Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0oioxEPvYSl0e07ZsIO2uK?si=f4c4a662074c49f7 1 People forget that "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" went to number two for Gladys Knight & the Pips before Marvin Gaye took it to number one little over a year later, on the way to its becoming the biggest Motown single to date. And the Temptations released "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" in 1966 before Marvin Gaye had huge success with the song in 1969, although the Temptations never put it out as a single. I could never understand how a song that was already a hit could be a hit by a different artist on the same label so soon thereafter. As for Creedence Clearwater Revival's eleven minute version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" mere months after the success of Gaye's take, that made no sense to me. It wasn't that different. Unlike Al Kooper's version of "Season of the Witch." 2 That was the track from "Super Session" you heard first, the eleven minute cover of Donovan's "Season of the Witch," it was the same song, but completely different, and just as great, if not better, in its own way. Now I'm an anomaly, I've always preferred the second side of "Super Session" to the first, the one with Stephen Stills as opposed to Michael Bloomfield. Maybe if Stills had died instead he'd be just as revered, then again, Bloomfield's star is fading. So the first song on the second side, Stills's side, is a cover of Bob Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry." And it couldn't be further from the original on "Highway 61 Revisited." Now if you listen to it you'll see although Gram Parsons gets all the credit for bringing country to rock, "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" came out on August 30, 1968, whereas "Super Session" was released before that, on July 22nd. Interesting. Now of course "Super Session" came out after the first Blood, Sweat & Tears LP, which is a masterpiece. But it didn't sell prodigiously and Al Kooper was replaced by David Clayton Thomas in his own band. Now Thomas just died and got lengthy obits everywhere. But in truth, his only success came with the second Blood, Sweat & Tears album, whose songs Kooper had picked before leaving/being kicked out (depending on who you listen to). Sans Kooper, the band was dead in the water. So if you purchased the first Blood, Sweat & Tears album, and then "Super Session," you were primed for, and immediately went out and bought, Al Kooper's solo debut, "I Stand Alone." 3 "I Stand Alone"... If only it came out a few years later, when it didn't matter whether you had AM hits or not. It was far from a stiff, but it was ultimately a cult item. At this point, February 1969, very few markets had underground FM radio stations, with free formats that played a cornucopia of music like this. So, in order to hear "I Stand Alone" in most markets you had to buy it. And, in truth, Al Kooper didn't reach his pinnacle of fame until the live version of "Dear Mr. Fantasy" from "The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper" became a radio staple over the ensuing years, gaining traction as FM radio spread. That's right, the original Traffic "Dear Mr. Fantasy" was not a hit. By this point, the band had broken up, there was no single. The song was legendary if you knew it, but not that many people knew it, not that many people had purchased Traffic's debut at all. But Al Kooper had. "Smiling Phases" had been picked for, and appeared on, the second Blood, Sweat & Tears album, the one without him, and on "I Stand Alone," Kooper covered "Coloured Rain." Now in truth, the title track, "I Stand Alone," is a standout. But some of the covers... Kooper covered Nilsson's "One," and Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky," but the two soul covers were the piece-de-resistance, "Toe Hold" and "Hey, Western Union Man." "Toe Hold" was a Stax staple, first recorded by Johnnie Taylor. This song has been unjustly lost to the sands of time, and Jerry Butler's "Hey, Western Union Man" had more commercial success, and I hear it on SiriusXM every once in a blue moon, but this is a soul classic just waiting to be discovered by the younger generations. But back in 1969, Al Kooper took these two numbers and applied the Blood, Sweat & Tears formula, maintaining some soul, but bringing horns right up front and rockifying both of them, "Hey, Western Union Man" is one of my absolute favorite tracks period, with the horn flourish announcing the number, down to the telegraph clicks to boot. Yes, Kooper threw in everything, including the kitchen sink, but instead of a mess, he made a delectable concoction. So if you loved these songs as much as I did, purchasing Al Kooper's 1969 follow-up, "You Never Know Who Your Friends Are," was a no-brainer. No, scratch that, I awaited it with bated-breath, bought it immediately when it came out, broke the shrinkwrap, dropped the needle... Now the title track opens the second side, and it's an enjoyable jaunt. And the first side opener, "Magic in My Socks" was good too, but ultimately one can't call the "You Never Know Who Your Friends Are" album anything but a disappointment. And I was really disappointed, having loved "I Stand Alone" so much. But back in those days, if you bought it, you played it, ad infinitum, because you'd paid for it, and you ended up knowing it by heart. And at this late date the one track I think of when I think of this album, the one that sticks out, that is embedded in my brain, is Al's version of "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby." 4 "Uh-huh, oh yeah Uh-huh, oh yeah" And then the horns come in heralding excitement, levitating the room, and Al starts to sing: "I ain't got time to think about money Or what it can buy" They were off and running, just like with "Toe Hold" and "Hey, Western Union Man" on the previous album. This ain't the Marvin Gaye version, it's sped-up, it's a tear, only a little bit of the soul is left, replaced with those horns and the mellifluous voices of the backup singers. It might have been cut in a studio, but it's got a live feel, this is the kind of music you want the band to play when you're at the club. (Well, at least when they used to have bands at clubs.) You know how it is. There's nothing somnambulant about it, you're completely energized, at the end of your wits, bopping around. And Kooper's take is great, but it's not in the league of Marvin's. You don't want to compete with Gaye, because he'll wipe the floor with you. 5 Now the Temptations' original has a different groove, it positively swings, it's even sweetened with strings. Eddie Kendricks is giving it everything he's got. But today it sounds dated, a period piece, hearkening back to the past more than looking forward. Sure, it's soul, but it sounds closer to the big band era than what Kooper did with the track, modernizing the horns, never mind the groove. And that's what Marvin Gaye added, the groove. "Uh-huh-huh, oh yeah Oh, listen to me, people" And we are. This is not the Kooper take, hedonistically dancing in the club to the band banging it out on stage. No, Marvin demands our attention, from the very get-go. "I ain't got time to think about money Or what it can buy" And you believe him. But it really kicks in in the second verse, when Marvin truly gets into it, starts to play. He growls. He takes his voice way up high. He's showing off for the object of his affection...and us. There's a brief instrumental section, with the strings sweetly singing, and then Marvin comes back. "All the diamonds and pearls in the world Could never match her worth, no, no She's some kind of wonderful, people will tell you" BINGO! "She's some kind of wonderful," Marvin lays it down exactly as Grand Funk lifts it for their own track with that moniker, directly from Gaye to Farner. Yup, when I hear people mention "Some Kind of Wonderful" these two songs conflate, become one in my brain. Then again, both acts are from Michigan and the message is ultimately the same. But, Grand Funk is bopping the woman over the head, it's akin to the Flintstones, whereas Marvin is more like Cary Crant, suave. "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" is two minutes and fifty six seconds of perfection, compact and exquisite. And Norman Whitfield produced the record. And he wrote the song too, along with Barrett Strong and... Janie Bradford. -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
