Original RKBS tunes coming next post! But this one wraps up last year's Stackpole sessions, and just in time for this year's Harpswell Summer Rock Camp....
Fogerty, Fogerty, Cook & Clifford. What can you say? It's hard to overstate how good and how productive those guys were over the short blast of time centered on '69-'70. And how textured and varied they could be. It's also hard to overstate how little the world needs any more cover versions of Creedence tunes. But yet again that's what you get here. For completeness' sake:
Born on the Bayou: https://www.box.com/s/ow4fvquz6d3mcr1nd9tt
It Came Out of the Sky: https://www.box.com/s/tn4xwv8f12rm1k31ast0
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Stackpole- Cardillo- Keating '12 (4): George Harrison, Led Zeppelin
Hope everybody's Independence Day weekend went swimmingly (perhaps literally), and the summah sweltah didn't weight too heavily on you. Admittedly, there was some intermittent shelter sought in the cool basement of the Buttsteak manse, but it's summer, after all.
Not much text needed for these posts from last year's Stackpole-Keating band camp. Both songs come from 1970, and both feature the remote bass-playing contributions of The One and Only 'Dillo.
"Isn't It a Pity" came off of George Harrison's sprawling, world-stunning post-Beatles triumph, "All Things Must Pass". This was another milestone rekkid that featured all those usual musical suspects of the time (talked about in detail a couple posts back), and we were again shooting for that loosey-goosey, barnstorming feel that we love so much.
"Hey Hey, What Can I Do" didn't make it onto "Led Zeppelin III", and remains one of the greatest non-LP cuts of the rock era, along with the Beatles' "Paperback Writer" b/w "Rain" single. It provided good cover for me to bust out the acoustical instruments and try and hybridize them to the rock. Robert Plant I am not.
JK
Isn't It a Pity: https://www.box.com/s/2y0lwkevc6i4fnasvgz8
Hey, Hey What Can I Do: https://www.box.com/s/ifbviwj6qejeoq6mtke2
Not much text needed for these posts from last year's Stackpole-Keating band camp. Both songs come from 1970, and both feature the remote bass-playing contributions of The One and Only 'Dillo.
"Isn't It a Pity" came off of George Harrison's sprawling, world-stunning post-Beatles triumph, "All Things Must Pass". This was another milestone rekkid that featured all those usual musical suspects of the time (talked about in detail a couple posts back), and we were again shooting for that loosey-goosey, barnstorming feel that we love so much.
"Hey Hey, What Can I Do" didn't make it onto "Led Zeppelin III", and remains one of the greatest non-LP cuts of the rock era, along with the Beatles' "Paperback Writer" b/w "Rain" single. It provided good cover for me to bust out the acoustical instruments and try and hybridize them to the rock. Robert Plant I am not.
JK
Isn't It a Pity: https://www.box.com/s/2y0lwkevc6i4fnasvgz8
Hey, Hey What Can I Do: https://www.box.com/s/ifbviwj6qejeoq6mtke2
Monday, July 1, 2013
Stackpole- Cardillo- Keating '12 (3): Small Faces, Traffic
Happy Canada Day, y'all! But it's back to the psychedelic '60s, England-style for these two hit cover rekkids from me and John Stackpole (and special guest):
"Tin Soldier" comes courtesy of the great, great Small Faces, released at the very tail end of 1967. Jeez, nobody much even knows about the Faces nowadays, and that's with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood on board. Prior to their drunky, good-time, groovy blooz-rock evolution, and before diminutive Steve Marriott left to form Humble Pie with Peter Frampton, there were the Small Faces. They had a sackful of great tunes, from the mod to the psychedelic. I've covered few songs that are more fun to play than this one, and few that are more vein-popping in their vocal demands.
"40,000 Headmen" is 1968 track from Traffic, of Steve Winwood and Dave Mason fame, Jim Capaldi transient quasi-fame and (yuck) Chris Wood non-fame (he of the flute and sax). Total gibberish, but a fun, moody groove to set, with room for some congas and lead guitar and keys and all that.
And one of the best part of these is that Stack and I had the great idea of using the recording process to virtually reforming our second-earliest high school band, and outsourced the bass duties to the one and only Dillo. Huzzah!
Tin Soldier: https://www.box.com/s/rmqla5lxzje32ipnw0y7
40,000 Headmen: https://www.box.com/s/urrr791kj54hlo8bj1ca
"Tin Soldier" comes courtesy of the great, great Small Faces, released at the very tail end of 1967. Jeez, nobody much even knows about the Faces nowadays, and that's with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood on board. Prior to their drunky, good-time, groovy blooz-rock evolution, and before diminutive Steve Marriott left to form Humble Pie with Peter Frampton, there were the Small Faces. They had a sackful of great tunes, from the mod to the psychedelic. I've covered few songs that are more fun to play than this one, and few that are more vein-popping in their vocal demands.
