Mary J. Blige, "Going Down" to the "Car Wash" (soundtrack)

Today is Mary J. Blige’s birthday. Let’s celebrate!

I was already thinking just yesterday about posting this song, so now my hand has been forced by fate.
Like a dog tied to a rolling cart: “fate leads the willing, and drags the unwilling”. So let’s roll to the Car Wash together (you don't really have a choice).

 
Above is the original of “I’m Going Down”, covered to great effect (to say the least) by Queen Mary.

It is on the soundtrack to “Car Wash”, which is excellent, all the way through.

Not only does it have those mood-setting 2:00 long bits, for playing in the background of movie scenes, it has more standard songs with lyrics too. Pointer Sisters on “You Gotta to Believe” (“in something/ why don’t you believe in me?”)

The songs are all credited to Rose Royce and Norman Whitfield; ‘Rose Royce’ sounds like Rolls Royce, a funny little pun, which I just realized. “RR” is actually a group, not a stage name for a single person; this helps explain the wide variety of songs here, because it is not just a single writer plus one female singer, but a whole group plus the guy who wrote “Papa Was a Rolling Stone”.

--I just realized, there is way too much good stuff on this album, and way too many songs that I am thinking of to pair with each song... I gotta split this into more than one post!--

So just one little bit more, of related news… I own the movie “The Wash”, starring Dr. Dre and Snoop Lion.

It even has Eminem in it, as a crazy person… really flexing his acting chops there… I think I bought this when TLA closed up its Center City shop. Still haven’t watched it yet. I’m pretty sure it is a rubbish movie, but, some things, you just have to own.

"After Sex" is actually on the soundtrack of another movie I own/haven't seen yet... music on that film done by none other than Curtis Mayfield.

Elvis Presley is Not That Interesting

Oh! There is a yuletide star in the sky...

follow it, and you'll find, not a manger....
but Youtube videos! Of Charlie Rich and Elvis Presley!




"Well, I make it alright/
Monday morning to Friday night/
but oh...
Those Lonely Weekends".
Don't be 'so sorry Charlie'! Christmas is around the corner; then you have a few days off... so it's like Every Day is the Weekend! (...oh, ah, ... nevermind)

"you said you'd be good to me, said our love would never die/
said you'd be good to me, but baby-- you didn't even try".

I pulled this Charlie Rich sound out of my vinyl stacks for you, because I heard the following song on the ol' radio :



(live version of Elvis' "Blue Christmas")

Well, of course I heard this on the radio, 'tis the season, right?
Now I like this song, even though I have heard it a time or two. I once sang the most Elvis-y part ("bluuuuuuuuhuhuhuhuhuhuuue") to my cousins, some far ago Xmas, and it cracked them up. At least that is how I remember it!

Anyhow, Charlie Rich's singing and playing covers a vast swath of styles: country-gospel; rockabilly-y;

straight old country;

early RocknRoll or RnB (you know, with the "Blues" still in RnB).

But on "Lonely Weekends", as you can clearly see/hear, he is doing a little Elvis impression. And he's so good at it, and just flat out so good, as one YouTube comment said, "Who needs Elvis?"
Me, I couldn't be bothered to give Elvis coal for Christmas: I just don't care about him. But Charlie Rich? If you see a Rich-Record, for Christ's sake (it's his b-day after all), get me the damn thing!
What do you all think: please tell me someone else out there prefers Charlie Rich to Elvis.
Any takers?

Halloween: Rockabill-o-ween edition (twang!)

With Halloween coming, c'mon, you gotta listen to The Cramps.
(listen to darn near all of it, if you wanna)


Grab that DL on the DL

It might hurt, burn, sting, a little-- yet "when the devil drives, you needs must go".

If that song brings you to a dark place, friend, try this version instead: Roy Orbison's more upbeat and swinging version. This is closer to Casper the Friendly Ghost (in the best possible way).

Download Domino by Roy Orbison




And to finish, an earlier Roy Orbison version, that sort of splits the difference between Casper and Lux:

See, everybody loves sunglasses. "Sunglasses: Not just for Albinos Anymore!"

Halloween- HalloNew Order Edition

Download "SkullCrusher" (BOO!) by New Order

New Order created the theme to a movie, called Salvation! (the exclamation mark is not mine), and the songs are all real gems.
The movie, is "maybe not" a real gem.
(although it does have Viggo and Exene Cervenka in it... wait, now I am thinking "maybe so" )
It seems to involve blackmailing a sham preacher... pretty Halloweenesque.

