The most absolute, super-charged stone-sex-symbol to hit today's music scene is Probe's audio-visual dynamite new artist Dick Jensen.
Jensen was born in Honolulu, the son of a fuel depot fireman, and his first experience on stage was in the fourth grade when he put together a group for a teacher's show.
In high school he won Hawaii's Best Athlete of the Year Award. With this honor, he was awarded a swimming scholarship to the University of Washington. At UW he put together a group that became the hit of the campus - and he hasn't stopped since!
Jensen's in-person shows have brought super-raves which compare him only to Tom Jones. The latter, the reviews claim, would come off second best if they both appeared on the same night club floor together!!
This fantastically talented artist, whose moving, dancing wriggling excitement (read: Sex Appeal) is equalled only by his throbbing voice, now explodes with his first record on the music scene. He's been called an "American Tom Jones." It won't be long before he turns the tables, and Tom Jones becomes the "British Dick Jensen"! Check him out!!
[from the original sleeve notes of "
White Hot Soul"]
Dick Jensen was a live musical performer of the
Rhythm and Blues,
Soul, and
Gospel genres; a native Hawaiian athletic song stylist and a prime mover of nightclub shows inspired by
Little Richard, whose "
white hot soul" electrified audiences with his belting voice and imposing physical
performances.
His signature on-stage style incorporated strenuous dance moves similar to those of
Jackie Wilson; he was noted for his glide - a
proto-Moonwalk - well before
Michael Jackson made it fashionable.
For a more detailed
Dick Jensen biography that covers the period 1942-1972 please have a look
here.
By 1968
Dick Jensen had signed with
Don Costa Productions and began performing at the
El Quid in
Mexico City with
The Dick Jensen Show which included
The Imports and
Cathy Carlson. At this point he often divided his career between the
Hawaai and
Las Vegas, where he would appear at several hotels and casinos over the course of his career, including the
Landmark
For
Dick it was about time to debut with his first album on
Probe Records - a subsidiary of
ABC Records - aptly entitled "
White Hot Soul". A few weeks before the LP came to light,
I'm Good For You /
Jealous Feeling
were released as a single to give people a sneak peak of what was
coming next. This single was also released later, in early 1970, in
France with a nice picture cover.
"
White Hot Soul" contains the following tracks:
01.
Cry On My Shoulder (2:53)
02.
I'm Good For You (2:50)
03.
Jealous Feeling (3:00)
04.
Home Again at Last (2:50)
05.
That Lucky Old Sun (5:08)
06.
Hard To Handle (3:03)
07.
My Elusive Dreams (3:27)
08.
Medley: Try a Little Tenderness / Expressway To Your Heart /
I Heard It Through the Grapevine / Yesterday (6:50)
All tracks were remastered from the original vinyl in July 2012 and are available in
FLAC lossless format or
high-quality 320 Kbps MP3 files, both formats include completely restored PDF artwork.
Please have a look at the comments for the download links.
The album opens with "
Cry On My Shoulder", a song written by
Phil Flowers - a Washington-area singer/composer sometimes described as "
The Black Elvis" - along with his aunt (!)
Velma McCoy. During his career
Flowers penned hundreds of rock, blues, gospel, and ballad tunes; his own version of "
Cry On My Shoulder" was released as a single in 1967 with moderate success.
"
I'm Good For You" is a strong track written by
Dennis Lambert and
Brian Potter (...who successfully teamed up and wrote songs for
The Four Tops,
Dusty Springfield and
Glen Campbell, among others...) showcasing a nice arrangement with punctuating horns, a prominent bass line and multi backing-vocals blends.
"
Jealous Feeling" is another cool track written by
Bobby Weinstein (...best remembered as author of the music of the modern standard "
Goin' Out of My Head"...) and
Lou Stallman (...whose songs have been recorded by
The Supremes,
Aretha Franklin,
Patti LaBelle,
Esther Phillips and many more...).
These three songs were recorded in a studio and produced by
Don Costa and
Bob Morgan. The rest of the album consists of live tracks whose production is credited to
Don Costa. While remastering the album I realized that some of these songs were "adjusted" in the studio; if you carefully listen with headphones you can hear a few tape cuts and splices here and there...
