THIS BLOG IS ABOUT 7" RECORDS ONLY. YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY. EVERY SONG IS CONVERTED TO MP3 FROM MY PERSONAL 45 COLLECTION, AND THERE'S NOT ONE THAT I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND YOU SEEKING OUT. ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDERS WHO DON'T WANT THEIR MUSIC HEARD HERE JUST LET ME KNOW, AND DOWN IT WILL COME. CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE.
Some things are meant to happen. Two weeks ago, maybe more, I grabbed a random cd for the car, had some errands to run. The iTouch is a wonderful thing, light, thin, easy to transport. Easy to misplace too. Haven’t seen mine in weeks. Hence the cd, and out of alphabetized storage as well, therefore an artist beginning with A. The Angels.
Not to repeat myself from yesterdays re-post, but I was a fan, and let me tell you, ‘Wow Wow Wee (He’s The Boy For Me)’ sounds mighty great in the summer. I swear I’ve played it fifty times, between the car and having pulled out a copy for the upstairs RCA changer.
Like all things 60′s, it sounds best in mono. Why the majors dig out and polish up the stereo versions for their anthologies, I don’t get. Maybe the rest of humanity prefers to remember the music the way it didn’t sound. Not me. With the windows down, blaring, the stereo version was admittedly more than passable. But first rule is, once in the house, back to mono.
Days ago, Eric Mache emails a link for the girl group review doubling as a tribute to Ellie Greenwich at Lincoln Center, and who’s included but The Angels. The event was a non-stop cavalcade of impeccable voices, very RnB leaning. Five hours that flew by in a flash. Other than dashes to the signing tent for jukebox tab stalking, I never left my seat.
Given that Ike & Tina Turner’s Bolic Sound Studio from the 70′s was quite near LAX, I asked my cab driver would he please cruise past it’s address, 1310 North La Brea, on our way to the airport yesterday. And of course, he did. Every Los Angeles trip I try to visit some historic location or landmark, most of the time only historic to me, usually bringing on the creeps, which is exactly the plan. More often than not, they now provide zero clues to the past. Like after an auto accident is cleared away, the street cleaned up, like it never happened. All that history just gutted, renovated, erased. It’s disgraceful.
Such was the case here. Given the early morning hour, it meant the area stood deserted, smoggy and still asleep. The building now connected to it’s legend only in address. Equal parts sad and eerie. What went on behind those walls in the early 70′s? What about the decor? What happened to all that equipment, furniture, or those wall hangings, plaques? I recall friends from United Artists working in the label’s office at the time, saying Ike Turner’s deal, which included large advances and complete studio funding, pretty much sank their ship. When you’re spending someone else’s dime, you tend to over-decorate I’m sure.
One thing was certain, there, right in front of my eyes, just a few yards away, stood the building where Ike & Tina Turner recorded and mixed a portion of their vast output. Lucky enough, we hit a red light. I had a solid minute to just stare and zone and imagine. Surely some priceless characters spilled out into the broad daylight, splat onto that corner, in who knows what outfits or states, after many an all night session. Not to mention, the boxes of promos arriving for each release. Where did they all go?
A terribly under rated and overlooked Rolling Stones classic, ‘Sad Day’ got played as much as A side ’19th Nervous Breakdown’ in my bedroom growing up. It wasn’t even name checked on the US picture sleeve (above), and never included as part of a proper album.
Someone at Decca UK had the seemingly good sense/terrible judgement to make it a British A side in April ’73. Huh? Must have been a featured track on one of the many, theme-less compilations Decca were shoveling out at the time.
Corinne hates that I put my foot down recently and situated a small, 45 only, early 60′s RCA stacker on the headboard of the awesome blond Hollywood bedroom set I found at a house sale almost twenty years ago, in factory fresh condition. And ‘Sad Day’ has gotten many more plays in the past few weeks than it’s equally fantastic A side. Just for the record.
Always scour sleeves in used vinyl shops for jukebox tabs. It’s amazing the ones you will find, and the shops could care less about them. A warning though, once you start you’ll have a hard time stopping.
The voice. It’s why there’s not a song Alvin Robinson ever recorded that doesn’t hit dead center. Even though his steady income through the 60′s until the late 80′s was as a guitarist, it’s one of the wonders of the world that Alvin Robinson’s voice never took center stage, as in I wonder how that’s even possible. There are some great blog overviews of his recorded history, this one will lead you onto to others.
My first introduction to ‘Something You Got’ came via Them, one of the many highlights on THEM AGAIN. Not long afterward, my uncle gave me Alvin Robinson’s version, complete with the jukebox tab, basically unplayed, out of some malt shop account his vending company serviced. In most such locations, white rock soaked up kid’s dimes, bar only Motown mainstream hits when it came to anything black based. Not sure why he’d even take a chance on records like these, given jukebox companies needed to buy their records from one stops and seldom got anything but double A sided promos for free, which were clearly unusable in the players.
Years later, in a panic to get everything Maxine Brown centric, what did I discover but a version and vocal that could actually equal Alvin Robinson’s. A mid-chart (#55) Billboard Top 100 single in ’65, it was one of several duets they released together and their most successful. Three of the others, coincidentally, all peaked at #91.
Seminal single. Seminal song actually. Not that I need to tell anyone this. But funny enough, many of the most common records I post get the greatest number of plays. Go figure.
As with lots of singles considered hard core metal, like rap, electronic and dance, a 7″ is fairly uncommon. I don’t see many ‘Overkill’ copies on 45 about, and therefore love this one even that much more.
The A side is certainly well known, but I’m pretty sure ‘Too Late, Too Late’ never made it to an album. Guessing it’s been scraped off the barrel bottom to resell the fans on a ‘Best of’ cd with pretty much material they already own, but as a traditional vinyl B side….here you go.
Above: Jukebox Tab signed by Lemmy
Now the real point of this Motorhead post is to give you a look at the jukebox tab Lemmy filled out a few weeks back.
Here’s the thing, Lemmy will do anything for Howard Thompson. HT pretty much has carte blanche with him. In short, when no one was interested in signing Motorhead, and I do mean no one, Howard saw the obvious while running A&R at Bronze, gave them a singles deal and the rest is indeed, history.
So tagging along with him to a Motorhead show is a no brainer. Into Lemmy’s inner dressing room we go, complete with all the trimmings. Meaning lots of Jack and coke, and potato chips. And Lemmy of course, gracious as can be.
Hanging out with the man from Motorhead is a major thrill, period. For me, the added value of sitting talking with one of The Rockin’ Vickers is basically priceless.
There are many, many covers of Erroll Garner’s ‘Misty’ from ’54. Some people will complain it’s schmaltzy, a bore or that it’s too adult. But be informed, the greats have done it in varying styles: Aretha Franklin, Donald Byrd, Johnny Mathis, Sarah Vaughan, The Vibrations, Donny Hathaway, Julie London, Stan Getz even Timebox.
Almost forty years later, in ’91, ‘Misty’ was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame, not surprising given one of the most common jokes about the RIAA’s recognition process is how out of touch they can be.
It’s a fact: like Bobby Hebb’s ‘Sunny’, ‘Misty’ weathers just about every genre well.
Well that number represents two things: how many years ago ‘The Robots’ was released and how many years behind contemporary music just about every commercial radio station in America is. They still have no idea.
Believe me, liking this single or Kraftwerk in 1978 got you many a cross eyed look. No worries, I was used to them. The same facial expression greeted me for loving The Pretty Things first album, The Pink Floyd’s PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN, even that wild and zany Jimi Hendrix Experience. Yes, other kids would shoot stuff at my crowd in the school hallways for our queer tastes. I recall one classmate hassling me for liking “the nigger that wears women’s clothes”. True.
