Tune Tag #80 with Tom Moloney of "Music's Most Underrated": Pink Floyd, Manhattan Transfer, Dire Straits, Nirvana, The Beatles, Donovan, Paolo Nutini
I've got some 45 years on Mr. Moloney, but I'm sensing the youngster can more than hold his own in this Tune Tag! Pull up a bean bag and a Tab, and set a spell!
Welcome, Tom! Tag, You’re IT!
“Hey, where’d ya go? These tunes won’t tag themselves, y’know!”
Meet , creator of Music’s Most Underrated!
Tom: Music’s Most Underrated was started as a means for me to create a community where albums or artists that deserve a bigger light can be shared. These aren’t always little-known discoveries, with many of my favourite records coming from successful musicians who have either been quickly forgotten or didn’t get the attention their talents may deserve.
With music being my #1 passion and my constant desire to discover the next “on-repeat” artist or album, this is my way of sharing those gems I find along the way. It also provides a fantastic platform for other people to share their favourite music. Some of my best discoveries have come through Music’s Most Underrated, namely jazz pianist and virtuoso, Hiromi, and indie folk singer, Adrianne Lenker of Brooklyn’s Big Thief, both catching my attention.
My Substack is rather simple, but that is what I love so much about it! I post a fortnightly “Artist of the Week,” and a fortnightly “Not Spoken About Enough Album,” where I do a deep dive into an underrated album or artist.
[Brad: A favorite of mine has been Tom’s recent dive into George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass!]. These alternate each week, providing you with something new to listen to, as well as a bit of context behind the music!
Work to expand the content within Music’s Most Underrated is underway, and I am excited to share this with you all shortly!
Last week, we were gobsmacked by the terrific Tune Tag performance by of Infrequency-FM:
Next week, join us in welcoming , creator of Music of the Day, into the Tune Tag arena!
Tom’s song #1 sent to Brad: Pink Floyd, “Mother,” 1979
Tom’s rationale: I gave this first song a bit of thought as I wanted it to have some level of meaning to me. “Mother” (from 1979’s The Wall, Columbia Records) encapsulates everything that I love about music. I am a big advocate for simplicity and repetition, and “Mother” has this in abundance. I am a firm believer that when you find a chord progression or melody that hooks the listener and catches their attention, then simply repeat it, and let the musician’s talent and passion shine through.
As a guitarist, like millions of others, I have tried to mimic David Gilmour’s sound more times than I can count, and the solo to “Mother” is one of my favourites. The vocals are raw and passionate and the entrance of the solo is at the perfect time to intensify the emotions in the song.
The lyrics scream out to me as a young adult. They show the vulnerable side to life and the reliance on your loved ones to help you navigate through life. They discuss that the world has a lot of dangers in it; lots of these dangers are new to young people and having someone you can trust, no-matter-what, is something quite beautiful. In the case of the narrator, it is his mother, a figure who raised him from birth and constantly shows her unquestionable.
Brad’s song #1 sent to Tom: Manhattan Transfer, “Who, What, When, Where, Why,” 1978
Tom’s response: This is an interesting song, and one which I had never heard before. I love the different layers to the vocals and the tone of the piano. I spent a little bit of time listening to the song and trying to see if there was a musical link to the song, but I couldn’t come up with much.
Then, after doing a bit of research, and looking at the different songs from the same album, the year it was released, I then had a quick look at the personnel on the song. There you will see that Jeff Porcaro, maybe most famously known for founding rock band Toto, provided drums on both “Mother” and “Who, What, When, Where, Why” during a very successful period as a session drummer. [More Toto and Porcaro]:
Brad’s rationale: Drummer Jeff Porcaro played on both “Mother” and Rupert Holmes’ “Who, What, When, Where, Why” cover by Manhattan Transfer, produced by Transfer member, Tim Hauser, and veteran songwriter/producer, Steve Barri, now 83 (from their 1978 album, Pastiche, on Atlantic Records).
Rupert Holmes is one of my all-time favorite musicalities (musical personalities). A singer/songwriter and producer, he’s also adept at conducting, scoring, and arranging (and he plays guitar and keyboards). In other words, he’s enormously prodigious and versatile! In some more other words, he’s so much more than his 1979 “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” hit! Here’s proof:
In 1971, Holmes’ “Timothy” (written specifically to be banned, and thus, gain more attention and airplay…wish you had been that subversive at 23?) “cannibalized” its way to #17 on the U.S. pop charts. He tapped The Buoys to record the song, and off they went with this song (click here for YouTube link).
