Podcast appearances and mentions of Ginger Baker

Send us a textGet your ears ready as Ed and Jared dig into six more tracks from the Diamonds and Pearls Super Deluxe Edition—uncovering early versions, extended cuts, and deep-dive remixes that reveal new layers of Prince's creative process. Along the way, they riff on the wild world of hair metal, rank the most epic long-play No. 1 singles, and pose the truly important question: what if Ginger Baker had drummed for 2 Live Crew? It's chaotic, curious, and full of love for the music. Don't miss it.Support the showA deeper dive into Prince than you probably wanted

In This Video I'm joined by Nathan James of Inglorious, We speak all about the return of the band, the upcoming album 'V', Colin Parkinson rejoining the band and a nerve racking experience working with the late Ginger Baker! Pre Order the NEW Inglorious album 'V' here! - https://ffm.to/ingloriousv#cream #ingloriousband #gingerbaker

Late May and early June 1983 is when The Police's defining song "Every Breath You Take" was released and promptly steamrolled its way to #1 in the UK (hitting the top spot on June 5th) before conquering America a month later. While Sting's creepy-but-catchy ode to obsessive surveillance was busy becoming the band's biggest hit and the year's most-played song, Copeland admits the trio was so dysfunctional they could scarcely record in the same room together. Stewart says about Sting, "The times when it was most annoying was when he was right. That's when the homicidal urge, I couldn't resist it. My fingers would be reaching for that jugular." Enjoy this short VIDEO where Stewart's storytelling chops go to 11 when he describes getting lost on the way to a show and then the band having a blowout fight onstage in front of 80,000 fans. Don't stand so close to me, indeed! WATCH HERE: https://youtu.be/4bozB5MqLZc In this episode, The Police drummer waives his rights and confesses to fracturing Sting's rib over a copy of the New York Times; how many more albums the band could have cranked out if they hadn't split up in 1986; and why it was necessary to call 911 when Cream drummer Ginger Baker paid a noisy visit to Stewart's Sacred Grove Studio. --- ***http://distrokid.com/vip/tmep*** Too Much Effing Perspective is grateful to be sponsored by DISTROKID - the best way for Musicians, Songwriters, Producers, DJs to get their original music into Spotify, Apple, TikTok, and all the major platforms. Get the VIP treatment that you and your music deserve AND get 30% OFF your first year subscription to DISTROKID at this special link. ***http://distrokid.com/vip/tmep*** --- Get in touch with Too Much Effing Perspective Contact us: hello@tmepshow.com Website: https://tmepshow.com Social: @tmepshow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emitido el 04 de junio de 2025 ¡Hoy rendimos homenaje a una leyenda de los controles! En el episodio 430 de Made in Metal celebramos el legado de uno de los productores más influyentes del rock: Roy Thomas Baker. Su firma sonora dejó huella en álbumes inolvidables de bandas como Queen, Journey, Foreigner o Alice Cooper, y en este programa recorremos parte de su impresionante carrera con una selección brutal de artistas que pasaron por sus manos. 🔊 Escucha este especial con música de: Savoy Brown, Free, Ginger Baker’s Air Force, Nazareth, Queen, Journey, Alice Cooper, Foreigner, Dokken, Joe Lynn Turner, Santana, Ozzy Osbourne, Dangerous Toys y Guns N’ Roses. 📡 Emitido en: 🇪🇸 España: Sol y Rabia Radio, TNT Radio Rock, El Lokal del Rock, Asalto Mata Radio Rock 🇦🇷 Argentina: Lado Salvaje Radio 🇵🇷 Puerto Rico: Heavy Metal Mansion 🎙️ Conduce: Tony González 📲 Disponible en iVoox, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcast, Apple Podcasts, Castbox y más. 👇 Suscríbete y acompáñanos en este viaje por la historia viva del rock. 👉 Síguenos también en redes y visita nuestra web para más contenidos exclusivos.

Lionel talks about the life and work of Ginger Baker, Billie Holiday, Peter Green and others as Lionel talks to Ginger Baker's former paperboy among other callers about their favorite musicians. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On The Other Side of Midnight, Lionel talks about topics he doesn't bother to cover, The Day the Music Died and asks about what celebrity deaths would impact people the most. Lionel later talks about the life and work of Ginger Baker, Billie Holiday, Peter Green and others as Lionel talks to Ginger Baker's former paperboy among other callers about their favorite musicians.  Lionel continues talking about the impact of many musicians such as Michael Jackson, George Michael, Bob Marley and others. Wrapping up the show, Lionel talks about famed locations in music history, the importance of having rhythm and music education, John Kay and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(S4 Ep22)  Cream - Disreali Gears  (Reaction Records) Released November 2, 1967, Recorded May 11-15 (1967) Released in November 1967, Disraeli Gears marked a pivotal moment in Cream's evolution from a blues-based trio to psychedelic rock pioneers. Recorded in just three and a half days at Atlantic Studios in New York, the album blends surreal lyrics, experimental sounds, and distorted guitar tones into a cohesive and groundbreaking work. Produced by Felix Pappalardi (from Mountain), the record features standout tracks like “Sunshine of Your Love,” with its iconic bass riff, and “Tales of Brave Ulysses,” one of the first songs to feature a wah-wah pedal. The album was a commercial breakthrough, reaching No. 5 in the UK and No. 4 in the U.S., eventually selling over 6.8 million copies worldwide. Its vibrant, psychedelic cover art by Martin Sharp became as iconic as the music itself. Tracks like “Dance the Night Away” and “SWLABR” highlighted the band's willingness to experiment, while “Outside Woman Blues” and “Take It Back” maintained their blues roots. The synergy of Eric Clapton's innovative guitar work, Jack Bruce's powerful vocals and bass, and Ginger Baker's inventive drumming made Disraeli Gears a defining album of the era. Its legacy is a cornerstone of psychedelic rock and a testament to Cream's lasting impact on modern music.Signature Song "Strange Brew."  "Sunshine of Your Love," Tales of Brave UlyssesFull Album YouTube Spotify Playlist YouTube  Playlist 

This episode of Across The Margin : The Podcast features an interview with Mark Lo. Mark has worked on films and TV across many genres for over twenty years, first as a music agent and supervisor, collaborating with composers and artists to bring music to films, and then as an Executive Music Producer. As an Executive Music Producer, he worked on films including Todd Hayne's Carol (Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara), Paul Haggis's Third Person (Liam Neeson, Mila Kunis, and James Franco), and The Railway Man (Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman and Stellan Skarsgard), amongst others. Mark set up the production company Asylum Giant as a creative hub to develop and produce a slate of Film and TV projects, tell stories that celebrate our humanity and create projects that deepen our relationship with the non-human world. He recently produced and directed the feature music documentary Count Me In — the focus of this episode. Count Me In takes viewers behind the kit with some of the world's most iconic drummers, featuring insightful interviews and narration from Taylor Hawkins, Stewart Copeland, Chad Smith, Emily Dolan Davies, Roger Taylor, Nick Mason, Cindy Blackman Santana, and more. In their own words, they share the passion that took them from banging on pots and pans as kids to performing on some of the world's biggest stages. Along the way, these legendary drummers discuss the dedication that fuels their craft and pay tribute to the musical icons who influenced and inspired them, including Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts, Keith Moon, John Bonham, Ginger Baker and others. Count Me In is available on streaming services everywhere including Apple TV, Amazon, and Fandango at Home. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Der Junge aus Birmingham konnte den Begriff „Wunderkind“ nicht leiden. Aber was der sehr junge Steve Winwood an der Gitarre, an der Orgel oder beim Gesang zeigte, legte diese Bezeichnung einfach nahe. In der Band seines älteren Bruders zeigte er schon als Teenager, wie alter Soul und Blues klangen. In der Spencer Davis Group steuerte er gleich noch als Autor die Hits bei. Klar, dass das Talent des Steve Winwood nach weiteren musikalischen Abenteuern verlangte. Mit Traffic fand er Mitstreiter, die ebenso experimentieren und die Musik sprechen lassen wollten: Grenzen zu Jazz, R 'n' B, lateinamerikanischen Klängen, Weltmusik und Elektronik waren offen. Beim Zwischenspiel in der sogenannten „Supergroup“ Blind Faith kreuzte er für ein Album und viele Live-Auftritte seine Fähigkeiten mit denen etwa von Eric Clapton und Ginger Baker. Steve Winwood aber, der lieber ein Musiker als ein Star war, fand sich danach erneut mit Traffic zusammen. Sein musikalischer Weg war noch lange nicht zu Ende. Musikliste: The Spencer Davis Group: Their First LP (1965): Dimples, Every little bit hurts, It hurts me so The Second Album (1966): Keep on running, Georgia on my mind, Let me down easy, Hey Darling Autumn '66 (1966): Nobody knows you when you're down and out, On the grren light, Somebody help me Gimme Some Lovin‘ (Single, Oktober 1966) I'm a Man (Single, Januar 1967) Blind Faith: Blind Faith (1969): Had to cry today, Can't find my way home, Presence of the Lord Unser Podcast-Tipp in dieser Folge: Der Kunstkaten - Kultur aus MV / https://www.ardaudiothek.de/sendung/der-kunstkaten-kultur-aus-mv/61478668/

1. Soft Machine - Teeth 2. Los Wembler's De Iquitos - Ikaro Del Amor (Meridian Brothers Remix) 3. Sarah Webster Fabio - Sweet Songs 4. Tendai and Shabazz Palaces - Blastit... 5. Orua - Obrei Orei 6. Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley - Medley: Ooh Baby & Wrecking My Love Life 7. Lexy Mella - On the Air (Frankie Francis edit) 8. Ginger Baker's Air Force - Da da Man (live) 9. Los Piranas - El Nuevo Prometeo 10. Mighty Baby - Egyptian Tomb 11. Konec - Tanazeze (long version) 12. Sun Ra - Love In Outer Space 13. Kraftwerk - Kometenmelodie 2

Starting from the record crates in USA to my Kano, Nigeria supplier…I have picked few nuggets that shine light to African funk music. All vinyl set….enjoy it! PLAY LIST: 1. Ashantis - Safari '77 2. Jabula - Thunder into our hearts '76 3. Mixed Grill - Funky people '79 4. Ginger Baker and Friends - N'kon kini n'kon n'kon ‘77 5. Monomono – Kenimania ‘73 6. Black Children Sledge Funk Group - Funky child ‘76 7. Anthony Reebop Kwaky Baah - Zagopam '72 8. Solat - Try try try ‘77 9. Ghana Soul Explosion - Soul makossa ‘73 10. Asiko - Love and peace '77 11. Assagai - Kinzambi '71 12. Super Elcados - Get up and do it good ‘76 13. W.J.W. and Roots Trunks and Branches – Rising ‘78 14. Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey and Inter - Reform Band - Eyi yato '81 15. Mulatu of Ethiopia - Munaye '72 16. Emma Dorgu - Rover man ‘79 17. Charly Kingson - Nimele bolo ‘82 18. Harry Mosco - Step on '81 19. Victor Olaiya's All Stars Soul Int'l - I feel alright ‘70 20. Ashantis - Disco play '77 21. Edikanfo Super Band - Blinking eyes '81 22. Sonny Okosunas 'Ozziddi' - Oba Eridiauwa I ‘83 23. Olatunji Babatunde - Jin-go-lo-ba '60 24. The Movers - Phatha phatha no.1 '75 25. Kris Okotie - Show me your back side '81 26. Akido - Wajo '72

From Late night clandestine back road races to a chance meeting with one of the sport's most well-known names in the sport, Ginger has truly done it all. From the business of motorsports, she has been seated on both sides of the business desk when it comes to sponsorship money. A woman who puts her money where her mouth is, this purveyor of action also holds a Land speed record, a top alcohol dragsters license, an incredible insight into motorsports marketing and is the host & owner of one of the most popular automotive podcasts anywhere, Cars Yeah! Connect with Ginger:https://carsyeah.comhttps://www.facebook.com/carsyeahpodcasthttps://x.com/CarsYeahPodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/carsyeah/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCRVyt2AaFw2PjPOTVPmX5w Connect with Red Line Oil:www.redline.comConnect with Mecum Auctions:www.Mecum.comConnect with JP Emerson: www.jpemerson.comFor more podcasts on cars check out Ford Mustang The Early Years Podcast at www.TheMustangPodcast.com, at Apple Podcasts or anywhere you get your podcastsFor more information about sponsorship or advertising on The JP Emerson Show or podcast launch services contact Doug Sandler at doug@turnkeypodcast.com or visit www.turnkeypodcast.com

On this episode of Lipps Service, Scott sits down with the iconic drummer, Stewart Copeland, of the legendary '80s rock band The Police. The two get into Stewart's early days in music, his father being in the CIA, and influences like Ginger Baker. Stewart talks about his proudest moment, which songs he would redo, and meeting the famed producer George Martin. He discusses his relationship and some experiences with frontman Sting, reuniting with the band, and his composing work. To close, Stewart lists his top 5 drummers of all time, his perfect album, and the lineup of his ideal supergroup. Tune in for a legendary conversation with the Hall-of-Famer drummer! CREDITS (Instagram handles)Host @ScottLippsEdited by @toastycakesMusic by @Robby_hoffProduced by @whitakermarisaRecorded at Melrose Podcasts LA Sonos makes it so easy to fill your home with incredible sound! Check out the new Sonos Ace headphones, which are Bluetooth-enabled and have three buttons. The content key allows you to play, pause, accept calls, and control the volume. Plus, they feature noise cancellation and voice assist!These headphones are exceptionally well done and sound incredible, whether listening to your favorite playlist, chatting on a call, watching a movie, or even recording a podcast like this one. They sound particularly fantastic when listening to Lipps Service!Sonos has great gifts for everyone on your list. Visit sonos.com/Lipps to save 20% on select products. 0:02:00 - Grammys0:05:30 - Rock & Roll Hall of Fame0:08:26 - Growing up0:14:50 - Ginger Baker0:15:00 - First bands0:19:44 - Meeting The Police0:29:00 - Clark Kent0:31:25 - Proudest moment0:35:25 - Any songs Stewart would redo?0:39:00 - Coming to America0:45:00 - “Every Breath You Take”0:46:00 - The time Sting yelled0:49:00 - Did the band end too soon?0:50:00 - George Martin story0:53:00 - The band's dynamic during the reunion0:54:50 - How much money would it take to reunite?0:56:00 - The Doors0:57:00 - Composing0:58:00 - Top 5 drummers1:03:00 - Perfect album1:07:00 - Supergroup1:08:00 - New projects

