David Berthy Posts

For Thanksgiving, I thought I’d post two songs from impossibly romantic Ray Charles and Betty Carter album. You may want something a little more upbeat while you’re cooking and eating, but this is a great one for dessert or after, when it’s all over, the dishes are done, and you’re enjoying a well-deserved drink with one or a few friends. If you’re going to be with your family, Ray and Betty might be the perfect salve for wine-laced wounds inflicted over dinner. The album, recorded over two sessions in 1961, is worth picking up for the months ahead, particularly if you live somewhere like Chicago that goes from Russian to frightening between December and February. The quiet virtuosity that results when these two legendary performers join together is a perfect excuse to stay inside during the winter months. Happy Thanksgiving to all. FI will be back next week.


Ray and Betty

Guilty Pleasures 101

"Somebody's Baby" is a 1982 pop nugget from Jackson Browne. It was on the soundtrack to Fast Times at Ridgemont High, featured in a key coming of age moment for Jennifer Jason Leigh's character' Stacy Hamilton. The song was later covered by Yo La Tengo, and remains a staple in their live set.

Somebody's Baby-Jackson Browne

Bombast
Bom"bast\, a. High-sounding; inflated; big without meaning; magniloquent; bombastic.

Chinese Democracy

Back at Wydown Junior High School in St.Louis, one subset of the pre-Smiths/Cure goth crowd was made up of girls sporting the pirate look. The look was made up of striped (also known as the munchkin look) or black tights under black skirts with white shirts and dark eyeliner and lipstick. I even remember a pirate hat or two, though that may be a revisionist image on my part. This crew took their fashion and music cues from Adam Ant, with whom they were all hopelessly smitten. I always dug the Adam and The Ants sound, and still put on this record occasionally.

Ant Music

David Berthy Posts


Al Green was the artist who got me into soul music. I pretty much beat his greatest hits record to death when I was younger, and I haven’t given his back catalogue its proper due until recently. Last week, I came across the track “Love Ritual” on 1975’s Is Love. Whereas most Green songs strike me as slow-burning hymns about either the sacred or the profane, “Love Ritual” stands out as something else altogether. I love the up-tempo, percussion and organ-based build that notches up one degree at a time, teasing out a shift from a simmer to a boil. Even more irresistible, Green really goes out there with his vocal performance: yelping, chanting words that may or not be “juana” and “zula,” and at one point venturing into a language all his own.



Thinking about the song brought to mind the 1970 Marvin Gaye performance of the Strong/ Whitfield song “Cloud Nine” from That’s The Way Love Is. As with the Green track, the buildup here is notch by notch, and there’s something trance-inducing about the frenzied percussion. Gaye’s scorching vocal performance, abetted by wah-wah guitars, really takes this over the top. That’s The Way Love Is was the last album Gaye made before going into relative seclusion for a year and emerging with his masterpiece, What’s Going On. You can hear some of the anguish, anger, and longing for transcendence in “Cloud Nine” that will emerge into a fully realized suite of songs a year later.

Love Ritual/Cloud Nine

H. and I recently held a Miles Davis Marathon on a cold and rainy weekend night.
We listened to everything from the classic early quartets through the modal and electronic periods right into the faux funk of his latter days. Something clicked when I dropped the needle on Side one of 1974's Big Fun, a double album of material largely recorded during the Bitches Brew sessions. Recorded in 1969, The indian tinged pre-fusion jazz rock of the album-side-length opener Great Expectations made for the perfect rainy late night soundtrack. The track is a dense extended modal vamp with electric sitar and spooky electronic keyboards, and features Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea and Bennie Maupin among others. Four years after this track was recorded, Herbie Hancock would popularize the fusion sound for the masses on Headhunters, one of the highest selling jazz albums of all time.

Great Expectations

We'll leave the dial tuned to Hip-Hop with brand new music from Q-Tip, the velvet voiced half of A Tribe Called Quest. The Renaissance is his first record in many years, and I'm happy to report that it represents a welcome return to form upon first listen.
I like the quirky jazzy number "Official, which reminds me of his purple highness in the chorus.

Official

I've been waiting since Summer of 2006 to see Houston Rapper Devin The Dude again.
DTD brings his smooth hazed out jams to the Abbey tomorrow night. I'll be there, and so will you if you know whats good for you. Here's one of Devin's many tributes to the his favorite "North American Tree"


