Archive for April, 2008
April 29, 2008
Heart-stopping, heart-rending and band-rending, the final single from Diana Ross & The Supremes doesn’t even feature The Supremes. Motown boss Berry Gordy had it pegged as Ross’s first solo single, first nabbing it from under the noses of Junior Walker & The All-Stars, then using the track that original writer Johnny Bristol had patched together with a couple of session singers to underpin Ross’s seductive vocal. Who was going to argue?
It’s a sensitive, swinging arrangement that has Junior swaying. Our girl has a distinct sense of rhythm, and is starting to respond to records in conspicuously different ways. Her hips click into the rising, plucked guitar signature and she glides with the embracing strings.
‘Someday…’ has no conventional chorus, only a release as Ross bursts to tell what she believes. It can be taken as a promise that the band will reunite one day, but she sure as hell had no intention of that. The Queen of Motown didn’t want any baggage weighing her down.
Posted in 1969 Top 20 Singles | Tagged 1969, berry gordy, diana ross, johnny bristol, junior walker and the all-stars, motown, music, someday we'll be together, the supremes | Leave a Comment »
April 24, 2008
It’s 7.21 in the morning and Junior is wearing pink fairy wings and carrying a plastic wand that makes a “magical” sound when you bash it against the furniture. ‘Something’ has, well, something of the fairy dust about it, representing the blossoming of George Harrison’s songwriting shortly before it came to full fruition on cruelly overlooked triple solo album All Things Must Pass. It was written for his then-beloved Patti Boyd – who would shortly hand him in for Eric Clapton when he wrote the inferior ‘Layla’ for her.
‘Something’ is stately and meditative with a masterful middle eight and gorgeous strings. Junior drifts around in fitting manner.
Its partner ‘Come Together’ is a Plastic Ono Band record in all but name. A bluesy strut with the coolest throwaways – “walrus gumboot”, “mojo filter”, “toe-jam football” – it’s a nonsense but a convincing one all the same. Great organ, woozy guitar a sense that The Beatles could still be on their game. Junior is now roaring like a lion and showing her claws – showing the contrast between the songs too.
A No.4 hit. The game was up.
Posted in 1969 Top 20 Singles | Tagged 1969, all things must pass, come together, eric clapton, george harrison, layla, music, patti boyd, plastic ono band, something, the beatles | 4 Comments »
April 21, 2008
The hopeful strumming and coaxing bass that opens this one-off gem is as enticing to a Noughties two-year-old as it was to any counter-cultural firebrand at the close of those Swinging Sixties. Junior plays a relaxed air guitar in true appreciation and later waltzes with her dad to the triumphant lead into the final verse – after the piano goes all honky-tonk on us.
It’s a fantastic record that appears to harness real power. I’ve no idea how much it articulated a state of mind or movement in 1969, apart, perhaps, from vestiges of hope that the new kids could change the world. Thunderclap (né, erm, Andy) Newman sounds like the sort of chap who might roll up his sleeves and spark a revolution, and a singer called Speedy Keen can only add to the fervour.
In the end ‘Something In The Air’ has soundtracked the collective spirit of people chatting on mobile phones, which is a little banal even if it is the new limit of human endeavour. We have got to get it together – now.
Posted in 1969 Top 20 Singles | Tagged 1969, music, something in the air, speedy keen, thunderclap newman | Leave a Comment »
April 11, 2008
There are few more ecstatic records than this in the pop canon, and few better singers to express it. Stevie’s beautiful improvisation around a melody can convey pretty much any emotion, but joy is his calling card. And why wouldn’t he be on top of the world? At last, he’s found The One, “someone warm like you”. From the anticipation-building intro, a close cousin of Sam & Dave’s ‘Soul Man’ jump-off, to the delirious harmonica solo and beyond, Stevie etches a template for lovestruck abandonment.
As far as the Wonder catalogue goes – off the top of my head – this is only trumped by ‘Sir Duke’ when it comes to communicating the delight of just being. That’s a bit of a cheat, of course, because there’s no risk with Basie, Miller and Satchmo. Right here, Stevie is laying his heart on the line.
Junior recognised the bliss and let herself go, wheeling around the kitchen with her mum and admiring her reflection in the oven door as she did so. Narcissus would wilt.
Posted in 1969 Top 20 Singles | Tagged 1969, count basie, for once in my life, glenn miller, louis armstrong, music, narcissus, sam and dave, satchmo, sir duke, soul man, stevie wonder | 2 Comments »
April 9, 2008
Usually possessing the vocal warmth of a crow with a bandaged beak, Nashville Skyline found Dylan recovering from a shady motorcycle accident and experimenting with a new tone. He sounds like he’s gargling plums, but at least he’s trying to stick to the melody.
‘Lay Lady Lay’ is a sweaty plea for a bunk-up, but manages to be charming and delicate, with a slide guitar that sounds like the sun rising on lucky Bob and his worn-down conquest. The title line sounds like a yodel and is easily mimicked by Junior – she’s inhabiting the songs a little more these days rather than offering just the perfunctory shoe shuffle. She’ll be hissing ‘Positively 4th Street’ at her nursery mates before long.
Posted in 1969 Top 20 Singles | Tagged 1969, bob dylan, lay lady lay, music, nashville skyline, positively 4th street | 4 Comments »
April 2, 2008
Boil it all down and I’m ambivalent about Elvis. I shouldn’t be so bloody ungrateful, what with his sterling services to rock’n’roll, but the big-hitting and prolific late ‘50s/early ‘60s stuff just doesn’t float my boat, odd exception aside. Maybe I heard it all way too late, or perhaps it didn’t help that the only Elvis single my mother owned was ‘Wooden Heart’, or that too many teenage friends in the late ‘80s thought they were buying into some sort of authenticity – “this is real music” – when I wanted to convince them that Detroit techno was the one true path.
Ok, I love the more inventive moments like ‘His Latest Flame’, but have the most time for Comeback Elvis, when he was allowing a bit more slack in his music – and waistline: ‘In The Ghetto’, this, ‘Burning Love’ and – oh go on – ‘The Wonder Of You’. ‘Suspicious Minds’ is masterful Country & Western pop, with a drama that sweeps you up and a welcome false ending. Go on, Elvis, keep it going. I have some repressed memories of Richard Gere striding naked into a bathroom – in Breathless, I believe, not personal experience – but will strive to keep them quashed.
Junior’s prior knowledge of Elvis is gleaned from a day’s drive into the Omani interior, a terrifyingly limited selection of CDs in Grandad’s glove box. As ‘That’s Alright, Mama’ hoved to for the ninth time that December afternoon, she howled for a change, for anything, even that breathtakingly weak Snow Patrol album. Possibly. A few months later, ‘Suspicious Minds’ is accepted with grace and a highchair shuffle. Redemption for The King.
Posted in 1969 Top 20 Singles | Tagged 1969, breathless, burning love, country & western, detroit techno, elvis presley, his latest flame, in the ghetto, music, oman, richard gere, snow patrol, suspicious minds, that's alright mama, the wonder of you, wooden heart | Leave a Comment »
