TERRY HOKNES - MY FAVORITE SONGS OF ALL TIME !  hoknes@hotmail.com   

2941

MOVE

LOOKING ON

1970

2942

PAUL McCARTNEY

I'LL GIVE YOU A RING

1993

2943

TERRY HOKNES

SIMILAR AIR

1992

2944

H'RATTITUDE

WHEN I SING

1993

2945

BLACKBERRY WAY

HAVE HER WAY

1991

2946

SHADE

ON THE SEA

1993

2947

TERRY HOKNES

TALK IT OVER

2008

2948

PAUL McCARTNEY & STEVE MILLER

USED TO BE BAD

1997

2949

RUSH

FREEWILL

1980

2950

RINGO STARR

TANGO ALL NIGHT

1977

2951

ROY WOOD & WIZZARD

I DUN LOTSA CRYING OVER YOU

1974

2952

SPIRIT

HUMAN SEXUALITY

1989

2953

EVERLY BROTHERS

I KNOW LOVE

1986

2954

GEORGE HARRISON

HONG KONG BLUES

1981

2955

GO GO'S

BENEATH THE BLUE SKY

1984

2956

GOLDEN AVATAR

YOU'RE NOT THAT BODY

1976

2957

GREEN DAY

JESUS OF SUBURBIA

2005

2958

HERB ALPERT & TIJUANA BRASS

SPANISH FLEA

1965

2959

IRON BUTTERFLY

SOL-LO

1968

2960

ITS A BEAUTIFUL DAY

WASTED UNION BLUES

1969

    THE MOVE - LOOKING ON (1970)

Album:  Looking On (1970)

The Move became one of my all time favorite bands after I became a fan of Roy Wood first.   I bought most of their albums in 1985 but I never got Shazam until the 1990's.  This band features the earliest songs and singing of Roy Wood as he became a huge star in England but no success at all in North America.  Unfortunately I had no song charts yet in 1985 when I learned the majority of their songs.  

Looking On is the third album by The Move, released in the UK in December 1970. The LP is their first to feature Jeff Lynne, their first containing entirely original compositions, and the first on the Fly label, its catalogue number being FLY 1. It includes both their 1970 singles, the Top 10 hit "Brontosaurus," released on Regal Zonophone in March, and the less successful "When Alice Comes Back To The Farm," released on Fly in October.

Looking On is generally regarded as the hardest rocking, least popular and most eclectic album in the Move's catalogue, as it presents the band dabbling in heavy metal ("Brontosaurus,") blues, ("When Alice Comes Back to the Farm"), ("Turkish Tram Conductor Blues"), prog-style epics ("Open Up Said the World at the Door"), soul ("Feel Too Good"), or, in the case of the title track, all four styles mashed together.

It's also the first LP to feature both Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne as a tandem, with Wood’s use of cello and woodwinds and Lynne's piano and vocals anticipating the work they would later pursue in the Electric Light Orchestra, whose debut album they were starting to record at around the same time. The jazzy fills on the title track also serve as a signpost of the style that Wood would later develop in Wizzard and the Wizzo Band.
    PAUL McCARTNEY - I'LL GIVE YOU A RING (1993)

This song was on the B side of the single for Take It Away in 1982. 

I had bought the 12" vinyl single for this song about 1982/1983 at age 11. 

July 1st 1988 - my #3 favorite daily song for 5 days at age 17 the week before Nanny died and I had just finished high school the week before at Nutana.  

Celebrating Paul's 46th birthday.

 
    TERRY HOKNES - SIMILAR AIR (1992) Opus #??

