Nothing but a Heartache
I woke up this morning with the song “Nothing but a Heartache” stuck in my head. It was puzzling because I couldn’t remember when or where I last heard it. But the song stayed there, refusing to leave.
I had to research a little to find who performed it; turns out it was a 60’s girl group called the Flirtations. While I was looking this up, I saw a YouTube comment that had me laughing and nodding my head at the same time: “Once upon a time, they wouldn't let you on stage unless you had talent. Those days are gone.”
Anyway, the Flirtations started life in 1962 as quartet called the Gypsies. Within a few years they had become a trio, won a Supremes sound-alike contest, and changed their name to the Flirtations. In 1968 they released “Nothing but a Heartache,” which would be the girls’ biggest hit.
All of which reminds me I need to clear some of the crap off my iPod to make room for music like this.
Nothing but a Heartache.mp3 Labels: oldies, soul
Rockin' by Hisself
I’ve been in the mood lately to listen to rockabilly, and in addition to the classic stuff, I’ve also been listening a lot to my generation’s premier practitioner, Brian Setzer.
A disk I’ve had on the shelf a long time and never gave a proper listen to is Setzer’s 1998 solo album,
Rockin’ By Myself. I think the disk was recorded in 1993 during a show in Japan. I do know it was a Japan-only release, although the copy I have is lettered in Russian.
Setzer recorded this performance a couple of years after he started the Brian Setzer Orchestra, but this is a stripped down show: Just Brian on guitar, accompanied on a couple of songs by his brother, Gary. No band, no garnish. Setzer’s underrated talent as a rock guitarist is really on display here. Not the flash typical of some early-90s rock guitarists, but a technical skill that rarely surfaces on his studio recordings. Just listen to him tear it up on “Mystery Train” and “Be-bop-a-lula.”
Since this was technically an official release, I’ll just sample a few things and leave it to you to track down and listen to the whole disk. The tracks I picked are pretty representative of the album; there were a lot of oldies and a couple of Stray Cat songs.
Runaway Boys.mp3 Be-bop-a-lula.mp3 Rebelene.mp3 Summertime Blues.mp3 Mystery Train.mp3 Labels: covers, live albums, oldies, rockabilly
The Day the Music Died, 50 years on
"But February made me shiver
With every paper I’d deliver.
Bad news on the doorstep;
I couldn’t take one more step."
... Don McLean, "American Pie"
The story of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson is one of those rock ‘n’ roll legends that it seems like I’ve always known about: At about 1:00 a.m., on Feb. 3, 1959, a single-engine, four-seat Beechnut aircraft took off in a snow storm from the Mason City Airport in Iowa. Within minutes the plane went down, killing all three passengers and pilot Roger Peterson.
As the fiftieth anniversary of the crash has approached, there naturally have been a lot of stories about that tragic day. “The Day the Music Died” has, for me, gone from being an abstract idea to something more real, more concrete. It’s been sad this past week to read about the crash and the events leading up to it. Even more tragic is the fact that these musicians were taken at their prime.
U.K. music critic Philip Norman, in an
article originally posted online last week, called Buddy Holly “the father of rock.” Norman acknowledges Elvis’ contribution, but says of Holly that he was “a pioneer and a revolutionary.”
“Unlike Presley and other guitar-toting idols of the mid-Fifties, Holly was a gifted instrumentalist who had grown up playing country music in his native West Texas,” Norman writes. “As a songwriter, performer and musician, Holly is the progenitor of virtually every world-class talent to emerge in the Sixties and Seventies.”
There are literally pages and pages of information about Buddy Holly and about the plane crash. As jumping off points, I can recommend Holly’s
Wiki page, as well as
The Day the Music Died Wikipedia page. Both of those sites have links to more information and suggestions for further reading.
In memoriam of Buddy Holly (but with no slight to the Big Bopper or Richie Valens), I’ve got a few songs that come from a Purple Chick collection titled
The Complete Buddy Holly – Volume One. Like all Purple Chick releases, there are tons of alternates, demos, home recordings, and live performances that were left off the commercial releases. Volume one of this 10-disk set reaches back to a 1949 home recording and goes through the April 1956 sessions at the Norman Petty Studios in Clovis, NM., just before Buddy Holly and the Crickets recorded their debut album. The notes came along with the file, so I can’t necessarily vouch for their accuracy. I just plays 'em like they deals 'em.
My Two Timin’ Woman.mp3 ~
c.1949: Home Recording, 3315 36th St., Lubbock, Texas.
