JULY PLAYLIST

1.  B.B. King – ‘Never Trust A Woman’ (1964)

“She'll beg you for clothes and diamonds, Until you're all in hock, And then you'll come home one mornin', And your key won't fit the lock, Don't ever trust a woman, Until she's dead and buried, Well, one day she'll say that she loves you, The next day she'll throw you in the street.”

2.  Donald Byrd – ‘Beale Street’ (1967)

Blue Note coolness from trumpeter Byrd and crew but it’s the underpinning piano of Cedar Walton that gives this is it’s finger clicking mod-jazz snap.

3.  Bobby Bland – ‘Deep In My Soul’ (1967)

One of Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland bluest, deepest and most soulful moments. And that’s saying something.

4.  Marva Holiday – ‘It’s Written All Over My Face’ (1968)

From the pop end of the northern soul spectrum, which’ll cheese off the purists, but I really like this.

5.  Lou Bond – ‘Why Must Our Eyes Always Be Turned Backwards’ (1974)

This folky-soul message song is a masterpiece. Lou Bond cataloguing and worrying about the troubles of the world in 1974. Beautifully sung and the arrangement is spot on. Released on Lou’s eponymous album for Stax subsidiary, We Produce. Lou never made another record and disappeared.

6.  Leroy Hutson – ‘All Because of You’ (1975)

Leroy Hutson (pictured above) played the London Barbican the other week and was, quite correctly, feted like the soul superstar he is. His voice remains in fantastic shape and the band were sensational in creating the rich arrangements Hutson originally worked so hard on. This song one of many highlights alongside ‘Cool Out’, ‘Lucky Fellow’, ‘Don’t It Make You Feel Good’, ‘Love The Feeling’, ‘So in Love With You’, ‘Lover’s Holiday’ etc.

7.  Pharoah Sanders – ‘You’ve Got To Have Freedom’ (1987)

Not everyone will get past Sanders’ squawking sax opening but for those who do, hold on tight, this is some ride.

8.  Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 – ‘Bad Man Lighter (B.M.L)’ (2018)

Youngest son of Fela Kuti, and using his old band, Seun keeps his father’s afrobeat fire burning by smoking where the hell he wants. “Spark up your righteousness!” From new album, Black Times, which formed the majority of an infectious Walthamstow gig this month.

9.  The Molochs – ‘I Wanna Say To You’ (2018)

LA duo the Molochs go all baggy, like a cross between the Stone Roses and, say, The Dylans. Like it’s 1990 all over again.

10.  The Spitfires – ‘Sick of Hanging Around’ (2018)

Some folk are a bit sniffy about the Spitfires, and they do come across as over-earnest, but I like their spirit and attitude. Lyrically they always want to SAY SOMETHING about the modern world, about the young idea. When they match that to a cracking tune and throw in Dexys-style horns like this on new album Year Zero, what’s not to like?

UNSUNG: BOBBY 'BLUE' BLAND (2016)

Broadcast on 7 December 2016 in the USA as part of the Unsung series, this 35-minute documentary takes an affectionate look at the life and career of Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland and needs no further sales pitch from me. Enjoy.

Watch here: Unsung.

MARCH PLAYLIST

1.  Big John Patton – ‘Fat Judy’ (1965)

A classic and one of the templates for Acid Jazz. I hadn’t heard the complete album it came from, Oh Baby, until recently and if, like me, you like Hammond grooves you’ll love it.

2.  Bobby Bland – ‘I Ain’t Myself Anymore’ (1966)

Another sensational Bland (pictured above) track to add to the list with one record dealer describing it far better than I could: “A cocktail of understated horns, his controlled gravel-coated throat, purrs the lyrics out, like a sun-basking lion, in wait for the kill.”

3.  The Lovers – ‘Whatcha Gonna Do Baby’ (1966)

Formed by a group of serving officers at the Deal Air Force base in Northern California as the Emotions, a name change to the Lovers saw one 45 in 1965, ‘Do This To Me’. A beautiful, Impressions-like follow-up featuring ‘Whatcha Gonna Do Baby’ failed to happen and languished in the vaults for 50 years until Kent rescued in this month for their Harmony of the Soul comp.

4.  The Gaylads – ‘Sounds of Silence’ (1967)

Tis brave to attempt a Simon and Garfunkel song but Jamaican vocal group The Gaylads do so with some style, giving it a graceful rocksteady overhaul.

