In Which Doctor Casino Listens to Classic Rock Classics for the First Time

Can't You Hear Me Knocking: Shit, yeah, that's a riff and a start. Big and surly. I like how it seems like Jagger is just kinda trying to make his way into this thing, throwing interjections around wildly with the song not quite letting him find his socket. The GIMMEHIMMEDONGY! - oh duh, that's the title - that sounds great. Not so into the more melodic "help me baby, ain't no stranger" part, sounds more "Angie" but I like how even that gets buried in more dissonant guitar attack. It's like the "knocking" is them locked up in this tiny shack, bashing around to get out. Wait, "hear me frowning"? That doesn't make sense. "Hear me howling all around your HOOS street"?

Digging the little percussive loose break here. Pausing for some more rum and a game of cards before they get back to smashing through the floorboards. Wow, and it keeps going. I'm oddly liking this for some of the same reasons I liked "Roundabout," don't know where it's gonna go, this long part with the prettier guitar and the sax - really chill, really just letting the instruments go where they wanna go, regardless of the song we started in. Now at around 5:00 it's reminding me of Santana, with the big wailful guitar sound and the hint of an organ pumping away in the background somewhere. I'm still hoping we get back to the rockin' part but it would also work fine if we just kept wandering. Seems like it's picking up steam now - this must be great in concert, with heat building in the air - and more, and more. And - - ha! That was one of the most perfunctory endings we've had around here and it actually works as a kind of surprise punchline. Really did think we'd get the triumphant crash back into the chorus. Frampton must have been pondering this with regard to "Do You Feel Like We Do?"...

Big thumbs up, would happily listen again. Sorry for the break, been writing and stuff, ILX time largely reserved for hand-wringing about GamerGate. Saw this get mockingly name-checked in a "what's become of our beautiful board" thread and realized it was time to return to the fold.

good number to come back to imo. #11 in the Stones poll for a reason!

welcome back!

I like how it seems like Jagger is just kinda trying to make his way into this thing, throwing interjections around wildly with the song not quite letting him find his socket.

one of the cool things about this one is how the verse and the chorus are basically the exact same music, with jagger separating them by singing in different spots. he answers the riff in the verse and sings along with it in the chorus. trying, unsuccessfully, to think of other songs that do it just like that.

i've never been big on the "ain't no stranger" part either. it sounds like they're suddenly slipping into a grateful dead song there.

around 5:00 it's reminding me of Santana, with the big wailful guitar sound and the hint of an organ pumping away in the background somewhere. I'm still hoping we get back to the rockin' part but it would also work fine if we just kept wandering.

santana otm. hoping we get back to the rockin' part also otm. i'm sure that when i first heard it i waited, mouth agape and animated question mark over my head, while they refused to do so. but i'm so used to that ending by now that i just tend to bliss out with them and accept that the song, per se, ending a long time ago.

#6 on my classic rock ballot.

On further listens, the "ain't no stranger" part is working better. It leavens things without the general force of the song letting up. I just kinda wish we got a little more GIMMEHIMMEDONKEY! after that and before the jam. But it's all good.

Mick Taylor explained in that last Rolling Stone Stones tribute that the jam in this came about because the band ended a take of the song (which at the time was a typical 3-4 minute Stones zinger), but decided to keep playing, with some of the band eventually falling in. That's so much of the coda is stuff less evident in the first part (organ, sax, Latin percussion)--it's all overdubs.

"But HE decided to keep playing"

this is intended as an antidote to the henley and frey listening thread currently happening elsewhere within these borders.

SONG #35: JOE WALSH "ROCKY MOUNTAIN WAY"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt75y38J00s

Rocky Mountain Way: I'd be down if this was just Joe Walsh doing "Rocky Mountain High" but with his distinctive guitar tone and reedy little whine vocals. Let's see!

Cool start. Bang bang! Piano falling into place nicely though a bit disappointing - suggests more a boogie than the real assault the opening salvo implied. Now we're settling in, midtempo groove, really thudding percussion. That's a bummer but I'll go with it. Vocals are in and it's your basic blues rock deal. Ba DUN da dun. Okay. It's done well though, and the thin voice at least makes something interesting of it, like this old-time radio transmission into this 70s rock song. Reminds me oddly of "Rock and Roll, Hoochie-Koo" in that way, or "Free Ride" maybe....