Upstate New York was not a very open minded place in the late 60′s.
Now I guarantee you, most of those ignorants are still listening to these very bands, yes still.
Fast forward to 2002. I’m working at Columbia and our chairman had decided to sign David Bowie. He passed around the demos from HEATHEN, his forthcoming label debut. Settling into a weekly A&R meeting, he asks me what I thought of the songs.
“Garbage. I hate them.”
“What! You never liked Bowie? You didn’t like ZIGGY STARDUST?”
“Boss, when I liked ZIGGY STARDUST, I got laughed at in the hallways and chased home after school by bullies.”
There was no way this guy was into a bloke wearing a fake fur top shaped like two rabbit ears, hot pants, seamed fish net stockings and stilettos in ’72 (David Bowie’s exact outfit at the Syracuse Landmark Theater that very year).
In truth, there was no replacing the pulse of those moments, like championing any of the above in their prime, when you’re insatiable for the sonic palate cleansing these genre inventing acts provided. It was a rush. You felt high every time you listened, and you couldn’t listen enough.
Like Kraftwerk, THE MAN MACHINE. A defining work of music that changed culture, introduced the world to the sound of technology. And a whole bunch of people still don’t even know that it has yet. That’s how far ahead of their time Kraftwerk were/are.
You’re going to be dead for an awful long time, so don’t ever, ever miss them in concert if you can help it. In many ways, there is no better live act. When it comes to electronic music, only The Chemical Brothers come close, and they’re a completely different experience altogether.
Infamous Carole King (did you know she married one of The Myddle Class) / Gerry Goffin classic. Like many of their compositions, ‘Oh No Not My Baby’ was recorded by a whole bunch of folks. Cher, Manfred Mann, Fontella Bass, Dusty Springfield and Dee Dee Warwick amongst my favorites.
The US hit version went to Maxine Brown (#24, 1964). Unfortunately, most of her singles for Wand (Pye International in the UK for this one), as well her duets with Chuck Jackson, achieved undeserved low Billboard pop chart peaks, Bubbling Under The Hot 100 entries or non hits whatsoever. Hence, their place in every last Northern Soul price guide.
As with most of her work for the label, Cissy Houston and The Sweet Inspirations provided backups. It had to have been a magical time around the New York studios that catered to the RnB sessions in those days. Seems a day didn’t pass without a classic being recorded, just think of all the unreleased, forgotten songs.
Worth getting: BEST OF THE WAND YEARS, a flawless cd comp from Ace UK with the usual amazing booklet. The details will have you drooling.
Listen: Smash It Up (Single Version) / The Damned DamnedSmash.mp3
The other day, my super pal Brian Traister maintained the real UK punk band, best ever, were The Damned. I agree.
Every single was just flawless, for ages. Their run on Chiswick being one of those career peaks, and they had several. Produced by Roger Armstrong, I forever hassle his memory cells for details of those sessions. Talk about endless stories of greatness.
When Joey’s Mom and brother Mickey still had the promised 50th birthday party for him, which he unfairly missed by a month and four days, The Damned were the only UK band that flew themselves over to honor what they maintained in the press since day one: The Ramones were the true fathers of punk – it proved who was the real deal from England and who were the money machines, copy cats and fakes.
Hearing the roar when Little Steven announced them (all the acts were kept secret but regardless, 4400 tickets were completely sold out in fifteen minutes to Joey Ramone’s well earned honor) still brings chills. Up came the curtain, and there were The Damned.
Some things were meant to be: Roger was in NY that week, and we made sure he sat right there, in the first box, with Joey’s Mom.
Moby is a good soul. I’ve met him a few times. He lives his life to help and save animals. For that alone, I love the guy.
Once you get too popular, like via his massive PLAY album, there’s the inevitable backlash. Eight hit singles. Ten million albums. A lot of folks get jealous. But if the exact same album didn’t sell, they’d be moaning about it being ignored. You can’t win.
