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Favorite "They Played on THAT Tune?"

#142
I know Billy Joel was on Leader of the Pack.
John Lennon was on Fame.
Everyone credits Flea for the Alanis Morissette tune, rightfully, but forget Dave Navarro is also on that tune.
Beachboys doing back up vocals on Chicagos Wishing you Were Here.
Rick Wakeman played the piano on Cat Stevens' Morning Has Broken.
Peter Gabriel and Sting singing backing vocals on Phil Collins' "Take Me Home"
 
#144
Most of a SF country rock band called Clover were the backing band on Elvis Costello's first album, "My Aim Is True". They were stranded in the UK and needed some cash flow. In the band(but not on the record)was harmonica player Huey Lewis, but guitarist John McFee(later of the Doobie Brothers)did the lead guitar work. Members of Graham Parker's Rumour were involved also.
 
#146
More Manfred Mann related trivia...original vocalist Paul Jones tried his hand at a solo career in 1966; one of his singles from 1968(totally ignored in the US, but it's pretty forgettable)featured Jeff Beck on guitar, the Yardbirds' Paul Samwell-Smith on bass, and Paul McCartney on drums...

Donovan's 1968 single 'Barabajagal' featured support from The Jeff Beck Group(Beck, Wood, Hopkins, Newman, but no Rod Stewart)and, reportedly, a very young Suzi Quatro on backing vocals...

While he was still in the Yardbirds(in 1966), Beck recorded an epic(no pun intended)solo instrumental, "Beck's Bolero", purportedly written by Jimmy Page(they're still arguing about it); it was released in 1967, finally appearing on the "Truth" album in 1968. The backing band was a dream team, possibly the first inkling of the potential of a Zeppelin type format, Beck on lead, Page on acoustic 12-string, John Paul Jones on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and stealing the show, Keith Moon on drums...

A little later, the Yardbirds, with both Beck and Page on lead, Jones again on bass, and long-timers Relf, Dreja, and McCarty on vocals, rhythm guitar, and drums, respectively, recorded and released one of the most ahead-of-its-time singles of the 60's, another Zep template, "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago"...

In 1969, Steve Miller was in London recording his "Brave New World" album, and employed Paul McCartney(playing both bass and drums)on this track...

The Everly Brothers, who were deeply admired by all the early 60's British bands, saw their careers evaporate from the popularity in the US of those very same groups; in 1966 they recorded in London with The Hollies backing them up and writing for them(on most of the tracks)...

Unfortunately, it did not improve their fortunes; a few years later, they did a great but overlooked country flavored single with most of The Byrds at the time(McGuinn, Hillman, Clarence White), but it didn't fare any better...

Mick Jagger's first solo endeavor, a song that is often mistaken for The Stones, was "Memo From Turner". It was a tune he sang in the movie "Performance", his first acting attempt. The band was Ry Cooder, slide guitar; Russ Titelman(later producer for Steve Linwood and Eric Clapton), guitar; Randy Newman, piano; Jerry Scheff(both Elvis's, The Doors), bass; and Gene Parsons(the later Byrds), drums...
 
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#147
Alphonso Johnson played bass on Jeffery Osborne's hit "Stay With Me Tonight".
The late Wilton Felder played bass on The Jackson Five's hit "I Want You Back".
The late Victor Bailey played bass on tour with Madonna many years ago.
The late Louis Johnson played bass on Herbie Hancock's LP "Man-Child".
Each of these discoveries was a surprise to me.
 
#148
Here's some session work by a guitarist named Jimmy James; you might know him as Jimi Hendrix...

The Rolling Stones did a passable cover of this on "Out Of Our Heads"; ironically it was Keith Richards' girlfriend at the time(1966), Linda Keith, who actually 'discovered' Hendrix, tried to interest the Stones(to no avail, ironically)before she finally dragged Chas Chandler to the New York dive he was playing at, and the rest is history. Word was Keef was a bit jealous.

During his brief tenure with the Isley Brothers, he did manage to record a few songs; this is probably the best known track...


Here he is, SUPPOSEDLY, on probably the weirdest session for him(and that's saying a lot), backing up Jayne Mansfield(for you youngsters, she was a 50's cut-rate Marilyn Monroe and the mother of 'Law & Order SVU' actress Mariska Hargitay. If I have to explain Marilyn Monroe to you, well, sorry...).


Possibly the last time he played on someone else's record, from Steve Still's first solo album...


There are other tracks(besides the Curtis Knight stuff)but I'll just leave you with his first known TV appearance...
 
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#149
Boss Bass said:
Alphonso Johnson played bass on Jeffery Osborne's hit "Stay With Me Tonight".
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Yeah, that one really shocked me when I discovered it...not because I didn't think 'Zo was a perfectly capable pop/R&B session player, but because the sound and the style of bass playing on that tune is so unlike anything 'Zo had done prior, or has done since. His performance is very distinctively different than anything else I've ever heard him play. Which is pretty cool...

