Sunday Soul - Potato Hole

It's hard to believe that I started my Sunday Soul feature over a year and a half ago in December of '07. It really doesn't feel like it's been that long. And while not officially titled as such, or even posted on a Sunday, I'd have to say that this post was probably the date of its conception. It seems fitting that it was on Booker T. & The MG's, as I can think of few other groups of musicians so critical to the development of soul music (perhaps Motown's Funk Brothers need to be mentioned here, too, although that was such a shifting group of musicians, it's hard to pin down their heart).

Instead of reinventing the wheel, here's what I said about the MG's back then:

Bring up the name Booker T. & The MG's, and the majority of people will connect it with the instrumental Green Onions (only the second track the members recorded - and actually first intended as the B-side!). What most people don't realize is that the group was the house band for legendary Southern soul label Stax Records. What that means is that if you listen to almost any track recorded by the label in the 60's, whether it's Sam & Dave, Wilson Picket, The Staple Singers, or countless other Stax artists, you're also listening to Booker T. & The MG's.

Notable members of the band included Isaac Hayes (of Theme From Shaft fame - who sometimes played keyboard), Donald "Duck" Dunn, and Steve Cropper (who both can be seen in the 1980 classic The Blues Brothers as members of "The Band"). And while their names have settled into relative obscurity, their influence on Rock & Roll was monumental. Besides being the session musicians that helped their label-mates sound so good, their style of playing (The MG's stood for Memphis Group, and their Memphis sound was what helped defined Southern soul music) was appreciated by many, including The Beatles (John Lennon was a huge Stax fan).

Since writing that, the group was rightfully inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last November, and in April, after nearly two decades, Booker T. Jones released a new solo album, Potato Hole. Backing him up on the album, in place of the MG's, are the Drive-By Truckers AND Neil Young. Yeah, you read that right, Neil Young.

As can be expected, it's an album of instrumentals, 10 of them to be exact. And in typical Booker T. fashion, they're a mix of originals and covers, including Tom Wait's Get Behind The Mule, a Drive-By Truckers song Space City, and most interestingly, Outkast's Hey Ya. What is not typical here is the focus of the instrumentation. While Jones' signature Hammond B-3 organ is present, in many of these songs it's backgrounded behind the guitar work of Young and the Truckers. It's definitely got more of a rock feel to it, albeit with some funkiness mixed in.

And while you're listening, check out the latest issue of Wax Poetics to read a stellar interview with Jones in which I learned a heck of a lot that I hadn't known about him. Things like the first instrument he played was a ukulele, that Bill Dogget's Honky Tonk was his inspiration and without it there'd probably not have been Green Onions, and that he produced Bill Withers debut album Just As I Am.

Booker T. Jones - Warped Sister : Potato Hole

and some juicy oldies:

Booker T. & The MG's - Tic-Tac-Toe : Soul Dressing

Booker T. & The MG's - Green Onions (live) : The Stax / Volt Revue: Live In London, Vol. 1

Booker T. & The MG's - Eleanor Rigby (Beatles cover) : Soul Limbo

Booker T. & The MG's - Harlem Shuffle : Soul Men

Visit Jones' website, his label Anti- Records, and become his friend on MySpace.

Lovers Or Something Like It

...and there's no defeat
like a kiss from an ex-lover's lips
the room fell deadly quiet
like a hoarse little call

my god she is beautiful...


and it hits me like a ton of bricks

The Rosie Taylor Project - Lovers Or Something Like It : Lovers Or Something Like It single

Visit their website, their label Bad Sneakers Records, and become their friend on MySpace.

Jenny Gillespie' new year

I'm not quite sure where to start in talking about Jenny Gillespie and her debut full length album Light Year. Part of me wants to share all of the other great female singer/songwriters that she reminds me of. But in doing so, I wouldn't want to give the impression that she isn't a woman of her own, an artist with something to express of her own creation. So instead, I'll start with her.

