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Any Major Carole King Songbook Vol. 2

April 28th, 2022 3 comments

 

All she ever wanted to be was a suburban housewife, and yet she wrote some of the greatest hits of the early 1960s, and in a second career released one of the great albums of all time. She inspired Lennon-McCartney, having written as bunch of hits by the time her contemporaries started to record theirs. Carole King wrote or co-write so many sings that her career merits a second Songbook, following on from Any Major Carole King Songbook Vol. 1.

Carole King framed her music around the lyrics created by her songwriting partners — chiefly one-time husband Gerry Goffin and later Toni Stern — or, of course, by herself. Sometimes the melody would be at odds with the lyrics. Take Good Care Of My Baby is far too jolly — but what a tune. It features here in King’s demo version. More often, the melody would give the lyrics their character. Think of Natural Woman, whose gorgeous melody complements those beautiful lyrics (written by a man, Gerry Goffin, and performed on this mix by a man, Bobby Womack), or the percussive thrusting melody of I Feel The Earth Move.

I love King as a singer. I love that intimate, slightly imperfect voice and its economic application. That impeccable phrasing. So it’s rather a pity that King did not record all those great hits of the early and mid-1960s herself: Up On The Roof, I’m Into Something Good, One Fine Day, Chains, The Loco-motion and so on. We have an idea of how that might have been when a decade after it was a #1 for The Shirelles (when King was still 18!), she recorded Will You Love Me Tomorrow on Tapestry. Or, of course, listen to her 1962 single It Might As Well Rain Until September.

Before her solo career, King had a shot at vocal stardom as the lead singer of The City — with future husband Charles Larkey and future Tapestry collaborator Danny Kortchmar — but King’s reluctance to play live and distribution troubles prevented their one album from becoming a hit. But what a star King might have been even before Tapestry (for which she also the Tapestry Recovered mix).

But in those the division of labour was still entrenched: songwriters wrote the songs, singers sang them. Funny enough, it was those guys whom King had inspired — Lennon-McCartney, Brian Wilson — and those whose work opened the way for auteur albums like Tapestry — Dylan et al — who were at the spearhead which broke down that old way of doing things.

In any case, King was not interested in being a pop star. During the Brill Building days, her vision of life was to be a mother in the suburbs. And after Tapestry, she was drawn to the rural life in Idaho (not undramatically; her lifestory had its share of commotion). So here we have the reluctant music legend who resides in music history as one of pop’s greatest treasures

As on Volume 1, the bulk of the songs here were written with Gerry Goffin (tracks 1-3,6-7,10-11,14-24). Others were written with Toni Stern (4 and 8), and the rest were all Carole on her own (5,9, 12-13). The track by The Isley Brothers incorporates their own Keep On Walkin’. There are more covers of Carole King songs on the Brill Building Covered mix.

So, here’s the first lot of Carole King compositions. The lot is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and includes home-locomotioned covers and the above text in an illustrated PDF. PW in comments.

1. Little Eva – Some Kind-A Wonderful (1962)
2. The Chiffons – One Fine Day (1963)
3. The Monkees – Pleasant Valley Sunday (1967)
4. The City – Now That Everything’s Been Said (1968)
5. Johnny Rivers – So Far Away (1971)
6. Bobby Womack – Natural Man (1973)
7. Isaac Hayes – Hey Girl (1986)
8. The Isley Brothers – Sweet Season/Keep On Walkin’ (1972)
9. Rita Coolidge – Walk On In (1981)
10. The Men They Couldn’t Hang – Never Born To Follow (1996)
11. Nick Lowe – Halfway To Paradise (1977)
12. Jo Mama – Smack Water Jack (1971)
13. Anne Murray – Beautiful (1972)
14. Roberta Flack – Will You Love Me Tomorrow (1971)
15. Turley Richards – Child Of Mine (1971)
16. Paul Davis – When My Little Girl Is Smiling (1971)
17. Sandie Shaw – The Right To Cry (1969)
18. Dusty Springfield – No Easy Way Down (1969)
19. Percy Sledge – So Much Love (1966)
20. The Drifters – At The Club (1965)
21. Betty Everett – I Can’t Hear You (1964)
22. Everly Brothers – Chains (1962)
23. The Righteous Brothers – Just Once In My Life (1965)
24. Carole King – Take Good Care Of My Baby (1961)
BONUS TRACK:
Gene McDaniels – Point Of No Return (1962)
Crusaders – So Far Away (live) (1981)

