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

Month: January 2017

When you get caught between America and Christopher Cross, the best that you can do is fall in love with the music

Christopher Cross (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Christopher Cross
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

There’s a lot to like about Christopher Cross, not the least of which is that I once used one of his songs to impress my then 10-year-old daughter.

My daughters grew up on my music – the Beach Boys, Hall & Oates, America, the Doobie Brothers, Three Dog Night. But like all of us, they eventually developed their own musical tastes and starting following the bands of their era.

In 1997, the boy band NSYNC invaded our family’s musical sensibilities. The 10-year-old girl in our house had a Beatles-like fanaticism for the boys – Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone and Lance Bass. And like our parents did for us and our music, we bought her the debut self-titled NSYNC album on cassette tape.

You remember cassettes, right? They were the preferred technology of listening to music for a time between 8-track tapes and CDs. And our car then, a Toyota Corolla, was equipped with a cassette player. So every time we got into the car, the NSYNC cassette tape went with us.

The first time that happened, it was Christopher Cross that helped me be the “cool dad.” On that first album, NSYNC covered “Sailing,” a No. 1 hit for Cross off his 1980 debut album. The song won Grammy awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Arrangement of the Year and helped Cross win the Best New Artist award that year.

It’s a great song. From my era. And I knew all the lyrics. So when the NSYNC version came on the car sound system, my wife and I started singing along with the song.

“Sailing takes me away to where I’ve always heard it could be.
Just a dream and the wind to carry me.
And soon I will be free.”

And from the back seat, we heard an excited little voice: “Mom! Dad! You know all the words to an NSYNC song?”

Gerry Beckley (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Gerry Beckley
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

Why yes, yes we do. We are just that cool.

It took us a while to explain to her that it was a Christopher Cross song and not an NSYNC song. But once she understood that some artists cover other artists’ songs – especially the really good songs – she became a Christopher Cross fan and has been ever since. (Full disclosure: And I’ve been an NSYNC fan ever since.)

That memory flooded my head and heart Saturday night as I heard Christopher Cross sing “Sailing” for the first time live at the American Music Theatre in Lancaster, PA.

Cross was on the bill as special guest of the headliner America. It was a wheelhouse concert for me because America is a large part of the soundtrack of my life. I’ve interviewed Dewey Bunnell several times over the years and his recollections about the making of the 1974 album “Holiday” and the 1975 album “Hearts” are featured in “The Vinyl Dialogues Volume I” and “The Vinyl Dialogues Volume II: Dropping the Needle” respectively. In addition, Dewey’s recollections on the story behind the hit single “A Horse With No Name” is one of the best read columns on The Vinyl Dialogues website. You can read it here: https://vinyldialogues.com/VinylDialoguesBlog/the-story-behind-a-horse-with-no-name-straight-from-the-horses-mouth/

Dewey Bunnell (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Dewey Bunnell
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley, who along with then bandmate, the late Dan Peek, wrote and recorded some of the best music of the 1970s – with help from legendary Beatles producer Sir George Martin – sound as good today as they did then. America is a band that I’ll go see every single time they perform close to where I live. Reiterate: Every. Single. Time. They’re just still that good.

But is was Cross who stole the show for me Saturday night because it was the first time I had seen him perform live. He sang all the hits – “Sailing,” “Ride Like the Wind,” “Arthur’s Theme” and “Think of Laura.”

Here’s the thing about Christopher Cross: The guy doesn’t have a bad song. It doesn’t matter if his songs are hits or deep cuts, they’re all just really good songs. And his voice is simply beautiful, as much so now as it was in 1980 on his first album. Not to overstate it, but any discussion about the great voices and songwriters of our era should include this guy.

America and Christopher Cross on the same bill. If that ever happens again, buy a ticket for whatever it costs and fall in love with the music all over again. This show certainly furthered the claim that our generation had the best bands and the best music.

