FUELED BY LEIBER AND STOLLER

I don't listen to a lot of doo wop, but I dig it. Because I don't listen to a lot of it, I'm limited to the better known vocal groups. I know there were a shitload of them, but that's one of those sub-genres that I'll get around to learning more about when I get around to it. That said, there are a handful I spin semi-regularly. The Drifters, the Olympics, the Cadets and, probably the best known (or at least the most played) vocal group of the era, the Coasters. The Coasters recorded for Atlantic, and a bunch of their hits were written by the songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Leiber and Stoller were a damn machine, writing hit after hit not just for the Coasters but Elvis and the Drifters, among others, as well. The Coasters though benefited the most and in return Leiber and Stoller finally bought that boat.

Here's a handful. Not rock 'n' roll enough for you? "Poison Ivy" was covered by the Stones, "Bad Detective" was covered by the New York Dolls. That's just two. Good enough for me.

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Listen:
The Coasters - Poison Ivy mp3 at Internet Archive
The Coasters - Down in Mexico mp3 at Internet Archive
The Coasters - Bad Detective (streaming) at YouTube
The Coasters - Young Blood mp3 at Internet Archive

LET THE DAY GO WHERE IT GOES

This song changed my day. I heard it, started thinking about Chess Records and before I knew it the boxed set was out and splayed all over the stacks of mail on the coffee table. Everyone ought to have a stash of Chess. Here's John Lee Hooker's "Walkin' the Boogie", along with Little Walter's "Juke" because that was the next song that I listened to before falling into the Chess abyss.

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Listen:
John Lee Hooker - Walkin' the Boogie (alternate) mp3 at Internet Archive
Little Walter - Juke mp3 at Internet Archive

A BOYS ROOM STEREO WARS SUCKER PUNCH

Good gawd. After that post last night, I was thinking about the other shit my brothers and I used to listen to. One thing I remember is that we were always looking for deep cuts that were as good or better than the popular songs from albums. Case in point: A song by the Edgar Winter Group came to mind. Not "Frankenstein", not "Free Ride", not even on that album, by far his best selling. It was a song on the album that followed, Shock Treatment. The song, written and sung by Dan Hartman, normally the bassist, was "Queen of My Dreams". It actually rocks harder than just about anything I've ever heard from Winter. Then again, Winter is on it but on "ARP bass" (ARP was a synthesizer). Derringer is absent and Hartman plays all the guitars. So, effectively a power trio. The guitar is good and crunchy. During the solo it's the speaker to speaker bean bag toss thing. Whatever, it was 1973. The drums are good too, classic seventies ham, "I've got a big kit and I'm gonna use every fuckin' piece of it" (in spirit if not in practice). Overall, it's a great rock 'n' roll song.

Steady yourselves folks. A horrible thing happened after that song became a favorite. After Hartman sort of disappeared (or maybe I wasn't paying attention), I kind of forgot about him, but not completely. Because a few years later I saw that he had a solo record. Alright! I thought. Another "Queen of My Dreams"!! No, friends, it was not. It was "I Can Dream About You". Think Rick Astley-era ear worm, you'll recognize it. It was a huge hit. I fucking hate that song. Thankfully that didn't change "Queen of My Dreams" to me, it just meant that Dan Hartman saw where the money was and went. What a dick.

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Listen:
Edgar Winter Group - Queen of My Dreams (streaming) at YouTube 1973
Dan Hartman - I Can Dream About You at YouTube 1984

SOUNDS FROM THE BOYS ROOM

Here's one tested in the Boys' Room Stereo Wars. When I was growing up, I shared a large bedroom with my twin and my younger brother. There was one bedroom, two stereos and three record collections. What could go wrong? A lot. But with three teenagers buying records you could afford to take chances more often. Peter Kaukonen was one for me. I'd never heard of him but saw an image and a blurb in the back pages of Creem magazine, him jamming with Johnny Winter. I took a chance. It's pretty good, enough so that I still have it. This song was my favorite and still is. I used to play it occasionally when I DJ'd. I've looked for a download to link to for years and have never run across one. Download or not, check it out. If you like seventies guitar rock you'll dig it.

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Listen:
Peter Kaukonen - Dynamo Snackbar (streaming) at YouTube

 

STOP THE REUNIONS. START A NEW BAND

Here you go, a loud blast of Refused at the BBC. Unsurprisingly, I'm fucking out of touch. The LP was a limited edition of something like 5500 and yet it sells used for as low as seven dollars? There's really that little interest in them that there aren't 5500 people that like the band so much they ain't sellin'? I happen to like the Refused. They kinda had their own sound, or it might just be me. Anyway, these are from that BBC thing. It was released in 2020, but I'm not sure of the actual recording date. Discogs says that it was first broadcast in 2019 but that would mean that, wait. Either the record was released decades after it was recorded or,...no, really? Yep. I checked. Those rascals reunited. Years ago. Hey, I told you I was out of touch.