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More Songbooks:
ABBA
Ashford & Simpson
Barry Gibb Vol. 1
Barry Gibb Vol. 2
Bill Withers
Bob Dylan Volumes 1-5
Brian Wilson
Bruce Springsteen
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 1
Burt Bacharach & Hal David Vol. 2
Burt Bacharach’s Lesser-Known Songbook
Carole Bayer Sager
Carole King Vol. 1
Carole King Vol. 2
Chuck Berry
Cole Porter Vol. 1
Cole Porter Vol. 2
Elton John & Bernie Taupin
Holland-Dozier-Holland
John Prine
Jimmy Webb Vol. 1
Jimmy Webb Vol. 2
Jimmy Webb Vol. 3
Lamont Dozier
Laura Nyro
Leonard Cohen
Neil Diamond
Paul McCartney Vol. 1
Paul McCartney Vol. 2
Rod Temperton
Sly Stone
Steely Dan

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Life in Vinyl 1988

April 21st, 2022 2 comments

 

In the 1980s, South Africa suffered shit like apartheid — we didn’t know it yet, but by 1988 that cockroach was soon about to turn on its back and die — but it also had sunshine and a great phenomenon called record libraries. These shops, the most famous chain of these called Disque, were like record stores, except there you could hire records, both latest releases and a great selection of old LPs cutting across genres.

It was a great way of test-driving albums: like them, and buy them in a proper record shop; don’t like them, don’t buy them — and maybe tape them (they might grow on you). Apart from test-driving new releases, these record libraries provided fantastic ways of getting into older music — I remember getting into acts like Little Feat and Van Morrison by that route as a teenager in 1982/83 — or exploring genres I wasn’t familiar with.

Obviously, the record companies and shops didn’t like these places. Hometaping was killing music, as we can see by the absence of music today. I murderously home-taped, but I bought more records because of these shops than I might have otherwise. In 1989 they were finally declared illegal.

The record libraries may explain my genre-hopping ways, which is quite evident on this mix of records I bought in 1988. There’s the indie stylings of Bjork on The Sugarcubes’ hit, the protest folk of Tracy Chapman, the stadium rock of U2 and INXS, the soul music of the unjustly non-famous UK singer Keni Stevens and his compatriot Mica Paris. The mix could also have included jazz fusion and dance tracks.

There are some LPs from this set I longer own: they were lost (The Primitives), weeded out (The Church, U2), or warped in the sun (Will Downing). Some I’d happily listen to if they came on, others I’d not bother (Hothouse Flowers, Tanita Tikaram). A few I still play on occasion: Everything But The Girl’s gorgeous Idlewind, Tracy Chapman’s stunning eponymous debut album, Keni Stevens’ You, and The Pogues’ If I Should Fall From Grace With God.

I think 1988 was the last year when I bought new-release LPs at such a rate and in such diversity. 1989 was a pretty bad year for music, and in 1990 I bought mostly records to play in my role as party DJ. By 1991 vinyl was being phased out in South Africa, and I never fell in love with CDs.

I am adding a bunch of surprise bonus tracks to this lot. So, here is the vibe round my place 34 years ago!

As always, CD-R length, home-hired covers, illustrated PDF, PW in comments.

1. The Primitives – Crash
2. Aztec Camera – Somewhere In My Heart
3. Prefab Sprout – Cars And Girls
4. The Sugarcubes – Birthday
5. The Housemartins – There Is Always Something There To Remind Me
6. The Men They Couldn’t Hang – The Colours
7. The Pogues – Streets Of Sorrow/Birmingham Six
8. The Church – Under The Milky Way
9. Hothouse Flowers – Don’t Go
10. INXS – Never Tear Us Apart
11. Everything But The Girl – Love Is Here Where I Live
12. Sade – Love Is Stronger Than Pride
13. Keni Stevens – 24-7-365
14. Will Downing – A Love Supreme
15. Mica Paris – My One Temptation
16. Tracy Chapman – Talkin’ ‘Bout A Revolution
17. Fairground Attraction – Find My Love
18. Tanita Tikaram – Good Tradition
19. Toto – Pamela
20. U2 – Angel Of Harlem

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Not Feeling Guilty Mix Vol. 12

April 12th, 2022 2 comments

 

 

I have previously expressed my disdain for the term “yacht rock” to describe… well, the kind of music featured in the Not Feeling Guilty series, whose name itself is a play on another hated phrase, “guilty pleasures”. But this 12th volume does sound like sunshine and wind in your hair (if you have any). Like you might experience on a yacht.

