1970 - July: Crabby Appleton “Crabby Appleton”

What the Riff?!?

We may have an obscure album for your listening pleasure today. Crabby Appleton was a short-lived band that was formed by the combination of musicians from an acid blues band called Stonehenge and singer-songwriter frontman Michael Fennelly. The band is out of the Laurel Canyon counterculture, which produced many groups like The Mamas & the Papas, Jim Morrison, Carole King, and Jackson Browne. The group gets its name from a character on the late 50's cartoon series Tom Terrific, which was a part of the children's television show "Captain Kangaroo." Their debut album was eponymously named Crabby Appleton.

In addition to Michael Fennelly, the group consisted of percussionist Felix "Flaco" Falcon, Casey Foutz on keyboards, Phil Jones on drums, and Hank Harvey on bass. Phil Jones was the catalyst in the formation of the group after he met Fennelly in a club on the Sunset Strip and asked him to join Stonehenge as lead singer and guitarist. The group signed with Elektra Records, and had a top 40 single with "Go Back." Their second album was called "Rotten to the Core" and was recorded in 1971. After experiencing disappointing sales with this sophomore effort the group split up. They would get some mileage out of their initial success before this happened, and would appear on American Bandstand as well as opening for a number of groups including the Doors, Three Dog Night, ABBA, and the Guess Who.

Wayne takes us through this lesser known rock album. Friend of the show Bill Cook sits in for Bruce on this podcast.

Peace by Peace
This song grooves with the Hammond organ and talks about getting back what you give. If you lead with a gun others will respond in kind, while if you lead with peace others will respond with peace. It has a sound similar to the Doors, or Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

Try
The lead song from side two starts and ends with an upbeat groove with a Santana-esque percussion jam sandwiched in the middle. The lyrics are about a relationship that could go several ways. “We can try or we can throw it away.”

Catherine
A slower jam, this short acoustic-based ballad feels like Crosby, Stills, and Nash. It is about a guy who longs for a woman who is in another relationship.

Go Back
This is the hit from the record, which went to number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100. This was called a proto-power-pop single. The song is about a woman in a new relationship who can't give up her love for her ex. “And you know it's not right when you kiss me tonight and you pretend his lips are mine.”

ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:

Main Theme from the motion picture “Chisum”
You can't go wrong with John Wayne. This western was set in 1870's New Mexico.

STAFF PICKS:

Ride Captain Ride by Blues Image
Rob launches the staff picks with a song which got its initial lyrics from the number of keys that singer-guitarist Mike Pinera had on his keyboard. “Seventy-three men sailed up from the San Francisco Bay.” The band is out of Tampa Florida, and this was their only top 40 hit, reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered by Stevie Wonder
Lynch brings us a grooving, soulful song that would be the anthem for Motown at the time. It went to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song itself is about a guy who has some back to his love, realizing that what he has is all he wants, never to roam again.

The Long and Winding Road by the Beatles
Bill features a song off the Beatles “Let It Be” album. It was written by Paul McCartney and was released as a single the month after the group broke up. The original recording was more sparse, and the orchestration was added by Phil Spector. McCartney hated the Spector “wall of sound” arrangement, citing the treatment of the song as one of six reasons for justifying the dissolution of the Beatles partnership.

Ohio by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
Wayne's staff pick takes a political turn with a protest song inspired by the shootings at Kent State. Neil Young wrote and sang lead on this song. Student protests of the expansion of the Vietnam Wars led to a standoff at Kent State in which the National Guard killed four people and wounded nine.

NOVELTY TRACK:

Killer Joe by Quincy Jones
We finish up the podcast with a jazzy number that was popular at the time in 1970.

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**NOTE: What the Riff?!? does not own the rights to any of these songs and we neither sell, nor profit from them. We share them so you can learn about them and purchase them for your own collections.