Okay, things got interesting again with the breakdown. I like this interplay between the spare, sometimes-squiggly Moog (?) plodding forward and the more animated, nearly harmonica-like talkbox activity scatting over that. This is one where I don't really WANT to get back to the main part, the jam is much more sonically interesting and distinctive. I guess we're back there but it's still soloing, and moving on to its end. This is all right really.

Second listen, gonna try and pick up the lyrics this time. "Spent the last year, Rocky Mountain way" is a good opening line, could lead anywhere. So this is interesting - on paper it seems kinda like a back-to-nature hippie anthem: we've been trying life at Drop City and I'm back to report that it's pretty cool, we just stay high and above it all and don't get caught up in the perpetual change-up of the system, man! Nothing to be sad about! But musically it's this kinda shredding, energy-up song - suggests that they've not so much been on the commune as in the tour van. Maybe they were shacking up with the Rolling Stones, I dunno, or maybe the Rocky Mountains are a lot more electrified and hard-rocking than I thought. Somewhere in here there's an encapsulation of your standard end-of-the-sixties narrative: dropping out to fight the system ends up meaning taking speed and buying into the guitar-god myth. None of that makes the song less cool... I dig it as a listen, and given that the lyric is really just there as scaffolding for the jam maybe I'm mishearing it to look for the part that you really RELATE to when you turn it up in the car.

Thumbs up, mainly for the opening and the talkbox break. But not essential.

ha they were at caribou ranch in nederland:

In 1972, Joe Walsh and Bill Szymczyk were starting work on Barnstorm at Walsh's home in Colorado when a mixer blew out on the first day. Szymczyk knew Guercio was building a new studio, visited the in-progress barn conversion at the ranch, and concluded that it would work for their project. They used the new studio to finish Barnstorm. Szymczyk next made Rick Derringer's All American Boy and the hit single "Rock & Roll, Hoochie Koo" there.

your basic blues rock deal

totally. but there's something about the tone of both walsh's guitar and his voice that makes it sound different than that at the same time. i mean, that's about the un-bluesiest voice imaginable. it is, however, a good voice for evoking -- and living -- that end-of-the-sixties narrative.

imagine "your basic blues rock deal" in italic, not bold. it is late here.

Horrible 70's Album Titles Like 'Your Basic Blues Rock Deal'

It's Your Basic Blues Rock... Deal!

--John Mayall

i am starting a band called your basic blues rock kim deal.

the guitars in this one always make me think of george harrison.

SONG #36: ALICE COOPER "NO MORE MR. NICE GUY"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GASv1PJRgZI

http://i.imgur.com/9BggOFq.gif

No More Mr. Nice Guy: Going into this one knowing really only "School's Out" and "I'm Eighteen"; I like both but prefer the fuzzy trudgey aspects of the later to the easy audience-bait of the former (also just heard it too many times). Let's see.

Huh, nice crisp riff, very Stonesy so far. Oh and now this bigger caravan of guitars rolls into town, nice. Vocals sound great - s'funny, this guy has such a freak-show image but on record he just sounds like a British rock guy, a good one mind you, but there's thankfully not a lot of hamming up his creepiness, no Marilyn Manson croaky drawling of syllabus or I AM THE GOD OF HELLFIRE stuff (though that rules obv). He's like... singing. Chorus - Oh WAIT, man, I totally have heard this! I mean that's pretty indelible. I don't think I've heard it many times. Maybe in a movie or something? Definitely not a radio staple in my experience. Anyway it's rockin' real good.

The bridge brings me back to that thing about British rock guy - a little bit prettier, Donovan-y, or even Beatlesy really. The shouted chorus is obviously what gets you in the door but a lot of the other hooks are really melodic ones. And those backing vocals elsewhere... "Hoot hoot! Ahh-AhHHHH!" "No mo-ooore, ooh oooh ooh!" and then finishing the track on the "...hooo!" I mean that basically sounds like something Wings would do. It's just that Alice's band is so much looser, sloppier, and willing to let the guitars sounds noisy on record. I say all this as a Wings fan but really, they should have toured together; would have done Paul and company some good and they have a bunch of songs that could have worked great sounding more like this.

Anyway, though, "Mr. Nice Guy" - allowing that I've heard it at least once or twice before, it's totally a thumbs up, glad to have it brought back to my attention.

Maybe in a movie or something?

