Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

Last year we had two compilations of classic Christmas soul (plus one featuring newer stuff); here is a third volume. It kicks off with a spoken intro by The Jackson 5. Jermaine is crying – and the manner in which that is established always makes my smile – and he needs yuletide comforting. Wonderful stuff.

Towards the middle we get socially conscious. Stevie Wonder, still just 17 years old, hopes for no hunger and no tears, but for peace and equality of man. Then the Harlem Children’s Choir, who sound rather older than children, provides some seasonal black consciousness from the ghetto, with an inevitable riff on notions of white Christmas.

The Shurfine Singers borrow a concept from Simon & Garfunkel as they sing Silent Night as a news broadcast runs in the background, speaking of war, protest and strife. As on the Simon & Garfunkel track, the news (now at 11pm, not at 7) becomes increasingly louder to drown out the hymn of peace. Unlike the S&G version, the news cast ends with an editorialising Christmas wish.

This is followed by two examples of a genre that was fairly popular at one point: the Vietnam Christmas song. We previously encountered Change Of Pace on Covered With Soul Vol 5 covering Freda Payne’s Bring The Boys Home as the more alliterative Bring My Buddies Back; here they send a letter from Vietnam, explaining that they won’t be home this Christmas. Johnny & Jon’s Christmas In Vietnam is representative of the anger African Americans felt at the disproportionate number of young black man drafted for the war. So, where in a country song the lament of an unhappy Christmas because “there’s Vietcong all around me” might provoke defiant flag waving, this sombre Southern Soul number seethes with resigned anger.

Things soon become Christmassy again, and we come across a pre-fame Luther Vandross with his band Luther, who perform a song he wrote (two years earlier, he had co-written David Bowie’s Fascination). Vandross clearly didn’t like the two Luther LPs; he later bought the rights to them and prevented their re-release.

James Brown closes the set with the second song called Soul Christmas; needless to say, it’s not the same song as Count Sidney’s. I rather enjoy JB thanking and loving his fans (“people like you don’t grow on trees”) for their support, urging them to come to his next show. So it’s a bit ironic that the man should have died on Christmas Day…

This is the first of three Christmas sets I’ll post this year: the others will cover country music and the acoustic lot. All are timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and I’m making front and back covers for all.

TRACKLISTING
1. Jackson 5 – Christmas Won’t Be The Same This Year (1970)
2. Count Sidney and his Dukes – Soul Christmas (1967)
3. Clarence Carter – Back Door Santa (1968)
4. Otis Redding & Carla Thomas – New Year’s Resolution (1967)
5. Mack Rice – Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’ (1972)
6. Brook Benton – You’re All I Want For Christmas (1963)
7. George Grant and the Castelles – At Christmas Time (1960)
8. The Staple Singers – The Last Month Of The Year (1962)
9. Aretha Franklin – The Christmas Song (1964)
10. The Temptations – My Christmas Tree (1970)
11. Stevie Wonder – Someday At Christmas (1967)
12. Harlem Children’s Chorus – Black Christmas (1973)
13. The Shurfine Singers – Silent Night & The 11 O’Clock News (1968)
14. Change Of Pace – Hello Darling (1971)
15. Johnny & Jon – Christmas In Viet Nam (1965)
16. Margie Joseph – Christmas Gift (1976)
17. Bill Withers – The Gift Of Giving (1972)
18. Donnie Hathaway – This Christmas (1970)
19. Luther – May Christmas Bring You Happiness (1976)
20. Smokey Robinson – A Child Is Waiting (1970)
21. Linda Lewis – Winter Wonderland (1976)
22. The Impressions – I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (1976)
23. The Supremes – White Christmas (1965)
24. Booker T. & The MG’s – Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (1966)
25. James Brown – Soulful Christmas (1968)

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I noticed only after uploading this mix that I replicated a track from Any Major Christmas Soul Vol. 1. Ah well, the hazards of spreading things out over a year…

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CHRISTMAS MIXES WITH WORKING LINKS:
Any Christmas Soul Vol. 1
Any Christmas Soul Vol. 2
Any Smooth Christmas (2010)
Any Christmas In Black & White
More Christmas In Black & White
Christmas Mix, Not For Mother
Any Major X-Mas Mix
PLUS: Rudolph, a victim of prejudice

More Christmas Mixes
More Mixes

I was going to post another mix today, but when one of your favourite songwriters dies, priorities take over. And much as I love Jerry Leiber’s repository of great lyrics – he was he Cole Porter of rock & roll – my tribute is for Nickolas Ashford, who with his wife Valerie Simpson wrote, produced and recorded over their career of five decades some of the finest soul music.

