Bobbie Gentry – Apartment 21

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Bobbie Gentry in the studio at Muscle Shoals

Listen/Download – Bobbie Gentry – Apartment 21

Greetings all.

If you have been following the blog or podcast, you will already know that I’m a big fan of John Buck Wilkin, especially his 1970 LP ‘In Search Of Food Clothing Shelter And Sex’.

Wilkin, who had one of the most interesting careers of the 1960s, only recorded two albums under his own name, with ‘In Search Of Food Clothing Shelter And Sex’ being the first.

What is especially interesting, is that even though the record was not commercially successful, it spawned a number of interesting cover versions.

Though Wilkin was himself a talented songwriter and performer, this publishing reach may have had something to do with the fact that his mother, Marijohn Wilkin was a very successful songwriter, and his close friend, Kris Kristofferson, was, well….Kris Kristofferson.

Among those artists that chose to cover songs from ‘In Search Of Food Clothing Shelter And Sex’., were Odetta, Hedge and Donna, Newbury Park, Randy Horan, Wayne Newton and a group called the California Earthquake.

Today’s selection is yet another cover of a song from that album, by none other than Bobbie Gentry.

Gentry’s version of ‘Apartment 21’, released in 1970 was a non-album single, and was a minor hit in a number of regional markets.

Her take on the song, recorded in Muscle Shoals with Rick Hall, has a slightly more country feeling to it than the original. The arrangement, with subtle layers of strings and woodwinds, as well as some interesting fuzz guitar, does justice to the original.

It’s a great example of Wilkin’s talents as a songwriter.

If you go back and listen to his work with Ronny and the Daytonas (especially the ‘Sandy’ album) and his two solo records, it makes you wonder what he might have been capable of if his work had been met with the popularity it deserved.

I hope you dig the cut, and I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

 

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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Iron Leg Radio Show Episode #93 – Christmas Special!

Why hello there!

Playlist

Christmas Spirit – Christmas Is My Time of Year (White Whale)
Canned Head – Christmas Blues (Liberty)
Allan Sherman – The 12 Gifts of Christmas (WB)
Stan Freberg – Christmas Dragnet (Yulenet) (Capitol)

Jean Shepherd – Duel In the Snow of Red Ryder Nails the Cleveland Street Kid (1974 WOR Broadcast)

Louis Armstrong – The Night Before Christmas (Continental Production Company)
Vince Guaraldi – Christmastime Is Here (WB)

Listen/Download -Iron Leg Radio Show Episode #93 2018 Christmas Special!- 180MB/256kbps

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It’s Iron Leg Radio time again!

What you see before you is a very special, spur of the moment/impromptu edition of the Iron Leg Radio Show!

In celebration of the Christmas season, and that I had that Jean Shepherd broadcast waiting to go (and a little time to burn) I descended into the basement studio, right next to the Christmas tree, and let-er rip (thanks to the folks that made the scene live!).

So pull down the ones and zeroes, pour yourself some nog, and dig it@

Click here to subscribe to any of the Funky16Corners Radio Network shows!

See you next week!

Peace

Larry

 

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

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Fairport Convention – I’ll Keep It With Mine

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Fairport Convention

Listen/Download – Fairport Convention – I’ll Keep It With Mine

Greetings all.

The song you see before you today has long been a favorite of mine,since I first heard it by Nico back in the day.

It wasn’t long after that, that I found the version by Fairport Convention, which quickly become my favorite.

‘I’ll Keep It With Mine’ was written and recorded (as a demo) by Bob Dylan in 1964.

It was soon recorded by Judy Collins, then Nico (on Chelsea Girl) and then by Fairport in 1969 for the album ‘What We Did On Our Holidays’.

The single of the tune was only released here in the US.

‘I’ll Keep It With Mine’ is one of those Dylan songs that provides a strong bedrock, yet was only brought to full flower in the hands of other performers.

While I love Nico’s version, the Fairport recording is beyond sublime.

When they recorded ‘What We Did On Our Holidays’, Fairport Convention had just brought in Sandy Denny to replace Judy Dyble, and began what I consider to be their peak era.

