Sweet & Dandy- Toots & The Maytals
Whatever Lola Wants- Baby Face Willette
Roll Away The Stone- Leon Russell
High Summer- Van Morrison
Ain't That Nothin'- Television
Resurrection- The Aerovons
The Way It Will Be- Gillian Welch
Sweet & Dandy- Toots & The Maytals
It's hard to believe that on a Thursday, Toots was doing press for his first record in ten years, Saturday he didn't feel well, and a week later he was gone. This is really the one that started it all, isn't it?
Whatever Lola Wants- Baby Face Willette
"Face To Face" was recently reissued as part of the Blue Note "Tone Poet" series and it's a good ol' good one, with Grant Green sharing the spotlight of the leader Willette. This one cooks, jazz fan or not.
Roll Away The Stone- Leon Russell
I recently rewatched Les Blank's amazing documentary on Leon Russell, "A Poem Is A Naked Person." It's one of the best of its kind and if you have never seen it, run, don't walk to your TV and get on it. You'll thank me and it'll make you wanna hear some Leon.
High Summer- Van Morrison
In a recent conversation with a fan who is a crazy, crazy Van fan, I asked about some of those later albums that seemed to come out every four months. He was surprisingly fair and did not recommend too much, but pointed this song out as a highlight from "Back On Top."
Ain't That Nothin'- Television
The best track from an otherwise mediocre follow-up to one of my favorite records of all time, "Marquee Moon." I think this one was actually written before "Marquee Moon."
Resurrection- The Aerovons
A great lost 60's record? Not really, though critics will have you think so. The Aerovons were an American group who wanted to be The Beatles. They recorded at Abbey Road with Norman Smith, Geoff Emerick and Alan Parsons in 1968 and 1969 and the album disappeared without a trace. It finally resurfaced in 2003. Personally, it think it's second rate Badfinger, but I do like a few tunes, including this one.
The Way It Will Be - Gillian Welch
I pre-ordered the new Gillian Welch & David Rawlings record through their site and of course I needed to hear something immediately, so out came "The Harrow & the Harvest." This track haunted me for almost ten years, as Welch would perform it live, rarely calling it the same thing twice. For years I thought it was "Throw Me A Rope." Then, "Him Or Me." It finally surfaced as "The Way It Will Be."
7 comments:
"Second Rate Badfinger!" :-)
I find myself listening to / think of Toots a tonne these days. Very sad.
Thank Sal.
Thanks for this! Wild that Rolling Stone featured a major feature on Toots in this month's magazine that I was reading when I heard he had passed.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/toots-hibbert-interview-reggae-king-1042219/
WTF regarding Van? A friend of mine sent me this:
Van Morrison has announced plans to release three songs that argue against coronavirus lockdown measures, alleging that authorities are using the pandemic as an excuse to restrict liberties without any real reason.
He previously spoke out against emergency laws that have shut down the live entertainment industry, saying he only agreed to perform some socially distanced shows in order to keep his band working. Morrison described the thought processes behind these health measures as “pseudo-science.”
His new songs will be released one by one over the coming weeks: “Born to Be Free” will be the first, followed by “No More Lockdown” and “As I Walked Out.” Lyrics include: “The new normal is not normal. … Don’t need the government cramping my style. Give them an inch, they take a mile”; “no more fascist bullies disturbing our peace”; and “well, on the government website from the 21st March 2020, it said COVID-19 was no longer high risk. Then two days later, they put us under lockdown.”
The BBC reported that Van Morrison used his new music to allege that authorities were “making up crooked facts” to “enslave” the population. “I’m not telling people what to do or think. The government is doing a great job of that already,” Morrison says in an official statement. “It’s about freedom of choice. I believe people should have the right to think for themselves.”
Such a sorry move by Van. He is second only to Dylan in my musical hierarchy, but this is really disappointing on a human scale.
Jeezus, that Aerovons song...how much more, um, "evocative" of Across The Universe could it be (with a li'l Blackbird and Back In The USSR sound effects for the fade)! If I didn't know better, I'd think it was a Rutles song (tho it's lacking the winking humor of the Rutles).
C in California
Agree with Mr Baez on the Van thing. Bloody stupid.
But I got on here to praise the Gillian Welch song. One of the saddest around, and such a good one. Thanks, and we all need a rope right now to pull us through.
Van the Man agreeing with Noel Gallagher: now that's a double act worth seeing! Other than my somewhat facetious comment, just want to say great to hear some Television in the SOTW. Cheers!
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