Podcasts about Moonglow

The LA Times recently released their "best 30 books of the last 30 years" list, and of course...we have something to say about itJoin our book club!patreon.com/LifeonBooksJoin the Life on Books mailing list to stay up to date on all of our latest book giveaways, projects, and more!https://linktw.in/BRYAnVhWant to read one book from every country? Check out our resource online:https://linktw.in/ZeoltyWant to know my all time favorite books? Click the link below!https://bookshop.org/shop/lifeonbooksFollow me on Instagram:  / alifeonbooks  Follow Andy on Instagram  / metafictional.meathead  Books mentioned in this episode:Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchonhttps://amzn.to/42FfJd7https://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780143...Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchonhttps://amzn.to/4js3jN4https://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780143...Against the Day by Thomas Pynchonhttps://amzn.to/4jOmfFAhttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780143...Falling Man by Don Delillohttps://amzn.to/4cSrj9Khttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9781416...Zero K by Don DeLillohttps://amzn.to/447ACjJhttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9781501...The Silence by Don DeLillohttps://amzn.to/4jFynZahttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9781501...The Plot Against America by Philip Rothhttps://amzn.to/3YP0ixVhttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9781400...Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchonhttps://amzn.to/42x7mjXhttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780143...100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquezhttps://amzn.to/42sHkQ1https://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780060...The Inspector Barlach Mysteries by Friederich Durrenmatthttps://amzn.to/4iBeMZshttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780226...Moonglow by Michael Chabonhttps://amzn.to/443zz4fhttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780062...The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolanohttps://amzn.to/4bIZgZIhttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780312...Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Parkhttps://amzn.to/3GjELqHhttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780812...Paranoia by Victor Martinovichhttps://amzn.to/3GpDWNihttps://bookshop.org/a/103053/9780810...Pay as you Go by Eskor David Johnsonhttps://amzn.to/3S3apvd

What a long, strange trip it's been...this week, the Book Boys finish up their read-through of the works of Michael Chabon with "Moonglow". Does the Baron of Berkley/Prince of Pittsburgh manage to redeem himself after the missteps of "Telegraph Avenue"? Tune in this week to find out!

Air Week: March 24-30, 2025 The Heartbeats With so many wonderful vocal groups present during the 1950s, it took a few distinct ones to lead the pack and blaze the trail. The Heartbeats are always right up there with The Clovers, Harptones, Moonglows, Flamingos and the other leaders who carried the torch lit by the […]

A widow reflected upon her widowhood and her best-selling memoir aboutit.

My guest today on the Online for Authors podcast is Geoffrey Wells, author of the book A Fado for the River. Geoffrey started writing fiction after a career in IT management at two major US TV broadcasting companies. He also wrote and produced an award-winning animated film, The Shadow of Doubt, directed by his wife, Cynthia Wells. The film showed in 27 film festivals and won 5 awards. In 2015, he published the award-winning children's book, Moonglow, written by Peggy Dickerson and illustrated by Cynthia Wells. He is the author of three novels forming the series titled, The Trilogy for Freedom. In A Fado for the River, an historical spy thriller (2011), he explores the quest for personal freedom, which grew out of Mozambique, a country that suffered for its liberation. In Atone for the Ivory Cloud, a cyber-thriller (2016), he writes about the ivory trade. In his eco-thriller, The Drowning Bay (2021), he looks at the responsibility of freedom and its demands on saving an ecosystem. His latest release is the middle grade novel, Never Less (Book One of the Pablo and Mindy Series). It is a thriller for young readers twelve and up that will help them deal with the opioid crisis in an adventurous, and relatable way, which will give them agency over even the toughest grown-up problems. In my book review, I stated A Fado for the River is the first of three in a historical thriller series. The history is Mozambique (East Africa) in the early 1970s as the country was on the verge of a civil war. I know absolutely nothing about this history. Geoffrey's descriptions of the events taking place prior to the Carnation Revolution were eye-opening and made me want to learn more. But more than a book about a historical period of which I knew nothing, Geoffrey penned a novel full of love and intrigue. Gida lives in Mozambique, though it is not her country of origin. Raf is a student visiting. They meet and fall in love. Then their world falls apart. Twenty years later, Raf, now a successful American TV executive, returns to the area only to be accused of Gida's murder. Will he be able to prove his innocence? What awaits him as he begins his search for the women he still loves? Most importantly, can he forgive himself for all that he did - and didn't do? I thoroughly enjoyed this novel! Subscribe to Online for Authors to learn about more great books! https://www.youtube.com/@onlineforauthors?sub_confirmation=1 Join the Novels N Latte Book Club community to discuss this and other books with like-minded readers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3576519880426290 You can follow Author Geoffrey Wells Website: https://geoffreywellsfiction.com/ FB: @geoffreywellsfiction IG: @ geoffrey_wells_fiction LinkedIn: @Geoffrey Wells   Purchase A Fado for the River  on Amazon: Paperback: https://amzn.to/3NdNx9T Ebook: https://amzn.to/3Nd8kKR   Teri M Brown, Author and Podcast Host: https://www.terimbrown.com FB: @TeriMBrownAuthor IG: @terimbrown_author X: @terimbrown1   #geoffreywells #afadoforariver #historicalthriller #terimbrownauthor #authorpodcast #onlineforauthors #characterdriven #researchjunkie #awardwinningauthor #podcasthost #podcast #readerpodcast #bookpodcast #writerpodcast #author #books #goodreads #bookclub #fiction #writer #bookreview *As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Just a general warning for everyone out there, if you find a book wrapped in flesh in a cellar and it contains latin, DO NOT READ THE LATIN! Grab your chainsaw and boomstick deadites, because PopCornDogs is discussing the Evil Dead franchise from its humble beginnings to the mega franchise it has become! Is it horror?  Is it comedy?  Does it make you uncomfortable?  Yes, yes, and fuck yes. Featuring new theme song by Moonglow! https://open.spotify.com/artist/1FRdn1zd64XEvM6uQMCMw4?si=X5DRhVBkRw2GhR3zBqKqtA To support our show and get exclusive access to over 75 bonus episodes, check out https://www.patreon.com/hairofthedogcast Contact Us: Twitter: @HOTDogcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hairofthedogcast Instagram: hairofthedogcast Threads: https://www.threads.net/@hairofthedogcast  Blue.Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/hairofthedogcast.bsky.social  Write us a review! We appreciate your support!

This episode explores new research, which has found that tropical mammals react to changes in lunar light. --- Read this episode's science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read ‘Moonlight' by Paul Verlaine here.   --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com   X: @samillingworth 

Sintonía: "Miss Brown To You" - Billie Holiday"Now or Never" - "Blue Moon" - "Practice Makes Perfect" - "On The Sunny Side Of The Street" - "Remember" - "I´ll Get By (As Long As I Have You)" - "Sugar" - "My Sweet Hunk O´Trash" - "Laughin´ At Life" - "I Only Have Eyes For You" - "Lover, Come Back To Me" - "Them There Eyes" - "Trav´lin All Alone" - "Easy to Love" - "It´s A Sin To Tell A Lie" - "Moonglow"Todas las canciones cantadas por Billie HolidayTodas las músicas extraídas de la recopilación (2xCD + comic book) "Billie Holiday", de la serie "BDJazz" (Nocturne/Corda Seca, 2003) Escuchar audio

This week on the Music Halls of Fame Podcast, we honor the year in music for 2000, along with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class of 2000 inductee The Moonglows. We also look at the case for putting Ted Nugent into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Plus, our spotlight walk of fame is the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California and inductee Billy Idol. Music Podcast Playlist - youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSMDYrumQfYTVQ71AvexrXzAcJvVCHXAo 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 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - RockHall.com Hollywood Walk of Fame - WalkOfFame.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/musichistorytodaypodcast/support

El jazz siempre presente en las películas de Woody Allen. Por orden cronológico en su filmografía: de 'September' de 1987 ('My ideal' por Art Tatum y Ben Webster), de 'Alice' de 1990 ('The way you look tonight' por el trío de Erroll Garner y 'Moonglow' por la orquesta de Artie Shaw), de su episodio para 'New York stories' ('I want a girl, just like the girl that married dear old dad' y 'In a persian market' por Wilbur de Paris and his New Orleans jazz'), de 'Manhattan Murder Mystery' de 1993 ('In the mood for love' por Erroll Garner y 'Sing sing sing' por la orquesta de Benny Goodman), de 'Mighty Aphrodite' de 1995 ('Lil darlin' por la orquesta de Count Basie, 'Take five' por el cuarteto de Dave Brubeck y 'Penthouse serenade' por el trío de Erroll Garner), de 'Deconstructing Harry' de 1997 ('Out of nowhere' por Coleman Hawkins y Benny Carter y 'She´s funny that way' por el trío de Erroll Garner) y de 'Celebrity' de 1998 ('I got rhythm' por el trío de Teddy Wilson).Escuchar audio

During the last days of World War II, a solitary prospector crosses paths with Nazis on a scorched-earth retreat in northern Finland. When the soldiers decide to steal his gold, they quickly discover they just tangled with no ordinary miner. AKA Inglourious Basterds + John Wick + Rambo This episode was released over a year ago!  For access to all of the PopCornDogs episodes early as well as bonus episodes of this show, Raw Dogs, and Elden Dogs; Check out our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/hairofthedogcast Contact Us: Twitter: @HOTDogcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hairofthedogcast Instagram: hairofthedogcast We appreciate your support!

Gamble & Huff, Philadelphia International Rock & Soul ClassicCharlie Ingui,  Original Lead Vocalist still records & tours  go check him out! ~ thesoulsurvivors.comR.I.P. Ritchie Ingui, original vocal half of the Soul Survivors. He transitioned in early 2017.Original group member Kenny Jeremiah Transitioned in December of 2020.Memorable Intro, AWESOME Classic Hit, a Kenny Gamble &Leon Huff hit that Helped launch the Legendary Philadelphia International Record Label.I am a Music Lover of All Styles, Generations. This Week I Flashback.......The Soul Survivors, originally from New York City, grew up listening to the R & B groups of the 1950's. The sounds of groups like the Moonglows, Heartbeats, and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers had a great influence on brothers Charlie and Rich Ingui. With various street corner groups, they developed their vocal skills. While in high school, Charlie joined the vocal group from Queens, N.Y. the Dedications. When, a year later the group's lead singer decided to leave, brother Rich was recruited. While performing at clubs in the New York area, they found themselves at the mercy of various house bands and decided to find a group of musicians who would become permanent members of the group therefore creating a self contained unit. The group would be renamed THE SOUL SURVIVORS.Shortly thereafter, the group began to build a strong following, playing venues in Atlantic City and Philadelphia. Enjoying great success in Philadelphia, they attracted the attention of record producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Into the recording studio they went, emerging with " Expressway To Your Heart " a song that would climb to #3 on Billboard's R&B chart and #4 on it's Top 100 list. The success of " Expressway " became Gamble and Huff's first "crossover" hit when it began to be played on both black and white radio stations. It's success enabled Gamble and Huff to reach the large audiences they sought in order to bring their " Sound Of Philadelphia " to the mass Market. In polls taken by both the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia's City Paper, " Expressway" was voted the number one record ever to come out of Philadelphia. "Expressway " was followed by two other chart records, "Explosion In My Soul" and " Mission Impossible". Their first album, released in 1968, was " When The Whistle Blows ". A second LP, on Atco Records, called "Take Another Look" appeared in 1969.During this time, the group toured extensively throughout the U.S. appearing with many different types of artists...everyone from Jackie Wilson, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles to Janis Joplin, the Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, Sly and the Family Stone and countless others. In 1974, the Soul Survivors reunited with Gamble and Huff to record their self titled album "The Soul Survivors" on TSOP Records. It was written and performed in a style that would define the unique sound of The Soul Survivors.The album produced "City Of Brotherly Love" which would show up on Billboard's R&B Top 100 and become the group's fourth charted outing.© 2024 All Rights Reserved© 2024 Building Abundant Success!!Join Me on ~ iHeart Media @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASSpot Me on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yxuy23baAmazon Music ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBASAudacy:  https://tinyurl.com/BASAud

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Rehearsals are not parties. They can be fun and satisfying, but the bottom line is that rehearsals are work sessions. The Flood is always trying to learn new songs, and since that's where the songs are worked out, some rehearsals are just more fun than others. So the band usually try to end the evening on a high note. At one such rehearsal recently, Charlie Bowen asked if anybody had a tune in mind to end with. “How about something we know?” said Danny Cox with a chuckle and a grin. In a minute the band had rolled into the 1930s standard “Moonglow” and it turned into the best moment of the whole night.The Song HistoryAs reported here earlier, "Moonglow" was first recorded by Joe Venuti in 1933, with subsequent recordings by Benny Goodman and Ethel Waters.Penned by Eddie DeLange and Will Hudson, the tune has since become a jazz standard, performed and recorded numerous times by a wide array of musical talents.The Jazz Discography estimates that by 2016, the song had been recored 572 times, including in studio sessions, unreleased masters, live performances and radio transcriptions.For more about the song's creation and its history, click here.Finding Other TunesBy the way, if you have a specific tune you like to hear Floodified, drop by the Song Index on the band's web site. More than 700 weekly episodes of the Flood podcast since its launch in late 2008 are linked from there.On the page, you can browse the alphabetized list and click on the underlined date on the song you want to hear; then on the subsequent page, click on the title of the song and the audio will start.A few words about the Song Index's organization:* The first of the links with a specific tune is always the most recent performance, followed by earlier renditions. * Most of the links connect to audio, though some are to videos of performances, which are indicated with the *v designation. * Occasionally links lead to audio or video of multiple songs; in that case, a time designation (such as "08:22") indicates where your selected song begins.* Some songs also include a “Flood Watch” and/or a “Story” reference. Clicking either of those links takes you to further information about the tune, perhaps a Flood Watch newsletter article about the song's history or maybe just a brief comment or discussion about it recorded at a jam session, rehearsal or performance. Click here to reach the web site's Song Index. Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 1937flood.substack.com

STAN GETZ STAN GETZ – 1950 out of a dream, The lady in red Stan Getz (ts) Tony Aless (p) Percy Heath (b) Don Lamond (d) New York, January 6, 1950 What's new ?Stan Getz (ts) Al Haig (p) Tommy Potter (b) Roy Haynes (d) Junior Parker (vcl) 1950 – New York, May 17, 1950 Sweetie pieStan Getz (ts) Al Haig (p) Tommy Potter (b) Roy Haynes (d) New York, December 10, 1950 Out of nowhereStan Getz (ts) Horace Silver (p) Joe Calloway (b) Walter Bolden (d) MILT JACKSON THE BIG THREE Los Angeles, August 25, 1975Nuages, Come Sunday, Moonglow, You stepped out of a dreamMilt Jackson (vib) Joe Pass (g) Ray Brown (b) VIC DICKENSON VIC'S BOSTON STORY Boston, MA, 1956In a sentimental mood, Love me or leave me, Yesterdays, All too soon (1) A cottage for sale (1)Vic Dickenson (tb,vcl) George Wein (p) Jimmy Woode (b) Arvell Shaw (b-1) Buzzy Drootin (d) Continue reading Puro Jazz 18 de junio 2024 at PuroJazz.

STAN GETZ STAN GETZ – 1950 out of a dream, The lady in red Stan Getz (ts) Tony Aless (p) Percy Heath (b) Don Lamond (d) New York, January 6, 1950 What's new ?Stan Getz (ts) Al Haig (p) Tommy Potter (b) Roy Haynes (d) Junior Parker (vcl) 1950 – New York, May 17, 1950 Sweetie pieStan Getz (ts) Al Haig (p) Tommy Potter (b) Roy Haynes (d) New York, December 10, 1950 Out of nowhereStan Getz (ts) Horace Silver (p) Joe Calloway (b) Walter Bolden (d) MILT JACKSON THE BIG THREE Los Angeles, August 25, 1975Nuages, Come Sunday, Moonglow, You stepped out of a dreamMilt Jackson (vib) Joe Pass (g) Ray Brown (b) VIC DICKENSON VIC'S BOSTON STORY Boston, MA, 1956In a sentimental mood, Love me or leave me, Yesterdays, All too soon (1) A cottage for sale (1)Vic Dickenson (tb,vcl) George Wein (p) Jimmy Woode (b) Arvell Shaw (b-1) Buzzy Drootin (d) Continue reading Puro Jazz 18 de junio 2024 at PuroJazz.

