Aretha!
Uncorrected Proof #2, my autobiographical 'zine, is just about to go to press (I'll give you all the details about that over the next couple of days). Lately, I've been trying to budget my money so I can afford the printing cost. Thus, I've been restraining my music buying for the past couple of months. That's also helpful so I can make some headway in this listening project. Still, I have to allow myself some musical purchases per month. A couple of weeks ago I ordered Robbie Fulks's new CD Georgia Hard from his website. It arrived in the mail the other day. I'll give it more of a thorough discussion when I get to the "F" CDs, but you can check out a clueless, negative review of it on Pitchfork and a very insightful, positive one on Popmatters. I agree strongly with one of them.
On Sunday, the Psychedelic Eskimo and I swam against the muggy tide of drunken post-Bay to Breakers, caucasian twenty-somethings in Afro wigs, on our way to Amoeba. Sundays at Amoeba are often unpleasant, and this day was no different. I snapped up Doris Duke's outrageously great I'm a Loser on CD and 10cc's The Original Soundtrack on vinyl. When I got home I was annoyed to discover that The Orignial Soundtrack was slightly warped--you can't play the opening tracks on either side. A warp not visible to the naked eye unless it's on the turntable. Phooey! It's not worth trekking back to Amoeba to return a 3 dollar record. At least "I'm Not in Love" is playable.
On the turntable, it's been all Aretha over the past couple of days: I Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved You; Lady Soul; Young, Gifted and Black. These, of course, are the documents of the great phase of Aretha's career when she puts it all together: the gospel background, the personal blues pain, the Soul music zeitgeist, the creative input of Southern crackers (the Muscle Shoals crew) and the Soul New Breed (Donny Hathaway, Billy Preston). Read Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music for a riveting account of the I Never Loved a Man sessions, and Craig Werner's Higher Ground for an intelligent, sensitive overview of Aretha's career. If you ask me, this was the most profound pop music coming out of America in the late sixties. The song that closes out I Never Loved a Man--"A Change Is Gonna Come" is my favorite version of Sam Cooke's legendary tune. Aretha knew the man well, and her interpretation of the song takes on the weight of both personal sadness and hope. Aretha's always great on the piano.
My personal favorite tune on Lady Soul is "Chain of Fools" for Aretha's lacerating reprobations and Joe South's (or is it Bobby Womack?) Pop Staples-like lead guitar. I still feel like I have to sit with Young, Gifted & Black. It's an interesting mingling of Soul and Pop. Less Southern Soul than Northern Jazz-inflected Soul. Not exactly Philly Soul, although Aretha covers "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)?" The inclusion of the Nina Simone-penned title track and Elton John's "Border Song" shows the range of her early seventies ambition. A grown up record.
On the CD player, it's Miles Davis's Collector's Items. Two different sessions. One from 1953, with Charlie Parker (using the alias "Charlie Chan") sitting in on tenor. Also including a young Sonny Rollins on tenor sax. His standout is some mournful playing on a druggy "'Round Midnight." The second session from 1956 features a more mature Rollins playing witty rejoinders to the piercing statements of The Man With the Horn. More early and late-mid Miles to come over the next few days...
On Sunday, the Psychedelic Eskimo and I swam against the muggy tide of drunken post-Bay to Breakers, caucasian twenty-somethings in Afro wigs, on our way to Amoeba. Sundays at Amoeba are often unpleasant, and this day was no different. I snapped up Doris Duke's outrageously great I'm a Loser on CD and 10cc's The Original Soundtrack on vinyl. When I got home I was annoyed to discover that The Orignial Soundtrack was slightly warped--you can't play the opening tracks on either side. A warp not visible to the naked eye unless it's on the turntable. Phooey! It's not worth trekking back to Amoeba to return a 3 dollar record. At least "I'm Not in Love" is playable.
On the turntable, it's been all Aretha over the past couple of days: I Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved You; Lady Soul; Young, Gifted and Black. These, of course, are the documents of the great phase of Aretha's career when she puts it all together: the gospel background, the personal blues pain, the Soul music zeitgeist, the creative input of Southern crackers (the Muscle Shoals crew) and the Soul New Breed (Donny Hathaway, Billy Preston). Read Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music for a riveting account of the I Never Loved a Man sessions, and Craig Werner's Higher Ground for an intelligent, sensitive overview of Aretha's career. If you ask me, this was the most profound pop music coming out of America in the late sixties. The song that closes out I Never Loved a Man--"A Change Is Gonna Come" is my favorite version of Sam Cooke's legendary tune. Aretha knew the man well, and her interpretation of the song takes on the weight of both personal sadness and hope. Aretha's always great on the piano.
My personal favorite tune on Lady Soul is "Chain of Fools" for Aretha's lacerating reprobations and Joe South's (or is it Bobby Womack?) Pop Staples-like lead guitar. I still feel like I have to sit with Young, Gifted & Black. It's an interesting mingling of Soul and Pop. Less Southern Soul than Northern Jazz-inflected Soul. Not exactly Philly Soul, although Aretha covers "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)?" The inclusion of the Nina Simone-penned title track and Elton John's "Border Song" shows the range of her early seventies ambition. A grown up record.
On the CD player, it's Miles Davis's Collector's Items. Two different sessions. One from 1953, with Charlie Parker (using the alias "Charlie Chan") sitting in on tenor. Also including a young Sonny Rollins on tenor sax. His standout is some mournful playing on a druggy "'Round Midnight." The second session from 1956 features a more mature Rollins playing witty rejoinders to the piercing statements of The Man With the Horn. More early and late-mid Miles to come over the next few days...
posted by ken at 2:07 PM
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