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Friday, January 23, 2009
THE MEMPHIS TRAIN
Rufus Thomas
1968
Available on : Beg, Scream & Shout! The Big Ol' Box of 60's Soul
Rhino : 1997
[Buy It]
TRAIN TO TAMPA
Sam Dees
1968
Available on : The Birmingham Sound: The Soul of Neal Hemphill, Vol. 1
Rabbit Factory : 2006
[Buy It]
SAME TRAIN TWICE
Swamp Dogg
1977
Available on : The Excellent Sides of Swamp Dogg, Vol. 5
SDEG : 2007
[Buy It]
PLAY A TRAIN SONG
Todd Snider
2005
Available on : Tales From Moondawg's Tavern
TRAIN SONG
Tom Waits
Big Time
Island : 1990
[Buy It]
Last night I took the train up to Boston for a reading, and then took the last train of the day back to New York. There were equipment delays and subways going one way and commuter-rail connections the other way; all in all, the entire trip took fourteen hours, eleven of which were spent on tracks. The way up was a midday trip, crowded and aggravated. The way back was nearly empty, just me and what seemed like a youth soccer team and a woman reading a dirty book and another woman with a highly shaggy dog in a bag. I tried to sleep, had a little success, tried to read, had a little success.
Between these failures, I had plenty of time to think, and one of the things I thought about was trains: or, more specifically, planes, trains, and automobiles, and how they have furnished fertile subjects for songwriters. In rock and roll, cars win: early rock and roll and rockabilly have too many car songs to count--the original "Brand New Cadillac"? "Dead Man's Curve"? the balance of the Beach Boys/Chuck Berry catalogs?--but if you widen the scope to include blues, soul, country, and jazz, trains may pull into the lead. (This is just a metaphor. I am not endorsing any car/train races. Very dangerous.) There's "Mystery Train," of course, and "The Train Kept A-Rollin'," and "Smokestack Lightning" and the Singing Brakeman and a tradition so rich that I would consider it at greater length if I wasn't so tired from the train. There are many, many things to say about trains in song, but I'm only going to be able to extract one today, and that's how trains embody both desire and helplessness, even when they're not heading into a tunnel. In cars, you drive, which is a self-starting and self-determined act. In trains, you're subject to schedules, to conductors, to people meeting you at the station or not being there to meet you. Songs about trains are necessarily songs about waiting, and that makes all the difference in the world. To that end -- I think it's called a terminal in train talk -- here are Rufus Thomas, Sam Dees, Swamp Dogg, Todd Snider, and Tom Waits. The last two are live versions, and in both cases, songs are preceded by highly shaggy dog stories. The Snider is especially epic, more than fifteen minutes of waiting before he gets to the song -- it just keeps a-rollin'.Labels: ben, blues, rhythm and blues
posted by Ben
LINK |
Monday, December 31, 2007
WHAT TIME IS IT?
The Jive Five
Beltone : 1962
Available on: Our True Story
Ace : 1991
[Buy It]
I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TIME IT WAS
Roland Kirk Quartet
Mercury : 1962
Available on: Rahsaan: The Complete Mercury Recordings
Polygram : 1990
[Buy It]
TIME FOR EVERYTHING
Ed Pauling & The Exciters
Federal : 1965
Available on: The "5" Royales : Catch That Teardrop : The Best of the Home of the Blues 1950-1954 Sessions (Plus the Complete Federal & Savoy Recordings of El Pauling & Royal Abbit)
Ace : 2007
[Buy It]
PLEASE SEND ME SOMEONE TO LOVE
Percy Mayfield
Specialty : 1950
Available on: Poet of The Blues
Specialty : 1990
[Buy It]
PLEASE SEND ME SOMEONE TO LOVE
James Booker
Keyboard King of New Orleans
c. 1976 (JSP Reissue : 2005)
[Buy It]
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE
The "5" Royales
Federal : 1960
Available on: Catch That Teardrop : The Best of the Home of the Blues 1950-1954 Sessions (Plus the Complete Federal & Savoy Recordings of El Pauling & Royal Abbit)
Ace : 2007
[Buy It]
I CRIED ALL NIGHT LONG
Harvey Sims
Art Rosenbaum Field Recording : 1991
The Art of Field Recording Vol. 1
Dust to Digital : 2007
[Buy It]
TO LOVE SOMEONE (WHO DON'T LOVE YOU)
The Kaldirons
Twinight : 1970
Available on: Eccentric Soul: Twinight's Midnight Rotation
