Old Enough to Forget

Albert Hammond is a name I knew as a kid because I loved "I'm a Train" a song that appeared on one of the K-tel collections I had. When I recently found a copy of Dynamite I got reacquainted with Mister Hammond and it got me thinking, "Surely he did more than just the train song." Surely (and don't call me Shirley) he did. I was actually quite surprised at how many songs of his I did know. As a solo artist he had recorded and released "It Never Rains In Southern California" in 1972, and when he found the hamster wheel life of a recording artist to be too much he turned to writing for and with others. A few of the songs he had a hand in: "99 Miles from L.A."  "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love"  "The Air That I Breathe"  "When I Need You"  "To All the Girls I've Loved Before"  It was his solo work I was interested in, and it just so happened I found a copy of his 1974 self titled release. ...

I was a little kid when I first heard "Spinning Wheel" on my dad's little AM radio. The song was really cool, and those long unencumbered trombone slides when the band takes a beat still puts a grin on my face. It was a strange song bordering on novelty - the cacophonous assortment of instruments at the end is still a thing of wonder. Then as quickly as they came, they went and I never really thought about them. The band's lead vocalist David Clayton-Thomas seemed to be on the CBC a lot when I was growing up. The most memorable was a black clad, complete with the hat David squaring off against Burton Cummings who was wearing a while cowboy outfit. The two went back and forth duelling their hits. Even then I thought it was a but unfair as Blood, Sweat & Tears couldn't match what Burton brought to the table. Still, it was pretty cool. It's funny to see now, because at the time I thought David Clayton-Thomas must have been an ancient fossil back in 1978 - the...