roscoe & pete

give me the cure

A call in the midst of the crowd
My own voice, orotund sweeping and final.
"song of myself" - whitman

Michael Hurley adding yet another chapter to the Basement Tapes.

Michael Hurley - Give Me The Cure [buy] [emusic]

your real good thing

I was going to offer a few words about Mable John’s “Your Good Thing (is about to end),” but then I found that Funky16Corners had already done the job mucho better than my brain could have. This is one damned sultry performance, with Able Mable savoring every bit of (sexual) power she has over her ex. Lookout!

Mable John - Your Good Thing (is about to end)

Mary Poppins in a Hurricane

After the divine A Love Supreme, the Coltrane Quartet kept moving forward, radically expanding their range. In 1965 the Quartet released Love Supreme, The John Coltrane Quartet Plays, Ascension, and New Thing at Newport. If A Love Supreme can reside pretty comfortably on most turntables as Classic Jazz, Ascension is the free jazz revolution writ large, with 7 horn players doing the big band thing like it ain’t been done before. It’s in this run of albums that we find Coltrane taking over "Chim Chim Cheree," turning yet another children’s song sung by Julie Andrews toward free jazz. The collective energy of the Quartet is astonishing. And as much as I love Coltrane’s solos, especially when he comes screaming in after McCoy Tyner’s piano solo, it’s Elvin Jones’ cat quick drumming that I can’t take my ears off of.

John Coltrane Quartet - Chim Chim Cheree [buy]

Contemporary jazz giant Joe Lovano has a review/remembrance of this song over at jazz.com.

folderolderiddle

Somehow the Grateful Dead got invited to play Hugh Hefner’s “After Dark” show in January 1969. And I’m still trying to figure out how in hell Hefner and his producers felt the Dead were a group to have on the show, or how The Dead felt this was a scene they wanted to be involved with for even a minute or two. One thing does spring to mind: the band must have grinned like wolves at the thought of dosing every last one of the assembled. While Kesey had retired the bus, the Dead remained notorious for pranking any unsuspecting individual with a healthy dose of LSD in their drink of choice. The historical record is a bit unclear about whether or not the Dead got to Hef’s drink (though one story has Hefner toasted and telling Phil and Bill “I want to thank you for your special gift.” Enjoy the ride Hugh.) But it does seem that Owsley’s potent blend of acid was eye-dropped into the cups of many attendees, and if Jerry’s stoned banter and permanent grin are any indication, he was swimming in it. To take the weirdness up a notch, they start their set with a gorgeous version of their acoustic psych-chamber piece “Mountains of the Moon". Only ten or so times did this tune ever get played (all in 1969) -- and the Dead gift one to Playboy.



Oddly enough, this little engagement does let us in on the changing role of Ron "Pigpen" McKernan in the band's music. That’s Phil’s friend T.C. Constanten gracing the harpsichord. The Dead were in a definite transitional moment in early 1969, which is why Constanten rather than the band’s usual organist Pigpen is at the keys. Phil and Jerry had more adventurous sounds they were wanting to create, and not all members of the band were keeping up. Bob Weir wasn’t making much progress on the electric guitar and was asked to leave the band. As was Pigpen, who found it hard to create a space for his brand of blues and r&b in the increasingly psychedelic music. So Phil and Jerry brought in Constanten for some of the songs on 1969’s Aoxomoxoa. And it’s easy to see why, for Pigpen was just not the sort of player who was going to break out the harpischord to play a few delicate figures. But Constanten also took over organ duties, pressing Pigpen further to the edges of the band’s music. Skip ahead a little in that after dark night and we get a raucous “St. Stephen” with T.C. in the middle of it all on organ and Pigpen stranded in the corner with his congas, looking a little lost amidst the swirling riptide produced by the rest of the band.



Yet after the brief grumbling over his playing, he remained an essential member of the band’s live performances. Shows were inevitably capped by Pigpen mixing the rhythm & blues with Lord Buckley on triumphant versions of “Turn on your Lovelight.” After "St. Stephen" fades and Hugh says goodbye, we hear Pig and the band ripping through "Lovelight" for the dancing kings and queens, who look to be having the time of their lives on that LSD stuff. Pigpen outlasted T.C., who split amicably after a year, but Constanten’s brief tenure confirmed that the band’s music required a second keyboardist.

and may you stay

Image and plenty of words can be found at slipcue.

Before I get to the quote and song, I must say that upon seeing this portrait of a happy as can be Kitty Wells I immediately thought of classic baseball trading cards and thought that what the world needs are the stars of classic country music trading cards. Ok, quote and song:

In 1953, Tennessee governor Frank G. Clement presented her with an award which read, in part, that Kitty was “an outstanding wife and mother, in keeping with the finest traditions of southern womanhood.” - Charles Wolfe, Classic Country: Legends of Country Music

Southern womanhood sings Bob Dylan:

Kitty Wells - Forever Young [buy]

Shi Dai Qu

The accompanying cd for the monograph The Age of Shanghainese Pops came through the library the other day. Here's the "golden voiced" Chou Hsuan singing "Sweet Blossom of Youth."

Chou Hsuan - Sweet Blossoms of Youth

From the CD insert:
"Sweet Blossoms of Youth" represents the creme de la creme of Shanghainese pops at the height of its Golden Age in post-war Shanghai. Musically and creatively, the Shi Dai Qu of this period are unsurpassed by those that followed. "Sweet Blossoms of Youth" is the opening song on the 1947 film An All Consuming Love.

extraextra:
For some reason this song made me think of Louis Armstrong's floating on air "Song of the Islands." I put the digital needle down on that number and googled the title to find out the dates and players for the song. And what do I find but an extragood blog devoted to Senor Armstrong. Whatever your level of Louis love, do yourself a favor and give some time over to The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong.

Louis Armstrong - Song of the Islands [buy]

Gettin' Religion

Image from a werkunz1 flickr page

Seems like this is some special religious day, but if you are a Red Sox fan, the real resurrection action happens this evening on Yawkey Way, with services starting at 8pm. The Great Satan shall be cast out!

But since it is that raised from the dead day, a little testifying is in order. Here's Paul Foster hitting the lead notes for the Soul Stirrers. (I gotta add that Foster gives a masterful performance, moving with a very commanding stage presence and back and forth vocally between shouting the good word and letting loose with some high notes. The man has the Gospel in him.)



And then we have Jimmy Outler taking his spot out front with the always incredibly moving "Listen to the Angels Sing":

The Panthers sing "Louie Louie"

There are more than a few versions of “Louie Louie” floating around out there. The Wiki puts the number in the hundreds. The song’s first author Richard Berry released the original in 1957, but his was only a regional R&B hit.

Richard Berry and The Pharoahs - Louie Louie [buy]

It took the Kingsmens’ exuberant first-take garage-band run (or is it stumble?) through to propel the song to national fame. And investigation: some worried minds in the country felt the hit single to be obscene, and so they contacted Attorney General Robert Kennedy about the matter and the song was duly investigated by the FBI. After two years of crack detective work, it was declared that the song was “unintelligible at any speed.” Cut to 1969 and we find the song made very intelligible by some members of the Black Panther Party, who did their own bit of creative appropriation by altering the lyrics to their anti-pig rhetorical ends.

piggy wiggy ooh ooh,
i say, you gotta go now,
oink, oink,
bang, bang,
dead pig

You can catch some party members singing this iteration of the lyrics in the 1971 documentary The Murder of Fred Hampton (about 17 minutes into this clip).