Al Hirt: Music to Watch Girls By

Recorded on December 12, 1966, New York City. Yes, that's Jumbo, Sugar Lips, call him what you will.

Archie Shepp: In a Sentimental Mood

Shepp's take on Ellington. Recorded August 12, 1965.

"In this performance he reveals another dimension of sensuality, of intimately lyrical sensitivity that is also part of the continually expanding expressivity of Archie Shepp. In much of his work, the beauty is harsh; on this track, it as full of wonder and unfolding concern as a first embrace between two lovers."
- Nat Hentoff, 1966

The players:
Archie Shepp, tenor sax
Bobby Hutcherson, vibes
Henry Grimes, bass
Joe Chambers, drums

Angelo Badalamenti: The Nightingale

Music from Twin Peaks. Vocals by Julee Cruise, lyrics by David Lynch.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

The Mike Curb Congregation - Sweet Gingerbread Man

Original air date 12/2/07. Reposted by request from I Spy. Taken from the album Sweet Gingerbread Man [CoBurt Records Inc., Manufactured by MGM Records Inc.]. Written by M. Legrand-A. Bergman-M. Bergman. From the MGM Film "The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart". Arranged by Don Peake. Produced by Perry Botkin, Jr. Art direction: Norbert Jobst, Maurer Productions West.

Morton Feldman, excerpt from Rothko Chapel

"The example of the painters was crucial. Feldman’s scores were close in spirit to Rauschenberg’s all-white and all-black canvases, Barnett Newman’s gleaming lines, and, especially, Rothko’s glowing fog banks of color. His habit of presenting the same figure many times in succession invites you to hear music as a gallery visitor sees paintings; you can study the sound from various angles, stand back or move up close, go away and come back for a second look." - Alex Ross

Here's the final - and most melodic - bit from Feldman's 1971 Rothko Chapel.

The Carpenters: I Kept on Loving You

A sunny Sunday morning...take it Richard!

Charles Mingus: Remember Rockefeller at Attica

From Changes One. The song was not originally written with this title. Mingus changed it, explaining to Nat Hentoff that "he ought to give titles to my music that makes people think." And specifically about this song -- "We ought to remember that here was a man who could have cut off the water supply and the food supply and ended the prisoners' rebellion that way. Instead he sent the army in and shot his own men as well as the prisoners. That's the part to remember--that Rockefeller is a very dangerous man."

It's interesting - the song title changes the impact of the song a good deal, and I'd like to know what it was originally titled. As it stands, it is so heavy with irony.

Read about the Attica prison riots here. And because it's the dog days, here's the 'Attica' scene from Dog Day Afternoon:

Charlie Smalls: Never Felt Like This Before

More Faces related music. I need to thank Festus von Gunsmoke for this rip of the Faces soundtrack. This is nice.

Charlie Smalls, by the way, is the man behind the music of The Wiz.

Oscar Brown, Jr: Brother Where Are You?

Recorded live at The Cellar Door, Washington DC, late 1964.

Pop quiz: Which writer said that 'cellar door' was one of the most beautiful sounding phrases in the English language?

How's everybody doing tonight? The latest musical odyssey I've crafted for Viva Radio, entitled Trustafarian Vibration, departs the station today at 2 PM. If you miss it today you can always catch it from the ark hive. If you like what you hear, send me an email: artdecade1977 at gmail dot com

Thought of the day: If you worked in Liverpool in 1961, you could see the Beatles on your lunch break. Frequently.

Hagiograph of the day: "John (Lennon) has taken poetics pretty far in popular music. A lot of his work is overlooked, but if you examine it, you'll find key expressions that have never been said before to push across his point of view. Things that are symbolic of some inner reality and probably will never be said again."

-Bob Dylan, March 1978

lastly: don't sleep on the twittr feed

Tom Waits: Jersey Girl

Down the shore everything's alright, you and your baby on a Saturday night.

John Lennon/Yoko Ono: Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him

That 1:19 moment has just been getting me recently.

Marvin Gaye: Is That Enough?

So I've been getting into Here, My Dear, Marvin Gaye's album that documents the unraveling of his marriage to Anna Gordy. I love the narrative arc - narcissistic, sentimental, honest, darkly humorous, self critical - it's compulsive listening. The album art is pretty great too. Here I quote from the liner notes describing the sleeve: "On the back cover the holy temple of matrimony collapses around a mock Rodin sculpture of a couple in a passionate embrace. The man's crotch is on fire." This is going on my shortlist for wedding presents if I'm invited to any more weddings.

