October 27, 2008 Earworm

The Satisfactions' ode to a biker boy, "Daddy You Just Gotta Let Him In", is revered by girl group fans around the world but for me, the flip-side, "Bring It All Down", is their shining moment. Written in 1966 by Bob "Elusive Butterfly" Lind for Cher - who turned it down - "Bring It All Down" is a wordy rebuke; a warning of the shelf-life of fame, and the danger in believing the words of one's sychophants. In the hands of Sonny Bono - and the mouth of Cher - it's highly doubtful that their version would have turned out as tender, thereby turning the words into a lecture that probably would have gone ignored. Jack gives his wife, Gracia, a comfortable cloud to sit upon as she addresses the head attached to the person bound to fall, an angelic choir to back up her words, a light string line waits to soften the landing, and a stunning yet simple ending that suggests that the mission was accomplished.

Listen up, Superman, and presidential candidates, too.

In the scrap heap of pop music should have beens lays "Baby, That's Me" by The Cake, the revered anti-success story of the combination of baroque psychedelic girl group pop. The usual story of mismanagement, wrong men, label politics, and more than a little drugs, apply to Eleanor Barooshian, Jeanette Jacobs, and Barbara Morillo but few stories result in a record as beautiful as their version of this Jackie DeShannon/Jack Nitzsche composition.

As recorded by Leslie Gore, "Baby, That's Me" is petulant at best. The Cake, however, deliver a performance that borders on disturbing in it's distance; as though the girls are delivering a psychotic Mystery Science Theater commentary on their own lives. Harold Battiste adds his special swamp voodoo to the arrangement, muddying the waters even more, and Cher pops in for uncredited background vocals.

Like so many good things, the general public missed the point and the record flopped. Fortunately for me, it showed up on a "gray area" Japanese import at the end of the eighties, giving me the opportunity to meet one of my most favorite records and now, the good folk at Rev-Ola have re-issued the entire, brief, Cake catalogue and even threw in the original mono single mix of "Baby, That's Me" so that those strings can be heard in all their morbid glory.

April 09, 2008 Earworm

Flush with Led Zeppelin cash and the pay-offs from other wise shopping in the wake of the summer of love, Ahmet Ertegan and Jerry Wexler began signing up the female vocalists who's voices he'd grown to love during the sixties. Starting with Dusty in 68, Lulu and Cher in 69 - the latter having already been recording for them as a duo with Sonny. In the wake of Carole King's tapestrophic success, they pulled in their own singer/songwriter, Jackie DeShannon, in 1972. Dusty and Lulu would pay off with hit singles and critical appreciation but the albums would be considered flops. Cher and Jackie, both coming from the Liberty family of labels, would end up little more than tax write-offs at the time. The L.A. polish of Jackie's Liberty/Imperial records is wiped raw as the Muscle Shoals gang brought her closer to her Kentucky roots where, by age six, she was singing country standards on local radio shows. Ending up closer to Aretha than to Carole King, the "What The World Needs Now" girl was barely recognizable and the "Jackie" album sank without a trace

But some grown up in my world bought "Jackie" and I think that I've known it as well as I've known the alphabet for as long as I've known the alphabet. As a kid, a line from "Brand New Start" made me laugh as it conjured up Looney Tune images: "...and here I am, at your front door - just knocking with my heart...". Now, having the painful pleasure of knowing that feeling, I can't hear it without a sharp intake of breath, and admiring its perfection even as I wince at the memories. The rest of the song is just as good and Jackie's vocal is perfection; getting rawer and rougher the more she bares her soul. That rawness may be why she lost the singer/songwriter race with "Tapestry", an album that, for all it's beauty, was crafted as meticulously as any of Carole King penned forty-fives for Bobbie Vee or Steve Lawrence.

Fortunately, the good folks at Rhino Handmade also believe in a brand new start and pulled this one-time lost masterpiece of its genre from the dust bin and gave it a fresh mastering and new lease on life back in 2003 with a numbered limited edition. A quick glance over at Amazon shows that it's still in print which could mean that the world is catching on or is still missing a still fresh spin on the singer/songwriter genre.

March 25, 2008 Earworm

For the US release of "Alfie", it was not Dionne Warwick who was chosen to sing the Bacharach/David penned theme song, but Cher. While a modest hit for her, Dionne would ultimately be identified with the song, and Cher's version but was all but forgotten. The flipside of that single, Sonny Bono composition called "She's No Better Than Me", had an even bigger date with obscurity. It was not inclused on any of her albums and didn't surface until her installment of the EMI series, "The Legendary Masters". The masters having been long lost, the liner notes warned that it transferred from a "battered mono mixdown" tape.

In a light cocktail party arrangement, Cher sits alone watching her dream baby courting someone else and wonders what's so special. An air of adolescence hangs and it is probably the closest she ever came to capturing vulnerability on tape. It's all very classy and restrained and maybe a little past her bedtime which adds a pinch of weariness that we've seldom heard in her voice since.

"She's No Better Than Me" failed to be included in the recent re-issue campaign of Cher's Imperial catalog, done by BGO in the UK, and her "Legendary Masters" installment is now out of print. "She's No Better Than Me" is again left to languish, just like the songs narrator.

March 18, 2008 Earworm

“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” Spends 2,184th week at #1 on Hells Hot 100!

Recognized in 1999 by BMI publishing as the most played record of the century, with over eight million spins, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” is not only an undisputed classic, but a pioneer as well.

“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” celebrates another milestone as it spends its 2,184th week - a full forty-two years - at number one on Hells Hot 100. In celebration of this achievement, I sat down with Hells number one dj, Satan, to discuss the durability of this classic recording.

Me: Satan, forty-two years at number one; that’s quite an achievement. To what do you attribute the durability of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” in Hell?

