Joan Osborne was accompanied by multi-talented Keith Cotton, Cotton played piano, keyboards, guitar and provided harmonies. The dude is crazy talented.
A laid back relaxing concert. This was part concert, part music history lesson. Miss Osborne shared some of her experiences with the remaining members of the Grateful Dead, Mavis Staples, Motown and the songs of Bob Dylan. Joan and Keith put on a great show and they have a lot of chemistry. Miss Osborne still has that amazingly strong, raspy voice. She also has a lively sense-of-humor. (I wondered are they couple or not? Not that it matters, just wondering.) My only complaint is I wish they would have performed "Right Hand Man":
1) "I Want To Be Loved" (Muddy Waters cover)
2) "Shake Your Hips" (Slim Harpo cover)
3) "St. Teresa" (from "Relish") Miss Osborne noted the twentieth anniversary of "Relish"- that was actually last year. That by far is her best CD, a CD every music lover should have.
4) "Angel From Montgomery" (Bonnie Raitt cover)
5) "Broke Down Palace" (Grateful Dead cover)
6) "Sugaree" (Grateful Dead cover):
7) "Work On Me" (From "Love and Hate"- with Joan accompanying herself on shaker egg)
8) "Bury Me On The Battery" (From "Little Wild One")
9) "Little Wild One"
10) "Buckets of Rain" (Bob Dylan cover)
11) "Tangled Up In Blue" (Bob Dylan cover) I loved their version of this song, sadly there's not a good YouTube video of their performance of "Tangled".
12) "Freedom" a song Joan wrote for Mavis Staples. Staples has yet to record it so live performance is the "only place it exists".
13) "Spiderwebs" (from "Relish):
14) "One of Us" (from "Relish", with a slowed down arrangement that loses some of the magic of the original.)
Encore:
15) "What Become of the Brokenhearted" (Jimmy Ruffin cover) this video features The Funk Brothers who was the band on all those great early Motown hits. The Funk Brothers are featured in the 2002 movie "Standing In The Shadows of Motown".
Just who is Poison? The classic lineup is Bret Michaels, lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Rikki Rockett, drums and percussion, Bobby Dall, bassist, C.C. Deville, lead guitar.
Poison is probably best know for their first few CDs, the solid "Look What The Cat Dragged In", the disappointing "Open Up and Say....Ahh!" and the surprisingly mature "Flesh & Blood". That last CD has 10 of the 21 songs on this countdown. They expanded their sound, had more mature lyrics and had grown as a band. I was surprised how much I liked their third CD.
If you don't know what my #1 Poison song is then you've never read this blog. Although "Open Up.." is the weakest of their first 3 CDs, it has three of the top four songs on my countdown.
10) "Let It Play":
9) "Cry Tough":
8) "Ride The Wind":
7) "Unskinny Bop":
6) "(Flesh & Blood) Sacrifice":
5) "Talk Dirty To Me":
4) "Nothin' But A Good Time":
3) "I Want Action":
2) Fallen Angel":
Oh yeah one of the greatest songs ever, definitely a Top 500 song. 1) "Every Rose Has It's Thorn":
I'm skipping the #58 band for now, no you don't need to shout about it!! But my #57 band is the Bret Michaels and the C.C. Deville led Poison. Over two blogs I'm going to count down the 20 best songs from their first 3 CDs, "Look What The Cat Dragged In", "Flesh & Blood" and "Open Up and Say... Ahh!"
I think this song sums up most of Poison's songs quite well, 21) "Want Some, Need Some":
Thanks again to underscoopfire.com for the foundation for these six blogs. Of all the 15 bands that underscoopfire.com listed I have ranked Whitesnake at #1. They started at #1 and after listening to music from all 15 bands, they stayed at #1. Of all the two hit titans, they are the only band also on my Top 106 80's bands. According to underscoopfire's criteria of what a hit is, their two hits were "Here I Go Again" and "Is This Love". Again they may have had only two official hits, but they had so many great songs in the 80s. By my criteria Whitesnake had 12 hits. Also Whitesnake loved the concept of love- but most rock bands really mean sex when they say love.
