Tune Tag #48 with MK Piatkowski, of Song of the Day, Pt. 2: Whitlams, Kylie Minogue, Rick Springfield, Gamble, Alex Lloyd, Electric Peanut Butter Company
🦘G'day, mate! We travel down-under for a wild'n'wooly Tune Tag, but somehow end up out back in Philadelphia! Buckle up, wallabies....it's going to be a funky ride!🦘Ayers Rock...and, so do we!
Good Morning, MK! TAG!
Tune Tag is proud as puppets to welcome , who brings us Song of the Day!
About our guest: MK doesn’t know a time without music, thanks to her Perry Como-loving parents. An AOR (Album Oriented Rock) station was always on the car radio, leaving her with a love of the genre and a curiosity to discover more.
Sneaking a radio to listen to John Majhor on Toronto’s CHUM 1050 opened her up to a new world that she is still exploring. A singer all her life, she’s now sharing the songs she loves on her blog, Song of the Day, which started its life on her Facebook page, but has found its full expression, now, on Substack.
She also writes a weekly personal development blog, “Catalysts of Change,” and enjoys doing oracle card readings.
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This is MK’s encore performance. You can enjoy her Tune Tag debut, here:
Last week, we enjoyed the company of , who carries the keys to The Wax Museum:
Next week, set aside some time to enjoy some tea and biscuits with of LP!
MK’s song #1 sent to Brad: The Whitlams, “No Aphrodisiac,” 1997
![The Whitlams have just released their first album in 15 years - Double J The Whitlams have just released their first album in 15 years - Double J](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F973b6768-bfa7-4327-a2b7-97e73babf545_862x485.jpeg)
MK’s rationale: I had been holding off on going a second round with Tune Tag, but when I finally decided, “No Aphro” was the immediate choice! It’s such an unlikely #1, and it shows off one of my favourite bands, The Whitlams. This is the famous blue video that was quickly shot as the song raced up Australia’s national Triple J radio charts.
The song was written by Matt Ford (aka Pinky Beecroft, Aussie screenwriter/performer), Glenn Dormand (aka Chit Chat Von Loopin Stab, Aussie record producer, TV presenter, and film director), and actual Whitlams member, lead singer and keyboardist, Tim Freedman (below; he produced with Rob Taylor).
“‘No Aphrodisiac’ was written for Freedman’s then-girlfriend, who was living in Melbourne, while he was in Sydney,” according to Jeff Jenkins in his 2007 tome, 50 Years of Rock in Australia. “Freedman later recalled, ‘We were growing apart, not writing to each other so much...Pinky Beecroft and Chit Chat had just played me a demo of theirs, which consisted of very funny personal classifieds, and we used 6 lines of that to finish the song.’”
In 2010, The Whitlams toured Australia with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra; here’s a peek at a pre-tour rehearsal of “No Aphro”:
Click here to go to MK’s latest article on “No Aphrodisiac”!
MK featured another song by The Whitlams (a recent Song of the Day), a delightful tune about the infamous Australian outlaw family, The Kelly Gang.
I’m kinda in love with the notion of an all-Aussie Tune Tag. Let’s see what happens!—MK
Brad’s song #1 sent to MK: Gamble ft. Jason Singh, “This Time,” 2018
MK’s response: I hadn’t heard of Gamble. There were a few things I immediately thought of: She had signed with Warner-Australia around the same time The Whitlams had a distribution deal with the label. Eternal Nightcap, the album from which “No Aphro” catapulted, was the biggest selling Australian independent album ever, at the time.
Gamble Breaux stars in TV’s Real Housewives of Melbourne. The Whitlams have a song called “Melbourne,” and the woman “No Aphro” was written for lives in Melbourne. Gamble’s done theatre, as has Tim Freedman. That may have been my fault. Very happy if it was.
Or, the connection might have to do with Gamble’s writer/producer, Jason Singh. At the same time The Whitlams were coming into prominence, so was his band, Taxiride. Tim Freedman was a presenter at the 1999 ARIAs after having won Artist of the Year the year before when Taxiride won for Breakthrough Artist - Single. They shared the award with another artist I absolutely love, Alex Lloyd. I’ve written about his debut album here. And discovering that led me to my next song.
I have a tie with Gamble, too: She trained at NIDA as an actor, and my first trip to Australia in late 2000 was to get into NIDA’s director-training program.
She got in. I didn’t.
Brad’s rationale: Hadn’t heard of The Whitlams before. Really enjoyed the song, and the singing and phrasing by lead singer, Freedman. “This Time” features Aussies, Gamble Breaux and Taxiride’s Jason Singh (with Singh and Lukether Batterbury writing and producing).
