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Radio Djerdan: Western Swing - All Night, All Day
Thursday, December 10, 2020
Next:
"How Many Roads: Black America Sings Bob Dylan" (Various) [Ace, 2010]
"Not for nothing is Bob Dylan considered to be one of the greatest songwriters of his, or any other, generation. His compositions have provided a prime source of repertoire for hundreds, even thousands, of recording artists for 50 years, and his catalogue continues to be regularly revised and revisited in all genres of music.
Spanning more than two decades of Dylan compositions, “How Many Roads” offers 20 first-rate examples of how well his songs have lent themselves to being remade/remodelled by high profile names in black American music. Few of his peers have had their catalogues visited as regularly by black singers and musicians. Only John Lennon and Paul McCartney (the subjects of the next volume in this short “Black America Sings…” series) come close in terms of breadth of catalogue and number of covers.
Black America was very quick to wake up to the potential of Dylan compositions and savvy singers started covering them almost as soon as he released them. Early fans included the Staple Singers, who cut no less than three songs from his breakthrough album “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” and can be heard here on a stellar version of ‘Masters Of War’. Sam Cooke was inspired to write his masterpiece ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ after hearing Dylan sing ‘Blowing In The Wind’ on TV and wondering why no black songwriter had come up with anything that spoke so eloquently of the need for racial equality as the song’s opening line, “How many roads must a man walk down before they call him a man?” That song is heard here in a compelling 1968 rendition by front-tier Memphis soulman O.V. Wright, one of more than 30 black American artists who recorded it within five years of Dylan’s version.
This set includes some of Dylan’s favourite recordings of his songs and the CD comes to you with his blessing and approval. My own favourite tracks include the Persuasions’ glorious a cappella remodelling of ‘The Man In Me’ from Dylan’s “New Morning” album, Con-Funk-Shun’s surprisingly effective funk-up of ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ and gospel queen Marion Williams’ heart-wrenching deep soul version of ‘I Pity The Poor Immigrant’ from “John Wesley Harding”.
There are many other great tracks that finite CD running time didn’t allow us to include here, so keep your fingers crossed for a second volume. Until then, there’s plenty of superbly soulful singing to be savoured, on some of the finest songs that will ever be written by anyone, anytime." By Tony Rounce
01 Preview Blowing In The Wind - O.V. Wright
02 Preview Girl From The North Country - Howard Tate
03 Preview I Pity The Poor Immigrant - Marion Williams
04 Preview Maggie's Farm - Solomon Burke
05 Preview Don't Think Twice, It's Alright - Brook Benton
06 Preview From A Buick 6 - Gary US Bonds
07 Preview The Man In Me - The Persuasions
08 Preview Like A Rolling Stone - Major Harris
09 Preview With God On Our Side - The Neville Brothers
10 Preview Mr Tambourine Man - Con-Funk-Shun
11 Preview Masters Of War - The Staple Singers
12 Preview I'll Be Your Baby Tonight - Bill Brandon
13 Preview Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine - Patti LaBelle
14 Preview Knockin' On Heaven's Door - Booker T Jones
15 Preview All Along The Watchtower - Bobby Womack
16 Preview Just Like A Woman - Nina Simone
17 Preview I Shall Be Released - Freddie Scott
18 Preview Lay Lady Lay - The Isley Brothers
19 Preview Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You - Esther Phillips
20 Preview Emotionally Yours - The O'Jays
Next:
"Vernon Oxford – A Tribute To Hank Williams" (Meteor Records,1978)
