...to the Sublime

RIP, Bobby Womack

Gotta admit that I gasped when I read the news this afternoon: Bobby Womack, dead at 70. I'll skip the bio and just give you a sampling of songs he wrote and some of the artists who covered them: "It's All Over Now" (Rolling Stones); "Lookin' For a Love" (J. Geils Band); "Trust Me" (Janis Joplin); "You're Welcome/Stop On By" (Rufus); "Breezin' " (George Benson); "That's the Way I Feel About 'Cha"; and "Across 110th Street."

Womack was also a great guitarist who played on Aretha Franklin's "Lady Soul" album and on Sly Stone's "There's a Riot Goin' On."

He was also adventuresome, recording "For the Want of a Nail" on Todd Rundgren's 1989 album "Nearly Human" and, late in his career, performing on the Damon Albarn/Gorillaz' "Plastic Beach" album, which led to Albarn producing Womack's 2012 album, "The Bravest Man In the Universe." 

Here are a couple of cuts — one classic and one from the Gorillaz album:

Download 2-10 You're Welcome, Stop On By

Download 02 Stylo

 

RIP, Teenie Hodges & Horace Silver

There's no connection between these two artists, other than it's a damn shame that they're both gone. I knew Teenie Hodges (above) as the great guitarist who played on all those fantastic Al Green records produced by Willie Mitchell for Hi Records in Memphis. But I didn't know Hodges co-wrote many of those songs, including the classic "Love and Happiness." When you hear that slinky intro, listen for Teenie counting the band in by tapping his foot on a wooden crate. Hodges died Sunday at the age of 68.

Download 03 Love And Happiness

 

Horace Silver was a jazz pianist and composer whose father was from Cape Verde. Along the way, he developed an affinity for Latin music, as best evidenced by "Señor Blues," which Taj Mahal memorably covered. This song is from his 1966 album, "The Jody Grind." Silver died on June 18 at the age of 85.

Download 03 Mexican Hip Dance

 

Soundtrack for the World Cup (part 2)

 

 

The World Cup, with its 12 locales, is providing a nice geography lesson about the massive country of Brazil. It's so big that only two countries in South America — Chile and Ecuador — do not share its borders. One of the tournament cities is Recife, in the Northeast state of Pernambuco, which reminded me that David Byrne's Luaka Bop label had issued a compilation of music from that region. I know nothing about the artist, Nacao Zumbi. But this is a great sounding song.

 

Download 09 Carimbaeo

 

Classic Samba for a World Cup Soundtrack

"Aquarela do Brasil" is the original title of the song commonly known as "Brazil." Written in 1939 by Ary Barroso, it was voted in 1997 as Best Brazilian Song of the Century by a jury of experts assembled by the Brazilian Academy of Letters. This is one of my favorite versions, from Jobim's 1970 album, "Stone Flower." The musicians include Eumir Deodato, Joe Farrell, Hubie Laws, Ron Carter and Airto Moreira. (By the way, Aquarela is Portuguese for watercolor.)

Download 04 Brazil

A Real Blast From the Past

 

This is one of those oldies you don't hear enough on oldies radio. I was reminded of it recently when I caught a kitschy 1965 film called "Go Go Mania," featuring a bunch of Brit bands. The Honeycombs were a bit of a one-hit wonder, but what a hit it was! Three minutes of pure pop pleasure. But how could they not have been a bigger deal with a female drummer named Honey Lantree! When I went to iTunes to buy the song I noticed there's a cover version by Vampire Weekend, which you can hear below. But, I gotta say, the hipsters kind of sucked the life out of it.

(By the way, the host of the film, seen in the intro above, is Jimmy Saville, who ruled over England's pop scene in the '60s. A year after his death in 2011, he was revelaed to be a serial child molester.) 

Download 04 Have I the Right (iTunes Session)