In this video, Jason speaks about being on Sire Records/Australia, and being on the same worldwide label whose founder, Rock Hall of Famer, the late Seymour Stein, signed The Ramones, Talking Heads, and The Pretenders (among others). He also talks about opening for Tina Turner at London’s Wembley Stadium, and Taxiride’s 1999 debut album, Imaginate, and his recent “Heaven’s Greatest Hits” tribute tour:
Read more about Taxiride and Imaginate. Jason enjoyed reading the article, himself, and told me via social media, “Thanks for reminding me how good we used to be!”
MK’s song #2: Alex Lloyd, “Lucky Star,” 1999
Brad’s response: Another Aussie artist!
MK’s rationale: This is the song that won Alex Lloyd the ARIA, along with Taxiride. As my true aim in this Tune Tag is to expose people to some of my favourite songs that US-ians wouldn’t know, while also trying to stick to Australian artists, this felt like a great choice. Lloyd played all the instruments on a song written by Alexander Wasiliev (Lloyd’s birth name).
Brad’s song #2: The Electric Peanut Butter Company, “Spread the Jam,” 2015
MK’s response: A funky song from a band I’ve never heard about before. And it’s really hard for the Google machine to give me much info about the band. Hell, I even asked Jeeves! Stupid search engines, because I found the connection once I expanded out from Black the Sun to looking at other albums. And there it is: Shawn Lee, half of The Electric Peanut Butter Company, played on Lloyd’s second album, Watching Angels Mend!
Brad’s rationale: Not on Alex Lloyd’s “Lucky Star” album (which was Black the Sun, 1999), but on his next album, 2001’s Watching Angels Mend, one of Lloyd’s session musicians was drummer Shawn Lee. Lee was later involved in a project called The Electric Peanut Butter Company, and in 2015, he released the Trans-Atlantic Psych Classics Vol. 1 album, with Lee co-writing the songs and co-producing (both with Adrian Quesada), as well as singing.
Lee also (shortly after this Peanut Butter spread), became a part of Young Gun Silver Fox.
of On Repeat Records, interviewed Lee and YGSF partner, Andy Platts, two years ago, and that can be found by clicking here.MK’s song #3: Kylie Minogue, “Padam Padam,” 2023
Brad’s response: Back to down-under with the onomatopoeic “Padam Padam,” echoing the sound of the beating heart, ‘cause this song’s about sex……of course. I came away wondering what Ms. Minogue’s voice really sounds like; her voice and the “music” on this song sound about as processed as single-wrapped cheese food!
Discogs lists eight credits for this song, with not a single mention of anything resembling instruments or the employ of any musicians: Layout, artwork, and photography take care of the cover graphics, with producer, engineer, and “masterer” rounding it all out, save for the songwriters, Ina Wroldsen and Peter Rycroft, who also answers to Lostboy, and he also produced. I suspect Mr. Otto Toon had a hand in it, as well!
MK’s latest article on “Padam Padam”:
MK’s rationale: I’m really wanting to find a way to bring it back to Australian music, but I’m not finding any connection with Lee or Adrian Quesada. I hoped the label had an Aussie band on their roster but, no. Sigh. So much for my all-Aussie Tune Tag!
I was about to completely give up when I saw Lee had worked on Minogue’s “Giving You Up” single in 2005. Whew! All-Aussie list saved. And since Brad didn’t do the same track or album, I feel confident I can do the same. I really liked this song when it came out and loved the video. The location is a well-known LA landmark and here’s a great behind-the-scenes video of the making of the video.
Brad’s song #3: Fame (TV) cast: “Life Is a Celebration,” 1982
MK’s response: Reading the comments on the video, I saw that the song was written by Rick Springfield, and he also recorded it. Another Aussie! No obvious connection is showing up comparing the two songs so I need to dig further. This song was also recorded by The Kids from Fame (NBC-TV/U.S. and syndication), so I looked for a connection there. Not finding one.
There’s the obvious connection that Minogue and Springfield are from Australia, so I thought I’d look where, exactly. She was born and raised in Melbourne, while he was born in Sydney, but moved to a suburb of Melbourne, called Broadmeadows. Was I on to something here? Nope, she was born in Caulfield South, then moved to Surrey Hills.
However, both Springfield and Minogue saw their music careers take off while they were on soap operas - he on General Hospital (ABC-TV/U.S.) and she on Neighbours (1985, Network Ten, Australia). Could that be it? Or, just that they were both in Melbourne? Then, why the Kids From Fame version? Minogue did a TV show called The Henderson Kids (Network Ten/Australia) as a child, so maybe child actors is a theme? I’m going to stick with the soap opera/acting connection!
Ed. Note: The year before Fame hit U.S. TVs, Nia Peeples (who co-starred in the show’s 4th through 6th seasons as Nicole Chapman), co-starred in a short-lived syndicated show, The Music Shoppe, also starring FR&B’s exclusive contributor, singer/songwriter/guitarist/actor, Stephen Michael Schwartz, who wrote and sings the show’s theme song. The show also featured Bing Crosby’s son, Gary Crosby.
