Tag: The Drifters

The Sunday Six

Celebrating music with six random tracks at a time

Are you ready to escape your surroundings for a little while and embark on another imaginary trip into the magical world of music? If yes, you’ve come to the right place; if not, I hope you’ll stick around anyway! It’s amazing what music can do, especially on a rainy weekend like in my neck of the woods of central New Jersey, USA. Without any further ado, let’s start up the music time machine!

Lars Gullin/Fedja

Our first stop leads us back to the year 1956 and some beautiful jazz by Swedish saxophonist Lars Gullin. He started out on the accordion and switched to the clarinet at age 13 before first embracing the alto saxophone. After moving to Stockholm in 1947, Gullin became a professional pianist, aiming to pursue a classical career. But in 1949 an unexpected tenure as the baritone saxophonist in Seymour Österwall’s band changed Gullin’s trajectory yet again, and this time he stuck with jazz. In the early ’50s, he was a member of Arne Domnérus’ septet and also started working with visiting American jazz musicians like James Moody, Zoot Sims, Clifford Brown and Lee Konitz. In 1953, Gullin formed his own short-lived group. In October 1955, he teamed up with Chet Baker for a European tour, which tragically involved the heroin-induced death of the group’s pianist Dick Twardzik. Sadly, Gullin developed his own addiction to narcotics, which eventually took his life in May 1976 at the age of 48. Here’s Fedja, a Gullin composition off his 1956 album Baritone Sax.

Marshall Crenshaw/Cynical Girl

Let’s next set our time machine to April 1982 and a neat artist I’ve started to explore recently, thanks to fellow blogger Rich who pens the great KamerTunesBlog where he featured Marshall Crenshaw and his 1983 sophomore album Field Day the other day. I instantly loved the American singer-songwriter’s catchy power pop and promptly covered Someday, Someway, a tune off his eponymous debut, which appeared in April 1982. It was a close decision between that tune and Cynical Girl, another song from that album I love. According to Wikipedia, the tune is a satire on the “mass culture” Crenshaw disliked, not about a specific girl.

Little Eva/The Loco-Motion

Time to go a little loco with one of my favorite early ’60s tunes: The Loco-Motion by Little Eva. It was one of the many great tunes by songwriting powerhouse Carole King and her husband and lyricist Gerry Goffin, who during the ’60s penned an impressive amount of hits for the likes of The Shirelles, Bobby Vee, The Chiffons, The Drifters, Herman’s Hermits, The Monkees and even The Animals. And, of course, Eva Narcissus Boyd, aka. Little Eva, the babysitter for King and Goffin, who became an overnight sensation with The Loco-Motion. Her debut single, released in June 1962, topped the U.S. pop and R&B charts and hit no. 2 in the UK. Initially, Goffin-King had written the tune for R&B singer Dee Dee Sharp but he turned it down, making Little Eva one of the most famous babysitters in pop history. What a timeless classic!

The Allman Brothers Band/It Ain’t Over Yet

This next pick is a bit out of left field. When you think of The Allman Brothers Band, tunes like Whipping Post, Melissa, Ramblin’ Man and the bouncy instrumental Jessica come to mind. It Ain’t Over Yet? Possibly not so much. I coincidentally came across that track a while ago and dug it from the get-go, so I earmarked for a Sunday Six. Co-written by Doug Crider and by the Brothers’ second keyboarder Johnny Neel, It Ain’t Over Yet became the closer of the group’s ninth studio album Seven Turns, released in July 1990 – their first after their second breakup in 1982. It Ain’t Over Yet, an appropriate title, also appeared separately as the album’s third single. Allen Woody’s slap bass playing gives the tune a bit of a funky vibe. Perhaps more familiar is the neat guitar work by Dickey Betts and Warren Haynes, and of course the vocals by the one and only Gregg Allman. Hope you dig that song as much as I’ve come to!

Alejandro Escovedo/The Crossing

Let’s go back to the current century and set our time machine to September 2018. I don’t recall how I came across that next tune and suspect it may have been served up as a listening suggestion by my streaming music provider. It’s another song that’s been on my list of earmarked tracks for a Sunday Six. Alejandro Escovedo, the son of a Mexican immigrant to Texas and a Texas native and, according to his website, one of 12 children, is an eclectic rock musician and singer-songwriter who has been recording and touring since the late ’70s. He played in various bands, such as punk groups The Nuns and Judy Nylon’s band, as well as country rock formation Rank and File, before releasing his 1992 solo debut Gravity, an alternative country and heartland rock-oriented outing. Fast-forward 26 years and The Crossing, the title cut of his 2018 studio album. You can find more about Escovedo’s story on his aforementioned website. For now, let’s listen to this excellent and haunting tune!

Sly And The Family Stone/Family Affair

And once again, it’s time to wrap up another trip. Our final destination takes us back to November 1971 and There’s a Riot Goin’ On, the fifth studio album by psychedelic funk and soul powerhouse Sly And The Family Stone. Mirroring other African American artists at the time like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Curtis Mayfield, the record marked a departure from the group’s previous more upbeat songs by embracing sentiments like apathy, pessimism and disillusionment. The lead single Family Affair, which like all other tunes was written by frontman Sylvester Stewart (Sly Stone), became the group’s third and final no. 1 hit in the U.S. on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Best Selling Soul Singles (today known as Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs) charts. It also was their most successful international song, charting in Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands and the UK.

As usual, I’m leaving you with a Spotify playlist featuring the above tunes. Hope there’s something you dig!

Sources: Wikipedia; Alejandro Escovedo website; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Celebrating music with six random songs at a time

Hope everybody is enjoying their weekend. It’s another Sunday, which means it’s time again for what has become my favorite recurring feature of the blog. The Sunday Six is where I feel I can stretch out, featuring all types of music from different decades. This new installment illustrates my point. It includes genres like instrumental pop, jazz pop, roots rock, country rock and blues rock, and touches on the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and 2010s. Are you ready to embark on a little music journey?

