song of the day – “Under Pressure” – QUEEN & DAVID BOWIE | 1981 / 1982.

Today, January 8, 2020, would have been David Bowie’s 73rd birthday.  But, on David Bowie’s birthday, for the past few years, I tend to think about January 10th, the day we lost him at age 69.  I know it’s weird to think of it like that.  It also reminds me that one of my first blog posts ever was about David Bowie. 

With this blog being three parts autobiographical, singles chart nerdiness and my love for the 80s, one thing I didn’t count on was how much more about myself I would learn through these songs and these artists when writing about them.  When I first wrote about David Bowie, I mentioned that, growing up, although I enjoyed his music very much, he wasn’t one of my immediate favorites.  But, and this surprised me the most, when I thought about it after he died, I realized that David Bowie was always a part of my life, in some form, at least since the 1977 Xmas special he did with Bing Crosby.  More than 42 years later, “Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy” is still my favorite Xmas song.

David Bowie and Bing Crosby, 1977.

David Bowie was also on the first record I ever bought with my own money, QUEEN’S GREATEST HITS, at the former LaVerdiere’s Drug Store across the river from where I’m writing this (in Wooterville, Maine, or Waterville, Maine for the uninitiated).  You throw in LET’S DANCE, LIVE AID, LABYRINTH and more, over the years, my love for David and his music grew more and more.  For years, I resisted getting a tattoo, and three months and a week after he died, I got my first tattoo with Mr. Bowie on my right shoulder, saying “We can be Heroes, just for one day.”  Just felt right and still does.  Sometimes, when Maryhope and I are on the air together, and we play David Bowie, I tend to refer to him as “the ever-present David Bowie.”  And he is, and not just because he’s on my shoulder.

Some of the early Elektra pressings of QUEEN’S GREATEST HITS had a new song on the album, with David Bowie — “Under Pressure.”  And I’m so grateful I got one of the early pressings.  My 39-year-old copy of the album is beat to shit, after the millions of times I played it, but as the first album I ever owned, I’ll never part with it.

Not my copy, this is mint compared to my beat-up copy!

Being a lanky 14-year-old singles chart nerd (and nerd in general) in 1981, one of the things I enjoyed most about QUEEN’S GREATEST HITS were the liner notes.  It had mini bios of each song, and revealed what positions the songs charted in both the U.K. and the U.S., which was a thrill for me, because at that time, I had little knowledge of how songs did across the pond, or other parts of the globe.

Here’s what the liner notes looked like on the first U.S. pressings of QUEEN’S GREATEST HITS, right down to the crease in the upper right corner.

What I didn’t know is that, on the U.K. and Ireland versions of QUEEN’S GREATEST HITS (or actually just titled GREATEST HITS, though I never called it that), “Under Pressure” was nowhere to be found.  But, on (at least) the American, Canadian and Japanese versions of the compilation, it was thankfully there.  And I instantly fell in love with it. 

“Under Pressure” was the brilliant pairing of two of the greatest voices in the history of music — Queen’s Freddie Mercury and David Bowie.  Absolute total fucking genius.  I’ve heard stories of stressful moments between them during the recording of “Under Pressure,” which, depending on your interpretation of the song, could be about stress and pressure because of work, politics, life, love, family, war, war within yourself, or anything.  When I hear “Under Pressure,” I don’t feel pressure at all, I don’t think about the battles Freddie and David had whilst making the song.  I just feel the love that was put into the song and I hear the passion and conviction in each of their voices:

“Love, love, love, love, love / Insanity laughs under pressure we’re breaking / Can’t we give ourselves one more chance? / Why can’t we give love that one more chance? / Why can’t we give love, give love, give love, give love / Give love, give love, give love, give love, give love?…”

The unassuming, pressure-free cover art for the “Under Pressure” single.

