Riggs: Southern Rock That Rocks, er, Rocked

One of the things I've noticed is that there are bands at the major label level that "make it", others that come close, and then there are those who never seem to get out of the starting gate. Neither of these, of course, has anything to do with how great a band may actually be and has everything to do with luck, timing, and persistence.

Take Cheap Trick, for example. As great as their first three albums may have been, they didn't exactly set the charts on fire. If not for the absolute fluke success of "At Budokan", "Dream Police" (which was darn-near completed by then) could very well have been their last shot.

Cheap Trick, of course, is how I came to be aware of Riggs, as I had purchased the "Heavy metal" motion picture soundtrack album for the two new Cheap Trick songs ("I Must be Dreamin'" and the stellar "Reach Out") and ended up discovering that the two songs by a band called Riggs ("Radar Rider" and "Heartbeat") were also quite enjoyable. Like the Cheap Trick songs that appeared on the album, the two Riggs cuts were also produced by Roy Thomas Baker (Queen, The Cars, etc.). Some months later, I was perusing the bins at my local Record Land and discovered their album, entitled simply "Riggs".



While the production elements of the two songs from "Heavy Metal" created an atmospheric rock sound that fit well within the context of a futuristic fantasy film, the production of the "Riggs" album by Andy Johns and Marty Cohn was no-nonsense - as if recorded with little thought to creating a bigger-than-life aura as Roy Thomas Baker had done.

I've always been of the mindset that if a major label sends you into a state-of-the-art recording studio and you don't make the most of the resources available to you in creating not just a rock record, but a ROCK RECORD, then, really, what's the point?

The no-frills approach employed by Johns and Cohn actually allows the band to strut their stuff as I presume they must have done on the Knoxville, TN circuit prior to signing with Molly Hatchet manager Pat Armstrong and then with Irving Azoff's Full Moon/Warner imprint.

For as long as I've been paying attention, I've always been somewhat dismayed by the continued willingness on the part of major labels to sign band after band with little thought as to how they will actually position the band in the marketplace. Thus, in listening to this album, it's easy to see why Riggs may have fallen between the cracks. Album opener "Ready or Not" is a sly rocker that wouldn't have sounded out of place on A Nugent record. The song that follows, "One Night Affairs", begins with an elegiac guitar/piano intro that would seem to indicate Jonathan Cain's might appear in the writing credits. The chorus, of course, seems tailor-made for early 80's radio formats...so why wasn't it all over the radio?



Alas, a lack of promotion, radio play, and, ultimately, sales led to the demise of Riggs soon after this album's release. Band leader Jerry Riggs was later aligned with Pat Travers at a time when Travers' career was on a decidedly downward slope and then became a part of Florida rocker Bobby Friss.

That a guy with Riggs' talent as both a singer and guitarist has been forced to play second fiddle to Travers and Friss is just a damn shame.

Ready or Not
One Night Affairs
Over & Over
Take It Off
Writing On The Wall
Depending On Love
Girls On The Loose
Christine
Don't Walk Away
Too Strong

Producers/Run For Your Life

The record biz is a harsh mistress. There are a million stories of great bands being chewed up and spit out by the very machinery that now seems to do nothing but make stars out of complete also-ran's, but the fact that The Producers' second album, "You Make The Heat", was such a commercial no-show has always disheartened me.

I'll admit to thinking their debut was a completely lightweight pop affair and I have no idea what led me to give them a second chance, but the moment I heard songs like "She Sheila", "Merry-Go-Round" and the riveting "Dear John", I was a Producers fan for life.

It wouldn't have taken a perfect world for these songs to be all over the radio, just a radio promotions staff at CBS Records capable of doing their job. Instead, the Producers joined a long list of bands on the roster toiling in abject obscurity...among them the Hawks, the Elvis Brothers, 20/20, Holly & The Italians, Garland Jeffreys, Gary Myrick & The Figures, the Sorrows, and others.

By 1985, the Producers had parted ways with Portrait/Epic/CBS and bassist/singer Kyle Henderson had parted ways with the band to pursue a solo career that amounted to little more than singing backing vocals on albums by Kansas and Laura Branigan in addition to a Christian-themed solo album that was released with little notice at all.

With new bassist Tim Smith (who would go on to join Jellyfish and has long been a member of Sheryl Crow's band), the band reconvened at the very same studio where they had recorded "You Make The Heat" (Axis Studios in Atlanta, GA) to record the tracks that would become the album known...or unknown, as the case may be...as "Run For Your Life".



While the album was widely available at the time of release, it has since faded into obscurity and, while the rest of the band's catalog has been re-issued on CD (even the long-shelved 1988 MCA CD, "Coelecanth", which was eventually issued in 2001 on One Way Records), remains unavailable in any digital format.

