Beck's 50 favorite album covers

Beck Hansen, one of our most visionary rock stars agreed to compile a list of the 50 best album covers ever, in no particular order

I generally find these “best of” lists, compiling their way into our lives with items pronounced valid and relevant in the eyes of one, to represent little more than the compiler’s slanted sensibility. This selection of album-cover favorites represents little more than me digging through my record collection and amusing myself for a few days. And as I pulled out stacks and stacks of vinyl, including everything from Christian puppet records to classic-rock standbys, early hip-hop to Argentinean indie rock, I realized it would be difficult to choose “the best” out of so many stray gems.

My criteria were loose; essentially I grabbed whatever looked fresh when I pulled it off the shelf. I tried to look at the covers as solely visual media, as if the music they were connected to didn’t exist. How would this look hanging up in a room? Most of these images were never meant to be anything other than objects one stared at for hours, trying to decipher the impenetrable world contained within the music playing back from a grizzled stereo. Maybe this is an adolescent version of the album-listening experience; still, in most cases, it’s impossible to divorce an image from its music. Bowie is Aladdin sane, and the music vibrates from that image. It’s an icon and a symbol, drawing its power from a sound. Extricating one from the other would seem unnatural. Yet we may find it easier to objectify an image as it becomes a cultural signifier. We can associate new things with it as it achieves distinction from its source. Claiming new aesthetic territory from the terrain of the familiar seems to be one of the lessons learned from the postmodern postmortem. I opened up the possibility in my mind of creating a gallery of these familiar images and letting them form a collective force.

Now, as I examine my 50 choices, it’s interesting to see how many covers seem outlandish, even grotesque. Anything we choose as our favorite becomes a potential of ourselves. Honestly, I don’t know what this represents or speaks of my sensibility, other than an appreciation for the seditious and the absurd.

I recall many of these covers having an impact on me before I’d ever listened to the music. If we look at the fact that record covers are essentially advertisements for the music, we acknowledge a function and purpose to draw in the prospective buyer.

Vying for the consumer’s attention on a shelf among thousands of records becomes a task met more effectively with a cover that cuts through the visual traffic with blaring horns and flashing lights. The outlandish may be a means of surviving the turnover of product.

And my collection of the outlandish, or just plain kitsch, seems to be extensive, though I tried to keep them to a minimum here. I could have easily included the Uri Geller album, with an illustration of him walking over a cosmos of metal plates, singing songs about bending spoons with his mental powers, backed by a 70-piece orchestra.

I tried to stay away from choosing too many of the acknowledged great records, as they can often be tied up with attachments that have nothing to do with the cover’s actual worth as a pure visual. I did go to some of the obvious places—Dylan, the Beatles, the Stones.

Being constrained by only 50 choices, I picked Revolver over Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, you may notice, and Highway 61 Revisited over Bringing It All Back Home.

Though Pepper’s is the landmark, Revolver came like nothing before it. It bent and shifted the perception of what people thought the Beatles were or could be.

Even by today’s standards it’s a pretty fucked-up cover. And Highway 61 Revisited is one of the first great anti-covers.

Dylan looks burnt, shirt wrinkled—like he’s waiting for catering at the gig or something. And somebody’s just randomly walked in behind him. In an era of Patti Page—style, perfectly lit and posed covers, this cover was a defecation. And these days you’d rarely see such a throwaway picture on such an “important” album.

Many of these covers just straight up made me laugh or cringe, and that was good enough for me to call them my favorites.

I hope they provide the same for you.

BECK’S TOP 50 ALBUM COVERS

HOMOGENIC

BJÖRK

(Elektra, 1997)

This one scares people. I’m obviously attracted to covers that are a little art-damaged. It feels like something Grace Jones or Nina Hagen would’ve done. Maybe she was reacting to how glamorous she looked on her previous album, Post. I think it’s totally bold and sets a standard for everybody else. One of the best covers of the last decade.

DIRTY DEEDS DONE DIRT CHEAP

AC/DC

(Atlantic, 1976)

This looks like it could’ve been a Devo or Dead Kennedys cover. It’s interesting to see something so arty from a hard-rock band.

FREEDOM OF CHOICE

DEVO

(Warner Bros., 1980)

I wasn’t sure if they were an army, a gang, or a specialized task force of geological engineers. Whatever they were, when this came out, I wanted to enlist. There was something so satisfying about their regimented chaos. I’d love to see some of these new-school rock bands step up to this level of concept.

PINUPS

DAVID BOWIE

(RCA, 1973)

Bowie has at least eight all-time great covers. How do you choose between Low and Diamond Dogs? Heroes and Ziggy Stardust? Any of these are my favorites.

TROUT MASK REPLICA

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND

(Warner Bros., 1969)

This is considered his great cover. I like Spotlight Kid (with the Nudie suit) and Clear Spot just as much. This one is more instant. The picture of the band on the back cover is amazing as well. Hippies gone New Wave in ’69.

BLANK GENERATION

RICHARD HELL & THE VOIDOIDS

(Sire, 1977)

When I was growing up, there was always a guy running around on the scene who looked like this. Ready for anything or nothing. He looks like he’s ready to rock or puke or both.

THE AGE OF ELECTRONICUS

DICK HYMAN

(ABC, 1969)

Dick Hyman was a jazz guy who went Moog. He released a series of Moog-only albums consisting of originals and covers, such as the analog watershed of the Beatles’ “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.”

HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED

BOB DYLAN

(Columbia, 1965)

This cover captures the flux of seven albums in, what, three and a half years? This one is the plateau.

KIMONO MY HOUSE

SPARKS

(Island, 1974)

Sparks’ covers are clever and really well art-directed. This one goes beyond the more tongue-in-cheek aspects of Propaganda and Indiscreet and becomes almost performative. A parodic premonition of Homogenic?

RAW POWER

IGGY AND THE STOOGES

(Columbia, 1973)

I heard he didn’t like this cover when it came out. Maybe he recognized its iconic potential and knew he’d be identified with it ad nauseam. This is the blueprint.

REVOLVER

THE BEATLES

(Capitol, 1966)

I remember being really disturbed by the eyeballs when I was a kid. Their faces looked like Kabuki masks: haunting and ugly. I love this sort of phantasmagoria, all the minutiae of detail and references. I’m a fan of Hieronymus Bosch, and this has a similar visual density.

NEVER SAY DIE!

BLACK SABBATH

(Warner Bros., 1978)

Candy-colored and apocalyptic. I used to have an amazing T-shirt of this cover that never failed to get compliments.

THE RAMONES

THE RAMONES

(Sire, 1976)

A few of their covers are almost interchangeable, almost the same photo. I love that. They’re so uniformly punk. I wonder if bands are afraid to look so uniform now. Today there’d be a chain-wallet punk, a baggy skater, a tatted-up goth, and a clean-cut gas-station-attendant indie rocker.

COUNTRY LIFE

ROXY MUSIC

(Atco, 1974)

I was amazed when this came out. Pubic hair. Amazonian disaffection. Even with the hand on the crotch, it seemed sexless and cold.

GUTS

JOHN CALE

(Island, 1977)

Sports Chalet goes glam. This is the kind of fake superhero gear my band wears onstage. Also reminds me of Buckethead, the guitar player, who wears a K.F.C. bucket on his head. I heard that Cale used to show up at dinner parties dressed like this and refuse to take off the mask.

LOVEDRIVE

SCORPIONS

(Mercury, 1979)

I think they were trying to one-up those Pink Floyd concept covers, but misfired with this accidental masterpiece.

COMPUTER WORLD

KRAFTWERK

(Warner Bros., 1981)

High-tech and totally crude. The vintage computer is dope. And the yellow completes the alchemy. The back cover fascinated me when I was 12. I couldn’t figure out what they were doing behind that industrial console. When I saw the pocket-calculator video my life changed. I was already into Devo, but this went to a whole other level.

COMING UP

THE LONDON SUEDE

(Nude, 1996)

Many bands attempt this retro graphic look, but Suede actually pulls it off. The heroin chic is a little obvious, but the solarized phantom figure with the disembodied grin rescues it, undermining the tragic fashion with a spontaneous dementia.

RIO

DURAN DURAN

(Capitol, 1982)

[Illustrator] Nagel was the bomb. This cover is 1982.

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND &NICO

(Verve, 1967)

This was the first thing I thought of when I was asked to make this list. It’s a perfect album cover. It’s so blank. It says anything and nothing.

SMALL CHANGE

TOM WAITS

(Elektra/Asylum/Nonesuch, 1976)

This one’s almost a burlesque version of Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home cover.

NO ONE CARES

FRANK SINATRA

(Capitol, 1959)

This should be called No One Cares, Especially Me. No one understands a life like Frank’s. He looks completely burnt out on the 50s, and ready for this uptown cocktail scene to end immediately.

NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS, HERE’S THE SEX PISTOLS

SEX PISTOLS

(Virgin, 1977)

If you think of the muted, naturalistic covers from this era, these colors were an affront. They’re synthetically modern and abrasively happy, while the cut-up blackmail lettering implies possible abduction or gleeful destruction.

MOBY GRAPE

MOBY GRAPE

(Columbia, 1967)

This one was recalled by the record company immediately after it was discovered that Don Stevenson’s bird was surreptitiously flipped. The original angry hippies.

STICKY FINGERS

THE ROLLING STONES

(Rolling Stones Records, 1971)

This one is a given. The zipper is brilliant. The presence of kit and tackle is definitely felt. Sticky Fingers is my all-time favorite rock-album title as well.

THE CARROLL COUNTY ACCIDENT

PORTER WAGONER

(RCA, 1969)

He looks like a televangelist who’s recently been dethroned. I think he discovered Dolly Parton. They were a duo for years. Dolly and Porter did damage!

SONGS FROM A ROOM

LEONARD COHEN

(Columbia, 1969)

This cover is impenetrable. Passport photo and dead space. And the back cover of the girl with no pants and the enigmatic smile, sitting in front of a typewriter in some ascetic garret. I love the skull on the chess set; the whole thing seems so intellectual and decadent. As a teenager, I spent hours trying to figure out who these people were.

DAMNED DAMNED DAMNED

THE DAMNED

(Stiff, 1977)

This looks like a play on something cute the Monkees would have done. There was an L.A. band at the same time, called the Quick, who did a variation on this with bananas. Someone should complete the triptych.

OFF THE WALL

MICHAEL JACKSON

(CBS, 1979)

This is my favorite era of Michael Jackson. He looks so natural and at ease.

SĀLONGO

RAMSEY LEWIS

(CBS, 1976)

This must have been Ramsey’s 50th album. At this point I think he was just amusing himself (and me).