“Under Pressure” was released the last week in October 1981, on the same day as QUEEN’S GREATEST HITS.  Within two weeks, it debuted on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 at No. 80.  In early December 1981, it debuted in the Top 40 at No. 40.  A month later, in early January 1982, it spent a couple of weeks at its peak position of No. 29, 15 total weeks on the Hot 100, and was gone by late February.  I can’t express enough how pissed I was (or as pissed as a then-15-year-old nerd living in Central Maine could get) that “Under Pressure” didn’t get the recognition it deserved. 

Unbeknownst to me, though, in many other parts of the globe, “Under Pressure” DID indeed get the recognition it deserved.  In the U.K., it spent two weeks at No. 1, a week at No. 1 in the Netherlands, and reached the Top 10 in (at least) Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.  Why Americans couldn’t get behind this masterpiece is a question that eluded me for a very long time.

10 years to the week after “Under Pressure” hit No. 1 in the U.K., Freddie Mercury sadly passed away at the age of 45.  His loss was felt everywhere, and less than six months after he died, a benefit concert was put together in honor of him.  Many artists performed with the surviving members of Queen, including Robert Plant, Paul Young, Seal, Lisa Stansfield, George Michael, Elton John, and when it came time for “Under Pressure,” Queen’s Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon performed with David Bowie, and singing Freddie’s part of the song, the extraordinary Annie Lennox of Eurythmics.  The performance was magnificent, and an amazing tribute indeed, that I’m sure Freddie would have loved.

Annie Lennox and David Bowie, from the Freddie Mercury Tribute, April 20, 1992.

Over the years, you couldn’t escape “Under Pressure” being featured in numerous TV shows and movies, including a touching scene in the brilliant 1997 John Cusack film, GROSSE POINTE BLANK.

John Cusack and a baby, quietly jamming out to “Under Pressure” in 1997’s GROSSE POINTE BLANK.

When David Bowie died in 2016, many of his songs returned to the charts everywhere in the world, even here in America.  On the BILLBOARD Hot 100, “Under Pressure” was the highest Bowie song to re-enter the chart, at No. 45 — over “Let’s Dance,” over “Fame,” over “Space Oddity.”  And now (maybe also due in part due to the excellent 2018 Freddie Mercury biopic, BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY), “Under Pressure” is in heavy rotation at Retro Rock and Classic Rock stations all over.  It took awhile, but here in the U.S., “Under Pressure” has finally gotten the recognition it has deserved all along.

I want to travel back in time and go to there!

It’s hard to believe that, at one time in my life, David Bowie was not one of my favorite artists.  But, today, January 8, 2020, and well before today, and with many eternally grateful thanks to Maryhope, I can honestly say David Bowie is one of my all-time favorite artists.  I can’t imagine my life without him or his music. 

If I had access to a working DeLorean time machine, you can bet your 88 miles an hour ass that I would go back in time and see David perform live and buy everything of his that I could, at those moments.  But, since that’s not yet physically possible, I take comfort in the fact he left us an incredibly brilliant catalog of music that stretches far across the universe and then some. 

I also take comfort with something Maryhope often reminds me of, how we existed on this planet at the same time as David Bowie.  That’s so fucking cool.  Also so fucking cool is a thought I’ve had of David hanging out with Maryhope’s dad, Dennis, and my two baby brothers, Mark and Jonn — because they can.

Happy Birthday, Starman, wherever you are.  My love to you all…

“Cause love’s such an old fashioned word / And love dares you to care for / The people on the edge of the night / And love (people on streets) dares you to change our way of / Caring about ourselves / This is our last dance / This is our last dance / This is ourselves / Under pressure / Under pressure / Pressure…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a01QQZyl-_I

song of the day – “Fool In The Rain” | LED ZEPPELIN | 1980.

