Of the lot here, I really like Keni Stevens, a British soulster of distinctive style and voice who never made it big. I previously posted my favourite song of his, 24-7-365 (download it here).  Somehow he was not marketable because he was not sufficiently upbeat. Soul lost a fine artist, who released only three albums.

A cursory listen to Charlie Singleton’s track will doubtless cause the savvy listener to call to mind Cameo’s 1985 hit Single Life. Singleton was the guitarist of Cameo until the Single Life album. So all he’s doing is to rip off himself. I hear that lately he’s been performing with Cameo again.

Three songs featured here have a tangential link: Mica Paris and Paul Johnson (the latter featured also on Any Major Soul 1986-87) perform a song from Mica’s 1988 debut album. Another singer who duetted with Paris on the album was the greatly gifted Will Downing, featured here with a track from his eponymously titled debut album. And the gorgeous song here by Al Jarrreau from 1989 originally appeared on Mica Paris’ debut.

This mix features a slate of new artists, but also a few singers in the twilight of their careers. Shortly after releasing his Take It To The Streets album, on which the lovely Doo Be Down appeared, Curtis Mayfield suffered the accident that paralysed him. Johnnie Taylor had been a Stax headliner in the early 1970s and made the transition to disco. By the 1980s, he was on the fringes of soul music, though he made a brief comeback in 1996, four years before his death at 62.

New York-born Nicole McCloud never made it big, despite creating a minor soul classic with New York Eyes, her duet with Timmy Thomas (which featured on the New York City Mix Vol. 2). Her  1989 album Rock The House, a mostly poorly produced effort, was Nicole’s second. She released two more, in 1996 and 2002.

TRACKLISTING
1. Womack & Womack – Teardrops
2. Johnnie Taylor – You Knocked My Heart Out Of Line
3. Al Jarreau – So Good
4. Curtis Mayfield – Do Be Down
5. Teddy Pendergrass – 2 A.M.
6. Chuckii Booker – Turned Away
7. BeBe & CeCe Winans - Lost Without You
8. Mica Paris & Paul Johnson – Words Into Action
9. Keni Stevens – Hurt This Way
10. Maze featuring Frankie Beverley – Can’t Get Over You
11. Charlie Singleton – Good Bad Ugly
12. Will Downing – That Good Morning Love
13. Anita Baker – Lead Me Into Love
14. Regina Belle – It Doesn’t Hurt Anymore
15. Brenda Russell – Piano In The Dark
16. Narada Michael Walden – I Belong
17. Nicole - So Lost Without Your Love

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Any Major Soul 1970-71
Any Major Soul 1972-73
Any Major Soul 1974-75
Any Major Soul 1976-77
Any Major Soul 1978-79
Any Major Soul 1980-81
Any Major Soul 1982-83
Any Major Soul 1984-85
Any Major Soul 1986-87

This mix should persuade those who believe that soul music was dying by the mid-1980s of their error. There is much that’s great on this mix, and among tracks that did not make the cut.

Some of the songs are surprising. Cameo are more usually associated with funk and camp codpieces, not deep soul music as this duet between Larry Blackmon and Barbara Mitchell of Hi Inergy (who featured on Any Major Soul 1976-77). Denise LaSalle, during the time covered by this mix, had a hit with the awful Don’t Mess With My Toot Toot; the song here, an old-fashioned southern soul number, preceded that atrocity  by a year. And those who associate Amii Stewart only with thumping Euro disco will hear another side to the long-legged Washington-born and Italy-based singer. And if there has been a perception that Deniece Williams had sold out to pop with Johnny Mathis duets and Let’s Hear It For The Boy, Black Butterfly (from the same album on which the latter appeared on) will dispel that notion.

The 1980s saw much collaboration and crossing over between jazz fusion and soul. We saw this on the Any Major Soul 1980-81 mix, on which the great Grady Tate provided vocals for Grover Washington. Likewise, here Roberta Flack guests with Japanese saxman Sadao Watanabe on the very lovely Here’s To Love. Likewise Bobby Womack guests on Crusaders’ saxophonist Wilton Felder’s cumbersomely titled but gorgeous (No Matter How High I Get) I’ll Still Be Looking Up You. Womack, who had previously sung on Felder’s Inherit The Wind, was accompanied by Alltrinna Grayson. Grayson was discovered by Womack while singing in a burger joint; when Patti LaBelle dropped out of Womack’s tour, he roped in Grayson (her vocals here suggest that she was an astute replacement for LaBelle).