They deserve a lifetime achievement award alone for that string of wonderful songs they wrote and produced for Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell: Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing, Your Precious Love, You’re All I Need To Get By, The Onion Song, Keep On Lovin’ Me Honey and, of course,  Ain’t No Mountain High Enough. The Onion Song is rumoured to have used Valerie Simpson’s voice to stand in for the ailing Terrell (Simpson has denied it).

The inclusion of Kenny Lattimore and Chanté Moore’s version of You’re All I Need To Get By – it was that or that by Martha Reeves and GC Cameron – is rather nice, I think. Lattimore and Moore are a married couple, hopefully as solid (yeah!) as the writers of the song.

Then there were the Diana Ross songs: Reach Out And Touch (Somebody’s Hand), Surrender Remember Me, The Boss, It’s My House etc. Or the double-whammy for Ray Charles: I Don’t Need No Doctor and Let’s Go Get Stoned.

One clarifying note: the version of Reach Out And Touch Somebody’s Hand was the first hit for Diana Ross after she left The Supremes; the version here is that by the Ross-less Supremes with The Four Tops. This is, of course, the song which Ashford & Simpson sang at Live Aid with Teddy Pendegrass.

Well, let the music do the talking. Here is a mix of Ashford & Simpson songs (which is so good, it did not need the inclusion of their great hit, Solid).

Nick Ashford died of cancer on August 22, 2011. He was 69. May he rest in peace.

TRACKLISTING:
1. Ashford & Simpson – It Seems To Hang On (1978)
2. Quincy Jones with Chaka Khan – Stuff Like That (1981)
3. Diana Ross – It’s My House (1979)
4. Al Jarreau & Randy Crawford – Your Precious Love (1982)
5. Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell – Keep On Lovin’ Me Honey (1968)
6. The Marvelettes – Destination Anywhere (1968)
7. Ray Charles – Let’s Go Get Stoned (1966)
8. John Mayer & John Scofield – I Don’t Need No Doctor (2010)
9. Marlena Shaw – California Soul (1969)
10. Rosetta Hightower – Remember Me (1971)
11. Aretha Franklin – Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing (1974)
12. Gladys Knight & The Pips – Didn’t You Know (You’d Have To Cry Sometime) (1969)
13. Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell – The Onion Song (1969)
14. The Four Tops & The Supremes – Reach Out And Touch (Somebody’s Hand) (1970)
15. Chaka Khan - I’m Every Woman (1978)
16. Diana Ross – Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (1970)
17. Kenny Lattimore & Chanté Moore – You’re All I Need To Get By (2003)
18. Roberta Flack – Uh-Uh Ooh-Ooh Look Out (Here It Comes) (1989)
19. Brothers Johnson – Ride-O-Rocket (1978)
20. Ashford & Simpson – Found A Cure (1979)

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I must confess that I find it hard to mourn the death of Amy Winehouse. Don’t think of me as a man possessed of a callous heart. Of course the death of a young, talented woman is a cause for sadness. But Ms Winehouse did not die in a tragic accident, as Otis Redding did, nor did a dread disease claim her, as it did Minnie Riperton. Amy Winehouse was a victim of her own excess; she lived a self-destructive lifestyle which first wounded her talent and then (as it appears) ended her life. My empathy is directed at her parents and those who loved Amy Winehouse without abetting her destruction.

