The 500 - #356 - 12 Songs - Randy Newman

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: # 356

Album Title: 12 Songs

Artist: Randy Newman

Genre: Roots Music, Satirical

Recorded: RCA Studios, Hollywood, LA

Released: February, 1970

My age at release: 4 - my guest blogger, Rob Hodson, was 13.

How familiar was I with it before this week: One Song

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Have You Seen My Baby?

This week, I welcome back a guest blogger, Rob Hodson. We have known each other for 20 years having met met and taught together at two schools in London Ontario -- Lorne Avenue and Eagle Heights. Lunchroom breaks, discussing music, film, television, comedy and comic books with Rob were always highlights in my school day. 

Rob is a gifted artist and I leaned heavily on his expertise when developing art activities for my classes. He and his wife, Susan (Susan Day Ceramics on Instagram), have completed several beautiful and socially relevant tiled murals around our city...with more to come. Rob gave me some ideas for my John post in December, 2019, and he returns here to share his thoughts on Randy Newman's second album. Enjoy.

Three London, Ontario, tile-mural examples
completed by Susan and Rob

It's always amazing to me how music can conjure up a time and a place. You can be walking down the street and hear a familiar melody and a funny smile immediately hits your face. You can't really express why, but something clicks inside and you make a connection to an event from years before. To paraphrase a great line I heard years ago, "the music you listened to from the time in your life when you were most happy and free, will always resonate within you". For me, much of that music comes from Randy Newman's 1970 album 12 Songs.

Randy Newman - 12 Songs Album Cover

I was finishing high school and desperate to escape from home when my best friend, and stoner buddy, Chuck Jewitt, was offered a job in Victoria B.C. He had recently completed his training as a Respiratory Technician and asked me to come with him for moral support and a GREAT ADVENTURE. British Columbia was as far away from London, Ontario as you could get while still remaining in the country -- and I jumped at the chance to escape. It was the summer of 1975. I was 18 and Victoria seemed as exotic as Paris in the 1930s.

London to Victoria 4000 km as the crow flies

The train was the cheapest available transportation and, after nine days of uncomfortable but fantastic travel, there we were on the other side of the world -- British Columbia. We spent a day wandering Vancouver until the ferry left and we travelled (across the ocean!) to Victoria. I'd never seen the ocean, never been on a ship, never seen mountains and never seen anything like the girls in the west. On that first trip across to the island, I saw dolphins working in unison to drive fish ahead of them, and a stunningly beautiful girl kissed me for loaning her a cigarette. I felt like I was in Narnia.

BC Ferry - Current Day

Barely a week after we arrived in Victoria I got a job as a dishwasher at the Keg restaurant right in the heart of the city. It overlooked the inner harbour and the sun set on the water as boat-planes landed and sailboats came and went on shimmering golden waves. For a poor boy from the dull plains of southern Ontario it seemed a place of almost magical beauty. As I worked my way up from dishwasher to prep chef to line cook and finally to waiter and bartender, I made friends with the other members of the staff. The place was huge, the first Keg in Canada, and I learned a work ethic that has lasted me to this day.

The Keg - Victoria - 2018 photo, with harbour view in windows 

I was working in the kitchen when one of the waiters, Jeremy Ball, was talking to another guy about about an album they'd just heard the night before. It was, he said, this weird prog-rock mix of piano, guitar and bizarre sounds and he couldn't get it out of his head, but he couldn't remember the name of the band or the album either. -- common party problem. He and the other guy started doing riffs and lyrics cobbled together from drug influenced memories. They could only remember a few isolated lyrics. I listened and said: “It sounds like Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Karn Evil 9 from Brain Salad Surgery?” 

