Keep Your Ears and Eyes Open

Sam Chatmon doing three songs. Born in the 19th century, like many blues artists he didn't start getting the credit such an amazing artist deserves until the 1960s and 1970s when he started touring and recording, by then he was well into his 60s. Incredible.

Song of the Day No.61

Used To Be

by Rory Gallagher (Deuce, 1971)

Originally, the blues was a predominantly black-American past-time, officially emerging in 1912 with the publication of the first blues sheet music but like other genres, traces of early activity have been reported up to ten years before. Recordings continued through the 20s, 30s with the evolution to electrified blues in the 50s but it wasn't really until the post-war baby boom kids starting taking an interest in the late 50s/early 60s that these journeymen musicians started receiving wider attention and commercial benefits. A good example being that upon arriving in the US, The Beatles stated that they really wanted to see Muddy Waters, to which one journalist replied with the question “Where's that?”.

Rory Gallagher was part of this British influence on world blues appreciation forming Taste in 1966 and releasing two blues-rock studios albums before embarking a successful blues-drenched solo career that would start with the self-titled debut and follow-up, Deuce, being released in the same year. Also in 1971, Rory Gallagher beat Eric Clapton to being voted the International Top Musician of the Year by Melody Maker magazine. All through his life, and after his death in 1995, Gallagher received plaudits from luminaries as illustrious Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Marr, Slash and Brian May but never really achieved the stardom he deserved.

'Used To Be' is pure blues-rock. From the opening guitar riff that rips a big dirty hole in the silence between tracks to Gallagher's earthy growl and the song's lovelorn subject matter. The blues and love troubles go hand in hand and 'Used To Be' revolves around a scowling one-line riposte for a chorus “Better get used to bein' my used to be” that dovetails into a typically catchy, meaty Gallagher riff. If you like the blues but haven't listened to Rory yet, you're missing out.

AR

Podcast

House On Fire No.4 by House On Fire on Mixcloud

You can listen from this page or follow the link to mixcloud.com and listen from there. I hope you enjoy it...

Tracklisting

1. Mini-Skirt And Go Go Boots - Lloyd & Glen - 2:35
2. Talk To Your Daughter - J.B. Lenoir - 2:45
3. Don't Cry No More - Bobby Bland - 2:29
4. I Want To Hold Your Hand - Al Green - 2:16
5. Radar Eyes - The Godz - 2:11
6. Lovefingers - Silver Apples - 4:12
7. Baron Saturday - The Pretty Things - 4:02
8. Ubu Dance Party - Pere Ubu - 4:50
9. Final Request - Josef K - 2:23
10. She's Like Heroin To Me - The Gun Club - 2:36
11. Zanzíbar - Toundra - 4:55
12. Cold Hard Times - Lee Hazlewood - 2:23

Keep Your Ears and Eyes Open

This is the Dj that first played Elvis Presley on the radio (listen out for the mentions). Legend has it, he played the record, 'That's All Right', back to back 14 times that first night because he was so amazed by the exciting fresh sound.

Dewey Phillips was a legend in his own right by having an individual style defying the stations and by being one of very few/first radio Djs around to play R&B, country, blues, jazz and anything in between.

After a bit of Dewey's machine gun style delivery he plays Sister Rosetta Tharpe singing 'Strange Things Happen'. Phenomenal.

Keep Your Ears and Eyes Open

The Rolling Stones, need I say more? 'Little Red Rooster', written by Willie Dixon, was the Stones' second number 1. Their first being a Bobby Womack song 'It's All Over Now' in July 1964, no excuses now if that comes up in a music quiz!

Song Of The Day No.40

Ministry Of Bag

by Jack Bruce (Songs For A Tailor, 1969)

Jack Bruce's curriculum vitae reads quite like no other; from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Blues Incorporated and the Graham Bond Organisation to John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, Manfred Mann, Cream, free jazz and Frank Zappa. Perhaps most famous for writing the bass riff that defines the Cream song 'Sunshine Of Your Love'. Songs For A Tailor, recorded after but released before the double-bass dominated jazz album Things We Like, sold well but had a mixed reception in the music press. The album, is now however, regarded as his best solo release.