Bernard Wright, like his childhood friend Tom Browne, had a jazz-funk background and recorded on Dave Grusin’s GRP label, though Mr Wright, on which the featured song appeared, was released on EMI subsidiary Manhattan.

Paris L. Holley is the son of a bandleader for Billie Holliday, and recorded in Chicago, apparently only this one single — but what a magnificent single! Google reveals that there is a music producer and web developer of that name, but I have no idea if that’s the same person.

A few veterans from the 1970s were making comebacks: The Intruders had been recording since 1961, though their breakthrough came only in 1968. After success through the 1970s, two of the trio left to become Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the other member, Eugene Daugherty, became a truck driver. In 1984, he left the road to reform The Intruders with a new line-up, and scored a hit with Who Do You Love. The Spinners went back even further, when as the Domingos they shared the stage with the Four Ames, who’d become the Four Tops. After a stint with Motown and various personnel changes, the Spinners enjoyed their most successful period in the 1970s. Their last big chart hit was in 1980.

And Teddy Pendergrass made his comeback with Love Language in 1984, two years after the car crash that left him paralysed. Truth be told, Love Language was mostly inferior by TP’s standards (he’d hit a final high in 1988 with his Joy LP). In My Time is standard ’80s soul crooning fare, but I think TP’s understated vocals are rather touching.

If I had to choose favourites from this set, the contenders would certainly include the two opening tracks, and the Cameo song and Patrice Rushen’s High In Me from her Now album, the tape of which I wore out driving on the Autobahn in 1984. Hear a podcast interview with Rushen at the fine jazz blog Straight No Chaser.

TRACKLISTING
1. Sadao Watanabe & Roberta Flack – Here’s To Love
2. Bill Withers – Oh Yeah
3. Paris - I Choose You
4. Amii Stewart – Friends
5. Alexander O’Neal – A Broken Heart Can Mend
6. Bernard Wright – Just When I Thought You Were Mine
7. Denise LaSalle & Latimore – Right Place Right Time
8. Wilton Felder feat. Bobby Womack & Alltinna Grayson – (No Matter How High I Get) I’ll Still Be Looking Up To You
9. Deniece Williams – Black Butterfly
10. Cameo - I’ll Never Look For Love
11. Patrice Rushen – High In Me
12. The Intruders – Who Do You Love?
13. S.O.S. Band – Just The Way You Like It
14. DeBarge – Time Will Reveal
15. The Spinners – Love Don’t Love Nobody
16. Teddy Pendergrass – In My Time

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More mixes
More ’80s Soul
’70s Soul

I thought that this series would come to a natural end with 1979, but the early 1980s were not as deficient as one might imagine. The difference resides in the volume of quality and the widening chasm between the great and the utterly abject in the ’80s. A lot of bad soul music was created in the ’80s, and the genre has never recovered. The next couple of installments of Any Major Soul will, I hope, highlight the bright spots in a declining genre.

The two opening tracks, by Clyde Milton and Sam Butler, are apparently quite difficult to find. Both are excellent, and would merit being regarded as ’80s soul classics – if they were more widely known outside the Northern Soul scene. Milton’s single sold on eBay for $199 last month; a promo copy of Butler’s single was going for $500 last week. I have not been able to find out anything about either singer.

Ruby Wilson has had a prolific if not necessarily high profile recording career, releasing ten albums. She has performed with the likes of Isaac Hayes and B.B. King, and apparently is a hugely popular on the Memphis circuit. She suffered a mild stroke in June last year, and has recently taken to the stage again. Check her out on Facebook, where visitors can learn how to donate towards her medical bills and order her greatest hits CD.

The Movers provide a fix of South African soul-funk. I can’t recall from which excellent site I got this track from, but I ought to express my appreciation for it.

