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.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

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

HIS OWN COOL

Years ago I saw Isaac Hayes on a late show, Letterman or some other show, I've forgotten. He was conducting a big band, might have had strings and a horn section, I've forgotten that too. What I do remember is there was a shitload of musicians and he was leading them through a note for note rendition of "Shaft" that sounded exactly like the record. I knew he was multi-talented as a performer, songwriter and arranger, but watching this performance it hit me that he was not unlike Brian Wilson, Phil Spector or some other producer in that the huge production was heard first in his head. All the building blocks were there. Everything I've heard since has been informed by that viewing. There are very few people who can stretch a song out like Hayes. The tension raising and lowering, climaxing, exhaling, crescendos and all manners of dragging you back in.

Hayes's cover of Burt Bacharach's "Walk On By" (hit version by Dionne Warwick), is a perfect example. It's also an excuse to repost the song yet again, because the old link went dead. We can't be sitting around here without a working link to this tour de force. So there's that and his cover of "Come Together". Six minutes of top 40 turned into twenty four minutes of trippy layered downtempo subtly psychedelic soul.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Isaac Hayes - Walk On By mp3 at Internet Archive
Isaac Hayes - Something mp3 at The Frump

KEEP PLAYING.

There's a cover of "Walk On By" over at Soul Sides, by some band called Spontaneous Combustion. It's not bad, but it just wasn't getting it done. After just about a minute of it, I had to hear Isaac Hayes's extend-o-version. He did a lot of songs like that, long drawn out dramatic slow jams; the slowest of slow. Here's two.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Isaac Hayes - Walk On By mp3 at Louder Softer 12:03
Isaac Hayes - Something mp3 at The Ear Hole 11:47

WHAT IS "SOUL FINGER"?

You've heard it a thousand times but, man, does it get ever get old? From the horns introducing the mighty crack of the drums, "Soul Finger" is a just a full on two and a half minute party. I love how the drummer is just pounding the living shit out of his kit. Released the same year, 1967, "Knucklehead" is entirely different. It starts out sounding like the intro of Stevie Wonder's "Uptight", and then out of nowhere this blues harp comes in. It's already getting fucked up. Pretty soon you're just chooglin' through guitar parts, drum breaks and assorted instrumental weirdness. If it seems odd hearing those two compared to the later decidedly funky stuff it's because four of the original Bar Kays died in the same plane crash that killed Otis Redding, in December 1967 (including kit basher of the day Carl Cunningham). After that, it was essentially a new group. That version of the band was completely different, wah-wah happy, but still righteously funky, backing a number of artists on Stax, including Isaac Hayes on his Hot Buttered Soul.

If you dig the Bar Kays, or just cool band photos in general, check the giant high resolution version of the above photo here.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Bar Kays - Soul Finger mp3 at LZ Center 1967
The Bar Kays - Knucklehead mp3 at Junk Shop Juke Box 1967
The Bar Kays - Son of Shaft mp3 at Beware of the Blog 1972
Isaac Hayes - Walk On By mp3 at Louder Softer 1969
Visit:
The Bar Kays at Wikipedia

SORRY ABOUT THIS, TREES

Every year about this time, I make sure to head to one of the few well stocked newsstands in these parts. I dig periodicals of all sorts, so it's not a trip I make often because it can end up being costly. But I know, around this time, I can pick up the annual "Southern Music Issue" of  Oxford American, and I get giddy when I see it on the stand. Every year they feature a different southern state, and it's always packed with good writing, and the bonus is that it comes with a CD or two. This year it's Tennessee. Oh yeah, you know what that means: Stax, Sun, Nashville, Memphis, Opry... This issue is the best thirteen bucks I've spent in a long time. Two CD's, fifty songs covering artists from Tennessee, and songs by others that were recorded there. It's an all schools jam, the artists represented run the gamut. Jim Dickinson, Charlie Rich, Johnny Cash, Otis Redding and Carla Thomas, Elvis, Billy Lee Riley, Bessoie Smith, Rosco Gordon, Al Green, Big Star, Isaac Hayes, B.B. King, and that's just a handful of the more recognizable names. Even if you consider yourself well schooled, there's at least a couple dozen artists you don't know. Besides the blurbs in the magazine about the individual songs, there's a caca-load of long in-depth articles, including a five page article about the Rosco Gordon/ska connection. Yep. This issue is a keeper. Here's just a handful of songs that appear on the two CDs. (Note: the Isaac Hayes version of Burt Bacharach's "Walk On By" below is the LP version that's twelve minutes long. The one on the CD is the "short" version that's four and a half minutes.)

