new old music for the eccentric soul
last night i drove to washington dc and caught up with my good friend Blake and he played me THIS TRACK and i was like WHAAAAT and he was like yeah i know it's crazy and i was like what's this from and he was like i don't know my bay area folks put it on a summer mix cd and i'm like I NEED THIS NOW BEG BORROW OR STEAL.
ok, a little more info: Blake didn't know the trackname, but he knew it was on Capsoul--an obscure Ohio record label that was clearly shelling out heat in the early 70s. so when i got home i quickly hunted down the name of the track--it's called You Can't Blame Me by Johnson, Hawkins, Tatum & Durr, and it's one of many great songs available on Eccentric Soul: The Capsoul Label (The Numero Group). so whaddya think i did at 2AM last night? i ordered the hell out of that cd. although until it arrives, the realaudio snippets contained within this classy NPR segment should suffice.
and if you're not really getting the magic of this song, consider this loosely-quoted anecdote from Blake: "When I was staying with friends in the Bay this summer, we woke up every single morning and sang our own lyrics over the 16-bar intro to this song. It was routine."
with a song like that, I Can't Blame You.
3 Comments:
definitely heard this npr piece, thanks for the re mind er
yuck on the liner notes for this disc not listing years these things were released, not even an idea. "1970s". fuuuck.
track 13, i can't take it, grabs me as reggae, but probably references to memphis pianist rosco gordon, who supposedly invented the style that jamaicans copied for ska anyways. gotta dig me up his tracks.
the guitar for hot grits (tracks 12 and 18) definitely gets picked up in reggae, on purpose or not, in this rhythm produced by sugar minott (don't have a name for it) on barry brown's dreadlocks take over (listen for the bass) and mutabaruka's de system (more guitar + bass and piano in this one) ... not exact but definitely related.
so i suppose you should buy the capsoul disk if you're gonna compare with the songs i'm talkin bout. if not, you can occupy your time trying to decipher barry brown's lyrics on the first snippet.
I KNOW RIGHT?????
I was a bit bummed out by the lack of detailed info on the liner notes myself....with such great packaging and great music, i was hoping for a full lineup/personnell/recording notes for each release. Oh well.
and yes, I can't take it definitely has a reggae tinge to it. I also like the Kool Blues and Four Mints stuff.
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