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The Ugly American Werewolf in London is a weekly podcast about classic rock, hard rock, progressive rock, heavy metal, early MTV, 80s music, UK vs. US chart success and all things rock! Hosted by The Wolf and Action Jackson, who interview rock legends, review classic albums and concerts of their favorite classic rock bands each week. Once a month, they welcome musicians, writers and fans to First Concert Memories to tell about one particular night where a live concert changed their life. Action & The Wolf have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge of rock music and its history - tune in to hear what they're passionate about! Proud part of Pantheon Podcasts!
It's possible that Aerosmith is the greatest American rock band of all time. And in our opinion, their best album was 1975's Toys In The Attic which is still their biggest selling original record with over 9 million sold in the US. As it turns 50 we decided to dive deep into what makes this album so great and why it endures to this day as a hard rock classic. Yes, it has singles that were popular in their day and are still staples on classic rock radio in Sweet Emotion and Walk This Way. But the title track is a killer way to start a rockin album and is an Aerosmith signature. You See Me Cryin' allows the Bad Boys from Boston to show their tender side (and incorporate strings), Round And Round shows a harder Aerosmith, and Big Ten Inch Record shows off the tongue-in-cheek lyrics that have made the band famous (though that one is a cover, it's classic Steven Tyler).
The boys had been touring hard and were really firing on all cylinders. The previous year's Get Your Wings had been well received and had a killer cover of Train Kept A Rollin which was one of their live staples. But what made this album different from the previous two is that when they went to the Record Plant in New York City to record Toys, they didn't have any songs ready. They'd honed the songs from the previous albums live before heading into record them but this time they started from scratch with a few ideas they'd been noodling on. Joe Perry came up with the riff to Walk This Way on stage in Hawaii. Tom Hamilton had the Sweet Emotion bits for years before he worked with Steven Tyler to mold them into an all time classic. Brad Whitford got a co-write on Round And Round and Joe Perry really established himself as one of the killer guitar slingers of his generation. As it turns 50, we celebrate Aerosmith's greatest album - Toys In The Attic!
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Bad Company hit the scene in 1974 in a big way. Signed to Led Zeppelin's Swan Song label and managed by Peter Grant, the supergroup composed of Paul Rodgers (Free), Mick Ralphs (Mott the Hoople), Boz Burrell (King Crimson) and Simon Kirke (Free) had a huge success with their self-titled debut which would go on to sell 5 million in the US. Many bands struggle to follow up a big debut with an equally good second effort but Bad Company weren't rookies and had made over a dozen albums individually. The question was how would the songwriting partnership of Ralphs and Rodgers develop and would any of them as individuals emerge as the lead songwriter.
While not many will tell you Straight Shooter is as good or better than the debut, it is a solid rock record. Chart hits Feel Like Makin' Love and Good Lovin' Gone Bad got them all over the airwaves and Rodgers Shooting Star would go onto become a classic rock radio staple. They even showed their tender side with Simon Kirke's Weep No More (accompanied by strings) and Anna. Heavy riffs from Deal With The Preacher and the innuendo of Wild Fire Woman help round the album into an album that showed Bad Company had staying power and could deliver the goods. Released March 28, 1975, it would go on to sell 3 million in the US.
Do you think Bad Company deserves to be in the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame? We do!!!
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For The Wolf and Action Jackson, The Who in 1989 were coming back one last time to perform - something they hadn't done since the early 80s and had sworn off. The classic 60s artists were back in a big way and The Who were touring the US doing 40 songs a night from their brilliant catalog, from their solo albums and with a focus on their rock opera Tommy to start the show. That tour eluded our fearless hosts but not Farmer John, host of the Vinyl Relics podcast - a new member of Pantheon.
John and his buddies were the same age as Action and The Wolf when they ventured to Toronto in June of 1989 with tickets to see what would surely be the most mindblowing thing in their young lives. But they were teenagers who lived 2 hours away in London - where would they stay? With a working idea of walking the streets of Toronto all night, one of the moms secured a hotel room at the Holiday Inn via Jennifer. However, once Jennifer learned their were 6 unsupervised teenagers and not 2, she took their room keys and started a day of hijynx that can only happen to teenagers. John weaves a story of anticipation for the show, fear in being hunted down by Jennifer, uncertainty of how to get to the show, and the triumph of overcoming the odds to find himself in the 4th row after buying nosebleeds.
It's the kind of fun tales we aim to preserve on First Concert Memories, the monthly sidecast from your friends at The Ugly American Werewolf in London Rock Podcast. Coming of age in the era of classic rock and hanging with your best friends along the way is where the most vivid memories are made - we're just dusting them off!
