Jerry Wexler, RIP

Jerry Wexler died today at his home in Florida, aged 91.

The record producer and former music journalist, who coined the term "rhythm and blues" (to replace "race records") while working for Billboard magazine, had a huge hand in shaping the music we listen to, especially with his productions of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Santana, Dire Straits, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Willie Nelson, the Coasters, the Drifters, Linda Rondstadt, Dusty Springfield and even George Michael.

He also signed Led Zeppelin to Atlantic Records.

When asked what he wanted on his tombstone, he reportedly said, "More bass."

Here are a few of the artists associated with him. Not sure if he was the producer on ALL of these, but certainly, he was on some ("Respect," for instance, and on an early version of "Careless Whispers") and his style infused all of them:

New U2 album due Nov. 18

And it's supposedly called No Line on the Horizon. Produced by prominent members of the band's career producers: Steve Lilywhite, Daniel Lanois, and of course, Brian Eno. Recorded largely in Morocco.

Sounds like another one of the band's curveballs, judging from the title of the first single, "Sexy Boots," and from much at www.atu2.com, one of the great fan websites for one of the greatest bands.

Other songs include "The Cedars of Lebanon," supposedly inspired by Jimi Hendrix, "Moment of Surrender," which Eno told fans in June was "the best thing" he's recorded with U2, "For Your Love," "One Bird," and four songs supposedly left off How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. Not sure what that last bit portends, but this is of course a track list cobbled together from sometimes thin evidence (but sometimes from interviews with the band members and producers).

In June, when recording finished, Daniel Lanois told a Montreal paper, "It's going to push the known limits in the sound arena, the way Achtung Baby did." He also told a radio interviewer, "It's one of the great, innovative records from U2." About 10 tracks for the album were recorded in Fez, Morocco, and the band reportedly used local fiddlers and percussionists.

Here's a six-minute collection of clips from the making of the new album; there are some nice moments of the band working - which includes talking as much as playing - but it gives little idea of what the album MIGHT sound like. If you're short on time, be sure at least to fast forward to 2:30.

New David Byrne and Brian Eno album

David Byrne, yeah, famous. Brian Eno, famous among the knowledgeable. And VERY productive this year. First, the Coldplay album (meh!) and upcoming, on Nov. 28, the new U2 album (with Daniel Lanois, more on that later). And now, an album collaboration with David Byrne, with whom he made three albums with Talking Heads (most crucially the epochal Remain in Light) and the ground-breaking sampling album, 1980's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Since then? Not much.

Next Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2008, they will release the album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. You can get a free download of the first track, "Strange Overtones," at the album's website.

Or, if you want to watch....I didn't like it until I heard the line, "These beats are out of fashion/These beats are 30 years old..." and I got what the song was about, and then it worked. It's about writing a song. First time I've heard that since Paul Simon did it in "Song About the Moon" in about 1983...not to Simon's level, lyrically, but still..."Your song still needs a chorus/But I know you'll figure it out..."

Some more from the archives....

Found myself rambling round YouTube from Isaac Hayes (RIP, see below) and finding some cool old vids from the day...and, of course, now. Here are some of the best. I realize that watching the whole video may feel like a long time depending on the quality of the clip AND of your screen and sound, but they are sure fun to sample. Feel free to skip through, there are some cool moments, promise.

First, the Black Moses himself, Issac Hayes. Here he is performing "Walk on By" - which we THOUGHT Dionne Warwick owned. This is when it was new, 1969, on TV show Music Scene, which I don't remember. If you're a fan of British trip hop, not that the fuzz-toned guitar and high female vocal chant which were sampled extensively for "2 Wicky"by Hoover.



And one more great one from Hayes, "Never Can Say Goodbye," which was a much bigger hit by the Jackson 5, with Michael's squeaky voice, which sounds all the sqeakier after hearing Hayes' rich, experienced version of Clifton Davis' song. Plus the band is terrific.



Then there's this, not so many years later (1980). Marvin...



And the all-time master of his time, doing "Superstitious" on TV in, what, 1973?



But this here stopped me in my tracks. And he was as good as Marvin and Hayes and Stevie THEN, and he's absolutely brilliant NOW...Al Green.



And then here he is back in the day...





OK, work tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed...

Isaac Hayes, RIP

Isaac Hayes is dead. For those who knew him only as "Chef" on South Park, watch and learn...from German TV:



And from back in the day, 1973, with Jesse J as MC:



From the Associated Press:

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Isaac Hayes, the pioneering singer, songwriter and musician whose relentless ''Theme From Shaft'' won Academy and Grammy awards, has been found dead at home. He was 65.

The Shelby County Sheriff's Office says a family member found Hayes unresponsive near a treadmill on Sunday. He was pronounced dead about an hour later at Baptist East Hospital in Memphis. The cause of death was not immediately known.

In the early 1970s, Hayes laid the groundwork for disco, for what became known as urban-contemporary music and for romantic crooners like Barry White. And he was rapping before there was rap.

Macca does A Day in the Life

When I heard about this moment - McCartney doing "A Day in the Life" in Liverpool, the first time it had ever been played live - I thought it would be great.

Now I think it was probably better as ONLY a studio recording. Like "Strawberry Fields Forever." And Macca, god bless his soul, is such a cheeseball. Nevertheless...worth seeing.