Name: Keno
E-Mail: keno@fairpoint.net
Subject: Poll Post for the week starting Monday, May 31
Date: Sunday, May 30, 2021
Time: 11:30:26 PM
Remote Address: 8.41.160.9
Message ID: 320940
Parent ID: 0
Thread ID: 320940

Poll Post for the week starting Monday, May 31

Welcome to this week's holiday Poll Post, where in the States at least, it's a major holiday week and that means we may not ask the more “normal” questions like we usually do in a non-holiday week, yet, these are all still good questions anyway. The Stones poll will look at and perhaps kick off something that some might call “negative polling” for the next several weeks (maybe, I’ll get to that in a bit), whereas the Rock VS poll will look at what some might feel is a corny question (I don't think it is, but it's a good question to ask in what may be a slow week, since holiday weeks can go slow on the internet); then the main Rock Poll will actually bring back an old but fun series that we haven't asked in a light year, and finally the Fab Poll will look at perhaps the Beatles best Pop album that they ever released. So hey, now that I just did a precap, I take back what I noted that these polls might not be normal questions, since they are.

For week 1,139 of the Stones weekly poll we’ve still rating songs at this poll and as I noted last week, we will be doing this for a very long time to come. So, for this week’s question, we will answer this: Rate the Rolling Stones release of the song “The Singer Not The Song”, from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest)

“The Singer Not The Song”, was a B side single in the UK

So, why did I just state this was negative polling? Well, perhaps my wording here about this song will be what is negative – and I almost never do that in what I write here, since I never wish to influence one’s vote. But I may do that here a bit today since I just never cared for this song, and by stating that it’s not a favorite of mine, well, sometimes I can’t help myself in being a bit negative when it comes to explaining why for the few (non-disco) Stones songs that I don’t care too much for (BUT, with that noted, I have no problem blasting all of their disco crap songs without a disclaimer).

So I decided to go with the lowest rated Stones song of the '60s* (rated by myself of course) that happens to come off of what I also rated the Stones lowest album of the Brian Jones area this week, and see if my fellow fans agree with me or not on this call. I rated this one from the 1965 U.S. LP December's Children, at only 5.7. Yet you might say, that's not really that bad a rating considering what you rated their disco songs. Well true, but while this song isn't great at all, it isn't disco either, as the Stones during the BJ days wouldn't ever consider recording such crap music. Nor would they write such a song back then, as this one was written by Jagger/Richards, on an LP that included many covers. But yes, no other ‘60s Stones song ever received a lower rating from me than this song did.

But, IMO, "The Singer Not The Song" never should had been recorded the way it was, as if you listen to the vocals, Mick flat out sounds like he was half asleep when he sung this. Brian Jones played the lead guitar on this tune on 12 string, and while he at least sounds okay, as does Keith on rhythm guitar, the 2 sound like they are totally lifting their guitars parts directly from the Beatles song "Not A Second Time" (starting at the 1:08 mark of the song). So perhaps I can’t just blame MJ for the outcome to this number, there were other problems besides his singing on here.

This song was first released in the UK as the B-side to the #1 hit single "Get Off of My Cloud", and perhaps it's the only Stones single (that I can think of anyway, but I could be wrong) that featured Jones on lead guitar for both sides of the record. "The Singer Not The Song" then turned up in America on DC, but the truth was, it perhaps didn't need to ever be released, unless their so-called producer had gotten Jagger to actually sing the number like he cared (but let's face it, the Stones didn't really have a true producer in the '60s, as they really just produced themselves). How come I got a feeling that if Mr. Jimmy (Miller) was around for this one when Jagger first sang his song to him, he would have said that famous one word to him, "dead", and this poorly written song wouldn't have ever been made in the first place. Amongst other problems with this tune (that I didn’t note yet), was that even the song's title - which sounds cool at first, wasn't at all original, either, as it came from an early 1960s British drama film that had the same exact title, as did the novel that the movie was based on and named after (so the title Jagger/Richards gave the song was nothing more than a copy of a copy). Yes, IMO, this song was just loaded with way too many rip-offs from others in it. Not a problem that the Stones in their early days really ever had, but on this throwaway of a song, they sure did too much coping and borrowing from others. Nope, Mr. Jimmy never would have allowed this one to see the light of day. But of course, this is all just IMO, and perhaps I'm going out of my way to put down this song so that some who might skip voting on this question, this week, will vote, especially if they disagree with me. So, you like this one? Well, it’s time to vote then… Or what, maybe you too find this one on the boring side, too? Well either way you feel, let us know by voting in this week's holiday week poll.

