Life before ProTools
June 15, 2008 12:43 PM   Subscribe

Al Green sits in with Chicago (SLYT with a massive side order of awesome).
posted by timsteil (29 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
Groefie!
posted by jouke at 12:51 PM on June 15, 2008


Actually at a certain point he's just talking over the backdrop of this band doing its thing. And it doesn't sound bad at all. At that point I remembered that he became a pastor later in life.
You can tell from this song, probably 5 years before he became a pastor.
posted by jouke at 1:22 PM on June 15, 2008


I heard the 2007 incarnation of Chicago in Memphis early last summer, and sadly, they really could have used ProTools help. Granted it was early in the summer tour season, but they were painfully out of tune, and off rhythm most of the evening, as if their monitors weren't working at all. 25 or 6 to 4 was just....tragically bad.
posted by paulsc at 2:13 PM on June 15, 2008


The Reverend Testifies!
posted by TDavis at 2:42 PM on June 15, 2008


Paging StavrostheWonderChicken ...
posted by bwg at 3:43 PM on June 15, 2008


jesus, screw pro tools or whatever...that just rocked...
posted by damnitkage at 4:27 PM on June 15, 2008


Paging StavrostheWonderChicken ...

Why, does he like Al Green?

Actually, I know what you mean. I reckon he'll be along shortly to give timsteil a little grief for use of the dreaded abbreviation!

Otherwise, back to the topic at hand... GOD I LOVE AL GREEN!! He was in fine form there, and Chicago stepped right up to the plate with a fine, workmanlike, un-showy accompaniment.

Here's another live version of the tune. And check out (no pun intended) Al's plaid suit!

The Reverend Testifies!

Absolutely. His performances were always "pastor-like". Note how at one point during the extemporaneous bits, he says: "sometimes I sit down and wonder..." at which point, he, of course, actually sits down! That is so preacher. The man has preaching in his blood, and he's always doing it, whether singing or actually leading a church congregation.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:49 PM on June 15, 2008 [1 favorite]


Hey, check this out: another YouTube clip with a slightly longer version of the first bit where Al walks into the studio. This explains the "waterfall" comment... So it turns out this was from a TV show (1973) called "Chicago in the Rockies".
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:56 PM on June 15, 2008


Thanks for posting this - it made my night! (was there ever a sexier singer than AG?)
posted by janetplanet at 5:04 PM on June 15, 2008


For some reason I read that as "Al GORE sits in with Chicago". Which would've made it a lot better or a lot worse.
posted by zardoz at 5:18 PM on June 15, 2008


For some reason I read that as "Al GORE sits in with Chicago"...

That's probably because, just a few posts up, there's this headline: "Gore Vidal on The New York Times Magazine."

...Which would've made it a lot better or a lot worse.

Don't get me wrong, I wish the guy had been the US prez for the last 8 years, but I reckon his version of "I'm So Tired of Being Alone" would've fallen into the "a lot worse" category...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:01 PM on June 15, 2008


oh oh Al Green ... freakin wow. I'm also into Anne Peebles, his female counterpart (so to speak) these days.. Chicago rates too ... what are those chord changes ... Great post from the days of analog. thanks for sharing ...
posted by celerystick at 7:23 PM on June 15, 2008


what are those chord changes

how long do you think it took those guys to wipe the smiles off their faces?

==================== Trans. by S.M.Harris
10/6/97
CHORD CHARTS:

C= x32010 A7= x02223 B7= x24445
CMaj7= x32000 D= xx0232 G= 320003
C7= x32310 DMaj7= xx222 A= x02225
C6= x32210 D7= xx0212 G7sus4add9= 353535
Am= x02210 Bm= x24432

INTRO:
C CMaj7 C7 C6
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |

CHORUS:
C CMaj7
I'm so tired of being alone I'm so tired of for my own
C7 A A7
Won't you help me girl just as soon as you can? | / / / / |

VERSE:
D DMaj7 D7
People say that I've found a way to make you say
Bm B7
that you love me | / / / / |

G A
But baby, You didn't go for that
G A G A
It's a natural fact ah that I wanna come back
G G7sus4add9
Show me where it says--------- Baby!