On June 15, 2014, Casey Kasem, host of the longtime countdown program, AMERICAN TOP 40, passed away at the age of 82.  From my first blog post (and prolly some more inbetween then and now), I explained how, in 1979, I was a geeky, lanky and somewhat lost 12-year-old living in Central Maine, had a few friends and not a lot of interest in much of anything, but at some point early that year, I discovered AMERICAN TOP 40, and was glued to it every weekend.  Not only could I hear the 40 biggest songs in the country every week, but also Casey’s cool trivia and facts about the songs and the artists, a trait I treasure to this day.  For me, the show was No. 1 with a bullet.  And still is (thanks to the re-airing of broadcasts of AT40 on iHeart Radio).

In honor of my radio hero, Casey Kasem, for the entire month of June, I will be highlighting a song each day (some days will have two songs!) that peaked in the Top 40 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100 (including five (real) one-hit wonders of the 80s), and with every blog post, just like on AMERICAN TOP 40, the hits will get bigger with each post.  On June 1, 2017, I featured a song that peaked at No. 40.  On June 30, I’ll feature a “song of the day” that went all the way to No. 1. 

As Casey used to say on AT40, “And on we go!”

Folks of a certain age (yours truly included) remember junior high school dances always concluded with the double dose of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” and Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven.”  Every single dance.  It’s like, in the late 70s and early 80s, there was a DJ requirement to play those two songs back-to-back at the end of every school dance.  Maybe it was also because the combined time of the studio album versions of both songs were 17 minutes long, a good amount of time to get all your albums and shit together, with minimal clean up after the dance was done, so you could zip right out of there.  Unfortunately, for me, it was 17 minutes of much suckage.  I don’t recall this wallflower ever dancing to either of those classics at a junior high dance.

“Bird” vs. “Heaven,”or Skynyrd vs. Zep.  For decades, one can’t escape the other. Prolly the way it’ll always be…

It’s funny – I remember my junior high dances way more than my high school dances.  I can’t even remember if “Free Bird” and “Stairway To Heaven” were even played.  I also wonder if this DJ requirement to play both of these songs helped propel them to the top of annual radio station holiday countdowns.  To this day, they both usually find themselves in the Top 10 of every countdown, if not the Top 5 or Top 3.  (I just checked out a recent list by one of Portland, Maine’s Classic Rock stations, and they had “Free Bird” at No. 1, and “Stairway To Heaven” at No. 2.  What rebels.)

What can I say about Led Zeppelin that hasn’t been already said before?  I wouldn’t call them the Godfathers of Heavy Metal (most would say that distinction goes to Black Sabbath), but Led Zep sure did have a hand in it.  They were one of THE BIGGEST Rock groups of all time, and were rightfully inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1995, where, at the museum, Led Zeppelin is stated as being “as influential” in the 1970s as The Beatles were in the 1960s. 

Any non-believers yet?  Led Zeppelin released just nine studio albums between 1969 and 1982, and every single album went platinum, and every single album reached the Top 10.  Actually, no Led Zep album charted lower than No. 7 on BILLBOARD’s album chart, and that was the first album.  The only albums that didn’t hit No. 1 were their self-titled debut, LED ZEPPELIN IV (this surprised me), and 1982’s CODA, which was released two years after the band broke up, due to the death of drummer John Bonham.

Still some non-believers out there?  You fools!  Four (of nine) Led Zeppelin studio albums (and one box set) have been certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) as Diamond certifications.  What qualifies as a Diamond certification?  Sales of more than 10 million copies (with multiple sets counting for each disc in the set).  In the U.S. alone.  These albums are 1969’s LED ZEPPELIN II (12x Platinum), 1971’s LED ZEPPELIN IV (the third biggest-selling albums of all-time here in America, 23x Platinum), 1973’s HOUSES OF THE HOLY (11x Platinum), 1975’s double-album PHYSICAL GRAFFITI (16x Platinum), and 1990’s 4-disc LED ZEPPELIN BOX SET (10x Platinum).

London’s Led Zeppelin – singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist / keyboardist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham – had already been around for 11 years when I discovered them in 1979, and it wasn’t “Stairway To Heaven” or “Black Dog” or “Kashmir” or “Whole Lotta Love” that sucked me in – its was all “Fool In The Rain,” from their eighth studio album, IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR.