But!!.... before you do vote, I almost forgot.... the lineup for "The Singer Not The Song" was: Mick Jagger - Lead Vocal; Brian Jones - Lead 12 String Acoustic Guitar; Keith Richards - 6 String Rhythm Acoustic Guitar & Backing Vocal; Bill Wyman - Bass & Backing Vocal; Charlie Watts - Drums. (Note: The Wikipedia site claims that Jones and Richards are playing electric guitars and not acoustic guitars on this one, and as all of us with working ears can hear, that’s in error. But I only bring this up since a few years ago, when I tried to correct this mistake over there, the moronic editors there, wouldn’t allow my correction to stand, since, well, as I noted before about the main editors for the Stones over there, they are total morons, and why no true Stones fan should ever visit that site for info on the Stones, as there’s a great chance what you’re reading is incorrect).

*One last note: Perhaps after this week I'll have us next vote on my lowest song rating of the MT era (I'm not even sure what song that might be and I bet the rating isn't any lower than this week's number), followed by my lowest rating of the current Ron Wood days (I'm 99.9% sure for that period it's a disco song). But let's see how well this one does in the vote count first

So, do you agree with my low rating for this song? Or do you think I'm out of my head on this one? Let's find out now.... To vote in this poll, just click on the following link: Stones Weekly Poll. Plus, always remember, the video that is linked to the song at the voting page is there only so you can hear the song before you vote, but it should have no bearing on how you rate the tune, as the song itself is all that should matter when you rate the songs for this poll.

Last week at the Stones poll we answered this question: Rate the Rolling Stones release of the song “Happy”, from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest)

“Happy”, from Exile On Main StreetLP

“Happy”, scored a 10 for its top vote, just as all of us expected it to score, bringing in 75.3% of the vote with that score. So now a Keith sung and written song finally has a 10 behind its belt! To check out the full results from this poll, just click here: Stones Weekly Poll - week 1,138. Or, to check out the Stones’ songs updated rating standings for this ongoing series, and where on the list this song is placed (did it make the Top 5?), that can be viewed at the Stones List Page 5, which you can get to from here: Stones Top Picks - Page 3, List Page 5.

Now let us boogie on over to this week’s Classic Rock Poll, where we find ourselves entering week 779 of voting, and for this one, as usual, we will vote in 2 different Rock Polls in the week. This week’s first question asks: Who was the most underrated member of the band, Blind Faith?

Blind Faith July 1969.... Top: Steve Winwood & Ginger Baker; Bottom: Eric Clapton & Rick Grech

Yes, it’s time to bring back a poll series that we haven't run since last summer, and more than likely this will just remain the main Rock poll for future summers to come. So, I always called this series “the most underrated band member poll series”, like, what else could it be called? But yes, it seems underrated questions are in fashion for some of our polls at the moment on the domain.

Blind Faith was one of the first "super groups" ever formed (in 1969), featuring Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Ric Grech. Winwood was the former teenage keyboard player and lead singer of the Spencer Davis Group, and then became the main lead singer of Traffic, after co-lead singer Dave Mason left the band. He was also by this time a successful solo artist, too. Clapton of course needs no introduction at all, and came to Blind Faith with his former bandmate from Cream, drummer Ginger Baker. Ric Grech was a multi-instrumentalist (he could play every string instrument that existed) and had been in several bands including Family, and Traffic, and so he was chosen to play bass (and a few other instruments) in Blind Faith by both Winwood and Clapton, who he played with in the past.

