March 31st, 2011
Listen: Down In The Boondocks / Billy Joe Royal
Down In The Boondocks / Billy Joe Royal
Statistics: Billy Joe Royal had a dozen charting singles during the 60′s. Basically, every single he released either hit the Billboard Hot 100 or Bubbling Under chart. Three of them peaked at #117 even.
That Bubbling Under The Hot 100 chart is heaven. I do love those singles that lived their lives strictly between #101 and #135, ultimately became many of the greats in hindsight, too good for the mainstream.
‘Down In The Boondocks’ fit perfectly with the swimming in echo, British Invasion stuff from around ’65, when it peaked at #9.
Written and produced by Joe South, as was ‘Hush’, a #52 in ’67, who knew then that this guy was behind the curtain for a lot of country passing for pop hits, as Billy Joe Royal was officially categorized. Like Sandy Posey or Friend & Lover. The guy even played guitar on Aretha Franklin’s ‘Chain Of Fools’, something you definitely notice as a signature part of that song, as well on Bob Dylan’s BLONDE ON BLONDE. Now there’s a piece of trivia I don’t hear mentioned often.
Posted in Aretha Franklin, Billboard, Billy Joe Royal, Bob Dylan, Bubbling Under The Hot 100, Friend & Lover, Joe South, Sandy Posey |
March 29th, 2011
Listen: High Heel Sneakers / Stevie Wonder
High Heel Sneakers / Stevie Wonder
Those early Little Stevie Wonder and then Stevie Wonder singles, from ’62 up through and including ‘High Heeled Sneakers’ in ’65, are like a different world to his later releases. ‘Uptight (Everything’s Alright)’ immediately followed and arguably still had a live, one take feel, but there’s just something about the earlier ones. Yeah, they were not only way more spontaneous but about then, my guess is, the star making machine was switched on, and the de-ghettoizing process began.
It was a time when you really had to be capable of singing and playing to get a record deal, like really, really be able to sing. At least if you wanted to keep your deal I suppose. It was obvious he could do both better than most.
Yet still a teenager, his harmonica mastery was undeniable. I bet those live shows in bars and dare I assume, juke joints, had to have been loose and wild. Just add liquor and bang.
Posted in Stevie Wonder, Tamla |
March 20th, 2011
Listen: Black Cat / Brian Auger & The Trinity
Black Cat / Brian Auger & The Trinity
The daunting task of sorting a file drawer full of receipts houses a small pit in my stomach this time every year. The bit I always forget is the opportunity of stacking album sides it provides in the process. That $10 used Dual turntable from the Warner Brothers employee equipment sale in ’94 continues it’s amortization to a jaw dropping calculation. Yeah, the device still works perfectly.
God bless Vicki Wickham. She donated her album collection years ago to a most worthy cause: me. It’s rainy, cold days in March when they take on an even more intense warmth than usual. Now I will tell you, her taste was, still is, a black music timeline and history book of utmost class. Everything from delta folk to roadhouse RnB, it’s all there. And anything British from the era that did quality justice to those many genres, well that’s there too.
As a result, a beautiful original mono copy of Brian Auger & The Trinity’s DEFINITELY WHAT on Giorgio Gomelsky’s Marmalade Records was too glistening to pass over. I ended up playing both sides, and as usual, got sidetracked from the receipts over to the wall shelf, pulling out all Brian Auger related 7′s.
As with the ending of ‘This Wheel’s On Fire’, ‘Black Cat’ benefits from his lightning keyboard hand slashing on the fade. It’s signature Brian Auger, and a technique he uses live to this day.
Posted in Atco, Brian Auger & The Trinity, Giorgio Gomelsky, Marmalade Records, Vicki Wickham |
March 19th, 2011
Listen: Perpetual Dawn / The Orb
Perpetual Dawn / The Orb
From a time when every single planned for release was still pressed up on 7″. It wasn’t to last long, especially for the dance titles. No doubt, this format sold few and is now becoming really scarce. As with hip hop, the value of dance/electronica/techno 7″ pressings have proven a good investment.
Who knew at the time is was all about to change? I was, still am, happy with a manageable 45 in a company sleeve even. Picking them up was more an involuntary human reaction more than anything else.
Luckily, the pack rat in me meant any and all related one sheets, postcards or promo hype (click to enlarge) got saved. Such fun nonsense to read twenty something years later.
