The Rhythm And The Blues (Soul July 2nd 1972)

It’s been a while since I took a look at the Cash Box R&B Top 60 from 50 years ago this week so let’s see what was new & what was hot on the chart for the 1st of July 1972. The Top 10 was pretty static, the Top 3 unchanged from last week. One we all know, “Lean On Me” by Bill Withers remained at #1 & was on its way to the same pinnacle on the Pop 100. Luther Ingram had been around the R&B Top 20 before & “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right”, rising from #9 to #4, was to be his biggest hit, on the way to the top spot & becoming a much-covered Soul standard. The one new entry was by an artist who had been pretty much guaranteed a high placing for any of her singles since her four R&B #1s in 1967.

That’s Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul. “All The King’s Horses” may not be as well remembered as hits like “Respect”, “Think”, “I Say A Little Prayer” & about 10 others but it’s a little beauty, a slow burner with a couple of crescendos where Aretha raises the temperature. She’s backed by New York’s finest, Cornell Dupree’s guitar, Donny Hathaway’s piano, a strong string arrangement, bringing it home sweetly with her sisters Carolyn & Erma. The song is one of the four self-penned tracks on the “Young, Gifted & Black” album, as strong & consistent a studio collection as Aretha ever released. It was the fifth track from the record to be released as a single, all of them entering the R&B Top 10, With this following the monumental “Live At Fillmore West” (1971) & the release, in June 1972, of “Amazing Grace” recorded at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, a great Aretha album & the highest selling Gospel record of all-time the Queen of Soul was at one of the highpoints during a long, glorious contribution to contemporary music.

Cousins Mel Hardin & Tim McPherson went North from Holly Springs, Mississippi & in 1969 were signed by Chicago Soul legend Gene Chandler to his Bamboo label. Mel’s mum Yolanda & a bunch of other family were involved with Bamboo too & the self-penned “Backfield In Motion” hit the spot, selling over a million copies. Unfortunately after just the one album, “Good Guys Only Win In The Movies” (1969) the label folded & it would be three years before the duo released another record. This time around they were taken to 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield, Alabama to be produced by Barry Beckett at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. The results were passed to the Stax label in Memphis who had a Sam & Dave sized vacancy on their roster since the departure of the Soul Men. The ballad “Starting All Over Again”, written by Shoals staff writer Phillip Mitchell, an arrangement nodding towards the sweet Philadelphia sound, is at #46 on this week’s chart. It continued to rise steadily becoming a big Summer R&B & Pop hit, giving Mel & Tim their second gold record.

None of the songs on the subsequent two albums Mel & Tim recorded for Stax registered as strongly as “Starting All Over Again”. Of course, like everything that came out of the Shoals at this time, they were strong, punchy as heck & well worth a listen but lacked that something to get them noticed. Meanwhile just across town in another Sheffield studio they were trying to find that something too.

Z.Z. (Arzell) Hill moved from Texas to Los Angeles in 1963, the singles & two LPs released in the next 5 years by Kent Records of a quality that was not reflected in commercial success. Try his version of Tim Hardin’s “Don’t Make Promises”. A move to Capricorn Records in Georgia was unsatisfactory for both sides & Z.Z’s contract was sold to Jerry Williams who in 1970, sick of being told what to do by labels who then didn’t pay him properly for his records & compositions, had started his own production company, his own label & re-invented himself as Swamp Dogg. His album “Total Destruction of the Mind” is an Acid-Soul attempt to achieve exactly that, the price of Swamp’s new independence was he lacked a promo budget to get the record heard. It’s wild, ambitious fearless ranked alongside Sly, Curtis, Funkadelic (even Frank Zappa) in 1970 & still a classic now.

Swamp Dogg had plans for Z.Z. Hill too but the singer was unhappy about his new contractual arrangements. Apparently he showed up at Quinvy Studios for three days, laid down his vocal tracks, leaving the rest to his new producer. “The Brand New Z.Z. Hill” is a concept album concerning a man’s relationships with two women, the tracks linked by conversational interludes. The concept is loose, the chat at first confusing & the gender politics absolutely of its time but the Blues-Soul tracks written by Mr Dogg & former rock & roller Gary U.S. Bonds have quality & individuality, familiarity adds a cohesion to the record & the musicians, on furlough from the other two more well-known local studios, particularly guitarist Pete Carr, revel in the space given to them. “Second Chance”, Z.Z’s response to a plea for just such a thing, is at #56 on this week’s chart. In the 1980s Hill found a home at Malaco Records, recording a number of accomplished, acclaimed & appreciated Blues records. In my opinion none of them bettered “The Brand New Z.Z. Hill”, a particular favourite of mine & one of the great Southern Soul albums.