In 1992 age 21 I went and packaged up very first official release album on cassette called COOL ALL OVER.  It featured all my original songs and a weird bunch of genres.  It was reviewed in an issue of the SOMA newspaper in 1992 by Brent Pomeroy.  He liked the musicianship but thought the vocals need work.  The album was recorded primitively on a new 4 track cassette tape recorder I had bought and recorded this album while renting at 314 Cumberland Ave

I wrote my first song in 1982 at age 11 in Grade 6.     I would sporadically write 18 few songs over the next 4 years.  Starting with my 19th song (Opus #19) I began writing on a very regular basis starting in December 1986 in Grade 11 at Aden Bowman.  This included writing over 58 songs with my best friend Nels Krauss over the period of 1986-1992.  I wrote 97 songs in 1987 and then 215 songs in 1988.   By the time I graduated high school at age 17 I was up to Opus #268.   I wrote another 178 songs in 1989.   By the time I celebrated my 19th birthday I was up to Opus #524.   At that time I was in first year University living in Muenster, SK in residence at St Peters College at the monastery.  I met a poet from New York named Philip Murray who I collaborated with writing music to his words 91 songs in total.  I wrote my 1000th song the week I turned 25 in January 1996.

 

    H'RATTITUDE - WHEN I SING (1993)

Album:  Easy To Embrace (1993)

Singer Andrea Menard with vocalist and pianist Angie Tysseland and myself Terry Hoknes (backing vocals, double bass, drums).  We played a lot of gigs in Saskatoon in 1992 and 1993 and I convinced the ladies that they should record some music so I recorded this 8 song album in the summer of 1993 at Angie's home on Victoria Ave in Saskatoon. 

Andrea Menard is a Canadian actress, playwright, and jazz singer, born in 1971 in Flin Flon, Manitoba and based in Saskatchewan.  Menard, who is of Métis descent, is best known for her work on the television series Moccasin Flats (2003) (in which she played a Police Officer with the Regina Police Service in the city of Regina, Saskatchewan) and for her starring role as Constable Tara Wheaton in the television series Rabbit Fall (2007–2008). She is currently the voice of characters Sarah Merasty and Kohkum on the APTN stop motion animated program Wapos Bay: The Series (2005–Present).

An accomplished jazz singer, Menard wrote and composed a one-woman, musical one act play entitled The Velvet Devil which opened to rave reviews in 1998. A soundtrack album featuring 18 songs was released in 2002 and the CBC made a film based upon the play which aired in Canada in April 2006. In 2005, Menard was featured on the compilation album, Real Divas - Torch Light Vol. II along with 15 other Canadian jazz vocalists. Menard's music has been used in a number of TV shows internationally, most notably her tongue-in-cheek ode to gender politics, "If I Were a Man", which was featured on an episode of the series Queer as Folk.   In May 2005, Menard was one of the headliners of a special command performance for Queen Elizabeth II to mark the 100th anniversary of Saskatchewan becoming a province of Canada.   Menard's second CD, Simple Steps, was released on December 3, 2005. In the fall of 2005, she could also be seen in television advertisements for SaskTel's Internet service.
    BLACKBERRY WAY - HAVE HER WAY (1991) written by Gerard Saretsky

Album: Touch The Sky (1991)

The only album released by the band Blackberry Way consisting of myself:  Terry Hoknes (vocals,bass,songwriting), Gerard Saretsky (vocals,guitars,songwriting), Jed Evans (drums).  I named the band after the #1 UK hit by The Move featuring Roy Wood who is one of all my time idols.  All 3 members had previously been in the Saskatoon band The Smoking Crawdads featuring Mark Rogstad on lead vocals and guitar.   The band as a 4 piece had formed in the September 1990 when I was in 2nd year University, age 19, and we would rehearse underneath drummer Jed Evans dads business on 2nd Avenue.  Jamie Peever was our sound-tech at that time.  We played shows in Saskatoon and Regina.  In May 1991 we became a trio focusing on originals and 60's style songs only and performed gigs throughout Saskatoon.  Our last gig was in September 1991 at Records On Wheels owned by Ron Spizziri on 2nd Avenue near The Bay.  We recorded this 7 song album and released it on cassette only (at the time it cost $20.00 for blank CD's - too costly at the time).   The album was printed by Don Warkentin at Reel Precision that summer and we recorded the album on my 2 track reel to reel recorder that my grandpa Les Walters had since about 1968.  We recorded the band as a basic trio instrumental on one track with well balanced sound in the room so it would sound mixed on the final album.  The second track we recorded our vocals and any guitar overdubs/solo's required.   The album received a ton of airplay on CFCR 90.5 FM in Saskatoon and was played on every show continually that we fit the format.  I believed that The Crash Test Dummies debut album and ours were the 2 most played canadian content albums of the summer of 1991 on the station.  It was after this time of becoming involved with the station that I began hosting my own radio called  History Lesson from Dec 1991 to Sept 1993 where I taught the history of pop music.   

