by Kevin Burton There would come a time, in a year or so, when you could not escape disco. But at its inception 50 years ago, you couldn’t have seen it coming. “Disco snuck up on America like a covert operation,” wrote Alice Echols in her book “Hot Stuff, Disco and the Remaking …
Category Archives: rock and Roll
Joni Mitchell’s Masterpiece, “Both Sides Now”
by Kevin Burton Turning on the radio is like opening a musical fire hydrant. The product comes at you fast and furious. When I was young I lacked the discernment to understand that some of the musical water being spewed out by that hydrant was more nourishing than some of the other. …
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Happy Birthday To Sir Paul McCartney, 82
by Kevin Burton When Paul McCartney was 14 he wrote a whimsical song called “When I’m Sixty-Four.” As of today he’s 82. Can you believe that? On that pivotal night, Feb. 9, 1964, when the Fab Four Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan show, their collective age was 86. A …
Mary Wells Disappeared After “My Guy”
by Kevin Burton In my alternate Motown universe there is a lot more Martha Reeves and a lot less Diana Ross. There is also at least a little more Mary Wells. It’s Wells we focus on today. Sixty years ago, Wells’ “My Guy” became the first Motown record to hit number one on …
A Female Version Of The Beatles? Who Knew?
by Kevin Burton I have read maybe two dozen books about the Beatles on talking book. But I didn’t know this. In books by and about other contemporary artists, the Beatles emerge, as a yardstick, a cultural happening, a turning point. But not so much as a syllable about this. Until very …
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Gerry Rafferty Was Born 77 Years Ago Today
by Kevin Burton The headline to an article in The Independent called Gerry Rafferty a “bipolar alcoholic industry misfit.” His biographers including his daughter Martha dispute none of that. The article was printed on the occasion of the 2021 release of “Rest In Blue” an album of Rafferty demos polished and completed by …
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Songwriting School, Class In Session
by Kevin Burton International Songwriters Day was observed yesterday and I’m staying on that theme. This post is a service to all you songwriters, or really any kind of writers, out there. But who am I kidding, it’s also to keep my head in the game and stoke those musical fires again. …
Songwriters Day, A Musical Day Of Reckoning
by Kevin Burton I grew up mostly at the school for the blind in Ohio. But I had (still have) some partial vision and I played a lot of sandlot baseball in my day. The school used to hire recreation leaders to work with us restless kids. I think these were students from …
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What’s Going On? New Marvin Gaye Music?
by Kevin Burton There might be some court wrangling first, but there is a chance the world will get to hear some new Marvin Gaye music. According to multiple reports, a collection of tapes of previously unheard Gaye songs has been discovered in Belgium. The troubled genius moved there in 1981 to get …
“Go All The Way” Is A Sonic Treasure
by Kevin Burton My tribute to the late Eric Carmen continues today with a closer look at The Raspberries’ rocking masterpiece, “Go All The Way.” Carmen died in his sleep last weekend at age 74 according to his wife Amy. His songs, including “No Hard Feelings” and “Boats Against The Current,” which we …
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