Muses about music, musicians, and musical interludes of all sorts. Also, chronicling the creation of an album of original songs, by a guy who figures he might as well.
That last post and this one feature songs from his second 1980s comeback album On the Line. Bonds, who in the early 60s had hits with "New Orleans", "Dear Lady Twist" and of course the seminal "Quarter to Three" had by the late 70s fallen on hard times. The story goes that Steve Van Zandt, either on his own or in the company of the Boss, happened upon Bonds performing in some dismal hotel lounge or some such venue, and offered to write and produce a new album of material for him. That album became Dedication. Bonds's songs loomed large in the E Street oeuvre, especially "Quarter to Three", which had for years been the group's closing number, so it was no casual offer, and the E Streeters treated Bonds with great love and respect, both musically and otherwise. As a band, they were at their very best.
Both Bruce-produced albums sold fairly well, especially Dedication, which charted at #s 11 and 5 on the pop and rock charts, respectively. The record featured some great, robust rock 'n' roll, mostly Bruce's frat-rock, party-style songs like "This Little Girl", but also included Little Steven's "Daddy's Come Home" and, weirdly, the Beatles' "It's Only Love", Jackson Browne's "The Pretender" and Dylan's "From A Buick 6". On the Line was more of the same, but a bit more consistent and a little more serious. The album's standout is its de facto title track, "Love's On the Line", composed by Bruce, and it is not only the best song on both albums, it is one of the finest songs Springsteen ever wrote. He wrote it while still in his early thirties, a few years before his quickie marriage to a supermodel, but the song is narrated by a middle-aged, worn-out husband, weary and fearful, who is trying desperately to find what went wrong with his marriage and save it, if he can.
With each passing day I gotta watch more and more what I say to you I can feel your eyes looking through me As I sit at the table at dinnertime I can feel our love's on the line
I watch our kids Growin' up, going to school Is there anything else for us now Are we both just fools Wasting our precious time
Bruce may have written those lines, but he could not have sung them convincingly. (He could now, sure. But not back then.) Bonds' voice is perfect for the role -- you can hear the wheeze of age, and maybe whiskey and cigarettes, but mostly the aching pain of a man who is now realizing that things don't always go the way you think they will. "Last night I heard you cry," he bellows, heartbroken, as the song rises towards the final chorus, "and I know our love's on the line." Behind him you can hear Bruce singing "love's on the line, our love's on the line", offering a comforting chorus of support, and his and Bonds' voices blend superbly. What tops that however is Clarence Clemons' warm, soaring, belting sax solo, the song's only hopeful spot, turning the mundane trouble of a disintegrating marriage into something epic and almost operatic. The song clocks in at 3:38, but I am very often in tears but the end of the first minute. There aren't many beautiful songs about middle-aged, married couples in trouble, but this is one of 'em, and it is the king.
In observance of the fact that the church in which I was raised seems in the midst of serious crises, I asked my Facebook friends to help me compile a list of pop songs that address Catholicism and growing up Catholic, and as usual they came through. I eliminated song suggestions that referred to Christianity in general, 'cause this is all about the mother Church.
Back in the early days of this blog, I introduced an old friend, TV John Langworthy, who during the 90s was in charge of booking me and a gang of local talent into a long-closed bar called the Tex-Mex Grille. I'm happy to say that thanks to the magic of Facebook, I am able once again to follow John and his musical adventures, and today I learned that the Washington (DC) City Paper has done a feature on him. Kudos to you TV John! Keep on dreamin'!
An extraordinary bit of rock 'n' roll history, wherein Lou Reed commandeered the old WPIX radio station in New York (remember WPIX, kids?) and spun disks, talked New York, yelled at listeners, and otherwise had a fine old time.
An occasional look back at the hits and misses of a memorable year for somebody. Chart positions and dates are from Billboard.
