The 500 - #238 - Howlin' Wolf - Howlin' Wolf

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: #238
Album Title: Howlin' Wolf
Artist: Howlin' Wolf
Genre: Chicago Blues
Recorded: Multiple studios

Released: January, 1962
My age at release: Not born
How familiar was I with it before this week: A little

Is it on the 2020 list? No, but a different Howlin' Wolf record is
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Little Red Rooster

In 1988, I went through a blues phase. I purchased Eric Clapton's Crossroads Box Set after becoming a fan of his third band, Cream (more on that story when we get to albums #205, #114 and #102). The boxset contained four compact discs, the first of which covered Clapton's time with Cream as well as his first band, The Yardbirds (#355 and #350) and John Mayall And The Bluesbreakers (#195), his second. All three bands wrote their own material, but also performed songs written by early blues artists, including Willie Dixon, Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker and Sonny Thompson.

Boxset cover for Eric Clapton's Crossroads.

Discovering those songs sent me down an audio rabbit hole and I began enthusiastically purchasing blues records and CDs. There was also a store called The Software Warehouse which rented CDs for a small fee. Consequently, I started recording my “favourite discoveries" on cassette  tape to play in my car, a 1987 Ford Mustang that I spent too much money on. (Tip of the hat to my Dad for co-signing the loan).

The 1987 Ford Mustang LX.

In the summer of 1988, I drove the “Stang” from London, Ontario, to Calgary, Alberta, to meet my future wife's father for the first time. I only stopped once, a one-hour nap beside a cornfield in Rugby, North Dakota -- the geographical centre of North America.

A stone monument in Rugby, ND, marking the geographical 
centre of North America.

That 32-hour journey was fueled by cigarettes, coffee, Jolt Cola (a cola beverage super-charged with caffeine,) and plenty of blues cassettes, including The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions, a 1971 record featuring blues legend Howlin' Wolf (born Chester Arthur Burnett) playing with contemporary artists who had been inspired by him. Among them were Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, and Rolling Stone members Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman. It was my introduction to the American singer and guitarist.

The self-titled record on The 500 list is a compilation of songs recorded by Howlin' Wolf between 1960 and 1962. Often called The Rocking Chair Album, it features 12 blues standards, all written by another blues legend, Willie Dixon. Deemed the third greatest guitar album of all time by Mojo magazine in 2004, it has been described as "an outrageous set of sex songs".

Howlin' Wolf (circa 1965)

The second track, Little Red Rooster, was released as a single in 1964 and became the first, and only, blues song to hit #1 on the U.K. singles chart. The song has been recorded by dozens of artists on The 500 list, including Muddy Waters, The Rolling Stones, Sam Cooke and The Jesus and Mary Chain. In 2007 the song was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's archive as one of the 500 songs that shaped the genre of rock.

The album was also a massive influence on the British rock band Led Zeppelin, with five records on The 500. Lyrics from the songs Back Door Man and Shake For Me were used on Zeppelin's hit song Whole Lotta Love from their second, self-titled record (#79 on The 500).

Single Release for Whole Lotta Love from Led Zeppelin

Howlin' Wolf died in 1976 at the age of 65, after battling health issues for years. He was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980. A  29-cent stamp was issued in his memory by the U.S. Postal Service in 1994. Earlier, in 1991, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame added him to their roster. His influence can be heard today in releases by contemporary performers such as The Black Keys, Marcus King, Gary Clark Jr., and the guest on the accompanying episode of The 500 Podcast, Joe Bonamassa.

It has been a fun week or so as I revisited many of those songs that accompanied me across the continent in 1988, including that first disc from Clapton's Crossroads collection. It was a trip to remember.

The 500 - #239 - Like A Prayer - Madonna

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: #239
Album Title: Like A Prayer
Artist: Madonna
Genre: Pop
Recorded: Three California studios and Prince's Paisley Park studio in Minnesota

Released: March, 1989
My age at release: 23
How familiar was I with it before this week: I knew the hits

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #331, dropping 92 places from 239, since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Like A Prayer

Like A Prayer was the fourth studio record from the multi-faceted cultural icon, Madonna. It became the second of three records from the singer/songwriter to appear on The 500 list, with her Immaculate Collection coming up at #184. In June, 2021, I wrote a post about album # 367, Ray Of Light, providing some background and the story of seeing her perform during her 2015/16 Rebel Heart tour.

The Rebel Heart concert was a stunning visual spectacle. Performed on a massive set-piece that included a long, cross-shaped catwalk which led from the main stage to a smaller, heart-shaped second stage. The show featured set-changes, including a spiral staircase that descended from the arena ceiling.

