Slide your money in and do your best Jagger. It's time to switch on the Soul Kitchen jukebox . . .
Wanda Jackson - Funnel Of Love
The First Lady of Rockabilly is in an unusually haunting mood on this much covered ditty from 1961. The energy of 'Fujiyama Mama', 'Mean, Mean Man' and 'Hot Dog! That Made Him Mad' has been dislodged by slow burning Country Soul, raspy vocals and almost ghoulish backing singers. Rockin' With Wanda it certainly ain't. Re-recorded with The Cramps for 2003 album Heart Trouble, 'Funnel of Love' is currently a staple for Wanda on the chatshow circuit, accompanied by her latest producer and now former White Stripe, Jack White. However, as historically tends to be the case, the original still proves to be the best.
Curtis Mayfield - Pusherman
Forget Shaft (apologies to the late, great Isaac Hayes), as far as '70s Blaxploitation soundtracks go, Curtis Mayfield's Superfly is King. The messages about poverty and drug abuse are unrelentingly bleak, yet I dare anyone to listen to Superfly from beginning to end and not cut up some serious rug. Pusherman doesn't just ooze funk and soul, it practically redefines it. The wah wah guitars and effortlessly cool as fuck bassline are the perfect marriage for the most perfect funk song of the '70's.
Jefferson Airplane - Wooden Ships
Post Apocalyptic nuclear war psychedelia anyone? Luckily, this Crosby, Stills and Paul Kantner penned Cold War epic isn't as depressing on the ears as the song's subject matter may have you believe. Airplane's version (Kantner's involvement in the writing of the song means both Airplane's and Crosby,Stills and Nash's versions are considered the original) begins whimsically with Kantner and Grace Slick trading lines across a piano that's more subterranean jazz club than nuclear holocaust. However, once Kantner invites Slick to 'try some of his purple berries', the piano crunches ominously as the tune builds to a brooding, blockbuster of a crescendo. Proof, if ever it were needed, that the Vietnam War spawned the greatest war soundtrack of all time.
The Clash - Train in Vain
Considering the last two songs have covered everything from drug abuse to nuclear annihilation, I felt it would be apt to finish with a good, old fashioned love song. Funnily enough, despite being one of The Clash's biggest successes, 'Train in Vain' almost didn't make it onto London Calling at all. Initially intended to be given away on an NME promo tape that didn't end up happening, The Clash hurried the track onto the end of their 1979 masterpiece without it even being listed on the already printed, and now iconic album sleeve. The feel good hybrid of glam punk and Rhythm and Blues thrust The Clash into the US Top 30 for the first time and served as the last minute icing on the cake for one of Punk's finest hours.
Until next time,
Keep on Keepin' on,
Baia
X
Wanda Jackson - Funnel Of Love
The First Lady of Rockabilly is in an unusually haunting mood on this much covered ditty from 1961. The energy of 'Fujiyama Mama', 'Mean, Mean Man' and 'Hot Dog! That Made Him Mad' has been dislodged by slow burning Country Soul, raspy vocals and almost ghoulish backing singers. Rockin' With Wanda it certainly ain't. Re-recorded with The Cramps for 2003 album Heart Trouble, 'Funnel of Love' is currently a staple for Wanda on the chatshow circuit, accompanied by her latest producer and now former White Stripe, Jack White. However, as historically tends to be the case, the original still proves to be the best.
Curtis Mayfield - Pusherman
Forget Shaft (apologies to the late, great Isaac Hayes), as far as '70s Blaxploitation soundtracks go, Curtis Mayfield's Superfly is King. The messages about poverty and drug abuse are unrelentingly bleak, yet I dare anyone to listen to Superfly from beginning to end and not cut up some serious rug. Pusherman doesn't just ooze funk and soul, it practically redefines it. The wah wah guitars and effortlessly cool as fuck bassline are the perfect marriage for the most perfect funk song of the '70's.
Jefferson Airplane - Wooden Ships
Post Apocalyptic nuclear war psychedelia anyone? Luckily, this Crosby, Stills and Paul Kantner penned Cold War epic isn't as depressing on the ears as the song's subject matter may have you believe. Airplane's version (Kantner's involvement in the writing of the song means both Airplane's and Crosby,Stills and Nash's versions are considered the original) begins whimsically with Kantner and Grace Slick trading lines across a piano that's more subterranean jazz club than nuclear holocaust. However, once Kantner invites Slick to 'try some of his purple berries', the piano crunches ominously as the tune builds to a brooding, blockbuster of a crescendo. Proof, if ever it were needed, that the Vietnam War spawned the greatest war soundtrack of all time.
The Clash - Train in Vain
Considering the last two songs have covered everything from drug abuse to nuclear annihilation, I felt it would be apt to finish with a good, old fashioned love song. Funnily enough, despite being one of The Clash's biggest successes, 'Train in Vain' almost didn't make it onto London Calling at all. Initially intended to be given away on an NME promo tape that didn't end up happening, The Clash hurried the track onto the end of their 1979 masterpiece without it even being listed on the already printed, and now iconic album sleeve. The feel good hybrid of glam punk and Rhythm and Blues thrust The Clash into the US Top 30 for the first time and served as the last minute icing on the cake for one of Punk's finest hours.
Until next time,
Keep on Keepin' on,
Baia
X
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