Santana/Europa (Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile)

Let’s get in the mood with a beautiful instrumental by Carlos Santana. He may not be the most sophisticated guitarist from a strictly technical standpoint, but his tone is just unbelievable. I know of no other guitarist who sounds like Santana, and that’s what ultimately matters, not whether you’re a fretboard acrobat. While I generally most love his classic period that spans his first three albums, the tune I picked for this post, Europa (Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile), is from Moonflower released in October 1977. The double album features both studio and live tracks. She’s Not There, a nice cover of a song originally recorded by The Zombies in the mid-’60s, became a top 30 hit single for Santana. Europa, co-written by Carlos Santana and Tom Coster, first appeared on the March 1976 studio record Amigos. I’m more familiar with Moonflower, so I’m going with the live version here. Listen to this majestic guitar sound – so good!

Gino Vannelli/Brother to Brother

I don’t recall seeing any posts by my fellow bloggers about Gino Vannelli. While the Canadian singer-songwriter has been around as a recording artist since 1973, I suspect he may not necessarily be a household name. That being said, I assume most folks have heard some of his hits, such as the ballads I Just Wanna Stop (1978) and Living Inside Myself (1981), as well as the pop rock tunes Black Cars (1984) and Wild Horses (1987). Vannelli remains active to this day and has released 17 studio records, three live albums and one greatest hits compilation, according to Wikipedia. Brother to Brother is the amazing title track of his sixth studio album that came out in September 1978. While I Just Wanna Stop became the big hit off that album, the jazz-oriented Brother to Brother is far better. Written by Vannelli, the tune reaches the sophistication of Steely Dan’s Aja album, in my humble opinion. If you haven’t listened to this track before and like the Dan, check it out. You might be surprised!

Bonnie Raitt/Love Letter

Those who are familiar with my music taste may wonder what took me so long to feature Bonnie Raitt, one of favorite artists, in The Sunday Six. I don’t really have a good answer other than ‘better late than never!’ My long-time music buddy from Germany introduced me to Raitt in the late ’80s. I guess it must have been her 10th studio album Nick of Time, which to me remains a true gem to this day. While Raitt mostly relies on other songwriters, I love her renditions and her cool slide guitar playing. She also strikes me as no B.S., which is certainly not a very common quality in the oftentimes ego-driven music business. Nick of Time is perhaps best known for the single Thing Called Love, though according to Wikipedia, its chart success was moderate. The John Hiatt tune reached no. 86 on the UK Singles Chart and missed the mainstream chart in the U.S. altogether – though it did climb to no. 11 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. My pick from the album is Love Letter, written by another Bonnie, American singer-songwriter Bonnie Hayes. I simply love everything about this tune – the groove, the singing and Raitt’s sweet slide guitar sound.

John Mellencamp/Under the Boardwalk

John Mellencamp is another artist I’ve listened to for many years. If I recall it correctly, it was his eighth studio album Scarecrow released in August 1985 with tunes like Small Town and R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. that started my long and ongoing journey exploring the music by the heartland and roots rocker from Seymour, Ind. Sure, I could have selected a track from that album. Or from the excellent successor The Lonesome Jubilee from August 1987, which remains among my all-time favorite Mellencamp records. Instead, I decided to highlight an album that isn’t as well known but still great, in my view: Rough Harvest. Released in August 1999 (that month appears to be a favorite for his records!), the album features a collection of alternate, roots-oriented versions of Mellencamp originals and covers. Under the Boardwalk, of course, falls into the latter category. The first version of the song I ever heard was the great rendition by The Rolling Stones. Co-written by Kenny Young and Arthur Resnick, it was first recorded by The Drifters in 1964 and became a no. 4 U.S. hit for the American doo-wop, R&B and soul vocal group. I think Mellencamp’s rootsy version takes the tune to a new level – just love it!

Cordovas/This Town’s a Drag

If you’ve followed my blog for some time, the name Cordovas may sound familiar; or perhaps you’ve heard otherwise of this Americana and country rock band from East Nashville, Tenn. They first entered my radar screen in the summer of 2018 when I caught them during a free concert in a park not far from my house. The group’s multi-part harmony singing proved to be an immediate attraction. So was their sound that reminds me of bands like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Band, Grateful Dead, Eagles and Little Feat. Led by bassist Joe Firstman, Cordovas have been around for more than 10 years. This Town’s a Drag is the opener of That Santa Fe Channel, the band’s third studio album from August 2018, which I previously reviewed here. Check out that beautiful warm sound!

Jimi Hendrix/Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

I guess the time has come again to wrap up another Sunday Six installment. Let’s make it count with a smoking rocker by Jimi Hendrix who I trust needs no introduction. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) is the fiery closer of Electric Ladyland, the third and final album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, released in October 1968. Like most other tracks on this double album, the tune was written by Hendrix. The clip is taken from Live in Maui, one of the many post-mortem releases from the Hendrix archives. It captures an outdoor performance by the Jimi Hendrix Experience on July 30, 1970 on the Hawaiian island, only six weeks prior to Jimi’s untimely death on September 18 that year. Unlike Electric Ladyland, the band’s line-up during the gig featured Billy Cox on bass instead of Noel Redding. Mitch Mitchell was on drums, just like on the studio album. The 2-CD and 3-LP set came out on November 20, 2020, along with a video documentary titled Music, Money, Madness … Jimi Hendrix in Maui. It has received mixed reviews due to less than ideal recording conditions. I still think it’s cool to actually watch Hendrix in action rather than just listening to his blistering performance.

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube

The Sunday Six

Celebrating music with six random songs at a time

It’s another Sunday morning in good ole’ New Jersey. The weather looks decent with temperatures supposed to hit the ’60s – perfect for an Easter egg hunt, if you’re into it! In case you prefer music or perhaps combine Easter egg hunting with some great tunes, I encourage you to read on. I think I’ve put together another nice and diverse set of six random tunes: Some instrumental rock, bluegrass, alternative rock, soul and blues rock.

