Part 2
of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we examine music from a couple of forgotten artists from the 1970s. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded in late January at More Lost Time world HQ
- Edward Bear's prom song
- They were better when they stuck to guitar rock
- Band radically changed their sound
- Ric breaks out a 1971 single by Tom Hartman, formerly of the Aerovons
- Hartman and band when to England because of the Beatles
- Strong resemblance to Sloan's Navy Blues sound
- Ric's tips for finding good vinyl at flea markets
- Aerovons had a serious Beatles fixation
- Very McCartney-esque
- Produced by none other than Mike Post
- Ebay's a good way to get rare vinyl
Music:
Ovlov - Moth Rock
Palehound - Holiest
Baked - Danelectroladyland
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The
Ovlov song is on the album am. The Palehound song is on the Kitchen
7-inch. The Baked song is on the EP S/T Cassette. Download all three
songs for free (in exchange for your email address) as part of Exploding
in Sound's EIS Sampler 2013-2014 on Bandcamp.
The
opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big
F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Part
1 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we look at the career of an
obscure 1970s Canadian band that had a huge hit and then disappeared. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded in late January at More Lost Time world HQ
- What the hell is Edward Bear?
- Named after character in Winnie the Pooh
- Their one big hit, "Last Song," is instantly recognizable
- Sounds like a studio act
- No high or low end in '70s AM pop hits
- Manilow had great timing
- Second single from that album hit top 40
- Singer Larry Evoy was the one constant member of the band
- Opened for Led Zeppelin in '69
- First album had a psychedelic "acid rock" sound
- Geddy Lee's mellower uncle
- Going for a Canned Heat/Steve Miller Band/Doors vibe
- Endless jamming
- Early Edward Bear ain't half bad
- Opportunistic band, like The Police
- Riding whatever music wave was trending
- To be continued
Music:
Protomartyr - Come & See
The Collected Fictions - It Don't Matter Much
Cloud Nothings - Didn't You
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Protomartyr song is on the album Under Color of Official Right on Hardly Art. Download the song for free at Stereogum.
The
song by The Collected Fictions is on the band's self-titled EP.
Download the EP for free (in exchange for your email address) at Bandcamp.
The Cloud Nothings song was released as a single in 2010. Download it for free at Epitonic.
The
opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big
F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Part
2 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we discuss a pair of 1970s
hitmakers. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded at More Lost Time world HQ
- "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree"
- Tony Orlando and Dawn got their own variety show
- Telma Hopkins of Dawn went on to appear in several sitcoms
- Renewed popularity during Gulf War
- Actually about coming home from prison
- Was "Knock Three Times" a swingers' anthem?
- By the late '70s, Tony Orlando was forgotten
- "He Don't Love You" was another big hit
- In praise of KC and the Sunshine Band
- Tales of KC's pratfall in Vegas
- "Please Don't Go" was a major hit for KC
- "I'm Your Boogie Man" was funky, great stuff
- Learning about music as a kid in the '70s
- Young Ric saw the Sex Pistols on Howard Cosell's "Saturday Night Live"
- Good bands played on "Fridays" on ABC
- Dick Clark was a brilliant businessman, not necessarily a music lover
- Check out episode 54 of More Lost Time, remembering Charlie Chesterman
- Coming soon: Ric and Jay's video show Trust Fund Challenge
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
Little Big League - Lindsey
Soft Focus - Runner Up
Idiot Genes - Regular
Wavves - Horse Shoes
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Little Big League song is on the self-released album These Are Good People. Download the song for free on Bandcamp.
The Soft Focus song is on the EP Day. Download the EP for free at Bandcamp.
The Idiot Genes song is on the album Lousey. Download the song for free at Bandcamp.
The Wavves song was released as a one-off single. Download the song for free at Epitonic.
