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Pazz and Jop 1974 #11

Linda Ronstadt – Heart Like a Wheel When you decide, as I have, to put on the record your opinion about something, that opinion had better be right. Not “right” in the sense of true or false (since I believe there is no such thing when it comes to music), but in the sense of…

Classic Songs of My Youth Revisited #38

Pablo Cruise – Whatcha Gonna Do? When I was growing up, the fastest way to build your vinyl collection without a heavy upfront cost was to join the Columbia House Record Club. And that is how I came to own not one, but two Pablo Cruise albums. The Columbia House pitch was simple: buy 11…

Classic Songs of My Youth Revisited #37

Player – Baby Come Back In 1978, Robert Stigwood was king of the music industry, and it wasn’t close. He’d been doing just fine before then – managing (Cream, the Bee Gees) and booking (The Who) bands, owning a scriptwriters’ agency (where the British originals that became “All in the Family” and “Sanford and Son”…

One-Hit Wonderment #2

Teddy Geiger – For You I Will (Confidence) I’m a dedicated Spotify user, but it isn’t without its issues. Certainly, a lot of artists are screwed by the payment model, but artists being abused by the industry side of “music industry” is hardly a new phenomenon. More bothersome to me personally (yes, because that’s what…

Favourite “New” Music – April 2023

I would never call myself a fan of Gordon Lightfoot, and I don’t have a story connecting me to one of his songs, because none of them ever played a part in a significant moment in my life. But they were always there, part of the CanCon 30% coming through my radio speaker, and I…

Pazz and Jop 1974 #10

New York Dolls – In Too Much Too Soon New York Dolls are what you would get if a band from the late ‘50s was suddenly transported to the early ‘70s, took a look around and decided, “We can work with this”. I liked their previous album, but it took time for me to warm…

Classic Songs of My Youth Revisited #36

Rick Springfield – Jessie’s Girl I’ve always thought that “13 Going on 30” had a Rick Springfield problem. If you know the movie (and if you don’t, then shame on you), 13-year-old Jenna is a big Springfield fan. I, too, had been a fan, but by 1987, when the “13” part of the movie is…

Classic Songs of My Youth Revisited #35

The Outfield – Your Love From September 1984 to the spring of 1986, my main source of new music – and primary viewing pleasure – was MuchMusic, Canada’s only 24-hour music video channel. That was sort of a lie – they initially had eight hours of programming that was then repeated twice – but in…

One-Hit Wonderment #1

The Singing Nun – Dominique What makes a hit song? There are people who are paid a lot of money to figure this out and they are as clueless as the rest of us. For proof, I offer two (well, three) examples.  In 1983, Sheriff hit #61 on Billboard with “When I’m With You”. A…

Classic Songs of My Youth Revisited #34

Gazebo – I Like Chopin I don’t think I’ve ever given up on a friend (even when I probably should have), but I know for certain that at least three friends gave up on me. Two of them had good reasons: Chris got tired of me cancelling plans with her after I got a new…

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