Beatles Harmonies: Twist And ShoutTwist and Shout Live at The Hollywood Bowl 1964 With all the talk at the moment about The Beatles harmony parts due to the release of their rockband game, it is worth noting that not everything they did made it onto the records. Check out these amazing harmonies from Macca which he may have thought of after The Beatles recorded Twist And Shout. Right at the end... on the "shake it shake it shake it baby now' section you can hear him (if you listen very carefully) putting in a very high harmony part... and a counterpoint harmony "yeah" in the gaps. it is brilliant and he can't seem to help himself. I know I'm not imagining this as he did it also on their third Ed Sullivan show appearance. Beatle anorak? Moi? Previously on my blog, I mentioned the incredible harmony parts they discarded on Got To Get You Into My Life and Can't Buy Me Love which you can hear on Anthology Two and One respectively. Check then out if you can. Special mention should also go out to the brilliant harmony singing of George Harrison. While John invariably held the bottom end down and Paul soared high above him, George was often to be found tucked away in the middle with sometimes quite difficult parts which he seemed to handle with ease! The Beatles remasters really do show off what great singers they were. Shakedown! New album previews I am delighted to announce that I have uploaded the first recordings from my next record, "The Unmistakable Sound Of The Shakedown' to the music player. It is fast and funky.. These songs are not yet finished or mixed, but what the hell! More tunes coming soon, plus blog updates on the completion process. It will be available in the next few months. Maybe sooner.. I just found the above picture the other day.... it is quite old maybe two years or even more. It's not the album cover, but it respresents this collection of songs and focuses the record in my mind when I look at it.. I have various other album projects at various stages of completion: an album in an early 70s psychedelic soul style called Mis-Judgement days... but this could easily change.. I have been taking these songs and mixing them with Northern Soul beats, searching for something different.. If I want to hear early 70s Soul I can put on Stevie's Talking Book, Or Curtis by Curtis Mayfield.... Or if it's a cloudy day I can put on "Everything Is Everything' by Donny Hathaway..deep. Then there's the album of 60s pop that takes it's inspiration from the West Coast sound of The Wrecking Crew..I love their sound with the P Bass high in the mix... and Hal Blaine's perfect drumming..He played on Mary Mary by the Monkees, one of the all time great Breakbeats.. and the first recepient of my website's favourite drum beats badge!
Still reading? Awesome... I have a hard funk album that I want to make, a disco soul album... I'll stop now, but these are just labels... reference points... On my 'Shakedown" record, the music is quite hard and funky but i have added vocal harmonies and used chord progressions that provide a contrast.. the challenge is to do something unexpected... I have a relatively new song called 'My Place In The Sun' ... it's not finished. For ages I have been hearing it produced with a slow early 60s feel like a Righteous Brothers production, then earlier today I suddenly had the urge to try it in a Merseybeat style... I cooked up a beat and got out my broke-ass acoustic guitar ( featured on my youtube videos) and started strumming like it was 1963!. I really enjoyed it and the song strangely worked.. maybe I'll produce both versions... that sounds like a plan... Well, I have been listening to The Beatles Remasters especially the 63-64 recordings... I hope you enjoy the first previews from the new album. The titles are as follows: 1) The Unmistakable Sound Of The Shakedown 2) Raise Your Hands A Little Bit Higher 3) Givin Up Ain't Givin In 4) Just A Little Bit Of Soul 5) Let It Shine Forever My name is Johnny, and I am addicted to music. Latest News- Rockfield Sessions
Sorry for the lack of site updates!