Now for this week's poll setup, we won't list the members in the band showing the years they were in the group since, as you all know, Blind Faith was a shooting star of a Rock band of superstars that only existed in 1969. They put out one great (self-titled) album (with no singles released from the LP, with "Can't Find My Way Home" being the most loved song from it) and played together for only one tour, all in that one year.

Clapton and Winwood went on later to mainly be known as solo stars (to this day), while Baker formed his own group, Ginger Baker's Air Force, where he got some help from two of his now former mates in Blind Faith, Winwood and Grech. After that he played lots of sessions for lots of artists, and reunited with Clapton and Jack Bruce for a series of Cream reunion concerts held at the Royal Albert Hall in the UK, and then at Madison Square Garden in NYC, in 2005. He became too ill to perform after that, having several different aliments, along with never completely kicking his heroin addiction, and he passed away in 2019 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease caused from years of heavy tobacco smoking.

Ric Grech joined Winwood in the reformed Traffic after Blind Faith folded, and appeared on that band’s next 2 LPs, including the very well-received album The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, and he co-wrote the second biggest song on the LP, "Rock & Roll Stew", with drummer Jim Gordon, and in turn they gave the song to Traffic's by then former drummer, Jim Capaldi, to sing the lead on, one of only 2 songs that Capaldi sang lead on that LP (he wrote the other song, ""Light Up or Leave Me Alone", and on the rest of the album's songs played percussion to Gordon's drumming). BTW, yes, we already asked this question about Traffic for this question. But getting back to Grech, he passed away in 1990, dying of liver failure at the age of 44, as a result of alcohol addiction.

So, who do you feel was the most underrated player in this short-lived band? The fact that the group was around for such a short time makes this question a bit harder to make a pick for perhaps, but I know we will still come up with an answer by the time the week (and poll) ends.

To vote in this week’s first Rock poll, just click on here: Classic Rock Poll, and when you get to this page, choose “Poll 1” to vote in this poll.

For our second Rock Poll this week, we will ask this VS question: “The Rain The Park and Other Things” by The Cowsills vs “I Think I Love You” by The Partridge Family. Which song by a family band (one real, one fake) was the better song?

VS

“The Rain The Park and Other Things” by The Cowsills” VS “I Think I Love You” by The Partridge Family

So, is this really a corny question? Well no, since it fits what our polls are about, that is, featuring artists or songs that played classic rock/pop songs, which both of these song were a part of. But yes, The Partridge Family’s TV show was very corny, indeed, however, that has little to do with this question overall. Plus, The Cowsills were a real family and a real band, that started out in 1965 and one that had several hit singles in the late 1960s and early '70s (whereas again, the The Partridge Family was the fake band and fake family), and yes, they were the band that inspired the 1970s television show The Partridge Family, in the first place.

The Cowsills were managed at first by their father, Bud Cowsill. When TV producers approached him about starting up a TV show about his family, he at first agreed to do it. But while the TV producers saw the talents in his sons, they didn't see the same talent in the mother (Barbara, and Bud's wife) and for the TV show they wanted an actress to play her in the show. After Bud wouldn’t agree to this, talks broke off and it was decided by the producers to do a TV show anyway, that while based on the family, would have zero connections to them, and would have both adult and child actors playing the parts, and so the TV show The Partridge Family was started, and it became a hit once on the air and lasted for 4 seasons.

