THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
Don’t forget to file . . . away these versions of “Taxman” in the box of all-time fab Beatles’ covers!
1,176) The Loose Ends — “Tax Man”
Here is the Loose End’s “superb freakbeat version” (Nick Warburton, https://thestrangebrew.co.uk/interviews/the-loose-ends/) of “Taxman”, “hard-hitting but respectful” (John Reed, liner notes to the CD comp Decca Originals: The Freakbeat Scene), with, what are those, bongos? Cool, man! The A-side of the LE’s second and final single, it was released the same day as Revolver. Talk about chutzpah! Learn more about the Birmingham area (Bexley Heath, Kent) band at https://thestrangebrew.co.uk/interviews/the-loose-ends/.
1,177) Junior Parker — “Tax Man”
Junior Parker’s “[p]leasantly unexpected . . . [and] soulful version . . . with its slinky groove and reflective stance” (Tym Stevens, https://tymstevens.blogspot.com/2010/08/taxman-beatles-jam-beasties-cypress.html) might even outdo the Beatles’ original. Yup, I said it. Parker “completely reinterprets the song taking into a New Orleans funk realm, a sample of which was used as the main hook line on Cypress Hill’s classic ‘I Wanna Get High’.” (Mr Bongo, https://us.mrbongo.com/products/love-aint-nothin-but-a-business-goin-on-vinyl-lp-cd) Here are three reviews that hit the nail on the head: “How can you make a song about taxes sexy? Here is your answer.” (erickhorton7702, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byjPd28KegM) “[M]aking the Taxman sound like a Pimp…. which is his point I guess”. (darganx, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byjPd28KegM “So cool and funky! Feels like Im in New York in the 70s.” (bga33580, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byjPd28KegM)
Parker’s version should be the theme song for Turbotax — the libertarian rag Reason Magazine digs this “‘supply side’ soul”! (Jesse Walker, https://reason.com/2006/03/15/supply-side-soul/printer/)
Parker “even go[es] so far as to blanche at the meanness of George Harrison’s lyrics [“My advice for those who die . . . is declare the pennies on your eyes”] (‘Oh, this is awful!’).” (FunkMySoul, https://www.funkmysoul.gr/junior-parker-1971-love-aint-nothin-but-a-business-goin-on/)
From ’70’s Outside Man (re-released the following year as Love Ain’t Nothin’ But a Business Goin’ On), which “is brilliant, wonderful soul, funk, blues etc.” (FunkMySoul, https://www.funkmysoul.gr/junior-parker-1971-love-aint-nothin-but-a-business-goin-on/), “drenched in Parker’s trademark buttery vocals and soulful grooves, swaggering between smokey blues, raw funk outings and orchestrated soul ballads (with sublime arrangements by Horace Ott).” (Mr Bongo, https://us.mrbongo.com/products/love-aint-nothin-but-a-business-goin-on-vinyl-lp-cd)
As to Parker, FunkMySoul tells us:
Herman Parker Jr. was born at the heart of the blues in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1932. He died tragically young, from a brain tumour in 1971. In between, he produced some of the most soulful blues of the ’50s and ’60s. Mentored by Sonny Boy Williamson and Howlin’ Wolf and talent-spotted by Ike Turner, Parker started out as Little Junior who, with The Blue Flames cut the riotous Feelin’ Good and the eerie Mystery Train for Sun Records. Parker’s downhome late-’50s sides for Duke brought him success but when he moved away from hard blues he lost his audience. As a result, most scholars tend to write off Parker’s later, more soulful sound. This is a shame as his final recordings contain some of the most warm-heated sunshine soul of the period. Cratediggers rate this album . . . because of Sonny Lester’s clear production, and in-the-pocket groove from Jimmy McGriff’s soul-jazz combo and Parker’s three Beatles tracks – Taxman, Tomorrow Never Knows and Lady Madonna . . . .
https://www.funkmysoul.gr/junior-parker-1971-love-aint-nothin-but-a-business-goin-on/
Bill Dahl adds as to Parker:
His velvet-smooth vocal delivery to the contrary, Junior Parker was a product of the fertile postwar Memphis blues circuit whose wonderfully understated harp style was personally mentored by none other than regional icon Sonny Boy Williamson. Herman Parker, Jr. only traveled in the best blues circles from the outset. He learned his initial licks from Williamson and gigged with the mighty Howlin’ Wolf while still in his teens. Like so many young blues artists, Little Junior (as he was known then) got his first recording opportunity from talent scout Ike Turner, who brought him to Modern Records for his debut session as a leader in 1952. . . . Parker and his band, the Blue Flames . . . landed at Sun Records in 1953 and promptly scored a hit with their rollicking “Feelin’ Good” . . . . Later that year, [he] cut a fiery “Love My Baby” and a laid-back “Mystery Train” for Sun, thus contributing a pair of future rockabilly standards to the Sun publishing coffers . . . . Before 1953 was through, the polished Junior Parker had moved on to Don Robey’s Duke imprint in Houston. It took a while for the harpist to regain his hitmaking momentum, but he scored big in 1957 with the smooth “Next Time You See Me[]”. . . . Criss-crossing the country as headliner with the Blues Consolidated package . . . [he] developed a breathtaking brass-powered sound . . . that pushed his honeyed vocals and intermittent harp solos with exceptional power. Parker’s updated remake of . . . “Driving Wheel” was a huge R&B hit in 1961, as was the surging “In the Dark” . . . . Parker was the consummate modern blues artist, with one foot planted in Southern blues and the other in uptown R&B. Once Parker split from Robey’s employ in 1966, though, his hitmaking fortunes declined.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/junior-parker-mn0000486305#biography
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