I loved the John Carter books as a teenager. Once I had been given the first book (A Princess of Mars) I quickly found and purchased the rest of them. It still remains my favorite science fiction series of all time, and I think it's Edgar Rice Burroughs best work, not Tarzan.
A Princess of Mars - Cover painting by Michael Whelan
I was thrilled to hear Disney was making a feature film version of "A Princess of Mars", and even more thrilled when I found that the director of WALL-E and Finding Nemo, Andrew Stanton, was behind it.
John Carter - Marvel Comics Series
Much of my enthusiasm vanished when I saw Disney's marketing campaign.
Wow, the trailers released by Disney suck. Who are they marketing this film too?
I don't know if it's enough, but a group of fans have organized a campaign to save the film, and they've even created a trailer. This fan-made trailer is what Disney should have released.
After the failure of "Do You" to generate any big hits Sheena went back to her relaltionship with Prince, and it worked. "The Lover in Me" soared to number two on the single charts. It didn't last. None of the other singles from the LP had much impact and this was the last top ten single Sheena has had to date.
Too bad, two albums later, No Strings, might have been the best record she ever made.
My favorite part of the singles issued from this album? The B-Sides are instrumentals of the A-Sides. Instant Karaoke years before Karaoke was even created. Awesome.
Sheena Easton - The Lover in Me - Picture Sleeve
Sheena Easton - The Lover in Me - Picture Sleeve Back
Love month continues and this Record of the Week is an obscure Sheena Easton single produced by Nile Rodgers of Chic fame.
From her Do You album, "Magic of Love" charted nowhere. It was pretty much a bomb in every country it was released.
I actually like this Nile Rodgers produced album, but unlike the Prince influenced material from a couple of years earlier, this record had little impact on the charts.
Friday night I took my youngest son to see Shoot to Thrill, an all-female AC/DC tribute band.
Going to the show was initially his idea. He definitely has my taste in music, and he's taken a particular shining to female rockers.
I had no idea what to expect, I haven't seen a lot of tribute bands, so it left me wondering? Were they going to try to look like AC/DC? Was one of them going to bounce around the stage like Angus in his schoolboy shorts?
The answer to both questions is no. These women definitely had their own style. The music was a note for note re-creation of AC/DC, but the rest of the show was a reflection of their own personality.
It wasn't a great crowd at Amos' Southend, but these women played with the enthusiasm of a headlining gig at Madison Square Garden, and they're good, very good.
If I have to pick out member of the band that particularly impressed me it would be Mags on lead guitar or Pamela on bass. These women could play with anyone. That's no slight to Wendy's vocals, or Susan's rhythm guitar, they too lit up the stage.
For this show they had a fill-in drumer from another tribute band, Appetite for Destruction. I give him lots of credit for just hanging with these ladies.
Currently Shoot to Thrill is touring in the southeast, and they are based out of Raleigh NC. If you're a fan of AC/DC, or women in rock, follow them on Facebook and check them out if they come your way.
Here's some video of the show. It's just phone video, Amos' Southend tends to freak if you bring in a good camera, so this was the best I could do. Personally I think bands would prefer higher quality videos of their shows instead of the multitude of phone videos, but maybe that's just me. Anyway, it's pretty decent video, so take a look.
Shoot to Thrill Performs "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
This February Record of the Week is from KISS, and since we're attempting to tie all the songs in to love month we went with "Beth", Peter's love song to his wife Lydia.
Of course as the story goes the song was written long before KISS even existed, and the original title was "Beck" which wasn't about Lydia at all, but hey, the story sounds better if it's about Peter's former wife.
Possibly the most maligned Love Song of all time is our current Record of the Week.
"Muskrat Love" was a number 4 hit for the Captain and Tennille in 1976. The song sold over a million copies when it was first released, and according to iTunes is still the third most popular song for Toni and Daryl.
The song was written and first recorded by Willis Alan Ramsey as "Muskrat Candlelight". His version (see below) is very similar, with the exception of his gravel-throated vocals, and the lack of muskrat sound effects.
The song was then covered by America who used it as the lead-off single for their Hat Trick album. Despite their confidence in the song it only peaked at a tepid number 67 in Billboard. It is included in their Greatest Hits album, and they still play the song today, which you can see below in a recording from a 2008 concert. Do you still think America would play this song at current shows if the Captain and Tennille hadn't had a massive hit with it? No, they wouldn't.