But getting back to the Cowsills, what started an interest in them by TV producers, was this song, "The Rain The Park and Other Things" (aka "The Flower Girl Song", but not officially). It was their fifth single release, but their first big hit, released in 1967 and written by Artie Kornfeld (later on of Woodstock fame) and Steve Duboff. The song went to #2 in the States, and to #1 in Canada, and went into the Top 5 in the few other countries where it was released. The appeal of the Cowsills, was not only that they were a real family and a true band, but perhaps because they were the only real family band that both sang, and even played live when appearing on TV shows (like the performance linked to in the video, and heck, by this time, some of the biggest rock bands had stopped playing live on such shows). As it was, youngest brother John, had only been allowed to join the band in late 1966, because of his age, but it was clear to Kornfeld (who was also the band's producer) that John was a better drummer, better than his one year older brother, Barry, who switched over to playing bass when John was allowed to join the group in time for this song. So while this family of boys were a very good and tight band overall ("Mini Mom", as mother Barbara was called because of her small size, wasn't in the band yet, nor was little sister Susan, nor older brother Paul, when this song was made), and as good as they were, they weren't allowed to play in the studio on their earliest recordings, including up to this song. The reason was that they only ranged in age from 7 to 17 when they started to record songs, with the youngest boys still just preteens. Their label won't allow these young boys to play on their songs, so studio musicians were brought in to provide the music for their tunes, including for this one. They were: Vinnie Bell, Charles Macy and Al Gorgoni on Guitar, Gene Bianco on Harp; Joe Macho on Bass, Artie Butler on Organ, Paul Griffin on Piano, and Al Rogers on Drums. However, if you watch the video linked to in this week's poll from U.S. TV, yes, the family did play live on it, so in this video we have: Mini Mom Barbara Cowsill (who joined the group in '67) on Harmony and Backing Vocals; Billy Cowsill sang the Lead Vocals and played Guitar; Barry Cowsill was on Bass and Harmony and Backing Vocals; Bob Cowsill played Organ, and sang Harmony and Backing Vocals; John Cowsill was the Drummer, and also sang Harmony and Backing Vocals, while Paul and Susan Cowsill, like their mother, didn't sing on the original, released version of the song (Paul at first didn't wish to be in the band, along with yet another brother, Richard, who didn't join the band until the adult version of the Cowsills took place, while Susan's parents felt she was too young at the time the song was recorded to be in the band yet). But both she and Paul had joined the band by the time this TV show aired (in 1968, yet Paul still wasn't there for this show), while Susan is singing the backing vocals and plays the tambourine to a pretty good beat (for an 8-year-old child) in this performance.

While this was The Cowsills first big hit, they did have several more top hits into the early '70s, and they still performed today as a trio (with Bob, Susan, and Paul; while John has been the regular drummer for the Beach Boys, since 2000). But the family didn't seem to be immune to the curse of Rock music, including both bad health and bad luck, as both parents died rather young, in their 50s, while 3 of the boys lost their lives at relatively young ages, too. Barry was living in New Orleans in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit that August. Barry, who was 50, chose not to evacuate and like so many others who stayed behind, drowned as a result of the flooding from the hurricane. His body wasn't found until December, under a wharf on the Mississippi River, and he wasn't identified until January of the next year. On the day the family held a service for him a few weeks later, his older brother Billy, who couldn’t attend because of bad health, which he was in for years, ended up dying from emphysema on the same day of his brother's service. He was 58. Then brother Richard died from lung cancer a year later at age 57.

For the fictious Partridge Family, actress and singer Shirley Jones played the widowed mother of 5 kids on the TV show, and she along with actor David Cassidy (who played the oldest son Keith Partridge, and was the group's lead singer and guitarist), did sing this hit song from the show (and the 2 also sang on all 4 of their bestselling albums that were made). "I Think I Love You", was a song written by Tony Romeo, and it became a major hit single, going to #1 in the States, and in several other countries (to #18 in the UK). With Cassidy’s lead singing, and with his starting in this show, he became an instant teenage heartthrob. The other child actors hired for the show were: Susan Dey as Laurie Partridge: Vocal Harmony, Keyboards; Danny Bonaduce as Danny Partridge: Vocal Harmony, Bass; Jeremy Gelbwaks as Chris Partridge (Season 1): Vocal Harmony, Drums (who would be replaced by Brian Forster, the great-great-great-grandson of Charles Dickens, in seasons 2–4), and Suzanne Crough as Tracy Partridge: Tambourine. While Cassidy was a real guitarist, too, and Gelbwaks a real but troubled child drummer, like the Monkees before them, they weren't allowed to play their instruments in the studio, so session musicians were brought in to play instead, with only Jones and Cassidy actually singing on the songs. The famous Wrecking Crew, who played on countless hit songs in the '60s and '70s, were the real players, including: Louie Shelton, Tommy Tedesco, Joe Osborn (guitars), Larry Knechtel (bass), and Hal Blaine (drums). The funny thing about the Partridge Family, was when they pretended to play in the show, unlike the Monkees on their TV show, it actually looked like they were really playing.

