Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Karn Evil 9 1st Impression” by Emerson, Lake & Palmer There was a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I’m not talking about the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Hadrosaurus, or even your garden variety Pterodactyls. These dinosaurs wore coats of proggy sounds typified by 20 minute epic-length, multi-movement suites of music. These were dinosaurs that went by names like King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Genesis, PFM, The Moody Blues and Yes. There was no pretention in what they were doing, yet many of them were very, very pretentious. And if you were a rock fan of the 1970s, you ate it up. You loved it. There was nothing better. But a funny thing happened...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Knowing When To Leave” by Dionne Warwick “Walk On By,” “Anyone Who Had A Heart,” “You’ll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart),” “Message To Michael,” “Alfie,” “”Do You Know The Way To San Jose,” “I Say A Little Prayer” — the list goes on and on, making an argument for the notion that the songwriting partnership of Burt Bacharach and Hal David was one of the most important in the history of pop music on par with Lennon and McCartney. Add the sophisticated stylings of Dionne Warwick into the mix and you got recordings that resulted in pure pop perfection. It was a marriage made in heaven, but...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Whole Wide World” by Wreckless Eric “If it ain’t Stiff, it ain’t worth a f*ck.” “The world’s most flexible record label.” “Undertakers to the industry.” “We came. We Saw. We Left.” “In ’78 everyone born in ’45 will be 33-1/3.” “When you kill time, you murder success.” “If they’re dead, we’ll sign them.” The above non-sequitors were all slogans for one of the coolest record labels to be associated with the late 1970s punk rock movement. Stiff Records established itself by not only having a roster that included Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, The Damned, Wreckless Eric and Ian Dury, but by the hyperactive media antics they pulled off in the name...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Sucker” by Mott The Hoople        Mott The Hoople were a British pub rock group consisting of Ian Hunter on vocals, guitar and piano, Mick Ralphs on guitar and vocals, Verden Allen on organ and vocals, Pete Overend Watts on bass and  Dale “Buffin” Griffin on drums. By 1972, the band had released four poorly received albums and was ready to throw in the towel. Enter David Bowie to the rescue! Bowie was much too big a fan of the band to let them call it quits, so he urged them to glam up their image, offered to produce their next album, set them up with Tony Defries and MainMan management and...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Kill Your Sons” by Lou Reed After the huge success of the Transformer album and its top-twenty single “Walk On The Wild Side,” Lou Reed delivered his most beautifully disturbing album as a follow up. The concept album, Berlin was considered at the time to be a depressing mess, and it was not exactly what fans expected or wanted from their newly minted glam rock star. Over time, Berlin’s stature has deservedly risen and is now not only considered a classic, but one of Reed’s greatest albums. In order to calm the nerves of his record company and his fans, Reed followed Berlin with the live Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “At The Hop” by Danny & The Juniors Three groups…three decades… three stories…one song! 1950s Philadelphia school friends Danny Rapp, Dave White, Frank Maffei and Joe Terranova formed a group called The Juvenairs in 1957.  They were discovered at a Record Hop by John Madara who changed their name to Danny & The Juniors and introduced them to local record label owner Artie Singer. Madara and Singer liked Dave White’s song “Do The Bop,” but suggested that the title be changed to “At The Hop.” They also took a writing credit on the song for their efforts. The song was released in late 1957 on Singer’s Singular Record label. Singer brought...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “That’s Rock ‘n Roll” by Eric Carmen Eric Carmen was one of the prime purveyors of 1970s power pop with his group Raspberries and their hits “Go All The Way,” “I Wanna Be With You,” “Let’s Pretend” and “Overnight Sensation (Hit Record).” With the breakup of Raspberries in 1975, producer Jimmy Ienner brought Carmen to the fledgling Arista record label where, under the aegis of Clive Davis, he took on a more baroque ballad style. Carmen hit the ball right out of the park with the first single from his self-titled debut album, “All By Myself,” which went all the way to the number two position on the charts. The...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Ballad Of Billy The Kid” (Live from C.W. Post College, 1977) by Billy Joel Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Things change… and so do opinions. Several years ago I thought that my days listening to Billy Joel were over. It had been many years since he released a record, and even many more since he released a really good record. I mistakenly passed on the Billy Joel/Elton John stadium tours of the 1990s. Like many, I pretty much stopped caring about him when the trials and tribulations of his personal life began to take center stage in the media instead of his music. But things do change. First there...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Midnight At The Oasis” by Maria Muldaur You either loved it…or you completely loathed it, but there’s no doubt that if you were around in 1974, you could not avoid Maria Muldaur’s “Midnight At The Oasis.” Today’s Song Of The Day was released on Muldaur’s eponymously titled first solo album which soared all the way to the #3 position on the Billboard charts on the wings of this David Nichtern-penned top-ten single. Yet, most people don’t know much about Maria Muldaur before she sent her camel to bed in back in 1973. Muldaur’s maiden name was Maria D’Amato and she got her start performing as a member of the Even...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Speak To Me/Breathe/On The Run/Time by Pink Floyd So Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon hit its 40th anniversary this past week,  and not only did most of us know upon first hearing it that it was a classic, but it has also held up awfully well over the years. The anniversary got me thinking about some of my favorite records from 1973. Back then, a new record was a much anticipated event. Sure, I still look forward to some new releases (like the new Bowie album, coming out this week), but with the advent of downloaded music, it’s nearly impossible to have a cultural moment anymore just by...