The 100th S Blog Post

This is my 100th blog post. I started this blog “The S Blog” eight years ago. I decided to write a post giving some highlights from this blog and some new content based on the topics I cover.

I write about Sri Lanka on this blog as it’s an interest of mine and where I call home. Sri Lankan blog posts have covered economics, politics, history, photos and more. I’ve also shared ideas of my own that I think would improve Sri Lanka. I’ll include three Sri Lankan images I’ve taken below with a link to the blog post it’s from. The text comes from those blog posts.

Diverse Views of Sri Lanka - 16 January 2020

A view of Bible Rock from a distance, taken near Kadugannawa.

Kaleidoscopic Kandy - 23 January 2020

A view of the Kandy Lake.

Captivating Colombo - 30 January 2020

Buildings in Wellawatte.

We just looked at three different images from Sri Lanka which are regional, Kandy and Colombo. They show the unique look of each one and reflect Sri Lanka’s colourful nature. Wellawatte is where I was when I lived in Sri Lanka.

I’m a fan of classic rock music that uses piano. The singers I like the most are Elton John and Bob Seger. I’m going to embed my favourite Bob Seger song which is “Even Now”. It’s a piano-driven rock song from the 1980s. Bob provides a powerful melody and singing. It reached Number 12 in the US charts, but it unfortunately isn’t remembered as one of his classics. I hope it will someday be remembered that way. I consider it to be an incredible heartland rocker.

In December 2022, I wrote the article “Ten Great Elton John Songs by Ten Different Guitarists”. It’s the inverse of my article “Ten Great Bob Seger Songs by Ten Different Piano Players”. Elton John’s guitarist Davey Johnstone plays on songs in both these two articles. I have also written “Ten Great Jackson Browne Songs by Ten Different Piano Players” which featured Elton John as one of the piano players. Moving back to the Elton John article, the guitarists I featured are Davey Johnstone, Caleb Quaye, Tim Renwick, Steve Lukather, Richie Zito, Eric Clapton, Chris Rea, Rusty Anderson, B.B. King and Doyle Bramhall II. I thought I’d feature a leftover which wasn’t in the original article, being the song “Ballad of a Well Known Gun”.

Ballad of a Well-Known Gun - Caleb Quaye (1970)

Caleb Quaye plays all the guitars on this Elton John song including an acoustic guitar in the background. The song opens with Caleb’s guitar intro. Elton’s piano comes in and out before coming in fully for a full band sound. This rocker incorporates elements of country and blues. The backing vocals sound like a choir. There is a special percussion beat going on during the choruses. Elton’s piano and Caleb’s guitars play well with each other including the powerful guitar solo that comes around the halfway mark. Ballad of a Well Known Gun is a good example of an americana styled rock song written by Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin.

When I did the retrospective post “The S Blog One Year On” in January 2017, I created a word cloud of the words used in my blog’s first year. I just created another word cloud for my blog. I suspect it is covering the last year plus my blog labels. This was created using the website WordArt.com.

The top ten words are Song, Sri, Piano, Rock, Lanka, Bob, Bill, Elton, Plays and Sing. This makes sense as I write about songs & Sri Lanka and I’m into piano rock music. Bob represents Bob Seger and Elton represents Elton John. Bill is referring to keyboardist Bill Payne who I’ve written about on this blog. I recently wrote an article about his keyboards for Bob Seger. While Elton so far hasn’t worked with Bill Payne, he thinks highly of Bill’s piano playing. Elton John and Bob Seger came together via Bill Payne on Bob’s song “Love’s the Last to Know” that features Bill Payne on piano and Elton’s guitarist Davey Johnstone on acoustic guitar.

One issue I’ve been having most of the time over the last year onwards is an enormous amount of fake traffic. Real traffic unfortunately got much less since I began this blog. As this is my 100th post, it’s difficult to get 100 views and when I reach it, fake traffic plays a big role in it. I would like to have the amount of fake traffic replaced by real traffic with getting at least 100 views being normal. I’ll give four less known blog posts of mine which I’d like to see get more exposure. The heading has their name/link and date with a brief description below.

Ten Great Electric Piano Rock Songs - 12 February 2022

My 75th blog post about ten rock songs I enjoy that feature electric piano. The artists featured are Blues Image, Traffic, Elton John, Bob Seger, Eagles, Billy Joel, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Christopher Cross, Toto and Bad English.

