Thursday, June 30, 2011

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: It's Mighty Savage

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
July 1, 2011



BARRENCE WHITFIELD & THE SAVAGES
Peter Greenberg with Barrence Whitfield
in Santa Fe last year

After a quarter decade, East Coast R & B and soul shouter Barrence Whitfield has reunited with the core of his original band, The Savages, and recorded a mighty new album. It’s called Savage Kings. It’s available in Europe and is scheduled for American release next week on Shake It Records, a Cincinnati label.

Although Whitfield is from Boston and the record was recorded in Cincinnati, there’s a strong New Mexico connection here. Original Savages guitarist Peter Greenberg moved to Taos a couple of years ago.

Greenberg, who once played with Boston garage warriors Lyres (and now plays with Taos band Manby’s Head), instigated the reunion with Whitfield and original bassist Phil Lenker. In fact, their first live gigs together in 25 years or so were last year in Taos, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque.

This is the European cover
of Savage Kings
A history of the Savages, in a nutshell (as related to me in an interview with Whitfield last year): Whitfield was formerly a drummer in a funk band. While working in a record store and studying journalism at Boston University in the early ’80s, he hooked up with Greenberg, who was fresh out of Lyres and looking to start a more R & B oriented band. They recorded a couple of albums together before the original Savages, including Greenberg, began drifting away.

Whitfield pressed on, forming another Savages band and making more albums, including a couple of country-flavored efforts with Tom Russell in the mid-’90s. A confessed vinyl addict, he still works in a record store.

Savage Kings kicks off with “(Your Love Is Like a) Ramblin’ Rose.” No, it’s not the Nat King Cole song or the Grateful Dead’s “Ramble on Rose.” This is an MC5 classic. And Whitfield uses his best falsetto scream to deliver it. It’s followed by a punchy rocker called “Just Moved In” that features a honking sax solo by new Savage Tom Quartulli.

One of the coolest songs here was written by Greenberg and fellow Manby’s Header Mike Mooney. It’s called “Willie Meehan,” and it’s about an old boxer in the early part of the 20th century who actually beat Jack Dempsey a couple of times. Battling Willie, according to the song: “Never did no training / He ate his way to heavyweight.” The opening riffs remind me of The Sonics’ “Strychnine,” which Whitfield also covered a few years ago. Like Meehan himself, this tune is a chunky slugger.

“Shot Down” basically hits that murky borderline between R & B and ’60s garage music. Meanwhile, “Who’s Gonna Rock My Baby,” an obscure old rockabilly tune by Jerry Woodard, sounds as if it were written especially for Whitfield. “Well, I got my call from my draft board today,” the song begins. “Two years might not be that long, but I got to leave my baby at home.”

Whitfield and the band mix things up a bit. The minor-key “You Told a Lie” is basically contemporary blues. You can almost imagine Albert Collins or Robert Cray or maybe even Buddy Guy doing this one. “Bad Girl” is a good old-fashioned riveting soul meltdown; it starts out with a spoken-word introduction and ends with falsetto pleas for mercy.

Since I first listened to this album, my favorite song has been an old Lightnin’ Slim dirty blues classic called “It’s Mighty Crazy.” Captain Beefheart covered this also, at least in his live shows, although he called it “Keep on Rubbing.” (I’ve got it on a live bootleg Beefheart album called Crazy Little Things.) Whitfield’s version is closer to Lightnin’ Slim’s, except he’s got a sax instead of a harmonica.

Whitfield and the boys are touring Europe this fall. I hope the tour is a big success and inspires the Savages to record more.

Also recommended:
* Barrence Whitfield & The Savages. In anticipation of Savage Kings, Whitfield re-released his self-titled long out-of-print first CD, from the early ’80s, complete with a bunch of bonus tracks — outtakes, live recordings, etc. — from that era.

It starts out with “Bip Bop Bip,” a rocker written by soulman Don Covay. It’s got Whitfield’s original version of “Mama Get the Hammer” (the hammer is needed because there’s flies on the baby’s head.”). The song came from a ’50s R & B band, the Bobby Peterson Quintet. But it has become something of a signature tune for Whitfield.

Other must-hears are “Georgia Slop,” a Big Al Dowling tune (written by Jimmy McCracklin), which was later covered by Los Lobos, and “Whistle Bait,” which is a Collins Kids song, originally sung by the pre-teen Larry Collins. Whitfield sings it like an adult — a lust-crazed adult. Greenberg’s big moment here is the breakneck romper “Whiskey Wagon,” a fiery rockabilly slammer.
BARRENCE WHITFIELD & THE SAVAGES

Among the bonus tracks is a nice slow soulful “Pain in My Heart,” a Naomi Neville tune that is best known for the version by Otis Redding. Whitfield fakes crying at the end of the song. Maybe some real tears were shed in that audience.

This CD has only been released in Great Britain by Ace Records. The good news is you can pick it up for a reasonable price at Amazon and other outlets. It’s worth having the CD because of the fine booklet with extensive liner notes by John Swenson and photos. It’s a savage treat.