Way before PLAY, Moby’s first big hit, well underground hit, was ‘Go’. I remember seeing him with The Prodigy as support at The Hollywood Palladium in LA, must have been around ’92 – ’93. Their EXPERIENCE album was current, and like the recording, The Prodigy were fantastic. So was Moby.
I will never forget the chills running up my spine when he started the first notes of ‘Go’. Everyone felt them.
Finding the promo-only 7″ at The Record & Tape Exchange in Notting Hill a few months later for 50p was almost as good.
In my world, there is no bad version of ‘It’s Your Thing’. Unlike many, many original classics that are pointless to try re-doing (‘Be My Baby’, ”Sheena Is A Punk Rocker’ – someone please tell The Red Hot Chili Peppers and U2 to stop making fools of themselves trying, ‘See Emily Play’….the list is looooong), some songs seem written to be personalized, reinterpreted. This is one.
Now Shirley Scott can do no wrong in my small place of the universe. Ever seen a bad picture of her? No.
From the great era when being black and trying to get your hair blond resulted in a beautiful orange do, Shirley Scott was queen. And when she got behind that Hammond B3 in those southern juke joints, it had to be heaven.
Found this, her version of ‘It’s Your Thing’ featuring King Curtis in Cleveland a week or so back. On tour with Matt & Kim not only means I get to watch one of the world’s greatest bands every single night, but also allows me to wander the streets looking for used records after soundcheck.
I didn’t need to go far. Stumbled on this, right there inside the Beachland Ballroom complex (2 live music rooms, 2 additional bars with incredible 7″ jukeboxes plus a hip antique clothing/kitch collectables/ great junk/record shop in the basement). In addition to about one hundred-ish 7″ singles that I struggled back to the bus with (Kim commenting ‘How do you plan to hide these from Corinne?’), this particular one had the additional value of it’s original jukebox tab stapled to the sleeve. I already had the promo back home, but a stock copy with the tab intact was just calling out my name.
How is it possible that ‘Little Boy’ was not a hit. It will always be one of the unexplained wonders of the world. No surprise Phil Spector flipped his lid. This (#92), ‘River Deep – Mountain High’ (#88), The Ramones ‘Baby I Love You (never charted at all). How appalling. What an embarrassment.
I do recall hearing the record a lot in my hometown though. All the Phillies singles seemed to get played upstate. And when ‘Little Boy’ was current, I neglected to get me a copy. It wasn’t until summer ’73 when I finally bought one for 35p at Graham Stapleton’s stall outside Cheapo Cheapo Records on Rupert Street in London’s Soho. What a bargain. As always, the label copy name checks included Larry Levine and Jack Nitzsche.
Fast forward to the late 80′s. I’m working at Island, A&Ring Marianne Faithfull. The company was searching for something a bit more current on the upcoming album. She’d done STRANGE WEATHER prior, and it’s old Europe Prague winebar angle was getting tired. I’d suggested New Order produce. Chris wasn’t feeling that. It was apparently too young a look. Somewhere in the mix, Jack Nitzsche became the possible candidate, so off to LA went Marianne to try writing with him, see if some result could develop.
He had just produced the soundtrack to THE HOT SPOT, a truly terrific album with John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis and Taj Mahal. There was even a single released, and that’s posted elsewhere on this blog.
Jack actually called me one day with an update, basically saying nothing much was getting done. Not the best news, but getting a call from Jack Nitzsche with any news at all was huge in my book.
No sooner did he ring than Marianne was on the phone.
“I need to get out of here. All he wants to do is fuck me”
“So do it”
“Kev!!!”
She was back in NY days later. So much for that collaboration.
Tell you what – I have never missed any of Joan Armatrading’s New York shows – ever. Last week was no exception. In a blink, she’s been writing, recording and touring now for 40 years…..40 years!
That’s a lot.