The
opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big
F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Part
1 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we discuss an unlikely
number one single from 1973. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click or "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded at More Lost Time world HQ
- Talking about Vicki Lawrence's "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia"
- We forgot to watch the movie
- Was a hit in '73, not '71
- Written by Bobby Russell
- Lawrence was already a regular on The Carol Burnett Show
- Later starred in Mama's Family and her own talk show
- Very confusing story song about murder and infidelity
- Song was offered to Cher but Sonny Bono nixed it
- Later covered by Reba McEntire
- Ric: Should've been an animated movie with animals
- Revenge and death throughout
- We're confused
- Casey Kasem would've been annoyed
- Bobby Russell had two top 40 songs of his own
- "1432 Franklin Pike Circle Hero" hit #36
- Could've used an oompah band
- Satire on suburban life
- "Saturday Morning Confusion" got up to #28 in 1971
- Merging Charlie Rich and Harry Nilsson
- Ric: This guy might be a genius
- Next up: Tony Orlando and Dawn
- To be continued
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
Pixies - Indie Cindy
Quasi - You Can Stay But You Got to Go
The Julie Ruin - Oh Come On
Ghost Wave - Here She Comes
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Pixies song is on the self-released EP-1.
The Quasi song is on the album Mole City on Kill Rock Stars.
The Julie Ruin song is on the album Run Fast on TJR Records.
The Ghost Wave song is on the album Ages on Flying Nun Records. All four songs can be downloaded for free at KEXP.
The
opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big
F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Part 1 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we discuss actor-turned-singer David Soul's massive 1977 hit song. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded at More Lost Time world HQ
- David Soul, aka Hutch from "Starsky and Hutch," just turned 70
- "Don't Give Up on Us" hit #1 in April 1977
- Soul started out as a folk singer
- "Don't Give Up on Us" in the same vein as wuss rock by Bread, Dan Hill, Manilow
- Ric: Soul was on Private Stock Records, which churned out pop hits
- Label run by Larry Uttal, who was previously a hitmaker for Bell Records
- Private Stock master tapes were all lost after label went bankrupt
- Soul just had the one hit
- The B-side was weird song called "Black Bean Soup" that sounded like old Robert Palmer
- John Travolta was another actor with a record deal in the '70s
- Travolta was a teen idol after "Welcome Back, Kotter" and "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble"; pre-Saturday Night Fever and Grease
- Big single was "Let Her In," even schmaltzier than the David Soul song
- No vocal range whatsoever
- "Rack jobbers" were big business; putting records in racks in drugstores and supermarkets for impulse shoppers
- To be continued
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
Mean Creek - Cool Town
Los Campesinos - What Death Leaves Behind
Shearwater - I Luv the Valley OH!
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Mean Creek song is on the forthcoming album Local Losers on Old Flame Records. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.
The Los Campesinos song is on the forthcoming album No Blues on Wichita Recordings. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.
The Shearwater song is on the album Fellow Travelers on Sub Pop. Download the song for free at Sub Pop.
The
opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big
F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Part
1 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we dissect a classic
mid-1970s song from a Canadian music legend. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded at More Lost Time world HQ
- Dissecting Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"
- Song's a total downer, no pun intended
- Based on a true life incident in 1975
- Sounds like Lightfoot put the Wikipedia entry to music
- Checking out the early '70s Canadian band Lighthouse
- Sounds like the Guess Who or Blood, Sweat and Tears
- Lightfoot's "Sundown" is a much better song
- Ric: A little like Velvet Underground's "Loaded"
- Frank Chacksfield, the king of elevator music
- Making slow '70s songs even slower
- Pat Boone and Paul Anka later made entire albums covering hard rock songs
- Anne Murray dominated Canadian radio in the '70s
- Canadian content rule meant a third of music on the radio had to be Canadian
- A random song from The Randoms to wash the MOR crap away
- Teenage Head was an Ontario punk band from the late '70s
- CanCon meant a lot of bands got on the radio that normally wouldn't have
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
Sloan - Everything You've Done Wrong
Stars - Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Sloan song is on the album One Chord to Another on Murderecords. Download the song for free at Noisetrade.
The Stars song is on the album The North on ATO Records. Download it for free at Epitonic.
The
opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big
F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Part 3 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we dissect a legendary mid-'70s boogie rock
classic. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded late at night at More Lost Time world HQ
- "Smokin' in the Boys Room" came out in 1973, was revived in the Ramones movie Rock 'n Roll High School
- Ric questions the deeper meanings of the song: Is it about drugs, sex or both?
