Song of the day: Ted Mulry Gang – "Steppin’ Out"

I’m currently in the process of writing a review* of a new album I’m listening to, but it’s taking a bit longer than anticipated so I won’t be showin’ it to ya today.

Until it’s ready, I’ll play you something else. But what though? I don’t have anything planned.

Hmm….

Hang on…

Uh…

How about this?

Ted Mulry Gang – “Steppin’ Out” (1976)

[Live at The Old Lion Hotel in Adelaide, 1992 – where I used to go to see gigs. Woohoo!]

(*I use that word very advisedly.)

Song of the day: Ted Mulry Gang – "Crazy"

I was quite enjoying those requests by musicians (i.e., “Hey Peter, can you play my song on your blog?”) a few days ago, because it saved me having to think of anything to play you. But those requests have dried up, and now I’m having to rely on my brain to come up with something. Oh-oh.

Let’s see.

Well, I haven’t played a Australian 70’s glam song in a while. How about I find one for you?

OK. Here’s one. It’s the Ted Mulry Gang who could always be relied upon for some splendid glam rock:

Ted Mulry Gang – “Crazy” (1976)

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By the way, if you want to hear something on this blog please don’t hesitate to ask for it. I’ll be more than happy to play it. And it’ll save me trying to think of a song to play.

Musical coincidences # 146

I’ve been enjoying Popdose‘s series entitled “Digging for Gold: The Time-Life ‘AM Gold’ Series“, where each week a panel of the website’s regular contributors spend their time listening to songs from the Sixties and then criticising them. (I’ve enjoyed the songs but not the criticism. It’s frequently snarky, and I’m not a fan of snark.)

The latest post in the series focuses on songs from 1966, and one of them is The Lovin’ Spoonful‘s exceedingly pleasant “You Didn’t Have To Be So Nice“. As soon as main vocalist John Sebastian started singing…

The Lovin’ Spoonful – “You Didn’t Have To Be So Nice“ (1965) (excerpt)
Link …it reminded me a lot of this: Ted Mulry Gang – “Sunday Evenings” (1974) (excerpt) Link Here are the full versions: The Lovin’ Spoonful – “You Didn’t Have To Be So Nice“ (1965) Link Ted Mulry Gang – “Sunday Evenings” (1974) Link Incidentally, that Ted Mulry Gang song was Song of the day on this ol’ blog a few months ago.

Musical coincidences # 113

Today’s coincidence is quick and easy.

Here’s how the verse of The Lovin’ Spoonful‘s “You Didn’t Have To be So Nice” (1965) begins:

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And here’s how the verse of the Ted Mulry Gang‘s “Sunday Evenings” (1974) begins:

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Easy.

Here are the full versions:

The Lovin’ Spoonful – “You Didn’t Have To be So Nice“ (1965)

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Ted Mulry Gang – “Sunday Evenings” (1974)

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Frank’s Faves on Fridays

I do believe, Frank, that this batch is the first time where I’ve recognised every artist in the list. (I haven’t recognised all the songs, though.)

Phil Seymour – “I Found A Love” (1981)

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This reminds me so much of Ted Mulry. For example:

(A non-Frank suggestion)
Ted Mulry Gang – “My Temperature’s High” (1974)

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I enjoyed Phil Seymour’s song a lot. And I think I’ll call Phil Seymour “America’s Ted Mulry” from now on. By the way, I can’t really think of anything in particular to say about “I Found A Love” because there’s nothing out of the ordinary to report – there are no weird vocal harmonies, no wrong notes, no out-of-place instruments etc etc. It’s just a well-written, well-performed power pop song.

Lou Christie – “I’m Gonna Make You Mine” (1969)

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Before I played this song, I saw the name of the artist and was looking forward to hearing that wonderful, deep voice that Lou Christie’s renowned for, singing a song that I was familiar with. But when the singing began, I realised that I was thinking of Lou Rawls. Oops. As soon as I realised that I had the wrong Lou in my brain (now, there’s a Science-Fiction thriller title for you: The Wrong Lou In My Brain), I apologised to both Lou’s and got on with listening to the song. However, I committed yet another musical faux pas: when Lou (Christie) started singing I realised that I wasn’t listening to the song I thought I was going to listen to – I thought I was going to listen to “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me“. So, now I had to apologise to Diana Ross and The Supremes and The Temptations as well. Now that I was finally concentrating on “I’m Gonna Make You Mine” by Lou Christie, I enjoyed it. To me, it sounds like a Bubblegum song before Bubblegum came along – I’d call it pre-Bubblegum. I liked the background vocals. I just found out that “I’m Gonna Make You Mine” was released in 1969 which surprised me a little. Given the production (Las Vegas-ish), vocal style (both main and background), and country of origin (the land of Americans, where they love big shiny Las Vegas-ish pop songs), I would have picked this for about 1964 – not 1969, the era of hippies and Woodstock, the time when electric sitars and thumb cymbals ruled the airwaves.

[I have a feeling that my sentences are getting way too long and fractured. Please let me know if my sentences become unintelligible.]

Where was I? Oh, yeah: Lou Christie (not Rawls) singing “I’m Gonna Make You Mine” (Not “Love Me”). I like this song. And the more I play it, the more I like it.

Fotomaker – “Where Have You Been All My Life” (1978)

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Oh, dear. I’m afraid that this is definitely not the song for me to make any sort of (welcome) comment on. To spare your feelings, I’d love to be able to skip making any kind of comment. However, as you are possibly a glutton for punishment, here are a few of the things I found “grrr”-worthy:

1. The slightly country, slightly ballady feel of the song which reeks of “tenderness”. Ugh.
2. The seemingly-endless string of lyrical clichés. Ugh. (I actually cringed whilst listening to most of those lyrics.)
3. The synthesized ‘brass section’ (appearing every two bars in the verse, starting at 1:03 – it sounds like a synthesizer playing two notes that were set to “trumpet”). Ugh.
4. The refrain (at 1:49) leading up to the guitar solo that (to me) doesn’t seem to quite fit in with the rest of the song. (I also thought it was the best part of the song – and not because it was the shortest part.)
5. That piano fill at 2:06. Talk about cliché. Ugh.

