''What's Shakin' '' is a compilation album released by
Elektra Records in May1966. It features the earliest studio recordings by
the Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful is an American rock band popular during the mid- to late-1960s. Founded in New York City in 1965 by lead singer/songwriter John Sebastian and guitarist Zal Yanovsky, the band is widely known for a number of hits, including ...
and
the Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and band leader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his n ...
, as well as the only released recordings by the ''ad hoc'' studio group
Eric Clapton and the Powerhouse, until they were reissued years later.
Background
During the 1950s and early 1960s, Elektra was one of the best-known American
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
record labels. However, by 1964–1965, it decided to test the waters with unknown electric, rock-oriented artists. Among the first such groups signed were the
Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and band leader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his n ...
from Chicago and
Arthur Lee's
Love
Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of meanings is that the love o ...
from Los Angeles.
Elektra wanted the
Lovin' Spoonful
Loving may refer to:
* Love, a range of human emotions
* Loving (surname)
* '' Loving v. Virginia'', a 1967 landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights case
Film and television
* ''Loving'' (1970 film), an American film
* ''Loving'' ( ...
, but they had already been signed to
Kama Sutra Records
Kama Sutra Records was started in 1964 by Arthur "Artie" Ripp, Hy Mizrahi and Phil Steinberg as Kama Sutra Productions, a production house. The "Kama Sutra" is an ancient Sanskrit text.Alan Betrock ''Girl groups: the story of a sound'' 1982 p.1 ...
in a previous production deal.
Elektra had released several successful "sampler" compilation albums, including ''The Blues Project'' in 1964 and ''Folksong '65''. Some suggest ''What's Shakin' '' started as ''The Electric Blues Project'', a follow-up to the 1964 compilation;
[
] however, Elektra founder
Jac Holzman
Jac Holzman (born September 15, 1931) is an American music businessman, best known as the founder, chief executive officer and head of record label Elektra Records and Nonesuch Records. Holzman commercially helped launch the CD and home video form ...
has stated "it was simply unreleased material that was available to us".
[
]
Recording
Shortly after signing with Elektra, Paul Butterfield and band recorded an album's worth of songs which producer
Paul A. Rothchild felt did not live up to the band's potential.
Five of these tracks were chosen for ''What's Shakin' ''. Four songs, representing the earliest recordings by the Lovin' Spoonful, as well as one song each by
Al Kooper
Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is a retired American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears, although he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity. ...
and
Tom Rush
Thomas Walker Rush (born February 8, 1941) is an American folk music, folk and blues music, blues singer, guitarist and songwriter who helped launch the careers of other singer-songwriters in the 1960s and has continued his own singing career f ...
, were also included.
The only songs recorded specifically for the album were by a studio group dubbed
Eric Clapton and the Powerhouse.
Joe Boyd
Joe Boyd (born August 5, 1942) is an American record producer and writer. He formerly owned Hannibal Records. Boyd has worked on recordings of Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, Nick Drake, The Incredible String Ba ...
, who had been sent to London to open a field office for Elektra, was tasked with finding a suitable band for his first assignment.
Boyd approached
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two diffe ...
singer
Paul Jones and suggested that they put one together.
[
] Jones, who played harmonica and sang harmony, brought Manfred Mann bandmate
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish bassist, singer-songwriter, musician and composer. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and bassist of British rock band Cream. After the group disband ...
on bass, recruited the
Spencer Davis Group
The Spencer Davis Group were a British band formed in Birmingham in 1963 by Spencer Davis (guitar), brothers Steve Winwood (keyboards, guitar) and Muff Winwood (bass guitar), and Pete York (drums). Their best known songs include the UK numbe ...
's vocalist
Steve Winwood and drummer Peter York,
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers are an English blues rock band led by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist John Mayall. While never producing a hit of their own, the band has been influential as an incubator for British rock and blues ...
's and former
Yardbird's guitarist
Eric Clapton, and Ben Palmer, a blues pianist friend of Jones and Clapton.
Ginger Baker
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and African rhythms and pi ...
was suggested as the drummer, but either declined
or was unavailable. The recording sessions took place in March 1966. Bruce later commented, "There were no thoughts of making a band at that time, but it probably helped to make the
Cream
Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...
thing happen." Within a month he, Baker, and Clapton began rehearsing and became Cream.
Four songs were recorded by the Powerhouse. Jones chose "I Want to Know" (his own composition, although credited to his wife,
Sheila MacLeod) and Winwood selected "
Steppin' Out".
