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thisaintascenereviews · 9 months ago

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Blackberry Smoke - Be Right Here

One genre of rock music I love is southern-rock, especially where it combines a lot of different styles of traditionally southern music. A lot of bands in this vein take elements of folk, country, gospel, soul, blues, and other styles that have been historically Black. The south is more than country music made by white people, and if anything, country music was created by Black people that were playing the blues, but when it’s done well and with care, I love it. There’s something about the groove and swagger that southern-rock has, but the genre has its problems, too. The genre can be very bigoted, at least lyrically speaking, and it can come off very trashy, gross, and not very good. For every good band that plays this style well, and handles it with the utmost care, you have bands that display the Confederate Flag, and that are maybe not blatantly racist, but you can tell. Kid Rock is a great example of that, but we’re not talking about that clown today. Let’s talk about an actual good southern-rock band, Atlanta’s Blackberry Smoke, and their new album, Be Right Here.

I’ve listened to some of this band, but I haven’t listened to them in maybe eight years, at least when 2016’s Like An Arrow came out, but they’ve been active. I just didn’t pay much attention to them, because I wasn’t listening to that kind of music over the last handful of years, but I just saw where they dropped a new album, so I kind of thought, “Why not?” As it turns out, Be Right Here, is a pretty solid album, despite having a couple of issues that prevent me from really loving it. Regardless, this album is good, and if you want a worthwhile southern-rock album, you won’t be disappointed. There’s a lot to like, whether it’s their overall sound, the vocals, or the lyrics, all of which have something to offer. This band’s sound is rooted in southern-rock, but you get a lot of other influences and ideas, too, such as country, folk, Americana, and gospel, among other sounds. I hear a lot of different bands and artists when listening to this album, and it feels like less of a band copying other bands and more so cherry-picking sounds and ideas, such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Tom Petty, John Mellancamp, The Allman Brothers Band, and even some Otis Redding or other southern-soul artists and bands.

Their sound is the best thing about them, and how diverse it is, especially through this 40-minute album. I do really like the vocals and lyrics, too; their vocalist is rather strong, and has a good knack for hooks, which this album is chock full of. The hooks are solid, especially on the opening track “Dig A Hole,” “Azalea,” “Little Bit Crazy,” and a few other tracks, but the vocals are a big reason why the hooks work. Same goes for the lyrics, too, and the lyrics on this album have some interesting things to say, whether it’s about being positive, not letting the bad things in life get you down, and being resilient, among other ideas, and the lyrics take center stage a lot here. It’s nothing you haven’t heard before, but they’re good themes that resonate in today’s negative world. If I did have an issue with this album, it’s nothing within the music itself, it’s more so that this album doesn’t really go above and beyond its influence or expand on them. This is still a great album, and worth hearing if you’re into this style of music, even if it’s not necessarily anything out of the ordinary, but it’s cool hearing a southern rock that embraces more than just the “rock” aspect of their sound.

#southern rock #rock #folk #country #blackberry smoke #be right here #southern #the allman brothers band #lynyrd skynyrd #tom petty #bruce springsteen

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openingnightposts · 10 months ago

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#Cabaret #EdwardAKliszus #FeliciaFinley #GreenRoom42 #Hell'sKitchen #MusicReview

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birdroutledge-archive · 6 years ago

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OLYMPUS: a collection of playlists inspired by greek gods and goddesses

will my love grow? an aphrodite-inspired playlist (spotify | youtube)

woman - harry styles // beautiful - bazzi, camila cabello // love is strange - mickey & sylvia // roses - the chainsmokers, rozes // god is a woman - ariana grande // something - the beatles // can’t help falling in love - ingrid michaelson // beast of burden - the rolling stones // wild thoughts - dj khaled, rihanna, bryson tiller // love me like you do - ellie goulding // delicate - taylor swift // you and i - lady gaga

here comes the sun an apollo-inspired playlist (spotify | youtube)

here comes the sun - the beatles // listen to the music - the doobie brothers // arrow - rag’n’bone man // sunshine of your love - cream // three little birds - bob marley & the wailers // house of the rising sun - the animals // fix you - coldplay // good old fashioned lover boy - queen // sunflower - swae lee, post malone // bad medicine - bon jovi // mr. blue sky - electric light orchestra // don’t let the sun go down on me - elton john

hammer of the gods an ares-inspired playlist (spotify | youtube)

war pigs/luke’s wall - black sabbath // seven nation army - the white stripes // dirty deeds done dirt cheap - ac/dc // for whom the bell tolls - metallica // burn the fleet - thrice // immigrant song - led zeppelin // walk - pantera // killing in the name - rage against the machine // knights of cydonia - muse // conquistador - thirty seconds to mars // bleed it out - linkin park // battle born - the killers

moondance an artemis-inspired playlist (spotify | youtube)

edge of seventeen - stevie nicks // wolves - selena gomez, marshmello // follow your arrow - kacey musgraves // moon river - audrey hepburn // hunting girl - jethro tull // like a rolling stone - bob dylan // moonage daydream - david bowie // these boots are made for walkin’ - nancy sinatra // bad moon rising - creedence clearwater revival // moondance - van morrison // heartbreaker - pat benatar // eclipse - pink floyd

whisper words of wisdom an athena-inspired playlist (spotify | youtube)

let it be - the beatles // minerva - deftones // one - metallica // wish you were here - pink floyd // stairway to heaven - led zeppelin // live and let die - guns n’ roses // mind over matter - young the giant // wildfire - mandolin orange // imagine - john lennon // ‘39 - queen // dream on - aerosmith // the warrior - scandal, patty smyth

wheat kings a demeter-inspired playlist (spotify | youtube)

scarlet begonias - grateful dead // wheat kings - the tragically hip // grain belt - wartime blues // sister golden hair - america // winter winds - mumford & sons // strawberry fields forever - the beatles // big yellow taxi - joni mitchell // fields of gold - celtic woman // harvest moon - neil young // black horse and the cherry tree - kt tunstall // sundown - gordon lightfoot // rain is a good thing - luke bryan

heard it through the grapevine a dionysus-inspired playlist (spotify | youtube)

i heard it through the grapevine - creedence clearwater revival // red red wine - ub40 // escape (the piña colada song) - rupert holmes // margaritaville - jimmy buffett // drunkard’s prayer - chris stapleton // drink in my hand - eric church // cherry wine - hozier // whiskey in the jar - thin lizzy, derek varnals // i love this bar - toby keith // tequila sunrise - eagles // one bourbon, one scotch, one beer - george thorogood & the destroyers // have a drink on me - ac/dc

don’t fear the reaper a hades-inspired playlist (spotify | youtube)

sympathy for the devil - the rolling stones // o death - shakey graves, monica martin // (don’t fear) the reaper - blue öyster cult // highway to hell - ac/dc // runnin’ with the devil - van halen // crazy train - ozzy osbourne // closer - kings of leon // the funeral - band of horse // in my time of dying - led zeppelin // it will come back - hozier // the sound of silence - disturbed // paint it, black - the rolling stones

ring of fire a hephaestus-inspired playlist (spotify | youtube)

firebreather - macklemore, reignwolf // eruption - van halen // iron man - black sabbath // hammer to fall - queen // i'm on fire - bruce springsteen // whipping post - the allman brothers band // t.n.t - ac/dc // stranglehold - ted nugent // good times bad times - led zeppelin // mr. brightside - the killers // the thrill is gone - b.b. king // ring of fire - johnny cash

i'm in love with being queen a hera-inspired playlist (spotify | youtube)

run the world (girls) - beyoncé // killer queen - queen // woman - kesha // queen of california - john mayer // marry me - train // never grow up - taylor swift // the mother we share - chvrches // sorry not sorry - demi lovato // the chain - fleetwood mac // before he cheats - carrie underwood // royals - lorde // man! i feel like a woman! - shania twain

message man a hermes-inspired playlist (spotify | youtube)

message man - twenty one pilots // crossroads - john mayer // ramblin’ man - the allman brothers band // send me on my way - rusted root // up around the bend - creedence clearwater revival // money - pink floyd // life in the fast lane - eagles // thief in the night - kiss // renegade - styx // magic carpet ride - steppenwolf // take the money and run - steve miller band // on the road again - willie nelson

bring it on home a hestia-inspired playlist (spotify | youtube)

home - phillip phillips // family table - zac brown band // family tree - kings of leon // homesick - catfish and the bottlemen // firelight - young the giant // bring it on home to me - sam cooke // heart of gold - neil young // fire and rain - james taylor // take me home, country roads - john denver // warm glow - hippo campus // light my fire - the doors // our house - crosby, stills, nash & young

ocean’s roar a poseidon-inspired playlist (spotify | youtube)

the ocean - led zeppelin // octopus’s garden - the beatles // wild horses - the rolling stones // riders on the storm - the doors // ocean man - ween // hurricane - bob dylan // sail - awolnation // son of a son of a sailor - jimmy buffett // fishin’ in the dark - nitty gritty dirt band // beyond the sea - bobby darin // waves (tame impala remix) - miguel // boots of spanish leather - the lumineers

stormbringer a zeus-inspired playlist (spotify | youtube)

thunder - imagine dragons // king of the clouds - panic! at the disco // lightning bolt - pearl jam // power - kanye west // sky walker - miguel, travis scott // god’s gonna cut you down - johnny cash // stormbringer - deep purple // king and lionheart - of monsters and men // smokestack lightning - lynyrd skynyrd // viva la vida - coldplay // spirit in the sky - norman greenbaum // thunderstruck - ac/dc

pomegranate seeds a persephone-inspired playlist (spotify | youtube)

you can bring me flowers - ray lamontagne // pomegranate seeds - julian moon // holding out for a hero - nothing but thieves // spring wind - jack johnson // flowers in your hair - the lumineers // hunger - florence + the machine // sweet dreams (are made of this) - emily browning // roslyn - bon iver, st. vincent // give me love - ed sheeran // this is gospel (piano version) - panic! at the disco // flightless bird, american mouth - iron and wine // la vie en rose - lady gaga

witchy woman a hecate-inspired playlist (spotify | youtube)

witchy woman - eagles // rhiannon - fleetwood mac // fortune teller - robert plant & alison krauss // season of the witch - donovan // strange brew - cream // black magic woman - santana // i put a spell on you - creedence clearwater revival // voodoo child (slight return) - jimi hendrix // superstition - stevie wonder // spellbound - siouxsie and the banshees // abracadabra - steve miller band // dark lady - cher

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class-wom · 5 years ago

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Little Richard, a founding father of rock and roll whose fervent shrieks, flamboyant garb, and joyful, gender-bending persona embodied the spirit and sound of that new art form, died Saturday. He was 87. The musician’s son, Danny Penniman, confirmed the pioneer’s death to Rolling Stone, but said the cause of death was unknown.

Starting with “Tutti Frutti” in 1956, Little Richard cut a series of unstoppable hits – “Long Tall Sally” and “Rip It Up” that same year, “Lucille” in 1957, and “Good Golly Miss Molly” in 1958 – driven by his simple, pumping piano, gospel-influenced vocal exclamations and sexually charged (often gibberish) lyrics. “I heard Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, and that was it,” Elton John told Rolling Stone in 1973. “I didn’t ever want to be anything else. I’m more of a Little Richard stylist than a Jerry Lee Lewis, I think. Jerry Lee is a very intricate piano player and very skillful, but Little Richard is more of a pounder.”

Although he never hit the top 10 again after 1958, Little Richard’s influence was massive. The Beatles recorded several of his songs, including “Long Tall Sally,” and Paul McCartney’s singing on those tracks – and the Beatles’ own “I’m Down” – paid tribute to Little Richard’s shredded-throat style. His songs became part of the rock and roll canon, covered over the decades by everyone from the Everly Brothers, the Kinks, and Creedence Clearwater Revival to Elvis Costello and the Scorpions.

Little Richard’s stage persona – his pompadours, androgynous makeup and glass-bead shirts – also set the standard for rock and roll showmanship; Prince, to cite one obvious example, owed a sizable debt to the musician. “Prince is the Little Richard of his generation,” Richard told Joan Rivers in 1989 before looking at the camera and addressing Prince. “I was wearing purple before you was wearing it!”

Born Richard Wayne Penniman on December 5th, 1932, in Macon, Georgia, he was one of 12 children and grew up around uncles who were preachers. “I was born in the slums. My daddy sold whiskey, bootleg whiskey,” he told Rolling Stone in 1970. Although he sang in a nearby church, his father Bud wasn’t supportive of his son’s music and accused him of being gay, resulting in Penniman leaving home at 13 and moving in with a white family in Macon. But music stayed with him: One of his boyhood friends was Otis Redding, and Penniman heard R&B, blues and country while working at a concession stand at the Macon City Auditorium.

After performing at the Tick Tock Club in Macon and winning a local talent show, Penniman landed his first record deal, with RCA, in 1951. (He became “Little Richard” when he about 15 years old, when the R&B and blues worlds were filled with acts like Little Esther and Little Milton; he had also grown tired with people mispronouncing his last name as “Penny-man.”) He learned his distinctive piano style from Esquerita, a South Carolina singer and pianist who also wore his hair in a high black pompadour.

