Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3pVbwh7

1

It’s the best Bonnie Raitt song you’ve never heard.

With fewer places to go, fewer obligations to meet, I’ve been allowed to web surf and let my mind drift. You know how it is, you look up people from your past life, arcane subjects only you are interested in, and let the music play in the background. And if you go down the rabbit hole long enough, marinating in the tunes, your identity reveals itself to you, you remember your entire life, the songs make entire eras come alive in color.

I was listening to Paul Simon solo tracks. In “Herrens Veje” the two brothers sang “Still Crazy After All These Years” and it resonated, whereas it never had previously, I could see the old lovers meeting in the street, and it made me go to “Rhymin’ Simon,” which is my favorite, and I was astounded how good they sounded, as in sound. No one spends the time, which costs money, to get pristine sound anymore. But that was the goal back then, to nail the essence, to make it true to life such that if you had a good enough stereo you could feel like you were right in the studio. But that was back before the era of boom boxes, back before headphones with boosted bass, back when accuracy was king and people cared about it. It’s funny, today most people listen to music on systems barely better than the speaker in the dash of the old AM radios in Oldsmobiles and Fords, never mind Chevys. How far we’ve devolved.

And then I went back to Simon’s first solo after Simon & Garfunkel, the hits were the reggae inflected numbers that opened each side, but they were not the best. “Duncan” was haunting. “Everything Put Together Falls Apart” insightful. “Peace Like a River”…was a drift down a lazy river in the winter, when the album came out. But the absolute best cut was “Armistice Day.” 

“On Armistice Day

The Philharmonic play

But the songs that we sing

Will be sad”

And maybe that’s why Simon’s first solo has disappeared from consciousness. It was oftentimes sad. And it was so personal. But, the playing on “Armistice Day” is positively ASTOUNDING! Jerry Hahn plays the guitar like a master. You remember him and his Brotherhood, right? No, probably not, but this was back when there were only a couple of thousand albums released a year, and the ones you did not buy you saw in the bins, you were familiar with.

But Hahn is not the only legend on “Paul Simon.” There’s Hal Blaine, Ron Carter, Stéphane Grappelli, Larry Knechtel, Fed Lipsius, Airto Moreira, Joe Osborn, David Spinozza, even Cissy Houston! Back when we knew the players, back when you could make a living as a studio musician making pop records.

And it’s all embodied on a pristine recording by Roy Halee, and on one cut Phil Ramone, who ultimately became Paul’s main man.

And to tell you the truth, I’m listening to “Armistice Day” right now and I can’t take it off, it’s so damn good, I’m listening to Amazon Music HD via the Genelecs and…”Paul Simon” is encoded in Ultra HD so it’s like the old days, feeling like a fly on the wall in the studio.

So, on a Simon sound kick, I decided to listen to his and Artie’s most beautiful song ever, “For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her,” and it too was in Ultra HD, but it was not quite as present. So then I went to “Bookends,” but it didn’t sound as good either, even though “America” brought me back to a different era when road trips were king and we were all on a journey of personal development.

So then I’m sitting in front of the computer contemplating the best engineered, best sounding records, and I think of Bonnie Raitt’s “Luck of the Draw.” It’s her best album, even though critics never acknowledge this. All the attention went to her breakthrough “Nick of Time,” which came before. “Luck of the Draw” got accolades, but people seem to only remember it for its opening cut, “Something to Talk About,” but that’s nothing compared to what comes thereafter.

And my old friend Ed Cherney cut “Luck of the Draw,” I always used to tell him how great it sounded. He’s no longer with us. I remember hanging in Rio three years ago, what a great guy. Tears come to my eyes as I write this.

And for a long time my favorite track on “Luck of the Draw” was “One Part Be My Lover.” But I felt it would bring me down, so I played my present favorite, the title cut.

