The Underappreciated And Overlooked Of Rock

A little while ago WNCX had a poll of the Greatest Voices of Rock. Their list included in order rock legends Freddie Mercury, Robert Plant, Paul Rogers, Roger Daltry, Ann Wilson, Bob Seger, Stevie Nicks, Jim Morrison, Steve Perry and Steven Tyler. I love all of them (well not really Morrison but that will be another story in another time) and but are they really the Greatest Voices Of Rock ever?

This past weekend working around the house and listening to a lot of music (and drinking a lot of beer) and as songs kept coming on and different bands played, I got to thinking, if the above singers are the Greatest Voices Of Rock, which singers are really overlooked and underappreciated in the world of rock?

I don’t mean those artists who were left off the list by WNCX. You know the ones you can roll off your tongue, artists like Phil Collins, David Gilmour, Rod Stewart, Van Morrison, Elton John, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney (really WNCX listeners, Paul McCartney didn’t get your votes!!! What were you too busy watching Biggest Loser or the Bachelorette to vote for Sir Paul, c’mon Cleveland)

I mean artists that if you were sitting around a fire, drinking beers with 9 of your buddy’s and each guy or girl picked 5 of the best voices in rock, none of the one’s below would have would have even crossed your mind and afterwards if someone mentioned one of them you would have said “how did I forget him (or her) I love him! The sad thing is over time you forget about them and the work they did and they are as good or in some cases better than the so-called Greatest Voices Of Rock on the list.

So in no particular order, here is my list of the Greatest Underappreciated Voices Of Rock.

Steven Georgiou (Cat Stevens) – Cat Stevens was one of the biggest stars of the late 60’s thru the 70’s but is basically a forgotten footnote in rock history since giving up music in 1979 for his religious views. His voice was so unique and for a lack a better word “pure”. I don’t know of anyone in the 70’s that didn’t have a copy of either Tea For The Tillerman, Catch Bull At Four, or Teaser And The Firecat and when you went to their house for a party, it seemed Cat was always on the speakers. I recently saw him perform on Jay Leno and I have to tell you, he still sounds amazing. I hope he tours again so I can hear him live one more time.

Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac) – She is in my opinion one of the best female voices of rock ever. How the listeners of WNCX voted Stevie Nicks onto their list and overlooked Christine is sad. Even on Stevie’s best work, it was Christine’s fullness in the background that enriched the song for me. Most of my favorite Fleetwood Mac songs were not sung by Stevie but by Christine. Sit back and listen to Songbird or Over My Head and listen to richness of her voice. When Mick Fleetwood and John McVie say every time they would hear her sing Songbird live, they would cry, that’s good enough for me.

Pete Ham (Badfinger) – First off most people would never even know who Pete Ham is let alone call out his name as one of the best vocalist of rock but every time I hear Baby Blue or Day After Day on the radio, it hits me in the gut, how good he really was. How this band did not become bigger than they did is one of the mysteries of rock.

Leon Russell (solo) – Okay time to get up on my soapbox. Listen up Rock Hall committee. Put Leon Russell into the Hall Of Fame already!!! He was instrumental in the careers of many inducted into the Rock Hall and one of our greatest American songwriters ever! Okay time to step off the soapbox. Obviously I love Leon Russell as an artist but I can put on his debut album Leon Russell and just be swept away by his vocals. He created the Tulsa Sound and it amazes me how overlooked he is as a singer. His vocals on “This Songs For You” is unique and one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. He put everything he had inside him into that song. Just powerful.

Toy Caldwell (Marshall Tucker Band) – This is the man that got me into Country Rock plain and simple. He blended the country rock sound with a blues twang that just grabbed me and didn’t let go and I have been a fan ever since. His voice was powerful and again one of those unique voices that can’t be replaced. The right voice for the right band for the right type of music, that’s how simple it was. Listening to “This Ol’ Cowboy” and how Toy sings “this ain’t gonna be the first time this ol cowboy spent the night alone” reinforced me thru many nights in bars during my college days!

