Greg Easterling's Blog

Weekdays Midnight - 5am

It's Been Awhile.... Back With Van
Posted:Tuesday, 05/21/2013 at 04:05am by Greg Easterling
We were back with our Overnight Album Side this morning after some time away the past couple of weeks because of our Drive A-Z feature and a few days off by yours truly.

We returned live with Van Morrison today and a side from his 1974 concert album, It's Too Late To Stop Now, one of his acclaimed relatively early solo albums. Van was backed by his 11 piece Caledonia Soul Orchestra with plenty of great songs from which to choose. We featured Side 4 this morning, highlighted by Van's update of early Them hit singles, "Gloria" and "Here Comes The Night" plus extended versions of early Van album classics, "Caravan" from Moondance and "Cypress Avenue" from Astral Weeks.

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Starting May with SRV and Double Trouble
Posted:Wednesday, 05/01/2013 at 04:05am by Greg Easterling
We began the new month this morning with Stevie Ray Vaughan's great second album, Couldn't Stand The Weather, released in 1984. It was a remarkably worthwhile followup to Texas Flood, Stevie's stunning debut album. Half the album is original featuring the hit title track; notable covers include Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" We heard both this morning as we put the needle down on Side 1.

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Speaking In Tongues with Talking Heads
Posted:Wednesday, 05/01/2013 at 04:05am by Greg Easterling
We continued yesterday morning with Talking Heads and their summer of 1983 release, Speaking In Tongues. It turned out to be one of their most successful albums, both creatively and commercially. The single "Burning Down The House" became Talking Heads' first Top Ten hit. We flipped the album over this time and listened to Side 2 which started with "Swamp" and ended with "This Must Be The Place.

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Eagles Fly on The Drive
Posted:Wednesday, 05/01/2013 at 04:05am by Greg Easterling
We began a full week of late night vinyl early Monday morning with the Eagles' classic 1972 debut, an appealing blend of rock, country and acoustic music following the trail previously blazed by bands like the Byrds, Poco and the Flying Burrito Brothers featuring Gram Parsons.

Given the eventual ironclad control of the band by Don Henley and Glenn Frey, the first album was a remarkably democratic effort with all four band members(including Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner) well represented with lead vocals and songwriting credits. They also reached outside the band for great songs written by pal Jackson Browne, original Byrd Gene Clark, and Jack Tempchin. We listened to Side 1 which leads off the album with the great 1-2 combo of "Take It Easy" and "Witchy Woman".

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Catching Up with the Moody Blues
Posted:Wednesday, 05/01/2013 at 04:05am by Greg Easterling
We wrapped up last week with the Moody Blues on Friday. It was their lesser known 1977 live record Caught Live Plus 5. The performances come from their live concert at London's Royal Albert Hall on December 12, 1969. We listened to Side 2, anchored by the classic "Tuesday Afternoon", originally from Days Of Future Passed.

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Catching up with The Kinks
Posted:Wednesday, 05/01/2013 at 03:05am by Greg Easterling
We featured British bands last week on the Drive's Thursday Artist Portrait. One of the most creative was The Kinks, thanks in large part to the songs and imagination of the band's lead singer/songwriter Ray Davies. We demonstrated with a side from a very extensive Canadian best of album entitled Golden Hour of The Kinks. Of course we heard early Kinks klassics such as "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night."

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Catching up with...Rod Stewart
Posted:Wednesday, 05/01/2013 at 03:05am by Greg Easterling
We hit the midpoint of last week with Rod Stewart's classic third solo album from 1971, Every Picture Tells A Story. As good as Gasoline Alley and Never A Dull Moment were, it's clearly Rod's best ever. Featuring a mix of rustic sounding rock, folk, blues and soul, Every Picture reached #1 in both the US and UK. We tracked Side 2 including Rod's big song about "Maggie May".

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Freedom with Jefferson Starship
Posted:Thursday, 04/25/2013 at 04:04am by Greg Easterling
We moved a bit deeper into the week Tuesday morning with Jefferson Starship and their 1979 release, Freedom At Point Zero. It was the first Starship album to feature the lead vocals of Mickey Thomas(ex-Elvin Bishop Group). It was also the only Starship album of the era without Grace Slick who had left the band a year earlier. However Grace was back on board for the next Starship record two years later. We listened to Side 1 which led off with the hit single, "Jane".

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Happy Birthday to Frampton
Posted:Thursday, 04/25/2013 at 04:04am by Greg Easterling
We started the week with a big birthday salute to Peter Frampton, the veteran Brit guitarist who attained superstardom, at least for awhile(!) back in th mid Seventies. That was when his concert album, Frampton Comes Alive unexpectedly became the best selling live album of alltime. Several of his previous studio albums, both solo and with Humble Pie had sold respectably but nothing like the multi-million blockbuster that Frampton Comes Alive became.

Whatever the reason, this was the right album at the right time with Peter Frampton the instrument of fate in this case. We tracked Side 4 this time including "Lines On My Face" and the album's centerpiece jam, "Do You Feel Like We Do".

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Catching Up....Joe Walsh
Posted:Thursday, 04/25/2013 at 04:04am by Greg Easterling
We finished last week with Joe Walsh and his 1976 live record, You Can't Argue With A Sick Mind. This album came out right before Joe officially joined the Eagles and several of his future band mates are present here... Don Felder supports Joe on second guitar while Don Henley and Glenn Frey add backing vocals on at least one track. We listened to Side 2 this time including "Turn To Stone" and "Time Out".

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Advisory Board Login

Wednesday, May 22, 2013
9:00pm	Long One @ 9 Deep Purple
10:00pm	Ten @ 10 Replay 1982
Thursday, May 23, 2013
12:00am	Thursday Artist Portrait The Who (all day)
3:00am	Overnight Album Side The Who
10:00am	Ten @ 10 1974
1:45pm	One 45 @ 1:45 Emerson, Lake & Palmer
5:00pm	Lost & Found
9:00pm	Long One @ 9 The Who
10:00pm	Ten @ 10 Replay 1974
Friday, May 24, 2013
3:00am	Overnight Album Side Bob Dylan
7:00am	Milestones in Rock
10:00am	Ten @ 10 1978