It's the song playing when Mitch is finally caught and paddled after the baseball game in Dazed & Confused

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7aEi6c8cWI

I love how Linklater synced up the opening lines with Affleck grabbing Wiggins.

I'm pretty sure the song also appeared in a mid-period Simpsons ep as well.

Also, RE: The British-ness of the track--Cooper has gone on record that this song was inspired by "Substitute" by The Who, and things were brought full circle when Roger Daltrey covered it for a tribute album.

Dazed & Confused - aha! That makes total sense; I only recently saw that for the first time on the bar TV, so that would be why the song sounded kinda fresh and recent to my ears.

"Substitute," and Daltrey's vocals in general, totally make sense for what I was trying to get at there.

TOTAL SENSE

yes indeed to the wings possibilities with this song. would've worked for lennon too. or big star.

you just saw "dazed and confused" for the first time! i'm curious how much of the music in the film seemed familiar vs. unfamiliar to you as it's such an essential '70s classic rock document.

I confess I only saw the first half! But generally have been on a "movie catching up" quest, thanks in large part to my girlfriend's amazing VHS collection. (OTher recent hits: The Professional, Conan the Barbarian, uh... The Stuff...).

Soundtrack-wise: I think the rest are all old staples, "Low Rider" et al (maybe got that from friends in the 90s who loved the soundtrack though - vague memory of that). Should look at the full list though, maybe some more material for this thread! I'm also very curious about this "Crack the Sky," brought up on the primary CR thread....

me too! don't think i know "crack the sky"!

The Stuff is totally fun

It was all right! The stuff effects were the main attraction, most of the characters kinda sucked and the plot gets completely lost along the way but w/e.

Dazed & Confused - don't think I know these, at least by title:

Black Oak Arkansas - Jim Dandy
Black Oak Arkansas - Lord Have Mercy On My Soul
Foghat - I Just Want To Make Love To You
Head East - There's Never Been Any Reason
Nazareth - Love Hurts
Steve Miller Band - Livin' in the USA (though I assume it's just a cover of Chuck's)
ZZ Top - Balinese

Chuck's is "Back In The USA"; Steve's is a totally different song.

Also, Steve is a non-playing motherfucker.

I'm guessing you've heard SOME version of "Love Hurts" and "I Just Want To...", they're both cover tunes that have been done by a ton of people.

Very possible! I've really been burned more times than I thought on songs I actually had heard...sometimes it's just the rhythm or the way they sing it which doesn't leap out from the title. I guess I could look up the lyrics but that feels like a spoiler....

And I can't believe I got Chuck's title wrong; I'm a big fan! Shame on me. I definitely would assume I don't know the Steve Miller one then.

That was Steve Miller's first (small) hit, and the only one with Boz Scaggs in the lineup. It's also the main outlier on the soundtrack, dating from 1968.

"never been any reason" is u+k and you should listen to it asap

this one was on the original list for this thread, so let's get to it. written by boudleaux bryant, originally recorded by the everly brothers, known by many as a gram parsons/emmylou harris song, but known by many more as a 1975 smash for these guys, the only scottish act scheduled to appear in this thread:

SONG #37: NAZARETH "LOVE HURTS"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soDZBW-1P04

WAIT DON'T LISTEN TO THAT!!!

that version cuts the intro. listen to this:

THE REAL SONG #37: NAZARETH "LOVE HURTS"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRJaZdodEgI

This was one of the songs that most surprised me when Dr. Casino said he didn't know it.

It's gotta be one of those, know the song, don't know the title type deals

I don't think I've ever actively tried to listen to this song (the Nazareth version at least) but I've heard it dozens of times probably

I like Nazareth and this is one of my least favorite Nazareth songs. I think it was left off of the UK version of Hair of the Dog and that makes perfect sense to me.

Love Hurts: Cool intro, nice...ooh! Nice big bang. I like this kinda post-"Lucy" watery guitar banging into this big meaty one. The singing... y'know, maybe I HAVE heard this one, once again. It's kinda falling in and out of familiarity. It's the main WAHH WAHHH of the title during the verses (kinda proto-Journey there) that's familiar, but everything else about the mix isn't really clicking.