And the new single ‘This Charming Life’ self-celebrates her luck, whereby she can earn a solid living playing music to fans around the world. She appreciates it and has peace with her career. Her words, not mine.
Often coined as difficult, I say she has every right to be, if in fact that’s true. One single after the other, over four decades, not getting a fair shake at radio or mainstream exposure because of her inability to fit in, more like not being afraid to be herself. I’d be difficult too.
I stood in line to get my jukebox tab signed, happy to be a fan. It was truly fun.
When it was my turn to go to the alter, Joan barely looked up as I explained my request. “I only sign my name” was her cold response. Even better. Chose for yourself how you want to be remembered.
Her quick signature was suddenly accompanied by a smile and then, “I know you”. She remembered me! I was a kid again.
The conversation proceeded, and we had a most rewarding exchange. My feet didn’t touch the ground for hours, so enthralled, I forgot to ask her to please fill in the rest of the jukebox tab. Never mind. I’m content.
Joan Armatrading is a higher form of life. We are all lucky that she walks on the face of this earth. Believe it.
If a ’4th Of July’ post on the 4th of July appears overly clever and obvious, I understand. But the clever idea came from local rock station 101.9 WRXP. I was a few blocks from home, fired up the car radio and on it came:
This fucker sounded so good plus I love X so much and thought, any reason to honor them is just fine by me.
Man, was I lucky. Got hired by Howard at Elektra and X were the first band I got to work with. Dream come true? Never even dreamt that one in my wildest, so yeah, pretty amazing.
You couldn’t find a better bunch of people. Not only the band, but every last person involved with them as well.
Bob Krasnow, our chairman, always supported X, loved their music and rightly saw them as the label’s most important political poets.
Getting them on the radio was a very different story. Although the band got some love from the alternative rock team, when it came time to take them to the next level, more mainstream exposure and opportunity, the brakes were always applied by Dave Urso, your typical old school 80′ sleaze ball promotion head. Yes, he pretty much put a lid on their career, sort of. X still play to bigger crowds than ever and he……..uh…….
Funny thing, it was the first, but not the last time I witnessed the head of promotion actually run the company, despite the chairman thinking he was the guy in charge. You see, the way it worked was as follows: the chairman would need to decide where to put the financial investment to pay off radio for play and would get that ultimate guidance from the top radio guy. So you tell me, who’s driving that plane?
Now, of course, the public has a much stronger voice. A local station doesn’t want to play a song, no problem. Their audience flocks to myspace and hears what they want. Gone are the days when the traditional gatekeeper is in charge. How fun.
It may only be once a year, but at least X get one play. If Bruce Springsteen had written and/or recorded this classic instead of Dave Alvin, it would’ve been a monster.
Never say never I like to think. Who has the publishing on this? Maybe they need to get off their ass, find it a placement, try to keep their job.
True story. I know you will think this is a lie, but I swear on a stack of Ramones albums that it is not.
UK manager Dennis Muirhead paid me his yearly visit at Columbia Records in the late 90′s. We’d met back in ’85 when I’d first joined Elektra and he always stopped by when he came through town. One of his clients at the time was Stuart Colman. Stuart lived then in Nashville and had produced many successful country acts, but had prior UK hits with Shakin’ Stevens. Dennis gave me a package including all his producers latest discographies which I browsed while catching up. I noticed Stuart had started his career in the 60′s with The Shadows. So I said to Dennis, hey this guy goes back a bit, is he English? Affirmative. I proceeded to say I wish these fellows would list all those really early engineering jobs they would have started out doing prior to that first producer opportunity. “I mean, Dennis, he could have worked on something obscure like…..Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours or something”. I just grabbed that fun, eccentric example out of my head.
Dennis looks me square in the eye and says “He was IN Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours”. Silence. Neither of us could believe what had just transpired. “You’re not kidding are you, well call him now”. He suggested one better, that I ring his place asking for him as a member of the band, which I did. I let Stuart know fairly fast that Dennis was there with me, and we had a very nice chat. I mailed him this jukebox tab, he autographed it and sent it straight back.
