BOSTON, MA | George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic tore the roof off the MGM Music Hall at Fenway on August 17 as part of their “Just For The Funk Of It! Final Tour?!?.” Clinton’s larger than life presence and joyful performance filled the venue and delivered a fun and engaging experience that fans will cherish.

Recipients of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 2019 and inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic have had their status cemented in history as musical pioneers and influencers. There is almost an infinitely deep catalog to pull from and enough songs to keep playing until sunrise. Clinton entered the stage with an aura of funk music, royalty donned in a rhinestone studded cap, shimmering gold pants, a flowing black lace coat, and a P-Funk shirt. Dr. Funkenstein’s giant smile never faded as he sang along with the crowd and drew every ounce of excitement out of them.

This set was highlighted with the tracks “One Nation Under a Groove,” “Flash Light,” and “Get Off Your Ass and Jam.” The crowd jolted with energy when the first few notes of “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)” and “Atomic Dog” rang out. The emotional peak of the night was Michael Hampton’s solo during “Maggot Brain” who put on a cosmically creepy mask to get into the spirit of the tune.

Lansdowne street was buzzing with excitement this night as there also was a country concert at Fenway Park and a show at the House of Blues, but George Clinton’s fans made it very obvious they were there to see the Prime Minister of Funk with their eclectic dress and loud energy. The venue was filled with fans wearing custom psychedelic outfits and shirts from tours in the ’80s, which connected this deep and proud fanbase.

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Remembering Keith Moon, born on this day in 1946. —Ed.

It was a thrillingly perverse idea, even by the standards of rock’s greatest lunatic, Who drummer Keith Moon, to gather a bunch of crack musicians in a studio and record a solo album on which he barely played drums and instead chose to handle lead vocals, although he was well aware he could hardly sing a note. The results, 1975’s Two Sides of the Moon, were lambasted far and wide. One critic called it the “most expensive karaoke album in history,” and Moonie’s take on The Beach Boys’ “Don’t Worry Baby” is said to have caused poor Brian Wilson to break down and cry. Only Robert Christgau, who viewed the LP as parody and called it a “travesty/ tour de force,” seemed to get the joke.

Me, I agree with Christgau. The album may be a mess but it’s a lovable mess, the tenderly depraved results of what happens when a record label gives a maniac carte blanche to corral a colorful assortment of fellow waste products and set them loose in a studio. The sessions were so chaotic that nobody seems to know for sure who participated. Was David Bowie there, or was he not? Your guess is as good as mine. Ronnie Wood? Ditto. The musicians who were there for sure included Ringo Starr, Flo and Eddie, Joe Walsh, Bobby Keys, Spencer Davis, Ricky Nelson, Dick Dale, Jay “Thunder Island” Ferguson, Harry “Lost Weekend” Nilsson, Jesse Ed Davis, and two of the best female backup singer on the planet, Clydie King and Sherlie Matthews.

To call the album, as one critic did, “fascinatingly bad,” is close to the mark, but to add that “Even taken as kitsch, it sucked,” is off base. I like Two Sides of the Moon, and not just for its colossal shortcomings. I cannot listen to it without getting the impression that everyone involved was having a good time, and those good vibes are communicable. The LP is a lark, and an expression of Keith Moon’s utter refusal to take anything seriously, but at the same time I’ll be damned if he doesn’t give it his honest best. And if there’s one thing truly surprising about this album it’s that Moonie, while hardly Roger Daltrey, is not as terrible a vocalist as the critics would have you think he is. His voice is thin, but if he couldn’t sing like Daltrey, so what? He was undoubtedly arse-faced the whole time, and in the topsy-turvy world of Keith Moon “fascinatingly bad” was a compliment.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Sony Picture Classics and Trafalgar Releasing have announced worldwide theatrical distribution plans for Carlos, a feature-length documentary film about legendary guitarist and global icon, Carlos Santana, directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Rudy Valdez.

