February is Music Writer Exercise Month #MWE • Page 25

Days 10+11: one was a dud for me, but the other is a shining star. I need to see if I can snag "Soul '69" on wax because DAMN this was a joyful listen. I'd love to spin this on my record player instead of just streaming it.

 

wu tang and aretha tomorrow

 

Busy day today, so glad I had an easy one to engage with and love: Traveling Wilburys.

 

the best

 

Wilburys forever

 

We should start a Wilburys thread at some point, because @Craig Manning's tweet could actually be a fascinating jumpoff point for conversations.

 

I need to dig in and catch up today. Been such a hectic week. But Radiohead, S Club 7 and 13th Floor Elevators need to happen

 

Hell yeah, let’s do it!

I also listened to Vol. 3 yesterday, because why not? Terrific as well, but losing Orbison definitely changes the alchemy.

 

Going with Talking Heads - Remain in Light today.

 

Saw a couple other Aretha Franklin on people's playlists for today...Ill be joining in with I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You

 

hell yeah

 

I put Stop Making Sense on my watchlist so I might try and watch that this weekend too. The SUPER high Letterboxd score really sold me on it.

 

it’s incredible. one of the best music docs/live shows

 

Day 12 is Screamin' Jay Hawkins debut album from 1958, At Home With Screamin' Jay Hawkins.

The king of camp, and doing theatrical and macabre live performances before most other people - from the little bits I've seen on Youtube he had an excellent live show.

He has a raspy Louis Armstrong type of deep voice, with what feels like bits of an over the top Hammer Horror villain voice too, which works really well with the music, which is a bit rock n roll, and a bit jazzy. This album contains I Put a Spell on You, the original version of this song, which Nina Simone (and others) have done excellent covers of. I really liked his version, just unhinged in the best way, as he bellows over the track, and makes it sound terrifying, whereas Nina made hers sensual.

However, the big BUT for this album is two tracks, Hong Kong and I Love Paris, which feature him singing what I suppose would be in a mock Chinese language, which is quite unpleasant, and a bit of a surprise to hear. I know it was 1958, but still - not great!

With the exception of those two tracks, I would highly recommend this, just perhaps cut them from your playlist before listening.

 

When he starts shrieking and wailing at the end of "I Put a Spell on You" is legit otherworldly.

 

There's a performance I've seen of that from (I think) old British TV, with him performing and it's completely insane in the best way;

Not sure what year this is, but he seems way ahead of his time as far as all the sort of Alice Cooper "shock rock" type music, that clearly loved him.

 

My head is still spinning.

 

listening to Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye's collab album from 1973 right now, which unfortunately is pretty underwhelming for two powerhouses at the top of their careers. I was reading up about the recording sessions and they both seemed pretty unhappy to be there, didn't put their hearts in it, and you can tell. A fair amount of the vocals were recorded in different sessions and pieced together after the fact as well.

 

That's one great single and then a half hour of listening to two legends just getting the job done.

 

Amen

 

Catch up day: