The Nice recorded this version of Tim Hardin’s song How Can You Hang On To A Dream, built around Keith Emerson’s jazz piano and a ghostly choral arrangement.

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Smith – Baby It’s You

11th February 2025 · 1960s, 1969, Music, Soul

Here’s a ’60s band I’ve never heard of before, a female-fronted outfit with the disappointingly humdrum name of Smith, with their solitary hit single – a cover of Baby It’s You.

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Dobie Gray’s stomper Out On The Floor has been called the best Northern Soul record of all time, though I remember Dobie Gray for two other songs – Drift Away and The In-Crowd.

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You can’t see him in this footage but this is the moment keyboard player Barry Goldberg – who died in January -became part of one of the most historic gigs in musical history.

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French vocal trio Belle Epoque had their biggest (and possibly only) hit single in 1977 with disco classic Black Is Black.

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It takes a bold and courageous artist to re-record her signature song after more than half a century, but Marianne Faithfull was nothing if not brave.

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This is the song that gave The Rolling Stones their first big US hit and helped make Irma Thomas the Soul Queen of New Orleans.

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Mina – You Are My Destiny

29th January 2025 · 1960, 1960s, Music

I love a torch song as much as the next sentimental fool. So I was thrilled when this one made an appearance in The Brutalist.

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RIP Sam Moore, sole survivor – and soul survivor – of Sam & Dave, the duo known for their two biggest hits Soul Man and Hold On, I’m A Comin’.

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I came to Jethro Tull through their flutey folky stuff, matched to the occasional powerchord, but was never a big fan – largely because of Ian Anderson’s flute.

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