For the next five years, Little Richard’s career advanced only fitfully; fairly tame, conventional singles he cut for RCA and other labels didn’t chart. “When I first came along, I never heard any rock & roll,” he told Rolling Stone in 1990. “When I started singing [rock & roll], I sang it a long time before I presented it to the public because I was afraid they wouldn’t like it. I never heard nobody do it, and I was scared.”

By 1956, he was washing dishes at the Greyhound bus station in Macon (a job he had first taken a few years earlier after his father was murdered and Little Richard had to support his family). By then, only one track he’d cut, “Little Richard’s Boogie,” hinted at the musical tornado to come. “I put that little thing in it,” he told Rolling Stone in 1970 of the way he tweaked with his gospel roots. “I always did have that thing, but I didn’t know what to do with the thing I had.”

During this low point, he sent a tape with a rough version of a bawdy novelty song called “Tutti Frutti” to Specialty Records in Chicago. He came up with the song’s famed chorus — “a wop bob alu bob a wop bam boom” — while bored washing dishes. (He also wrote “Long Tall Sally” and “Good Golly Miss Molly” while working that same job.)

By coincidence, label owner and producer Art Rupe was in search of a lead singer for some tracks he wanted to cut in New Orleans, and Penniman’s howling delivery fit the bill. In September 1955, the musician cut a lyrically cleaned-up version of “Tutti Frutti,” which became his first hit, peaking at 17 on the pop chart. “’Tutti Frutti really started the races being together,” he told Rolling Stone in 1990. “From the git-go, my music was accepted by whites.”

Its followup, “Long Tall Sally,” hit Number Six, becoming his the highest-placing hit of his career. For just over a year, the musician released one relentless and arresting smash after another. From “Long Tall Sally” to “Slippin’ and Slidin,’” Little Richard’s hits – a glorious mix of boogie, gospel, and jump blues, produced by Robert “Bumps” Blackwell — sounded like he never stood still. With his trademark pompadour and makeup (which he once said he started wearing so that he would be less “threatening” while playing white clubs), he was instantly on the level of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and other early rock icons, complete with rabid fans and mobbed concerts. “That’s what the kids in America were excited about,” he told Rolling Stone in 1970. “They don’t want the falsehood — they want the truth.”

As with Presley, Lewis and other contemporaries, Penniman also was cast in early rock and roll movies like Don’t Knock the Rock (1956) and The Girl Can’t Help It (1957). In a sign of how segregated the music business and radio were at the time, though, Pat Boone’s milquetoast covers of “Tutti Frutti” and “Long Tall Sally,” both also released in 1956, charted as well if not higher than Richard’s own versions. (“Boone’s “Tutti Frutti” hit Number 12, surpassing Little Richard’s by nine slots.) Penniman later told Rolling Stone that he made sure to sing “Long Tall Sally” faster than “Tutti Frutti” so that Boone couldn’t copy him as much.

But then the hits stopped, by his own choice. After what he interpreted as signs – a plane engine that seemed to be on fire and a dream about the end of the world and his own damnation – Penniman gave up music in 1957 and began attending the Alabama Bible school Oakwood College, where he was eventually ordained a minister. When he finally cut another album, in 1959, the result was a gospel set called God Is Real.

His gospel music career floundering, Little Richard returned to secular rock in 1964. Although none of the albums and singles he cut over the next decade for a variety of labels sold well, he was welcomed back by a new generation of rockers like the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan (who used to play Little Richard songs on the piano when he was a kid). When Little Richard played the Star-Club in Hamburg in 1964, the opening act was none other than the Beatles. “We used to stand backstage at Hamburg’s Star-Club and watch Little Richard play,” John Lennon said later. “He used to read from the Bible backstage and just to hear him talk we’d sit around and listen. I still love him and he’s one of the greatest.”

By the 1970s, Little Richard was making a respectable living on the rock oldies circuit, immortalized in a searing, sweaty performance in the 1973 documentary Let the Good Times Roll. During this time, he also became addicted to marijuana and cocaine while, at the same time, returning to his gospel roots.

Little Richard also dismantled sexual stereotypes in rock & roll, even if he confused many of his fans along the way. During his teen years and into his early rock stardom, his stereotypical flamboyant personality made some speculate about his sexuality, even if he never publicly announced he was out. But that flamboyance didn’t derail his career. In a 1984 biography, The Life and Times of Little Richard, written with his cooperation, he denounced homosexuality as “contagious … It’s not something you’re born with.” (Eleven years later, he said in an interview with Penthouse that he had been “gay all my life.”) Later in life, he described himself as “omnisexual,” attracted to both men and women. But during an interview with the Christian-tied Three Angels Broadcasting Group in 2017, he suddenly denounced gay and trans lifestyles: “God, Jesus, He made men, men, he made women, women, you know? And you’ve got to live the way God wants you to live. So much unnatural affection. So much of people just doing everything and don’t think about God.”

Yet none of that craziness damaged his mystique or legend. In the 1980s, he appeared in movies like Down and Out in Beverly Hills and in TV shows like Full House and Miami Vice. In 1986, he was one of the 10 original inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 1993, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys. His last known recording was in 2010, when he cut a song for a tribute album to gospel singer Dottie Rambo.

In the years before his death, Little Richard, who was by then based in Los Angeles, still performed periodically. Onstage, though, the physicality of old was gone: Thanks to hip replacement surgery in 2009, he could only perform sitting down at his piano. But his rock and roll spirit never left him. “I’m sorry I can’t do it like it’s supposed to be done,” he told one audience in 2012. After the audience screamed back in encouragement, he said – with a very Little Richard squeal — “Oh, you gonna make me scream like a white girl!”

#Little Richard #RIP

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grimelords · 7 years ago

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I finally finished writing up my February playlist for your enjoyment but mostly mine. It’s 48 songs ranging from italian screamo to Celine Dion and you have my personal guarantee you will enjoy at least one of them.

Halftime - Young Thug: There's two parts in this song that are maybe my top two Young Thug moments ever. 1) when he says "I got water I look like I'm fresh from Hawaii" and then makes a noise like a dog shaking himself off 2) the world's longest tyres screeching sound, at about :47, it goes for fully 12 seconds and is absolutely perfect.

Hydrogen - M|O|O|N: Hotline Miami is a good ass game and this song is great but I've got to admit that I only really know it because someone edited a video to make a dog bark the melody line and I think that's very good.

Vale - Bicep: The way the fuzzed out bass rhythm contrasts against how crystal clear and plastic futuristic everything else in this song is is just great. This song reminds me that I should probably listen to Kelala because I've only heard her in features so far and they've all been great.

Sittin' On The Edge Of The Bed Cryin' - The Drones: This is a sort of atypical Drones song because it's not about about a particular thing, it's just about a bad feeling and not being able to see your future because of everything lurking ahead of you. I think that's why I like it so much, because it's just sort of a song about saying 'I feel bad!!' and not having to give a reason.

Golden Dawn - Gospel: I really do think that The Moon Is A Dead world is an all time great album and that it rarely gets talked about anywhere is one of the greatest crimes of underappreciation in music. It's understandable, because it takes a lot for an uncool genre like screamo to get mainstream critical attention the way something like As The Roots Undo did, and mixing that kind of aggression with extremely uncool lengthy 70s prog keyboard solos... look, I get it. But somehow there's nothing uncool about any of this music; it's just deeply felt, radically composed and authentically performed. It's absolutely one of my favourite albums of all time and this is the centrepiece. I was taken with a fantasy this month of doing something very cool and transcribing the drum part of this song just to see it laid out in front of me because it is really a masterpiece. Also there is something very special about imbuing a lyric like 'hey you, you got a cigarette man? you know I know you got one on ya.' with so much gravity that you can't help but yell along.

I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times) (feat. Popcaan & Young Thug) - Jamie xx: Young Thug says he's gonna ride in that pussy like a stroller in this song and that’s when I knew I was in love.

Crow Jane - Skip James: Yet another good song in the pantheon of songs about shooting your wife for being too proud and then immediately regretting it because now you have no wife.

Le Merle Noir - Olivier Messiaen: I think it's really funny that in the classical music canon there is about one hundred freaks who got singularly obsessed with putting their best approximation of bird song in their music. Birds don't even sound that good but in the old days its the closest you had to a markov chain I suppose. Anyway this is a really nice piece that my girlfriend did as one of her flute performances in her music degree and I like it a lot.

Obsession - Animotion: I started watching Comrade Detective this month and the soundtrack is all sorts of very good 80s synthpop. This song especially stood out because in the show it was being performed with accordions in an illegal Romanian casino, but this version is good too.

Back To The Trees - Adele H: Nothing worse than being a musician named Adele and having to go by Adele H because Adele is well and truly taken. I found this album on a random blogspot and it truly felt like 2011 again. This song is like a primitivist hymn sung with a loop pedal, and if you're in the right state of mind it's very moving.

Aries - Lynx: I was doing some googling and ended up finding the band that Dave Konopka from Battles used to be in. This band is good because they're called Lynx and they have a song called Mrs Lynx, and I think it's both prudent and wise to write a wife for your band. This song however, is called Aries. I was hooked from the start-stop drums right at the start, but this is some of my favourite type of math rock. Clean, clear, concise and purposeful and never losing sight of the structure of the song as a whole.

Westham United (live) - Tera Melos: This is the best version of Westham United I've ever heard, and you can hear the lyrics a lot better here than the album version. Tera Melos live are so unbelievably tight it's insane, This is ferocious, god bless Audiotree.

You Let My Tyres Down - Tropical Fuck Storm: Tropical Fuck Storm is Gareth and Fiona from The Drones' new side-project and it sort of just sounds like the Drones with more female harmonies in the background which is good as hell. I love the weird little guitar frills in this where it's mostly pretty chordy and then he does these little hammery runs now and then that really liven the place up.

Fool - Mia Dyson: I have a big thing about Mia Dyson because she made three incredibly good albums and then left Australia to try to make it in America and unfortunately failed, and ever since then all her music has felt like she's aiming toward some kind of crossover appeal instead of just doing what she really wants. But luckily it's finally paying off because this new song sounds like Haim's first album and it's really good so everyone wins.

Are You Ready For The Country? - Neil Young: This is the song I envision playing over the air raid speakers through the city when it all goes down.

Living Through Another Cuba - XTC: Continuing that theme, Stereogum had a very good playlist of the other day called 80s Nuclear Anxiety and I discovered this incredible song in it. This song is good in headphones because someone's doing some very restrained zither playing every 4 bars and once you notice it it's impossible to stop hearing it.

Release - Christoph De Babalon: I found out about this extremely bleak album from the really good reissue review pitchfork had the other day, and this is probably my favourite song on it because I'm basic and it's the most straightforward dnb on here. This album reminds me of Zomby a lot, not only in the music but in the approach where the structures seem to simultaneous reflect someone putting a lot of care into their music and not giving a fuck about it. The individual sounds are so meticulous but the structures of all the songs here are very meandering and feel like they could end at any time or go another ten minutes and you wouldn't notice.

Preachin' Blues - Son House: The idea of joining the preisthood as a way to get out of having to get a real job is a timeless idea that appeals to the teens of today more than ever.

1 di 6 - Raein: What I love about the internet is the way you can just type words in and it will manifest whatever you wish, like a sort of cursed wishing well. In this instance the words I typed were 'italian screamo' and the gift it bestowed was this incredible one-long-song album from Italian screamo band Raein that completely kicked my ass.

A Little Change Could Go A Long Ways - City Of Caterpillar: I've been investigating early 2000s screamo, and in particular Circle Takes The Square's contemporaries and it seems crazy that I've never heard this City Of Caterpillar album until now because at long last it's something that sounds comperable to As The Roots Undo. The extremely brooding, crescendocore post-rock intro that dominates more than half of this 10 minute song gives way to a complete storm. I am absolutely desperate for a screamo revival but it seems like nobody else is.

Jupiter - Cave In: This song is good but it also sounds like it's from a musical, I think it has to do with the clarity of his lyric delivery. It sounds like the difference between American Idiot and American Idiot: The Original Broadway Cast Recording, but it's also a very good song.

I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) - Pitbull: I woke up with this song in my head one day which is always a very good song. Also this song has a good sample chain: the beat's sampled from 75 Brasil Street by Nicola Fasano, which samples the horns from The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind) by The Bucketheads which in turn sampled the horns from Street Player by Chicago. How good is music!

Introduce Me To Your Family - Otoboke Beaver: My friend sent me this song because it came up mysteriously in his Discover Weekly and I'm so glad he did. It's good to know that japanese punk has been continuing on and getting more and more insane without me noticing.

Part 5/ The Sun's Gone Dim And The Sky's Gone Grey - Johann Johannsson: RIP to a good man. I was so sad and shocked to hear that Johann Johannsson had died last month. This album is a favourite of mine, and while this song doesn't have the weight it should outside of the context of the rest of the album it is still an incredibly heavy mood and a beautiful piece of music.

