Cool thanks.
― You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Meme O RLY (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 31 January 2016 22:30 (eight years ago) link
Yeah thanks, I really enjoyed that.
― Tim, Monday, 1 February 2016 15:32 (eight years ago) link
Here, NPR's Tom Moon claims that vintage journeyman Charles Bradley's new Changes moves past the Stax/Volt tropes of his first two, Daptones-backed albums, but, although the horns aren't as prominent, the reverb rhythm guitar and/or keys maybe move it from associations with '67 to dawn of the 70s, very cautiously. Which is fine when he occasionally creates an effective contrast with the relatively cool backing, or eases up just a bit himself--on the the final three tracks mainly---but most of the time he's singing too insistently, like "Notice Meeee, my time has finally come!", which is when I tend to notice that he's not a distinctive stylist, so get out of my face with the "drama," esp. when the songs aren't that distinguished either---the other albums aren't at hand, but seems like he did better when candidly or overtly writing from his own experience (getting past this is also supposed to be a refreshing step, claims Moon, lest the "well of experience runs dry" or something like that).Mostly he wants to stay rough and wired, so maybe just speed it up more next time? Anyway, some of it's pretty okay, and more may grow on me: http://www.npr.org/2016/03/22/471312866/first-listen-charles-bradley-changes
― dow, Wednesday, 30 March 2016 17:22 (eight years ago) link
Oh, and speaking of Fritts, here's my Rolling Country 2015 take:
Spent most of my lunch break w Oh My Goodness, by Donnie Fritts, mostly known as a songwriter and Kristofferson's long-time keyboard player (saw him with KK in Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid, so yeah goes back pretty far). Not a good place to soak up the good vocal influences, so maybe that's why it took me a few tracks to get into this. Not that he sounds like his boss, but at times just a bit like a sub-Levon, sub-Bobby Charles, even---he knows how to phrase, but thin pipes can make him a little bit too Mr. Pitiful. Still, musical smarts win out, and he gets aboard the studio bus, which never seems crowded, despite having members of the Swampers, Alabama Shakes, St. Paul And The Broken Bones, John Paul White, even John Prine at one point. It's actually an intimate, mostly late night, sometimes slightly surreal setting, with Spooner Oldham's (and maybe Fritts', and even Will Oldham's) elegant keys, especially, suggesting early Randy Newman (or, you know, vice versa; Spooner's been around a long time too). "Lay It Down" is even a Sir Doug-worthy, anguished call (to self and other) for no-bullshit face-to-face. "Choo Choo Train" could even be a Newman---or Loaded-era VU---track. I think. It is a down home geezer album, but rec to those who like any of the musical associations mentioned, without being dependent on them.
― dow, Wednesday, 30 March 2016 17:30 (eight years ago) link
Tom Moon can get a bit over-enthusiastic about albums, in my view. I haven't heard the new Bradley yet though
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 31 March 2016 14:01 (eight years ago) link

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMay 30, 2017
COUNTRY SOUL PIONEER ARTHUR ALEXANDER’S SELF-TITLED ALBUM RETURNS IN EXPANDED EDITION FROM OMNIVORE RECORDINGSIn Stores July 28
1972 release is reissued with six bonus tracks, plus liner notes from Barry Hansen (Dr. Demento and former Warner Bros. staff writer)
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — When the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Humble Pie, Dusty Springfield, George Jones & Johnny Paycheck, Bob Dylan, the Bee Gees and countless other artists cover your songs, you must be on to something.
Arthur Alexander was a songwriter and song stylist whose first records in the early 1960s—such as “Anna (Go To Him)” and “You Better Move On”—were some of the earliest hits recorded at Rick Hall’s Fame Studios and to feature the famed Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. After a short break at the end of the decade, Alexander released the second of only three albums that he made in his lifetime—a self-titled “comeback” album in 1972.
On July 28, 2017, Omnivore Recordings will reissue Arthur Alexander, expanded with six bonus tracks—two previously unissued.
