Music In My Shoes
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Music In My Shoes
E54 The Legendary Quincy Jones, The Cure, and West End Girls
What if one man could unite legends across eras and genres, leaving an indelible mark on music history? Quincy Jones did just that, and we're here to celebrate his legacy. From conducting a Frank Sinatra timeless live album to shaping the sound of Michael Jackson's biggest hits, Quincy’s influence is everywhere. We explore his instrumental beginnings with jazz icons and his role in crafting a charity anthem. We marvel at his genius in bringing together diverse voices, forever changing the cultural landscape.
Next, we turn our ears to the haunting melodies of The Cure and their 2024 release, ending a 16-year silence. This album is a poignant reminder of their enduring magic. Alongside, we introduce The Bug Club from Wales, whose infectious indie pop brings a refreshing sense of nostalgia and joy. Our reflections journey from the iconic soundscapes of The Cure’s past to the delightful discovery of new tunes, proving that the thrill of music never fades.
Finally, 1989 and early 90s beckon us back with Aerosmith's "Pump." We dissect its chart-topping singles, appreciating their raw emotion and unique sound, while also revisiting hits from the Pet Shop Boys and Siouxsie and the Banshees. This episode is a tribute to the diverse ways we perceive music, celebrating the art of listening and the rich tapestry it weaves in our lives. Join us as we continue to explore the fascinating world of music.
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You can contact us at musicinmyshoes@gmail.com.
He's got the feeling in his toe-toe.
Speaker 2:He's got the feeling and it's out there growing. Hey everybody, this is Jim Boge, and you're listening to Music In my Shoes. That was Vic Thrill kicking off episode 54. As always, I'm thrilled to be here with you. Let's learn something new or remember something old. So, jimmy, we've mentioned our top five favorite live albums before, actually a few times on the show. Well, one that's in my top 10 was released four months before I was born in 1966. Sinatra at the Sands.
Speaker 1:Oh cool.
Speaker 2:It's with Count Basie and the orchestra, arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones, recorded in early 1966 at the Sands Hotel and Casino, which used to be in Las Vegas, and the album's just chock full of Frank Sinatra hits, including Come Fly With Me, I've Got you Under my Skin, fly Me to the Moon, get Me to the Church on Time. It Was a Very Good Year and my Kind of Town. A ton of hits there. And that's not the whole album. I'm just, like you know, reciting some of them off the top of my head. And there's three instrumental by Count Basie and the Orchestra where they just play and they're just. I mean, they're just cooking, I mean they're so good, I mean it really is a good album to listen to. Pretty cool, yeah, definitely stands the test of time.
Speaker 2:So I mentioned it was arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones, who died on November 3rd 2024. In the 1950s he played trumpet with jazz legends Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie. In the 1960s he was an arranger for Ella Fitzgerald, frank Sinatra who I just mentioned, sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington. He composed the theme music for TV shows Ironside and Sanford and Son.
Speaker 1:I know it's amazing.
Speaker 2:He produced Leslie Gore's hit singles it's my Party and you Don't Own Me, it's my Party, hit number one on Billboard in 1963. You Don't Own Me reached number two in 64, just below the number one song, which was the Beatles'. I Want to Hold your Hand.
Speaker 1:Hey, you can't fault them for being number two behind that.
Speaker 2:You cannot, definitely can't. So I'm not even done with all the Quincy Jones stuff. I mean he produced Michael Jackson's Off the Wall in 79, thriller in 1983, and Bad in 1987. 1983 and Bad in 1987. In 1985, he co-produces the charity song we Are the World by a bunch of musicians called USA for Africa. That reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 13th 1985, three months before the historic Live Aid concert. In 1988, he produced a remix of New Order's Blue Monday, titled Blue Monday 88. And that hits number three on the UK charts. So New Order was looking for a new label. Quincy Jones had Quest. They signed and not only you know does he own it. But he wants to produce some stuff, he wants to remix stuff and New Order and him had a great relationship, really really good relationship, and it's like you don't expect New Order and Quincy Jones.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but when you think about it, I mean, they're both just like cutting edge kind of people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and regardless of the age difference, I think Quincy Jones was cutting edge all the time, from his early days and you know, till the end 1991, he convinced jazz legend Miles Davis to revisit music he had recorded in the past. Miles Davis always refused to do so. He finally did, july 8th 1991, playing trumpet with two different orchestras that Quincy Jones conducted. There's so much more Quincy Jones that he's a part of. It's just unbelievable that he accomplished as much as he did. Oh yeah, his 62 songs sold.