Though, since most of us are not oligarchs, the sun and wind effect might be more likely achieved by driving in an open-top car. But since most of us aren’t rich, we may need to make do with riding on a bicycle on a sunny day while playing this mix. But that, in turn, creates health-and-safety problems: firstly, you ought to wear helmet on your hair, and secondly you should be alert to traffic noises, unadulterated by the great music on this collection. Either way, the term yacht rock is crap, even if the music it describes evokes beautiful summer days and sweet summer nights.

On this collection we meet again several acts that featured on previous mixes, and a number which enter the series at this stage. One of these in an English act from Manchester, Sad Café. The featured song, Every Day Hurts, was a UK #3 hit in 1979. Lead singer Paul Young (not that one) later became co-lead singer with Paul Carrack in Michael + The Mechanics. Carrack, in turn, had been the lead singer of Ace, another English band which featured on Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 1 and Vol. 5.

The lead singer of The Doobie Brothers makes a solo appearance here. Having left the band in 1982, Patrick Simmons had a bit of a hit with the disco track So Wrong (and it was). The featured track, Why You Givin’ Up, is from the same album, Arcade. You can almost hear Michael McDonald in that song (there is another song on which you actually do hear McDonald, but more on that later).

Also not exactly obscure, Felix Cavaliere makes his first appearance here. The former singer and organist of the Young Rascals had a successful soft-rock period, scoring a hit in 1980 with Only A Lonely Heart Sees, which is on my Not Feeling Guilty shortlist, but I doubt it will ever feature. The far superior featured track is from 1975.

That’s the same year The Rhinestones issues their eponymous album which includes the happiness-inducing One Time Love. The group was led by Kal David (formerly of Illinois Speed Press) and Harvey Brooks (Electric Flag) and for their first few excellent albums went by the name of The Fabulous Rhinestones. Their R&B-flavoured rock was popular with the critics but that didn’t translate to commercial success. For their last album in 1975, without founding member Marty Gebb (formerly of The Buckinghams) as a permanent member, they dropped the “Fabulous” from their name.  We encounter Kal David a few songs and five years later, doing backing vocals on Robbie Dupree’s It’s Too Late.

It’s a pity Homi & Jarvis released only one album. On their one effort, in 1983, they were backed by some fusion heavyweights, including Marcus Miller, Dave Grusin and Lee Ritenour. English-born Amanda Homi, who was of Indian descent, had a lovely voice with an impressive range, reminiscent of Deniece Williams. It was well-complemented by the soft-rock stylings of Brian Jarvis. Homi never achieved commercial success, but has made a career of picking up musical traditions from countries as various as Greece, Jamaica and Senegal.

South Africa’s Karl Kilkillus featured on Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 4 with the excellent Another Shore. Here is the rare flip-side. At the time Kikillus was a popular radio DJ, and he’d go on to become a popular TV presenter of South Africa’s only pop videos show in the 1980s. To my knowledge, he recorded nothing else.

The mix closes with a track from 1980 by the Canadian band Straight Lines. They went on to have a big hit in 1982 with the ballad Letting Go. But when the follow-up singles flopped, the band split later that year. By the time Straight Lines won a Juno Award (the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys) for Letting Go in 1983, they no longer were together. Everybody Wants To Be A Star — but they weren’t.

As promised when I posted the Carole Bayer Sager Songbook, here’s her original of It’s The Falling In Love, which is better known in Michael Jackson’s version on Off The Wall. Carole Bayer Sager’s version, which is gloriously arranged, features Michael McDonald on backing vocals.

Bayer Sager co-wrote a few tracks on the album from which Melissa Manchester’s Just Too Many People comes from, titled Melissa, but this featured track was written by Manchester united with producer Vini Poncia. Another track on that album is Party People, with The Rhinestones on backing vocals (they also recorded it on their album).

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R for that retro CD player in the car you’ll cruise down the summer roads as you play this superb mix. Home-sailed covers are included, as well as an illustrated PDF with all the bumph above. PW in comments.