The Shadows/Apache

I’m a huge fan of Hank Marvin, the lead guitarist of The Shadows, whose combination of his Fender Stratocaster and a Vox amplifier created a cool signature sound. Initially founded in 1958 under the name of The Drifters as the backing group for Cliff Richard, the instrumental band became The Shadows in July 1959, after the U.S. vocal group of the same name had threatened legal action. The Shadows soon stepped out of – well – Richards’ shadow and gained popularity on their own. Apache, released in July 1960, became their first no. 1 hit in the UK. It also topped the charts in France, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa. Written by English composer Jerry Lordan, the tune was first recorded by English guitarist Bert Weedon. But Lordan didn’t like it. I have to agree the version by The Shadows sounds much more dynamic. Still, Weedon’s recording of the track, which came out at the same time, made it to no. 24 on the British charts.

Alison Krauss & Union Station/My Opening Farewell

I’ve yet to more fully explore American bluegrass and country artist Alison Krauss, who I primarily know because of her 2007 collaboration album with Robert Plant. When I came across My Opening Farewell the other day, I immediately liked the tune, so it wasn’t a hard decision to feature it a Sunday Six installment. Written by Jackson Browne, Opening Farewell is the closer of Krauss’ 14th studio album Paper Airplane from April 2011, which she recorded together with her longtime backing band Union Station. While Krauss has continued to perform with Union Station, Paper Airplane is her most recent album with the band. In February 2017, Krauss released Windy City, her fifth and latest solo album. Hope you enjoy Opening Farewell as much as I do!

Counting Crows/Round Here

When I heard Mr. Jones for the first time, I fell in love immediately with American alternative rock band Counting Crows and immediately got their debut album August and Everything After from September 1993. While Mr. Jones, which also became the lead single, is the obvious hit, there are many other great tunes on that record as well. One of them is the opener Round Here. Co-written by lead vocalist Adam Duritz and the band’s guitarist David Bryson, together with Dave Janusko, Dan Jewett and Chris Roldan, the tune also became the album’s second single in 1994. Counting Crows remain active to this day and have released six additional studio albums to date, with Somewhere Under Wonderland from September 2014 being the most recent. Some new music may be on the way. In February 2020, Duritz revealed the band was working in the studio on a suite of songs that could be released as a series of EPs. I guess we have to stay tuned. In the meantime, here’s the excellent Round Here.

Marvin Gaye/Mercy Mercy Me

I trust Marvin Gaye doesn’t need an introduction. In my book, he was one of the greatest soul vocalists of all time. After gaining initial fame with a string of hits at Motown and helping shape the Detroit label’s infectious sound, Gaye emancipated himself from Berry Gordy’s production machine in the 1970s and recorded and produced a series of highly regarded albums. The first one was What’s Going On from May 1971, a true ’70s soul gem. Don’t be fooled by the beautiful music and Gaye’s smooth singing. The concept album explored themes like drug abuse, poverty, environmental degradation and the Vietnam War. Just because Gaye didn’t believe in “shouting,” this doesn’t mean his social commentary wasn’t biting. Here’s the amazing Mercy Mercy Me, expressing Gaye’s sadness about ecological decay.

Southern Avenue/80 Miles From Memphis

As we start approaching the end of this Sunday Six installment, it’s time to speed things up, don’t you agree? More frequent visitors of the blog have probably noticed my deep affection for Southern Avenue, a band from Memphis, Tenn., which blends blues and soul with flavors of contemporary R&B. I think these guys are dynamite and are one of the best contemporary bands. I also love the racial diversity they represent. Southern Avenue are Israeli blues guitarist Ori Naftaly; two amazing African American ladies, lead vocalist Tierinii Jackson and her sister Tikyra Jackson who plays the drums and sings backing vocals; white bassist Evan Sarver; and African American keyboarder Jeremy Powell. Here’s 80 Miles From Memphis, a tune written by Naftaly from the band’s eponymous debut album released in February 2017. BTW, in 2016, Southern Avenue became the first new act signed to Stax Records in many years. How cool is that?

ZZ Top/Tush

Okay, with this last tune, let’s push the pedal to the metal. In my book, Tush by ZZ Top is perhaps the ultimate blues rocker. I just love the guitar riff, the bottleneck action, and how tight the band sounds. Formed in 1969 in Houston, the trio of Billy Gibbons (guitar, vocals), Dusty Hill (bass, vocals) and Frank Beard (drums) is rocking to this day. Fun fact: Beard is the only member of the band without a beard! ZZ Top have released 15 studio albums, four live albums, seven compilations and more than 40 singles to date. Looks like their most recent release was a compilation from 2019 titled Goin’ 50. Tush, credited to all members of the band, is the closer of ZZ Top’s fourth studio album Fandango!, which appeared in April 1975. Take it away, boys!

Last but not least, to those who celebrate it, I’d like to wish you a Happy Easter. To those who don’t, have a great Sunday anyway!

Sources: Wikipedia; YouTube

In Appreciation of German Radio and TV Personality Frank Laufenberg

Moderator, journalist and author is a distinguished rock and pop expert who has influenced my music journey

This post was inspired by fellow blogger msjadeli who writes the Tao Talk blog. Msjadeli is a true music lover who frequently likes to discuss the subject. She also writes about it. Just yesterday, she published this post about “the Friday Song”, played on 97 WLAV FM, a Grand Rapids, Mich. radio station that became part of her music journey. This led to a discussion about radio DJs and how they can impact us. It reminded me of my radio days while growing up back in Germany in the ’70s and ’80s and one host, a pop and rock connoisseur who introduced me to lots of music from the ’50s and ’60s: Frank Laufenberg.

In previous posts, I acknowledged several people who had a major influence on my music journey, sometimes unknowingly: my six-year-older sister and her vinyl collection that, among others, included timeless gems like Carole King’s Tapestry, Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Déjà Vu, all albums I love to this day; my grandfather, a music professor and piano teacher who was thrilled when I told my parents I wanted to learn the guitar, and payed for most of my instruments; and my guitar and bass teacher who really got me into The Beatles and, of course, taught me how to play both instruments. Yesterday’s discussion made me realize the one person that’s missing is Laufenberg. Acknowledging him is overdue.

