The Sunday Six

Another Sunday morning means it’s time for another selection of six tunes that don’t reflect any overarching theme. Pretty much anything is fair game as long as I like it. In general, I also aim to make these posts a bit eclectic. This installment includes beautiful new age style harp music (a first!), soulful blues, country rock, pop, pop rock and edgy garage rock.

Andreas Vollenweider/Behind the Gardens, Behind the Wall, Under the Tree…

Andreas Vollenweider is a harpist from Zurich, Switzerland. His instrument is no ordinary harp but an electro-acoustic harp he created. A New York Times article from October 1984 characterized his music as “swirling atmospheric”, evoking “nature, magic and fairy tales.” This story appeared ahead of Vollenweider’s U.S. tour debut at the Beacon Theatre in New York City in October of the same year. According to Wikipedia, he was introduced by Carly Simon who had come across his music the previous year. Vollenweider ended up collaborating with Simon 10 years later on his first album to include vocals. He also has worked with Luciano Pavarotti, Bryan Adams and Bobby McFerrin, among others. Behind the Gardens, Behind the Wall, Under the Tree… is the title track of Vollenweider’s second studio album from 1981. To date, he has released 13 additional albums. Until the other day when I randomly remembered his name, I had completely forgotten about Vollenweider and his beautiful and relaxing music. It’s perfect to kick off a Sunday morning.

Chicken Shack/I’d Rather Go Blind

My dear longtime friend and music connoisseur from Germany pointed me to this beautiful song recently. Coincidentally, around the same time, Music Enthusiast mentioned the band Chicken Shack in an installment of his previous four-part series about Fleetwood Mac’s middle period. So what’s the connection between Chicken Shack and the Mac you might ask? Christine Perfect (later Christine McVie) who sang lead and played keyboards in Chicken Shack before recording her eponymous solo album Christine Perfect and joining Fleetwood Mac in late 1970. Chicken Shack released I’d Rather Go Blind as a single in 1969, scoring a no. 14 on the British charts. Written by Ellington Jordan, the tune was first recorded by Etta James in 1967 and appeared on her seventh studio album Tell Mama from February 1968. Perfect’s vocals on Chicken Shack’s cover are – well – just perfect! BTW, Chicken Shack are still around, with the current lineup including founding member Stan Webb (guitar, vocals).

Blue Rodeo/Hasn’t Hit Me Yet

Canadian country rock band Blue Rodeo were founded in 1984 in Toronto. They were formed by high school friends Jim Cuddy (vocals, guitar) and Greg Keelor (vocals, guitar), who had played together in various bands before, and Bob Wiseman (keyboards). Cleave Anderson (drums) and Bazil Donovan (bass) completed the band’s initial lineup. After gaining a local following in Toronto and signing with Canadian independent record label Risque Disque, the group released their debut album Outskirts in March 1987. They have since released 14 additional studio albums, the most recent of which, 1000 Arms, came out in October 2016. Blue Rodeo have enjoyed significant success in Canada. Hasn’t Hit Me Yet was co-written by Keelor and Cuddy who together with Donovan are part of Blue Rodeo’s current lineup. The tune is included on the band’s fifth studio album Five Days in July from October 1993, their best-selling record in Canada to date.

Bruce Hornsby & The Range/The Way It Is

The debut album by American singer-songwriter and pianist Bruce Hornsby with his backing band The Range quickly became one of my favorites when it came out in September 1986. After I hadn’t touched it in many years, I listened to it again about a week ago – turns out I still like it. Hornsby went on to record two additional albums with The Range. His fourth studio album Harbor Lights from April 1993 was the first solely credited to him. Four additional solo albums and four albums with his touring band The Noisemakers have since come out. Hornsby also was a touring member of the Grateful Dead in the early ’90s and has collaborated with numerous other artists. After his first two albums with The Range, Hornsby had dropped off my radar screen. Here’s the title track of his debut. Both the album and the tune enjoyed major international chart success. Not hard to understand way – it’s pretty catchy pop.

Rainbirds/Blueprint

For some reason, the above Chicken Shack tune trigged my memory of German pop rock band Rainbirds. Other than the fact that both tunes feature female vocalists, they really don’t have anything in common – funny how the brain sometimes works! The group around singer-songwriter Katharina Franck, which was formed in Berlin in 1986 and named after a Tom Waits instrumental, enjoyed significant success in Germany with their first two albums. After the band dissolved in 1999 and Franck pursued a solo career, Franck reformed the group in 2013 with a new lineup. Another album appeared the following year. While Rainbirds haven’t released new music since, the group still appears to exist. Blueprint, co-written by Franck (guitar, vocals) and fellow band members Michael Beckmann (bass) and Wolfgang Glum (drums), is from Rainbirds’ eponymous debut album released in January 1987.