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Gamble & Huff, Philadelphia International Rock & Soul ClassicCharlie Ingui,  Original Lead Vocalist still records & tours  go check him out! ~ thesoulsurvivors.comR.I.P. Ritchie Ingui, original vocal half of the Soul Survivors. He transitioned in early 2017.Original group member Kenny Jeremiah Transitioned in December of 2020.Memorable Intro, AWESOME Classic Hit, a Kenny Gamble &Leon Huff hit that Helped launch the Legendary Philadelphia International Record Label.I am a Music Lover of All Styles, Generations. This Week I Flashback.......The Soul Survivors, originally from New York City, grew up listening to the R & B groups of the 1950's. The sounds of groups like the Moonglows, Heartbeats, and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers had a great influence on brothers Charlie and Rich Ingui. With various street corner groups, they developed their vocal skills. While in high school, Charlie joined the vocal group from Queens, N.Y. the Dedications. When, a year later the group's lead singer decided to leave, brother Rich was recruited. While performing at clubs in the New York area, they found themselves at the mercy of various house bands and decided to find a group of musicians who would become permanent members of the group therefore creating a self contained unit. The group would be renamed THE SOUL SURVIVORS.Shortly thereafter, the group began to build a strong following, playing venues in Atlantic City and Philadelphia. Enjoying great success in Philadelphia, they attracted the attention of record producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Into the recording studio they went, emerging with " Expressway To Your Heart " a song that would climb to #3 on Billboard's R&B chart and #4 on it's Top 100 list. The success of " Expressway " became Gamble and Huff's first "crossover" hit when it began to be played on both black and white radio stations. It's success enabled Gamble and Huff to reach the large audiences they sought in order to bring their " Sound Of Philadelphia " to the mass Market. In polls taken by both the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia's City Paper, " Expressway" was voted the number one record ever to come out of Philadelphia. "Expressway " was followed by two other chart records, "Explosion In My Soul" and " Mission Impossible". Their first album, released in 1968, was " When The Whistle Blows ". A second LP, on Atco Records, called "Take Another Look" appeared in 1969.During this time, the group toured extensively throughout the U.S. appearing with many different types of artists...everyone from Jackie Wilson, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles to Janis Joplin, the Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, Sly and the Family Stone and countless others. In 1974, the Soul Survivors reunited with Gamble and Huff to record their self titled album "The Soul Survivors" on TSOP Records. It was written and performed in a style that would define the unique sound of The Soul Survivors.The album produced "City Of Brotherly Love" which would show up on Billboard's R&B Top 100 and become the group's fourth charted outing.© 2024 All Rights Reserved© 2024 Building Abundant Success!!Join Me on ~ iHeart Media @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASSpot Me on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yxuy23baAmazon Music ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBASAudacy:  https://tinyurl.com/BASAud

Aujourd'hui on se penche sur "Hitch-Hike" de Marvin Gaye et sur les débuts de l'un des artistes phares de la Motown. PLAYLIST Marvin Gaye The Marquees, "Wyatt Earp" Billy Stewart, "Billy's Heartache" Bo Diddley, "Diddley Daddy" Chuck Berry, "Back in the USA" Harvey and the Moonglows, "Mama Loochie" Harvey and the Moonglows, "Twelve Months of the Year" Etta James, "All I Could Do Was Cry" Marvin Gaye, "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide" The Marvelettes, "Please Mr. Postman" Little Stevie Wonder, "I Call It Pretty Music, But the Old People Call it the Blues". The Spinners, "That's What Girls are Made For" The Marvelettes, "Beechwood 4-5789" Marvin Gaye, "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" Marvin Gaye, "What Kind of Fool Am I ?" Marvin Gaye, "Hitch-Hike" Martha and the Vandellas, "Hitch-Hike"  

Un tercio de los españoles reconocen problemas de salud mental y los asturianos lideramos en índice de suicidios. El estrés nos pone también a la cabeza del último estudio de salud mental que analizamos con oyentes y opinantes. El Doctor Ramón de Cangas nos habla del vínculo de la nutrición y la salud mental, eje de su libro “Come y se feliz” que presentará en Asturias el próximo lunes. Charlamos con Belén Junco que durante cinco décadas codirigió la revista Hola y presenta hoy en Asturias su nueva novela, “Las tres vidas de la duquesa Grosvencer”. Mario Bango nos pone al día de los asuntos europeos. Marta Teijido vuelve con su Clasioteca y nosotros con La Quijotada. Cerramos con Jorge Alonso que regresa con Moonglow, su grupo musical, y con Lidia de Arriba, una de las autoras que firman el libro “Puertas que se abren”, once historias de mujeres griegas que aún tienen mucho que decir en la actualidad.

Un tercio de los españoles reconocen problemas de salud mental y los asturianos lideramos en índice de suicidios. El estrés nos pone también a la cabeza del último estudio de salud mental que analizamos con oyentes y opinantes. El Doctor Ramón de Cangas nos habla del vínculo de la nutrición y la salud mental, eje de su libro “Come y se feliz” que presentará en Asturias el próximo lunes. Charlamos con Belén Junco que durante cinco décadas codirigió la revista Hola y presenta hoy en Asturias su nueva novela, “Las tres vidas de la duquesa Grosvencer”. Mario Bango nos pone al día de los asuntos europeos. Marta Teijido vuelve con su Clasioteca y nosotros con La Quijotada. Cerramos con Jorge Alonso que regresa con Moonglow, su grupo musical, y con Lidia de Arriba, una de las autoras que firman el libro “Puertas que se abren”, once historias de mujeres griegas que aún tienen mucho que decir en la actualidad.

What's up, dudes? It was 1989, and the Griswolds had an amazing and quirky holiday staycation adventure with fantastic music woven throughout! Kevin Williams from ‘Tis the Soundtrack joins me to discuss the fabulous song selection and Badalamenti's orchestral score to “National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation!”A supposed 10th Anniversary Edition soundtrack CD was released by Warner Brothers in print-on-demand kiosks for their Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park. Apparently, only seven thousand of the twenty thousand allotment were sold, and so the rest were shipped back to Warner Brothers. A company acquired the lot in a bulk sale, and decided to sell them online. Or did they? Spoilers: the entire story was a hoax to help sell bootleg copies of the album. One piece of music—a Christmas Medley—allegedly by Badalamenti is actually by John Williams from the “Home Alone 2” score!The score to the movie was indeed composed by Angelo Badalamenti, known for his eerie, synth-heavy, atmospheric work with director David Lynch. Badalamenti wrote an unobtrusive orchestral hit peppered with comedic polkas and uptempo motif-laden piano trios. The glockenspiel Advent calendar theme is ethereal, while the orchestra weaves traditional carols through search section seamlessly. The needle drops are timed to perfection with hits by the Moonglows, Bing Crosby, and Gene Autry. Mavis Staples flawlessly sings the gospel-tinged pop titular song “Christmas Vacation.” It's a shame there hasn't been an official release!Animated intro music? Check. Sweet string melodies? Got ‘em. Tuba lead over a guy in a bathrobe? Definitely! So grab your Discman, put on your headphones, and listen to this episode on the music of “Christmas Vacation!”‘Tis the SoundtrackYouTube: @TisTheSoundtrackIG:  @tisthesoundtrackCheck us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Totally Rad Christmas Mall & Arcade, Teepublic.com, or TotallyRadChristmas.com! Later, dudes!

Artist: Maawi (Russia) Name: Moonglow (March 2024) Genre: Electronic Release Date: 29.03.2024 Exclusive: Deep House Moscow Maawi: www.facebook.com/maawimusic Soundcloud: @maawi Instagram: www.instagram.com/maawi.music CONTACT (DHM): Email — deephousemoscow@hotmail.com Follow us: www.facebook.com/deephousemsk/ www.instagram.com/deephousemoscow/ vk.com/deephousemsk/

When does "old people's music" become your music, too?I think that happens in a couple of ways -- when you start playing it yourself, then something happens in your head and in your heart . . . and when you encounter magic in the night. Let's just call it "moonglow."Or, more properly, "Moonglow."That is what this week's edition of 3 Chords & the Truth is all about. Let's go deeper, and I'll use my own experience to do that.Big band was my parents' music, kind of like country, Lawrence Welk and Guy Lombardo. As a kid in the pre-digital age, I was force-fed three things on TV in the days of one or two TV sets in the house and just two channels in Baton Rouge. First, it was The Porter Wagoner Show. Second, The Lawrence Welk Show. Third, every Dec. 31, Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians counting down to the new year . . . also pre-digital.OF COURSE, I was lucky to have grown up playing, and loving, the records bought by the younger version of my parents. We're talking jump blues, gut-bucket jump blues, Western swing, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers and Thin Elvis.The "race music" thing and my racist parents? One of the many contradictions of the segregated South. If you try to make sense of it, you'll fail.But then came high school, and high-school radio.Two of the shows I had to do as a student DJ at Baton Rouge High's FM station, WBRH, were the big-band show and the jazz show. I not only learned a lot (sometimes painfully), but I also learned to love the music -- "old folks'" music. Go figure.And then, when I was in college at Louisiana State, I discovered Moonglow With Martin on WRKF public radio, which then was a brand-new thing in Baton Rouge -- broadcasting from a house trailer on Frenchtown Road. The late-night show was a continuation of something legendary disc jockey Dick Martin had been doing, on various stations around the country, since the early 1950s on clear-channel, 50,000-watt WWL in New Orleans.Martin was a big-band and jazz DJ. He only played the good stuff -- the really good stuff. His show was, not to put too fine a point on it, magic. I missed out on his WWL show, and I was just a little kid when, after a stint in Kansas City, he brought it for a time to Baton Rouge's WJBO-FM in 1965. (Besides, who listened to FM in 1965? Apart from the folks in dentists' offices?)BUT I DIDN'T miss Moonglow With Martin on public radio after 'RKF came to my cultural-wasteland of a hometown in 1980. Seriously, people, we didn't have public TV until 1975; WBRH was the city's first noncommercial radio station since WLSU-FM went under in 1957. And we had only Channel 2 and Channel 9 until 1971, when we got an ABC affiliate, Channel 33.And in the white, working-class world of my childhood, subversiveness was called SOOOUL Train! But what about my parents' old race records? Do not try to square that circle; you'll hurt yourself.So, like my parents' old country and blues discs, and the Top-40 and progressive FM rock of my growing-up years, Dick Martin's Moonglow With Martin is in the Big Show. It's a marvelous mix of my youthful force-feedings, rebellion and . . . musical discovery.If you want to know what 3 Chords & the Truth is, exactly, it's me. And maybe it's you, too. Thank you, Mr. Martin.It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

GRAMMY®  Hall of Fame Honoree Iconic Hit Writer: "At The Hop", "Rockn Roll is Here to Stay", "You Don't Own Me" "1-2-3" & MoreJohn Madara was born & grew up in Philadelphia, PA at a time when the city was teeming with groups and artists such as The Spaniels, the Clovers, Harvey and the Moonglows, Billy Ward and the Dominos and the great Jackie Wilson. Rock and Roll was starting to take root and John Madara was destined to make rock and roll history. In 1957, John launched his solo career, with his first record, "Be My Girl," reaching the national charts. That same year, John co-wrote with Dave White a song called “Do The Bop." On the advice of Dick Clark, whose local show, American Bandstand, had just gone national, the title and lyrics were changed to “At The Hop." Danny and the Juniors, recorded it, and by Christmas of 1957, it had reached the top of the pop and R&B charts worldwide. “At The Hop” remained #1 for an astounding 7 weeks, the first record ever to reach that success, and it has remained a rock and roll classic to this day. Following “At The Hop," John produced and co-wrote with Dave such mega-hits as “The Fly” (Chubby Checker)“You Don't Own Me” (Lesley Gore) among other smash hits. He also produced for Danny and The Juniors, “Rock and Roll Is Here To Stay." He also discovered one of the most prolific duos of all time, Daryl Hall and John Oates. With them he produced two albums. John moved to L.A. in the ‘70s, where he found success writing and producing for movies and television. He produced the soundtrack for the James Caan/Marsha Mason movie, “Cinderella Liberty," and also produced the title song for the Cliff Robertson movie “Ace Eli and Roger of the Sky.” In the mid ‘70s, he was music supervisor for the hugely successful “Sid and Marty Kroft Comedy Hour." This was in conjunction with an ABC Comedy Hour and network special which launched the new ABC season Madara/White songs have reached millions of people through radio, films and television. Worldwide sales of their songs and productions have reached over 2 hundred million records. Their songs have appeared on some of the biggest grossing soundtrack albums of all time, including “American Graffiti” and “Woodstock” (At The Hop), “Grease” (Rock and Roll is Here to Stay), “Hairspray” (The Fly and You Don't Own Me), “Mr. Holland's Opus” (1-2-3), and “Dirty Dancing” and “The First Wives Club” (You Don't Own Me). It was the 1996 hit film, “The First Wives Club," that paid the contemporary power of their talent the ultimate compliment by not only featuring “You Don't Own Me” but by making it the theme of the movie. John has continued to write and produce music, working with young, up-and-coming artists. At The Hop” was voted by the Recording Industry Association of America as one of the top 100 songs of the century. The soundtrack album, “Grease," was voted one of the top albums of the century. “Rock and Roll Is Here To Stay” is featured on that album. John recently finished producing an album with Tony Danza, following a hugely successful radio hit single that he also produced, “The House I Live In.” He is also working on a feature film, “At The Hop.” In 2016, his song with the late singer ,songwriter Dave White "You Don't Own Me" was made a #1 Hit all over again  19 year old Australian singer " Grace" and features G-EAZY. It was Produced by Quincy Jones.~ thatphillysound.com© 2024 Building Abundant Success!!2024 All Rights ReservedJoin Me on ~ iHeart Media @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASSpot Me on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yxuy23baAmazon Music ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBASAudacy:  https://tinyurl.com/BASAud

Dateline: Seattle, Washington 1945! The Carousel Room is swinging high, hosting the best swing band in the city where all the hip cats flock! Little do they know a secret stronghold of mages fight to protect the city from an all out war against free will! This is Trinity's Wake, a Mage 20th anniversary edition actual play.  GM: Adam (hoobuk.carrd.co) Courtney (courtneykraft.carrd.co) Dion () Nick (sungrowler.carrd.co) Pooja (forgottensaves.carrd.co) ◇ Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition is a reality bending part of the World of Darkness, produced by Onyx Path Publishing. ◇ Visit http://www.happyjacks.org/trinityswake for a full list of this campaign's sessions as videos or podcasts. ◇ Follow Happy Jacks RPG on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or hang out with other tabletop roleplaying fans in our Discord community! ◇ Subscribe to our other podcast feeds! We have a weekly tabletop RPG talk show based on topics sent in from fans around the world, and a great collection of One-Shots if you prefer bite sized adventures. ◇ You can watch us on Youtube or Twitch! ◇ Keep us independent by becoming a Patreon! Our fantastic supporters let us play and say what we want instead of catering to companies for ad or sponsorship money. They are HEROES! https://patreon.com/happyjacksrpg Ⓒ2023 Happy Jacks RPG Network https://www.happyjacks.org

This week, we honor the year in music for 2000, along with a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class of 2000. We also look at the case for putting Bjork into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Plus, our spotlight hall of fame is the ARIA Hall of Fame in Melbourne, Australia. Podcast Music Playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSMDYrumQfYTGUUvTDB4qrbi3jFctw8ts Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - rockhall.com ARIA Hall of Fame - artscentremelbourne.com.au ALL MY MUSIC HALLS OF FAME AUDIO PODCAST LINKS - allmylinks.com/musichallsoffamepodcast THE MUSIC HISTORY TODAY PODCAST LINKS: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/musichistorytodaypodcast allmylinks.com/musichistorytoday --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/musichistorytodaypodcast/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/musichistorytodaypodcast/support

