Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

The month was overshadowed by the death of Amy Winehouse. But the Grim Reaper took some people on whom greater attention would not have been wasted. For example, Chic’s keyboard man Raymond Jones died at the age of 53 of pneumonia; the same illness that took fellow Chic member Bernie Edwards 15 years ago. Also departing on the soul train this month was Fonce Mizell, who with his brother Larry produced acts such as L.T.D., Taste of Honey, The Blackbyrds, Brenda Lee Eager and The Rance Allen Group, and on his own produced that golden run of Jackson 5 singles from 1969-71.

The 1960s rock band The Grass Roots lost its second member this year: after Rick Coonce’s death in February, lead singer Rob Grill passed away. I was also saddened to learn of the death of America’s Dan Peek, whose compositions Lonely People and Don’t Cross The River formed part of the soundtrack of my youth.

The most bizarre death this month is that of Facundo Cabral’s. The 74-year-old Argentinian singer-songwriter was shot dead in Guatemala on July 9, apparently in an assassination attempt on a concert promoter. He had a tough life: at the age of 9 he supported his mother and sibling after the father walked out; in 1978 his wife and infant daughter died in a plane crash; he was a cancer survivor and almost blind. Sample Cabral line: “Every morning is good news, every child that is born is good news, every just man is good news, every singer is good news, because every singer is one less soldier.”

I was also sad to learn of the death, after a fall, of German Schlager singer Bernd Clüver, who was a cut above the usual gang of bowtied squares in the genre, and who in 1976 virtually sabotaged his career when he wrote a song about homophobia, which was banned on West German radio.

Finally, Alex Steinweiss died. We all have plenty of his invention: the album cover. In 1939 he pitched the idea of illustrated record sleeves to his superiors at Columbia Records. They accepted his proposal, and record sales shot up immediately. Steinweiss mostly designed artwork for classical records. Read more at www.soundfountain.org.

Oh, and if you play the saxophone, congratulations on not dying in July.

Christy Essien-Igbokwe, 52, Nigerian singer, on June 30
Christy Essien-Igbokwe – Seun Rere (1981)

Raymond Jones, 52, keyboardist with Chic, on July 1
Chic – My Feet Keep Dancing (1979)

Bébé Manga, 60, Cameroonian singer, on July 1
Bébé Manga – Ami O (1982)

Ruth Roberts, 84, songwriter (Meet The Mets, It’s a Beautiful Day For A Ballgame), on July 1
Meet The Mets (original version, 1962)

Jane Scott, 92, legendary rock critic, on July 3
The Jam – The Modern World (1977)
Manuel Galbán, 80, Cuban guitarist (Las Zafiros, Buena Vista Social Club), on July 7
Ry Cooder & Manuel Galbán – Patricia (2003)

Billy Blanco, 87, Brazilian bossa nova pioneer, on July 8
Billy Blanco – O tempo e a hora (1974)

Kenny Baker, 85, bluegrass fiddler (Bill Monroe, Don Gibson), on July 8
Bill Monroe – Walk Softly On This Heart Of Mine (1970)

Würzel (Michael Burston), 61, Motörhead gutarist (also of Fairport Convention, Splodgenessabounds), on July 9
Motörhead – Overkill (1979)

Facundo Cabral, 74, Argentine singer-songwriter, shot dead on July 9
Facundo Cabral – No Soy De Aquí, Ni Soy De Allá (1970)
Rob Grill, 67, singer of ’60s rock band The Grass Roots, on July 11
The Grass Roots – Midnight Confession (1968)

Fonce Mizell, 68, record producer (a half of Mizell Brothers), death announced on July 11
Blackbyrds – Do It, Fluid (1975)
L.T.D. – Love Ballad (1976)

Jerry Ragovoy, 80, producer and hit songwriter (Piece Of My Heart, Time Is On My Side), on July 13
Garnett Mimms & the Enchanters – Cry Baby (1963, as songwriter)

Adam Chisvo, 47, Zimbabwean jazz musician, on July 13

Antonio Prieto, 85, Chilean singer and actor, on July 14
Antonio Prieto – La novia (1961)
Eric Delaney, 87, British percussionist and swing band leader, on July 15
Eric Delaney Band – Sweet Georgia Brown

