Music
video (and some audio) clips: Part 1
Updated Mar. 19, 2009
A varied selection of
great music video clips (and a few audio ones),
mainly from YouTube. Check the index on right, or
just browse away. NOTE:Videos are often pulled
from YouTube for various reasons, so some of these links may not return
the video. (However, frequently the same video has been posted under
a different link, or by a different user).
I've split this into two pages. Older
entries are here.
Credit: Many of these
clips I found referenced on Charlie Gillett's reader
forum which now has a
YouTube page.
NOTE: (2012)
Videos of concerts I've taken are located at:
And on Page 2:
Townes Van Zandt
(with Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Willie Nelson)
Campbell Brothers (Sacred Steel)
Indonesian Rock & Roll (1960)
Toumani Diabate & Roswell Rudd
Billy Joe Shaver
Mahmoud Ahmed
Mavis Staples
Andy Palacio & Garifuna music
Rev. Louis Overstreet
Sister Rosetta Thorpe
Mohammed Rafi
Ray Wylie Hubbard
The Zimmers
Hullaballoo (with Sammy Davis Jr, Sonny & Cher, Lovin' Spoonful &
Supremes)
Marvin Gaye
Bo Diddley
Vieux Farka Touré
Professor Longhair
Lucille Ball
Randy Newman
Seasick Steve
James Brown
Sly & The Family Stone
Etta James
Johnny Winter
Chuck Berry
That's the title of the touring
package booked to play Massey Hall in Toronto on June 5 as part of
the Luminato Festival. Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin,
and Buddy Miller. Miller was named by No Depression magazine in
their final print issue as the Alternative Country Artist of the
Decade. A great night to look forward to.
The ultimate West African "supergroup, put together by the legendary
Ivory Coast/Senegalese producer Ibrahim Sylla., has released 2
volumes of Art & Soul of the Mandé Griots. Many of the original
musicians performed at a concert in Paris on Feb. 14, 2009. The
entire concert is available online -- but only until March 16:
Performers include: Kassé Mady Diabaté, Sekouba Bambino, Kandia
Kouyaté, Mamadou Diabaté, Mama Sissoko, Adama Condé, and many more.
The
giant of Congolese music, the 2008 retrospective,
Franco & Le TPOK
Jazz:Francophonic was on many of the year's best lists.
"Kinshasa Mboka Ya MKambo"
(Kinshasa, Town of Problems). Almost 9 minutes of incredibly
powerful Franco singing about Kinshasa. Read the text to the
right of the video, taken from
Graeme Ewens' "Congo Colossus":
The Queen of
Rockabilly, has finally (as of January, 2009) earned her rightful
place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Why it took them so long is a
mystery, as is putting her in the category of "early influence",
which has until now been designated for pre-rock & roll blues,
country, folk & gospel musicians.
Wanda was a rockabilly star...
right at the heart of the music, and the greatest woman rocker of
her day. Wanda plays in town at the Cadillac Lounge almost every
year (she celebrated her 70th birthday there in 2007), and she's
still a dynamite performer. Here's
my appreciation of her
following her 2005 show.
Historic video:
The Beatles
in Toronto, 1964: a bizarre leadup to their press
conference, and shots outside their hotel (the King Edward), and
at the airport.
Canada's rockabilly legend (by way of
Arkansas). Three clips:
"I
Need Your Lovin'", 1959, shortly after he moved to Canada.
The musicians here are the original group he brought from
Arkansas. Levon Helm on drums is the only one who stayed to
become part of the 1960's Hawks (and later The Band). Not a
classic Ronnie rocker, but you can catch a small glimpse of his
"camel walk". (This was the group that Robbie Robertson on
seeing them before he joined, said "this band played the
fastest, most violent rock 'n' roll that I've ever heard."
"Who
Do You Love": (audio only). The original 1963 single,
complete with screan, and blistering guitar (for the day) from
Robbie Robertson
Ronnie on
The Hour talking about his life, and almost death. Paul Anka
and Bill Clinton help celebrate Ronnie's birthday
The author of books on Cuban music and
New Orleans history also recorded one of my favourite CD's, the 1999
Cowboy Rumba, whose musical heart is pretty much captured by
that title. Sublette, from Lubbock Texas, divides his life into
before and after he discovered Cuban music.
