Monthly Archives: March 2015
HOTDISC TOP 40 |
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To watch the video for each song (where available) click on the titles.
THE HOTDISC BRITISH & IRISH INDEPENDENT TOP 10
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The Hotdisc chart is compiled from DJs and industry professionals’ ratings of songs currently being promoted on the Rush Released CD. They are not airplay charts, as airplay charts cannot work in Europe because there are no terrestrial country stations. The hundreds of country programmes on air which we service are likely to play a particular song only twice at most in a three month period, therefore rendering airplay charts insignificant in Europe. It works well in America where there are plenty of non-stop country stations but it does not work here. Any Airplay Chart you may see claiming to provide this service is bogus and Hotdisc does not condone these charts at all. They are misleading at best for the reasons stated.
The Hotdisc charts are put together weekly using ratings supplied by DJs who give scores to every song on the last three months’ editions of Rush Released. The scores are averaged out per week to give an accurate guide to the songs which are being championed by the industry. The aim is to showcase the songs which the industry professionals are flagging up as quality songs. This is a very useful exercise as it is free of politics, hype and rigging and done solely on merit!
Copyright © 2015, Hotdisc, The Old Manse, Hallidays Park, Selkirk, TD7 4LA, Scotland. Used with permission from HotDisk.
If you need a Bluegrass fix to make your day complete, you have reached the right spot.
Big Al Weekley “Big Al” has been on radio for more than 25 years. He has been known primarily for his Classic Country, Bluegrass and Gospel radio show(s). While working with Music Charts Magazine® Big Al has interviewed in various genres of music including Classic Rock legends such as Eddie Money & STYX.
A Top 5 at the IBMA Awards in 2014 for the category of Radio Broadcasters of the Year one thing is for sure, Big Al knows and loves his Bluegrass music. “The Big Al Bluegrass Show” has been a staple in Nebraska for over 15 years on KRVN’s 880 AM 50,000 watt torch lighting up the Midwest skies. “The Big Al Bluegrass Show” can also be heard every week on WOTR 96.3 FM in Weston, West Virginia. Coming soon to WMJD 100.7 FM in Grundy, Virginia. “The Big Al Bluegrass Show” past shows are cataloged at Music Charts Magazine’s website under the radio shows tab.
To have “The Big Al Bluegrass Show” play on your radio station simply email: Contact@MusicChartsMagazine.com and give us your station info (including the email address you want the show sent to) and we will get back with you shortly. Dropbox is the preferred method to share the show to radio AM/FM.
“The Big Al Bluegrass Show” contains all your Bluegrass fixings so check it out and stayed tuned as we add new radio stations that will be playing the show as this year progresses.
“The Big Al Bluegrass Show” HERE: http://www.musicchartsmagazine.com/the-big-al-bluegrass-show/
About Fred’s Country program:
Le program Fred’s Country: La musique Country de Tradition avec Frederic (Fred) Moreau. Le program Fred’s Country est diffusé sur 65 fréquences FM, 53 radios ou webradios.
The Fred’s Country program, is hosted by Frederic (Fred) Moreau and broadcasted weekly on 47 frequencies, 53 Affiliated FM and Web Radio Stations in France, Canada, Belgium, Spain, and more. Listen, download The Fred’s Country program here…
Autre particularité du program Fred’s Country, c’est la seule émission en Europe à programmer un minimum de 75% d’artistes Canadiens … particularity of the Fred’s Country program, each week, a minimum of 75% of Canadian Country artists on the air
Radio Show Host: Fred Moreau
Program Fred’s Country w11-2015 – 13 mars 2015 à 15:00 – March 13th, 2015
Music Charts Magazine is proud to be friends with Mr. Moreau and glad to now be one of the many to host Program Fred’s Country. ( French/English)
Fans of Eli Young Band know what kind of music this band puts out. Since their first album, lead vocalist Mike Eli captured listeners with his unique voice. The Texas band has been releasing albums since 2002, when they put out their debut self-titled CD. It wasn’t until 2006 when they released the CD Jet Black & Jealous that the band got a national following, and produced hit records on Top 40 country stations.
That album, and the ones that followed, gave us many hits, including When It Rains, Always the Love Songs, Radio Waves, Crazy Girl, and Even If It Breaks Your Heart.