The Young Rascals were one of the early groups which would define the genre of "blue eyed soul."  For a period of two to three years, this group would generate hit after hit.  Their third album, Groovin', would close out the era in which they were known as “The Young Rascals,” because follow-up albums would see them using simply the name "The Rascals."  Felix Cavaliere was a classically trained pianist, and joined a band called the Starliters, where he met David Brigati and his younger brother Eddie.  Cavaliere convinced Eddie Brigati and guitarist Gene Cornish to leave the Starliters and form a band, recruiting jazz drummer Dino Danilli to flesh out the band.  They called themselves "Them" until they found out that a group out of the UK was already using that name (Van Morrison's band).  They settled on "The Young Rascals" when comedian Soupy Sales used them as his back-up band when he toured the college circuit in 1965.Much of this album is a collection of singles rather than a cohesive piece of music.  Eight of the eleven songs are either A-side or B-side single releases.The Rascals moved into a more psychedelic direction after this album, and they would be largely done by the early 70's.  They were early inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, receiving that honor in 1997.Bruce presents this soulful album for this week's podcast.Groovin'This signature song from the group almost didn't make it as a single.  Atlantic Records pushed back on this track because it was very different from the sound of their other songs, having a more Latin influence.  The inspiration for the lyrics was Cavaliere's girlfriend Adrienne Buccheri.  He only got to see her on Sundays because he was so occupied with the group, music, and touring on other days. You Better RunMany listeners who grew up in the 80's will be more familiar with Pat Benatar's cover of this song than the Young Rascals' original.  It was released a year before the album as a single, in May 1966.  The song has more of a garage band feel than other songs on the album.A Girl Like YouThis is the lead-off song for the album, and went to number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Upbeat, feel good, this is the opening song of new love.  It starts off subdued with piano and vocals, then builds into the horns and percussion.  If You KnewThis song was released as the B-side to the single "I've Been Lonely Too Long" from their previous album called Collections.  It is the only song on the album to be listed as written by all member of the band.  Most songs were written by Felix Cavaliere and Eddie Brigati.  ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel (from the motion picture “The Graduate”) Dustin Hoffman's got his breakthrough role in this coming of age film.  STAFF PICKS:Green Tambourine by the Lemon PipersRob leads off the staff picks with the best known song from a short-lived Ohio band.  Unfortunately the success of this song would cause the record company to pigeonhole the group into doing more songs in the psychedelic genre.  The group was unenthusiastic about this direction, and would leave the label in 1969, dissolving shortly thereafter.Sunshine of Your Love by CreamLynch brings us a signature song from the original supergroup.  The song arose out of a bass riff that Jack Bruce created after seeing Jimi Hendrix for the first time.  Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton take turns with vocals while Ginger Baker utilizes a tribal beat on percussion.I Can See for Miles by The WhoWayne features the only single from the Who album “The Who Sell Out.“  Although it went to number 9 on the US charts, guitarist and writer Pete Townshend expected it to do much better.  The Who made use of the studio as an instrument on this heavier, psychedelic song, using techniques similar to the Beach Boys and the Beatles at the time.I Second That Emotion by Smokey Robinson & the MiraclesBruce closes out the staff picks with a song that originated from a trip Smokey Robinson and Al Cleveland took to a Detroit department store in search of a gift for Robinson's wife Claudette.  When Robinson told the salesman of a set of pearls, "I sure hope she likes them," Cleveland accidentally said "I second that emotion," rather than "I second that motion."  The two laughed about it and wrote this song which would go to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967.   INSTRUMENTAL TRACK:Hip Hug-Her by Booker T. & the M.G.'sWe close out with a funky instrumental which was on the charts at the time.   Thanks for listening to “What the Riff?!?” NOTE: To adjust the loudness of the music or voices, you may adjust the balance on your device. VOICES are stronger in the LEFT channel, and MUSIC is stronger on the RIGHT channel.Please follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/whattheriffpodcast/, and message or email us with what you'd like to hear, what you think of the show, and any rock-worthy memes we can share.Of course we'd love for you to rate the show in your podcast platform!**NOTE: What the Riff?!? does not own the rights to any of these songs and we neither sell, nor profit from them. We share them so you can learn about them and purchase them for your own collections.

Legendary drummer Ginger Baker had a reputation for being tough to deal with and we found that out when we tried to interview him years ago...one of John's friends shared a funny encounter with Ginger from one of his concerts!

Welcome to The Money Trench! This week, Mark is joined by Steve Tannett, Director of Platforms at Marshall Group. From his punk roots to a career spanning multiple sides of the music industry, Steve looks back over his career - moving from musician to label executive, publisher, and manager. He talks about rock's lasting cultural impact, his work with artists like R.E.M., The Go-Go's, and Ginger Baker, and the lessons he learned from I.R.S. Records boss Miles Copeland. Steve also reflects on the challenges and privilege of launching Marshall Records from the ground up, initially as an experiment to bring the brand into the record industry. He discusses the label's artist-first approach, and how this sets them apart from the majors. He also touches on signing Nova Twins and what's next for the label. NEWSLETTER Sign up HERE for the TMT newsletter - featuring each week's hottest music industry stories. PPL  The Money Trench is sponsored by the PPL. KEEP UP TO DATE For the latest podcast and music business updates, make sure to follow us on:  Instagram: @the_money_trench LinkedIn: The Money Trench Website: The Money Trench GET IN TOUCH If you have any feedback, guest suggestions or general comments? We'd love to hear from you! - Get in touch here! Thanks to our partners PPL  Earth/Percent Tom A Smith Aimless Play Fourth Pillar Sennheiser Junkhead Studio Tape Notes Executive Producer: Mike Walsh Producer: Tape Notes 

In this Monday Bonus Episode, we speak with Bassist and Multi Instrumentalist, Malcolm Bruce.  Bruce is the son of the legendary Jack Bruce, and together with Kofi Baker (Ginger Baker's son), they have formed Sons Of Cream to explore the iconic music of their fathers.    

Yvette's conversation with Karen Loucks Rinedollar is inspiring. Karen is an accomplished author, speaker, athlete, knitter, entrepreneur and volunteer who has dedicated her life to making a positive impact on the world. She has managed the career of legendary jazz drummer Ginger Baker and as sole owner and executive director of the Denver Speakers Bureau, she serves as an agent for almost 100 professional speakers who enlighten, educate and inspire audiences.  Karen is best known for her work as founder & Denver coordinator of Project Linus, a non-profit that provides handcrafted security blankets to children in need of extra comfort. 2025 marks three decades of doing this impactful work. Project Linus has provided over 10 million blankets to children around the globe. She has appeared on the Oprah Show, in People Magazine and in hundreds of other media outlets.

Wheels of Fire is the third studio album by the British rock band Cream, released in 1968. It is a double album, with one disc featuring studio recordings and the other containing live performances. The album blends blues, psychedelic rock, and hard rock, showcasing the virtuosity of Eric Clapton (guitar, vocals), Jack Bruce (bass, vocals), and Ginger Baker (drums, vocals).The studio disc includes iconic tracks like "White Room", a dramatic psychedelic anthem with haunting lyrics and a signature wah-wah guitar riff, and "Politician", a bluesy, satirical take on political figures. Other highlights include "Pressed Rat and Warthog", an offbeat spoken-word track by Ginger Baker, and "Deserted Cities of the Heart", a high-energy song with intricate instrumentation.The live disc, recorded at Fillmore West and the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, captures Cream's electrifying stage presence. The 16-minute version of "Spoonful" (originally by Willie Dixon) showcases Clapton's masterful blues improvisation, while "Crossroads", a cover of Robert Johnson's classic, features one of rock's most celebrated guitar solos.Wheels of Fire was the first double album to be certified Platinum, solidifying Cream's legacy as one of the greatest rock power trios. It remains a landmark release in psychedelic and blues rock history.Listen to the album on SpotifyListen to the album on Apple MusicWhat did you think of this album? Send us a text! Support the showPatreonWebsitePolyphonic Press SubredditFollow us on InstagramContact: polyphonicpressmusic@gmail.comDISCLAIMER: Due to copyright restrictions, we are unable to play pieces of the songs we cover in these episodes. Playing clips of songs are unfortunately prohibitively expensive to obtain the proper licensing. We strongly encourage you to listen to the album along with us on your preferred format to enhance the listening experience.

This week, Andrew welcomes Dr. Sam (aka Flan F***er Page—yes, really) for a deep dive into _great_ musical collaborations. Along the way, they cover everything from Tito Puente to Sinead O'Connor, the genius of Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, and a story about Ginger Baker's olive farm that involves derelict barns, blind-drunk driving, and horses casually chilling indoors. Expect rants about Gary Boys (and how they ruined Ipswich's traffic flow), the horror of Elton John being "a bit too nice," and why Michael Jackson's legal team was probably modeled after Mr. Burns' army of lawyers. Oh, and the duo revisits Bowie collaborations—because sometimes even the Thin White Duke gets it wrong. Also discussed: - Why siblings harmonize better (scientifically proven during heated sibling arguments). - Prog metal that sounds like unicorns having a fistfight. - How to tell if you've ever accidentally given your partner a migraine with music. This episode is a messy, joyful, and slightly unhinged celebration of collaborations—because life's too short for solo acts. ### Riffs of the week #### Dr Sam's Riff - Tito Puente - Cua Cua (opening) #### Andrew's Riff - Cream - Toad (0:20) ### Dr Sam's track choices 1. The Last Poets with Bernard Purdie- Blessed Are That Struggle (opening) 2. Motorpsycho - Through the Veil (5.20) 3. Lina_Raul Refree - Foi Deus (opening) 4. The Slits - So Tough (opening) ### Andrew's track choices 1 - John Grant and Sinead O'Conner - GMF (2:20) 2 - Elton John, Kiki Dee - Don't Go Breaking My Heart (2:53) 3 - Queen and David Bowie - Under Pressure (2:54) 4 - Finn - Angels Heap (2:10) Email us - beatmotel@lawsie.com

This week on the show, the mini theme is Under The Weather - Song titles that relate to illness... Plus, music from a band whose lead singer died of a heart attack while performing on stage... A song inspired by Influenza A, which hit the United States in 1957... How is Ginger Baker not considered a veteran when he spent time in the Air Force and Army? Deep tracks from Bloodrock, Dixie Dregs, STP, and much more! For more info on the show, visit reelinwithryan.com

Der Klassiker „White Room“ aus dem Jahr 1968 wurde von einer der ersten Supergroups, bestehend aus Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce und Ginger Baker geschrieben. Welche Spannungen hinter der Musik von Cream steckten und wie Pete Brown den Text schrieb, der auf einem Gedicht über seine persönliche Erholung von Sucht basiert, beleuchten wir für Euch genauer.

Blind Faith was a supergroup formed from Cream members Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker, Traffic founder Steve Winwood, and Family bassist/violinist Ric Grech.  Cream collapsed after increasing strife between members, particularly Baker and bassist Jack Bruce.  Traffic went on hiatus, and Winwood began jamming with Clapton in his basement.  Baker sat in on a session shortly after they moved to Traffic's rehearsal space in Berkshire, and was added to the lineup after some reluctance from Clapton was overcome.  Finally, Grech was invited to join, and  left the Family in the middle of a U.S. tour, creating understandable grievances.  The group created blues-oriented and psychedelic rock for their eponymously named Blind Faith debut album.  A summer tour was launched, but it was a challenging thing.  Clapton didn't want to do long jam sessions on the tour, but their single album was not a lot of material for a concert.  As a result, they wound up playing a significant amount of Cream and Traffic songs.  This delighted the audience, but irritated and distanced Clapton.  Despite great buzz from critics and fans alike, the group was destined to only last a few months.  Clapton began drifting away while on tour, spending more time with opening act Delaney & Bonnie.  He would eventually join that group prior to launching Derek & the Dominos.  Ginger Baker would move on to form Ginger Baker's Air Force, bringing in Winwood and Grech for a short stint before Winwood rejoined Traffic.  Rob brings us this short-lived supergroup in this week's podcast. Had to Cry TodayThe title track dispenses with the 3-minute single format in favor of a long form jam written by Steve Winwood.  The lyrics are ambiguous, and could reference a dying relationship, or perhaps a friend drifting away.Can't Find My Way HomeWinwood also wrote this well-known single from the album, covered by a number of artists including Joe Cocker, Alison Krauss, and Bonnie Raitt.  Winwood has been asked about the meaning of the lyrics, but has said that discussing song lyrics is a little like explaining a joke - it doesn't add anything to the experience.  Clapton leaves his electric guitar in favor of a rare acoustic one for this song.Well All RightThis track is the only one not written by members of Blind Faith.  Buddy Holly, Norman Petty, Jerry Allison, and Joe B. Mauldin wrote this song, and Holly sang it in 1958.  Clapton takes lead vocal duties on this song.Sea of JoyA piece of Winwood's writing also leads off side two of the album.  While some believe the song references hallucinogens, a simpler meaning would be simply the joy of being on the water.  “And I'm feeling close to when the race is run.  Waiting in our boats to set sail.  Sea of joy.” ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:Pfft You Were Gone (from the variety show “Hee Haw”)This country comedy and music show premiered on CBS in this month.  Buck Owens and Roy Clark led an ensemble of regulars and guests in this variety show. STAFF PICKS:These Eyes by The Guess WhoWayne starts out the staff picks with a song co-written by lead singer Burton Cummings and lead guitarist Randy Bachman.  This was their breakout song, with lyrics that describe the devastating feeling in the days following a long relationship break-up.Badge by CreamLynch reminds us that while Cream may have disbanded by this time, their music was still on the charts.  Eric Clapton and George Harrison wrote this song.  It was supposed to be called "Bridge," but was named "Badge," due to a misreading of the handwritten title.  George Harrison plays rhythm guitar, credited as "D'Angelo Misterioso" to avoid contractual issues.Oh Happy Day by the Edwin Hawkins SingersBruce features the first gospel song to hit the charts, reaching number 4 on the US singles chart.  Edwin Hawkins took a hymn originally written by Phillip Doddridge in 1755, and updated it with a piano introduction inspired by Sergio Mendes and lyrical improvisations influenced by James Brown. See by The Rascals Rob finishes the staff picks with the fuzzy lead off and title track to the Rascals sixth studio album.  Between 1966 and 1968, the Rascals released a number of soul-inspired singles.  This album marked a change in the band's focus from blue-eyed soul to psychedelic rock. COMEDY TRACK:Gitarzan by Ray StevensOne of the earliest comedy singles from Stevens closes out our podcast this week. Thanks for listening to “What the Riff?!?” NOTE: To adjust the loudness of the music or voices, you may adjust the balance on your device. VOICES are stronger in the LEFT channel, and MUSIC is stronger on the RIGHT channel.Please follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/whattheriffpodcast/, and message or email us with what you'd like to hear, what you think of the show, and any rock-worthy memes we can share.Of course we'd love for you to rate the show in your podcast platform!**NOTE: What the Riff?!? does not own the rights to any of these songs and we neither sell, nor profit from them. We share them so you can learn about them and purchase them for your own collections.

