A George Martin Production: Don't Let the Sun Catch Your Crying

What band from Liverpool band was produced by George Martin, managed by Brian Epstein, and had their first three singles on an EMI label hit #1 on the UK charts? If you answered The Beatles, then you were wrong. While The Beatles were from Liverpool, produced by Martin, and were managed by Epstein, their first three EMI releases charted at #17, #2, and #1 in the UK. The band in question was Gerry and the Pacemakers.

Their first three singles, “How Do You Do It?,” “I Like It,” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” all were number one releases in the UK. In the US, the trio of hits placed respectfully at #9, #17, and #48. The band’s biggest hit in the US, also produced by George Martin, was “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying”; it charted at #4 in 1964.

Written by the band’s leader Gerry Marsden, “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying” is notable for its use of major 7th chords, lush strings, and the tasteful accent of a single oboe. Since George Martin studied oboe, I’m wondering if this influenced his decision to use the instrument on this recording. Martin’s talent as a producer is evident on this ballad

Although Gerry and the Pacemakers recorded for Columbia (UK), an EMI subsidiary that separated from the American label of the same name in the 1930s, EMI’s American arm (Capitol Records) passed on Gerry and The Pacemakers. They had initially passed on The Beatles, but later became their American label. Gerry and Pacemakers were signed to the independent Laurie Records in the US. Laurie remained their American label during the band’s three-year run from 1963-1966.

A George Martin Production: Ultravox's Hymn

This last Tuesday, May 8, 2016, renowned record producer George Martin passed away at the age of 90. As most news outlets reported, Martin was best known in his role as the producer of all of The Beatles hit albums save one – “Let it Be.” Although Martin had produced most of the album’s singles and was the original producer on the fledgling album under the working title of “Get Back,” the band replaced him with Phil Spector for the final album release.

During the next week, I’ll be highlighting Martin’s production work. Yes, we’ll be featuring a Beatles’ song or two, but I want to concentrate on some of the other artists he produced. While his work with The Beatles stretched his creativity beyond comprehension, he is one of the best known producers of the 20th century.

One of the groups that he worked with was Ultravox in 1982. This new wave synth band of the 70s and 80s was barely known in the US. Charting at #61, their best selling US LP, “Quartet,” was the only album produced by George Martin. As the band was preparing to record “Quartet,” they sought a new producer and Martin’s daughter Lucy, an Ultravox fan, encouraged her dad to take the gig.

One of the single releases from “Quartet” was their tune “Hymn.” Loosely drawing from biblical language, the band produced what would be best termed as a psalm or song rather than a hymn despite the record’s title. The artwork for the picture disc and the single’s sleeve used Masonic emblems – go figure.  While “Hymn” was the band’s fourth most popular release in the UK and charted at #11, it failed to make a dent in the US charts. Ultravox’s only single to chart on the Hot 100 was “Quartet’s” previous single “Reap the Wild Wind,” which only made it to #71.

Enjoy this week of George Martin production and remember this man behind the music.

RIP Keith Emerson: Take A Pebble

The musical world is reeling over yesterday’s untimely death of Keith Emerson from an apparent suicide. This great talent is now only with us through his recordings. My connection to Emerson came from my first hearing “Lucky Man” in 1970 on the radio and the band’s first two albums at my brother’s house in Lexington, Kentucky during the summer of 1971. Being a high school student on a limited budget, I settled for the “Lucky Man” single. The next year, I received as a gift “Five Bridges” by Emerson’s previous band – The Nice and purchased ELP’s single “From the Beginning.”

I had the opportunity to see ELP in concert during their “Works” tour on May 28, 1977 at the old Charleston, WV Civic Center. It was originally to be one of two consecutive shows in Cincinnati, but the first show was cancelled and Charleston became the venue for the 28th. Since it was a smaller hall than most of their shows that tour, there was no orchestra – just Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.

The Charleston show was festival seating and I sat down front and was quickly amazed at the pyrotechnics of Keith Emerson’s playing. Not only was he a fantastic musician, he was quite the showman. He attacked his keyboards with vigor – especially his Hammond organ – which he pulled down on himself several times during the night – never missing a note. He also used daggers to hold the keys down to create a drone sound.

A friend of mine who worked in a record store in Huntington, WV saw the Charleston show as well as the Cincinnati show on May 29 with the orchestra. She admitted the Charleston show was much more interesting. I know I enjoyed myself immensely.

To remember this great musician, I selected a song that features Keith Emerson on piano. Not only does it show his classical and jazz chops, he strums the grand piano in a prepared fashion twice during the tune. “Take a Pebble” is the second and longest cut on their debut album. This is one of my favorite album cuts by ELP.

Long live the music of the master of the keyboards: Keith Emerson.

In Memory of Paul Kantner: We Can Be Together

Paul Kantner, another icon of rock ‘n roll, passed on Thursday, January 28. While some may not recognize his name, his influence was felt for many years as a founding member of Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and the KBC Band.

Like many of the American rock performers of the mid to late 1960s, Kantner began as a folk singer in the vein of Pete Seeger. It was at one of these gigs that Marty Balin saw him and invited him to start a new band that became Jefferson Airplane. He eventually became the band’s leader. While he was not generally the front-person, he had the distinction of being the only member of Jefferson Airplane and its spinoff Jefferson Starship to appear on all of the albums by both groups.

