My selection of this week's best cover versions, remixes, reissues,
previously unreleased and new songs using samples or new releases with
a retro feel (Sep 2021 Wk 37). (In no particular order).
There were a lot of reissues to sift through this week as a couple of
compilations were released and I could have easily filled the dozen
with tracks from just two compilations. However, there were also three
good gospel tunes which I wanted to find a home for. There was also an album of Philly classics remixed but I didn't even go there!
Starting with the gospel tunes, a posthumous release by The Rance
Allen Group and others by Jekalyn Carr and Gina Sedman.
A previously unreleased (on vinyl) double header from Betty Swann
with a cover of The Isley Brothers Motown classic and another recorded
by Justine 'Baby' Washington (1976) that Bette Swann actually recorded
first but lay unreleased for 40 years almost completes the first half
dozen.
A cover of Gloria Barnes 1971 song by Normal Sole (the Gloria Barnes
version was also on one of the compilations) and another cover from
the same year with Ted Winn's new version of "Inner City Blues". I 'havered' about
the next one, which is a cover of probably my favourite Bob Marley song, by Allen Stone, which perhaps borders on pop, but I like how he's
stripped it back.
Into the 'samplers' with the next couple. I have no idea (but would
love to know .. someone out there must know? It sounds so familiar and
I'll probably kick myself when it's revealed!) what Pablo Eskobear's
"Tired Of Being Blue" samples. The next sample by Sevyn Streeter (the
only contemporary tune in the list) is obvious from the start.
That just leaves two slots for reissues from the compilations. Well I
couldn't leave out Darrow Fletcher as I love this guy's voice and almost
everything he's recorded, such an overlooked artist apart from in rare
soul circles, it's criminal. Choosing the final one from the remaining 31 compilation tracks was
a lottery but I've gone with Philly's The Ethics (who later became
Love Committee) with their 1969 outing on Vent.
Also, left out among over two dozen compilation tracks, worth a mention, is a cover of Leon Haywood's 1983
boogie/funk track "I'm Out To Catch" by Block Street Sound.