TRANSFORMER

LOU REED

(RCA, 1972)

It’s interesting to see an artist like Lou Reed, whose persona is so masculine and no-bullshit, try on something so glammy and fey. There’s something tenuous about it; it doesn’t quite fit like it does Bowie and the others. It’s kind of unexpected and wrong, which is why I love it.

MORE SONGS ABOUT BUILDINGS AND FOOD

TALKING HEADS

(Sire, 1978)

Maybe this pre-dates Hockney’s photo collages? They look like pixelated clones, which I think was their image at the time. The Fear of Music and Remain in Light covers are genius as well.

GET LUCKY

LOVERBOY

(CBS, 1981)

I’m not sure if this is supposed to be sexy. Somebody’s getting laid, though. I think there’s a whole genre of album covers objectifying men’s asses. I just like this because the red leather’s tuff.

REHEARSALS FOR RETIREMENT

PHIL OCHS

(A&M, 1969)

This is self-deprecating to the point of pain. It’s fascinating and rare to see such a respected and substantial artist go so deep with a joke.

LOVESEXY

PRINCE

(Paisley Park, 1988)

This is Prince at his most delicate and bold. (Although my favorite Prince image is the foldout poster from Controversy, of him in the shower wearing a black G-string and a gold chain necklace.)

THE FLASHER

POOL-PAH

(Green Bottle, 1973)

I’ve had this one since I was a teenager. This is the soundtrack to a movie called The Flasher. The music sounds like a Superfly version of electronic music for plants. The back cover has some genius film stills of the Flasher flashing old ladies and statues. I want to find this movie.

MAGGOT BRAIN

FUNKADELIC

(Westbound, 1971)

Afronauts doling out galactic voodoo. Maggotbrains were the polyrhythmic disciples. Before the sci-fi cartoon cosmologies of the later covers, Maggot Brain envisaged the ferocious, distorted, and funky collisions happening in black music.

ELECTRIC WARRIOR

T. REX

(Warner Bros., 1971)

Black and gold, the metal guru in full force. This is what we want a rock cover to look like.

JAZZ RAGA

GABOR SZABO

(Impulse, 1966)

The juxtaposition of the African folk art with the superkitsch mods with scooters and sitars creates some beautiful friction. It actually captures what the record sounds like. Out-of-tune sitars blanging senselessly over mid-60s mellow jazz.

THE UPSETTERS CHAPTER 1

SCRATCH AND COMPANY

(R.A.S., 1981)

I’m a fan of this Hannah Hoch (by way of Kingston) photo-collage style. A continent of schoolchildren and earth beasts against a sea of police blue.

THE HARDER THEY COME

JIMMY CLIFF

(Mango, 1972)

This was playing at my parents’ house through most of the 70s. It figures into that whole blaxploitation graphic style, but the cover goes somewhere more naïve and beautiful.

PINK MOON

NICK DRAKE

(Island, 1972)

This cover belies the simplicity of the music, yet renders the complex emotional terrain with Surrealist imagery, setting it apart from the typically back-to-nature look of most folkie records at the time.

THE WHO SELL OUT

THE WHO

(Decca, 1967)

Daltry in the beans is kind of disgusting. Reminds me of this ridiculous British fetish magazine my old tour manager found on the road years ago, called Splosh!, which featured pictorials of office secretaries at their desks, dousing themselves with high volumes of food, all mishmashed into a culinary miasma.

RADIO

LL COOL J

(Def Jam, 1985)

This is my favorite hip-hop album cover. No Gucci, no Escalades, no hint of the trappings hip-hop would eventually become overrun with. This cover is minimal, raw, and somehow timeless.

DOMEGAPEACE

AOA

(Comma, 1999)

This is Japanese Peter Max 2005. The five-color printing in Japan makes their covers explode. Again, this is kind of retro, but escapes from that cul-de-sac with a guileless and futuristic sensibility.

SATAN IS REAL

THE LOUVIN BROTHERS

(Capitol Nashville, 1960)

This cover speaks for itself. The Louvins sang some of the most outrageous harmonies of all time. This was their gospel record. They built the set of hell by themselves. Those are gasoline-soaked junkyard tires burning behind them. The fumes must have been intense.

BLACK MOSES

ISAAC HAYES

(Enterprise, 1971)

This cover is four feet high and three feet wide when fully extended, more epic than anything anyone had attempted at the time. And you could even send away for your own Black Moses robe for $24.95.

XTRMNTR

PRIMAL SCREAM

(Creation, 2000)

This is one of the best covers I’ve seen in the last few years. It takes the rough collage style of early punk records, manipulates it with computers, and flips it around with pop colors. It looks like some geopolitical video game: Gulf War soldiers, pixelated helicopters, and that militaristic, vowel-free typeface.

HISTOIRE DE MELODY NELSON

SERGE GAINSBOURG

(Philips, 1971)

This was Gainsbourg’s concept record about a young girl named Melody, who gets hit by his Rolls-Royce, and a torrid love affair ensues. They made a video of this album in the early 70s, with Jane Birkin getting her freak on in red vinyl boots and hot pants against a backdrop of Magritte paintings.

SEX STYLE

KOOL KEITH

(Funky Ass, 1997)

I like the Miami Vice goes wild-wild-West Hollywood-(free cable) motel flavor of this one. I’d like to see Jay-Z step out in a pink Kangol and a man thong! He’s even got a box of cereal next to him to mack on while on a booty break.

inside Chateau Marmont roams Kenneth Anger

inside Chateau Marmont roams Kenneth Anger

 

On LA’s iconic Sunset Boulevard and inside the glamorous rooms of Chateau Marmont, Floria Sigismondi shot Kenneth Anger for an additional special edition for System Magazine.

