Happy Crowley-Ween?

Wanna have some real fun this October, kids? Well, let me tell you how. First, dust off your old Ozzy Osbourne vinyl LPs. Don’t worry, you won’t even have to play them backwards! See if you can find Ozzy’s solo debut album “Blizzard of Oz” (1980) or “Tribute” (1987) or even “The Essential Ozzy Osbourne” (2003). The song you’re looking for is NOT the dance sensation that’s sweeping the nation. It starts with some heavy organ sounds and it’s called “Mr. Crowley”.

The song is about an English dude named Aleister Crowley. I believe his other monikers were “The Wickedest Man in the World” and “The Great Beast 666”. I’d hate to face anyone with those nicknames in a boxing ring. Crowley lived during the years 1875 and 1947. He was definitely into The Occult and Black Magic. What else? I guess he was a bisexual mountaineer as well.

Crowley has some credibility in the rock n roll world, even if he didn’t play guitar. He was one of those folks on the cover of The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper” album. Also, Led Zeppelin’s guitar wizard Jimmy Page was into Crowley. Page bought Crowley’s home “Boleskin House”, which is near Loch Ness. Why didn’t Crowley just add “Loch Ness Monster” to his nicknames as well? I glanced at some YouTube videos about Crowley, Page, and Boleskin recently. The Led Zeppelin song “Since I’ve Been Loving You” appeared on those searches, too.

I don’t think the song has anything to do with Crowley per se, but it’s dark sounding minor blues so it seems appropriate. Also, a Crowley expression, “Do what thou wilt” was apparently inscribed on Led Zeppelin III vinyl if I’m not mistaken.

I don’t know if I’ve done justice to the essence of Mr. Crowley, but maybe I’m better off not knowing.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Broken Hearted Zeppelin

Do you remember where and when you first HEARD the music of Led Zeppelin? I remember seeing a poster or tapestry of the band at my cousins’ house before I actually heard them. (The red double neck Gibson guitar was a memorable image. ) My freshman year in high school, there were two guys in my class who were both absolutely fanatical about the band. As a matter of fact, I can remember walking into the school building first thing one morning, and one of those guys was singing/humming/air guitaring the riff to a song off Led Zeppelin II — “Heartbreaker.”

If you think I jumped on the bandwagon because of them, you’re wrong. I was actually quite put off by their loyalty. (For the record, one guy was kind of a big oaf who was into photography and the other had a sort denture-ish lisp. I could duplicate it really well.) In any event, I was just getting into music at that age and bought Led Zeppelin II (AKA “The Brown Bomber”) and it ROCKED. LZ II is up there on my favorite albums list. My college roommate can tell you I played that “Heartbreaker” guitar riff a lot when I was first getting started.

I read a quote from LZ lead singer Robert Plant about how “lyrics weren’t his strong suit” or something like that. I suppose some are better than others, but I find myself quoting one line from “Heartbreaker” a lot.

Then the power chords from the song kick in after that line. To me, the song is epic. Jimmy Page’s riff and solo, Plant’s wailing vocals, and the rhythm section of Jones and Bonham. All 4 band members are credited with writing thise one.

The A.O.R. (Album Oriented Rock) station I grew up listening to played this and always followed it the “Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman)”, but I think “Heartbreaker” stands on it own. Also, I owned the CASSETTE version of LZ II and it didn’t segue into that song.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Boogie with Yipes

Sad news. In case you missed it, Fruit Stripe Gum is being discontinued after a 50 year run. I suppose the name tells it all…it was a super sweet, multi-colored feast for not only the taste buds, but the eyes, too. The packaging and look was kind of fun . Apparently, the zebra mascot’s official name was Yipes, which will be a great trivia question.

I’ve already used Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti” in a previous blog so I’m including Led Zeppelin’s “Boogie with Stu” which features the lyric, “I don’t want no Tutti Frutti , no lollipop.” It seems appropriate.