1. The Rhinestones – One Time Love (1975)
2. Felix Cavaliere – Never Felt Love Before (1975)
3. Rita Coolidge – You (1978)
4. Heat – Whatever It Is (1980)
5. Average White Band – For You, For Love (1980)
6. Robbie Dupree – It’s A Feeling (1980)
7. Brooklyn Dreams – Fallin’ In Love (1980)
8. David Roberts – Never Gonna Let You Go (1982)
9. Karl Kikillus – Fallen Angel (1983)
10. Patrick Simmons – Why You Givin’ Up (1983)
11. Homi & Jarvis – I’m In Love Again (1983)
12. Carole Bayer Sager – It’s The Falling In Love (1978)
13. Terence Boylan – Shake It (1977)
14. Pages – If I Saw You Again (1978)
15. Sad Café – Every Day Hurts (1979)
16. Bill Champlin – Gotta Get Back To Love (1981)
17. Melissa Manchester – Just Too Many People (1975)
18. America – You Could’ve Been The One (1980)
19. Exile – Take Me Down (1980)
20. Straight Lines – Everybody Wants To Be A Star (1980)

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Not Feeling Guilty Mix 1
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 2
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 3
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 4
Not Feeling Guilty Mix 5
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 6
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 7
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 8
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 9
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 10
Not Feeling Guilty Vol. 11

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In Memoriam – March 2022

April 5th, 2022 3 comments

March was a generally mild month for music deaths — I suppose the Grim Reaper is busy elsewhere — but there were more than the usual number of deaths of relatively young people in March. An English boy band singer died at only 31 of glioblastoma (a particularly nasty kind of cancer), and a member of indie band Freelance Whales died by suicide at 36. And a dazing number of music people died in their 40s and 50s. At the older end of the scale, it was sad to see two members of a legendary reggae trio die within three days of one another (one died on April 1; for purposes of narrative, he gets listed this month and again next month).

I don’t know whether the 1990s alt.rock scene has many devotees among readers of this corner of the Internet, but if there are any, they might have cause to mourn the death of two guitarists in the genre within two days of one another. And, if Foo Fighters are alt.rock (not really, though), the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins was a bit of a shock, especially seeing as he was only 50 and on tour.

The Soul Mover
If nothing else, soul singer-songwriter and keyboardist Timmy Thomas was adept at going with the times. Recording on Goldwax in the 1960s, he was able to do those groovy instrumentals in the mode of Booker T and he could also deliver southern soul vocals. In the 1970s, he tapped into the mood of the time with his classic Why Can’t We Live Together, all the while issuing superb keyboard work. In the 1980s, he did a good line in the synth-and-bass soul numbers, scoring a hit with Gotta Give A Little Love (Ten Years After), and by 1900, he had morphed into an upbeat pop singer.

The Foo Drummer
When the Foo Fighters came off stage in San Isidro, Argentina, nobody expected that 50-year-old drummer Taylor Hawkins, would not live to see the next gig in Bogotá, Colombia, the city where he would be found lifeless in his hotel room. For 25 years he was not only the drummer of Foo Fighters but also the band’s second public face, after Dave Grohl.

He joined Grohl’s band, yet to become superstars, while drumming for Alanis Morrissette on stage at the height of her popularity. It must have been a courageous move for Hawkins to leave that successful gig for a band fronted by Dave Grohl, more so drumming without much studio experience behind a man who was a drumming legend on account of having wielded the sticks in Nirvana. Clearly, Grohl had no complaints about Hawkins drumming.

Besides the Foo Fighters, Hawkins also had his own band, Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders, which included fellow Morrissette alumnus and Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney. The band released three albums between 2006 and 2019. In 2020 Hawkins formed a group with Chaney and Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction, named NHC (the members’ initials). An album by the supergroup is due out this year. Hawkins’ most recently drummed on Elton John’s new albums of duets, on the track with Eddie Vedder.

The Marcel
In doo wop, few opening lines are as instantly recognisable — well, “iconic”, to use that chronically overused and misapplied word — as the “Bomp-baba-bomp-ba-bomp-ba-bomp-bomp … vedanga-dang-dang-vadinga-dong-ding” of The Marcel’s version of Blue Moon. That line was delivered by bass singer Fred Johnson, who died on the last day of March at the age of 80 (and whose sister’s hairstyle gave the band its name).

