MARCH 2012 PLAYLIST

The arrival of springtime brings with it a tidalwave of new music. Unfortunately as the land has turned to green once more and we've basked in some unusually early warmth, you need to shovel past the mass of summer festival pitching bland indie and club fodder to get to the good stuff but seek and you shall find. March has thrown up some exciting releases from, amongst others, a positively blooming Andrew Bird and an increasingly impressive Norah Jones. We've also found time to remember Earl Scruggs and Billy Strange on their passing and mix it in amongst our sumptuous stew of Rock, Folk, Blues, Jazz, Reggae and Soul from throughout the eras.

(I Know) I'm Losing You - ROD STEWART (from the album 'Every Picture Tells A Story', it seems incredible that his standards should fall so low by the end of the 70s, never to return either. What a shame too because Rod Stewart in the late 60s, early 70s, hungry for success but crucially hanging out with the right crowd, living and breathing the music, delivered an awe inspiring spell of creativity both solo and with The Faces; some essential British Rock albums that could effortlessly visit Folk, Soul and Blues, often on the same track) / Better Get Hit In Yo' Soul - CHARLES MINGUS / Primitive Girl - M. WARD (a taster from the forthcoming album seems to predict a comfortable maturity and passage towards a status as one of the pivotal singer-songwriters of this period in music)/ We Take Care Of Our Own - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (just like Neil Young with his 'Living With War' collection, it always seems to be the old guard who can sum up the times we live in most concisely and here the Boss is doing just that)/ Happy Pills - NORAH JONES / How Come - LITTLE BARRIE / Phantasmagoria Blues - MARK LANEGAN BAND / Ease Your Pain - JACKIE DeSHANNON / Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah - BOB B. SOXX & THE BLUE JEANS (an early Phil Spector production on which the distorted guitar solo of Billy Strange is an outstanding feature)/ Some Velvet Morning - NANCY SINATRA & LEE HAZLEWOOD (Billy Strange really made a mark with his magical psychedelic arrangement on this classic track)/ A Little Less Conversation - ELVIS PRESLEY (Billy Strange co-wrote this tune with Mac Davis for the film 'Live A Little Love A Little' and it's definitely one of the great tracks from Elvis's all too brief late 60s second wind)/ I Can't See Nobody - BEE GEES / Since You Broke My Heart - MASCOTS / You Got It - ETTA JAMES / In The Middle Of The Game (Don't Change The Play) - BETTY WRIGHT & THE ROOTS / Know It To See It - THE WEATHER STATION / Anyhow - LEONARD COHEN / The Nodder - SOFT MACHINE / Papa De Da Da - CHRIS BARBER AND HIS JAZZ BAND / I Won't Hurt You - THEE OH SEES / Hold It To The Fire - WHITE RABBITS / Standing Alone - THE WILDEBEESTS / 1941 - HARRY NILSSON / Love Is A Tricky Thing - JULIE FEENEY / Foggy Mountain Special - LESTER FLATT & EARL SCRUGGS (Earl Scruggs was a genius Banjo player whose thumb and three fingers on his right hand picked out Bluegrass tunes with impossible speed and intricacy and the man was no musical conservative either, losing some of his long standing audience at the age of 50 in the early 70s as he experimented with electrifed sound, a man whose sad departure this month came at the age of 88) / Bang Bang Bang - EILEN JEWELL / Danse Carribe - ANDREW BIRD / Too Far Gone - DONNIE ELBERT (I've been watching the Ronnie Wood show on TV and it's really a great show, actually built around his radio show but that's one of the enticing things as you're treated to fantastic shots of music fans just getting off on listening to music as the records play. One artist Ronnie exposed me to was Donnie Elbert and a quick skim through his back catalogue reveals quite an important, under the radar soul dude with an impossible high pitched voice, although that's not quite the case on this track) / Remember Me - JODIE MARIE / Ten Commandments - PRINCE BUSTER / Ice Cream Man - TOM WAITS / Those Days Have Gone - TRAFFIC SOUND / Move On Alone - JETHRO TULL / Home Again - MICHAEL KIWANUKA / Day Is Done - BRAD MEHLDAU / Roundalay - OSCAR PETERSON TRIO / Chocolate - TINDERSTICKS (I'll leave you with one of the greatest story songs to appear in recent times, from the new Tindersticks album. It needs following through to the end where you get the same kind of unexpected conclusion that worked so well on the Velvet Underground track 'The Gift')

Eclectic Warrior March 2012