Archive for February, 2011
Monday, February 28th, 2011
Listen: Reverend Lee / Roberta Flack
Reverend Lee / Roberta Flack
Do yourself a favor. Go see Roberta Flack next chance you get. That shimmering voice over near ambient arrangements is perfectly offset by her XXX risque between song jokes. It’s amazing that both come out of the same mouth.
When she breaks into ‘Reverend Lee’, preceded by a lengthy delta introduction, it’s as close as you can get to a religious experience that I know of.
Composed by Eugene Booker McDaniels, best known for his black consciousness songwriting form, it led to an even bigger hit a few years later when he delivered her ‘Feel Like Makin’ Love’. Go ahead, just imagine the onstage intro that one gets.
Tags: Atlantic, Eugene McDaniels, King Curtis
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Monday, February 21st, 2011
Listen: Auto Erotic (Waterbed Mix) / Dark Globe & Boy George
Auto Erotic / Dark Globe & Boy George
Instead of The City of New York stalking Boy George, shaking him down for some cocaine on his dresser at the turn of the century, we could have all been better served paying attention to some of the music he was collaborating on and releasing.
This one off single with Dark Globe sounded fantastic loud in clubs, and at home on the turntable.
The A side of ‘Auto Erotic’ was a perfect modern pop arrangement yet it’s the B side ‘Auto Erotic (Waterbead Mix)’ that was way my preferred side.
Tags: Dark Globe & Boy George, Whole Nine Yards
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Saturday, February 19th, 2011
Listen: Caldonia (What Makes Your Big Head Hard?) / Van Morrison & The Caledonia Express
Caldonia (What Makes Your Big Head Hard?) / Van Morrison & The Caledonia Express
Not sure if this is Dixieland or Swing or whatever. Seems “Caldonia’ gets spelled a little differently depending on who releases it. In fact, it’s even spelled two different ways on this label copy alone.
The James Brown version was my favorite for years and still is, yet lately I’ve been spinning this. Yeah, it’s very SNL but hey, he was the singer of Them and the single sounds just that little bit better given it’s a wlp.
How this was chosen as a single, if hit record was the plan, remains baffling. I do recall reading an interview with Van Morrison one time whereby he claims to deliver albums to the label letting them figure out the rest, a luxury you can bask in if you sell a decent chunk of each release. Does he really pay no attention though?
Listen: What’s Up Crazy Pup / Van Morrison & The Caledonia Express
What's Up Crazy Pup / Van Morrison & The Caledonia Express
Hold on, does Van Morrison play an instrument? Actually, I’ve no idea. Presumably not, so other than shouting out “What’s Up Crazy Pup” a few times, I guess he just enjoyed the band stretching it here.
Tags: James Brown, Them, Van Morrison & The Caledonia Express, Warner Brothers
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Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
Listen: You Left The Water Running / Barbara Lynn
You Left The Water Running / Barbara Lynn
Girls with guitars. You can’t top them. Especially when they’re playing RnB. That’s exactly what Barbara Lynn did then and does now.
A personal production project for longtime creative partner, Huey P. Meaux, I imagine he had equity in Tribe Records, or possibly a lot of sway as a result of The Sir Douglas Quintet hits. ‘You Left The Water Running’ was the second of four singles for the label.
Listen: Take Your Love & Run / Barbara Lynn
Take Your Love & Run / Barbara Lynn
Not by design I’m sure, ‘Take Your Love & Run’ reeked of Northern Soul before any of us knew what that even meant. Still under the production supervision of Huey P. Meaux, this unlikely July ’71 B side will empty your wallet fast, but deservedly so. Be careful, it’s an easily addicting record.
Tags: Atlantic, Barbara Lynn, Huey P. Meaux, The Sir Douglas Quintet, Tribe
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Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
Listen: Hi Ho Silver Lining / Jeff Beck
Hi Ho Silver Lining / Jeff Beck
From all reports, Jeff Beck hates these records. Shame. But I do wish I’d seen him perform them, as he must’ve done for a brief time just prior to recording and touring TRUTH.
Saw him a few years back at Roseland. His playing superb, and from where I was, he looked almost the same as when with The Yardbirds. Slim, no change in haircut, frozen in time. That show was way better than I remember The Jeff Beck Group being years prior. I was so disappointed that he didn’t play these two singles that night in 1969. We’d hitch hiked all the way to The Fillmore for the show, a bluesy metal jam instead of the clean English group sound we’d expected, based mainly on these two solo singles.
As with ‘Night Of Fear’ by The Move, the first time I heard ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’ was via American Bandstand’s Rate A Record segment. My trusty tape recorder Tivo’ d the moment, 1967 style.
Listen: Tallyman / Jeff Beck
Tallyman / Jeff Beck
A ‘Tallyman’ highlight was the nice double tracked guitar solo, as well as his fills through to the end. Not to mention the vocals, which must really make him cringe. I don’t think he ever sang again actually.
Tags: American Bandstand, Columbia UK, Epic, Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, The Jeff Beck Group, The Move
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Monday, February 14th, 2011
Listen: Country Girl, City Man / Billy Vera & Judy Clay
Country Girl, City Man / Billy Vera & Judy Clay
Judy Clay got a raw deal. An early member of The Sweet Inspirations, she grew up singing with her relatives, Cissy Houston, Dee Dee Warwick and Dionne Warwick. She’s on endless sessions (mostly Atlantic) for Wilson Pickett, Don Covay, Aretha Franklin, God only knows how many. When she finally had a hit with ‘Storybook Children’, as one half of the intentionally multi-racial duo Atlantic Records had masterminded: Billy Vera & Judy Clay; network television wouldn’t touch them. Instead Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood got their slots, including performing ‘Storybook Children’ on The Hollywood Palace. Hey, we love Nancy & Lee but hold on.
I used to hear the follow-up, ‘Country Girl – City Man’, on a bunch of stations. It featured The Sweet Inspirations (as did ‘Storybook Children’ and most tracks on their Atlantic LP), mixed RnB with country beautifully, and appealed to lots of formats. It’s another permanent jukebox fixture. I play it a lot. She sounds like she could’ve been an actress, that phrasing.
Listen: Private Number / Judy Clay & William Bell
Private Number / Judy Clay & William Bell
If you’re not a believer, check her duet with William Bell.
Posted in Atlantic, Billy Vera, Booker T, Dee Dee Warwick, Dionne Warwick, Don Covay, Hollywood Palace, Judy Clay, Lee Hazelwood, Nancy Sinatra, Stax, The Sweet Inspirations, William Bell, Wilson Pickett | No Comments »
Sunday, February 13th, 2011
Listen: Don’t Make Me Over / The Swinging Blue Jeans
Don't Make Me Over / The Swinging Blue Jeans
Who says if you get a song for free, you won’t buy a copy later anyways – for whatever the reason: loyalty to the artist, love of the song, wanting a particular configuration or maybe even just doing your part.
Even though I’d gotten ‘Don’t Make Me Over’ at no charge during one of my early Friday night “I’m here to collect records for the children’s hospital” scams instigated on our local MOR station, WMCR, at an alarmingly young age, I bought a copy anyways. I passed up the stock of ‘She Needs Company’ by Manfred Mann to expend that particular dollar, which in hindsight was a wrong gamble. Never seen one since, although this Swinging Blue Jeans non-charter (actually it did Bubble Under The Billboard Hot 100 at #116) is a bit more common.
It was the heat of the moment. I was overtaken with supporting the team. I really thought I could help it nudge up the chart. The naiveness of youth. I’d actually heard it on my local Top 40, WNDR in March – it was a one listen record. Although Dionne Warwick had a hit with it in ’62, to me it was an unknown track by ’66, when this arrived.
If you grew up in the Northeast, quite possibly songs are seasonal. This was a winter single, along with others at the time that left a life long impression like The Mindbenders ‘A Groovy Kind Of Love’ or The Walker Brothers ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore)’.
By May it had struggled onto the local survey (below) with several other greats. And on this particular week – it was the featured record thereby affording the lyrics be printed on the survey’s reverse side.
Tags: Billboard, Bubbling Under The Hot 100, Imperial, Manfred Mann, The Mindbenders, The Swinging Blue Jeans, The Walker Brothers, WMCR, WNDR
Posted in Billboard, Bubbling Under The Hot 100, Imperial, Manfred Mann, The Mindbenders, The Swinging Blue Jeans, The Walker Brothers, WMCR, WNDR | No Comments »
Thursday, February 10th, 2011
Listen: Mr. Pitiful / Otis Redding
Mr. Pitiful / Otis Redding
The last time I saw The Rolling Stones, at The Pheonix in Toronto, they played this number. The secret club show, a warm up or some such angle, kicked off their 2005 world tour on August 10th of that year. It felt unreal, in such a small place, making eye contact with The Rolling Stones.
Listen: That’s How Strong My Love Is / Otis Redding
That's How Strong My Love Is / Otis Redding
The first time I saw them, October 30, 1965, the band played this one. Like ‘Mr. Pitiful’, ‘That’s How Strong My Love Is’ seems to have been an Otis Redding inspired choice.
That show felt unreal too, this little boy being transported to a seemingly far away land of British rock, yet right there before these unprepared eyes. Life’s first high, impossible to ever forget.
Tags: Atlantic, Otis Redding, The Phoenix, The Rolling Stones
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Tuesday, February 8th, 2011
Listen: For Love / Jill Jones
For Love / Jill Jones
Just like artists, labels can go from nothing very collectible for ages to suddenly more desirable and even, sometimes seemingly overnight, through the roof.