Ginger Baker Rust comes to you from Mooresville, North Carolina, aka “Race City U.S.A.”. She's a motorsports sports agent with decades of corporate marketing and experience, accolades, and achievements. Ginger was the Chief Marketing Officer for Ryan Newman, ddriver of the #6 Ford in the Nascar Cup Series. She's the one behind the scenes who works corporate partnerships, contracts, and the business side of various global motorsports. If you have seen the movie Jerry Maguire, her day-to-day operations are pretty much what Tom Cruise's character does. She is a well-respected, behind-the-scenes powerhouse in the world of motorsports and had earned the nickname “Lady Mavrik” as she is well-respected and has built a solid reputation with everyone from the series owners, drivers, team owners, pit crews, hauler drivers, and the media outlets. Ginger is an amateur racer who earned an NHRA Dragster Pilot's license in 2021, and in 2020, earned an ECTA land speed record in a 2020 Yenko Camero street car in the Modern Street/Blown 8-Cylinder category with a 199.557 mph pass on the 1.25 mile course, which made her the second-fastest woman in the history of the class and the third fastest in the history of the national ECTA event.

Do you remember Cream? Of course you do. They were the first supergroup of the '60s. Ginger Baker, Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce made some amazing music in just under three years. Today, musician Malcolm Bruce, the son of Jack has dedicated himself to preserving the musical legacy of his father who was one of rock's most influential figures. Jack Bruce was a trailblazing bassist, vocalist, and songwriter, best known as a founding member of Cream, alongside guitar legend Eric Clapton and the fiercely innovative drummer Ginger Baker. Cream, formed in 1966. They were at the forefront of a musical revolution that defined the '60s. Blending blues, rock, and psychedelic styles, Cream pioneered a sound that would shape the future of rock music. With hits like "Sunshine of Your Love," "White Room," and "Badge," their music was groundbreaking, pushing the boundaries of improvisation and power trio dynamics. The mid-1960s marked a fertile period for music, with the British Invasion introducing bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Who to global audiences. Cream carved a unique niche, fusing blues roots with virtuoso instrumental prowess and delivering intense live performances. Jack Bruce was at the heart of the band's success, contributing intricate basslines, soulful vocals, and timeless compositions. His collaborative work with lyricist Pete Brown produced some of Cream's most enduring songs. Though the band's lifespan was brief—they disbanded in 1968 due to creative tensions—their impact was monumental, cementing them as one of the first supergroups and one of the greatest bands in rock history. A young Malcolm Bruce grew up surrounded by music, deeply influenced by his father's genius and the rich legacy of Cream. A multi-instrumentalist proficient in guitar, piano, and bass, Malcolm has since forged his own path as a solo artist while honouring his father's contributions. Malcolm is also a key figure in the "Music of Cream" project, a touring tribute band featuring Kofi Baker (son of Ginger Baker) and Will Johns (Eric Clapton's nephew). Together, they celebrate Cream's groundbreaking music with live performances that recreate the band's electrifying energy, introducing its legacy to new generations. Beyond his work with the "Music of Cream," Malcolm Bruce is deeply committed to preserving Jack Bruce's catalogue and sharing his father's artistry with the world. He has worked on remastering projects, archival releases, and curated performances to highlight the depth of Jack Bruce's solo career, which extended far beyond Cream. Through his dedication, Malcolm ensures that the innovations of his father—and the era-defining work of Cream—continue to inspire musicians and fans alike. Today, Malcolm joins us to share his experiences and tell us why it's so important to advocate for his father's legacy. If you know Cream's music - or if you're wanting to discover it - you're going to love this episode. Please let me know your thoughts. You can always reach me through my website

After 6 mins* together Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton as Cream called it a day this week in 1968. *2 yearsFreddie got his own statue in Montreux 5 years after his deathAnd Kurt Cobain does his best Morrissey on Top Of The Pops in 1991

https://youtube.com/live/_pP90qYQStM Alex Van Halen gets candid about brother's health struggles, tension with David Lee Roth. The world knew him as Eddie Van Halen, guitarist extraordinaire. But to Alex Van Halen, he was Edward, maybe Ed, but never Eddie. He was also a best friend, the sensitive soul who “couldn't filter out criticism” and a reluctant guitar hero with a boyish grin. And he was a brother, born 20 months after Alex, with whom he would form one of the most influential rock bands in history. In “Brothers” (out Oct. 22, Harper Collins, 226 pages, $32), Alex Van Halen unloads his love for his sibling and the consuming grief he still experiences since Ed died of cancer in October 2020. Their story includes the two-week boat ride from their native Holland to America in 1962 – the Van Halen family would settle in Pasadena, California – the brothers shunning their piano lessons to play rock ‘n' roll after hearing The Beatles and the Dave Clark Five and Alex's migration to the drums and his idolization of Cream's Ginger Baker. As a band, Van Halen pioneered musical techniques (just listen to Eddie's then-unheard-of finger tapping on “Eruption” or Alex's engine-purring double bass drum opening on “Hot for Teacher”) while blitzing rock fans with “Jamie's Cryin',” “So This is Love?” “Beautiful Girls” and MTV staples “Jump” and “Panama.” Alex, 71, doesn't scrimp on entertaining anecdotes, such as how the roar that opens “Runnin' with the Devil” entailed ripping the horns out of their cars, and when on tour with Ozzy Osbourne, the British rocker wandered into the wrong hotel and slept for two days. Alex is also unvarnished when discussing frontman David Lee Roth, whom he thinks was “angry at Ed for being too talented” and expressing his own anger when Ed agreed to play an uncredited guitar solo on Michael Jackson's “Beat It” (“Why would you burn up creativity on someone else's record?”). In an interview with USA TODAY, Alex Van Halen plunged deeper into some of the topics in the book, such as his own addiction issues and Ed's health struggles, while also extending humor and thoughtfulness.

(S3-#29) Cream- Fresh Cream  (Reaction)  Released December 9, 1966. Recorded July-November 1966  Cream, formed in 1966, was one of the first supergroups. It consisted of three highly regarded musicians from the British blues and rock scenes: Eric Clapton (guitar, vocals), Jack Bruce (bass, lead vocals), and Ginger Baker (drums). Their debut album, Fresh Cream, released on December 9, 1966, blends blues covers and original compositions, showcasing the band's blues roots and groundbreaking sound. Fresh Cream includes a mix of original songs and blues standards like "Spoonful," "Rollin' and Tumblin," and "I'm So Glad." The album succeeded commercially, reaching number 6 on the UK charts and 39 in the US. Notable tracks include "I Feel Free," featuring strong vocal harmonies, and "Toad," one of the earliest rock tracks to feature a drum solo. Following the album's release, Cream quickly became one of the most influential bands of the late 1960s, known for their virtuosic performances and innovative blend of blues, rock, and psychedelic music. Despite their success, internal tensions led to the band's breakup in 1968, after which each member pursued a successful solo career. Cream's legacy endures as a pioneering force in rock music history. Curated Spotify Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7I6dzYc5UJfko8unziRMWf?si=0b46147790924bfb Album on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/6iyKqDoL9pRSHUsDBYemlB?si=w0brXwJpR7SYxs1uN2-NkA Album on YouTube https://youtu.be/tsrmxWcodd0?si=iFbTG0RAwPPcQ6d1

The Monday mélange we call Uncorked pops open once again bringing you a cross section of tunes from pure pop to indie to reggae to blues - we pay tribute to birthday boy, songwriter Roger Cook and remember Johnny Nash and Ginger Baker. Ready Or Not - here we come!Tune into new broadcasts of Uncorked LIVE, Mondays from 8-10 AM EST / 1 - 3 PM GMTFor more info visit: https://thefaceradio.com/uncorked//Dig this show? Please consider supporting The Face Radio: http://support.thefaceradio.com Support The Face Radio with PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/thefaceradio. Join the family at https://plus.acast.com/s/thefaceradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the August 19 edition of the Music History Today podcast, MTV premieres celebrity reality, Lou Pearlman passes away, and Leonard Bernstein ends a career. Plus, it's Ginger Baker's birthday. For more music history, subscribe to my Spotify Channel or subscribe to the audio version of my music history podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts from ALL MUSIC HISTORY TODAY  PODCAST NETWORK LINKS - https://allmylinks.com/musichistorytoday  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/musichistorytodaypodcast/support

Send us a Text Message.What if you could journey back to 1966 and relive the magic of its music and movies? Join us as we unravel the vibrant tapestry of this iconic year with our special guests, Mark Smith and Lou Colicchio from the Music Relish Show. We'll explore everything from the captivating life of Christopher Lee to the grim history of public executions in France, all while reminiscing over timeless albums like "Sinatra at the Sands" and "Black Monk Time." Our discussions are peppered with humorous takes on technical hiccups and the summer heat, making for a nostalgic and entertaining experience.Get ready to be enthralled as we spotlight the legacy of legendary drummers like Ginger Baker, John Bonham, and Stuart Copeland, dissecting how their unique styles have left an indelible mark on the music industry. We'll debate the merits of some of the most iconic concept albums, including Rush's thematic masterpieces, Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," Pink Floyd's "The Wall," and The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Our spirited conversations are filled with personal insights and anecdotes, offering a deep dive into the evolution of music and its cultural significance.Our journey takes a playful turn with a game of "45 Poker," where we pit classic 45 RPM records against each other, sparking spirited debates over hits by Barry Manilow, Elvis Presley, Styx, and more. Nostalgia reigns supreme as we discuss the 1969 Atlantic City Pop Festival and reminisce about legendary performances. From debating classic Motown hits to sharing personal stories, our episode promises a rich blend of music trivia, heartfelt memories, and lighthearted banter that will captivate music lovers and history buffs alike.

[Cream Farewell Concert] Cream, comprising Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, played blended rock, blues, psychedelic rock, and a hint of jazz to create a unique sound. Sunday LIVE spotlights the final Cream's final concert in 1968 before the trio went their on to create supergroups like Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominoes. We will see you at 7pm.

Jim Sullivan - a 2023 inductee into the New England Music Hall of Fame - spent 26 years writing for the Boston Globe and two decades more writing for countless national publications. He has interviewed and reviewed countless musicians, many of them multiple times. Last year, Trouser Press Books published two volumes of his music writing. Now, they've been combined into one eBook with eleven new chapters! The 71 chapters feature an eclectic collection of artists, spanning generations and styles:Jerry Lee Lewis, Ian Hunter, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Nico, Brian Eno, Bryan Ferry, King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Jethro Tull, Ginger Baker, Ringo Starr, Warren Zevon, Pete Townshend, the Kinks, Leonard Cohen, Marianne Faithfull, the Rascals, Stevie Wonder, John Fogerty, Tina Turner, Neil Young, Richard Thompson, Darlene Love, Alice Cooper, J. Geils Band, Aerosmith, KISS, Motörhead, George Clinton, Tangerine Dream, Enya, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, k.d. lang, Roy Orbison, the Ramones, Sex Pistols, Clash, Patti Smith, Buzzcocks, Damned, Flipper, the Fall, Joy Division & New Order, Suicide, the Cure, Stiff Little Fingers, Gang of Four, the Pogues, Police, Cramps, Talking Heads, B-52s, Beastie Boys, Elvis Costello, Billy Bragg, Cars, English Beat, Morrissey, Pixies, Feelies, Mission of Burma, Puff Daddy, Spiritualized, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Swans and U2.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.