Numero Group : 2007
[Buy It]
HAPPY NEW YEAR, BABY
The Johnny Otis Orchestra
Excelsior : 1947
[Buy It]
MEADOWLANDS
Nancy Jacobs & Her Sisters
Quality : 1955
Available on: The History of Township Music
Wrasse : 2001
[Buy It]
YOU'RE ALL I NEED TO GET BY (TAKE 2)
Aretha Franklin
Atlantic : 1970
Available on: Rare & Unreleased Recordings from The Golden Reign of The Queen of Soul
Atlantic : 2007
[Buy It]
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Lightnin' Hopkins
Decca : 1963
Available on: Blue Yule: Christmas Blues and R&B Classics
Rhino : 1991
[Buy It]
THIS TIME ANOTHER YEAR YOU MAY BE GONE
Rev. Edward Claybor
Vocalion : 1928
Available on: American Primitive vol. 1: Raw Pre-War Gospel (1926-36)
Revenant : 1997
[Buy It]
NOBODY'S BUSINESS
Joe Harris & Kid West
Available on: Field Recordings, vol. 5: Louisiana, Texas, Bahamas 1933-1940
Document : 1998
[Buy It]
The only way to spend New Year's Eve is either quietly with friends or in a brothel. Otherwise when the evening ends and people pair off, someone is bound to be left in tears. ~W.H. Auden
NEW YEAR'S PARTY
Blowfly
Weird World 12" : 1980
Available on: The Worst of Blowfly
Hot : 1996
[Buy It]
Happy new year to you and yours, from Ben, Brian, James, Joanna, Alex, and the extended Moistworks family!
AULD LANG SYNE
Jimi Hendrix
Live @ The Fillmore : January 1, 1970
Courtesy of: WFMU's Beware of the Blog
[Unreleased]Labels: african, alex, blues, doo-wop, gospel, holidays, jazz, rhythm and blues, soul
posted by Alex
LINK |
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
THE JOURNEY
Mott the Hoople
Brain Capers
Atlantic : 1971
[Buy It]
Once, many years ago, I left my small town to travel to the big city. Before I left, I spent the better part of the evening with the woman I loved, kissing her and running my hands across her shoulders and back. At dawn, I embraced my parents and set out on foot, with nothing in my pack except food, a canteen, and a knife. What else do you need?
The city was five days away. The first few days were calm and the weather was mild. But the third night, I heard owls hooting with menace, and I felt my solitude and my terror. I rolled up my pack before the sun rose and set out at a clip, eager to cover as much distance as possible. After an hour, though, I was exhausted. The sun I had waited for had come up and stayed up, beating down on me violently. I was on a desert now, and to say that it was unbearable is an understatement.
SEARCHING THE DESERT FOR THE BLUES
Blind Willie McTell
Okeh : 1932
Available on: Statesboro Blues
RCA : 2003
[Buy It]
A mile more of desert would have been the end of me. Luckily, I came to a flat plain punctuated with small deep lakes. I took my canteen out of my pack and filled it with water from the nearest lake. The water was cool and sweet. I drank again. The third time, when I touched the canteen to the surface of the lake, I saw something flicker in the corner of my eye. It was a gold bird, standing on the edge of the lake.
"Hello," said the bird.
"Hello," I said. To say that I was surprised would not quite have conveyed my state.
"Have you enjoyed your trip so far?" the bird said.
"Well," I said, "yes." I felt strange, but the more I spoke to the bird, the more comfortable I became speaking to the bird. It was quite a pleasant bird, with a friendly expression on its little face, and after a few moments I considered him a friend. It is hard for me to say this without sounding foolish, even to myself, but there it was.
SOMETHING IN THE WATER DOES NOT COMPUTE
Prince
1999
Warner : 1982
[Buy It]
Suddenly, I saw a shadow in the deep part of the lake. With a start I realized that it was a sea snake. It was as long and as thick as a man’s leg, with sharp yellow teeth and rough green-brown skin, and it was heading right for the edge of the lake where the bird was standing. Without thinking, I took my knife from my bag and swung it down into the pond, cutting the snake cleanly in half. The lower half of the beast fell down to the lake's bottom. For a moment the bird and I just looked at each other. The bird spoke first. "Thank you," he said. His voice was unsteady. He lifted one wing and then the other and then flew away over the lake.
