This is the promotional video for Culture Club’s “Church of the Poison Mind.” This one of their many, many hits, charted #17 Rock and #10 Pop in the USA; #10 in Canada; and #2 in the UK.
The fabulously flamboyant Boy George (George O’Dowd) fronted this eighties band from London, England, and I fell in love with them the very first time I saw one of their videos on MTV. (For those of GenX, Y or Z, MTV used to show music videos 24/7 — hence the name Music Television!! ).
George was entertaining to look at and I loved his singing. He guested on many TV shows of the era and I jumped in front of the TV set to see him perform whenever I could.
This song, that the group composed, sounds like a song from the Golden Era of Motown with background vocalist Helen Terry taking the place of all three andantes . The harmonica is front and center, the tambourine is a shaking through- out and the bass is thumping!
If you are reading this post and aren’t aware of this group I highly recommend you check out their catalog. I have most of it on vinyl and honestly can say that I don’t recall hearing any bad cuts at all.
Culture Club won the 1983 Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
I know that a “Culture Club” Reunion will probably never happen, but I am extremely glad we had this group around on the music scene for a few years. It is so sad when talented groups/bands implode and leave the fans wanting more. Unfortunately this happens far to often in the business called music.
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#8 R&B
“Hum Along and Dance” is another smash from the minds of the songwriting team Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield. It appeared on the Tempting Temptations 1970 hit LP “Psychedelic Shack.” (#1 R&B & #9 Pop).
The original tune was 3 minutes and 52 seconds long making it a very long song for the era. I consider this song the writing duo’s precursor to “Smiling Faces.”
Please listen and enjoy.
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#95 R&B
Rare Earth’s 5 minute and 19 second version of “Hum Along and Dance” comes from their 1973 release “MA.” Take a listen to this even longer version of this classic.
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The Jackson 5′s 8 minutes and 37 second version appeared on their 1973 LP “Get It Together.” “GIT” was the J5′s second album release of 1973 (September): they had released “Skywriter” earlier that year in March. Like the entire LP, “HAaD” was an awesome track — but even better is the 15 minute and 7 second extended version. This one is here for your listening pleasure: it was one of the bonus cuts on my “Joyful Jukebox Music” re-issue CD.
This version is tops IMHO!
Now that you have seen this vintage J5 performance of “HAaD” with the handsome Jackie Jackson doing Eddie Kendricks’ high tenor lead part, vote for your favorite here and now. Be sure to leave comments as to why you prefer one rendition over the other.
Even though I am a huge Eddie Kendricks fan, “Get Ready” is not high on my list of Kendricks’ led Temptations songs. I think this is because the song has been so over- used (IMHO) when it comes to Motown references over these past decades.
But this song is a perfect way to kick off the new Theme of OSML posts for May 2010 … “Motown Covers Motown”!
I have used this theme before, including two posts of another original Temptations song that song Rare Earth covered called “Smiling Faces”. If you missed out on that post just click on the link in the song title.
You may also select the Theme “Motown Covers Motown” in the OSML Category Search to the far right and read the dozens of other Motown songs that were covered by Motown artists that you may or may not have been aware of.
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#1 R&B & #29 Pop in 1966
First please enjoy The Temptations’ original hit rendition from their chart topping (#1 R&B & #12 Pop) LP pictured above. Of course this great song is one of the many Smokey Robinson penned hits that the Temptations had.
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While not exactly a Motown Group, per se, The San Remo Golden Strings were a Detroit group of studio musicians. Some played for the Detroit Symphony and some were a part of Motown’s Funk Brothers so I felt this version of “Get Ready” was worthy of inclusion in this post. Click on the link above to read what “Soulful Detroit” has to say on the history of the group.
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R&B #20 & Pop #4 in 1970
From their debut LP, “Get Ready” released in 1969 on Motown records, Rare Earth’s cover of “Get Ready” was a 21 minute and 30 second live jam that propelled the LP to #4 R&B and #12 Pop.
I vividly recall that this was THE lunch hour jam to listen to in high school to when it first came out. Rocking out on a Motown classic was something we had never heard before at it was totally awesome to digest for the first time!
Now that you have heard the official released single versions please watch and enjoy these live performances before you vote on your fave.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Released in 1969, “Abbey Road” was the last Beatles album to be recorded (But not the last to be released). “Rolling Stone” magazine named it the 14th greatest album of all time. “Octopus’s Garden” was Ringo’s solo vocal contribution the this set. He wrote the lyrics and George [...]
[Audio clip: view full post to listen] The Beatles – Boys (1963) “Boys,” with Ringo singing lead, was on of the 14 songs recorded in one day for The Beatles first ever LP “Please Please Me.” It was the first of two LPs released in 1963. “Boys,” composed by Luther Dixon & Wes Farrell, is [...]
[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Released November 22, 1968, The Beatles White Album contained this first song composed by Richard Starkey. Ringo had co-written a few songs before, but this was his baby and he sings it solo in his own charming yet quirky style. It’s obvious that Ringo loved Country-Western — isn’t [...]
[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Ringo takes lead on yet another Lennon-McCartney song in the opening of the epic “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” LP of 1967. This album went to #1 on the Pop Chart. And yet the single did not make the pop chart (#71) until 1978! Here is a [...]
. The harmonica is front and center, the tambourine is a shaking through- out and the bass is thumping!
Culture Club won the 1983 Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