Gil Bernal, 80, saxophonist with Lionel Hampton, Ray Charles, The Coasters, Quincy Jones, on July 17
Duane Eddy – Rebel-Rouser (1959, as saxophonist)

Taiji, 45, member of Japanese heavy metal band X Japan, of suicide on July 17
X Japan – Endless Rain (1989)

Joe Lee Wilson, 75, jazz singer, on July 17
Joe Lee Wilson – It’s You Or No One (1974)

Sid Cooper, 94, woodwind musician and arranger for big bands (Tommy Dorsey),  TV (Johnny Carson Show) and film (several Woody Allen movies), on July 18
Chris Connor – Chiquita From Chi-wah-wah (1954, on alto sax)
Alex Steinweiss, 94, graphic designer and inventor of album covers (in 1940), on July 18

Lil Greenwood, 86, jazz singer (Duke Ellington Orchestra), on July 19

Milly Del Rubio, 89, singer with The Del Rubio Triplets, on July 21
Del Rubio Triplets – Whip It (1994)

Amy Winehouse, 27, English singer-singwriter, on July 23
Amy Winehouse – Me And Mr Jones (2006)

Bill Morrissey, 59, singer-songwriter, on July 23
Bill Morrissey – Last Day Of The Last Furlough (1989)
Dan Peek, 60, member and songwriter of folk-rock group America, on July 24
America – Don’t Cross The River (1972)

Mike Reaves, 52, guitarist of alt.metal band Full Devil Jacket, on July 25

Frank Foster, 82, jazz saxophonist (Count Basie), composer and arranger, on July 26
Count Basie Orchestra feat. Tony Bennett – Jeepers Creepers (1959, on tenor sax)

Tim Smooth, 39, New Orleans rapper, on July 26
Joe Arroyo, 55, Colombian singer, on July 26
Joe Arroyo-Echao pa’lante (1988)

Bernd Clüver, 63, German Schlager singer, on July 28
Bernd Clüver – Der Junge mit der Mundharmonika (1973)

Jack Barlow, 87, country singer, on July 29

Gene McDaniels, 76, soul singer and songwriter, on July 29
Gene McDaniels – Tower Of Strength (1961)
Roberta Flack – Compared To What (1969, as songwriter)
Marlena Shaw – Feel Like Making Love (1975, as songwriter)

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This series has noted a couple of hundred musicians’ deaths. Not many have caused me so much sadness as that of Gil Scott-Heron. Never mind that the man was a drug addict, and that he once wrote a homophobic song. He was a poet, and he set his poetry to glorious music. He was the Bob Dylan of the ghetto. I hope that with his dying breath, Scott-Heron appreciated the fact that astronauts were just then making a final journey and the US president has introcuded health care reform he was demanding in Whitey On The Moon).

As a soul fan, I noted with particular sadness the passing of jazz-funk guitarist Cornell Dupree, who played that opening riff of Aretha Franklin’s version of Respect, and also backed favourite acts like Bill Withers and Marlena Shaw.

We tend to mourn deaths by suicide, though that of Gramy-winning songwriter, screenplsy writer and director Joseph Brooks, who wrote the much-loathed You Light Up My Life, leaves us at best with mixed feelings: he killed himself while under indictment for a series of “casting couch” rapes (the details of which are nauseating). Not a very nice guy at all, it seems.

David Mason, 85, English trumpeter who played the piccolo solo on The Beatles’ Penny Lane, on April 29
The Beatles – Penny Lane (1967)

Hume Patton, 65, guitarist of Scottish psychedelic rock group The Poets, on April 30

Ernest ‘Shololo’ Mothle, 69, South African jazz bassist and percussionist, and session musician for Robert Hyatt, Hugh Masekela, Mike Oldfield, Jonas Gwangwa a.o., on May 2
Mike Oldfield – In Dulci Jubilo (1975) (as percussionist)

Odell Brown, 70, jazz/soul organist, arranger and songwriter, on May 3
Marvin Gaye – Sexual Healing (1982) (as co-writer)

Nigel Pickering, 81, rhythm guitarist and vocalist of Spanky and the Gang, on May 5
Spanky and Our Gang – Like To Get To Know You (1968)
John Walker, 67, founder of The Walker Brothers, on May 7
The Walker Brothers – Just For A Thrill (1966)