Rebel Heart stage set.

The main stage also featured a hydraulic-powered, video-screen floor that was raised and lowered throughout the show. Consequently, the seven- piece backing band was set up stage left and right, while "Madge" and her 20-person dance troupe strutted their stuff on the many available surfaces and even aerially.

Rebel Heart main stage with the hydraulic video floor raised.

I thoroughly enjoyed the performance, but the night also marked the point where my opinion on Toronto shows (especially on a school night) began to sour. Notoriously tardy, Madonna did not grace the stage until after 10:00 that night. Consequently, my head did not hit the pillow at home in London, Ontario, 180 kilometres away until 3 a.m. Truth be told, even if the show had ended at the scheduled time of 11 p.m., we still would not have made it back until after 2 o’clock.

Madonna performing Iconic, to open her Rebel Heart show.

There was a time, prior to 2005, when a quick trip to Toronto to see a show or sporting event (Blue Jays, Raptors or Maple Leaf game) was easy, even on a school night. My wife or a friend and I would pop into my car at 3:30 and be in a downtown Toronto restaurant having dinner by 6:00. Even if the event ended at 11:00, I'd be sawing logs by 1:30.  An extra cup of coffee in the morning would vanquish any brain fog.

Things have changed. The volume of traffic in and around Toronto is now almost impenetrable. My friend Steve "Lumpy" Sullivan and I went to see Genesis in November, 2021. Lumpy picked me up immediately after my school day ended and we were on the 401 highway by 4 p.m.  By the time we parked, checked into our hotel and "sprinted" (more of a post-50-year-old fat guy jog) to the Scotiabank Arena, we plonked into our seats just as the band hit its first note -- no pre-show dinner for us.

Nevertheless, there was plenty of time for food post-show. That was only because we had booked a downtown room at, believe it or not, a reasonable rate of $220. Current rates for popular downtown Toronto hotels often exceed $500 on weekends. After the last few Toronto shows I have been to, I have driven directly home. Even so, that comes with its own set of complications. When friends and I went to see Porcupine Tree perform in September, 2022, we spent an hour trying to get from Meridian Hall on Front Street to the Gardiner Expressway -- a distance of 500 metres (1/2 a kilometre). It was then another hour before we cleared the Greater Toronto area, still an hour and a half from home.

1/2 kilometer distance from Meridian Centre to the Gardiner Expressway

Fortunately, I live about two hours from both Detroit, Michigan and Buffalo, New York – both big entertainment centres. Even with border stoppages, the journey is shorter and, despite the currency exchange rate, hotels are much cheaper. I even drove to Ottawa in September to see Peter Gabriel perform on a Saturday, rather than trying for his Wednesday date in Toronto. That trip was convenient because my dad lives not far from the entertainment venue, providing the opportunity for a visit and free digs.

Relistening to Like A Prayer in preparation for this post was a blast from the past. I did not own the record, but the six hits (including four that cracked the Top Ten in 1989) were omnipresent that year. The album marked a change in direction for Madonna and she made the recording during a time of emotional turmoil.  As she explained in a 2014 interview:

"It was a real coming-of-age record for me emotionally," Madonna told me. "I was at the end of my marriage [to actor Sean Penn] and I was working with Pat (co-producer Patrick Leonard), who was also in a very dark state of mind, and we worked in a very isolated place in the San Fernando Valley. I was very lonely when I was working on the record. I had to do a lot of soul-searching, and I think it is a reflection of that."

For many fans, Like A Prayer" marked the moment when Madonna figuratively and literally, left behind her 20--something pop persona. The newly-minted 30-year-old wrote introspective and revelatory songs and she explored her relationship with her family and faith. She also reflected on the brief time she had with her mother, Madonna Louise, who died of breast cancer in 1963 when the younger Madonna was six. It was not lost on the singer that, at 30, she was then older than her mother had been when she died.

Baby Madonna with her parents, 1958.

The record's title track was a monster hit for Madonna and is considered by many critics to be her best song. Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time listed it at #306 in a 2004 edition of the periodical. The video to the song was incredibly controversial at the time, with provocative images representing sexual assault, racism, interracial relationships and Catholic iconography, including Madonna revealing a stigmata. The video shows the songstress dancing in front of a church and burning crosses while wearing a crucifix and dressed in a small, sheer, slip-dress. She closes the video kissing a black Jesus. Technically, that was historically accurate, although evangelicals were fixated on a blue-eyed Son of God who looks more like Barry Gibb than a Middle Eastern Jewish man. Everything about the performance seemed intentionally executed to maximize the ire of the Christian right-wing, particularly in the south. I loved it!!

