Billy Preston: John Henry andOuta-Space
From: I Wrote A Simple Song [A&M, 1971]
I’m normally pretty careful about avoiding posting on an artist that another blog has covered recently but I’ve had it in my head to do a Billy Preston post for sometime now. Fellow Sagi and soulhead AK at Soul Shower actually covered Billy in a post recently but, as he rightly points out, this wasn’t his best album so I thought I’d give you a taste of Preston at what I consider his peak as a solo artist.
It’s not really worth going into Preston’s history as it’s pretty easy to get a hold of the details, needless to say Billy came to fame after playing his organ with the Beatles and went onto reasonable solo success. Lee at Number One Songs In Heaven gives a pretty concise account and also exhausts all the Organ jokes as well so there goes half my post. Damn.
Anyway that allows us to focus on the music and Preston performed with style and a funk sensibility. The album I have for you is Preston’s solo debut, I Wrote A Simple Song, produced by music genius Quincy Jones.
Due to the understandable organ heavy production of many of his tracks there’s definitely a Hi Records feel to the music and while Billy is no Al Green his voice is a decent instrument in it’s own right. John Henry is a great example of this with it’s falling trumpets and Preston’s vibrant organ playing. I love the change up in the chorus, Quincy keeping a raw feel to the production which complements Preston’s organ solo perfectly.
Outa-Space was Preston’s big hit of the album and a Grammy winner to boot (hey, remember when that meant something?), a solo jam designed with the single purpose of getting people on the dancefloor, something it achieves with ease. I’m a sucker for this kind of instrumental popfunk and Outa-Space is a great example, Preston displaying just why the Beatles let him up on the rooftop with them for their final performance. What differentiates this from a lot of the disco styled songs that followed in it’s footsteps is the improvisational feel to the proceedings with instruments drifting in and out of the mix as Billy keeps the funk going strong. Let there be no doubt, this man can play.
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i tried checking out earfuzz a couple of nights ago & got some search engine squatting on your domain… i feared the worst. man am i glad to see you back here… your blog's the best thing going. thanks too for outa-space… billy preston's instrumentals were so great he should've dropped a whole album of them.
Ha ha, no fear, I don't think we're ready to give up posting yet.
Glad you enjoyed the Preston, could listen to his instrumentals all day.
One of the highlights of the Stones' 1975 US and 76 European shows were Billy's 2 numbers. Say what you will about the Stones today, back then they could tear up Nothing From Nothing and Outta Space.
I recently bought Billy Preston's Wildest Organ in Town-Club Meeting. Unequaled on the Hammond B-3. I grew up in Seattle and frequented various clubs where Dave Lewis played wild rock music on the B-3 ('62-66 era). He wrote all of his music. His album Little Green Thing was one of the first on the A@M label.He is widely acknowledged as perhaps the most influential Northwest musician of any era (Encyclopedia of Northwest Music, James Bush, Sasquatch Books). When I lsten to Preston's almum, it's like 1963 all over again! Dave's own music on the Hammond B-3 (rock)was the closest rival to Billy's.
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