All the lyrics on the album were written by long time collaborator Peter Brown and the music by Bruce himself. Ministry Of Bag is the most overtly blues song on an album that inventively mixes rock, jazz and blues over ten tracks. The brass section parps and the bass bounds high in the mix while unfussy licks roll of the guitar with ease. The drum kit is also prominent providing an upbeat jazz/rock/soul mixture that also nods towards funk. The lyrics make for a strange nonsense passage describing life in an office with various references to food, but the way they fit the song means you don't often realise the absurdity of the subject matter.

AR

Song Of The Day No.34

Idiot Son

by Red Red Meat (Bunny Gets Paid, 1995)

It only took a name change and an addition to the line-up the group to find their sound and release a debut on their own record label, Perishable Records. After being invited on a ten-date tour with another Chicago outfit, The Smashing Pumpkins, Red Red Meat became the first Chicago band to sign to Sub Pop Records. Bunny Gets Paid was the band's second effort on Sub-Pop and is generally regarded as the best as the band made a concerted effort to produce a cleaner, fuzz-reduced album embracing the blues and folk roots they'd always had.

'Idiot Son' is a coming together of the bands influences on display. A skuzzy guitar plugs in and starts the song with a simple but effective riff, then a little in a twanging slide guitar penetrates both the vocals and the fuzz to add to the noise. The reverberating guitar falls away leaving the slide to take centre-stage zipping around Tim Rutili's ever-so-slightly gravelled vocals. The guitars continue to clatter and clammer for attention, driven on by the steady drum beat, until the fade. In this song indie-rock makes the blues louder and the blues makes indie-rock rawer.

AR

¡VOTE!

St. James Infirmary Blues.

This traditional American folk song has been interpreted under various guises and is represented in various genres from Louis Armstrong, who first made it famous in 1928, to The White Stripes, on their 1999 self-titled debut.

Below we have sifted and shifted through to pick four different tracks that deserve some mention or distinction. After sampling each song and carefully analysing it's merits you need to go to the sidebar to vote for whichever incarnation you believe to be best...

Here's what to do:
1) click 'Read More'
2) listen to the tracks
3) vote for your bestest

Keep Your Ears and Eyes Open

Here's Eric Clapton explaining a little about Robert Johnson and playing 'Stones In My Passway'.

Love him or hate him he is a guitar genius. Eric Clapton, 18 when he joined The Yardbirds, has played the blues (or variations of) all his life and in the mini-documentary, from which the video is taken, he explains that he found it difficult learning to play and sing the Robert Johnson songs at the same time. It just goes to show how amazing Mr Johnson was.



If you want to skip the chit-chat, the song starts at around the 3 minute mark. The vid is taken from the album Sessions For Robert J. which is a CD & DVD pack and is well worth a small investment.

11 songs on the CD and 17 on the DVD, plus some insightful comments, on location performances and most importantly of all; some good and proper blues playing.

Song Of The Day No.9

Long After Tonight Is Over

by Irma Thomas (Various Best Of/Greatest Hits)

This originally unreleased Burt Bacharach penned Imperial single starts with the scraping and tapping of a güiro plus the pinging of a common-or-garden bell. The Soul Queen of New Orleans starts by singing about a more innocent time when she didn't exactly know what her lips were for. A rumble of drums marks the entrance of the backing singers, the chorus and the raising of a notch in the canon of Thomas' vocal prowess. Further notches are to be raised as the song progresses with the Soul Queen's voice outshining the harmonies and the accompanying strings easily. The strings, along with the prominent drums, provide a good platform for the song with the strings often mimicking the power of brass while retaining the intricacies more typically associated with string instruments.

Irma Thomas' career has now spanned over fifty years and today she is still making records. She won a Grammy in 2006 for Best Contemporary Blues Album bringing her some overdue recognition after undeservedly not achieving the commercial success of Diana Ross or Aretha Franklin in the sixties.

AR