Song of the Day

To everything there is a season (turn, turn, turn...table)--and a chance to re-visit early Christine McVie.

Just bought a new (cheapish) turntable so starting to listen to some lps that have not been out of their jackets for maybe decades. (Some of those jackets thoroughly scratched by a former cat.) They are all from '50s, '60s, 70s into mid-80s when I made the usual switch to cassettes—remember them?—and then CDs. So these are what now pass for "oldies." When Sha Na Na and “rock and roll revivals” emerged in the late-1960s less than 15 years had passed since the release of those formative singles. Hard to believe half a century has now elapsed since, for example, the first Springsteen album.

So I am starting to revisit everything from Bonnie Raitt’s debut, Nina Simone's greatest hits, and early Zevon as well as my Japanese and Chinese trad instrumental period. Six Joan Armatrading lps. Marley and Cliff and Toots. Burritos, Gram Parsons, Emmylou. Stevie Wonder’s remarkable run of 1970s albums. Early Dire Straits and Graham Parker and Elvis C. and the Heads. Al Green before he became the Reverend. And on and on....

When Christine McVie passed away suddenly three weeks ago, most longtime fans focussed on her songs starting in 1975 when Fleetwood Mac (after Lindsay and Stevie joined) became mega-popular. But she had made three albums with Mac before then and I now have those more obscure records to spin. Here is my favorite cut from the 1972 Bare Trees lp. Below that the same song live, from first tour with Buckingham and Nicks, 1975. And finally an unreleased Van Morrison version (1972).

BONUS SONG

The much-anticipated two hour tribute to (and with) Paul Simon aired last night on CBS and Variety has a lengthy review—hailing as the top highlight his closing duet with one of our faves, Rhiannon Giddens, on the great “American Tune.” If you can’t wait for replay, here is how they did at Newport last summer….

“Essential daily newsletter.” — Charles P. Pierce, Esquire

“Incisive and enjoyable every day.” — Ron Brownstein, The Atlantic

“Always worth reading.” — Frank Rich, New York magazine, Veep and Succession

Greg Mitchell is the author of a dozen books, including the bestseller The Tunnels (on escapes under the Berlin Wall), the current The Beginning or the End (on MGM’s atomic bomb movie twisted by the White House and Pentagon), and The Campaign of the Century (on Upton Sinclair’s left-wing race for governor of California), which was recently picked by the Wall St. Journal as one of five greatest books ever about an election. His 2021 film, Atomic Cover-up, drew extraordinary acclaim, and his current one, The First Attack Ads, aired over hundreds of PBS stations this past fall. For nearly all of the 1970s he was the #2 editor at the legendary Crawdaddy. Later he served as longtime editor of Editor & Publisher magazine. He recently co-produced a film about Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.