Disc 3
1) Move Over - Steppenwolf
Critics hated them, I loved them. Goldy McJohn is one of the more interesting keyboard players from the sixties and seventies, and he had the best fro. To me, these were the coolest looking guys around. I saw them on the Steppenwolf 7 tour in Knoxville in early April of 71. Nothing sounded as good as the Steppenwolf Live stuff, but I had a good seat and view of the entire band. John Kay, who played guitar on nearly every song, used two clear Armstrong guitars. I'm not sure cool really covers it.
2) The Train Kept A-Rollin - The Yardbirds
Why weren't these guys more popular? The original line-up featured Eric Clapton, who was replaced by Jeff Beck, who was joined, and later replaced, by Jimmy Page. Check out the Beck/Page team in the Antonioni movie Blow Up. When Beck left, Page began to mold the remaining members into a kind of pre-Led Zep format, including covering the song Dazed and Confused. Singer and harmonica player Keith Relf (who, with the band, toured with Sonny Boy Williamson 2 in 1964) exhibited astonishing vocal abilities in those days. After a 1968 American tour the band split. Led Zep's first gigs were billed as The New Yardbirds to honor Page's contracted obligations. Anyway, Train's a great rave-up. It keeps a-rollin.
3) The Rapper - The Jaggerz
How the fuck did this get in here? Oh well, it's still a pretty snappy number. Listen closely and you'll hear a wildly buzzing bass when they go into the chorus. It'd be a lie to say I didn't like it.
4) A Hit by Varese - Chicago
From the same album that brought us Saturday in the Park, this song has an urgency that many of the band's later hits lacked (Wishing You Were Here? Comon.). The title is curious. Edgard, or Edgar, Varese was a French/American composer on the very cutting edge of classical orchestral music during his career (he died in 1965). His music is as out there as it gets. His electronic music was some of the first to marry electronic tone generation to a more traditional orchestra. Varese was Frank Zappa's idol. One of Chicago's producers was a former Zappa bass player named Jim Fielder. Maybe that's the connection. Who knows?
5) Black Queen - Stephen Stills
Stills is a real player. From another world. There's really not much to say because the song speaks all for itself. I first encountered it in the summer of 71 after receiving a large cache of 27 albums for signing 9 people to the Record Club of America. Wonder whatever happened to that company? At least Stills is still around.
6) Exciter - Judas Priest
A friend told me the exciter is the anti-christ. Probably. I saw JP with Billy and his brother Jeff (after a drunken sleep-over at Billy's Kingsport apartment) in 1981. Jeff drove me back to Madisonville (which took nearly three hours) after the Johnson City concert. I'd left my car at my granny's and ended up sleeping in her carport before driving home the next morning.
7) Surfin Bird - The Trashmen
If Surfin Bird doesn't shake you outta your complacency nothing will. One of the wildest songs to make the charts, and that included the psychedelic era. The Trashmen don't compete with surf music, they nuke it.
8) Beyond - The Chantays
From the guys who brought you Pipeline. I discovered the song on a cassette compilation of Surf guitarists that I bought at Dollar General Store. The Fender Rhodes piano part really connects with the guitars. You can watch The Chantays' perform on YouTube.
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