Album Cover for Brain Salad Surgery by 
Emerson, Lake and Palmer

That was it and, for Jeremy, this gave me immediate credibility.  Jeremy, it turned out, was an Audiophile. He was into music with a capital M. All kinds, every kind, but it had to be really, really well made and had to be played on a really, really, good music system. As the nights of work went by he and I talked more and more about music. We'd both been hooked into classical music by the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange. We'd both been the only kids at our high school into the progressive rock band King Crimson and we loved the swampy-blues-rock of Little Feat. Most importantly, perhaps, we considered it an outrage that The Tubes weren't considered music gods by more people.

Album Cover for A Clockwork Orange Soundtrack

You have to remember that back then, TV was the lowest of the low.
Almost nobody my age had a TV. If they did, they wouldn't watch anything but late night monster movies with the sound off and the music on. When a twenty-something moved into a new place, the first thing they did was set up the stereo. Nothing else really mattered and very often you truly had nothing else -- Ikea minimalism, long before it was stylish.


Chuck and I had been forced to leave our stereos and albums behind in Ontario and we were saving up to buy a good system. Jeremy was having a party one night after work and by three or four in the morning, it was just a few of us diehards left. His stereo system was like nothing I had ever seen before. The turntable looked like a glistening oil derrick. It had gyroscopes to to balance the album
perfectly. It had a belt drive and you could adjust the speed to make music sound faster and more exciting just like real disc jockeys used to do in the old days. The tone arm took ten seconds to slowly lower to meet the vinyl as gently as a kiss. The speakers were from Germany, six inches thick and hung on the wall strategically for the absolute optimum sound. It was like a cathedral. He carefully cleaned each album with an anti-static brush before and after (!) listening to a side. Nobody was allowed to touch the system except him, and I would never have dared even if he'd asked me.

I was flipping through his vast collection and the artwork on the album cover for 12  Songs caught my eye. A simple black and white photo which struck me as funny right off. A small chair, for a child to sit in and on the other side a rocking chair. In between, a television. Brain candy from the cradle to the grave.

Don't think, just watch. 

I'd never heard of Randy Newman and neither had anyone other than Jeremy and although the album had been released in 1970, five years earlier, it was not what you'd call a hot seller. I did some research and by 1975 it had sold only a meager 4500 copies, despite being publicly adored by Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger. 

The album starts off with these almost silly horns honking away to introduce Have You Seen My Baby? The song is less than 3 minutes long, but it pulls you in as a story of a man who just desperately misses the fun and the joy, that a woman (his baby) once brought into his life. 

The next song, Let's Burn Down the Cornfield is another lament for love. Slow, sad, angry and basically about a man who is willing to burn the world for the woman he loves. Mama Told Me Not To Come has all the trademarks of Newman's funny, sly and sarcastic view of society and the world. The song has been recording by a very wide and weird group of performers, topping the charts earlier that year when recorded by Three Dog Night.

Yellow Man was the first of many Newman songs to engage publicly with the systemic racism in the U.S. The lyrics are sad and sarcastic and daringly deceptive because of their simplicity. It was music that was revolutionary because it dared to be quiet. It was hardcore because it was thoughtful. As disco was just beginning to explode this was an album full of twangy guitars and subtle riffs, but also ripe with irony, vision and humour. It wasn't sophisticated, but it certainly wasn't easy either and that has been the core of Newman's work for the last fifty years. Additionally, this album introduced me to one of my absolute favourites, Ry Cooder, whose guitar work is soft, sly and brilliant.

Ry Cooder (mid-70s)

Newman comes by his musical chops honestly. His family contained many musicians that did everything from conducting orchestras to scoring films. Just shortly after 12 Songs was released, Mick Jagger
asked Newman to do the score for his 1970 rock film Performance. 

Movie Poster for Performance (1970)

This opportunity set Newman on the path to becoming a mainstay as a film score composer. He is responsible for the soundtrack to more than 25 motion pictures,  including all four of the Toy Story movies.

One of the early reviews for 12 Songs read: “Once you get used to his voice the album is pretty good.” High praise, and I'll bet Newman laughed his ass off when he heard it.