"40,000 Headmen" is 1968 track from Traffic, of Steve Winwood and Dave Mason fame, Jim Capaldi transient quasi-fame and (yuck) Chris Wood non-fame (he of the flute and sax). Total gibberish, but a fun, moody groove to set, with room for some congas and lead guitar and keys and all that.
And one of the best part of these is that Stack and I had the great idea of using the recording process to virtually reforming our second-earliest high school band, and outsourced the bass duties to the one and only Dillo. Huzzah!
Tin Soldier: https://www.box.com/s/rmqla5lxzje32ipnw0y7
40,000 Headmen: https://www.box.com/s/urrr791kj54hlo8bj1ca
Monday, June 24, 2013
Stackpole- Keating '12 (2): Back yet again to the Velvet Underground
Back in '11 the Stackpole-Keating organization played the obvious choices off the VU's "Loaded": "Sweet Jane" and "Rock n' Roll". Last year we dug one level deeper for a last-minute addition to the set: "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'". I haven't heard a version I disliked (and that list includes Phish, so that's saying something, lord save my eternal soul). Certainly it was fun to put this version together. Anyway, it's a sweet, languid time capsule of a song, and the cut (out of several on the album) that most benefited the from the songwriter (Lou Reed) having turfed it over to the new guy/ part time singer (Doug Yule).
Oh! Sweet Nuthin': https://www.box.com/s/84owpqqvsv19m92mj9mx
Oh! Sweet Nuthin': https://www.box.com/s/84owpqqvsv19m92mj9mx
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Stackpole- Keating '12 (1): Covers Clapton(ish) and Cocker(ish)
Hey alls-- The media output stalled out on account of a successful Harpswell Hoot '13 but we're back and broadcasting. The hope was to lay off the covers a while and get some new original RKBS goods posted (and we in fact have two batches in the can) but black-hearted technology went and bit us in the ass. So it's back to the boards for the hit records that never made it back from our Baltimore mixing session earlier this year and it's up on the site with some classic numbers from the Stackpole- Keating session of last summer.
These numbers both ring a similar turn-of-the-'70s "live at the Fillmore", raggle-taggle rock-meets-R&B bell for me. They key is the involvement of the musical giants maybe "best known" as Clapton's backing band in Derek and the Dominos: Bobby Whitlock on keys, Carl Radle on bass and Jim Gordon on drums, who carry, respectively, near-tragic, tragic and super-tragic rock n' roll biographies.
It all started with the loose roadshow of Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett and Friends, who really gelled in '69 while the tempestuous American rock/ R&B couple were touring with Clapton and Winwood's kinda crappy supergroup Blind Faith. D&Bs' "friends" came to include Dave Mason and the horn section of Bobby Keys and Jim Price and even a bit of George Harrison, but most prominently Eric Clapton and the musicians who happily jumped ship with him to record EC's first solo record, form the Dominos and record "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" (ALL in 1970!). Aaaannyhoo... This is hands-down, no argument, by far the greatest era of Clapton, and his association with the equally flawed Delaney Bramlett was a key part of his evolution at the time, moving generally away from the overdone noodling and pschedelia of the Cream era towards groovier, more interactive ensemble playing and tighter, hookier songs. "Got To Get Better In a Little While", to me, is that sound in a nutshell.
It's hard to believe how busy these guys were while not nearly killing themselves with lifestyle excess. In early 1970, between their last D&B tour and their brief time with EC, Gordon, Radle, Keys, Price and a bunch of other players agreed to help out the red-hot-at-the-time Joe Cocker with a contractually obligated US tour. "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" ended up another pillar of this era. "Darling Be Home Soon" was written by John Sebastian. His band the Lovin' Spoonful had a nice version, as did even Brit glam-rockers Slade, but Joe Cocker pretty much owned it, and this version slants towards his.
jk
Got To Get Better In a Little While:
https://www.box.com/s/ox38plbu3ts6o39ow97l
Darling Be Home Soon:
https://www.box.com/s/it0xi54qtxt2qa45hwyt
These numbers both ring a similar turn-of-the-'70s "live at the Fillmore", raggle-taggle rock-meets-R&B bell for me. They key is the involvement of the musical giants maybe "best known" as Clapton's backing band in Derek and the Dominos: Bobby Whitlock on keys, Carl Radle on bass and Jim Gordon on drums, who carry, respectively, near-tragic, tragic and super-tragic rock n' roll biographies.