The Kinks/All Day and All of the Night

I felt this Sunday Six needed a dose of real rock. The Kinks and All Day and All of the Night looked like a great choice. I love the raw sound, which is very much reminiscent of You Really Got Me, the band’s third single from August 1964 and their first no. 1 in the UK. Written by Ray Davies, All Day and All of the Night came out in October of the same year. It almost matched the success of You Really Got Me, climbing to no. 2 on the British charts. In the U.S., both tunes peaked at no. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. Oh, get ’em hard!

Sources: Wikipedia; The New York Times; YouTube

What I’ve Been Listening to: Savoy Brown/Street Corner Talking

What do you do when you’re in the mood for some great blues rock? You get some! And so I did with Street Corner Talking by Britain’s Savoy Brown released in September 1971. As it oftentimes goes with these types of posts, I got the idea to listen to their seventh studio album after my streaming music provider had served up Tell Mama, the record’s dynamite opener.

Savoy Brown – btw, what a cool name! – have been around for a bit. ‘How long’, you might wonder. How about more than 55 years! Not surprisingly, their line-up has changed many times over the decades, though the founder is still around and going strongly. Before getting to the album, a bit of history is in order. The following background is taken from the band’s bio on their website.

Savoy Brown was formed in 1965 by guitarist Kim Simmonds in London, England. Simmonds has been the group’s guiding hand from the first singles released in 1966 through the band’s newest effort, their forty-first album “Ain’t Done Yet” [released in August 2020. At the time, I featured one of the album’s tunes in a Best of What’s New installment]

…Energetic blues has been the calling card of the band from the beginning. Blues Rock became the catch-all phrase in the late 1960s to describe the band’s music along with that of contemporaries including Cream, Fleetwood Mac, and Jimi Hendrix…

...Through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980’s songs such as “I’m Tired”, “Train to Nowhere”, “Tell Mama” and “Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone” became Hot 100 entries. Two of the band’s albums in the 1970s, “Looking In” and “Hellbound Train”, appeared on the Billboard Top Forty charts…Along the way, Savoy Brown has toured continuously, making it one of the longest running blues rock bands in existence. Through the years, the band has headlined concerts at many prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, the Fillmore East, the Fillmore West, and London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall...

…Former [Savoy Brown] members, having cut their teeth under Simmonds’ leadership, have gone on to complete their careers with other bands. Among others, these include singer Dave Walker with Fleetwood Mac and Black Sabbath, Bill Bruford with King Crimson, Andy Pyle with the Kinks and Paul Raymond with UFO… Three other band alumni – Lonesome Dave Peverett, Roger Earl, and Tony Stevens, went on to become the founding members of the multi-platinum act Foghat. Sounds a bit like John Mayall to me!

Kim Simmonds (guitar, vocals), who has lived in the U.S. since 1980, remains the only original member of Savoy Brown’s current line-up. The other core members include Pat DeSalvo (bass, backing vocals) and Garnet Grimm (drums). Both have been with the band since 2009. With that, let’s get to some music!

I’d like to kick it off with the song that inspired the post. Tell Mama, the first track on the album, was co-written by Simmonds and Paul Raymond, the band’s keyboarder at the time. Just a great catchy rocker with some cool slide guitar action.

Taking on The Temptations perhaps is a near-impossible task, but I have to say I really dig where Savoy Brown took I Can’t Get Next to You. Co-written by Motown songwriters Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, this psychedelic soul gem was first released by The Temptations as a single in July 1969. It also appeared on their 11th studio album Puzzle People that came out in September of the same year. Check out how nicely Savoy Brown’s version of the tune is shuffling along. I also dig the keyboard work.

Time Does Tell is another great track. It was written by Simmonds. Andy Sylvester’s bass work gives this tune a great groove. I also like Simmonds’ guitar solo that starts at about 2:42 minutes. Damn, this is really cool – don’t take it from me, give it a listen!

Here’s the title track, another song Simmonds wrote. I can hear some Cream in that guitar riff. And that’s never a bad thing!

I’d like to wrap things up with another nice cover: Willie Dixon’s Wang Dang Doodle. Dixon wrote that tune in 1960, and it was first released by Howlin’ Wolf in 1961. Haven’t we all felt like hanging out with automatic slim, razor totin’ jim, butcher knife totin’ annie and fast talkin’ fanny to pitch a wang dang doodle all night long? 🙂

This is the first album by Savoy Brown I’ve explored in greater depth, and I really dig it – can you tell? 🙂 This certainly wants me to listen to more from this band. Any tips are welcome!

Sources: Wikipedia; Savoy Brown website; YouTube

Clarence Carter, Groovy Southern Soul And R&B Man

I just love when this happens. Yesterday morning, I checked Apple Music and under “new releases” spotted Snatching It Back by Clarence Carter, a name I wasn’t familiar with. The cover showing Carter holding his electric guitar somehow reminded me of Stax, so I decided to give the album a listen. Right from the get-go I was intrigued by what I heard – great southern style soul and R&B that makes you groove and snip your fingers – my kind of music to start the day!

