Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

Here’s a treat for the audiophile soul fans. Reader Mark P. from London has gone through the trouble of recreating all Covered With Soul mixes so far in a bitrate of 320 kbps, which gives a better audio quality than the more compressed but size-effective bitrates I use. He says that 95% of the tracks are now 320k mp3 files, while the rest are at least 192k — except one song that stubbornly remains at 160k.

Mark has kindly made the collection available to the friends of Any Major Dude With Half A Heart. The file is just over 4GB. To see what you can expect, have a look at the tracklistings. PW in comments.

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EDIT: Reader Fredrick Beondo has kindly made the lot available on his Google Drive. Same password as usual.

Over the past couple of years I’ve been rather stingy with the Covered With Soul mixes, despite the series having been so popular. Up to August 2015, there were 22 such mixes; since then there have been two, the last one, Vol. 23, in 2018. That sorry situation cries out for relief. So here is Volume 24 — and it’s a really good one.

I won’t claim that every cover in this series eclipses the original or hit version it is based on, but on this collection, I think there are at least four such tracks. In fairness, Wilson Pickett doesn’t have a terribly high bar to clear with Sugar Sugar — but what fun to hear The Wicked Pickett soulifying bubblegum pop.

Aretha Franklin tended to appropriate or at least improve on most songs she covered; here she eclipses, or at least comes close to it, the great Dusty Springfield on her signature song, Son Of A Preacher Man. But it takes something quite special to leave Barbra Streisand in the dust. Gladys Knight’s version of The Way We Were does just that. But then, Knight is one of the great singers in popular music.

Probably the least-known song here is the closer, Randy Newman’s I Think It’s Going To Rain Today. I’ve never been a fan of the song (nor, apparently, is Newman) — except in Grady Tate’s version. His vocal performance is exquisite, and I like the arrangement.

Little known fact: Bread’s Everything I Own, covered here by Barbara Mason, is about David Gates’ loss of his father, rather than a romantic love song. “You sheltered me from harm, kept me warm, you gave my life to me, set me free…”One of the unwieldiest record credits in pop music must be that of the collaboration LP by Diana Ross and The Supremes and The Temptations. At least their 1969 album had the snappier title Together. On the featured track, the Four Seasons’ Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, it isn’t La Ross taking the female lead vocals but Mary Wilson, in duet with Eddie Kendricks.

Pretty Purdie, who here leads on You Got A Friend, is the great drummer Bernard Purdie. The Playboys, with whom he recorded just one album (with mixed results), included guitarist Cornell Dupree, the prolific bassist Chuck Rainey, the great arranger Harold Wheeler on piano and keyboards, the late trumpeter Snooky Young, among others. Purdie was, of course, the subject of two mixes of tracks on which he played drums: Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Purdie’s version of You Got A Friend is one of two Carole King tracks here; the other is It’s Too Late, covered here by Denise LaSalle. That song features in this series for the third time. Previously it was covered by Isaac Hayes on Vol. 1, and the Isley Brothers on Vol. 23. The Any Major Carole King Songbook featured in February.

Also getting a third outing is The Look Of Love. Previous versions were by The Delfonics on Vol. 7 (the Bacharach edition) and Gladys Knight on Vol. 16. Isaac Hayes’ wonderful live version has featured already elsewhere. On this edition, Bobby Womack does the honours.

The Carpenters’ We’ve Only Just Begun also features for the third time, here by Curtis Mayfield, and previously by Charles Brimmer (again Vol. 1) and The Temprees (Vol. 16)

But I don’t think any track has featured more than Wichita Lineman, presently featured by The Meters (with Art Neville on vocals). Previous covers were by The Dells (Vol. 1), Sunday’s Child (Vol. 8), Willie Hutch (Vol. 13), and The Main Ingredient (Vol. 20).

As always, CD-R length, home-souled covers, above text in PDF. PW in comments.

1. Wilson Pickett – Sugar Sugar (1971)
2. Al Green – Light My Fire (1971)
3. Aretha Franklin – Son Of A Preacher Man (1969)
4. Bobby Womack – The Look Of Love (1973)
5. Denise LaSalle – It’s Too Late (1972)
6. The Meters – Wichita Lineman (1970)
7. Pretty Purdie & The Playboys – You Got A Friend (1971)
8. