I'm Jealous of This Song...

A few weeks ago my whole family was battling the flu bug, and it had finally made it's way to me.  So I was spending most of my time resting in bed, most of the time watching Youtube.  No doubt you can find entertaining things on Youtube, like smashing things with a heavy press, putting a Mentos into a Diet Coke, or shredding objects that shouldn't be shredded.  Between the wife, kids, and me, our suggested videos can range from many different subjects.  One that happens to pop up a lot is auditions for shows like "Insert country here" Got Talent, "Insert country here" Idol, The Voice, X-Factor, and so on. On that night I stumbled upon a Britain's X-Factor clip, that in the thumbnail and description showing Simon "crying" from 2015.  I thought to myself I have to see what made Simon, who can seem like a cold, heartless, bastard, break emotionally.  This is when a young man named Josh Daniel went on stage to sing a song I had never heard of by a guy named Labrinth, who I thought was a movie. He went onto explain how his best friend had passed away, and the song meant something different that how Labrith wrote it.  You can see how emotional he is singing it, you can see how emotional the judges get, the crowd, and of course the big crybaby watching it on his tablet.  Just a verse and the chorus of this song, with the reason he was singing it, hit me pretty hard. I love how music can bring out those emotions, and with Josh Daniel's interpretation of "Jealous" he did just that.  I fell in love with this song for that emotion, and I thought maybe I should look up Labrinth's original version.  So back to the search box on Youtube, and I found the video.  Upon first listening, I thought the kid on the X-Factor had him beat, I mean his was good, but I guess the first listening was better.  I noticed in the Labrinth video of how emotional he got later on in the song.  So I decided to research the song.  He co-wrote it with Josh Kear and Natalie Hemby, and it was released as a single in November of 2014.  Here are the lyrics:

I'm jealous of the rain
That falls upon your skin
It's closer than my hands have been
I'm jealous of the rain
I'm jealous of the wind
That ripples through your clothes
It's closer than your shadow
Oh, I'm jealous of the wind

'Cause I wished you the best of
All this world could give
And I told you when you left me
There's nothing to forgive
But I always thought you'd come back, tell me all you found was
Heartbreak and misery
It's hard for me to say, I'm jealous of the way
You're happy without me

I'm jealous of the nights
That I don't spend with you
I'm wondering who you lay next to
Oh, I'm jealous of the nights
I'm jealous of the love
Love that was in here
Gone for someone else to share
Oh, I'm jealous of the love

'Cause I wished you the best of
All this world could give
And I told you when you left me
There's nothing to forgive
But I always thought you'd come back, tell me all you found was
Heartbreak and misery
It's hard for me to say, I'm jealous of the way
You're happy without me

As I sink in the sand
Watch you slip through my hands
Oh, as I die here another day, yeah
'Cause all I do is cry behind this smile
I wished you the best of
All this world could give
And I told you when you left me
There's nothing to forgive
But I always thought you'd come back, tell me all you found was
Heartbreak and misery
It's hard for me to say, I'm jealous of the way
You're happy without me

I-I-It's hard for me to say, I'm jealous of the way
You're happy without me

Now reading this, you would think it is of someone who has lost a love and that they've moved on and the singer is jealous of the happiness they have found.  That they wished them the best and it'snot the one's who has lefts fault.  It is heartbreaking to think of losing someone who is happier than they were with you.  The truth of the song is that Labrinth had actually written the song about one of his parents (it was never specified if it was the Mom or Dad), who had left him when he was four years old.  Labrinth had said he wanted people to relate to their own situation.  I'm blessed that I still have both of my parents and that I was never abandoned, but I know people who have been.  The lyrics took on a whole new meaning when I looked at it through a child's eyes.  He doesn't blame his parent and wishes them the best, he wants them to come back after not finding a better life.  I love the way he conveys his message, his descriptions and comparisons.  Even though I don't know any other songs by Labrinth, I know this is one of the best songs I've heard in a long time.

