Which one is your favorite? - XXIX -

When you look at the Beatles discography, it is almost impossible to come across a song you like and not been covered until today. So this week I chose a popular song from the band with some amazing versions. The song was written by John Lennon but always credited to the Lennon-McCartney partnership.

Here is the song for this week;

"Dear Prudence"

Written in Rishikesh during the group's trip to India in early 1968, it was inspired by actress Mia Farrow's sister, Prudence Farrow, who became obsessive about meditating while practicing with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Her designated partners on the meditation course, Lennon and George Harrison attempted to coax Farrow out of her seclusion, which led to Lennon writing the song.

According to American flautist Paul Horn, who was also with them in Rishikesh, Prudence was a highly sensitive person, and by jumping straight into deep meditation, against the Maharishi's advice, she had allowed herself to fall into a catatonic state. Horn stated, "She was ashen-white and didn't recognize anybody. She didn't even recognize her own brother who was on the course with her. The only person she showed any slight recognition towards was Maharishi. We were all concerned about her and Maharishi assigned her a full-time nurse."

According to the singer-songwriter Donovan, who was on the retreat in India with The Beatles, he taught John Lennon a "clawhammer" guitar technique that he used on this track. "He was so fascinated by fingerstyle guitar that he immediately started to write in a different color and was very inspired," Donovan said in an interview. "That's what happens when you learn a new style."

The clawhammer style is played with the strumming hand-formed into a claw, using the backs of the fingernails to strum down on the strings.

John Lennon's handwritten lyrics were auctioned off for $19,500 in 1987.

The song is on the 1968 "Beatles" double album (aka the "White Album").

Here are the 4 versions I picked for you;

• Siouxsie And The Banshees - "Dear Prudence"

• Jerry Garcia Band featuring Phil Lesh - "Dear Prudence"

• Ramsey Lewis - "Dear Prudence"

• Phish - "Dear Prudence"

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.

Five Songs for the Weekend - LXIX -

I just realized (only after dinner) that it is Thursday today...Corona days are really making things strange. Staying at home and working is quite monotonous but nothing to do at the moment. Let's hope this will be over soon and till then stay at home and wash your hands :)

As Bill Evans once said;

"Keep searching for that sound you hear 
in your head until it becomes a reality.."

Here is the list for the weekend;

• Daymé Arocena - "La Rumba Me Llamo Yo"

• Gary Bartz - "Rise"

• Tindersticks - "What Is A Man"

• The Specials - "Enjoy Yourself"

• Athena - "Hersey Güzel Olacak"

Hope you have a great weekend.

nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.

Which one is your favorite? - XXVIII -

Here is a song from Gloria Jones released in 1965. However, most people think that it was an original from an 80s band that you will listen to below.  The song was composed by Ed Cobb, formerly of American group the Four Preps.

Here is the song for this week;

"Tainted Love"

The original version was released as the B-side of Jones's single "My Bad Boy's Comin' Home." A club DJ named Richard Searling picked up a copy in Philadelphia and in 1973 started playing it in his sets at Va Va's, a popular club in Bolton, England that was very influential on the UK northern soul circuit. 

The song found new life, and Jones recorded a new version in 1976 that was released on her album Vixen. This version was produced by her boyfriend, Marc Bolan of T-Rex (Jones joined the group as a backup singer and keyboard player in 1974). Jones was driving the car (a Mini) at the time of the accident that killed Bolan in Barnes Common, South London in 1977. This was devastating to Jones on both a personal and professional level, and her career never recovered. She later started the Marc Bolan School of Music in Sierra Leone.

Years later, it attained worldwide fame after being covered and reworked by English synth-pop duo Soft Cell in 1981 and has since been covered by numerous groups and artists. Buoyed by the then-dominant synth-pop new wave sound of the time and a memorable performance on the BBC's Top of the Pops, "Tainted Love" reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, and was the best-selling single of 1981 in the UK. A major hit during the Second British Invasion, the song spent a then-record 43 weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number eight.

The song is about a toxic relationship, with the singer realizing s/he's got to leave it. The song's writer, Ed Cobb, told Blender magazine: "I had a lover for whom you could say wasn't a good individual. I tried to go into her head and write a song from her standpoint. Once the word 'tainted' had popped into my head, the song was written very quickly, probably in 15 minutes."

Here are the versions I picked for you;

• Soft Cell - "Tainted Love" 

• Marilyn Manson - "Tainted Love"

• Lemar - "Tainted Love"

• Scorpions - "Tainted Love"

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.

Five Songs for the Weekend - LXVIII -

Hello from a not so nice week, it seems like everyone is grounded at home trying to survive the coronavirus. I've been reading that in some countries it is declining and just the opposite in some others... Strange times we are in, let us hope this will be over really soon...Now's the time to listen to music...

As Bob Dylan once said;

"I accept chaos. I'm not sure whether it accepts me."

Here is the list for the weekend;

• The Doors - "Strange Days"

• AH! KOSMOS - "Trace of Waterfalls"

• Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - "The Peasant"

• David Bowie - "Modern Love"

• Darondo - "I'm Lonely"

Hope you have a great weekend.

nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.

Which one is your favorite? - XXVII -

This week's song coming from 1980, yes another 80s song :). It is a Blondie song and was produced and co-written by the great Giorgio Moroder. It was also the main theme song of the movie "American Gigolo".