"Fool For Your Loving":
"Now You're Gone":
"The Deeper The Love":
"Slide It In":
"Slow An' Easy":
"Love Ain't No Stranger":
"Crying In The Rain":
Sure this is a Led Zeppelin rip off, but it's a great Led Zeppelin rip off. I'm not sure why this song wasn't a big hit, it's a great song. "Still of The Night":
So again a refresher course of what I'm doing here. Thanks to underscoopfire.com for the basis of this blog. My fellow blogger found 15 two hit titans, essentially bands who had two, and no more than three, hit songs. While that's a perfectly good rationale, the question I have is what is a hit? Does it have to land on Billboard's charts, did it have to be well known, did it make a lasting cultural impact? Just what does a song need in order to be a hit? Technically many of Led Zeppelin's songs weren't hits as they weren't released as singles. Although I can't think of a band that has more great songs- no, not the Beatles. For Corey Hart "It Ain't Enough" wasn't a "hit", but does that mean it's not a "hit"? For the purposes of this blog I'm counting any great song a hit, even if it wasn't ever a traditionally defined "hit". Then I went through and ranked all 15 musicians in order according to how many "hit" songs and how much I liked that musician.
Originally Howard Jones was #4 on my rankings. However after listening to music from all 15 bands Ho Jo, as we called him in the 80's, moved up to #2. I'd forgotten how many great songs he had. According to underscoopfire's criteria, Ho Jo's two actual hits were "Things Can Only Get Better" and the absolutely amazing "No One Is To Blame." According to my criteria Jones had 10 hits.
We've reached the top 4 in this blog series. Originally Simply Red was #2 on my rankings. Their hits are "Holding Back The Years" and "If You Don't Know Me By Now". But besides those two songs, they have 7 other great songs. Simply Red finishes at #4. Here are a few of their songs, I'll eventually add all of them to this blog.
"Money's Too Tight (To Mention):
"For Your Babies":
"Something Got Me Started":
"The Right Thing":
It's Only Love":
"If You Don't Me By Now":
"Stars":
"Heaven":
Without a doubt, their best song. This aching, melancholy classic. "Holding Back The Years":
#3) Originally The Power Station was #12 on my list, but then I listened to their amazing first CD. I pretty much only knew that CD for "Some Like It Hot" and "Get It On (Bang A Gong) which are their two "real" hits. Both songs reached the Top Ten. But besides those two great songs, they also have six other great songs.
"Some Like It Hot":
"Murderess":
"Communication":
"Get It On (Bang A Gong)":
"Go To Zero":
"Harvest For The World":
"Still In Your Heart":
Essentially a reworking of "Some Like It Hot", but I still like "The Heat Is On":
Now it's time for Part 3 of this blog series. Briefly a blogger, who's website is underscoopfire.com, has created a list of 15 "two hit titans" from the 80's. I've taken that list and ranked those 15 artists by how many hits they have. For terms of hits in this blog series, I count any good or great song as a hit. Not so much a song that soared to #1 or sold a lot of copies. Just a good or great song equals a hit. The term "hit" is nebulous enough, so why can't I have my own definition of hit?
Number 7 on this list is FYC, aka Fine Young Cannibals. Originally FYC was #7 on my rankings. After listening to a bunch of music by all 15 bands, they remain at #7. According to underscoopfire's criteria, their two hits were "She Drives Me Crazy" and "Good Thing". But those aren't the only songs that were hits according to my criteria.
"She Drives Me Crazy":
"Good Thing":
"Suspicious Minds":
"Don't Look Back":
Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, originally they were were #3, but some other bands passed them by. Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam have now dropped to #6. I still love their great songs.
