Collaborations #1 – California Soul

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on July 14, 2012
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My degrees are in mathematics so I am well aware that 1+1 always equals 2; however, in music it has been my experience that sometimes 1+1 equals 3.  By that I mean that sometimes the collaboration of two or more musicians results in a product that is greater than the sum of it’s parts. This series of posts seeks to highlight great examples of that phenomenon.

First up is a collaboration between Marvin Gaye and Tami Terrel.

Back Story

Marvin had been successfully paired with several female singers early in his career including Mary Wells and Kim Weston.  Although these collaborations produced commercially successful singles they were all missing that magical spark that allows some collaborations to exceed expectations.  In 1967 Berry Gordy paired Marvin with a new Motown singer named Tammi Terrell. The previously missing spark was evident from their very first collaboration on Ain’t No Mountain High Enough and on their associated first album, United.   Unfortunately Tammi collapsed on stage during a performance with Marvin later that year and was diagnosed with a brain tumor.   She would have eight operations over the next three years before cancer won the fight taking her away from us way too early at the age of 24.  Marvin was devastated by Tammi’s illness and subsequent death.

Fortunately for us, during those intervening three years Marvin and Tammi managed to record two more albums, You’re All I Need (1968) and Easy (1969), which included a number of amazing singles including California Soul, the featured song in this post.  California Soul would be the last Marvin and Tammi single that was released and, in my opinion, they saved the best for last.

Life is strange in that many tragedies lead to amazing works of art.  This was the case with Tammi’s loss.  When Marvin emerged from seclusion, a year after Tammi’s death, it was to release his personal masterpiece, What’s Going On.  Unfortunately Marvin’s personal life was already on a downhill slide that was triggered, at least in part, by Tammi’s loss.  In 1984 Marvin was shot and killed by his father.   Another amazing talent taken away too soon.

Coming Attractions: Next up will be our final post in the Southern California Sound series where we explore the start of the decline of the Southern California Sound.  The decline was driven by money, I know you are shocked, and by people who believed that music was just a matter of formulas (one  Byrd + one Buffalo Springfiled + one other great songwriter = Success & Money).

RIP – Marvin and Tammi

Canada Music Celebration #4 – Five Man Electrical Band

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on July 13, 2012
Posted in: Canada Music Celebration, International Songs. Tagged: . Leave a comment

This was supposed to be my final post in the Canada Music Celebration. I had planned to publish it on the 4th of July but somehow I got busy with my US 4th of July post and forgot to post this one.

My mom used to say: “Waste Not Want Not” so with that in mind, here is the forgotten post (exactly as I had it written for the 4th).

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Welcome to our fourth and final post in our multi-day Canada Day music celebration.  Today we will highlight a Canadian group called Five Man Electrical Band.

The Five Man Electrical Band grew out of an Ottawa 60’s group called the Stacattos.  As Five Man Electrical Band, the group is mainly known for a single song called Signs but I have to give them credit…it was one damned good song.  Let’s listen……..

The group had a few minor hits after Signs but I think I could have safely written about them in my Underachiever series of posts.

Underachievers #6 – Ace

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on July 12, 2012
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In the Spring of 1975 I was getting ready to graduate from college with a Bachelors degree in Math.  My career plan was to be a high school Math teacher and my final three months of school were set aside for Student Teaching at a local high school.  I had about a 30 minute drive to the local high school each morning and I always had the radio blasting to help me relax.

Fortunately for me, there was wonderful new song called How Long that was on high rotation on our local AM radio station.   The song was a great mix of British pop and Philadelphia soul, the lead vocal was incredible, and I managed to catch it on the radio almost every morning.  The fact that this song is such a big part of my memories from that time tells you how much I loved it!  Let’s listen…….

How Long was by a British pub band called Ace.  I bought their first album (named Five A Side) based strictly on my love of How Long.  While the album was pleasant, none of the other songs came close to How Long.   I was content; however, to wait patiently for their next single which I knew would be at least as good as How Long.  Unfortunately I am still waiting.  Ace, as a group, made two more albums but never again came close to recording anything that was as good as their first single.  Cue the crickets………..

By the way, I never became a high school Math teacher!

I am very happy to report that Paul Carrack, the owner of the voice that I fell in love with on How Long, went on to have an amazing career as a successful singer for a number of bands and as a solo artist.  Here is a great song that he did with Mike and the Mechanics.  Let’s listen…..

That boy had an amazing voice so I just have to play one more.  Here is one of my favorite Squeeze song with Paul sharing lead vocal duties with Glenn Tilbrook.

The Southern California Sound #14 – Who Says Eagles Don’t Flock?

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on July 11, 2012
Posted in: The Southern California Sound. Tagged: . Leave a comment

Back on June 12 we were talking about Linda Ronstadt who in an effort to improve her live show had hired Glenn Frey (from Longbranch Pennywhistle) to put together a new band for touring and for her third album.  The band that Glenn put together included Glenn,  Don Henley (a drummer from a group called Shiloh) and Randy Meisner (Poco/Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band).  Bernie Leadon from the Flying Burrito Brothers was among the contributing players on Linda’ third album and would end up joining the band for at least a portion of the summer tour.