“These things we do to keep the flame burnin’

And write our fire in the sky

Another day to see the wheel turnin’

Another avenue to try”

“Luck of the Draw” is the best song I know about the process of making it as a writer in Hollywood. When you’ve moved to the city and are working a day job to pay the bills while you keep trying and trying…people have no idea how hard it is to make it.

“Luck of the Draw” was written by Paul Brady. He wrote a lot of Bonnie’s classics. And listening to the song I got a hankering to hear “Trick or Treat.”

2

Paul McGuinness was flush with the success of U2. He decided to make Ireland’s native son, songwriter Paul Brady, known in his country but far from everywhere, into a star. Paul pushed the button, he got Gary Katz to produce Brady’s 1991 album “Trick or Treat.”

Now subsequent to loving the LP I had to go deep into Brady’s catalog, the songs were there, but not the sound, the legendary Steely Dan producer elevated Brady into the stratosphere, forget that nobody paid attention.

Katz called the A-list.

Jeff Porcaro played drums.

Freddie Washington and Jimmy Johnson played bass.

There were a slew of keyboard players, from David Paitch to Betsy Cook to Paul Griffin.

And the guitars were played by Elliott Randall and Michael Landau.

AND IT SOUNDS LIKE IT!

And the push single, the focus was on the title track.

As far as the rest of the LP, you got into it after devouring the single. You got deep into the other cuts. And “Nobody Knows” is great, but “Can’t Stop Wanting You” is stellar, SUPERIOR! And unlike Brady compositions like “Steel Claw,” made famous by Tina Turner, there’s never been a breakthrough cover of “Can’t Stop Wanting You.”

It’s the heat of the summer, and you’ve had a few too many drinks, you’re not quite loaded, but the emotions are flowing, and you start to argue but you can’t stop loving each other, you know there was makeup sex when the song was over.

But the emphasis was on “Trick or Treat.”

There was a pregnant intro, that birthed an immediate groove, with Elliott Randall’s guitar zooming all over the track, like a falling star with a SpaceX engine attached. And then…

“Sometimes the things that you say

Can hurt me so bad

You know that it’s true

Sometimes your love lifts me up

So high I could cry

Can’t live without you”

The duality. That’s the nature of love, there are highs and lows, otherwise you’re not doing it right, someone’s holding back, you’re too busy trying to get along to truly bond.

“Like a knock on the door

Open it up

What do you see

Could be a trick or a treat

Bitter or sweet

Which one you gonna be”

You’ve got to play to get the rewards. Unfortunately, the lows come along with the highs. But that’s the nature of love. Don’t be afraid, partake, it’s the most important game you will play, it’s the essence of life.

And Paul Brady sings the first verse. He and Bonnie Raitt the second. And then Bonnie takes over the third.

“Sometimes I fill up your cup

So your river flows

You know that it’s true

Sometimes my love makes you pay

Though baby I swear I’m not wanting to”

Bonnie Raitt built a whole career on this. On being present. Being real. Being willing to play. Not a passive romantic like too many Top Forty pop singers, but a real person. And it’s true, you don’t intentionally try to hurt the other person, but that’s what happens.

And then it’s a duet, Paul then Bonnie and then Paul and then both together, like Sonny & Cher, but better.

“Look at what this love can do

Send us out into a world that’s new

You no compass baby me no map

No one to show us where they laid the trap

Trick or treat baby that’s the game

One day passion one day pain

You can try to change the rules but

Trick or treat make you the fool”

Just to hear Bonnie sing “compass,” WHEW! Love is an adventure, brand new, and the key is to stay the course to experience the highs, the rewards and the pitfalls.

“Sometimes a moment of bliss

That starts with a kiss

Can end up so blue

‘Cause I might say something wrong

And then comes along

A whole different you”

And now you know why Paul Brady is a legendary songwriter. We all say something wrong sometimes, and then our significant other’s facial expression changes and the situation becomes completely different!

But even back in 1991, there was no place on the radio for this magic. “Trick or Treat” was not hard enough for AOR, not soft enough for AC, and this is not what Top Forty was ever looking for. “Trick or Treat” is just music, great music, before it became solely about money and this was enough. This is what listeners listened for!

3

Now to tell you the truth as I was grooving on the “Trick or Treat” album, switching to the big rig to truly make the room reverberate, my emotions started to sink. You see I realized that was thirty years ago. When I played this album incessantly. I can remember what I was thinking when I was doing so. The music put me in a good mood, but back then my life was a mess. And continued to be for quite sometime.

And now I’m on the back nine. When you’ve got to fight to make headway, when you can choose to rest on your laurels, retire and give up, or continue to try and break new ground.

But even if you plow deep grooves, people still might not pay attention, especially in today’s cacophonous online society.

And too much of today’s music is not good enough. Either it’s rote. Or the elements are substandard…a great band can never supersede a mediocre singer, and a great band can’t make a mediocre song a classic. Then again, back then it was about getting it exactly right, that last 1%. You spent a fortune to nail it, to get to the zenith, to resonate with the listening public.

You’d read about a record. There’d be a buzz. Something in the scuttlebutt resonated. And you’d decided to wade in and take a chance.

But you never knew exactly what you’d get. You’d drop the needle and might end up smiling or wincing, angry you blew your dough.

That’s life. You’ve got to take the risks to get the rewards. But your efforts do not always pay off.

Trick or treat indeed!

Tune in today, February 2nd, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

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Well since I’ve been Steve Miller’s partner in harmony on and off for over 39 years, figure I’d weigh in on this one on the shirt tails of your comments here.

Leslie and Steve were tight. They dug each other. The double cut Les Paul Special with the psychedelic mint green paint job Leslie had commissioned was given to Steve as a gift. Glad you got to see them share a Bill. I saw Steve around that same time but it was just the trio with Lonnie Turner and Tim Davis. Steve played harmonica almost the whole show.

I will agree with you. After Your Saving Grace, there was a creative lull in Steve’s catalog. And the Joker actually pissed me off more than it rocked my plimsoul, but like you inferred, you couldn’t kill it with a stick. He gave up the Revolution for a wolf whistle! I get it.

Even Rockin Me appearing in 1977 didn’t get my attention while we were all diggin the funk and r&b.
But then there was Fly Like an Eagle. It crossed over and the renaissance of Miller began and he ruled the airwaves for a decade. I was fortunate enough to ride that wave when we did Abracadabra the album.

The title track was actually going to be thrown off the album but we kept working on it and Steve had another hit that Europe championed and the US played catch up and you couldn’t kill it with a stick.
Then came the compact disc in 87, Classic rock radio programming and he ruled once again.

Regardless of what our individual tastes in music may be, one fact remains. Long after we are gone and many golden era artists and their songs are forgotten, Steve Miller’s catalog will still be playing in space stations throughout the quadrant of this galaxy.

Kenny Lee Lewis

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Leslie West loved Valentines guitar work and we played House of the Rising Son every night in the Leslie West Band circa 1976… with ( future) Foreigner’s
Mick Jones holding down rhythm as Leslie shredded lead with his own blues…. great music in the hands of great talent…… some of us survive!

Marty Simon
( drummer)..

Toronto

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Producer, writer Jerry Goldstein gave me my first job in the music business, first selling posters on the road with artists he’d sign for rights that no one was paying them for. I then went on to sign and work with Zeppelin, Doors, Rolling Stones and fifty other monster acts, but it was Eric Burdon that I became very close friends with. No Animals or touring, Hilton lived in the downstairs basement apartment of Eric’s Laurel Canyon home.

After Eric hooked up with WAR (then the back-up band, The Night Shift for Deacon Jones off season revue show.