The album was released in mid-August 1979, and was housed in what looked like a brown paper bag.  I still have mine, though after nearly 40 years, it’s looking a lot like a brown paper bag that’s been around for 40 years.

IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR only took two weeks to reach No. 1 on BILLBOARD’s album chart, and not only spent seven weeks at No. 1, but sold three million copies by the end of September.  Pretty impressive for 1979.  Actually, pretty impressive for 2017 too – a total like that now could land an album at No. 1 for the entire year.

“Fool In The Rain,” the only single released from IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR, was released in early December 1979, more than a month after IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR finished its seven-week run at No. 1 on BILLBOARD’s album chart.

It was not your typical Rockin’ Led Zeppelin song.  According to a piece in ROLLING STONE about the band’s 40 Greatest Songs Of All Time, “Fool In The Rain” (ranked at No. 24) came about when Robert Plant and John Paul Jones head a Samba song while watching the 1978 World Cup, and that influenced the Latin-jam middle section.  Jimmy Page called “Fool In The Rain” “a springboard for what could have been” (of course, referring to the sad death of John Bonham, who died 13 months after the release of IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR).

An Italian version of the “Fool In The Rain” single.

“Fool In The Rain” (musically, one of the best songs I’ve ever heard) is a song about a guy who is supposed to meet up a woman on a particular street corner.  When the woman doesn’t show up, he is disappointed about being stood up.  Well, by the final verse of the song, the guy realizes that he didn’t go to the right place, making him “just a fool waiting on the wrong block.”

The Japanese version of “Fool In The Rain.”

The song only took a couple of weeks to debut on the BILLBOARD Hot 100, debuting on the last official chart of 1979 at No. 64, and reached the Top 40 in its fourth chart week.  It went on to spend a couple of weeks at its peak position at No. 21 in late February 1980, was the last Led Zeppelin single released commercially (they didn’t release many), and the last (of six) to reach the Top 40.

They say you never forget your first love, and I suppose that could apply to music as well.  I know I’ll be forever grateful that “Fool In The Rain’ was my introduction to Led Zeppelin, and that unlikely hit that turned me on to them for the rest of my life, even if it didn’t work out too well for the guy in the song…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp-LBD_q0sQ

song of the day – “Slipping Away” | DAVE EDMUNDS | 1983.

On June 15, 2014, Casey Kasem, host of the longtime countdown program, AMERICAN TOP 40, passed away at the age of 82.  From my first blog post (and prolly some more inbetween then and now), I explained how, in 1979, I was a geeky, lanky and somewhat lost 12-year-old living in Central Maine, had a few friends and not a lot of interest in much of anything, but at some point early that year, I discovered AMERICAN TOP 40, and was glued to it every weekend.  Not only could I hear the 40 biggest songs in the country every week, but also Casey’s cool trivia and facts about the songs and the artists, a trait I treasure to this day.  For me, the show was No. 1 with a bullet.  And still is (thanks to the re-airing of broadcasts of AT40 on iHeart Radio).

In honor of my radio hero, Casey Kasem, for the entire month of June, I will be highlighting a song each day (some days will have two songs!) that peaked in the Top 40 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100 (including five (real) one-hit wonders of the 80s), and with every blog post, just like on AMERICAN TOP 40, the hits will get bigger with each post.  On June 1, 2017, I featured a song that peaked at No. 40.  On June 30, I’ll feature a “song of the day” that went all the way to No. 1. 

As Casey used to say on AT40, “And on we go!”

In researching for this blog post, I found a lot more songs from the 80s that peaked at No. 39 than expected, at least 30.  There were some great ones, like “Atomic” by Blondie, “I Don’t Care Anymore” by Phil Collins, “In The Mood” by Robert Plant,” “Looking For A Stranger” by Pat Benatar, “My Town” by the Michael Stanley Band, “Skin Trade” by Duran Duran, “Tomorrow People” by Ziggy Marley, “(What) In The Name Of Love” by Naked Eyes, “Second Nature” by Dan Hartman, “Who’s Making Love” by The Blues Brothers, Bon Jovi’s first hit, “Runaway,” ELO’s sadly-forgotten “Last Train To London,” the gorgeous “Wake Up (Next To You)” by Graham Parker And The Shot, and six (real) one-hit wonders of the 80s.

