The Hollies

Today, we dive deep into the worlds of analog sound, classic rock history, and modern musical discovery. From the genre-bending atmosphere of Sleep Token to the psychedelic harmonies of The Hollies, the conversation explores how music evolves across generations while still staying rooted in vinyl culture. Along the way, we unpack the legacy of guitar legends like Ronnie Montrose and Ritchie Blackmore of Rainbow, share stories about mono vs. stereo pressings, and reflect on the emotional connection that comes from truly listening to records. A perfect episode for collectors, audiophiles, and anyone chasing the magic hidden in the grooves.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Jerry, you want to start us off with this day in history?

SPEAKER_02 0:06

February today's February 28th, last day of the month. Okay. Born this day was uh, let's see, Zero Mastell in 1926. I think he was an actor or something. He got a bunch of Academy Awards. Okay, then uh John Fehey, F-A-H-E-Y. When I saw that name, I go, I've seen that name before. He was born in 1939. Uh he well, he got he was on, he was number 35 in Rolling Stones' uh publication of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. He had a different like finger picking way or something. I don't know if he was in any band or anything. I don't know, but okay. Uh also today was born with Brian Jones, Rolling Stones founder, and he also died when he was 27. It's one of those. And then another one born today was Joe South, was born in 1942. I've got a few of his albums. Uh he had that the one hit he had, he's a singer-songwriter. He had the hit uh games people play. Um Events of Today. This is kind of a weird one. Uh Paluka opens and introduces Jimmy Durante and Inka Dinka Doo, which was apparently one of his songs in 1934. Here's the cool one of the day. On this date, the cavern club in Liverpool, where the Beatles got their start, closed uh with $10,000 in debts, and the stage was cut into pieces and sold to fans in 1966. Uh the Beatles performed on that stage 292 times, and you're not going to be able to go on eBay and find any of those pieces of the stage because they only get sold at Sotherby's auctions, along with other fine jewelry and that stuff. Um, and then one other thing on this day, uh, MASH broadcasts its final episode to the largest TV audience in history. After 11 years of successful ratings, advertisers break all-time high sales by paying up to $450,000 for 30 seconds of commercial time uh on this date in 1983.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

That's it for today.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Lovely. Very good. All right. Uh Eric, what do you uh what do you got to talk about today?

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Uh I just have one album that I'm gonna talk about. I've actually listened to it this morning. Um, it's a very popular band, and and it's a band that I've never I actually haven't had any albums from this group. So cool. I just have one record I'd like to talk about, and it's uh I'm excited to just finally get my first album from this band. Cool. Um so yeah, that that's what I got.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Jerry, what do you got today?

SPEAKER_02 3:34

I've got uh uh two bands and one artist. Um the artist isn't gonna take too long. And well, one of the bands isn't gonna take too long either, but one band might take a little while, but all right, lovely.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

So well, we're gonna start every record club like we always do with our mission statement. Eric, take it away.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

In the name of Wax is an exclusive record club for music lovers of the analog format through sharing experiences, memories, discoveries, and emotions tied to the albums. Our goal is to build continued appreciation for forgotten bands and members by understanding more of their histories and connections. We reinforce our bond with club members for love of the groove. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Very good, very good. Um, so should I go first with one thing and then switch it over to Eric then? Or sure. Yeah, I think that would be good. That'll make a sound legit. A little right, yeah, kind of balance it out a little bit. Okay. Okay, this group, oh I listened to their album I have. I listened to it this morning. It's a double album. I mentioned them uh one time before, um, but I think I just kind of mentioned them and just to kind of like a heads up on them or whatever. Okay. They're they're an English rock band. And the album, well, let's see, I'm not gonna see. Let me see where was I going here.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Let me just go. Is the album is it a double live album?

