After the demise of the Dwight Twilley Band, Twilley continued as a solo act, keeping Bill Pitcock IV on lead guitar and adding Susan Cowsill on harmony vocals. This lineup released the album Twilley for Shelter/Arista in 1979, although the album’s most successful song, “Darlin’”, featured backing vocals by Phil Seymour. His next album, Blueprint, co-produced by Jack Nitzsche, was rejected by Arista after the failure of the 1979 single “Somebody to Love” although it was assigned an Arista release number. Blueprint ultimately was never released, keeping Twilley out of circulation until his Shelter contract expired at the end of 1981.
“Discovering Japan” by Graham Parker from the album “Squeezing Out Sparks”. In the late ’70s you had The Stones with “Some Girls,” Elvis Costello with “This Year’s Model,” Bruce with “Darkness,” and a “new discovery” that had been around forever, Graham Parker. He had been making records with his group, The Rumour, since the early 1970s. Much like Costello, his first three albums were also produced by Nick Lowe. In many ways this Jack Nitzsche-produced gem was his breakout album and deservedly so! Featuring tight hooks and enough anger to further fuel the Punk movement, Parker hatched this classic that still holds up over thirty years later. [Source]
Her heart is nearly breaking, the earth is nearly quaking
The Tokyo taxi’s braking, it’s screaming to a halt
And there’s nothing to hold on to when gravity betrays you
And every kiss enslaves you
She knows how hard her heart grows under the nuclear shadows
She can’t just escape the feeling repeating in her head
When after all the urges some kind of truth emerges
We felt the deadly surges discovering Japan, discovering Japan
The GI’s only use her, they only ram right through her
Giving an eastern promise, that they could never keep
Seeing a million miles, between their joke and smiles
She heard their hard denials
As the tears dropped sideways down her face, face
I woke up talking in the tongue of a different race, race
And as the flight touches down my watch says 8:02
But that’s midnight to you, midnight to you, midnight to you
I dreamed headlong collisions in jet lag panavisions
I shouted sayonara it didn’t mean goodbye
But lovers turn to posers show up in film exposures
Just like in travel brochures, discovering Japan, discovering Japan
Discovering Japan
Discovering Japan
Discovering Japan
…
The Cake are a 1960s girl group made up of Jeanette Jacobs, Barbara Morillo and Eleanor Barooshian. They were managed and produced by Greene & Stone, two Sunset Strip impresarios who also managed Sonny & Cher, Buffalo Springfield and Iron Butterfly.
Studio versions of “I Want You Back” (a Jackson 5 cover) and “Mercury Poisoning” were originally issued on a 45 rpm 7″ single which was included with early copies of the album Live Sparks.
[Inspired by Henrik Queitsch - Dedicated to Kristian Sandvad]
Most (if not all) of you reading this know a thing or two about the names Phil Spector and Neil Young. But I would wager that the immediate name recognition of Jack Nitzsche, a pivotal force in behind both artists, ranks much lower. Studio wizard/producer, arranger and songwriter, Nitzsche released his own sort of ‘surf’ album in 1963—yet one that was a far cry from the surf rock coming out of a.m. radio at the time. Jan & Dean this is not. [Source]
Paul Schrader is often overshadowed by his more famous collaborator Martin Scorsese, which is a shame, because despite Schrader’s own movies being wildly uneven, when they are good they are very good indeed. ‘Blue Collar’ is one of his very best works. A funny, sad and powerful look at three working class guys in a Detroit car factory, it is one of the last Hollywood movies to seriously look at your average working joe and the problems he faces on a daily basis. The three leads are all wonderful, and despite rumoured off screen problems, show a lot of genuine rapport and comaraderie. Harvey Keitel (‘Mean Streets’, ‘Bad Lieutenant’) is one of the finest actors of his generation, and Yaphet Koto (‘Alien’, ‘Live And Let Die’) is a well respected character actor, but the revelation here is funny man Richard Pryor (‘Silver Streak’) who displays a depth of talent few would have thought him capable of. The three buddies are joined by a first class supporting cast including Lane Smith (‘Over The Edge’), Cliff De Young (‘The Hunger’) and George Memmoli (‘The Phantom Of The Paradise’). Also keep an eye out for a brief cameo by future ‘Repo Man’ star Tracey Walter, who Schrader also used in a bit part in his next movie ‘Hardcore’. ‘Blue Collar’ is a fine movie, one of the most underrated of the 1970s, and still relevant and powerful twenty five years later. Don’t miss it.
The vinyl soundtrack also has “Speak My Mind” performed by J.B. Hutto (Columbia Records) and “The World I’m Livin’ In” performed by Byron Berline and Sundance (MCA Records) on it, but I can’t find these tracks online. Anyone?