John Lyon (Southside Johnny And The Asbury Jukes) – I know this is going to hurt most of you Bruce fans(especially my good buddy Matt from addictedtovinyl.com) but when I want to hear someone from Jersey, I turn on Southside Johnny. I’ve seen and worked security for most of Bruce’s shows in the early days here in Cleveland and love Bruce but from the first time I heard Johnny I was blown away and still am. The bluesy, bourbon soaked voice makes him one of my favorites singers. He does an acoustic version of “Walk Away Renee” with Little Steven that can bring tears to ya.

Jeff Lynne (Electric Light Orchestra) – You know you can listen to a band for years or even decades and it doesn’t hit you how much a voice really identifies the band but this one really came to light for me as I went to see ELO in Detroit last Friday and seriously seeing them live without him reinforced to me what a great singer he is and how important he was to ELO.

Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron, Cory Wells (Three Dog Night) – I know, I know this is three singers not one but all three were fantastic singers in their own right and together, made a powerful lineup. Three Dog Night was a hit making machine because of the talent of their 3 lead singers and we never seem to remember how good they were individually. To remember, put on their greatest hits album and you can hear all three of them take the lead.

Greg Lake (King Crimson and Emerson Lake And Palmer) – This is one that usually after the discussion about singers someone says those famous words “How could I forget him?” How could you forget him especially with the vocals he produced on Lucky Man and From The Beginning. An amazing voice that somehow we seem to forget about.

James Hetfield (Metallica) – Okay, I know your now looking at your computer screen with your eyes crossed saying “James Hetfield?” Yea, James Hetfield! Rock music to me encompasses everyone from Cat Stevens and his laid back storytelling to Metallica and beyond. Look Metallica didn’t become the goliath of heavy metal just by pounding out ear shattering riffs. There had to be a voice that could match the dynamic of the band and James does just that plus he can tone it down when needed and render as great a vocal as anyone. Listen to him on Hero Of The Day and tell me I’m wrong. Definitely overlooked.

Joe Elliott (Def Leppard) – I was never a fan of the so-called hair bands of the 80’s but with Def Leppard something about them was different and it was the voice. Joe Elliott brought something to the table the other bands of the era couldn’t plus they have produced some of the best music ever heard in a strip club. Seriously what would strippers dance to without “Pour Some Sugar On Me” or “Bringing On The Heartache” or “Armageddon It” or "Rocket" or ohhhh I could go on and on but seriously Joe Elliott has a great rock voice that doesn’t usually jump to the front of your mind when thinking about great rock voices.

There are others I didn’t mention. Here’s a few more you can think about. Artists like Ian Gillian (Deep Purple), Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Tim Buckley (solo), Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Joe Jackson (solo), Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), Mark Farner (Grand Funk Railroad) and Graham Parsons (The Byrds).

Well go ahead and discuss among yourselves. Agree with me or not, at least you don’t have to be corralled into such a narrow funnel of musical taste that we call radio.

Nuff said, least till next week
Peace Out
Bear

Tripping Thru The Memories!

I was going thru a stack of old Scene Magazines from the early seventies yesterday that I picked up for reference material for clevelandrockandroll.com and man that started my trip down memory lane.

It got harder and harder to do the job I had in front of me as I kept reminiscing with each page I turned. The concerts, the stories, the old photos, the old bars, basically the old times and they were all sitting in front of me in the withered, yellowed pages.

Thinking about it, Scene Magazine has really been a part of my life for most of it. Weekly for the past 40 years the paper has been around, I have picked it up in bars, record stores, clothing stores, head shops (okay that was in the 70’s, not now……….well……..) to see what was happening around town and looking back, it really has been a great snapshot of the times.

Looking back, do you remember trying to figure out where to go out too? Let’s take a Thursday night when at the Harbor Inn down in the Flats (before it really was the Flats), Eli Radish (with David Allen Coe and Danny Sheridan) ruled the stage or Fully Assembled did the same at the Longhorn in Maple Hts or Sweetleaf was playing at The Utopia, Circus at The Agora or you asked your buddy, where was Tiny Alice playing tonight, how about Glass Harp? Grab a Scene and find out.