I am currently putting the finishing touches to the recoring of my next album, The Unmistakable Sound Of the Shakedown, 12 tracks of dynamite sixties funk! more on that very soon! All I can say for now is that it is very fast and very funky!  Rockfield Studio I have spent a great deal of the past few months in South Wales at the world famous Rockfield Studios engineering along with Guy Massey and Joe Hirst on a couple of fantastic new records due for release early next year with my great friend Gil Norton producing. The first one is for a new band from London called Goldhawks and the second for Aussie rockers Violent Soho. Here are the links to the bands Myspace pages below. Check them out!  http://www.myspace.com/goldhawks  http://www.myspace.com/violentsoho Also, congratulations to the mighty In Case Of Fire for their Kerrang Award for Best New British Band 2009. (It was over a year ago now that we recorded their album down at Rockfield.)  http://www.myspace.com/incaseoffire Back to Rockfield again very soon working on another great Australian band Gyroscope with Gil producing.  http://www.myspace.com/gyroscope You can also follow the band's blog documenting the making of the new album by clicking the orange logo below  All Aboard for Night Train! The legendary TAMI Show was an R&B and pop extravaganza filmed in 1964 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. It featured many great performances from artists including Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, The Supremes, The Beach Boys, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles and Marvin Gaye among others. The TAMI Show (Teen Age Music International) is perhaps best remembered for James Brown's showstopping performance. Like many others who saw this film, I was never the same after seeing it and spent many years irritating market and shop traders with the question " Have you got the TAMI Show on video by any chance?" It was over 20 years ago that I saw this film at The Scala Cinema in London's Kings Cross at an all night 60s film festival, that also included Ski Party featuring James Brown in a not quite so compelling performance.. well he had just come in out of the snow.... Anyway, back to the TAMI show... James Brown arrives from the right hand side of the stage in a puff of smoke! Now that's one way to make an entrance.... the band along with Mr Brown and The Famous Flames then tear through Out Of Sight, Please Please Please and then... Night Train! I saw him live 9 times over the years starting in 1985 at Hammersmith Odeon but I never saw him dance like this. Although there are many great live documents of the startling power of this man and his incredible bands and orchestras, including Live at The Apollo 1962, Boston Gardens 1968, Paris Olympia 1971, the great Soul Train performances of the 1970s... the TAMI Show is the pinnacle for me. When I hear someone say the expression 'that's the spirit' I think of something beyond the body, something greater and more powerful than the mortal self,the physical being... that's what I see when I watch film of James Brown on the TAMI Show. Interestingly, the show was directed by Steve Binder who would later direct Elvis Presley in his 68 Comeback Special. On that show Elvis did a great version of the song 'Let Yourself Go' ... James Brown certainly gave it up and turned it loose on the TAMI Show. I have a song on my 'Playing The Game' album called 'I Used To Love This World' which some people might feel it is quite sad, but I don't agree. Yes, we are living in very turbulent times and the situation seem to be getting worse by the day... that's why it is important for me to stop and take time to remember... I Used to Love This World more than I do today for sure, but there are still plenty of things that I love... like James Brown and the Famous Flames on the TAMI Show! In the words of (as JB remembered him in concert), Brother Mr Elvis Presley: "all you gotta do is ... let yourself go" Mr Excitement Jackie Wilson!
How about some good news?
When you are feeling down, is there a better way to quickly feel okay, than to watch some old film of the legendary Jackie Wilson, known as Mr Excitement no less, on Shindig?  Shindig! was a fantastic pop soul show that ran on American TV from September 1964 to january 1966. It featured great artists, a top drawer house band that featured many now legendary musicians, singers and dancers as well as brilliant direction. Watch out for Jackie winking at the camera at 1min 52 secs after singing the line 'and I'm worried'. Now I have on occasion, been accused of over-thinking things, but I believe Jackie is communicating that he's not really worried, he knows it's a game and a dream ....we will all wake up from one day. Thanks Jackie! Or maybe it's just that he's not worried, because he's Jackie Wilson... Decide for yourself! 1, 2 get down! Bonus Clip Here is another amazing clip of Jackie in full effect doing a high energy version of his classic hit 'Baby Workout'. Please watch your ears because the sound level on this clip is MUCH LOUDER than the one above. Also the picture quality is very degraded, but while it is still available ... you may want to check it out. You either feel it or you don't... no problem, let's celebrate our right to be individuals! For me? It's not that I don't like modern music, I just like this stuff more.... I am working on a few new projects, one of which is an album of what I call rock n' soul... music you can dance to! It's called, 'The Unmistakable Sound Of The Shakdown'. Stay tuned! In the meantime, if you are so inclined, turn your speakers down and let's have a nice big hand for Mr Jackie Wilson! Gone but not forgotten! More info here Stevie Wonder and The Motown Drummers
In the film Standing In the Shadows of Motown, those two Funk Brothers Uriel Jones and Richard ‘Pistol ' Allen are talking about their friend and colleague, the late great Benny Benjamin. Between them, these three godfathers of the groove occupied the drum chair on an incredible amount of hits during the label’s Detroit 60’s heyday.
