I grew up in the town where the great jazz pianist lived. That would be Smithtown, New York. The reason we knew who Mose Allison was, however, was this blistering recording of his song Young Man Blues.
Allison lived in a development house next to the high school I went to, and we sometimes stood in the schoolyard looking at his house (or what someone said was his house) and imagine the Who stopping by for sandwiches and a jam session.
I later saw him in shows at jazz clubs and the Bottom Line in New York City, and there are special times when his music is awfully good to go to. Casual, bluesy, often funny, it’s cool jazz and warm blues. Maybe you’d call it amiable. Maybe I already did.
I’ve never been a big metal fan, but in the dark ages of alt rock I grew to love Helmet. They, along with Come, pounded the head darkly, and I was happy to bang my head along.
I learned today that not only did Helmet play a show in NYC last night, but they have a new album out. I’ve only played a few of the songs, so this isn’t a review, but I get this one. Half the sound is Husker Du, the other half is something bigger and darker, but the combo sounds great, even if the song didn’t grab me the first time round.
Page Hamilton is an excellent and powerful guitarist, and I hope he saves us all from the crap we’re sinking in. Or, to quote Aerosmith, dream on.
I remember the big breakthrough of the London Tornadoes’ (note the Internet does not acknowledge the “e” in Tornadoes, but the band’s drum kit certainly does) hit Telstar was that the song was 3:15, that making it the first top 40 song in a million years to clock in at over three minutes (Marty Robbins El Paso actually exceeded four minutes!).
The song, released in the throes of the space race, was an homage to the first communications satellite sent into outer space, and the Tornadoes did pretty good job of evoking spaciness with the Joe Meek headed production. Meek, a British producer and songwriter also produced Have I the Right? by the Honeycomb during Brit Pop’s peak, and he explored alternative sounds until a sordid murder/suicide ended things, rather un-meekly, in 1967.
But, guitar virtuoso Bill Frisell, lovingly covering the iconic guitar sounds of early pop, chose to include Telstar in his 2015 release, Guitar in the Space Age.
I don’t remember whether I first heard Leon Russell on Mad Dogs and Englishmen, or the Concert for Bangladesh or his excellent solo albums. What I remember is that he was off the radar until he was on it, and when we found out about him we loved his songs and his piano, we loved his Stones covers and we loved Youngblood. But what I remember most distinctly was learning that he’d been a session player on Frank Sinatra sides!
But when someone dies you learn other things. Such that Russell co-wrote (with Bonnie Bramlett) Superstar, the great weird Carpenters song.
And then there is the session work, like this early Stones demo featuring Russell, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, of a song that grew up to become Shine A Light.
I listened to a lot of Stars in the middle aughts. And I started listening to this paranoid and challenging pop song again over and over in the last week. I’m not sure why. Not related to the election, I don’t think. It feels like the mound of potatoes in Close Encounters, maybe, but what I know for sure is that this is an amazing band that isn’t rock ‘n’ roll, but also isn’t yer usual pop maunderings.
Today’s SotW is another installment in my ongoing “evolution” series. This one is solidly in the category of you can’t ef up a great song.
“Down Home Girl” was written by Jerry Leiber and Artie Butler and first recorded by New Orleans based Alvin “Shine” Robinson on the Red Bird Records in 1964. Red Bird was a label founded by Leiber and Mike Stoller after their long, successful run at Atlantic Records. They hit their stride with the Dixie Cups “Chapel of Love” and a series of hits by the Shangri-Las.
The original Robinson recording has a vocal that is reminiscent of Ray Charles’ singing style and was produced by Leiber & Stoller.
A year later, in 1965, the Rolling Stones covered the song.
Before Jagger and Richards began to have success as songwriters, they had an uncanny sense for selecting great songs to cover. Irma Thomas’ “Time is on My Side” and Bobby Womack’s “It’s All Over Now” are a couple of fine examples. The Stones use a harp to color the song a little more blue and translate the original’s distinctive horn riff with a guitar. Mick’s vocal is especially strong on this cut that was on the British album The Rolling Stones No. 2 and Now! in the US. Check out the movie Charlie My Darling for a cool, full live performance of the song.
“Down Home Girl” continued to attract more artists to take a run it. Later in ’65 the Astronauts, a Colorado based surf band, recorded it. The Coasters, who may have been the best interpreters of Leiber/Stoller songs, recorded yet another version in 1967.
