Soul singer
Ben E. King died April 30th at the age of 76. Obviously King will
always be best known for performing and co-writing (with Jerry Lieber and Mike
Stoller) the classic soul ballad “Stand By Me”, which was a Top 10 hit both
when it originally came out in 1961 and when it was re-released in 1986, after
being used as the theme for the equally great movie of the same name. King,
however, was no one-hit wonder. As a solo singer, his singles hit Billboard’s
Hot 100 over 20 times, including Top 10 hits “Spanish Harlem” (his first
single) and “Supernatural Thing – Part 1” in 1975. He also sang lead on the two
biggest hits the Drifters ever had: “There Goes My Baby” (for which he wrote
the lyrics) and “Save The Last Dance For Me”, which reached #1 in 1960.
Saturday, May 2, 2015
LP #14 The Temptations – In A Mellow Mood (1967)
A man whose
taste is eerily similar to mine noted last year that this album is “extremely
well done … with great soulful arrangements of show tunes and some other
standards.” That pretty much sums it up; obviously the Temps did a great job on
songs by Motown writers such as Smokey Robinson, Norman Whitfield, and Barrett
Strong, but this LP shows that they could bring a “Lot O’ Soul” (to borrow from
the title of their previous album) to other material as well. In more recent
years, established artists releasing “standards” albums has almost become a
cliché, but this one is one of the best ever in that genre.
Favorite
tracks:
Ol’ Man
River
Try To
Remember
Hello, Young
Lovers
With These
Hands
Friday, May 1, 2015
LP #15 Peter Gabriel – So (1986)
I have to
admit that I’ve never been a Genesis fan, either before or after Gabriel left
to start his solo career. (Phil Collins’s solo work does nothing for me either,
with one glorious exception.) Gabriel has done some good stuff over the years,
but So is the high point of his
career (commercially as well as artistically), accessible without pandering to
the lowest common denominator. “Big Time” is a classic (along with its video),
and “Mercy Street” is one of the most haunting songs ever, but there are
several other great tracks on it as well.
Favorite
tracks:
Mercy Street
Sledgehammer
Don’t Give
Up
Thursday, April 30, 2015
War, Birchmere, 4/29/2015
If you could
have captured all of the energy on stage and in the audience during these two
hours into a storage battery, you could probably power the Birchmere for at
least a month.
Highlights –
“Slippin’ Into Darkness” (of course) … beginning of show with an extended
version of “The World Is A Ghetto” segueing into “Get Down” … extended bass and
sax/harmonica solos during “Galaxy” … wireless karaoke during “Cisco Kid” …
Nick the kid vocalist/drummer near the end
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Mary Chapin Carpenter Trio w/ Lúnasa, Weinberg Center for the Arts (Frederick MD), 4/26/2015
Rear
Orchestra Right, Row FF, Seat 6 (lower level, near the rear)
Highlights –
song selection slanted towards favorites “from last century” … the seldom-heard
“Rhythm of the Blues” … “The Hard Way” and “I Take My Chances” to finish the
main set … “I Feel Lucky” and “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her” (with Lúnasa) as the
encores .. mid-set Q&A session (we now know that she doesn’t handle jet lag
all that well, and that John Jennings is “doing well”) … the intriguing “Pizza
Elvis” at Brewer’s Alley
Other – hard
to get used to Jon Carroll being to our left on the stage (other trio member
John Doyle was in Carroll’s usual spot to our right) … is every restaurant in
downtown Frederick packed every evening? (There was a line at Brewer’s Alley,
but we were fortunate to snag a table in the bar area 10 minutes or so after we
arrived, and the service was prompt)
Monday, April 27, 2015
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Shuffle #55 (April 26, 2015)
Going Back
To Harlan – Emmylou Harris
Turn To
White – She & Him
Did It In A
Minute – Hall & Oates
From Small
Things (Big Things One Day Come) – Bruce Springsteen
Kiss Away –
Ronnie Dove
Iris (Hold
Me Close) – U2
Break On
Through – The Doors
Sitting In
Limbo – Jimmy Cliff
Your Song –
Elton John
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