Music for Monday (and Beyond), 8-28-23

Marvin Gaye with Herbie Hancock, the rise of Brooklyn Disco in 74-75, Billy Joel and Augie Meyers in the mid-1970s, plus Rhiannon Giddens and Old Crow Medicine Show

Marvin Gaye—Let's Get It On (Deluxe)

I'll admit it: there have been so many reissues of What's Going On over the years that I reflexively zoned out when I saw news of a deluxe 50th Anniversary edition of Let's Get It On Different albums, of course, but the preponderance of reissues made me think that the vaults had been mined dry, an assumption I carried over to Let's Get It On, particularly since it was given an extensive double-disc edition in 2001. From what I can tell, all that material carries over to the five-disc fiftieth-anniversary set but there's a big new addition here which Brad Farberman highlighted on a post on Tidal: there's roughly the equivalent of a lost album featuring Herbie Hancock sitting in with the studio band directed by arranger David Van De Pitte. Just a few months away from his revolutionary Head Hunters sessions, Hancock was getting a feel for soul sessions, dancing with the lush grooves created by Gaye's band. Although Marvin barely sings, Herbie is in a supporting role here, adding color and texture while taking the occasional elegant excursion. All this means is that these incomplete sessions make for exquisite mood music: it's as lush and vibrant as Let's Get It On, it's adventurous with a playfulness that makes the music seem fresh even if it's redolent of the smooth soul of the early 1970s. 

Billy Joel—Live at the Great American Music Hall, 1975

"This is an instrumental which was referred to in Rolling Stone as 'merely filler,'" says Billy Joel as a way of introducing "Root Beer Rag." It's one of many of quips, asides, and imitations on Live at the Great American Music Hall, 1975, a Record Store Day release this year that's also available on streaming services. Captured right between the eccentric Streetlife Serenade and Turnstiles, the record where he finally marshaled all his strengths, Joel is eager and earthy, if a bit scattershot: following the B-movie melodrama of "The Mexican Connection" with "Root Beer Rag," a jaunty number certainly inspired by The Sting, is an odd bit of sequencing, particularly since they arrive so early in the set. Billy gains momentum as the show goes on, though. Once he starts mocking Joe Cocker, Elton John, and Leon Russell—his mush-mouthed delivery on "Delta Lady" is particularly savage—the performance gets tougher and more exciting, ending with a stretch of "Travelin' Prayer," "The Entertainer," "The Ballad of Billy the Kid," "Ain't No Crime" and "Weekend Song" which rocks harder than most vintage Billy Joel. 

Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night: Brooklyn Disco 1974-5

The conceit behind this Bob Stanley compilation for Ace Records is brilliant: he excavates the music that would've been played in the dance clubs of Brooklyn and Queens during the early days of disco, the scene that Nik Cohn documented in his New York Magazine story Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night. That 1976 article became Saturday Night Fever, a 1977 phenomenon that cemented disco's image as a mainstream fad in the minds of millions. This serves as a corrective, with Stanley building the collection around the handful of songs Cohn mentioned in Tribal Rites, including Harlod Melvin & the Bluenotes's "Wake Up Everybody" and Ben E. King's "Supernatural Thing." There are other familiar names here—Eddie Kendricks, Jimmy Ruffin, Betty Everett, Gloria Scott among them—and the general contours are familiar yet the songs themselves crackle in this context: it's the sound of a revolution coming into view.

Augie Meyers and the Texas Re-Cord Co.—High Texas Rider

When Doug Sahm left the Sir Douglas Quintet behind to wander amiably through the 1970s, his bandmate Augie Meyers headed to San Antonio and set up the Texas Re-Cord Co., a label where he issued his own recordings along with music belonging in the extended SDQ universe. Bear Family's compilation High Texas Rider rounds up 26 of these sides, including 11 credited to Myers himself, usually in conjunction with his Western Head Band. Sahm shows up himself, as does the Sir Douglas Quintet, who is heard tearing through "Dynamite Woman" live in Austin in 1977. As good as it is, this "Dynamite Woman" underscores the thrust of High Texas Rider: Meyers and his cohorts were no longer pioneering, they were tending to the business of building a scene. Augie's decision to anchor himself in San Antonio meant that he was just outside of the redneck hippie paradise of 1970s Austin and the music on High Texas Rider does feel as if it's tangentially related to the outlaw, containing the same blend of country, rock and blues, along with a hefty dose of Mexican music that outlaw generally shunned. There's a certain provincial quality to the Texas Re-Cord Co. material. It seems as if nobody cut a single with any designs on anything larger than being heard at a local jukebox or perhaps selling a handful of 45s at the corner record store. They're cheap records cut on the fly, relying heavily on older tunes and covers, a combination that gives the music a low-rent, even slightly seedy, feel that's appealing.

 

Rhiannon Giddens—You're the One

The Carolina Chocolate Drops leader delivers her version of a pop crossover record and it's as fun as it is smart, which is saying quite a lot. Reviewed at Xperi/Allmusic.

Old Crow Medicine Show—Jubilee

Old Crow Medicine Show decide to cut loose after the socially-serious Paint This Town, indulging in their sentimental side by having founding member Willie Watson to sing on "Miles Away" but they're at their best with the loose-limbed shuffles like "Shit Kicked In." Reviewed at Xperi/Allmusic.

Hiss Golden Messenger—Jump for Joy

Choosing to look at the bright side of life, M.C. Taylor leads Hiss Golden Messenger through a record that splits the difference between Little Feat and yacht rock. Reviewed at Pitchfork.

Turnpike Troubadours—A Cat in the Rain

I plugged this on Friday but I'm still delighted that Turnpike Troubadours mounted a comeback with a record that might be their best. Reviewed at Xperi/Allmusic.