Summer Break!

Alright, all you Kool Kovers fans, it's that time of the year when we must put the laptop aside and go outdoors for awhile. I'm gonna hang out with the family, grill up some great food, lose a bunch of golf balls, play some music with my friends, maybe travel a bit, and just enjoy the Summer. It won't be long before we'll all be hunkered down and hibernating indoors during the long grey months of cold Midwestern Winter suckage. So I'm gonna go play outside while the sun is shining. I truly believe I need to move somewhere that's warmer year-round. Someday...

What all that means is, I'm taking the month of July off to recharge the creative batteries. The weekly Kool Kovers blog features will resume anew in August. But fear not, my friends. During the break, the blog's very own Facebook page will be updated often with items of interest, as the whim of the muse dictates. There's bound to be some interesting musical news that will surface, and I'll be sure to post it for you. There's also well over 100 Kool Kovers articles on this website for you to go back and check out, if you've missed any over the past year or so.

I would also like to send out a great big "Thank You" in sincere appreciation to all of you who read this blog regularly, and to those who've slapped a "Like" on our Facebook page in recent weeks. Knowing that there are music fans worldwide, that find the time to enjoy this little project of mine, makes all the work that goes into it worthwhile.

As a seasonal send-off, here's a stunning cover version of one of my all-time favorite Summer songs, Brian Wilson's "The Warmth Of The Sun", as performed by one of the best voices in any genre of popular music, Vince Gill. It's an emotional, melancholy song for sure, although the lyric resolves in a hopeful way, and was written by Brian and Mike Love in the wee hours of the morning on November 22, 1963. But in my mind, that gorgeous melody takes me directly to a sun-drenched California beach every time I hear it. "The Warmth Of The Sun" also qualifies as one of the more amazing B-sides of the 60's, as it was issued on the flip side of The Beach Boys' October '64 single, "Dance Dance Dance", which peaked at #8. It should have been a #1 double A-side hit, but there was plenty of high quality competition for the top of the charts at the time.

Serious props go to Vince Gill and Brian's band for absolutely nailing this performance, which is from the "All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson" concert, held at Radio City in New York, back in 2001. Keep a tissue handy.

You can pick up a used DVD of the entire concert at Amazon for fairly cheap, but a new copy might be a tad spendy.

Nearly 30 years worth of music from Vince Gill is procurable through a variety of sources. His latest work, "Bakersfield", pairs him with steel guitar master, Paul Franklin, and reminds us that as good as Gill can sing, he's no slouch as a guitarist either. Good singin', good pickin'.

Everyone's music collection should include at least one decent Beach Boys anthology. There's a few good ones out there, but I'd recommend the 30 song, single disc "Sounds Of Summer" album as a solid starter.

Those of you who are not yet familiar with The Beach Boys' masterwork from 1966, "Pet Sounds", are in for a real treat. I would encourage you to listen actively to this album, keeping in mind the context of the times, and the other music that was popular then. You will hear what the years have proven; that this recording is nothing less than a sublime work of musical genius.

Have yourselves a great July, and we'll meet again in August. Until then, Love and Mercy to all!

Lookin' For A Love

J. Geils, Magic Dick, and Peter Wolf of The J. Geils Band

Anytime there is a mention of The J. Geils Band, the last thing I think of is their hit making peak of popularity in the early 80's. That was a time of career recovery for the band, who had lost their chart mojo for a bit, following a couple of minor hits, but it also happened to be a great time for songs with "Na-Na" featured prominently in the lyrics. There was also that new-fangled Music Television thing. I wonder whatever happened to that? It looked promising.

No, the band I think of is the gritty, hard rockin', hard partying, Blues-based Soul band from Boston, whose repertoire consisted of covers as much or more than original songs. They also had a secret weapon in the blistering harmonica playing of one Richard Salwitz, who went by the dubious stage name of "Magic Dick". His incendiary work eliminated any need for a 2nd guitar player, but he would be shoved into the background during the 80's, in favor of keyboard pads, production trickery, and the aforementioned na-na's.

