Rock and Roll Reminiscing - HHHH

Tour2ma · March 2003

Rock and Roll Reminiscing

02 March 2003 --- Letter Of The Week is H

For what this is about and some guidelines please click on the following link:

http://clubpolk.polkaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7234

Yes, its a long post, but please read, if you participate.

This week we are only discussing artists whose last name, and groups whose name begin with the letter H.

Note: The word The doesnt count, so for example The Allman Brothers Band belongs in the "A's" discussion and not in the Ts (guideline #5).

When possible, please supply complete title, format, company, year and catalog number when posting recordings.

And so our 26-week odyssey continues

Hope you come along for the ride

F1nut · March 2003

THE HONEY DRIPPERS VOLUME ONE
1984 Es Paranza 7 90220-2 CD

Robert Plant and Co. doing some rockabilly/swing covers. A great little ditty. If you're feeling down, pop this in and you'll be alright.

LEVON HELM and THE RCO ALLSTARS
1977 MCA/Mobile Fidelity MFCD 761 Silver CD

Levon's special brand of rock/blues with help from Paul Butterfield, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Robbie Robertson and many others. Two songs that stand out are "Blues So Bad" and "Havana Moon", but really not a bad one in the whole lot.

I thought I'd leave the most obvious "H" up to someone else.....;)

mhw58 · March 2003

H's for me start with Jimi Hendrix. I love Jimi and just about
all his stuff is awesome on SDA's. His debut 'Are you experienced?'
is still my favorite. I loved this album as a kid and love the cd
even more.
I love George Harrison also, George was a very underrated
musician. His 'All things must pass' cd is fantastic and I
love 'Brainwashed'. His Beatle tracks are great as was his
work with the Wilbury's.
Mike

shack · March 2003

Humble Pie - Performance - Rockin The Filmore {Live} - 1971 - A live performance when Peter Frampton was still in the band. Best cuts are "Stone Cold Fever", a great rendition of "Rolling Stone" and the 9+ min. version of "I Don't Need No Doctor". A terrific Blues Rock Band that on this album covered material by the likes of Dr. John and Muddy Waters.

Smokin' - 1972 - "Hot 'N' Nasty" and "30 Days In Hole". First album post Frampton. Worth a listen. I've never gotten to listen to the first 2 albums. I would like to.

shack · March 2003

Well...It's time for the ole tree hugger himself...Don Henley.

Being a huge Eagles fan it was logical that I follow Henley's solo career. His first album was:

I Can't Stand Still - 1982 - For some reason this album didn't get much recognition. The catchy tune "Dirty Laundry" got some airplay but not much else. Like Glenn Frey's first album there were still traces of the Eagles on this one. Of course he had several of the band members to help on this one including Timothy B. Schmidt, Joe Walsh and J. D. Souther (who helped write a lot of the Eagles material).

Building The Perfect Beast - 1984 - Is considered Henley's best effort and the album that "made" him as a solo artist. "Boys Of Summer" was a huge hit. Other notables were "All She Wants To Do Is Dance" and "Sunset Grill".

My favorite is his 3rd album The End Of The Innocence - 1989 - "New York Minute" is my favorite cut of all of his work. "The Last Worthless Evening", "Litle Tin God" and "If Dirt Were Dollars" are my other favorites from this album. "The End Of The Innocence" and "The Heart Of The Matter" got quite a bit of aiplay and were OK but were more pop oriented.

For some reason I never picked up a copy of his latest Inside Job - 2000. I don't even remember hearing much from it. I may try to give it a listen.

abmarsh · March 2003

Heart -- Barracuda still ranks as one of Rock's great songs!

Tour2ma · March 2003

Damn feels like the game is half over and I'm just coming off the bench. Will say that IMO some of the great "H's" have been a little slighted by quickie posts. Don't need "tour" length stuff, but a little more than a couple lines are due, dontcha think?

