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
A friend sent me this earlier in the week. Initially, I dismissed it as not my kind of thing but slowly its infectious beat has crept into my brain. Also, it has a rather hypnotic video to match. All in all it rather reminds me of the Solange track I was (guiltily) obsessed by last year.
Laura Mvula is British singer, who is originally from Birmingham. This track is taken from her debut album Sing to the Moon which was released a few days ago.
Laura Mvula:
/RjK
*Artist #622
The first thing that struck me about this track from Atlanta band Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics were some pretty tasty horns. I might even say that they are fierce! It give the song such a classic sound, I can’t get enough of it.
The track is taken from the album of the same name, which was released in September.
Ruby Velle and The Soulphonics – It’s about time:
/RjK
*Artist #618
A friend (thanks Maggie) sent me this song a couple of days ago and I haven’t been able to stop listening to it or hearing it in my minds ear since.
I know very little about the song or artist other than I really like it and intend to try to find out more. It is taken from an Eccentric Soul collection which was released by Chicago Label The Numero Group.
I’m not sure I can put it any better than the person who uploaded the YouTube video: “rehearsal for I’ll Never Cry for Another Boy, sounds nothing like the version that was released, but what it lacks in gloss it makes up for in what can only be called sheer magic.”
/RjK
*Artist #616
Guest blogger Jimmy T highlights some silky smooth Neo-Soul
Raphael Saddiq is the inventor of Gospeldelic, and Stevie Wonder is a genius. In this track they team up to brilliant effect, I have never had the chance to listen to the full album in which this song appears, probably because this song is so good that I can never get beyond it.
I think that because he is blind Stevie manages to express more through his music than is possible otherwise. He is a legend in the truest sense of the word.
Raphael Saadiq:
/JT
*Artist #614
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:
/RjK
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:
/RMcD
*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:
/RjK
This track was released a couple of years ago by Californian singer Aloe Blacc. I liked it at the time but had forgotten about it until I heard it played in a bar while socialising over Christmas.
/RjK
*Artist #592