Big Star Radio City released

Radio City Big Star

Released: February 20, 1974 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. O My Soul (4/74, --) Life Is White Way Out West What’s Going Ahn You Get What You Deserve Mod Lang Back of a Car Daisy Glaze She’s a Mover September Gurls (5/74, --) Morpha Too I’m in Love with a Girl Total Running Time: 36:14 The Players: Alex Chilton (vocals, guitar) Andy Hummel (bass) Jody Stephens (drums, vocals)

Rating: 4.226 out of 5.00 (average of 22 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “In late 1972, following the release of the debut album, #1 Record, founding member Chris Bell left the group and the band became inactive for four months.” WK “Bell had already contributed to the music and lyrics of O My Soul and Back of a Car – songs which Alex Chilton recalls were written ‘by committee’ – but receives no official credit. Chilton, aided by drummer Richard Rosebrough and at times by bassist Danny Jones, completed the recording of Mod Lang, She’s a Mover, and What’s Going Ahn without Jody Stephens or Andy Hummell.” WK With Bell largely absent from Radio City, the album “lacked something of the pop sweetness (especially the harmonies) of #1 Record.” WR It was “a more cohesive album but also allowed Chilton to become a bit more self-indulgent. “ PK His “urgency (sometimes desperation) on songs that made his case as a genuine rock & roll eccentric. If #1 Record had a certain pop perfection that brought everything together, Radio City was the sound of everything falling apart, which proved at least as compelling.” WR “The album is no less stirring, with a handful of pop classics.” PK “Radio City is notable for its unique, chewy guitar sound and live-sounding yet meticulous textures, and for its somewhat tortuous recording history. The album shows the influence of British Invasion bands such as The Beatles and The Kinks.” WK “The album included September Gurls and Back of a Car, which remain among the most famous Big Star songs; both the Searchers and the Bangles have covered ‘September Gurls.’” WK “Critically acclaimed upon its release, the record sold poorly, partly due to a lack of promotion and the distribution problems of the band’s struggling record label, Ardent Records.” WK “Stax Records, primary distributor for the band’s Ardent Records label, had recently placed distribution of its catalog in the hands of the much larger Columbia Records; Radio City’s release coincided with a disagreement between Stax and Columbia, which left Columbia refusing to distribute the catalog. As a result, the album achieved only minimal sales of around 20,000 copies at the time.” WK “It is now recognized as a milestone album in the history of power pop music.” WK “Some of the outtakes from the album include ‘I Got Kinda Lost,’ ‘Gone with the Light,’ ‘Motel Blues’ and ‘There Was a Life’ (an early version of "There Was a Light" from Chris Bell’s I Am the Cosmos CD).

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Big Star WR William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide PK Pop Kulcher/Marc Fagel Greatest Rock & Roll Albums of All Time WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/21/2010; last updated 6/7/2024.

Gram Parsons’ Grievous Angel charted

Grievous Angel Gram Parsons

Charted: February 16, 1974 Peak: 195 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): 0.14 US, -- UK, 0.14 world (includes US and UK) Genre: country rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] Click for codes to charts. Return of the Grievous Angel (Gram Parsons, Tom Brown) [4:19] Hearts on Fire (Walter Egan, Tom Guidera) [3:50] I Can’t Dance (Tom T. Hall) [2:20] Brass Buttons (Parsons) [3:27] $1000 Wedding (Parsons) [5:00] Cash on the Barrelhead (Charlie Louvin, Ira Louvin) [2:12] Hickory Wind (Parsons, Rob Buchanan) [4:15] Love Hurts (Boudleaux Bryant) [3:40] Ooh Las Vegas (Parsons, Ric Grech) [3:29] In My Hour of Darkness (Parsons, Emmylou Harris) [3:42] Total Running Time: 36:14

Rating: 4.379 out of 5.00 (average of 15 ratings) Quotable: Established Parsons as “the patron saint of alt-country.” – Mark Deming, All Music Guide Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Gram Parsons fondness for drugs and high living are said to have been catching up with him while he was recording Grievous Angel, and sadly he wouldn’t live long enough to see it reach record stores, dying from a drug overdose in the fall of 1973.” MD “Released four months after Parsons went to that great nightclub in the sky, Grievous Angel was more than a final bow. It infused the ex Byrd and Flying Burrito Brothers cosmic tang with melancholy soul, breathing new life into both country and rock & roll” BL and establishing Parsons as “the patron saint of alt-country.” MD “This album is a less ambitious and unified set than his solo debut, but that’s to say that G.P. was a great album while Grievous Angel was instead a very, very good one. Much of the same band that played on his solo debut were brought back for this set, and they perform with the same effortless grace and authority (especially guitarist James Burton and fiddler Byron Berline).” MD “If Parsons was slowing down a bit as a songwriter, he still had plenty of gems on hand from more productive days, such as Brass Buttons and Hickory Wind (which wasn't really recorded live in Northern Quebec; that’s just Gram and the band ripping it up live in the studio, with a handful of friends whooping it up to create honky-tonk atmosphere). He also proved to be a shrewd judge of other folks material as always; Tom T. Hall’s I Can’t Dance is a strong barroom rocker, and everyone seems to be having a great time on The Louvin Brothers’ Cash on the Barrelhead.” MD “As a vocal duo, Parsons and Emmylou Harris only improved on this set, turning in a version of Love Hurts so quietly impassioned and delicately beautiful that it’s enough to make you forget Roy Orbison ever recorded it. And while he didn’t plan on it, Parsons could hardly have picked a better closing gesture than In My Hour of Darkness. Grievous Angel may not have been the finest work of his career, but one would be hard pressed to name an artist who made an album this strong only a few weeks before their death – or at any time of their life, for that matter.” MD Notes: The CD reissue combined this album with Parsons’ debut G.P.

