A.A. RockBlog

Many of you may remember him as the former lead singer of Journey between 1977 and 1997 (apart from a break in the late 80s/early 90s). Nevertheless, whether you've known him before or not, Steve Perry is back with his new song, "No Erasin'" off his forthcoming new album "Traces" due for release sometime in the last quarter of this year. Take a listen here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oawl9e-tFVM Now for those who don't know, Steve Perry joined Journey in 1977 succeing lead singer Robert Fleischman who sang on the 1977 record Next  It all began when Journey/Santana manager Walter "Herbie" Herbert heard a song by the Allen Project (in which Steve Perry was singing at the time). Herbert appreciated it and brought Perry in to be a roadie for the 1977 tour. Things changd from there and with Perry on board, the band made more pop rock music and less progressive rock (that had been theme for their first few records). Steve Perry's Journ...

In this posting, I thought I would clear up some commonly misheard lyrics in songs from the 60s and 70s. Many people (myself included) have constantly misunderstood a part of the lyrics from threee songs from that era. 1. Jimi Hendrix "Purple Haze" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUDbbE1ozBA) While many people see this one as a psychadelic number, Jimi has always seen it as a love song. Purple haze all in my brain Lately things don't seem the same I feel funny though I don't know why 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky It's that last line in the first verse that throws many off. As for me, I have always thought is as "piss the sky," however many have interpreted as "scuse me while I kiss this guy" (something Hendrix had one in concert while pointing to drummer Mitch Mitchell. (During a Seattle downpur, he even said "scuse me while I f--k the sky)." 2. "Binded by The Light," Bruce Springsteen (later covered by Ma...

OK, first of all let me say that I am overly aware that there are MANY interpretations to this great classic by the Eagles (written by Glenn Frey, Don Henely, and Don Felder). Perhaps the most-accepted interpretation is that it's about the American dream namely by the lyrics of the first verse; however, some also consider it to be drug-related. First before we get to the lyrics themselves, let's focus on the meody. -----------------------------------------The Melody------------------------------------------------------------------ The melody of "Hotel California" is rather interesting. The song is what I'd call an "orchestra of guitars" - namely twelve-string guitars which are highly pronounced in the intro, but then a little more laid back for the verses. The chord progression for the song is simply a repeating Am-E-G-D-F-C-Dm-E. The only exception to his is the chorus, where the chord progression is F-C-E7-Am-F-C-Dm-E.  The song is considered easy ...

It's been quite some time since I posted, so I thought I'd do it now. This weekend I watched the Walter Hill-directed video "Streets of Fire." For those of you who had not seen the movie, I will not reveal the plot too much. I will just say that the movie is a 50s/80s gangland movie set in an unnamed city (likely based after NYC due to the subway system). It combines rock, violence, and romance all in one package - something that, in my opinion, only Walter Hill could do. The movie involves a fictional rock band, Ellen Ann and the Attackers, and a gang called the Bikers. It is set in what is referred to as "another time another place" (may have been the inspiration for that very line in the Ozzy song "Hellraiser," but I am not sure). The movie includes the Dan Hartman song "I Can Dream About You," which took me a bit of searching around to figure out - always thought it was Hall & Oates or something along those lines. The song c...

Well today is Sunday, which means yet another blog posting by me. Today Rick Davies of Supertramp fame turns 74, and as such we will take a ride through his career. Personally, I've been a great fan of Supertram ever since my father turned me on to them in my teens. It started back in 1969 when Dutch millionaire Stanley August  Miesegaes (also known as "Sam") approached Rick Davies and decided to support Rick financially so that he could start his own band. After placing an ad in Melody Maker, Rick Davies recruited Roger Hodgson and the two were soon joined by Keith Baker (percussion) and Richard Palmer (guitars). Their 1970 self-titled debut was very lackbuster and nothing like the sound of Supertramp shown on later records. After a tour, the band came back in 1971 with "Indelibly Stamped." The record was even less received than their debut and featured Robert Miller on drums (Keith Baker joined Uriah Heep), and flute/saxophone player David Winthrop. After an...

While many who read my blog will argue that "Some Kind of Wonderful" is Grand Funk's signature song, the truth is that "We're an American Band," the title track from their album which is 45 years old today, is the ultimate signature! Anyway, the song began when Grand Funk was on tour with their new keyboardist, Craig Frost, who sat in for the 1972 "Phoenix" record, which generated a minor hit with "Rock'n'Roll Soul." The band was forced to write a more radio-friendly hit, and so drummer Don Brewer picked up a guitar and worked out the basic chord progression. (It should be noted that Brewer admitted that he is bad at guitar and can only play two-finger chords). Neveretheless, the track shot straight to number 1. Also noteworthy is that this is one of the few songs on which Brewer actually sings. He sang on "Walk LIke a Man," while Mark Farner sang the most lead vocals. Farner and Brewer both traded lead vocal duties ...

With the Fourth of July being this week, I have been hearing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" one too many times on the air not to mention on TV during the city's fireworks show. To this day it appears to me that many people think that "Born..." is a happy song about American patriotism (and mind you the opening melody seems to throw people of so I understand). However, if you read between the lines (or rather lyrics), you will see that this is not entirely true. Let's examine the lyrics one phrase at a time: "Born down in a dead man's town.  The first kick I took was when I hit the ground.  You end up like a dog that's been beat too much   'Till you spend half your life just covering up." Just by listening carefully to this opening verse, one can easily see that the narrator did not enjoy living the dream. That "first kick," could infer that the narrator is a black man and is being beaten by cops, or that ...