The Sunday Six

Welcome to another Sunday Six! I don’t know about you, but after a very busy week on the work and other fronts, I really needed this weekend. And what better way to relax on a Sunday morning (in my neck of the woods) than doing some time travel into the wonderful world of music. For folks in other geographic locations, this also works during other times of the day and night, so hope you all are going to join me. As usual, we do this six tunes at a time.

John Jenkins, Clifford Jordan and Bobby Timmons/Cliff’s Edge

When I came across Bobby Timmons in a post on fellow blogger Bruce’s Vinyl Connections, I immediately decided to earmark the American jazz pianist for a Sunday Six. Timmons who helped create a style called soul jazz started his career in Philly in the early ’50s. From July 1958 to September 1959 and February 1960 to June 1961, he was a sideman in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. In between, he was part of Cannonball Adderley’s band. His first album as leader or co-leader, Jenkins, Jordan and Timmons, appeared in 1957. Sadly, Timmons passed away from cirrhosis in March 1974 at the young age of 38. Let’s listen to Cliff’s Edge, a composition by jazz tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, included on the above-mentioned album Timmons recorded with Jordan and alto saxophonist John Jenkins. They were backed by Wilbur Ware (bass) and Dannie Richmond (drums) – my kind of music to kick off a Sunday morning!

Nick Moss & The Flip Flops/Heavy On My Mind

Our next stop takes us to the current century and great blues by Chicago blues and electric blues artist Nick Moss, another artist I had not heard of until recently. Active since 1990, Moss has released 11 studio and two live albums to date. After playing bass in the groups of blues guitarists Buddy Scott and Jimmy Dawkins, as well as The Legendary Blues Band, formed by backing musicians of Muddy Waters, Moss switched to lead guitar. In 1998, he launched his solo career with debut album First Offense, which was re-released in 2003, billed as by Nick Moss and the Flip Tops. That same year saw the group’s compilation Count Your Blessings. Here’s the great opener Heavy On My Mind. Yeah, baby, that’s what I call a neat blues shuffle!

Far Too Jones/Close to You

Time to pay a visit to the ’90s with a great tune by Far Too Jones, an American rock band from Raleigh, N.C. From their AllMusic bio: Comprised of singer Christopher Sprull, guitarists Jason Marks and Dave Dicke, bassist Alan Callahan, and drummer Scott MacConnell, Far Too Jones emerged from Raleigh, NC, quickly becoming one of the Southeast region’s most popular touring bands. A year after issuing their self-titled debut CD in mid-1995, they released Crawling Out from Under; a follow-up EP, Plastic Hero, yielded the local hit “Falling Back Down,” the success of which resulted in a deal with the Mammoth label. Picture Postcard Walls, Far Too Jones’ Mammoth debut, appeared in 1998. Shame and Her Sister was issued two years later. This brings me to Close to You, a track from the group’s aforementioned Picture Postcard Walls album released in June 1998. Credited to the entire band, the tune reminds me a bit of Hootie & the Blowfish.

Blood, Sweat & Tears/Spinning Wheel

Recently, on fellow blogger Dave’s A Sound Day, I declared 1969 as my favorite year in music. After looking at other Turntable Talk contributions, frankly, any other year between 1965 and 1975 would have been a great choice. One of the many great tunes released in 1969 was what became one of the best-known tracks by jazz rock group Blood, Sweat & Tears: Spinning Wheel, released in May 1969 as the second single from their eponymous sophomore album that had come out in December 1968. The tune was penned by David Clayton-Thomas who became the group’s lead vocalist in 1968 and remained in that role until 2004 with a few breaks in between. Blood, Sweat & Tears were originally formed in 1967 by Al Kooper (keyboards, vocals), Steve Katz (guitar, vocals), Jim Fielder (bass) and Bobby Colomby (drums). Subsequently, they were joined by Fred Lipsius (alto saxophone, piano) who recruited Dick Halligan (keyboards, trombone, horns, flute, backing vocals), Randy Brecker (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Jerry Weiss (trumpet, flugelhorn, backing vocals). Apparently, a version of Blood, Sweat & Tears is still around and is about to wrap up a tour, though none of their original members are part of the current lineup. Let’s get that wheel spinning – what a groovy tune!

