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If Indieville's
Matt Shimmer has it right,
Michael Rault "lives in a quaint and simple world where songs are
short and catchy, and music is created to make you feel good."
With that in mind, his hand-selected ten crucial records list reveals a
remarkably refined musical knowledge, meshing recent gems with classic
releases and a healthy dose of the obscure. Read on, explore, and seek out
Rault's latest release, Crash! Boom! Bang!, one of the most
infectious records to pass through Indieville's mailbox in awhile.
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(In no particular order)
1. Little Walter - Hate To See You Go - Little Walter is one of my
all time favourite songwriters, soloists and singers, of any genre, not
just the blues. This album kicks off with two of his best songs in my
opinion, one after another. This album straddles the line between soul,
blues and jazz, and does it all really well. Plus it has a great album
cover.
2. The Staple Singers - Great Day - I
would probably recommend getting any best-of package of the Staple Singers
early stuff, where they are mainly just stripped down to the family
singing, and Pops Roebuck Staples playing his tremolo guitar, but the one
my family has is a two LP set called "Great Day". The Staples are pretty
much the definitive southern gospel group, and it is easy to get into the
spirit of it when it sounds this cool. Two of my favourites are their
version of Dylan's "Masters of War" and "I Can't Help From Crying
Sometimes."
3. Betty Harris - Stay in The Saddle -
Betty Harris was one of the only real challengers to Irma Thomas's title
of "Soul Queen of New Orleans." This compilation of her early works (which
I think is the majority of her recordings), is made up of mostly Allen
Toussaint productions and compositions. The album name is taken from a
line in her Lee Dorsey cover "Ride Your Pony," but the real gems on this
record are things like "Mean Man," "Break in the Road," "Trouble with my
Lover" and "Show It." It's a great example of Toussaint's genius as a
songwriter and producer, and most of it is backed by a band that would
eventually branch off and become The Meters, one of the great prototypical
funk bands.
4. Lee Dorsey - Gonh Be Funky -
Another Allen Toussaint produced artist, and another artist being backed
by a band that would eventually transform into the Meters. Lee had R&B
hits with songs like "Ride Your Pony" in the earlier 60's, but later into
the decade he wasn't making a national impact as much anymore, but the
stuff he and his crew were doing was ground breaking. "Give it Up" is a
great song. Another great one, "Love Lot of Lovin'" features fellow top
ten album artist Betty Harris and Lee splitting up the lead vocal duties.
Also, on the back of this particular LP collection, there's a freeform
letter of recommendation from Joe Strummer talking about how cool Lee
Dorsey is, in an off the wall Joe Strummer-y way.
5. Arthur Alexander - A Shot of Rhythm and
Blues - One of the Biggest influences on the Beatles, Arthur Alexander
was once of the first recording projects that the Muscle Shoals record
company worked on. Arthur and Hank Williams may be the only two artists I
can think of who can generate this much sadness with a song, but it's
still fun to listen to.
6. Black Lips - Let it Bloom - I
wanted to prove that I don't only listen to music that was recorded before
1970, so I included this album on this list. Well, that's one of the
reasons; the other is that I've had it on my turntable just about non-stop
since I bought it a couple months ago. I actually listen to a fair amount
of garage rock and punk (more than this list indicates really), but this
is one of the only albums I own of those genres that I can put on and
listen to from start to finish without having to get up and skip songs.
7. Bo Diddley - Best of - Bo Diddley
is underrated! He didn't just play one beat. He wasn't just a golden
oldie rock and roller. He was the most primal music coming out of the late
1950's original rock and roll era. It's not like people don't know and
like his music, but I think very few understand that he was more than a
novelty. This kind of music makes me question why I ever wanted to play
songs with chord changes, as it has more in common with African tribal
drumming or a Native American powwow than it does with guitar driven folk
blues. My Dad actually got a chance to play with Bo three times, and my
favourite of many stories that resulted from their gigs together was when
Bo showed my Dad a picture of an alligator he killed because it was trying
to eat his grandkids.
8. Beck - ODELAY! - This album just
makes me wish I knew more about sampling and the more computer driven side
of record producing. Beck manages to combine the elements I love about old
soul, folk and garage with hip hop, then he mixes in his own weird
personality and flair for lyrical and melodic ideas, in
turn creating
one of the most entrancing albums I own. I won't go on at great lengths
about it, because it's a pretty obvious and popular album, but I had to
put it on my list, since I've been listening to it a lot lately.
9. Bob Dylan - Self Titled - This is
Bob Dylan's first album and it's made up of all covers except for two
songs. It's a great opportunity to catch up on a bunch of traditional folk
songs, and it's cool to hear them filtered through Dylan's unmistakable
sound.
10. Rev. Cleophus Robinson - Best of -
Here's a random obscurity. I found this album at Freecloud Records in
Edmonton. I went in and found out that a personal collector had just come in
the day before and dropped off a bunch of records he didn't want anymore.
So, I ended up having to drop about $200 on records that day, because a
lot of the stuff that this collector had sold off was the kind of stuff
you might never see or hear of again. Of the ten records or so that I
bought, this one has proven to be my favourite. It's another example of
really dirty sounding southern gospel, generally featuring the voices of
Rev. Robinson, and an unnamed female vocalist. Almost every second song on
the album is a sermon put to music, which I don't generally listen to, but
every actual song on the album is flat out amazing. Check out "I'm Not
Tired Yet" and/or "I Can See So Much" if you can find them. I'm not sure
exactly how rare this guy is, but I haven't talked to any other R&B
enthusiasts who have heard of him, yet.
-- Published
March 13, 2009
MICHAEL
RAULT ON MYSPACE |