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Big Maybelle - One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Bessie Smith - Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl mp3 at The Beiderbecke Affair
Rosco Gordon - Shoobie Oobie mp3 at Rocky 52
Billy Lee Riley - Flyin' Saucers Rock 'n' Roll mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
The Prisonaires - Just Walkin' In the Rain (streaming) at YouTube
Isaac Hayes - Walk On By mp3 at Louder Softer
Visit:
Oxford American Southern Music Issue - CD notes
Oxford American - Home page 

THE KURIER DELIVERS

Try as I might to resist going off about a particular blog, as opposed to a particular artist or genre, sometimes I just have to let out a "Hey look at this!" for someone who seems to evade the radar of search engines and blogrolls. Musik Kurier is one such blog. I don't remember how I ended up there a few years ago, but it's the kind of site that can easily eat up a few hours. It's consistently turned me on to a lot of music that I wouldn't have found anywhere else. There's all sorts of non-rock 'n' roll stuff: soul, boogaloo, funk, international, philly soul, reggae pop, and disco. A word of warning to disco-phobics: It's a mine field over there. He does have Sophia Loren doing bossa nova, so you lilly-livered sapsuckers should just watch your step.

The best part of stumbling onto Music Kurier was the serendipitous landing on the post with "Sunshine Baby," by Clout. It's tagged as reggae, but it is not at all straight reggae. This song has got some sort of late-Abba/reggae pop vibe that has somehow gotten into my head. Everything tells me to hate it, yet it's forced many repeated plays. There's been many like that. The site is a damn treasure hunt.

NOTE: As of July 2, 2012, the Kurier site is gone. The links below won't lead anywhere, so I'm disabling them. I will post a link to Musik Kurier whenever, or wherever, it reappears. You can keep tabs on them via their Facebook page, Twitter, or their Mixcloud page.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Clout - Sunshine Baby mp3 at Muzik-Kurier This is a hit, here anyway.
Sophia Loren - De Jour En Jour mp3 at Muzik-Kurier Novel bossa nova
Jean Knight - Mr. Big Stuff mp3 at Musik Kurier Funk-kay, but you knew that.
Bob & Earl - Harlem Shuffle mp3 at Musik Kurier Arrangement is most awesome.
Jaqee - Kokoo Girl mp3 at Musik Kurier Like Two Tone-lite
The Beginning Of The End - Funky Nassau Part 1 mp3 at Musik Kurier
Isaac Hayes - Walk On By mp3 at Musik Kurier Epic
The Temptations - Papa Was a Rollin' Stone mp3 at Musik Kurier Norman Whitfield poduced.
Undisputed Truth - Law of the Land mp3 at Musik Kurier Ditto.
Visit:
Musik Kurier - The black hole of a rock 'n' roll-less world
The Sleepy Lagoon - Their other site, streaming exotica
More stuff from Musik Kurier on this post

POP THE COURVOISIER

That's right, it's Black Moses time. Another long, totally reinterpreted, cover by Isaac Hayes. Here he stretches the Beatles "Something" to almost 12 minutes. (Could you imagine if he did a Fela cover?!?) Some of his extended songs can be hard to appreciate, but you really do have to listen to the whole thing and not try so hard. For that reason, it makes for good driving music.