Posted in Big Life, The Orb |
March 18th, 2011
Listen: Sookie Sookie / Don Covay & The Goodtimers
Sookie Sookie / Don Covay & The Goodtimers
Somewhere in Island’s vaults exists a Don Covay album from around ’89. I know, I was there. It was one of many to be shelved during the label’s chaos of being sold to Polygram at the time. With all the majors scrapping the barrel to find sellable masters, you’d have thought this one may have hit the shelves by now. Except of course, most of the shelves are gone these days. Well it’s there somewhere.
I sure do wish I’d spent more time talking with him when he was around the W. 4th Street offices. What a gentleman, and so humble about his greatness. My mistake.
Steppenwolf covered ‘Sookie Sookie’ on their debut album, pretty well too. Now that was a good live band, a mix of biker and English group image, great material and John Kay’s black soul voice. Yeah, they were good.
This original Atlantic vinyl pressing of ‘Sookie Sookie’ is a beauty. You don’t get a warmer sound than on one of these.
Posted in Atlantic, Don Covay & The Goodtimers, John Kay, Steppenwolf |
March 17th, 2011
Listen: Johnny B. Goode / Peter Tosh
Johnny B. Goode / Peter Tosh
Those first few years of MTV, when it was a free for all, the network really aired a bunch of unable-to-get-radio-play songs/acts. The Ramones’ ‘Rock N Roll High School’ and Joan Armatrading’s ‘(I Love It When You) Call Me Names’ come to mind.
EMI had made a clearly inexpensive clip for Peter Tosh’s ‘Johnny B. Goode’, looking typically washed out just like everything from Jamaica was then. Even THE HARDER THEY COME and ROCKERS films were of poor grainy quality with minimal color saturation. MTV apparently didn’t care, because this was played a lot.
Despite the rather obvious cover choice which kind of kept a tradition of reggae-ing up US pop, soul and rock hits, it was Peter Tosh.
You didn’t want to miss a Peter Tosh show in those days, with Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare thundering along behind him on stage. He was always the real deal. Had Steel Pulse or Inner Circle chosen this one, we’d have all dismissed it on arrival, but not when is was the bush doctor.
Corinne loved this track, and I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard it as a result. Morning, noon and night. She’d definitely go with the extended 12″ version. Me, I’m loyal to the 7.
Posted in EMI, Inner Circle, Joan Armatrading, Peter Tosh, Robbie Shakespeare, Sly & Robbie, Sly Dunbar, Steel Pulse, The Harder They Come, The Ramones |
March 16th, 2011
Listen: Okie From Muskogee / Merle Haggard
Okie From Muskogee / Merle Haggard
I think it was on the Johnny Carson Show where I first encountered ‘Okie From Muskogee’ and in fact, had initially even heard of Merle Haggard. He and his song became the enemy in three short minutes. It was, at the time, a clear antagonistic attack on youth culture. And I was a member.
Many years later it became obvious that the world of country music was as twisted by drugs and sex as any other. Made Merle Haggard become something like an unregistered hypocrite. And once everyone discovered he’d been in jail and all that, he crumbled into a joke.
As it turns out, he claimed the song to be tongue in cheek, and nowadays, I guess everyone believes him. He’s certainly made a lot of good records since. Who knows – the single is quite funny in the 21st century, even hard to hate.
Listen: Hippie From Olema / The Youngbloods
Hippie From Olema / The Youngbloods
There was some relief in the day though. The Youngbloods shot back with a fantastically hysterical response in the form of ‘Hippie From Olema’, a very under heard, under appreciated non-LP track. I don’t believe it’s ever been compiled.
It was the local Syracuse University station, WAER, that started to spin it heavily. The single was perfect for campus radio. And we all glued ourselves to their frequency, given in the late 60′s, they were the only progressive format in town.
I, for one, loved the station. Half the student disc jockeys were Anglophiles jamming out Blodwyn Pig, Juicy Lucy, Chicken Shack, Taste, King Crimson etc over the airwaves. WAER was a Godsend.
The Youngbloods came to the school’s gymnasium about then as well. Despite their unwashed, American folk rock angle, I always loved their records. Never did they release a bad single either, whether it be the early, more pop intended ones (which Jesse Colin Young often accused RCA of forcing them to do) to later, underground album tracks.
