Tune Tag #78 with Kal Hodgson of Kalowski's Substack, Pt. 2: Stevie Wonder, Contours, Aretha Franklin, Leon Russell, Chris Rainbow, Prince, Donny Hathaway

Soul much music....soul little time! Kal and I get up only to get down again! Kal waxes urban in his second Tune Tag foray, and FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE is down with it!🎵

‘Snow gettin’ away, Kal! Tag! You’re IT!

Ice see you!

Tune Tag welcomes

Kal Hodgson

of Kalowski’s Substack for his T.T. encore!

“A mathematician and teacher by day in South Manchester, UK, I wanted something to exercise my thinking, my writing and my love of music. My “Kalowski’s Substack” is simply designed to write about my personal experiences with music.”

“I have found much of my writing is steeped in nostalgia, memory and anecdote, but I don’t aim for that - I write organically, just see what emerges. So for the last couple of years, I have written about a range of artists, and I aim to continue to do that, weekly, at Friday 5pm (GMT) for as long as I can!”

Kal’s Tune Tag, Part 1 is here, from 11 months ago:

Tune Tag #31 with Kal Hodgson of Kalowski's Substack, Pt. 1: Squeeze, Ryan Adams, Kiss, Little Anthony & the Imperials, Julian Cope

Last week, we were honoured to share FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE space with

Chris Bro

of Chris’s Shaped by Sound:

Tune Tag #77 with Chris Bro of "Chris's Shaped By Sound": Janet Jackson, Replacements, Black Taxi, Tracey Ullman, Bangles, Talking Heads, Doug Kershaw

Next week, join us when we Tag Tunes with

NUK

of Infrequency-FM!

Kal’s song #1 sent to Brad: The Contours, “Just A Little Misunderstanding,” 1966

Kal’s rationale: I thought I’d start with something personal: I was raised on soul music, and this was a favourite of my late mother’s. It always makes me think of her, but it also has a real Northern Soul beat that my dad would love.

‘Little’ Stevie Wonder, ca. mid-’60s.

And, that drum beat is played by a 15-year-old Stevie Wonder, who also wrote the song with Clarence Paul and Morris Broadnax. It’s a thrilling soul track with that incredible backing from The Funk Brothers - especially James Jamerson’s remarkable bassline - and fabulous vocals from Joseph Stubbs, brother of Levi Stubbs. The single appeared on Motown subsidiary, Gordy Records, produced by William Stevenson and Clarence Paul.

This same Motown-based songwriting trio of Wonder/Paul/Broadnax wrote “Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do),” first recorded by Wonder (produced by Clarence Paul) on April 4, 1967 (he was a month away from his 17th birthday), but unreleased at the time, and was picked up by Aretha Franklin for its first release in November 1973. It reached #3 in the U.S.

Motown was set to release Stevie’s around then, as well, but at the artist’s request, it got delayed four years, and appeared on a 1977 Wonder compilation, Looking Back. Here’s Stevie’s initial recording:

Brad’s song #1 sent to Kal: Aretha Franklin, “Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do),” 1973

Aretha Franklin, center, draws a crowd as she arrives at the Tennessee Theater for the 15th Grammy Awards show in Nashville, March 3, 1973.📸Frank Empson/The Tennessean

Kal’s response: Undoubtedly the Queen of Soul! This was written by the same trio of Wonder, Paul and Broadnax, and produced by Jerry Wexler and Arif Mardin (who also arranged the strings and horns). A huge U.S. Top Ten hit for Aretha, it’s a slinky soul track. I think that once you know Stevie played a part in writing it, you can tell - it has his inflections all over it - but, of course Aretha makes it her own with those soaring vocals. The band is absolutely on fire here and like so many Aretha tracks, the backing vocals are just sublime.

Brad’s rationale: We’re matching Motown songs, and two songs written by the same trio (including Stevie Wonder). Here’s the Queen with Stevie accompanying, at The 10th Annual Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards, July 9, 2005 (I believe I’m recognizing George Duke on the keys directly behind Lady “Re”!):

Kal’s song #2: Donny Hathaway, “A Song for You,” 1971