OLD MUSIC


This probably belongs over in the Overlooked Movies thread, but if you haven't seen The Commitments, the 1991 Irish movie based on the Roddy Doyle novella about an Irish band playing soul music, it's well worth watching and the soundtrack is full of classic soul/R&B songs:
 


Not Fade Away

More recent cover

Apologies, forgot that Nokomis had alraedy posted this one.
 
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On a side note, at the beginning of this video clip-I'm curious about the relationship between the host and the dancer twerking (or the mid '60s version of twerking) right next to him-I'd have a tough time concentrating myself o_O

Here's your Hollywood A-Go-Go host (Sam Riddle I believe) with another intro. This time he's retaining (almost) his concentration while turning loose Edwin Starr's great groove: Agent Double-O-Soul.

 



Speaking of Pitchfork, they just reviewed a re-release of Rilo Kiley's debut EP--with a higher rating than they gave it the first time, of course.

 
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Over the weekend, a did a bit of a dive with some classic R&B chanteuses not named Etta James or Aretha Franklin. I'd never really heard of Ruth Brown until recently, but she is dynamite:

Irma Thomas represents:

And finally, Carla Thomas:
 

Here are two versions of Bert Berns' "Here Comes the Night"-the first by Lulu and the second by Them. Both versions were produced by Berns in London in October of '64. Bern's was on a trip checking out the London scene. Lulu's disc made noise on the UK charts and Them reached #24 in the US.

A couple of years later, following Them's breakup, Berns got Van Morrison to the US and recorded Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl".


 




Austin City Limits had a Stevie Ray Vaughan retrospective this past week. I suppose the whole season will be like that without anyone touring.

My favorite SRV song:

 

Stevie


Stevie covered by Stevie

 
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"Shake Some Action", It's Flamin' Groovies time.

Kinda kicking myself for not catching these guys when they played the Turf Club a few years back. Shake Some Action is one of the definitive power pop songs.
 

In honor of today's Blue Moon we have the Marcels cover of the Rodgers and Hart classic and the movie version ("I always discover, the bad in every man"):

 



A little something for today (and beyond):

So, I'm listening to this and thinking the lead singer sounds like Sam Cooke, (not familiar with the Soul Stirrers, although did watch that documentary that I think you posted on here) and it is Sam, correct?
 

So, I'm listening to this and thinking the lead singer sounds like Sam Cooke, (not familiar with the Soul Stirrers, although did watch that documentary that I think you posted on here) and it is Sam, correct?

It's this gentleman, Jimmie Outler, who also wrote "Time Brings About a Change". Outler replaced Johnnie Taylor whom had replaced Cooke. It was recorded for the SAR label with J. W. Alexander credited as producer. Cooke had passed over to pop a couple of years earlier. Here's a quick history:


When Specialty folded in 1959—owner Art Rupe exhausted from operating an independent record company for more than a decade—the Stirrers were a major gospel quartet in need of a label home. This inspired Sam Cooke, J.W. Alexander of the Pilgrim Travelers, and Senior Roy Crain of the Stirrers to form their own company. They named it SAR: Sam, Alex, and Roy.

Music historian Bill Dahl states in the album notes that by 1959, when the Stirrers entered Chicago’s famed Universal Studio on Walton Avenue to make their first SAR sides, there wasn’t much they had left to prove. Nevertheless, the SAR discs provided brilliant new examples of the fresh, youthful sound the Stirrers had exuded since Sam Cooke replaced R.H. Harris in early 1951.

This new two-CD set covers the Soul Stirrers 1959-1964 period, when Cooke was in the producer’s chair and new leads such as Johnnie Taylor, Jimmy Outler, and James Phelps emulated and extended Cooke’s handsome pop sensibility and gospel yodel. An amalgam of gospel and R&B musicians, including guitarists LeRoy Crume and Clifton White and bass players Johnny Pate and Sonny Mitchell, gave the quartet significant crossover appeal. The SAR-Soul Stirrers partnership lasted until late 1964. Cooke’s untimely death in Los Angeles in December of that year effectively ended SAR
.
 






The Vel-Vets with a Northern Soul classic "I Got to Find Somebody".

It was written by Marcene Dimples Harris and produced by James Carmichael. Carmichael freelanced producing songs for Motown groups and more famously the Commodores. And, file under useless but now unforgettable information, Carmichael also co-produced Bill Cosby's hit "Little Ole Man (Uptight, Everything's Alright". It hit #4 on the charts in 1967.

About the Vel-Vets, I know nothing.

 

Kenny Mayne guest DJ'd on Pearl Jam radio recently. He and Jamal Crawford spun some Stevie Wonder, including this gem:

 



Doesn't quite feel like Christmas is right around the corner with the mild weather, but here is one to jump start the festive spirit:

The Crystals / Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

 




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