“The challenge was to write something that could get played, but that some people would ban,” Holmes once told Rolling Stone. “If I wrote a song where the lyrics were obscene, or I described something sexual that was not allowed in those days, or if there was a clear drug reference, that would not work, because it would just never get played at all.” The Professor of Rock interviewed Holmes 3 years ago:
In 1975, Holmes wrote and arranged (with Jeffrey Lesser producing) “I Don’t Want to Hold Your Hand,” with as many subtle Beatles buttons’n’hooks as you could hope for! Click here for the YouTube audio/video, and see how many you can find and name!
That same year, Barbra Streisand called and summoned him (and his usual studio partner, Lesser) to produce what would become her 17th studio album, Lazy Afternoon. Seems she had heard Holmes’ 1974 Widescreen album, and loved the way he composed songs “cinematically,” and wanted that feel for her new Columbia album!
Tom’s song #2: Dire Straits, “Sultans of Swing,” 1978
👆Over 1.3 billion streams on Spotify! The YouTube rendering:
Demo, recorded at Pathway Studios (8-track), July 1977, engineered by Chas Herington: Mark Knopfler, vocal and guitar; David Knopfler, guitar and vocal; John Illsley, bass and vocal; Pick Withers, drums. From the vinyl record, The Honky Tonk Demos, Oval Records, 1979 (released in UK and Germany, only):
Live July 1985 performance at Wembley Stadium, London, for Live Aid:
Brad’s response: Looks like Tom’s going with a link of the swing nature of the retro Manhattan Transfer…tagging Mark Knopfler’s recounting of a swing band he once experienced that’s the thrust of his song’s creation! I like that.
The other link I was considering was the corporate U.S. record conglomerate each band enjoyed: The Transfer was on Atlantic Records, worldwide, while Dire Straits were on Warner Bros. Records in the States (Vertigo virtually worldwide, otherwise). Atlantic and Warners were under the stateside WEA (pronounced “we-uh”—Warner/Elektra/Atlantic) corporate banner, then! Holy label minutiae, Batman!
Tom’s rationale: The link for this song is quite simply that it was released in 1978, the same year as The Transfer’s “Who, What, When, Where, Why.” I had a look at some records released that year, and there were a lot of great options to choose from. However, none were greater than Dire Straits’ debut single, “Sultans of Swing” (produced by Muff Winwood). This is a song which showcased Mark Knopfler to the world, introducing one of the all-time greats to the music scene.
The story behind the song:
Live, in 2009:
Brad’s song #2: Nirvana (UK), “Pentecost Hotel,” 1967
Tom’s response: This is a great song, and one which makes me want to listen to more of the band! I’m really struggling to find a link between the songs, and the best I can come up with is they are both released from the same parent record label. “Pentecost Hotel” was released by Island records, whilst “Sultans of Swing” was released in the UK by Vertigo. Today, both of these are part of the Universal Music Group (UMG). I’m sure this isn’t the link, but I am interested to find out what I am missing.
A TV appearance in 1968:
Brad’s rationale: Muff Winwood produced both the “Sultans of Swing” track and this 1967 Nirvana (UK) record.
A little Wiki background: “In October 1967, Nirvana released their first album, a concept album produced by Chris Blackwell (now 87) titled, The Story of Simon Simopath. The album was one of the first narrative concept albums ever released, predating similar story-driven albums, such as Pretty Things’ S.F. Sorrow (December 1968), The Who’s Tommy (April 1969), and The Kinks’ Arthur (September 1969). Island Records launched Nirvana’s first album ‘with a live show at the Saville Theatre, sharing a bill with fellow label acts Traffic, Spooky Tooth, and Jackie Edwards.’”
In 1985, the band reformed. Members of the band sued the American band Nirvana over the usage of the name, reaching a reported $100,000 out-of-court settlement, according to The Guardian from June 2011. Now, apparently, both bands are sharing the name.
Tom’s song #3: The Beatles, “Yellow Submarine,” 1966
Brad’s response: A guess would be either a connection to a couple of era-specific psychedelia and/or the release year (generally, mid-’60s, or ‘66 for The Beatles, and ‘67 for UK’s Nirvana), and/or UK bands.
Tom’s rationale: '“Pentecost Hotel” reminded me a lot of The Beatles, and more specifically their album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Clubs Band. Therefore, I was ordinarily going to choose a song from that album, however, once “Yellow Submarine” popped into my head, my decision had been made! The lyrics to “Pentecost Hotel” has constant references to the ocean and blue waves, making “Yellow Submarine” an obvious choice….a song which has the narrative of a man who lives in the sea.
