517. Let Me Roll It by Paul McCartney 1973

 

Back in 1973, Paul McCartney and Wings released an album called Band on the Run. Although I loved the Beatles, when it came to the divorce in 1970, I stayed with John Lennon and listened intently to albums like Plastic Ono Band and Imagine.

Although my interest in John’s records tapered off as I welcomed the onslaught of T. Rex, Slade and then Bowie, I still carried a bit of disdain for Paul McCartney’s albums. Especially rubbish like “Bip Bop”, which was all over the radio at one stage.

Then they started playing tracks from Band on the Run. And they sounded good. The album was getting all these accolades. Even Bryan Ferry mentioned how he wished he could make an album like it.

I still wasn’t sold until I read a review that mentioned how “Let Me Roll It” outdid John Lennon. Intrigued, I sought out a friend with a large stereo and a copy of the record and asked him to play it.

Boom! Mind blown!

I couldn’t believe how good this song was. How great it sounded. I had to have the album just for that track. Then I had to tape the track so I could listen to it in my car. Loud. And in the car, it was a monster.

Then the album opened up to me, and eventually I became a fan, although subsequent records were never quite as satisfying. And he was all over the radio with “Silly Love Songs”, “Let ’Em In” and so forth.

But when Paul rocks, he is pure power pop.

Jeez, I didn’t even mention “Jet”!

516. Teenage Head by Flamin Groovies 1971

 When my record collection was shaken to the core by the arrival of punk rock in 1977 not only did all these old records seem a bit out of place (not Roxy and Bowie though) but while we started to become really excited about the new thing there wasn't much in the way of releases. Just a trickle that began with the Ramones debut album.

Luckily we were pointed to several obscure bands we might have missed along the way. We used to go and see Keith Glass's band at the Tiger Lounge on Wednesdays when he started having punk bands support him. And he played this one song that I just loved called "Shake Some Action" released by the Flamin Groovies in 1976. I had to find the album and even though I scoured all the record shops I couldn't find it. I should have tried Archie and Jugheads!

However, at Monash Records I came across an earlier album by the Groovies called "Teenage Head" I wasn't expecting much and wasn't captivated until I heard this song in the right setting which was half drunk and waiting to go out on the town. And once this song got me in the rest of the tracks started to make sense too and I loved the album. I managed to get the Shake Some Action album not too long after but that couldn't nudge this off the turntable. Well not just yet!

515. Music To Watch Girls By by Andy Williams

Rubber Soul was at the Carron Tavern in West Melbourne. Started by Ronny and Michael after the Venetian Room at the Hotel Francis in the city closed down. The idea was to create a full-on sixties night. Playing all those sixties hits from the Beatles to the Stones by way of soul, Motown, bubblegum, and A Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin. Complete with Strobe. I was DJing there from the first night. 30 minutes on and 30 minutes off. A DJ system that allowed us to drink, dance, and have a really good time. It became popular enough for Rob Furst of Beat magazine to open a similar themed club in the middle of the city called Shout. Monday nights.

One night Ronny and I decided to go down and check it out. It was up a flight of stairs above the Australia Arcade off Collins St. Peirre Baroni was spinning the records. And they had dancing girls. Two of them. This place was brilliant. They didn't play the same music as us. They were a little bit more sophisticated than us. Our music went with drinking and getting sweaty to loud music. Shout played Music To Watch Girls By by Andy Williams and These Boots Are Made for Walking by Nancy Sinatra. The seats were plush. The DJ console was real. Ours was turntables on a piece of wood covering a billiard table.

Anyway, I never appreciated lounge music too much before hearing this song. But this time I got it. And I would start playing it in my sets now and again. It was a fun interlude before the next Doors song and in fact, it wasn't too far removed from Light My Fire. Well kinda. From then on, I would investigate what would later be called Loungcore and found gold!

514. My Baby's Gone by Axiom

Box Hill Train Station 1971. Somebody is sitting on the bench waiting for a train into the city. Which is why I'm there too. He's got a transistor radio but it's a little bigger than the one I have at home and it makes a louder sound. And the song I'm hearing is "My Baby's Gone" by Axiom. It's not the first time I've heard it but in fact, it's the first time I hear it! like it just twigs something in my brain and sticks in there. Cos that's what a song can do. Just one day it hits you and it becomes a part of your history. And when I hear it I'm at Box Hill Station waiting for a train in 1971.

