So, what have you been listening to lately?

[Dave W]

Now we're talking! Three Dog Night, who unfortunately went the way all bands seem to go who didn't write their own material: relegation to eventual obscurity (and no one takes them serious).

There was no getting away from them when I went to the American School in the mid-70ies. "The rock band even the girls liked." 

Will you now post something from Bread too, Dave? That's another one the girls liked.

I liked this cut from their first album, it got a good bit of airplay even though it's forgotten today. Then they tuned so sappy that if you bored a hole in them, sap would have come running out.

[Pilgrim]

About the same time as 3 Dog Night . one of my favorite "horn bands"...B, S & T.  David Clayton-Thomas had a great, distinctive voice, and the whole band was really tight and solid.  I love the brass work on this.  There's also a nice shot of the bass player working hard...and you can actually hear the bass in the mix!

[gearHed289]

Extreme released two new songs of the forthcoming album:

I never followed these guys back in the day, but my main band in the 90s guitarist was way into them. The first new track they released - Rise - is absolutely killer and definitely got my attention. I listened to Banshee yesterday and was not that blown away. But listening to #Rebel now, and it rocks pretty good. They sound energized and maybe a tad angry, which is good!

[uwe]

Oh my, I'm a Blood, Sweat & Tears diehard, I have everything from them plus what David Clayton-Thomas has done since. They are my favorite horn rock band - Chicago became too ballady after a while and Tower of Power were too funky for my taste. I also thought BS&T's horn arrangements were the most daring/cutting edge.

Good as DCT as their second frontman after Al Kooper was, I also liked his successor/predecessor (when DCT returned), Jerry Fisher, great singer (if none of DCT's stage charisma):



And then there was of course the short-lived phase of the "two Jerrys", when Jerry LaCroix from Edgar Winter's White Trash joined and sang co-lead with Jerry Fisher.



Let's not forget Al Kooper, no BS&T if it hadn't been for him.



Of course, the many frontman changes did the band no commercial favors (nor the stupid decision to not let themselves be filmed at Woodstock or tour Eastern Europe on some CIA-funded venture in the Cold War). And they didn't have an abundance of songwriters either (though DCT was responsible for some of their greatest hits like Spinning Wheel), they were in essence arrangers, but very good ones.

Anyway, nice to find someone here who dug them too. With Dave, I always detect an undercurrent between the lines when he mentions BS&T, I do believe that Herr Westheimer thought/thinks them perennially uncool!  Or as Joey Ramone once commented while damning the pre-Ramones NYC rock scene of which BS&T formed a part:"overweight muso's music".

[uwe]

I liked this cut from their first album, it got a good bit of airplay even though it's forgotten today. Then they tuned so sappy that if you bored a hole in them, sap would have come running out.

They did hear their fair share of Beatles/McCartney, didn't they? 

[4stringer77]

Regarding Extreme, Nuno is ripping but there's a reason Gary Cherone didn't set the world abalaze with his stint in Van Halen. Not sure about Nuno's hoop earrings. Is he getting fashion tips from Salt n' Peppa?
Speaking of Garys, Gary Ryan, the original Joan Jett and the Blackheart's bassist has my favorite meat and potatoes bass tone.
I picked up a live Joan cd from 1/31/81 and the bass was fat and up front in the mix. My kid makes me blare the first song and only the first song, "Bad Reputation" when I take her to school.
Here's one that sounds from the same time.

[uwe]

Extreme released two new songs of the forthcoming album:

Lieber Rob, do tell me, is there a version available of the first song that also features something like, uhum, a chorus*** or does that innocent question date me badly? 

[***In popular music, the refrain or chorus may contrast with the verse melodically, rhythmically, and harmonically; it may assume a higher level of dynamics and activity, often with added instrumentation. Chorus form, or strophic form, is a sectional and/or additive way of structuring a piece of music based on the repetition of one formal section or block played repeatedly.]

Banshee is better though it sounds like a Velvet Revolver outtake.

And for the record: For the mess that Van Halen III was, Gary Cherone bears the least responsibility. He didn't join a sinking ship, he joined a U-Boat wreck broken apart at the bottom of the cold dark ocean.



That they even talked him into it, irresponsible of them.

[Basvarken]

or does that innocent question date me badly? 

It does yes.

[uwe]

Why must you always take things to the Extreme?

[Basvarken]

You made it too easy

[uwe]

Doesn't that song sound very current today?

[morrow]

Bobby Vega ! 

[Ken]

I love Paul Turner's playing here.  Great song, too.

[Dave W]

My home town, the way it used to be.

[Dave W]

I hadn't seen this performance before.