SPEAKER_02 5:22

Uh, I think it is. Well, that brings me to another thing. I didn't even was it this wasn't even I wasn't even gonna bring this up, but I did listen to a double live album a couple days ago. It blew me away. And it's by uh an artist I don't hardly never really ever listen to that much. I can do have a few of his albums. Uh Ted Nugent's Double Live album blew me away. That guy's a great guitar player, and I don't think about him as much as I should really. But this band, uh okay, English rock band, um let's see, I'm just gonna go down to I'm gonna go down to the I'm gonna try to make this short kind of shorter. Uh right now they just have one, two, three, four. They are they have four albums. And uh in okay, in twenty twenty six already they've won uh best rock performance by uh what was the award? Well, the award is best rock performance. I don't know who gave that up. And they were nominated for best rock song and best metal performance. That's all this year already, 26. In 25, they won uh Musician of the Year, they won it in one category, they were nominated in two other categories, and Radio Song of the Year in 25, they won. Album of the Year, they won in 25, and in uh this other category called Revolver Awards in 2025, they won the album of the year in 25, and then this other uh Carmel something, 2025, they also won the best song of the year for 25. Okay, that I just wanted to mention that. I didn't even like know all that stuff until I was listening again this morning. Okay, and I talked about the band before, it's sleep token. Sleep token, don't uh and I was gonna say, don't sleep on sleep token. This band is like uh everything you'd want as far as I mean, they won the they win the metal stuff, and you know, they're they keep they always wear their masks, nobody knows who they are. So who so I yeah, every every once in a while I wonder, geez, are they somebody like that we'd recognize if we did know them? I don't know, but so yeah, I mean they do alternative metal, indie pop, progressive metal, post-metal. Um it's like the and when I think sleep token, when I'm listening to them, it's like their songs sound, they go from like a dream, like you're in a dream, to you're in a nightmare.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Yeah, their stuff is amazing. I recently got into them maybe about like a month ago. I I actually heard their music over um I was at uh I was at a store called Axe Man, and I was uh looking for um uh power plugs and just parts for like my pedal board. And um and I heard this strange, ethereal, thought-provoking, interesting music and with beautiful melodies, heavy guitar, but then it went like jazzy, and then it went like groovy, and then it went like it almost became like a synth wave, like it changes genres all the time. Yeah, it was very captivating, and the music was mind-blowing. And I remember I went to the register and I was there for maybe like a little over an hour, just like browsing through all the aisles, and I could and I asked him, like, who's been like who is the band that was playing like maybe about like 20 minutes ago? And the cashier is like, Oh, this is sleep token. And I was like, Oh, is this who it was like about 20 minutes ago? And she goes, No, we've been listening to Sleep Token for like four hours. And it and that blew me away because it's yeah, it's a band you could do that with, yeah. And I was really shocked by it because I was like, all of this is the same band because the styles were changing and it sounded like there were different vocalists. And they uh the gal, she's like, No, it's uh it's one vocalist, she's female, and she uh took she was a horrible vocal or she had a difficulty with singing. She took like a couple of months of lessons and she totally captured her sound. So I was like, This is all one vocalist, and like, yeah. I was like, I was that blew me away just as much as the music did. So I was like, okay. I really love that.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

Yeah, so that was kind of the band I just wanted to make sure I it was uh very much uh in the name of Waxworthy.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

What album did you get by Sleep Token?

SPEAKER_02 10:44

I've got um Take Me Back to Eden. Okay, yeah. It's their 20 2023 yeah, 2023 album. Very cool. Yeah, and this album I've got um Wall of Sound gave it 10 out of 10 uh points or stars. I don't know. The Skinny gave it four out of five stars. Uh some New Music something gave it five out of five. There's apparently there's a uh something called Metal Sucks gave it four, four point five out of five. Uh Metal Hammer gave it four out of five. It it got good ratings from a bunch of a bunch of places. And and I mean they're already like on top uh for 26, and 26 just started. So geez.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

Yeah, that's wild. I've I have not listened to sleep token.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

I gotta Oh, you're you're one of the many. I'm I'm sure there's probably not. Well, this friend of mine, she kind of told me about him, and yeah, she kind of kept mentioning to him. Finally, I just got it. So cool. So yeah. So you're up, Eric.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

All right. So this group, I'm gonna see if you can guess it just by me talking about them. I'm sure you probably will. Um so this band, they're an English rock and pop band. They formed in Manchester in 1962. Um they were one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and ended the uh mid-1970s. They're known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. And um, there was a musician in here where it seems like this might be like his first band before going on to another very successful group, which I did not know. So I'll leave that part out for now. That's fun. Okay. Um, let's see. It's not Manford Man, is it? Nope. Nope. Okay. Um the band member that I'm thinking of, so this band formed in 1962. The band member that I'm that I'm mentioning, he left the group in 1968 to form his his um different band of his own, which was comprised of two other people and then a third person. Um let's see. Uh this band they joined or they enjoyed uh popularity in the UK and and in Europe in the mid-1960s with a string of hits. Um let's see. They didn't achieve US charts uh until 1966. They went to have a period of success in both uh on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean over the next decade with several hits in 1966, 67, 69, 72, and 74. Um let's see. They had another uh they had a number one hit in the U UK singles chart uh in 1988. Uh they had a uh another track hit uh 22 in the US Billboard Hot 100. Um there this is one of the few UK groups in the early 60s that were along the Rolling Stones that have never disbanded, although they performed they last performed in 2023. So despite one member leaving, the rest of the group stayed together. Um they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. Um let's see. They're originally a duo of two members, where one was this uh member who I didn't know was in this band. Um let's see, they start they their best friends, uh these two people they were best friends from high school, and they uh let's say it's kind of going into their history, they started playing skiffle music in 1962. One member what once they got a drummer, uh the drummer had had uh had eventually left to join a band called the Mindbenders. I never heard of them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

