Boogie Friday: Convention Special

I work a couple of streets away from the Fleet Center in Boston where the Democratic National Convention has been on all this week and as you can imagine it's been a bit of a circus around here. Well, what I imagine a circus in a police state looks like anyway, what with the hordes of police and soldiers hanging around on every corner, the roadblocks, helicopters patroling the skies and demonstrators stuck in razor-wire ringed pens - sorry, Free Speech Zones. But that's a subject for another day and probably another blog, I want to talk about something far more important - the music they played at the convention. It seemed that every speaker who walked out on stage was accompanied by some vintage R&B. The Democrats clearly wanted to send a strong message to the American people that they like to kick it old skool. John Edwards came on to Jackie Wilson's "Higher and Higher", Barack Obama stepped out to the strains of The Impression's "Keep On Pushing" (a smart choice as they're from Chicago where he's running for office) and Wesley Clarke had '"What's Going On?" which seems strange as he's a General and it's an anti-war song. And while I didn't hear it with my own ears I just know that they must have played James Brown's "I Feel Good" at some point as it's the cliched go-to tune for funky upbeat positivity and a tune that even the stiffest, non-funky white person knows because of it's use in things like hemorrhoid commercials. It was all very obvious stuff in an oldies-radio sort of way but I just wonder what other choices they could have made if they were just a little bit hipper. I think Sterling Void's wonderful House anthem from 1987 (also well covered by the Pet Shop Boys in 1988) would have fit the bill perfectly - it's upbeat, uplifting, positive and it mentions Afghanistan - and then they could have turned the convention into a monster rave. Next time they should have Al Sharpton manning the decks, that would sho' nuff be funky.

[Download]
It's Alright - Sterling Void

Having a day off

No tunes today. What's that? Oh, quit whining, you've had five great tracks this week already. But if you'll cast your eyes to the column on the right you'll see that I've added a bunch of new links. So go and bother them today, I'll be back tomorrow.

Mouth almighty

I've been looking for an excuse to give Amy Winehouse a plug so the news that her debut album "Frank" has been nominated for this year's Mercury Prize will do. "Frank" was my favourite album of last year, and though she's getting well known in England the album hasn't been released in the States yet which is a bit of a drag for those of us who would like the chance to see her live one of these days. So look on this as my way of spreading some buzz about her on this side of the Atlantic. For those who don't know, Amy is 20-year-old Brit with the voice of an old jazz diva who smokes too much. There's more than a touch of the Dinah Washington's about her sexy pipes but also a fair bit of Erykah Badu too which stops her being another of those cliched retro "jazz" acts around these days (like Norah Jonezzzzzzz) and her debut mixes old-timey jazz stylings with hip-hop and soul touches in a fresh and modern way. Amy is an, um, opinionated young lady who likes shooting her lovely mouth off in interviews and writes spiky songs about sex, infidelity, lust, useless boyfriends, sex and more sex. She has good reason to be brash and mouthy though as she's a hell of a talent who should be a megastar. "Stronger Than Me" is a bitchy song with a swinging funk groove where Amy gives a good slap to her "girly man" boyfriend and "Take The Box" is a beautiful, sad and angry ballad about the end of a relationship which more experienced songwriters would probably give their right arms to have written. If you want to hear more (and you should) hie thee to her website forthwith.

[Download]
Stronger Than Me - Amy Winehouse
Take The Box - Amy Winehouse

The godlike genius of Tony Hatch

"Sad Sweet Dreamer" is such a classic slice of Philly Soul loveliness from 1974 that it's hard to believe it's actually English through and through. Sweet Sensation were a group of lads from Manchester who first made a splash on the UK television talent show New Faces - the same show that also brought us Showaddywaddy! - which led to them being signed up by judge Tony Hatch who produced this #1 smasheroo for them. Hatch played the "Simon Cowell" role on the show, being a bit of a bastard to those he felt unworthy, but before that he was known as The British Bacharach, producing and writing a string of hits for Petula Clark (including "Downtown") as well as several great TV theme tunes. This track could easily be a Gamble & Huff production, it mostly reminds me of The Jacksons "Show You The Way To Go" with Marcel King's lovely falsetto every bit as sweet as the young Micheal Jackson's. Sweet Sensation only had one other minor hit after this and, after the ignomy of failing in a bid to represent Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1977, they were dropped by their record label. That wasn't quite the end of Marcel King though, in 1991 he released a single called "Reach For Love" on Factory Records of all places. I've never heard this but I sure would like to (Hint, hint. Anyone?). Sadly, King died of a brain haemorrhage in 1995 but he lives on in this wonderful record.

