Full disclosure: not being a jazz buff, I had never heard of Lou Donaldson who died this week at the ripe old age of 98. This is his masterpiece. (more…)

If there’s one artist I wish I’d seen live more than any other, it’s probably Nina Simone. Especially when she was a regular at Ronnie Scott’s in the 1980s. Except I had probably not heard of her back then.

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The second single by The Bee Gees back in 1967 was originally written for their mentor Robert Stigwood and intended for Otis Redding to record.

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Here’s a tune from the early days of reggae by Nora Dean, who earned herself a place in the niche genre of “naughty” reggae, best known for her saucy hit Barbwire (In His Underpants).

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I think it’s that gorgeous melody played on a harpsichord – or is it a hammered dulcimer? – that makes this Four Tet track so special. It lends the tune, from his 2017 album New Energy, a kind of medieval madrigal vibe that chimes so well with the sleepy beats.

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What would happen if you mixed The Smiths, New Order and Pet Shop Boys together to form a supergroup? You’d come up with Getting Away With It because Electronic’s debut single really does sound exactly like the confluence of its components.

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Nick Cave’s chilling account of a man awaiting execution in the electric chair remains a highlight of his huge arena shows more than 30 years later.

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Olivia Rodrigo and Elvis Costello share a fondness for the same riff that he used for Pump It Up and she recycled with Brutal.

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Garnet Mimms is the guy who sang the original version of Cry Baby, better known (to me, at least) for Janis Joplin’s overwrought version, back in 1963.

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Happy Hallowe’en folks! And nothing says Hallowe’en like a Northern Soul banger with a spooky title.

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