| 22 June 1994 | Victor Entertainment | VICP-5395 |
| 01. Graham Parker – Paralyzed 02. Chrissie Hynde & Chris Spedding – Hey Little Boy (Little Girl) 03. Paul Rodgers – Home in Your Heart 04. Frank Black & the Stax Pistols – Breathless 05. The Smithereens – Let’s Talk About Us 06. Tom Verlaine – Fever 07. Joe Louis Walker – On That Power Line 08. Deborah Harry – Don’t Be Cruel 09. Jon Spencer – All Shook Up 10. Frank Black – Handyman 11. Joe Ely/Sue Foley – Great Balls of Fire 12. Ronnie Spector – Brace Yourself 13. Willie DeVille – Daddy Rollin’ Stone 14. Dave Edmunds – Return to Sender 15. Kris Kristofferson – All Shook Up |
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| Japanese CD issue of the Otis Blackwell tribute album featuring Jon Spencer covering All Shook Up (written by Otis Blackwell and made famous by Elvis Presley).
The disc features the title of the US release of the album “Brace Yourself: A Tribute to Otis Blackwell”. In 2022 the Jon Spencer track appeared on ElvisPresleyinJazz: A Jazz Tribute To Elvis Presley. |
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Drums and Percussion Steve Ferrone Guitars: Chris Spedding Bass: Kenny Aaronson Organ and Piano: Jimmy Destri The Uptown Horns: Baritone Sax: Crispin Cioe, Tenor Sax: Arno Hecht, Trombone: Bob Funk, Tenor Sax: Richie Cannata, Trumpet: Larry Etkin The Lone Arranger: Crispin Cioe Harn Arrangements: The Uptown Horns Produced: Jon Tiven for Private Domain and Tony Visconti for Tony Visconti Productions inc. Executive Producer: Randall Grass Production Assistants: May Pang-Visconti & Sally Tiven Basic Tracks and Mixing: Sound on Sound, New York Recording Engineer: Jimmy Douglas Mix Engineer: Tony Visconti Second Engineer: Peter Beckerman (mixing)/Derek Emke (tracking) Overdubs at Studio 900 and RPM Studios, New York Engineers: Jimmy Douglas, Joe Johnson Additional Recording at Apartment 2, Novato, Cal. Pavillion Studios, London, England Bismeaus Studios, Austin, Texas Chicago Recording Co., Chicago, Ill. Digital Mastering: Robert Vosgien, CMS Digital, California Additional Individual Track Credits: 01. Graham Parker – Paralyzed 02. Chrissie Hynde & Chris Spedding – Hey Little Boy (Little Girl) 03. Paul Rodgers – Home in Your Heart 04. Frank Black & the Stax Pistols – Breathless 05. The Smithereens – Let’s Talk About Us 06. Tom Verlaine – Fever 07. Joe Louis Walker – On That Power Line 08. Deborah Harry – Don’t Be Cruel 09. Jon Spencer – All Shook Up 10. Frank Black – Handyman 11. Joe Ely/Sue Foley – Great Balls of Fire 12. Ronnie Spector – Brace Yourself 13. Willie DeVille – Daddy Rollin’ Stone 14. Dave Edmunds – Return to Sender 15. Kris Kristofferson – All Shook Up |
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| “WARNING: This album contains no samples, no synthesizers, no sequencers, and no midi information. All of the music you hear is unencumbered by the restraints of digital technology. Frank Black & Johnny Colla appear coutesy of Elektra Entertainment Notes From The Producers: Otis Blackwell emerged during a time when songwriters were not encouraged by record companies to become artists in their own right, and as a result the record-buying public was denied access to one of the greatest singer/songwriters of the rock ‘n’ roll era. Those who have been fortunate enough to see Otis perform his songs live can appreciate how big a debt Elvis Presley owed to Otis not only for providing songs for him but for creating a style of singing that Elvis obviously incorporated into his own recording persona. Making BRACE YOURSELF! Was an educational process as well as pure pleasure, and helped me get closer to one of the people who inspired me to become a songwriter in the first place. I hope you like it half as much as we all enjoyed making it. – Jon Tiven, October 1993 Although I was aware of Otis Blackwell before this album started, my esteem for him shot up 5000% by the end of it. This unsung hero wrote some of the best songs ever heard since the birth of Rock. Not only were his melodies unforgettable and haunting (in the case of ‘Fever’) but the man was an incredible poet too a fact that emerged when I worked on the vocals with his lyrics in front of me. If you put Otis’ songs under a microscope you will see nothing but perfection All of us had a ball recreating some of the glorious music we grew up with. An image I shall never forget is Odette, Otis’ daughter, sitting in the studio with her seven year old son Torian, listening to the playback of the mixes. Young Torian knew most of the words to all the songs and if he forgot any Odette quickly reminded her son what the missing words were. Otis’ music will never die. – Tony Visconti, October 1993 As Herbie Hancock once said when introducing him, “if you’re a musician and you write a song that becomes a hit and then it becomes a standard , that