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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #8 – Luther Ingram: “If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don’t Want To Be Right)” b/w Hot Butter: “Popcorn” – Collectables Records Double A-Sided 45 RPM Single COL-3170 (O1/P1)

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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #8 – Luther Ingram: “If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don’t Want To Be Right)” b/w Hot Butter: “Popcorn” – Collectables Records Double A-Sided 45 RPM Single COL-3170 (O1/P1)

“The Jukebox Series” focuses on the 80 records that inhabit my 1963 Seeburg LPC1 jukebox. I’ve had my jukebox (or as I like to call it “the prehistoric iPod”) for a little over twelve years and in that time I’d like to think that I’ve perfected the mix of 45s within.

Today’s classic comes from a double A-sided reissue single on the Collectables record label released specifically for jukeboxes featuring two big hits by two different artists. Most of the records in the juke are original pressings, however this was the only copy of Ingram’s soul classic I could find at the time I was looking, plus having two hit singles by two different artists on one record is indeed a bonus.

The A-Side of today’s double-sided single is Luther Ingram’s infidelity ballad “If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don’t Want To Be Right),” which is one of the greatest soul singles of all time! The song was written by STAX songwriters Homer Banks, Carl Hampton and Raymond Jackson. Banks also wrote the Sam And Dave classic “I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down,” and billed as “We Three” with Raymond Jackson and Bettye Crutcher, wrote Johnnie Taylor’s “Who’s Making Love” and The Staple Singers’ “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me).”

“If Loving You Is Wrong” was originally recorded in 1970 by The Emotions with an up-tempo arrangement that didn’t serve the song well. As a result, the record was left on the shelves of STAX records unreleased. Luther Ingram moved to Memphis after several failed attempts at a recording career in New York City and signed a recording contract with the KoKo label which was distributed by STAX Records. With the label, he found success scoring the top-ten R&B hit “Ain’t That Loving You (For More Reasons Than One)” in 1970.

While at STAX, Ingram discovered The Emotions’ version of “If Loving You Is Wrong” and rearranged and recorded the song as a mournful ballad. His version topped the R&B charts and rose to the number 3 position on the pop charts in 1972, selling over four million copies.

The song has been covered by a plethora of artists including Isaac Hayes, Rod Stewart, Percy Sledge, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Ramsey Lewis and Cassandra Wilson. Millie Jackson’s 1974 chart version of the song was expanded into an eleven minute suite complete with a spoken “rap” which was nominated for two Grammy Awards. Barbara Mandrell also scored a country hit with her rendition of the song in 1978.

If all Ingram did in music was to give us this signature recording, his stature would be sealed as an R& B great, however Ingram was also the co-writer(with Mark Rice) of The Staple Singers’ empowerment anthem “Respect Yourself.”

The flip of this double A-sided single is “Popcorn” by Hot Butter. “Popcorn” was a bubbly electronic confection composed by German musician Gershon Kingsley who was known for his work composing classical and Broadway music, and writing TV commercial jingles. Kingsley recorded the influential electronic album The In Sound from Way Out! with Jean-Jaques Perrey for Vanguard Records in 1966. The album promoted the use of synthesizers in pop music years before German recording artists Can and Kraftwerk.

Kingsley first recorded “Popcorn” for his 1969 album Music To Moog By, and then recorded the song again in 1971 with his First Moog Quartet. Stan Free was a member of The First Moog Quartet and re-recorded the song in 1972 under the name Hot Butter.

Hot Butter’s record came out during the moog craze of the early 1970s that saw classical records by the likes of Walter/Wendy Carlos (Switched On Bach) and Isao Tomita (Snowflakes Are Dancing) cross over to the pop charts and sell millions of copies.  Hot Butter’s recording was one of the first all-electronic records to chart on the Billboard Hot Singles Chart, peaking at #9 pop and #4 on the adult contemporary charts.

