by Robert Wilkinson
Our Sunday main show features all kinds of music, including prototypical rock and roll, the Cars, the Pretenders, Tom Petty, and the Flamin' Groovies. Because of the sheer number of awesome musical talents, these will be short sets of some VERY well-known music! We have some of the best of all time!
First, someone who gave us a song that’s in the running for the first rock and roll song! From wiki, “Roy Brown (September 10, 1920 – May 25, 1981) was an American R&B singer, songwriter and musician, who had a significant influence on the early development of rock and roll and the direction of R&B. His original song and hit recording "Good Rockin' Tonight" has been covered by many artists including Wynonie Harris, Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Ricky Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Doors, and the rock group Montrose. Brown was the first singer in recording history to sing R&B songs with a gospel-steeped delivery, which was then considered taboo by many churches. In addition, his melismatic, pleading vocal style influenced notable artists such as B.B. King, Bobby Bland, Elvis Presley, Jackie Wilson, James Brown and Little Richard.”
For your enjoyment, the original 1947 recording of “Good Rockin’ Tonight”
Wynonie Harris also did a hit version of the tune, and it’s the one he’s most famous for! This is always in the running for “the first Rock and Roll song!” From 1948, “Good Rockin’ Tonight”
Here’s the 1954 version by a Memphis teenager that blew the doors down and created a tsunami! “Good Rockin’ Tonight”
Here are more by Roy!
This sounds like it inspired “Heartbreak Hotel!” “Hard Luck Blues”
He ripped himself off with this one! “Rockin’ at Midnight”
From 1950, “Cadillac Baby”
Serious blues! “Long About Midnight”
We’ll close with his version of the Fats Domino standard, “Let the Four Winds Blow”
Here’s the entire 1977 album Laughing But Crying
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We're also celebrating the birthday of Chrissie Hynde (September 7, 1951) of the Pretenders! She has one of the most recognizable voices in music, and an extraordinary history. She is one tough lady!
Written by boyfriend Ray Davies, here’s the Pretenders at Live Aid in 1985 doing “Stop Your Sobbin.” Also from that legendary show, “Back on the Chain Gang,” “Middle of the Road” and “Message of Love”
Going back a few years, from 1979 on Top of the Pops,, “Brass In Pocket”
From 1980, “Talk of the Town”
Live on KCRW, Chrissie gives us an acoustic solo performance of “I Go To Sleep”
From 1981, “Message of Love”
On Rockpalast in 1981, “Day After Day”
Live in London, “Back On The Chain Gang”
The awesome ”Middle of the Road”
From 1995, “2000 Miles”
We’ll close with a live 2003 performance of “Don’t Get Me Wrong”
For our encore, a 37 minute set from 2016! The Pretenders Live in 2016 (“Alone,” “Gotta Wait,” “Let's Get Lost,” “Down The Wrong Way,” “I Hate Myself,” “Private Life,” “Death Is Not Enough,” “Holy Commotion,” and “Tattooed Love Boys”)
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Besides Chrissie (and Buddy!), September 7 was also the birthday of the amazing talent Benmont Tench (September 7, 1953), keyboardist and founding member of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers! Again, due to time constraints, I can’t do a full set of his work this year, but if you want to hear his fantastic keyboard work, please go to The 2022 Happy Birthday to Tom Petty (and I promise all the links will be updated in a few weeks!)
For a treat, he also did the keyboards on one of my favorite John Hiatt tunes, "Shredding the Documents"
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We now rock, and rock hard, to the music of Chris Wilson (September 10, 1952) who replaced Roy Loney as the singer and second guitarist of the legendary Flamin’ Groovies, one of the great obscure bands in history. Out of San Fran, they were some of the hardest rocking music in the world between 1965 and 1992. Once you hear them, you’ll understand why the Groovies are a rock and roll legend!
He took over lead vocals at a crucial point in the group’s history, and ushered in a major renewal! Their 4th album was hugely influential! Invoking the British Invasion, they took power pop into the stratosphere with the title song “Shake Some Action”
It’s reappeared! For your enjoyment, the entire 1976 album Shake Some Action
Because I assembled these links in other years, I’ll leave them up in case you don’t want to do the entire album. Here’s 3 from the album! ”Shake Some Action,” “Sometimes,” and “Yes It’s True”
Here's the rest of the album in order of the song list.
