Just to give some context and to prep you for everything that we’re going to explore here let’s take a song with an amazing guitar part that might not be played by who you expect.

For those of you who don’t know, the solo on that track was played by Eric Clapton, apparently added when Harrison wasn’t completely satisfied by the first recording. Now, I’ll bet that’s not much of a surprise for most folks out there. As far as I can tell it’s pretty common knowledge, but still kind of an interesting tidbit. Oh and then there’s this.

(I will continue to watch that video and insert it into any post I can for as long as I can)

A little more surprising (though still not mind blowing) is that Harrison put down some guitar for Clapton on Cream’s song Badge.

Now there’s some guitar work at about the 1:40 mark that sounds an awful lot like George, but he’s only credited with rhythm guitar and has apparently explicitly denied playing that part. If he had, I would’ve been a little bit more stunned. Still, this gets points for being a collaboration that I hadn’t heard about up to this point.

But the piece that literally had me cursing at my monitor is a little nugget about Layla from Height Five Seven.

Apparently, that’s Duane Allman over the piano coda. A little more research turns up the fact that he wrote the riff for the main “rockin’” portion of the song, and that Allman played on two of six (6!) guitar tracks.

That’s nuts.

I had no idea that Allman had anything to do with that recording, but the degree to which he was involved is especially entertaining. I don’t know why it’s always so gratifying to learn these things, but it is.

Bonus: from the same source, who knew that this was Bobby Womack on bass?

Double bonus: here’s Billy Preston rockin’ out with the Beatles.

In all seriousness, I’ll plug Height Five Seven one more time. You should go check it out. I spent entirely too much time over there, which is the reason I’m writing this post at 4am.

The story you find on YouTube about Jamerson is that Gaye went out into the bars of Detroit to find him drunk, pulled him back into the studio, and got him to put down the bass line to the track below laying on his back. You can see Jamerson sitting next to Gaye in some of the footage in the video below.

And in case you missed it, here’s an isolated version of that same bass line.

The most fantastic thing to me about Jamerson’s playing is the way that he can be the absolute heart and soul of a track one moment, playing the piece that you’ve known your entire life, and in the next moment he’s playing a riff that sounds like it could be a whole new song, some little gem that’s been sitting there behind the hit you’ve known. Check the Ain’t No Mountain bass line in the video below. For the first thirty seconds the bass is exactly where you would expect it to be, nicely mirroring the harmonies, pretty much what you would expect having heard this song a million times. Then for about fifteen seconds Jamerson just goes bonkers. I’d missed it behind Marvin and Tammi’s combined efforts at that point in the song, but it’s absolutely gorgeous.

Four tracks below for you to check out. Nothing new, but plug in your headphones and listen to the bass for a bit.

I Was Made to Love Her

Right click to save.

Bernadette

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Sunny

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Standing in the Shadows of Love

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Damn. Say a prayer for Aretha.

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This one goes out to Jerome.

For a long time I’ve been really amazed by Eddie Hazel. I didn’t know much about him until I started to get into Funkadelic. I threw on Maggot Brain was instantly astounded by this dude, even if I was a little annoyed with Clinton’s preamble. I remember thinking, this is some music that my mother could listen to, even though she’s always been more into Cream and Janis than Parliament. Here was this whole other side of P-Funk that I had never really been introduced to, this whole psychedelic side to a band I thought I had loved since I learned who was behind all those West Coast samples. I’ve seen it written that Michael Hampton’s golden pass into Funkadelic when Eddie Hazel was on temporary leave was a note for note rendition of this track, and it was this track that they played at Eddie’s funeral after he passed in ’92.

Download.

Have to say, though, the song that stays on my iPod isn’t Maggot Brain (damn that intro), but instead comes from Hazel’s solo effort, Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs. I’ve always had a soft spot for this song, and sometimes rock the José Feliciano version; this has been my favorite for awhile.

Download.

It’s a trip to me to think that Hazel’s also on this Temptations track that made it to No. 1 on the soul charts in ’75, along with bassist Billy “Bass” Nelson also from Funkadelic.

Download.

Bonus: Physical Love

Download.

Two dope tracks from Isaac Hayes.

Walk On By

Just for reference, that’s an Isaac Hayes cover of a Burt Bacharach track originally recorded by Dionne Warwick. Mr. Hayes is no joke my friends, and he exudes quite a lot of things. One of them is funk all over this track. The distance between the two is staggering.

Walk On By

The second track here isn’t quite as funky, but is probably just as soulful. Fellas, I’m gonna look away now, but nobody’s gonna be mad if you cry. Promise you that.

Need to Belong to Someone

I’m telling you, put that second track away for safe keeping until you wake up lonely one night in your bed. Not for heavy rotation, but I’m always glad when it comes on.

Right click to download.

Original introduction to this song was the Nina Simone, but I’ve been loving this version.

Right click to download.

Another band with a name that makes it impossible to google for more information. Managed to find a myspace page and what looks to be their band site. Let’s hope there’s more to come soon.

And be careful not to mistype the myspace link, Kisses is an all female KISS cover band, and blowkisses with one s on the end takes you to a completely different band. Thanks guys.

No idea where this band came from or where they’re going. They have a 7 inch EP with three tracks available for download on their website, and they’re tagged as being in NY. This track also gets bonus points for being a bright sounding breakup song.