There is tragedy in a life wasted, and sorrow in a talent not entirely fulfilled. I have both of Winehouse’s albums. They are good, but I couldn’t share in the excess of excitement that surrounded the Winehouse phenomenon. To be sure, she was a smart lyricist; a worthy successor of Marlena Shaw. Even her music was agreeable, in the way of a good pastiche. I don’t doubt that she had an affection for old soul music, and she treated the genre with great respect. But — and here’s the rub for me — why go for the copy if there is still so much of the source material to explore?

There is an argument  that Winehouse’s retro offerings encouraged her listeners to explore the canon of old soul music. I don’t buy that. Winehouse’s success encouraged the proliferation of mediocre mono-named songstresses who say they are inspired by the soul music of the 1960s (and, usually, “all the old blues guys”, who then go unnamed).

So, to help the proponents of the former argument, here is a mix of songs which I might have named “If You Like Amy Winehouse, You’ll Like This”. I’ll call it, without any efforts to engage my imagination (for shortly I have a dessert to prepare for dinner), Any Major Soul Women. I imagine that Amy Winehouse would have been inspired by many of these singers; maybe she even based her sound on some of them. I can imagine her singing most of these songs.

As always, the mix is times to fit on a CD-R. Due to shortage of time, alas, no covers.

TRACKLISTING:
1. Anna King – Sittin’ In The Dark (1964)
2. Baby Washington – You Are What You Are (1966)
3. Betty Everett – Until You Were Gone (1964)
4. Rhetta Hughes – Cry Myself To Sleep (1969)
5. Irma Thomas – She’ll Never Be Your Wife (1973)
6. Laura Lee – Mama’s Got A Good Thing (1972)
7. Ila Vann – Got To Get To Jim Johnson (1967)
8. Erma Franklin – You’ve Been Cancelled (1969)
9. Fontella Bass – I Surrender (1966)
10. Marlena Shaw – Go Away, Little Boy (1969)
11. Mitty Collier – Little Miss Loneliness (1963)
12. Tami Lynn – I’m Gonna Run Away From You (1972)
13. Candi Staton – I’ll Drop Everything And Come Running (1972)
14. Jean Knight – Pick Up The Pieces (1970)
15. Sandra Wright – Wounded Woman (1974)
16. Esther Phillips – I Don’t Want To Do Wrong (1972)
17. Margie Joseph – Sweeter Tomorrow (1971)
18. Lyn Collins – Take Me Just As I Am (1973)
19. Marie ‘Queenie’ Lyons – Your Thing Ain’t No Good Without My Thing (1970)
20. Linda Jones – Don’t Go (I Can’t Bear To Be Alone) (1972)
21. Barbara Mason – I Miss You Gordon (1973)
22. Rosetta Hightower – I Don’t Blame You At All (1971)
23. Tammi Terrell – That’s What Boys Are Made For (1968)
24. Brenda Holloway – I’ll Always Love You (1964)
25. Dee Dee Warwick – We’re Doing Fine (1965)
26. Jean Wells – Have A Little Mercy (1968)
27. Lorraine Ellison – Try (1969)
28. Ruby Andrews – Overdose Of Love (1972)

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1960s Soul
1970s Soul
More CD-R Mixes

The second SAVED! compilation gets righteous on your asses with a churchful of glorious ’70s soul – and it does so without going for the easy option of all those Stevie Wonder songs about God being a zillion lightyears away with whom you should have a talk (and did George Michael realise that he was singing a song of praise to God when he had a hit with Mary J Blige?).

While neither Stevie, Aretha nor Marvin feature here, Al Green does, though with a song that precedes his lesser Reverend Green phase. And, of course, Curtis Mayfield testifies, in his ways of social consciousness.

Most acts here did the Christian thing on the side; some of them may even be unexpected inclusions, such as soul songbirds Honey Cone, the legendary O’Jays, future disco diva Loleatta Holloway, Disco Inferno’s The Trammps, funksters The Bar Keys or William DeVaughn, whose Be Thankful For What You Got (featured in Any Major Soul 1974-75) is one of the widely forgotten giants of ’70s soul.

