BIRTHDAY SPECIAL: "We Wrote 'em & We Sing 'em!" (MGM SE-1392, rel. 1961)

 Ha-ppy birth-day...tooooooooooo....meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

(This is an un-numbered special post)

Today begins my orbit #63 around this goofy globe. Part of my birthday routine is to give something back to the world, so here's an album of particular interest to the ethos of this blog: an album of songwriters singing their own work!

    We Wrote 'em & We Sing 'em was the brainchild of Otis Blackwell. MGM Records entrusted the artistic direction of their Cub imprint to the songwriter-producer-vocalist, and he took advantage of this executive position to champion his fellow cleffers. The six composers featured on this concept album had made major hit songs but were faceless to the public of 1961--perhaps because they were Black. At the time, America struggled to transcend the systemic racism that was the most regrettable part of its foundation. At that time, in some white-dominated communities, a Black performer's face on an album or magazine cover was still controversial. Not every American was a bigot, but it was baked into our system and its false beliefs still infected millions of citizens' minds.

    MGM went along with this concept; they relegated the full-color photos of these six composers to postage-stamp size but did them justice in the album's musical presentation. This was an ego-less democratic effort. The six singer-songwriters each presented with one of their big hit songs and a brand-new item. They all worked together on each track, augmented by an army of session musicians. If, say, Lincoln Chase sang lead on a song, Ollie Jones, Billy Dawn Smith, Winfield Scott, Otis Blackwell and Eddie Cooley provided vocal and instrumental backup. As well, Black female singers do back-up; they might be The Cookies, who were New York's studio queens at the time.

    Some of New York's finest session men were involved: Bert Keyes and Ernest Hayes on piano, Mickey Baker, George Barnes, Everett Barksdale, William H Bauer and Wallace Richardson on guitar, Joe Marshall on drums; on saxophones were Selden Powell, Buddy Lucas and Albert Jackson Johnson Sr.

    No arrangements were drafted; each singer stepped up to the mike and sang as a "head" arrangement was improvised in the studio. Recorded in true stereo, the sessions have a delightful vibe throughout, and the six new songs--none of them covered while they were still fresh--have a rocking, lively energy that brings out the best in each songwriter.

    The first six tracks are more interesting that you might think: though the songs are familiar, their writers' interpretations are strong and appealing and the straightforward approach rids them of any decorations a more pop rendition might have. Though Eddie Cooley co-wrote "Fever" with Otis Blackwell, he goes it solo for his rendition. Otis blasts through "All Shook Up"

The album, in beautiful stereo, as restored by yours truly, is here in its entirety, complete with cover image:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/9kqmtnlonbgrhylmqzqtp/AJXuf-pOoCUJsJEaLoahYj0?rlkey=10t2bnx9sas504lwhvclbecjc&st=rev01q6g&dl=0

I'm curious to know what your favorites from this album might be. I think the six new songs are remarkable. (I'm fond of "Some Cold Night Now" by Winfield Scott; its bluesy melody is a winner and the chick chorus adds soulful zest to this appealing mid-tempo churner.) Only one of them got a cover version (that I know of). Cult, tongue-in-cheek group NRBQ did a version of Lincoln Chase's "Hot Biscuits and Sweet Marie" in 1979. A bit too late to make much difference, but...
    Enjoy! And may your day be full of all the best things in life. Of late, when people ask me how I am, I tend to say "I'm 2026 okay." This means I'm coping as best I can with the Molotov cocktail of crazy the world explodes every day. May we all be better than "2026 okay!"

Tomorrow; Jack Scott (The Lonely One) gets frisky with a pair of wild rockers from a 1964 Groove Records 45. Like nothing else in this great artist's catalog!