Groove On 11

This is Bella’s radio for the lockdown – an hour and a half of tunes from Stewart Bremner. Listen to them all here.

Welcome to Bella Caledonia’s Groove on, Episode 11. As usual, we’ll be hearing some bands you’ve heard of and some bands you’ve never heard of. We begin with some hip hop from the late eighties, Coldcut’s Seven Minutes of Madness remix of Eric B & Rakim’s ‘Paid In Full’, one of the first remixes that was a hit and a key moment in sample culture.

After that we move into crackly old records. First is ‘Trespasser Part 1’ a laid back funk track that was one of only two singles released by Bad Medicine. That is followed by Jamaican studio band The Crystalites playing ‘Moses’, which is actually a cover of Isaac Hayes’ ‘Theme From Shaft’. In Jamaica at the period, copyright wasn’t really a thing, hence the name change. The crackles continue with ‘One Of These Days’ by Pink Floyd, the opening track from their excellent 1971 album Meddle.

From here, we find ourselves ‘Over At The Frankenstein Place’, a song from the soundtrack to the Rocky Horror Picture Show sung by characters Brad, Janet and Riff Raff, performed by Barry Bostwick, Susan Sarandon and Richard O’Brien. A change follows with latin jazz in the form of ‘A Deeper Shade Of Soul’ by percussionist Ray Barretto and is followed by another change and ‘Your Cash Ain’t Nothin’ But Trash’, a 1954 single by Atlantic Records rhythm and blues stars The Clovers.

A curious cover comes next, with the psychedelic soul jazz guitar stylings of Boogaloo Joe Jones doing The Doors ‘Light My Fire’, before another all change and ‘Way Behind The Sun’ by The Pentangle. They were an unusual folk group, whose music had strong jazz and blues influences. All change rules again with ‘Skylarking’ by roots reggae singer Horace Andy, who is also known for his work with Massive Attack.

Next up is ‘Rien Ne Va Plus’ by Polish America band Funk Factory. This laid back slice of jazz funk was sampled on the next track, The Beastie Boys’ ‘Car Thief’, from their by 1989 landmark album Paul’s Boutique.

This episode’s least know song is ‘Klaatu’ by The Soul Cracker, who never released a single track.

Some jazz follows. A super slice of sixties soul jazz comes first, with ‘The Windjammer’ by guitarist Grant Green. Another famous guitarist of the period was Jimi Hendrix and next we have a cover of two of his tracks, ‘Crosstown Traffic / Little Miss Lover’ by The Gil Evans Orchestra. Arranger and composer Evans is best known for his work with Miles Davis and had been planning to work with Hendrix before Hendrix’s untimely death.

The last track of this episode is one more jazz number, which is also a cover. We have jazz organist The Incredible Jimmy Smith doing a full-tilt version of Ray Charles’ ‘I Got A Woman’, from a live recording that was mostly forgotten.

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