[Download]
Sad Sweet Dreamer - Sweet Sensation

Deep

On the whole my taste in soul music tends toward the sweeter, more sophisticated and uptown end of the spectrum, but there are times when I'm in the mood for something deeper, something dripping with intense emotion, something sung by someone who sounds like they're about to burst into tears - those are the times when I reach for one of the three volumes of Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures. These albums go way beyond the usual suspects and dig up so many brilliant, obscure gems that they may the greatest collection of gut-wrenching soul ballads ever assembled, containing more heartbreak, tears, and infidelity than a whole season of "Dynasty." Trying to pick only one track was impossible, even two was bloody difficult, but here's a couple that should knock your socks off. From Vol. 1 comes the majestic "You Got Me" which Godin says is his favourite track of all-time which is high praise indeed coming from a man who's probably heard more great soul records than all of us combined have had hot dinners. "Like It Stands" from Vol. 3 is one of my favourite tracks in the whole series, I love the way Ramsey grunts "git it!" during the instrumental breaks like he's willing himself to reach the next emotional height. Lord have mercy.

[Download]
You Got Me - Jaibi
Like It Stands - Robert Ramsey

Boogie Friday

Change weren't much more than a studio group formed by two Italian producers but some of the greatest dance music ever has been made by faceless Eurotrash. As Giorgio Moroder had done with Donna Summer their masterstroke was recruiting soulful vocal talent for their cold studio creations, in their case that meant roping in Luther Vandross and Jocelyn Brown to sing on their first album. Luther at the time was pretty much an unknown, making a living singing jingles and if he was known for anything it was for providing backing vocals and co-writing a track on David Bowie's "Young Americans" album. "Searching" was released in 1980 and sort of sits on the cusp of the tail-end of disco and the beginning of 80s-style dance music, Change were heavily-influenced by Chic but there's a more glitchy, electronic sound to the music that points the way to the future. It's a great song that I imagine would sound great no matter who was singing it but - Lordy Lordy - Luther's vocal is very special indeed, pouring sweet and warm hot chocolate all over the cold Euro-funk. Pretty amazing when you consider that the backing track was recorded in Bologna and the vocals in New York. This track (and "The Glow of Love") turned out to be pretty good adverts for Luther as a year later he recorded his first solo smash "Never Too Much" and went on to become huge (in more ways than one.)

If you held a gun to my head and forced me to pick my all-time favourite club tunes this one would definately be in the top 3 somewhere. But hopefuly you're not the sort of person who would hold a gun to my head just to find out what I like dancing to.

This is another long track (8 minutes!) but I swear I wouldn't mind if this went on for hours and hours.

[Download]
Searching - Change

Vee haff vays of making you slow dance

German isn't exactly thought of as a language of romance, it seems more fitting for things like invading other countries and beating England at football. But back in 1965 David Ruffin had to wrap his silvery voice around the Teutonic tongue for "Mein Girl" which was one of a number of foreign language versions Motown released back in the 60s. This produced such curios as "Jimmy Mack" in Spanish and "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted" in Italian, some of which were collected on an album called Motown Around The World which is sadly no longer in print and only seems to be available for really silly amounts of money.

Technically this should be called "Mein Mädchen" of course which led me to wonder how Smokey Robinson's lyrical poetry translates literally into German, so I ran the first verse through Babelfish and this is what it spat out, though this doesn't look anything like what Ruffin is actually singing.

Ich habe Sonnenschein an einem bewölkten Tag
Und wenn es kalte Außenseite ich ist, haben Sie den Monat Mai
Ich schätze, daß Sie sagen würden, was mich auf diese Weise glauben lassen kann?
Mein Mädchen (mein Mädchen, mein Mädchen)
Sprechen über mein Mädchen (mein Mädchen).

[Download]
Mein Girl - The Temptations
(Apologies for the tinny quality of this file)

Do The Time Warp

It's a little known fact but Janet Jackson's "What Have You Done For Me Lately?" was originally recorded in 1971 by an obscure funk band called Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings and released on the tiny Daptone label out of Atlanta. Original copies of this 45 have been fetching astronomical sums in rare funk collectors circles and... OK I'm lying but I'm sure most of you knew that already. This track is actually a cover version of Ms. Jackson's hit that was recorded only two years ago, but if you didn't know better (I usually don't) you'd swear that this was some James Brown-produced number by Lynn Collins or Marva Whitney from the early 70s. It has the same primitive production and scratchy funk guitar with a driving beat that hits you in the nuts like a pair of size 10 funk boots. Normally I'm not all that keen on revival bands (after having to suffer The Blues Brothers playing on pub jukeboxes far too often in the past) but Sharon Jones certainly has the tonsils of an old-time funky diva and The Dap-Kings do know what a slamming rhythm is all about (not bad for a bunch of mostly nerdy-looking white guys). So who cares about copycatism when the result is as good as this? It's not the JBs but it's damn near good enough and it blows the legwarmers off the original. They put on a hell of live show and their album Dap-Dipping With Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings (you can hear the whole thing at that link) is an absolute stonkin' treat. So get on up and get on down with your bad self and stuff like that.