The song was not named for popcorn that you eat; rather it was an amalgam of “pop” for pop music and “corn” for the kitsch and novelty of the recording. It has been covered by the likes of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, Jean Michel Jarre, Arthur Fiedler & The Boston Pops, James Last, Norrie Paramour, Ronnie Aldrich and The Muppets.

Kingsley also wrote the music used by Disney theme parks for its Main Street Electrical Parade and the theme from the TV game show The Joker’s Wild.

Song Of The Day – The Jukebox Series #7 – Paul & Linda McCartney – “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” b/w “Too Many People” – Apple Records 45 1837 1971 (M1/N1)

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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #7 – Paul & Linda McCartney  – “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” b/w “Too Many People”  – Apple Records 45 1837 1971 (M1/N1)

“The Jukebox Series” focuses on the 80 records that inhabit my 1963 Seeburg LPC1 jukebox. I’ve had my jukebox (or as I like to call it “the prehistoric iPod”) for a little over twelve years and in that time I’d like to think that I’ve perfected the mix of 45s within.

Lyrics were never his strong suit…and the lyrics from “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” are at best incoherent. However, you’d be hard pressed to argue with the musical prowess of Paul McCartney especially on today’s Song Of The Day.

Today’s single was culled from Paul McCartney’s second solo album Ram, the only album in his vast catalog credited to Paul & Linda McCartney. The album was recorded in New York City with backing musicians David Spinozza on guitar, Hugh McCracken (who replaced Spinozza for the second half of the sessions) on guitar and future Wings member Denny Seiwell on drums.

The construction of “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” picks up where the second side of The Beatles’ Abbey Road left off. Here we have McCartney dabbling in multi part suites of music, and the song is an amalgam of its many unfinished parts. McCartney wouldn’t perfect this way of song construction until “Band On The Run” two years later.

The song was inspired by Paul’s real Uncle Albert Kendall who married his Aunt Millie. Uncle Albert would habitually get drunk and then read passages from the Bible out loud. The admiral of the song was inspired by American Naval Admiral William “Bull” Halsey,” however Paul’s use of Admiral Halsey’s name was chosen because of the way it sounded and had nothing to do with who Halsey was or what he did.

The single was McCartney’s first chart topper away from The Beatles and it won the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists in 1971. It was never released as a single in the UK, where they got “The Back Seat Of My Car” instead as the first single. The song’s flugelhorn part was played by Jazz be-bop trumpet player Marvin Stamm who never met McCartney in person, as his parts were recorded in London and overdubbed onto the master in New York. The New York Philharmonic Orchestra was also brought in for the arrangement.

The flip of the single is “Too Many People” which is also the opening track on Ram. After the acrimonious split of The Beatles, Lennon and McCartney cryptically addressed each other in lines from their songs. Several lines from “Too Many People” were seen as snipes at John Lennon, like the line “Too many people preaching practices.” Paul: “[John had] been doing a lot of preaching, and it got up my nose a little bit.” The line “You took your lucky break and broke it in too” was also seen as addressing McCartney’s former writing partner with the lucky break referring to being a member of The Beatles and his breaking it in two about their breakup.

Lennon retorted on his next album Imagine with the scathing “How Do You Sleep.” The album also included a postcard photo in early pressings depicting a smiling Lennon holding a pig’s ears in the same pose as McCartney holding the ram’s horns on the cover of Ram.

The sessions for Ram also produced McCartney’s first solo single “Another Day,” as well as early versions of “Big Barn Bed,” “Little Lamb Dragonfly” and “Get On The Right Thing” which turned up on McCartney’s 1973 album Red Rose Speedway. McCartney released an all-instrumental version of the Ram album in 1977 under the pseudonym of Percy “Thrills” Thrillington.

Ram was roundly panned by the critics when it was released in 1971; however it has grown in stature over the years. I’ve always loved the album and it is still one of my all-time favorite records after all these years. As far as “musical comfort food” goes, this one has been a staple in my diet since it came out – very tasty, always reliable with plenty of room for multiple helpings.

