By Bob Berry

The three names, Holland-Dozier-Holland, need no further introduction.

The songs are their signature. “Baby Love”,  “Stop! In The Name Of Love”, “Baby, I Need Your Loving”, “Reach Out, I’ll Be There”, “Heatwave”, “Come And Get These Memories”, “Can I Get A Witness”, “This Old Heart Of Mine”, “Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While)”, “(I’m A) Road Runner”.

There,  I just did a Keener Top Ten without breaking a sweat! Or going past 1966!

Brian, Lamont and Eddie were Motown’s greatest songwriting team. Except, of course, for Smokey Robinson, Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, The Corporation, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and others. Hard to say who’s the greatest. It’s like all these years later, Berry Gordy’s “who’s hot?” competitions still play out.

Today is Eddie Holland’s birthday, which was gonna make an obvious, but difficult choice for the Friday Song. Until I discovered that one of H-D-H’s first hits was written for Smokey Robinson and the Miracles! Top Ten in 1963, it’s “Mickey’s Monkey” LIVE, on a Motown Revue special for Britain’s Ready, Steady Go. See how many Motown stars (is that Stevie on harmonica?) you spot.

And you can do the monkey, too-it’s The Friday Song on Keener!

By Bob Berry

This is just genius. No other word.

The Beatles are preparing to re-release a remastered and expanded version of the “1” album, which was the first compilation of all the group’s #1 songs when it was originally released 15 years ago.

And as a teaser, the group have released a video, with stunning restored audio, of the closing song of Sgt. Pepper, “A Day In The Life“. And it’s not just the audio that will blow you away, it’s the video. Clips of “the boys” messing with pals Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, cross-cut with shots of an orchestra preparing to lay for an early session on the album.

The intro, the first few notes of the acoustic guitar, plus the piano, brought tears to my eyes.

A note on digital remastering. At the time of the “1” album’s original release, digital technology allowed certain improvements, the most prominent of which was tape noise reduction. But much like you and I moving from a desktop to a hand-held device, digital audio tools have allowed…not so much a complete re-do, but rather an enhancement of the original recording, bringing us as close as we have been to being with the band, in Studio B at Abbey Road.

Thank goodness for the standards in the audio recording process by the “men in white coats” at Abbey Road.

By Bob Berry

I would like to dedicate this blog to my old friend #23, Waterford’s Kirk Gibson.

He caught home runs at MSU, stirred the drink for our Detroit Tigers, and has hit one of the greatest home runs in World Series history, TWICE! The one you always hear about from for the Dodgers in 1988. And the upper deck shot off Goose Gossage at old Tiger Stadium in the ’84 Fall Classic.

These days, as you may know, Kirk is battling Parkinson’s Disease. For my money, someone should have told Mr. P to pick a different fight.

Go Get ‘Em, Gibby, we are all behind you!

So its World Series time. Kansas CityRoyals and New York Mets. Passionate fans hoping their team has a Gibson moment, Mets down 2 games to none, heading to New York for the weekend. Here’s our short take on three of baseball’s greatest hits, beginning with this Sound of Philadelphia from 1968.

Next up, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s John Fogerty with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, doing John’s baseball classic from spring of 1985.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXhEqCPSq7k

And finally, could it have been anything else, our Number One Baseball Classic. Just wait til next year!

By Bob Berry

A quickie here, something I found on line that’s so cool.

A drummer by the name of Kye Smith, drums his way through The Beatles’ catalog of hits, in five minutes! A few seconds here, a few seconds there, a few pauses for songs like “Yesterday”.

It’s a mesmerizing video (nice touch with the rooftop), and apparently not the first outing for Mr. Smith, who has also done the same “trick” for Blink 182 and Green Day.

Here’s the list of song, in chronological order, with thanks to my old pals at 101.1 WCBS-FM.

By Bob Berry

The T.A.M.I. Show.

Two nights of the stars of 1964 in concert, presented over two nights (October 28 & 29th)  at the Santa Monica Auditorium in Southern California. Directed by Steve Binder, who later produced Elvis ’68 Comeback special, the best of the performances were edited into a two hour film that was presented in theaters around the country.

The greatest concert you never saw? Because after the initial theatrical run, The T.A.M.I. Show disappeared. Oh, there were references in rock journalism, there were bootlegs, and later grainy vids on You Tube,  but that only added to the mystique. Finally, in 2010, Shout Factory released a digitally remastered DVD, and what was urban legend became an true revelation. The T.A.M.I. Show was better than “advertised”!

