What's In Your CD Player/iPod/MP3/Computer/Hi Fi, Right Now?

[LindyG]

What a cowinkydink, Eman, I'm listening to CB's "New York Times" right now, and I like it. That's on The Day the Earth Caught Fire, is it not?
This one sounds actually familiar to me, and I'm starting to wonder if I'm having a flashback....
to that secret crawlspace party room at our boarding school.

Who is the lead singer on this one, is this Lol, of the Maisonettes?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... H56IGq_17w

[Eman]

OOPS had to edit as it wasn't Lol Mason but Roy Ward doing lead and you are right it's on The Day The Earth Caught Fire. City Boy was Lol's band before they broke up and he formed the Maisonettes. One person described them since they had 3 lead singers Lol, Steve Broughton and Roy Ward as Three Dog Night with kahoonies..

Check out the song "Speechless", that's Lol Mason all the way. I could imagine Matt covering it and making it into a massive hit!!!

[LindyG]

They are way more creative than Three Dog Night. (Not that there's anything wrong with Three Dog Night.)
I'm now listening to THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE, for the THIRD time in a row.

You're right, Eman, they were a great band! They are challenging, but rewarding.

Well, i feel like a well-rounded individual:
I started my day with Matt and Johnny Spence waking me up,
and now I shall hit the sack after listening to City Boy for an hour.
All in all --- except for all the workday and Colorado in between -- a day well spent!

Thanks, Eman!

For anyone who wants to hear this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRMD35QX ... re=related

[Eman]

Gotta give props to Don Cooper also. He likes them!! I"m glad you like them and speaking of Three Dog Night,
I pulled out the lp "Naturally" and am going to set the tone arm down to the first song on the second side called "Sunrise". A Jesse Collin Young cover with awesome Cory Wells vocals. A little Matt and some mellow rock n' roll, what a way to cap off an evening.

[karl]

Up On The Roof - Songs From The Brill Building - Neil Diamond

[LindyG]

Gotta give props to Don Cooper also. He likes them!! I"m glad you like them and speaking of Three Dog Night,
I pulled out the lp "Naturally" and am going to set the tone arm down to the first song on the second side called "Sunrise". A Jesse Collin Young cover with awesome Cory Wells vocals. A little Matt and some mellow rock n' roll, what a way to cap off an evening.

So Eman, which of the real Bay City Rollers' LPs is your favorite?

[Eman]

Lindy, I like Dedication. They cover the Raspberries (Let's Pretend), Beach Boys (Don't Worry Baby , which is just ok) and the best cover ever and should have been their song I Only Want To Be With You! Makes you forget who the original was, now who was it oh was it that dude with the lopsided boufant and 12 foot long lashes? Oh that was a girl? Dusty you say? Hmmm sounds like a rodeo clown!! Kidding!!! When I was 12 and I wore down 2 singles of IOWTBWY my Mum and Dad said oh that's a cover by Dusty Springfield..and in my 12 year old adolescent voice, I said EWWWW YUCKKA, just like Kristy McNichol's charachter Buddy in the TV show family, when she thought something was gross. Truth is I used to like the Durby Springfoiled song unttil The Rollers. That's what us Roller fans called her "Durby Springfoiled" or "Dirty Springsheets". Hope no one gets offended by what I had just shared from my 12 year old mind in 1976.

Wouldn't You Like It? (Rockn'Roll Love Letter in the US) was good they wrote the bulk of the album and it borderlines between pop and power pop!!!

[LindyG]

Well, Eman, that's a normal development (I learned in Child Psychology) to spurn in early adolescence those who were not of your generation/culture. That's individuatin', or at least the 12-year-old mind believes it is.
(I was never normal, I always liked those from generations before mine.)
No adult mind should be offended by what you recalled; as you say, that was your 12-year-old experience, and at least you were permitted to develop normally by open-minded parents who loved music. And look at what a WIDE, DIVERSE range of music you appreciate.

You did remind me of the BCRs' IOWTBWY previously and i Youtube'd it and remembered that I had heard it before.
Yes, I like both the BCR's and Dusty's.

I never heard their "Don't Worry Baby", but I SURE DO LOVE Brian's! I know a man in Manchester, England, who chose that for his wedding dance song and his loving bride agreed. I thought at first that it was a strange choice for a wedding song, but then listening to it with that in mind, I thought it was really loving for him to acknowledge that profound need of the woman he loved. So a perfect choice.
I will listen to the BCR's. Brian's is really a masterpiece and what was he, 19, when he composed and arranged it and they recorded it?

