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1. A Case Of You 3:52 2. Guinnevere 4:56 3. So In Love 4. Woman´s Gotta Have It 4:05 5. This Time It´s Real 3:08 6. All The Way Home 3:54 7. She Makes My Day 5:21 8. Smile Please 4:55 9. Takin´ It To The Streets 3:30 10. Living Proof 5:12 11. Some Other Time 5:27 |
Total running time 49:16
Recorded, mixed and mastered December 1999 thru May 2000.
Produced by joe slomp for RamiLaiDad acts, Denmark
Additional production by Ermanno Labianca
Executive producers: joe slomp/Ermanno Labianca
Arranged by Stefano Micarelli
Additional arrangements by joe slomp on: Guinnevere, So In Love, She Makes My Day, Some Other Time
All vocal arrangemente by joe slomp
All songs recorded at Synthesia Studio, Rome, Italy, by Giovanni Formosa, except All The Way Home, recorded at Industree Studio, Rome, Italy, by Alessandro Rocchini.
Additional recordings at Studio 900, NYC, by Joe Johnson.
All songs mixed at Studio 900, NYC, by Joe Johnson, Ermanno Labianca and joe slomp, except Living Proof, mixed at Synthesia Studio, Rome, Italy, by Giovanni Formosa.
Mastered by Giovanni Versari at Nautilus Mastering Studio, Milan, Italy
Art direction by Eva Sandner Gravesen and joe slomp
Photographs by Lars Svankjær
1. A Case Of You, 1972, Joni Mitchell Music Inc. (BMI)
Joni Mitchell is my favourite songwriter, the one whose words and music touched me in the most hidden parts of my soul. Incidentally, my wife and I fell in love at a Joni´s concert in Verona, on the 6th of May 1983. Twelve years after that, our first daughter, Alice Joni, was born on the same day.
Just before our love got lost you said,
“I am as constant as a northern star.”
And I said, “Constantly in the darkness
Where’s that at
If you want me I´ll be in the bar.”
On the back of a cartoon coaster
In the blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada
Oh Canada
With your face sketched on it twice
Oh, you´re in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet
Oh I could drink a case of you, darling
And I would still be on my feet
Oh I would still be on my feet
Oh I am a lonely painter
I live in a box of paints
I´m frightened by the devil
And I´m drawn to those ones that ain´t afraid
I remember that time you told me, you said,
“Love is touching souls”
Surely you touched mine
´Cause part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time
Oh, you´re in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet
Oh I could drink a case of you, darling
Still, I´d be on my feet
I would still be on my feet
I met a man
He had a mouth like yours
He knew your life
He knew your devils and your deeds
And he said,
“Go to her, stay with her
But be prepared to bleed”
Oh but you are in my blood
You´re my holy wine
You taste so bitter, and oh so sweet
Oh, I could drink a case of you, darling
And I would still be on my feet
Still be on my feet
joe slomp – vocals
Andrea Cecchini- bass
Marcello Surace- drums
Stefano Micarelli – acoustic and electric guitar
Pierpaolo Principato – piano
Rob Arthur – Hammond organ C3
2. Guinnevere, David Crosby,1979, Guerrilla Music Inc.
David Crosby´s songs were for me the most intimate and the most “different” songs, both harmonically and melodically, that I had ever heard when I started listening to the CSN&Y family tree bunch. Later on I started jazz school and I soon started to blend my earlier favourite songs with jazz ingredients. At the time Weather Report was “the band” and Joe Zawinul was “the keyboard player” to me – that´s where I got the “Joe” in joe slomp from. Now I had this particular arrangement stuck in my brain for about 20 years: the muted trumped, the h-h-h sound, that distinctive bass and drum groove. CS&N with a touch of Weather Report! Definitely weird! But I finally nailed it down and I am very pleased with it.
Guinnevere had green eyes
Like yours, mi´lady like yours
When she´d walk down
Through the garden
In the morning after it rained
Peacocks wandered aimlessly
Underneath an orange tree
Why can´t she see me?
Guinnevere
Drew pentagrams
Like yours, mi´lady like yours
Late at night
When she thought
that no one was watching at all
She shall be free
As she turns her gaze
Down the slope
to the harbor where I lay
anchored for the day
Guinnevere
Had golden hair
Like yours, mi´lady like yours
Streaming out when we´d ride
Through the warm wind down by the bay
Yesterday
Seagulls circle endlessly
I sing in silent harmony
We shall be free
joe slomp – all vocals
Andrea Cecchini- bass
Marcello Surace- drums
Stefano Micarelli – electric guitar
Pierpaolo Principato – keyboards, electric piano
Fabio Morgera – muted trumpet
3. So In Love (Curtis Mayfield), 1975, Mayfield Music
Oh Curtis! He left us so many great songs. I picked this particular one because having been already quite a few many Curtis Mayfield tributes, So In Love had been so far ignored. To me this song is one of the most beautiful declarations of love and respect for your partner ever put down in song (”…the key to our success is see each other through…”). My buddy from Alabama, Charlie Cannon, caught that spirit and helped me a great deal on this one.
