Make up your mind!!!

I can't seem to stop thinking about cover songs lately!!  First I hate Santana's version of 'Dance The Night Away':
http://thisvinyllife.blogspot.com/2011/01/dance-night-away.html

Then I talk about how I love Robert Palmers version of a couple of Lowell George tunes:
http://thisvinyllife.blogspot.com/2011/02/robert-palmer.html

Then what do I do?  Post King Curtis' cover of Led Zeppelin:
http://thisvinyllife.blogspot.com/2011/02/king-curtis.html

Is it just me or does that seem like a lot?  Well in order to really milk this whole cover thing for all its worth I now present to you a Paul Simon cover by 'The Persuasions'.



These Brooklyn boys started their careers in the early sixties singing a cappella interpretations of gospel and popular songs of the day.  It was actually Frank Zappa that first got them into a studio!  He heard them singing over the phone while they were in a record store in Jersey and flew them out to LA to record their first album 'Acappella' in 1970.

This cover of Paul Simon's song is from the album 'Comin' At Ya' released in 1979.  I picked up this album at Apollo Records and once again it was one of those 'take a chance' purchases.  Didn't know anything about them but it looked good so there you have it.  When it comes to music you really should push it a bit and try to listen to a bit of everything.

So I guess I don't really have a problem with covers.  I guess when I hear a bad one it just really jumps out at me.  And yes I'm talking to you Carlos.

Robert Palmer

Confession.  Until recently if you said Robert Palmer I would say, "Addicted To Love".  Maybe "Power Station" if I was feeling like I wanted to show off the ol' musical knowledge.  Turns out I didn't know sh!t!!

If you go back to the beginning Mr. Palmer was a good English boy who released music that sounded like he had lived in New Orleans his whole life.  His first solo album "Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley" was him backed by funk band The Meters and produced by Little Feat leader Lowell George.  It is filled with track after track of great rock funk fusion and featured songs penned by Palmer, Lowell and the great Allen Toussaint.

On his second album "Pressure Drop", he was backed by Little Feat and even went on tour with them.  Once again, the album had a mix of song by Robert, Lowell, Toussaint, and he even covered the classic Maytals reggae song that is also the album title.

What I love about discovering all this early music that I didn't really know about is I've developed a new respect for Robert as an artist.  The music he made in the beginning of his career is in heavy rotation on the turntable right now and because of that I've turned a few friends on to it as well.  And that is the great thing about digging into the past.  You uncover stuff you had overlooked or weren't even exposed to.  I am smart enough to understand that I don't know everything about the music that is out there and when I find old songs that are new to me I get a great rush.  It's all about the journey and the exploration of music.  And the sharing.  Friends getting together and discovering, or re-discovering, music is one of my favourite things in the world.

In honour of the two great albums, I present to you one track from each.  From 'Sneakin', side 1, track 1, the Lowell George song 'Sailin' Shoes'

And from 'Pressure Drop', another Lowell track, from side 2, song 2, 'Trouble'

Enjoy, and if you hadn't heard these before, go out and find these albums, you won't regret it!