01 May 2024

Counting Crows

American rock band Counting Crows came out of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, multi-instrumentalist David Immerglück, bass guitarist Millard Powers, and guitarist Dan Vickrey. Past members include the drummers Steve Bowman (1991–1994) and Ben Mize (1994–2002), and bass guitarist Matt Malley (1991–2005).

The band gained popularity following the release of its first album, August and Everything After (1993) with its hit single "Mr. Jones." The album sold more than 7 million copies in the United States. The band received two Grammy Awards nominations in 1994, one for "Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal" (for "Round Here") and one for "Best New Artist". 

The follow-up album, Recovering the Satellites, reached number one on the US Billboard 200 album chart and reached number one in several other countries. All but one of their subsequent albums reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200 list.

The name Counting Crows comes from an old English nursery rhyme which had to do with predicting the future from the number of birds seen.  Originally the rhyme was about magpies, but as people came over to America, crows were used instead.  

The band's song "A Murder of One" has one version of the rhyme. Adam Duritz just liked the rhyme. 

"One for Sorrow" is the traditional name for the children's nursery rhyme which according to an old superstition says that the number of crows or magpies seen tells if one will have bad or good luck.

One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.


THE MUSIC

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22 April 2024

Barking up the Wrong Tree

“Barking up the Wrong Tree” is a saying that means to take the wrong approach or waste your efforts. "If you're looking for a job here, you're barking up the wrong tree."

This is an old saying that originates in America and refers to hunting dogs in the early 19th century. Hunted prey such as raccoons or bears would escape the dogs by climbing up trees. The dogs would then track them and hopefully "tree" them and then the dog would sit and bark at the base of the tree, waiting for their master. However, sometimes the dogs would lose the scent and select the wrong tree, but they would still sit and bark there waiting for their master. 

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18 April 2024

Third Eye Blind

 


Third Eye Blind (sometimes abbreviated 3eb) is an American alternative rock band formed in the early 1990s in San Francisco. They are best known for their songs, "Semi-Charmed Life,"  "Jumper" and "How's It Going to Be" which all reached the Top 10 of the US Billboard Hot 100, and "Never Let You Go" reaching the Top 20. Third Eye Blind has sold around 12 million records worldwide.

Their Wikimedia entry has a very long list of lineup changes but nothing about the name. Their AllMusic entry says, "Formed in 1993, Third Eye Blind hail from San Francisco, where singer Stephan Jenkins made his name as a solo musician after earning an English degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Jenkins soon decided to piece a band together. After several lineups failed to gel, former Fungo Mungo bassist Arion Salazar joined the group, which Jenkins had named Third Eye Blind (in reference to the metaphysical concept of a mind's eye). At one of the band's early shows, guitarist Kevin Cadogan -- a former student of Joe Satriani who later became involved in the northern California ska and punk scenes -- introduced himself to Jenkins. Cadogan subsequently joined Third Eye Blind in late 1995, bringing along former Counting Crows drummer Brad Hargreaves as well."

The third eye (also known as the inner eye) is a mystical and esoteric concept referring in part to the ajna (brow) chakra in certain Eastern and Western spiritual traditions. It is a representation of mystical intuition and insight—an inner vision and enlightenment beyond what the physical eyes can see. It is traditionally depicted as being located in the middle of the forehead. It is also spoken of as the gate that leads within to inner realms and spaces of higher consciousness.

The third eye - to which most of us are "blind" - is often associated with visions, clairvoyance, precognition, telepathy, ESP, and out-of-body experiences. People who have allegedly developed the capacity to utilize their third eyes are sometimes known as seers.

There is also a symbolic third eye (all-knowing eye) that appears on the back of the U.S. dollar bill.


 

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08 April 2024

What's the Connection? The Lovin' Spoonful, 10 CC and Pearl Jam


Lovin' Spoonful': Steve Boone, John Sebastian, Joe Butler, Zal Yanovsky


What do the bands The Lovin' Spoonful, 10 CC, and Pearl Jam have in common? Not that much. Certainly not their styles of music. But keep reading.

The Lovin' Spoonful was an American pop-rock band of the 1960s. They were named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.  Their biggest hits included "Do You Believe In Magic", "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice", "Daydream", "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind." and "Younger Girl" 

Their only song to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart was "Summer in the City" released in the summer of 1966.


The band's name was inspired by some lines in a song by Mississippi John Hurt called "Coffee Blues." The Hurt song was generally considered to be either a drug reference to the spoon used to heat and melt heroin, or a reference to the amount of sperm ejaculated by the average male (about a spoonful). The band's leader, John Sebastian says it was the former, but the rumor of the latter persists.


10 cc Lol Creme, Kevin Godley, Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman

Which brings us to 10cc. They were an English art rock band that achieved their greatest commercial success in the early 1970s. Jonathan King, a flamboyant entrepreneur, producer, and recording artist, signed the band to his UK Records label in July 1972 and dubbed them 10cc. 


King says that the name came from a dream in which he was standing in front of the Hammersmith Odeon in London where the marquee read "10cc The Best Band in the World." But the more popular origin story (confirmed in a 1988 interview and on a web page from original member Graham Gouldman) is that the band's name represented the volume of semen that was more than the average amount ejaculated by men, thereby making the band "more potent." The story is urban legend and the band origin even made it onto snopes.com which is where many search for the truth behind lies. 


Matt Cameron, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam, Jeff Ament


Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guitar), Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), and Mike McCready (lead guitar). 