    THE SHADE - ON THE SEA (1993) written by Kevin Buzinski

Album:  Agony & Rhetoric (1993)

The Shade was formed in February 1992 by University students Robert Ford (bass guitar) and Kevin Buzinski (drums) who put out an ad for a lead vocalist/guitar which I answered.  The band played an odd assortment of hard rock, alternative rock and obscure 60's/70's stuff based on the influences that the 3 of us had.  We performed gigs throughout Saskatoon for the next 17 months before I went on the road full time in the fall of 1993 with Marilyn Faye Parney.  In the spring of 1993 I convinced the band to record an album of originals recorded on my Tascam 8 track at my grandma's home on Taylor Street.  We had done most of our rehearsing at Buzinski's mothers home. The album had a good mix of influences from all 3 members who contributed original songs.    We played everything from covers of Young MC, Klaatu, Blues Magoos, Spirit, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Police, The Ramones etc.
    TERRY HOKNES - TALK IT OVER (2008) lyrics by Shawn Lopes

I have collaborated with many songwriters and my favorite is to work with strong lyricists that I then have control to be creative musically come up with everything.  So in this case I wrote the music, recorded all vocals and all instruments.  

Sometimes I sing a song in a bad key as I am showcasing where I think it might be better in a high key for a female vocalist.

I wrote my first song in 1982 at age 11 in Grade 6.     I would sporadically write 18 few songs over the next 4 years.  Starting with my 19th song (Opus #19) I began writing on a very regular basis starting in December 1986 in Grade 11 at Aden Bowman.  This included writing over 58 songs with my best friend Nels Krauss over the period of 1986-1992.  I wrote 97 songs in 1987 and then 215 songs in 1988.   By the time I graduated high school at age 17 I was up to Opus #268.   I wrote another 178 songs in 1989.   By the time I celebrated my 19th birthday I was up to Opus #524.   At that time I was in first year University living in Muenster, SK in residence at St Peters College at the monastery.  I met a poet from New York named Philip Murray who I collaborated with writing music to his words 91 songs in total.  I wrote my 1000th song the week I turned 25 in January 1996.
    PAUL McCARTNEY & STEVE MILLER - USED TO BE BAD (1997)

Album:  Flaming Pie (1997)

I bought this brand new CD in July 1997 at age 26 while on the road with Marilyn now for 4 years.

Flaming Pie is the tenth solo studio album by Paul McCartney, first released in 1997. His first studio album in over four years, it was mostly recorded following McCartney's involvement in the highly successful The Beatles Anthology project. In Flaming Pie's liner notes McCartney said: "(Anthology) reminded me of The Beatles' standards and the standards that we reached with the songs. So in a way it was a refresher course that set the framework for this album."

Upon its May 1997 release, the critical reaction to Flaming Pie was very strong, with McCartney achieving his best reviews since 1982's Tug of War. The commercial reaction was everything McCartney could have hoped for. With fresh credibility even with young fans who had been introduced to him through the Anthology project, and anticipation raised with the excellent reviews, Flaming Pie debuted at #2 in the UK in May, giving McCartney his best new entry since Flowers in the Dirt eight years before. It was knocked-off the top spot there by the Spice Girls' album Spice.  In the US, reaction was also very positive. The album debuted at #2 (the best chart peak for a McCartney album there since Tug of War) with 121,000 copies sold in its first week, also behind the Spice album that sold only 16,500 more copies that week
 
    RUSH - FREEWILL (1980)

Album:  Permanent Waves (1980)

My best friend Nels Krauss loved Rush more than any other band and Geddy Lee was a big influence on his singing and songwriting styles.  Nels and I recorded 2 albums of originals in 1989.  I played this song live in 1992/1993 in my band The Shade.        I saw Rush live in an outdoor concert setting in Nashville TN in 2002.   I have had many people over the years say I either look like Geddy Lee or sing like him.