Of course, I never had a baby that was gone. I'm 15, in Form 4, and have yet to have anything close to a girlfriend. There is a good chance I'd never been kissed. I went to a boy's high school. I spent a lot of time listening to records. And working out how to buy more working a Chemist delivery round in Blackburn South. $3.60 a week.

My Baby's Gone is an absolute cracker of a record. It sounds amazing and always mystified me why a record as good as this wasn't massive all over the world. Glenn Shorrock is a great singer. As he was in the Twilights. I'm not going to mention Glenn's next band LRB but I probably should since their lead guitarist David Briggs recorded Captain Cocoa when I was managing them and also mastered a few Little Murders albums. And he was very good. He likes to go into the red on the desk.

Oh yeah. I guess I should mention that I saw one of LRBs first gigs. Billed as Mississippi (their previous band name, kind of) they played the Burwood Teachers College Ball at the St. Kilda Town Hall (supporting a Beach Boys cover band)  The bass guitarist from the Zoot, Beeb Birtles played guitar. Can't remember much about them but the Beach Boys band had everyone up and dancing.

513 One by Johnny Farnham 1969

 In 1969 I was in Form 2 at Box Hill High School and all I could think about was pop music which didn't really help my schoolwork very much. I mean why do homework when you have the radio to listen to? Every essay and assignment I wrote was accompanied by pop music blaring from a tiny transistor radio. Then there was the TV with shows like Uptight which I watched religiously each week. This brings me to Johnny Farnham who was all over the show. He was big. Lots of hits most of which didn't appeal to me. However, this song was great. It was a cover of Three Dog Nights US hit which was a cover of Harry Nilsson's version from his first album. Not that I knew any of that. I just knew I was listening to a fantastic song that pulled on the heartstrings of a 13-year-old boy who didn't have a clue how to talk to girls but spent a lot of time thinking about them. And because of all the moving about between schools because of domestic problems, I was spending a lot of time on my own. I had spent 3 months at Croydon High School (co-ed yay) and just came back to Box Hill High (single-sex school))  But it might as well have been 3 years. I had to start building friendships all over again.

512. The Boy with the Arab Strap by Belle and Sebastian

Because I've seen this band live a few times now and this song gets the crowd out of their seats and onto the stage. During this song the stage fills up. The first time I saw them it was about 6 people but the last time it was full. I love stage invasions. Back when Little Murders were riding the wave of power pop/Mod in the early 80s we would always invite the crowd onstage with us much to the chagrin of the lead guitarist who was always trying to keep people from dancing on his pedals. The barrier between artist and audience did not exist.
Because this was also the first Belle and Sebastian song I ever heard. There used to be this TV show called Teachers which starred the guy who plays Rick Grimes in the Walking Dead, Andrew Lincoln. Every episode would start with him riding his bicycle to school while this song played in the background. Loved the show and loved the song. Then it grew from there.
And because Belle & Sebastian remind me so much of the Kinks. Not the rock Kinks. No You Really Got Me or anything like that. Belle don't really rock. No, they remind me of Village Greeen Preservation Society all the way up to Everybody's in Showbiz. The Kinks with a touch of Morrissey maybe. But if I'm going down that route I might of picked "Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying"

511. Peace Frog by the Doors 1970

Well that was a surprise. I always thought this was a sixties song and while looking it up on Google I find it actually came out in 1970. I still see the Doors as the sixties though I guess I'm working under the idea that the sixties went from about 1963 (the Beatles) to about 1972 (Bowie).
As I've written before we used to have Doors specials at Rubber Soul where I DJed in the eighties. These night were just crazy. The Carron Tavern in West Melbourne was licensed for 200 and the first Doors night pulled in 800 payers. It was madness. At the end the cops rolled up and dispersed the crowd outside the club.
Peace Frog was played a lot at Rubber Soul along with a handful of other Doors tunes including The End when Ronny was in the mood for a dramatic ending to the night.
The thing with Peace Frog was though it worked equally as well at the next club I opened up the Lizard Lounge. The Peace Frog rhythm seemed to fit really well with the whole baggy movement. Plus of course the keyboards and guitar sound meant it blended into sets featuring Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and the Charlatans.
And Janes Addiction.
The song is pretty timeless despite it's references to blood in nearly every line. The Doors keeping going in and out of fashion. Some of their songs don't.