Aretha Franklin/Freeway of Love

Our trip continues in the ’80s via road, but not any road. We shall take the Freeway of Love in a pink Cadillac with the queen of soul, Aretha Franklin, one of my favorite vocalists of all time. Franklin had the amazing ability to take pretty much any tune, great and perhaps not as great, and turn it into a decent song. Sure, when you think of Franklin, I Say a Little Prayer, (You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman, Think and R-E-S-P-E-C-T likely come to mind before Freeway of Love; but I’ve always enjoyed that tune from her 13th studio album Who’s Zoomin’ Who?, which came out in July 1985. Co-written by Jeffrey Cohen and Narada Michael Walden and produced by the latter, Freeway of Love features the great Clarence Clemons, the then-saxophonist from Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. It gave Franklin her first top 5 hit on the U.S. mainstream Billboard Hot 100 (no. 3) since 1973’s Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do), which reached the same position. Yes, Freeway of Love can’t deny its ’80s production, but it still rocks!

Joe Cocker/The Letter

Once again we need to wrap up another journey, and this time, we’ll take an aeroplane, coz we ain’t got time to take no fast train. In August 1970, Joe Cocker released the live album Mad Dogs & Englishmen, which among many other gems included his rendition of The Letter. Similar to Aretha Franklin, once a tune received the Joe Cocker treatment, usually, it turned into something better. That certainly is the case with this song, which was written by American country musician, songwriter and record producer Wayne Carson and first recorded by U.S. rock band The Box Tops. They released it as their debut single in August 1967, topping the mainstream charts in the U.S. and Canada, and climbing to no. 5 in the UK – that’s what I call leaving a good first impression! While Cocker’s rendition couldn’t match that performance, it still gave him his first top 10 single in the U.S., reaching no. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. It reached the same spot in Canada. In his native Britain, the tune peaked at a more moderate no. 39. Here’s the live version from Mad Dogs & Englishmen. Technically, the single was a studio, non-album recording, but that shall not bother us!

Following is a Spotify playlist featuring all of the above tunes. Hope there’s something you dig!

Sources: Wikipedia; AllMusic; YouTube; Spotify

On This Day in Rock & Roll History: August 8

It’s been more than two months since my last installment of this recurring music history feature. And while I’ve already covered 53 different dates since I started the series in 2016, this didn’t include August 8. As always, the idea here is to highlight select events based on my music preferences, not to provide a full listing.

1964: Bob Dylan released his fourth studio album Another Side of Bob Dylan. Th title was appropriate, since the record marked a departure from the more socially conscious songs on predecessor The Times They Are A-Changin’ that had appeared seven months earlier in January 1964. Some critics were quick to complain Dylan was selling out to fame. But Robert Zimmerman rarely seems to care much what others think about his music. Here’s My Back Pages. The tune has been covered by various other artists, including The Byrds, Ramones and Steve Earle, to name a few.

1969: An ordinary pedestrian crossing in London’s City of Westminster inner borough would never be same after it became part of the iconic cover photo of Abbey Road, the actual final studio album by The Beatles from September 1969, even though it was released prior to their official final record Let It Be. The famous shot was taken by Scottish photographer Iain Macmillan, who was then a freelancer. For any photographers, he used a Hasselblad camera with a 50mm angle lens, aperture f22, at 1/500 seconds, according to The Beatles Bible. Following the shoot, Paul McCartney reviewed the transparencies and chose the fifth one for the album cover. After the band’s breakup, Mcmillan also worked with John Lennon and Yoko Ono for several years. Here’s one of my favorite tunes from that album: George Harrison’s Here Comes The Sun.

1970: The third studio album by Blood, Sweat & Tears, ingeniously titled Blood, Sweat & Tears 3, hit no. 1 on the Billboard 200, following its release in June that year. After the success of their preceding eponymous second album from December 1968, which also topped the U.S. charts, the record had been widely anticipated. Here’s Lucretia Mac Evil, a great tune written by the band’s lead vocalist David Clayton-Thomas. The song, which was also released separately as a single, was one of just a handful of original tracks on the album, which mostly included cover versions of tunes from artists like James Taylor, The Rolling Stones and Traffic – apparently part of the reason why it received lukewarm reviews.

