I love this timeless, wistful number from The Band’s 1969 eponymous second studio album. I was reminded of it this week while listening to a Spotify playlist based on Neil Young.
Recently it seems my musical focus has been toward classics from the 60’s and 70’s. Feel free to suggest any that I might have missed.
The Band:
/RjK
A northern soul classic to start the week. This is relentless! Cleveland, Ohio band The Valentinos are mostly known for launching the careers of Cecil and Bobby Womack.
The Valentinos:
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*Artist #655
Sad news today about the iconic Richie Havens. This is an excellent cover version of a Beatles classic.
Richie Havens:
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*Artist #651
I found myself listening to Pet Sounds again recently. Even after all this time, and I can’t begin to think how many listens I still find it utterly staggering. Those melodies contrasting with the undercurrent of melancholy take my breath away.
/RjK
The enigmatic Phil Spector is on my mind today after reading this interesting piece in The Daily Beast about his impending final appeal against his conviction for murder. Also, he is just about to be portrayed by Al Pacino in a movie. This is one I definitely intend to watch!
It doesn’t much more classic Spector than The Ronettes. It doesn’t get much more classic than The Ronettes full stop.
The Ronettes and Phil Spector:
/RjK
There has probably been a Soul Music deficit on the blog recently. It is my first musical love and while I continue to get distracted by the shiny new things that I encounter I find myself returning to it over and over again.
What better way to redress this than with Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions. Curtis is a massive hero of mine and I started this blogging journey all those months ago with the incomparable Move On Up, which remains my favourite track of all time.
The reason I have been thinking of this song in particular, which is taken from the 1969 album The Young Mods’ Forgotten Story, is that it was sampled by Oddisee in his track The Carter Barron which was one of my favourites of 2012. I only managed to place this a couple of weeks ago after randomly stumbling across it on YouTube.
Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions – The Young Mods’ Forgotten Story:
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Guest blogger Rory McD takes us forward by taking us back
It felt right to add to the new site with a return to the past. And there are few who do it better than Harvey Phillip Spector. His brilliance as a producer was always tempered by the fact that he was a complete loon. I buried myself in his biography some year’s back as it traced his course from trembling dropout to maniacal studio whizz.
I like this song because it hangs somewhere in the balance between the two sides of his personality. The most delicate and innocent arrangement cushions some truly sinister lyrics. An unnerving reveal of the artists personality, in three minutes of pure honey.
Phil Spector back in the day:
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*Artist #609
A nice simple and smooth track to ease you into the week. It’s from Mary Wells who is one of my favourite Soul vocalists.It has that classic early Motown sound – pure, almost naive and full of perfect harmonies.
Mary Wells:
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I can be guilty of getting distracted by things that are shiny and new. As I mentioned yesterday, as part of choosing my 30 favourite tracks of 2012 I also reflected on the music I have posted recently. Just as I realised that I needed to post more World Music, I had also been neglecting my first musical love, Soul.
This has been somewhat addressed by posting James Brown, Fontella Bass and The Impressions over the past fortnight, but I can still never get too much Soul.
William Bell is a favourite who I was surprised that I hadn’t posted already. He is from Memphis, Tennessee and made his name on the hometown Stax label alongside such other great as Otis Redding and Issac Hayes. I first heard his music unwittingly, as he seems to be a favourite of hip hop producers who seem to sample him extensively.
A few years ago I had the thrill of fulfilling a dream and visited Memphis and Soulsville USA, the Stax rexording studio which is now a soul music museum.
A short post today having spent all day yesterday agonising over my top 30 tracks of 2012.
To my surprise, I realised over Christmas that I hadn’t posted this already. Quite an oversight on my part. It is taken from the classic 1965 Highway 61 Revisited album, it’s one of Bob Dylan’s high points (in fairness there are quite a few to choose from).
/RjK