Since you folks are reminding me of songs from the 1974 era that I've long wondered about, here's another.
I heard this song on a radio that some guys were playing at a campout in San Onofre in California, which is in San Diego County but so close to Orange County that it's more likely the song was from some Orange County station. It was a rock song that I thought was by Led Zeppelin, but since then I've heard all the Led Zeppelin albums, and that isn't the correct group. It had a male vocalist, though. I don't remember any particularly high vocals or remarkable vocal harmonies in the mystery song, though there may have been some.
The main thing I remember about the song is that it had a guitar riff throughout that was stolen almost verbatim from the Rolling Stones song "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (1968) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9XKVTNs1g4). The riff played throughout the verses of the song, placed in rhythm exactly as it is in JJF, but the riff ended slightly differently from the Stones riff, more like the riff in Peter Frampton's version of JJF (1976), which also ends slightly differently (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9Wz_RnmYwg) than the Stones riff. The song had a strongly emphasized 2nd beat of each bar, emphasized on that beat with a drum hit and a slammed major chord on electric guitar, I believe, more emphasized on that beat than in JJF. It was a pretty decent rock song. It was somewhat slower than JJF, I believe about the speed of Frampton's version of JJF in the above YouTube link. It was all in 4/4 time like most rock songs.
This song was played in summer 1974. Another song I remember that was played on their radio that night was "Bennie and the Jets" (Elton John, 1974), which further confirms the year. I had never heard that mystery rock song before or after in my life. I assumed it was a song I would hear again someday but never did, unfortunately.
There must be extremely few rock songs up to that time that are that similar to JJF yet that are clearly distinct, so the song should be clearly identifiable *if* somebody happens to recognize it from this description. Let's hope...
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Solved: circa 1974 rock song with riff like "Jumpin' Jack Flash"
Last edited by simnia; 05-24-2015 at 08:36 PM.
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I am not good at recognizing guitar riffs, but when i listened to your Frampton-link, then it reminded me very much of same kind og guitar here:
The Kinks - Catch Me Now I´m falling (or "Captain America"-song or however somebody prefers to call the song name...) -
No, sorry. Your song is too well-known, a classic, and this song was so obscure that I'd heard it only once in my entire life, despite being a musician and hearing lots of music from that era, and despite my growing up in the '70s.
Originally Posted by rcgldr
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Wow, excellent guess, but no, that's not it. You're right: that riff is *very* much like the JJF riff, so much that I'm astonished there would be yet another song with such a similar riff. But the year is wrong (1979 instead of <= 1974), and the mystery song had more of an incessant jam on that riff/verse if I recall correctly, lasting a long time on that riff like a funk song might, instead of frequently changing sections like in the Kinks song you suggested. I think I heard that Kinks song before, by the way, but apparently I had completely forgotten about it. Not a bad song... thanks for posting it and your great suggestion! Originally Posted by lollipop
Last edited by simnia; 09-24-2011 at 12:08 PM.
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I found a group called 'Sweet Wine' that released 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' in 1973.
http://www.discogs.com/Sweet-Wine-A-...elease/2068611
I couldn't find JJF but I did find one song by them 'Let's Get Together'
http://acutsupreme.blogspot.com/2010...-together.html
Interesting note: Thelma Houston covered JJF in 1974
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgx36h3tUqs
Dan -
What about this song?
"Not Fragile" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-7bQ1SI3wk -
No, sorry, I have that CD and I know all songs on it well. It's a very good selection of songs, but none of them are my mystery song. Originally Posted by bugmenot1
Last edited by simnia; 09-24-2011 at 06:11 PM.
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Thanks. I haven't yet listened to the songs on those links, but remember that the song was not some alternative version of "Jumpin' Jack Flash". I knew JJF well, and I often played it on guitar and sang it, and I was aware of other versions of it at the time (live by the Rolling Stones '72, live by Leon Russell '72), so there's no chance that I would not have recognized the lyrics. I *am* interested in other versions of JJF that are out there, since it was one of my favorite songs of all time, but those aren't likely to be helpful in finding a song that was only similar to JJF. Originally Posted by Claybricks
I haven't yet tried Googling combinations of keywords like "riff" with the song title because I know that's going to be a long, painstaking, and probably fruitless task. Someday the software and resources will exist that will allow rapid identification of songs similar to other songs (I'm actually working on the beginnings of such a project myself) but they don't exist now. Maybe if I leave this post up long enough... :-(
P.S.--I just did a preliminary Google search similar to what I described, and found more songs with a similar riff, though none are the mystery song:
KISS - Got To Choose (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF_HisGJwhk)
The Byrds - The Day Walk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR5EKsRiNsE)Last edited by simnia; 09-24-2011 at 06:49 PM.
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What about this song?
"Career Of Evil" by Blue Oyster Cult
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTZBG1-Sfto -
Originally Posted by bugmenot1
That song reminds me of...
Deep Purple - Space Truckin' {1972}
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w5sE82dKV0
Dan -
Nope, sorry, not "Career Of Evil" (I never heard that one before) or "Space Truckin'" (I know that one already).
If we could put together...
the riff and sound from "Catch Me Now I´m Falling"
+
the speed and 2nd beat emphasis of Frampton's "Jumping Jack Flash"
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the length of the long unbroken sections of "When The Levee Breaks" (Led Zeppelin)(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbrjRKB586s)
...then we'd have a song that was extremely close to what I remember. The riff from "Catch Me Now I´m Falling" is so darned close to what I remember that it might even be the same riff as the mystery song, note for note, so if your suggested songs don't sound extremely close to that riff, it can't be the same song I remember. -
While listening to this song, I remembered your song question.
Try this, sample starts at 4:08
April Wine - I Like To Rock {1978}
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlcY_enzwmI
Note: The Beatles 'Day Tripper' sample precedes the 'Jumpin Jack Flash' sample.
Dan -
No, sorry, not the song, but thanks for remembering my request. The quoted riffs are from "Day Tripper" and "Satisfaction" (not "Jumpin' Jack Flash"). Also, in 1974 I broke up with my girlfriend with whom I heard the song, and I wasn't even living in San Diego County anymore in 1978, so the year is wrong, which was almost a sure sign from the start that it couldn't be the correct song. It's a decent rock song and decent video, though.
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Bump with more news.
I received two e-mails of people who thought the song I was seeking was...
Money for Nothing (Dire Straits, 1985, "Brothers in Arms" album (5-13-1985), authors Mark Knopfler & Sting, length 8:25 on CD)
Dire Straits - Money For Nothing + lyrics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwDDswGsJ60
...but I guarantee you it is not! The mystery song was released *years* before 1985, and the year is very accurate for when I heard it.
I am still seeking this mystery song. I can also offer a little monetary incentive now, say $10 if you prove you identified it correctly. Thanks for the suggestions so far, though. -
"Rock Candy" by Montrose
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUeuAnMNDhA -
No, sorry, that's not the one. The mystery song is dominated by a riff, not chords, with vocals weaving in and out of it, in the style of early Led Zeppelin songs, like... Originally Posted by bugmenot1
LED ZEPPELIN - Four Sticks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9W8_PNCa6w
In The Evening by Led Zeppelin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg6MIuXrFf8 -
May be it was an interpretive cover of The Kinks' song, "Catch Me Now I'm Falling".
Even their live versions of the song has a different sound from the studio version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHbr67Qhd_A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OmVYzcBJDcLast edited by atmaestro; 05-23-2015 at 09:47 PM.
Them that can, do; them that can't... memorize Artist and Title -
"Lady Love" by Robin Trower
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BHRDXZwApw -
What about the most prolific riff stealing artist, Steve Miller and his not so well known song, "Dime-A-Dance Romance" (1968)? It heavily "borrows" the riff from "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (1968).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGMT27WqTYwThem that can, do; them that can't... memorize Artist and Title -
No, the fundamental problem with that Kinks song is it wasn't released until 1979, which is 5 years after I heard the mystery song. I definitely heard it in summer 1974, in fact I'm pretty sure July, I think likely July 4th since the same guys who were playing that album were throwing firecrackers that night. So it was released 1974 or earlier. Also, although I could almost be convinced that the Kinks song was that song other than the year, the length of the riff section of the song is wrong: the mystery song had a very long section (I believe the majority of the song) with that riff with the interleaved vocals, which the Kinks song does not have. Good try, though. Originally Posted by atmaster
Catch Me Now I'm Falling (The Kinks, 1979, "Low Budget" album (7-10-1979 in USA), author Ray Davies, length 5:58)Last edited by simnia; 05-24-2015 at 08:39 PM.