The late Grover Washington Jr is not an obvious choice for a soul compilation, but Be Mine (Tonight) from the excellent Come Morning album does fit the bill. Grady Tate, a terribly under-appreciated singer, delivers the cool and very sexy vocals. The smash of the cymbal in the midst of the instrumental break at 5:45 is one of my favourite moment in popular music.

Con Funk Shun were founded in 1968 and after 1972 worked as a backing band at Stax. During that time they released a few albums on a local Memphis label. Their breakthrough came when they were signed by Mercury where they released a string of albums of varying quality.

Odyssey are better known for their great disco numbers, such as Native New Yorker and Going Back To My Roots. If You’re Looking For A Way Out is a slow soul song that will melt your heart, telling the story of a break-up from the point of view from a woman who still loves her man but has given up.

TRACKLISTING:
1. Clyde Milton – I’d Rather Leave On My Feet
2. Sam Butler – I Can’t Get Over Loving You
3. Grover Washington Jr feat Grady Tate - Be Mine (Tonight)
4. Maze feat Frankie Beverly – The Look In Your Eyes
5. The Dramatics - You’re The Best Thing In My Life
6. Ruby Wilson - Seeing You Again
7. Lou Rawls - I Go Crazy
8. Odyssey - If You’re Looking For A Way Out
9. The Jones Girls - At Peace With Woman
10. The Movers – Give Me A Day
11. Chaka Khan – Heed The Warning
12. Mtume - So You Wanna Be A Star
13. Tavares - I Don’t Want You Anymore
14. Patrice Rushen – Message In The Music
15. Ebonee Webb – Do Me Right (Everybody Needs A Little Love)
16. Con Funk Shun – All Up To You
17. Peaches & Herb - I Pledge My Love To You
18. Commodores – Lucy

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And a few bonus songs which didn’t fit on the CD-R length mix, of which Al Jarreau’s Spain in particular is quite astonishing:

Al Jarreau – Spain.mp3
Earth, Wind & Fire – I Wanna Be With You.mp3
Larry Graham – One In A Million.mp3
The Crusaders feat. Bill Withers – Soul Shadows.mp3
Ray Parker Jr – A Woman Needs Love.mp3
Teena Marie – I Need Your Lovin’.mp3
Stephanie Mills & Teddy Pendergrass -Two Hearts.mp3

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More Any Major Soul

* * *

Willie Mitchell, 81, soul/jazz musician, producer, boss of Hi Records, on January 5.
Willie Mitchell – Mercy Mercy Mercy

Robert ‘Squirrel’ Lester, 67, second tenor in ’70s soul group The Chi-Lites, on January 22
The Chi-Lites – Stoned Out Of My Mind

Sandra Wright, 61, gospel, blues and soul singer, on January 11.
Canned Soul – Unbelievable

Teddy Pendergrass, 59, soul singer, on January 13
Teddy Pendergrass – It Don’t Hurt Now

Mano Solo, 46, French singer, on January 10
Mano Solo – Je Suis Venu Vous Voir

Lhasa De Sela, 37, American-born cross-genre singer, on January 1.
Lhasa De Sela – El Desierto

Alistair Hulett, 58, Scottish-born and Australia-based socialist folk singer, on January 28.
Alistair Hulett – L’Internationale

Kate McGarrigle, 63, Canadian folk singer, on January 18.
Kate & Anna McGarrigle – I’m Losing You

Carl Smith, 82, country singer and songwriter and ex-husband of June Carter, on January 16.
Carl Smith – Air Mail To Heaven

Bobby Charles, 71, songwriter and country/rockabilly singer, on January 14.
Bobby Charles – Time Will Tell

Shirley Cadell, 78, country singer and ex-wife of Willie Nelson, on January January 27.
Shirley Cadell and the Aristocrats – The Big Bounce

Mick Green, 65, English guitarist with Johnny Kidd and Billy J Kramer, on January 11
Johnny Kidd and the Pirates – Shakin’ All Over

Jay Reatard, 29, American punk musician, on January 13
Jay Reatard – It Ain’t Gonna Save Me