Song Of The Day – The Jukebox Series #2 – Brian Wilson “Caroline No” b/w “Summer Means New Love” – Capitol 45 5610 (C1/D1)

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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – The Jukebox Series #2 – Brian Wilson “Caroline No” b/w “Summer Means New Love” – Capitol 45 5610 (C1/D1)

“The Jukebox Series” focuses on the 80 records that inhabit my 1963 Seeburg LPC1 jukebox. I’ve had my jukebox (or as I like to call it “the prehistoric iPod”) for a little over twelve years and in that time I’d like to think that I’ve perfected the mix of 45s within.

Today’s record inhabits position C1/D1 in the juke and it’s the only single attributed to Brian Wilson during his reign within the Beach Boys. The single was the first release from the group’s masterpiece Pet Sounds, although it was released in advance of the album. It really was a Brian Wilson solo record, as none of the Beach Boys appear on it. Rather, the musicians were members of the famous Wrecking Crew, a West Coast studio collective that played on hundreds of hit records during the 1960s featuring Hal Blaine on drums, Frank Capp on vibraphone, Carol Kaye on electric bass, Glen Campbell on guitar, Barney Kessel on guitar, Lyle Ritz on ukulele, Al De Lory on harpsichord, Bill Green on flute, Jim Horn on flute, Plas Johnson on flute, Jay Migliori on flute and Steve Douglas on tenor sax.

The song was written by Wilson and Tony Asher and while it only reached #32 on the charts, the meager chart position shouldn’t fool you into thinking that this is a minor recording. It is a major artistic achievement in every way possible!  The original title for the song was “Caroline I Know,” however Brian misheard the title as “Caroline No” and both he and Asher decided that the title was more in keeping with the ennui of online casinos australia the song’s lyrics.

Many people believe the song is about Brian’s wife of the time, Marilyn Rovell, however the song was a composite of an ex-girlfriend of Asher’s who cut her hair and moved to New York, and Carol Mountain, an unrequited high school crush of Brian’s.

The drum heard at the beginning of the song was actually a large upside down empty water bottle that was lying around the studio. On the Pet Sounds album, the track ends with the sounds of trains which were pulled from the studio’s sound effects library meshed with the barking of Wilson’s dogs Banana and Louie. The sounds do not appear during the fade on the single release. It is also alleged that Murray Wilson (Brian’s father) took the master tape of the song before it was submitted to Capitol and sped it up in an effort to make Brian sound younger on the record. Nevertheless, to this day the sped up version is the one that is used on the album.

The single’s flip is a gorgeous instrumental that originally appeared on the Beach Boys’ 1965 album Summer Days (And Summer Nights). It is another Brian Wilson solo recording with none of the Beach Boys present in the studio. The song features many of the same Wrecking Crew members listed above. In a little under two minutes, Wilson conjures the feeling of that first blush of romance and hope, without ever uttering a single word.

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Don’t Let’s Start” by They Might Be Giants

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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Don’t Let’s Start” by They Might Be Giants

You can’t bottle creativity, but in the case of They Might Be Giants, you certainly can buy it! They were two wild and crazy nerd-boys when they burst onto the scene in the mid-1980s, we just didn’t realize how wild and crazy they really were.

The two Johns: Flansburgh and Linnell have always looked at the world through different glasses than the rest of us, and it has manifested itself in some of the most creative ways to hear music. Case in point was “Dial-A-Song,” where you could call a phone number and hear a new original song on an answering machine…every day! The call was to a Brooklyn exchange, so they came up with the tag line “Free when you call from work” to publicize the service. This went on for several years.

“Dial-A-Song” got them signed to their first record deal and today’s Song Of The Day comes from their debut album released in 1986. Once they conquered your telephone, it was only a matter of time before TMBG discovered the internet where they were amongst the first groups to use the medium to publicize and distribute their music.

With songs like “Birdhouse In Your Soul,” “Dinner Bell,” “Why Does The Sun Shine (The Sun Is A Mass Of Incandescent Gas),” and “Older” in their repertoire, it was only a matter of time before they got into the children’s music game releasing the album No! in 2002. They’ve since released several more children’s record insuring that their original fan base would take their kids to see them some day.