However, a couple of acts here did specialise in gospel music (remember, the genre is much broader than flamboyantly robed brethren clapping their hands or Winans knock-offs testifying in the glib ways of contemporary Christian music). The coolest of those was The Relatives. The gospel-funk-soul group recorded in the first half of the 1970s in Texas. Led by the Reverend Gean West, they released just three singles, and didn’t appear on CD until the small Hum Records label put out a collection of their released and unreleased material in 2009. The Relatives never broke through because the music was too funky for gospel, and too sanctified for the secular market. Reverend West is now in his mid-70s, and he’s still singing and preaching.

Another gospel-soul act is Detroit’s excellent The Rance Allen Group, whom we met before on Covered With Soul Vol. 5, with their reworked version of The Temptations’ Just My Imagination (which became Just My Salvation), and in the Rapture Day special, with the astonishing There’s Gonna Be A Showdown.

The third act here specialising in Christian messages is The Sons of Truth, whose testimony was rooted in ghetto life. They recorded on Stax’s Gospel Truth subsidiary. They are not to be confused with The Soul Children, who were an act put together by Isaac Hayes and David Porter.  Their lead singer John Colbert later had a solo career as J Blackfoot.

Only one track on this mix was a proper hit (though God Bless This Child, performed here beautifully by Vivian Reed, is a classic). Stoned Love was The Supremes‘ first post-Diana Ross hit. Written in 1970, the song’s writer, Kenny Thomas, said the word “stone” refers to the strength of the bond of brotherhood the lyrics are calling for. It was supposed to be “Stone Love”, which is what The Supremes are singing, but a misprint on the label turned it into “Stoned Love”, and it was left at that.

Check out the drum break in the track by Carolyn Franklin (sister of Aretha and Erma) – has it been sampled to good effect yet? I also love the drumming on Sounds of the City Experience’s Babylon. And talking of family connections, Milton Wright is the brother of Betty Wright (and obviously not the father of flight pioneers Orville and Wilbur).

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R (without the bonus track, obviously). Home-made covers are included.

TRACKLISTING
1. Honey Cone – Sunday Morning People (1971)
2. The Soul Children – All Day Preachin’ (1972)
3. Carolyn Franklin – Soul Man (1976)
4. Al Green – Jesus Is Waiting (1973)
5. Curtis Mayfield – I Plan To Stay Believer (1971)
6. Ernie Hines – A Better World (For Everyone) (1972)
7. Milton Wright – Job (1977)
8. The O’Jays – Make A Joyful Noise (1976)
9. The Relatives – Rap On (1974)
10. Sounds of the City Experience – Babylon (1976)
11. The Glass House – Touch Me Jesus (1971)
12. The Supremes – Stoned Love (1970)
13. The Rance Allen Group – God Is Where It’s At (1972)
14. The Sons Of Truth – God Help Us All (1972)
15. Loleatta Holloway – H.E.L.P. M.E. M.Y. L.O.R.D. (1975)
16. The Trammps – Pray All You Sinners (1972)
17. Jerry Butler – A Prayer (1972)
18. The Bar Kays – God Is Watching (1972)
19. The Impressions – Preacher Man (1973)
20. The Four Tops – The Good Lord Knows (1972)
21. Vivian Reed – God Bless The Child (1976)
22. William DeVaughn – We Are His Children (1974)
BONUS TRACK: Donny Hathaway – Thank You Master (For My Soul) (1970)

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Saved! Vol. 1

The fifth instalment in the Covered With Soul series departs from the custom of the previous four which featured mostly covers of non-soul originals. This mix consists of soul covers of soul songs.

One would imagine that soul covers of soul songs would be more frequent than those of non-soul tracks in the genre’s repertoire of the late 1960s and ’70s, but I’ve found that this is not necessarily so, at least not as far as reasonably well-known tracks are concerned, and if one ignores the Motown custom of its roster all recording the same songs.

Two song titles included here will at first sight seem unfamiliar: The Rance Allen Group’s Just My Salvation reworks The Temptation’s Just My Imagination, giving it a gospel spin. Change Of Pace change their relationship with the soldiers in Vietnam from that in Freda Payne’s Bring The Boys Home. The buddies of the Change Of Pace title are depicted on the cover of the album, though the rest of the LP is standard soul fare, including a Christmas song I neglected to include on the soul Christmas mixes.

David Ruffin’s version of I Want You Back appeared on an album that was completed in 1971 but remained unreleased until 2004, because Motown saw no commercial promise in it. It’s a pity, because it’s a fine album. Don’t feel too sorry for the former Temptations man; he was not a great man – but what a singer!

One performer on this set also provides the original for a song covered here.  The wonderful Marlena Shaw covers Roberta Flack’s Feel Like Makin’ Love and provided the original for California Soul, covered here by Brenda & the Tabulations.

Mike James Kirkland is not very well known, though his song Hang On In There (from the same album as Baby I Need Your Loving) was covered last year by John Legend and The Roots. The marvellous Lyn Collins, former backing singer for James Brown, also deserves to be better known. She sang my favourite version of Don’t Make Me Over (featured here in a cover by the likewise superb Barbara Jean English), which featured on my Bacharach mix a couple of years ago.

Philly Soul singer Barbara Mason specialised in cheating songs, and with her cover of Billy Paul’s Me And Mrs Jones she takes on one of the greatest songs of that kind. Billy’s version is unclear whether the two people actually consummate their love; in her eight-minute version Mason ends up coming face-to-face with Mrs Jones (not the one Billy met with; the wife of her Mr Jones), and we learn that she and Mr Jones did have sex, including the intimate noises Mr Jones makes!

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R.

TRACKLISTING
1. David Ruffin – I Want You Back (1971)
2. Mike James Kirkland – Baby I Need Your Loving (1972)
3. Ronnie Dyson – Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely (1973)
4. Betty Wright – Ain’t No Sunshine (1972)
5. Dee Dee Sharp Gamble – Ooh Child (1977)
6. Lyn Collins – Never Gonna Give You Up (1972)
7. Rotary Connection – Respect (1969)
8. Change Of Pace – Bring My Buddies Back (1971)
9. The Rance Allen Group – Just My Salvation (1970)
10. Ernie Hines – A Change Is Gonna Come (1972)
11. Hank Ballard – Slip Away (1969)
12. The Delfonics – A Lover’s Concerto (1968)
13. Brenda & the Tabulations – California Soul (1970)
14. Marlena Shaw – Feel Like Makin’ Love (1975)
15. Sidney Joe Qualls – If You Don’t Know Me By Now (1974)
16. Barbara Mason – Me & Mr. Jones (1973)
17. Maxine Nightingale – Reasons (1975)
18. The Soul Children – Signed, Sealed, Delivered (1978)
19. Zulema - Wanna Be Where You Are (1972)
20. Barbara Jean English – Don’t Make Me Over (1972)
21. Jean Wells – I’ll Drown In My Own Tears (1968)
22. Blossoms – Grandma’s Hands (1972)

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The first Christmas soul mix was very popular. Thank you to all the kind people who took the time to say nice things about it (and about my efforts here in general). Comments are always appreciated.

As I pointed out in the blurb for the first mix, I held back a lot of great stuff for the follow-up. So this one might be even better than the first compilation. You be the judge of that.

Be advised that in this batch are a couple of tracks that might not appeal to your mother: Rufus Thomas (Carla’s dad) makes little effort to disguise his punnery, missing out only on Santa coming only once a year. It may be necessary to point out that Clarence Carter’s Back Door Santa is not an invitation for yuletide anal sex (and here we welcome the lost and probably disappointed Google user); the back door of the title is just that: a door. With hinges.

Charles Brown, who appears here with Christmas In Heaven (not the Monty Python song), incidentally wrote one of the great Christmas pop songs: I’ll Be Home For Christmas. As in the first mix, the voice on the Rotary Connection’s track – here a psychedelic take on Silent Night – is that of the great Minnie Riperton. And there is a justification for the inclusion two takes of Silent Night: they are both excellent and very different from both, one another and the standard versions.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R. It also includes a really good (though long) bonus track and front/back covers.