 

Vinyl Review Chapter One: Montrose, The Template for Hard Rock Bands (Released October 17th, 1973)

Although I believe this album gets overlooked in the history of all that is rock, how can one not love this album.  It gave us Rock Candy, Bad Motor Scooter, Space Station #5, Make It Last, and introduced the world to future Van Halen frontman (and my favorite artist of all time) Sammy (or as this album lists, Sam) Hagar to the world.   I truly belive without Montrose there wouldn't been a Van Halen as we know it.  Ted Templeman and Donn Landee were a big part of this album and would later become a big part of Van Halen's success.  Let's not dive into the whole Van Halen/DLR/Hagar debate, this is about Montrose and this epic debut album.

Ronnie Montrose had been an accomplished session musician before forming the band.  He had worked with Herbie Hancock, Beaver and Krause, Van Morrison and Edgar Winter Group.  He knew Bill Church from Van Morrison sessions.  Denny Carmassi and Sammy Hagar had been playing in cover bands in the San Francisco area.  Now lets dive into the tracks.

Side One

Rock the Nation- First thing I noticed was that opening riff, then the COWBELL!  We all need more cowbell, right Chad Smith doppleganger Will Farrell?  This is just a great song, it's not the strongest, nor my favorite, but what a riff, to me this song is about Ronnie's guitar.  Sammy's vocals are great, and Bill and Denny are putting a great foundation down.

Bad Motor Scooter-  Oh, the slide itro, the one that Motley Crue would "borrow" years later.  There is absolutely nothing I can say that is bad about this song.  I love everything about this song.  It is probably the first Montrose song that I heard or knew of.  I mean geez, I was only almost two months old when this was released.

Space Station #5-  That intro, right, I mean come on!  Tom Morello had to be influenced by that, right?  Then another big Ronnie riff.  This could be the first song Sammy wrote about the supernatural, and this song sounds it. Then you have the "trippy" bridge, with an phenomenal Bill Church bass line.  Not to mention that crazy ending.

I Don't Want It- Now I'm going to admit, this is one song that I'm not really familiar with, which is alright because it's like I'm listening to it for the first time.  I love the chorus and how the bass follows the guitar.  Also love the doubling of the guitars, what great riffage in this song!

Flip it over to Side 2

Good Rockin' Tonight- Cover tune penned by Roy Brown, later made famous by Elvis.  Presley, not Costello.  Just a good upbeat, feel good song.  Montrose makes it his, but let me tell you, Bill Church's basslines are so good, he really stands out on this song, but he stands out on every song.  It's like you don't notice it, but then the bass jumps out and slaps you upside the head.

Rock Candy-  I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but the first time I ever recall this song is from the Wayne's World sountrack with the Bullet Boys covering it.  It was not until I was reading the line notes and seen the songwriters of the song.  Now not saying the Bullet Boys didn't do the song justice, I liked it, but hearing the original was were it was at.  That flipping Ronnie and his monstrous riffs.  Sammy's vocals are perfect, lyrics are perfect. Denny's drums, The Electric Church's bass.  Such a perfect hard rock song.  It's hard to say which song is my favorite, but this is probably it.

One Thing on My Mind-  Another song that I'm really not that familiar with.  I really don't remember it, but I don't know how I could forget this wah-wah riff.  That bass, man, it's not that it's "thumping" like you would hear coming out of the Rockford Fosgates of a slammed S-10 pick ups back in the day(I'm 45, so yes that did happen, a lot, back in the day), but it's the riffs he's playing.  I'm not a bass player, but I'm noticing the bass on a lot of these tunes.

Make It Last- A Sammy tuned song.  If Rock Candy is my number one song on this album, this could be 1a.  Love the lyric, love the riff, which kind of is a prelude to the Heavy Metal riff in Sammy's solo years.  I didn't really know this song until Dave Mustaine mentioned it in a guitar magazine I had, and it was one of  the songs he mentioned.  Sadly I can relate to the age thing, when you get to my age you realize how fast it has gone, and you want to "Make It Last".  This song lyrically reminds me of the Sinatra tune, "A Very Good Year", which I have no idea if Sammy is a Frank fan or not, but the similar lyric construction would make me believe so.

So that's a run through of songs and my opinion of them.  Of course with vinyl you can't skip or fast forward, then you have to flip it over.  So you have to listen to them or zone out until the song comes on you want to hear.  There is no need to worry about having to get up and skip over any of these songs.  There isn't a bad song on this album and it still sounds great 45 years later.  If you haven't heard these songs I've linked above.  The last video is from 2003 when the original Montrose reunited on Sammy's tour.  This is from St. Louis at Riverport, which I had the pleasure of being at.  It is about forty minutes into the video when Montrose starts.  It was definitely "Good Rockin'".  Video quality isn't the greatest, but it's what I found on YouTube. 