After the album and the tour, it was clear to everyone, including Linda, that this group of guys was something special.  It was with Linda’s encouragement that they formed their own band and signed with Asylum Records.  The Eagles had landed (my apologies to the Apollo program!) and when they spread their wings, and took off with their self titled first album, the Southern California Sound was headed for new heights.

The first song on the Eagles first album was one of the best lead off songs of all time…Take It Easy. Mostly written by Jackson Browne with a little help from his old downstairs neighbor Glenn Frey, the song was a breath of fresh air.  Even today, when I hear that first acoustic strum a big smile appears on my face.  Let’s listen…….

While Glenn Frey and Don Henley would soon start to dominate the band (from all perspectives) after their first couple of albums, this first album featured a nice mix of all four original members of the group.  One of my favorite songs from the album, Earlybird, was written by Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner with Bernie taking lead on vocals.  See what you think….

You have to love those vocal harmonies and I am a sucker for the banjo!  The Eagles were well on their way.

The Eagles’ next album, Desperado, was a concept album about the Dalton gang.  It is my favorite Eagles album  and I think it is an artistic tour de force.  In addition to the four Eagles, Jackson Browne and John David (JD) Souther also provided significant input to the album.  As an interesting aside, the contributions of Jackson and JD were acknowledged in the photo on the back of the album cover (see below).

That’s Jackson laid out on the far left and JD laid out on the far right with the four Eagles in between 🙂

Since Desperado is such a great album let’s switch things up and listen to the whole thing.  See what you think….

With Desperado, The Southern California Sound reached its zenith (in my opinion).  It was an awesome group effort by artists who were doing it for the love of music more than financial reward.  Sure…the Eagles would go on to become the best selling American band but the magic of the Southern California Sound would would gradually get squeezed out  by a Glenn Frey/Don Henley driven move towards a more rock focused sound with its associated increases in popularity and financial rewards.  Desperado was the beginning of the end for more than just the Eagles’ Southern California sound……more about that in our final post in The Southern California Sound series.

I can’t leave the Eagles post without sharing a great BBC performance from 1973.  This is really great stuff….I hope you enjoy it.

Out picture is almost complete….stay tuned!


Long Song Tuesday #23 – A Triple Play

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on July 10, 2012
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As promised a couple of days ago, today’s Long Song Tuesday post is from The Marshall Tucker Band.  It is actually a three for one deal.  This 20 minute live video from 1973 features live performances of Take The Highway, Can’t You See, and Ramblin filmed in Macon, Georgia which was where Capricorn Records was based.  All of the elements I discussed in my earlier post are evident in this video.  I think the performance of Can’t You See is particularly great featuring vocals and guitar from Toy Caldwell.  I hope you enjoy it….

RIP – Toy Caldwell (lead guitar/vocals), Tommy Caldwell (bass), and George McCorkle (rhythm guitar)

Album of the Week #9 – The Marshall Tucker Band

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on July 8, 2012
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I was making my weekly visit to my local record store in 1973 and a colorful album cover caught my attention.  Here is what I saw….

The back of the album cover was a continuation of the same picture and did not offer up any details about the band or its music.  Fortunately for me, the initial run of the albums that were released included a sheet of paper inside the album’s clear plastic wrap which provided some information.  I preserved my copy of that paper and have scanned a copy of it so you can read what I did standing in the record store…..

What I read about the group convinced me to buy the album without ever having heard any of their music.  Here were the things that got my attention:

  • The group was from Spartanburg, South Carolina and I was familiar with that part of the country having been born in the mountains of East Tennessee
  • The group had been signed by Capricorn Records.  Capricorn was known as the home for southern rock bands having previously signed southern rock pioneers like the Allman Brothers, Wet Willie, and many others.

As soon as the record hit my turntable I knew I had made a great decision.  Their sound was clearly southern but at the same time it had some unique features that made it stand out from the rest of the southern rock bands:

  • Jerry Eubanks’ flute played a integral role in a significant number of the band’s songs.  The flute was not completely unique in rock music at the time, think Jethro Tull, but in my opinion Marshall Tucker did a better job of integrating it than anyone else.
  • The guitar sound was tasty without being overly showy (thanks to Toy Caldwell)
  • The songwriting was consistently great and effortlessly spanned country, rock, blues, and gospel genres with a touch of jazz thrown in for good measure (once again thanks to Toy who wrote all of the songs)

They had me with the first song, Take the Highway…….great lyrics about hitting the open road, a great vocal performance by Doug Gray, a nice little jam in the middle, and damn….where did that synth part come from.  Absolutely awesome!  See for yourself…..

If I was infatuated after the first song, I was in love after the second song, Can’t You See.  I was going through some girlfriend issues at the time and this song really spoke to me….