The 500 - #354 - 52 Street - Billy Joel

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: # 354

Album Title: 52 Street

Artist: Billy Joel

Genre: Pop, Jazz Rock

Recorded: A&R Studios on 52 Street, NYC

Released: October, 1978

My age at release: 13

How familiar was I with it before this week: Very

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Big Shot (Selected by my wife, Angela).

Recently, while rummaging through a box of keepsake clothes, I found the T-shirt I wore in the Jack Miner School choir and band -- I was a Miner Music Maker from 1975-78.

After getting over the initial shock of how impossibly small I used to be, I reflected back on those days. Our music teacher, was an effervescent woman in her late-twenties/early-thirties. She loved to introduce us to new music and, when it was within our ability, we sang and played selections she shared.

Jack Miner Public School - Kingsville, Ontario

As one of the band's two saxophone player, my favourite songs to play were Fidgets by Jerry Williams and Gonna Fly Now (The theme from the motion picture Rocky), although the trumpets got to do the heavy lifting on that one. It was a time when I was learning to understand that I was participating in a collective. I only tended to like songs where I got to carry the melody.

In choir, we sang a lot of early-seventies folk rock, including If I Could Read Your Mind by Gordon Lightfoot, and Time In A Bottle by Jim Croce. However, it was during music appreciation periods that the teacher played the jazz-influence pop songs of the day, including Feels So Good by Chuck Mangione, and Just The Way You Are from Billy Joel's 1977 Grammy award-winning record, The Stranger -- #70 on The 500.

Just The Way You Are - Single from Billy Joel (1977)

I was hooked on Joel's sound, but, more importantly, I knew this music would pass the "mom-test". I had tried, and failed, to get permission to buy several records that my friends were collecting, including:

• Alive by KISS (#159 on The 500) & Alive II, 
• Double Live Gonzo by Ted Nugent,
• Bat Out Of Hell by Meatloaf (#343 on The 500), 

In 1978, I had convinced my parents that the family stereo would be better used in my bedroom. I had "cherry-picked" the best records from their inventory and I was slowly starting to add to my collection. I was a fan of live albums, compilations and soundtracks because they were usually double records and better value for my babysitting dollar. I was tempted to purchase 52 Street, but opted for the soundtrack to FM: The Motion Picture (even though I hadn't seen the movie). It contained all of the most popular artists of the day -- Boston, Bob Segar, Foreigner, Queen and, of course, Billy Joel. I suppose, in retrospect, it was a seventies version of a Spotify playlist of contemporary music. With one purchase, I had some cache and was in the music conversation with my friends.

52 Street is the sixth studio release by singer/songwriter Joel. The title is a reference to 52 Street in Midtown, Manhattan, New York. Sometimes dubbed "Swing Street", it is considered by many to be the jazz epicenter of the fifties and sixties. It is also the location of A&R Studios where the record was recorded, a block from the CBS Building where Joel's record label was located.

52 Street was the second of many Joel records to top the charts. It spawned four Top 40 singles and won the Grammy for Album Of The Year. 

Billy Joel accepting the Grammy Award for Album of the Year (1980)

Despite being such a prolific talent, Joel stopped writing original music in 1993, which is a shame. Notwithstanding his early retirement from writing, he is still #6 on the list of best-selling artists of all time, having moved over 85 million units. 

In 2018, my wife surprised me with a trip to New York City which included tickets to see Joel play at Madison Square Gardens. Joel plays "The Garden" monthly, and has sold it out more than 100 times. In fact, the show we attended was his 101st. sell out. 

My wife, outside MSG in 2018

The show was spectacular and Joel and his band (including Mike Delguidice who also tours with Big Shot - A Billy Joel Tribute Act) were wildly entertaining.

Forty three years after hearing him in my music class, I remain a Billy Joel fan. That music teacher, whose name now escapes me, would be in her early seventies. I hope she knows her efforts at music appreciation were not lost on me.