Heart - Bertie Blackman: This song feels like the alternate, evil version of Single Ladies by Beyonce to me and I get it stuck in my head all the time.

Acetate - Metz: I'm obsessed with the rhythm of this song, how it just tumbles over itself over and over in this lopsided way and the way that plays against the big straight forward power line of this song: I. WANT. YOU. TO. TAKE. IT. AWAY.

Bodysnatchers - Radiohead: It's funny to think of Johnny Greenwood as a film composer, and especially as the composer of the Phantom Thread when he does songs like this. This song is just straight up Riffs. The most air-guitarable Radiohead song outside of Creep.

Nameless, Faceless - Courtney Barnett: I'm so glad Courtney Barnett is back and her new song is an absolute killer! I can't get enough of it and I cannot wait for the album.

Can't Fight The Moonlight - LeAnn Rimes: This is a song written from the perspective of a vampire, and a banger. The instumentation in this is a perfect distillation of everything good about 90s pop. Especially the bizzare chunky guitar and orchestra stab that starts it off. The big bass sound and orchestra stabs in the chorus? I'm kissing my fingers like a chef right now.

Lava Lamp (Chopnotslop Remix) - Thundercat: It sounds strange but the chopped and screwed version of Drunk is fast becoming my favourite version. Firstly because it's very appropriately named Drank and secondly because the biggest obstacle to me getting heavily into this album was that it was just way too busy sometimes, a flaw that has been perfectly surmounted by chopping but NOT slopping the entire thing.

Someplace - Yamantake // Sonic Titan: I am desperate for more from this band. I absolutely love this mix of airy guitar and vocals suddenly moving into very classic metal. It's very theatrical and I absolutely love it.

Jejune Stars - Bright Eyes: Remember how Bright Eyes last album had extremely heavy Rastafarian But Not Reggae influences for some reason? I loved that. The guy talking about Pomegranates at the end of this song, and especially the way he pronounces pomegranate has become a staple of my inner monologue.

New Coke - Health: God Health are just so powerful. I want them to score a film some day soon, because they did a great job with Max Payne 3 and their sort of singular aesthetic is just so intoxicating. I go through stages of not listening to Health for months and then it's all I want to listen to for hours and hours very loudly.

3AM - Matchbox Twenty: Check this out: Rob Thomas has the exact same voice as Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance

Is That All There Is? - Peggy Lee: I was thinking about Trump's weird brain, which I believe to be a sort of smooth pebble covered in mashed banana, and so I googled his favourite song, and it is this. He says "It’s a great song because I’ve had these tremendous successes and then I’m off to the next one. Because, it’s like, “Oh, is that all there is?” That’s a great song actually, that’s a very interesting song, especially sung by her, because she had such a troubled life.". Listen to this extremely nihilistic song and imagine him swanning around with his weird body and singing along to it please.

New Town - Life Without Buildings: Life Without Buildings reinvented songwriting and nobody even cared. It's unbelievable. This song is an incredible end to their incredible album that feels like it was written just for me. I love Life Without Buildings!

Music For The Long Emergency - Policia & s t a r g a z e: Polica's new album with the stargaze orchestra is unfortunately kind of mixed but luckily the title track is very, very good. It feels like a real textural expansion of everything Polica's been doing before, to have so many more layers to play with really benefits them but the songs are thankfully still rooted in the drums, bass and vocals combo like usual and haven't gotten lost in the possibilities of playing with an orchestra. The synth sound that begins about halfway through this is so thick and so nice and really takes the whole thing in a different direction for the second half.

Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars) - R.E.M.: I'm really loving R U Talkin R.E.M. Re: Me? and so far and the main difference I've found between it and UTU2TM is that every single R.E.M. song sounds exactly the same. They're very good, but it's one song. So when they go through the album track by track and talk about what the love about each one it almost sounds farcical. They could be playing the same song 12 times in a row and I wouldn't notice. That said, this one differentiates itself by starting with a weird circus organ before beginning The R.E.M. Song so I appreciate it for that.

Give Me A Smile - Sibylle Baier: As I understand it, Sibylle Baier was warned about the existence of music blogspots some time in the early 70s and started living her whole life from then on in the hopes of being the source of a good post. This album was released in 2006 and is made up mostly of reel-to-reel recordings she made at her home in Germany in 1970-73, except for this track which was included on a 1970 compilation called Folk Is A Four Letter Word 2 which I think was the only commercial recording she ever made before quitting music and acting entirely, moving to America and starting a family. 30 years later her son made a cd of the songs to give to family and friends and somehow one made its way to J Mascis of all people and he had it released on his label Orange Twin.

III. Toccare - John Adams: This piece came up in my Release Radar playlist because of the day a couple of years ago when I listened to Nixon In China twice in a row. I don't know anything about it but I love it a lot and am particularly in love with the bass guitar that comes in about a third of the way through and then disappears entirely. What a choice.

Saturdays (feat. Haim) - Twin Shadow: On Twin Shadow's last album he made a swing at Big Chorus all-out commercial pop and it didn't go perfectly so I'm very glad he's back to his old ways because this song is just amazing. Every part of this song is catchy. The chorus is so satisfying because it has about it has about three different sections and it builds beautifully. Haim are here doing great. It's just perfect and I can't wait for the album.

Because I'm Me - The Avalanches: Wildflower didn't get the respect it deserved in my opinion. It quite literally sounds like it could have come out the year after Since I Left You, which is a very good thing! I'm also a huge fan of fading a whole song down right in the middle just to play a sample of someone quietly saying 'hello?' like they're answering a phone.

Bats In The Attic - King Creosote & Jon Hopkins: I've never heard another album that sounds like this one. Every part of the recording just sounds so beautiful it's like it was handmade from silk or something. Listening to this after literally anything else feels like a chilled glass of water on a hot day. King Creosote's voice also has the very beautiful paradoxical qualities of a scottish accent mixed with incredibly clear enunciation and I really love it. I'd love them to do another album together.

Another Man - Barbara Mason: Check out this song. First of all it sounds extremely good. Secondly it's about when your man turns out to be gay. It starts out good but by the last verse it is straight up hateful, calling him defective, not entirely a man and a 'facsimile of a man' which is unbelievably cruel. The way she says it is very good though because she says "Because in my case what I thought I had was not a entire whole man, but a facsimile thereof. Wasn't a clone or nothin', you know, I'm not.." and then she trails off. Glad she clarified this wasn’t a clone situation. Weird, mean, good song.

Monument (T.I.E. Version) - Robyn & Royksopp: The original version of this song is long as hell and a lot more on the ominous side of the ominous/menacing scale, whereas this version pushes the slider all the way up on 'menacing' with the huge distorted bassline leading the whole thing. A perfect song for obelisk worship in the grim electronic future, or even for carving your own obelisk in preparation.

Everybody Knows - Leonard Cohen: Hey remember when Leonard Cohen died and bleedingcool.com had the best headline of all time "Genius Songwriter Of Music From “Watchmen” Sex Scene Dead At 82". I think about that all the time. Anyway this song is great but that's obvious.

E-Mail My Heart - Britney Spears: Britney Spears first album is good cause Hit Me Baby One More Time is about pagers and this song is about emails. Teens love to communicate, and they've only grown to love it more since this song came out. In Britney's own words in 1999: "E-mail My Heart is a song that everyone can relate to, everyone’s been doing e-mails and it’s “e-mail my heart” so everyone can relate to that song.“ True.

It's All Coming Back To Me Now - Celine Dion: This song is deluxe. This song sounds like it was recorded in an expansive marble bathroom and I feel like I should have to be wearing a suit just to listen to it. This song has 15 cup holders and comes with power windows as standard. This song sounds like someone paid November Rain $100 to attend a fancy party with them and pretend to be their boyfriend but then they accidentally fell in love for real.

listen here

#playlists

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Marvel’s Eternals Trailer Song Is Sadder Than You Think

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Marvel’s first full-length Eternals trailer doesn’t reveal much about the plot, but it sets a mood. The film is directed and co-written by Chloé Zhao, who won Best Picture and Best Director for Nomadland, a heart-wrenching journey through a desolate landscape. The song featured in the Eternals trailer has been evoking tragic isolation for years. It played on an endless loop in 1999’s Girl, Interrupted. It foretold the zombie apocalypse in the first teaser trailers for The Walking Dead. But the song has even sadder roots than that.

“Throughout the years we have never interfered, until now,” we hear a disembodied female voice (likely Salma Hayek’s Ajak) observe in the trailer. If gods or goddesses stopped bad things from happening to good people, a lot of great music may never exist. The music for the song “The End of the World” was composed by New York City-born Arthur Kent. The lyrics were written by Sylvia Dee, a steady musical partner, who is best known for writing the words to Nat King Cole’s hit, “Too Young.”

Dee was 14 years old when she wrote the lyrics to “The End of the World.” In interviews, she said she drew on the sorrow of her father’s death. The song was written for Skeeter Davis, a country singer who joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1959, and hit the pop charts in 1960 with the song, “(I Can’t Help You) I’m Falling Too.” She would go on to score 41 country hits and eight pop smashes.

Skeeter got her childhood nickname because of her boundless energy. She was born Mary Frances Penick in a two-room cabin on a farm in Dry Ridge, Kentucky. She was the oldest of seven children, and wanted to be a country singer since birth. Her first success came early when she met Betty Jack Davis at a singing session at the Dixie Heights High School in Edgewood, Kentucky. They were only related by a shared love of music, but Penick took on the last name of Davis and they formed country duo the Davis Sisters in 1947.

After a short stint with Fortune Records, their very first record for RCA, “I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know” was rated the top country song of 1953. It was the last time a female duo would hit the top spot until 1984, when The Judds’ landed their first No. 1 on the country charts, “Mama He’s Crazy.” The Davis Sisters’ song was still riding an eight-week run at No. 1 on the country charts on Aug. 2, 1953, when the two singers were involved in a head-on car crash. Skeeter was seriously injured. Betty Jack died in the accident.

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By Kayti Burt

Skeeter continued The Davis Sisters with Betty Jack’s sister, Georgia, until 1956. Davis moved to Nashville to record for RCA and had her first solo country hit in 1958 with “Lost to a Geisha Girl.” She also hit country’s Top 10 with “Set Him Free” in 1959, an “My Last Date with You,” and “Optimistic” in 1961.

“The End of the World” was recorded on June 8, 1962 at the RCA Studios in Nashville. Guitar virtuoso Chet Atkins produced the song, which featured Floyd Cramer on piano. When the song was released, radio disc jockeys favored the B-side, a pop standard called “Somebody Loves You.” But the legendary New York City DJ Scott Muni, one of the WABC “good guys,” flipped it over on the air, and listeners flipped over it.

The song was a historic crossover hit. It remains the first and only time a song cracked the Top 5 on all four Billboard charts. It peaked at No. 2 on The Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart, No. 1 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart, and No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Singles chart. Billboard ranked it the No. 2 song of 1963.

The song has been covered hundreds of times by artists as diverse as The Mills Brothers, The Andrews Sisters, Bobby Darin, Dion, Twiggy, Patti Smith, The Carpenters, Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt, and “Misty Blue” singer Dorothy Moore. “The End of the World” has been cited as an inspiration by Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, Lou Reed, and Lana Del Rey.

Skeeter Davis continued scoring hits, including a 1969 cover of The Kinks, “I’m a Lover (Not a Fighter),” and the gospel song “We Need a Lot More of Jesus,” which made the charts in 1970. She also recorded a version of anti-war song, “One Tin Soldier” in 1971. The song was also the theme to Billy Jack. It was sung by Jinx Dawson, who led the first satanic metal band Coven, which made the first public recording of a Satanic Ritual.

Davis also continued working with singing partners, scoring hits with songwriter Bobby Bare, Porter Wagoner, Don Bowman and George Hamilton IV. In 1973, Davis was suspended by the Grand Ole Opry for over a year. During a performance at the historic venue, she criticized the Nashville police for arresting a group of “Jesus people” at a local mall.

Davis died of breast cancer on Sept. 19, 2004. “The End of the World” was played at Davis’ and Chet Atkins’ funerals.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Marvel’s Eternals release date is Nov. 5, 2021.

The post Marvel’s Eternals Trailer Song Is Sadder Than You Think appeared first on Den of Geek.

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dont-let-me-stop-you · 7 years ago

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The three-time Grammy winner Kelly Clarkson will be going for her fourth win—Best Pop Solo Performance for her single “Love So Soft”—when the 60th Annual Grammy Awards show airs January 28 on CBS. Clarkson, 35, will then join Blake Shelton, Alicia Keys and Adam Levine as a coach for season 14 of The Voice, premiering February. 26.

Is this Grammy nomination just as special as the first one in 2003?

It only gets more exciting. When you’re nominated, it’s amazing. But when you’re nominated with people you really dig and you listen to, you’re like, “Oh, man—OK, I’m doing something right.”