NOT in this category is Shack's treatment of Humble Pie, but I gotta add some to that. Man, what a great band. I have exactly the same releases in my collection, shack. Their dbl album from the Fillmore East is one of the great live performance recordings I've heard. They had a collective raw quality that you only get a taste of in their studio stuff, like Smokin, that is just in your face on the Fillmore release.

Fillmore is on my HIGHLY RECOMMENDED list FWIW

The contrast between Frampton's sweet guitar work and Steve Marriott's strained vocals is just magical and the secret of their success, IMO. I Dont Need No Doctor rocks to the nth degree. Id almost be shocked if Marriott can speak above a whisper today.

SHACK, what do you say we split the purchase of the earlier stuff and swap reviews and discs. Per AMG, three are available let me know

For my first H..
Buddy Holly From the Original Master Tapes (1985 MCA MCAD-5540/ DIDX-203)
This is absolutely, positively a must have in your collection, and not just because he was from Texas.

Rockabilly? Sure, Its So Easy, Oh Boy!, Maybe Baby, Peggy-Sue and others can be pigeon-holed there if you like, but theres so much more Not Fade Away could be slid onto any number of albums released in the past thirty years and fit right in as a modern classic.
Only issue I have with this release is that the liner notes are virtually non-existent. Biggest surprise of the little info that is there is that Holly only had a hand in writing 7 of the 20 tracks. But he was in on 3 of the 4 hits listed above. Second biggest surprise was that he was only 22 when his life ended. I knew he was young, but

BTW if youve never caught Gary Buseys portrayal of Buddy in The Buddy Holly Story (1978), do so. It paints him as larger than life and may play a little loose with the facts, but is a great watch nonetheless.

Ill save my next H for laterHave a couple G oversights to add

shack · March 2003

Id almost be shocked if Marriott can speak above a whisper today.

Unfortunately Steve Marriott died in a fire at his home in 1991.

Tour - let's go backwards and stick with the R&R stuff. I'll buy
Rock On and you get the next one.

I can't do that to you! Rock On can be had for about $8 whereas the other 2 are imports only with Humble Pie (One I would really like to hear) @ $36 and Town And Country @ $45. I may try to find a used copy of Humble Pie and go ahead and get Rock On for $8. Thats kind of a no brainer.

Amazon had one copy of Town And Country for $15.99 but it was not the remastered version.

Tour2ma · March 2003

Shack,
Man, and you mention Steve's demise back under an earlier write up didn't you...

half.com has:
Like new "T and C" import for 14.49 delivered.
two MFSL "Rock On"; 1 mint for $150! and a "fair' for $50...
Fact sealed "Rock On" for $9 to 11.50 delivered
No hits on"HP"...

Also working some vinyl angles...

So who's getting what?

BET

shack · March 2003

I'll get Rock On and look for Humble Pie. You can get T&C if you can find it.

danger boy · March 2003

Originally posted by abmarsh
Heart -- Barracuda still ranks as one of Rock's great songs!

The opening guitar licks on this song has to be one of the best riffs ever laid down on tape.

I'd also like to add these other Heart songs.

Crazy On You
Magic Man
Straight On
Heartless

plus so many more like Little Queen, Dog and Butterfly, Even it Up, These Dreams.

heavyismymetal · March 2003

HEAD EAST "Flat As A Pancake"...This was the first real bonafide band that I saw. My Dad took my brother and I to the show (someplace in St. Louis, maybe the Arena?) and we had a blast! "Save my life, I'm going down for the last time"
SAMMY HAGAR "Danger Zone" 1980.....(Love or Money, Run for Your Life) good songs.
"The Red Album"..1977.....(Cruisin and Boozin, Rock n Roll Weekend, Red) Other notable albums would be...."Three Lock Box" "Standing Hampton" "VOA"

shack · March 2003

Hootie And The Blowfish - Cracked Rear View - 1994 - This was a huge 1st album for the guys from Columbia SC. (not exactly a hotbed of R&R). Darius Rucker has a great voice and this album takes advantage of his range. The first 5 cuts are very good: "Hanna Jane", "Hold My Hand", "Let Her Cry", "Only Want To Be With You" and "Running From An Angel". A little further into the album is my favorite "Look Away". This is a very nice album that is different from the majority of the R&R being made in the mid 90s.

Their second album Fairweather Johnson is ok but not nearly as good as the 1st.

And a really good album from a group that many don't know very well:

Hooters - Nervous Night - 1985 - This is a great R&R album. Their name doesn't come from those "Owl Eyes"

we are all very familiar with but comes from one of the unusual instruments used on this album.... A melodica or "hooter" (a wind keyboard). The other is a mandolin. Two instruments not normally associated with R&R...but they lend an unusual sound to this album. The first 3 cuts are most notable: "And We Danced" (the best track), "Day By Day" and "All You Zombies". The title cut "Nervous Night" is a nice listen. The two main members of this band Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman play the mandolin and the "hooter". These two also team up on another one of my favorite albums (again one that most have never heard)..but that is for another week.

joe6pak · March 2003

The Hollies. This group was part of the british invasion of the 60s. One of the co-founders was Graham Nash. He later went on to team up with Crosby, Stills & Young in another pretty successful group. The Hollies had some early success with Carrie Anne, Bus Stop, and some other Beatles sound alike music. My favorite was their 69 or 70s song Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress). They also charted very high with the song He Aint Heavy, He's My Brother. To slow for me.

I was ready to post Buddy Holly but got beat out.

How could this next guy not be mentioned before now? Come on guys. Get with it!

Engelbert Humperdinck. Say that name real fast 12 times. I can't remember what songs he did, but his name is one of those things that will stick in your head.

Heart. Jimmi, Hootie, Humble Pie, Head East, & the other H mentioned so far are all good.
joe

Tour2ma · March 2003

Two good uns Shack I have Nervous Night and can second that its every bit as good as you say (and I am racking the gray matter for the other group youre hinting around).

Joe, still waitin' for Grandma..

... The Hollies rock! "Long Cool Woman" (HA! I got it right that time) is a Grade AAAAA classic...

Two from me tonight First, if the Righteous Brothers founded blue-Eyed Soul, my first offering carried it to a whole new generation
Hall and Oates Greatest Hits (1983 RCA PCD1-4858)
12 tracks with only one you wont instantly know from the title maybe.
1.Say It Isn't So (Hall) - 4:18
2.Sara Smile (Hall/Oates) - 3:10
3.She's Gone (Hall/Oates) - 3:27
4.Rich Girl (Hall) - 2:25
5.Kiss on My List (Allen/Hall) - 3:53
6.You Make Me Dreams (Hall/Oates) - 3:06
7.Private Eyes (Allen/Allen/Hall/Pash) - 3:28
8.Adult Education (Allen/Hall/Oates) - 5:27
9.I Can't Go for That (No Can Do) (Allen/Hall/Oates) - 3:45
10.Maneater (Allen/Hall/Oates) - 4:32
11.One on One (Hall) - 3:56
12.Wait for Me (Live Version) [live] (Hall) - 6:03
Yup an AMG copy - paste of an unbelieveably good line-up.
No more need be said

and now for something completely different for my Encore...
The (Sensational) Alex Harvey Band
Next - Vinyl (1973 Vertigo/ Phonogram VEL-1017)
Tomorrow Belongs to Me - Vinyl (1975 Vertigo/ Phonogram VEL-2004)
May have cheated a little here, in these two releases the proper name included the word Sensational (thus technically an S), but Alex had so many group names built around his name that I can rationalize putting him here besides this is one artist Ill be damned if I was going to let anyone scoop me on.

As with Bowie and a couple of other artists, I owe my awareness of Alex Harvey to Billy Bass, Clevelands late nite FM DJ extraordinaire during the early 70s. He incessantly played this addictive, long track from Next called The Faith Healer. It is perhaps my favorite rock cut of all-time and worth the price of admission here all on its own (which it almost is). For the uninitiated Ill try to describe it you know how Ravels Bolero builds in intensity and volume during its 15 minute playing time well its kind of like that, but more.

