Johnny Rivers C/D?

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"Down In The Boondocks was a hit for Billy Joe Royal."

Is my face red. DUH.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Thursday, 24 February 2005 16:57 (8 years ago) Permalink

8 months pass...

Enjoyed Johnny's originals (especially "Poor Side of Town" and "Slow Dancin'," which hasven't been mentioned yet) ... but like B.J. Thomas a lot better. Seek: "Deep in the Eyes of a New York Woman," "I Just Can't Help Believin'," "Rock & Roll Lullabye," and "Hey Won't You Play Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song."

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Sunday, 13 November 2005 06:33 (7 years ago) Permalink

"Down in the Boondocks" was by Joe South, anyway.

As for Johnny Rivers, huge DUD. OMG do I hate the sound of that guy's voice. I admit the riff on Secret Agent Man is cool but that's about it. The fact that his massacre of "Memphis" still gets played more than the achingly murky Chuck Berry version is an extra twist of the knife even aside from the fact that it completely sucks. I haven't heard it in a while but I wouldn't be surprised if he put handclaps and a disco beat in there just to give it some extra "pep."

― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 13 November 2005 07:20 (7 years ago) Permalink

I can't compare Johnny Rivers with B.J. Thomas...I like both, but Rivers was rootsier. I never saw him as a flaky teen-pop guy at all; he was a bit too ambitious for that. Could you see Brian Hyland or Tommy Roe or any of those other cats recording obscure Oscar Brown, Jr. songs? Or cutting side-long tributes to John Lee Hooker? Rivers was a Louisiana native, and he still had some of that bayou boogie in him. And that molasses drawl of a voice that he has is alright by me.

DOCTOR CASINO: Joe South wrote "Boondocks," and recorded it farther on down the line, but it was Billy Joe Royal who had the hit.

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Sunday, 13 November 2005 07:22 (7 years ago) Permalink

I like Rivers' versions of "Hey Joe" and "Positively 4th Street."

― shookout (shookout), Sunday, 13 November 2005 15:50 (7 years ago) Permalink

That last is the song Dylan mentions in Chronicles. He goes on for a bit about how everybody else who ever covered one of his songs always added something to it and changed it, but Johnny Rivers managed to do it straight.

― k/l (Ken L), Sunday, 13 November 2005 17:00 (7 years ago) Permalink

There's a bootleg of the Beach Boys' recording session where they're tracking the vocals for "Help Me Rhonda." Murray Wilson has arrived and the studio and he's DRUNK, lecturing the boys on how they must acquit themselves in the music biz. At one point he declaims, "You gotta sing from the HEART, you can't do it for the money," or some such. (Pretty funny coming from Murry, admittedly.) To which Brian replies, "Yeah, tell that to Johnny Rivers."

So, DUD.

― JAS, Sunday, 13 November 2005 18:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

In fairness to Johnny, that was before he recorded with Jimmy Webb (1967's Rewind)...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 14 November 2005 00:52 (7 years ago) Permalink

7 months pass...

no love for "realizations?"
Just got a twofer of Rewind and Realization that I am enjoying. Had a weird moment where I got confused and thought I was listening to another nasal Southern singer- Michael Stipe!

― The Player In The Redd Cap (Two-Headed Doge) (Ken L), Thursday, 6 July 2006 20:38 (6 years ago) Permalink

Which I'm sure the hataz will look at as all the more reason to vote "Dud."

― The Player In The Redd Cap (Two-Headed Doge) (Ken L), Thursday, 6 July 2006 20:51 (6 years ago) Permalink

"Summer rain, drifts by my window," and he's haunted by last summer, the Summer Of Love (which was also a summer of rain, but this was for us boondockers who never got there)(but were still haunted by the dream, or by waking up from it, back to war news etc)"So welcome back babeh, to the poor side of town." "Rockin' Pneumonia" was his last hit that I remember, but he also contributed the (somewhut dorky) theme song to "Midnight Special," good ol 70s variety show, with everybody from Billy Preston to Suicide (but more often the former)

― don (dow), Thursday, 6 July 2006 22:09 (6 years ago) Permalink

To which Brian replies, "Yeah, tell that to Johnny Rivers."
Yeah, fuck Brian Wilson.

Johnny Rivers' take on "Poor Side of Town" means more to me than the entire Beach Boys/BW catalog; it's one of the most heartbreaking - and heartbreakingly beautiful - songs ever.