Jenny started making music of her own at thirteen. Her influences were some of the great female musicians like Nanci Griffith and Joni Mitchell, but also men like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. What all of these artists have in common, and which Jenny shares, is the ability to make something profoundly powerful, yet at times deceptively simple or delicate.

Since then, she's worked at her art, releasing an EP while in college in Austin, TX. Soon after, she moved to Chicago, where Light Year started to take substance. While only containing eight tracks, they are all well developed compositions, most close to five minutes long or longer, with none that feel like they were included just to inflate the album into something larger than it needed to be. There's nothing gimmicky or flashy here, just tightly woven songs.

Probably the closest comparison I can make to Jenny would be early Sarah McLachlan, Solace era stuff. Listen to the album's opening track, Vanishing Point, below and you'll see what I mean

Jenny Gillespie - Vanishing Point : Light Year

Visit her website and become her friend on MySpace.

Catching Up with the Beat Shack

So Dirty's Mobile Beat Shack isn't anything new. In fact, it's years old - but it just saw a digital re-release from Ropeadope Digital last month, which helped me discover it and its creator, Dirty Drummer, when I saw an ad in the latest issue of Wax Poetics. Since then, it's been a go-to album for me - an easy choice when I'm trying to figure out what to spin and don't have a lot of brain power to devote to the question. Which isn't to say that's a disposable album that makes nice background noise - it's good, damn good.

It's hard to classify this album neatly. It's got a couple of hip hop tracks that open and close it with some guest MCs, but it's not a straight up rap album. It's got some cuts that are beat features along the lines of Jay Dilla, but it's not a break album. In it's flow it's more of a mix tape thing, except it features fifteen tracks all created by Dirty Drummer. It's got a Dilla meets Dimitri From Paris feel to it in its wide range of influences and flavors. You'll find some retro 50'sish samples, dialogue from a movie (Pootie Tang), the before-mentioned rhymes laid down by J.Scienide, Supastition, and Der Thinc, a fictional, comic interview with Dirty Drummer, all mixed in doses that keep things moving without hitting up the same gimmick too many times.

Going back to the Wax Poetics link, they're offering a free download of a new mix of songs by DD called Dirty's Mobile Dub Sack. As you might guess from the title, it's got more of a dub / reggae feel to it versus the hip hop / funk feel of the Beat Shack. It's absolutely free though, so definitely head over that way to download a copy for yourself. Don't stop there though, the Beat Shack is certainly worth the coin, and here are two of its tracks to help convince you.

Dirty Drummer - Sadie & Lucy : Dirty's Mobile Beat Shack

Dirty Drummer - What does it mean? : Dirty's Mobile Beat Shack

Visit his website, his label Ropeadope, and become his friend on MySpace.

Headless Heroes

For those of you who are familiar with Alela Diane, The Silence of Love will feel both warmly comfortable and a few short steps from what you might expect. While earlier this year she released her latest solo effort, To Be Still, just last week, this album hit shelves, with Alela assuming vocal duties for a group named Headless Heroes. For it, she was recruited to add her voice to an interesting mix of covers.

I say interesting because while some are relatively contemporary (The Jesus & Mary Chain's Just Like Honey and Nick Cave's Nobody's Baby Now) and some are cozily familiar (Jackson C. Frank's Blues Run The Game - best known for the Simon & Garfunkel version), the majority of tracks here are virtual unknowns (any of you familiar with Juicy Lucy or I Am Kloot?). Here's the complete track listing:

1. True Love Will Find You In The End (Daniel Johnston cover)
2. Just One Time (Juicy Lucy cover)
3. Here Before (Vashti Bunyan cover)
4. Just Like Honey (The Jesus & Mary Chain cover)
5. To You (I Am Kloot cover)
6. Blues Run The Game (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
7. Hey, Who Really Cares? (Linda Perhacs cover)
8. Nobody's Baby Now (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds cover)
9. The North Wind Blew South (Philamore Lincoln cover)
10. See My Love (The Gentle Soul cover)

Like I said, a lot of obscure work here that Eddie Bezalel and Hugo Nicolson, the two brains behind the album, probably dug up from their mom's record collection.

