We seem to have had a recent run of our revered artists dying on us – Sinead O’Connor and Jane Birkin dying in quick succession was a little unsettling for as I loved both dearly.
I pondered that we post our respects and then,such is the way of the World, they are quickly forgotten.
I thought it would be a good idea to post favourite songs by artists you miss. Only one song per artist, I wont put mine in any order as a matter of respect. I am sure if people make contributions to this there will be artists that escaped my thoughts. 10 only please:
John Martyn – `Hurt in your Heart.
Sinead O’Connor – This is to Mother you
Bobby Charles – Before I grow too old
Kate McGarrigle – Talk to me of Mendicino
Prince – Sometimes it Snows in April
Tom Petty – Crawling back to you
John Prine – In spite of ourselves
Leonard Cohen – Famous Blue Raincoat
John Lennon – Working Class hero
Jane Birkin – Comment te dire Adieu
Loads missed off but am sure we can see some great suggestions
I would have thought Jackie Leven & Jimmy LaFave would have also been foremost in your mind Stephen.
@Baron-Harkonnen they very much were and so too Nanci Griffith, Gram Parsons, Jimi Hendrix and Jaco Pastorius. Too many.
I realised today that I didn’t have Jimmy LaFave’s Trail One and got it on Discogs. That was a bloody great night at the Saxon
It certainty was. I have all those Trail albums, I think it was Foxie (@Vulpes-Vulpes) who put me onto JLF by making me aware of the Trail CDs. I think he may have sent me a copy, if so home taping certainly caused me to buy ALL of JLF’s discography.
Jim Carroll – People Who Died
Fred “Sonic” Smith – [Sonic Rendezvous Band] – City Slang
Rob Tyner – [MC5] – Kick Out The Jams
Thelonious Monk – Blue Monk
Dick Dale – Misirlou
Alex Harvey – [SAHB] – Next
Elvis Presley – Danny Boy
Chris Bailey – [The Saints] – (I’m) Stranded
Tommy and Joey and Johnny and Dee Dee Ramone – Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
Alice Coltrane – Journey in Satchidananda
Here is Patti Smith with an uplifting version of the first tune that popped into my head. When I heard the song, on the LP “Catholic Boy”, I thought “yeah, standard New York braggadaccio”. Then I read his books and realised “it’s his DIARY”
this was an immediate gut-level typing – there are many many more who I miss
Good shout on Alice Coltrane El Hombre 😎
That Jim Carroll song is an absolute belter. You put it on one of your end of year lists. I had it as a single many years earlier and it was a great reminder.
Just music?
Mitch Hedberg. He had a gag about how the people who make Pringles originally wanted to sell tennis balls but when the truck arrived it had a load of potatoes. I tried to pass this off as a true story to a friend. They took a minute to realise it was pish..
Off the top of my head:
David Bowie – Loving the Alien (today’s choice, but it could have been Blackstar, Hallo Spaceboy, Heroes, or many, many more)
Leonard Cohen – A Thousand Kisses Deep
Frank Sinatra – A Very Good Year
Frank Zappa – Valley Girl (just because Moon Unit’s chit-chat makes me laugh)
Scott Walker – No Regrets
Excellent idea, Steve. I look forward to turning this thread into a playlist.
I stand open to correction regarding my choice of songs!
Lhasa De Sela – Con toda palabra
Ali Farka Toure – Bonde (with Ry Cooder)
Vic Chestnutt – Gravity of the situation
Cesaria Evora – Sodade
Pino Daniele – Napoli E
Elliot Smith – Between the Bars
Charles Bradley – The World (is going up in flames)
Mark Lanegan – Come undone (with Isobel Campbell)
Gal Costa – Baby
Solomon Burke – Don’t give up on me
Rita Lee – Lanca Perfume
Marie Fredriksson – Tro
Millie Small – My Boy Lollipop
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
Terry Callier – Love theme from Spartacus
Gil Scott- Heron – Lady Day and John Coltrane
Great list @Kaisfatdad and I could have easily added numbers by Elliott Smith and Vic Cheshnutt. How on earth I forgot Mark Lanegan I have no idea.
While we’re at it:
And when the shouting is over, and the amps have cooled off:
While the world slips by along the river, you can tap your feet to this beauty:
Finally, around a bend in the river, Galilee hoves into view and you need a celebratory song:
If it rains as you disembark, feeling chilly, warm yourself up with some Perry:
Then skip and skank yourself down the street to Joseph’s lovely vocal:
Find a nice tree to stretch out beneath, and drift away to the King’s dub:
And speaking of drifting away, remember the gloriously mellifluous voice of Dobie:
Zounds, so many, so sad……. (Forgive the shorthand of presenting the name of the deceased rather than the name of the band, where relevant.You guys are clever enough to know who the song was actually by, as am I, so no clever clogs pedantry, unless very clever indeed.)
Crazy Man Michael/Sandy Denny (see para above!)
Single Father/Jackie Leven
Sacrifice/Sinead O’Connor
Basement Dream/Neal Casal
Joan of Arc/Leonard Cohen (the duet version with Jennifer Warnes)
Knocking on Heaven’s Door/Warren Zevon
Man of the World/Peter Green
Hyacinth House/Jim Morrison
Tower Song/Nanci Griffith (on a TVZ tribute)
Wild Horses/Gram Parsons
Could be a different 10 in a moment, especially if I weren’t first thinking of singers….
Just remembered Townes If I needed you was supposed to be on my list.
Mickey can still sing this one, celebrating the gone guys from the band:
Excellent choices all.
Time for a bit of noiseless – Lemmy and Philthy Phil
Surprised no wag has yet posted a list of tracks by bands such as Dead Fingers Talk, Dead Can Dance, etc, etc
Jerry Garcia
Phil Lesh
Mickey Hart
Bob Weir
Bill Kretzman
Brent Mydland
Pigpen
Bruce Hornsby
Keith Godchaux
Vince Welnick
(I had to look up the keyboard players)
Give the reaper a chance, he’s getting through them as fast as he can……..
At least they appreciate it.
Hey, Salwarpe, you need Tom “T.C.” Constanten in that list of Dead people as well!
Jimi Hendrix – Purple Haze
The Monkees / Mike Nesmith – What Am I Doing Hangin’ Round
David Bowie – Station To Station
Talk Talk / Mark Hollis – Life’s What You Make It
Billy MacKenzie – Breakfast
The Associates / Alan Rankine – Kitchen Person
Olivia Newton John – Have You Never Been Mellow
George Michael- Jesus To A Child
Ian Dury – Sweet Gene Vincent
Chas and Dave – Ain’t No Pleasing You
Syd Barrett – Baby Lemonade
Bowie – Fantastic Voyage
Donna Summer – Sunset People
Bobby Womack – Across 110th Street
Nick Drake – Northern Sky
T. Rex – Cosmic Dancer
Carpenters – Superstar
Nico – These Days
John Coltrane – Chasin’ The Trane
Jr. Walker – Shotgun
Bubbling under (as it were) – Lou Reed – Berlin
The artists I truly miss:
Jackie Leven
Jimmy LaFave
Tom Petty
John Lennon
Leven Helm
and Sixto Rodriguez when it finally sinks in. I find it hard to pick any one song even In Sixto’s case.
Obviously there are many more but those above come straight to mind.
Only one musician has died that has personally affected me. Frank Tovey died in April 2002 at the young age of 45 and he was one of those less well known artists that you think belong to you alone. Looking at YouTube to find a suitable clip, I was cheered to see a version of Rickys Hand being performed in tribute by Ministry and Gary Numan in May this year. Not just me then.
“Check the guy’s record”.
The artist I miss the most is Marvin Gaye. The circumstances of his death were appallingly tragic. Marvin was the finest singer I ever heard. Also, my mother’s favourite.
Here he is singing with Tammi Terrell. The recording was difficult because of her brain tumour. Her subsequent death devastated him.
This is a weird thread and no mistake! But I appreciate the chance to name and acknowledge the dearly departed. Musicians who’ve created music that has meant a lot to me at different stages in my life.
You won’t have heard of all of them, but that doesn’t matter.
Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah
Nusrat Ali Fateh Khan – Musst Musst
Marvin Gaye – River deep, mountain high
Radka Toneff – The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Tim Buckley – Sweet Surrender
Tito Puente – Oye como va
Tina Turner – Nutbush City Limits
Manzanita – Ramitas de Violetas
Pete Shelley – Ever fallen in love..?
Luis Eduardo Aute – Sin tu latido
Monica Zetterlund – Trubbel
Black – Wonderful Life
John Lee Hooker – The Healer
Kate McGarrigle – Heart like a wheel
Burt Bacharach – Walk on by
Remembering Paul Fox and Malcolm Owen.
.
Also remembering Neil Innes.
Remembering Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter and Jaco Pastorius.
Good one, Mike.
Also, if I may piggyback, another for Wayne and Joe…
Remembering Nina Simone.
.
There’s just so many, when you think about it.
Ella
Louis Armstrong
Duke Ellington
Basie
Art Blakey
Mingus
Stan Getz
Brownie
Freddie Hubbard
Lady Day
Les Paul
Tubby Hayes
Joe Harriott
Bill Evans
etc.
etc.
Ian Curtis
Trish Keenan
A triptych of three great musicians who have left us.
Junior Murvin
His song was covered by Joe Strummer and the Clash
Rachid Taha was a great Clash fan and in turn covered Rock The Casbah rather successfully.
PS I just discovered that Springsteen covered London Calling when he played Hyde Park in 2009.
Hmm.. Brucification of the Clash. Not sure what I think about that,
Sarah Harding
Poly Styrene
Ari Up
Remembering Kirsty MacColl…
Rick Wright and Sinead O’Connor
Remembering Sweet Pea Atkinson of Was (Not Was) and Lyle Lovett’s Big Band
Fantastic voice on that man. Sadly missed.
Just the one from me
In the words of Dr John “ the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans ever produced”
That’s a very mainstream choice for you, @Mousey!
Black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genii are two-a-penny here in Sweden!!
@Kaisfatdad – not so much back in the 60s and 70s in the US methinks!
Actually, not so much anywhere, except of course Sweden, in 2023!
There’s a great documentary about James Booker called Bayou Maharajah.
I definitely recommend it if you haven’t seen it.
@Alias
Yes I’ve seen it, truly wonderful. The soundtrack – on its own curiously, is here
I can heartily recommend the recent 5-CD set »Behind The Iron Curtain, plus« which has three complete concerts from East Germany and Switzerland (1976/1977) – the Bayou Maharajah solo and in amazing form. And the book that comes with it is full of amazing stories. The guy was a true nutcase.
Wow thanks for that, had never heard of it!
Ordered immediately from tax dodgers
Talking of Dr John…not at all distracted by the front row cleavage.
We bloody Swedes just have to be different!
Remembering a few greats from your neck of the woods, @Mousey.
David McComb of the Triffids
Grant MacClennan of the Go Betweens
Jimmy Little – musician, actor and teacher and a member of the Yorta Yorta tribe.
Archie Roach
Gurrumul
Mark Hollis.
I only got into Talk Talk many years after his last record came out. Of the band’s last three, Colour of Spring is my favourite, and April 5th the stand-out from that.
When he died, I did read somewhere that he’d been thinking about a return to playing live. I’d have paid serious money to have seen an extended line-up Hollis band.
Avoiding some people who have already been mentioned, here is my top ten. There are plenty of others, but I play all of these pretty regularly.
Kurt Cobain – Where did you sleep last night?
Jason Molina / Song Ohia – Whop Poor Will
Lal Waterson – Some old Salty
Lou Reed – Romeo had Juliette
Dave Swarbrick – Sloth
Adam Schlesinger/ Fountains of Wayne – Hackensack
Eddie Hinton – Everybody needs Love
Deke Leonard – Map of India
Danny ( Rapp) and the Juniors – At the Hop
Richey Edwards / Manics – Motorcycle Emptiness.
Remembering Norma Waterson.
Ronnie Spector
https://youtu.be/AhzZIXvspI4
Here are the ones that immediately jump to mind for me. All bands/artists I still listen to & each one of them bothered me in some way. The biggest shock for me was Scott Hutchison, i was really hit by that one it was so sad
Frightened Rabbit (Scott Hutchison) – Holy
Delays (Greg Gilbert) – Hideaway
Nirvana (Kurt Cobain) – Heart Shaped Box
St. Thomas – Take A Dance With Me
The Fall (Mark E. Smith) – M5#1
Fountains Of Wayne (Adam Schlesinger) – Leave The Biker
Sinead O’Connor – Black Boys On Mopeds
Leonard Cohen – Dance Me To The End Of Love (live)
Mark Lanegan – Ode To Sad Disco
David Bowie – Fall Dog Bombs The Moon
Soundgarden (Chris Cornell) – Holy Water
Sheer genius.
Viv Stanshall
Bernard Cribbins
Here’s a few
Mrs KFD was playing some Bryan Ferry tracks during today’s drive home to Stockholm. I rather enjoyed a lot of his solo stuff.