Buddy Holly: vocal, acoustic guitarI’ll Just Pretend.mp3 ~
c. 1952: Home Recording, 3315 36th St., Lubbock, Texas.
Bob Montgomery (poss. Jack Neal): lead vocal, guitar; Buddy Holly: second vocal, mandolinI Gambled My Heart.mp3 ~
c. late 1954/April 1955: Nesman Recording Studio - Wichita Falls, Texas. Bob Montgomery: lead vocal, acoustic guitar; Buddy Holly: duet vocal, electric lead guitar; Sonny Curtis: fiddle; Don Guess: bassBaby Let’s Play House.mp3 ~
mid-1955: Nesman Recording Studio - Wichita Falls, Texas.
Buddy Holly: lead vocal, acoustic guitar; Sonny Curtis: lead guitar; Larry Welborn: bass; Jerry Allison: drumsLove Me.mp3 Midnight Shift.mp3 ~
Jan. 26, 1956: Bradley's Barn Studio - Music Row, Nashville, Tenn. (Owen Bradley: producer)
Buddy Holly: vocal; Sonny Curtis: lead guitar; Grady Martin: rhythm guitar; Don Guess: bass; Doug Kirkham: percussionI’m Gonna Set My Foot Down.mp3 ~
February-April, 1956: Norman Petty Studios - 1313 W. 7th St. Clovis, NM. Buddy Holly: vocal, guitar; Sonny Curtis: guitar, lead guitar; Don Guess: bass; Jerry Allison: drumsLabels: current events, demos, oldies
In hoc Vinces
So, I learned something new the other day: I had just got the David Bowie disk
Live Santa Monica ‘72, which was recorded on the Ziggy Stardust tour (more on that album in an upcoming post). While listening to it, I was kind of wondering where Bowie came up with the idea for Ziggy Stardust.
Thanks to the miracle of the Internet, I learned that Bowie based his “Martian messiah” on a real person. Vince Taylor, a late-50’s – early-60’s rocker, saw some minor success in Europe before apparently coming unhinged. “He was the inspiration for Ziggy,” Bowie said in an interview. “Vince Taylor was a rock ‘n’ roll star from the Sixties who was slowly going crazy. Finally, he fired his band and went on-stage one night in a white sheet. He told the audience to rejoice, that he was Jesus. They put him away.”
Taylor began his career as a British rocker who was heavily influenced by the American Invasion artists such as Bill Haley, Gene Vincent, and Eddie Cochran. Vince Taylor and the Playboys were born in the late 1950s, with Taylor reportedly adopting his new stage name after seeing the phrase “In hoc Vinces” on a pack of cigarettes.
The Playboys released what would become their most well known song, “Brand New Cadillac,” in 1958, as a B-side to their second single. By 1960, Taylor’s behavior was already beginning to get out of hand and he was dismissed from the Playboys.
Despite his firing Taylor remained friendly with the band and he asked if he could accompany them to Paris for some shows there. He dressed for the occasion in a black leather outfit and added a chain around his neck with a Joan of Arc medallion. He gave such an extraordinary performance at the sound check that even the band was amazed, and the organizers decided to put Vince at the top of the bill for both shows. As a result of his performance Eddie Barclay signed him to a six-year record deal on the Barclay label.
By the mid-1960’s, Taylor was on the edge, his diet of drugs and wine and an increasing God complex leading to his eventual downfall. For the next few years he drifted from club to club in London, claiming to anyone who would listen that he was the Son of God.
“The guy was unbelievable,” Bowie said in a 1990 interview. “He had this six-day party in some guy's house, that just went on and on. Just the weirdest kind of creature; in his own mind he did become the Messiah”
Taylor died from cancer in 1991 while living in Switzerland. He was 52 years old. He is buried in Lausanne, Switzerland. (Big thanks to the awesome
Ziggy Stardust companion site for most of the background info.)
Tonight’s music is, fittingly, from Vince Taylor. I have to include “Brand New Cadillac,” which you’ll probably recognize from the Clash’s
London Calling. I’ve also got a couple of covers of older songs you’ll probably recognize and dig as well. Particularly, listen for the frenetic guitar break in “Twenty Flight Rock.”
Brand New Cadillac.mp3 Twenty Flight Rock.mp3 Long Tall Sally.mp3Labels: covers, oldies
I had to research a little to find who performed it; turns out it was a 60’s girl group called the Flirtations. While I was looking this up, I saw a YouTube comment that had me laughing and nodding my head at the same time: “Once upon a time, they wouldn't let you on stage unless you had talent. Those days are gone.”
