More Muscle From The Shoals I - Bobby Womack

We lost Bobby Womack a year ago today. He had had a long  and varied career starting in a family band and even supporting Sam Cooke as guitarist.  His earliest claim to fame was probably writing the Stones' hit It's All Over Now.

Bobby recorded two albums at the Shoals. The highly rated Communication and the slightly less well received follow up Understanding.

I came at these the other way round first hearing Understanding.

Doing so helped me conclude that the reason that was not received as well was because it so closely follows the blueprint set by Communication, monologues, originals and also some inspired, interesting, intriguing and unexpected covers (in much the same way as Isaac Hayes had done earlier on Hot Buttered Soul.

Woman's Gotta Have It, Sweet Caroline,   Gotta Get You Back, Communication, Fire and Rain, Everything is Beautiful and Close to You.

The pick of them would be That's The Way I Feel About Cha.

Journey Through The Past - Tim Hardin - Tim Hardin 2

Most people my age know at least two Tim Hardin Songs - even if they have never heard of him. If I were a Carpenter and Reason to Believe were everywhere in the late 60's and early 70's.  Covered by the likes of Joan Baez, Dylan, Rod Stewart and Glen Campbell.

I have a greatest hits CD which has all his well known songs but really like this album - coincidentally his second.  In addition to  If I were Carpenter if also has a few songs rated and covered by others

• Black Sheep Boy (by Okkervil River who not only covered the song but created a whole concept album around it),
• Red Balloon and 
• Lady Came From Baltimore Johnny Cash and Dylan in concerts.

Sadly after this album drugs started to take hold and the promise was never really delivered on. 

Junk Shop and Sale Bin Finds : Hank Williams : Greatest Hits

I had been keeping my eye out for a good best of Hank Williams on Vinyl at a reasonable price.  I have a great double CD with  40 tracks but hoped I could get something reasonably priced in good condition.  Just had to be patient.

So I managed to find this version of his greatest hits.  It is in great condition and has some notable ommissions (Jambalaya and Move it On Over to name two)but you can't get the best of Hank on a single slab.  So I forked out less than $10 for it and am very pleased with it.

But it does have Cold Cold Heart, Hey Good Looking and Your Cheatin' Heart so its a pretty good start

Journey Through The Past : The Clash : London Calling

We were punks alright.  Well not really, we were five middle class white boys (plus Marshall) away from home for the first time, in a smelly flat (we cultivated mould on the kitchen wall - marmalade was better than marmite!) and probably with smelly clothes as well.


However we embraced what was left of punk rock by 1979.  We had the Ramones first album, we had an album called Punk Rock (which is a collectors item now).  Truth be told we were more new wave than punk and had albums by Television, Talking Heads, Devo, the Jam, Public Image Ltd, Elvis Costello and XTC among others.

We also had The Clash's Give'em Enough Rope - which really did not capture our imagination.  We liked the drums in Tommy Gun and social and political perspective that came with Stay Free.  However like many we thought The Clash may have been spent.

So at the end of the year before Christmas when London Calling was released (a specially priced double album) I would normally have let it pass.  But the combination of the price and that magnificent cover meant I could not resist it.  Got it the week it was released.  My original copy (along with Wreckless Eric's Big Smash and Devos's Are We Not Men) was lost when the Mark III was stolen (again) and ended up in the Wairarapa.  I did not wait long to get another copy. By then I had to have it.  In 1980 it was the album to have along with Scary Monsters, Remain in Light, Unknown Pleasures, The River and Searching For the Young Soul Rebels.

Years later it became one of those albums that the whole family enjoyed (and still do).  I have not ever got sick of it as an album - sure some tracks are now over familiar but still with four great sides and no real filler (some of the tracks I like the least are other people's favourites).   Neither punk, nor new wave - just a solid reggae infused rock - remember having some arguments with people at the time that that they were more reggae than punk - seems hard anyone could have argued any different now. Topper Headon and Paul Simonon's rhythm section oozes the reggae and of course they went on to songs like Bankrobber.

Within a year they had released a triple album, the sprawling and slightly shambolic Sandinista! but this is their pinnacle (apart from maybe the single White Man In the Hammersmith Palais).

Recent Additions : Boz Scaggs - A fool to care

I have always liked Boz Scaggs - not a huge fan but someone whose career I have watched and dipped into from time to time. Brother Terry had Silk Degrees and a few others.  Sam's band even plays Lido Shuffle.

I really love his Atlantic debut from 1971 - a really sensational album that in my opinion he has not really topped.

I bought his last album Memphis after it was well reviewed and I noted that he covered a few favourite songs.  I enjoyed it but it did seem to lack a spark. Therefore I am not sure what made me buy his latest - A Fool to Care.  Once again it has been well reviewed and once again it has some great song selections.

But I am glad I did.  This one has made a connection that its predecessor did not. That is a good thing.

It kicks off with Rich Woman which many people will be familiar with from the Robert Plant Alison Krause Version and ends with a terrific cover of The Band's Whispering Pines building on, but never topping,  the original. In between there are some good selections including a nice cover of Bobby Charles' Small Town Talk.

Recommended.

Favourites : Steve Earle : Train A Comin'

I am a big Steve Earle fan.  It took a while for me to get into him (to give him credit for anything beyond Copperhead Road) but I now have about a dozen of his albums.  He has not put out many bad ones and some are exceptional.

