“Stay With Me” was one of the great soul hits of the 60’s that wasn’t, like Ike & Tina Turner’s “River Deep-Mountain High”, the commercial flop which Phil Spector believed to be his masterpiece.
Lorraine Ellison recorded for the Loma record label, a small, cash poor sublabel of Warner Bros. and home for a time to such artists as the aforementioned Ike and Tina, The Three Degrees, J.J. Jackson, and Linda Jones, who died between matinee and evening shows at the Apollo Theater. For the background story on “Stay With Me”, which peaked at #64 on the pop chart, I quote Leo Sacks in his liner notes from the Best of Loma Records compilation:
“There is a popular wisdom that you have to suffer to really sing,” (songwriter and producer Jerry) Ragovoy says. “I don’t buy it.” But “Stay With Me” came from deep inside Lorraine Ellison’s being. An unlikely chain of events preceded that memorable performance. Frank Sinatra was supposed to record with a 45-piece orchestra. But the Chairman of the Board backed out of the session, so Warners, obligated to the musicians’ union, asked Ragovoy to fill the time. Forty-eight hours later he walked into A&R Studios with string and horn charts that were downright supernatural. The room was packed wall-to-wall with ready-to-wail musicians; Ragovoy can still feel the joy and the awe unleashed as Ellison torched “Stay With Me” in one take: “Our engineer, Phil Ramone, kept saying, ‘Oh my God, oh my God…'”
But God wasn’t on her side after that night. “Stay With Me” was a crushing flop. Ellison was devastated…
Lorraine Ellison (March 17, 1931 – January 31, 1983)
Australian band Bareback Titty Squad performs the entire Triple J top 100 in just over thirty minutes (Triple J being an Aussie alternative radio network).
It’s not always pleasant to watch, between the sweat and the choice of wardrobe. But it’s jaw-dropping to see a band go from Lana Del Rey to Frank Ocean to M.I.A. to Mumford & Sons to Muse to Calvin Harris literally without missing a beat.
Watch for an amazing bonus backward version of Tame Impala’s “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” (number 9 ). And when they reach number one they turn “Thrift Shop” into a little dig at Macklemore as well as a clever promo for the band:
I’m gonna kick some ass/I’ve got a hundred songs in my pocket/Out of Melbourne City/And singing something witty/We’re the f**king Titties
INTERACTIVE MENU: 30:25 #001 – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Thrift Shop (Ft. Wanz) 30:08 #002 – Of Monsters And Men – Little Talks 29:51 #003 – alt – J – Breezeblocks 29:34 #004 – Flume – Holdin On 29:19 #005 – Mumford & Sons – I Will Wait 29:05 #006 – Major Lazer – Get Free (Ft. Amber Coffman) 28:38 #007 – Tame Impala – Elephant 28:19 #008 – Frank Ocean – Lost 27:31 #009.5 – Tame Impala – Feels Like We Only Go Backwards (BBTS BACKWARDS EDIT) 26:57 #009 – Tame Impala – Feels Like We Only Go Backwards 26:40 #010 – The Rubens – My Gun 26:00 #011 – Calvin Harris – Sweet Nothing (Ft. Florence Welch) 25:28 #012 – Flume – Sleepless (Ft. Jezzabell Doran) 24:59 #013 – The Black Keys – Gold On The Ceiling 24:56 #014 – Icona Pop – I Love It (Ft. Charli XCX) 24:31 #015 – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Same Love (Ft. Mary Lambert) 24:22 #016 – Rudimental – Not Giving In (ft. John Newman & Alex Clare) 24:15 #017 – Flight Facilities – Clair De Lune (Ft. Christine Hoberg) 23:10 #018 – Hermitude – HyperParadise (Flume Remix) 22:57 #019 – The xx – Angels 22:38 #020 – Rudimental – Feel The Love (Ft. John Newman) 22:22 #021 – Disclosure – Latch (Ft. Sam Smith) 21:57 #022 – The Temper Trap – Trembling Hands 21:36 #023 – Ball Park Music – Coming Down 21:22 #024 – Chet Faker – I’m Into You 20:54 #025 – Skrillex – Bangarang (Ft. Sirah) 20:29 #026 – Seth Sentry – Dear Science 20:16 #027 – Ball Park Music – Surrender 20:01 #028 – Django Django – Default 19:52 #029 – Loon Lake – Cherry Lips 19:42 #030 – Bat For Lashes – Laura 19:37 #031 – Alpine – Gasoline 19:16 #032 – Florence + The Machine – Spectrum (Say My Name) (Calvin Harris Remix) 18:25 #033 – Parachute Youth – Can’t Get Better Than This 18:11 #034 – Lana Del Rey – Born To Die 17:57 #035 – 360 – Run Alone 17:45 #036 – Miike Snow – Paddling Out 17:22 #037 – Two Door Cinema Club – Sun 17:00 #038 – Grimes – Oblivion 16:46 #039 – Alabama Shakes – Hold On 16:39 #040 – Arctic Monkeys – R U Mine? 16:32 #041 – British India – I Can Make You Love Me 16:22 #042 – MS MR – Hurricane 16:18 #043 – The Lumineers – Ho Hey 16:13 #044 – Xavier Rudd – Follow The Sun 16:04 #045 – Chance Waters – Young & Dumb (Ft. Bertie Blackman) 15:45 #046 – Passion Pit – Take A Walk 15:35 #047 – Of Monsters And Men – Mountain Sound 15:17 #048 – San Cisco – Fred Astaire 15:02 #049 – Thundamentals – Brother (Like A Version) 14:40 #050 – Asta – My Heart Is On Fire 14:25 #051 – Birds Of Tokyo – This Fire 13:48 #052 – The Presets – Ghosts 13:41 #053 – San Cisco – Wild Things 13:33 #054 – The Bamboos – I Got Burned (Ft. Tim Rogers) 12:58 #055 – Knife Party – Internet Friends 12:43 #056 – Frank Ocean – Thinkin Bout You 12:29 #057 – Seth Sentry – Float Away 12:19 #058 – Mumford & Sons – Babel 11:54 #059 – Cosmo Jarvis – Love This 11:31 #060 – Jack White – Love Interruption 11:19 #061 – Sticky Fingers – Caress Your Soul 11:05 #062 – Kid Cudi – Just What I Am (Ft. King Chip) 10:51 #063 – First Aid Kit – Wolf 10:33 #064 – alt – J – Tessellate 10:11 #065 – Grimes – Genesis 10:00 #066 – The Rubens – The Best We Got 09:47 #067 – Flume – On Top (Ft. T – Shirt) 09:19 #068 – Avicii – Silhouettes 08:52 #069 – Matt Corby – Lonely Boy (Like A Version) 08:40 #070 – The Presets – Promises 08:27 #071 – Kendrick Lamar – Swimming Pools (Drank) 07:58 #072 – Regina Spektor – All The Rowboats 07:46 #073 – Ben Folds Five – Draw A Crowd 07:35 #074 – The Shins – Simple Song 07:04 #075 – Muse – Madness 06:50 #076 – Illy – Heard It All 06:43 #077 – Feed Me & Crystal Fighters – Love Is All I Got 06:21 #078 – Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Household Goods 05:58 #079 – The Black Keys – Little Black Submarines 05:28 #080 – Frank Ocean – Super Rich Kids (Ft. Earl Sweatshirt) 05:07 #081 – alt – J – Something Good 04:41 #082 – Santigold – Disparate Youth 04:31 #083 – The Jungle Giants – She’s A Riot 04:10 #084 – Hilltop Hoods – Rattling The Keys To The Kingdom 03:55 #085 – Purity Ring – Fineshrine 03:41 #086 – Lana Del Rey – Summertime Sadness 03:22 #087 – The Bloody Beetroots & Greta Svabo Bech – Chronicles Of A Fallen Love 02:47 #088 – C2C – Down The Road 02:35 #089 – Chance Waters – Maybe Tomorrow (Ft. Lilian Blue) 02:21 #090 – Two Door Cinema Club – Sleep Alone 01:55 #091 – Allday x C1 – So Good 01:45 #092 – Lisa Mitchell – Spiritus 01:37 #093 – Snakadaktal – Dance Bear 01:29 #094 – The Gaslight Anthem – 45 01:13 #095 – Last Dinosaurs – Andy 01:00 #096 – Kanye West, JAY Z & Big Sean – Clique 00:55 #097 – Jack White – I’m Shakin’ 00:43 #098 – Kimbra – Warrior (Ft. Mark Foster & A – Trak) 00:26 #099 – M.I.A. – Bad Girls 00:17 #100 – Everything Everything – Cough Cough
Aaron Bruno’s AWOLNATION is a project marked by ambition and eclecticism. Throughout the 50+ minute debut album Bruno takes a bold, kitchen sink approach that ensures there’s something on the record for almost everybody.
“Wake Up” stands out for me, combining the urgently delivered message of the verses with an irresistible hook in the chorus.
The New Pornographers: “The Bleeding Heart Show” (2005)
There are certain so-called indie rock bands whose stuff will better justify the “classic” label years down the road. The Shins, certainly. And, for similar reasons I think, the New Pornographers. The combination of A.C. Newman and Dan Bejar’s smart and hooky songwriting, Neko Case’s contributions as vocalist, and the always-tasteful referencing of classic pop and rock of the past are the strengths that put them near the top of their class.
“The Bleeding Heart Show” eschews typical alternating verse-and-chorus structure for an arrangement that gradually builds momentum from beginning to end, a trademark writing style of Roy Orbison and…few others, actually.
The song was featured in the 2007 Morgan Freeman movie Feast of Love, as well as TV ads for the University of Phoenix and eMusic.
And just one more thing: I’ve never understood why the band didn’t sequence this as track one. If ever a song was suited to open an album this is it.
I’m fascinated by songs that straddle genres, defying you to neatly categorize them. Nashville singer-songwriter Caitlin Rose’s voice draws comparisons to country legends like Loretta Lynn, but despite some pedal steel in the arrangements, this is music that doesn’t want to be wrangled into the country category. Of course, any young singer whose musical heroes include Gram Parsons and Linda Ronstadt is (as that initial guitar blast makes clear) unlikely to end up sounding like a Nashville traditionalist.
On “No One to Call” Rose’s voice is awash in a wall-of-sound arrangement similar to some of Dwight Yoakam’s early 90’s stuff. In other words, it’s country music that a pop fan can get behind.