I pretty much dig everything Fairport did, but the brief period when Denny, Iain Matthews and Richard Thompson were all in the band produced some spectacular music.

At their best, they were always a unique synthesis of US West Coast sounds – with Jefferson Airplane being an important touchstone – and a unique English lyricism, adjacent to much of the best popsike of the day.

The fact that they had two beautiful lead voices, in Denny and Matthews, and one of the greatest guitarists in rock history in Thompson, made them one of the great bands of their time.

Their version of ‘I’ll Keep It With Mine’ drifts in gently, like a leaf on the wind, building slowly into a stunning chorus where all of Fairport Convention’s greatest elements combine into something truly special.

By the time they recorded ‘Unhalfbricking’, Matthews was out of the band, and after their landmark ‘Leige and Leif’ Denny was off to join Fotheringay.

If you haven’t explored the first four Fairport albums, and you’re a fan of folk rock and psyche, do yourself a favor and dig in.

Until next week.

Peace

Larry

 

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

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Iron Leg Radio Show Episode #92

Why hello there!

Playlist

Ananda Shankar – Jumping Jack Flash (Reprise)
Chris Farlowe – Out of Time (Immediate)
Folkswingers – Paint It Black (World Pacific)
Phoenix Authority – Honky Tonk Women (Mainstream)

Thelma Houston – Jumping Jack Flash (ABC/Dunhill)
Merry Clayton – Gimme Shelter (Ode)
Rod Stewart – Street Fighting Man (Mercury)
Little Richard – Brown Sugar (Reprise)

Norman T Washington – Jumping Jack Flash (Pama)
Ted Heath and His Music – Satisfaction (Decca)
Mojo Men – Off the Hook (Autumn)
Living Guitars – Ruby Tuesday (Camden)
Louis Prima with Sam Butera and the Witnesses – Symphony For the Devil (Pr1Ma)

Moog Machine – Jumping Jack Flash (Columbia)
Jennifer – I Am Waiting (Parrot)
Jennifer Warnes – Back Street Girl (Reprise)
Claudine Longet – Let’s Spend the Night Together (Barnaby)

Listen/Download -Iron Leg Radio Show Episode #92- 180MB/256kbps

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It’s Iron Leg Radio time again!

We have a very cool show for you this month dedicated to cover versions of Rolling Stones songs. There are some old faves and a few things that might surprise you, so pull down the ones and zeroes and give it a listen.

Click here to subscribe to any of the Funky16Corners Radio Network shows!

See you next week!

Peace

Larry

 

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

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Trombones Unlimited – Sunday Morning

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Frank Rosolino

Listen/Download – Trombones Unlimited – Sunday Morning

Greetings all.

This week we pull something from the ‘easy but interesting’ file.

Margo Guryan’s ‘Sunday Morning’ is one of those sort of “hidden’ standards of the 1960s, in that it was a wonderful song, covered a bunch of times, yet doesn’t seem to have broken through to the wider consciousness.

Among the great versions of the song are those by Spanky and Our Gang, Oliver, and Julie London, among others.

The version I bring you today comes from an unusual source, that being Trombones Unlimited.

Trombones Unlimited were a studio group out of Southern California that recorded a half dozen albums between 1966 and 1969 for the Liberty label.

The albums were arranged by Eddie Karam, Tommy Oliver and George Tipton, and some of them featured serious jazz players like Frank Rosolino.

Today’s selection comes from the group’s final album, 1969’s ‘Grazing In the Grass’ where it was alongside covers of tunes by Aretha Franlin, Sam and Dave, Tommy James and the Shondells and Hugh Masekela.

This is not to suggest that the end result was in any way soulful, which it wasn’t. My guess is that the sounds were supposed to appeal to ‘beautiful music’ stations and the cover info was supposed to reel in unsuspecting kids and hi-fi hipsters.

The cool thing is, Guryan’s melody is so wonderful that it manages to survive the buttery treatment it gets here.

These albums, like many similar instrumental efforts pumped out by Liberty, Imperial and so many other labels in the 60s, are cheap, and worth picking up if you are a cover version junky like myself.