With new liner notes by Barry Hansen (better known to most as Dr. Demento), the package also features the piece he wrote for the album’s original issue. Arthur Alexander’s 12 tracks were produced by Muscle Shoals bassist Tommy Gogbill, and include a version of “Burning Love”—covered by Elvis Presley shortly after the album’s release. Alexander’s two Warner Bros. follow-up singles are also here, as well as a pair of tracks from the original sessions, unearthed and unheard until now.
As Hansen wrote in the original notes, “Arthur is especially proud of the variety and versatility of his work on this album. All of it is strong medicine, and should be a fine antidote for a lot of bad scenes.” He adds in the current notes, “[The Omnivore volume] honors the soulful wonderment that Arthur brought forth from his difficult time on earth. “Arthur Alexander, inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, is a music legend. Arthur Alexander is a legendary recording.
Track Listing:1. I’m Comin’ Home 2. It Hurts To Want It So Bad 3. Go On Home Girl 4. In The Middle Of It All 5. Burning Love 6. Rainbow Road 7. Love’s Where Life Begins 8. Down The Back Roads 9. Call Me Honey 10. Come Along With Me 11. Call Me In Tahiti 12. Thank God He Came
Bonus Tracks: 13. Mr. John 14. You Got Me Knockin’ 15. Lover Please 16. They’ll Do It Every Time 17. I Don’t Want Nobody 18. Simple Song Of Love
Tracks 17 & 18 previously unissued
# # #
Watch (and feel free to post) the Arthur Alexander trailer:http://youtu.be/IpyqLmjVZ9w
― dow, Wednesday, 26 July 2017 22:55 (seven years ago) link
Nice.
I'm gonna go do a tour of the Fame and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio tours. Hopefully will be entertaining and educational and all that.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 27 July 2017 11:48 (seven years ago) link
Enjoyed the tours. Fame Studio just has tours at 9am and 4 pm in the afternoon, and is a functioning studio in between tours and after. At 9 am we were waiting as the place was locked up. Then 2 interns showed followed a few minutes later by a guy saying how tired and hungover he was from a late-night session. He was an engineer there and the tourguide and the only one with a key.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 28 August 2017 17:35 (seven years ago) link
Thu. Sept 28 - Dan Penn - Vernon City Auditorium, Vernon, Alabama -
https://highway61music.blogspot.com/
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 30 August 2017 05:17 (seven years ago) link
Rick Hall, of Muscle Shoals/Fame Studios
https://www.rollingstone.com/country/news/rick-hall-father-of-muscle-shoals-music-dead-at-85-w514854
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 3 January 2018 03:37 (six years ago) link
Charles Hughes writing in Country Soul re Rick Hall is a must read
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 4 January 2018 04:01 (six years ago) link
I finally got around to talking to Donnie Fritts late last year: https://www.nashvillescene.com/music/nashville-cream/article/20985423/donnie-fritts-the-cream-interview
― eddhurt, Thursday, 4 January 2018 19:13 (six years ago) link
Cool. Look forward to reading.