Indeed, I fulfilled my duty as a parent and took my own kids to see them in 2002 when they were eight and five years old respectively. On the road, they perform adult and kids shows at most tour stops and they also have a penchant for debuting newly written songs about each town they’re performing in each night.

The two Johns are still very active today on stage and off where they regularly record and release enjoyable and inventive podcasts. If you’ve never heard their records or seen their shows, you really should before you grow up, or even worse, they do!

Today in Rock History – July 26

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1968, The Jackson Five signed a one-year contract with Motown Records.

1968, Decca pulls the Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet from its release schedule, citing problems with the sleeve. The design features a graffiti-covered toilet. It’s one of the first disagreements between the band and the label, with Mick Jagger angrily pointing out that Decca released Tom Jones’ A-tom-ic Jones with a nuclear explosion printed on its jacket sleeve.

1968, The Jeff Beck Group, Pink Floyd, and headliner Blue Cheer play the first of two night at the Shrine Exposition Hall in Los Angeles, California.

1968, Howlin’ Wolf plays the first of three nights at San Francisco’s Avalon Ballroom, supported by Quicksilver Messenger Service.

1968, The Steve Miller Band appears at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan.

1969, Brian Jones was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, on sale for 35 Cents.

1969, Blind Faith, Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, Shag, Taste, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, MC5, and SRC appeared at the Midwest Rock Festival, held at State Fair Park in West Allis, Wisconsin.

1969, The Turtles performed at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.

1969, Led Zeppelin and Vanilla Fudge played at the PNE Agrodome, Vancouver, British Columbia. Tickets were $3 – $5 Canadian.

1970, Jimi Hendrix played in his home town of Seattle for the last time when he appeared at Sicks Stadium. Cactus and Cat Mother and the All Night Newboys were the support acts.

1972, Roxy Music played at St. George’s Hall in Liverpool, England.

1973, ZZ Top releases Tres Hombres, their breakthrough album. It featured the hit “La Grange,” plus “Waiting for the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago.”

1974, Summerfest was held at Rich Stadium in Buffalo, New York, featuring Emerson, Lake And Palmer, The James Gang, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

1974, The first Beatles Convention is held in Boston.

1974, Graffiti artists were hired to spray paint sites in London to promote the UK release of The Rolling Stones new single “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

1974, The Allman Brothers appeared at Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts with The Eagles as the support band

1975, The Eagles started a five-week run at number one on the US album chart with One Of These Nights.

1975, Van McCoy and the Soul City went to number one on the singles chart with “The Hustle,” his only chart hit.

1977, Elvis Costello was arrested as he performed outside a CBS Records sales conference at The London Hilton Hotel and was fined £5 ($7.50.)

1977, Led Zeppelin cut short their 11th North American tour after Robert Plant’s five-year-old-son Karac died unexpectedly of a virus at their home in England.

1978, Kansas performed at Pine Knob Music Theatre, Clarkston, Michigan.

1979, Thin Lizzy appeared at the Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee.

1980, The Rolling Stones started a seven week run at number one on the US album chart with Emotional Rescue, the group’s eighth US chart topper. Emotional Rescue was the first Rolling Stones album recorded following Keith Richards’ exoneration from a Toronto drug charge that could have landed him in jail for years.

1981, Van Halen played at the Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland, Maine.

1983, Asia releases Alpha, their second studio album. This one paled in comparison to the brilliant 1982 debut. It went platinum, but to mixed reviews. It featured the singles “Don’t Cry” and (the prophetic) “The Smile Has Left Your Eyes.” Egos in the ranks started to come into play. It’s been said Steve Howe and John Wetton were “oil and water” personality wise and Howe was locked out of writing for this one with Wetton / Downes “taking over.” Plus the record label, Geffen was grooming them for a more pop/commercial direction. Following the release, Wetton either quit  or was forced out and the scheduled tour was cancelled. Greg Lake filled in briefly, but Wetton returned and Howe quit. The band never regained their momentum.