Frank Laufenberg in his home studio

Frank Laufenberg was born on January 2, 1945 in the East German small town of Lebus. He grew up in Cologne where he started his professional career at record label EMI Electrola, working in A&R from 1967 to 1970. In 1970, while accompanying an artist to an interview at SWF3, he met Walther Krause, who created and oversaw a then-new radio show called Pop-Shop and offered Laufenberg a trial period as moderator. It would turn out to be a career-changing encounter.

The artist (I don’t remember who it was) did the interview,” recalls Laufenberg in this short online background section on the website of Internet radio station PopStop, one of his current professional homes. “Afterwards, I went to the boss of Pop-Shop, to Walther Krause, to politely thank him, and he asked me how I thought the interview went. ‘If I had recorded it with the artist, it would have been better for him, for me and the listeners’, I replied. And Krause went: ‘If you feel you could do better than the current moderator, why don’t you give a try for a week?’ Evidently, Laufenberg didn’t lack confidence!

Frank Laufenberg’s Rock and Pop Almanach

A week turned into many years, and Laufenberg became a key moderator at SWF3, a popular mainstream radio station on regional TV and radio network Südwestfunk. In addition to Pop-Shop, one of the other shows Laufenberg moderated at SWF3 was Oldies on Sunday nights. To the best of my recollection, the program aired from 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm. That’s the show through which Laufenberg introduced me to a lot of ’50s and ’60s music, really helping me establish a deeper appreciation for music from these decades. I’ll get back to that later.

In the ’80s, Laufenberg also moderated various television shows for regional networks Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) and Südwestfunk. On the latter, this included an excellent live music program called Ohne Filter (literal translation: without filter). In September 1990, Laufenberg started moderating programs on privately owned channel Sat1. Idiotically, this led SWF3 to terminate him with the stupid explanation Laufenberg could not work for public broadcast while also moderating programs for a private channel. Subsequently, he worked at various other private and public channels.

Some of my old music cassettes with music taped from SWF3 Oldies show

In 2013, Laufenberg founded the above mentioned internet radio station PopStop, where he is a moderator to this day. Since April 2018, he also hosts two shows on SR 3 Saarlandwelle, a radio channel on regional broadcast network Saarländischer Rundfunk. In addition to having worked as a radio and TV moderator, Laufenberg has published various music-related books, perhaps most notably Frank Laufenbergs Rock- und Pop Lexikon, which also has been published in English as Rock und Pop Diary.

Now it’s time for some music. Let’s start with the above noted SWF3 Oldies show. Obviously, I don’t have YouTube clips from actual program episodes. But, as you can see in the above photo, I still have music cassettes with songs I taped from the program. So I guess the closest I can offer is YouTube clips of some of the songs that are on these tapes. Unfortunately, when I started taping music on MCs, I didn’t note dates. This tells me these MCs must be from the late ’70s/early ’80s. Here’s a tune from the earliest SWF3 Oldies MC I could find: I’m Into Something Good, co-written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and popularized by Herman’s Hermits in 1964 – a tune I’ve always dug.

I’m fairly certain the first time I heard Chuck Berry’s Memphis, Tennessee was on Laufenberg’s SWF3 Oldies. The classic was released as a single in 1959.

Here’s another track that has become one of my all-time favorite ’60s tune with a killer guitar riff: Oh, Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison, the rocker with an opera voice. Co-written by him and Bill Dees, the song first appeared as a single in 1964. It was also included on the compilation album Orbisongs (clever title!) from November 1965.

Here’s one more tune I taped from the show: The Rolling Stones’ version of Under the Boardwalk. The song was co-written by Kenny Young and Arthur Resnick and first recorded by The Drifters in 1964. The Stones included their rendition, the first version of the song I heard, on their sophomore studio album 12 X 5, which appeared in October 1964.

The last clip I’d like to feature is from the above noted Ohne Filter TV show Laufenberg moderated: Excellent English guitarist Chris Rea and his tune Josephine, which received lots of radio play on (radio station) SWF3 when it came out. The song is from Rea’s seventh studio album Shamrock Diaries, which was released in December 1984. The footage is from a 1986 episode of Ohne Filter Extra I watched at the time.

The last word shall belong to Frank Laufenberg. Here’s a translation of what he says on the PopStop website about the internet radio station: ‘PopStop – das Musikradio’ wants to bring back variety to radio, variety that’s not only missing to me. We can’t reinvent radio – but we can bring back the good aspects it had. Content that predated the days of “Radio GaGa.” As Queen correctly warned in 1984: ‘Radio – don’t become some background noise’. That’s what it unfortunately has become. But Queen also sing: ‘Radio what’s new? Radio, someone still loves you’. ‘PopStop’ will appeal to exactly these lovers of radio and those who are interested in music. We’re always happy about new listeners and would appreciate if you could recommend us.

Yours Frank Laufenberg

Sources: Wikipedia; PopStop website; YouTube

Best of What’s New

A selection of newly released music that caught my attention

For this latest installment of the recurring feature, I had lots of new/recently released music to choose from: various singer-songwriters, Americana, rock and blues. It would have been easy to add at least four additional songs, but I’d like to keep these posts to no more than four to six tracks. As in previous installments, it’s a mix of young and more established artists, which is exactly what I’d like it to be. I’m really glad that my foray into new music continues to yield many promising discoveries. Here we go!

John Craigie/Don’t Ask

From his website: Renowned for his eloquent Americana style, engaging live shows, and off-the-cuff clever observations, John Craigie carries on the legacy of classic singer-songwriters, while blazing a trail of his own. Recently, that trail twisted and turned into new territory for the Portland, OR performer who The Stranger appropriately dubbed, “the lovechild of John Prine and Mitch Hedberg.” Released on May 8, Don’t Ask is the latest single from the 39-year-old’s upcoming new album Asterisk the Universe, slated for June 12. Two additional tracks from the record, which should be his seventh, are already available. According to Wikipedia, Craigie has been called a “modern day troubadour” reminiscent of Woody Guthrie and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. While I don’t know about that, I’ve no doubt I really dig what I’m hearing.