Do you get nervous when you perform?

Only on rare occasions. I sang for the pope and they [said], “Don’t turn your back to him.” But then you can’t turn your back to the bishops or the crowd either, and I was like, “How many fronts do you think I have?” I was nervous the whole time, not so much for singing, but that I was going to insult an entire religion.

What kind of Voice coach do you think you’re going to be?

I’m pretty hands-on. I want to pull out the “real” factor with my contestants. You might as well be yourself and lay it all out there. It makes for a better artist.

Best advice you’ve ever received?

Never take advice from someone you wouldn’t want to switch places with. There are not a lot of people on that list for me. So, take advice from someone whose path you would want to be on, someone you would be proud to walk in their footprints.

Of course, you won the first season of another TV singing competition, American Idol, in 2002. Does that experience shape your coaching and judging style for The Voice?

I think I’m going to have a little different approach than maybe the other coaches in the past, but I think that’s because people like Jennifer Hudson and me, we’ve been in these competitions. It is different than just signing up with a record label and making a record. It’s a competition.

Is there a difference between being a judge and a coach?

I like the fact that I’m a coach, not a judge, because I’m much more of a people person. I’m incapable of not knowing everyone’s cousins’, uncles’ and sisters’ names and why they tick and all the reasons they wanted to do what they do, so I think it’s really cool because I’ll get to be able to jump into their personalities a bit too. You’re able to do that on The Voice because you’re a coach. I’m really looking forward to it.

What type of artists were you looking for?

My team is how I love my music and how I like my people, so there’s a lot of different varieties and genres of music, but I probably have the youngest team. I didn’t mean to, but I think I did that because I naturally go for the people who aren’t perfect right off the bat.

I was on a competition. I learned a lot about myself and I think it’s more intriguing to go along on a journey with someone. I think it’s always silly when you can tell that an artist thinks they’ve already figured everything out, and that’s not very exciting for you either.

You must have been fighting with Blake for the younger artists, because he always goes for the young ones too.

I’ll tell you what I had to freaking fight Blake on. People think they’re betraying country music when they don’t pick him. It is hard to get a country artist on your team. We did, but it was really hard. It’s a really hard thing to navigate when he’s been on there for 14 seasons.

Does having American Idol give you an advantage?

I think so. Obviously, I’m the newbie. I’m the rookie on this season. Everybody’s already been on the show before, had a team and have gone through everything, and they point it out constantly, which is great. But I always mention, “Well, I’ve been on a show. It’s not like it’s a complete foreign idea to me.” I always rub that right back in their face. Blake’s always the first one to be like, “Oh, it’s cute, this is your first season,” and I’m like, “OK, it’s cute.”

We’re a very fun, feisty bunch. All four of us are competitive, in a good way. We’re excited and still passionate as artists and we’re competitive and we’re all four, very talented and just very different.

Why do you think people, after all this time, still love these talent competitions?

I’m from one, and every time someone meets me, they do compliment my voice but they more compliment my person, and I think that’s because of how I got in this industry. I think it’s because people feel like I’m their little sister that was on the show, or I’m their friend that made it. I was in their house every week. I think the power of TV is incredible. Being in someone’s life on a weekly basis for a point of time, it’s pretty incredible. People like to see and to root for someone, they like to be on a team.

Why is sports a billion-dollar industry? People like to be a part of it. I think that’s what’s really key for shows like this and why there’s a plethora of them now.

It is interesting because when I was on [Idol], there was one [show]. It’s such a different dynamic now. Everybody has their own way of doing it. It is interesting how unacceptable it was in the beginning to a lot of people in the industry, and now all those same people are on these shows. So, that’s funny, but I think it’s good.

I think it’s a new way in the industry for fans to become a part of the artist’s life, not just music. They get to know them more as a person. I don’t think you get to do that a lot of times, unless the person is an avid social media person.

Before The Voice, you were also a coach on Duets.

I’m going to be real with you, I’ve done every singing competition. I’ve been a part of every one across the world, I think, because I won the initial one here in the States, and it was big. The inaugural winner was actually Pop Idol in the U.K. and his name was Will Young. He’s a cool dude. But everybody always plays me as the first one, so I think I’ve been on every Voice in every country, every Idol in every country, every X-Factor. I’ve been on quite a few, and I did Duets with John Legend, Jennifer Nettles and Robin Thicke.

That was a crazy experience because they were, obviously, trying to compete with all the other shows. But I don’t think they really nailed what they really wanted to do. I got to meet John and we ended up singing together on my record after that and singing at the Hollywood Bowl, and Jennifer Nettles and I became friends. So it’s one of those experiences that I loved just for the people I met.

So, be it that show or all the other ones, that’s why I always laugh when Blake and Adam are like, “Well, it’s your first time.” I’m like, “It really isn’t. I’ve really been doing this longer than you.” It’s cool. They always like to pick at me, so I’m cool with it, that means I’m threatening.

You seem to be in a really good place right now.

I’ve never been happier in all avenues of my life. I keep waiting for the rug to be pulled out or something because it’s really just great. We have happy and healthy kids, I love my road family and I can’t wait to tour, I’ve made one of my favorite records to date, and I’m looking forward to The Voice.

Which Voice coach was toughest to beat for artists?

I’m going to be real with you, Alicia’s probably the hardest one to beat as far as getting people on your team. She’s a really credible artist, not only as a singer but as a musician and producer. I can see why a lot of people pick her.

Who would you like to see perform at the Grammys?

Certain years in music are just awesome. Sam Smith has something out that’s awesome; P!nk, and Kehlani had some cool stuff out, just so many people. There’s a lot of new artists too, that I dig. We’ll all be in the same place, so that’ll be cool.

Do you obsess about what to wear to the Grammys, or do you have a stylist that you trust, so you know that whatever they give you will be perfect?

Literally, I would show up in jeans, a T-shirt and a baseball cap if I were left to my own devices. That’s not to say that I don’t appreciate the art that it is. I think it’s beautiful. Christian Siriano made me three gorgeous dresses for my last performance on the AMAs. I totally am appreciative of the art, but it’s just not something I’m super into. My stylist is really into it, so I trust her to put me in something that is the most flattering but also comfortable. I don’t really ever think about it, honestly. I just show up and put something on.

Do you have a good luck charm that you take when you go to awards shows?

I don’t, girl, I don’t believe in superstitious stuff or anything like that. The last awards show we did, I got to take my two girls. We have four kids and I took two of the girls. So, that was really fun for our 16-year-old and our 3-year-old to experience that all with me, and they got to sit with me. It’s really cool to bring different family people every time just because it also helps you not be jaded. Doing it for 15 or 16 years, it helps keep it fun and new.

Your album, Meaning of Life, is like a new chapter for you. Is this the music that is most true to who you are?

I don’t know that I’d make that statement because I really love Big Band, I love alternative music, I love hip hop, R&B, pop, and country. I did grow up listening to quite an eclectic catalog. This is the most true for me innately as a vocalist. The people that inspired me to even be a singer were very soulful. Whether it was soulful R&B, soulful pop or soulful country, it’s all soulful, which is what I loved, and even singing gospel growing up.

There’s no song on this album I had to put on the album just to play the game, just to ensure that my record would get promoted, or I could get stuff on it that I liked. There was no negotiating, it was just everybody’s down for this creative ride, and if everybody wasn’t into it, we didn’t do it and we aimed higher.

I feel like this is how a record should be made. I feel like this is what the artistic industry should be like and that’s what I mean by this is 100 percent me. This is the record that I’ve been wanting to make. It’s a record that’s 100 percent authentically me.

Even my pop records, I love them, I love singing my songs, my hits that people love, but I’ve never had a record, other than my Christmas record, that was 100 percent KC approved. There’s been a lot of negotiating.

You are also a children’s book author (River Rose and the Magical Christmascame out Oct. 24).

I’m getting to do this off to the side. It’s navigating in a different creative field, but it’s still creative, fun and different for me. I think I’m finally at a point in my career where people that I work with are excited at the fact that I like to do a lot of different things. To always stay focused and only do one thing, I think that that’s a silly mentality in the creative field.

What are you hoping that 2018 is going to bring?

Oh, man, I’ve had such a freaking fantastic 2017, I’m not even going to be greedy. I don’t know what 2018 holds but I’ve had a really awesome, random 2017. Especially the last six months, it’s been pretty incredible. We’re routing my tour, we want to hit the road with this record, and I haven’t toured in a [while] because I’ve been having babies, so that takes time. I’m really looking forward to being on The Voice some more, and I’m looking forward to touring. After that, who knows? I don’t even plan anymore, I just kind of go with what I feel like doing. You never know what’s going to happen around the corner, it’s crazy.

#kelly clarkson #kelly #clarkson #interview #interviews #meaning of life #era #mol #kc

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jeremiekroubodagnini · 4 years ago

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TOOTS HIBBERT: THE JAMAICAN RAY CHARLES?

The first time I met Toots, it was during my teen years… At that time, I didn’t meet him in the flesh, but through music. I had been offered a reggae compilation audio cassette and one track particularly hit me: “Louie Louie.” I remember I said to myself: “Wow! Who is this Jamaican Ray Charles?” Then, 20 years later, I had the opportunity to meet him in Jamaica, in the Reggae Sumfest taking place each year in mid-July in Montego Bay. It was in summer 2005 to be precise and I had been ushered backstage thanks to my pal Matthew J. Smith. It was a great moment! Great feeling! Toots had just performed a sensational show in front of his audience, it was something like 1 or 2 am, so he was probably very exhausted, but he still took time to have a small chat with me about his reason for living: REGGAE MUSIC. The following year, while on tour, I had the opportunity to meet him again in France, in Reims (my hometown) as he was just passing through. This time, I met him at the Holiday Inn Hotel, right downtown. It was on 26th June and it’s Edouard Dombret, a friend of mine then working for Mediacom Tour Reggae Booking Agency, who organized the meeting with Toots in his suite. Again, we had a small talk about reggae and the music business in general, and before I left, he gave me his number (not 54-46, but his mobile number!) and told me to call him whenever I would come to Jamaica. He said that he would invite me for lunch or something. That proposition couldn’t have come at a better time since I was precisely supposed to go to Jamaica for a research trip by the end of that same year… In December 2006, being in Jamaica for a week or so, I did call him to set up an interview. He remembered me very well and told me to join him at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston where he was just chilling out. I then asked Robert Alexandre (a Haitian-born bredda living in Jamaica for more than 20 years) to come along with me and there we went! Toots offered us a very warm welcome in the former colonial mansion built in 1924 on 10 acres of land by Mr. Harold Alexander as a wedding gift to his wife. Toots of course kept his word and invited us for lunch. But before that, we had a drink at the bar; as a matter of fact, more than a mere drink I should say as we drank a bottle of red wine as an aperitif (laughs)! Actually, we drank so much wine that day that when came the time of the interview, I wasn’t in a great shape to conduct it properly (laughs). Nevermind! We had a fantastic time, a good laugh, and that’s what matters. Toots was definitely an epicurean and liked drinking delicious wines and eating lovely food, let alone weed or women! I’ll remember him as such. Later on, we met a couple of other times, including on 7th May 2009 when he shared the Zenith stage in Paris with Rootz Underground and Alpha Blondy. It was a fantastic show organized by Mediacom. On that day we had a talk backstage with Kiddus I about ecology. A very interesting talk I remember!

Toots was definitely an epicurean and liked drinking delicious wines and eating lovely food, let alone weed or women! I’ll remember him as such.

Toots and Kiddus I backstage at the Zenith (Paris). 7 May 2009.

The following interview was conducted on 2nd December 2006 with Toots at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica

Toots, how did you become a singer, an artist?

I found out that I have the talent to sing because I used to sing in the Church. People told me I can sing. I used to sing in the Church with my parents. So, I came to Kingston from a Parish called Clarendon. I was born in the countryside of Clarendon, then I wanted to be a real singer so I came to Kingston. I tried and tried and tried… and then I got tunes to sing. Then with Coxsone, Coxsone’s Downbeat, he died now. When we started to sing, we didn’t get no money, we just wanted to sing. So, it was a good thing to do, you know!

Your voice is incredible and one could say that you were influenced by soul, gospel…

Yeah, because I have gospel in my voice and people told me that all my songs that I sing are gospel, because I sing conscious words in my songs. So, the conscious words mean gospel.

What bands did you listen to when you started your career?

Ray Charles, James Brown, Otis Redding etc., very great people! But Ray Charles is one of the bests. But I also sing with Willy Nelson, Ben Harper, Aretha Franklin, No Doubt etc... a lot of people.

Toots performing at the Summfest (Montego Bay). July 2005.

Professor Matthew J. Smith & Toots, backstage at the Sumfest. July 2005.

Toots perfoming a sensational show in front of a crazy audience (see below) at the Sumfest. July 2005.

You went through the different eras of Jamaican music: ska, rocksteady, reggae. Can you tell me briefly a few words about these different eras?

Well…when I came to Kingston, I met Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and some other great singers in Jamaica. Before I started, they were singing. Derrick Harriott, he used to be with a group called the Jiving Juniors, Derrick Harriott is a great singer too. When I came from the country, I saw them singing. So, there are my heroes including Bob Marley, Alton Ellis, Desmond Dekker etc. Jimmy Cliff is my tutor. I love Jimmy. I love everybody and that’s why I’m here today because loving people, giving them your heart is a good thing! So, I always love people and they are my heroes from Jamaica. Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, all of the Wailers, Ziggy Marley, all of Bob’s kids, Junior Gong etc. all of those guys are my heroes, young heroes.

“Do The Reggay” is credited to be the first reggae song.

Yeah, that is the inventor of the word “reggae” and Toots and the Maytals came out with this word, telling people that our music that we’re playing in Jamaica from that time until today is called reggae. I recorded a song called “Do The Reggay” but in those time we had a little slang in Jamaica in which the boys call the girls “streggae” when they look quite dress and everything. So may be the word “reggae” comes from “streggae.” It’s just a glamour and I don’t know where it comes from but I was the one who found wordy to say our music “Do The Reggay” is called reggae. Doing a song called “Do The Reggay,” people told me it’s also in the world Guinness Book of Records, in novels, in some great books in Jamaica also; you can see that the Maytals are the ones who invented the word “reggae.” So, it’s a good story.

Jamaica seems not to understand that reggae is one of the leading music in the world (...) everybody knows that reggae music is a music that tells the story, that give you cultural understanding. It’s no nursery rhyme, it’s not about cursing, it’s nothing that is out of order, it’s cultural, biblical, logical music.

It seems today that reggae roots is more popular in Europe than in Jamaica itself. Why according to you?

I believe that the youth of today want to research enough like what the French have done, the English have done it, and Americans have done it, all over the world, research. Now the Trinidadian doing it, but Jamaica seems not to understand that reggae is one of the leading music in the world. They should put themselves together, write good songs and know that reggae music is reggae music and people adore reggae. I want Jamaicans start to research on it just like the French do and foreign people do. Just research on it and you’ll know that I’m the inventor of the word “reggae” and reggae is coming from way down. But there was a time when just Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and myself, we put reggae upon the top. From then, we don’t release any reggae. Bob died; we don’t release reggae regularly, a lot of dancehall coming in to do things. But when people ask me “can you release some real reggae music?” I say “Yes, I’m going to do it.” So, they know, foreigners know, the tourists know, everybody knows that reggae music is a music that tells the story, that give you cultural understanding. It’s no nursery rhyme, it’s not about cursing, it’s nothing that is out of order, it’s cultural, biblical, logical music. And the word has to be “click!” So, what they do now, what they write, it’s not really reggae. They are doing other things. They could talk bad words in it; they could argument and talk about crazy things. So that’s not reggae, that’s more like streggae.

Toots at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston. 2 December 2006.

Toots and I drinking some good wine at the bar (Terra Nova Hotel). 2 December 2006.

My bredda Robert Alexandre & Toots at the bar (Terra Nova Hotel). 2 December 2006.

Toots and I enjoying a good meal (Terra Nova Hotel). 2 December 2006.

What about Rastafari? Are you a Rasta?

I’m a Rasta who does the right things. You don’t have to have long hair to be a Rasta. The word “Rasta” means people who do the right things. They love people the way they love themselves and treat people the way they treat themselves. And to principal, Rasta is not my name, but if you do good things, people say you’re a Rasta because Rasta is God’s name. So, we just believe that… we just say we’re Rasta but Rasta is one of God’s names, his last name Rastafari. People who use Rastafari should be the rightest ones, prophets, sons of God. So, don’t look at me like … I will tell you that: “I’m not Rasta, I’m not doing…” I do things that God would do, Jah would do, the Almighty. I don’t want to praise no other God or get away from the Almighty, the God who created you and everybody on earth. I don’t want to praise no other God. So, I’m a different kind of Rasta.

And who’s Haile Selassie for you?

He’s a God in himself but not a God for me.

Just a few words about your last album!

It’s called the True Love album. It was an album that won the Grammy in 2004. It was a great thing to put together with all these foreign people to sing my songs. What came out of it was a Grammy. It’s a long story but it was a good thing to put together. We wanted to let people know that reggae music can be there and everywhere and find where good music is. Reggae can be there with R&B, rock etc. So that’s why I did this album, to let people know that reggae music is not just local, but international, to make it more international, that’s why I did this, you know!

Walk good Toots, as we say in Jamaica, and keep your joie de vivre over there. Nuff Respect mi brethren!

Toots at the Zenith (Paris) after the show. 7 May 2009.

JKD.

Photos 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Copyright JKD.

Photos 2, 3, 4, 5. Copyright Matthew J. Smith.

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dustedmagazine · 7 years ago

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Dust, Volume 3, Number 16

We finish this edition of Dust as the last remnants of Thankgiving leftovers disappear, as the dark comes early and as the new release schedule wanes to a a dreary succession of box sets, surprise releases from commercial titans and holiday music (which Bill Meyer rather likes, it turns out, as long as it references Albert Ayler). 2017 is pretty much kicked (though we’re not saying there won’t be another Dust before the final curtain), and we’re glad to see it go. That’s not to say that there hasn’t been some worthy music this year, and this week’s dust touches on some of it -- from glittery neo-soul, to out-country-rock, to free-jazz percussion, to Scandinavian drone, to some swinging Hammond B3. Dusted writers including Jennifer Kelly, Bill Meyer, Justin Cober-Lake and Derek Taylor pick at the oddiments of the year’s fading feast and invite you to have a taste, as well.

Amp Fiddler — Amp Dog Nights (Mahogani Music)

AMP DOG KNIGHTS | M.M-41 by Amp Fiddler

Amp Fiddler

If you know anything about Amp Fiddler, it’s likely that he taught a very young J. Dilla how to make beats on an MPC60 — up to that point he had rigged them DIY-style on a cassette player (you can learn a lot about his formative influence on Dilla in this podcast, which is highly recommended). But there’s more to know, obviously, the Detroit based artist has also worked with George Clinton, and this one, Amp Dog Nights, is his fourth solo recording. It’s a blast of intricately plotted, neo-soul-into-hip-hop artistry that features contributions from Slum Village’s T3, Ideeyah (who has worked with Theo Parrish), the velvety voiced singer Neco Redd, Moodyman and, on a couple of tracks, the late J. Dilla himself. The Dilla-produced single “Return of the Ghetto Flyer” channels slinky 1970s funk, in its twitchy, slouchy beat, its spikes of staccato guitar, its deep voiced narrator (that’s Amp Fiddler), surrounded by lush female-voiced choruses. “Put You in My Pocket Babe,” floats closer to Mayfield territory in fluttery, mystic falsetto runs and gospel choruses. Neco Redd, a Michigan-based comer, takes over the main mic in the Rhodes-shimmering, classic soul “No Politics,” her slippery, note-bending runs simmering, insinuating, soaring. Amp Fiddler may be best remembered for his protégé, but his own music is well worth checking out, too.

Jennifer Kelly

Hans Chew — Open Sea (At the Helm)

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With fourth album Open Sea, pianist (and more) Hans Chew marks a shift in sound. The country rock and the early rock 'n' roll are still there. Tennessee hasn't disappeared, and the sound of Chew's roots and his Southern rock remain, but he explores further terrain. For every touch of moodier Allman Brothers sound, he digs into British influences, moving between psych and folk comfortably in mixing his own blend. He's cited Crazy Horse as a prominent influence and while that sound remains audible but not overbearing, the best touchstone now might be Steve Winwood. Opener “Give up the Ghost” owes its groove to Blind Faith, and traces of Traffic permeate the album.

As Chew and bandmates (including vital guitarist Dave Cavallo) expand their sound, they also stretch out. Never beholden to short pop structures, the group now reaches past six minutes for five of these six tracks. Even so, none of these tracks rely on jams or noodling; the lengthy run-times give the group time to shift from Marshall Tucker into some psych into pounding rock across a single track. Chew makes big musical statements and they take time to deliver. If, as the title suggests, he spreads across a vast space, he does so without wasted geography. He claims his territory and refines it sharply.

Justin Cober-Lake

Magnus Granberg — Nattens Skogar (Version for Four Players) (Insub)

In his compositions for the Stockholm-based group Skogen, Magnus Granberg embeds improvisational opportunities within a specifically prescribed, generally unemphatic sound world. This is a guy who can place Toshimaru Nakamura into a performance of music inspired by Schubert and have it make sense. It’s all about balance, and that principal is also at work in Nattens Skrogar. Granberg has just three accompanists on this album length piece, and while its progress feels more open, there’s a similar exercise of restraint in order to accomplish a particular feel and sound. Magnus has credited “Monk’s Mood” by Thelonious Monk and Erik Satie’s nocturnes as inspiration; I’d bring up Morton Feldman as well. Each instrumental voice has plenty of space around it, which makes the moments where sounds blend feel quietly momentous. Granberg’s prepared piano playing creeps so slowly through scraps of melody that you almost forget they are there; Skogen violinist Anna Lindal’s long tones string them together like a lit-up suspension bridge spanning a misty stream at dusk. His touch is less vigorously clankety than Monk’s, but similarly effective at making you aware of what isn’t around it. The quartet’s other half, the Swiss duo of d’incise (electronics, harmonica) and Cyril Bondi (percussion, harmonica), partner with Grandberg in plunking down sounds so that you feel their ripples in time.

Bill Meyer

Daniel Levin – Living (Smeraldina-Rima)

Living isn’t improvising cellist Daniel Levin’s inaugural solo venture, but it does present a first in another respect. The packaging breaks ranks with his past works in featuring paperback-sized fold-out cardboard packaging and screen-printed artwork that slips into an embossed plastic sleeve. Five pieces recorded over two days at Firehouse 12 in New Haven, CT in the summer of 2015 feature Levin communing intimately with his instrument and environment. “Assemblage” assembles a ghostly aural edifice from scrapes, whispers and muted cries. “Generator” also mimics its succinct title through the stark generation and hum of scabrous arco scribbles. Combined, “Baksy-buku” and “The Dragon” account for almost half of the recital’s running time and Levin fills their contours and corners with bow and fingers-driven investigations that reach across an expansive and elastic range of dynamics. Culminating with the abstruse and capacious “Mountain of Butterflies”, the disc ends with a stark insularity akin to as it began. If there’s arguable fault to be levied it lies in the lingering feeling that the absent visual components of Levin’s sustained synergy with his strings might have allowed for a welcome and felicitous point of ingress as well.

Derek Taylor

Gregory Lewis — Organ Monk Blue (Self-Released)

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The definition of a deserving musical conceit is one that carries both immediacy and longevity. Organ Monk Blue is Gregory Lewis’ third foray into the oeuvre of the eponymous composer/pianist (fifth overall) and the strong results show that there’s still plenty of fuel in the proverbial tank. Guitarist Marc Ribot brings additional cred to the project alongside Lewis’ regular Jeremy Bean Clemons on drums (both were also on board for his last project The Breathe Suite). A possible danger with transmogrifying Monk through Hammond B-3 lies in the instrument’s available amplitude and aggressiveness of sound. Lay it on too thick with pedals and stops and the subtle harmonic crevices and crannies endemic to Monk’s music can get paved over or sanded off. Lewis’ diligence toward close study of the songbook swiftly allays any such concerns. Groove-infused renditions of “Green Chimneys”, “Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are” and the relative rarity “Blue Hawk” couch the program in the lead instrument’s soul jazz lineage without feeling retroactive or rote. Ribot in particular seems to revel in the emphasis on greasy gut actuation over arid brainpan overthought.

Derek Taylor

Jake Meginsky — Gates and Variations (Open Mouth)

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Some music falls between the cracks. Jake Meginsky pushes back the walls and walks like some cartoon character out on the air. But where Wile E. Coyote lost his capacity to float as soon as he became aware, knowledge enables Meginsky to hover in space without fear of disaster. The Massachusetts native has a background as a percussionist, and in that capacity he studied with free jazz drummer Milford Graves; his current live performance places him with free musicians of varied allegiances, from noise to jazz. But this recording feels like the work of solitary scrutiny, not interpersonal interaction. He deploys a few high tones, low thumps and crackles into vertiginous sound environments that propel you through time and space without letting your feet touch the dance floor or collide with walls of sound. It’s a rarified and unique space, but an easy one to spend time experiencing.

Bill Meyer

Luggage—Three (Don Giovanni)

Three by Luggage

The picture of the Sears Tower (don’t even bring up any other names, OK?) on the j-card says it all. This music is Chicago business, monolith division. Drummer Luca Cimarusti, guitarist Michael Vallera and bassist Michael John Grant have spent enough time studying the hard-hitting sound of combos like Tar and Rapeman to know that they had to spend their dimes on a couple days at Electrical Audio to get that big, face-smacking sound. They also knew that if they were going to record there, they’d have to get honest, so what you hear is essentially a live recording, bar a few guitar overdubs and Vallera’s singing. The one-note dourness of his vocal delivery recalls that of another more recent Chicagoan, Brian Case of Disappears and FACS. Vallera, who also records solo and in the duo Cleared, fudges geography a bit by adding some reverb-swathed, Cocteau Twins-style guitar flourishes. This is sturdy stuff, just the thing to soundtrack your next drive through a part of town where potholes make AWD the right way to roll.