1987: I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, the second single off U2’s fifth studio album The Joshua Tree, topped the Billboard Hot 100, marking the Irish rock band’s second no. 1 song in the U.S. after the record’s lead single With Or Without You. The Joshua Tree, which also topped the charts in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and various European countries, catapulted U2 to international superstardom. Like all other tracks on album, the lyrics of the tune were written by Bono, while the music was credited to U2. Here’s the official video filmed in Las Vegas in April 1987 after the band’s first show in the city.

Sources: Wikipedia; This Day in Rock; The Beatles Bible; Billboard; YouTube

What I’ve Been Listening to: Manfred Mann’s Earth Band/Watch

This is another post I can blame on my streaming music provider. When I saw Watch by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band pop up as a listening suggestion the other day, I immediately recalled how much I dug that album as a teenager back in Germany. As such, I was curious to find out whether my opinion had changed since then and gave Watch another “spin.” Turns out I still like it!

Released in February 1978, Watch was the eighth album by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. I got it on vinyl at the time and still own the same copy to this day. The band and that particular record were very popular in Germany. Two of its tracks – Davy’s On the Road Again and Mighty Quinn – received heavy radio play. In fact, according to Wikipedia, Watch peaked at no. 3 in West-Germany and remained in the charts for an impressive 69 weeks.

Wikipedia also notes that Watch was the last album with Earth Band co-founding member and original drummer Chris Slade. Slade has played in many other bands, most notably AC/DC from late 1989 until 1993. He also joined them for their Rock or Bust tour in 2015 and 2016, and has appeared in the band’s promotional materials thereafter. His current status is unclear, given the reported possible return of Phil Rudd.

Watch also marked the first album with Pat King on bass. He’s a great bassist, which frankly I had not fully appreciated until I listened to the record again. King stayed with the Earth Band until 1982. Interestingly, from 1991 until his retirement in 2013, King was the band’s lighting designer. Time for some music!

Let’s kick it off with Drowning On Dry Land/Fish Soup. Drowning On Dry Land is credited to Chris Slade, while Fish Soup was co-written by Earth Band lead guitarist David Flett and Manfred Mann (keyboards, backing vocals). The tune definitely cannot hide its ’70s sound, but I think it’s cool and a great example of King’s melodic bass lines. Here’s the official video from Mann’s YouTube channel.

California wraps up the A-side in the album’s vinyl version. The tune was written by Sue Vickers, who according to Discogs was married to Mike Vickers, a member of Manfred Mann, Mann’s band from 1962 until 1969, which had a string of hits in the U.K., including Do Wah Diddy Diddy, Pretty Flamingo and Mighty Quinn. Mann subsequently formed experimental jazz rock band Manfred Mann Chapter Three and, following their break-up, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band in 1971. California is another beautiful example of King’s melodic bass playing.

Here’s the aforementioned Davy’s On the Road Again, a classic, and the first song of the B-side. That tune, the first of two live tracks on the record, was co-written by John Simon and Robbie Robertson. Simon is primarily known as a producer in the ’60s and ’70s and his work for artists like The Band, Big Brother & The Holding Company, Leonard Cohen and Blood, Sweat & Tears. Robertson, of course, was The Band’s lead guitarist and primary songwriter. Here’s the official video of Davy’s from Mann’s YouTube channel, which features nice live footage. And for the gear geeks, you can nicely see a Moog synthesizer in action! 🙂

Let’s wrap things up with the record’s final tune, The Mighty Quinn, the second live track on the album. Written by Bob Dylan and originally titled Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn), it was Mann’s recording that was released first as Mighty Quinn in January 1968. The Earth Band turned the initial folk rock version into a more edgy rock song. Dylan originally recorded the tune during the Basement Tapes sessions in 1967. His first official release of the song was on his 1970 studio album Self Portrait.

In addition to Mann, Flett, King and Slade, the Earth Band’s core line-up on Watch also featured Chris Hamlet Thompson (lead vocals, guitar). Supporting the band on backing vocals were Doreen Chanter, Irene Chanter, Stevie Lange, Victy Silva and Kim Goddy. The album credits list Manfred Mann and Earth Band as producer.