Records? Why Talk About Records?

Long before the advent of the MP3's. before cd's, before cassettes, before 8-tracks, we had albums. Vinyl albums.  Crackle and pop from a dirty record or needle.  Not dirty that way you perv's, but dirty that wasn't cleaned properly.  In the last few years vinyl records have made somewhat of a comback.  I remember being in a book store and seeing new vinyl records appear on the shelves.  Now the cheapskate in me was in no way going to pay twenty five to thirty bucks for a new album, especially in these days when a click of a mouse or a swipe on a phone can get you pretty much any song you want.  Nonetheless I was somewhat intrigued by this.  I had albums when I was a kid, so this form of media was not a new found thing for me.  Like when I was a kid, I approached the bin and thumbed through the records.  Now this was a few years ago, before the latest vinyl craze has hit.  I had been seeing albums in antique stores that my family frequents, but most of the time they were from folks I hadn't even heard of.  I started finding a few here and there, like Frank Sinatra,  and other crooners like Tony Bennett, Dean Martin and such.  In the last couple of years some booths have appeared in the antique stores that have music much more to my liking and needless to say my record collection is growing, slowly, but still growing.

You have to realize that even though I was buying these records even though I didn't actually on a functioning record player, I owned one, but it was in need of repair.  This changed when my kids bought me a "suitcase" record player.  That's been a couple of months ago, and I really don't remember what the first record I played, but dropping the needle to take me back, and guess what, I didn't hit a button to skip a song, I listened to the whole side, then turned the record over and listened to the other side.  I believe that is lost on this generation and probably a couple before it.  We have become an overly impatient species that believes fast isn't fast enough.

There are probably more people than not that will not understand the whole vinyl album resurgance.  I get that.  For me it's not the sound of the album,  I'm not that big of a fan of the "crackle and pop", I like hearing clarity.  I think people are losing the experience of an album.  The time you spend looking through the albums, looking at the artwork of the cover, reading the liner notes, things that in this day and age is not even considered (or at least I think so).  Yes cassette tapes and cd's had this, but on a much "smaller" level, and in my age a big old album with bigger print is easier for me to read.  All in all, the vinyl resurgance will come and go, just like every other thing that comes back and then goes away.  For me it's much more a rememberance of how things used to be, not that anyone can ever go back in the past, but it's sure fun remembering it. 

Rest In Peace Ed King

Those who know me knows that I have been a fan of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd forever.  Well, maybe not that long, but since I was a wee lad.  My first memories of Skynyrd ties in with the movie Grease.  Sounds strange right?  Grease was the first movie I ever saw in a movie theater, my family was more of a drive in family, but my Aunt Faye was in and took me, my sister, and my cousin to see Grease at the Cinemas in Harrisburg.  Before the movie, there was a tribute/documentary about Lynyrd Skynryd. I don't remember everything about it, but I remember seeing the Confederate flag backdrop, Leonard Skinner talking, and people talking about the plane crash.  Then around about the same, an eight track of One More From the Road showed up at my house.  To this day I don't know where it came from, most likely one of my brothers, but I'm not sure.  Hearing Ronnie Van Zant saying, "What song is it you want to hear?", hearing Gimme Three Steps, Sweet Home Alabama, Call Me the Breeze, T for Texas, it changed my life.  I wasn't quite at super fan status until a day my parents took me and Rob (my best friend) to Galatia's Old Settler's Days parade, then to WalMart.  At WalMart Rob picked up the cassette of Second Helping,   Such a great album with The Ballad of Curtis Loew, Workin' for MCA, Don't Ask Me Know Questions, I Need You, The Needle and the Spoon, Swamp Music, Call Me the Breeze, and of course Sweet Home Alabama.  Ed King said he dreamed the lead he plays on Sweet Home.  He plays it in the key of G, even though the songs is in the key of D.  It worked. Spectacularly.

Yesterday, the world lost Ed King to cancer.  He was 68 years old.  He will be mainly known for his work in Lynyrd Skynyrd, but he was also a founding member of  Strawberry Alarm Clock, which were known for the hit, "Incense and Peppermints."  He initially joined Skynyrd on bass as Leon Wilkeson's replacement, but when Leon returned to the band he joined as the third guitarist.  He wasn't a "southerner" like the rest of the band, he was a Californian native.  Touring with Skynyrd took it's toll on him and he left the band in 1975.  His replacement, Steve Gaines, perished in the plane crash.

When the band decided to do the Tribute Tour in 1987, Ed decided to rejoin the band, he would basically take his rightful place in the band, but also took over Allen  Collins' lead part on Freebird.  It revved up my interest in Skynryd knowing that they were back out, and in 1991 they made a new  record and went on tour, which had a stop in Evansville, Indiana at the Mesker Amphitheater on August 20th, my 18th birthday.  I went with my brother Kev, and my cousin Jesse.  What a great night, never did I think I would see any version of Skynyrd, and I did on my birthday.  In the next few years I got to see Skynrd a few more times.  It seemed like with each tour, members would change.  Ed with congestive heart failure, left the band for good in 1996.  I last saw them in 2004 with probably the best lineup since 1991 with Ricky Medlocke and Hughie Thommason(RIP) on guitars with Gary Rossington.  I haven't seen them since.  Somewhere along the line, like many others, Lynyrd Skynryd the band, became Lynyrd Skynyrd the brand.  They are on what they are calling their "farewell" tour, which with rock bands, that has sort of became a running joke, because the players might change, but as long as money can be made, it will be made.

Gary Rossington is the last original member of the band that recorded
Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd .   Yes, I was too young to have ever see the original band, but the memories and good times that this band have provided for me are countless and irreplaceable.  As another hero passes through to the other side, we have to realize the art they left behind will last forever.  Goodbye Ed. 

The Restless Kind Band

facebook.com/trkband
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/therestlesskindband/dNL8
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGqFtVW-CP9zHLLnla-S3IjmFSyu1GblQ

These are just a couple of places that you can hear the music of our band, The Restless Kind.  We recorded two "albums" back in the late 90's, early 2000's at The Rock Recording Studio in Elizabethtown, Illinois.  The first group of songs are from our c.d. "The Long Road" that we recorded under the name of Southern Justice.  The group consisted of myself, Rob Oxford, Dave Conley, and Billy Irby.  The second album was called, "Turn Down You're Too Loud" under TRK(The Restless Kind imagine that).  The members at the time was myself, Rob Oxford, John Belford, John Oakes, and Billy Irby.  Billy had to move in the middle of recording, John Oakes then took over on bass.  I decided to release these songs kind of as a gauge of how the music distribution site I'm using is going to be.  I'm working on a few other things musically and these songs were saved on my hard drive and I thought what the hell, let's get these out.  Everyone I talked to seemed onboard with it.  It's a few weeks later now, and I've been happy to see that our music can be heard and/or bought on many different outlets now.  Distrokid rocks as a distributor.  If you haven't been able to check out our songs, just click on the links above and give it a listen.  Thanks again to all of those who have supported our band through the years, and who knows what will happen in the future!

What's Old is New Again

On this Father's Day eve it is really too hot outside to do anything, even taking pictures, which is a hobby that has kind of taken over as the number one hobby, bumping music down to maybe the 1.5 hobby.  That being said, my children decided to by me a suitcase style record player for Father's Day this year.  I've been picking up records here and there over the last couple of years as they have been popping up in antique stores places like Coconuts in Evansville, Indiana.  There's even Hard Copies in Marion and Carbondale to look for new and old vinyl alike.

When I was buying these records, I'm sure part of it was trying to recapture a bit of my past, I know looking through them with one hand toward the front catching the albums while your flicking through them with your pointy finger brought back some memories.  I just like albums, the vinyl, the packaging, the inserts.  It makes me remember that music is much more than what you hear.  I know that sounds funny, because you have to hear music, hell, it's the name of this blog.  Music has always been a big part of my life, and in many ways it still is.  Somewhere along the last few years I've went from, "Hey, you still playing in the band with Rob" to "Hey, I like your pictures".   It's not that I lost my interest in music, it's more that it lost me.  I'm in my mail vehicle six days a week. and I have a SiriusXm radio, which I listen to a lot of different things, but over the last few years I've listened to NFL radio and talk radio much more than music.  The new music just didn't reach me, country, well forget about it, and classic rock radio, as much as I love classic rock it seems to me the radio stations haven't progressed from thirty years ago, with the exceptions of maybe Pearl Jam and Nirvana, they still play the same 50 songs.

