THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
837) Sam and Dave — “I Take What I Want”
This utter classic ’65 A-side was written by, of course, Isaac Hayes and David Porter, and as laid down by Sam & Dave was “[a] perfect balance of pop melody and pure church feeling.” (Andy Schwartz, https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/sam-and-dave) The Memphis Music Hall of Fame tells us that:
At Stax, Sam and Dave quickly developed a repertoire with the label’s songwriting team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter. Both Prater and Moore grew up idolizing subtle singers like Sam Cooke and Nat King Cole, but David Porter had a completely different vision. According to Moore, Porter admonished them to embrace their raw power and to stop “trying to compete with Motown.” Despite some initial reluctance, Porter’s vision was soon fulfilled and the hits started flowing.
https://memphismusichalloffame.com/inductee/samanddave/
Colin Escott writes:
Perhaps no act epitomized soul music as the secularization of gospel more than Sam & Dave. . . . Atlantic persuaded their Memphis affiliate Stax Records to produce them, and . . . the writing and production team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter . . . . became the éminence grises behind Sam & Dave . . . . They wrote, they produced . . . a string of hits, including “Soul Man,” “Hold On! I’m Comin’,” and “I Thank You,” songs that survive as the very epitome of Southern soul. Certainly, Sam & Dave’s hits are among the most soulful ever to crack the Hot 100. . . .
Samuel Moore and David Prater were both raised in the South, where they sang in church as children. During the ’50s, they performed in soul and R&B clubs before meeting each other . . . in Miami in 1961. . . . In 1965, they signed with Atlantic Records, but producer Jerry Wexler moved the band to the label’s Stax subsidiary. . . . [They] created a body of sweaty, gritty soul that ranks among the finest and most popular produced in the late ’60s. . . . [T]he duo’s career began to unravel in 1968, when Stax’s distribution deal with Atlantic ended. Since Sam & Dave were signed with Atlantic, not Stax, they no longer had access to . . . Hayes and Porter or the house band of Booker T. & the MG’s . . . . [But] what really caused the duo’s demise was their volatile relationship. . . . [I]t was reported that the duo could hardly stand each other’s presence. The tension caused Sam & Dave to part ways in 1970 . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sam-dave-mn0000282709/biography
Live — this is one cool performance! As B.R. Ross says, “Sam’s a wailin’ and Dave’s blastin’–and the tight playing and choreography from the band is superb!” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DGx2FFwpLc). And as R. Alvarez puts it, “ONLY SAM & DAVE could ROCK Lime Green & Yellow & F*CKING OWN IT!!!!” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DGx2FFwpLc):
838) The Artwoods — “I Take What I Want”
The Artwoods (see #58) — yes, founded by Art Wood (Ronnie Wood’s older brother) — were a top touring UK R&B band, but their success never translated to record. They “finally achieved some commercial success with their fourth 45, a pulsating cover of Sam and Dave’s “I Take What I Want” (Vernon Joynson, The Tapestry of Delights Revisited), reaching #28 in the UK in 1966. It is “blistering” (http://www.deep-purple.net/tree/artwoods/artwoods.html), “contagiously irresistible” (Andrew Darlington, http://andrewdarlington.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-art-of-artwoods-story-of-cult-mod.html), and I’ll be damned but Wood sings it with a Brooklyn accent! “I’m gonna make you my goyle, my lovin’ goyle”!
Wood recalls that “It was one of our favourites that used to go down a bomb on state. That was the only one that got into the Melody Maker Top Twenty. At last we had one hit and that was a thrill.” (liner notes to the CD comp The Artwoods: Singles A’s & B’s)
Andrew Darlington:
The confusion over the single’s exact chart history . . . is due to the nature of the music press at the time. There were four papers simultaneously publishing lists of best-selling singles. And they seldom agreed. . . . [I]t was [in the Melody Maker chart] – and only here . . . that “I Take What I Want” entered the . . . Top Fifty at no.43 (14th May 1966). The following week it climbs to no.40, to make its third and final appearance, at no.35, on 28th May. . . . “I Take What I Want” was widely-played on various Pirate Radio stations . . . as well as at all the best Mod clubs where its ‘bad man’ self-confidence made it a serious contender. It made the perfect swaggering ego-boost anthem to psych you up to cross the dance floor of the In-club to that girl you’ve been watching, with all the cock-sure strutting arrogance that, beneath the contrived façade, few of us actually possessed. Meanwhile the group’s punishing touring schedule was taking them hither and yon shoving an intimidatingly powerful live set, with a harsh and provocative dynamic equivalent to dropping a smooth grenade into the club, ensuring them a firm club fan-base. . . .
http://andrewdarlington.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-art-of-artwoods-story-of-cult-mod.html
Bruce Eder:
The Artwoods[‘] . . . . following was confined to the clubs they played, despite releasing a half-dozen singles and an LP during their four years together. Art Woods . . . had been involved with the London blues scene almost from the beginning, as an original member of Blues Incorporated . . . . He was the backup rhythm singer in the band’s early lineup . . . [and] he also had a group of his own that he fronted on the side, called the Art Woods Combo. They later became the Artwoods in 1963 and Jon Lord later joined along . . . . [T]hey joined Decca Records’ roster in 1964. The Artwoods’ early records are some of the most fondly remembered British R&B singles . . . . Their sound was as steeped in soul and funk as it was in blues, which set them apart from many of their rivals. . . . [T]hey had a virtuoso lineup . . . . [and] a top stage attraction. Club audiences always knew they were good for a great show and the band loved playing live. Ultimately, in fact, the group’s success in touring and their love of playing live may have hurt them. They had no problem playing hundreds of gigs a year at venues like Klooks Kleek in Hampstead and dozens of lesser clubs for the sheer enjoyment of it, but they earned relatively little money doing it. At the same time, their singles never seemed to connect, despite appearances on programs like Ready, Steady, Go! . .. Their failure as a recording outfit is inexplicable upon hearing the singles — they weren’t strong songwriters, to be sure, but when covering American-style R&B, their records were soulful, funky, and played not only well but inventively; close your eyes and it seems like they were the U.K. answer to Booker T. & the MG’s. And the vocals . . . were attractive and memorable and sounded authentically American. And, in contrast to a lot of other British bands of that period, they did manage to capture something of their live sound on those records, which made them very potent. . . . A series of label switches in 1967 to Parlophone and then Fontana gave them some furtive success on the continent (in Denmark, of all places) and after four years of hard work, the Artwoods called it quits after a brief foray under the name the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-artwoods-mn0000033079/biography
Oh, and Andrew Darlington reminds us that Deep Purple’s Jon Lord cut his teeth with the Artwoods:
[A]lthough focused on R&B and Soul, [John Lord’s] virtuoso organ-flourishes were already nudging towards the beginnings of more ambitious prog-Rock projects. . . .
Lord was their strongest writer, but he still saw himself primarily as their keyboard-player. . . . After the demise of the Artwoods Jon admits “I had nothing to go to and for eight or nine months I did not work apart from a few sessions to pay the bills.” He was even touring-MD for the Flowerpot Men . . . . [who] hit no.4 on the chart with “Let’s Go To San Francisco Part 1 . . . . Bassist Nick Simper was also with the Flowerpot Men, and through him, around the end of 1967, Jon met Ritchie Blackmore, the core of the first Deep Purple, with former-Searchers drummer Chris Curtis acting as an unlikely catalyst.
http://andrewdarlington.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-art-of-artwoods-story-of-cult-mod.html
839) The La De Das* — “I Take What I Want”
The Kiwis (see #216) take what they want and do it with a “mod punk sneer” (happening45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xax0nqCJCG0) on this ’66 B-side.
Milesago.com gives us the definitive La De Das:
Formed in New Zealand at the very start of the beat boom, they were . . . . practically the only major group [Kiwi or Aussie] to emerge from the beat boom of 1964-65 who managed to ride out the massive musical changes of the Sixties and adapt to the new scene in the Seventies, emerging as one of Australia’s most popular hard rock groups during the first half of the Seventies. . . . [T]hey started off as blues/R&B purists . . . . moved into their ‘mod’ period – with covers of Ray Charles, Motown and Northern Soul favourites, replete with tartan trousers, satin shirts and buckle shoes. . . . [and then] plunged headlong into psychedelia (the obligatory concept album, covers of songs from West Coast outfits like Blues Magoos, paisley shirts, sitars, long hair and moustaches). They almost came unstuck after the inevitable — and ultimately futile — attempt to “make it in England”. . . . limped back to Australia, regrouped, and bounced back . . . . Friends Kevin Borich, Brett Neilson and Trevor Wilson . . . . formed [“the Mergers”] in late 1963[, a] Shadows-style instrumental group . . . . The Fab Four’s visit in June 1964, and the emergence of The Rolling Stones, crystallised the need for change of style — and a lead singer. Trevor Wilson suggested a friend . . . and so Phil Key was invited to join as vocalist and rhythm guitarist. . . . By early 1965 . . . they were getting regular bookings on Auckland’s booming dance circuit . . . . In November 1965 they got a major break when they were called up to fill in for popular local band The Dallas Four . . . at Auckland’s No. 1 nightspot, The Platterack. The La De Das went over well and . . . . The Platterrack took [them] on . . . as the resident band . . . . They were soon packing out the club on a regular basis. It was here they linked up with one of the regular patrons, Bruce Howard . . . . As one of the few pop keyboard players on the scene, Howard was a valuable commodity, so he was invited to audition at their next rehearsal and immediately offered a place in the band . . . . He and Trevor Wilson immediately became the creative core of the band, writing all their original material. Their growing reputation soon attracted the attention of Eldred C. Stebbing, who owned his own studio and label, Zodiac, which produced recordings for some of New Zealand’s top pop groups . . . . In January 1966 Stebbing was given an import copy of The Blues Magoos album . . . and he immediately tagged the track “How Is The Air Up There?” as possible ‘goer’ for a local band. However, the organ was a key part of the song’s arrangement, and there were few local bands with an organist in the lineup. . . . [T]hey approached the group . . . . and were impressed enough [with the La De Das’ version] to invite them . . . to cut a recording and led to Stebbing signing them . . . for both management and production, with their recordings distributed through Phillips. The La De Das’ debut single catapulted them to the top of the NZ pop scene, and from that point on they were the top-selling Kiwi group until they moved to Australia in 1967. . . . [with] a string of chart-topping hits . . , all of which are now regarded as classics of 60s R&B . . . . “How Is The Air Up There” . . . was . . . an instant hit [see #216]. . . . The La De Das toured widely around the country through the first half of ’66, before issuing their second single, which was also their first self-penned release: the Wilson-Howard song “Don’t You Stand In My Way” backed with “I Take What I Want” (June 1966). Unfortunately it flopped and didn’t even make the charts . . . .
http://www.milesago.com/artists/ladedas.htm
* The name? —
“The lads realised pretty quickly that “The Mergers” didn’t really reflect the toughness of their music . . . . They decided on something a bit more hardline — The Criminals — but Phil’s mother was less than impressed and after rehearsals one night at the Wilson house she jokingly suggested instead that they call themselves “something nice, like the la-de-das …”. Phil [Key] loved it, and the name stuck.”
http://www.milesago.com/artists/ladedas.htm
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