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Video Archive
Classic Music Video of the Week:
Each week I will feature one song from the massive Classic Long Island Radio music library.
The below videos are ones that previously held the Video of the Week designation.
Paul Kantner & Grace Slick – Silver Spoon
Paul Lorin Kantner is best known as the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and vocalist of Jefferson Airplane, a leading psychedelic rock band of the counterculture era. He continued these roles as a member of Jefferson Starship, Jefferson Airplane’s successor band.
Grace Slick was a key figure in San Francisco’s early psychedelic music scene in the mid-1960s. With a music career spanning four decades, she is best known for her work with Jefferson Airplane and the subsequent successor bands Jefferson Starship and Starship.
Wishbone Ash – Life Line
Wishbone Ash are a British rock band who achieved success in the early and mid-1970s. Their popular albums included Wishbone Ash (1970), Pilgrimage (1971), Argus (1972), Wishbone Four (1973), There’s the Rub (1974), and New England (1976).
Wishbone Ash are noted for their extensive use of harmony twin lead guitars, which had been attracting electric blues bands since Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page had played together in the Yardbirds in 1966.
The Chameleons – Is it Any Wonder
The Chameleons are an English rock band, formed in Middleton, Greater Manchester in 1981. The band’s classic line-up consisted of lead vocalist and bassist Mark Burgess, guitarists Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding, and drummer John Lever.
The band released their debut studio album, Script of the Bridge, in 1983. They followed it with What Does Anything Mean? Basically and Strange Times in 1985 and 1986, respectively, before abruptly disbanding in 1987 due to the sudden death of the band’s manager.
The Bobby Fuller Four – Keep a Knockin’
The Bobby Fuller Four (sometimes stylized as Bobby Fuller 4) was a popular mid-1960s American rock & roll band started by Bobby Fuller.
First formed in 1962 in Fuller’s hometown of El Paso, Texas, the group went on to produce some of its most memorable hits under the Mustang Records label in Hollywood, California. The band’s most successful songs include “Let Her Dance”, “I Fought the Law” and “Love’s Made a Fool of You”.
Ten Years After – Without You
Ten Years After are a British blues rock band, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, Ten Years After scored eight Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart. In addition, they had twelve albums enter the US Billboard 200.
They are best known for tracks such as “I’m Going Home”, “Hear Me Calling”, “I’d Love to Change the World” and “Love Like a Man”. Their musical style consisted of blues rock and hard rock.
Blue Ash – When You Rock
Blue Ash is a United States band, formed in Ohio in the summer of 1969 by bassist Frank Secich & vocalist Jim Kendzor. Guitarist Bill Yendrek and drummer David Evans were recruited later that summer.
The band debuted at “The Freak Out”, a club in Youngstown, OH on October 3, 1969. They gained a loyal following playing an endless stream of one-nighters over that year. In October 1970, Bill Yendrek, was replaced by guitarist/songwriter Bill “Cupid” Bartolin.
Strawbs – A Mind Of My Own
Strawbs (or The Strawbs) are an English rock band founded in 1964 as the Strawberry Hill Boys. The band started out as a bluegrass group, but eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock, progressive rock, and (briefly) glam rock.
They are best known for their hit “Part of the Union”, which reached number two in the UK Singles Chart in February 1973, as well as for “Lay Down”, a popular progressive rock hit from the same LP.
George Harrison – My Sweet Lord
“My Sweet Lord” is a song by English musician George Harrison, released in November 1970 on his triple album All Things Must Pass. It was also released as a single, Harrison’s first as a solo artist, and topped charts worldwide; it was the biggest-selling single of 1971 in the UK.
In America and Britain, the song was the first number-one single by an ex-Beatle. Harrison originally gave the song to his fellow Apple Records artist Billy Preston to record; this version, which Harrison co-produced, appeared on Preston’s Encouraging Words album in September 1970.
Thin Lizzy – Dear Heart
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin, Ireland, in 1969. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or sometimes heavy metal.
Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, met while still in school. Lynott led the group throughout their recording career of twelve studio albums, writing most of the material.
Rolling Stone magazine describes the band as distinctly hard rock, “far apart from the braying mid-70s metal pack”.
Whitesnake – Blindman
Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own entity, Coverdale is the only constant member throughout their history.
Whitesnake enjoyed much success in the UK, Europe and Japan through their early years. Whitesnake’s early sound has been characterized by critics as blues rock, but by the mid-1980s the band slowly began moving toward a more commercially accessible hard rock style.
The Pretty Things – Rainin’ in my heart
The Pretty Things were an English rock band, formed in September 1963 in Sidcup, Kent. They took their name from Willie Dixon’s 1955 song “Pretty Thing”.
A pure rhythm and blues band in their early years, with several singles charting in the United Kingdom, they later embraced other genres such as psychedelic rock in the late 1960s (with 1968 S.F. Sorrow being one of the first rock operas), hard rock in the early 1970s and new wave in the early 1980s. Despite this, they never managed to recapture the same level of commercial success of their early releases.
The Artwoods – Goodbye Sisters
The Artwoods (also sometimes known as the Art Woods) were an English rock band who formed in 1963 and were professionally active between 1964 and 1967. They were a popular live attraction, rivalling groups such as the Animals, although, despite releasing a clutch of singles and an album, their record sales never reflected this popularity.
