Summer closure

As I won´t have much time to post here on a regular basis in the next couple of months, I´ve decided to close up shop for the time being. Please check back some time in September, dear readers. Here´s to a long hot summer... Cheers! 

Fever pitch Grab Bag

Welcome to Grab Bag, that weekly roundup of songs that got a lot of airplay here over the past week. And what have we got for you this fine Friday night? Tom Waits of course, as I´ve got my tix for his July concert in Barcelona, plus a great Waits cover by the one and only Lydia Lunch. Ole Hank gets some airplay again, just because he´s the undisputed number one in my all time top ten of country artists. Saint Nick makes an appearance with a ship song, while those brilliant freakfolkers called Tunng sing a song of the sea. For all you blues lovers out there we take a look at the magnificent Skip James Today! album. And good news for the footy haters among you: the Speedtwins provide a fitting soundtrack to the upcoming European Championships madness... I probably won´t be posting here as much as I´d like to in the coming week, as we´ve got friends coming over and there´s loads and loads of football matches to be watched. Fever pitch! Bring it on.

They may have been way expensive, but I´m still very excited that I´ve got tickets to see Tom Waits here this July. So let´s celebrate with a great Waits cover by no wave godmother Lydia Lunch. She makes the song her own almost effortlessly, like Tom wrote it especially for her. And those trademark semi-bored vocals crack me up every time. Find it on the tribute album New Coat Of Paint - The Songs Of Tom Waits (Manifesto ´01). "Well this stuff will probably kill you, let's do another line, what you say you meet me down on Heartattack and Vine..." And here´s the goateed master himself, live in Stockholm back in ´99. "See that little Jersey girl in the see-through top, with the peddle pushers sucking on a soda pop, well I bet she's still a virgin but it's only twenty-five 'til nine, you can see a million of 'em on Heartattack and Vine."

Lydia Lunch (featuring Nels Cline) - Heartattack And Vine MP3

Tom Waits - Heartattack And Vine (live in Stockholm 14-7-´99) MP3

Over at the very interesting Star Maker Machine blog, this week´s theme is ´boats´. Check it out, as the ever growing army of contributors has posted a lot of interesting songs with a nautical flavour there. And here´s one more, with a solemn Nick Cave advising you to burn your bridges and let your hair hang down on this impressive single (Mute ´90). Next week´s theme on Starmaker is ´advice´ by the way, featuring songs that tell you what to do, or what not to. Can´t wait what everybody will come up with...

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Ship Song MP3

"Bring me a song of the sea, sing me a song of the sea." Let´s stay in the briny for a bit longer with Tunng, purveyors of fine freakfolk since 2005. A gorgeous melody, with just enough electronica and samples to keep things interesting. Everybody even remotely attracted to the genre should buy their debut album This Is... Tunng (Static Caravan ´05) immediately. And as a bonus track, here´s the equally impressive Wolves by Tunng side project The Accidental. Find it on the recently released There Were Wolves (Full Time Hobby ´08).

Tunng - Song Of The Sea MP3

The Accidental - Wolves MP3

Bluestime now. Skip James made his most legendary recordings back in the early thirties. Amazing stuff, but the sound quality is hard to handle for some. That´s no problem with the best album James recorded after his rediscovery by blues scholars in the sixties. Skip James Today! (Vanguard ´65) is one of these records I can listen to almost every day. What a voice! Most tracks find Skip on guitar, like the exquisite Cypress Grove. "I will drink muddy water, I'll sleep in a hollow log, before I stay up here, honey, treated like a dog." But seated behind the piano - as on How Long for instance - the results are just as fine.

Skip James - Cypress Grove MP3

Skip James - How Long MP3

If you haven´t done so already, please submit your votes over at the Setting The Woods On Fire blog. The Motor City cowboy who runs the place is on a blogging hiatus at the moment, but in the meantime he´s desperate to know your favorite country artists. Johnny Cash is currently in the lead, with Hank Williams hot on his heels. Now I love the man in black of course, but I maintain that the title should go the the father of them all: ole Hank. Here´s my all time favorite Hank Williams song, Weary Blues From Waitin´. "Oh sweet mama, please come home..." Sadness incarnate. Find it on 40 Greatest Hits (PolyGram).

