Bob Brainen played "Waterwheel" from the first Hall & Oates album, Whole Oates. You may only remember the duo from their cheesy "Private Eyes" video from the 1980s. But they made many high class pop/soul albums the previous decade. Scott Williams played "Carmellia" from their self-titled album. If you think they were strictly commercial, check out John Allen playing "Babs Babs" from Darryl Hall's Sacred Songs, produced by underground prince, Robert Fripp. On World Of Echo, Dave Mandl played "Breathless: from Fripp's Exposure, a record Hall appeared on.
You want pop? Micheal Shelly played "Morning Girl" by the Neon Philharmonic. This from a 1969 rock-opera called The Moth Confesses- pure pop candy. Shaun Cassidy later covered the track.
Ira filled in for Irene Trudel, and played "They Say That Falling In Love Is Wonderful." sung by Harpo Marx. He followed this by talking about The Shaggs, a teen girl group plugged by Frank Zappa in 1969, who called them "better than the Beatles." The Shaggs actually had little musical knowledge, but their off-kilter sound of their playing earned them a cult following.
Finally, sadly, Gil Scott-Heron died last weekend. He began recording in the late 1960s, using mainly drums behind his poems about race relations and politics, but built his sound using musicians like Bernard "Pretty"" Purdie, Ron Carter, and later, his amazing Midnight Band. On Surface Noise, Joe McGasko played examples of all three: the first version of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," "Home Is Where The Hatred Is," and with collaborator Brian Jackson, "Ain't No Such Thing As Superman."
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