Greg Easterling's Blog

Weekdays Midnight - 5am

Fleetwood Mac In Chicago
Posted:Thursday, 03/11/2010 at 02:03am by Greg Easterling
We're spotlighting Fleetwood Mac today on The Drive and have a vintage side of theirs to play this morning. Back in January of 1969, an early lineup of the band came to town to jam with some of their Chicago blues heroes at Chess Studios on South Michigan Avenue. Legends like Willie Dixon, Otis Spann, Big Walter Horton and Buddy Guy, who's credited here as Guitar Buddy, due to a contractual issue.

Fleetwood Mac had a three guitar lineup at this point, mostly notably the great Peter Green plus Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan. Supporting them, the longtime rhythm section of John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, the band's namesakes. We listened to Side 1 of Fleetwood Mac in Chicago featuring the vocals and guitar leads of Peter Green on jams like "Watch Out" and "Last Night".

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The Rockin' Soul of Robert Palmer
Posted:Tuesday, 03/09/2010 at 02:03am by Greg Easterling
We've got a side of Robert Palmer this morning and his 1979 Secrets album. Gone since 2003, we remember Robert as the British blue eyed soul singer who took an eclectic approach to music, mixing r&b, reggae, dance and straight ahead rock into his own personal style. Secrets was far from Robert's first record but it was his most successful commercially until 1986's Riptide cracked the Top Ten with two big MTV hits. We listened to Side 1 of Secrets, highlighted by the Moon Martin penned single, "Bad Case of Loving You" and a nice cover of Todd Rundgren's "Can We Still be Friends".

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Rod and The Faces
Posted:Monday, 03/08/2010 at 04:03am by Greg Easterling
We kicked off a brand new week this morning with the legendary Faces and their classic lineup from 1971 featuring Rod Stewart and future Rolling Stone Ron Wood.

It was a guaranteed good time with one of the most rockin' bands of their day...Rod and Ron having joined forces with the instrumental core of the original Small Faces: Kenny Jones, Ian McLagan, and Ronnie Lane. A Nod Is As Good As A Wink...To A Blind Horse was their third album together and they hit their stride commercially with the hit single, "Stay With Me" plus a fistful of other original songs. The Faces actually released two albums in '71(Long Player was the other one) and played a major role in Rod's best solo album, Every Picture Tells A Story which was also released the same year. We listened to Side 1 of A Nod Is As Good As A Wink... which also features "Miss Judy's Farm" and "Love Lives Here".

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Aerosmith's 2nd...for the 1st time
Posted:Saturday, 03/06/2010 at 08:03am by Greg Easterling
We wrapped up our week of overnight vinyl with a copy of Aerosmith's second album I ran across recently. Get Your Wings came out in 1974 while the band was still low profile...it's hard to believe they were once so unknown!

This one didn't climb high on the album chart and there were no hit singles from the record even though it was a solid effort that showed Aerosmith progressing nicely. In an interesting turn, Aerosmith's debut and the accompanying hit, "Dream On" wouldn't rise on the charts until 1976, pulled along by the success of their third album, Toys In The Attic and the iconic single, "Walk This Way". Get Your Wings would never get that kind of love overall but it did provide us with several great tracks, especially "Same Old Song And Dance" plus a nice cover of a song Aerosmith heard Jeff Beck and the Yardbirds record, "Train Kept A-Rollin'".

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Buffalo Springfield Anniversary
Posted:Wednesday, 03/03/2010 at 02:03am by Greg Easterling
We hit midweek this morning with a side from a nice 1973 Buffalo Springfield compilation. They allegedly got together as a band on this date back in 1966 and what an influential bunch they were...introducing us to Stephen Stills and Neil Young as well as Richie Furay who went on to form Poco, and also Jim Messina, who joined for a short time near the end of the band.

Stills will be in Chicago to play House Of Blues Thursday night and he still pulls out some songs from his Springfield days as well as that "other" band he played with afterward! We're listening to Side 2 of "Buffalo Springfield" today including the nine minute jam of "Bluebird" plus "Mr. Soul" and " Rock 'n' Roll Woman".

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Happy Birthday Lou
Posted:Tuesday, 03/02/2010 at 03:03am by Greg Easterling
Today it's Lou Reed's birthday. Lou, one of the founders of Velvet Underground back in the 1960's has maintained a long solo recording career ever since. This morning we pulled out his 1974 live record, Rock And Roll Animal, recorded in Lou's hometown of New York City.