By 1969 Eric Clapton had finally gotten what he wanted - out of Cream. He felt the band (and the machine around it) was too big and couldn't deal with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker constantly at each other's throats. And so he began to hang out and jam with his friend Steve Winwood who felt like he wanted a change from Traffic. As these two titans began to formulate some new material, the bosses at the record companies smelled money and quickly got them a record deal and a tour booked. Having already brought on Ginger Baker from Cream, they added bass player Ric Grech from Family and they made a late 60s psychelic/blues/jam album with a little something for everyone. Can't Find My Way Home and Presence Of The Lord showed the band's lighter acoustic side while Had To Cry Today and Do What You Like gave the band license to do the pyschedelic freak-out jams that allowed these great musicians to showcase their talents in the style of the day. The cover sparked some controversy which led to using a flyer on the US version and their first show was in front of more than half a million people in Hyde Park. But once again, Eric Clapton quickly moved away from the big machine so this is the only album Blind Faith ever offered up. Though Clapton and Winwood would go onto reunite in 2009 to give folks a glimpse of what they were, The Wolf & Action Jackson contemplate what they might have been had they stayed together as they take you track by track. Ugly American Werewolf in London Website Ugly American Werewolf in London Store - Get your Wolf merch and use code 10OFF2023 to save 10%! Visit our sponsor RareVinyl.com and use the code UGLY to save 10%! Twitter Threads Instagram YouTube LInkTree www.pantheonpodcasts.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By 1969 Eric Clapton had finally gotten what he wanted - out of Cream. He felt the band (and the machine around it) was too big and couldn't deal with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker constantly at each other's throats. And so he began to hang out and jam with his friend Steve Winwood who felt like he wanted a change from Traffic. As these two titans began to formulate some new material, the bosses at the record companies smelled money and quickly got them a record deal and a tour booked. Having already brought on Ginger Baker from Cream, they added bass player Ric Grech from Family and they made a late 60s psychelic/blues/jam album with a little something for everyone. Can't Find My Way Home and Presence Of The Lord showed the band's lighter acoustic side while Had To Cry Today and Do What You Like gave the band license to do the pyschedelic freak-out jams that allowed these great musicians to showcase their talents in the style of the day. The cover sparked some controversy which led to using a flyer on the US version and their first show was in front of more than half a million people in Hyde Park. But once again, Eric Clapton quickly moved away from the big machine so this is the only album Blind Faith ever offered up. Though Clapton and Winwood would go onto reunite in 2009 to give folks a glimpse of what they were, The Wolf & Action Jackson contemplate what they might have been had they stayed together as they take you track by track. Ugly American Werewolf in London Website Ugly American Werewolf in London Store - Get your Wolf merch and use code 10OFF2023 to save 10%! Visit our sponsor RareVinyl.com and use the code UGLY to save 10%! Twitter Threads Instagram YouTube LInkTree www.pantheonpodcasts.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jim Sullivan - a 2023 inductee into the New England Music Hall of Fame - spent 26 years writing for the Boston Globe and two decades more writing for countless national publications. He has interviewed and reviewed countless musicians, many of them multiple times. Last year, Trouser Press Books published two volumes of his music writing. Now, they've been combined into one eBook with eleven new chapters! The 71 chapters feature an eclectic collection of artists, spanning generations and styles:Jerry Lee Lewis, Ian Hunter, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Nico, Brian Eno, Bryan Ferry, King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Jethro Tull, Ginger Baker, Ringo Starr, Warren Zevon, Pete Townshend, the Kinks, Leonard Cohen, Marianne Faithfull, the Rascals, Stevie Wonder, John Fogerty, Tina Turner, Neil Young, Richard Thompson, Darlene Love, Alice Cooper, J. Geils Band, Aerosmith, KISS, Motörhead, George Clinton, Tangerine Dream, Enya, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, k.d. lang, Roy Orbison, the Ramones, Sex Pistols, Clash, Patti Smith, Buzzcocks, Damned, Flipper, the Fall, Joy Division & New Order, Suicide, the Cure, Stiff Little Fingers, Gang of Four, the Pogues, Police, Cramps, Talking Heads, B-52s, Beastie Boys, Elvis Costello, Billy Bragg, Cars, English Beat, Morrissey, Pixies, Feelies, Mission of Burma, Puff Daddy, Spiritualized, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Swans and U2.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

Frenette's love of music started at the age of 5 while playing the bongos and listening to records with his parents. Artists like Perez Perado, Tito Puente, Herb Albert, Johnny Cash and Tom Jones were constantly spinning on the record player. By the age of 10, Matt was learning his rudiments in a marching and concert band. Some of Matt's early influences include Mitch Mitchell, Ginger Baker, Keith Moon, Michael Shrieve, Danny Seraphine,Billy Cobham, and later influences include Manu Katche, Steve Gadd, and Richard Bailey. Frenette is a founding member of Streetheart and his legacy as the other half of one of rock's greatest rhythm sections is still a part of Canadian rock legend. Matt's fierce approach to every song and powerful grooves he created were a big part of the musical foundation that Streetheart built their unmistakable sound on in the early days. In 1979 Matthew left Streetheart to join Paul Dean's new band Loverboy. Originally, Matt Frenette played drums for a side-project band, Headpins while Bernie Aubin played drums for a fellow Vancouver band, the soon to be renamed Loverboy. But within months, Aubin and Frenette swapped bands, where each continues to play to the present Alongside fellow Loverboy founding members Mike Reno, Paul Dean, Doug Johnson, with Ken "Spider" Sinnaeve, Matt Frenette has been "Working for the Weekend" since forming in Calgary, Alberta over 36 years ago. Loverboy has sold more than 10 million albums, earning four multi-platinum plaques, including the four-million-selling "Get Lucky." In 1982, as a member of Loverboy, Frenette went on to win a "still-record" six Juno awards. Matt's solid groove, versatile musicality and his visually exciting performance has created a demand for his appearance in many different artists' recordings, videos and tours, such as: Tom Cochrane, Bryan Adams, Kim Mitchell, Colin James and many other talented musicians.   Some Things That Came Up:  -1:30 Rich saw Matt with Loverboy at The El Paso Coliseum, 1985!  -3:00 Matt broke through the bass drum head! Very memorable -5:00 Matt has had many drum techs over the years -5:40 “Turn Me Loose” was a breakout hit!  -13:00 Evolution of a band  -14:20 The year that was 2020  -17:00 Practicing at 2112 drum shop  -23:00 Started drumming at 5 and never had any other job!  -24:30 First kit was secured on trade from a retired jazz drummer  -26:00 Community center marching band grade 8-10 -30:00 The band STREETHEART from Regina -32:50 The sweetest audition that Dad set up!  -40:36 Mike Reno on vocals!  -44:15 The beauty of the drums on “Turn Me Loose”  -44:50 Recorded live to tape with no click; everyone live on the floor -45:30 Bruce Fairbairn produced and a young Bob Rock engineered  -48:30 Gaffed headphones to his head.  -50:20 Guttural grounding sounds  -57:50 A mutual friend in Lee Kelley  -1:05:00 Played everyday to “Tom Jones:LIVE” record  -1:05:50 The two drunks at the Buddy Rich Big Band show. Buddy lit the fire under young Matt -1:14:50 Dad wanted Matt to go on the road and NOT finish grade 12! He believed!  -1:16:00 Historical-=6 Juno Awards+ many others  -1:18:00 21 years with Yamaha and 42 years with Zildjian    Follow:  www.loverboyband.com IG: @loverboyband FB: @loverboyband   The Rich Redmond Show is about all things music, motivation and success. Candid conversations with musicians, actors, comedians, authors and thought leaders about their lives and the stories that shaped them. Rich Redmond is the longtime drummer with Jason Aldean and many other veteran musicians and artists. Rich is also an actor, speaker, author, producer and educator. Rich has been heard on thousands of songs, over 25 of which have been #1 hits! Check out Rich's books on Amazon!    Follow Rich: @richredmond www.richredmond.com   Jim McCarthy is the quintessential Blue Collar Voice Guy. Honing his craft since 1996 with radio stations in Illinois, South Carolina, Connecticut, New York, Las Vegas and Nashville, Jim has voiced well over 10,000 pieces since and garnered an ear for audio production which he now uses for various podcasts, commercials and promos. Jim is also an accomplished video producer, content creator, writer and overall entrepreneur.   Follow Jim:   @jimmccarthy www.jimmccarthyvoiceovers.com

GUEST OVERVIEW: Composer, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Malcolm Bruce has toured, performed, recorded and appeared on records with some of the biggest names in music including Little Richard, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Dr John, Steve Cropper, Joe Satriani, Joe Bonamassa, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath), Simon Phillips (Toto, The Who, Jeff Beck), Leslie West and Corky Laing (Mountain), Tony Butler and Mark Brzezicki (Big Country) and his father the late Jack Bruce of Cream. Malcolm curated a tribute to his father in October 2016 alongside Pete Brown (Cream lyricist) at O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire and performed with legends such as Lulu, Eddi Reader, Maggie Reilly, Paul Young, Mick Taylor (Rolling Stones), Dennis Chambers (Santana, Parliament / Funkadelic), Gary Husband (Level 42, John McLaughlin), David Sancious (Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Stanley Clarke) and Ginger Baker (Cream). He released his album ‘Salvation' in 2017, a collection of 10 songs recorded at Kevin McKendree's (Delbert McClinton, Brian Setzer) The Rock House Studio in Franklin TN and mixed by Steve Orchard (Paul McCartney, Chris Cornell) and toured the UK and USA in support.

Mark, Lou and Perry plus guest L3 talk about Deep Purple also listen to Marty Stewart singing Mr Spaceman by the Byrds also music trivia and talk of Cream and Ginger Baker and much more --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/perry--dedovitch/message

In this psychedelic episode of Dem Vinyl Boyz, we take a deep dive into Cream’s landmark album, "Disraeli Gears," released in 1967. As the second studio album from the power trio featuring Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker, "Disraeli Gears" is celebrated for its fusion of blues, rock, and psychedelia, establishing Cream as one of the pivotal bands of the 1960s. This album features classics like "Sunshine of Your Love," whose iconic riff has echoed through the decades, and "Strange Brew," a showcase of Cream’s blues influences with a psychedelic twist. The album also includes "Tales of Brave Ulysses," a track that highlights the band's experimental approach with its vivid lyrics and innovative guitar effects. Throughout this episode, we explore how "Disraeli Gears" not only captured the spirit of the psychedelic era but also pushed the boundaries of rock music with its adventurous soundscapes and masterful musicianship. We'll discuss the collaboration with artist Martin Sharp, who created the album’s distinctive psychedelic cover art, and delve into the production techniques that made "Disraeli Gears" a defining album of its time. Join us on Dem Vinyl Boyz as we revisit "Disraeli Gears," celebrating the innovative legacy of Cream and the enduring impact of their psychedelic masterpiece. This episode is a journey through an era of musical revolution, exploring an album that continues to inspire and captivate fans around the world.

This week on Classic Vinyl Podcast, Justin and Tyler listen to and review Cream's 1968 hit single White Room. A pretty powerful song from the rock trio of Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker that is still played on Classic Rock radio to this day. Give it a listen and let us know what you think.

Dane Clark is an Indiana native who has been honing his instrumental (drums, bass, guitar and keyboards) and songwriting skills from an early age. His early influences of British Invasion rock and Dylan era folk music still resonate in his musical vision. Clark began making a name for himself as a session drummer in the Indianapolis area in the early 1980's. As well as 28 years with John Mellencamp, Dane has recorded with John Prine, Steve Earle, Ian Hunter, Janis Ian, Carrie Newcomer, The Bob And Tom Band and a multitude of others. Dane has released 7 critically acclaimed singer/songwriter projects of his own including 2019's Americana tour-de-force “Rebel Town” (featuring Carlene Carter) in October of 2019. His latest release “Songs From Isolation”, by Dane Clark and the Backroom Boys featuring John Sebastian was released in August of 2020 to widespread acclaim and national press. He has produced and played multiple instruments on releases by rock and roll hall of fame inductee Donovan( Ritual Groove) and Don Stevenson of the legendary 60's band Moby Grape. His eclectic percussive signature has been heard on stage with diverse musical giants such as Dizzy Gillespie, Josh Grobin and John Fogerty. For 20 years he has led his own “full blast rock combo”,The Dane Clark Band, playing in countless regional and local venues as well as opening for artists such as Allman Betts Band, Gin Blossoms, John Waite, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and 38 Special.   Some Things That Came Up:    -2:00 Newest Mellencamp band member has been there 15 years  -2:30 The return of Lisa Germano  -4:45 Working with Nashville bassist Mark Hill at Blackbird Studios  -7:30 Thundersound Studio in Andersen, Indiana  -9:00 Drums are Dave's THIRD instrument  -9:50 The Dane Clark band for 22 years  -10:45 John Prine, Ian Hunter's Janis Ian, and Steve Earle  -11:00 Ian Hunter's “Defiant One”, sharing credits with Ringo Starr, and the late greats Jeff Beck and Taylor Hawkins. Also features Mike Campbell and Waddy Wachtel -16:30 Embracing all of the ways to record remotely  -18:40 Mellencamp's “Orpheus Descending” and “Sad Clowns and Hillbillies”.  -19:20 Standout tracks are: “Hey God”, “Perfect World” (written by Bruce Springsteen), and “Amen” -21:00 The influence of drummer B.J. Wilson (Procol Harum) -23:20 The 1993 audition -31:00 Too many crashes in modern music?  -42:15 The heaviness of Ginger Baker  -44:00 The performance degree  -45:00 The beauty of Steve Gadd. Checkout “Smokin' in the Pit” by Steps Ahead -46:00 Transcribing Vinnie Colaiuta -47:20 Discovering Tony Williams and The New Tony Williams Lifetime -49:00 Wrote, produced, performed and mixed his “Songs From Isolation” record  -60:00 Dane's Podcast: “The Morning Buzzz” -65:10 Seeing Dane at The Greek Theater -66:15 The Gear -73:00 “The Fave 5”  -78:00 Stephen King's work ethic      Follow:  www.daneclark.com X: @daneclarkmusic IG: @daneclarkmusic   The Rich Redmond Show is about all things music, motivation and success. Candid conversations with musicians, actors, comedians, authors and thought leaders about their lives and the stories that shaped them. Rich Redmond is the longtime drummer with Jason Aldean and many other veteran musicians and artists. Rich is also an actor, speaker, author, producer and educator. Rich has been heard on thousands of songs, over 25 of which have been #1 hits!   Rich can also be seen in several films and TV shows and has also written an Amazon Best-Selling book, "CRASH! Course for Success: 5 Ways to Supercharge Your Personal and Professional Life" currently available at:   https://www.amazon.com/CRASH-Course-Success-Supercharge-Professional/dp/B07YTCG5DS/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=crash+redmond&qid=1576602865&sr=8-1   One Book: Three Ways to consume....Physical (delivered to your front door, Digital (download to your kindle, ipad or e-reader), or Audio (read to you by me on your device...on the go)!   Buy Rich's exact gear at www.lessonsquad.com/rich-redmond   Follow Rich: @richredmond www.richredmond.com   Jim McCarthy is the quintessential Blue Collar Voice Guy. Honing his craft since 1996 with radio stations in Illinois, South Carolina, Connecticut, New York, Las Vegas and Nashville, Jim has voiced well over 10,000 pieces since and garnered an ear for audio production which he now uses for various podcasts, commercials and promos. Jim is also an accomplished video producer, content creator, writer and overall entrepreneur.   Follow Jim:   @jimmccarthy www.jimmccarthyvoiceovers.com   RICH REDMOND  Drummer, Speaker, Author, Host, Emcee, Actor www.richredmond.com

