This Day in Music

John Lennon is a talk-show host, Elton John is on The Simpsons, and Elvis makes another movie. I thought this blog was about music? Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day from This Day in Music!

Releases

1975: Legendary Canadian hard rock band Rush releases their second studio album, “Fly by Night.” The first record to feature new drummer and lyricist Neil Peart, it was also the first foray into progressive rock for the band.

Featuring the future-classic radio staples “Fly by Night,” “Anthem,” and “Beneath, Between and Behind,” along with the near-epic deep track “By-Tor and the Snow Dog,” the album was a hit amongst the band’s legions of fans in Canada, reaching No. 9 on the Canada Top Albums chart, and certified Platinum.

The record didn’t catch on in the US until Rush became famous following subsequent albums, peaking at No. 113 on the Billboard 200 in 1975, but eventually selling 1,000,000 units by December 1, 1993 when it was certified Platinum by the RIAA.

Though the only single, the title track “Fly by Night,” did not chart in the US, it reached No. 45 in Canada. The song was re-released in 1976 following the success of the LP “2112,” as part of a live medley with “In the Mood,” from the live album “All the World’s a Stage,” and reached No. 88 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Critical reviews were tepid, with The Rolling Stone Album Guide rating it 2/5-Stars and The Essential Rock Discography grading it a 6/10. However, though it’s not among Rush’s best, it’s far better than those rankings.

1984: Laurie Anderson, the highly-talented avant-garde artist from Chicago, Illinois, releases her second studio album, “Mister Heartbreak,” to widespread critical acclaim. Many famous musicians appear on the album, including Adrian Belew, Peter Gabriel, and Nile Rogers.

The record was co-produced by Laurie with three others including Gabriel, who also co-wrote the track “Excellent Birds,” a song he himself re-worked and recorded as “This is the Picture (Excellent Birds) for the CD-format of his 1986 album, “So.” The pair also collaborated on a video for Peter’s version of the song.

“Sharkey’s Day,” the only single release, appears on the album in two versions. Anderson sings the lyrics on the first version, which is the opening track, and American writer and visual artist William S. Burroughs, famous for the novel The Naked Lunch, set aside his bug powder to co-write the track and read the lyrics during the second version, which closes out the album.

An early example of electronic and machine music, the LP features the digital synthesizer and sampling system Synclavier on all tracks, along with use of the LinnDrum drum machine, Simmons electronic drums, various synthesizers, and her digitally pitch-shifted vocal technique introduced on her fabulous debut album, “Big Science.”

It’s not a digital-only album however, with acoustic and natural sounds textured into the music, including acoustic drums, steel drum, bamboo, several African percussion instruments such as gato, ikonkolo, and shakere, layered background vocals, and the traditional Korean instrument, kayagum. Remarking on the need for innovative and traditional vocal sounds, Laurie stated that some of the tracks on the album were “love songs” that were “much more personal” and required different treatments.

“Mister Heartbreak” was rated A- by The Village Voice, 5/5-Stars by Sounds, and 4/5-Stars by Rolling Stone. It reached No. 50 on the Billboard 200, No. 41 on the Canada RPM chart, and No. 93 in the UK. Its highest-charting position occurred in New Zealand, where it reached No. 12.

Being a work of experimentation, innovation, and esoteric art, its appeal was limited and therefore it did not earn any sales certification levels. It is nonetheless an excellent album that should be heard by a much larger audience.

Events

1972: John Lennon and Yoko Ono co-host the first of five consecutive episodes of the popular daytime TV talk show, The Mike Douglas Show, a Westinghouse Broadcasting syndicated program in the United States.

1999: Appearing as himself in a Matt Groening-style animation, Elton John guest-stars on The Simpsons Valentine's Day episode, “I’m With Cupid.” He sang a modified version of his hit, “Your Song,” on the rooftop garden of the Kwik-e-Mart for Apu and Manjula.

The Daily Elvis

1966: Principal photography begins for the movie "Spinout," starring Elvis as the lead singer of a rock band and a race car driver. For his efforts, Presley was paid $750,000, plus 40% of the profits, ultimately netting himself a cool million. Not too shabby for 1966.

Pictured: Laurie Anderson playing her electric neon violin in 1984.