Despite Lou's somewhat freaky appearance on the cover of the album, the music is a lot more conventional sounding than one might expect. The songs themselves are mostly rearrangements of some of Reed's best known Velvet era songs, distinguished by the dual lead guitar punch of midwestern rock guitarists Steve Hunter(fr Decatur, IL) and Dick Wagner(Detroit). We listened to Side Two this time, featuring a ten minute plus jam of "Rock 'n' Rock".

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From Pete to Roger
Posted:Monday, 03/01/2010 at 02:03am by Greg Easterling
We ended February last week with a solo side from Pete Townshend...and today we begin our month of Overnight Album Sides with a birthday salute to Roger Daltrey, the longtime lead singer of The Who.

From Shepherd's Bush to the Superbowl, Daltrey has been the front man of the band, one of THE legendary classic rock vocalists alongside the likes of Mick Jagger and Robert Plant. This morning, we've got The Who By Numbers, a relatively low key 1975 release revealing some of Townshend's most confessional lyrics with the band still backed by the rock solid rhythm of Keith Moon and John Entwhistle. We listened to Side 1 including "Slip Kid" and "Squeeze Box".

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Finishing Feb. with an Empty Glass
Posted:Friday, 02/26/2010 at 02:02am by Greg Easterling
We finished up both our week AND month of overnight vinyl with The Who's Pete Townshend this morning, bringing in his second solo record, Empty Glass(1980) which came out years after his first solo album, Who Came First.

Empty Glass chronicles a turbulent time in Townshend's personal life which followed the death of his friend and longtime Who drummer Keith Moon. Both the band and Townshend were forever changed by Keith's departure as Pete contemplated a future without The Who, which would soon go on hiatus for a number of years. This album did well, going to #10 on the album chart with a hit single, "Let My Love Open The Door" that dented the Top Ten. We flipped the album over and listened to Side 2 this time, highlighted by "A Little Is Enough" and "Gonna Get Ya".

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The Beginning of Browne
Posted:Thursday, 02/25/2010 at 03:02am by Greg Easterling
We're featuring Jackson Browne today as part of our Thursday Artist Portrait and we tracked a side from his 1972 debut here this morning. It's a self titled record but since the words "Saturate Before Using" appear on the cover(a picture of a canteen), that phrase was often thought to be the title over the years.

It's a nice first effort, near the crest of the wave of 70s singer-songwriters that followed in the wake of James Taylor, Carole King and Joni Mitchell. Jackson's early songs deal with a number of sensitive issues; later records would reveal a sense of humor and a well defined political conscience but it all started here with the help of a number of talented L.A. musicians including David Crosby, Clarence White, Jesse Davis, Jim Gordon and Craig Doerge. We listened to Side 2 this time which included great songs like "Rock Me On The Water" and "My Opening Farewell".

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We Say It's George's Birthday
Posted:Wednesday, 02/24/2010 at 02:02am by Greg Easterling
George Harrison was born on this date in 1943 and we're honoring him this morning with a side from his landmark live album, The Concert For Bangladesh. This was one of the real highlights of George's career as he pulled a group of musical all-stars together to raise money to feed war refugees in one of the neediest parts of the world.

On August 1st, 1971, the concert was held at New York's Madison Square Garden with a roster of guests including Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell and Billy Preston. We listened to Side 3, which begins with Ringo followed by George and two of his finest songs, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Beware Of Darkness".



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Moodies' Seventh
Posted:Monday, 02/22/2010 at 03:02am by Greg Easterling
We began our final week of February overnight vinyl with the last great Moody Blues album from the classic lineup of the band-- Hayward, Lodge, Edge, Thomas and Pinder.

It's 1972's Seventh Sojourn, an album without a specific theme unlike earlier releases. However, the relative strength of the songs here made up for any lack of an overriding concept no matter how un-Moody Blues-like it may have seemed at the time. We didn't know it then but this would be the last Moody Blues album of new original songs for close to six years. In between, there was a live album of earlier recordings, a best of collection, and solo or duo efforts from most of the band members. We listened to Side 2 this morning, distinguished by "You and Me", "The Land Of Make-Believe", and the hit single, "I'm Just a Singer(In A Rock and Roll Band)".