Watch had much better chart success in Europe and New Zealand than elsewhere. In addition to the aforementioned performance in Germany, the album also placed in the top 10 in Norway (no. 2) and Sweden (no. 9), and climbed to no. 33 in the U.K. In New Zealand the record peaked at no. 29, while in the U.S. and Canada, it only reached no. 83 and no. 85, respectively.

Sources: Wikipedia; Discogs; YouTube

If You Can’t See The One You Love, See The One You Can – Part 2

As more frequent visitors of the blog know, I generally dig tribute bands and wrote a feature about some of them about a year ago. While then I did not plan a part 2, the reality is I’ve seen many more tribute acts than I could ever feature in one post. So, who knows, this may turn into a series of occasional posts with additional parts in the future. For now, I’d like to focus on part 2. Since I couldn’t figure out in which order to lists the acts, I decided to do so alphabetically.

Almost Queen

As their name suggests, this band is a tribute to Queen. While I could not find public information on the backgrounds of the musicians, these guys from New York surely impressed me when I saw them last September at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, N.J. Almost Queen are Joseph Russo as Freddie Mercury, Steve Leonard as Brian May, Randy Gregg as John Deacon and John Cappadona as Roger Taylor. Their delivery of four-part harmonies and Queen’s music, combined with their looks, make for a fun live experience. More information on the band and their impressive touring schedule that extends beyond the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, can be found on their website and Facebook page. Here’s a sample: We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions.

Beginnings

This tribute to Chicago is one of the most compelling tribute bands I’ve seen, and without meaning to brag, I’ve seen many! Another group from New York, Beginnings is a national act, performing over 100 shows each year – great news for Chicago fans. Founded in the fall of 2002, the band consists of Mason Swearingen (bass, vocals), Johnny Roggio (guitar, vocals), Dan Hendrix (trombone, percussion, vocals), Adam Seely (saxophone, percussion), Doug Woolverton (trumpet, percussion), Scott Chasolen (keyboards, vocals) and Chris Milillo (drums, vocals). Beginnings’ impressive member credits include recording and performing with artists like Peter Frampton, Don Henley, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations and Blood Sweat & Tears, and awards like the Billboard Songwriter’s Award and ASCAP Songwriter’s Award – frankly, way too many credits I can list here! Check out their website and Facebook page for more information. Here’s a great rendition of Just You ‘N’ Me I saw during a recent summer concert. BTW, the band mostly focuses on Chicago’s early and in my opinion best work.

Brit Floyd

This amazing tribute to Pink Floyd is the brainchild of musical director Damian Darlington, who also provides vocals and plays guitar and lap steel. Prior to forming the band in Liverpool, England in 2011, he had played for 17 years with long-running Aussie tribute The Australian Pink Floyd Show. The other members of Brit Floyd include Rob Stringer (keyboards, vocals), Ian Cattell (bass, vocals Chapman Stick, trumpet), Edo Scordo (guitar, vocals), Arran Ahmum (drums), Thomas Ashbrook (keyboards, vocals), as well as backing vocalists Ola Bienkowska, Angela Cervantes, Roberta Freeman,  Emily Jollands and Jacquie Williams – quite a mighty line-up! For more on this band, read my previous post from March of this year when I saw them in Bethlehem, Pa., and visit their website and Facebook page. Here’s Brit Floyd with Pink Floyd classic Comfortably Numb.

Decade

I have mentioned Decade on previous occasions, but as a huge Neil Young fan, I simply couldn’t resist to include this fantastic tribute from New Jersey in this post. The band revolves around singer-songwriter and Neil Young tribute artist John Hathaway. A life-long fan of Young, Hathaway has faithfully studied this artist in and out, and it shows. While he typically focuses on capturing the music, he can also act like Young, which I have witnessed myself. To bring the Canadian artist’s music to life in its full mighty, Hathaway is usually backed by a varying line-up of other long-time musicians. This clip of Old Man was captured during a gig earlier this year at Tim McLoone’s Super Club in Asbury Park. The backing musicians that night included Gordon Bunker Strout (guitar, backing vocals), Pam McCoy (backing vocals), John Dickson (bass), Bob Giunco (drums), Thomas Stevenson (banjo),  Dave O’Brien (pedal steel guitar), Jeff Levine (keyboards) and James Doyle (guitar, banjo). More information about Decade and John Hathaway is available on Facebook here and here.

The Doobie Others

I really dig The Doobie Brothers, so a tribute I came across last month caught my immediate attention. Ingeniously called The Doobie Others, this six-piece band from New York and New Jersey features Pat Montefusco (lead vocals, guitar), Joe Torres (lead vocals, percussion), Eddie Profet Jr. (bass, backing vocals), Allan Korenstein (keyboards, backing vocals), Mike Quadrino (saxophone, keyboards, backing vocals), Ron Lovisa (lead guitar) and Jim Del (lead & backing vocals, drums). While The Doobie Others mostly seem to perform in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut tri-state area, their current schedule shows they occasionally venture out to other states on the East Coast. For more information, check their website and Facebook page. Here’s the band in action with Jesus Is Just Alright. Captured during a summer concert last month, the footage doesn’t do their high musical caliber full justice, but I feel you still get a good idea.

Free Fallin

This band from Minneapolis is a great tribute to Tom Petty, one of my all-time favorite artists. Founded in September 2007 and named after one of Petty’s songs, Free Fallin  are Tom Brademeyer (as Tom Petty, guitar & lead vocals), Mark Larsen (as Stan Lynch, drums), Russ Lund (as Ron Blair, bass), Karl Swartz (as Mike Campbell, guitar & vocals), Dale Peterson  (as Benmont Tench, keyboards, percussion & vocals) and Craig Volke (as Scott Thurston, guitar, keyboards, harmonica, percussion & vocals). Free Fallin is a full-time tribute band performing throughout the U.S. and even internationally. Check out their website and Facebook page, as well as this cover of Refugee from last year’s Rock The Farm Festival in Seaside Heights, N.J., which I previously covered here.

Good Stuff

Good Stuff is another outstanding tribute act I covered before here, but similar to Decade, I did not want to leave them out – how could I as a huge Steely Dan fan? Formed about a year ago and named after a Donald Fagen tune, Good Stuff features Mike Caputo (lead vocals), Don Regan  (guitar), Axel Belohoubek  (keyboards), Jay Dittamo  (drums), Scott Hogan (bass), Phil Armeno (saxophones, flute) and vocalists  Deanna Carroll and Linda Ferrano. Among them, these professional musicians have very impressive credits, such as tour pre-production for Madonna and David Bowie, and touring musicians for Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, The Duprees , The Les Paul Trio, Jose Feliciano and  Keith Emerson – yep, that Keith of ELP. Similar to Beginnings, there is too much to list. I should also mention that in addition to Steely Dan, the band performs music by Gino Vannelli, Sting and Stevie Wonder. While this may look somewhat arbitrary, combining music from these four artists works pretty well. The key is selecting songs that have a common denominator, which is a jazz influence. Check out more about this unique tribute act on their website and Facebook page. Oh, and here’s My Old School.

Kiss The Sky

With the 50th anniversary of Woodstock going on, I’d like to close this post with a compelling tribute act to Jimi Hendrix. Again, if you are a frequent reader of the blog, the name Kiss The Sky may sound familiar, since I covered them before here. The band revolves around Jimi Hendrix tribute artist Jimy Bleu, who actually met Hendrix in 1968 as a teenager. The following year, Bleu attended Woodstock and got one of the guitar straps Hendrix used during his performance there. You can read more about his cool background story in the above post. Kiss The Sky covers music from both the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Band of Gypsys. Bleu’s excellent backing musicians for The Experience include bassist A.J. Hager as Noel Redding and drummer Ted Edwards as Mitch Mitchell. The Band of Gypsys tribute features Jay Powerz as Billy Cox (bass) and James Jaxon as Buddy Miles (drums). You can find more information about this tribute act on their Facebook page. I also encourage you to check out this clip of Voodoo Child I took last October. Filming conditions weren’t ideal, but I think the footage still gives a good impression about this outstanding band.

Pictured in the image on top of the post are (clockwise from upper left corner) Almost Queen, Beginnings, Brit Floyd and Jimy Bleu/Kiss The Sky.

Sources: Almost Queen website and Facebook page; Beginnings website and Facebook page; Brit Floyd website and Facebook page; Decade and John Hathaway Facebook pages; The Doobie Others website and Facebook page; Free Fallin website and Facebook page; Good Stuff website and Facebook page; Kiss The Sky Facebook page; YouTube