Eric immediately enlisted Hilton to become the guitar roadie and later production manager for Eric Burdon and WAR… then Eric after he split (a mistake) from WAR. I used to watch Hilton tuning and playing the guitars at pre-sound check set-up. I could feel his desire to be back out in front of a crowd and it bothered me to share his pain in silence.

He was a gentle, thoughtful soul who was dedicated to his craft and Eric. A good hang along with Eric’s longtime tour manager Terry McVey who passed quite a few years ago.

I’m glad that you thoughtfully honored Hilton. Boy oh boy, the fourth quarter can really stink at times.

Bruce Garfield

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Throughout this draftee’s tour in Vietnam (1969-71), “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” was THE nationwide theme song, the “automatic” encore of every performance by Vietnamese musicians playing to allied troops — or else!  Failure to oblige would incite a shower of beer, sometimes still in the can or bottle.  Although many of these players neither spoke nor understood English, they all seemed to grasp the sentiments behind every band’s most-requested song.

Second-most-requested?  By the time this unwilling soldier arrived , Scott McKenzie’s 1967 cover of John Phillips’s “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)” was popular because of that city’s proximity to Travis Air Force Base, where departing US personnel landed in “The World” — dead or alive, alas.

Dave Wallace, Jr.

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Thank you for the great piece on Leslie West. I met Leslie in July of 1969 when I walked into a rehearsal room in Manhattan on my 1st day of being hired as road crew for a 3 week US tour to promote the album “Leslie West Mountain”

All I can remember is the physical image of the huge Jewish kid from Forest Hills with the tiny Les Paul smiling and asking me to go out for a food run and telling me he wanted a meat ball hero and a chocolate egg cream… an unknown language to my English brain but soon my daily ritual. The tour started at the Fillmore West where the band opened for Steve Miller and Albert King and Leslie told me the story of Bill Graham calling Leslie a f***ing psychedelic canary describing Leslie’s outfit when Leslie’s earlier band The Vagrants played the Fillmore East. After we played San Francisco, LA and Chicago we made our way to Bethel New York and the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. Our showtime was scheduled for a morning slot but our agent, Ron Terry pulled his trump card ( Jimi Hendrix) and we went on as the sun went down when a very loud rock band could score bigger and better with the audience. Leslie lived up to the moment and delivered a performance that the 500,000 who saw the band remembered and overnight the band became a headliner up and down I 95 including Leslie’s hometown at the Fillmore East. Mountain went on to headline the Fillmore East for the next 2 years playing more times than any act except Dead. Not bad for the psychedelic canary from Queens !! One more trip down memory lane that will stay with me forever…April or May 1070 around 1 a.m. and I am hanging out in the rehearsal room where I have been staying in between tour dates…on the West Side in the warehouse district and when someone knocks you don’t open the door… I look out of the 2nd floor window and see a Cadillac Fleetwood limousine and Leslie so I go down to the heavily locked door and Leslie says..”Mickey say hi to Jimi…” and out of the car comes Jimi Hendrix and they go upstairs to get guitars for a late night jam at Unganos club uptown…but first they sit at the end of my “bed” and noodle while I roll a few joints…thank you Leslie for that night and so many others…you had a great touch on that Junior and you were a truly funny man…( and my 3 week tour with Leslie lasted 3 years and kick started my 50 years plus career )

Mick Brigden

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Bob, thank you so very much for taking time to remember Hilton. I was hoping you would.

I’ve produced Beatles & British Invasion themed concerts in Syracuse & Liverpool NY since 2004. Gerry Marsden RIP was here in 2007, and Hilton in 2016.  By popular demand, I brought him back in April 2017….and again, an hour west to the Geneva NY Opera House in October 2017 for a Lennon birthday concert.

Each time, myself and 2 pro level musicians backed HV on “It’s My Life”, “We Gotta”, and of course, “House”.  It was the honor of a lifetime to sing “House” along with Hilton’s perfectly-toned riff on his Gretsch Tennessean.

It’s quite possibly the last time he played his riff with a band in public, before his health issues kicked in (which I’ll keep private, in respect).