Blue Moon was a million-selling #1 hit, but soon there’d be trouble: The Marcels were multiracial, and that prevented them touring in the Deep South. The two white members soon left the group, and were replaced with black singers. Johnson and his bandmates carried on, with Johnson remaining a Marcel throughout its various iterations, but they never had chart success again after a couple of minor hits in 1962.

The Three Dog Producer
The sound of Three Dog Night was much that created by Richard Podolor, who produced all their material in their pomp. Podolor also produced acts like Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly (Metamorphosis, and Live), Blues Image with their magnificent Ride Captain Ride (see Any Major Hits from 1970), Black Oak Arkansas (see Any Major Southern Rock), The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, Phil Seymour, Alice Cooper (1981’s Special Forces), Dwight Tilley and others.

Before he was a producer and arranger, Podolor was a rock & roll recording artist, and then a session guitarist. He’d still grab the guitar when he was producing; on Iron Butterfly’s Metamorphosis, he even played the sitar. He also wrote music; among that work was Let There Be Drums, which featured in last month’s In Memoriam to mark the death of co-writer and performer Sandy Nelson.

The Two Diamonds
What a tragedy it is for a member of a trio to see two bandmates die in the space three days. So it is for Lloyd “Judge” Ferguson of the reggae group The Mighty Diamonds, who on March 29 lost lead singer and songwriter Donald “Tabby” Shaw at 67 in a drive-by shooting and on April 1 lost singer Fitzroy “Bunny” Simpson to diabetes.

Founded in 1969, the group started to gain traction in the mid-1970s, with their first hit Shame And Pride, produced by Jah Lloyd. Their backing harmonies helped Susan Cadogan hit the UK Top 5 in 1975 with Hurt So Good. They became big in 1976, with the release of their Right Time album. The Mighty Diamonds had a string of hits in the 1970s and ’80s, but their biggest song didn’t become famous in their own version. Pass The Kouchie, a ganja anthem written by Simpson and Ferguson, became a worldwide hit (with adapted lyrics) as Pass The Dutchie by Musical Youth. The song featured on Any Major Orginals – 1980s Vol. 2.

The band played popular gigs in Britain in the 1970s, and remained a fixture on Jamaica’s reggae scene for decades, releasing a total of 46 albums, with a 47th in the works. The band had also been preparing for a world tour: tragically, murder and illness within a few days put paid to that.

The Canada Soulman
Canadian soul singer Eric Mercury could do Southern soul with the best of them — and, in fact, at one point he did, recording for Stax with session men like Steve Cropper (who also produced him at times) and The Memphis Horns. Born in Toronto, he was in the group The Pharaohs and then as leader in Eric Mercury and the Soul Searchers before moving to New York in 1968. He issued a number of solo albums which included socially conscious lyrics, with titles like 1969’s Black Electric Man and 1972’s Funky Sounds Nurtured In The Fertile Soil Of Memphis That Smell Of Rock.

His recording career was over by 1981. By then he had written and co-produced a number of tracks for Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway, including the gorgeous You Are My Heaven (co-written with Stevie Wonder), Only Heaven Can Wait, and Just When I Needed You.

The Street Musician
At an advanced age, Grandpa Elliott became something of a sensation as a soul and blues street musician in New Orleans, where he was a fixture on the corner of Royal and Toulouse Streets in the French Quarter (see video). Long of beard and dressed in a folksy outfit of denim dungarees, red shirt and floppy hat, he attracted media attention throughout the US. Included in Mark Johnson’s Playing for Change project, he would play in stadiums, appear on TV, tour internationally, and go viral on YouTube with his performance of Stand By Me.

In 2009, Elliott, by now blind from glaucoma, released his debut CD, more than three decades after leaving the music industry, disillusioned with the business practices in New York. In the 1960s and ‘70s he released a number of singles, to no commercial success.As always, this post is reproduced in illustrated PDF format in the package, which also includes my personal playlist of the featured tracks. PW in comments.

