Category: Gone but not forgotten

Cover Versions, Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find

You make me feel miiiiiiiighty Neil

Craig McAllister

This is a track I’ve been after for a long long time, ever since I heard Eddie Piller (founder of Acid Jazz Records) play it on BBC 6 Music about a year ago. Sylvester, the hi nrg, hi camp, hi falsetto disco artist doing a pretty excellent version of Neil Young‘s ‘Southern Man’. I finally tracked it down on a dodgy file sharing site and although it’ll only play and burn in iTunes, it’s here in all its MP4 glory. But first, a history lesson…..

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Is it a Pointer Sister? Chaka Khan? Nope. It’s Sylvester.

Sylvester & The Hot Band released their self-titled debut album (sometimes referred to as ‘Scratch My Flower’) in 1973. It was full of mostly discofied versions of rock and blues stuff (‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’, ‘Steamroller’), with the odd ’30s standard thrown in. His version of ‘Southern Man’ was released as a single to no great fanfare or sales. Which is a pity. It starts off like the background music to Starsky & Hutch – a bit of vinyl crackle, the thudding funk bass and, yes, a wah-wah playing a cracking riff. In come the keyboards, the horns and a bit of distortion on the guitars. It could be Sly Stone, it could even be Hendrix. Until then the vocals come in. It’s Sylvester. Even this early on in his career, he’s got the falsetto down to a tee. I don’t know what Neil Young made of it (he certainly never made much money from it) but this version is magic. Sure, it’s of it’s time. It sounds 1970s, but then so does Neil’s. Crucially, more importantly, they sound nothing alike.  

Sylvester really wanted to be known as a great ballad singer. He idolized both Aretha Franklin and Little Richard. He was a Grade A diva, enthusiastically and flamboyantly gay. He knew where his sexual preferences lay right from the start, even before he was abused by a local evangelist when he was “7, 8 and 9!” He was born into a well off LA family, but moved to San Francisco to find himself and his fortune. He died 19 years ago of AIDS-related illness and is best remembered for ‘You Make Me Feel Mighty Real’. But you knew that. I prefer to remember him for his stab at disco-rock fusion. My friend Big Graham no doubt remembers him from the time he saw him live in Glasgow once.

*Bonus track. The Stills-Young Band doing Southern Man at the Civic Center, Providence on July 7th, 1976. Standard gnarly guitar mangling with nice harmonies. Just the way you like it. Dude.

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Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find

The twang’s the thang, baby!

Craig McAllister

In between getting married in May and filming ‘Clambake’ and ‘Stay Away Joe’, Elvis found time in 1967 to record some of the best music of his career, not least ‘Guitar Man.’

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Recorded on the 10th & 11th of September or the 9th October (depending on which sources you believe) in RCA’s Studio B, Nashville, Elvis’s producer Felton Jarvis told him if he wanted the guitar sound he was describing he should call Jerry Reed. Jerry Reed was eventually tracked down on a fishing trip (!) and duly arrived at the studio looking like a hillbilly dressed up as one of the Waltons for Halloween. Reed then went on to play one of the most distinctive riffs in rock ‘n’ roll, allegedly making the riff up in one go. I’ve struggled for years to get it sounding anything remotely like it, and Jerry Reed plucked it out the air just like that.

“We’re rolling, Guitar Man Take 1” Felton calls out as an obviously flustered Reed runs through guitar licks to get up to speed. “Phew! I haven’t played all weekend!” he says/apologises to no-one in particular. Gradually he gets up to speed and knocks out the killer riff that we all know and love. By Take 12, Elvis is ad-libbing Ray Charles ‘What’d I Say?’ and the whole thing is in the can. Here is a zipped file with takes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 with all the studio chatter, bum notes, false starts etc that you could ever want.

By the way, if anyone knows the proper way to play the tune, let me know! I play with a dropped D and riff about on the 2nd and 3rd strings at the 10th and 11th frets. But I play like a numpty so what do I know?

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Woolworths advert from the 1960s

Gone but not forgotten

Fac 8*

Craig McAllister

After Lee Hazlewood, another maverick on the music scene is dead. Tony Wilson died yesterday despite undergoing intensive chemotherapy for cancer. He was only 57.