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Listen:
Refused - Economy of Death mp3 at internet Archive
Refused - I Wanna Watch the World Burn mp3 at internet Archive
The whole thing:
Refused - Not Fit For Broadcast (Live At The BBC) at internet Archive
Visit:
Refused - Not Fit For Broadcast (Live At The BBC) at Discogs

THE BOTTLE TIMES THREE

Just last Sunday I was lamenting how the Latin show on the local jazz station had gradually become lightweight. Not the gut punch it used to be. So I was achin' to hear something with some umph. I ran into a 2009 cover of Gil Scott Heron's "The Bottle" by Joe Bataan (a Fania/Salsoul guy). It did have umph, even compared with Heron's original. Recorded in 2009, long past his "prime", with a regular band. A little rawer than his earlier stuff, in a good way. Bataan had, as I found out about ten minutes ago, recorded the song originally in 1975. Unfortunately that version is all laden with strings n' shit. The sax sounds like the background music on The Love Boat. It was 1975. Anyway, here you go, three versions of "The Bottle" to play around with.

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Listen:
Joe Bataan - The Bottle mp3 at Internet Archive 2009
Gil Scott Heron - The Bottle mp3 at Internet Archive 1974
Joe Bataan -  La Botella (The Bottle) mp3 at Internet Archive 1975

PARTY AT LARRY'S

Yikes! I flaked last night. Ordinarily skipping a night of posting is not a big deal. But last night was the last Friday night before Fat Tuesday so a little party fuel would have helped...Wait, who am I kidding? The real Mardi Gras monsters do it up on Fat Tuesday. Regardless, here's a couple mixes to fuel what's left of the weekend parties, courtesy of Funky 16 Corners. The host there, Larry, knows his shit. One look at the song lists should tell you that, a lot of B-sides and lesser known cuts from the heavy hitters. You real deal Fat Tuesday freaks can pause it for the next couple days and then get out there charging on Tuesday.

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Listen:
Funky16Corners Mardi Gras! at Funky 16 Corners Two fine mixes, Mardi Gras Boogaloo and Keep the Fire Burning. One click and mix the drinks.

AND I THOUGHT IT WAS SOME SMART HIPPIE.

I know exactly when I first heard Professor Longhair. Back when we were in our twenties my brother, ever the music fiend, bought his New Orleans Piano LP because he'd heard so many people referencing his music. It was the first time my brothers and I realized that there even was a New Orleans-centric type of music. Yeah, rabbit hole, this way.

New Orleans Piano was a great place to start the dive. A 1972 compilation of early 45s and unreleased material recorded from 1949-1953, this is early stuff, the very stuff digested by subsequent New Orleans greats Fats Domino, Huey "Piano" Smith, and (him again) Allen Toussaint, among many others.

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Listen:
Professor Longhair - In the Night mp3 at Internet Archive
Professor Longhair - Ball the Wall mp3 at Internet Archive
Professor Longhair - Boogie Woogie mp3 at Internet Archive
Professor Longhair - Tipitina mp3 at Internet Archive
Professor Longhair - Mardi Gras in New Orleans mp3 at Internet Archive

THE FIXTURE

Of all the people that you can say truly epitomize New Orleans music one near the top would have to be Allen Toussaint. Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. This coming Tuesday, February 21 is Fat Tuesday, the big ass party crescendo of Mardi Gras week, and I'm getting a jump on it lest I forget. So, Toussaint night, Sansu Records to be exact. Sansu Records was started by Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn in 1965. There's a sort of a Nothern Soul sort of thing on some, unlike his more syncopated early stuff. It was just moonlighting for Toussaint, who was playing music, writing music and producing in addition to running successive record labels for decades. Dude has a massive discography in every category. Here are a handful on Sansu.

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Listen:
John Williams and the Tick Tocks - A Little Tighter mp3 at Internet Archive
Omar Khayyam - Rubaiyats mp3 at Internet Archive
Betty Harris - I'm Evil Tonight mp3 at Internet Archive
Curly Moore - Get Low Down (Pt 1) mp3 at Internet Archive
Curly Moore - Get Low Down (Pt 2) mp3 at Internet Archive
Prime Mates - Hot Tamales (Pt 1) mp3 at Internet Archive
Prime Mates - Hot Tamales (Pt 2) mp3 at Internet Archive

ADD FLOWERS OR CANDY AND YOU'RE SET.