So in love.
You do so many things with a smiling face
So in love
Every time we kiss is such a pleasant taste
That’s why I know this feeling good and strong
Trying ours we seem to get along
I wanna testify you mean so much to me
Let me rectify I mean it honestly
Like the strange, believe me, it is true
We don’t always mean the things we sometimes do
Look at me look at you, you know we´re
So in love
Baby doll rest a while,
you´re moving my emotions
So in love
You don’t have to worry, you have my devotion
This love affair is bigger than we two
Lose your faith and it will swallow you
Loving you is what I always feel
Never ever do a thing against our will
Natural games never require any kind of test
Being you and I´m being me
Don’t worry ´bout the rest and I´m honest baby I confess you got me
(Guitar solo)
So in love, I´ll try to do the best that a man can do, for you
So in love, The key to our success is see each other through
So in love, Baby doll rest a while you´re moving my emotions
So in love
joe slomp – 1st lead & background vocals
Charlie Cannon – 2nd lead & background vocals
Stefano Micarelli – electric guitar
and from Capital Soul:
Simone Zanirato – bass
Andrea “Pupi” Merli – drums
Alberto Recchia – keyboards
Francesco Caldara – baritone sax
Andrea Cimino – tenor sax
Errico Fucetola – alto sax
Gianpiero Marino – trumpet
4. Woman´s Gotta Have It (B.Womack/L.Womack/D.Carter), 1972, EMI United Part. Ltd.
Are there any more real soul men out there? YES! Bobby whooo- Womack! I wanted to do Stop On By in fact, but the awesome bass line in Woman´s Gotta Have It, added to the fact that another personal musical love of a lifetime – James Taylor – had chosen this one made me decide for it.
Do the things that keep a smile on her face
Say the words that make her feel better every day
You bet you better keep on your P´s and Q´s
If you don´t, the woman you could easily lose
Oh, I had love, a true love and I lost it
And no one seems to understand about the pain that it cost me
A woman´s gotta have it, I believe
She´s got to know that she´s needed around
When you kiss her, you got to make her feel it
She wants to know that she´s not walking on shaky ground
When you kiss her, you got to be for-realin´
Make her know that she´s needed around
Don´t take for granted the smile upon her face
Check a little bit closer, you might find a tear´s trace
Maybe the little girl never said a mumblin´ word
But she´s got to know that her voice is heard
Oh, I had love, a true love and I lost it
And no one seems to understand about the pain that it cost me
A woman´s gotta have it, I believe that I should know
She´s got to know that she´s needed around
When you kiss her, you got to make her feel it, everyday boy
She wants to know that she´s not walking on
shaky ground
When you kiss her, you got to let her feel it
She´s gotta know that she´s needed around
Now if you got a love
And maybe you got eyes to keep her
You gotta give her what she wants
when she wants it
Where she wants it
How she wants it
And every doggone time she thinks she needs it
Your woman needs it
Same as mine
A woman´s gotta have it from time to time
A woman´s gotta have it (from time to time)
(repeat and fade)
joe slomp – all vocals
Andrea Cecchini – bass
Marcello Surace – drums
Stefano Micarelli – electric guitar
Pier Paolo Principato – keyboards, electric piano
5. This Time It´s Real, (Emilio Castillo, Stephen Kupka, David Bartlett), 1973, Warner Bros. Records Inc.
I am a Towerhead! For those who don´t know what I am talking about a Towerhead is a hard core fan of the band Tower Of Power. TOP is a horn section based band that has been producing funky, vibrant and passionate soul and R&B songs for over 31 years. I don´t believe I gave justice to this song, so different without the horn section, but it has been great fun recording it!
