The Sunday Six

It’s Sunday, folks, and I’d like to invite you to join me on another time-travel journey into the amazing world of music. For first-time visitors, our eclectic trip will include six stops in six different decades and involve music in different flavors. Are you with me? All aboard, buckle your seatbelt and let’s go!

Cindy Blackman Santana/Passage

Our first stop today is in May 1998 and some groovy jazz music by Cindy Blackman Santana (then still Cindy Blackman). I first came across this amazing drummer in 2014 while watching this clip of Lenny Kravitz, a longtime favorite artist. At first, I primarily paid attention to him before noticing this stunning African American lady on the drums. Then, as oftentimes happens, I was on to other music and “forgot” about Blackman until fellow blogger Lisa from Tao Talk prompted me to think of female artists in connection with her excellent Women Music March series. I already committed to pen a contribution for the 2024 run about Blackman who was introduced to the drums as a seven-year-old when she spotted a drum kit at a friend’s house and began playing. Soon thereafter, she joined the school band and persuaded her parents to get her toy drums. At age 11, she studied at Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Conn. and two years later started developing an interest in jazz after she had listened to Max Roach. She got her first professional drum kit at age 14 and subsequently moved to Boston to study Berklee College of Music. I just love everything about this story! In 1988, then-29-year-old Blackman released her debut album as a leader, Arcane, which mostly featured her own compositions. In 1993, she met Lenny Kravitz and was featured in the official video of his great hit single Are You Gonna Go My Way. Yep, she surely did and became his touring drummer for the next 18 years! In December 2010, she married that other famous guitarist, and they remain together to this day. Going back to May 1998, here’s Passage, an original Blackman composition from her studio album In the Now. Blackman was backed by top-notch jazz musicians, including saxophonist Ravi Coltrane (son of John Coltrane), Ron Carter (bass) and Jacky Terrasson (piano, Fender Rhodes).

Dr. Feelgood/Down At the Doctors

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like going to the doctor, though I’m pretty quick with unsolicited advice to friends, telling them they should go if something bugs them. Miraculously, my reluctance tends to vanish pretty quickly when the treatment is music, so let’s next travel to October 1978 for a shot of R&B. Our doctor are kickass British pub rockers Dr. Feelgood. Fittingly, the treatment is called Down At the Doctors, a great blues rocker penned by Mickey Jupp. They recorded it for their sixth studio album Private Practice, best known for Milk and Alcohol, which became the band’s best-performing single. Founded in 1971, Dr. Feelgood are still around as a touring act, though with none of the co-founders. That said, three of the current members – Gordon Russell (lead and slide guitars, backing vocals), Phil Mitchell (bass, acoustic guitar, backing vocals) and Kevin Morris (drums, percussion, backing vocals) – first joined in 1983, a whopping 40 years ago! Lead vocalist and harmonica player Robert Kane has been with the group since 1999. Okay, let’s get some rock ‘n roll in the arm. While it’s not clear to me what happened to the eight bars on the piano, I know this: Down At the Doctors always makes me feel good!

Johnny Cash/Folsom Prison Blues

Charged up with a dose of R&B, let’s set our music time machine to October 1957 and the debut album by Johnny Cash. While for many years I essentially dismissed all country as hillbilly music, my obvious ignorance always had one exception. From the very first moment I heard Cash, I thought The Man in Black pretty much had the same coolness factor as early Elvis Presley. It also turned out the two artists started their recording career with producer Sam Phillips, founder of the legendary independent label Sun Records in Memphis, Tenn. Folsom Prison Blues, one of Cash’s best-known tunes, first appeared on Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar! Nearly 10 years later, the tune also became the de facto title track of his first live album At Folsom Prison. On the original studio recording, Cash (vocals, rhythm guitar) was backed by lead guitarist Luther Perkins and upright bassist Marshall Grant, who ended up serving in that capacity for 25 years. In 1960, drummer W. S. Holland joined, and Cash’s backing band became known as The Tennessee Three. Folsom Prison Blues is a great example of that magic Sun Studios rockabilly sound. It also features one of the greatest storytelling lyrics I can think of: When I was just a baby/My mama told me son/always be a good boy/don’t ever play with guns/But I shot a man in Reno/ just to watch him die/When I hear that whistle blowing/I hang my head and cry – this is poetry!