I hope you dig it and I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

 

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If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

Dave Mason – Shouldn’t Have Took More Than You Gave

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Dave Mason

Listen/Download – Dave Mason – Shouldn’t Have Took More Than You Gave

Greetings all.

Today’s selection is one of my all-time favorite records.

I first fell in love with the song ‘Shouldn’t Have Took More Than You Gave’ when I picked up the Traffic album ‘Welcome to the Canteen’ sometime in the late 70s.
The album, which was originally released without the name ‘Traffic’ on the cover (choosing to list the musicians separately), was their first live album.

It was composed of several Traffic tunes, a Spencer Davis Group cover, and two songs from Dave Mason’s (who was on the verge of leaving the band for good) first solo album.

That album, ‘Alone Together’ was recorded in Los Angeles in 1970 with a collection of Mason’s friends, many of them coming from the Leon Russell/Delaney & Bonnie universe.

‘Shouldn’t Have Took More Than You Gave’ opens slowly with a guitar lick, followed by Russell’s piano, and a banjo doubling the guitar line.

The tune has a uniquely mournful feel to it and Mason’s vocal and guitar are great.

The rest of the album, featuring the equally excellent ‘Sad and Deep As You’ (which also appeared on ‘Welcome To the Canteen’) and the rock radio classic ‘Only You Know and I Know’ which was a hit for Mason, as well as Delaney and Bonnie the following year (it was rerecorded by a bunch of singers, including Rita Coolidge, who appears on this album).

If you dig the sounds, keep an eye out for the album. If you get lucky you might find the version I have, with the weird marbled vinyl (see above) and the big fold-out cover.

See you all next week.

Peace

Larry

 

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

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PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.

Chad Mitchell – Genuine Imitation Life

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Chad, psychedelicized on the album cover

Listen/Download – Chad Mitchell – Genuine Imitation Life

Greetings all.

The track I bring you today comes from one of the most interesting albums of the late 60s.

Chad Mitchell’s post-Trio recording career – two albums for Warner Brothers and one for Bell/Dunwich – is a great case of artistic success existing in a vacuum.

Coming from the commercial folk scene, Mitchell took his big tenor voice and reinvented himself as a folk rocker/troubadour, mainly as an interpreter of other people’s material.

His second album, an interesting experiment with Mitchell under the guidance of Bob Dorough and Stu Scharf should be sought out by fans of interesting 60s pop.

Today’s selection hails from his third album, 1968’s ‘Chad’.

Recorded in Chicago by the Dunwich Records crew (Bill Traut and Eddie Higgins), ‘Chad’ is a fantastic collection of moody, baroque pop, almost in a Scott Walker vein, with Mitchell performing tunes by The Youngbloods, HP Lovecraft, the Association and Tim Buckley.

Most interestingly, Mitchell recorded four tunes written by Jake Holmes.

Holmes is remembered mostly these days for having written and recorded the original version of ‘Dazed and Confused’, but in the late 60s he was a prolific composer and was working with the likes of the Four Seasons (in their brief progressive period) and Frank Sinatra (in his).

The tune I bring you today first appeared on Holmes’ first Tower LP ‘The Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes’ released in 1967.

‘Genuine Imitation Life’ – also recorded by the Four Seasons, in a much different version on their ‘Genuine Imitation Life Gazette’ concept album – is a slow burner, starting out quietly, then building to a melodramatic finish.

I think Mitchell’s version is beautiful, bringing life to the dark, somewhat melancholy melody.

I have played Mitchell’s version on my radio show, and some of the listeners found his delivery overwrought, but it’s right up my alley .

The rest of the album is cool, and while it remains obscure, you can probably pick up a copy for yourself for less than ten bucks.

I hope you dig the music, and I’ll see you all next week.

Peace

Larry

 

________________________________________________

If you dig what we do here or over at Funky16Corners, please consider clicking on the Patreon link and throwing something into the yearly operating budget! Do it and we’ll send you some groovy Funky16Corners Radio Network (and related) stickers!

_______________________________________________

PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.