Remember buying albums? Do you remember buying them at Clarkens? Or Woolworths? Or Disc Records? Or Recordland? Or Music Grotto? Do you remember paying $2.49 for the new releases?

Going thru the ads themselves. Do you need a waterbed, then go to The Water Works on Noble Rd and get one for only $24.50. There’s a bikini contest at the Eastown Motor Hotel on Euclid Ave Saturday night. (Eastown Motor Hotel! Where in the hell was the Eastown?) How about the sale at Fox’s Audio Center in Kamms Corner, 8-tracks are on sale for only $2.95 including The Carpenters and Led Zeppelin III. It’s like a matched set! Want to go to a movie? “Dagmar’s Hot Pants Inc.” is playing at The LaSalle, Mapletown, Canal Road Drive-In and at the Mentor Drive-In. Ohhh, Budweiser just came out with a Malt Liquor as they say in the ad “finally a Malt Liquor good enough to be called Budweiser”. (boy that lasted a long time) The TV cops of Adam 12 will be at the Auto-Rama along with James Brolin. Don’t want to miss that! Over at Audio Hall you can get a complete Pioneer AM/FM receiver with turntable and speakers for $399 and you get a free Blood Sweat and Tears poster. Go to Bob’s Sohio on Detroit Rd and get your gas pumped by Bob’s Girls in hot pants! This one I really don’t get but love. At Air Con in Willowick buy a tape get a free turtle! Don’t buy a tape get 2 free turtles!!!! and of course the full page ad’s that ran each week for Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill wine. Wow now that brings back memories, no what that probably did for me was kill more brain cells than anything I could have drank at the time but at least we were all a little preserved with the formaldehyde in each bottle. Ahhhh the good times…….

Then there are the concerts. The Scene was the best source of information on who was coming to the Cleveland area and everyone came to Cleveland. Until going thru these old papers, I didn’t really know there were other promoters in the area other than Belkin Productions at the time. A Friend Productions, American Concerts and Stone Head Productions were all here in the early 70’s and the music fans of Cleveland were the benefactors. Can you imagine now in 2009 seeing bands such as Pink Floyd at Case Western Reserve University, Jethro Tull at Admiral King High School, or Edgar Winter at Normandy High School? How about all of the concerts at the gymnasiums of Kent State, the College of Wooster, John Carroll University? I’m not talking about teen dances at these gyms but bands such as Emerson, Lake And Palmer, Frank Zappa, Uriah Heep, Yes, The James Gang, The Beach Boys, Deep Purple, The Eagles, The Kinks to name just a few. Pick up The Scene back then to figure out where you were going to spend your hard earned $5.00. Do I go see Dave Mason and Jo Jo Gunne at the Allen Theatre on Sunday or wait until Tuesday to see Savoy Brown and Fleetwood Mac at the Akron Civic Theatre. Hold on, Humble Pie and J. Geils Band are at Public Hall on Friday and on Saturday Deep Purple and Buddy Miles are playing in Akron and Pink Floyd is there next Wednesday. What do I do? I only have $5.00…..

It is a been a real trip to go thru these old Scenes. I have sent Danny some of the old Eli Radish photos I found and my good friend Alex Bevan write-ups I found of him, they are great to read and reminisce. Seeing Peanuts in the old issues and still seeing him around town now when I go to shows, some things haven’t changed. (Okay Peanuts maybe we are both a little older!). Reading about Jim Bonfanti and David Smalley leaving the Raspberries back in 1973 and here in 2009 they are re-united and performing again. It’s like we have come full circle.

Well it’s time to get back to work and stop looking thru the time machine. Wait what’s in that box in the corner? 1974-1976 Scene’s! Oh boy, another day lost to the seventies and my memories………..

Nuff said, least till next week
Peace Out
Bear