The 500 - #355 - Having A Rave Up - The Yardbirds

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: # 355

Album Title: Having A Rave Up

Artist: The Yardbirds

Genre: Blues Rock, Experimental Pop

Recorded: March, 1964 (Live), Summer, 1965 (Studio)

Released: November, 1965

My age at release: 3 months

How familiar was I with it before this week: A little

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Smokestack Lightning Selected by my Twitter chum & 500 fan, @teajaygee

There is a tiresome formula used in creating crime stories for many films and television programs. A detective, usually one struggling with strong personal issues such as alcohol, divorce or childhood demons has become obsessed with an unsolved crime, typically murder. The stakes are raised when the police chief shuts down the case without explanation, which compels the suffering protagonist to take a leave of absence to "get his damn life together!"

The detective's partner, a genuinely concerned friend, visits the beleaguered cop’s home to give support and comfort. The house is a shambles. A living-room wall has been painstakingly bestrewn into chaotic, patchwork of evidence from the case, each article, map and clue connected by a web-work of yarn.

A typical example of an investigation wall

As I looked into the history of The Yardbirds for this week's record, 1965's Having A Rave Up,  I felt as if I was at the center of a rich investigation into music history. The "yarn-strings" of my research symbolically stretched back to the Chicago and Mississippi-Delta blues (the birth of rock-and-roll) and forward through three of the biggest rock guitarists of my generation, and beyond -- Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. The trio are ranked second, third and fifth respectively on Rolling Stone Magazine’s article on the 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time.

(l-r) Clapton, Page & Beck

There are too many historical connections to this record to cover in this forum, but I will touch on a few. For example, this record features one of the earliest studio uses of the “fuzz-box” guitar pedal. The fuzz-box is an audio signal distortion device that alters the sound of amplified instruments (typically guitar) to create a growling, "fuzzy" tone that became a staple of the hard rock, psychedelia, heavy metal and punk that dominated the music of the late-sixties and early-seventies.

The Gibson Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz Pedal (First Generation)

The Yardbirds formed in London, England, in 1963 as a blues-based group well known for their live performances. In fact, side two of Having A Rave Up was recorded at The Marquee Club in March, 1964, with Clapton on lead guitar. The material was taken from their debut record Five Live Yardbirds, an album that had a limited, U.K.-only, release.

Five Live Yardbirds - U.K. only debut release by The Yardbirds

In March, 1965, Clapton left the group to join John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers. Beck joined the group shortly after and The Yardbirds went to the studio to record the music that would appear on side one of Having A Rave Up.

The Yardbirds 1965, (l-r) Beck, Page, Chris Dreja (bass), 
Keith Reif (vocals/harmonica) & Jim McCarty (drums)

A signature element of The Yardbirds' sound is the "rave up" -- a music idea borrowed from the world of jazz. A rave up is an extended instrumental jam (improvisation) in the middle of a song. The beat of the song increases over a few bars until it is in double-time. The guitar-driven melody is forced to build in energy to a climax before the band returns to the normal beat and concludes the song. In his book, Sixties Rock: Garage, Psychedelic And Other Satisfactions (2000), music historian Michael Hicks described it thusly:

"Wherever it occurred, the rave-up made a small narrative curve that introduced a basic conflict (backbeat vs. off-beats), drove that conflict to a climax (by getting more and more raucous), then resolved it (by returning it to a 'normal' beat). Through this technique the Yardbirds created a rock mannerism; sometimes the rave-up seemed the whole point of the song." 

I love a rave up. As a fan of improvisational jams in rock music, it scratches an itch. The growing energy is intense and thrilling. Anticipating the climax can give me cranberry-sized goosebumps. It may be one of my favourite parts of live music -- when the band goes "off-script" and finds a “groove-pocket” to play in. As a hobby player, I envy that level of musicianship.

