Where The Heart Of Music Beats   |
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This page is a little tribute to artists who, in my opinion, are some of the greatest Rock/Folk/& Rhythm & Blues performers over the years.
First & foremost has to be The Boss - Bruce Springsteen. I first heard his name mentioned on a TV show when Columbia Records were promoting him as "The New Dylan". The first time I heard one of his songs was the Manfred Mann cover version of "Blinded By The Light" - & I thought it was A DYLAN SONG! When "Born To Run" was released (the single), I thought it was interesting but nothing more (where were my ears at that time?). It was only with the release of "The River" album that something struck a chord in me. I was in the process of moving to Spain & I heard "Independence Day" on the car radio. It seemed to encapsulate a lot of my feelings at that time in my life. Because I lived in Spain thru most of the eighties, a good deal of the hoopla over "Born In The USA" passed over my head. It was only when I returned to "My Hometown" at the beginning of the nineties, that I really started getting into his music & collecting his records. In my humble opinion, he is THE VERY BEST writer of contemporary Americana in any age or decade & he has influenced my own writing over the past ten years as well as giving me a renewed belief in Rock n' Roll. Next up is His Bobness - The Zimmer Man. The one whom Springsteen was supposed to replace. Whereas Bruce revived my belief in Rock n' Roll, it was Dylan who set me on the rocky path of songwriting. Coming from a generation that was brought up on boy meets girl/boy loses girl lyrics, his zonked-out poetry & songs opened a door that many have passed thru. Also, his grating, nasal voice gave hope to all of us wannabes who were aware of our vocal limitations. Back in the good ol' days of vinyl, Bob achieved what no-one else did. He followed up a monumental album with an EVEN BETTER double album. The Beatles followed "Sgt. Pepper's" with "The White Album" - it didn't work! In the seventies, Fleetwood Mac followed "Rumours" with "Tusk" - it didn't work! Even Bruce's "The River" did not have the concise depth of "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" & "Born To Run" still stands as his greatest artistic achievement. When Dylan brought out "Highway 61 Revisited", he created a major work. To follow that with "Blonde On Blonde" set him apart from his contemporaries. He drifted in the late seventies & thru the eighties but came back in the nineties with critically acclaimed albums. I finally got to see him perform live in Nashville in 1999 & I couldn't believe how young he still looked. I saw him again the following year at a free concert by the River Cumberland called Dancin' In The District which was simply amazing. Dylan is not Springsteen & Springsteen is not Dylan. They are both UNIQUE! Following my two biggest influences are two New Jersey Boys - Southside Johnny & Billy Chinnock. Johnny Lyon has one of those special voices that makes him an A1 rhythm & blues singer. He also plays great "gob harp" (harmonica). I discovered him & his band, The Asbury Jukes, thru my interest in The Boss. In some ways, this close association may have harmed his career in the same way that certain Liverpudlian groups, like the Searchers & The Merseybeats, did not get full recognition coming in the wake of the Beatles success. That success put an area on the musical map but made it harder for those who followed. I saw Johnny & his lead guitarist, Bobby Bandiera, on an accoustic tour at Sheffield's Lead Mill in 1995. I couldn't imagine how he was going to do his set without the full band (especially the horn section). "Ye of little faith" - he was MAGIC!
One of the unsung heroes of Rock n' Roll is Billy Chinnock. When Bruce was just starting to make a name for himself on the Jersey Shore, the locals all tipped Billy as "the one most likely to...". His group, The Downtown Tangiers Band, had Vini Lopez on drums & Danny Federici on keyboards. A later incarnation, Glory Road, included Gary Tallent on bass & David Sancious on keys. So, in effect, he was the frontman for the embryo E. Street Band. A bout of hepatitis sidelined him for a while. Bruce stepped up to the plate & the rest, as they say, is history. Moving to Nashville in the eighties, Billy produced the wonderful "Rock n' Roll Cowboy" album, a copy of which resides in my collection. He then moved up to Maine where I had the pleasure of visiting with him in 1995. He is well settled there with his own recording studio & video editing suite. Finally, here's a little story of how I got turned on to Rock n' Roll. I was just a little kid playing in the back room of my parents cottage. It was between 5 & 6 in the afternoon because my mother was home from work, preparing the evening meal, but my father didn't finish work until 6 o'clock. The radio was on. It was the BBC Light Program. In those days, their idea of "pop music" was selections from the musicals such as South Pacific & Carousel. One intrepid radio presenter (they weren't called DJs then) was rambling on about a new form of music from the United States called Rock n' Roll & he thought the British Public should hear a sample of the new music. He put "Blue Suede Shoes" by Carl Perkins on the turntable & I can remember thinking: WHAT IS THAT!?!? Whatever it was, it started me on a road that I have been travelling ever since. Carl was supposed to headline a rockabilly festival in England in 1995 & I drove the 100 & odd miles to see my first Rock n' Roll Hero. Unfortunately, he had just had his first heart attack (the second one killed him) & he had to cancel. So, I never did get to see the man who gave me "One for the money..Two for the show..Three to get ready, now GO CAT GO!" |
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