I had the tube on today, and they were showing the movie "Frequency". At one point, Dennis Quaid is in some go-go joint and they are playing Fleetwood Mac's "Rattle Snake Shake". An incredible song and a fucking killer 6 string bass solo.
Speaking of which, since somebody mentioned Beefheart, about 15 years ago, when WXRT was a great station and AAA didn't yet exist, I was listening late one night and the DJ was playing "Low Yo Yo Stuff", which has subtle references to masturbation. I knew that this DJ was a big pre-Buckingham/Nicks Fleetwood Mac fan, so I called the station to try to get him to follow it with "Rattlesnake Shake", which covers the same topic. Well, they never answered the phone, but apparently he was thinking the same thing, because while I am waiting for them to pick up the phone, they start playing "Rattlesnake Shake". Blew my mind.
Funny to think that Ambrosia started out as a prog rock band. "How Much I Feel" ain't exactly prog ... but then again, neither were Phil Collins' big pop ballads.
I met Shel Talmy, recently. I e-mailed him a couple days later and was really embarrassed when my friend who introduced us told me he was blind, because my e-mail said, "I was the tall guy wearing the plaid pants." D'oh! Anyway, if you think about the sound that Shel pretty much defined, that you can hear running through tunes like the Creation's "Making Time", the Kinks' "You Really Got Me", The Who's "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere", or the aforementioned Easybeats' "Friday On My Mind. Nobody else was rocking that hard at the time. That's some ground breaking shit.
BTW, is it just me or did the stuff that Rundgren engineered himself towards the end of the '70s and early '80s really sound like ass?