Also, "Somebody tell me please/why do I have to pay attorney fees?" has to go down as one of the all time great couplets. Ok, here's a bonus track, but get the album if you don't have it.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

John Cazale as Sal by Greg Condon

Elton John: Amoreena

Original air date 1/23/07. Prompted by a recent screening of Dog Day Afternoon and a new documentary on John Cazale. A great movie, especially gratifying to see with an audience on a July night in Brooklyn.

And here is the brilliant opening montage.

Lucio Battisti - Anima Latina

A paean to the human spirit. Big thanks to The Bin for the rip.

also available on compact disc

Ithaca - "Times" (Seven Seasons-The Path-Given Time)

Delving into the mushrumps archives for this one. This is a tight jam.

Words and Music: John Ferdinando
the female voice: Lee Menelaus

Cargoe - I Love You Anyway

Dave Brubeck: In Your Own Sweet Way

The line up:

Dave Brubeck, piano
Anthony Braxton, alto saxophone
Jack Six, bass
Roy Haynes, drums

From All the Things We Are.

The Mighty Clouds Of Joy - Mighty Cloud Of Joy

A prequel, if you like, to this one. Written and produced by Dave Crawford. Featuring Ronnie Davis on bass and Earl Young on drums. Recorded at Sigma Sound Studio, Philadelphia, PA.

A man's got to make--and ride--his own mighty cloud of joy.

Stan Getz and Luiz Bonfa: Insensatez

Antonion Carlos Jobim contributes not only the composition but the beautifully phrased piano.

Album artwork by Olga Albizu.

Jimmy Smith: Back at the Chicken Shack

The line up:

Jimmy Smith, organ
Kenny Burrell, guitar
Stanley Turrentine, tenor saxophone
Donald Bailey, drums

I like the bit that begins at 4:56. This goes out to Jazione and his chicks.

April 12, 2004
Queen Mary Union, Glasglow

Franz Ferdinand -
Jaqueline
Tell Her Tonight
Cheating On You
Auf Achse
Take Me Out
Love & Destroy
Dark of the Matinee
Van Tango
Come On Home
This Fire
Michael
Shopping For Blood

BONUS BEATS - April 25, 2004
Darts of Pleasure

fall in, fall out, fall down, get ready

Fela Kuti: Zombie

Dolly Parton: Just Because I'm a Woman

Bob Weir: Bombs Away

When I was young and in the early stages of the rituals that accompany fandom of the Grateful Dead - filling blank tdk's with live recordings from Avalon Ballroom or Barton Hall or Anchorage, memorizing the time line of keyboardists, learning to turn my nose up at studio recordings, etc, etc - I got two albums that I assumed, because they seemed to be unknown, were woefully overlooked and were bound to contain hidden depths. And so I bought two cassettes in quite quick succession - The first was Ned Lagin's (helped out by Phil Lesh, Jerry Garcia, David Crosby) Seastones, a tape I had read 'helped plants grow.' I assumed it was psychedelic, organic, mood music. Instead I recall - and Mike can vouch for this - an electronic nightmare. Undeterred, I followed that up with Bob Weir's 1978 Heaven Help the Fool , containing the above track, which opens the album. And I knew, at the sound of that synthesizer, that there weren't to be any hidden depths on this one.

Enjoy!

Carla Thomas: A Love of My Own

I look at the moonlight, I feel the soft breeze, then I wanna know, why...

Brian Eno:
Weightless
Silver Morning

"Like everybody else, I sat and watched the first moon landing and the films from the subsequent missions, but for two reasons this television coverage left me unsatisfied. First, I felt that the small screen with its shallow colors was quite inadequate to the vastness of space: it made the whole enterprise look like an inferior edition of Star Trek. Secondly, it seemed to me that the fear of boring the general public had led the editors and commentators to present the transmissions from space in an up tempo, 'newsy' manner that was unsympathetic: short shots, fast cuts and too many experts obscuring the grandeur and strangeness of the event with a patina of down-to-earth chatter....I was excited by this project. It afforded an opportunity to explore the feelings of space travel: being weightless, seeing the night-time campfires of Saharan nomads from high above the earth, looking back to a little blue planet drifting alone in space, looking out into the endless darkness beyond, and finally, stepping on to another planet."

--Brian Eno on doing the music to Al Reinert's film of the Apollo missions

Public Enemy: Bring the Noise

From It Takes a Nation... with a nod to the 20th anniversary of Do the Right Thing. Possibly containing the only rap shout out to Yoko Ono, to say nothing of Sonny Bono.

Here's Vincent Canby's original review of Do the Right Thing.

Loudon Wainwright III: Lullaby

Shut up and shut your eyes
No more histrionics no more college tries
Stop pushing stop shoving stop straining
Shut your mouth and button your lip
You're a late night faucet that's got a drip

Albert King - I Get Evil

The first time I heard Albert King I was in a car driving down i95 with Sheridan, Rich, and Preston - on our way to these shows.

