June
2005
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Plus
The Music Of Michael Cohen |
Everyone Involved |
Either/Or
was the name of the (only) album performed and recorded by Everyone
Involved. I wrote all the lyrics and produced the album. I suspect
the track you probably want to put on your website is "A
Gay Song" but please feel free to use as many tracks as you like.
The whole point of the album was not to produce a consumer item so
we all contributed what we could afford which produced a print run
of 1000 copies which was divided equally between the sixteen contributors.
The only rule was that they were not to be sold and to this end it
actually says on the disk label: "This record is free. If you
paid for it you were conned." ********************************* Alan Wakeman: Died 8/11/15, age 79
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Playlist
(airdate
June 27, 2005)
Above, Alan Wakeman, year unknown Note:
many of the photos on this page |
Michael Cohen 1951 -- November 1997 Michael Cohen was a singer/songwriter on the Folkways label whose very gay album was released in 1973, very early for openly gay material, especially for a reasonably sized, established label like Folkways. Not much is known about Cohen except what can be found on the liner notes of his three albums (which contained no bio info). If you have any information on him, please let me know. Below, his first, self-produced album, from 1973. He brought several of its songs to his Folkways release, (right) which came out the same year.
Here's
a close-up of the sticker from the bottom right corner Below, "Some of Us Had To Live," from 1976 While I have
very few images to share with you of Michael Cohen, I do have |
Chris
Robison
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Chris Robison's career covered a lot of territory. This spanned from being in the touring band Steam, in the band Elephant's Memory, in the Velvert Turner Group, recording with Keith Richards, John Phillips, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Link Wray, Robert Gordon and John Lennon; in his own band Stumblebunny, his solo albums and his children's album. No, he wasn't on the recording of "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye," but then the guys pictured here weren't either. That song was produced in the studio by Paul Leka, who when it became a hit then found a band to go out on the road to tour with the song. Chris was in that touring band. That was his first taste of musical success, in 1969, and great experience for his work in bands later. Chris released two solo albums. The first, in 1973 was "Chris Robison and his Many Hand Band," and it was among the first to contain openly gay songs. And the marketing was geared to shine a light on that. Below is an ad that ran in After Dark magazine. Gee, it only cost $4.95, including shipping! You won't find it for that today, as both it and his followup album, "Manchild" (1974) are very rare. On the first album Chris did it all, all the vocals, all the instruments. |
Above, the LP labels of his two solo albums, and from the back of the "Manchild" album a great guitar shot of Chris with Tony Pony, who was the inspiration for several songs. The photo was tiny on the album cover, only 1 1/2" high, so scaling it up lost a little definition; would love to see the shots not used...:) |
Elephant's Memory It's been said that Elephant's Memory grabbed their 15 minutes of fame in 1972 when John Lennon discovered the group and used them as the backing band for his album "Sometime in New York City." But they did more than that; two songs from their first album "Elephant's Memory" (Buddah, 1969) made it onto the "Midnight Cowboy" soundtrack, bringing some acclaim. Chris Robison had two stints with the group, from circa 1970-1972 and again in 1974. On their Apple label LP, also called "Elephant's Memory" Chris sang backups and one of his songs, "Power Boogie," made the LP and featured John & Yoko backing up the track, which they also produced. On their 1974 album, "Angels Forever," Chris took a much more active role, playing keyboards, singing and writing or co-writing several tracks. The Allmusic Guide had this to say about Chris' contribution to the LP: "Keyboard player Chris Robison's "Tonite" is the best original on the disc. With the right production it could have been a big '70's hit, a surprising diamond in the rough that demands repeated spins. The fabulous Thunderthighs (who backed up Lou Reed, Genya Ravan, and many others) shows up, adding something special to the mix. Boy, if there were a few "Tonite"-type songs on this, "Angels Forever" would almost get the fame of the group's recordings with John and Yoko, and David Peel." |
Fresh on the heels of his second album he was able to place a 45 of "I'm Gonna Stay With My Baby Tonight" on Buddah, but alas, as the label was on a steady decline the proper promotion was not there. The song however has been covered by a number of artists, especially in Europe. Upper Right, another review at the time of the release of his first album. Above, in 1975 David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain of the NY Dolls backed up by Peter Jordan and Chris Robison toured Japan, and the result was the LP "Tokyo Dolls Live." |
Below, review of the Buddah 45 from Cash Box, 3/14/74. Below, Ronnie Spector (of the Ronettes) included a cocky cover version of "Tonite" on her 1980 "Siren" album. |
Stumblebunny Stumblebunny's
very rare 4-song EP contained the tracks |
In 1978 Chris started up a new band, called Stumblebunny, along with Peter Jordan (who he had toured with the Dolls in Japan). They put together a 4-song EP and shopped it around. Famed 60's producer Richard Gottehrer (Strangeloves, Blondie, and a host of Girl Groups, like the Angels) scooped them up and signed them. The next year came an LP, "While You Were Out," released unfortunately only in Germany. A shame, it could have and deserved to be a hit. |
Above, the EP and a UK pressing of the 45, below, German 45 and LP
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In 1994 Chris and music partner Steve Farrell released an acclaimed children's album, inspired by his family. Yes, in the 80's Chris started a family and sons Tiger and Dex became his focus. Their mother was a good friend of Peter Allen and he became their godfather. The kids, by the way, are pictured on the CD cover and helped sing on the recording. Chris sent me some "candids" below with Peter and the kids, and below right is Chris and Tony Pony, in a pic from 2004. The song from the "Manchild" album, "Tony Pony," among other songs were inspired by Tony Pony.
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And, I got some
nice feedback from Chris in December 2010. He has And....his obit....
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