"I Wonder If I Take You Home":
One of my all-time favorite songs! "All Cried Out":
"Lost In Emotion":
"Head To Toe":
Don't sass me young man, you refer to me as sir or mister. In fact just call me Mr. Mister. Mr. Mister was #5 on the original rankings. After listening to their music they soared all the way to #5. I know of three of their great songs "Is It Love", "Broken Wings" and "Kyrie"- the last two being their official hits. As I listened to their debut CD I realized they had several at least very good songs.
"Is It Love":
I know you hear this a lot from me, but this is one of the greatest songs of all-time. "Broken Wings":
Not to be confused with the Adam and the Ants "Stand and Deliver":
I originally had Wang Chung at #8, mainly because I could think of their three great songs. And after listening to their music I could still only think of three great songs. Honestly other than the lead single, I was disappointed by their "To Live and Die In LA" soundtrack.
"Dance Hall Days":
"Everybody Have Fun Tonight":
"To Live and Die In LA":
When I originally wrote up my Top 15 list for this blog, I had Mike + The Mechanics at #6. After listening to a lot of music by each of these 15 bands, they have dropped 4 notches. That's not a reflection on them so much, it's mainly a reflection of some of the other bands that have so many more amazing songs than I realized. For Mike + The Mechanics they had 3 hits. Again for the purposes of this blog, I define a hit as a great song. That's even if it wasn't considered a hit when it was originally released.
"Silent Running":
"All I Need Is A Miracle":
A great song about the complicated relationship between many fathers and sons. "The Living Years":
Crowded House was originally was # 11 on my initial rankings of these 15 musicians. After listening to their music, they've moved up to #9. Their two hits were "Something So Strong" and the amazing "Don't Dream It's Over". But they also had a couple of other good songs.
"Something So Strong":
"Don't Dream It's Over":
"Chocolate Cake":
"Mean To Me":
Up next is #8. On my initial rankings for these 15 Two Hit Titans, they were #9. After listening to a bunch of songs Europe moved up to #8. Obviously their two hits are "The Final Countdown" and "Carrie". "Rock The Night" is a decent song, but "Cherokee" should have been bigger when released.
"The Final Countdown":
I'd like to thank the website underscoopfire.com for providing the fifteen bands on this and how many other blogs it takes. I've already written multiple versions of the greatest one hit wonders of the 80s, so for this blog I wanted to branch out a bit. Thanks to underscoopfire.com for giving me the 15 bands and I'd like to say job well done. I took those bands and ranked them from #15 to #1. If you can't wait to see the bands, go to the above website. I'll be counting down the bands
This is the criteria Scoop, as I'll call him or her, used to determine this list:
"First, let me give you a little explanation of how I classified the following bands. To become a Two Hit Titan of the 80s in my book, the artists must have charted two songs (no more than three) in the top ten of the US Billboard Hot 100 charts. These two hits must be there only songs to chart in the top ten at any point in their career. Also, many of these bands (even the one hit wonders) have had success in other countries, but for our purposes, we will focus on their success in the US."
While that's a perfectly good rationale, the question I have is what is a hit? Does it have to land on Billboard's charts, does it have to be well known, does it have to make a lasting cultural impact? Just what does a song need in order to be a hit? Technically many of Led Zeppelin's songs weren't hits as they weren't released as singles. Although I can't think of a band that has more great songs- no not the Beatles. For Corey Hart "It Ain't Enough" wasn't a "hit", but does that mean it's not a hit? For the purposes of this blog I'm counting any great song as a hit, even if it wasn't ever a traditionally defined "hit".
Originally Corey Hart was # 15 on this list. After listening to several songs from both The Cutting Crew and Tone Loc, I moved Hart past both of them. My new #15 artist is Tone Loc. His two most famous, and frankly only good songs, are ones he collaborated on with Young MC. In terms of a hit, should Loc or Young MC be considered to have had the hit? Would Loc have gained any measure of fame without the help of Young MC? I'm not sure, but Young MC was fine solo as he hit #7 with his song "Bust A Move". But it didn't really matter as both disappeared fairly quickly.