I remember, although I never got to see them there, that The J. Geils Band made regular appearances at The Spectrum arena in Philadelphia during the 70's, and always seemed to be received well in reviews. They were the kind of band that Philly opened their hearts and wallets to. This was, no doubt, due to their reputation as a 'leave it all on the stage' band, who could leave their audiences just as exhausted as they would be by the end of a concert.

In 1972, I did pick up their first live album, "Full House" on the sage advice of Steve Simels, then a columnist and reviewer for Stereo Review magazine. Mr. Simels' reviews turned me on to many bands of the day like Slade, Genesis, and Wishbone Ash, for which I will be forever grateful. Steve now writes the Powerpop blog, which I'm sure you will find most entertaining.

My Junior High years were difficult, but records like this made things a whole lot better. For sure, the 1970's were the golden years for Rock bands doing 'live albums'. For one reason or another, especially in the early part of the decade, live recordings tended to break the initially stagnant album sales of newer bands wide open, and greatly enhanced their status in the concert market. In short order, we had a series of now-classic live releases from The Allman Brothers, Humble Pie, Kiss, Grand Funk Railroad, Yes, The Who, and plenty more. This one fit right in. It was J. Geils' 3rd album, featuring just one song that was written by them, but they made their choices of songs by others fit the character of the band seamlessly. At least 2 other live albums by The J. Geils Band have been released since, but none of them captured the manic, luminescent intensity of their performances like this one did.

Listening to this live version of the Side 2 album closer, "Lookin' For A Love", I'm reminded of the pounding drive that Otis Redding brought to his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. The tempo is at least a third faster than the perfectly serviceable studio version on their 2nd album, "The Morning After". Plus, the crowd is making as much noise as the band! Turn it up!

The Valentinos, with Bobby Womack at low center

"Lookin' For A Love" was written by J.W. Alexander and Zelda Samuels, and was the debut hit of the family group, The Valentinos, which featured a youthful Bobby Womack. By fortuitous meeting, The Valentinos recorded for Sam Cooke's SAR label. The label was intended to be a place where Sam Cooke could expand his artistic abilities as a writer and producer, and to give other struggling black musicians a venue to record in.

The song originally came from another tune; a gospel composition by Bobby titled "Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray", which was recorded and released in 1961 when they were still known as The Womack Brothers. Sam Cooke produced that session for them, as well as the sessions for "Lookin' For A Love". Following the release of "Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray", and convinced that then 17 year old Bobby Womack could have a career in music, Cooke directed his staff writers J.W. Alexander and Zelda Samuels to rewrite the song as a Doo-Wop dance number; basing the song's chord structure on the melody found in "Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray". This worked out fine as far as creating a hit for The Valentinos, but it wound up denying Bobby of any songwriting royalties, due to the rewrite being credited to Alexander and Samuels, and by default, Sam Cooke.

When the Womack brothers were presented with the rewritten song, they protested, fearing a backlash from their minister father. However, Cooke convinced them that the song would be a hit and would guarantee the Womacks some financial success, as well as popularity. As with "Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray", the song featured Bobby on lead. Prior to its release, Cooke suggested a name change, thinking the change would do wonders for their career as it had done for him. They all settled on The Valentinos, and released the song in the spring of 1962. The song was indeed a hit for The Valentinos, climbing to #8 on the R&B chart and crossing over to #72 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Following this breakthrough success, the group frequently opened for James Brown, where they won their share of fans. But as all singles do, it eventually faded from the charts. The song remained in hibernation until 1971, when The J. Geils Band covered the song on their 2nd album, as we discussed earlier, and that studio version just barely became a top 40 single for them, peaking at #39.