It starts with a simple deep harmonic tone (maybe an early synth, but none is credited) very low, fairly deep and solo, pulsing for a few bars, then it adds a lead guitar playing three chords leaving the second beat uncovered and holding onto the 4th through the following bar. This repeats for a couple bars and then breaks for a wood block rat-a-tat before resuming then breaking for a slide whistle that does one quick scale then resumes breaking for the wood block again All this time the volume is rising slowly until a rhythm guitar joins cranking a fast two-chord riff into the mix for a few bars and then the drums break in and Alex starts with, Hear that man inside your head?, and soon all hell breaks loose 7:15 after it all started the final bass drum kick hits your ears followed by an abbreviated cymbal crash and your amp is left panting, your ears ringing and your teeth sweating. Then you play it again because you just cant believe how good it was

There are one or two passable other cuts on Next, and on balance Tomorrow Belongs to Me is more listenable from start to end, but The Faith Healer carries the day. Normally when I buy an album for one track, I end up feeling cheated when the rest is tough to listen to. Next is one helluva an exception to my norm.

BTW, The Faith Healer is an outstanding SDA experience as well.

abmarsh · March 2003

Bruce Hornsby has done some good stuff.

joe6pak · March 2003

John Hartford.

He was a mix of rock, folk, bluegrass and country. I have his album titled Morning Bugle. A fine work. John wrote a lot of his music. He was into social protest and just poking fun at stuff. This album contains a song about police helicopters. He calls them whirily pigs. Also a funny but sad song about Howard Hughs and a song about a corrupt preacher who seems to be more into girls, drugs, and money, than religion. Lots of other good songs as well. He wrote and recorded Gentle on My Mind before Glenn Campbell made that song famous. He was also a riverboat pilot. Harford died of cancer in 2001. I gotta get some more of his stuff.

Hermans Hermits.

Pretty good band from England. The old farts here will remember songs like, I'm Into Something Good, Sillouettes, Sea Cruise, Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter, and There's A kind Of A Hush (All Over The World).

Engelbert Humperdinck?

joe

danger boy · March 2003

George Harrison

I know he's been mentioned already. but he was one of the most under appreciated musician of the four Beatles.

While my Guitar gently weeps is one of the best songs ever. The start of the song on the "White" album is incredible. Yeah he was the quiet Beatle, but his guitar spoke for him.

Tour2ma · March 2003

Joe, I remember Hartford from the Glen Campbell show. Every week had a segment where they picked a tune out together. Occasionally John sang , it was rare, but enjoyable. Hadnt thought of him in years and Im sorry to hear of his passing.

Two big thumbs up for George. Besides being my favorite Beatle I always admired his later solo work and non-music efforts (after all he gave us Time Bandits). His All Things Must Pass was a great effort and Concert for Bangladesh was indicative of his humanitarian efforts. If this was not the first benefit concert, and I cannot remember one preceding it, then it was one of the first. The great line-up he drew was a testament to his standing among his peers. Too bad his old band mates snubbed him.
Edit: Occurred to me after I posted that Ringo did show up. Checked the old box and sure enough, he did.... sorry Ringo.

One from me today..
Ian Hunter Youre Never Alone with a Schizophrenic (1979 Chrysalis CHR 1214)
In addition to being my favorite album title of all time (although on closer inspection it really is nonsensical), it also has one of the, if not THE, top album sides of all time. Ian is best known as the lead singer of Mott the Hoople, one of David Bowies protégé bands from the 70s. Great group that Im only a few weeks away from gushing over.

