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| 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.
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.
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!
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| The Valentinos, with Bobby Womack at low center |
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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