In this instalment in the Covered With Soul series we have a second selection of soul songs covered by soul acts. We have met most of the featured artists before, perhaps none more so than Erma Franklin. Here we have Erma covering a song originally performed by her bigger sister, Aretha Franklin (whose 70th birthday we have just celebrated). One act here is quite unlike any of the others we have heard in this series: Una Valli was not only white (as were the Flaming Embers), but also South African, having some local success as a soul singer in the [...]
Tweet I sometimes scratch my head at the quality of Christmas music from yesteryear. The stuff that fails to register at both the tills and the playlists but quite simply dwarves the nonentities we have to suffer each December. It'll be Ray Conniff's turn in a couple of days but on the 2nd last weekend before 2011 turns all rosey cheeked and fireside bound here is Chicago's impossibly groovy Rotary Connection. In 1968 the pschedelic outfit released a magical Christmas album called [...]
I’ve said it before: no other series on this blog is as much fun to put together than the Covered With Soul compilations. And I’ve yet a few mixes in store. There are have been a couple of pretty radical reworkings of songs; Maxine Weldon ’s interpretation of George Gershwin’s I’ll Build A Stairway To Paradise (best known, perhaps, as Georges Guetary’s showstopper in the An American In Paris musical) is one of them. On the other hand, if the version of Spirit In The Sky by The Stovall Sisters has [...]
Easter is coming, so it seems righteous to post the first in a series of great Christian music that, I hope, will lift the spirits of the believer, and make those who don’t believe wish they would, if even for the duration of a song. This mix comprises gospel, soul, blues, funk and country, stretching from the late 1920s to the early 1970s. Some of the featured artists will be better known in other genres, some of them got their start in gospel music. Among them is Sly Stone , who as Sylvester Stewart was a child [...]
In the 6 th volume of soul covers, we have the great Grady Tate’s interpretation of the Theme of M*A*S*H and versions of songs previously recorded by Gil Scott-Heron, Bob Dylan, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Elvis Presley, James Taylor, Righteous Brothers, Tammy Wynette, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Joe South, Rolling Stones, Credence Clearwater Revival, James Brown, Cream , Peggy Lee, The Beatles, The Flamingos, Julie Andrews, Nat ‘King’ Cole, Billy Joel and Cat Stevens. Quite a mixed bag. This mix features a fair number of country songs remade as soul songs, showing how close the two [...]
The fifth instalment in the Covered With Soul series departs from the custom of the previous four which featured mostly covers of non-soul originals. This mix consists of soul covers of soul songs. One would imagine that soul covers of soul songs would be more frequent than those of non-soul tracks in the genre’s repertoire of the late 1960s and ’70s, but I’ve found that this is not necessarily so, at least not as far as reasonably well-known tracks are concerned, and if one ignores the Motown custom of its roster all recording the same songs. [...]
Made this mix for some friends instead of sending Christmas cards. Time rich, cash poor and all. Xmas Mix 2010 by Sammyfax on Mixcloud mp3---> Sam's Xmas Mix 2010 [24 MB] 1. Nathan Fake - Silent Night 2. Glam Chops - Countdown To Christmas 3. Holly Golightly - Christmas [...]
The first Christmas soul mix was very popular. Thank you to all the kind people who took the time to say nice things about it (and about my efforts here in general). Comments are always appreciated. As I pointed out in the blurb for the first mix, I held back a lot of great stuff for the follow-up. So this one might be even better than the first compilation. You be the judge of that. Be advised that in this batch are a couple of tracks that might not appeal to your mother: Rufus Thomas (Carla's [...]
Christmas got funky, Christmas got soul! The analytical eagle-eyed reader may have deduced, by astute observation of the post's title, that this year's Christmas mix is dominated by soul music, and that there will be at least one more compilation. Indeed, there will be at least a second mix of Christmas soul tracks from the heyday of the genre – the 1960s and '70s. I have held back a few cracking numbers anyway. Still, this is a really great bunch of songs. Whoever I got the utterly gorgeous opening track from, I am particularly grateful to. The Flirtations, one of [...]