About 30 minutes into the film, Pistol Allen who would pass away in 2002 himself, sits behind the kit in The Snakepit, the Detroit studio where Motown cut their classic early hits. The drum kit still sounds very funky! I don’t think they have changed the drumheads! And Pistol still is a master. He demonstrates the pickup drum fill variations between the three drummers. All of them instantly recognisable and still much used by modern groovemakers today. Afterwards, Uriel Jones, graciously acknowledges that all of the fills originated with Benny Benjamin himself. Check out this video from what looks like the late 60’s, showing Stevie Wonder playing a free spirited drum solo and listen to the influence of his great mentors in those drum fills... Pistol Allen said that you knew it was Benny Benjamin because he started his drum fill from the mounted tom, whereas Pistol and Uriel started on the snare... I just know that they are all as funky as hell! Watch below as Stevie channels the spirit of Benny Benjamin... At least that’s what I think is going on! 1,2 get down! I Love Music Part 1Here are a few reasons why: The untouchable feel of Green Onions by Booker T and The MGs...the almost too lazy drum groove of Louie Louie by The Kingsmen...Sam Cooke throwing it down on Live at The Harlem Square Club...the horn break on the extended version of People Get Up And Drive Your Funky Soul by James Brown...the incredible, yet discarded backing vocal arrangements on Can't Buy Me Love and Got To Get You Into My Life by The Beatles from the Anthology albums...the thundering drum intro of Get Offa My Cloud by The Rolling Stones...the hope In Peter Paul and Mary's If I Had A Hammer, Live At The Newport Folk Festival... the urgency of Bama Lama Bama Loo by Little Richard...the sublime vocal harmony blend of The Byrds on All I Really Want To Do...Sly and The Family Stone getting way down on their version of Que Sera Sera...the sadness of Harry Hippy by Bobby Womack...the joy of Grazin' In the Grass by The Friends Of Distinction...the razor sharp intro of Till The End Of The Day by The Kinks... the relentless propulsion of Edwin Starr's 25 Miles...
To be continued.......Youtube: Booker T and the MGs redefining perfection Live in Europe 67 
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     Hello and welcome to my website. To quote the Rolling Stones, please allow me to introduce myself ! As a studio based musician, engineer and programmer working alongside producers including Gil Norton, Ian Stanley, Danton Supple,Chris Hughes and Ross Cullum, I have worked on records for artists as diverse as: In Case Of Fire, Feeder, Maximo Park, Gomez, Natalie Imbruglia, The Distillers, Ed Harcourt, Ben Kweller, Dashboard Confessional, Starsailor, Funeral For A Friend, Stephanie Kirkham, Moya Brennan, Naimee Coleman, Span, Thirteen Senses, Son Of Dork, Morningwood, Psychid and Terris. Recent projects with Gil Norton include the forthcoming albums for Goldhawks, Violent Soho and Gyroscope all set for a 2010 release. At this website you can hear my own music. Working alone, I like to fuse elements of 60s pop and rock with some early soul and funk influences, to produce records that recall yester-year without a doubt, combined with a lyrical perspective that challenges accepted wisdoms and conventions. Why? Well, perhaps almost everything we know is wrong after all... With four album releases in 2009, I am currently recording album number five, 'The Unmistakable Sound Of The Shakedown' 12 tracks of dynamite 60s funk! Early pre mix versions of a few songs can be heard in the music player. All albums can be heard in full from the music page and can be purchased at the iTunes music store as well as from this site. More album releases are planned for 2010 as well as acoustic live appearances and gigs with a band later in the year. Thanks for stoppping by!    |
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