Singer Arthur Wood, from whom the band took their name, was the eldest brother of Ronnie Wood (who later found fame with the Faces and Rolling Stones).
Queen – Don’t Stop Me Now
“Don’t Stop Me Now” is a song by the British rock band Queen featured on their 1978 album Jazz that was released as a single in 1979. Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, it was recorded in August 1978 at Super Bear Studios in Berre-les-Alpes (Alpes-Maritimes), France, and is the twelfth track on the album.
Musically, the song builds on Mercury’s piano playing, with John Deacon and Roger Taylor providing a bass guitar and drums backing track. The song also provides an example of Queen’s trademark style of multitrack harmony vocals for the chorus lines.
The Fleetwoods – Tragedy
The Fleetwoods were an American vocal group from Olympia, Washington, whose members were Gary Troxel, Gretchen Christopher, and Barbara Ellis.
The band members met as high school students in. Originally the band consisted of only Gretchen Christopher and Barbara Ellis, but Gary Troxel was asked to accompany them with jazz trumpet, later switching to vocals. They then started performing in 1958 as “Two Girls and a Guy” but later changed the name to the Fleetwoods after the Fleetwood telephone exchange.
Levon Helm & The RCO All-Stars – Blues So Bad
Levon Helm and the RCO All-Stars is a 1977 album by the short-lived musical group of the same name. It was Levon Helm’s first studio album independent of The Band.
Levon Helm and the RCO All-Stars only reached No. 142 on the charts, and Helm took an acclaimed detour into acting for a time. Later, he’d reunite with everyone but Robbie Robertson and continue as the Band, then release a trio of Grammy-winning solo albums late in his cancer-stricken life. Sadly, Dunn died on May 13, 2012, just weeks after Helm.
American Flyer – Back in 57
American Flyer was an American folk rock supergroup. American Flyer formed in 1976 and released two successful albums on United Artists before disbanding in 1978.
They also charted one minor hit, “Let Me Down Easy”, which hit No. 80 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. Their self-titled first album is also notable for having been produced by Beatles producer George Martin.
Gary Wright – Silent Fury
Gary Malcolm Wright (born April 26, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and composer best known for his 1976 hit songs “Dream Weaver” and “Love Is Alive”, and for his role in helping establish the synthesizer as a leading instrument in rock and pop music.
Wright’s breakthrough album, The Dream Weaver (1975), came after he had spent seven years in London as, alternately, a member of the British heavy rock band Spooky Tooth and a solo artist on A&M Records.
Heartsfield – Racin’ the Sun
Heartsfield is an American rock band formed in 1970 by guitarists J.C. Hartsfield and Perry Jordan.
The band’s first album included, in addition to Hartsfield and Jordan, Phil Lucafo on electric guitar and pedal steel guitar; Artie Baldacci on drums, bass, congas and piano; Greg “Ziggy” Biela on bass; and Freddie Dobbs on electric guitar, banjo, and bottleneck guitar.
Yusef Lateef – Othelia
The Blue Yusef Lateef is an album by multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef recorded in 1968 and released on the Atlantic label. Allmusic reviewer Thom Jurek stated:
“The Blue Yusef Lateef is one wild album. In sound, it is the very best the ’60s had to offer in terms of experimentation and accessibility. This is blues you can dance to, but also meditate to and marvel at; a pearl worthy of the price”.
STEPPIN’ OUT by John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers
John Mayall, OBE (born 29 November 1933) is an English blues singer, guitarist, organist and songwriter, whose musical career spans over sixty years.
In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band which has counted among its members some of the most famous blues and blues rock musicians.
Joni Mitchell – Chelsea Morning
“Chelsea Morning” is a song written and composed by Joni Mitchell and recorded for the singer’s second album, Clouds, which she released in 1969. The song was inspired by Mitchell’s room in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City.
The inspiration for the first verse comes partly from the distinct décor of her apartment. While in Philadelphia, Mitchell and friends had made a mobile from shards of colored glass they had found in the street and wire coat hangers, which filtered the light coming into her room through the window and created the “rainbow on the wall.”
The Ventures – Wack Wack
The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band, formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar in the United States and across the world during the 1960s.
While their popularity in the United States waned in the 1970s, the group remains especially revered in Japan, where they tour regularly to this day.
Georgie Fame – Inside Story
Georgie Fame (born Clive Powell; 26 June 1943) is an English R&B and jazz musician. Fame, who had a string of 1960s hits.
Fame is the only British music act to have achieved three number one hits with his only Top 10 chart entries: “Yeh, Yeh” in 1964, “Get Away”, in 1966 and “The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde” in 1967.
Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham
Buckingham Nicks is the only studio album by the American rock duo Buckingham Nicks. Produced by Keith Olsen, the album was released in September 1973 by Polydor Records. Buckingham Nicks is notable as an early commercial collaboration between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, both of whom later joined Fleetwood Mac.
Jeff Lorber – Ain’t Nobody
Jeffrey H. Lorber is an American keyboardist, composer, and record producer. Many of his songs have appeared on the Weather Channel’s Local on the 8s segments and on the channel’s compilation albums, The Weather Channel Presents: The Best of Smooth Jazz and The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz II.