Rotary Connection - I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun The Mud Hut
"Goethe's final words: ' More light'. Ever since we crawled out of that primordial slime, that's been our unifying cry: 'More light'. Sunlight. Torchlight. Candlelight. Neon. Incandescent. Lights that banish the darkness from our caves, to illuminate our roads, the insides of our refrigerators. Big floods for the night games at Soldier's field. Little tiny flashlights for those books we read under the covers when we're supposed to be asleep. Light is more than watts and candles. Light is metaphor." Chris Stevens, Northern Exposure (1990) Bibio - Lover's Carvings ('Ambivalence Avenue', [...]
Well now - here I am back on a broadband connection, albeit at my Dad's place a few miles from my super-duper static caravan (Trailer, for you guys over 'there') in what's these days rather inaccurately referred to as a Holiday Park - maybe every day's a holiday?, just like Dick van Dyke said in Mary Poppins - cor blimey. Anyhow, been in a bit over a week, and whilst I wouldn't say it was comfortable, it's somewhere to live for now, and the invisible, but very audible geese nearby, do give rise to plenty of smiles - [...]
Well now - here I am back on a broadband connection, albeit at my Dad's place a few miles from my super-duper static caravan (Trailer, for you guys over 'there') in what's these days rather inaccurately referred to as a Holiday Park - maybe every day's a holiday?, just like Dick van Dyke said in Mary Poppins - cor blimey. Anyhow, been in a bit over a week, and whilst I wouldn't say it was comfortable, it's somewhere to live for now, and the invisible, but very audible geese nearby, do give rise to plenty of smiles - [...]
Well, hopefully anyway - so long as the guy running the show gets his act together & comes up with some bloody keys I can lock the door with... Today, or very soon then, I'll be moving lock, stock & not the barrel yet, to greenish pastures new which don't have a 'phone line, let alone internet access beyond a veeery slow & expensive mobile network dongle (£15 for 3GB - I ask ya! - and they're one of the cheaper ones) Bunches of things to do & sort out, not directly related to moving - [...]
A Tribe Called Quest- Bonita Applebaum From: People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm [Jive, 1990] R.A.M.P.- Daylight From: Come Into My Knowledge [Blue Thumb, 1977] The Cannonball Adderly Quintet- Soul Virgo From: The Price You Got to Pay to Be Free [...]
Les Rallizes Denudes - Untitled (mp3) Rotary Connection - Burning Of The Midnight Lamp (mp3)
I was contemplating a couple posts for the remaining month...one that would feature some of my favorite cover versions of Silent Night and one that would be for Martin Luther King Jr. Day/Inauguration Day. I have to say it's harder to find serious Christmas songs for the Inauguration. Some silly songs about black elves were about as close as I could find, or I could have celebrated the best in Christmas music by African American artists. Just not a whole lot of political Christmas songs that aren't novelty joke songs. But I came across [...]
Wishing everyone a very Psychedelic Christmas from the ill-ec-tro-nic. Peace. Rotary Connection - Silent Night Chant // From the Album 'Peace' 1968
Today I present some favorites...some songs that I planned for playlists in my podcasts but didn't make the shows for one reason or another. First up.... Louis Philippe-The 13th Day of Christmas The Arcadians-Write Your Letter These two songs kind of have a timeless feel to them, or maybe it's just me. And I like how they sound. Louis' track comes from World in Winter and the Arcadians' track comes from Chantons Noël Ghosts of Christmas Past . [...]
A pair of festive songs now - from a not so long-lost album, despite it being released in 1968. It's from the excellent Rotary Connection album - Peace. Maybe best described as a psychedelic soul band, Peace is a collection of Chistmassy numbers with an overall feeling of love, joy, understanding & yeah, Peace. Christmas Child mp3 Christmas Love mp3 buy it from amazon
Any Major Dude With Half A Heart
mp3hugger
Ceefax Of Life
The Mud Hut
motel de moka
How Marvellous...
ear fuzz
Mola Super Poco
Twelve Months of Christmas
The ill-ec-tro-nic
Akabu feat. Alex Mills – Everybody Wants Something (Joey Negro Strip Mix) [New Release]
MP3: Daft Punk – “Horizons” (RAM Japanese Bonus Track)
Seven Lions: Fevers (Feat. Minnesota and Mimi Page)
Listen to producer Jacques Greene’s “On Your Side,” featuring How To Dress Well
