Edwin Starr – “Twenty-Five Miles,” Pop # 6, R&B #6

By Joel Francis

If the horn arrangement on “Twenty-Five Miles” sounds like something out of the Stax studio, that’s because it is. Motown songwriters Harvey Fuqua and Johnny Bristol based their number on the obscure Wilson Pickett song “32 Miles Out of Waycross (Mojo Mama)” written by Bert Berns and Jerry Wexler and recorded in 1967.

It’s little surprise Fuqua and Bristol turned to a Pickett number when looking for material for Edwin Starr. Like Pickett, Starr was a strong baritone who sang from the throat. And like fellow Motown family member Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops, Starr’s voice was seeped in the Southern style.

Unlike, Stubbs, however, Starr didn’t have a string of hits under his belt, which made him a bit of an outcast at the label. A Detroit native who somehow escaped Berry Gordy’s eagle eye for talent, Starr’s biggest hit. to date was the 1965 song “Agent Double ‘O’ Soul” recorded on the Ric-Tic label. Three years later, when Motown purchased Ric-Tick in 1968, Starr joined the Hitsville stable.

“Twenty-Five Miles” opens with Benny Benjamin’s athletic drumming and he stays front and center as the funky scoutmaster that keeps Starr’s (and everyone on the dance floor) feet relentlessly moving. The bass line echoes a horn line that has become a staple of marching and pep bands across the country. The listener never learns what happens when Starr reaches his destination, but the energetic vocals definitely prove that getting there is half the fun.

Although “25 Miles” was a Top 10 hit, it often been overlooked when acts mine the Motown catalog. For nearly 20 years, Charles Wright and the Watts 103^rd Street Rhythm Band were the only group to cover the song. Their version was released several months after Starr’s as an album track on “In the Jungle, Babe.” In 1989, UK dance outfit the Cookie Crew sampled “25 Miles” on their hit “Got to Keep On.” Australian boy band Human Nature covered “25 Miles” on their 2005 release “Reach Out: The Motown Album.”

And here we come to an end of the 1970s in the Any Major Soul series. There are two mixes covering ’80s soul HERE and HERE. Still, the years 1980/81 and possibly 1982/83 were good enough to yield any major mixes; I’ve not thought about later years.

It’s tempting to dismiss the soul music produced in the disco era. I think this mix shows that it was still a golden era for soul, if not of quite the incredible standards a few years earlier when there was the happy confluence of the influences exerted by the likes of Philly, Motown, Hi, Muscle Shoals, Atlantic, and the Chicago scene.

If I was asked which of these tracks in this mix I’d take with me to a desert island, I would be hard pressed to choose between Bill Withers’ Love Is and Minnie Riperton’s Never Existed Before. I think the latter would win. Released after her death from cancer, Minnie’s vocals are equally cute and sexy (nobody has done cute and sexy as well as Minnie did). It’s not the best-known track from the Minnie LP, but it is my favourite Riperton song.

Several of the songs here are touched by disco golddust. The Gary Toms Empire are perhaps more disco than soul. Former Motown writers Ashford & Simpson certainly were in their disco groove, and You Know How To Love Me by Phyllis Hyman (another wonderful soul singer who died too young, in 1995, the same year Bobby DeBarge, featured in the bonus tracks, died) is the sort of mid-tempo song one can dance or chill to.

Cheryl Lynn is better remembered for one of the great dance tracks, Got To Be Real. The track featured here, You’re The One, comes from the same eponymous 1978 album, one of the few ballads on the LP on which the 21-year-old Lynn delivered a fine, octave-traversing vocal performance. Signed by CBS on strength of her winning performance on the TV talent programme The Gong Show, Cheryl Lynn was a prodigious session singer too. It’s her soaring voice on Toto’s excellent Georgy Porgy, and she also backed Lenny Williams, whom we encounter in the bonus tracks.

Peabo Bryson does not have a good reputation among soul fans (with that name, it’s surprising he ever enjoyed any credibility), while Natalie Cole’s soul credentials have taken a knock with her endeavours to become her father. Don’t let such perceptions worry you as you hear their excellent jazzy cover of Bobby Caldwell’s What You Won’t Do For Love.

Jean Carn (later rendered as Carne, for “numerological” reasons) sang with Duke Ellington’s orchestra just before his death. Through her stint as a regular on US TV shows she was picked up by Gamble & Huff for their Philadelphia International Records label.

The Jones Girls also found success with Gamble & Huff, via two soul legends. The Chicago sisters were first mentored by Curtis Mayfield, through whom they got to work with Aretha Franklin. It was as a support act for Diana Ross that the Jones Girls — Shirley, Brenda and Valerie — came to Gamble & Huff’s attention. Besides releasing their own albums, they also provided backing vocals for the PIR roster.

Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson was cited by Jimi Hendrix as a major influence. He might also have been nicknamed “Organ”, for he played keyboard for Herb Alpert during the 1960s, reuniting with Alpert for his 1979 hit Rise [EDIT: Apparently he didn't. See comments]. Before that, the man known as “Elvis’ private guitar player” had toured with Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson. Here he gets seriously funky, providing one of the few instances of snoring released on vinyl. Another legend, Wilson Pickett, made a brief comeback fusing the funk with old school soul, creating a sound which Tom Jones has tried to emulate for years, but never coming near his ambition.

The “Pops” in the title of the penultimate track is, of course, Berry Gordy, paid tribute here by four of the greatest stars in music history. I’d not have included it was it not for this year being Motown’s 50th birthday.

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TRACKLISTING
1. Gary Toms Empire – Welcome To Harlem
2. Ashford & Simpson – It Seems To Hang On
3. Jean Carn – Don’t Let It Get To Your Head
4. Bill Withers – Love Is
5. Rufus and Chaka Khan – Stay
6. Cheryl Lynn - You’re The One
7. Denise LaSalle - A Miracle You And Me
8. Neville Brothers - Washable Ink
9. Minnie Riperton - Never Existed Before
10. Natalie Cole & Peabo Bryson – What You Won’t Do For Love
11. Phyllis Hyman – You Know How To Love Me
12. The Jones Girls – You Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else
13. Johnny Guitar Watson – It’s A Damn Shame
14. Wilson Pickett – Lay Me Like You Hate Me
15. The Whispers - Let’s Go All The Way
16. D Ross, M Gaye, S Robinson, S Wonder – Pops, We Love You
17. Roberta Flack – And The Feeling’s Good

DOWNLOAD

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At one point I thought of making this a two-part mix, because a bunch of longer numbers would fit on the mix, which I have kept, as always, to standard CD-R length. Instead, here are a few bonus tracks.