Big George Webley, 53, British composer and arranger of TV themes, including The Office (UK), and radio broadcaster, on May 7
Big George Webley (feat Fin) – Handbags and Gladrags (2001)

Johnny Albino, 93, Puerto Rican bolero singer, on May 7
Johnny Albino – 7 Notas de Amor

Cornell Dupree, 68, soul and jazz-funk guitarist, on May 8
Cornell Dupree – Teasin’ (1974)
Marlena Shaw – Time For Me To Go (1973) (as guitarist)

Dolores Fuller, 88, actress and songwriter for Elvis Presley a.o. (also cult director Ed Woods’ girlfriend, as portrayed in the movie), on May 9
Elvis Presley – Rock-A-Hula Baby (1961) (as composer)
John Carter, 65, producer, songwriter and A&R man, on May 10
Strawberry Alarm Clock – Incense and Peppermints (1967) (as writer)

Norma Zimmer, 87, “Champagne Lady” on The Lawrence Welk Show, backing singer for Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Perry Como a.o., on May 10

Zim Ngqawana, 51, South African jazz saxophonist, on May 10

Snooky Young, 92, jazz trumpeter with Jimmie Lunceford, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton a.o. and with The Band, on May 11
Count Basie Orchestra feat. Tony Bennett – Life Is A Song (1959)
The Band – Rag Mama Tag (1972)

Lloyd Knibb, 80, drummer of Jamaican ska band The Skatalites, on May 12
The Skatalites – Fidel Castro (1964)
Jack Richardson, 81, producer of Guess Who, Bob Seger, Rage Against The Machine a.o., on May 13
Bob Seger – Night Moves (1977) (as producer)

Bob Flanigan, 84, singer of The Four Freshmen, on May 15
The Four Freshmen – It’s A Blue World (1952)

M-Bone, 22, American rapper with Cali Swag District, killed in drive-by shooting on May 15
Cali Swag District – Where You Are (2010)

James ‘Curley’ Cook, 66, blues guitarist and founder member of Steve Miller Band, on May 16

Sean Dunphy, 73, Irish singer (the first to record in Nashville), on May 17
Kathy Kirby, 72, English ’60s pop singer, on May 19
Kathy Kirby – Dance On (1963)

Joseph Brooks, 73, songwriter (You Light Up My Life), suicide on May 22

Jeff Conaway, 60, actor (Kenickie in the movie Grease) and singer of 1960s ban The 3 1/2, on May 27

Gil Scott-Heron, 62, musician and poet, on May 27
Gil Scott-Heron – I Think I’ll Call It Morning (1971)
Gil Scott-Heron – Whitey On The Moon (1974)

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The third mix of Beatles covers, covering the period between the White Album (partly covered in the second mix) to the final album. The most significant song here is the Beach Boys’ live recording of Back In The USSR, with Ringo Starr guesting. The song was, of course, Paul McCartney’s satire of the Beach Boys. One imagines it was a find piss-take, because by 1968 the Beach Boys had long left the girs-cars-surf scene behine (well, except Mike Love, who never really got past it).

Two songs here, by George Benson and by Booker T & the MGs, come from full reworkings of Abbey Road, while Count Basie comes from a tribute album to the Beatles, and the I Am Sam soundtrack, which consisted of Beatles covers, has been represented on all three mixes. Knowing how a succession of easy listening merchants have sucked the soul out of Something with cheesy arrangements and over-arrangement (yes, Sinatra, too), the notion of Shirley Bassey giving the song a go seems discouraging. Despite a lavish arrangement and moments of enthusiastic emoting, it is a quite splendid interpretation which segues nicely into Nina Simone’s much sparser, and utterly beautiful take of the other Harrison masterpiece on Abbey Road. Simone’s 1971 Here Comes The Sun LP, an album of covers, is well worth seeking out.

More than on the previous compilation of Beatles covers, the 1990s are well represented. It wasn’t planned that way, but Dionne Farris’ version of Blackbird is rather lovely, and Alison Krauss’ tender bluegrass interpretation of I Will, with that sweet voice, is angelic.

