1st Album-1st Song-Great Debut

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Yoko Ono- Why (1970)

While recording John Lennon's first post-Beatle studio album, the time took an afternoon break and recorded Yoko Ono's debut album- Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band (one song, recorded 2 years earlier was the exception).
So here you have the first cut. John Lennon on crazed guitar, Ringo Starr on drums and Klaus Voormann on bass guitar.

Why- You're gonna love it or hate it-no inbetween

 

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It's Easter Sunday and time for something appropriate even if it interrupts the reverse-alphabetical countdown

Eddie Rabbitt-Love Me To Sleep (1975)

Never owned or listened to this man's music but he fits the bill for today

Eddie was born in Brooklyn, NY (my home-boy), learned guitar and moved to Nashville in the 1960s to try his hand in songwriting. He finally succeeded with penning Elvis Presley's 1969 gold single Kentucky Rain. He duplicated his feat with writing a 1974 hit single for Ronnie Milsap called Pure Love.

Eddie Rabbitt gained a recording contract and delivered his first album, self-titled Eddie Rabbitt in 1975.His 2nd album in 1976 yielded a #1 country hit Drinkin' My Baby Off My Mind. The late 70s-early 80s was the prime of Eddie's career with 6 straight Top 10 country albums. In total he had 33 Top 10 singles.

Eddie Rabbitt passed away in 1998 from lung cancer at the age of 56

His debut song Love Me To Sleep was his own creation

 

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The New York Dolls- Personality Crisis (1973)

The Dolls were from lower Manhattan and comprised David Johansen (vocals), Johnny Thunders (guitar), Arthur "Killer" Kane (bass), Sylvain Sylvain (guitar/bass/piano) & Jerry Nolan (drums). Most likely influenced by Alice Cooper, they took theatrical rock style as far as it could go. Pre-dating punk and glam rock, they appeared on stage in flamboyant cross-dresser attire-platform shoes, spandex, bleached hair and an occasional dress. Vulgar, cynical hard rock was their forte' and they quickly developed cult status on The Lower East Side of Manhattan, performing at various night clubs in Greenwich Village. I know since I heard about them and caught a show of theirs back in 1972.

Being in Manhattan has it's advantages with drawing the attention of fellow musicians and record companies. Rod Stewart invited them to open for him at a London gig (it was there that The Dolls original drummer Billy Murcia died in a bathtub from an overdose). Mercury Records signed them to a contract with Todd Rundgren as their album producer.

The first album, self-titled, came out in 1973 and failed to crack the Top 100 album charts. Radio stations and concert venues had a hard time swallowing The Dolls over-the-top act. A second album in 1974, Too Much Too Soon, also failed to sell. Mercury Records dropped them and tensions grew among members over artistic differences fueled by drugs and alcohol. In 1975 the band disolved

As the years passed, their reputation grew and their influence on groups such as KISS, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols and other early punk bands became apparent

From their first album, the first cut (a live version):

Fast forward roughly 15 years and watch the amazing transformation of singer David Johansen into a new persona known as Buster Poindexter

 

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Manfred Mann- Do Wah Diddy Diddy (1964)

Here's a band that went through quite a few phases and members. Hailing from London England, keyboardist Manfred Mann formed the group in 1962. initially they performed jazzy blues-based tunes and settled on a line-up that included vocalist Paul Jones, guitarist Mike Vickers, bass player Tom McGuiness and drummer Mike Hugg.

They struck gold just in time for the British Invasion scoring a #1 hit around the world with a cover of the girl group The Exciters Doo Wah Diddy Diddy. Another girl group cover, this time from The Shirelles called Sha La La broke into Top 20 territory. They continued to chart successfully, especially in the UK through 1966.

1967 saw the band run into trouble with diminishing sales and membership changes. Jack Bruce, before joining Cream, played bass for about a year. Klaus Voorman was brought in for bass right after. The lead vocalist changed too, now being Mike d'Abo. You'd think it was time to right the group off.

But in 1968 they resurrected themselves with the Bob Dylan penned The Mighty Quinn followed by another hit My Name Is Jack. However this phase ended by late 1969 when the band disolved

But wait, there's more. 1970 they came back as Manfred Mann Chapter Three as an experimental jazz-rock group. 2 albums made then it was quitting time again

But hold on. Late 1971 they were back again at first with the same group name then changed in 1972 as Mannfred Mann's Earth Band. Now geared as a progressive rock group, they are best known for their cover of the Bruce Springsteen song Blinded By The Light. They stayed together until the late 80s, disbanded and then to no one's surprise reformed in the 90s and continue to lumber on even as we speak

Back to the beginnings, the first cut from the first USA album 1964

Bonus clip: The original Exciters version

 

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Loverboy- The Kid Is Hot Tonite (1980)

The world narrowly dodged a bullet of total domination by this Canadian band
Loverboy came out of Calgary, Alberta in 1979 and performed their first live show in November of that year. 4 months later they got a Columbia Records contract and began recording their first album.Released in November it went multi-platinum. Their 1981 album almost doubled those sales. Albums from 1983 and 1985 were also all multi-platinum sellers. 'Turn Me Looses", "Working For The Weekend", "Hot Girls In Love", "Lovin' Every Minute Of It" and others dominated the airwaves

Finally in 1987 their album Wildside merely went gold and they couldn't deal with that and called it quits to punish us.