These include Betty Wright’s live recording of the song about losing her virginity, Lenny William’s fantastically overwrought lament of lost love (“…and then I played my records till I didn’t want to hear them no more), Mtume’s The Closer I Get To You which was a hit for Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack written by James Mtume and Reggie Lucas, the O’Jay’s tribute to a dog, Kandidate’s proto ’80s soul sound, a track by Motown artists Switch who included two older DeBarge brothers, and more.

Lenny Williams – Because I Love You.mp3
Heatwave – Mind Blowing Decisions.mp3
Betty Wright – Tonight Is The Night.mp3
Ray Goodman Brown – Inside Of You.mp3
Brenda Russell – So Good, So Right.mp3
Switch – I Call Your Name.mp3
Mtume – The Closer I Get To You.mp3
The O‘Jays – Brandy.mp3
Kandidate – I Don’t Wanna Lose You.mp3
Rick James – You And I.mp3

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More ’70s Soul
More Mixes

Otis Redding is mostly known for his posthumous “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” but his life-ly stuff was top notch. I have his greatest hits CD which features the first 2 numbers. The 3rd song, Land of a Thousand Dances, was pioneered by none other than Mr. Excitement, Wilson Pickett, but performed admirably here by both Otis and Eric Burdon of The Animals. Classic stuff.

Speaking of which:

And that one puts me in the mood for this one for Ray Charles’ unforgettable “I Don’t Need No Doctor.” Great horn section and backing vocals and it’s a rough cut – just the way I like it…..

(Above: Richard “Popcorn” Wylie’s version of “Money (That’s What I Want)” is one of music writer Bill Dahl’s favorite early Motown songs.)

By Joel Francis

Chances are good that Chicago-based music writer Bill Dahl has penned the liner notes to at least one of your favorite reissues or compilations. Since 1985, Dahl has been commissioned to write the notes for hundreds of blues, R&B, rockabilly and rock collections on both major and boutique labels.

In 1998, Dhal was recognized with a Grammy nomination for his essay on Ray Charles’ sax section included in the “Ray Charles – Genius and Soul: The 50^th Anniversary Collection” box set. In 2000, he received the Keepin’ the Blues Alive award from the Blues Foundation in Memphis. His book, “Motown: The Golden Years” was published in 2001. Dahl’s latest project was co-authoring the amazingly comprehensive liner notes for each of the 12 volumes in the Hip-O Select “Complete Motown Singles” series.

Dahl also writes regularly on his Web site. He recently spoke to The Daily Record via e-mail.

The Daily Record: What was your first exposure to Motown and how did you become interested in writing about it?

Bill Dahl: I started buying quite a bit of Motown vinyl—the Miracles, the Temptations, Jr. Walker, Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops—during the early ‘70s as an outgrowth of my record collecting interests, which were expanding rapidly from my original love of ‘50s rock and roll. I was getting into soul, blues, rockabilly, etc., and loving it all (much to the chagrin of my mainstream rock-loving high school classmates, who ragged me unmercifully; I guess I never was much of a conformist).

TDR: What are some of the more interesting stories or facts you learned in researching these liner notes?

BD: One thing that always impresses me is the loyalty the great majority of Motown’s ‘60s artists have to the company and Mr. Gordy to this day. I was fortunate to attend a charity tribute to him a few years ago in LA, and a virtual galaxy of Motown stars performed and paid homage to their beaming boss. Later, all of them trooped up to the stage at the end to sing the old Hitsville fight song!

I’ve found it interesting that several of the better-known songwriting teams had a similar setup to that of Lennon-McCartney—if one wrote it, both names went on automatically. It’s been a pleasure tracking down a lot of the lesser-known acts, including a lot of the Rare Earth label rockers, to get their intriguing stories. They’re too often overlooked and made their own contributions to Hitsville history.

TDR: What are some of the biggest misconceptions about Motown?

BD: The goofy and totally unfounded rumors that the mob was involved with the label, solely because a few very competent Caucasians wielded power in the front office. The only color Mr. Gordy cared about was green, so he hired the best person for the job. There were more than a few R&B labels where “da boys” were in up to their eyeballs (no names here), but Motown wasn’t one of them.

TDR: Motown’s big stars get a lot of attention. Who are some of the unheralded Motown artists worth checking out? Were there any long-forgotten gems you discovered as a result of working on the Complete Motown Singles notes?

BD: I remember being amazed by Richard “Popcorn” Wylie’s version of “Money (That’s What I Want),” which is on the first Complete Singles box. It sounds like B. Bumble and the Stingers meet Hitsville!

Gino Parks’ “Same Thing” (which I knew about already) and several others of his songs are fantastic, as are Singin’ Sammy Ward’s early blues numbers, like “Who’s The Fool.” I love Jr. Walker’s early instrumentals – “Mutiny,” with James Jamerson’s jazz bass solo, is astounding – Shorty Long, Brenda Holloway, Kim Weston, the Velvelettes, and some of Little Stevie Wonder’s overlooked early outings. Los Angeles guitarist Arthur Adams’ “It’s Private Tonight,” which came out on Motown-distributed Chisa (it’s on the 1970 box), is the perfect marriage of blues and soul.

TDR: How detrimental do you think Berry Gordy’s favoritism toward Diana Ross was to the label? How much better would Martha Reeves, Gladys Knight, Kim Weston and Mary Wells have fared otherwise?

BD: It wasn’t detrimental in the slightest; the Supremes made some of the biggest hits of the ‘60s at a time when the British Invasion was otherwise dominating our charts, and Diana Ross had a coquettish mainstream appeal that none of the rest had. Mary Wells ruined her own career by walking away from Motown when she turned 21. Gladys Knight and the Pips were already stars when they arrived at Motown and far bigger ones when they left, though they got even hotter at Buddah. Kim Weston’s Motown career was inextricably intertwined with that of her husband, Motown A&R chief Mickey Stevenson, for both better and worse.  And Martha Reeves and her Vandellas had a series of incredible hits, much like the Marvelettes, that made both groups long-term mainstays.

TDR: There has been some disagreement over Tammi Terrell’s involvement on the duet albums with Marvin Gaye that bear her name. Did she return to the studio after her collapse and is that her voice on those songs? What was (Motown songwriter) Valerie Simpson’s role in these recordings?

BD: It’s impossible to say for sure, since Valerie has never admitted any possible lead vocal involvement (Marvin Gaye’s biography stated such unequivocally, but I’d be less inclined to buy in).  I doubt we’ll ever know one way or the other for sure, though Valerie’s role as co-producer and co-writer on many of them was so crucial that Tammi was no doubt channeling her vocal approach when she sang them (if indeed she was on the last couple hits).

TDR: The Complete Motown Singles Collection series ends in 1972. Why stop there? What is your favorite post-1972 Motown single or moment?