Roger The Engineers - Yardbirds (1965)

We'll be back to The Yardbirds in five weeks when I check out their next release, Roger The Engineer. Until then, let your hair down. Enjoy a Rave Up!

The 500 - #357 - Between The Buttons - The Rolling Stones

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: # 357

Album Title: Between The Buttons

Artist: The Rolling Stones

Genre: Pop Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Baroque Pop

Recorded: RCA Studios, Hollywood, LA

Released: January, 1967

My age at release: 1

How familiar was I with it before this week: Several Songs

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Ruby Tuesday

"Beatles or Stones"? I was first asked that question in Grade 9 by an older classmate whose name has since been lost to history. Until then, I didn't realize this was a question up for debate. However, the searing scrutiny with which the teen inquisitor posed the question was undeniably intense. The adolescent tension was palpable. Clearly, much hinged on my response.

"The Beatles", I said definitively, the tone of my voice working overtime to hide my uncertainty. To be honest, I was 13 and would have preferred to answer The Monkees whose television program from the late 60s was in syndication, airing weekday afternoons. In retrospect, it might have been the better answer -- light, witty and disarming.

The Monkees' TV show logo

"Good", he replied, "The Beatles is the correct answer. The Rolling Stones suck." Reluctantly, I agreed, and my opinion was locked in for most of high-school. Eventually, I came to my senses and I've been a fan of The Stones since. In fact, Exile On Main St. (#7 on The 500) is one of my favourite records of all time.

Exile On Main St. Album Cover

What is it about teenage kids and tribalism? As a teen I was fiercely loyal to the bands, sports teams, movies and television shows I loved. I still am. The difference is that I have lost my childhood capacity for hostility or anger toward those with differing tastes or loyalties. Now, I simply shrug and say, "Not my cup of tea."

Sociologists suggest that teen-tribalism is part a child's relationship to the world around.  As children move into adolescence they begin to experience more independence, authority and responsibility. The ties to their parents loosen and they begin to forge connections with their peers. As they begin to establish their identity and fit into their peer groups, teens' attitudes and opinions become increasingly polarized, including their relationship to music. There is no middle ground; everything is love or hate.

Admittedly, through my anti-Stones phase, I secretly enjoyed many songs, in particular Ruby Tuesday from the U.S. release of this week's record, Between The Buttons. The record marked the group's transition from blues rock to psychedelic rock and baroque pop.

Between The Buttons was released in the United Kingdom in January, 1967, and in the United States the following month. Each version had slightly different track listings, the U.S. version contained two of the biggest hits from The Stones, Ruby Tuesday and Let's Spend The Night Together. In the U.K., those two songs were released separately on a double-sided single.

UK Single release for
Let's Spend The Night Together & Ruby Tuesday

Rolling Stones' founder, and virtuoso musician, Brian Jones, was losing interest with the electric guitar and chose to play organ, marimba, vibraphone and even kazoo on this record. It was the beginning of the end for Jones. His drug and alcohol addictions were making him increasingly unreliable. The band he created would eventually dismiss him and he would drown in his swimming pool in July, 1969. Ruled a "death by misadventure", the coroner's report indicated that his heart and liver were enlarged due to drug and alcohol abuse and that these likely played a role in his death. He was 27.

Brian Jones (1965)

There is a persistent theory that Jones was murdered by builder Frank Thorogood, who was doing construction work on his property and was the last to see Jones alive. Thorogood allegedly confessed to the murder to another Stones’ employee. An investigation by the Sussex Police Department dismissed the allegation and stand by the coroner’s verdict. However, conspiracy theorists still believe the investigation was mishandled, as was dramatized in the 2005 film, Stoned: The Wild and Wycked World of Brian Jones.

Promotional poster for Stoned (2005)

Beatles or Stones? If asked to choose I remain Team Beatles; however, I love The Stones nearly as much.

How about you?

