Tune Tag #82 with Linda Brady of "Linda Brady's Revival": Shoes, Kate Bush, Jules & The Polar Bears, April Wine, Michael Penn, Robin Lane & The Chartbusters, 'Til Tuesday

You'll see shovels in today's Tune Tag workspace. Y'see, we have groundbreakers afoot: Brash upstarts and creative rookies that grew into treasured influencers in their pop and rock lanes!

Hi, Linda! Welc……..hey, wait! Don’t run off! They be tunes that need taggin’!

Tune Tag happily welcomes

Linda Brady

, creator of Linda Brady’s Revival!

Linda is a singer-songwriter who released an album on a very cool indie label about 30 years ago. It took awhile, but she just released her second album. In the intervening years, she raised a family and worked as a teacher.

Her new album, Deep Brain Stimulator (shown above), is named after the medical device that was implanted in her brain to manage the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease. This diagnosis gave her the impetus to start singing and writing again. “It’s a blessing in disguise…Or maybe just a blessing,” Linda says, smiling.

She enjoys writing her new Linda Brady’s Revival Substack about all things music. Her album can be found on Bandcamp, and at Kool Kat Music (CDs).

Last week, as you’ll recall, we enjoyed the Tune Tag artistry of

Jackie Ralston

of Music of the Day Substack:

Tune Tag #81 with Jackie Ralston of "Music of the Day": Rush, Billy Harvey, Toto, Eric Johnson, Liaison, Hall & Oates, System of a Down, Scritti Politti

Next week, we’ll validate the parking of

Marty Slagter

of RadioAmor for his first go-’round on the Tune Tag turntable!

Linda’s song #1 sent to Brad: Shoes, “Too Late,” 1979

The Misfits on a weekend bender? Alas, no. Their Shoeswire.com is going with this: “While trying to shoot a series of pics of a whipped-cream fight for an animated ‘flip book,’ the photographer stopped the motor-drive and got this still image, among others, in 1982.” That’s their story, and they’re sticking to it! Left to right: Gary Klebe, Jeff Murphy, Skip Meyer, John Murphy.

aka The Only Hall of Fame That Matters

From the Power Pop Hall of Fame site, as they cite Wiki: “Shoes is an American power pop band, formed in Zion, Illinois in 1974 by brothers, John and Jeff Murphy, and Gary Klebe, and incorporating several different drummers over the years, including Skip Meyer, Barry Shumaker, Ric Menck, John Richardson, and Jeff Hunter.

“Shoes also formed their own record label, Black Vinyl Records, and owned and operated their own commercial recording studio (Short Order Recorder) from 1983 to 2004. Many artists recorded at the studio and some went on to sign major-label contracts, including Shoes’ Zion homies, Local H, and Chicago’s Material Issue.”

Guitarist, Gary Klebe (l) and guitarist, Jeff Murphy. Gary wrote “Too Late,” while both wrote “Tomorrow Night.”

Linda’s rationale: I chose Shoes’ “Too Late” because it is a perfect pop song. The lead vocal by Gary Klebe is sufficiently sad and lonely (“don’t you even caaaare?”). The background vocals are layered beautifully, and the Beatlesque guitar part is like frosting on a perfect chocolate cake.

“Too Late” was one of the first played on MTV along with “Tomorrow Night” (see below), an equally great song written by Gary Klebe (who sang lead on it) and Jeff Murphy, who incidentally, is a fantastic person who co-produced my newest album. Shoes should be much more famous than they are!

“Tomorrow Night”: Evolution of a Shoulda-Been Hit

The 1978 BOMP! version, produced by Shoes and Steve Meyers:

Brad’s response: Released in 2007, this pre-Elektra 1979 demo of “Tomorrow Night” is below. The thicker harmonies on the chorus’s “tomorrow night” are noticeable, as is the slightly more sluggish tempo; the solo has a far different sound than the finished, true-fuzz version (which follows just below this demo):

The following year (1979), Shoes are signed to Elektra Records, and the band enjoy a co-producing credit with producer/engineer, Mike Stone; together, they accentuate the Byrdsian jangle (and the fuzz-tone solo), quicken the pace just a hair, and the underpinning lower harmony bed in the chorus is a wonder to behold…and, they introduce a modulation, post-solo (only hinted at in the demo), and at just under 3 minutes, bring it all in at a dozen seconds shorter than the BOMP version! Pop radio, 1979, what are you waiting for?!

Brad’s response: I was stunned when I saw this come through as your first song, Linda! I’ve been on Shoes since their 1977 Black Vinyl Shoes, on their own Black Vinyl Records (back cover):

Greg Shaw was an early fan, and it was his BOMP! Magazine (and Laurel Canyon record store) that was the only distributor (along with a handful of other record stores), and was my source for obtaining the album in ‘77. The band then entered a professional studio for the first time (home recording their previous output), and released “Tomorrow Night” on Greg’s BOMP! label in June 1978. The following November, Black Vinyl Shoes was licensed to PVC Records, which re-issued the album to national distribution in the U.S. It was also released in the UK by Sire Records.

Around 1978 (when I was working retail at Houston’s Cactus Records at 23), I must’ve gotten the band’s P.O. Box address from Greg (he and I had been communicating by mail by this time), and bassist John Murphy and I became pen-pals of a sort, hand-writing a few letters back and forth to each other (pre-internet/pre-cel phone) for several months!

Shoes, Fall 1979, none the worse for wear (l-r): Gary Klebe, Jeff Murphy (they’re gathered in his apartment), former pen-pal John Murphy, Skip Meyer.

Brad’s song #1 sent to Linda: April Wine, “Sign of the Gypsy Queen,” 1981