Gamble & Huff, Philadelphia International Rock & Soul ClassicCharlie Ingui,  Original Lead Vocalist still records & tours  go check him out! ~ thesoulsurvivors.comR.I.P. Ritchie Ingui, original vocal half of the Soul Survivors. He transitioned in early 2017.Original group member Kenny Jeremiah Transitioned in December of 2020.Memorable Intro, AWESOME Classic Hit, a Kenny Gamble &Leon Huff hit that Helped launch the Legendary Philadelphia International Record Label.I am a Music Lover of All Styles, Generations. This Week I Flashback.......The Soul Survivors, originally from New York City, grew up listening to the R & B groups of the 1950's. The sounds of groups like the Moonglows, Heartbeats, and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers had a great influence on brothers Charlie and Rich Ingui. With various street corner groups, they developed their vocal skills. While in high school, Charlie joined the vocal group from Queens, N.Y. the Dedications. When, a year later the group's lead singer decided to leave, brother Rich was recruited. While performing at clubs in the New York area, they found themselves at the mercy of various house bands and decided to find a group of musicians who would become permanent members of the group therefore creating a self contained unit. The group would be renamed THE SOUL SURVIVORS.Shortly thereafter, the group began to build a strong following, playing venues in Atlantic City and Philadelphia. Enjoying great success in Philadelphia, they attracted the attention of record producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Into the recording studio they went, emerging with " Expressway To Your Heart " a song that would climb to #3 on Billboard's R&B chart and #4 on it's Top 100 list. The success of " Expressway " became Gamble and Huff's first "crossover" hit when it began to be played on both black and white radio stations. It's success enabled Gamble and Huff to reach the large audiences they sought in order to bring their " Sound Of Philadelphia " to the mass Market. In polls taken by both the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia's City Paper, " Expressway" was voted the number one record ever to come out of Philadelphia. "Expressway " was followed by two other chart records, "Explosion In My Soul" and " Mission Impossible". Their first album, released in 1968, was " When The Whistle Blows ". A second LP, on Atco Records, called "Take Another Look" appeared in 1969.During this time, the group toured extensively throughout the U.S. appearing with many different types of artists...everyone from Jackie Wilson, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles to Janis Joplin, the Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, Sly and the Family Stone and countless others. In 1974, the Soul Survivors reunited with Gamble and Huff to record their self titled album "The Soul Survivors" on TSOP Records. It was written and performed in a style that would define the unique sound of The Soul Survivors.The album produced "City Of Brotherly Love" which would show up on Billboard's R&B Top 100 and become the group's fourth charted outing.The Soul Survivors recorded new music and covers several years ago, most recently working with David Uosikkinen of The Hooters and his project "In the Pocket" which is paying tribute to the vast catalog of music created in Philadelphia.© 2023 All Rights Reserved© 2023 Building Abundant Success!!Join Me on ~ iHeart Media @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASSpot Me on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yxuy23baAmazon Music ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBASAudacy:  https://tinyurl.com/BASAud

In this Roots Radio episode, co-hosts Lisa Bonta Sumii and Richie Nuñez feature musician, singer, songwriter, and creator, Mara Hruby.About Mara Hruby: Mara Hruby doesn't just play music—she lives it. Since the onset of her career, the Oakland, CA native has poured her soul into her velvet confections, drawing inspiration from lessons that she's gleaned in her personal life and funneling them into rich, organic compositions. In just a few years, the singer-songwriter has become one of acoustic soul's fastest-rising up-and-comers, gaining a loyal following.With influences such as Julie London and Patsy Cline to The Moonglows, Curtis Mayfield and Brook Benton, singer/songwriter Mara Hruby personifies the sound and soul of an alternative jazz legend. Her debut EP released in 2010 conceptually titled From Her Eyes featured Ms. Hruby soulfully covering classics originally performed by men. Ranging from the likes of Jamiroquai, Bob Marley, and D'Angelo, she would re-interpret their work while adding her own feminine touch. Marking over 80K+ downloads the project propelled Ms. Hruby into her own lane, scoring thousands of loyal fans and supporters. A captivating performer, Ms. Hruby has notably sold out shows at Yoshi's Oakland and Blue Note Jazz Club in NYC. She has also performed in venues stretching from Philadelphia, DC, to Grammy Weekend (2012 & 2016) in Los Angeles, the 28th Annual Long Beach Jazz Festival (2015), The Clift Hotel's Centennial Celebration (2015) in San Francisco, and the 75th Annual Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco (2012).Ms. Hruby's most recent work, titled Archaic Rapture released in 2014 and received a nod of approval from Billboard. Billboard premiered her first single “Cry Me A River” by way of a live studio performance. Filled with her power, emotion, and depth shine vividly, the video gives the audience a small glimpse into the full EP. Ms. Hruby's Archaic Rapture may be briefly defined by her heartbreak, but it bleeds deeper down into the details. Her Sophomore EP overflows with pure emotion not to convey weakness, but to show strength in being honest with oneself. Within the first week of its release, Archaic Rapture reached the coveted #1 spot on the iTunes Jazz charts.You will come to understand, fairly quickly, that Ms. Hruby exudes pure creative power and sentimental care through her body of work. It's only a matter of time before her art receives international acclaim on a large scale. (source)Lisa Bonta Sumii, LCSW, CSW | Athlete Mindset podcast host:Lisa is a psychotherapist and mental performance consultant to high-performing athletes at the youth, collegiate, Olympic-hopeful, and professional levels. She is the first-ever Mental Health & Performance Coach for the Oakland Roots SC, a men's professional soccer team, in the USL. Lisa is the Founder & CEO of AthMindset, a diverse team of licensed mental health clinicians and mental performance consultants, who serve alongside her.Wrapping up:Athlete Mindset is part of the KazSource Podcast NetworkPresented by SportsEpreneur: a digital sports media brand for entrepreneurs engaged in sportscontent brings people together: KazCMSocial media and more:Lisa Bonta Sumii: LinkedIn | Twitter | AthMindset websiteRichie Nuñez: LinkedInSportsEpreneur:  TikTok | Instagram | TwitterRelated episodes to Play Music, Live Music with Mara Hruby:Sports As An Outlet | Oakland “Roots Radio”The Fictional UniverseTwo current projects:We published a book! Check it out on Amazon: Altered State of AffairsShort-form video production: KazCMCredits:This podcast was produced by the team at KazCMBeat Provided By freebeats.io | Produced By White HotSportsEpreneurThe post Play Music, Live Music with Mara Hruby | Oakland “Roots Radio” appeared first on SportsEpreneur.

Gamble & Huff, Philadelphia International Rock & Soul ClassicCharlie Ingui,  Original Lead Vocalist still records & tours  go check him out! ~ thesoulsurvivors.comR.I.P. Ritchie Ingui, original vocal half of the Soul Survivors. He transitioned in early 2017.Original group member Kenny Jeremiah Transitioned in December of 2020.Memorable Intro, AWESOME Classic Hit, a Kenny Gamble &Leon Huff hit that Helped launch the Legendary Philadelphia International Record Label.I am a Music Lover of All Styles, Generations. This Week I Flashback.......The Soul Survivors, originally from New York City, grew up listening to the R & B groups of the 1950's. The sounds of groups like the Moonglows, Heartbeats, and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers had a great influence on brothers Charlie and Rich Ingui. With various street corner groups, they developed their vocal skills. While in high school, Charlie joined the vocal group from Queens, N.Y. the Dedications. When, a year later the group's lead singer decided to leave, brother Rich was recruited. While performing at clubs in the New York area, they found themselves at the mercy of various house bands and decided to find a group of musicians who would become permanent members of the group therefore creating a self contained unit. The group would be renamed THE SOUL SURVIVORS.Shortly thereafter, the group began to build a strong following, playing venues in Atlantic City and Philadelphia. Enjoying great success in Philadelphia, they attracted the attention of record producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Into the recording studio they went, emerging with " Expressway To Your Heart " a song that would climb to #3 on Billboard's R&B chart and #4 on it's Top 100 list. The success of " Expressway " became Gamble and Huff's first "crossover" hit when it began to be played on both black and white radio stations. It's success enabled Gamble and Huff to reach the large audiences they sought in order to bring their " Sound Of Philadelphia " to the mass Market. In polls taken by both the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia's City Paper, " Expressway" was voted the number one record ever to come out of Philadelphia. "Expressway " was followed by two other chart records, "Explosion In My Soul" and " Mission Impossible". Their first album, released in 1968, was " When The Whistle Blows ". A second LP, on Atco Records, called "Take Another Look" appeared in 1969.During this time, the group toured extensively throughout the U.S. appearing with many different types of artists...everyone from Jackie Wilson, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles to Janis Joplin, the Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, Sly and the Family Stone and countless others. In 1974, the Soul Survivors reunited with Gamble and Huff to record their self titled album "The Soul Survivors" on TSOP Records. It was written and performed in a style that would define the unique sound of The Soul Survivors.The album produced "City Of Brotherly Love" which would show up on Billboard's R&B Top 100 and become the group's fourth charted outing.Through the years, the Soul Survivors have continued to provide audiences with high energy performances and music that is timeless and authentic ,appearing with 60's contemporaries Felix Cavaliere's Rascals. the Turtles,the Association, as well as fellow TSOP artists Harold Melvin's Bluenotes,Billy Paul, the Intruders, Russell Thompkins' Stylistics and others.The group's CD is called " Heart Full of Soul ", produced by Grammy nominated producers Jimmy Bralower and Johnny Gale.The Soul Survivors recorded new music and covers several years ago, most recently working with David Uosikkinen of The Hooters and his project "In the Pocket" which is paying tribute to the vast catalog of music created in Philadelphia.© 2023 All Rights Reserved© 2023 Building Abundant Success!!Join Me on ~ iHeart Media @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASSpot Me on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yxuy23baAmazon Music ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBASAudacy:  https://tinyurl.com/BASAud

As a media partner of Summerfest, we're highlighting local music leading up to the kickoff of Summerfest's 55th year on June 22. This episode features local band Moonglow. Adam and Steve have a fun conversation with Joe (vocals/keyboard/dancing) and Sterling (drums) from the band while uncovering the origin of the name Moonglow, what's coming up for tours and new music, what's in Joe's mom's home office, and more. Jump into this one then get out and see them tonight, June 2, at New Barons Brewing Cooperative (https://newbaronsbrewing.com/events)!

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Gamble & Huff, Philadelphia International Rock & Soul Classic Charlie Ingui,  Original Lead Vocalist still records & tours  go check him out! ~ thesoulsurvivors.comR.I.P. Ritchie Ingui, original vocal half of the Soul Survivors. He transitioned in early 2017.Original group member Kenny Jeremiah Transitioned in December of 2020. Memorable Intro, AWESOME Classic Hit, a Kenny Gamble &Leon Huff hit that Helped launch the Legendary Philadelphia International Record Label. I am a Music Lover of All Styles, Generations. This Week I Flashback.......The Soul Survivors, originally from New York City, grew up listening to the R & B groups of the 1950's. The sounds of groups like the Moonglows, Heartbeats, and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers had a great influence on brothers Charlie and Rich Ingui. With various street corner groups, they developed their vocal skills. While in high school, Charlie joined the vocal group from Queens, N.Y. the Dedications. When, a year later the group's lead singer decided to leave, brother Rich was recruited. While performing at clubs in the New York area, they found themselves at the mercy of various house bands and decided to find a group of musicians who would become permanent members of the group therefore creating a self contained unit. The group would be renamed THE SOUL SURVIVORS. Shortly thereafter, the group began to build a strong following, playing venues in Atlantic City and Philadelphia. Enjoying great success in Philadelphia, they attracted the attention of record producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Into the recording studio they went, emerging with " Expressway To Your Heart " a song that would climb to #3 on Billboard's R&B chart and #4 on it's Top 100 list. The success of " Expressway " became Gamble and Huff's first "crossover" hit when it began to be played on both black and white radio stations. It's success enabled Gamble and Huff to reach the large audiences they sought in order to bring their " Sound Of Philadelphia " to the mass Market. In polls taken by both the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia's City Paper, " Expressway" was voted the number one record ever to come out of Philadelphia. "Expressway " was followed by two other chart records, "Explosion In My Soul" and " Mission Impossible". Their first album, released in 1968, was " When The Whistle Blows ". A second LP, on Atco Records, called "Take Another Look" appeared in 1969.During this time, the group toured extensively throughout the U.S. appearing with many different types of artists...everyone from Jackie Wilson, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles to Janis Joplin, the Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, Sly and the Family Stone and countless others. In 1974, the Soul Survivors reunited with Gamble and Huff to record their self titled album "The Soul Survivors" on TSOP Records. It was written and performed in a style that would define the unique sound of The Soul Survivors.The album produced "City Of Brotherly Love" which would show up on Billboard's R&B Top 100 and become the group's fourth charted outing.Through the years, the Soul Survivors have continued to provide audiences with high energy performances and music that is timeless and authentic ,appearing with 60's contemporaries Felix Cavaliere's Rascals. the Turtles,the Association, as well as fellow TSOP artists Harold Melvin's Bluenotes,Billy Paul, the Intruders, Russell Thompkins' Stylistics and others.The group's CD is called " Heart Full of Soul ", produced by Grammy nominated producers Jimmy Bralower and Johnny Gale.The Soul Survivors recorded new music and covers several years ago, most recently working with David Uosikkinen of The Hooters and his project "In the Pocket" which is paying tribute to the vast catalog of music created in Philadelphia.© 2023 All Rights Reserved© 2023 Building Abundant Success!!Join Me on ~ iHeart Radio @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASSpot Me on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yxuy23baAmazon Music ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBAS Audacy:  https://tinyurl.com/BASAud

On this episode, Nick O'Brien talks with Joe Humiston, Isaac Repinski, and Sterling Dorsey of the band Moonglow. After coming together in 2019, the band has since released a debut album in 2021 and have set on learning how to work together within music and within the industry. Tune in to also hear a word from one of Moonglow's own fans and what Moonglow means to him.Find more Info about Moonglow at:moonglowtheband.comCheck out more about TMV Podcast at www.themusiciansventure.com, @themusiciansventure on Facebook and Instagram, and @MusicianVenture on Twitter.