The 500 - #358 - Sketches Of Spain - Miles Davis

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: # 358

Album Title: Sketches of Spain

Artist: Miles Davis

Genre: Third Stream, Orchestral Jazz

Recorded: Columbia 30th Street Studios

Released: July, 1960

My age at release: Not Born Yet

How familiar was I with it before this week: Not At All

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Concierto de Aranjuez 

(Selected by my friend James, who grew up in Spain & gave me a brief history of Flamenco music)

We all have "concert regrets". One of my biggest happened when I turned down an opportunity to see Miles Davis perform at Massey Hall in Toronto, Ontario. My good friend Jeff, with whom I have seen dozens of concerts and live music performances, called me in the autumn of 1989 to let me know he was getting tickets and asked if I wanted any. I can't remember the reason I declined. I suspect it was because of money. Which, in retrospect, seems ridiculous. The cost was $25. Perhaps, worse still, I dismissed the opportunity by saying: "I'll see him next time."

Miles Davis Ticket from the late 80s 

Jeff did attend the concert. He was glad he went, but said the performance wasn't great. The band was exceptional, but Davis seemed to be off. We would later learn that he was quite ill. As always, Davis rarely faced the audience, preferring to angle himself toward his bandmates. A decision that some have, mistakenly, attributed to arrogance or performance anxiety.

Miles Davis performing (1960s)

Over the years, he has given many reasons for his positioning. The answer that makes the most sense is that he is leading the band, like a conductor. When asked, he told a reporter: 

"Nobody ever asks classical orchestra conductors why they have their backs to the audience. The reason is that they're telling the orchestra what to play and when. You don't criticize them for doing it, so why do you criticize me for doing the very same thing."

Miles Davis didn't like his music referred to as Jazz. He preferred to call it Social Music because it reflected the sounds of his time. That makes a lot of sense when looking at the wide spectrum of styles he adopted over his five-decade career. Books, feature films, comprehensive blogs and web-pages (including the  immersive and interactive timeline, Scaled In Miles, from 2015), have documented Davis' complex career.

Screen Capture of the Scaled In Miles Website

From Bebop to the Birth Of Cool in the early 50s, he transitioned into Hard Bop a few years later, along with a heroin addiction. He kicked heroin in the late fifties, took up boxing and began to explore Modal Jazz. At the end of the decade, he recorded his most important record, Kind Of Blue (#12 of The 500).

While recording Kind Of Blue, Davis married Francis Davis (nee: Francis Elizabeth Taylor), who was the first African-American ballerina to perform with the Paris-Opera ballet and who had transitioned to work on several Broadway (and off-Broadway) shows. Francis insisted that Miles accompany her to a performance by flamenco dancer, Roberto Iglesias in New York. 

Francis Davis, featured on the cover of Miles Davis record
Someday My Prince Will Come (1961)

Miles was completely captivated by the performance and, rumour has it, bought every flamenco album available at his local record shop. This influence is first heard on Flamenco Sketches, the final track of Kind Of Blue. However, it is fully explored on record #358 on The 500, Sketches Of Spain.

Davis recording Sketches Of Spain (November, 1959)

Sketches was recorded over three days with 34 of the top jazz and classical players of the time. It is considered Third Stream, a term coined by composer, musician, lecturer and historian Gunther Schuller in 1958. It is best defined as a fusion of improvisational jazz and European classical with influences from World Music.

Gunther Schuller

By the time I made the mistake of skipping Davis' performance in 1990, he had moved through many more phases, including an electric period. When he visited Massey Hall he had become enamoured with contemporary music. Indeed, half the songs he performed that night were covers from popular artists of the time, including Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Scritti Politti and Toto.

Davis died a little over a year later, on September 28. 1991, of complications from bronchial pneumonia. When I learned the news, I deeply regretted the choice I had made when Jeff called to invite me but, if I can borrow from Davis' philosophy of improvisational playing, "Do not fear mistakes, there are none."