Sam Phillips very drunk on David Letterman featured in Robert Gordon's "Memphis Rent Party"

Sam Phillips could fuck-up a two-car funeral - Jerry Lee Lewis

"Letterman's show was a late-night hipster paradise; showcasing the eccentrics and mocking their oddities, he augured reality TV. Irony was as comforting and old-fashioned as the couch from which the viewer lounged and laughed. My guess is that Sam was unfamiliar with Letterman and had been warned about David's potential to ridicule. Sam was wary, and he was accustomed to being in charge. What we get is a battle of producers – who is going to get what from whom. Because same was giving nothing, and certainly not going to prepare a bland TV dinner version of his achievements – dismissive, simplistic, generic."

- Robert Gordon  "Memphis Rent Party"

Sam Phillips very drunk on David Letterman

"You gotta work for this a little while tonight, son"

Sam Phillips very drunk on David Letterman @chrisherrington highlighted this video in Commercial Appeal, "Robert Gordon digs deep with 'Memphis Rent Party" https://t.co/5AujnHiOqZ reviews Robert Gordon, who used it in his first chapter. march 9, 2018 https://t.co/72l3EfHATN

— mrjyn (@mrjyn) January 18, 2019

@chrisherrington highlighted this video in The Commercial Appeal, "Robert Gordon digs deep with 'Memphis Rent Party"  reviews Robert Gordon, who used it in his first chapter.

march 9, 2018

The most famous Memphis moment on "Late Night with David Letterman" came in 1982, when Jerry Lawler and Andy Kaufman took their little Memphis wrestling feud national.

But the runner up, and perhaps just as compelling a piece of theater, came a few years later, when Sun Records founder Sam Phillips, fresh off induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, walked onto the set.

Was this what many viewers saw:

A drunk old coot making a scene?

Or was it more complicated than that?

Phillips on Letterman is the first chapter in author Robert Gordon's new book "Memphis Rent Party."

Gordon wrote about the moment in the Oxford American in 1997, more than a decade after it happened, and adds new thoughts here, a pattern repeated throughout the book, a compilation of previous pieces (a few unpublished) with extensive new notes.

I would say there's a tell here.

Note Phillips' alert, mischievous smile just before the show cuts to a shot over his shoulder and Phillips drawls:

Decide for yourself:

by @chrisherrington

Two-car funeral

Q

From Bill Decker:

What is the story behind the expression two-car funeral?

A

In US English, it usually turns up the fuller form, couldn’t organize a two-car funeral. It’s a measure of utter incompetence.

Here’s an example from the Fresno Bee of February 2004: “When is the school board going to face the reality that the administration is incapable of organizing a two-car funeral?” Sometimes the verb is manage, as here in an issue of the Cincinnati Post in January 2005: “If Bill Frist’s performance as Senate majority leader the last few weeks is any indication, he would have trouble managing a two-car funeral let alone the vast U.S. government.”
Like most such slangy expressions, trying to tie down its origins is next to impossible. It became well enough known that it began to appear in newspapers around 1971; the earliest example I’ve come across appeared in a syndicated article in several US newspapers in February 1971: “The Saigon government at that point could not organize a two-car funeral.”
The expression was in fact a less serious accusation of incompetence than couldn’t organise a one-car funeral. The earliest example of that version I’ve found is from 1968: “Alas, the world is full of bunglers. Some of them are so good they can even mess up a one-car funeral.” That’s older than the first recorded example of two-car funeral and so may be the original.
The standard British equivalent, by the way, is the more forceful couldn’t organise a piss-up in a brewery.

Jerry Lee Lewis dances to' PETE DRAKE'S "Joggin'"

Jerry Lee Lewis Joggin'

PETE DRAKE & MAVERICKS joggin' / mama's talking guitar

 

Label: STOP 222 Format: 45Grade: M-Category: CountryNotes: promoPrice: $12

Pete Drake

SESSIONS

ca. November 1961 Starday Sound Studio, 3557 Dickerson Road, Nashville, TN - Pete Drake (Producer: Tommy Hill)
001 5182 THE SPOOK Starday 575 Jazzman JM 081/SLP-180
ca. November 1961 Starday Sound Studio, 3557 Dickerson Road, Nashville, TN - Pete Drake (Producer: Tommy Hill)
002 5194 PLEADING 575/SLP-180
003 FOR PETE'S SAKE SEP 170/SLP-180
004 ORIENTAL TWIST Jazzman JM 81/SLP-180
005 TIL TOMORROW SLP-180
006 SOUTHERN SUNDAY SLP-180
007 STAR GAZING SEP 170/SLP-180
008 TEARING DOWN THE TEE PEE SLP-180
009 KICK OFF SLP-180
010 LOVES I'VE KNOWN SLP-180
011 GALAXIE SLP-180
012 AFTER HOURS SLP-180
26 June 1963 Starday Sound Studio, 3557 Dickerson Road, Nashville, TN – Pete Drake
013 2-29650 FOR PETE'S SAKE Cumberland SRC-69503
014 2-29651 STEEL AFTER HOURS Cumberland SRC-69503
015 2-29652 PANHANDLE RAG Cumberland SRC-69503
016 2-29653 BOOT HEEL RAG Cumberland SRC-69503
017 2-29654? PLEADING Cumberland SRC-69503
19 July 1963 Starday Sound Studio, 3557 Dickerson Road, Nashville, TN – Pete Drake
018 2-29719 MIDNIGHT IN AMARILLO Smash S-1888/ Cumberland SRC-69503
019 2-29720 FOREVER Cumberland SRC-69503
020 2-29721 STEEL GUITAR RAG Cumberland SRC-69503
021 2-29722 KENTUCKY WALTZ Cumberland SRC-69503
022 2-29723 WILD SIDE OF LIFE Cumberland SRC-69503

