Pop quiz: Do you recognize the following verse? ‘Take me out and show me off and put me on the scene / Dress me in the fashions of the 1980s / You’re a man, no in-between / You know what your words can mean.’
Christine McVie Deep Dive: Mick Fleetwood’s ‘I’m Not Me’
Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks weren’t the only ones from Fleetwood Mac to pursue solo ventures after the Tusk tour of ’79-’80 ended acrimoniously (again). The front half of the group’s namesake did likewise, releasing his noble failure The Visitor in June ’81.
A&M Records Highlights: The Merry-Go-Round
Revisiting A&M Records No. 24
The Merry-Go-Round: ‘The Merry-Go-Round’ (November ‘67)
Ten installments ago I asserted Lee Michaels was the label’s first true rock star. I stand by that statement, even if it took him four years and five albums to score a genuine chart smash.
Soundtrack Sunday: Amarcord
This was the first Fellini film I ever saw as a young impressionable teen curious about international cinema — and the promise of sex. What I watched that day was undoubtedly a cropped-and-chopped print muddled by woefully incomplete subtitles, broadcast on proto-cable, probably ON TV.
Christine McVie Deep Dive: Robbie Patton’s ‘Orders from Headquarters’
I get why Robbie Patton didn’t make it big, though I also see why so many in his orbit really thought he would — not just Atlantic Records execs looking for a new star but particularly Christine McVie, who sings on (but did not produce, as erroneously stated elsewhere*) this third album of his after co-helming his second.
Christine McVie Deep Dive: Randy Newman’s ‘Trouble in Paradise’
This is a very fine Randy Newman record, perhaps not among his all-time greatest (that’s a tall order) yet teeming with cleverly caustic commentaries that rank among his best.
My mom got the cassette soon after it arrived in January ‘83 and it remained a constant for months, until I had every line of it memorized by the time she took me to see Newman live for the first time that April at Universal, when I was 14.
A&M Records Highlights: The Sandpipers
[Measuring the marigold.]
Revisiting A&M Records No. 22
The Sandpipers: ‘The Sandpipers’ (May ’67)
A&M Records Highlights: Claudine
[Cherchez la femme.]
Revisiting A&M Records No. 21
Claudine Longet: ‘Claudine’ (April ’67)
Claudine Longet: ‘The Look of Love’ (October ’67)
A&M Records Highlights: Captain Beefhart and His Magic Band
[Witness the birth of Beefheart!]
Revisiting A&M Records No. 20
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band:
‘The Legendary A&M Sessions’ (January-March ’66)