So, I've ripped the tracks straight from scratchy vinyl for your listening pleasure.


Run For Your Life
Slow Dancing
Depending On You
Tightrope
Can't Cry Anymore
Boat Song
Table For One
Friendly Fire
Big Mistake
Waiting On A Train

sunday sugar fix rock mix

Tunes that have been rocking my world this week (and will hopefully rock your world this week!):

a-ha - analogue
Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
Jimmy Eat World - The Middle
Fischer-Z - So Long
Prince - I Would Die 4 U
Butch Walker - Since U Been Gone
Secret Machines - Faded Lines
Robbie Williams - Feel
Nine Inch Nails - Wish
The Church - Metropolis

Forgotten 45's: Cheap Trick "Spring Break"

Okay, let's get one thing straight: in 1979, the idea of Cheap Trick recording a song called "Spring Break" would have seemed as unlikely as New Order recording a song called "Revenge Of The Nerds". By 1983, though, Cheap Trick had fallen victim to the raised expectations brought about by the fluke success of "Live At Budokan". Sure, "Dream Police" had been a successful follow-up, but, truth be told, it was recorded and in-the-can before "Budokan" had become the proverbial 800 lb. gorilla.


The next few years saw the band take a few hits to the Starboard bow. Original bassist Tom Petersson had bailed after the sessions for "All Shook Up", the band later become embroiled in a heated lawsuit with Epic Records, shopped their services to other labels, but ultimately buckled and settled with Epic.

Their first album after patching things up was "One On One" and, no matter how you slice it, it underperformed. The lackluster chart performance ultimately stripped the band of much of its confidence. Why else would the band have entertained such an idea as writing a song called "Spring Break" for the movie of the same name?

All quibbles aside, both "Spring Break" and the B-side "Get Ready" are straight-up bar-room rockers with typically superb Robin Zander vocal performances. On both tracks, the bass is all-but-completely buried by guitars, thus bearing a striking sonic resemblance to such "One On One"-era tracks as "Love's Got A Hold On Me" and the non lp B-side "All I Really Want".

Most surprising is how great a song "Get Ready" is - as far as verses go, it's no "Dream Police" by any stretch, but by the time that first chorus hits, who can deny the cheesy goodness?

"Get ready for my love, baby
Get ready for me
I'm a-coming to get you, darling
Get ready for me
Better get ready, better get ready...right now!"

No rocket science here, folks, but with Zander singing near the top of his range, they sound absolutely sublime.

Enjoy both tracks, ripped from scratchy vinyl, just like all great rock & roll should be:

Spring Break
Get Ready

shea!

This is 31st Anniversary of the very day that The Beatles came into my periphery. I remember being intrigued by the re-release of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" that stared back at me from the end cap showcasing that particular week's Top 40. I know not what attracted me to it - maybe it was the sleeve, which was nothing more than a reproduction of the White Album...just the word "The Beatles" and a catalog number. Capitol Records had undertaken an extensive campaign to revitalize the band's catalog and, thus, "Ob-La-Di..." b/w "Julia" was issued as a single.

I had no idea the band had broken up. Heck, I'd only just discovered them.

My parents, having grown up smack dab in the middle of Beatlemania, were noy huge fans of the band. Amid their Elvis and Ricky Nelson records, no Beatles records were to be found. Still, my Dad filled me in on the band's history, breaking the news to me that they'd broken up several years prior. I asked him if they had any other good songs, as I was playing the crap out of both sides of my new 45 and eager for more.

The next weekend, while at the local shopping center, he bought me "Love Me Do" b/w "P.S. I Love You". Turns out "Love Me Do" was one of the few Beatles songs that, unlike most others, hadn't been played to the point of making my father absolutely sick of it. Well, until I started playing it non-stop, that is.

Weeks later, my uncle would play me his VHS copy of "Help!" and I would be off to the races, forever a Beatle-maniac.

As a way of commemorating the day I became aware of the Beatles, here is the band's complete '65 Shea Stadium performance:


Ed Sullivan Intro
Twist And Shout
I Feel Fine
Dizzy Miss Lizzie
Ticket To Ride
Can't Buy Me Love
Baby's In Black
A Hard Day's Night
Help!
I'm Down

Darren Robbins traded to Popdose for a fourteenth-round draft choice to be named later

Dear Faithful Readers (okay, seriously, who am I kidding...Mom),

While I'll be keeping He's A Whore up-and-running in at least some unknown capacity (perhaps as a venue for showing off my collection of Howard Hughes nail clippings - complete with certificates of authenticity with the word "authenticity" misspelled, but so what) for the time being, I wanted to give you a head's up that I'll be dropping some major knowledge over at the hottest new blog on the block, POPDOSE.