Anyway, back to the album side, side two to be precise In order it contains:
Life After Death, Standin In My Light, **** and The Outsider
Chances are you dont know any of them. If thats true, find a listen somehow; youll be glad you did. Its a classic Rocker-Ballad-Rocker-Ballad line-up. **** is extremely hard driving in the vein of Alex Harveys Faith Healer, but Ill spare you a blow by blow, bar by bar description this go round.

Funny thing is the airplay song off of this album, Cleveland Rocks, only really became known after The Drew Carey Show adopted it for its opening theme, beginning with its 2nd or 3rd season, the better part of two decades after its relaease. It pretty well stands out from the rest of the Side 1 material, but Lordy, Lordy that side 2 is killer.

For Side 2 alone this album must be RECOMMENDED.

BTW, it is true, Cleveland does ROCK

shack · March 2003

One of the things I like about these threads is to hear what other people think of particular albums and groups. I have a nice assortment of music that I have collected over the last 35 years or so but I can't listen to or buy everything. I am fortunate that I can buy now more than I could years ago (That could change as bills for college tuition, room and board, books and expenses start to roll in

). I have bought some real "dogs" over the years and have missed a few "gems".

I say this because even though mwh58 brought up Jimi Hendrix (Experience) I would like to add a little more. mwh58 is right on with Are You Experienced?. In recent years there have been many new compilation albums released to take advantage of the new fans of Hendrix and many of them are just ok at best. IMO there are four Jimi Hendrix must have albums that will give most of the "Experience". Two studio and Two live. Of course there is Are You Experienced? - 1967 - as mwh58 mentioned which is Hendrix's first recording. Next is Electric Ladyland -1968 - which is Hendrix at his Psychadelic best. As good as Hendrix's studio work is...the real flavor come in his live stuff. The best to my mind are Band Of Gypsys - 1970 - "Machine Gun" is a fantastic cut and I really enjoy his version of Buddy Miles' "Changes" (now there is another artist for another week!). And last there is Live At Winterland -1987 - This is a 1968 concert that was released many years after his death but it is pretty well recorded. Most of his other stuff is good and you may have a favorite over these but these are four that I feel cover his body of work very well.

If I had to pick one favorite song by Hendrix it would have to be "Hey Joe".

Tour2ma · March 2003

Originally posted by shack
One of the things I like about these threads is to hear what other people think of particular albums and groups. I have a nice assortment of music that I have collected over the last 35 years or so but I can't listen to or buy everything. I am fortunate that I can buy now more than I could years ago (That could change as bills for college tuition, room and board, books and expenses start to roll in ). I have bought some real "dogs" over the years and have missed a few "gems".

Dead on the money here Shack... Dogs would make an interesting thread later on, e.g., David Essex "Rock and Roll" parts 1 thru 87 or something... amazing he didnt make the Es. And howd we forget Gary Glitter in the Gs?

But this is about catching the ones you missed, classic, recent and everywhere in between.

College for me was prime time... dorm life, a Sony TC 125D Dolby cassette deck in everyone's modest rig, Ampex CrO2 C-90's for $2 each mail order, and passing the vinyl like it was the mashed taters at a family dinner.

Only problem, as I have sadly learned, is that C-90's are not forever. Even forgetting the fact that most sound like crap now, half arent playable at all. I have many where I have split the case and done other stuff to free them up enough to play. I've re-bought much of the great stuff, but much is irreplaceable. Just try to find Curved Air's Metamorphosis... you can't.

Originally posted by shack
If I had to pick one favorite song by Hendrix it would have to be "Hey Joe".

Gotta go with "All Along the Watchtower" here with "Crosstown Traffic" as a close second...

For today, I offer
The Hour Glass 1967-1969 (1973 United Artists UA-LA013-G2)
Did I say someone out there say, Who?. Well, this is another of those risk-a-couple-bucks cut-out bin numbers from Tour. The Hour Glass is a classic example of what happens when a record company takes a promising group and tries to change them to make them successful.

It started with a fellow named Johnny Sandlin put together a band in Decatur, Alabama. For his band he recruited a couple of local brothers named Allman, as in Gregg and Duane, among others (got your interest now?)