Screen capture from Madonna's Like A Prayer video.

Shortly before releasing the video, Madonna had signed a $5 million contract with Pepsi for rights to the song in a commercial campaign launched in January, 1989. The video from the Pepsi commercial was vastly different, depicting a far more wholesome All-American version of Madonna reflecting on her childhood and dancing in ‘50s-style vignettes. However, calls from evangelicals and even the Pope to boycott Pepsi products forced the soda company to pull the commercial and distance itself from the campaign. Interestingly, the complainers are mostly the same people who whine about “cancel culture”.

Promotional photo from Pepsi's ill-fated Like A Prayer campaign.

Despite this, Madge got to keep the $5 million and the controversy only helped record sales that spring. Now, if we can just get her to show up on time for her future concerts ...either in Detroit or Buffalo!

 

 

The 500 - #240 - Can't Buy A Thrill - Steely Dan

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: #240
Album Title: Can't Buy A Thrill
Artist: Steely Dan
Genre: Jazz Rock, Soft Rock, Pop, Folk Rock
Recorded: The Village Recorder, West Los Angeles, USA

Released: November, 1972
My age at release: 7
How familiar was I with it before this week: Quite

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #168, up 72 places from 240 since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Do It Again

Steely Dan's Can't Buy A Thrill album cover

Can't Buy A Thrill was the debut record by American Jazz Rock band Steely Dan and became the second of three records by the group to make The 500 list. In January, 2021, my friend Heather guest-blogged about about one of them – album #386, Pretzel Logic. She plans to return in about two years to write about the stronger performing album, Aja, at #145.

Steely Dan's Aja album cover, #145 on The 500

Last April, my wife and I got a chance to see Pretzel Logic, a Canadian tribute band who perform the music of Steely Dan. With us was Heather and  her husband. Also sitting in the front row were two other guest bloggers, Gary Fowler who wrote about Funky Kingston by Toots and The Maytals (#380) and Doug Hampson who wrote about Siren from Roxy Music (#374). It was a memorable 500 Blog reunion.

The band Pretzel Logic is a nine-piece group from Toronto who faithfully recreate the complex songs from Steely Dan’s ninerecord catalogue. The massively talented musicians capture the rich harmonies, saxophone and trumpet solos, intricate keyboard and guitar melodies with seemingly effortless precision. I was riveted. If you get a chance to see them...go!

Pretzel Logic performing in April, 2023 at Eastside Bar & Grill

As I prepared to write this post, I chuckled a little about my introduction to the band. It was in the summer of 1974 when the song Ricky Don't Lose That Number was an omnipresent hit on the radio. My parents had sent me on a wonderful, one-week vacation at a summer camp called Canterbury Hills Camp, nestled in the beautiful forest of the Niagara Escarpment near Ancaster Heights, Ontario. I spent seven glorious days swimming, canoeing, making crafts, learning archery and singing songs around a campfire.

Although we hiked and camped in a tent one evening, I spent most nights in bunkhouses. Despite the fact that it was a camp run by the Anglican Church, I had a bunkmate who told me the dirtiest jokes and shared the most offside stories I had ever heard. I can't remember his name, but I do remember one thing he said when Ricky Don't Lose That Number played on a nearby radio.

"Steely Dan was named after a dildo," he chortled. I had no idea what he meant, but I laughed anyway. It would be some time before I learned what a "dildo" was and I have no idea how a nine-year old had this information (I suspect he had older brothers) I learned, much later, that he was correct. Steely Dan had taken their name from a fictional, steam-powered dildo mentioned in the William S. Burroughs novel, Naked Lunch.

Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs

Can't Buy A Thrill is a wonderful record full of familiar hits, including Do It Again and Reelin' In The Years. It also features the hit single (in Canada anyway) Dirty Work. I've heard Dirty Work hundreds of times without paying close attention to the lyrics. I suspected it was more about the killer saxophone solo by studio musician Jerome Richardson. However, after listening to the companion episode of The 500 Podcast, I was surprised to learn that it is a song of self-loathing, written from the perspective of a man who is cheating with another man's wife. A remarkable bit of lyrical writing for two men in their early twenties.