BD:  That was the end of the Detroit era—the Golden Years—so it seems like a reasonable place to end it, though you’d have to ask my boss Harry Weinger (Vice President of A&R for Universal Music – ed.) there. I’m not sure I have too many post-1972 favorites—I’m very partial to the 1959-72 Motown era we’ve covered on the Complete Motown Singles series—but  Gloria Jones, Yvonne Fair, Chicago blues guitarist Luther Allison, and Jr. Walker’s “Peace, Love and Understanding” come to mind.

TDR: In your mind, what was the greatest single factor in the label’s decline? Was it the departure of Holland-Dozier-Holland, the move to Los Angeles, Gordy’s interest in movies or something else?

BD: I don’t think we can accurately say Motown declined, since it’s still a going entity today and enjoyed a ton of hits after 1972. Times change and so do musical tastes, so keeping the same sound in 1972 that sold so well in the mid-‘60s would have been a recipe for disaster. Certainly HDH’s departure was a blow, but that gave other writers and producers more room to create their own soulful magic, like Norman Whitfield. The move to Los Angeles hurt the artists and musicians that chose to remain in the Motor City, and didn’t help the local economy either.

Mr. Gordy’s early ‘70s interest in the film industry made him a lot harder to reach on the phone at the time, much to the frustration of some staffers, but artistically it had a negligible effect since he wasn’t all that active musically by then anyway other than with the Jackson 5.

TDR: Ultimately, what do you feel is Motown’s greatest and most lasting impact on music today? Why?

BD: As the top indie label of the ‘60s, Motown turned the industry on its ear. There had been successful African-American owned record labels prior to Motown—Duke/Peacock, Fire/Fury, and Vee-Jay come to mind—but none were so monumentally successful. Gordy’s mantra of making R&B attuned to pop sensibilities had never been pulled off so convincingly. He also did a masterful job of delegating authority in the A&R department. It sounds like a cliché to say these classic recordings will never die, but they won’t.

TDR: Now that this project is over, what is your next venture? Are there any more Motown projects on the horizon?

BD: There are no Motown projects immediately scheduled, but I wrote the notes on Reel Music’s CD reissue of Jimmy Ruffin’s fine “Ruff ‘n Ready” Motown LP, complete with a fresh in-depth interview with the gracious Mr. Ruffin, which is just coming out.

I’m hoping and praying that Rhino Handmade finally releases the wonderful Wilson Pickett boxed set that it’s been sitting on for more than two years. A recent proclamation on the label’s website says it’s been scheduled. I wrote a huge track-by-track essay for it, much like the ones in the Motown boxes. It’s got everything he did for Atlantic on it and plenty more. Interestingly, the Funk Brothers played on Pickett’s first solo platters for Double L, a fact scantily documented before I started doing research for this box.

Keep reading:

Music essays and reviews by Bill Dahl

More features and interviews on The Daily Record:

Former NBA player at home in KC music scene

Jamie Foxx brings it to Sprint Center on Saturday

George Kalinsky: Painting with Light

Modest Mouse: Johnny Strikes Up the Band

Hail Death Cab

Ever Fallen For The Buzzcocks?

Out of the Tar Pit Back Onto the Stage

Local Doctor Claims He’s Treating Elvis

Down on “Cypress Avenue”

I mentioned the other day my abiding love of sports. As strong as that affection is, it took a while to develop. While I’d enjoyed watching St. Cloud State football when I was quite young – nine or ten years old – I hadn’t had any great passion for sports at the time. We went as a family to St. Cloud State basketball games – the Huskies had a very good small college team for most of the 1960s – and went occasionally across town to see the local minor league baseball team, the St. Cloud Rox. (And given the history of granite quarrying in the St. Cloud’s area, that has to be one of the great team nicknames of all time!) I enjoyed all of it, but it wasn’t a focal point of my life.

I’ve never figured out why, but that changed in September 1967. One of the reflections of that change, of my new-found interest in sports and competition, was my request – granted rapidly – to subscribe to Sports Illustrated. The first edition I got showed Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals on the cover, as the Cardinals were facing the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. The writing was crisp and clear, the photos were remarkable, and the magazine covered a wide variety of sports, including some things that I’d never considered as sport: Dog shows, chess, yachting. I absorbed it all, and it fueled the metamorphosis in me from casual fan to informed fan.

Why write about that metamorphosis today? Because of a confluence of events and anniversaries.

A man named Earsell Mackbee died Monday in Vallejo, California, ten days after being transferred there on a medical plane from a hospital in Minneapolis. Vallejo was where Mackbee grew up, and gravely ill as he was, he wanted to die at home. He got his wish, through the help of friends and the help of his former colleagues in the National Football League.

Mackbee was a defensive back for the Minnesota Vikings for five years, from 1965 through 1969. As I was learning about pro football in the fall of 1967 – through Sports Illustrated and through the Minneapolis and St. Cloud evening papers – Mackbee’s name was one that I recognized. Most likely because it was a different name – I knew no kids named Earsell – and also, I would guess, because he played a position that occasionally put him in the spotlight, whether for a lapse that resulted in a big play for the opponent or for a good play that benefitted the Vikings. He wasn’t an anonymous lineman, and one heard his name relatively frequently while watching the Vikings on television.

So Mackbee’s name – he wore jersey No. 46, I think – was one that I knew on a chilly Sunday in November 1967 – forty-two years ago tomorrow – when my dad and I set out from St. Cloud to go see the Vikings play the Detroit Lions. The tickets were ridiculously cheap by today’s standard: Five dollars each. (It’s good to keep inflation in mind, though. An online calculator tells me that what cost five dollars in 1967 would now cost almost thirty-two dollars.) And Dad and I settled into our seats in the front row of the second deck.

The Vikings and the Lions tied that afternoon, 10-10. The Vikings’ only touchdown came when Earsell Mackbee picked up a fumble and returned it fifty-five yards. It was one of two touchdowns he scored during his NFL career.

That game against the Lions and Mackbee’s touchdown have crossed my mind occasionally over the past forty-two years, but the memories came back with a rush ten days ago, when I saw in the Minneapolis newspaper the news story about Mackbee being flown to California to die. There was a twinge of sorrow, but even stronger – and I think Mackbee would have liked this – was a flash of memory, a vision of the purple-clad Earsell Mackbee carrying the ball into the end zone on a grey November day in 1967.

A Six-Pack from November 1967
“Incense and Peppermints” by the Strawberry Alarm Clock
“Stag-O-Lee” by Wilson Pickett
“Tell Mama” by Etta James
“Lady Bird” by Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood
“Like An Old Time Movie” by Scott McKenzie
“Desiree” by the Left Bank

“Incense & Peppermints,” as I’ve likely said here before, is one of those records that powerfully bring back a time and place: I’m in the gym at South Junior High in St. Cloud during the last few minutes of the lunch period, and the rest of the guys and I are watching the girls dance to the Strawberry Alarm Clock. I imagine I’ve posted the song before, too, but it’s such a good single, at least to these ears, that I can’t help myself. The record peaked at No. 1.