Hank Williams - Weary Blues From Waitin´ MP3

Tension mounts here as it´s only three days until Holland takes on Italy, the current champion of the world, in the European Championships. Its´gonna be a tough one, but I´ve got plenty confidence in the lads. Forza Olanda! For those of you who are not into the beautiful game - hey, nobody´s perfect - here´s an anti-footy song for you. All together now: "We... hate... football!" The Speedtwins were one of the first Dutch punk bands around, and this song is actually directed at the Argentinian junta that organised the ´78 World Cup. Find it on the exemplary compilation I´m Sure We´re Gonna Make It (Epitaph ´96, sadly out of print).

Speedtwins - Football Song MP3

In The Light

Will Oldham a.k.a. Bonnie Prince Billy is undoubtedly Louisville, Kentucky´s finest export product since Cassius Clay. Bonnie pulls no punches either, and that´s probably why he´s an acquired taste for some. Me, I´ve been hooked on the gospel according to Oldham ever since I bought that great Palace Brothers´ debut single Ohio River Boat Song back in ´93. Bonnie does his own thing, stays independent and honest to himself, and accepts no compromise. As for the eloquence and feeling in his songs, I´d nearly call him the the Townes Van Zandt of his (lo-fi) generation. But man, I´m happy just to nominate Bonnie Prince Billy as the finest living singer/songwriter working today.

Hot on the heals of last year´s intense cover album Ask Forgiveness the prolific Billy has just now added yet another goodie to his already huge oeuvre. Compared to, say, the stark and gloomy The Letting Go (´06), Lie Down In The Light is a remarkably laid back and even sunny record. Hence the title I guess. If albums can be seen as reflections of a musician´s state of mind on a given moment in time, Oldham must be quite the happy camper nowadays. To quote You Remind Me Of Something (The Glory Goes): "I like the places where the night does not mean an end, where smiles break free and surprise is your friend, and dancing goes on in the kitchen at dawn to my favorite song."

The production on Lay Down In The Light - by Mark Nevers - is remarkably clear and the music´s beautifully arranged, with lots of tiny details buried just under the surface. And new singer Ashley Webber, who replaces Dawn McCarthy on female vocals, sure is a find. Just check out You Want That Picture to sample her qualities. Nearly made me think George Jones and Tammy Wynette for a minute there...

Bonnie Prince Billy - You Remind Me Of Something (The Glory Goes) MP3

Bonnie Prince Billy - (Keep Eye On) Other´s Gain MP3

Bonnie Prince Billy - You Want That Picture MP3

Bo (dead) and Tom (expensive)

I just learned that Bo Diddley died today of heart failure. Diddley was a groundbreaking genius of rock & roll who had that exciting jungle beat down pat... I´ll miss him. "Tombstone hand and a graveyard mind, just 22 and I don´t mind dying..." Bo was 79. Find Who Do You Love, definitely my favorite Bo Diddley song, on the definitive Bo Diddley: The Chess Box (Chess records).

Unaware of Bo´s fate, I spent hours and hours on the phone earlier today trying to buy 2 tickets for Tom Waits´ Glitter And Doom tour. No online ticket sale here in the fair city of Barcelona, and the ticketing agency didn´t provide any pricing or floor plan details on their site either. Waits´ European tour will be subject to new anti-scalper plans, thus attempting to ensure that every fan will pay only face value (plus normal service and handling fees) for the tickets. Tickets are limited to two per person with the purchaser’s name – and name of their plus one – printed on the ticket. Ticket-holders need photo ID corresponding to the names on the tickets to gain access to the venues.

Good to see such an initiative Tom, but with prices being this high, who needs scalpers? When I finally got through to an employee I asked for the best available seats, as you don´t want to be up in the nosebleeds. I guess our seats are fine now, but we had to pay a whopping 276 Euro ($428) for the pair. To my knowledge, champagne, caviar and other delights are not included. Hey, I know nobody forced me, but still... Dude, that´s a lot of money. You better be good Tom my man...

The live MP3´s below were recorded in The Hague on July 21, 1999, the last time me and the missus saw Mr. Waits in concert. It was a truly great show. The price? 120 Euro for two tix. Got the inflation blues...

Bo Diddley - Who Do You Love MP3

Tom Waits - Cemetery Polka (live in The Hague 21-7-´99) MP3

Tom Waits - Invitation To The Blues (live in The Hague 21-7-´99) MP3

Clockwork Orange Grab Bag

Greetings music lovers... With the European Championships in Switzerland and Austria getting closer and closer, football fever is slowly but surely taking over at For The Sake Of The Song HQ. We´re quite busy joining pools, debating favorite teams, rating players and ironing old team jerseys. It´s gonna be a great event whoever wins, but I for one hope the Dutch team will perform like a clockwork orange for once. But hey, Holland is in a ´group of death´ with Italy, France and Romania, so it´s going to be real tough...

While the pressure builds, let´s hear it for some cool tunes. What have we got in store for you this Grab Bag Friday night? Let´s see. There´s Bonnie Prince Billy going all exotic on us for starters. Then we´ve got a New York noise department with Sonic Youth and James White & The Blacks. We´re presenting a new trio you just have to hear from Amsterdam, Holland, and let´s not forget a thirsty Sleepy John Estes singing the blues. "If the river was whiskey..." And last but not least Robert Palmer will take care of some groovin´ blue-eyed soul. Enjoy.

Good news for all you fans of Sonic Youth and other New York noise bands out there. Together with Byron Coley, noise-connaisseur Thurston Moore has just published a book called No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980 (Abrams Books) which looks mighty interesting. Illustrated with lots of pictures and with a foreword by no wave legend Lydia Lunch, it chronicles that fruitful period when James White, Richard Hell, Glenn Branca and David Byrne were kings of the scene. Shadow Of A Doubt comes from Sonic Youth´s masterly Evol album (SST ´86).

Sonic Youth - Shadow Of A Doubt MP3

Speaking of James White, let´s get down for a bit with the master of no wave funk. Dig that honking saxophone brothers and sisters! "Once you take out all the garbage that’s in your brain, forget about your future, shatter your frame... Contort yourself!" White recorded this song in a slightly different version with his other group The Contortions, but this here is the original, done under the James White & The Blacks moniker. Find it on the excellent Rough Trade Shops - Post Punk Vol. 1 compilation (Mute ´03).

James White & The Blacks - Contort Yourself MP3

Bluestime! The great Sleepy John Estes recorded this gem way back in 1929. "Now if the river was whiskey, and I was a diving duck, I would dive to the bottom, never would come up." Cheers John. Estes came from a large family in western Tennessee and subsequently didn´t receive much schooling - he once joked that he spent 12 years in school, all in the first grade - and was a farmer first and a musician second, but his talent was nothing short of amazing. Believe me, no blues collection is complete without his I Ain´t Gonna be Worried No More 1929-1941 (Yazoo).

Sleepy John Estes - Diving Duck Blues MP3

Now this one´s way cool. The Italian collective Numero 6 just released an ep called Quando Arriva La Gente Si Sente Meglio, and you can download it here for free. But wait, the best is yet to come... I haven´t got a clue how they managed to lure the Louisville legend to their lair, but that´s really Bonnie Prince Billy singing on one of their songs, and in Italian at that. Sounds great, ragazzi. Haven´t got a clue what he´s on about, as my Italian is kinda rusty, but I think Da Piccolissimi Pezzi translates as ´the smallest slice´. I can´t imagine this song being about pizza though.

Numero 6 (feat. Bonnie Prince Billy) - Da Piccolissimi Pezzi MP3

Here´s some fresh new talent for you. Boompity (the name comes from a Kurt Vonnegut story) is a trio from Amsterdam that definitely deserves your attention. Just two guitars, a drumkit and a swampy sound that would make Tom Waits more than proud. They have just recorded a great demo and will be playing their first gigs soon. Check their website here to book them for all your birthday parties, weddings or funerals.

Boompity - Elevator Pitch MP3

Let´s call it quits for tonight with some white soul and rhythm & blues. The late Robert Palmer is well-known as a slick blue-eyed soulsinger in a sharp suit who had quite a few hits in the eighties. He wasn´t so slick when he started out though. On his debut album Sneakin´ Sally Through The Alley (Island ´74) he was lucky enough to be backed by members of two of the funkiest bands around at the time, Little Feat and the Meters. Palmer´s vocals are pretty damn sharp on Sailing Shoes (a Feat cover) and the title track (an Allan Toussaint composition) but it´s the band that really grooves here.

Robert Palmer - Sailing Shoes MP3

Robert Palmer - Sneakin´Sally Through The Alley MP3

Happy Birthday Zimmy!

It just happens to be Bob Dylan´s birthday today, so celebrations are obviously in order. Cut the cake - 67 candles - and pop the corks for Robert Allen Zimmerman, born May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota. Singer, songwriter, musician, poet, author, dj. Commandeur Des Arts Et Des Lettres, winner of an Oscar and a Pulitzer prize. Or as he´s fond of saying about himself: just a song and dance man. For The Sake Of The Song would like to celebrate Zim´s birthday by playing you some live highlights from early 1997, the year he nearly died of histoplasmosis, some kind of heart disease.