But to my surprise, she came up with a rather indifferent version of Johnny and Mary.
Remembering Robert Palmer…
Or as a duet in franglais!
Remembering Daniel Johnson.
I saw him once at Roskilde and it was a very ambivalent experience bordering on a freak show.
He was obviously very talented but the same time was painfully nervous, But I like to think he was touched by the warmth and enthusiasm of the audience.
I was surprised to see he’d done a Tiny Desk. It captures his charm very well.
The comments are well worth reading. For example:
“He couldn’t harmonize, he sang out of time and tune, but he had the beautiful ability of transmitting his raw feelings. He was honest and could get under your skin. That’s all i need. A true artist.”
Well, I’ve approached this like some others have mentioned – essentially the first ten which occurred to me – and which meant something to me. I guess it would probably be easy to come up with hundreds…
John Cippolina (QMS) – The Fool
Micky Jones (Man)- Spunk Rock live at the Greasy Truckers’ Party
John Martyn – Big Muff
Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy) – Showdown
Ray Shulman (Gentle Giant) – Proclamation
Syd Barrett – Dominoes
Linda Lewis – My Friend the Sun
David Crosby – The Lee Shore
Kevin Ayers – Whatevershebringswesing
Nik Turner (Hawkwind) – Master of the Universe
Plus, if I may, a number eleven –
Robert Quine, playing on Matthew Sweet’s Divine Intervention.
Let’s agree that writers are artists too…
Hunter S Thompson
Martin Amis
Joan Didion
Hilary Mantel
W G Sebald
Cormac McCarthy
Russell Banks
Milan Kundera
Jonathan Raban
Christopher Fowler
Remembering Klaus Schulze & Pete Namlook.
“The Dark Side Of The Moog” series and many, many individual releases.
https://www.discogs.com/artist/29599-The-Dark-Side-Of-The-Moog
I agree with you @fitterstoke, that the First Ten is a good basic approach.
But then again, the more I mull it over, the more artists I think of that are a Must.
Like the magnificent Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. He’s a Musst Musst!
And then there’s Elno Rota, charismatic singer of that wonderful combo, Les Negresses Vertes.
Dead at 29 from a heroin overdose.
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/rock-the-crooner-in-lavender-rip-helno-singer-with-les-negresses-vertes-philip-sweeney-pays-tribute-1470925.html
I can’t believe that we’ve missed the Baker Street Hitmaker..
Remembering Gerry Rafferty..
Aldous Harding does a wonderful cover of this song which made me realise what a brilliant songwriter GR was.
Remembering Chris Sievey (aka Frank Sidebottom) and a moment of pop magic…
Incidentally, I’m really enjoying a Work In Progress playlist I made based on this thread
One for Nic Potter – died in 2013. When VdGG needed a bass player (rather than using organ pedal bass) he was the best man for the job. Appeared on Least We Can Do and H to He, reappeared for Quiet Zone and the monstrous live album Vital – also played on and off with Hammill, in his K Group and on other solo albums. As a bass player and VdGG fan of many years, I was particularly sorry to hear of his death from Pick’s Disease:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jan/22/nic-potter
Just listen to the aggressive fuzz bass on this clip – “punk wars”, indeed!
Excellent choice, fitter!
Extremely appropriate that on this thread we should be remembering not only the big names but those who played with them.
At a recent concert, James Yorkston spoke very movingly about his grief over the death from cancer of his old bandmate from The Athletes: Doogie Paul.
Only 40 years old.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/13081550.doogie-paul/
I was lucky enough to catch them when they played Söder Teater and very fine they were too.
Another great loss that we seem to have forgotten.
Remembering Terry Hall ….
Orchestra Baobab are playing a free concert this evening in Stockholm as part of the Culture Festival and I hope to be there. This seems like a good moment to honour their magnificent guitarist.
Remembering Barthélémy Attisso (1945 – August 29, 2021)
Enjoy
Go if you can, they’re great live.
I did go and enjoyed it enormously @Alias. As did my teenage daughter, who really got into the music and was dancing with great enthusiasm.
I was a little apprehensive at first, as, of sad necessity, there are several new members in the band.
But they delivered a wonderful 90 minute set, which got the audience dancing, singing and clapping along. A real party band.
Perfect to see them on a summer night in a large square rather than a sit-down venue.
There were two excellent vocalists, each with their very own style. They might even have been singing in different languages.