The Vinyl Dialogues Blog

Stories behind memorable albums of the 1970s as told by the artists

First Bruce Springsteen concert a perfect beginning . . . and maybe a perfect ending

Who knew that farmers could predict the future of rock and roll?

When I moved into the dorms my first year at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, the guys who lived next door were enlightened and entertaining characters. Al Steinbach, a New Yorker with a dry wit, was studying engineering there in the middle of the Heartland. I’m not sure why he went all that way to do that. His roommate, Duane Morrison, was a rural gent from Grinnell, Iowa, who was studying farm management. That made more sense to me, since the university is surrounded by roughly a bazillion cornfields and two bazillion cows.

What made these guys cool to a youngster experiencing being away from home for the first time was that they had a turntable, a vinyl collection and an open-door policy. Anyone could drop in and listen to records at almost any time.

Duane was … Read more

Connecting Cher to the Lawrence Welk Show via ‘One Toke Over the Line’

This is a story about Cher almost being knocked on her keister in 1983. But to get there, I’ve got to first go through the rock-folk duo of Brewer and Shipley and the squeaky cleanness of the Lawrence Welk Show.

In Volume I of The Vinyl Dialogues, I had interviewed Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley about the making of their 1970 album “Tarkio.” The album would include what would become Brewer and Shipley’s biggest hit single, “One Toke Over the Line.”

“One Toke Over the Line” is a song about drugs. According to Shipley, before a gig in Kansas City, someone had given him a block of hashish and recommended he do two hits. But Shipley decided to do three hits, and by the time he got to the stage, he was wasted. “Jesus Michael, I’m one toke over the line,” Shipley said to Brewer.

Brewer thought that was hysterical, … Read more

My inaugural Dylan concert: It was Bob being Bob . . . with a little swagger and prancing

dscn5771The between-song banter by Mavis Staples – who is opening for Bob Dylan on his summer tour – Wednesday night at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia included an interesting and somewhat unexpected observation.

“Oh, that Bobby Dylan. I love listening to him sing, but I also love to watch him move,” said Ms. Staples, 77, a longtime member of the gospel, soul and R&B family singing group The Staple Singers and later a solo artist, who revealed last year that Dylan once proposed to her when they were teenagers and she turned him down. “He’s got that swagger.”

“Does Bob move with a swagger?” I asked my friend Ted, who has seen Dylan approximately 25 times in concert and had driven all the way from Illinois (919 miles and 14-and-a-half hours in what has been dubbed the 2016 Iron Undershorts Tour) to accompany me to my … Read more

Hall & Oates concert delivers a few Philly surprises to the Philly faithful

Daryl Hall and John Oates are very good in concert. But when they go off the script a little, they’re even better.

That’s what happened at the July 10 show at the BB&T Pavilion in Camden, N.J. Even though the venue is across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, this was clearly a Philly show with a Philly vibe by the Philly area natives.

And the evening featured a couple of really cool surprises for the Philly faithful, which Hall promised at the beginning of the show.

We know a Hall & Oates concert will include all the hits. And the setlist reflected that. H&O opened with “Maneater,” a No. 1 single in 1982, I think mostly to just get it out of the way. Although it’s a hugely popular song with the fans and gets everybody up on their feet right from the get-go, Oates is on the record in … Read more

Reelin’ in the Steely Dan experience, with an assist from Steve Winwood

Here the thing: If you’re a Steely Dan fan and you’ve paid to see the band in concert, then you cannot get up and go to the restroom just as the artists are breaking into “Reelin’ in the Years.”

I understand that those of us who grew up with Steely Dan over the past 40-plus years may be at an age where the frequency of using the facilities may be more challenging to us at this age than it was in our younger days.

But c’mon, it’s “Reelin’ in the Years,” one of Steely Dan’s most enduring hits. The song, written by Dan founders Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, reached No. 11 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 7 on the U.S. Cashbox Top 100 chart in 1973. It appeared on the band’s debut album “Can’t Buy A Thrill,” released in November 1972.

Surely one can reel … Read more

Peter Frampton: Ooh baby, we still love his way

In a conversation with a newsroom colleague earlier this week, I mentioned that I was going to the Peter Frampton concert June 14 at the Sands Casino in Bethlehem, PA.

“Is it an acoustic show or a full band concert?” he asked.
“I don’t really know. I’ll have to check,” I said.

The question slipped my mind until later that evening. While sitting in the easy chair with the computer in my lap, I happened to be looking at Twitter and noticed some tweets from Frampton, whom I follow on that social network.

My experience with artists on Twitter has been mixed. I know, for example, that David Crosby and Howard Kaylan from the Turtles respond to tweets themselves and I have had exchanges with both. But I also know that many artists, like Brian Wilson and Al Jardine from the Beach Boys, Daryl Hall and John Oates, and Peter … Read more

Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. give a solid gold performance in Atlantic City

Billy Davis Jr. and Marilyn McCoo admit that when one of their songs comes on the radio, they turn it up because they want to hear themselves.

“The problem is that we’re listening for mistakes,” said Davis. “Did he hit that note? He’s flat, what happened there? Even years later, we’re always critiquing. We’re always listening for something instead of just listening to be listening.”

If their show June 11 in Atlantic City is any indication, then they’re the only ones who can detect any of those hiccups. But for those of us who aren’t Marilyn McCoo or Billy Davis Jr., Saturday night’s performance wasn’t only flawless, it was spectacular.

Let me state right up front that if you’re looking for an unbiased review of the show, this isn’t the place. The following will be completely biased based on personal interaction during telephone interviews with Billy and Marilyn and from … Read more

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