In Geneva, he was in very bad pain…but didn’t say a word about it at all. Just like the two previous shows, he happily signed items and took photos with fans afterwards, smiling and thumbs ups.

But, the most poignant “Hilton moment” each time, was his solo acoustic version of Lennon’s “Working Class Hero”. Before playing, he explained his connection to the song, as his teenage life was similar to John’s.  Losing his mother early…an emotionally absent father…the cruel British school teachers.

As he played this gem (ironically, in a waltz fashion in A minor, like “House”), Hilton allowed himself to be vulnerable. You could hear his voice shaking with emotion. And with that, the audience connected so that you could both hear a pin drop, and then seconds later loud roars at the “til you’re so fuckin’ crazy” line. Standing O’s.

And he used my acoustic guitar for it. I’ll never sell it. After “House”, he said in the northern Brit dialect, “aye lad, ya gave Eric ah roon foor his mooney!”  A greater gift, I could not ask for.

Paul Davie

BeatleCuse – Executive Producer

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With my band, Colorway, I was lucky enough to get to open for 

The Yardbirds on three separate occasions at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA (my adopted hometown for almost 30 years). And at every soundcheck, sitting in the same chair near the stage, would be a silver-haired gent. Yep, it was Hilton Valentine. Him and Jim McCarty (original drummer for the Yardbirds) were buddies, of course, and Hilton lived somewhere in Connecticut, so he’d make the trip up for their shows. 

I was lucky enough to get to tell him how much his opening riff on “House Of The Rising Sun” meant to me as a kid learning guitar way back in the early 80s. I’m sure I was one of many but it still made him smile and thank me for saying so. We exchanged pleasantries at the next two shows we did with The Yardbirds. 

At the third show together the incredible Johnny A had been replaced with a “new” guitarist named Godfrey Townsend (John Entwistle/Jack Bruce/Denny Laine) and I sort of joked around after our sound check was done and said, “Hey there, so . . . you’re the *new* guy, eh?” and they all laughed. I mean, the band does have a bit of a track record.

Hilton piped up from his chair and pointed to me and said, “be careful, lad, you might be next . . . ”

That was a funny, awkward, and unforgettable moment. 

My mom taught me at a very young age that if you get the chance, thank the people who inspired you, however big or small. Let them know they made a difference in your life. 

I’m glad I took her advice.

Thanks, Hilton. Rest in peace. 

F Alex Johnson

Kyoto, Japan

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Hilton was a really nice chap and was always underestimated
But thank you for telling everyone
I will miss him and his skiffle
Nice stuff bob until you talk about our age.  Or mine
Peter Noone

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Well put, Bob – I always loved the Animals; but “we’re next”? Nope. My guitar-player died a year ago tomorrow. Our own mortality usually starts truly getting into our faces with the death of a parent (eldest son/father? I’m still not over it after 14 years); but your own original band mate? Whatever the rifts and complications over the years…we’re here. Right here, right now. Not “next”.

Best,
Hugo Burnham

It only took Sony two decades to wake up.

Kobalt was built to be sold. Haven’t we seen this same paradigm over the last two decades in the internet sphere? Independents gain headway, needle the big ‘uns, and then sell out at a high price. And eventually, the big ‘uns get so big, they can’t be challenged…can you say FACEBOOK and GOOGLE?

The music business has changed dramatically in the past half decade, despite no acknowledgement of this whatsoever. For ten plus years the conversation centered around distribution, i.e. the journey from Napster to Spotify. And since Spotify and its streaming cohorts turned revenue around, in other words so it started going back up, all the conversation has been about payments. Ironically, almost all of this jawing is from oldsters who were disrupted by technological change, you don’t hear the youngsters bitching, unless they’re complete wannabes. Why is it those with the smallest purchase make the biggest noise? Why is it these wankers get paid attention?

