A great early highlight of the show was a live clip of Steely Dan’s “Reeling in the Years” from the old live rock show The Midnight Specialin 1973, a show that introduced many of us as kids and teens to a wide ranging list of groups in concert when many of us were too young to attend concerts on our own.  A second early treat from this last Saturday’s show occurred late into the first hour of the show, when Simone, always the talented host and amiable interviewer, interspersed some interesting highlights from the David Lynch Foundation benefit concert held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City the previous Saturday evening.  Among the performers that evening at the semi-private, sold-out event were Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney.  Listeners to SNO were lucky enough to hear a few clips and some interesting banter from McCartney thanks to Mark.  At the end of the first hour, Mark entertained his audience with some great Frank Kingston Smith montages from Smith’s radio days.

At the beginning of the second hour, Simone played a relatively obscure song from the band Chicago.  The first guest of the evening was Bob Barker, who was on the phone with Mark at about 7:20 PM.  Barker seemed as he always appears on television, both friendly and energetic.  At least one interesting note from the interview included the fact that Barker lived much of his childhood on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota (Barker, is in fact, 1/8 American Indian). 

While Bob is currently plugging an autobiographical book, “Priceless Memories” (and Mark questioned him about the book), Bob noted that any proceeds from the book will be going to Barker’s favorite animal rights charities.  At one point, Mark asked Barker about the nasty character he played in the movie, Happy Gilmore.  Barker revealed that the movie’s star, Adam Sandler, had the part written especially for Barker, because it was, in fact, not in keeping with Barker’s real character, very friendly and good natured.  At about 7:30, after repeated attempts by Mark to say something bad about someone in Hollywood, Barker playfully stated that he would not.  He did thank Mark for another great Mark Simone interview, which ended on a high note.

Mark asked callers and Message Board posters for their picks for the “the dumbest character on television,” and later he added “who is the smartest character on TV.”.Listeners provided a lot of funny and unusual responses on the Message Boards.  A series of songs next played ranging from a 1978 tune from Yvonne Elliman, and closing close to the 8:00 pm hour with the Beatles, “Got to Get You into My Life.”  

At about 8:25, after a 1965 favorite from the Lovin’ Spoonful, Simone started a second audio montage and jingles of Frank Kingston Smith from his radio days.  Calling in from Scottsdale, Arizona, Mark noted that a caricature of Smith was on a wall at WABC’s headquarters in NYC, where it is sharing space with photos of Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and other current WABC Radio hosts.  Smith stated that he was honored to have the Jack Davis cartoon/caricature placed there and he seemed to be unaware of its existence before Mark told him about it.  Speaking of how he arrived at WABC, Smith explained that he had received a telephone call one Saturday morning, and caller said he was Rick Sklar, the legendary producer of WABC Music Radio.  Not believing him, Smith originally hung up on Sklar.  Upon calling Smith back, Sklar asked that he call him at his office number and have the operator put him through to Sklar.And the rest is history.

Smith told the audience he was working at a radio station in Philadelhpia when he caught the interest of Sklar.  He mentioned fondly of filling in for Cousin Bruce Morrow and Ron Lundy. Smith recalled one quirky experience when Morrow played his headphones very loudly.Smith explained to the audience that after leaving WABC, he went to Boston, but he still fondly remembers the radio station and New York City.  He said that he keeps busy these days at air shows, and that he and his wife, Linda, have 2 German Shepherds.  Mark mentioned that, when he was younger, he always wanted to imitate Smith’s voice.  Frank Kingston Smith appeared to be genuinely  moved by that comment, and he was very pleased to be on the air once again at 77 WABC.  

Approaching the top of the 9:00 hour, with the Beatles 1964 tune, “I’m Happy Just to Dance with You,”  Mark mentioned that “A Hard Days Night” was televised recently.

Mark started to ask who the smartest character on television was, and mentioned Mr. Wizard as an example.  The banter continued back and forth with callers and message board folks about TV’s smartest and dumbest characters.  He confessed that he has never sat through an episode of “Star Trek.”  A “fake” break included an old commercial from Robert Hall clothiers (the store where my father bought me one of my very first suits) as well as Louis Armstrong doing an old Schaefer beer ad. 

Starting the final hour with the Beach Boys’ “Sloop John B,” Mark joked that the next song, the Rolling Stones’ “Miss You,” released in 1978, may have been Jagger & Company’s answer to disco, which I thought was an insightful suggestion that I hadn’t paid much attention to previously. 

After “I’m A Believer” at about 9:20 PM, Mark began his interview with Micky Dolenz, a former member of the Monkees.Listeners were informed that Micky will be appearing at the Capital One Bank Theatre in Westbury, NY, on May 8.  Micky said that the show also included Peter Noone and Mark Lindsay as the Teen Idol Show, but Dolenz joked that he wanted to call them the Teen Idol ‘rat pack.’  When asked, he said that the trio would do solo numbers and a few numbers together including the song ‘Stepping Stone,’ which he would perform with Mark Lindsay (his only real reference made to the Monkees).

Mark asked if Micky ever felt that there was antagonism between the American and the British groups. Micky denied any animosity between the two musical groups.  Micky did make an interesting note that the British ‘pop’ sound even today is sometimes more distinct than its American cousin, simply because the U.K. is relatively small compared to the United States.  Among the other items that Mark mentioned in the interview included Micky’s stint as an inventor. Micky has invented an item called a ‘Hang It All’ to hang pictures, or as he joked ‘to hang all his gold record albums.’ 

When Mark asked Micky about his radio days as a DJ on WCBS FM New York, Micky mentioned that he enjoyed those days, but that they were difficult as they involved getting up at 4:00 AM.  He said that he has a new found respect for radio people (like Simone).  Mark Simone was glad to hear this from a musician such as Dolenz.  Mark and Micky talked about the many songs that the Monkees chose not to record.  One of these included a tune ultimately picked up by Peggy Lee, “Is that All There Is.” Finally, it was mentioned that Dolenz actually had auditioned for the role of Fonzie in the 1970’s TV series, Happy Days, but noted that he had no regrets, and commended Henry Winkler for a ‘great job’ on the series.  The interview concluded shortly thereafter and Micky noted that his website http://www.mickydolenz.com/ contained some additional information on his upcoming solo shows as well.

To round out the interview, Mark played the Monkees’ 1967 hit song “Pleasant Valley Sunday.”.”   While Mark continued some of the TV trivia with callers, “Rockin Robin” and a nice, live version of BJ Thomas’  “I Just Can’t Help Believing” rounded out the songs for the show before ending with Dave Clark’s upbeat “I Like it Like That.”  Another great Saturday night thanks to Saturday Night Oldies, Mark Simone and WABC!

I really enjoy the Saturday Night Oldies radio show, it is a very enjoyable stroll down memory lane.  For more information about the show, and other music reviews, check out the blog, http://nostalgiaguymusic.com/

Listen next Saturday night, April, 18, from 6:00 pm until 10:00 (EDT) and follow it on the message boards at http://musicradio77.com/

It’s been a while since their last release, 2004’s How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, but it was worth the wait.The album, with 11 tracks, contains classic U2 music.

The Irish rockers get back to basics with their strongest offering in years. It was recorded in Dublin, New York, London and Fès, Morocco.  And the good news is that Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, and Steve Lillywhite all helped to produce the album.  But I don’t think this is the best U2 album since Eno and Lanois first worked with the band on 1984’s The Unforgettable Fire.

Magnificent, with its drum crescendos, trademark guitar riffs, and a soaring Bono vocal, is easily the best song on the album and is the second single to be released.  The first song released, Get On Your Boots, is actually a good track; this is the song the band performed at the Grammys on February 8.Get on Your Boots is a fun, foot-tapping track.  However, Boots only hit No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Breathe suggests that the band’s classic approach can still sound contemporary. The album ends with a sad, thoughtful song, Cedars of Lebanon, a track about war and violence. Lyrics like “the right to appear ridiculous is something I hold dear” in the song I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight, show that the band still has a sense of humour.

Sales, however, have not been very strong since the release of the album.No Line on the Horizon only sold 484,000 copies during the first week of sales. These days, not many acts would consider that number a disappointment.U2, however, is not just any musical act. The Irish band’s last album, 2004’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, sold 840,000 copies in the first week.

A couple of the tracks are a bit long and the cover art is very plain, however, I think No Line on the Horizon is a worthy addition to U2’s collection.

For more musical reviews and information, visit the Nostalgia Guy Music blog.