The O’Jays – Love Train
I was at a wedding party last night – the music was so fun. Throwing some shapes to cheesy music surrounded by people in high spirits, what could be better?
I wanted to post something of that ilk and this came to mind. Get on board…
The Clash – Train in vain
Classic track from seminal punk icons.
Prince – I wanna be you lover
I am an unashamedly big Prince fan. A lot of my friends don’t really seem to understand why. I know he is a little eccentric (to put it mildly) but at the end of the day he made great music and a remarkable amount of it.
This is one of his earlier numbers, taken from the Prince album. It is classic Prince – funky and imaginative, it makes me want to move every time I hear it.
The other thing I like about Prince is that he was the basis for the funniest sketch I have ever seen.
Donny Hathaway – Jealous Guy
I like covers that give songs a fresh sound, particularly one as fresh as this. Posting John Lennon yesterday made me think of this. Donny Hathaway’s was something of a tragic story but he still managed to make some great music.
John Lennon – Instant Karma
I have been listening to Liam Gallagher’s new band a bit recently. Their song The Roller in particular and I couldn’t work out what it reminded me of until I finally worked out it was this. It gets less airplay than some of his other work but I really like it.
Bee Gees – More than a woman
Marvin Gaye – Come get to this
Taken from the sublime, and somewhat misunderstood Let’s get it on which followed on from the equally impressive What’s going on? I can’t imagine there have been many better back to back offerings that that. This particular track is one of his lesser known gems.
/RjK
P.S. Further to this post I put my mind to thinking about back to back albums that I love. Feel free to disagree/add your own:
Van Morrison – Astral Weeks and Moondance (Naturally)
Neil Young – After the Gold Rush and Harvest
Bruce Springsteen – Born to run and Darkness on the edge of town
The Beatles – Abbey Road and Let it be
Prince – Around the world in a day and Sign of the times
Some more modern releases:
Michael Jackson – Thriller and Bad
Oasis – Definitely maybe and (What’s the story) Morning glory?
De la soul – 3 feet high and rising and De la soul is dead
Bjork – Post and Homogenic
Outkast – Aquemini and Stankonia
Slightly bizarrely the first track a youtube search just now of “Fleetwood Mac Dreams” returned was Sir Mix-a-lot’s Baby got back. Erm…
Anyway, it took me a long time to realise how good Fleetwood Mac were. I think I might still be coming to terms with just how good. I listened to Rumours again recently for the first time in a while and it is simply staggering. It’s hard to single out one but this track probably shades it as my favourite.
Have you any dreams you’d like to sell…
/RjK
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
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