Groove On 6

Hiya and welcome to Groove On Episode 6: a gathering of good music with a groove, exploring the wide wide world of recorded popular music.

It starts with a wonderful, long piece of music; David Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’, his final masterpiece and the opening track of the album of the same name from 2016. That year also saw ‘Brother Less Than A Man’ by Gloria Ann Taylor get reissued, a ultra-heavy psychedelic soul burner recorded in 1970.

Sticking with the seventies but changing the vibes takes us to ‘Nos Ddu’ by Heather Jones, a piece of psychedelic funk rock folk music, sung in Welsh, that you can find on Welsh Rare Beat, Volume One. Another song from the seventies that’s hard to categorise is the sort of psych, sort of funk workout ‘Evil War’ by Indonesian band Shark Move.

Next is ‘Sheela-Na-Gig’ by PJ Harvey from her powerful debut album Dry. It’s followed by ‘Sucker Punch’ by all-female band Daddy Issues, who broke up more or less as the album this is from was released.

From here we move into the land of pop. We begin with the majestic ‘And She Was’ by Talking Heads and then the somewhat less majestic ‘Where Are You Baby?’ by Betty Boo. The late nineties is represented by ’Everybody Loves A Carnival’ by Fatboy Slim, a reworking of his landmark single ‘Everybody Loves A 303’, and then ‘Hot Topic’ by Le Tigre, a band founded by Riot Grrrl pioneer Kathleen Hanna.

From music you might have heard of to some you probably haven’t now, beginning with ‘Les Filles C’est Fait… Pour Faire L’amour’ by Charlotte Leslie, a psychedelic sixties French pop romp, and then rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson covering Elvis’ King Creole track ‘Hard Headed Woman’.

After that you may get your ass poisoned by Flight Of The Conchords as they sing ’Robots’, but fear not because ‘You’re Not Dead’ by Diesler (featuring. Double Yellow) follows, so all is okay.

More than okay is ‘Traveling Stranger’ by Ann Leonardo, a reissue put out by the marvellous Athens of the North record label, which is based in Edinburgh. Better still is the best soul tune you’re going to hear today, ‘Slipped, Tripped, Fell In Love’ by Ann Peebles, recorded in Memphis, Tennessee for Hi Records. Berlin’s Habibi Funk reissued the next track, a Moroccan funk tour de force called ‘Laylat Al Jadba’ by Fadoul.

We keep at full throttle for the last three tracks. ‘Giulia Mon Amour’ by Italian band Calibro 35 is a hard-driving crime funk thriller, while ‘Let’s Make It Now’ by Mexico’s Los Dug Dug’s features some stunning double-kick action. We close with even more stunning double kick action with ‘Overkill’, the best track ever recorded by the mighty, mighty Motörhead.