40 Year Itch : Refried Confusion

[Purchase]In New Orleans, Dr. John's 1972 collection of Big Easy classics, Gumbo, is the Night-Tripping album near and dear to the heart. But Dr John's best album of the 70's is his funky 1973 follow-up, In The Right Place, which rightly provided the Doctor with his biggest hit nationwide.For Right Place, Dr John met up in Miami with his Crescent City compadre Allen Toussaint and Toussaint's house band, The Meters. The Meters were led by their keyboard...

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40 Year Itch: Kobaia Vs. Planet Earth

Magma : Kobaia Is De Hundin[Purchase]Here's a novel concept: write songs in some made up alien language --say Kobaian--about earth battling an alien planet--say Kobaia. And spread the story over the course of ten albums. That's what the French prog rock band Magma did and , no, they did not experience a huge amount of chart success. Outside France. But on February 25, 1973, Magma did get national exposure when they appeared on a French television...

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40 Year Itch: Leonard Cohen Retires ...Kind Of

"I'm leaving the music scene...maybe the other life won't have many good moments either, but I know this one, and I don't want it"It had been a tough year for Leonard Cohen. His 1972 tour of Europe and Israel, filmed by documentarian Tony Palmer, ended with a frustrated Cohen walking off the stage mid-concert in Jerusalem. The film, Bird On The Wire, cost Cohen $125,000 and wouldn't be seen until 2010. Aside from the financial pressure, Cohen...

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40 Year Itch : The Worst Album of 1973?

[Purchase]Contrary to critical belief, Squeeze is not the worst album of 1973. Far from it. The reason critics have long derided the album is that the only member of the Velvet Underground who played on Squeeze was Doug Yule. Yule replaced John Cale in time to play and sing on two VU studio albums, 1969's The Velvet Underground and 1970's Loaded. Had Squeeze simply been sold as a Doug Yule solo album, it would be embraced these days as one of the...

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40 Year Itch : Let's Sip A Cup Of Kindness

[Purchase from MickeyNewbury.Com]To be a songwriter's songwriter is a great way to win acclaim but it's not enough to make yous a household name. Such was the fate of Mickey Newbury who remains best known for writing "An American Trilogy" ( recorded by Elvis and more than 400 other artists) and "Just Dropped In ( To See What Condition My Condition Was In) --a hit for Kenny Rogers's band, The First Edition. Heaven Help The Child, released in...

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40 Year Itch : The Masterpiece

[Out of Print] Producer Norman Whitfield followed up The Temptations's All Directions and its 12 minute #1 single " Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" with Masterpeice, the most self serving album title since Big Star's #1 Record. Cut down from 13:35 to 4:22, the wah wah guitar and violin strewn title track was a #1 R and B hit.   Whitfield's nearly side long arrangements dominated the album. There's more Funk Brothers instrumentation...

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40 Year Itch : Walk On Hot Coals

[Purchase]Irish guitar god Rory Gallagher could outplay and out sing just about anybody in the blues-rock scene including Eric Clapton. His songs might first strike listeners as standard hard rocking blues. But then came time for the solo and, with a beat up old stratocaster,  that's when The Irish Rocket would take off. The only complaint critics had is that his albums rarely sounded different from each other. Blueprint, released February...

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