1986, Peter Gabriel went to number one on the US singles chart with “Sledgehammer,” a top four hit in the UK. The song’s music video has won a number of awards, including a record nine MTV Awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards, and Best British Video at the 1987 Brit Awards. Gabriel was also nominated for three Grammy Awards.

1987, The Grateful Dead played at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, California.

1990, Brent Mydland from The Grateful Dead was found dead on the floor of his home aged 38 from an apparent drug overdose.

1992,  Mary Wells, referred to as The First Lady of Motown and who had a 1964 US number one and UK number five single “My Guy” died, aged 49 of laryngeal cancer. Wells was forced to give up her career and with no health insurance, was forced to sell her home, Wells’ old Motown friends including Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, The Temptations, and Martha Reeves, along with Dionne Warwick, Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin and Bonnie Raitt, personally pledged donations in support.

2000, The celebrity management company Cassandra left dozens of acts out of pocket when it was rocked by fraud charges, filing for bankruptcy at the Manhattan Bankruptcy Court. Clients included Alanis Morissette, Phish and Afghan Whigs.

2006, The guitar on which Sir Paul McCartney learned his first chords sold for £330,000 ($520,000) at an auction at London’s Abbey Road Studios. The Rex acoustic guitar helped McCartney persuade John Lennon to let him join his band, The Quarrymen, in 1957.

2013, singer-songwriter JJ Cale died of a heart attack at the age of 74. He became famous in 1970, when Eric Clapton covered his song “After Midnight.” In 1977 Clapton also brought Cale’s song “Cocaine” into the spotlight. The two worked together on an album, which won a Grammy award in 2008.

Born on July 26: Joe Jackson, patriarch of The Jacksons (1929);Dobie Gray (1942); Mick Jagger (1943);  Roger Taylor, Queen (1949); Andy Connell,  keyboards, Swing Out Sister (1961); Scott Francis Crago, session drummer (1963); Joan Wasser,  singer-songwriter, violinist The Dambuilders (1970)

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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Tahitian Moon” by Porno For Pyros

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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Tahitian Moon” by Porno For Pyros

 

Jack White… Prince… Jerry Garcia…Bruce Springsteen…David Byrne…Curt Cobain…Perry Farrell…all world-class performers with charisma to burn! The type of performer you can’t take your eyes off of when they’re on stage.

Some like Jerry Garcia didn’t have to do much but just show up and play to be the focal point of their band…but the others worked their tails off honing their stage craft and earning the well-deserved adulation they received. Now, I’m sure some of you are thinking that Perry Farrell doesn’t belong in that heady company, and my answer to you is that you probably never saw him front Porno For Pyros.

Out of the ashes of Jane’s Addiction rose Porno For Pyros with Stephen Perkins (also from J.A.) on drums, plus guitarist Peter DiStefano and bass player Martyn LeNoble. For some, Jane’s Addiction were the be-all and end-all of Farrell’s music career, but I’ve always found Porno For Pyros’ two albums to be far more interesting and musically satisfying than anything from Jane’s Addiction.

This song comes from Good God’s Urge , Porno’s second album released in 1996. By then they had established themselves with “Pets,” a bona-fide hit that was a MTV staple and a highlight of the Woodstock ’94 festival.

Of course, Farrell will always be linked with the Lollapalooza festival he founded 23 years ago, which has found a home for the last decade here in Chicago where you can see Farrell either fronting a band or spinning a DJ set most years.

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Long, Long, Long” by The Beatles

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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Long, Long, Long” by The Beatles

One of George Harrison’s most underrated songs and a highlight of The White Album for sure. The song was actually recorded by “The Threetles” since John Lennon was not present for any of the sessions.

Lennon’s absence kind of illustrates the short shrift that Harrison’s songs were given during Beatle recording sessions, considering that songs like “Something,” “Not Guilty” and “Sour Milk Sea” were left off The White Album and “All Things Must Pass” “Isn’t It A Pity” and “Let It Down” were left off of Let It Be in favor of much weaker material like “Dig It,” “Maggie Mae” and “Good Night.”

