Two Songs of the Week

A short RANT about tunes from Amy Rigby and The Temptations

“HELL-OH SIXTY” - AMY RIGBY

Some artists get it. Aging and playing music can be challenging to navigate. Some can reinvent themselves (think Robert Plant), and some continue to beat a dead horse (think readers’ choice). I’ve seen Bob Dylan in concert, and he can be hit-or-miss in recent years, but it's still worth the effort. The Rolling Stones continue to operate at a very high level. Imagine that. Great jazz musicians like Ron Carter and blues legends like Buddy Guy can continue with little criticism. I guess jazz and blues afford the artist a more accepting audience. They can mellow with their craft like a fine wine.

This brings me to the latest effort by one of my music peers, singer-songwriter Amy Rigby. She and her husband, Wreckless Eric, continue to create and release worthwhile music, both solo and as a duo, and do so with grand results. (Bummed that this talented couple moved from the Hudson Valley to the countryside of Norfolk, England, but I’ll save that for another post.)

Amy’s latest album—produced by her husband—tackles aging in a poignant and encouraging manner. The first pop-rock nugget from her eleven-track album, Hang in There With Me (Tappette), “Hell-Oh Sixty,” nails the zeitgeist that many of her fellow aging artists feel. The ringing acoustic and drum beat hit you right at the top as the 65-year-old Amy delivers a heartfelt, passionate vocal while looking back on her life and selling the song forward in all of its glorious brevity. Then the shit hits the fan with a glorious arpeggiated electric guitar, and dive-bombing guitar blasts as Amy continues her “decades” journey. As a fellow aging artist, I feel the same way she does. I bathed in her lyrics as they washed over me, and I believe that will envelop you, too:

“Twenty was forever / twenty was friends / Thought we would never / get to the end / of twenty.

Thirty was the best / Thirty was the worst / know I was blessed / thought I was cursed / at thirty

Forty was an anthem / key of E / Fifty was a film / by Mike Leigh…

Hell-oh sixty / Hell-oh sixty”

“CLOUD NINE” - THE TEMPTATIONS

If you collect vinyl and are not purchasing the treasure trove of reissues from Motown, you are doing yourself a huge disservice. With an avalanche of early ‘60s releases from The Supremes, The Temptations, Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, et al., it is a bit overwhelming. There is so much fantastic music that it was challenging for me to pick one track from nearly a dozen new albums released these past few months. But, I must confess an early pre-pubescent affinity for The Temptations. I have an older cousin, Vince, who gifted me The Temptations Greatest Hits Volume II back in 1970, which remains one of my most coveted albums. Those songs were imprinted into my music psyche right from the jump.

I fondly recall a 7th-grade teacher who encouraged us to bring our favorite singles to share with our classroom one day. I brought “Evil Ways” by Santana, and my classmate Eric Boykin brought “I Can’t Get Next to You” by The Temptations. I still remember the two of us standing beside our desks and stepping to both singles. Grand music often creates an instant bond between people. But, the single “Cloud Nine” remains one of my favorite songs on the above-mentioned album. And I was instantly hooked on The Temptations. I did not listen to the entire Cloud Nine (released in 1969) album or any of their albums in their entirety until this summer. I recently learned it was the first album featuring Dennis Edwards, who replaced famed tenor David Ruffin. Side one is three tantalizing psychedelic soul songs, perhaps their best sequence of songs from any album by them. It begins with the hit single—reaching number six on the pop charts and winning Motown their first Grammy—" Cloud Nine,” followed by “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” and ends with the nine-minute jam-filled tour de force “Runaway Child, Running Wild.” The second side is more pedestrian, with seven very good soul and R&B songs. None of them are second-rate, but they are merely overshadowed by the production and song brilliance of side one.

By the way, so much fantastic new music is swirling around me, thanks mainly to the folks writing and sharing it on SubStack. I hope to get to a ton of it this weekend.

What is your favorite single this week?