This new Justice League of blog superheroes was personally handpicked by the Blogger Formerly Known As Jefito and went "live" January 1, 2008.

So, without further adieu, set your bookmarks to POPDOSE and thank me later!

1975, ya'll

As indicated by the image above, 1975 was the year I discovered my dad's stash of Playboy magazines.

In other notable news from '75:


Alice Cooper embarks on a solo career hitting record store shelves, concert stages – and TV screens – promoting his career-defining album, Welcome To My Nightmare. Released in March, the album rockets into the Top 10. A month later, his first national TV special airs, promoting music from the album. A concert film, taken from a London Wembley Arena performance, also opens in theatres in September. The single “Only Women Bleed” rose to #12 on the US pop charts.

[Unlikely Covers, Parts 1 & 2: Tori Amos and Guns 'n' Roses each take a stab at "Only Women Bleed".]


On April 24, Badfinger’s Pete Ham commits suicide.

The longest-running #1 single of the year in the US is Captain & Tennille’s “love Will Keep us Together”, which spent four weeks at the top. In the UK, Bay City Rollers’ “Bye Bye Baby” held the #1 spot for six weeks.


In November, Queen release A Night At The Opera. “Bohemian Rhapsody” becomes their first #1 hit in the UK. [Having posted Queen's rendition of this song previously, here's Flaming Lips' live version of "Bohemian Rhapsody".]

Peter Gabriel quits Genesis to embark on a solo career.

Bad Company (signed to Led Zep’s Swan Song label) release their second album, “Straight Shooter”. The album rockets to #3 on the strength of the top 10 single “Feel Like Makin’ Love”. Follow-up single “Good Lovin’ Gone Bad” hits #36.

[Unlikely Covers, Part 3: Susannah Hoffs covers "Feel Like Makin' Love".]

In February, Led Zeppelin release the double album “Physical Graffiti”, the first to appear on the band’s Swan Song label. “Trampled Under Foot” was a Top 40 pop single and the album went to #1 – their fourth album to hit the top spot on the US charts. [Here's a live version of "Bron Yr Aur Stomp".]


Bruce Springsteen releases “Born To Run” in August, prceded by a 10-show stand at New York’s Bottom Line, convincing many critics of his talent and giving them a preview of many of the album’s songs. In October, he makes the cover of Time and Newsweek during the same week.

Foghat score a Top 20 hit with “Slow Ride” from their “Fool For The City” album.

Lynyrd Skynyrd release their third album, “Nuthin’ Fancy”, which rises to the #9 spot on the Top 100 Albums chart, buoyed by the hit single “Saturday Night Special” (#27). That same year, “Free Bird” (from their 1973 debut album) hits the Top 20.

Pink Floyd release Wish You Were Here in September. As the much-anticipated follow-up to Dark Side Of The Moon, the album is a loose concept album unofficially dedicated to former member Syd Barrett. Featuring such classic tracks as “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” (which appears in two parts and runs almost thirty minutes) and the title track, the album soared to #1 in the US and the UK.

While already a popular concert attraction, the release of their first live album, entitled “Alive!”, makes Kiss a hit on the charts as well, going to #9 in the US. Released in September, the album has been certified Gold (for sales of 500,000 units) by year’s end.

The Ramones release their first single, “Blitzkrieg Bop”, in November on Sire/ABC Records.


Abba score Top 20 singles with “S.O.S.” and “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do”, yet their third album, entitled simply “Abba” peaks at #174 on the albums chart.

Chicago score their fourth consecutive #1 album with their eighth release, “VIII”, which included the James Pankow-penned Top 5 single “Old Days”.


Elton John releases “Rock Of The Westies”, which was recorded at the same studio as Chicago’s “VIII”, and scores his seventh and final #1 album. The single “Island Girl” also tops the singles charts. [Bonus tracks: demo and alternate versions of "Dan Dare", "Grow Some funk of Your Own", and "I Feel Like A Bullet".]

The outlandishly theatrical San Francisco band The Tubes releases their self-titled debut album, which includes the cult smash “White Punks On Dope”.

Paul McCartney & Wings release “Venus & Mars” as the follow-up to the hugely successful “Band On The Run” album. The album hits #1, as does the single “Listen To What The Man Says”. This album sees Wings return to a full-band line-up with the addition of guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton. [Check out this live version of "Letting Go".]

Aerosmith release their pivotal third album “Toys In The Attic”, which becomes their first album to hit the Top 20 (peaking at #11). “Sweet Emotion” is their first Top 40 single, landing at #36. The album also featurss “Walk This Way”, which would become a Top 10 single in 1977 (and again in 1986 when Perry & Tyler join Run DMC for their cover of the tune). [Check out this live version of "Sweet Emotion" by Stone Temple Pilots, with Steve Tyler and Joe Perry questing.]