I also found some songs I had forgotten about, like “Don’t Let Him Know” by Prism and “New Romance (It’s A Mystery)” by Spider, and some stinkers among the bunch, including “Memory” by Barry Manilow, “Sartorial Eloquence” by Elton John (sorry Elton, with a song title like that, it was bound not to work out), and the “WTF was I thinking with this song” song by Mick Jagger, “Let’s Work.”  Downright awful.  Don’t watch the video – that’s four minutes you’re not getting back.

I nearly chose “Wake Up (Next To You)” as my selection for a song that peaked at No. 39 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100, but I wanted to choose instead a gem from the sensationally-talented Welsh singer / songwriter / guitarist / über-producer, Dave Edmunds.

Born in Cardiff, Wales, Dave Edmunds first got his big break with a band called Love Sculpture, and in 1968, they reached No. 5 on the U.K. singles chart with a song called “Sabre Dance.”  Two years later, he had himself a huge international solo hit called “I Hear You Knocking,” which spent six weeks at No. 1 in the U.K., reached No. 3 in Canada and New Zealand, and No. 4 in the U.S. and Australia.  Dave’s version was actually a cover of a 1955 hit by R&B singer Smiley Lewis, and then covered by the legendary Fats Domino in 1961.  It’s also been covered many times over the decades, including versions by Bruce Springsteen and Bryan Adams.

Through the end of the 1970s, Dave Edmunds picked up another three Top 10 U.K. hits, including Silver-Certified “Girls Talk,” written by Elvis Costello and appearing on his 1979 album, REPEAT WHEN NECESSARY (on Led Zeppelin’s SWAN SONG label). 

NERDY FUN FACTS: Huey Lewis appears on that same 1979 Dave Edmunds album, playing harmonica on a song he wrote called “Bad Is Bad,” four years before it would appear on Huey’s own monster album with The News, SPORTS.  And a song called “Queen Of Hearts” was also on the album, a No. 11 U.K. hit for Dave Edmunds that would become a big global hit for New Jersey Country singer, Juice Newton, in 1981.

Yepper, that’s Huey Lewis’ name and song on Led Zeppelin’s label, years before Huey became a star in his own right…

In addition to being a successful singer, songwriter and musician, Dave Edmunds was also a popular producer for other artists, including producing several albums by The Stray Cats, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, his side project with Nick Lowe, Rockpile, and k.d. lang’s second album, ANGEL WITH A LARIAT.

In all the years Dave Edmunds produced his own albums and the works of other artists, when it came time to work on his own 1983 album, INFORMATION, Dave did something he had never done before – he collaborated with another producer, in this case, Jeff Lynne of the Electric Light Orchestra.

Jeff Lynne would go on to produce two songs on the album – the title track, and the album’s first single, “Slipping Away,” which Jeff Lynne also wrote.  “Slipping Away” entered the BILLBOARD Hot 100 at No. 93 in mid-May 1983.  I confess I didn’t know much about Dave Edmunds when this song came out, but I loved the updated twangy sound. 

With the help of airplay on the relatively new MTV, “Slipping Away” inched its way up the Hot 100, reaching its peak position of No. 39 nearly three months after debuting on the chart.  Four weeks after reaching the Top 40, “Slipping Away” slipped its way out of the Hot 100.  It’s his last Top 40 hit to date. 

Dave Edmunds, now 73, released two albums in recent years, one in 2013 called …AGAIN (featuring recordings from the 90s and four new songs), and in 2015 (ON GUITAR…RAGS & CLASSICS).