It all started with the loose roadshow of Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett and Friends, who really gelled in '69 while the tempestuous American rock/ R&B couple were touring with Clapton and Winwood's kinda crappy supergroup Blind Faith. D&Bs' "friends" came to include Dave Mason and the horn section of Bobby Keys and Jim Price and even a bit of George Harrison, but most prominently Eric Clapton and the musicians who happily jumped ship with him to record EC's first solo record, form the Dominos and record "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" (ALL in 1970!). Aaaannyhoo... This is hands-down, no argument, by far the greatest era of Clapton, and his association with the equally flawed Delaney Bramlett was a key part of his evolution at the time, moving generally away from the overdone noodling and pschedelia of the Cream era towards groovier, more interactive ensemble playing and tighter, hookier songs. "Got To Get Better In a Little While", to me, is that sound in a nutshell.
It's hard to believe how busy these guys were while not nearly killing themselves with lifestyle excess. In early 1970, between their last D&B tour and their brief time with EC, Gordon, Radle, Keys, Price and a bunch of other players agreed to help out the red-hot-at-the-time Joe Cocker with a contractually obligated US tour. "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" ended up another pillar of this era. "Darling Be Home Soon" was written by John Sebastian. His band the Lovin' Spoonful had a nice version, as did even Brit glam-rockers Slade, but Joe Cocker pretty much owned it, and this version slants towards his.
jk
Got To Get Better In a Little While:
https://www.box.com/s/ox38plbu3ts6o39ow97l
Darling Be Home Soon:
https://www.box.com/s/it0xi54qtxt2qa45hwyt
Monday, May 20, 2013
Hoot '12: Steely Dan/ Nick Lowe
This wraps up the Hoot '12 recordings: "Barrytown" b/w "(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love & Understanding". Consider the decks cleared for Hoot '13, which convenes in Harpswell next weekend!
"Barrytown" is a weird, old Steely Dan song from the weird, old Steely Dan-- 1974's "Pretzel Logic", which any major dude with half a heart surely will tell you is their best album by far. Hmmm... Now there's an idea for some future Hooting... Anyway, Mr. Bonanos carried the weight on this one, taking up the Wurlitzer, singing lead and overdubbing some fine guitar.
Elvis Costello may have made the definitive angry young man version of "...Peace, Love & Understanding" but Nick the Knife wrote it. Nick's versions are a little slower and a little sweeter and a little more jangly, and that's what you get here. Few musical turns have warmed my heart so much as Nick Lowe's late-career renaissance. After starting up in the late '60s, achieving minor-league stardom in the late '70s, and hitting the shoals of major-label downsizing in the '80s (coincident with some stagnant songwriting and period-specific over-production), the Silver Fox commenced to putting out a series of great, low-key, soulful, funny records in '94 and probably hasn't looked back since. You should hear him or see him if at all possible. Just sayin'.
jk
"Barrytown": https://www.box.com/s/ylkqjl5vvrzksvlkrxym
"(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love & Understanding":
https://www.box.com/s/p9ypl7fquvswa9cziwa9
 |
| Jerky deal goes down! |
"Barrytown" is a weird, old Steely Dan song from the weird, old Steely Dan-- 1974's "Pretzel Logic", which any major dude with half a heart surely will tell you is their best album by far. Hmmm... Now there's an idea for some future Hooting... Anyway, Mr. Bonanos carried the weight on this one, taking up the Wurlitzer, singing lead and overdubbing some fine guitar.
Elvis Costello may have made the definitive angry young man version of "...Peace, Love & Understanding" but Nick the Knife wrote it. Nick's versions are a little slower and a little sweeter and a little more jangly, and that's what you get here. Few musical turns have warmed my heart so much as Nick Lowe's late-career renaissance. After starting up in the late '60s, achieving minor-league stardom in the late '70s, and hitting the shoals of major-label downsizing in the '80s (coincident with some stagnant songwriting and period-specific over-production), the Silver Fox commenced to putting out a series of great, low-key, soulful, funny records in '94 and probably hasn't looked back since. You should hear him or see him if at all possible. Just sayin'.
jk
"Barrytown": https://www.box.com/s/ylkqjl5vvrzksvlkrxym
"(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love & Understanding":
https://www.box.com/s/p9ypl7fquvswa9cziwa9
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Hoot '12: Simon & Garfunkel/ the Who covers
Hoot '12: "The Only Living Boy in NY" b/w "Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand"
We were down for maintenance at the RKBS site but are back up and running... Don't forget to check out the other great Hoot covers posted recently, and we hope you dig these.
