ALBUMS: Wynette: First Songs of the First Lady (1971); Wynette/Jones: Encore (1981); George Jones: All Time Greatest Hits Vol. 2. (1977)
Another day. Another rotation of our earth.
Tammy Wynette is on the turntable. I am awestruck.
“Walk through this world with me,” Tammy sings. “Go where I go. Share all my dreams with me. I need you so.”
This was intended to be my George Jones only countdown review. But I had a record of songs where Jones and Wynette sing duets. And I had a Tammy Wynette compilation album. So this review is a Jones-Wynette review involving those three albums.
This is country music. Period.
No alt, no country rock, no Americana, no crossover, just pure pedal steel guitar and songs about pain and suffering, that are sometimes, somehow soothing.
Tammy’s voice on ‘Apartment No. 9’ snuggles up to the swelling steel guitar. Then there are the lyrics as delivered by Tammy. Aching , soothing, angry but strong. The combination of voice, music and lyric stir a soul.
“Loneliness surrounds me, without your arms around me. ”
George Jones is Tammy’s male alter ego. Together they make you smile and cry.
Why do we like sad songs?
‘Don’t wanna play house; It makes my mommy cry ‘Cause when she played house; My daddy said good-bye. ‘
Jones and Tammy, who were married to each other for about six years and performed together for many more, have touched millions of people.
And what are they singing about? Cheating, drinking, betrayal, hope and despair, love and lust, pain and happiness. Suffering.
ALBUM: King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. 2 (1970 compilation)
MVC Rating: 4.5/$$$$
This probably should be a 5 rating due to the massive influence Johnson had on the best rock guitarists in the world.. But I have to take a little off because the primitive sound quality certainly to my ears has an effect on its listening pleasure. This album is considered the best representation of Johnson’s work. And it’s fascinating to listen to old the old blues to see where the rock came from. But I don’t think it’s an easy listening experience. However, by turning the volume up high you can have a cathartic experience. That’s the soul coming in and sometimes it hurts.
I’m Just glad they were able to save the songs. Wiki said that there were only two known, confirmed photos of RJ>
It sounds like it was recorded in the other room. Which I think it literally was. Check out the album cover.
It’s a bit of a strain to hear and become immersed in the electric guitar mastery recorded on 1930’s equipment. But it’s well worth the listening just to hear the songs you’ve heard re-done by Clapton, Zeppelin and the Beatles. It’s a reservoir of rock and roll riffs at the ground level.
Cr0ssroads is where Johnson allegedly sold his soul to the devil for his musical abilities on guitar.
Every year in the United States, about 60,000 people learn they have Parkinson’s disease, according to the American Parkinson Disease Association. The degenerative disorder strikes the central nervous system, impairing movement and balance, among other issues.
If you or a loved one has been recently diagnosed, these 10 things that patients who’ve been living with Parkinson’s for several years wish they’d known at diagnosis — which their doctors didn’t tell them — may make managing the disease easier.h
I found nothing wrong with the advice given. It was what advice they didn’t give.
What about Lewy?
Lewy body dementia, practically a kissing cousin of Parkinson’s. It seems ironic on a post about what doctors aren’t saying that they don’t say what is unsaid about Lewy body dementia. Wheww. That’s a tough sentence to unpack but I’m ranting on a blog so it’s OK.
But seriously, if Lewy body dementia is just the expanded version of Parkinson’s why do we leave it out o f a discussion on Parkinson’s, just like it gets left out of a lot of things.
ALBUMS: Joel: Piano Man ( 1973): John: Don’t Shoot Me (I’m Only the Piano Player; Greatest Hits) ( 1973, 1974)
MVC Rating: Piano Man 3.5/$$; Don’t Shoot Me 4.0/$$$; Greatest Hits 4.0/$$
They both are about the same age. They both play piano. They have toured together. They both have bunches and bunches of hits over decades. Their last names both start with ‘J’ — and that is why I am reviewing them together now for MVC as we count down alphabetically my 678 vinyl records.
I grew up listening to both of these artists. I think I am more familiar with John’s work. My thumbnail analysis would be this:
Songs: John overall with 19 No. 1 hits; Joel has three.