By now I’m sure you’re tired of listening to me babble so I am going to shut up.  I have provided each of the remaining songs from the album below and I truly hope you will give them a listen.  You won’t be disappointed!

Losing You

Hillbilly Band

See You Later I’m Gone

Ramblin

My Jesus Told Me So

AB’s Song

I was lucky enough to see Marshall Tucker live a couple of times in the mid-1970s and they were great.  I will give you a taste of their live sound in our Long Song Tuesday post this coming week.

As always, I look forward to your feedback.

International Songs #3 – Liar

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on July 7, 2012
Posted in: Completely Wrong, International Songs, Politics. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Killer was a Finish band fronted by an amazing female vocalist named Siiri Nordin.  They never really made it here in the States but I alway thought that they had a great sound.  In case you are not familiar with them, let me introduce you.  Liar is from Killer’s second album, Sure You Know How To Drive This Thing.  See what you think….

Did you like it?  As alway, I am very interested in hearing your opinion….

I’m sad to report that the band broke up in 2005 without producing any further albums.

So…..while we are on the subject of lying, I would like to dedicate this post to Mitt Romney.  If you don’t get the connection watch this video.

To quote Neil Young: “I never knew a man could tell so many lies, he had a different story for every set of eyes. How can he remember who he’s talking to? Cause I know it ain’t me, and I hope it isn’t you.”

New Music That Doesn’t Suck #5 – Dawes

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on July 6, 2012
Posted in: New Music That Doesn't Suck. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

No….I haven’t forgotten that we need to finish up the Southern California Sound Series of posts!  I have just gotten diverted by other music over the past couple of weeks.  That happens a lot with me so you might as well get used to it 🙂

To get us moving back in the right direction, today I am introducing you to Dawes….some more new music that doesn’t suck.  Dawes is a modern day embodiment of the Souther California Sound and I really like their music.  They released their second album, Nothing is Wrong, about this time last year and I have listened to it frequently since then.  Take a listen to my favorite song from the album, If I Wanted Someone, and see what you think…..

Sometimes groups can sound great in a studio but just don’t have the raw talent to pull off their sound in a live setting.  To prove that this is not the case with Dawes, I offer you this live acoustic version of If I Wanted Someone that was recorded in a Chicago alley.

Awesome performance, especially the harmonies!

Over the last couple of years Dawes has spent time backing up Robbie Robertson and Jackson Browne.  Jackson in particular has had some pretty high praise for the group stating: “It’s a pleasure to play with these guys, who are themselves some of my favorite songwriters.”   As a bonus, here is a clip of Jackson and Dawes playing a new Jackson song called Whose Side Are You On at Occupy Wall Street late last year.

So, while we are on the topic,……whose side are you on????

Happy 4th of July!

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on July 4, 2012
Posted in: Politics. Tagged: . Leave a comment

Today is an important day for those of us in the States!  If I am counting correctly, it is the 236th Birthday of the United States of America.  On this occasion let me share some of what I believe about MY country.

I believe in the promise of America although we do not always achieve the goals for which we strive

I believe that although my country is not perfect (yes we do make mistakes!) our goals are still worth fighting for

I believe in freedom….not the freedom of the Republicans (we are all free to believe anything we want as long as it matches what they believe)……….but true freedom for each of us to live our lives the way that we see fit

I believe in compassionate Capitalism.

  • Compassionate Capitalism IS the belief that it is unforgivable for us (the richest and most powerful country in the world) to have people in our county that are hungry or do not have access to health care
  • Compassionate Capitalism is NOT: I’ve got mine…..too bad if you have not managed to get yours yet

Happy Birthday America!  May we as a country continue to strive to achieve the goals that our founding fathers established over 200 years ago.

I can’t think of any better way to celebrate than listening to the best version of the Star Spangled Banner every recorded.

Long Song Tuesday #22/Canada Music Celebration #3 – Mahogany Rush

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on July 3, 2012
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Welcome to day three of our multi-day Canada Day music celebration which is combined with the 22nd edition of Long Song Tuesday.  Today we highlight a Canadian group called Mahogany Rush.

Mahogany Rush was formed in 1970 by guitarist Frank Marino.  I became familiar with them based on their 1975 Album named Strange Universe and it is the title song from this album that we are featuring today.  Let’s listen….

I think you will agree with me that this is an amazing song.  Clearly Frank’s  guitar playing and songwriting were both significantly influenced by Jimi Hendrix.  Let’s listen to another track from that album, Tales of a Spanish Warrior, that once again shows Jimi’s influence.

It seemed clear to me that Frank was “the band” and the other members of the group were basically just hired hands.  This was made clear to everyone when the group was renamed Frank Marino’s Mahogany Rush before eventually evolving into just Frank Marino in the 1980s.

I bought, and greatly enjoyed, Strange Universe but lost track of the band after that.  Their Hendrix inspired sound captured my interest for a moment but they did not have enough originality to hold my interest over the long haul.