Monthly Archives: February 2011

Smokey Robinson and The Miracles – Tracks of my tears

This track caused me to become that crazy guy on the tube today. It came on my mp3 player and about half way through the song I realised I was singing along out loud with my eyes closed. Not a particularly proud moment. A good song though.

It is one of the very first soul songs I ever loved, before I even really knew what soul music was. I still like it as much today as the first time I heard it. I know it is a bit cheesy but there is just something about it I find utterly compelling.

“Baaby, baby, baby – take a goood look at my face. You’ll see my smi-ile looks out of place…”

/RjK

Thin Lizzy – The boys are back in town

The sad news about Gary Moore over the weekend got me thinking about Thin Lizzy, with whom he sometimes played.

I hadn’t listened to this song in quite a while and to hear it fresh is pretty startling. It is full of vigour and expertly captures the feeling of being young and boisterous. Like no one in the world can touch you. Not to mention that guitar riff…

/RjK

Neil Young – Cortez the killer

This is an under-appreciated gem, an epic, taken from the album Zuma. I like it for two reasons in particular – It contains some amazing guitar riffs, probably some of my favourite ever. Secondly, I love the song’s imagery, wistful and poetic highlighted by a great opening:

He came dancing across the water with his galleons and guns. Looking for the new world and that palace in the sun. On the shore lay Montezuma with his coca leaves and pearls, in his halls he often wandered with the secrets of the worlds…

Wow!

/RjK

Sister Sledge – Lost in music

This is the song that gives this blogs it’s name. It’s also a stomping disco classic. It’s the kind of tune that the DJ in my dream nightclub knows very well.

For anyone who is intending to get a little loose this evening, this is the kind of track I hope you encounter somewhere along the way.

/RjK

Yes Giantess – You were young

This might be a little insubstantial but it is energetic and fun and sometimes that is enough.

/RjK

Camp Lo – Luchini (AKA this is it)

I am always a little concerned that I am turning into cliche when I talk about my affection for hip hop music. I don’t advertise it too widely but ultimately I am unapologetic.

There are a couple of things in particular that appeal to me (along with several that don’t). The easy bravado that runs through a lot of tracks and the way it manifests itself through sometimes astonishingly vibrant language. This, along with the heavy sampling of and reference to soul music (my first musical love) make much of hip hop hard for me to resist.

This one displays both of these qualities in spades.

/RjK