Hammond Organ Redux

You wrote:

Green Onions - Booker T and The MG's
A Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harum
That's What I Say - Ray Charles
Fix You - Coldplay (only coz it's a great song - the hammond is merely ok)

Yes! ... certainly the first three (I'm not familiar with Coldplay songs). The song "That's What I Say" is a stunning example of what I'm talking about. Another example from the 1960's is the intro riff to Sinatra's "That's Life."

When I was in my early adolescent years -- and by that, I mean the roughtly 10 to 14 year age range -- I didn't really have much access to radios, record players or tape machines. I had one of those "portable" cassette players ... you know, the kind that had the big piano-like buttons where you had to push "rec" and "play" at the same time to record something. I had four cassette tapes:

1. Deep Purple -- Made in Japan
2. Steppenwolf -- 16 Greatest Hits
3. Iron Butterfly -- In a Gadda Da Vida
   
4. Mountain -- Best of Mountain

Of those four, the first three used the Hammond organ somewhat extensively. I can't think whether Mountain did (Mountain did the song "Mississippi Queen" -- a great rock song, in my books ... I love the rhythm guitar in that.) It was probably by listening to those tapes over and over again that I developed the affection for the Hammond.

Steppenwolf in particular made use of it. I'm at a loss right now to say which one used it "best" or "most," but I know in my memory there's organ in alot of their songs. And I think one of the band members from Iron Butterfly was a trained church organist. Of course, by playing "rock and/or roll" he'd gone over to the dark side. :-)

Note: Being a fan of The Simpsons, surely you get the reference there with "Rock and/or Roll?" Also, please tell me you recall the episode where Bart substitutes the sheet music for "In a Gadda Da Vida" for the Sunday morning hymn. I can't recall finding anything more funny than that. :-)

I would tend to agree with you that the early 70's penchant some bands had for extended jam sessions certainly fit the Allman Brothers. In the TV show I was watching the guy who discovered and produced them talked about how the record company executives had fits over the long tracks, which were so uncommon in that day on vinyl. But it was great to listen to if you were a free-wheeling, drugged-out hippy standing out on the lawn, swaying about.