Bloggerhythms

Funky Kings were a manufactured band, meaning the guys didn't get together themselves but at the behest of Clive Davis of Arista Records. The Kings were a short-lived sextet who recorded their one and only LP in 1976. Davis was looking for another Eagles, the famous, Southern California, country-rockers who were one of the most popular bands on the planet at the time. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. The album failed to make the charts and it went out of print quickly. When Arista passed on a sophomore attempt the group disbanded. Don't let their horrible moniker - they weren't the least bit funky - and even worse commercial success fool you. The Kings made a very nice album of mid-70s pop-rock and that is because - while they may not have succeeded as a unit - they were a band loaded with individual members who all went on to various degrees of musical success after the group was long forgotten. The band had three very talented songwriters. The best known at the t...

"Try A Little Tenderness" is one of the oldest songs ever discussed as part of the Almost Hits series and it's one with a very interesting story. First, let's get the statistics out of the way. Otis Redding recorded the track on November 4, 1966 and it was released before the year ended. It peaked at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 - early in the year of his fatal, December 1967, plane crash. More recently, it was ranked at #136 on Rolling Stone's 2021 list of the 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time . "Try A Little Tenderness" was written by the songwriting team of Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly - who together sometimes went by the name Irving King - and Harry Woods. It was first recorded in 1932 by British big band leader, Ray Noble with Val Rosing providing the vocal. The arrangement was typical of depression era pop, and the opening line "Oh, she may be weary, and young girls they do get weary wearing that same old shabby dress" easily expressed ...

In the early days of The Beatles' career they didn't get a lot of respect. Serious music lovers often considered them a youthful joke, and others looked upon their songs as nothing more than minor variations of "yeah, yeah, yeah." Others fixated on their unique hairstyle and clothes. Some people even thought they were evil and symbolic of the decline of Western civilization. But at the same time the Fab Four received a lot of love, and many individuals on both sides of the love/hate meter knew how large the boys loomed as cultural and media phenomena. There were a lot of attempts to cash in on the Liverpool band's fame while the iron was hot because it was widely believed they could be a flash in the pan. There were trading cards, magazines, models, pennants, buttons, and dolls. I once owned a metal Beatles lunchbox. Some people even made records about the band and it seems special attention was paid to the quartet's cuddly drummer, Ringo Star...

Derek Vanderhorst has very interesting professional and personal  backstories. According to Vanderhorst's press release,  he is "obsessed with sound." He's known in Hollywood as a musician, sound designer, and re-recording mixer for TV and the movies.  His specialty is blending dialogue and music to create a film's soundtrack.  He's worked on hundreds of films since 1991 including  No Country For Old Men , Hidden Figures -  and quite recently -  The Eyes of Tammy Faye .  On the personal side, several years ago Vanderhorst was diagnosed with stage 4 head and neck cancer. He was told he might lose both his hearing and his voice, and there was also the distinct possibility he could become another fatal statistic. Fortunately, the singer-songwriter became one of the lucky survivors as he's now been cancer free for five years. His diagnosis and survival helped inspire Wildflower   - his new, debut album. During his recovery Vander...