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Early Floyd and Stones, 70's EC
Posted:Saturday, 02/20/2010 at 07:02am by Greg Easterling
We hit midweek with a real early one from Pink Floyd and their second album, A Saucerful Of Secrets, released in the summer of 1968. This was the first Floyd record to include guitarist David Gilmour who joined the band as an extra member and then as a permanent replacement for guitarist and original lead singer Syd Barrett who founded the band. Syd's descent into mental illness and psychedelics rendered him incapable of performing onstage; as the story goes, the band simply decided not to pick him up on their way to a concert one night...and that was it for Barrett and Floyd! We listened to Side 1 this time.

We went even further back with the Rolling Stones on Thursday....1964 and their first record with the helpful heading "England's Newest Hitmakers" on the cover. Most of the songs here are covers of American r&b, blues and rock n' roll songs by the likes of Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Motown, and Chicago's Willie Dixon. Side 1 included "Not Fade Away", "Route 66" and "I Just Want To Make Love To You".

We finished up the week in good hands with Eric Clapton and his 1978 release, Backless. It was the follow up to his popular Slowhand album and while it didn't get as much notice overall, Backless is still a decent effort. There's some blues here("Early In The Morning"), tunes that lean towards country("Tulsa Time"), and a couple of songs from two of Eric's favorite writers, J.J. Cale and Bob Dylan. This was also EC's final record with the band of American musicians he'd been using since 461 Ocean Boulevard including bassist Carl Radle, who'd been in Derek and the Dominoes. We listened to Side 2, highlighted by "Promises" and "If I Don't Be There By Morning".



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Making Movies with Dire Straits
Posted:Tuesday, 02/16/2010 at 03:02am by Greg Easterling
We're in Dire Straits this morning with a side from their late 1980 album, Making Movies. Songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler reveals some serious cinematic visions here, embellished by his trademark guitar sound and distinctive lead vocals.

This was the third Top 20 album for the band, peaking at #19 which was a dropoff from the previous two records but Making Movies did stay near the top of the charts for a respectable 17 weeks without the benefit of a hit single. We listened to Side 2 this time, highlighted by "Expresso Love" and "Solid Rock".

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Bustin' Out with PPL
Posted:Monday, 02/15/2010 at 03:02am by Greg Easterling
We began our new week of overnight vinyl with a twang this morning and one of the early country influenced rock bands. Originally from Cincinnati, it was Pure Prairie League feat. founding member and lead singer/songwriter Craig Fuller. We listened to a side from their second record, Bustin' Out(1972), an album which went largely unnoticed nationally until some radio stations began to play the song "Amie" several years later. The band's former record label, RCA then issued "Amie" as a single, sparking both the 45 and the whole album onto the charts in 1975. The label also re-signed PPL who had been released after their first two "unsuccessful" albums.

There's a Chicago connection here as well: PPL opens the record with a nice cover of "Jazzman", a song written by longtime local folksinger and club owner Ed Holstein. Side 1 also contains "Angel #9" and "Early Morning Riser". We even threw in a bonus spin of "Amie"(fr Side 2) after the end of the side for good measure!

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Great Songwriters King and Cale
Posted:Wednesday, 02/10/2010 at 03:02am by Greg Easterling
Tuesday was Carole King's birthday and we celebrated with a side from one of her early solo efforts, Music, the late 1971 follow up to her best selling classic Tapestry which was also released in '71. Music made it to #1 on the album chart where it stayed for three weeks compared to Tapestry's amazing 15 week run at the #1 position. While any album might pale in comparison to Tapestry, Music had a number of strong songs; we listened to Side 1 which contains "Sweet Seasons", "Brother, Brother" and "It's Going To Take Some Time". James Taylor plays and sings on several songs here...he'll be joining Carole on tour later this spring.

On Wednesday, we heard another notable 1971 release from songwriter J.J. Cale and his debut album, Naturally. Eric Clapton and Lynyrd Skynyrd lead the list of artists to record Cale songs like "After Midnight", "Cocaine", and "Call Me The Breeze". Cale recorded this album in Nashville for Leon Russell's Shelter Records, working with a collection of key session players some of whom contributed to Neil Young's Harvest lp. Fellow Oklahoma native Carl Radle from Derek And The Dominoes also plays on Naturally. Side 1 was highlighted by Cale's recording of "Breeze" as well as "Magnolia", which was later recorded by Poco for their Crazy Eyes album.