CHORUS:
C CMaj7
I'm so tired of being alone I'm so tired of for my own
C7 A A7
Won't you help me girl just as soon as you can? | / / / / |

VERSE:
D DMaj7 D7
I guess you know that I I love you so even though
Bm B7
you don't want me no more Yah yah hey hey
G A G A
Now I'm cryin' tears all through the years
G A G G7sus4add9
I tell you like it is honey love me if you will-----------

RIFF A:
D DMaj7 D7 Bm
|-----2---/7\5/7--|----2---/7\5/7--|----2---/7\5/7--|----------------|
|-----3---/7\5/7--|----2---/7\5/7--|----1---/7\5/7--|3-3---3---------|
|---2---2---------|--2---2---------|--2---2---------|4-4---4---------|
|-0---------------|0---------------|0---------------|4-4---4---------|
|-----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
|-----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|


PLAY RIFF A: (2 times)
yeaaaaah Baby! I'm tired of being alone here by myself now

I tell ya um, tired baby

I tired of being all wrapped up in the night huh

In my dreams nobody but you baby sometime I wonder
D DMaj7 D7 Bm
oooooooh oooooooh oooooooh
oooooooh
If you love me like you say you do

D DMaj7
You see baby I, I, I, I been thinkin' about it yeah
D7 Bm
And I---been I---been wantin' to get next to you baby

You see sometime I fold my arms and say
D7 DMaj7 D7 Bm
oooooooh oooooooh oooooooh
oooooooh
mmmmmmmmmmmm whoah oh baby
hey
D DMaj7 D7 Bm
Meeting you has proven to be to be my greatest dream yeah!
OOOW!!!


CHORUS:
D
I'm so tired of being alone
DMaj7
I'm so tired of being alone
D7 Bm
I'm so tired of being alone------------

{3 TIMES THEN FADES OUT}
posted by timsteil at 7:32 PM on June 15, 2008 [1 favorite]


Soul Train.
posted by popechunk at 7:36 PM on June 15, 2008


You GO, timsteil! Haha!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:41 PM on June 15, 2008


I guess this is from before Peter Cetera showed up and made Chicago suck?
posted by intermod at 7:53 PM on June 15, 2008


Actually, it was Peter's brother, Et, who was responsible for the group issuing record after record long after they had anything new to say. As a result, his very name has become synonymous with dull repetition.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:58 PM on June 15, 2008 [7 favorites]


Actually, Cetera's the grinning bassist; he was an original member of the band and the lead vocalist on several of their early hits.

IMHO they lost their way following Terry Kath's suicide in 1978.
posted by BartonFink at 8:02 PM on June 15, 2008


[chuckles at flapjax's comment]
posted by BartonFink at 8:03 PM on June 15, 2008


The version in f@m's comment is really, really good. Real good.
posted by popechunk at 8:04 PM on June 15, 2008


I've enjoyed Chicago's music, even when other people say they suck.

I've enjoyed Al Green's music, even though I don't recall anyone ever saying he sucks.

In the YouTube comments, someone compared this Meeting Of The Minds to crossing the streams on a GhostBusters proton pack. "All life as you know it stops instantaneously and every molecule in your body explodes at the speed of light." That ...might be a bit over the top, but I share the gist of the sentiment.

Earlier in this thread there were comments about Green turning to his Lord's work about five years after this was recorded. Truth to tell, Green was born into a sharecropper family in Arkansas. The Christian faith is a powerful force there even today. Green was always a man of faith, but a tragic event in 1974 caused him to re-evaluate his relationship with his God.

In an effort to illustrate comparison and contrast, let me say that Ray Charles is best known for taking the gospel sound (and later the message) and bringing it to the masses. What the recent biopic starring Jamie Foxx touched on was that Charles had struggled with that all his life. What's sacrilege? What's acceptable? Did he go too far?

