Tuesday Tunes 301: Right Again

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For ‘right,’ read ‘wrong’

 

After last week’s detour to mark a milestone for this series I thought I’d return to the theme I had been playing before that: songs with right in their titles. I still have several more good ones for this, so I’m going with another set of them today. It’s a little unusual for me but I don’t think I have played any of these before on a Tuesday, though the artists are all familiar visitors – apart from one.

Without any further ado, aside from a quick thanks to Felon Moron for providing the header meme, let’s get the music going. This is the debutant in this set, as to my surprise I’ve never played them before:

Blind Faith were an English rock supergroup that consisted of Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Ric Grech. They followed the success of each of the member’s former bands, including Clapton and Baker’s former group Cream,  Winwood’s former group Traffic and Grech’s time with Family, but they split after a few months, producing only one album and a three-month summer tour in 1969. The new band’s name was confirmed as “Blind Faith” by Clapton, who thought it described everyone’s self-belief that the band would be successful, no matter what happened, and that fans of their former bands would buy their record regardless. I did buy it, and really liked it, though the obligatory Baker interminable drum solo did get a little wearing after a time! Well All Right was one of my favourite tracks on it, and was written by Buddy Holly and the Crickets, who were the first to record it. The Blind Faith album, released in July 1969,  reached #1 in the UK, the US, Canada, The Netherlands, Denmark and Norway, and sold over 8m copies worldwide, so Clapton’s view was proved right.

From a first timer to a regular visitor for this next one. This clearly isn’t an official video, but when you play an album track by a band who may not be widely known it’s always good to find a fellow fan making one for them:

Oysterband released We Could Leave Right Now in 1992 on their eleventh album, Deserters. I have this in my collection – from the days when we had to buy physical copies of our music – and have always liked it. Several of its tracks, including this one, made their way onto their second compilation double album, Granite Years – another track on this album. If you want a starter for the band I highly recommend that compilation: thirty tracks, and not a dud among them.

I’m having one of those ‘is it really that long ago’ moments now:

Cat Stevens, as he was back then, playing Maybe You’re Right, which had been a track on Mona Bone Jakon, his comeback album after a long spell out with a life-threatening illness: tuberculosis and a collapsed lung. I knew of him, of course, from his early pop star days, but first came upon this song when it was included on a sampler album by Island records: that album was Bumpers, and it was a fantastic collection. I didn’t often buy the albums that were featured on the compilations but I made an exception for this one, and it began my lifetime love of Cat Stevens and his music. The album was released in April 1970, and made #63 in the UK, #25 in Australia, and #164 in the US. It also included the lovely song Lady D’Arbanville, which reached #8 as a single in the UK. He had spent much of his time whilst recuperating from his illness in writing new songs, and was keen to release them: his next album, Tea For The Tillerman, followed just seven months later, and his chart success really began to take off from there.

This next one is from another of my favourite singer-songwriters, who I have probably played less than I should have done. So this is making up for that, just a bit:

Gerry Rafferty released Right Down The Line in January 1978 on City To City, his first solo album in more than six years, after his time in Stealer’s Wheel and record company disputes that prevented him releasing solo work for several years. The album was a big success, reaching #1 in both the US and Canada, #3 in Australia and #6 in the UK. It was helped by the single of Baker Street, which peaked at #1 in Australia, #2 in the US and #3 in the UK. Right Down The Line was released as a single in the US in July 1978, and made #12 there. We didn’t get it here as a single, but I’d had the album for months by then anyway!

To close this set, how about one of the great performers. This has a spoken intro with a great punchline:

In case you weren’t aware, You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth was a track on Meat Loaf’s blockbuster album, Bat Out Of Hell, which was released in October 1977 and peaked at #1 in Australia, Ireland, The Netherlands and New Zealand, at #3 in the UK and #13 in the US. It has gone on to sell more than 43m copies worldwide, including 14m in the US, despite that apparently low chart placing, with a further 3.6m here in the UK. It is an incredible album, which I have played many times down the years, and still sounds great today. We lost one of the great stage acts when he passed in 2022, which I marked at the time with this.

That’s all for today and, for now, for right as a theme. I’ll find something new for next week – maybe wrong, as a counterpoint to this mini-series. I’ll see you again in a couple of days, so until then take care and have fun 👍

 

[This is my now usual reminder that I’m sharing this post to a couple of links. Firstly, Esme’s Senior Salon Pit Stop, which was kind enough to have one of my posts from last week as its #1, and also Cathy’s Monday’s Music Moves Me.  Both are worth a visit, especially if you want to find out which of my posts made Esme’s #1!]

59 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 301: Right Again”

  1. Ooh, that hat! 🤦‍♀️!
    While on the subject of Trump, I have to say that the speech King Charles made when he was here was a good one! Though it probably went over Trump’s head! But lots of here across the pond appreciated it!

