Bring on the funk. Stevie Wonder: Superstition (1972) One of the best openings in rock n roll. (And check out Stevie playing this tune on Sesame Street) Curtis Mayfield: Freddie’s Dead (1972) A very jazzed out version of Freddie’s Dead from the all-Mayfield soundtrack to the blacksploitation classic, Superfly. James Brown: Get Up (I Feel […]
Some tunes about books. The Cure: Killing an Arab (1979/80) Amazing footage of the pre-make-up-and-crazy-hair Cure, in an intimate live show, singing a raw and moving version of the tune, based on Albert Camus’ existential/absurdist book, L’Etranger (the Stranger). This song is not an anti-arab song, it’s a song about Camus’ Mersault, a young pied […]
Youtube just launched Youtube.ca (which resolves to http://ca.youtube.com). So in honour of this annoying announcement (here’s what I think of it), this week we present to you fridaymixedtape.ca: Chilliwack: My Girl I actually had no idea that this song was Chilliwack, and hence Canadian. Actually a snappy little number. That’s the nice thing about fridaymixedtape.ca […]
Stan Rogers: Northwest Passage Try to listen to this without getting all teary-eyed. Sung not by Stan Rogers, of course, but the St. Patrick’s Regional Secondary Chamber Choir Men, in Vancouver. Gordon Lightfoot: Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald Tragically Hip: Nautical Disaster
I loved these three tunes when I was a kid, in the early-to-mid-eighties. I remember them getting lots of play-time on the morning radio station my parents listened to (the stodgy talk radio station, CJAD). So, here were some of my top music choices from ages eight to ten: Joe Dolce: Shaddap You Face (1980, […]
Bessie Smith: St. Louis Blues Queen of the 20s blues, in the 1929 film St. Louis Blues. Billie Holiday: Fine and Mellow Along with sax great Lester Young, the band here features an all-star line-up of luminaries: Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Gerry Mulligan, Roy Eldridge, Doc Cheatham, Vic Dickenson, Danny Barker, Milt Hinton, Mal Waldron. […]
This week, some guys who look like they might burst a few blood vessels. Bruce Springsteen: Lost in the Flood This one is fantastic…what a build-up. Van Morrison & The Band: Caravan Check those moves!! Joe Cocker: With a Little Help from My Friends
After all the rock n roll lately, i thought i should, well try to get some booty on the floor. So this week, three of the big dance anthems from the late 80s/early 90s, when my own distinctive dance style was just coming into its own. These tracks all share an added characteristic: the egregious […]