My history with Simon & Garfunkel is tangled and, truth be told, I really just never much cared for them. Being a child of the '70s, I could never really avoid them though, echoing across the airwaves and culture as they were. But listening to their records is tied in my mind to some very specific tedious, bleak, stuffy, precious (in the bad way) moments, such as dissecting "Richard Corey" in Miss Sweeney's afternoon English class, spring 1983. Few units of time are as long as the eternity that follows someone putting, say, "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme" on the turntable and saying "We'll hit the road right after this side is done.... Uggghhhh... I get a shiver even now. Still, every once in a while there's something I really love, whether the Concert in Central Park, or some lyric or musical turn or general vibe in "America" or "The Boxer", or the fraying working relationship on display on the beautiful "Bridge Over Troubled Water" album. And off that album, "The Only Living Boy in NY" is an an absolute favorite, and a song that says a whole lot while not saying much at all. It'll jerk a tear to yer eye! Plus the original version features some of LA's top "Wrecking Crew" hands: the great Joe Osborne (bass), Hal Blaine (drums), Larry Knechtel (organ) and Fred Carter, Jr (guitar)-- men who built a good number of your musical memories, whether you know it or not. So, yeah, we took a crack at it anyway, and turned Paul C loose on the bass and Paul B on the take-off guitar.
Now, the Who? I was always on-board for them from the moment I bought my "Hooligans" best-of compilation cassette at Sam Goody or Musicland in the Galleria in White Plains. We were children of "Who's Next" and "Quadrophenia" primarily, Dillo and me, and the whole pre-"Tommy" output always confused me a bit. What was up with the baked beans, giant deodorant, zit cream, leopard skin and general shirtlessness of "The Who Sell Out"?!? As with the Kinks and Stones, this meant that a lot of the early gems went undiscovered for a while. Among them, "MaryAnne with the Shaky Hand". That's Paul B on the keys, RK power-popping it on the drums, Dillo on the bass and me on the Rickenbackers.
JK
"The Only Living Boy in NY": https://www.box.com/s/t65sp35v7r8pp5jvrlih
"Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand": https://www.box.com/s/uvgui0s9yjujd76hkjcq
We were down for maintenance at the RKBS site but are back up and running... Don't forget to check out the other great Hoot covers posted recently, and we hope you dig these.
My history with Simon & Garfunkel is tangled and, truth be told, I really just never much cared for them. Being a child of the '70s, I could never really avoid them though, echoing across the airwaves and culture as they were. But listening to their records is tied in my mind to some very specific tedious, bleak, stuffy, precious (in the bad way) moments, such as dissecting "Richard Corey" in Miss Sweeney's afternoon English class, spring 1983. Few units of time are as long as the eternity that follows someone putting, say, "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme" on the turntable and saying "We'll hit the road right after this side is done.... Uggghhhh... I get a shiver even now. Still, every once in a while there's something I really love, whether the Concert in Central Park, or some lyric or musical turn or general vibe in "America" or "The Boxer", or the fraying working relationship on display on the beautiful "Bridge Over Troubled Water" album. And off that album, "The Only Living Boy in NY" is an an absolute favorite, and a song that says a whole lot while not saying much at all. It'll jerk a tear to yer eye! Plus the original version features some of LA's top "Wrecking Crew" hands: the great Joe Osborne (bass), Hal Blaine (drums), Larry Knechtel (organ) and Fred Carter, Jr (guitar)-- men who built a good number of your musical memories, whether you know it or not. So, yeah, we took a crack at it anyway, and turned Paul C loose on the bass and Paul B on the take-off guitar.
Now, the Who? I was always on-board for them from the moment I bought my "Hooligans" best-of compilation cassette at Sam Goody or Musicland in the Galleria in White Plains. We were children of "Who's Next" and "Quadrophenia" primarily, Dillo and me, and the whole pre-"Tommy" output always confused me a bit. What was up with the baked beans, giant deodorant, zit cream, leopard skin and general shirtlessness of "The Who Sell Out"?!? As with the Kinks and Stones, this meant that a lot of the early gems went undiscovered for a while. Among them, "MaryAnne with the Shaky Hand". That's Paul B on the keys, RK power-popping it on the drums, Dillo on the bass and me on the Rickenbackers.
JK
"The Only Living Boy in NY": https://www.box.com/s/t65sp35v7r8pp5jvrlih
"Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand": https://www.box.com/s/uvgui0s9yjujd76hkjcq
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