Category Archives: Breakfast Blend

Breakfast Blend: The Move, “Do Ya”

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I was a big ELO fan, at least till they became sort of redundant in the Moody Blues sense, and punk exploded and I abandoned all things progressive and over-produced.

facethemusicThat said, El Dorado still is a pretty good listen depending upon my mood, as is Face the Music which does have one of the best album jackets ever.

But, the first time I heard Do Ya, it was a cover by Todd Rundgren. I loved it at first listen, but as I tried to track it down, I discovered the song was originally written by Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood. Wood was the genius behind The Move, and dragged Bev Bevan and Jeff Lynne to that band, which eventually morphed into ELO.

ELO did recreate Do Ya, with strings, and though I had not yet completely “a-band-doned” them (I think it was on A New World Record) that version does not even come close to the kick-ass original by The Move.

I don’t do coffee much anymore in the mornings (green tea, please), but this does get my adrenalin going.

 

 

Breakfast Break: Voodoo in You

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The first thing you notice is that this Jackie Jenkins tune, written by Jackie Avery, hints at what Stevie Wonder later creates in Superstition.

When Atomic Rooster covers the tune, cleaning up some of the murky atmosphere and toning down the propulsive drumming, it becomes more Blind Faith than swamp rock. With a guitar solo.

Breakfast Blend: Love for Sale

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Ernestine Anderson is a terrific blues singer with a jazz edge. This rocking version of Cole Porter’s Love for Sale was apparently recorded on the Concorde, presumably flying between Paris and New York. Back in the days when that happened.

Talking Heads had a rocking song called Love for Sale on their True Stories album. It sounds good, and the video is fun.

I found this Bon Jovi song, called Love For Sale, while looking for the above. It’s casual.

Breakfast Blend: Breakfast in Bed

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Woke up with this bit of Dusty in Memphis, written by Eddie Hinton and Donnie Fritts for Dusty Springfield’s weird and wonderful classic, in my head.

But before I knew Dusty’s original I’d heard Lorna Bennett’s 1972 reggae version, from the This is Reggae Music Vol. 1 compilation. Those drums kill and Lorna charms.

On a later volume of This is Reggae Music there was this remix, with the toaster Scotty adding his signature to the tune, released as Skank in Bed.

Good morning.

Breakfast Blend: ? and the Mysterians, “96 Tears”

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In the same vein as Hey Little Girl and the Music Machine posts of late, 96 Tears came bopping out of the KTKE stream the other day, and as much as I love that the station drops gems from the past into their mix without warning, I never understood why this song was such a big hit.

Like Incense and Peppermints or Spirit in the Sky, or (double gag) MacArthur Park, this song did and still does little for me. But, all those songs were big hits somehow.

OK, if you turn the volume up while streaming the vid below, it is not horrible, but certainly not any kind of a break through classic song. And, as a garage song, it does not compare with Talk Talk, or even Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) in my meager view.

I am sure this will rankle many, and I am sorry if you love it. Give me Jackie Wilson’s Higher and Higher over it any minute of any day of the week.

Breakfast Blend: Joni Mitchell

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Joni Mitchell is not perfect, but she is perhaps our best example of a singer-songwriter with a rock ‘n’ roll heart.

She created music, from the start, that challenged expectations, became hits, fearlessly exposed her self (Rolling Stone mocked her sex life, famously and appallingly), and explored relentlessly the world outside herself, which she hoped to inhabit gracefully.

To put it bluntly, if she had had balls she would have put them forward in jeopardy to show that she was serious about her place in the world. The music may have been pretty at times, but the emotions were often as raw as anything else. And usually more so.

As seems to happen often with songwriters I admire, it is a cover that helps me explain Joni Mitchell. That would be Annie Ross’s Twisted.

And a cover of one of her songs, Clouds, that takes it just a bit farther.