JUNE PLAYLIST

1.  The Shirelles – ‘Everybody’s Goin’ Mad’ (1963)

“What is this world coming to, with all the crazy things folks do?” What a lovely world it must’ve been when all the Shirelles had to worry about was girls in wigs, boys wearing sunglasses after dark, beatniks rejecting conversation and diplomats doing the Twist.

2.  Kenny Wells – ‘Isn’t It Just A Shame’ (1966)

The use of space and silence within this utterly exquisite soul record is sheer perfection.

3.  Ann-Margret – ‘It’s A Nice World To Visit (But Not To Live In)’ (1969)

Ann-Margret in angry, stamping, fuzzed up punk mode. Lee Hazlewood mans the controls.

4.  Paula – Mi Habitación (1970)

Portuguese songstress Paula Ribas sings in Spanish on this opening cut to fantastico new compilation and summer soundtrack, Desafinado: Spanish Bossa Nova 1963/1975, out now on Adarce Records.

5.  Neil Young – ‘Mellow My Mind’ (1973)

We’ve been blessed with a couple of essential Neil Young releases from the vaults in recent months. First the acoustic The Hitchhiker and now the plugged-in Roxy: Tonight's the Night Live, recorded in September ’73.

6.  Millie Jackson – ‘Tell Her It’s Over’ (1975)

Its predecessor, the love-tanged Caught Up, spawned Millie Jackson a deserved R&B Grammy nomination the previous year for her version of ‘If Loving You Is Wrong I Don't Want To Be Right’ and Still Caught Up follows the same template, an even split of songs sung from the point of view of a wife and mistress. Soap operas are seldom as enthralling as this.

7.  Ann Sexton – ‘I’m His Wife (You’re Just A Friend)’ (1977)

I’ve been on a massive Ann Sexton high after her incredible show in London this month and have hammered The Beginning, Ann’s second and, to date, last album. Criminal she’s not made more records.

8. The Higsons – ‘Conspiracy’ (1982)

So many questions pale into insignificance next to “Who stole my bongos?”

9.  Tracyanne and Danny – ‘Alabama’ (2018)

Tracyanne Campbell’s voice makes me melt at the best of times but here remembering her Camera Obscura bandmate and friend, Carey Lander, who died in 2015, it’s difficult not to well up. “When I’m an old lady I’ll still miss you like crazy”. Heartbreaking.

10.  Starcrawler – ‘I Love LA’ (2018)

These young Americans know how to put on a show. Guitarist Henri Cash throws the shapes of Wayne Kramer and Jack White while singer Arrow de Wilde, a scrawny pile of bones wrapped in muslin and blood, staggers around zombified like Carrie after her prom. At the Garage in Highbury last week they riffed and chugged their way through a bunch of two-minute dumb ass glam rockers before ending the gig playing on the shoulders of the audience. Pure theatre. Hurrah!