Freewill" (Sometimes written as "Free Will") is the second track on progressive rock band Rush's 1980 album Permanent Waves. It is written by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson with lyrics by Neil Peart. The song's lyrics deal with the subject of free will, emphasizing that free will is not a gift but rather a choice; explaining that Man can attempt to evade the fact that he must choose, but that evasion is itself a choice.

Geddy Lee has stated that the end part of "Freewill" is at the highest part of his vocal range

Permanent Waves is the seventh studio album by the Canadian rock band Rush, released January 1, 1980. The album was recorded at Le Studio, Morin Heights, Quebec, and was mixed at Trident Studios in London, UK. Permanent Waves became Rush's first US Top 5 album hitting #4 and was the band's fifth Gold (eventually Platinum) selling album. The album also marks a distinct transition from hard rock and progressive rock into a more accessible, radio-friendly style and consequently, a significant expansion in the band's sales with hits such as "The Spirit of Radio" and "Freewill" seeing considerable radio airplay.
    RINGO STARR - TANGO ALL NIGHT (1977)

Album:  Ringo The 4th (1977)

I likely bought this album by 1983 at age 12 at Tramps record store used.

Ringo the 4th is the sixth album by Ringo Starr, released in 1977. It is in fact, his sixth studio album, but his fourth rock album. Ringo the 4th has more dance-oriented context, not typical for Ringo Starr.

After the commercial disappointment of Ringo's Rotogravure (1976), Starr decided to shift his formula of using his well-known musician friends (notably his fellow ex-Beatles) to write songs and appear on his albums. Instead, he intensified his partnership with Vini Poncia, with whom he wrote several of the songs featured here, while using the input of different musicians. The album was produced by Arif Mardin. The cover photos were by Starr's fiancee, Nancy Lee Andrews. David Foster played keyboards on a couple of songs, while Melissa Manchester and Bette Midler occasionally appeared on backing vocals.

  
    ROY WOOD & WIZZARD - I DUN LOTSA CRYING OVER YOU (1974)

Album:  Introducing Eddy And The Falcons (1974)

Roy Wood was in The Move (1966-1971) and then ELO (1971-1972) and then leader of Wizzard (1973-1975) meanwhile releasing solo songs.  I had been a huge fan of ELO for a while and knew of Roy Wood one of the founding members.  On February 14th 1985 at age 14 (grade 9) I flipped through the bargain bin of records at the Kresge's Department Store in Midtown Plaza shopping mall in Saskatoon and found this new sealed album Mustard priced at 99 cents.   The first time I heard this album that night I knew I had found a masterpiece and Roy Wood would be the first act to ever debut at #1 on my daily favorite music groups chart on that valentines day.  (I declare this to be Roy Wood day).    I flew to New York 17 years later in 2002 to see Roy Wood 3 times in concert and got to meet him backstage 2 times.  I have posted some of those video performances I filmed on www.youtube.com   I became a fan of The Move and Wizzard in May 1985 at age 14.

Introducing Eddy and the Falcons is the second album by Wizzard. It peaked at No. 19 in the UK album chart – a much better placing than its predecessor, Wizzard Brew.  As with the previous Wizzard album, all songs were composed by Roy Wood. The album had a concept similar to The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, in that the intro 'featured' the appearance on stage of fictional band Eddy & The Falcons. All tracks were written and recorded as tributes to 1950s and early 1960s rock’n’roll greats, "Eddy’s Rock" being a guitar and saxophone instrumental played in the style of Duane Eddy, while "Everyday I Wonder" was similar in sound and approach to Del Shannon’s "Runaway", and "Come Back Karen" did the same for Neil Sedaka’s "Oh! Carol". A particularly clear tribute was to Elvis in "I Dun Lotsa Cryin’ Over You".  One single was released from the album, "This Is The Story Of My Love (Baby)". Its chart performance (No. 34) was a disappointment, as all Wizzard's previous singles had reached the Top 10. Music journalists thought that the more catchy, up-tempo "You Got Me Runnin’" would have made a better single.
  