Paul Kantner died in San Francisco from multiple organ failure and septic shock that occurred after having a heart attack. For our tribute to this seminal musician, I’ve selected the “B” side to the first single released from the 1969 LP “Volunteers”: “We Belong Together.” Kantner wrote the song and shared lead vocals with Grace Slick and Marty Balin. Thanks for the music, Paul, we’ll miss you.

Glenn Frey's Already Gone

The music world is still reeling from David Bowie’s death a week ago, and now the news has arrived about the untimely passing of Glenn Frey at the age of 67 in New York. The cause was rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis, and pneumonia. He was recovering from intestinal surgery.

Photo by Steve Alexander; used under license of Creative Commons.

While he trained as a pianist, Frey was better known as a guitarist who doubled on piano. His first recording was playing rhythm guitar and singing backup on Bob Seger’s “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” in 1968. After touring with Linda Ronstadt in 1970, Frey, Don Henley, Randy Meisner, and Bernie Leadon formed the Eagles. Glenn sang a number of their hit records including today’s featured recording: “Already Gone.”

This 1974 hit was co-written by Jack Tempchin and Robb Strandlund. Tempchin and Frey would later team up to write a number of Frey’s solo hits. The lead guitar parts on “Already Gone” were supplied by both Frey and the band’s newest member, Don Felder. Although “Already Gone” only peaked at #32, it remains one of the Eagles’ better known songs.

Following the break-up of the band, he had a successful solo career with five Top 40 hits between 1982 and 1988. His last album was released in 2012 and departed from the styles he developed in the Eagles and as a solo artist. Laying aside his guitar and using only his voice as his instrument, “After Hours” was an album of standards and other songs in a similar vein.

I had the opportunity to meet Glenn on August 24, 1985 in Charleston, WV when he was opening for Tina Turner on her “Private Dancer” tour. While a number of radio programmers from four different markets were getting ready to meet him backstage, Glenn loudly called me by name “Jim, how on earth are you doing?” After giving me a big hug, he whispered in my ear, “I saw your name on your jacket. Just play along and we’ll make all of these other radio guys jealous.” After some banter he grabbed my hand and just started to dance. What you see below was caught on film by a friend. He was one of the most congenial stars that I’ve had an opportunity to meet.

The world has lost another great musical voice and we sadly pay our respects to Glenn Frey – Rest in Peace.

David Bowie: China Girl

As we continue looking at the music of David Bowie, 1983’s “China Girl,” although co-written by Bowie, was a cover of an earlier recording by the other author: Iggy Pop. Written in Berlin in 1977, it was based on Pop’s fascination with a beautiful Vietnamese woman. “China Girl” was the second of four US singles from Bowie’s extremely popular “Let’s Dance” album. It followed the #1 title track by peaking at #10 on the Hot 100 and at #3 on the rock tracks.

“Let’s Dance” was Bowie’s first solo top 40 hit since 1975’s “Golden Years”; however, his duet with Queen on “Under Pressure” from 1981 charted at #29. Bowie’s 1983 treatment of “China Girl” was much more palatable to the public than his production of the same song on Iggy Pop’s album “The Idiot.” More on that below.

The difference might be attributed to a number of factors. One of these is that production duties entirely belonged to Nile Rodgers formally of the dance band Chic and a popular session guitarist and producer. While Rodgers plays guitar on this cut, the lead was played by the legendary Stevie Ray Vaughan. Vaughan’s inclusion on the “Let’s Dance” LP gave album rock credibility Bowie’s project as it generally a dance/pop album.

This is much like Eddie Van Halen’s performance on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” – which garnered some AOR play on stations that normally wouldn’t play a Jackson cut. The only difference is that album radio more readily accepted this new style for Bowie, as he had always been an album rock artist despite popularity on the pop charts.

Iggy Pop's Original

Although Bowie didn’t stray too far from Iggy Pop’s original in structure, the arrangement was greatly improved for the remake. Released as a single in some countries, Iggy Pop’s version failed to chart anywhere. I cannot find any information if RCA released as a 45 in the US – if so, it was only a promotional release.

Bowie was the sole producer on the cut and plays keyboards, guitar, piano, saxophone, and xylophone, as well as providing backing vocals. By listening to the original, you can see why Bowie’s 1983 version was the hit.

David Bowie: Suffragette City

One of the first Bowie songs that I heard on the radio was an album cut from the “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” album in 1972. In addition, “Suffragette City” had the notoriety of being released by RCA Records three times as a single in the UK – twice as a “B” side and once as an “A” side. In the US, its only 45 release appeared as the flip of “Starman” in 1972. It failed to chart in both the US and the UK.

Rumor has it that Bowie first offered the song to Mott the Hoople to record it before he laid down his own glam rock version, but they passed on the song. This is unfortunate, as they did an excellent version of Bowie’s “All the Young Dudes.” I would have liked to hear their interpretation. As for Bowie’s recording, Mick Ronson’s really added to the cut with his lead guitar, the rocking piano, and the ARP synthesizer; all of of which, in my estimation, makes the song.