The Wilson Pickett record is one of multiple versions of a song that’s been sliding around America for more than a hundred years, titled as “Stagger Lee,” “Stag-O-Lee,” “Stacker Lee” and more. (The two earliest versions I have were recorded in 1927: “Billy Lyons & Stack O’Lee” by Furry Lewis and “Stackalee” by Frank Hutchinson.) Pickett’s version, which went to No. 22, is pretty good, but it’s difficult for any R&B performer to top the 1959 version by Lloyd Price. (There seems to be some confusion about the exact title of Pickett’s recording: the Billboard chart and All-Music Guide have the title as “Stagger Lee,” while Joel Whitburn’s Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits has it as “Stag-O-Lee.” I’ve gone with Whitburn.

Etta James’ “Tell Mama” came out of sessions that took place in Muscle Shoals in 1967 and 1968. Those sessions provided James with her last two Top 40 hits: “Tell Mama” went to No. 23, and the Otis Redding-penned “Security” went to No. 35 in the spring of 1968. “Tell Mama” is a hard-hitting piece of Southern soul, and the entire Tell Mama album is worth a listen or two. (The album was released a few years ago in a remastered version with ten additional tracks from the sessions.)

“Lady Bird” is one of those odd and evocative singles that Lee Hazlewood wrote and produced for Nancy Sinatra, sometimes – as in this case – singing on the record as well. Maybe it’s just me, but when I hear one of those Hazlewood-produced records, it’s like being for a few moments in a mildly alternate universe: Things are just a little off-kilter but they still seem to all somehow make sense. It’s an interesting place to be for a short time. The record went to No. 20.

When a singer’s previous record was “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair),” what the heck do you do for a follow-up? In the case of Scott McKenzie, you go back into the studio with John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas and record another one of Phillips’ songs. “Like An Old Time Movie” was the result, and it’s not a bad single. It’s got a decent lyric although McKenzie oversings it at points. It got to No. 24, and, as McKenzie’s second hit, it’s the only thing keeping him from being a One-Hit Wonder, as he never got into the Top 40 again.

“Desiree” was another attempt by the Left Bank to replicate the success of the group’s 1966 hit, “Walk Away Renee.” It’s not bad, but the vocals sound thin at times, especially given the busy backing they have to contend with. The record was newly listed in the November 11, 1967, Billboard as one of the songs bubbling under the Hot 100. By the next week, it was gone.

(I think these are all the single versions and I’ve tagged them as such, but I’m frankly not sure: Some of these might be album tracks. Whichever they are, the single versions were all in the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending November 11, 1967.)

Ein Klassiker vom Altmeister des Soul: Wilson Pickett mit “In the midnight hour”

Enjoy!

(Above: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band back Chuck Berry at the 1995 Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.)

By Joel Francis

“Rock Hall Live,” an exquisite nine DVD box set of performances and speeches from the past 25 years of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies is a treasure trove for all music fans, but it should especially attractive to Bruce Springsteen fans. Springsteen appears on all but two of the discs in more than a dozen performances and nearly as many speeches. As the unofficial MC of the collection, Springsteen makes more appearances than anyone else.

On Monday, The Daily Record examined the first half of Springsteen’s performances on the “Rock Hall Live” box set. Today, we look at Springsteen’s appearance at the Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, his triumphant E Street reunion kick-off and sitting in with U2.

1995 – “Johnny B. Goode” (with Chuck Berry)

In the classic Chuck Berry film “Hail Hail Rock and Roll,” Springsteen tells the story of how he and his pre-E Street band backed Berry in the 1970s. More than two decades later, at the Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Springsteen reprises the role here, this time with his E Street brothers in tow. Springsteen is relegated to backing vocals and rhythm guitar, but Clarence Clemons punctuates Berry’s lyrical bursts with stings of saxophone a la King Curtis. Sporting a goatee and ear-to-ear grin, Springsteen sheds his backup roll to peel off a brief solo after Berry’s duckwalk.

1995 – “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On” (with Jerry Lee Lewis, rehearsal)

In this bonus feature Springsteen and the E Street band rehearses “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On” with Jerry Lee Lewis before the Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The musicians soundcheck their instruments as the crew preps the stage. There’s one dry run through the number, which is unfortunately edited out. Even though everyone is just messing around they still earn applause from the resting workers on the side of the stage. The footage isn’t incredible enlightening or interesting, but it’s worth watching once.

1999 – “The Promised Land,” “Backstreets,” “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” “In the Midnight Hour” (with Wilson Pickett)

The E Street Band were on the cusp of their first tour together in 11 years when they teased the world with a four-song set at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York. Although the entire performance is captured in the “Rock Hall Live” box, it is frustratingly spread across four discs. Springsteen calls each band member one at a time to join him during onstage during his induction to the hall. While there’s no rust from the decade apart in the opening “The Promised Land,” the band is still getting warmed up. There’s no sweat on Springsteen’s dress shirt at the end of the number.

One can tell from the opening chords of “Backstreets” that this is going to be a special performance. Springsteen unloads every ounce of his soul into the microphone and beats a great solo out of his battered Telecaster. The band is majestic and powerful and inspired the normally staid attendees to dance around their banquet tables.

As photos of a young Springsteen flash on video boards behind the band, the Boss drops to his knees as the classic Little Steven horn arrangement to “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” kicks in. Sans guitar, Springsteen uses his arms, legs and hips to cue the band and animate the crowd. It works. Everyone onstage and in the crowd is firing on all cylinders when Billy Joel slips beside Roy Bittan on the organ bench and Wilson Pickett enters to deliver “In the Midnight Hour.” Pickett’s voice is as powerful as ever and Springsteen draws on his years of “Detroit Medley” experience to match that ferocity while delivering the second verse. The band burnishes their credentials as the best house band in the business. If anyone were looking to update “The Last Waltz” and showcase a classic ensemble and their influences, the E Street Band should be the top candidate.

2005 – “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” (with U2)

“When I say that America is not just a country, but an idea, I’m thinking about people like Bruce Springsteen,” Bono says, introducing the song over The Edge’s chiming guitar chords. As the second verse starts, we catch a glimpse of Springsteen in the wings, waiting for his entrance. It takes the Boss a moment to get oriented before delivering the third verse, which kills the momentum of the performance. The moment is a bit superfluous – U2 doesn’t need his help – bit it’s a nice gesture. Springsteen matches Bono’s vocal passion and closes the performance on a powerful note.

Keep reading:

Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello – “The Ghost of Tom Joad”

Un 29 de Octubre como hoy, en 1971, Duane Allman estrella su motocicleta contra un camión y muere pocas horas después, en un hospital. Le faltaba menos de un mes para cumplir 25 años.