It’s his twangy, Jeff Lynne-penned and produced No. 39 hit, though, that caught my ear, which introduced me to a music legend, and is a song that has never slipped away from me since, and won’t…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFETrcH1Dks

song of the day – “Easy Lover” | PHILIP BAILEY and PHIL COLLINS | 1985.

I know a LOT of friends who are NOT fans of Phil Collins.  I don’t think it’s anything personal against the guy – he took over as lead singer of Genesis in 1975 when Peter Gabriel left, and brought the band its biggest success (during the 1980s); he was the only one who performed in both London and Philadelphia at LIVE AID on July 13, 1985; Phil contributed to several popular 80s singles by artists like Howard Jones, Frida, Adam Ant and Robert Plant; and, between 1981 and 1989, with seven No. 1 songs, four other Top 10 hits and three additional Top 40 hits, he was the eighth-biggest recording act here in America during the 1980s.  He’s starred in his own movie, won an Academy Award for a song from another, is a member of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and has honorary doctorates at two universities and Boston’s famed Berklee College Of Music. 

Phil’s gotten his share of bad press, sure, and other recording artists through the years have dissed his work.  David Bowie once referred to his TONIGHT and NEVER LET ME DOWN albums as his “Phil Collins years / albums.”  Oasis singer / songwriter / guitarist Noel Gallagher oft-criticized Phil Collins.  After the quick success of their 1997 album, BE HERE NOW (which sold 660,000 copies in seven days in the U.K. alone), Noel Gallagher compared the album’s success to Phil Collins: “Just because you sell lots of records, it doesn’t mean to say you’re any good.  Look at Phil Collins.”

Well, I wouldn’t say I’m Phil’s biggest fan (if I never hear “Sussudio” ever again, that would be pretty effing swell), but I would say I am a big fan of his work, and especially of the work he did with Genesis.  Their brilliant 1981 album, ABACAB, was one of the first four LPs I bought with my own money.  And it remains as one of my favorite albums to this day.

Over the years, one curious and quite interesting factoid I’ve noticed with folks I know who DON’T LIKE Phil Collins in general but actually LOVE one of his big hit singles – the 1985 hit with Earth, Wind & Fire’s Philip Bailey – “Easy Lover.” 

Between May and December 1984, Phil Collins was not only working on his third solo studio album, NO JACKET REQUIRED…, he also produced and contributed to Eric Clapton’s album, BEHIND THE SUN, played drums on the huge global Band Aid charity single, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, and produced CHINESE WALL, the third solo studio album for Earth, Wind & Fire vocalist, Philip Bailey. 

Phil & Phil were both 33 years old at the time, and CHINESE WALL would become Philip Bailey’s biggest solo album ever, which was certified Gold and nominated for a Grammy Award.

At the end of the sessions for the CHINESE WALL album, Philip Bailey approached Phil Collins about writing a song together.  The song they recorded was a song Phil Collins once referred to as a song that “doesn’t sound like any particular era.  It’s just fantastic.”  That one-time collaboration between Philip Bailey and Phil Collins ended up being the first single released from CHINESE WALL – “Easy Lover.”  I wonder if “Easy Lover” meant “Easy to love?”  Maybe.  It certainly was, and still is.

“Easy Lover” was released in the U.S. in November 1984, and the U.K. in late February 1985.  By the end of November 1984, it had already made its debut on the BILLBOARD Hot 100, and reached the Top 40 in three weeks.  It didn’t really explode on the Hot 100 until mid-January 1985, when it zoomed into the chart’s Top 5, headed straight for No. 1.  Or so it looked…

Another popular hit zoomed into the Top 5 that week as well – “I Want To Know What Love Is” by Foreigner, which spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in early February 1985, with “Easy Lover” situated right behind it. 

The back of the 12″ single for “Easy Lover.”

Though “Easy Lover” had enough momentum to be a No. 1 hit in the U.S. (it finished all of 1985 way up at No. 12, ahead of 16 out of 27 total No. 1 songs on the year-end chart), the song did earn a Grammy nomination, was certified Gold, and won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Overall Performance In A Video (which was, as Phil Collins mentioned at the beginning of the video, a music video about the making of a music video).

