Groove on 8

It’s Groove On Episode 8, good music with a groove, featuring 24 tracks with a range of bands from households names to never-heard-of-thems. We begin with the biggest name on this episode, the Rolling Stones with ‘I Gotta Go’, a track from their first ever blues album Blue and Lonesome released in 2016. From English blues we move to Russian funk, with a ‘You Can Run (But You Can’t Hide) From My Love’ by The Soul Surfers, a current band from Nizhny Novgorod.

Things get angular now with ‘Alphabet Pony’ by The Kills from their 2008 album Midnight Boom. It’s followed by ‘Addis Black Widow’ a joint work by father of Ethio-jazz Mulatu Astatke and London-based cosmic psychedelic funksters The Heliocentrics.

We head to the past with a recent reissue of a big wide piece of funk rock by Betty Davis called ‘Don’t Call Her No Tramp’. Her career was apparently hampered by her stage person, which led to a TV ban. Similarly absent from TV, although this time through self-exile, is Bobbie Gentry, with ‘Mississippi Delta’ from her hit album Ode to Billy Joe.

The sounds of the past return to the present with ‘Whispers All Around Me’ by Aimee Lay, a dark psychedelic song that could have been recorded in the sixties, and then ‘Nobody Speak’ by DJ Shadow, a great hip hop track built around a very sixties sounding surf guitar riff. The psychedelic sounds continue, albeit with a soulful twist, in ‘Rational Culture / Testimony’ by The Relatives.

The second half of the episode begins with three hi octane female-led rockers in a row. ’Sunstroke’ by La Luz is first, followed by Hardly Art label mates ‘Tacocat with ‘Psychedelic Quinceañera’ and finally ‘Kiss Kiss’ by Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

After so much current music, it’s time to dig into the past. ‘Right Now’ by Pearl Woods & The Upsetters is a full-speed early soul number, while ‘Soul Kitchen’ by The Lime is a cover of The Doors that curiously sounds more sixties than the original. Lorez Alexandria is up next with her timeless ‘Send In The Clowns’ and then we travel all the way back to 1942 for ‘Blues In The Night’ by Dinah Shore.

Another three in a row, this time moving from old to new, from not-so-well-known to pretty famous. ‘Nobody Loves You Like Me’ is by blues and soul belter Etta James, ‘Rescue Me’ is a slightly forgotten soul classic by Fontella Bass and ‘Rehab’ is the boisterous and darkly tragic hit by Amy Winehouse.

We stay in London for ‘Devil’s On Your Tail’ by Bev Lee Harling from 2012, that shows a distinct Tom Wait influence, and then some rock and roll with ‘Faith’ by George Michael. More sort-of rock and roll follows with ‘Godro’r Fuwch’ by Y Tebot Piws. Then we move to the roots of rock and roll, more or less, with ‘Going Down This Road’ by Algia Mae Hinton.

This episode’s final track is a song that many would like to see become Scotland’s national anthem, Hamish Henderson’s ‘The Freedom Come Aa Ye’ as performed by Dick Gaughan in 1996.

Comments (6)

Leave a Reply to The Barrastinian Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

  1. The Barrastinian says:

    Great selection again Stewart, thank you

    1. Stewart Bremner says:

      Thank you again!

  2. The Barrastinian says:

    These are great shows Stewart. I hope you continue doing them after the coronavirus has gone

    1. Stewart Bremner says:

      I have been making the basic playlists for myself for years now, however doing the shows takes a bit longer. If there’s an audience, I would like to keep going, if time allows it.

      1. The Barrastinian says:

        I really like these shows so I hope you keep going Stewart, maybe one a week once things get back to “normal” ….or in my case one mix a year!

  3. Moyrart says:

    As an exile, the last track brought me alive again.

Help keep our journalism independent

We don’t take any advertising, we don’t hide behind a pay wall and we don’t keep harassing you for crowd-funding. We’re entirely dependent on our readers to support us.

Subscribe to regular bella in your inbox

Don’t miss a single article. Enter your email address on our subscribe page by clicking the button below. It is completely free and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.