Motown
Track: Germany’s queen of soul Joy Denalane drops ‘The Show’ ahead of the deluxe reissue of ‘Let Yourself Be Loved’
GARLANDED in her home country of Germany as the queen of soul, and one of the first artists from Europe to ever receive the accolade of a contract with Motown; you don’t get to write these kinds of things on your CV without a reservoir of talent to back them up. And you can see …
New Music: Racing, The Bass (EP)
There’s nothing like a bit of swaggering, posturing, assured rock’n’roll and no better is that epitomised than by a new band out of New Zealand called Racing. They have just released an EP entitled “The Bass” and my attention was fully captured after seeing their new video for the song “Let It Slip”. Directed by …
Reissue: Ashford & Simpson – I Wanna Be Selfish
Everyone loves stone classic Ain’t No Mountain High Enough but it was just one of the many hits penned by songwriting guns for hire Ashford & Simpson, But like many top class songwriters who provide the guide tracks as they demo their hits they decided to go for it themselves and their second album saw …
Album review: Ashford & Simpson – Gimme Me Something Real (expanded edition)
Ashford & Simpson made their name knocking out tunes for Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, Aretha, Diana Ross and Chaka Khan before joining a long list of songwriters who one day decided to put their own names on the sleeves. Their debut album from this husband and wife team takes its cue from the pop …
From an old record box: Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon (Original Soundtrack)
A Motown martial arts movie ? You heard. In 1985 Berry Gordy produced what ace critic Roger Ebert described at the time as a “great near-miss”. It managed to gross $25m according to wikipedia but it has largely been ignored by history. Ebert also said “my guess is that ‘The Last Dragon’ will be a …
Track: Blitz the Ambassador – Bisa ft. Nneka, Ty
So today was September. and here in Sheffield, it was like they switched off the Summer and switched on the Autumn. As i ventured out this morning, I had to wander straight back inside to get a jumper, and, however much I tried to stay out in the garden this afternoon, the wind blowing in …
Past Lives: April 1st 1983, and the death of Marvin Gaye
In some ways, it was almost seems inevitable. On one hand, one of the best and most successful singers, not only in his illustrious record company, Motowns history, but also in the whole of popular music history. He had been having hits since the 1960’s, his breakthrough chart hit being I heard it through the …