But like a real rock band, there were true life problems in this fake band/family, too. The second youngest member of the cast, child actor Gelbwaks, had a personality disorder, and often caused problems on the set. The boy was forced into doing the show by his money hungry parents, and according to co-stars Cassidy and Jones, young Jeremy had a personality conflict with every person in the cast, along with all of the show's producers, as he didn't (or perhaps just refused) to get along with anybody, ever, and he would insult Cassidy the most. So the boy had to be replaced after the first year of the show ended…. After the show finished up 4 years later, Jones remained active as an actress and still is to this day. Cassidy hanged on to his solo career, but in real life, and just like Billy Cowsill (who he technically was playing on the show), he also had a number of different health issues for years, and he passed away in 2017 at the age of 67. Crough, the youngest child, who was almost invisible on the show with the smallest of acting parts (and is invisible in the above photo, other than for the top of her head), after the show ended, did appear in a few other TV shows, then retired from acting and sadly, she too would also die young, at the age of 50, from a rare form of heart disease. Dey went on to be a successful actress, being a 3-time Emmy Award nominee and six-time Golden Globe Award nominee, before retiring in 2004 from show business. Bonaduce was another troubled kid (who became a troubled adult), who suffered both physical and emotional abuse from his father as a child, and went on to have a future life with a mix bag of problems. While he continued to appear on a few TV shows in minor roles, and also made a solo rock album, he became a radio deejay (where he saw his most success as an adult), but he also developed a bad drug problem early on, which lead to several arrests. I'm not really sure what he's doing today, nor do I know anything about what happened to the 2 kids who played the youngest son, other than they both left show business for good after being on the show.

So, that’s the lowdown behind these 2 hit songs and their bands, but which song do you feel was the better of the two?... To vote in this week’s Rock VS poll, just click on this link: Classic Rock VS Poll, and when you get to this page, choose “Poll 2” to vote on this question.

Last week in the first Rock Poll we asked this question Of the Bands/Artists who only released one original studio album, which one was the best?

4 of last week’s albums

Well in what happens sometimes in these polls, out of the 14 choices, only 2 of them were ever in play, and for these 2, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songsfrom Derek and the Dominos, and Blind Faith from Blind Faith, they traded places a few times for the top pick and on several nights were tied for first. In the end, the weekend voters once again decided the winner, with Derek and the Dominos’ LP pulling ahead and won by 4 votes at the close of voting.

To see the poll’s full, final results, click on the following link: Classic Rock Poll, week 778, Poll 1. Or, to see the Top 10 list only from this poll, click on: Top 10 List Page, Page 16, and head to the bottom of the page where the results are at.

Last week in the Rock VS polls, we asked: “The Old Man Down the Road” by John Fogerty vs “Run Through the Jungle” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Does the Fogerty song really sound too much like the CCR song to you?

VS

“The Old Man Down the Road” by John Fogerty VS “Run Through the Jungle” by Creedence Clearwater Revival

This was wasn’t close at all, and just like how Saul Zaentz lost big in court against John Fogerty, he lost in this poll in a major landslide (as he should have). You can check the results by clicking on the following link: Classic Rock Poll, week 778, VS Poll. Or, to see the results on the VS list page, just go here: Rock VS Page 3, List Page 15.

We close out this Poll Post looking at this week’s Beatles Poll, where we enter week 530 of voting, and we’ll vote on this question: Which is the most underrated song on the Beatles Help! UK album?