Here is the song for this week;

"Call Me"

"Call Me" was No. 1 for six consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it became the band's biggest single and second No. 1. It also hit No. 1 in the UK and Canada.

European disco producer Giorgio Moroder wrote this with Blondie lead singer Debbie Harry, who thus became the first woman in British chart history to write three #1 hits. However she wasn't Moroder's first choice. The Italian disco king had originally wanted Stevie Nicks to provide vocals on the track but the Fleetwood Mac vocalist declined the offer.

Here are the versions I picked for you;

• The Dandy Warhols - "Call Me"

• Tina Arena - "Call Me"

• Julia Fordham - "Call Me"

• The Hillbilly Moon Explosion – "Call Me"

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.

Five Songs for the Weekend - LXVII -

I don't understand what's going on in the world with this Corona issue. I am fully aware of the consequences however it really started bugging me as there are similar or way bigger problems around and no one is talking about them. According to Google news, the Coronavirus has reached 1.1 billion mentions in the media as of today (SARS was only 56 million). Is this a part of a conspiracy? We'll see...

As Benjamin Disraeli once said;

"Nature has given us two ears but only one mouth."

Here is the list for the weekend;

• Lean Year - "Come and See"

• The Black Keys - "Ohio"

• Kate Bush - "King of the Mountain"

• Sambalanca Trio - "Sam Blues"

• The Beatles - "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da"

Hope you have a great weekend.

nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.

Another Legend Gone... RIP: McCoy Tyner

McCoy Tyner was probably one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. He was also the last surviving member of the "John Coltrane Quartet" that influenced and continue to do so a lot of musicians until today.

He was born in Philadelphia in 1938. He started to play the piano at the age of 13 and in just two years he became an accomplished player. In 1959, Tyner joined trumpeter Art Farmer and saxophonist Benny Golson in a group they called The Jazztet; he appeared on its first album, released the following year.

That same year, 1960, Tyner played on Coltrane's album "My Favorite Things"; his tolling, meditative chords on the title track, a popular song borrowed from the hit Broadway musical The Sound of Music, were a key part of its allure.

Consequently, he joined the renowned quartet of John Coltrane and made very significant contributions to the band whose other members were Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison. The band worked hard between 1960 and 1965 heavily touring and making historic recordings such as  "Live! at the Village Vanguard", "Ballads", "Live at Birdland", "Crescent" and "A Love Supreme".

John Coltrane Quartet

His involvement with Coltrane came to an end in 1965. Coltrane's music was becoming much more atonal and free; he had also augmented his quartet with percussion players who threatened to drown out both Tyner and Jones: "I didn't see myself making any contribution to that music... All I could hear was a lot of noise. I didn't have any feeling for the music, and when I don't have feelings, I don't play". 

After leaving Coltrane's group, Tyner produced a series of post-bop albums released by Blue Note from 1967 to 1970. These included "The Real McCoy" (1967), "Tender Moments" (1967), "Time for Tyner" (1968), "Expansions" (1968) and "Extensions" (1970). He signed with Milestone and recorded "Sahara" (1972), "Enlightenment" (1973), and "Fly with the Wind" (1976), which included flautist Hubert Laws, drummer Billy Cobham, and a string orchestra.

Here is a video of the John Coltrane Quartet playing Impressions;

McCoy Tyner's powerful, propulsive style of piano playing was an integral part of the John Coltrane Quartet in the early 1960s and influenced countless musicians that followed him. His rich chord clusters continue to be copied by many young jazz pianists. His attack style and harmonic inventions continue to inspire many famous jazz musicians even today.

Here is a more recent video of the McCoy Tyner Trio, recorded live playing Monk's Dream;

RIP great master, you will be remembered forever...

Which one is your favorite? - XXVI -

This week's song is coming from a great English singer-songwriter who has passed away at a very young age in 1974.  He lived just to 26, made three albums but influenced a lot of musicians. It was recorded and released in 1969 as a second single of the album called "Five Leaves Left".

Here is the song for this week;

"River Man"

Nick Drake wrote this song in a 5/4 time signature and is one of the few songs he wrote to be played in standard tuning. The song is backed by a 12-strong string section heavy on violas composed by Harry Robertson. 

The album title is referred to the warning found towards the end of a packet of Rizla cigarette papers, that there were only five leaves left.

The song has been covered numerous times mostly by jazz musicians.

Here are the versions I picked for you;

• Benjamin Clementine - "River Man"

• Lizz Wright - "River Man"

• Andy Bey - "River Man"

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.

Five Songs for the Weekend - LXVI -

Another week has passed by with much unpleasant news about the Coronavirus... Let's hope this will come to an end very soon.

As Douglas Adams once said;

"Beethoven tells you what it’s like to be Beethoven and 
Mozart tells you what it’s like to be human. 
Bach tells you what it’s like to be the universe."

Here is the list for this weekend;

• Kathryn Williams - "Soul To Feet"

• Guy Hatton - "Hollow Road"

• Cobblestone Jazz - "Dump Truck"

• Отава Ё - "Про Ивана Groove"

• Félicia Atkinson - "Moderato Cantabile"

Hope you have a great weekend.

nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.

Miles Davis Documentary Stream

PBS' American Masters series has released the new documentary, Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, and it's streaming free online for a limited time. You can watch it here: PBS. 

I guess there are certain geographical restrictions, but worth the try...

And here is the trailer for you,