They certainly grabbed everyone's attention from the start

 

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KGB-Let Me Love You (1975)

I had high hopes for this group when I heard about their forthcoming debut. This "supergroup" consisted of the following:

Mike Bloomfield-Guitar (Paul Butterfield Blues Band,Electric Flag)
Barry Goldberg-Keyboards (Electric Flag)
Ric Grech-Bass (Blind Faith, Traffic)
Carmine Appice-Drums (Vanilla Fudge,Cactus,Jeff Beck)
Ray Kennedy-Vocals

The line-up had players that were highly regarded craftsmen and 1975 the self-titled debut album hit the racks. The music was funky and soulful. And didn't sell. Bloomfield was in the midst of a heroin addiction and was difficult to record with. He disparaged the album when giving an interview, saying he only did it for the money. He and Grech quit the band before the 2nd and final album was recorded and then it was all over

But in hindsight there were quite a number of quality tracks on their 2 albums. Including the first song

 

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Jefferson Starship- Mau Mau (Amerikon) (1970)

The Jefferson Airplane was the premiere band of the late-60's San Francisco rock scene. However, one year after their Woodstock appearance and their popular album Volunteers, the band was in turmoil. Drummer Spencer Dryden was fired in 1970. Marty Balin, singer and songwriter, was ready to bolt from the group. Amidst the conflicts only 1 single was released from the group that year "Mexico b/w Have You Seen The Saucers?"

During that year of group inactivity, Grace Slick and Paul Kantner became lovers and released their own album. November 1970 saw Blows Against The Empire hit the racks under the name The Jefferson Starship. It was an SF concept album written by Kantner about a group of counter-culture activists who steal a government starship and take off to create their own world society. Kantner credited SF author Robert Heinlein for his inspiration and the album received a Hugo nomination in the SF field

It was the first use of the name Jefferson Starship but it's members were Kantner and Slick with a host of guests such as members of The Grateful Dead including Jerry Garcia, David Crosby and Graham Nash and others. it's first track, Mau Mau Amerikon also featured Jorma Kaukonen's brother Peter on guitar.

The Airplane would get back together, somewhat altered, in 1971 for a few more albums. Finally 1974 it was officially disbanded and a new version of Jefferson Starship would take off.

 

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Iron Butterfly-Possession (1968)

One of the seminal Rock bands leading to heavy metal, Iron Butterfly started out as a bunch of high school kids in San Diego in 1966. They literally practiced nightly in one of the member's garage. Many band-mate changes occurred in the early years but the key players were Doug Ingle-vocals and keyboards, Lee Dorman-bass and Ron Bushy-drums. Danny Weis was the guitarist on the first album followed by Eric Brann

The band relocated to Los Angeles later in 1966 and wrangled some engagements on some Sunset Strip clubs, ultimately becoming the regular house band at The Whiskey A-Go-Go. it was there that they signed a contract with Atco Records and recorded their first album called Heavy in the summer of '67.

Even though the album's release was delayed about a half year, members quit and replaced before the release, hardly any promotion nor airplay, Heavy did fairly well on the charts and became a Gold Record.

Of course the climax came with the 2nd album released in 1968 In-A-Gadda-Da-Vita. An edited 45 RPM single under 3 minutes in length got substantial AM radio airplay but it was the full length version that was constantly played on the newly-arrived FM Rock stations. Those DJs must have loved that cut which enabled them to grab a meal, take a bathroom break and call their girlfriends before the song was over. The album reached #4 on the charts and eventually became the first Rock album to attain Platinum sales with 30 million copies purchased

1969's album Ball went gold and 1970's album Metamorphosis did fairly well. However the membership of the group kept changing like a musical-chairs game and the sound of the band drifted away from it's trademark "heaviness" to something akin to Blood,Sweat & Tears. Typical of their luck, they were invited to play at The Woodstock Festival but got stuck at a NYC airport and could't make it.

Two woeful albums came out in 1975 and it was the end of their recording career. Even as we speak, various people still perform live as Iron Butterfly instead of taking an honest job.

But back we go to Album #1, Track # 1 and the song Possession

 

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The Honeydrippers- I Get A Thrill (1984)

Atlantic Records President Ahmet Ertegun wanted an album recorded of his favorite songs from the 1950's. He found a willing partner with former Led Zep vocalist Robert Plant who then cajoled Jimmy Page to join the project. The result was an 18 minute EP called The Honeydrippers Vol 1. Along for the ride were Nile Rogers on rhythm guitar, Paul Schaeffer on piano and Dave Wecki on drums.

5 songs appeared on the EP, all 50s standards. "Sea Of Love" got the most airplay, released as a single b/w "Rockin' At Midnight". Ray Charles' "I've Got A Woman" and Doc Pomus' "Young Boy Blues" were also included. Jeff Beck co-starred on 2 tracks

Still waiting for Vol. 2

Here's the lead track off the EP with Page on guitar

 

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Goblin- Profondo Rosso (1975)

Goblin is an Italian Progressive Rock/ Jazz Fusion instrumental band originally known as The Cherry Five. Director Dario Argento became enamored by their live gigs and hired then to provide the soundtrack to his film Profondo Rosso AKA Deep Red. The soundtrack album sold in huge numbers and Argento employed them once again for the soundtrack of his 1977 movie Suspiria. Their style is quite evocative and distinct and just about all their future work was for movie soundtracks. The last major work was on 2004's Shaun Of The Dead

Claudio Simonetti (keyboards), Massimo Morante (guitar), Fabio Pignatelli (Bass) and Agnostino Marangolo (drums) were the key members in the original group that disbanded in 1982. In 2000 several members reunited for some film work and since then under various member configurations and band names like New Goblin or Back To The Goblin, they continued with live shows and other soundtrack work.

Here is a live performance from Italian TV of the opening piece to Profondo Rosso