On March 10, Eli Young Band will release a new EP. This one is made up of four songs, any one of them could be a hit. I listened to all four songs this evening, and I finished wishing there had been more. The four songs you will find on the EP are Turn It On, Plastic, Your Place or Mine, and Drink You Up.
The title track, Turn It On, will be released to radio on March 9. I hope every station will add it to their play list the first day. It is everything you expect from this great group.
As good as the title track is, I personally liked the second song, Plastic, even more. The song has well thought-out lyrics, good melody, and great music. I’ll suggest now that the group ship this one off to radio, as soon as Turn It On makes it to the top of the charts.
The third song, Your Place or Mine, is lyrically predictable. You know where it’s going when you read the title. A lot of people have had a ‘your place or mine’ person in their life. However, it takes someone like Eli Young Band to put that situation to music.
The last song, is Drink You Up. The song is fast, the lyrics are catchy. I’ve never tried to compare alcohol to anyone, but this song does a good job of doing just that.
To keep up with all the news about Eli Young Band, visit their web site http://www.eliyoungband.com/. For more country music news, visit countryschatter.com.
HOTDISC TOP 40 |
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To watch the video for each song (where available) click on the titles.
THE HOTDISC BRITISH & IRISH INDEPENDENT TOP 10
|
The Hotdisc chart is compiled from DJs and industry professionals’ ratings of songs currently being promoted on the Rush Released CD. They are not airplay charts, as airplay charts cannot work in Europe because there are no terrestrial country stations. The hundreds of country programmes on air which we service are likely to play a particular song only twice at most in a three month period, therefore rendering airplay charts insignificant in Europe. It works well in America where there are plenty of non-stop country stations but it does not work here. Any Airplay Chart you may see claiming to provide this service is bogus and Hotdisc does not condone these charts at all. They are misleading at best for the reasons stated.
The Hotdisc charts are put together weekly using ratings supplied by DJs who give scores to every song on the last three months’ editions of Rush Released. The scores are averaged out per week to give an accurate guide to the songs which are being championed by the industry. The aim is to showcase the songs which the industry professionals are flagging up as quality songs. This is a very useful exercise as it is free of politics, hype and rigging and done solely on merit!
Copyright © 2015, Hotdisc, The Old Manse, Hallidays Park, Selkirk, TD7 4LA, Scotland. Used with permission from HotDisk.
Author = Arlene Corsano
Genre = Rhythm and Blues
Title = Thought We Were Writing the Blues but They Called It Rock and Roll
Publisher = ArleneChristine
Review =
Thought We Were Writing the Blues but They Called It Rock and Roll chronicles the career of Rose Marie McCoy (1922-2015), about whom one could be excused for asking, “Rose Marie who?” Though she considered herself primarily a singer and secondarily a composer, her legacy rests with the hundreds of songs—over 800–she wrote, though none became a substantial hit. This reality resulted not from her lack of talent but from the fact that she mainly wrote blues that were performed in the rhythm-and-blues mode by blacks for black audiences at a time when mainstream culture, including music, was dominated by whites because of social realities. Yet with her intended audience, McCoy succeeded. A veritable who’s who of rhythm-and-blues performers recorded her tunes (though adept at writing both music and lyrics, she collaborated on most of her creations), including Faye Adams (“It Hurts Me to My Heart,” which reached number one on the rhythm-and-blues charts), Big Maybelle (“Gabbin’ Blues,” featuring McCoy’s speaking), Nappy Brown (“Don’t Be Angry”), Ruth Brown (“Mambo Baby”), the Du Droppers (“Talk That Talk”), the Five Keys (“Don’t You Know I Love You”), Little Willie John (“Letter from My Darling”), Louis Jordan (“If I Had Any Sense”), Joe Medlin (“No One but You”), Little Jimmy Scott (“I’ll Be All Right”), Shirley and Lee (“Keep On”), the Thrillers (“Lizabeth”), and Big Joe Turner (“Well All Right”). All these songs were recorded in the mid 1950s, her most creative period. Subsequently, her compositions were recorded by such singers as Maxine Brown (“See and Don’t See”), Jerry Butler (“Got to See If I Can’t Get Mommy [to Come Back Home]”), Nat Cole (“My Personal Possession”), Al Hibbler (“Stranger”), Liz McCall (“Double Determination”), Ike and Tina Turner (“It’s Gonna Work out Fine”), Sarah Vaughan (“I Need You More Than Ever Now”), Lenny Welch (“Hundred Pounds of Pain”), and Jean Wells (“Ease Away a Little at a Time”). Her most recent compositions to be recorded were written with Billy Joe Conor for his debut CD (2013).