Yeah, I think I've got one or two albums by them, I believe. Okay. And that that makes me think I should know who it is, but I can't think of who it is.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Sure. Um let's see, I'll I'll just kind of give the context of that fact. The the American duo, the Everly Brothers, worked uh worked as Ricky and Dane Young under the under this name. They teamed up with this local band, the four-tone the four-tones, consisting of uh Pete Backing on guitar, John Butch uh Mephum on bass, Keith Bates on drums, Derek Quinn on guitar. When Quinn quit to join Freddy and the Dreamers in 1962, Clark and this other member uh uh also quit to join the Manchester another Manchester band in Delta, uh consisting of Vic Steele on lead guitar, Eric Hadock on bass guitar on lead guitar. Sorry, Vic Steele on lead guitar, Eric Hadock on bass guitar, and Don Rothbone on drums, who had just lost two members to including Eric Stewart, who then left to join a professional band called the Mindbenders. So at this point early on, you know, there's group members that were kind of moving in and out before the Not during the Peacemakers, is it? Nope. Um The band uh originally had called themselves the Deltas before calling themselves this their origin their actual name in December of 1962. So at this point they were still kind of moving around. Some band members were shifting, but once they formed they were they uh they stayed pretty static. Um I got nothing.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Okay. But I'm but I'm um it's kind of cool that you got an album by a band that old or you know, like sounds like Everly Brothers Connection or whatever. Yeah. It's it's almost like uh almost feels like out of your comfort zone normally.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

Well, uh and and there's gonna be tons of bands that I've heard of, but I but I don't know that's why I'm like I'm like super happy that you took a band from back then, yeah. Yeah, and and I always like to find you know old school bands or just original bands and uh actually getting a real record from them. So this record, so I'll actually What label? Uh the label is I think it's Epic. Yep, it's on Epic. So I feel like I should need to. Yeah, I'll be like I'll I'll give you a hint. Um uh the band member that I didn't know was in this group is Graham Nash, where he left this band in 1968 to form Crosby Stills and Nash. Uh Youngbloods, no.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Wait, no. I I can't think of who it is. It's on the tip of my tongue, I just can't think of what it is. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

Um you say the name was Graham Nash?

SPEAKER_01 18:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

So Graham Nash was original was a uh founding member of this band before he left. Yeah, and I got I got albums by this group for sure, but I can't think of who it is.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Uh I'm gonna start walking around my living room, see if I can see it.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

See, I can't I won't be able to think of it. Uh Bus Stop was their first US top uh 10 single.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Yeah, it's like right on the tip of my well, it's not on the tip of my tongue, or I'd be able to see it. I can't think of who it is.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

Okay. 1966, um, yeah, bus stop bus stop was their US their first charting hit. Um Let's see. Oh. Okay, so at the time of Hadock's departure, Clark Nash and Hicks participated alongside session guitarist Jimmy Page, bass guitarist John Paul Jones, and pianist Elton John in the recording of the Everly Brothers 1966 album Two Yanks in England. So this band also participated in recordings with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Elton John on an Everly Brothers recording. It's interesting. Very cool. Um let's see. So after the Everly Brothers album, this band uh the this band stopped publishing original songs under a pseudonym to form uh uh until Nash's last single with this band in 1968. All their single A-sides were original compositions except for the final Nash era single, Listen to Me, 1968, which was written by Tony Hazard. Um so the album I have is the uh I think it might have been the first album that where Graham Nash is not a part of it. Uh let me check. Maybe not, let me see. Because the album I have has Carrie Ann on it. Does that ring a bell for you? Well, yeah, I know that song.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

I just can't think who's doing it. Okay. It's not the the rascals, is it?

SPEAKER_01 20:30

No. I don't know who it could be. Uh actually just reading the back of the jacket, this does have Cram Nash. So um this amazing nonstop uh the amazing non-stop uh could I should I just say the name of the band? Yeah. The Hollies. Oh yeah. Geez. The Hollies. So just reading the back. So the album I got is called Evolution. It's their sixth album. That's the first one I have of them. Um just reading the back of it. The amazing non-stop Hollies have had a tremendous hits in almost every country in the world. These five North of Englanders, Alan Clark, Tony Hicks, Graham Nash, Bobby Elliott, and Bernie Calvert, have been widely acknowledged as one of the best all-around singing, playing, harmonizing groups of the scene today. This album, The Hollies Exciting, Epic Debut, excites ample evidence of the talent and originality that have propelled this unusual group to the top and that has kept them there.