While Alele's voice is surely hers here, the instruments behind her are a little different from her solo work. Instead of focusing primarily on acoustic guitar lines, this album mixes things up a bit, varying from her typical folk stylings into more psychedelic and occasionally orchestral veins.

If you're interested in picking up the album, head over to Amie Street, where not only will you get a great price on it ($7 for a digital copy), but also 25% of all sales will benefit Housing Works a New York City community-based not-for-profit organization committed to ending the twin crises of AIDS and homelessness.

Headless Heroes - True Love Will Find You In The End (Daniel Johnston cover) : The Silence of Love

the original:

Daniel Johnston - True Love Will Find You In The End : Welcome to My World

one from her latest solo release:

Alela Diane - Age Old Blue : To Be Still

Visit their website and become their friend on MySpace.

Deradoorian's Mind

For being a first release, Angel Deradoorian's Mind Raft EP is a strikingly crafted piece of musical craftsmanship. Angel, who also serves time with the Dirty Projectors, has created five atmospheric tracks that feel a lot larger than the EP's 22 minutes would suggest at first glance.

It opens with Weed Jam, in which the only lyrics, if you could call them that, are her soaring and swooping ahhhhh's, ooooh's, and ehhhhhh's. Think Moby mixing it up with a church chorus. It's beautiful, it's angelic, and it's surprisingly captivating for a lack of sing-along-ability. From there the EP moves in High Road, a slowly plodding track that features strings stabbing in over an electronic beat and Angel's voice moving into a carefully controlled cadence of lyrics (listen to it below). At this point, it begins to feel like This Mortal Coil. The strings turn a little softer, and more central, on You Carry The Deed, as does Angel's voice. Holding Pattern sees a return to a little more insistent, unnatural, and harder beat, with Angel's voice reflecting such. The EP winds up with Moon, a return to the mystical, angelic tones of the opener, with a tinge of psychedelia thrown in to keep you off balance for the finale.

Deradoorian - High Road : Mind Raft EP

Visit her label Lovepump United and become her friend on MySpace.

Ben Lee, Live again

Monday night I was fortunate enough to see one of my favorite artists, Ben Lee, play live at the Paradise in Boston. I’ve seen him a bunch of times before (probably more times than I’ve seen any artist), and knew that as much as I like his albums, he’s always an even more enjoyable entertainer in person, and he didn’t disappoint with this performance.

Backing him up for most of the evening were members of the opening act, Low Vs. Diamond. I have to say that I was impressed with the fact that they did such a good job learning Ben’s songs, songs that were taken from throughout his deep catalog. He of course performed some songs from the new album (What's So Bad (About Feeling Good), I Love Pop Music, Yoko Ono, Boy With A Barbie) which, while not my favorite of his, is slowly growing on me, but also pulled tracks up from many older albums, including Ripe (Is This How Love's Supposed To Feel?, Numb), Awake Is the New Sleep (Catch My Disease, Debt Collectors), Breathing Tornados (Cigarettes Will Kill You, Ship My Body Home – which he closed the show with a ROCKING version of), and even his Away With the Pixies EP from 1995 (Shirtless - more on this later). In addition to his solo material, Ben played a few Noise Addict songs (the band he was in before going solo), including a few old ones as well as from an upcoming album that they’ll be releasing, as well as some new non-album songs that I hadn’t heard before. If you’ve heard the latest album, the second song, Surrender, is a song that he’s been playing for a while in his live shows (although he didn't play it this time), perhaps some of these new songs are similar and will appear sometime in the future.

