R.I.P. 2015

Date
January 3, 2015

Miracler
Toby Barlow

Location
Detroit

You know you've got the right guy at the RIP knobs

when you wake up early one New Year's AM to an email containing liner notes and track links to an already-completed RIP mix THAT INCLUDES NATALIE COLE. Was she even officially dead yet? Is Toby Barlow the 3MPM Grim Reaper? Don't answer that—we need him here for the next one.

Liner Notes by TB
Jimmy Greenspoon played the keyboards for Three Dog Night. And the keyboard opening to this song is one of the most iconic openings ever. Or at least the most recognizable, which is maybe the same thing as iconic? Anyway, I always recognize it right away whenever Aimee Mann and her band are playing it. But Mr. Greenspoon is playing it here.

BB King’s manager said, "Do not go to New York trying to be Nat Cole or anybody else that's trying to be slick, because there are people that are sweeping the floors that are much better than you'll ever be. So the best thing for you to do is go there and be B.B. King. Sing '3 O'Clock Blues;' sing the songs that you sing the way you sing them. All these other people can do all of those other things, but they can't be you as you can be you." Right?

Jack Ely was the lead singer on “Louie Louie.” But he never got much money out of it. He quit the band before the song became a hit. Oh and it turns out the reason you have a hard time understanding him is because he was wearing braces on his teeth at the time. Kids.

Don Covay wrote a lot of hits for a lot of people, but this one was his biggest hits. And another young kid named Jimi Hendrix plays lead guitar on it.

More kids! Natalie Cole. Her biggest hit was “Unforgettable,” a duet with her dead dad. But that song was really his song. Whereas this hit, this one here, it was all hers. Turn it up.

Now I think this is a very good song. The band took a bunch of Soundgarden-esque Pearl Jam-ness and added a bit of valium-laced pop to compose something quite lovely. I think in terms of “beautiful songs from not so beautiful people” it ranks right up there with “Sweet Child of Mine.” Okay, well, so long Scott Weiland.

Carey Lander was absolutely adorable. She played keyboard on all of Camera Obscura’s records from 2003's Underachievers Please Try Harder to 2013's Desire Lines. I used to listen to this song when I was driving up to the Catskills on Friday nights. I don’t know if it was a long time ago but it feels like last week. Time is oddly plastic.

Leslie Gore was a young woman who became famous probably because her producer was a very ambitious young A&R record executive named Quincy Jones. There is so much in this song, so much youth, defiance, sexiness, and absolute naughtiness. Needless to say it became a feminist anthem.

The year I was born Lynn Anderson was crowned California Horse Show Queen. Five years later she came out with this song. It’s namesake album held the title of the best-selling country album by a solo female artist from 1971 until Shania Twain broke its record in 1997 (I always tied it to the book “I Never Promised You A Rose Garden” which is about a crazy girl, so the song always seemed a bit unhinged and creepy to me).

Some more from Camera Obscura. Is this old or new? Are we old or new?

Percy Sledge. Okay, we’re going to play the hit here.

Continuing with the string of overplayed hits, we’re going to play this Free tune. Andy Fraser was one of the founding members of the band and co-wrote this smash mega-hit. According to his bio, Andy was “expelled from his grammar school for refusing to wear his hair short.” Yep, does not get much more rock and roll than that.

This happens every year when I put this list together. I was honestly torn as to whether Chris Squire should be included in this because I have never been much of a fan of Yes. In my mind, all the punk rock music I loved growing up came from a reactive revulsion to the bloated, grotesque prog rock excesses of Yes and every band like it. But then I figured if poor Chris Squire had to listen to all that music for most of his adult life – he was the only person to play on every Yes album and at every single Yes concert – then we maybe owed it to him to hear one song I suppose (in a recent Mark Maron interview, Steve Albini points out that all of the band Rush’s music could be found in the Yes song “Roundabout” which sounds about right to me).  

Okay, back to the good stuff. Fun Fact: John Lennon discovered Errol Brown and it was an assistant at Apple Records who named Errol’s band Hot Chocolate. They had a hit every year for 15 years, including the massive masterpiece “You Sexy Thing”. We're not playing that here, we're playing their other pretty big hit. Errol walked away from the business in the 80’s a very happy man.

“I still think my whole career was accidental,” Mr. King once said, “I didn’t pursue it. I feel like I’m cheating sometimes.” He’s kind of right. A man overheard him singing to himself when he was working at his father’s Harlem luncheonette and signed him to a band that opened for The Drifters. The manager of The Drifters didn’t like the singers in The Drifters so he fired all of them and, presto-magico, Ben and his fellow singers became The Drifters. Enormous success followed. But it wasn’t all an accident; he also wrote a lot of big huge songs himself, including “Stand By Me” which grew to be one of the most played songs in history. Which is why I’m not playing it here.

When I was young in New York City I loved going to Dan Lynch’s in the East Village where they would serve me even though I was underage and I would listen to live blues music and life was so good. The Holmes Brothers were regulars there though I never heard them play. Actually, come to think of it, I only went there once. And the guy overcharged me for the beers I ordered.

And now we’re going to hear a little bit more from B.B. King.

I have this photograph of Patti Smith singing at Ornette Coleman’s birthday party while he plays there beside her. Look, see? I think that’s his apartment. I really just love that picture.

Final parting words for the final parting song, "Everything that is pleasant in life is dangerous." Lemmy. Motorhead. Out.

THANK YOU TOBY!!!  Mix is UP. Check your email for the password. To comment on this mix and the last few (regular commenting is how you stay in the group),, click on the 'Comment' button below the post and write something. If you don't have/want to use your Google etc. accounts, just type your name in the "Name" box and you are done. See you back here or on our members-only Facebook page soon. XOK