Rock & Roll History: November 7
A few events worth noting in Rock & Roll History for November 7th:
1937: Mary Travers was born. Mary was the Mary in Peter, Paul & Mary. She had a lovely voice AND an intense social conscience. We lost Mary just a few short weeks ago.
1942 : “Secret Agent Man” Johnny Rivers was born John Ramistella in New York City. In the midst of the British Invasion, Johnny was an American rocker who scored a slew of hits.
1970: Chicago released the song “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” Does any band in the history of Rock & Roll have a better horn section than Chicago?
2003: The Rolling Stones played a concert in Hong Kong for the first time. Oddly, it seems appropriate to me that you’d have the Stones headline a show to help quell fears of a SARS. epidemic. Rock & Roll is the cure for what ails you, baby!!!
July 2nd, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Your question re: Chicago is an interesting one as there aren’t too many bands with horn sections out there…
Chicago
Tower of Power
Blood Sweat & Tears
The Ides of March
The Sons of Champlin
The Electric Flag
Chase
TOP’s line-up is often in flux with a rotating cast of top-notch musicians coming and going.
BS&T is in a similar boat to TOP. But I’d argue on their first couple of albums their horn section could have gone toe to toe with Chicago’s.
I’m not sure what’s up with the Ides of March. I hear they’re on the concert circuit again– usually staying with in the general midwest region.
The Sons of Champlin are much like TOP with a revolving door of musicians coming and going only founding members Bill Champlin and Geoff Palmer remain from the original band line-up. They have even had some former and current Tower of Power members rotate in and out of the band (trumpet player Doc Kupka and guitarist Carmen Grillo).
The Electric Flag lacked a cohesive vision and splintered after the departure of founder, guitarist Mike Bloomfield. But on the 2 or 3 albums they released their horn section really cooked!
Chase. I’d say despite the lack of success (when compared to Chicago) these guys could blow Chicago away. Listen to “Get It On” and Chicago’s “Make Me Smile” back to back and see which of those two songs blows you away more than the other?