    SPIRIT - HUMAN SEXUALITY (1989)

Album:  Rapture In The Chambers (1989)

I bought this album in August 1989 brand new at the record shop in Market Mall.  I listened to non-stop on our last family visit to Manitou Beach in the cabin that my great grandfather had built in the 1920s.  This was the last time I hung out with my grandpa before he passed away the week later at age 70 on September 8th 1989 when I moved to Muenster, SK for 1st year University and we shut down the family business Walters Cycle after 77 years in business.

Spirit was an American jazz/hard rock/progressive rock/psychedelic band founded in 1967, based in Los Angeles, California

Rapture in the Chambers was a 1989 album by Spirit.   It was their first "proper" album since their 1984 album Spirit of 84, which had featured the entire original line-up. Their albums since that time had mostly consisted of archival releases. It was also their final album for an established label, IRS Records.    The primary line-up for this album was Randy, Ed and John Locke. Mark Andes also appeared on two tracks, and Randy's sister Janet provided harmony vocals on Hard Love and "Shera: Princess of Power.

They embarked on working almost continually for the next six years. Though they would release very few albums of new material during the decade, the group was always either recording or touring. California had his own home recording studio since the early 1980s, though he had been making home recordings for years prior to that. Sadly, this renewed vigor came to an end on January 2, 1997, when California drowned off the coast of Hawaii. He had been surfing with his son, who got caught in a riptide. He managed to push his son to safety, but ended up losing his own life.     
    THE EVERLY BROTHERS - I KNOW LOVE (1986)

I bought this cassette likely around the time that I saw them in concert in 1986 at age 15 with my sister Leslie and my great grandmother Nanny who was 85 at the time.

Isaac Donald "Don" Everly (born February 1, 1937) and Phillip "Phil" Everly (born January 19, 1939), together known as the Everly Brothers, are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing. The duo was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

The brothers got back together in 1983. Their reunion concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London on September 23, 1983, was instigated by English guitarist Albert Lee (who was also the concert's musical director). This concert spawned a well-received live LP and video.

The brothers then returned to the studio as a duo for the first time in over a decade, resulting in the album EB '84, produced by Dave Edmunds. Lead single "On the Wings of a Nightingale," written by Paul McCartney, was a minor success and returned them to the US and UK charts.

They then earned a final charting country-music hit with "Born Yesterday" in 1986 from the album of the same name. During this time Don's son, Edan Everly, would often join the Everly brothers on stage to sing and play guitar. The brothers also sang vocals with Paul Simon on the Grammy award-winning title track to Simon's album Graceland.

 
    GEORGE HARRISON - HONG KONG BLUES (1981)

Album:  Somewhere In England (1981)

One of my favorite songs on this album and its a cover of an old standard by Hoagy Carmichael.

I may have possibly got this album as early as 1981 when it was almost brand new at age 10.  But I honestly never liked the album at all at that time.  It finally grew on me by 1989 at age 18 but I still think its one of his weakest albums but I finally came to like this particular song.

March 11th 1989 - my #2 favorite daily song for 3 days at age 18 while celebrating George's 46th birthday after I had graduated highschool.

Somewhere in England is the eighth studio album by George Harrison, released in 1981. The album was recorded as Harrison was becoming increasingly frustrated with the music industry. The album's making was a long one, and his conflicts with Warner Bros. Records at the time led him to leave the label shortly thereafter. Somewhere in England was the first Harrison album to be released after the death of his former The Beatles bandmate John Lennon.