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It’s A Love Rights Thing (Soul August 28th 1971)

As a compilation of Aretha Franklin’s hit records had been released only two years previously, for the 1971 “Aretha’s Greatest Hits” collection the singer recorded three cover versions that had not been included on either singles or albums. In May “Bridge Over Troubled Water” had become the tenth of her 45s to hit the #1 spot on the R&B chart. “Spanish Harlem”, climbing two slots to #2 on the Cash Box Top 60 in R&B Locations of 50 years ago, was just a week away from being her eleventh. 1971 was, as if there was any doubt, the year that Aretha’s “Queen of Soul” title was confirmed.

In 1960 Pop prodigy Phil Spector, just 20 years old, had flown across the US to network with the great & good of New York’s R&B music community. Ace writer/producers Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller were working on material for Ben E King, the lead voice on enduring hits they had crafted for the Drifters. “Spanish Harlem” was written by Spector & Leiber, though I’m sure that Stoller was in the room too, & it provided the singer with his first major hit. A couple of tunes Spector had written with lyricist Doc Pomus were recorded at the same session as was “Stand By Me” & we all know how that one goes. The original had the slow samba baion rhythm so popular in NY at the time. Aretha added a little pace, a little Funk, changed the red rose to black & the song was a hit again.

This was the second time that Ms Franklin had revived a King tune. In 1970 “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)”, one from 1962, had been another R&B #1. “Aretha’s Greatest Hits” was to be released in September, her “Live At The Fillmore West”, a great achievement, had come around earlier in March. A nonpareil singer was at her commercial & artistic peak. She had the “Young Gifted & Black” album ready to go, a record that included five songs that made the R&B Top 10. Even Aretha’s B-sides were making the chart in 1971.

Women were representing for the Hot Wax/Invictus labels, the operation set up by the crack team Holland-Dozier-Holland on moving across Detroit from Tamla Motown. The vocal trio Honey Cone are at #7 with “Stick Up”, on its way to emulating the chart-topping “Want Ads” while Freda Payne, known for “Band Of Gold”, had “Bring the Boys Back Home”, sweet Soul with a rock hard centre of Vietnam protest, a message that got itself banned by the overseas American Forces Network. Up three places to #32 is a singer who is possibly less remembered but Laura Lee’s “Women’s Love Rights” had got it going on.

Laura Lee was from the pool of Detroit talent who joined a new label where their potential could be more realised. She had sung & recorded with the Meditation Singers since she was a pre-teen, having a couple of solo Top20 R&B hits in 1967 when Chess Records sent her down to FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals. Back in Detroit she was matched with one of the less heralded former Motown staffers William Weatherspoon who had co-written “What Becomes Of the Broken Hearted” & other great hits for Jimmy Ruffin while also producing the attention-grabbing orchestral “When You’re Young & In Love” by the Marvelettes. The two talents proved to be in synch.

With a strong, assertive voice to write for Weatherspoon, together with Angelo Gold who also had a credit on the Freda Payne single, provided Laura with plenty of attitude. You better be a do right man or else, as “Women’s Love Rights” says “Love who you wanna ’cause a man is sure gonna”. The song was the title track of an album with titles like “I Don’t Want Nothin’ Old (But Money)” & “It’s Not What You Fall For, It’s What You Stand For”. I’m not sure if they were but it really does sound like the Funk Brothers were moonlighting at the Town Theatre studio because the whole thing absolutely grooves. A further LP, “Two Sides Of…” combined imaginative cover versions with more smoking, sturdy originals. Unfortunately as Hot Wax/Invictus folded Laura became seriously ill & retired from music for some years before returning to Gospel. Around this time Millie Jackson was mining a similar seam on the theme of modern love, selling millions of albums that were no spunkier or funkier than the two Laura Lee made.

Ralfi Pagan, from the Bronx, New York, had first recorded as Ray Paige before signing with Fania Records, a label started by bandleader Johnny Pacheco as an outlet & showcase for the Latin music community of the city. Ralfi’s debut album, all in Spanish then re-released with a couple of songs in American highlighted some fine, romantic, falsetto balladry. Young & handsome, Ralfi’s sweet Latin Soul was very popular. “Make It With You”, #35 this week, a cover version of David Gates’ song for Bread, a hit in 1970, is embellished by his delicate, emotional voice, expanded by an excellent arrangement. It was in 1971 that the Fania All Stars, an assembly of stellar Latin musicians, played their “Live At the Cheetah” concert which, when released, deservedly gained them worldwide reputation & recognition of Salsa. Some of these guys were in the studio making Ralfi’s music & it is certainly classy. A particular tip of the fedora to the guitarist.