Gregory Slay, 40, drummer of alt-rock band Remy Zero, on January 1.
Remy Zero – Save Me

Pauly Fuemana, 40, singer of New Zealand band OMC, on January 31.
OMC – How Bizarre

Young Cliff, member of rap kreyole group Barrikad Crew, in Haiti’s earthquake on January 12.
Barikad Crew – Toup pou yo

Yabby You, 63, reggae singer and producer, on January 12.
Yabby You – Zion Gate

Lyn Taitt, 75, influential reggae guitarist, on January 20
Lyn Taitt and the Jets – Unity

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More In Memoriam

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The cull to bring the 1976/77 mix down to CD-R length was more brutal than I had anticipated. So much good music that failed to make the cut (hence all the bonus tracks)! Here then is a mix of a few fairly well-known songs, a couple of album tracks, and a handful of quite rare — and certainly not familiar — numbers. A few of these rarities are not of great sound quality; I hope the excellence of the music compensates for that.

To me the centre piece in the mix is Marlena Shaw’s Yu-Ma/Go Away Little Boy, the boy of the title being a bit of a waster whom Marlena knows she ought to get rid of — but when he nibbles her earlobes…ooooh! Here Shaw recorded her big-bandish song from the 1969 The Spice Of Life album and added the Yu-Ma monologue. It is marvellous.  Shaw is treasured among the soul and jazz cognoscenti, but wider fame has sadly eluded her. Shaw’s career, which started with a performance at age 10 at the Harlem Apollo, was certainly distinguished. She was not yet out of her teens when she co-wrote the jazz classic Wade In The Water with Ramsey Lewis. Careering between jazz and soul, she fronted the Count Basie band from 1968-72, and before that came up with some soul gems, such as California Soul and Liberation Conversation (the latter features on Any Major ’60s Soul Vol. 2). By the mid-‘70s she had no recording contract. A CBS record exec heard her sing Go Away Little Boy at a nightclub, and signed her up, giving her career a new lease.

The singer with the most off-putting name in this set must be Bunny Sigler. Born Walter Sigler, the nickname refers to the timing of his birth: two days before Easter 1941. The Philadelphia native was an early collaborator with Philly Soul godfather Leon Huff. He had a couple of minor hits in the 1960s, including 1967’s Let The Good Times Roll (featured on Any Major ’60s Soul Vol. 1), and was central in the ascent of Philly Soul in the ’70s, not only as a singer but also as a writer and producer. Like Marlena Shaw, Sigler continues to perform today.

Billy Paul’s Let ‘Em In is a cover of the Wings song, but with entirely different lyrics, paying tribute to Malcolm X, Martin Luther Kind, Louis Armstrong et al. Vastly superior McCartney’s original, a truth I hold as self-evident.

Arthur Alexander occupies a rare, perhaps unique, position in music history: he had his original songs covered by the Beatles (Anna), Elvis Presley (Burnin’ Love) and the Rolling Stones (You Better Move On). More of a writer and arranger than a hitmaker, Alexander enjoyed a very brief revival in the mid-’70s. The gorgeous Sharing The Night Together, which was written by Muscle Shoals composers Ava Aldridge and Eddie Struzick, reached only #92 in the R&B charts. Typically, somebody else had greater success with it, in this case Dr Hook. Thereafter Alexander drifted out of the music industry, working as a bus driver. Just as he began making music again in 1993, he died of a heart attack. He was 53.

Bo Kirkland and Ruth Davis represent the disco influence in this mix. They were both recording independently until put together at Claridge Records, to whom both had signed. The smoothly funky You’re Gonna Get Next To Me was their only hit, reaching #12 in Britain in 1977.

The New World (not to be confused with the early’70s Australian group) were Curtis Mayfield protégés who did not seem to have recorded much more than one single. We’re Gonna Make It was the flip side of Help The Man, a funky number which can find at the I Wish You Would blog. Curtis Mayfield is represented here with a really lovely track from 1977’s Never Say You Can’t Survive album .

