Let the air waves flow...

I'm back from my month-long blog hiatus. I had a serious existential (or rather blogistential) crisis in which I questioned the value of blogging, whether I wanted to continue, and tried to figure out why I haven't been listening to that much music recently (one big problem: I have so much music on my computer that the guy at the Apple store said I just shouldn't have iTunes open if I want my computer to run properly. Sigh.)


Not all my questions have been answered, but I didn't like being gone for so long. So, I'm back for now, with a new GOOD SONG!

And miles to go before I sleep...

GOOD SONG: Midnight Mile by Lee Fields & The Expressions (original by the Rolling Stones)


This song is from the Lee Fields & The Expressions album "Faithful Man" which came out just a few weeks ago. He sings with the in-house band of his label (Brooklyn's Truth & Soul), who also have played with Adele, Aloe Blacc, Jay-Z, etc. So they're pretty damn good. Which is fitting, since Lee Fields is into his fifth decade of recording and deserves some good musicians backing him up. It's kinda crazy, since he's been making great music for ages, and yet he doesn't even have his own wikipedia page! How crazy is that? Someone should get on that....


His original songs on the album are really fantastic (like the song "You're the Kind of Girl") but I totally fell for this song Rolling Stones cover. It's from their album Sticky Fingers, and it really works as a soul song, even with it's strange, poetic verses seemingly about isolation on the road. 
I love the lyrics:


"When the wind blows and the rain feels cold
with a head full of snow
with a head full of snow
In the window there's a face you know
Don't the night pass slow
Don't the night pass slow

The sound of strangers sending nothing to my mind
Just another mad mad day on the road
I am just living to be lying by your side
But I'm just about a moonlight mile on down the road

Made a rag pile of my shiny clothes
Gonna warm my bones,
Gonna warm my bones
I got silence on my radio
Let the air waves flow,
Let the air waves flow
For I'm sleeping under strange strange skies
Just another mad mad day on the road
My dreams are fading down the railway line
I'm just about a moonlight mile down the road

I'm hiding sister and I'm dreaming
I'm riding down your moonlight mile
I'm hiding sister and I'm dreaming
I'm riding down your moonlight mile
There I go now coming home now baby
Yeah, there I go now coming home now baby
Yeah, I'm coming home 'cause

I'm just about a moonlight mile on down the road
On down the road, down the road."


It's an interesting choice for a R&B artist to cover, and he does it amazingly well. He gives it a sort of haunting feel, with a heartbeat rhythm to it. That quavering flute in the background is supernatural. It definitely feels like a song to listen to it in the car in the rain, with the wipers on. 


If you liked this song, you might also check out:
Al Green
Otis Redding
Sharon Jones
James Brown
Eli Paperboy Reed

Over and out,
Anna

Thank you for holding

Thank you for holding on...
Sorry I've been a bit MIA recently. I'm back in action, though! More good music coming your way, just in time for Christmas!

Channeling the spirit of every awesome female singer ever is a hard job,
but somebody's gotta do it.

GOOD SONG: "Hold On" by the Alabama Shakes

This band is so good that they just made up this song, right on the spot, in a live performance, when one of the band members'  guitar string broke (hence the title "Hold On"). Say wha??

They're from Athens, Alabama, and so far have only put out a short four-song EP, but the full-length album is coming soon.  The lead singer and frontwoman Brittany Howard has the most amazing voice--  retro and kinda punky at the same time. So much soul! YES! But they can do much, much more than just soul/RnB. They can definitely also play some serious, unpretentious rock n' roll. I'm psyched for their album. Their song made it onto a Zales jewelry commercial, so I'm sure they will be hitting it big-time soon. Although maybe getting your song onto a holiday commercial before you've even released a full album counts as already hitting it big-time...

If you liked this song, you might also like:
Otis Redding
Sharon Jones
Raphael Saadiq
Rolling Stones
Kings of Leon
Janis Joplin

Over and out,
Anna

Preachers and Talking Heads (Covers Month Post #3)

Another great song and great cover:

I have to admit,"smarmy" is the first word that comes to my mind
when I see this photo.