Episode 163 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay", Stax Records, and the short, tragic, life of Otis Redding. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a twenty-three minute bonus episode available, on "Soul Man" by Sam and Dave. 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 Redding, even if I split into multiple parts. The main resource I used for the biographical details of Redding was Dreams to Remember: Otis Redding, Stax Records, and the Transformation of Southern Soul by Mark Ribowsky. Ribowsky is usually a very good, reliable, writer, but in this case there are a couple of lapses in editing which make it not a book I can wholeheartedly recommend, but the research on the biographical details of Redding seems to be the best. Information about Stax comes primarily from two books: Soulsville USA: The Story of Stax by Rob Bowman, and Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion by Robert Gordon. Country Soul by Charles L Hughes is a great overview of the soul music made in Muscle Shoals, Memphis, and Nashville in the sixties. There are two Original Album Series box sets which between them contain all the albums Redding released in his life plus his first few posthumous albums, for a low price. Volume 1, volume 2. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript A quick note before I begin -- this episode ends with a description of a plane crash, which some people may find upsetting. There's also a mention of gun violence. In 2019 the film Summer of Soul came out. If you're unfamiliar with this film, it's a documentary of an event, the Harlem Cultural Festival, which gets called the "Black Woodstock" because it took place in the summer of 1969, overlapping the weekend that Woodstock happened. That event was a series of weekend free concerts in New York, performed by many of the greatest acts in Black music at that time -- people like Stevie Wonder, David Ruffin, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, the Staple Singers, Sly and the Family Stone, Nina Simone, and the Fifth Dimension. One thing that that film did was to throw into sharp relief a lot of the performances we've seen over the years by legends of white rock music of the same time. If you watch the film of Woodstock, or the earlier Monterey Pop festival, it's apparent that a lot of the musicians are quite sloppy. This is easy to dismiss as being a product of the situation -- they're playing outdoor venues, with no opportunity to soundcheck, using primitive PA systems, and often without monitors. Anyone would sound a bit sloppy in that situation, right? That is until you listen to the performances on the Summer of Soul soundtrack. The performers on those shows are playing in the same kind of circumstances, and in the case of Woodstock literally at the same time, so it's a fair comparison, and there really is no comparison. Whatever you think of the quality of the *music* (and some of my very favourite artists played at Monterey and Woodstock), the *musicianship* is orders of magnitude better at the Harlem Cultural Festival [Excerpt: Gladys Knight and the Pips “I Heard it Through the Grapevine (live)”] And of course there's a reason for this. Most of the people who played at those big hippie festivals had not had the same experiences as the Black musicians. The Black players were mostly veterans of the chitlin' circuit, where you had to play multiple shows a day, in front of demanding crowds who wanted their money's worth, and who wanted you to be able to play and also put on a show at the same time. When you're playing for crowds of working people who have spent a significant proportion of their money to go to the show, and on a bill with a dozen other acts who are competing for that audience's attention, you are going to get good or stop working. The guitar bands at Woodstock and Monterey, though, hadn't had the same kind of pressure. Their audiences were much more forgiving, much more willing to go with the musicians, view themselves as part of a community with them. And they had to play far fewer shows than the chitlin' circuit veterans, so they simply didn't develop the same chops before becoming famous (the best of them did after fame, of course). And so it's no surprise that while a lot of bands became more famous as a result of the Monterey Pop Festival, only three really became breakout stars in America as a direct result of it. One of those was the Who, who were already the third or fourth biggest band in the UK by that point, either just behind or just ahead of the Kinks, and so the surprise is more that it took them that long to become big in America. But the other two were themselves veterans of the chitlin' circuit. If you buy the Criterion Collection Blu-Ray of Monterey Pop, you get two extra discs along with the disc with the film of the full festival on it -- the only two performances that were thought worth turning into their own short mini-films. One of them is Jimi Hendrix's performance, and we will talk about that in a future episode. The other is titled Shake! Otis at Monterey: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Shake! (live at Monterey Pop Festival)"] Otis Redding came from Macon, Georgia, the home town of Little Richard, who became one of his biggest early influences, and like Richard he was torn in his early years between religion and secular music -- though in most other ways he was very different from Richard, and in particular he came from a much more supportive family. While his father, Otis senior, was a deacon in the church, and didn't approve much of blues, R&B, or jazz music or listen to it himself, he didn't prevent his son from listening to it, so young Otis grew up listening to records by Richard -- of whom he later said "If it hadn't been for Little Richard I would not be here... Richard has soul too. My present music has a lot of him in it" -- and another favourite, Clyde McPhatter: [Excerpt: Billy Ward and the Dominoes, "Have Mercy Baby"] Indeed, it's unclear exactly how much Otis senior *did* disapprove of those supposedly-sinful kinds of music. The biography I used as a source for this, and which says that Otis senior wouldn't listen to blues or jazz music at all, also quotes his son as saying that when he was a child his mother and father used to play him "a calypso song out then called 'Run Joe'" That will of course be this one: [Excerpt: Louis Jordan, "Run Joe"] I find it hard to reconcile the idea of someone who refused to listen to the blues or jazz listening to Louis Jordan, but then people are complex. Whatever Otis senior's feelings about secular music, he recognised from a very early age that his son had a special talent, and encouraged him to become a gospel singer. And at the same time he was listening to Little Richard, young Otis was also listening to gospel singers. One particular influence was a blind street singer, Reverend Pearly Brown: [Excerpt: Reverend Pearly Brown, "Ninety Nine and a Half Won't Do"] Redding was someone who cared deeply about his father's opinion, and it might well have been that he would eventually have become a gospel performer, because he started his career with a foot in both camps. What seems to have made the difference is that when he was sixteen, his father came down with tuberculosis. Even a few years earlier this would have been a terminal diagnosis, but thankfully by this point antibiotics had been invented, and the deacon eventually recovered. But it did mean that Otis junior had to become the family breadwinner while his father was sick, and so he turned decisively towards the kind of music that could make more money. He'd already started performing secular music. He'd joined a band led by Gladys Williams, who was the first female bandleader in the area. Williams sadly doesn't seem to have recorded anything -- discogs has a listing of a funk single by a Gladys Williams on a tiny label which may or may not be the same person, but in general she avoided recording studios, only wanting to play live -- but she was a very influential figure in Georgia music. According to her former trumpeter Newton Collier, who later went on to play with Redding and others, she trained both Fats Gonder and Lewis Hamlin, who went on to join the lineup of James Brown's band that made Live at the Apollo, and Collier says that Hamlin's arrangements for that album, and the way the band would segue from one track to another, were all things he'd been taught by Miss Gladys. Redding sang with Gladys Williams for a while, and she took him under her wing, trained him, and became his de facto first manager. She got him to perform at local talent shows, where he won fifteen weeks in a row, before he got banned from performing to give everyone else a chance. At all of these shows, the song he performed was one that Miss Gladys had rehearsed with him, Little Richard's "Heeby Jeebies": [Excerpt: Little Richard, "Heeby Jeebies"] At this time, Redding's repertoire was largely made up of songs by the two greats of fifties Georgia R&B -- Little Richard and James Brown -- plus some by his other idol Sam Cooke, and those singers would remain his greatest influences throughout his career. After his stint with Williams, Redding went on to join another band, Pat T Cake and the Mighty Panthers, whose guitarist Johnny Jenkins would be a major presence in his life for several years. The Mighty Panthers were soon giving Redding top billing, and advertising gigs as featuring Otis "Rockin' Robin" Redding -- presumably that was another song in his live repertoire. By this time Redding was sounding enough like Little Richard that when Richard's old backing band, The Upsetters, were looking for a new singer after Richard quit rock and roll for the ministry, they took Redding on as their vocalist for a tour. Once that tour had ended, Redding returned home to find that Johnny Jenkins had quit the Mighty Panthers and formed a new band, the Pinetoppers. Redding joined that band, who were managed by a white teenager named Phil Walden, who soon became Redding's personal manager as well. Walden and Redding developed a very strong bond, to the extent that Walden, who was studying at university, spent all his tuition money promoting Redding and almost got kicked out. When Redding found this out, he actually went round to everyone he knew and got loans from everyone until he had enough to pay for Walden's tuition -- much of it paid in coins. They had a strong enough bond that Walden would remain his manager for the rest of Redding's life, and even when Walden had to do two years in the Army in Germany, he managed Redding long-distance, with his brother looking after things at home. But of course, there wasn't much of a music industry in Georgia, and so with Walden's blessing and support, he moved to LA in 1960 to try to become a star. Just before he left, his girlfriend Zelma told him she was pregnant. He assured her that he was only going to be away for a few months, and that he would be back in time for the birth, and that he intended to come back to Georgia rich and marry her. Her response was "Sure you is". In LA, Redding met up with a local record producer, James "Jimmy Mack" McEachin, who would later go on to become an actor, appearing in several films with Clint Eastwood. McEachin produced a session for Redding at Gold Star studios, with arrangements by Rene Hall and using several of the musicians who later became the Wrecking Crew. "She's All Right", the first single that came from that session, was intended to sound as much like Jackie Wilson as possible, and was released under the name of The Shooters, the vocal group who provided the backing vocals: [Excerpt: The Shooters, "She's All Right"] "She's All Right" was released on Trans World, a small label owned by Morris Bernstein, who also owned Finer Arts records (and "She's All Right" seems to have been released on both labels). Neither of Bernstein's labels had any great success -- the biggest record they put out was a single by the Hollywood Argyles that came out after they'd stopped having hits -- and they didn't have any connection to the R&B market. Redding and McEachin couldn't find any R&B labels that wanted to pick up their recordings, and so Redding did return to Georgia and marry Zelma a few days before the birth of their son Dexter. Back in Georgia, he hooked up again with the Pinetoppers, and he and Jenkins started trying local record labels, attempting to get records put out by either of them. Redding was the first, and Otis Redding and the Pinetoppers put out a single, "Shout Bamalama", a slight reworking of a song that he'd recorded as "Gamma Lamma" for McEachin, which was obviously heavily influenced by Little Richard: [Excerpt: Otis Redding and the Pinetoppers, "Shout Bamalama"] That single was produced by a local record company owner, Bobby Smith, who signed Redding to a contract which Redding didn't read, but which turned out to be a management contract as well as a record contract. This would later be a problem, as Redding didn't have an actual contract with Phil Walden -- one thing that comes up time and again in stories about music in the Deep South at this time is people operating on handshake deals and presuming good faith on the part of each other. There was a problem with the record which nobody had foreseen though -- Redding was the first Black artist signed to Smith's label, which was called Confederate Records, and its logo was the Southern Cross. Now Smith, by all accounts, was less personally racist than most white men in Georgia at the time, and hadn't intended that as any kind of statement of white supremacy -- he'd just used a popular local symbol, without thinking through the implications. But as the phrase goes, intent isn't magic, and while Smith didn't intend it as racist, rather unsurprisingly Black DJs and record shops didn't see things in the same light. Smith was told by several DJs that they wouldn't play the record while it was on that label, and he started up a new subsidiary label, Orbit, and put the record out on that label. Redding and Smith continued collaborating, and there were plans for Redding to put out a second single on Orbit. That single was going to be "These Arms of Mine", a song Redding had originally given to another Confederate artist, a rockabilly performer called Buddy Leach (who doesn't seem to be the same Buddy Leach as the Democratic politician from Louisiana, or the saxophone player with George Thorogood and the Destroyers). Leach had recorded it as a B-side, with the slightly altered title "These Arms Are Mine". Sadly I can't provide an excerpt of that, as the record is so rare that even websites I've found by rockabilly collectors who are trying to get everything on Confederate Records haven't managed to get hold of copies. Meanwhile, Johnny Jenkins had been recording on another label, Tifco, and had put out a single called "Pinetop": [Excerpt: Johnny Jenkins and the Pinetoppers, "Pinetop"] That record had attracted the attention of Joe Galkin. Galkin was a semi-independent record promoter, who had worked for Atlantic in New York before moving back to his home town of Macon. Galkin had proved himself as a promoter by being responsible for the massive amounts of airplay given to Solomon Burke's "Just Out of Reach (of My Two Open Arms)": [Excerpt: Solomon Burke, "Just Out of Reach (of My Two Open Arms)"] After that, Jerry Wexler had given Galkin fifty dollars a week and an expense account, and Galkin would drive to all the Black radio stations in the South and pitch Atlantic's records to them. But Galkin also had his own record label, Gerald Records, and when he went to those stations and heard them playing something from a smaller label, he would quickly negotiate with that smaller label, buy the master and the artist's contract, and put the record out on Gerald Records -- and then he would sell the track and the artist on to Atlantic, taking ten percent of the record's future earnings and a finder's fee. This is what happened with Johnny Jenkins' single, which was reissued on Gerald and then on Atlantic. Galkin signed Jenkins to a contract -- another of those contracts which also made him Jenkins' manager, and indeed the manager of the Pinetops. Jenkins' record ended up selling about twenty-five thousand records, but when Galkin saw the Pinetoppers performing live, he realised that Otis Redding was the real star. Since he had a contract with Jenkins, he came to an agreement with Walden, who was still Jenkins' manager as well as Redding's -- Walden would get fifty percent of Jenkins' publishing and they would be co-managers of Jenkins. But Galkin had plans for Redding, which he didn't tell anyone about, not even Redding himself. The one person he did tell was Jerry Wexler, who he phoned up and asked for two thousand dollars, explaining that he wanted to record Jenkins' follow-up single at Stax, and he also wanted to bring along a singer he'd discovered, who sang with Jenkins' band. Wexler agreed -- Atlantic had recently started distributing Stax's records on a handshake deal of much the same kind that Redding had with Walden. As far as everyone else was concerned, though, the session was just for Johnny Jenkins, the known quantity who'd already released a single for Atlantic. Otis Redding, meanwhile, was having to work a lot of odd jobs to feed his rapidly growing family, and one of those jobs was to work as Johnny Jenkins' driver, as Jenkins didn't have a driving license. So Galkin suggested that, given that Memphis was quite a long drive, Redding should drive Galkin and Jenkins to Stax, and carry the equipment for them. Bobby Smith, who still thought of himself as Redding's manager, was eager to help his friend's bandmate with his big break (and to help Galkin, in the hope that maybe Atlantic would start distributing Confederate too), and so he lent Redding the company station wagon to drive them to the session.The other Pinetoppers wouldn't be going -- Jenkins was going to be backed by Booker T and the MGs, the normal Stax backing band. Phil Walden, though, had told Redding that he should try to take the opportunity to get himself heard by Stax, and he pestered the musicians as they recorded Jenkins' "Spunky": [Excerpt: Johnny Jenkins, "Spunky"] Cropper later remembered “During the session, Al Jackson says to me, ‘The big tall guy that was driving Johnny, he's been bugging me to death, wanting me to hear him sing,' Al said, ‘Would you take some time and get this guy off of my back and listen to him?' And I said, ‘After the session I'll try to do it,' and then I just forgot about it.” What Redding didn't know, though Walden might have, is that Galkin had planned all along to get Redding to record while he was there. Galkin claimed to be Redding's manager, and told Jim Stewart, the co-owner of Stax who acted as main engineer and supervising producer on the sessions at this point, that Wexler had only funded the session on the basis that Redding would also get a shot at recording. Stewart was unimpressed -- Jenkins' session had not gone well, and it had taken them more than two hours to get two tracks down, but Galkin offered Stewart a trade -- Galkin, as Redding's manager, would take half of Stax's mechanical royalties for the records (which wouldn't be much) but in turn would give Stewart half the publishing on Redding's songs. That was enough to make Stewart interested, but by this point Booker T. Jones had already left the studio, so Steve Cropper moved to the piano for the forty minutes that was left of the session, with Jenkins remaining on guitar, and they tried to get two sides of a single cut. The first track they cut was "Hey Hey Baby", which didn't impress Stewart much -- he simply said that the world didn't need another Little Richard -- and so with time running out they cut another track, the ballad Redding had already given to Buddy Leach. He asked Cropper, who didn't play piano well, to play "church chords", by which he meant triplets, and Cropper said "he started singing ‘These Arms of Mine' and I know my hair lifted about three inches and I couldn't believe this guy's voice": [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "These Arms of Mine"] That was more impressive, though Stewart carefully feigned disinterest. Stewart and Galkin put together a contract which signed Redding to Stax -- though they put the single out on the less-important Volt subsidiary, as they did for much of Redding's subsequent output -- and gave Galkin and Stewart fifty percent each of the publishing rights to Redding's songs. Redding signed it, not even realising he was signing a proper contract rather than just one for a single record, because he was just used to signing whatever bit of paper was put in front of him at the time. This one was slightly different though, because Redding had had his twenty-first birthday since the last time he'd signed a contract, and so Galkin assumed that that meant all his other contracts were invalid -- not realising that Redding's contract with Bobby Smith had been countersigned by Redding's mother, and so was also legal. Walden also didn't realise that, but *did* realise that Galkin representing himself as Redding's manager to Stax might be a problem, so he quickly got Redding to sign a proper contract, formalising the handshake basis they'd been operating on up to that point. Walden was at this point in the middle of his Army service, but got the signature while he was home on leave. Walden then signed a deal with Galkin, giving Walden half of Galkin's fifty percent cut of Redding's publishing in return for Galkin getting a share of Walden's management proceeds. By