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The story of Tony’s life and it’s many ups and downs and twists and turns can be seen in ’24 Hour Party People’ where he is portrayed by Steve Coogan. Perhaps even better than the film is the book of the same name, from where the screenplay was adapted. Get it. Read it. Read it again. I was telling someone last week that it was ideal summer holiday reading material. Everything you would want to know about Tony Wilson, Factory Records, Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays and Crispy Ambulance is in there.

Tony saw the Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester. 39  people in the audience went on to form bands. Step forward Bernard Sumner, Morrissey, Pete Shelley, Mick Hucknall.  Sorry. Can’t have it all. Tony put the Sex Pistols on the telly. The day after it was shown Peter Hook went out and bought his first bass guitar. Years later, Tony put the Stone Roses on the telly (the Other Side of Midnight – a great programme shown in the wee small hours. That’s the Stone Roses on his programme on the inside sleeve of their first album.)  The next day I went out and bought the Stone Roses first album. And formed a band. Hardly the seismic shift that the Manchester scene caused, but nonetheles…..

Tony Wilson was aloof. He was snobby. He was pretentious. He would quote Latin, he would enthuse about Greek tragedies, he would get super enthusiastic about music, about design, about getting the message across. He didn’t care that he lost money on every single copy of Blue Monday sold. It didn’t matter to him that Blue Monday went on to become the biggest selling 12″ single ever. He gave the people what they wanted, whether they realised it or not.  Like Joy Division for starters. As if they’re not enough, here’s some of the other music he’s been responsible for:

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New Order ‘Ceremony‘ demo. Had this for years on the ‘Western Works’ bootleg. What else do you need to know about New Order? Fac 33 was the catalogue number of the Ceremony single. Everything that Factory Records did was given a catalogue number. Fac 1? That’ll be the poster advertising the first Factory Club night in 1978. Fac 240? That’ll be the label’s 10th Anniversary wall planner. Fac 420? That’ll be ‘Yes Please’ by the Happy Mondays, the album that cost millions and finally killed the label. Crack cocaine, broken limbs, selling studio furniture. It’s all in the book.  Read it. You’ll like it.

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Happy Mondays ‘Freaky Dancin”. Their second single (Fac 142), the first was ‘Delightful’, (Fac 129) ‘Freaky Dancin’ was produced by Bernard Sumner. Scratchy white man funk. Still sounds great 21 (fuck me) years later.

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A Certain Ratio ‘Shack Up’. (Fac 167). More scratchy white man funk. It’s a cover of an old Blue Note jazz/soul single by Banbara. Tony loved ACR until they started wearing shorts onstage. That’s in the book as well.

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The Durutti Column ‘Sketches for Summer’. Tony really believed that Vini Reilly was a megastar in the making. He’s an artist I’ve always been planning to investigate but never quite got round to. He’s rake thin, weighs about 2 stone and plays fantastic guitar. In another world he might’ve been a megastar, but it’s always good to have cult heroes.

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*Fac 8? That’ll be the Factory-designed menstrual egg timer. Of course.

Cover Versions, Gone but not forgotten

Lee Hazlewood dies

Craig McAllister

I heard this morning that Lee Hazlewood had died. He was 78 and had terminal cancer since last year. I can’t find any more details so far. In the meantime, let’s celebrate his life. Here’s something I posted a few months ago.

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Football, Gone but not forgotten

Up shit Greek

Craig McAllister

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Liverpool the other night were beaten by a freaky goal, a classy goal, and by their own ineptitude at putting the ball in the net when they had the lion’s share of possession. I had this next musical treat all ready to go in the event of Liverpool winning, but it seems churlish not to put it up anyway. Back in the 80’s, Liverpool were my favourite English team. They had Souness, Dalglish and Hansen. The backbone of the team was Scottish and they were mainly unbeatable. When they won the European Cup against Roma in 1984, John Peel’s show was magic. It began with a burst of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, some church bells, some Mighty Wah! and Peel and Kid Jensen trading good natured bonhomie. In between you get some dub reggae (of course), some “exquisitly tastless” Anti Nowhere League and a bit of Ivor Cutler (of course). Peel was a big fan of Liverpool, so much so that he got married in a red and white suit.  Throughout the show he is in good spirits and full of emotion.