Elton John & Cat Stevens's Duet Honey Man - 29 October 2022

This is about “Honey Man”, a duet by English superstars Elton John & Cat Stevens recorded in 1970. This song was unreleased until 2001. I embed it in the post.

The Power of Bob Seger’s Singing - 22 November 2023

This article is giving my thoughts on the power of American rocker Bob Seger’s singing. I refer to some Bob Seger songs in it.

Five Export Diversification Options for Sri Lanka - 20 April 2024

I give five sectors I’m suggesting Sri Lanka diversity its exports into which are computers & electronics, visual effects for Hollywood, pianos & keyboards, vehicles and planes.

I’m pleased to reach 100 blog posts. I plan to continue writing about similar issues to what I’ve written before and hope to cover new ground in future posts.

Russ Kunkel’s Drumming for Bob Seger

This article is about Los Angeles session drummer Russ Kunkel’s work for Bob Seger. He first appeared on Bob Seger’s 1982 album “The Distance”. He played on all but one track on that album. He played one or two tracks on subsequent studio albums until 1995’s “It’s A Mystery”. In this article, I’m discussing his work with Bob Seger, mentioning many of the songs he played on. I also embed the official audio from five of these songs just before the conclusion. The first Bob Seger track he played on is “Even Now”, my favourite Bob Seger song. This is a very heartland rock song and a wonderful way for Russ to begin working with Bob Seger. On this song, he is drumming with passion with some fancy hits. He was also on the two other singles “Roll Me Away” which is another heartland rocker and the country hit “Shame On The Moon”. Highlights from that album include “Love’s The Last To Know”, a ballad with soft drumming in its first half transforming into intense drumming in the second half. Another song worth mentioning is the rock & roll song “Makin’ Thunderbirds” where he opens the song. He played on the first two tracks of the 1986 album “Like A Rock” which were both hits in the US. These tracks were the heartland rocker “American Storm” and the rock ballad “Like A Rock”. In the title track, he opens with soft drumming. In the choruses and Rick Vito’s slide guitar solos he hits the drums harder giving powerful drumming moments. He is rocking well on a slow song. Five years later, he played the drums on the rocker “The Fire Inside” with a hard hitting drum opening. The drums are prominent on this song. It’s driven by the drums and piano. He played on the sessions of the 1995 album “It’s A Mystery”. Three songs have been released from these sessions, the first is “In Your Time” which appeared on 1994’s “Greatest Hits” album. The two songs which appeared on the “It’s A Mystery” album are “I Can’t Save You Angelene” and “West Of The Moon”. On these three songs, Bob played piano. Two of them are rock ballads with it clearly being an electric piano. The song that stands out is “I Can’t Save You Angelene” which is an uptempo blues song with acoustic piano. On this song, Russ does blues playing including closing the song. Even Now (1982)
Roll Me Away (1982)
Shame On The Moon (1982) Like A Rock (1986) The Fire Inside (1991) Russ Kunkel has a full drum sound, being a great rock drummer. His drumming is sharp and powerful. He supported Bob Seger excellently as a session musician. Some other songs he has played on that I like are “Running on Empty” by Jackson Browne”, “Let Her Go” by Dan Fogelberg, “Johnny Strikes up the Band” by Warren Zevon, “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)” by James Taylor and “Volcano” by the recently deceased Jimmy Buffett. Russ hasn’t played on a Bob Seger studio album since 1995. I’d like to see him work with Bob again. I’ll conclude by wishing Russ Kunkel a happy birthday for turning 75 this week.

Bob Seger GIFs

Jaguar PS / Shutterstock.com

GIFs are video images which are popular online. I decided to write a blog post featuring GIFs of American rock singer Bob Seger whom I’m a fan of. They come from his official profile on the site GIPHY. I’m dividing the GIFs into three sections which are Studio, Hits and Live & Beyond where I give my thoughts on them. 

Studio

Beautiful Loser - 1975

via GIPHY

This album came out a year before Bob Seger became a rock star. Its most famous songs are the title track, “Katmandu” and “Travelin’ Man”. It’s cool how this GIF has a white flash through Bob Seger’s name and the atmospheric colour effects in the background. Bob has an unusual posh look in this picture with his top hat, cane and costume. He looks like Doctor Strange which is fitting as the 2016 “Doctor Strange” film referenced the “Katmandu” song with this album mentioned.