Paul McCartney/I Don’t Know

While I love visiting music dating back 30, 40 and even more years, let’s not forget the current century. My proposition is September 2018, which saw the release of Paul McCartney’s 17th solo album Egypt Station. Sure, it’s no Band On the Run, but I would still call it a remarkable late career accomplishment and Macca’s best album in many years. Let’s check out I Don’t Know. The beautiful piano-driven ballad also became Egypt Station’s lead single in June 2018. Clearly, Paul’s vocals are weathered, but they are a perfect match for the tune, so I wouldn’t want them to sound any different! Last June, Macca turned 80. I had the thrill to see him at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey just a couple of days prior to his big birthday. He still had a ball on that stage!

Gang of Four/Call Me Up

Our next stop takes us to 1982 and Call Me Up, a cool tune by English post-punk band Gang of Four. Frankly, I can’t quite remember how I came across that song, off their third studio album Songs of the Free. I suspect my streaming music provider served it up as a suggestion after I had listened to Televison’s excellent studio debut Marquee Moon. Obviously, there are some stylistic similarities. Like all other tracks on Songs of the Free, Call Me Up was co-written by the group’s Andrew Gill (guitar, vocals) and Jon King (vocals, melodica). Sara Lee (bass, backing vocals) and Hugo Burnham (drums, percussion) completed their lineup of the band, formed in Leeds in 1976. Along with co-founders King and Burham, Lee remains a Gang of Four member to this day. In October 2021, David Pajo officially was announced as having joined the group. This came in the wake of Gill’s untimely death in February 2020 at the age of 64.

The Kinks/Got My Feet On the Ground

I hate to say it, but all things must pass, and once again we’re reaching the final destination of yet another Sunday Six. Let’s wrap up this trip with one of my all-time favorite bands, The Kinks. Together with The Who, they are early pioneers of punk, who influenced punk bands like Ramones and The Clash. In particular, I dig their ’60s music, which is convenient since we haven’t visited that decade yet on this trip – something that simply cannot occur, as long as I operate the time machine! So here are The Kinks with Got My Feet On the Ground, a deeper but nevertheless great cut. Co-written by the oftentimes feuding brothers Ray Davies (lead vocals, guitars) and Dave Davies (vocals, electric guitar), the song is off the group’s sophomore album Kinda Kinks. It’s one of the tracks featuring Dave on lead vocals. While The Kinks never formally split, the combative brothers’ relationship further deteriorated after their final show in 1996. But, dare I say it, things seem to have improved more recently, with media reports suggesting they have been talking to each other. Inevitably, this brings up the question about a formal reunion. “Ray and I have spoken about it,” Dave Davies told British online paper The Independent in July 2022, adding, “It’s possible!” We shall see!

Sources: Wikipedia; The Independent; YouTube; Spotify

My Playlist: Dr. Feelgood

Leave a late show
Still feel alive
Want a place to go
Round about five
Down to the doctors
Down to the doctors
Come on down to the doctors
Make you feel good all night…

Including Dr. Feelgood in my latest installment of The Sunday Six reminded me how much I dig the British pub blues rockers. They’re a great illustration that music doesn’t have to be complex to be fun. Anyway, this is what triggered the idea to put together this post and playlist.

Before we come down to the doctor’s surgery for a shot of R&B, here’s a bit of background on the band. Dr. Feelgood were formed in 1971 by Wilko Johnson (guitar, piano, vocals), Lee Brilleaux (lead vocals, harmonica, slide guitar) and John B. “Sparko” Sparks (bass, backing vocals). Soon John Martin (drums) joined them to complete the initial lineup. The group took their name from Dr. Feel-Good, a 1962 single by American blues artist Willie Perryman, which he recorded as Dr. Feelgood & The Interns.