George Harrison releases “Extra Texture”, which, despite being a Top 10 hit upon release, becomes quite an underrated part of his back catalogue. It is highlighted by the Top 20 single “You” and a sequel to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” called “This Guitar (Can’t keep From Crying)”. It is his last album to be released by Apple Records. [Here's a nifty reduc of "This Guitar" begun by George and finished by friend Dave Stewart as part of his Platinum Weird project.]


In February, John Lennon releases “Rock And Roll”, an album of 50’s covers. Many of the songs had been initially released on an album called “Roots”, which was the result of a handshake deal with Morris Levy that soon went sour and is now a collector’s item. [Check out this live version of "Slippin' And Slidin'".]

Electric Light Orchestra’s sixth album, “Face The Music” becomes their first to hit the Top 10, propelled by the Top 10 single “Evil Woman” and its follow-up, “Strange Magic” (#14).


In November, Patti Smith releases her debut album, Horses. While a modest Top 50 chart hit, the album was one of the most critically-lauded releases of the year and has gone on to be considered a pivotal rock album, combining both punk and folk influences. [Check out the Patti Smith Group performing "Free Money" and "Real Good Time/Redondo Beach".]


In July, Fleetwood Mac releases the album “Fleetwood Mac”, which marks the debut of new members Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The album would hit #1 on the strength of two Top 20 singles, “Rhiannon” and “Say You Love Me”.

AC/DC release their debut album, “High Voltage”, in February in their native Australia. The 1976 version that was released internationally the following year contains only two songs from the Australian version. To date, "Love Song" and "Stick Around" have never seen the light of day beyond the Australian version of this album.

The Eagles release their fourth album “One of These Nights” in June. While their past efforts met with considerable success, this is their first album to hit #1 on the US charts. The album contains three Top 5 pop singles, “Lyin’ Eyes”, “Take It To The Limit” and the title cut.


In October, The Who release the introspective album “The Who By Numbers”, which managed to hit the Top 10, but lacked any hit singles. The cartoonish cover art was drawn by bassist, John Entwistle. That same year, Roger Daltrey stars in Ken Russell’s “erotically-charged” film “Lisztomania” as classical pianist Franz Liszt. {Here are live versions of "However Much I Booze", "Squeezebox", and "Dreaming From The Waist".]

Material Issue Chatter (promo cassette)

In '91, just as Material Issue's debut album, International Pop Overthrow, was hitting the streets, the band earned a hard-won victory of sorts and became the first-ever band to be endorsed by Musician magazine. The first fruit of this union was a promotional cassette that was sent to all Musician magazine subscribers. It was dubbed "Chatter" and included snippets of a half dozen or so tracks from the album as well as some insightful (and not so much, but entertaining nonetheless) between-song banter wherein Jim Ellison, Ted Ansani, and Mike Zelenko talk about all things Ish.

Due to the promotional nature of this particular release, and the fact that it was limited to Musician subscribers (and only on cassette), it is fairly hard to come by these days.

Here is the entirety of "Chatter" in three parts:

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

it's a blog life

Being that this is the first day of a brand-spanking New Year, if you're anything like me, you've long abandoned the idea of New Year's resolutions, but are still hoping for some positive change nonetheless. I mean, there's always something that can be changed for the better and, deep down inside, we all want our lives to fucking rock, right?

The reason every new year ends up being pretty much the same as the one before it, though, is because the same person is making the decisions. The reason Louise at work keeps ending up with loser boyfriends is because she's the one picking them. The reason Uncle Bob gets in at least five fender-benders a year is because he's the one making the decisions behind the wheel and, let's face it, his decision-making (such as the sudden and blinker-less right hand turn from the left-hand turn lane) sucks.

While I have been blessed with a wonderful family and friends that are, without exception, completely out of my league, I have felt at least mildly disappointed in the upward trajectory of my life and have long felt that I am the only one to blame for that, no doubt about it. This year, though, I've decided to try a little something that, at the very least, has the potential to shake things up a bit.

I've decided to let my blog readers choose the path that my life takes this year.

That's right, I'm going to leave the decision-making to you guys. We'll start small, of course, because this is unchartered territory and, like any new relationship, I think it's best that we develop a sense of trust. :)

Of course, I'll post daily and keep you all abreast of how your decisions are working out...or maybe this exercise will reveal itself to be a really lame idea that absolutely nobody cares about and by this time next week, I'll be right back to making my own crappy decisions about where to eat, what to wear, and how to make something worthwhile of my so-called life.

I'll post the questions (along with all possible selections) in the right sidebar and you can place your votes during the alloted time each poll will run. I will then act upon the final results of the poll and let you know how it went.

Any questions?

Song of the day: New Year's Day - U2 (original version)