SPEAKER_03 21:35

Very cool.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

Yeah, it is very cool. Yeah, I mean, yeah, Hollies, they were a major group back then.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Yeah. So this has always a this has been a group where I've always heard of them, but I never I had never actually had the opportunity to actually listen to a record because I never had any of their material. So um it was last last weekend uh stopped at the record. Store and I saw this record and I was like, oh, I'm just gonna grab this real quick because I so I was excited for that and I just listened to that.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

Yeah, I've got three it looks like three of their albums. Like the Hollies isn't like I mean, I was just kind of looking like in in my H section and you know, groups that I have a few albums of kind of have their own, you know, I put a tag to but these were just in my general H's section. I just have the three, I just have their greatest hits, and then the Holly's bus stop, and then one that's just the Hollies. What what'd you say the name of yours was, Eric?

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Evolution. It's their sixth album. Looks like Holly's is from 1965, and that's their third album. Okay. Well, I'll probably be uh listening to these things today, kind of uh updating my uh Holly's music section. Yeah, it was actually really good. Uh it was uh kind of like a a a psych a psych folk version of like kind of like uh bubblegum pop in a way, but it kind of reminded me of like early Beatles stuff where I was like, this is just really fun songwriting and like their melodies are great. And uh yeah, I really enjoyed it. Yeah, that's nice.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Yeah, and it's uh I'm like I'm like totally fine with like not remembering different bands because there's way too many to remember everything about them anyway. But it's it's almost like rediscovering something that you know. So yeah, the discoveries will never stop. Oh very good.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Very cool. Yeah, it's got a very cool uh uh album artwork, too.

SPEAKER_03 24:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:01

Uh have you heard of the Hollies, Justin? Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

I haven't heard of I haven't heard of 90% of the bands that you guys talk about on a weekly basis.

SPEAKER_02 24:14

Well, that's that's that's a good thing because you're in for some good stuff, okay?

SPEAKER_00 24:19

Right. Yeah, no, this this album is really cool. It's got you know purple letters, it's kind of bubbly, squiggly, very 60s psychedelic that says the Hollies, and then I don't know, it almost looks like you're looking at them through like what's that like a kaleidoscope where you like you can turn it and it's got the different colors and fractals and stuff, and yep.

SPEAKER_03 24:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

But then the guy in the center, so it's a picture of the band. It's like you're looking at the band through a kaleidoscope, and then one of the members is like reaching out towards the camera and like touching it, and it's almost like the glass is breaking, like the lens is breaking as he's like about ready to to touch you. It's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

Yep. Well, it's not it's sound, it sounds familiar. I I feel like there's a possibility I might have that still someplace here, but yeah, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna look anymore toward that.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Yeah. Very cool. And what's also just like a minor little interest, but it's like uh this album is actually it's a mono pressing too, so I was like, okay, cool. And like I was thinking, okay, maybe I might need to start taking notes of maybe having a note card of what albums I have that are mono pressings.

SPEAKER_02 25:39

Yeah, I've listened to some mono stuff in the past week. And yeah, it sounds great. I like any like if I think I have doubles of any album, I kind of make sure that if I have one in stereo and one in mono, I just keep both of them. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

And Eric, for if there's any listeners that don't know what a mono pressing is, can you describe what a mono pressing is?

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Uh mono pressing is the same, it's the same music on both channels. Uh so there is no left and right. Uh so it's all one. It's it's go ahead, Jerry.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

Yeah, well, I was just gonna say, yeah, back then your music, you it just had one speaker. There never was two speakers back with mono. Well stereo, where the separation happened, that was like, I don't know, 1957 or 58, or that's when it started. I mean, it didn't totally turn over until took a few years before everything was stereo, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

Do you think the creation of a stereo stereo music had any influence on just the rock music, you know, just like the what ushered in the era that we know as like, you know, the Beatles and and you know, just the music explosion that happened in the 60s.

SPEAKER_02 27:14

I I would I would say that the stereo was part of the you know influ it it influenced that. I don't I don't know that that was the for sure only thing, but it accelerated it, put it that way.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

Yeah, it was a re it was a evolutionary thing in music, really. Yeah, because then you had like experimentation with like panning left and right. Right. You could pan vocals, you could pan guitar solos, you know.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

Yeah, there's some of the early stuff that you were trying weird things with. Some older albums right around that time, you can hear if you're speak if you're listening, your stereos in front of you, and they would take and have the mic going back and forth with the artist, and you'd be turning your head back and forth looking at your speakers, trying to listen to the music. They were trying to emphasize that there was two channels or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Uh Interstellar Overdrive by Pink Floyd is a really good example of that, of like of early not early, but like recognized panning between left and right where that's probably my favorite example of panning and where it becomes a psych a psychedelic piece and it becomes a more of like an experience rather than a song.

SPEAKER_03 28:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

Yeah, very cool. But but the I mean, the old mono is great too. I mean, I used to think that I mean, you know, stereo when they came out with it, everybody was like, it's a big improvement or whatever, but uh it was probably the same thing back then when people were getting rid of their vinyl for CDs. People were probably getting rid of their mos for stereos.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

I feel like today everybody's listening to music on their phones, on their Bluetooth speakers. It almost kind of feels like we took a step back. And it's almost like we're listening to mono again. Like nobody like even my my kids, like I tell them, you know, the stereo with like with like a left and right and and the different channels, and like they don't they don't get it.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

They probably will eventually.