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By the mid-70s, Jeff Beck was a bit of an enigma. He started out as a blues player in The Yardbirds replacing Eric Clapton and sharing the stage for few shows with Jimmy Page. Then he formed The Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart as his lead singer and Ronnie Wood on the bass where the band tried to be more commercial. He created one of the great power trios with Beck, Bogert and Appice and while they were a strong live draw, they didn't get a lot of radio play. By 1975 Jeff, who was never one to stay still musically, decided to put together his first Jeff Beck album. Instead of blues and hard rock based riffs he melded with Max Middleton on piano who helped write the songs, Phil Chen on the bass, and Richard Bailey to create some jazzy jams that allowed everyone to shine.
However, he also had help from heavyweights George Martin, who produced the album as he did The Beatles, and Stevie Wonder, who wrote a couple of songs for Jeff including the sublime Cause We Ended As Lovers. It may have originally been a bittersweet song for his wife Syreeta but Jeff makes it his own by laying emotional guitar over over the mellow notes. And Jeff shows off his jazzy abilities on songs like Constipated Duck (great title), space funk on AIR blower, frenetic playing on Scatterbrain and one of his real signatures, Freeway Jam. Many of these became live staples of his for decades and the album not only went to #4 in the US but sold platinum despite the fact that there are no vocals on the album. With room to explore, Jeff led this group on a fun, experimental and tight journey to create a guitar masterpiece which is more jazz than rock.
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By 1985, Eric Clapton's storied career seemed to be flaming out. The Rock God status he'd attained in the 60s with The Yardbirds and Cream and maintained as a solo artist in the 70s had started to wane thanks to inconsistent records, drugs and alcohol. His previous record, Money and Cigarettes, lacked hits and failed to go gold - his first for Warner Brothers. Needing a success in the days of MTV and synthesizers, he turned to Phil Collins who had the magic touch at this time (listen to UAWIL 220 on No Jacket Required). And though they had fun in Montserrat recording the album, all was not well.
Eric was slowly but surely breaking up with Pattie Hanson - his wife, the inspiration for Layla and former wife of George Harrison. You can hear his lament on songs like Just Like A Prisoner and the title track. Despite the emotion he may have put into the tracks, Warner Bros weren't happy. So they teamed him up with one of their songwriters, Jerry Lynn Williams, and Van Halen producer Ted Templeman to craft a couple of hits in LA. The single Forever Man did top the mainstream rock charts in the US and helped the album go platinum. But Clapton seems uneasy with some of the synthesizer work and the songs written by others. Nonetheless, this record did bring him some needed success and attention which would lead to bigger achievements in the late 80s, the early 90s and beyond. Released March 11, 1985, we thought this one is an interesting inflection point in Clapton's catalog and worthy of a look as it turns 40.
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In 1985, Phil Collins could do no wrong. His album No Jacket Required would eventually hit the top spot in the US and the UK. He'd also have the top album and top song on both sides of the Atlantic. He won a Grammy for Against All Odds (which would hit #1), his duet with Philip Bailey, Easy Lover, was a smash hit around the world and hit duet with Marilyn Martin, Separate Lives, would also go to #1. And after a world tour to support his 25 million selling album No Jacket Required, he played Live Aid in London with Sting and then jumped the Concorde to make it to the US and played RFK with Eric Clapton and a reunited Led Zeppelin. Plus he was on Miami Vice. The man was unstoppable.
As No Jacket Required turns 40, we decided to analyze it track by track. Though Collins proved he could navigate the mid-80s recording styles without getting too cheesy on tracks like Sussudio and Inside Out, there are others that aren't great given the strength of the hits like Only You and I Know and I Don't Wanna Know. The album would sell over 12 million in the US alone thanks to hits like Sussudio and the video for Take Me Home not only gave him clout as a bonafide international star but also kept the album selling well into 1986. Phil has received a lot of backlash in latter days due to the fact that he was everywhere in the 80s - chart topping with every Genesis album, every solo record, every duet or movie soundtrack song, every tour, every TV appearance, every music video. Does he deserve the criticism he gets or did he just make the most of his opportunities he was given? We debate that and more on this surely to be divisive episode.
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On Part 2 of our track x track review of Physical Graffiti as it turns 50, we review the 2nd LP/CD. While there is little in the world of rock music that can stand up to the first LP/CD, the second is more eclectic and shows the real breadth of all Led Zeppelin could do vs. more one dimensional bands at the time. In The Light is an epic that builds to joyous uplift. Sick Again shows Jimmy's slide skills were among the best of his generation while Bron-Yr-Aur shows the quieter acoustic side of Jimmy and great change of pace which leads to a bittersweet Down By The Seaside. Lyrically the boys get a little political with Night Flight, remember relationships from their youth Ten Years Gone and illuminate the LA groupie scene on Sick Again.
