Month: July 2020

Lost or Forgotten Oldie of the Day: 1978 Atlanta Rhythm Section – I’m Not Gonna Let It Bother Me Tonight

1978 Atlanta Rhythm Section – I’m Not Gonna Let It Bother Me Tonight

Buddy Buie was one of the partners who formed Studio One in Doraville Georgia in 1970. A studio band was formed that included:

  • two musicians who had backed up Dennis Yost in the Classics IV, Dean Daughtry and James B. Cobb, Jr., and
  • two former members of the Candymen, Rodney Justo and Robert Nix.

The musicians played multiple sessions for other musicians. In 1971, Buddy formed and began managing a band that included Rodney, Dean, Robert, and James. They were joined by Barry Bailey and Paul Goddard, two other musicians who had played in the Candymen and backed up Roy Orbison. Buddy and his partners came up with the name for the band, The Atlanta Rhythm Section.

The band recorded an album that Decca Records released in January 1982. Rodney quit the group due to the poor sales of the album and Rodney Hammond took his place in the group. The group’s second album sold so poorly that Decca dropped the band.

The band signed with Polydor Records, which released their third album in 1974. The album included their first charting single, Doraville. The single reached the Hot 100 but peaked at only #35. Their next two albums had singles that performed even more poorly.

The band began touring more extensively in 1975 and opened for The Who and The Rolling Stones at concerts in Florida. Perhaps their concert performances finally allowed music fans to finally hear their music, and their sixth album finally began to sell well. The album was certified gold and contained the top ten single, So Into You.

The group’s 1978 album, Champagne Jam, sold over a million copies. The second single from the album, I’m Not Gonna Let It Bother Me Tonight, reached #14 on the Hot 100 in 1978. They followed that with another top ten single, Imaginary Lover.

James and Buddy had worked on the Classics IV version of Spooky. The highest-charting single for The Atlanta Rhythm Section after 1978 came when they covered Spooky in 1979 and reached #17 on the HOt 100. The band’s singles after that mostly bubbled under the Hot 100, although they did have one more single (Alien) reach #29 in 1981. After that, the band struggled through a large number of lineup changes.

Dean is the only musician who has been with the group continuously, and he and Rodney still lead a touring group with other support musicians. The group maintains a home page on the web at http://atlantarhythmsection.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Rhythm_Section
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Rhythm_Section_discography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Atlanta_Rhythm_Section_members

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Lost or Forgotten Oldie of the Day: 1977 The Babys – Isn’t It Time

1977 The Babys – Isn’t It Time 

Adrian Millar became the manager of a new group when he and musician Michael Corby signed an agreement to form a band in 1975. They held auditions to select the other members of the group. The members became Michael on keyboards and guitar, John Waite singing lead vocals and playing bass, Tony Brock on drums, and Wally Stocker on lead guitar. Adrian’s girlfriend suggested the name of the band and the unusual spelling for the name, The Babys.

The band signed with Chrysalis Records in 1976 and released their first album in 1977. The group wrote most of the songs on the album, but it did not generate much in the way of success.

The group’s second album included Isn’t It Time, a song written by Jack Conrad and Ray Kennedy. The single peaked at #13 on the Hot 100 in late 1977, giving the band some much-needed airplay. The song featured back-up vocals from  Lisa Freeman Roberts, Myrna Matthews, and Pat Henderson from the gospel group Andrae Crouch and the Disciples.

The group reached #13 again in 1978 with another single written by Jack and Ray, Every Time I Think Of You.

Adrian was fired from managing the group as a result of a dispute with the group’s record label, and Michael left the group soon after. Two new musicians joined the group, Jonathan Cain on keyboards and Ricky Phillips on bass.

The group’s last top forty single came in 1979 with the release of Back On My Feet Again, which peaked at only #33.

Disappointed by the poor sales that resulted from what they thought were excellent recordings and live appearances, the group finally disbanded in 1981.