Mac Martin, 96, bluegrass musician, on Feb. 28

Richard Pratt, bass singer with soul band Blue Magic, announced on March 1
Blue Magic – Stop To Start (1974)

Warner Mack, 86, country singer-songwriter, on March 1
Warner Mack – Is It Wrong (For Loving You) (1957, also as co-writer)

Johnny Brown, 84, comic actor and singer, on March 2
Johnny Brown – Sundown (1961)

Chuck Criss, 36, musician with indie band Freelance Whales, by suicide on March 2
Freelance Whales – Hannah (2010)

Denroy Morgan, c.75, Jamaican-born reggae and funk musician, on March 3
Denroy Morgan – I’ll Do Anything For You (1981)

Jimbeau Hinson, 70, country singer-songwriter, on March 4
The Oak Ridge Boys – Fancy Free (1981, as co-writer)

Jeff Howell, 60, rock bassist with Outlaws, on March 5
Outlaws – Steam On The Blacktop (1994, as member)

Patricio Renán, 77, Chilean pop singer, on March 5

Pau Riba, 73, Spanish singer and author, on March 6
Pau Riba – Noia de porcellana (1969)

Mike Cross, 57, guitarist of alt.rock band Sponge, on March 6
Sponge – Plowed (1994)

Isao Suzuki, 89, Japanese jazz double-bassist, on March 8

Ziggy Sigmund, guitarist with Canadian rock bands Econoline Crush, Slow, on March 8
Econoline Crush – You Don’t Know What It’s Like (1997)

Grandpa Elliott Small, 77, soul singer; street musician, on March 8
Elliott Small – Stay In My Heart (1969)
Grandpa Elliott – Share Your Love With Me (2009)

Ron Miles, 58, jazz trumpeter, cornetist, and composer, on March 8
Ron Miles – A Kind Word (2020)

Richard Podolor, 86, producer and musician, on March 9
Dickie Podolor – I Love You Girl (And I Need You So) (1958, also as writer)
Three Dog Night – Joy To The World (1970, as producer)
Blues Image – Behind Every Man (1970, as producer and arranger)
Black Oak Arkansas – Strong Enough To Be Gentle (1975, as producer)

Bobbie Nelson, 91, country pianist and singer, Willie’s sister, on March 10
Willie Nelson – Local Memory (1973, on piano)

Brad Martin, 48, country singer, on March 11
Brad Martin – Before I Knew Better (2002)

Timmy Thomas, 77, soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, producer, on March 11
Timmy Thomas – It’s My Life (1967, also as co-writer)
Timmy Thomas – Why Can’t We Live Together (1972, also as writer)
Nicole with Timmy Thomas – New York Eyes (1985, also as writer)
Timmy Thomas – I Love Your Smile (1990)

Guayo Cedeño, 48, Honduran jazz musician and producer, on March 11

Traci Braxton, 50, R&B singer and reality TV star, on March 12
Traci Braxton – Broken Things (2018)

Barry Bailey, 73, guitarist of Atlanta Rhythm Section, on March 12
Atlanta Rhythm Section – Spooky (1979)

Pete St. John, 90, Irish folk singer-songwriter, on March 12
Dropkick Murphys – Fields Of Athenry (2000, as writer)

Jessica Williams, 73, jazz pianist and composer, on March 12
Jessica Williams – Say It Over And Over Again (2004)

Jody Wayne, 77, South African country singer and producer, on March 14

Eric Mercury, 77, Canadian soul singer, songwriter, producer on March 14
Eric Mercury and The Soul Searchers – Lonely Girl (1968)
Eric Mercury – I Can Smell That Funky Music (1972)
Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway – You Are My Heaven (1979, as co-writer, producer)

Dennis González, 67, jazz trumpeter, on March 15

Barbara Morrison, 72, American jazz singer, on March 16
Barbara Morrison – I Was Doing All Right (2007)

Bobby Weinstein, 82, songwriter and music executive, on March 16
The Royalettes – It’s Gonna Take A Miracle (1965, as co-writer)
Dionne Warwick – Goin’ Out Of My Head (1971)

Glen Glenn, 87, rockabilly singer, on March 18
Glen Glenn – I’m Glad My Baby’s Gone (1958)

LaShun Pace, 60, gospel singer, on March 21

Tommy Tokyo, 50, Norwegian singer, guitarist and songwriter, on March 22
Tommy Tokyo – The Remaining Days Of Life (2020)

Eva Castillo, 52, Filipino singer, on March 22

Jim Miller, 69, member of roots music trio Western Centuries, on March 24
Western Centuries – Weight Of The World (2016)

Bert Ruiter, 75, bassist of Dutch bands Focus, Earth & Fire, announced March 24
Focus – Hocus Pocus (1973)

Taylor Hawkins, 50, drummer of Foo Fighters, on March 25
Foo Fighters – Aurora (1999)
Foo Fighters – Everlong (live, 2006)
Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders – You’re No Good At Life No More (2019)