The singer moved to Los Angeles & was a success with the Californian Chicano audiences. In 1978 Ralfi was touring in Colombia when his body was found on a local beach. Accepted as a murder the case remains unresolved. His brother puts the finger on an unnamed promoter/business associate while there are more lurid versions involving cocaine. I’m not looking for clues so I’ll just say that Ralfi Pagan was 30 years old when he died. As the appreciation of Latin music grew surely such a honeyed, individual voice as his would have become more widely known.

Soul Brother & Sisters (Soul November 14th 1970)

At #17, rising 10 places, on the Cash Box Top 60 For R&B Locations for 14th November 1970 was “Big Leg Woman (in a Short, Short Mini Skirt)” by Israel “Popper Stopper” Tolbert. This credit alone justifies inclusion in any monthly chart review & it’s a fine bluesy, brassy Muscle Shoals party. While I could knock off a couple of paragraphs concerning big leg women & skirts that no-one needs to read, I know very little about the Big Popper so we’ll leave it with the link. Anyway, this week there was a new chart topper by one of the greats of Sixties Soul. The first time he had hit #1 since 1967.

Yeah ! In 1966 this 13 year old cast his vote in the New Musical Express Readers Poll for Wilson Pickett in the World Male Vocal category. The Wicked Pickett released 4 singles that year, “634-5789”, “Ninety Nine & a Half (Won’t Do)”, “Land of 1000 Dances” & “Mustang Sally”, Blimey! My pocket money was still spent on discs by the British Beat groups but the raw, impassioned vocals & that driving beat made these records the highlight of the weekend Youth Club dances. They, more than any other, first brought the Stax studios in Memphis & the Alabaman FAME gang of session musicians to my attention. It’s a devotion that endures to the present day. “Spotlight on Wilson Pickett now, that wicked wicked Pickett. Singin’ Mustang Sally, Oh yeah, oh yeah”.

By 1970 Wilson may have been supplanted in my affections by the greater sophistication & wider range of Otis, Marvin, Stevie. After his 1968 success with the Beatles’ “Hey Jude” he released a number of Souled-up covers of Rock & Pop hits. It was in 1970 that Atlantic moved Pickett away from his usual recording setting, matching him with Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff the young writer/producers rapidly establishing their reputation. The resulting album, “Wilson Pickett In Philadelphia”, introduces more varied instrumentation, a little sweetness, without changing his gritty, forceful voice. That was his trademark, what made him “Wicked”, there would be no point. The record is a little uneven but when it was done right, & the groovy, funkified “Engine Number 9” certainly is that, it worked. Both 45s lifted from it returned Pickett to the US Pop Top 20 & that was the point. In the following year , Gamble & Huff having their own thing to do, Wilson successfully returned to Muscle Shoals before leaving his long-time home at Atlantic & not bothering the chart compilers so much. “Engine Number 9”, a welcome update on his sound, is not always included in the top rank of his hits, it should be.

Down in Memphis bandleader Willie Mitchell had been working at Hi Records since 1961. Increasingly involved in production, by 1970 he had his ducks in a row & made his move. Taking over as executive vice-president of the label he had two new singers, Ann Peebles & Al Green, to record & develop along with a stellar studio band anchored by the Hodges brothers, Charles, Teenie & Leroy & star drummer Al Jackson Jr. from Booker T & the M.G.s. “Part Time Love” was the fourth single released by Ann Peebles. It was at #3 on this week’s chart, a breakthrough, the biggest hit yet for the new kids on the Memphis block though how “Generation Gap Between Us”, the lead 45 of 1970, missed out remains a mystery to me.

Ann’s “Part Time Love” album re-works four of the tracks from her debut of the previous year & includes covers of contemporary hits that are very good but y’know it’s difficult to improve on the Isley Brothers’ original of “It’s Your Thing”. It’s a showcase for a great singer, tough, confident & passionate, beautifully matched to Mitchell’s new Hi sound, a tight, smooth, mid-tempo groove, the Memphis Horns less urgent but just as prominent as they were on their Stax recordings. In the near future Al Green used this template to join the pantheon of male Soul stars while Ann Peebles, apart from “I Can’t Stand The Rain” (1974) struggled to find more commercial success. Together with her writing partner & later husband Don Bryant, she did have more input in her later more mature recordings & while her individual albums are worthy of investigation any “best of” assemblage, 17 or 18 tracks showing how well Memphis Soul was done in the first half of the 1970s, is essential.

The two highest new entries on this week chart were songs written by white British musicians. (the third highest was Curtis Mayfield’s “(Don’t Worry) If There’s Hell Below We’re All Gonna Go”, a good week or a Golden Age? You decide). Santana’s performance at the Woodstock Festival, the barnstorming “Soul Sacrifice” being a highlight of the movie & of the million seller soundtrack album, had brought much wider attention. “Black Magic Woman”, in at #38, is a Peter Green song. Green had made his reputation as Eric Clapton’s replacement in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. His instrumental talent & a developing individuality as a songwriter made his group Fleetwood Mac one of the best & most interesting of the British Blues bands rather than the coked-out, polyamorous purveyors of Soft Rock it became after his departure.

In late August 1970 the buzz created by Elton John’s US debut at the Troubadour in Los Angeles had set him on the path to becoming Elton John. Aretha Franklin was, of course, “Lady Soul”, the Queen, on an incredible run of 10 albums between 1966 & 1974 that defined & refined the emotional intensity of African-American music. In 1970 her current LP “Spirit in the Dark” brought another pair of hit singles, adding to a list so long that I can’t be bothered to count. Her latest 45, entering the chart at #36, was a song from Elton’s eponymous second LP &, oh my, she took “Border Song (Holy Moses)” to church. Aretha’s vocal, her own piano, Billy Preston’s Hammond organ & a choir led by the Sweet Inspirations invest the song with a grandeur & a spirituality that surpasses the original. I sure that Elton John & his lyricist partner Bernie Taupin, still finding their way, still some months away from the success of “Your Song”, were equally stunned & thrilled that an artist of Aretha’s stature would cover one of their songs. I’m sure too that they would agree that she made it better.

Boom Shaka Laka-Laka (Soul June 13th 1970)

In March 1970 the “Woodstock” movie gave fans the opportunity to experience the already seminal festival, 3 days of Music, Peace & Mud, from the comfort of a cinema seat. The documentary, a box-office smash, captured the spirit of the counterculture & showcased its music with new levels of camerawork, editing & sound. Of course Jimi’s incendiary “Star Spangled Banner”, the charge, the bolt, the buzz of “With A Little Help…” by Joe Cocker & the dynamism of the Who. Man, the film even made Ten Years After seem exciting. Another highlight had been a Sly & the Family Stone b-side in 1969 but “I Want To Take You Higher” was revived & climbing to #33 in the Cash Box Top 50 in R&B Locations for this week in 1970. Just two places above it was another version of the song.

 

 

 

In 1951 Ike Turner & his Kings of Rhythm featuring Jackie Brenston recorded “Rocket 88” now recognised as a foundation stone of Rock & Roll. When the record was released it was credited to Jackie Brenston & the Delta Cats it sold half a million copies & Ike & his band were paid just $20 each for the session. Undeterred he continued as a session player, songwriter (again not always credited) & talent scout, making connections with what seems to be most everyone on the R&B scene. Relocating to St Louis the Kings of Rhythm were a hot live act & in 1957 Ann Bullock, a young singer joined the group. Ike was offered real money ($20,000 in 1960!) by the Sue label who recognised the earthy power of his new vocalist. “A Fool In Love” by Ike & Ann, now Tina Turner, sold a million records & they were on their way. The Ike & Turner Revue, the Kings of Rhythm Orchestra, the Ikettes & the electrifying Tina regularly shook up the US TV Pop shows & I’m sure that anyone who saw a live show by them had quite an experience. In 1966 ace producer Phil Spector bought their contract so that Tina could front his Wall of Sound. The result, the monumental “River Deep Mountain High”, is an artistic triumph yet barely scraped into the US Top 100. In the same year the Rolling Stones invited the duo to join their UK tour.

 

In 1969 Ike & Tina supported the Stones again on a US tour, they were reaching a wider, more diverse, audience & Tina, photographed by film director Robert Altman, made the cover of the “Rolling Stone”. Ike, always astute to changing tastes, adapted the Beatles’ title track & Jagger/Richards’ “Honky Tonk Women” to his bluesy R&B for the “Come Together” LP (1970). Sly’s “I Want To Take You Higher” was another track that people would know. It’s lacking the flexibility of the Family Stone but became a furiously Funky opener to the Revue’s set, Tina & the Ikettes dancing & singing up a storm while the bandleader kept it tight. These were good years for the duo, their records were more popular, European tours were a great success & they travelled to Africa for the “Soul to Soul” concert. This goodwill towards them stood Tina in good stead when she relaunched as a solo singer. Ike Turner was undoubtedly a piece of work. I’m more inclined to believe Tina’s autobiography than I am the “What’s Love Got To Do With It” film but he was violently abusive towards Tina, controlling over her & his band. There’s no doubt though his talent as a Blues guitarist & arranger contributed to a great deal of fine music & kept Ike & Tina Turner at the top for over 15 years.

 

 

 

By 1970 Aretha Franklin was the “Queen of Soul” & she still is. While signed with Columbia there had been 9 varied LPs which established her versatility & her quality. A move to Atlantic Records, matched to more contemporary material, brought instant then enduring success. Between 1967 & 1974 every 45 but one released by Ms Franklin reached the R&B Top 10 while many of them & her albums crossed over into the higher reaches of the Pop charts. (The one exception was her remarkable live Gospel version of Marvin Gaye’s “Wholy Holy”, a highlight of the “Amazing Grace” filmed concert, which I’m guessing didn’t receive the same radio airplay as the others). The African-American female voice was very influential in the development of twentieth century popular music, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald & Nina Simone all brought an emotional honesty & a progression to their art. I grew up with “Respect” & “I Say A Little Prayer”, Aretha Franklin is as important as those great singers.