Israel Nash/Canyonheart

Israel Nash is a 39-year-old singer-songwriter from Dripping Springs, TX. Wikipedia puts his music in the Americana, rock and indie rock genres. Based on his most recent release – the EP Topaz – I can also hear some soul influences. Nash came to Texas via New York from Missouri, his original home. After moving to New York in 2006 and performing in local clubs, Nash independently released his debut album New York Town in 2009. After the appearance of his sophomore album Barn Doors and Concrete Floors in March 2011, Nash moved to Dripping Springs late in the same year. He has since released three additional studio records, one life albums and two EPs including Topaz, which came out on May 22. Here’s the great opener Canyonheart. Check out that tune’s beautiful warm sound!

John “Papa” Gros/It’s Raining

To start with, what an awesome name, and very much New Orleans – admittedly, it was part of the reason why I took a closer look at John “Papa” Gros, who hails from the big easy. For over three decades, Gros has brought his city’s celebratory culture to listeners around the globe., according to his website. Gros mixes all the sounds of New Orleans – funk, trad jazz, brass band, blues  – and makes it his own signature gumbo. His new solo album Central City, shows Gros capturing New Orleans’ distinct feel-good charm with help from some of its’ most renowned players. Gros began playing gigs when he was just fifteen years old but didn’t truly kick off his career until after graduating from Loyola in 1989 with a degree in French Horn performance…Between 2000 and 2013, Gros began his transition into the spotlight by leading Papa Grows Funk, a highly revered group that mixed hard-hitting funk grooves with often unpredictable jazz spontaneity. The band has since broken up, and John “Papa” John has carried on with a solo career. Central City, which came out on April 17, is his third solo effort. Here’s the beautiful It’s Raining. I hear some Randy Newman in here!

Scott Ellison/All Wound Up

Are you ready for some good ole’ blues and honky tonk? Enter singer-songwriter, guitarist and blues rocker Scott Ellison was born in Tulsa, Okla. in on June 13, 1954. According to his website, he started his career in the ’70s, playing with country singer Jesseca James and blues artist Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown in 1981. After relocating to Los Angeles in the mid-’80s, Ellison played with The Box Tops, The Shirelles, The Drifters and Gary U.S. Bonds, among others. By the ’90s he had formed his own blues band and opened for other artists like Joe Cocker, The Fabulous Thunderbirds and Buddy Guy. In 1993, Ellison’s first solo album Chains of Love appeared. Skyline Dive is his most recent record, which appeared on May 8. Here’s All Wound Up, a nice smoking blues rocker – my kind of music!

Fretland/Say It Well

I couldn’t find a lot of information on Fretland, an Americana band from Snohomish WA. The apparently still young group was founded by singer-songwriter Hillary Grace Fretland (vocals, guitar). The band also includes Luke Francis (guitar), Jake Haber (bass) and Kenny Bates (drums). Say It Well is the beautiful closer of Fretland’s eponymous album released on May 22. It’s a very bare bones acoustic tune, which sounds like is performed by Hillary with guitar only.

Dr. Joe/Believer

Dr. Joe is another artist I had not heard of before. From his website: Based in Austin TX but raised on a farm outside Salina, Kansas, band leader Joe Sparacino spent his early childhood learning piano from a southern gospel choir matron and listening to his family’s old vinyl collection of Ray Charles, Leon Russell and James Booker. Their debut single: “Tell Your Mother” was produced by Vance Powell (six-time Grammy Award winning record producer) whose credits include Jack White, The Raconteurs, White Stripes, Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys, Chris Stapleton, etc. and recorded at his famed Sputnik Studio in East Nashville. GOOD DAYS [apparently their second single] was recorded by – Niles City Sound (Leon Bridges) in Fort Worth Texas with additional work by Adrian Quesada (Black Pumas), Abhi The Nomad and Austin Jenkins (White Denim). It was mixed and mastered at Abbey Road in London. Believer is Dr. Joe’s latest single, which came out on April 10 (Good Friday). I think this tune is cooking. I suppose this means I’m a believer! 🙂

Sources: Wikipedia; John Craigie website; John “Papa” Gros website; Scott Ellison website; Fretland website; Fretland Facebook page; Hillary Grace Fretland Facebook page; YouTube

What I’ve Been Listening to: Donald Fagen/The Nightfly

The other day, I found myself listening to Donald Fagen’s excellent solo debut album The Nightfly. More frequent visitors of the blog know I dig Steely Dan big time, so one wonders what took me so long to write about this record released in October 1982. Well, to my defense, I included The Nightfly in a previous post about Fagen’s 70th birthday in January 2018 but haven’t dedicated an entire piece to this gem. Until now.

In many ways, The Nightfly mirrors previous Steely Dan albums. To start with, the producer was Gary Katz, who also had produced all of the Dan’s seven records that had appeared by then. Driven by Fagen’s and Katz’s perfectionism and some technical challenges, The Nightfly took eight months to record, about on par with the Aja album, though shorter than Gaucho, Steely Dan’s final album prior to their 20-year recording hiatus. Like previous Steely Dan records, The Nightfly featured an army of top-notch session musicians. Larry Carlton (guitar), Chuck Rainey (bass), Jeff Porcaro (drums), Rick Derringer (guitar) and many other of these guys had played on Steely Dan albums.

Donald Fagen_The Nightfly Back Cover

But one musician was absent: Fagen’s long-time collaborator Walter Becker. While initially, Fagen thought he could easily handle the song-writing by himself, there came a point when he began to struggle. After the album’s release, he developed a full-blown writer’s block. It would take more than 11 years for his second solo album Kamakiriad to come out. That record was produced by Becker and was the first time he and Fagen collaborated since their breakup in 1981. Another key difference compared to Steely Dan albums were the largely autobiographical lyrics. Many of the songs incorporated topics from Fagen’s childhood in suburban New Jersey. Unlike most Steely Dan albums that were recorded live, for The Nightfly, Fagen opted to overdub each part separately.