There was one other notable release by The Valentinos on the SAR label, and that was the original version of "It's All Over Now", which would be covered by The Rolling Stones. "It's All Over Now" was written by Bobby Womack and Shirley Womack. The Valentinos version entered the Billboard Hot 100 on June 27, 1964, where it stayed on the chart for two weeks, peaking at #94. Famed New York DJ, Murray The K played the record for The Rolling Stones during an in-studio interview with them. The Stones flipped for it and recorded it 9 days later at Chess Studios in Chicago. They had their first #1 hit with the song by the end of July.

Some years later, Bobby Womack reportedly said in an interview that he had told his manager he did not want The Rolling Stones to record their version of the song, and that he had told Mick Jagger to go find his own song. His manager convinced him to let The Stones record it anyway. Six months later, upon receiving a fat royalty check, he told his manager that Mick Jagger could have any song of his he wanted!

During a 1973 recording session, Bobby Womack used "Lookin' For A Love" as a warm-up song to loosen up his voice. Womack recorded one take of the song, with his brothers again providing background vocals. He had no plans for issuing it as a single. However, after some convincing, he released the song in early 1974 and it went on to be his most successful single. It was his first #1 single on the Hot Soul Singles chart and his first and only Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The single was later certified gold by the RIAA for sales of a million copies. Certainly, this was due in no small way to the fact that Bobby recorded the track with members of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, who could find a workable groove in any song. You can learn more about Jimmy Johnson, David Hood, Roger Hawkins and Barry Beckett in the great documentary film, "Muscle Shoals". But for right now, here's Bobby Womack's 1974 release of "Lookin' For A Love".

Bobby Womack was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. He has released a lot of albums over the years, but not all of them remain in print. His most recent effort is 2012's "The Bravest Man In The Universe". There are several compilations out there, all relevant to different periods of his lengthy career. I went with this one, as it's fairly comprehensive and includes the must-have Womack song, "Across 110th Street", which was used in my 2nd favorite Quentin Tarentino film, "Jackie Brown". My favorite QT movie? Oh, you'll just have to guess.

If you simply must have a hard copy CD anthology of The Valentinos, I hope you're prepared to pay through the snout for it. For the rest of us, I will recommend "The SAR Records Story". It's reasonably priced and features a bunch of long lost tracks by the likes of Sam Cooke, his gospel group The Soul Stirrers, Billy Preston, Johnnie Taylor, The Womack Brothers, and of course, The Valentinos. There's some good listening here, folks.

Which brings us back to the cause of all this ruckus, The J. Geils Band. The live album, "Full House" is still in print on CD. There was a vinyl reissue in 2009, but it's already off the market. If all you know of J. Geils Band is the 80's stuff, you can get those hits on numerous "Best Of's", most of them budget priced. But if you're curious about what made them the great band they were, then I will direct you to this very affordable 5 disc box, which contains their first 5 albums from the 70's, including "Full House" and their fabulous 1973 hit, "Bloodshot". If you scour the used record bins in your local shop, you may get lucky enough to find an original red vinyl copy of "Bloodshot". Kinda hard to find a clean one though. Most of them got played, and played hard. Happy hunting nonetheless.

I Say A Little Prayer

I've written before on these pages about how some longtime friends of mine have sponsored a series of acoustic concerts in their home. The series is called Folkhouse and it features singer-songwriters playing a solo concert in the living room. It's an intimate musical environment to say the least, and often provides the songwriter with an opportunity to let us in on how certain songs were written and the circumstantial stories behind them. Plus, the artist gets 100% of the admission and all the proceeds from CD sales. If there is anything like this happening in your city, I would highly encourage you to attend a show soon. Once you do, you'll wonder what took you so long. Live music needs your support to flourish.

Darden Smith and his well-worn, great sounding, Collings guitar

This past weekend, my wife and I attended a house concert by singer-songwriter Darden Smith, who happens to be a fine song craftsman on his own, but also has co-written many successful songs; not the least of which being "Angel Flight" which he wrote with Radney Foster and a soldier who was a veteran of the Iraq war. Boy, is there a story behind that one, but we'll get to that in just a minute. It'll be worth the wait.