Un prodigio de la guitarra, particularmente el slide, Allman empezó a trabajar como músico de estudio, como por ejemplo en este Hey Jude de Wilson Pickett, cuyo solo final impresionó a Eric Clapton cuando lo escuchó, y que le llevó a participar en discos de artistas como Aretha Franklin y Delaney & Bonnie.

En 1969 funda con su hermano The Allman Brothers Band, que con dos guitarras, dos baterías, bajo y teclados, revolucionaría la música en sus primeros cuatro años de existencia, a base de disco por año. El primero, titulado como la banda, es un sólido ejemplo de rock-blues sureño, con pinceladas de jazz y psicodelia. El segundo, Idlewild South, es aún mejor, con más bases acústicas, más jazz, más experimentación.

Ambos discos tienen como productor a Tom Dowd, que estaba trabajando con Eric Clapton en la grabación de Layla and other assorted love songs. Es Dowd el que pone en contacto a los dos guitarristas. Tras una noche improvisando juntos, Allman se une a Derek and The Dominoes, y participa en la mayoría de los temas, incluyendo el espectacular slide del dueto final de Layla. La presencia de Allman empuja a Clapton a grabar el que probablemente sea su mejor disco.

Tras un par de conciertos con Derek and the Dominoes, Allman deja la banda para grabar At Fillmore East, el disco en directo que catapulta a The Allman Brothers Band al estrellato, y que muchos consideran el mejor disco en directo de la historia del rock. Recogiendo canciones de sus dos noches de concierto en el Fillmore East de Nueva York, algunos temas, como Whipping Post o In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, se alargan hasta los diez, veinte minutos, un prodigio de improvisación, buen gusto y empatía entre los músicos. Aunque con peor sonido que el disco, los vídeos que quedan de los conciertos son impresionantes:

Duane Allman muere meses después de que se publique el disco, y años antes de poder formar parte del Club de los 27. El disco Eat a Peach recoge el material de estudio grabado antes de su muerte y algunos temas en directo que no entraron en At Fillmore East, incluyendo los magistrales 33 minutos de Mountain Jam. El bajista de la banda, Berry Oakley, muere poco más de un año después, también en un accidente con su motocicleta, a tres bloques de distancia del lugar donde tuvo lugar el accidente de Allman. Están enterrados uno junto al otro.

Dos años después de su muerte, admiradores en Mississippi grabaron las palabras REMEMBER DUANE ALLMAN en un dique de tierra en una autopista. Las marcas duraron más de diez años.

Tommy Castro’s 11th album is his first for Alligator Records. “Hard Believer” is more of the same horn-driven blues the Castro has been recording since he released his debut “No Foolin’” back in 1994. However, it is his best record since “Right as Rain” which appeared ten years ago.

Castro’s music has always been blues-based with a big helping of sweaty R&B mixed in. Castro is one of the best blues singers, guitarists and live performers out there as his award for Blues Music Entertainer Of The Year for 2008 will attest.

Castro's first release for Alligator Records is "Hard Believer".

This effort starts out strong with “Definition of Insanity” a funky groove about two people who keep trying to make a bad relationship work without success. Castro sings “Is it love or madness the reason we’re together tonight? You know where it’s headed baby. We’re in for a terrible fight.”

“It Is What It Is” is covered in tribute to Stephen Bruton who passed away shortly before this record was released. The cd is dedicated to Bruton. “Monkey’s Paradise” reminds one of some classic 60’s R&B.  The best track on the album is “Trimmin’ Fat” which looks at today’s bleak economy from a musician’s point of view.

Castro also serves up  covers of  Bob Dylan, Wilson Pickett, Allen Toussaint and the Righteous Brothers’ “My Babe”. Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody” is played with a real sweaty intensity and is a highlight.

This record sounds like it fell out of a time capsule. It could have come out of the late 60’s early 70’s Stax Records catalog. ”Hard Beliver” is all about the grooves which are plentiful and tasty and combine with Castro’s best vocals in some time to make for a smokin’ record. This isn’t a blues release really as it’s strongest elements are it’s soul and R&B tones but there is a lot of blues mixed within as well. Alligator has a winner with Castro’s first release for them.

For those of you following the plot, I’ve been apprenticing at the local community radio station here in Austin, KOOP, with the goal of getting my own show.

Competition is tough, there are a lot of talented programmers out there, with great ideas for their shows. I was able to get into the studio today (with the very cool John Erler of Master Pancake Theater), and broadcast live a short, 30 minute version of my show, “From the Other Side of the Mirror”. The concept behind the show is explained at the beginning.

So please beg my indulgence, here is it, captured from the live stream. Let me know what you think, if you’d listen to something like this.

Thanks to everyone for your support. I know who you are.

Day Dreaming

Show #1, in case you missed it… First couple songs got cut off (still working out the kinks).

Playlist:

1. Soul Vaccination – Tower of Power
2. The Bottle – Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson
3. Wait For Me – Roger Damawuzan
4. (Not Just) Knee Deep (Part 1) – Funkadelic
5. Hercules – Aaron Neville
6. Mustang Sally – Wilson Pickett
7. Fairchild – Willy West
8. Funky Drummer (Bonus Beat reprise) – James Brown
9. But On The Other Hand Baby – Ray Charles
10. Day Dreaming – Aretha Franklin
11. You Send Me – Otis Redding
12. It’s Alright – The Impressions
13. Nothin’ Can Change This Love (Unreleased Version) – Sam Cooke
14. Hey, Hey (What Are You Going To Do?) (Fast Version) – Bo Diddley
15. The Jaunt – Poets Of Rhythm
16. Fight Against Drug Abuse (Public Service Announcement) – James Brown
17. Sir Nose d’Voidoffunk [Pay Attention - B3M] – Parliament
18. Soul Vaccination (reprise) – Tower of Power

# 257  Wilson Pickett > Mustang Sally
”The Wicked Pickett” sjöng soul och R&B med en lika stor portion rock ’n’ roll. Gitarrer och blås låg ofta långt fram i mixningen av låtarna. Hans raspiga röst i kombination med hans vilda utspel på scen inspirerade många rockstjärnor, både vita som svarta. Låten fick nytt liv i samband med filmen ”The Commitments”…

A few people asked for the songs I played on the Stagger Lee demo show and exact titles, so here they are in play order:

1. Mississippi John Hurt – Stack O’Lee

2. Duke Ellington – Stack O’Lee Blues

3. Woody Guthrie – Stackolee

4. Fats Domino – Stagger Lee

5. Wilson Pickett – Stagger Lee

6. The Clash – Wrong em’ Boyo

7. The Trojans – Stack-A-Lee

Here’s the link to listen to the show

For those of you following the plot, I’ve been apprenticing at the local community radio station here in Austin, KOOP, with the goal of getting my own show.

Competition is tough, there are a lot of talented programmers out there, with great ideas for their shows. I was able to get into the studio tonight, and stream a short, 30 minute version of my show, “From the Other Side of the Mirror”. The concept behind the show is explained at the beginning.

So please beg my indulgence, here is it, captured from the live stream. Let me know what you think, if you’d listen to something like this.

Thanks to everyone for your support. I know who you are.

Hoje o dia sem sombra de dúvida foi dos Beatles. Do lançamento do Beatles Rock Band ao lançamento de toda a coleção da banda remasterizada (que você baixa completinha aqui), o assunto em todas as rodinhas virtuais (aka twitter, blogs, etc) foi o Fab Four.

E em meio a tantos comentários, piadinhas e links, alguns se destacaram.

Como esse post com 10 covers dos Beatles considerados por alguns como melhores que os originais.

Não concordo quanto a serem melhores que a versão original (pelo menos não todos), mas são covers fodas mesmo:

Hey Jude – Wilson Pickett (a guitarrinha, do Duane Allman, é espetacular)

With A Little Help From My Friends – Joe Cocker (talvez o mais famoso cover dos Beatles, e esse sim muito superior ao original)

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds – William Shatner (bizarríssimo e imperdível)

We Can Work It Out – Stevie Wonder

Eleanor Rigby – Aretha Franklin

Infelizmente essa não tem no Youtube.

Come Together – Ike & Tina Turner

For No One – Emmylou Harris

Anytime At All – Nils Lofgren

Blackbird – Dionne Farris (detestei essa)

Across The Universe – Fiona Apple

Dica do @forlani.

Without a doubt one of Wilson Pickett’s best albums, and the one that launched his career, The Exciting Wilson Pickett is loaded with some of the best cuts in soul history. It established Pickett as a premier, top-tier soul man and a major figure of the 1960’s music scene, and the personnel on this collection of tracks…God…let me name just a few: Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn, and Al Jackson Jr. (better known as three-quarters of the backbone of soul: Booker T. and the M.G.’s), Tommy Cogbill, Roger Hawkins, Jimmy Johnson, Chips Moman, and Spooner Oldham (all-stars of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section), Charles Chalmers (saxophonist and Grammy award-winning songwriter and arranger of such hits as Aretha’s “Respect” and “Chain of Fools”, Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man”, Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” and more), Jerry Wexler (the Atlantic Records A&R man responsible for coining the term “rhythm and blues” and signing or producing acts like Led Zeppelin, Ray Charles, Aretha, and Bob Dylan), Jim Stewart (co-founder of Stax Records) and finally Tom Dowd (world famous recording engineer and producer responsible for innovating multi-track recording, inventing the fader, and capturing more classic albums than almost anyone under the sun).

Phew. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s take a closer look.

Every track on the record clocks in at under three minutes and, with thirteen tracks, this is a perfect one-stop morning mix. Fast, frenetic and just fun, each song on here is an absolute gem. There’s not a single second of lag, not a moment of temptation to hit the “seek” button, and if you’re a hits-focused person, take the hit singles “Land of 1,000 Dances” (which has the best danceable gibberish ever), “634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.)”, “Ninety-nine and a Half (Won’t Do)”, and “In the Midnight Hour”: all reached the top fifty on the charts (or just missed) and all are rifled through in the first twenty minutes.

Can you do the mashed potato? Can you do the twist? How ‘bout pony like boney maroney? Regardless of how you choose to move, this record will have you moving smoothly all day long, from the first “1, 2, 3,” all the way to the very last second.

“Do the Watusi!”

I’ve never had the faintest intention of learning or performing a new dance, but Wilson Pickett’s exhortation in “Land of 1,000 Dances” is a grabber.  It’s not just nonsense.  It’s not just fun.  This is about jumping on an opportunity (on a glittering merry-go-round of opportunities) to embody that way of doing things, to be the Watusi man.

But the great Watusi way is overshadowed, as it turns out, by the song’s refrain:  “Naa na na na naa . . .”

Could this be the most important utterance in all rock music?  We also find it in the coda of “Stand!” (one of the greatest of all rock riffs, turbo-boosting an inspirational call to activism), and in the epic last four minutes of “Hey Jude.”  What it does in every case is draw everybody in.

Apparently, the dances really did draw the kids in.  There were 1,000 dances to learn but just one way to be crazed.  Every new sensation swept the nation.  (The show Hairspray captures the sunny side of this phenomenon, perhaps its Platonic Form, beautifully—in Baltimore.)

If we live in a land of 1,000 dances, and we have this song as our national anthem, and our anthem’s chorus is

Naa na na na naa
Na na na naa na na naa na na naa
Na na na naa

then as responsible citizens we should know what we mean by our “nas.”  They are obviously not far from being “nos.”  Consider the counterattack song, “Nobody But Me” by the Human Beinz (1968), where “no no no no no no no no” pushes everybody away:   nobody can do the shing-a-ling, the skate, or any dance like he can.[1]  Launched with the nose-raising “n” (at least when I do it), “na” has the spunk of the denying “no” and the spiteful “nyaah,” but it marvelously bends its negative energy toward the reaching-out “eah” part of “yeah.”   It’s like the playful “naw” that treats a claim as too good to be true.   (We’re talking about the exuberant “na na na” here, but there’s also a wishy-washy “na na na,” as in Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al,” that hesitates between the negative and positive gestures.)

So what “naa na na na naa” is saying is that I’m a feisty individual ready to rumble and I’m ecstatically rumbling together with all y’all.  Purely kinesthetically, though, naa-na-na-na-naa is the song’s own dance.  Thus I don’t need to learn the Watusi.  Na-na-na-ing, I can be the “Land of 1,000 Dances” man, like all my fellow citizens of soul, and in dancing this sublime pattern we will never get tripped up.

NOTE

[1] The “no no no no no no no no no” riff, which I’m calling a counterattack in the 1968 context, is in fact already in the 1963 Isley Brothers original “Nobody But Me” and thus precedes the “na na na” that was added to “Land of 1,000 Dances” (originally by Chris Kenner in 1962) by Cannibal and the Headhunters in 1966.  Give the Isley Brothers credit for putting a memorable “no no no” into the pop music bloodstream along with the “yeah, yeah, yeah” of  “Shout” (1959).

Let me know what you think of the following videos, by  completely different style singers.

1) My friend Michelle (Consider Jesus) posted the Chris Tomlin song “Indescribable”.

From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Tomlin

“Christopher Dwayne Tomlin (born May 4, 1972) is a Dove Award winning Christian worship leader and songwriter from Grand Saline, Texas, United States. He was awarded Male Vocalist at the 2006, 2007, and 2008 Gospel Music Awards, and was named Artist of the Year in 2007 and 2008.”

