2 Record Offers: Rough Side of the Mountain and TEJ Records

Here's two ridiculous record offers from back when they still did record offers...

Soundalike records seem to be impossible to find anymore in the record bins, but there was a time when they were semi-popular. This one is likely from 1974, and contains re-recordings of hits from that era. Just listening to the backing tracks, some are kind of close ("The Entertainer," "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing"), and some are way off ("You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me"). The vocals are awful and all over the map. The aforementioned "You're the Best Thing..." has a Gladys Knight impersonator who sounds like Herbert from "Family Guy." Awful. The best part of this commercial is the over-hyped ad copy, apparently read by The Real Don Steele. The package itself is incredibly flimsy and budget priced, but what would you expect when you "can't reveal the artists due to royalties"?  Right.


I have been looking for the commercial below for years, since I would see it in the early 1990s during cable reruns of ancient sitcoms. I could never find the ad on YouTube because I always thought it was called "My Side of the Mountain." It's actually "Rough Side of the Mountain." As a collection, it's not a bad representation of gospel, with Al Green, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin and The Clark Sisters (their tune sounds a lot like Stevie Wonder's "Master Blaster (Jammin')"). According to the track list, they inserted the looooong sermons between songs -- I bet that really interrupts the flow. There's one by Jesse Jackson and one by Rev. B.W. Smith -- why not put all that together on the same side?! Anyhow, Rev. Smith's sermon, "Watch Them Dogs," became a bit of a catchphrase thanks to the line in the commercial: "Who in the hell left the gate open?" They even referenced this on an episode of "Martin." Crazy!


Incidentally, the Aretha Franklin tune used in this album ("Walk In the Light") is from her largely unsuccessful 1960-67 years on Columbia Records, when no one knew what to do with her. Once she switched to Atlantic Records and went full-R&B, she caught fire. In 1972, she released a live double gospel album, "Amazing Grace," which is actually the biggest-selling album of her career. The best tune on there, "How I Got Over," should have been included on "Rough Side"!

For fun, here's a different take on "How I Got Over" from the classic 1974 film, "Uptown Saturday Night."

The Red Hot Chili Peppers Play Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland

The Red Hot Chili Peppers played Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland last night.  I didn't go; but I saw plenty of the black-and-red RHCP t-shirts around the city.  It's like Cleveland said, "no one ever visits, so when they do, we go ALL OUT."

I first heard the group's "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" in... 1996.  I was able to get a copy of the white-label promo double-vinyl set, as seen and heard in the video below.  Only problem with that set is it's mixed for radio.  So the sound is a tad bright and compressed (no problem) and the swears are all muted (problem).  And they're not just muted.. they use a weird radio static effect!  Very annoying.  But the bottom end is tight and, for all I know, the CD is just as compressed and bright.  No, I do not have the CD.  And I don't want it.

Here's the promo vinyl playing a snippet of the album with a censored word, as an example of the annoying static sound.




And now, for no reason, here's my 8th-grade garage band covering "Suck My Kiss," which is on side two of the vinyl; it's my favorite side of the album since the song comes crashing to a halt and goes immediately into "I Could Have Lied."  This recording was the first time I got to use a 4-track recorder, which meant we could overdub and do some refining of the song.  Obviously, I decided to forego the opportunity to refine anything... but we clearly still rocked.

Remembering WKRP with Gary Sandy

Here's an interesting and (if you like the show, entertaining) find: Gary Sandy discusses working on WKRP in Cincinnati.  He looks and sounds like every retired DJ I've ever met, which is ironic since he didn't actually play a DJ on the show (he was the Program Director).  He's also very complimentary to his castmembers... seems like everyone got along on that set.  He does hesitate, though, when saying Howard Hesseman has "become a good friend later in life," or words to that effect; was there some beef between them while the show was on?  If so, one explanation could be that, as originally conceived, Sandy's character was supposed to be the "normal guy" centerpiece of the show.  After six episodes, CBS took the show off and claimed it needed "re-tooling" (something creator Hugh Wilson says he didn't actually do).  When the show returned a few months later, it had a better time slot (following "MASH"), and had added the office/bullpen set to allow the characters to meet and interact (instead of staging scenes like that in Andy's office, as they had previously).  At this point, Loni Anderson (who at one point was in a relationship with Gary Sandy) and Howard Hesseman became the breakout stars of the show.
Sandy also mentions that they performed the show twice each week, editing together the best takes from each production to get a final show.  This was standard procedure for multi-cam shows.  What is interesting is that the first taping was on a closed set!  Seems like a better way to go, because then you have a fall-back and can put all of your energy in the "live" taping toward being insane.
Sandy has worked steadily over the years, but never had the more noticeable success some of his co-stars had, which is too bad.  I saw him in the play "Breaking Legs" in 1992 and he was just as entertaining as ever.  (He also alludes to his past playing nutjobs on soap operas in the 1970s, something which I may have to track down at some point).  I have to assume this is from the Shout! Factory DVD sets; enjoy.




Below are some outtakes from the show, including one from the lone episode that focuses on Andy's life away from the station, "Love Returns."  That was the last episode before the re-tooling, and shows how Andy Travis was supposed to be the focal point, solving problems at work and looking for love at home (just like "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," from the same production company).

Conan O'Brien and The Simpsons

The Simpsons ends its 28th season next Sunday night... since there's no new episode tomorrow, here's a delightful visit to "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" with Harry Shearer & Dan Castellaneta, from 2002.  They do a number of their Simpsons voices. Shearer is surprisingly relaxed, when usually he's a master of improv.

Exile On Main Street turns 45

Exile on Main Street is 45 today! I bought my copy at the Record Exchange on Howe Ave. near Chapel Hill Mall. The store had just opened (April, 1994) in a space next to Akron Music (catty corner to the slot that store is in now).
Back then, vinyl was "dead," so my friends hit the $9 used CDs while I picked up clean copies of the following for $3 each or less: "Moby Grape," " Over-nite Sensation" (Zappa) and Pink Floyd's "Meddle."
I also got a near mint, Sterling-pressed copy of Exile, complete with postcards and innersleeves, for $4.50. Right around that time I read an interview with Slash (or maybe it was Izzy Stradlin) saying he always kept a copy of Exile around. I did not care for GnR, so I didn't make it past side one of Exile for quite some time after seeing that comment.  About a year later I finally listened to the whole thing and was hooked. Here is a link to my favorite outtake from finest Rolling Stones album...

Nerding Out for Music Sounds: RANDY NEWMAN on 78rpm

A look at the Reprise "Speed Series" release of Randy Newman's "I Think It's Going to Rain Today"/"The Beehive State" (remix) from his first LP.  This was the only release in the 78rpm "Speed Series" and came out in 1968 or '69.  I also discuss other late (1950s and beyond) 78s, such as those by The Beatles released overseas.  Check out my other post on latter-day 78s here.

A Gritty Urban Satire with Herbie Hancock

As someone who is a sucker for 1960s-70s films set in big cities (Gritty Urban Satires, as I call them), this video was very intriguing.  Someone took Herbie Hancock's "Hang Up Your Hang Ups" and married it to various pieces of footage from 1970s New York City.  I see many shots from "French Connection," "Taxi Driver" and "Kojak," and it's edited in the style of the open for "Streets of San Francisco."  At least the beginning portion is.  Really well done.