Diana Ross, “Mirror
Mirror,” #8, 3/6/82
Second top 10 hit from Ross’ first RCA album Why Do Fools Fall in Love, and part of a
Ross renaissance – this would be sixth of seven top 10 hits for her over a two
and a half year period (starting with “Upside Down” and ending with
“Muscles”).This may not seem like a big
deal, but Ross had only scored four top 10 hits in her 10 years after leaving
the Supremes (granted, all of them went to number one).This was also proof that Berry Gordy wasn’t
the sole force behind her stardom.
Dan Fogelberg,
“Leader of the Band,” #9, 3/6/82
Third top 10 hit from his double LP The Innocent Age, and autobiographical – the “Leader” is his father
Lawrence.According to Wesley Hyatt’s The Billboard Book of Number One Adult Contemporary
Hits, father Lawrence, himself a former big band leader, wanted Dan to stay
at U. of Illinois, but gave him a year to try his luck as a musician in Los
Angeles, with the proviso that he had to come back to college if things didn’t
work out.This song was Fogelberg’s way
of expressing his appreciation.Ill at
the time it was recorded, Lawrence did live to see it performed in concert, but
would pass away in August of 1982.
Little River Band,
“Take It Easy on Me,” #10, 3/6/82
Sixth and final top 10 hit for the Australian band who got
on my nerves less than Air Supply, got on AM radio more than AC/DC, and –
well, I don’t have a Men at Work analogy, but they hadn’t recorded their first
album yet anyway.They’d continue
charting until 1985, but after lead singer Glenn Shorrock left, they’d move in
a harder rock direction (not that
much harder, mind you). This one was a heartbreak song, portraying the desperate guy after the breakup (I interpreted it as "Yeah, fine, you're dating someone else, I just don't want to see it," but to each his own opinion).
Kenny Rogers,
“Through the Years,” #14, 3/6/82
Fourth single from Rogers’ 1981 album Share Your Love, which was a rebound after the more country-tinged
“Blaze of Glory” failed to break top 40.This is pure MOR, written by Steve Dorff (no, not the actor; this is his
father, who wrote theme songs for Spenser:
For Hire and Growing Pains, among
others), and Marty Panzer (who wrote the lyrics for several Barry Manilow hits,
including “New York City Rhythm” and “It’s a Miracle”).Which makes sense, because by this time
Rogers was moving in on Manilow’s turf as the king of Adult Contemporary.And if anyone can explain why this song has
about six choruses at the end, stringing it out to four minutes and 22 seconds
(4:48 in the album version; they must have lopped off another chorus), I’d be
glad to hear it.
Alabama, “Love in the
First Degree,” #15, 3/6/82
This would be Alabama’s biggest hit overall, hitting #1 on
the US and Canadian country charts, #1 on the Canadian adult contemporary
chart, and #5 on the US AC chart.No
longer touring (and the drummer apparently is persona non grata, since the
other three filed a lawsuit against him), they’re still getting together
occasionally.This clip is from Barbara
Mandrell’s old variety show.
Skyy, “Call Me,” #26,
3/6/82
Funk and disco band that had been around for a few years,
but this would be their only hit to break into the pop charts (they would have
15 top 40 r&b hits through 1992).The early part of their career would be on Salsoul Records (remember the
Salsoul Orchestra, a.k.a. Albums Covers for Guys Who Aren’t Old Enough to Buy Playboy?).After that label closed down operations, they
would record on Capitol and Atlantic.
Chilliwack, “I
Believe,” #33, 3/6/82
Chilliwack had one big hit in the United States, “My Girl,”
popularly known as “The Gone Gone Song” for its background chorus (“Gone gone
gone/she been gone so long/she been gone gone gone so long”).This is the followup, and the only other top
40 hit for this Canadian band, which had been hitting the Canadian charts since
1970.They broke up three years later,
but lead guitarist and singer Bill Henderson still occasionally tours (I don’t
know how occasionally, since his website was last updated two years ago). This is a nothing video, for a much better one check this out, which features the band doing both their hits on American Bandstand.
