis” was the final cut on both.
Written by organist Matthew Fisher, “Repent Walpurgis” is one of the more powerful tunes on the album. Fishers’ overdriven Hammond Organ, Gary Brooker’s piano, and those guitar leads from Robin Trower just conjure up all kinds of images. Fisher felt the song was full of angst and that he thought it should be named “Repent.” One of his band mates said it reminded him of Walpurgis Night – or witches night that occurs prior to St. Walpurga’s Day on May 1. So they combined the thoughts into the title “Repent Walpurgis.”
While the name was ominous, so were the inspirations for this instrumental as they spanned centuries and continents. The primary progression of the tune featuring Cm, Ab/Eb, Dm7b5, and G was directly inspired by the chorus of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons 1967 single “Beggin’.” The piano interlude came primarily from Bach’s “Prelude 1 in C Major” from “The Well-Tempered Clavier.” This is prog rock at its finest.
Alternate Stereo Version
Here’s an alternate take of “Repent Walpurgis” that was shelved until the 1999 release of “Pandora’s Box: The Unused Procol Harum Stereo Versions Plus.” Unlike the original and shorter version, the alternate take is in true stereo not the rechanneled stereo found on American Deram release. While Fisher plays some different organ counterpoint, “Repent Walpurgis” also features more and heavier guitar work by Trower. It becomes quite the jam towards the end when someone whistles to signal to Trower and bassist Dave Knights to wrap it up and they do. It is a rather nice version in its own right.
The Four Season’s Inspiration
To make this feature complete, I found it necessary to add Frankie Valli and the Four Season’s “Beggin’.” Written by Bob Gaudio and Peggy Farina, the single peaked at #16. Although it had a respectable chart showing, it lost in the airplay wars with Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes off of You” that charted at #2 and was released two months after “Beggin’.”
One of my favorite instrumentals comes from Fairport Convention’s ninth LP, which was appropriately titled “Nine.” Although the LP was released in 1973, I didn’t get my copy until 1976. It is not the typical fare for the band, but “Tokyo” showcases the band’s prowess as instrumentalists with guitar, fiddle, bass, drums, and keyboard pyrotechnics and the liberal use of wah-wah pedals.
The song was primarily a vehicle for Jerry Donahue to show off his talents as a lead guitarist, but it also provides an opportunity for his band mates to shine as well. There are a couple of places that showcase Dave Swarbrick: one has him on double fiddles and the other has him playing electrified violin complete with the aforementioned wah-wah pedal.
Additionally, Dave Pegg is keeping up on bass by using a plectrum for attack and speed. Drummer Dave Mattacks not only provides some interesting tom work, but he plays a mean clavinet that really adds to the mystique of “Tokyo.” I can only imagine that Trevor Lucas handles the rhythm guitar parts on the track.
At the close of the song, everyone is in unison. I can’t swear to it, but it sounds as though there is a mandolin in there as well. If so, it is either played by Swarb or Peggy. As you might expect, “Tokyo” was penned by Jerry Donahue. Nice stuff from an album that is not typically considered anyone’s favorite Fairport LP – but I like despite what anyone else thinks.
“Cry for a Shadow” may be the only recorded composition by George Harrison and John Lennon and one of the few Beatles’ releases featuring Pete Best on drums. It was recorded in Germany in 1961 when The Beatles were working as Tony Sheridan’s back-up band “The Beat Brothers.”
This instrumental was written in the style of The Shadows – England’s premier instrumental band beginning in the 1950s. Although The Shadows served as Cliff Richard back-up band, they also recorded numerous sides as instrumentals featuring the guitar work of Hank Marvin.
The title, “Cry for a Shadow” pays homage to The Shadows, while George Harrison’s lead guitar parts echo Hank Marvin’s style. In additional to Harrison and Best, John Lennon played rhythm guitar and Paul McCartney is on bass and has the only vocal part on the recording – a yell.
The song wasn’t released in the US until 1964 when MGM Records secured the license from Polydor to release it on March 27. It was the flip side to a Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers recording of “Why.” On the US release, both sides were credited to The Beatles with Tony Sheridan; however, Sheridan didn’t appear on “Cry for a Shadow.”
