Blog: Doctor Mooney's 115th Dream

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Six albums in, The Black Keys have kicked up an undisputed knockout—their finest full-length to date. Brothers , this motley collection spots the Akron hoodoo men uncorking their thrilling line of seething blues romps and fueling it further with wrenching soul-squeezed shakedowns. On “Ten Cent Pistol,” Auerbach and Carney plumb to the depths of soul’s shadowed underbelly – the sinister drum march and six-string hollow bodied weep signals the funeral procession to come, Auerbach’s sharp rasp details the tale: “there she was / behind the door / she hit them with / her ten cent pistol, / [...]

The short-live Page-Beck association lasted less than six months, assembling triplets of unruly death defying acts of studio recorded musical fisticuffs: “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago,” “Psycho Daisies” and “Stroll On.” Their crowning triumph, “Stroll On,” an unruly overhaul of “Train Kept A-Rollin’,” was featured during a short club sequence in Michaelo Antonioni’s swinging London art flick, Blow Up [see below]. Patients, this cut will hit yer rock 'n roll stethoscopes with fireball force, a sonic meltdown. Yes, the twosome’s double lead wall of racket sounds like a sex act between two consenting locomotives. But [...]

Patients, the word is out on Aloe Blacc, neo-soul man number one. The kind of act that rolls with the tide and talks about the struggles of the times. The one-time rapper in duo Emanonc becomes a full-fledged soul stirrer, on the verge with his sophomore full-length, Good Things . An Ode For The Financially Strapped No track in 2010 has managed to tap into the doom and gloom of the era like Aloe Blacc’s bold 21st century depression anthem “I Need A Dollar.” Pegged as the entrance theme to HBO’s [...]

The Father, Son, and Holy Choogle In the spring of ’73, John Fogerty was an all-star--a union of one. After cutting ties with Top-40 radio kings Creedence Clearwater Revival, he declared independence from CCR with a smokescreen, saddling up and moonlighting as Blue Ridge Rangers. His eponymous solo record, Blue Ridge Rangers is a one-man show--Fogerty dispatched as arranger, singer, player and producer--delivering pristine treatments to twelve C&W and traditional numbers ranging from Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” to George Jones’ “She Thinks I Still Care.” One of our favorite tracks, [...]

Pedal steel gunslinger, Robert Randolph harnessed esteemed producer T-Bone Burnet’s well-tuned ear for counsel on We Walk This Way - his first studio album in four years. He was rewarded with a history lesson, excavating over a century of rock, blues and gospel. Randolph voices, “T-Bone opened my eyes to great archival music. He's a link between the past and the present." This 11-song collection is a first-class work, including revamped dupes of Bob Dylan's "Shot of Love," "Walk Don't Walk" by Prince and John Lennon's "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama.” But it’s the [...]

Nineteen sixty-nine, the newly christened socially conscious, psychedelic Temptations are given first crack at the Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong-penned crusade against bloodshed in Vietnam for Psychedelic Shack - the third album featuring the rumbling vocal attack of soul belter Dennis Edwards. For their rendition The Tempts’ give “War” a boot camp shelling complete with urgent get-up-and-go vocals, fiery backing and sergeant major shouts, "hup, two, three, four.” The track was so potent that Motown received thousands of letters begging them to release "War" as a single. Motown’s management viewed the song as too controversial, handing [...]

Ray LaMontagne is a love-jinxed troubadour, carrying an old soul. According to lore, during a spell working in a Maine shoe factory he was sparked to kick start his music career after hearing the Stephen Stills tune “Treetop Flier” by way of transistor radio. Four long-players on, the singer-songwriter has waxed the dazzling God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise with his gutsy backing band, The Pariah Dogs—Eric Heywood (guitar), Jennifer Condos (bass), Patrick Warren (keyboard), Eric Heywood (pedal steel) Greg Leisz, (pedal steel) and Jay Bellerose (drums). By album close, LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs [...]

The one-time golden gloves victor was a well-oiled booze machine when unloading the demented spooky carnage of “I Put A Spell On You.” It was intended to be a sweet love ballad before head of Columbia Records Arnold Maxim fetched some gin and whiskey for the session; sinister pie-eyed madness ensued. Throughout his finest three minutes on wax, his first — and only — hit, backed by a menacing ghoulish shuffle, Hawkins comes off as a deranged R&B evangelist. His wicked spectral baritone oozing snarled feral shouts, “I put a spell on you / Because you're mine,” The [...]

The one-time golden gloves victor was a well-oiled booze machine when unloading the demented spooky carnage of “I Put A Spell On You.” It was intended to be a sweet love ballad before head of Columbia Records Arnold Maxim fetched some gin and whiskey for the session; sinister pie-eyed madness ensued. Throughout his finest three minutes on wax, his first — and only — hit, backed by a menacing ghoulish shuffle, Hawkins comes off as a deranged R&B evangelist. His wicked spectral baritone oozing snarled feral shouts, “I put a spell on you / Because you're mine,” The [...]