SPEAKER_03 29:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

And it might be just with having a um an actual example to demonstrate it. Like I have like some uh Beatles albums where it's like just the vocals are on one side of the of the groove. Um and like a revolver is a good example of that where it's like that was the first one of the first albums I cleaned with my ultrasonic cleaner, and I was hearing guitar tracks that I never heard before. Okay, this is so clean and it's so crisp, and I'm literally hearing more music than what I thought was even on there. Yeah. Um and it's subtle, it's like there's like a guitar, there's one track where uh there's like an acoustic that's mimicking the uh melody that's being sung, and I'm like, I never heard that guitar before.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

And uh yeah, so that but it's only on one side of the of it's only on one channel, so it's not uh it's not mono, it's a stereo press. So it's like I'm hearing something completely different that I wouldn't have heard. No. Because if you were playing through mono or or playing through one speaker, you wouldn't hear it anyway. Yep. Um and it's interesting because sometimes if you if you happen to have like say one speaker go out or one channel go out, all of a sudden you'd be listening to music and there would be no vocals. Like you literally have half the song.

SPEAKER_02 30:57

Yeah, yeah. But and it did it did have a uh it did have something to do with you know where you put your microphones to, because like when they did like, you know, orchestras and stuff, they would have right and left microphones down low on both sides, but then they'd have one microphone in the middle up high over the conductor's head. And that's how they recorded, you know, all that you know, big big music things were recorded that way, yeah.

unknown 31:29

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

So like um, so like when Tom and I went to the studio and we recorded for 10 hours, I brought my Leslie and Leslie's like the rotating speaker for like the Doppler effect. And I want to mimic how he mic did here at the house, where it's you know, you have like three mics, and you literally have one on the far one side being on the left channel only, so pan all the way to the left, and then have another one at the center, and that's literally centering it, and then the other one on the right be just far right. So when it's swirling, you're actually getting the swirl in the recording.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

Yeah, we're gonna have to do that. Yep. Love it. Um, since we're still talking about that, I'll just share a quick memory. Um, first time I remember hearing panning in music. I was a kid, my brother and I, we were really big into Led Zeppelin, just like any kid growing up in the 90s. Um, I think it was the song Heartbreaker. Like in the middle of the song, there's a weird like interlude solo where Jimmy Page is doing weird stuff with his guitar, like some distortion feedback, and it's you hear this like and it's going from left to right, to left to right, and it was really cool. I just remember as a kid just like being blown away. Like, that's how do they do that?

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Yeah, yeah, it's cool. Okay, ready for me again.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

Yep, go for it.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

Okay, okay, this is fairly short. Um, but this is an artist who well, he's a great guitar player. He's American. Um he kind of did a lot of session work. Uh, I'll give you a major clue toward the end if you aren't sure who it is, but he did session work with um with Van Morrison, Herbie Hancock, Beaver and Krause, Boss Gaggs, Edgar Winner, Gary Wright, the Bo Bremmels, Dan Hartman, Tony Williams, the Neville Brothers, Mark Barilla, don't know who that is, and Sammy Hagar.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

Well.

