Vignetten, Vol. 25
Updates von blechtram Kommentarverlauf ein-/ausschalten | Tastaturkürzel
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Otis Redding: The Very Best of Otis Redding
Rating: 8.6/10
Rated as: Anthology
Compilation Status: Decent Overview
Released: 2000
Recorded: 1962–1967
Specific Genre: Southern Soul
Main Genre: Soul, R&B
Undertones: Deep Soul, Rhythm&Blues
Label: Atco1.1 Respect 1.2 Try a Little Tenderness 1.3 Love Man 1.4 Shake 1.5 Mr. Pitiful 1.6 I Can’t Turn You Loose 1.7 Pain in My Heart 1.8 You Left the Water Running 1.9 My Lover’s Prayer 1.10 Tramp 1.11 Chained and Bound 1.12 That’s How Strong My Love Is 1.13 My Girl 1.14 Cigarettes and Coffee 1.15 It’s Growing 1.16 The Match Game 1.17 Nobody Know You (When You’re Down and Out) 1.18 I’m a Changed Man 1.19 Your One and Only Man 1.20 (Sittin‘ On) The Dock of the Bay
2.1 I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now) 2.2 These Arms of Mine 2.3 Hard to Handle 2.4 That’s What My Heart Needs 2.5 Security 2.6 Satisfaction 2.7 Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa (Sad Song) 2.8 The Happy Song (Dum Dum) 2.9 Come to Me 2.10 A Change is Gonna Come 2.11 Lovey Dovey 2.12 You Don’t Miss Your Water 2.13 I’ve Got Dreams to Remember 2.14 Down in the Valley 2.15 Just One More Day 2.16 You Made a Man Out of Me 2.17 Tell the Truth 2.18 For Your Precious Love 2.19 Free Me 2.20 I Love You More than Words Can SayYou know what, Otis? You’re country! –That’s all right!
Consumer Guide: This contains all 16 songs from The Very Best of Otis Redding (Rhino), shares 9 (of 16) with Rhino’s Volume 2 and gives you 15 songs that are present on neither release. It also features two songs, „Nobody Knows You (When You’re Down and Out“ and „You Made a Man Out of Me“, that are not present on the four-disc box set Otis! The Definitive Otis Redding – which in my view qualifies as a counter-argument against that „definitive“ in the title. These tracks are criminally overlooked on most other compilations claiming to be „essential“ or „definite“. While the former is a blues standard, the latter is a hypnotically upbeat and essential gem of Redding’s posthumous catalogue (otherwise available on The Immortal Otis Redding, 1968). This puts this double-disc in a weird place, having at least one song that was overlooked even on the box set. Of course it doesn’t compare to the box set or even The Original Album Series. Anyway – it is a better catch than other single or twofer discs, comparable to the slightly better Dreams to Remember: The Otis Redding Anthology, only to be outshone by box sets and album collections. Actually, the main lesson I learned by reviewing this is that the Otis! box set is only worthwhile for the three pre-fame tracks and the live disc – you’ll need to get his (official and posthumous) album output anyway not to miss a highlight. Well then.
Otis Redding is about energy. Maybe you like your Otis full of soul, maybe you like him danceable and fun, maybe you’re looking for a bluesy, rocking or sexually charged Otis. It’s all here of course, and he’ll always give it the absolute fullest . The curious thing about Redding is that his voice totally dominates the music while it simultaneously mingles with the band’s instrumentation – especially with the impeccable and precise horn section, like another weird, articulate trombone. Especially in the end of the songs, when Redding has run out of lyrics and the fade-out starts, he regularly goes into a mode of soulful, passionate mumbling, continuing to spout the song’s taglines, thus keeping up the energy of the song and accompanying it to its end. With Otis, the song isn’t overuntil it’s been ran over by his own voice.
I also like the fact that Redding’s voice doesn’t fit the mellifluous, full and silky tonality of soul prototypes at all: It is pretty hoarse for the fact he’s a singer totally accepted by mainstream, his technique relies on a phrasing that gives himjustenoughbreath (as opposed to the countless soul singers that use the music mainly to prove how long they can hold a note), he drops into a coarse whisper now and then, even sounds restrained, just to come back with a lot of pressure in the next line, and so on – but there’s just so much substance to his performance. Clearly Mick Jagger’s role model as a singer, instead of say, the later Motown scene. Redding did blues-based soul and rhythm&blues, but he steered towards rock&roll (without recording a single song that would classify as such – even the Stones‘ „Satisfaction“ is made into a redding-fied shuffle here).
