02 January 2025
Spinal Tap
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.
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.
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.
08 April 2024
What's the Connection? The Lovin' Spoonful, 10 CC and Pearl Jam
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"
The band's name was inspired by some lines in a song by Mississippi John Hurt called "Coffee Blues
Which brings us to 10cc
Pearl Jam
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
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
The band has been recording and touring in various incarnations since 1967. They recorded "A Whiter Shade of Pale"
"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
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
Their first album, the eponymous Procol Harum
The second album was Shine on Brightly
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.
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
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.
- Robin Trower http://www.trowerpower.com
- Matthew Fisher http://www.matthewfisher.com
- Shine on Brightly
- Exotic Birds & Fruit
- In Concert With The Danish National Concert Orchestra and Choir
- Best of Procol Harum
- 30th Anniversary Anthology
Greatest Hits: Procol Harum
- Secrets of the Hive: The Best of Procol Harum
- Procol Harum: In Concert with the Danish National Concert Orchestra & Choir
- Procol Harum:Live at the Union Chapel
- All This & More
- In Concert With Danish National Concert Orchestra
- Procol Harum: Live
(DVD)