That ’70s song, Vols. 30 and 31

For a certain kid growing up in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the passing of summer to fall was not marked by the leaves turning but rather the arrival of Topps football cards at the store.

That happened at about this time every year.

Yet in the summer of 1970, when baseball cards started to fade from the shelves, I decided to divert some of my rather modest spending to 45 rpm records. We bought 45s at Evans Department Store. Part of a small local chain, they carried a little bit of everything.

They kept the 45s on a tall rack up front. The rack was turned toward the cashiers so they could keep an eye on the kids and, presumably, keep the records from walking out the door.

Though I no longer have the 45s I bought that summer — or any of my 45s, for that matter — I vividly remember the first two I bought. They were, of course, all over the AM radio that summer.

“In The Summertime,” Mungo Jerry, from “Mungo Jerry,” 1970. The LP is out of print, but the tune is widely available digitally. I thnk I have it on an old radio station comp LP, but I can’t find it at the moment.

I loved this tune by Ray Dorset and his mates from England. Still do. You still can’t help smile when you hear it today. There’s not much higher praise for a pop song. I never had this LP, and my 45 is long gone, but I can tell you it was on Janus Records, which was kind of a butterscotch or light brown label.

(Speaking of identifying old 45 labels, my old junior high friend Mike prides himself on still being able to do so, even four decades later.)

“Mama Told Me (Not To Come),” Three Dog Night, from “It Ain’t Easy,” 1970. I have it on “Golden Bisquits,” the greatest-hits LP from 1971. Both are out of print, but the tune is available on either “Complete Hit Singles,” a 21-track comp from 2004, or “Millenium Collection,” a 13-track comp from 2007.

To a 13-year-old kid, this tune was a little edgy. I wondered how it would play at home if my parents heard it. But then I figured, “Ah, what the heck.” Again, my 45 is long gone, but I can tell you this was on ABC-Dunhill Records, which had a black label.

Couldn’t tell you how long it was before I learned this was a cover of a Randy Newman song. Longer than I care to admit.

The ABCs of DE, Vol. 6

Mention Dave Edmunds’ 1983 album “Information,” and that may bring to mind two things: Jeff Lynne, who wrote one song for it and produced two songs on it, and that synthesizers were used.

Dig deeper into the grooves on this album, though, and you’ll find some more traditional Dave Edmunds sounds. Dave covers tunes by NRBQ and Otis Blackwell.

He also covers this early tune from a Boston bar band that scored a record deal with its incendiary stage show, which featured sizzling originals and old R&B and blues tunes. Peter Wolf and Seth Justman wrote “Wait” for the J. Geils Band’s first album, way back in 1970. It was the first cut on that album.

“Wait,” Dave Edmunds, from “Information,” 1983. (The album link is to an import two-fer CD also featuring “D.E. 7th,” his 1982 album.)

All of this is a sneaky way of hepping you to the latest post over at our other blog, The Midnight Tracker, where we’re serving up Side 1 of “Information.” This tune is the fourth cut on that side.

This is how you open a show

When the who’s who of Catholics in our corner of Wisconsin gathered at the cathedral in downtown Green Bay yesterday afternoon, they got a little surprise. They found out their new bishop, David Ricken, is a different breed of cat.

As he started the sermon at his installation ceremony, Ricken thought back to the last time he moved to a new place as bishop. As he drove to Cheyenne, Wyoming, from Colorado, he wondered what the folks there listened to. He flipped the radio dial, going from Mozart to this country classic, written and recorded first by Terry Fell in 1954:

“Truck Drivin’ Man,” Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, from “Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers’ Favorites,” 1972. Out of print, even the 1990 CD re-release.

The new bishop did a little more than reminisce. He started singing “Truck Drivin’ Man” at this most formal, traditional and reverent ceremony. It broke the place up.

He wasn’t done, though. He said his move to Green Bay reminded him of another tune.

“Drop Kick Me, Jesus,” Bobby Bare, 1976, originally released on “The Winner and Other Losers” and available on “The Essential Bobby Bare,” a 1997 CD release.

The new bishop sang that, too. It broke the place up again. Appropriate for Green Bay, ya think?

Noting that a song with the lyrics “Drop kick me, Jesus/Through the goal posts of life” carried “a certain profundity,” the new bishop went on to more spiritual matters, of course.

But you’d think those songs — in that setting — will be remembered far longer than anything he had to say after that.

A welcome blast from the past

If you wonder where your guide has been lately, I’ve been playing outside.

Playing outside so much that I’ve had little time to listen to tunes. Time enough, really, to check the e-mail and get on with the day.

Today’s e-mail delivers the welcome news that AC/DC is streaming the first single off its new album. “Rock ‘N’ Roll Train” isn’t an instant classic, nor does it break any new ground, but it’ll fit in nicely alongside all those AC/DC tunes you already know.

Phil Rudd’s drumming drives the whole thing … like a locomotive, of course. And, yes, Angus Young can still play like no one else and Brian Johnson’s delightfully shredded voice remains.

“Rock ‘N’ Roll Train” is off the new album “Black Ice,” which will be released Oct. 20. If you don’t want to buy it from a certain retail giant with whom AC/DC has an exclusive distribution deal, you can order it from the band’s online store, too.

When it comes to AC/DC, I was late to the party. I didn’t start digging them until the early ’90s. However, I had a chance to see them live in Madison, Wisconsin, several years ago, and I was blown away. It went right to the short list of the best shows I’ve seen.

So go listen to the stream, then enjoy this. It’s a cut from the AC/DC album I found in my dad’s collection. That story is here:

“Shake A Leg,” AC/DC, from “Back in Black,” 1980.

I got the fever, too

Our pal Kevin over at Got the Fever is out with a fine post on one of his obscure faves, the sizzling Latin group Cecilia Noel and the Wild Clams.

That got my attention because Noel is married to one of my obscure faves, Colin Hay. That’s right, the guy who was the lead singer in Men at Work back in the ’80s.

Lest you think I’m wallowing in nostalgia, let me assure you that Colin Hay is a terrific solo artist these days. I had a chance to meet him briefly after he (and Noel) played a wonderful show at our local casino lounge a couple of years ago, and he is gracious and good-natured.

Hay still plays some of the Men at Work tunes, going acoustic with some, tweaking others and doing it all with a smile. Some of his newer tunes are just as good. (That reminds me. I still haven’t gotten around to getting the album he released last year, “Are You Lookin’ At Me?”)

Here, then, is the best of both worlds, one of those old Men at Work tunes redone energetically by Hay, Noel and the Wild Clams.

“Down Under,” Colin Hay with Cecilia Noel and the Wild Clams, from “Man @ Work,” 2003.

Here’s a video of Hay and Noel doing another wild version of that tune.