During his performance, Darden told us a great story about going to see Burt Bacharach in concert with a symphony, and being rendered speechless by the sheer quantity of Burt's songs that were major hits; some of them going as far as defining the time in which they appeared. After the concert, Darden and his family went out to dinner, during which many libations were consumed. When he awoke the next morning, he said, the first thing he saw was his iPhone on the bed next to him, which led to the first question, "Who did I call?" Nope, didn't call anybody. Next question was, "Who did I text?". Nothing there either. But the third question was, "What did I download?", and bingo, there it was. About $50 worth of Dionne Warwick songs!

Hal David, Dionne Warwick & Burt Bacharach

But who can blame him? Dionne Warwick was fortunate enough to have recorded many of Burt Bacharach's songs before anyone else got the chance to, leading to a whole lot of hit records for her, and for Bacharach. From 1962 through 1971, Dionne Warwick charted no less than 33 Burt Bacharach-Hal David songs for Scepter Records. It wasn't an exclusive relationship; she had 6 other charting singles during her time at Scepter, and Bacharach & David wrote many hits for other artists, but it was, and still is, the most consistent and successful semi-exclusive collaboration of singer and songwriters in the history of Pop music.

By all accounts, Bacharach thought of Dionne as his demo singer by default. She was fortunate enough to have had the skills necessary to be able to sing his songs the way he heard them in his head. But make no mistake, Dionne Warwick certainly had her own identifiable vocal style that made her instantly recognizable to even the most non-musically inclined listener.

Intended by lyricist Hal David to convey a woman's concern for her beau who was serving in the Vietnam War, "I Say A Little Prayer" was recorded by Dionne Warwick on April 9, 1966.

Although Bacharach's recordings with Warwick typically required no more than 3 takes, often needing just 1, Bacharach did 10 takes of "I Say A Little Prayer", and still felt the completed track was rushed. The song went unreleased until September of 1967 when it was introduced on the album "The Windows Of The World", which largely consisted of older material. But it was Scepter Records' owner Florence Greenberg, rather than Bacharach, who wanted "I Say A Little Prayer" added to the album. from which it had a single release in October of 1967 as the B-side of the newly recorded track "Theme from Valley Of The Dolls". But the brisk sound of "I Say A Little Prayer", which Bacharach disliked, proved to be hitbound magic for Warwick as "I Say A Little Prayer" became the preferred side of the single, reaching #4 that December on the Billboard Hot 100. It was Warwick's first Top 10 appearance since "Message To Michael" in the spring of 1966. "Theme from Valley Of The Dolls" would have to wait its turn to become a hit until after the success of "I Say A Little Prayer"; reaching #2 in February of 1968.

"I Say A Little Prayer" was given a far more soulful, and arguably more popular makeover in the summer of '68 by Aretha Franklin, who was certainly capable of making any song her own. However, the single of Aretha's recording only managed to match Dionne's on the charts by peaking at #4. Nonetheless, this version sounds like nobody but Aretha. I have to wonder if this version had the feel that Bacharach said was missing from the Dionne Warwick sessions. It's certainly one of Aretha's best-ever vocal performances.

With a significantly re-invented arrangement from the Warwick original via Clayton Ivey's piano work, plus the solid backing vocals of The Sweet Inspirations, who first gave Aretha the notion that she should cut the song, this fine rendition was intended as the B-side of the funky July 1968 single, "The House That Jack Built", but it quickly began to accrue its own airplay. It was a Top 10 hit by October. I find it very interesting that the same song was first issued as a B-side for both Dionne and Aretha, but became a hit either prior to, or very shortly after the A-side. But this also happened during a time when singles had much greater potential to be a double A-side hit, due in no small measure to the embarrassingly high level of talent at the time. You'll recall that The Beatles also had a very good run with double A-sides. Here's Aretha!

So now, we've come full circle, back to Darden Smith, who included his interpretation of  "I Say A Little Prayer" on his latest album, "Love Calling", as a bonus track. It was recorded for Sirius XM for exclusive airplay on their acoustic Coffee House channel, but obviously it was too good to be left unissued.