The Fiestas were veterans by the time their Philly soul-a-like was released. The group had enjoyed some success since starting out as an R&B group in 1959, when they had a #11 US hit with So Fine. They later also covered Arthur Alexander’s Anna. Released in 1977, Gonna Hate Myself made no chart impact at all, which is a great shame.

Oh, and about the Lou Rawls’ title: it is not me taking liberty with the Queen’s English.

TRACKLISTING
1. Billy Paul – Let ‘Em In
2. Arthur Alexander – Sharing The Night Together
3. The Fiestas – Gonna Hate Myself
4. The Spinners – The Rubberband Man
5. Innersection - I’m In Debt To You
6 . Curtis Mayfield – Show Me Love
7. High Inergy – You Can’t Turn Me Off (In The Middle Of Turning Me On)
8. Marlena Shaw – Yu-Ma/Go Away Little Boy
9. Bessie Banks – Try To Leave Me If You Can (I Bet You Can’t Do It)
10. Bunny Sigler – That’s How Long I’ll Be Loving You
11. Candi Staton – Before The Next Teardop Falls
12. L.T.D. - Love Ballad
13. Lou Rawls – See You When I Git There
14. Tavares - Whodunnit
15. Bo Kirkland & Ruth Davis – You’re Gonna Get Next To Me
16. Eddie Kendricks – Skeleton In Your Closet
17. New World – We’re Gonna Make It
18. Dee Edwards – I Can Deal With That
19. Brothers Johnson – I’ll Be Good To You
20. Marvin Gaye – After The Dance

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Bonus tracks:
Philadelphia All-Stars – Let’s Clean Up The Ghetto.mp3
Teddy Pendergrass – When Somebody Loves You Back.mp3
Real Thing – You To Me Are Everything.mp3
Four Tops – Strung Out For Your Love.mp3
George Benson – This Masquerade.mp3
Jesse Green – Flip.mp3
Aretha Franklin – Something He Can Feel.mp3
Earth, Wind & Fire – Burnin’ Bush.mp3

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More Major Soul

More mixes

This mix includes two Gospel songs. Invoking God in soul music was nothing new. Curtis Mayfield did it habitually before Al Green swapped his silky sheets for a silky collar. By Gospel was still indentifiable by its distinctive features. The Winans family, who breed like the Wayans but have more talent in their chosen field, led a revolution which appropriated the contemporary soul sound into their songs of praise. The lyrics were usually not as direct as those of traditional Gospel – less of the hollering hallelujahs and summonsing of witnesses, lawrd. Indeed, hear the Winans or Steve Arrington songs without being aware of the lyrics, and you’d have no idea which genre you’re tuning into.

I’m saving the best for last though. The very last. When the bizarrely named Oran ‘Juice’ Jones berates his cheating girlfriend, he cracks wiser than any heartbroken man ever did. He gets vicious (“I gave you things you couldn’t even pronounce”) and funny (“You without me is like…” oh, let’s not give away the punchline). Doesn’t sound as good in print as it does when “Juice” says it. Amusingly, Jones seems to be quite at a loss as to why the girl would cheat on his charming, non-condescending and gender-role sensitive self. The cover of The Rain pretty much sums up our boy Oran’s demeanour vis-a-vis the laydees. Still, cracking song. And, don’t touch that coat!

TRACKLISTING
1. Isley Jasper Isley – Caravan Of Love (1985)
2. Smokey Robinson – Just To See Her (1987)
3. Randy Crawford – Rainy Night In Georgia (1981)
4. Larry Graham – One In A Million You (1980)
5. The Winans feat. Anita Baker – Ain’t No Need To Worry (1987)
6. Maze featuring Frankie Beverly – Before I Let Go (live) (1986)
7. Teddy Pendergrass – Joy (1988)
8. Timmy Thomas & Nicole – New York Eyes (1985)
9. Cameo - A Goodbye (1985)
10. Force M.D.’s – Tender Love (1986)
11. Cheryl Lynn & Luther Vandross – If This World Were Mine (1982)
12. The Temptations - I Wonder Who She’s Seeing Now (1987)
13. Steve Arrington – Feel So Real (12″ version) (1985)
14. Gwen Guthrie – It Should Have Been You (1982)
15. Cherelle & Alexander O’Neal – Saturday Love (1985)
16. Oran ‘Juice’ Jones - The Rain (1986)