Let’s get to some music. I was going to skip the excellent opener I.G.Y., since it was included in my above-mentioned post on Fagen’s 70th birthday. But as one of the album’s standouts, I simply couldn’t resist. I.G.Y, which stands for International Geophysical Year, captures America’s widespread optimistic vision about the country’s future in the late 1950s. The song includes concepts like undersea rail, solar-powered cities and public space travel – and a good dose of sarcasm. I.G.Y. also became the album’s lead single. It peaked at no. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is Donald Fagen’s only solo top 40 single on that chart.

According to Wikipedia, the title of the next song Green Flower Street was inspired by the jazz standard On Green Dolphin Street. During his childhood, Fagen became a huge jazz fan. It’s no coincidence that the album’s cover pictures him as a radio DJ with a turntable and a copy of 1958 jazz album Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders.

Ruby Baby is the only cover on the album. Co-written by music songwriting machine Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the tune was first recorded by The Drifters in 1956. Fagen’s take is jazzier than the original doo-wop version. It also was released as the record’s third and final single.

Another great tune is New Frontier. The title was taken from a quote by John F. Kennedy, who said during his acceptance speech for the Presidential nomination in 1960: “We stand today on the edge of a New Frontier—the frontier of the 1960s, the frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, the frontier of unfilled hopes and unfilled threats.” The lyrics are about teenage romance, which prompted a Wall Street Journal reporter to speculate the title may be a humorous metaphor to sex and adulthood. Here’s the song’s official video clip, which combines animation and live action, and is considered an early classic played on MTV. The tune also appeared separately as a single.

I’m Lester the Nightfly
Hello Baton Rouge
Won’t you turn your radio down
Respect the seven second delay we use

This is the first verse from the album’s title track, which captures Fagen’s fascination with jazz during his teenage years and his dream to become a late-night radio DJ. It’s the final tune I’d like to call out.

During a British radio segment about The Nightfly, which apparently aired around the time of Fagen’s 70’s birthday and featured archive interview soundbites of him from 1982, he commented: “I guess I’m 34 now, and I started to think back about how I came to be a musician. And in exploring that, I started thinking about the late ’50s and early ’60s when I first started listening to jazz and rhythm and blues and that kind of music. And that’s the kind of music that formed a lot of my attitudes at the time, not only the music but the whole culture connected with jazz and late-night radio and hipster culture and all those things, which I thought of as an alternative to the rather bland life I was leading out in the suburbs near New York City. So that theme runs through most all of the songs in the album.”

The Nightfly was not only a standout musically, but also technologically. It is one of the earliest fully digitally recorded albums. In fact, it brought to a successful conclusion Fagen’s and Katz’s previous experimentation with digital recording on Steely Dan’s Gaucho, which ended up being an analog record. But it wasn’t an easy feat and led to various challenges with the digital recording machines. In a 1983 story by Billboard magazine, Fagen said, “I was ready to transfer to analog and give it up on several occasions, but my engineering staff kept talking me into it.”

The album was positively received by music critics. It was also nominated for seven Grammy Awards in 1983. While performing worse commercially than Dan’s Gaucho, The Nightfly still was certified platinum in the U.S. and the UK. It climbed to no. 11 on the Billboard 200, making it Fagen’s second-best chart performing solo album after Kamakiriad, which peaked at no. 10 on that chart.

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; Billboard Magazine; YouTube

Leiber-Stoller, Songwriting Partnership Extraordinaire

I believe Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller first entered my radar screen as a 13-year-old when I got an Elvis Presley songbook for guitar. It was shortly after I had started taking lessons and was able to play a few chords. Elvis was my idol at the time. What I didn’t know then and frankly didn’t fully appreciate until conducting some research for this post was the enormous scope of Leiber-Stoller’s work, which goes far beyond some of the best-known early classic rock & roll tunes.

For some time, I had contemplated writing about important songwriting partnerships including Leiber-Stoller, but once I noticed how many songs these guys wrote and how many artists they worked with, I felt they warranted a dedicated post. I also decided to largely exclude their production work and primarily focus on their writing during the ’50s and early ’60s, which is their most exciting period, in my opinion.

Lyricist Jerry Leiber was born as Jerome Leiber on April 25, 1933 in Baltimore, Md. Composer Michael Stoller, who later changed his legal fist name to Mike, was born on March 13, 1933 in Belle Harbor, Queens, N.Y. In addition to being born the same year to Jewish families, Leiber and Stoller also shared a love for blues, boogie-woogie and black culture. They met in Los Angeles in 1950, while Leiber was a senior in high school and Stoller was a college freshman.

Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller
Mike Stoller (l) & Jerry Leiber in 1980

According to an extended interview Lieber and Stoller gave to NAMM Oral History Program in December 2007, Leiber had written some lyrics and knew he wanted to be a songwriter. What he didn’t know was how to write music. A drummer referred him to piano player Mike Stoller. Once they met and Stoller looked at some of Leiber’s lyrics, he noticed they were 12-bar blues. He said, “I love the blues” and started playing the piano, with Leiber singing along. And Stoller said, “Mike, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” Okay, I made up that last quote, borrowing from one of my favorite black and white movies of all time. What is true is that day the two men agreed to form a partnership that would generate some of the best-known songs of the ’50s and ’60s.

The first artist who recorded a Leiber-Stoller composition was Jimmy Witherspoon, one of the blues singers the duo followed to help them develop their “black style” of writing music and lyrics. Real Ugly Woman appeared as a single in 1951. The words are just as lovely as the title! 🙂 A little excerpt: Well, she’s a real ugly woman/Don’t see how she got that way/Yeah, she’s a real ugly woman/Don’t see how she got that way/Yes, and every time she comes around/she runs all my friends away…

The following year in 1952, Leiber and Stoller scored their first hit with Hard Times, which was recorded by Charles Brown. The tune climbed to no. 7 on the Billboard R&B Chart.

