worldsgreatestmusicdad writes: A classic duet

This didn't start as a duet. First Diamond and then Streisand recorded it before they got together when it made a convincing duet - unlike some you hear. The original recording can also be found on YouTube and musically it's probably better but as a performance this one is pure class:



Buy the mp3 from Amazon

World's Greatest Music writes: great YouTube clip by Lulu and the Lampshades

You're Gonna Miss Me features a chorus from an old folk song and verses written by Lulu. Lulu is the one on the left. She's good.

World's Greatest Music writes: Radio 1 just played this Kings Of Leon album track

They are streets ahead of every other current band

World's Greatest Music writes: skip forward 2 mins 30 seconds to see Shirley Bassey making Tom Baxter her own

Then she sings his wonderful song Almost There. It wasn't written for her but it might as well have been. And it's better than the new songs that were written for her (or the few I've heard anyway).

worldsgreatest musicdad writes: A truly great road song

Probably one that everyone knows but it's always nice to think that someone out there may hear it for the first time and personally I never tire of it. Meant to post this when they started running Greyhound buses in the U.K. Wouldn't really work for me - surely they're all about the vast distances and the scenery from the moon rising over an open field to the New Jersey Turnpike. No, British Greyhounds make me think of 'Do you know the way to Sandringham?' or 'By the time I get to Tulse Hill'. Favourite lines: Kathy I'm lost I said though I knew she was sleeping/I'm empty and aching and I don't know why.



Buy the mp3 from Amazon

worldsgreatestmusicdad writes: A Worthwhile Cover

Sometimes you can't understand why someone bothers with a cover but this one grabbed me on its first release, some voice this guy's got - I even bought the record! Like most of my 45s it disappeared somewhere along the way but I'm really pleased it's been re-released on a whole album of Holly covers:



Buy the mp3 from Amazon

worldsgreatestmusic writes: Chas & Dave

Sad news that Chas & Dave have split, but at least they had their career renaissance while they were still together - I tried to see them at Glastonbury a couple of years back but couldn't get near the tent for the crowds of people.

Given the tragic circumstances, the most appropriate song to post would be In Sickness And In Health, but their classic hit was of course Ain't No Pleasing You (I say that as if I have a comprehensive knowledge of their catalogue - I don't, sadly).



buy the mp3 from Amazon

worldsgreatestmusic writes: What A Wonderful Surprise

What a wonderful bootleg

worldsgreatestmusic writes: bootleg tastefully combining two of the best dance records ever

Everything But The Girl vs Modjo - Missing Lady

worldsgreatestmusic writes: Many Rivers To Cross

A while back, I happened to record Jimmy Cliff performing Many Rivers To Cross on TV. It's a great rendition of one of my all-time favourites so I posted it to YouTube.

When I was a teenager, some people came round to my mum's house one Saturday night and I played them Many Rivers To Cross on the gramophone, with that very quiet organ intro then Jimmy's piercing vocal at top volume. My guests back then were not an appreciative audience, but YouTube users are. They seem to find the performance inspirational and I'm inspired by their comments. One day I hope to be involved in a piece of music as good as Many Rivers To Cross.



Buy the mp3 from Amazon

worldsgreatestmusic writes: Ellie Greenwich RIP

amazing playlist from an amazing songwriter: http://open.spotify.com/user/jamesfoley/playlist/1NfHMaBXzgHGNYWHn5sejF

worldsgreatestmusic writes: a folk music funeral

I went to a funeral recently where four wonderful pieces of folk music were played.

Ride On by Christy Moore is a tearjerker in any context, let alone at a funeral.



Safe In The Harbour was written about the folk singer Stan Rogers. It's part of the canon of beautiful songs about people who died too young, my favourite of which is Boulder To Birmingham by Emmylou Harris.



The Last Trip Home is another folk song that lends itself perfectly to a funeral, and like many folk songs, it doubles up as a history lesson.