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Earth, Wind & Fire – I’ll Write A Song For You.mp3
It’s too easy to rate EWF on basis of those extravagant costumes. There can be no dispute that Maurice White was a great songwriter, Philip Bailey had a richly expressive falsetto, Verdine White was as great a bass player as he looked and danced silly, and the horn section was tight as fuck. EWF are best known for their funk and disco material, yet the ballads were mighty as well. “Reasons” is possibly one of the greatest songs ever written. Not far behind is “I’ll Write A Song For You”, from 1977′s All ‘n All LP, which featured two other great ballads (“Lover’s Holiday” and “Be Ever Wonderful”). I have been blessed with the ability to do a pretty good falsetto, and this song puts that skill to the test. Singing “I’ll Write A Song For You” is exhausting. Once one has hit the “Just you and me baby” (at 4:37), and then does the “oh-woo-oh-woo-woaow“, one is as spent as after reaching an orgasm. And the song is structured like good sex: it starts tenderly with acoustic guitars. A minute in the strings kick in, then the drums, and the tune becomes just a little more intense — it’s in the moment. Things start to build as the second minute begins and Bailey’s voice gets just a bit higher. As the third minute begins, the passion really sets in, with Bailey going falsetto, the drums hitting like crazy, the bass going hard, the backing singers voicing their support — and then the “just you and me baby” signals the orgasm. Phew!

Isaac Hayes – The Look Of Love (live).mp3
Where Earth, Wind & Fire give us the sex-set-to-music experience, Ike provides the foreplay as “we deal with love on a more personal basis”. This is the shorter, less psychedelic live version from 1973′ Live at the Sahara Tahoe double album. Hayes takes the once pure Bacharach song, and caresses it, kisses it, licks it, touches it in places it has never been touched before. He builds the song up to the point of orgasm, and then stops, only to start again (“the start to so many groovy nights like this”).

Teddy Pendergrass – Turn Off The Lights.mp3
The humorous stylings of English comedian Lenny Henry usually hold very little appeal for me. However, his parody of Teddy Pendergrass (as Theophilus P. Wildebeest) is spot on. Teddy’s slightly hoarse voice was triple-dipped in sex, especially on 1979′s “Turn Off The Lights”. I can’t say it turns me on specifically, but I can very well understand how Teddy’s vocals have helped many a guy complete successfully a seduction. When Teddy growls: “Let’s take a shower, a shower together”, it sounds like a command. As he continues, “I wash your body”, he makes on offer she can’t refuse. When he sings, “…and you wash mine”, he extends an invitation that will be accepted. And when he barks: ‘Turn ‘em off!” at 3:17, you damn well obey. Actually, the song straddles not so much the object of desire as the fine line between sexiness and parody. Just listen to the shouting in the long fadeout.

Millie Jackson – Hurts So Good.mp3
Millie completes the quadruple play of sex dripping out of our speakers. The sex is not really in the lyrics (unless you share the view proffered by some that the song is about anal sex), but in Jackson’s delivery. In fact, the lyrics are rather sad, as a pathetically submissive Jackson tells her lover, who clearly is a bit of a shit, to continue to treat her abominably rather than leave her. It’s pretty sad. I think I’ll rather interpret the song as being anal sex too.

Rufus & Chaka Khan – Tell Me Something Good.mp3
Aficionados of ’60s pop will recall American Breed’s hit “Bend Me, Shape Me”. Later, that band morphed into Rufus, who in the early ’70s roped in Chaka Khan (born Yvette Stevens). Rufus, named after an advice column in a motoring magazine (of course), had an early fan in Stevie Wonder who wrote “Tell Me Something Good”, a funky, grinding jam, especially for the group, with Chaka in mind. According to Khan, Wonder coached her in singing the song. The result is a sweaty, sexy interplay between Khan, an insane bassline and some crazy guitars (including a vocoder!) which became a hit in 1974.

