Thursday, January 20, 2005
two more from the wedding cds
Chairmen of the Board "Give Me Just a Little More Time"
Swinging Medallions "Double Shot of My Baby's Love"
My parents, never big music fans, owned maybe forty lp’s when I was a kid. There were a couple of Bob Dylan albums my dad denied buying, a Mamas and the Papas boxed set, about ten Chuck Mangione records (which I’ve never understood), a few classical discs, and then a couple dozen beach music and Motown compilations and greatest hits records. As small-town teens in a pre-hippie 1960’s North Carolina, my folks were required to love what they called beach music. And, of course, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, as this stuff is some of the greatest music ever made. My parents would spend their summers and spring breaks shagging to the Tams and the Showmen down at Kure Beach (or, when they had money, Myrtle), back when shagging was a dance, and not something you did with only one very special person that you will love completely and totally forever in perpetuity. And anyway, my parents have never “shagged”; they make love. But so, the Showmen were one of the pivotal groups of that scene; their song “39-21-46” was a huge regional hit, and a personal favorite of mine. The Showmen’s incredible lead singer, General Johnson, left Raleigh for Detroit in ’68, where he hooked up with the legendary songwriting and production team Holland-Dozier-Holland. H-D-H had just left Motown to start up their own label, and one of their first signings was Johnson’s group Chairmen of the Board. The amazing “Give Me Just a Little More Time” grew out of this relationship. The General gives one of the sincerest and most impassioned vocal performances this side of Daniel Johnston, or maybe Toni Braxton. It’s superb. General Johnson and Chairmen of the Board still play shows, I believe, in and around the coastal Southeast. Maybe if you’re lucky you can catch them on a triple-bill with the Tams and the Embers.
The Swinging Medallions are also pretty rad. They’re from Georgia, like me, and the world would be a much better place if every “frat-rock” band still sounded like them. “Double Shot of My Baby’s Love” was the first song at every one of our Friday night dance parties back in ’98 and ’99. It’s killer.
You can buy the Chairmen of the Board's greatest hits here, and a Swinging Medallions compilation here.
Chairmen of the Board "Give Me Just a Little More Time"
Swinging Medallions "Double Shot of My Baby's Love"
My parents, never big music fans, owned maybe forty lp’s when I was a kid. There were a couple of Bob Dylan albums my dad denied buying, a Mamas and the Papas boxed set, about ten Chuck Mangione records (which I’ve never understood), a few classical discs, and then a couple dozen beach music and Motown compilations and greatest hits records. As small-town teens in a pre-hippie 1960’s North Carolina, my folks were required to love what they called beach music. And, of course, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, as this stuff is some of the greatest music ever made. My parents would spend their summers and spring breaks shagging to the Tams and the Showmen down at Kure Beach (or, when they had money, Myrtle), back when shagging was a dance, and not something you did with only one very special person that you will love completely and totally forever in perpetuity. And anyway, my parents have never “shagged”; they make love. But so, the Showmen were one of the pivotal groups of that scene; their song “39-21-46” was a huge regional hit, and a personal favorite of mine. The Showmen’s incredible lead singer, General Johnson, left Raleigh for Detroit in ’68, where he hooked up with the legendary songwriting and production team Holland-Dozier-Holland. H-D-H had just left Motown to start up their own label, and one of their first signings was Johnson’s group Chairmen of the Board. The amazing “Give Me Just a Little More Time” grew out of this relationship. The General gives one of the sincerest and most impassioned vocal performances this side of Daniel Johnston, or maybe Toni Braxton. It’s superb. General Johnson and Chairmen of the Board still play shows, I believe, in and around the coastal Southeast. Maybe if you’re lucky you can catch them on a triple-bill with the Tams and the Embers.
The Swinging Medallions are also pretty rad. They’re from Georgia, like me, and the world would be a much better place if every “frat-rock” band still sounded like them. “Double Shot of My Baby’s Love” was the first song at every one of our Friday night dance parties back in ’98 and ’99. It’s killer.
You can buy the Chairmen of the Board's greatest hits here, and a Swinging Medallions compilation here.