Above: Jukebox Tab signed by Stuart Colman
As for the group, I was interested because of the name. When I saw their first single ‘Mirror Mirror’ entering the UK charts, I had to hear them asap. But it wasn’t to be for ages. Even though released Stateside, it was nowhere to be heard or found. WMCR, the little station that gave me all those unwanted promo singles at the time, weren’t serviced by London, parent company of Parrot Records – home to Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours. Damn. I was jonesing by the time their second single hit. ‘Don’t Stop Loving Me, Baby’ limped into the UK Top 50 at #50 for one week. I love a good followup flop usually more than the previous hit, so this was reaching fever pitch.
Finally I was successful, finding it in a 25¢ bin at The House Of Oldies on Bleeker Street in NYC when my Aunt Nancy invited me along to visit some relative for a few days. I got a ton of London titles there – The Cryin’ Shames, Lulu & The Luvvers, The Gonks, Hedgehoppers Anonymous and Jonathan King among them – all nice orange swirl promos. This is a great double sider. Not overly special but a solid British staple. Actually, just tonight I realized some similarities to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich thereby explaining a lot of it’s appeal for me.
The B side ‘Will Ya’ is my favorite of the two, but just. That timid but still wildish fuzz solo is the tie breaker. Mike Goldsmith picked me up the stock copy pictured, only a few months ago, at Academy Records in Brooklyn. I had never seen nor heard of one being pressed as it seemed likely this would never have made it beyond the promo stage – but here it is.
The below post, originally from 1/15/09, is worth revisiting. Firstly, one can never hear The Poets enough, and secondly, thanks to Lindsay Hutton from Next Big Thing, he snagged me the jukebox tab below, which is well worth sharing.
Probably by fluke, The Poets first single ‘Now We’re Thru’ perfectly captured what we Americans heard as the black and white sound of drizzle drenched England in a 2:13 sonic snapshot. Black and white? We only ever saw these bands that way. Color photos of brand new groups were thin on the ground. As for the magazines: newspaper style, with color covers at best.
Then there was TV. Who had a color set in ’65? Sure by ’67 TV, like everything else, went to eleven, to technicolor. But those early UK bands the world was insatiable for, all in black and white, and usually photographed on some wet cobblestoned street. Think about shots of Them, The Pretty Things, Manfred Mann, whoever, shivering from the damp.
‘Now We’re Thru’, it’s a minor key classic, a perfect balance of over echoed background vocals, cymbal free distant drums and that ever present Decca tambourine, possibly a non negotiable contractual boiler plate item. Andrew Loog Oldham produced their early releases, probably managed, obviously owned the publishing and gave them a leg up in many situations I’m guessing. A deal with Decca for starters. He even elbowed them on to America’s teen weekly SHINDIG:
“You want The Rolling Stones, take The Poets too”, just an educated guess mind you.
Above: Jukebox Tab signed by George Gallacher
He had a few others signed up at the time: Marianne Faithfull, Adrienne Posta, The Mighty Avengers, Vashti and clearly got a taste for his own label.
What the hell, let’s give The Poets credit for helping create Immediate Records. They certainly were the only act he took along but no one ever seems to mention that bit.
‘Call Again’ was issued as Immediate 006 (theoretically the label’s 6th release). By now that destinctive vocal sound of singer George Gallacher was in place. If only they’d had a chance to work extensively in a studio, OGDEN’S NUT GONE FLAKE style….if only if only if only.
Listen: 365 Rolling Stones / The Andrew Oldham Orchestra AndrewLoog365.mp3
In ’64, Andrew Loog Oldham clearly ruled the roost at Decca Records. And why not? He managed their biggest act, The Rolling Stones. So if and when he felt like making a record, smartly the powers that be (Sir Edward Lewis I assume) turned on the green light. Despite their popularity, it was still a time when he could march his band members into the studio to do the instrumental backings for his sonic fetishes.
