Be Saved, Elvis Style
Regardless of how religious you are, you can’t help but be a little moved by the power of the King in this outtake from ‘How Great Thou Art’. I picture a Southern Baptist church on a sunny Sunday morning (think the scene from ‘Blues Brothers’ with Elvis in James Brown’s place). Elvis and his boys amble up to the front of the pews, turn around, look sheepishly at the ground, clear their throats, and unleash upon the congregation this 2 minutes and 47 seconds of salvation…
Elvis Presley: Run On – Alternate Take (mp3)
Piano Man: Now That’s a Wet Suit
Reading the story today about the “Piano Man” inspired me to showcase some quality piano work tonight. Did you all see this? A man shows up in a suit, soaking wet, on the Isle of Sheppey in the UK. He says absolutely nothing to anyone, is taken to a hospital, and sits down at a piano and plays for hours. Read the full story here.
Well, last June, I was listening to a live radio simulcast of the Playboy Jazz Festival from the Hollywood Bowl, and had the pleasure of hearing the sounds of the Michel Camilo Trio.
The artistry and virtuosity of Michel Camilo bridges the genres of Jazz, Classical, Popular and World music. He is a pianist with a brilliant technique and a composer who flavors his tunes with the spice of Caribbean rhythms and jazz harmonies.
I found this tune on Michel’s web site. The man flies on the keys. I’m positive he would give the ‘piano man’ a run for his money.
Michel Camilo Trio: See You Later
Tin Pan Tuesday
Robert Plant. The name conjures something in your heads. Whatever your judgments and preconceptions regarding the man, erase them all, and check out his new album, ‘Mighty Rearranger’. I bought it a couple days after its release a week ago, and it pretty much has followed me around from CD player to CD player all week.
Adjective time: Fresh, eclectic, exotic, and brilliantly unique. Surprised the bejeezus out of me. I give you my favorite of the moment…
Robert Plant: Tin Pan Valley ~ ~ from Mighty Rearranger [buy it]
Those Green Eyes – Ibrahim Ferrer
A perfect song for a late Saturday night… the lights are low, there’s a few drops of wine left in the bottle, your eyes meet. You slowly walk closer to her. You sense excitement in the air as you approach her. Then…the unbearable wait is over as you say… “Wanna go for a walk?!… Outside??! WOOF WOOF!! Her tails wags uncontrollably as you step out into the moonlight.
Now that’s a Saturday night…
Ibrahim Ferrer: Aquellos Ojos Verdes [Buy on Amazon]
In all semi-seriousness, this song can help in your amorous pursuits…. Ibrahim is a golden-throated Cuban singer, now in his late seventies. He was one of the popular Cuban musicians of the 1950’s. By the 80’s he was back to shining shoes and living on a monthly pension. That was until the late 90’s, when Ry Cooder went to Cuba and located all of the great Cuban musicians of the day and assembled the Buena Vista Social Club. You can see it all in the 1999 documentary of the same name. The movie is powerful and moving beyond words, featuring such greats as Ruben Gonzales, Compay Segundo, and Eliades Ochoa. The shame is that these greats lay dormant for so long in Castro’s Cuba.
I’ll go out on a limb and assume that if you’re reading this, you love music. If so, get a hold of this movie and watch it. Go to the video store, hit up Netflix, buy it on Amazon, whatever… just see it.
Obscurity of the Week – Call Florence Pow
Well, obscure to me anyway. Are you in the mood for two minutes and forty-one seconds of weirdness? I came across the dynamically odd duo Call Florence Pow a few weeks back, once again courtesy of Radio Paradise. Based out of NYC, they’re made up of two fellows: Brian Jacobs and David Tobias. You can read their bio on All Music.
Odd. And a great name to boot.
Call Florence Pow: Preparation for Battle
Check out their only release on Amazon.
Southside Takes You Home
For those of you who picked up the new Springsteen CD, Devils & Dust, you’ve heard “All the Way Home”, a song written by Bruce of course, but that first appeared on Southside Johnny‘s 1991 album ‘Better Days’ [Buy it here].
For those that have heard both versions, you know that the arrangements are drastically different. Southside’s version is a slowed down acoustic, more tender plea. Bruce played this acoustically at my very first live Bruce experience in September ’92 (at the World Music Theater outside of Chicago), and it blew me away. So when I saw the song listed on the track list for Devils & Dust, I got excited. Little did I know, Bruce reworked it in a major way, with a driving beat, a sitar, tambora, electric sarangi, among other things (Rolling Stone magazine compares it to ‘Street Fighting Man’, which I still don’t see). I love the new version, mind you, but still wish he would’ve stayed more true to the original arrangement. BUT, Brendan O’Brien produced his album, not me…. they could’ve at least asked…
So here’s the original from Southside, with backing vocals, and “various assorted keyboards and guitars” courtesy of the Boss.
Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes: All the Way Home
Flashback: Wild Horses (no not that one)
I recently pulled out an old mix tape from my younger days, and heard this song. I was 16-17 when I heard it, and really enjoyed it, and still do after all these years. Now I’m no Gino Vannelli nut, in fact, I couldn’t name you another GV song, but this one is light and cool with those brush drum sticks laying it down.
The song starts off, “As the sun goes down on the Arizona plain and the wind rustles by like a runaway train, a hey hey, it’s beautiful thing…” Must’ve been what led me to Arizona years later. Besides that, it’s another one of those teen angst/ love songs that I loved so much as a kid. If anyone else has heard this, say aye.
Gino Vanelli: Wild Horses [Buy]
Howlin at the Apple Tree with Wolfmother
Okay, I’m admittedly way too mellow lately. So let’s kick the weekend off with a barnstormin’ aggressive number from Wolfmother.
Play this one a few times, then praise and curse it at the same time as it sticks in your head for the entire weekend.
Take that.
Wolfmother: Apple Tree [buy their EP].
Photo credit: pitpony.photography, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Gone Fishin
A deep, smooth, and throaty selection for you tonight. One of the best albums I own is Chris Rea‘s ‘Auberge’ [Amazon]. It has some great love songs on there: “Heaven”, “Sing a Song of Love to Me”, and “The Mention of Your Name”. But thrown among these great ballads is “Gone Fishing”, a beautiful song with a melancholy edge. “You ain’t ever gonna be happy, any time, any way…So I’m gone fishin’, and I’m going today.”
You tell her Chris.
Jeez, my sensitive side’s comin’ out this week. What the…
Chris Rea: Gone Fishin’
Bottle Rockin’
So have you ever seen the movie Bottle Rocket? It came out in 1996, was written by Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson, and stars Owen and his brother Luke. Excellent movie. It featured a song called “Alone Again Or” performed by a band called Love.
Well, Calexico did their own version of the tune, adding their southwestern zest to it. Suffice it to say, it has seen plenty of rotation in my morning and afternoon commute.
Arriba! Buy Calexico’s musica aqui.
Calexico: Alone Again Or