18 November 1963 Columbia Recording Studio, 804 16th Ave. South, Nashville, TN – Pete Drake
023 2-30206 DANNY BOY Smash SRS-67053
024 2-30207 FOREVER Smash S-1867/SRS-67053
025 2-30208 SLEEPWALK Smash S-1867/ SRS-67053
17 February 1964 Columbia Recording Studio, 804 16th Ave. South, Nashville, TN – Pete Drake (Producer: Shelby Singleton)
026 2-30342 RED SAILS IN THE SUNSET SRS-67053
027 2-30343 I'M JUST A GUITAR (EVERYBODY PICKS ON ME) S-1910/SRS-67053
028 2-30344 PARADISE SRS-67053
029 2-30345 THE SPOOK SRS-67053
030 2-30346 MY BLUEST DAY SRS-67053
031 2-30347 FOR THOSE THAT CRY SRS-67053
032 2-30348 MELODY OF LOVE SRS-67053
033 2-30349 MAKING BELIEVE SRS-67053
034 2-30350 STILL SRS-67053
ca. April 1964 Starday Sound Studio, 3557 Dickerson Road, Nashville, TN - Joe Maphis and Pete Drake
035 6969 HOT ROD GUITAR Starday 683/SLP 316
May 1964 Columbia Recording Studio, 804 16th Ave. South, Nashville, TN - Pete Drake (Producer: Jerry Kennedy)
036 2-30477 GONE SRS-67060
037 2-30478 ARE YOU SINCERE S-1935/SRS-67060
038 2-30479 I‘­M SORRY S-1910/SRS-67060
June 1964 Starday Sound Studio, 3557 Dickerson Road, Nashville, TN – Pete Drake aka Dean Dallas And The Doughboys
039 2-30483 SLOWLY SRC-69516
040 2-30484 HALF A MIND SRC-69516
041 2-30485 WHEN TWO WORLDS COLLIDESRC-69516
042 2-30486 LONG BLACK VEIL SRC-69516
043 2-30487 A FALLEN STAR SRC-69516
June 1964 Starday Sound Studio, 3557 Dickerson Road, Nashville, TN – Pete Drake aka Dean Dallas And The Doughboys
044 2-30510 AM I THAT EASY TO FORGET rejected
045 2-30511 I MISS YOU ALREDY
046 2-30512 IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE NOW Cumberland SRC-69516
047 2-30513 RELEASE ME (AND LET ME LOVE AGAIN) Cumberland SRC-69516
048 2-30514 A SATISFIED MIND Cumberland SRC-69516
049 2-30515 WHEN YOUR HOUSE IS NOT A HOME Cumberland SRC-69516
ca. June 1964 Starday Sound Studio, 3557 Dickerson Road, Nashville, TN – Pete Drake, *and Roy Wiggins
050 ST-7262 INVITATION TO THE BLUES 706/SLP-319
051 ST-7263 MY ABILENE 751/SLP-319
052 Y'ALL COME 751/SLP-319
053 THE ALLEY SLP-319
054 7266 RICK-A-SHAY 706/SLP-319
055 HOT ROD GUITAR SLP-319
056 COLOR OF THE BLUES SLP-319
057 IDA SLP-319
058 JUST ANOTHER SONG SLP-319
059 PLEADING SEP 236/SLP-319
060 GALAXIE SLP-319
061 A SATISFIED MIND SLP-319
062 STARBUST * SEP-236
063 COWTOWN SEP-239
064 PENGUIN STRUT SEP-239 /SLP 350