 

“Spirit In The Dark” is the title track of Aretha’s second LP of 1970. The lead track “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)” had been her ninth R&B #1 & the new release, rising to #17 this week, was on its way to the Top 3. The album, including 5 songs written by her, was recorded with three different bands, the New York session men, the Muscle Shoals boys, flown up the the Big Apple from Alabama & the Dixie Flyers, the new unit established at Atlantic’s Criterion Studios operation in Miami. The groove though is strong & consistent throughout another outstanding album for Lady Soul. Both singles credit the Flyers on the label & for “Spirit..” her friends & regular back-up Sweet Inspirations showed out adding to the lovely, extempore Blues-Gospel feel. In March 1971 Aretha, the Sweets & King Curtis’ group played three nights at San Francisco’s Fillmore West. Joined onstage by Ray Charles & Billy Preston, “Spirit…” became a joyous 15 minute long jam, one of the greatest things you could hear & see. In October 1970 Angela Davis, a former UCLA professor, an activist, a Communist, “a dangerous terrorist” according to President Nixon, was arrested & charged with aggravated kidnapping and first degree murder of a judge. Aretha Franklin, a friend of Martin Luther King Jr who had sung at his funeral, expressed her support for Davis & publicly offered to pay her bail. “Black people will be free. I’ve been locked up and I know you got to disturb the peace when you can’t get no peace”. I’ll just leave it at that

 

 

 

 

When we were kids my best friend & I always bought the British music weekly “Record Mirror” because their charts page included the US Top 50. We liked to be ahead of the game about any new sensations or the latest 45’s from our favourite acts. Bobby “Blue” Bland was a name we often saw in the chart’s lower reaches, the “Bubbling Under” & “New Releases” lists but his records were rarely played on even the UK pirate radio stations. When we did hear Bobby his music seemed to lack the immediacy of the shiny Soul sounds that excited us so much. Of course we were wrong, we were young. Bobby “Blue” Bland, absolutely from the top shelf of American singers, was making music for grown ups & I’ve been one of those for some time.

 

Bobby had been recording since 1951 & had been a big deal since his breakthrough with the swinging Blues “Further On Up The Road” in 1957. In the early years of the new decade his voice matured into a unique, often understated combination of sophistication & grittiness allied to an unsurpassed interpretive gift. With Joe Scott’s Big Band Blues arrangements there was a long run of R&B Top 10 hits including the stately, passionate “I’ll Take Care Of You”, a definitive “Stormy Monday Blues” & intense “Lead Me On”. It’s a list & if you know Bobby’s work then you have your own favourites.

 

Bobby Bland saw little of the cash generated by these hits. “If Love Ruled The World”, #48 in this week’s Top 50, was the latest to have his label head’s name on the credits of a song he probably didn’t write. The song’s idealistic lyric has its heart in the right place & Bobby’s performance finds both the heart & the soul of it. The records kept his name at the top of the bill on an endless & exhausting touring life often in clubs ill-suited to his talents. By 1968 he was disillusioned, dependent on alcohol & his band had quit on him but all Bobby could do was sing & there was a string of dates to fulfill. He continued with just a rhythm section before finding a new band &, in 1974, a bigger record label. The hits, including “Ain’t No Love In the Heart of the City”, kept on coming & so did the respect of a new generation of artists & fans (myself included). Bobby kept on keeping on until just before his passing in 2013 by which time he was in the Blues, the Grammy & the Rock & Roll Halls of Fame. Nowadays there’s little better than a Bobby “Blue” Bland album & a glass of fine single malt whiskey to indicate that maybe, just maybe, I’m finally a grown up.

 

 

Up Down All Around Like A See Saw (Don Covay)

Well 3 clips may be the magic number & you are all busy people but Don Covay was responsible for a whole lot of great Soul music. There’s no way in Hull that I can do the right thing by him as an artist by only featuring his own recordings because he was an equally talented songwriter. Whatever the changing styles & tastes in 1960’s African-American music when other singers came around calling then Don Covay usually had a song that was just the thing for them. Here’s one he kept for himself.

