Today’s Monday Matinee post is almost certainly the greatest assemblage of musical talent on any concert bill. Some might argue that a few of the music festivals that would occur later in the 60’s had more talent but these were multi day events, not a concert. I’ll leave it up to you to decide if you agree with me but I’m betting that one look at the list of performers provided below will make this an easy decision for you.
Jan and Dean (Over credits)
– (Here They Come) from All Over the World
Chuck Berry
– Johnny B. Goode
– Maybellene
Gerry & The Pacemakers
– Maybellene
– Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying
– It’s Gonna Be Alright
Chuck Berry
– Sweet Little Sixteen
Gerry & The Pacemakers
– How Do You Do It?
Chuck Berry
– Nadine
Gerry & The Pacemakers
– I Like It
(Smokey Robinson and) The Miracles
– That’s What Love Is Made Of
– You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me
– Mickey’s Monkey
Marvin Gaye
– Stubborn Kind of Fellow
– Pride and Joy
– Can I Get a Witness
– Hitch Hike
Lesley Gore
– Maybe I Know
– You Don’t Own Me
– You Didn’t Look Around
– Hey Now
– It’s My Party
– Judy’s Turn to Cry
Jan and Dean
– The Little Old Lady from Pasadena
– Sidewalk Surfin
The Beach Boys
– Surfin’ USA
– I Get Around
– Surfer Girl
– Dance, Dance, Dance
Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas
– Little Children
– Bad to Me
– I’ll Keep You Satisfied
– From a Window
The Supremes
– When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes
– Run, Run, Run
– Baby Love
– Where Did Our Love Go
The Barbarians
– Hey Little Bird
James Brown and The Famous Flames
– Out of Sight
– Prisoner of Love
– Please, Please, Please
– Night Train
The Rolling Stones
– Around and Around
– Off the Hook
– Time Is on My Side
– It’s All Over Now
– I’m Alright
– Let’s Get Together
Marvin Gaye is another of my all time favorite performers. In memory of Marvin’s amazing career, I offer his live performance of the Christmas Song. Enjoy!
If you’re a Marvin fan, or even if you aren’t, I invite you back later today to checkout my Monday Matinee post which features the 1964 T.A.M.I. concert (arguably the best concert in history). A very young Marvin was on the bill for that concert as were a long with of other performers that have since become music legends. You really don’t want to miss this one
Albums released in July and August of 1973 featured a number of new bands, a notable comeback, a notable follow-up to an earlier classic, and an amazing collaboration. Let’s dive right in to some of the highlights
July
Queen – Queen
Before becoming the band that we all know and love as Queen, the band was known as Smile and featured Brian May and Roger Taylor. When Farrokh Bulsara, joined Smile things began to change: Farrokh Bulsara became Freddy Mercury, Smile became Queen, and the band became more experimental. With the creation of Queen, the music world would never be the same. The band released their self titled first album in July of 1973 and the lead off song on the album was called Keep Yourself Alive. Let’s listen……..
New Your Dolls – New York Dolls
Here is what I had to say about the New York Dolls in an earlier post:
Some call them glam, some call them the Godfathers of Punk (I think Iggy owns that title), some call them the fathers of the New York rock scene (The Ramones, Blondie, etc), some call them outrageous, and some thought they were a joke. I thought they rocked and I loved them. Come on, how could you not love these guys? They are the only group that I know of that was honored as both the best and worst new group in the same year….in the same magazine.
The Dolls released their first album in July of 1973 and it was amazing. Here is one of its best songs….let’s listen………..
10cc – 10cc
Here is what I had to say about 10cc in an earlier post:
10cc were one of the true pop treasures of the early 1970s but they were a band with a split personality. The band’s four members included two songwriting teams. Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman were pop songwriters and accounted for the groups hit songs. Kevin Godley and Lol Creme were the more experimental half of 10cc and produced the more arty portion of the group’s material.
