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Eddie Hinton — 423

ALBUM: Very Extremely Dangerous (1978)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$$

My memory of Eddie Hinton is a sad one.  He was playing at the Nick in Birmingham, or was it the Wooden Nickel still in 1985?

The small Birmingham mainstay was sparsely crowded. The college kids and 20-somethings didn’t have a clue who Hinton was. A Swamper. A blues singer who sounded a little like Otis Redding or Wilson Pickett. A man with a fan club in Sweden but little recognition in  his own state.

Near the end, he was picking up a few extra dollars mowing lawns.

My good friend, writer Tom Gordon, did an excellent piece for the Birmingham News dated April 4, 1985. The story was called ‘Rocker on the rebound.’  I wish I could link to it but can’t find it online. I  have a coffee stained   paper copy of the story that I keep  in my Eddie Hinton album, ‘Very Extremely Dangerous.”

On this night in 1985, Hinton was attempting to make a comeback.  I was there. And he was very, extremely drunk.  Long before Janet Jackson had a wardrobe malfunction, Hinton had one on stage that night involving the fly on his pants.

Hinton’s album ‘Very Extremely Dangerous’

He wasn’t well, and the power of addiction was on vivid display. He died in 1995 at the age of 51.  I do have the album. If you listen to a couple of cuts (on video below) you will understand why I call  him one of the best blues singers most have not heard.

Gordon in his 1985 piece describes observing Hinton singing in a Decatur recording studio. Gordon writes:

Later, after an hour or more of recording, his face shiny with a thin film of sweat, Hinton seems almost sheepishly shy when someone compliments his singing.

“I try to put all my being into it,” Hinton says.

Writer Bob Mehr in the Chicago Reader wrote about how people were often shocked when learning he was white:

British critic Barney Hoskyns, writing in Soul Survivor magazine in 1987, called Hinton “simply the blackest white voice ever committed to vinyl.”

In fact, Hinton’s likeness was famously and intentionally left off the packaging for his debut LP, 1978’s Very Extremely Dangerous. Hoskyns was backstage after a mid-80s Bruce Springsteen concert, where a few members of the E Street Band were singing along to the record, and recalls their reaction when he told them Hinton was white: “They were as dumbfounded as I was.”

Hinton’s voice draws the  attention, but it is his songwriting and  guitar work that frequently earned him a paycheck. Elvis Presley’s “Merry Christmas Baby’ — that’s Hinton on guitar. He played guitar on albums by Boz Scaggs, the Staple Singers, and Percy Sledge. He has had his songs recorded by Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Cher and Greg Allman.

So he achieved some success. But it was his voice that truly set him apart. He just couldn’t bust through to the stardom his talent deserved.

Listen to his rendition of ‘Shout Bamalama’ and hear the man’s soul.

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Roy Clark RIP — 424

 

 

 

 

 

 

ALBUM: Guitar Spectacular! (1965)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$

This one slipped between the cracks earlier, having now passed my “C” section. But upon hearing  of his death today it feels appropriate to put it up.

He was 85.

Love that album cover. The album itself shows off the nimbleness and pecision of Clark’s finger-picking. In this one, he seems to want to show that he can do a little of everything, Spanish, jazz, blues, classical. A little heavy on the Latin easy listening numbers, but they do take you to a patio in Mexico or Texas.

When he decides to go fast on his acoustic guitar,   he blazes like Alvin Lee on electric.

I remember Clark from his Hee Haw TV days,  the corniest show that I couldn’t quit watching. “ If it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all.’

RIP Roy.

 

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Jeff Healey — 425

ALBUM: ‘See the Light’ (1988)

MVC Rating:  4.0/$$

This blind Canadian guitarist died too soon, and I believe was underrated as a guitarist.

He died at 41 of cancer. As an infant he had a rare eye cancer which led to the removal of his eyeballs. He started playing guitar at 3 years old, putting it on his lap. It’s a method he used all his life.