― The Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of Blecch (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 5 January 2018 02:16 (six years ago) link
Cover Me: The Eddie Hinton Songbook is an ace Ace import, easily findable for a nice price, on at least one ecommerce behemoth: Dusty Springfield, Bobby Womack, Aretha Franklin, Box Tops, Candi Staton, Sweet Inspirations, Tony Joe White, Cher, Lulu (both of whom do well (a duet might be even better), and a bunch of people I never heard of: one guy just walked in to sell a song, and the studio cats were like omg you gotta cut something, and he did and it's good but he sailed on somewhere---others are still in the biz, but not as singers,, and then there's an early protege of Bacharach and David (he doesn't sound like Dionne Warwick, maybe a little smooth but r&b for sure, and I want to hear him on some B&D songs. Hinton's offerings can seem a bit generic at times, but they're usually good vehicles for better singers, and though his own voice (heard here on demo of "It's All Wrong But It's Alright"), is thin and he tends to strain it, otherwise canny phrasing provides a handy template for stronger vox, as compiler Tony Rounce points out in typically astute liner notes. Don't quite hear Left Banke in the one he does, but do hear it (as a joke on sensitive Southern Gothic x LB-type sentiment?) in some of "Poor Mary Has Drowned," as lead sung by The Brick Wall's Eddie Marshall, future daddy of Chan.(speaking Hinton demos, the well-produced series on UK's Zane label is also worth checking out).I don't like all of these---Willy Deville has always seemed tiresome, Don Varner's track is a Northern Soul fave, so what---but overall, oh mah soul. track list: 1. Breakfast in Bed - Dusty Springfield 2. Down in Texas - Oscar Toney JR 3. Cover Me - Jackie Moore 4. A Little Bit Salty - Bobby Womack 5. Sure As Sin - Candi Staton 6. 300 Pounds of Hongry - Tony Joe White 7. Masquerade - Don Varner 8. Always David - the Sweet Inspirations 9. Poor Mary Has Drowned - Brick Wall 10. It's All Wrong But It's Alright - Eddie Hinton 11. Help Me Make It (Power of a Woman's Love) - Mink Deville 12. Save the Children - Cher 13. Every Natural Thing - Aretha Franklin 14. If I Had Let You in - the Box Tops 15. Satisfaction Guaranteed - Judy White 16. Standing on the Mountain - Percy Sledge 17. I Got the Feeling - the Amazing Rhythm Aces 18. Home for the Summer - the Hour Glass Featuring Greg and Duane Allman 19. Lay It on Me - Gwen McCrae 20. People in Love - Lou Johnson 21. Where You Come from - Bonnie Bramlett 22. Seventeen Year Old Girl - Mickey Buckins & the New Breed 23. Love Waits for No Man - Al Johnson 24. Where's Eddie - Lulu
― dow, Friday, 1 February 2019 00:54 (five years ago) link
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/donnie-fritts-songwriter-dead-obit-877617/
― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 28 August 2019 18:21 (five years ago) link
Aww. I need to check out Fritts most recent effort, a tribute to Arthur Alexander I believe. RIP
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 28 August 2019 18:59 (five years ago) link
hadn't heard of that one, will look it up, thanks. My take on his 2015 album is posted on this thread, along with Edd's link to his interview, and other Fritts links.From April of this year, here's a good two-part Alabama Arts Radio interview I should have already linked. (stream/download):Pt. 1:http://www.arts.state.al.us/news_detail.aspx?ID=13261Pt. 2:http://www.arts.state.al.us/news_detail.aspx?ID=13260
Spooner Oldham:http://www.arts.alabama.gov/actc/1/listserverindividual/20151124oldham.aspx
Rick Hall:http://www.arts.alabama.gov/news_detail.aspx?ID=9717
David Hood:http://www.arts.alabama.gov/news_detail.aspx?ID=8670
Jimmy Johnson:http://www.arts.alabama.gov/news_detail.aspx?ID=8565
― dow, Thursday, 29 August 2019 18:01 (five years ago) link
Thanks for posting those links dow - working my way through them and enjoying them a lot.
― Tim, Friday, 30 August 2019 12:43 (five years ago) link
Listening to Donnie Fritts album June: A Tribute to Arthur Alexander , from 2018. He's sounding like a more soulful Randy Newman on first couple of cuts
― curmudgeon, Monday, 2 September 2019 21:21 (five years ago) link
Totally forgot about Arthur Alexander being called “June.” /pvmic
― The Fearless Thread Killers (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 2 September 2019 21:42 (five years ago) link
Me too.