this point everyone was on the same page -- Otis Redding was going to be a big star, and he became everyone's prime focus. Johnny Jenkins remained signed to Walden's agency -- which quickly grew to represent almost every big soul star that wasn't signed to Motown -- but he was regarded as a footnote. His record came out eventually on Volt, almost two years later, but he didn't release another record until 1968. Jenkins did, though, go on to have some influence. In 1970 he was given the opportunity to sing lead on an album backed by Duane Allman and the members of the Muscle Shoals studio band, many of whom went on to form the Allman Brothers Band. That record contained a cover of Dr. John's "I Walk on Guilded Splinters" which was later sampled by Beck for "Loser", the Wu-Tang Clan for "Gun Will Go" and Oasis for their hit "Go Let it Out": [Excerpt: Johnny Jenkins, "I Walk on Guilded Splinters"] Jenkins would play guitar on several future Otis Redding sessions, but would hold a grudge against Redding for the rest of his life for taking the stardom he thought was rightfully his, and would be one of the few people to have anything negative to say about Redding after his early death. When Bobby Smith heard about the release of "These Arms of Mine", he was furious, as his contract with Redding *was* in fact legally valid, and he'd been intending to get Redding to record the song himself. However, he realised that Stax could call on the resources of Atlantic Records, and Joe Galkin also hinted that if he played nice Atlantic might start distributing Confederate, too. Smith signed away all his rights to Redding -- again, thinking that he was only signing away the rights to a single record and song, and not reading the contract closely enough. In this case, Smith only had one working eye, and that wasn't good enough to see clearly -- he had to hold paper right up to his face to read anything on it -- and he simply couldn't read the small print on the contract, and so signed over Otis Redding's management, record contract, and publishing, for a flat seven hundred dollars. Now everything was legally -- if perhaps not ethically -- in the clear. Phil Walden was Otis Redding's manager, Stax was his record label, Joe Galkin got a cut off the top, and Walden, Galkin, and Jim Stewart all shared Redding's publishing. Although, to make it a hit, one more thing had to happen, and one more person had to get a cut of the song: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "These Arms of Mine"] That sound was becoming out of fashion among Black listeners at the time. It was considered passe, and even though the Stax musicians loved the record, Jim Stewart didn't, and put it out not because he believed in Otis Redding, but because he believed in Joe Galkin. As Stewart later said “The Black radio stations were getting out of that Black country sound, we put it out to appease and please Joe.” For the most part DJs ignored the record, despite Galkin pushing it -- it was released in October 1962, that month which we have already pinpointed as the start of the sixties, and came out at the same time as a couple of other Stax releases, and the one they were really pushing was Carla Thomas' "I'll Bring it Home to You", an answer record to Sam Cooke's "Bring it On Home to Me": [Excerpt: Carla Thomas, "I'll Bring it Home to You"] "These Arms of Mine" wasn't even released as the A-side -- that was "Hey Hey Baby" -- until John R came along. John R was a Nashville DJ, and in fact he was the reason that Bobby Smith even knew that Redding had signed to Stax. R had heard Buddy Leach's version of the song, and called Smith, who was a friend of his, to tell him that his record had been covered, and that was the first Smith had heard of the matter. But R also called Jim Stewart at Stax, and told him that he was promoting the wrong side, and that if they started promoting "These Arms of Mine", R would play the record on his radio show, which could be heard in twenty-eight states. And, as a gesture of thanks for this suggestion -- and definitely not as payola, which would be very illegal -- Stewart gave R his share of the publishing rights to the song, which eventually made the top twenty on the R&B charts, and slipped into the lower end of the Hot One Hundred. "These Arms of Mine" was actually recorded at a turning point for Stax as an organisation. By the time it was released, Booker T Jones had left Memphis to go to university in Indiana to study music, with his tuition being paid for by his share of the royalties for "Green Onions", which hit the charts around the same time as Redding's first session: [Excerpt: Booker T. and the MGs, "Green Onions"] Most of Stax's most important sessions were recorded at weekends -- Jim Stewart still had a day job as a bank manager at this point, and he supervised the records that were likely to be hits -- so Jones could often commute back to the studio for session work, and could play sessions during his holidays. The rest of the time, other people would cover the piano parts, often Cropper, who played piano on Redding's next sessions, with Jenkins once again on guitar. As "These Arms of Mine" didn't start to become a hit until March, Redding didn't go into the studio again until June, when he cut the follow-up, "That's What My Heart Needs", with the MGs, Jenkins, and the horn section of the Mar-Keys. That made number twenty-seven on the Cashbox R&B chart -- this was in the period when Billboard had stopped having one. The follow-up, "Pain in My Heart", was cut in September and did even better, making number eleven on the Cashbox R&B chart: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Pain in My Heart"] It did well enough in fact that the Rolling Stones cut a cover version of the track: [Excerpt: The Rolling Stones, "Pain in My Heart"] Though Redding didn't get the songwriting royalties -- by that point Allen Toussaint had noticed how closely it resembled a song he'd written for Irma Thomas, "Ruler of My Heart": [Excerpt: Irma Thomas, "Ruler of My Heart"] And so the writing credit was changed to be Naomi Neville, one of the pseudonyms Toussaint used. By this point Redding was getting steady work, and becoming a popular live act. He'd put together his own band, and had asked Jenkins to join, but Jenkins didn't want to play second fiddle to him, and refused, and soon stopped being invited to the recording sessions as well. Indeed, Redding was *eager* to get as many of his old friends working with him as he could. For his second and third sessions, as well as bringing Jenkins, he'd brought along a whole gang of musicians from his touring show, and persuaded Stax to put out records by them, too. At those sessions, as well as Redding's singles, they also cut records by his valet (which was the term R&B performers in those years used for what we'd now call a gofer or roadie) Oscar Mack: [Excerpt: Oscar Mack, "Don't Be Afraid of Love"] For Eddie Kirkland, the guitarist in his touring band, who had previously played with John Lee Hooker and whose single was released under the name "Eddie Kirk": [Excerpt: Eddie Kirk, "The Hawg, Part 1"] And Bobby Marchan, a singer and female impersonator from New Orleans who had had some massive hits a few years earlier both on his own and as the singer with Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns, but had ended up in Macon without a record deal and been taken under Redding's wing: [Excerpt: Bobby Marchan, "What Can I Do?"] Redding would continue, throughout his life, to be someone who tried to build musical careers for his friends, though none of those singles was successful. The changes in Stax continued. In late autumn 1963, Atlantic got worried by the lack of new product coming from Stax. Carla Thomas had had a couple of R&B hits, and they were expecting a new single, but every time Jerry Wexler phoned Stax asking where the new single was, he was told it would be coming soon but the equipment was broken. After a couple of weeks of this, Wexler decided something fishy was going on, and sent Tom Dowd, his genius engineer, down to Stax to investigate. Dowd found when he got there that the equipment *was* broken, and had been for weeks, and was a simple fix. When Dowd spoke to Stewart, though, he discovered that they didn't know where to source replacement parts from. Dowd phoned his assistant in New York, and told him to go to the electronics shop and get the parts he needed. Then, as there were no next-day courier services at that time, Dowd's assistant went to the airport, found a flight attendant who was flying to Memphis, and gave her the parts and twenty-five dollars, with a promise of twenty-five more if she gave them to Dowd at the other end. The next morning, Dowd had the equipment fixed, and everyone involved became convinced that Dowd was a miracle worker, especially after he showed Steve Cropper some rudimentary tape-manipulation techniques that Cropper had never encountered before. Dowd had to wait around in Memphis for his flight, so he went to play golf with the musicians for a bit, and then they thought they might as well pop back to the studio and test the equipment out. When they did, Rufus Thomas -- Carla Thomas' father, who had also had a number of hits himself on Stax and Sun -- popped his head round the door to see if the equipment was working now. They told him it was, and he said he had a song if they were up for a spot of recording. They were, and so when Dowd flew back that night, he was able to tell Wexler not only that the next Carla Thomas single would soon be on its way, but that he had the tapes of a big hit single with him right there: [Excerpt: Rufus Thomas, "Walking the Dog"] "Walking the Dog" was a sensation. Jim Stewart later said “I remember our first order out of Chicago. I was in New York in Jerry Wexler's office at the time and Paul Glass, who was our distributor in Chicago, called in an order for sixty-five thousand records. I said to Jerry, ‘Do you mean sixty-five hundred?' And he said, ‘Hell no, he wants sixty-five thousand.' That was the first order! He believed in the record so much that we ended up selling about two hundred thousand in Chicago alone.” The record made the top ten on the pop charts, but that wasn't the biggest thing that Dowd had taken away from the session. He came back raving to Wexler about the way they made records in Memphis, and how different it was from the New York way. In New York, there was a strict separation between the people in the control room and the musicians in the studio, the musicians were playing from written charts, and everyone had a job and did just that job. In Memphis, the musicians were making up the arrangements as they went, and everyone was producing or engineering all at the same time. Dowd, as someone with more technical ability than anyone at Stax, and who was also a trained musician who could make musical suggestions, was soon regularly commuting down to Memphis to be part of the production team, and Jerry Wexler was soon going down to record with other Atlantic artists there, as we heard about in the episode on "Midnight Hour". Shortly after Dowd's first visit to Memphis, another key member of the Stax team entered the picture. Right at the end of 1963, Floyd Newman recorded a track called "Frog Stomp", on which he used his own band rather than the MGs and Mar-Keys: [Excerpt: Floyd Newman, "Frog Stomp"] The piano player and co-writer on that track was a young man named Isaac Hayes, who had been trying to get work at Stax for some time. He'd started out as a singer, and had made a record, "Laura, We're On Our Last Go-Round", at American Sound, the studio run by the former Stax engineer and musician Chips Moman: [Excerpt: Isaac Hayes, "Laura, We're On Our Last Go-Round"] But that hadn't been a success, and Hayes had continued working a day job at a slaughterhouse -- and would continue doing so for much of the next few years, even after he started working at Stax (it's truly amazing how many of the people involved in Stax were making music as what we would now call a side-hustle). Hayes had become a piano player as a way of getting a little extra money -- he'd been offered a job as a fill-in when someone else had pulled out at the last minute on a gig on New Year's Eve, and took it even though he couldn't actually play piano, and spent his first show desperately vamping with two fingers, and was just lucky the audience was too drunk to care. But he had a remarkable facility for the instrument, and while unlike Booker T Jones he would never gain a great deal of technical knowledge, and was embarrassed for the rest of his life by both his playing ability and his lack of theory knowledge, he was as great as they come at soul, at playing with feel, and at inventing new harmonies on the fly. They still didn't have a musician at Stax that could replace Booker T, who was still off at university, so Isaac Hayes was taken on as a second session keyboard player, to cover for Jones when Jones was in Indiana -- though Hayes himself also had to work his own sessions around his dayjob, so didn't end up playing on "In the Midnight Hour", for example, because he was at the slaughterhouse. The first recording session that Hayes played on as a session player was an Otis Redding single, either his fourth single for Stax, "Come to Me", or his fifth, "Security": [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Security"] "Security" is usually pointed to by fans as the point at which Redding really comes into his own, and started directing the musicians more. There's a distinct difference, in particular, in the interplay between Cropper's guitar, the Mar-Keys' horns, and Redding's voice. Where previously the horns had tended to play mostly pads, just holding chords under Redding's voice, now they were starting to do answering phrases. Jim Stewart always said that the only reason Stax used a horn section at all was because he'd been unable to find a decent group of backing vocalists, and the function the horns played on most of the early Stax recordings was somewhat similar to the one that the Jordanaires had played for Elvis, or the Picks for Buddy Holly, basically doing "oooh" sounds to fatten out the sound, plus the odd sax solo or simple riff. The way Redding used the horns, though, was more like the way Ray Charles used the Raelettes, or the interplay of a doo-wop vocal group, with call and response, interjections, and asides. He also did something in "Security" that would become a hallmark of records made at Stax -- instead of a solo, the instrumental break is played by the horns as an ensemble: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Security"] According to Wayne Jackson, the Mar-Keys' trumpeter, Redding was the one who had the idea of doing these horn ensemble sections, and the musicians liked them enough that they continued doing them on all the future sessions, no matter who with. The last Stax single of 1964 took the "Security" sound and refined it, and became the template for every big Stax hit to follow. "Mr. Pitiful" was the first collaboration between Redding and Steve Cropper, and was primarily Cropper's idea. Cropper later remembered “There was a disc jockey here named Moohah. He started calling Otis ‘Mr. Pitiful' 'cause he sounded so pitiful singing his ballads. So I said, ‘Great idea for a song!' I got the idea for writing about it in the shower. I was on my way down to pick up Otis. I got down there and I was humming it in the car. I said, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?' We just wrote the song on the way to the studio, just slapping our hands on our legs. We wrote it in about ten minutes, went in, showed it to the guys, he hummed a horn line, boom—we had it. When Jim Stewart walked in we had it all worked up. Two or three cuts later, there it was.” [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Mr. Pitiful"] Cropper would often note later that Redding would never write about himself, but that Cropper would put details of Redding's life and persona into the songs, from "Mr. Pitiful" right up to their final collaboration, in which Cropper came up with lines about leaving home in Georgia. "Mr Pitiful" went to number ten on the R&B chart and peaked at number forty-one on the hot one hundred, and its B-side, "That's How Strong My Love Is", also made the R&B top twenty. Cropper and Redding soon settled into a fruitful writing partnership, to the extent that Cropper even kept a guitar permanently tuned to an open chord so that Redding could use it. Redding couldn't play the guitar, but liked to use one as a songwriting tool. When a guitar is tuned in standard tuning, you have to be able to make chord shapes to play it, because the sound of the open strings is a discord: [demonstrates] But you can tune a guitar so all the strings are the notes of a single chord, so they sound good together even when you don't make a chord shape: [demonstrates open-E tuning] With one of these open tunings, you can play chords with just a single finger barring a fret, and so they're very popular with, for example, slide guitarists who use a metal slide to play, or someone like Dolly Parton who has such long fingernails it's difficult to form chord shapes. Someone like Parton is of course an accomplished player, but open tunings also mean that someone who can't play well can just put their finger down on a fret and have it be a chord, so you can write songs just by running one finger up and down the fretboard: [demonstrates] So Redding could write, and even play acoustic rhythm guitar on some songs, which he did quite a lot in later years, without ever learning how to make chords. Now, there's a downside to this -- which is why standard tuning is still standard. If you tune to an open major chord, you can play major chords easily but minor chords become far more difficult. Handily, that wasn't a problem at Stax, because according to Isaac Hayes, Jim Stewart banned minor chords from being played at Stax. Hayes said “We'd play a chord in a session, and Jim would say, ‘I don't want to hear that chord.' Jim's ears were just tuned into one, four, and five. I mean, just simple changes. He said they were the breadwinners. He didn't like minor chords. Marvell and I always would try to put that pretty stuff in there. Jim didn't like that. We'd bump heads about that stuff. Me and Marvell fought all the time that. Booker wanted change as well. As time progressed, I was able to sneak a few in.” Of course, minor chords weren't *completely* banned from Stax, and some did sneak through, but even ballads would often have only major chords -- like Redding's next single, "I've Been Loving You Too Long". That track had its origins with Jerry Butler, the singer who had been lead vocalist of the Impressions before starting a solo career and having success with tracks like "For Your Precious Love": [Excerpt: Jerry Butler, "For Your Precious Love"] Redding liked that song, and covered it himself on his second album, and he had become friendly with Butler. Butler had half-written a song, and played it for Redding, who told him he'd like to fiddle with it, see what he could do. Butler forgot about the conversation, until he got a phone call from Redding, telling him that he'd recorded the song. Butler was confused, and also a little upset -- he'd been planning to finish the song himself, and record it. But then Redding played him the track, and Butler decided that doing so would be pointless -- it was Redding's song now: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "I've Been Loving You Too Long"] "I've Been Loving You Too Long" became Redding's first really big hit, making number two on the R&B chart and twenty-one on the Hot One Hundred. It was soon being covered by the Rolling Stones and Ike & Tina Turner, and while Redding was still not really known to the white pop market, he was quickly becoming one of the biggest stars on the R&B scene. His record sales were still not matching his live performances -- he would always make far more money from appearances than from records -- but he was by now the performer that every other soul singer wanted to copy. "I've Been Loving You Too Long" came out just after Redding's second album, The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads, which happened to be the first album released on Volt Records. Before that, while Stax and Volt had released the singles, they'd licensed all the album tracks to Atlantic's Atco subsidiary, which had released the small number of albums put out by Stax artists. But times were changing and the LP market was becoming bigger. And more importantly, the *stereo* LP market was becoming bigger. Singles were still only released in mono, and would be for the next few years, but the album market had a substantial number of audiophiles, and they wanted stereo. This was a problem for Stax, because they only had a mono tape recorder, and they were scared of changing anything about their setup in case it destroyed their sound. Tom Dowd, who had been recording in eight track for years, was appalled by the technical limitations at the McLemore Ave studio, but eventually managed to get Jim Stewart, who despite -- or possibly because of -- being a white country musician was the most concerned that they keep their Black soul sound, to agree to a compromise. They would keep everything hooked up exactly the same -- the same primitive mixers, the same mono tape recorder -- and Stax would continue doing their mixes for mono, and all their singles would come directly off that mono tape. But at the same time, they would *also* have a two-track tape recorder plugged in to the mixer, with half the channels going on one track and half on the other. So while they were making the mix, they'd *also* be getting a stereo dump of that mix. The limitations of the situation meant that they might end up with drums and vocals in one channel and everything else in the other -- although as the musicians cut everything together in the studio, which had a lot of natural echo, leakage meant there was a *bit* of everything on every track -- but it would still be stereo. Redding's next album, Otis Blue, was recorded on this new equipment, with Dowd travelling down from New York to operate it. Dowd was so keen on making the album stereo that during that session, they rerecorded Redding's two most recent singles, "I've Been Loving You Too Long" and "Respect" (which hadn't yet come out but was in the process of being released) in soundalike versions so there would be stereo versions of the songs on the album -- so the stereo and mono versions of Otis Blue actually have different performances of those songs on them. It shows how intense the work rate was at Stax -- and how good they were at their jobs -- that apart from the opening track "Ole Man Trouble", which had already been recorded as a B-side, all of Otis Blue, which is often considered the greatest soul album in history, was recorded in a twenty-eight hour period, and it would have been shorter but there was a four-hour break in the middle, from 10PM to 2AM, so that the musicians on the session could play their regular local club gigs. And then after the album was finished, Otis left the session to perform a gig that evening. Tom Dowd, in particular, was astonished by the way Redding took charge in the studio, and how even though he had no technical musical knowledge, he would direct the musicians. Dowd called Redding a genius and told Phil Walden that the only two other artists he'd worked with who had as much ability in the studio were Bobby Darin and Ray Charles. Other than those singles and "Ole Man Trouble", Otis Blue was made up entirely of cover versions. There were three versions of songs by Sam Cooke, who had died just a few months earlier, and whose death had hit Redding hard -- for all that he styled himself on Little Richard vocally, he was also in awe of Cooke as a singer and stage presence. There were also covers of songs by The Temptations, William Bell, and B.B. King. And there was also an odd choice -- Steve Cropper suggested that Redding cut a cover of a song by a white band that was in the charts at the time: [Excerpt: The Rolling Stones, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"] Redding had never heard the song before -- he was not paying attention to the white pop scene at the time, just to his competition on the R&B charts -- but he was interested in doing it. Cropper sat by the turntable, scribbling down what he thought the lyrics Jagger was singing were, and they cut the track. Redding starts out more or less singing the right words: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"] But quickly ends up just ad-libbing random exclamations in the same way that he would in many of his live performances: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"] Otis Blue made number one on the R&B album chart, and also made number six on the UK album chart -- Redding, like many soul artists, was far more popular in the UK than in the US. It only made number seventy-five on the pop album charts in the US, but it did a remarkable thing as far as Stax was concerned -- it *stayed* in the lower reaches of the charts, and on the R&B album charts, for a long time. Redding had become what is known as a "catalogue artist", something that was almost unknown in rock and soul music at this time, but which was just starting to appear. Up to 1965, the interlinked genres that we now think of as rock and roll, rock, pop, blues, R&B, and soul, had all operated on the basis that singles were where the money was, and that singles should be treated like periodicals -- they go on the shelves, stay there for a few weeks, get replaced by the new thing, and nobody's interested any more. This had contributed to the explosive rate of change in pop music between about 1954 and 1968. You'd package old singles up into albums, and stick some filler tracks on there as a way of making a tiny bit of money from tracks which weren't good enough to release as singles, but that was just squeezing the last few drops of juice out of the orange, it wasn't really where the money was. The only exceptions were those artists like Ray Charles who crossed over into the jazz and adult pop markets. But in general, your record sales in the first few weeks and months *were* your record sales. But by the mid-sixties, as album sales started to take off more, things started to change. And Otis Redding was one of the first artists to really benefit from that. He wasn't having huge hit singles, and his albums weren't making the pop top forty, but they *kept selling*. Redding wouldn't have an album make the top forty in his lifetime, but they sold consistently, and everything from Otis Blue onward sold two hundred thousand or so copies -- a massive number in the much smaller album market of the time. These sales gave Redding some leverage. His contract with Stax was coming to an end in a few months, and he was getting offers from other companies. As part of his contract renegotiation, he got Jim Stewart -- who like so many people in this story including Redding himself liked to operate on handshake deals and assumptions of good faith on the part of everyone else, and who prided himself on being totally fair and not driving hard bargains -- to rework his publishing deal. Now Redding's music was going to be published by Redwal Music -- named after Redding and Phil Walden -- which was owned as a four-way split between Redding, Walden, Stewart, and Joe Galkin. Redding also got the right as part of his contract negotiations to record other artists using Stax's facilities and musicians. He set up his own label, Jotis Records -- a portmanteau of Joe and Otis, for Joe Galkin and himself, and put out records by Arthur Conley: [Excerpt: Arthur Conley, "Who's Fooling Who?"] Loretta Williams [Excerpt: Loretta Williams, "I'm Missing You"] and Billy Young [Excerpt: Billy Young, "The Sloopy"] None of these was a success, but it was another example of how Redding was trying to use his success to boost others. There were other changes going on at Stax as well. The company was becoming more tightly integrated with Atlantic Records -- Tom Dowd had started engineering more sessions, Jerry Wexler was turning up all the time, and they were starting to make records for Atlantic, as we discussed in the episode on "In the Midnight Hour". Atlantic were also loaning Stax Sam and Dave, who were contracted to Atlantic but treated as Stax artists, and whose hits were written by the new Stax songwriting team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter: [Excerpt: Sam and Dave, "Soul Man"] Redding was not hugely impressed by Sam and Dave, once saying in an interview "When I first heard the Righteous Brothers, I thought they were colored. I think they sing better than Sam and Dave", but they were having more and bigger chart hits than him, though they didn't have the same level of album sales. Also, by now Booker T and the MGs had a new bass player. Donald "Duck" Dunn had always been the "other" bass player at Stax, ever since he'd started with the Mar-Keys, and he'd played on many of Redding's recordings, as had Lewie Steinberg, the original bass player with the MGs. But in early 1965, the Stax studio musicians had cut a record originally intending it to be a Mar-Keys record, but decided to put it out as by Booker T and the MGs, even though Booker T wasn't there at the time -- Isaac Hayes played keyboards on the track: [Excerpt: Booker T and the MGs, "Boot-Leg"] Booker T Jones would always have a place at Stax, and would soon be back full time as he finished his degree, but from that point on Duck Dunn, not Lewie Steinberg, was the bass player for the MGs. Another change in 1965 was that Stax got serious about promotion. Up to this point, they'd just relied on Atlantic to promote their records, but obviously Atlantic put more effort into promoting records on which it made all the money than ones it just distributed. But as part of the deal to make records with Sam and Dave and Wilson Pickett, Atlantic had finally put their arrangement with Stax on a contractual footing, rather than their previous handshake deal, and they'd agreed to pay half the salary of a publicity person for Stax. Stax brought in Al Bell, who made a huge impression. Bell had been a DJ in Memphis, who had gone off to work with Martin Luther King for a while, before leaving after a year because, as he put it "I was not about passive resistance. I was about economic development, economic empowerment.” He'd returned to DJing, first in Memphis, then in Washington DC, where he'd been one of the biggest boosters of Stax records in the area. While he was in Washington, he'd also started making records himself. He'd produced several singles for Grover Mitchell on Decca: [Excerpt: Grover Mitchell, "Midnight Tears"] Those records were supervised by Milt Gabler, the same Milt Gabler who produced Louis Jordan's records and "Rock Around the Clock", and Bell co-produced them with Eddie Floyd, who wrote that song, and Chester Simmons, formerly of the Moonglows, and the three of them started their own label, Safice, which had put out a few records by Floyd and others, on the same kind of deal with Atlantic that Stax had: [Excerpt: Eddie Floyd, "Make Up Your Mind"] Floyd would himself soon become a staff songwriter at Stax. As with almost every decision at Stax, the decision to hire Bell was a cause of disagreement between Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton, the "Ax" in Stax, who wasn't as involved in the day-to-day studio operations as her brother, but who was often regarded by the musicians as at least as important to the spirit of the label, and who tended to disagree with her brother on pretty much everything. Stewart didn't want to hire Bell, but according to Cropper “Estelle and I said, ‘Hey, we need somebody that can liaison between the disc jockeys and he's the man to do it. Atlantic's going into a radio station with six Atlantic records and one Stax record. We're not getting our due.' We knew that. We needed more promotion and he had all the pull with all those disc jockeys. He knew E. Rodney Jones and all the big cats, the Montagues and so on. He knew every one of them.” Many people at Stax will say that the label didn't even really start until Bell joined -- and he became so important to the label that he would eventually take it over from Stewart and Axton. Bell came in every day and immediately started phoning DJs, all day every day, starting in the morning with the drivetime East Coast DJs, and working his way across the US, ending up at midnight phoning the evening DJs in California. Booker T Jones said of him “He had energy like Otis Redding, except he wasn't a singer. He had the same type of energy. He'd come in the room, pull up his shoulders and that energy would start. He would start talking about the music business or what was going on and he energized everywhere he was. He was our Otis for promotion. It was the same type of energy charisma.” Meanwhile, of course, Redding was constantly releasing singles. Two more singles were released from Otis Blue -- his versions of "My Girl" and "Satisfaction", and he also released "I Can't Turn You Loose", which was originally the B-side to "Just One More Day" but ended up charting higher than its original A-side. It's around this time that Redding did something which seems completely out of character, but which really must be mentioned given that with very few exceptions everyone in his life talks about him as some kind of saint. One of Redding's friends was beaten up, and Redding, the friend, and another friend drove to the assailant's house and started shooting through the windows, starting a gun battle in which Redding got grazed. His friend got convicted of attempted murder, and got two years' probation, while Redding himself didn't face any criminal charges but did get sued by the victims, and settled out of court for a few hundred dollars. By this point Redding was becoming hugely rich from his concert appearances and album sales, but he still hadn't had a top twenty pop hit. He needed to break the white market. And so in April 1966, Redding went to LA, to play the Sunset Strip: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Respect (live at the Whisky A-Go-Go)"] Redding's performance at the Whisky A-Go-Go, a venue which otherwise hosted bands like the Doors, the Byrds, the Mothers of Invention, and Love, was his first real interaction with the white rock scene, part of a process that had started with his recording of "Satisfaction". The three-day residency got rave reviews, though the plans to release a live album of the shows were scuppered when Jim Stewart listened back to the tapes and decided that Redding's horn players were often out of tune. But almost everyone on the LA scene came out to see the shows, and Redding blew them away. According to one biography of Redding I used, it was seeing how Redding tuned his guitar that inspired the guitarist from the support band, the Rising Sons, to start playing in the same tuning -- though I can't believe for a moment that Ry Cooder, one of the greatest slide guitarists of his generation, didn't already know about open tunings. But Redding definitely impressed that band -- Taj Mahal, their lead singer, later said it was "one of the most amazing performances I'd ever seen". Also at the gigs was Bob Dylan, who played Redding a song he'd just recorded but not yet released: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Just Like a Woman"] Redding agreed that the song sounded perfect for him, and said he would record it. He apparently made some attempts at rehearsing it at least, but never ended up recording it. He thought the first verse and chorus were great, but had problems with the second verse: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Just Like a Woman"] Those lyrics were just too abstract for him to find a way to connect with them emotionally, and as a result he found himself completely unable to sing them. But like his recording of "Satisfaction", this was another clue to him that he should start paying more attention to what was going on in the white music industry, and that there might be things he could incorporate into his own style. As a result of the LA gigs, Bill Graham booked Redding for the Fillmore in San Francisco. Redding was at first cautious, thinking this might be a step too far, and that he wouldn't go down well with the hippie crowd, but Graham persuaded him, saying that whenever he asked any of the people who the San Francisco crowds most loved -- Jerry Garcia or Paul Butterfield or Mike Bloomfield -- who *they* most wanted to see play there, they all said Otis Redding. Redding reluctantly agreed, but before he took a trip to San Francisco, there was somewhere even further out for him to go. Redding was about to head to England but before he did there was another album to make, and this one would see even more of a push for the white market, though still trying to keep everything soulful. As well as Redding originals, including "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)", another song in the mould of "Mr. Pitiful", there was another cover of a contemporary hit by a guitar band -- this time a version of the Beatles' "Day Tripper" -- and two covers of old standards; the country song "Tennessee Waltz", which had recently been covered by Sam Cooke, and a song made famous by Bing Crosby, "Try a Little Tenderness". That song almost certainly came to mind because it had recently been used in the film Dr. Strangelove, but it had also been covered relatively recently by two soul greats, Aretha Franklin: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Try a Little Tenderness"] And Sam Cooke: [Excerpt: Sam Cooke, "Live Medley: I Love You For Sentimental Reasons/Try a Little Tenderness/You Send Me"] This version had horn parts arranged by Isaac Hayes, who by this point had been elevated to be considered one of the "Big Six" at Stax records -- Hayes, his songwriting partner David Porter, Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, Booker T. Jones, and Al Jackson, were all given special status at the company, and treated as co-producers on every record -- all the records were now credited as produced by "staff", but it was the Big Six who split the royalties. Hayes came up with a horn part that was inspired by Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come", and which dominated the early part of the track: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Try a Little Tenderness"] Then the band came in, slowly at first: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Try a Little Tenderness"] But Al Jackson surprised them when they ran through the track by deciding that after the main song had been played, he'd kick the track into double-time, and give Redding a chance to stretch out and do his trademark grunts and "got-ta"s. The single version faded out shortly after that, but the version on the album kept going for an extra thirty seconds: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Try a Little Tenderness"] As Booker T. Jones said “Al came up with the idea of breaking up the rhythm, and Otis just took that and ran with it. He really got excited once he found out what Al was going to do on the drums. He realized how he could finish the song. That he could start it like a ballad and finish it full of emotion. That's how a lot of our arrangements would come together. Somebody would come up with something totally outrageous.” And it would have lasted longer but Jim Stewart pushed the faders down, realising the track was an uncommercial length even as it was. Live, the track could often stretch out to seven minutes or longer, as Redding drove the crowd into a frenzy, and it soon became one of the highlights of his live set, and a signature song for him: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Try a Little Tenderness (live in London)"] In September 1966, Redding went on his first tour outside the US. His records had all done much better in the UK than they had in America, and they were huge favourites of everyone on the Mod scene, and when he arrived in the UK he had a limo sent by Brian Epstein to meet him at the airport. The tour was an odd one, with multiple London shows, shows in a couple of big cities like Manchester and Bristol, and shows in smallish towns in Hampshire and Lincolnshire. Apparently the shows outside London weren't particularly well attended, but the London shows were all packed to overflowing. Redding also got his own episode of Ready! Steady! Go!, on which he performed solo as well as with guest stars Eric Burdon and Chris Farlowe: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, Chris Farlowe and Eric Burdon, "Shake/Land of a Thousand Dances"] After the UK tour, he went on a short tour of the Eastern US with Sam and Dave as his support act, and then headed west to the Fillmore for his three day residency there, introducing him to the San Francisco music scene. His first night at the venue was supported by the Grateful Dead, the second by Johnny Talbot and De Thangs and the third by Country Joe and the Fish, but there was no question that it was Otis Redding that everyone was coming to see. Janis Joplin turned up at the Fillmore every day at 3PM, to make sure she could be right at the front for Redding's shows that night, and Bill Graham said, decades later, "By far, Otis Redding was the single most extraordinary talent I had ever seen. There was no comparison. Then or now." However, after the Fillmore gigs, for the first time ever he started missing shows. The Sentinel, a Black newspaper in LA, reported a few days later "Otis Redding, the rock singer, failed to make many friends here the other day when he was slated to appear on the Christmas Eve show[...] Failed to draw well, and Redding reportedly would not go on." The Sentinel seem to think that Redding was just being a diva, but it's likely that this was the first sign of a problem that would change everything about his career -- he was developing vocal polyps that were making singing painful. It's notable though that the Sentinel refers to Redding as a "rock" singer, and shows again how different genres appeared in the mid-sixties to how they appear today. In that light, it's interesting to look at a quote from Redding from a few months later -- "Everybody thinks that all songs by colored people are rhythm and blues, but that's not true. Johnny Taylor, Muddy Waters, and B.B. King are blues singers. James Brown is not a blues singer. He has a rock and roll beat and he can sing slow pop songs. My own songs "Respect" and "Mr Pitiful" aren't blues songs. I'm speaking in terms of the beat and structure of the music. A blues is a song that goes twelve bars all the way through. Most of my songs are soul songs." So in Redding's eyes, neither he nor James Brown were R&B -- he was soul, which was a different thing from R&B, while Brown was rock and roll and pop, not soul, but journalists thought that Redding was rock. But while the lines between these things were far less distinct than they are today, and Redding was trying to cross over to the white audience, he knew what genre he was in, and celebrated that in a song he wrote with his friend Art