SPEAKER_02 33:55

Um so he did session work, most of his, but then he he wanted to have his own band, which he did. And his and his debut album came out in 1973, and this is a quote that this album, in quotes, is America's Answer to Led Zeppelin. So his first album is for sure one to get. I mean, I've got a f I've got, I don't know how many of his albums. I mean, you know, that many, but okay. And he this guy is is often recognized as one of the most influential guitarists in early hard rock. He was born in San Francisco. Um his uh when he was a toddler, his parents moved back to his mom's home state of Colorado. Um let's see here. Okay. He spent he spent his younger years in Denver, and this is kind of cool. When he was 16 years old, he ran away from home to pursue his musical career, and he ran away to San Francisco when he was 16. He quit school and ran away to San Francisco. Okay. So in late 68, he started playing in a band. Uh I mean it's not a known band, really. Um it kind of says some of the other people. Oh, well, uh, okay, he the people he was with, I mean, I don't know who any of these people were, but they anyway, they did end up getting signed to Fillmore Records. Uh that would have been, looks like, in 68. Um at the end of 70 and the beginning of 71, they were able to record their first studio album. Um and there it looks like their manager at that time uh was able to get him a audition with Van Morrison. Uh, Van Morrison was looking for somebody to play on one of his albums. And anyway, he got to do that. And it's actually one of Van Morrison's most well-known albums, who this guy played on. Okay. Uh talking about Van. Okay. And then uh he played with Boss Skaggs uh for a little bit. Um and then he, well, he he joined this other band for a while and played on one of their like best albums and actually one of their best songs. And I mean, I'll mention that later if you people aren't sure who it is. Okay, but then he made his own he made his own band in 73, uh, which is the one I kind of mentioned earlier. Then he made another one in 74, and then he made another one in 75 and 76. Um he he shifted directions or something, and he released another album in seventy-eight, but it was all pretty much instrumental. Um then okay, then he f he formed another group uh in 79. Uh let's see. He composed a music soundtrack. I don't know when that was for sure. It looks like 79 or right around there. 80. Uh 1980, okay. 83. Uh he played uh on a on a lead song from Paul Cantner's album, from an album from Paul Cantner. Uh let's see here. Okay, I'll just kind of go down to this part. Um Okay, this guy died from a s from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on March 3rd, 2012. His death was initially assumed the result of prostate cancer. He had prostate cancer for a long time, because it I would have been reading about that up until you know. Um however, the San Mateo County Coroner's office released a report and confirmed that the guar that the guitarist had shot himself. Uh the toxicity reported uh blood alcohol of uh 0.31 at the time of his death. The death okay, in early 2012, the deaths of his uncle and his dog worsened his uh clinical depression that plagued him since he was a toddler. This was gonna be kind of my last one I was gonna read, but I didn't want to end our thing on this. Um so I he did how many albums? One, two, three, four. Okay, here's my clue. You guys both know the song Frankenstein. Yes. He was a lead guitarist on Frankenstein. And the group he was with was Edgar Winner, of course.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

Yeah. Most of the time. I don't know. I I knew his Edgar Winner group as far as Frankenstein, but when you mentioned that he also played with Beaver and Krauss, like that really piqued my interest because I really, really enjoy them. I think I have uh two albums of theirs. So I'll be curious to see if I'm sure he's probably on those albums. Um I can tell you if you don't have any guesses. How many albums did he make? You said he started his band in 73, right?

SPEAKER_02 40:54

Yeah, and yeah, he did uh yeah, he did his first one was in 73, one in 74, one in 75, 78, 87, 2000.

SPEAKER_01 41:10

Uh I mean that's a best of um could you give us a hint and give us the name of one of his hit songs or one of his albums? I mean Frankenstein's the best clue on the head.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

Um let's see. I'm trying I'm looking at his albums to see if one sticks out.

SPEAKER_01 41:34

Because that he was considered to be like the US's response to Led Zeppelin. I'm like, I that rings a bell to me too. It's it's it's Ronnie Montros.

SPEAKER_02 41:47

I I wouldn't have g guessed. Yeah. He did one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Ten, he did ten solo albums. And when he formed his group Montrose, he did one, two, three, four, five, six albums. And then the other group he did was Gamma, G-A-M-M-A. Okay. And I have one Gamma album. Uh I think it's the first one. But he did looks like uh there's there's five Gama albums. So this is an artist that's easy to get. Like Montrose. I mean, if you look for Montrose, it's easy to find his albums. And he really is a great guitarist. And I I didn't know that he had died when I was diving into this until right at the end. So I was like bummed out. I'm like, geez, he he killed himself. I never knew that. I mean, I never knew he had prostate cancer and depression and stuff. I never knew he had all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 43:01

So yeah, Ronnie Montros. Yeah, when he mentioned Montros, I was like, okay, I've seen those, I've seen albums of them before, but I didn't know I didn't know anything about them. Um who Montros was. Right.

SPEAKER_02 43:17

And I think I might even have his real name is Ronald Douglas Montros.

SPEAKER_01 43:23

But he just always went by Ronnie Montros. I think I might. Can you hold on a second? I'm just gonna go look at my record shelf because I it's right next to me. Please do. I think I might have a gamma album. I'm gonna check. Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_00 43:39

All right, while he's checking, is there any did he write any music that the general listening audience might have heard any of his songs play on the radio? Any of them, you know, chart um anywhere at the top? Does he have a one hit wonder?

SPEAKER_03 44:00

See.

SPEAKER_00 44:02

It's cool. It's cool when he listed off all the musicians that he did session work with.

SPEAKER_02 44:09

Well, at the bottom of this thing, it shows all that stuff, and it goes on forever. I mean, it yeah. Herbie Hanka, Beaver and Krause, like Van Morrison. Tupelo Honey is the one he played with Van Morrison on. And Tupelo Honey is Van Morrison's 71 album that a lot of people say is his best album.

SPEAKER_03 44:36

Mm-hmm. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 44:39

Um Busk. Well, he he was pr he played predominantly on the uh They Only Come Out at Night album. And that's where Frankenstein was, too. So pretty much the whole album, they only come out at night. Cool.

SPEAKER_00 44:59

All right, Eric, what do you got?

