Episode 9: The Shacks on The Sapphires’ “Best Of” (1960s)

Episode 9

20th November 2017

Shannon Wise and Max Shrager of The Shacks, dropped by to tape with us while they were on their national tour, fresh off the Apple ad that uses their cover of The Kinks’ “This Strange Effect.” They picked one our most eclectic album choices yet: “The Best of The Sapphires,” which looks at the obscure Philly soul group from the mid-1960s.

Episode notes

The album: The Sapphires: Best Of (Heritage, 1994)

This week, we are joined by The Shacks, the NYC-based duo of singer Shannon Wise and producer Max Shrager. Maybe you heard their cool cover of The Kinks’ “This Strange Effect” on that Apple ad this fall? Or maybe you were already up on them from their EP, released by Big Crown? Either way, Max and Shannon threw us a curveball with their choice: a 1994 compilation of nearly two dozen sides recorded in the mid-1960s by The Sapphires, the obscure-ish R&B trio of Carol Jackson, George Gainer and Joe Livingston that recorded with Swan and ABC-Paramount before dissolving circa 1966. We talked about the unique sound of The Sapphires, the roots of Philly soul, and what it’s like to dig through the crates to figure out your own sound.

This episode was both the first time we had a group in the studio, which was fun, and the first time we tackled an album from the 1960s. Hopefully, it won’t be the last, for either.

More on The Sapphpires and their Best Of anthology:

More on The Shacks:

Show Tracklisting:

  • The Sapphires: The very Best of the Sapphires “Who Do You Love”
  • The Shacks: The Shacks EP “This Strange Effect”
  • The Sapphires: The very Best of the Sapphires “Lets Break Up For A While”
  • The Sapphires: The very Best of the Sapphires “Gotta Have Your Love”
  • The Sapphires: The very Best of the Sapphires “Evil One”
  • The Sapphires: The very Best of the Sapphires “Come On And Love Me”
  • The Sapphires: The very Best of the Sapphires “Your True Love”
  • The Sapphires: The very Best of the Sapphires “Evil One”
  • The Sapphires: The very Best of the Sapphires “Your True Love”
  • Edison Lighthouse: Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes “Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes”
  • The Sapphires: The very Best of the Sapphires “Hearts Are Made to be Broken”
  • The Sapphires: The very Best of the Sapphires “I’ve Got Mine, You Better Get Yours”
  • The Sapphires: The very Best of the Sapphires “Evil One”
  • The Sapphires: The very Best of the Sapphires “Who Do You Love”
  • The Sapphires: The very Best of the Sapphires “Slow Fizz”
  • The Sapphires: The very Best of the Sapphires “Baby You’ve Got Me”
  • The Sapphires: The very Best of the Sapphires “Hearts Are Made To Be Broken”
  • The Sapphires: The very Best of the Sapphires “Let Break Up For A While”
  • The Sapphires: The very Best of the Sapphires “Gotta Have Your Love”

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In this episode...

Oliver Wang

Oliver Wang

Host
Morgan Rhodes

Morgan Rhodes

Host

Christian Dueñas

Producer

Guests

  • The Shacks

About the show

Hosted by Oliver Wang and Morgan Rhodes, every episode of Heat Rocks invites a special guest to talk about a heat rock – a hot album, a scorching record. These are in-depth conversations about the albums that shape our lives.

Our guests include musicians, writers, and scholars and though we don’t exclusively focus on any one genre, expect to hear about albums from the worlds of soul, hip-hop, funk, jazz, Latin, and more.

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