Over the last couple of days (my kids gave me my present early) I've actually sat down and dropped the needle on the record and listened to it, from the first track until I have to turn the record over and start again.  I wasn't worried about fast forwarding it, I just sat and let it play.  This is a fairly big accomplishment for me, because when it comes to radio stations I suffer from ADD, as I'm constantly hitting the scan button on it. Since the advent of the internet I believe music, like many other things have become disposable.  I don't know what most kids think of music, my kids love it.  They listen to everything, and although it may be hard to believe I've not pushed any music upon them, they've developed their own musical tastes with a bit of mine and Mandy's influences thrown it, but mostly it's theirs.

Which brings this back full circle, my gift (record player) from my greatest gifts (my kids) reminding me of my past and my great love of music, listening to this music over the last few days have been a wonderful experience, and it will continue as long as my wife lets me add to my vinyl collection. 

The Past is the Past for a Reason...

Sitting here today nearing another birthday I find myself reflecting on things from my past.  This story begins in the late 80's when I got my first guitar.  A couple of years later my best friend Rob Oxford got a bass, which soon was followed by an acoustic guitar.  Right there the foundation was laid for the band.  We started playing on parking lots around Rosiclare, just us and our acoustics.  Soon David Conley had joined us.  Then this little kid we called Opie (Billy Irby) was following us around and became our bassist by default.  Greta Williams(Smith) asked us to be her backing band  That didn't last long, but we were a band.

Through the years the band came to include Jimmy Belford, Angie Gray(Stevens), John Belford, and John Oakes.  Through the ups and downs of the band, the exit and entrances of different musicians, I still felt that sense of brotherhood or family.  We haven't been an active band in years and I would still feel that.  The flip side I would feel anxiety about having to play, trying to schedule practices, figuring out schedules and what not.  The management of the "business" side really got the best of me.  I don't think I realized that until the band "broke up", then it dawned on me I wasn't going to have to make numerous calls that week.  That was just part of it, and I done it with no qualms.  I was single without kids so I had the time.  All this is just a back story, not meaning to bore you with it.


For years I didn't really like going watching local bands play at festivals or bars.  Nothing against the bands, there were some great ones out there.  I just would always get that feeling that me and my band should be up there.  Then a couple of months ago back in June I was at the Superman Festival in Metropolis, Illinois (real place for those who doesn't know).  There were two bands there that evening, one was a band named Leonard the Band the other Lew Jetton and 61 South.  I could wait to see Lew and his band, I had never seen them live, but knew who great they were.  I wandered down to the other side of the festival to see Leonard the Band.  They're  a four piece setting up in a tent that amplified the oppressive heat even more.  Watching them, reminded me of the days of setting up on the other end from where the "big"band was playing.  Seeing them fight the heat and keeping everything in tune, all thing that I had went through with my band, then it dawned on me.  I was watching this band(who by the way were great, not really my type of music, but they did it great!), and I didn't miss it.  I actually sat back and enjoyed them without thinking, "Man I wish we were playing".   Later on I watched Lew Jetton and 61 South, same feeling, Lew is a local legend who I am was very happy to finally see live.

Every now and again through the years I would get asked about the band, and I always would say, maybe someday we will play again.  I went to see Jimmy's band "Stateside Outlaws" play for the E-town Heritage Festival.  His mother asked if I missed it, and I think I shocked her when I said, "Not really".  I don't think it has anything with being maturing, I still love music.  I am married now with three kids who want to hear there Dad's band.  Someday maybe it will happen, but truthfully I don't see it happening anytime soon, and I'm just fine with it.  Times change, people change, trends change, everything changes, except the past.  Mostly the past is filled with great memories with a handful of bad, but the past is the past for a reason, you can't go back and you can't no matter how you try, recreate it.  I find myself completely satisfied with my life, could it be easier, but I would not change it for anything.