#085
Restos de Colecção VII
E eis que chegamos ao sétimo Restos de Colecção, forma airosa que arranjei para não desperdiçar algumas belas vitualhas deixadas fora dos tachos e panelas em que fui “cosendo” e estufando estas Music for the Weekend. Desta feita o gatilho-e-colher-de-pau para tudo foi uma ilustração de Bob Peak para a revista Playboy nos anos 60.
Como já vem sendo habitual este retalho de excelentes músicas que ficaram em excesso na dúzia que a precede está pleno de pepitas resplandecentes. Logo quase ao início Roland Bautista com Gone, editado no seu primeiro album a solo datado de 1977. Bautista nunca viu verdadeiro reconhecimento do seu talento, que não era pouco. Guitarrista no primeiro disco dos Earth, Wind and Fire para a Columbia, Last Days and Time, voltaria ao seio dessa super máquina de funk só em 1981 para substituir Al Mckay nos seminais Raise!, Powelight e Electric Universe. Mas tudo isso para gravar durante esse hiato com Ronnie Laws, Leon Haywood, Lamont Dozier, com os Crusaders e com os Jacksons, no Blue Valentine e no Heartattack and Vine de Tom Waits assim como em vários discos de George Duke.
Ou a escolha de Sandie Shaw a cantar Anyone Who Had A Heart, escrito originalmente por Bacharach para interpretação de Dionne Warwick, na primeira incursão da British Electric Foundation pela Music Of Quality And Distinction em 1982. A BEF era o resultado da cisão “sheffieldiana” nos Human League em 1980 quando Oakley decidiu tomar um rumo mais pop em Dare enquanto Marsh e Ware iriam por seu lado criar os Heaven 17 (referencia a uma banda mencionada por Alex em A Clockwork Orange) assim como este projecto que re-avaliava grandes clássicos da pop com ajuda de uma catrefada de artistas convidados entre os quais até mesmo uma Tina Turner que bem pode agradecer à BEF a sua carreira pós-Ike sem dúvida alguma por causa da sua versão de Ball of Confusion dos Temptations.
Ou Maha com Law Laffeina El Ard. “Extração a frio” de uma cassete editada pela Sout El Hob em 1979, a recente re-edição de Orkos é uma vénia merecida à cantora da Cairo Jazz Band de Salah Ragab. Quando, no fim do ano passado, a Habibi Funk contactou a cantora para a informar dos seus planos de re-edição esta mostrou-se primeiro surpreendida pelo interesse em algo do seu passado com mais de 40 anos mas depois ajudou até mesmo a compilar toda a informação e imagens que acompanham a prensagem desta vigésima edição do selo berlinense.
E assim fui re-compilando uma série de coisas fantásticas que teriam ficado fechadas no meu baú se não fizesse estes Restos de Colecção. Da m4we dedicada ao sexo repesquei Pascal Comelade em L’Orgie Parisienne, o bal-musette dos Java com Sex Accordéon et Alcool assim como a apropriação que os Phantom Slasher, um dos nomes de ataque dos Idjut Boys, fazem de Mais Kriola dos Clube de Balaço mas mudando o nome para um muito mais sugestivo Sentir minha Salsicha. Da fama fui re-aproveitar o sir Paul McCartney com os Wings em Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me), o Green Garthside a cantar Jacques Derrida, os Godley and Creme com Chaplin House e um Frank Sinatra tirado da primeira colaboração de Miss Kittin com The Hacker em 2001 quando gravaram um First Album para a International Deejay Gigolo Records. E posso mesmo dizer que ainda consegui ir buscar à sucata dos all mod cons quer o recente single dos Arctic Monkeys, There’d Better Be A Mirrorball, quer uma antiguinha dos Sitiados, a Balada Do Elevador editada em O Triunfo Dos Electrodomésticos, LP de 1995.
If I could be you, if you could be me
For just one hour
If we could find a way
To get inside each other’s mind, uh huh
If you could see you through my eyes
Instead of your ego
I believe you’d be, I believe you’d be
Surprised to see
That you’ve been blind, uh huh
Walk a mile in my shoes
Just walk a mile in my shoes
And before you abuse, criticise and accuse
Just walk a mile in my shoes
Como sempre nestas coisas de Restos só escolhi trinta e nove canções, sendo que essa ultima enviei à minha convidada, a designer Anabela Baldaque para que ela me “respondesse” com a quadragésima. E boa escolha na minha opinião, já que lhe enviei Walk A Mile In My Shoes, original de Joe South datado do ano de 1970. South é também o autor de (I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden que havia incluído na m4we#079 na versão de Lynn Anderson. Walk a Mile in My Shoes tem por sua vez também algumas notáveis interpretações como a de Elvis ao vivo no album On Stage (talvez uma das melhores covers desta canção como se pode ver em https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-NgDbK9N6g) ou a dos Coldcut com Robert Owens no album Sound Mirrors de 2006. No entanto para a criadora de moda preferi enviar a que Bryan Ferry gravou em 1974 no seu segundo album a solo, Another time, Another Place, sendo talvez a minha grande razão para esta escolha de que pelo menos o cantor conhecia tão bem Emilio Pucci quanto ela.