Celebrating the life of one of music’s greatest icons, 10-time Grammy-winning global sensation, Santana, this special documentary will launch in theaters with a three-day premiere event, Carlos: The Santana Journey Global Premiere. On Saturday, September 23, Sunday, September 24, and Wednesday, September 27 only, screenings include the Carlos documentary plus exclusive introductory content featuring Santana and two-time Emmy-winning director Valdez (The Sentence, We Are: The Brooklyn Saints). Following the Carlos: The Santana Journey Global Premiere screenings, Carlos’ general theatrical release begins September 29.

Premiering earlier this year at the Tribeca Festival, Carlos combines new interviews with Santana and his family; extraordinary, never-before-seen archival footage, including home videos recorded by Santana himself; concert footage; behind-the-scenes moments; interviews with music industry luminaries and collaborators, such as Clive Davis, Rob Thomas and more.

Tickets for Carlos: The Santana Journey Global Premiere go on sale beginning Thursday, August 24 at www.carlosfilm.com. Carlos: The Santana Journey Global Premiere is presented in select cinemas worldwide by Trafalgar Releasing and Sony Pictures Classics. Visit the event website for the most up-to-date information about ticketing and participating theaters globally.

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Windy City denizens The Chi-Lites are amongst the very finest vocal groups in the soul music field. A Lonely Man is their best album, pressed on vinyl for the first time in half a century by ORG Music and available August 25 as part of that label’s Brunswick Records reissue series. Offering richness of voice, dynamic instrumentation, and vibrant production (remastered here from the original tapes), the LP is essentially flawless. Of ORG’s recent Brunswick editions (which includes Jackie Wilson and The Lost Generation), A Lonely Man is the cream of the crop.

The Chi-Lites started out way back in 1959, but they weren’t called the Chi-Lites back then. Originally named the Chanteurs, in ’64 they swapped out handles first to the Hi-Lites and then altered that moniker in tribute to their home city shortly thereafter. Although debuting on 45 (as the Hi-Lites) in ’64 (not counting a ’59 single by the Chanteurs), the group didn’t hit the R&B charts until ’69 with “Give It Away,” the track that titled their first album.

In a weird move, Brunswick recycled six tracks from Give It Away for their second album, 1970’s I Like Your Lovin’ (Do You Like Mine?), which resulted in the LP stumbling commercially (the title track was a hit single). The course was righted for their third album, ’71’s (For God’s Sake) Give More Power to the People, which featured their smash single “Have You Seen Her” (No. 1 R&B and No. 3 Billboard Pop).

Vocalists Marshall Thompson, Richard “Squirrel” Lester, Creadel “Red” Jones, and producer, arranger and lead vocalist Eugene Record were entering their peak period, with A Lonely Man the full realization of their talents. The record is smooth and slick but counterbalanced with substantive verve and as led by Record’s artistry, an admirable level of ambition.

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BOSTON, MA | It was a Big Night Out in Boston as the Goo Goo Dolls filled Leader Bank Pavilion, a popular sea-side outdoor venue in the historic city, with contagious energy.

The Big Night Out tour welcomed O.A.R. as an opener on this leg of their travels and they did not disappoint in more than warming up the crowd as the band brought both their talent and immense energy to the amphitheater. They could have played all night.

The Goo Goo Dolls kicked off their set with those familiar first strums of “Broadway.” As the drums kicked in, so did the excitement of fans. The Goo Goo Dolls really connect with the crowd, many of which are long-time devoted fans, playing one song right into the next with a transition of just a few seconds. With their hits mixed in with brand new songs, this and their band longevity proved they are certainly not stuck in the ’90s. The evening was full and gave everyone a thorough performance.