[Download]
What Have You Done For Me Lately? - Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings

Cover me

There are lots of reasons why I love the Isleys, one of which is the talent they have for re-making other people's songs in their own image. In the 70s they specialized in taking songs by white bread artists like James Taylor, Steven Stills, Carole King, Seals & Croft and injecting them with big steaming dollops of soul. Comparing their soaring, majestic cover of "Summer Breeze" to Seals & Croft's weedy original is like the difference between a full English breakfast and a bowl of dry muesli. On their 1972 album "Brother, Brother, Brother" they covered no less than THREE Carole King songs (which might be overdoing it a tad), the crown jewel of which is their startling re-interpretation of "It's Too Late" which tranforms her "Tapestry" sing-a-long ditty about relationship breakdown into a mournfully slow and dark ten and a half minute (yes! ten and a half minutes!) epic of bitter regret. With Ronald Isley's yearning voice (I think only Al Green can make me feel more blissful), Ernie Isley's fiery guitar work, and some spine-tingling organ playing, this is pretty much my idea of soul heaven.

[Download]
It's Too Late - The Isley Brothers

What is Northern Soul?

Scene: A kitchen somewhere in the north of England

So some of you Yanks want to knoo what Northern Sool is all aboot dos tha? Jus' lemme finish this 'ere black pudding and I'll tell thee all aboot it while I tek the whippet for a walk down t' pub for a pint of mild.

See, back in t' 1960s all the Mods were lissening to soul and R&B muzic but then all them soft an' trendy southern poofters started getting all girly wearing frilly shirts, growing their 'air long and list'ning to that psychadelic muzic and all that twatty funk rubbish, but us 'ard lads oop north weren't 'aving none o' that poncey shite and we stuck with good old fashioned soul muzic. Yer know, the stuff with a beat that thumps you over the 'ead like a brick that you can dance yer bollocks off ta while oot of your 'ead on speed. We liked a lot of that Motown stuff but the really greet thing was that we found there were all these cracking tunes on other little labels that no buggers 'ad ever 'eard of before and 'adn't got in the charts like. People were digging oop some right great records, spending loads o' money on 'em coz they were 'ard to find like and clubs opened where you could go after a hard day at t' mill and dance all night long. Ee, it were a right greet crack goin' down t' Wigan Casino and t' Blackpool Mecca, listn'ing to top tunes like Gloria Jones's "Tainted Love" (which them Soft Cell blokes covered in t' 80s) and "Out On The Floor Tonight" by Doobie Gray which 'as to be the toppest Northern Soul number of 'em all coz it's got a great beat like and the words are all aboot dancin' and pulling birds. Then this journalist bloke from down south called David Godin comes up t' Blackpool Mecca in 1971 and writes this article in Blues & Soul magazine where he were the first one to to call the scene "Northern Soul" coz the muzic in the clubs oop north were really different from them trendy shiteholes down south where they're all drinkin' Shandy and dancing to soft girls muzic like the poofters they are. Now all them buggers doon south are into it too o' course but it started oop north with us coz we knoo what real soul muzic is and we're well 'ard like.

So that's what Northern Soul is. Any questions, like?

(For a Queen's English translation of the above go here and here. Hope that clears things up.)

[Download]
Out On The Floor Tonight - Dobie Gray

Problems, problems

A few people have complained that they can't download that Womack & Womack tune (no one has mentioned the Bobby Sheen one though). I don't know how many people this is affecting but I've been able to download it several times without any problem so I'm a bit puzzled why some of you can't. I installed hotlink protection code to this site to stop naughty people sucking up my bandwidth so in case that is causing some problems I've changed the set up of it a little to see if that helps. So if some poor soul who was having problems before would like to try again I'd appreciate some feedback. Cheers!