SPEAKER_01 45:02

I don't have any Gamma albums, but um I grabbed my Beaver and Krauss albums just to see if uh he's on any of these. Uh the Beaver and Krauss albums I have is he He was on the Ganda Ganda Harva. Yep, I have that one. That's what he was on.

unknown 45:20

Very cool.

SPEAKER_01 45:22

1971. Yeah, and Mike Bloomfield's actually on this album, too. Really? Wow.

unknown 45:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:30

Send me a picture of that album if you think of it.

SPEAKER_03 45:32

Yeah, I sure will. Yeah, okay. Well.

SPEAKER_00 45:39

Well, one second. Eric is deep in the thought. He's reading the the back jacket.

SPEAKER_02 45:44

Yeah, you can't you can't interfere with that. No, no.

SPEAKER_00 45:48

His brain's working right now.

SPEAKER_02 45:50

He's out of one track.

SPEAKER_01 45:52

Oh. This is cool. I'm gonna have to listen to listen to both of his albums today. I remember this band, it's similar. It's like I grabbed it just because I was like, I thought the albums were very well uh Gandarva was the first album I heard of, I picked up of theirs, and I was like, I didn't never heard anything of them, and I was like, I just like the cover of it. I was like, I'm gonna just grab this. I remember when I was listening to it, I was really blown away by it.

SPEAKER_02 46:21

Well, Ronnie Montros is on it, and I'm sure you have uh Edgar Winners, they only come out at night, right? Yep, yep, I have that. He's on that whole album. Yeah. Okay, well, I have one more band if if people are ready. Sure, go for it.

SPEAKER_00 46:44

Yep, we've got some time.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

Okay, I'm gonna try to shorten this up a little. Uh it's well, I've been listening to them most of the morning. Um first time I listened to their double live album. Uh I mean it's a great band. Um, but uh let's see here. I'm just gonna go uh studio albums one, okay 75, 76, 78, 79, 81, 82, 83, and 85.

SPEAKER_03 47:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 47:25

Okay. It's a real long uh Wikipedia like page or whatever. I'll just try to go through and hit some of the high points, but I was just gonna say on the bottom it says like the the databases that they get their information from. And I'll just read the database. Uh let's see uh categories. Okay. Information on this page came from the English heavy metal musical groups. The musical groups disbanded in 1984, musical groups disbanded in 1997, rock music groups from London, British musical sextets, British rock music supergroups, Polydor record artists, all minor on Polidor, English hard rock musical groups, musical groups established in 1975, musical groups established in 1993, musical groups re-established in 2015, British musical quintets, so they were a quintet and a sextet, uh musical groups from Hertfordshire, uh Bertelsman music artists, and 1975 establishments in England. So that just kind of like relieved me from reading a bunch of stuff that I don't have to read now. Uh let's see, okay. Like they said, they were British hard rock band formed in Hertzford, uh, England in 75. Okay. One of the reasons this thing is so long is that the main guy of the group, he was like, I don't know, changing the group around quite a bit, like not liking what somebody else was doing and hiring somebody else, and it goes through this whole thing. Ronnie James Dio was in the band for a while, and he guesses.

SPEAKER_01 49:42

Was it his first band? Was it this guy's first band? Was it Ronnie James Dio's first band? No. No.

SPEAKER_02 49:52

So but Ronnie James Dio and this guy went back to a band that might be the one you're thinking of. I'm not sure. Is it Rainbow? It is Rainbow. Nice. Yeah. I uh listened to their double live album uh this morning along with uh three other of their albums.

SPEAKER_00 50:18

Is that the point?

SPEAKER_02 50:19

It was sort of like whenever I went to Rainbow, there'd be a certain one I'd always grab, and I kind of same deal. Wasn't really listening to the rest of them or something. So I thought, geez, I gotta listen to all of these instead of just the same one every time. So of course I started out with a double live album, which was all it took to get me right back into this band. But uh yeah, Richie Blackmore was a hard guy to work for. He was firing people and hiring people and uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:58

Like wonderful guitar player, but has a bad reputation as far as uh how he would get along with people or completely just like ax people and be like, no, you're out of the band.

SPEAKER_02 51:11

Yeah, he'd tell them uh when they were playing. I mean, it didn't he didn't hold back anything like that. One interesting thing that I did find out because toward the end, he and his wife I mean they're still they're still touring, they're still playing.

SPEAKER_01 51:33

Yeah, they're to this day even. Blackmars Knight is the name of his band with his wife or his wife. With his wife. Yeah, and apparently he had um his preferred music was kind of that that Renaissance stuff.

SPEAKER_02 51:59

Yeah, Renaissance. And I didn't really know that.