Finally, Ewan MacColl's song Manchester Rambler was written for the mass trespass on Kinder Scout which helped win the right to ramble. What a great chorus , although the best bit of it ("I may be a wage slave come Monday, but I am a free man on Sunday") isn't included in the Amazon excerpt. Ewan's other classic songs included Dirty Old Town and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

Amazon links:
Christy Moore - Ride On
Eric Bogle - Safe In The Harbour
The Battlefield Band - The Last Trip Home
Ewan MacColl - The Manchester Rambler

Flight Of The Conchords and Spinal Tap have just been surpassed by a real band

Fade Into You by Mazzy Star

World's Greatest Music writes...

Another Mazzy Star track was featured on a TV advert recently but this is their classic track.



Mazzy Star - Fade Into You (Amazon)

Freur and Underworld

Doot Doot by Freur was on the soundtrack to Gossip Girl recently, sounding wonderful as ever. I'm told by someone involved that it would have been a much bigger hit first time around had the band not insisted on having a squiggle as a name.

Two members of Freur went on to form Underworld whose dubnobasswithmyheadman is my favourite dance album. Never has electronic music had more soul than on River Of Bass. You can't get the album on iTunes, nor on Amazon's download service, but you can get it here.

Freur - Doot Doot (Amazon)

Underworld - River Of Bass (not on Amazon)

Blue Eyes by Mika

World's Greatest Music writes...

When I heard this on Radio 2, I rushed over to the (digital) radio to find out what it was. I was convinced it must be an oldie - they don't make pop records as good as this anymore. But no - it's from Mika's new acoustic EP. You can hear it at his website.

Another song I'd forgotten

worldsgreatestmusicdad writes:

Buffy Saint Marie wrote and recorded this song. There are several well-known covers, Elvis and Neil Diamond for example, but she does a good job with it. She's touring here very soon. She may be best known for 'Universal Soldier' which I always thought a bit earnest and unsubtle but this is a gem.



Buffy Sainte-Marie - Until It's Time For You To Go (Amazon)

Michael Jackson

The World's Greatest Music writes...

I Want You Back is a contender for the greatest pop record of all time.

Billie Jean is the greatest dance record of all time.

This is the greatest dance move of all time:



Off The Wall and Thriller are the albums it's OK to like but Bad was brilliant too, as was Black And White.

He was still making great music in the mid '90s - Earth Song may be schmaltzy but it's also a fantastic song.

I wonder if there will ever again be multi-talented, mass appeal, worldwide music megastars like Michael?

Almost There

World's Greatest Music writes...

I'm hearing rumours that Shirley Bassey has covered my favourite song from Tom Baxter's debut album, Almost There. Hopefully Shirley's version will be more inspired than Boyzone's cover of Better.

Tom Baxter - Almost There (Amazon)

Torn Between Two Lovers

World's Greatest Music writes...

I'm a big fan of obituaries - I find them very inspiring. When I read in Barry Beckett's obituary that his first no. 1 as a producer was a record called Torn Between Two Lovers, I knew it was going to be good. Why don't they make records like this anymore?

I must admit I hadn't heard of Barry Beckett or Mary MacGregor until a week ago, then Barry passed away and his career was extensively discussed by Bob Lefsetz and his readers.

It's rather difficult to buy Mary's hit version of this song, but of course it's easy to find on YouTube and Rapidshare. The YouTube comments are fabulous, particularly this one that says it all: "Perfect voice and delivery... This song has one of the most beautiful melodies with a wonderful chord progression. Too bad the concept is from the pits of Hell. The opposite of Love is not Hate; the opposite of love is Selfishness."



Mary MacGregor - Torn Between Two Lovers (link to buy an mp3 album on Amazon including this track)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

World's Greatest Music writes...

When Clap Your Hands Say Yeah first came to prominence, I wasn't interested. I think it was the name and the buzz that put me off, or maybe I just listened to the wrong tracks.

Then a few months back I heard a track I loved playing in a vintage clothes store, Shazamed it, and discovered it was their The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth.

And last week my wife opened a blog about fashion and its music player started playing another great track. This time Shazam didn't recognise it but Download Helper revealed it to be Telling The Truth (And Going Away), written for the film The Great Buck Howard.

