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"Never Been Any Reason" by Head East


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* * * Caution: Flashback to the mid 70s! * * *

 

I don't recall hearing this 1975 release by the band Head East until a few years after it came out. But years -- um, make that "decades" -- later, the synth lines and Hammond backup still hold up for me, as do the Geddy Lee-like (from Rush) sounding vocals of the two lead singers. There's also a "live" version on youtube with shots of the band in concert, but the audio isn't as good and the Hammond really shines on this version.

 

It's not too visually stunning to watch -- other than the occasional pretty girl's face to look at -- but it is GREAT to listen to!

 

I just read this about the synth solo:

The song features keyboardist Roger Boyd's double-tracked Minimoog solos throughout the song. Asked about the solos via the band's official web site, Boyd said they were created due to an accident during mixing:

 

"It is two Minimoogs. Back in those days we did not have computerized mixing and had to mix "on the fly;" we forgot to mute one of the moog solos and when it went by we thought WOW! so we decided to go back and record the second part to match/compliment [sic] the primary solo part."[2]

Lead vocals are alternated between drummer Steve Huston singing the first two lines of the verses and lead vocalist John Schlitt on the remainder of the song.[3] Both the last line of each verse and the choruses feature multi-part vocal harmonies sung by all the members of the band.

 

The song was featured in the 1993 film Dazed and Confused, and later in the 2005 film Sahara.

 

LONG LIVE THE 70's!!!

 

Old No7

 

[video:youtube]

Yamaha MODX6 * Hammond SK Pro 73 * Roland Fantom-08 * Crumar Mojo Pedals * Mackie Thump 12As * Tascam DP-24SD * JBL 305 MkIIs

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I don't think I'd ever heard this tune, but so many things about it really do just scream "mid-70s," with the mix of prog and arena rock, the instrument tones, the vocal harmony breakdowns... even those dry drums that seemed to be required in any studio that Zeppelin wasn't in during that decade. Thanks for the share, I loved it.

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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Also, for a really fun diversion:

 

Check out these kids from School of Rock Chicago doing it. Sure, not note for note, but there is some huge developing talent there. Plus, they are ALL having fun

 

[video:youtube]

David

Gig Rig:Casio Privia PX-5S | Yamaha MODX+ 6 | MacBook Pro 14" M1| Mainstage

 

 

 

 

 

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Also, for a really fun diversion:

 

Check out these kids from School of Rock Chicago doing it. Sure, not note for note, but there is some huge developing talent there. Plus, they are ALL having fun

 

[video:youtube]

I'm not sure that anyone except a 14 yo girl could sing like john schlitt. Maybe a young geddy lee.

FunMachine.

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That song was brought into a band I was in by the bass player in the 1980s. Phenomenal singer... he could hit those high B's in the chorus full voice every night - and then some. Even though music had moved on, we'd close sets with it because it went over so well - probably because he sang it so well.

 

I played the synth lines on a DX7... not so well.

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We play it in our band. We have some really good singers, I always get stuck with the high harmonies but I don't mind it for this song.

 

I play the duo Minimoog parts faithful to the record, using the Voyager Minimoog RME and Andromeda. I have a split setup on my MIDI controller for the duo Moog parts, then the last lines of the solo where the D notes glide between low and high I layer the Moog parts together (two Moog's playing the same D notes). It is really fat sounding and gets a reaction every time.

 

The first few months we played the song, the minimoog solo was always blasting in my monitor. All my volumes are preset by the MIDI controller per song, and I thought something was wrong with my MIDI setup. I checked the setting at practice and they are fine, nothing wrong. I confronted our sound engineer - is my volume too loud, or is he cranking it? He was cranking it - he said the sound was so powerful. By consequence, it is blasting in EVERYBODY'S monitor and they love it. This is the same engineer would loves to pump my Taurus pedals through his PA subwoofers.

 

I'm using a Minitaur for Taurus pedal sounds... I would had engaged that for the 2nd Minimoog part, but its range is limited and does not go to high D.

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They recorded parts of their live album at Knox College here in town. They came back in the mid 80's for a bar gig (they were based out Illinois) and used my gear for backline. I wasn't able to go, and I've been told I didn't miss much, LOL. John Schlitt went on to front Christian rock band Petra.

M-Audio Hammer 88, Yamaha MODX6, Yamaha ReFace CP, Korg D1

MacBook Air 13" M1 (2021) Logic Pro X 10.5, Mainstage, Roland Cloud (Ultimate), U-He DIVA, Arturia V-8

JammSammich, Peoria, Illinois

 

 

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Somebody once sang "Shave my wife" instead of "share my life" while covering Right Down The Line, and now any song that has "save my life" or something similar makes me change the lyric. I know, I'm a 12-year-old.

M-Audio Hammer 88, Yamaha MODX6, Yamaha ReFace CP, Korg D1

MacBook Air 13" M1 (2021) Logic Pro X 10.5, Mainstage, Roland Cloud (Ultimate), U-He DIVA, Arturia V-8

JammSammich, Peoria, Illinois

 

 

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There was a discussion sometime back here that the keyboard player actually used and favored a Hammond BC I believe, not a B3?

 

But it is a great song. I didn't hear it until 1980/81, as it didn't get the same airplay on the West Coast as it did in the Midwest. But I loved it the first time I heard it on a boom box at the gym at San Diego State. I was way into New Wave and the new music coming out of the UK, but still loved the tune on first listen.

