Dr. Hook's Connection to some Boy Named Sue; the Great Shel Silverstein

 

On the cover of the Rolling Stone.  Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show.  I don't know tons about this band - but we've all head their hit song on some juke box somewhere.  For starters - we have to agree that their second album has the All-time best title ever in rock and roll history for a band's second album.  Theirs is aptly named Sloppy Seconds.  But I looked to see on the back cover of this record it states, "All songs written by Shel Silverstein."  Not a few, not one - ALL!.  Including their hit - On the Cover of the Rolling Stone.  Shel is Sheldon Allan "Shel" Silverstein (born September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999), was a cool guy too, apparently.  My father-in-law knows Shel's son or nephew and I met that guy too at a Cubs game a few years ago.  Shel also wrote many children's books.  But you sure have heard the most notable song Shel wrote - Johnny Cash's monster smash hit - A Boy Named Sue.

Booker booked - Booker T. and the MG's - sans Booker T.

In the book I am reading about Atlantic Records and Ahmet Ertegun, called Music Man - Stax Records is mentioned prominently.  This record is by the MG's - aka the Memphis Group.  This is some bad stuff.  It's on the famous Stax records - aka Soulsville USA.  Booker T. and the MG's was the virtual house band for that label.  This version of the MG's has Al Jackson on drums, Bobby Manuel on guitar, the great Duck Dunn on bass of course, and Carson Whitsett on piano and organ.  It is from 1973 - this is fabulous.  But we have to consider this MG(D) Light.  Since two mainstays are missing, yes - frontman Booker T. Jones and all-time great guitarist Steve Cropper were estranged from Stax by the time this record came out.  Two singles were release off it, "Sugar Cane" and "Neck Bone."  Later on in 1975 - I read - Jones and Cropper agreed to reform the original lineup with Jackson and Dunn, but just days before their scheduled reunion, Jackson was murdered at his home in Memphis, Tennessee.

Kenny Burrell: God Bless the Child

I took a flyer on this one.  Only fifty cents, but I bought it only because the album cover is so stark and eerie.  It is by Kenny Burrell, called God Bless the Child.  This is a disturbing image on the cover.  Is this record about Vietnam?  I don't think so, but it looks like it.  A military-esque chopper, smoke and burned out ground, bare-looking trees, odd shapes.  But - it jazz, so anythnig goes.  Rob Carter is on bass, and the great Billy Cobham is drumming.  Cobham is originally from from Panama and a top jazz drummer, composer, and bandleader.  He cut his teeth playing with and for Miles Davis, and later with the Mahavishnu Orchestra.  Back to Burrell. Born in Detroit, he was a charter member of Dizzy Gillespie’s sextet in 1951 and he later toured with Oscar Peterson.  In the 1970’s he began leading seminars about music, particularly that of Duke Ellington.  He was topped several jazz polls and made well over 100 record album.  Check out his take on "C Jam Blues" off his tribute album to the Duke.  A consummate sideman, Burrell has been Director of Jazz Studies at UCLA.

The Souther–Hillman–Furay Band revisited

This is the inside cover of the Souther–Hillman–Furay Band's eponymously named album from 1974.  I have mentioned this band and this record before - but this inside photo is new.  According to somewhat reliable sources, the band was formed in 1973 "upon the request of David Geffen," then head of Asylum Records. The group had a substantial hit with the 1974 self-titled first album and the single "Fallin' in Love" reached No. 27 in the U.S.  It was reissued on CD by the Wounded Bird label in 2002.  In his review for http://www.allmusic.com/, critic Brett Hartenbach wrote "despite high expectations along with the history of their members, the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band's 1974 eponymous debut never quite lived up to its promise.  The trio... delivers a collection of ten pleasant, if overall unremarkable tunes in the singer/songwriter, country-rock vein. There are glimmers of past glories by each, but only Furay really connects solidly... there should be enough here—thanks especially to the Furay tracks—that will at least be of moderate interest to most fans."

The Fantastic Guitar of Roy Clark

After about only Jerry Reed, Roy Clark is the last of the Mohikans.  By that I mean - highly talented C&W guitar picker from that era.  I come across tons of his records in the fifty cent bins and I can't help myself - I buy them.  I feel compelled to.  Do you recall he had a bit part on the Beverly Hillbillys?  He was also co-host (with Buck Owens) on Hee-Haw of course.  Roy was also in something known as   The Million Dollar Band, wich was an all-star group of popular country musicians who played on Hee Haw.  The MDB were Chet Atkins, Boots Randolph, Roy Clark, Floyd Cramer, Charlie McCoy, Danny Davis, Jethro Burns, and Johnny Gimble.  All members of the group except Clark, McCoy, and Gimble have passed away.  Not to be confused with the one-off 1956 impromptu jam-session at Sun Records by "The Million Dollar Quartet," of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.  As a sports reference to super-groups, the old football Chicago (later St. Louis, now Arizona) Cardinals had something called the Dream Backfield.  It was also known as the "Million-Dollar Backfield"  - made up of tailback Pat Harder, QB Paul Christman, and halfback Charley Trippi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpWGx5odhh8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipweRXwPFiQ