Ike Turner, Carl Perkins, Joanna Newsom

Originally posted on December 26-28, 2007

Everybody knows Tina Turner and lots of people remember when it was Ike and Tina, but before there was all that, Ike Turner was an important leader-arranger and soloist in the blues and r&b genres. There is a CD of the recordings he made under his own name and with others for Modern Records in the ‘50s: Rhythm Rockin’ Blues (Ace). It’s filled with some gem cuts, and includes some great Ike guitar. “Rocket 88” will knock your socks off, as will his “Blues Medley.” “I Ain’t Drunk” is funny as hell. It is all worthwhile.

Let us all hope for a better new year—with some peace and understanding in the world. See you in 2008!

(December 27, 2007:) As we approach another new year I naturally seem to get into a reflective mode. It seems the further we go into the new Millennium, the more critical it is to keep alive the roots that make the music of today possible. I have been as guilty as anyone of sometimes discounting or neglecting the people who made concrete the idea of picking up a guitar or bass and playing a certain way. One of those artists certainly was Carl Perkins. He did get the recognition he deserved later in his career, but the original landmark Sun recordings he made in the ‘50s did not initially bring him worldwide acclaim. It was the covers that other artists made of his songs that helped introduce him to a larger audience, of course. “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Honey Don’t,” “Matchbox,” and “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby” are perfect examples.

A CD came out a while ago featuring two Sun LP compilations: Blue Suede Shoes and Original Golden Hits on the Collectables/Sun Collectors Series. It is a good set. All the tunes mentioned above are on there, plus a good number of other ones. What strikes me as I listen to the CD is how much of his output had a country flair and how low his lead guitar was in the mix. His special way of guitar picking formed one of the main influences on the rockabilly style and of course his vocal approach was also widely influential. Nevertheless the heavy balance in favor of guitars his music inspired really wasn’t as present on his first recordings as was the case later. And the more country-inspired numbers are not often remembered. But everything still sounds fresh and inspiring to me, especially when contemplating the year to come.

(December 26, 2007:) Happy Boxing Day, for those countries that celebrate. Not here in the USA, alas. I am back after a brief respite and today perhaps it is time for some quieter music. Joanna Newsom would fit the bill. She sings and plays a stringed harp like an angel. A somwhat quirky angel she is. Joanna’s voice makes her sound like she is twelve years old, but I am sure she is not. A CD of hers, The Milk-Eyed Mender (DC), is about three years old or so, and that’s the one I have been playing. The songs are whimsical and somehow hearken to an unspecified previous time in this or some other world, or at least a less urban world of today. Acoustic folkies could learn something from her harp playing. This is folk music coming from another place. It is innocent sounding in a way, but more than that, it is honest.

Big Jay McNeely's R and B, Motorhead's Metal

Originally posted on November 6 and 7, 2007

By now, if you've been following my blog you may have gathered that I listen to all kinds of music. What about rhythm & blues from 1957? When I was a kid the local 5 & 10 was still selling 78 rpm records that were remaindered—for 9 cents each! At that price I could afford two. One day they had something by Big Jay McNeely & Band on Swingin’ Records. I grabbed it, thinking anything on a label called Swingin’ had to be cool. I took it home and listened. I was flabbergasted. It was high-energy r & b, proto-funk and it really was very cool. Years went by before I figured who Big Jay was. McNeely was a proto-rock big deal in the very early ‘50s as a kind of madman, a bar walking, bend-over-backwards tenor sax player with a screaming and honking thing happening that had some relation to Illinois Jacquet and his playing. But Big Jay was just wild. By 1957 he had a band with two saxes, electric guitar, bass guitar and drums. On the vocals was Little Sonny. McNeely still did the rabble-rousing, wild instrumental numbers, but with Little Sonny (almost a proto-James-Brown) he could expand into more of the Soul bag.

He made an album’s worth of material for Swingin’ which eventually popped up on the Collectibles CD label. And right before that he recorded a session live (Live at Birdland) which never saw the light of day until Collectibles put it out a while ago. That’s the one I’m listening to now and it is very cool. The tune that hit me on the 78 I bought for nine cents is here in its live incarnation: “Back…Shack…Track.” Funny, turns out that was the “B” side, but for me it rules. You have nifty sax lines, early funk drumming and an interlocking guitar and bass riff. And the vocals—electric!! If you can find this one, you might want to get it. It has all the table walking crazy sax stuff and this proto-funk too. Little Sonny was a gas!!

For contrast, what about Motorhead? They had been together for ages when they recorded Everything Louder than Anyone Else live at a concert in Hamburg in 1998 (2CD SPV). Man, they exhaust me just listening. There may never have been a rock group that had so much power in their playing. It’s a guitar-bass-drums trio with electricity coming out of their toes. Metal with a punk and thrash influence, death rock without much of the death or the exorcist vocals, that’s what it all sounds like. The group kicks into overdrive from the very first cut and does not let loose until the final zonk. These guys you either love or hate, there can be little indifference. I am in awe.