Boss Bass said:
The late Victor Bailey played bass on tour with Madonna many years ago.
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This makes more sense if you realize that he got the gig through Darryl Jones and/or Omar Hakim. Jones and drummer Hakim, fresh off their newfound "pop" popularity after Sting's album & tour, played on Madonna's Australian tour in the late 80s or early 90s. Omar knew Victor from their time together in Weather Report. Victor probably had never seen the kind of money Madonna could offer, so I'll bet he jumped at the opportunity.
 
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#150
Jumbotron said:
...

On Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower," the acoustic rhythm guitar isn't played by him--it's Traffic's Dave Mason.
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Dave also supplied the bass guitar part when Redding walked out of the session.
Jimi later replaced the bass part himself, with an ever so slightly dumbed-up/down version of what Mason originally played.

According to one of the finished instrumental versions (I've heard the final inst. version as well) of the song I've heard on a CD boot, Jimi also replaced the bass part in "Fire" with a slightly less hip-slick-and cool bluesy interpretation of the same lines that were previously played by someone else (Redding?) earlier, mainly in the "Ahh move over-Rover..." section.
 
#153
Rickengeezer said:
He also did the keys on David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and Cat Steven's "Morning Has Broken"...I understand he always felt he should have recieved writing credit for the latter as it is so driven by the piano melody.
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Why would Rick Wakeman want a writing credit for "Morning Has Broken" when it is a well-known Christian hymn first published in 1931? It has words by English author Eleanor Farjeon, then set to a traditional Scottish Gaelic tune tune known as "Bunessan" (it shares this tune with the 19th century Christmas Carol "Child in the Manger". It is in church hymnal books. Cat Stevens did not write it either.
 
#155
Altitude said:
Isn't it interesting when you learn that a notable (if only to you) player is playing on a song you would never associate him/her with?

For example, I have had Paula Cole's excellent "This Fire" CD for years, and only recently read the liner notes. It turns out that Tony Levin is all over that disc. As soon as I listened again, I couldn't believe that I didn't figure it out on my own. The single "Feelin' Love" for instance has a very typical Levin groove and tone. What a cool detail about an already great recording.

Any others?
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This may have been brought up years ago in this thread, but Paula got her start singing with Peter. She likely met Tony while touring/recording with Peter.
 
#157
Richland123 said:
Why would Rick Wakeman want a writing credit for "Morning Has Broken" when it is a well-known Christian hymn first published in 1931? It has words by English author Eleanor Farjeon, then set to a traditional Scottish Gaelic tune tune known as "Bunessan" (it shares this tune with the 19th century Christmas Carol "Child in the Manger". It is in church hymnal books. Cat Stevens did not write it either.
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Trying to unpack Rick Wakeman's brain is probably beyond me (see RRHOF acceptance speech). However, I'm guessing that he's wanting credit for the piano intro and interludes between the verses--the "Bunessan" hymn is the melody that from what I can tell was first published in the 1880s, but that is just the melody that Cat Stevens sang. I haven't seen any version before Wakeman's that had those intro/interlude chords (which aren't the same as the verse chords), so I'm guessing he came up with them. And it's a quite distinctive contribution--play that piano intro and nearly anyone can name the tune. So I'd vote to give him some sort of credit...sort of like Whiter Shade of Pale, where Matthew Fisher was (after some lawsuits) given writing credits because of his distinctive contributions despite the classical origins of the melody.
 
#158
Rickengeezer said:
Trying to unpack Rick Wakeman's brain is probably beyond me (see RRHOF acceptance speech). However, I'm guessing that he's wanting credit for the piano intro and interludes between the verses--the "Bunessan" hymn is the melody that from what I can tell was first published in the 1880s, but that is just the melody that Cat Stevens sang. I haven't seen any version before Wakeman's that had those intro/interlude chords (which aren't the same as the verse chords), so I'm guessing he came up with them. And it's a quite distinctive contribution--play that piano intro and nearly anyone can name the tune. So I'd vote to give him some sort of credit...sort of like Whiter Shade of Pale, where Matthew Fisher was (after some lawsuits) given writing credits because of his distinctive contributions despite the classical origins of the melody.
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What can you say? Wacky musicians will try anything. ;)
 
#160
JimK said:
Sonny Rollins on The Stones' "Waiting For A Friend"
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I love the story of how they came up with that part: They didn't have any charts for Sonny, just played him the track, told him where they wanted him to put a sax solo...and Sonny said to Mick Jagger "Just dance me the part."
So Mick was out in the studio dancing in front of Sonny, and we got that gorgeous part. Classic.
 
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