People really fucking love Fall. It’s interesting because I commented a few weeks ago to someone that all of the celebration of beauty of this particular season is also a celebration of death. As September folds into Oct to Nov to December vibrant trees and flowers react to the waning sunlight and shorter days in…
Tag: Aretha Franklin
What’s New for ’62? Forty Femme Gems For Cosmopolitan Consumption
In terms of Pop Culture, 1962 is an interesting year. In a lot of ways, it’s the first full fledged year of “The Sixties” as we currently conceptualize it. Out were tailfins on cars, up were beehives. Lucille Ball returned to television minus Desi Arnaz. And, as a little nugget, two Aries superstars battled it…
Gone Uptown To Box With Dionne: 35 more challenges to the Queen of Uptown Soul’s Throne
I’ve stated before, and provided evidence, that the impact that Dionne Warwick’s influence on popular music was extremely vast during the 1960’s and Early 70s. The previous time we spent on this topic nearly 2 years ago, seemingly only skims the surface of elegant pop/soul confections that not only emerged from the United States, but…
The Real McCoy: The All Too Real Hustle of Van McCoy
It’s really telling as I searched the wide web of inter that I couldn’t seem to find an image of a Pre-1970’s Van McCoy. Given his parity in age, and his extensive catalog of works he created, it’s a sign that he remained much the constructor behind the scenes, not really becoming of note until…
Movin’ On Blues: Gentrification and Relocation Inspired Jams From Your Relocated DJ
Did what I had to do. This is the first thing I’ve written as DJ Larsupreme of Portland, Oregon. After 35 years of calling the Bay Area home (if you’re keeping record, that’s been my whole life) I packed up a Cadillac full of records, clothes and cameras to give life another go in a…
Heaven Must Have Sent You: Your Holland-Dozier-Holland History Lesson
I’ve been prone to these songwriter series playlists moreso. This time we make a visit to our first team. While Burt Bacharach’s mix featured him not exclusively tethered to Hal David, and Sylvia Moy found herself working with a round robin of partners, this one solely focuses on Holland-Dozier-Holland. Brothers Eddie and Brian Holland and…
Live! Live! Live! Soul From The Stage To Your Stereo 1963-71
We’re decidedly blessed with continuous access to acres of studio recordings of our favorite soul artists. There’s the hits we know, and then even there’s alternate takes. Nevermind the LPs they released, the B-sides that end up being true gems, or the unreleased material that sees light of day more than a half century later….
Whisper & Screams, Lambs and Rams: The Aries Point Playlist
Here we are at Spring Equinox, and the beginning of the Astrological New Year. If you’ve been paying attention, I started this little Astro-DJ experiment last Spring with the sign of Taurus. I hadn’t intentionally thought of continuing it through all 12 signs. By the time I got to Gemini and Cancer I started linking…
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not – 38 Vintage Charms To Hold In Our Dystopian Arms
We all need a little bit of love in this new reality we find ourselves in. It would be rather selfish and greedy of me not to craft a mix of the rollercoaster of our most direct and valid emotional experience, right? Right. Of course, classic consistent Venus in Taurus me went for a full…
So You Wanna Be Dionne Warwick? 30 Tribute Tunes To The Titan Of Sophisticated Soul
The influence of Dionne Warwick is one of the most underappreciated in 1960’s Soul Music. Her smooth, sophisticated work on Scepter Records, especially with Burt Bacharach and Hal David showed a mature, nuanced and complex way that many soul stars imitated. Coast to Coast after she flew in on the spaceship that was “Don’t Make…
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