While some of the missed necrology from 2014 was just because I didn’t get around to authoring a post at the time, I completely missed other deaths. That includes the passing of Mr. Acker Bilk on November 2, 2014. He was 85 years old. Some may not remember the man with the bowler, goatee and strange name, but I do. His real first name was Bernard, but used the nickname “Acker,” which comes from his native Somerset, England dialect for friend.
The song “Stranger on the Shore” evokes fond memories of early summer 1962 when the single was released in the US and it quickly became a #1 record. In fact, it was only the second time a British artist had a number one record on this side of the Atlantic, and it had been ten years since Vera Lynn’s hit. “Stranger on the Shore” was certainly not the last record by a Brit to reach the top of the charts, and two years later it was quite a common occurrence.
Billboard named “Stranger on the Shore” as 1962’s record of the year; it was certified gold for selling in excess of a million copies. The keynote instrument is Acker Bilk’s clarinet. Bilk’s interest in this member of the woodwind family was spawned a friend’s gift of a rather rough, second-hand instrument. Having no reed, the friend fashioned one from a piece of wood. Acker Bilk later procured a better instrument and the rest is history.
Although billed as Mr. Acker Bilk and his Paramount Jazz Band, it doesn’t appear that the band was present on this recording. The backing instrumentation was provided by the Leon Young String Chorale. Both Bilk and Young were credited with writing the tune. Later, publisher Robert Mellin added lyrics to this already charming instrumental and vocalists could tackle “Stranger on the Shore.”
Today’s selection is not very Christmassy (if that’s a word), but after spending 20 years in radio, you tend to get burnt out on Christmas music very quickly. There’s only so much of a hit and run reindeer, mommy kissing Santa Claus, the lack of two front teeth, Alvin, and back bacon one can take. To satisfy the insatiable Christmas fans, I promise a Christmas release tomorrow from Liberty Records, no doubt – and Ross Bagdasarian had nothing to do with it.
For today, the musical style is exotica. Martin Denny, the father of the genre, was also a Liberty recording artist. He and his band discovered their unique sound while playing at the Shell Bar in Hawaii. When the band played, the local frogs croaked. When they stopped playing, the frogs stopped as well. As a gag, some of the band members decided to do bird calls during the performance. The next night, the owner asked them to do the song with the frogs and birds again – and exotica was born.
The signature tune of the genre was Denny’s adaptation of Les Baxter’s 1952 song “Quiet Village.” They recorded it in 1957, but since there were no frogs present, Denny used a makeshift güiro from a grooved cylinder. In 1959, Liberty Records decided to release “Quiet Village” as a single and it shot up the charts to the #4 position. It also crossed over to the R&B chart where it peaked at #11.
For the album “Exotica,” the beautiful model Sandy Warner graced the cover. In fact, Warner was the face of Martin Denny’s albums for the next eleven releases as well. I always loved this song and was able to purchase the original single release with a stock Liberty sleeve in 1976 in mint condition at a little music store in East Jenkins, KY. I think I paid a quarter for it.
It was the second time I visited this now extinct establishment and I always walked away with collector items including a rare Beatles album that I paid $2.00 for in 1973. Its current worth is between $600 and $800. The value of the “Quiet Village” single – not so much, and it is probably valued in the $15 range – still worth a lot more than I paid for it nearly 40 years ago. Enjoy this Wordless Wednesday selection from Liberty Records.
A number of years ago, a question had traveled the circuit on Facebook that asked folks to list ten albums that they would take to a deserted island. One of those on my list was King Crimson’s “In the Court of the Crimson King.” I became aware of this album with a Christmas present in 1972. I’ve loved it ever since.
A few weeks ago, I stumbled onto the music of the Crimson Jazz Trio and their jazz interpretation of the music of King Crimson. The group was the brainchild of Ian Wallace who served as King Crimson’s third drummer during 1971-1972. Wallace also was the second drummer for the King Crimson alumni group – the 21st Century Schizoid Band, which was named after the lead track (“21st Century Schizoid Man”) from King Crimson’s debut album.
