March 2011 Archives

Mystery Date Revealed: Patto, Featuring Members of The Rutles and So Many More Connections That Will Surely Delight Those of Us Who Frequent the Halls of Rock!

Mar 232011

Will Your Mystery Date Be a Dream or a Dud?

All righty…looks like there’s no need for the Big Reveal (but you’ll get one anyhow). BigSteve and tonyola correctly played their “mockcarr option,” while hrrundivbakshi enthusiastically and sincerely stepped into a heaping pile of Mystery Date identification! Our Mystery Date was indeed Patto, featuring Mike Patto. The Mystery Songs were “Hold Your Fire” and “Hold Me Back.” Now that you know who this band is, I offer you “The Man,” another song that may be too long for some of you, but those of you lacking patience may miss out on some choice insights into the song’s subject matter.

Patto, “The Man”

[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Patto_01_The-Man.mp3|titles=Patto, “The Man”]

The band released 3 albums, from 1970 to 1973, before disbanding, leaving an unreleased (until 1995) album in the can. Now, get your pad and pen ready, because I’m about to blow your Rock Town Hall mind and waste a lot of your time!

Elizabeth Taylor Dead: Quick! What’s Gonna Be Her “Candle in the Wind?”

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Mar 232011

I just saw that Elizabeth Taylor is dead. Being that she was a great…woman, this can only mean one thing: Elton John or some other close, personal friend in the music business is going to need to quickly retro-fit a forgotten deep cut to play at her international day of mourning and rebranding. Townspeople, act fast and help an appropriate artist identify the appropriate song for this occasion. Saccharine montages and a sudden turn in a sagging artist’s fortunes depend on your input. Thank you.

NEXT: Rock Town Hall’s Official Eulogy… Continue reading »

Mystery Date

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Mar 222011

Let’s review the ground rules here. The Mystery Date song is not necessarily something I believe to be good. So feel free to rip it or praise it. Rather the song is something of interest due to the artist, influences, time period… Your job is to decipher as much as you can about the artist without research. Who do you think it is? Or, Who do you think it sounds like? When do you think it was recorded? Etc…

If you know who it is, don’t spoil it for the rest. Anyone who knows it can play the “mockcarr option.” (And I’ve got a hunch that some of you know this one.) This option is for those of you who just can’t hold your tongue and must let everyone know just how in-the-know you are by calling it. So if you know who it is and want everyone else to know that you know, email Mr. Moderator at mrmoderator [at] rocktownhall [dot] com. If correct we will post how brilliant you are in the Comments section.

The real test of strength though is to guess as close as possible without knowing. Ready, steady, go!

[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Mystery-Date-032211.mp3|titles=Mystery Date 032211] [audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Mystery-Date-032211b.mp3|titles=Mystery Date 032211b]

Denny Laine: My Latest Holy Grail?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Mar 222011

What more can a rock nerd hope for than to be set on a quest for a new holy grail? A few new quests are beginning to line up for me, including one that’s been right under my nose since childhood!

In a recent Saturday Night Shut-In I played a Moody Blues track from the band’s first, Denny Laine-led album (the one with the also Laine-sung hit “Go Now”). It was pretty cool, and you can find it at about the 31:15 mark here, if you don’t believe me. Laine was also featured in a recent Who Is It? thread. I believe it took longer for anyone to guess who the modern-day Laine was than any of the other matured rockers. Poor Denny Laine, unfairly ranked #3 in the command chain of Wings because he wasn’t sleeping with the boss, coulda been a contender, or at least a second-level British Invasion force in his own right.

What happened to Laine between his leaving The Moody Blues and landing with Paul McCartney & Wings? Did he ever release a proper solo album, as this promo clip for a solo single might lead me to believe? Can anyone save me the effort of looking up all this stuff and just tell me what the deal was/in with that guy? I need the real deal, not a bunch of Wikipedia links. I’m sure at least one of you can fill me in on some cool Denny Laine arcana. Thanks!

By the way, did Laine get the Wings gig for combining Paul’s Sgt. Pepper’s ‘stache with John’s specs?

And check this out: The Zombies’ Colin Blunstone had a 1972 hit with his version of this song. Continue reading »

1-2 Punch!

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Mar 212011

Let’s try another 1-2 Punch, shall we? Top 10 lists are too much; Top 5 lists invite too many opportunities for throwing in a hipster, obscuro choice to distinguish oneself from the raging masses. What I’d like to know is what TWO (2) songs you would choose from an artist’s catalog to say as much about that artist that you believe represents said artist’s core as possible? In other words, if you could only use TWO (2) songs from an artist’s catalog to explain all that said artist is about to a Venusian, what TWO (2) songs would you pick to represent said artist’s place in rock ‘n roll?

I’ll pose two artists and you—love ’em or leave ’em—give me each artist’s representative 1-2 Punch. Dig? Here goes!

We Have a Winner: RTH No-Prize Available Every Friday at 5:00 pm!

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Mar 212011

Happy Monday. We have a winner in last week’s Shitty Songs You Can’t Get Out of Your Head contest: “Everybody’s Working for the Weekend.” Better yet we have this “candid” interview with Loverboy that I’ve never seen until now!

As my wife and I spent Friday night and all day Saturday preparing for a dinner party this song crept into my brain and wouldn’t leave. I realized this must be the winner, because it’s a really well done terrible song with a chorus that actually starts out strong and full of simple hope and idealism that’s up my alley before shifting gears to that horrible “You wanna piece of my heart” part. As much as I still hate this song and the video (and that headband!), it kind of makes me feel all right about the possibilities and aspirations of the lowest common denominator in our pop culture. Bravo, Loverboy!

Rock Town Hall’s Saturday Night Shut-In: A Dip Into the “Milk” Crate

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Mar 192011

Sounds of the Hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!

In this week’s edition of Saturday Night Shut-In Mr. Moderator dips into his so-called “Milk” crate, that is, his stack of rarely played, cheaply acquired used records that as much as 30 years ago he hoped would pay off. Rather than dump these records, he revisits them every few years in hopes that they will have aged properly and, as boring, old milk can age into something delicious, like cheese or yogurt, finally reveal their subtle delights. Why don’t you tune in and hear the results of this taste test, which is capped off by a sampling of a very deep Richard Harris album?

[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/RTH-Saturday-Night-Shut-In-20-1.mp3|titles=RTH Saturday Night Shut-In, episode 20]

[Note: The Rock Town Hall feed will enable you to easily download Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your digital music player. In fact, you can even set your iTunes to search for an automatic download of each week’s podcast.]

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