Any Major Favourites 2020 – Vol. 1
HAPPY NEW YEAR. May this new year 2021, despite the hangover it carries over from the past annus horribilis, be a great one for us all. Stay healthy, keep others healthy, and please get vaccinated!
As every year, the mixes of the past year (excluding the In Memoriams and Christmas mixes) are revisited by the choice of one favourite song from them — like an annual Greatest Hits of Any Major Dude. I hope it is useful to provide a link to the relevant mix in the playlist, so that you might discover a compilation here or there which you might have missed.
The past year seems to have been dominated by Beatles: three Beatles Recovered mixes (first for Let It Be on the 50th anniversary of its release, then Please, Please Me and With The Beatles to mark John Lennon’s 80th birthday and 40th anniversary of his murder respectively), as well as the final Beatles Reunited mix in the series of fictional Beatles album comprising the Fabs’ solo tracks between 1970 and 1980.
There were fewer Originals mixes than in the previous year; still there were five of them: 1960s Vol.2, 1980s Vol. 2, Country, Rat Pack and Burt Bacharach.
Two mixes were tributes to giants in music who died within days of one another: Bill Withers and John Prine, two particular favourites of mine, for whom I wrote what I hope were worthy tributes. The collections were of covers of their songs, but it was a bitter-sweet joy to also revisit their original music with some intensity.
Withers features on this first volume of Any Major Favourites of 2020, representing the Let It Be Recovered mix. That track is followed by Gil Scott-Heron’s stunning reinterpretation of Withers’ wonderful Grandma’s Hands.Ask me which was my favourite mix of 2020? The Any Major Firsts mix in February was the most fun to put together. The most topical was Any Major Pandemic in March (who knew what lay ahead?). Without planning it, the Any Major Cole Porter Vol. 2 mix was also topical: It turned out that I posted it a day before the 30th anniversary of the release of the groundbreaking Red Hot + Blue charity compilation of modern interpretations of Porter songs.
My most-played mixes were Any Major Southern Rock, Any Major Protest Soul Vol. 3, Any Major Falsetto and Any Major Hits From 1970. What were your favourites?
The second volume follows next week, after the In Memoriam for December drops. Both packages include a PDF version of the post, with all the links below, for easy access.
1. The Ronettes – I Can Hear Music (1966)
The Originals: 1960s Vol. 2
2. Gene McDaniels – Tower Of Strength (1961)
The Originals: Burth Bacharach Edition
3. Laura Nyro – Up On The Roof (Live) (1971)
The Brill Building Vol. 1
4. Bill Withers – Let It Be (1971)
Beatles Recovered: Let It Be
5. Gil Scott-Heron – Grandma’s Hands (1981)
Any Major Bill Withers Songbook
6. Blues Image – Ride Captain Ride (1970)
Any Major Hits From 1970
7. Ozark Mountain Daredevils – Jackie Blue (1974)
Not Feeling Guilty Mix Vol. 10
8. Poco – A Good Feeling To Know (1972)
Any Major Happy Songs Vol. 2
9. Boondoggle & Balderdash – I’ve Been Delayed (1971)
Any Major Southern Rock
10. Al Kooper – Sam Stone (1972)
Any Major John Prine Songbook
11. The Rolling Stones – Fool To Cry (1976)
Any Major Falsetto Vol. 1
12. Katja Ebstein – Beide Seiten (1973)
Any Major Schlager Covers Vol. 2
13. Elvis Costello – Alison (1977)
Any Major Women Vol. 2
14. Joe Bataan – This Boy (1972)
Beatles Recovered: With The Beatles
15. The Pointer Sisters – Yes We Can Can (1973)
Any Major Protest Soul Vol. 3
16. Stevie Wonder – All I Do (1980)
Any Major Soul 1980
17. The Neville Brothers – Sweet Honey Dripper (1979)
Any Major Disco Vol. 8 – Party Like It’s 1979
Love you, Major Dude !
You have the greatest blog on this fuck### internet !
Good job all year round
Alain (from France)
PW = amdwhah
hahahahahaha
I agree with alain
Mike (from SE-Asia)
I agree with the positive comments above! I dig a site that teaches me stuff on subjects for which I’d previously self-anointed myself to be an expert. Humbling in a good way, I say.
If it’s not too much to ask, wow would a re-up of your Beatles re-covered mixes on RG be a New Years gift. Love that stuff. Hopefully that request doesn’t come across as a nag, but more in deference to you so I can hear more of your discoveries/posts! (I nabbed all your disco mixes after you graciously re-upped them).
Voila, all in one RG package:
https://rapidgator.net/file/b92b658ce2a13dbb6925039ad6be2c40/BRed-all.rar.html
a belated thx for the RG… I will investigate this post haste!
Continuing to learn a lot. Greetings from NC.