The Rods: Do Anything You Wanna Do

"I'm sure I must be someone, now I'm gonna find out who..."

Maybe it's my hearing going bad but I can almost here The Replacements, er, Paul Westerberg, penning this song.

Eddie & The Hot Rods hit the UK Top 10 with this kiss off.

Dave Dudley: Six Days on the Road

Jimmy Colvard on lead guitar. Late night driving music.

Roberta Flack: Do What You Gotta Do

Yes, this is the stuff.

Steve Winwood: While You See a Chance

The line up:

Steve Winwood: Acoustic & Electric Guitars, Bass, Drums, Percussion, Keyboards, Synthesizers, Lead & Backing Vocals


Winwood decided to give recording one last try. To do so, paradoxically, he burrowed deeper into himself, holing up n the 16-track studio in his home in Gloucestershire. Over the next 3 years, he wrote, played and produced all of the music for Arc of a Diver. "I knew 'Okay, I've got one shot left, and I've got to make it count,'" he says. "At the point of Arc of a Diver, I wanted to give it everything, and if that wasn't successful, that would be it. But I had to make sure I was giving everything. And I certainly did - there was nobody else on the record!"
from Rolling Stone, 12/1/88


And what did Robert Christgau say?

Winwood hasn't been a song artist since Dave Mason left Traffic, but at least here he takes responsibility for his own atmospherics. Instead of consorting with Ijahman or Stomu Yamashta, he's laid down this lulling British-international groove all by himself. Overdubbing, the technique is called. Very up-to-date. B-

The Wailers: Let Him Go

Lead vocals by Bunny Livingston. I always want to add 'Seagull' to Bunny Livingston's name. Now that's a book I would have loved in high school.

October 17, 1973
Forest National, Brussels

Rolling Stones -
Brown Sugar
Happy
Gimme Shelter
Tumbling Dice
Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
Dancing With Mr D
Angie
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Honky Tonk Women
Midnight Rambler
All Down The Line
Rip This Joint
Jumping Jack Flash

BONUS
September 9, 1973
Wembley Empire Pool. London
Street Fighting Man

Perhaps the most circulated of Rolling Stones bootlegs, this one is typically titled Brussels Affair 1973.

You didn't hear? It's all going down tonight at Club Le Baron, 6 Avenue Marceau, Paris. DJ Emmett (me) will be there playing records from 23 PM to 2 AM, representing the Art Decade Crew. Come down and say hi if you are in the neighborhood. This is happening one hour from now.

Dusty Springfield: Goodbye
Elton John: Goodbye

Goodbye bye bye bye, was all he said to me.

I'm sorry I took your time.

Which song entitled 'Goodbye' etc etc etc.


And thus ends the pairings experiment.


Have lovely weekends.

Jóhann Jóhannsson - City Building

Cat Stevens: Trouble
Bob Dylan: Trouble

Trouble move away, I have seen your face and it's too much for me today.

Trouble, trouble, trouble, nothing but trouble.

Which song entitled 'Trouble' do you think is better?

The answer, as always, in the comments section.

The Beach Boys: Friends
Whodini: Friends

Ooooooh, oooh oh oh ohhhhhhh ooooooh ooooo-hhhh-hhhh.

And then there are some we wish we never knew at all.

Which song entitled 'Friends' do you think is better?

The answer in the comments section.

NB - this is an archive post. See here. And yes, this Whodini song was sampled by Nas in "If I Ruled the World."

The Talking Heads: Heaven
The Rolling Stones: Heaven

Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens.

Nothing will stand in your way.

Which song entitled 'Heaven' do you think is better?

The correct answer in the comments section.

Rolling Stones - The Worst

I was traveling through HK in 1994; had been traveling for a month or two without music. Raided a CD store - 25 CDs for $25. Voodoo Lounge was in the stack. The Rolling Stones ought to be able to pop out about 10 of these songs a day - and yet it is not a bad song at all.

Neil Young - Throw Your Hatred Down

This played randomly as I was running the other day. With Pearl Jam serving as Neil's backing band, Mirrorball represents, in my opinion, one of the many high points in Neil Young's post-1990 career.

The Division Bell (Trance Remix)

In my opinion the most underrated of the Pink Floyd remixed series.

Bruce Springsteen: 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)

A little piano piece to reach across the miles...

Jon Brion - Row

Eurythmics - Do You Want To Break Up? (Dance Mix)

Dollar -
Shooting Star
Shooting Star (with overture!)

The triumphant return of Dollar to these pages. Have a great weekend, everybody.

dollarsite.co.uk

Derek & The Dominos - Jam III