Rare Meat
Mel Brown's 1967 Chicken Fat on Impulse (and where else would it be) is a swell soundtrack album to a heist movie that never got made. Go-Go music for Cheetah swingers, blasting from convertibles cruising The Strip. Brown was a pretty wild guitarist, and ate up just about every influence, spitting it out in crazy bursts that are gone before you've had time to realise what he just did. He's a showboater with the chops to pull it off, and a joy to hear. Music to Frug to.
George Benson's Giblet Gravy, from '68, is a very different kettle of meat, getting left on the plate by tedious jazzbo purists even this early in his career. What they didn't understand was Benson was always a bigger star than the academic limitations of jazz could hold. Every album that veered away from what critics considered his roots (the arrogance!) throughout his career got a kicking. Like he cared. A superhumanly talented vocalist, instrumentalist, and a true star, every note he played and sang is in tune with what he wanted to do. Prime cuts.
What's that you say? Rare meat, chicken fat, AND giblet gravy? I'll bite!
ReplyDelete
DeleteWill Elder's Dream
Why, thank you very much, Mr. III!
DeleteCrap! I woke too late! please rep-up the Giblets if possible. and thanks if not.
DeleteCheck the newest Benson post (Sunday Slugfest) a little later!
DeleteModern City Cattle Farm -
ReplyDeleteWell what the fucky
This looks great, Gonna listen to it
and forget about the squares for awhile
Thanks Esq. Throckmorton III
Yeah!
Mel Brown also plays wah-wah geetar on Sad But True - in early 1967 (May), the exact same month Hendrix started using it, and maybe a tad before Eric Clapton on Tales Of Brave Ulysses. A Fun Foam Fact!
ReplyDeleteNice album. The wah-wah's on Hobo Flats isn't it?
DeleteSeemingly, Herb Ellis wrote and plays 12 string guitar on Sad but True (and, more obviously, on the following track - I'm Goin' to Jackson) which surprised me but it was 1967 after all . . . .
I like ol' Herb - his Guitar / Guitar album with Charlie Byrd is a cracker. Hope you've heard it.
Cheers, Peanuts Molloy
Ah, my dear Farq! The Thanksgiving bounty is served early. Love, Mel Brown. Cat could shred with the best of them. And, pre-pop George Benson for a night cap. Once saw Benson in concert (late 70s), and the opener was the incomparable Gil Scott Heron. When Heron finished his set, he advised the audience to get ready for some pablum. He was replaced on the tour soon afterwards.
ReplyDeletePablum? That's a little harsh. Just because Benson wasn't selling a political agenda doesn't make him pablum. He's up there to entertain, to make his audience feel good. That's his job. He was probably responsible for getting GSH the gig, and for GSH to get his message across to an audience the size of Benson's was a privilege he should have been smart enough to appreciate.
Delete(Nothing against GSH - everyone's in showbiz, right?)
Eh- kinda see both sides. You have to assume that Benson and his management approved, and knew, what they were getting with GSH.
DeleteUh huh. And you have to assume that GSH and his management approved, and knew, what they were getting with Benson.
DeleteThanks very much for the two wonderful recordings
DeleteGil was freebasing, so......
Freebasing, huh? Beats paying for it ...
DeleteYawning angel sez...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tasty treats, Farq!
om nom nom ... thanks for the savory vittles!
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