PSYCHOTHERAPY LEFTOVERS PT.1

[Mike Pell]

Well well, August 25 is the 12th Anniversary of my being at the same station.
12 years...those people there REALLY need Psychotherapy!
These are some of the Psychotherapy Leftovers we never got to in the other chapters, and I must tell you, this is one of the strangest half hours of musical selections I have ever done.
Certainly the most somber in those 12 years!
I just went where the free-form Muse took me, and that was a weird place.
So you are forewarned, and the next and Final episode will be much different, more normal.
I started with a song for me, one that has been an old friend for many years.
Then, for some reason last week, I flashed back to a time in 1970 or 1971 when Scott Muni, then with the 2-7PM slot and also the Program Director at WNEW-FM, chose to replace for a day Jonathan Schwartz who couldn't make it for his 10AM-2PM show.
Scott was unbelievable that day, maybe because it was a different time with possibly a different audience.
He played fantastic old sets he had done in the past where the music went together perfectly, plus terrific new ones.
It was great Radio!
And another of those defining moments that set the stage for how I present music.
One 2-song set stayed with me for all these years, an incredible segue that I will re-create here.
Janis Ian's "Insanity Comes Quietly To The Structured Mind" into Dory Previn's "Mr.Whisper".
One a song about a ledge-jumper suicide, the other dealing with a Mr. Whisper who has an "apartment" in a lady's head!
Normally I don't tell you what I am going to play and ruin the surprises, but in this case I figure no one will know those songs anyway, so what the hell, lol?
That's it, I am tired of writing, so you are on your own.
But I cordially invite you to hear undeniably the oddest, but not the worst, first half of a show I have ever done!
And that's saying something for me, lol!
There is a Darkness here, and I DARE you to listen!

Here's the link for you brave ones, at WLSO.FM:

http://wlso.fm/wordpress/archives/1805


Mike

[Mike Pell]

Dear Niels,
Thanks, glad you liked it, and like I told RJ, very glad you are open to music you are unfamiliar with.
There is a whole world of music out there, and that's why I say the WORLD is our playlist!
That was Mad Mad Me by Maria Muldaur, and go back and look at some pictures of her- she was HOT, LOL!
And unlike RJ, you liked Screamin' Jay- that's what makes us unique.
I too am a huge fan of Tom Waits, but I never made the Screamin' Jay/Waits connection.
Nice pickup!
Yeah, I even said on the show, "When the hell is he going to play something I KNOW?"
So I thought Sabbath would be a breath of fresh air, lol!
Glad I didn't scare you away, and the next and final part should be more familiar to you- I don't pander, it just works out that way, lol!
And like I wrote below...or above...damn I am lost lol...if you hear anything you really like on my show, let me know.
Give me your email address and I will send it to you.
Thanks for the listen & the writing,
Mike





You have'nt scared me away with this show. I'm looking forward to next show.

[Mike Pell]

Dear RJ,
This is a smaller venue, so although this is what I wrote in the comments at WLSO.FM, I will add that if you hear anything you really like on my show, let me know.
Give me your email address and I will send it to you.
That goes for Niels too, and anybody else.
I understand about the Screamin' Jay Hawkins...it's that Screamin', lol!
With every song I play, I understand the risk of people liking or not liking each selection.
It comes with the territory.
Also the fact that some listeners don't know many of those selections, that may or may not relate to certain factors, such as the age of the listener.
My job is to find the best songs I can about the particular Theme I am doing and play them.
And I always realize that I may be introducing some of these songs to listeners unfamiliar with them- and that is one of the most fun things I get to do on the show.
Thankfully the people who run the station and the corporate donors trust me, and I am blessedly given free and unhampered rein.
That Maria Muldaur song “Mad Mad Me” IS terrific.
And man I had the hots bad for her when she was popular- what a sexy woman.
Hell, I still do, lol!
Janis Ian has always flown under the radar- her lyrics are brilliant- and I recommend her first two albums, both from 1967.
There are many many gems in them, including the controversial Society's Child.
And she wrote and recorded these albums when she was 15 or 16!!!
You know, you are probably right, without my little show you would most likely never have heard that or Dory Previn's Mr. Whisper, lol!
But that's what I do.
Very very funny line about your new product, Damnitol- where can I get some, lol?
I said on the show, "When the hell is he going to play something I KNOW?"
So Sabbath seemed like the way to go, then returning to the thread of Janis' jumper by playing Suicide Is Painless.
And I didn't know that story about Paranoid.
Man, some of the best songs have been written in minutes- too many to name here.
Hearing the MASH theme seems like it was an "OH WOW!" moment for you, and providing those are the MOST fun for me on my end of our radio get-togethers.
Thanks for writing, and I like that you are open to new music to your ears, whether it is really new or old.
Mike

[RJhog (Admin)]

Mike, I have a few comments on this show:

I agree with Niels than I didn't know many of these selections. However, I'll also agree with him that I liked what I heard. The only song I didn't care for was the Screaming Jay Hawkins number.

I really, really liked the first song by Maria M. called "Mad Mad Me". That song is terrific. "Insanity Comes Quietly To The Stuctured Mind" by Janis Ian was also wonderful. I believe that "At Seventeen" was her popular song that you referred to, but this song is quite amazing. It's a very sad song, but a lyrical masterpiece. And just think, without your show I would have never heard it. So thanks for that. "Mr. Whisper" was also a cool song. One little side note on that song. One of the lyrical lines in the song says "damn it all". This reminds me of something. I'm a Pharmacist, and me and a friend and former co-worker (also a Pharmacist) use to make up drug names (usually because folks have such a hard time pronouncing some of tha actual drug names). But one that we came up with would be for depression or anxiety and would be named Damnitol (pronounced Damn-it-all). This song reminded me of that.

"Brain Speak" was okay, but as I said earlier, I didn't like the Screaming Jay Hawkins song. But disliking 1 out of 7 songs is not too bad.

The last two songs were quite awesome and the only two that I was already familiar with. "Paranoid" is a classic. It's amazing to me that Black Sabbath had the album of the same name finished when the record company said "We need another song". So they wrote that in the studio in about 20 minutes (if I remember the story correctly).

And the last song was my biggest disappointment. Not at the song itself. The song gives me chills. I haven't heard it in ages. I loved MASH and I remember hearing that song for the first time and thinking to myself, "that's the theme from MASH". Another great lyrical song, and the disappointment comes from not getting to hear the whole song.

Great show Mike. My favorite so far out of all the shows that contain new music to my ears. Thank you for continuing to post the show on Classic Rock Bottom.

[Niels (Mod)]

Hey Mike

Once again, I liked the show. It was'nt a lot of the music, that I knew, but I liked, what I heard.

Especially the first song "Mad, mad world"(?) and the Sreaming Jay Hawkings-number. I'm a fan of Tom Waits, and you can hear, where Waits has got some inspiration from.

But I must admit that it was nice, all of a sudden to hear a well-known Sabbath-number.

You have'nt scared me away with this show. I'm looking forward to next show.