As this goes along, I'm liking it less. The most interesting thing about it is that watery guitar, but since the pace is so steady, that starts to make it feel like an uninspired grunge deep cut, like Silverchair trying to get at "Black Hole Sun." The rest - the ooh-oohs and the wails - is adequate but just kinda generic. I like the big drum fill (In The Air Tonight on worrisome downers) going into the solo but it'd be nice if the drummer didn't immediately then fall back into a listless slump. I guess for a self-pitying song about love hurting it'd be inappropriate to rock super hard, and I admit I'm glad that the crashing chorus chords don't take this full on into the Journey power ballad territory they're sketching out. This is a reasonable song for a band to have in their repertory...people can catch their breath, switch to swaying from dancing, go get a beer, chin up and contemplate how true it is that love does, indeed, hurt. Just not much else to it.

It's an oldie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFE2SnliiV0

This may out me as a cornball but i love this song sooooooo much

Everlys, Nazareth, Gram & Emmylou...it slays me all the time

But the Nazareth version kills me because they just fucking GO for it, balls out power ballad & you wanna drink alone in a shitty wood panelled hotel room <3

Everlys' one is lovely (as always). Possibly have heard that one as I love them and have been through various compilations and things. Don't think that's my way into the song though.

i'm pretty sure gram and emmylou was the first version i heard, or at least the first version that registered with me. i was confused by friends who knew it as a nazareth song, though i've come to appreciate their take on it over the years -- though, yeah, as dr. c suggests, it's a bit plodding for what it is.

there's something about a male and female commiserating on this sentiment that makes the gram/emmylou version feel so much warmer AND sadder for me.

Gram & Emmylou version definitely my favorite. The Nazareth version pisses me off because of how they changed the lyrics. "Love is like a flame, burns you when it's hot" -- unlike a stove, a flame is never not hot.

These other classic rock stalwarts did a pretty decent version, too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMzPHPzmc74

Parsons Harris version just a warmup (or slow burning we'll-sweep-out-the-ashes fire up) for "Hearts on Fire" (naturally)

Checking out the Gram/Emmylou version now. Kinda just this side of treacley, but in a way that my AM gold "weenie music" self can't really deny. It's pleasant. Can see why Gram would be drawn to the song, not even knowing very much about him - it's got "Hickory Wind" all over it. Something really interesting happens with the guitar just after 3:00, suddenly sounds much more like period R&B (reaching for "Drift Away" here). Might be a good fit for the song generally, find a way to bring up the tempo without losing the hurting.

wiki trivia: this song was used to open each newscast aired on los angeles radio station KFI until late 2013.

bonus non-wiki trivia: this video was directed by don letts.

SONG #38: RATT "ROUND AND ROUND"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u8teXR8VE4

showcasing the lyrical genius of stephen pearcy

Round and Round: Off to a surprisingly solid start. Clean, punch rock, of its period but not so "processed" sounding. Shit, I think I know where this is heading, the Round and Round bit just popped into my head. Hrm. "We'll put you on your shelf" is such a great, lame put-down... wonder how many songs have struggled to make good use of "shelf" since "Misty Mountain Hop." I like the guitar sound just after "arrow through my heart."

Hmmmm....now this isn't quite the round and round I thought it would be! How odd. The one in my head was faster, more in-your-face. This is ... why am I basically liking a Ratt song? Maybe it's the video. Stick it to those snobs, Ratt! Dude's high kicks are definitely not David Lee Roth's. Dude soloing on the dining table is also definitely not Eddie Van Halen but it's kind of a cool solo for this kind of thing. Goes some different places, has a few ideas in not too long of a running time. Ha ha, the butler is in cahoots with Ratt!

Yeah, not bad! There's something a little bit more nimble and energetic about this performance than what I associate with this whole genre. Like it's just more rhythmically interesting - not at the level I was struck by with AC/DC a few songs back, but this could be so leaden and forced-fun, and it just manages to feel like actual fun. OK, the butler actually getting all "hard rocked" out is kinda lame. I'm pretty into the, er, love interest, though.

Second listen: still pretty enjoyable. I wish the rich people were more evidently 80s yuppie rich assholes, rather than these old money aristocrats who amuse themselves renting the garret out to Ratt before discovering it wasn't worth it.

An unexpected thumbs up.

This is also a song I really love while hating nearly every other song in the world like it. It's 3 things, I think: 1. at least on this recording, the entire band are playing together and really, really well and you can hear them. 2. The only dumb producer tricks are the pre-echoing back-up vocals, which are really cool; and 3. The major/minor tonality of the main riff is really surprising and exciting in a good way, and I like when weird chords are used to sound awesome instead of "hey, I went to music school, dig my chords".