Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Singers of all time

It is always a blessing and a curse when Rolling Stone does a special Issue. The 100 Greatest Albums, 100 Greatest Songs, 100 Greatest Live Performances have now been joined by 100 Greatest Singers.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/24161972

These issues are great for the most part but for the more fanatical of us out here, they also disappoint. Consumer magazines need to cater to a wide audience and so make every attempt to please a majority. What is really bad is when they fob off research on editorial interns who are arn’t old enough to have even a limited interest in the classic artists. This seems to increasingly be the case with Rolling Stone. Note what they list as “Key Tracks” for these musical icons. Most look like they came directly off Wikipedia. If Jan Wenner had the time he could have done a better job coming up with these off the top of his head.  And so I’d like to submit to you my additions, in case you were thinking of putting together a 100 Greatest Singers of All Time playlist. [Note, the order is Rolling Stone's and not my personal order, if a number is missing it is because I didn't have any additions to their Key Track list, this post only deals with the first 50 of the greatest 100]. I got carried away on a few artists (how do you pick 3 Dylan or Lennon songs?) and tried to just consider great vocals. . .

1. Aretha Franklin- (Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone, Until You Come Back To Me

2. Ray Charles- Drown In My Own Tears, Hallelujah I Love Her So, Tell Me How Do You Feel

3.  Elvis Presley-Anyplace is Paradise, Treat Me Nice, Little Sister

4.   Sam Cooke- Cupid, Chain Gang, Twistin’ The Night Away

5.   John Lennon-Twist And Shout, Leave My Kitten Alone, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, The Word, Tomorrow Never Knows, A Day In The Life, Hey Bulldog, Mother, I Found Out

6.   Marvin Gaye- I’ll Be Doggone, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Your Precious Love, Where Are We Going?

7.   Bob Dylan-Girl From The North Country, Seven Curses, Tomorrow Is A Long Time, Positively 4th Street, Most Likely You Go Your Way, Idiot Wind (session), Black Diamond Bay, High Water (For Charley Patton)

8. Otis Redding- Can’t Turn You Loose, I’ve Been Lovin’ You Too Long, Hard To Handle, Trick Or Treat

9. Stevie Wonder- Uptight, Superwoman, Creepin’, Knocks Me Off My Feet, As

10. James Brown- It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World, Get Up (Sex Machine), Living in America

11. Paul McCartney-Things We Said Today, She’s A Woman, Monkberry Moon Delight, Ballroom Dancing

13. Roy Orbison- Crying

14. Robert Plant- How Many More Times, Ramble On, That’s The Way, Hots On For Nowhere 

15. Mick Jagger- Under My Thumb, Back Street Girl, 2000 Light Years From Home, Jigsaw Puzzle, Monkee Man, Fingerprint File, Hand Of Fate

17. Bob Marley- Hammer, Rat Race, War, Who The Cap Fit, Satisfy My Soul

18. Smokey Robinson- Mickey’s Monkey, The Tears Of A Clown

21. David Bowie-The Jean Genie, Golden Years

22. Van Morrison-Mystic Eyes, T.B.Sheets, I’ll Be Your Lover, Too, Into the Mystic, You Don’t Pull No Punches, But You Don’t Push The River, Tir Na Nog, Pagan Streams, Lonely Avenue   

23.  Janis Joplin- Ball and Chain,Try (Just A Little Bit Harder), Half Moon 

24. Howlin’ Wolf- Howlin’ For My Darling, Shake For Me, Hidden Charms, Worried About My Baby 

25. Bono-Two Hearts Beat As One, Bad (Live), Desire, Bullet The Blue Sky (Live), 

26. Steve Winwood-Can’t Find My Way Home, Freedom Rider, Dream Gerrard, Spanish Dancer

27. Dusty Springfield- Wishin’ And Hopin’, The Look of Love

28. Bruce Spingsteen- Forth of July, Asbury Park (Sandy), The Fever, The Promised Land, Downbound Train, Ain`t Got You, Human Touch, Secret Garden 

29. Neil Young- Oh, Lonesome Me, Needle & Damage Done, Comes a Time, Wrecking Ball, Cortez The Killer (Live)

30. Elton John-The Cage, Come Down In Time, Love Lies Bleeding, Don’t Let the Sun Go down on Me 

31. Curtis Mayfield- Gypsy Woman, Freddie’s Dead

32. Joni Mitchell- I Had A King, The Dawnreader, Urge for Going, Ladies Of The Canyon, Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire, Electricity, Edith And The Kingpin, Song For Sharon

47.  Jim Morrison- Back Door Man, The Crystal Ship, You’re Lost, Little Girl, When The Music’s Over, Roadhouse Blues, Peace Frog, The Changeling   

50.  Bonnie Raitt- You’ve Been In Love Too Long, My First Night Alone Without You, Sweet Forgiveness, Have a Heart

Mitch Mitchell, R.I.P.

The death of Mitch Mitchell this week means Billy Cox is the only remaining Hendrix sideman of note. Jimi had four group configurations during the years of his success. Noel Redding played bass from the forming of the Experience in 1966 through the end of the Spring ’69 tour when he quit the band after the Denver show. Billy Cox, an old army buddy of Jimi’s, was the replacement bassist and stayed until Jimi’s accidental death in September of the following year. Mitch was the drummer for all four years with the exception of the Band of Gypsies period from the Fall of ’69 though early January when Buddy Miles played drums. Miles also died this year. Mitch joined the Experience Hendrix tour this Fall but from what I heard, he played rarely or made a few appearances. 

Mitch was a jazz drummer who liked to move around his set with lots of rolls and fills. A contrast to Miles, who was notable for a rock solid pounding beat, Mitchell’s busy style was perfect for Jimi’s frenetic sound. For Mitch’s shining moment check out side 3 of Electric Ladyland, released 40 years ago this month, for Jimi’s opus 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be). Mitch is incredible on this track.

 

U2’s first three albums get deluxe treatment

I have been listening to a lot of U2 lately. The earliest 3 albums were recently re-mastered with an extra disk of demos, outtakes or live tracks. These are pricey ($30 ish) so I’ll hold off on purchasing but I’ve been cherry picking a few tracks on iTunes. When this charismatic teenage punk band from Ireland began their recording career in 1980 it would take 4 years for me to discover them. Looking back on the first album Boy you can see the best elements of their style, primarily; Edge’s guitar (out in front wailing like a air-raid siren) and the (soon to be) rock solid rhythm section of Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen. Like Andy Summers of The Police, The Edge adds texture and color over the beat, frequently leaving a song’s melody to bassist Clayton or Bono’s vocal. Larry Mullen’s drum style is aggressive in intensity but he mostly sticks to driving the beat without the use of showy fills. Bono would take a while to find his role. Early on it’s The Edge who translates the excitement of what they are doing (working in a real band!) Key tracks on Boy are I will Follow, Out of Control and 11 O’Clock Tick Tock (check out the Live at the Marquee version). The British album cover with the prepubescent boy has been restored for the remastered version. The original was struck from the US version for fear of accidentally endorsing pedophilia to their gay fans! Check out these guys doing Out of Control in 1981, Bono looks 15 years old and is not surprisingly an insufferable showboat.

Now contrast with the way they tear this up at Slane Castle twenty years later a week after the death of Bono’s father, for my money the best of their concert films:

Wikipedia has an excellent account of this 2001 concert here. . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U2_Go_Home:_Live_from_Slane_Castle

By the time they got to War in 1983 they were a mature band. This album shows their performing style fully developed. Bono has a grip on his role as front man and his singing is great. The incredible passion in the performance and the improved material really make the album. They are a band transformed after the weak October, during which they actually broke up to get their spiritual act together. War’s political theme added to its appeal and forever linked U2 to social justice issues. Two of my favorite U2 tracks are found here, Two Hearts Beat As One (try the Club Version remix) and New Years Day. These songs are so good you can listen to them repeatedly and concentrate on what each musician is doing individually. The album also features the intense anthem Sunday Bloody Sunday, their first hit to resonate in America, and Drowning Man which is has an atmospheric quality – a prequel to the Brian Eno/Daniel Lanois sound of their next album The Unforgettable Fire.

War would be supported by a world tour, which produced a live album and film Under the Blood Red Sky that was recorded from their show at Red Rocks outside Denver on June 5^th 1983. With heavy rotation on MTV the Red Rocks footage contributed to U2’s growing popularity as a live act.