Those two made me think of MC Hammer, who believe it or not, actually had 5 hits. Give yourself a pat on the back and then go out and get a life if you can name all 5 songs. They are "U Can't Touch This", "Have U Seen Her", "Pray", "Too Legit To Quit" and "Addams Groove".
"Wild Thing":
"Funky Cold Medina":
Let's give a little love to "Bust A Move"- which is probably the best of the 3 songs:
#14 is Terence Trent D'arby, originally he was #10 on my list. After I listened to his music I realized he only had those two magnificent and sublime classics. The rest of his musical output isn't very good. He suffered much the same fate as Tone Loc. But to paraphrase a famous movie, we'll always have those two amazing songs.
"Wishing Well":
Just how many children were conceived to this song? "Sign Your Name" (Live):
My now # 13 band proves that lightning can strike in the same place as they had two "hits". However they also had another pretty good song, see below. "(I Just) Died In Your Arms":
"I've Been In Love Before":
Not the greatest song ever, but a perfectly good song "Any Colour":
For artist # 12, Corey Hart, the songs Scoop lists are "Sunglasses At Night" (which was a song that I thought was silly when it was originally released and it's still silly) :
No doubt this is his best song, "Never Surrender":
According to Scoop's criteria, this song isn't a "hit". However I think this is a great song. "It Ain't Enough":
This best of the rest covers the CDs from 1977's self-titled debut to 1987's "Inside Information". That last CD is a fairly solid CD. I briefly considered 1991's "Unusual Heat" to be eligible for this blog While that does have some decent songs, it didn't feel right when the singer was no longer Lou Gramm. This best of the rest doesn't consider the 7 Foreigner songs that are on my May 25th, 2016 blog. Those songs are the great "Jukebox Hero", "Dirty White Boy", "Hot Blooded", "I Want To Know What Love Is", "Feels Like The First Time", "Urgent" and "Cold As Ice".
Thanks to Wikipedia the six founding members of Foreigner are Dennis Elliot, drums, percussion and vocals (1976 to 1992), Lou Gramm, lead singer, (1976-1990 and 1992 to 2003), Al Greenwood, keyboards and synth (1976-1980), Ian McDonald, multi-instrumentalist, (1976-1980), Ed Gagliardi, guitar and vocals (1976-1979, died in 2014) and Mr. Mick Jones. He's the ultimate Foreigner, he has been with the band since it's bicentennial inception to right now. Jones plays lead guitar, keyboards, synth, bass and vocals.
10) "Back Where You Belong":
9) "Night Life":
8) "Love Has Taken It's Toll":
7) "That Was Yesterday":
6) "I Don't Want To Live Without Your Love":
5) "Say You Will":
4) "Long, Long Way From Home":
3) "Head Games":
2) "Blue Morning, Blue Day":
It feels so un rock and roll to pick a ballad as their #1 best of their rest songs. But I don't think anyone can deny the power of a great ballad, especially this amazing ballad. It's just a great song!!
1) "Waiting For A Girl Like You":
In an attempt to write a quick blog and get it published on a likely busy day, my first Bryan Adams blog only had 7 songs on it. I published that blog on May 26th, 2016. Obviously Adams had a lot more great songs than the below seven. The last couple of weeks I've been crying to finish partial blogs and add additional blogs when it feels appropriate- as it does with the great Bryan Adams. The songs are taken from 1980's "Bryan Adams" to 1991's "Waking Up The Neighbors". The seven songs on that first blog are "Summer of '69", "Heaven", "This Time", "Run To You", "Straight From The Heart", "Somebody" and "Cuts Like A Knife".
