"Inside And Out" by Feist

Hello listeners, and thanks for tuning in! Tonight, the Radio Dial beams a truly tasty track to your speakers, and in addition, your music loving minds… Feist’s 2004 single “Inside And Out”.

Leslie Feist has been recording indie folk rock since 1999 both as a soloist (under the singular name of “Feist”), and as part of the Toronto based rock collective Broken Social Scene. Her smooth, jazzy treatment of the Bee Gees’ tale of unconditional and aggressive love, taken from her Let it Die LP, features prominent saxophone work from Frédéric Coudere, and an innovative music video chronicling Feist’s progression through the buildings and streets of a major city, as seen through the development of individual still photographs.

Astonishingly, the only chart this great cover appeared on was the UK Top #100, where it managed a lowly #83 in 2005. She is, however, no stranger to the American charts, as two years later, her track “1234” peaked at US #8, which is, to date, her only Top 40 single in the states.

Recently, as I was perusing cover tunes and samples on www.whosampled.com, I located Feist’s re-titled version of The Brothers Gibb’s 1979 chart topper “Love You Inside Out”. As the Bee Gees were my favorite group of the late 70s, I decided to give Feist’s rendition a spin, and I instantly fell in love with this modern treatment of a classic pop song.

“You're the reason for my laughter and my sorrow… Blow out the candle I will burn again tomorrow. No man on earth can stand between my lovin' arms… And no matter how you hurt me, I will love you till I die…”

"Voo Doo" by Rachel Sweet

It’s that time again, listeners! Time to sit back, relax, and let the Radio Dial bring you another great, forgotten minor hit for your musical enlightenment and enjoyment. Tonight’s offering is the beauteous Rachel Sweet with her 1982 track “Voo Doo”.

Co-written by Sweet, “Voo Doo” features a tasty groove that merges new wave and classic R&B, Sweet’s sexy, sultry vocals, and a strong Stevie Nicks influence, a.l.a “Edge of Seventeen” or Fleetwood Mac’s “Gypsy”.

Peaking at #72 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early ‘83, Voo Doo served as the lead single (and ONLY single) from Sweet’s “Blame it On Love” album, her fourth and final LP, after which Rachel retired from the music biz altogether.

Personally, I rediscovered this song by accident about 10 years ago when I snagged a three-CD set of 80s hits, many tracks of which are sure to be future features on the Radio Dial.

I didn’t recall the song by reading the title or artist, but once I listened to Voo Doo’s first verse and chorus, I had a faint glimmer of recollection of hearing this on the radio back then… but probably only once or at best, twice, as its low chart position would support. I then played the song probably about 10 times in a row and couldn’t figure why this wasn’t a top ten smash…

What’s Rachel doing now? She writes and directs for the hilarious TV Land sitcom “Hot In Cleveland”! You may also have seen her cameo as George Costanza’s cousin Shelley, in the legendary Seinfeld episode “The Contest”!

“Cast a spell, can you read my mind? Are you surprised at what you find? So don’t ask me to dance… Voodoo…Cause I’m caught in your magic spell…”

TWO FER TUESDAY featuring John (Cougar) Mellencamp

Hurray, it’s the third day of the week, and time for everybody’s favorite Radio Dial feature, Two-Fer Tuesday! This time, the dial locks onto a signal containing a pair of interesting tracks from the lengthy career of one Mr. John Mellencamp, 1976’s “Do You Believe in Magic”, and 1991’s “Get a Leg Up”.

Pulled from John’s debut LP, “Chestnut Street Incident”, “Do You Believe…” is a serviceable bar-band style cover of the folkie ‘65 pop hit by The Lovin’ Spoonful, recorded under the glam rock inspired moniker “Johnny Cougar”. The Chestnut Street LP, half of which is covers, was disavowed by Mellencamp during his later career, but it served to introduce the world to the heartland rocker that would later dominate MTV and radio airwaves with such classics as “Jack & Diane”, “Pink Houses”, and “R.O.C.K. in the USA”.

“Do you believe in magic in a young girl's heart… How the music can free her, whenever it starts…
And it's magic, if the music is groovy… It makes you feel happy like an old-time movie”

Next, the dial spotlights a forgotten former hit from John’s “Whenever We Wanted” album. A comedic risqué song about a date that goes from bad to great over the course of a night, the Mellencamp penned “Get A Leg Up” was a sizable hit in 1991, spending three weeks at number one on the album rock tracks chart and reaching #14 on the hot 100… pretty darn impressive for a year which saw rock artists getting increasingly pushed aside by the likes of Mariah Carey, Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch, and Color Me Badd.

“’Want me to spend the night? Hey lover boy you know I will. And my best girlfriend lives down the road…
Together we will thrill ya’ And I'm thinking to myself, I could be “lucky Pierre” tonight… If I could get a leg up!”

It’s fun to contrast Mellencamp’s youthful rocking spirit, yet unhoned style heard on “Do You Believe…”, with the low-key, confident swagger of “Get a Leg Up”, which was laid down after his tremendous creative growth and phenomenal success in the ‘80s. Terrestrial radio hasn’t heard much from John since 1996’s “Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)", but rest assured that the man who founded Farm Aid continues to tour and release rockin’ albums every few years.

Keep your presets locked onto Kyle’s Radio Dial for more great forgotten tracks, and thanks for listening!

It's all for the music... and the memories.