james taylor

By the end of 1970 Three Dog Night was in the middle of their most prolific and successful period of their career.  The group would land 21 Billboard Top 40 hits between 1969 and 1975 with three of these taking the top slot.  The group was formed by three vocalists in 1967 - Chuck Negron, Cory Wells, and Danny Hutton.  The other members of the band for this album are Mike Allsup on guitar, Joe Schermie on bass, Jimmy Greenspoon on keyboards, and Floyd Sneed on drums.  All of the instrumentalists in the band also provide backing vocals on at least one of the songs from the album.

Naturally is the fifth album from the band and the second released in 1970.  Three singles from the album entered the Billboard top 20, with "Joy to the World" topping the charts.  As with contemporaries like the Beach Boys and Crosby, Stills, and Nash, you get an abundance of vocal harmonies with Three Dog Night.  Given the origins with three vocalists, perhaps this is not surprising.

Three Dog Night takes its name from the Australian Outback, and how the Aborigines would keep warm at night by sleeping with a dingo - dogs native to the continent.  A very cold evening would be known as a three-dog night.  While the group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000, they have not yet been inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Much of their work was composed by others, and this has been used as an excuse for their lack of recognition.

Three Dog Night continues to produce music today, though Danny Hutton is the only original member still with the group.  

Wayne takes us through this album for today's podcast.

One Man Band
The first single released from the album went to number 19 on the Billboard charts.  The lyrics describe a man who wants to be the only one for his lover - her one man band.  There are great close harmonies and work on the Hammond organ in this one.

Joy to the World
The big hit from the album went to number 1 on the Billboard charts and remained there for six weeks.  It was not expected to be a hit, but was instead expected to just be a "filler" song for the album with nonsensical but catchy lyrics.  Singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor Hoyt Axton wrote the song.  Chuck Negron is the lead singer on this hit.

Liar
Russ Ballard of Argent wrote this song, and released it as Argent's first single off their self-titled album.  While that version did not chart, the Three Dog Night rendition went to number 7 on the Billboard charts, benefitting from its release after their number 1 hit with "Joy to the World."  The haunting lyrics describe a relationship in trouble.

I Can Hear You Calling
This song leads off the album and appears as the B-side to "Joy to the World," but was never released as a single itself.  The funky grooves feature heavy use of the Hammond organ and a big drum beat.  The lyrics reflect a person who keeps getting called on the phone by a lover he has left behind.  

ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:

Main theme from the television series “H.R. Pufnstuf”
This odd children's show from Sid and Marty Krofft left the airwaves in October 1970. 

STAFF PICKS:

Fire and Rain by James Taylor
Rob starts off the staff picks with this soft rock hit.  Taylor wrote the song after the suicide of a friend.  It was the second single from Taylor's second album, "Sweet Baby James."   It peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

It Don't Matter to Me by Bread
Bruce brings us another soft hit.  Bread was a soft rock group formed and fronted by David Gates, along with Jimmy Griffin and Rob Royer.  Gates, a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, ran in the same circles as Leon Russell in Tulsa bar bands before moving to California.  The song reflects an openness in the singer's relationship, wanting only the best for his love.

Knock Three Times by Dawn 
Lynch features a group which would later be known as Tony Orlando and Dawn.  Orlando was working as an executive at April-Blackwood Music, and released the song without listing his name to protect his position from accusations of a conflict of interest.  The song went to number 1.  The lyrics reflect a secret romance between a man and his neighbor from the floor below.

Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go by Bettye LaVette
Wayne's staff pick is a bit of a James Brown song with a female voice.  Bettye LaVette came out of Detroit but was signed by Atlantic Records rather than their competitors in Detroit, Motown Records.  LaVette is a long time singer of blues, soul, and R&B starting in the early 60's and continuing today.  This song is about letting loose and having a good time living in the moment.

COMEDY TRACK:

Bridget the Midget by Ray Stevens
We wrap up the podcast with the comedy stylings of Ray Stevens singing about Bridget the Midget, the Queen of the Blues.

Thanks for listening to “What the Riff?!?” 

NOTE: To adjust the loudness of the music or voices, you may adjust the balance on your device. VOICES are stronger in the LEFT channel, and MUSIC is stronger on the RIGHT channel.

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**NOTE: What the Riff?!? does not own the rights to any of these songs and we neither sell, nor profit from them. We share them so you can learn about them and purchase them for your own collections.

Happy New Year from The Record Store Day Podcast.