Content to move at his own speed, Harrison began recording Somewhere in England in the autumn of 1979 and continued sporadically, finally delivering the album to Warner Bros. Records in September 1980. However, the executives at Warner Bros. rejected it, ordering Harrison to drop four of its songs ("Tears of the World", "Sat Singing", "Lay His Head", and "Flying Hour"), finding them too downbeat. Harrison's original cover art, featuring his profile against a map of Great Britain was also vetoed by Warner Bros. With Harrison already feeling unable to relate to the current post-punk and new wave musical climate, he acceded to their requests, but knew that when his recording contract came up for renewal after his next album, he wouldn't bother re-signing.

 
    THE GO GO'S - BENEATH THE BLUE SKY (1984)

Album: Talk Show (1984)

I saw The Go Go's on TV on Solid Gold on January 16th 1982 the day after my 11th birthday and they became the very first current group that I liked. My mom bought me their Beauty And The Beat album in early January 1982 and we went and saw them in concert that summer in Vancouver BC to promote the new album Vacation. I still have the concert tickets 30 years later.  I used to play with smurfs that year and they would pretend to have concerts while I listened to this album over and over.   I rushed out and bought the 1984 album Talk Show on vinyl as soon as it was released at age 13.

Talk Show is the third studio album by rock band The Go-Go's, released on the I.R.S. label, in 1984. Although many critics called it an inspired return to form after their sophomore effort Vacation, other than the #11 hit single "Head over Heels", the album was a relative commercial disappointment, peaking at #18, and selling fewer than 500,000 copies. This would be the last all-original album by the group, until 2001's God Bless The Go-Go's.

Many of the songs on this album were not performed regularly by the Go-Go's in concert. It has been speculated that the songs bring back painful memories from this time. Only "Head over Heels" has been played live on a regular basis (also often in Belinda Carlisle's solo shows). Some songs haven't been played since the 1984 Prime Time tour.   The music video for "Turn to You" (the second single, which peaked at #32 in the US Billboard Hot 100) featured a starring role for then up-and-coming actor Rob Lowe (the song, incidentally, was written about baseball pitcher Bob Welch, a one-time boyfriend of Belinda Carlisle. The video's director, Mary Lambert, went on to work on several other videos, including hits by Madonna, and on films, such as Pet Sematary. The promo for the third track, taken from the LP, "Yes or No," was released shortly before the group's breakup was announced, possibly hurting the sales of the single, which peaked at #84.
    GOLDEN AVATAR - YOU'RE NOT THAT BODY (1976)

May 30th 1990 - my #2 favorite daily song for 3 days at age 19 shortly after moving back home after living at the Monastery for a year in Muenster SK.

Fifth track off the album "A Change of Heart" (Canadian pressing, Sudarshan Disc SD-1)

Michael Cassidy, a singer associated with the Hare Krishna movement, released an album in 1976 under the band name "Golden Avatar". It was distributed all around the world, and, believe it or not, it actually recieved a gold record plaque in Canada for amount of units sold!

An incredible folk-rock album with touches of prog and funk. I like the fact that the title track reflects the cover art and the funky Moog solo on "Time for Going Home".
    GREEN DAY - JESUS OF SUBURBIA (2005)

February 7th 2006 - my #7 favorite daily song for 24 days at age 35 the week I met and started dating Valerie while living at Eastview.

Jesus of Suburbia" is a song by American rock band Green Day. It was released as the fifth and final single from their seventh album, American Idiot. The studio version of the song, a five movement piece, runs just over 9 minutes and was considered to be unfriendly for radio, so it was cut down to 5½ minutes for the radio edit. The long version was still played on many album rock and alternative rock radio stations. At most live shows on the first leg of their 21st Century Breakdown World Tour, the band would pick a member from the audience to play guitar for the song. The single has sold 205,000 copies as of July 2010

American Idiot is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released on September 21, 2004 through Reprise Records and was produced by longtime collaborator Rob Cavallo. In mid-2003, the band began recording songs for an album titled Cigarettes and Valentines. But, the master tracks were stolen and the band decided to start recording a new album rather than re-record Cigarettes and Valentines.

Green Day decided to produce a rock opera, inspired by the work of The Who and several musicals. The album follows the life of Jesus of Suburbia, a character with "anti-hero" image created by Billie Joe Armstrong. Following early recording at Studio 880 in Oakland, California, the band finished the album at Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood.