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I found it on the blog, Ear Hole, which also had about its pages tons of assorted soul and funk jams, making it yet another blog on the "must really dig in to one of these days" list. I'll limit it to two, the Diplomats of Solid Sound and Spanky Wilson, two keepers. (Remember the drill, right click on title and "save as...")

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Spanky Wilson and the Quantic Soul Orchestra - I'm Thankful mp3 at Ear Hole
Diplomats of Solid Sound - Plenty Nasty mp3 at Ear Hole
Isaac Hayes - Something mp3 at Ear Hole
Ear Hole's main page

WORTHY, I KID YOU NOT

You, like everybody else, have probably heard the Supremes' hits, to the point that you probably don't even really listen to them anymore. There so ingrained that they just go in one ear and out the other. I'm on the same boat (yeah, "Come See About Me," whatever...). So when I happened upon a Supremes' cover of "Come Together," I downloaded it with mild curiosity and that's about it. It was on the blog "Robots In Heat" which is one of those bare bones sites with no text other than song titles and artists. I check it out periodically because the head robot always puts up weird unrelated songs that invariably seem randomly picked. But the songs he chooses are always a little left of center, so, again, I bit.

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I was really surprised at this one. At the time it was recorded, a post-Diana Ross, Jean Terrell-led, Supremes were headed in a new direction. This meant away from the mascara caked lashes, evening gowns and bouffants, and onto afros and turtlenecks. The sound is far different from what you would expect from Motown as well. So, of course, that means, as a music geek, it was my duty to go trompsing around online looking for production credits (I was convinced that the producer had to have been Norman Whitfield, producer of all the great psychedelic-soul era Temptation cuts). (Follow me here...)

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As it turns out, the producer was Frank Wilson, who had been recruited in 1963 by Berry Gordy to work out of Motown's newly opened L.A. office. Wilson was well versed in the classic Motown sound, as evidenced by his own 45, "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)," an impossibly rare Northern Soul favorite. (Long story short, 250 were pressed and all were thought to be destroyed when Wilson decided to concentrate on producing. Two vinyl copies are known to exist, with one selling for roughly $37,000 back in May. The full story is here.)

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"Come Together" though, sounds completely different from any Supremes I've ever heard, let alone Motown. The pace is much slower than the Beatles' original, reminiscent of Isaac Hayes' reworking of Burt Bacharach's "Walk On By." It's not just the pace; it's ultra-heavy on the sitar and clavinet (!), and the vocals have enough echo on them that they'd have Sam Phillips adjusting his knobs. Worthy of a download, I promise. (So much for "one quick listen and onto other things.")

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The Supremes - Come Together mp3 at Robots In Heat
Frank Wilson - Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) mp3 at DJNoDJ
Isaac Hayes - Walk On By mp3 at Funky 16 Corners
"Record price for rare Motown disc" at the BBC News
Frank Wilson page at Wikipedia

ISAAC HAYES 1942 - 2008 (SAMMY DAVIS JR IS A PUNK)

Given that Isacc Hayes' "Shaft" is such an universal icon of 70's cinematic soul, it's kind of a drag that fewer people are familiar with his ability to radically interpret already familiar songs, as he did with Burt Bacharach's "Walk On By." He turned a great pop song (a hit for Dionne Warwick) into a twelve minute opus of late night lovin'. The damn song builds up, slows down, builds again, climaxes, and ends with a spare drum beat that allows you to catch your breath. How did he hear that? Amazing.

"I felt what I had to say musically could not be said in two minutes and thirty seconds, ... So I did my thing. If it was a hit, great. But I just did what I wanted creatively.”

He also did a nine minute version of "Close to You" (a hit for the Carpenters), another late night lovin' reinvention.

Isaac Hayes - Walk On By mp3 at Louder Soft
Isaac Hayes - Theme From Shaft mp3, Close to You mp3 and three others at the Vinyl District
Theme From Shaft - Eight covers and variations at Moistworks (including a version by Sammy Davis Jr that just makes you want to slap him.)