John Stewart - Gold (1979)

Out On The YouTube ^

[SamAdams76]

I'm working on a post about how when you want a traffic light to turn read, it immediately turns green. For example, you are at a red light at a busy intersection and so you decide to pick up your phone and read a text or an email. Just as you get engrossed, the light turns green and the guy in back of you honks his horn. Never fails. You sit at these traffic lights forever but when you want them to stay read so you can read something on your phone, they turn GREEN!

Back in the very hot and muggy summer of 1979, John Stewart put out an album called "Bombs Away Dream Babies" and it achieved massive success. Thanks in large part to a huge assist by both Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac - who were very big at the time and about to release "Tusk" , the double-album successor to "Rumours".

In my opinion, both "Tusk" (1979) and "Mirage" (1982) were better overall albums than the much ballyhooed "Rumours" (1977). But I digress.

Let's get back to "Bombs Away Dream Babies."

"Midnight Wind" was actually my most favorite track from that album but "Gold" was the much bigger hit.

The Summer of 1979 was the first year I had a driver's license and also it was the summer of my first real girlfriend. I used to borrow my father's car (a 1968 Chrysler Newport) and drive up and down the beach at night with her, listening to loud music with the windows down. Then we'd go parking somewhere on the beach. We'd get in our bare feet and go walk out onto the sand and find a place to sit where we could listen to the waves crash in the darkness in front of us.

I can still smell the fried clams from that summer. There were a lot of "clam shacks" where I grew up and fried clams (and steamed clams) was pretty much a staple of my youth.

I really liked that John Stewart album and I think the contributions of Nicks vocals and Buckingham's guitar licks made some of those songs positively haunting - in a good way.

Sadly, John Stewart died some years ago. But the music - and the faint smell of fried clams from that magical summer remain.

[SamAdams76]

[SkyPilot]

Stevie Nicks on backup vocals and Lindsey on guitar as well. Great song.

[AC86UT89]

Great album. John Stewart had been around for years but never really “broke through”.

The Fleetwood Mac sound helped put this album on the charts, but without Buckingham/Nicks, he never acheived that modest level of success again.

[campaignPete R-CT]

I was working in a hot, dark, dusty warehouse. Listening to a co-worker sing this song incessantly

[BradyLS]

Bunny. Pancake.

[BradyLS]

...And I write that with tongue planted firmly in cheek! ;-) :-D

[EvilCapitalist]

I like Rod Stewart better.

[windsorknot]

I like Al Stewart, too.

[morphing libertarian]

I thought Kingston Trio WAS a break-thru. Build a fire under folk music.

Went to school with his bother Mike who was in WE Five. Music family.

[bramps]

You paint a good picture with that post. Kelly’s at Revere Beach came to mind but I don’t think they had steamer’s so I’m guessing it was another beach. But many of my high school summer nights wrapped up at Kelly’s.

[MuttTheHoople]

I remember winning this album at the local Skating Rink when I was in High School. I had just walked in, put my ticket in the box,and they must've pulled my ticket out on top.

Cool song. Too bad Stewart died in 2008.

[SamAdams76]

Well it was Kelly's Roast Beef on Revere Beach to which I was referring!

We went to Vazza's on Brown Circle (heading towards Northgate) to get the steamers. A friend of mine worked there at the time and if he was on duty, I'd get some extra clams in my bucket.

[prisoner6]

Thanks for posting. Made my night.
I haven’t been on the forum for a time. recovering from a >possibly well deserved< stroke that has left me speech and physically impaired. Two months afterward everything is a challenge.

Be that as it may “Gold” brings back wonderful memories and John Stewart is a favorite. A Stewart song I especially like is “Sweetheart on Parade” from his Mother Country album.

Forgive me for giving a shout out to a friend from the old Quinn and Rose group but I do not get on FR much.

Thanks again for getting me on a thread tonight.

[SamAdams76]

Al Stewart was also churning out hits during that time. “Year of the Cat” and “Time Passages” - both very good albums. Love those saxophone breaks.

[dfwgator]

Al Stewart was also churning out hits during that time. “Year of the Cat” and “Time Passages” - both very good albums. Love those saxophone breaks.

Both were fantastic songs.

[untenured]

1. I would respectfully suggest that you not look at your phone while driving.

2. When I was in high school, “Gold” was on the radio seemingly constantly, specifically while I was on the school bus. (I did not get my driver’s license until after graduation.) The song, and the drive that inflicted it on me, were both very unpleasant.

[oldplayer]

Never heard of him til he played before about 40 students at Chapman College in 1970. He came back the next semester to a sold auditorium. Became perhaps my all time favorite. Heard him in multiple small west coast venues over the next decades. Studio musician - song writer - story teller - picker. Stewart could excellent at it all. The Phoenix Concerts, Willard, The Lonesome Picker are all solid albums.

Thanks for this thread.

Oldplayer

[SamAdams76]

"Gold" is one of those songs that evokes a specific period of time. Had a huge amount of airplay that summer but hardly ever played on radio again. Other big song from that summer you don't hear much today was "My Sharona"

These songs are like time capsules. Everytime I hear them, memories from that time come flooding back. This effect is being studied seriously by neuroscientists.

Sorry to hear of your medical troubles and hope you have as full a recovery as possible. Glad this post jogged some memories for you as well.

[bramps]

I’m guessing that I’m speaking for many people that will read your post and we’re hoping that you continue to recover and your challenges become minimal.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

I'm working on a post about how when you want a traffic light to turn read, it immediately turns green. For example, you are at a red light at a busy intersection and so you decide to pick up your phone and read a text or an email. Just as you get engrossed, the light turns green and the guy in back of you honks his horn. Never fails. You sit at these traffic lights forever but when you want them to stay read so you can read something on your phone, they turn GREEN!

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are for you. I spent about an hour and a half in traffic this afternoon, hearing and replying to about 20 text messages using Apple CarPlay and Siri voice. Never needed to take my eyes off the road.