Tag Archive for 1970’s

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Lamont Dozier* – Why can’t we be lovers?

 

Lamont Dozier is Motown royalty. However, it wasn’t until this week that I knew it was as a singer and not just as part of the incredible and prolific Holland-Dozier-Holland song writing trio.

This is so fresh, it has been a while since I have been so moved by a soul artist I hadn’t heard before. I tend to judge a song by how many times I am compelled to listen to it in succession after first hearing it. On that scale this scored pretty high (I am still counting). 

Ooh baby, why can’t be lovers? Oh darling, from loving you I’ll never recover… 

RjK

*Artist #387

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Chic – Everybody Dance

Saturday. Night. Anthem.

The reason it came into my head is that I was reading this week that Nile Rodgers, who produced it is apparrently working with Daft Punk. That is an almost unimaginably fabulous combo. Enough to get even as stoic a chap as me excited. 

RjK

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Betty Wright – Clean up woman

Betty Wright is a hero. She is a favourite mine and I how sassy she is here. Also, what a killer bass line! She came into my mind when I noticed she was playing live on Jools Holland’s show on New Year’s Eve and I have wanted to post this since. 

RjK

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Elvis Costello – Watching the detectives

Short post tonight. I am feeling jaded after staying up to watch the Superbowl last night. What a game!

I found myself listening to a lot of Elvis Costello in the second half of last year. I had somehow forgotten how talented and prolific he is. Here is another illustration of this. 

RjK

18th January 2012

Marvin Gaye – Mercy, Mercy me (the ecology)

Short post today, feeling a bit harried this week.

This is taken from the sublime What’s going on? album. It came on the radio on my way home and reminded me of just how fantastic it is. Well played radio 2.

Random fact about Marvin – he added the “e” to the end of his birth name not because of any homophobia but because he wanted to emulate his hero the late, great Sam Cooke.

RjK

 

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David Bowie – Young Americans

David Bowie is 65 this week! It’s hard to imagine him as a pensioner. I doubt he will make much use of his free bus pass.

This perhaps isn’t his absolute best but it is so damn catchy I can’t resist it. 
/RjK

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Gonzalez – Haven’t stopped dancing yet



I am at my boy Rory’s wedding today. Big day! So I wanted to post something wedding-y and this came to mind. It is upbeat and relentless. The kind of thing I hope to hear on the dance floor later, while I am tearing it to pieces.

RjK

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Darondo – Didn’t I

There are predominately two types of song that I have featured on the blog. Ones that crept up on me slowly, requiring several listens before I eventually fell for them. Then there are the ones that kicked me in the butt the first time I heard them and I knew instantly that they were fly and my first reaction was to listen to them again (and again and again…) straight away.

This song fits into the latter category, in that I have been listening to it over and over since first hearing it recently. It is classic 70’s soul in the ilk of The Isley Brothers and Al Green. This guy’s voice couldn’t fit the song and genre any better.

RjK

Funkadelic – Maggot Brain


I am going to see these guys tonight at the Jazz Cafe and am pretty excited about it. It should be a great show, and an interesting crowd.

There is something distinctly epic about this track, like Jimi Hendrix and Neil Young meet Miles Davis in an early 70’s melting pot.

RjK

27th November

The Staple Singers – I’ll take you there

Classic soul tune. What an awesome, funky bass line!

RjK