Saw me a girl today
Who walked with such a gentle sway
And I knew right from the start
She was the one who could cop my heart
(and) I know some day
That we could happen in a special way
I wish I may
I wish I might
Make you my all star shining bright
And I know
I can feel it
This time it´s real
Other girls that I had were fine
But they were mainly just to pass the time
Though I must confess I had some fun
Now I know that you´re the only one
All I can say girl
Is that I love you each and every day
And if I may
If I might
I´ll make you the all star of my life
And I know
I can feel it
This time it´s real
And I know
I can feel it
This time it´s real
Now it´s time for me to make my move
Girl we got´s to get in the groove
´Cause what we do with what we got
Is gonna put us up in the slot
And I hope and pray
We´ll get together with no delay
It might be day
It might be night
It doesn´t matter any time is right
And I know
I can feel it
This time it´s real!
joe slomp – all vocals, C3 Hammond organ
Andrea Cecchini – bass
Marcello Surace – drums
Stefano Micarelli – electric guitar
Pier Paolo Principato – keyboards, electric piano
6. All The Way Home(Bruce Springsteen), 1991, Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP)
I wanted to do a song without bass and drums, and lots of guitars. Ermanno came up with this one, a song Springsteen wrote for Southside Johnny. I loved it, so here it is, with the magnificent guitars of Vincenzo Mancuso.
I know what it´s like to have failed baby
With the whole world lookin´ on
I know what it´s like to have been so sure
Wake up and find it all gone
Now you´ve got no reason to trust me
And tonight my confidence is a little rusty
It´s getting late
And if you don´t feel leavin´ alone
Well maybe I can walk you baby
All the way home
Our old fears and failures
Well they do linger (oh yes they do)
Like the shadow of that ring
That was on your finger
Well those days darling,
Those days are dead and gone
Oh I could walk you baby
All the way home
Now there´s things no one can rearrange
We both have yesterdays that we can´t change
It´s closing time – bartender´s ringing last call
These days I don´t stand on pride and
I´ve learned how to take a fall
Now the time has come
And if your first choice – he´s all gone
Well that´s alright baby
Cause I can walk you all the way home
All the way home
All the way home
joe slomp – vocals
Vincenzo Mancuso – acoustic and electric guitars
Rob Arthur – Hammond organ C3
7. She Makes My Day (Robert Palmer), 1988, Island Music Ltd.
I have been listening to the great Robert Palmer since his days when his backup band was Little Feat. He´s one of those few musicians who have tried almost everything in music. I like to do the same. I chose this song because it is the one of Robert Palmer that my wife loves the most. Daniela, this one´s for you.
I feel so lucky loving her
Tell me what else is magic for
She thinks it´s better left unsaid
She makes her mind up at a glance
It really made a difference
I seem to be unconditionally hers
She´s like a new girl every day
And all the rest don´t bother me
I´m far too busy loving her
I´ll never be lonely now I know her
She fills my heart with joy
She makes me day
She just has to smile to blow my cares away
She just has to touch my hand to make me stay
She´s all good loving at once
She´s all good loving at once
She´s all good loving at once
She´s all good loving at once
Our love was unintentional
She says we´re not responsible
She thinks with her chin up
She always makes uncommon sense
Always knows just what to say
She always takes me unawares
In less time than it takes to fall
Down here and there you are
We never fought it anyway
I´ll never be lonely now I know her
She fills me with joy
She makes my day
She just has to smile to blow my cares away
She just has to touch my hand to make me stay
(guitar solo)
I feel so lucky loving her
Tell me what else is magic for
She thinks it´s better left unsaid
She makes her mind up at a glance
It really made a difference
I seem to be unconditionally hers
She´s like a new girl every day
And all the rest don´t bother me
I´m far too busy loving her
I´ll never be lonely now I know her
She fills my heart with joy
She makes my day
She just has to smile to blow my cares away
She just has to touch my hand to make me stay
She´s all good loving at once (repeat to fade)
joe slomp – all vocals, C3 Hammond organ
Andrea Cecchini – bass
Marcello Surace – drums
Stefano Micarelli – acoustic and electric guitar
Pier Paolo Principato – piano
8. Smile Please (Stevie Wonder), 1974, Jobete Music Co. Inc./Black Bull Music Inc. (ASCAP)
A very small number of artists can be pointed at as “masters”: to me Stevie Wonder leads the platoon. Without him, and the inspiration that his music was to others, there wouldn´t have been much music worth listening to, music that makes you discover new things each time you listen to it. I used to listen and study Stevie´s music for hours: I even (this is so silly!) used to play blindfolded and pretend I was blind, to try to feel what he was feeling. My grandmother used to come in my room only to discover I had completely closed the blinds, lights off, blindfolded: “Giuseppe dear, that was so nice what you were playing! But why are you playing in the dark?!”.
For this collection I had recorded several SW songs. I chose Smile Please because it´s a great love song with some very interesting chord changes. And the lyrics are so sweet!
