The Manhattans: Shining Star

Leon Russell: Home Sweet Oklahoma

from Leon Russell And The Shelter People

words & music by Leon Russell

Leon Russell (piano, guitar, vocal), Barry Beckett (organ), Jimmy Johnson (guitar), David Hood (bass), Roger Hawkins (drums)

Francis Lai: Melissa

from the Bilitis soundtrack

Beck: Nobody's Fault But My Own

Genius melody. He must have been stoked when he wrote this.

from Mutations

Chuck Mangione: Feels So Good

This one and the theme from "Taxi" are kind of the Romulus and Remus of a sound which, for this writer, powerfully evokes the aura of late '70s New York, especially in autumn. Since the album version of this is ten minutes and the single edit wasn't my thing, I've adopted the DIY ethos of the Smooth Jazz Movement and made my own edit.

Buy the CD for the full-length version.

Peter Green:
Slabo Day
Just For You
Funky Chunk

vinyl rip, from In The Skies

Like a lot of people, I seem to have come down with a spot of Peter Green fever. Big ups to lovefingers via mardu for putting me onto this LP.

Peter Green (guitar, vocals), Snowy White (guitar)*, Reg Isidore (drums), Kuma Harada (bass), Lennox Langton (percussion), Peter Bardens (organ, electric piano)

*That's Snowy testifying on "Slabo Day". Peter plays lead on the other two tracks.

Eric Gale:
East Side, West Side
Negril Sea Sunset

from the enigmatic Negril

Eric Gale (lead guitar), Peter Tosh (rhythm guitar), Richard Tee (piano), Keith Sterling (piano), Leslie Butler (organ & synthesizer), Cedric Brooks (saxophone, percussion), Val Douglas (bass guitar), "Family Man" Barrett (bass guitar), Paul Douglas (drums), Sparrow Martin (drums), Joe Higgs (percussion), Uziah "Sticky" Thompson (percussion)

Please direct all questions/concerns vis-a-vis sound quality to reissue producer Masahiro Tomitani.

Bob Dylan: Boots of Spanish Leather

I hadn't heard this one before tonight. Recommended by a classmate, DD.

A lot of genius. I ought to post the entire 6-song EP. Recorded October 26, 1963 at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Buy it here.

Keith Mansfield: Big Shot [1975]
Skinnyman: Not Bonnie And Clyde [2004]

...and for kicks:
Keith Mansfield: Big Shot (slowed down by 8%) [1975]

This is the solution to this mystery.

The Mansfield track is originally from KPM 1156, "Metropolis". Also available on Shut It! The Music Of The Sweeney.

Buy Skinnyman here.

Elvis Presley:
Bridge Over Troubled Water [1970]
An American Trilogy [1972]

Mickey Newbury: An American Trilogy [1971]

Elvis's songs taken from this compilation; Mickey's O.G. is from the album 'Frisco Mabel Joy.

His truth is marching on.

Lou Reed & John Cale: Smalltown

From one of my favorite albums.

Buy it here.

Gerry Rafferty: Right Down The Line

Röcktöberfest 2K7 continues with this not-so-deep cut from the City To City LP. I always liked the way the chorus dovetails back into the verse.

Bee Gees: The Earnest Of Being George

I sought this one out on the advice of this guy, and I'll be damned if it doesn't sound a little like Oasis.

from Horizontal

The Merseys: Sorrow

I just found out about 8 minutes ago that this was originally by the McCoys.

Betty Wright: Show Your Girl
Betty Wright: Don't Thank Me Baby, Thank Yourself

Betty Wright scored a Grammy for Best R&B song for Where Is The Love. The two tracks above are others off the same album.

She's previously appeared on Art Decade on this post's track.

Available on Danger High Voltage.

Tony Schwartz: Children And God

from Tony Schwartz Records The Sounds Of Children

He could be sitting on the table right now but you can't see him.

dedicated to my green-eyed lady

Total Unity: Green-Eyed Lady

produced by Frank Slay

Jack Fender:
Put Your Love In Me
Every One Is A Winner (sic)

from Jack Fender spielt die schönsten Gitarren-Welterfolge
(Guitar-Tops Vol. 2)

John Cale: Hanky Panky Nohow

This cut has been back in heavy rotation for me lately. The most wizard song on the album, for this writer.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: Greyhound

What the! This album is 13 years old?! I remember picking the shiny CD cover off the shelf at Tower Records on West 4th Street. This album has aged well, to my ears.

Buy Orange here.

TWO FOR TUESDAY

Average White Band & Ben E. King: Get It Up For Love [1977]
Johnny Rivers: Get It Up For Love [1974]

Here are two more versions of this.

Robert Palmer: Not a Second Time

Robert Palmer covering some fellow Brits.

Buy Robert Palmer here.

Ted Nugent: Free-For-All [1976]


When Oliver Fisher Winchester died in 1880, his ownership in Winchester Rifles passed to his son, William, who died of tuberculosis in March of the next year. William's wife Sarah believed the family was cursed by the spirits killed by the Winchester rifle, and moved to California and began building a chaotic mansion with her inheritance, to confuse the spirits seeking revenge.

The Cars: Got a Lot On My Head
The Cars: Since I Held You
The Cars: Candy O

These three tracks are taken off the unreleased Monitor Mixes.

Buy music from The Cars here.

The Thought: There's a Boy [1982]
The Thought: I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night [1982]
The Thought: Rebels [1982]

Three songs off the forgotten self-titled album by The Thought.

Cock de Jong - guitar, vocals
Jan de Jong - drums.
Wieg Zigtema - guitar, synthesizer, vocals
Rob Marienus - bass
Rob van Zandvoort - keyboards

Brian Eno: The True Wheel

featuring Phil Manzanera on guitar, bending both minds and strings at the 3:13 mark.

Gabor Szabo: The Last Song

Time for the obligatory bi-monthly Gabor post. This one comes to us from the enigmatic Faces LP. My favorite part is the outro, featuring a string part which eerily foreshadows Don't Stop Till You Get Enough.

written by Gabor Szabo

Linda Hoyle: Black Crow

from Pieces of Me

Fab Five Freddy: Change The Beat

Bridge:
Stick Your Finger In The Ground (And Turn The World Around) b/w Stick Your Finger (instrumental)

Homegrown heat from Greensboro, North Carolina. Sometimes the local cats end up copping hotter grooves than the big-city studio pros. For an earlier installment of the homegrown heat series, see here.

Open the levels within your brain.