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The 50's and 60's band I play in opened for Head East at a big Italian Fest in Herrin, Illinois years back.....my 2 fondest memories were: They came to us and asked if they could use some of our gear, in particular our drummer's kit, as it would facilitate a shorter changeover between sets. Our drummer was eager to comply, and spent a bit of time cheesing about how "Head East was using MY kit"....Our drummer is kind of a lightweight in the power department, and really for us that's not an issue with the style of music we play. The Head East guy hits the drums like a silverback gorilla, and by the end of the set our guy's drumheads were complete toast. The other memory was, I was standing up at the stage by the keyboard player, when during the set a comely young lady tugged on my sleeve, pointed to the keyboard guy and said, "Hey, could you tell him that ***** from last year is here?" My response was, "Oh yeah.....I'm SURE he remembers you!"......Good show though.....
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My band does it as well. I've set up an AX-Edge keytar to let me alternate quickly between organ and lead synth. My band mates, mistakenly, added an extra VII-IV-I in the first lead break, and then they decided to keep the extra solo length.

 

My approach to most note-to-note solos is sorta like the original D-50 approach to voice programming: Give people exactly what they need to hear at first, then do whatever I want. End with Wee-ooo-Wee-ooo. All's good.

 

By the way -- No, I'm not going political -- John Schlitt and a few other familiar faces show up regularly with the Jay Sekulow band. Here's their cover of Never Been Any Reason.

[video:youtube]

-Tom Williams

{First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com

PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361

 

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I lived in Peoria IL for a few years and every time this song came on the radio, the DJ would tell us it was recorded at Golden Voice Studios in Pekin (which is just down the road from Peoria). Years later, I found out Golden Voice was actually a pretty big deal - Styx and REO Speedwagon also recorded there very early in their careers. I also found out it was actually in SOUTH Pekin, which is really just a dot on the map surrounded by miles of cornfields. Crazy place for a studio I would think.

 

I still have "Flat As A Pancake" on cassette.... Maybe I'll play it one of these evenings.

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Our cover band often closes sets with this one. It always seems to go over well, even with those who've never heard it before.

Voyager, A Tribute to the Music of Journey - http:// www.facebook.com/voyageraz

Keys: Korg KronosX 88, M Audio Code 61, Novation Launchkey, Mainstage, Keyscape, Omnisphere

 

 

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Here's a very raw version of the song when we were first roughing it out at a rehearsal. Sorry about the camera angle on my ugly mug the whole time. Shot with an iPhone.

 

Voyager, A Tribute to the Music of Journey - http:// www.facebook.com/voyageraz

Keys: Korg KronosX 88, M Audio Code 61, Novation Launchkey, Mainstage, Keyscape, Omnisphere

 

 

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Very cool that this old tune is getting the respect and attention it deserves!

 

Thanks for listening!

 

Old No7

Yamaha MODX6 * Hammond SK Pro 73 * Roland Fantom-08 * Crumar Mojo Pedals * Mackie Thump 12As * Tascam DP-24SD * JBL 305 MkIIs

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It"s okay. It"s a shame this song is the extent of people"s knowledge of the catalog.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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I hadn't thought of this song in years. It gets no airplay around here, but then there are scads of things that don't get airplay that probably ought to. Whoever does the programming for the local rock station thinks AC/DC warrants a third (or more) of the available play time. By the time you backfill with Green Day and Tom Petty, all the other tunes of the last fifty years get about one song per day...okay, maybe two...if they're lucky, and that includes such no-name bands as the Stones, Zeppelin, Hendrix, etc. You know...the throw-away stuff.

 

Never much liked AC/DC, and being force fed the stuff gets old. Can't think of a single song of theirs that I like.

 

Okay, back to Head East. For some reason I'm thinking I might have seen them as backup for someone in the late '70s--can't remember who. I'll have to think about it.

 

The OP's comment about "Geddy Lee-like vocals" was spot-on. I'd never made that connection, but now that it's been said I'm in complete agreement. It'll be difficult for me to not think that the next time I hear them...sometime around the year 2030...

 

Grey

I'm not interested in someone's ability to program. I'm interested in their ability to compose and play.

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There was a discussion sometime back here that the keyboard player actually used and favored a Hammond BC I believe, not a B3?

.

 

Not sure who would have posted that. But, yes Roger still has his old CV. That thing is a great Rock organ. Tons of guts. But he has finally taken to gigging with clones. He will bring out the CV still but it"s negotiable.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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I hadn't thought of this song in years. It gets no airplay around here, but then there are scads of things that don't get airplay that probably ought to.

 

It doesn't get airplay here in the PNW either, but then again it never did. I was introduced to the song in Seattle back in the 1980s when a new bass player brought it in. He was from the midwest, and had been singing it for years. Otherwise we would have never done it.

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I think my other favorite on that record is "Love Me Tonight".

 

I hadn't thought of this song in years. It gets no airplay around here, but then there are scads of things that don't get airplay that probably ought to. Whoever does the programming for the local rock station thinks AC/DC warrants a third (or more) of the available play time.

 

I have become convinced that our local classic rock station started out with a $500 or $1000 (or whatever) budget to buy CDs with, and the program director went to Tower Records with the money and he started buying CDs... He started down the "A" aisle and bought everything they had from AC/DC and Aerosmith and then suddenly he realized the money was already half gone. So for every other band he bought just one disk or maybe two. And to this day, we hear AD/DC and Aerosmith each about twenty times every day.

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Check out these kids from School of Rock Chicago doing it. Sure, not note for note, but there is some huge developing talent there. Plus, they are ALL having fun

 

Cowbell player has star written all over him.

 

 

I almost made the "More cowbell Baby" joke but just couldn't. This guy was all over it.

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Always loved that song. I thought they did an admirable job for an amateur band.

 

You DO know that the other singer is John Elefante right?

 

[video:youtube]

You want me to start this song too slow or too fast?

 

Forte7, Nord Stage 3, XK3c, OB-6, Arturia Collection, Mainstage, MotionSound KBR3D. A bunch of MusicMan Guitars, Line6 stuff

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