BLOG BONUS:

Here's a Marvel Team-Up for you: Barrence meets King Salami! Live in Norway. (It takes about a minute and a half before the music starts.)


It'll Take More Than a Devastating Fire and Mass Evacuation to Stop Russ Gordon!

Russ Gordon, who has presented free concerts in Los Alamos every summer since before they invented the A-Bomb (ok, that's a slight exaggeration) just informed me that the show will go on.

Even though his city has been evacuated due to the fire near Los Alamos, Gordon says the Friday night show has been been moved to the Espanola Plaza.

This week's headliner is James Hyland the former lead singer for South Austin Jug Band. The music starts at 7 p.m.

I haven't heard Hyland, but it would be cool if a big crowd showed up in support. Like all Gordon shows, it's free. Check out his web site HERE

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

R.I.P. JERRY ROSEN: MY UNCLE

You might not have ever heard of Jerry Rosen. But he was a serious and respected musician.

He was a composer, a founding member of the Department of Music at UC Davis -- " the face of UC Davis Music for a half-century" -- and a member of the faculty of the University of California between his appointment in 1952 and his retirement in 1988.

And he was married to my my father's sister, Sylvia. Jerry always was one of the people I looked forward to talking to at Terrell family gatherings. A few years ago he sent me a CD of an opera he wrote about The Emperor Norton.

Here's a little bit about his music from his obit in The Davis Enterprise.

As a composer, Rosen left some 60 works of solo and chamber music, often including clarinet or saxophone, as well as works for voice and those of symphonic and operatic scope. His large-scale works for saxophone, including a Concerto of 1957 and a Quintet for Saxophone and Strings, 1974, attracted considerable attention, especially in Europe. His two operas, “Calisto and Melibea,” to a libretto by Edwin Honig (1979), and “Emperor Norton of the USA,” to a libretto by James Schevill (1999), were produced in the Main Theatre at UC Davis.


His major song cycle to a volume by the UC Davis poet Karl Shapiro, “White-Haired Lover,” was premiered in 1979; additionally he set poetry of Celeste Turner Wright, including “Campus Doorways,” composed for the inauguration of what is now the Pavilion of the Activities & Recreation Center (ARC), 1978; this was played again for the dedication of Celeste Turner Wright Hall in 1997. For the 75th anniversary of the campus in 1984, Rosen composed the University Fanfare that continues to be heard at the start of each commencement ceremony.

Rest in peace, Uncle Jerry.

Conchas Fire Takes KSFR Tower

I'll probably be doing Internet only versions of The Santa Fe Opry and Terrell's Sound World this week -- and probably for some weeks to come.

The raging Conchas fire near Los Alamos, which reportedly has grown to 60,000 acres, has stopped the power of KSFR's transmission tower on Pajarito Mountain.

"KSFR's tower was in the path of the fire last night and may have been lost," says the web site of Santa Fe Public Radio. It's not clear how much damage was done.

KSFR still is streaming. You can hear it HERE. Jerry Becker's jazz show is coming in loud and clear on my computer speakers.

The New Mexican has it's fire coverage on a handy single page now. This includes the live blog.

Happy Update: Right around noon KSFR went back on the air. None of the station honchos know exactly why, but that obviously means the tower and transmitter didn't burn up. The Conchas fire is still uncontained, so of course there's the danger it'll go off again. But as they say in the radio biz, stay tuned!

Sunday, June 26, 2011

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, June 26, 2011
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

Webcasting!
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell (at) ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Who Do You Love? by Bo Diddley
Stay Away by Mondo Topless
Eat For Me by The Juke Joint Pimps
Shakey Shake #7 by Shouting Thomas & The Torments
I'm a Wicked One by The Hives
On the Move by Pierced Arrows
I Heard Her Call My Name by Velvet Underground
Rockabilly Monkey-Faced Girl by Ross Johnson
Hard Water by The Laundronauts

The World's Greatest Sinner by The A-Bones
Squid Lord by The Fall
Wine-O Baby by by Big Joe Turner
Who's Gonna Rock My Baby by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Miss Sue by Don And Dewey
I Hear Sirens by The Dirtbombs
Nunca la Quise by Wau y Los Arrrghs!!
Muchos Burritos by The Come n Go

Whizz Kid by The Hickoids
Space in Your Face by The Mekons
Raspberry Beret by Hindu Love Gods
Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White by The Standells
Dumpster Dive by Black Lips
Courtroom Blues by Johnny Otis
Anala by King Khan & BBQ Show
Mountain Oysters by Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis w/The Bill Doggett Trio

Lovers Never Say Goodbye by The Flamigos
Since I Met You Baby by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
The Wild West is Where I Want to Be by Tom Lehrer
Rickity Tickity Tin by Barbara Manning
Sweetheart (Waitress In A Donut Shop) by Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks
Don't Blame Me by Dex Romweber Duo
Book of Love by The Monotones
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

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