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Showing posts with label Album 1968 Bluesthing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Album 1968 Bluesthing. Show all posts

06 November 2014

I Won't Leave

Album: A Portrait Of Ray, ABC/Tangerine 625, March 1968.

Recorded at RPM International in Los Angeles.

With The Ray Charles Orchestra, studio musicians, and The Raelettes (all uncredited, but here possibly with Bobby Womack on guitar).

(Track #6 at 20'21):


Live:
'68 CL Bluesthing - Released (bootleg CD)
'68 LC Bakersfield

24 October 2014

Ode To Billie Joe (Ft Clydie King)

Album: It's A Blues Thing, Monad B000003J7X, 1995 (1968).

  

F.l.t.r. Merry Clayton, Alex Brown, Gwen Berry, Clydie King at Newport Jazz Fest on July 7, 1968. From Michigan Daily 
(Jul. 13): "Charles is an unequaled musical institution. He closed 
his performance with High-Heeled Sneakers [= Hi Heel 
Sneakers], bringing the house down 8 times. One highlight of the 
remarkable afternoon was the performance of Ode To Billy Joe by 
Sister Clara [= Clydie] of the Raelets. The Ode will never 
sound the same."
The Raelette singing this great song is "Sister" Clydie King. The tune first appeared on a bootleggish live CD, It's A Blues Thing, released in 1995 (cf. Amazon). The concert was in 1968.
The studio version on the compilation CD Clydie King - The Imperial And Minit Years (EMI Europe, 2007; track #18) was probably recorded on an earlier date (February 22, 1968) than the live concert (also from '68, but precise date unknown). Ray's ad-libs on the studio version are barely hearable (session notes here).
In the liner notes of her compilation CD Clydie declared that Ray arranged the song for her.

14 March 2010

It's A Blues Thing (1968)

  1. Eleanor Rigby
  2. Let's Go Get Stoned
  3. Crying Time
  4. You Are My Sunshine
  5. Esther Phillips guest medley: Monolog / You Must Be Crazy / Long John Blues / Jelly Jelly Jelly 
  6. A Girl I Used To Know
  7. Ode To Billy Joe (With Clydie King)
  8. I Won't Leave
Album Live CD: Monad B000003J7X, 1968 (1995).

The liner notes of this semi-bootleg from 1995 don't offer any information on the location or date of the concert.
Looking at the setlist, and - most notably - listening to Billy Preston's organ playing, this live concert was probably recorded in 1967 or 1968*. Ode To Billy Joe is an excellent track, with Clydie King, who also put it on a single.
The 15:29 medley by Esther Phillips is a pain in the ear. I doubt if this actually was even taped at one of Ray's shows.

The very similar contents of the Bakersfield concert, make (the Summer of) 1968 the most probable year for the Blues Thing show.

And this review of the Schaefer Music Festival concert on July 7, 1968 confirms the year and the season once more:
from Cashbox, Jul. 20. 


#7 (Ode To Billie Joe) was also released as part of Clydie King's compilation album The Imperial & Minit Years, Stateside EMI 5099950958122, 2007.