This twofer disc contains numerous classics. Don’t even bother with all the „My Girl“, all the „Tenderness“, the „Love Man“. Here we have the ultimate swag number „Hard to Handle“, which is the most concentrated dose of hyperbolic self-esteem boost containable in 140 seconds. Walking down the street listening to this, I have trouble not to stop in the middle of traffic shouting
„PRETTYLITTLETHING
LEMMELIGHTYO’CANDLE
COZMAMMA
I’MSHO’HARDTOHANDLENOW
(yes-i-am)!“
at pedestrians.
Also, „You Made a Man Out of Me“, „Security“ and so on – a double disc of Otis might become a little overbearing, but this is single-oriented music anyway. Check out the hilarious „Tramp“, a duet where the woman accuses Otis of being exactly that, where Otis runs out of arguments constantly and simply going to the chorus everytime he runs out of things to say: „Ooooh, I’m a lover! – Papa was!“ („Matter of opinion!“ goes Carla Thomas. Otis, oblivious, responds: „Mama was, too.“). The only reason John Belushi rather used Sam & Dave as a cultural and musical reference as opposed to Otis is because Belushi knew that bringing up the comparison to Redding would make his own performance seem listless. While Sam & Dave are soul’s ultimate expressive gospel stylists, Redding is just too heavy-weight and deep in the blues for anyone to tackle. He is one of the artists whose prime output transcends any kind of genre-preferences.
The track choice involves pickings from all his six studio albums as well as the from the four posthumous albums. It also contains all of the A-side of his US-singles during his lifetimes (and some more posthumous ones).
Pain in My Heart (1964) 1.7, 2.2, 2.4, 2.5
The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads (1965) 1.12, 1.11, 1.19, 2.18, 2.9, 1.5
Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (1965) 1.1, 2.10, 2.14, 2.1, 1.4, 1.13, 2.6, 2.12
I Can’t Turn You Loose / Just One More Day (1965 single) 1.6
The Soul Album (1966) 2.15, 1.15, 1.14, 1.17
Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul (1966) 2.7, 1.2, 1.9
King & Queen (1967) 1.10, 2.11
The Dock of the Bay (posth. 1968) 1.20, 2.20
The Immortal Otis Redding (posth. 1968) 2.13, 2.16, 2.3, 2.8
Love Man (posth. 1969) 1.3, 1.18, 2.19,
Tell the Truth (posth. 1970) 1.16, 2.17,
You Left the Water Running / The Otis Jam [by the Memphis Studio Band] (posth. 1976 single, rec. 1966) 1.8
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Album covers: People in the foreground, people in the background
This is a „failed project“ entry, up to this point anyway. I wanted to pick up a new hobby here, which would consist in researching, identifying and collecting people on album covers that are not the musicians themselves. Now, I knew that this in some cases would be easy: Some covers use famous models which are known, like Jerry Hall on the cover of Roxy Music’s Siren.
Other cases are more obscure, but some covers and bands are so famous that every detail about them is already researched, as is the case for Paul Cole, an American tourist who happened to be there on the right in the background when the Beatles took the Abbey Road cover. By his own account, he didn’t even know who the Beatles were at the time.
So I started sorting through my record collection and the first interesting fact is simple but telling: For about the first decade of commercial vinyl-Lps, there were basically no models on album covers other than the musicians. Covers were either impersonal artworks or featured the musician(s). Now, this is from a small sample and probably genre-skewed – I own mostly blues and jazz records from that period, only some commercial pop and classical, so I don’t know exactly how the chips fall there. But the first album in my collection to properly sport a human being that isn’t playing on said record turned out to be Lonely Woman (1962) by the Modern Jazz Quartet.
Now, how do you go about identifying that woman? The photographer is credited: Richard Heimann. Not a lot of information about him, but he seemed to be a glamorous guy in a glamorous world marrying and photographing glamorous models. The little information available really gives off this kind of Frank-Sinatra-movie-character.