The live part of "
White Hot Soul" begins with "
Home Again at Last", a song penned by
Jensen himself, where he seems to express nostalgia for his
Islands on the top of a relaxed and groovy background. Here's the lyrics:
Walking on the shore as sunlight starts the day
Things don't seem the same in a strange unusual way
Maybe reality or maybe just flash makes it all come back
I'm home, I'm home, home again at last
Those childer days with castles in the sand
Little children's laughter you try to understand
Maybe reality or maybe just flash makes it all come back
I'm home, I'm home, home again at last
Maybe reality or maybe just flash makes it all come back
I'm home, I'm home, home again at last
I miss the salty air where footprints in the sand
seem all disappear with a wave of nature's hand
Now it's reality no longer just a flash, nows it all comes back
I'm home, I'm home, home again at last
I'm home, I'm home, home again at last
"
That Lucky Old Sun" is a popular song with music by
Beasley Smith and words by
Haven Gillespie. Its lyrics contrast the toil and intense hardship of the singer's life with the obliviousness of the natural world. The song was a big hit in 1949 with successful versions recorded by
Frankie Laine,
Louis Armstrong and
Frank Sinatra. The song was later covered by many famous artists, including
Jerry Lee Lewis,
Sam Cooke,
Aretha Franklin and
Johnny Cash.
Side Two starts with "
Hard To Handle", a 1968 song originally recorded by
Otis Redding and written by
Redding himself along with producers
Al Bell and
Allen Jones. The original version was released posthumously after
Redding's death in 1967 on the album "
The Immortal Otis Redding". It was later covered by
The Grateful Dead,
Tom Jones,
Mae West,
The Black Crowes and many more.
"
My Elusive Dreams" was originally a country music song written by
Billy Sherrill and
Curly Putman. The best-known version was recorded as a duet by
David Houston and
Tammy Wynette, another nice version was performed by
Bobbie Gentry and
Glenn Campbell. The song was also covered by
Tom Jones: along with the previous "
Hard To Handle" it is another
trait d'union between him and
Dick Jensen.
The album closes with a medley announced by
Jensen as "
in tribute to the late, great, Otis Redding". The medley features extracts from the following songs:
- "
Try a Little Tenderness", written by
Jimmy Campbell,
Reg Connelly and
Harry M. Woods. A popular version of this song was recorded by
Otis Redding in 1966;
- "
Expressway To Your Heart", written by Philadelphia soul producers and songwriters
Kenny Gamble and
Leon Huff. Performed by
The Soul Survivors, this was the first hit for the
Gamble-Huff team;
- "
I Heard It Through the Grapevine", written by
Norman Whitfield and
Barrett Strong in 1966. This is a landmark song in the history of
Motown, the single was recorded by
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles and
Gladys Knight & The Pips before becoming a signature song for
Marvin Gaye;
-
The Beatles'
Yesterday, which - according to the
Guinness World Records - is the most recorded song in the world.
The following video features
Dick Jensen performing his medley on the
Ed Sullivan Show in New York City during the early 70s:
Here's the short credit list that appear on "
White Hot Soul":
Produced by
Don Costa Productions, Inc.
"
Cry On My Shoulder", "
I'm Good For You" and "
Jealous Feeling" produced by
Don Costa and
Bob Morgan
Engineers:
Bob Lang,
Guy Costa,
Roy Durkee,
John Stronach and
Dave Sanders
Cover and liner design:
William Shepard assisted by
Diana Graham
Art Director:
Henry Epstein
Dick Jensen captured during a live performance in 1969, location unknown [from my own collection]
More information about
Dick Jensen is available here:
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/06/22/news/story02.html
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Jun/22/il/FP606220304.html
http://www.oahuislandnews.com/May05/Home.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Jensen
I'm currently compiling a
Dick Jensen biography, the first part of this work-in-progress covers the period 1942-1972 and is available
here.
I'm also trying to compile a
Dick Jensen exhaustive discography, my work-in-progress is available
here.
Last but not least, I'm also trying to build a collection of
Dick Jensen pictures and memorabilia, my work-in-progress is available
here.
All my posts dedicated to
Dick Jensen on this blog are available
here.
If you have any useful information about
Dick Jensen, or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me at
stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!