means you’re very lucky. But when you’re a composer and have written songs that have shaped the foundation of a music, then what you have is a phenomenon.” “When I first started, two tracks were just invented. So first I played on the piano and then I would overdub the voice and because I didn’t have a drummer (or drum) I used a box for the beat.” [Otis told me this about two months before the stroke. This was how he presented the songs to Shalimar.] In performing on his on demonstration recordings, Otis’ singing style caught the ear of Aaron Goldmark of Shalimar Music Publishing who in turn introduced 2the Blackwell sound” to Elvis Presley’s people. The door was opened from that point on. “An arranger named Leroy Kirkland took me to a publishing company called Shalimar. I presented about eight songs and out of the eight songs, ‘Don’t be Cruel’ was one of them.” Otis once explained in an interview, “About two or three weeks later I was informed that Elvis Presley was going to record it. I didn’t know whether to be happy of not because I didn’t know who Elvis Presley was. And then again, I had this song ‘Fever’ out and I figured that was going to be my biggest ever.” Not stopping there, Otis scored another hit with Jerry Lee Lewis singing “Great Balls of Fire”. And Dee Clarke who was a key star for Veelay Records found major chart success with Blackwell’s “Just Keep it Up” and “Hey Little Girl”, that he wrote for his childhood sweetheart Josephine Peoples, who soon became his wife. His song “Handy Man” was the first recorded by the falsetto star, Jimmy Jones, and much later by James Taylor. In similar sequence Little Willie John, a leading r& b star of the late 50’s had a top chart hit with “Fever”, and years later Peggy Lee enjoyed a revival hit with “Fever” as well. “It was an open door policy when I was coming along. 1619 Broadway, the Brill Building, you start at the top floor, regardless of what kind of song you had, and by the time you got down the stairs to the first floor, somebody had your songs – you didn’t have to play an instrument, just beat it out on leg and sing!” At other times in his career Blackwell had also been successful as a record producer, having helped turn out hits with artists as diverse as Connie Francis, Mahalia Jackson and Sal Mineo. In the early ’80’s The Black Rock Coalition, a prominent organization of black rock musicians, led by Vernon Reid, the lead guitarist of the band, Living Colour, held a tribute for him at the Prospect Park Bandshell in his native Brooklyn. Many prominent musicians and singers took part including Blackwell himself, who performed an assortment of his best songs – “One Broken Heart for Sale”, “Back Trail”, “Don’t Be cruel”, and “Daddy Rolling Stone”. Taking his act to the road again. Blackwell began performing “for fun” as he put it in the mid-seventies, appearing at various New York and Nashville clubs. And after increasing interest in country music, he decided to relocate his home and office to Nashville. Already an inductee of the Nashville Songwriters Association, Blackwell’s moment of glory should have been on May 29, 1991 at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Awards Dinner. Having bought a new tuxedo and asking his daughter Odette to be his ‘date’ Blackwell was aware of the induction and eager to attend the dinner. However on February 28, 1991, Otis Blackwell suffered a serious stroke which left him completely paralysed. In addition the stroke resulted in the loss of speech. Currently, Otis is attended by his wife Mamie who he married in 1991, and his son Otis Junior. Although he is unable to write music, his songs live through the interpretations by other artists. Hopefully this collection will educate the public to the greatness of one of America’s musical masters, an original source but not a household name – Mr. Otis Blackwell. – Odette Blackwell-Brown and Forest Ray Thanks to: Lucy Tiven, Richard Nevins, Randall Grass, Susie McKinley, Sarah Brown, John Telfer, Odette Blackwell-Brown, Leslie Hoeflick, Billy Ficca, Dennis Diken, John Snyder, Angela Strehli, Ken Goes, Peter Lubin, Phil Carson, Kirk Pascal, Vernon White, Kevin Jennings, Angel Cropper, Lisa Deville, Philippe Rault, Jules Solo, Jonathan Greenfield, Jol & Laurel Dantzig, Johnny & Shannon Colla, Lyle Workman, Donnie Fritts, Alan Tepper, Roberta Bayley, Craig Blasam, Allan Pepper, Bob Grossweiner, Gail Colson, Norma Bishop, Chris Spedding, Harold Seider, John Flansburgh, Cliff Chenfield, Ralph Baker, Forest Ray, Paul Clements, Ray Benson, Gary Weremeychik, Joe McEwen, Larry Mazer, and very special thanks to Alan “I Love Rock ‘n’ roll” Merrill for singing great scratch vocals.” |
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ARTWORK: [unknown]
BARCODE: 4 988002 296897 MATRIX: [unknown] |
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