Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Creepin’” by Stevie Wonder Today’s Song Of The Day is from Stevie Wonder’s 1974 album Fulfillingness’ First Finale which was released shortly after a car accident that almost took his life, making the album an all-the-more-important part of his canon. While on tour in North Carolina in August of 1973, Wonder’s car smashed into the back of a logging truck, and the bed of the truck crashed into the windshield of his car. Wonder suffered head injuries that left him in a coma for four days. He also partially lost his sense of smell and temporarily lost his sense of taste. The brush with death had a great impact on the...

Song Of the Day by Eric Berman – “I’m Going” by Neil Young & The Bluenotes After going electronic on Trans, country and western on Old Ways, and then turning himself into a rockabilly cat with The Shocking Pinks, what else could Neil Young have had in store for fans whose patience was beginning to wear thin as the 1980s drew to a close? Soul man! In 1988, Neil Young put together a soulful horn band called The Bluenotes and recorded the album This Note’s For You. The album was seen as a return to form after a string of patchy genre-hopping releases for Geffen Records, and it was also his first release back on the Reprise label. The...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Dancing Machine” by The Jackson 5 They were growing up…and the world liked their Jacksons young. By 1973, The Jackson 5 were becoming somewhat of a spent force around Motown. It had been a few years since the group scored a bona-fide top ten hit, and there was plenty of dissatisfaction to go around. Brother Michael was no longer the pint-sized dynamo that he once was. He was now a pimply 15 years old geek with a much deeper voice. Motown had been grooming him as a solo star much to the detriment of his singing brothers, and between 1971 and 1973 he scored several substantial solo hits including the top...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Work Song” by Nina Simone Here’s one that was released the year I was born, yet it sounds as hip and current as, well, I am.  OK, it is hipper and more current than I am, but it goes to show just how timeless Nina Simone’s recordings really were. Simone’s interpretive talents as a singer and piano player earned her the nickname, “The High Priestess Of Soul,” and put her right up there with greats like Anita O’Day, Odetta, Sarah Vaughan and Judy Henske, who all possess a similar earthy style. She was a terrific songwriter, comfortable mingling soul, gospel, folk and blues into a stew that was uniquely her...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Only A Lonely Man Would Know” by Marvin Gaye The Marvin Gaye albums What’s Going On, Let’s Get It On and Here, My Dear are considered to be his finest by fans and critics alike, and it would be hard to argue the contrary with what’s in the grooves. But it mystifies me that the critics fail to mention the album M.P.G. in the same breath as the others. M.P.G. came out in April of 1969, and was one of Marvin Gaye’s last records before he took the control of his career away from Motown, and began calling the shots himself. That said, M.P.G. (for Marvin Pentz Gaye, not miles...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Soldier Of Love (Lay Down Your Arms)” by Arthur Alexander He’s the only artist to be covered by the holy trinity of Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. Others who rushed to his deep well of first-rate copyrights included The Hollies, Ry Cooder, Pearl Jam, Ike & Tina Turner, Marshall Crenshaw, George Jones, Otis Redding, The Bee Gees, Humble Pie, and Dusty Springfield, and that’s only a small sampling of those who have recorded his tunes. Yet, Arthur Alexander, the man who wrote such classics as “Anna (Go To Him),” “You Better Move On,” “Sally Sue Brown,” “Detroit City,” “A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues” and...

    Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Hit Or Miss” by Odetta Odetta! Voice of the Civil Rights Movement? Roots mama? Gospel great? Soul queen? Hip hop hottie? The answer, of course is yes! Actually, most people don’t remember who Odetta was. But if you are of a certain age (which is certainly older than I am) and was a fan of folk music, Odetta was your hero. She was an activist, actress and an influence on any folk singer worth his weight in salt…including Dylan, Baez, Belafonte, Ochs, Neil and numerous others. She was in the thick of things, right there at the March onWashingtonin 1963. Martin Luther King dubbed her “The queen of American...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Silly Savage” by The Golden Toadstools “Chuck Berry, strawberry, cranberry and dingleberry, baby!” And so begins one of the most funked-up romps I’ve ever heard this side of the Godfather Of Soul himself!  Next to nothing is known about The Golden Toadstools, who originally released this one-off record written by Merlin Jones and Wayne Branham back in 1966. After doing much research I couldn’t come up with any information about who Jones and Branham are, who the group was or where they were from. All I could find is information about the record label that released this one of a kind record, which duly follows. The record was released on...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Blues Is A Woman” by Lou Rawls with The Les McCann Trio Most people remember Lou Rawls for his silky-smooth vocal delivery and his disco era hit “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine,” but by the time he had that hit in 1976, Rawls had already been recording albums, and yes many hits, for 14 years. Chicagoborn Rawls got his start by replacing Sam Cooke in the Gospel group (and Vee-Jay recording artists), The Highway QC’s. After a stint in the Army, Rawls joined the Gospel group, Pilgrim Travelers. While on the road with Sam Cooke and The Travelers, Rawls was in a serious car accident that left him...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#640) Andre Williams,  Hoods and Shades (Bloodshot Records) The story of  Zephire “Andre” Williams, or as comedian Red Foxx famously nicknamed him, “Mr. Rhythm”, is harsh in its simplicity; yet at the same time it is a complex cautionary tale about how to navigate the streets and traverse the backrooms, back alleys, and juke joints where the blues is a way of life not just a musical genre, and where the means don’t always justify the end, but they certainly can pay the bills. Andre Williams was “The Man” from his early purple suit wearing days in the mid 1950’s and on into the 1960’s when he was a song slinging crooner...