Lucinda Williams, Dust

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I knew Lucinda Williams had a new album coming out, but I guess it’s already in stores (as if there were stores).

Bob Lefsetz wrote a glowing piece about the song Dust, which he found on Spotify in a recommended playlist. It’s a typical Williams rant of woe (inspirational lyric “Even your thoughts are dust”), and she does these darkly and with a sonic charge on all her albums since Essence, maybe, and while it’s hard for me to get fired up by them any more (even though I’m sure this is about the death of her father, a great poet, who died last year), Lefsetz is right that the two guitar parts are gorgeous and compelling, and the song is incantatory.

Plus, the drumming is fantastic and so important.

The guitarists are the great Bill Frissell and a guy named Eric Leisz, who has played in Clapton’s band. Here’s the song:

Nice, right?

Lefsetz’s glowing piece doesn’t stay glowing, because he discovered that if he wanted to hear the rest of the album he would have to buy a CD, and who does that (apart from Moyer)?

And he’s right. No album on Spotify. I subscribe to Google Music, and the album isn’t there either. This seems so backward!

But I wonder if Lefsetz gets the position of artists like Williams (and Iris Dement, too, who has a new album out only available as CD or downloaded files–for the same price). They have toured long and hard and in support of deep and solid bodies of work. Their audience is old, like me, and the chance of them having a big airplay hit that racks up Spotify plays are pretty small.

The business is in transition, and it kind of makes sense to me for artists like this to hold onto the old model, not stream right away, and see if they can make a go getting the physical media fetishists to pay real cash for their CDs.

They’ll have plenty of time to collect the tiny residuals checks from the streaming services later.

 

Obit: Sir George Martin (1926-2016)

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There have already been a gazillion words written about Sir George Martin, musical guru and director who shaped the Beatles sound as well as what it would become.

Martin passed away this morning, at age 90, and since there will now be a gazillion more words, I will simply give you Golden Slumbers/Carry that Weight/The End, but, there is a slight caveat.

At LABR last weekend, while talking about the Beatles I learned my more than musical savvy mates Steve Gardner and Brian Walton had never noticed the three guitar wielding members of the Fab 4 trade licks at the end of The End.

Check it out. They trade fours, in the order of Harrison, McCartney, and Lennon.

Peace out Sir George.

 

Rosco Gordon, Just a Little Bit and Booted

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At dinner the other night, my friend Walker talked about this guy, whose piano playing was an influence on Theophilus Beckford, the Jamaican piano player who was a reggae pioneer. I’d heard the story of r and b radio in New Orleans drifting over to the Islands, and helping germinate ska’s syncopation, but didn’t have a name to put on it.

Another story on Gordon’s Wikepedia page is about Sam Phillips selling the master of Gordon’s tune Booted to both RPM records and Chess records. Both labels released it as a single, and the RPM version went to No. 1 on the R and B chart. Afterwards, RPM and Chess made a deal. RPM kept Gordon, while Chess signed Howlin’ Wolf.

Song of the Week – Was Dog a Doughnut?, Cat Stevens

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IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED

I always have an ear open for a great, new (or old) tune I’ve never heard before. You can never tell where it will come from. Many times before I’ve told stories about the odd circumstances under which a cool song with an interesting backstory has come to my attention. Here’s another one.

A few weeks ago I was invited to a cocktail party in San Francisco’s Mission district by my cousin Emilia V. She’s the event planner for a lifestyle website (1stdibs.com).

While mingling at the party I met one of her colleagues and quickly learned we share a passion for music. He told me he’d heard about a Cat Stevens song that was based on nothing more than a “ping pong” effect and asked if I’d ever heard of it. He’d never heard it and didn’t know the title.

Now I’m quite familiar with Cat Stevens work and this didn’t sound even vaguely familiar to me. So I dug into my “still haven’t listened to” box of records and found two Cat Stevens’ albums – Foreigner and Izitso.

I put Izitso onto the turntable first because it had two instrumentals. When I heard “Was Dog a Doughnut?” on side two, I knew I found what I was looking for.

“Dog…” is an interesting electro pop instrumental that doesn’t sound like anything you would associate with Stevens. Not only is it different, it is funky, especially for its time.

I did a little internet research on the song and found this great article from May 2015 by Christine Kakaire for Red Bull Music Academy Daily. The back story on the record is fascinating. I’d hate to simply paraphrase the whole thing for you here, so I highly suggest you click through to learn all about the song, equipment used and its influence on contemporary electronic and hip hop music.

Christine Kakaire – Key Tracks Cat Steven’s “Was Dog a Doughnut?”

Enjoy… until next week.

Moody Blues, Go Now

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The various incarnations of the Moody Blues are legendary. They started as a R&B band, hit the charts and evolved into a progressive band who made hits. No bad choices, there.

This early cover of an awfully good original by the wife of the songwriter (which Tom M. posted on Saturday), doesn’t surpass the original, but it has its own merits.

Duly noted:

Gladys Knight and the Pips, Midnight Train to Georgia

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When I was in high school I could be an asshole. My friends could be assholes, too. We hated this song, which seemed like the ultimate in cheese. That is errant and random emotional expression without a regulator.

But children should not always be believed.

I spent yesterday in the car, driving many hundreds of miles, sometimes listening to my phone, and sometimes tuning in the radio. Sometime in mid afternoon, this giant hit came up.

It was a giant hit because of the melody and the Pips, but it is also a fabulously complex statement of ambiguous love and, ultimately, devotion. With awesome hooks and smart lyrics. Wow.