Santana ‎– Santana (1969)

 

Santana’s blending of Latin rhythms and rock music may not have interested me in the past while I was listening to hip hop.  

Within the last 11 years of hosting my radio show, rock music from 1964-1975 has been a primary focus for me.  

The first Santana album lays down the foundation for what we are to expect from the group.  What an introduction!  

On the subject of introductions, hip hop was in its infancy in the early 1970s.  

It is impossible to think the late Jimmy Castor and crew were not influenced by the sounds and work of West Coast wonder Carlos Santana.

The Bee Gees - First of May (1969)

If it hasn’t been made clear, I love The Bee Gees. Evidently a lot of other people do too.



What else explains how this posted video of the group singing First of May appears on said date?

There was arguing over which song, Robin’s Lamplight or Barry’s First of May, should be the album’s lead single.

This post, video and countless greatest hits packages reveal which song was chosen.

The Bee Gees - Odessa (1969)

In the midst of May 2012, Robin Gibb was fighting for his life.  By the end of the month, we mourned his loss.

I got the unfortunate news of Robin Gibb’s death via text message that night. I got out of the subway to read he died.

I bore the bad news to some DJ friends of mine and one remembered I am a Bee Gees fan.  

Lamplight is one of the most gorgeous songs The Bee Gees ever recorded but from my perspective was too operatic for radio.

The creativity and talent put into the album managed to undo the group.  Odessa was too grandiose for the time and suffered the fate of being The Bee Gees’ and rock music history’s overlooked masterpiece.

My rejuvenated interest in their music for the last year or so makes Robin Gibb’s death all the sadder.

I learned the Brothers Gibb broke up temporarily after the release of Odessa. They reunited two years later.  That album should make for an interesting, future post.

Carolyn Franklin

During a summer not too long ago, I went to a local record store and happened to think about Aretha Franklin while I was browsing. I thought about how I couldn't play Aretha Franklin on my show as easily as I would like because of regulations. Suddenly I remembered Aretha had singing soul sisters in the 1960s.

I held in my hands Carolyn Franklin's debut album from 1969 on that day. It was a first pressing, had a $20+ price tag and not one song I knew. I sampled and enjoyed the vintage soul stylings but didn't see myself shelling out that much money for an album I knew nothing of and would not get to play all often, including on The Suite Delight radio show. I rather reluctantly put the record back.

Within days, the Carolyn Franklin record was on my mind and I began to feel I would shell out for it. I went back to the store and it was gone. I got to the point that I was preparing to order one online. Knowing that I was taking my pilgrimage to Mecca for CMJ, I felt I stood a great chance of bringing a Carolyn Franklin album on home with me.

Days in New York passed and I felt my hopes of finding a first Franklin were flitting away.

 

Near the end of my New York stay, I visited a record store that I had already been to making sure I left nothing substantial behind. As I was turning to make my way up the stairs, the first Carolyn Franklin album was wrapped in plastic among other valuable vinyl records on the wall facing me. The Franklin album would be the most I would spend for a single album. I snatched it off the wall and breathed a sigh of relief mixed with bittersweet irony.

I'm not sure if I willed myself to find the album in New York or the album in New York willed me to find it. What I do know is that I was not going to let it slip by me a second time. If I had to learn my lesson by paying more for it, so be it. It appears I was destined to be united with that album.

I waiting to unleash a Carolyn Franklin cut for The Suite Delight radio show audience.

At the price I paid, I can safely say it went from a New York record store wall to a Montreal crate digger's wall.

Welcome home and rest in peace Carolyn Franklin.

Nina Simone

I'm not The Loving Spoonful but I'll ask if you believe in magic. If not, do you believe in second chances? Where records on vinyl is concerned, they appear in the form of reissues. In the case of first pressings, they are cases of good luck incarnate on the day you find said record.


DJ Kobal was instrumental in placing an album on my want-list long before I would realize it.

While browsing among records, I came across a Nina Simone album called To Love Somebody. All of the winning conditions for me to have bought the record were there. Nina Simone singing Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Leonard Cohen and most importantly for me Bee Gees covers on what was sure to be the funky era of late 60s RCA Records. I didn't go there looking for Nina Simone, that Nina Simone album or to spend the money on the price tag for the album. On top of that, I hadn't heard one song! Kobal coyly suggested I should take it and I had an instinct he was right but maintained my blissful ignorance or, depending on who you ask, stubbornness.



Some man that was near smoothly slid towards us and asked if I would take it. I relinquished the record, he gratefully accepted it and stepped off to the counter. I remember Kobal's last words regarding the album being something like hard-to-find. That was the last time either of us spoke of the album.

We live in advanced, amazing times. I stated earlier that I hadn't heard one song from the album but not too long after that day,  I had the album to listen to. By the time I heard Suzanne, the album opener and Cohen cover, my ignorance was no longer blissful but blistering. The Bee Gees covers, I Can't See Nobody especially, drove the point home.



Naturally the hunt for the album began and I did everything from willing the album to be at the next store I walked into to talking about the album in the hopes it would speed up the process of me finding it again sooner than later.

Fast-forward to CMJ 2011 where I found a reissue of the album in a Manhattan record store. The reissue was more expansive than the first pressing Kobal nearly coaxed me to buy. I decided to wait until the end of my trip to determine what I would do about it.



Days passed and many records were bought while I was in New York. The last days approached and I did a final sweep of the same stores just to make sure I wasn't going to leave behind any record of value.

While browsing in another Manhattan record store, a young lady walked in and asked the man behind the counter if they had any Nina Simone. If I ever needed a reminder about Nina Simone on the eve of my leaving New York, that was it. I discreetly followed them to the jazz section and discreetly viewed the female's fingers flip the Nina Simone vinyl records.

I saw what I needed to see and prayed the young lady did not enter the store for that album. My prayers were answered when she hoisted the album cover above from the racks and cleared the way for me to reunite with my record. Ironically and slightly painfully enough, the original pressing in my hands was now more expensive than the Kobal coerced copy and the reissue I saw at another Manhattan store prior.

I'm not familiar with the young lady's Nina Simone album of choice either but might have to address that sometime soon.

Prior to Kobal, To Love Somebody and CMJ 2011, the Verve collection above was my fill of Nina Simone's music. I was aware the RCA albums of the late 60s & early 70s had heat on them but was not prepared to spring for any of them. I've been somewhat forced to reconsider that stance now.

In retrospect, if I had dropped the needle on To Love Somebody right after Kobal showed me the record, I would have bought it and that smooth man's search for the album would have continued that day. However, it would have not made as nearly an interesting blog post.

R.I.P. Nina Simone