Saturday, September 10, 2011

Recorded This Day: Helter Skelter (1968)

September 10, 1968, 7:00 PM - 3:00 AM, EMI Studio 2
Producer: Chris Thomas

RM1 - mixed September 17, 1968:


RS5 - mixed October 12, 1968:

Friday, September 09, 2011

Ringo (1978 TV Special)

In this update of the "Prince and the Pauper," Ringo Starr is the most famous rock drummer in the world, but has become bored with his life as an iconic pop star, while Ognir Rats is a shy, bullied nobody with a lousy job and an abusive father. When Ringo sees Ognir and notices they share a strong resemblance to each other, they decide to switch places. Once Ringo gets a taste of Ognir's troubled life and Ognir is caught up in Ringo's busy schedule, can things be straightened out before Ringo's big concert, later that night?











Thursday, September 08, 2011

"Young Blood"

"Young Blood" is a song written by the songwriting team Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, together with Doc Pomus, in 1957.

Structure

Musically, the song follows a minor blues structure, built mostly around three chords (im, ivm, V) except for the bridge (IV, VI, III, V). The lyrical theme is one typical of early rock and roll: boy meets girl, then meets girl's father, who does not approve of boy - so the boy departs, but cannot stop thinking about the girl, declaring: "You're the one, You're the one, You're the one".

The Coasters' version

"Young Blood" was originally recorded by The Coasters, and released as a single together with "Searchin'" in March 1957 by Atco Records (#6087). Their version can also be heard on The Very Best of the Coasters album. It topped Billboard's R&B chart, and reached #3 on the Pop chart.

The Coasters' version is ranked #414 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the group's only song on the list. A sound bite, "Look a-there! Look a-there! Look a-there!", from The Coasters' version was used in a Dickie Goodman comedy record, "Flying Saucer the Second."

The Beatles' cover version

The Beatles played "Young Blood" in their Cavern Club repertoire. It is one of twelve songs recorded by them in July 1962 on a tape, which was re-purchased by Paul McCartney at a Sotheby's auction in 1985.

A previously-unreleased version performed by The Beatles (for the BBC radio show Pop Go the Beatles broadcast on June 11, 1963) is included on their album Live at the BBC, released in 1994. It was recorded at the BBC Paris Studio, London on June 1, 1963, and George Harrison is the lead vocalist on this recording; the tempo is moderately fast, considerably faster than in the original.

Other cover versions

The song has been covered by several other artists, including a live version by Leon Russell at the 1971 Concert for Bangla Desh, a 1976 release by Bad Company which charted, although described as a "terrible, hokey sendup ... that makes the band seem so foolish," a 1983 version by Beach Boys guitarist Carl Wilson that served as the title track to Youngblood (his second solo album), and a version by Bruce Willis in The Return of Bruno (1986). The Grateful Dead are known to have soundchecked the song. "Young Blood" was also featured in an episode of Happy Days.

Single by The Coasters
B-side: "Searchin'"
Released: March 1957
Recorded: February 15, 1957
Label: Atco Records 6087
Writer(s): Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Doc Pomus

Wikipedia



Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Dr. Feelgood

William "Willie" Lee Perryman (October 19, 1911 - July 25, 1985), who was usually known professionally as Piano Red and later in life as Dr. Feelgood, was an American blues musician, the first to hit the pop music charts. He was a self-taught pianist who played in the barrelhouse blues style. His simple, hard-pounding left hand and his percussive right hand, coupled with his cheerful shout brought him considerable success over three decades.

Biography

Willie Perryman was born on a farm near Hampton, Georgia. He was an albino African American, as was his older brother Rufus, who also had a blues piano career as "Speckled Red". Rufus, 19 years older than Willie, had left home before his little brother and took up the piano. They never recorded together. However, the family had a piano originally bought to give Rufus a musical education, and as a child Willie watched Rufus play on it. In 1918 the family moved to Atlanta.

Perryman cited Fats Waller as his main influence. By the early 1930s, he was playing at house parties, juke joints, and barrelhouses in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee, often working with other Georgia bluesmen, including Barbecue Bob, Curley Weaver, and Blind Willie McTell. He also began performing before white audiences in the resort town of Brevard, North Carolina, and by 1934 had begun to play at white clubs in Atlanta, developing a repertoire of pop standards. Around 1936 he began to be billed as "Piano Red", and made his first recordings with McTell in Augusta for Vocalion Records, although these were never released. He also began working as an upholsterer, a trade which he occasionally maintained through later years.

In 1950 after spending the last 14 years upholstering and playing music on weekends, Red recorded "Rockin' with Red" and "Red's Boogie" at the WGST radio studios in Atlanta for RCA Victor. Both songs became national hits, reaching # 5 and # 3 respectively on the Billboard R&B chart, and "Rockin' with Red" has since been covered many times under many titles. This success, and further hits "The Wrong Yo Yo" (allegedly written by Speckled Red), "Laying The Boogie" and "Just Right Bounce", allowed him to resume an active performing schedule. He also recorded sessions in New York and Nashville during the early 1950s.

