A Morning With Motown and Martha

Watching a PBS fundraising special on Motown last night, I realized it has been way too long since we tasted the sweet sounds of the Motor City. Now the talent of Motown was so vast, it needs to be savored one bite at a time.

Today we go with one of the great girl groups: Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. Rosalind Ashford, Betty Kelly, Annette Beard and Martha Reeves were the main members responsible for a boatload of hits in the early to mid-60's. The group was always a trio with a few changes in personnel, most notably when Beard left and was replaced by Kelly.

Members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Martha and the Vandellas created a body of work with equal measures of fun and dance-ability. Listening to them, no way your feet aren't moving.

Kick up the volume, kick off your shoes and dance.

"Nowhere to Run"
"Honey Chile"
"Heatwave"
"Jimmy Mack"
"Quicksand"
"Dancin' in the Street"

yeah.

"If your feet ain't tappin', baby you're dead."

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Criminal: What Lies Within

Getting down and dirty for this week's 100 Word Song Challenge. Lance from myblogcanbeatupyourblog, has invited Julia to pick the song this week, and her choice was "Criminal" by Fiona Apple. Rules are to use the song, title or feeling as a prompt and write something in exactly 100 words.

"Foolish girl, that’s what she had been three years or more accurately, a lifetime ago. At sixteen, she thought she knew, at nineteen she knew too much. She looked at him. First as her savior, then as her keeper. Now, as nothing more than a business partner. She took the chances, he took the money.

And she earned a lot of it. She was good at what she did, and there wasn't anything she wouldn't do. Soon it would be time to go it alone and he would need to be gone…permanently. Yes, she knew how to do that too."

...and there you go.

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Candles and Cale: Party Time

His songs have been covered by the likes of Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kansas, Tom Petty, Allman Brothers, Johnny Cash and more. A no-flash, just pick guitarist, he began playing what would be known as the Tulsa Sound...a blending a 1950's to 1960's country, rock, blues and rockabilly. The group of musicians creating that sound also included Leon Russell, Elvin Bishop, David Gates and Dwight Twilley, among others.

Today we focus on the birthday boy, JJ Cale.

Back to the songs. After Clapton recorded two of Cale's songs, "After Midnight" and "Cocaine," Cale finally started getting noticed by people outside the music community. Hell, one of his songs, "Travelin' Light" was even played to wake up the crews of the Space Shuttle and International Space Station before one of their spacewalks. The man has played with everyone, and the list of musicians influenced by his songs grows daily.

Let's taste a few.

"Crazy Mama" ...his biggest single, laid-back and bluesy
"They Call Me the Breeze" ...covered by Skynyrd, taste a little JJ with Clapton sittin' in
"After Midnight" ...a songwriter's pure version
"Cajun Moon" ...sweet sample of Tulsa sound
"Down to Memphis" ...delicious track off his latest CD Roll On

JJ Cale. Blow out the candles and play some blues.

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You Can Hear The Buzz All The Way From Austin

You know that sound. The whispers, the talk and finally the shouts. It's called the buzz. Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it's for a flash-in-the-pan. For the past year and a half the buzz has been growing louder about the taste of the day.

Growing up in Austin, he cut his musical teeth in the same club as the Vaughn brothers...Jimmie and Stevie Ray. Since that time he has played alongside Clapton, Winwood, Guy, Crow, Keyes, Beck and Matthews. I don't think any first names are needed. From Bonnaroo to The White House, Gary Clark Jr. has played with, and for a lot of names.

Playing a blues-based guitar, listen to him slide up and down from straight blues through rock, jazz, soul and whatever else he's feeling. With his latest album Blak and Blu, just released in October, Gary Clark Jr. shows another side of his talent and style.

"Bright Lights"
"Ain't Messin' Round"
"When My Train Pulls In"

Flash-in-the-pan...not likely.

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The Song Remains the Same...Or Does It?

The other day I thought up another way to either A) excite my readers with a new feature or B) make my readers groan and run away in droves. Hopefully more A than B, but what the hell. As Mr. Fogarty told us...just keep on chooglin.


I give you Kat's Theory of Music's...The Song Remains the Same.

What we're gonna do is showcase two completely different songs...with the same title. Then if anyone chooses, they can rate one, both, leave a comment or suggestion for another go round. See, not that painful.

The opening act for this feature consists of one song from the 60's and one from 1980.
Today's tasty treat is "Anyway You Want It"

First up a typical 60's fast paced, catchy tune by British band the Dave Clark Five, followed by the opening track off the Departure album by Journey.

Take a listen to both, leave a comment or rating, if you choose.

Dave Clark Five "Anyway You Want It"
Journey "Anyway You Want It"

I kinda like it both ways.

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