Listen To What The Man Said

Way back in 2003, some bright spark came up with the great idea of rounding up some veteran soul singers and setting them loose on some Van Morrison songs. It was an impressive line-up, including the likes of William Bell, Eddie Floyd, Little Milton, Syl Johnson and many more.

As I may have mentioned in the past, I'm a big fan of the man they call 'The Man'. I'm also a big fan of many of the singers who got involved in the project, so this was always going to be a winner for me. Even their decision to give the album the dreadful title of "Vanthology" couldn't spoil it. Here are a couple of highlights.

"Real Real Gone" - Betty LaVette

"Warm Love" - Otis Clay

Here is old Furgone di Piufiglio performing the same songs, for the sake of comparison.

Old Friends, New Sounds

Afternoon All. We have a quick update for you on what two friends of the blog have been up to recently. 

First up is Asthmatic Harp. Not only has she featured here in her own right, but also very graciously acted as guest curator for the Danish leg of our EU farewell tour. She has an excellent new single called "To The Boats" coming out next week (Wednesday 3 June to be precise).

I don't know whether it is the strange times we are living in, but the sentiments and the mood of the song really struck a chord with me when I first listened to it. Details of how to buy the single will appear on Ms Harp's website in due course. Until then, here is the video.

Our other returning friend is Lesley Barth. We featured the first single off her fantastic new album "Big Time Baby" at the beginning of April. The album is now out and it would be utterly foolish of you not to head over to her website and buy it immediately. I have been listening to it a lot since I got hold of a preview copy, and enjoying it more and more with every listen.

The latest single from the album is "You Gotta Hand It To The Man", which turns out to be more topical than Lesley probably imagined when she wrote it. She's made a lockdown video with a message to go with the single. It's a message I'm sure we can all agree with. Over to you, Lesley.

Samba Soul Sensations

Two slabs of sunshine for you today courtesy of the always excellent Strut Records. Both come from their compilation "Black Rio 2 (Original Samba-Soul 1968-1981)". Pretty much every track is a winner. One can only imagine how good Black Rio 1 must be.

"Bananeira" - Emilio Santiago

"Não Vou Chorar" - Os Diagonais

The Long Goodbye: Part 12

Part 12 of our Grand Tour, and this time we are off to Greece. For the last six or seven years I have been lucky enough to get to Athens a couple of times a year for work, and I usually manage to extend my stay. It's one of my favourite cities, with a good music scene.

On one trip I found myself performing Neil Sedaka's "Oh Carol" with a bouzouki band to an audience of representatives of the local transport union. But that is another story, and probably not an example of the good music scene, judging by the union reps' reaction. Better to leave it to the professionals.

"Rain And Tears" - Aphrodite's Child

"Ti Simveni" - Nostradamus

"Zw" - Dimitra Galani

"Terma To Dialeimma (I Mpampesa)" - Magic de Spell

"Chalasia" - Villagers of Ioannina City

Funky Friday

Last time out Starship Commander Wooooo Wooooo was instructing us all to get funky. He would no doubt be delighted to know that top Nigerien Tuareg rockers TisDass have done as instructed. It does not get much funkier than the opening to "Adounia".

Both tracks are from their 2015 album "Yamedan", released on the always excellent Sahel Sounds label and available on Bandcamp now at a bargain price.

"Adounia" - TisDass

"Ayatma" - TisDass

In further funky news...

Starship Special

Over the years we're featured a fair number of acts with peculiar names - the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band, Tedious Matsiko, Me & Bye Bye☆Cats! and Dr. Pants to name but a few. But today we have what may be the most strangely named of them all.

What were Mr and Mrs Connors thinking?

"Get Funky" - Starship Commander Wooooo Wooooo

"You Are My Starship" - Norman Connors (featuring Michael Henderson)

Cola Wars

That Charity Chic fellow is doing another one of his series where he plays two opposing songs and asks you to vote on your favourite. This time it is Heaven vs Hell.

The choice of salvation or damnation may seem important to some, but it is insignificant compared to choosing your favourite carbonated cola. Today we are asking you to vote on that important subject.

In order to stop CC spotting we are nicking his idea, we are using the classic school debating society format. There are.two teams of three speakers, one arguing for Pepsi and the other for Coke. Please pay them the courtesy of listening to all of them before casting your vote.

"Pepsi's Got A Lot To Give" - Johnny Cash

"Pepsi Generation" - Michael Jackson

"Pepsi's Got A Lot To Give" - B.B. King

"Coke Is It" - Aretha Franklin

"Things Go Better With Coke" - Ray Charles

"Coke Is It" - The Thompson Twins

And in third place...