Joe writes: I've just been doing what everyone else did five years ago

and spent a bit too long watching old clips on YouTube

Aretha Franklin doing I Say A Little Prayer on The Cliff Richard Show:



Nick Cave doing The Ship Song on Songwriters Circle:



Billy Bragg doing Levi Stubbs' Tears:

nice production by Bloodshy & Avant on Sky Ferreira's debut single One

(posted by Joe)

I love the Alicia Keys single

Joe writes: So good it could have been written by Prince in his prime

great song

Joe writes: I may have posted this song before but I think it's great and could even become a standard

Let Me Be Your Lover by Tom Hickox:

Joe writes: I wasn't a Laura Marling fan until now but I love Rambling Man

Joe writes: I've only just got the hook to No More I Love You's out of my head from Annie Lennox's version

and now Nicki Minaj has sampled it for her new single



Good track thanks to the sample, but Nicki's bits do pleasantly remind me of my favourite Cam'ron track Wrong Ones:



Here's the wonderful original of No More I Love You's by The Lover Speaks



The Lover Speaks - No More I Love You's

great tune from Foster The People called Pumped Up Kicks (posted by Joe)

I really like Yeah Whatever by Indian band The Supersonics

(posted by Joe, updated December 17th 2011)

Mumford & Sons somehow passed me by

Phil writes: This was a recommendation from Amazon. Can't believe I hadn't heard of them before. Sensational! It's called The Banjolin Song. And this is probably not their best as it's just the first that came up on YouTube.

good new Faithless single and video Not Going Home ("erotic" version!)

(posted by Joe)

first Charlie Gillett died, then Alex Chilton

Joe writes: sad day



Big Star - Holocaust (buy from Amazon)



Big Star - Thirteen (buy from Amazon)

and two artists Charlie championed:



Dire Straits - Romeo & Juliet (buy from Amazon)



Gurrumul - Bapa (buy from Amazon)

The last time I saw Charlie was at a Gurrumul showcase, having previously run into him at a Manu Chao gig in Paris and Joss Stone's debut performance. He was a man of taste and passion and he was very nice with it.

I love Rumer

Joe writes: Once in a while, an artist comes along with echoes of acts from the classic rock era like Joni Mitchell or Fleetwood Mac or Roberta Flack or The Carpenters. The problem comes when you listen to their music back to back with an album like Blue or Rumours; they invariably fall far short.

Not so with Rumer. She is an achingly great lyricist; an intuitive, unaffected soul singer; a wonderful songwriter.

Her music is so good it makes me wince. She is up there with the best of them.

And to cap it all, she has the great taste to cover Long Long Day from Paul Simon's One Tricky Pony.

(updated post)

no. 1 all round Europe - Alors On Dance by Stromae

(posted by Joe)

Ignition (Remix) was the best single of the last decade

Joe writes: Steve Greenberg did a list of the 100 best singles of last decade. Steve has great taste and signed one of the singles of the '90s, MMMBop by Hanson. I agree with most of his '00s list - Ignition (Remix) by R Kelly was the single of the decade, narrowly pipping Crazy by Gnarls Barkley.

I also discovered a couple of great tracks through Steve's list:

Baby Mama by Fantasia:



buy from Amazon

Acid Tongue by Jenny Lewis:



buy from Amazon

Some singles of the decade that weren't in Steve's list:
* Dry Your Eyes by The Streets
* In My Place by Coldplay
* Chasing Cars and Run by Snow Patrol
* Where Is The Love? by Black Eyed Peas
* Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis
* Push The Button by Sugababes
* Dance Wiv Me and Bonkers by Dizzee Rascal
* Sex On Fire by Kings Of Leon
* It Wasn't Me by Shaggy feat. RikRok

this song makes me cry

Joe writes: Stephen is about murdered PC Stephen Carroll, written from the perspective of his widow.

David Ford is an underrated talent. Buy his albums here.

David Ford - Stephen (buy from iTunes)

Willow by Joan Armatrading

Phil writes: I've not really listened to Joan Armatrading's recent work. I guessed we'd know about it if it came anywhere near her early stuff and I wasn't encouraged by hearing a recent interview where she said that her last album was a blues one and now she'd wanted to do a rock/pop one - surely the point about her best work (and this, I think, is her best) is that it is utterly unclassifiable:



Buy the mp3 from Amazon

Two great tracks with a similar theme

Phil writes: I was introduced to both by my son, some years ago now. Both made an immediate impact and are amongst my all-time favourites. 'The Dance' has featured on the blog before but you there will be people out there who will be hearing it for the first time:



It seems strangely unavailable on Amazon or iTunes.

This is not the best version of 'Moment of Forever' and Kris's voice, never his greatest asset, is not in great shape these days but it's still wonderful:



Here's the studio version:



buy the mp3 from iTunes

brilliant single from Gabriella Cilmi

co-written and produced by The Invisible Men who include two former members of the group Orson.

Joe writes: There's a campaign to get The Housemartins to reform

on Twitter, which gives me a chance to post my favourite Housemartins track, Happy Hour.

Only joking - my favourite Housemartins track is of course a miserable but beautiful one - Johannesburg.



buy the mp3 from Amazon

Perfect!

Phil writes: I've been a Streisand fan ever since I bought 'The Barbra Streisand Album' soon after it came out. This is remarkable. The song is unusual but you can't point to anything particularly great about the music or lyrics. Could anyone else produce such a great performance?



Buy mp3 from Amazon