Night Moves - 1976

via GIPHY

This album came out during the time that Bob Seger made it big. This is his first album credited with the Silver Bullet Band. My favourite songs from it are “Mainstreet” and “Sunspot Baby”. Mainstreet is a rock ballad featuring an incredible guitar part. Sunspot Baby is a piano and guitar driven rock song using those two instruments very well. It’s fitting that the sun’s brightness is one of the effects of this GIF due to the album’s two songs “Sunspot Baby” and “Sunburst”. Sunburst has the unique combination of alternating between a soft rock piano ballad and an intense hard rock song.

Stranger in Town - 1978

via GIPHY

This album has Bob Seger’s hit songs “Old Time Rock & Roll”, “We’ve Got Tonight”, “Still The Same” and “Hollywood Nights”. It’s the first Bob Seger album I listened to and I consider it to be his best album. This GIF has text effects like the previous two, but it’s unique as the album’s title appears and disappears giving the effect of it being handwritten by Bob himself. It’s cool to see the Los Angeles lights go off and on in the background. 

Against the Wind - 1980

via GIPHY

This is Bob Seger’s “Against The Wind” album which is his only number 1 album in the US. Its title track is one his most famous songs with it having the other hit songs “You’ll Accomp’ny Me” and “Fire Lake”.

Hits 

Greatest Hits - 1994

via GIPHY

Bob Seger’s “Greatest Hits” album is his most successful album. This is the first album GIF to feature both the artist & the album’s name text appear and disappear. 

Ultimate Hits - 2011

via GIPHY

Bob Seger’s “Ultimate Hits: Rock and Roll Never Forgets” album came out ten years ago and was his first 2-disc CD hits album. This GIF has interesting flashing lights and there are subtle effects with the blue light and steam. I like the fact that this album is the first Bob Seger compilation album to feature his first hit song “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” from 1968 and his version of “Little Drummer Boy” from 1987.

Live & Beyond

Nine Tonight - 1981

via GIPHY

This is the 1981 live album “Nine Tonight”. The lighting effects on this GIF are so cool. One song on this album that stands out to me is “You’ll Accomp’ny Me” which has a more energetic piano part than the studio version. The 2011 Remaster features the bonus track “Brave Strangers” where Bob plays rock piano. He rarely does this and I’d like to see him do it more. 

Roll Me Away - 1982

via GIPHY

via GIPHY

These GIFS are taken from a live performance of “Roll Me Away”. This live performance was featured in the song’s music video which was produced and remained unreleased until last year on Bob Seger’s YouTube channel. Roll Me Away has incredible rock piano by Roy Bittan.

Like a Rock -1986

via GIPHY

As I featured the “Roll Me Away” music video GIF, I’m including one from the “Like a Rock” music video. Like a Rock comes from the album of the same name and the album cover for “Ultimate Hits” seen above was taken during the filming of this music video. I love the slide guitar playing by Rick Vito on this song. Interestingly, the GIFs of the last two songs come off the two albums that followed “Against The Wind”. 

So this was a fun way to look at the music of Bob Seger. I hope you enjoyed the GIFs. Feel free to say which GIF is your favourite.

Ten Great Piano Rock Songs by Ten Different Singers

As I like piano in rock music, I decided to write an article featuring ten different piano rock songs. It’s similar to my previous articles ‘Ten Great Bob Seger Songs by Ten Different Piano Players’ and ‘Ten Powerful Rock Ballads by Elton John’. They are my two favourite singers and are featured in this article, with one of the songs from those articles featured here, but with different text. I’ll be featuring classic rock songs where I’m embedding official YouTube audio of these songs in it. This will allow you to listen to any or all of them if you wish. Not all the songs on this list feature piano solos or it being the loudest instrument, but they are songs I consider to be great featuring good use of piano.

157 Riverside Avenue - REO Speedwagon (1971) 

This is from REO Speedwagon’s debut album, long before their popular period. Their first lead

singer who sings this song is Terry Luttrel. It opens with an impressive piano intro which is soon

joined by other instruments. This song has a ragtime influence. There is a special piano solo by Neal

Doughty and two great guitar solos by Gary Richrath. Terry sings like Bob Seger which is fitting as

there’s a reference to Mainstreet in it and “Mainstreet” would be one of Bob Seger’s hits released

five years later.

Rikki Don’t Lose That Number - Steely Dan (1974) 

Followed by the marimba opening, Michael Omartian’s piano comes in, soon followed by Donald

Fagen’s singing. It has a light relaxed feel and does rock. The electric guitars are most prominent in

the chorus and there is a guitar solo which gives a sudden edge to the song making it more intense.

This song is jazz rock which beautifully mixes the two styles of music together. This was a Number

Four US hit for the band. 

The Pretender - Jackson Browne (1976) 

It opens with Jackson’s singing followed by Craig Doerge’s piano. Jackson sings with powerful

emotion, with parts of it being intense. It’s a mid-tempo rock song. It has great rock piano notes. The

drums are played by Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro who interestingly plays drums on the next two

songs. 

Jump Street - Boz Scaggs (1976)

This is an intense rock song that sounds similar to “157 Riverside Avenue”, as both songs have a

ragtime influence. It is both piano and guitar driven, featuring incredible piano and strong guitars. It

sounds like Elton John which makes sense as the song was co-written by its piano player David

Paich who would soon form Toto. Elton John is an influence of Toto and two other Toto members are

also on this track. The next track is a Toto song written and sung by David Paich. The live version is

also worth checking out as it features the additions of organ and horns.

Lovers in the Night - Toto (1982)

This is an album track from Toto’s very popular album “Toto IV”. It opens with a dark and special

piano part played by David Paich. There are intense guitars by Steve Lukather and synthesizer

interjections by Steve Porcaro. Parts of the song go back and forth between the piano/synth

combination and the guitars. There are two great guitar solos which feature good piano

accompaniment. 

I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That - Elton John (1988)

This song was a major US hit for Elton John reaching Number Two in the Billboard Hot 100. It’s

opened by Elton’s piano. There are also keyboards and subtle acoustic guitar. Elton is singing strong

and his piano matches well with his voice. In the end section Elton solos playing great piano and

gives a bit of singing. 

I Go To Extremes - Billy Joel (1989)

This next song comes from American singer/pianist Billy Joel who has musical similarities with Elton

John. It sounds a bit like the previous song, but rocks harder as it has electric guitars on it. It’s

catchy with interesting lyrics. It has two powerful rock & roll piano solos by Billy. This is one of Billy’s

hits.

Running on Faith - Eric Clapton (1989) 

This song is well known for its inclusion on Eric Clapton’s popular live “Unplugged” album in 1992. It

however first appeared on his “Journeyman” album three years ago in 1989. The studio version is

better than the live version as it benefits from the studio production. It was written by songwriter

Jerry Lynn Williams and first recorded by Eric Clapton. The first few seconds are piano played by

Greg Phillinganes. Greg plays along well with Eric’s acoustic guitar solo. Though there are a lot of

other instruments on this track, the piano provides great notes and can be heard. This song features

powerful drumming and choir. 

The Fire Inside - Bob Seger (1991)

This song has incredible inspired piano playing by Roy Bittan including two beautifully complicated

solos. It’s guitar part is acoustic played by Toto’s Steve Lukather and there is good supporting organ.

This is great melodic songwriting that’s an example of Bob Seger at his best.

World Gone Crazy - The Doobie Brothers (2010)

Though this song is sung by original lead singer Tom Johnston, it has a Michael McDonald influence,

with its piano playing and composition. This song has elements of jazz in its piano and horns that

later come on. Tom is singing powerfully. At the two minute and twenty second mark, there is a

noticeable organ that goes on for twenty to twenty five seconds. This is followed by a musically

diverse section that begins with drumming only, a piano solo, back and forth between horns and

electric guitar and a saxophone solo before returning to the chorus. Bill Payne delivers incredible

piano playing on this song. As non-relationship songs are my favourite type of songs, I’m pleased to

conclude this list with one.

If you enjoyed this article, you might be interested in my similar article ‘Toto Tribute Album’ writing of an imaginary tribute album to Toto featuring all of the artists on this list (and others) except Toto. Quite a few of the session musicians on these songs have played on songs for other artists featured on this list.