Smiley Lewis & Dave Bartholomew ~ 109 years later

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Smiley Lewis     

date & photographer unknown 

 

Today is the birthday of New Orleans rhythm and blues singer and guitarist, Overton Amos Lemons, better known as Smiley Lewis, born on July 5, 1913, in DeQuincy, LA. He played clubs in the French Quarter there, often with pianist Tuts Washington (and was sometimes billed as "Smiling" Lewis).   

 

Dave Bartholomew, grew up in the same neighborhood as Lewis and was then beginning a career as a producer with Imperial Records, this led to a recording session for the trio in March 1950, at which they recorded the song Tee Nah Nah. Lewis had his first national hit song with The Bells Are Ringing in 1952.   

Lewis was the first to record Bartholomew's song Blue Monday, in 1954; the Fats Domino recording of the song was a hit two years later. In 1955 Lewis achieved his biggest sales with I Hear You Knocking, the first recording of the song (written by Bartholomew and Pearl King), with Huey "Piano" Smith on piano.        

 

None of Lewis's Imperial singles sold more than 100,000 copies, but cover versions of his songs were commercially successful for other artists.     

 

 Dave Bartholomew Band 

date & photographer unknown

 

The Elvis Presley cover of the Lewis song One Night (which altered one risque lyric) was number 4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 1 on UK Singles Chart. I love this song with its klink-klink-klink piano beat that makes the song smoothly glide along, in spite of the bouncy rhythm, while Presley does what he does best.    

 

Lewis's recording of I Hear You Knocking was released when U.S. radio was still mostly marketed to exclusively white or exclusively black listeners. A version of Knocking, his first solo hit, reached number one in the UK and number four in the United States; it was recorded by Dave Edmunds in 1970, in this version, Lewis is mentioned in the lyrics, along with Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Huey "Piano" Smith. The Gale Storm pop version of I Hear You Knocking reached the top five on the charts (link below).            

Lewis's recording of Shame, Shame, Shame was used in the soundtrack of the film Baby Doll in 1956. The song failed to enter the R&B chart. It was covered by the Merseybeats for their EP On Stage in 1964 and Aerosmith included it on their blues album, Honkin' on Bobo, released in 2004. The song also provided the title of the fifth episode of the HBO television series Treme, which included a rewritten version of the song with lyrics critical of the government's response to Hurricane Katrina.     

A short clip from I Hear You Knocking is included on the Bill Buchanan and Dickie Goodman novelty hit, The Flying Saucer (link below), in which, in an ironic nod to his original stage name, Lewis is referred to as "Laughing Lewis." Like everyone else whose music was appropriated for the record, Lewis was never paid.     

In 1975, Sylvia Robinson wrote a song with the same title performed by Shirley & Company, however, it was noting like the Lewis song. It is disco at it's best with a fantastic sax played by Seldon Powell! It was at the beginning of the disco era, so, what more can be said about that?

 

Lewis was hospitalized in 1965 with a diagnosis of ulcer; surgery revealed that he had stomach cancer. Bartholomew organized a benefit for him at La Ray's on Dryades Street. On October 7, 1966, three days before the benefit, Lewis died, in the arms of his second wife, Dorothy Ester Lemons, whom he had married six months before.         

 

Lewis was inducted into the Cleveland, Ohio, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by Charles & Art Neville of The Neville Brothers in 1991.        

      

     

      

     

     

     

Viewfinder links:       

         

Aerosmith       

Dave Bartholomew         

Chuck Berry          

Buchanan & Goodman ~ The Flying Saucer          

Fats Domino        

Coleman Hawkins         

Smiley Lewis        

Smiley Lewis ~ Shame, Shame, Shame        

Elvis Presley        

Gale Storm ~ I Hear You Knocking         

Tuts Washington             

Tennessee Williams          
     
YouTube links:       

        

Buchanan & Goodman ~ The Flying Saucer        

Fats Domino ~ I Hear You Knocking               

Smiley Lewis ~        

       I Hear You Knockin'      

       Shame, Shame, Shame       
Elvis Presley - One Night        

Huey Piano Smith ~ Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu   

Gale Storm ~ I Hear You Knocking        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
Styrous® ~ Tuesday, July 5, 2022        
        

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Music Notes

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20,000 Vinyl LPs 148: Kiss X Four

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Forty years ago today, September 18, 1978, the four members of the American hard rock band, Kiss, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, and Ace Frehley, each released a solo album on Casablanca Records.       

Kiss ~ Gene Simmons

vinyl LP front cover  
Cover [Painting] – Eraldo Carugati

 photo of album cover by Styrous®

This album by Gene Simmons, bassist and co-vocalist of Kiss, was a surprise to me. It's a very strange one, to say the least. It features choirs and string arrangements as well as incorporating various musical genres including Beatles-inspired pop, 1970s funk, disco, rock and roll and hard rock.