Dr. Feelgood in 1976 (from left): Wilko Johnson, John “The Big Figure” Martin, John B Sparks and Lee Brilleaux

…Everybody needs a shot of r ‘n’ b
So come on down to my surgery
Down to the doctors
Down to the doctors
Come on down to the doctors
Make you feel good all night…

By late 1973, Dr. Feelgood had established a reputation for their driving R&B on the growing pub rock scene in London. During the second half of 1974, they recorded their debut album Down by the Jetty, which came out in January 1975. The record missed the charts in the UK but reached no. 6 in Finland. Only nine months later, they issued their sophomore album Malpractice, which marked their breakthrough in the UK, climbing to no. 17 in the charts.

In April 1977 during the recording sessions for Dr. Feelgood’s third album Sneakin’ Suspicion Wilko Johnson left over disagreements over which tracks to include on the record. Egos in rock! Given Johnson’s central role up to that point, this almost led to the group’s breakup. Essentially, Brilleaux took over and Johnson was replaced by Gypie Mayo, who then was still a relatively unknown guitarist. In 1996, he would become a member of the reformed Yardbirds and play with them until 2004.

…Eight bars on piano
Down to the doctors
Down to the doctors
Come on down to the doctors
Make you feel good all night…

Dr. Feelgood today (from left): Gordon Russell (guitar), Robert Kane (vocals, harmonica), Kevin Morris (drums) and Phil Mitchell (bass)

By 1984, Brilleaux was Dr. Feelgood’s only original member. At that time, the remaining lineup included Gordon Russell (lead guitar, backing vocals), Phil H. Mitchell (bass, acoustic guitar, backing vocals) and Buzz Barwell (drums). Brilleaux remained part of the group until his death from lymphoma at age 41 in April 1994. Russell and Mitchell still are with Dr. Feelgood to this day. The other current members are Robert Kane (lead vocals, harmonica) and Kevin Morris (drums, percussion, backing vocals).

Over their 50-year-plus career, Dr. Feelgood have released 17 studio albums, which appeared between 1975 and 2006. Their catalog also includes numerous compilation and live albums, four box sets and three video albums. Dr. Feelgood’s heyday was the mid to late ’70s, which is the main focus of this post, though the Spotify playlist at the end also features tunes from the band’s later years.

…Come here baby
Ain’t gonna do you no harm
I just want to shoot
Some rock ‘n’ roll in your arm
Down to the doctors
Down to the doctors
Come on down to the doctors
Make you feel good all night

Roxette (Down by the Jetty, Jan 1975)

Time to get a shot of rock & roll from the doctor to make us feel good. Since I picked the neat opener She Does It Right in my aforementioned Sunday Six installment, I decided to highlight Roxette, another great tune written by Wilko Johnson. The tune also appeared separately in November 1974 as the band’s second single.

Back in the Night (Malpractice, Oct 1975)

Back in the Night, another tune penned by Johnson, is from Dr. Feedgood’s sophomore album Malpractice. The song also became the band’s fourth single. Like the previous three singles, it missed the charts. Luckily, the album fared much better, becoming the group’s first to chart in the U.K., reaching a respectable no. 17, and matching the performance of their debut release in Finland with another no. 6 there.

Hey Mama, Keep Your Big Mouth Shut (Sneakin’ Suspicion, May 1977)

Apart from originals, Dr. Feelgood have recorded numerous covers. Here’s one of them, Hey Mama, Keep Your Big Mouth Shut, which they included on their third studio album Sneakin’ Suspicion. The last record with Johnson became the band’s highest-charting studio album in the UK, peaking at no. 10 there. Dr. Feelgood’s most successful release was Stupidity, their first live record that came out in September 1976. It topped the UK charts, climbed to no. 7 in Finland and reached no. 29 in Spain. Hey Mama, Keep Your Big Mouth Shut was written by Ellas McDaniel, the man who professionally was known as Bo Diddley. He first released it as a single in August 1964.