My favorite song from their, self named, debut album is called The Dean and I and was written by Godley and Creme. As reported in Wikipedia:
The song is written from the perspective of an American father telling his children about how he met and fell in love with their mother, with the first real line of the song being “Hey, kids, let me tell you how I met your mom. We were dancing and romancing at the senior prom”. The epic poem Paradise Lost by John Milton is mentioned in the lyrics. The later part of the lyric tackles the grim realities of middle-aged married life “…when the paint is peeling, and all the chips are down…”
Did I mention those two guys were artsy? Let’s listen……..
Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin – Love Devotion and Surrender
Along with the new bands discussed above, July 1973 was also notable for the release of an amazing collaboration between two of the best guitarists of their time: Carlos Santana, leader of the rock band Santana, and John McLaughlin, a jazz fusion guitarist and leader of the Mahavishnu Orchestra. The two men were both followers of Sri Chinmoy and huge fans of John Coltrane and these common interests provided the inspiration for their 1973 collaboration, named Love Devotion and Surrender. The lead off song was their take on A Love Supreme, one of Coltrane’s most amazing compositions. Let’s listen…..
Here is what I had to say about Lynyrd Skynyrd in an earlier post:
Lynyrd Skynyrd emerged from Jacksonville, Florida as a fully formed southern rock band that was ready to kick ass. They named themselves after their high school gym teacher and produced an amazing first album in 1973, Pronounced Leh’-nerd Skin-nerd.
When I featured this album as an album of the week I mentioned that Gimme Three Steps was my favorite song from their debut and that hasn’t changed. Let’s listen…..
Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get It On
Marvin Gaye had release his classic album What’s Going On in 1971. Producing a follow-up to one of the best albums of all time was not a easy task but Marvin was up for the job. He released Let’s Get it On in August of 1973, and while it never reached the heights of What’s Going On, it was still an absolute vocal masterpiece in my opinion. Let’s listen to my favorite song from the album………
Allman Brothers Band – Brothers and Sisters
As we have previously discussed in this blog, the Allman Brothers Band had dealt with some unimaginable losses in the early 1970. Both Duane Allman, defacto leader of the band, and Berry Oakley, the band’s bass player, were killed in separate motorcycle accidents in Macon, Georgia. With these losses, the band’s future was anything but guaranteed. Any ideas about the demise of the band were put to rest by the release of Brothers and Sisters in August of 1973. The band’s sound had changed, out of necessity. The dual lead guitars were gone and Dicky Betts stepped up as a major songwriter. Amazingly enough, the album represented the biggest commercial success of the group. Although Greg only wrote two of the album’s songs they were my favorites. Let’s listen to one of them……
Albums are funny creatures. Some albums resonate with you the same way they did the day you heard them, regardless of how mature you become or how old you get, while others grow up and mature with you. It’s the latter category of albums I want to discuss in detail.
But, first, let me say a few words about those albums that stay the same. There’s nothing wrong with an album staying the same and resonating with you the same way it did the first day you heard it. Some albums are just like that. Let’s face it: There are quality pop records that are just that, pop records. Those kinds of albums, those pieces of sugary ear candy, are meant to be enjoyed at face value. At the risk of discrediting the blog right off the bat (Sorry dad!), I would venture to say that Rick Astley’s debut album “Whenever You Need Somebody” falls into that category. (Look, I don’t care how much you despise “Never Gonna Give You Up”! It’s 80’s bubblegum pop gold! Deal with it!) To paint myself in a hipper light, I refuse to say better light, Fine China’s “When the World Sings” is another fantastic album of sugary ear candy that falls into that category. As I said before, albums like that are fantastic and there is nothing with them. Enjoy them for what they are and what they offer; and enjoy them as often as you wish.
