Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

The Grim Reaper had another busy month. He took from us the soul legend Solomon Burke, who only a few months ago delivered a new album, and the brilliant General Johnson, a wonderful vocalist whose Chairmen of the Board shone in the early “70s, and who wrote such hits as Patches (Clarence Carter), Want Ads (Honey Cone) and Freda Payne’s Bring The Boys Home  (the video for You Got Me Dangling On A String is rather nice). Reggae fans will mourn the soulful Gregory Isaacs, and post-punk fans the passing of The Slits” German-born punster Ari Up.

A handful of artists died young this month, perhaps the saddest of these deaths is that by suicide of Dutch singer Antonie Kamerling. I usually don”t include classical music people, but I am making one exception this month. As always, all songs listed are compiled in one mix.

Trevor Fleming, guitarist of Northern Irish heavy metal band Sweet Savage, on October 2
Sweet Savage – Killing Time (1981) Read more…

Here is the second volume of “60s soul tracks. Some of these songs are pretty well-known, but many others are hidden or forgotten gem. Eddie Holland”s track is as much a gem as it is a historical curiosity; it”s one of the few records he released on Motown before Berry Gordy decided that Eddie, with Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier, should work exclusively as one of the label”s in-house writer/producer teams, in particular for the Supremes and the Four Tops . Read more…

This mix is not a representative overview of “60s soul. Some essential artists are not represented here: Sam Cooke, James Brown, Temptations, Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield (well, he is very much present on Major Lance”s deceptively titled track. And the Five Stairsteps, with a song released four years before their famous Ooh Ooh Child, evidently have heard a Curtis song or two before). There are some well-known tracks on here ““ hopefully not too obvious, though ““ complementing some less famous tracks. Perhaps some songs will provide surprises. Dionne Warwick takes time out from bacharaching to provide a nearly camp girl-band type song. Johnny Adams gives Release Me, most famous in its Engelbert Humperdinck rancid cheese version, the soul treatment, showing that this is in fact a great song. Read more…