Bill Meyer

BJ Nilsen — Massif Trophies (Editions Mego)

Massif Trophies by BJNilsen

After four years of collaborations with Alan Courtis, Johan Johannsson and Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson, BJ Nilsen (formerly known as Hazard) is on his own again. At least, his is the only name on the cover; as his field recordings testify, a trip up Gran Paradiso, the highest Alpine peak in Italy is not something you undertake alone. There are passages on this LP where all you here is weather hitting earth, making sounds that preceded humanity and will most likely persist past any extinction event that might take us off the planet. But Nilsen isn’t a mere observer. The banter of workmen, the lowing of cattle, layers of wind chimes and buzzes of radio static let you know that he wasn’t alone, and electronic wobbles and rumbles confirm that he won’t leave well enough alone. What emerges is a hybrid of external environment and internal reverie, richly detailed and immersive.

Bill Meyer

Peter Oren — Anthropocene (Western Vinyl)

Anthropocene by Peter Oren

“Where will I go, when I don’t want to be, with idle hands, awaiting catastrophe?” sings Peter Oren in the title track of this second full-length. It’s a good question, made better by the way it’s framed in a gentle, resonant baritone, a spare tangle of folk-blue guitar notes, the unexpected solace of strings. These are all traditional elements, most often pressed to service to reinforce the status quo, but Oren uses them instead to question the way things are. Whether it’s environmental degradation as in this cut (“We need bees for more than honey”), cog-in-the-machine complicity in “Chain of Command” (“Better you than me, said the dog to the sheep, keep your place in the pack, or else feel my teeth in your back.”), or queasiness about certain historical figures (“I don’t why I came, from this place Columbus Indiana, but it sure does feel strange coming from a place named after a killer and a misnomer”), Oren laces laid-back melodies with confrontation. The music itself is quite good, whether evoking dark-toned acoustic Smog (“Canary in a Coal Mine”) or full-on Crazy Horse country rock (“Throw Down”), but it’s the message that sticks. Oren isn’t out of hope — check the solidarity-celebrating fiddle romp “New Gardens” – but he isn’t letting anyone off the hook either, including himself.

Jennifer Kelly

Speaking Suns—Range (Anyway)

RANGE by Speaking Suns

Speaking Suns has a drummer named David Byrne, but it’s not that David Byrne and indeed, for a university town art band with mostly rock instruments, they could hardly be less confusable with jittery, funk-wrecking Talking Heads. This five-some, led by guitarist and vocalist Jacob Diebold plays woozy, psychedelic sunshine grooves more along the lines of the Beachwood Sparks or, given the presence of trumpeter Jonathan Jacky, certain laid-back Elephant 6 outfits (Beulah especially). It’s a beach-y, tranquil, breezy spell that Speaking Suns cast in semi-title track “Out of Range.” A placid jangle of guitars frames soothing melodies, bright bits of trumpet light up the corners. “Wasting Time,” an extended daydream of a cut, evokes flow of all kinds – highway traffic, rivers, even music – in a shambling, whiskery-warm way that might remind you of War on Drugs before it got so damned clean. Like most of the Anyway roster, Speaking Suns hails from Ohio, but a singularly unabrasive part of the Buckeye State, about as far from jittery, weird-ass Cleveland or bubble-fuzz Dayton as possible. This is a double album, so get yourself an ice tea and take your shoes off; it’ll be a long sunny afternoon.

Jennifer Kelly

Mars Williams — An Ayler Xmas (Mars Williams)

Mars Williams Presents: An Ayler Xmas by Mars Williams

Mars Williams isn’t the only guy to have this idea; there’s a saxophonist in Ottawa, Canada named Bernard Stepien who has hosted a semi-annual “Very Ayler Christmas” since 2006. But no one can own a good idea, and this one is unassailable. Consider the similarity between Albert Ayler’s compositions and actual hymns. Consider that Williams first learned about Ayler from one of his close associates, Don Cherry, at Karl Berger’s Creative Music Studio in Woodstock NY and has been going back to the well ever since. And consider that he has kept an Ayler repertory band, Witches & Devils, going since the 1990s. Who wouldn’t want to have some egg nog with that? Williams (of Hal Russell’s NRG Ensemble, Extraordinary Popular Delusions, Liquid Soul, the Psychedelic Furs, the Waitresses, and Peter Brötzmann’s Chicago Tentet, amongst many others) started his Ayler Xmas concerts in 2008, and since 2015 he’s held them in towns besides Chicago. Their MO is to lay holiday themes on top of Ayler tunes, and it works quite well. This CD reproduces three medleys from a concert at Chicago’s Hungry Brain in 2016, and each taps authentically into the energy of mid-to-late Ayler groups. Cornetist Josh Berman makes a solid stand-in for Don Ayler, Jim Baker’s spacy keyboards honor the presence of Call Cobbs without sounding quite like him and Mars manages to sound big enough to step into some mighty big shoes.

Bill Meyer

#Dusted magazine #dust #amp fiddler #jennifer kelly #hans chew #justin cober-lake #magnus granberg #bill meyer #gregory lewis #derek taylor #jake meginsky #luggage #bj nilsen #peter oren #speaking suns #mars williams

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930club · 7 years ago

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9:30 INTERVIEW: Benjamin Booker

Benjamin Booker busted on to the scene in 2014 with one helluva self-titled debut. Blisterin’ tracks such as “Violent Shiver” earned him accolades from the likes of Jack White, instantly cementing him in the pantheon of blues rock greats. We can only imagine that all the well-warranted attention served as awesome motivation to return this year with Witness, yet another stop-you-in-your-tracks release that also happens to be quite timely and topical. We caught up with Booker over email ahead of his return to the Club this Monday.

Madeline Masiello [9:30 Club]: You were born in Virginia, grew up in Florida, and spent some time in New Orleans. How have your southern roots influenced your sound?

Benjamin Booker: I didn't realize until I left how much regional music I grew up with from Miami bass to folk-punk to southern gospel. My taste would most likely be completely different if I grew up somewhere else. The south has made me the songwriter I am.

How would you say your music changed between your self-titled album and Witness?

Witness is more focused on rhythm, tone, and more complex song structures and melodies. I was really trying to push myself farther as a songwriter and singer. It's also a more complete record with a theme that is meant to be listened to from beginning to end.

Witness addresses some of the racial tension and problems going on in the country today. What was it like writing about such emotionally charged issues?

I think it was actually very helpful to me to take time to really think about the world around me and be able to express those feelings. It's scary to try to approach but I'm very happy I did. People immediately seemed to be able to relate. That's the beauty of being a musician. If I feel something I'm quickly able to hear from lots and lots of people who feel similarly.

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Do you think artists such as yourself have a responsibility to sing and talk about the issues?

Not at all. Music has many purposes. Sometimes you NEED to just hear a trap beat and someone saying nonsense over the top to go crazy to and escape. Nothing wrong with that. Variety is never a bad thing.

If you could only ever sing or play the guitar again, which would it be, and why?

At this point I'd probably sing just because I think I can express myself more with my voice than guitar. It’s very comforting. I'm almost constantly singing to myself waking around.

What’s been the best thing so far about your current tour?

Well, everyone in the band has a sweet tooth so I don't feel alone on late night donut runs.

What song are you most excited to play in the nation’s capital at 9:30 Club?

I'm excited to share everything we've been working on. We've really been working like dogs to put together a great show and I'm just want to get the music out there to people. But, if I had to choose I'd say "Witness."

What’s next for you?

After this looong ten-week tour I'm taking some much needed time off for the winter and writing before heading out for more shows and festivals in the new year. 2018! Ah! How did we get here?

-Madeline Masiello

See Benjamin Booker at 9:30 Club on Monday, October 23. Get tickets here.

#9:30 Interview #Artist Interview #Benjamin Booker #Witness #9:30 Club #Upcoming Shows #She Keeps Bees #Blues Rock #Jack White #Madeline Masiello

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maximumbob-universe · 5 years ago

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There are many mythical moments in music history that become so well known they take on a life of their own. This is certainly the case with a December 1956 informal jam recorded at Sun Records studio in Memphis. Carl Perkins was cutting a session at the studio, attempting to get his mojo back after bad automobile accident sidelined him. Earlier in the year, Carl had scored a number one hit with "Blue Suede Shoes", but the car crash had taken him off the road just as he was criss-crossing the country promoting his big song. Jerry Lee Lewis, a newcomer to Sun, was playing piano on the session. At the time, his first record "Crazy Arms" was getting plenty of airplay in the Memphis area. Another Sun artist, Johnny Cash, who had scored a pop crossover hit earlier in the year with "I Walk the Line", was also there. Cash said he was there to hear Perkins new material, others have stated that he was there to ask Sun owner Sam Phillips for some additional money for Christmas. Just as the Perkins session was wrapping up, Elvis Presley, who had left Sun the previous year, stopped by to see his old boss. By this time of course, Elvis was the undisputed King of Rock and Roll, finishing up a year of unprecedented success. Sensing a good PR opportunity, Sam sent for a reporter from the local newspaper. A piece appeared the next day in the paper, along with a photo of Elvis, Jerry Lee, Cash and Perkins around the piano. The article was titled "The Million Dollar Quartet."

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Jack Clement, the recording engineer for the Perkins session rolled tape as the artitst jammed, resulting in one of the most iconic sessions ever recorded. Even those who were there remembered things differently, which only added to the mythology of the day's events. Although Johnny Cash is in the photo, his voice is not heard on the tape. Cash maintained he was there, and did indeed sing, but said he was too far off mike to picked up on the recording. The music here was never intended for commercial release, and it must be said that no musical fireworks are going off either. What makes it all so special is the shared knowledge of, and love of, the roots music that was at the heart of rock and roll. The group sings a lot of gospel songs, the music they all grew up listenng to, as well as country and a few Chuck Berry songs. For me, the best moment is when Elvis sings his own hit "Don't Be Cruel" but tries to imitate Jackie Wilson, the singer he had just seen in Las Vegas as part of Billy Ward's Dominoes. It's also fun to hear the King mimic Ernest Tubb on "I'm in a Crowd But So Alone”, or to shout out “Bill Monroe” just before tearing into a couple of bluegrass standards.

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Perkins turns in a soulful read on Wynn Stewart's then new record "The Keeper of the Key", Elvis shows off on the new Pat Boone release "Don't Forbid Me", exclaiming "It's a hit!" Arguments about who owned the rights to the tapes kept it off of store shelves for years, although bootleg copies popped up here and there. It was finally released officially in 1990, and there have been a few different versions of it out there ever since. There is nothing here you can't live without, and repeated listening can be a bit tedious, but the session is a fascinating glimpse into early rock and what forces were behind it. We have the added bonus of hearing voices blend that never recorded together again, which makes it essential. Over the years the legend has only grown, eventually finding it's way to the Broadway musical stage. The tape might be just and informal jam session, but Sam Phillips, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley are all inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so in reality the Million Dollar Quarter proved to worth far more than envisioned in 1956. It is indeed priceless.

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learmagazine-blog · 5 years ago

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Some Lite Irony

I meet Bum el Niño in a local coffee spot called Buona Caffe. The weird thing is, neither of us drink coffee, a kind of irony that Niño exudes in his work: contractions, opposing values, and a sense of clarity that seems slightly out of place. I want to figure out why this album sounds the way it does, where this sense of direction comes from despite the diverse sound scape. Every song on the record is unique. Unique enough to be on a separate album, a fact that of course is ironic as our first few exchanges at the table. I order a spiced tea, and find Niño at the table in the back. He has his own water bottle, which is weird only because he suggested we meet here, yet he orders nothing. I decide to ask him if he wants anything.

Niño: No, I’m ok, I got my water.

The water bottle is a blue 32 ounce wide mouth.

I: What do you usually get from here? You have any favorites?

N: Nah, I’ve had the tea once, but usually I don’t get anything.

I couldn’t help but think of the sign at the counter that asked that all guest purchase something. It seems Niño’s very presence here was a contradiction.

I: So this is just a good spot to conduct interviews then, huh?

N: I really don’t do press (chuckles).

I: Well think of this as a studio session (chuckles).

N: (Laughs): That’s cool. Turn me up on the left.

I: As a prerequisite for my studio sessions with new people, I am a little interested in past sessions.

N: Told you I don’t do press (chuckles). They’ve been productive, which might be another way to say boring.

I: For the latest project in particular?

N: Yeah, those been really productive, but I think the least boring one might’ve been Free Max B. That was a fun session.

I: That’s a compelling record. I imagine you’re referring to the second part. What inspired you, or should I say what inspired the smoothest brother?

