Ben E. King

Soul singer Ben E. King died April 30^th 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.

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:

The Impossible Dream

Ol’ Man River

Try To Remember

Hello, Young Lovers

With These Hands

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:

Big Time

Mercy Street

Sledgehammer

Don’t Give Up

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

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)

Serendipity #33

Dreadlock Holiday – 10cc
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbdCvzF4qqw
 

Heard 4/27/2015 around noon, at Zoe’s Kitchen (Kentlands)

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

Shuffle #54 (April 25, 2015)

New York’s A Lonely Town – The Tradewinds

Ordinary People – John Legend

Magic Bus – The Who

Superstition – Stevie Wonder

Cannonball – The Breeders

Smalltown Boy – Bronski Beat

Please Don’t Drive Me Away – Sam Cooke

A Little Bit Of Everything – Dawes

Back On The Chain Gang – The Pretenders

LP #16 James Hunter – People Gonna Talk (2006)

Many thanks to ex-Westatian Mark Gallagher, who first brought this guy to my attention 8 or 9 years ago.

 

Allmusic.com characterizes Hunter as an “English channeler of American soul from days of yore”, which is probably as apt a description as any. What it doesn’t capture is that Hunter manages to draw upon his influences while nevertheless creating a sound that is uniquely his own. As both the lead vocalist and only guitar player in his superb band – Hunter now bills the act as “The James Hunter Six” – his sound heavily features his two sax players to drive his melodies, with his alternately edgy or supremely lyrical guitar work mainly reserved for the bridges of the songs. He also writes superb songs, both uptempo and ballads; one of my favorite Hunter lyrics is from “Don’t Come Back”:

 

Never have revenge in mind

‘Cos an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind

But forgiveness is the business of some other diplomat

So baby don’t come back.

 

This is the best of the band’s albums, but the others are well worth owning. They’re also excellent live. And if you do pick up this CD, you’ll find that Hunter also has talent as a sketch artist, in addition to his gifts as a songwriter, singer, and guitarist. (OK, I’m more than a little jealous.)

 

Favorite tracks:

I’ll Walk Away

People Gonna Talk

Don’t Come Back

You Can’t Win

Kick It Around

Rosanne Cash – The River and the Thread in Concert, Strathmore, 4/17/2015

Promenade Center, Row A, Seats 115-116 – front row in the Promenade section, dead center (wonderful sound!)

 

Rosanne Cash and her excellent band (including her “taller half” John Leventhal) put on a wonderful show on what seemed to be an unofficial Westat Friday – we ran into several current and former Westatians after dinner and at the show. During the first set, Rosanne and crew performed the 11 songs from last year’s Grammy-winning The River and the Thread album in order, with arrangements that were faithful to the CD but did not follow it slavishly. I’m not always a big fan of between-songs chatter, but Cash’s background information about each song here was a welcome exception, as it added greatly to the audience’s understanding of the material.

 

After intermission, Rosanne and the band kept the crowd happy by performing other highlights from her career, including some tracks from 2009’s The List (“I’m Movin’ On”, “500 Miles”, “Long Black Veil”) and a few of her 1980’s chart-toppers (“Blue Moon With Heartache”, “Tennessee Flat Top Box”, “Seven Year Ache”).