Holy shit! Tomorrow's Valentines Day! Not to worry, not for me anyway. Alas, another year without a squeeze. (Not a big deal, I'm used to it.) That said, I'm posting these to make you look like you didn't need reminding. Three mixes by Reverend Tom Frost, musician and former blogger at Spread the Good Word who has kept his Bloody Love Mixes online long after he stopped blogging. There's a handful of other single cuts to for those of you that find a way to get your significant other get frisky to a streaming mix.

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Listen:
Ronnie Self - You're So Right For Me mp3 at Rocky-52.net
The Sonics - Have Love Will Travel mp3 at Hey Cool Kid
Bo Diddley - Who Do You Love? mp3 at Rocky-52.net
Little Willie John - Fever mp3 at Clones Project
The Mixes:
Spread the Good Word's A Bloody Love Mix, Volume 3
John Buck & The Blazers, Bobby Freeman, Dorsey Burnette, Donnie & Ronnie, the Del-Vikings, Don Johnston, Marvin Rainwater, Piano Red, B.B. King, Ann Cole, the Valentinos, Soul Brothers Six, the Duetts, the Highway Q.C.'s, Del Shannon, Tom Reeves, Jimmy Kirkland, Lord Creator, Johnny Burnette, Sanford Clark, Eddie Cochran, the Four Dreamers, and the Animals

Spread the Good Word's A Bloody Love Mix, Volume 2

The Cramps, the World Famous Upsetters, Ronnie Love, Lavern Baker, Mickie Most & His Playboys, the Mustangs, the Righteous Brothers, Johnny Cash, the Wild Ones, Etta James, Benny Joy, Elvis Presley, Roy Hamilton, Bracey Everett, Shouting Thomas Torment, Billy Fury, Little Willie John, Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson, Renato Carosone, Irving Aaronson & His Commanders, Ric Cartey, and the ever amorous Wild Man Fischer.

Spread the Good Word's A Bloody Love Mix, Volume 1

Joe Houston Orchestra, The Phantom, The Victors, Sonny Terry & Buster Brown, Heavy Trash, Kris Jensen, Sammy Myers, The Royal Jokers, Fire Escape, The Del-Rios, The Raelets, Wanda Jackson, Eddie Taylor, Johnny Angel, Ole Miss Down Beats, Ronnie Hawkins And The Hawks, Bernie Hardison, Ric Cartey, Johnny Watson, The Blues Busters, Slim Whitman.

R.I.P. WRITER OF RAW MATERIAL

One thing I dig about good songwriters is that after you've heard a handful of versions of a particular song, the original version, sometimes a hit, sort of dissolves and every version becomes more about the song and whether, depending on the amount of tweaking, it is still there. Burt Bacharach's songs are like that. I can't remember what any of his own versions of his songs sound like, though "The Look of Love" comes to mind. I can think of some hit versions, mostly Dionne Warwick stuff and I've never been a big fan of hers. Nothing personal, I'd just rather hear Isaac Haye's Quiet Storm version of "Walk On By". That one's hitting the bong filled with Courvoisier.

As is often the case with any cover that Isaac Hayes does, as the slow down and chill part of the Bacharach speedball, there is a more upbeat version that bears just a skeletal resemblance of Hayes's source material. In this case it's Roland Raashan Kirk, the man with more reeds than hands. His version is a goddamn party.

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Listen:
Isaac Hayes - Walk On By mp3 at Internet Archive
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Walk On By mp3 at Melting Pot
Isaac Hayes - Close to You (streaming) at YouTube
Isaac Hayes - The Look of Love (streaming) at YouTube

SHIT WEEK WAS CANCELED.

You've probably heard that Burt Bacharach passed away. That would be reason enough to start off another Shit Week. That was negated in these parts with the news that Celia Cruz is slated to appear on a U.S. minted quarter (a twenty five sent piece). Holy shit! A Cuban (exile) salsa singer (the first Afro-Latina!) on a coin. Small consolation I know but I gotta say that when I heard that within minutes of hearing about Bacharach it was as if she canceled Shit Week from beyond. I'm looking forward to having some azucar in my pocket. Bacharach will be covered later, most likely with some of Isaac Hayes's interpretations which are still my favorite.