Train A Comin' was recorded and released after he was released from jail after serving time for drugs and firearms offences.  It was gentler and more country than his recordings prior to going to jail.  It seemed that on those earlier albums he seemed to be striving to the be Country Music's Bruce Springsteen (and not doing too bad a job).   This album, however, reaches back to the more acoustic leanings of his official debut Guitar Town

Buying this would be worth it for Goodbye alone.  A song that could be about kicking drugs or a lover.  However it also includes Mystery Train Part 2, Hometown Blues and Mercenary Song (dusting it off after about ten years) covers of The Beatles I'm Looking Through You and even the Rivers of Baylon.

He turned more electric again for his excellent next three albums (which I will write about in time) before starting to re explore bluegrass and acoustic country again. However this  is an album that I play often (and loud). 

Recent Additions : Calexico : Edge of the Sun

I really like this band - have done since I first started hearing individual tracks on compilation albums.  A clever band name that is almost onomatopoeia in the way it captures their essence and sound - combining the sounds of California and Mexico.

I have always wondered how they would be best classified. Some of their songs and tracks could be easily placed in the World Section (Latin of course), others rock.  Real Groovy puts them in the Country section.

Initially Calexico was a side project for the Joey Burns and John Convertino away from their main band Giant Sand.  However over  the last 15 years those roles have reversed.


The first album  I bought of theirs was Feast of Wire - way back in 2003 (can I say way back for then?) and I still play that often.  Each album after that has a degree of change and progression while still maintaining true to their sound.

Edge of the Sun is their most immediately satisfying album in a while.  Side one starts strongly with Falling from the Sky which could become a signature Calexico song with its Mexican trumpet blasts and driving rhythm. Other songs I really enjoy include Where the Angels Played and Tapping on the Line.  Dreams about Swimming is classic Calexico while not being stale Side Two has Woodshed Waltz and Moon Never Rises

I have a sneaking suspicion that Edge of the Sun may replace Feast of Wire as my favourite Calexico Album.   

Favourites : Written in Chalk : Buddy and Julie Miller

Until Written in Chalk was released I had been a little disappointed in the joint albums by Buddy and Julie Miller.  They had both produced stellar solo albums with lots of good songs involving them performing together.

I was lucky enough see Buddy a few years ago at the Christchurch Town Hall.  He opened for Emmylou Harris and also was her band leader. I had a few of his (and Julie's) album at that stage and we was at the start of the recognition he now has as one of the best guitarists around. That night he opened with a great Does My Ring Burn Your Finger and played one of my favourite songs Tom T Halls That's How I got to Memphis.

Last month my I had a visit from my boss from the States.  Last year Jan and I went with him and his wife to a great music festival in the Rockies outside of Denver. One of the acts we saw there was Patty Griffin.  so when they saw a signed Playbill for a Patty show they bought it for us.  It was also signed by Buddy Miller and so it was a double bonus!

Since then he has produced albums for Solomon Burke, Robert Plant (with whom he toured as band leader), Carolina Chocolate Drops and Richard Thompson.  He is also now the brains behind the music in the show Nashville.

This is a great album and it's worth checking out Gasoline and Matches Ellis County, Chalk, What You Gonna Do Leroy (with Robert Plant), Memphis Jane, The Selfishness in Man.  Very pleased that the vinyl comes with a few extra tracks.

Recent Additions Trigger Hippy - remember Joan Osborne?

I came across Trigger Hippy through an Amazon recommendation and then followed up with a bit of google and youtube research.  A band consisting of members of The Black Crowes and fronted by Jackie Greene who I have a few very good CDs by and Joan Osborne who many will recall from her cover of the song One of Us from 1995 (20 years ago already).  I also have and rate the CD that comes from.

Anyway after the research I decided this would be a good addition to my collection.  But it took a bit of finding a copy on line at any sort of economic rate.  Finally did and picked it up on a recent trip to New Zealand.

It is a great album of that mix of country, soul, blues and rock in a similar vein to Bonnie Raitt at her best but with the mix of male and female vocals. Maybe the best comparison with another contemporary act would be with the Tedeschi Trucks Band.

It kicks off with Rise Up Singing a great  soulful song. By track three Heartache on Line I was pretty much hooked other tracks I am really enjoying include Dry County and Ain't Persuaded Yet.

I know I will be playing this in years to come.  Highly recommended. 

Journey Through The Past : Maggie Bell : Queen of the Night

I first became aware of  Maggie Bell when, along with The Pretty Things she was signed to Led Zeppelin's Swan Song Label. Years later I picked up Queen of the Night in a sale bin somewhere. What a great buy.

A soul classic,  And it comes from bloody Scotland!!

Her version of After Midnight is certainly my favourite version but she also gives a gutsy versions of We had it all (one of my all time favourite songs), John Prine's Souvenirs, Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham's A woman left Lonely.

However the piece de resistance has to be As the Year's go Passing By.

She has only released a few albums but what is apparently missing and never released are two albums she recorded with Jerry Wexler for Atlantic before this was released. Hard to imagine they are not terrific and I would really love to hear those.

Not sure why this is the only Maggie Bell Album I have. Perhaps I need more.

Postnote : Many people will remember her No Mean City that was the theme song to the Glaswegian TV series Taggart. 

I do not know much about Jazz but I like ....................Charlie Christian's Solo Flight (with Benny Goodman's Sextet)

My son Chris first told me about Charlie Christian - one of the earliest and most proficient exponents of the electric guitar.  You can certainly hear echoes of his playing in later players like Kenny Burrell, George Benson and Grant Green.

On this collection of tracks, recorded between 1939 and 1941 you get to hear some of the best of what he recorded with Goodman - who sought him out on the recommendation of John Hammond - when he passed through Oklahoma.  A improvisation style that would progress into the bop style of the 50s.

Check out Solo Flight and Waiting for Benny where you hear not only Charlie but Benny Goodman on Clarinet and Lionel Hampton on vibes.