Almost 30 years later, in 1993, Taj Mahal revived the song on his album Dancing the Blues.
Mahal expands the arrangement with a full horn section that’s featured about 2 minutes in and a sax solo that takes it through the fade out.
In 2004, retro rocker Nic Armstrong released his own version of “Down Home Girl.”
Armstrong’s take is similar to the Stones’. The novelty in his version is in the middle section where a guitar references Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman.” Do you hear it?
I’m aware of another, slower, country take by the Old Crow Medicine Show that came out as recently as 2006. And I’m equally sure we will be hearing new versions for years to com.
We missed Steve and how. Please come back. Great to see Peter and Lawr as always. Lawr, I think I owe you a nice dinner. Our bet assumed a Hillary win. Now the least you can get out of being outraged two years early is a good meal.
I too am a big Satanic Majesties fan, but on the gotta-be-a-whole-album thing, the jams are pretty useless. They should have put We Love You on it, and this one which was the flipside of Jumpin Jack Flash. We used to play it in my first real band The Slumlords. We also played Citadel in Fun/No Fun but I don’t think we ever played it live.
Found myself singing 2000 Man today. It’s a great song to sing when you’re doing something mindless. And so, while I cooked dinner, I put on the Stones’ Their Satanic Majesty’s Request.
It is a psychedelic record by the least psychedelic rock band of all time, but mostly that doesn’t matter. For instance, in In Another Land, there is a psychedelic verse with harpsichord and audio effects, but when the chorus kicks in, the song rocks. Then I awoke, was this some kind of joke? Yes!
You should listen to the whole album. Even Gomper, the Stones prequel to Patti Smith’s Radio Ethiopia, has merit, but the fact is that all the songs rock in a way no other psychedelic band rocked. Thank Charlie, perhaps. The songs can’t help it. Here’s 2000 Man, a song about temporal displacement the Kinks would be have been happy to record.
Okay, my favorite song on the album, may be The Citadel:
Today’s SotW was written by Mark Vincent. Mark is a fellow music lover and multi instrumental musician (guitar, bass and recently drums). His current gig is with a band called The Occasionalists that specializes in bringing live karaoke to the Brooklyn, NY club scene. When he’s not indulging his passion for music he has a chiropractic practice in Manhattan.
My cousin Tom has invited me to be a guest contributor to SotW, a genuine honor that I’ve tried not to let disrupt my entire work day. We both share a significant musical influence in the person of my much older brother and his cousin, Tom Vincent, who introduced me to this week’s band, The Continental Drifters, in addition to numerous other acts over the past 40 years.
The Continental Drifters were formed in LA in 1991 and soon relocated to New Orleans, enjoying local success in both cities. The band’s lineup seemed to evolve throughout their 11 year existence, but at their peak of recording/touring (1997-2001) it included a number of big names — Peter Holsapple (dB’s), Vickie Peterson (Bangles), Susie Cowsill (The Cowsills) and founding members Mark Walton (Dream Syndicate) and Carlo Nucci, who was replaced by Ralph Brousard after their first album.
Their sound is about what you would expect from that mix of talent: power pop/college rock/alt country/soul with a layer New Orleans sweat. Vocals and songwriting were shared among several members, expanding their range and style.
Choosing a single cut is difficult since their sound varied considerably within their three albums. With a band full of vocalists, their harmonies standout on many songs, but you won’t hear that on my selection. Being a dB’s fan, I’m partial to Peter Holsapple’s contributions.
“Don’t Do What I Did” is a driving pop song with electric guitars battling Holsapple’s accordion to keep up with his vocals. The song is probably about some form of regret based on the title, but I don’t pay much attention to lyrics when there’s this much music going on. The bridge shifts to an even faster pace but it never feels manic or muddled; the luxury of having a band of great players.
Give a listen to other Drifters tracks to get a sample of their harmonies and musicianship, but listen to this one if you need to wake up.
The band dissolved soon after Cowsill and Brousard left early in 2002. They’ve played a few reunion shows and last year put out a 2cd set of previously unreleased originals, covers, live cuts, demos and European releases.
Holsapple has since done work with the dB’s and Chris Stamey among others. Carlo Nucci has continued to be a fixture in the New Orleans music scene and co-wrote the NFL Saint’s anthem “Who Dat”. Peterson and Cowsill still perform together as the Psycho Sisters and Cowsill has a band with drummer Brousard, whom she married. Walton has played reunion gigs with Dream Syndicate.