John began a successful solo recording career and released a number one single (Missing You) from his second album.

Jonathan joined Journey just as the group hit it big and wrote many of their songs.

John, Jonathan, and Ricky formed Bad English in 1987 with Neal Schon from Journey and drummer Deen Castronovo. The band hit the top of the Hot 100 with the single When I See You Smile in 1989. When the group broke up in 1991, Ricky joined Styx and John returned to his solo career.

Tony became Rod Stewart’s drummer. Wally also played in Rod’s band, and he and Tony both played with Elton John and Air Supply.

In 2013, Tony and Wally reformed The Babys with the addition of John Bisaha on bass and Joey Sykes on guitar. The new band has continued to tour and even recorded a new album in 2014.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Babys

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Lost or Forgotten Oldie of the Day: 1975 David Geddes – Blind Man In The Bleachers

1975 David Geddes – Blind Man In The Bleachers

David Idema grew up in Michigan and joined the Grand Rapids band The Fredric in the late sixties as their drummer and vocalist. The band released an album on Forte Records in 1968 but could not generate any interest outside of Michigan. The group signed to Capitol Records and changed their name to The Rock Garden in 1970. The group seems to have disbanded without recording any additional music.

David attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and did some work on a solo career. He released the single House on Holly Road on Buddah Records in 1972, but once again found no traction outside of his home state. Discouraged, David abandoned his musical career and began work on a law degree at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Paul Vance was a songwriter and producer who co-wrote over 300 songs Lee Pockriss during his career. Some of the hits they wrote included Catch A Falling Star, Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, and What Will Mary Say. Paul had heard David’s singing and thought he would be perfect for a song he and Lee had written.

Paul produced David’s recording of the teenage tragedy song Run, Joey, Run for Big Tree Records. Perhaps hoping for better luck, David changed his name to David Geddes for the record, using the name of a street in Ann Arbor. The single was a surprise hit, reaching #5 on the Hot 100 in 1975. The usual suspects also performed the song on the television show Glee on May 4, 2010, and poked fun at that performance several times in later episodes.

David’s next single came out a few months later from an album that was also produced by Paul. Blind Man In The Bleachers is another song about a tragedy, but it was about the death of a father rather than a teenager. In its own way, it had a happy ending. Well, arguably happy. The single peaked at #18 on the Hot 100 in late 1975.

Country artist Kenny Starr had the biggest hit of his career when he covered Blind Man In The Bleachers and reached #2 on the US Country chart in early 1976. His version even crossed over to the pop chart, although it peaked at only #58.

Paul produced at least three more singles for David, but none of them charted and David faded into obscurity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Geddes_(musician)#Singles
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/david-geddes-mn0000175939/biography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Vance

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Lost or Forgotten Oldie of the Day: 1974 Bobby Womack – Lookin’ For A Love

1974 Bobby Womack – Lookin’ For A Love

Bobby Womack and his four brothers grew up in the slums of Cleveland. Their mother played the organ in church and their father was a part-time minister who also played the guitar. It’s no surprise that the five boys grew up to sing together in the church choir. They toured in the Midwest as a gospel group, The Womack Brothers, with Mom and Dad playing instrumental support. The family even recorded a single in 1954, Buffalo Bill by Curtis Womack and the Womack Brothers.

Sam Cooke was the lead singer of The Soul Stirrers, and he helped the brothers get serious about touring; they eventually toured nationally with The Staple Singers. Sam formed SAR Records and signed the brothers in 1961. They released a few unsuccessful gospel songs, after which Sam got them to change their name to the Valentinos and had them record secular music.

The brothers had recorded the gospel song Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray. Sam arranged and produced their first non-gospel single, Lookin’ For  A Love, which was clearly based on the gospel song they had previously recorded. The single stalled at #72 on the Hot 100 in 1962, but reached #8 on the R&B chart and sold over two million copies. The record made it possible for the brothers to open for James Brown on a national tour. In early 1972, the song became the first charting single for the J. Geils Band.