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I Robot, He's Alan Parsons
Posted:Monday, 02/08/2010 at 02:02am by Greg Easterling
We're kicking off a new week of late night vinyl today with The Alan Parsons Project. Before Parsons began recording his own music, you would've had to have been an avid reader of album credits to know his name. It did appear on some very significant recordings though as Parsons was listed as an engineer or producer on classics like Dark Side Of The Moon, Abbey Road and Year Of The Cat...not a bad resume!

This morning we have Alan's second album as a recording artist, I Robot, released in 1977. With a title borrowed from writer Isaac Asimov and the resources of the legendary Abbey Road studios at his disposal, Parsons came up with a sometimes cerebral but catchy musical work that significantly improved his name recogntion. We're listening to Side 1, featuring the instrumental title track plus "Breakdown" and "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You".

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Al Kooper's Birthday
Posted:Friday, 02/05/2010 at 03:02am by Greg Easterling
We closed out our week of Overnight Album Sides with a birthday salute to longtime musician/producer Al Kooper, a guy who's been involved in many of rock's most classic moments such as Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone and legendary plugged-in performance at the Newport Folk Festival, Lynyrd Skynyrd's first albums and the best selling Super Session record with Chicago guitarist Mike Bloomfield and the soon to be famous Stephen Stills.

Al also found time to put jazz-rock pioneers Blood, Sweat And Tears together in 1967, joining them for their first record, Child Is Father To The Man released early the following year. It's a bold mix of brass, strings and bluesy rock featuring Al's lead vocals mostly on great original and songs by then up and coming songwriters Randy Newman, Harry Nillson, Tim Buckley and the already successful Carole King. By the time Blood, Sweat and Tears' more famous and self titled second album was released, Al was already gone, ejected from the band he helped to create.

We listened to Side 1 of Child Is Father To The Man, highlighted by "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know", "Morning Glory"(Buckley) and "Without Her"(Nillson).

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The Doors' Strange Days
Posted:Thursday, 02/04/2010 at 02:02am by Greg Easterling
The Doors are part of our Thursday Artist Portrait today and we're also featuring them here this morning with a side from their second record, Strange Days, released later the same year as their debut in 1967.

These are some of the Doors' earliest songs, many of them written before or around the same time as the songs on the first album. In many ways, Strange Days feels like a continuation of their stunning self titled debut and that's not a bad thing. While Jim Morrison and the band would move on and try a variety of things musically during their relatively short career together, it's their earliest efforts that secured their enduring reputation. We're listening to Side 1 this time with great songs like "Love Me Two Times" and "Moonlight Drive".

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Joan Jett Loves Rock N' Roll
Posted:Wednesday, 02/03/2010 at 02:02am by Greg Easterling
We're cruising into midweek with a shot of early 80's rock from Joan Jett and her band the Blackhearts. We've got their best selling record, I Love Rock N' Roll which spent three weeks near the top of the charts, peaking at #2 in early 1982; the title track was a #1 single and Joan's remake of Tommy James' "Crimson and Clover" also made the Top Ten.

Previously, Joan was a founding member of the pioneering all girl rock band, The Runaways and their story has been made into a film which will be released this March of 2010. Actress Kristen Stewart will play the part of Joan in the movie.

We're listening to Side 1 of I Love Rock N' Roll which features both the hit title cut and "Crimson and Clover".

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Graham's Birthday
Posted:Tuesday, 02/02/2010 at 02:02am by Greg Easterling
It's Graham Nash's birthday and we're celebrating again this year with a side from his 1971 solo album, Songs For Beginners. Like the solo debuts of his longtime musical partners Stephen Stills and David Crosby, there's lots of good guests here like Dave Mason, Neil Young, Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh. However, the presence of all these special musicians doesn't detract from an overall simple approach that singularly showcases Nash's words and music.

Graham will go into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame for the second time this spring, this time as a founding member of the British Invasion band The Hollies. He's already there of course for his work with Crosby, Stills and Nash.

We listened to Side 1 of Songs For Beginners this time, highlighted by "Military Madness" and "I Used To Be A King".

