Junk Shop and Sale Bin Finds : Atlantic Rhythm and Blues Volume 6 1966-69

I came across this collection of Atlantic Rhythm and Blues Volume 6 1966-69  in a second hand store just beside the French Market in New Orleans last year. I already had most of the tracks on it (on either CD or LP and some 3 or 4 times) and, according to Jan, too much weight to get the records I had already bought onto the plane. However, it is such a good collection, and it was in such good condition that I could not be persuaded not fork out the $7 asking price.

Luckily I managed to get all the records back to Fiji and I have really enjoyed this mix of music and many times, like this morning, I can play it all the way through. I defy anyone to do that and not want to jive just a little at some stage!



In many ways this album is a tribute to both Jerry Wexler's musical vision and to his being such a complete fucking asshole.  We have to be thankful for both as many of these tracks were recorded with just four bands.  First Stax's MG's, Bar Keys and Mar Keys, and then when Jerry and Jim Stewart argued he then recorded with Rick Hall (until he fell out with him) at Fame with what became the Swampers after Wexler enticed them away by funding their own studio.  By my count about 23 of the 28 songs were recorded with these four bands.  That gives the compilation a great consistent feel.

Look at the track listing - just magic

–Wilson Pickett : Land Of 1000 Dances
–Eddie Floyd : Knock On Wood
–Otis Redding : Try A Little Tenderness
–Wilson Pickett : Mustang Sally
–Sam & Dave : When Something Is Wrong With My Baby
–Arthur Conley : Sweet Soul Music
–Sam & Dave : Soul Man
–Aretha Franklin  : I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)
–Aretha Franklin  : Do Right Woman - Do Right Man
–Joe Tex : Show Me
–Otis* And Carla*  : Tramp 
–Wilson Pickett :  Funky Broadway
–Booker T. & The MG's :  Hip Hug-Her
–Aretha Franklin  ; Respect
–Aretha Franklin : ( You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
Bar-Kays, The :  Soul Finger
–Aretha Franklin : Baby I Love You
–Joe Tex :  Skinny Legs And All
–Aretha Franklin : Chain Of Fools
Wilson Pickett : I'm In Love
King Curtis : Memphis Soul Stew
–Otis Redding :  (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay
–Archie Bell & The Drells : Tighten Up
–Clarence Carter : Slip Away
–Aretha Franklin :  Think
–Roberta Flack : The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
–R.B. Greaves : Take A Letter, Maria
–Brook Benton : Rainy Night In Georgia

Journey Through The Past : Teardrop Explodes - Wilder

Wilder is The Teardrop Explodes second and best album.  They had broken up before their final album was released and Julian Cope went on to a successful if not idiosyncratic career of music, writing and the study of antiquities.

Wilder is a significant progression from the debut Kilimanjaro which only hinted at what they could do with Cope's ideas. It was this album that made me stick with Cope through his later period.

 Highlights include Passionate Friend, Bent out of Shape, The Culture Bunker and The Great Dominions.

Unfortunately my copy is sitting in my own culture bunker at the moment so I will have to retrieve it on one of my next trips to Christchurch. 

Song of the Day 53 : Willie Nelson : I Never Cared For You

I Never Cared For You is one of my favourite Willie songs. He wrote it early in his career. I especially like the tex-mex and spanish feel he gets out of Trigger that battered old guitar of his.

The first version I heard was on a compilation and then I heard the version on Teatro and I was hooked!  I have now managed to find an early 60's live album which probably has the best version.


                                                "I Never Cared For You"

The sun is filled with ice and gives no warmth at all
And the sky was never blue
The stars are raindrops searching for a place to fall
And I never cared for you

I know you won't believe these things I tell you
No, you won't believe
Your heart has been forewarned all men will lie to you
And your mind cannot conceive
Now all depends on what I say to you
And on your doubting me
So I've prepared these statements far from true
Pay heed and disbelieve

The sun is filled with ice and gives no warmth at all
The sky was never blue
Stars are raindrops searching for a place to fall
And I never cared for you

And the sun is filled with ice and gives no warmth at all
Sky was never blue
The stars are raindrops searching for a place to fall
And I never cared for you
I never cared for you
I never cared for you

More Muscle From The Shoals : Bob Seger

I think that Bob Seger does not get the credit he deserves and his best material is up there with Springsteen. Many of his records in the 1970s were credited to Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band when for a few of them that was not always the case.