Petula Clark,
“Natural Love,” #66, 3/6/82
I guess somebody must have figured if Lulu could start
having chart hits again nearly 20 years after the British Invasion, so could
Petula Clark.This song actually did a
lot better on the country chart, hitting #20.Clark has been around approximately forever (she had her first
performance on the BBC in 1942, as a nine-year-old), and charted fifteen top 40
singles in the United States from 1964 to 1968, but this was her first hit
since 1972 – and her last in the US.She
turns 80 this year, and is still performing – she was on Jools’ Holland’s 2013
New Year’s Eve special on British television.
T. G. Sheppard, “Only
One You,” #68, 3/6/82
And here’s another guy who’s been around awhile, releasing
his first album in 1974.He’s had 16
country #1 hits over his career, but “Only One You” was his fourth song to
cross over into pop, the biggest of which being 1981’s “I Loved ‘Em Every One.”Still touring – he’s playing in Biloxi,
Mississippi this Friday night, as a matter of fact.
The Spinners, “Never
Thought I’d Fall in Love,” #95, 3/6/82
Another veteran group, The Spinners first hit the R&B
charts in 1961, with “That’s What Girls Are Made For” on Tri-Phi Records (owned
by Harvey Fuqua of The Moonglows, and featuring his brother-in-law, Marvin
Gaye, on drums).Over twenty years
later, and they were on the downslope of an amazing career (they’d had two huge
medley hits, “Working My Way Back to You/Forgive Me, Girl” and “Cupid/I’ve Loved
You for a Long Time” in 1980).This one
is so obscure I can’t even find a video, although the song itself is available
for download.
The Police, “Spirits
in the Material World,” #11, 3/13/82
Second single off their album “Ghost in the Machine,” and
one that sounded fairly similar to “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” from the year
before, even though the subject matter was completely different.Lots more keyboard parts than on the former
hit, however, as their sound was in the middle of a transformation from the
reggae-based new wave of Outlandos d’Amour
and Regatta de Blanc to the pure
pop of Synchronicity.
Abba, “When All Is Said
and Done,” #27, 3/13/82
Okay, those of you who have only heard this song from the Mamma Mia! soundtrack should probably
download the original version, because the lyrics were completely rewritten
when it was included in the movie.(It
wasn’t in the Broadway show.)By the
time the parent album, The Visitors,
came out, both of the couples in Abba were either finally divorced or getting
one, and Benny and Bjorn had no problem putting that empty feeling in their
music.As a result, The Visitors was one of their lowest-selling albums in almost every
country in the world, and also their last studio album.(In most countries, “When All Is Said and
Done” was passed up as the single release for the
only-slightly-less-of-a-downer “One of Us.”)
OK, seriously: Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane's duets album is the most romantic music ever recorded. Put it on the hi-fi and listen to it with anyone and you will get laid. Even you.
John Hall Band,
“Crazy (Keep On Falling),” #42, 2/20/82
Final chart hit for John Hall (and the only one for this
band), but still only part of an interesting music career.He was a founding member of Orleans, who had two huge hits in the
mid-1970s, “Dance With Me” and “Still the One” (a third, “Love Takes Time,”
came after Hall left the band).He also
spearheaded the No Nukes concert and
album, which is still in print today, and wrote two songs for the show,
“Plutonium Is Forever” and “Power.”He
still performs and writes today (and he did reunite with Orleans for a lengthy
period of time), but he’s also moved into the political arena, winning two
terms as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives in New York’s 19th
Congressional District (the Hudson Valley area – it includes Woodstock,
NY).Having lost in the Tea Party sweep
in the 2010 elections, he decided not to seek the seat again in 2012.
AC/DC, “Let’s Get It
Up,” #44, 2/20/82
Subtle, eh?First
single from For Those About to Rock,
and while it didn’t crack the American top 40 (in fairness, AC/DC has only had
one top 30 hit in the states, 1991’s “Moneytalks”), it cemented the band’s
popularity, as the parent album became their first stateside #1.Their second was their most recent release,
2008’s Black Ice, and they just
issued a live album last November.
Player, “If Looks
Could Kill,” #48, 2/20/82
Sixth and final chart hit for a band that probably would
have done better if they’d had better luck with their record labels, and been
able to keep personal issues from bugging them.They had three or four different lineups during the four years between
the #1 “Baby Come Back” and this song, and it’s easier for fans to root for a
band who keep the same guys on the stage.They split with RSO (I don’t know if it was their idea or the label’s)
after their second album, and recorded one album for the post-disco Casablanca
Records in 1980; this one came out on RCA.30 years, 18 band members, and some weird detours later (the bass
player, Ronn Moss, spent a quarter of a century on the CBS soap The Bold and The Beautiful), and they’re
actually going to release another album later this year.
Conductor, “Voice on
the Radio,” #63, 2/20/82
I have nothing on this band.Nothing.I even
checked Popdose’s excellent series Bottom Feeders, which had downloads for
every song that charted in the 1980s as long as it peaked below #40 (don’t
bother downloading them now, they were only there for a week after posting),
and they had nothing.
The Doobie Brothers,
“Here to Love You,”#65, 2/20/82
Here’s an elaborate theory on why this song was issued as a
single about three years after it first appeared on an album:
1. Warner Brothers put out a new Doobie Brothers greatest
hits set in the fall of 1981, hoping it would match the sales of the first one,
which has (as of now) sold over 10 million copies.However, since the first best-of had all the
hits from their first six albums, this one is limited to the last three:Livin’
on the Fault Line, Minute By Minute, and One Step Closer.The reason
this was issued, because scraping a best –of together from three studio albums
is no easy task?Maybe because everybody
in the music industry knew Michael McDonald was on the verge of going solo (and
probably not everyone knew that co-founder Patrick Simmons was also out the
door as well, although both would stick with the band for their 1982 “Farewell
Tour”).
2. Seven of the ten songs on the album were chart
singles.“You Belong to Me” wasn’t a hit
for the Doobs, but Carly Simon did have a hit with her version.“Here to Love You” and “One by One,” album
tracks that were never hits, are included, while “Keep This Train A-Rollin’”
and “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod” (the latter a track from Sesame Street’s album In
Harmony), both of which charted in 1981, are left off.
3. Somebody decides a single is needed, so “Here to Love
You,” from the most successful of the three anthologized albums, Minute by Minute, gets the nod.(Note both are written and sung by McDonald,
who was under contract to Warner Brothers.)
4. It doesn’t sell, and the second best-of sells
approximately 9,500,000 copies less than its predecessor – which is still in
print, 35 freaking years later, even though there are at least two or three
more comprehensive best-ofs now on the market.Volume 2 is long out of print.
-
The Commodores, “Why
You Wanna Try Me,” #66, 2/20/82
Third and final chart single from their album In the Pocket (it’s possible a fourth
single, “Lucy,” didn’t chart), and it’s significant only because it’s the last
chart single with Lionel Richie as a part of the band.Ever since Lionel Richie and Diana Ross hit
#1 for nine weeks with the theme to the movie Endless Love, it seemed pretty obvious Richie would be headed out
the door sooner rather than later, and this midtempo song’s chart showing
didn’t change things (he may have already been recording his first solo album
at this point). Oh, and kids - that thing in the video is called a turntable.
Grover Washington Jr.,
“Be Mine (Tonight),” #92, 2/20/82
One year after his huge hit “Just the Two of Us” with Bill
Withers on vocals, this single from saxophonist Washington’s album Come Morning didn’t do nearly as
well.This time, it’s Grady Tate on
vocals (a drummer by trade, he played with The
Tonight Show band for a few years in the 1970s has played with artists from
Stan Getz to Lena Horne, and sang “I Got Six” and “Naughty Number Nine” on Schoolhouse Rock).To my knowledge, this was Washington’s last
chart single.He died in 1999 of a heart
attack.
McGuffey Lane, “Start
It All Over,” #97, 2/20/82
Country rock band that had been around in one form or
another since 1972(and is still around today, believe it or not).This was the followup to their biggest hit,
“Long Time Loving You,” which hit #87 in 1981.They have a couple of live and rerecording albums available for download
(the hits were on Atco/Atlantic Records, but they’re long out of print); this
song, however, isn’t available in any form for download.