Song: Tie: John –Benny and the Jets; Joel–Piano Man. Benny is a strange but deceptively great song. I know most would pick ‘Candle in the Wind’.’ From Joel, Piano man is the definition of a great drop-in scene setter, even if the lyrics sometimes seemed to stretch for the rhyme Sample: ” Davy who still is in the Navy.”
Singing: Joel — Elton’s voice had some character and is instantly recognizable but I never considered it a great voice. I was surprised in re-listening to the Piano Man album, just how well Joel sang.
Songwriting: Tie –Elton has the quantity, but Joel has some really strong songs that compete, perhaps even surpass Elton material. Joel’s ‘Still Rock and Roll to Me’ is exemplary songwriting. Same with “Only the Good Die Young,’ ‘You may be Right,’ and ‘Uptown Girl.’ ‘Captain Jack’ could have been great but the line about masturbation was TMI, waay TMI. ‘John’s ‘Your Song’ is a simple but enduring ditty with a beautiful melody. ‘Don’t Let the Sun Go Down’ and ‘The Bitch is Back,’ along with the aforementioned ‘ Benny and the Jets’ are all excellent songs. John’s songs were of course co-written with Bernie Taupin, who supplied the words before Elton put it to music. I was always amazed at that collaboration and at how John could turn some of Taupin’s oblique lyrics into a catchy song, but he did time and time again. Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding is special.
Live Performance: John. I never saw either live but from those who have and what I’ve seen on video, Elton wins this category with eyeglasses and apparel alone.
Best Album: John– Goodbye Yellow Brick Road edges the Stranger.
I haven’t followed either one much in recent years. John still seems active, but I haven’t heard what Joel has been doing. They are both great popular artists. I wouldn’t shoot either one, even if they were not the piano man.
Best known for the book taken from his teen journal, Carroll turned to music after his poetic writings began making noise outside of New York.
His fame came from the book called The Basketball Diaries. Leonardo DiCaprio played Carroll in the movie of the same name.
The album Catholic Boy had on it the underground hit ‘People Who Died,” which chronicled a list of friends who died.
Mary took a dry dive from a hotel room Bobby hung himself from a cell in The Tombs Judy jumped in front of a subway train Eddie got slit in the jugular vein And Eddie, I miss you more than all the others And I salute you brother
His music on Catholic Boy is pretty straightforward hard rock, new wave with a darkness that seemed to shade his life. There’s a Lou Reed, Patti Smith, New York vibe here for sure.
Carroll was apparently a promising New York City basketball player until he got into the heroin, an addiction he battled much of his life.
Carroll died at 60 in 2009 on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. His photo tells the story.
ALBUMS: Fervor (1983); Lost and Found (1985); Still Standing (1986)
MVC Rating: Fervor,4.5/$$$; Lost 4.0/$$$; Standing 4.0/$$$.
When I think back to Jason in the 1980s, I think Sloss, the steel refinery turned venue near downtown Birmingham.
Jason and the Scorchers ‘Still Standing.”
I think of Jason climbing up into the rafters (or whatever the ceiling’s infrastructure was called), until he was sitting dozens upon dozens of feet in the air. Still singing. I was hoping he didn’t take to swinging.
The band was a high energy rock band that some called country punk, or punk-a-billy music. They played fast and hard and were really quite the thing, a contrast to synthesizer driven bands popular at the time such as Depeche Mode, the Cure and Ultravox.
I think. Jason crazy!
Colleague and longtime AL.com writer Bob Carlton once called lead singer Jason Ringenberg and guitarist Warner Hodges the “Mick and Keith of cowpunk.”
But like all good things, they eventually ran out of steam. I think it was in a way the usual story: Pressure to be more commercial resulted in higher production, which hurt, not helped, this band. Jason and the Scorchers scorched and climbed up into the rafters. Tamping down on that took the essence away, whether overt or not. J&S was a shot of Wild Turkey, not fancy brandy.
For the above reasons I recommend the first album, Fervor, as a first buy. The Dylan cover, Absolutely Sweet Marie, is excellent and sets the tone. ‘Help There’s a Fire‘ puts the punk in Billy.
But all of the albums (at least these three are excellent). I think it’s pretty hard to find some of these used. But still not super expensive if you search online. (As always check with the locals first).
Other bands around that time playing similar music included the Beat Farmers, Rank and File, Rubber Rodeo, Webb Wilder, and perhaps you could throw in Lone Justice and the very excellent Long Ryders.
Sure, it’s a cliche’. But you know what they say about cliches’ — it became a cliche’ for a reason. The phrase sums up what I’m about to say about dementia.
The hardest thing about living with Lewy body dementia or any fatal disease is the unknown and dealing with that psychologically.
Will my brain damage progress slowly with controllable symptoms until I die peacefully (if that’s a thing) in my sleep?
Or will I shout, scream, accuse my wife of seeing other men or trying to poison me? All stories I’ve heard from caregivers and patients.
Will I be incontinent, impolite, and insulting, one who wanders out the front door and disappears? As Bob Dylan wrote,”No direction home, a complete unknown.” Will I be a heartbreaking shell of the man who was a father, son and husband?
When the word got out through my columns, I began hearing lots of stories. I have heard stories from friends, neighbors, in online support groups, emails from strangers. Some people run down in explicit detail how their loved one was at the end.
“He was in extreme pain,” one person wrote me. Another said she wouldn’t wish the disease on her worst enemy. I’m so sorry Mr. Oliver, another wrote.
I’m try to process this.
Many folks living with dementia or caring for a loved one with Lewy body, Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s want information. And this is where I see light.
Certainly everybody can decide for themselves how to handle this — until you can’t. I chose to come out in public early with my diagnosis in an effort to raise awareness of this little known form of dementia. But my advice works on a broader scale, I hope.
Learn what you can about the disease, what can happen from best to worst, from living a full, relatively long life to sitting in a nursing home blank faced and unresponsive, not even knowing your daughters’ names as they stand crying before you.
This is serious.
Don’t be afraid to do the research, to name the disease, to listen to people’s stories. But you are not obligated. OK, you might say at some point: I get it. My brain is dying which controls everything I am, my perceptions, my memories, my motor skills.’ That doesn’t sound good. Talk to your friends and loved ones openly and make a plan for the worst.
I was diagnosed at a relatively young age for Lewy body — age 57. Now 59, I have progressed slowly due, in part to medications which were developed for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients. (That there are no specific drugs developed for Lewy body dementia I see as a sign the disease is flying under the radar, and that’s a key reason I am trying to spread the news and keep up the pressure to find a cure for Lewy body dementia.)
Once you know how bad it can be, you can begin to expect the best.
When I was young I remember my parents had a book called ‘The Power of Positive Thinking,’ a title that kind of made me roll my eyes. But I’m thinking there may be something there.
“Stand up to an obstacle,’ wrote Norman Vincent Peele decades ago. “Just stand up to it, that’s all, and don’t give way under it, and it will finally break. You will break it. Something has to break, and it won’t be you, it will be the obstacle.”
Exercise, treat yourself to healthy but delicious meals, go see something you haven’t seen, write about your life, engage in a community of fellow LBD patients, or just friends, family, faith-based groups.
And I’m no Norm Van Peale but I offer up another suggestion:
This is an opinion column by Mike Oliver who writes for AL.com about his fatal brain diagnosis and other life issues. See his Living With Lewy Body blog at www.myvinylcountdown.com
I heard the song ’96 Tears’ for the first time as it was sung by Garland Jeffreys. It got my attention. I later I found out it was a cover by Jeffreys of the 1960’s song by ? and Mysterians (That’s Question Mark and the Mysterians.) Great song. By both.
But firmly planted in my head — that’s how it works — I had Jeffreys’ name, and when I saw a record of his in the cutout bin, I jumped.
Another good inexpensive purchase. Jeffreys, who used to hang out with Lou Reed, is more mainstream than Reed. He comfortably shifts from soul, pop and reggae. He addresses issues like race as in the title song: “Here comes the One-Eyed Jack, sometimes white and sometimes black.”