Stephen reveals the behind-the-scenes scoop on The Music Shoppe, plus we get to see a video clip of a portion of the show, including Stephen, Nia, and Benny Medina performing Stephen’s opening theme (with an exclusive bonus of Stephen’s rare demo of the re-working of the theme song into a whole new song, “Walk Away”!):
Brad’s rationale: Australia connection again! Aussie, Rick Springfield wrote this, and it comes from his 1976 Wait For Night album (on Chelsea Records, produced by Mark K. Smith). I wonder how many of his “Jessie’s Girl” fans know that Rick is capable of writing an Up with People/”We Are the World”-like transcendent, join-hands celebratory anthem (and once did):
Rick sings, and plays guitar and piano on his 1976 Wait for Night album. He also employed Elton John’s “old” rhythm section, Dee Murray (bass) and Nigel Olsson on drums (see session list here).
The year before (1975), Stephen Michael Schwartz hired Dee and Nigel (through his music director, eventual 16-Grammy-winner, David Foster) to play on his second RCA Records album. Stephen’s first-hand account of those sessions (with exclusive in-studio photos of Foster, Dee, and Nigel from the sessions) can be found here:
MK’s song #4: Darryl Cotton, “I Don’t Want to Lose You,” 1979
Brad’s response: Another Aussie artist, which runs the Oz board for MK!
MK’s rationale: This kind of takes me full circle back to The Whitlams and their song, “Melbourne.” Can’t do 2 Whitlams songs, though. I thought about finding a Kids from Fame link, but there wasn’t an obvious one, and it’s late and I’m tired and stuffy.
So, I’m going with the Rick Springfield connection: While in Oz, Rick’s first professional gig was in a band called Zoot (1965-1971):
![Zoot (band) - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia Zoot (band) - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fed1db306-c649-467c-af2d-19ea737162e8_400x294.jpeg)
One of the founders of Zoot was Darryl Cotton (left, in photo above), who also ended up on a popular soap (The Young Doctors) when this song was released. This song is a bonus for me because it’s written by Daryl Hall and John Oates, and is one of my favourite tracks on 1978’s Along The Red Ledge (produced by the aforementioned David Foster). Cotton’s using pretty much the same arrangement, which tickles me pink! Fellow Zoot pal, Beeb Birtles, co-produced this track with Cotton.
Here’s a recent post where I focused on Hall & Oates’ original, with covers by Cotton, plus Eric Hutchinson (above) as the guest with the gang from Live From Daryl’s House:
Brad’s song #4: Cotton, Lloyd & Christian, “Good Things Don’t Last Forever,” 1976
![Your Gonna Find Love (1976) - Cotton Lloyd and Christian - YouTube Your Gonna Find Love (1976) - Cotton Lloyd and Christian - YouTube](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F53d811fa-0cc1-4493-8e24-453951b23be9_480x360.jpeg)
MK’s response: It’s obvious Darryl Cotton is the connection here. This is during his brief L.A. time. I do love a good disco song.
Brad’s rationale: Three years before MK’s Cotton/Hall & Oates cover song, Cotton was in a trio, Cotton, Lloyd & Christian, who recorded two albums on 20th Century Records (U.S.). “Good Things Don’t Last Forever” comes from their 1976 Number Two album, and was written by Philly Sound veterans Allan Felder, Bunny Sigler, and Norman Harris. Mike Curb and Lloyd produced, with Cotton and Christian acting as associate producers. Lloyd and longtime studio companion, John D’Andrea, arranged.
Here’s the original, from 1974, by Ecstasy, Passion & Pain (Roulette Records), recorded at Philly’s Sigma Sound, and produced, arranged and conducted by Sigma and Philadelphia International Records regular, Bobby Martin (lead singer, Barbara Roy):
With Hall & Oates being native Philadelphians and fans of, and inspired by Philly soul, you’d be spot-on if you heard a similarity in H&O’s “I Don’t Want to Lose You” and this “Good Things” cover by Cotton, Lloyd & Christian (and the above original)! Hall & Oates even employed longtime MFSB composer/arranger, Gene Page, to do the string arrangements on their recorded “I Don’t Want to Lose You” (you can hear it in MK’s article linked above)!
All-Aussie Tune Tag (at least on my part) complete! This was fun!—MK
Thanks Brad. I now have to dig into all the supplemental stuff you brought in. I had fun!
This was so much fun, especially with the added challenge of travelling — and staying — down under! Impressed as always by the fact your sleeve is always PACKED with tricks, Brad, and impressed by MK’s quick (yet thorough) investigative and analytical skills!
Loved the Philly Soul at the end, as you would expect me to 😎😉
Fantastic work, guys!