Boogie Friday

The Womack family is steeped in soul music history. Brothers Cecil and Bobby got their start in the music business from Sam Cooke and after his tragic death Bobby married Sam's widow and Cecil married his daughter Linda. This meant that Bobby was Cecil's brother and step-father-in-law, while Cecil was Linda's husband and step-uncle or something like that. Sounds like a cheesy Mexican soap opera to me. Bobby became a bit of a soul music legend himself of course, but Linda and Cecil first made a name for themselves as songwriters, notably penning the dreamy "Love TKO" for Teddy Pendergrass. They didn't release a record as Womack & Womack until the sublime "Love Wars" album in 1983. "Teardrops" is from the almost-as-sublime 1988 album "Conscience" which has a warm and intimate charm that comes from a family making music together, even an uptempo number like this one has an easy-going vibe to it that makes it very nice to groove along to. This was a monster hit in the UK, getting to #3 on the pop charts, but doesn't appear to have done anything in America which I find incredible. "Conscience" isn't even in print in this country - a shocking state of affairs. Shame on you, America. In a quest to answer the "where are they now?" question I discovered that Cecil, Linda and their seven children are now living in Africa under the name of The House Of Zekkariyas. How odd.

This the long and extra groovy 12" version which I spent many a night shaking my tail feather to back when my hips were a bit more limber. Ahh, those were the days.

[Download]
Teardrops - Womack & Womack

FYI

I'm in the process of moving to a new host - more bandwidth! more mp3s! coming soon! woo hoo! - but if I don't get the timing right switching from the old one this site could be unavailable for a little bit. Hopefully that won't happen but I don't want you to think I've done a runner.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Here's a timely article on mp3 blogs at the London News Review which addresses a problem I've become all-too familiar with:

I'm a little nervous, though. Yahoo has a story on them, and this post on mefi has just shot up Daypop. It's good that lots more people are going out and investigating new music - I imagine that's what everyone who's writing these blogs wants. However, you've also got to worry that two things might happen if this gets too big.
The first is that the blogs get hit with nasty bandwidth bills: almost all of them seem to be doing okay so far, but when this goes X5 or X50, as it may over the coming months, then more could be screwed. That would be a shame.

Well I'm not screwed yet, I've found a new web hoster that offers enough bandwidth to keep this ship sailing (touch wood) so if that pans out things will be back to normal in a few days. Stay tuned.

PS: Hope you all like the new design.

Dipping a toe back in the water

That 10-minute-long Isley Brothers track I had planned will have to wait, but until then here's something short-ish and sweet to keep things ticking over.

Interesting the things you find out when researching for this site, apparently Bobby Sheen was the Bobby in the Phil Spector-produced group Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans who had a big hit in 1962 with a freaky R&B version of "Zip-a-Dee Doo-Dah" and did that great version of "The Bells of St. Mary's" on Phil Spector's Christmas Album. Not a lot of people know that. Well I didn't at least. "Dr. Love" is a solo (non-Spector) Sheen single from 1966, it got nowhere on the charts but it's long been a biggie in the Northern Soul scene. It's a very groovy little number and the lyrics are a hoot, detailing the story of the titular love scientist who's such a hit with the ladies he has a PhD in Loveology. I wish I had one of those, I only have a BA in Graphic Design but that isn't much use with the ladies (unless they get turned on by typography). Taken from the Vol. 1 of the Talcum Soul series which is one of the finest introductions to Northern Soul you could wish for.

[Download]
Dr. Love - Bobby Sheen

The price of success

I think it was Oscar Wilde who said there was no such thing as bad publicity but he didn't have an mp3 blog. I've only been at this lark for a month or so but I'm dealing with bandwidth problems again because of a Reuters wire story on mp3 blogs that mentioned my site (very nice of them) which was picked up by Yahoo, USA Today and some Spanish language site called Terra. As a result I've had a massive spike in traffic and downloading that has put me way over my limit for the month and it's only the 11th. While it's very flattering to be listed as a blog of note and I'm glad people like what I'm offering but I don't want to keep shelling out more cash to increase my bandwidth again. I haven't decided as of yet how I'm going to deal with this in the long run but in the short term I've taken down all the mp3s posted so far (hopefully just for a few days) and shall be posting new ones on a more limited basis for a little while. In the meantime if anyone knows where I can get a shitload of bandwidth dirt cheap please let me know. Or any suggestions from anyone with similar problems would be most welcome. Cheers!

Boogie Friday

You've got to love someone who puts out albums called "A Real Mother for Ya" and "Funk Beyond the Call of Duty," Johnny 'Guitar" Watson started out as a mean blues guitarist in the 50s but in the 70s re-invented himself as a pimped-out gangster of funk with great success. This was a single from his 1976 album "Ain't That A Bitch" and is one freaky-deaky boogie machine with a groove that's so irresistable even my mother bought a copy when it came out. That must be where I get my funkalicious nature from.