We ring in 2024 with a 40-minute special episode featuring legendary Southern California session players, Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar, Waddy Wachtel, Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel, and Steve Postell, also known as The Immediate Family, which just happens to be the title of a new documentary by Denny Tedesco (The Wrecking Crew). And through the sporadically shaky miracle of Zoom, we had all six of these guys converge to talk about their collective brotherhood, the great artists they've worked with, the new documentary, and their own upcoming album, Skin In The Game.

For the latest in Record Store Day news, go to RecordStoreDay.com.

The Record Store Day Podcast is written, produced, engineered, and hosted by Paul Myers, who also composed the theme music and selected interstitial music.

Sponsored by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Tito's Handmade Vodka, and RSDMRKT.com. 

In this week's Talking Tech Feature, Mark looks at the tech behind the planting of trees. The last week of November every year is National Tree Week. Tree Expert, James Taylor talks to Mark all about the importance plastic can play in the growth of trees in their early stages. 

On Episode 5 of the It's Gonna Be Great Podcast we are pleased to have as our guest Rhonda Vincent, the Queen of Bluegrass! She is a regular guest on the Grand Ole Opry, and is quickly becoming and example of how to succeed in the modern era of the music business. 

For Ocean Way Merchandise CLICK HERE! For More information on Rhonda Vincent visit her website!

On this upcoming episode of the It's Gonna Be Great Podcast, our guest is the Queen of Bluegrass, Rhonda Vincent. We discuss her career, and the work ethic needed to succeed as an artist. Check out this snippet where she discusses the bucket list artist she would love to work with, James Taylor. 

As I write this, we are in the middle of the first round of Grammy Award® voting and the amount of current work artists put out is truly admirable. These are a group of independents and creatives that just can’t help but create additional innovative product. However, I don’t always see that type of new work from people in other fields.

I see post after post about past accomplishments, degrees and accolades. To be fair, some musicians also depend on their past work. I call them has-beens. Sure, I’ve written before about the fact that there’s not a lot of completely new information or ideas, excepting the medical field of course. Many of the new songs and even books are built upon an idea or progression that has already been shared. Many pop songs, such as Elton John’s, uses the same progression of I, IV, V and vi. If that’s Greek to you, just think it’s four chords. But the four chords work!

Many innovators are not always popular in their current lifetime. Composers are good examples of this, such as Saint- Saéns who wrote the brilliant Carnival of the Animals and Samson and Delilah. I will list a few of the benefits of putting out current work. Current work, at most any stage of life, keeps the mind sharp, provides new promotional opportunities and provides fresh goals. Full article here: https://goalsforyourlife.com/blog/current-work

Guest: Minnesota state Rep. Mike Freiberg. After hearing the late Loretta Lynn sing the feminist song “The Pill,” we hear freethinkers Joni Mitchell and James Taylor perform “Circle of Time." Then we speak with Minnesota state Representative Mike Freiberg about the new Secular Government Caucus he co-founded in the state legislature with the purpose of “resisting Christian nationalism and defending state/church separation.”

Fire and Rain, James Taylor
Rocky Mountain High, John Denver

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Share this pod with your friends and buy our merch: https://www.bonfire.com/two-track-audio

GRAMMY-Award winning producer, manager, and recording artist Peter Asher joins this week to share stories from his remarkable 50+ year career in music.  Starting out as half of the duo Peter & Gordon and armed with a new song from his sister’s boyfriend Paul McCartney, “A World Without Love” became a worldwide #1 hit before Peter turned 21.  Later as the head of A&R at The Beatles’ label Apple Records, Peter’s first signing was James Taylor who he later produced and managed.  Peter would also go on to produce and manage Linda Ronstadt, win 3 Grammy Awards (including twice for Producer of the Year) and in 2015 was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to the British music industry.

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Episode Details

Eamon O’Flynn is joined by Gia Mora and Adam Becker to discuss Sweet Baby James, the bluesy second studio album by James Taylor. This album ranked #182 on the 2020 Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

Leave comments on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook at @rrmusicpod or visit our website at recordroulettepodcast.com.

Runtime: 57 minutes

Who is James Taylor?

James Taylor (1948-) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He is one of the best-selling musicians of all time, having sold more than 100 million records worldwide. In fact, every album he released between 1977 and 2007 sold more than one million copies. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He has one album on the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums list - Sweet Baby James. 

What is Sweet Baby James?

Sweet Baby James is James Taylor’s second studio album. Released in 1970, this album was an immediate success, reaching #3 on the Billboard album charts and receiving a nomination for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards. Combining blues, folk and country sounds, Sweet Baby James included one of Taylor’s signature songs - “Fire and Rain” - and was ranked #104 on the Rolling Stone Greatest Album list in 2003 and 2012 before dropping to #182 in 2020. 

By the time Billy Joel released The Stranger, his fifth studio album, he was at risk of being dropped by Columbia Records.  His second album, Piano Man, had been a surprise success, but the follow-up third and fourth studio albums had met with disappointing commercial appeal.   

Joel had a solid band that had toured with him for his previous album, Turnstiles, and he wanted to keep that band for the next album.  He first considered Beatles producer George Martin to be his producer for this album, but decided against him when Martin wanted to use session players instead of Joel's band for the album.  Instead, Joel turned to Phil Ramone (co-founder of A&R Recording) to produce The Stranger.  The album would produce four singles, all hits, and would be a commercial and critical success.  It would also be Columbia Records best selling album release, and Joel's best selling non-compilation album.

Bruce and Wayne are out, and for the first time ever, TWO friends of the show Bill Cook and Todd Hendricks join in for this podcast.

The Stranger
This title track examines the way we all hide aspects of ourselves, projecting one image to the public while a stranger lurks deep inside.  Joel had originally intended the whistling to be a wind instrument, but when he demonstrated it to producer Phil Ramone, Ramone determined that his whistling was perfect.

Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
The opening track to the album was also the first single, and is a commentary on those in working class ethnic communities around New York who put in long hours for the appearances of success.  "Anthony works in a grocery store, saving his pennies for someday."  A Broadway musical featuring the music of Billy Joel took the name of this song as well.

Only the Good Die Young
The third single from the album was quite controversial at the time, because it is about a boy encouraging a religious Catholic girl to have premarital sex with him, though she considers it sinful.  The name Virginia comes from a high school crush of Joel's named Virginia Callahan.  As is often the case, attempts to ban the song only made it more popular.

Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
Although not released as a single, this epic medley received significant airplay on AOR stations at the time, and is one of Billy Joel's favorites.  This 7-plus medley is in three parts, the longest of which is "The Ballad of Brenda and Eddie," two high school sweethearts and their journey through life.  

ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:

Main Theme from the television series “Soap”
This parody of the television soap operas premiered in September 1977.  It would be highly controversial throughout its four year run, drawing criticism from the Moral Majority, the Roman Catholic Church, and a number of gay organizations.

STAFF PICKS:

Whatcha Gonna Do? by Pablo Cruise
Rob kicks off the staff picks with a band named after a non-existent person (think Pink Floyd or Jethro Tull).  "Pablo" represents a down-to-earth individual and "Cruise" represents an easy-going approach to life.  The song cautions against taking a good relationship for granted.   

Handyman  by James Taylor
Bill Cook's staff pick was actually a cover originally recorded by the Sparks of Rhythm in 1953.  Jame's Taylor's version hit number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned him his second Grammy award.  

Smoke from a Distant Fire by the Sanford Townsend Band
John WayneTownsend and Ed Sanford head up the band that takes their name, and Todd Hendricks brings us this one-hit wonder.  Although the band recorded and worked out of Mussel Shoals, worked with a number of acts, and opened for bands like Fleetwood Mac and Foreigner, they never made the charts beyond this hit.

I'm In You by Peter Frampton
Brian brings us the title track from the follow-up studio album to his amazingly popular live album "Frampton Comes Alive."  A&M Records put a lot of pressure on Frampton to have another hit after the live album, and this was his biggest-selling single, though the album was a let-down to the company.  This acoustic version highlights his guitar talents.   

TRIBUTE TRACK:

Memories by Elvis Presley
This is the month that Elvis died, and this song is our tribute to the King.

Thanks for listening to “What the Riff?!?” 

NOTE: To adjust the loudness of the music or voices, you may adjust the balance on your device. VOICES are stronger in the LEFT channel, and MUSIC is stronger on the RIGHT channel.

Please follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/whattheriffpodcast/, and message or email us with what you'd like to hear, what you think of the show, and any rock worthy memes we can share.

Of course we'd love for you to rate the show in your podcast platform!

**NOTE: What the Riff?!? does not own the rights to any of these songs and we neither sell, nor profit from them. We share them so you can learn about them and purchase them for your own collections.

Pat welcomes The Immediate Family (Danny Kortchmar, Russ Kunkel, Steve Postell, Leland Sklar and Waddy Wachtel) to the Zoom room for the first ever full band interview episode!

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Born to Run  was Bruce Springsteen's third studio album, and the first unarguably successful commercial album.  While he had previously achieved critical success with many industry insiders comparing him with Bob Dylan, his two prior albums had been more of a regional hit.  With Born to Run, Springsteen had both time and money to make the album, and went for a “wall of sound” approach.  Wikipedia mentions that he wanted it to sound like “Roy Orbison singing Bob Dylan, produced by Phil Spector.”  With regard to the lyrics, Springsteen said this album was “the album where I left behind my adolescent definitions of love and freedom - it was the dividing line.”