The album achieved success worldwide, charting in 27 countries and peaking at number one in 19 of them, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Since its release, American Idiot has sold over 14 million copies worldwide, over 6 million copies of which were in the United States alone, including 267,000 in its opening week
    HERB ALPERT & THE TIJUANA BRASS - SPANISH FLEA (1965) hit #27 (#4 adult)

I once had every Tijuana Brass - i rarely had specific songs jump out as favorites but every song is such a pleasure to hear - I listened to him a lot in 1987 at age 16.    Here is a classic though !

Spanish Flea" is a popular song written by Julius Wechter in the 1960s with lyrics by Cissy Wechter.

The song is best known from an instrumental version by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, released as a single and on their 1965 album Going Places, both of which were No.1 hits in America. The song featured Alpert's trumpet over a Latin rhythm backing and was used as the "Bachelor’s Theme" on the long-running American television show The Dating Game. It was one of two Alpert songs in a 1966 animated cartoon by John Hubley, A Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature.

Herbert "Herb" Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, or TJB. He is also a recording industry executive — he is the "A" of A&M Records (a recording label he and business partner Jerry Moss founded and eventually sold to Polygram). The multi-talented Alpert has also created abstract expressionist paintings and sculpture over two decades, which are on occasion publicly exhibited; and he and his wife are substantial US philanthropists through the operation of the Herb Alpert Foundation

 
    IRON BUTTERFLY - SOL-LO (1968)

Album:  Heavy (1968)

September 17th 1998 - my #10 favorite daily song for 46 days at age 27 while traveling on the road with Marilyn now for exactly 5 years.

 

Heavy is the debut studio album by the rock band Iron Butterfly, released in early 1968. Most of the songs are strikingly simple, based on two or three riffs. The lyrics are also simple; with the exceptions of "Unconscious Power" and "Gentle as it May Seem", each song has but a single verse of eight lines or less, repeated in whole or in part as needed.    The first two tracks, "Possession" and "Unconscious Power", were released as the respective sides of a single.   Three of the group's members (Jerry Penrod, Darryl DeLoach and Danny Weis) left the band shortly after the album was recorded, leaving Ingle and Bushy to find replacements. Despite being a debut album with no hit single to provide an entry point for the casual listener, Heavy was a commercial success, reaching #78 on the Billboard Charts and eventually going Gold in the US.   Contrary to rumor, tambourine player Darryl DeLoach contributed lead vocals to only a few songs on Heavy. As with all of Iron Butterfly's albums prior to Scorching Beauty, most of the lead vocals are by Doug Ingle.
    IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY - WASTED UNION BLUES (1969)

Album: Its A Beautiful Day (1969)

August 22nd 1988 - my #3 favorite daily song for 11 days at age 17 two months after finishing high school and the month after Nanny died.      This unique rock instrumental features the violin.

It's a Beautiful Day is the self-titled debut album by San Francisco psychedelic band It's a Beautiful Day. This album's song "White Bird" was the band's biggest hit. The theme from the song "Bombay Calling" was used by Deep Purple as the intro to their song Child in Time.

The group's signature song "White Bird" was inspired by the experiences David and Linda LaFlamme had while living in Seattle, Washington. For a few weeks in December 1967 the group members lived in the attic of an old house while playing and rehearsing at Seattle's Encore Ballroom. In an ironic twist on the band's name, the song was partly inspired by Seattle's rainy winter weather. In a later interview David LaFlamme said:

Where the 'white bird' thing came from ... We were like caged birds in that attic. We had no money, no transportation, the weather was miserable. We were just barely getting by on a very small food allowance provided to us. It was quite an experience, but it was very creative in a way.

The song "White Bird" is used in three episodes of the 1980s television series Knight Rider. It is the theme song for the relationship between main character Michael Knight and his one true love, and appears in the episodes "White Bird" in season 1, "Let It Be Me" in season 2 and " The Scent of Roses" in season 4