Al Kooper Going Going Gone 2005

Al Kooper made a bunch of great music in the sixties and seventies. His solo records from the period are great finds in used record stores, and most of it is available on CD and streaming. I wrote about his work in a post about his 2008 outing White Chocolate. His finest solo work is probably Black Coffee from 2005.

Black Coffee contained Al's excellent Going Going Gone. I've been feeling nostalgic for the past lately, since the present seems so much, well, not so good as the past. Al summed it up pretty well with Going Going Gone. The YouTube video is here.

Going Going Gone

I went to put my old boots on this morning
They were cracked on the side and had a hole straight through the sole
I went downtown to the store where I first bought ‘em
They said Al, they don’t make any boots like that no more

And that’s the way my whole life seems to be goin’
Like the world is playin’ some big ass joke on me
You know they just tore down the theater where I saw my first movie
One day it’s there, next day you couldn’t tell where it used to be

Going Going Gone
The things we took for granted, that we always counted on
If you had a million dollars you couldn’t even try them on
Cause today you can’t find no boots like that cause there going going gone

I used to fall in love to that deep soul music
It was the voices of the angels and they never told you no lie
Now you got pimps, gangstas and big-time rappers
They make the whole damn thing disappear right before our eyes

Going Going Gone
The things we took for granted, that we always counted on
And now you only hear that music on some oldies marathon
Pretty soon it won’t even be there no more cause it’s going going gone

I used to think I had my whole life before me
And in some small way I could change things all around
But now I feel that most people just ignore me
I got one foot in the gutter and the other foot in the ground

Going Going Gone
The things we took for granted, that we always counted on
I’d rather play this old guitar than to strap some new one on
Guess I’ll play that song this way till I’m going going gone
Even that beat-up pillow I love to lay my head upon
Will someday be my tombstone when I’m going going gone

Spinning Vinyl - The Blues Edition

I'm certainly not a huge blues fan, but there's plenty to like when it wins me over. So a stroll through the stacks recently caught the theme and...

Alvin Lee is a bad-ass guitar player, and the band includes a driving rhythm section and a hot shot organist. Lee also has a fine bluesy scream and wrote seven of the eight tracks. Ssssh is a stomping blues-rock classic.

I listened to side 1, with Waitin' On The Bus and Jesus Just Left Chicago, my favorite ZZ Top moment. But I had forgotten how great the side ended with Hot, Blue And Righteous. I was getting into the blues for real now, so that meant it was time for Buddy Guy.

Guy's guitar playing isn't like anyone's, at least not anyone I've heard. His leads can seem to almost lose the rhythm, but it never really happens, and he leaves me stunned every time. This one from 1994 was the start of a string of strong outings from the indomitable Buddy Guy.

The harmonica drenched Too Many Drivers, Ronnie Barron's It's Getting Harder To Survive, Mose Allison's If You Live, and Bobby Charles' and Rick Danko's Small Town Talk make for one great side. The Better Days band was short-lived and always in the wake of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, but they had a nice organic sound and operated like a music co-op, with everybody getting some time, and making the most of it.

 

Southside Johnny has been through a fair bit, but he keeps doing it to death, and he's managed to produce more than a few solid albums since those first three classics between 1976-1978. Better Days 1991, Into The Harbor 2005, Pills And Ammo 2010, and this stone classic blues ball buster from 2000. Messin' With The Blues might be Johnny's best since those early days.

Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Vaughn was reverential, but he also came to play. King does Stormy Monday, and then Vaughn lights up Pride And Joy, on fat black 45 rpm plastic.

Bromberg's How Late'll Ya Play'Til? 1976 is another lost gem that more people should hear. A double album with one studio record and one live record, it might be the most stylistically sweeping statement of musical ability across genres available. On the live blues sides, the band is hot and Bromberg is having a ball.

These things have to end somewhere, and that somewhere this time out, is Savoy Brown, side one of Blue Matter 1969. The brief union of Kim Simmonds with Chris Youlden made for some fine blues from Savoy Brown. Youlden's solo career never really took off, and Simmonds has soldiered on impressively, but the two of them together were unique.