Isaac Hayes - Shaft - on Letterman

adorshki

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Actually hated this when released, being down on violins in soul music, and the background vocals, and hearing it about 5 times a day on the local AM station for a month.
I think I'd also had an overdose of Jackson5 at the time.
I swear when "I Want You Back" came out I wasn't the only guy in my circle who thought the singer was a "chick", and when we discovered it was a "dude", all of a sudden we knew we had "bubblegum soul".
At the time I was a confirmed hard rock fan, with Beck-Ola, Led Zep II, Aqualung, Live at Leeds and a couple of Airplane albums being at the top of my play list.
Final objection was all the fascination with the wah-wah technique, which specific tone envelope Hendrix had introduced 3 years prior on Electric Ladyland's "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)"
After all these years I'm ok with it now, as my tastes broadened, and because I always gave Mr. Hayes a lot for respect for "Walk On By" from Hot Buttered Soul.
I did have a place for some soul singles records like "I Can't Get Next To You" by the Temptations and Booker T & the MG's version of "Hang 'em High" but had little love for strings and horns anywhere at the time...that way lay elevator music. :highly_amused:
Anyway, in the spirit of giving credit where due, there was another soul artist to hit big in the early '70's:
Curtis Mayfield with the soundtrack album for Superfly.
Maybe the reason I could get behind "Pusherman" was precisely because it had no excess production baggage...
Enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZoA-X7K5FM
 
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walrus

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Good call on Hayes' "Walk On By". I would also recommend his version of The Jackson Five's "Never Can Say Goodbye", and Glen Campbell's "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" (there's a short version and a very long version of this song).

And +1 on Curtis Mayfield! I also love Mayfield's "Freddie's Dead". Lots of great tunes by both of these gentlemen!


Speaking of the wah pedal, check out Bowie's "1984" - a blatant copy of the Shaft riff, strings and all! From the "Diamond Dogs" album where he played the guitar himself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KByxC7B9WH0

And Al, you are really stretching things calling Michael Jackson a "dude"! :crazy:

walrus
 

adorshki

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And Al, you are really stretching things calling Michael Jackson a "dude"! :crazy:

walrus

His voice never really did change, did it?
:biggrin-new:
OK, full confession time:
When Off the Wall came out, I unabashedly and openly liked "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough", from its first airplay.
In retrospect I realize I was probably softened up by Some Girls although I was and still am to this day violently repelled by "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"
The transition of the '70's to the '80's was fraught with uncertainty and angst and MTV hadn't been born yet so that the Talking Heads could help to explain what was going on.
That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.
And only last summer, as I was driving around on a weekend, on came some hoary old classic rock tune (was it a Bob Seger?) so I flipped the station and landed on "ABC".
And left it there, admiring how much fun the session guys were having.
:highly_amused:
 
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Quantum Strummer

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Prior to ~1976 I was a Motown/R&B/soul kid all the way. (Well…I liked The Beatles, Cat Stevens, Gordon Lightfoot and John Denver too…but only in the privacy of my bedroom. ☺️) My friend Greg & I pretty much worshipped Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder.

Off The Wall is a good album, with some genuinely great tracks.

-Dave-
 

adorshki

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Off The Wall is a good album, with some genuinely great tracks.

-Dave-

I forgot to mention that I was pretty surprised when I first heard the MJ credit, I'd heard it a couple of times before I caught the DJ saying who it was.
All my radio exposure at the time was my AM car radio.
There was actually an AM radio soul/jazz station that featured salsa music on Sunday afternoons, where I discovered Pete & Sheila Escovedo and hard bop the likes from Sonny Rollins and Art Blakey.
That might have been another reason I liked the tune "Don't Stop..", with the Quincy Jones connection there, even though I was unaware of it at the time.
From "the usual source", re Quincy:
"In early 1956, Jones landed a temporary job at the CBS Stage Show, then hosted by Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey and broadcast live from the network's famed Studio 50 in New York City. On January 28, February 4, 11 and 18, as well as on March 17 and 24, Jones played 2nd trumpet in the Studio band that backed the then 21-year-old Elvis Presley in his first six television appearances, on the last three of which he sang "Heartbreak Hotel", which became his first #1 record and Billboard's Pop Record of the year. Soon after, as a trumpeter and musical director of the Dizzy Gillespie Band, Jones went on a tour of the Middle East and South America sponsored by the United States Information Agency."


