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Clavinet Songs


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I was in a band in the 70s that covered this song. I had to play it on a Hohner Combo Pianet.

[video:youtube]

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The music that made me want to buy a Clav (and I almost did, plus I "babysat" someone else's Clav for about a year while they were in a tiny bedsit), was that of the celtic fusion band Touchstone in the late 80's.

 

Maybe it was this song, with Triona Ni Dominaill singing and playing a clavinet, or a clavichord, or possibly a cruitchorda (Irish for harpsichord).

 

[video:youtube]

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I first heard of Omartian from his work with Loggins And Messina - what a great player!

 

Jeremiah by Michael Omartian (one of the best keyboardists you never heard of).

 

Hey :laugh: Michael is actually a friend of mine, lives not far from me too. We've called each other "My Armenian Brother" for years.

Anyone who hasn't heard of him should woodshed, 'cause he's a monster player and brilliant mind.

 

And, as for the topic at hand, I'll just say

There's Higher Ground, and then there's everything else! :cool:

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Hi Werno, that was one time, but not the only time where Touchstone used Clavinet. I saw them live once, and then saw Triona live when she went off to her solo career, as well as the Irish super-group Relativity (which included Triona's brother Michael, alongside the Cunningham brothers from Silly Wizard), and I seem to recall she used one then as well.

 

Listening to the recording again tonight though, I'm not 100% convinced that is a clavinet or JUST a clavinet on its own, in the studio rendition. There might even be some layered harp, or a Yamaha DX7 if that session didn't pre-date its release.

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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Hi Werno, that was one time, but not the only time where Touchstone used Clavinet. I saw them live once, and then saw Triona live when she went off to her solo career, as well as the Irish super-group Relativity (which included Triona's brother Michael, alongside the Cunningham brothers from Silly Wizard), and I seem to recall she used one then as well.

 

Listening to the recording again tonight though, I'm not 100% convinced that is a clavinet or JUST a clavinet on its own, in the studio rendition. There might even be some layered harp, or a Yamaha DX7 if that session didn't pre-date its release.

 

Never suggested it was the only time- Triona played clavinet (or clavichord, or whatever it was) in the Bothy Band, Touchstone, Relativity, and Nightnoise over the years. Having finite patience for the relentless strumming and ever-more-intense unison lines found in Celtic bands, I found her playing a welcome and unique texture in the arrangements of her various groups. She's holding down the bottom end much of the time, such as it is. In the track above, I'm hearing clav in the middle, then a fretted instrument joins on the right, then later another on the left- bouzouki and cittern, for all I know. Might be some double-tracked clav towards the end too.

 

 

Not finding much Touchstone live online- here's a performance shot by the AV club at some college, it looks like, with particularly lame audio, but it's the best vid I found of Triona Ni Dominaill"s clav (?) style- go to 12:20 where she performs the indecipherable song title whose studio version I linked to above. Anyone have a name for the clav-esque keyboard she's playing?

 

 

[video:youtube]

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Yep, for all the same reasons Triona's clav playing set all of her groups apart from the rest of the celtic revival bands, and it informed my own approach when I started playing regularly in celtic fusion bands from around 1987 through roughly 1995 (with an occasional reprise thereafter).

 

In many ways, I feel her example of clavinet is one of the most important ones, as it completely transforms the genre itself, and as you said, holds down the otherwise-missing bottom.

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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Wow, great groove, nice pocket, and a bit different sound as the 1966 date means it's probably a Rev I (the first Clavinet was released in 1964).

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clavinet#Clavinet_D6

 

Note also that this song pre-dates the very first entry on the list of pop songs using Clavinet at the Wiki page for the instrument's history.

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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There's some righteous Hammond B3 and Clavinet work in The Charlatans' cover of "Time for Livin'" (originally by Sly and the Family Stone) on the "Help" charity compilation for the War Child foundation (recorded in 1995), produced by and guesting The Chemical Brothers:

 

 

And here's the original, from Sly and the Family Stone's Small Talk album (1974), apparently primarily utilizing electric pianos for the keyboard parts:

 

 

The Beastie Boys also did a rather, uh, unusual cover of the song in 1992. No Clavinet on that one, for sure. :-)

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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  • 6 months later...

I've finally gotten around to updating this Playlist with many of the songs mentioned here. I'm trying to avoid whole albums for this list. That doesn't mean that I won't listen to the albums, but when you make a mixtape, you don't usually put a whole record on that.

 

I still have to "proofread" all the tracks. For example, I'm finally hearing some Clavinet on Mercedes Boy (Remix) near the end though I'm wondering if there's a better version.

 

I have it sorted by date, though a couple of the rereleases (most notably the tracks from Goats Head Soup) puts them near the end instead of close to the beginning.

 

Anyway, thanks for the help, here's the link on Apple Music.

 

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/clavinet-songs/pl.u-PDb46BgCZvmB7

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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I must admit, once I get to Outa-Space by the great Billy Preston, the rest of the tunes are a bit of a struggle for me to care about at least for a while. :)

 

Believe it or not, I never knew this song until I was compiling this list, so that was a blown away moment for me.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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Jeremiah by Michael Omartian (one of the best keyboardists you never heard of).

 

Hey :laugh: Michael is actually a friend of mine, lives not far from me too. We've called each other "My Armenian Brother" for years.

Anyone who hasn't heard of him should woodshed, 'cause he's a monster player and brilliant mind.

 

And, as for the topic at hand, I'll just say

There's Higher Ground, and then there's everything else! :cool:

 

Anyone who could detonate that first Christpher Cross album from out of nowhere is a monster in my books (not to mention everything else he's had a hand in).

____________________________________
Rod

Here for the gear.

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I was looking for a YouTube I saw awhile back with Shaun Martin (Snarky Puppy, MD Kirk Franklin, and others) playing a cool solo using the clavinet with the whammy bar on it. Here's one with Bobby Sparks using a clav' with whammy bar, Shaun Martin on keys.

 

[video:youtube]

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Heard this on the radio the other day - forgot all about this cool track! Stevie in 1968 starting to figure out what he can do with his Clavinet C... sounds so clean, but so funky! I really love the exposed intro :2thu:

 

[video:youtube]

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