. They got pretty good, and got discovered, signed and whisked off to LA where they were fed to the star making machine of the then Liberty Records. Liberty saw them as a white, psychedelic soul band and lined up a number of young songwriters to feed them material. And they were good writers too. You may have even heard of a couple of them, like Carol King, and Jackson Browne. Only one track on their first album was written by Gregg.

Largely because of this, plus a generous helping of over production, their debut album was a disaster. While it had decent songs, they simply established zero identity as a group. Supposedly during the recording of album 2, Gregg said, Eff this ****, lets just play, and they did and it got really good. It contains seven tracks written by Gregg. While it still was over produced, you can hear the Southern Blues-Rock sound that Gregg and Duane would shortly carry to their band starting to take shape.

This little gem covers both those two albums, the only two The Hour Glass did. Its an interesting listen for the growth that occurred so quickly. Not indispensable, but for $2

shack · March 2003

Jeff Healey Band - See The Light - 1988 - I bought this album based on one song "Angel Eyes". What I found once I bought it was that this was a decent blues-rock band. Nothing extraordinary just a nice blues oriented band that is still a good listen from time to time. "Blue Jean Blues" is another notable cut from this album. The interesting thing about this band is Jeff Healey himself. He is blind...but that is not the unusual part. He plays sitting down with his guitar laying on his lap (sort of like a steel guitar is played - see below). He is a very good player.

You may have seen this band in the Patrick Swayze Blockbuster Epic...ROADHOUSE...They were the club band. I'm sure there is a soundtrack out there somewhere.

B000002VFU.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

avelanchefan · March 2003

Shack,

Good call on Healey! My goal was to post at least one band per letter. But the "H" catagory has stumped me. But if I would have found Healey or thought of him, he would have been up there. An above average blues guitar player that makes him great because of his blindness. And the man has a good voice in my opinion. Again nice call Shack.

Tour2ma · March 2003

Ditto and I have some Healey...somewhere.

Defintely one of the "Road House" highlights along with Ben Gazarra's blondie... what a dancer!!!

TroyD · March 2003

Man, some GOOD calls here. You know, these alphabet threads kill me because when I have to, I can never think of any. It's like going to a CD store, during the week, I can think of a zillion that I want, get me in the store and I got a big bag of nothing. Wendi has a similar complaint.

Hootie - good call. Some dismiss Hootie as pure pop fluff. I caught them in downtown Charleston quite a few times before the caught on. Best bar band ever. The original indy release 'Kootchypop' is a great disc, you can catch it on ebay from time to time.

Hooters - Nervous Night. Brings back some GREAT memories from the summer of '87, possibly some of the best times of my life. '...and we danced, like a wave on the ocean...' Man, THAT takes me BACK.

Jeff Healy Band, another great act live. His version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" sacrilege though it may be, I prefer to the Beatles.

BDT

Tour2ma · March 2003

Herbie Hancock
Rocket just came on the Music Choice digital cable Classic R&B channel... more rock to me than R&B. Cool tune, groundbreaking video from the days when MTV actually was music television. Don't Know the album it's off of...

Question: - Rocket has a lot of "scratching" in it, and it is very central to the music. Is it the first track to use it? I can't remember, but I think rap was still a coming thing when rocket came out.

First release to employ scratching would have been a good question for the Trivia thread, but since I don't know the answer...

Paul Connor · March 2003

Ian Hunter Youre Never Alone with a Schizophrenic (1979 Chrysalis CHR 1214)

Great album Tour. I have some of his others that he recorded after Hoople. Guess I should start digging through boxes.

Tour2ma · March 2003

Man if you know of ANY other stuff Ian did that even comes close, lay it on me....

... and yeah unpack those rascals. We're getting tired of carrying you here

Paul Connor · March 2003

How about an album titles Short Back and Sides?

**Rock and Roll Reminiscing - HHHH**

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Rock and Roll Reminiscing - HHHH