His ballad-for-radio ‘Angel Eyes’ (written by John Hiatt) reached No. 5 on the charts in the late 80s. It was from the album ‘See the Light’ — the  title song is the scorching  closer of that album. ‘Angel Eyes’ is a better ballad-for-radio than Ian Hunter’s “Ships” which I just reviewed on MVC.

For good or ill, more people may remember Healey   as the blind leader of a house band in a rought and tumble nightclub in the Patrick Swayze movie ‘Road House.’ Yep that’s Jeff, basically playing himself.

I think this movie role probably caused a lot of folks to miss the forest for the trees. He was exceptional with his laptop guitar playing and often expanded his music into the jazz and blues realm. But he didn’t  make Rollihg Stone’s Top 100 guitarists, not necessarily a travesty, but an inexplicable oversight.

He has made other lists in the Top 10, however. And lists are lists — to judge for yourself, see the videos below:

Fun fact: He was a voracious collector of old jazz and blues records and played trumpet as well as guitar.

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10 tips to remember better (blog version)

What were we talking about again?

I say that sometimes. As someone who has dementia, I am quickly learning what it’s like to forget.

Now where was I?

Oh yes, what we were talking about.  Asking that question is 9 times out of 10 helpful to jog the memory and get the conversation renewed in my experience.

I have Lewy body dementia, the second leading cause of dementia after Alzheimer’s. The disease presents with both memory and other cognitive problems as well as physical complications like tremors.

As people live longer, the number of people with diagnosed dementia is growing. Even if it’s not diagnosed dementia, forgetfulness increases as we age.

Here’s my Top 10 tips to remember better.

  1. Inventory. Before I go to work I take an inventory with my wife and caregiver Catherine. Cell phones? Check. Wallet? Check. Backpack with computer and accessories? Check. Shoes match? Check.
  2. Exercise. Get healthy. Exercise like you never have before. You’ll feel better, look better, and it may help you live longer. Cut back or quit alcohol and sweets and bad carbs in general.
  3. Play back.  Re-trace your steps literally and mentally. For example, if you find yourself in a room and are unsure why you  went there, go back in your mind and retrace your thought process. You can do that while going back to the room you started and see if that jogs your memory.
  4. Push back. Don’t be satisfied with your brain’s feeble attempt to block your memory. In my case, there are clumps of proteins called Lewy bodies after the doctor who discovered them, that are not supposed to be there. I know this sounds strange, but think about your brain. Ask it to improve. Ask your brain to fight back and remove the Lewy bodies. (See earlier piece ‘How to Hang on to a Memory.’)
  5. Writing I have found that I am not reading as much, especially books because I’ll often forget parts and have to go back and re-read. I’ve had  better luck with writing, which is what I do for a living, so that’s good. But just before I wrote that last sentence, I accidentally pushed ‘publish.’  And so now the story is live with only 5 of my 10 tips. The rest  are coming, hold on. <done>
  6. Visualize Recognize the face but can’t remember the name? Visualize when you met. Think back and  see if you can remember where you met and what was said.
  7. Disclose  When  you forget what you are saying or feeling embarrassed about not being able to remember, don’t hide your impairment. Tell folks that you have dementia and struggle with forgetfulness.  If you have Lewy body dementia, please share and explain as it is not well known, and often misdiagnosed. Hiding or trying to pretend your mind is still whip-smart takes too much energy.
  8. Same place. Keep your daily stuff, cell phones. wallets, purses in the same place every time. Where I  get in trouble is putting something down for a ‘second’ to attend to something else.  That ‘second’ expands to an hour or a day with lots of other thoughts and wanderings. Now you don’t remember where you put your cell phone.
  9. Keep cool.  Many years ago our daughters’ had a pre-school teacher who said “Nothing’s ever lost on God’s green earth.” It would settle a panicky kid or that kid’s parents. And it’s true in many ways. I have gone from being frantic to agitated to mellow about losing things. It will be found in time, I say. Stress, anxiety and depression are the enemies of good brain function, not a lost cell phone.
  10.  Doctor. If memory issues dominate your days or more than occasionally disrupt your day, go see a doctor. It may be serious like Alzheimer’s and Lewy body dementia or the memory loss may be normal aging. There are medications created for Alzheimer’s treatment that are used for Lewy body dementia as well.

 

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Ian Hunter — 426

ALBUM: “You’re Never Alone With a Schizophrenic” (1979)

MVC rating: 4.0

Hey, who am I to call out anyone for not being politically correct about a brain disorder.  But the album title did kind of make me wince. And wouldn’t it be ‘funnier’ if it was ‘You’re Never Alone When You Are a Schizophrenic.”

Ian Hunter, lead singer of the sturdy, straight-head Mott the Hoople, puts out his fourth solo record here (1979).

This is a good album, that I have neglected playing for years. Backed by members of the Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band, Hunter dishes some radio-friendly rock and roll.

Guitarist Mick Ronson is reasonably understated throughout most of the record. No major show-off solos in songs that had more of a Bowie/Jagger vibe. Ronson likely helped create that sound.

In “Just Another Night,” Hunter does an exaggerated, on-purpose, Mick Jagger vocal.  On ‘Wild East,’  Hunter enjoys hanging out in a  bad neighborhood.

And then there’s ‘Cleveland Rocks’ who many remember was a theme song for “The Drew Carey Show,’  — a rendition by The Presidents of the United States. It’s an anthemic rocker with some of those 80’s gratuitous synthesizer warbles and whoops.

‘Ships’ is the radio ballad, and it is syrup, topped off by a disturbingly bland cliche’. And so it didn’t surprise me that Barry Manilow covered this with some success. (The chorus cliche’? We’re just two ships that pass in the night.)

Live song below where Queen’s Bryan May jumps in.

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How can I hang on to a memory?

This is an opinion column by Mike Oliver who writes about his diagnosis of Lewy body dementia and other health and life issues, here on AL.com and his blog.
This morning I had a memory from my childhood.
That, in and of itself, is not particularly newsworthy. But it did make me think how my brain is working.
I have a degenerative brain disease called Lewy body dementia, and I think my experiences can be useful to the medical community and the care-giving community – or anyone interested in what it feels like inside the head of a dementia patient.

Mike and Catherine Oliver help each other remember.

My memory this morning was this:
I was looking at some pants getting for work, realized the pants were — unlike most of my pants – too loose in the waist. The pants would be literally pants on the ground after about five or six steps.
This triggered a memory: it was a sunny day in Auburn, AL,. I was a 5 or 6-year-old kid going out to play on Rudd Avenue (which I don’t think exists anymore. The road’s there, but the name changed for some reason.)
In my memory I am running to get to the creek we used to play in and then we’d likely walk in the creek to Prather’s Lake.
As I run, I realize I‘m having to hold my pants up. With both hands.
I only had two things on like every Auburn boy on my street in the 1960s: Underwear and short pants. And my short pants kept sliding down. Not cool.
Luckily. I had belt loops on my shorts.
My memory only lasted a split second, but it was very visual. I remembered I found a piece of skinny rope. It was only about 5 or 6 inches long. Not enough to go all the way around my waist. So. I couldn’t use it like a regular belt because it was too short.
I guess the idea just spontaneously erupted in my 5 or 6-year-old brain. I tied two front belt loops together with that little rope. Tailor made! The britches held up nice and tight now.
I don’t remember anybody ever teaching me that trick or ‘hack’ as it would be called using current nomenclature. But, indeed, it was a real ‘necessity-is-the-mother-of-invention’ moment.
I think of this, not because there is anything unusual or profound about it.
But it made me stop and wonder why my brain chose to furnish me this quite vivid memory of a past event with no relevance to anything, other than it was triggered by me looking at some pants.
Is it my brain saying: ‘Hey, here’s some info you used before in a separate waist-fitting pants escapade. Here, see if this will help you,’ my brain seems to be saying. Pretty dang complicated for a brain awash in clumps of protein named after Dr.Lewy, who discovered them.
Or maybe it’s a symbolic lesson about how the answer, the cure, is right in front of you, like the piece of twine.
I’ve got my brain sitting here right now — and at all times — inside my head.
What if thinking alone can literally change the brain?
Wonder where that thought came from?
I’ll try it.
-=-=-=-=–=-=-=-=-=-=
Here are five essential facts about Lewy body dementia from the Lewy Body Dementia Association.
  • LBD is a relentlessly progressive disorder affecting thinking, movement, behavior and sleep. On average people with LBD live 5-7 years after diagnosis, though it can progress as quickly as 2 years or as slowly as 20 years.
  • Despite its low public awareness, LBD is not a rare disorder and affects an estimated 1.4 million Americans along with their families and caregivers.
  • People living with LBD and their family caregivers need a high level of support from family members and healthcare professionals from the early stage of the disorder, due to early and unpredictable frequent changes in thinking, attention and alertness, as well as psychiatric symptoms like hallucinations and delusions.
  • LBD is the most misdiagnosed form of dementia. Getting a diagnosis of LBD typically takes 3 or more doctors over 12 to 18 months. The LBDA Research Centers of Excellence network includes 25 preeminent academic centers with expertise in LBD diagnosis and management.
  • Early diagnosis of LBD is extremely important, due to severe sensitivities to certain medications sometimes used in disorders that mimic LBD, such as Alzheimer’s disease and other medical and psychiatric illnesses. An early diagnosis also empowers the person with LBD to review, pursue and fulfill their personal life priorities before the illness progresses too far, review their legal and financial plans, and discuss their care preferences with their physician and family.
  • Contact Mike Oliver at moliver@al.com Also follow his stories, including his quest to dunk at 58 years old on AL.com or myvinylcountdown.com
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MVC blog update, through the looking glass