If Richard Heimann took that picture, who is the model? I don’t know and I didn’t find out. There was a possible clue: He was married to Carmen Dell’Orefice from 1958–1960, the „oldest working supermodel“ in the business, as I learned. Actually, most of the information you find about Heimann stems from this marriage or interviews with Dell’Orefice, because she became super-famous, he didn’t. So this was at least a clue, and I looked at some of Dell’Orefices portraits before 1962. Here’s one from 1956:
Same style, but that’s just the general model look from that period. But it isn’t quite the same woman, is it? I tried to contact Dell’Orefice’s agency to confirm or at least deny that it is her on the album cover, but I couldn’t even get a proper contact address. At this point, the „research“ turned into random rummaging. Dell’Orefice was friends with another famous model from the time, a certain Suzy Parker. Now, Parker looks more like the woman on the cover, I think.
But it’s still just a basic guess – hair style and make up lead to a pretty homogenic look of the period. And I couldn’t find a picture of Parker that really convinces me – the one I picked here is the closest one, and it hardly fits the purpose of comparison. And, looking at coloured photos, she seemed to have reddish instead of dark hair most of the time.
Anyway, Suzy Parker was the sister of an even more famous model of the period, „the original supermodel“ Dorian Leigh (Parker). Let’s put some portraits next to the cover in question:
Dorian Leigh 
Dorian Leigh 
I don’t know
Well, it’s anyone’s guess. I’m a bit amazed at the homogenic style which probably goes for any period, but I have no idea who the model on the album cover is. The exercise stops here, at least until I am in a mood to try to find out if there is something like a Richard-Heimann–archive, which I didn’t find through official channels. And this is probably also the start and finish of the whole project. Who could’ve known. Another story of shame and misery.
And, well, feel free to contact me if you know anything about this.
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Kunst im öffentlichen Raum, Vol. 12
Vol. 12, Basel -
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Various Artists: The Big Lebowski [Original Soundtrack]
Rating: 6.0/10
Rated as: Compilation / Soundtrack
Compilation Status: of Zeitgeist interest
Released: 1998
Recorded: 1959–1997
Specific Genre: Soundtrack
Main Genre: Soundtrack
Undertones: Singer-Songwriter, Folk Rock, Experimental Rock, Pop Rock, Exotica, Big Band, Vocal Jazz, Third Stream, Experimental, Romanticism, Lounge, Latin Rock, Electronic
Label: Mercury1 Bob Dylan – The Man in Me 2 Captain Beefheart – Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles 3 Elvis Costello – My Mood Swings 4 Yma Sumac – Ataypura 5 Piero Piccioni – Traffic Boom 6 Nina Simone – I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good 7 Moondog – Stamping Ground 8 Kenny Rogers & The First Edition – I Just Dropped In (to See What Condition My Condition Was In) 9 Meredith Monk – Walking Song 10 Erich Wolfgang Korngold – Glück das mir verblieb 11 Henry Mancini – Lujon 12 Gipsy Kings – Hotel California 13 Carter Burwell – Wie glauben 14 Townes Van Zandt – Dead Flowers
We believe in nussing
An expectedly tasteful and quirky choice of songs by the Coen Brothers, but ultimately just that: Some songs and artists you might not get acquainted with otherwise set next to each other. Of course the film context adds a lot of consistency to the experience, but musically speaking, this playlist, say, on a mix tape would merit some respect for musical knowledge and eclectic boldness, but people would ask: Where’s the actual flow?
Admittedly, some things go together nicely, at least conceptually: Exotica-diva Yma Sumac and Mancini’s death-by-tropic-lounge „Lujon“ on the same album is a good idea, as well is one of Dylan’s greatest underrated tunes next to Costello’s very good „My Mood Swings“, surprisingly recorded for this soundtrack. Kenny Rogers and The First Edition add the nowadays monumental „Condition“, which is the best psychedelic country-rock number that I know this side of „Eight Miles High“ (even as pastiche), so this is also a good buy if you’re looking for just that (as it isn’t really representative of how Rogers would develop).
The ultimate avantgarde obscurity Moondog makes an appearance and this is the one song that sounds as if was made for the movie in a kind of prophetic move by Moondog a few decades earlier), and kudos to the Coens for picking „Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles“, whose inclusion here I’m sure introduced legions of teens to Captain Beefheart. That’s worth a lot.
So, while I see many good things about this as a cultural artefact, and I admire the boldness of putting a bunch of avantgarde artists next to Mancini and a piece of Austrian classical Opera (in German, nonetheless), this is hardly something you’ll listen through over and over as a musical document. It’s more like an educational effort: „Look, teenagers, you liked our movie about a stoner. Your subconscience noticed it being accompanied perfectly by the song picks. Now, learn and listen to what you’ve actually listened“, hopefully prompting further research. And why not?