So off to the show we went. Let me tell you, they were a serious live band, incredibly musical and entertaining. Collected every last release ever since.
The closing lyric: “We still take in strangers if they’re haggard” gets a SO MANY RECORDS SO LITTLE TIME lifetime lyrical achievement award for being right up there with both The Ramones’ “I don’t care about poverty, all I care about is me” and Lux Interior’s “From your bottom to your top, you’re sure some lollipop”. Congratulations guys.
Posted in Blodwyn Pig, Capitol, Chicken Shack, Jesse Colin Young, Johnny Carson, Juicy Lucy, King Crimson, Lux Interior, Merle Haggard, Taste, The Ramones, The Youngbloods, WAER, Warner Brothers |
March 13th, 2011
Listen: You Really Got A Hold On Me / The Miracles
You Really Got A Hold On Me / The Miracles
I do think The Beatles cover version on a very early US album turned me on to ‘You Really Got A Hold On Me’. Not one for The Beatles after about two minutes into The Rolling Stones ‘Not Fade Away’ in ’64, it must have been their second album at most. Long gone from my collection, I can’t verify. Never mind – it did the job.
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, as time would eventually refer to them, indeed made many great singles – it’s virtually impossible to pick a favorite. But this I remember as one of those first times in life. I still feel the exact same wonderment with every listen. It has never gone away and there are very few records I can say that about.
Posted in Motown, Oriole, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Tamla, The Beatles, The Miracles, The Rolling Stones |
March 11th, 2011
Listen: Eye Know / De La Soul
Eye Know / De La Soul
When I worked at Island in the late 80′s, the whole UK office were nuts about hip hop, most of them that is. When they’d visit New York for CMJ, or maybe it was called the New Music Seminar then, it would be straight to lower Broadway to buy sneaks and the East Village to see bands, all the while thinking they were steeped in hip hop culture. Pretty funny. Grass is always greener. I was just as guilty of acid house, or Brit pop as it cringingly got coined. De La Soul was top of the list for them all. They’d go on about De La this, De La that, like De La clothes and De La haircuts. It was a bit embarrassing. I suppose the lure of ghetto life was no different then than my attraction to it ten years earlier, whether it be Blaxploitation or funk. So fair enough.
Listen: Peg / Steely Dan
Peg / Steely Dan
I tell you what, my effort to avoid them failed, and De La Soul became a bit of a guilty pleasure. A double pleasure really, as it got me to lower my guard against Steely Dan. During their heyday, I was way more interested in The Buzzcocks or The Heartbreakers than all their polish. Taste changes with age, mine widens in fact. Because of ‘Eye Know’ I suddenly realized my affection for the sampled hook from ‘Peg’.
And I found I do love a nice UK pressed Steely Dan 7″, especially the promos.
Posted in Big Life, Blaxploitation, CMJ, De La Soul, Island, New Music Seminar, Steely Dan, The Buzzcocks, The Heartbreakers, Tommy Boy |
March 6th, 2011
Listen: A Little Bit Hurt / Julien Covey & The Machine
A Little Bit Hurt / Julien Covey & The Machine
I guess you might call them a supergroup. Julien Covey, real name Phil Kinorra, played with Brian Auger in his early days. As well as fronting the band vocally, he also drummed. Amongst it’s members were John Moreshead on guitar, who played with Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, The Shotgun Express and The Ansley Dunbar Retaliation. In addition, the band included Peter Bardens (Them, Camel), Jim Creagan (Blossom Toes, Family) and Dave Mason at various times. Their lone release, ‘A Little Bit Hurt’, was co-written and produced by Jimmy Miller in ’67, who brought along his freshly used prodcution techniques, successful on The Spencer Davis Group’s ‘Gimme Some Lovin” and applied them to The Kinks ‘You Really Got Me’ riff, to help create this now, Northern soul classic, according the Northern soul classic experts.
Listen: Green Door / Wynder K. Frog
Green Door / Wynder K. Frog
Between ’64 – ’67, the sound of the Jimmy Smith/Jimmy McGriff hammond B3 was the prevalent connection that bridged hip rock and soul, bringing the jazzy black Flamingo club stuff (Brian Auger & The Trinity, Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames, The Graham Bond Organization) to a more mainstream public, as with The Spencer Davis Group. Jimmy Miller’s production played a part. He worked as house producer for Chris Blackwell then and recorded some successful and some less successful, well commercially for the time that is, singles, like the aforementioned Julien Covey & The Machine track, and ‘Green Door’ by Wynder K. Frog. Although not chart records, they became club hits, and apparently still are to this day, on the Northern circuit, wherever that is.
