gts156 “teenthish”
Galveston 1865, seems that massas sorta ‘forgot’ to tell their slaves that the Civil War was over for a couple months, oopsy.
01-01 Mills Brothers – Brunswick 6278 – Rockin’ Chair (1932)
— vocal style so distinctive it was parodied, the Mills Brothers broke ground crossing from “special audience” records into the white mainstream. They achieved this by wiping all blackness from their sound. First Black artists with a #1 hit on Billboard, the sons of a barber who had a real actual barbershop quartet, The Four Kings Of Harmony.
01-02 James Brown – Polydor 14326 – Get Up Offa That Thing (1976)
— first track off the album of the same title is part of a medley, this is the single version isolated on the 45rpm A-side.
01-03 Sly & The Family Stone – Stand! 202 – Sex Machine (1969)
— predates the technique used by Peter Frampton to blend vocals with guitar chords.
02-01 Wilson Pickett – The Exciting Wilson Pickett 201 – In The Midnight Hour (1966)
— co-written with Steve Cropper (later with Blues Brothers Band), they wrote it in 1965 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis which would be the site of Martin Luther King’s assassination only 3 years later.
02-02 Solomon Burke – Don’t Give Up On Me 10 – None Of Us Are Free (2002)
— backing vocals by The Blind Boys Of Alabama.
02-03 Otis Redding – The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads 102 – Chained And Bound (1965)
— a slave to love, not economic serfdom, but still.
02-04 B.B. King – Indianola Mississippi Seeds 202 – Chains And Things (1970)
— piano is played by Carole King, song written by Dave Clark (not of the DC Five), who also did the music production on the movie The Color Purple.
02-05 Ray Charles – ABC-Paramount 10266 – Unchain My Heart (1961)
— top spot on R&B charts, but only #9 on pop chart. Backing vocals are his own Raeletts.
03-01 The Isley Brothers – Wand 131 – Nobody But Me (1962)
— did not chart but later became the “one hit” of one-hit-wonder band The Human Beinz. The Iselys were: O’Kelly Isely Jr., Rudolph, Ronald, Marvin, Vernon (died age 13) and Ernie. For most of 1964, their backing band included Jimi Hendrix before he left to join Little Richard’s backing band, The Upsetters.
03-02 Aretha Franklin – Live At Fillmore West 103 – Bridge Over Troubled Water (1971)
— backers: The Sweethearts Of Soul = Brenda Bryant, Margaret Branch, Pat Smith.
03-03 Billie Holiday – Commodore 526 – Strange Fruit (1939)
— piano by Sonny White, who moved on up to Artie Shaw’s Orchestra.
03-04 Sly & The Family Stone – Fresh 201 – Skin I’m In (1973)
— the ‘family’ part is Sly’s brother Rose Stone on piano and vocals.
03-05 Nina Simone – Wild Is The Wind 102 – Four Women (1966)
— subjugation starts on the inside, and expresses in many different ways.
04-01 Bessie Smith – Columbia 14042-D – Weeping Willow Blues (1924)
— not mentioned on the 78rpm, the piano here is played by a towering titan of Black music: Fletcher Henderson.
04-02 Jackson 5 – Third Album 201 – Goin’ Back To Indiana (1970)
— two songs before this on the album (track 104), the Jacksons play a cover of… Bridge Over Troubled Water.
04-03 Ray Charles – The Genius Hits The Road 102 – Georgia On My Mind (1960)
— written thirty years earlier by Hoagy Carmichael, but Ray’s version is the official State Song of Georgia. Ray’s version also made it into the Grammy Hall Of Fame 20 years before the Carmichael original.
04-04 Gladys Knight & The Pips – Imagination 101 – Midnight Train To Georgia (1973)
— won the Grammy for R&B vocal performance in 1974.
04-05 Freddy King – I’m On My Way To Atlanta
— single released on Federal Records (12475) is a minute shorter than this version, unable to establish release info for this.
05-01 Nina Simone – Here Comes The Sun 101 – Here Comes The Sun (1971)
— written by George Harrison, but here with harp by Corky Hale!
05-02 James Brown – Say It Loud I’m Black And I’m Proud 101 – Say It Loud- I’m Black And I’m Proud (Pt. 1) (1969)
— Maceo Parker and Pee Wee Ellis on saxophones.
05-03 Paul Robeson – Columbia Masterworks 610-D – Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child (1945)
— recorded in the last few days of 1945, released as 4 78rpm discs (8 sides) as an album titled “Spirituals” in 1946.
05-04 Albert King – I’ll Play The Blues For You 101 – I’ll Play The Blues For You (Parts 1 & 2) (1972)
— burning hot guitar, simple to say.
05-05 J.B. Lenoir – Down In Mississippi 101 – Down In Mississippi (1966)
— a Lenoir original, issued on vinyl in 1971 by John Mayall’s Crusader Records.
06-01 Wilson Pickett – The Sound Of Wilson Pickett 102 – Funky Broadway (1967)
— in Philly, it’s Broad Street.
06-02 Stevie Wonder – Innervisions 103 – Living For The City (1973)
— vocals of course, but Stevie Wonder also plays ALL the instruments on this.
06-03 Nina Simone – To Love Somebody 103 + 104 – Revolution (Part I) + (Part II) (1969)
— co-written by Weldon Irvine, on organ here.
06-04 Sly & The Family Stone – Fresh 202 – I Don’t Know (Satisfaction) (1973)
— slyly includes a theme from the Rolling Stones hit of 1965.