Archive - February, 2008
Friday, February 29th, 2008
After Stax found album sales of Home to be disappointing, Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett were released from their contract after just this one album. “Hard to Say Goodbye,” the second single pulled from Home, was ironically released as a single in late ’69, after Stax and the Bramletts had already parted company. Guess it must not have been so “Hard to Say Goodbye” after all.
Introduced by guitar and flute, which intertwine as they dance throughout the arrangement, “Hard to Say Goodbye” features Delaney in the lead with Bonnie in backup harmony, giving voice to lyrics that whisper with regret. Competent and professional, “Hard to Say Goodbye” could have been a late ‘60s ballad by the band Chicago or a late ‘70s ballad by the Jefferson Starship led by the voices of Marty Balin and Grace Slick. It is a nice enough little tune but not much more.
Like “Been a Long Time Coming,” “Hard to Say Goodbye” was written by the Bramletts and jointly produced by Don Nix and “Duck” Dunn. And just like their previous single, it too failed to enter either the R&B or Pop singles charts.
Delaney & Bonnie recorded for a few different labels after Stax. Their first album for Atco Records featured guitarist and admirer Eric Clapton; this proved a mixed blessing because although it most likely drew sales from the “Clapton is God” crowd, Clapton also took most of the Bramletts’ band with him when he left to form Derek & the Dominoes.
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Tuesday, February 26th, 2008
As a follow up to my last blog, a second Stax compilation was issued this week and while the first one focused on Stax artists visiting the vast musical catalog of the rival Motown empire, this cleverly-created collection features cover versions of classic tunes written and performed originally by The Beatles. In the interests of full disclosure, let me say I’m a Brit who grew up listening to the Fab Four at the height of their initial fame. The Beatles not only influenced my hairstyle (when I literally swept my hair to the front in a bold gesture and to the horror of my British mum went to school the next day with my new ‘Beatle’ cut, gaining instant popularity among my schoolmates!) but their cultural impact on the nation (and indeed the world) was immeasurable. Thus, I have always considered any recordings of their songs – with some notable exceptions (such as Aretha’s “Let It Be”) – somewhat sacrilegious!
That said, it is true that the new Stax compilation offers some varied and interesting interpretations of the compositions of Lennon, McCartney and in a couple of instances, George Harrison. The first cut also happens to be the first Stax recording I can recall of a Beatles’ tune, (The Big ‘O’) Otis Redding’s furiously fast’n’funky rendition of “Day Tripper,” specifically a fourth previously unreleased take on the song which was issued on his 1966 LP, “Dictionary Of Soul.” Isaac Hayes’ typically lush version of George Harrison’s “Something,” the eleven-minute-plus closing track on his 1970 set “The Isaac Hayes Movement” is performed with appropriate soulfulness; while songwriting partner David Porter puts his stamp on “Help.” There are two versions of “With A Little Help From My Friends” on “Stax Does The Beatles, as different as they could be, offered by Stax super guitarist Steve Cropper and the ever-adventurous Bar-Kays on a seven-minute-plus opus being made available for the first time. Likewise, The Bar-Kays (represented with a total of three cuts on this fifteen-song set) do their ‘thing’ with “Yesterday,” as does Carla Thomas in a live, previously unreleased rendition from her 1966 shows in Europe as part of The Stax/Volt Revue.
That Booker T. Jones had a great deal of admiration for The Beatles is evident: in 1970, Stax issued an entire album by Jones & The MGs entitled “McLemore Avenue,” versions of all the songs on the Beatles’ famous “Abbey Road” LP. The cover art showed all four members of the group walking across McLemore Avenue (where the Stax studios were located in Memphis) in the same way the British group’s album cover showed them crossing Abbey Road where they recorded their most memorable material. Four songs are included by Booker & co. on the new collection, “Got To Get You Into My Life” (previously unissued), “Eleanor Rigby,” “Michelle” and “Lady Madonna.”
The CD is a reminder of just how much impact the Beatles had on the worldwide music scene – and yes, there’s even a version of the afore-mentioned “Let It Be” by The Mar-Keys included! Not sure how much Beatles’ purists will dig it but Stax peeps will no doubt enjoy hearing these songs reworked with that special Memphis touch.
