Lennon died 40 years ago today. That’s hard to believe.
Here’s an older interview
Category: Music
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Lucinda Williams’s 1998 album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is one of my favorite albums.
Profile of Williams soon after the album. The album went through a long, twisted recording process.
On her next album:
Ann Peebles
I was not familiar with the music of Ann Peebles until I got this Hi Records anthology. She is one of the greatest R&B artists ever. Peebles is a great singer and even co-wrote some of her hits in the 1960s and 1970s. Her best known song is “I Can’t Stand the Rain” but my favorite is “I Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody’s Home”. Like Al Green, her records were produced by Willie Mitchell with backing from the Hi Rhythm section. I actually prefer hers because I am not a big fan of ballads.
This is an article on her from the Oxford American:
She made a couple of albums on Rounder Records in the 1990s. Her voice was actually better and deeper but they were not innovative like her great early records. They just recreated the past.
Covers: Money (That’s What I Want)
The original version of “Money (That’s What I Want)” from 1959 was Motown’s first hit. I like early Motown records better than the later ones with strings – they are rougher R&B and less mainstream. I’ll take the Marvelettes over the Supremes any day. This song was co-written by Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford and sung by Barrett Strong. Strong is best known as a co-author of many Temptations records rather than as a performer. It’s a great song with a very simple theme – “I need money”.
The Beatles covered it in 1963. This is the best Beatles cover – John Lennon just screams it out. There was an odd cover by the Flying Lizards in 1979 and there are many other versions.
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
The Derek and the Dominos album “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs” was released 50 years ago today. The source of Clapton’s pain was his love for Pattie Boyd. She was then married to George Harrison but later married Clapton. The rest of the band besides Clapton had been part of Delaney and Bonnie and Friends. Duane Allman played slide guitar on most of the album. This is one of the few albums from that era that I like much better now than I did then.
Great live performance by Derek and the Dominos of a Chuck Willis song:
How bassist Carl Radle carved out a spot in music history on Derek & the Dominos’ Layla
Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Albums
Al Green
This funny alteration of a Walgreen’s sign is a good starting point to talk about Al Green. I prefer the earlier uptempo Al Green to the ballads that were the core of his success. “I’m So Tired of Being Alone” was the fifth single off Gets Next to You, his second Hi album (and my favorite of the ones I have heard). It became the blueprint for his later popular records. I’d rather listen to this album.
Summerteeth – Wilco
Wilco’s 1999 album Summerteeth will be reissued soon in a deluxe edition. I think this is a great album but it took me a while to get there. I had to get past my preconceptions about what kind of music Wilco should be making since they grew out of alt-country band Uncle Tupelo. This album has no connections at all with country music. None. It’s a very weary downbeat album. It reminds me of “I’m So Tired” by the Beatles. At least we now know what the album cover picture is about.
Sad! 