― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 17:14 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 17:15 (nineteen years ago) link
Altogether, based on the dozen-odd songs of his I'm familiar with, I find the guy too nondescript to rate anything so extreme as a DUD.
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 17:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― LaToya JaXoN (JasonD), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 17:51 (nineteen years ago) link
― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 17:54 (nineteen years ago) link
I've found some of the later singer/songwriter stuff for real cheap and it's worth a listen if you like Tim Hardin/Bobby Darin(folk-rock era type of thing. Slim Slo Rider in particular.
I say classic, but not really the hits, dig around a little and it's there.
― Garibaldianne (Garibaldianne), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 18:29 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 18:32 (nineteen years ago) link
― Vic Funk, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 18:37 (nineteen years ago) link
that's also the title of jimmy webb's book about the craft of songwriting, in which he strangely ignores most of his actually great songs while going to great lengths to try to prove that all of his not-so-great songs were in fact great. a fascinating but ultimately maddening book. the world needs more books about songwriting, an art that a lot of songwriters themselves don't understand.
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 18:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 18:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 18:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:00 (nineteen years ago) link
Those early 70s s/s albums sucked though (xpost)
― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 19:10 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 21:06 (nineteen years ago) link
― Cunga (Cunga), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 21:48 (nineteen years ago) link
I have a vinyl 2-LP best of on BJ that's surprisingly excellent w/some country-ish pop stuff but I can't access it right now.
― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 23:51 (nineteen years ago) link
― Garibaldianne (Garibaldianne), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 00:47 (nineteen years ago) link
Thanks I was wracking my brainpan trying to think of that one.
― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 00:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 01:41 (nineteen years ago) link
B.J's cover of Hank's "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" was awesome, though.
― jim wentworth (wench), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 03:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 18:55 (nineteen years ago) link
― persecution_smith, Thursday, 24 February 2005 16:46 (nineteen years ago) link
Is my face red. DUH.
― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Thursday, 24 February 2005 16:57 (nineteen years ago) link
― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Sunday, 13 November 2005 06:33 (eighteen years ago) link
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 (eighteen years ago) link
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 (eighteen years ago) link
― shookout (shookout), Sunday, 13 November 2005 15:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― k/l (Ken L), Sunday, 13 November 2005 17:00 (eighteen years ago) link
So, DUD.
― JAS, Sunday, 13 November 2005 18:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 14 November 2005 00:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― The Player In The Redd Cap (Two-Headed Doge) (Ken L), Thursday, 6 July 2006 20:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― The Player In The Redd Cap (Two-Headed Doge) (Ken L), Thursday, 6 July 2006 20:51 (seventeen years ago) link
― don (dow), Thursday, 6 July 2006 22:09 (seventeen years ago) link
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 (seventeen years ago) link
― jim wentworth (wench), Friday, 7 July 2006 00:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― The Player In The Redd Cap (Two-Headed Doge) (Ken L), Friday, 7 July 2006 00:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Friday, 7 July 2006 02:33 (seventeen years ago) link
― don (dow), Friday, 7 July 2006 04:36 (seventeen years ago) link
― The Player In The Redd Cap (Two-Headed Doge) (Ken L), Friday, 7 July 2006 04:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― The Player In The Redd Cap (Two-Headed Doge) (Ken L), Friday, 7 July 2006 04:42 (seventeen years ago) link
― The Player In The Redd Cap (Two-Headed Doge) (Ken L), Friday, 7 July 2006 04:48 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ruud Haarvest (Ken L), Tuesday, 18 July 2006 21:46 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ruud Haarvest (Ken L), Tuesday, 18 July 2006 21:54 (seventeen years ago) link
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 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ruud Haarvest (Ken L), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 01:07 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ruud Comes to Haarvest (Ken L), Thursday, 12 October 2006 14:23 (seventeen years ago) link
"Summer Rain" is such a`jam
― clotpoll, Saturday, 27 June 2009 07:43 (fourteen years ago) link
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 (thirteen years ago) link
Unashamed soul patch
― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, 25 January 2011 15:46 (thirteen years ago) link
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 (thirteen years ago) link
saw this in the racks yesterday :
http://www.johnnyrivers.com/album_covers/realization.jpeg
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 (twelve years ago) link
<3 that record, was a gateway to seeking out other mainstream artist's soul-searching psych oddities.
― llurk, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 15:53 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
carole king = carole kaye of course.
doh.
― mark e, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 16:09 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
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 (seven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Tom A. (Tom B.) (Tom C.) (Tom D.), Tuesday, 25 January 2011 15:45 (seven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I've been searching for a Singers Who Sound Alike thread, and surprisingly there doesn't seem to be one, just so I could blow your minds with the fact that I'm listening to a Johnny Rivers album and have only just realized that he sounds uncannily like Gene Clark... and then I discover I thought the same thing seven years ago, which was probably the last time I listened to a Johnny Rivers album. So, anyway, I'm listening to a Johnny Rivers album and bejesus but he sounds uncannily like Gene Clark! His voice is lighter and higher but his phrasing is almost identical, honestly you could pass this album off as a recently discovered attempt at an MOR album by Gene Clark and get away with it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n46-IXL79Tg
― Zach Same (Tom D.), Saturday, 15 September 2018 20:19 (five years ago) link
Both played the Whisky a Go Go in the summer of '66, so I bet they knew each other
― Josefa, Saturday, 15 September 2018 20:35 (five years ago) link
I think he must have been aware of the resemblance...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfV4_BNYIq0
― Zach Same (Tom D.), Saturday, 15 September 2018 20:40 (five years ago) link
Tell that to Johnny Rivers
― St Etienne Is Real (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 15 September 2018 20:41 (five years ago) link
Heard on the radio he turned 80 today. They were playing "Poor Side of Town," one of the greatest singles ever.
― clemenza, Monday, 7 November 2022 22:59 (one year ago) link
The 1960s version of Glen Frey, or maybe Pat Boone.
Damn, that's cold.
They were playing "Poor Side of Town," one of the greatest singles ever.
Yeah, beautiful song. So generous in its sentiments.
I think his version of "Baby I Need Your Lovin'" is better than the Four Tops: it really builds to that crescendo. He did screw up that one line though.
His "Tracks of My Tears"? OK, not so much, but it's credible.
"Summer Rain" is a weird song. The lyrics are about a happy, fulfilling relationship, but the track itself sounds melancholy, spooky even. Yearning.
― gjoon1, Tuesday, 8 November 2022 00:11 (one year ago) link
This revive is hitting the spot. “Poor Side of Town” and “Secret Agent Man” are obvious favorites, but so many of his covers are surprisingly good, including “Positively 4th Street.” Maybe Dylan himself said something good about it, don’t know where to look for that, maybe upthread.
― Me and the Major on the Moon (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 8 November 2022 01:11 (one year ago) link
Heh.
― Me and the Major on the Moon (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 8 November 2022 01:13 (one year ago) link
Johnny Rivers shows up a bit in the JJ Cale documentary 'To Tulsa and Back' as Cale led the band that was their house replacement group at the Whiskey Au Go Go when Rivers was off or on the road. That booking was when John Cale became JJ, as the owner of the Whiskey already knew about John Cale from the VU.
Another thing I picked up somewhere was Johnny Rivers did pretty well with the money, as he got paid handsomely doing all those early Vegas bookings and was able to roll them into other investments.
― earlnash, Tuesday, 8 November 2022 01:57 (one year ago) link
"Poor Side of Town," one of the greatest singles ever.
yes!!!!
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 8 November 2022 04:45 (one year ago) link