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WetWetWet
Here are the top three musical influences for Graeme Duffin. Select one of the links below to fnd out a little more about them:
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Born at Fort McLeod, Alberta, Canada in 1943, Roberta Joan Anderson had by 1970,been a struggling painter and art student, played folk music in coffee bars in Toronto, played the Mariposa Folk Festival in1964, married Chuck Mitchell and changed her name to Joni Mitchell, got divorced, moved to New York in 1967, and visited England with Producer Joe Boyd. Her songs were better known for being covered by other artists such as Buffy Saint-Marie and Fairport Convention and her move to New York and her visits to England are regarded as the inspiration behind her early songs such as "Both Sides Now".
Her third album Ladies Of The Canyon, released in 1970 was the point where she got recognition outside of the States with the album making number 8 in the UK album charts and the single "Big Yellow Taxi" making the number 11 slot in the UK single charts. This album also contained the track "Woodstock" which became an anthem for the then hippie generation.
In 1971 she released Blue which proved to be an emotional drain, so Joni recharged her batteries by travelling around, returning in 1972 with a new album For The Roses which showed a more confident and hardy Joni Mitchell. 1974 saw the release of Court And Spark which moved her music further away from its original naivety and into the a more cosmopolitan and self-confident state.
Court And Spark reached number 2 in the States and number 14 in the UK, proving to be her most successful piece of work so far. To compliment the album she embarked on an extensive tour which resulted in the live album Miles Of Aisles being released in 1975.
With her next album The Hissing Of Summer Lawns (1975), Joni was clearly having a go at the commercialisation of the American culture and caused some fans to become uncomfortable with the rock and jazz fusion of the music and the over wordy lyrics. Joni, however was happy with the direction her music was going and in 1976 released Hejira which moved her along her chosen path in fine style.
Joni continued her exploration of jazz on her next two albums, Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter (1977) and Mingus (1979). The public however thought that she had moved too far from her roots and the albums were not well received.
By the 1980’s Joni felt distinctly out of place and suffered some major health and financial set backs. All of the albums from this period showed non of her previous consistency and power although the Thomas-Dolby produced Dog Eat Dog (1985) showed glimpses of the old Joni Mitchell.
In 1991 Joni released Night Ride Home which smacked of Hejira. She has successfully exhibited her paintings some of which appeared on the cover of her seventh album Turbulent Indigo (1994), an album which saw her once again commenting on the society we live in and in particular rape and wide-beating.
Formed Los Angeles, 1972
Disbanded 1981
Re-formed 1993.
Walter Becker (bass/guitar) and Donald Fagen (vocals/keyboard) met at Bard College New York in 1967. They shared the same musical tastes and spend many years attempting to sell their songs to Brill Building publishers. Whilst in a band called Jay And The Americans producer Gary Katz wisked them off to L.A. and ABC-Dunhill records and let their cynical song-writing talents loose on California.
Katz brought in Dias, Jeff Baxter (guitars), David Palmer (vocals) and Jim Hodder (drums) to help show off Becker and Fagen’s talents. Their first single "Dallas" went nowhere but in 1973 the album Can’t buy A Thrill wowed the music buyng public and critics alike. Although the band were incredibly good, Becker and Fagen decided to bring in the cream of session musicians so that they could develop the sound they wanted. Palmer left after the first album and so Fagen stepped into his shoes.
Countdown To Ecstasy was the second album released in 1973. Once again it hit the right note with the album buyers and critics but failed to produce any hit singles. This fact was rectified with the release of Pretzel Logic in 1974 which produced "Rikki Don’t Lose That Number", their biggest hit single.
Becker and Fagen suffered from terrible stage fright, hated touring and would rather stay at home writing and doing occasional recordings. The rest of the band got restless and in 1974 Baxter and Hodder left followed by Dias shortly after their next album Katy Lied (1974).
The departures left just Becker and Fagen
From now on Steely Dan was essentially Becker and Fagen. Their next two albums, The Royal Scam (1976), which spawned their white-reggae UK hit "Haitian Divorce", and Aja (1977), saw them refine the Dan formula of smooth, funky rock songs topped off with solos by top jazz players who were allowed no room for self-indulgence. Despite the duo's legendary studio perfectionism (often demanding as many as thirty takes), the music was so good that top-flight session musicians queued up to work with them. Aja was perhaps the best-produced and one of the best-written albums of the whole decade.
With a little help from drugs, depression and boredom the couple split after the 1981 album Gaucho. Becker produced a few albums for other people whilst Fagen produced the stunning solo album The Nightfly (1982). He followed this up with Kamakiriad a mere twelve years later.
In 1993 the band re-formed much to the delight of their fans.
Steveland Judkins Morris was born in Saginaw, Michigan on May 13th 1950 and joined his mothers gospel choir in their home town. By the age of 10 he could play the piano, harmonica and drums and it wasn’t long before he was spotted and in early 1962 Morris became "Little Stevie Wonder" for his debut single "I Call It Pretty Music (But The Old People Call It The Blues)" which featured Marvin Gaye on drums. The following year he released the single "Fingertips" an instrumental and his subsequent album The 12 Year Old Genius was released in 1963.
In 1966 "Uptight (Everything’s Alright)" was released and got plenty of air play, but at the same time Stevie was beginning to show signs of a social conscience with the cover of Bob Dylan’s "Blowin’ In The Wind" for the album Uptight (Everything’s Alright). The remainder of the 60’s saw Stevie continuing the trait of exploring the social aspects of his culture and implanting his findings into up tempo pop.
With the departure of Motown’s Holland-Dozier-Holand song-writing partnership, Stevie’s talents became vital to the success of the record company. His partnership with Henry Cosby produced several hits including "A Place In The Sun" (1967), "My Cherie Amour" (1969) and he also co-wrote "Tears Of A Clown with Smokey Robinson and "It’s A Shame" for the Spinners.
At the age of 21 after receiving his childhood earnings he realised that of the $30 million he had made he was only entitled to $1 million. He then set about taking control of his own career and set up his own publishing companies, Taurus Productions and Black Bull.
With the influences of Marvin Gaye and Sly And The Family Stone, Stevie produced Music Of My Mind in 1972 which with the album written, arranged, performed and produced by him, showed his coming of age as artist. He followed the success of the album up with more increasingly sophisticated works, supported The Rolling Stones on tour in 1972 and joined John Lennon and Yoko Ono for a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden.
The next single "Superstition" went straight to number 1 in 1972 and fitted the times perfectly, with race riots, Vietnam and Watergate all in the headlines. The single appeared on his next album Talking Book (1972) and blended tough funk with beautiful ballads.
Innervisions released in 1973 went a little further down Stevie’s chosen path and its release in August was marred by a near fatal car accident in which he suffered multiple head injuries and added a loss of sense of smell to his to his loss of sight.
Innervisions won him a Grammy in 1974 and in 1979 he released his second double album Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants. The album was considered a let down but the release of Hotter Than July in 1980 saw a return to form. The album contained tributes to Bob Marley ("Masterblaster Jammin’) and Martin Luther King ("Happy Birthday"). He refused to release "Happy Birthday" as a single in the States until in 1986 King’s birthday was declared a national holiday.
With the release of The Original Musiquarium in 1982 it appeared that Stevie’s popularity was waning even with the success of his duet with Paul McCartney ("Ebony And Ivory" and in 1984 the single "I Just Called To Say I Love You". Since then he has released four albums: In Square Circle (1985), Characters (1987), Jungle Fever (1991) and Conversation Peace (1995). Each album has the underlying Stevie Wonder magic, but it cannot hide the fact that the most creative days of Stevie have gone.
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