David Holmes returned to NTS this week and delivered a particularly fine edition of God's Waiting Room. Even by his own high standards this one rocks, musically and politically. Interspersed with speeches and broadcasts concerning the bombing of civilians in Gaza and humanitarian calls for a ceasefire, David plays two hours of superbly selected music, including Mokadelic, Valley of The Sun, Khidja, Miles Davis, Szun Waves, Imelda May, Max Roach and the words of Norman Finkelstein, Angela Davis and John Pilger among others. There is spiritual and cosmic jazz aplenty with discourse on the state of the world, politics, genocide and some righteous ire- a two hour companion to Blind On A Galloping Horse. Listen at Mixcloud.
David's 1998 Essential Mix was a double CD/ end of the century mixtape that provided a heady stew of hip hop, jazz, rock, soul, psychedelia and whatever else he fancied. It was the first place many people happened upon Marlena Shaw's 1969 song California Soul for the first time, a three minute blast of 60s soul, bathed in a sunshine state glow and made for radio. Written by Ashford and Simpson, Marlena recorded it for her album The Spice Of Life. Marlena died last Friday aged 81, widely sampled and much loved.
RIP Marlena Shaw.
Close to home but in a similar ballpark is this radio show from Sean Crossey, The Takeover. Sean has been a Manchester face for over two decades, regularly stepping up to play records on the radio and at gigs. The latest edition of The Takeover is at Reform Radio, Sean's bag overflowing with soul, Balearica, funk and hip hop, all played on vinyl.
I've been meaning to post a link to the long running Balearic Sessions radio show for ages, a show run by Denis Heaney and a one stop shop for all things Balearic. This one went out on New Year's Eve, a date that seems a long time ago now. Two hours of laid back sounds here.
That's a terrific song from Marlena
ReplyDeleteAnother great soul diva has left us orphans. Hard times.
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