“Brother Louie” by Stories is a classic early 70’s tune that went to #1 for two weeks in the summer of 1973. Here’s more about the song from Wikipedia: “Brother Louie” is a song about an interracial love affair between a white man and a black woman, and the subsequent disowning of the man by his parents because of it. The title was written and sung by Errol Brown and…
Here’s a great LIVE performance by The Little River Band of their smash, “Reminiscing” on The Midnight Special back in 1978. Here’s more about the song from Wikipedia: “Reminiscing” is a 1978 song written by Graeham Goble, and performed by Australian soft rock music group Little River Band. It remains their greatest success in the United States, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #10 on the…
Another one of the songs we “Love to Hate!” This time it’s a song that went all the way to #1 on the US charts on 1974 for Helen Reddy. “Angie Baby”, off Reddy’s Free and Easy album, tells the story of a teen-aged girl who … well, no one is really quite sure what it’s about, but it sounds like she lures men into her room and then shrinks…
Oh boy, what a painful song to have to listen to again. Hated it back in ’77, and it hasn’t gotten any better. On the plus side I can say I always enjoy these live performances on The Midnight Special, and MacGregor isn’t a bad singer (or hard to look at) it’s just a horrible, horrible example of late 70’s pop radio. Obviously some people loved it as it hit…
Wow! An early performance, about six months before the band really exploded on the scene with release of “KISS Alive!” in the fall of 1975. What’s really interesting is that most bands on The Midnight Special played one or two of their hits, but KISS gets to play three and is on stage for over 16 minutes. I also really enjoy the introduction by comedian Flip Wilson wearing a white…
A definative rock classic, “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” hits home for a lot of people who grew up in the 70’s. Here’s more on the song from Wikipedia: “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” is a single written and performed by blues guitarist Elvin Bishop. It appeared on his 1975 album Struttin’ My Stuff and was released as a single the following year. Bishop does not sing lead…
This is the full, three song performance, by the Steve Miller Band live at the Midnight Special on January 24th, 1974 and includes The Joker, Sugar Babe, and the as yet unreleased (and somewhat unfinished) version of “Fly Like an Eagle” On this video, there is… 1) The Joker (from 1973’s “The Joker”) 2) Fly Like an Eagle (early version) (from 1976’s “Fly Like an Eagle”) 3) Sugar Babe (from…
Was there ever a less likely rock star than Eddie Money? Money was born Edward Joseph Mahoney (like really, who’s last name is actually Money?) into a large Irish Catholic family in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island. Contrary to popular music folklore, Money wasn’t actually a New York City cop before hitting the big time, but his grandfather, father, and one of his brothers were, and Eddie was an…
Another great performance on the late late 70’s and early 80’s show “The Midnight Special, this time from The Cars! “Just What I Needed” was released as their debut single from their self-titled debut album, The Cars, released in 1978 on Elektra Records. The song started as a demo, and became a successful single for The Cars, hitting the The Top 30 on the Billboard Charts, and continues to be…
I watched a number of videos of Linda Ronstadt performing live back in the day before finding this one, and the one thing I can tell you is she nails it EVERY time. Each one made me stop, listen, and be stunned again by her enormous talent. Unlike a lot of today’s female performers, Ronstadt’s voice is as clear and strong live as it is recorded. Many times it would…