In the mid 1950s he also worked as a disc jockey on radio stations WGST and WAOK in Atlanta, broadcasting The Piano Red Show, later The Dr. Feelgood Show, directly from a small shack in his back yard. A young James Brown made an appearance on his show in the late 1950s. His involvement had him appearing on a flatbed truck in many parades, which led to his song "Peachtree Parade". From the mid 1950s until the late 1960s, he recorded for several companies, including Columbia, for which he made several records, Checker, for whom he recorded 8 sides with Willie Dixon on bass, and Groove Records,a subsidiary of RCA Victor, producing the first hit for that label.

On Okeh Records, in 1961, he began using the name Dr. Feelgood and the Interns, releasing several hits, including the much-covered "Doctor Feel-Good". The persona was one he had initially adopted on his radio shows. The new career was short-lived, though, and Piano Red was never able to regain his former stature. In 1966, the popular folk-rock group The Lovin' Spoonful, recorded his song "Bald Headed Lena" on their second album, Daydream.

He continued to be a popular performer in Underground Atlanta, and had several European tours late in his career, including appearances at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Berlin Jazz Festival, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt's inauguration, and on BBC Radio.

He was diagnosed with cancer in 1984 and died the following year. Among those who attended his funeral were the Governor of Georgia and the Mayor of Atlanta.

Legacy

Dr. Feelgood are a British pub rock band, which was formed in mid 1971. The name of the band, Dr. Feelgood, is slang for heroin, or for doctors who are prepared to over-prescribe drugs. Piano Red's song "Dr Feel-Good" was covered by several British beat groups including Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, who used it as the b-side to their 1964 single "Always and Ever", from where it was chosen by the band.

Wikipedia



Tuesday, September 06, 2011

"You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"

"You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" is a song by The Beatles. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney, and first appeared on the album Help! in August 1965. The song also appeared on side three of the 1973 compilation 1962–1966.

Performance in the film

In the film Help!, at the opening of the song, the head of the cult, Clang (Leo McKern), appears from underneath a manhole cover in the middle of Ailsa Avenue, London, where parts of the film were shot. He stays there for the whole song, which the Beatles play in John Lennon's fourth of the Beatles' shared flat. They are watched by Ahme (Eleanor Bron), and at the end of the song, George passes out after Ahme produces a giant needle for Ringo, who is wearing the ring the cult is seeking.

Influence of Bob Dylan

At the time of the release of Help!, Lennon was infatuated with the American singer Bob Dylan. Dylan's 1964 song "I Don't Believe You [She Acts Like We Have Never Met]" opens in strikingly similar fashion: "I can't understand, she let go of my hand, and left me here facing the wall". Lennon seems to mimic Dylan's gruff vocal style, and uses a Dylanesque, all-acoustic accompaniment with very little percussion. The song "is just basically John doing Dylan", McCartney later said.

Other song information

The song, according to musician/singer Tom Robinson, is a reference to Brian Epstein, the group's manager, who was homosexual (homosexuality was a criminal offense in Britain at the time).

When Lennon made a mistake during the recording (he sang "two foot small" instead of "two foot tall"), he is reported to have said: "Let's leave that in, actually. All those pseuds will really love it."

At the time of recording, "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" was the first Beatles song since "Love Me Do" to feature an outside musician. John Scott recorded a tenor flute as The Beatles taped their parts, before overdubbing an additional alto flute part.

Other studio tracks

There is an alternative take included on Anthology II. Before the song proper begins, a montage of chatter associated with several other takes is presented. In this sequence, Lennon counts off the song, then stops to readjust his guitar pickup. After a glass shatters, Lennon says "Paul's broken a glass, broken a glass. Paul's broken a glass. A glass, a glass he's broke today."

Credits

* John Lennon — lead vocal, Twelve string guitar
* Paul McCartney — Bass guitar
* George Harrison — acoustic guitar
* Ringo Starr — tambourine, maracas
* John Scott — flutes

Cover versions

Artists who have covered this song include the following, listed alphabetically:

* The Beach Boys, on their Beach Boys' Party! album, with the lead vocal by Dennis Wilson
* Joe Cocker
* Chris Cornell
* Elvis Costello
* Government Mule
* Howie Day, with Dispatch
* Daniel Johnston, live shows
* The Kentucky Headhunters
* Oasis, as a B-side
* Perry Rose
* Tim Rose
* The Silkie, produced by The Beatles
* The Subways
* Travis
* U2 has performed a snippet of the song during various tours, usually towards the end of the song, "Bad".
* Eddie Vedder, on the movie soundtrack of I Am Sam, also popular during Pearl Jam concerts
* Pearl Jam
* Julieta Venegas