Today's show features music by The Moonglows and Sonny Boy Williamson II

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In this tale from the timeline of NPC Inc., we leave behind the 80s warehouse of NPC Inc. for the 70s offices of Blackhorn & Bloodskull, where three devious lawyers are heading to court to do what they do best: argue. Can this dread trio use their wits to defend their malicious corporate client from Moonglow & Associates? Should they have maybe used more of their time planning and less doing cocaine with their bosses? Well you'll just have to tune in to find out who wins, who loses, and who is closer to making partner in this thrilling conclusion, produced by Dick Direwolf In this episode Lorraine borrows some dice Seraphina wants to be a stepmom And Pearson loves to fuck around and find out

Gamble & Huff, Philadelphia International Rock & Soul Classic  Charlie Ingui,  Original Lead Vocalist still records & tours  go check him out! ~ thesoulsurvivors.comR.I.P. Ritchie Ingui, original vocal half of the Soul Survivors. He transitioned in early 2017.Original group member Kenny Jeremiah Transitioned in December of 2020. Memorable Intro, AWESOME Classic Hit, a Kenny Gamble &Leon Huff hit that Helped launch the Legendary Philadelphia International Record Label. I am a Music Lover of All Styles, Generations. This Week I Flashback....... The Soul Survivors, originally from New York City, grew up listening to the R & B groups of the 1950's. The sounds of groups like the Moonglows, Heartbeats, and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers had a great influence on brothers Charlie and Rich Ingui. With various street corner groups, they developed their vocal skills. While in high school, Charlie joined the vocal group from Queens, N.Y. the Dedications. When, a year later the group's lead singer decided to leave, brother Rich was recruited. While performing at clubs in the New York area, they found themselves at the mercy of various house bands and decided to find a group of musicians who would become permanent members of the group therefore creating a self contained unit. The group would be renamed THE SOUL SURVIVORS. Shortly thereafter, the group began to build a strong following, playing venues in Atlantic City and Philadelphia. Enjoying great success in Philadelphia, they attracted the attention of record producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Into the recording studio they went, emerging with " Expressway To Your Heart " a song that would climb to #3 on Billboard's R&B chart and #4 on it's Top 100 list. The success of " Expressway " became Gamble and Huff's first "crossover" hit when it began to be played on both black and white radio stations. It's success enabled Gamble and Huff to reach the large audiences they sought in order to bring their " Sound Of Philadelphia " to the mass Market. In polls taken by both the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia's City Paper, " Expressway" was voted the number one record ever to come out of Philadelphia. "Expressway " was followed by two other chart records, "Explosion In My Soul" and " Mission Impossible". Their first album, released in 1968, was " When The Whistle Blows ". A second LP, on Atco Records, called "Take Another Look" appeared in 1969. During this time, the group toured extensively throughout the U.S. appearing with many different types of artists...everyone from Jackie Wilson, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles to Janis Joplin, the Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, Sly and the Family Stone and countless others. In 1974, the Soul Survivors reunited with Gamble and Huff to record their self titled album "The Soul Survivors" on TSOP Records. It was written and performed in a style that would define the unique sound of The Soul Survivors.The album produced "City Of Brotherly Love" which would show up on Billboard's R&B Top 100 and become the group's fourth charted outing. Through the years, the Soul Survivors have continued to provide audiences with high energy performances and music that is timeless and authentic ,appearing with 60's contemporaries Felix Cavaliere's Rascals. the Turtles,the Association, as well as fellow TSOP artists Harold Melvin's Bluenotes,Billy Paul, the Intruders, Russell Thompkins' Stylistics and others. The group's CD is called " Heart Full of Soul ", produced by Grammy nominated producers Jimmy Bralower and Johnny Gale.The Soul Survivors recorded new music and covers several years ago, most recently working with David Uosikkinen of The Hooters and his project "In the Pocket" which is paying tribute to the vast catalog of music created in Philadelphia.© 2022 All Rights Reserved© 2022 Building Abundant Success!!Join Me on ~ iHeart Radio @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASSpot Me on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/yxuy23baAmazon Music ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBAS 

# the moonglows sincerely # one of the greatest doo wop male vocal groups ever # classic song and vocals # Respect --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/mr-maxxx/support

on-target-podcast.onpodium.com"Once a Mod, always a Mod" we say and that is a truth that cannot be expressed in words. The clothes, the scooters, the literature and, of course, the music. There in lies the true spirit of Mod and there in lies the soul of On Target. Come share in the journey this week with music you didn't even know you needed.-----------------------------------------------The Playlist Is:"Soul Is Our Music"Bobby Patterson & The Mustangs - Jetstar"Mama Loocie"Harvey & The Moonglows (ft. Marvin Gaye)- Chess"Uh Oh"Bobby Lee Trammell- Reo"Do The Thing"Lou Courtney- Riverside"Sick And Tired"Elton Anderson- Capitol"Dynamite Lovin'"Jackie Ross- Chess"Hog For You"David Clayton-Thomas- Atca"Stay With Me Baby"Savoy Brown- Parrot"Don't Fool Around"R. Dean Taylor- Tamla-Motown"Night Owl"Bobby Paris- London"Here Come The Heartaches"The Lovells- Brent"Finders Keepers"Gloria Jones- Uptown"You Didn't Say A Word"Yvonne Baker- London"We'll Keep On Rolling"Brenda Holloway- Tamla Motown"Don't Leave Me Hot"Al Greene & The Soul Mate's- Line Music Journal"Everybody Dance"Lydia Marcelle- Atco"Call My Name"Them - Parrot"Lucy (You Sure Did It This Time)"The Dennisons- Decca"Ordinary Joe"Terry Callier- Chess"I Wanna Give You Tomorrow"Benny Troy- De-lite"Never On A Sunday"Joe "Chet" Sampson's Guitar & Orchestra- Balisier

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"PAUL SIMON REVEALS HIS THOUGHTS REGARDING RENE AND GEORGETTE MAGRITTE":https://www.paulsimon.com/news/paul-simon-on-rene-and-georgette-magritte-with-their-dog-after-the-war/

Jon is off today but Mark talks some nonsense for a bit before the meat of the program: interview with lead singer and keyboardist, Joe from Milwaukee chill rock lo-fi band, Moonglow!

We go fishing in Moonglow Bay, Levins plays a couple of Cotton games and Jon continues Inscryption.SUPPORT US ON PATREONALL THE SMALL GAMES ON FACEBOOKFOLLOW US ON TWITTERTWITTER: LEVINS / JONINSTAGRAM: LEVINS / JONEMAIL: ALLTHESMALLGAMES@GMAIL.COM-All The Small Games is a podcast about indie games, hosted by Andrew Levins and Jon Valenzuela. Get in touch with the show by emailing us at allthesmallgames@gmail.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week's episode has a couple of point-and-click adventures, a dreamy game that's sometimes a nightmare to play, a game all about fishing that finds me fishing for reasons to stick with it in its current buggy form, and a bloody Micro Machines-type game that's surprisingly okay (but just okay). Also, there's a new season and a new map for Apex Legends, so that's a thing too. Anyway...That's it and that's all folks. If you're feeling extra generous, you can become a patron, donate a little something, or subscribe to show your support for the site, the podcasts, the streaming, the videos, the art, and everything in between. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to consume any of the content I make and thank you for being a fan. I can't begin to express how much I appreciate each and every one of you. :)