The Lords of 52nd Street: We still like them just the way they are

Original Billy Joel band members Richie Cannata, left, Russell Javors and Liberty DeVitto, rock Havana in New Hope, PA, on Jan. 14, 2017. (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Original Billy Joel band members Richie Cannata, left, Russell Javors and Liberty DeVitto, rock Havana in New Hope, PA, on Jan. 14, 2017.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

Billy Joel had made four albums for Columbia Records in the early to mid-1970s – “Cold Spring Harbor” in 1971; “Piano Man” in 1973; “Streetlife Serenade” in 1974: and “Turnstiles” in 1976. Joel had moderate success with a couple of those albums, but not enough for the Columbia suits. They wanted better sales results.

Columbia thought that Joel needed a strong producer on his next album, which would be called “The Stranger.” And Sir George Martin, the man who had produced the Beatles and was famous enough at that time to be known as “the Fifth Beatle,” was interested. He was coming to see Joel and his band, which included Liberty DeVitto on drums, Doug Stegmeyer on bass, Russell Javors on electric and acoustic guitar and Richie Cannata on saxophone and clarinet, all of whom had contributed to the “Turnstiles” album.

Martin liked what he saw and after the show told Joel that he’d like to produce the next album. But Martin didn’t want to use Joel’s band, he wanted to use studio musicians instead.

Liberty DeVitto (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Liberty DeVitto
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

Bill Joel said thanks but no thanks to George Martin.

Enter Phil Ramone, a producer and engineer who by this time had worked with Peter, Paul and Mary, James Taylor, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin and Paul Simon, with whom he won a production Grammy for his work on Simon’s 1975 album “Still Crazy After All These Years.”

Ramone watched Joel and his band perform at Carnegie Hall and liked what he saw. In particular, he was impressed with the raw energy that Joel and the band showed during its live performance.

“We had playing down live. We could rock the place,” said DeVitto. “When Phil heard that, he knew how to get what he heard live onto a record.”

Ramone ended up producing “The Stranger” and the rest is history. (An interview with DeVitto about the making of the album is featured in “The Vinyl Dialogues Volume III: Stacks of Wax.”)

The album reached No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard 200 Albums chart. Five singles from the album were released, four of which charted in the U.S., including “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song),” which reached No. 17 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and No. 14 on the U.S. Cashbox Top 100 singles chart; “Just the Way You Are,” No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Easy Listening chart and No. 3 on the Hot 100 singles chart; “Only The Good Die Young,” No. 24 on Billboard and No. 25 on Cash Box; and “She’s Always a Woman,” No. 17 on Billboard and No. 2 on Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart.

Russell Javors (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Russell Javors
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

The raw energy that Ramone saw live and was able to get onto “The Stranger” is still evident 40 years later. It lives on in The Lords of 52nd Street, the name that Ramone bestowed on Joel’s band back in the day.

And it was noticeably still intact Saturday night at Havana (a great venue with outstanding food) in New Hope, PA, as former Joel band members DeVitto, Cannata and Javors rocked the house. They have been joined by lead vocalist and pianist David Clark, guitarist Ken Cino, Malcolm Gold on bass and keyboardist Doug Kistner, all of whose contributions cannot be understated. Together, the current lineup of The Lords of 52nd Street complement each other superbly.

Still, it’s difficult not to focus on the original Billy Joel band members. They make it clear that they’re not a Billy Joel tribute band. And that’s true. They’re still playing their own parts on the songs that they originally recorded.

Richie Cannata (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Richie Cannata
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

That’s Richie Cannata playing sax on “New York State of Mind” and “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” just as good, if not better, as he did on the original records. That’s Liberty DeVitto with as much energy on the drums as we heard in 1977. That’s still Russell Javors on guitar, with the added benefit of still having some of the greatest hair in rock and roll history. I particularly liked his lead vocals on “Until the Night,” Joel’s tribute to Phil Spector, a song that’s on the “52nd Street” album.

One cool aside from the show. Doug Stegmeyer died in 1995, but his presence was still felt during Saturday night’s show. Stegmeyer’s family had given Doug’s bass guitar to DeVitto, and Liberty brought it along for Malcolm Gold to play, which he did quite well.

“The one thing that we always had when we were with Billy – and me and Lib have been together since we were 15 years old – we click into this craziness and we’re having a lot of fun with each other,” said Javors. “I think it comes across on stage.”

It certainly does. Go see this band . . . they still might be the lunatics you’re looking for.

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