This veers towards the ‘60s and ‘70s. I was a child and then a teenager when many of the songs were released, but of course I didn’t come across many of them contemporaneously. I was too busy with the Beatles, and then Black Sabbath, and then punk rock, reggae and soul.
Of the more obscure songs here, I would like to draw your attention to the Dutch band Bettie Serveert’s magnificent hard-rock cover of the Carpenters’ ‘For All We Know’ (Bettie Serveert, by the way, means ‘Bettie Serves’, and is the title of Dutch tennis player Bettie Stove’s autobiography). The Carpenters tribute album it comes from has some pretty good things on it. And while we’re on the subject of Dutch music - which, let’s face it, is not a subject that comes up very often - Mathilde Santing’s cover of Todd Rundgren’s ‘Love Of The Common Man’ is gorgeous. I don’t think I have any more music from the Netherlands to recommend.
I wish Justin Townes Earle hadn’t died. I once played Latimore’s ‘Let’s Straighten It Out’ to a jazz snob who said all pop music was juvenile, and he shut up. If you only know Boz Scaggs’ Silk Degrees, Slow Dancer is every bit as good IMHO. And why couldn’t Eric Clapton have stayed with John Mayall forever? He sounds so cool on ‘Steppin’ Out’. If I were Mayall, I’d have given him a month off to record the Layla album and then recalled him.
Enjoy, and have a nice weekend.
Searching Swamp Dogg album covers is far from the worst way of spending the next 15 minutes. Rat On! in particular is a treat
I love Harlem River Blues, will definitely be giving this playlist a listen on tomorrow’s dog walk. Thanks!