The Twilight Zone

Veering away from music for a bit, I've been on a major Twilight Zone kick over the past few months.  I go in and out of these cycles--since I have the definitive collection box set of every episode on dvd, I can pick and choose what ones I want to see.  They aren't all winners, and some are horribly outdated, but the ones that hit ("Eye of the Beholder", "Obsolete Man", "To Serve Man", to name a few), are right on, and are almost a precursor to the surrealness of Kubrick and Lynch, and remind me of some of my favorite films, like "Seconds" (see one of my first posts on this blog for more details) and "Carnival of Souls".   A few years ago, my wife and I ran through the series, and I now recently have been revisiting some of my favorites.  There isn't much on t.v. that interests me these days, so I always go back to the Sci-Fi mysteries of The Twilight Zone.

A Saturday Score

Picked up all 12 of these records at a Seattle Goodwill two Saturday's ago.  Probably the best batch of records I've ever found from a thrift shop:  the first two Leroy Hutson albums, The Spinners, Eddie Kendricks, Houston Person on Westbound Records, Blue Magic, Donny Hathaway, among the others that you see here.  The most amazing thing is the condition of these records--completely flawless, which honestly I've had the worst luck with thrift store records so I was shocked to see that these records where in great shape.  A few of the records even had the shrink wrap still on the album covers.  Here are a few of my favorite tracks off of my score from a few weeks ago:

   

Giving Up

Reading the website "Soul Strut" and their daily countdown of the Strut 100 got me inspired to pull out Donny Hathaway's self-titled album, which I haven't listened to in over a year.  It is listed as #98 on the Strut 100 countdown.  The album Donny Hathaway, Donny's second solo release is, in my opinion, over half of a great album, with a few lesser tracks.  I would say the first half of the album is mind-blowing, from "Giving Up", "A Song For You", "Magnificent Sanctuary Band", and "She Is My Lady".  The gospel-tinged closer, "Put Your Hand In The Hand" is inspiring as well.  Overall, an almost-flawless album, maybe not as good as Everything is Everything (which is flawless), but very close.  A man with a voice from the heavens, Donny Hathaway was one of our greatest soul singers, but I'm even more impressed by his vocal phrasings...the way the words emerge from his voice, and the urgency in which they are delivered.  Here is my favorite track on his 1971 release Donny Hathaway.  It gets me every time.

  

Crusaders: 1

The Crusaders 1, was one of the first Jazz albums, and Jazz groups, that I was exposed to at a young age by my Dad, along with Grover Washington, and George Benson.  This album was an interesting one for the Crusaders, as they began the transition from the Jazz Crusaders to the Crusaders, a more fusion-oriented group.  They really laid out the funk on this one!  Here is the track, "Three Children", a nice slab of funk with some tasty piano keys underneath the funk. 

When Nothings Left

Song of the day, featuring Exile sampling Otis Redding's "That's How Strong My Love Is".  I loved Exile's production on Blu Below the Heavens album, and while I'm not necessarily feeling this album as a whole, I really enjoy this track.  Magic can still be created on a 4 track!

The Lure of Abbey Road

The Beatles Abbey Road

The Beatles Abbey Road appeared to well-liked among jazz and soul types alike.  Within a year after the release of The Beatles classic, George Benson released his take on Abbey Road, titled The Other Side of Abbey Road.

 The Other Side of Abbey Road featured wonderful jazzy, soulful, and funky renditions of the Beatles songs with the likes of Herbie Hancock on organ and piano, Latin great Ray Barretto on percussion, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, and Bob James on the keyboards, among many others.  It also featured a few versions of Benson singing a few of the songs, word for word.  Here is one of my favorite tracks off of Benson's The Other Side of Abbey Road, "I Want You", featuring Benson's vocals and Freddie Hubbard on the trumpet.

 In 1970, Booker T was a huge fan of The Beatles Abbey Road album, so much so that we wanted to record a tribute to the album as well.

McLemore Avenue (the street in which Stax Records in Memphis is located) is a well-executed, soulful rendition of The Beatles classic.  It's amazing to think when Booker T assembled The MGs to record this, most of the band players were not familiar with the album Abbey Road.  Steve Cropper pulls off some wonderful guitar solos.  It seems like he's fully aware of the structure of The Beatles songs, so it's just amazing to me that he was basically instructed by Booker T on what chords to play.  I love their meditative version of "Because". 

You may ask, why were a few of the soul and jazz greats so attracted to The Beatles Abbey Road?  Surely, they could sense the musical brilliance of the fab four, as Booker T commented later on how attracted he was to the chords they used, and the melodies that came out of the chords.  This is probably why an outstanding band like The MGs could turn a beautiful track like "Because" into a beautiful, soulful instrumental.  Great bands and musicians respected The Beatles musical chops.     

The Mohawks: The Champ

Picked up The Mohawks on cd last week.  I've been familiar with their hit "The Champ", but wasn't aware (until google) how often that song has been sampled.  Now, it makes sense when realizing that I own albums by Redman, Eric B & Rakim, EPMD, Edan, KRS-One, and De La Soul, that I listened to frequently back in college, in which the "The Champ" has been sampled.  And of course, Onyx's hit "Slam" back in high school, where they took the chorus of "The Champ".  Anyway, the album The Champ is a good listen beyond just the title hit.  Alan Hawkshaw, the British composer and performer who has done some great funky Library music from the 60's (see the compilation Bite Hard for some of his funky solo instrumentals), is the main man behind The Mohawks, with the rest of the band featuring various session musicians.  I love Hawkshaw's Hammond Organ playing, can't get enough of that sound.