Playlist: Listen, my friends! ~ March 2015

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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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The Left Banke ~ Pretty Ballerina (1966)

Ola & The Janglers ~ Let’s Dance (1968)¹

Aphrodite’s Child ~ Rain And Tears (1968)²

Sly and the Family Stone ~ I Want To Take You Higher (1969)

Carnaby Street Pop Orchestra and Choir ~ A Taste Of Excitement (1969)

Sugarloaf ~ Green-Eyed Lady (1970)

Minnie Riperton ~ Les Fleurs (1970)

Grand Funk Railroad ~ I’m Your Captain (Closer To Home) (1970)

ABBA ~ Arrival (1976)

Jorge Ben Jor ~ Taj Mahal (1976)³

Telex ~ Moskow Diskow (1979)

Julian Cope ~ World Shut Your Mouth (1986)

Peter Gabriel ~ Steam (1992)⁴

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¹ Originally a UK #2 and US #4 hit for Chris Montez back in 1962 (which was later coupled with The Shirelles’ Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow to become a chart hit across Europe in the early ’70s), this rocking version from Swedish garage band Ola & the Janglers hit #92 in the US

² A reworking of Pachelbel’s Canon in D major, this tune became a huge hit in Continental Europe, especially in France where the then Paris-based Aphrodite’s Child watched as it became something of an anthem for the anti-war movement at the time of the 1968 riots. The band, a Greek progressive rock outfit, featured both the synth-god-to-be Vangelis and Demis Roussos, whom would become an, er, giant of MOR balladry in the ’70s; Roussos passed away just over a month ago

³ Find that melody familiar? Could well be because it was half-inched for dubiously successful disco-pop effort Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? (1978) by an arse-waggling Rod Stewart

⁴ The awesome video to this sexual attraction-themed hit from Peter Gabriel (UK #10) features then revolutionary CGI and was directed by Stephen R Johnson, whom also directed the stop-motion-tastic videos to Gabriel’s Sledgehammer and Big Love (both 1986). Rightly so, the video was nominated for a Grammy Award and two MTV Video Music Awards; Johnson died, sadly at the age of just 63, in late January this year

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