There were a few highlights over the course of the evening. The first was a hilarious, improvisational number titled Daisy of Love (not at all connected to his song Daisy from Something To Remember Me By), an ode to the VH1 show of the same name as well as its red headed cousin, Rock Of Love. Ben introduced the song by announcing he had just seen his first full episode of the show and was touched by Daisy’s apparent vulnerability. Over the course of the song, which was emotionally powerful in all its highs and lows, the focus shifted to Brett Michaels and his Achilles Heal, diabetes, deftly revealed in the episode where he was riding in a dune buggy.

The other highlight occurred when, while performing sans band, Ben asked for requests from the audience, and a woman suggested Shirtless, from one of his first solo efforts, the Away With the Pixies EP. He admitted to forgetting the lyrics and had an audience member find them on their iPhone so he could sing along while playing his guitar.

Unfortunately, I don't have a recording of the show, but I can share a song (the one he opened with the night I saw him, a new one that I'm guessing the name of) or two (an Ataris cover that's quite amusing) and a link to a complete recording of a show from just last week with an almost identical set list. And if you haven't picked up the new record yet, shame on you! Ben needs your money - he just announced a few weeks ago that's he's going to be a dad!

Ben Lee - That's How It Goes : Live in Columbus, OH 5-15-09

Ben Lee - Ben Lee (Ataris cover) : : Live in Columbus, OH 5-15-09

Visit his website, his label New West Records, and become his friend on MySpace.

Saint Bernadette, continuing to evolve

Long time readers are familiar with the name Saint Bernadette. I wrote about their debut album, In the Ballroom, back in November of 2007. They were kind enough to tell me about one of the songs (and the story about how Ashford & Simpson played at their wedding) from their follow-up EP, I Wanna Tell You Something, in March of 2008. And now, after a long hiatus, the band has released their newest offering, their Word To The Lourdes EP. Just as their sophomore EP was a shift from their debut, this new EP continues on evolving in the same direction. Gone are the bluesy, jazzy subtleties; these six new tracks straight out rock.

Saint Bernadette - Already Gone : Word To The Lourdes EP

and an older favorite:

Saint Bernadette - Sidestep : In the Ballroom

and a live old favorite:

Saint Bernadette - Love Is A Stranger (live) : Live at Southpaw, NYC 4-30-09 (studio version appears on I Wanna Tell You Something EP)

Visit their website, their label Exotic Recordings, and become their friend on MySpace.

Luaka Bop!

As open as I am to world music, sometimes it’s hard to sift just through all of the diverse American music, never mind the stuff being made halfway around the globe. That being said, it’s always welcome to find an American label like Luaka Bop that does the heavy lifting for me to bring sounds from around the world that I might not hear otherwise.

For those of you not familiar with the label, as well as for those of you who’ve heard the name but don’t know much about it, Luaka Bop was formed by former Talking Heads founder David Byrne back in the 80’s. Besides being an outlet for his solo work, it also has helped introduce American listeners to such diverse world musicians as Los Amigos Invisibles (Venezuela), Zap Mama (Belgium/European/African), Os Mutantes (Brazil), and many others. Byrne has also revived interest in and the careers of several artists through the label, artists like Tom Zé, Shuggie Otis, and the previously mentioned Os Mutantes, as well as broken contemporary artists in the US like Nouvelle Vague. In its twenty-one years, the label has gone through its share of growing (and shrinking) pains, but it's stuck to what it does best: digging and highlighting some great music from countries far and wide.

And as it enters its twenty-first year, Luaka Bop has released Twenty First Century Twenty First Year, a compilation of fifteen songs released by the label since its birth. This isn’t the first compilation the label has done. In fact, they’ve released a fairly steady stream of compilations that have done a commendable job of bringing together the various artists from its diverse roster onto single discs of music to better introduce listeners to the many flavors of music they might have missed on their own. Their latest is no exception and serves as a primer for those who would like to explore the world of world music that is available.