- Rebellion took on a much different meaning in the '70s
- 12 years later, Motley Crue covered the song and hit #16 on the charts
- Cub Koda reportedly influenced stage style of Peter Wolf of J. Geils Band
- Brownsville Station's had a radio "hit" called "Martian Boogie"
- Seven minutes of cheesy effects and stupidity
- ZZ Top was much better at boogie rock
- Koda was making rockabilly solo albums on the side and selling them himself
- Not many weed songs in rock anymore
- Dube talks about the origins of beatboxing, in 1971 from a band called The Counts
- Those awkward moments watching risque TV with your parents
Music:
Titus Andronicus - In a Big City
The Henry Clay People - Everybandweeverloved
Action Jets - Rock Like Pollard
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Titus Andronicus song is on the album Local Business on XL Recordings. Download it for free from Epitonic.
The
Henry Clay People song is on the album Twenty-Five for the Rest of Our
Lives on TBD Records. Download the song for free from Soundcloud.
The Action Jets song is available for free download from Soundcloud.
The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.
Part
2 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we dissect a classic cheesy '80s ballad. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded at More Lost Time world HQ
- A little background on David Geddes
- Early Geddes song sounds like "Rhinestone Cowboy," which came out later
- The same backing bands played on many of the bubblegum pop records of the '70s
- Dube made a video "A Decent Saturday," depicting a day at a NH record store
- The Dirty Dancing soundtrack was a monster hit
- Benny Mardones had a hit with "Into the Night" in 1980
- Kumar: Mardones was going for an Eddie Money thing
- Male facelifts are unsettling
- The "Into the Night" video is creepy
- First line of the song: "She's just 16 years old..."
- Dube: All videos should have flying carpets in them
- Co-written by Robert Tepper
- Our friend Rob Hallworth became obsessed with Tepper
- Mardones liked writing ballads
- Tepper had his one hit on the Rocky 4 soundtrack
- On the cover of Foreigner's Head Games album
- They went from offensive to bland in only a few years
- Dube wants Mudhoney to cover "Double Vision"
- Doesn't matter who's singing for Foreigner or Journey
- Aerosmith was all over the Armageddon soundtrack thanks to Liv Tyler
- The Nic Cage effect
- To be continued
Music:
Kevin Bowe (feat. Paul Westerberg) - Everybody Lies
Johnny Foreigner - 3 Hearts
Chris Stamey - Astronomy
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Kevin Bowe song is on the album Natchez Trace on Okemah Prophets. Download it for free at RollingStone.com.
The Johnny Foreigner song is on the band's EP NAMES, which you can download for free from Bandcamp.
The
Chris Stamey song is on the album Lovesick Blues on Yep Roc. Download
the song for free as part of a sampler (in exchange for your email
address) from NoiseTrade.
The
opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big
F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his
fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.
Part 1 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we dissect another lost '70s
pop hit. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded at More Lost Time world HQ
- Latest More Lost Time episode features The Good Rats
- "Run Joey Run" was revived by the TV show Glee
- Geddes has a Neil Diamond-esque delivery
- Another story song
- Dube is skeptical of the premise
- The girl in this song could be the same one from "The Leader of the Pack"
- Song hit #4 on singles chart in fall of 1975
- Geddes was in psychedelic band called The Fredric
- Kumar: Title reminds me of the TV show Run Joe Run
- About a German shepherd wanted for a crime he didn't commit
- Dube breaks out a show promo about a guy wanted for a crime he DID commit
- Geddes followed up "Run Joey Run" with a baseball-themed song, "Last Game of the Season"
- Another song with a character who dies
- Geddes also tried a disco song
- Producer also created the song "Disco Spaceship" by Laurie Marshall
- Dube has no use for "singers"
- Geddes' late '60s sound recalls Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra's "Some Velvet Morning"
- Dube: Watching music videos from that time is difficult
- To be continued
Music:
Telekinesis - Clock Strikes Midnight
Endless Jags - Seen Men
Guided By Voices - I'll Replace You With Machines
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Telekinesis song was released for Halloween. Download it for free at SoundCloud.
The Endless Jags song is on the band's self-titled EP, which you can download for free from Bandcamp.
The Guided By Voices song is on the album Earthquake Glue on Matador Records. Download the song for free from Epitonic.
The
opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big
F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his
fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.
