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The story goes that Wings were under huge pressure, recording at EMI’s studio in Lagos, having just lost drummer Denny Seiwell and guitarist Henry McCullough. With Paul McCartney playing bass, drums and most of the lead guitar, the remaining trio were able to produce much of the band’s best work. The unmistakable intro to ‘Jet’ has always sounded like a call to arms to bands like The Clash and The Police.
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First thing to say that today’s sound is far removed from the zeitgeist in 1976. By the time Genesis had begun writing what would become A Trick Of The Tail, their cool talisman Peter Gabriel had left the band and they, in turn, decided to put their drummer Phil Collins front stage and have Bill Bruford cover off percussion. Better the devil you know, hey. Of course, the band had the last laugh if commercial success is any metric to judge by. One of the my favourite tracks off the TotT album is the underrated single ‘Ripples’, which is bossed by Tony Banks’ keyboard-led sections. Have a great week.
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Isaac Hayes; what a man. In 1969, he set the standard for smooth, sticky soul with his album Hot Buttered Soul. By 1974, he was starring in his own crime-action movie Three Tough Guys with Lino Ventura and Fred Williamson. ‘Run Fay Run’ features on the soundtrack and would resurface 30 years later in Quentin Tarantino’s movie Kill Bill Vol. 2. Have a great weekend.
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Not one of Stevie’s most fashionable tracks, but ‘Boogie on Reggae Woman’ is a real jam. It features on his 1974 LP Fulfillingness’ First Finale, the first after his 1973 car accident. The piano groove is relentless.
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Good morning peeps. The trio America released ‘Tin Man’ as the lead single off their 1974 album Holiday. As we all know, Tin Man really wanted a heart, not a double negative. Have a great week.
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It felt like the summer arrived this weekend, albeit I spent most of the weekend indoors. I did stumble across my well played copy of Millie Jackson’s 1974 LP Caught Up. Her version of Bobby Goldsboro’s ‘Summer’ closes the record in a sublime fashion. It’s better than the original.
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The singer-songwriter William DeVaughn is best known for his 1974 album Be Thankful for What You Got. Its title track and the single ‘Blood Is Thicker Than Water’ brought about a level of commercial recognition that would make it a reference point for all fans of soul, funk and R&B. Have a great weekend.
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To bookend this week with two J.B.’s classics, I give you Maceo Parker, his Macks and ‘Cross The Track’. Produced by James Brown and arranged by Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley (among others), this classic became a soundtrack for rare groove and funk nights on London’s dance floors of the 1980s. That signature alarm would become a dance-floor siren, and was sampled by many early hip hip artists, incl. Stetsasonic, Doug E. Fresh and Fast Eddie. Have a great weekend.
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Good morning peeps. Looking back at last week’s posts, there is a synthesised sound on Barry K. Sharpe ‘The Masterplan‘ that totally reminds me of The J.B.’s single ‘Blow Your Head’. Led by Fred Wesley, and often conducted/produced by James Brown, The JB’s were a roll call of funk heroes: Bobby Byrd, Fred Thomas, John Jabo Starks, Lyn Collins, Maceo Parker and St-Clair Pinckney. In 1974, they released the Damn Right I Am Somebody album, on which James Brown was an uncredited producer. In fact, according to Wesley, it was Brown’s idea to include the crazy Moog synthesizer on this remarkable track. I believe I was first introduced when Public Enemy sampled the single on ‘Public Enemy No. 1’. Have a great week.
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In 1972/73, the Chicago-based band Rufus got three Chaka Khan-sized breaks. Firstly, they spotted her performing locally in the Windy City and invited her to join. With the Queen of Funk onboard, they quickly caught the eye of Ike Turner who flew them out to L.A. for a recording session. And if that wasn’t a sign of good things to come, Stevie Wonder then wrote the track ‘Tell Me Something Good’ for the lead singer. It is the standout single on their 1974 album Rags to Rufus. She was quite the draw. Have a great weekend.
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A year after John Cale’s Paris 1919, his soon-to-be collaborator Brian Eno put out two incredibly ambitious albums Here Come the Warm Jets and Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy). The latter featured ‘Third Uncle’, a mixing bowl of proto-punk guitar and teutonic synthesiser. Bowie was listening. Bauhaus were too and would go on to record a cover to open their 1982 album, The Sky’s Gone Out.
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‘Abbracciala Abbracciali Abbracciati’ [‘Embrace Her, Embrace Them, Embrace Yourself’] is the opening track from Lucio Battisti’s 1974 masterpiece Anima Latina. The Italian songwriter conceived the album as a love letter to the Brazilian music he heard during a trip through South America. The result is timeless. The album’s opening track is reminiscent of the work of Donald Byrd, Pink Floyd, The Blue Nile and all of the above. On top of that, it has one of those magical moments when the slow drums give way to a chord progression of horns.
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Before he took his sound manipulation to another level, Brian Eno released a debut solo that largely reprises his time with Roxy Music and the direction that he would have liked them to maintain. However, there are signs of his ambient future inside Here Come the Warm Jets. In amongst the experimental pop songs is the graceful ‘On Some Faraway Beach’. The piano outro and “Oh lie low, lie low” lyrics are masterstrokes.
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Good morning people. Singer Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson released ‘The Bottle’ in 1974 on the Strata-East record label. Scott-Heron wrote this jazz-funk classic about the alcohol abuse that he had witnessed in his community in Washington DC. It features on the album Winter in America, which was the first of several collaborations between Scott-Heron and Jackson in the mid 1970s. Have a great week.
Samuelsounds 