First up is a pretty rare live outing of the traditional Pretty Peggy-O, one of the songs from his debut way back in ´62. Some great singing here; check out how he venomously phrases the line "your cities I will burn" for instance. Dylan performed Viola Lee Blues only one time in his career. It´s an old blues song he probably learned from the Grateful Dead. Roving Gambler is another traditional, best known in the version of the Stanley Brothers. And last but not least there´s a beautiful cover of the murder ballad Long Black Veil, also a one-off performance. And now I´m gonna open up another bottle of bubbly. May you stay forever young Bob, and see you live here in Spain soon... Cheers!

Bob Dylan - Pretty Peggy-O (live Albany 18-4-´97) MP3

Bob Dylan - Viola Lee Blues (live Sapporo 24-2-´97) MP3

Bob Dylan - Roving Gambler (live Hartford 19-4-´97) MP3

Bob Dylan - Long Black Veil (live Wheeling 28-4-´97) MP3

Feel good Grab Bag

Some old stuff, some new, some famous names, some relatively unknown... Friday night´s Grab Bag is here again to let you enjoy a taste of what I´ve been listening to at the For The Sake Of The Song headquarters over the past week. Got an advance track from the new Silver Jews album for you, some blues by the legendary Reverend Gary Davis and funky stuff from New Orleans finest the Meters. Bob ´Pulitzer´ Dylan is on the road again, and we celebrate this with a live song from his first show of the tour. There´s a spotlight on the poppy side of the English first generation punk band Wire, and I think it´s high time you discovered folkie Alela Diane. Enjoy. I´m going to Lie Down In The Light now with the new Bonnie Prince Billy album. Expect a review here soon.

After a three year hiatus, the Silver Jews are back. A new album, titled Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea will be released in the near future, and thanks to these generous people at Drag City records here´s a taster already. Another great song. I guess Joos´ mastermind David Berman has been listening to a lot of Lou Reed lately though... By the way, I once spent a night drinking with the bearded one after doing an interview and he´s one of the coolest guys I´ve ever met. As a bonus I give you what´s probably my fave Silver Jews song ever: The Wild Kindness from American Water (Drag City ´98).

Silver Jews - Strange Victory, Strange Defeat MP3

Silver Jews - The Wild Kindness MP3

If you want to hear promising new indie bands strutting their stuff live in the studio, look no further than the Daytrotter website. They organise sessions in the Futureappletree Studio (great name) in downtown Rock Island, Illinois on a regular basis for musicians who happen to pass by and the results are often breathtaking. A great way to discover new bands - like I did with Blitzen Trapper, David Karsten Daniels and Grizzly Bear for instance. Alela Diane, a folky from Nevada City, is the latest Daytrotter sessionist that caught my fancy.

Alela Diane - The Rifle MP3

It´s blues time now, with the mighty Reverend Gary Davis. Davis made his first recordings back in ´35. An amazing guitar player and powerful singer, he became a minister soon after and swore off the blues as a result. Davis was rediscovered playing the streets of New York City in the fifties and started a whole new recording career, influencing many aspiring folkies in the process. You can find Twelve Gates To The City on The Prestige/Folklore Years Volume Three (Fantasy ´95), which is part of a much recommended series of sixties folk and blues.

Rev. Gary Davis - Twelve Gates To The City MP3

Let´s move to New Orleans now for the irresistable funk of the Meters. If you haven´t heard the Meters, Jack, you haven´t lived. Fire on the bayou! That´s Art Neville on piano and vocals, but it´s the great drumming of Joseph ´Zig´ Modeliste that really steals the show here. Find Hey Pocky A-Way and many more goodies on The Very Best Of The Meters (Rhino ´97). "Feel good music, I´ve been told, is good for the body, and good for the soul..." Yup.

The Meters - Hey Pocky A-Way MP3

Bob Dylan has recently started the umpteenth leg of his Never Ending Tour, which takes him from a couple of dates in the States and Canada all the way down to Europe. There he will play quite exotic places like Iceland, Russia (St. Petersburg), Estonia, Lithuania and Croatia amongst others, ending with a run of 17 shows in Italy, France, Spain and Portugal. For all the dates of the current tour, check Bob Links. Lots of variation in the setlists so far, hurrah! Here´s a taster for you: Tryin´ To Get To Heaven in a somewhat new arrangement, recorded live at the first show of this tour in Worcester, Massachusetts. The wolfman rides again!

