Multiple Mondays: Theme From Shaft

All right. I've been sitting on these way too long, so let's get this done!

Everyone who knows anything about music or pop culture knows Isaac Hayes' iconic "Theme From Shaft." Here are ten of the best recordings related to that track.

The legendary hi-hat riff was first heard in Otis Redding's 1966 version of "Try A Little Tenderness," which had been arranged by Ike while Booker T. Jones was at university. Five years later, Hayes reused the riff, and a stuttering wah-wah guitar, to secure his status as a legend of funk and soul music, with the theme to a major film hit.

The Ventures covered the song the next year, and at about the same time the original backing musicians from Ike's version recorded a sequel, "Son of Shaft." Now we'll leave behind any attempt at chronological organization, as we jump forward a few decades to Malik Adouane's Arabic pop cover. (video) The Central Band of the Canadian Forces play you a representative marching band version, and then we come to Sammy. Sammy Davis, Jr. reused the original backing band (but not the original lyrics) to record his own Rat Pack take on the song, in which "Shaft is the man."

To round out this post, I've added Cookie Monster's note-perfect parody (be sure to watch the video), and a cover by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Finally, we'll listen to Isaac Hayes revisit the song in 1978's disco remix "Shaft II."

As always, you can cherry pick if you insist, but there's a special little surprise in the zipfile you can't get otherwise. I'm planning a second edition of this song soon -- if you have requests for any particular versions, just shout them out in the comments section.

zipfile

01. Otis Redding - Try A Little Tenderness 1 2
02. Isaac Hayes - Theme From Shaft 1 2
03. The Ventures - Theme From Shaft 1 2
04. The Bar-Kays - Son of Shaft 1 2
05. Malik Adouane - Shaft 1 2
06. The Central Band of the Canadian Forces - Theme From Shaft 1 2
07. Sammy Davis, Jr. - John Shaft 1 2
08. Cookie Monster - Cookie Disco 1 2
09. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Theme From Shaft 1 2
10. Isaac Hayes - Shaft II 1 2

Multiple Mondays: Season of the Witch

It's October, so here's another ten spooky recordings for ya. Donovan Leitch (official myspace wiki AMG) wrote and recorded "Season of the Witch" in 1966. It's a perfect, almost obligatory garage jam -- only two chords, with incredible atmosphere and a perfect skeleton to hang your own improvisations and musical ideas on. (I spent some time at archive.org this week, and downloaded 21 live versions from 21 different artists, which should give you an idea of the popularity among jam bands.)

The covers of this song started right away -- here we have The Little Boy Blues' take from 1967, and Sam Gopal's magnificently fuzzy, amped-up version from 1968 (via). The Dedikation (via) were a New Zealand group, and their 1969 cover has the tastiest organ licks this side of Al Kooper. Speaking of Mr. Kooper, we're also hearing his version with Steven Stills and Mike Bloomfield, from their 1968 Super Session album (featuring Donovan's drummer "Fast" Eddie Hoh).

G. Love and Special Sauce want to play you a representative jamband version, Lou Rawls adds his distinctive jazzy soul touch to the song, and Jenny DeVivo turns the song into a techie dance groove, complete with obscure audio samples.

Finally, we're going to hear two of my ten favorite covers of all time. Luna's take on this song has one of the five best openings of any pop song ever (someday I'll write a post with the entire list) -- this is one of the peppiest records ever, and my favorite version of this song.

Then, my final mention of Dr. John (previously 1 2 3) for a while: his dirty, funky, greasy voodoo take on the song is not only the best thing about Blues Brothers 2000, it's quite possibly the best thing any human being did in the entirety of 1998.

I have about 30 more versions of this song, almost all of them good, so if I get any requests I'd be more than happy to put up a second volume of this song. As usual, I recommend the zipfile, but you can cherrypick if you feel like it.

Zip file

Donovan 1 2
The Little Boy Blues 1 2
Sam Gopal 1 2
The Dedikation 1 2
Steven Stills, Mike Bloomfield, and Al Kooper 1 2
G. Love and Special Sauce 1 2
Lou Rawls 1 2
Jenny DeVivo 1 2
Luna 1 2
Dr. John and The Blues Brothers Band 1 2

Merry Christmas from Thurl Ravenscroft!

Here is post number one, in my attempt to write a post every day between now and Christmas. Our patron saint, Thurl Ravenscroft, recorded lots of Christmas music, and here's the 35 minutes I have in my collection. This includes 3 songs in which Thurl plays Santa, four tracks about the birth of Jesus (a subject dear to Thurl's heart -- his first public performance was in the church choir), and clips he recorded for Christmastime in the Disney parks.

Tracklisting:

01. Country Bear Christmas #1
02. Billy May - Do You Believe in Santa Claus
03. The Pixies - Santa's Too Fat for the Hula Hoop
04. Thurl Ravenscroft with Marie Vernon and the Mellomen - Five Little Angels
05. Thurl Ravenscroft with Marie Vernon and the Mellomen - Jingle Polka
06. Country Bear Christmas #2
07. You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch (TV Version)
08. Joy to the World
09. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
10. Jim Nabors - Go Tell It on the Mountain
11. The Glory of Christmas (from evangelist Robert Schuller's Hour of Power)
12. Country Bear Christmas #3
13. Spike Jones with The Mellomen - Winter
14. Dinah Shore - The Twelve Days of Christmas
15. Tennessee Ernie Ford - A Root'n Toot'n Santa Claus
16. Spike Jones feat. George Rock and Thurl - Santa Brought Me Choo Choo Trains
17. Country Bear Christmas #4
18. You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch (Album version)
19. Country Bear Christmas #5

Zip file

Stagger Lee Saturdays: Ike and Tina Turner

Hi, folks. I saw Hayden live on Wednesday, but just haven't gotten around to posting anything about it. Stay tuned for that report.

This week's Stagger Lee post is also two songs, though they're both from Ike and Tina Turner.

In 1965, Ike and Tina released "Stagger Lee and Billy" as a single, though it didn't come out on any album I can find till a greatest hits collection. This version of Stag is... well, it's not really a version of Stag. It has virtually nothing to do with the song or the story or the tradition. With that said, I love the hell out of it. Here, Stag isn't a particularly bad man, and there are no guns fired. There are some chairs thrown, and Stag gets such a bad whuppin' his head "look[s] like a watermelon's overcoat."

It's virtually impossible to consider the lyrics of this song without considering Ike and Tina's disastrous marriage -- think of the rowdy bar as a metaphor for it, Tina trying frantically to hide and escape...

Ike and Tina also recorded a more traditional version of Stag, which as far as I can tell went unreleased until 1976, on a DIFFERENT greatest hits album. It's okay, I guess, but the 1965 recording is so far superior I don't listen to this one much at all. Just to keep us on our toes, Ike and Tina also released at least one live version, which I don't have and therefore am not uploading. (There's no one collection of their work which includes both versions, so the buy link goes to one with the far superior "...and Billy" song.)

Ike and Tina Turner - Stagger Lee and Billy
Ike and Tina Turner - Stagger Lee
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