GOOD (ORIGINAL) SONG: Take Me to the River by Al Green, from his album "Al Green Explores Your Mind."
This song is classic R&B/soul amazingness. It's clearly a "woman done did me wrong" sort of song, but with some baptismal overtones. I like the little dedication in the beginning.
Al Green (or the Reverend Al Green, as he is known now) is a living legend. He is one of the most famous soul singers of all time. He sold more than twenty million records! Insanity. Like me, he was the sixth child in his family, and unlike me, was the son of a sharecropper. In 1974, at the height of his career, things changed. Supposedly after a horrible incident with a girlfriend of his (who gave him serious burns and then killed herself), he became a preacher at Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in Memphis. He still does some recording, but his role as preacher remains first and foremost in his life. Perhaps this song was a hint of future baptisms to come...
His voice, high and strong, is sooooo good. I'm sure he is a fantastically charismatic preacher.

Gooftacular.

GOOD (COVER) SONG: Take Me to the River by the Talking Heads, from their album "More Songs About Buildings and Food"(great album title).
Theirs is quite a different version, which I can appreciate. I mean, what good is a cover song, really, if you don't take it and make it your own? The beat is fantastic. They make the song kinda trippy, especially with that organ in the background (I think that's what that is). The Talking Heads understand this.
I have a special place in my heart for the Talking Heads. They rose to fame on my very street, at the late, great CBGB on Bleecker Street (about four blocks from where I grew up). David Byrne, the lead singer, still continues to make awesome music, although the band itself broke up in 1991. Their sound is hard to pin down, but Byrne's voice is very distinctive. They're famous for using odd instruments and combining all sorts of influences. I love them.

If you like these songs, you might also check out:
Marvin Gaye
Otis Redding
Jackie Wilson
Brian Eno
Tom Tom Club
Television

Over and out,
Anna

My Retro Music Dream Duo

Ever dream about having your own music festival, where you chose all the acts? Or about choosing your own musical dream team? Or even about what it would be like if two amazing bands became one, or two singers got married and had babies that were like perfect mixtures of their parents, with their collected musical genius?
'Cuz I do.


And one of my new favorite things to think about is what kind of kid Eli Paperboy Reed and Adele would have together, if they got together. I can't tell you what they would look like, but they would probably make music like their parents. Which is a very good thing.


Who are these people, you might ask. Well, with no further ado...

How could you not love this?

GOOD SONG: Take My Love With You by Eli Paperboy Reed and the True Loves.


So this dude is FANTASTIC. I saw him live with a bunch of my friends last Thursday at the Rock and Roll Hotel in DC, and he just blew us all away. Such an amazing live performer. You feel like you traveled back in time 50 years. A little info on him: Eli Reed is originally from Boston, but moved to Mississippi after high school, and got his career started there helping out with the gospel music with a just-starting-up church. The rest is history. His music is "neo-soul" which basically means great soul music that is also relevant and fun. It also means that his band, the True Loves, are freakin sweet. There is nothing sarcastic, ironic, shocking in his music. It's pure enjoyment. 
I HIGHLY recommend seeing him live if you get the chance.
(This is also a GOOD SONG of his: Come and Get It) 

Classy lady!

As for Adele, you probably know her because of her hit song "Chasing Pavements" from her album entitled "19," which was good, but honestly, just not as good as anything on her new album, "21" (I'm seeing a trend here). 

I really want her to get with Eli Reed because their babies would have more soul than... than.... I don't know, a lot of people. They would be FILLED WITH SOUL. FILLED, I TELL YOU. 

Her new album has a lot of goodies on it, and I am making a prediction right now: you will probably hear the song "Rumour Has It" a lot on the radio starting about now. 

But I think this song is even better:

GOOD SONG: I'll Be Waiting by Adele.