Some cuts sound a bit like The Band
― curmudgeon, Monday, 2 September 2019 22:50 (five years ago) link
@JasonIsbellDonnie Fritts was a legend back home, and a guide for many of us when we started writing and making music. I met Prine while working on Donnie’s album, and when I met Kristofferson and Willie all I had to say was “I’m a friend of Donnie Fritts.” Very proud to be able to say that.10:24 AM · Aug 28, 2019
― dow, Wednesday, 4 September 2019 01:09 (five years ago) link
Aww man, now Jimmy Johnson of the Stompers at 66
https://www.al.com/life/2019/09/swampers-guitarist-jimmy-johnson-has-died.html
Johnson recorded w/ Aretha; & cuts by Etta James (“Tell Mama”), Wilson Pickett (“Mustang Sally,” “Land of a 1000 Dances”), Paul Simon ""Kodachrome," “Loves Me Like a Rock”), Staple Singers (“I’ll Take You There," ”Respect Yourself"), Jimmy Cliff (“The Harder They Come”); Arthur Conley “Sweet Soul Music “
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 10 September 2019 04:02 (five years ago) link
Age 76 not 66
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 10 September 2019 04:03 (five years ago) link
Quite an impressive list of songs he played on.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 11 September 2019 03:26 (five years ago) link
Incredible list
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 11 September 2019 13:33 (five years ago) link
Patterson Hood pieces on Donnie Fritts and Jimmy Johnson
― Brad C., Wednesday, 11 September 2019 14:04 (five years ago) link
David Hood on Jimmy Johnson, as told to Matt Wake---looked a lot better in the News, but just keep scrolling past the ads---and at the very bottom, see links to Wake's in-depth overage of Roger Hawkins, also pieces about Fritts, Johnny Sandlin and maybe others:https://www.al.com/life/2019/09/a-swamper-a-brother-david-hood-talks-jimmy-johnson.html
Bham Newsman Mike Oliver's memory of a late and not so great Hinton gig:https://www.al.com/alabama/2018/11/this-alabama-man-was-the-best-soul-singer-few-have-heard-mvc-confirms.html
Good interview w Dan Penn:https://www.al.com/life/2019/07/shoals-songwriting-icon-talks-aretha-royalty-checks.html
― dow, Saturday, 14 September 2019 15:12 (five years ago) link
Johnson & Hood holding forth just a few months ago:https://www.al.com/entertainment/2016/12/muscle_shoals_has_got_the_swam.html
― dow, Saturday, 14 September 2019 15:21 (five years ago) link
First listen to Reggie Young's Guitar Session Man has my headphones spinning: so much to take in, so much goodness coming at me from all directions, and would be so even if there weren't 24 tracks on one CD. Most thread-relevant elements noticed so far:The only Muscle Shoals-recorded track is Little Milton's '02 version of Vince Gill's '90s country hit "Whenever You Come Around," here with a questing soul orchestra, layered and strong as the ones released like hounds in '60s Memphis, on the Box Tops' cover of Hank Snow's "I'm Movin' On" and Elvis's run with Percy Mayfield's "Stranger In My Own Hometown."Most of this is from Memphis, incl. duh Dusty Springfield's performance of Gerry Goffin & Carole King's "Don't Forget About Me," which was on a single w the Fritts-written "Breakfast in Bed."Fritts' KK bandmate Billy Swan rolls out of Nashville with a fast version of his own "Lover Please," a big late-doo wop hit for Clyde McPhatter :this take is more like what Ringo was doing at his 70s solo peak.We also get the prime of James Carr, Solomom Burke, Bobby Blue Bland, and many others---my absolute fave rave at the moment is Jackie DeShannon's departure with "I Wanna Roo You," here a fast crashy waltz, mostly (slowing down for the bridge, but it's a set-up, like the mellow verses on "I'm Movin' On), and she's often, though not always, wailing the chorus as "I want to ruin ruin ruin you. Ruin you tonight."
― dow, Tuesday, 22 October 2019 00:06 (four years ago) link
Wow
― Beware of Mr. Blecch, er...what? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 22 October 2019 00:07 (four years ago) link
Yeah! And Ace Records annotator Bob Dunham mentions Young's hot solos on the Swan track as prob not the sort of thing released on Nashville product since Mac Gayden's previous work with Area Code 615, which reminds me that this selection is immediately followed by the Gayden-written "Morning Glory," vigorously presented by James & Bobby Purify---they and the Box Tops also did versions of "I'm Your Puppet," right?
― dow, Tuesday, 22 October 2019 00:16 (four years ago) link
Yes. They had the hit on that one.
