K is for Keltner, Jim Keltner

Jim Keltner’s drumming approach was idiosyncratic, loose, and soulful, and helped elevate the studio musician’s role from that of a generic hired hand to an individual who colors the music with personality and style.

Do you know what is generally lost for me in downloading digital music? Reading the liner notes. That’s the info on the LP or CD that tells you who wrote the songs and who played on them, and often a narrative about the artist and/or the recording session.

As an active liner note reader, I well know the name Jim Keltner. If you are not, you probably do not. Here’s just an excerpt from the page about him on Wikipedia.

Keltner is best known for his session work on solo recordings by three of The Beatles, working often with George Harrison, John Lennon…, and Ringo Starr…He, as a free-lance drummer, has also worked with Leon Russell, Gabor Szabo, Delaney Bramlett, Roy Orbison, Harry Nilsson, Jerry Garcia, Eric Clapton, Guthrie Thomas, Steely Dan, Joe Cocker, Van Dyke Parks, the Rolling Stones…, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Brian Wilson, Roger McGuinn, Seals and Crofts, The Ramones, Bill Frisell…, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Phil Keaggy, Steve Jones, Crowded House, Fiona Apple, Elvis Costello, The Bee Gees, Jackson Browne, The Manhattan Transfer, Randy Newman, Ry Cooder, Sam Phillips, Los Lobos, Pink Floyd, Warren Zevon, Rufus Wainwright, Tom Petty, Gillian Welch, the Steve Miller Band, Alice Cooper, Sheryl Crow and Lucinda Williams among many others. Here’s a discography covering 1969-1998, or this even more extensive list (that loads slowly).

From his Drum Magazine bio: “His drumming approach was idiosyncratic, loose, and soulful, and helped elevate the studio musician’s role from that of a generic hired hand to an individual who colors the music with personality and style. He is known not only for his great feel and sensitivity, but also for bringing a fresh approach to the potentially tedious world of pop music.”

The following are just a handful of the songs he played on
She’s Just My Style – Gary Lewis and the Playboys. Keltner’s first session.
You’re So Vain – Carly Simon.
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door – Bob Dylan.
Angel Baby – John Lennon
End of the Line – Traveling Wilburys. Keltner is in the video.
Wilbury Twist – Traveling Wilburys. Keltner is in this video, too.
Warren Zevon – Keep Me In Your Heart.
Little Sister – Ry Cooder, John Hiatt, Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner live. These four guys put out a 1992 album called Little Village.
The Drummerworld page for Jim Keltner, featuring more songs.

Also:
How does Jim Keltner earn a living?
LENNONYC: Beyond Broadcast. Episode 3: Jim Keltner

Jim Keltner turns 70 on April 27, 2012, so this is an early happy birthday thanks.

ABC Wednesday – Round 10

The Lydster, Part 96: Happy natal day

This year, it’s Pops or Popsy. Popsy?

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: when it comes to parenting, I have no idea what I’m doing, save for my basic intellect and common sense. Still, I guess The Daughter is turning out all right.

Lydia is at least four and a half feet tall. Ballet moves are created in our living room each week after her class. While she is still shy around grownups she doesn’t know, she’s quite good with children unknown to her. I believe she’s rather good at math, and she seems to enjoy spelling. The things she can do physically on the playground I could never do at her age; she is quite physically strong. She loves doing arts and crafts and singing. Her teacher knows she’s smart but wants her to raise her hand with the answer more often.

Last year, she called me Daddy, or Dad. This year, it’s Pops or Popsy. Popsy? We watched the second video here, and we got to pretend that we were on the roller coaster together.

I read I Did These Things as a Kid, But My Kids Won’t. Without waxing nostalgic, I have to think that parents, as a whole, are more protective these days, and I’m in their number. “Where IS is the line drawn between good protection (seat belts and not letting your kids drink bleach) and being overprotective to where it is stifling for them?” I think about this sometimes. FreeRangeKids is a fascinating read if you are interested in that sort of discussion, but I’M not there yet.

She’s still in the “hug daddy” stage; she hasn’t tired of me yet. And she’ll even tell me she loves me, unbidden. Suffice it to say, I tell her the same.
***
A couple of songs that have caught her attention recently:
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) by They Might Be Giants
And this song, which she likes because of the instrumentation; she’s not on her own yet!

Aretha, QoS, is 70

RESPECT by QoS is one of the five greatest cover songs EVER.

When Aretha Franklin burst onto the music scene in 1967, I suspect many people thought she was an overnight success. In fact, she had been signed by Columbia Records back in 1961, but because of the songs she was given to sing (“Rock-a-bye My Baby With A Dixie Melody”?), the producers she had, and/or the label’s promotion, she was unable to break through.

It wasn’t until she moved over to Atlantic Records, and recorded with the Muscle Shoals Sound Rhythm Section, that her true gift came to fruition. And when her period at Atlantic came to an end, changing over to Arista Records in the early 1980s, had a few more hits.

Most of my favorites are from the Atlantic period, though one was from the Columbia era, and one was something else altogether.  Links to each song.

12. Spanish Harlem (#2 in 1971) – this is such a great reworking. And I love the word “BLLACK.”

11. You’re All I Need To Get By (#19 in 1971). The RESPECT reprise is great. (Couldn’t find a studio version; this is LIVE from 1978.)

10. Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves (#18 in 1985). With the Eurythmics. Love Annie Lennox and Aretha sharing phrases.

9. I Say a Little Prayer (#10 in 1968). Reworks the Bacharach-David tune to something playfully funky.

8. Eleanor Rigby (#17 in 1969). The first great thing – she tells it in the first person: “I’m Eleanor Rigby.” Secondly, the phraseology is SO not dependent on the original.

7. Rock Steady (#9 in 1971). Love the organ intro. “What it is, what it is, what it is.”

6. Chain Of Fools (#2 in 1968). The bridge is my favorite section.

5. Ain’t No Way (#16 in 1968). Heartfelt ballad with a lovely solo soprano by Cissy Houston, Whitney’s mom.

4. (Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone (#5 in 1968). When I used to listen to AM radio in the day, the DJs would often talk over the musical intro, which irritated me greatly. No talking over THIS intro, which was one chord.

3. (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (#8 in 1967). The second appearance of this song in this blog in less than two months – previously in my Carole King post.

2. Sweet Bitter Love (1966). This title cut of a Columbia album was written by Van McCoy, who was better known for The Hustle a decade later. I first heard this song on a Columbia compilation album, Our Best To You: Today’s Great Hits… Today’s Great Stars, and loved it instantly. In the right (wrong?) frame of mind, it’ll make me cry.

1. Respect (#1 in 1967). Otis Redding, the original writer/performer of this song, famously said that Aretha “done stole [that song] from me,” making it her own. It became an anthem. One of the five greatest cover versions EVER.

Old Fogey Music QUESTION

It’s not that I don’t buy ANY new music, it’s that I am more likely to buy tried and true artists.

I’m trying to figure out that moment when I stopped following current music.

Surely, I remember the start was when I was maybe three, in the 1950s. But the coming of age music was in the 1960s, with the Beatles and Motown, et al, and later Cream and Aretha, and the like. Still active in the singer-songwriter 1970s, and revived in the early 1980s with the Clash, the Talking Heads, the Police, and so forth.

Was it the 1990s when I didn’t “get” Nirvana initially?

No, I actually eventually purchased some Nirvana and Pearl Jam. And, even as my music consumption diminished, MTV was still actually playing music videos, so that I was vaguely aware of the hit songs. But now? I look at the charts and don’t even recognize most of the names, let alone the songs.

It’s not that I don’t buy ANY new music, it’s that I am more likely to buy tried and true artists. My favorite album last year? By Paul Simon. The albums I’m most looking forward to right now? By Bonnie Raitt (her first on her own label) and Leonard Cohen. Oh, and that album of Bob Dylan covers. Got Bruce Springsteen for my birthday, and picked up Lyle Lovett and Paul McCartney with a gift card.

I’ve purchased very few albums by artists whose recording career started in the 21st Century, and most of those tend to be singers such as Corrine Bailey Rae or Adele. There may be an outlier, such as Arcade Fire, but it is the exception.

If you are of a certain age, are you still buying new music, and if so, is it from newer artists or ones you’ve grown up with?

Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace

Thanks to Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, we now know that the progress that has justified the war during the Obama years is largely illusory.

Amy, the lovely singer/poet from Sharp Little Pencil, asked a few questions, only one of which I will address presently:

Do you think we should pull out of Afghanistan immediately to avoid engaging Iran if/when Israel sends the bombs flying?

Here’s the conundrum: one can appreciate the sacrifice that US military personnel make every day, and still have no idea what we’re fighting for in Afghanistan.

Joe Conason explains:
What keeps the United States engaged is a plausible concern that our departure will permit the Taliban to claim victory, and that our troops are making progress, slow but measurable, in recapturing territory from the enemy. There is no longer any illusion among Pentagon leaders or in the White House that foreign forces can permanently extirpate the Taliban, desirable as that would be. Instead, the real policy for the past few years, whether troops levels rise or fall, is to establish a basis for reconciliation between Kabul and its armed opponents, and to leave the Afghans prepared to defend themselves from extremism.

Thanks to Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, however, we now know that the progress that has justified the war during the Obama years is largely illusory. Generals like David Petraeus told the president and Congress that things are going well, but after spending a year on the ground, Davis discovered the opposite — and with great courage revealed his findings. (Watch this interview with Davis on PBS.)

I’m just not seeing a way out. After the Marines urinating on dead enemy combatants, then the Koran burning, which led to six American soldiers being killed, and then the massacre of 16 civilians – all revealed in the first ten weeks of 2012, no less – and I just find the situation all rather hopeless.

Moreover, as Ed Koch (!) points out, “Why do we remain when doing so causes the Afghan people to hate us more with the passing of each day, calling us occupiers, infidels, and murderers? The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, is thought to be corrupt by many American observers.”

Can’t we declare victory and go home?

As for Iran, we can get sucked into a war there whether or not we are still engaged in Afghanistan. We’ll still have plenty of force in the region. I pray, literally, that we find a non-military way to deal with Iran. BTW, there is plenty of opposition in the Israeli Knesset to their country’s sabre rattling. I don’t think that it is inevitable, at least in the near term, that Israel will bomb Iran when it seems to have selective assassination in its arsenal.

Cartoon from The Bad Chemicals.com. Used by permission.

Ramblin' with Roger
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