"Ghost
Riders in the Sky", the lead song, is a driving merengue
version of the old cowboy classic. The music video
captures perfectly the cross-cultural energy of his take on the song.
Fabulous
stuff from the early career of one of Africa's greatest
voices. Salif sang with Les Ambassadeurs from 1973 through the early
80's. These extended clips are from Malian TV, and also feature his
long-time guitarist, Kanté Manfila.
"Mandjou":
his greatest hit from 1978.
Read
about some political fall-out Keita experienced singing
about the subject of the song. (Check the whole blog... it's a
wealth of goodies on classic African music).
"Mama Africa": a great voice for
freedom and justice passed away on Nov. 10, 2008. For some comments
and links on her, see my
Miriam Makeba/Odetta page. For two striking videos:
Come Back
Africa. It was her brief role in this secretly-shot
1959 South African documentary that first brought her to the
attention of the outside world
"Soweto
Blues": a moving performance and interview with her, as
she was still having trouble returning to South Africa for the
first time in over 30 years.
One of the great voices of the Civil
Rights Movement in the U.S. was finally silenced on Dec. 2, 2008.
But her light will always shine. See more comments on
my Miriam Makeba/Odetta
page.
The
New York Times
obituary contains a wonderful video interview with her done in
2007. Be sure to click the "full screen" icon on the video.
"Got My Mojo Working...
but it just don't work on you". Muddy's classic performance at
the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival.
It was the first time he'd performed before such a large, mostly
white audience, and the first time that audience had seen the
greatest Chicago blues musician. He had to do an encore of "Mojo".
The set was later released as an album, Muddy at Newport. The
band includes Otis Spann on piano, James Cotton on harmonica,
Francis Clay on drums, Pat Hare on guitar.
Videos from the
BBC 4 Documentary of the same name. The original series was
shown in 6 parts covering the continent.
Here you'll find 7 clips from the South American episode.
Miriam Makeba, Mahotella Queens, Hugh Masakela and many
more. (The link is for Part 1; check the "Related videos" bar to
the right to find the other parts).
The J. Geils Band was one of the big
white blues bands of the 70's. They were fronted by harmonica player
Magic Dick whose signature tune was "Whammer Jammer". While it's no
surprise to find white blues acts of the time hitting it big with
songs originally written by sometimes obscure black artists of the
south...
This webpage has a great collection of classic and modern gospel
performances, ranging from the Soul Stirrers to Mahalia Jackson to
the Campbell Brothers to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. It includes links to
artist bios and background on gospel music. (Some videos have been
pulled by YouTube).
In the 1930's the Pentecostal House of God Church in the U.S. began
a tradition of gospel music built on the pedal steel guitar rather
than the organ. Today, "Sacred Steel" music exists mainly in New
York, Kentucky and Florida. Robert Randolph and the Family Band are
the best known performers outside the Sacred Steel world.
The
Campbell Brothers
(whose lineup includes lap and pedal steel as well as an electric
guitar) though can really tear things up. I saw them at a
music festival in New York state a few years ago At the end of
one particularly blistering song, one of the brothers said, "That's
what we call church!" The following two clips really are
church -- Campbell Brothers style:
If you want
to find more of this music, check
their website. Arhoolie Records is
the main label for Sacred Steel. A terrific anthology is None But the Righteous on
Ropeadope/Ryko, featuring the Campbells along with many other
Sacred Steel stars.
From the notes for his c.1963 gospel album on Arhoolie: “Not even the image within the liner notes
could prepare you for the amazingly powerful - and strikingly real -
unfiltered gospel music that is found on this CD. . ." And not
even that could prepare your for seeing him and his congregation in
action. This clip seems to be from a 1963 documentary, but I haven't
yet been able to identify the film.
"The
greatest dance number ever filmed"? Well, some sources say
that's what Fred Astaire called this performance by The Nicholas
Brothers from the film
Stormy Weather (1943) which starred Bill "Bojangles"
Robinson, and also featured Fats Waller, Lena Horne, and Cab
Calloway.