An homage to his hero Jackie Robinson. Good record that has big production but didn’t do so well. Maybe there is a bit of a strain to be commercial here that backfired. I see Phoebe Snow, of the multi-octave voice, and my man David Lasley, among the back-up vocalists. Dr. John is on keys.
Look for it in record stores, it’s a good, overlooked record.
Newer music from Jeffreys in the form of a 2011 album called the ‘King of In-Between’ was given an ‘A’ by critic Robert Christgau, who does not grade on a curve.
Jimi Hendrix died at 27, one of many rock stars whose lives ended at that sweet young age.
Big Chief Ellis, a blues piano player of the highest talent, died in Birmingham on this date — Dec. 20, 1977.
He was 63.
Not many folks know today his the anniversary of his death. He was a self-taught piano player, professional gambler and ‘rolling stone.’
As he sings in the attached recording: “I do love to drink and gamble but I stay broke all the time .”
His piano playing is effortless, rolling and rocking.
I definitely want to learn more about this blues great. I found Ellis on a spreadsheet posted online. It is Wikipedia’s “List of deaths in rock and roll.”
There’s a bigger story here. In our culture of celebrity worship, where Elvis is king, and thousands pack Graceland on that Aug. 16 anniversary, there are a lot of great musicians who die in obscurity. For every Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon who lived and died with millions of fans there are those that played great music, died too often it seems, tragically.
Elvis was 42 when he died in 1977, of heart failure due to years of prescription drug abuse.
Other examples:
On the night before Christmas in 1985, Tommy Blake, a rockabilly pioneer, was shot to death by his third wife, according to the Wikipedia list. (Steve’s Dead Rock Stars and thedeadrockstarclub are also resources.} Blake was 54.
On Christmas Day in 1954, Johnny Ace (real name John Marshall Alexander Jr.) accidentally shot himself in the face while goofing around. Blues legend Big Mama Thornton saw the whole thing. At 25, with hits on the charts, Ace’s life was cut short. Witnesses said he was drunk.
I am writing this as I listen to Big Chief Ellis play some tasty blues. Ellis is now singing.
“I do love to drink and gamble but I stay broke all the time.” He sings the line twice in the blues tradition.
He sings more: “You know my life has been just like a rolling stone, until I find someone who loves me I just keep on moving on.”
He was born in Birmingham taught himself piano and traveled extensively in the 1920s and 1930s, according to an Allmusic.com bio. He settled in New York City and was known in blues circles for years there and later in Washington D.C. He came home to Birmingham and died at 63 in 1977.
The title of this post comes from poet, basketball player and former heroin addict Jim Carroll, who with his rock band wrote and released’ People who Died’ in 1980. (The writings that inspired the book, The Basketball Diaries, also was made into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio.) The Jim Carroll Band’s ‘Catholic Boy is coming up quick on MyVinylCountdown.com
‘All the people who died,” Carroll sings in the punky-pop song which is built around a list of friends who died. “They were friends of mine.”
That led me to the Wikipedia list, and I was struck by the number of rock stars who died tragically or prematurely.
Jim Carroll’s Basketball Diaries was made into a movie featuring Leonardo DiCaprio.
I was also struck by how many of these deaths I had either forgotten about or never heard before.
There is what appears an outsized number of tragic deaths associated with the show business industry, especially rock stars. If true, maybe it’s because they put so many hours on the road that the law of percentages kicks in.
Plane crashes have taken out some of our biggest stars. Several members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, including key writer and leader Ronnie Van Zant, crashed in Mississippi. Buddy Holly, Big Bopper, and Richie Valens died in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. Otis Redding and four members of the Bar-Kays died in a crash in a Wisconsin lake flying from Cleveland to another gig.
And there was Stevie Ray Vaughn, one of the all time great guitarists, who died in a plane crash near East Troy, Wisconsin. And Patsy Cline died March 5, 1963, in a plane crash outside Nashville. Jim Croce at age 30 died in a plane crash in Louisiana on Sept. 20, 1973.