2) The next song is a live performance where David Bowie joins Queen for “Under Pressure”, something we can all relate to.

Queen’s frontman, Freddy Mercury, was one of the most dynamic performers in the history of Rock & Roll. He is also another of the all too common tragic stories of rock stars. Dying from the complications of AIDS at the age of 45.

Again from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddy_Mercury

“Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara, on the island of Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania. His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, were Parsis from the Gujarat region of the then province of Bombay Presidency in British India. The family surname is derived from the town of Bulsar (also known as Valsad) in southern Gujarat. As Parsis, Freddie and his family practiced the Zoroastrian religion.

At the age of 17, Mercury and his family fled from Zanzibar for safety reasons due to the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution. The family moved into a small house in Feltham, London.

In 2006, Time Asia named him as one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years, and he continues to be cited as one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music. In 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him number 18 on their list of the 100 greatest singers of all time.”

3) What is the best live music performance you can remember?  Feel free to choice more than one.

Back sometime in the late 1960’s I got to see Wilson Pickett at the Appllo, New York City.

Sound&Fury #4

(Freddie Hubbard – Backlash)

Following on from the Ray Sharpe & King Curtis hold this ranking piece of 1966 Jazz Funk courtesy of legendary trumpeter Freddie Hubbard with a piece that swings so hard it could wake the dead.

Also featuring the collective talents of Ray Baretto on percusion, Bob Cunningham on bass, Ray Appleton on drums, James Spaulding on Sax and Albert Dailey smashing the ivories. This, the title track, is borrowed from his first in a series of sets for Atlantic and I noticed that ‘Pickett’ is credited with writing this one so I assume that it would be none other than the ‘Wicked’ Pickett (Wilson), himself? although whoever wrote it the credit here belongs to the players who are fluent in the universal language and communicate the message perfectly.

Here’s the latest batch of Music Musings and Miscellany’s unapologetically subjective selection of the twentieth century’s best 1000 singles. The last Load of Ms.

BIRTHDAY PARTY – Mr Clarinet / Happy Birthday (Missing Link 18 1980)
And indeed it is a link. Taking the quirky pop of the Boys Next Door and guiding it towards the einstürzende swamp-rock of the band’s 4AD period, “Mr Clarinet” has a squawky charm of its own. It may seem quite restrained compared to what was to come, but there’s menace ‘neath the surface.

LAST PARTY – Mr Hurst / Hubby’s Hobby (Harvey 2 1987)
I wrote about this forgotten gem here.

4 HERO – Mr Kirk’s Nightmare / Move Wid the House Groove / Combat Dance (Reinforced 1203 1990)
One of the defining tracks that bridged hardcore techno with what was to develop as jungle. As the BPMs turned up, the E-bliss began to turn into paranoia, and “Mr Kirk’s Nightmare” feeds on this and spits it right back out. The sampled voice dispassionately forming Mr Kirk that “your son is dead – he died of an overdose” being pumped out to bodies stretched to the edge on E, K and coke was fairly explicit in its message.

FALL – Mr Pharmacist / Lucifer Over Lancashire (Beggars Banquet 168 1986)
The last forty years have consistently seen waves of hopeful garage bands cranking out two and a half minute tunes, all the while wishing they were in Nowheresville, Oregon in 1965. The Fall have always had a garage sensibility in that polish is strictly for shoes and dinner tables. But they capture the spirit without ever sounding like imitators. Even when they’ve covered garage classics like “Mr Pharmacist”, originally done by a band called the Other Half, they’ve always made them sound like Fall songs, and the originals sound like weak imitations.

CHORDETTES – Mr Sandman / I Don’t Want to See You Cryin’ (Cadence 1247 1954)
There’s something deeply spooky about this song. The squeaky clean harmonies and lack of any sex or sensuality whatsoever, make it seem like the perfect soundtrack to that Stepford world of 1950s suburban America. Mr Sandman is, of course, a character of children’s nightmares, and there’s something really creepy about the unthreatening blandness about the Chordettes, three perfectly lovely white, Christian, Republican girls. It cropped up in Gary Ross’ 1998 film Pleasantville, and immediately evoked an environment of conformity and repression.

BYRDS – Mr Tambourine Man / I Knew I’d Want You (Columbia 43271 1965)
BYRDS – My Back Pages / Renaissance Fair (Columbia 44054 1967)
I was at a funeral recently, and the deceased’s choice of tune to send the congregation out was Dylan’s original of “Mr Tambourine Man”. An off the wall choice, but obviously a deeply personal one. The Byrds’ excised large chunks of the song for their version. What makes it is that jangly guitar riff, an intro as recognisable as any in pop. Rickenbacker sunshine. “My Back Pages” follows the same formula of adapting a wordy Dylan song into a snappy piece full of glistening harmony.

WILSON PICKETT – Mustang Sally / Three Time Loser (Atlantic 2365 1966)
This is one of those car/girl metaphorical songs that were a staple in soul and r&b from the forties to the sixties. It allows for plenty of innuendo (“ride Sally ride” etc) lashed with southern grit.

ANGELS – My Boyfriend’s Back / (Love Me) Now (Smash 1834 1963)
It’s ironic that the girl groups of the sixties were all about boyfriend-worship, and yet they came across as sassy and in control. Modern girl groups often sing about control and dissing any unfortunate males who get in the way, and yet they sound like production line Barbie dolls. Of course that’s a ludicrous generalisation. There were sixties songs like Lesley Gore’s horribly twee “It’s My Party” that were just wet. The Angels certainly didn’t sound like they were the sort to burst into tears at the drop of a hat.

STEVIE WONDER – My Cherie Amour / Don’t Know Why I Love You (Tamla 54180 1969)
“My Cherie Amour” sounds a lot more sensual than ‘my dear love’, which sounds like the sort of thing that a particular camp actor would come out with.. By 1969 Stevie Wonder was leaving the Little Stevie schtick, and the bouncy Motown floorfillers behind, and moving into a more sophisticated type of soul music that he would nail in five stupendous albums recorded between 1972 and 1976.

WEDDING PRESENT – My Favourite Dress / Every Mother’s Son / Never Said (Reception 5 1987)
My favourite Gedge song. The first two Wedding Present albums seemed to be mostly mined from the same failing relationship. But “My Favourite Dress” is the one that really expresses the hurt with its long, almost spoken, second section: “Uneaten meals, a lonely star / A welcome ride in a neighbour’s car / A long walk home in the pouring rain / I fell asleep when you never came / Some rare delight in Manchester town / It took six hours before you let me down / To see it all in a drunken kiss / A stranger’s hand on my favourite dress / That was my favourite dress you know / That was my favourite dress“. That focus on something so banal as an item of clothing is so true to life. The big picture is often hard to take in, and it’s the little things that are often so upsetting. All the while, the song has an almost bouncy arrangement that’s underpinned by an underlying sadness. Still sounds magnificent.

