People ask me why I love soul music so much. If I wanted to answer succinctly (not likely) I might just play them this song. It is amazing, boisterous and fun, it makes me want to MOVE. You might be more familiar with Lulu’s more recent cover version, but for me this is far superior. I can’t believe it was released in 1959!
Also, they employ a classic soul technique here of call and response. A little bit louder now…
/RjK
Brian Wilson – Good Vibrations
I am slightly cheating on my rule of only one song per artist today, having already posted The Beach Boys. But this version is taken from Brian Wilson’s amazing solo album smile so I am just about okay.
The reason I had to post it is that Brian Wilson played on Later with Jools Holland on Friday night and his version of this was so amazingly good it has left me incapable of thinking about anything else. The melody and harmonies are so rich and it manages to pull off the neat trick of sounding both sunny and wistful. I imagine when it was first released this blew some people’s minds.
Posting Massive Attack a few days ago made me think of this, by fellow Bristollian Tricky. It is taken from the album Maxinquaye which, when I first heard it, left me completely transfixed. It was so dark and brooding, sounding like it had come from another planet. I loved the fact that something sounding so stark and otherworldly could come from somewhere that seemed so real and tangible to me.
The sample used in the song is from another Stax hero, Issac Hayes.
What is it about summer and good weather that draws you to classic house music? This is one of my very favourites of the genre. I am sure I will post a few others before autumn rolls around.
Camera Obscura – French Navy
Great name for a band that. Glasgow band Camera Obscura, similar to The Answering Machine, come from a city with a rich musical heritage.
Scott Walker – Jackie
The sad news today about John Walker of The Walker Brothers made me think of this.
It is another song from the mythical paternal mix tape that is the distillation of many long car journeys in my youth to and from the Continent on family holidays. It is perhaps the song I most vividly recall – full of such eclectic and colourful lyrics and full of such flamboyance. This maybe a product of it being a translation of a song orignally sung in French by Jacques Brel.
Both Scott Walker and The Walker Brothers made some great music and are well worth some investigation.
If I could be for only an hour, if i could be for an hour every day.
A Tribe called Quest – Can I kick it?
It’s Saturday so I wanted to post something that makes me happy and I would want to hear at a party. Also, it is a while since I posted any hip hop. So I did the calculation, cranked the handle in my brain and it spat this out. It also puts a smile on my face and makes me want to move when I hear it. You can’t ask much more from a party anthem.