Euu....I don't like the American title of this LP, but the UK title is fine. I'll hunt some of it up on Youtube.
Fanks!

[Eman]

The Real BCR's version is ok, but The Beach Boys hold the record!!! I loved their version even better then the BCR's.. Shock me shock me shock me!! I didn't like the U.S. title of Wouldn't You Like It, but the girls sure did!! LOL..I had the UK album and it came with a fold out envelope with pics of the guys..my good friend Melissa chased me around the playground cuz I wouldn't let her see the picture of her fave Roller named "Woody". Ha ha!!

Ok so in my adulthood I do like Dusty and some of the stuff she's done, but not all. I didn't like all her albums or some of her songs. I think The Byrds had the ultimate version of "Goin' Back" and still do, nothing like the harmonies of McGuinn, Clarke, Hillman, etc..plus that 12 string guitar. Epic man!!

[LindyG]

I'd better crawl off so I can awaken in the "jingle jangle mornin'" a la the Byrds.
They're timelessly MARVELOUS!

[jon]

Hi Eman

I see your comments re Dusty Springfield. I like some of her songs, others I can leave. I've just been listening to the "Dusty in Memphis" album and I'm not that struck, though she does a decent version of "Windmills of Your Mind"; I far prefer Scott Walker's version of "I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore" to hers, however. My favourite Dusty song is probably "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself".

Your comments on The Bay City Rollers are interesting - I didn't even know they'd reached America. It's also unusual for a guy to be praising them; in the UK they were overwhelmingly a teenage girl thing and I don't know of any adolescent male who'd have admitted to liking them (though maybe some did; certainly not me). They may also have "lasted" longer in the US but certainly not here - not one of their songs is regarded as memorable or classic and they are thought of as little more than an embarrassment by anyone recalling music from the 1970s. Some groups achieve fame/recognition in different countries, though; for example, another 70s group, Middle Of The Road, were much bigger in Germany than in the UK, albeit they did have one No 1 hit here ("Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep"), and a No 2 ("Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum") and No 5 ("Soley Soley" - my favourite of theirs). I wonder if they were known in America.

[karl]

Jon keep listening to Memphis as it'll probably grow on you. Would you believe Dusty very much disliked Windmills Of Your Mind? I have seen a hand written letter she wrote about it and yet she turned in a fine performance and it was quite a hit in the States but never released as s single in the UK.

The Memphis album gets all the accolades, I like it a lot but several of us Dusty enthusiasts think her second album is her best Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty, it's my favourite album of all-time by anyone.

[jon]

Hi Karl

Thanks for the insight into that. Do you mean she didn't like the song itself or just her version of it? She does a good rendition considering it's a difficult song to sing. I remember recently seeing an article about the recording of "Dusty In Memphis" in one of those music magaziines (maybe "Mojo") but didn't bother to read it; now I wish I had. I shall persevere with the album.

[Eman]

Hi Jon, I've been a Rollers fan long before they hit the US . I liked them in 1974 when they first came out and I saw them on a television program I believe Top of The Pops when I was staying with my Grandfather in London. My Grandfather and Uncle would send me all their UK lps and singles. They hit the US in late 1975 Christmas I believe. Yes they were a teenage girl thing here and scorned upon by the guys for not being rock heavyweights, but I loved them and their music all the same. Regardless of being noted in the annals of 70's music as an embarassment, that could be true, but in my book, they were a major part of my growing up. In the US they lasted from 1975-1977, after the It's A Game lp and they couldn't maintain a 5 man line up they went downhill, plus new bubblegummers came along like Shaun Cassidy, Leif Garrett and Andy Gibb.

I also liked Kenny, Showaddywaddy, Slik, Dead End Kids, The Nolans, The Dooleys and Bucks Fizz. I hated Guys N' Dolls though..ok some of their songs were ok and from Germany I liked a group called The Teens.

As for Dusty, she's ok but I don't like all her stuff. Some of it was a tad over orchestrated and sometimes her vocals seemed weak. I hated her version of "Nowhere To Run", "Mockingbird" and "You Don't Own Me".

As for Middle of The Road, no they weren't know in the US.. I got their records again from my Uncle and Grandfather in the UK, and those were just the singles. I did however recently acquire and Best of Middle Of The Road lp from Germany. I can see why they didn't become big in the UK, some of the songs were just substandard aside from the popular ones you mentioned.

[karl]

Jon Dusty did not like that song AT ALL, just goes to show the artistry when they can record a good version of something they hate.