The story Darden told us about the Bacharach concert and his mild iPod indiscretion was the lead-in to his performing the song just about exactly as you hear it on this recording. The fact that the song works just as well in the simplest of settings, regardless of the singer's gender, speaks volumes about what a truly great song this is. Enjoy.

Darden Smith is also the founder and creative visionary behind Songwriting With Soldiers, whose mission is to help military service members tell their stories and transform their lives through collaborative songwriting. Some of the other participating songwriters that you may have heard of are Beth Nielsen Chapman, Radney Foster, Greg Trooper, Mary Gauthier, and Gary Nicholson. As fine a group of songwriters as you could hope for.

Songwriting With Soldiers pairs wounded active duty and veteran soldiers with professional songwriters in retreat settings to write songs based on their experiences of combat and returning home. From invisible battle scars, to a spouse's isolation, to the surge of adrenaline before a dangerous patrol, the resulting songs are as diverse as the participants themselves. The songs are recorded on-site and given to the soldiers. so that they might be shared with their families and communities. The soldiers talk. The songwriters listen. Together they create the songs. The songs tell the truth; a truth that provides healing in the telling.

You can listen to, and buy the recordings from the Songwriting With Soldiers series at Bandcamp. Please do so.

Nearly 30 years worth of music from Darden Smith is available at Amazon, or preferably, Darden's online store. We like to see musicians get paid directly for their work, don't you?

Coming soon on sweet vinyl goodness!

Many of the original, now-classic albums by Aretha Franklin are available in both CD and vinyl. If you're not of the completist mindset, but still need to fill that gaping hole in your Soul collection, get this excellent 2 CD anthology. It's very affordable, sounds great, and not a pooch in the pack. For you vinyl junkies, the all killer, no filler, "Aretha's Gold" album in 180 gram premium vinyl is due out on June 24th!

As it is with Aretha, there are several collections of Dionne Warwick out there. I went with this one, as it's fairly complete and sounds great, despite its 1989 vintage. Some more thorough collections and boxed sets of Dionne's original albums are, not at all surprisingly, available as imports.

There are more Burt Bacharach collections on the market than anyone would know how to make sense of. His songs have been recorded by so many singers and bands that assembling all of them would require a boxed set of mammoth proportions, along with licensing nightmares of equal stature. So we're left to settle for what we're given. This recent collection provides a good overview outside of the Warwick recordings. There's also this fine 2 disc import set that has some great stuff on it and isn't too spendy. The same goes for this one, although it has 3 discs. If you want to take the cheap way out, there's a single disc "Best Of" available, but it only represents the tip of the iceberg.

Oh, and don't miss this super fun Bacharach tribute album from the now-defunct Pop label, Big Deal. Yes, it's long out of print, but available very cheaply, both new and used. It's well worth hunting this one down!

Green Shirt

EC & the Attractions, 1979

Back when Elvis Costello was a new artist, he was one of those rare ones that kept getting better with each new album release. The jump in quality from his debut, "My Aim Is True", released in 1977, to the powerful punch of his second album, "This Years Model", was a quantum leap. This was largely due to the more focused sound of Costello's newly formed band, The Attractions. The next one, 1979's "Armed Forces", was another step forward, although somewhat less so than its predecessor. Nonetheless, all 3 albums were in regular rotation on the turntables of everyone I knew.

Costello, like Joe Jackson, stood out from the rest of the Punk and New Wave crowd of the day with his distinct sense of melody and incisive, sometimes caustic lyricism. Unbeknownst to us at the time, there would be much more to follow in the coming years from this odd, bespectacled, twitchy person who, on first impression, came off as Buddy Holly's disturbed cousin. Who could have guessed that of all the new acts that popped up every week back then, that it would be Elvis Costello, out of all possibilities, who would still be turning out meaningful work and touring regularly nearly 40 years on?

The US cover of "Armed Forces" with promo DJ sticker.

That third album, "Armed Forces", featured many moods, often changing from song to song, as any good album should, while retaining some sense of continuity. One of the tracks that stood out for me is the 'more nervous than previous' track called "Green Shirt". There's a thread of tension, paranoia and revenge that runs through both the lyric and the music, that suggests a retaliatory bite of rattlesnake quickness is possible at any second. That's saying a lot on an album that also featured musical airstrikes like "Goon Squad", "Oliver's Army" and "Two Little Hitlers", although things did wrap up nicely with a cover of Nick Lowe's minor hit from his days in Brinsley Schwarz, "What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?". But for now, let's have a listen to Elvis Costello & The Attractions, and their original version of "Green Shirt".

Early editions of "Armed Forces" included a 7" EP of some live tracks recorded at Hollywood High School in Los Angeles. The complete show wouldn't see an official release until 2010, but it was worth the wait.

The musical climate of the late '70's and early 80's also provided an opportunity for older Rock acts to consider updating themselves and their music in order to remain relevant, particularly those survivors of the first British Invasion of the 1960's. But that was much trickier than it sounds, as not all dads wear their son's clothes well. Some, like The Searchers, were musically, if not financially successful at this exercise, while Eric Burdon, who had a measure of American success with an early version of the band War, did a one-off album and tour with the reunited Animals, but quickly thought it best to ply his craft fronting European Blues bands and wait out the 80's.

One project that should have worked out better than it did was Peter Noone's 1980 attempt at reinvention with a band called The Tremblers, naughtily named after a personal service provided by prostitutes. Formerly the singer for Herman's Hermits, Noone's youthful vocal range matched with an energetic band should have sold more than it did, but that's an easy one to blame on their record label. Johnston Records was a CBS subsidiary named for Beach Boy Bruce Johnston, but like many vanity labels, it wasn't too sturdily financed. I'm not aware of any other bands that released an album on the Johnston label.

Noone and his band toured hard behind the album, but found they were forced to live in the shadow of the successful Pop band that their lead singer was known for. Noone has said that Boston was one of the best stops on that tour; perhaps because the fans in that city were hip to what Peter was doing, which was writing a new chapter by rocking out far more than the mannered recordings of Herman's Hermits would ever allow. From their sole album, "Twice Nightly", here's The Tremblers' caffeinated rendition of "Green Shirt".

Had the resources been available to permit a second, and possibly a third album, The Tremblers may have achieved a better level of success. But the ever-fickle musical climate was already changing in preparation for what has become known as the Second British Invasion; that time in the 80's when it seemed that every English band with a keyboard sequencer, a makeup kit, a quirky name, and an odd haircut were not only getting signed, but promoted like never before through a new worldwide medium, known then as "Music Television".

"Twice Nightly" is now available on CD as an import from Cherry Red Records. You can also find a stray original copy on vinyl fairly reasonably in the used record bins of your local shop.

You should be able to locate most any selection from the now considerably large discography of Elvis Costello without much difficulty. Be advised that his work is spread over several record labels and his classic albums from the 70's and 80's have been reissued multiple times already. Just read the cover art carefully so you don't wind up duplicating any of the abundant bonus material.

And just because no British Invasion collection is complete without it, here's an excellent retrospective of Herman's Hermits for you. With 26 tracks on one CD, that should cover you rather well. Peter Noone himself still tours like a madman to this day, and is bound to be performing at a casino, state fair, or outdoor venue near you, soon.

With regard to that Second British Invasion thing I mentioned, there's a tribute album being assembled that is shaping up to be very special indeed. The title is "Here Comes The Reign Again", and the album's producer tells me they have a killer lineup of musicians doing some truly inventive versions of great 80's songs. The two tracks I've already heard are both excellent. You'll be hearing plenty more about the album as things develop, but you can also look into it for yourself on the album's Facebook page. I understand that pre-ordering will be available soon, and we will post that info for you on our very own Kool Kovers Facebook page, just as soon as we know for sure. Stay tuned!