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What rock music are you listening to? Non-Jazz, Non-Classical.


EKE BBB

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Discs 4 & 5 of 8.  It has been a long time since I have revisited some of this music.  Some artists, such as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Booker T. & The MGs, are fairly regular parts of my listening habits.  For many other performers on here, it was great to hear their hits once again.  The only exception was The Coaters -- I find I just can't take their stuff any more.  I found myself skipping each one of their tracks.  Their songs seemed so hokey and inconsequential, especially when compared to some of the other songs included on the same discs.  Why waste my limited listening time on them when right next door is Barbara Lewis!  "Hello Stranger" indeed!  Wow, it does seem like a mighty long time since I've heard her gorgeous voice.  She was 19 when she recorded that?!?  Remember when 19 year old singers could exhibit a maturity and sophistication beyond their years?  Nowadays we have 30-something singers still trying to pretend they are teenagers.  Sad.

For you folks who hate strings in jazz, does the same apply to strings in r&b for you?  Strings are so vital to some of these songs.  "This Magic Moment" and "Stand By Me" -- it's difficult to imagine those records without the strings.  They add so much to these songs/performances.  Why do strings have a bad rep?

The one track which had me hitting the replay button the most was "Cry To Me" by Solomon Burke.  That song really hit the sweet spot for me at this time.  Love the Art Davis bass line  and a rockin' Hank Jones on piano!   (it's interesting just looking at the musicians who played on so many of these sides:  people like Hubert Laws, Jimmy Cleveland, Clark Terry, Buddy Morrow, Milt Hinton, George Barnes, Taft Jordan, Bucky Pizzarelli, Mundell Lowe, Osie Johnson, Budd Johnson and Panama Francis.)

 

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43 minutes ago, duaneiac said:

Why waste my limited listening time on them when right next door is Barbara Lewis!  "Hello Stranger" indeed!  Wow, it does seem like a mighty long time since I've heard her gorgeous voice.  She was 19 when she recorded that?!?  Remember when 19 year old singers could exhibit a maturity and sophistication beyond their years?  Nowadays we have 30-something singers still trying to pretend they are teenagers.  Sad.

For you folks who hate strings in jazz, does the same apply to strings in r&b for you?  Strings are so vital to some of these songs.  "This Magic Moment" and "Stand By Me" -- it's difficult to imagine those records without the strings.  They add so much to these songs/performances.  Why do strings have a bad rep?

 

The strings in "There Goes My Baby" were a revelation/revolution.  The birth of Soul as a recognizable genre apart from R&B.  Can't imagine those Ben E. King/Drifters records without them.  Too often in jazz, they represent a watering down of the music.  That is not the case in good Soul.  Just to up the ante on that great Barbara Lewis record, she also wrote it!  The Dells are wonderful in the background on that one.

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45 minutes ago, EKE BBB said:

R-3440213-1330460237.jpeg.jpg R-3440213-1486166705-4763.jpeg.jpg

That is a great one.  One of my favorite Stones albums is Rolling Stones Now!, principally because it has Little Red Rooster and Mona on it. Rooster (written by Willie Dixon) remains the only Blues song to reach number 1 in the UK. The version of Mona done by Quicksilver is actually better, as they stretch out out on it and really plumb Bo Diddley’s song.

 

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12 hours ago, danasgoodstuff said:

I think you're dead wrong on the Coasters, but whatever.  Strings can be effective or not, but they do carry a lot of cultural baggage...

 

I'm not saying the Coasters' songs are bad.  I used to like the Coasters' songs when I was younger.  Used to sing along with those tunes and love 'em.  But at this point in my life, they did nothing but irritate me.  Maybe the songs have not aged well or maybe I have not aged well (my knees will certainly attest to that).  The Drifters, on the other hand, I could listen to forever.

I was blissfully unaware of the "cultural baggage" carried by strings.  They are only musical instruments.  Perhaps the cultural baggage is carried by listeners and their preconceptions and not the instruments themselves.

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16 hours ago, duaneiac said:

51SWBSM25NL.jpg

 

The one track which had me hitting the replay button the most was "Cry To Me" by Solomon Burke.  That song really hit the sweet spot for me at this time.  Love the Art Davis bass line  and a rockin' Hank Jones on piano!   (it's interesting just looking at the musicians who played on so many of these sides:  people like Hubert Laws, Jimmy Cleveland, Clark Terry, Buddy Morrow, Milt Hinton, George Barnes, Taft Jordan, Bucky Pizzarelli, Mundell Lowe, Osie Johnson, Budd Johnson and Panama Francis.)

 

Wasn't Connie Kay a regular on these recordings? 

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Just now, medjuck said:

Wasn't Connie Kay a regular on these recordings? 

I was just glancing through the personnel listed for the tracks on Discs 4 & 5 that I listened to.  I don't recall seeing his name, but maybe Connie Kay was on songs on the other discs.  It would make sense since the MJQ was already an Atlantic recording group. 

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