TRACKLISTING
1. J Hines and the Boys – A Funky Christmas To You
2. Smokey Robinson – Christmas Everyday
3. Huey ‘Piano’ Smith and the Clowns – Silent Night
4. Lee Rogers – You Won’t Have To Wait Till Christmas
5. Carla Thomas - All I Want For Christmas Is You
6. Brook Benton – Soul Santa
7. Roscoe Robinson – Tis Yuletide
8. Baby Washington – White Christmas
9. Stevie Wonder – Christmastime
10. Solomon Burke – Presents For Christmas
11. Electric Jungle – Funky Funky Christmas
12. Rufus Thomas – I’ll Be Your Santa, Baby
13. Clarence Carter – Back Door Santa
14. Jimmy McGriff - Christmas With McGriff Pt1
15. The Twistin’ Kings - Xmas Twist
16. Otis Redding – Merry Christmas, Baby
17. The Soul Stirrers - Christmas Joy
18. The Persuasions – You’re All I Want for Christmas
19. Meditation Singers – Blue Christmas
20. Gene Toone – Baby Boy
21. Charles Brown – Christmas In Heaven
22. The Emotions - Black Christmas
23. Rotary Connection – Silent Night
24. Marvin Gaye – Purple Snowflakes
25. The Supremes – Silver Bells
26. The Temptations – Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
27. The Funk Brothers – Winter Wonderland
Bonus track: Ohio Players – Happy Holidays

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Previous Christmas mixes:
Any Major Christmas Soul Vol. 1
Any Major Christmas in Black & White
More X-Mas in Black & White
Christmas Mix (Not For Mother)
Any Major Christmas Mix
Rudolph – Victim of Prejudice

Christmas got funky, Christmas got soul! The analytical eagle-eyed reader may have deduced, by astute observation of the post’s title, that this year’s Christmas mix is dominated by soul music, and that there will be at least one more compilation. Indeed, there will be at least a second mix of Christmas soul tracks from the heyday of the genre – the 1960s and ’70s. I have held back a few cracking numbers anyway. Still, this is a really great bunch of songs. Whoever I got the utterly gorgeous opening track from, I am particularly grateful to. The Flirtations, one of the great girl-bands of the late 1960s, are unjustly forgotten. One singer appears twice on this selection: Minnie Riperton first duets with Sydney Barnes on the Rotary Connection’s Christmas Love, and later reappears as the lead singer of the girl group The Gems, whom she split from in 1965.

As always, the mix is times to fit on a standard CD-R. It also includes a front and back cover.

TRACKLISTING
1. The Flirtations – Christmas Time Is Here Again
2. Rotary Connection feat. Minnie Riperton – Christmas Love
3. The Emotions – What Do The Lonely Do At Christmas
4. The O’Jays – Christmas Ain’t Christmas (Without The One You Love)
5. William Bell – Everyday Will Be A Holiday
6. The Salem Travellers - Merry Christmas To You
7. Isaac Hayes - The Mistletoe And Me
8. The Staples Singers – Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas
9. Soul Duo – Just A Sad Christmas
10. Carla Thomas – Gee Whiz, It’s Christmas
11. Kim Weston – Wish You A Merry Christmas
12. Sam Cooke – Christmas Means Love
13. The Supremes – Twinkle Twinkle Little Me
14. The Skyliners - You’re My Christmas Present
15. Stevie Wonder – A Warm Little Home On A Hill
16. The Soul Stirrers - Christmas Means Love
17. The Gems – Love For Christmas
18. The Jackson 5 - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
19. Al Green – I’ll Be Home For Christmas
20. Marvin Gaye – I Want To Come Home For Christmas
21. Ike & Tina Turner – Merry Christmas Baby
22. Gary Walker - Santa’s Got A Brand New Bag
23. Otis Redding – White Christmas
24. Joe Tex – I’ll Make Everyday Christmas (For My Woman)
25. Soul Searchers – Christmas In Vietnam
26. Smokey Robinson & The Temptations – The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)
27. Booker T. & The MG’s – Jingle Bells

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Previous Christmas mixes:
Any Major Christmas in Black & White
More X-Mas in Black & White
Christmas Mix (Not For Mother)
Any Major Christmas Mix
Rudolph – Victim of Prejudice

This year I won’t be doing a Halloween mix. For those who missed last year’s mixes, take a look at Any Major Halloween Vol. 1 (creepy stuff) and Any Major Halloween Vol. 2 (less creepy stuff). Meanwhile, fortify yourself with some soul music.

