Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic

Discoveries of a Pop Music Archaeologist

Tag: Muscle Shoals Sound Rhythm Section

"Asphalt Outlaw Hero"
Zeroto180

Mack: Synonymous with Diesel

Can you believe it’s been 4 months and 20 days since I last featured a truck driving song?  And how perfect is it that Lonnie Mack once wrote and sang a truck driving song for 1971 Elektra album, The Hills Of Indiana? “Asphalt Outlaw Hero“ Lonnie Mack (1971) Don Nix

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60s/70s rock +/- pop
Zeroto180

Arif Mardin @ Muscle Shoals

Arif Mardin is a renowned producer, arranger, and music executive who also – surprisingly enough – recorded a couple solo albums for Atlantic.  This hard-hitting instrumental arrangement of Lennon’s “Glass Onion” (from the Beatles’ “White Album“) would be used as the (1) kick-off tune, (2) title track, and (3) debut

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"Goin' Up the Country"
Zeroto180

“Goin’ Up the Country”: The Duck & The Bear – and Duane

Interesting to learn that Canned Heat‘s big 1968 hit “Goin’ Up the Country” is basically a re-write of 1929’s “Bull Doze Blues” by Henry Thomas, down to the flute part (listen here). Vocalion (Jan. 1929) The next year, 1969, saw the single release of a spirited cover version by The

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"This Old Town"
Zeroto180

“This Old Town”: Where Love is the Prevailing Order

In Wilson Pickett‘s town, universal respect for the humanity common to us all allows for an enlightened self-governance to rule the day. “This Old Town“ Wilson Pickett (1970) “This Old Town” from Pickett’s 1970 Atlantic album, Right On, was never to appear on a 45, which is a shame, since

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"Second Fiddle"
Zeroto180

1973: The Year Pop Reggae Broke

You can count on one hand the number of times that reggae singles by Jamaican artists have cracked the Top 40 here in the States:  “Israelites” by Desmond Dekker in 1969 (#9) and  “Double Barrel” by Dave Barker and Ansel Collins in 1971 (#22).  Two times [*actually, three – see

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