That said, let’s get to those albums that grow and mature with you. I know this is painting with a broad stroke, but I’d say those types of albums fall into two categories. Category one is albums that are painted with such a surreal brush that you are forced to come to your own conclusion about their meaning. When you’re a teen, or whatever age you first hear the record at, you come to associate certain meanings and themes with the record. As you get older, and mature, you come to associate different more mature meanings and themes with the record. Starflyer 59’s “Gold” is an album that falls into this category. We will revisit this album, in detail, in just a minute, because I’d like to illustrate my personal journey with it.
Category two is albums that due to your age, at the time you first hear it, you don’t have the maturity level or life experience to fully understand their meanings and themes. These are the albums that you appreciate when you first hear them, but can only fully appreciate, at least meaning and theme wise, as you get older and gain more life experience. Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”, and my father can correct me if I’m wrong, is an album that I would say falls into that category.
I know for me, the ending coda of “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)” where he reprises the “Mother, Mother” section of “What’s Going On” was gut wrenching on first listen at 19, due mostly to the musical aspect of that section, but as has taken on an even more gut wrenching bent now that I’m 31 and have watched things like the Trayvon Martin incident go down. Hell, the whole song has taken on a more gut wrenching bent now that I’m 31. Let’s just face it, that whole album travels to new gut wrenching heights as you get older and mature. I’m listening to the exact coda mentioned above right now and getting chills. Why don’t you listen now…..
As I said before, Starflyer 59’s “Gold” is an album that falls into that first category, and like I’d to paint a picture of my journey with the record. First, let’s set the scene. Be forewarned that this might take a while. I’ve been told my stories usually contain way more details than needed. I apologize in advance.
It’s Christmas of ’96, I’m 14, and fully embroiled in what would become around a 10 year stint Christian fundamentalism. That last bit bears mentioning because Starflyer 59 is a Christian band, a Christian band as far removed from the terrible music Christian fundamentalism produces as possible, but still a band I wouldn’t have ever found if I hadn’t renounced secular music a few months earlier. For Starflyer 59, Joy Electric, a few other bands, and the fact that these bands introduced me to music I would have never gotten into otherwise, I’m glad I went through a Christian music only phase. Those bands and that singular reason only though. Other than that, I’m quite embarrassed that I ended up in that phase. Anyway, I should move on.
So, I’m 14 and my music tastes at the time mainly consist of anything I consider “heavy and grungy”. Screaming and yelling are always a plus, and anything outside of the instruments typically seen in a power trio set up are for pussies. Suffice to say, I was close minded, in more ways than one, and my music tastes didn’t span a very wide spectrum. I was about to have my mind blown and my eyes opened wide to music I would have never considered before by this very record that I’m listening to as I write this. Unfortunately, that’s not the point of this entry, and actually could be a whole entry unto itself.
Moving on, and continuing my setting of the scene, it’s Christmas of ’96 at my grandparents’ house in Montezuma, GA (I miss that house so much). I had asked for either Starflyer 59’s “Silver” or “Gold” for Christmas, amongst other things. I had listened to a bit of “Gold”, and possibly “Silver”, via the open demo tape at my local Baptist Christian Bookstore. I had also seen the “Housewife Love Song” video on one of Tooth and Nail’s, Starflyer 59’s former label, VHS video compilations. I know, I know, I’m old because I heard my first snatches of the record on tape and VHS, and I should be ashamed because I set foot in a Baptist Christian Bookstore. Guilty on both accounts, but, hey, tapes are strangely making a comeback in the indie label world (which I admittedly don’t understand), and I managed to get myself out of that latter shameful bigoted situation 10 years later (I know, I know, my atheist bias is showing). I have no rebuttal concerning VHS. All that aside, I received only one of those two records for Christmas that year: “Gold”.