So what happened in '76?
 
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Quantum Strummer

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So what happened in '76?

A high school friend played me her LPs of Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here during the same month that a cousin in England sent me a cassette of early singles by the Sex Pistols, The Clash, the Buzzcocks, etc. Major reality jolt & expansion of musical taste! :)

-Dave-
 

adorshki

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A high school friend played me her LPs of Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here during the same month that a cousin in England sent me a cassette of early singles by the Sex Pistols, The Clash, the Buzzcocks, etc. Major reality jolt & expansion of musical taste! :)

-Dave-

Ah I missed this yesterday!
I was remembering that from about '75-'81 I actually didn't have a home stereo, thus my comment about the AM radio in my car being the primary source of new music exposure.
Disco in general was a total turn-off to me having been immersed in progressive rock and '60's hard/psychedelic rock for many years before entering that period.
In retrospect I see Disco as the last hurrah of the studio session musician system that was so critical to both the West Coast studios and Motown.
We've discussed the Wrecking Crew and the Funk Brothers before, but I didn't know about the Funk Brothers back then.
Now I realize how many Motown Top 40's they were responsible for, and it was one of the reasons I could appreciate how much fun they were having on "ABC" that day I mentioned, when I left the radio tuned to it..
That reminds me, has anybody seen the FX series "Snowfall"?
It has a great soundtrack.
It's a drama about how crack came to dominate the LA drug scene in the early '80's, well played and even a bit disturbing at times.
Pretty close to reality too, as far as I can tell, with acceptable dramatic license but little character stereotyping which always pouts me off.
But I was hooked when Rolling Stones' "Monkey Man" was used in first episode, another one was "Smiling Faces" by Undisputed Truth.
A lot of nice gritty stuff gets used, but I feel prompted to start a recognition list of other great soul stuff I loved as a kid.
How about "Tighter, Tighter" by Alive and Kicking? (loved the guitar in that, but gorgeous vocals put it over the top)
And remember when Rare earth was touted as "the white soul band from Detroit" for "Get Ready"? (Actually I much preferred ""I Just Want To Celebrate" for that stinging guitar intro, to this day all you have to hear is that first note to instantly recognize it)
More Temptations:
"Ball Of Confusion"
"Psychedelic Shack"
"Papa Was A Rolling Stone"
....
"Chain Of Fools"-Aretha
"Grazing In the Grass"-the vocal version by the Friends of Distinction

Oh yeah, 73, "That Lady"-the Isleys! Ernie started channeling Jimi and did it again with "Climbing up the Ladder", another one of those I heard on the AM for the first time in '77..
Woah... I see Ernie and Ronnie Isley collaborated with Carlos Santana just last year!
"Treat Her Like A Lady"-Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose
"Freak Out"-Chic
"Bad Girls"-Donna Summer

OK that's about all I can remember for now...anybody else?
 
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twocorgis

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On a 2015 trip to Memphis, this was probably the coolest thing I saw (out of many cool things) at the Stax Museum.

43018770020_6993c1bc3b_b.jpg
 

adorshki

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Interesting story on the gestation of the wah:
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/business/del-casher-and-the-story-of-the-wah-wah-pedal.html
Apparently Zappa gave Hendrix his first one.
But story implies no real usage until '69, whereas Hendrix used it on "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" recorded in July of '67 and how about "White Room" which "reportedly" began recording sessions in July 1967 but was on the airwaves by late '68 in any case.
No disrespect meant for Mr. Pitts, I just stumbled across the article when trying to figure out what brand of wah wah it was...
 

walrus

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Love that, Sandy! Very cool!

Al, I always loved the Rare Earth album "One World" - every song is great!

walrus
 
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