Satan: You know, I’ve given that a lot of thought over the years and I gotta tell ya, it’s all about the raw honesty of that lyric. It’s quite selfish in its observations, much like a paranoiac in the way that it doesn’t take the time to ask why.

Me: The ultimate victim?

Satan: Yea, but it’s something that everyone has felt, or will feel. Even if you find true love, it’s pretty much a given that you’re gonna have your heart broken a few times before, if not after. You know, everyone has noted the way Bill Medley’s opening line, “you never close your eyes, anymore when I kiss your lips” – brilliant, by the way - sounds like a finger is holding the record back from its normal speed but, if you think about it… It’s really more like an aural version of the way your stomach feels when you’ve discovered some horrible truth. ‘Like the realization didn’t come from your head but from deep down in your gut.

Me: But what about the music? It’s a pretty revolutionary pop song. Nothing preceding it ever sounded quite like it.

Satan: It certainly was new. The way it works in those little jazz rhythms, its symphonic structure. And it’s actually a little frightening in places – the percussion at times kinda sounds like it’s gonna hit you back… the bongos on the bridge in particular. But it’s hard to pin down - there are so many hooks within that record that, even now, you can find something new to experience. It’s almost overloaded.

Me: Is there a particular hook or piece that you favor?

Satan: Well, the descending bass thing is as sneaky as.. well, hell. It insinuates something menacing is following the vocalist and kinda underscores that realization thing that I mentioned. You know, first the thought, and then reconciling the thought to a new reality. That’s a nifty little trick. But I really love the open throated “ahhhh” thing that occurs during the bridge – very frightened… pained, a little higher in pitch. I’ll tell you a little known fact about that…

Me: What’s that?

Satan: Well, Phil sure wouldn’t admit it – it’s one of his dirty like secrets - like the fact that he didn’t actually produce “Unchained Melody”…

Me: There’s been rumor…

Satan: He wasn’t even there; it was all Bill Medley. But anyway, the choir on “…Lovin’ Feeling”… that wasn’t just the Blossoms you know…

Me: Well, it’s been documented that Phil had just about everyone he knew in there; Sonny and Cher…

Satan: Yeah, yeah… but that choir was sweetened by not only yours truly, but a little vocal group we have down here.

Me: Wait. You’re telling me that you are on “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”?

Satan: Yep. I was standing right between Cher and Darlene Love.

Me: No way!

Satan: Way! I got Cher’s autograph that day. I knew she was gonna be huge one day… Anyway, I’m a little bit more prominent in the stereo mix but that’s a mess so… But I’m not the only representative from down here. I brought in the Zealot Evangelical Choir for some extra support.

Me: Zealot Evangelical Choir?

Satan: Who better to back up persecution than the evangelicals?

Me: You’ve got a point. I’m just surprised to hear that they’re down there. How did that happen?

Satan: What? You thought they were gonna go to heaven?! Besides, it gives the rest of us a chance to make fun of bad outfits.

Me: Of course. So, I have to mention that I’ve done a little number crunching and it appears that “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” either took a while to hit number one, or hasn’t been number one every week since it was released…

Satan: Philly gave me an acetate and I started spinning it out of the box – it went in at number one. Thank God!

Me: What do you mean?

Satan: The song it replaced was “Dominique” by The Singing Nun. Fifty some odd weeks of that…

Me: Ouch! That, to me, just may be the definition of hell.

Satan: Not on my watch. But anyway, in ’65, I think it was February, The Shangri-Las’ “Give Him A Great Big Kiss” popped up to number one for two weeks.

Me: Really?

Satan: Yea. That whole “he’s good bad, but he’s not evil” still makes me chuckle.

Me: That still leaves about four weeks…

Satan: Well, I don’t like to admit it ‘cause I take pride in the fact that I never manipulate the charts, no matter how much Goldner tried…

Me: Yes…

Satan: Around 1996 I put Debbie Boone’s “You Light Up My Life” at number one for four weeks…

Me: For the love of… um, Satan, why would you do such a cruel thing?

Satan: A bunch of anti-smoking nuts started making noise so… I mean, it’s HELL people! How ya wanna designate no smoking in Hell? Well, I thought it was a good way to shut them up and I thought it was funny as Hell. “You Light Up My Life”, get it?!

Me: That is pretty funny, actually. Do you regret it?

Satan: Yes, actually I do.

Me: Cruel and unusual punishment, and all that?

Satan: Nope. I regret it because it kinda tarnished my reputation. You know, the devil has all the best tunes and all that.

February 1, 2008 Earworm

And so we begin the month of love. Like the summer of love but with more deodorant and better gifts. Chocolate, cards, and other minutiae are the norm but, if you're lucky, jewelry, vacations and cars could be coming your way. I usually get a grunt and surly peck on the cheek. Just the way I like it, actually.

I can't think of a better song to start the Valentine's Dance then the clunky Imperial debut 45 by Cher; "Dream Baby". Actually, that would be Cherilyn, should you find a copy and scan the label. Sonny wouldn't stray far from his Spector run backyard when creating the setting for his little jewel - the whole "Wrecking Crew" was employed, Gold Star Studios provided the echo, and there is even a sax solo that was already out of date in 1964. The shy little Cher(ilyn) holds her own and Sonny double tracks that power house voice for extra value. It's absolutely delightful Although it starts to lose some steam after the mandatory almost fake ending, when the bells jump in to remind us that we've heard most of this before.

"Dream Baby" went nowhere but it took Cher from the back row of Phil's choir and put her on the road to icon status and all its obligatory tabloid fodder.

"Dream Baby" is available on the excellent, if pricey, "One Kiss Can Lead To Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost And Found"