So, after opening presents, whatever night we opened them, I slipped “Gold” into my Sony Discman, and inserted Wave Race 64 into my newly acquired Nintendo 64. I started the game and pressed play on my Discman, as I sat in the great room with its high vaulted ceilings and wall length fluorescent lighting. The following stretch of time as I devoured the record whole, like you should on any first listen to a record, are crystallized in mind for eternity. Maybe it’s because I didn’t know what to think. More than likely, it’s because I had NEVER heard anything like this before. I’m treading into that other blog entry’s territory with that last sentence, so I better move on.
I remember vividly when “You’re Mean”, which is track 4 on the record, hit. I was jet skiing around in the beginning levels when that surf guitar bend and that tremolo bar guitar wash in the intro hit. I was immediately transfixed. The verse was incredibly catchy, the reverbed lead riffs were oh so catchy, and the chorus hit all those chord changes, layers, and notes that I needed at that exact moment in time. In all seriousness, my life was probably changed in those 2 minutes and 4 seconds of song. I remember at some point, during what would be side two of the album, shutting off Wave Race and going to sit on the couch. I was mesmerized by the music but bored by it at the same time. The record ended. I’m pretty sure I immediately hit a few key tracks up again before listening to the entire album again. There might have been another around of that. I’m pretty sure I flipped though the sleeve and was amazed at the magnificent artwork.
So now that I possibly too thoroughly set the scene, let me get to my actual journey. Remember, I was 14. Like most 14 year olds I thought a lot about girls, and I desperately wanted a girlfriend. Crushes abounded, and, with me being very unpopular and even more socially awkward than I am today, withered like flowers that bloom in the late winter only to be killed by a surprise last frost. Unlike most 14 years olds, I also thought about god a lot, but the album isn’t about god so that doesn’t matter. I just felt like mentioning it, since it explains some of my unpopularity and social awkwardness.
So I was a lovelorn early teenager, and this record played right into that. In Jason Martin’s cryptic, and when I say cryptic I mean INCREDIBLY CRYPTIC, lyrics it was easy to read in tales of multiple lost loves. I imagined Jason heartbroken over some unrequited love or crush, heartbroken by a relationship ended by the other party, and all other manners of heartbreak related to women and girls. With titles like “When You Feel Miserable”, “You’re Mean”, “Stop Wasting Your Whole Life/Messed Up and Down”, “Messed Up Over You”, and “Do You Ever Feel That Way”, what the hell was 14 year old me supposed to think and imagine? The utterly pained howling lead lines in the post-chorus sections of “Indianna”, hell the sound of that entire song, only seemed to confirm those suspicions. Suffice to say, it sound tracked my 14 year old mind well.
Music wise, I pictured late night empty suburban streets, in the 1950s, lit dimly by old streetlights, and empty stretches of highway lit only by the lights illuminating the exit signs. Somehow, I saw Jason wandering these empty streets and highways forlorn and emotionally destroyed. This was probably due to both the sound of the record and the BEAST of a video that was the “Housewife Love Song” video, which definitely had an intentional 50’s feel to it. What’s the sound of the record you ask? Surf-y leads, tracks and tracks of guitars playing the exact same thing to create a MASSIVE wall of overly distorted guitars, single tracks of reverbed, tremolo, chorused guitars jangling at times and subdued at others, a bit of organ, bass whose point was to hit the root note and little else, and flat sounding drums. It’s dark, almost oppressive, and somehow ungodly beautiful at the same time. More useless information possibly, but I feel like it adds something. You might not have heard the song so let’s have a listen…..
So “Gold” was, without a doubt, the sound track to my freshman year of high school, along with the rest of the Starflyer 59 catalogue that existed at the time. I remember riding around in Georgia in my grandparents van pining over various girls from school and church with this record blasting in my Discman. Throughout the rest of my high school years, “Gold” was, as I partially said above, a dark, almost oppressive, angst-y chronicle of too many loves lost.