WHO – My Generation / Shout and Shimmy (Brunswick 5944 1965)
When you cut through all the layers of irony, it’s still a great song. Back then (and indeed for MY generation which was the next lot along), the generation gap was real and cavernous. I’m not so sure such a thing exists at all any more.

TEMPTATIONS – My Girl / Nobody But My Baby (Gordy 7038 1964)
MARY WELLS – My Guy / Oh Little Boy (Motown 1056 1964)
Two Motown songs that everybody knows, probably to the point that they’ve become banal background noise piped out of nostalgia radio stations, supermarkets and every other damn public space. They’re so familiar that nobody ever really listens to them any more, which is such a shame. I could wax lyrical about the commodification of pop, but now is not the time to come over like a poor man’s Paul Morley.

LOVE – My Little Red Book / Message to Pretty (Elektra 45603 1966)
The first missive from the sixties most ironically named band was a piece of Bacharach and David cheese, punked up. Although it has the sort of lyric that Smokey Robinson would reject as being too twee, Arthur Lee actually makes it sound like an angry and bitter thing, full of pent-up resentment.

SIMON & GARFUNKEL – My Little Town / Rag Doll (Columbia 10230 1975)
The product of a very short reunion, “My Little Town” carries on from where the likes of “The Boxer” left off. Full of nostalgia, wall of sound production and fantastic harmonies.

10,000 MANIACS – My Mother, the War / Planned Obsolescence / National Education Week (Reflex 1 1984)
Natalie Merchant seems to get many people’s backs up. They see her as some kind of bossy school ma’am. Perhaps it’s because she never tried to hide her intelligence, or conform to the stereotype of sexy front for her band. The titles from 10,000 Maniacs’ first EP tell it all. She wasn’t going to sing about staple pop fare. What may shock anyone whose never heard these early tracks is how sonically adventurous they are. “My Mother, the War” sounds like a cross between the Young Marble Giants and the Jesus & Mary Chain at their noisiest. Natalie imparts a tale of an everywoman figure whose brood is out fighting, possibly never to return. She touches on both the mundane and the macabre – of gossiping neighbours, shiny parades, anxiety and bloodied carrion while surrounded by a maelstrom of feedback and quick-step drums.

DAVID RUFFIN – My Whole World Ended / I’ve Got to Find Myself a New Baby (Motown 1140 1969)
SUPREMES – My World is Empty Without You / Everything Is Good About You (Motown 1089 1965)
Two more Motown classics, and two that haven’t been jaded by over-exposure. Motown’s writers were never ones for understating an emotion. The boy meets girl songs are usually accompanied by over the top declarations of how damn wonderful he/she is. The boy loses girl (or vice versa) are usually apocalyptic catastrophes. Credit to the singers that they always made you believe. David Ruffin and Diana Ross were both lead singers of their respective groups, and both got a bit big for their boots, leaving the group format behind for a solo career. There the similarity ends. David Ruffin’s post-Temptations career started well enough, but as the group got bigger, he got left behind and ended up dead too young. Lady Di, of course, became showbiz royalty.

ELVIS PRESLEY – Mystery Train / I Forgot to Remember to Forget (Sun 223 1955)
Forget Graceland, rhinestones, cheeseburgers, leather jumpsuits, terrible films, “Do the Clam” and all the other monstrosities. This is why he mattered.

More soon.

One of the greatest songwriters and singers in rock and roll, Paul McCartney turns 67 on Thursday (June 18).  With the Beatles and later as a solo performer and bandleader, McCartney created some of the best (and worst) music in rock and roll history.  He isn’t as cool today as he was in the 1960s, or in the early part of the 1970s, but even at the twilight of his career McCartney is still a formidable talent.  His album Electric Arguments, released as The Fireman late last year, was considered to be one of the year’s best and a return to form for McCartney.  A collaboration with fellow legend Bob Dylan may be in the works – if it happens, that would be another milestone in an incredible career.

In 1965 McCartney wrote “Yesterday,” which the Guinness Book of World Records says is the most covered song ever.  It has been covered more than 3,000 times and in the 20th century alone the song was performed more than 7 million times.  We thought about doing a marathon with different covers of one song (as we did a few weeks ago on Bob Dylan’s birthday) but thought it would be more fun to just dig up songs from throughout McCartney’s career.  So after the jump you have some of McCartney’s best music as performed by others, as well as a few versions of “Yesterday.”  McCartney may be rather unfairly judged by his output over recent years, but most of this shit rocks.  Happy birthday!

MP3: “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” by the Jimi Hendrix Experience

MP3: “Band On The Run” by the Foo Fighters

MP3: “Hey Jude” by Wilson Pickett

MP3: “Yesterday” by Frank Sinatra

MP3: “Let It Be” by the Persuasions

MP3: “World Without Love” by Peter and Gordon

MP3: “Eleanor Rigby” by Booker T. and the MGs

MP3: “Lady Madonna” by the Crystalites

MP3: “Drive My Car” by Bobby McFerrin

MP3: “Yesterday” by Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson

MP3: “Eat At Home” by The Broken West

MP3: “Get Back” by Ike and Tina Turner

MP3: “Goodbye” by Mary Hopkin

MP3: “Yesterday” (parody) by John Lennon

MP3: “Like Dreamers Do” by the Applejacks

MP3: “Blackbird” (live at Woodstock) by Crosby, Stills and Nash

MP3: “Can’t Buy Me Love” (live) by Johnny Rivers

MP3: “Yesterday” by Daffy Duck

MP3: “Love Of The Loved” by Cilla Black

MP3: “Maybe I’m Amazed” by the Faces

MP3: “Yesterday” by the Ron Eschete Ensemble

MP3: “From A Window” by Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas

MP3: “Live and Let Die” by Duffy

MP3: “Yesterday/Hey Jude” (live) by Elvis Presley

MP3: “Thingumybob” by John Foster and Sons Ltd. Black Dyke Mills Band

MP3: “Ob La Di, Ob La Da” by the Heptones

MP3: “I Wanna Be Your Man” by the Stooges

MP3: “Back In The USSR” by Lemmy Kilmister w/John 5 and Eric Singer

MP3: “Helter Skelter” by Mötley Crüe

MP3: “Yesterday” by Dr. John

MP3: “We Can Work It Out” by Stevie Wonder

MP3: “The Fool On The Hill” by Bugs Bunny and Friends (feat. Elmer Fudd)

MP3: “With A Little Help From My Friends” (live at Woodstock) by Joe Cocker

MP3: “I Saw Her Standing There” (live) by John Lennon & Elton John

YouTube: Paul McCartney performing “Birthday”