To call this commercially and critically successful is an understatement. Born to Run is a giant of an album.  It produced two singles, "Tenth Avenue Freeze-out" and "Born to Run," and these are timeless rock classics.  But almost the entire album can be heard on classic rock stations regularly.

The songs were all composed on piano instead of guitar, and the songs tend to reflect this in their introductory instrumentation.  Each album side starts with a song about escape (Thunder Road, Born to Run), and ends with a song about defeat (Backstreets, Jungleland).  And of course you get not only the monster sounds and lyrics of Springsteen, but also the instrumental virtuosity of the E. Street Band.  This is another example of an album that should be heard from cover to cover to get the full experience of it.

Alright, folks, it's time to run with The Boss!

Jungleland
This isn't really a song, but more of an opera or an epic tragedy.  This track closes out the album and tells the tale of Magic Rat and the barefoot girl.  It's got scenes of life on the streets and in the gangs in New Jersey in the city they call Jungleland.  It was 19 months from the first rehearsal of this song until it's completion.  Saxophonist Clarence Clemons' solo supposedly took 16 hours alone to record, and takes up 3 minutes of this 9+ minute song.  That length is why we're only profiling three songs from the album this week.

She's the One
This is a deeper cut with a Bo Didley Beat.  It is the B-side of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-out" and got a bit of air play on rock stations as a consequence.  "There's this angel in her eyes that tells such desperate lies and all you want to do is believe her."

Thunder Road
Bruce (the one profiling this album, not the songwriter) thinks this may be the song with the finest lyrics top-to-bottom that Springsteen ever wrote.  It tells of a visit to Mary's house, and uses automobile and motorcycle imagery to describe a plea from the suitor for Mary to run off with him “if you're ready to take that long walk from your front porch to my front seat.  The door's open, but the ride ain't free.”

ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:

The Time Warp (from the motion picture “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”)
Yes, that timeless classic from the midnight movies had its origin this summer.  It's just a jump to the left, and then a step to the right! 

STAFF PICKS:

Man on the Silver Mountain  by Rainbow
Wayne features the distinctive guitar riff of Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio's vocals from Rainbow, Blackmore's group after leaving Deep Purple.  The original vinyl release was a gated gold sleeve, but the record company reduced it to a single sleeve.  

Por Amor Viviremos by The Captain and Tennille
Rob brings us the Spanish version of "Love Will Keep Us Together."  The Captain and Tennille had both the English language and Spanish language versions on the charts this month.  "Love Will Keep Us Together" was originally done by Neil Sedaka in 1973, but this cover became identified with The Captain and Tennille. 

I'm Not In Love  by 10cc
Brian's staff pick incorporates the backing of a wordless choir, with 256 voices overdubbed.  The song itself is about expressing love without saying "I love you."  The song was almost discarded, but when they heard the secretary and window cleaner singing it they decided to keep it.  The whispered voice was from the secretary at Strawberry Studios.

How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) by James Taylor
Bruce finishes on a lighter note with this cover of Marvin Gaye's original 1965 hit. Taylor would take this one to number 1, and it would be the most successful remake of the song (the original went to number 3).  Taylor's then-wife Carly Simon is on harmony vocals, and David Sanborn joins on saxophone.

LAUGH TRACK:

I Like Beer by Tom T. Hall
We finish off this week with a cold one in a polka genre.

Thanks for listening to “What the Riff?!?” 

NOTE: To adjust the loudness of the music or voices, you may adjust the balance on your device. VOICES are stronger in the LEFT channel, and MUSIC is stronger on the RIGHT channel.

Please follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/whattheriffpodcast/, and message or email us with what you'd like to hear, what you think of the show, and any rock worthy memes we can share.

Of course we'd love for you to rate the show in your podcast platform!

**NOTE: What the Riff?!? does not own the rights to any of these songs and we neither sell, nor profit from them. We share them so you can learn about them and purchase them for your own collections.

This week’s Extra! is an extended version of Jane’s conversation with James Taylor.

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Mike & Paul discuss the creative process as it pertains to artists. 

Inspiration for the episode is based on James Taylor's five stages of the creative process. James' website is www.JamesTaylor.me 

The beer consumed on this show is...

Market Garden Brewery, Frosty Lime Wit w/ Tangerine

https://www.marketgardenbrewery.com/portfolio_page/frosty-lime-wit/