SPEAKER_01 52:01

Yeah, Renaissance classical and like almost like Baroque style of guitar playing. Yeah, that was what he really liked. Yeah. And you can actually hear that even in uh like the live rainbow album. Like there's uh an intro to I believe it's mistreated or greens, maybe it's green sleeves, is what I'm thinking of. There's a really long intro that's in that uh Renaissance style of playing. And he uh was kind of known for wanting to change groups or change bands completely, just wanting to play music that he was just more interested in. And uh, I think I listened to an interview of him talking about like with playing in Blackmore's Night. He's like, this is the kind of music I've always wanted to play, but couldn't when we're in a rock band, and then we had to write songs that were hits or stay within this style or format, and just kind of shared his boredom with it, really. Boredom with rock music. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:05

Yeah. I mean, they're still touring, they're still playing, and um yeah, I think I I've got well, their double live album, and then I got four other of their albums.

SPEAKER_01 53:19

Yeah, Rainbow is a really great band. I really, really enjoyed them. I remember when I first heard them, I think I was in sixth grade or maybe fifth grade. Um a buddy of mine brought over like uh the Rainbow's greatest hits and Kill the King. And yeah, just listening to those, I was like, wow, who are these guys? And never heard Ronnie James. That was my first time hearing Ronnie James Dio, like when I was in like fifth grade. And I knew D Purple and Richie Blackmore, but hearing that, I was like, okay, this is so interesting. Just kind of know like, okay, they were in a different band uh Blackmore is in another band. I didn't know that. And yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:59

Yeah. And I I just got that. Well, you guys got that picture of that deal record I sent, didn't you? Yep. Yep, I saw that. Yeah, I just got that like a few days ago.

SPEAKER_01 54:12

Did you what year is that album? The deal one?

SPEAKER_03 54:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:18

Let me look.

SPEAKER_03 54:19

I got I got sent out here.

SPEAKER_02 54:22

1970. I can't tell if it's 76 or 78. Let me just no, that's alright. It's 1984. Yeah, 1984. It's on Warner Brothers.

SPEAKER_00 54:40

That is quite the album cover, too.

SPEAKER_02 54:43

Yeah. Yeah, the back of the cover is pretty cool, too. I mean, Dio, I didn't have any Dio ones. And well, they're kind of hard to get. This one, it was a little kind of rough around the cover, but as long as the vinyl's good, I don't care what the cover looks like.

unknown 55:05

Right.

SPEAKER_02 55:06

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:08

Well, Eric, uh what uh what albums are you gonna listen to today?

SPEAKER_01 55:13

I'm gonna listen to Beaver and Krause today. I'm gonna listen to both of those. And then uh I'll probably maybe spend like an hour or so like cataloging my file pile that's in the living room. Nice.

SPEAKER_00 55:29

Yeah, I still got a couple BG albums to listen to that that you gave me.

SPEAKER_02 55:34

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 55:35

Jerry, what are you doing today?

SPEAKER_02 55:39

Um, well, I'm I mean, every day I'm kind of like going through and sorting records and putting ones in the bins I'm gonna sell this spring. So sort of an ongoing thing. But I mean, I'm listening to records, I feel like listening to too. Like, well, this one uh this one I have on deck, the group is called Big Pig. And the the name of the album is a breakaway, but supposedly they're like uh supposedly there's like a a reggae group from New Zealand.

SPEAKER_00 56:22

I've been getting so who I've been getting into reggae lately. Um good for you. And not Bob Marley. Uh what's that? Not Bob Marley either. Just trying to how about Jimmy Cliff? Um, I don't know. I've been just listening to reggae mixes just on YouTube, just trying to just get some different flavors. But um uh what was that artist you said?

SPEAKER_02 56:48

Jimmy Cliff. I mean Bob Marley might be like the father of reggae. But Jimmy Cliff is the grandfather of reggae.

SPEAKER_03 56:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 56:58

That's how I like to look at it.

SPEAKER_00 57:00

I'll check him out.

SPEAKER_02 57:02

Yeah, Jimmy Cliff. Yeah, well, reggae music is more it's kind of like warm weather music. So this when it's cold out, it's good to listen to warm music. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:13

So I am traveling for work next week and I'm gonna I'm gonna find some local record shops. Uh I'm gonna be down in Florida, so maybe I can find some some cool reggae.

SPEAKER_02 57:27

Yeah, well, the the Duluth Reggae Fest is in August. In Duluth? I've been to the reggae. Yeah, I've been to the reggae fest, I don't know, a handful of times. I'll have to check that out. Yeah, they usually have a blues fest and a reggae fest.

unknown 57:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:49

All right.

SPEAKER_02 57:49

Well otherwise, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:52

Well, good record club, gentlemen.

SPEAKER_02 57:54

Very good. Yeah, yeah. Keep me posted on when I can tell people more about it.

SPEAKER_00 58:00

Well do. Well do.

SPEAKER_02 58:05

All right. Well, you guys have a good day. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 58:11

All right, that was Jerry. Lovely. All right. Until next time. Until next time.