Wanting to interpret a number of King Crimson tunes as jazz pieces, Wallace enlisted pianist Jody Nardone and fretless bassist Tim Landers in 2005. The band recorded two albums prior to Wallace’s death in 2007. The first of these, “King Crimson Songbook Volume One,” was issued in 2005 and featured one of my favorite King Crimson songs, “I Talk to the Wind.”
For “Wordless Wednesday,” we head to Memphis, Tennessee where Willie Mitchell recorded for the famed Hi Records label. Hi Records started in 1957, but by the time Mitchell had signed to the fledgling label it was beginning to transform into an R&B legend. Hi’s best known artist was Al Green and his recordings gave cross-town rival Stax Records a run for the money.
Unfortunately, Hi was never a powerhouse label; however, that didn’t stop them from making inroads in the R&B genre. One of their artists who had a modicum of success was Willie Mitchell. Although he had nine singles that charted on the Hot 100, only two of those made it to the Top 40 section of the chart.
Mitchell’s best known release was a remake of King Curtis’ “Soul Serenade.” It was released in 1968 – four years after Curtis’ original was released. “Soul Serenade” was written by songwriter/producer Luther Dixon and King Curtis, who is credited under his real name of Curtis Ousley. Mitchell’s remake was his biggest selling single and it peaked at #23 on the Hot 100 and #10 on the R&B chart. Although Curtis’ original was released by Capitol, a larger label, it only peaked at #51.
In 1973, Eumir Deodato’s recording of the song made famous as the theme from “2001: A Space Odyssey” was a colossal success. Not only did “Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)” make it the number #2 slot on Billboard’s Hot 100, this hit was the Grammy winner for Best Pop Instrumental in 1974.
German Richard Strauss composed the tone poem “Also Sprach Zarathustra” or “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” in 1896. Zarathustra is an alternate name for Zoroaster, the prophet who founded the Old Persian religion Zoroastrianism.
On Deodato’s jazz arrangement, he plays electric piano. Bassist Stanley Clarke and guitarist John Tropea are two of the many talented musicians assembled by producer Creed Taylor to perform on the LP “Prelude.” In addition, “Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)” was the only hit single for Taylor’s CTI Records label.
Depending on when you were born, your memory of “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky” may be formed from the version by Vaughn Monroe, The Ramrods, or Outlaws. Today, we feature the instrumental version on Amy Records by The Ramrods.
This instrumental features a variety of sound effects and guitar reverb that add to the song’s mystique. It was the highest charting song for The Ramrods and “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky” peaked at #30 on the Hot 100 in 1961.
The Ramrods consisted of a brother and sister, Richard and Claire Lane, who respectfully played tenor sax and drums. The Lanes were joined by their cousin, Eugene Mooro, and friend, Vincent B. Lee, who both played guitar.
Today’s Wordless Wednesday selection was written by Canadian guitarist David Essig and was arranged and recorded by another Canadian guitarist, Don Ross. Written about the seat of Morgan County, West Virginia in the Eastern Panhandle, “Berkeley Springs” is a beautiful finger style guitar instrumental.
I’ve been to Berkeley Springs once in 2011 to pay homage to the graves of my grandfather’s cousins who lived and died in this beautiful setting. Berkeley Springs is actually the name of the post office, but has become the de facto name for the town that is actually incorporated at Bath, WV.
“Berkeley Springs” can be found on Ross’ 1999 CD Passion Session. I just love Ross’ use of the harmonics on this tune. I hope you enjoy it as well.
For our Wordless Wednesday selection, I’ve chosen a 1977 instrumental by Eric Clapton from his triple platinum album “Slowhand.” “Peaches and Diesel,” which has often been compared to its A side “Wonderful Tonight,” was composed by Clapton and Albhy Galuten. Galuten, whose only contribution to “Slowhand” was the coauthoring of “Peaches and Diesel,” is best known as a producer of a number of artists including Clapton’s label mates, The Bee Gees.
While I’ve read some speculation on the source of the unusual title of the song, it has nothing to do with Duane Allman. It has been theorized that the title represents Allman’s infamous “eat a peach” phrase that inspired a postmortem album title and the cause of his death – a collision with a truck – presumably diesel fueled.