Radioactive is a fast and syncopated dance song that moves right along! It is the only single released from the album. The song was written by Simmons and produced by him and Sean Delaney. It features Bob Seger and Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry. Radioactive reached #47 on the Billboard charts.        

Simmons sings a version of When You Wish upon a Star, with lyrics by Ned Washington and music by Leigh Harline). It betrays the weakness of his voice but it's fun to listen to him doing something unusual (links below).     
     

Kiss ~ Ace Frehley

vinyl LP front cover 

Cover [Painting] – Eraldo Carugati

photo of album cover by Styrous®

The solo album from Ace Frehley, the lead guitarist of Kiss, was produced by Frehley and Eddie Kramer. It featured Anton Fig on drums. AllMusic rated the album 4 stars out of 5 and said, "Of the four Kiss solo albums, the best of the bunch is Frehley's". Jason Josephes of Pitchfork concurred that it was the standout of the Kiss solo efforts, describing it as "a melange of riff rock, power pop, and just a little bit of soul". I agree with them, of the four, Frehley's is my favorite and my favorite song from the album is, New York Groove, written by Russ Ballard. 

The song made it to No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 late that year, by far the highest charting single from any of the four solo albums. Frehley once told Rolling Stone magazine that his unique take on the song was inspired by his experience with hookers in Times Square (New York City) in the 1970s.
        
My other favorite songs from the album are Ozone, with its moderate-speed syncopated beat and brilliant guitar work by Frehley, and the instumental,  Fractured Mirror (links below).     
   

Kiss ~ Peter Criss

vinyl LP front cover 

Cover [Painting] – Eraldo Carugati

photo of album cover by Styrous®

The solo album by Peter Criss, the drummer of Kiss, includes material originally written in 1971 for his pre-Kiss band Lips. These include I'm Gonna Love You, Don't You Let Me Down, That's the Kind of Sugar Papa Likes, and Hooked on Rock 'n' Roll. The album also includes a cover of the song Tossin' and Turnin by Bobby Lewis. Reviews for Peter Criss were mostly negative. The album was the lowest charting of all the Kiss solo albums.      

I'm Gonna Love You is good, 'ol time rock 'n roll with a great dance beat that gets your feet moving in spite of yourself (links below).     

I'm a sucker for rock ballads, I Can't Stop the Rain is one in particular (link below) and it is my favorite song on the album. It has a quiet piano intro that goes into a killer rock ballad. It has the same emotional intensity and modulations as Sometimes When We Touch by Dan Hill which is one of my all time favorite songs.     

 Kiss ~ Paul Stanley 

vinyl LP front cover 

Cover [Painting] – Eraldo Carugati

photo of album cover by Styrous®

            

The solo album from Paul Stanley, the rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of Kiss, is the only album of the four Kiss solo albums to feature all original songs, as Simmons, Criss and Frehley each recorded one cover song on their albums. AllMusic gave the album 3 stars out of 5 and said that it is the most "Kiss-like" out of all the Kiss solo albums.

My favorite cut from this album is, Tonight You Belong To Me, not to be confused with the 1956 song with the same title by Patience and Prudence. It has a quiet, serene 1-1/2 minute intro, but once the intro is over it moves on quite nicely (links below).    
     

For over four decades Kiss has dominated the rock n’ roll scene with their over-the-top theatrics, captivating live shows, and fist-pumping anthems. The Starchild, Demon, Spaceman, and Catman are proud to round out their 45th year as a band and bring you The KISS Kruise VIII, Decades at Sea!

The Kiss Navy will set sail from Miami on October 31 aboard the Norwegian Jade with stops in Key West, Florida and Nassau, Bahamas. The cruise with run until November 5, 2018 (link below).   

        

           

          

Viewfinder links:
  
Aerosmith       

Sean Delaney          
Kiss articles/mentions          
     
Net links:
     
Kiss website
Mikeladano ~ Ace Frehley (1978 solo album) review     
Ultimate Classic Rock ~      
      30 Years Later Ace Frehley looks back @ his solo album   
Noise 11 ~ Ace Frehley, Melbourne, 20 October 2017 review    
Ultimate Classic Rock ~ Paul Stanley Year by Year: 1974-2017 Photographs     
Kiss Kruise VIII    
Deviant Art ~ Tribute to Eraldo Carugati: A Forgotten Master 
       
YouTube links:
     
Ace Frehley ~   
                Fractured Mirror        
                New York groove  
                Ozone            
Gene Simmons ~           
                Radioactive         
                When You Wish upon a Star      
Peter Criss ~    
                I'm Gonna Love You 
                I Can't Stop the Rain     
Paul Stanley - Tonight You Belong To Me          
Patience and Prudence - Tonight You Belong To Me          
    

 

    

      

Styrous® ~ Tuesday, September 18, 2018

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