I continued on my journey. Near day's end, in the shadow of a tree, I sat down to take a nap. I was closing my eyes when a giant sea snake leapt out of the lake. The snake that had menaced the bird was terrifying; this one was almost twice as large. Its eyes were a terrifying blackness that appeared endless. The huge snake put a coil around me and doused me with its foul breath. "What?" I managed to say.
"I hope that you have not fixed your mind too firmly on the city," the snake said, "for you are fated to die here."
The snake explained that the first snake I had seen, the one I had cut in half, was her son. She had gone underwater, moving from lake to lake, waiting for the moment when she could spring upon me and take my life. "Take my life?" I said. "But I did not kill your son from malice. He was coming for the bird that I had befriended."
"I do not care," the snake said.
"Please," I said. "Make an exception."
The snake made an angry noise. "I will spare your life on one condition."
THE SNAKE
Al Wilson
1968
Available on: The Original Northern Soul Selection
Original Selection : 2005
[Buy It]
"This tree above us," the snake said, "is a blood pear tree, They are extremely rare. Look." I looked up and saw what appeared to be a handful of giant bells, hanging from the highest branches of the tree. "I have never tasted a blood pear," said the snake.
"Why don't you just wait until they fall?"
"They only fall after the first of the year, when we are burrowed into the bottoms of the lakes. By the time we come up again in spring, they have spoiled. I fear that I will never taste one unless someone knocks it down for me."
"Okay," I said. "I will try to climb the tree and knock down a blood pear."
"No," the snake continued. "You must knock one down from here. If you cannot, I will kill you."
My heart pounded in my ears. I thought of my family, of the woman I loved. I prayed to every god I could think of but received no answer and no relief. The face of the woman I loved was fading. I was done for. I knew it. I cursed every god I could think of.
NO FRIEND OF MINE
Boyce Day
The Lie That You Believe
Black Fly : 2005
[Buy It]
At that moment I heard a sharp crack, and a moment later something rushed by me and thudded into the ground. It was a blood pear. The snake's eyes widened, and she took the pear in her mouth and slithered back into the lake.
I stood slowly. I could hardly breathe. I would live to visit the city after all. I would return to the woman I loved. I picked up my pack and started to walk away from the tree. And it was then that I saw the gold bird from the lake, its face smashed flat and bloody where it had hit the pear, its body cold and dead on the ground.
CRASHING BY DESIGN
Pete Townshend
White City: A Novel
Atlantic : 1985
[Buy It]Labels: atlantic records, ben, rhythm and blues, soul
posted by Ben
LINK |
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
THE DYIN' CRAPSHOOTER'S BLUES
Blind Willie McTell
Last Session
Prestige : 1960
[Buy It]
DEAL RAG
Walter Taylor
Gennett : 1930
Available on: American Primitives Vol. II
Revenant : 2005
[Buy It]
GRANDMA PLAYS THE NUMBERS
Wynonie Harris
King : 1949
Available on: Bloodshot Eyes
Rhino : 1994
[Buy It]
SPORT
THE BONES FLY FROM SPOON'S HANDS
FOUR BITCHES IS WHAT I GOT
Lightnin' Rod
Hustler's Convention
Celluloid Records : 1973
[Buy It]
Brian's taking a sick day today, so we thought we'd post some songs for Megan's dad....Labels: alex, blues, rhythm and blues
posted by Alex
LINK |
Friday, April 28, 2006
I'D RATHER DRINK MUDDY WATER
The Cats & The Fiddle
Bluebird : 1939
Available on: We Cats Will Swing For You
ASV : 2003
[Buy It]
NUTS TO YOU
The Cats & The Fiddle
Bluebird : 1939
Available on: We Cats Will Swing For You
ASV : 2003
[Buy It]
Watch enough old movies and you'll start running across the Mills Brothers, the Ink Spots, and other vocal groups that thrived just before and during WWII. Today, their music sounds as anodyne as anything by The Four Freshmen. But a few months ago, I sold a bunch of records to a New York record store, and walked out a compilation of RCA & Bluebird-label vocal groups, c. 1939-1952. The Four Clefs, The Four Vagabonds, The Deep River Boys, The Delta River Boys - the stuff was uneven, but at its best, it was rougher and tougher and a lot more alive. The best of the bunch - a quartet - was called The Cats & The Fiddle.
