Disc of the day
Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement
From Sheffield, synth pop and funk to stick it to Thatcher. Currently being played live!
Features Disc of the day
Delaney & Bonnie
Home
(Stax, 1969)
Farewell to the unsung hero of US southern soul.
Delaney Bramlett, who died on December 27 at the age of 69, once ruminated on the songs he and his wife Bonnie had written during the late 1960s: “The kind of music we’re doing ain’t Nashville and it ain’t Memphis. I think it’s a country sort of gospel that folks’ve been doing for a long time.” That divide, between the hillbilly sounds of Music City USA and the gospel-blues hollers of Tennessee’s southern counties had been narrowed by the likes of Ray Charles, Charley Pride and Stax Records’ amalgamation of white and black players. Delaney and Bonnie’s hippie collective of session hotshots took things a step further. Home, their first album of sanctified, country-soul grooves, boasted a roster of extraordinary musicians, many of whom had been responsible for solidifying the southern sound of the late ‘60s. The Memphis Horns, Booker T & The MG’s and Leon Russell all lend a hand – even William Bell steps in to provide backing vocals on the prairie-funk of Isaac Hayes and David Porter’s My Baby Specializes. Not that the central duo couldn’t hold their own. Before joining forces in 1967, D & B had cut their teeth with some of the very best – Delaney honing his guitar skills with the house band of TV show Shindig! and Bonnie providing vocal support for Count Basie, Albert King and Ike & Tina – and that assurance is all over Home. A Long Road Ahead is the sound of The Band relocated way south, It’s Been A Long Time A Coming and Get Ourselves Together hit a pure pop-soul vein, while Bonnie’s tear through Piece Of My Heart is as tender as it is uproariously loose. Soon the pair’s rootsy strain of soul-stirring R&B would intoxicate some of rock’s biggest stars, most strikingly Eric Clapton and George Harrison, who both soaked their first major solo offerings in church sounds learned from Delaney & Bonnie. But upon its release, Home was derided in some circles as being a mere pastiche – white folks playing at being black. But since when has that been an obstacle to greatness? (The Rolling Stones, anyone?) And when the music is this exuberant, who cares?
Ross Bennett
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 09/01/2009
Further Listening
Jim Ford – Harlan County (White Whale, 1969)
The Black Crowes – The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion (Def American, 1992)
Various Artists – Country Got Soul: Volume 1 (Casual, 2004)
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Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement
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Hey, I was just listening to this album not minutes ago! And, yeah, it is a truly underrated gem. Talk about cosmic american music!!
Posted by sistermidnight at 5:10 AM GMT 11/01/2009 Report Abuse
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Ive not heard this album! But now i am going to look for it.
Posted by Stu troubadour at 9:26 AM GMT 11/01/2009 Report Abuse
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