Carter was born blind in Montgomery, Ala. on January 14, 1936. According to his profile on Apple Music, he taught himself how to play the guitar at a young age by listening to blues artists like John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Jimmy Reed. Any guy who can pull that off has my full respect! Following graduation from Alabama State College with a B.S. in music in August 1960, another remarkable accomplishment, given the time and place, he formed the duo Clarence & Calvin with his friend Calvin Scott. They signed with the Fairlane label and started releasing a series of singles, none of which got any traction. After Scott was badly injured in a car accident, Carter went on as a solo artist.

Clarence Carter (center) live in 2012

It took until 1967 that Carter’s music received first recognition with Tell Daddy, recorded at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala. The tune, which he co-wrote, peaked at no. 35 on the Billboard R&B Chart. Carter gained additional visibility when Etta James covered the song as Tell Mama, scoring a no. 10 on the R&B Chart and peaking at no. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100, her highest-charting song there. At the end of 1967, he joined Atlantic Records and put out a series of records and singles. Some were pretty awesome and did well on the charts, but Carter never achieved the popularity of a Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding or Solomon Burke.

At the end of 1971, after a string of less successful releases, Carter left Atlantic and went to FAME Records, which like FAME Studios was owned by Rick Hall. In 1975, he signed with ABC Records, but the advent of disco negatively impacted his career. In 1985, Carter switched to Ichiban Records and released six albums before establishing his own Cee Cee Entertainment label in 1996. Since then, he has released at least 14 additional records, including the above mentioned Snatching It Back, a compilation that appeared last Friday. Time for some music. I’m mostly focusing on Carter’s early career.

I’d like to kick things off with the above mentioned Tell Daddy, Carter’s first hit single. According to Wikipedia, he co-wrote the song with Marcus Daniel and Wilbur Terrell, though for some reason these guys didn’t receive any credits. BTW, Etta James initially resisted to record her version of the tune Tell Mama, but apparently Rick Hall insisted and eventually she gave in – a decision I imagine she didn’t regret!

Slip Away, released in 1968, was Carter’s first big hit, peaking at no. 2 on the Billboard R&B Chart. Co-written by Marcus Daniel, Wilbur Terrell and William Armstrong, it was included on his Atlantic debut studio album This Is Clarence Carter.

Also in 1968, Carter released a single called Back Door Santa, which hip hop group Run-D.M.C. sampled for their 1987 hit Christmas In Hollis. The tune was also included on his second Atlantic release Testifyin’ from 1969. The song is credited to Carter, Rick Hall, David Newman and Marcus Daniel. While the tune was also featured on a Christmas album, the sexually suggestive lyrics make it clear it doesn’t have much to do with the holiday. Steamy lyrics, BTW, became Carter’s trademark.

Snatching It Back, also from Testfyin’, was another successful single for Carter released in 1969. The song was co-written by Carter, Jimmie Haskell, Rick Hall, Harrison Calloway and George Jackson. I just love the horns on this tune and its Stax vibe.

Another beautiful Carter song and yet another track from Testifyin’ that came out in 1969 is The Feeling Is Right. It was composed by Jimmie Haskell, Rick Hall, Harrison Calloway, Mickey Buckins and George Jackson.

Patches, the title track of Carter’s 1970 studio album, became his biggest hit, climbing to no. 2 on the Billboard R&B Chart and reaching no. 4 Billboard Hot 100. Written by General Johnson and Ron Dunbar, the tune also earned Carter the 1971 Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Song.

Another nice track from the Patches album is You’re Love Lifted Me, co-written by Jimmie Haskell, Harrison Calloway and Obie McClinton. And yes, while the title looks grammatically wrong, it actually seems to be written that way – don’t know why.

I’m The Midnight Special is the opener to Carter’s 1973 album Sixty Minutes With Clarence Carter, the first record after he had signed on with FAME. It is credited to Muscle Shoals Horns, Raymond Moore, George Jackson, Allyn Mitchell and Larry Chambers.

In 1975, Carter issued a single called I Got Caught. Co-written by him and R. Hatcher, the soul ballad is classic Carter, lyrically speaking. Apparently, it was one of his last singles that charted.

The last tune I’d like to highlight is a Carter composition called Strokin’, the closer of his 1986 studio album Dr. C.C.  Since due to its lyrics the song was considered too raunchy for release as a single or radio play, the record company placed it in jukeboxes where it apparently became popular. Use in an Eddie Murphy picture gave it further exposure.

Today at the mighty age of 82, Carter is still active. While it appears he currently has no official website with a tour schedule, I found a reference on the web, according to which he’s scheduled to perform at Union Bank & Trust Pavillion in Portsmouth, Va. on September 8, 2018.

Sources: Wikipedia, Apple Music, Discogs, YouTube