The term, although rather obscure, is used to describe the bouquet of certain wines. Unfortunately, I could not find a description of what a peaches and diesel fragrance represents. I can only imagine, while I may be wrong, that it is possibly a fruity bouquet that lingers heavily – much like diesel fuel hangs in the air long after it is spilled. What do I know about wine anyway?
Whatever it represents, “Peaches and Diesel” was the final cut on the “Slowhand” album. Enjoy.
Day Four of our look at Reprise Records and last week we introduced a new category, “Wordless Wednesday.” I was wracking my brain about an instrumental on Reprise and had settled on featuring a Ry Cooder song; however, I wasn’t totally convinced of my choice. Not being able to sleep this morning, Jack Nitzsche’s name amazingly popped into my head as being an early Reprise artist. Now, how many times do you think of Jack Nitzsche?
Although Nitzsche had been involved in a number of top recordings as a songwriter, arranger, session musician, and producer, only one hit record bore his name as the artist – “The Lonely Surfer.” The production of this 1963 recording has a similar layering to Phil Spector’s famed “Wall of Sound”; that’s no coincidence, as Nitzsche was Spector’s understudy.
This instrumental is layered in the low end. The lead is a baritone guitar and key notes of the baritone’s runs are doubled on bass and piano. There are times when it is evident that two baritone guitar tracks are being used. Add strings and French horns and you come up with strange instrumentation for a record with a surfing connection. It doesn’t really quite make sense – but, I like it.
It really is like a combination of surf guitar, film score orchestration, and a spaghetti western arrangement meeting “The Lonely Bull.” Additionally, the French horn runs remind me of John Entwistle’s work on the “Overture from Tommy.” Perhaps Entwistle was inspired by this recording somewhat.
While “The Lonely Surfer” was not a colossal hit, it managed to squeeze into the Top 40 at #39 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and at #37 on Cashbox’s pop chart. From a historical perspective, it got Jack Nitzsche on the musical map and the rest is history. Just ask The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, and others.
Now that I’m back to blogging, I’ve been thinking about a new feature for instrumentals: Wordless Wednesday. Today’s cut finishes off our former Wooden Music Wednesday and serves to introduce the new feature. Last week, I was catching up on some music by Leo Kottke and was reminded of his cover of the Buck Owens and The Buckaroos’ number one country single from 1965.
When Kottke moved from Capitol Records to Chrysalis in 1976, he led off his new self-titled LP with “Buckaroo.” Playing both 12 and 6 string guitars, Kottke breathed new life in this classic that was authored by country musician Bob Morris. Kottke even plays a bit of slide on this version.
Kottke’s rendition is a little faster than Owens’ original and he slightly changed the arrangement – thus making the song truly his own. While all of the other cuts on the LP were composed by Kottke, “Buckaroo” was my favorite. Both the original and Leo Kottke’s version were played in C# - a highly unusual key for guitar. While watching a live video of Kottke playing “Buckaroo,” it appears that he tuned his 12-string a half step lower and is playing the song in D – but it sounds as C#. Neat stuff.
Associate Provost and Professor of Mass Communication at Alderson Broaddus University and an adjunct faculty member at Southern New Hampshire University.
Graduate of Marshall University, West Virginia University, Southern New Hampshire University, Kentucky Christian University and Mountain State University.
Dissertation on institutional rebranding (see newriver.net) was the 2009 international winner of the Alice L. Beeman Dissertation Award for Outstanding Research in Communications and Marketing for Higher Education Advancement and was the 2008 Leo and Margaret Goodman-Malamuth Outstanding Dissertation Award for Research in Higher Education Administration.
Placed as a winner in five Active Industry Research Contemporary Hit Radio "Pick the Hits" competitions from 1983 through 1987. Each competition had 31 winners. Placed 2nd (1st among radio participants), 6th, 10th (twice), and 21st in the five competitions.
Awarded 14 gold & platinum records and an international sales award from various record companies. Winner of 30 Public Relations awards.