Phil & Phil trying out some dance moves in the video within a video for “Easy Lover.”

Around the globe, it was not hard for folks (Phil Collins fans and non-fans alike) to love “Easy Lover.”  It spent six weeks at No. 1 in Canada, four weeks at No. 1 in Holland, a week at No. 1 in Ireland, and reached No. 1 on Japan’s International Chart.  It also reached the Top 10 in Finland, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and Switzerland, and BILLBOARD’s R&B and Mainstream Rock charts (a rare feat).

The cover for the U.K. single of “Easy Lover.”

Over in the U.K., it became Phil Collins’ second solo No. 1 single (after 1982’s “You Can’t Hurry Love”), spending four weeks on top.  I remember back in 2006, when STUCK IN THE 80s, my little 80s radio program on WMPG community radio for almost 21 years, was celebrating its tenth year on the air, and I did a STUCK IN THE 80s foreign exchange-of-sorts. 

At the time, there was a show in Brentwood, Essex, England (about 20 miles NE of London) called STUCK IN THE 80s, with a host by the name of Richard Nott (on Phoenix FM; like WMPG, a community station).  I contacted him about switching shows for a week, and he loved the idea.  So, for one week, he hosted my show and I hosted his.  It was pretty cool. 

In prepping for the one-time STUCK IN THE 80s exchange, I asked Richard what his favorite 80s song was.  I may have also said, “Give me a Top 10!  Give me a Top 20!  What’s your best album?”  And, he brought this up on his version of the show.  It was pretty funny (“blah-blah-blah-blah” he added).  His all-time favorite 80s tune is “Let’s Groove” by Earth, Wind & Fire, but “not far off” for Richard was “Easy Lover.”  He said, “I just enjoy it; it’s a great tune.”

And, whether or not you actually like Phil Collins, you’ve got to admit that “Easy Lover” IS a great tune, and that the teaming of Phil Bailey and Phil Collins was pure genius and truly magical.  “She’ll get a hold on you, believe it.”  Oh, I DO believe it – “Easy Lover” has had a hold on me for 32 years and counting…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkRKT6T0QLg

song of the day – “Save It For Later” | THE ENGLISH BEAT | 1982.

If my math is correct, tonight (9.7.2016) will mark the seventh time I’ve seen The English Beat perform in Portland, Maine since they started coming here a week after my interview with Dave Wakeling in November 2009.  I’ve never seen a recording act perform as many times.  It’s funny, because I never saw The English Beat (let alone knew about them) when they were around in the late 70s and early 80s.  Now, I couldn’t imagine being without their music and not seeing them every chance I get.  Last year was the only time I’ve missed their Portland show, and that’s only because I found out about it too late.

The English Beat (as they are known here in America) started out in Birmingham, England in 1978, as a New Wave / Ska band, but with a marriage of Pop, Soul, Punk and Reggae.  Pretty impressive.  The band was well-represented with the wonderful Dave Wakeling (vocals and guitar), Ranking Roger (vocals), Andy Cox (guitar), David Steele (bass), Everett Morton (drums) and Saxa (real name Lionel Augustus Martin) on, of course, saxophone.

Oddly enough, there’s been more compilation albums released with The English Beat’s music than actual studio albums, but I tell you, all of their original studio albums – 1980’s brilliant I JUST CAN’T STOP IT, 1981’s WHA’HAPPEN? and 1982’s SPECIAL BEAT SERVICE – are all pretty damn special.

I can’t remember if it was the 1997 John Cusack film, GROSSE POINTE BLANK (with “Mirror In The Bathroom” featured in a pivotal scene in the film) that reignited my interest in The English Beat, but I do know from there, they and their music were always welcomed on the show. 