Sticky Green

The Return of Roller Boogie

David Berthy Posts

Lately I’m noticing a resurgence of the early eighties roller-boogie sound. There were two obscure skate tracks on the Rapture’s recently released mixtape Tapes, and I’m hearing it a little bit on Q-Tip’s new record as well. The closest I’ve gotten lately to a roller boogie was when I watched the movie ATL on demand, but when I lived in Venice Beach I used to walk by the regularly held skate circle on the boardwalk, and I have dim recollections of the slow grooves and swirling lights at certain skate rinks I frequented in the early eighties as a clueless youth (I danced on the carpet just outside the rink, so as to avoid injury). I’ve been around the music enough, then, to know the sound is characterized by a rolling beat that lends itself to the bounce and rock of skating, and fat, fuzzy bass that recalls the legendary funk artist Roger Troutman. Here are two newish tracks that reference and update the sound. The first comes from the young Scotsman Calvin Harris, who supposedly made his silly-fun I Created Disco record in his bedroom on a Commodore 64 or something. The second song, a more obvious example of the genre, comes from LA-based Plantlife’s recently released record Time Traveller. Hopefully, the trend picks up steam and we’ll see a widespread proliferation of roller boogie nights in the near future.

The Return of Roller Boogie

Back in the mid-nineties, I had the priviledge of working at Jazz Record Mart for a couple of years. It was the greatest type of music education-constant exposure to great jazz, blues, and soul music I had never heard before. The owner of JRM, Bob K., is also head of Delmark Records, a local record label that broke Buddy Guy and Junior Wells back in the day.

Bob is legendary among JRM staff and clientele for his frequent uninhibited vocal tyrades, "outside the box" thinking, and liberal use of non-sequitors. So much so that the JRM staff, which includes many of the finest Jazz and Rock musicians in the city, banded together to have some fun at BK's expense. The Lead Lined Bags put together a collection of country, funk, and rock tunes built around some of BK's classic moments. Granted, this is "you had to be there" kind of music, but I think you'll get a kick out of it just the same.

I've included my two favorites for your listening pleasure today.

Blow On Your Arm- This catchy number recounts the years that JRM's air-conditioning was on the fritz, and BK's solution for his employees, which did not involve getting it fixed.

Never Put A Typewriter on the Floor-This country inflected ditty recounts the time when JRM mail order guru Steve Dawson (on lead vocals here) had a typewriter sitting on his office floor and came in one morning to find a note attached in BK's writing angrily all cap screaming
"NEVER PUT A TYPEWRITER ON THE FLOOR!


Other titles include "Trained Monkey", "Jewel Bag", "The Black Dame", "Whitey Likes it Tight", "Slightly Dished", "Stet!", "I Like to Air Dry", and "Doesn't That Make More Sense?"

This brand new limited release split 7" from David Singer and Wes Hollywood is a great looking and even better sounding small platter. The terrific mod technicolor jacket design recalls those of early Elvis Costello, and the music on both sides conjures the same era. As a hopeless vinyl junkie, its nice to see that people are creating works of vinyl art for the sheer joy of doing so, and I feel honored to be a part of it!

French Cuffs

You can get your very own copy here

In 1962, Jazz legends Duke Ellington and Coleman Hawkins finally realized a joint project that had been in both of their minds for 20+ years, but had eluded their incredibly busy parallel careers.On November 18 of that year, the two giants finally got in the studio together, and the results made for a highly enjoyable listening experience. My favorite track on Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins is the light and catchy calypso inflected opener Limbo Jazz. According to the album's liner notes, the number was composed spontaneously by Ellington on the spot while Hawkins was changing a reed. The engineers rolled tape, though the musicians were unaware of this, as indicated by drummer Sam Woodyard's unselfconscious singing.

Limbo Jazz

Bluegrass legend Del McCoury and his band will take the stage at The Old Town School of Folk Music this Saturday night for two shows. If you're curious about Bluegrass you should come check it out to see a master at work. originally hired as a banjo picker, he then played guitar and sang with Bill Monroe back in the 60's... the rest is history. Hayward is making a band outing of it for the late show.

Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms

David Berthy Posts

Every 1's A Winner

What a strange thing it is to walk around feeling dumb happy. Please allow me to aid in your celebration by contributing these two tracks from UK band Hot Chocolate, best known for their smash hit, “You Sexy Thing.” I’ve found gold (my sort of gold, anyway) by digging through Hot Chocolate’s back catalogue, where I discovered the source of both of today’s tracks, the Every 1’s A Winner album. Neither “Confetti Day” nor “Stay With Me” possess the universal appeal of “You Sexy Thing,” but they certainly aren’t without their charms. Sure, the synth lines could have been a touch less grandiose; and I won’t argue that the lyrics for “Stay With Me” aren’t patently ridiculous; but I, for one, am all in favor of this sort of solid-gold enthusiasm right now. Every 1's a winner indeed.

Confetti Day

Stay With Me

Are You Ready to Rock?

Hello There-Cheap Trick

Stand
For the things you know are right
Its the truth that the truth makes them so uptight
Stand
All the things you want are real
You have you to complete and there is no deal
Stand
There's a midget standing tall
And the giant beside him about to fall
Stand. stand, stand
Stand. stand, stand

Stand