Françoise Guimbert, 76, French/Reunionesque singer, discovered on March 25
Françoise Guimbert – Tantine Zaza (1978)

Keith Martin, 55, R&B singer, discovered on March 25
Keith Martin – Because Of You (1995)

Jeff Carson, 58, country singer, on March 26
Jeff Carson – Not On Your Love (1995)

Tina May, 60, English jazz singer, on May 26
Tina May – Lucky To Be Me (2010)

Keaton Pierce, 31, lead singer of rock band Too Close To Touch, on March 26
Too Close To Touch – Heavy Hearts (2015)

Mira Calix, 52, South African-born electronic-classical musician and visual artist, on March 28

Jim Karstein, 78, session drummer (JJ Cale, Eric Clapton), on March 27
JJ Cale – I’m A Gypsy Man (1976, on drums)

Jun Lopito, 64, Filipino rock guitarist, on March 29

Donald ‘Tabby Diamond’ Shaw, 67, lead singer of reggae trio Mighty Diamonds, on March 29
Mighty Diamonds – Shame And Pride (1973)
Susan Cadogan – Hurt So Good (on backing vocals with Mighty Diamonds, 1975)
The Mighty Diamonds – Pass The Kouchie (1982)

Tom Parker, 33, singer with English boy band The Wanted, on March 30

Ian ‘Natty Wailer’ Wynter, 67, Jamaican musician, on March 30
Natty Wailer – Lift Your Spirits (2000)

Fred Johnson, 80, bass singer with doo-wop band The Marcels, on March 31
The Marcels – Blue Moon (1961, on bass voice)
The Marcels – Heartaches (1961, on bass voice)

Fitzroy ‘Bunny Diamond’ Simpson, 71, member of Mighty Diamonds, on April 1
(See entry for Tabby Diamond. Pass The Kouchie also as co-writer)

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Saved! Vol. 6 – The Angels edition

April 1st, 2022 12 comments

Angels cover

Recently I stumbled on this mix from 2015, ad found I enjoyed it very much. And with Easter approaching, the subject matter of angels seems to fit. Originally this mix was part of ther SAVED! series, even though this lot of songs is not particularly riffing on religious themes, even though angels are very much part of religious (and pagan) dogma.

So this mix of songs addresses the subject of angels from different perspectives: as those ethereal beings with wings, of course, but also as goodhearted people, love interests and metaphors. Unlike the angels in heavy metal, who must either bleed or fall or are evil, those represented here mostly are doing saving through acts of love — and that also suits the theme of Easter.

And I managed to cobble together this mix without resort to Robbie Williams, U2, The Eurythmics or Sarah MacLachlan, nor songs about one-night stands. I even had to leave some good songs out. What is remarkable, though, is that three songs about angels here were released posthumously: those by Jimi Hendrix, Gram Parsons and Hank Williams.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-winged covers. PW in comments.

1. Jimi Hendrix – Angel (1970)
2. The Black Crowes – She Talks To Angels (1990)
3. Delbert McClinton – Sending Me Angels (1997)
4. Aretha Franklin – Angel (1973)
5. Abba – Like An Angel Passing Through My Room (1981)
6. Martina McBride – Wild Angels (1995)
7. Glen Campbell – Angel Dream (2008)
8. Rilo Kiley – The Angels Hung Around (2007)
9. Jordan Trotter – Angels By My Side (2008)
10. Mindy Smith – Angel Doves (2004)
11. Cry Cry Cry – Speaking With The Angel (1998)
12. Jack Johnson – Angel (2008)
13. Chris Rea – God Gave Me An Angel (2000)
14. David Sylvian – When Poets Dreamed Of Angels (1987)
15. Emmylou Harris – Angel Band (1987)
16. Bob Dylan – Three Angels (1970)
17. Kris Kristofferson – Hall Of Angels (2009)
18. The Stanley Brothers & The Clinch Mountain Boys – Angel Band (1955)
19. Hank Williams – Angel Of Death (rel. 1954)
20. Edna Gallmon Cooke – Angels, Angels, Angels (c. 1950)
21. The Crew-Cuts – Angels In The Sky (1955)
22. Bobby Helms – You Are My Special Angel (1958)
23. The Louvin Brothers – The Angels Rejoiced Last Night (1959)

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