Adele is huge right now in England, and I am aware that this post is not going to be most people's first exposure to her, but honestly, I don't really care since that isn't truly what this blog is for.  She is an amazingly talented young woman (younger than I am!), and I gotta admit that it's pretty cool that a singer like her (soulful and gorgeous but not a skinny, slutty pop star) has made it so big. Her voice is so powerful that it gets me every time. Her songwriting isn't stellar, but she could be singing about cauliflower for all I care.

So yeah, that's my dream duo. 

Who's yours?

If you like these songs, you might also like these artists (both old and new):

Duffy

Sam Cooke

Aloe Blacc

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

The Zutons

Stevie Wonder

Otis Redding

Janelle Monae

Cee Lo

Over and out!

Anna

Good Things, Indeed

So I'm aware that I haven't posted a lot of soul/R&B since my post on Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. This post changes all that. I haven't been able to stop humming these two GOOD SONGS by Aloe Blacc and I thought I would share them with you.

GOOD SONG the first: I Need A Dollar (Who doesn't need a dollar these days?)

This song has the perfect mix of piano, trumpet, and Aloe Blacc's SWEET vocals. Who is Aloe Blacc you might ask? Well, his real name is actually Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III... I don't blame him for changing his name. He is the son of Panamanian immigrants, and a lot of his music has a nice Latin flair to it. He began as a hip-hop/rap artist, but then branched into more retro music, and boy! am I happy about it! He has two albums out now: "Shine Through" (2006) and his most recent album "Good Things," which came out this September (2010). He weaves together R&B, soul, hip-hop, jazz, and salsa influences to make his songs work so damn well.

Mr. Blacc looking pretty snazzy in white.

Good song the second: Loving You Is Killing Me (the song + the lyrics)
Also from "Good Things," this song is just so good, and makes me wanna dance. You can definitely tell he has some real rapper cred here. My favorite line: "How did you get to be so evil, girl?" sung by the falsetto chorus.

If you like this song, you might also like:

John Legend
The Roots
Talib Kweli
People Under the Stairs
Danger Doom/Danger Mouse
Janelle Monae
Al Green
Marvin Gaye

BUY HIS MUSIC HERE: Aloe Blacc!

Over and out,
Anna

Ready for a little Soul?

Hello again, friends and neighbors.


So I thought for my second installment, I would mix things up a bit. I loves me some Sufie (Stevens, that is), but sometimes you just get a hankerin for some SOUL.


Today's GOOD SONG is "Better Things" by Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings.


Here ya go:
Better Things

Sing it, Mama Jones!

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings are a fascinating little group. And by little I mean big. It consists of Sharon Jones on vocals and eight dudes on varying instruments. They record all their songs without modern technical equipment to give their music a really retro feel. And MAN, do they get it right. Really, I don't think I've heard of anyone listening to them for the first time and guessing correctly that they were contemporary. They get 1960's/70's soul/funk better than some of the 1960's/70's soul/funk bands did back then!
They have performed/collaborated with Mark Ronson, Amy Winehouse (surprise, surprise), Michael Buble, heck, even Phish!


This song is off their most recent album "I Learned The Hard Way" which was released in April this year. This is a great song (especially if you have just gotten out of a relationship, by the way).


If you like this song, you might also like:
Etta James
Otis Redding
Mark Ronson
Amy Winehouse
Janelle Monae
Al Green
Marvin Gaye
and, apparently, anything else on the Daptone Record label.


And you will also like this song, Inspiration Information, which is my personal fave, from a compilation CD from 2009 called "Dark Was The Night."


Spooooooky connection to the last post: Sufjan Stevens lives in Brooklyn. The Dap-Kings hail from Brooklyn. Coincidence? I think not.


DOWNLOAD HER MUSIC HERE: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings


Over and out,
Anna


P.S. The posts are going to be pretty frequent this week, since school hasn't started yet. Unfortunately, I will probably have to slow it down a bit when I begin working again. But no fear! Not TOO slow.