Obscure tunes you really love (especially multiple versions/interpretations of said tunes)

[Rooster_Ties]

Dr. Lonnie Smith -- "Track 9" (aka "Track Nine")

I think I first heard the "original" version of this tune maybe 15-18 years ago, I forget exactly when -- but it was back well before I even realized it was a whole tune separate unto itself (let alone that it even had a separate title even).

In its "original" 1971 incarnation, it functions as a breakdown(?) of sorts, in this MUCH longer, side-long version of Sly Stone's "Stand" from Lonnie Smith's 1971 album Mama Wailer.   And the song(?) actually has no separate writing credit (as it appeared in 1971), other than the whole side is listed as being by Sylvester Stewart (aka Sly Stone).

Specifically, listen starting from 8:20 here (really thru the end of the track, for a good 8+ minutes, although the last minute is just unstructured winddown).  I think I've got this first YouTube clip cued up to 8:20 (set with a time-index), but if not, just start it there...

OK, then imagine my utter shock when several years later I discovered this from 2004...

And then a few years later still, this LIVE version from 2013, with a horn section too!!

And yes, for whatever reason, the tune is simply called "Track 9" or "Track Nine".

Edited March 16, 2021 by Rooster_Ties

[Rooster_Ties]

Gosh, golly - of all things; there’s a new, spacy version of “Track 9” on the new Lonnie Smith album that’s just out this week.  Starts slower, but picks up steam as it goes.

Maybe helps if you know the tune first, at least in the beginning before it gets going. The head’s a little more nebulous at the start (here), but interesting to hear a little transformed:

 

Edited March 26, 2021 by Rooster_Ties