Speaker 2:Bossa nova was used for the movie Austin Powers International man of Mystery in 1997. You know, I mean I keep thinking of things that he did. By the way, the Sands was demolished in November 1996. The Venetian now sits in the spot where Frank Count Basie and Quincy Jones ruled the music world at the time. I can't tell you how impressed I am with Quincy Jones, with all the things that he's done. I didn't really know about him until about late 1995. I mean, I knew he produced albums, don't get me wrong. I knew what he had done with Michael Jackson. But in late 1995, I worked with this guy, greg, who was telling me that Quincy Jones had this new album out called Q's Juke Joint.
Speaker 1:And you know who nicknamed him Q.
Speaker 2:No, who, frank? Oh, there you go. I did not know that.
Speaker 1:I heard that in one of the obituaries this week.
Speaker 2:He actually, Frank actually gave him a ring that.
Speaker 1:Quincy.
Speaker 2:Jones wore all the time. He never took it off Right, always had it on. So I didn't know much about him. You know, you hear about a producer but you don't think much. And this guy, greg, I work with, kind of turned me on to Q's juke joint. There's got to be 75 different people on that album. I mean everybody was lining up and wanted to be on it. It's just insane.
Speaker 2:And to think that he was with, you know, lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, you know, and all the way to doing stuff with New Order and Frank Sinatra and Dino Washington, all these different people, all these greats, you know, I can't think of anyone off the top of my head that touched that many people over that many decades with good stuff. We're not talking about garbage, we're talking about really good stuff here and it just impresses me. I just, you know, my hat's off to him. He did some wonders. I mean he produced television shows. I'm not even going into like probably a half of all the things that he's accomplished. So if you get a chance, check him out. It's pretty cool the things that he did, pretty cool all the people that he was involved with and really cool that he got miles davis again. Miles davis would go on tour. He never played anything from an old record, he only played the newer stuff that he was working on at that time. Quincy jones, since the 70s, have been trying to convince him. Hey, why don't you revisit? He goes nope, why don't you visit? Nope, why don't you revisit? No. At the end I think that he changes mind because he was ill. I think he knew he only had a short time to go. I think he died about three months after that last concert that he performed with Quincy Jones in 1991. Maybe that's why he revisited it, I don't know, but to get him to do something that he had not done before, I think is super cool. It is Definitely.
Speaker 2:On November 1st 2024, after 16 years, the Cure released a new studio album and it was worth the wait. I think it's their best album since 1989's Disintegration. It's not Disintegration Part 2, as I've heard Some make the comparison, in my opinion, but it's not. You know, I get it where people think that it might be, but I don't think that it is. I think it's the album that I had hoped for, being able to play it from start to finish, and it is. It's definitely that kind of an album where you can put the first song on alone and then go all the way to the last song, end song and play it right through, and it's super, duper cool.
Speaker 2:In 2023, the Cure toured North America with shows of A Lost World and they played five songs from the album which was yet to be released on the show that I saw them at at Madison Square Garden. On the show that I saw them at at Madison Square Garden Opening track alone that I just mentioned follows what many you know pure songs do, and that's a long intro. It's almost three and a half minutes long.
Speaker 1:I started to think it was just an instrumental song and then, all of a sudden, you know, there's Robert's vocals.
Speaker 2:All of a sudden. Then his vocals kick in and you know, some of my favorites on the album are End, nothing Is Forever, a Fragile Thing. I think A Fragile Thing is the best song on the album. I think it's a classic Cure song. Love it. I Can Never Say Goodbye, all I Am. And, as I mentioned, the last song, end Song, six and a half minutes of music before he starts to sing. It's like he's trying to top what he's done before and you know he's been doing this for 40 years of these long intros and then going into it the song, you know, 10 minute long song. It's what. Does he think? He's the Grateful Dead now. I mean, it's great, he's setting a mood. There you go. I think it's a really good album and I have to be honest, when I first heard the Cure when I was 15, I didn't think they would be a band.
Speaker 2:I would be listening to new music by them in 2024. And when I'm 15, that's not going through my mind and the fact that they have continued to be part of, you know, my music world through all of these years, all these decades, and continue to sound good, live it's. I could have never guessed that that's not one of the bands I would have picked when I was 15. For sure, definitely one of them. I love the album, jimmy. I love it.
Speaker 2:I can't say any more than that. You know I really do like albums that you can play from start to finish, that you don't want to skip. You know, back in the day we've talked about this before you know, you got a record or a cassette, you put it on, you just listen to it because you didn't want to scratch the record by picking up the needle and the cassette. You know it was kind of tough to fast forward and, you know, catch where you wanted it to be. Yeah, but having this album it's just so cool in 2024 and it just I'm really excited because they, you know, plan to put out another album or two and I'm hoping that it's just as good as this. They started recording in 2019, finished about 2022, and then it still took two years to put the album out. Kind of strange, but it's cool, I like it.
Speaker 1:I think it'll be interesting with the next albums that come out if they continue with sort of the dark, moody, long intro kind of songs like this. I think that's probably the comparisons that people are giving to Disintegration is that there's not a Friday. I'm in love on it, you know.
Speaker 2:There's not a show me show me, show me, no, no.
Speaker 1:And so it's that darker side of the cure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know I've read reviews about it and doom and gloom has been in probably every review that I've read so far. You know, I don't necessarily, I guess I don't look at it that way. I know it's dark, I'd say dark and doom and gloom are definitely two different things to me.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't call it doom and gloom either.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I definitely see the dark side, especially if you look at some of the words on it. But some of it it's things I can relate to. He talks about getting old. I understand that. That makes sense to me today. When I was 15, it did not make any sense whatsoever. No, and I think that's what I like as I have grown older, what I like as I have grown older. You know, Robert Smith has grown older and I can still relate to it.
Speaker 1:That's what makes?
Speaker 2:it cool, yeah, you know it does. I'm not as good looking as him.
Speaker 1:No, you should grow the hair, though, or just get the wig.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would probably have to get the wig. I don't know about growing the hair, I'm not sure that would work too well. So another song album newer that I've been listening to. End of May I became aware of a song called Quality Pints by the Bug Club and it was played on 99X Radio. Planet Jill show here in Atlanta, georgia, and the Bug Club is a band from Wales singing about the search for quality pints in your town. The album is on the intricate inner workings of the system. Crazy title. I'm also digging the songs. Pop song best looking strangers in the cemetery, lonsdale slip-ons, a bit like James Bond and we don't care about that. I like it. A guy and a girl, some good indie pop. I love the song Quality Pints. I can't listen to it enough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's fun. I'm trying to put my finger on what it reminds me of. I can't exactly say, but it's got a little bit of that first wave British pop, punk kind of thing going on.
Speaker 2:And you're right. I couldn't say, oh, it reminds me of this or it reminds me of that, but it reminds me of something it definitely does.
Speaker 1:It's a little bit like the Rosillos that I talked about one time in man.
Speaker 2:With.
Speaker 1:Jimmy, it's just pure joy and rock and roll.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you get a chance, check it out. The whole album is actually pretty good. I mean, I think that Quality Pints might be the lead single and that gets people to listen to it, but the whole album really is. If you like indie pop, you know 2024, you know, here you go. This is a good example of it. I definitely like it.
Speaker 1:I like that they're Welsh too. I assumed that they were English, but Welsh, that's even better.
Speaker 2:Why is that better?
Speaker 1:Because you don't hear a lot of Welsh bands.
Speaker 2:I can't think of any off the top of my head.
Speaker 1:Tom Jones.
Speaker 2:Oh yes, yes, it's not unusual.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, it is unusual to be Welsh.
Speaker 2:Oh, that was good. That was good. Well, speaking of unusual, let's revisit some music from the past. And to get us started, I think it's time for Minute with Jimmy. It's time for Minute with Jimmy. Minute with Jimmy. Minute with Jimmy. It's time for Minute with Jimmy.