The list also raises the question of whether being an entertainer or rock/poet may put you at greater risk for depression and substance abuse. It certainly seems that way anyway.
Or is that just a fallacy built on highly publicized overdose deaths of rock and rollers such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison to name just a few
We aren’t going to prove that the rock and roll life significantly affects your lifespan here today. But I would like to look at this list and pluck out some musicians who died an untimely death, that is drug or alcohol abuse, plane crash, car crash or something else that would be considered tragic or premature.
Here are some deaths you may not have known about or may have forgotten.:
Danny Cedrone with Bill Haley and the Comets (of Rock Around the Clock fame) died June 17, 1954,from a broken neck after falling down the stairs.
Sam Cooke, along with Otis Redding, was among the vocal greats of all time, was shot to death in Los Angeles on Dec. 11, 1964.
Bobby Fuller, of ‘I Fought the Law’ fame, died under mysterious circumstances July 18, 1966. He was found dead in his car and the coroner cited suicide in his report but put question marks beside it. He was 23.
Brian Epstein, the manager/agent who ‘discovered’ the Beatles died of an accidental overdose at 32 on Aug. 27, 1967.
Brian Jones, the Rolling Stones guitarist, drowned in a swimming pool on July 3, 1969 at 27.
King Curtis, Grammy award winning saxophonist, was stabbed to death during an argument in New York City on Aug. 13, 1971.
Duane Allman, one of the most promising guitarists in his day with the Allman Brothers and Derek and the Dominos, died in a motorcycle accident at 24 on Oct. 29, 1971 in Macon, Ga.
Berry Oakley, also with the Allman Brothers, died in a traffic accident Nov. 11, 1972.
Leslie Harvey, with rock band Stone the Crows, was electrocuted by a live microphone while on stage in Wales on May 3, 1972.
Gram Parsons, member of the Byrds and pioneering alt-country artist, died of a drug overdose Sept. 19, 1973 in Joshua Tree, California.
Nick Drake, influential singer-songwriter-guitarist, died at 26 by suicide in England on Nov. 25, 1974.
Keith Relf, a member of the pioneering band the Yardbirds, was electrocuted by his guitar on May 14, 1976 in London. He was 33.
Marc Bolan, front man for T-Rex, died in a traffic accident, Sept. 16, 1977, in London.
Sandy Denny, folk-rock singer with Fairport Convention, died April 21, 1978 of a brain hemorrhage after an accidental fall.
Sid Vicious, key member of pioneering punksters, the Sex Pistols, died of drug overdose or suicide, Feb. 2, 1979.
Chris Bell, member of Big Star, died Dec. 27, 1978, in a traffic accident near Memphis.
Lowell George, Little Feat leader, died June 29, 1979, of a heart attack at 34. He had drug and alcohol problems in addition to being obese.
John Bonham, drummer for Led Zeppelin, died by asphyxiation on vomit (same cause as Hendrix, drug/alcohol related). He was 32.
John Lennon, of the Beatles, died by gunshot, on Dec. 8, 1980, at the age of 40.
Tim Hardin, died of a drug overdose, Dec. 29, 1980 in Los Angeles.
Bob Marley, reggae legend, died at 36 of Acral lentiginous melanoma on May 11, 1981.
Roy Buchanan, virtuoso guitarist, hung himself in jail after being picked up on a drunk and disorderly charge in Virginia on Aug. 14, 1988.
There are many more on this document who died untimely deaths: Karen Carpenter, Quiet Riot’s Randy Rhoads, Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, Ricky Wilson of the B-52’s, Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy, Ricky Nelson, Liberace, Cliff Burton of Metallica, Richard Manuel of the Band, Peter Tosh, Jaco Pastorius, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana,
Mike Oliver is counting down his vinyl record collection on his blog MyVinylCountdown which was created to raise awareness of Lewy body dementia. From that blog and other sources he culls material for weekly columns at AL.com.
He then became a member of Wild Cherry just after they had a huge hit with the song “Play that Funky Music White Boy.’
After that stint ended, he went solo and scored with song that seems to just come out of nowhere in 1980: the anthemic ‘Ah Leah.’Great song with the volume cranked.