The “Stu” is boogie woogie piano player Ian Stewart who is more closely associated with The Rolling Stones than Led Zep, but you get the idea. I believe Zeppelin used the Stones’ mobile recording studio and that’s when the jam and recording happened. The 4 LZ members shared writing credits with Stewart and Ritchie Valens. If this is making your head hurt, just listen to Valens’ “Ooh, My Head.”

It’s weird how the Valens’ tune morphed into a song on LZ’s “Physical Graffiti” album, but I guess this blog morphed from a zebra striped gum thing into this. Fruit Stripe Gum customers used to get a Yipes tattoo with the multi-colored, striped gum. I hope that didn’t drive them out of business.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

BW LZ

When the idea of “colorizing” old black and white movies came out, I hated it. To date, I can’t say my opinion has really changed much about it. I know there are some WW II programs on Netflix which offer the same kind of thing. I really don’t see the need for it. Call me old fashioned, but I have no problem with black and white. This leads me to Led Zeppelin’s first TV appearance in 1969.

I have always gotten a kick out of watching this performance — Is it because Robert Plant looks extremely young in it or because of the romance of black and white footage? Either way, I think “How Many More Times” is an underrated track from the Led Zeppelin “I” album.

It’s hard for me to pick my favorite elements of this song, but I’ll try. Whether listening to the album version or this live one, John Bonham’s drumming always catches my ear. (This is a good one to search YouTube for drum covers.) I love the Wah effect Jimmy Page uses on the intro as well. I’ve never been an enormous fan of the whole violin bow thing, but I think it produces some unique sounds.

In my mind, Page looks pretty cool with that Telecaster. (By the way there’s a video about it on the Fender website for the true guitar nerds.) I really enjoy the interplay between Robert Plant’s jazzy-bluesy vocals and Page’s guitar, too. You hear a foreshadowing of the middle vocals of “Whole Lotta Love”, and there’s also a snippet of “The Hunter” by Albert King (one of the first songs I deemed blog-worthy).

Maybe I just like the black and white because it keeps with theme of their first album cover.

Viva, Zeppelin! Viva, Black & White!

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Lemon Squeezed Blues

Led Zeppelin. Four English dudes who could really play, but also got their hands caught in the blues- songwriting-plagiarism cookie jar. Despite that, I am a fan. I would say LZ is the one band which really made me realize I like, if not love, blues music. Personally, their first two albums (self-titled, and the cleverly titled Led Zeppelin II) are my favorites.

If you are into the blues and/or Led Zeppelin, I would recommend the band’s BBC Sessions recording. Somewhere in the P.G.E. (Post Grunge Era), I snagged the double cassette version of this one and was not disappointed. When it was released in 1997, classic rock radio picked up on their cover of Robert Johnson’s “Travelling Riverside Blues” and it got plenty of airplay.

While I think our radio friends tried to run this one into the ground back in the day, I actually enjoyed listening to it today. The song starts with a sort of excuse-me slide guitar intro by Jimmy Page then legendary drummer John Bonham and the others lock into the groove. I could be wrong….maybe it’s the mix, but it sounds like Bonham’s drums are sort of in the background on this one. LZ’s lyrics are completely different than the original, but around the 3:30 mark you hear Robert Plant throw in several references to the mysterious, influential, epic blues dude Robert Johnson.

“Why don’t you come into my kitchen
She’s a kindhearted lady. She studies evil all the time
She’s a kindhearted woman. She studies evil all the time

Squeeze my lemon ’til the juice runs down my leg
Squeeze it so hard, I’ll fall right out of bed
Squeeze my lemon, ’til the juice runs down my leg”

Here is the original/inspiration.

There’s also “The Lemon Song” on Led Zeppelin II, but I digress. My other bluesy favorites on BBC Sessions are the ten-minute version of the Willie Dixon/J.B. Lenoir tune “You Shook Me”, which was originally recorded by Muddy Waters if I’m not mistaken. Not only that, but there are two versions of the Willie Dixon-penned “I Can’t Quit You, Baby.”

