I recently looked into Sly & Robbie's back catalog which included a collaboration with The Rolling Stones ("Too Much Blood" on 1983's "Undercover" album). This made me revisit several of my favorite Stones albums as well.

While doing this, I reencountered "Too Rude" from 1986's "Dirty Work" album - a song which features lead vocalist Keith Richards and which is closer to 'roots reggae' than "Too Much Blood" (despite Sly & Robbie's involvement in the latter). Here's a very nice 1988 version by Keith Richards & his Expensive Winos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmrXI3rXd_Q

This version…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcIxTSkxgRA
When I was working as a music journalist from the early ‘80s to the mid-’90s, I spent about five months a year in New York City (Manhattan), Los Angeles (Hollywood, 90028) and varying additional U.S. cities. In L.A., I became friends with Shirley Brooks, a Japanese-African American who, among other duties, was CBS Records’ liaison for visiting foreign journalists like me.

Her kids were friends with some of the Jacksons’ kids, therefore she had close ties to the entire clan. In 1984, she arranged an interview with LaToya Jackson whose Epic album “Hearts Don’t Lie” was about…

Die afrodeutsche Sängerin Oceana habe ich durch ihre Auftritte beim Hamburger Black History Month und beim Baltic Soul Weekender kennen und schätzen gelernt.

Ihr am Freitag (1. Mai 2009) erschienenes Debütalbum „Love Supply“ ist genauso stark geworden, wie ich es aufgrund ihrer charismatischen Bühnenpräsenz erwartet habe: eine abwechslungsreiche Mischung aus Soul, R&B, HipHop und Reggae, mit Reminiszenzen an das Beste der schwarzen Musik aus den 60er und 70er Jahren.

In anderen Artikeln wurde Oceana schon mit Amy Winehouse, Duffy und Joy Denalane verglichen. Mir fällt zudem wegen der frischen Retro-Sounds und der originellen Texte auch noch Lily…

According to one of my pet theories, great soul and great country music have one thing in common: The song titles work like great newspaper headlines - they tell you the entire story in a few words.

Case in point is country artist Chris Gray's album "It's All About Me" that emusic.com recommended to me last night: The three songs whose titles spontaneously appealed to me ("Stop and Drink It Over", "She Likes Me Bad", and "Somethin' Somethin'") had the kind of honky-tonk feel to them which I like in some…

For a limited time, the band Phish is offering free MP3 downloads of this weekend's three shows in Hampton/Virginia (March 6-8, 2009). You can get them at LivePhish.com.

I became aware of LivePhish.com in 2003. George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic performed in Miami/Florida on the same day as Phish (December 30), and some members of the P-Funk Allstars stopped by at the Phish gig and jammed with them. The recording still is available at LivePhish.com (direct link).

Kixka_Nebraska forwarded this to me on another network:

>> Think of 15 albums, CDs, LPs (if you're over 40) that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life. Dig into your soul. Music that brought you to life when you heard it. Royally affected you, kicked you in the wasu, literally socked you in the gut, is what I mean. Then when you finish, tag 15 others, including me. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good. Tag, you're it! <<

Here's my list:

1973 Udo Lindenberg…

I've been lucky enough to be able to listen to an advance copy of N.A.S.A.'s album Spirit of Apollo which will be released in the U.S. on February 17, 2009 (according to Amazon.com), and in Germany on February 13, 2009 (according to Amazon.de).

According to its label ANTI, >> N.A.S.A is an ongoing creative collaboration between two lifelong music aficionados, Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon, and their friends, friends of friends and musical heroes. While N.A.S.A. stands for North America/South America and contains a number of superstar artists from both coasts of the US, it is about…

I just found interesting info on the Facebook Fanpage dedicated to The CHIC Organization Ltd (Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards):

Nile Rodgers' solo album from 1983, "Adventures In The Land Of The Good Groove", gets released on a digitally remastered CD on 21st January 2009. The extended versions of "The Land Of The Good Goove" and "Yum Yum" have been included as bonus tracks. You can preorder at FunkyTownGrooves.com.

Upcoming shows for Nile Rodgers And CHIC:
March 27th & 28th, 2009, at the "Night Of The Proms", Spiroudome, Charleroi, Belgium. There…

Fri 5 Dec – Public Enemy

Das Wichtigste zuerst:

Liebe HipHop-Aficionados in Mannheim, Frankfurt/M., München und Wien,

wenn ihr am Sonntag, 7. Dezember 2008 (Mannheim), am Montag, 8. Dezember (Frankfurt/M.), am Dienstag, 9. Dezember (München), oder am Mittwoch, 10. Dezember (Wien), noch nichts vor und um die 30 Euro übrig habt, dann schaut euch unbedingt Public Enemy an. Karten für die deutschen Shows gibt's beim Kartenhaus.

Warum?

Ich zitiere einfach nur mein "Micro-Geblogge" live von der heutigen Show in Hamburg, via identi.ca (auch bei Twitter nachzulesen):

• 19.45 Uhr: Die Show startet. Public Enemy treten mit DJ Lord und Band auf.…

George Clinton just released the (mostly) covers album "George Clinton and his Gangsters of Love" which features lots of guest artists.

The track list:
Ain't That Peculiar (With Sly Stone & El DeBarge)
Never Gonna Give You Up (With El DeBarge)
Mathematics of Love (With Kim Burrell)
Let the Good Times Roll (With Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Pledging My Love
Gypsy Woman (With Santana)
It's All In the Game (With Belita Woods of P-Funk)
Heart Trouble
Our Day Will Come (With Kendra Foster of P-Funk)
Sway (With Belita Woods)
A Thousand Miles Away…