N: Definitely the greats: Bootsy, George and ‘nem. Sly fasho. Probably Sly the most. I was thinking Sly would say some slick, pimp like shit like “I know you like to be polite, but baby I can do ya right” you know? And alot of funk seemed like the the soundtrack to black power. So I tell my people don’t give up so easy, which I think we know but forget sometimes.

I: People as in black people?

N: Yeah.

I: Of which we’re the only two here, if you noticed (laugh).

N: (Laughs) Oh yeah I always notice.

I: So this is kind of an interesting place for a studio session coming of this album. It seems like you’re making some strong statements about race throughout-

N: If you’re about to ask if the album is for Caucasians, then no (laughs),

I: (Laughs) That reminds me of a line on Let Loose: “I am not from the Caucasus, I am not Caucasian”. When I heard that line I thought of irony.

N: Ok, why’s that?

I: The line seemed out of place. I think you created a world on the project, in which white people are very, uh, absent. Like this album is that juke spot on the corner where the racial make-up is opposite of this spot. There are two of fewer white folks, and you can feel the results of their actions, like maybe segregation, but everyone is so concerned with enjoying their time, no one thinks about segregation or racism.

N: Except the conscious, afro-pick soul brother.

I: (Laughs) Exactly, that line on Let Loose is that dude, always chanting about the man keeping us down.

N: Is he a drunk?

I: Maybe a little (chuckles). It makes me wonder, who are you speaking to on the song? Which makes me wonder who you are speaking to throughout the project.

N: A bunch a different folks. ‘Cause you know how Let Loose starts right? Like (sings) “I know he need you”. So like a love interest is distracted by another person. But the chorus is speaking to America. Like black people been parenting and grandparenting this mug since it started you know? But I think that line came from seeing alot of people forget about the roots of Hiphop. They forget this is black music, even though it’s alot of people who ain’t black involved now. Them people don’t rap about helping us. Sometimes it seems like they exploiting the art form.

I: I see.

N: But your take is bonkers, I’m feeling that.

I: (Chuckles) I wonder if some themes you deal with are sort of difficult for the black community to talk about. There’s a line in Supa/Fun: “Fuck Clarence Thomas, God Bless Anita Hill”. That case was a little before your time, and I think about how some of us really thought Anita Hill should’ve sacrificed her own well-being for the sake of Thomas’ progression as a black man.

N: Yeah, that’s part of what built this country. Black people, and especially black women, putting themselves aside so other people can shine. But whoever don’t get that just being selfish. Those people couldn’t achieve their own accomplishments because their selfishness lead to nowhere, so it hurt them to see other selfishness get interrupted. That be some of them fist afro pick dashiki niggas too.

I: (Laughs) Are there times where you’re a fist afro american? I think of a line again on Supa/Fun: “I flow ‘cause they swam through my ancestor’s blood”. It seems like you’re providing the audience, which is our community, with consciousness. All these lines are amazing by the way. You wrote them all right? (laughs)

N: (Laughs) Yeah, I wrote everything except the verse on Lite In The Daytime. And yeah sometimes you gotta let em know.

I: Kick the knowledge. Speaking of Lite In The Daytime, this album sometimes feels like Rakim and sometimes feels like Pimp C. What were you listening to during the process?

N: Like I said, alot of Sly. There’s A Riot Going On. Probably listened to that like 50 times. A record by Bobby Hutcherson called Head On was in heavy heavy rotation. One of my homies from the web had the cover on his social media profile back in 2013, and I’ve been listening ever since. It gives me direction when I’m making an album. It’s where I got the seven track method, the switch-ups, alot of technical shit.

I: So hold on, homies from the web?

N: Yeah, met him through Instagram.

I: Ah, I’m not on that.

N: Quick story, he came to the city once bought me some breakfast, and dropped like 2 g’s on records. I ain’t even have no job at the time so I was like “yo that’s wild”, but you know, some people get down like that. (Laughs)

I: Do you collect records?

N: Not quite. I buy records to listen to ‘em.

I: (Chuckles).

N: Man some people buy records just to say they got ‘em, never play ‘em, just take pictures of em or brag about special presses or retail value. I think it’s silly. Like if you ain’t doin’ nothin’ with it, you may as well give it to somebody who can use it.

I: You mentioned Bobby Hutcherson; he’s a jazz musician correct?

N: Yeah, vibraphonist.

I: You might be the first rapper I’ve met who knows that. Did you sample any of his records on this project?

N: Can’t tell you that (chuckles). But nah I didn’t. But he inspired what I was trying to do alot. Sometimes you gotta have reverence when it comes to sampling. Some records shouldn’t be touched. Like have a top five that you’d never sample.

I: What are yours?

N: Hmm; it’s gonna seem like I was waiting on this question but Head On, I Fooled You This Time, Original Ragga Muffin, What Time Is It, and Is My Living In Vain. I’ll never flip anything on those. They’re too good.

I: That’s outstanding. That last one’s a gospel record correct?

N: Yeah, The Clarke Sisters.

I: So how’d you feel about the Jay-Z sample? (Laughs)

N: Terrible. (laughs) Like one of the worst flips I ever heard. But it’s on my forbidden list so I wouldn’t even touched it. Honestly, I didn’t care for the flip on Lite In The Daytime at first. But when the bass line hit I started feeling it.

I: How’d that song come about?

N: The homie I worked with, Jermond, was saying how he rapped. And you know, everybody be rappin’ so I ain’t really pay it no mind. Most of the time, I don’t take rappers seriously unless I hear ‘em do some freestylin’. I think that’s the mark of a dope emcee. So one day I heard freestyle and I was like “ok you got skills”, so I told him I made beats. Fast forward like two weeks and I’m listening to a famous harmonica player. I found like a six second section I liked. Broke up the notes in the [Boss SP] 303 and then played em backwards. Then I added some drums from a lil mini drum machine. Then I was like, this beat is trash. The thing about the 303 though is it saves workflow, so it was still even after I turned everything off. So the next day, I turned the 303 back on, and it was still there. I got out my bass machine and just started playing a random scale and boom, there it was. As I was playing the bass line, a hook came to my mind. It felt like some pimp shit (chuckles). You know Maya Angelou was a madame? So I thought of some Maya Angelou pimp shit (laughs), like I’m tryna put you on game, share some wisdom you know? Anyway, Jermond spit a dope freestyle, and one day we was at work not doing much and I showed him the beat and the hook. He was like “Oh snap that shit crazy” you know. And I was like “yo you wanna get a verse on here”, and he was like “Hell yeah”. I sent him the beat to his email. So fast forward another two weeks, and I recorded the hook. I also had a verse partially written down on the cover of a Klique record. So I hit him that day, no answer. Very next day: I was just about to go in to record that partial verse, and he calls me, kind of drunk. He was like “I got a verse ready man” and I was like “when can you record” and he hit me with the “I’m out of town these next couple weeks, but after that anytime”. Man I was like “aight” (laughs). So in the two weeks, I’m listening to the Streets Taste song and this instrumental, got them both in heavy rotation. And I think hearing together made me like the instrumental alot. The hook and the bass line made it more enjoyable for me. Two weeks pass, and I finally get Jermond in the studio.

I: (Laughs) And smooth sailing from there?

N: (Laughs) He didn’t have the verse written if that’s what you mean by smooth sailing. But he did bring a notebook and his own water. No pen though. So I had to play the beat over and over, and he finally got it finished, and recorded in a only a few takes. That’s when the smooth sailing probably happened. Like on his way out the door. But it was a fun session, and his verse ended up being the length of the rap section so it worked out. But yeah dope bass lines, catchy hooks, and listening a thousand times might make you like a beat more (chuckles).

I: (Chuckles): That makes me wonder, what are some of your favorite songs on this project?

N: Knock is wild. Shout out to Bruce and Daniel; they came through on them joints for real. I really love that (sings) if I had a-nother sack/I would roll it light it pass it around. That’s exactly the music I was trying to make. Of course Streets Taste. James was behind that beat. That was the first one that was made so everything else kind of fell into that genre. It’s like the running theme. What they call it, thesis?

I: Right.

At this point things started to make sense. The irony of being black in America ties this album together, tied this very conversation together. We don’t really belong here, but it wouldn’t exist without us. We all experience being black differently, but get treated with the same disdain. It seems that Lite Won’t arrive Late is summarizing or soundtracking this phenomenon. Niño continues.

N: Let Loose was a dope session. Art came in straight killing it from the jump. Harmonizing like Zapp and Roger and shit. Then we put that Color Me Badd on there. Oooooh!

Niño beings to sing the song, replicating the beat on the table with his fist, knuckles and snaps. As a white woman looks over, he simply continues, failing to acknowledge her. Again irony arises.

N: (Sings) I wanna bless you up! Ooooh. That joint was wild, man.

I: So since we’re back at Let Loose can you talk a little about your rhythmic approach.

N: Nah that’s a secret (chuckles). But lemme talk about skits. To all the sorry, non-creative ass rappers out there, you gotta be thoughtful about the skits. They gotta bring your shit together.

I: Do you think the skits help with the coherence?

N: Yeah that’s what they there for (chuckles). You heard Badillac?

I: Yes. Very powerful record.

N: ‘Cause the skits.

I: Were you influenced by any West Coast rap on that one?

N: Most def. I was tryna get that G-funk feel in the whole thing. Yo, Ice Cube had them skits!

I: (Chuckles): You drew from alot of comedians also. Was that intentional?

N: Can’t tell you none of that, but test in power to Bernie Mac.

I: Indeed.

Niño begins to rise, collecting his water bottle.

N: Is this the part where I plug the album?

I: It can be.

N: Well I’ll say go write ya’ll Congresspeople to get the monuments at the Legacy Museum in Alabama and work on ya’ll skits!

As I leave the coffee spot, Niño hands me a cassette tape of the album.

N: (Raps) Never put me in ya box of ya shit eats tapes (Laughs). Peace man.

The irony that Niño masterfully displays in this project, along with the technical skill, creative risks and wins, and themes of black empowerment makes Lite Wont Arrive Late required listening in this turbulent era, where too many give up on progression to easily.

Ian Greenwood is a journalist for Leer Magazine, father of five, and music professor at Paint University.

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thebowerypresents · 5 years ago

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Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real Make Quite a Ruckus at Webster Hall

Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real – Webster Hall – June 12, 2019

Every tour, every show, every new tune, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real deepen their thing. What was years ago a fun and sturdy rock band is still a fun and sturdy rock band but one with that much more command of their strengths, doing more with them. The affable Nelson’s clearly learned so much both from dad Willie and frequent employer Neil Young, and the band celebrates the hallmarks of each while leaning fully toward neither, confident and comfortable cooking with (and in) their own creative juices. Those of us who felt earlier on like Promise of the Real weren’t the second coming of Willie’s band or Crazy Horse but the first coming of Lukas Nelson and his like-minded ruckus-makers have had our faith rewarded and then some. And increasing prominence and accolades—and the band’s much-documented brushes with Hollywood thanks to Nelson’s involvement in 2018’s A Star Is Born—haven’t changed a thing about their rollicking-good-time fundamentals. Damn, they’re a good time.

Promise of the Real landed at a very-sold-out Webster Hall Wednesday night in between stops on Willie’s Outlaw Music Festival. It was one of the few non-festival, Stateside, headlining gigs they have planned this summer, and although it’s never long between visits, they played like New York City hadn’t seen them in years. Stepping out already fastened and revving, they launched into the stomping “Something Real,” and it wasn’t three minutes before the band was loose, loud and their namesake was playing guitar with his teeth. “Four Letter Word” followed next—lithe and cockeyed, like country Doors— and then it was on to the newer “Bad Case,” a steel-dappled rocker in a Tom Petty vein and one of several stellar tunes shared from POTR’s new album. For a lesser band, a set list like this one might have felt like a hodgepodge. But Nelson and his cohorts—Corey McCormick, Anthony LoGerfo, Merlyn Kelly and Tato Melgar, plus brother Micah Nelson—are road-hardened and locked-in, able to keep the energy level high and balanced without a single lag in two hours. There was tender, topical acoustic folk (“Turn Off the News (Build a Garden)”). There was triumphant country-gospel (“Set Me Down on a Cloud”). There was roots with a hint of show tune (“Where Does Love Go”). There was a nod to the Woodstock generation (CSNY’s “Carry On”). There was gristly rock ’n’ soul (“Simple Life” and “Save a Little Heartache”). There was the big crowd swell of familiarity for signature tune “Find Yourself,” heard so often at this point but somehow even better for it given how much the band just flat-out enjoys living in its strutting groove.

