Ed--August 29

Been listening to Al Green's 1970 release, "Al Green Gets Next to You." I picked up the album at the library, primarily because I’d heard an Arkansas Public Radio piece on Roosevelt Sykes, an Arkansan who wrote “Driving Wheel,” cut #6 on the album.
This album is pre-Rev. Green, pre-“Let’s Stay Together,” but it has some really good R&B stuff on it. It has a little more edge on it than his most familiar stuff. “Tired of Being Alone” scores the "most likely to get repurposed as a contemporary TV spot soundtrack" award.
My favorite cut is the aforementioned “Driving Wheel,” which was also covered by Junior Parker. I'm going to bet Keith Richards picked up the hook lick from "Last Time," from this song. This version kicks the song in the butt. I took it to the band, and got a lot of “I’ve never heard that song before…people won’t know that one…” responses (someday Gio—since it’s mostly you and I on here anyway—we need to start us up a real honest-to-god R&B band that forges its way into people’s hearts on the strength of its grooves). Also notable are the title cut, and the blues standard, “I’m a Ram.” There’s a pretty surreal version of “Light my Fire,” in which he talks the verses. Kind of like William Shatner, only Al pulls it off. This is some good listening, which I’d never heard before.

I’ve also come late to listening to the Beatles’ “Love,” a masterful piece of remixing, proving again that we may never see the likes of anyone else who can play the studio like George Martin. It might be kind of interesting to see if he and Paul could come up with anything new and remarkable today.

I have a couple of more things in the queue, and will try to get back to posting more regularly.

Morty's sappy side

As predicted, I have been listening to the latest releases by Swan Dive and Stephen Bishop -- both Bossa Nova CDs. I'm getting quite mellow as I'm driving (my best listening space). Hope I don't nod off, but I really am enjoying them.

Swan Dive has always had a bit of BN, but this one is full tilt, as is Stephen's, thanks to Brazilian guitarist/producer Oscar Castro-Neves (who was with the first Brazil 66). As Todd Rundgren did a decade ago with his With A Twist CD, Stephen takes some of his most well known songs and redoes them BN, but he also wrote some new ones for this release, of which my favorite is Take This Empty Heart. It seems that Stephen has taken the Paul McCartney route of releasing his CD through one retailer: Target (Paul's was Starbucks). I also noticed that Kenny Loggins has a new one only out on the Target label, too. That wacky music biz!

You can hear bits of both the BN CDs on the MySpace pages I linked to their names. If so inclined, you may also visit their official sites, www.swandive.org and www.stephenbishop.com.

Needless to say, I'll probably be ready for some balls-to-the-wall rock pretty damn soon ...

The Harmonies of August

Been listening to a new group out of England called The Puppini Sisters. They do old and new songs alike in an Andrews Sisters style. (They also have a guitarist that obviously likes Django.) Love their voices and harmonies. I especially like their 1940s-style versions of I Will Survive and Heart Of Glass. My favorite this week is their cover of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights. I like it better than the original. The CD is called Betcha Bottom Dollar. Their MySpace page has videos (scroll down on the page) of live performances and a wonderful animation of Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. Taking a retro sound and making it fresh is always cool, plus they sing great and look great with 40s style hair and clothes.

When my budget can afford it I will be getting 2 new Bossa Nova CDs; one each from Swan Dive and Stephen Bishop. I'll report in on them then! Bye for now.