I had hopes of putting together a sequence of covers of the Abbey Road side 2 medley. I had enough covers, but not consistently the quality I was looking for. Other songs presented me with dilemmas: Amen Corner’s Get Back, or the Main Ingredient? Randy Crawford’s Don’t Let Me Down or Phoebe Snow’s? Aretha Franklin’ Let It Be or Clarence Carter’s? I hope I’ve made good choices. Incidentally, when I set out to put together the three mixes I set myself a rule not to have any artist represented twice.

TRACKLISTING
1. Beach Boys – Back In The USSR (live) (1984)
2. Tuck & Patti – Honey Pie (1990)
3. Dionne Farris – Blackbird (1994)
4. Alison Krauss – I Will (1995)
5. Micah P. Hinson – While My Guitar Gently Weeps (2009)
6. Phoebe Snow - Don’t Let Me Down (1976)
7. Billy Bragg – Revolution (1997)
8. The Main Ingredient – Get Back (1970)
9. Count Basie - Come Together (1970)
10. Shirley Bassey – Something (1970)
11. Nina Simone – Here Comes The Sun (1971)
12. George Benson – Oh Darling (1970)
13. Booker T and the MGs – I Want You (1970)
14. Elliott Smith – Because (1999)
15. Joe Cocker – She Came In Through The Bathroom Window (1969)
16. Ben Folds – Golden Slumbers (2002)
17. Dobby Dobson – You Never Give Me Your Money/Carry The Weight (1971)
18. Loose Salute – The End (2009)
19. Rufus Wainwright - Across The Universe (2002)
20. Neil Finn & Liam Finn – Two Of Us (2002)
21. Clarence Carter – Let It Be (1970)
22. Gladys Knight & The Pips – The Long And Winding Road (1971)

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Any Major Beatles Covers: 1962-66

Any Major Beatles Covers: 1967-8

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On a regional audition round for the South African version of Idols, a hopeful entrant introduced his chosen song as “Ain’t That A Kick In The Head by…Michael Bublé”. As one would expect, the contestant’s performance was thoroughly mediocre.

The real ring-a-ding-ding thing: Today any crumb wants to be a Rat Packer.

I have no particular beef with Michael Bublé — except that he personifies the banalisation of the rich legacy of what Rod Stewart (of late another offender) calls “The Great American Songbook”. Bublé compensates for his entire lack of personality with some talent. His swinging version of George Michael’s Kissing A Fool was quite excellent. But Bublé and singers of his ilk have created an impression that anybody can and should sing the standards.

His is not a solitary presence in that accusation, of course. Many more talented artists have travelled the retro route and some have even found their way. Natalie Cole, when not singing ghoulish duets with her father, is a wonderful interpreter of the standards. Even the serial twat Phil Collins delivered a good performance with Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me on Quincy Jones’ Q’s Jook Joint album (he undid all the goodwill he might have merited for that by producing a thoroughly ghastly album of his songs in Big Band style).

But blame for the banalisation of the big band must be appointed. Frank Albert Sinatra (his birth certificate said Frank; Francis was a later affectation) has to shoulder some of it for allowing himself to be recorded duetting with a bunch of chancers, among a few genuinely talented artists. It communicated a most vile message: if Bono can sing poorly with the self-styled Chairman of the Board (and, my goodness, how embarrassing are his wankful wailings in contrast to even a half-assed Sinatra), then so can any old joker. Like Robbie Williams.

Robbie Williams sees himself as a latter-day one-man Rat Pack, and so he did what comes naturally to latter-day one-man Rat Packs: record an album of songs that may evoke the Rat Pack (the Sinatra-led version, not Bogart’s original gang). So it is not a surprise when on the terrible version of Me And My Shadow — a Rat Pack anthem — the word “pally” is self-consciously used to describe a friend. And, of course, there is the obligatory duet with Sinatra-from-beyond-the-grave. In fairness, Williams did not do an entirely bad job on his Swing When You’re Winning album of 2001. But more than reflecting well on Williams, it really proved that with a good arrangement, any old karaoke singer can sound good. The song selection was astute, lacing the eye-bleedingly obvious with a few less remembered numbers. The cover art was good as well, a successful pastiche of a late ’50s Capitol record (even if much of the material post-dates that era).

