Music Break

At the top of my regular links post earlier today, I noted that it's the birthday of musicians Stevie Wonder and Danny Kirwan, the latter of Fleetwood Mac.  Both were born on today's date in 1950.  Danny left this world in 2018, but Stevie is still around and became a citizen of Ghana a year ago.  Due to this double anniversary, I thought that another music break was way overdue.

To start off, this is Status Quo's cover of Let's Work Together, which was a bit hit for Canned Heat but was originally written and recorded by American musician Wilbert Harrison.  This version is from the 1991 album Rock 'til You Drop.  At this time, the band consisted of Francis Rossi (lead guitar & vocals), Rick Parfitt (guitar & vocals), Andrew Bown (keyboards, guitar and harmonica), John Edwards (bass), and Jeff Rich (drums).  Bown plays piano and harmonica on this one.

Speaking of covers, this is Kiss drummer Peter Criss's version of Tossin' and Turnin', originally by Bobby Lewis.  I think that Criss changed the lyrics just a bit.

Next up is Georgia Rhythm by the Atlanta Rhythm Section, from their 1976 album A Rock and Roll Alternative.  The band then consisted of Ronnie Hammond (lead vocals), Larry Bailey (lead guitar), J.R. Cobb (rhythm guitar & vocals), Dean Daughtry (keyboards), Paul Goddard (bass), and Robert Nix (drums, percussion & vocals).  Sadly, none of them are still with us.  ARS are still around, with original lead singer Rodney Justo back in the group.

In 2014, AC/DC released the album Rock or Bust, their first with new rhythm guitarist Stevie Young, who replaced his uncle, founding member Malcolm Young.  The rest of the band were lead singer Brian Johnson, lead guitarist Angus Young (Stevie's other uncle), bassist Cliff Williams, and drummer Phil Rudd.  Even though Malcolm had retired for health reasons, he and Angus still wrote all of the album's songs.  This is Play Ball, with the video showing the band performing, and a whole bunch of people and a few animals playing various ball-related sports.  Fun fact:  Angus and Malcolm's brother George (Stevie's other other uncle) played rhythm guitar for the Easybeats before producing (along with former Easybeats lead guitarist Harry Vanda) AC/DC's first few albums.

To finish, this is Rock 'n' Roll Boogie Woogie Blues by the Edgar Winter Group, from their 1972 debut album They Only Come Out At Night.  Edgar Winter (also keyboards and sax) takes the lead vocal.  Dan Hartman plays bass and sings harmony.  Chuck Ruff plays drums.  Ronnie Montrose played guitar on the recorded version, but in this performance, he is replaced by Rick Derringer.  Fans of Ted Nugent might find the basic riff of this song vaguely familiar.