The only thing I will say in this song’s favour is that some of the melody and chords that were used in the verse reminded me of ABBA’s “Super Trouper”. The great news is that I was reminded of ABBA. The not-so-great news is that when I think of ABBA, most other artists come off a distinct second-best. But back to the Fotomaker song: there is one other thing I can think of that could be considered as praise – I thought the guitar tone in the solo was OK. But why put strings in the song from the guitar solo onwards, when they could have been used throughout the song, taking my mind off of those horrendous lyrics? I’ve listened to the song three times now, and it did not improve each time. Quite the opposite: every time I heard the song, the things that annoyed me managed to annoy me even more.

Emitt Rhodes – “Really Wanted You” (1971)

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Now this is much more like it. When it started, straight after the Fotomaker track – and almost as an antidote to the Fotomaker track – I was groovin’ to it in a major way. The beat, the melodies, the riffs, the instrumentation, the playing… it’s all good. Yep. Not much to complain about here. (Well, nothing I can think of.) By the way, you supplied a mono version of the track. I’ve replaced it with the stereo one which allows you to really appreciate Emitt’s acoustic guitar playing (in the left channel) as well everything else he played on the track (which was, incidentally, everything else).

Bonus instrumental:

Booker T. & The MG’s – “Time Is Tight” (1969)

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Fabulous. And it’s just occurred to me that nothing I can say is going to add to the enjoyment of a Booker T. & The MG’s track – any Booker T. & The MG’s track. My advice for anyone about to listen to “Time Is Tight”: just sit back, relax, and let Booker T. and the gang do their thang. Oh yeah.

Song of the day: Ted Mulry Gang – "My Temperature’s High"

To make up for the mildness of yesterday‘s pop song by the Ted Mulry Gang, here’s the Ted Mulry Gang with the rockin’ “My Temperature’s High”:

Ted Mulry Gang – “My Temperature’s High” (1974)

I love 70’s Australian glam.

Song of the day: Ted Mulry Gang – "Sunday Evenings"

Here’s the Ted Mulry Gang sounding a lot like The Move* but sounding lovely all the same:

Ted Mulry Gang – “Sunday Evenings” (1974)

(*I’m thinking “Blackberry Way“.)

Musical coincidences # 48

I was on a bit of a Moody Blues bender recently, loving all their late-60’s/early-70’s prog rock albums. (Whenever I listen to an artist, I have a habit of going overboard and immersing myself in their entire back catalogue).

Whilst listening to 1969’s To Our Children’s Children’s Children (yes, somebody back then actually thought that would be a good title for an album) along came track 12, “Sun Is Still Shining” (not “The Sun Is Still Shining”, or even “A Sun Is Still Shining”, but “Sun Is Still Shining”), and the vocal melody in the verse…

The Moody Blues – “Sun Is Still Shining” (1969) (excerpt)

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…sounded familiar. It reminded me of the vocals in this sunny little Australian ditty:

Ted Mulry Gang – “Jamaica Rum” (1976) (excerpt)

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Here are the full versions:

The Moody Blues – “Sun Is Still Shining” (1969)

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Ted Mulry Gang – “Jamaica Rum” (1976)

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Incidentally, “Jamaica Rum” was Song of the day a few months ago. In that post I talk about the song a bit more, and how it makes me woozy every time I hear it.

Song of the day: Ted Mulry Gang – "My Little Girl"

Here’s Ted Mulry and his gang with some irresistible* glam/boogie (I guess you could call it ‘gloogie’ – or maybe ‘blam’):

Ted Mulry Gang – “My Little Girl” (1977)

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(*Irresistible to me, that is. You, on the other hand, may find it entirely resistible.)

Song of the day: Ted Mulry Gang – "Jamaica Rum"

Today’s song mixes music with alcohol and an extremely laidback vibe. Those elements make it the perfect seasonal song.

(“Which season?”, I hear you ask. Why, the season ending in “er” of course. Boom! Boom!)

That’s enough of the bad jokes, Peter. Let’s try that again:

This combination of music, alcohol, and laidbackiness may cause you to celebrate (“Hooray! Booze in a Song of the day! Finally!”) but it makes me woozy and I can’t think straight. Don’t get me wrong – I like today’s song, it’s just that whenever I listen to it I feel as drunk as they sound. The band were not terribly concerned with anything at all during the recording of it, such is its effectiveness in conjuring up thoughts of lazing on a beach with a specific drink in hand.

When this song was suggested to me*, I pooh-poohed the idea of presenting it, thinking “Nah, I don’t like it that much.” Although I hadn’t heard the song in years, I didn’t need to play it again to remind myself what it sounded like because it was a song I was very familiar with. So I went to sleep that night, safe in the knowledge that I wasn’t going to inflict this song on anyone because I had remembered it not being that great. (I have a policy: If I don’t like a song, it ain’t gonna play it for ya.)

However, when I woke up the next morning the song was stuck in my head. And it stayed there all day.

So I thought to myself: it can get stuck in my head all day, it can get stuck in your head, too. (It’s only fair…)

Without much further ado (’cause there’s certainly been more than enough ado already), here for your imbibing pleasure is the Ted Mulry Gang and their ode to doing nothing at all (and enjoying it immensely), “Jamaica Rum”:

Ted Mulry Gang – “Jamaica Rum” (1976)

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(*Col strikes again.)