The rattling heard during the psychedelic meltdown at the end of the track was from a bottle of wine that was left on top of a speaker during the recording. Happy “mistakes” like this were often left in making the recording more interesting and more psychedelic. “Long, Long, Long” is one in a long line of Harrison love songs that can be directed at either his wife or the Lord.

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “I Can’t Stand It” by Chris Whitley

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Chris Whitley’s short, restless career encompassed folk, noise rock, jazz, country, mainstream rock and the blues. He was discovered by producer Daniel Lanois who helped him score a major label record deal with Columbia Records in 1988.

His first album, Living With The Law was a mainstream rock affair with good songs that gave him radio exposure, but it wasn’t until his second album and third albums, Din Of Ecstasy and Terra Incognita that Whitley came into his own with great songs ensconced in noise.

After being dropped by Columbia he began releasing records independently including his covers album Perfect Day where he was backed by Jazz musicians Chris Wood and Billy Martin (of Medeski, Martin & Wood). He also released some terrific solo acoustic records that are well worth seeking out.

Not only was Whitley a great songwriter, but he also had a knack for choosing interesting covers by artists like Bob Dylan, Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, Prince, The Clash, Nat King Cole, The Doors and many others. Today’s Song Of The Day is “I Can’t Stand It” one of his more inspired covers originally by The Velvet Underground. The track is from his War Crime Blues album which was originally released ten years ago.

Whitley died of lung cancer in 2005. He leaves behind his daughter, Trixie who has recorded several records under the name Black Dub with Daniel Lanois. She has also released four solo albums to date.

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – Selections from “Popshopping Volume 1” by Various Artists

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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – Selections from “Popshopping Volume 1” by Various Artists

Popshopping is a compilation of German TV commercial production music from the 1960s and 1970s. Compilation producers Sir D’Oeuvre and Senor 45 collected these tracks from flexi discs and dusty TV production tape vaults.

Many may consider this music nothing more than a bunch of blaring, dated background noise, but to others (including me), this is highly stylized and inventive music created by some of Germany’s finest composers including Christian Bruhn, Max Meir-Maltez, Klaus Wuestoff, Gert Wilden and Johnny Teupen.

Today’s Song Of The Day includes Christian Bruhn’s music for Ford Capri, Ford Taurus and “Komm In Fahrt” for Hansa-Pils commercials (all 1973), Klaus Wuesthoff’s “Swing A Little, Kim A Little” (1967), Klaus Doldinger’s “Wild Freshness” (1970) and Max Meir-Maltez’s music for Moulinex (1972). All of the tracks collected here are exceedingly groovy, as is the companion compilation to this one, Popshopping Volume 2!

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Reincarnation Of A Lovebird” by Charles Mingus

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Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Reincarnation Of A Lovebird” by Charles Mingus

You can almost see the flight of the bird in question during the introduction of this masterwork by bassist Charles Mingus.

However, this bird is actually Charlie Parker, with whom Mingus performed on many occasions and to whom this song is dedicated. In Mingus’ own words: “I wouldn’t say I set out to write a piece on Bird. I knew it was a mournful thing when I was writing it. Suddenly I realize it was Bird. […] It’s mainly about my misunderstanding of Bird […] In one way, the work isn’t like him. It’s built on long lines and most of his pieces were short lines. But it’s my feeling about Bird. I felt like crying when I wrote it.” (Nat Hentoff from The Clown liner notes)

Mingus was a master at orchestral Jazz in the same category as Duke Ellington, but where Ellington was always tasteful and pleasing; Mingus’ M-O was more challenging and deeply emotional, with a penchant for the jagged and gnarly alongside the tuneful and lovely. And with Dannie Richmond on drums to complete the rhythm section, Mingus could certainly swing, as evidenced on this classic from the 1957 album The Clown. The lineup on this track includes Shafi Hadi (aka Curtis Porter) on alto and tenor saxophone, Jimmy Knepper on trombone, Wade Legge on piano and Dannie Richmond on drums.