Help! LP Cover

Before I talk about this LP, one thing.... Now yes, I did say when we started this series that I would only have us vote on the last 8 studio albums, and we finished those up last week. But about 2 weeks ago I realized that it made no sense to skip over the band's early work, in fact, finding the most underrated songs on the band's early pop releases might just be better questions than asking this for than their more popular classic rock albums. So, we will cover and vote on all of the UK studio LPs now, as we should… Plus yes, I'm still going to be ending this weekly Beatle's poll in the not so distance future, and even hinted a few months ago that could be as soon as the start of summer, which most living in the U.S. claim is this weekend, with the Memorial Day holiday happening on Monday. But officially, summer doesn't start until June 21 this year. Anyway, that was before I realized I would run this series and I was going at the time by my future poll listings files and how many future weekly Beatle polls I had left to run. But doing this series that just came to mind one day, added 13 extra weeks of polling just for this one question alone. My main reason for stopping the Beatles poll is a lack of good questions left to ask, and I don't wish to run re-runs, but, if I come up with yet another good series idea (like the one we are running at the moment), then I’ll go with it, and shit, why not run it in full and extend the life of the Beatles poll?! That, and the Beatles poll has been on fire as far as voters go, we been at or near record levels in the vote count for the entire year now, with 9 of the top 10 most voted on Beatle polls happening this year, and with an all-time record high vote count for the poll 2 weeks ago set. So yes, the voters are still here, in fact, more so here than at the weekly Stones poll, although even that poll has seen record highs in the vote count too, just not as much as the Fab polls have seen. Had I never closed down Gasland, I'm sure that poll today would still be out performing the Beatles poll. But let me get to the poll question for this week, as this Poll Post is really growing too long (which yes, always seems to be the case, anyway).

This week we look at the UK version of the Beatles second movie release, Help!. Now some might argue that the U.S. Help! was really a more true soundtrack to the album - and it was, but it also contained non-Rock music on it and well, I only go by the true, official UK release for any Beatle poll that involves their albums.

For this album John Lennon wrote 5 of the 14 songs on the LP, while he co-wrote one song with Paul McCartney, who wrote another 4 on his own. George Harrison wrote another 2 songs, and two of the songs were covers. The lineup for this LP was: John Lennon – Lead, Harmony and Backing Vocals; Rhythm and Acoustic Guitars; Electric Piano, Organ on "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"; Tambourine on "Tell Me What You See"; and Drums on "I Need You"; Paul McCartney – Lead, Harmony and Backing Vocals; Bass, Acoustic and Lead Guitars; Piano and Electric Piano; George Harrison – Harmony and Backing Vocals; Lead Vocals on "I Need You" and "You Like Me Too Much"; Lead, Acoustic and Rhythm Guitars; Guiro on "Tell Me What You See"; Ringo Starr – Drums and miscellaneous percussion including Claves on "Tell Me What You See"; and Lead Vocals on "Act Naturally"….. With …. George Martin – Producer; Piano on "You Like Me Too Much"; John Scott – Tenor and Alto Flutes on "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"; and the String Quartet on "Yesterday", was arranged by Martin in association with McCartney, but no other info available on who played what.

To make your choice for the most underrated song on this album by voting, just click on the following link: Beatles Weekly Poll.

Looking back at last week’s Beatles poll, we voted on this question: Which is the most underrated song on the Beatles Let It Be album?

Let It Be LP Cover

“One After 909” was the top pick for the most underrated song on this overall underrated album (if any Beatle album was underrated), bringing in 15.8% of the first-place votes. “Two of Us” placed at 15.6%, and “For You Blue” was third with 15.5% of the votes. To see the poll’s full, final results, from this one, just click on: Beatles Weekly Poll – week 529. Or you can look at this list page at my Lennon site for the results there: The Beatles' Albums Page , where all of the top picks chosen for this series are listed.

So that’s it for this week’s Poll Post. I hope everybody enjoys the holiday tomorrow, that is, if you live where it is celebrated, and if not, I hope you still have a happy Monday, and for all, I hope everybody has a great week ahead!

Keno

• Poll Post for the week starting Monday, May 31 by Keno on 5/30/2021 11:30:26 PM <-- You Are Here
• Poll Post for the week starting Monday, May 31 by gomper on 6/5/2021 7:34:47 PM

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