…these songs respect the traditions of their respective genres, listening to Long Time Thing is like opening up a time capsule and hearing songs that were tucked away for the last 40 to 50 years.
Articles by Mike Elias
Songs I Turned Up: Could It Be I’m Falling In Love, The Spinners
Posted on June 22, 2011 Mike Elias
The emergences of Phillipe “Soul” Wynne, sharing lead vocal duties with tenor Bobby Smith was the final ingredient in the recipe of fame and success. Listen to “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love,” with Thom Bells’s keys underpinned by Larry Washington’s congas, the strings, the girls and finally, Wynne ad-libbing over the coda. The Spinners had arrived!
Booker T. Jones, The Road From Memphis
Posted on May 11, 2011 Mike Elias
The Road From Memphis works better than Booker’s previous LP, Potato Hole for a couple of reasons. The the originals are much better songs and his collaborators are more sympathetic to his ideas. It sounds like Booker’s vision of a new LP was realized more than somebody else’s vision for a new Booker T. Jones album.
Scandalous, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Posted on April 21, 2011 Mike Elias
“Black Snake” is reminiscent of “Resurrection Shuffle” by Ashton, Gardner & Dyke, but it would be a disservice to the Joe & the band to compare them to those brass rockers of the early 70s – like Chase or early Chicago – because the Honeybears can swing.
The Baseball Project, Vol. 2, High & Inside
Posted on April 20, 2011 Mike EliasAgain the band displays their love for the game with pop hooks and history lessons. It’s like the Schoolhouse Rock of Baseball.
Songs I Turned Up: Just My Imagination, The Temptations
Posted on April 13, 2011 Mike Elias
To fully appreciate this song, don’t listen to it on a compressed mp3 file. Find a remastered CD or an old piece of vinyl and listen to it on a nice stereo system. You will be amazed.
Songs I Turned Up: Rock & Roll, The Velvet Underground
Posted on April 6, 2011 Mike Elias
“And baby it was all right,
And it was all right,
Hey it was all right,
It was all right.”
Papa John DeFrancesco, A Philadelphia Story
Posted on March 24, 2011 Mike Elias
Devotees of soul jazz records made by the great B-3 players like “Groove” Holmes, Jimmy Smith, Dr. Lonnie Smith and Brother Jack McDuff, run out to your local record dealer and immediately grab this new disc by ‘Papa John’ DeFrancesco. It’s like steppin’ back to 1972.
The Babies, Self-Titled
Posted on March 23, 2011 Mike Elias
The opening track, “Run Me Over” sounds like something Nancy and Lee would do if they were 23 years old and recording in the new millennium.
Donnie Ray, Who’s Rockin’ You?
Posted on January 19, 2011 Mike Elias
I’m no different than a dope fiend junkie / ‘Til I can get in the sack / I got a Love Monkey on my back