A escolha dela ainda é mais surpreendente. “Olá! A música que me enviaste remete-me para as raízes da música da América. Uma dessas raízes é objectivamente a música country. São referências mais rurais, menos urbanas, de uma América mais “profunda”, onde o rock foi beber muitas influências. É um universo que não conheço muito, mas que me agrada. É uma resposta apenas musical que me deu muito prazer pesquisar. Uma resposta que fizesse sentido nos meus ouvidos e complete o teu desafio. Aqui vai”.
E o que aí veio foi a versão de Your Cheatin’ Heart que Matt Johnson gravou no album Hanky Panky, inteiramente dedicado ao legado de Hank Williams. Editado em 1995, o mesmo ano em que o mentor do projecto The The também escreveu as liner notes para Alone and Forsaken, uma compilação de demos do cantor do Alabama.
Your Cheatin’ Heart é considerado um dos mais importantes standards da música country e surgiu da descrição feita por Williams sobre a sua ex, Audrey Sheppard, uns minutinhos apenas serviram para ditar a letra a Billie Jean Jones (a sua esposa da altura) que pouco tempo depois, a 23 de Setembro, já estava a ser gravada no Castle Studio em Nashville, na que viria a ser a sua ultima vez nos estúdios.
Hank Williams morreu a 1 de Janeiro do ano seguinte a regressar de um concerto de Ano Novo no Ohio. O single, com Kaw Liga no lado A, foi assim editado postumamente e tornou-se num sucesso quase instantâneo, vendendo um milhão de cópias nas primeiras seis semanas de estadia nas tabelas de vendas. Muitos elogios tem sido feitos a esta canção mas nada melhor do que ouvir o maior historiador da cena country, Colin Escott, afirmar que “the song – for all intents and purposes – defines country music”. Antes de Johnson já Joni James, Frankie Laine, Ray Charles e Patsy Cline haviam dado voz a este tema do mestre.
Obrigado Anabela pela resposta, right on the nose…
PS: Abro aqui uma trégua, o mês de Dezembro só terá direito a um ou dois Hors Serie, a segunda parte desta temporada volta logo em Janeiro.
#staysafe #musicfortheweekend
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And just like that we get to a seventh Restos de Colecção, a way that I arranged so as not to waste some amazing victuals, leftovers from the pots and pans in which I “sow and stew” these Music for the Weekend. This time around trigger-and-wooden-spoon for everything was an illustration by Bob Peak for Playboy magazine in the 60s.
As usual, this patchwork of excellent songs that were left in excess in the previous dozen is full of glittering crisp nuggets. Almost at the beginning Roland Bautista with Gone, released on his first solo album dated 1977. Bautista never saw true recognition of his talent, which was not at all little. Guitarist on Earth, Wind and Fire’s first album for Columbia, Last Days and Time, he would return to the heart of this super funk machine only in 1981 to replace Al Mckay on the seminal Raise!, Powelight and Electric Universe LPs. While recording around this hiatus with Ronnie Laws, Leon Haywood, Lamont Dozier, with the Crusaders and the Jacksons, in Tom Waits’ Blue Valentine and in Heartattack and Vine as well as in several of George Duke’s records.
Or Sandie Shaw’s choice to sing Anyone Who Had A Heart, originally written by Bacharach for Dionne Warwick’s interpretation, in British Electric Foundation’s first foray into their three tomes of Music Of Quality And Distinction published in 1982. BEF was the result of a “Sheffieldian” split in the Human League in 1980 when Oakley decided to take a more poppy direction in Dare while Marsh and Ware would go on to create Heaven 17 (a reference to a band mentioned by Alex in A Clockwork Orange) as well as this project that re-evaluated great classics of pop with the help of a host of guest artists including a Tina Turner who can thank the BEF for her post-Ike career, doubtless because of her version of Ball of Confusion by the Temptations.
Or even Maha with Law Laffeina El Ard. “A cold extraction” from a cassette put out by Sout El Hob in 1979, the recent Orkos reissue is a well-deserved bow to Salah Ragab’s Cairo Jazz Band singer. When, at the end of last year, Habibi Funk contacted her to inform of their re-release plans, she was first surprised by this sudden interest in something from her 40-year-old past, but then she even helped to compile the entire information and images that accompany the pressing of the twentieth release by the Berlin label.
And so I re-compiled a series of fantastic things that would have been locked in my trunk hadn’t I made these Restos. From a m4we dedicated to sex I recapped Pascal Comelade in L’Orgie Parisienne, Java’s bal-musette with Sex Accordéon et Alcool as well as the appropriation that Phantom Slasher, one of Idjut Boys noms de plume, make of Mais Kriola by Clube de Balanço but changing the name to a much more suggestive Sentir minha Salsicha. And from fame I re-enjoyed Sir Paul McCartney with Wings in Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me), Green Garthside singing Jacques Derrida, Godley and Creme with Chaplin House and a Frank Sinatra taken from Miss Kittin’s first collaboration with The Hacker in 2001 when they recorded their First Album for International Deejay Gigolo Records. And I can even say that I still managed to get some scrap out of my all mod cons, either with Arctic Monkeys recent single, There’d Better Be A Mirrorball, or an oldie by Sitiados, the Balada Do Elevador that came out in 1995 on O Triunfo Dos Electrodomésticos LP.