Posted in Blossom Toes, Brian Auger, Camel, Dave Mason, Family, Flamingo, Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames, Island, Jim Creagan, Jimmy McGriff, Jimmy Miller, Jimmy Smith, Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, Julien Covey & The Machine, Mick Weaver, Northern Soul, Pete Bardens, Phil Kinorra, Philips, Ray Davies, The Ansley Dunbar Retaliation, The Graham Bond Organization, The Kinks, The Shotgun Express, The Spencer Davis Group, Them, Wynder K. Frog |
March 4th, 2011
Listen: Mistadobalina (Radio Edit) / Del Tha Funkee Homosapien
Mistadobalina (Radio Edit) / Del Tha Funkee Hoosapien
When I started The Medicine Label in early ’92, we were distributed by Warner Brothers for the UK. My first trip to meet the London office turned out to be a collectors dream come true. First off, Gary Crowley had just joined their A&R staff. Like myself, he’d worked at Island prior and also recently migrated.
Day one, Gary takes me to lunch at Bill Wyman’s then new Sticky Fingers Cafe, only a few blocked away from the WB building in Kensington. Now this was some place for both a Rolling Stones fan and general collector alike. Every wall space literally covered with memorabilia: gold record plaques, trade ads and pictures sleeves, hand bills, posters, ticket stubs. The guy saved everything. Sticky Fingers became a favorite stop for a few years. Food was on the dodgy side for a vegetarian, but the scenery made up for it.
Back at the office, Gary walks me through to the head of radio promotion, who’s already been informed of my vinyl issues. He opens his cabinets and says, “take what you want, in fact, take the lot, we don’t get much call for 7′s.” Well, you need only ask me once. His back catalogue was deep, and so I grab one of everything (minimum). A few hundred 45′s later went into the international pouch and got shipped home.
Over the next few weeks, I’d made my way through the lot, and a few things became one-play favorites, like ‘Mistadobalina’. This record probably hasn’t aged as historically well as hoped for, which might explain it’s appeal to me. I definitely have vanilla tastes when it comes to rap.
Posted in Bill Wyman, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Elektra, Gary Crowley, Sticky Fingers, The Medicine Label |
March 3rd, 2011
Listen: Sound And Vision / David Bowie BowieSoundVision.mp3
I was on a day trip to Hamburg, Germany last week when this came over the radio in a newspaper/candy shop. Front and back sold by the disc jockey in German, the record was a perfect soundtrack for my seven hour visit to that beautiful, cold, grey city.
Posted in David Bowie, RCA |
March 1st, 2011
Listen: Tricknology 101 / Dr. Octagon
Tricknology 101 / Dr. Octagon
One of the last labels to pay great attention towards both it’s visual and musical presentations, James Lavelle’s Mo’ Wax had dance and electronic music vinyl collectors anticipating and securing every last release, much like Stiff and others had done prior. I know. I was one of them.
DR. OCTAGONECOLOGYST probably clocks in as my favorite full length album from the label during their heyday of ’96 – ’97. And when my most played track from it, ‘Tricknology 101′ turned up on a single, even if it was a B side, I was thrilled.
A lot of threatening records came from that whole era of turntablism and beat juggling. I got into a groove reminding myself of them the other night. This one took the prize.
Posted in Dr. Octagon, James LaVelle, Mo' Wax |
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.
Posted in Atlantic, Eugene McDaniels, Roberta Flack |
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.
Posted in Dark Globe & Boy George, Whole Nine Yards |
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.
Posted in James Brown, Them, Van Morrison & The Caledonia Express, Warner Brothers |
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.
Posted in Atlantic, Barbara Lynn, Huey P. Meaux, The Sir Douglas Quintet, Tribe |
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.
Posted in American Bandstand, Columbia UK, Epic, Jeff Beck, The Jeff Beck Group, The Move |
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 |
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.
Posted in Billboard, Bubbling Under The Hot 100, Imperial, Manfred Mann, The Mindbenders, The Swinging Blue Jeans, The Walker Brothers, WMCR, WNDR |
