Changes

Charles Bradley - "Changes" (2016) - Daptone Records 

Hello Friends,

Dim the lights and break out the malt liquor, things are about to get sweaty & soulful! 

The last thing we thought we needed in our lives was another James Brown/Al Green/Otis Redding-sounding soul singer with a backing band vaguely reminiscent of Booker T. & the MGs.  Boy were we WRONG!  This record was one of our favorites from 2016! 

Charles Bradley (who, incidentally, once made a living as a James Brown impersonator named "Black Velvet") holds the pain of the world in the lines on his face, the sweat from his brow and in the quiver of his voice.

Backed by a bunch of white Brooklyn hipsters (pretty much the Daptone Records' house bands), Changes, is an instant classic!  His third full length record, its as authentic and heart-breaking as they come!

The heartbreak starts right away with Bradley declaring that life's treated him pretty hard... "America, you've been real honest, hurt, and sweet to me"... before breaking into a refrain of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". 

Throughout the album Bradley documents his struggles; his longing to go home again and to be a good and "righteous" man. No matter how many times the world may shit on him, Charles Bradley bounces back.  His faith and talent and super-human resilience will help carry him though.

Undoubtedly, the album's highlight is Bradley's take on the Black Sabbath classic, "Changes" which becomes a tearjerking ode to his recently departed mother, whom Bradley only re-connected with (and took care of) as an adult.

Man, he takes this heavy metal ballad to a Whole New Level.  If the tiny hairs on your arms don't move just a little while listening to this, you may have to check your pulse!

RATING: 5 all my days are filled with tears wish I could go back and change these years out of 5

Puddle's Pity Party - "Folsom Prison Blues/Pinball Wizard Mashup" (2017)

Happy Friday Friends!

File this one under WTF?

Is it 5 o'clock yet?

Judas Priest - "The Ripper" (1976)

Hello Friends,

Great live video of Judas Priest playing their classic, "The Ripper" from the classic records "The Sad Wings of Destiny" and "Unleashed in the East".

Remember kids, never turn your back on the ripper!

Unleashed in the East

Judas Priest - "Unleashed in the East" (1979) - Columbia Records

Hello Friends,

We're kicking out the jams tonight with Judas Priest's first ever live album recorded in Japan on their 1979 Hell Bent for Leather tour!

Featuring two amazing and well-placed cover songs, Fleetwood Mac's "The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown)" and the unbelievably great Joan Baez break-up anthem, "Diamonds and Rust".  Wowsa!  

There's also "Exciter", "Sinner", "Running Wild", "The Ripper", "Genocide", "The Tyrant" and the epic, "Victim of Changes".  

This was Priest's Live at Budokan.

Listening to this record, one is continually reminded that Axl Rose owes his entire career to Rob Halford & Judas Priest!  Same with you, Perry Farrell!

Man oh man, Halford at the height of his powers must have been beating the ladies off with a stick!

RATING: 4.5 i'll be damned here comes your ghost again out of 5

The Who - "My Wife" (Live at Kilburn 1977)

Where the fuck did April go friends?

Sheesh!

Patti Smith Group - "Because The Night" (1978)

Another really great clip from The Old Grey Whistle Test.

Patti Smith at the peak of her powers and prowess!

Suck on that Natalie Merchant!

Dean Martin - "The Door is Still Open to My Heart" (1964)

Hello Friends,

Here's Dino performing one of his hit songs on the Bob Hope Show in 1964.

Jeez... is it me or does his voice just want to make you drink a highball?

Enjoy!

The door is still open to my heart...

Dean Martin - "The Door Is Still Open To My Heart" (1964) - Reprise Records

Hello Friends,

Its a boozy Saturday night here on Vinyl in the Valley and we've got some boozy Dean Martin on the ol' turntable.  Martinis be flowin'.

In the 50's and 60's, Dino had a sort of alter-ego in Dean "Tex" Martin where he would get away from the American Songbook-type standards and would instead croon some cowpoke-style tunes.  

Now, this isn't stripped-down, shit-kickin', rural honky tonk music, but very lush, over-produced and orchestrated easy listening/lounge music.  The stuff your parents and/or grandparents (depending on your age) would put on their living room console turntables on a Saturday night while mixing highballs or pitchers of watered-down martinis.  

And watered-down is a pretty apt description of what's going on.

Not that its a bad record, by any means!  Sure its big on sentiment, but its all very safe, very saccharine, very uninspired.  

Three songs from this record-- "I'm Gonna Change Everything", the Sheb Wooley-penned (yes, that Sheb Wooley) "The Middle of the Night is My Cryin' Time" & "My Sugar's Gone"-- were directly lifted Dean's 1963 record entitled Dean "Tex" Martin Rides Again.  #lazy.

The great title track and the song, "You're Nobody Until Somebody Loves You" were pretty big hits for Martin.  Other highlights include the cha-cha-shuffle of "In The Misty Moonlight" (originally written by Cindy Walker), the fantastically lush "Every Minute, Every Hour", the sappy "Always Together", the muted guitar work on "Take Me" and the epic kiss-off of a closer "So Long Baby".

Honestly, there's not a bad song in the bunch!  Its a great LP for gathering around the record player, drink in hand and washing down the problems and realities of the working week.  There's no due dates, or bills due, or tax forms, or clients, or traffic jams or yelling bosses.  Just you, your girl, a dimly-lit tiki bar and a half-empty bottle of rye whiskey!

RATING:  4 so long baby's you better go now out of 5

Chuck Berry - "Johnny B. Goode" (1958)

Okay, okay.  This is the last Chuck Berry post for now!

Happy Friday Friends & Enjoy!