Oh, and all the Creedence tracks are missing – for copyright and run-time reasons, I assume, but it’s kind of a great in-joke between soundtrack and film.
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Complete Blues Bio-Discographies Update: Mary Stafford
Another update for the Complete Blues Bio-Discographies:
Lived ca. 1895–ca. 1938, recorded 1921–1926.
Stafford recorded 14 sides, all of which are here (plus some other obscure singers from the era):
Female Blues Singers Volume 13: R/S (1921–1931) (DOCD-5517)
You can also get them here:
Ain’t Gonna Settle Down: The Pioneering Blues of Mary Stafford and Edith Wilson.
This double-CD also features all of →Edith Wilson’s works, but I would not recommend it – Wilson’s work has been issued on three Document-CDs which give you a lot more additional material (for example all sides of → Lena Wilson and → John Dunn’s orchestra) – see „Edith Wilson“ for that.
Mary Stafford’s complete recordings -
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Complete Blues Bio-Discographies Update: Clarence Williams
Another update for the Complete Blues Bio-Discographies:
Clarence Williams
Lived 1893 or 1898–1965, recorded 1921–1947
This one is a bit more detailed. I usually don’t track sideman-work for these entries, but with Williams, things are different. He was so important as a composer, leader, sideman and co-credited artist/performer that the available discographies AND compilations collect his work that was credited to another recording artist. I mostly used this discography as a reference: http://www.harlem-fuss.com…s_clarence.pdf
I found some inconsistencies, but don’t be alarmed: If anything, there’s more stuff on the list below, not less.
Also, if you focus only on the entire Williams-„Chronogical Classics Series“, you won’t have every little bit, but the overwhelming part of his issued recordings. But since that series is about to become a bit elusive itself, it is probably not a more viable strategy than anything else.
First, you need to get the complete recordings of the following other blues/jazz artists. I’m not going to point out whether Williams plays on one, two or four tracks etc. on these. I mean, you could just get the compilations only collecting Williams stuff, but come on:
Daisy Martin: Daisy Martin & Ozie McPherson: Complete Recorded Works (1921-1926) in Chronological Order (DOCD-5522) (Williams is suspected to play on some tracks)
Eva Taylor aka Irene Gibbons: In Chronological Order Volume 1 (c. September 1922 to c. 5 September 1923) (DOCD-5408), In Chronological Order Vol.2 (1923-1927) (DOCD-5409), In Chronological Order Vol.3 (1928-1932) (DOCD-5410), Edison Laterals 4 (album credited to Eva Taylor (Edison Lateral 4)
Bessie Smith: The Complete Recordings Vol. 1, The Complete Recordings Vol. 4 (C2K 52838)
Sara Martin: In Chronological Order, vol. 1 (1922-1923) (DOCD-5395) (Williams plays on some tracks), In Chronological Order, Volume 2 (1923-1924) (DOCD-5396), In Chronological Order, Volume 3 (1924-1925) (DOCD 5397), In Chronological Order, Volume 4 (1925-1928) (DOCD-5398)
Mamie Smith: Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 3: 1922-1923 (DOCD-5359)
Margaret Johnson: Complete Recorded Works (1923-27) (DOCD-5436)
Virginia Liston: Complete Recorded Works in Chronogical Order, Volume 1: 1923-1924 (DOCD 5446) (possibly on two tracks), Virginia Liston Volume 2 (1924 – 1926) (DOCD-5447)
Sippie Wallace: Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 1 (1923-1925) (DOCD-5399), Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 2 (1925-1945) (DOCD-5400)
Laura Smith: Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, Volume 1 (1924-1927) (DOCD-5429)
Butterbeans and Susie: Volume 1 1924-1925 (DOCD-5544)
Lucille Hegamin: Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 3 (1923-1932) (DOCD-5421)
James P. Johnson: 1928-1938 (Chronogical Classics 671) but this is already on Frog DGF 17 (see below) which you need anyway.