Bob Dylan - Tryin´ To Get To Heaven (live Worcester 16 May ´08) MP3

Wire has always been of my favourite first generation punk bands. They were an original, arty combo that could play short and furious songs with the best of them, but lots of their material had a distinctive poppy side to it as well. Ex Lion Tamer (from their ´77 debut Pink Flag) with its great stop-start rhythm has a great refrain to sing along with for instance. "Stay glued to your tv set". And Outdoor Miner (from ´78 follow-up Chairs Missing) really is a bona fide pop song, with great lyrics that make no sense whatshowever. How about "No blind spots in the leopard´s eyes, can only help to jeopardise, the lives of lambs, the shepherd cries..."? Or "An afterlife for a silverfish, eternal dust, less ticklish, than the clean room, a houseguest's wish..."? Wonderful stuff.

Wire - Outdoor Miner MP3

Wire - Ex Lion Tamer MP3

Black Forest, light rain

Back in the early seventies, a German woman called Sibylle Baier recorded some beautiful songs at home on a reel to reel recorder. Then, nothing. She simply continued living her life, content to let her music be heard by family and friends only. She had kids to raise, and was apparently also active as a dancer, painter and actress. She even appeared in a movie by the great German director Wim Wenders, who´s most probably the Wim in one of her songs. 

A few years ago, Sibylle´s son Robby came into contact with J Mascis and told the Dinosaur Jr guitarist about his mother´s music. Mascis got a tape and liked what he heard so much he decided to shop for a record label to get Sibylle´s work officially released. His efforts led to the impressive Colour Green album (Orange Twin ´06). Fourteen short, deceptively simple songs of melancholy and longing. "Give us your smile for awhile, may it guide us through the dark." Think Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen, Vashti Bunyan or even Nico, albeit without the heavy German accent and the harmonium. Think of the Black Forest in a light rain. An ideal record for late-night listening. Word has it that Sibylle is recording songs for a new album as we speak. That would make a nearly fourty year hiatus; surely a world record?

Sibylle Baier - Tonight MP3

Sibylle Baier - Softly MP3

Sibylle Baier - Wim MP3

On the Townes bio

If you´re a Townes Van Zandt fan, do yourself a favour and pick up a copy of John Kruth´s recent biography To Live´s To Fly (now available in paperback from Da Capo Press). Subtitled The Ballad Of The Late Great Townes Van Zandt, it´s a long overdue look at the troubled singer-songwriter´s life and oeuvre. Kruth interviewed lots and lots of insiders along the way. Among them are Townes´ first and third wife, his kids, colleagues such as Guy Clarke, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Steve Earle and his longtime label boss Kevin Eggers, a huckster you really wished Townes had never met. Only makes you wonder if the Texas bard would have had more commercial succes with a bona fide manager or record label... 

It´s no surprise a Townes biography contains tons of anecdotes about his drinking, gambling, drifting and womanizing ways. We find him giving away his money to kids in Mexico and buying bums in back alleys a fifth of wodka. We see him drinking a bottle of codeine cough syrup - aka Delta Momma - ad fundum while still in the pharmacy where he bought the stuff, ceremoniously putting the empty bottle back on the counter. And there he is losing everything but his underpants in a crap game, walking away laughing. We also learn Townes came from a wealthy background and a rich southern heritage, and that his concerned parents had him institutionalized for a while (including electro shock therapy!) when he decided to give up a respectable career for the sake of the song. And we find him torn between his family on one side, his muse on the other and the road and the bottle somewhere inbetween. 

Reason enough to pick up a copy of To Live´s To Fly methinks. Kruth´s writing style can be a bit breathless at times, and as an interviewer he´s sometimes afraid to ask the really tough questions. No wonder if a drunken Guy Clark is playing with a knife when you´re interrogating him, but still... On the whole we have to thank him though for finally setting the record straight on one of the undisputed geniuses of American song.

The following tracks are from Delta Momma Blues (´71, reissued on the Charly label).

Townes Van Zandt - Where I Lead Me MP3

Townes Van Zandt - Brand New Companion MP3

Townes Van Zandt - Tower Song MP3

Novelty Grab Bag

Thanks god it´s Friday... and I guess you all know what that means by now. Yup, it´s Grab Bag time again, where you get to hear the highlights of my personal musical diet of the past week. 

Tonight Grab Bag goes country big time, with no less than three fine novelty songs featuring southern accents, steel guitars and twang. But that´s not all folks. Also got the Soulsavers for you, with a track from last year´s wonderful collaboration with Mark Lanegan. Plus there´s a new group called Community Gun just begging to be introduced, and the reggae pick of the week just happens to be the heavenly vocal trio The Mighty Diamonds. Enjoy. I must be off now to listen to my latest acquisition: Sibylle Baier´s Colour Green album... More on her next week.