If you’re a Liverpool fan, listen in, stop greetin’ and hark back to the good old days. And if you’re not a fan, listen in anyway. It’s lo-fi quality and sounds a bit underwater at times, but radio gold all the same.                

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God bless John Peel

  

 

 

 

Cover Versions, Dylanish, Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find, Most downloaded tracks

The toppermost of the poppermost

Craig McAllister

Here you go……the Top 10 Plain Or Pan downloads to date.

A cover-heavy Top 10, with a combined total of

4326 downloads!

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My computer is playing funny buggers. Hence the wonky spacing and no numbers 2-10. It’s taken up enough of my time for the night so this is as good as it gets.

You can find out more about these recordings by scrolling through the pages. Or you could just be lazy and download them from here.

Cover Versions, Gone but not forgotten

Kitsch Korner

Craig McAllister

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I heard Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra’s ‘Summer Wine’ on the radio yesterday and that had me digging through my record collection and a pile of mp3s to bring you these gems.

In his musical lifetime Lee Hazlewood did it all, and is still doing it all to this day (thanks, Jackson!). You can find out loads about him if you fancy going from blog to blog. Suffice to say he must be one of the most blogged of all musicians and his influence reaches far and wide, with artists today from Jarvis Cocker, the Tindersticks, Primal Scream and many more owing him a huge debt. Not only did he invent Duane Eddy’s twangy guitar sound, he had the best baritone voice in the business and was a shit-hot arranger/producer on many recording sessions. He wrote loads of hits for Nancy Sinatra, including her most famous/overplayed song (delete where applicable) ‘These Boots Are Made For Walking’. Here is his demo version. At least, I think it’s a demo. It’s the backing track you are more than familiar with, with added brass/trumpet stabs and him singing/talking over the top in that big voice of his. You put on your boots and I’ll put on mine and we’ll sell a million records any old time! Brilliant.

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Next up, two Nancy tracks. Her version of Day Tripper is just on the right side of camp. All brass stabs and ‘ba-ba-ba’s’ where George Harrison’s guitar riff should be. There’s even a wry nod to ‘These Boots…’ at one point. It is the true sound of swinging London, even if it was recorded in California.

Lastly is Nancy Sinatra’s Coca Cola jingle. Somebody requested this in an email to me. And as promised, here it is, in all it’s kitsch innocence. “Now Nancy Sinatra with a word to the wise”

You’ve been out 6 nights this week and  I don’t know where you go. Tonight you’re staying home with me there’s things that you don’t know. Like groovy things and other things and boy it’s time you knew. We’ll mess around do lots of things and drink a Coke or two.

Cos, things go better with Coca Cola, things go better with Coke. Life is much more fun when you’re refreshed. And Coke refreshes you best!

Cover Versions, Dylanish, Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find

Just Like Jeff Buckley

Craig McAllister

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Elsewhere on these pages you’ll find Jeff Buckley’s rather excellent version of Dylan’s ‘Mama You Been On My Mind’. That track remains the most downloaded song from Plain Or Pan?, and helped catapult my blog into the dizzy heights of ‘3rd fastest growing music blog on the ‘net for January’. So, thanks!

Today, I’m posting Jeff Buckley‘s version of ‘Just like A Woman’. Like ‘Mama You Been On My Mind’, it was recorded at Bearsville Studios, New York State (?) in September 1993 at the sessions for the Grace album. It features just Jeff and his Telecaster-played-through-Fender-twin-reverb and sounds beautiful. He kinda makes this his own song, which of course is the mark of a good cover.

Just a quick note – the vocals are slightly distorted in places, but I guess that as this was a recorded-in-progress demo, the engineer had little or no time to adjust the levels accordingly. But that shouldn’t spoil your enjoyment of what is an excellent performance.

For all you trainspotters, I have also included a shorter version that fades out here.

Coming soon – If You See Her, Say Hello and another couple of Mama You Been On My Mind outtakes! Drop by again!