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Listen:
Celia Cruz - Yo Vivre (I Will Survive) mp3 at Clones Project
Celia Cruz - Mi Cuba mp3 at Baby In Vaggio
Celia Cruz - Cuba Libre mp3 at Tumblr
Celia Cruz - Guantanamera mp3 at Tumblr
Celia Cruz - Sopita en Botella mp3 at Computer Whiz Guru
Celia Cruz with Fania All-Stars - Cuando Despiertes mp3 at Internet Archive
Celia Cruz with Johnny Pacheco - Quimbara mp3 at Internet Archive

EDDIE'S SAFE.

Oh,  wow. I ran into a cover of Eddie Cochran's "Something Else" by Led Zeppelin, from a live 1969 BBC thing. The music backing is pretty straight, about the way you'd expect them to sound covering it. Then, Robert Plant. Gads! While Plant almost quivers you can't help but wonder if he's just having a laugh. It's a really wimpy delivery. Hell, Sid Vicious sings it more convincingly, albeit with more attitude than is really necessary (it is Sid Vicious). I just added the Flamin' Groovies because it was done the same year as Led Zep's. Yee haw, contrast and compare your ass off.

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Listen:
Eddie Cochran - Something Else mp3 at Rocky 52
Led Zeppelin - Something Else (live) mp3 at Internet Archive 1969
Flamin' Groovies - Something Else mp3 at Internet Archive 1969
Sex Pistols - Something Else (streaming) at YouTube Sid Vicious, vocals

AFTER HOURS ROCK 1980

It's hard to describe how odd it was for Wall of Voodoo to cover "Ring of Fire" back in 1980. Reaching back for unlikely covers happened, that's always happened, but hearing Johnny Cash covered by a band that featured a synthesizer, as ho-hum as that sounds today, was a bold move in 1980. Even bolder from a group of guys in the L.A. punk scene (members were from the Skulls, the Eyes, and Black Randy and the Metro Squad). They also covered Ennio Morricone's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and "Hang 'em High". That one kind of makes sense since Stan Ridgway was running a film score company when the band formed. (His business was across the street from the Masque, a small gritty club that was the epicenter of the L.A. punk scene at the time, which is how the band ended up with a bunch of punk rockers). Here's a handful for those of you who can only drudge up "Mexican Radio" when Wall of Voodoo gets mentioned at the after work mixer.

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Listen:
Wall of Voodoo - Ring of Fire mp3 at Internet Archive
Wall of Voodoo - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly/Hang 'em High (live) mp3 at Internet Archive
Wall of Voodoo - Longarm mp3 at Internet Archive
Wall of Voodoo - Granma's House mp3 at Internet Archive Effective

GOOD OLD FASHIONED WILD GOOSE CHASE

I was listening to an episode of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour yesterday and in the introduction of "The Fool" by Sanford Clark he mentions two things. One is that the guitar player on the song is Al Casey. Al Casey, being a member of the Wrecking Crew, has played on tons of stuff you've probably heard, but he also did session work on his own, along with taking part in some of the fictional surf band LPs when surf music was big. Leave it to Dylan to realize that there'd be some geek that appreciated that info.

The other thing that Dylan mentioned was that he thought that Clark sounded a lot like Elvis. Personally, I think a more accurate description is a combination of Elvis and Ricky Nelson. That said, both items put me one step closer to getting his recent book "The Philosophy of Modern Song". One thing I really dig about Dylan, other than his music, is his sharing of that mother-lode of musical knowledge in that shaggy skull of his. Sort of passing the record nerd torch.

So, what about Sanford Clark? Well, he sounds like a cross...wait, already mentioned that. Check "The Fool". Some of you will recognize it. I sure did, though I have no idea where or when I first heard it. But thanks to Dylan, this time I listened intently to the guitar. Casey's still battin' a thousand.

After a couple more worthy Clark cuts I run into "It's Nothing To Me". I recognized it as the song Johnny Winter recorded as "Ain't Nothin' to Me", in 1973. I remembered that he hadn't credited the songwriter on the album (can't believe I remembered that).  Clark's version has the songwriter credit as Pat Patterson. Why hadn't Winter credited the songwriter? Thinking that reissues usually expand on the original liner notes, I checked the last released edition of Winter's LP.  It was credited to a E.Dunbar. What the hell. I backtracked and that credit was added in 2016. Considering that all other versions of the song prior to his 1973 release were credited Patterson, I can only guess why Winter omitted the songwriting credit. He did change the title and line in the song from "It's Nothing to Me" to "Ain't Nothin' to Me". Maybe he was waiting to see if he could claim the writing credit. Regardless, who is this E.Dunbar? Checked all sorts of sites, a songwriter database and all I could come up with was a credit at Wikipedia "(Leon Payne(as Pat Patterson))". I give up. Fuck you internet.

