So, what have you been listening to lately?

[westen44]

Roberta sang it - for lack of a better word - soulfully and like only a black woman could. The Fugees/Lauryn Hill version wasn't bad at all (I was happy they resurrected the great song at the time), but could not match Roberta's depth.

Based on what Lori Lieberman said about Roberta, I think she would agree with you.  I've spent some time listening to other videos of the song.  Some are noteworthy.  But when Roberta recorded it, it seems she probably made it the definitive version.  She was on a plane the first time she heard the song and immediately made the decision to record it as soon as possible. 

[Dave W]

Hard to believe TMBG's Flood was released 33 years ago.

[uwe]

Only knew the band name, never heard anything from them - a great omission as I have now learned. Bit like an American Tears for Fears, another duo.

[Dave W]

I became a fan when I heard She's An Angel and Don't Let's Start on the radio (from their 1986 debut album).

Flood had a couple of other radio hits, Particle Man and their rockin' cover of the 1950s pop tune Istanbul Not Constantinople. They commissioned cartoon videos for both.





Their name is taken from an overlooked, bizarre movie by the same name. George C. Scott plays a judge who is put in a mental hospital when loses his mind and is convinced he's Sherlock Holmes. Joanne Woodward plays his psychiatrist who eventually comes to believe she's his Dr. Watson. I never met anyone else who saw it when it first came out. The whole movie is now on YT.

[uwe]

UK heavy rock stalwarts Uriah Heep have new album out (Chaos & Colour) and, yes, they sure know how to sound like themselves! Who said that Hammond is too loud? 

[Dave W]

[uwe]

Why isn't he playing guitar? I thought he always did?

[Dave W]

Why isn't he playing guitar? I thought he always did?

He does, it's not a live performance.

He only plays his ES-125DC. He says he can't play any other guitar.

[Pilgrim]

He does, it's not a live performance.

He only plays his ES-125DC. He says he can't play any other guitar.

You might say that he's done OK for a guy who can only play one guitar!

[uwe]

His image was so intertwined with his guitar, I thought it unfathomable that someone would take it a good idea to put him into a vid playing music without one. Looks weird.

[uwe]

One thing leads to another: Jeff Beck dies, I buy one of his albums I haven't owned yet (Flash), hear the singer on a couple of tracks (Jimmy Hall) and - voilà - end up with a couple of Wet Willie albums, a band I had only heard of before via their name and had vaguely classified as Southern Rock.









Not so much Lynyrd Skynyrd as a more Southern version of early to mid period J. Geils Band, but a worthy addition to my still burgeoning CD racks!

[uwe]

Charlie was and is a-Dore-able.





Pilot of the Airwaves is at 51:50 if you want to check.

[uwe]

A young Uli wiff ze Scorps at his peak, pretty friggin' amazing, our little Hendrix devotee.

[gearHed289]

A young Uli wiff ze Scorps at his peak, pretty friggin' amazing, our little Hendrix devotee.

Awesome. Love that lineup.

[uwe]

He was that good - as a German you always had a bit of a chip on your shoulder because we didn't really have guitar heroes, but Uli Roth was someone you could justly be proud of. Around that time, I even rated him more highly than Michael Schenker, who good as he was didn't quite have the improvisational abandon (to be fair: Michael was his own man and didn't have "HENDRIX!" written all over him like Uli did!).

I saw the Scorps later on the Love Drive Tour again on one of the few legs of that tour where Michael actually showed up and was not AWOL  ; at that time their live set was still populated by Uli Roth-era songs and Michael's discomfort playing that stuff was palpable. Sure enough, he didn't even finish the tour. 

Also one of the few documented performances with Rudy Lenners on drums, their Belgian drummer which they had to let go because he had a heart defect that would have kept him from touring as hard as the Scorpions always did. Not a technical drummer like his predecessor Jürgen Rosenthal (who joined German Progsters Eloy after his military service forced him out of the Scorpions and found fame and fortune there), his style always reminded me a bit of Mick Tucker of Sweet.

Speaking of ... When the Sorpions were almost broke in 1975, the future of the band endangered, they resorted to recording two Sweet tracks (Fox On The Run and Action) under the alias moniker The Hunters, so they could reap 50% of the royalties via the (inane) German lyrics. They were also the opening act for Sweet around that time (and for Kiss' first German gigs in 1976 as well) - getting along well with both bands. Manfred Mann's Earth Band was another international act they opened for - MMEB were hugely popular in Germany back then -, with Uli even getting an offer from Manfred Mann to join his band - he did not do "another Michael" though and declined although flattered. 





It's a piece of their history they tried to keep valiantly under the lid when they finally made it!  The Hunters' one and only single never saw a - digital or other - re-release in almost 50 years.