Billy Paul – Me And Mrs Jones.mp3
The ultimate cheating song, and a karaoke favourite of mine. To face down my fear about a medical procedure the next morning, I once sang this song stone cold sober at a karaoke, fully aware how ridiculous it might sound if I’d sing the “meee-eee-aaa-aand, Mrs, Mrs Jooo-ooones” part of of key. The trick worked: I nailed the song and lost my fear. At least until the next morning. Billy Paul’s phrasing is exquisite (possibly better than mine), as is the orchestration.

Shirley Brown – Woman To Woman.mp3
And still on the subject of cheating, Shirley Brown in 1974 phoned “Barbara” to confront her about engaging in infidelity with her husband. Amid all the “hands off my man, skank” monologue, one wonders what Brown sees in that deadbeat hubby of hers. “The clothes on his back…I buy them. The car he drives, I pay the note every month.” She owns his sorry ass, and she’s not going to give her possession to Barbara or anyone else. Just because she own his sorry ass.

Barbara Mason – From His Woman to You.mp3
Mr Shirley has no say as Barbara Mason now hits back in an answer record (that sounds a bit like that terrible stunt with the “Fuck You” song by Eammon a couple of years ago, but it’s actually very good indeed). The song starts with a ringing phone, and, hey, it’s Shirley on the line. But this time Barbara cuts her short. Babs has no job, beeyatch, but she can give deadbeat Mr Shirley all the lovin’ he needs. She is even happy to share him with Shirley, “if you don’t bother me”. Quality tunes both, but whom do you side with?

Eddie Kendricks – Keep On Trucking.mp3
The one Motown inclusion in this part has former Temptations singer Eddie Kendricks score a1973 hit with a slice of pre-disco soul-funk which employs his falsetto to fantastic effect. One is often tempted to credit a single artist or song with the invention of a musical genre (so, when Ike Turner died last year, the birth of rock ‘n roll was credited to him). Of course, genres develop and grow out of existing genres, open to a multitude of influences, et cetera. But if one wanted to pick a proto-disco track — or, more accurately, a proto-song for a specific form of disco — then “Keep On Trucking” is not a bad choice at all. Now, why the hell should we keep on trucking? Or was Eddie doing rhyming slang? (previously uploaded)

The Five Stairsteps – Ooh Child.mp3
When I’m driving with my son, sometimes an old song will come on and I’ll want to share my joy in it with him. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don’t. I mention this because “Ooh Child” reminds me of the scene in Boyz N The Hood when the ludicrously named Furious Styles (Lawrence Fishburne) hears “Ooh Child” coming on the radio, and tells his son (Cuba Gooding Jr) that he loves that song. Of course, Furious (if that’s his real name) is quite right: it’s an utterly lovable song, and hopeful, happiness-inducing number. (previously uploaded)

Friends of Distinction – Going In Circles.mp3
I’m cheating a little here: “Going In Circles” was a US hit in late 1969. But it wouldn’t have hit other shores until 1970, so here it is. Friends of Distinction had scored a previous hit with Hugh Masekela’s “Grazin‘ In The Grass”, a joyous tune quite at odds with the downbeat and dramatic “Going In Circles”. This song was widely forgotten until revived by Luther Vandross on his first LP of cover versions in the early ’90s, about the only good thing that could be said about that effort.

Freda Payne – Bring The Boys Home.mp3
Americans might want to revive this 1971 anti-Vietnam hit. This isn’t a political blog, so I will not state my view that the invasion of Iraq is one of the biggest political disasters committed by some of the most dangerous, arrogant and stupid people ever to run any country in history. All I’ll say is this: the blood of a few thousand dead soldiers from the United States, Britain and other “willing partners” and several hundred thousand dead Iraqis will perpetually cling to the reputation of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and all their neo-con pals, and to the idiots who voted for the invasion in the Congress and Senate (yeah, you, Hillary!) as well as to those in other countries who supported it (yeah, you, Brown). “Fathers are pleading, lovers are all alone. Mothers are praying — send our sons back home. You marched them away–yes, you did–

on ships and planes to the senseless war, facing death in vain.” Rarely has cliché communicated so potent a message.