She’s a Wind Up (Be Seeing You, Sep 1977)

Following Wilko Johnson’s departure, Lee Brilleaux and Dr. Feelgood’s new guitarist Gypie Mayo became the main writers of the band’s original tunes. She’s a Wind Up is a great song that in addition to Brilleaux and Mayo is also credited to the group’s two other members, bassist John B. Sparks and drummer John Martin. Included on Dr. Feelgood’s fourth studio album Be Seeing You, which was produced by Nick Lowe, She’s a Wind Up also became the group’s highest-charting UK single at the time, reaching no. 34.

Down at the Doctor’s (Private Practice, Oct 1978)

One of my favorite Dr. Feelgood tunes is Down at the Doctor’s, off their fifth studio album Private Practice. Also released separately as a single, the tune was penned by English guitarist and songwriter Mickey Jupp. If you’ve been a patient of the doctor, you’ve probably noticed the lyrics at the beginning of the post and interspersed through the upfront section, which are from that song. Oh, and in case you’ve been wondering what the hell happened to the eight bars of piano, here’s what Songfacts has to say about that: At the end of the guitar solo, we hear Lee Brilleaux growl, “eight bars of piano,” which was presumably an instruction to the engineer to dub in another instrument at some point in the future. We never did get to hear the piano and Lee’s request was never wiped from the version commercially.

Milk and Alcohol (Private Practice)

The aforementioned Private Practice album is best known for the song that initially brought Dr. Feelgood on my radar screen in the late ’70s: Milk and Alcohol. Co-written by Nick Lowe and Gypie Mayo, it became the band’s biggest hit single, climbing to no. 9 in the UK. The song did best in the Irish singles charts where it surged to no. 4. It also charted in Germany, reaching no. 30 there. Still love that tune – simple, but it just rocks!

The following Spotify playlist includes the above tunes, as well as additional songs from select Dr. Feelgood albums that appeared after Private Practice. Yes, it may be fairly simple stuff. You may also call it repetitive. But if you’re like me and don’t care, join me and come on down to the doctor’s to make you feel good!

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; Dr. Feelgood website; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

It’s Sunday, July 3 and a long holiday weekend for folks in the U.S. Perfect timing to embark on another mini-excursion to celebrate music from different decades, six tunes at a time. If you don’t have anything better to do, hop on; if you’re busy, hop on anyway – most things go better with great music! 🙂

Lettuce/Insta-Classic

Usually, I start these trips with a jazz instrumental from the past. This time, let’s get underway with music from the presence by Lettuce, a neat American jazz and funk band I first featured in a June 2020 Best of What’s New installment. Initially, this group came together in Boston in the summer of 1992 when all of its founding members attended Berklee College of Music as teenagers. While it was a short-lived venture that lasted just this one summer, they reunited in 1994 when all of them had become undergraduate students at Berklee. In 2002, Lettuce released their debut album Outta There. They have been pretty productive since then with seven additional albums. Insta-Classic is a cool-sounding track from their latest release Unify, which appeared on June 3.

Keith Richards/Take It So Hard

I trust guitarist Keith Richards doesn’t need an introduction. Obviously, Keef is best known as co-founder of The Rolling Stones and for his longtime writing partnership with Mick Jagger. But, of course, no good rock & roll story is without big egos and drama, and the Glimmer Twins are no exception. By the time Richards’ solo debut Talk Is Cheap came out, his relationship with Jagger was, well, on the rocks. The Stones were in their third decade. While Jagger wanted to stay hip and follow music trends, Richards wanted to preserve the band’s roots. After Jagger had released two solo albums in relatively short order (She’s the Boss, 1985; and Primitive Cool; 1987) and appeared to be more interested in continuing his solo career, Keef decided to strike out by himself as well. The result was the above-mentioned Talk Is Cheap, his first of three solo efforts to date. Let’s check out Take It So Hard, which Keef wrote with co-producer Steve Jordan who also provided bass and backing vocals – good traditional Stonesy tune I frankly take any day over Undercover of the Night.