13) "Give Me Your Love":
12) "Vanishing":
11) "She's Only Happy When She's Dancing":
10) "Do I Have To Say The Words":
9) "Wastin' Time" (no video available)
8) "Don't Leave Me Lonely": This is the best video that I could find:
7) "Heat of the Night":
6) "Ain't Gonna Cry":
5) "One Night Love Affair":
4) "Long Gone":
3) "It's Only Love":
I'd completely forgotten about this song, I love this song. 2) "Can't Stop This Thing We've Started":
Are you ready to take a joyride, did you dress for success, would you like to go to the church of your heart. Just remember not to do anything dangerous and when in doubt listen to your heart. Because you know you don't want to be sleeping in your car. Here's Roxette 10 best songs, all aboard.
10) "Fading Like A Flower":
9) "The Church of Your Heart":
8) "Joyride":
7) "Dangerous":
6) "Spending My Time":
5) "Listen To Your Heart":
4)"Sleeping In My Car":
Is there a more sad lyric in pop music than "It must have been love, but it's over now." 3) "It Must Have Been Love":
Although I've moved The Pretenders down these rankings, they're still way too high. I always thought The Pretenders were a good band but I only have 7 of their songs on my iTunes. They do have some very cool songs, below is my Top 16 Pretenders songs. Those 16 songs were taken from their first 5 CDs, from 1980's Pretenders" (which contains the classic "Brass In Pocket") to 1990's "Packed". Obviously their 1984 CD "Learning To Crawl" is their classic CD. 7 of the 10 songs on this countdown come from "Crawl". After their less than first two good CDs, this CD should have been called "Learning To Run". That was the Pretenders peak and it was a good peak.
Usually I like to write down the main musicians of a band that I'm profiling, but for the Pretenders it's a bit scatter shot. But this band had it's share of bad luck and bad decisions. Everyone knows Chrissie Hynde, but who else played in The Pretenders? From Wikipedia:
"Bassist Pete Farndon's drug abuse escalated and he was fired after a meeting between Hynde, Honeyman-Scott and Chambers, on 14 June 1982. Two days later, on 16 June 1982, guitarist James Honeyman-Scott died of heart failure as a result of cocaine intolerance. Farndon was in the midst of forming a new band with former Clash drummer Topper Headon (who was also a heroin addict and left the band, unable to cope), when he was found dead on 14 April 1983 by his wife. After taking heroin and passing out, Farndon drowned in his bathtub, leaving the Pretenders with two living members."
Before Prince died he was notorious for not allowing his music on Youtube- unless it suited his purposes. Before he died it was hard to find his music performed by him on Youtube. However I had a feeling when Prince died, his music was going to be all over Youtube. It's because I knew the people making decisions about Prince's music would be financially compensated for those rights. Prince didn't need the money. Then just like that his music would be on Youtube. With the April 21st death of the great Prince weighing heavy on my mind still, I was wondering what videos are available on Youtube now. I'm picking several of his songs and finding out if they are available on Youtube. I quickly found out that pretty much every Prince song is now on Youtube, usually multiple versions of each of his songs. I expect that to continue to expand the further we get away from his life.
To make this a relatively fair exercise, I picked 17 of his more popular songs. I also was able to listen to his Black Album on Youtube.
"I Wanna Be Your Lover":
Wow, this video takes me back to the early 80s, when I was seeing this video for the first time. MTV used to be so cool, I know that's hard to believe now kids. "1999":
"Little Red Corvette":
There's only a couple of versions of this song by Prince on Youtube. "When Doves Cry":
This shows how dynamic of a live performer Prince was. "Let's Go Crazy/Kiss"":
There are only a couple of versions of this song on Youtube."Purple Rain":
"I Would Die 4 U":
I could only find one or two versions of this song by Prince available. "Raspberry Beret":
The original video for "Raspberry Beret" isn't available, but it is for this song? That seems a bit random. "Kiss":
"Sign o' The Times":
Not the only song he and Sheena Easton collaborated on, "U Got The Look":
Other than a :38 second snippet, this song isn't on Youtube yet. "Alphabet City":
A few different versions of this song, including the extended version. "Thieves In The Temple":
"Gett Off":
"Cream":
A few versions of this song are available on Youtube. "Diamonds & Pearls":