Part 2 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we travel back in time and
analyze two big hits from the 1970s. Listen to the episode below or download it directly.
Show notes:
- Recorded at More Lost Time world headquarters
- The return of song analysis
- Learning more about Rupert Holmes
- "Escape" tells a depressing tale in a lighthearted way
- Seeking a new soulmate through the personal ads
- Song ends with a wacky twist
- Jay used to belt out Holmes' "Him" in the newsroom of the college paper
- He sings the guitar solo to save money
- Digging into the rest of the album
- Rupert writes about anything like, say, his answering machine
- Holmes did a lot of work in theater and TV
- Wrote songs for "A Star is Born," the Streisand-Kristofferson movie
- "Him" as performed by Barry White
- Clearly inspired by Manilow
- "Copacabana" was a huge disco hit
- Everything was coke-fueled in the '70s and '80s
- Manilow's go-to move was the sweeping ballad
- Manilow's "Bermuda Triangle" was a clear inspiration for Rupert
- Barry found a winning formula
- Gotta love the irony that he didn't write "I Write the Songs"
- We Manil-OD'd
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
Divine Fits - Would That Not Be Nice
The Raveonettes - She Owns the Streets
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Divine Fits song is on the album A Thing Called Divine Fits on Merge Records. Download it for free from Chromewaves.
The Raveonettes song is on the album Observator on Vice Records. Download the song for free from KEXP.
The
opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big
F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his
fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.
Part
1 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we travel back in time and
analyze a big hit from the 1970s. Listen to the episode below or download it directly.
Show notes:
- Recorded at More Lost Time world headquarters
- The return of song analysis
- What's the deal with Bette Midler?
- Woody Allen's curious role in Scenes From a Mall
- Check out Ric's show More Lost Time
- Trucking was a big pop culture fad for a few years in the '70s
- C.W. McCall's "Convoy" was such a big hit they made a movie based on it
- Discovered by the dude behind the Mannheim Steamroller
- McCall didn't sing so much as talk over music
- Sounds like Charlie Daniels' "Devil Went Down to Georgia"
- Convoy did indeed have a soundtrack album
- Digging deeper into the McCall catalog
- Randy Travis is walking the walk
- Ric: Zappa music just sounds like commercials
- Ol' C-Dub just kept on making trucker songs
- McCall starts doing really bad accents of foreign truckers
- He wrote a song about the infamous George Brett "pine tar incident"
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
A.C. Newman - I'm Not Talking
Yuck - Shook Down
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The A.C. Newman song is on the forthcoming album Shut Down the Streets on Matador Records. Download it for free from MatadorRecords.com.
The Yuck song is on the band's self-titled album on Fat Possum Records. Download the song for free from Epitonic.
The
opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big
F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his
fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.
Guest Ric Dube and I dig deep and analyze two '70s rock classics. Listen to the episode below or download it directly.
Show notes:
- Recorded in Shrewsbury, Mass.
- Check out Ric's podcast More Lost Time
- Digging into Meat Loaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights"
- Irony-free, over-the-top theatrics
- Song is in three parts
- Jay: Remember as a kid thinking it was risque
- Paradise turns out to be hell
- Jim Steinman was known for ridiculously long song titles
- Song goes from rockabilly to disco in the middle, with Phil Rizzuto mixed in
- The debate over third base
- Ellen Foley's odd career
- Third section tries to emulate punk
- The strange allure of Robby Benson
- Meat Loaf's acting career
- Part 2: "Brother Louie" by Stories
- A classic '70s one-hit wonder
- Stories actually had well-known musicians in band
- Louie was whiter than white
- Super catchy chorus
- Ric: This was a "Neapolitan relationship"
- The lesson was about equal opportunity sexing
- Why is the name Louie popular in songs?
- Did Jeff Lynne swipe the ELO string sound from this song?
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
Redd Kross - Researching the Blues
Chelsea Light Moving - Burroughs
Cat Power - Ruin
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Redd Kross song is from the forthcoming album Researching the Blues on Merge Records. Download the song for free at Stereogum.
The
Chelsea Light Moving song is from the band's forthcoming album on Matador Records. Download the song for free at Stereogum.
The Cat Power song is on the album Sun on Matador Records. Download the song for free at Stereogum.
The
opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big
F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his
fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.