Check the lineup. Chuck Berry, The Beach Boys and Leslie Gore. The Supremes and Marvin Gaye, plus Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. The British Invasion stars included Gerry & The Pacemakers and Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas. Plus Jan and Dean as the MC’s, the legendary Wrecking Crew as the house band, with Darlene Love and the Blossoms providing backup vocals!

And there were two more stars to close the show. James Brown and the Fabulous Flames, who gave a performance second only to his Live at the Apollo shows, and The Rolling Stones. How good was James? So good that to this day Keith Richards says following “The Godfather of Soul” was the biggest mistake of the Stones’ career!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09qbhwcpA6A

BTW. What did T.A.M.I. stand for? Teenage Awards Music International or, on occasion, Teen Age Music International. Clever either way, but no awards were ever handed out!

By Bob Berry

It seems all great singers, or groups-the ones who do not write their own material, have one great muse.

At Motown, it was The Supremes with Holland-Dozier-Holland. At Stax-Volt, David Porter and Isaac Hayes with Sam and Dave. The Monkees with Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. It’s a long list.

For Gladys Knight and the Pips, it was a former All-SEC quarterback from Ole Miss, Jim Weatherly; who wrote 1973’s Grammy Award-winning “Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First to Say Goodbye)“.

It was the beginning of a magical run.  Dissatisfied with their second-tier status at Motown, Gladys and the Pips moved to a new record label, Buddah, recording Weatherly’s “Where Peaceful Waters Flow”, the million-selling “You’re The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me“, and “Between Her Goodbye and My Hello.”

And, there was one more.

“Midnight Train To Georgia” was released in August of 1973, and was an instant smash, going all the way to Number One on this day, October 27th, 1973. It became the group’s signature song, won a Grammy in 1974 for Best R&B Performance by a Group, was named to Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

Slow Dance Number One is on Keener 13!

By Bob Berry

Tom Who?, you say.  Gimme a few minutes.

Tom Dowd was already an accomplished musician when, while studying and working in the physics lab at Columbia University, he worked on the Manhattan Project, helping to invent the atomic bomb.

It was perhaps his only bomb.

Because Tom Dowd left physics behind, and went to work as an audio engineer, joining a nascent Atlantic Records as that legendary label was exploding. It was Tom Dowd who captured the magic of some of the earliest hits in rock and roll, The Chords’ “Sh-Boom” and “Money Honey” by Clyde McFatter and The Drifter’s.

And the hits (and important jazz recordings) just kept on comin’! Ray Charles, Charlie Mingus, The Modern Jazz Quartet, LaVern Baker, and more. Including an all-time classic, #1 in 1959, #251 on the Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs list. Ladies and Gentlemen, Bobby Darin’s Grammy Award winning Record of the Year.

In the 60’s, Tom Dowd was there, as Ahmet Ertegun pushed Atlantic into the stratosphere. There was The Drifters with “Under The Boardwalk“. He traveled to Memphis and later Muscle Shoals, to supervise the recordings by Stax Records artists like Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett. He engineered Disraeli Gears by Cream. He engineered and produced The (Young) Rascals’ first album, and their first Number One song, “Good Lovin’“.

And, in 1967, Tom Dowd, Jerry Wexler and “The Swampers” from Muscle Shoals, Alabama captured the brilliance of Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s lyrics, with the singular, superlative voice  of Lady Soul, Aretha Franklin.

In the 70’s, Tom Dowd alternated between engineering and producing, making sound come alive and helping to shape the recording visions of artists who became legends. He produced The Allman Brothers” debut album, and later, their masterpiece “At Fillmore East“. He produced virtually the entire Rod Stewart album catalog of the 70’s, including Atlantic Crossing, A Night On The Town and Blondes Have More Fun.

Almost done.  Tom Dowd, in fall of 1970, while working at Criteria Studios in Miami, introduced Duane Allman to Eric Clapton, and the result was one of the greatest recordings, and albums of all-time. Here is Eric, with guitar wizard Mark Knopfler, capturing that magic at in 1988.

Tom Dowd continued his musical journey through the 80’s and 90’s, engineering, producing, supervising the digital re-releases of the Atlantic catalog. He passed away in 2002. Ten years later, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and given an Award for Musical Excellence. Rock and Roll has never been so understated.

If you wish to learn more, about this fascinating man, I recommend perhaps the best music documentary ever produced, Tom Dowd and The Language of Music.  Thanks for lingering over Sunday Brunch on Keener.

