1. THE ASSOCIATION-"Looking Glass"
Musical trippiness with bending harmonies from the crucially overlooked "Renaissance" album.
2. THE GRAHAM BOND ORGANIZATION-"Long Tall Shorty"
Hard core! The mighty shadow and company wail on their "solo" debut release. Jack Bruce blows a mean harp, Bond wails vocally and on the Hammond, Dick Heckstall-Smith blows a mean jazzy sax and Ginger Baker thumps the tubs, mod jazz indeed.
3. DINAH WASHINGTON-"Soulville"
I'd long only been familiar with the Aretha Franklin's version on Columbia (via The Zombies cover on their Rhino "Live at the BBC" LP back in the day) and was recently surprised to discover this one, the original! Though Aretha's cover is a killer I find this one far superior!
4. FREDDIE ROACH-"Googa Mooga"
B-3 greatness from Kent's amazing "From Route 66 To the Flamingo" LP/CD compilation.
5. ANDY LEWIS-"Complexity"
Uptempo, poppy, zippy and very cool track from Mr. Lewis latest, a Mini LP called "41" (watch this space for a review shortly).
6. MARK MURPHY-"This Train"
Reworking/rewording from his rare as hell Immediate album "Who Can I Turn To", a patchy affair at best, this is one of the LP's best tracks!!
7. JACQUELINE TAIEB-"La Plus Belle Chanson"
Whimsical fairground organ driven bit of candy floss Gallic pop from the "Swinging Mademoiselles" CD compilation, I first heard this a few weeks back in Starbucks and thanks to Shazam! I was able to find out who it was. Ain't technology grand?
8. THE TEARDROP EXPLODES-"And The Fighting Takes Over"
A way out Julian Cope exercise from the band's second and last LP "Wilder" with cascading trippy trumpets, heavy chorus effect on muted guitar and spooky keyboards whilst Jools sings in his best disenfranchised/disembodied vocal.
9. DONOVAN-"Mellow Yellow"
Brilliant psych/jazz infusion where rag time meets Swinging London all thanks to the impeccable arrangements of one John Paul Jones. The best "pot party" ever committed to vinyl!
10. OTIS REDDING-"(Sittin' On The)Dock Of The Bay"
This was my very first introduction to Otis Redding at the age of 9 or 10 with a 3 LP V.A. "Best of the 60's" set on the dubious mob-run Adam VIII record label. It's become my favorite Otis track, I think the vocals are perhaps most bluesy thing he's ever done with an almost ominous weariness about them. Add Steve Cropper's string pulling with the delicate balance of the Bar-Kays horns and you've got one beautiful tune.
2 comments:
"(Sitting) On the Dock of the Bay" is one of those songs like "Green Onions" & "Soul Man" (all of them Stax songs) that survive repeated playing on oldies stations. It's sad to think that Otis died just days after recording this song.
"Mellow Yellow" is a song that I remember hearing as a lad of 4-5 yrs. playing on the radio, along w/"Bonnie & Clyde" by Georgie Fame (I still like them both).
Finally, is that "Train" song the same one that appeared on a MOJO magazine CD in 2000 about the "Sounds of '65" (which I still have & treasure)?
Funny you mention "This train" Joe, it's not the same as "Go Go Train" from the "Mojo" CD, though they both namecheck musicians! "This Train" name checks jazzers whilst "Go Go Train" namechecks Brit r&b folks (the original version by Jackie Paine name checks US soul/r&b singers).
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