Listen: Oh, I Do Like To See Me On The ‘B’ Side / The Andrew Oldham Orchestra AndrewLoogBSide.mp3
Occasionally, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, along with Ian Stewart, were allowed to stretch into muiscal territory that was more their natural habitiat than the commercial Andrew Oldham Orchestra A sides. ‘Oh, I Do Like To See Myself On The ‘B’ Side’ being the most prime example. And, how uncommonly generous too was Sir Andrew, the boys even got writer’s credit and hopefully publishing – although despite The Rolling Stones growing popularity at the time, and name checks in the song titles, none of his singles sold squat – so not sure that pub money amounted to more than a few teas and English fry ups. Not so bad I must admit. I do love a trad breakfast fry up, vegetarian that is, in some unrenovated, chilly, damp, not been changed since the 60′s cafe – usually out of gentrified Central London I’m sad to say.
Above: Jukebox Tab signed by Andrew Loog Oldham
And how nice of Andrew Oldham, manager of truly the world’s greatest rock and roll band ever to generously fill in a jukebox tab for my collection when approached by dear friend Lindsay Hutton on my behalf. Thank you Lindsay. That great rock and roll band, just to be clear, were not the ones that quit after five or so years, their silly vaudeville music being continually decimated production wise by that stiff, suit and tied George Martin, who also destroyed The Action’s career with his souless ‘talent’. Yes, I’m referring to the overrated Beatles. Quitters, thankfully.
Listen: There Are But Five Rolling Stones / The Andrew Oldham Orchestra AndrewLoog5Rolling.mp3
Very nice Joe Meek production nick here. Some say this represents Andrew’s constant attempt to replicate Phil Spector’s sound, but no this is unquestionaably Joe Meek territory. As stated above in similar vocabulary, anyone who claims it’s not The Rolling Stones, or various members, playing on these is just stupid. Compare the guitar solo on the outro of ‘There Are But Five Rolling Stones’ with the middle break on the band’s version of ‘It’s All Over Now’. Only question being is it Keith or Brian?
Listen: Da Doo Ron Ron / The Andrew Oldham Orchestra & Chorus AndrewLoogDoRon.mp3
And before heads got too big, can you guess who Andrew wheeled in to vocal ‘Da Doo Ron Ron’ for his UK Decca album 16 HIP HITS by The Andrew Oldham Orchestra & Chorus? If this doesn’t bring you back to Denmark Street, chills up the spin included, nothing will.
No one said it better than Seymour Stein: “A band like The Ramones don’t come along once in a lifetime, they come along once”.
Somewhere on the west side, either 14th or 23rd Street, they were recording a few songs. Damn if I can remember where.
As I recall it, there was a single to do between albums for the UK and the band had a song they figured would work. Well not John, but the others that is.
Around 10 pm, the phone rang. It was Joe. Did I wanna go to The Ritz for a drink and oh, could you pick me up? Couldn’t have come at a more boring moment, I was alone for the weekend. Got in the Honda, and headed over.
I remember this as clearly as looking in the mirror. He jumped into the front seat. There was definitely something about the expression on his face, eyes almost bugging and kind of panting, breathing anxiously. “You gotta hear this song, can I play it, it’s a rough mix but you gotta hear it”. Ah – yeah!
In went the cassette. I guess I was luckily the first person to hear it outside of the studio walls. Joe kept watching for my reaction, beaming at the same time. How could he not. The Ramones had just finished recording one of the greatest singles of all time.
I pulled over on 2nd Ave. I had too. This sounded so fantastic it was almost unbelievable. We listened a few more times really loud. It was warm, windows open, perfect until more than a few kids, awestruck at seeing Joey Ramone sitting in this car, started to clammer. God bless him, Joe had time for everyone, autographs, pictures, you name it. It often took us half an hour to go a couple blocks from his place to eat – every walk of life stopped him on the street, fans, foreigners, even cops, always. So after a bunch of hellos, it was time to drive along.