Their music was remarkably swift, smart, self-assured - sometimes it was flawless. These are two early recordings: Austin Powell and Jimmie Henderson singing and playing guitar, Chuck Barksdale playing and singing bass (bass being the "fiddle" in question), and Ernie Price playing the tipple - a sort of ten-string ukulele that no one's played in a generation or two.
Henderson died of meningitis in 1940; his replacement, Tiny Grimes, played a four-stringed guitar, and left TC&TF to play with Art Tatum and Charlie Parker; in 1946, he recorded "Tiny's Boogie" - a hip mention when the "First Rock and Roll Song" conversation came up. A few years later he formed the Rockin' Highlanders, who performed in kilts with a young Screamin' Jay Hawkins on vocals. The Cats themselves broke up in the the early fifties, when Powell joined Louis Jordan's touring band and took the drummer they'd eventually acquired along.Labels: alex, rhythm and blues
posted by Alex
LINK |
Monday, June 20, 2005
SO LONG
Little Miss Cornshucks
Sunbeam 104 : 1947
The Chronological Little Miss Cornshucks 1947-1951
[Buy It]
SO LONG
Little Miss Cornshucks
Coral 65077 : 1951
The Chronological Little Miss Cornshucks 1947-1951
[Buy It]
SO LONG
Big Maybelle
Savoy 1527 : 1957
Savoy Blues Legends: Candy!
[Buy It]
THIS BOY
The Beatles
Capitol : 1964
Meet The Beatles
[Buy It For $1,700]
In February, 1950, jazz critic and Metronome columnist Leonard Feather played Billie Holiday a series of cuts by Sarah Vaughan, Wynonie Harris, Count Basie, and nine other artists. "This is Ruth Brown, and you don't have to play it," Holiday said upon hearing the fifth track. "I know all about that. I can't stand copycats, and this girl copies Miss Cornshucks note for note. She looks a little better but she hasn't got a damn thing; I just don't like her. I'd like to get 'em both together with a good piano player and have 'em both sing; if Cornshucks' So Long isn't twice as good, I'll eat my hat. When Cornshucks sings this style, she means it. Sure, I copied Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong - but not note for note; they inspired me.... I don't care if she hates me for saying this, it's my opinion!"
As it happens, Ahmet Ertegun, who built the Atlantic Records empire on the back of Ruth Brown's earliest successes - including her 1949 recording of "So Long" - had recorded Little Miss Cornshucks in 1943, whilst his father was serving as Turkey's wartime ambassador to Roosevelt's White House: "When I was 19 or so, I went to a nighclub in the northeast black section of Washington and heard a singer whose name was Little Miss Cornshucks," Ertegun recalled. "I thought, 'My God!!!' She was better than anything I'd ever heard. She would come out like a country girl with a bandana around her head, a basket in her hand, and so forth, which she'd set aside fairly on in the show. She could sing the blues better than anybody I've ever heard to this day. I asked her that night if she would mind if I made a record for myself. We cut 'Kansas City' along with some other blues and she also sang a song called 'So Long.' She had such a woneful sound and I remember just thinking, 'My God! My God!' And I didn't have a record company, I just made those records for myself."
Cornshucks, who was born Mildred Cummings in Ohio in 1923, was remarkably influential in her day (e.g., another Atlantic artist, LaVern Baker, started her career as an imitator named "Little Miss Sharecropper"); by the time of her death, in 1989, she was entirely forgotten. So for those of you who who haven't heard her - as I hadn't, until Ertegun mentioned her in the course of an interview for my book - I'm including her take on "Try A Little Tenderness," which Otis Redding remade, brilliantly, some years later (see below). But instead of including Ruth Brown's version of "So Long" - the one Holiday eviscerated in Metronome - I'm posting a version LMC herself cut in the wake of Brown's success. Beneath it, you'll find yet another version, by Big Maybelle (who recorded the original "Hound Dog"). Released by Savoy in 1957, the song seems to have made its way to Liverpool, where Lennon/McCartney liked it enough to include the chord progression, the arrangement, even echoes of the lyric (or, at least, the subject matter), in their own "This Boy." It's the only time I've been able to catch the Beatles stealing so brazenly, and I can only imagine what Billie might have said.
TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS
Little Miss Cornshucks
Coral 65090 : 1951
The Chronological Little Miss Cornshucks 1947-1951
[Buy It]Labels: alex, rhythm and blues
posted by Alex
LINK |
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