Rock ‘n roll’s majestic elder statesman Robert Plant’s first long player since 2007's triumphant, Grammy-winning Raising Sand , alludes to the Birmingham-based, blues wielding gang he fronted in the mid-sixties, Band of Joy. The former Led Zeppelin lead man resurrected Band of Joy with a new cast of players — co-producer Buddy Miller, electric guitar; Darrell Scott, acoustic guitar, mandolin, banjo, accordion, pedal steel; Patty Griffin, vocals; Byron House, bass and Marco Giovino, drums. Recorded in Nashville, the album was recently ruled one of the doctors’ and nursemaids’ favorite records of the year. Plant remarks, “I wanted [...]

The Gospel According To Gordy Spawned off the success of the Motor City hit machine Motown records, Berry Gordy’s short-lived subsidiary, Divinity served as an outlet for spiritual and gospel music. Narrowly unleashing four singles: The Wright Specials’ “That’s What He Is To Me” (9904), Gospel Stars’ “Give God A Chance“ (9906), Burnadettes’ “First, You’ve Got To Recognize God (9907) and our favorite, a bona fide pew burner, The Wright Specials second Divinity single, “Ninety-Nine and a Half Won’t Do” (9905). You might be accustomed to the versions by Wilson Pickett and Creedence Clearwater Revival – this fevered [...]

The Kings of Leon, meddling sons of a preacher man, have set up at a crossroads after their multi-platinum, Grammy-winning breakthrough Only By The Night . Nine years on and five albums in, the Followills’ have risen from indie darlings, once christened the Southern Strokes, to glossy arena-ready rockers, soaring into the mainstream – heirs to the rock ‘n roll throne. For their fifth long-player, Come Around Sundown , the Followill family band, uprooted from Nashville and recorded in Midtown Manhattan – they stick to their guns, cloning the template that fueled sales upwards of 6 [...]

Discovered by soul general, James Brown during a stint as an usherette at Harlem’s Apollo, Doris Troy bagged her first top-ten hit for Atlantic with, “Just One Look” in 1963. She continued, singing backup on “My Sweet Lord” by George Harrison, Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” and on celebrated albums, Let It Bleed by The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd's, Dark Side Of The Moon . In 1970 George Harrison signed ‘Mama Soul’ to Apple Records and waxed her self-titled long player, to little promotion and fanfare -- even though the album featured a mighty [...]

The Black Angels lifted their name from the Velvet Underground cut "The Black Angels Death Song" – their sound: stirring up the late 60s with threatening bolts of bleeding reverb and bone-chilling psychedelic tidal waves, sturdy as the hangman's rope. With two albums under their belts, Passover and Directions to See a Ghost , the Austin-based quintet signed to the iconic and recently re-launched Blue Horizon Records, setting free their highly anticipated Phosphene Dream . Produced by Dave Sardy, this set finds the band pushing and expanding, further into a new direction: [...]

The Willie Dixon-penned, “Wang Dang Doodle” employs one of the most colorful casts of back alley juke joint characters ever assembled: Automatic Slim, Razor Totin' Jim, Butcher Knife Totin' Annie, Fast Talking Fanny, Washboard Sam and Pistol Pete. Enter fire-breathing wailer Koko Taylor, the South Side dame who injected heart and soul into this stomping, no-nonsense shakedown about kicking off your shoes and partying down. Discovered by Willie Dixon in the early sixties, Koko Taylor cut the earthquake-inducing “Wang Dang Doodle” in 1966, selling over a million – Chess Records’ last top ten hit. Koko’s take is an [...]

With her brick red mane and milky white complexion, red-hot British belle Karen Elson is more than a fetching face in the crowd -- yeah she’s Jack White’s ball and chain, but she is also a founding member of cabaret troupe The Citizens Band. Recorded at Third Man Studios in Nashville, Music City chanteuse’s debut outing, The Ghost Who Walks covers sweeping swathes of haunted terrain: from vintage dust bowl country twang to weather beaten gothic folk stylings. The breathtaking second single, “The Truth Is In The Dirt” has managed to take hold as the asylum’s [...]

Cast off as a Beatles single release at the tail end of their Abbey Road sessions, the raucous guttural stomp of “Cold Turkey” made its inaugural appearance during the Toronto Rock & Roll Revival 1969. Two weeks later, Lennon and his band of misfits, The Plastic Ono Band, including Eric Clapton and Ringo Starr, recorded the ode to kicking heroin cold turkey style at Abbey Road and Trident Studios. The track hit number 14 in the United Kingdom, and number 30 in the United States, despite being banned from American airwaves. You can practically feel the [...]

With four albums under their belts--including 2007’s 100 Days, 100 Night s--and their newfangled Bosco Mann-produced, Daptone Records-released, I Learned The Hard Way , Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings have managed to become more than a copy-cat band; successfully carrying on the long-lasting tradition of celebrated, American soul groups. Check out their power-packed ode to “Money,” where soul sister number one is pining for coin and dishing on the recession, “Money, why won’t you stay awhile? /…. Banks folding / President scratching his head / The economy is bad / Wall Street about to lose their [...]