It delights me when new information helps me reframe something  I have enjoyed listening to for many years and yet have misunderstood. Discoveries like this are gems. As I work my way through the next 240 records on The 500, I hope to uncover more. It is a learning thing. For now I will never listen to Dirty Work in the same way again. In the meantime,  I look forward to hearing Pretzel Logic perform the song the next time they’re in  London.

 

The 500 - #241 - Let It Be - The Replacements

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: #241
Album Title: Let It Be
Artist: The Replacements
Genre: Post Punk, Alternative Rock, College Rock
Recorded: Blackberry Way Studios, Minneapolis

Released: October, 1984
My age at release: 19
How familiar was I with it before this week: Not at all

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #156, up 85 places from 241 since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: I Will Dare

Let It Be album cover from The Replacements.

I knew little about the American, post-punk, rock band The Replacements until this week. Sure, I'd heard of them and knew that Paul Westerberg was their vocalist and guitarist. It was actually Westerberg who first came to my attention  in the spring of 1993 when I bought the soundtrack to the film Singles. Singles was a romantic-drama/comedy (dramedy) set in contemporary (early ‘90s) Seattle at the height of the grunge music scene -- a Generation X music phenomenon that became the dominant commercial genre in the first half of that decade.

Poster for the 1992 film Singles.

The Singles soundtrack featured Seattle-based artists from the ascendent grunge scene -- Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, Mother Love Bone and Alice In Chains. However, it also contained songs from earlier Washington state artists, including May This Be Love by Jimi Hendrix and a cover of Led Zeppelin's Battle Of Evermore from The Lovemongers (a band featuring Ann and Nancy Wilson of the group Heart). In many ways, that CD was a  mix of the music I had thoroughly enjoyed for a decade, combining  the latest new sounds coming into fashion. I recorded it along with an assortment of other songs of the day. On a mixed cassette tape that "lived" in my car stereo for most of the spring of '93 -- a time when I was going through my own twenty-something, existential malaise. (Something documented in previous blog posts).

Album cover for the soundtrack to Singles.

The soundtrack contained two songs from Westerberg, his first as a solo artist after The Replacements disbanded in the summer of 1991. Those songs, Dyslexic Heart and Waiting For Somebody, won me over and, in retrospect, I am surprised I didn't dig deeper into his catalogue. Seeing him perform on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in December, 1993, (when Charlton Heston was the host) should also have kick-started my admiration for Westerberg's talent. His performances from that show were terrific and can be seen here.

Westerberg (centre) with Heston at right. Cast of SNL, including the late Chris Farley, in rear.

Westerberg's first band, The Replacements, formed in 1979 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Initially a punk band, the group comprised Westerberg (vocals & rhythm guitar), Bob Stinson (lead guitar), his brother Tommy Stinson (bass guitar) and Chris Mars (drums).

The Replacements (l-r) T. Stinson, Westerberg, Mars, B. Stinson.

Originally called (and I love this) Dogbreath, the band technically began in 1978 when 19-year-old Bob Stinson bought his 11-year-old brother Tommy a bass guitar to keep him "off the streets". Shortly after, Bob met Mars (who first played guitar) and they began jamming songs from an eclectic mix of artists such as Ted Nugent, Aerosmith and Yes. Westerberg was working as a custodian in the office of a U.S. senator and heard the trio playing in the Stinson's garage while walking home. After a few misstarts and name changes, Westerberg joined the trio, Mars moved to drums and The Replacements were ready to hit the scene.

The Replacements (early 80s).

Let It Be was an audacious title for the band's third record -- it is, after all, the same name as the final studio record released by The Beatles (#392 on The 500). However, that cheeky choice was perfectly "on brand" for a group who approached music with a "nothing is sacred" individualistic attitude -- truly "punk rock".

Let It Be album cover by The Beatles.

There were so many tracks on this record that resonated with me -- I Will Dare, Unsatisfied and, to my delight, a cover version of Black Diamond from KISS. However, the song that struck me was Androgynous, a piano ballad penned by principal songwriter Westerberg. The song is a celebration of a romantic relationship between two gender non-conforming individuals. It expresses the hope that we are heading to a future where all people and their relationships will be accepted. Some say it was decades ahead of its time; but I am pretty sure Andy Warhol, Candy Darling, Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground would disagree, as I discussed in my May, 2022 post.

Andy Warhol and transgender actress Candy Darling.

This week, and this post, began with the recognition that "I didn't know much about The Replacements". I'll end by saying I know quite a bit now. I've read articles, watched YouTube documentaries and, most importantly, listened to Let It Be many times. I'm happy to report that I am now a fan, rectifying my lack of appreciation for the group in 1993.