Of all the mixes that I compile for this blog, I think doing the soul covers is my favourite. For one thing, as I go through my collection of music, I get to listen to some gorgeous soul albums I had badly neglected. For another, it’s great fun to hear how different artists, even contemporaries working in the same genre, arrive at very different interpretations of the same song. Some of the songs featured on this mix have appeared on the first three mixes.

But do compare the wonderful Zulema’s take on A Whiter Shade Of Pale with that of The Dells on Volume 2, or Vessie Simmons’ lovely version of Dedicated To The One I Love to that of The Temprees on Volume 3,

My favourite on this lot probably is Anna King’s soul-storming remake of the country song Tennessee Waltz, in which King shows just why she was a backing singer for James Brown. Though Laura Lee’s version of the standard Since I Fell For You is also quite astonishing (compare that to Mavis Staples rendition last time).

Soul fans will note the irony of Clarence Carter singing I’d Rather Go Blind…

TRACKLISTING
1.   Zulema - A Whiter Shade Of Pale (1972)
2.   Vessie Simmons – Dedicated To The One I Love (1971)
3.   Anna King – Tennessee Waltz (1964)
4.   Mary Wells – 500 Miles (1968)
5.   Clarence Carter – I’d Rather Go Blind (1969)
6.   Mavis Staples – Son Of A Preacher Man (1969)
7.   Freddie North – Rainy Night in Georgia (1975)
8.   Donny Hathaway – Misty (1970)
9.   Tyrone Davis – It’s All In The Game (1973)
10. Laura Lee – Since I Fell For You (1972)
11. Isaac Hayes – For The Good Times (1971)
12. Aretha Franklin – The Weight (1969)
13. Marsha Hunt – Keep The Customer Satisfied (1971)
14. Jerry Butler – Something In The Way (She Moves) (1970)
15. Roberta Flack – Just Like A Woman (1970)
16. Walter Jackson – Someone Saved My Life Today (1976)
17. Ronnie Dyson – Bridge Over Troubled Waters (1970)
18. Junior Parker – Tomorrow Never Knows (1971)

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The third Covered In Soul compilation may draw from the most eclectic original material yet. So in the space of four songs we move from Grateful Dead favourite Casey Jones via The Beatles to a Barry Manilow song and a Roy Orbison song reinvented by Al Green. A couple of show tunes get the soul treatment. Sammy Davis Jr’s wonderful I’ve Gotta Be Me is lovely in Vivian Reed’s hands, while I would regard the Supremes and Temptations collaboration on The Impossible Dream more as a curiosity (hence its position as a postscript).

The previous two mixes featured few covers of soul songs; this compilation includes four (it is a coincidence that they are sequenced in a group). All of them are true reinterpretations of the originals. I particularly love the tangents in Freddy North’s cover of David Ruffin’s My Whole World Ended.

Baby Huey’s funkified instrumental version of California Dreaming might be my favourite here, alongside White’s Manilow cover. Manilow haters are well advised to maintain an open mind when they come to Could It Be Magic: Anthony White’s interpretation is masterful. White is not very famous; the Philly singer released only two LPs.

Trivia fans will be interested to learn that Claudia Linnear, an accomplished backing singer who released only one album, was the inspiration for both the Rolling Stones’ Brown Sugar and David Bowie’s Lady Grinning Soul.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and a front and back cover is included.Incidentally, if you’d like to match the covers reproduced on the CD artwork to the featured artist, look in the MP3 files ID3 tag. Several of the songs included here are, to my knowledge, out of print. When they’re not, be sure to buy the albums that include the songs that you like in particular — if you like the album fillers, you’ll surely like the rest of the album.