― Beware of Mr. Blecch, er...what? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 22 October 2019 00:18 (four years ago) link
thanks discogs:
Tracklist1 –Eddie Bond & His Stompers* Slip, Slip, Slippin' In 2 –Bill Black's Combo Carol 3 –Bobby Bland A Touch Of The Blues 4 –Jerry & Reggie* Dream Baby 5 –The Box Tops* I'm Movin' On 6 –Willie Mitchell The Champion - Part 1 7 –Solomon Burke Meet Me In Church 8 –Joe Tex Chicken Crazy 9 –King Curtis & The King Pins* In The Pocket 10 –James Carr More Love 11 –Dusty Springfield Don't Forget About Me 12 –Elvis Presley Stranger In My Own Home Town 13 –Jackie DeShannon I Wanna Roo You 14 –Dobie Gray Drift Away 15 –Sonny Curtis Rock'N Roll (I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life) 16 –Delbert McClinton Victim Of Life's Circumstances 17 –Billy Swan Lover Please 18 –James & Bobby Purify Morning Glory 19 –J.J. Cale Cocaine 20 –Merle Haggard I Think I'll Just Stay Here And Drink 21 –Waylon Jennings / Willie Nelson / Johnny Cash / Kris Kristofferson Highwayman 22 –Natalie Merchant Griselda 23 –Little Milton Whenever You Come Around 24 –Waylon Jennings Where Do We Go From Here
― dow, Tuesday, 22 October 2019 00:19 (four years ago) link
The Joe Tex track is not up to several of his hits mentioned in the notes, where Dunham says they would have picked "Skinny Legs and All," but it's already on another Young-inclusive Ace comp,Memphis Boys. Damm it, whiiiine
― dow, Tuesday, 22 October 2019 00:23 (four years ago) link
Judy Hood, self-dubbed "Swampette" (she's Mrs. David Hood), is now performing weddings* at Muscle Shoals Sound, still located at 3614 Jackson Highway---in the Before Times, revenue was mostly from studio tours, "merch sessions," fundraisers, and. oh yeah, recording---now not so much; they've had to augment. Base price for wedding experience(studio rental/ceremony): $400. Looks like fun, and something to keep in mind: https://www.al.com/life/2021/01/weddings-rock-at-iconic-muscle-shoals-recording-studio.html*Judy: "I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a bona fide religious leader." She doesn't have to be! All you need to get married in Alabama now is a notarized contract (so nobody has to perform a gay marriage).
― dow, Saturday, 23 January 2021 21:56 (three years ago) link
I did the tour there a few years ago. Did Fame studios first and then Muscle Shoals Sound. A fun, interesting day that was part of a great vacation that also included Nashville, Memphis, Clarksdale, and more .
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 24 January 2021 05:32 (three years ago) link
Oh yeah, you saw the permanent Nashville Skyline exhibit, right? Think there's something like that, since installed, related to the Outlaws and Armadillos: Country's Roaring 70s comp.
― dow, Sunday, 24 January 2021 18:35 (three years ago) link
Um, I don't think so re Nashville Skyline
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 26 January 2021 05:33 (three years ago) link
If I did see a Nashville Skyline exhibit, it would likely have been in Nashville or maybe Memphis . Although once saw a bunch of Jon Langford paintings of J Cash ( and Dylan too I think) at Other Music in NY. But not in Muscle Shoals.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 26 January 2021 19:09 (three years ago) link
Nashville Skyline exhibit, -- is that the Dylan exhibit at the Country Music HOF?