The filmed concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall — incredibly not renamed the Francis Albert Hall for the occasion — is entertaining, because Robbie Williams certainly can entertain you, with a little help from his talented friends. Williams doesn’t take himself too seriously, he mugs with a bizarre combination of self-deprecation, modesty and smugness. All that. And yet: on what basis does Robbie Williams presume to measure himself against Sinatra, Sammy Davis or Nat ‘King’ Cole? And if his intention is not to measure himself against the legends, what is he doing covering them (other than making money)?

The most cringe-inducing portion of Williams’ show is also the most telling. The singer who so craves to shiver in reflected Rat Pack Cool tells the audience how much he loves his mummy. Which is nice; a good boy should love his mummy. It is a sweet moment, if one can stomach maudlin moments of sentimentality. But what would Sinatra do? Most likely he’d have said something like: “Ladies and gentleman, my mother. She’s one classy broad.” And then perhaps threaten Dino with violence for making eyes at his Ma before returning to racially abusing his close pally Sammy. In contrast, Robbie Williams is a real Harvey.

Williams’ success-in-a-tux set the scene for the advent of all manner of fake rat-packery. Canadian Bublé and the insufferable Jamie Cullum soon had the housewives wetting themselves. Then Westlife, the blandest, most characterless pop band ever, got in on the act. Dressed like — and you would not guess it — a Rat Pack living it up at The Sands (the Scunthorpe version rather than the mafia palacio in Vegas, presumably), they issued a batch of standards selected not for their suitability but instant recognisability. And then they titled their karaoke collection, with putrid punnery, Allow Us To Be Frank. I wouldn’t allow you to be Daisy, never mind Frank. Did the world of music absolutely need Westlife’s interpretations?

At around the same time our old friend Michael Fucking Bolton (as his mother calls him) — having had his vicious way with soul and opera — molested the Sinatra canon and Rod Stewart began his American Songbook series. The first of these Songbook albums was quite good, as far as pastiche goes, if somewhat redundant (did we really need Rod singing standards?). But one album of that was quite enough. When the concept turned into a franchise, Stewart ended up performing songs that have no claim for inclusion in any great Songbook.

Here’s the rub with revival of ratpackery. You don’t go around impersonating Jesus just because you think the Gospel According Matthew is brilliant. You have to earn to earn it first, baby. Likewise, you don’t just decide to do Sinatra because your Mum had the Strangers In The Night single and you think you look great with brylcreemed hair. You have to earn it first. Which means you don’t just sing the ring-a-ding-ding showstoppers, but learn to do the quiet stuff. Don’t ask me to fly with you unless you first have mastered the lonely introspection brought by being caught in the wee small hours of the morning. And, for fuck’s sake, know that Ain’t That A Kick In The Head is a Dean Martin song.

Here then, for the benefit of those who think that Straighten up And Fly Right is a Robbie Williams original, are the songs he covered on the Swing While Your Winning in more glorious recordings, in the sequence of the Williams album — plus Anita O’Day’s fine version of It’s De-Lovely, which Williams covered (rather well) on the biopic about Cole Porter, De-Lovely.

1. Anita O’Day – It’s De-Lovely (1959)
2. Ella Fitzgerald – Mack The Knife (live, 1960)
3. Carson & Gaile - Something Stupid (1967)
4. Billie Holiday - Do Nothing ‘Till You Hear From Me (1946)
5. Kingston Trio – It Was A Very Good Year (1961)
6. King Cole Trio – Straighten Up And Fly Right (1942)
7. Bing Crosby & Frank Sinatra – Well Did You Evah (1956)
8. Nina Simone – Mr Bojangles (1971)
9. Frank Sinatra with the Count Basie Orchestra – One For My Baby (And One More For The Road) (live, 1966)
10. Nancy Sinatra & Dean Martin – Things (1966)
11. Dean Martin – Ain’t That A Kick In The Head (1960)
12. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - They Can’t Take That Away From Me (1957)
13. Frank Sinatra - Have You Met Miss Jones (1961)
14. Frank Sinatra & Sammy Davis Jr. – Me And My Shadow (1963)
15. Bobby Darin – Beyond The Sea (live, 1971)

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