So I'm now officially a fan of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. What do you mean they've split up?

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Telling The Truth (And Going Away)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth (seemingly not available to buy digitally but here's a link to the album on Amazon)

Father and son

worldsgreatestmusicdad writes...

It's good to hear that Yusuf Islam is returning to music. I always thought that this was a truly excellent song. His original version was so much better than the cover by some boy band who I can't even be bothered to look up. Apart from the total blandness, they failed to notice the 'two voices', a simple enough device that turns this good song into a great one, an archetypal 'generation gap' song. And what about this: 'You will still be here tomorrow/But your dreams may not.' The father gets a fair crack of the whip.



Cat Stevens - Father and Son (Amazon)

Amoureuse

worldsgreatestmusicdad writes...

A very distinctive song recorded by Kiki Dee in 1973. I was kind of reminded of it by a TV interview she did, though it's one of those songs you never really forget:



Kiki Dee - Amoureuse (Amazon)

Leave Right Now

World's Greatest Music writes...

continuing a theme of songwriters singing classic songs made famous by others, here's Eg White singing Leave Right Now, which was a huge hit for Will Young. I heard a demo of this before Will's version was released and it sounded wonderful, even though Will himself didn't want to record the song and delivered a very half-hearted vocal at the first attempt. I wonder whether he likes it now.

A haunting track by k.d. lang

worldsgreatestmusicdad writes:

This Jane Siberry song from k.d. lang's excellent album 'Songs of the 49th Parallel' is truly amazing - one of those songs you can't hear too often.

k.d. lang - Love is Everything (iTunes)

"Elvis Presley is underrated"

World's Greatest Music writes...

so said Pete Wylie said so on TV last night and watching this, I have to agree:



Pete Wylie is definitely underrated



Elvis Presley - An American Trilogy (live) (Amazon)

Pete Wylie - Heart As Big As Liverpool (iTunes)

Chet Baker again

worldsgreatestmusicdad writes:

BBC 4's screening of 'Lets Gets Lost' provides me with an excuse to post this exquisite Chet track:



Chet Baker - Time After Time (Amazon)

one of the best ever bits of reality TV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY (World's Greatest Music writes)

More road songs

worldsgreatestmusicdad writes:

The first road is more of a spiritual one, though it does involve lots of travelling. I can see why some people might find Mike Scott a bit annoying - the details of his journey aren't as interesting to us as they clearly are to him - but this develops into epic song so stick with it.

The second Mike Scott track to make my little list will also irritate some listeners being a bit too Celtic. I like the humour of it myself, and the swirling instrumentation. A 'bang on the ear' is apparently the Irish equivalent of a peck on the cheek - wouldn't you just know?

Rod McKuen wrote one of the archetypal songs of this kind (all the women in all the places). His own version doesn't seem to be available anywhere. The song was covered by Sinatra (amongst others) but that's not on YouTube either. Fortunately Johnny Cash's is.

Dave Loggins' song is a variation on this theme. He travels, but his woman stays put and repeatedly punctures his romantic dreams. She just wants him to come back home. (I always assumed that this was by Kenny Loggins of Loggins and Messina theme but Dave is apprently his cousin).

The Waterboys -A Long Way to the Light (doesn't seem to be on YouTube but if you've got Spotify (and you should have) click for the link) (Amazon)

The Waterboys - And a Bang on the Ear (Amazon)



Johnny Cash - Love's Been Good To Me (Amazon)



Dave Loggins - Please Come to Boston (Amazon)

Road Song #3

worldsgreatestmusicdad writes...

O.K., I'm aiming for ten. This Kris Kristofferson song is one that has probably inspired many others. Janis makes it her own and it seems to work just as well with Bobby being a man. Some deceptively simple yet very memorable lines: 'Freedom's just another word for nothin left to lose.' 'I'd trade all my tomorrows for a single yesterday/Holdin Bobby's body next to mine.'



If you don't have Kristofferson's own version:

Kris Kristofferson - Me and Bobby McGee (Amazon)