Women Vocalists Review – Björk, Rhiannon Giddens and Kandace Springs

Before we start, a couple of notes on last night’s Grammy Awards. Happy to see Roseanne Cash take home three in the American Roots categories for “The River & The Thread” (see our earlier post), Beck take home two for “Morning Phase” (see our earlier post), and Jack White score one for “Lazaretto”.

But that’s old musical news.

Björk (she of the infamous swan dress) is a unique and esoteric vocalist with an international following, putting out top selling solo albums since 1993. Her latest, “Vulnicura” (meaning “Cure for Wounds”), was to be released in March to coincide with an exhibit on her career opening at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. But the album leaked on the internet in January, so the album dropped early. Lush with string arrangements, the album is a meditation on her breakup with American artist Matthew Barney. Spend a few minutes getting into the hypnotic feel of the album’s first track “Stonemilker”.

In a completely different vein, Rhiannon Giddens has been working with uber-producer T Bone Burnett on a few projects, including her first solo album “Tomorrow is My Turn”. The album includes covers of a number of great artists, features great backing musicians, and most of all introduces us to a great new singer. Listen to these covers of Patsy Kline and Joan Baez.

And in another completely different vein, Kandace Springs is a singer and pianist bringing a soul look and style that’s a little bit retro and a whole lot of fun. Check out “Love Got in the Way” from her eponymous debut EP. Then, to tie back to last night’s Grammy’s, listen to her cover of Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” which won him Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

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Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominees – Beyond the Obvious Picks

A few weeks ago, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced the nominees for the Class of 2015, with 16 acts spanning a broad range of styles and eras. The annual announcement is always a great chance to remember acts who may have faded a bit from memory, but were very important in their day.

From the era of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival (the same one where Jimi first set his guitar on fire) and Woodstock, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band played classic Chicago blues fronted by their singing and harmonica playing namesake. Butterfield was a talented young man from a well-to-do Chicago family. He studied classical flute in high school, was offered a track scholarship to Brown, and studied at the University of Chicago where he met bandmate Elvin Bishop. Fellow Chicago native Mike Bloomfield was another notable member of the band. Here’s a performance from Monterey. That’s Bishop on guitar, and Bloomfield clapping enthusiastically at the end of Butterfield’s soulful singing and harmonica work.

War formed in the 1960’s in L.A. and hit the big time when Eric Burdon, formerly of the Animals, joined the band in 1969. Who can forget their first big hit, “Spill the Wine”. Burdon only stayed with the group for a couple of years, but War kept bringing the funk well into the 1970’s. Enjoy these live versions of “Spill the Wine” and “Slipping into Darkness”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i0DMbCKnAg

Bill Withers is still around, though not performing anymore, and he put up a string of hits beginning with 1971’s “Ain’t No Sunshine” and running through 1981’s “Just the Two of Us”. Both songs won Grammy’s for Best R&B Song. Wither’s highest charting single, though, was 1972’s “Use Me”. Here’s a live performance of that tune by Bill, and a truly out-there cover by Mick Jagger from his 1993 solo album “Wandering Spirit”. Lenny Kravitz contributes.

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“Get On Up” – Legendary Moments and Legendary Musicians from James Brown’s Career

The James Brown biopic “Get On Up” is not only a fine movie, it relates many fascinating moments from the career of The Godfather of Soul and reminds us of incredible musicians from his band. The movie was produced by Mick Jagger, directed by Tate Taylor (who’s credits include “The Help”), and features a great performance by Chadwick Boseman who also played Jackie Robinson in the 2013 film “42”.

One entertaining moment recreated in the film is the appearance of James Brown and the Famous Flames in the 1965 Frankie Avalon movie “Ski Party”. “I Got You (I Feel Good)” was the highest charting single of Brown’s career.

The film also recreates Brown’s performance at the Teenage Awards Music International (TAMI) Show in 1964. Here is Brown performing “Please, Please, Please”, his first major release from 1956. The Rolling Stones had to follow this performance as the closing act at the TAMI Show.

Among the musicians from Brown’s band were sax player Maceo Parker, trombonist Fred Wesley, and bassist Bootsy Collins. Parker has had a long and varied musical career, recording 11 solo albums and playing with Parliament Funkadelic, Prince and dozens of other top rock, soul and jazz artists. In this video, after a couple of minutes of band intros Parker brings the funk (and that’s Fred Wesley, a man with his own titanic musical career, on trombone).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABLwmYI09Lw

Bootsy Collins’ stint with Brown was brief, but came at the time of Brown’s turn from soul to funk. Collins joined Parker and Wesley as members of Parliament Funkadelic in the 1970’s and became a key member of the band. Here’s a clip of Bootsy, all decked out P-funk style, on his tune “Stretchin’ Out” with David Sanborn jumping in on sax.

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Some New Alt Country from Old 97’s, and Speaking of Alt Country, Cracker is Still Kickin’

Rolling Stone gave a rare 4-star review to “Most Messed Up” by Old 97’s. The band formed in Dallas in 1993 (so you figure out the meaning of “Old 97’s”) and are fronted by singer, guitarist and songwriter Rhett Miller. Their first record was released in 1994, and their latest just came out last week.

Listen to “Longer Than You’ve Been Alive” from “Most Messed Up”, and then try out “Question” from their 2001 album “Satellite Rides”. The older track was featured on an episode of the TV series “Scrubs”, a show noted for integrating a lot of music, new and old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEwFik6ObJs

Whenever alternative country is mentioned, we can’t help but think of our all time favorite, Cracker. The band was formed in 1991 by David Lowery and Johnny Hickman shortly after Lowery’s former band, Camper Van Beethoven, broke up.

Cracker hit it big with the song “Low” from their second album “Kerosene Hat”. Many of the band’s songs show a great sense of humor, like Old 97’s, none of them more than “Mr. Wrong” from their eponymous first album.

Cracker is still touring, and sometimes Lowery reunites Camper Van Beethoven for a double bill.

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New Albums from Classic Women Vocalists and a Newcomer – Rosanne Cash, Chrissie Hynde, and Rachel Price

Some famous female vocalists have new music out, and a great new singer has arrived on the scene.

Rosanne Cash, eldest daughter of Johnny and superstar in her own right, released “The River and the Thread” in January. The album has received its share of good reviews, and the first track is “A Feather’s Not a Bird”. The album’s producer is Rosanne’s husband John Leventhal, who also co-wrote all the songs and plays lead guitar on this performance. If you like the video below, check out this studio performance of “The Long Way Home” with John backing Rosanne on acoustic guitar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjMzrMeLJxw

Perhaps the best Rock & Roll frontwoman ever is Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders. Almost 35 years after “Brass in Pocket” launched the band’s career, Chrissie is about to release her first solo album. “Stockholm” is due out in June, and the first single “Dark Sunglasses” has been released. Unfortunately, the video shows us no Chrissie, just a bunch of folks wearing – you guessed it. If you want to see Chrissie front the Pretenders in their heyday, 30 years ago, check out the other video too. The video quality isn’t great, but don’t you wish you’d been there?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Niz2DuHc5K8

Back in October we wrote about Lake Street Dive covering a Jackson Five tune. The band is now out with a new full-length LP “Bad Self Portraits” that is fresh and absolutely delightful from start to finish. The band’s lead singer, Rachel Price, has a great voice and a unique style that propels the band’s range of jazz, soul and R&B tunes. Here is the title track from the new album, and “You Go Down Smooth”.