Music Break - Some Foxing And A Tribute

During my younger days, I listened to two songs which had the same title, Fox On The Run.  One of them was hard rocker by The Sweet, released in 1975.  The other was a bluegrass song, which I pretty much assumed to be a old standard in that genre.  More recently, I've become a regular listener of a BlogTalkRadio show hosted by a woman named Kel, who calls herself the Red Fox Blogger and usually ends her show with The Sweet's song.  I have recently found, and let Kel know about, a cover by the Regrettes, a band consisting of four teenagers.  More recently still, while researching the bluegrass song, I learned that its origin is very different from what I had previously thought.  It was actually written by British songwriter Tony Hazzard and recorded by Manfred Mann.  So naturally, I brought that to Kel's attention, too.

Here's Fox On The Run, by Manfred Mann.  The group included Mike D'Abo on lead vocals, Tom McGuinness on guitar, Klaus Voorman on bass, Mike Hugg on drums, and the band's namesake on keyboards.  Although the band was based in Britain, Mann (real name Manfred Lubowitz) was born in South Africa, and Voorman is German.  (He's the same guy who did the art work for the Beatles album Revolver, and played bass on some of Ringo's, John's and George's solo albums.)

Speaking of George Harrison, during the late 1980's, he joined Jeff Lynne of ELO, Tom Petty of the Heartbreakers, Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison to form the Traveling Wilburys.  All of them adopted pseudonyms including "Wilbury" as their last name, as if they were a bunch of long-lost brothers.  After their 1988 debut album was released, Orbison passed away, leaving the remaining four to record their second album Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 in 1990.  (An alleged bootleg was called Volume 2.)  The quartet also modified their pseudonyms to include new first names.  In this video of The Wilbury Twist, Harrison (Spike Wilbury), Lynne (Clayton Wilbury), Petty (Muddy Wilbury) and Dylan (Boo Wilbury) are joined by saxophonist Jim Horn, drummer Jim Keltner (known as Buster Sidebury), Canadian actor John Candy, and British actor Eric Idle of Monty Python's Flying Circus.


Another song recently brought to the attention of the above-mentioned Kel and her BTR show, but most definitely not by yours truly, is Poor Mohammed by Procol Harum, from their 1971 album Broken Barricades.  At the time, the band consisted of Gary Brooker (piano & vocals), Robin Trower (guitar & vocals), Chris Copping (bass & organ) and B. J. Wilson (drums).  Brooker was the group's main lead singer, but Trower takes the lead vocal on this one.


If the above tune isn't an example of cultural appropriation from the Middle East, then the next one surely is.  From Steppenwolf's second album, released in 1968 and appropriately titled The Second, this is Magic Carpet Ride, written by lead singer John Kay and bassist Rushton Moreve.  The rest of the band at this time consisted of guitarist Michael Monarch, keyboardist Goldy McJohn and drummer Jerry Edmonton.  The song starts with some sound effects and later refers to the folk tale of Aladdin and his lamp.


I would be remiss not to mention that BTR host Kel, and two members of Steppenwolf (McJohn and Edmonton) are Canadian.  John Kay (born Joachim Krauledat) and his family immigrated to Canada from Germany in 1958, so he's Canadian by naturalization.

For the last song, I must look to another part of the Anglosphere, to note the passing of a man who made his name in rock and roll.  Earlier today, guitarist Malcolm Young, who founded the Australian band AC/DC with his brother Angus, died at age 64 after suffering from dementia for three years.  He had retired from the band in 2014, to be replaced by their nephew Stevie Young.  The Young brothers, along with successive lead singers Bon Scott and Brian Johnson, wrote most of AC/DC's songs.  Malcolm also contributed backing vocals.  From their 1980 album Back In Black, their first with Johnson, this is Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution.  The Youngs and Johnson are joined by Cliff Williams on bass and backing vocals, and Phil Rudd on drums.


For more on Malcolm Young, go to Rolling Stone, ABC News, Ultimate Classic Rock and Billboard.