    Now to music 🎶 I remember the first time I heard Oysterband was on your blog, and I liked them. Good to hear them again and Cat Stevens. 🙂I certainly remember how popular Meatloaf was. I prefer the edible kind of meatloaf. LOL!
    I think wrong could be an interesting song choice for next time. Good luck with it, and I hope you are having a good weekend. 🙂

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    • Quite! The man is a narcissistic moron. I’m sure he didn’t understand what King Charles was saying about him, though the Dems standing to applaud should have been a clue!

      I’m glad you enjoyed the music, and my first set of ‘wrong’ songs is already chosen.

      The weekend is good so far, thank you, and I hope it’s the same for you 👍

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  2. I bought the Blind Faith album at the time, (despite the controversial underage girl cover which could never happen now) and liked it then. Now with age and experience, I confess it does sound rather ‘over-indulgent’, and I would not rush to listen to it again.

    Best wishes, Pete.

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  4. Dear Clive,

    Firstly thank you so much for your kind words on SSPS and Thank you for sharing with us at SSPS 408. Feel free to share more. See you soon

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  5. I agree with Pete – a great collection of songs here. I was not familiar with the Oysterband song – but it was quite good. And it’s hard not to like anything from Cat Stevens. And the Meatloaf song is an all-time classic for me, as wellas the album it was on.

    By the way, we were at trivia night at a pub last night, and there was a question about Eric Clapton. The question was what were the two bands he was part of that got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You’ll be disappointed to know that I left the question blank. I did think of Cream, but I wasn’t 100% sure. Sorry to let you down 🙂

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  6. You knocked it out of the park with me this week, Clive. Not a bad one in the bunch. I had never heard the tune by Blind Faith before. Winwood’s vocals are instantly recognizable. I know you’ve played several Oysterband songs over the years, but this is the first one that really grabbed me. I actually think fan-made videos are sometimes better than the originals.

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    • That’s great to hear, Pete, thank you. I’m glad you’re getting to like Oysterband too! I got lucky with that video – other clips for the song were heavily restricted for availability.

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  8. Another well chosen list Clive. I think Meatloaf/Jim Steinman’s style is operatically overblownly histrionic too, but I do like the nodding wink to the fact in the intro. A bit of self-deprecatory humour never goes amiss.

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  10. Not a great Meatloaf fan – if I’m honest, not a fan full stop, but the other tracks are great. Gerry Rafferty left us with some wonderful songs, but I think I might have gone with Get It Right Next Time here – but little in it. As someone who still buys physical music recordings, new discoveries are always good news and I often find them here. Thank you. A great read and listen as always Clive.

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    • Meat Loaf isn’t for everyone, is he!

      It was a toss up between the two Gerry Rafferty songs, either would have been great.

      Happy that you enjoyed these words and music, Colin 👍

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  11. Clive, great choices. What could have been with Blind Faith. In his biography, Eric Clapton was always looking for that perfect band and lamented later that Blind Faith might have been it. Steve Winwood was so talented, it would have been so great if they did more songs together. I also love Gerry Rafferty – he is an underappreciated talent even still. I love Meatloaf as well. This is a great sample of his work. He had to work relentlessly to get someone to produce “Bat out of Hell,” but when it was it became a top twenty all-time rock album. Keith

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    • Thanks, Keith, I’m glad you liked these.

      I think egos got the better of Blind Faith.

      I’ve been a fan of Gerry Rafferty since his Humblebums days – as you say, underrated by many.

      Meat Loaf’s pushing to get the album made and released paid off – 43m copies later!

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  12. Great choice Clive; I liked them all except Meat Loaf who was always a bit too histrionic for me. Gerry Rafferty was my favourite – I loved everything he did.

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    • Fair enough, Clare, I wouldn’t expect everyone to like every song, but I’m glad you enjoyed the others. I’m with you on Gerry Rafferty – I’ve been a fan since I bought his first solo album, ‘Can I Have My Money Back’ way back in the early 70s.

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  13. Gerry Rafferty “Right Down the Line” is the only one I remember in your set. It’s a really good oldie. It was surprised that Meatloaf’s song didn’t resonated with my memory. With this group, I’ve found only their biggest hits crossed my path. Thanks for the inductions on the others and for joining the 4M dance floor. Have a boogietastic week, Clive!

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    • The rest were mostly album tracks so I’m not surprised you didn’t know them, but am happy to have introduced you to them. Surprised at Meat Loaf, though!

      You have a great week too 👍

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  17. Great old songs, Clive! Good to hear them again. The only new one was the song by Oysterband which I really enjoyed. The first thing I noticed about that song was it’s similarity to R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion”. I wonder if you noticed it, too. Thanks for the wonderful music this morning. 🩵 🎶

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    • Thank you, Nancy, I’m pleased you liked these. I hadn’t noticed that similarity but I get your point.

      Yet again I found this in Spam, and I fear the same has happened in reverse: your earlier post with the Blind Faith song that wasn’t available here. I linked to an alternative video but it seems to have gone AWOL!

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      • Clive, I am at a loss as to what we can do about this spam nonsense. I have written to WordPress and Akismet regarding this predicament for you, Fandango, and me, with no satisfaction. Not only do they take a long time to respond, they offer no help when they do respond. It’s extremely frustrating for everyone and I don’t know what the answer is.

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