Episode one hundred and thirty-two of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “I Can't Help Myself” by the Four Tops, and is part two of a three-episode look at Motown in 1965. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "Colours" by Donovan. 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 too many of the songs were by the Four Tops. Amazingly, there are no books on the Four Tops, so I've had to rely on the information in the general Motown sources I use, plus the liner notes for the Four Tops 50th Anniversary singles collection, a collection of the A and B sides of all their Motown singles. That collection is the best collection of the Four Tops' work available, but is pricey -- for a cheaper option this single-disc set is much better value. For Motown-related information in this and other Motown episodes, I've used the following resources: Where Did Our Love Go? The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound by Nelson George is an excellent popular history of the various companies that became Motown. To Be Loved by Berry Gordy is Gordy's own, understandably one-sided, but relatively well-written, autobiography. Women of Motown: An Oral History by Susan Whitall is a collection of interviews with women involved in Motown. I Hear a Symphony: Motown and Crossover R&B by J. Andrew Flory is an academic look at Motown. The Motown Encyclopaedia by Graham Betts is an exhaustive look at the people and records involved in Motown's thirty-year history. How Sweet It Is by Lamont Dozier and Scott B. Bomar is Dozier's autobiography, while Come and Get These Memories by Brian and Eddie Holland and Dave Thompson is the Holland brothers'. And Motown Junkies is an infrequently-updated blog looking at (so far) the first 694 tracks released on Motown singles. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript This is the second part of a two-part look at the work of Holland, Dozier, and Holland, and part of a three-part look at Motown Records in the mid-sixties. If you've not listened to the last episode, on the Supremes, you might want to listen to that one before this. There's a clip of an old radio comedy show that always makes me irrationally irritated when I hear it, even though I like the programme it's from: [Excerpt of The Mark Steel Lectures, “Aristotle” episode. Transcript: "Which led him back to the problem, what is it that makes something what it is? Is an apple still an apple when it's decomposing? I went to see the Four Tops once and none of the original members were in the band, they were just session musicians. So have i seen the Four Tops or not? I don't know" ] That's the kind of joke that would work with many vocal groups -- you could make the joke about the Drifters or the Ink Spots, of course, and it would even work for, for example, the Temptations, though they do have one original member still touring with them. Everyone knows that that kind of group has a constantly rotating membership, and that people come and go from groups like that all the time. Except that that wasn't true for the Four Tops at the time Mark Steel made that joke, in the late 1990s. The current version of the Four Tops does only have one original member -- but that's because the other three all died. At the time Steel made the joke, his only opportunity to see the Four Tops would have been seeing all four original members -- the same four people who had been performing under that name since the 1950s. Other groups have had longer careers than that without changing members -- mostly duos, like Simon & Garfunkel or the Everly Brothers -- but I can't think of another one that lasted as long while performing together continuously, without taking a break at any point. So today, we're going to look at the career of a group who performed together for forty-four years without a lineup change, a group who were recording together before Motown even started, but who became indelibly associated with Motown and with Holland-Dozier-Holland. We're going to look at the Four Tops, and at "I Can't Help Myself": [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "I Can't Help Myself"] The Four Tops have turned up in the background in several episodes already, even though we're only now getting to their big hits. By the time they became huge, they had already been performing together for more than a decade, and had had a big influence on the burgeoning Detroit music scene even before Berry Gordy had got involved with the scene. The group had started out after Abdul "Duke" Fakir, a teenager in Detroit, had gone to see Lucky Millinder and his band perform, and had been surprised to see his friend Levi Stubbs turn up, get on stage, and start singing with the band in a guest spot. Fakir had never realised before that his friend sang at all, let alone that he had an astonishing baritone voice. Stubbs was, in fact, a regular on the Detroit amateur singing circuit, and had connections with several other performers on that circuit -- most notably his cousin Jackie Wilson, but also Hank Ballard and Little Willie John. Those few singers would make deals with each other about who would get to win at a particular show, and carved things up between them. Stubbs and Fakir quickly started singing together, and by 1953 they had teamed up with two other kids, Obie Benson and Lawrence Payton. The four of them sang together at a party, and decided that they sounded good enough together that they should become a group. They named themselves the Four Aims, and started playing local shows. They got a one-off record deal with a small label called Grady Records, and released their only single under the name "The Four Aims" in 1956: [Excerpt: The Four Aims, "She Gave Me Love"] After that single, they tried teaming up with Jackie Wilson, who had just quit Billy Ward and the Dominoes, but they found that Wilson and Stubbs' voices clashed -- Wilson's then-wife said their voices were too similar, though they sound very different to me. Wilson would, of course, go on to his own massive success, and that success would be in part thanks to Roquel Davis, who was Lawrence Payton's cousin. As we saw in the episode on "Reet Petite", Davis would co-write most of Wilson's hits with Berry Gordy, and he was also writing songs for the Four Aims -- who he renamed the Four Tops, because he thought the Four Aims sounded too much like the Ames Brothers, a white vocal quartet who were popular at the time.  They explained to Davis that they were called the Four Aims because they were *aiming* for the top, and Davis said that in that case they should be the Four Tops, and that was the name under which they would perform for the rest of their career. In the early fifties, before Wilson's success, Davis was the person in the group's circle with the most music industry connections, and he got them a deal with Chess Records. I already talked about this back in the episode on Jackie Wilson, but the group's first record on Chess, with Davis as the credited songwriter: [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "Kiss Me Baby"] Sounds more than a little like a Ray Charles record from a couple of years earlier, which Davis definitely didn't write: [Excerpt: Ray Charles, "Kissa Me Baby"] But that wasn't a success, and it would be another four years before they released their next single -- a one-off single on Columbia Records. It turned out that Chess had mostly signed the Four Tops not for the group, but to get Davis as a songwriter, and songs he'd originally written for the Tops ended up being recorded by other acts on Chess, like the Moonglows and the Flamingoes. The group's single on Columbia would also be a flop, they'd wait another two years before another one-off single on Riverside, and then yet another two years before they were signed by Motown. Their signing to Motown was largely the work of Mickey Stevenson, Motown's head of A&R. Of course, Stevenson was responsible, directly or otherwise, for every signing to the label at this point in time, but he had a special interest in the Four Tops. Stevenson had been in the Air Force in the 1950s, when he'd wandered into one of the Detroit amateur shows at which the Four Aims had been performing. He'd been so impressed with them that he immediately decided to quit the air force and go into music himself. He'd joined the Hamptones, the vocal group who toured with Lionel Hampton's band, and he'd also become a member of a doo-wop group called The Classics, who'd had a minor hit with "If Only the Sky Was a Mirror": [Excerpt: The Classics, "If Only the Sky Was a Mirror"] Stevenson had moved into a backroom position with Motown, but it was arguably the most important position in the company other than Gordy's. He was responsible for putting together the Funk Brothers, for signing many of the label's biggest acts, and for co-writing a number of the label's biggest hits, including "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" and "Dancing in the Street". Stevenson had wanted to sign the group from the start -- given that they were the group who were directly responsible for everything that had happened in his career, they were important to him. And Berry Gordy was also a fan of the group, and had known them since his time working with Jackie Wilson, but it had taken several years for everything to fall into place so that the group were able to sign to Motown. When they did, they naturally became a priority. When they were signed to the label, it was initially with the intention of recording them as a jazz group rather than doing the soul pop that Motown was best known for. Their first recordings for Motown were for their subsidiary Workshop Jazz. They recorded an entire album of old standards for the label, titled "Breaking Through": [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "This Can't be Love"] Unfortunately for the group, that album wouldn't be released for thirty-five years -- Workshop Jazz had been founded because Berry Gordy was still a jazz fanatic, but none of the records on it had been very successful (or, frankly, very good -- the Four Tops album was pretty good, but most of the music put out on the label was third rate at best), and so the label closed down before they released the Four Tops album. So the group were at a loose end, and for a while they were put to work as session vocalists on other people's records, adding backing to records by the Supremes: [Excerpt: The Supremes, "Run Run Run"] And even after they started having hits of their own they would appear on records by other people, like "My Baby Loves Me" by Martha and the Vandellas: [Excerpt: Martha and the Vandellas, "My Baby Loves Me"] You'll notice that both of these records were ones where the Four Tops were added to a female group -- and that would also be the case on their own records, once Holland, Dozier, and Holland took over producing them. The sound on the Four Tops' records is a distinctive one, and is actually made up of seven voices. Levi Stubbs, of course, took the lead on the singles, but the combination of backing vocalists was as important as the lead. Unlike several other vocal groups, the Four Tops were never replaced on their records -- Stubbs was always resistant to the idea that he was more important than the rest of his group. Instead, they were augmented -- Motown's normal session singers, the Andantes, joining in with Fakir, Payton, and Benson. The idea was to give the group a distinctive sound, and in particular to set them apart from the Temptations, whose recordings all featured only male vocals. The group's first hit single, "Baby I Need Your Loving", was a song that Holland, Dozier, and Holland had written but weren't too impressed with. Indeed, they'd cut the backing track two years earlier, but been too uninspired by it to do anything with the completed track. But then, two years after cutting the backing, Dozier was hit with inspiration -- the lines "Baby, I need your loving/Got to have all your loving" fit the backing track perfectly. Eddie Holland was particularly excited to work with the Four Tops. Even though he'd somehow managed never to hear the group, despite both moving in the same musical circles in the same town for several years, he'd been hearing for all that time that Levi Stubbs was as good as his rivals Little Willie John and Jackie Wilson -- and anyone that good must be worth working with. When they took the song into the studio, though, Levi Stubbs didn't want to sing it, insisting that the key was wrong for his voice, and that it should be Payton who sang the song. The producers, though, insisted that Stubbs had the perfect voice for the song, and that they wanted the strained tone that came from Stubbs' baritone going into a higher register than he was comfortable with. Eddie Holland, who always coached the lead vocalists while his brother and Lamont Dozier worked with the musicians, would later say that the problem was that Stubbs was unprepared and embarrassed -- they eventually persuaded Stubbs to take the song home and rehearse it over the weekend, and to come in to have a second go at the track the next Monday. On the Monday, Stubbs came in and sang the song perfectly, and Stubbs' baritone leads became the most distinctive sound to come out of Motown in this period: [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "Baby I Need Your Loving"] According to at least one source, Stubbs was still unhappy with his vocal, and wanted to come in again the next day and record it again. Holland, Dozier, and Holland humoured him, but that wasn't going to happen. "Baby I Need Your Loving" became a hit, making number eleven, and so of course the next record was a soundalike. "Without the One You Love (Life's Not Worthwhile)" even started with the line "Baby, I need your good loving". Unfortunately, this time Holland, Dozier, and Holland copied their previous hit a little *too* closely, and people weren't interested. Dozier has later said that they were simply so busy with the Supremes at the time that they didn't give the single the attention it deserved, and thought that cranking out a soundalike would be good enough. Because of this, they weren't given the group's next single -- the way Motown worked at the time, if you came up with a hit for an act, you automatically got the chance to do the follow-up, but if you didn't have a hit, someone else got a chance. Instead, Mickey Stevenson and Ivy Joe Hunter came up with a ballad called "Ask the Lonely", which became a minor hit -- not as big as "Baby I Need Your Loving", but enough that the group could continue to have a career. It would be the next single that would make the Four Tops into the other great Holland-Dozier-Holland act, the one on which their reputation rests as much as it does on the Supremes: [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "I Can't Help Myself"] "I Can't Help Myself" was inspired by Dozier's grandfather, who would catcall women as they passed him on the street -- "Hey, sugar pie! Hi there honey bunch!" Dozier married those words to a chord progression that's almost identical to the one from "Where Did Our Love Go?".  Both songs go C-G-Dm-F-G, with the same number of beats between changes: [demonstrates] There's only one tiny change in the progression -- in the last beat of the last bar, there's a passing chord in "I Can't Help Myself", a move to A minor, that isn't there in "Where Did Our Love Go?" Even the melody lines, the syllabics of the words, and their general meanings are very similar. "Where Did Our Love Go?" starts with "Baby baby", "I Can't Help Myself" starts with "Sugar pie, honey bunch". "Baby don't leave me" is syllabically similar to "You know that I love you". The two songs diverge lyrically and melodically after that, but what's astonishing is how a different vocalist and arrangement can utterly transform two such similar basic songs. Compare the opening of "Where Did Our Love Go?": [Excerpt: The Supremes, "Where Did Our Love Go?"] With the opening of "I Can't Help Myself": [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "I Can't Help Myself"] It's a perfect example of how Holland, Dozier, and Holland would reuse musical ideas, but would put a different spin on them and make the records sound very different. Of course, some of the credit for this should go to the Funk Brothers, the session musicians who played on every Motown hit in this period, but there's some question as to exactly how much credit they deserved. Depending on who you believe, either the musicians all came up with their own instrumental lines, and the arrangement was a group effort by the session musicians with minimal interference from the nominal producers, or it was all written by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier, and the musicians just did what they were told with no creative input at all. The arguments about who did what tend to get quite vicious, with each side pointing out, accurately, that the other needed them. It's true that Holland, Dozier, and Holland didn't do anything like as well as writers and producers after they left Motown. It's also true that the Funk Brothers didn't write or produce any hits themselves, but were reliant on the Motown staff writers and producers for material. I suspect, and it is only a suspicion, that the truth lies between the two, and that it was a collaborative process where Holland and Dozier would go into the studio with a good idea of what they wanted, but that there was scope for interpretation and the musicians were able to make suggestions, which the producers might take up if they were good ones. If Brian Holland sketched out or hummed a rough bassline to James Jamerson, saying something like "play bum-bum-bum-bum", and then Jamerson embellished and improvised around that rough bassline, it would be easy to see how both men could come out of the session thinking they had written the bassline, and having good reason to think so. It's also easy to see how the balance could differ in different sessions -- how sometimes Holland or Dozier could come in with a fully worked out part, and other times they might come in saying "you know the kind of thing I want",  and how that could easily become remembered as "I came up with all the parts and the musicians did nothing" or "Us musicians came up with all the parts and the producers just trusted us". Luckily, there's more than enough credit to go around, and we can say that the Four Tops, Holland, Dozier, and Holland, the Funk Brothers, and the Andantes all played an important part in making these classic singles: [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "I Can't Help Myself"] "I Can't Help Myself" knocked the Supremes' "Back in My Arms Again" off the number one spot, but was itself knocked off the top by "Mr. Tambourine Man" -- but then a week later, "I Can't Help Myself" was at number one again, before being knocked off again by "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". The success of "I Can't Help Myself" meant that the group's singles on their old labels suddenly had some value. Columbia Records reissued "Ain't That Love", a single the group had originally released four years earlier, in the hope of having some success because of the group's new-found fame. As we saw last time when the Supremes rushed out "Come See About Me" to prevent someone else having the hit with it, there was nothing that Berry Gordy hated more than the idea that someone else could have a hit based on the success of a Motown act. The Four Tops needed a new single *now* to kill the record on Columbia, and it didn't matter that there were no recordings or even songs available to put out. Holland, Dozier, and Holland went into the studio to record a new backing track with the Funk Brothers, essentially just a remake of the backing from "I Can't Help Myself", only very slightly changed. By three o'clock in the afternoon on the day they found out that the Columbia record was being released, they were in the studio, Dozier fine-tuning the melody while Brian Holland rehearsed the musicians and Eddie Holland scribbled lyrics in another corner. By five PM the track had been recorded and mixed. By six PM the master stamper was being driven the ninety miles to the pressing plant so they could start pressing up copies. The next day, DJs started getting copies of the record, and it was in the shops a couple of days later. Of course, the record being made in such a rush meant that it was essentially a remake of their previous hit -- something that was acknowledged in the tongue-in-cheek title: [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "It's the Same Old Song"] "It's the Same Old Song" wasn't as big a hit as "I Can't Help Myself", but it made number five on the charts, a more than respectable follow-up, and quite astonishing given the pressure under which the record was made. The next few singles that Holland, Dozier, and Holland wrote for the group weren't quite as successful -- this was early 1966, and Holland, Dozier, and Holland were in a mini slump -- they'd had a number one with "I Hear a Symphony", as we heard in the last episode, but then they produced two singles for the Supremes that made the top ten, but not number one -- "My World is Empty Without You" and "Love is Like an Itching in My Heart".  And as the Four Tops weren't quite as big as the Supremes, so their next two singles, "Something About You" and "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)", only just scraped into the bottom of the top twenty. Still hits, but not up to Holland, Dozier, and Holland's 1965 standards. And so as was the common practice at Motown, someone else was given a chance to come up with a song for the group. "Loving You is Sweeter Than Ever" was written by Ivy Jo Hunter, a songwriter and producer whose biggest contribution to this point had been co-writing "Dancing in the Street", and Stevie Wonder, a child star who'd had a hit a couple of years earlier but never really followed up on it, and who also played drums on the track: [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "Loving You is Sweeter Than Ever"] Within a few months, Wonder would begin a run of hit singles that would continue for more than a decade, and would become arguably the most important artist on Motown. But that golden period hadn't quite started yet, and "Loving You is Sweeter Than Ever" didn't make the top forty. At this point, it would have been easy for the Four Tops to have been relegated to the same pile as artists like the Contours -- people who'd had a couple of hits on Motown, but had then failed to follow up with a decent career. Motown was becoming ever more willing to drop artists as dead weight, as Gordy was increasingly concentrating on a few huge stars -- Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and especially the Supremes – to the exclusion of everyone else. But then Holland, Dozier, and Holland got back up on top. They came up with two more number ones for the Supremes in quick succession. "You Can't Hurry Love" was recorded around the same time that "Loving You is Sweeter Than Ever" was failing to chart, and quickly became one of the Supremes' biggest ever hits. They followed that with a song inspired by the sound of the breaking news alert on the radio, replicating that sound with the staccato guitars on what was their most inventive production to date: [Excerpt: The Supremes, "You Keep Me Hanging On"] Not only was that a number one record, it was soon followed by a top ten cover version by the heavy rock band Vanilla Fudge: [Excerpt: Vanilla Fudge, "You Keep Me Hanging On"] Holland, Dozier, and Holland were back on top, and they brought the Four Tops back to the top with them. The next single they recorded with the group, "Reach Out, I'll Be There", started with an instrumental introduction that Brian Holland was noodling with on the piano: [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "Reach Out I'll Be There"] Holland was playing that part, over and over, and then suddenly Lamont Dozier was hit with inspiration -- so much so that he literally pushed Holland to one side without saying anything and started playing what would become the verse: [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "Reach Out I'll Be There"] The interesting thing about that track is that it shows how the different genres that were charting at the time would have more influence on each other than it might appear from this distance, where we put them all into neat little boxes named "folk-rock" or "Motown". Because Lamont Dozier was very specifically being influenced by Bob Dylan and "Like a Rolling Stone", when it came to how the song was phrased. Now, this is not something that I would ever in a million years have thought of, but once you know it, the influence is absolutely plain -- the way the melody stresses and elongates the last syllable of each line is pure Dylan. To show this, I am afraid I'm going to have to do something that I hoped I'd never, ever, have to do, which is do a bad Bob Dylan impression. Everyone thinks they can impersonate Dylan, everyone's imitations of Dylan are cringeworthy, and mine is worse than most. This will sound awful, but it *will* show you how Dozier was thinking when he came up with that bit of melody: [demonstrates] Let us never speak of that again. I think we'd better hear how Levi Stubbs sang it again, hadn't we, to take that unpleasant sound away: [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "Reach Out I'll Be There"] That became the group's second and last number one single, and also their only UK number one. Unfortunately, Holland, Dozier, and Holland were so hot at this point that they ended up competing with themselves. Norman Whitfield, one of the other Motown songwriter-producers, had wanted for a while to produce the Temptations, whose records were at this point mostly written and produced by Smokey Robinson. He called on Eddie Holland to help him write the hit that let him take over from Robinson as the Temptations' producer, "Ain't Too Proud to Beg": [Excerpt: The Temptations, "Ain't Too Proud to Beg"] Dozier and Brian Holland were fine with Eddie working with another writer -- they all did that kind of thing on occasion -- until the date of the BMI Awards. The previous two years, the trio had been jointly given BMI's award for most successful songwriter of the year. But that year, Eddie Holland got the award on his own, for having written more hits than anyone else (he'd written eight, Dozier and Brian Holland had written six. According to a contemporary issue of Billboard, John Sebastian was next with five, then Lennon/McCartney and Jagger/Richards with four each.) Holland felt bad that he'd inadvertently prevented his collaborators from winning the award for a third year in a row, and from this point on he'd be much more careful about outside collaborations. Holland, Dozier, and Holland wrote two more classic singles for the Four Tops, "Standing in the Shadows of Love", and "Bernadette". That latter had been inspired by a coincidence that all three of Holland, Dozier, and Holland had at one time or another dated or felt unrequited love for different girls called Bernadette, but it proved extremely difficult to record. When the trio wrote together, Eddie Holland would always sing the songs, and the melodies were constructed around his tenor vocal range. Stubbs was a baritone, and sometimes couldn't hit some of the higher notes in the melodies, and he was having that problem with "Bernadette". Eddie Holland eventually solved the problem by inviting in a few fans who had been hanging around outside hoping for autographs. Stubbs being a performer wasn't going to make himself look bad in front of an audience, and sang it perfectly: [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "Bernadette"] "Bernadette" made the top five, and it was followed by a couple more top twenty hits with lesser Holland/Dozier/Holland songs, but then the writer-producers quit Motown, for reasons we'll look at in a few months when we take our last look at the Supremes. This left the Four Tops stranded -- they were so associated with their producers that nobody else could get hits with them. For a while, Motown turned to an interesting strategy with them. It had been normal Motown practice to fill albums up with cover versions of hits of the day, and so the label put out some of this album filler as singles, and surprisingly had some chart success with cover versions of the Left Banke's baroque pop hit "Walk Away Renee": [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "Walk Away Renee"] and of Tim Hardin's folk ballad "If I Were a Carpenter": [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "If I Were a Carpenter"] And so for a while many of the singles the group released, both in the US and elsewhere, were covers of songs that were very far from the normal Motown style -- the Jimmy Webb ballad "Do What You Gotta Do" made the UK top twenty, their cover of another Jimmy Webb song, "MacArthur Park", made the lower reaches of the US top forty, their version of the old standard "It's All in the Game" made number twenty-four, and they released a version of "River Deep, Mountain High", teaming up with the Supremes, that became more successful in the US than the original, though still only just made the top forty. But they were flailing. Motown had no idea what to do with them other than release cover versions, and any time any of Motown's writing and production teams tried to come up with something new for the group it failed catastrophically. In 1972 they signed to ABC/Dunhill, and there they had a few hits, including a couple that made the top ten, but soon the same pattern emerged -- no-one could reliably get hits with the group, and they spent much of the seventies chasing trends and failing to catch them. They had one more big US hit in 1981, with "When She Was My Girl", which made number eleven, and which went to number one on the R&B charts: [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "When She Was My Girl"] But from that point on they were essentially a nostalgia act, though they carried on releasing records through the eighties. The group's career nearly came to a premature end in 1988. They were in the UK to promote their single "Loco in Acapulco", co-written by Lamont Dozier and Phil Collins, from the soundtrack of Collins' film Buster: [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "Loco in Acapulco"] That was a UK top ten hit, but it nearly led to the group's death -- they were scheduled to fly out of the UK on Pan Am flight 103 to Detroit on the twenty-first of December 1988. But the group were tired after recording an appearance on Top of the Pops the night before, slept in, and missed the flight. The flight fell victim to a terrorist bombing -- the Lockerbie bombing -- and everyone on it died. The group carried on performing together after that, but their last new single was released in 1989, and they only recorded one more album, a Christmas album in 1995. They performed together, still in their original lineup, until 1997 when Lawrence Payton died from cancer. At first the group continued as a trio, retiring the Four Tops name and just performing as The Tops, but eventually they got in a replacement. By the turn of the century, Levi Stubbs had become too ill to perform as well -- he retired in 2000, though he came back for a one-off performance for the group's fiftieth anniversary in 2004, and he died in 2008. Obie Benson continued performing with the group until three months before his death in 2005. A version of the Four Tops continues to perform, led by Abdul Fakir, and also featuring Lawrence Payton's son Roquel, named after Roquel Davis, who performs under the name Lawrence Payton Jr. The Four Tops were one of those groups that never quite lived up to their commercial potential, thanks in large part to Holland, Dozier, and Holland leaving Motown at precisely the wrong moment, and one has to wonder how many more hits they could have had under other circumstances. But the hits they did have included some of the greatest records of the sixties, and they managed to continue working together, without any public animosity, until their deaths. Given the way the careers of more successful groups have tended to end, perhaps it's better this way.