The Friday Five: June 24, 2011
Friday Five : ‘frī-(,)dā,-dē ‘fīv : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we’ll have a guest, but most of the time it’s just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments.
The Five:
“Push It” by Salt-N-Pepa (from The Hip Hop Box, 2004)
What ever happened to Hurby “Luv Bug” Azor?
“Seeing Things” by The Black Crowes (from Shake Your Money Maker, 1990)
Any group that can successfully cop the soul and emotion—not to mention the chord progression—of Otis’ “I’ve Got Dreams to Remember,” and manage to do it well? Well, shit … they can do no wrong in my book. I don’t recall hearing this on the radio, despite it being a single.
“Love Is” by Chrisette Michelle (from I Am, 2007)
A perfectly simple declaration of love. The mainstream is still sleeping on Chrisette Michelle, which boggles my mind. She’s got jazz chops for days with the ability to rock a mainstream R&B track with the rest of them.
“Through Glass” by Amy Petty (from House of Doors, 2010)
One of my favorite records of last year, this song still rocks me to my core.
“Beat It” by Michael Jackson (from Number Ones, 2003)
Tomorrow is the second anniversary of Michael’s passing. It’s strange to think that we live in a world without Michael Jackson. A figure that had been omnipresent—for better, or for worse—in all of our lives for the better part of the last 35 years, it is still odd to realize he’s gone. Tomorrow I’ll undoubtedly pull out the entire catalog and hit the shuffle button, letting fate lead me through his incredible discography.
What’s on your shuffle today?
Highly Recommended: Tom Dowd and the Language of Music
About a month after I started this blog, my then-boss recommended the documentary Tom Dowd and the Language of Music. Two and a half years later, I finally took his advice (thanks to my new subscription to Netflix).
Tom Dowd (1925-2002) was a legendary engineer and producer for Atlantic Records and worked with some of the greats in recorded music. Let’s name a few: Eric Clapton (Cream / Derek and the Dominos), the Allman Brothers, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Led Zeppelin, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, the Drifters, and countless others.
The documentary follows his life, in Dowd’s own words, from his work as a nuclear physicist on the Manhattan Project (while he was a teenager!), to his emergence as a technical (not to mention musical) genius in the studio.
By the end of the film, you’ll be blown away by his warm and personable character, the childlike enthusiasm he has for music, and the love and respect that some of the biggest names in music have for him.
The end of the film shows him late in life, in front of the console at Criteria Studios in Miami, playing around with the mix for “Layla”, which he produced for Derek and the Dominos. He isolates the guitar parts played by Eric Clapton and Duane Allman (whom he introduced), fools around with the levels, and is like a kid in a candy store.
If you have a Netflix account, put this one at the top of your queue now, or buy it below. As a music lover, this one will affect you.
Check out the staggering list of Tom Dowd’s production and engineering credits on AllMusic.
Dowd was the recording engineer for Aretha Franklin’s “Respect”. But he was also the engineer when Otis Redding recorded it a couple years earlier than Aretha. Here it is…
Listen here:
From: Otis Blue – Otis Sings Soul.
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