Ever wonder what are those numbers near the title of each My Vinyl Countdown  blog item.

It is there at the top next to the singer’s name. Some know that’s the number of records left to go before having done them all. So for example, Broken Homes is 624 and that means 623 were lef  to review  at the time that was being written. THe Head and the Heart was the last blog I did so it is at the top of the website, counting down in alphabetical order. The H&H is at 429.

So if you knew nothing about the numbering, you could assess which letters I have been through by picking on of the Letter categories to your right.

For example I’m on the H’s now with Jimi Hendrix, Heart, etc. In C’s we had the Carpenter’s, Eric Clapton. There are more than 200 musical posts.

My goal for my records is 678 which I counted before I started this thing about 14 months ago. That number definitely won’t stand as I have been receiving records and yes, occasionally still buying, records. But 678 has been my number I’m sticking to until the end and then maybe we’ll start down an Odds ‘n Ends list with whatever’s left over

TO find older material, the search field works really well on laptop/desktop. Not so sure on mobile.

Upcoming: I’ve decided to file a short update on my fitness training each week, the quest to dunk.

My Bucket List item.

 

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The Head and the Heart — 428

ALBUM:  ‘Let’s Be Still” (2013)

Okay, here’s another from a relative, and a relatively new record at that. The Head and the Heart is the name of this earnest alternative folk group.

There seems to be a real genre beginning with this big band easy folk-rock, atmospheric music. Kind of like a mix of Fleetwood Mac and Fairport Convention. With a hint of and updated sounding Pentangle. (John Renbourne, look him  up).

Other artists such as the Fleet Foxes, Mac DeMarco, and to a certain degree Father Misty (originally in the Fleet Foxes) and Arcade Fire appear to be sharing some of this ground.

Some fine singing and harmonizing on this. Fun to listen to with your eyes closed in an easy yoga position.

Band members, should and probably do understand the increasing competition in their space, maybe due to  higher demand for the sound.

I’m leaving out to play some more of these newer ones that I haven’t listened to as much. This particular album has a very good soft jam thing working here.

