Lee Marshall

Sorry to the Catholics in the crowd...it's more of a priest/Michael bashing rather than ANY kind of swipe at either 'flock' So I am sorry for THAT....if you took it personally. It's about the perpetrators not the by-standers. But as one who was abused by one of those sob's...I stand my ground.

I didn't mind the first two McC lps. But Ram wacks 'em both to the curb...by comparison.

Can he still sing? Can he still dance? If one goes...one would be advised to leave one's young sons at home. The guy is an out and out child molester. He should have been a priest.

Which Drifters? Every time they complained about the lousy money they were getting...they were replaced by new faces. There must have been anywhere from a dozen to maybe 15 Drifters during their significant recording days. Who was there Muzza?

The "best"??? For some obviously. And if they work for you GREAT. No problem. You're fortunate to have found a sound that rings your chimes. We all have...It just doesn't happen to be U2 for everyone. In fact for me...they don't rank in the top 500. [well...maybe in the 490s]

Oops...Guess I screwed up spending 4 months transferring vinyl into my computer and then out onto cd. But...I want to HEAR the stuff and playing records is A LOT of a schlep for me. Vinyl OR cds sure wack the poop out of mp3s though. Too much info and nuance LOST if it ain't the whole 9 yards. And once again radio...who used to fight to establish the best quality now seem to favour computerized unattended programming and mp3s over serving an astute and demanding audience.. Why? Cause the kids don't seem to care. But then why would they when they listen to computer generated music? No record stores left anywhere near where I live anyway.

To be honest...I have seldom, in fact never, really 'GOT' the fascination with/popularity of U2. I have 4 of their cds including the 2 greatest hits releases...but that is in order to have a well balanced and complete rock oriented library. That said...I think that the new single is pretty blinkin' good. As for the album...I don't trust them. They have a sound...and to me it's ALL sounded the same. This latest release is the freshest thing I think I've EVER heard them do. Meanwhile...I still haven't found what they're looking for to be up to the standards set by ALL those who came before them. In a nutshell...I could give a rat's bottom. -------------------------------- I almost never read other comments before I post as I don't want to be swayed, influenced or pushed toward falling in with the masses. Then, after I post...I do read the other points of view. Seems I'm not alone. U2 must be pretty good. Seems they have elevated themselves into the position of being a love 'em or hate 'em group. And it IS mainly because of Bono. For me because of his sound. His politics and opinions don't bug me really. And he has as much right as anyone else to express them. Thank gawd he [seems to have at least] has a good and decent heart. He lives right across the road from the Canadian consul general's home...just outside of Dublin. That's how he came to know Paul Martin [former Cdn Prime Minister] I drove past their almost adjoining driveways [and houses] one afternoon some 4 Februarys ago. No one invited me to stop for a wee nip. ----------------------------------- One more thing...hard to decide who I've listened to less...U2 or Manilow. Neither have contributed any music that I would personally miss if it just up and disappeared from our collective memory.

I can smell your feet a mile away. A far superior lp to the first 2 'solo' ventures...PM and Wild Life. No 'junior' jinx here.

Thanks for all of the input...not to mention the lively discussion. A dead end street I guess.

I thought they were terrific...from the get-go up until and including Lola, Apeman and of course the 'Powerman/Money Go Round' lp. After that...not so much. Ray's Workin Man's Cafe solo lp was pretty decent though. They started with a bang and then lost their DRIVE as far as I was concerned. Tried to get too artsy and forgot about ROCK 'n' roll. But what do you think?

I don't mind Barry's stuff. Even his big band/standards album is OK. But has my life been improved by his contributions? No. Would I miss his songs if he had never recorded? No. To me there is nothing special about him. He is very accomplished at sitting right smack dab in the middle of the road. That doesn't make it for me. I need more oomph with my music. AND...David Cassidy's [along with backing vocals and a superb arrangement from Carl Wilson and Bruce Johnston, who actually wrote the song and won the grammy] version of 'I Write the Songs' eats Manilow's version for breakfast, lunch, dinner and all snacks in between.

Of course I was not referring to LIVE performance videos TT. Pretty sure Ed Sullivan never did the Beatles or scores of OTHER acts any harm. But back then it was all about the song... Those Saturday night Concert shows...Don Kirshner's Rock Concert etc. were cool too. It's the pre-fab tomfoolery of these past 25 years or so which has little to do with MUSIC that has finally killed the industry and destroyed their chance at an ongoing healthy bottom line. [not to mention the permanent damage to our eardrums]

I certainly agree with 'The Wild the Innocent and The E Street Shuffle'. A HUGE jump from lp one. But for a quantum leap...from garage band to a sound for all time...How about The Beach Boys' progression from Surfin' Safari' to 'Surfin' USA'? As a result...the rest was "history". Surfin' USA was the #1 album for a couple of months...back in an era when lps didn't really sell a lot. They helped forge a trend. And if Nat King Cole built the Capitol Tower...the Beach Boys certainly helped furnish it. The gold siding came courtesy of some group from Liverpool. [The Searchers? No. Gerry and the Pacemakers? No. Some other guys...a quartet I think...] Elton John's 2nd lp was 'Tumbleweed Connection' wasn't it? A gigantic step forward...and still my favourite Reggie Dwight release. Then there's 'Deja Vu'. Mind you C.S. & N. had to add Neil Young in order to make that happen. [cheaters] Then there was 'More of the Monkees'. No wait....that one wasn't an improvement.

Kind of a pompous proclamation from old Sammy. But...if they've written 8 or 9 NEW songs...that would put them on close to equal footing with the king of pagerization...Jimmy Page. I wonder who Sammy has in mind for the group's vocalist? Someone to rival Robert Plant... He's surely not referring to himself.

Don't really know where to go yo get those links...so Ira...off the top of my head...without the actual song to back me up... The Beach Boys do a really nifty 'Peggy Sue'. Then there's Linda Ronstadt's 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore'. The Stones' 'Not Fade Away'. Terry Jacks' 'I'm Gonna Love You Too'. And the Beatles' 'Words of Love' Those covers all bring back memories for me. Buddy died just as I was beginning to listen to top 40 [actually top 50 back then] radio. Of course I heard all of his songs as oldies...but didn't actually live the initial experience as it happened. The plane went down just as I was 'finding' Rock 'n' Roll.

Don't forget problem #3 Billy...It's a BIGGIE too. Namely...General lack of musical talent. When they hire 'lookers' only...then they run the risk of scraping the bottom. There they've been monumentaly successful.

Well....to be fair Marc....I have noticed a significant shift in the quality of tuneage that has been making it to the airwaves over these past 7 or 8 months. But those damn recurrents keep injecting that hip-hoppy/poppy/crappy sound into the mix and those tune-out factors undo much of the good that is attempting to make itself heard. And...45 weeks is still at least 30 weeks too long in terms of 'current' airplay [and then right into recurrent so that there is NO break for a couple of YEARS???]. Maybe things would have been different back in the day if the 'biz' was conducted the way it is these days...BUT...sales USED to be pretty significant back in the 'horse and buggy' era. -------------------- And another point...'hit' stations HAVE to/had to roll with recurrents in lieu of 'gold' because those GREAT old hits stand so HIGH above the standard fair of these past dozen years or more that they render today's junk obviously 2nd rate and unacceptable. Maybe in BIG cities where there are plenty of radio choices that kind of narrow programming has its place. In smaller markets though...it just doesn't make it. Imagine if that was your ONLY choice!!! Radio...and the music industry...would go the way of the dodo. [add those small populations up and it totals a significant percentage of alienated/lost sales.]

Excellent news. Glad Tony Williams is pleased too. Tony who? AGAIN...What of Joe Egan? HE was the other half of Steelers Wheel.

That research is totally flawed Dan. Used to do it back in my programming days. Play the hook and see what happens. It doesn't factor in the reality/actual listening experience of what played before and after the song in question. ie: REAL programming. [which MOST show hosts could do WAY better than any computer does currently---shyte in/shyte out] As for the length of a song John...3 minutes of crap is still 3 minutes of torture. And as for the current research Marc...I've seen it tossed into the garbage if the 'powers that be' don't like the answers. And the research I remember most of late suggests that ONLY 50% of teens like today's hits. About 20% of people in their twentys like it. 10% of people in their thirtys. 5% of people in their 40s...and after that it's pretty much NO ONE. Yet...at least where I live...according to the latest census for the entire potential listening area...the average age is 47. I'd say research is a huge, ever-expanding, fly-attracting, stinking pile of POO. AND...futher to that...the audience is a total afterthought. It's only about potential sales. Oddly enough...IF radio execs don't listen to their audience...how can they expect ANYONE to listen to the station? And if they have no listeners...how in the name of a flying turd can they expect to sell any commercial time? [especially in these days of financial fear] The whole industry is 'manned' by pencil pushing, chart making, research addicted NO TALENTS. [including the recording industry which has it's collective head permantly inserted deep inside its collective anus]

He should have tried LAST year when the price for a barrel of crude oil was at its highest. Even with performance 'enhancers' ol' Dennis Boyd is likely going to prove harmful to the environment of any ball field all these years after the 'fact'. Poor guy likely need$ $ome loot.

3 months was about the max for most of the biggest radio hits. By then...the audience was pretty much sick of it. [and radio announcers/dj's were ready to break the blinkin' records into tiny little pieces...usually after 6 or 7 weeks] These days songs last as long as 45 weeks. 45 weeks!!!???!!! Why? The high cost of videos for one. Lack of more than MAYBE 1 more decent tune on an album for another. Talentless prefabricated stars can't be overlooked either. As I've said dozens of times...video didn't just kill the radio star...it killed music. [or should I say severely annoying muzac...'cause that's the standard fare emanating from most 'hit' stations these days.] Why radio has reached the point where it follows TV in terms of an art form that is meant for the EARS is beyond me. Beyond me except for the fact that radio programmers are NO LONGER required to have ears. And why should they? Eyes are all that are required to READ bought and paid for charts and thusly follow the lack-luster leaders like sheep. I have NO trouble filling a couple of 80 minute cds with great sounding HIT songs that stand the test of time for any given year up to about 1985. From '86 to '90' there's about enough for one cd....maybe 2. From '91 to today...I could probably fill another one. So much of the hit music we've endured over these past couple of decades all comes with a shelf life. A shelf life that lasts anywhere from 0 seconds to 4 or 5 weeks. As 'record' companies have been feeling the financial pinch for quite a LONG time now...one wonders what their collective problem is? The need for pretty faces over REAL talent for the sake of visual 'music' has to be the largest negative factor. Time for Don McLean to sing another song about "the day the music died".

Yet...it was...and still is. [ooo ooo ooo ooo....stayin' alive/stayin' alive.........unfortunately in every way shape and form...excluding actual sales numbers which have been in the toilet for a very long time]

There's "meaningful music" to say goodbye to? From who? Britney? Nickelback? Lil Wayne? Who is making meaningful music for the masses? Indeed who has over these past 12 to 15 years? The sooner we say goodbye to the majority of the crap that rains down on what used to be a [hit] parade the better. They said disco was dead. Between hip-hop and rap...just when did it REALLY die?

And there's more to Gerry than just one [hit] song as well. Always a bit of an 'unusual' fella...very sorry to hear that he is in the fix he's in. And...what of his former partner in Steelers Wheel...Joe Egan?

As you may have noticed...I have been pretty much a.w.o.l. for several months. Transferring 1,000s of songs from vinyl to hard-drive to cd primarily. You know...the stuff that's hard to find...and meaningful to me from my younger daze. I missed this site. And there are quite a number of reasons why. Reasons which I think make ericcarmen dot calm a cut above... 1. Eric's ego is not such that each and every thing discussed here must be about HIM. Why he even leads and contributes to discussions about other aspects of music...AND LIFE. 2. The diversity employed by the general membership...in terms of what's hot...and what's not. 3. The respect that flows throughout...for long time and new faces alike. People here are thoughtful and reasonable. 4. The way the admin and 'watch-dogs' let it flow. 5. The consistancy.... Technically speaking. I'm sure that many here can add to these thoughts with even better examples...but in the meantime...To Eric and everyone here...thanks. YOU make it happen.