Fats recently celebrated his 80th
birthday at a bash in New Orleans at Tipitina's featuring Randy
Newman, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint and others (see poster left)
I met Fats
once, very briefly, but very memorably sometime in the early 70's at
the El Mocambo. I was at waiting for the show to start when I
spotted Fats standing nearby, utterly alone, waiting for his cue to
come on stage.
I went up to him to thank him for the wonderful music he'd made, and
he immediately reacted as if this was about the most wonderful thing
he'd heard in a long time. I don't know what blinded me more:
- the glare from the diamonds on all his jewellery,
- the glow from one of the biggest smiles I'd ever seen, or
- the warmth from his greeting, which seemed to convince me that my
attendance at this show was was one of the best things he'd ever
experienced.
Performs James Carr's masterpiece
"Dark End
of the Street. From 1976, featuring Eldridge King, Terry
Evans & Bobby King on vocals.
Frankie Miller
A widely unknown Scottish singer:
"He'll have
to go". Otis Redding's widow said of him "That little white
boy Frankie, he has the blackest voice since Otis".
One of my all-time favourite musicians.
He performed for over 30 years with the Sir Douglas Quintet, Texas
Tornados, and solo. He had only two hits in his career, both from
the 1960's ("She's About
a Mover" and "Mendocino"), but his musical journey
crossed boundaries as a matter of course. He was a Texan (he oozed
Texas), who loved and played all styles of Texas music -- rock,
country, blues, soul, and especially Tejano (Texan/Mexican) -- and
in fact any good, soulful music.
The great music producer Jerry
Wexler said Sahm is "like the Rosetta Stone of Southern music"
Writer Chet Flippo described him as
"the lonely guy standing at the crossroad where Highway 61
intersected Route 66, where all of American popular music came
riding by".
And Sahm himself wrote (and sang),
"You just can't live in Texas, if you don't have a lot of soul",
from his "At the Crossroads".
He died in 1999 at the age of 58. A
small video chronology:
"She's
About a Mover"
From 1965, with the Quintet. Their manager thought this band
made up of chicanos and a couple of good old Texas boys could
cash in on the British invasion. Hence the name -- and that
hair!
"Nuevo
Laredo"
A few years later, no mistaking where they're from now. Still
the Quintet.
"Que Paso"
Now with the Texas Tornados (Sahm, Flaco Jiminez, Freddy Fender
and Augie Meyer.
Also check the musical variety of
Augie Meyer. His organ was a big part of Sahm's music from the
beginning, but in the above clips he is playing organ (1), guitar
(2), and accordion (3)
Some background on Sahm
here,
and
here you can find an MP3 of Sahm
singing Canadian history: "Sir John A. Macdonald, the Queen's
hatchet man".... "And all around Regina / They talk about him still
/ Why did they have to kill / Louis Riel?"
But a better picture of Little
Richard is
this clip fom 1962.
Richard had quit rock & roll in
1957 to study for the ministry, and for the most part had kept his
promise. In the fall of 1962 he was booked to play England on a tour
with other American rock musicians.
The story goes that his first show
was strictly gospel, and was an audience disaster. The next night
Sam Cooke joined the show, and his performance, along with Gene
Vincent's convinced Richard to do his old hits. This clip catches a
bit of his energy of the time. It's part of a 38 minute TV special
filmed near the end of that tour. (It was released as Don't Knock
the Rock -- the same title as a 1950's R&R movie with Richard
and Alan Freed).
A side note: his backing group,
Sounds Incorporated, performed the same role for the several opening
acts a few years later at my first rock concert: The Beatles at
Maple Leaf Gardens.
Lullaby of Broadway
Something completely different. One of Busby Berkeley's dance
masterpieces from the film Golddiggers of 1935.
The wonderful Arkansas
singer, in
three very different songs:
A terrible, bitter song about
her country, "Wasteland
of the Free". The visuals were added by somebody for YouTube.
Don't let them distract you from her message. (And remember,
this song was written in the mid-90's!). She also talks a bit
about it, and sings it movingly
here.
A gorgeous song, "Our
Town" sung with Emmylou Harris backing.