By Bob Berry

Confession. The Rascals were, and are, one of my favorite groups.

I loved the songs, love-love-loved their blue-eyed soul sound. Dino twirling the sticks, Gene ripping power chords, Eddie with two tambourines, Felix half-hidden behind the Hammond B-3. They were “Jersey Boys”, with all the attitude (and “hug-ability”, right ladies?), dressed up in a combination of Carnaby Street meets Greenwich Village meets Plus Fours.

Bottom line, when the Rascals came on Keener, my volume knob went to loud. When I got into radio, and a Rascals song came up, it got very loud.

So today (10/23), we celebrate Eddie Brigati’s birthday. Eddie, along with Felix Cavaliere, co-wrote the vast majority of the Rascals’ library, including “A Girl Like You”, “Groovin”, “A Beautiful Morning”, “People Got To Be Free”, and “Lonely Too Long”. Mostly, Felix sang lead, with a notable, wonderful exception late summer of 1967.

Have a great weekend, and enjoy the Friday Song on Keener!

By Bobby “Boris” Berry

It is, I believe, the all-time novelty record, and has been for more than 50 years. (Or at least since streaking ceased being a craze on college campuses!)

Released in late August of 1962, it caught on in a flash and by the week of October 20-27th, the “Monster Mash (was) the hit of the land“. Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt Kicker 5 were Number One!

“The Monster Mash“, was the graveyard smash based, in part, on DeeDee Sharp’s “Mashed Potato Time” and on producer/co-writer Gary Paxton’s “Alley Oop” by the Hollywood Argyles.  And in addition to Bobby’s spot-on imitations of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, sharp ears will recognize  Darlene Love and The Blossoms sing the background vocals!

It’s ThrowBack Thursday on Keener. Tell them Boris sent you!

By Bob Berry

The Colonel.

The nickname might not mean much to you, or, heaven forbid, you might think of Elvis’ manager, Tom Parker.

Songwriter, Producer, lead guitarist for Booker T and the MG’s, one of the great session guitarists. Nickname still might not mean much to you, but it will.

Because when Sam Moore and later, Joliet Jake yell “Play It, Steve”, you know exactly who I’m writing about.

Steve “The Colonel” Cropper.

Who co-wrote “In The Midnight Hour” and “Knock On Wood”. Who produced (co-wrote and played guitar) on Otis Redding’s posthumous Number One Song, “Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay“. Who laid down the classic licks on Booker T and The MG’s “Green Onions“, “Hang ‘Em High”. Who, with the MG’s, was part of the house band for the classic Stax Records artists like Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett, Carla Thomas, Sam and Dave.

Steve Cropper celebrates his birthday today (10/21). Join  Keener 13 in wishing “The Colonel” Happy Birthday.

And dare we say it? Play It, Steve!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFZ-YXm03r4

By Bob Berry

Plane crashes.

From Buddy, Richie and The Bopper, to Otis Redding, Rick Nelson, Jim Croce, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and so many more, plane crashes have taken too many rock and roll souls.

And on October 20th, 1977, a plane crash near Gillsburg, Mississippi took Lynyrd Skynrd.

Formed in Jacksonville, Florida, named for their high school phys-ed teacher, Leonard Skinner. Scratched and clawed for recognition, wrote some of rock’s great anthems, and became one of the great live bands of all-time.

They beat the odds, sang “Songs about the Southland“, and had a blast doing it. And, having lived in Florida since 1999, I can tell you they are beloved in their home state the way those of us from “The D’ feel about Motown’s stars and Bob Seger.

May the souls lost that day, and of their band mates lost over the years, rest in peace.

By Bob Berry

(Updated 10/19/2015 with the new Star Wars trailer previewed on Monday Night Football, 10/18, below)

I blame most of my affection for the movies  on Detroit’s Bill Kennedy.

The long run (1956-1983) of his “Showtime” show on Channel 9 and  his “Bill Kennedy at the Movies” on Ch. 50, complete with the stars and stories, and Bill’s over-the-top delivery; gave me an appreciation for the movies (and old Warner Brothers films) that continues to this day.

And, so, when LucasFilms unveils the official poster (left) for the new Star Wars film, The Force Awakens, I’m in, I’m geeked and I’m sharing! 🙂

Especially with news that “an exclusive look” at the new film was shown during Monday Night Football tonight (10/19) on ESPN.

10/20 Update: Here it is, if you have followed the previous two trailers, all we know is the visuals are stunning!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens premieres December 18th.