Fans were loving every minute of it, especially Sabrina Curtis of Dracut, MA. “My boyfriend and I thought the show was amazing! We’ve been fans of the Goo Goo Dolls forever. My boyfriend has seen them live before, but this was my first time. I bought these tickets as a Christmas present for him—it was his ‘big’ gift! They sounded incredible and I was on my feet all night!”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Powerhouse vocalist Genya Ravan will have two of her self-produced solo albums—Urban Desire (1978) and its follow-up …And I Mean It (1979)—re-released on August 18 (Genya Ravan Productions, distributed by BFD/The Orchard). Both feature Ravan’s scorching vocals, her masterful production, and her soulful blues-harp in a myriad of settings, most notably an energized hard-rocking ‘60s girl-group update accented by a Stones-like ferocity, a Jukes-like party atmosphere amid a Spector-ish wall of sound.

Urban Desire, on black vinyl, red vinyl and CD, plus …And I Mean It, on black vinyl, pink vinyl and CD, display a rare pedigree of rock ’n’ roll smarts from New Wave, Soul, and Blues to Pop and Classic Rock’n’Roll. No one ever covered The Supremes (“Back In My Arms Again”) or John Cale (“Darling I Need You”) like this! Genya’s duet with Lou Reed (“Aye Co’lorado”) contains everything from piano wildness to punk bravado. Her duet with Ian Hunter (“Junkman”) is a match made in honky-tonk heaven (complete with Mick Ronson on lead guitar). The version of Marvin Gaye’s 1962 “Stubborn Kinda Fellow”—renamed “Stubborn Kinda Girl”—has to be ranked up amongst the greatest Gaye covers ever.

Ravan—Genyusha Zelkowitz, born in 1940 Poland—survived the Holocaust to have a career like no other. Decades sober, she stands as a true pioneer for women who rock. Her 2004 tell-all, Lollipop Lounge: Memoirs of a Rock and Roll Refugee, tells the tale of an immigrant who fought and clawed her way through the boy’s club of the music industry. First came The Escorts with future producer Richard Perry (Nilsson, The Pointer Sisters, Ringo, Tiny Tim).

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Chronologically, the first names associated with jazz saxophone are generally Frankie Trumbauer, Coleman Hawkins, and Sidney Bechet. But Archeophone Records’ fascinating new 2CD set The Moaninest Moan of Them All: The Jazz Saxophone of Loren McMurray, 1920-1922 throws a spotlight onto the short recording career of a terribly undersung Kansas City saxman, offering an enlightening and satisfying 50-track deep dive. The contents, including an 80-page booklet with exhaustive contextual notes by Colin Hancock and Mark Berresford, will surely be received with enthusiasm by fans of early jazz. The set is available now.

It’s important to note straightaway that the producers of this collection, namely Richard Martin, Meagan Hennessey, and Colin Hancock, are not making a case for Loren McMurray as the baseline originator of jazz saxophone but instead as a crucial if overlooked predecessor to the established names on the instrument. To make it plain, it’s McMurray’s sax in the first Kansas City jazz band to record commercially, Eddie Kuhn’s Dance Specialists, the leadoff band on disc one of this set.

As mentioned in the booklet, pianist Kuhn’s outfit (co-run by violinist Emil Chaquette) is better described as a “rag-a-jazz” entity interestingly augmented by the accordion of Frank Papile. But foremost, they were a dance band, even when recording as Eddie Kuhn and His Orchestra. It’s McMurray who really brings the jazz verve, which is notable, as up to the point of these recordings, the sax was primarily associated with either military bands, classical orchestras, or as a novelty instrument (having been invented by Adolphe Sax only 80 years before).

The Moaninest Moan of Them All features ten bands, including McMurray’s California Thumpers, the saxophonist’s one leadership shot, which grabbed players from Eddie Elkins’ Orchestra, a Cali-based group that McMurray joined in 1922. Along with the groups of Kuhn and Elkins, the other aggregations are Mike Merkels’ Orchestra (who also cut sides as Eddie Davis’ Orchestra), Harry Raderman’s Jazz Orchestra, Sam Lanin’s Southern Serenaders, Baily’s Lucky Seven, the Original Memphis Five (who also cut sides as Jazz-Bo’s Carolina Serenaders), Ben Selvin’s various orchestras, and the Virginians.

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