Certain Songs

Certain Songs #1848: REO Speedwagon – “Roll With The Changes”

June 21, 2020 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish
Year: 1978

. . .

Having once again solidified their lineup with the success of You Get What You Play For, REO Speedwagon then put out 1978’s “wackily” titled You Can Tune A Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish, which became a double-platinum best-seller, mostly on the radio saturation of the album’s two singles, the dread “Time For Me to Fly” and the awesome “Roll With The Changes.”

Certain Songs #1847: REO Speedwagon – “Ridin’ The Storm Out (Live)”

June 20, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: You Get What You Play For
Year: 1977

. . .

This is just how it worked in the 1970s: you were a meat-and-potatoes rock and roll band who loved to do Chuck Berry covers and maybe a little boogie. You had a pretty decent lead guitar player, a singer who wasn’t too slick but still slick enough, and after you put out a bunch of yearly studio albums that only sold well in the part of the country you were based, you released a live album which somehow got nation-wide airplay and because a bunch of teenagers loved the song or songs they heard on the radio they bought that live album, and that was your breakthrough.

I didn’t make the rules — how could I, as I was one of those teenagers — but that’s just how it was.

Certain Songs #1846: The Reivers – “Ragamuffin Man”

June 18, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Saturday
Year: 1987

. . .

After settling the lawsuit that caused them to change their name from Zeitgeist, The Revivers put out their major-label debut, Saturday, in late 1987. And while it got some decent reviews, it left me kind of cold, which might have been part and parcel of a shitty time in my life, but there you go.

That said, it did produce one of my favorite songs on one of my favorite years in music, the gorgeous, lilting “Ragamuffin Man,” which singer-guitarist John Croslin has said is about his home city of Austin, TX.

Certain Songs #1845: The Reivers – “She Digs Ornette”

June 17, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Translate Slowly
Year: 1985

. . .

In 1985, when Translate Slowly came out, The Reivers had a bit of the “next big thing” buzz around them. Of course, they were called Zeitgeist at that point, a name they lost in a lawsuit, so a couple of years after this album came out, they changed their name to The Reviers and retconned this record. Meanwhile, as you all know, the other Zeitgeist, had several massive records after they got the name.

In any event, while I didn’t think that Translate Slowly quite lived up to the pre-release hype — often based around the vocal harmonies of John Croslin and Kim Longacre — I fell deeply in love with an instrumental on the first side, with ever-intriguing title of “She Digs Ornette.”

Certain Songs #1844: The Reducers – “Let’s Go”

June 16, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Let’s Go!
Year: 1984

The Reducers second album, 1984’s Let’s Go!, came only a few months after their self-titled debut, and it was pretty much the same formula: short, catchy songs that had a bit too much classic rock in their DNA to be punk, but too influenced by punk to be played anywhere but on college radio.

And play it we did. While I think I ended up preferring the debut, Let’s Go! got a bunch of airplay on KFSR, especially the hilarious rollicking title track — powered by the unforgiving drums of Tom Trombley — which is basically a glorified list of all of the places they wanted to go, as sung by guitarist Peter Detmold.

Certain Songs #1843: The Reducers – “Out of Step”

June 15, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Reducers
Year: 1984

. . .

In the past week or so, I’ve really been hard on 1984 Jim, pointing out that he underrated “Ghostbusters” and overrated the Red Rockers Schizophrenic Circus album.

So let me now praise 1984 Jim. Because one thing that 1984 Jim, 2020 Jim and eventually, 2056 Jim will all agree upon: “Out of Step” is a fucking fantastic song from start to finish.

Certain Songs #1842: Red Rockers – “Good Thing I Know Her”

June 14, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Schizophrenic Circus
Year: 1984

. . .

Let us now consider the curious case of Red Rockers, who started in 1979 as one thing, and broke up a scant six years later, something else entirely.

Originally based out of New Orleans, Red Rockers made a bit of a splash in the American punk scene with 1979’s “Guns of Revolution,” which didn’t sound like The Clash at all. By which I meant, totally sounded the Clash. As did many of the other songs on their debut album, Condition Red.

Certain Songs #1841: The Records – “Starry Eyes”

June 13, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Records
Year: 1978

. . .

Yes, I know that the first album by The Records was called something else in the U.K, but I’m pretty sure I first heard “Starry Eyes” in the context of their U.S. debut, having no doubt reading raves about the song for at least a year.

Written by drummer-lyricist Will Burch and singer-guitarist John Wicks — who sadly passed away in 2018 — “Starry Eyes” is one of those songs that you hear once and remember for the rest of your life. Instant and enduring love.

Certain Songs #1840: Real Estate – “Talking Backwards”

June 12, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Atlas
Year: 2014

. . .

Honestly, I don’t have any real backstory for “Talking Backwards,” no great introduction or anything like that. I mean, it was obviously part of my life during that terrible period where we were living in the hotel while having our house rebuilt, but I already told that story yesterday.

So, there really isn’t much to say about “Talking Backwards” — the first single released from 2014’s Atlas — except for how it’s just a perfectly-executed jangly-guitar rock song, and by writing about it, some you might hear it where you otherwise wouldn’t have.

Certain Songs #1839: Real Estate – “Had to Hear”

June 11, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Atlas
Year: 2014

. . .

The spring of 2014 turned out to be one of the worst times of my life. On the last weekend of February, a series of torrential downpours that were seemingly centered over our house caused the back of the house to leak so much that it was basically misty by our back door. The final straw was when water started pouring through our ceiling fan onto our bed.

So for over three months, Rox and I lived a weird existence: sleeping in a Burbank hotel while supervising the teardown, mold removal and eventual reconstruction of the house we’d lived in for nearly five years, all the while fighting with our recalcitrant insurance company and a smooth-talking contractor who promised things it didn’t seem like his people were going to fulfill.