Sunday Surfin’, Boogie Blues, and Cowbell Soul at the 2024 Birthday of John Lee Hooker, Beach Boy David Marks, and the Psychedelic Soul Man Joe Chambers
by Robert Wilkinson
Our Sunday spectacular features the Boogie-woogie music of the legendary John Lee Hooker, the surf guitar of David Marks, and the awesome sound of the Chambers Brothers! Even if you aren't into the blues or California surf music, please take advantage of this chance to psychedelicize your Soul with "Time Has Come Today!" More Cowbell!
John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1917 – June 21, 2001) was a blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. This American original came out of Mississippi, and by the time he hit Detroit in the late 40s, was on his way to become King of his unique style of Boogie-woogie “Talkin Blues.” For your enjoyment, the music of the great John Lee Hooker!
We’ll begin with a classic b/w video performance of one of his most famous songs! Here’s John Lee Hooker live in France, backed by Willie Dixon, Sunnyland Slim, Johnny Shines, and Clifton James getting’ down with “Boom Boom”
Shot for television sometime in the 60s, John delivers another performance with a solo guitar and his unique gravely singing style, “Boom Boom”
For a third take on this classic, JLH and ZZ Top got together and cranked out an audio-only explosive electric version of “Boom Boom”
Our next music video is classic John Lee Hooker cranking out the 1953 jump blues standard he made a hit in 1966, the iconic “One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer,” and here’s a video of him doing this later in his career. “One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer”
It’s a bit of a mash up, but here’s a live performance of the Doors doing “Roadhouse Blues” with JLH, and here’s the original studio mix! “Roadhouse Blues”
Slowing it down a bit, from 1977 in NYC, John Lee Hooker backed by Paul Butterfield and Foghat in a live video performance of the 1920’s Delta blues classic, “Crawling King Snake”
Live in 1989, here’s John Lee Hooker with Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones cranking out “Boogie Chillen”
From 1992, JLH performing at the Blues Against Blindness Concert! This one was his first hit that went to #1 back in 1948, and one of the classics! “Boogie Chillen” Here’s the original studio version of “Boogie Chillen,” and here’s the entire 1949 album, all 35 minutes of it! Pure blues gold! “Boogie Chillen.”
Here’s John Lee Hooker with Bonnie Raitt live in concert doing John’s second hit from 1951 which also went to #1, “I’m In The Mood”
Last year I had the one hour video of John Lee Hooker rare performances between 1960-1984, but this year it’s nowhere to be found. So instead, I found a few from that classic album! ”Maudie” and “Tupelo Mississippi”
”Come Back Baby””It’s My Own Fault Darlin’”On the Living Legends of Blues television special, here’s an hour of JLH! John Lee Hooker Live In Montreal
From 1986 the the Fillmore in SF, 25 minutes of JLH, Santana, and Etta James! John Lee Hooker, Carlos Santana and Etta James Live at the Fillmore
We’ll begin to close this dance with a bunch of great live performances by John with the equally great Ry Cooder!
A rare treat! Here's Ry playing with the legendary John Lee Hooker live in 1990 on "Hobo Blues," followed by Ry and JLH live doing “Freight Train”
From October 1992, a great 25 minute live video set of Ry and John Lee Hooker at the "All Our Colors" Benefit show at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA. “Lonely Man,” “It Serves Me Right To Suffer,” “Hobo Blues,” “Crawlin Kingsnake”
Here are Ry and Santana at the same “All Our Colors” benefit concert groovin’ in the John Lee Hooker tune "The Healer."
From the House of Blues 1995, Ry and John Lee performing “Crawling Kingsnake”
From the same HOB show, here’s our closer, a live performance of “Boom, Boom”
For our first encore, the original Animals in 1965 live at Wembley Stadium for the NME show, giving us their version of “Boom Boom”
And we’ll close this part of the tribute with the second encore of that song, performed by John Lee Hooker cranking it out in a street performance in The Blues Brothers! It’s Jake, Elwood, and John Lee Hooker on the streets of Chicago as we dance to “Boom Boom.” Gotta love people who are "on a mission from God...."
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August 22 was also the birthday of an obscure musician who is extraordinarily important in being a founding member of one of the greatest groups in history! David Marks (August 22, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Singing with his neighbors Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson from a very young age, he helped found the Beach Boys, and was one of the two guitarists in 1962-63. We’re told his playing profoundly shaped Carl Wilson’s and therefore the early rock and roll sound of the Beach Boys. You can tell he wasn't merely "the rhythm guitarist" when he plays some of the lead lines of their early hits note for note!
He was integral to their first 4 studio albums, and only left the band when egomaniac and abusive jerk Murray Wilson fired him for a disagreement. He went on to a very successful solo career, and played with feature acts like Delaney and Bonnie, Warren Zevon, and others. For your enjoyment, the amazing guitar of Mister David Marks!
We’ll kick it off with David (far left) taking the lead solo in a very rare live Beach Boys (lip synched) performance at the Azuza Teen Club in 1962! “Surfin’ Safari”
From 1963, a tv clip of them lip synching “Surfin’ USA” and “Things We Did Last Summer.”
We’ll now go to the studio versions of some of their early favorites!
From the Surfin’ USA album, “Surfin’ USA”
From the Surfer Girl album, “Surfer Girl”
From the 50th Anniversary tour, David on guitar and vocals offering up “That’s Why God Made the Radio”
Here’s a great surfing medley! “Catch A Wave,” “Hawaii,” “Don’t Back Down,” and “Surfin’ Safari”
We’ll close this segment with a great “hot rod medley!” “Little Deuce Coupe,” “409,” “Shut Down,” and “I Get Around”
We have some great “unplugged” performances thanks to Rolling Stone!