Album: Help!
Released: 6 August 1965
Recorded: Abbey Road Studios, 18 February 1965
Genre: Folk rock
Length: 2:11
Label: Parlophone, Capitol, EMI
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Producer: George Martin

Wikipedia



Monday, September 05, 2011

Recorded This Day: Delta Lady (1969)

Leon Russell - featuring George Harrison on guitar and Ringo Starr on drums

September 5, 1969, Olympic Sound Studios, London
Producers: Denny Cordell and Leon Russell

Sunday, September 04, 2011

Jimmy McCracklin

Jimmy McCracklin (born 13 August 1921, St. Louis Missouri) is an American pianist, vocalist, and songwriter. His style contains West Coast blues, Jump blues, and R&B. Over a career that has spanned seven decades, he says he's written almost a thousand songs and has recorded hundreds of them. McCracklin has recorded over 30 albums, and owns four gold records.

Biography

McCracklin joined the United States Navy in 1938, he later settle in Richmond, California, and began playing at the local Club Savoy owned by his sister-in-law Willie Mae "Granny" Johnson. The room-length bar served beer and wine, and Granny Johnson served home-cooked meals of greens, ribs, chicken, and other southern cuisine. A house band composed of Bay Area--based musicians alternated with and frequently backed performers such as B.B. King, Charles Brown, and L. C. Robinson. Later in 1963 he would write and record a song "Club Savoy" on his I Just Gotta Know album.

His recorded a debut single for the Globe Records "Miss Mattie Left Me" in 1945, and recorded "Street Loafin' Woman in 1946. McCracklin recorded for a number of labels in Los Angeles and Oakland, prior to touching down with Modern Records in 1949-1950. He formed a group Jimmy McCracklin and His Blues Blasters in 1946, with guitarist Lafayette Thomas who remained with group until the early 1960s.

His popularity increased after appearing on the TV pop Dick Clark's American Bandstand in support of his self written single "The Walk" (1957), a good groove that Checker Records put on the market in 1958. It went to #5 on the R&B chart and #7 on the pop charts, after more than 10 years of McCracklin selling records in the black community on a series of small labels. Jimmy McCracklin Sings, his first solo album, was released in 1962, the style is of West Coast blues. In 1962, McCracklin recorded "Just Got to Know" for his own Art-Tone label in Oakland, after the record made No. 2 on the R&B charts. For a brief period in the early 1970s Jimmy McCracklin ran the Continental Club in San Francisco, dubbed "the Coliseum of the Oakland blues". He booked major blues acts like T-Bone Walker, Irma Thomas, Big Joe Turner, Big Mama Thornton, and Etta James. In 1967, Otis Redding and Carla Thomas had success with "Tramp", a song credited to McCracklin and Lowell Fulson. Salt-n-Pepa made a hip-hop hit out of the song in 1987. Oakland Blues (1986) is an album arranged/directed by McCracklin, and produced by World Pacific.

McCracklin continued to tour and produce new albums in the 1980s and 1990s. Bob Dylan has cited McCracklin as a favorite. He has played at the legendary San Francisco Blues Festival in '73, '77, '80, 81, '84 and 2007. He was given a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1990, and the Living Legend and Hall of Fame award at the Bay Area Black Music Awards, in 2007.

Selected discography
Year Title Genre Label
2007 1951-1954 West Coast blues Classics
2004 1948-1951 West Coast blues Classics
2003 1945-1948 West Coast blues Classics
2003 Jumpin Bay Area 1948-1955 West Coast blues P-Vine Japan
1999 Tell It to the Judge! West Coast blues Gunsmoke
1997 The Walk: Jimmy McCracklin at His Best West Coast blues, Soul-Blues Razor & Tie
1994 A Taste of the Blues West Coast blues Bullseye Blues
1992 The Mercury Recordings West Coast blues, Soul-Blues Bear Family
1991 Jimmy McCracklin: My Story West Coast blues Rounder
1991 My Story West Coast blues Rounder
1981 All His Bluesblasters West Coast blues Ace
1978 Rockin' Man West Coast blues Stax
1972 Yesterday Is Gone West Coast blues Stax
1971 High on the Blues West Coast blues Stax
1969 Stinger Man Soul-Blues Minit
1968 Let's Get Together West Coast blues Minit
1966 New Soul of Jimmy McCracklin West Coast blues Imperial
1966 My Answer West Coast blues Imperial
1965 Think West Coast blues Imperial
1965 Every Night, Every Day West Coast blues Imperial
1963 My Rockin' Soul West Coast blues United
1963 I Just Gotta Know West Coast blues Imperial
1962 Jimmy McCracklin Sings West Coast blues Chess

Wikipedia