You see, one of The Ramones biggest fans was Joe himself. So he had no problem with my insistence we drive a bit and keep listening. We went round and round town, up the east side, through the park, down the West End Highway, playing this for at least an hour, probably two. No exaggeration.
Does life get any better than a memory like that?
No.
Above: Jukebox Tab signed by Joey Ramone
Below: One of the few clips that actually captures their sheer power.
Otis Clay began a monthly series of Soul/RnB legends making long overdue returns to NY, at the City Winery. Bob Perry instigated the idea – and kindly asked me to dj. I suggested Phil (Lord Warddd) come along and spar, each of us manning a separate turntable. Who would have thought it would be so much fun? We had an absolute ball spinning, real hardcore soul fans appreciating all the obscurities we’d brung along.
Then there was Otis Clay. From the time when you REALLY had to deliver if you wanted a record released, he learned his craft from the church and the man stunned us all. I walked in a fan, and out a disciple. At 67, his voice was more powerful, raw, pure and riveting as it ever could have possibly been – and he delivered it so effortlessly. We, the audience, were not ready.
Several times indeed, he testified – I’m sure that’s what you’d call it, breaking down songs to a cappella middle parts – and seriously taking us on an out of body, other worldly or some such experience. Certainly not an everyday occurrence by any stretch.
Despite including neither side of his earliest One-derful non-charter in tonight’s set, his eyebrows raised when I asked him to fill out a trusty jukebox tab, requesting this double punch as my choice.
He talked about his Hi Records days, the Hi Rhythm players, Willie Mitchell, and hasn’t a bitter bone in his body. See him if you can. He’s doing a very rare one off June 16 in Chicago.
I really do appreciate Van Morrison for many reasons. He toured about 10 years back, maybe more, with Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames as his band, and John Lee Hooker supporting. I figured the Georgie Fame bit would mean more cohesive song structure as opposed to some of the free form shows he’d done. True, it did. But not before giving Georgie and his band a 4 song spotlight set, whereby they played his biggest US successes (‘Get Away’, ‘Yeh Yeh’, The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde’ and remarkably ‘Daylight’). In addition Van did ‘Gloria’ much to everyone’s surprise, especially as he and Georgie kept it pretty close to the original.
Up first was John Lee Hooker, during possibly his last tour. What an unexpected treat. There was none of that new material stuff to endure, instead the classics, played raw and fluidly, all the while seated. No surprise for him to play ‘Boom Boom’, ‘I Love You Honey’ and ‘Dimples’.
Most surprising was when pulling out a more obscure favorite ‘Big Legs, Tight Skirt’. Not only was hearing the song a thrill, but the set up story was hysterical beyond belief. You can just imagine.
To be honest, I hadn’t realized Georgie Fame was even involved until a few days prior. Nor did I expect a solo set. To say it was a treat is vastly understating the moment. Voice still perfectly intact, players easily replicating the groove.
But the most unexpected bonus of the night: a jukebox tab.
It was originally set up for Van Morrison to do the honors via management. Rumored to be difficult, I was pretty shocked when a confirmation call came through with instructions to meet stage door right post show, and get escorted in to see Van, which I promptly adhered to. In a small dressing room, Van was standing waiting. This seemed rather bizarre. Why was I so lucky? He’d been briefed on my request, so when he inquired about song choice, I asked would he do one for Them as well. “Sure, just show me what to write and where”. ‘Richard Cory’ was my choice, I indicated clearly where to write what, Van took the penned signed his name (see tab below) and huffed from the room. Although disappointed at being so close to a signed jukebox tab for Them, I thought it was pretty interesting that this signature, and the accompanying story, was how he wanted to be remembered:
Georgie Fame, on the other hand, was just the opposite, even recalling the B side, which I hadn’t had the chance of researching prior to the show:
