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Unusual Rock Trivia?

#3,421
Bob_Ross said:
Wasn't Tom Wilson also involved in some early Frank Zappa albums? (I know, I could probably just Google that...)
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Yes indeed.
In 1966 Wilson became the head of A&R at Verve/MGM Records, where he would continue to expand the boundaries of rock music. One of the first acts he signed was Frank Zappa’s group, the Mothers of Invention. The band was strikingly unconventional, and its debut album, Freak Out! (1966), drew on rock and pop conventions as it satirized them, expanding rock’s musical base by incorporating a mix of studio manipulations, doo-wop melodies, shifting time signatures, rhythm-and-blues riffs, and amelodic dissonance while skewering the conformity of both the mainstream and the counterculture. Believing in the band’s vision, Wilson took the unprecedented step of making its debut recording a double album, for which he secured a budget of $21,000 at a time when the average cost to produce a rock album was $5,000. Freak Out! was a key influence on the Beatles, nudging them toward the experimental concept album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). Wilson produced two more albums by the Mothers of Invention: Absolutely Free (1967) and We’re Only in It for the Money (1968).
 
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#3,422
roccobass said:
Some of the reasons I read range from the “it just wasn’t common practice to do that back then” to Eric and Cream being signed to another label. I dunno. :thumbsdown:
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Definitely the “contractual” aspect…record labels owned their recording artists like pimps, plus it was considered that session players were just lowly hired help, and acknowledging their involvent was immaterial. Look at pianist Nicky Hopkins, he played on countless sessions in Britain, sometimes his parts making the song, but it was only when rock music was being taken seriously that his name appeared on album covers. That’s him on electric piano on the “Revolution” single, for example.

Also overlooked in this topic is Sheila Bromberg, the harpist on “She’s Leaving Home”, who, along with the string quartet arrangement by Mike Leander(not George Martin), carries the song as Paul, only singing, is the sole Beatle involved in the track(he played guitar on “Yesterday”).

Brian Jones played sax on “You Know My Name(Look Up The Number)”, recorded years before it was issued as the “LAWR” single B-side.
 
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#3,425
Bob_Ross said:
Wasn't Tom Wilson also involved in some early Frank Zappa albums? (I know, I could probably just Google that...)
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Tom Wilson is also the guy who didn’t say no when guitarist Al Kooper, who had invited himself to a Dylan session, said “I have an idea for an organ part” on “Like A Rolling Stone”. He didn’t say yes, either, but…
 
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#3,426
The last song on Aerosmith's debut album is a cover of Rufus Thomas' Walking The Dog. However, the original copies of the album have a misprint on the back of the sleeve. On the sleeve it reads “Walkin’ The Dig”. The front cover of the original album is also different from later pressings:
The photo is smaller and in the center of the cover.
Some early promo copies came with a timing strip on the back, but with stock issue record. The timing strip corrected the "Walking the Dog" misprint, but kept the "Write Me" instead of "Write Me A Letter" error.

This version has two unique features:
"Walkin' The Dig" printed on back of sleeve.
"Write Me" appears on sleeve, "Write Me" appears on label.

Other versions have some other combination of the four main variations:
-correct spelling of dog on back cover
-misspelling of dog as "dig" on back cover
-"write me" on label
-"write me a letter" on label

MC0zMTMxLmpwZWc.jpeg


I have a later pressing of this album, which has the correct title of "Walking The Dog" rather than 'Walkin' The Dig". I also have the 1993 CD remaster of their debut.
 
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#3,429
Eli_Kyiv said:
The 20th century scattered Ukrainians all over the world, and many of them and their descendants are interested in their background. Here’s an example of the many world-famous cultural figures who not only have Ukrainian roots but are also proud of them.
Tony Levin, one of the greatest bass players of our time, has Ukrainian ancestry. He has played with Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Yes, Peter Gabriel, David Bowie, Paul Simon, John Lennon, Lou Reed, and Tom Waits, ultimately contributing to over 500 albums by various artists. In a private conversation after he performed a concert in Kyiv in 2012, Levin said that he often comes to Kyiv as a tourist to stroll along its streets.
Earlier, the musician had posted about his journey to Ukraine on his website:
“My grandparents were from Berdychiv, but then they moved to a small town called Ostropil (currently the village of Staryi Ostropil — ed.), which my mother used to call Ostropoliya, and that’s where she was born.”
After making a trip to Staryi Ostropil, Tony and his brother Pete wrote a song dedicated to their ancestral village.
View attachment 5396779
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Slava Ukraini!
 
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#3,430
Dynacord said:
A lot to disagree with on that. There was a real sense of community in the punk scene (albeit of misfits of various kinds - but then a lot of early rock had plenty of rebellion in it, too), at least as far as I experienced it in San Francisco in the late 70's-early 80's. And a lot of those bands absolutely could rock and really play; SVT (with Jack Casady), Dead Kennedys (Klaus/Geoffrey is a great bass player), The Avengers (Jimmy Wilsey!), X and many others. Seeing a then unknown Gang of 4 at Temple Beautiful is still one of the hardest rocking shows I ever witnessed. Sure, there were some really sloppy ones, too. And it was a blurry line between punk, new wave, alternative rock, power pop, ska influenced and a lot of other stuff (including the more arty/avant garde stuff like the Ralph Records bands) that was all part of the larger scene in general and playing the same venues (and weird genre mash ups like seeing Rova Saxophone Quartet or Mark Pauline/Survival Research Laboratories sharing bills with punk bands).

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I was hanging out with SVT prior to a gig at an East Bay JC. Instead of hitting a doobie Jack got a pair of practice speed ice skates ( kind of like 2x4s with roller skate wheels, ) from the trunk of that Buick or Olds that he was driving and and skated around the parking lot. This was when he & Jorma were heavy into that, at the time, mostly Euro sport.
 
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#3,432
Emma Stone has said she suffers from asthma, which she discovered after having difficulty breathing while filming Easy A. Her mother was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer and cured in 2008. Stone and her mother celebrated by getting tattoos of birds' feet, designed by Paul McCartney, a reference to the Beatles song "Blackbird", which she and her mother love.
 
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#3,435
IMMusicRulz said:
The American blues rock band Canned Heat took its name from an obscure blues song called "Canned Heat Blues". "Canned heat" being a thinly veiled reference to Sterno, a cooking oil consumed by impoverished alcoholics.
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Wow! I forgot about Sterno being used like this. The first I ever learned about practice was when in the movie “The Andromeda Strain” the Wildfire doctors were examining the elderly survivor of the doomed town and how he was “medicating” his ulcer. He said with a bit of squeeze.
 
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#3,436
SubHuman said:
If you listen to the Beatles background vocals at the 1:02 minute mark the Beatles are singing Frère Jacques (a nursery rhyme of French origin) which they repeat again in the next verse. I always liked Paul's Bass playing too and this is a great Beatles tune.

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i was working my before school job delivering donuts to markets and gas stations when i first heard that track blasting from the AM radio, probably KFRC 610.
 
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#3,438
Did you ever hear of WMMS 100.7 Buzzard radio? They were huge in the NE Ohio. They discovered and supported so many bands and a most came through Cleveland to get their big break. I saw so many Bands and artists make their debuts at all of the various concert venues. WMMS even had free small hall afternoon concerts and we would leave work and go see the bands and they were broadcast live. Here’s web page listing some of the top concerts.
35 legendary Cleveland Agora concerts
 

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