Going to talk about an entire album this week as Stax have reissued this. It's from the Stax package tour of Europe in '67 (there are two live compilations available from the tour featuring the likes of Carla Thomas, Sam and Dave, and Booker T and the MGs). Otis Redding is one of the outstanding live performers of all time in my opinion, I can't think of anyone that puts as much emotion into a song as he does in Try a little tenderness. The album features what I believe are the complete sets from the London and Paris (I think I just about prefer the London one...) The Norwegian gig was videoed, see the clips below.
It's sad to think that something like 7 months after these recordings were made Otis died in an aeroplane crash, truly taken from us at the peak of his powers. Given that his biggest hit, Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay, was recorded shortly before his death it is amazing to think what he might have achieved had he lived.
... it has been for new albums. So far I've bought the new Mogwai, the re-issue of Otis Redding "Live in Europe", the new TV on the Radio and the new one from Brightback Morning Light. Go and sell your firstborn to raise funds for a visit to HMV, and I'll be blogging on all 4 albums later in the week.
Woop woop!!! What's that sound? It's the freebie alert here at tightwad towers, that's what that sound is. Full Time Hobby (home to Malcolm Middleton, Fujiya and Miyagi and Sufjan Stevens and others) are giving away a free MP3 sampler featuring Malcolm Middleton, Fujiya and Miyagi and Sufjan Stevens and others. Click Here and sign up to their mailing list.
Tunng - Take Fujiya & Miyagi - Dishwasher Micah P. Hinson - Tell Me It Ain't So White Denim - Mess Your Hair Up Malcolm Middleton - A Brighter Beat The Accidental - Illuminated Red The Hold Steady - Your Little Hoodrat Friend Sufjan Stevens - She Is Viva Voce - Lesson No. 1 Autolux - Turnstile Blues
You know it makes sense. So many onemoredown approved acts gratis!
It was always tough for female soul singers to get noticed - with Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross dominating airplay, many excellent artistes never got the attention they deserved. Bettye Swann is one such singer. Starting out on Money Records, she managed one bona fide hit "Make me yours" in 1967. A year later she moved on to Capitol where her most successful single was "Don't Touch Me" in 1969.
In 1970 she moved to Atlantic, and her output became more influenced by the "Philly Sound". My favourite example of this stage in her career is "Kiss my love goodbye". Dealing with the classic theme of a girl who walks out on her man after catching him cheating on her, Bettye's vocal is subtly restrained, allowing the strings to drive the song.
Momma didn't raise no fool:
Unfortunatley there doesn't seem to be a collection of her Atlantic output currently available, so you'll need to search out compilations with songs from this period on.
Like, I suppose, pretty much any music fan who had a large music collection in 2005 I am engaged in a never ending quest to rip it all into iTunes (I know there are other music players, but I own a mac... what do you expect me to use).
Tonight I dug out my copy of Cold Water Music by Aim. It's pretty much the perfect soundtrack to a lousy Friday night in... Actually it's a pretty damn fine album all round. Lazy hip-hop beats, incisive raps, horror film samples, what more could you want?
The title track sets the scene perfectly with a claustrophobic tune that brings to mind a late night journey on the London underground - with just the merest hint of fear mixed in.
There are a few notable guest vocalists roped in for the album, including Kate Rogers on Sail, a song in which a former lover "could have saved my soul" but didn't...
And of course the albums obsession with fear and death is taken to an extreme conclusion with the Halloween sampling Demonique...
Legendary producer and writer Norman Whitfield died overnight aged 67. He was involved with many of Motown's classics, notably co-writing "I heard it through the grapevine" with Marvin Gaye and "War" for Edwin Starr.
For me it is his work with the Temptations that stands out, particularly the "psychedelic soul" era around 1970. Taking cues from funk and 60s rock, Whitfield and the Temps produced hits including Papa was a Rolling Stone and Just My Imagination (Running away with me). Whitfield co-wrote most of those songs with Barrett Strong of course before taking the producers chair as they moved into the studio.
He left Motown in the early 70s, setting up his own label where he worked with Rose Royce, writing and producing Car Wash for the film of the same name.
The first in what I hope will be a regular series talking about some of my favourite soul cuts...
Where Otis Redding and Al Green (almost) always got the girl, O.V Wright deals in heartbreak and failed romance. Just look at some of his song titles: "You're gonna make me cry", "When you took your love from me", "Heartaches, Heartaches"... I could go on. This song, talking about how his love has left him with nothing but a nickel and a nail is typical of his 1960s output on Back Beat records where he had the good fortune to be produced by legendary producer, Willie Mitchell (best known for his work with Al Green). Mitchell was later to take him to Hi Records in the mid 1970s. His work at Hi was, in common with many soul acts of the time, a lot "smoother" sounding, but he is best remembered for his earlier, rawer work.
Unfortunately his personal life was as troubled as in his songs and he was imprisoned for drugs offences in the early 1970s. He never really kicked the habit and died from a drug-induced heart attack in 1980.
Live in London and Paris
Posts