A smiling face is on earth like star
A frown can´t bring out the beauty that you are
Love within and you´ll begin smiling…
There´re brighter days ahead
Don´t mess your face up with better tears
Cause life is gonna be what it is
It´s okay, please don´t delay from smiling…
There´re brighter days ahead
Bum
Bum bum di ti bum
Bum bum di ti bum
Bum bum di ti bum (repeat twice)
A smiling face you don´t have to see
´Cause it´s as joyful as a Christmas tree
Love within and you´ll begin smiling…
There´re brighter days ahead
Love´s not competing it´s on your side
You´re in life picture so why must you cry
So for a friend please begin to smile – Please
There´re brighter days ahead
Bum
Bum bum di ti bum
Bum bum di ti bum
Bum bum di ti bum
Please smile for me
joe slomp – all vocals
Andrea Cecchini- bass
Marcello Surace- drums
Stefano Micarelli – electric guitar
Pier Paolo Principato – keyboards
9. Takin´ It To The Streets (Michael Mc Donald), 1976, Warner Bros. Music Inc.
Simply put, there ain´t no male singer more soulful than Michael McDonald. This one is from his early Doobie Brothers period. I regularly performed this number, together with Minute By Minute, at my mid-eighties gigs.
You don´t know me but I´m your brother
I was raised here in this living hell
You don´t know my kind in your world
Very soon the time will tell
You, you´re telling me the things you gonna do for me
I ain´t blind and I don´t like what I think I see
Takin´ it to the streets (repeat 4 times)
Take this message to my brother
You will find him everywhere
Wherever people live together
Tired of poverties despair
You telling me the things you gonna do for me
I ain´t blind and I don´t like what I think I see
Takin´ it to the streets (repeat 4 times)
(piano solo)
You telling me the things you gonna do for me
I ain´t blind and I don´t like what I think I see
Takin´ it to the streets (repeat to fade)
joe slomp – all vocals
Andrea Cecchini – bass
Marcello Surace – drums
Stefano Micarelli – electric guitar
Pier Paolo Principato – piano
10. Living Proof (Bruce Springsteen), 1992, Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP)
In 1994 I´ve had the pleasure to be invited to contribute to a Bruce Sprinsteen tribute album (For You, An Italian Tribute To Bruce Springsteen). Later in the Spring of 1995, at the press showcase, I performed my own arrangement of Living Proof, from Springsteen´s Lucky Town cd. That was another very happy time of my life, and this song to me is an expression of that happiness.
Well now on a summer night
in a dusky room
Come a little piece of the Lord´s undying light
Crying like he swallowed the fiery moon
In his mother´s arms
it was all the beauty I could take
Like the missing words to some prayer
that I could never make
In a world so hard and dirty so fouled and confused
Searching for a little bit of God´s mercy
I found living proof
I put my heart and soul
I put ´em high upon a shelf
Right next to the faith the faith
that I´d lost in myself
I went down into the desert city
Just tryin´ so hard to shed my skin
I crawled deep into some kind of darkness
Lookin´ to burn out every trace of who I´d been
You do some sad sad things baby
When it´s your you´re tryin´ to lose
You do some sad and hurtful things
I´ve seen living proof
You shot through my anger and rage
To show me my prison was just an open cage
There were no keys no guards
Just one frightened man and some old
shadows for bars
Well now all that´s sure on the boulevard
Is that life is just a house of cards
As fragile as each and every breath
Of this boy sleepin´ in our bed
Tonight let´s lie beneath the eaves
Just a close band of happy thieves
And when that train comes we´ll get on board
And steal what we can from the treasures of the Lord
It´s been a long long drought baby
Tonight the rain´s pourin´ down on our roof
Looking for a little bit of God´s mercy
I found living proof
(guitar solo)
