The Ides Of March never made much of an impact in the UK where Vehicle was only a minor hit. The song’s composer, Jim Peterik, later became a member of Survivor, though, and co-wrote Eye Of The Tiger, which ever since the film Rocky III has been the obligatory music to accompany anything at all to do with boxing.

I liked Vehicle’s blending of brass and rock. As I recall, Blood, Sweat And Tears and Chicago (Transit Authority) were mining a similar vein around that time.

The song has an undertone of menace (“I’m the friendly stranger in the black sedan/Won’t you step inside my car?”) but had a more innocent genesis. Peterik wrote it about an old girlfriend who wasn’t that into him but used him as a taxi service. I vaguely remember reading, though, that after being apart for a while the pair later married.

Not having bought nor even listened to Stand Up beyond any singles it spawned, I had no idea this similarity existed.

Ian Anderson is very magnanimous about it all, isn’t he?

But then again, who owns E flat?

We Used To Know:-

I was moved to comment that Tin Soldier surely has the single best musical intro to a pop song ever.

It deserves wider hearing. This version has the added benefit of P P Arnold on backing vocals, as did the recording.

As a result of his posting another of Alastair’s readers recommended this, Song Of A Baker, for which embedding is disabled. But you can follow the link.

*Almax’s The Defibrillator blog – on my sidebar – is open to all but he tends not to post new stuff there.

I must confess that, to me, the verses seem to be without phasing.

This alternative version (not the one I remember) does seem more phased but otherwise its arrangement is more conventional.

I must confess I wasn’t much of a fan of Jackson’s music though I’ve heard lots of it of course.

I don’t know what he saw when he looked at his reflection (I suppose very few of us do like what we see in the mirror) but he was clearly a troubled soul.

Life in the showbiz spotlight can’t be fun; plus he had no childhood to speak of. With all that fame and money it must be difficult to find true friends. It’s no wonder he began to act out his hype.

It would be interesting to find out if Jarvis Cocker had mellowed towards him any. I suspect not.

Michael Jackson 1958-2009. So it goes.

Not so cool at all, then. (Except under the arms of course.)

Here is the real Nirvana’s track, Pentecost Hotel, their second single.

This means that whenever I mention the original Nirvana, the true Nirvana, I have to explain I don’t mean a grungy bunch from Seattle.

The earlier (1960s) Nirvana’s mainstays were Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Alex Spyropoulos. Together with producer Chris Blackwell they produced a series of idiosyncratic singles with classical/orchestral influences and also released what was probably the first concept album, The Story Of Simon Simopath, which had a quintessentially 60s psychedelic cover – complete with blocky unequal sized lettering.

This is their first single, Tiny Goddess, which has more than a hint of Pachelbel.

I think one of the reasons I like this is because of the classical influence. As the above links note, the song itself was adapted from an earlier version (which I would love to hear sometime) to fit the tune of Air On A G String.

It had the great misfortune to be released just after the similarly inspired A Whiter Shade Of Pale began sweeping all before it.

Unlike Whiter Shade Of Pale, though, the lyrics of Charles Brown are not laden with obscurity even if they do perhaps constitute a bit too much of a downer to have become a big hit.

I also like the “cracked” quality of the singing voice. I believe it was the song’s composer, Rod Lynton.

I’m not quite sure why whoever posted this on You Tube used pictures of a construction site.

The B-side, Hold On, was more or less a straight forward rocker but it’s a storming track in its own right.