Back in 2009, I was the longtime Music Director for WMPG community radio in Portland, Maine (in addition to hosting my volunteer radio show, STUCK IN THE 80s).  I got word that The English Beat’s upcoming appearance to Portland and the opportunity for an interview with Dave Wakeling (the voice of The English Beat and General Public) came up, and I, of course, was very interested.

Dave Wakeling, photographed for ROLLING STONE in 2012.

Dave and I spoke on Monday, November 16, 2009, for nearly a half-hour on subjects from Margaret Thatcher, the 1981 British documentary DANCE CRAZE, I.R.S. records, the late, great John Hughes and his massive record collection, VH1 and much more.

The “much more” part of the interview included a conversation on covers, a subject I’m fascinated with.  The English Beat has released a number of successful cover songs, from their U.K. Top 10 covers of Smokey Robinson and The Mircales’ “Tears Of A Clown” (No. 6, 1979) to Andy Williams’ “Can’t Get Used To Losing You” (No. 3, 1983; their biggest U.K. hit), and General Public released their 1994 cover of The Staple Singers’ No. 1 hit, “I’ll Take You There” (No. 73 U.K., No. 22 Hot 100, No. 6 BILLBOARD Modern Rock, No. 1 BILLBOARD Dance).

I asked Dave if there were any covers he hadn’t covered yet but would like to, and he almost instantly mentioned “Here Comes My Baby,” a song written and recorded by Cat Stevens in 1967, but was popularized by the English band, The Tremeloes, that same year.  That version reached No. 4 in the U.K. and No. 13 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100.  Dave even sang a little bit of the song during the interview, and I’ve been waiting for him to release a version ever since.  I may get my wish – I believe it’s included on the upcoming album by The English Beat featuring Dave Wakeling – HERE WE GO LOVE – scheduled for release sometime in 2017.  Maybe he’ll sing it tonight!

The U.S. version of the single.

We also talked about covers other artists have done of songs by The English Beat or General Public, like Pete Townshend’s 1985 cover of  “Save It For Later” (from The English Beat’s 1982 album, SPECIAL BEAT SERVICE), and I asked Dave what that is like for him:

“It’s got to be about one of the proudest moments you could ever have, you know?  I used to sit and thrill to The Who when I was a kid.  So, to have somebody of that stature cover one of your songs – and Pearl Jam covered a bit of [“Save It For Later”] in their ‘Better Now,’ because it’s basically the same song, I believe, and Robert Plant had it as his song of the year, which was stunning to me.  Johnny Marr had it as his favourite song of the 80s, which I still haven’t recovered from that one.  So, those sort of things do mean a lot, especially when they’re artists that had really affected you, you know.”

Well, Dave Wakeling and The English Beat have really affected me.  As I’ve mentioned on the bloggy thing here before, there’s just something about being at an English Beat show that moves me – the energy, the skanking, the music – and when they play “I Confess” (prolly my favorite song of theirs), I close my eyes and somehow I feel a peace I can’t really describe in a blog post, and I don’t feel it anywhere else but their live shows.

After that first show in 2009, I got to meet Dave Wakeling on the tour bus, and at the time, I was 80 pounds heavier and wearing a wool sport coat, black shirt and a two-tone (black and white checkered) tie.  Dave loved the look of the tie, and I said, “I’ll tell ya what I’m gonna do – I’m going to give you the tie right off of my shirt.”  Dave appreciated the gesture, signed everything I brought with me (including a flier for the show that was signed, “Save it for later Ron!”), and gave me the T-shirt I’m wearing to the show tonight. 

Dave Wakeling (who makes his home in California these days) is the kind of guy who doesn’t forget his friends or his fans.  All these years later, he still hasn’t forgotten.  The love between Portland, Maine and The English Beat featuring Dave Wakeling is quite mutual and then some.  “Save It For Later” wasn’t one of their biggest hits, but it’s truly one of their best, and like the Dave and the band, it’s aged well, and is one of many songs I’m looking forward to skanking to tonight…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bM0wVjU2-k