...to the Sublime

NOLA On My Mind

I was recently in New Orleans and made the requisite visit to Louisiana Music Factory, where I picked up the Oxford American's annual music issue, which this year is devoted to...Louisiana! It comes with a sampler disc that I didn't listen to until returning home. (While in NOLA, the car radio was locked on the mighty WWOZ.) The twelfth track caught my ear, but I couldn't figure out who was singing. The song had the same chugging rhythm as "Sea Cruise," but it didn't sound like Frankie Ford. I assumed it was one of the town's lesser-known R&B singers. Turns out it was John Fred (top row, far left), who would have a huge hit in 1968 with "Judy in Disguise (WIth Glasses)." But this song, "Shirley," was released 10 years earlier, when the Baton Rouge native was only 16-years-old. He co-wrote the song and it was his first recording. And that wasn't his group, the Playboys (pictured), backing Fred—it was Fats Domino's band (including Dave Bartholomew on trumpet), which had just finished a session with Domino in Cosimo Matassa's studio that day and stuck around to back the young singer. Honestly, my first thought was: That's a white boy singing? But, you know what they say: there aren't really any white people in Louisiana.

Download 12 Shirley

And speaking of Domino, I heard this on KCRW recently. The Fat Man on the C&W tip. From this fantastic set that I've previously written about.

Download 3-16 Whiskey Heaven

    

Music Makes the Movie

So, I saw "Not Fade Away" after all. (See previous post.) It's a great little film with a fantastic soundtrack, which is no surprise given how terrifically director David Chase used music in "The Sopranos." The revelation here was "Down So Low," which I knew from Linda Ronstadt's "Hasten Down the Wind" album. But the song was written by Tracy Nelson and the use of her version in the film is a powerful moment. Nelson is one of those artists who I've known of, but never explored much. My loss. She grew up in Madison, Wisconsin where her band, Mother Earth, came together. They moved to the Bay Area after being signed by Mercury Records. She's a blue-eyed soulstress — less histrionic than Janis Joplin, and obviously inspired by her idol, Irma Thomas. This is from the 1968 album, "Living With the Animals."

Download 01 Down So Low (Album Version)

Jersey, Paesanos, and the Rascals

Not sure I'll get to a movie theater to see "Not Fade Away," the current film set in '60s New Jersey about a young band's coming of age. But I heard the film's director, David Chase, and executive producer/music supervisor Steve Van Zandt recently interviewed on "Fresh Air," where they talked about what a huge influence The Young Rascals had been on them as they grew up in Jersey in the '60s. The Young Rascals (later just The Rascals) were from Jersey and they came to be known as one of the first blue-eyed soul bands. You could hear it in Felix Cavaliere's soulful voice and in the punchy horn arrangements. But you could also hear the Italian heritage shared by three of the band members. Chase and Van Zandt included the band's first hit, "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore," on the film's soundtrack. My favorite songs of theirs are from the 1967 album (above), the title song of which was one of their biggest hits. These two songs (written by Cavaliere and bandmate Eddie Brigati) were arranged by Arif Mardin, who was part of the troika of Turkish emigrés (led by Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun) that made Atlantic Records one of the greatest music labels ever. The first cut is a three-minute masterpiece—as sophisticated a pop song as can be found. (Listen for the brief but brilliant harp pings about two minutes in.) The second song, driven by an accordion, belies their Italian roots. It could've been sung by Johnny Fontaine at Connie Corleone's wedding in "The Godfather." (After the songs is Van Zandt's 1997 induction of the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.)

Download 07 A Girl Like You

Download 08 How Can I Be Sure_