Greg Easterling's Blog

Weekdays Midnight - 5am

Saying Yes Once More
Posted:Friday, 06/14/2013 at 04:06am by Greg Easterling
We wrapped up the week this morning with Yes and a lesser remembered album of theirs entitled Tormato, released in 1978.

Tormato was successful though, touching the Billboard Top Ten album list and selling platinum. The lineup of players was certinaly classic as well: Anderson, Squire, Howe, Wakeman, and White. We put the needle down on Side 1 today, our first time featuring this record.

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U2 Thirty Years After
Posted:Wednesday, 06/05/2013 at 04:06am by Greg Easterling
It's been thirty years since U2 made their historic appearance at Denver's Red Rocks on June 5, 1983. From that concert and several others, Island Records put together the first U2 live recording, Under A Blood Red Sky. Billed as a "mini lp" because of its shorter running time, this record features select songs from U2's first three albums captured live in concert for the first time.
We tracked Side 1 this morning, featuring two songs recorded at Red Rocks, "Gloria" and "Party Girl".

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A Final Salute to Ray
Posted:Monday, 06/03/2013 at 03:06am by Greg Easterling
We began a new week of late night vinyl this morning with The Doors, once more in memory of their late keyboardist and co-founder Ray Manzarek who recently passed away.

As has been recounted elsewhere, Ray was originally from Chicago, attending both St. Rita's and also DePaul University. He made the move of his life in the mid-Sixties, leaving town for California and UCLA Film School. That's where he met fellow film student Jim Morrison. A later chance meeting on Venice Beach led Ray and Jim to band together to form what became one of the best and more influential American bands of alltime.

This morning we listened to Side 2 of The Doors classic 1967 debut. From "Back Door Man" to "The End". RIP Ray!!

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Remembering Bonzo
Posted:Monday, 06/03/2013 at 01:06am by Greg Easterling
We finished up the work week last time with a tribute to Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. He was born on the last day of May and we featured his final studio work with the band on 1979's In Through The Out Door.

While it sometimes sounds like Jimmy Page took a back seat on this album for a change, the rest of Led Zeppelin was full engaged, especially Bonham who is all over In Through The Out Door with aggressive and creative rhythms. We listened to Side 2, which begins with the rocking
"Carouselambra" and also includes the softer side of Zeppelin in "All My Love".

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Catching Up with the Stones
Posted:Monday, 06/03/2013 at 01:06am by Greg Easterling
It's been all about the Rolling Stones early this week and last here in Chicago, a town from which they got so much of their early musical inspiration.

We featured them on our Thursday Artist Portrait and reprised an exclusive original special we created here to tell The Story Of The Rolling Stones. Here on the overnight, we tracked a side from one of their best albums, Sticky Fingers flipping the album over this time for Side 2 and deep trax like "Bitch" and "Moonlight Mile".

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A Creedence Birthday
Posted:Tuesday, 05/28/2013 at 03:05am by Greg Easterling
We began a new week of overnight album sides this morning with a birthday salute to John Fogerty, the onetime leader of Creedence Clearwater Revival. John also has a new album coming out this week in which he revisits a number of CCR classics with help from guests like Bob Seger, Kid Rock and Dave Grohl.

Today we featured Live In Europe, recorded back in Sept., 1971 and eventually released two years later. Creedence was a trio at this point since John's brother Tom had left to pursue a short-lived solo career. We tracked Side 1 this morning which included "Born On The Bayou" and "Green River".

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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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Advisory Board Login

Tuesday, Jun 18, 2013
9:00pm	Long One @ 9 Neil Young
10:00pm	Ten @ 10 Replay 1981
Wednesday, Jun 19, 2013
3:00am	Overnight Album Side Heart
7:00am	Milestones in Rock
10:00am	Ten @ 10 1974
1:45pm	One 45 @ 1:45 Heart
5:00pm	Lost & Found
9:00pm	Long One @ 9 The Kinks
10:00pm	Ten @ 10 Replay 1974
Thursday, Jun 20, 2013
12:00am	Thursday Artist Portrait Pink Floyd (all day)
3:00am	Overnight Album Side Pink Floyd
10:00am	Ten @ 10 1978