Music That Rocks- And Doesn't

Like live music? Me, too! And I've seen some great and some horrible concerts in my time. Here's a quick recap:

Queen- 1977 Tour, Los Angeles. The band was tight, and Freddie Mercury sounded as great live as in the studio. Smoking version of the classic Jail House Rock as finale. One of my favorite concerts ever.

Four Tops/ Freda Payne- 1977 or so, Las Vegas. Great Motown night!

Peter Frampton- Also about 1977. One hour acoustic, one hour electric. Premiered Signed, Sealed, Delivered. My favorite Frampton cut to this day. Just before the release of the "I'm In You" album.

Carpenters- 1976, 1977, and 1978, Las Vegas. As my friends in UK would say "Brilliant". Karen sounded great. Met she and Richard back stage in 1976. Very nice people and wonderful musicians. Karen was just so warm. Richard surrounded by a group of hot blondes. The bad press they got for their music was unjustified.

Kenny Rogers/Crystal Gayle- About 1986, Orange County, CA. Both in top form.

Marilyn McCoo- About 1990, Denver. With an orchestra. Lovely. Her generation's Whitney Houston before Whitney's downslide.

Amy Grant / Gary Chapman- 1995, Denver. With the kids. Gary was a great musician. Amy was not bad on the guitar, and she was very friendly and relaxed with the audience. Vocally very strong, stronger than I expected. House of Love was great. Nice job, Amy.

Olivia Newton-John- 1982, Los Angeles and 1997 Denver. Way better live than you'd expect. Special thanks to my wife for both concert's tickets. She's not threatened one iota! 

Sting- 2011, Denver. At Red Rocks with orchestra. Father's Day gift from the kids. JUST INCREDIBLE.

BAD Concerts- Led Zeppelin- Robert Plant and crew too stoned to play or sing well. Waste of money.
Genesis- Bad sound. Pre- Phil Collins on vocals.

Musical Meringues: Crystal Gayle, Donny & Marie, Diana Ross

Fluffy, light, delicious, and impossible to partake just one. Everyone once in awhile, you just have to indulge! On my i-pod this week, a few bites of musical sugar went down so smoothly while I ran on the treadmill. Just to review a few:

Crystal Gayle, "Cry"- The country songstress sister of Loretta Lynn first hit the pop charts big with "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". It only gave the slightest hint to what she could do, but it did win her many pop fans who would not have found her on country radio. I didn't buy every release, but when I did, I was rarely disappointed. Her stinging ballad "Cry" had it all- diva vocals pulled off effortlessly, a piercing arrangement, and very personalized lyrics by Keith Stegall and Dan Hill. So much fun!

Donny & Marie, "Deep Purple"- In the 70's, it was a pretty common pattern for the duo of Donny and Marie Osmond to record remakes of 60's pop songs. Taking on a popular recording of Nino Tempo and April Stevens, their rendition is faithful to the original and totally irresistible. Pop perfection.

Diana Ross, "The Boss" - Although this 1979 release was followed up by the better selling Nile Rogers' production, I've always found this title single much more fun than "Upside Down" and the singles from the latter disc. Diana is a modern legend, part of one of the most powerful girl groups ever.  When she moved on, she then assured her place in music history by an almost equally successful solo career. 

With pop fun such as this, my hour on the treadmill went by quickly. I had so much fun sharing about these ones, I'll just have to share some more musical meringues in future posts.