Al Green struggled with those questions too, and the two men came to dramatically contrasting conclusions. By 1979, personal events in Green's life caused him to believe God was telling him to take a more righteous path. Ray Charles battled his addiction to drugs and eventually found a way to balance his faith with his more secular performance. I've often found it fascinating how these two men - contemporaries of 20th century rhythm and blues - each faced their respective demons and angels so differently, and yet both have given us a wealth of music for us to cherish. I don't think those two men ever collaborated. It's a darn shame. Two powerhouses from Motown to Memphis and back again. What an awesome legacy.



...Peter Cetera is ...okay.
posted by ZachsMind at 9:51 PM on June 15, 2008


Awesome song.
Tired of Being Alone is my favourite Al Green song.
You have to check out this fantastic performance of it.

That said, I hate Chicago with the heat of a white-hot, mellow 70's bonfire stoked with the smooth corpses of Seals and Crofts, Lindsay Buckingham, Pablo Cruise, Rupert Holmes and all of CS and N except Y.
And the spontaneity of it is cringeworthy..."Hey Al, 'd'ya get a chance to see the waterfall?" CUT TO AL AT WATERFALL SINGING SONG or "Hey, when I came in hear I heard you guys rehearsin' my tune...if it's cool, lets get together and do it!" I know, I know, it was a lame 70's ABC TV special. Sorry, though, it was so phony and sounded like Chicago pretending to be as good as Green's band. Yes, my appreciation of it is probably tainted by my hatred of Chicago. It was as realistic as when that androgynous little boy hopped up on the stool in the Partridge's garage to jam out a couple of tunes with them.

Not to take anything away from the incredible Al Green but I counter this post with a clip of a different, as a really eloquent You Tube member commented, "Funky black man in amongst all those beards."
I could be in the worst mood ever and this clip never fails to make me smile like an idiot.
posted by chococat at 10:31 PM on June 15, 2008


Oops; damn, flapjax already linked to the other (better) live performance of it. Sorry.
posted by chococat at 10:35 PM on June 15, 2008


I went to the Ray Charles tribute at the Staples Center a few years ago, and the show had hit a slow point and I decided that I really needed a beer. DAMNED if this didn't happen right as I was stuck in the stupid beer line, waiting for the cashier to make change. I was SOOOO pissed off when I got back. Everyone was on their feet, and I was like, "Uhhh, what'd I miss?"

I've never regretted a beer so much. I've ALWAYS wanted to see Al Green in person. He could be singing the phone book, I don't care.
posted by miss lynnster at 12:04 AM on June 16, 2008 [1 favorite]


Man, this is top class. As the flapper notes, we testifying here.
posted by Wolof at 1:45 AM on June 16, 2008


I'm also into Anne Peebles

Yeah! Anne Peebles is great, and if anyone here who's into Al Green hasn't heard Anne Peebles then they're in for a treat. "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" is a great song (and apparently a favorite of John Lennon's) as is "I Can't Stand the Rain".
posted by ob at 6:44 AM on June 16, 2008


Nice performance. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

Don't understand why some people act like this was an impromptu jam session, however. The "about" on YouTube clearly says it was part of a Chicago 70's TV special. Presumably well rehearsed. And the video productions was clearly not just a guy with a video camera who happened to be there when Al showed up.
posted by spock at 6:48 AM on June 16, 2008


Don't understand why some people act like this was an impromptu jam session, however.

You mean some people here? In this thread? I'm not seeing that at all. Maybe you mean youtube comments? If so, I have one strong recommendation for you: NEVER read youtube comments.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:00 AM on June 16, 2008


I'd like to drop a little "Love & Happiness" in this thread right about now. (Albeit a crappy Youtbe-ified rip from the Menace II Society soundtrack.
posted by Jofus at 7:39 AM on June 16, 2008


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