These are extraordinarily beautiful, with David on acoustic guitar! “Surfer Girl” and “Surfin’ USA”
For our closer, check this out! From Lake Tahoe in 2012, an hour and 6! The Beach Boys Reunion Tour Live at Lake Tahoe
For our encore, 2 hours and 50 of them at their best. Also from the 2012 reunion tour, this time in Wembley, The Beach Boys Reunion Tour Live at Wembley
We’ll finish this tribute to David with a song he did with the Marksmen, his group right after the Beach Boys. This seems like a good way to end a dance! Here’s his cover of the Chris Montez hit, “Let’s Dance”
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And now the final tribute of the day to one of the greatest psychedelic soul groups ever to sing a note, the fabulous Chambers Brothers, since August 22 was the birthday of Joe Chambers (August 22, 1942), guitarist for the Chambers Brothers. They were truly one of the best of the era, and gave us one gigantic hit that set the standard for “more cowbell!” I believe Christopher Walken said it best on SNL: “"Guess what? I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!"
Lester Chambers (April 13, 1940 – harmonica and cowbell) along with brothers Willie Chambers (March 3, 1938 - guitar), Joe Chambers (August 22, 1942 – guitar) and George Chambers (September 26, 1931 - bass), backed by Brian Keenan (January 28, 1943 – October 5, 1985 - drums) created the Chambers Brothers, one of the first multi-racial rock and soul bands doing crossover music ranging from gospel to straight up psychedelia! So let’s jump straight to the music and more cowbell! Without further ado, the magnificent sound of the Chambers Brothers!
From a live broadcast on the German TV Show Swing In, this is a magnificent performance in 1969 filmed in March at the Jahrhunderthalle in Frankfurt. Prepare for an amazing 15 minute version of their truly iconic psychedelic Soul, backed by the Joshua Light Show! Kinetic, electric, and exciting! An amazing tune written by Joe and his brother Willie, the iconic “Time Has Come Today” (Sorry about the obnoxious copyright watermark.) The good news is this is slightly shorter, and not totally synched up, but it’s still the show without the watermark! “Time Has Come Today”
Live on The Ed Sullivan Show, in January 1969, a short version of THE song! “Time Has Come Today”
Live at the Fillmore reunion in 1986, here’s a great live performance in its short form! “Time Has Come Today”
Here’s their third album in its entirety! The Chambers Brothers – The Time Has Come
From that amazing album, one of their biggest hits, sung by Willie! This version really rocks! “Midnight Hour”
Here’s a great live video performance on Hollywood A Go Go in the mid-60s with the Chambers Brothers in the groove with “Call Me”
This was their breakthrough! From their live performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, the audio-only version of “I Got It”
Here’s their rave up of the Otis Redding Soul classic “I Can’t Turn You Loose”
From 1967 at NYC’s club The Bitter End, a driving groove to get your feet moving! Check out this video of them performing “Uptown”
This great clip disappeared. It has the Chambers Brothers live at the French tv show Forum Musiques in a great performance of "Wade In The Water," “I Can’t Stand It,” and “I Wish it Would Rain.” Better luck next year.
Live in 1969, an audio only version of the legendary Curtis Mayfield classic! “People Get Ready”
Here’s the live 10+ minute audio from the Fillmore East of "Wade In The Water."
From July 1970, an audio-only version of the Chambers Brothers live at the Atlanta International Pop fest cranking out “Love, Peace, and Happiness”
Here’s a great performance from their reunion tour! Live and grey, the Chambers Brothers giving us “Love, Peace, and Happiness.” And from that reunion gig, here they are live and as good as ever cranking out “Time Has Come Today”
Their 1972 performance on The Mike Douglas Show is gone.
Here’s their very funky 1971 studio album "New Generation”
From 1974, their studio version of the classic Band tune “The Weight”
Willie and Brother Joe collaborated with Jessie Sparks in 2012, and came up with this gem! “Calendar Years”
For our closer, we have an hour and 5 of great live 1994 video footage of the Chambers Brothers playing the Portland Waterfront Blues Festival! The Chambers Brothers Live in Portland 1994
For our encore, we’ll close this tribute with the same tune that brought us in! I still have a fever, and the cure is still more cowbell! Here’s the dynamic original studio version that shook the world in 1968! “Time Has Come Today”
Last year the second encore was awesome. I had their entire 30 minute set in Frankfurt , but it’s disappeared. So instead, I found two of the individual songs, with the middle missing so I found a worthy substitute. For your immersion in this iconic sound, with Brian pounding on the drums, here are the Chambers Brothers live in Germany in 1969. As I said earlier, this performance which is iconic psychedelic Soul, which is kinetic, electric, and exciting! They began that set with "Wade In The Water," which they followed with “People Get Ready” which has disappeared. So instead, I found this ultra rare live performance from 1968 which was a television promo clip. Enjoy the band at their early best takin’ us to church with Curtis Mayfield’s classic, “People Get Ready.”
And now the incredible experience of “Time Has Come Today” (Sorry about the obnoxious copyright watermark.), The good news is this is slightly shorter, and not totally synched up, but it’s still the show without the watermark! “Time Has Come Today”
Here's a great piece on Songfacts which is a great history of "Time Has Come Today." Worth a read. It was a magical song which wrote itself, and captivated everyone who ever heard it. Columbia was determined that song would never get recorded. Seriously. Clive Davis tried to kill it because he hadn't a clue. Here's the story of how they came in early and did it in one take. WOW. Songfacts - "Time Has Come Today"
Now the time has come (Time)
There's no place to run (Time)
I might get burned up by the sun (Time)
But I had my fun (Time)
I've been loved and put aside (Time)
I've been crushed by the tumbling tide (Time)
And my soul has been psychedelicized (Time)
I believe my soul's been psychedelized....
© Copyright 2023 Robert Wilkinson
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