Anyway, the story of the last five years in music has been its complete Balkanization. There may be three major labels, but they control less of the landscape than ever before. You see the barrier to entry is nonexistent, and so many are playing and…

Let me give you an analogy. TV. There were nearly five hundred shows made in the past year, a giant multiple of those produced in the pre-streaming era. However, shows are expensive to make, and distribution is key, there are a limited number of outlets. In music, creation has exploded, but distribution is easy, therefore there are oodles of new acts, some with traction, some with less.

Going back to the oldsters versus the young ‘uns… The young ‘uns harnessed the new internet tools. They uploaded to Soundcloud, gave it away for free. Promoted for free online via social media, never mind having made the music on the cheap, employing computers. The young ‘uns bought fully into the new world. You either do so or die. Remember that.

But now there are so many acts and so many labels that the landscape is incomprehensible. As is the chart. Sure, there are a number of very successful songs, but they mean less than ever before, they reach a smaller percentage of the population than ever before. And their share of the aggregate is going down, yes, that’s what the latest reports have said, income is being distributed to more acts.

So…

If you’re a modern label, your best way to survive is to hoover up all the small players, get that revenue for yourself, control that revenue.

Consolidation is the way of business. And this Sony/Kobalt deal is evidence of this. Sony just entered the present. Its competitors have shrinking release schedules looking for hits, that’s a different game.

Meanwhile, the customer is completely confused. What should they listen to?

So Kobalt came up with a better mousetrap. AWAL. Giving partners just what they needed at a rock bottom price. Genius. As was Kobalt itself. Kobalt revolutionized publishing, from the ground up it was based on the internet, and transparency. You could see where your music was being played and what you should get paid, whenever you wanted. This was anathema to the old players, whose business model is based on obfuscation and theft. And sure, the old players eventually modernized, adding client computer dashboards, but the truth is they’re part of major labels operating under old rules, they’ve got no vision. So, Round Hill, Primary Wave and Hipgnosis swooped in and bought key assets, revolutionizing the business as well as driving catalog prices up.

Now the dirty little secret is the majors and their associated publishing companies like the way things are, they want no change. You see it’s one big tent, and therefore the labels don’t really care about the publishing share of streaming. Yes, the split is inequitable, songwriters get screwed. But this is going to change. BECAUSE MERCK OWNS TOO MANY HITS! Yes, Hipgnosis and its independent compatriots are going to lobby for changes, to right the wrong, to raise songwriter royalties, and they’ve got an excellent case, and now they’ve also got leverage.

The major labels could have had this leverage, but they were asleep. These new publishers had vision. Why do we not have new labels with this vision?

Catalog. The music business runs on catalog. New hits are sexy, they get all the ink, but the catalog drives profits. It costs nothing to make and market and the revenue keeps pouring in, especially in these days of streaming, where there’s no manufacturing and distribution.

Will someone ever build a new label powerhouse?

It turns out no one is willing to play the long game. Which is necessary here. Although unlike in the past, the opportunity has never been larger. You’ve got to build a catalog. But with so much content available, so much to bet on, the opportunities are rife. But music is seen as a secondary business that got trounced by the internet, never to recover. WRONG! The internet has been the best thing that has ever happened to the music business. There are umpteen new revenue streams, marketing is cheap and if you don’t understand this you’re an oldster who believes direct consumption of recordings is the only thing that matters in music. It is not. Widen your horizons or get out of the way, the future continues to be built.

But now Sony has done what I told Roger Ames and the rest of the CEOs to do almost twenty years ago, they’ve cast a wide net, knowing that the aggregate is key, nothing is as big as before so you’ve got to be the pipeline for more.

This is a bad sign for artists. The more power major labels get, the worse it is for them.

But the race is not over, it is still being run.

But now the people who left major label distribution to go to AWAL…are back where they started, and there’s no viable alternative.

Never ever forget that distribution is king. And Sony has just amped up its distribution power. Think about that.