Speaker 1:Minute with Jimmy Minute with Jimmy. Going back to 1979, 45 years ago, the Specials put out their first album, which is another one of those first albums that could just as easily be the greatest hits. Specials were a ska band from England, so after World War II lots of Jamaican people moved to the UK. They needed labor and people wanted to live in the UK and they brought with them their music and their children created ska music. And so it's fast, jamaican style music done by these British people and it's super fun. Every song on the record is good. Rudy, a Message to you is a really great song, and Do the Dog is really fun.
Speaker 2:I love the album. Jimmy, I have Gangsters on my phone. I just think that it is just so much fun to listen to the album and I think that so many bands were influenced by Ska and without bands like the Specials I think we would have missed out on a lot. I don't think they get the credit that they deserve for really changing music in the UK and then ultimately that changed some things over here in America.
Speaker 1:It did, yeah, and it kind of put new rhythms into rock and pop music.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have Monkey man the demo of Monkey man from. I want to say it's the John Peel sessions on my phone that I listen to quite often. I just think it's a great song. I mean it really is a good album. If you haven't heard it, definitely it a a try. I mean it's good that that's a good one. Jimmy, I like that one thank you that was a great minute with jimmy.
Speaker 2:So jimmy pet shop boys, west end girls was the wlirreamer of the Week the second week of November 1984. While it was voted by WLIR listeners as Best Song of the Week, this is not the version that many of you out there may remember. When it was released in 1984, it did not do very well on the charts. It was more or less a dance club hit and it was re-recorded with producer Stephen Haig and released in October 1985. On May 10th 1986, it peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1987, the song won Best Single at the Brit Awards and long after being the best new song on WLIR in November 1984. I like the original version much better than the 1985 one. The 85 one is kind of polished, kind of slick, where the original one's a little bit raw and it's just kind of more upbeat, a little more experimental. You know it's not super different but it's different enough where I would pick that one I mentioned.
Speaker 2:Stephen Haig produced the hit version Prior to this. Some of the other music he produced was Hillary's song Kinetic, which was a screamer of the week on WLIR the second week of January 1983, and the 1985 OMD album Crush with the popular single so In Love. After the West End Girls single, he produced multiple albums by both the Pet Shop Boys and New Order. He also produced Public Image Limited's 9th album, the Suzy and the Banshees' Superstition album, as well as a ton of other albums. He really has done a lot. The Suzy and the Banshees' album had the hit single Kiss them For Me peaking at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1991. Wow, wow, that was after it hit WDRE Shriek of the Week, which was formerly WLIR Screamer of the Week, after the station was sold Okay.
Speaker 1:They didn't want to get in legal trouble with using Screamer, so they changed it to Shriek.
Speaker 2:They changed it to Shriek yes, okay.
Speaker 2:So it was the second week of June 1991 when it was the shriek of the week, again earlier than what it was, as far as hitting number 23 on Billboard. And then this is the craziest part this morning I've talked about this before my daughter, jessica, will send me screenshots of a song that she's listening to, and we go back and forth. She sends me the screenshot Kiss them For Me, suzy, and the Banshees In my top 20,. I think this song is brilliant and I'm saying to myself I'm about to talk about this today.
Speaker 1:This is one of the things that's great.
Speaker 2:And it's just so funny. You know how things like that happen. She had no idea. We don't talk about it. You know, and I, I just love that you know. It just goes back to why episode eight. Um, we are family and you know all the things we talked about back then with my, my kids, how it's really true and we continue to this day to send these. You know text and different things, and you know my, my youngest daughter, her and a boyfriend broke up. We're in the car the other day and she's got Carole King it's Too Late which is one of the songs from the breakup cassettes that I've talked about.
Speaker 2:So it's, you know, it's cool, cool, I I really, you know, I love being able to have that with them and just be able to share music and the fact that she sent something on the day that I plan on mentioning kiss them for me, suzy and the banshees who would have ever known. That's great. Let's move to 1989, aerosmith Pump. The album hits number five on the Billboard 200, november 4th of 1989. Really good rock record that I think we needed at that time. You ever look back, jimmy, and say this album came out and we really kind of needed it. At that time Music was kind of in a funk or there wasn't a whole lot of stuff. This was one of those albums.