This week breathe in another breath of freshly regurgitated air! We are exorcising some demons and testifying to the New Wave Of Classic Rock! This is also known as the 8 shots of bourbon episode… Listen in as we pour it on with classic, blues-influenced hard rock that reminds us of the days when FM radio rocked! Indeed, rock n' roll is not dead and is in the very capable hands of these killer bands!What is it we do here at InObscuria? Every show Kevin opens the crypt to exhume and dissect from his personal collection: an artist, album, or collection of tunes from the broad spectrum of rock, punk, and metal. The younger generation are picking up guitars and playing that classic blues-inspired hard rock again! It's Our hope is that we turn you on to something new.Songs this week include:Blackberry Smoke - “Dig A Hole” from Be Right Here (2024)The Southern River Band - “Chimney” from Rumour & Innuendo (2019)Goodbye June - “Universal Mega Love” from Community Inn (2019)Sheer Mag - “Eat It And Beat It” from Playing Favorites (2024)Anthony Gomes - “Born To Ride” from High Voltage Blues (2022)Truck - “Disappointed” from Exploring The Wah (2023)Laura Cox - “Fire Fire” from Burning Bright (2019)Please subscribe everywhere that you listen to podcasts!Visit us: https://inobscuria.com/https://www.facebook.com/InObscuriahttps://twitter.com/inobscuriahttps://www.instagram.com/inobscuria/Buy cool stuff with our logo on it!: https://www.redbubble.com/people/InObscuria?asc=uIf you'd like to check out Kevin's band THE SWEAR, take a listen on all streaming services or pick up a digital copy of their latest release here: https://theswear.bandcamp.com/If you want to hear Robert and Kevin's band from the late 90s – early 00s BIG JACK PNEUMATIC, check it out here: https://bigjackpnuematic.bandcamp.com/Check out Robert's amazing fire sculptures and metal workings here: http://flamewerx.com/

In the 10th episode of Rock Camp: The Podcast, hosts David Fishof, Britt Lightning & Miles Schuman touch on many of the most interesting moments in camp history, including the time legends Ginger Baker & David Crosby came to camp in what turned out to be Baker's last public appearance. Hear the never before heard behind the scenes details in this episode. Brought to you by Pantheon Podcasts. Rockcamp.com/podcast pantheonpodcasts.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood started hanging out and jamming together after the dissolution of their previous bands (Cream and Traffic respectively), there was no set plan to start a band together. That changed when Cream drummer Ginger Baker joined the fun. With the addition of bassist Ric Grech from the band Family, Blind Faith was born.  Their one and only album combined the best (and sometimes the worst) of both Cream and Traffic. It doesn't always work, but when it does it transcends both bands with a unique mix of blues, jazz and folk, all topped off with Winwood's amazing blue-eyed soul crooning.Visit us at www.tappingvinyl.com.

The Police drummer waives his rights and confesses to fracturing Sting's rib over a copy of the New York Times; how many more albums the band could have cranked out if they hadn't spilt up in 1986; and why it was necessary to call 911 when Cream drummer Ginger Baker paid a noisy visit to Stewart's Sacred Grove Studio. Get the book, Stewart Copeland's Police Diaries See Stewart's jam sessions at Sacred Grove Studio on YouTube with Snoop Dogg, Sheila E,Primus, Stanley Clarke, Andy Summers and, of course, Ginger Baker.= Stewart's IG: @stewart_copeland -------------------------------------------------- Get in touch with Too Much Effing Perspective Contact us: hello@tmepshow.com Website: https://tmepshow.com Social: @tmepshow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we welcome one of the greatest musicians alive, bassist Jah Wobble! Jah first rose to prominence in PIL alongside John Lydon on their first two groundbreaking albums. After he left he struggled for a few years before picking it back up with the Invaders of the Heart and playing with almost everyone. In this conversation we discuss artists as diverse as Sinead O'Connor, Ginger Baker and Suggs. In 2023 alone he released several new projects, the main one being his new solo album, A Brief History of Now. Jah joins us to discuss all of it (as much as we can fit anyway) including that infamous American Bandstand appearance, the late great Geordie Walker, getting sober, Buddhism, and everything in between. Enjoy!  www.jahwobble.com www.patreon.com/thehustlepod  

Bestselling author Susan Orlean of The New Yorker is our pizza guest. Then there's pizza headlines, and the pizza topic is "pepperoni."Susan Orlean is a bestselling author and long-time staff writer for The New Yorker. Her 1998 book, “The Orchid Thief," was famously adapted to the film “Adaptation,” in which Meryl Streep plays a version of her. Susan authored 2018's “The Library Book," 2021's “On Animals,” and wrote for HBO's “How To with John Wilson."In this episode, Susan recalls childhood memories of Cleveland's Little Italy pizza scene, discusses cooking pizzas with her Ooni oven, and if one of the Pizza Pod Party hosts could be a future subject for her. This podcast is brought to you by Ooni Pizza Ovens. Go to Ooni.com for more information.Follow us for more information!Instagram: @pizzapodparty @NYCBestPizza @AlfredSchulz4Twitter: @PizzaPodParty @ArthurBovino @AlfredSchulzTikTok: @thepizzapodpartyThreads: @pizzapodparty @NYCBestPizza @AlfredSchulz4