Then of course came Daryl and Toni's version, which they decided to record after hearing the America song on the radio. Included on their Song of Joy album, but never intended as a single, the song was released due to public demand. In addition to it's top 5 placing on the pop charts, it also spent 4 weeks at number one on the adult contemporary chart.
In a recent poll, CNN included it as one of the "worst" songs of all time, but the poll data is a bit dubious. Even the winning song barely grabbed five percent of the votes and there were hundreds of songs mentioned. Let's face it, there's a song all of us don't like.
One interesting thing about the Captain and Tennille single. As the song ends, and the needle moves into the end groove of the record, the muskrat effects continue to play. The groove itself is an "endless loop" and the effects play until you lift the needle from the record.
Here's the original single for Muskrat Love. Yes, the seventies were a much more innocent time for music. I'm not sure that's a bad thing.
Captain and Tennille - Muskrat Love - Picture Sleeve
Captain and Tennille - Muskrat Love - Picture Sleeve Back
Captain and Tennille - Muskrat Love - 45
Captain and Tennille - Honey Come Love Me - 45
The Willis Alan Ramsey version of "Muskrat Candlelight"
America plays "Muskrat Love" live in 2008
The Captain and Tennille play "Muskrat Love" on Solid Gold
Here's the original music promo clip. From some of his expressions I don't think Daryl was crazy about the concept.
'til the Chipmunks and Chipettes cover Muskrat Love
We've been StageIt fans almost since the day the service launched. Not only is it a great way to see some new bands, it's also a great way to see bands you love in a more intimate setting.
We've wanted to see the Bowling for Soup acoustic show for a long time, but it seems to be pretty much limited to the UK.
That's going to change later this month when Jaret and Erik perform thier BFS acoustic set online via StageIt. Not only do we finally get to see an acoustic BFS show, it's only 5 bucks.
Bowling for Soup - StageIt
Take our advice, grab a ticket, clear a space on the couch, and take about an hour to watch Jaret and Erik.
Here's the promo video that Jaret and Erik created.
As the seventies drew to a close, and the eighties began, Heart lost a lot of momentum. First, their Private Audition album became thier first album to miss gold status. That album was followed by Passionworks which also failed. Heart was clearly in trouble. Strangely enough their most popular era was ahead, but no one knew that yet.
This is a great single and Passionworks is a really good album, but FM radio seemed to have tired of Heart for some reason, and because airplay had fallen way off, the record sales declined.
Not everything had gone bad. The Heart tour supporting this album was a dual bill with Kansas, and despite the decline in record sales was a huge success.
Continuing our Record of the Week with a Love Month addition, another single from Heart.
Shortly after Heart became a huge success with Dreamboat Annie, they signed a contract with Portrait Records. The folks at Mushroom Records didn't take too kindly to this and the lawsuits ensued.
Mushroom also responded by issuing a very incomplete album, Magazine, with this as the leadoff single.
Though must of the Magazine album is filler, this track is a keeper, and Ann and Nancy still play it today.
Heartless on the Mushroom Records label.
Heart - Heartless - Single
Heart - Just the Wine - Single
Heart - Heartless - Vinyl 45
Mushroom Records - The roster was pretty slim without Ann and Nancy Wilson
Heart performs Heartless in 1976, two years before it would be released.
Here's an interesting addition to the story. Not long after Heart left Mushroom, one of the label's founders, Shelly Siegel, died. Despite all of the pending lawsuits, Ann and Nancy, the rest of Heart, and some of the other people associated with Mushroom Records placed this nice tribute to him in Billboard.
Another Record of the Week for love month and we have some more Heart for you. This is the leadoff single from the Dog and Butterfly album, "Straight On".
When this record came out I was pretty neutral to it. I didn't hate it, but I wasn't in love with it either. Compared to singles such as "Barracuda", "Crazy on You", "Kick it Out" and "Heartless" it just seemed to drag.
I'm still not thrilled with the studio version, but it's a much different song in the live show. Ann and Nancy tend to funk it up a bit and it has a lot more energy.
No picture sleeve on this one either, but it does have the very nice Dog and Butterfly painting on the label.
Heart - Straight On - 45 Single
Heart - Lighter Touch - 45 Single
Heart - Straight On - Vinyl
Heart performs Straight On
'til Ann and Nancy record the funked up Straight On
Shortly after John Lennon's death Ann and Nancy Wilson paid for this ad in honor of John.
It was one of the few ads of this type appearing in the December 20th issue of Billboard. Others would follow in the ensuing issues, but I think it says a lot that Ann and Nancy were one of the first to say goodbye.
