All posts by Hallgeir

Soul, The Best Songs

July 6: Jackie Wilson recorded (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher in 1967

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July 6: Jackie Wilson recorded (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher in 1967

“(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher” was recorded on July 6, 1967 at Columbia’s studios inChicago. Produced by Carl Davis, the session – arranged by Sonny Sanders – featured bassist James Jamerson, drummer Richard “Pistol” Allen, guitarist Robert White, and keyboardist Johnny Griffith; these four musicians were all members of the Motown Recordshouse band The Funk Brothers who often moonlighted on sessions for Davis to augment the meager wages paid by Motown. According to Carl Davis, the Funk Brothers “used to come over on the weekends from Detroit. They’d load up in the van and come over to Chicago, and I would pay ‘em double scale, and I’d pay ‘em in cash.” Similarly two of Motown’s house session singers The Andantes, Jackie Hicks and Marlene Barrow, along with Pat Lewis (who was filling in for Andante Louvain Demps), performed on the session for “Higher and Higher”.

I first became aware of this gem of a song when it was re-released in 1987, accompanied with a new video.

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Jackie Wilson – Higher and Higher (official 1987 video):

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Bob Dylan other, Robbie Robertson, The Band

July 5: Robbie Robertson was born in 1943 Happy Birthday

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July 5: Robbie Robertson was born in 1943 – Happy Birthday!

 

When we were working with Bob Dylan and we moved to Woodstock, everybody referred to us as the band. He called us the band, our friends called us the band, our neighbors called us the band.
~Robbie Robertson (from “The Last Waltz”)

Eric Clapton inducts the Band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994:

The Band – The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (Last Waltz):

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Bill Withers, Singer Songwriter, Soul

July 4: Bill Withers was born in 1938

bill withers live

July 4: Bill Withers was born in 1938

I feel that it is healthier to look out at the world through a window than through a mirror. Otherwise, all you see is yourself and whatever is behind you.
~Bill Withers

Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone, It’s not warm when she’s away, Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone, And she’s always gone too long, Anytime she goes away.
~Bill Withers (Ain’t No Sunshine)

Ain’t No Sunshine (Live 1971):

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Beatles, Great Bands, John lennon, Paul McCartney, The Best Songs, Video

John Lennon or Paul McCartney, who’s the better songwriter? McCartney’s 20 best Beatles songs

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John Lennon or Paul McCartney, who’s the better songwriter? McCartney’s 20 best Beatles songs

And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make

Ok, so it is about the songs, is it? Not John’s cockiness and dry wit, not Paul’s technical skill, not the fact that death is the best career step a musician can have. (John Lennon would have laughed and agreed, so shut the fuck up. ) The fact is that John Lennon’s death put a blanket over Paul McCartney’s reputation and legacy (especially his work in The Beatles) and he will not be taken seriously until they meet in rock’n roll heaven.  It is only about the songs? yeah right…

Yes, I am saying that Paul suffered in critical regard because he didn’t get murdered. But…

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Great albums, Lucinda Williams

June 30: Lucinda Williams released Car Wheels On A Gravel Road in 1998

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June 30: Lucinda Williams released Car Wheels On A Gravel Road in 1998

Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is the fifth studio album by Lucinda Williams, released on June 30, 1998, by Mercury Records. It was recorded and co-produced by Williams in Nashville, Tennessee and Canoga Park, California. The album features guest appearances by Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris.

Car Wheels on a Gravel Road won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

“Intentionally or not, the album’s common thread seems to be its strongly grounded sense of place — specifically, the Deep South, conveyed through images and numerous references to specific towns. Many songs are set, in some way, in the middle or aftermath of not-quite-resolved love affairs, as Williams meditates on the complexities of human passion. Even her simplest songs have more going on under the surface than their poetic structures might indicate. In the end, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is Williams’ third straight winner; although she might not be the most prolific songwriter of the ’90s, she’s certainly one of the most brilliant.”
– Steve Huey (Allmusic)

The Title track, Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (Live 2009):

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