Malcolm Bruce, son of Cream bassist Jack Bruce, joins us for an in-depth discussion about the legendary rock band's impact and the new acoustic tribute album "Heavenly Cream." Delve into the fascinating behind-the-scenes stories and personal reflections on the making of the album, featuring performances from renowned artists like Paul Rodgers, Ginger Baker, Joe Bonamassa and Malcolm Bruce himself. Malcolm takes you on a journey through Cream's storied history, exploring the band's musical journey. Get insights into the iconic band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the complex dynamics within the group, sharing personal anecdotes and reflections on the band's legacy. Discover how “Heavenly Cream” came to be, with Malcolm revealing the origins of the project, the collaborative selection process, and the emotional significance of the album following the passing of significant contributors. Uncover the rare creative process behind the tribute album and the organic inclusion of well-known Cream songs, alongside moving collaborations with respected musicians. Dive into the unique recording process, featuring sessions with Joe Bonamassa, Bernie Marsden, and Paul Rodgers, at iconic the Abbey Road Studios. Learn about the personal connections that shaped the album, as Malcolm shares the influence of Cream on his life and the historical context behind the record. The conversation also delves into the deeper themes and messages within the album, as Malcolm shares his aspirations for creating music of substance in an industry often dominated by "cookie-cutter" mentality. Plus, hear about Malcolm's new solo record "Fake Humans and Real Dolls," set for release in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 168 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “I Say a Little Prayer”, and the interaction of the sacred, political, and secular in Aretha Franklin's life and work. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a forty-five-minute bonus episode available, on "Abraham, Martin, and John" by Dion. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources No Mixcloud this week, as there are too many songs by Aretha Franklin. Even splitting it into multiple parts would have required six or seven mixes. My main biographical source for Aretha Franklin is Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin by David Ritz, and this is where most of the quotes from musicians come from. Information on C.L. Franklin came from Singing in a Strange Land: C. L. Franklin, the Black Church, and the Transformation of America by Nick Salvatore. Country Soul by Charles L Hughes is a great overview of the soul music made in Muscle Shoals, Memphis, and Nashville in the sixties. Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm And Blues And The Southern Dream Of Freedom is possibly less essential, but still definitely worth reading. Information about Martin Luther King came from Martin Luther King: A Religious Life by Paul Harvey. I also referred to Burt Bacharach's autobiography Anyone Who Had a Heart, Carole King's autobiography A Natural Woman, and Soul Serenade: King Curtis and his Immortal Saxophone by Timothy R. Hoover. For information about Amazing Grace I also used Aaron Cohen's 33 1/3 book on the album. The film of the concerts is also definitely worth watching. And the Aretha Now album is available in this five-album box set for a ludicrously cheap price. But it's actually worth getting this nineteen-CD set with her first sixteen Atlantic albums and a couple of bonus discs of demos and outtakes. There's barely a duff track in the whole nineteen discs. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript A quick warning before I begin. This episode contains some moderate references to domestic abuse, death by cancer, racial violence, police violence, and political assassination. Anyone who might be upset by those subjects might want to check the transcript rather than listening to the episode. Also, as with the previous episode on Aretha Franklin, this episode presents something of a problem. Like many people in this narrative, Franklin's career was affected by personal troubles, which shaped many of her decisions. But where most of the subjects of the podcast have chosen to live their lives in public and share intimate details of every aspect of their personal lives, Franklin was an extremely private person, who chose to share only carefully sanitised versions of her life, and tried as far as possible to keep things to herself. This of course presents a dilemma for anyone who wants to tell her story -- because even though the information is out there in biographies, and even though she's dead, it's not right to disrespect someone's wish for a private life. I have therefore tried, wherever possible, to stay away from talk of her personal life except where it *absolutely* affects the work, or where other people involved have publicly shared their own stories, and even there I've tried to keep it to a minimum. This will occasionally lead to me saying less about some topics than other people might, even though the information is easily findable, because I don't think we have an absolute right to invade someone else's privacy for entertainment. When we left Aretha Franklin, she had just finally broken through into the mainstream after a decade of performing, with a version of Otis Redding's song "Respect" on which she had been backed by her sisters, Erma and Carolyn. "Respect", in Franklin's interpretation, had been turned from a rather chauvinist song about a man demanding respect from his woman into an anthem of feminism, of Black power, and of a new political awakening. For white people of a certain generation, the summer of 1967 was "the summer of love". For many Black people, it was rather different. There's a quote that goes around (I've seen it credited in reliable sources to both Ebony and Jet magazine, but not ever seen an issue cited, so I can't say for sure where it came from) saying that the summer of 67 was the summer of "'retha, Rap, and revolt", referring to the trifecta of Aretha Franklin, the Black power leader Jamil Abdullah al-Amin (who was at the time known as H. Rap Brown, a name he later disclaimed) and the rioting that broke out in several major cities, particularly in Detroit: [Excerpt: John Lee Hooker, "The Motor City is Burning"] The mid sixties were, in many ways, the high point not of Black rights in the US -- for the most part there has been a lot of progress in civil rights in the intervening decades, though not without inevitable setbacks and attacks from the far right, and as movements like the Black Lives Matter movement have shown there is still a long way to go -- but of *hope* for Black rights. The moral force of the arguments made by the civil rights movement were starting to cause real change to happen for Black people in the US for the first time since the Reconstruction nearly a century before. But those changes weren't happening fast enough, and as we heard in the episode on "I Was Made to Love Her", there was not only a growing unrest among Black people, but a recognition that it was actually possible for things to change. A combination of hope and frustration can be a powerful catalyst, and whether Franklin wanted it or not, she was at the centre of things, both because of her newfound prominence as a star with a hit single that couldn't be interpreted as anything other than a political statement and because of her intimate family connections to the struggle. Even the most racist of white people these days pays lip service to the memory of Dr Martin Luther King, and when they do they quote just a handful of sentences from one speech King made in 1963, as if that sums up the full theological and political philosophy of that most complex of men. And as we discussed the last time we looked at Aretha Franklin, King gave versions of that speech, the "I Have a Dream" speech, twice. The most famous version was at the March on Washington, but the first time was a few weeks earlier, at what was at the time the largest civil rights demonstration in American history, in Detroit. Aretha's family connection to that event is made clear by the very opening of King's speech: [Excerpt: Martin Luther King, "Original 'I Have a Dream' Speech"] So as summer 1967 got into swing, and white rock music was going to San Francisco to wear flowers in its hair, Aretha Franklin was at the centre of a very different kind of youth revolution. Franklin's second Atlantic album, Aretha Arrives, brought in some new personnel to the team that had recorded Aretha's first album for Atlantic. Along with the core Muscle Shoals players Jimmy Johnson, Spooner Oldham, Tommy Cogbill and Roger Hawkins, and a horn section led by King Curtis, Wexler and Dowd also brought in guitarist Joe South. South was a white session player from Georgia, who had had a few minor hits himself in the fifties -- he'd got his start recording a cover version of "The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor", the Big Bopper's B-side to "Chantilly Lace": [Excerpt: Joe South, "The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor"] He'd also written a few songs that had been recorded by people like Gene Vincent, but he'd mostly become a session player. He'd become a favourite musician of Bob Johnston's, and so he'd played guitar on Simon and Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme albums: [Excerpt: Simon and Garfunkel, "I am a Rock"] and bass on Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, with Al Kooper particularly praising his playing on "Visions of Johanna": [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Visions of Johanna"] South would be the principal guitarist on this and Franklin's next album, before his own career took off in 1968 with "Games People Play": [Excerpt: Joe South, "Games People Play"] At this point, he had already written the other song he's best known for, "Hush", which later became a hit for Deep Purple: [Excerpt: Deep Purple, "Hush"] But he wasn't very well known, and was surprised to get the call for the Aretha Franklin session, especially because, as he put it "I was white and I was about to play behind the blackest genius since Ray Charles" But Jerry Wexler had told him that Franklin didn't care about the race of the musicians she played with, and South settled in as soon as Franklin smiled at him when he played a good guitar lick on her version of the blues standard "Going Down Slow": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Going Down Slow"] That was one of the few times Franklin smiled in those sessions though. Becoming an overnight success after years of trying and failing to make a name for herself had been a disorienting experience, and on top of that things weren't going well in her personal life. Her marriage to her manager Ted White was falling apart, and she was performing erratically thanks to the stress. In particular, at a gig in Georgia she had fallen off the stage and broken her arm. She soon returned to performing, but it meant she had problems with her right arm during the recording of the album, and didn't play as much piano as she would have previously -- on some of the faster songs she played only with her left hand. But the recording sessions had to go on, whether or not Aretha was physically capable of playing piano. As we discussed in the episode on Otis Redding, the owners of Atlantic Records were busily negotiating its sale to Warner Brothers in mid-1967. As Wexler said later “Everything in me said, Keep rolling, keep recording, keep the hits coming. She was red hot and I had no reason to believe that the streak wouldn't continue. I knew that it would be foolish—and even irresponsible—not to strike when the iron was hot. I also had personal motivation. A Wall Street financier had agreed to see what we could get for Atlantic Records. While Ahmet and Neshui had not agreed on a selling price, they had gone along with my plan to let the financier test our worth on the open market. I was always eager to pump out hits, but at this moment I was on overdrive. In this instance, I had a good partner in Ted White, who felt the same. He wanted as much product out there as possible." In truth, you can tell from Aretha Arrives that it's a record that was being thought of as "product" rather than one being made out of any kind of artistic impulse. It's a fine album -- in her ten-album run from I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You through Amazing Grace there's not a bad album and barely a bad track -- but there's a lack of focus. There are only two originals on the album, neither of them written by Franklin herself, and the rest is an incoherent set of songs that show the tension between Franklin and her producers at Atlantic. Several songs are the kind of standards that Franklin had recorded for her old label Columbia, things like "You Are My Sunshine", or her version of "That's Life", which had been a hit for Frank Sinatra the previous year: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "That's Life"] But mixed in with that are songs that are clearly the choice of Wexler. As we've discussed previously in episodes on Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett, at this point Atlantic had the idea that it was possible for soul artists to cross over into the white market by doing cover versions of white rock hits -- and indeed they'd had some success with that tactic. So while Franklin was suggesting Sinatra covers, Atlantic's hand is visible in the choices of songs like "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "96 Tears": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "96 Tears'] Of the two originals on the album, one, the hit single "Baby I Love You" was written by Ronnie Shannon, the Detroit songwriter who had previously written "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Baby I Love You"] As with the previous album, and several other songs on this one, that had backing vocals by Aretha's sisters, Erma and Carolyn. But the other original on the album, "Ain't Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around)", didn't, even though it was written by Carolyn: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Ain't Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around)"] To explain why, let's take a little detour and look at the co-writer of the song this episode is about, though we're not going to get to that for a little while yet. We've not talked much about Burt Bacharach in this series so far, but he's one of those figures who has come up a few times in the periphery and will come up again, so here is as good a time as any to discuss him, and bring everyone up to speed about his career up to 1967. Bacharach was one of the more privileged figures in the sixties pop music field. His father, Bert Bacharach (pronounced the same as his son, but spelled with an e rather than a u) had been a famous newspaper columnist, and his parents had bought him a Steinway grand piano to practice on -- they pushed him to learn the piano even though as a kid he wasn't interested in finger exercises and Debussy. What he was interested in, though, was jazz, and as a teenager he would often go into Manhattan and use a fake ID to see people like Dizzy Gillespie, who he idolised, and in his autobiography he talks rapturously of seeing Gillespie playing his bent trumpet -- he once saw Gillespie standing on a street corner with a pet monkey on his shoulder, and went home and tried to persuade his parents to buy him a monkey too. In particular, he talks about seeing the Count Basie band with Sonny Payne on drums as a teenager: [Excerpt: Count Basie, "Kid From Red Bank"] He saw them at Birdland, the club owned by Morris Levy where they would regularly play, and said of the performance "they were just so incredibly exciting that all of a sudden, I got into music in a way I never had before. What I heard in those clubs really turned my head around— it was like a big breath of fresh air when somebody throws open a window. That was when I knew for the first time how much I loved music and wanted to be connected to it in some way." Of course, there's a rather major problem with this story, as there is so often with narratives that musicians tell about their early career. In this case, Birdland didn't open until 1949, when Bacharach was twenty-one and stationed in Germany for his military service, while Sonny Payne didn't join Basie's band until 1954, when Bacharach had been a professional musician for many years. Also Dizzy Gillespie's trumpet bell only got bent on January 6, 1953. But presumably while Bacharach was conflating several memories, he did have some experience in some New York jazz club that led him to want to become a musician. Certainly there were enough great jazz musicians playing the clubs in those days. He went to McGill University to study music for two years, then went to study with Darius Milhaud, a hugely respected modernist composer. Milhaud was also one of the most important music teachers of the time -- among others he'd taught Stockhausen and Xenakkis, and would go on to teach Philip Glass and Steve Reich. This suited Bacharach, who by this point was a big fan of Schoenberg and Webern, and was trying to write atonal, difficult music. But Milhaud had also taught Dave Brubeck, and when Bacharach rather shamefacedly presented him with a composition which had an actual tune, he told Bacharach "Never be ashamed of writing a tune you can whistle". He dropped out of university and, like most men of his generation, had to serve in the armed forces. When he got out of the army, he continued his musical studies, still trying to learn to be an avant-garde composer, this time with Bohuslav Martinů and later with Henry Cowell, the experimental composer we've heard about quite a bit in previous episodes: [Excerpt: Henry Cowell, "Aeolian Harp and Sinister Resonance"] He was still listening to a lot of avant garde music, and would continue doing so throughout the fifties, going to see people like John Cage. But he spent much of that time working in music that was very different from the avant-garde. He got a job as the band leader for the crooner Vic Damone: [Excerpt: Vic Damone. "Ebb Tide"] He also played for the vocal group the Ames Brothers. He decided while he was working with the Ames Brothers that he could write better material than they were getting from their publishers, and that it would be better to have a job where he didn't have to travel, so he got himself a job as a staff songwriter in the Brill Building. He wrote a string of flops and nearly hits, starting with "Keep Me In Mind" for Patti Page: [Excerpt: Patti Page, "Keep Me In Mind"] From early in his career he worked with the lyricist Hal David, and the two of them together wrote two big hits, "Magic Moments" for Perry Como: [Excerpt: Perry Como, "Magic Moments"] and "The Story of My Life" for Marty Robbins: [Excerpt: "The Story of My Life"] But at that point Bacharach was still also writing with other writers, notably Hal David's brother Mack, with whom he wrote the theme tune to the film The Blob, as performed by The Five Blobs: [Excerpt: The Five Blobs, "The Blob"] But Bacharach's songwriting career wasn't taking off, and he got himself a job as musical director for Marlene Dietrich -- a job he kept even after it did start to take off.  