According to Boyd, Clapton wanted to record
Albert King
Albert Nelson (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), known by his stage name Albert King, was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He is perhaps b ...
's "
Crosscut Saw", but Boyd suggested "Standing at the Crossroads" (a version of
Robert Johnson
Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His landmark recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that has influenced later generati ...
's "
Cross Road Blues
"Cross Road Blues" (also known as "Crossroads") is a blues song written and recorded by American blues artist Robert Johnson in 1936. Johnson performed it as a solo piece with his vocal and acoustic slide guitar in the Delta blues-style. The song ...
" recorded by
Elmore James
Elmore James ( Brooks; January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ...
); Clapton then suggested Johnson's "
Traveling Riverside Blues".
Finally, a new arrangement of "Crossroads" was recorded using lyrics from both of the Johnson songs. A fourth song, described as a slow blues, was also recorded, but remains unreleased.
Release
Elektra issued ''What's Shakin in stereo in May1966, with a mono edition following in June.
''Billboard'' magazine announced the album's release in June and July 1966. In an August 13, 1966, interview, Elektra's Jac Holzman predicted that the album would soon enter the album charts. Instead, it became part of the
underground music
Underground music is music with practices perceived as outside, or somehow opposed to, mainstream popular music culture. Underground music is intimately tied to popular music culture as a whole, so there are important tensions within underground ...
phenomenon. The album was first released in the UK in 1967 with the title ''Good Time Music'' and different cover art. However, it was soon replaced with the original title and art work.
After signing with Kama Sutra, the Lovin' Spoonful recorded a string of Top 40 hits. Their "
Good Time Music" later became a charting single for
the Beau Brummels
The Beau Brummels was an American rock band. Formed in San Francisco in 1964, the band's original lineup included Sal Valentino (lead vocals), Ron Elliott (lead guitar), Ron Meagher (bass guitar), Declan Mulligan (rhythm guitar, bass, harmo ...
.
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band released several successful albums with Elektra, as did Tom Rush. Al Kooper later re-recorded "Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes" (as "I Can't Keep From Crying") with the
Blues Project
The Blues Project is a band from the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City that was formed in 1965 and originally split up in 1967. Their songs drew from a wide array of musical styles. They are most remembered as one of the most artfu ...
.
"Crossroads" and "Steppin' Out" became part of
Cream
Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...
's repertoire. Both Cream and Blues Project later recorded versions of "
Spoonful
"Spoonful" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and first recorded in 1960 by Howlin' Wolf. Called "a stark and haunting work",
it is one of Dixon's best known and most interpreted songs. Etta James and Harvey Fuqua had a pop and R&B reco ...
";
Ten Years After
Ten Years After are a British rock group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, the band had eight consecutive Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart. In addition, they had twelve albums enter the US ''Billboar ...
recorded three songs from ''What's Shakin'' for their
debut album: "I Want to Know", "I Can't Keep from Crying, Sometimes", and "Spoonful".
Reissues
Most of the songs from ''What's Shakin' '' later were included on compilations and career retrospectives by Al Kooper, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, and John Sebastian/Lovin' Spoonful. In 1995, ''The Original Lost Elektra Sessions'' was released with recordings from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band's early sessions, except for "Off the Wall" and "One More Mile".
[
]
The album is currently available on
compact disc
The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Oc ...
, with comprehensive liner notes by
Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.
Life and writing
Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...
.
[
]
Critical reception
Writing for
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
decades after the original LP release, Unterberger gave ''What's Shakin' '' a rating of three out of five stars.
He called it "an odd, erratic, but interesting anthology of rare performances recorded by Elektra in the mid-'60s".
Unterberger noted that the Butterfield songs are in the same mold as those on ''
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and band leader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his n ...
'' debut album, but added that the Lovin' Spoonful's early rock/R&B-influenced contributions "frankly don't measure up to their
ater Ater (Hebrew אֲתַר) is an Old Testament male name.
#A descendant of Hezekiah, who returned from Babylon ;
#An Israelite, who subscribed to Nehemiah
Nehemiah is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in r ...
folk-rock".
Track listing
Side one
Side two
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
1966 compilation albums
Rock compilation albums
Elektra Records compilation albums
Albums produced by Mark Abramson
Albums produced by Joe Boyd
Albums produced by Jac Holzman
Albums produced by Paul A. Rothchild