At 31, that has changed. The catalyst for the change was reading Jason’s musings on the record in the “Easy Come, Easy Go” box set liner notes and reading an interview with Starflyer 59 conducted during the recording sessions for their 2003 record “Old”, which I’m pretty sure was a joke at “Gold”’s expense since that record had become a perennial fan favorite. In the “Easy Come, Easy Go” liner notes, and in that interview it’s revealed that, while everyone thought “Gold” was all about heartache relating to girls, “Gold” was actually about heartache due to getting older and losing touch with high school friends. Granted, some fans will still argue that heartache over Leigh Bingham Nash, of Sixpence None the Richer fame, inspired a lot of the heartache. That may be true. It may be a combo of those two. Regardless, it caused me to look at the record differently.
I’m not sure if at that point, when I read those liner notes and that article, that I had the life experience to have the album morph into an album about growing older and losing touch with the ones you love, but at 31 I certainly do. Facing the fact that the girl I always thought I’d marry who, in some shape, form, or fashion, has been a part of my life for over half my life will be moving away and out of my life soon, I certainly do. As my mind, unfortunately, becomes more obsessed with the perceived good times that, my mind is convinced, only exist in the past and will never exist again in any capacity, I certainly do.
Now, it’s still a dark and oppressive record. The sonics of the record, and the circumstances it was recorded under, make it impossible for it to be anything but. The sonics I’ve discussed, but I feel that the circumstances it was recorded under deserve some time as well. From beginning until just before the end, it was just Jason by himself in the studio recording all the instruments. At the last minute Wayne Everett swooped in to help with drums and background vocals, and Ed Giles Benrock came in to do some drumming as well, but other than that it was solitary lonely affair. Jason says in the “Easy Come, Easy Go” box set liner notes concerning “Gold” things like “I was having a semi-breakdown” and it wasn’t even fun recording it anymore. Needless to say, this lends itself to the record being dark and oppressive
However at 31, instead of angst, it is now a record filled with cryptic lyrics that chronicle the less savory aspects of beginning to grow old, i.e. mid to late twenties for most: Growing apart from friends you thought you’d always be friends with, watching dear friends move far away, watching friends you love fuck up and knowing that, for whatever reason, you are powerless to help them, and knowing that the good old days you shared with those people now rest in a past you can never return to and that now only exists in your mind. It’s not just people, however. It’s good times in general, those happy times that crystallize in your mind that you know you’ll forever wish you could rewind back to and relive over and over again.
While the cryptic lyrics allow me to attach any of the above situations I’ve been through or are going through to each song, the album has still grown up and matured as I’ve grown up and matured. From angst-y to regretful and melancholically nostalgic would probably be an apt description of the transition. I’ve realized that it’s the feelings expressed so well in Joy Electric’s song “Losing Touch with Everyone”, which is a song about all of the above, spread out of the course of an entire album.
So what records have grown up with you? Comment and let me know!
Those of you that are readers of the blog know that I love Marvin Gaye. Today’s holiday song is an instrumental track written and produced by Marvin. My suggestion to you is to get a nice drink, turn down the lights, relax, and enjoy this amazing song.
Your surprise gift today, an amazing live performance by Marvin at Motown’s 25th Anniversary celebration.
Marvin, you left us way too soon! RIP
As much as I loved Marvin’s performance at the Motown Celebration, it wasn’t what people would remember from the show. Michael Jackson, in what is one of the most amazing performances of all time, owned that show. I saw the show live and every time I watch it again I still get goosebumps. Everyone needs to see this video, so it is my second surprise gift to you today.
The amazing Diana Ross recorded Missing You (written by Lionel Richie) as a tribute to Marvin Gaye. This is a great live performance of the song, see what you think…..
Diana and Marvin recorded a duet album in 1973 and they were pretty close friends. Here is my favorite song from their duet album….
Checkout this tribute to Marvin from the 1985 American Music Awards show in 1985 (the year after Marvin was murdered by his father)
An absolutely amazing performance from 1973. Maybe more Marvin is the only thing that can snap me out of my mood….stay tuned for this week’s album of the week post.
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).
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.