The Billy Strings video  above is really good. Looks to be the same setting as the "Dust In A Baggy" video.

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Listen:
Sanford Clark - The Fool mp3 at Rocky 52
Sanford Clark - Usta Be My Baby mp3 at Rocky 52
Sanford Clark - Modern Romance mp3 at Rocky 52
Sanford Clark - It's Nothing to Me (1966)(streaming) at YouTube
Johnny Winter - Ain't Nothin' to Me (1973)(streaming) at YouTube
Red Kirk - It's Nothing to Me (1957)(streaming) at YouTube

BARRETT STRONG PASSED AWAY

I just heard tonight that Barrett Strong passed away on January 30th. (Shit, I gotta pull my head out of the sand.) Most people would recognize the name as the writer and singer of "Money (That's What I Want", the first big hit for Motown in 1959. He also co-wrote a mess of hits for the Temptations in their Norman Whitfield produced psychedelic soul era; “Cloud Nine,” “I Wish it Would Rain,” “I Can’t Get Next to You,” “Psychedelic Shack,” “Ball of Confusion,” “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”. Shit, I checked out "Money" tonight for the first time in a long while. I forgot how powerful it was. "Misery" is great one too, with a down tempo spooky thing going on.

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Listen:
Barrett Strong - Money (That's What I Want) mp3 at Internet Archive
Barrett Strong - Misery (streaming) at YouTube
Co-written by Barrett Strong:
The Temptations - Can't Get Next to You mp3 at Box.net (?)
The Temptations - Cloud Nine mp3 at Box.net (?)
The Temptations - Ball of Confusion mp3 at Snuthing Anything
The Temptations - Psychedelic Shack mp3 at AM Then FM With spoken intro
The Temptations - Papa Was a Rolling Stone (7 minute version) mp3 at Lots of Fish

PASSING THE TORCH LIKE A HOT POTATO

Here's a good juxtaposition. Robert Johnson's "Preachin' Blues" covered by the Gun Club as "Preaching the Blues". The Gun Club (above) were an L.A. band made up of off-duty members of the punk scene. They rip the shit out of the song. (Before anybody gets a fact checker hard on, I know Johnson didn't write it and I'm not even sure his version was the first.) After hearing the Gun Club I got distracted and when I get distracted, I relish it as an excuse to bale. So, wrapping things up, as a chaser there's Beehive and the Barracudas' cover of the Gun Club's "Sex Beat".

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Listen:
Robert Johnson - Preachin' Blues mp3 at Internet Archive
The Gun Club - Preaching The Blues mp3 at Internet Archive
The Gun Club - For the Love of Ivy mp3 at Internet Archive
The Gun Club - She's Like Heroin to Me mp3 at Internet Archive
The Gun Club - Sex Beat mp3 at Internet Archive
Beehive and the Barracudas - Sex Beat mp3 at Dollar Record

THE REAL CRAZY SHIT

Several years ago a neighbor stopped by to chat and, he being a fellow music fiend, our conversation was all over the place. This band, that record, this genre and then, jazz. I, for one, was jazz-nostic. I thought anyone like Kenny G was intolerable. But Ron Ashton (Stooges) was a jazz freak. What gives? My neighbor told me that his real jazz introduction was when he listened to his dad's copy of John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, listening with his full attention. Ah, now I get it. Really listen.

So it's been a few years, and if you've been around here any length of time you have probably guessed that I like jazz. Not all jazz, but a lot. For me, the more wigged out the better. It's a punk rock rush when it gets crazy. Last night it did. I ran into Coltrane's Ascension, an album with two versions of the same song, "Ascension Edition II" is 40:23 minutes long, "Ascension Edition I" is 38:31 minutes. Overdoing it? No, not all. They're sufficiently different, with a shitload of improvisation going on.

Rather then run off at the mouth about what my listening experience was like, just listen to it. It really is fucking amazing. There is a link to the reissue liner notes so you can get an idea of the Who's Who of jazz greats that were hunkered down with him, all going ape-shit at the same time. If you get it bad, there's a lengthy thing at Jazz Times.

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Listen:
John Coltrane - Ascension Edition II mp3 at Internet Archive
John Coltrane - Ascension Edition I mp3 at Internet Archive
Visit:
John Coltrane - Ascension liner notes at Internet Archive
Highest Trane: John Coltrane’s World-Building Ascension at JazzTimes