David Nathan
a/k/a “The British Ambassador Of Soul”
Owner, www.soulmusic.com, www.soulmusicstore.com, www.soulmusicglobal.com
Secretary, The Rhythm & Blues Foundation (www.rhythm-n-blues.org)
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Sunday, February 24th, 2008
Delaney & Bonnie, “It’s Been a Long Time Coming”
Single released May 1968; from the album Home released in late ‘69
To dispense with the obvious, husband and wife Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett were different from most Stax artists because they were one of the label’s few white performers. Delaney was born in Mississippi and pursued his musical muse to Los Angeles, where his gigs included howling as a Shindog, a member of the house band for the hit music TV show Shindig. Bonnie O’Farrell grew up near East St. Louis, where she thrived in the region’s urban blues scene (even eventually backing up Stax bluesman Albert King). Bonnie also moved to Los Angeles where they met, then married within weeks of their first meeting. By 1967, Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett were a romantic as well as a musical couple; in ‘68, they signed with Stax.
Hindsight provides the easiest 20/20 vision and it’s convenient if nothing else to wonder if Stax thought that the Bramlett’s roots-rock blues would help the label buy in to the white, rock album-buying audience, or help sell out. Fortunately, they were first-rate musicians and when they entered the studio to record their first Stax album, they were matched with correspondingly first-rate material (written by Isaac Hayes, David Porter, Steve Cropper and others) and musicians (including most of the MGs).
“It’s Been a Long Time Coming” was the first of two singles pulled from that Stax album, titled Home. The supporting instrumentation and arrangement recreate the feel of the Otis Redding - Carla Thomas duets that were an enduring Stax staple, especially that strong almost bouncy pre-’70s Stax soul stride. With absolutely no disrespect intended, the Bramlett’s vocal brings a touch of hillbilly holler to that strident Stax beat - listen especially to his pronunciation of the word “burning,” which nearly obliterates the “r” sound, or her tangy, twangy phrasing of “There must be someone special watching over you and me.”
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Friday, February 22nd, 2008
Ever since the Concord Music Group acquired the rights to the Stax catalog, soul music buffs have been treated to some wonderful reissues, all manner of tracks that might never seen the light of the day but for the work of those folks who love to comb the vaults for buried musical treasure. I know how rewarding it can be, having worked for many years on projects for Rhino involving the Atlantic tape library and the discovery of some amazing track in among masses of boxes is akin to being an archaeologist finding a priceless Egyptian artifact!
The Stax peeps have been particularly inventive with the release of two new concept-driven compilations. First up is “Stax Sings The Songs Of Motown Records” also known as “Soulsville Does Hitsville.” The relationship between Motown and Stax was particularly interesting in the mid-‘60s as Stax began to emerge as a serious force at black radio: in a lively conversation in 2006 in Philadelphia sponsored by the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, former Stax President Al Bell joked with Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. that he would check with his radio d.j. friends to find out when Motown was releasing a new Temptations record so that he could avoid competing with the Detroit giant for airplay if he had a new Otis Redding or Sam & Dave record ready to go to radio stations!
While there was no doubt friendly rivalry, Motown aware that the Memphis label was beginning to make serious inroads in the world of black music, the artists on both labels would from time to time, cover each others’ songs. There were very few Motown covers of Stax tunes because the Motown stable of songwriters were constantly vying for opportunities to have their songs recorded but occasionally, you’d get ‘interesting’ versions of Stax tunes such as The Supremes’ take on “Respect”!
The reverse was not necessarily true as is borne out by this new fifteen-cut collection that goes deep into the vaults for gems such as a twelve-minute version of the Gladys Knight & The Pips/Marvin Gaye smash “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” by The Bar-Kays (previously unissued), a melancholy take on The Four Tops’ “Ask The Lonely” by John Gary Williams (making its CD debut), the sweet-voiced reading of the Smokey Robinson & Miracles’ 1966 cut “Oh Be My Love” by Michigan native Barbara (“Hello Stranger”) Lewis (from her one 1970 Stax LP) and “You’ve Got To Earn It,” a Temptations song revisited by The Staple Singers.
My personal favorites include “Never Can Say Goodbye,” the Jackson Five chestnut given an appropriately-lush makeover by Isaac Hayes; the blistering reading of Marvin Gaye’s “Chained” by Mavis Staples, recorded originally for her 1969 Volt solo debut set; Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” with a sho-nuff version by the inimitable Soul Children; and with its brilliant self-penned opening rap, Margie Joseph’s cutting new interpretation of The Supremes’ “Stop! In The Name Of Love” turned into a whole other thang! Righteous…and worth the price of the entire CD which is imaginative and well constructed.
David Nathan
a/k/a “The British Ambassador Of Soul”
Owner, www.soulmusic.com, www.soulmusicstore.com, www.soulmusicglobal.com
Secretary, The Rhythm & Blues Foundation (www.rhythm-n-blues.org)
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