Bobby co-wrote the group’s 1964 single, It’s All Over Now. Their record had just started to reach the charts when a British group recorded the song: The Rolling Stones. Bobby was upset at first that his record had been covered, but the significant royalty checks that started coming in from the Stones were a welcome source of income.

Sam was shot and killed in a hotel in December 1964, resulting in the closing of his record label and the dissolution of the Valentinos. In March 1965, one day after his 21st birthday, Bobby married Sam’s widow. This created a scandal that made it nearly impossible for Bobby to pursue a solo career for a few years, so he worked as a session musician and played guitar as part of Ray Charles’ touring band.

Bobby returned to recording in 1968 (with his brothers provided back-up vocals) and had a hit with a cover of California Dreaming. His single reached #20 on the R&B chart and just missed the top forty on the Hot 100. He recorded a series of records that just reached the bottom of the R&B top forty chart. He finally returned to the Hot 100 when he co-wrote and recorded That’s The Way I Feel About Cha in 1972. The single reached #27 on the Hot 100 and peaked at #2 on the R&B chart.

Woman’s Gotta Have It became his first #1 record on the R&B chart later that year, and two more records barely got into the Hot 100 top forty and the R&B top ten in 1972 and 1973.

Bobby re-recorded I’m Lookin’ For A Love as a solo record in 1974, and that became his most successful single. The record not only topped the R&B chart, but it also reached #10 on the Hot 100.

While Bobby never did well again on the pop charts, over the next eleven years, he had a half-dozen top ten hits on the R&B chart and nearly a dozen minor hits.

They inducted Bobby into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2009. He died at age 70 in 2014.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Womack
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Womack_discography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lookin%27_for_a_Love

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Lost or Forgotten Oldie of the Day: 1973 Joe Walsh – Rocky Mountain Way

1973 Joe Walsh – Rocky Mountain Way

Joe and three other Kent State students formed The Measles in 1965. The group recorded some songs for Super K Productions when Kamenetz and Katz were working for Buddah. The label put their recording of When I Think Of You and one other song on the first Ohio Express album without crediting the band. A third song they recorded was an instrumental that was renamed and put on the B-side of the single Beg, Borrow, and Steal. The band never got credit for the recordings and went through several personnel changes by the end of 1967.

By mid-1968, the group had become a trio and began performing as the James Gang. Their first album, Yer Blues, was released in 1969. The highlight of the album was a cover of Buffalo Springfield’s Bluebird. For some reason, Joe sold his Les Paul Guitar to Jimmy Page that year. Their 1970 album included the single Funk #49, which took the group up to #59 on the Hot 100.

Joe left The James Gang at the end of 1971 and moved to Colorado and formed the band Barnstorm with Joe Vitale on drums and keyboards and Kenny Passarelli on bass. Several studio musicians helped complete the group’s sound for their first album. Not much came from the album, and the record label released the group’s second album as a solo album for Joe.   The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get came out in 1973 and contained Joe’s first top forty single: Rocky Mountain Way featured Joe’s lead vocals and peaked at #23 on the Hot 100. The band disbanded in 1974.

Joe joined the Eagles in 1975. Rumor has it the band had a few hits.

Joe continued to put out solo albums irregularly. He had his biggest solo hit when Life’s Been Good peaked at #12 on the Hot 100 in 1978.

His solo records began charting on the US Mainstream Rock chart in 1981, although his solo records never reached the top forty on the Hot 100 again. He topped the US Mainstream Rock chart once, had four more top ten records, and also had over a half-dozen top forty singles on the chart.

The Eagles took a long vacation beginning in 1980 and reunited and began touring again in 1994. Joe continues to participate as a member of the group and has also played on a lot of records by a lot of artists.

Joe appeared as a cast member on a strange attempt by Drew Carey to create an original kind of improvisation show, but the idea didn’t go over well and the television show quickly vanished.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Walsh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Walsh_discography

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