Throwback Tracks--September 1, 2016
Shaun Cordingley
Got into something of a late-60s groove this week, and just sort of stuck there...
The Guys From do not hold the rights to any of these songs, it is more our hope to expose our readers to new (*cough*) and different retro music, or re-expose them to things they may have forgotten about.
At the top of each section, will be the song name, followed by the artists' name linked to their website (if possible...which is totally hit and miss with oldies), so you can fall down the rabbit hole, finding and supporting what you dig.
Proud Mary - Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR)
Starting this month off with the return of CCR to the list (after we talked about "Travellin' Band" back in May) with "Proud Mary". Yet another great "swamp rock" song written by John Fogerty, "Proud Mary" was released as a single in early 1969 and reached #2 in both Canada and the U.S., and was also included on the album Bayou Country. This is a really well composed song (arguably one of Fogerty's best), and there's just something so timeless about this song--it sounds just as good the 100th time you hear it, as it does the first...and that is really saying something.
Occasionally on tracks as good as "Proud Mary', I will mention how many different versions there are, but I think the testament to how great "Proud Mary" is, is in the fact that there is another version that also charted really, really well....
Proud Mary - Ike & Tina Turner
Tina Turner is awesome.
It's actually completely rare for another version/cover version of a song to be equally as awesome as the original (especially one that comes out a year after the original)...however, "Proud Mary" works so fantastically as a reorganized track that it's...just amazing. Plus, again, Tina Turner is an amazing vocalist and musician, so that makes a big ol' difference here too. What's nice about it is that it takes the swamp rock-y nature of the original and turns it into something of a soul track to start, that then kicks into a funk rock jam at the end, featuring Turner in all her vocal glory.
The Turners' version of "Proud Mary" also charted in the Top 10 in North America, and this song eventually become something of a signature for Tina Turner throughout her career--which is amazing: Fogerty's song literally became a hallmark for two very different artists within a year.
Nobody But Me - The Human Beinz
60s garage rock is way different that what you would think about as garage rock today, but The Human Beinz debut single (and only Top 40 hit) "Nobody But Me" sounds very 60s rock today, and features a really solid, soul-style guitar solo in the middle of the song, even though the track is literally 2:20 long (and to be fair, really only one verse). You may not recognize the title, or the band, but I can assure you that yyou know this song: you have heard it in a pile of films and television...
This version is actually a cover of the Isley Brothers original (released in 1962), which itself failed to find any success--if you hear it, you will find it to be very, very different...it's a funky soul track that features a really snappy horn section. I cannot say which version I prefer, mostly because I, like everyone else, is so much more familiar with The Human Beinz version...
Gimme Some Lovin' - The Spencer Davis Group
The Spencer Davis Group is a British rock band from the 1960s formed of Spencer Davis, and the Winwood Brothers (Steve, who keeps popping up on these lists, and his older brother Muff). Steve Winwood was actually only 14 when he joined The Spencer Davis Group, which is absolutely ridiculous when you really think about it...
"Gimme Some Lovin'" was a Top 10 hit in both the UK and the US when it was released as a single in October 1966--there were actually also two different versions released. In the UK, the song is a little bit slower, and does not feature any of the backup vocals that the US version (the one whose video is above, and it better known here). I have to say, having heard both versions, I do very much prefer the US version, as those backup vocals really hit the chorus home.
Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf
Wrapping Throwback Tracks up this week is "Magic Carpet Ride" from Toronto's hard/psych rock group Steppenwolf's 1968 album The Second (which is indeed their second studio album). I've gone with the album version's video here, just in case you were needing a dance break--the single version does not have the epic, instrumental break in the middle for you to get your groove on in it, and that's just strange.
"Magic Carpet Ride" is almost a quintessential song for the late 1960s, with the band finding a lot of their early, breakthrough success coming with their use in the seminal film Easy Rider. Occasionally (even today) I talk about how some of these songs are timeless...this is not one of them--"Magic Carpet Ride" is very much of its' time, but that does not, by any stretch of imagination, meant that it is not, still, a great song.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have two minutes of hazily dancing in a small circle to do...
Here is the August Apple Music Playlist, done in the usual fashion of trying to make it sound a bit like a set (which is never easy without transitions, or just yapping until I change genres...looking at you Foo Fighters)...
In case you missed our previous Throwback Track playlists, here they are:
Remember, as I use Apple Music, that is where I am building the playlists, but if you want me to look into other services, just hit me up on Twitter and we will chat about the prospects of places like Spotify.
See you again next Thursday with some new....oldies...*cough*
-S (@Shauncord)