“Trying to Get to You” deserves special comment because of its historic importance. Composed with Charlie Singleton (to whom Corsano’s book is dedicated) and recorded initially in 1954 by the Eagles (not the current group of this name), Elvis Presley covered it the next year on his first album, Elvis Presley. Because this release includes songs written by blacks (such as “I Got a Woman” [by Ray Charles and Renald Richard], “Money Honey” [by Jesse Stone], and “Tutti Frutti” [by Little Richard and Dorothy LaBostrie]) and because many people thought Presley sounded black, this popular album was instrumental in bringing black music, such as that written by McCoy, to white listeners, and especially to teenagers, many of whom responded to it as an antidote to and liberation from the largely insipid music to which they were exposed on white radio stations and, increasingly, television, such as that performed on Your Hit Parade. Presley also recorded McCoy’s “I Beg of You” (1957), written with Kelly Owens.
In her native Arkansas, Marie Hinton absorbed the blues, committed herself to music upon hearing the International Sweethearts of Rhythm while in high school, and added Rose to her name at eighteen. After working for a family in the Catskill Mountains during the summer of 1942, she moved to New York City, where she held menial jobs (housecleaning, ironing shirts at a Chinese laundry) and began singing in small clubs. The next year she married James McCoy. Her first composition to be recorded was “After All,” by the Dixieaires in the mid 1940s. She recorded for the initial time in 1952 (“Cheating Blues” and “Georgia Boy Blues,” both of which she wrote). Soon thereafter, she and Charlie Singleton formed a songwriting team, the success of which led to her becoming wealthy enough to buy a house (in Teaneck, NJ), a Cadillac, and a yacht; her husband bought a nightclub. Soon, though, she became financially overextended to the degree that she almost lost her home. Because around this time the demand for songwriters began to decline (following the lead of such singer-writers as Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and Little Richard, an increasing number of vocalists started performing their own material), she made money writing jingles, producing recording sessions, and managing the singer Craig Hansford. The last significant performer to record a new McCoy composition was Shirley Caesar in 1977 (“How Many Will Be Remembered”). McCoy’s later creations constitute a career denouement.
McCoy was fortunate to have had Corsano as a friend. When they met at a party in 2001, they discovered that they lived within ten minutes of each other; soon, Corsano drove McCoy places, became captivated by stories the composer told, and in time decided to document the career of this accomplished woman who was not widely known. Corsano’s ultimate goal was political: to encourage the Songwriters Hall of Fame to induct McCoy into its organization.
In her book, Corsano is primarily interested in McCoy’s songs and recordings of them, though she is not particularly concerned about what makes the compositions appealing. She emphasizes her focus on compositions by titling each chapter (chapters are unnumbered) with the name of one of McCoy’s tunes. For example, “I’ll Be All Right” (recorded in 1956 by Little Jimmy Scott, one of McCoy’s favorite singers) is the title of the chapter about the breakup of the McCoy-Singleton partnership. Yet this chapter is less about the song or even McCoy or Singleton than about collateral issues. Here is its structure: Corsano explains why McCoy wrote the piece, identifies singers who recorded it (Scott and Joe Medlin), specifies other McCoy-Singleton songs that Scott sang, names numerous jazz musicians who recorded for the label that recorded him (Savoy), notes that McCoy and Scott performed at the same New Jersey club, indicates that others also admired him, says that he recorded for Ray Charles’s Tangerine label, notes that he was the subject of a film documentary, and concludes by saying that McCoy had collaborators after Singleton. That is, the chapter is mostly about Scott and incidentals. The only insight the author offers about the song is that McCoy wrote it to express a feeling that attends the end of a romantic relationship, even though her association with Singleton was professional and platonic. Other chapters similarly keep McCoy in the background.
