MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK - CLIMAX BLUES BAND - I LOVE YOU

This week, I thought I'd feature one of the songs that will be on the upcoming American Bottom 45 show for this month. Who says that these guys couldn't get it right? As far as top 40 success was concerned, they got it right twice by hitting the top 3("Couldn't Get It Right") and the top 15(this one). I felt they deserved a 3rd appearance in the top 40 with "Gotta Have More Love," but sometimes timing isn't everything.

Some critics slammed this song because it sounded "too influenced" by Badfinger, but I know I didn't care. I thought that Badfinger was a great band!

Anyways, enjoy this clip and I'll see you on Sunday for the countdown show!

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK - PRELUDE - AFTER THE GOLDRUSH

This song was on the very first K-Tel album I ever heard, and it was complete unlike so many other hits that made it onto those budget compilations! This English folk trio took this Neil Young composition to #22 in the fall of '74; I have had this in the rotation in the past, but I am currently playing their other U.S. charter called "For A Dancer."

The below clip was from a live performance in the early 80's. I think it remains quite faithful to the hit version.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK - KNICKERBOCKERS - Lies - 1965 - #20

Some program directors thought that this New Jersey band's first hit was a new Beatles single; it's pretty easy to hear why(the "such a smart girl" accent is a dead giveaway). Their follow-up single, 1966's One Track Mind, is an overlooked(and in my opinion, better) garage rock gem that just missed the top 40.

Anyways, enjoy this vintage performance clip of a classic that has been remade by Styx, Linda Ronstadt, and...dare I say it...Justine Bateman And The Mystery!

CHANGES COMING - MORE TOP 40!

One of my regular listeners chatted with me the other night when January's edition of The American Bottom 45 first aired, and he expressed concern that I had a sparse number of listeners even though I had a great idea for the show's concept. I am fully aware that my audience could easily be bigger, and I gave him 3 theories on why things are the way they are with my station right now:

1. The majority of the material I play makes the average music fan scratch his/her head(as in "I don't know this one, that one, etc."). My goal has always been to introduce...or in some cases, reintroduce...people to the other side of oldies music, which to me consists of records that stiffed due to lack of promotion, lack of quality, or lack of proper time to get heard. I guess the main thing I'm not realizing is that most people want to first be drawn in with some classics before giving a few obscurities a chance.

2. I took the station out of the Shoutcast listings a while back. That may have been a stupid thing to do since Shoutcast is arguably the #1 internet radio directory out there and they are partnered with many mobile application devices, yet there is another side of the coin with them. A lot of the popular stream ripping programs rely on their directory, and I just can't in good conscience open up the station to these programs who mainly connect whenever I happen to play a song that is on someone's "wish list." However, I am considering going public once again on Shoutcast because I have taken a lot of DRM measures(meaning I have "dirtied" up a lot of the tracks on my playlists). It really baffles me that someone would want to waste a lot of time trying to edit things out just to get a workable track for his/her collection when just a little bit of googling savviness would yield more satisfying results. But whatever...there may be some legitimate Shoutcast users out there, so I'll probably be back. And speaking of the ripping programs, this leads me to #3...

3. I have come to the conclusion that the typical internet radio audience is made up of mostly those who intend on recording, whether it be for time-shifting purposes or for splitting a stream into convenient, individual files. With all of the preventive measures I have in place(crossfading, metadata changes screwing up the beginning and ending points of the tracks, constant sweeper inclusions, and voiceovers), I'm pretty sure I have scared off a good portion of that "audience."

I don't intend on changing anything about #3; I'd rather have some personality and station branding as part of the flow instead of sounding like some plain old jukebox. As previously mentioned, I should be back in the Shoutcast listings in the near future(after I convince myself that the rippers will be crying once they realize they're not getting clean, complete tracks from me).

This regular listener mentioned at the beginning of this posting brought up a good point that I'm going to utilize in the coming weeks. One way for me to draw in more listeners will be to start showcasing more top 40 hits from yesteryear. What I'm planning on doing is having a couple of master playlists; one will have nothing but top 40 entries and the other will have minor charters/bubblers/non-charters. For every 10 tracks heard, 6 will be pulled from the minor charters and 4 will be pulled from top 40, so the theme to my station(rare oldies) will still hold true. Yet you will now have a greater opportunity to hear some of your favorite classics at the same time!

Doing a "no repeat" format is just not feasible for me. I would rather have people hear their favorite tracks a little more often than just once every 2 weeks or so. I'm always getting new curiosity seekers every day, so I need to take them into consideration too.

The changes will be more noticeable as we get closer to spring. In the meantime, feel free to contact me and give me your two cents about any of the points I made above. A big thanks goes out to those of you who believe in what I'm doing and who are helping me keep the station going...this is all for the love of oldies music that certain program directors want to pretend never existed.

Facebook Station Player Page

If you visit Facebook a lot and want to access our webpage without having to leave Facebook, then you can click on the following link and you will be taken to our Facebook "radio station player" tab:
 http://on.fb.me/TPzDKR

Feel free to pass the link along to your Facebook friends!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I'd like to take a moment and thank those of you who discovered my station during 2012 and have remained loyal listeners; I'd also like to wish you and everyone else a very happy 2013!

I will continue to showcase more unique oldies tracks that you don't hear anymore. I also hope to soon start a partnership with one of the more established oldies internet radio stations; we are looking to get me more exposure via my upcoming editions of my "American Bottom 45" countdown shows. A couple of my other show ideas I mentioned 2 to 3 months ago may turn into podcasts as I feel they will work out better in that method("Retro AOR - The Retro Attic Of Rock" and "The Retro Attic Presents 90 Minutes Of 90's" - the material I want to play in these two shows would mostly fall outside of my station's radar). The podcasts would be accessible through this webpage, so that may help me get additional exposure!

Tune in starting on Wednesday for our January Artist Of The Month, The Byrds. You will hear a track from them or a related solo effort once every hour. Coming in February will be The Grass Roots. Further down the road, I am planning on showcasing The Hollies, Bread/David Gates, Rush and Heart(this will be a double bill in April to honor their inductions into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame), Paul Anka, and Sonny And Cher.

Thanks again and keep on spreading the word about us, because there is still plenty of unearthing to do in the vaults!

THE HOLLIES - Look Through Any Window - Live B&W Beat Club Performance

I just recently added this superb top 40 pop gem(it peaked at #32 and should have been a much bigger hit) to my rotation, and it reminded me of the below related performance of it. Do you remember watching MTV in the mid 80's? They had this occasional feature called "Closet Classics" that mainly drew from the Beat Club archives(regular airings included performances from Blue Cheer, Vanilla Fudge, Cream, Tommy James And The Shondells, The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, Spooky Tooth, The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, etc.). I always thought this was one of the better ones, mainly because The Hollies performed this live. The only other act I remember seeing on "Closet Classics" that performed live was The Easybeats with "Friday On My Mind."

Anyways, enjoy this clip. This is how it should have always been done...a nice, simple setup...no Pro Tools...no tuned down, distorted guitars...no depressing lyrics...happy, dancing teens...I could go on and on!

Speaking of live performances, I was also checking out the rare newsreel footage of The Byrds and The Grass Roots from the Newport Festival in '69. Simply amazing stuff! If I was given a chance to step into a time machine, I would just want to attend one of those festivals and stay there all day. 3 to 5 dollar tickets...are you kidding me? Who wouldn't want to?