PEDAL JUMPIN‘ SLP 350

STARDAY SLP-350 STARS OF THE STEEL GUITAR (1965)
July 1964 Columbia Recording Studio, 804 16th Ave. South, Nashville, TN – Pete Drake
065 2-30578 BLUE GUITAR SRS-67060
066 2-30579 THIS IS OUR LAST NIGHT TOGETHER SRS-67060
August 1964 Columbia Recording Studio, 804 16th Ave. South, Nashville, TN – Pete Drake
067 2-33250 FUNNY HOW TIME SLIPS AWAY SRS-67060
068 2-33251 ALWAYS SRS-67060
069 2-33252 AIN'T SHE SWEET SRS-67060
070 2-33253 PLEADING SRS-67060
071 2-33254 I’M WALKIN‘ S-1935/SRS-67060
072 2-33255 LITTLE BITTY BROKEN HEART SRS-67060
073 2-33256 I'M BLUE SRS-67060
18 January 1965 Columbia Recording Studio, 804 16th Ave. South, Nashville, TN – Pete Drake (Producer: Jerry Kennedy, Shelby Singleton)
074 2-33383 ONLY YOU AND YOU ALONE Smash SRS-67064
075 2-33384 LET IT BE ME Smash SRS- SRS-67064
076 2-33385 TAMMY Smash SRS- SRS-67064
077 2-33386 ROSES ARE RED (MY LOVE) SRS-67064
19 January 1965 Columbia Recording Studio, 804 16th Ave. South, Nashville, TN – Pete Drake (Producer: Jerry Kennedy, Shelby Singleton)
078 2-33387 UNCHAINED MELODY SRS-67064
079 2-33388 WELCOME TO MY WORLD SRS-67064
080 2-33389 NEAR YOU S-1978/ SRS-67064
081 2-33390 DREAM S-1978/SRS-67064
27 January 1965 Columbia Recording Studio, 804 16th Ave. South, Nashville, TN – Pete Drake (Producer: Jerry Kennedy, Shelby Singleton)
082 2-33401 AM I THAT EASY TO FORGET S-1978/SRS-67064
083 2-33402 CLINGING VINE SRS-67064
084 2-33403 LONELY STREET SRS-67064
085 2-33404 BLUE VELVET SRS-67064
late June 1966 Columbia Recording Studio, 804 16th Ave. South, Nashville, TN – Pete Drake
086 2-38314 I'M A FOOL TO CARE Smash S-2046
087 2-38315 MYSTIC DREAM Smash S-2046
088 2-38316 FUNNY BONE unissued
1966 Nashville, TN – Pete Drake
089 STEEL AWAY Canaan CAS-9640
090 HAPPY TRACKS Canaan CAS-9640
091 IN THE GARDEN Canaan CAS-9640
092 WHAT A FRIEND Canaan CAS-9640
093 WHEN THEY RING THOSE GOLDEN BELLS Canaan CAS-9640
094 THE EYES OF JESUS Canaan CAS-9640
095 BEYOND THE SUNSET Canaan CAS-9640
096 HOW GREAT THOU ART Canaan CAS-9640
097 STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN Canaan CAS-9640
098 WHISPERING HOPE Canaan CAS-9640
ca. November 1966 Starday Sound Studio, 3557 Dickerson Road, Nashville, TN – Nashville Cats (Pete Drake, Jerry Shook, Jimmy Richardson, Boots Randolph, Sugarfoot Garland, Tommy Hill's Nashville String Band, Phil Baugh, And Joe Maphis)
099 SPOOK SLP-399
100 PENGUIN WATUSI SLP-399
101 ALLEY SLP-399
102 MAKIN' OUT SLP-399
103 COFFEE EXPRESSO SLP-399
104 FRANKIE AND JOHNNY SLP-399
105 COUNTRY GUITAR SLP-399
106 DRIVE SLP-399
107 ORIENTAL FRUG SLP-399
108 HOT ROD GUITAR SLP-399
109 AFTER HOURS SLP-399
110 STAR GAZING SLP-399
c. 1966 Nashville, TN - Pete Drake
111 GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME Mountain Dew S-7042 Ambassador S-98061
112 ALMOST PERSUADED Mountain Dew S-7042 Ambassador S-98061
112 TIPPY TOEING Mountain Dew S-7042 Ambassador S-98061
114 DON'T LET ME CROSS OVER Mountain Dew S-7042 Ambassador S-98061
115 STILL Mountain Dew S-7042 Ambassador S-98061
116 THERE GOES MY EVERYTHING Mountain Dew S-7042 Ambassador S-98061
117 ANYMORE Mountain Dew S-7042 Ambassador S-98061
118 BEAR WITH ME A LITTLE LONGER Mountain Dew S-7042 Ambassador S-98061
119 THE END OF THE WORLD Mountain Dew S-7042 Ambassador S-98061
120 MAY THE BIRD OF PARADISE FLY UP YOUR NOSE Mountain Dew S-7042 Ambassador S-98061
ca September 1968 Music City Recorders, 821 19th Ave. South, Nashville,  TN – Pete Drake and Mavericks
121 ST-5386 JOGGIN' Stop ST-222
122 ST-5387 MAMA'S TALKING GUITAR ST-222

ca April 1969 [live] The Frontier City, Onsted, MI – Pete Drake [1], Billy Ray Reynolds [2],  Johnny Gimble [3], Dale Sellers [4], Crystal Gares [5], Chuck Howard [6], (Producer: Tommy Hill)
12201 I'M WALKIN' -1 ST-10011
12202 FOREVER -1 ST-10011

12203 ST 5718 FOR PETE’S SAKE -1 ST 349 ST 10011
12204 TODAY I STARTED LOVIN' YOU AGAIN -2 ST-10011
12205 THE FUGITIVE -2 ST-10011
12206 SAN ANTONIO ROSE -3  ST-10011
12207 ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL -3 ST-10011
12208 HIGH HEEL SNEAKERS -4 ST-10011
12209 YOU AIN'T WOMAN ENOUGH -5 ST-10011
12210 A THING CALLED SADNESS -6 ST-10011
12211 THE NIGHT BEFORE -6 ST-10011
12212 SHAME ON ME -6 ST-10011
12213 OLDIES BUT GOODIES -6 ST-10011

12214 Y‘LL COME (BAND THEME)  ST 10011

Ca October 1969 Music City Recorders, 821 19th Ave. South, Nashville,  TN – Pete Drake
123 ST 6910 LAY LADY LAY ST-349
May/October 1970 Nashville, TN – Pete Drake