Yet in her narrative Corsano often permits McCoy’s voice to dominate. For example, “Hey Look World,” “If I Had Any Sense (I’d Go Back Home),” and “My Personal Possession” are among the chapters containing more of the composer’s words than the author’s. When, where, and to whom did McCoy speak, and how were her words recorded? The author does not say. Though quoting one’s subject can be valuable, doing so excessively is often irritating, as is the case in this book. The author would have been well advised to assimilate the information the composer provided and incorporate it, when appropriate, into her story in her own words, acknowledging McCoy when necessary and quoting her only to emphasize a point or add flavor to the text.
Though I am in no position to challenge McCoy’s assertions, the author seems to accept them all without question, even when some invite skepticism. McCoy tells of fighting a female pianist, a nightclub patron, and the composer Dorian Burton. Is she credible? Does Corsano believe that McCoy held the hand of nervous Savannah Churchill when the latter recorded McCoy’s “Last Night I Cried over You”? That McCoy did not know the words to “Mambo Baby” when singing it with Lionel Hampton? That someone stole bolts from McCoy’s yacht? That an executive of Commonwealth United, an entertainment company, was so moved by McCoy’s rendering of a song that he cried? That James Brown made his brass players practice so much that their lips bled? Perhaps all these claims are accurate. Without confirmation, how is one to know?
Corsano deals primarily with McCoy’s professional life, which, given her goal, is appropriate. Yet she avoids asking questions that arise from personal information she provides about McCoy. This is especially the case with issues relating to the composer’s marriage, which endured from the couple’s 1943 nuptials until James McCoy’s death in 2000. Because the author establishes Rose Marie’s dedication to James (desiring to be with him, Rose Marie declined an offer to tour with Big Maybelle), one wishes to know how she responded to his leaving her several times in order to live with other women. In mentioning but not identifying Rose Marie’s “personal heartache” (153), does the author allude to James’s waywardness? She does not say. Further, Corsano states that “it’s not likely [Rose Marie] spent all those years [when James deserted her] alone” (171). Did she have lovers? Corsano does not say. During one of Rose Marie’s brief periods on the road while the couple lived together, James bought Mitzi’s Cocktail Lounge in Passaic, NJ. This impetuous purchase led to serious financial difficulties that caused Rose Marie to cover expenses by borrowing money, yet she stood by him, as she always did, including when, late in life, he developed Alzheimer’s disease. She tended to him until his death. Explaining her dedication to this philandering, financially naive man by saying only that “no one could replace James” (171) is inadequate. Might Rose Marie have had reasons for devoting herself to him? The author does not say.
The shortcomings mentioned here lessen the value of Corsano’s book. Yet the author correctly identified McCoy as a worthy subject and surely wrote the composer’s story to the best of her ability. She succeeded to the degree that the book will appeal to readers interested in female songwriters or rhythm and blues. Especially because she published it herself, her dedication to McCoy—in time, in money–merits praise. Whether the book will lead to McCoy’s being enshrined in the Songwriters Hall of Fame remains to be seen.
Author = Benjamin Franklin V
Music Charts Magazine® History
– Song for the month of March 2015:
Nazareth – “Love Hurts“
“Love Hurts” is a song, written and composed by Boudleaux Bryant. First recorded by The Everly Brothers in July 1960, the song is also well known from a 1975 international hit version by the hard rock band Nazareth and in the UK by a top 5 hit in 1975 by Jim Capaldi.
The song was introduced in December 1960 as an album track on A Date with The Everly Brothers, but was never released as a single (A-side or B-side) by the Everlys. The first hit version of the song was by Roy Orbison, who earned Australian radio play, hitting the Top Five of that country’s singles charts in 1961. A recording by Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons was included on Parsons’ posthumously released Grievous Angel album. After Parsons’ 1973 death, Harris made the song a staple of her repertoire, and has included it in her concert set lists from the 1970s to the present. Harris has since re-recorded the song twice.
The most successful recording of the song was by hard rock band Nazareth, who took the song to the U.S. Top 10 in 1975 and hit number one in Norway and the Netherlands. In the UK the most successful version of the song was by former Traffic member Jim Capaldi, who took it to number four in the charts in November 1975 during an 11-week run. The song was also covered by Cher in 1975 for her album Stars. Cher re-recorded the song in 1991 for her album of the same name. Rod Stewart recorded the song in 2006 for his album Still the Same… Great Rock Classics of Our Time which was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
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