[Download]
I Need It - Johnny "Guitar" Watson

Syreeta

Damn. I just found out that Syreeta Wright died of cancer. She was probably best known for being Mrs. Stevie Wonder and co-writing his gigantic hits "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" and "If You Really Love Me" with him. She had a fair bit of success of her own in the 70s with hits like the Stevie-produced "Your Kiss Is Sweet" and the duet with Billy Preston "With You I'm Born Again." This tune was her first recording for Motown in 1967 and was released under her real name. Written by Brian Holland and Ashford & Simpson (originally intended for Diana Ross) it's a beautiful, sad and tender ballad which sounds even sadder now.

[Download]
I Can't Give Back The Love I Feel For You - Rita Wright

Ever had one of those days...

... when work is a bit stressful, you're really tired, you can't be arsed to write a clever-dick post, and all you want to do is listen to some sweet, sweet Philly soul? Me too.

[Download]
Maybe Just Maybe (We Fall In Love Again) - Blue Magic

New faces

I don't just listen to crackly old soul music you know. Sometimes I listen to crackly NEW soul music too. My favourite new soul (or NuSoul or NeoSoul or whatever the hell they call it these days) album of last year was the debut of Stephanie McKay but despite the glowing review I gave it on my website the damn thing still hasn't been released in America. Why does no one listen to me? Maybe I should start a letter-writing campaign or a petition or chain myself to the railings outside Sony Music HQ or whoever is responsible. Produced by Geoff Barrow of Portishead, it's like soul and hip-hop mixed together in a bowl of treacle; full of chunky beats, crackly samples and strong bluesy vocals from Bronx-born Ms. McKay (who's a lot more enjoyable to listen to than Beth "Funky" Gibbon). "Sadder Day" is a slow and moody ballad that gives you the flavour (or should that be flava?) of the album and you can hear the whole thing at her website. The import price is a steep $30 (bugger me) but you can pick it up cheaper around the internet. Of course, if you live in the UK you can just pop down your local record emporium and pick it up for a few quid.

[Download]
Sadder Day - McKay

Come on baby, the human race needs you...

I've heard some cheesy pick-up lines in my time but asking a girl to have sex with you because you might be dead tomorrow is a new one on me. Not only that, but the very survival of the human race is at stake if you don't have sex right now! I know this is supposed to be a serious "message" song about war and all that but lyrics like "You better love me today/Tomorrow I may be gone/What you gonna do girls/On Earth alone?" make me think the Chairmen just came up with some new (and fiendishly clever) ploy to get inside women's pants and are only pretending to be socially-conscious because that's what the chicks dig. Whatever their motives, this is one seriously funky number by one of the (relatively) unsung great bands of the 70s. I highly recommend the compilation Everything's Tuesday which is full of cracking tunes and the wonderful, pleading voice of General Johnson. If that's not enough Chairmen for you there's also the whopping 60-track Finders Keepers set.

[Download]
Men Are Getting Scarce - Chairmen of The Board

Boogie Friday

Has anyone out there ever seen (or even heard of) the 1977 Richard Pryor movie "Which Way Is Up?" Even if it's a stinking pile of celluloid poo it has this cracking theme song going for it which is something in it's favor. Written and produced by the legendary Norman Whitfield who had conjured up similar funky movie music magic with Rose Royce and "Car Wash" the year before, this is seven wonderful minutes of slinky funk groove that goes right to your hips. Stargard were a Labelle-ish trio of sassy mamas with a taste for ridiculous costumes (see above) who didn't have much success beyond this track, but the real dazzling genius here is Whitfield. I have seen "Car Wash" and though it was a long time ago I'm pretty sure that the theme song was the best thing about it. I've a feeling the same could be said for "Which Way Is Up?"

[Download]
Theme From "Which Way Is Up?" - Stargard

Swoon

Terry Callier is a bit of a cult. I'll probably lose hipster Brownie points by admitting that I first heard him sing on a Beth Orton record, but so did a lot of other people and nobody's perfect. His obscurity is probably down to the fact that he's hard to classify; he's a little bit soul, a little bit folk and a little bit jazz (but thankfully, not a little bit country) often all at the same time. This is from his wonderful 1973 What Color Is Love? album and is so gorgeous it makes me weak at the knees. Callier has hippy tendencies which sometimes put me off him a bit, indulging in rambling nine minute songs about drugs and generally being a bit of the cliched New Agey folky in his lyrics, but he has an incredible voice and this tune is pure ear candy due to the baroque production of Charles Stepney who worked similar magic with Minnie Riperton and Earth, Wind & Fire. If you're having a bad day this is the musical equivalent of a hot bubble bath, let it wash over you and all your cares will float away.

[Download]
Just As Long As We're In Love - Terry Callier