And when that train comes we´ll get on board
And steal what we can from the treasures of the Lord
It´s been along long drought baby
Tonight the rain´s pourin´ down on our roof
Looking for that little bit of God´s mercy
I found living proof
joe slomp – vocals
Andrea Cecchini – bass
Marcello Surace – drums
Stefano Micarelli – electric guitar
Pier Paolo Principato – keyboards
11. Some Other Time (Leonard Bernstein), 1944, Warner Bros. Music Inc.
I first heard this song when my piano teacher, Nino De Rose, taught it to me, probably around ´75 or ´76. I loved it instantly, and I loved the story he told me about the Miles Davis introduction that later evolved into Flamenco Sketches. Later on, I discovered the Tony Bennett with Bill Evans version, which left me absolutely speechless and wet-eyed. Not to mention Stranger In Paradise, but that´s another story…
Where has the time all gone too
Haven´t done half the things we want to
Oh, well,
We´ll catch up some other time
This days are just a token
Too many words are still unspoken
Oh, well
We´ll catch up some other time
Just when the fun is starting
Comes the time for parting
But let´s be glad
For what we´ve had and what´s to come
There´s so much more embracing
Still to be done but time it´s racing
Oh, well
We´ll catch up some other time
joe slomp – vocals
Andrea Beneventano – piano
the word from joe
This collection, as the title hints, is my first cd, although I have been in the musical business since I was 16 (I am now almost 40). Some might feel disoriented by the different styles in this selection of songs, but my feeling is that when the music is good, there is no sense in putting boundaries to it. Just like talking to somebody totally different from us, in one way or another, is an enriching experience, in the same way I believe different styles of music reveal new aspects in old songs or enhance the melodic, harmonical or lyrical choices made by the songwriters.
some truly special thank you-s
At the very top of the list I have my personal Eden, my beacon, my lifejacket, my muse, my sister, mother, lover, friend and companion, my rain and shine, my “Unchained Melody”, my dear and sweet wife Daniela: I love you. Thank you for putting up with me, for the beauty, the passion, the grace, the fire and the sense you put in my life. And thank you for our two little angels, Alice J. and Martha J. You make every day of my life a bless$ing.
Alice J. and Martha J., you are the masterpieces of my life: It does not get any better than you two, girls. Dad loves you.
Mum, thank you for making me what I am, for your courage in allowing me to make my own mistakes, for all the money you’ve given me over my younger and unemployed years, which I almost exclusively used to buy records and concert tickets (ok, and some pinball and pool games), for being the best mother one could possibly desire. I love you immensely.
Next, Ermanno: I know you would want me to be brief in my message to you, but our friendship goes back about 25 years now, and because the similarities in our personal histories made us close friends from the very beginning, and because you are the closest thing I have ever had to a brother, allow me to say to my brother at least that I love you, and thank you for helping me out on this project, so full of passion and love for the music we grew up with.
Dad, may the happiness my life is filled with at this point in my life reach your spirit and make you proud. You are always, and always will be, in my heart.
more thank you-s
Thank you for listening to this music: I hope I have managed to communicate to you the love and passion that went in its making. To work and interact with so many talented musicians has been my end/beginning of the Millenium’s top treat.
First of all I would like to thank my friend and very talented guitar player Stefano Micarelli, responsible for most of the arrangements and session musical direction.
Next, the heartbeat of this music, Marcello Surace and Andrea Cecchini, whose intense work I hope I will be able to witness, if not participate to, again soon., and Pierpaolo Principato on keyboards (I love your solo on Takin´ It To The Streets!). You guys were absolutely fabulous and great fun to work with.
Many thanks to the great Andrea Beneventano, whom I have had the pleasure to hear for the first time about 20 years ago at the then famous Billie Holiday Jazz Club in Trastevere, and whom I have finally had the honour to work with after so many years.
And Capital Soul, my friends, Simone, Pupi, all of you guys were great! A special thank you to Francesco Caldara for transcribing the horn section arrangement.
A separate chapter that would easily fill the pages
of many cd booklets, and that I had to force myself to slice down to a few but deeply felt lines, should be written for my friend, the amazing Charlie W. Cannon. Chaz, you are wonderful: I have always been honoured to sing for you and with you back in the days of Crew and Alta Tensione: I hope we will continue to work together as much as possible in the years to come, as singing and performing with you enriched my professional life, made me a better singer and a more aware and attent musician. Thank you.
And I also wish to thank Luisa Capuani for her great help on Janne Arden´s Unloved (*)
My dear friend Francesca Herzog gave me the great pleasure to sing together again on Michael McDonald´s You Can Let Go Now: thank you Fran! (*)
My former band fellow Francesco Lucarelli, from the old Blue Flares days, thank you so much for your appreciation and your efforts in trying to get C&N to make a super guest star appearance on Guinnevere during our mixing sessions in NYC.
My dear Danish friends, Majken Friborg, Eva Sandner Gravesen, Kaare Gravesen, Sonny Ammitzbøl and Michael Nørr:, your precious advice has helped a lot in making some choices on this collection; I really do cherish your friendship. Thank you so much!
My dear friend Paul Lupo, thank you for your kind hospitality at your place during the NYC mixing sessions. Too bad we didn’t get to talk at all!
John Bax, I know you would have preferred the original title, joevolipremixi: Sorry about that!
But that sounded very much like somebody misreading “Joe Vol.1 Pre Mix 1.”, and it would have been a bit of a mouthful too!
And last but not least, DT: You should have participated to this. I hope next time you´ll be able to make it!
Once again, thank you for listening.
Peace, love, happiness and health to you all,
joe
(*) Downloadable from the web site, not included in this CD