Resources and Related Links: BL Blender (10/08). “100 Greatest American Albums” MD Mark Deming, All Music Guide Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 2/24/2008; last updated 3/21/2024.

50 years ago: “It Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo’” hit #1

It Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo’ Wendell Hall

Writer(s): Wendell Hall (see lyrics here) Released: November 23, 1923 First Charted: January 26, 1924 Peak: 16 US, 12 GA, 12 SM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 1.0 (sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Wendell Woods Hall was a “composer, author, poet, singer, guitarist, and radio, film, and television artist” TY2 born in 1896 in St. George, Kansas. Known as “The Red-Headed Music Maker,” he helped popularize the ukulele. TY2 He claimed to write the song “It Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo,” but actually appropriated a southern folk song dating back to at least the 1870s. TY2 He then added verses and adapted to mid-1920s style. SM He never wrote or recorded another hit single. He died in 1969. The song made him a star on vaudeville and radio and even gained popularity as a soccer song in Britain. WK The song reportedly selling five million copies of the disc and sheet music combined. TY2 The song was also covered by Carl Fenton, the Bar Harbor Society Orchestra, and Jack Linx. DJ It was popular amongst early country artists. DJ The only other charted version, however, was by Ernest Hare and Billy Jones (#11, 1924). PM It was revived in 1952 for the movie Has Anybody Seen My Gal? and used in the 2014 movie Against the Sun. It also been used in vintage animated cartoons, such as a 1930 cartoon called “Noah Knew His Ark” and 1933 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon called “The Plumber.” WK Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Act Name DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 103. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 133. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 531. WK Wikipedia First posted 1/30/2023.

50 years ago: George Gershwin performed “Rhapsody in Blue” for the first time

Rhapsody in Blue Paul Whiteman with George Gershwin

Writer(s): George Gershwin First Performed: February 12, 1924 Recorded: June 10, 1924 First Charted: October 18, 1924 Peak: 3 US (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 33.62 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “This episodic and jazzy one-movement piano concerto” NPR was “highbrow pop music that became an instant pop standard.” TC It has been called George Gershwin’s “most identifiable masterpiece” and “one of the most enduring pieces of American music.” NPR “The sprawling fifteen-minute tune pulls together classical music and jazz.” TC It is a “landmark in popular music history” which “stands as an eternal symbol of the American ethos.” SS Gershwin himself called the work “a musical kaleidoscope of America.” WK In 1974, it was also one of the eight original inductees to the Grammy Hall of Fame. In How the Beatles Destroyed Rock ‘n’ Roll, Elijah Wald called the piece “the Sgt. Pepper of the 1920s.“ SS Gershwin left school at age 16 and five years later had “the biggest hit in the world” TC with Al Jolson’s “Swanee.” He was interested in taking his work beyond Tin Pan Alley and onto a concert stage. Paul Whiteman, “undisputed as America’s most popular bandleader,” SS-16 had similar ideas and asked Gershwin to write a piece for a jazz concerto. SS He sketched out the idea for a rhapsody which he composed in just a few weeks, although he reportedly told a friend at the time that everything he knew about harmony could be put on a three-cent stamp. SS His brother Ira suggested the name after a visit to a gallery exhibition featuring, among other works, the well-known “Whistler’s Mother.” WK Whiteman was so moved by the piece he wept. SS On February 12, 1924, Gershwin and Whiteman’s Orchestra performed the piece for the first time to a full-capacity Aeolian Hall in New York. Among the crowd were legendary composers Igor Stravinsky, John Philip Sousa, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Most of the show was met with an indifferent response, but “Rhapsody” was greeted with enthusiastic applause. SS In The Nation, Henrietta Strauss declared that Whiteman and Gershwin had “added a new chapter to our musical history.” SS Whiteman and Gershwin recorded the song that June and it reached #3 before year’s end. Three years later, a new electrically-recorded version hit #7. PM The Glenn Miller Orchestra went to #13 with its version in 1943. PM Woody Allen also used it in his film score for Manhattan. Resources: TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Pages 394. NPR National Public Radio web site (1999). “The Most Important American Musical Works of the 20th Century” SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Page 16. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Pages 172, 312. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 2/12/2014; last updated 8/16/2022.