As we know, Ringo sang on the recorded version of this Paul McCartney song. One might wonder what John, then, is doing singing on this 2-part “songwriting work tape”:
The two work it out here on this part, in their typically cheeky, Beatley way! Plus, in a joint interview taped for use at the Ivor Novello Awards night in March 1967, McCartney and Lennon said that the song’s melody was created by combining two different songs they had been working on separately: Lennon recalled that McCartney brought in the chorus (“the submarine ... the chorus bit”), which Lennon suggested combining with a melody for the verses that he had already written (citations noted on the song’s Wiki site).
Brad’s song #3: Donovan, “Mellow Yellow,” 1966
Tom’s response: Straight away, the link to this song seems obvious: “Mellow Yellow” and “Yellow Submarine,” and the link has to be both songs have “Yellow” in the title. But when diving a little deeper, there are a few other connections that Brad has brilliantly spotted.
Firstly, and maybe just a coincidence, they were both released in 1966. Secondly, and more importantly, is the connection and friendship between Donovan and Paul McCartney. Donovan (now 78) provided uncredited lyrics to “Yellow Submarine,” and likely backing vocals on the chorus, whilst McCartney provided his voice as a backing reveller on “Mellow Yellow,” and played uncredited bass on parts of the album of the same name.
Brad’s rationale: So much engrossing “cross-pollination” here! Let’s see if Tom gets ‘em all (and/or catches something I missed)!
But, a little more detective work uncovered these tidbits: While Paul McCartney can be heard as one of the background revelers toward the end of this track, the “quite rightly” whispered lines in the chorus is not McCartney, but rather Donovan himself, according to this unofficial Donovan site.
Donovan had a small part in coming up with the lyrics for The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine” (“sky of blue and sea of green,” according to Robert Rodriguez in his 2012 Revolver: How The Beatles Reimagined Rock’n’Roll) and McCartney played (uncredited) bass guitar on portions of Donovan’s Mellow Yellow album (but, not on the “Mellow Yellow” song).
John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra in the ‘70s) played rhythm guitar. John Paul Jones, soon to be Led Zeppelin’s bassist, played bass on this song, and arranged it. Mickie Most produced. There! That about covers it!
Live on the BBC, possibly early ‘67:
A live medley (including “Mellow Yellow”) some 30 years later on Howard Stern:
Tom’s song #4: Paolo Nutini, “Last Request,” 2006
Brad’s response: I believe both are of Scottish descent! Donovan from Glasgow, and Paolo from Paisley….ooh, that might be another clever connection by Tom….Nutini’s home describing the sartorial style of late-’60s hippie/psychedelic music! Knowing little to nothing about Nutini, other than he’s a guy with an Italian name from Scotland, this is Nutini’s debut single from his debut album, These Streets, on Atlantic Records.
Tom’s rationale: The connection here is the Scottish link between Paolo Nutini and Donovan. I was very aware that all the songs so far had been from several decades ago and wanted to go for something a little more modern with this one. Although, “Last Request” is still 20 years old, which seems crazy to me!
Paolo Nutini has a unique blend of pop, rock and folk, and “Last Request” is a perfect example of this. A simple pop song which the radio listeners will be attracted to, whilst still displaying Nutini’s songwriting ability, and his special take on melodies and music arrangements.
First Request
Performing the song live in a local park (or a forest), Paolo unveils “Last Request” for, apparently, the first time (at least away from the studio):
Brad’s song #4: Kings of Convenience, “Toxic Girl,” 2001
Tom’s response: Kings of Convenience (Norwegians Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe) are a fantastic band, and I was excited to see them listed here! I figured I’d be able to find the link between the two songs relatively quick and quickly looked at release dates and personnel. I couldn’t see anything, so I had a deep look into the composition of the songs and their lyrics, but was not coming up with anything good.
Then another quick look online, and I instantly spotted that both songs, and their respective albums, were produced by Ken Nelson. I’ll admit, it took me an embarrassingly long time to get that!
Brad’s rationale: The producer: Ken Nelson (above) produced the Nutini “Last Request,” as he also did (with the duo and Morten Arnetvedt) for The Kings of Convenience track. If I’m not finding anything, immediately, with a particular song (as with “Last Request” and Nutini), I’ll check the discography of a session player or producer. In Nutini’s case, I scrolled through Ken Nelson’s many production credits, and stumbled upon this pleasant tune from a duo I was completely new to!
 | A guest post by
|
Another brilliant tag! Thank you! Enjoyed it all.
Lots of great songs this week! Paolo Nutini had my number one song of the year in 2007 with "New Shoes." I still love that tune. I even heard it on a playlist I was listening to today while riding my bike! Check it out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaecIn0iLfU