Paisley Park isn’t quite the latter yet, but with the sudden realization that Prince is a living legend, my guess is some of the more obscure releases, in near mint condition, will start to dry up.
The label design was always beautiful, and in particular, UK pressings are stunning. 7′s by Mavis Staples, The Time, Sheila E and George Clinton are impossible to pass on. But heads up, despite the packaging and font, do not sleep on Jill Jones.
’87 was the year. As a back-up singer for his various projects from the start of the decade, her only Prince written/produced album, JILL JONES, dropped in February of that year. Prince was credited as a co-writer with Jones, but apparently wrote all of the songs himself. Upon its release, the album received positive reviews from critics, but shockingly failed to chart anywhere and has been out of print for many years.
The three singles it spawned are even harder finds, with the last of them, ‘For Love’, in my opinion, being the best.
Signature Prince is all over this one, the squeals, the wallops, his meticulously clean rhythm playing, it’s all there. Very few records swing like ‘For Love’. I bet I played this twenty, maybe thirty times tonight alone.
Prince does another in his series of seemingly endless Madison Square Garden shows this evening. Better than ever, if you can believe it. Last week he opened with ‘Kiss’ and that was just the beginning.
Tags: George Clinton, Jill Jones, Mavis Staples, Paisley Park, Prince, Sheila E, The Time
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Sunday, February 6th, 2011
Listen: Watermelon Man / Gloria Lynne
Watermelon Man / Gloria Lynne
Michael Alago and I worked together at Elektra for ages. We’d first met when he booked The Ritz a few years prior. The great times and mischief we got up to at that label, it’s an HBO series waiting to happen. Michael’s one of the great A&R people out there as well, having signed Metallica, Alan Vega, White Zombie, Nina Simone. It’s pretty hard to top his track record.
There was a moment when we were sent on a mission to find some classic artists for a series of Nonesuch jazz releases, those that might still be active, but hadn’t recorded in a while. This was a perfect reason to have an extended champagne lunch at Bicé on the company card and brainstorm a list. Gloria Lynne came to mind. After a few phone calls, we found she managed herself and got her home number from the fellow who booked The Blue Note at the time, name escapes me. Turns out her’s was the exact same as Michael’s, bar the last digit.
In those days, we used to get back to one of our places, four or five in the morning, fresh from another night at Danceteria or The Ritz, still ready to go; seriously. Sad but true. We’d often dial her number up to that very last digit, deciding it was time to make the call, then chickening out. Thankfully.
Check out her rap at the end of ‘Watermelon Man’. This is so blatant, so nasty. Lil’ Kim has nothing on her.
Tags: Alan Vega, Danceteria, Elektra, Fontana, Gloria Lynne, Lil' Kim, Metallica, Michael Alago, Nina Simone, Nonesuch, The Ritz, White Zombie
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Friday, February 4th, 2011
Listen: I’m Your Witch Doctor / John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers
I'm Your Witch Doctor / John Mayall's Bluesbreakers
Back during that second wave of late 60′s blues influenced UK acts like Savoy Brown, Ten Years After and Led Zeppelin, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers constantly evaded my collection. Those first several albums seemed to appear so quickly, and I always needed something other than their releases. Oddly, no one I knew had any copies either.
By ’66, I was already in a pattern of getting un-needed Rock and RnB singles off a little MOR station near my parent’s house. I turned up there one Friday claiming to be from the local Children’s Hospital and seeking out a donation…of records.
I knew about donations, having spent time in physical therapy rehab, learning to walk again, after jumping off our carport roof as a result of a childhood dare. So technically, I was in rehab at six years old. Spent half a year confined to a wheelchair, then another half doing the aforementioned physical therapy. Even though I was reaping great quantities of records as a result of the station’s donations, never once did a John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers single appear in their weekly handouts. Not until late ’67. And ‘I’m Your Witch Doctor’ was it – taken off that very first ANTHOLOGY OF BRITISH BLUES compilation on Immediate which was everywhere. CBS, Immediate’s US distributor, did the job back then as far as getting LPs into the stores.
Wow. What a single. I pretty quickly prioritized some of the band’s releases for purchase, the CRUSADE album in particular, with that top version of ‘Hideaway’. Little by little, I filled in those early London titles. They were pretty hard to find back then too.
Years later, I signed John to Island. He made a terrific album for us, A SENSE OF PLACE. It deservedly got much critical praise and sold well. Amongst the advantages of working at Island was the label’s credibility. John was considered passe at the time, but signing to Island was hip, and because he delivered such a strong album, it was a relatively smooth path to success.
A nicer man you will not meet. Dependable and honest. Generous too. He gave me a beautiful framed print of a photo he’d done. The subject: three of his handmade guitars, pictured many, many times in live shots and on album covers. No reason, just to say thanks for helping him.
