Gone Digital: Arthur Conley, D-A-D, John O’Banion, Scarlet Rivera, and Labi
If it’s Tuesday, then it must be time for Gone Digital, our weekly look at five recent additions to Rhino’s digital catalog. As ever, the types of music we’ll be covering will be all over the place, but that’s Rhino for you: we’re all about variety!
• Arthur Conley, SWEET SOUL MUSIC (1967): He had more hits than you might remember, including tunes like “Funky Street and covers of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” and “Shake, Rattle & Roll,” but when it comes right down to it, the title track of this album is the song most people remember Arthur Conley for. And what’s wrong with that, we ask? After all, he co-wrote it with Otis Redding, and it’s catchy as hell!
• D-A-D, BEHIND THE SEEN (RARE, UNRELEASED & B-SIDES) (2009): This Danish rock band actually found fame in America before finding it in Denmark, hitting #116 with their third studio album, 1989’s NO FUEL LEFT FOR THE PILGRIMS. It would be another 11 years before they managed to hit the Danish charts with their seventh album, EVERYTHING GLOWS. But we digress: this collection came out as a limited-edition 2-LP set in 2009, but this is the first time it’s been made available digitally.
• John O’Banion, JOHN O’BANION (1981): He first came to national fame as the lead singer of Doc Severinsen’s band, Today’s Children, and made several appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Merv Griffin Show, and The Mike Douglas Show, as well as American Bandstand, Solid Gold, and Star Search. His career as a recording artist kicked off in 1981, and his self-titled debut album on Elektra Records became his only charting LP, hitting #164 on the Billboard 200, thanks to the #24 single “Love You Like I Never Loved Before.”
• Scarlet Rivera, SCARLET RIVERA (1977): It’s probably fair to say that if it wasn’t for Bob Dylan, we probably wouldn’t have this album, and Rivera – who played on Dylan’s 1976 album DESIRE and toured as part of his Rolling Thunder Revue – might not have the career that she’s gone on to have. The LP was not entirely adored by critics, but it’s found a following over the years, and Rivera has continued to perform with a variety of other artists, including Tracy Chapman, Indigo Girls, David Johansen, Ian McNabb, and others.
• Labi Siffre, HAPPY (1975): Although he’s had several hits in the UK, Siffre’s success in the US has been limited to other people covering his compositions, like Olivia Newton-John (“Crying Laughing Loving Lying”), Madness (“It Must Be Love”), and Kenny Rogers (“(Something Inside) So Strong”). This album didn’t actually result in any hits for Siffre, but it’s still full of the catchy tunes that made him into a star across the pond.
