Intro. I Love This House Knock On Wood - Eddie Floyd Blue Moon of Kentucky - Bill Monroe Blue Moon of Kentucky - Paul Blue Moon of Kentucky - Elvis Swinging Hips There's a Leek Bob Marley Concrete Jungle - Bob Marley We Got Married Sam Kinison bit Got to Get You Into My Life Walk in the Garden Goons Bit Virginia Plain - Roxy Music More Goons Blackbird Cook of the House - Sloppy Joes The White Coated Man - Linda Singing The Blues Happy Jack - The Who Pete on Meat Rock Island Line Good bye
The third episode of "Oobu Joobu" was chiefly notable for a slight but important shift in emphasis--there was less time devoted to rehearsals and soundchecks, and more to McCartney material from other sources. The result was that, this time out, the music wasn't quite as interesting as on the first two shows; however, this bodes well for the overall musical value of the series by opening other potential sources. For the first time, unreleased
One track, however, was only played in part--and, almost needless to say, it was by far the best track on the episode. "I Love This House" is a never-before-heard rocker recorded in the mid-80s, and featuring David Gilmour on guitar. The song has a powerful rock feel to it, with a danceable beat, and sounds like it has the potential to be a hit in today's radio market, which can't be said about a lot of Paul's material. The version played on the show has vocals that are way too distorted for my tastes; I hope Paul will re-do the vocals and release the track on his next album.
Two studio recordings were played in full. One was a full early version of "We Got Married", not much different from the released version but lacking Gilmour's guitar solo and some other overdubs, and using a prominent horn at the end. Again, this to me is more interesting because it signals that we may get other such outtakes then for its inherent value, but it's not at all bad. The other track was a version of "There's a Leak (In This Old Building)", done with more seriousness then the version already booted from the "One Hand Clapping" session, but sounding more like a demo then an attempt to record for release. Paul preceded this song by explaining how he first heard it when he went with John and George to see "Love Me Tender", the first Elvis movie. Strange that Paul remembers this 1956 movie as being from "just before" Ringo joined the Beatles--anyone know when it was released in the UK? Paul also sings a line of this song during his introduction. Some of the vocals in this song sound a LOT like the booted version, but I hear a couple of differences, too--perhaps this is the same version after editing or something?
Paul also sang a version of "Blackbird", back by just his guitar and some bird sounds. This sounds like it was recorded specifically for the radio show, another first. Paul does some nice soulful vocalizing on this one.
Back in the soundcheck/rehersal category, we get a fun version of "Rock Island Line", leaving Ringo as the only Beatle who we don't have singing this blues/skiffle standard. (John's version was on the "Lost Lennon Tapes", while George recorded it with Paul Simon at his "Saturday Night Live" taping.) There were also unremarkable versions of "Got To Get You Into My Life" (with Paul thanking "the members of Lumpy Trousers") and "Singing The Blues" (identified by Paul as being from Toronto 6/6/93, two years to the week before the airing of the show).
Linda, whose recipe this week is for meatless Sloppy Joes, checks in with her rewcent release "The White Coated Man"--I haven't even heard the released version, but this recording had a demo-ish quality to it. Can anyone confirm if it was the released version or not? Paul also plays a bit of acoustic guitar to start the show, and takes us on an audio walk through a forest which abruptly segues into a recorded comedy bit but later reappears as the intro to "Blackbird". I like this bit, if for no other reason then that it sounds like nothing else on the radio.
Outside material this time out comprised Eddie Floyd's soul classic "Knock On Wood", the Roxy Music tune "Virginia Plain" (I'd love to hear Paul cover that!), The Who's "Happy Jack", and Bob Marley's "Concrete Jungle". Introducing the latter, Paul opines, "I think one of the greatest people ever on the reggae scene has to be Bob Marley". Thanks for the tip, Paul. Next week, you can tell us that you think Albert Einstein was a pretty smart fellow.
Following "Happy Jack", Pete Townshend appeared to cite some statistics about starvation and then to make the dubious suggsetion that we eat less meat so the grain that is used to feed livestock can go to the hungry instead (as if we don't already have surplus food that could be used for this purpose).
Paul also continues his annoying habit of editing his re-makes of songs with the originals, in this case "teaming up" with both Bill Monroe and Elvis Presley for a version of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" a trois.
As you can see, I'm not nearly as thrilled with this episode as I was with the first two. Nonetheless, I'm still happy with the overall direction of the series. And I'm just thrilled to have "I Love This House", which makes the second week in a row that my song of the week is an incomplete recording. Go figure!
But now I have to go try to figure out this "There's a Leak" mystery once and for all...
... We've had a request, but the microphone's too big!
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