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Jimi Hendrix — 434, 433, 432, 431, 430, 429

ALBUMS: The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Axis: Bold as Love (1967); Electric Ladyland (1968); Band of Gypsies (1970);  Smash Hits (1968); Midnight Lightning (1975);  Odds and Ends (1973);

MVC Ratings:  Axis 5.0/$$$$$; Gypsies 4.5/$$$$$; Ladyland 4.5/$$$$$; Smash Hits; 5.0/$$$$$; Midnight Lightning 4.0/$$$$; Odds and Ends 3.5/$$$$

People fall into two camps with Jimi Hendrix — and maybe a third if you don’t call it a cop-out.

Group 1: Loves Hendrix. Thinks he’s the best guitarist ever in the world.

Group 2: Pretty much can’t tolerate Hendrix, says music sounds like so much noise.

Group 3: Admires his ability and innovations but just can’t listen to a lot of the psychedelic, feedback sound he created .

True Hendrix, who was the definition of counterculture at the time, could make some noise. He could do things with distortion and feedback that people had never heard.

At Woodstock, he played the National Anthem on guitar, a scorching version in which he actually made the sound of whistling bombs exploding during the ‘Rockets red glare … and bombs bursting in air’  part.

Another song, Machine Gun, he created the sound of the rapid fire gun with his guitar.

I believe I would be correct if I  said  Hendrix is probably listed as the top guitarist most best-of lists.

That’s not to say there’s not some good argument.

Above link at Debate.org, there’s lots of rational arguments on both sides of this subjective debate. One naysayer wrote:  “There is no denying how innovative the man was. Saying he was the best is just too final of a statement to me. The best guitar players are typically jazz players or metal heads. The former using scales rock and blues dudes never touched; the latter using micro scales like Robert Johnson used to.”

Kind of amazing. Hendrix came out of session music for up and comers at the time like Tina Turner, Sam Cooke, B.B. King, and the Isely Brothers.

These session guys and gals were some of the top players in the game. Hendrix, self-taught, came out blazing.  He was an African – American super hippie from Seattle with a guitar ability no one had seen.

For those on the fence, that third group, maybe even some of the second group, I’m going to link to five songs that will attempt to  change your mind about Hendrix and his ability. I  grew up with the idea that Hendrix was the best and untouchable at No. 1 guitarist that I’m hard pressed to move off of that stand. Hendrix died of Asphyxia due to aspiration of vomit in 1970 at 27 years old. If  you are going to get one album with the big hits, get ‘Smash Hits’ or the first album, Are You Experienced. They have Purple Haze and Foxy Lady.

 5. Castles Made of Sand

4. The Wind Cries Mary

3; All Along the Watch Tower

2. Crosstown Traffic

  1.  Little Wing

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Heart — 435

ALBUM:  Dreamboat Annie (197

MVC Rating: 4.5 $$$$

5)

I owe Heart some money.

It was April in 1980. I was an Auburn University student. I was out walking and heard music from the auditorium or arena or whatever it was called.

Concert going on. I walked closer. Closer. Up a ramp. The door was ajar. Hmmm. Took a peek inside and there appeared to be no one at this particular door. Walked in.

Now this is where it gets fuzzy in my memory. I think I saw Blackfoot as the opening act. I know I saw Heart. My memory fails as to whether this was two different incidents or one. I’m leaning toward one. Anyway, that’s why I say I  owe Heart money — for the ticket I didn’t buy. Maybe I owe Blackfoot too. I’ll pay up if either of the bands’ members contact me.

I heart heart. Or, at least, hearted heart.

I was an early consumer of this hard rocking female-fronted  band. The female Led Zeppelin. I played Dreamboat Annie their debut ceaselessly in high school. Sure there was soft pretty stuff, which I secretly sang along to. But there was real rock and roll and real guitar licks especially in Magic Man and Crazy On You. Check videos below to get sense of their rock and roll acumen.

The reason I said I ‘hearted’ Heart because by college at Auburn, I was over them. I  didn’t particularly like the overplayed Barracuda and was lukewarm to the whole Dog and Butterfly thing.

But I’ll always dig Dreamboat Annie, the album which came out in 1975, the sweet spot of my high school days.