1952 also saw one of Leiber and Stoller’s best-known songs, Hound Dog, which was first recorded by Big Mama Thornton. It was also the first time the duo produced music, though the production credits went to Johnny Otis, who was supposed to lead the recording session but ended up playing the drums on the tune. Released in February that year, it sold more than half a million copies and topped the Billboard R&B Chart. Three years later, Elvis Presley turned Hound Dog into a mega-hit. I like his version but have to say Thornton really killed it, so here’s her original.

Another early rock & roll classic penned by Lieber-Stoller is Kansas City, which according to Wikipedia is one of their most recorded tunes with over three hundred versions – they had to count them all! Initially, the tune was titled K.C. Loving and recorded by American boogie-woogie pianist and singer Little Willie Littlefield. It appeared in August 1952. While the song had some regional success, it didn’t chart nationally. That changed in April 1959 when Wilbert Harrison released his version, which became a no. 1 on the Billboard’s Hot 100 and R&B charts. Here’s the original. Feel free to shuffle along!

Going back to Elvis, while Leiber and Stoller didn’t mind having written a million-seller with Hound Dog, they weren’t particularly fond of Presley’s cover. But it led to writing more songs for Elvis, including one of my favorite ’50s rock & roll tunes of all time: Jailhouse Rock. Released in September 1957, is was the title track of the Elvis motion picture that came out in November of the same year. Leiber-Stoller played a prominent role in the making of the film’s soundtrack. Apart from Jailhouse Rock, they wrote three other tunes and worked with Elvis in the studio. Of course, I had to take a clip from the picture, which has to be one of the most iconic dance scenes ever captured on film. Doesn’t it feel a bit like watching an early version of a Michael Jackson music video?

Blues and rock & roll represent the early years of Leiber and Stoller’s songwriting. Beginning in the mid-’50s after they had started working for Atlantic Records, the duo branched out and became more pop-oriented. Among other artists, they wrote a number of songs for The Drifters and The Coasters. Here’s Ruby Baby, a great soulful, groovy, doo-wop tune from 1956. More than 25 years later, Donald Fagen became one of the other artists covering the song, when he included it on his excellent debut solo album The Nightfly from October 1982.

Next up: Yakety Yak by The Coasters. The song was released in April 1958 and topped the Billboard Pop Chart, Billboard R&B Chart and Cash Box Pop Chart. The track was also produced by Leiber-Stoller and became the biggest hit for The Coasters.

The last Leiber-Stoller tune I’d like to highlight is Stand By Me, which they co-wrote with Ben E. King. He first recorded it in April 1961, a year after he had left The Drifters to start a solo career. In addition to writing, once again Leiber-Stoller also produced the beautiful track, which remains one of my favorite ’60s songs to this day.

Asked during the above NAMM interview to comment on the fact that “nice Jewish boys didn’t really write a whole lot of hit records for blues singers at that point” (in the early ’50s), Stoller said, “Actually, they did later on, or at least later on we did know…It was considered to be somewhat peculiar at the time.” Added Lieber: “Black people always thought we were black until they came in contact with us and saw that we weren’t.” BTW, if you’re into rock & roll history, you may enjoy watching the entire interview, even though it’s close to 90 minutes. Again, you can do so here.

Altogether, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote or co-wrote 70-plus chart hits. According to lieberstoller.com, their songs have been performed by more than 1,000 artists, who in addition to the above include The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, B.B. King, James Brown, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Beach Boys, Buddy Holly, Fats Domino, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters, Joe Williams, Tom Jones, Count Basie, Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, Luther Vandross, John Lennon, Aretha Franklin and even Edith Piaf, among others – wow, it almost poses the question which artists did not sing their songs!

Leiber-Stoller’s work has extensively and rightly been recognized. Accolades include inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and 1985, respectively, as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Academy of Songwriters in 1996. As reported by The New York Times, Jerry Leiber died from cardio-pulmonary failure on August 22, 2011 in Los Angeles at the age of 78. Mike Stoller is 86 years old and still alive. He can be heard introducing Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul on their great 2018 Soulfire Live! album for a gig at the Orpheum Theatre in New York – priceless!

Sources: Wikipedia; NAMM; Leiberstoller.com; The New York Times; YouTube

On This Day In Rock & Roll History: May 20

Earlier today it occurred to me that I hadn’t done a post for this recurring feature for quite some time. I oftentimes find it intriguing what these look-backs on rock & roll history can unearth. As in previous installments, this overview is selective and as such by no means meant to be complete. Here we go.

1964: Rudy Lewis, the lead vocalist of The Drifters, suddenly passed away at age 28. It was the night before the band was scheduled to record Under The Boardwalk, which would become one of their biggest hits. Lewis had performed lead vocals on most of The Drifters’ best known songs since the departure of Ben E. King in 1960. Instead of rescheduling studio time to find a new frontman, the band decided to bring back Johnny Moore, who first had been their lead vocalist in the mid-50s.

Rudy Lewis
Rudy Lewis

1966: The Who were scheduled to play a concert at Ricky Tick Club in Windsor, England. When John Entwistle and Keith Moon didn’t show up in time for the gig, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey grabbed the bass player and the drummer of a local band that had opened up for them and took the stage. Moon and Entwistle finally arrived in the middle of the set. Words started flying, and a fight broke out that culminated with Townshend hitting Moon in the head with his guitar – thinking how Townshend was infamous for furiously smashing his guitar at the end of Who performances, it’s not a pretty picture to imagine. Moon and Entwistle quit the band over the incident. But it only took them a week before realizing they just couldn’t walk away from one of the greatest rock & roll bands – the perks that came with it likely also played a role!

