Groove On 14

Groove On – Bella’s radio show for the lockdown.

Welcome to episode 14, where as usual we’ll be covering a wide range of musical styles, from rock to soul, from country to jazz and much more. It starts of with a classical recording from 1914; Sodero’s Band with a rendition of the ‘William Tell Overture’. A change of pace after that brings us to ‘Theme From Shaft’ by Isaac Hayes, the soul singer, composer and producer, who among other things was one of the creative forces behind Stax records.

Next is ‘Rodney Yates’ by Northern Irish DJ and musician David Holmes, from his 1997 album Let’s Get Killed which is built around a series of field recordings made on the streets on New York. We had into the sixties for ‘Jivin’ Around’ by Andre Williams, another soul musician, whose career began in the fifties and ran until 2016.

We keep on moving with ‘Dance Of The Dream Man’ by Angelo Badalamenti, from the soundtrack to the television programme Twin Peaks. Badalamenti has a long career as a film composer, however is best known for his work with director David Lynch. It is followed by ‘When The Levee Breaks’ by husband and wife blues duo Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie, who recorded this in 1929 following the great flood of the Mississippi river in 1927. It was later covered by Led Zeppelin. One man musical genre Tom Waits is next, with ‘Hoist That Rag’ from his 2004 album Real Gone, an album that is far from his best work yet still has some gems like this on it. 

Some jazz is next, with ‘The Sidewinder’ by Lee Morgan. This funky hard bop tune was a surprise crossover hit in the pop and rhythm ’n’ blues charts. A band who had no surprise hits, because they literally wrote a book about how to make hit singles, was The KLF. The laid back ‘Build A Fire’ from the White Room album, however, was never released as a single. The cool mood continues with ‘Rowdy Blues’ by The Be Good Tanyas, a gentle folk blues country thing. Then things head far out with ‘Slip Inside This House’ by 13th Floor Elevators, who where a psychedelic phenomenon so far out that they named themselves after another phenomenon – that of not numbering the thirteenth floor of buildings thirteen. Because superstition. No, really.

Three quick songs in a row follow. ‘Is It Day I’m Seeing?’ by The Fluid is a bright garage pop number released in 1988 on Sub Pop when most of their roster was fully grunge. ‘Hold Me, I’ve Got To Leave You’ is a very groovy release from 1971 by German harpist Jonny Teupen. ‘Let’s Reggae All Night’ by CSS is from the Brazilian indie electro outfit’s second album Donkey.

Hard rock follows with ‘Soul Stripper’ by AC/DC, from their Australian debut album High Voltage, which is not to be confused with their international debut album High Voltage, that features mostly different tracks. 

Episode 14 closes with ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, one of the most revolutionary songs recorded by The Beatles.