In 1978, they changed record companies, and moved in a "Beatleesque" direction. The next 2 albums were produced by the great Dave Edmunds, and feature some great music! From that year, the seminal Flamin' Groovies Now which they followed in 1979 with Jumpin' In the Night. Here’s the rocking title track! Jumpin' In the Night
We’ll begin to close this tribute with a great video from French tv in 1972 of the Groovies cranking out “Little Queenie,” “Slow Death,” and “Roll Over Beethoven”
Here's an undated performance clip of the early Groovies cranking out “Slow Death”
I found it again! Here’s a great 26 minute live set in 1987 at “Sala The End” in the Basque country! Flamin’ Groovies Live in Basque Country - 1987
Our closer is a two part 21 minute set from Stuttgart in 1987! Flamin’ Groovies Live in Germany 1987 Pt.1 and Flamin’ Groovies Live in Germany 1987 Pt. 2
Our encore is this great 1986 tv performance of “Shake Some Action”
Our second encore features the reunited Flamin' Groovies in an hour and 22 from Wien in June 2015! The music begins about 5 minutes in, and the party begins with classic Groovies! The Flamin' Groovies: live at Arena Wien - 2015
Our third encore features the first original music by the Groovies since 1993! Fantastic Plastic (2017) features the classic FG lineup doing their best to sound like a mashup of the classic Groovies, with an occasional dash of Byrds, Stones, Blue Oyster Cult, and psychedelic surf guitar. From that album.
“I’d Rather Spend My Time With You”
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We close our show with the phenomenal talent of Benjamin Orr (September 8, 1947 – October 3, 2000), the bassist, vocalist, and co-founder of the rock band the Cars. He sang lead on a bunch of their best, including "Just What I Needed", "Let's Go" and "Drive.” Today we’ll focus on his work with the Cars! I have some great live shows with him on lead vocals!
Live in 1978, “Good Times Roll”
Live on The Midnight Special in 1978, an extraordinary two-fer where Ben takes lead vocals on the first and Ric takes it on the second! “Just What I Needed” and “My Best Friend’s Girl” (We were all young and beautiful back then ...)
From 1978, “Moving In Stereo”
Very live, also in 1978, “All Mixed Up”
Live in 1979 on The Midnight Special, a fantastic performance of “Let’s Go”
A great performance of “It’s All I Can Do”
Live in the mid-80s, “Candy-O”
The official music video for “The Dangerous Type”
From 1980, “Don’t Tell Me No”
A great live performance of one of my favorite Cars songs! “Since You’re Gone”
Time to shake it! “Shake It Up”
Live in 1981, “Think It Over”
The dynamic “Drive”
Live in Philly in 1987, “You Might Think”
After the cars, he had a very successful solo career. Here’s a tune from his solo work. Live in 1995, here’s “Stay The Night”
We’ll close this brief tribute with their 16 minute live set at Live Aid! The Cars Live at Live Aid - 1985
Last year’s first encore was a two part electrifying set titled “The Cars Live 1978” with a set list of “You´re All I've Got Tonight,” “Good Times Roll,” “ “Bye Bye Love,” and “My Best Friend’s Girl,” “Nightspots,” “Don´t´cha Stop,” and “All Mixed Up” but it’s gone.
This year, our first encore is The Cars Live in Illinois 1978 (“Good Times Roll,” “ “Bye Bye Love,” “Nightspots,” “My Best Friend’s Girl,” “Moving in Stereo,” “Don´t´cha Stop,” “When You Gonna Lay Me Down,” “You´re All I've Got Tonight,” “Just What I Needed,” “Take What You Want,” and “Hotel Queenie.”)
Our second encore is 55 minutes from July 1978 in Cleveland! The Cars Live in Cleveland 1978 (“Good Times Roll,” “ “Bye Bye Love,” “Nightspots,” “I’m In Touch With Your World,” “My Best Friend’s Girl,” “Moving in Stereo,” “All Mixed Up,” “Take What You Want,” “Don´t´cha Stop,” “You´re All I've Got Tonight,” “Just What I Needed,” “Hotel Queenie,” and “Something Else.”)
For the third encore, from Rock Goes to College - The Cars in 1979, 40 minutes of pure gold! The Cars – Rock Goes to College
© Copyright 2023 Robert Wilkinson
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