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The Unstoppable Ted Hawkins
Overview
The Unstoppable Ted Hawkins was released in February 2001. The source material was taken from a normal bias HF90 cassette recorded 12 years earlier on a Sony Walkman plugged directly in to the mixing desk at a live concert. It was only ever intended to serve as a reference tape for Michael Messer to learn some of Ted's songs. Michael is to be congratulated for finally succeeding in making the recording commercially available.
So why should you buy this CD? After all, if you want a live album there's Ted Hawkins - The Final Tour which was recorded in July 1994 and features a relaxed Ted at the height of his powers playing in his home town of Santa Monica. Well that's exactly the point. This recording was made on a rainy December night in 1988 when Ted was a long way from home playing at the Mean Fiddler in London.
The Unstoppable Ted Hawkins shows a man who, though not lacking in confidence as a performer, isn't quite sure why his audience is there. When he says "I don't know why you guys keep coming," you get the sense that it's not entirely rhetorical. Ted is alone in a strange land, living a dream and he's afraid that he might just wake up and find himself back where he started.
Which, of course is exactly what happened.
Technically the sound quality of the CD leaves something to be desired but don't let that put you off. This CD is the most intimate recording of Ted's work that is currently available. Instead of being just another live album The Unstoppable Ted Hawkins takes it's place alongside The Final Tour as a picture of Ted in a different time and place.
There are 5 tracks on the CD that aren't currently available anywhere else. They are That's Heaven to Me, Please come to Boston, Let The Good Times Roll, Golden Sun and Zip Pe Dee Doo Dah (yes, I know, but don't knock it until you've heard it). Of these the one that I enjoyed most was Please Come to Boston, a re-worked David Loggins number. In Ted's hands this is an almost unbearably poignant song. Ted was having success for the first time in his life but Elizabeth Hawkins was a world away in California and she never did come to England. That must have been very hard, to have finally achieved success but not to have anyone to share it with.
Can I say anything bad about this album? Well, the track listing is a little idiosyncratic (and I'm not just referring to the spelling of Zippety Doo Dah) the track listed as "Crystal Chandeliers" on this CD is, in fact, a softer version of the "I Started Loving You Again/All I Have To Offer You Is Me" amalgam that appears on The Kershaw Sessions. There, savage enough for you?
This CD would be a welcome addition to anybody's collection but it isn't just a CD for collectors. It's one for those people who were lucky enough to see Ted perform in the 1980s and it's one for those of us who never did but wish we had.
And if you still need a reason to buy this CD then think about this - there are other recordings out there that could be cleaned up and released - but it'll only happen if we establish that a market exists.
Availability
You can get it direct from Catfish. or from CDuniverse. In the UK I understand that MVC are selling it for £8.99.
The Unstoppable Ted Hawkins
- 1. That's Heaven To Me
- (Sam Cooke)
- 2. The Lost Ones
- (Ted Hawkins)
- 3. I Got What I Wanted
- (Brook Benton/Margie Singleton)
- 4. Watch Your Step
- (Ted Hawkins)
- 5. Please Come To Boston
- (David Allen Loggins)
- 6. Gypsy Woman
- (Curtis Mayfield)
- 7. Bring It On Home To Me
- (Sam Cooke)
- 8. Sorry You're Sick
- (Ted Hawkins)
- 9. Let The Good Times Roll
- (Sam Cooke)
- 10. Your Cheatin' Heart
- (Hank Williams)
- 11. Bring It On Home Daddy
- (Ted Hawkins)
- 12. Golden Sun
- (Ted Hawkins)
- 13. Crystal Chandeliers
- (Ted Hawkins)
- 14. Just One Look
- (Dorris Payne/Gregory Carroll)
- 15. Zip Pe Dee Doo Dah
- (Ray Gilbert/Allie Wrubel)
- 16. Dock Of The Bay
- (Otis Redding/Steve Cropper)
- 17. Country Roads
- (Mary Danoff/William Danoff/John Denver)
Note: Track 13 is really I Started Loving You Again (M. Haggard/B Owens) & All I Have To Offer You Is Me (Dallas Frazier/A L Owens). I understand this will be corrected in later editions.