Let´s get the ball rolling with some wacky country songs. God Less America (Crypt ´98) is an amazing collection of novelty country songs. It´s subtitled A Heartrendering Set Of Country & Western Tales Of Misery And Confusion: 1955-1966 and that´s spot on for once. Just take Too Many Pills, Arkey Blue´s woeful tale of a pillpoppin´ country singer on a downslide. "The women, the pills, the whiskey, all haunt his memory..." Nice rhyme there. It suddenly strikes me this could well be another song about Ole Hank...

Arkey Blue & The Blue Cowboys - Too Many Pills MP3

From the same album (long out of print, try eBay) comes the hilarious ditty Please Don´t Go Topless, Mother. Young Troy Hess pleads with his mom to please please please stop her go-go dancing ways. How old is this kid anyway? Not yet in his teens I guess. "You´re ruining your reputation, and I can give you two big reasons why." Poor lad.

Troy Hess - Please Don´t Go Topless, Mother MP3

Time for some roots reggae now. The Mighty Diamonds have been one of Jamaica´s finest vocal trios for decades, and as far as I know they´re still around. Their finest hour without a doubt was Right Time (Virgin ´76), their flawless and very rootsy debut album. Donald ´Tabby´ Sharpe, Fitzroy ´Bunny´ Simmons and Lloyd Ferguson sure knew how to let their voices melt together in a way that must have pleased Jah. "Natty Dread Will Never Run Away." Right on.

Mighty Diamonds - Right Time MP3

Mighty Diamonds - Gnashing Of Teeth MP3

I just can´t get enough of the Soulsavers beautiful It´s Not How Far You Fall, It´s The Way You Land (V2 ´07). Their Neil Young cover Through My Sails not only features former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan, who´s present on nearly all the tracks on the album, but we get Will Oldham in the choir as well. How atmospheric can you get? The original, the only track on Zuma (´75) without Crazy Horse but with Crosby, Stills and Nash, pales in comparison. And that´s saying something.

Soulsavers - Through My Sails MP

Neil Young - Through My Sails MP3

I´m always a sucker for good songtitles. So when Community Gun sent me their new self-released ep and I discovered a song called Midnight Moses And Eileen on it I just had to check it out... Sounds promising, don´t you agree? And lo and behold, the Highland, New York quartet proved me right with a great song. Tom Waits meets the Mats? Something like that. If I worked for a record label, I´d sign ´em up pronto.

Community Gun - Midnight Moses And Elaine MP3

Well alright then, one more song from God Less America to close up tonight´s chapter of Grab Bag. Eddie Noack (´30-´78) was a honky tonk singer and songwriter with degrees in English and journalism, surely a rarity. He got famous when Hank Snow recorded his song These Hands in ´56. The funny Dolores finds him in psycho territory. "There´s a killer in the neighbourhood, Dolores. A man who sees a girl and goes berserk..." If Dolores had just followed his sound advice to stay inside the house that fateful night, she would not have gotten killed... by her serial killer husband himself.

Eddie Noack - Dolores MP3

Gospel time

It´s Pentecost Monday, also known as Whit Monday. Pentecost commemorates - I had to look it up - the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus. For me it´s just an extra day off, as I´m not religious at all. But that doesn´t mean I can´t enjoy some serious gospel music every once in a while.

So when I finally realised this morning it was the Monday of Pentecost, I immediately put on the first disc of Sam Cooke´s SAR Records Story box set (SAR ´94) and treated myself to some Soul Stirrers. Sam Cooke was no longer a member of the Soul Stirrers at the time they recorded for SAR, as he had left that famous gospel group in ´57 to try his luck in the pop business. And as the pop hits kept coming, Cooke found himself a wealthy man and started his own label - the first black artist to do so - helping gospel orientated artists such as the Womack Brothers, R.H. Harris & His Gospel Paraders and the group he had just left, the Soul Stirrers. With great results... Just listen to Wade In The Water (featuring Paul Foster as lead singer) to see what I mean. The other tracks have Jimmie Outler as main vocalist. Repent your sins for the soul!

The Soul Stirrers - Wade In The Water MP3

The Soul Stirrers - Praying Ground MP3

The Soul Stirrers - Oh Mary, Don´t You Weep MP3
The Soul Stirrers - Lead Me Jesus MP3