Fleetwood Mac - "Over My Head"

 

Christine McVie, longtime member of Fleetwood Mac, died earlier this month.  As I've discussed earlier, most people don't recognize that Fleetwood Mac had released nine LPs prior to their 1975 LP "Fleetwood Mac", which was the first of their "classic" period, with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. 

Christine was actually a session musician with Fleetwood Mac from about 1968-1971, since she was then in Chicken Shack as well as releasing a solo LP.  She became an official member in 1971, credited as a full member on 1971's "Future Games" LP.  Prior to Fleetwood Mac, she also won the Melody Maker "best female vocalist" award in both 1969 and 1970.  

Of course, Fleetwood Mac really took off in 1975 with the addition of Buckingham & Nicks, effectively making Christine the George Harrison of Fleetwood Mac: the third best songwriter in the group, while still being a songwriter that most other groups would love to have. 

Of the various songs that Christine is credited with, my personal favorite is "Over My Head", from their 1975 eponymous LP.  It's a mellow song, and reminds me a turbulent but exciting period for me in the spring of 1991. 

I wonder what will happen with Fleetwood Mac.  Of the three principal singers from the classic period, the recent past has only featured two.  Assuming Buckingham and Nicks will never work together again, can Fleetwood Mac continue with only Nicks?  

Fleetwood Mac - "Over My Head"

Judas Priest - Old Grey Whistle Test 1975-04-25

Drew, Terry, and I went to see Judas Priest in Washington DC a few weeks ago, and they did not disappoint.  It's almost two years since Drew shared his renewed Judas Priest appreciation with me, and he set up the trip to DC so we could reenact our own version of "Heavy Metal Parking Lot", some 33 (!) years later.  At this point only bassist Ian Hill and more importantly singer Rob Halford remain from the classic lineup (guitarist Glenn Tipton remains a member of the band but has retired from touring due to Parkinson's).  But as long as Halford's there, it's still Judas Priest and they still rawk.

They had a good set list that featured most of their "hits" and none of their stupid songs, so I was pretty happy.  Furthermore, they dug deep in their catalog to come up with early, less well-known tracks "Killing Machine", "Starbreaker", and "Victim of Changes".  This inspired me to share what is probably their earliest TV performance, from the BBC's "Old Grey Whistle Test" in 1975, which is in between their forgettable debut LP "Rocka Rolla" and right before their tremendous sophomore LP "Sad Wings of Destiny".  For this performance they played the title track "Rocka Rolla", which will give you an idea of why they no longer play songs from that LP, and "Dreamer Deceiver / Deceiver", which is a good representative track from "Sad Wings of Destiny" as well as revealing their musical debt to Black Sabbath.  It also shows their hippie fashion debt to Black Sabbath, since this is before they adopted their renowned biker / punk / leather look ca. 1978.






While they may have aged since then, it's a good thing we haven't.  Here we are looking like teenagers...

 Heavy Metal Parking Deck!

  Heavy metal pre-concert tacos! (Dave joined us for dinner but not the concert)

Very metal game faces.

One of many wardrobe changes for Rob Halford.

The concert isn't over until the Harley comes out.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Saturday Night Special" (spotlight)

Ed King, one of the original guitarists for Lynyrd Skynyrd, died last month.  He appeared on their first three studio LPs, and then left the band in 1975 (he later returned in 1987 for the post-crash reboot of the band).  Although he is best known for writing the guitar riff Skynyrd's signature song "Sweet Home Alabama" (he's also the one counting off at the beginning of the song), I also recently learned a few things about him.  First, he was originally in Strawberry Alarm Clock -- yes, the same Strawberry Alarm Clock that gave us "Incense and Peppermints" (insert "Listen to the Flower People" Spinal Tap reference here), he grew up in California and was the only member of Skynyrd that was not from the South, and obviously did not have the shared high school experience with the band's namesake, Leonard Skinner.

I had considered marking his passing using "Sweet Home Alabama", and the band's relationship with Neil Young, which despite the name checking in the song was quite positive.  As I've already introduced, Danette and I are big fans of both the band and the genre, but SHA is not our favorite song of theirs.  One of the songs that we do love and never fail to crank up and sing along with in the car is "Saturday Night Special", for which Ed King does have a co-writing credit (and he might have the count off at the beginning of this song too?).  It's a great song and was the only single from their 1975 LP "Nuthin' Fancy".  It also has the distinction of being a member of a trilogy of great Lynyrd Skynyrd songs that violate the lyrical norms of the Southern rock genre: cautioning against substance abuse ("That Smell"), running away from a fight ("Gimme Three Steps"), and being unambiguously pro-gun control ("Saturday Night Special"):

Hand guns are made for killin'
They ain't no good for nothin' else
And if you like to drink your whiskey
You might even shoot yourself
So why don't we dump 'em people
To the bottom of the sea
Before some ol' fool come around here
Wanna shoot either you or me

I recommend, based on the strength of the outstanding guitar work in "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Saturday Night Special", we forgive Ed King for "Incense and Peppermints".

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Saturday Night Special" (studio, live 1976-03-07).

Jimmy Ruffin - "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?" (forgotten song)

Jimmy Ruffin, brother of David Ruffin (of The Temptations) & best known for his 1966 single "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?", died this week.  Although Motown is not discussed much on F-measure (what could I possibly add to what has already been said?), this might be my favorite Motown song (remember: "(You) Got What I Need" is not a Motown song).  I've labeled this a "forgotten song", and although that's not entirely true it is eclipsed by many other Motown songs.

Apparently St. Paul & The Broken Bones haven't covered this song -- they need to fix that. 

Jimmy Ruffin - "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?": studio version, 1975 live TV version