Victoria Spivey: Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order: Volume 2 (DOCD-5317)
Lizzie Miles: Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 3 (1928-39) (DOCD-5460)
King Oliver: for example 1926 – 1928 (Chronogical Classics 618), but preferably „Farewell Blues“ – King Oliver – Vocalion & Brunswick Recordings, Volume 2 (Frog DGF 35) (4 tracks with Clarence Williams)
Fats Waller: The Complete Recorded Works Volume 1: 1922-1929 – Messin‘ Around With the Blues (JSP CD 927) (1 additional alternate take)
Then, you need to do some clean-up and collect scattered tracks:
Document Records, clean up compilations:
Female Blues, The Remaining Titles (1921–1928) (2 tracks by Laura Smith) (DOCD-1005)
Clarence Williams & The Blues Singers Vol 1 1923–1928 (DOCD-5375)
Clarence Williams & The Blues Singers Vol 2 1927 – 1932 (DOCD-5376)
Original Bessie Brown / Liza Brown 1925–1929 (DOCD-5456)
Vocal Duets 1924 – 1931 (DOCD-5526, tracks by Charles & Effie Tyus)
„Too Late, Too Late“ More Newly Discovered Titles, Alternate Takes & Supplements, Volume 9 (1922-1945) (track by Charles & Effie Tyus, credited to Horace George) (DOCD-5590)
Classic Blues Jazz & Vaudeville Singers Vol 4 1921 – 1928 (DOCD-5627)
And here starts the list of Williams as a band leader:
Chronogical Classics Series, necessary issues (and yes, they spell it „chronogical“):
The Chronogical Classics: Clarence Williams 1921 – 1924 (Chronogical Classics 679)
The Chronogical Classics: Clarence Williams 1924 – 1926 (Chronogical Classics 695)
The Chronogical Classics: Clarence Williams 1926 – 1927 (Chronological Classics 718)
The Chronogical Classics: Clarence Williams 1927 (Chronogical Classics 736)
The Chronogical Classics: Clarence Williams 1927 – 1928 (Chronogical Classics 752)
The Chronogical Classics: Clarence Williams 1928 – 1929 (Chronogical Classics 771)
The Chronogical Classics: Clarence Williams 1929 – 1930 (Chronogical Classics 810)
The Chronogical Classics: Clarence Williams 1930 – 1931 (Chronogical Classics 832)
The Chronogical Classics: Clarence Williams 1937 – 1941 (Chronogical Classics 953)
Frog Series, necessary issues:
„Whoop It Up“ – Clarence Williams, The Columbia Recordings, Volume 2 (Frog DGF 17)
„Shake ‚Em Up“ – Clarence Williams 1927–1929, The Vocalion, Brunswick, Victor, Paramount & Grey Gull Recordings (Frog DGF 37)
Clarence Williams‘ QRS Recordings, Volume 1 (Frog DGF 48)
Clarence Williams‘ QRS Recordings, Volume 2 (Frog DGF 49)
„Thriller Blues“ – Clarence Williams 1930–1941 (Frog DGF 57)
Washboard Bands 1926-1929: „Gimme Blues“ (Frog DGF 75)
Rare & Hot Black Bands 1923-1930: Stop & Listen! (Frog DGF 79)
Collector’s Classics Series, necessary issue:
The Clarence Williams Collection Vol. 1, 1927-28 (Collector’s Classics COCD-19)
The Clarence Williams Collection, Volume 3, 1929-1930 (Collector’s Classics COCD-29) (just two additional alternate takes, but hey)
Timeless Series
Clarence Williams And His Orchestra – Vol. 1, 1933-1934 (Timeless CBC 1-056)
Clarence Williams And His Orchestra – Vol. 2 1933-1937 (Timeless CBC 1-057)
AND:
Get On Board, Li’l Chillun (1937, Circle CCD-4)
LP-Abbreviations I couldn’t identify:
JU 49 (4 tracks from 1947)
Ed ZM-473202 (LP) (1 alternate take „Moanin‘ Low“ from 1929)
Epilogue
If you got all the stuff, these nice collections collecting Williams as leader/sideman in one place are now superfluous to you. All their stuff is on Chronogical Classics 679, 695 and 718, which you need anyway to fill other gaps:
„Dreaming the Hours Away“ – Clarence Williams, The Columbia Recordings (Frog DGF 14)
Clarence Williams – „Senegalese Stomp“ (Frog DGF 81)
The 1923-1931 Recordings – The Complete Sidney Bechet & Louis Armstrong Sessions (EPM 982112) (only covers 1923–1926)
Clarence Williams’ complete recordings -
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