Elvis Presley/Blue Suede Shoes

While I haven’t watched the new Elvis biopic, I can’t deny the movie is the reason why Elvis Presley is on my mind again these days. I’ve mentioned before I adored Elvis when I was a young kid. It all goes back to the start of my music journey. Soon after I got my first turntable (must have been around the age of 10 – frankly, I don’t remember), I received a 40 greatest hits sampler as a Christmas present. The 2-LP set had pink discs, which I thought was pretty cool. While I’ve since matured (at least that’s what I want to believe) and no longer idolize Elvis or anybody else for that matter, I still get a kick out of the King of Rock and Roll. In particular, I keep going back to his ’50s classic rock & roll tunes he recorded and performed with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black. One of my favorites remains their rendition of Blue Suede Shoes, which also features D.J. Fontana on drums. The classic was written and first released by Carl Perkins in January 1956. Elvis’ version, which appeared in September of the same year, surged to no. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart – almost matching Perkins who scored his only no. 1 with Blue Suede Shoes on the same chart. Let’s go, cats!

Dr. Feelgood/She Does It Right

Let’s slightly slow it down but keep rockin’ and rollin’ with a killer tune by Dr. Feelgood. I guess the first time I heard of the English pub and blues rockers was in the late ’70s when they scored their biggest hit with Milk and Alcohol, a tune I loved from the get-go. Dr. Feelgood were formed on Canvey Island, England in 1971 by Wilko Johnson (guitar, piano, vocals), Lee Brilleaux (lead vocals, harmonica, slide guitar) and John B. “Sparko” Sparks (bass, backing vocals), who soon added John Martin (drums). That line-up remained in place until 1977 and recorded the group’s dynamite debut album Down by the Jetty (January 1975), as well as two additional records. Dr. Feelgood are still around, though their current line-up hasn’t included any founding members since 1994. She Does It Right, penned by Johnson, is a tune off Down by the Jetty. Man, I love their raw sound!

Gregg Allman/My Only True Friend

Alrighty, after a series of rockers the time has come to really take it down. Gregg Allman is another artist I trust doesn’t need an introduction. For the longest time, the only tune I had known by The Allman Brothers Band had been Ramblin’ Man. Finally, eight or nine years ago, I decided to explore what has since become one of my favorite groups – just in time to see them once in New Jersey in the summer of 2014, a few months prior to their final curtain at the Beacon Theater in New York City. Soon my exploration of the Brothers also led to Gregg Allman’s solo work. Even though he started releasing albums by himself early, in 1973, his solo catalog is relatively moderate, featuring seven studio albums, two live recordings and a few compilations. My Only True Friend, co-written by Allman and guitarist Scott Sharrad, is the great opener of Allman’s final studio album Southern Blood. It was released in September 2017, four months after his death at the age of 69 due to complications from liver cancer. Sharrad who also served as musical director had been a member of Allman’s backing band since 2008. Gosh, I love this tune and album!

Lenny Kravitz/Always On The Run

And once again, another Sunday Six excursion is coming to an end. For this last pick, let’s go back to April 1991 and Mama Said, the sophomore album by Lenny Kravitz. It came less than two years after his debut Let Love Rule, which he wrote and produced nearly all by himself and on which he played nearly all instruments. For Mama Said, he got a little help from some friends, including Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash. Kravitz has since released nine additional studio albums, with the most recent being Raise Vibration in September 2018. I previously reviewed here. Back to Mama Said and the album’s great lead single Always On The Run. Kravitz wrote the tune together with Slash, who also played guitar including a cool solo – just a great funky rocker!

Before wrapping up, here’s a Spotify list featuring the above tunes. Hope there’s something you like!

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube; Spotify