Shortly before I made this mix I had the pleasure of seeing the great Solomon Burke perform here in NYC. He's a big guy and his health isn't so great, so he spent the entire concert seated. But on an ornate throne, which picks up the motif of his old album covers and publicity shots, where he often dressed up as a king.
His 60s soul career was a bit more obscure than that of Otis Redding and the like but his status is still legendary. After seeing him perform, I had to throw a few of his songs on this mix. His roots in country are well known: here, he sings the standard "She Thinks I Still Care." I also have the popular George Jones version. Frankie Laine made "That Lucky Old Sun" into another standard, covered by countless others, including Solomon. And the third Solomon song on here is one written for him by Tom Waits: "Diamond In You Mind".
Also on here: Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Band's sweet "Love Land", early Nas with "The World Is Yours", the languid "Wishful Thinkin'" by Sly & The Family Stone, a sparkling cover of Talking Heads' "Naive Melody" by The Arcade Fire, and the astounding "Stakes Is High" by De La Soul. It seems everyone I know has the first De La album, but they continued to make great music. Their critique of hip hop here might sound like hectoring if it weren't for that sublime production from J Dilla.
Bob Dylan related: Jerry Garcia does a wonderful version of "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and then a young Cher, with Sonny Bono, tackles "All I Really Wanna Do." I also included the obscure Bob song snippet "Lunatic Princess Revisited".
I love the song "Gentle On My Mind" and have versions of it across other mixes by Dean Martin, Johnny Cash, Lou Rawls and of course, the hit by Glen Campbell. They are all great, but hard to put any above Aretha Franklin's. The back up singing alone is worth it. In the 80s, she collaborated with George Michael, which may be why I have a song by Wham! next. "Everything She Wants" is the only song of theirs I like and I like it without apology. Great groove, killer hook, all despite the not at all convincing lyric "so, you say you're havin' my baby.."
Last 5 on the mix: The countryish "Richmond" by The Faces is Ronnie Lane taking Rod Stewart's normal place as lead singer, sounding a lot like George Harrison. Nico's "The Fairest Of The Seasons" boasts a pretty guitar line played by her teenage lover and the author of the song, Jackson Browne. P.P. Arnold was a spectacularly talented, but not popular, soul singer in the 60s who briefly dated Mick Jagger. Here, she delivers an amazing take of the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" with a kitchen-sink production including trumpets and her own backing vocals behind her tremendous singing. On the same album she covers The Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody". Here, in a much more subdued version, is Al Green. Finally, the deeply romantic "Cherche La Rose" by Marlene Dietrich was recorded in 1962.
A year later, she was invited to the meet JFK at the White House. She had, when Jack was still in college, vacationed with the Kennedy family in the South Of France before WW II. During this time, she had an affair with JFK's father, Joe. Now around 25 years later, according to a recently published story from Marlene's daughter, JFK pulled her into a bedroom and clumsily made a pass at the 62 year old woman. She resisted at first, then finally had sex with the young President, the son of her former lover.
Her one condition, given that she was due to sing later, was that he not mess up her hair.