The band had called themselves "Mookie Blaylock" - a reference to the then-active All-Star basketball player - when they played their first official show in late 1990 and signed to Epic Records. Concerns about trademark issues meant a name change. They went with Pearl Jam.

In an early interview, Vedder said that the name "Pearl Jam" was a reference to his great-grandmother Pearl, who was married to a Native American and had a special recipe for peyote-laced jam. But in a 2006 Rolling Stone story, Vedder admitted that although he did have a great-grandma named Pearl, the story was a fiction. The band came up with "pearl" and then after attending a concert by Neil Young, they added jam because of Young's extended jam versions of his songs. In the PJ20 movie, it is said that band members came up with "Pearl" to signify something beautiful coming from something ugly.

Despite both of those origin tales (and a rumor that Mookie's nickname was Pearl Jam), the most popular band origin story is that "pearl jam" is another name for sperm. (see the Urban Dictionary)


The success of their album Ten (as in 10cc?), led Pearl Jam to become a key part of the Seattle grunge scene along with Alice in Chains, Nirvana, and Soundgarden.

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07 April 2024

Procol Harum



In April 1967, Gary Brooker formed one of my favorite bands of all time, Procol Harum, with poet/lyricist Keith Reid, Hammond organist Matthew Fisher, guitarist Ray Royer (temporary) and bassist David Knights. The British rock band, from Southend, England, first performed as The Paramounts.

Robin Trower formed the Paramounts and would later include his Westcliff High School friend Gary Brooker. The Paramounts disbanded in 1966 to pursue individual projects and Trower formed a three-piece band called the Jam (not to be confused with the later group with Paul Weller). That was short-lived and Trower then joined Brooker's new band Procol Harum following the success of their debut single "A Whiter Shade of Pale" in 1967 and remained with them until 1971. He appears on the group's first five albums.

The band has been recording and touring in various incarnations since 1967. They recorded "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and it was released May 1967. That classic, which they are still identified with, has a structure reminiscent of Baroque music with its countermelody based on J.S. Bach's cantata no.140 played by Fisher on his Hammond organ. Brooker's vocals were often mistaken for being those of a black "soul" singer. Keith Reid's mysterious lyrics opened up all kinds of interpretations.

"A Whiter Shade of Pale" reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart and made it to #5 in the United States. The song sent them out on the road and their live debut was opening for Jimi Hendrix in 1967.

Their follow-up single was "Homburg" which was #1 in the UK but not a hit in the U.S. That recording after included former Paramounts B.J. Wilson on drums and Robin Trower on guitar. That lineup is what most Harum fans consider to be the "classic" lineup.

Their first album, the eponymous Procol Harum, was recorded soon between the two hit singles, but wasn't released until early 1968.

The second album was Shine on Brightly (1968) and the third was A Salty Dog (1969). It was their first album to sell well in the UK and the title track was an FM radio hit in the U.S. Procol Harum became known as an art-rock band with some classical roots.

Some of those classical roots were ripped up when Matthew Fisher quit Procol Harum in 1969 after the release of A Salty Dog, which he also produced. He rejoined the band in 1991 for the album The Prodigal Stranger and released two more albums with them, One More Time - Live in Utrecht 1992 and The Well's on Fire.

Drummer BJ Wilson died in 1990.

A sad update: Founding member, piano and lead singer, Gary Brooker, the only constant member of the band and the main songwriter, died on 19 February 2022.

Another former Paramount, Chris Copping, joined on organ and bass in 1970, and from late 1972 until 1977, the group's guitarist was Mick Grabham. Grabham replaced Robin Trower who went on to record a number of hard rock albums, several of which were produced by Fisher.

The band fronted by Gary Brooker continues to tour and often performs with orchestras. 

There have been a number of explanations for the unusual name. I have been a fan of the band since the beginning. (Ask me one day about my weekend as a roadie for Procol Harum and Mott the Hoople.) I have collected the origin stories and here's the etymology.

Guy Stevens, their original manager, suggested the name based on a friend's Burmese cat. They thought it was Arabic but found that it was Latin. Then they were told that they had misspelled it and that it should be procul harum. 

What does it mean? One translation was "far from these things."  But I have also seen students of Latin say that the phrase is "dubious, since procul is followed by the ablative case not the genitive."

Translating it as "beyond these things" sounds good for a 1960s band, but then I read that "beyond these things" would translate as procul his.

Another translation I have seen is that it means "of these far-off things" (harum is in the feminine, genitive, plural) but procul would not be followed by a genitive in Latin.

The definitive source of Procol Harum knowledge (including current members and tour dates) is ProcolHarum.com. That site has an interview with founder Gary Brooker that includes this answer about the name:
We didn't invent it, our manager at the time 'phoned up and said he'd found a name. We said, 'What is it?' 'Procol Harum.' 'Oh, great.' And it sounds like us, in fact, sounds like what we sound like, so that was that. He didn't just pluck it out of the air, it was the pedigree name of a cat of a friend of his. And ... er ... of course everyone went, 'What does it mean? What does it mean?' We didn't know it, so we had to find out. We did find out that we actually had got the name wrong over the telephone, we spelt it wrong. But in Latin, the cat's name was 'Procul' with a 'u' and 'Harun' with an 'n' on the end, 'Beyond these things' in Latin. We got round to saying that Procol Harum in fact meant 'Beyond these things', which was a nice coincidence: at least it didn't mean, 'I'm going to town to buy a cow' or something.


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