If I could be you, if you could be me
For just one hour
If we could find a way
To get inside each other’s mind, uh huh
If you could see you through my eyes
Instead of your ego
I believe you’d be, I believe you’d be
Surprised to see
That you’ve been blind, uh huh
Walk a mile in my shoes
Just walk a mile in my shoes
And before you abuse, criticise and accuse
Just walk a mile in my shoes
As always in these surplus selections, I only chose thirty-nine songs, with the last one being sent to my guest, in this case designer Anabela Baldaque, so that she could “answer” me with the fortieth song. It’s a good choice in my opinion, as I sent you Walk A Mile In My Shoes, original by Joe South dated from 1970. South is also the author of (I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden which I had included in m4we#079 in Lynn Anderson’s version. Walk a Mile in My Shoes also has some notable performances such as Elvis’s live on the On Stage album (perhaps one of the best covers of this song as seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =z-NgDbK9N6g) or Coldcut’s with Robert Owens on the 2006 album Sound Mirrors. However, for the fashion designer I preferred to send the one that Bryan Ferry recorded in 1974 on his second solo album, Another Time, Another Place, being perhaps the biggest reason for this choice that at least the Ferry knew Emilio Pucci as well as Anabela did.
Her choice is even more surprising. “Hello! The music you sent me takes me back to America’s music roots. One of those roots is objectively country music. They are more rural, less urban references, of a “deeper” America, where rock drank many influences. It’s a universe I don’t know much about, but I love it. It’s a musical only answer that gave me a lot of pleasure to research. An answer that made sense to my ears and completes your challenge. Here goes”.
And what came next was the version of Your Cheatin’ Heart that Matt Johnson recorded on the Hanky Panky album, entirely dedicated to the legacy of Hank Williams. Released in 1995, the same year that The The’s mastermind also wrote the liner notes for Alone and Forsaken, a compilation of demos by the Alabama singer.
Your Cheatin’ Heart is considered one of the most important standards in country music and arose from Williams’ description of his ex, Audrey Sheppard, just a few minutes served to dictate the lyrics to Billie Jean Jones (his wife at the time) so that not much later, on the 23rd of September, it was already being recorded at Castle Studio in Nashville, in what would be Hank’s last time in the studios.
Hank Williams died on January 1 of the year after returning from a New Year’s concert in Ohio. The single, with Kaw Liga on the A-side, was thus released posthumously and became an almost instant hit, selling a million copies in its first six weeks of charts. Much praise has been given to this song, but nothing better than hearing the greatest historian of the country scene, Colin Escott, say that “the song – for all intents and purposes – defines country music.” Before Johnson, Joni James, Frankie Laine , Ray Charles and Patsy Cline had already given voice to this song. Thanks Anabela for the answer, right on the nose…
PS: I open a truce here, the month of December will only be entitled to one or two Hors Serie, the second part of this season returns in January.
#staysafe #musicfortheweekend
Dollar Brand – Single Petal Of A Rose
Bautista – Gone
Pascal Comelade – L’Orgie Parisienne ft. René Vienet
Sandie Shaw – Anyone Who Had A Heart
Arctic Monkeys – There’d Better Be A Mirrorball
Paul McCartney & Wings – Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)
Marika Rökk – In der Nacht ist der Mensch nicht gern alleine
Paul Martin & Jean-Pierre Castaldi – Le troublant témoignage de Paul Martin
Carambolage – 22 rue Chenoise
Maya Delilah – Harvest Moon
Patti Page – Mockin’ Bird Hill
Sexual Harrassment – We Want Prince
Maha – Law Laffeina El Ard
The Hartz Mountain Master Canaries – Mexican Dance
Betty Boop – Music Goes ‘Round And Around
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Purple Haze
Buddy Holly & The Crickets – That’ll Be The Day
Claude François – Bench No. 3 Waterloo Station
Parquet Courts – Plant Life (Yu Su’s Transient Version)
Barbra Streisand – On a Clear Day
Scritti Politti – Jacques Derrida
Java – Sex Accordéon et Alcool
Vanessa Paradis – I’m Waiting For The Man
Devrim SARICA – Twenty
Miss Kittin & The Hacker – Frank Sinatra
Phantom Slasher – Sentir minha Salsicha
Video Kids – Woodpeckers From Space
The Rolling Stones – Miss You
Jimetta Rose & The Voices of Creation – Let the Sunshine In
Godley and Creme – Chaplin House
Mux Mool – Fifteen Tons
Eddie Cochran – C’mon Everybody
Sitiados – Balada Do Elevador
Pierre Cavalli – Un Soir Chez Norris
The Moody Blues – Legend Of A Mind
Moodymann – Let Me In
Tamaki Sawa – カスバの女
Carlos Do Carmo – Por Morrer Uma Andorinha
Bryan Ferry – Walk A Mile In My Shoes
The The – Your Cheatin’ Heart