Journey, “Open Arms,”
#2, 2/27/82
The ultimate high school prom song of the first half of the
1980s, complete with string arrangement, Steve Perry’s bellowing lead vocal,
and tender sentiments begging forgiveness.I couldn’t stand it the minute I heard it, and I still can’t stand it
now (and apparently some of the band members weren't crazy about it either), but it’s the group’s biggest hit, and cemented their reputation (for
better or for worse).I’m sure this has
been on Glee at some point, right?
The Cars, “Shake It
Up,” #4, 2/27/82
After barely scraping into the top 40 with “Touch and Go,”
the lead single from 1980’s Panorama,
The Cards promptly knocked out one of their biggest hits.1984’s “Drive” would hit #3, but it would
seem to me this is the one that’s lasted the longest – it’s an easy song to
dance to, and Ric Ocasek’s hiccupping lead vocal here is more emblematic of the
band than the late bassist Ben Orr’s smoothy singing on that hit.It also has a classic video that clued the
people at MTV in that their audience would happily watch scantily-clad women
gyrate for hours if the song they played had a good beat and it’s easy to dance
to.(Yeah, Dick Clark had discovered
that 25 years earlier, but still.)
Peabo Bryson, “Let
the Feeling Flow,” #42, 2/27/82
He’s mostly known nowadays as the guy who sang all those
Disney duets, but Peabo Bryson’s been around awhile.His first album came out in 1976, and he
notched a pair of gold albums in 1978 with Reaching
for the Sky and Crosswinds.More popular on the R&B album charts than
pop albums (he’s had ten top 20 R&B albums), the most amazing thing about
the man is his duet partners.In
chronological order, he’s sung with (deep breath) Natalie Cole, Roberta Flack,
Melissa Manchester, Chaka Khan, Regina Belle, Celine Dion, and Linda Eder.Up to this point, “Let the Feeling Flow” was
his highest-charting pop hit; he’d beat that with one of the Roberta Flack
duets, “Tonight I Celebrate My Love,” in 1983.
Teddy Pendergrass,
“You’re My Latest, My Greatest Inspiration,” #43, 2/27/82
And here’s another guy who didn’t cross over that often,
with “Close the Door” his only top 40 pop hit (in fairness, he’d charted fairly
frequently in the 1970s as lead singer of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes).Pendergrass, however, had eight gold albums
as a solo artist, four of which went platinum as well, and twelve top 10
R&B albums.Inspired by Marvin Gaye
among other bedroom crooners, Pendergrass was astonishingly popular as a
concert draw as well.“You’re My Latest,
My Greatest Inspiration” would be the last of his singles to hit the pop charts
on Philadelphia International records (run by seminal soul masters Kenny Gamble
and Leon Huff).None of this would mean
much a few weeks after this song peaked at number 43:on March 18, 1982, Pendergrass would wreck
his car driving in Philadelphia, and wound up paralyzed from the waist down for
the rest of his life.
Madleen Kane, “You
Can,” #77, 2/27/82
If you’re keep lists within this list, this is an important
one:Singers You Should Not Google at
Work.(No, I didn’t, and there will be more than one; trust me on
this.)Madleen Kane was a Swedish model,
occasionally appearing in men’s magazines.She released a few albums for the disco market, which sold very well in
both Europe and the United States, from 1978 through 1981; this was her one
song that hit the Billboard Hot 100. “You
Can” also hit the top of the dance charts.To my knowledge, he hasn’t released anything new since 1982.
Chubby Checker, “Running,
“ #91, 2/27/82
Geez, this guy’s been around forever.Yeah, everyone knows “The Twist,” but he had
a #1 dance hit in 2008 with “Knock Down the Walls.”Anyway, this was one of his many comeback
hits, although this one barely scraped onto the charts.Nevertheless, he’s still out there singing,
and his Super Bowl halftime show in 1988 (Washington vs. Denver; I didn’t see
it because I was escaping a partyful of Bronco fans after the Redskins racked
up 35 points in the second quarter) has to have been better than anything Up
With People did.
