Al Kooper Going Going Gone 2005

Al Kooper made a bunch of great music in the sixties and seventies. His solo records from the period are great finds in used record stores, and most of it is available on CD and streaming. I wrote about his work in a post about his 2008 outing White Chocolate. His finest solo work is probably Black Coffee from 2005.

Black Coffee contained Al's excellent Going Going Gone. I've been feeling nostalgic for the past lately, since the present seems so much, well, not so good as the past. Al summed it up pretty well with Going Going Gone. The YouTube video is here.

Going Going Gone

I went to put my old boots on this morning
They were cracked on the side and had a hole straight through the sole
I went downtown to the store where I first bought ‘em
They said Al, they don’t make any boots like that no more

And that’s the way my whole life seems to be goin’
Like the world is playin’ some big ass joke on me
You know they just tore down the theater where I saw my first movie
One day it’s there, next day you couldn’t tell where it used to be

Going Going Gone
The things we took for granted, that we always counted on
If you had a million dollars you couldn’t even try them on
Cause today you can’t find no boots like that cause there going going gone

I used to fall in love to that deep soul music
It was the voices of the angels and they never told you no lie
Now you got pimps, gangstas and big-time rappers
They make the whole damn thing disappear right before our eyes

Going Going Gone
The things we took for granted, that we always counted on
And now you only hear that music on some oldies marathon
Pretty soon it won’t even be there no more cause it’s going going gone

I used to think I had my whole life before me
And in some small way I could change things all around
But now I feel that most people just ignore me
I got one foot in the gutter and the other foot in the ground

Going Going Gone
The things we took for granted, that we always counted on
I’d rather play this old guitar than to strap some new one on
Guess I’ll play that song this way till I’m going going gone
Even that beat-up pillow I love to lay my head upon
Will someday be my tombstone when I’m going going gone

Al Kooper White Chocolate 2008

Al Kooper has had a long and successful career in rock and roll. From his first hit (Short Shorts) as a 14 year old in 1958 with The Royal Teens, to his latest solo release, White Chocolate 2008, Kooper's work has been both eclectic and highly entertaining.

Here's a brief list of Al Kooper moments in musical history:
Wrote This Diamond Ring, a hit for Gary Lewis and the Playboys.
Played organ on Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone.
Was a founding member of The Blues Project.
Was a founding member of Blood, Sweat and Tears.
Produced and played on Super Session in 1968 with Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills, the first-ever "jam" album. (see correction below in comments)
Played piano, organ and horn on The Rolling Stones' You Can't Always Get What You Want.
Recorded seven solo records from 1969-1977.
Produced and played on the first three Lynyrd Skynyrd albums.
Taught composition and recording production at Boston's Berklee College of Music.
And much, much more.

Since 1994, Al has had quite a renaissance, and has released four particularly fine records. 1994 saw ReKooperation, an all-instrumental soul-jazz-rock record full of great versions of classics and a few Kooper originals.

Recorded in 1994 for Al's fiftieth birthday, and released in 1995, Soul Of A Man: Al Kooper Live is a tremendous career overview/live best-of that sees Al playing with original members of Blues Project and Blood, Sweat and Tears, as well as the ReKooperators during a three-day stint at New York's Bottom Line.

2005 saw the release of perhaps Al's best solo outing ever, the fantastic Black Coffee. Eclectic as always, but this one is a perfect mix of what Al Kooper does best. Seven of the tracks feature The Funky Faculty, a group of his colleagues from Berklee College, and a super hot band. My Hands Are Tied and Going, Going, Gone rate with Al's best songs, and the whole CD is flawless. Al's singing, playing, arranging and producing firing on all cylinders. The CD booklet also contains an Al Kooper timeline that reviews his entire career.

Al followed Black Coffee with the nearly equal White Chocolate in 2008. Members of The Funky Faculty and ReKooperators (and other famous guests) return to help , and Al again assembles a batch of fine originals and carefully chosen covers.

All four of the 1994 and later CDs are well worth owning, and outshine much of the contemporary competition.

Al also has a weekly blog post over at the Morton Report called New Music For Old People, where Al, the consummate musicologist, helps the elderly discover musical gems.

Perfect (or near perfect)

It's not very often that a record is perfect. What's perfect? You can listen to every song, and enjoy every song. The performance, songwriting, singing and production make a cohesive whole, a record that is of itself and unlike quite anything else (except maybe one of the other records on this list). There aren't too many of these for me, and many of them are from the sixties and seventies. I tried to stay a little more current with this list.

Many of these records are rockers. This first list is the rockers. Fast and furious, hot guitars, tight band, great songs. Often the best effort by the artist or band, these are the only reason the rest of their work is a little disappointing.

The Proclaimers Persevere 2001

Matthew Sweet Girlfriend 1991

Semisonic The Great Divide 1996

John Mellencamp Whenever We Wanted 1991

Sloan Between The Bridges 1999

The BoDeans Home 1999

Tom Caufield Long Distance Calling 1987

The Connells Still Life 1998

Gomez Split The Difference 2004

John Hiatt Bring The Family 1987

Del Amitri Some Other Sucker's Parade 1997




The rest of these are less rockers and more something else; blues, country, folk, mellower rock, and in one case too eclectic to be any one of those categories. But they are no less perfect, with every track a winner.

Dwight Yoakam This Time 1993

Boz Scaggs Come On Home 1997

Lucinda Williams Car Wheels On A Gravel Road 1998

Erin McKeown We Will Become Like Birds 2005

5 Chinese Brothers Let's Kill Saturday Night 1997

Freedy Johnson This Perfect World 1994

The Jayhawks Hollywood Town Hall 1992

Al Kooper Black Coffee 2005

Shelby Lynne I Am Shelby Lynne 1998

Kirsty MacColl Titanic Days 1993