Knowing they had the crowd firmly in hand, the band wrapped an originals-heavy set and closed by leaning hard into well-chosen covers, from Paul Simon’s “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” (jammed fun and bouncily with Music Heals International’s Paul Beaubrun guesting on guitar) to Petty (“American Girl”) and finally, Neil, with a “Powderfinger” that arrived like an old friend, coming through the front door with a beer and a big smile. These guys are awesome. They’ve earned their swagger. —Chad Berndtson | @Cberndtson

Photos courtesy of Jeremy Ross | jeremypross.com

@jeremyrossphotography

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blackkudos · 7 years ago

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Della Reese

Della Reese (born Delloreese Patricia Early; July 6, 1931) is an American nightclub, jazz, gospel and pop singer, film and television actress, one-time talk-show hostess and ordained minister, whose career has spanned six decades. She has also appeared as a guest on several talk shows and as a panelist on numerous game shows.

Reese's long career began as a singer, scoring a hit with her 1959 single "Don't You Know?". In the late 1960s, she had hosted her own talk show, Della, which ran for 197 episodes. She also starred in films beginning in 1975, and included playing opposite Redd Foxx in Harlem Nights (1989), Martin Lawrence in A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996) and Elliott Gould in Expecting Mary (2010). She achieved continuing success in the television religious fantasy drama Touched by an Angel (1994–2003), in which Reese played the leading role of Tess.

Early years

Della Reese was born Delloreese Patricia Early on July 6, 1931, in the historic Black Bottom neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan, to Richard Thaddeus Early, an African American steelworker and Nellie (Mitchelle), a Native American cook of the Cherokee tribe. Her mother also had several children before Reese's birth, none of whom lived with her; hence, Reese grew up as an only child. At six years old, Reese began singing in church. From this experience, she became an avid gospel singer. On weekends in the 1940s, she and her mother would go to the movies independently to watch the likes of Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, and Lena Horne portray glamorous lives on screen. Afterwards, Reese would act out the scenes from the films. In 1944, she began her career directing the young people's choir, after she had nurtured acting plus her obvious musical talent. She was often chosen, on radio, as a regular singer. At the age of 13, she was hired to sing with Mahalia Jackson's gospel group. Delloreese entered Detroit's popular Cass Technical High School (where she attended the same year as Edna Rae Gillooly, later known as Ellen Burstyn). She also continued with her touring with Jackson. With higher grades, she was the first in her family to graduate from high school in 1947, at only 15.

Afterwards, she formed her own gospel group, the Meditation Singers. However, due in part to the death of her mother, and her father's serious illness, Reese had to interrupt her schooling at Wayne State University to help support her family. Faithful to the memory of her mother, Deloreese also moved out of her father's house when she disapproved of him taking up with a new girlfriend. She then took on odd jobs, such as truck driver, dental receptionist, and even elevator operator, after 1949. Performing in clubs, Early soon decided to shorten her name from "Delloreese Early" to "Della Reese."

Musical career

Reese was discovered by the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, and her big break came when she won a contest, which gave her a week to sing at Detroit's well-known Flame Show Bar. Reese remained there for eight weeks. Although her roots were in gospel music, she now was being exposed to and influenced by such famous jazz artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday. In 1953, she signed a recording contract with Jubilee Records, for which she recorded six albums. Later that year, she also joined the Hawkins Orchestra. Her first recordings for Jubilee were songs such as "In the Still of the Night" (originally published in 1937), "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" and "Time After Time" (1947). The songs were later included on the album And That Reminds Me (1959).

In 1957, Reese released a single called "And That Reminds Me." After years of performing, she gained chart success with this song. It became a Top Twenty Pop hit and a million-seller record. That year, Reese was voted by Billboard, Cashbox and various other magazines, as "The Most Promising Singer." In 1959, Reese moved to RCA Records and released her first RCA single, called "Don't You Know?," which was adapted from Puccini's music for La Bohème, specifically, the aria Musetta's Waltz. It became her biggest hit to date, reaching the #2 spot on the Pop charts and topping the R&B charts (then called the "Hot R&B Sides") that year. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. Eventually, the song came to be widely considered the signature song of her early career. Reese received a Grammy nomination for her 1960 album, Della and then released a successful follow-up single called "Not One Minute More" (#16). She remained on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the songs "And Now" (#69), "Someday (You'll Want Me to Want You)" (#56) and "The Most Beautiful Words" (#67).

In November 1960, Reese appeared in advertisements in Ebony magazine for the newly launched AMI Continental jukebox. Reese recorded regularly throughout the 1960s, releasing singles and several albums. Two of the most significant were The Classic Della (1962) and Waltz with Me, Della (1963), which broadened her fan base internationally. She recorded several jazz-focused albums, including Della Reese Live (1966), On Strings of Blue (1967) and One of a Kind (1978). She also performed in Las Vegas (Nevada) for nine years and toured across the country. Reese continued to record albums in the following decades, receiving two more Grammy nominations in the gospel category for the album Della Reese and Brilliance (1991) and for the live recorded album, My Soul Feels Better Right Now (1999). Motown singer Martha Reeves cites Reese as a major influence and says she named her group The Vandellas after Van Dyke Street in Detroit and Della Reese.

Television and film career

In 1969, she began a transition into acting work which would eventually lead to her greatest fame. Her first attempt at television stardom was a talk show series, Della, which was cancelled after 197 episodes (June 9, 1969 – March 13, 1970).

In 1970, Reese became the first black woman to guest host The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. She appeared in several TV movies and miniseries, was a regular on Chico and the Man and played the mother of B. A. Baracus in The A-Team episode "Lease with an Option to Die." In 1991, she starred opposite old friend, Redd Foxx, in his final sitcom, The Royal Family, but his death halted production of the series for several months. Reese also did voice-over for the late-1980s animated series A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. In 1989, she starred alongside Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx in the theatrical release movie Harlem Nights, in which she performed a fight scene with Eddie Murphy. Reese appeared as a panelist on several episodes of the popular television game show Match Game.

Television (and podcast) guest appearances

Reese has had a wide variety of guest-starring roles, beginning with an episode of The Mod Squad. This led to other roles in such series as: The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, Getting Together, Police Woman, Petrocelli, Joe Forrester, Police Story, The Rookies,McCloud, Sanford and Son with old friend Redd Foxx, Vega$, Insight and two episodes of The Love Boat. She also had a recurring role on It Takes Two opposite Richard Crenna and Patty Duke, three episodes of Crazy Like a Fox, four episodes of Charlie & Co. opposite Flip Wilson, 227 with best friend Marla Gibbs, MacGyver, Night Court, Dream On, Designing Women, Picket Fences, That's So Raven and The Young and the Restless. She has also been featured (by proxy) on the McElroy family Dungeons and Dragons podcast, The Adventure Zone, after a magical, kickass deity was named after her.

Touched by an Angel

After coping with the death of one of her best friends, Redd Foxx, in 1991, she was reluctant to play an older female lead in the inspirational television drama Touched by an Angel, but went ahead and auditioned for the role of "Tess." She wanted to have a one-shot agreement between CBS and producer Martha Williamson, but ordered more episodes. Reese was widely seen as a key component of the show's success. Already starring on Touched by an Angel was the lesser-known Irish actress Roma Downey, who played the role of case worker Tess's angel/employee, Monica. In numerous interviews, there was an on- and off-screen chemistry between both Reese and Downey.

The character of Tess was the angelic supervisor who sent the other angels out on missions to help people redeem their lives and show them God's love, while at the same time, she was sassy and had a no-nonsense attitude. The show often featured a climactic monologue delivered by the angel Monica in which she reveals herself as an angel to a human with the words: "I am an angel sent by God to tell you that He loves you." The character of Tess was portrayed by Reese as down-to-earth, experienced and direct. Reese also sang the show's theme song, "Walk With You," and was featured prominently on the soundtrack album produced in conjunction with the show.

During its first season in 1994, many critics were skeptical about the show, it being the second overtly religious prime-time fantasy series, after Highway to Heaven. The show had a rocky start, low ratings and was cancelled 11 episodes into the first season. However, with the help of a massive letter-writing campaign, the show was resuscitated the following season and became a huge ratings winner for the next seven seasons. At the beginning of the fourth season in 1997, Reese threatened to leave the show because she was making less than her co-stars; CBS ended up raising her salary. Touched by an Angel was cancelled in 2003, but it continued re-running heavily in syndication and on The Hallmark Channel. Roma Downey said of her on- and off-screen relationship with Reese:

"She's very wise. She's very loving. She can be a little gruff at times, but she's always adoring and adorable. I lost my mother when I was very young, and during my whole adolescence and into my twenties, I'd been looking for a mother figure, and I really think I can say with absolute truth and sincerity that I feel that I finally found her in Della Reese."

Downey later also said:

"I think I'll just always remember the feel of her neck against my cheek when she hugs me and the love I know that she has for me and the love that I feel for her and the love that she has for God. To know Della is to know that she loves God."

Personal life

Reese's mother, Nellie Mitchelle Early, died in 1949 of a cerebral hemorrhage. Reese's father, Richard Early, died ten years later. Reese had an adoptive daughter whom she acquired from a family member unable to care for her, named Deloreese Daniels Owens, in 1961. Owens died on March 14, 2002. It was never released whether she died from suicide or from implications stemming from pituitary disease. Reese said about the painful experience, sharing her frustration with the lack of awareness and knowledge of pituitary disorders,

"When it happened, I thought, 'It's such an odd thing to die from,' because pituitary problems aren't something you hear about. It makes it harder because you don't understand what happened. It seemed so strange and hard to explain. It still is, to be honest."

In 1952 Reese married factory worker Vermont Adolphus Bon Taliaferro, nineteen years her senior, and adopted the stage name Pat Ferro for a week, before introducing her current name - though sources differ as to whether this was after the failure of the marriage, or simply a show-business decision.

A second marriage ceremony, on 28 December 1959, to accountant Leroy Basil Gray, who had two children by a previous marriage, was kept secret for some time. This marriage either ended in divorce or was annulled on the basis that Gray's previous divorce was invalid.

Reese appears to have been briefly married to Mercer Ellington (who was then her manager) in 1961, before this was annulled due to Ellington's Mexican divorce being ruled invalid.

In 1979, after taping a guest spot for The Tonight Show, she suffered a near-fatal brain aneurysm, but made a full recovery after two surgeries by neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Drake at University Hospital in London, Ontario. In 1983, she married Franklin Thomas Lett, Jr., a concert producer and writer. In 2002, Reese announced on Larry King Live that she had been diagnosed with type-2 diabetes, but didn't come as a surprise considering what she ate and what her diet consisted of, as well as her weight. She loved cake, especially chocolate. She became a spokeswoman for the American Diabetes Association, traveling around the United States to raise awareness about this disorder. In 2005, Reese was honored by Oprah Winfrey at her Legends Ball ceremony, along with 25 other black women.

Reese was ordained as a minister through the Christian New Thought branch known as Unity, after serving as the senior minister and founder of her own church, Understanding Principles for Better Living. The "Up Church" is under Universal Foundation For Better Living, a denomination of Christian New Thought founded by Rev. Johnnie Colemon, a close friend of Rev. Reese-Lett. In 2014, the IRS Criminal Division began investigating the disappearance of nearly $2 million from church banking investments, as well as very questionable/misappropriation of church funds and not paying church employees their earned wages. They currently meet at First Lutheran Church (www.firsting.org) in Inglewood, California. In her ministerial work, she is known as the Rev. Dr. Della Reese Lett.

On July 6, 2011, Reese celebrated her 80th Birthday at the Catalina Jazz Club in Los Angeles, California. In 2015, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.

On August 29, 2016, nearly two months after she celebrated her 85th birthday, Reese was said to be in failing health, as she uses a wheelchair, following two serious brain surgeries. She also admitted about her suffering from diabetes, "My life is at stake," she said. "I don’t have type 2 diabetes — type 2 diabetes has me." Reese is not wheelchair bound, and tries to avoid using one often because it could make her condition worse. Prior to attending the ceremony to honor her former co-star and long-term friend, Roma Downey, who herself, received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, years after her mentor, she also admitted (after collapsing on the set of Touched by an Angel) in 2014, contributed to her diabetes, after years of eating her old, nightly snacks of fried chicken, potato chips, ice cream, candy bars and cola, who was very frustrated because she didn't do anything to prevent her health, when she did the best she could to control her disease, "With diet, exercise and medication, I took control of my diabetes," she stated. "I lost 20 pounds and lowered my blood sugar from between 275 and 300 to between 67 and 110." After her last appearance on Signed, Sealed, Delivered, she had retired from acting.

FilmographyFilmTelevision

Awards and nominations

Awards

1994: Hollywood Walk of Fame: 7060 Hollywood Boulevard – Television

1996: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel

1997: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel

1998: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel

1999: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel

2000: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel

2001: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel

2002: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel

Nominations

1960: Grammy Award – Don't You Know

1961: Grammy Award – Della (Album)

1991: Grammy Award – Della Reese and Brilliance

1997: Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel

1997: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel

1998: Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel

1998: Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Made for TV Series – Touched by an Angel

1998: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series – Touched by an Angel

1999: Grammy Award – My Soul Feels Better Right Now

2000: Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting By a Female Performer in an Animated Feature – Dinosaur

Wikipedia

#Della Reese #07-06

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