― Thomas Inskeep (submeat), Thursday, 6 July 2006 22:21 (6 years ago) Permalink

I wonder if Murray knew he was talking to THE Brian Wilson.

― jim wentworth (wench), Friday, 7 July 2006 00:13 (6 years ago) Permalink

Can something said during a Beach Boys argument really be used as evidence against someone outside of their circle?

― The Player In The Redd Cap (Two-Headed Doge) (Ken L), Friday, 7 July 2006 00:47 (6 years ago) Permalink

The ironic part about it is, when Johnny Rivers had a hit remake of "Help Me, Rhonda" in 1975, Brian Wilson himself was singing backup.

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Friday, 7 July 2006 02:33 (6 years ago) Permalink

He also sang backup for Tim Curry.

― don (dow), Friday, 7 July 2006 04:36 (6 years ago) Permalink

Maybe Joe Osborn brokered a sit-down.
(xpost)

― The Player In The Redd Cap (Two-Headed Doge) (Ken L), Friday, 7 July 2006 04:40 (6 years ago) Permalink

If not Hal Blaine or even Al DeLory.

― The Player In The Redd Cap (Two-Headed Doge) (Ken L), Friday, 7 July 2006 04:42 (6 years ago) Permalink

My last guess is Larry Knechtel.

― The Player In The Redd Cap (Two-Headed Doge) (Ken L), Friday, 7 July 2006 04:48 (6 years ago) Permalink

This Rewind/Realization twofer is really good- I even like his version of "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her."

― Ruud Haarvest (Ken L), Tuesday, 18 July 2006 21:46 (6 years ago) Permalink

But the "Hey Joe" cover I'm not so hot on.

― Ruud Haarvest (Ken L), Tuesday, 18 July 2006 21:54 (6 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, Johnny rewrote "Hey Joe" with peace-n-love lyrics! That REALIZATION album doesn't really make it for me, but REWIND is more to the point - a really good singer-songwriter album before the term existed.

And this song appears on neither album, but "Poor Side Of Town" had this badass twangy blues riff at the end of each and every chorus. It's a great song as it is, but that one riff dots the i, crosses the t, and puts the frosting on the cake.

Just the other day, I was listening to Rivers' single of "Don't Look Now" on Capitol, where he's giving this Ernest Tubb song a teen-pop treatment (ala Brian Hyland), and it sounds damned fine for what it is. Not as R&B-oriented as his usual output. I think this was recorded just before his hits started on Imperial...

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 00:35 (6 years ago) Permalink

Nick Lowe did an OK cover of "Poor Side Of Town," but the band didn't play the riff- you gotta play the riff!

― Ruud Haarvest (Ken L), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 01:07 (6 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

Apparently he is working on his autobiography, to be published next year.

― Ruud Comes to Haarvest (Ken L), Thursday, 12 October 2006 14:23 (6 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

"Summer Rain" is such a`jam

― clotpoll, Saturday, 27 June 2009 07:43 (3 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

Had a weird moment where I got confused and thought I was listening to another nasal Southern singer- Michael Stipe!

... and Gene Clark too... his voice is higher than Gene's but there's a definite resemblance there

― Tom A. (Tom B.) (Tom C.) (Tom D.), Tuesday, 25 January 2011 15:45 (2 years ago) Permalink

Unashamed soul patch

― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, 25 January 2011 15:46 (2 years ago) Permalink

I admit I had to google that to find out what exactly you meant there

― Tom A. (Tom B.) (Tom C.) (Tom D.), Tuesday, 25 January 2011 15:50 (2 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

saw this in the racks yesterday :

was intrigued so did the google thing and decided to dash back today and grab it.

result.

wonderful psych-orchestral excess with a dash of rock-n-soul.

i guess this dip into psych was a one-off ?

― mark e, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 15:46 (1 year ago) Permalink

<3 that record, was a gateway to seeking out other mainstream artist's soul-searching psych oddities.

― llurk, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 15:53 (1 year ago) Permalink

the cover alone made me find out more.

and yes, it fits very nicely with my david axelrod obsession.

(has a similar bass style to carole king/wrecking crew which i love)

― mark e, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 15:58 (1 year ago) Permalink

carole king = carole kaye of course.

doh.

― mark e, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 16:09 (1 year ago) Permalink

ahh. having just scoured the very small print it does indeed appear that a lot of the wrecking crew were involved with the making of this album.

should have guessed as much.

― mark e, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 16:13 (1 year ago) Permalink

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