Part of the problem was that he intuitively wrote music that didn't quite fit into standard structures -- there would be odd bars of unusual time signatures thrown in, unusual harmonies, and structural irregularities -- but then he'd take feedback from publishers and producers who would tell him the song could only be recorded if he straightened it out. He said later "The truth is that I ruined a lot of songs by not believing in myself enough to tell these guys they were wrong." He started writing songs for Scepter Records, usually with Hal David, but also with Bob Hilliard and Mack David, and started having R&B hits. One song he wrote with Mack David, "I'll Cherish You", had the lyrics rewritten by Luther Dixon to make them more harsh-sounding for a Shirelles single -- but the single was otherwise just Bacharach's demo with the vocals replaced, and you can even hear his voice briefly at the beginning: [Excerpt: The Shirelles, "Baby, It's You"] But he'd also started becoming interested in the production side of records more generally. He'd iced that some producers, when recording his songs, would change the sound for the worse -- he thought Gene McDaniels' version of "Tower of Strength", for example, was too fast. But on the other hand, other producers got a better sound than he'd heard in his head. He and Hilliard had written a song called "Please Stay", which they'd given to Leiber and Stoller to record with the Drifters, and he thought that their arrangement of the song was much better than the one he'd originally thought up: [Excerpt: The Drifters, "Please Stay"] He asked Leiber and Stoller if he could attend all their New York sessions and learn about record production from them. He started doing so, and eventually they started asking him to assist them on records. He and Hilliard wrote a song called "Mexican Divorce" for the Drifters, which Leiber and Stoller were going to produce, and as he put it "they were so busy running Redbird Records that they asked me to rehearse the background singers for them in my office." [Excerpt: The Drifters, "Mexican Divorce"] The backing singers who had been brought in to augment the Drifters on that record were a group of vocalists who had started out as members of a gospel group called the Drinkard singers: [Excerpt: The Drinkard Singers, "Singing in My Soul"] The Drinkard Singers had originally been a family group, whose members included Cissy Drinkard, who joined the group aged five (and who on her marriage would become known as Cissy Houston -- her daughter Whitney would later join the family business), her aunt Lee Warrick, and Warrick's adopted daughter Judy Clay. That group were discovered by the great gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, and spent much of the fifties performing with gospel greats including Jackson herself, Clara Ward, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. But Houston was also the musical director of a group at her church, the Gospelaires, which featured Lee Warrick's two daughters Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick (for those who don't know, the Warwick sisters' birth name was Warrick, spelled with two rs. A printing error led to it being misspelled the same way as the British city on a record label, and from that point on Dionne at least pronounced the w in her misspelled name). And slowly, the Gospelaires rather than the Drinkard Singers became the focus, with a lineup of Houston, the Warwick sisters, the Warwick sisters' cousin Doris Troy, and Clay's sister Sylvia Shemwell. The real change in the group's fortunes came when, as we talked about a while back in the episode on "The Loco-Motion", the original lineup of the Cookies largely stopped working as session singers to become Ray Charles' Raelettes. As we discussed in that episode, a new lineup of Cookies formed in 1961, but it took a while for them to get started, and in the meantime the producers who had been relying on them for backing vocals were looking elsewhere, and they looked to the Gospelaires. "Mexican Divorce" was the first record to feature the group as backing vocalists -- though reports vary as to how many of them are on the record, with some saying it's only Troy and the Warwicks, others saying Houston was there, and yet others saying it was all five of them. Some of these discrepancies were because these singers were so good that many of them left to become solo singers in fairly short order. Troy was the first to do so, with her hit "Just One Look", on which the other Gospelaires sang backing vocals: [Excerpt: Doris Troy, "Just One Look"] But the next one to go solo was Dionne Warwick, and that was because she'd started working with Bacharach and Hal David as their principal demo singer. She started singing lead on their demos, and hoping that she'd get to release them on her own. One early one was "Make it Easy On Yourself", which was recorded by Jerry Butler, formerly of the Impressions. That record was produced by Bacharach, one of the first records he produced without outside supervision: [Excerpt: Jerry Butler, "Make it Easy On Yourself"] Warwick was very jealous that a song she'd sung the demo of had become a massive hit for someone else, and blamed Bacharach and David. The way she tells the story -- Bacharach always claimed this never happened, but as we've already seen he was himself not always the most reliable of narrators of his own life -- she got so angry she complained to them, and said "Don't make me over, man!" And so Bacharach and David wrote her this: [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "Don't Make Me Over"] Incidentally, in the UK, the hit version of that was a cover by the Swinging Blue Jeans: [Excerpt: The Swinging Blue Jeans, "Don't Make Me Over"] who also had a huge hit with "You're No Good": [Excerpt: The Swinging Blue Jeans, "You're No Good"] And *that* was originally recorded by *Dee Dee* Warwick: [Excerpt: Dee Dee Warwick, "You're No Good"] Dee Dee also had a successful solo career, but Dionne's was the real success, making the names of herself, and of Bacharach and David. The team had more than twenty top forty hits together, before Bacharach and David had a falling out in 1971 and stopped working together, and Warwick sued both of them for breach of contract as a result. But prior to that they had hit after hit, with classic records like "Anyone Who Had a Heart": [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "Anyone Who Had a Heart"] And "Walk On By": [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "Walk On By"] With Doris, Dionne, and Dee Dee all going solo, the group's membership was naturally in flux -- though the departed members would occasionally join their former bandmates for sessions, and the remaining members would sing backing vocals on their ex-members' records. By 1965 the group consisted of Cissy Houston, Sylvia Shemwell, the Warwick sisters' cousin Myrna Smith, and Estelle Brown. The group became *the* go-to singers for soul and R&B records made in New York. They were regularly hired by Leiber and Stoller to sing on their records, and they were also the particular favourites of Bert Berns. They sang backing vocals on almost every record he produced. It's them doing the gospel wails on "Cry Baby" by Garnet Mimms: [Excerpt: Garnet Mimms, "Cry Baby"] And they sang backing vocals on both versions of "If You Need Me" -- Wilson Pickett's original and Solomon Burke's more successful cover version, produced by Berns: [Excerpt: Solomon Burke, "If You Need Me"] They're on such Berns records as "Show Me Your Monkey", by Kenny Hamber: [Excerpt: Kenny Hamber, "Show Me Your Monkey"] And it was a Berns production that ended up getting them to be Aretha Franklin's backing group. The group were becoming such an important part of the records that Atlantic and BANG Records, in particular, were putting out, that Jerry Wexler said "it was only a matter of common decency to put them under contract as a featured group". He signed them to Atlantic and renamed them from the Gospelaires to The Sweet Inspirations.  Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham wrote a song for the group which became their only hit under their own name: [Excerpt: The Sweet Inspirations, "Sweet Inspiration"] But to start with, they released a cover of Pops Staples' civil rights song "Why (Am I treated So Bad)": [Excerpt: The Sweet Inspirations, "Why (Am I Treated So Bad?)"] That hadn't charted, and meanwhile, they'd all kept doing session work. Cissy had joined Erma and Carolyn Franklin on the backing vocals for Aretha's "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You"] Shortly after that, the whole group recorded backing vocals for Erma's single "Piece of My Heart", co-written and produced by Berns: [Excerpt: Erma Franklin, "Piece of My Heart"] That became a top ten record on the R&B charts, but that caused problems. Aretha Franklin had a few character flaws, and one of these was an extreme level of jealousy for any other female singer who had any level of success and came up in the business after her. She could be incredibly graceful towards anyone who had been successful before her -- she once gave one of her Grammies away to Esther Phillips, who had been up for the same award and had lost to her -- but she was terribly insecure, and saw any contemporary as a threat. She'd spent her time at Columbia Records fuming (with some justification) that Barbra Streisand was being given a much bigger marketing budget than her, and she saw Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, and Dionne Warwick as rivals rather than friends. And that went doubly for her sisters, who she was convinced should be supporting her because of family loyalty. She had been infuriated at John Hammond when Columbia had signed Erma, thinking he'd gone behind her back to create competition for her. And now Erma was recording with Bert Berns. Bert Berns who had for years been a colleague of Jerry Wexler and the Ertegun brothers at Atlantic. Aretha was convinced that Wexler had put Berns up to signing Erma as some kind of power play. There was only one problem with this -- it simply wasn't true. As Wexler later explained “Bert and I had suffered a bad falling-out, even though I had enormous respect for him. After all, he was the guy who brought over guitarist Jimmy Page from England to play on our sessions. Bert, Ahmet, Nesuhi, and I had started a label together—Bang!—where Bert produced Van Morrison's first album. But Bert also had a penchant for trouble. He courted the wise guys. He wanted total control over every last aspect of our business dealings. Finally it was too much, and the Erteguns and I let him go. He sued us for breach of contract and suddenly we were enemies. I felt that he signed Erma, an excellent singer, not merely for her talent but as a way to get back at me. If I could make a hit with Aretha, he'd show me up by making an even bigger hit on Erma. Because there was always an undercurrent of rivalry between the sisters, this only added to the tension.” There were two things that resulted from this paranoia on Aretha's part. The first was that she and Wexler, who had been on first-name terms up to that point, temporarily went back to being "Mr. Wexler" and "Miss Franklin" to each other. And the second was that Aretha no longer wanted Carolyn and Erma to be her main backing vocalists, though they would continue to appear on her future records on occasion. From this point on, the Sweet Inspirations would be the main backing vocalists for Aretha in the studio throughout her golden era [xxcut line (and when the Sweet Inspirations themselves weren't on the record, often it would be former members of the group taking their place)]: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Ain't Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around)"] The last day of sessions for Aretha Arrives was July the twenty-third, 1967. And as we heard in the episode on "I Was Made to Love Her", that was the day that the Detroit riots started. To recap briefly, that was four days of rioting started because of a history of racist policing, made worse by those same racist police overreacting to the initial protests. By the end of those four days, the National Guard, 82nd Airborne Division, and the 101st Airborne from Clarksville were all called in to deal with the violence, which left forty-three dead (of whom thirty-three were Black and only one was a police officer), 1,189 people were injured, and over 7,200 arrested, almost all of them Black. Those days in July would be a turning point for almost every musician based in Detroit. In particular, the police had murdered three members of the soul group the Dramatics, in a massacre of which the author John Hersey, who had been asked by President Johnson to be part of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders but had decided that would compromise his impartiality and did an independent journalistic investigation, said "The episode contained all the mythic themes of racial strife in the United States: the arm of the law taking the law into its own hands; interracial sex; the subtle poison of racist thinking by “decent” men who deny they are racists; the societal limbo into which, ever since slavery, so many young black men have been driven by our country; ambiguous justice in the courts; and the devastation in both black and white human lives that follows in the wake of violence as surely as ruinous and indiscriminate flood after torrents" But these were also the events that radicalised the MC5 -- the group had been playing a gig as Tim Buckley's support act when the rioting started, and guitarist Wayne Kramer decided afterwards to get stoned and watch the fires burning down the city through a telescope -- which police mistook for a rifle, leading to the National Guard knocking down Kramer's door. The MC5 would later cover "The Motor City is Burning", John Lee Hooker's song about the events: [Excerpt: The MC5, "The Motor City is Burning"] It would also be a turning point for Motown, too, in ways we'll talk about in a few future episodes.  And it was a political turning point too -- Michigan Governor George Romney, a liberal Republican (at a time when such people existed) had been the favourite for the Republican Presidential candidacy when he'd entered the race in December 1966, but as racial tensions ramped up in Detroit during the early months of 1967 he'd started trailing Richard Nixon, a man who was consciously stoking racists' fears. President Johnson, the incumbent Democrat, who was at that point still considering standing for re-election, made sure to make it clear to everyone during the riots that the decision to call in the National Guard had been made at the State level, by Romney, rather than at the Federal level.  That wasn't the only thing that removed the possibility of a Romney presidency, but it was a big part of the collapse of his campaign, and the, as it turned out, irrevocable turn towards right-authoritarianism that the party took with Nixon's Southern Strategy. Of course, Aretha Franklin had little way of knowing what was to come and how the riots would change the city and the country over the following decades. What she was primarily concerned about was the safety of her father, and to a lesser extent that of her sister-in-law Earline who was staying with him. Aretha, Carolyn, and Erma all tried to keep in constant touch with their father while they were out of town, and Aretha even talked about hiring private detectives to travel to Detroit, find her father, and get him out of the city to safety. But as her brother Cecil pointed out, he was probably the single most loved man among Black people in Detroit, and was unlikely to be harmed by the rioters, while he was too famous for the police to kill with impunity. Reverend Franklin had been having a stressful time anyway -- he had recently been fined for tax evasion, an action he was convinced the IRS had taken because of his friendship with Dr King and his role in the civil rights movement -- and according to Cecil "Aretha begged Daddy to move out of the city entirely. She wanted him to find another congregation in California, where he was especially popular—or at least move out to the suburbs. But he wouldn't budge. He said that, more than ever, he was needed to point out the root causes of the riots—the economic inequality, the pervasive racism in civic institutions, the woefully inadequate schools in inner-city Detroit, and the wholesale destruction of our neighborhoods by urban renewal. Some ministers fled the city, but not our father. The horror of what happened only recommitted him. He would not abandon his political agenda." To make things worse, Aretha was worried about her father in other ways -- as her marriage to Ted White was starting to disintegrate, she was looking to her father for guidance, and actually wanted him to take over her management. Eventually, Ruth Bowen, her booking agent, persuaded her brother Cecil that this was a job he could do, and that she would teach him everything he needed to know about the music business. She started training him up while Aretha was still married to White, in the expectation that that marriage couldn't last. Jerry Wexler, who only a few months earlier had been seeing Ted White as an ally in getting "product" from Franklin, had now changed his tune -- partly because the sale of Atlantic had gone through in the meantime. He later said “Sometimes she'd call me at night, and, in that barely audible little-girl voice of hers, she'd tell me that she wasn't sure she could go on. She always spoke in generalities. She never mentioned her husband, never gave me specifics of who was doing what to whom. And of course I knew better than to ask. She just said that she was tired of dealing with so much. My heart went out to her. She was a woman who suffered silently. She held so much in. I'd tell her to take as much time off as she needed. We had a lot of songs in the can that we could release without new material. ‘Oh, no, Jerry,' she'd say. ‘I can't stop recording. I've written some new songs, Carolyn's written some new songs. We gotta get in there and cut 'em.' ‘Are you sure?' I'd ask. ‘Positive,' she'd say. I'd set up the dates and typically she wouldn't show up for the first or second sessions. Carolyn or Erma would call me to say, ‘Ree's under the weather.' That was tough because we'd have asked people like Joe South and Bobby Womack to play on the sessions. Then I'd reschedule in the hopes she'd show." That third album she recorded in 1967, Lady Soul, was possibly her greatest achievement. The opening track, and second single, "Chain of Fools", released in November, was written by Don Covay -- or at least it's credited as having been written by Covay. There's a gospel record that came out around the same time on a very small label based in Houston -- "Pains of Life" by Rev. E. Fair And The Sensational Gladys Davis Trio: [Excerpt: Rev. E. Fair And The Sensational Gladys Davis Trio, "Pains of Life"] I've seen various claims online that that record came out shortly *before* "Chain of Fools", but I can't find any definitive evidence one way or the other -- it was on such a small label that release dates aren't available anywhere. Given that the B-side, which I haven't been able to track down online, is called "Wait Until the Midnight Hour", my guess is that rather than this being a case of Don Covay stealing the melody from an obscure gospel record he'd have had little chance to hear, it's the gospel record rewriting a then-current hit to be about religion, but I thought it worth mentioning. The song was actually written by Covay after Jerry Wexler asked him to come up with some songs for Otis Redding, but Wexler, after hearing it, decided it was better suited to Franklin, who gave an astonishing performance: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Chain of Fools"] Arif Mardin, the arranger of the album, said of that track “I was listed as the arranger of ‘Chain of Fools,' but I can't take credit. Aretha walked into the studio with the chart fully formed inside her head. The arrangement is based around the harmony vocals provided by Carolyn and Erma. To add heft, the Sweet Inspirations joined in. The vision of the song is entirely Aretha's.” According to Wexler, that's not *quite* true -- according to him, Joe South came up with the guitar part that makes up the intro, and he also said that when he played what he thought was the finished track to Ellie Greenwich, she came up with another vocal line for the backing vocals, which she overdubbed. But the core of the record's sound is definitely pure Aretha -- and Carolyn Franklin said that there was a reason for that. As she said later “Aretha didn't write ‘Chain,' but she might as well have. It was her story. When we were in the studio putting on the backgrounds with Ree doing lead, I knew she was singing about Ted. Listen to the lyrics talking about how for five long years she thought he was her man. Then she found out she was nothing but a link in the chain. Then she sings that her father told her to come on home. Well, he did. She sings about how her doctor said to take it easy. Well, he did too. She was drinking so much we thought she was on the verge of a breakdown. The line that slew me, though, was the one that said how one of these mornings the chain is gonna break but until then she'll take all she can take. That summed it up. Ree knew damn well that this man had been doggin' her since Jump Street. But somehow she held on and pushed it to the breaking point." [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Chain of Fools"] That made number one on the R&B charts, and number two on the hot one hundred, kept from the top by "Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)" by John Fred and his Playboy Band -- a record that very few people would say has stood the test of time as well. The other most memorable track on the album was the one chosen as the first single, released in September. As Carole King told the story, she and Gerry Goffin were feeling like their career was in a slump. While they had had a huge run of hits in the early sixties through 1965, they had only had two new hits in 1966 -- "Goin' Back" for Dusty Springfield and "Don't Bring Me Down" for the Animals, and neither of those were anything like as massive as their previous hits. And up to that point in 1967, they'd only had one -- "Pleasant Valley Sunday" for the Monkees. They had managed to place several songs on Monkees albums and the TV show as well, so they weren't going to starve, but the rise of self-contained bands that were starting to dominate the charts, and Phil Spector's temporary retirement, meant there simply wasn't the opportunity for them to place material that there had been. They were also getting sick of travelling to the West Coast all the time, because as their children were growing slightly older they didn't want to disrupt their lives in New York, and were thinking of approaching some of the New York based labels and seeing if they needed songs. They were particularly considering Atlantic, because soul was more open to outside songwriters than other genres. As it happened, though, they didn't have to approach Atlantic, because Atlantic approached them. They were walking down Broadway when a limousine pulled up, and Jerry Wexler stuck his head out of the window. He'd come up with a good title that he wanted to use for a song for Aretha, would they be interested in writing a song called "Natural Woman"? They said of course they would, and Wexler drove off. They wrote the song that night, and King recorded a demo the next morning: [Excerpt: Carole King, "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (demo)"] They gave Wexler a co-writing credit because he had suggested the title.  