Because they needed at least 25 minutes of material after their 1974 recording session at Headley Grange (where they recorded part Led Zeppelin IV), they dusted off and cleaned up some songs from previous recording sessions. Some were acoustic numbers that Jimmy electrified like Down By The Seaside and Ten Years Gone. All the songs give all four members of the band a chance to shine and they even enjoy a roadhouse jam with Ian Stewart on Boogie With Stu.
The second disc on Physical Graffiti may not be the best. Many of the tracks would never make it on a single album. But double albums have deep tracks and the ones where the boys get away from their heavy riffs and blues based badassery are cool outliers in the Zeppelin catalog. And the heavy riffs from Jimmy Page are amazing. We love it!
HAPPY 50TH PHYSICAL GRAFFITI!
#physicalgraffiti50
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Though there has been lots of timeless music made over the years, punk music was the most tied to a certain time as any genre. The enormous explosion that was The Sex Pistols, the band who embodied the punk genre more than any other band, ended just as quickly in early 1978. After a media hyped tour of the US, where Malcolm McLaren had them play small venues in the midwest to encourage outrage, the band had been through enough and were done. Johnny Rotten announced on stage that the band was breaking up and a year later Sid Vicious died. For several generations since, The Pistols are mythic figures with one album, legends of chaos and a few video clips.
But in 1978 Amy Linden, veteran rock writer and co-host of the Immaletyoufinish Podcast, was a 19 year old living the dream in San Francisco. She'd wanted to see The Sex Pistols at the Winterland Ballroom January 14, 1978 but tickets sold out instantly. Fortunately the night before an industry player hooked her up with tickets and she not only went to the show but even hit the backstage after party.
Amy, who's written about, lived with and survived punk bands for decades, talks about the immediacy of the show and how mesmerizing Johnny Rotten was to behold in all his nasty glory. We dive into the performance and atmosphere but we let Amy guide us through parts of her cool life. Her first Pistols show was their last and it changed her life forever. Great stories from a badass punk rock chick!
Hear Amy weekly on the IMMALETYOUFINISH Podcast
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1975, Led Zeppelin were at the height of their rock god power. They'd made 5 albums that sold off the charts, especially in the US where they enjoyed the fruits of their labors on the Sunset Strip. They were a top touring act that could fill arenas and stadiums with four of the best individual musicians in any band. They founded Swan Song Records to not only handle their own records but even signed acts like Bad Company and Detective to the label. So after some time off they headed back to Headley Grange where they'd recorded for Led Zeppelin III & IV in early 1974 to lay down some tracks.
The results were among the heaviest, funkiest, longest, most epic and groovy songs in the Zeppelin catalog. But because they made more than 1 LP's worth of material, they decided to dust off a few tunes from previous sessions, rework them and fit them all into what would be Zeppelin's only double album, Physical Graffiti. The first album to ship platinum in the US, it would eventually go 16x platinum (but only 2x platinum in the UK). Hitting #1 on both sides of the Atlantic, it's too epic for just one episode. So we've divided into LP/CD one on this episode and UAWIL 219 will go in depth on LP/CD 2.
The first disc of Physical Graffiti is an extraordinary album on its own. From the riff & groove of Custard Pie, maybe the best opening track on an LZ album, to the epic and otherworldly Kashmir the boys flex and stretch like they hadn't before. Jimmy Page is at his best laying down killer slide on In My Time Of Dying, riffing out on The Rover and leading the boys in jams on Trampled Under Foot. John Paul Jones is killer on the bass and the clavinet which give different textures to the tunes. John Bonham is at his thunderous best while his mate Robert Plant still had the range and emotion that made him a legend.
Going track x track and watching some old Zeppelin footage from Earls Court 1975 and Knebworth 1979 reminds us that we missed one of the greatest bands to walk the Earth and they should be celebrated. Part 2 will be episode 218 out soon!
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Amanda is a wife. A mother. A blogger. A Christian.
A charming, beautiful, bubbly, young woman who lives life to the fullest.
But Amanda is dying, with a secret she doesn’t want anyone to know.
She starts a blog detailing her cancer journey, and becomes an inspiration, touching and
captivating her local community as well as followers all over the world.
Until one day investigative producer Nancy gets an anonymous tip telling her to look at Amanda’s
blog, setting Nancy on an unimaginable road to uncover Amanda’s secret.
Award winning journalist Charlie Webster explores this unbelievable and bizarre, but
all-too-real tale, of a woman from San Jose, California whose secret ripped a family apart and
left a community in shock.
Scamanda is the true story of a woman whose own words held the key to her secret.
New episodes every Monday.
Follow Scamanda on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
Amanda’s blog posts are read by actor Kendall Horn.
