Early Otis Redding and Two White Acts Influenced by Him, I Guess
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Artist:
In 1960 Otis Redding and his band the Pinetoppers recorded the song "She's All Right," which, according to the internet, the Trans World label soon released as a single by Otis and The Shooters.
It made its way to me by being in a used record store in my neighborhood with three other of his early pre-Volt/Atlantic cuts, along with filler by a forgettable Little Joe Curtis, on an under-priced coverless copy of an LP Here Comes More Soul, issued by the bottom-feeding Somerset label.
If you listen to Indiana rock 'n' roll singer/guitarist Lonnie Mack's 1963 recording "Dorothy on My Mind," it has a similar sound.
Jumping to 1967, John Fred and his Playboy Band, whose major hit was "Judy in Disguise (with Glasses)," recorded what I think is a better song than that, "When the Lights Go Out."
Guess whom John Fred sounds sort of like?
P.S.: The liner notes to the group's 2005 West Side label reissue compilation …With Glasses--The Very Best of John Fred and his Playboy Band mention that when touring England, "They visited the Apple store and met the Beatles. John Lennon was chilly until he realized they were from South Louisiana, then quizzed them for 45 minutes about Slim Harpo."
Locating MOG account...
Comments (12)
Damn white people . . . rippin us off again . . .
Only hinting at the real Otis...he was kinda doin' his best Ray Charles.
JohnFred is clearly doing Otis as he came to be..The Mack tune is saved by that guitar hook in the beginning and a generally more soulful vibe.
Nice trio, Spike.
Dave, you're right about that; it's just not fair! And to think that some of my best friends are white.
Cody, the Ray Charles angle hadn't occurred to me; usually Otis Redding's early stuff is linked to Little Richard, but since Ray Charles ruled back then before James Brown inherited the crown, his influence would have been unavoidable, though less obvious here than on others whom I can't think of right this minute. Overall, I deem your comment right on with the right on.
You're making me Shout Bamalama over here Spike,.
As you should.
Lol @ spike. We shall overcome, my friend ;-)
Hey Spike!
Who knew you dug Hugh Cornwell too (I saw a post you did about him here from a few months ago ;-)
I've just seen his show here in New York and have posted up a recap of it.
http://mog.com/blog_post/content/4016/2477906
Check out how it all looks - New York style.
I really liked When the Lights Go Out.
John Fred sounds a bit like Michael Philip Jagger!
jaggerandrea, glad you like it. Now that you and your good ear mention it, this Jagger (at first I thought you were referring to some descendent) did the vocals for the Rolling Stones' covers of Redding's earlier recordings of "Pain in My Heart," "That's How Strong My Love Is," "Have Mercy" and "I've Been Loving You Too Long."
Hmmm....Michael Philip does ususally go by Mick :-)
jaggerandrea, you're right, he does ususally do such a thing, but don't you find it useless to argue with him about it whenever you run into him? I hope he argued with Andrew Loog Oldham, Producer, who wrote the liner notes of the Stones' 1965 LP Out of Our Heads which said, "From CHICAGO come the OTIS REDDING songs, 'THATS HOW STRONG MY LOVE IS,' 'HAVE MERCY,'...," when in fact Otis Redding never recorded "Have Mercy." Delete that song from my list and restore my scrupulousness.
Hi Spike,
I was sick yesterday so just now saw this. And you're right, I get tired of arguing with him over that.
You are now again officially scrupulous! :)
Whew!