The Who In 1966
The Who in full harmony in a 1966 press photo. From left to right: John Entwistle, Keith Moon, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend

1967: The Beatles’ new album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was given an official preview on Where It’s At, a radio show broadcast on the BBC Light Programme. The preview was a pre-taped feature by DJ Kenny Everett and included interviews with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. There were also extracts from each of the Sgt. Pepper tunes except for one – A Day In The Life. The day prior to the broadcast, the BBC decided to ban the song over lyrics it considered to promote a permissive attitude toward taking drugs. I suppose they must have gotten their knickers twisted over the words in the song’s middle section, Found my coat and grabbed my hat/Made the bus in seconds flat/Found my way upstairs and had a smoke/And somebody spoke and I went into a dream – oh, Paul, how could you!

1972: T. Rex were on top of the British singles chart with Metal Guru. Written by Marc Bolan, it was the British rock band’s fourth and final no. 1 single in the U.K. The song did not chart in the U.S. and peaked at no. 45 in Canada. Metal Guru was the second single from The Slider, the glam rockers’ seventh studio album that came out in July that year.

Sources: This Day In Rock, This Day In Music, The Beatles Bible, Wikipedia, YouTube

 

When Covers Are Just As Much Fun As Originals

A playlist of some of my favorite remakes

Lately, I’m somehow in the mood of compiling lists: first car songs, then train tunes and now remakes. Given how much I enjoy listening to great covers, it’s a surprise I didn’t do this list first!

In general, remakes I like fall into two categories: A version that changes the character of a song, essentially turning it into a new tune. Perhaps the best example I can think of is Joe Cocker’s version of The Beatles’ With a Little Help From My Friends. Or it simply can be a remake of a tune that stays true to its original – nothing wrong with that, especially if it’s a great song! One terrific example I came across recently is Roger McGuinn’s cover of If I Needed Someone, one of my favorite Beatles tunes. I know, again the Fab Four – I just can’t help it!

Obviously, it won’t come as a big surprise that both of the above tunes are on my list. Here is the entire compilation.

With a Little Help From My Friends/Joe Cocker

Not only credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney by actually also written collaboratively by the two, With a Little Help From My Friends first appeared in May 1967 on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was one of only a handful of Beatles tunes featuring Ringo Starr on lead vocals. Cocker’s version came out two years later as the title song of his debut album.

Love Hurts/Nazareth

Written by American songwriter Boudleaux Bryant, Love Hurts was first recorded by The Everly Brothers in July 1960. In 1975, Scottish hard rock band Nazareth turned the tune into an epic power ballad, including it on their sixth studio album Hair of the Dog. It’s another great example of a remake that completely changed the character of the original tune.

Under the Boardwalk/John Mellencamp

Under the Boardwalk was first recorded by The Drifters and released as a single in June 1964. The song was created by songwriters Kenny Young and Arthur Resnick. Perhaps the best known cover of the tune is from The Rolling Stones, which was included on their second U.S. record 12 X 5 released in October 1964. While I like the Stones version, I think John Mellencamp did an even better remake for his 1999 studio album Rough Harvest.

Pinball Wizard/Elton John

Pinball Wizard is one of my all-time favorite tunes from The Who. Written by Pete Townsend, it was released as a single in March 1969 and also included on the Tommy album that appeared two months thereafter. The one thing I always felt about The Who’s version is that it ended somewhat prematurely. Enter Elton John and his dynamite, extended cover for the rock opera’s 1975 film adaption.

Stand By Me/John Lennon

One of the most beautiful ballads of the 60s, Stand By Me was written by Ben E. King, together with the songwriter powerhouse of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. The tune was first released by King as a single in 1961 and also later included on his 1962 studio album Don’t Play That Song. One of my favorite remakes is John Lennon’s version, which he included on his sixth studio album Rock ‘n’ Roll released in February 1975.

If I Needed Someone/Roger McGuinn

Written by George Harrison, If I Needed Someone was included on The Beatles’ sixth studio album Rubber Soul from 1965. Harrison played his Rickenbacker 360/12 to record the tune, which he had first used the previous year during the motion picture A Hard Day’s Night. That’s where Roger McGuinn for the first time heard the beautiful sound of the 12-string electric guitar. He decided to use it for his own music, which resulted in The Byrds’ signature jingle jangle sound. Given this inspiration, it’s perhaps not a big surprise that McGuinn ended up recording a cover of the tune. It was included on his 2004 studio record Limited Edition.

Proud Mary/Ike & Tina Turner

Proud Mary was written by the great John Fogerty and first released by Creedence Clearwater Revival in early 1969, both as a single and on their second studio album Bayou Country. Then in 1971, Ike & Tina Turner recorded an amazing remake. It appeared as a single and was included on the album Working Together. The cover, which became their biggest hit, is another great example of how a remake can become a completely new song.

Light My Fire/José Feliciano

Credited to all four members of The Doors – Jim Morrison, Robbie Krieger, John Densmore and Ray Manzarek – Light My Fire appeared on the band’s eponymous debut album from January 1967. It was also released as a single in April that year. I’ve always loved the organ part on that tune. And then there is of course the cover from José Feliciano, which as a guitarist I appreciate in particular. It appeared on 1968’s Feliciano!, his fourth studio record. Feliciano’s laid-back jazzy style to play the tune is exceptionally beautiful.

Runaway/Bonnie Raitt

Runaway is one of my favorite early 60s pop tunes. Written by Del Shannon and keyboarder Max Crook, it was first released as a single by Shannon in February 1961. The song was also included on his debut studio album Runaway with Del Shannon, which appeared in June that year. Bonnie Raitt, who I’ve admired for many years as an exceptional guitarist and songwriter, recorded a fantastic remake for her 1977 studio album Sweet Forgiveness.  I was fortunate enough to see this amazing lady last year. She is still on top of her game!

Hard to Handle/The Black Crowes

Hard to Handle is one of the many great tunes from Otis Redding, who co-wrote it with Al Bell and Allen Jones. It was released in June 1968, six months after Redding’s untimely death at age 26 in a plane crash. In 1990, The Black Crowes recorded a fantastic rock version of the song for their debut studio album Shake Your Money Maker, scoring their first no. 1 single on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks. It is perhaps the tune’s best known cover.

Sources: Wikipedia; The Beatles Bible; YouTube