Bonny Light Horseman's self-titled debut album was quite possibly my favourite album of 2020 - there or thereabouts anyway. Their follow-up, "Rolling Golden Holy", is due out in just over six weeks, which is causing great excitement here in the Goggins household.
To tide us over until then we have a couple of tracks for you from Eric D. Johnson, one-third of BLH, in his Fruit Bats guise. There is one apiece from "Tripper" (2011) and "Gold Past Life" (2019). Both can be found on his/their Bandcamp site along with many other fine things.
In other news, starting later this week Mr Johnson as Fruit Bats is in the UK playing in Glasgow, Bristol, Leeds and London as well as a couple of festivals. Unfortunately I'm double booked the night he's in London so won't make it, but get along if you can.
It is Single Song Sunday again, and this time round we're featuring the soul standard "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want To Be Right". It is a title that sometimes appears without the brackets, sometimes without the "I Don't Want To Be Right" and, on at least one occasion, in Swedish.
We kick things off with the original by Luther Ingram, which made it all the way to No. 3 in the Billboard charts and topped the R&B charts 50 years ago last month.
We follow Luther with a couple more soul versions, from Bobby "Blue" Bland in 1973 and Millie Jackson in 1974. Millie has an 11 minute version of the song on her album "Caught Up" but on the CD and digital versions of the album they split it into three separate tracks, which is why you're getting the single edit. There is a live version in the videos though that closely resembles the full-length original.
Next up are a couple of countrified covers. Barbara Mandrell's version went to No. 1 in the country charts in 1979 but O'B. McClinton's is the twangier of the two. Some of you may be familiar with it from the "Dirty Laundry" compilation series.
We rattle through a Christian rap remake by The Artist Partially Known As Gammage and a Swedish version by a former Eurovision runner up before finishing things off with an excellent Mandatory Reggae Version by George Faith, possibly the premier reggae interpreter of 1970s soul standards.
Of the recorded versions I know I would put Luther, Millie and George at the top of the pile in no particular order - but the live version by David Ruffin in the last video is right up there with them.
Today's post features some music from Sweden - more specifically, from a 4CD box set titled "The Essence of Swedish Progressive Music 1967-79".
It is dedicated jointly to everybody's favourite non-Swedish Swede and to George, possibly the only reader whose eyes might light up on seeing the words "progressive music". To the rest of you, don't be afraid. These are among the least proggy tracks on the compilation.
Although the box set is billed as including music from 1967 to 1979 the earliest track actually dates from 1966. In the same year this lovely couple represented Sweden at Eurovision and finished as runners up. You will be encountering the gentleman again on Sunday.
Personally I have nothing but admiration for Richard Branson and the Virgin Group. Their products and services are always reliable, excellent quality and reasonably priced while Sir Richard himself is a shy, retiring entrepreneur who seeks only to make the world a better place. And his decision to sue the NHS in a fit of pique because Virgin Care didn't win a contract a few years ago is one that I am sure all right-minded people would support.
Unfortunately there appear to be a few Moaning Minnies out there with what I have no doubt are ill-founded gripes against his record company. Shame on them.
Something rather splendid for you today - a couple of tracks from "The Sound Of Wonder!", a compilation of songs from 1970s Pakistani films that was released on Finders Keepers in 2008. I recently found it in a second-hand record shop and kept it, as subliminally instructed. It is as wacky as it is wonderful.
Both of today's selections feature the delightful vocals of Nahid Akhtar, also known as the Nightingale of Pakistan. She was the leading playback singer in Lollywood (Lahore + Hollywood) from the mid-70s to mid-80s and her singing can be heard in over 400 films from that era.
A bit of modern honky-tonk for you today. Some nice person out there in Promoland sent me a copy of Cliff Westfall's "Baby You Win" album when it came out back in 2018. I remember listening to and liking it at the time but for some reason I never gave it a plug. Having rediscovered it at the weekend I am putting that right now.
Cliff is Kentucky born but New York based and as far as I can establish "Baby You Win" is his only release. You can pick up a copy on Bandcamp for $10 and I think you should. Unlike the protagonists of many of his songs, you won't have anything to feel sorry about if you do.
The writer and producer of some of the greatest pop records the world has ever known left us yesterday. I could drone on about how great the songs that Lamont Dozier wrote by himself or with the Holland brothers were, but far better to let them speak for themselves.
Links stay up for a month or so. If you are an artist or copyright holder and want me to remove the link, or if you want to get in touch for any other reason, e-mail me on leggies27@hotmail.co.uk.