TRACKLISTING
1. Grady Tate - Moondance (1974)
2. Lou Rawls – For What It’s Worth (1968)
3. Claudia Lennear – Casey Jones (1973)|
4. Bloodstone – Something (1973)
5. Anthony White – Could It Be Magic (1976)
6. Al Green – Oh, Pretty Woman (1972)
7. Zulema – Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow (1972)
8. The Temprees – Dedicated To The One I Love (1972)
9. Baby Huey – California Dreamin’ (1971)
10. Ronnie Dyson – Fever (1970)
11. Minnie Riperton – Les Fleur (1970)
12. Mavis Staples – Since I Fell for You (1970)
13. Freddie North – My Whole World Ended (1975)
14. Brothers Unlimited – A Change Is Gonna Come (1970)
15. Tammi Terrell – This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You) (1968)
16. Darrell Banks – When A Man Loves A Woman (1969)
17. Freddie Scott – Let It Be Me (1967)
18. Vivian Reed – I’ve Gotta Be Me (1970)
19. Madeline Bell – Make It With You (1971)
20. Four Tops – Cherish (1967)
21. Diana Ross & the Supremes and the Temptations – The Impossible Dream (1968)

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Covered With Soul Vol. 1
Covered With Soul Vol. 2

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The first mix of soul covers was very popular (and great fun to compile), so I hope that subsequent compilations will also find an audience.I think I have at least two more in the works.

There are a few surprising covers in this mix. Maxayn reshape the Rolling Stones song entirely, while the wonderful Zulema Cusseaux, a gifted songwriter in her own right, perhaps even tops my favourite solo McCartney track. And could there be soul versions of Wild Thing? Jagger’s ex-squeeze Marsha Hunt gave it a shot.
Scanning the tracklisting, there are some wonderful strong women who have been much neglected among the 20 featured acts. We previously encountered the unjustly forgotten Barbara Jean English with the utterly astonishing So Many Ways To Die on Any Major Soul 1972-73; here she improves on one of Bread’s better songs. Tami Lynn never had much of a big audience; her cover of Smiley Lewis’ One Night Of Sin (featured here as the original of Elvis’ One Night) shows why that was a great shame. Unlike those two, Denise LaSalle has had a notable career, even if she is often remembered for the horrible 1985 novelty hit My Toot-Toot. Here LaSalle is allowed to break a rule: being featured with a song already covered on the first mix.

The idea with these compilation is to take songs that are better known in versions outside the soul genre, but there must be exceptions. The test is in how much the covering artist appropriates the song. The amazing Marlena Shaw does that with the Main Ingredient’s Don’t Want To Be Lonely, and The Temptations give I Heard It Through The Grapevine their spin (like the two better-known versions by Gladys Knight and Marvin Gaye, it was produced by Norman Whitfield).

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R , and a front and back cover is included. Several of the songs included here are, to my knowledge, out of print. Be sure to buy the albums that include the songs that you like in particular — if you like the album fillers, you’ll surely like the rest of the album.

TRACKLISTING
1. Al Green – I Want To Hold Your Hand (1969)
2. Maxayn – You Can’t Always Get What You Want (1972)
3. Zulema – Maybe I’m Amazed (1972)
4. Donnie Hathaway - He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother (1971)
5. The Smith Connection – Rainy Days And Mondays (1972)
6. Isaac Hayes – I’ll Never Fall In Love Again (1971)
7. Candi Staton – In The Ghetto (1972)
8. Thelma Houston – Don’t Make Me Over (1981)
9. Marlena Shaw – Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely (1973)
10. Barbara Jean English – Baby I’m A-Want You (1972)
11. Solomon Burke – He’ll Have To Go (1964)
12. Denise LaSalle – Harper Valley P.T.A. (1973)
13. Tami Lynn – One Night Of Sin (1972)
14. The Temptations – I Heard It Through The Grapevine (1969)
15. The Intruders - Mother And Child Reunion (1973)
16. Family Brown – When I Need You (1977)
17. Billy Paul – Your Song (1972)
18. Joe Simon – Help Me Make It Through The Night (1973)
19. The Dells – A Whiter Shade Of Pale (1969)
20. Marsha Hunt – Wild Thing (1971)

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