5.  Baby Huey – ‘Listen To Me’ (1970)

Within the space of a month in 1970 Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Baby Huey all checked out, with Huey (James Ramey to his folks) not even making it to 27, falling short by a year. His Curtis Mayfield produced album The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend was released posthumously and opens with this fat funker.

6.  The 8^th Day – ‘You’ve Got To Crawl (Before You Walk)’ (1971)

The full refrain being “You’ve got to crawl before you walk back into these arms of mine”. Storming early 70s soul from Holland, Dozier & Holland’s Invictus label.

7.  William De Vaughn – ‘Be Thankful For What You Got’ (1974)

It was hearing Arthur Lee and Love’s 1975 cover that got me interested in this song and then by complete coincidence, 25 years after it was released, I finally got around to listening to Massive Attack’s Blue Lines and it was on there too. All versions are good but De Vaughn’s cool and unhurried soulful vibe is sheer class.

8.  Neil Young – ‘Barstool Blues’ (1975)

Suitably woozy, boozy and ragged; a strong contender for my favourite Neil Young song.   

9.  Altered Images – ‘A Day’s Wait’ (1981)

‘Happy Birthday’ was a big bouncy pop hit but not typical of what lay on the rest of that album. Produced by Siouxsie & the Banshees’ Steve Severin it’s not too far removed from the Banshees own JuJu, out at the time; obviously not as terrifyingly dark (what is?) but the guitars and drums are very similar in places. 

10.  The Coral – ‘Million Eyes’ (2016)

I’m usually fairly tepid towards the Coral but they put on a great show at the Kentish Town Forum this month with heavy-hitter ‘Million Eyes’ from new LP Distance Inbetween rocking like a late 60s Fillmore gig with an eyeball shredding lightshow to match. 

MAY PLAYLIST

A sample of tracks that have graced the lugs during this merry month of May.

1. Lionel Hampton – “Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop” (1945)
Jack Kerouac in The Early History of Bop: “Lionel Hampton had made a record called “Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop” and everybody yelled it and it was when Lionel would jump in the audience and wail his saxophone at everybody with sweat, claps, jumping fools in aisles, the drummer booming and belaboring on his stage as the whole theatre rocked”. Apart from the small fact Hampton played the vibes, not the saxophone, it’s a neat description. Altogether now, Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop!

2. Bobby Bland – “Farther Up The Road” (1957)
What a nice documentary that was on BBC4 this month. When I get to curate the Meltdown Festival, he’s booked.

3. King Coleman – “The Look-Key, Doo-Key” (1960)
Coleman cut a bunch of records using James Brown’s band. The mashed potato lunacy of “Loo-Key, Doo-Key” being one of them.

4. Ike Quebec – “Blues For Ike” (1961)
It takes a certain person to wear a beret and get away with it. Tenor blower Quebec not only wears it well, but looks like he’d knock seven shades of shit out of you if you even gave it a second glance. He puts in a suitably sturdy showing but its Freddie Roach’s penetrating organ that steals the show.

5. Albert King – “Cockroach” (1969)
I’m no big fan of showy blues guitarists but King effortlessly flits between smooth and sleaze on this Stax flipside.

6. The Jam – “Private Hell” (1979)
Young Weller was such a misery guts it’s no wonder he now seeks to let his mullet down in such bacchanalian fashion. This depressing tale of cynicism and repression boiled over and scorched his badger bowling shoes as 21 year old lad.

7. Camera Obscura – “Honey In The Sun” (2009)
I was told Tracyanne Campbell is the daughter of Clare Grogan. Oh, how I was that were true. It’s not but should be.

8. Jeffrey Lewis and The Junkyard – “Broken, Broken, Broken Heart” (2009)
The happy-clappy skiffle shuffle fails to camouflage poor Jeffrey’s broken heart. Sorry, his broken, broken, broken heart. That’s pretty broken by anyone’s standard.

9. The Horrors – “Who Can Say” (2009)
Any move toward a shoegazing revival should be stomped out immediately, and every Eighties synthesizer should be landfilled rather than recycled, but I’m gradually thawing towards Primary Colours and “Who Can Say” in particular.

10. Manic Street Preachers – “William’s Last Words” (2009)
Nicky Wire’s vocal attempts always make him sound like one of those sad, deluded, forty-something freaks that get wheeled out for public ridicule during the auditions of X-Factor or Britain’s Got Talent. “I fink I can be as big as the Beatles”. A shaky stab at would could be interpreted as Richey’s suicide note (although reading the original text, I don’t think it’s that simple) almost brings a tear to the eye for different reasons to normal.