King later wrote in her autobiography "Hearing Aretha's performance of “Natural Woman” for the first time, I experienced a rare speechless moment. To this day I can't convey how I felt in mere words. Anyone who had written a song in 1967 hoping it would be performed by a singer who could take it to the highest level of excellence, emotional connection, and public exposure would surely have wanted that singer to be Aretha Franklin." She went on to say "But a recording that moves people is never just about the artist and the songwriters. It's about people like Jerry and Ahmet, who matched the songwriters with a great title and a gifted artist; Arif Mardin, whose magnificent orchestral arrangement deserves the place it will forever occupy in popular music history; Tom Dowd, whose engineering skills captured the magic of this memorable musical moment for posterity; and the musicians in the rhythm section, the orchestral players, and the vocal contributions of the background singers—among them the unforgettable “Ah-oo!” after the first line of the verse. And the promotion and marketing people helped this song reach more people than it might have without them." And that's correct -- unlike "Chain of Fools", this time Franklin did let Arif Mardin do most of the arrangement work -- though she came up with the piano part that Spooner Oldham plays on the record. Mardin said that because of the song's hymn-like feel they wanted to go for a more traditional written arrangement. He said "She loved the song to the point where she said she wanted to concentrate on the vocal and vocal alone. I had written a string chart and horn chart to augment the chorus and hired Ralph Burns to conduct. After just a couple of takes, we had it. That's when Ralph turned to me with wonder in his eyes. Ralph was one of the most celebrated arrangers of the modern era. He had done ‘Early Autumn' for Woody Herman and Stan Getz, and ‘Georgia on My Mind' for Ray Charles. He'd worked with everyone. ‘This woman comes from another planet' was all Ralph said. ‘She's just here visiting.'” [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman"] By this point there was a well-functioning team making Franklin's records -- while the production credits would vary over the years, they were all essentially co-productions by the team of Franklin, Wexler, Mardin and Dowd, all collaborating and working together with a more-or-less unified purpose, and the backing was always by the same handful of session musicians and some combination of the Sweet Inspirations and Aretha's sisters. That didn't mean that occasional guests couldn't get involved -- as we discussed in the Cream episode, Eric Clapton played guitar on "Good to Me as I am to You": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Good to Me as I am to You"] Though that was one of the rare occasions on one of these records where something was overdubbed. Clapton apparently messed up the guitar part when playing behind Franklin, because he was too intimidated by playing with her, and came back the next day to redo his part without her in the studio. At this point, Aretha was at the height of her fame. Just before the final batch of album sessions began she appeared in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, and she was making regular TV appearances, like one on the Mike Douglas Show where she duetted with Frankie Valli on "That's Life": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin and Frankie Valli, "That's Life"] But also, as Wexler said “Her career was kicking into high gear. Contending and resolving both the professional and personal challenges were too much. She didn't think she could do both, and I didn't blame her. Few people could. So she let the personal slide and concentrated on the professional. " Her concert promoter Ruth Bowen said of this time "Her father and Dr. King were putting pressure on her to sing everywhere, and she felt obligated. The record company was also screaming for more product. And I had a mountain of offers on my desk that kept getting higher with every passing hour. They wanted her in Europe. They wanted her in Latin America. They wanted her in every major venue in the U.S. TV was calling. She was being asked to do guest appearances on every show from Carol Burnett to Andy Williams to the Hollywood Palace. She wanted to do them all and she wanted to do none of them. She wanted to do them all because she's an entertainer who burns with ambition. She wanted to do none of them because she was emotionally drained. She needed to go away and renew her strength. I told her that at least a dozen times. She said she would, but she didn't listen to me." The pressures from her father and Dr King are a recurring motif in interviews with people about this period. Franklin was always a very political person, and would throughout her life volunteer time and money to liberal political causes and to the Democratic Party, but this was the height of her activism -- the Civil Rights movement was trying to capitalise on the gains it had made in the previous couple of years, and celebrity fundraisers and performances at rallies were an important way to do that. And at this point there were few bigger celebrities in America than Aretha Franklin. At a concert in her home town of Detroit on February the sixteenth, 1968, the Mayor declared the day Aretha Franklin Day. At the same show, Billboard, Record World *and* Cash Box magazines all presented her with plaques for being Female Vocalist of the Year. And Dr. King travelled up to be at the show and congratulate her publicly for all her work with his organisation, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Backstage at that show, Dr. King talked to Aretha's father, Reverend Franklin, about what he believed would be the next big battle -- a strike in Memphis: [Excerpt, Martin Luther King, "Mountaintop Speech" -- "And so, as a result of this, we are asking you tonight, to go out and tell your neighbors not to buy Coca-Cola in Memphis. Go by and tell them not to buy Sealtest milk. Tell them not to buy—what is the other bread?—Wonder Bread. And what is the other bread company, Jesse? Tell them not to buy Hart's bread. As Jesse Jackson has said, up to now, only the garbage men have been feeling pain; now we must kind of redistribute the pain. We are choosing these companies because they haven't been fair in their hiring policies; and we are choosing them because they can begin the process of saying, they are going to support the needs and the rights of these men who are on strike. And then they can move on downtown and tell Mayor Loeb to do what is right."] The strike in question was the Memphis Sanitation Workers' strike which had started a few days before.  The struggle for Black labour rights was an integral part of the civil rights movement, and while it's not told that way in the sanitised version of the story that's made it into popular culture, the movement led by King was as much about economic justice as social justice -- King was a democratic socialist, and believed that economic oppression was both an effect of and cause of other forms of racial oppression, and that the rights of Black workers needed to be fought for. In 1967 he had set up a new organisation, the Poor People's Campaign, which was set to march on Washington to demand a program that included full employment, a guaranteed income -- King was strongly influenced in his later years by the ideas of Henry George, the proponent of a universal basic income based on land value tax -- the annual building of half a million affordable homes, and an end to the war in Vietnam. This was King's main focus in early 1968, and he saw the sanitation workers' strike as a major part of this campaign. Memphis was one of the most oppressive cities in the country, and its largely Black workforce of sanitation workers had been trying for most of the 1960s to unionise, and strike-breakers had been called in to stop them, and many of them had been fired by their white supervisors with no notice. They were working in unsafe conditions, for utterly inadequate wages, and the city government were ardent segregationists. After two workers had died on the first of February from using unsafe equipment, the union demanded changes -- safer working conditions, better wages, and recognition of the union. The city council refused, and almost all the sanitation workers stayed home and stopped work. After a few days, the council relented and agreed to their terms, but the Mayor, Henry Loeb, an ardent white supremacist who had stood on a platform of opposing desegregation, and who had previously been the Public Works Commissioner who had put these unsafe conditions in place, refused to listen. As far as he was concerned, he was the only one who could recognise the union, and he wouldn't. The workers continued their strike, marching holding signs that simply read "I am a Man": [Excerpt: Stevie Wonder, "Blowing in the Wind"] The Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the NAACP had been involved in organising support for the strikes from an early stage, and King visited Memphis many times. Much of the time he spent visiting there was spent negotiating with a group of more militant activists, who called themselves The Invaders and weren't completely convinced by King's nonviolent approach -- they believed that violence and rioting got more attention than non-violent protests. King explained to them that while he had been persuaded by Gandhi's writings of the moral case for nonviolent protest, he was also persuaded that it was pragmatically necessary -- asking the young men "how many guns do we have and how many guns do they have?", and pointing out as he often did that when it comes to violence a minority can't win against an armed majority. Rev Franklin went down to Memphis on the twenty-eighth of March to speak at a rally Dr. King was holding, but as it turned out the rally was cancelled -- the pre-rally march had got out of hand, with some people smashing windows, and Memphis police had, like the police in Detroit the previous year, violently overreacted, clubbing and gassing protestors and shooting and killing one unarmed teenage boy, Larry Payne. The day after Payne's funeral, Dr King was back in Memphis, though this time Rev Franklin was not with him. On April the third, he gave a speech which became known as the "Mountaintop Speech", in which he talked about the threats that had been made to his life: [Excerpt: Martin Luther King, "Mountaintop Speech": “And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."] The next day, Martin Luther King was shot dead. James Earl Ray, a white supremacist, pled guilty to the murder, and the evidence against him seems overwhelming from what I've read, but the King family have always claimed that the murder was part of a larger conspiracy and that Ray was not the gunman. Aretha was obviously distraught, and she attended the funeral, as did almost every other prominent Black public figure. James Baldwin wrote of the funeral: "In the pew directly before me sat Marlon Brando, Sammy Davis, Eartha Kitt—covered in black, looking like a lost, ten-year-old girl—and Sidney Poitier, in the same pew, or nearby. Marlon saw me, and nodded. The atmosphere was black, with a tension indescribable—as though something, perhaps the heavens, perhaps the earth, might crack. Everyone sat very still. The actual service sort of washed over me, in waves. It wasn't that it seemed unreal; it was the most real church service I've ever sat through in my life, or ever hope to sit through; but I have a childhood hangover thing about not weeping in public, and I was concentrating on holding myself together. I did not want to weep for Martin, tears seemed futile. But I may also have been afraid, and I could not have been the only one, that if I began to weep I would not be able to stop. There was more than enough to weep for, if one was to weep—so many of us, cut down, so soon. Medgar, Malcolm, Martin: and their widows, and their children. Reverend Ralph David Abernathy asked a certain sister to sing a song which Martin had loved—“Once more,” said Ralph David, “for Martin and for me,” and he sat down." Many articles and books on Aretha Franklin say that she sang at King's funeral. In fact she didn't, but there's a simple reason for the confusion. King's favourite song was the Thomas Dorsey gospel song "Take My Hand, Precious Lord", and indeed almost his last words were to ask a trumpet player, Ben Branch, if he would play the song at the rally he was going to be speaking at on the day of his death. At his request, Mahalia Jackson, his old friend, sang the song at his private funeral, which was not filmed, unlike the public part of the funeral that Baldwin described. Four months later, though, there was another public memorial for King, and Franklin did sing "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" at that service, in front of King's weeping widow and children, and that performance *was* filmed, and gets conflated in people's memories with Jackson's unfilmed earlier performance: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord (at Martin Luther King Memorial)"] Four years later, she would sing that at Mahalia Jackson's funeral. Through all this, Franklin had been working on her next album, Aretha Now, the sessions for which started more or less as soon as the sessions for Lady Soul had finished. The album was, in fact, bookended by deaths that affected Aretha. Just as King died at the end of the sessions, the beginning came around the time of the death of Otis Redding -- the sessions were cancelled for a day while Wexler travelled to Georgia for Redding's funeral, which Franklin was too devastated to attend, and Wexler would later say that the extra emotion in her performances on the album came from her emotional pain at Redding's death. The lead single on the album, "Think", was written by Franklin and -- according to the credits anyway -- her husband Ted White, and is very much in the same style as "Respect", and became another of her most-loved hits: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Think"] But probably the song on Aretha Now that now resonates the most is one that Jerry Wexler tried to persuade her not to record, and was only released as a B-side. Indeed, "I Say a Little Prayer" was a song that had already once been a hit after being a reject.  Hal David, unlike Burt Bacharach, was a fairly political person and inspired by the protest song movement, and had been starting to incorporate his concerns about the political situation and the Vietnam War into his lyrics -- though as with many such writers, he did it in much less specific ways than a Phil Ochs or a Bob Dylan. This had started with "What the World Needs Now is Love", a song Bacharach and David had written for Jackie DeShannon in 1965: [Excerpt: Jackie DeShannon, "What the "World Needs Now is Love"] But he'd become much more overtly political for "The Windows of the World", a song they wrote for Dionne Warwick. Warwick has often said it's her favourite of her singles, but it wasn't a big hit -- Bacharach blamed himself for that, saying "Dionne recorded it as a single and I really blew it. I wrote a bad arrangement and the tempo was too fast, and I really regret making it the way I did because it's a good song." [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "The Windows of the World"] For that album, Bacharach and David had written another track, "I Say a Little Prayer", which was not as explicitly political, but was intended by David to have an implicit anti-war message, much like other songs of the period like "Last Train to Clarksville". David had sons who were the right age to be drafted, and while it's never stated, "I Say a Little Prayer" was written from the perspective of a woman whose partner is away fighting in the war, but is still in her thoughts: [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "I Say a Little Prayer"] The recording of Dionne Warwick's version was marked by stress. Bacharach had a particular way of writing music to tell the musicians the kind of feel he wanted for the part -- he'd write nonsense words above the stave, and tell the musicians to play the parts as if they were singing those words. The trumpet player hired for the session, Ernie Royal, got into a row with Bacharach about this unorthodox way of communicating musical feeling, and the track ended up taking ten takes (as opposed to the normal three for a Bacharach session), with Royal being replaced half-way through the session. Bacharach was never happy with the track even after all the work it had taken, and he fought to keep it from being released at all, saying the track was taken at too fast a tempo. It eventually came out as an album track nearly eighteen months after it was recorded -- an eternity in 1960s musical timescales -- and DJs started playing it almost as soon as it came out. Scepter records rushed out a single, over Bacharach's objections, but as he later said "One thing I love about the record business is how wrong I was. Disc jockeys all across the country started playing the track, and the song went to number four on the charts and then became the biggest hit Hal and I had ever written for Dionne." [Excerpt: Dionne Warwick, "I Say a Little Prayer"] Oddly, the B-side for Warwick's single, "Theme From the Valley of the Dolls" did even better, reaching number two. Almost as soon as the song was released as a single, Franklin started playing around with the song backstage, and in April 1968, right around the time of Dr. King's death, she recorded a version. Much as Burt Bacharach had been against releasing Dionne Warwick's version, Jerry Wexler was against Aretha even recording the song, saying later “I advised Aretha not to record it. I opposed it for two reasons. First, to cover a song only twelve weeks after the original reached the top of the charts was not smart business. You revisit such a hit eight months to a year later. That's standard practice. But more than that, Bacharach's melody, though lovely, was peculiarly suited to a lithe instrument like Dionne Warwick's—a light voice without the dark corners or emotional depths that define Aretha. Also, Hal David's lyric was also somewhat girlish and lacked the gravitas that Aretha required. “Aretha usually listened to me in the studio, but not this time. She had written a vocal arrangement for the Sweet Inspirations that was undoubtedly strong. Cissy Houston, Dionne's cousin, told me that Aretha was on the right track—she was seeing this song in a new way and had come up with a new groove. Cissy was on Aretha's side. Tommy Dowd and Arif were on Aretha's side. So I had no choice but to cave." It's quite possible that Wexler's objections made Franklin more, rather than less, determined to record the song. She regarded Warwick as a hated rival, as she did almost every prominent female singer of her generation and younger ones, and would undoubtedly have taken the implication that there was something that Warwick was simply better at than her to heart. [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Say a Little Prayer"] Wexler realised as soon as he heard it in the studio that Franklin's version was great, and Bacharach agreed, telling Franklin's biographer David Ritz “As much as I like the original recording by Dionne, there's no doubt that Aretha's is a better record. She imbued the song with heavy soul and took it to a far deeper place. Hers is the definitive version.” -- which is surprising because Franklin's version simplifies some of Bacharach's more unusual chord voicings, something he often found extremely upsetting. Wexler still though thought there was no way the song would be a hit, and it's understandable that he thought that way. Not only had it only just been on the charts a few months earlier, but it was the kind of song that wouldn't normally be a hit at all, and certainly not in the kind of rhythmic soul music for which Franklin was known. Almost everything she ever recorded is in simple time signatures -- 4/4, waltz time, or 6/8 -- but this is a Bacharach song so it's staggeringly metrically irregular. Normally even with semi-complex things I'm usually good at figuring out how to break it down into bars, but here I actually had to purchase a copy of the sheet music in order to be sure I was right about what's going on. I'm going to count beats along with the record here so you can see what I mean. The verse has three bars of 4/4, one bar of 2/4, and three more bars of 4/4, all repeated: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Say a Little Prayer" with me counting bars over verse] While the chorus has a bar of 4/4, a bar of 3/4 but with a chord change half way through so it sounds like it's in two if you're paying attention to the harmonic changes, two bars of 4/4, another waltz-time bar sounding like it's in two, two bars of four, another bar of three sounding in two, a bar of four, then three more bars of four but the first of those is *written* as four but played as if it's in six-eight time (but you can keep the four/four pulse going if you're counting): [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Say a Little Prayer" with me counting bars over verse] I don't expect you to have necessarily followed that in great detail, but the point should be clear -- this was not some straightforward dance song. Incidentally, that bar played as if it's six/eight was something Aretha introduced to make the song even more irregular than how Bacharach wrote it. And on top of *that* of course the lyrics mixed the secular and the sacred, something that was still taboo in popular music at that time -- this is only a couple of years after Capitol records had been genuinely unsure about putting out the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows", and Franklin's gospel-inflected vocals made the religious connection even more obvious. But Franklin was insistent that the record go out as a single, and eventually it was released as the B-side to the far less impressive "The House That Jack Built". It became a double-sided hit, with the A-side making number two on the R&B chart and number seven on the Hot One Hundred, while "I Say a Little Prayer" made number three on the R&B chart and number ten overall. In the UK, "I Say a Little Prayer" made number four and became her biggest ever solo UK hit. It's now one of her most-remembered songs, while the A-side is largely forgotten: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Say a Little Prayer"] For much of the