Many of the tracks on his bigger albums;  Night Moves, Strangers in Town and Against The Wind were in fact recorded with The Swampers at Muscle Shoals Sounds Studio.

This includes most of Side 2 of Night Moves including Mainstreet and Fire Lake on Against The Wind.

Damn right I've Got the Blues ..... Derek Trucks Band - Already Free

About 9 years ago I saw a very lacklustre Eric Clapton show in Brisbane.  We had almost had dinner with him the night before.  He and Ian Botham were in the same restaurant eating outside through the window from Jan and I).  While the song choice was great (lots off Layla) the man seemed to have had his personality extracted and the show really lacked energy.  

At the time he had two support guitarists who really held the show together-  particularly the guy that looked a bit like a beefier Duanne Allman.

Unusually for me, and probably because I am not a great Clapton (Clapped Out?) fan I  had not done any research on his band and if I had I would have known the pedegree of his two "support" guitarists in Doyle Bramhill II and Derek Trucks.  Bramhill's father having played with Freddy King and Stevie Ray and Trucks apparently named after Derek and the Dominos and the nephew of Butch Trucks the Allman Brothers drummer.

Fast forward about five years and I passed a stand on new release CDs in HMV Singapore and this album caught my eye.  It was an import, which in Singapore I was never sure what it meant as all non Chinese music is imported,  other than of course it was more expensive.  Anyway I bought the CD based on its cover and some review extracts on the plastic cover. 

Great Buy and I now have a few Derek Trucks and related CDs.  But this is still the favourite by a long way.  I know others would say he has done better (especially when he ties up with his wife Susan Tedeschi in the Tedeschi Trucks Band).  It is well paced starting with a formidable bvlues infused cover of Dylan's Down in the Flood and then he is joined by Doyle Bramhill on Something to Make You Happy, then a great cover of Dan Penn's Sweet Inspiration, the blues boogie of Get What you Deserve and closes with Already Free

File it alongside Derek and The Dominos, The Allman Brothers Band, The Black Crowes and the more recent Trigger Hippy.  Great stuff.

Recent Additions - My Morning Jacket - The Waterfall

I have already written about how I rate My Morning Jacket as one of the best bands around at the moment.  Therefore it should not be surprising that I was in line to get their new album, The Waterfall when it was released a few months ago.

As has been the case with their last two album my first impressions of the album were not encouraging.  It seemed quite underwhelming.  However I have now learnt my lesson and so perservered and have now listened to it a few times - in the car and at home.

As usual - my appreciation of just how good this album is has grown with each listen.   I can understand those that decide not to put the effort in - but that is part of the problem with iPod listening.

Once again they defy simple categorisation.  One minute they are psychedelic, ethereal and slow, the next they are getting funky and coming across as the Southern Boys they are.

This is an album that does warrant playing all the way through in the order it is sequenced on record. Listening I get a real sense of something that builds with a consistent and with a clear plan.  In particular the lyrics seem to draw a connection between the environment and spirituality and along with the instrumentation and singing provide a total package. That said there are still a few standout tracks (none better than the two openers Believe (No One Knows) and Compound Fracture).   Other tracks that I enjoy include Get The Point and the closing track Only Memories Remain.

Junk Shop and Sale Bin Finds : Ramblin Thomas 1928-32

When buying records in sale bins I make the choice of which ones I am going to fork out my hard earned 50c or $ for a variety of reasons.  Some I just want one song on, others are guilty pleasures that I could never never bring myself to buy at any higher price (Hot August Night would be one of those).

However some records when I them see in a sale bin I know I am going to end up buying them even though I know nothing about them.  It might be the cover, it might be a producer or a player on them. Sometimes I think it may be worth a punt and sometimes I think that it may be undervalued and I may be able to on sell it for more.  The problem with the idea of selling records is that very seldom do - those few I have over the years I have always regretted that one night every ten years I think I wish I could play that now or when I see it in a shop for $40 or $50.

Anyway I bought this album because

• It was an old blues recording and I always like those old acoustic blues
• The record was in almost mint condition
• It was only $2 and was sure it was likely to be worth more (only one copy on sale on Discogs for $25)

It is a good as I hoped it would be, the lead-off track So Lonesome was perhaps an early influence on Canned Heat's Going Up Country but the only track I could find for you to sample is Poor Boy Blues which was also on the legendary Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music,