The Most Exciting Organ Ever | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | August 20, 1965 | |||
Recorded | September 1964 | |||
Genre | Soul | |||
Length | 33:11 | |||
Label | Vee-Jay | |||
Producer | Steve Douglas | |||
Billy Preston chronology | ||||
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The Most Exciting Organ Ever is the second album by Billy Preston. The fully instrumental album was released in 1965, several weeks before Preston's nineteenth birthday, at a time when he was a regular performer on the ABC TV pop music series Shindig! [1] The album includes "Billy's Bag", which was a favorite among British musicians and club-goers at the time. [2] Preston included a live version of the track on his 1974 album Live European Tour .
Extra songs recorded during the sessions for The Most Exciting Organ Ever were released on Preston's next studio album.
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [4] |
All songs by Billy Preston, except where noted.
Let It Be is the twelfth and final studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 8 May 1970, almost a month after the group's public break-up, in tandem with the documentary of the same name. Concerned about recent friction within the band, Paul McCartney had conceived the project as an attempt to reinvigorate the group by returning to simpler rock 'n' roll configurations. Its rehearsals started at Twickenham Film Studios on 2 January 1969 as part of a planned television documentary showing the Beatles' return to live performance.
"Get Back" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Beatles and Billy Preston, written by Paul McCartney, and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. It was originally released as a single on 11 April 1969 and credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston". The song is one of the few examples of John Lennon featuring prominently as lead guitarist. The album version of this song contains a different mix that features a studio chat between Paul McCartney and John Lennon at the beginning, which lasts for 20 seconds before the song begins, also omitting the coda featured in the single version, and with a final dialogue taken from the Beatles' rooftop concert. This version became the closing track of Let It Be (1970), which was released just after the group split up. The single version was later issued on the compilation albums 1967–1970, 20 Greatest Hits, Past Masters, and 1.
Who's Next is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Who, released on 2 August 1971. It developed from the aborted Lifehouse project, a multi-media rock opera conceived by the group's guitarist Pete Townshend as a follow-up to the band's 1969 album Tommy. The project was cancelled owing to its complexity and to conflicts with Kit Lambert, the band's manager, but the group salvaged some of the songs, without the connecting story elements, to release as their next album. Eight of the nine songs on Who's Next were from Lifehouse, with the lone exception being the John Entwistle-penned "My Wife". Ultimately, the remaining Lifehouse tracks would all be released on other albums throughout the next decade.
William Everett Preston was an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, backing Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, the Everly Brothers, Reverend James Cleveland, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. He gained attention as a solo artist with hit singles "That's the Way God Planned It", the Grammy-winning "Outa-Space", "Will It Go Round in Circles", "Space Race", "Nothing from Nothing", and "With You I'm Born Again". Additionally, Preston co-wrote "You Are So Beautiful", which became a #5 hit for Joe Cocker.
One More Car, One More Rider is the eighth live album by Eric Clapton, released on 5 November 2002 on Duck / Reprise Records. It is also his third double live album. The album contains songs performed during Clapton's 2001 world tour. The recordings on this album are from two nights at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, 18 & 19 August 2001. Accompanying Clapton on this album are guitarist Andy Fairweather-Low, drummer Steve Gadd, bassist Nathan East and keyboardists Billy Preston, Greg Phillinganes and David Sancious. Clapton claimed that this would be his last world tour, making this album initially more valuable. However, he has since toured the world several times, both on his own and with Steve Winwood.
Uncle Meat is the sixth album by the Mothers of Invention, and seventh overall by Frank Zappa, released as a double album in 1969. Uncle Meat was originally developed as a part of No Commercial Potential, a project which spawned three other albums sharing a conceptual connection: We're Only in It for the Money, Lumpy Gravy and Cruising with Ruben & the Jets.
Black and Blue is a studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 23 April 1976 by Rolling Stones Records.
Germfree Adolescents is the 1978 debut album of English punk rock band X-Ray Spex. It contained the UK hit singles "The Day the World Turned Dayglo", "Identity" and "Germ Free Adolescents" which reached No. 18 in November 1978. Upon release, the critics noted it was not all new material: five songs on the twelve tracks had already been released on A-sides and B-sides of singles.
"All Things Must Pass" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison, issued in November 1970 as the title track to his triple album of the same name. Billy Preston released the song originally – as "All Things (Must) Pass" – on his Apple Records album Encouraging Words (1970) after the Beatles had rehearsed the song in January 1969 but did not include it on their Let It Be album. The composition reflects the influence of the Band's sound and communal music-making on Harrison, after he had spent time with the group in Woodstock, New York, in late 1968. In his lyrics, Harrison drew inspiration from Timothy Leary's poem "All Things Pass", a psychedelic adaptation of the Tao Te Ching.
Wildest Organ in Town! is an album by Billy Preston. Released in 1966, it was arranged by Sly Stone.
That's The Way God Planned It is the fourth studio album by American musician Billy Preston, released in August 1969 on Apple Records. The album followed Preston's collaboration with the Beatles on their "Get Back" single and was produced by George Harrison. The title track became a hit in the UK when issued as a single. Aside from Harrison, other contributors to the album include Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Doris Troy.
Encouraging Words is the fifth studio album by American soul musician Billy Preston, released in September 1970 on Apple Records. It was the last of Preston's two albums for the Beatles' Apple label, after which he moved to A&M Records. The album was co-produced by George Harrison and Preston. Harrison's songs "All Things Must Pass" and "My Sweet Lord" were issued here for the first time, two months before his own recordings appeared on his triple album All Things Must Pass.
I Wrote a Simple Song is the sixth studio album by American soul musician Billy Preston. Released in November 1971, it was his first album for A&M Records and marked the start of a run of commercial success in the United States that lasted through to the late 1970s. The album includes the hit single "Outa-Space", which won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance of 1972. Preston included a live version of the instrumental "The Bus", as part of a medley with the Beatles' "Day Tripper", on his 1974 album Live European Tour.
Live European Tour is the only live album by Billy Preston, released in 1974 in Europe and Japan. It was recorded during his opening act stint for the Rolling Stones 1973 European Tour, featuring Mick Taylor on lead guitar and Preston's own band "The God Squad". In 2002, A&M Records released the album in Japan, featuring alternative song takes.
Seconds of Pleasure is a 1980 album by Rockpile, a band consisting of guitarists/vocalists Dave Edmunds and Billy Bremner, bassist/vocalist Nick Lowe, and drummer Terry Williams. The band had played together on various solo albums by Edmunds and Lowe in previous years, but Seconds of Pleasure would be the first album released under the Rockpile name.
Billy Preston is the eleventh studio album by American soul musician Billy Preston, released in 1976 on A&M Records. It includes the singles "I've Got the Spirit" and "Girl", both of which were top 50 hits on Billboard's Soul Singles chart in the US. Preston recorded the album in Malibu, California in March 1976, shortly before joining the Rolling Stones on their two-month European tour.
Let It Be... Naked is an alternative mix of the Beatles' 1970 album Let It Be, released on 17 November 2003 by Apple Records. The project was initiated by Paul McCartney, who felt that the original album's producer, Phil Spector, did not capture the group's stripped-down, live-to-tape aesthetic intended for the album. Naked consists largely of newly mixed versions of the Let It Be tracks while omitting the excerpts of incidental studio chatter and most of Spector's embellishments. It also omits two tracks from the 1970 release – "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae" – replacing them with "Don't Let Me Down", which was the non-album B-side of the "Get Back" single.
"Green Onions" is an instrumental composition recorded in 1962 by Booker T. & the M.G.'s. Described as "one of the most popular instrumental rock and soul songs ever" and as one of "the most popular R&B instrumentals of its era", the tune is a twelve-bar blues with a rippling Hammond M3 organ line by Booker T. Jones that he wrote when he was 17, although the actual recording was largely improvised in the studio.
"Sing One for the Lord" is a song by American soul musician Billy Preston that was released in September 1970 on his Apple Records album Encouraging Words. It was written by George Harrison and Preston. Although the pair frequently collaborated as recording artists from 1969 onwards, it is their only formal songwriting collaboration. The song is in the gospel style and was written in praise of the two musicians' respective deities.
"That's the Way God Planned It" is a song by American musician Billy Preston and the title track to his 1969 album of the same name. Issued as a single, the song was Preston's first release on the Beatles' Apple record label, following his guest role on the band's "Get Back" single. The lyrics to "That's the Way God Planned It" partly reflect the long musical apprenticeship Preston had served since childhood, mentored by artists such as Sam Cooke and Ray Charles, while musically the track combines the gospel tradition with rock. Produced by George Harrison in London, the recording also features contributions from Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Ginger Baker and Doris Troy. Having been edited down to three minutes for its single release, the full version appeared on the album, as "That's the Way God Planned It ".