I couldn't wait until Sunday for this little bunch.
We have several versions of songs by The Beatles. We have a classic Motown band performing Hey Jude, bringing out it's latent Sly Stone soul. A classic Stax instrumental combo performing the same tune. We have The Supremes from their oddity album A Bit Of Liverpool, a 1964 album where they performed songs from the British Invasion.
It's a strange album where despite the name several of the songs come from bands who had nothing to do with Liverpool. It's also odd for a Motown album in that the band are doing fairly note perfect copies of the original 'beat' versions, rather than full on soul versions. And for the most part the Supremes sound like they had never heard the songs before the session. It lends it an almost 'garage' feel.
From the excellent After Hours series, we have the amazing Ella Fitzgerald performing The Temptations 'Get Ready'.
And finally, all the way from North London come sixties band The Equals, mostly known for their song 'Baby Come Back' and Eddy Grant. While a lot of their material may be closer to pop, give these two very Temptations (in their Sly Stone period) influenced tunes a listen. If it looks like soul, sounds like soul you could probably call it soul...
The Temptations - Hey Jude
The Bar-Keys - Hey Jude
The Equals - Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys
The Equals - Stand Up And Be Counted
The Supremes - House Of The Rising Sun
The Supremes - A Hard Days Night
Ella Fitzgerald - Get Ready
Rhythm ‘n Wooze
1 day ago
8 comments:
I'm a terror for a Fabs cover - and can't believe how many of these I've never heard before. Ella's take on 'Get Ready' is gem.
Track down the Supremes album, it's not...brilliant, but it is worth a listen if only for curiousity's sake.
I love the bit in the Ella track when she starts scatting. I've got her doing a Cream track lined up for the future. Keep an eye open for that one ; it's a beauty.
I may have that Ella track well, a live take - have you heard the Spanky Wilson version of it? what a belter or Ella's version of The Beatles Savoy Truffle and Got To Get You Into .. there's also a great clip of her on youtube doing Sunny with Tom Jones
There's also a storming version of Get Back by the Shirley Scott Horns - you can grab it in a mix I did a few weeks back for Hook and Sling site - here
Blimey this lifts the usual Tuesday malaise somewhat, any chance of moving permanently to a Tues?
BTW do you have The Temptations 'Psychedelic Shack', it's one of my top 10 albums.
SP: I'm considering either a move or an addition....glad it brightened your midweek!
PM:Did you see Funky16Corners Blog 'rubber souled' posts? July last year, two mixes of some excellent beatles covers. They're still live now.
Thanks for this post. These records show the great cross-fertilization that was happening in music - Sly was influenced by the Beatles, Sly influenced the Temptations and the BarKays and later worked with both of these groups. I write about this and more in my book, Sly: the Lives of Sylvester Stewart and Sly Stone. Check it out at Amazon.com or http://www.lulu.com/content/1412956
Oh yes - grabbed that, there's a great Stones special too and HammondF16 mix I think called 'Hammond Internationale' with The Duck, The Winston and Special 230
Hadn't heard The Equals tracks in years. I remember seeing them on TV when Black-Skinned Blue-Eyed Boys was released - a marvellous noise.
Thanks...Lynchie from Aberdeen
Post a Comment