There are other oddities (“The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair”, “Sunshine Woman”) and choices on BBC Sessions including live versions of “Stairway to Heaven” and “The Immigrant Song”, but the bluesy stuff works best for me. Some blues purists may not like The Mighty Balloon, but I do. Call it blues rock if it makes you feel better…then go squeeze a Led Lemon.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Art, Imitation, or Plagiarism – Volume II

It’s time for another installment of Art, Imitation, or Plagiarism, where I, the music fan/blogger, give you examples and you decide which category applies to these songs.

Round I: Originally, I thought Stevie Wonder pulled a Grinch on Rod Stewart and company, but it could be the other way around. According to Wikipedia, Wonder’s song “Someday at Christmas” was written by Ron Miller and Brian Wells and was released in 1967.

Sound familiar? Perhaps the 1978 Rod Stewart/Gary Grainger composition “I Was Only Joking” rings a bell?

Stevie Wonder and co. get the decision on my scorecard.

Round II might as well be a battle royal because it involves Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Small Faces, and Led Zeppelin. Years ago, I remember reading that the Mighty Metal Balloon might have “borrowed” a few things from some legendary blues musicians like Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield) and others. Is Led Zeppelin II’s “Whole Lotta Love” derived from “You Need Love”?

The song recorded by Muddy Waters was written by THE blues songwriting genius, Willie Dixon, but it’s not that simple. I didn’t hear until recently that Small Faces also released a version of the song.

https://youtu.be/3_pYjcoXG5c

Now that sounds another step closer to “Whole Lotta Love”.

For the record, Led Zeppelin II featuring “Whole Lotta Love” is one of my favorite albums and I love the song. I used to start every road trip to/from college with this on cassette tape. However, it seems Page/Plant eventually had to settle with Willie Dixon. For more info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Lotta_Love.

I’m sure there will be other installments of Art, Imitation, or Plagiarism, but for now, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Art, Imitation, or Plagiarism – Volume I

Somewhere along the line there’s a quote about all art being imitation. Whatever. The gist of it is that everything comes from somewhere. Musically speaking, an artist’s original music is still inspired by everything he/she has heard. But where do you draw the line?

Recently, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin fame had to get “lawyered up” to defend their song “Stairway to Heaven” because it bore resemblance to “Taurus” by Spirit. In the end, it went to court, but the jury sided with the Mighty Metal Balloon.

There are lots of other what-if scenarios. One that stands out in my mind is the 90s smash hit “Don’t Speak” by No Doubt. It got TONS of radio airplay. Every time I heard the opening guitar chords, I’d start singing “Take a look at my girlfriend…” from the song “Breakfast in America” by Supertramp. I don’t think the song is a ripoff, but the opening chord is the same. C minor if I’m not mistaken. Check out the first 6 seconds of each.

Another example is The Beatles “Octopus’ s Garden” (released in 1969 ) vs. Ronnie Milsap’s 1978 recording of “Back on My Mind Again”. According to Wikipedia, the Milsap song was written by Conrad Pierce and Charles Quillen.

Do you think there were still a few copies of Abbey Road floating around in the 70s? You be the judge. My mind is already made up.

https://youtu.be/FtAQZMFBpDk

Come on, dude, you had some hits, but you’re not fooling anybody.

Another example involving The Beatles was pointed out to me by a guitar teacher. He was talking about The Cars’ hit “My Best Friend’s Girl.” He said “they totally ripped off that guitar riff from a song on The White Album.” This one isn’t as obvious, but he was talking about the McCartney ballad “I Will”. I’ve tried to cue these up to the appropriate staring points.

Listen to :17-20 seconds into the Beatles song and compare to :33-43 or so of The Cars. What do you think? Personally, I don’t gain anything from copyright lawsuits either way. I just hear certain songs and my ears jump to conclusions.

In the next installment, we’ll see if Stevie Wonder ripped off Rod Stewart just in time for Christmas. Wait a minute… Ric Ocasek, Ronnie Milsap, Stevie Wonder….maybe it has something to do with the shades? You be the judge.

Till next time, keep rocking and keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

p.s. Yes, I ripped off the copyright logo just to make a point 😉