Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “The Promised Land” from Sunshine Daydream by Grateful Dead (from the film Sunshine Daydream, Veneta Oregon, 8/27/72) I look all around me and see dead people…” We’re in our local movie theater in Lincolnshire, Illinois waiting for the Third Annual – (Jerry Garcia’s Birthday) -Grateful Dead Meet-up At The Movies to begin. This year’s film is from footage that was shot at a benefit show for the Springfield Creamery (makers of Yogurt) in Veneta Oregon on August 27, 1972. The superb footage in this film is a treat for the eyes …where has this footage been for 41 years? The film captures the band basking in the afterglow of their triumphant...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Shake Your Hips” by Slim Harpo This record’s got it all! An insinuating groove that doesn’t quit…otherworldly vocals that spook and caress at the same time…laid bare stripped down production, and the stellar harp playing that gave Slim Harpo his surname. There’s good reason why ‘60s British Invasion groups like The Who, the Yardbirds, the Kinks and the Rolling Stones borrowed so heavily from him. Today’s Song Of The Day is the version of “Shake Your Hips” that The Rolling Stones carbon copied for their Exile On Main Street Album. The following year, ZZ Top revisited the track to form the basis of their first break-out hit “La Grange.” Although this...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Electric Aunt Jemimah” by The Persuasions From Gospel to The Grateful Dead, The Persuasions are an a capella group whose musical tastes know no boundaries. The group’s five original members, Jerry Lawson, Jesse “Sweet Joe” Russell, Jayotis Washington, Herbert “Toubo” Rhoad, and bass vocalist Jimmy “Bro” Hayes began singing on the street corners of Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn during the early 1960s. Jerry Lawson was their arranger, lead singer and producer for most of their career until his departure in 2003. Their big break came in 1968, when Stan Krause, who owned Stan’s Square Record Store in New Jersey, played a concert recording of theirs over the telephone to his friend, Frank...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “She Knows Me Too Well” by The Beach Boys The 1966 release of The Beach Boys’ masterwork Pet Sounds ushered in a new mature era for the band. Gone were the simple, innocent paeans to girls, fun, sun and cars, and in their place was a new mature sound complete with lyrics reflecting feelings of ennui and uncertainty for the future, combined with complex musical arrangements and instrumentation. Under closer inspection, the seeds of Pet Sounds were sown on the two previous Beach Boys album, Beach Boys Today! and Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) where glimmers of the new mature sound materialized, making those two platters every bit as potent and,...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “I’d Rather Be Blue Over You (Than Be Happy With Somebody Else)” by Fanny Brice She was the original “Funny Girl.” Most people know today’s Song Of The Day from Barbra Streisand’s recording in the musical Funny Girl. In it, Streisand plays the part of Fanny Brice who was a famous recording artist, comedienne and star of radio, stage and screen. Her real name was Fania Borach and she was born in New York City in 1891. Brice got her start in burlesque and was hired in 1910 by Florence Ziegfeld to perform in the Ziegfeld Follies where she performed comic routines lampooning popular stage dancers which included her parody of...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Melt Away” by Brian Wilson The fact that Brian Wilson’s eponymously titled album was ever completed was seen as nothing short of a miracle back in 1988 when it appeared in the record racks. After more than a decade of inactivity in which Wilson spent most of his time in bed doing nothing, he came under the around the clock care of Dr. Eugene Landy who got him out of bed, put him on an exercise regimen and got him back into the studio. Brian Wilson was pared with Beach Boy aficionado Andy Paley who produced the sessions, however like Murray Wilson (Brian’s dad) before him, Dr. Landy was a constant...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Champagne Coast” by Blood Orange – Pitchfork Music Festival 2013 – Days 2 & 3 Recap There’s really nothing truly new and original going on in new music today, and the adage “everything old is new again” was truly on full display throughout the three-day Pitchfork Music Festival. Several threads can be drawn through the music presented at Pitchfork this past weekend, and all of them point towards the past. First and foremost, 70s Punk Rock is alive and well, specifically in sets by Savages, Wire and Parquet Courts. The all girl UK punk band Savages, whose debut album Silence Yourself is considered one of the best albums to come out...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Hidden Place” by Bjork – Pitchfork Music Festival 7/19/13 – Day One With the impending threat of massive thunderstorms due to lower the temperature from 97 to the low 80s, my fourth Pitchfork Music Festival got off today with three great sets by Mac Demarco, the legendary industrial punk  band Wire and the main reason to go to Pitchfork this year, a rare set by Iceland’s favorite star Bjork. (pictured above) Normally when I go to Pitchfork, I like to shop around for sounds from stage to stage in an effort to hear as many different bands as possible. But with Wire and Bjork playing on the same stage, we decided...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Break Away” by The Next Exit Here’s a slab of psycho-delicatessen from the original “Fab Four!” What’s in a name? The Next Exit recorded two psychedelic singles for Warner Bros. Records in 1968 that went nowhere on the charts, and for some, that would’ve been the end of the story. However, The Next Exit’s convoluted history had them recording numerous singles under a myriad of names for many years, and at the end of the day, they still found no commercial success. Today’s Song Of The Day is a prime slab of psychedelia that in a perfect world would have made The Next Exit household names. The track was originally released...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “The Facts Of Life” by Talking Heads By 1988, Talking Heads were running out of fuel. The band members were somewhat fed up with each other, and were not happy with the conventional pop direction that their previous two albums took them in. For their final album called Naked, the group worked with producer Steve Lillywhite and decamped to France to record with the support of a host of East African, British, Irish and Caribbean musicians. Before leaving for Paris, the band worked up 40 basic improvisational rhythm tracks as a jumping off point in the studio. In Paris, the group would jam on one of the tracks each day and...