 

 

“Mercy Mercy” was a Top 40 US hit for Don & the Goodtimers in 1964. It’s a Gospel-inflected Soul gem, simple with a raw edge to the vocal underpinned by a variation on the sort of guitar work Curtis Mayfield brought to the Impressions. If, as it seems, Jimi Hendrix played on this, he performed the song on early Experience gigs, then he did a fine job. At the time  Rolling Stones were the world’s foremost R&B covers band. With Jagger doing his best Covay impression, they recorded a fine version for their third LP “Out of Our Heads” (1965). This wasn’t his only song to be picked up by the British Beat Boomers. “Long Tall Shorty”, Tommy Tucker’s follow up to his big hit “Hi-Heel Sneakers” was covered by both the Kinks & the Graham Bond Organisation.

 

Covay progressed from his family gospel group to the more secular Rainbows before touring with Little Richard as his chauffeur & as “Pretty Boy” his opening act. In 1960 “Pony Time”, a song he recorded with the Goodtimers was picked up by Chubby Checker, riding high on the Twist craze, & became a #1 record. Such a big hit brings people calling. As he said later “copyrights last longer than record labels”. For a while Don provided songs about new, real or imaginary, dances. One he kept for himself, “The Popeye Waddle” unfortunately didn’t catch on because I think I would be a natural. There was though a whole lot more to Don Covay than dance instructions.

 

 

Oh yeah, the lovely Gladys & her equally lovely Pips hit big with “Every Beat of my Heart” in 1961 when Ms Knight was just 17. Don Covay provided this follow-up, another US Top 20 hit. A direct, impassioned ballad, covered in the UK by Billy Fury, the best of our early rockers, showed another side to his talents. Solomon Burke, Atlantic’s biggest star, took “I’m Hanging Up My Heart For You” & in 1965 his old boss Little Richard came to New York for “I Don’t Know What You Got But It’s Got Me”, a slow-burning two part overlooked Deep Soul classic. (There’s no room here for these songs but they are in your Youtube & you should find them. Do you like good music ? Then you will love the Little Richard track). Atlantic signed Don as a performer at a time when they were striking a partnership with a new Hit Factory at Stax studios in Memphis.

 

 

“See Saw” is co-written with Steve Cropper, guitarist with Booker T & the M.G.s. This group & the Memphis Horns were bringing a raw power to Soul. Don only recorded 4 tracks at Stax, this R&B hit, 2 co-writes with Cropper & “Iron Out the Rough Spots”, a Jones/Cropper/Porter joint. They can be found on the 1966 LP “See Saw”, his most consistent collection to date. In the UK “See Saw” found an audience in the Mod clubs & its place in the repertoire of Soul covers bands. In 1968 Aretha Franklin took “See Saw” into the US Top 10. She already knew that she could get a hit record on a Don Covay song.

 

 

In 1967 Atlantic took their new signing Aretha Franklin to Muscle Shoals Alabama where FAME studios were making hits. The turbulence of that first visit is well documented but the label knew they were on to a good thing & by the end of the year there were 5 Top 10 singles & the new star was the Queen of Soul. Don Covay’s “Chain of Fools” was the 5th of those records, the opening track of her almost perfect LP “Lady Soul”.  Aretha’s vocals, FAME house band the Swampers (Joe South on guitar) & back-up Sweet Inspirations combined to produce a perfect song & a Grammy for Ms Franklin. This is where Soul was at 50 years ago.

 

Don had been around the block & Peter Wolf off of J Geils Band relates a story from that time. On the promise to Jerry Wexler (Atlantic’s head honcho) of a better song than “Chain…” the label delivered an array of top of the range musical equipment which Don then sold on. There are 854 recordings around where Covay is credited as songwriter. He knew that his royalty cheques didn’t always match what he thought he was due.

 

 

Don was an ebullient, energetic character, his confidence surely reinforced by his success. His recorded rarely but in 1968 he instigated the Soul Clan, an ambitious amalgamation of 5 Soul Stars, himself,  Solomon Burke, Joe Tex, Arthur Conley & Ben E King. Things did not run smoothly, Otis Redding died, Wilson Pickett pulled out, Burke’s plan to set up extensive black-owned businesses needed a million dollars from Atlantic that the label was unlikely to hand over. An LP, “Soul Meeting” (1968), was produced by Covay who provided a majority of the material. “That’s How It Feels”, the outstanding ensemble track of the album is co-written with Bobby Womack who was then having more success as a writer than with his own records & who often expressed his admiration for his collaborator.

 

Times were changing, Soul was getting Funky, with no label support & egos to juggle the Clan fizzled out. Don looked back & recorded with the Jefferson Lemon Blues Band, a pretty good LP with a touch of Taj Mahal about it. In 1972 he left Atlantic, his last 45 a cover of “Everything I Do Goin’ Be Funky”. The new head of A&R at Mercury was ready for the new thing.

 

 

“Super Dude” (1973) is such a good record. Don’s emotional story-songs are still straight to the heart but, now in his mid-thirties, things are getting a little more complicated.”I Was Checking Out, She Was Checking In”,his biggest Pop hit, is not the only fine “love gone wrong” ballad on the LP. Recorded in Alabama with Womack & the Muscle Shoals band, as good as it got back then, it really is a top class mature example of Southern Soul. Mick Jagger was still listening to Don Covay, you’ve heard “Fool To Cry” haven’t you ? A track from the sessions, the funktastic “It’s Better To Have (& Don’t Need)” made it on to UK radio & gave him a UK hit.

 

Don spent the Disco years at Philadelphia International, another right place at the right time. There was little more new music & in 1992 he suffered a stroke. Jagger & Richard are said to have helped with the rehabilitation expenses, friends & admirers recorded a tribute LP in 1993. There’s so much good music made by Don Covay. I must, at least, mention the songs he wrote with Wilson Pickett & the Reggae versions of his tunes. If you know his music then you know how big his contribution to Soul music was. If you don’t then he really is worthy of your attention.

 

 

 

 

The Grass Is All Synthetic And We Don’t Know For Sure About The Food (John Hartford)

As a young musician growing up in St Louis, Missouri John Hartford was inspired by the Grand Ole Opry radio show & particularly the finger-picking stylings of banjo master Earl Scruggs. While other white teenagers were trying to play Rhythm & Blues but starting to rock & roll John’s high school band played Bluegrass. He was in his mid-20s when he moved to Nashville in 1965 & signed with RCA records the following year. The 6 LPs he made with Felton Jarvis, Elvis’ man in Nashville, are a mix of poetic romanticism & wry humour. Hartford had more going on than the folkie Dylan imitators, was never, despite some incongruous orchestration, country enough for diehards but too rootsy & individual for a pop audience. It was a song from his 2nd LP “Earthwords & Music” which found an audience & changed his life.

 

“Gentle On My Mind” was the title track of Glen Campbell’s breakthrough LP (“The Big, Bad Rock Guitar of…” had missed out in 1965). There were 4 Grammy awards waiting for the song in 1968, 2 of them for Hartford himself. Later that year Dean Martin recorded his version which was a Top 3 UK hit. It became an upbeat Aretha Franklin B-side, she shows crooner Andy Williams how it’s done in this clip. When Elvis went to American Sound Studio for his “…In Memphis” record he included his take on the song. Well Alright ! The royalty cheques must have been so big that 4 guys had to carry them to John’s door. After writing such a major hit John Hartford was pretty much allowed to follow whatever musical path he wanted. To his credit he didn’t choose to tailor his songs in search of another middle-of-the-road crossover hit.

 

 

John was around US TV in the late-60s. He regularly appeared  on the Smothers Brothers show & again when Glen Campbell got his own series. He joined Johnny Cash for a Bill Monroe medley & a solo spot of “I’ve Heard That Tear-Stained Monologue You Do There By The Door Before You Go” (phew !) which is pretty, pretty good. Better still he added his banjo & fiddle to the the Byrds’ “Sweetheart of the Rodeo”, check “I Am A Pilgrim” & “Pretty Boy Floyd”. Young rock musicians were starting to mine a vein of American roots music which had been neglected in the rock & roll years.

 

Hartford’s contract with RCA ended & he moved to Warner Bros in 1971. His first LP for them was quite a surprise. The clean cut young man, the welcome guest in America’s living rooms, had been replaced by a Fabulous Furry Freak Brother ! I admit that the striking cover of “Aereo-Plain” made me take a closer look. The quality of his accompanists impressed too & when I got the record home & took a listen I knew that I had made a spur of the moment purchase I would not regret (mentioning no names !).

 

 

“Aereo-Plain” is a joyous mix of John Hartford’s love for Bluegrass & letting his freak flag fly. He sounded more comfortable with his music & with his attitude than on any of his previous records. He assembled an all-star band of Nashville Cats & they sound clean as country water, wild as mountain dew. Guitarist Norman Blake had joined Bob Dylan for his Nashville visit, Randy Scruggs, bass, was the son of Hartford’s hero Earl. Tut Taylor was Music City’s Dobro player of choice while Vassar Clements, a veteran of Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys later added his fiddle to records by members of the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers & the Beatles. John’s fluid, subtle banjo playing fits right in with these guys. Together they make a beautiful noise, producer David Bromberg was told to let the tape roll & leave it on.

 

 

The LP is lyrically retrospective, “Tear Down The Grand Ole Opry”, “Back in the Goodle Days”, “Steamboat Whistle Blues” & the lovely “First Girl I Loved” (a cousin ?) are all wistful & whistleable. The stoner “Holding” & the out there “Boogie” bring High Times humour to the piece. “Aereo-Plain” has the same blend of hippie spirit & respect for musical roots as its contemporaries “Workingman’s Dead”, “Burrito Deluxe”, “Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers’ Favorites”, modern country rock classics that avoided worthy revivalism. It’s somewhere in your e-appliance (try Y-tube).