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Live Petty and Heartbreakers
Posted:Monday, 02/01/2010 at 03:02am by Greg Easterling
We started our new week with a real live one from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It was their mid-1980's concert album, Pack Up The Plantation, mostly recorded live in Los Angeles. In addition, it was the first record of Petty's to collect his best known songs in one album, sort of a Greatest Hits live. There's plenty of space to play here since this is a two record set that showcases not only Tom's hits but also some great covers of prime 60's influences like The Byrds and The Animals. The studio album Southern Accents was Petty's most recent record at the time of the tour and he does a number of songs from that LP as well such as "Rebels" and the title track. We listened to Side 3 this morning, highlighted by concert classics like "Refugee" and "I Need To Know".

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Thick As JethroTull
Posted:Friday, 01/29/2010 at 04:01am by Greg Easterling
We completed our week of late night records with Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull, who'll be appearing locally at the Ravinia Festival this summer. It was Thick As A Brick, the album length composition that came out in 1972, a year after their big breakthrough LP, Aqualung. The world was really ready for Tull at this point; TAAB spent several weeks at #1 on the U.S. album chart, the second in a series of six consecutive Top Ten albums for Tull.

The music on TAAB still holds up, one long piece ranging over two sides, a mix of rock and acoustic music with classical and English folk influences. We listened to Side 1 this morning.

We've got a diverse selection of vinyl slated for next week: live Tom Petty, Joan Jett, The Doors as part of our Thursday Artist Portrait and birthday salutes to Graham Nash and Blood, Sweat and Tears founder Al Kooper.

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McCartney(1970)
Posted:Wednesday, 01/27/2010 at 02:01am by Greg Easterling
We reach midweek on our Overnight Album Side with Paul McCartney and his first, self titled solo effort, a record that came out in 1970 as we were still adjusting to life without The Beatles.

Instead of trying to outdo his most famous work, Paul literally stayed home and recorded a simple, back to basics sort of record, adopting a DIY approach; he played most of the instruments himself and sang all the vocals. The gatefold of the album opened to display a collage of family pictues of Paul with Linda, the kids and their pets, far away from the hustle and bustle of city life. We listened to Side 1, highlighted by "That Would Be Something" and "Every Night".

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Vices & Habits with The Doobies
Posted:Tuesday, 01/26/2010 at 02:01am by Greg Easterling
We've got the soulful rockin' sound of The Doobies Brothers this morning with a side from their fourth record, the one with the unforgettable title of What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits(1974). It was a Top 5 album featuring the #1 hit, "Black Water".

Two soon to be fulltime members of the band appeared in the album's credits, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter from Steely Dan and drummer Keith Knudsen. The Memphis Horns also contributed their distinctive talents to this project, adding an additional r&b feel to the proceedings. We listened to Side 1, highlighted by "Eyes Of Silver" and "Spirit" as well as the aforementioned "Black Water".


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Zevon's Birthday Remembered
Posted:Monday, 01/25/2010 at 04:01am by Greg Easterling
Yesterday was the anniversary of Warren Zevon's birthday; he was born on January 24th, 1947 here in Chicago although his family didn't stay here long, soon moving on to California where he spent most of his life.

This morning we listened to his first live record from 1980, Stand In The Fire, recorded during a five night stand at The Roxy in Los Angeles. Warren was clean and sober for the first time in years when this album was recorded, bringing a newfound energy to performances of many of his best known songs("Werewolves Of London", "Excitable Boy")and a couple of lesser known ones as well. Side 1 also included a song that Warren wrote with Bruce Springsteen, "Jeannie Needs A Shooter" and one of the best songs from his debut, "Mohammed's Radio".

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Friday, Mar 12, 2010
1:45pm
One 45 @ 1:45
James Taylor
5:00pm
Live @ 5
Led Zeppelin
9:00pm
Long One @ 9
Led Zeppelin
10:00pm
Ten @ 10 Replay
1978
Saturday, Mar 13, 2010
11:00pmThe Deep End
Sunday, Mar 14, 2010
7:00amRock 'n Roll Roots
Root Salute to Time (in honor of time change)
9:00pmThe Classics
Salute to the R&R Hall of Fame Inductees (past and present)
Monday, Mar 15, 2010
3:00amOvernight Album Side
Them
10:00amTen @ 10
1986
1:45pmOne 45 @ 1:45
The Beach Boys
5:00pmLive @ 5
The Ides of March
9:00pmLong One @ 9
Neil Young
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