"Sputnik" is airy, atmospheric, like fog drifting around a car, coasting through a deserted back stretch of highway... with no driver!!! (scary)

It's movie music, you know, so most of these songs have zero words. Only "Touched by the Hand of God" has any.
"Sputnik" is the most clearly from a movie- it's 'filmic';
the other ones are that subset of New Order style which reminds you forcefully of Joy Division.

(pic from "100 Great Film Deaths"

"Skullcrusher" is the one that sounds the very most like Joy Division; "Let's Go" is a close second.
Now, I like New Order when they don't sound like Joy Division, absolutely (we all do, right?!?! ),
but when developing a Halloween theme, by God, it had better sound like Joy Division.

Halloween!: Soft Cell-oween Edition

Okay, so you gotta play these back to back, okay? They run directly into each other on the album, so let's try to mimick that magick.

Fair warning: there are totally nipples in the sexdwarf video- actually, there is all manner of batshit shit going on- so don't try watching it at work. Ain't nobody need to get fired in "this economy".

If you've already been fired, fantastic! Because not only musically and lyrically, but also *visually*, these videos are a match for the current Halloween theme.





(love that line: "luring disco dollies to a life of vice")

These songs come off the Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret album. This album has "Tainted Love" on it, but it is no exaggeration to say that every song on this album is good. So if you see it in a record bin, don't be scared to buy it.

By the way, it looks like this:

 

Except bigger, you know? Like 12"x12".

Also, it doesn't fit at all with the Halloween theme, but Kyle might recognize this Soft Cell song too. But nobody else click on it! Promise?

Halloween- HalloWoman Edition

Halloween- yes! The best international holiday ever, easy.
(except for maybe Thanksgiving, which I just learned Canadians also celebrate)
(and except my birthday)

So to help you celebrate- because I'm a giver, see?- I will put up a slew of unholy holiday-related songs.
Now, this song musically is not so dark or spooky-ooky. But, it is by the great (late- that's sorta Halloween-ish) Marty Robbins.

(download Devil Woman- Marty Robbins as you watch below)

Now, you kids these days, with your John E. Cash, or what have you... Sure, he's who all those kids- who are demanding candy already- would post for their Halloween songs. Sure, sure, "Ring of Fire"- but you already know about that song. Lord, you probably already have that song! So I give you this instead.

Or rather, these instead:


(maybe you can snag that one too.

And this one, you just gotta hear.



Listen to it- it's nuts! It has killing, stampedes, lightning, Mexico, lightning which performs a miracle, and the face of Jesus Christ- the OG Zombie- Respek!

"Get [a post] On Down!", quick!

Just going to quickly put a few things "down" on "paper". The Dells are a really solid band.

They have a "The Sound Of Philadelphia"-type sound. In fact, one of their two lead singers has a gruff, take-charge voice, somewhat reminiscent of Teddy Pendergrass. (...that would not be their falsetto singer...)

See what Eddie Murphy has to say about TP's singing style here- you can see what kind of voice you will be treated to if you snag this track by The Dells.

That's raw, nawImean?
(I mean, the video is from Delirious- the joke, the voice, are raw. Sorry for the confusion: it has been a while.)

Un-Covered Melody

So I did pull off the masterstroke, the (bloodless) coup that I promised last post. And it's pretty grand. Pretty epic, like the better-known version of this song:



-- Please download this fresh-from-vinyl version, of Belafonte's version of "Unchained Melody" --
( I also have, all ripped from vinyl, Charlie Rich, Al Green, Ricky Nelson, and Sonny & Cher covers. I can post those, of you'd please. )

Of course, the better-/best-known version of this song is by the very righteous Righteous Brothers. And I post Harry Belafonte's version, not because their version lacks anything-
No, quite the contrary-
but just to show what changes Belafonte has wrought.

Margeaux and I were talking at her house (that's the coup, FYI), and she posited her general rule about covers:
Don't cover a song that you cannot improve.
I like this rule; it makes sense. If you just want to play the damn song, sure: play it. But to record it and send it out there, why?, unless you have done it one better.

Now, we could, with all good reason, say that nobody can improve on the Righteous Brothers' version.
However, in Belafonte's slowed-down version, there is a delicacy that is not present in the Righteous Brothers' version.

Oh And Also, I failed to mention this little historical tidbit:
Belafonte covered this song in 1956, on the album pictured above.

The Righteous Brothers covered it on this album, in 1965:


So Belafonte did not violate Margeaux's good rule about covers.

The original? It's from a movie about prison!, which is where the 'Unchained'-name comes from.
Oh, and somehow, Belafonte was Oscar-nominated for Best Original Song for this, even though he did not write it, and it had already been covered a few times by then.

Anyhow, his is not the original, but it is less a cover or less un- an original (if that makes sense), than the Righteous Brothers version.