by Robert Wilkinson
We kick off our musical musical weekend featuring two Taurus greats who had birthdays a short time ago. Big Joe Turner and producer Erik Jacobson, the man behind the Lovin' Spoonful, Tim Hardin, Sopwith Camel, and "Spirit in the Sky!"
First, the “Boss of the Blues!” From Wikipedia, "Big Joe" Turner, Jr. (May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." His greatest fame was due to his rock-and-roll recordings in the 1950s, particularly "Shake, Rattle and Roll", but his career as a performer endured from the 1920s into the 1980s. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, with the Hall lauding him as "the brawny voiced 'Boss of the Blues'".
From another era, here’s the shouting blues of Big Joe Turner!
We begin with a live tv performance at Showtime at the Apollo from 1954! “Shake Rattle and Roll.” From the same show, “Oke-She-Moke-She-Pop”
Live in the 40s, here’s Big Joe knocking out “Ooo Ouch Stop”
From 1966, a live performance of “Flip, Flop, and Fly”
Also from 1966, “Hide and Seek”
From the movie Shake, Rattle, and Rock, “Feelin’ Happy”
We’ll close these live performances with “Rockin’ Daddy”
From 1951, “Chains of Love”
From 1953, the studio version of “Honey Hush”
Kick it up with “Rock the Joint Boogie”
“Night Time is the Right Time”
We’ll close this tribute with a standard he recorded in 1956! “Corrine Corrina”For our encore, something he recorded with the Muddy Waters band in 1970, ”TV Mama” and “Night Time is the Right Time”
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Besides Big Joe Turner, we’re also celebrating the birthday of Erik Jacobsen (May 19, 1940), producer of the Lovin’ Spoonful, Sopwith Camel, Tim Hardin, Norman Greenbaum, and Chris Isaak. Today we celebrate his music!
First, he produced Do You Believe in Magic, Daydream, Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful, What’s Up Tiger Lily, and You’re a Big Boy Now for the Lovin’ Spoonful. For a good sample of his work, here’s The Lovin’ Spoonful – Greatest Hits You’ll also find a lot more at the Happy 2024 Birthday Celebration for John Sebastian a few weeks ago.
He produced the first four albums by the legendary Tim Hardin. For your enjoyment, Tim Hardin 1
Last year I had the entire album Tim Hardin 3 – Live in Concert, but it’s disappeared. So I found a few of this live masterpiece.
We’ll close his Hardin section with the last album he did with Tim,
And now, one of the most famously obscure bands from the Bay Area, the Sopwith Camel, who had one gigantic hit! For your memory of simpler and more hopeful times, their gigantic hit “Hello Hello,” followed by the entire album!
“Hello Hello” and the Sopwith Camel First Album.
Here are two from that album that typify the 60s! First, the grunge protopunk of “Cellophane Woman” and the etherial psychedelia of “Maybe in a Dream”
In one of the more ridiculous music videos ever done, “Hello Hello” and in a final nod to this unique offering, it seems they were still performing in 2011! From Berserkley, “Hello Hello”
We’ll close this brief tribute to Eric with one of the classic pioneering songs, full of fuzz, distortion, and a memorable groove! For your enjoyment, Norman Greenbaum giving us the protypical “Spirit in the Sky”
© Copyright 2024 Robert Wilkinson
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