Of course there is no way to neatly package a description of the music contained on the compilation. With the songs here coming from all corners of the globe (including some from here in the US), the only unifying theme here is diversity. That being said, I’ll share two that I enjoy and hope they trigger an urge in you to check out the rest and musically explore the world without the need of a passport. The first comes from a relatively unknown Malian artist, Moussa Doumbia, and lays down some serious afro-funk grooves. The second is some Venezuelan acid jazz modern retro funk from the previously mentioned Los Amigos Invisibles that doesn't need to be in English to get you to move.

Moussa Doumbia - Keleya : Twenty First Century Twenty First Year

Los Amigos Invisibles - Sexy : Twenty First Century Twenty First Year

Visit the Luaka Bop website and become their friend on MySpace.

(soft) Thunder Power

Here's a satisfying slice of Nebraska served up in the form of a folk-rocker from the six-some Thunder Power. It's off of a five track, split EP titled Friend Ships that the group just released along with the very distant London based artist Alessi's Ark. The three contributions from the group are served up with a dreamy, winsome air that's nice and light on the ears and occasional kicks up a gear or two, but still retains an earthiness about it. The track below, Sleep, Not Violence, is the middle cut from the EP and strums along for about two and half minutes before almost reinventing itself into something new for the last two minutes or so before drifting back to something akin to its original form. Listen, enjoy.

Thunder Power - Sleep, Not Violence : Friend Ships Split EP

Visit their label Slumber Party Records and become their friend on MySpace.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Tour Dates

5/20/09 Omaha , NE The Slowdown
5/23/09 Omaha , NE The Slowdown
6/12/09 St. Paul , MN Eclipse Records
6/13/09 Milwaukee , WI Stonefly Brewery
6/14/09 Chicago , IL Ronny’s
6/16/09 Toledo , OH Frankie’s
6/18/09 Buffalo , NY S ugar City
6/19/09 Brooklyn , NY NYC Taper Presents @ Monster Island
6/21/09 New Brunswick , NJ Slumberland
6/22/09 Brooklyn , NY Monkey Town
6/23/09 Richmond , VA The Camel
6/24/09 Columbus , OH Circus
6/25/09 Cincinnati , OH Blue Rock Tavern
6/26/09 Carbondale , IL Booby’s
6/27/09 Kansas City , MO Czar Bar
8/8/09 Des Moines , IA Vaudeville Mews
8/27-30/09 Omaha , NE Nebraska Pop Festival

A Passage of the Hands

first touch

"If there were a way to speak directly to the hands, to allow them a language of their own, what I would most wish to hear is what they recall of human touch, of the first exploration of the body of another, the caresses, the cradling of the breast, of head, of buttock. Does it seem to them as to me that we keep learning, even when the caressed body has been known for years? How do daydreams of an idealized body, one's own or another's, affect the hands' first tentative inquiry? Is the hand purely empirical? Does it apply an imagination? Does it retain a man's shyness, a boy's clumsiness? Do the hands anguish if there is no one to touch?"

- Barry Lopez in "A Passage of the Hands," from About This Life

Eloise Laws - Touch Me : Love Factory: The Invictus Sessions

Mike Evin's Great Pop Song

Pop music. What makes good pop music? Why do some people love to hate pop music? Mike Evin knows what makes a great pop song and tells you all about it in the aptly titled Great Pop Song, the lead off track from his fourth album, Good Watermelon.

it was the first time i heard it
but i listened to it twice
it's exciting when you first hear a song
that can stay with you for life
you gotta cherish those first few hears
but for me, it gets better through the years!

i heard a great pop song today
it made me wanna sit down and play
there was something in the message
and there was something in the singing
oh, that great pop song today
it had feeling

Yea, that feeling that grabs you. That simply catchy, yet instantly connectible message that hooks you like the first time you heard _________ (fill in the blank with your own song). It's unavoidable. Impossible to resist (unless you're an indie snobster). It's ridiculously simple, and yet allows you to put your thoughts and dreams in to it.

That's what this album is all about. Almost always silly and yet you can take it deeper if you're in the mood. Think the piano of Ben Folds meets the tom-foolery of They Might Be Giants. That's it. I'm going to keep it simple, just like a great pop song...

