I had the iPod running on shuffle last night and it played something that caught my ears. It's a song called "Ridin' Thumb" by King Curtis and I thought it was damn funky. It's from a 1972 album on Warner Brothers called "Everybody's Talkin'" and features a rhythm section of Jerry Jemmott on bass and one time Beatle, Bernard Purdie on drums, with actual one time Beatle Billy Preston on organ. A few more mouse clicks revealed that the song was written by James Seals and was first recorded by Seals & Crofts two years earlier. Both versions are here, but props to the A&R guy who heard the Seals & Crofts version and thought, "Yeah, this is perfect for that King Curtis record."
Didn't record making used to be great?
3 comments:
Yes, yes it did used to be great.
Lots to love in this day's BW. The sly ref to Purdie's claim made me laugh, and is a cogent reminder, as an archeologist, to remember that one's conclusions are only as good as one's source of info, on two levels: it's all about 'integrity', that is, how real is the info. A) Is the source 'real'? (Yes, that's an actual Purdie claim). B) Is the info 'real'? (No, it didn't actually happen, despite Purdie saying it did). This is why some are frustrated with science 'changing its mind'. But we have to integrate new info as we get it, and everybody has to interpret that info, and therein lies the rub.
Cover of the day is fine, but I like this version of Li'l Richard's classic even better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv06eqYGs1k
C in California (stretching out his comment a la VR)
Ray Charles (and Three Dog Night) also covered "Ridin' Thumb."
I think it's been determined that Purdie likely added his drums to ATCO cash-in Beatles discs.
(I only just recently discovered that Purdie played live with Jeff Beck in the "Blow by Blow" era)
But weird things can happen as folks pass away and no one is around to challenge a shared history. Paul can pretty much tell any Beatle story he wants; Ringo's still here but too busy giving the peace sign to really pay attention to what Paul says.
Bob in IL
Sal,
Actually I first heard Ray's version and doubled back to both King Curtis and the original by Seals & Crofts.
On Ray's live versions, you can tell he really dug the song...it's among the funkiest things S&C ever did.
Peace out,
John
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