25 September 2013

Fats Domino: "Give Me Some" (released 2006)


From the Wikipedia contributors, regarding this post-Katrina Fats release:
.... Domino also released an album in early 2006 to benefit the Tipitina's Foundation, which supports indigent local musicians. The title song was recorded after Katrina, but most of the cuts were from unreleased sessions in the 1990s. ....
The cut below is not only a little taste of the musical gumbo that is New Orleans music but also a tour of New Orleans' famous soul cuisine. Amusez-vous!

16 September 2013

New Film on J.D Salinger (2013): Finally, Confirmation That There is a Vault of Unreleased Work

J. D. Salinger

The beginning of access to the unpublished works of J.D. Salinger is foreseeable. I've waited three decades to say I'd confirmed my hope -- my craving just to know, well, more about the Glass family. This unseen work from Salinger's six decades of self-imposed exile may indeed be published soon.

 The public seeing, indeed discovering, this treasure may be on the horizon.


28 August 2013

50 years ago .... "A Change is Gonna Come"

Fifty years ago today, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it his way. At that same event on the Mall in DC, Bob Dylan said it his way. But if Dylan isn't your cup of tea, how about this 1963 track from Sam Cooke.

25 August 2013

Rory Block, "Twelve Gates to the City" (2012)


This tune opened up more avenues of exploration than I can count. I know right now is I've got brush up on my Rev. Gary Davis, learn some more about Jerusalem and definitely keep an eye on this country blues guitar master.
As the AllMusic.com guide put it, "[S]he does a remarkable job of channeling the basics of her subject's technique and grafting it onto her own inimitable style."

16 August 2013

Roy Orbison: "Mystery Girl" (1989) (".... Am I left to burn, and burn eternally ...")


Bono and The Edge wrote this song for Roy. It was Roy's last record (released posthumously).


02 August 2013

Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - "California Soul" (1969; 1970)



I had this album, but I still didn't understand the influence Motown was having on the industry. I came to learn that Motown was built to generate crossover records of the highest quality. California Soul is a good, early example. Two stars, one at an early peak, Tammi recently passed -- Valerie Simpson filling in the spaces. With Ashford and Simpson writing and producing most of the songs, a pure crossover style, in both music and appearance -- this record charted pop but failed to chart R and B. This style lasted. Evolved, but lasted.

This single is an aural paradise.


26 July 2013

Rolling Stones: "Factory Girl" (1968), (With Some Silly Censorship on the Side)



(From top to bottom: The Original Cover, LP Inside Photo Art 
and The Cover Released in December of 1968)
ON THIS DATE (44 YEARS AGO)
July 26, 1968 - Mick Jagger expected to celebrate his 25th birthday with the release of the Rolling Stones album, "Beggar’s Banquet," the first time his guitar playing was featured on a Stones record. The release was held up, however, because label executives feared that the cover, featuring a filthy men's room urinal with graffiti on the walls, would be judged offensive. The album was finally released in December of 1968, but with an all-white cover made to look like an invitation. By: All Things Music Plus
My colleague Richard Stranger brought this to my attention. Much ado about nothing, looking back. I love that original cover art, but more importantly, the music this album contains is essential listening. Beggar's Banquet also marks the beginning of a period of blues rock productivity that that has few rivals.

Here's a deep album, non-rock cut that's always been a favorite of mine.