124 PETE DREAKE’S STEEL GUITAR]

 unknown info – Pete Drake

HARBOR LIGHTS

15 YEARS AGO

I LOVE YOU BECAUSE

HEARTACHES BY THE NUMBER
ALBUMS
Starday SLP-180 The Fabulous Steel Guitar Sounds Of Pete Drake: For Pete's Sake; Pleading; Oriental Twist; After Hours; Southern Sunday; Loves I've Known; The Spook; Till Tomorrow; Kick Off; Star Gazing; Tearing Down The Tee Pee; Galaxie (w. Little Roy Wiggins) – 62 Cumberland MGC-29503/SRC-69503 Country Steel Guitar: Steel Guitar Rag; Pleading; Panhandle Rag; Steel After Hours; Boot Heel Rag; For Pete's Sake; Am I That Easy To Forget; Kentucky Waltz; Midnight In Amarilla; Wild Side Of Life – 63 (on reissue Forever was changed for Am I That Easz to Forget)

Smash MGSS-27053/SRS-67053 Forever: Forever; The Spook; Sleep Walk; Melody Of Love; My Bluest Day; For Those That Cry; I'm Just A Guitar (Everybody Picks On Me); Danny Boy; Red Sails In The Sunset; Still; Making Believe; Paradise – 05-64 Smash MGS-27060/SRS-67060 Talking Steel Guitar: Blue Guitar; I'm Walking; Always; This Is Our Last Night Together; Gone; Little Bitty Broken Heart; I'm Sorry; Ain't She Sweet; Are You Sincere; Pleading; Funny How Time Slips Away; I'm Blue – 11-64 (reissued in 1968 on Hilltop JS-6052 The Greatest Steel Guitar In The World with 2 songs omited) Cumberland MGC-29516/SRC-69516 Golden Country Hits: Slowly; Half A Mind; When Two Worlds Collide; Long Black Veil; A Fallen Star; I Miss You Already; It Makes No Difference Now; Release Me (And Let Me Love Again); A Satisfied Mind; When Your House Is Not A Home – 65 As by Dean Dallas And The Doughboys Smash MGS-27064/SRS-67064 Talking Steel And Singing Strings: Dream; Only You (And You Alone); Let It Be Me; Roses Are Red (My Love); Lonely Street; Unchained Melody; Welcome To My World; Tammy; Clinging Vine; Blue Velvet; Near You; Am I That Easy To Forget – 04-65 Starday SLP-319 The Amazing And Incredible Pete Drake: Y'all Come; Alley; Hot Rod Guitar; Color Of The Blues; Ida; Abilene; Invitation To The Blues; Just Another Song; Rick-A-Shay; Pleading; Galaxie; A Satisfied Mind - 65
Ambassador S-98061 The Hits I Played On: Green Green Grass Of Home; Almost Persuaded; Tippy Toeing; Don't Let Me Cross Over; Still; There Goes My Everything; Anymore; Bear With Me A Little Longer; End Of The World; May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose – 66? (also in Mountain Dew S-7042 Pete Drake And His Steel Guitar (1969) Starday SLP-399 The Fabulous Sounds Of Those Nashville Cats: The Spook; Penguin Watusi; The Alley; Makin' Out; Coffee Expresso; Frankie And Johnny; Country Guitar; The Drive; Oriental Frug; Hot Rod Guitar; After Hours; Star Gazing – 67 Pete Drake, Jerry Shook, Jimmy Richardson, Boots Randolph, Sugarfoot Garland, Tommy Hill's Nashville String Band, Phil Baugh, And Joe Maphis as by The Nashville Cats Canaan CA-4640/CAS-9640 Steel Away: Steel Away; Happy Tracks; In The Garden; What A Friend; When They Ring Those Golden Bells; The Eyes Of Jesus; Beyond The Sunset; How Great Thou Art; Stairway To Heaven; Whispering Hope – 68 Hilltop JS-6052 The Greatest Steel Guitar In The World: Are You Sincere; I'm Walking; This Is Our Last Night Together; I'm Sorry; Little Bitty Broken Heart; Pleading; Blue Guitar; Gone; Funny How Time Slips Away; I'm Blue - ca 68 (all tracks from SRS-67060) Stop STOP-10011 Pete Drake Show: I'm Walkin'; Forever; For Pete's Sake; Today I Started Lovin' You Again; Fugitive; San Antonio Rose; Orange Blossom Special; High Heel Sneakers; You Ain't Woman Enough; A Thing Called Sadness; The Night Before; Shame On Me; Oldies But Goodies - 69 Smash 422-836 903-2 Sleepwalk and Other Steel Guitar Classics: Forever; Melody Of Love; Blue Guitar; Are You Sincere; Sleep Walk; I'm Sorry; Making Believe; I'm Just A Guitar (Everybody Picks On Me); Red Sails In The Sunset – 89 (sampler) First Generation FGCD-107 Pete Drake: Something; Hey Jude; Lay Lady Lay; Isn't It A Pity; Behind That Locked Door; Yesterday; Get Back; Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo); Country Pie; Funny Bone; Pleading; Talking Steel Guitar – 12-10-99 King KMCD-6111 For Pete's Sake: For Pete's Sake; Pleading; Oriental Twist; Satisfied Mind; Alley; Loves I've Known; Color Of The Blues; After Hours; Till Tomorrow; Y'all Come; Rick-A-Shay; Galaxie; Abilene; Kick Off ; Invitation To The Blues; Star Gazing; Lay Lady Lay*; Spook; Southern Sunday; Tearing Down The Tee Pee – 21-11-00 (*previously unissued on album)

