Carol King – Tapestry

-Carol King?

Yeah, what of it?

-My mom listens to that crap! What are you smoking?

Crack…with a little speed sprinkled on top.  I call it speedballing!

-But, Carol King?!?!

Have you listened to the album?

-No, but…

Then shut up and take notes.

I too found it weird that I would like an album like this…until I listened to it and said: “Damn…that’s that shit, right there!” Hell, I would never have picked it up if I hadn’t been perusing the ‘Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums of All Time’ list, spotted it and gave it a spin.

More people should give that method a try.

I’ve always had a soft spot for singer/songwriters…or anyone who has a profession that has a slash in it.  I admire multitaskers.  Born in Brooklyn, King learned piano at an early age before moving on to singing. While attending Queens college, she made some new musical friends like Neil Sedaka (who wrote “Oh! Carol” for her,) Paul Simon and Gerry Goffin.  It was her partnership with Gerry that would launch her career.

The two formed a partnership working as songwriters for Aldon Music, who was churning out hits all through the sixties.  Their first big hit was ‘Will You Love me Tomorrow?’by the Shirelles which topped the charts in 1961 and was later covered by folks like Dusty Springfield, Laura Branigan and The Four Seasons.   The two eventually married and had two daughters.

Over the course of their career, the two penned a slew of hits like ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’ for the Monkees, ‘The Loco-Motion’ by Little Eva and ‘(You Make me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’ for Aretha Franklin.

As the sixties came to a close, King and Goffin grew apart and divorced, as King began to focus on her own singing career.  After a few failed albums( “Now That Everything’s Been Said” and “Writer”), and modest hits, she had yet to crack the top 10.

Until 1971, that is.

That’s when King released “Tapestry,” a piano fueled folksy collection of her early hits and new compositions.  You know she struck gold when “Tapestry” held the title of best selling pop solo album ever until it was de-throned by Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” twelve years later.  The Lp is chock full of wonderful singles like ‘I Feel The Earth Move,’ ‘It’s Too Late’ and ‘You’ve Got A Friend.’ And the vibe is warm and inviting…and sometimes rocking!

“Tapestry” Still remains a landmark album and a testament to the power of the singer/songwriter era of the early seventies. 

And you don’t have to smoke crack to enjoy it.

Fern Jones – The Glory Road

I’ve mentioned before that my parents aren’t the biggest music fans in the world, and I’ve mentioned that I hate it when people try and give me music (because whatever it is, it usually sucks.)  So when my Mom came to visit last year and told me she got me a CD I sort of cringed because…well, I figured it would suck too.

To my surprise, Mom hit the jackpot. 

Not only did she discover Fern Jones for me, she also discovered the Numero label as well.  That’s a two-fer!

First off, a word about the Numero group. these guys are truely a cut above the rest and you should visit their website HERE and buy everything they put out because it is all solid gold.  There are few reissue labels out there that put out this much quality, so when I tell you this one is near the top of my list, I’m not shitting you.   Their goal was to rescue extremely rare and mostly unknown artists, painstakingly research their history, remaster their work and release it for all to see.  I think this quote from their site sums it up:

“The mission was simple: to dig deep into the recesses of our record collections with the goal of finding the dustiest gems begging to be released from their exile on geek street. No longer would $500 singles sit in a temperature-controlled room dying for a chance to be played. No more would the artists, writers, and entrepreneurs who made these records happen go unknown and unappreciated.”

So there you have it! 

But back to what I was saying before, the CD my Mom handed me was one of the labels first full length releases: Fern Jones “The Glory Road.” And man, is this one sweet piece of Country Gospel. 

Born into a poor southern family in 1923, Fern got a guitar at age twelve and taught herself to play and a little piano too.  While she loved the popular music of the day, she (Like Elvis) found herself drawn to racial music.  When she was 14 she lied about her age and got a gig at the local honkey tonk where she began to hone her craft. It was there that she met her husband Raymond Jones, and at age sixteen she married him.  But she never strayed far from music, even when her husband announced that he wanted to preach.

Traveling through the South on the tent revival circuit, Fern and Ray made a name for themselves preaching all along the bible belt.  Fern had insomnia and would often stay up all night writing songs and composing on her guitar.  It was during a two year spell that she wrote her one big gospel hit ‘I Was There When it Happened’(below) which was later covered by such luminaries as Johnny Cash and Jimmy Swaggert.  Fern recorded her first album at a Vanity Press (an old timey studio you could rent and record personal records at) and sold them from the trunk of her car before being picked up by the Dot label.

She recorded a single album for Dot, called ‘Singing a Happy Song,’ but it produced no singles and caused little stir in a rapily changing world that had moved on from the gospel sound.  Her work would have eventually faded into obscurity if not for Numero’s dilliegent work…and their work is your gain.

So if you like Patsy Cline or Elvis, or any of that that good old gospel sound…pick this up! 

For the love of God!

Gary Higgins – Red Hash

You know what one of the best parts about music is…aside from everything?  It’s that so much of it is regional.  Some things get released in, say Chicago on some small label… and aside from the few people that picked it up at the time, it just never went any further than that. 

No big label attention, no Billboard charts, no radio play.

These records sit on shelves and are cherished by collectors who love to brag about them.  Gary Higgins 1973 masterpiece”Red Hash” is one of those albums. 

Oft talked about, but rarely heard. 

I was gonna save this review for later, but I figured I’d better throw this one out sooner, since this was recently reissued and won’t be around for long. 

If you like folk (Banhart fans?) or just good acoustic music, you’re gonna shit your pants over this one.

Not literally, but figuratively that is.

Filled with what can only be described as smokey folk soul (check out the opening track Thicker than a Smokey) this album will impress even the most hardened connoisseurs.  Filled with effortless chord changes and sweet melodies, it’s just a gorgeous album.  One reviewer likened the song “Cuckoo” to being almost grunge if they added distortion and a little electric guitar…and they’re right.   Also, check the sweet guitar work by Jake Bell from Silver Apples.

Poor Gary released this album right before he got tossed in the pokey for two years on marijuana possession.  Yep, the man didn’t like the hippies back then, and as you can see from his picture on the cover, Gary didn’t look like no straight edger.  Excellent beard though!  Good news it that now with his rediscovery, word is he’s getting a band together for a little tour.  Be on the lookout!

BONUS!!! Here he is at SXSW this year!  Still got it!!!