"Vernon Oxford was a hard honky tonk singer with unlucky timing, coming up during an era when traditional country simply wasn't counting for much on the charts. However, he was able to find a different route to success, touring the U.K. extensively to capitalize on his surprising popularity there. Oxford was born in Rogers, AR, in 1941 and grew up mostly in Wichita, KS. He discovered country music through his father, an old-time-style fiddler, and learned to play both fiddle and guitar as a youth. His first professional gig came in 1960 at a Utah club, and he spent the next several years playing clubs and dances around Kansas. In 1964, he moved to Nashville to try his luck in the business but found the going rough because of his more old-fashioned style. Fortunately, he also found an ally in the legendary songwriter Harlan Howard, who helped him get a contract with RCA Victor in 1965 and supplied some of his material. Oxford released seven singles over the next two years as well as an album, Woman, Let Me Sing You a Song. While traditional country fans applauded his work, he never managed to hit the charts, and RCA dropped him. He recorded briefly for the smaller Stop label but caught a break when British audiences discovered him as a fine traditional-style artist who'd slipped through the cracks of American popular taste. RCA issued a retrospective of his work in Britain in 1974, re-signed Oxford, and sent him on a tour. Oxford scored his first chart single in America with "Shadows of My Mind" and had his biggest hit with "Redneck (The Redneck National Anthem)"; a few more singles charted in America, and Oxford also scored some British hits with the likes of "I've Got to Get Peter off Your Mind" and "Field of Flowers." He toured actively through 1977, then took a few years off and re-emerged in 1981 as a born-again Christian dedicated to gospel music. He continued to record and tour Britain." ~ allmusic
A1 Kaw-Liga
A2 Your Cheating Heart
A3 Hey Good Looking
A4 When God Comes And Gathers His Jewels
A5 Baby We're Really In Love
A6 Wedding Bells
A7 Cold Cold Heart
A8 I Saw The Light
B1 Setting The Woods On Fire
B2 I Can't Help It
B3 You Win Again
B4 Jambalaya
B5 I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
B6 Mansion On The Hill
B7 The Funeral
Next:
"F. J. McMahon – Spirit of the Golden Juice" (Accent Records, 1969)
"First released way back in 1969 in limited circles around the California coast, the charming but mysterious Spirit of the Golden Juice was the solitary studio album by F. J. McMahon, and has slowly become a treasured cult favourite as the decades have gone by."
******
"Once heard, 1969’s Spirit of the Golden Juice is not forgotten. F. J. McMahon’s sole album is imbued with the heavy air of desolation. Its nine country tinged songs are also melodic and as good as those by Tim Hardin and Fred Neil, with whom McMahon is most often compared. Unlike them, McMahon had not steered a path through the folk circuit to achieve recognition. Instead, Spirit of the Golden Juice was pressed in the low hundreds by the small California label Accent and had no distribution. McMahon’s label mates were guitar instrumentalist Buddy Merrill, a past his sell-by-date Dick Dale and psych bands The Human Zoo and The Silk Winged Alliance.
Three decades after it was barely released, Spirit of the Golden Juice began attracting attention on the collector’s circuit, In 1998, it was bootlegged. A first CD reissue followed in 2009. Another bootleg vinyl edition appeared in 2012. Now, with McMahon’s blessing, an official vinyl reissue has arrived. Original 1969 pressings fetch at least £1000. Playing live after it was issued didn't help its profile: the album made no immediate ripples.
None of this afterlife is untypical for a rare record – if there’s a demand, it’s filled. The unusual aspect of Spirit of the Golden Juice is that it’s so damn good. In a reverb-accented baritone, McMahon mournfully delivers a series of song-stories during which he declares he’s “lost a good part of his life” and “sitting in a one-man room”. Each hinges on an unvarying rhythm, strummed acoustic guitar and wandering, overdubbed finger-picked lead lines. Sparse and unvarnished, it’s a missive from a dark place. Although orchestrated, the only roughly contemporary album with a similarly oppressive atmosphere is Val Stöecklein’s intense 1968 set Grey Life.
McMahon had a need to express. In 1968, he returned from Vietnam. He had also served in The Philippines and Thailand. On Spirit of the Golden Juice, McMahon sympathises with an imprisoned draft avoidee on “Five Year Kansas Blues”. “Black Night Women” tells the story of a service buddy’s girlfriend and how she killed herself upon learning he was not going to marry her and that he had a wife back home. “Early Blue” describes his own retreat into himself after returning to the States.
He was in Vietnam from 1967, serving in the air force as a military policeman. A year on, he was invalided out with hepatitis. Before shipping out, he was based in San Rafael and took in nearby San Francisco’s psychedelic ballroom scene. He had voluntarily joined the air force in 1964 – while he was playing in surf bands – to ensure he had a choice about how he served. There were no choices with the draft. (pictured left: promotional poster for a 1969 F. J. McMahon live performance)
While Vietnam inspired songwriters from Donovan to Phil Ochs, from Pete Seeger to Kenny Rogers, McMahon was, at this point, the only singer-songwriter recording who had served in Vietnam (let’s forget about Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler). His unique album was born from post-traumatic stress disorder.
This new edition has been the subject of top-notch mastering. No previous reissues (legal or otherwise) have sounded this punchy, this dynamic. Unfortunately, the accompanying booklet’s liner notes fall short. To quote: “Spirit of The Golden Juice is an album well-chronicled and well-loved since its rediscovery. It’s been interpreted by better interpreters than me, and written about by better writers.” Such piffle should not have been allowed through. Thankfully, it is the music which matters here. The hard-hitting, unforgettable Spirit of the Golden Juice needs to be heard."
https://theartsdesk.com/new-music/reissue-cds-weekly-fj-mcmahon
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Next:
Henry Wagons' Tower of Song (ABC Double J, 7/12/20)
"Get red carpet ready for we announce the victors of the local and international Tower of Song of the Year 2020! Who will take home the illustrious song writing crown in this crazy year?
We also welcome into the listening room, champions of both song and story, Jordie Lane and Lollies. Plus, let’s cover ourselves in blankets of the finest covers that have come out this year!"
Tracks
Next:
"Jim White Presents Music From Searching For A Wrong Eyed Jesus" (LUAKA BOP, 1997/2005)
"Searching for the Wrong-eyed Jesus is a thought-provoking road trip through the american south - a world of churches prison, coalmines, truckstops, juke joints, swamps and mountains. Along the way the viewer encounters various musicians, including the handsome family, Johnny Dowd, 16 horsepower and David Johansen, old time banjo player lee sexton, rockabilly and mountain gospel churches and novelist harry crews telling grisly stories down a dirt track. The film is a collage of stories and testimonies, almost invariably of sudden death, sin, redemption, heaven or hell, with no middle ground. And all the while, a strange southern jesus looms in the background."
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"Jim White's debut album is a cinematic collection of Appalachia-inspired country-folk rendered with a gothic sensibility and junkyard atmospherics (the inclusion of Tom Waits collaborator Ralph Carney on several tracks lends the record a distinctly Waits-ish veneer). Drawing on his bizarre life experiences and troubled Pentecostal upbringing, White's narratives are surreal and crazed, shot through with disturbing spiritual imagery and backwoods dementia; a strangely beautiful record, Wrong-Eyed Jesus! is a fine introduction to a uniquely twisted talent."
Soundtrack Credits
Still waters
Written and Performed by Jim White
My Sister's Tiny Hands
Written and Performed by The Handsome Family
First there was
Performed by Johnny Dowd and Maggie Brown
Crossbones Style
Written and Performed by Cat Power
The Last Kind Word Blues
Written by Geeshie Wiley and Performed by David Johansen & Larry Saltzman
The Wound That Never Heals
Written and Performed by Jim White
Wayfaring Stranger
Traditional, Performed by David Eugene Edwards (16 Horsepower)
Small Town
Written and Performed by Mayor
Black Soul Choir
Written and Performed by 16 Horsepower
Little Maggie
Traditional, Performed by Lee Sexton
Coo Coo Bird
Traditional, Performed by Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley
Amazing Grace
Traditional, Performed by Melissa Swingle
Christmas Day
Written and Performed by Jim White
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