Playlist: Listen, my friends! ~ August 2013
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In the words of Moby Grape… listen, my friends! Yes, it’s the (hopefully) monthly playlist presented by George’s Journal just for you good people.
There may be one or two classics to be found here dotted in among different tunes you’re unfamiliar with or have never heard before – or, of course, you may’ve heard them all before. All the same, why not sit back, listen away and enjoy…
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CLICK on the song titles to hear them
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Nina Simone ~ Sinnerman (1965)1
Whistling Jack Smith ~ I Was Kaiser Bill’s Batman (1967)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience ~ Third Stone From The Sun (1967)2
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass ~ With A Little Help From My Friends (1967)
Peter Wyngarde ~ Neville Thumbcatch (1970)3
Odetta ~ Hit Or Miss (1970)4
David Tomlinson and Angela Lansbury ~ The Beautiful Briny (1971)5
Carly Simon ~ You’re So Vain (1972)
Elton John ~ Are You Ready For Love (1977)6
Wilfred Josephs ~ Theme from I, Claudius (1978)
Bananarama ~ Robert De Niro’s Waiting… (1984)
Whitney Houston ~ I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) (1987)
Carter Burwell ~ Back To The Interstate, Ben Stone from Doc Hollywood (1991)
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1 Nina Simone’s definintive 10-minute-plus version of the classic spiritual tune from her Pastel Blues album, which has been featured in movies including Cellular (2004), Miami Vice, Inland Empire (both 2006) and most memorably The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
2 From the classic album Are You Experienced and as featured over the opening titles of the once-seen-never-forgotten film The Dreamers (2003)
3 From Department S (1969-70) and Jason King (1971-72) star Peter Wyngarde’s notoriously racy and controversial album When Sex Leers Its Ugly Head
4 The blues, soul and folk singer, actress and civil rights activist’s self-penned tune from her Odetta Sings (1970) album that this year soundtracked a memorable Southern Comfort UK TV commercial
5 Originally intended to appear in the monster musical hit Mary Poppins (1964), this Sherman Brothers-penned tune finally made it to the big screen seven years later in the similar live action/ animated effort Bedknobs And Broomsticks. A lesser success than Poppins it may have been, but at least it also featured the terrific Tomlinson. The song also soundtracked a UK commercial for Rice Krispies earlier this year
6 Featuring John Edwards of The (Detroit) Spinners on backing vocals; this classic of Elton’s back catalogue finally received the success it deserved in summer 2003 when a remixed version hit #1 in the UK charts after receiving heavy airplay in a Sky Sports TV commercial
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George's Journal 
Another fantastic mix of clips and songs, sadly though I think looking at the video on YouTube that’s the trumpet number may have been dubbed which is a great shame as the execution of the trumpet playing is beautifully subtle and accomplished. Carlie Simon in my opinion is a very underrated artist, with a great voice which feels like it is smiling to you through the speakers in the same way Mana Cass, Mary Carpenter and to a limited extent Anthea from Abba did, it’s great to see that she is starting to get some more airtime recently. If you haven’t heard her interview recently with Johhny Walker on sounds of the 70s on Radio 2 it is very worthwhile digging up, but she still doesn’t quite reveal who she is singing about in Your So Vain. I will be homing Elton and Bananrama tunes for the next week 😉
Cheers
As ever, thanks for the comment, CannonBallRun. 🙂
Yup, gotta love Herb Alpert – and have to say I do love that TV performance for a visuals as much as the audio – such clips from classic TV are like capsules in time, to my mind.
And fair points on Carly Simon, for sure. A terrific – and, did you know, Oscar-winning – artist. Happily, methinks in her homeland she’s considered a great, if maybe not so over here… 🙂