Mike Evin - Great Pop Song : Good Watermelon

Visit his website and become his friend on MySpace.

John Scofield sings the praises

I'm not an overly religious man. I don't attend church regularly and don't have a crucifix hanging anywhere in my house. Regardless, there's something about gospel music that hits me hard, Maybe it's its intensity and sincerity. Maybe the genuine messages and earnest roots which spawned it. Maybe it's its lack of pretentiousness. Whatever it is, I enjoy it.

That being said, when you take gospel and mix it with some blues, the result is an album that really does it for me. That's where John Scofield's latest album Piety Street comes in. If you're not familiar with Scofield's name, that's alright, that's what this post is about. Let me lead of by telling you he's played his guitar with the likes of Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, and Herbie Hancock, among many others. At this point you're hopefully getting the idea that the man is an insane jazz guitarist who's skills run the gamut from bebop to blues to jazz-funk to ______ (fill in the blank with a whole list of genres).

As hinted at above, his latest album incorporates his blues' skills with a repertoire of gospel songs which really lights my devotional candle. His guitar chops add a liveliness to these songs, many of them traditionals, that will get you out of the pew and dancing in the aisle. Not to say that they're hokey or heretical, just full of spirit that's hard to deny. Carrying these tunes is his electric blues guitar playing that's very reminicscent of some of Eric Clapton's work. Check out the rollicking opening track, his version of the classic Dorothy Love Coates song That's Enough.

John Scofield - That's Enough : Piety Street

and the original:

Dorothy Love Coates - That's Enough : The Best of Dorothy Love Coates & the Original Gospel Harmonettes, Vols. 1-2

Visit his website, his label Emarcy Records, and become his friend on MySpace.

Air Guitar Tuesday - I Remember You

Mostly memories

I paint a picture of the days gone by
When love went blind and you would make me see
I'd stare a lifetime into your eyes
So that I knew you were there for me
Time after time you were there for me

Remember yesterday
walking hand in hand
Love letters in the sand
I remember you
And through the sleepless nights
through every endless day
I'd wanna hear you say
I remember you

Skid Row - I Remember You : Skid Row

Get the tabs to hit the right notes.

Kat Takes to the Sky

Much like the recent Hollywood, Mon Amour, Take to The Sky, the debut album from Austin singer Kat Edmonson, is an album full of interpretations. While the former drew upon 80's movie soundtracks as its inspiration, the former pulls from a wider range of material, as you can see from the track listing:

1. Summertime (George Gershwin)
2. Just Like Heaven (The Cure)
3. Night And Day (Cole Porter)
4. Charade (Henry Mancini)
5. Lovefool (The Cardigans)
6. Angel Eyes (Earl Brent & Matt Dennis)
7. Just One Of Those Things (Cole Porter)
8. One Fine Day (Carole King)
9. (Just Like) Starting Over (John Lennon)

You have some standards from the American song books, with picks like Summertime, Night And Day, Angel Eyes, but then you also have some more modern, and surprising, picks from recent decades with covers of The Cure's Just Like Heaven (which you can listen to below) and The Cardigans' Lovefool. Therefor, perhaps a better comparison would be with Nouvelle Vague, who tackled everything under the sun.

Kat sings these songs accompanied by a small backing quartetish sounding group with a jazzy approach that's got Latin elements mixed here and there when you don't expect them. Thankfully, the campiness factor here is quite low, sometimes dropping off the radar completely. Check out her slowed down, Martin Dennyfied version of Just Like Heaven, where Kat's voice adds a wistful flair.

Kat Edmonson - Just Like Heaven (Cure cover) : Take To The Sky

Visit her website and become her friend on MySpace.

Sinatra's Way

“You can be the most artistically perfect performer in the world, but an audience is like a broad–if you're indifferent, Endsville.”