― Washington Generals D-League affiliate (will), Tuesday, 26 January 2021 19:32 (three years ago) link
This is the one I meant, at the Country Music Hall of Fame: "Dylan, Cash, and the Nashville Cats:: https://cmhof.imgix.net/content/uploads/2019/05/11071546/Dylan-Cash-long-exhibit-image.jpg
https://countrymusichalloffame.org/education/school-programs/teacher-resource-portal/dylan-cash-the-nashville-cats/
Much more here, though don't know how it went, with quarantine etc:https://countrymusichalloffame.org/press-release/country-music-hall-of-fame-and-museum-announces-2020-exhibition-schedule/
― dow, Tuesday, 26 January 2021 22:49 (three years ago) link
Really appealing Memphis Commercial Appeal feature by Bob Mehr, re The Last Soul Company: The Story of Malaco Records, by Rob Bowman, ethnomusicologist and author of Soulsville U.S.A., a study of Stax. He also wrote the notes to a Malaco box in the 90s. That was for the label's 30th Anniversary--for the 50th, a Malaco co-founder pitched him the idea to write "a lavish coffee table book that would tell the company's complete history." (So it's authorized, I take it, but on this piece, Bowman doesn't always agree w co-founder's comments). "It's the longest-running independent record label in American musical history," RB mentions, and and Mehr specifies, "It's existed in various forms: first as a booking agency, then a recording studio, then home to a hot house band, and ultimately a record label that has flirted with and found success across a number of genres from soul-blues to gospel." Mississippi Fred McDowell, King Floyd, Jean Knight, Little Milton, Johnny Taylor, Denise LaSalle, and (I think) ZZ Hill, many more were on there, and the house band also recorded with the Pointer Sisters, Rufus Thomas, and Paul Simon as mentioned here. https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/entertainment/music/2021/03/23/malaco-records-the-last-soul-company-rob-bowman-music-books/4735772001/
― dow, Monday, 29 March 2021 23:30 (three years ago) link
Oh, speaking of Nashville museums, the one of African-American Music is intriguing:https://nmaam.org/
― dow, Monday, 29 March 2021 23:34 (three years ago) link
And speaking of hit house bands, May will see a legit release of the Alex Chilton x Hi Rhythm live album, from a Memphis benefit show, Fredstock---details in here:Alex Chilton S&D
― dow, Monday, 29 March 2021 23:40 (three years ago) link
Just came scross ilxor Alfred Soto's most enticing review of latest Dusty re-collecion:
The Complete Atlantic Singles 1968-1971 collects most of the magisterial Dusty in Memphis (1969), its lesser follow-up A Brand New Me (1970), and a bevy of tracks orbiting the albums like lonely satellites. Yeah, it's all been scooped up before, but the way he describes so much of it, incl. what's highlit in "sparkling new mix," makes me want to get it: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/dusty-springfield-the-complete-atlantic-singles-1968-1971/Also liked "Old Soul, revisiting the sounds of Dusty Springfield, " in Feb. 8 New Yorker, much more than I usually do the writing of Amanda Pretrusich.
― dow, Tuesday, 30 March 2021 22:10 (three years ago) link
Judging by "Boogie Shoes" on YouTube, most of the appeal of the Alex Chilton/Hi Rhythm live album might be insrumental, which reminds me: here they are with Terry Manning, better known as a producer and engineer at Ardent etc. but his rough-and-ready vocal approach works better with HRS live than Chilton's (comparing just one track to another):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5lyZHzReSk
― dow, Sunday, 2 May 2021 17:58 (three years ago) link
(Chilton seems a bit cautious by comparison---their set was a one-off, but so was Manning's w HRS---filling in at the last minute for a no-show, and just taking the plunge, what the hell---this is the only live track on his album, and really seemed like the only keeper---according to the press sheet, he did a Box Tops Chilton parody for kicks, and was ordered to create an album around it, which mostly seemed like filler, but I didn't listen much)
― dow, Sunday, 2 May 2021 18:08 (three years ago) link
David Hood interviewed just after news of Roger Hawkins' death (keep scrolling past the ads, or blanked space for same, heh), says it was time, after long-ass illness:https://www.al.com/news/2021/05/david-hood-remembers-fellow-muscle-shoals-music-legend-roger-hawkins.html
― dow, Sunday, 23 May 2021 23:07 (three years ago) link
From January---another inviting presentation: Memphis Commercial *Appeal* indeed:
'From Elvis in Memphis': New book explores hometown sessions of the King at creative peakBob MehrMemphis Commercial Appealhttps://www.commercialappeal.com/story/entertainment/music/2021/01/06/elvis-presley-books-from-elvis-memphis-chips-moman-hometown-sessions/4128498001/
― dow, Monday, 24 May 2021 01:50 (three years ago) link