This Day in Music
Michael Fitzgibbon
I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is Elvis on TV, on this day in music.
Full Moon Fever
1989: American singer-songwriter and guitarist Tom Petty releases his first solo studio album, following seven albums with The Heartbreakers and one album with The Traveling Wilburys.
Titled “Full Moon Fever,” several of Tom’s collaborators from prior albums appear on the LP, including Mike Campbell of The Heartbreakers, Jeff Lynne of ELO and The Traveling Wilburys, early-sixties rockers Roy Orbison (also of the Traveling Wilburys) and Del Shannon, and George Harrison of The Beatles, The Traveling Wilburys and solo career. All of the Heartbreakers appear on the album except for drummer Stan Lynch, whom Petty always treated terribly.
Critics reviewed the record with high praise, and it spun off five hit singles, with three of them going to No. 1 on the Billboard Rock Tracks chart: “I Won’t Back Down,” “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” and “Free Fallin’.”
Commercially, it’s the most successful album of Tom’s career, eclipsing all Heartbreaker LP’s, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, and selling over six million copies.
“Full Moon Fever” is the first new album I ever purchased on CD. Thirty-five years later, I listen to it on vinyl!
Wings at the Speed of Sound
1976: The album “Wings at the Speed of Sound” by Paul McCartney's band Wings, reaches No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It was the fifth LP for McCartney to peak at No. 1 since his departure from The Beatles.
Despite succeeding commercially, critics were not impressed with the record. Though he was complimentary to McCartney’s “charming if not lightweight” songwriting, in his B- review of the LP, Robert Christgau of the Village Voice described the rest of the band as “disgracefully third-rate,” singling out Denny Laine’s vocals as “even lamer than Paul McCartney’s wife and keyboard player, Linda.” Ouch.
AllMusic compiles a rating of only 2-Stars for the album, while The Rolling Stone Album Guide rated it 3-Stars. The album scored two hits in “Let ‘Em In” and “Silly Love Songs.”
Bob Welch
1971: With the departure of guitarist Jeremy Spencer, Fleetwood Mac announces that Bob Welch would take his place. Welch would record five albums with Fleetwood Mac before departing in 1975 for a solo career. He wrote the Mac hits “Sentimental Lady” and “Hypnotized,” two of the band’s best songs. He re-recorded “Sentimental Lady” in a shorter version for his debut solo album in 1978, “French Kiss,” featuring most of the 1978 lineup of Fleetwood Mac in his backing band.
The Friday Frank
1974: At the Indianapolis Convention Centre, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention perform in concert. Part of the Ten Years of The Mothers tour, the concert featured the 1974 version of the band, which is a favourite amongst Zappa fans.
The lineup included FZ on guitar, Napoleon Murphy Brock (ts; fl; v), George Duke (key; v), Ruth Underwood (perc), Tom Fowler (bg), Bruce Fowler (tb), Walt Fowler (t), Chester Thompson (d), Ralph Humphrey (d), Jeff Simmons (g; v), and Don Preston (synth).
This lineup of the band can be heard on one of FZ’s best releases, “Roxy and Elsewhere,” a live LP taken from the legendary Roxy performances at the famous club in West Hollywood in December of 1973, and on tour stops in Pennsylvania and Illinois in May of 1974.
A more compact version of the band including only FZ, Napoleon, George, Ruth, Tom, and Chester can be heard on yet another of Zappa’s best releases, “You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 2 The Helsinki Concert,” released October 25, 1988 from performances in Helsinki, Finland on September 22 and 23, 1974.
The Daily Elvis
1992: ABC-TV airs Elvis - The Great Performances, a compilation of Elvis on stage throughout his career. It is hosted by Priscilla Presley.