EPs

Starday

SEP 170 Steel Guitar Instrumentals: Pete Drake - For Pete's Sake; Little Roy Wiggins -  Wiggin's Wiggle - Jimmy Day -  Pushing Pedals / Little Roy Wiggins -  Ting A Ling; Pete Drake -  Star Gazing; Don Helms -  Big News - 61

SEP 236 Steel Guitar Instrumental By All Star Artists: Little Roy Wiggins -  Steel Guitar Hula; Pete Drake And Roy Wiggins -  Starburst; Buddy Emmons - Singing Strings / Pete Drake -  Pleading; Roy Wiggins -  Love Theme; Shot Jackson - Fort Worth Drag - 64

SEP 239 Steel Guitar Instrumentals With Tommy Hill’s Nashville String Band: Pete Drake -  Penguin Strut; Walter Haynes - Hi Boots; Jimmie Day -  Stetson Rag / Walter Haynes -  Gearshiftin; Pete Drake -  Cowtown; Jimmie Day -  Hi Ballin - 64

SINGLES

Starday (1961-62)
45-575 The Spook / Pleading - 01-62

Jazzman JM.081 The Spook / Oriental Twist – 01-11 (UK issue)
Smash (1963-66)
S-1867 Forever / Sleepwalk - 01-64
S-1888 Forever / Midnight In Amarillo - 04-64
S-1910 I'm Sorry / I'm Just A Guitar (Everybody Picks On Me) - 07-64
S-1935 Are You Sincere / I'm Walkin' - 11-64

S-1415 Forever / I’m Sorry – 02-65 (All Time Smash Hits series)
S-1978 Dream / Am I That Easy To Forget? - 03-65
S-2046 Mystic Dream / I'm A Fool To Care - 06-66
Starday (1964-65)
706 Invitation To The Blues / Rick-A-Shay - 01-65
751 Y'all Come / Abilene - 12-65
Stop (1968-69)
ST-222 Joggin' / Mama's Talkin' Guitar - 10-68
ST-349 Lay Lady Lay / For Pete's Sake - 10-69

Jerry Lee Lewis Joggin'

https://youtu.be/upD913apPQI

Jimmy Scott (BBC podcast) - my favorite singer (thanks to Stanley Booth)

https://dougmeet.tumblr.com/post/182082864443/jimmy-scott-bbc-podcast-my-favorite-singer

Jimmy Scott (BBC podcast) - my favorite singer (thanks to Stanley Booth).  

Willy DeVille introduced me to him one night at the new Lone Star in NYC with Doc Pomus.  

Then i saw him at a small gig at Tavern on the Green, which was the greatest, weirdest show I’ve ever seen. 

I think Vince Bannon from Sony 550 might have made it with my girlfriend after i fell asleep at his apt. 

 

(via BBC Radio 4 - The Tale of Jimmy Scott)

Source:BBC

.@TheSongBar 3 YouTube Playlists (Bowie Jean Genie influences, Soundalikes A-list, Soundalikes B-list)

TheSongBar 

Bowie Jean Genie influences

4 videos

So many excellent noms over the festive period!

Quite a few of my B-List picks were on my first draft A-List, but many of them are previously zedded – including, amazingly, The Sweet’s Blockbuster!

But in any case that riff can be traced back much farther than Bowie.

Incidentally, three recordings are usually cited as the major influences on The Jean Genie:

Jacques Dutronc -  La Fille du Père Noël

The Shadows of Knight – Oh Yeah

The Yardbirds – I’m A Man  

Soundalikes A-list

24 videos

 The Echoey A-List Playlist:

The Beach Boys - Surfin’ Usa
(Chuck Berry - Sweet Little Sixteen)

The Beatles – I Feel Fine
(Bobby Parker – Watch Your Step)

The Ting Tings – That’s Not My Name
(Toni Basil - Mickey)

The Daysleepers – Release The Kraken
(Blue Oyster Cult – Don’t Fear The Reaper)

Sam Spence – The Pony Soldiers
(Booker T & The MGs – Hang’em High)  

Kevin Ayers – The Clarietta Rag
(The Beatles – Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite)

The Aerovons – Resurrection
(The Beatles - Across The Universe) 

Cadaver Club – Follow Me To Hell
(Marvin Berry & The Starlighters – Earth Angel)

Teitur – The Singer
(Laurie Anderson – O Superman)

The Pogues – Wild Cats Of Kilkenny
(BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Dr Who Theme)  

Coldplay – Talk
(Kraftwerk – Computer Love)

The Motors - Forget About You
(Keith Mansfield - Grandstand Theme)

Soundalikes B-list

22 videos

The Bring It Back B-list Playlist:

The Sweet - Blockbuster
(David Bowie - The Jean Genie)

The Beach Boys – Don’t Worry Baby
(The Ronettes - Be My Baby)

George Harrison - My Sweet Lord
(The Chiffons - He’s So Fine)

Green Day - Warning
(The Kinks - Picture Book)

Nick Lowe - I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass
(David Bowie - Sound + Vision)

Jet - Are You Gonna Be My Girl?
(Iggy Pop - Lust For Life)

Adam & The Ants – Prince Charming
(Rolf Harris – War Canoe)

Steely Dan – Rikki Don’t Lose That Number
(Horace Silver – Song For My Father)

The Beatles - Lady Madonna
(Humphrey Lyttleton Band – Bad Penny Blues)

Avishai Cohen – Will I Die, Miss? Will I Die?
(Miles Davis – Nuit Sur Les Champs-Élysées) 

Nico - Afraid
(Pachelbel – Canon In D Major)