Tags: Immediate, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Led Zeppelin, London Records, Savoy Brown, Ten Years After
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Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
Listen: The Last Thing On My Mind / Tom Paxton
The Last Thing On My Mind / Tom Paxton
If you didn’t really know folk music in the 60′s, but wanted to get caught up fast, Elektra was the one stop shopping label. So I thought at the time, and indeed, I was right. Tim Buckley, Tom Rush, Judy Collins, Tom Paxton. They were all there for an imaginary trip to MacDougal and Bleecker Streets, right in the comfort of your very own bedroom. You could rest assured you were part of the unrest. And if you had nothing to protest, at least you’d find a lot of songs that would stay around for life.
Acquiring a UK pressing of ‘The Last Thing On My Mind’ is a most pleasant recollection.
Not long after starting an entry level A&R job at Elektra in ’84, I found myself immersed in a small but deservedly elite bunch of living, breathing record/music obsessives. Every nook and cranny of the company had kindred spirits to connect with, from the chairman to the mailroom and back. Mark Cohen was our office runner, keeper of the promo cabinet, supplies (many supplies) and more in play than some of the radio guys actually. Topped off with a heart of gold, our vinyl fetish commonplace was quickly and mutually detected.
One day he walks into my office, telling me he’d just been instructed to clean out a jam packed storage closet, and in doing so, discovered several boxes of Elektra library 7″ singles, US and UK. Lots and lots of doubles. Did I want some of them?
Don’t even bother to torture yourself with curiosity. Yes, it was a sick find on his part and a hand of God on my forehead miracle for me.
Amongst them was a pristine, unplayed, untouched thick vinyl UK pressing of ‘The Last Thing On My Mind’. It was one of the last things I thought I’d ever see, not to mention, own.
Listen: The Last Thing On My Mind (1972 Re-recording)/ Tom Paxton
The Last Thing On My Mind / Tom Paxton
I like to think this 1972 re-recording, produced by Tony Visconti, was inspired by The Move, who cut a very British version on their album SHAZAM, from 1970. By then, Tom Paxton had moved to London, so it’s not too far fetched to assume he’d heard theirs, and realized what a powerful song he’d written. I must say, when I got this single, and saw the Tony Visconti production credit, I was all set for a repeat of the dramatic, orchestrated style he’d applied to David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’. But no, it’s actually quite similar to his original from ’64 on Elektra.
You don’t see or hear this version much, sadly, you don’t hear either version much. Despite the similarities of both, it’s hard to ignore the song’s quality.
Tags: David Bowie, Elektra, Mark Cohen, Reprise, The Move, Tom Paxton, Tony Visconti
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Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011
Listen: Alright, Alright, Alright / Mungo Jerry
Alright, Alright, Alright / Mungo Jerry
Like McGuinness Flint before them, or Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance just after, Mungo Jerry existed in the own sonic universe while current. A kind of rag tag gypsy dance folk, or even the skiffle side of glam, whatever…it was warm weather music and a fun slop.
‘Alright, Alright, Alright’ found it’s place on Radio 1 summer ’73. Like others I’ve mentioned here, the single was an ever present soundtrack of Soho’s market stalls that season.
Only The Beach Boys can rival them in the ‘forever summer’ category.
Tags: BBC Radio 1, Bell, Dawn, McGuinness Flint, Mungo Jerry, Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance, The Beach Boys
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Tuesday, February 1st, 2011
Listen: Money Is / Little Richard
Money Is / Little Richard
How do you take a period piece blaxploitation style soundtrack composition, and make a proper song out of it, one that might actually get heard and become a radio hit? In the case of turning ‘Money Runner’ (below) into ‘Money Is’ (above): bring up the electric guitar chords, the love hangover Rhodes keys and add a RnR legend. Voilà.
Oh, don’t forget one other ingredient. Quincy Jones. Check out his discography sometime. How did he do it all….and when? Did this guy ever sleep?
I bet there’s recordings so obscure, so off his radar, even he doesn’t remember. Troll through your old Mercury soundtracks some time. Or just check credits on Mercury releases from the mid 60′s. Start with Lesley Gore.
Not until filing stuff from last summer’s trip to London did it even come to my attention he’d worked with Little Richard at all. It’s constantly a mad dash against time, sorting through piles of promos every trip to Graham Stapleton’s basement shop in Fulham. I just end up grabbing, then reading the fine print a later.
Listen: Money Runner / Quincy Jones
Money Runner / Quincy Jones
Incidental music for films, many times more experimental and mesmerizing than those intended works meant to push the envelope could ever be. The rare talent of turning actions into sounds, like the ending of ‘Money Runner’, is what separates us common people from Quincy Jones.
I never saw the film, but it sure sounds like a heist to me.
Tags: Blaxploitation, Graham Stapleton, Little Richard, Mercury, Quincy Jones, Reprise
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