-Frank Sinatra

There is no denying that Frank Sinatra deserves a spot in the elite ranks of America's musicians, if not THE top spot. The question is, as time goes by, who is going to hold on to him? Thankfully, Concord Records is trying to keep his legacy alive for new generations of listeners to hopefully latch on to with the release of two albums which came out earlier this week.

The first is a re-issue of his classic album My Way, forty years after its initial release. Built around the title track which could pass for Sinatra's theme song for life, the album includes standards as well as covers as only Frank could pull off, including a slowed down strings version of the Beatles' Yesterday and a swinging version of Simon and Garfunkel's Mrs. Robinson. With the re-issue comes two additional bonus tracks: a rehearsal recording of For Once In My Life and a live version of the album's title track recorded in 1987. This is definitive Frank from the middle of his long career


The second is a live album recorded in East Rutherford, NJ on March 14, 1986, and titled Live At The Meadowlands. I'm not going to lie to you here, Ol' Blue Eyes was certainly in the September of his years at this point, and it shows. Gone is the swagger and attitude, and they're replaced with a knowledge that he had more years behind him than in front of him. Instead of the witty banter between songs that you'll hear listening to his live shows from the 60's and 70's, it feels like Frank is saying good bye here. His voice lacks the vitality and range it once held and seems to be working hard to belt out what it does. But despite all that, it's still Sinatra, and even on his bad days, he knew how to sing like the legend he was. On top of that, coming from the 80's, this show is able to draw on material from all parts of his long and storied career, and boy does he have plenty of material to choose from. While I wouldn't suggest this as the first live Sinatra disc to spin, if you've got enough from the other decades, Live At The Meadowlands will round out your collection nicely.


So now for the goods. I'll start with a track from My Way that probably won't be all that familiar, a swinging cover of a Ray Charles song, Hallelujah, I Love Her So. The second, from the live album, slows things down and is just plain old textbook Sinatra: one of his saloon songs where he makes you feel like a buddy on the bar stool next to him, One For My Baby (And One More For The Road), one of my personal favorites.

Frank Sinatra - Hallelujah, I Love Her So (Ray Charles cover) : My Way (40th Anniversary edition)

Frank Sinatra - One For My Baby (And One More For The Road) [Live] : Live At The Meadowlands

Visit his official website and these releases' label Concord Music.

Hello My Apple

but i preferred a life of sin

well i hope you don't get the wrong idea
but i can't get over your love my dear
i just don't know how to show it
so please don't take this the wrong way
but i mean every word that i say
and i just want you to know

that you are my apple
and i want to take a bite
i especially love it when you're kissing goodnight
you are my apple and i want to take a bite
i especially love it when you're kissing goodnight
you are my apple
and i want to take a bite
you may be hard on the outside
but you're oh so sweet inside

i love when you call and say you're just saying hello
my apple
hello my apple hello
my apple hello

Priscilla Renea - Hello My Apple : Hello My Apple EP

Visit her website, her label Capitol Records, and become her friend on MySpace.

Sunday Soul - California Soul

beach kiss

They had the melody and the beat
But it still didn't seem complete, yes
Until they saw two lovers kissin'
They knew just what was missin'
So happy they were rockin' and reelin'
Because they had added that lovin' feeling
To California soul, California soul

Like a sound you hear
That lingers in your ear

Marlena Shaw - California Soul : The Spice of Life

daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra - California Soul : Live At Grand Performances, 7/2/04

Cara Robinson - California Soul (acoustic) : Blue Boy

want to fly again...

want to fly again...

i'm wide awake and so alive,
ringing like a bell.
tell me this is paradise
and not some place i fell.
cause i keep on falling
down

i want to feel the car crash
i want to feel it capsize
i want to feel the bomb drop, the earth stop, til i'm satisfied
i want to feel the car crash cause i'm dying on the inside
i want to let go and know that i'll be alright, alright.

Matt Nathanson - Car Crash (live) : Live at the World Cafe 4-4-06 (studio version appears on Some Mad Hope)

Visit his website and become his friend on MySpace.