There’s not much to Tighten Up beyond a funk groove, some handclaps, and Archie introducing himself before urging the listener to dance. But it’s a classic. (more…)

I was going to post the gorgeous instrumental Walk In The Night, the only tune I knew growing up by Junior Walker & The All Stars. Then I stumbled upon Shotgun. (more…)

It’s only listening to this again now, 45 years later, that I realise it’s the best Four Tops song not actually by the Four Tops. (more…)

The word “legend” gets chucked about a lot but Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry really was one. Keith Richards once called him “the Salvador Dali of reggae.” (more…)

Freddie McKay emerged as a rocksteady singer in the late 1960s with Prince Buster and Coxsone Dodd, recording at the Studio One and Treasure Isle labels. (more…)

By the mid-Seventies you had to forage far and wide for rough-and-ready roots music in a music world dominated by prog dinosaurs and disco. (more…)

Novelty pop songs don’t come much more annoying than this, at least without children and bagpipes. Except they do – because Convoy prompted an even worse “parody” version. (more…)

Here’s another very-oldie dating back to 1963 by The Drew-Vels – re-recorded four years later as a solo single by Patti Drew. (more…)

This may be the most extraordinary discovery I’ve stumbled upon.
It was recorded in 1963 but its psych-tinged blend of jazz, soul and blues is way ahead of its time. (more…)

This is the best, best-known, and best-selling song ever written by Tom T. Hall, who died last week. It’s also the only hit for Jeannie C. Riley. (more…)