 

Of course the record barely made the Top 200 of the LP charts & the following year’s “Morning  Bugle”, recorded with Blake & former Miles Davis bassist Dave Holland was barely promoted. Hartford walked away from Warners & didn’t record again for 4 years. When he returned “Aereo-Plain” had become more recognised as a modern Bluegrass classic (I’m not gonna say “newgrass”…oh sh…!). John became a fixture on the folk & country circuit, a virtuoso welcomed by many talented musicians, a solo performer on banjo & fiddle, playing while dancing on a a piece of amplified plywood. He loved the steamboat culture of the Mississippi River & held a pilot’s licence as well as being an authority on its music & stories. Though suffering from Non-Hodgkin lymphoma he was still around to contribute to the soundtrack of “Oh Brother Where Art Thou ?”, another revival of a music that had never gone away.

 

 

Since his passing in 2001 the 6 LPs he recorded for RCA have been reissued. “Aereo-Plain” & “Modern Bugle” are the starting points for John Hartford. His intelligent, romantic, witty  country-pop songs make his work before those 2 worth checking too.

 

 

They Say That It’s A Man’s World But You Can’t Prove That By Me (Dan Penn)

A recent article in the New York Times, “Why Music Makes Our Brain Sing”, was an attempt to explain our reaction to music in terms of neuroscience. There was a load of dopamine flooding the striatum blah blah. Yeah, “Mr Zoot Horn Rollo, hit that long, leaning note & make it float”. I am a music obsessive, I know what I like & I like what I bloody well know. You can take an auditory cortex, any expectations based on our stored musical representations & shove ’em.

All I know is that this is aural perfection. Don’t know why, don’t care, it just is. Awopbopaloobopalopbamboom !

This is the newest & the best Y-tube version of “I’m Your Puppet” by Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham, the guys what wrote it. In 1966 James & Bobby Purify hit with the song. Dan & Spooner, confident that this music thing just might work, left Alabama for American Studios in Memphis where they became involved in a period of extraordinary creativity & success.  I was seeing the names Holland, Dozier, Holland on all of those Motown records, finding out that Steve Cropper & the M.G.s were playing on all the Stax hits & I was checking the name Penn on the credits of a lot of good tunes. “Out of Left Field”, the B-side of “Judy In Disguise”, that was one.

Dan always thought that the hit version of “Puppet” was a little fast & this take on the song harks back to the 1965 original. Allmusic identifies a weary resignation in this later version which just ain’t there. It’s a middle-aged interpretation, taking it’s time to appreciate  the good stuff, not coming & going in a heaving rush…you get me ?

Another slice of Paradise. I believe that this clip is possibly a high point of Western civilization…seriously. Dan Penn wrote “Do Right Woman” & “Dark End of the Street”, 2 dead-stone, all-time, Hall of Fame classics with Chips Moman, the owner of American Sound Studios. Atlantic Records wanted to break Aretha out of the R&B charts & added some Memphis/Muscle Shoals magic to an already formidable talent. “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” is a modern manifesto for women along with the “R-E-S-P-E-C-T”. When Gram Parsons, another outstanding voice, recorded the song as a country waltz it was no less distinctive both as a tune & for being sung by a man.

“Do Right Man” was the title of Penn’s 1994 solo LP, his first for 20 years. I love the 1973  “Nobody’s Fool” but the hits are on “Do Right”. There’s a simplicity about these songs which seems effortless but you know it isn’t. There’s a lyrical maturity & there is Soul.  He started to perform his great songs in concert & I was lucky to see him in London in 1994. An unassuming man, dressed a little incongruously in farm dungarees, he had no choice but to accept the gratitude of a large audience who considered him to be a legend.

The ideal accompaniment to a long Summer evening when business has been taken care of & a man can sit a while, smoke, whittle, scratch or just watch the light fade. All of these or any combination thereof is acceptable. Casual Records, a British label founded by the estimable D.J. Ross Allen, released a couple of compilations called “Country Got Soul” in 2003. Whether the tracks were country, soul or a hybrid is of no consequence, they are great collections. In 2005 some of those surviving artists gathered at Dan Penn’s basement studio in Nashville & recorded “Testifying” as the Country Soul Revue.

Spooner showed out, Donnie Fritts too. Bonnie Bramlett was still singing & Tony Joe White reminded us how good he was.It’s a good old boys (& girl) Buena Vista thing & “Sapelo” by Larry Jon Wilson is a stand out piece of glorious Southern Gothic. This was my introduction to Larry Jon, the singer who ‘could break your heart with a voice like a cannonball’. I have no idea what & when “Oglethorpe Time” is but it sounds great. So does “Testifying”,  warm., intimate music produced by artists happy to have been doing what they’re doing for quite some time.