Speaker 2:First single, loving an Elevator, peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 28th 1989. Good video kicks off with the going down intro. You know everybody knows that a lot of times they only play on the radio where the music starts, but in the video you know the elevator is going and you know name it, off, what floors they're stopping at and you know a woman comes to ask if the elevator is going down or whatever, and so forth. Janie's Got a Gun, released November 8th, peaked at number four on February 10th of 1990. Now that's another song. If you listen to the album it's got the water song intro that you don't hear if you're listening to it, necessarily on the radio, or if you're listening to the single. And they did a bunch of that on this album, which I thought was kind of cool, definitely, definitely like the, the version where they put that water song intro, what it takes made it to number nine on billboard hot 100, may 5th of 1990.
Speaker 2:One of those songs that stephen tyler sings and sound likes it straight from his heart mentioned that before. I love those. I'm a sucker for those songs. If it sounds like they're singing about something that happened to them, I love it right from the heart. It's about a guy having a tough time over an ended relationship. Tell me what it takes to let you go. Tell me how the pain's supposed to go. Album version has an acoustic outro that starts about 10 seconds after the song ends. You know there's silence and then this little acoustic outro. They just did some really cool things on the album that I really like. I love that song, fantastic song. I could listen to that over and over and over because to me it's just one of those real songs, over and over and over, because to me it's just one of those real songs.
Speaker 2:Last single, the Other Side, peaked at number 22 on August 18th 1990. Aerosmith had to give songwriting credit to Holland, dozier Holland, because the song sounded similar to their song Standing in the Shadows of Love. They wrote a ton of hits for the supremes four tops martha and the vandellas, marvin gay and a ton of people. I don't think it sounds a whole lot like it but you know I'm not that musically inclined person. Maybe somebody else can hear something that I can't. But the album had the dulcimer stomp intro. Again, another song where they did something different than the single Video won the MTV Video Music Award for the best rock video in 1991. Other good songs are FINE Monkey on my Back, young Lust, all really good songs.
Speaker 1:They're still putting out singles off of it two years later.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, it just was really. I really do believe that it was this album that we needed at the time and it went for a long period of time. It did great things for their career, you know they were, you know, coming back. The album before was really good. I just really like it. You know who they were doing a lot of writing with. They had done some writing before but on this album Desmond Child did a lot of writing with them on this album and it was funny because he helped them write Angel from the previous album and they were kind of like, hey, when we do what it takes, we want to do it our way, we want to do it the Aerosmith way, you know, because they had the ballads that were. They could have been anybody that did them Right, but what it takes is definitely an Aerosmith rock ballad, no question about that.
Speaker 1:You know, thinking back about the Standing in the Shadows of Love and the Other Side. It is the same melody. You think so I do Shadows of Love and the Other Side.
Speaker 2:It is the same melody. You think so I do. You're a musician, I'm not.
Speaker 1:I don't necessarily hear all the same things. It's both songs.
Speaker 2:You heard it here, not first, but you did hear it here. Jimmy says that they sound similar, similar. Obviously the court thought it or they agreed mutually to that. Yeah, they were going to sue him and quickly they settled with hey, we'll just give you the songwriting credit so that you don't sue. Yeah, so I guess they see it.
Speaker 1:the same way. Do they share the songwriting credit or do they just give it all no?
Speaker 2:no, they share. They share. It's Steven Tyler and Holland Dozier Holland, and I don't know if there's anyone else off the top of my head. Hey, you know, I can hear things that other people can't. You can hear things that other people can't, and other people can hear things we can't.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and other people than them can hear songs. Those other people can't.
Speaker 2:And that's why this is it for the end of episode 54 of Music in my Shoes. I'd like to thank Jimmy Guthrie, show producer and owner of Arcade 160 Studios located here in Atlanta, georgia, and Vic Thrill for our podcast music. This is, jim, and I hope you learned something new or remembered something old. We'll meet again on our next episode. Until then, live life and keep the music playing, thank you.
