Yesterday, Stevie Wonder launched a big tour celebrating Songs From the Key of Life, the first album of his I didn’t get into. The show got a rave review from Jon Pareles in the Times, and I listened to the album today and it’s really excellent.
But it isn’t as excellent as the albums that led up to it. So let’s hit the hay with one of those.
A few years ago Chuck Berry was inducted into some songwriter’s hall of fame. A friend said, “Chuck Berry?” Hell yes.
Berry’s rep has diminished thanks to Keith Richards (his bastard son, who disavowed him) and Chuck’s impecunious behavior, but the fact is that Johnny B. Goode, Maybelline, Back In the USA, Roll Over Beethoven, and almost every hit he ever wrote except My Dingaling, ranks among the best rock and roll tunes of all time.
I should bless you with Carol, here, but this will have to do:
The Black Keys are another band that has generated very little attention here, so I want to fix that.
I really love the band, who in so many ways seem so unlikely (they certainly don’t look like rock stars, yet they totally rock).
One trouble I have with them is though I own three of the bands albums, I have no clue what any of the songs are called. Of course, I never knew the name of Steely Dan’s tunes either, and I still like them a lot, so apparently that does not account for much.
I know Lindsay saw the Keys with Jake Bugg last week, and she said it was a great show. So, I am hoping she posts about it.
In the interim, here is a fix.
IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED
If I told you that almost 45 years ago someone recorded an album that had appearances by 2 Beatles (Harrison and Starr), 3 Stones (Jagger, Wyman and Watts), 2 Blind Faith (Clapton and Winwood) a Domino (Jim Gordon – as in Derek & The…) Joe Cocker, Klaus Voormann and others – would you believe me?
Leon Russell released his first solo album in 1970 with that stellar cast of backing musicians. Of course, they didn’t all perform on every song. And I’ve scoured the internet trying to find the details of who played on which songs but thus far have come up empty. But one thing is for certain, Leon Russell is a great album.
Leon had a great career. Early on he made his way from Oklahoma to LA where he was a member of Phil Spector’s “Wrecking Crew” and played on many of the most important records in Rock history. In the mid 60s he was a member of the house band for the pop music TV series Shindig! that ran for two seasons on ABC.
By the late 60s/early 70s he hooked up with Delaney & Bonnie and then Joe Cocker – he was the musical director for Cocker’s famous Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour. He also did a great set at George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh. If you’re over 50 you’ve probably heard it. If not, you should check out his “Jumping Jack Flash/Youngblood Medley.”
Today’s SotW is “Delta Lady” from that debut solo album mentioned earlier. Here’s the album version.
But you should really check out this live version too. I have no idea where it was filmed. It seems to be on a soundstage somewhere. After a couple of false starts, Leon and the band really kick into gear. (Also check out the backing vocals by Cathy McDonald. Amazing!)
Many of you will recognize the song from the “more popular” Joe Cocker version. But Leon’s is much earthier. It is a prime example of Russell’s own brand of American roots music. It’s funky, bluesy, gospely (is that a word?) and sung with his trademark Southern drawl. (Rita Coolidge was his inspiration for the song.)
“Delta Lady” is one of Russell’s best known songs but others were even more popular. His single “Tightrope” almost cracked the Top 10 in 1972. Its flip side, This Masquerade” was the most popular song on George Benson’s hit album Breezin’ (1976). That song was also recorded by The Carpenters, who strangely (IMHO), had a strong connection with Russell’s songs. They hit with “Superstar” — co-written by Delaney Bramlett – (#2, 1971) and used “A Song for You” as the title song for their 1972 album.
In 2010, Elton John cited Russell as one of his biggest influences. He rescued Russell from near obscurity and they recorded an album together, The Union, that reached #3 in the US charts.
Enjoy… until next week.
I don’t know what this is.
It’s a video on YouTube from Adult Swim, involving people.
They start with good motives and end up with bad results.
And the music is catchy and horrid. I’m sorry to inflict you with this, but you should know.
I hate all this bogus old-style band shit, the band you’ve known for all these years, which is the weakest part of that Beatles album that everyone thinks is so great. But this Youtube video appears to separate out each of the ultimate four tracks of the original masters on the title track, and that isn’t nothing.
These are mixed down versions of what were other multiple tracks, so there are guitars and horns on one of them. But you do seem to get things isolated somewhat, and I like hearing how hard some of it sounds. That’s important, because the Beatles wanted to rock.
We’re also given Paul’s reverbed vocals in isolation, and he rocks it, too.
Funny how my reaction (and maybe yours) to the track today isn’t rock. The artifice rules. But the sounds are from the rock playbook. Billy Shears indeed.
I often forget how much I love The Raspberries. I kind of think on the whole they kick the snot out of the other Beatle-y first wave of power poppers – Badfinger, Big Star, etc.
Eric Carmen (try to forget solo Eric Carmen) is a fantastic singer, Wally Bryson is a fantastic harmonizer and occasional lead vocalist (like on this one). Wally’s guitar is clever and often rips. The drummers – both of them – are primo Keith Moon minus the annoying over-the-top.
The Rasps made four albums and an argument can be made that each album got a little better than the last. Don’t know any other band I can even begin to say that about.
Had to go to NYC today on business and picked Raspberries (actually the fairly recent reunion “Live On Sunset Strip” which is quite good for oldsters recreating old memories) on the bus ride home.
This is my personal favorite in the category of band-breaking-up song. From their final album:
I couldn’t watch the political news today. Too depressing.
So I streamed KTKE and on came the Straits, a band I had not heard for a while.
During the new wave rush, Dire Straits were a serious fave of mine, and Mark Knopfler was similarly both a fave guitar play, and songwriter too.
With riffs (dude fingerpicks, which makes me totally wonder how he gets such a throaty sound out of his leads sometimes) influenced by Richard Thompson (Knopfler once said he learned the most from listening to Thompson) and Dylan-esque words and vocals, Dire Straits were just different enough, just edgy enough, and way good enough to survive.
Somehow they seemed way smart enough too, which may sound snotty, but I mean it in the sense that the band played challenging music. But, I think if we all look at the bands we really loved the most–The Velvets, Replacements, The Stones, Dylan, Iggy, etc.–all dared us to ride along on their artistic and musical journey.
Dire Straits third album, Making Movies made my essentials list. Making Movies jumped the band ahead from their early sound to what sounded like new territory at the time. The entire album is fabulous, and since I was jonesing for a little crunch from Mark and his axe, here you go.
Sleep tight.
The video starts and you can see immediately where it’s going, and that’s crazy. It takes a while for the tune to kick in, and it’s too bad it isn’t better. Or even any good. But the video is crazy fun and doesn’t go on too long.
This may be my favorite Sonic Youth tune. It seems to be all about getting psyched to make music, to think big thoughts, but then also recognizing that what the kids want matters, too.
Or maybe it’s about something else. I have to say I never really thought about meaning until just now.
What I like is the way the guitars resonate and chime, interweave and resonate, and chase the rhythm section, and the way Thurston Moore’s words evoke something, specifically, yet don’t seem to be pinnable to anything but his particular story.
Seven minutes never went by so fast. That means something.
