5 Songs Monday November 4

Just act as though we have two Fridays this week

The Golden Gate Quartet – “Memories of You” 1960 (?) available on Platinum Golden Gate Quartet. Ninety years after the original line-up got together, there is still an active Golden Gate Quartet roaming the world, though I don’t think any of the current members are on this record. This particular cut came some twenty-five years after the founding, and it’s clearly meant to evoke the hit-making sound of the Platters. The Golden Gate Quartet started out as a jubilee gospel group, already mixing jazz elements with traditional material and four-square harmonies in the mid-thirties. Long before Sam Cooke and Ray Charles took gospel elements into the pop world, they were having hits with secular songs not too dissimilar to the style they sang religious material. But that style was not the earthier, proto-soul music that most people think of as gospel, so it’s rarely mentioned as more than a footnote in histories of pop. I’m not sure who was in the group when they recorded this, but the lead singer has a beautiful lilting tenor, and the few times when the harmonies kick in, led by a dominant deep bass voice, are stunning. And when the lead voice goes for the high notes at the end – goosebumps.

Graham Parker – “Cheap Chipped Black Nails” 2001 from Deepcut to Nowhere. This album is very close to being the halfway point in Parker’s 48-year recording career. It came after the longest gap in records he ever had – the previous album was five years before this one. Many GP fans stopped following his oeuvre after about 1980, many more held on until about 1992. Me, I’ve never missed an album, and in fact counting all sorts of live releases, Parker takes up more space in my CD shelves than anybody this side of Elvis Costello and Sun Ra. This particular song is not a classic, but it has all the elements I love about Graham Parker – a bright, singable song with a tricky hook line, bubbling guitar licks, and an urgent delivery. Parker played all the guitar parts himself on this one, and you can hear how much he took from his long-time guitarist Brinsley Schwarz. Original Rumour drummer Steve Goulding shows up here, too. Also kudos for the “specter” rhyme with “expect her.”

The Whispers – “Make It With You” 1977 from Open Up Your Love. The Whispers lasted a long, long time, forming in 1964 and never officially disbanding, though only three of them remain living. The vocal group was built around identical twin brothers Wallace and Walter Scott, who along with three others – Gordy Harmon (replaced in 1973 by Leaveil Degree), Marcus Hutson, and Nicholas Caldwell – developed a silky smooth harmony sound that perfectly adapted to virtually every change in African-American popular music. “Make It With You” is indeed the Bread song pumped up into a powerhouse disco thumper. I have always loved the original, because of the gorgeous melody and wistful vocals of David Gates. I gotta say, though, it works great as a dance number, especially with these revved-up vocals. I love the energy and excitement here, the melody is mostly respected, the vocal interjections and improvisations at the end are fun. It’s a solid record that deserves to be remembered after all this time.

David Byrne – “Don’t Want to Be Part of Your World” 1989 from Rei Momo. 1989 was the year I discovered Brazilian music, and David Byrne was responsible. Between this album, which included a wide range of musical influences from south of the border, and the first volume of the Brazil Classics series, Beleza Tropical, released on his Luaka Bop label, I was suddenly exposed to this wide range of exciting rhythms and stylistic approaches. This song is a classic samba approach, with drumming that points to the Olodum rhythm Paul Simon would borrow on next year’s Rhythm of the Saints album. Byrne sings a lilting melody over the propulsive beats, and imagines all the children running away to start their own society. “”We promise to be better” / Said the folks at home / “It really doesn’t matter” / Said their daughters and their sons.” This bone chilling evocation of the generation gap goes down easy in Byrne’s croon.

Continental Drifters – “Someday” 2001 from Better Day. The Continental Drifters had put out my very favorite album of the 1990s – Vermillion – and then kept going to produce this final follow-up as internal tensions pushed them apart. (Don’t worry – they’re all good now, and even get back together from time to time.) This Susan Cowsill song is probably the masterpiece from this record. It’s a super energetic hook-filled upbeat number about trying to get over whatever is bringing you down. “And if that doesn’t take away my sorrow / I’m gonna get up again and do it tomorrow.” The guitars drive the song, with punchy riffs and a scintillating 12-string solo. Backing vocals presumably include Peter Holsapple and Vicki Peterson, but the focus here is on Cowsill’s hopeful and exuberant grasp of the melody.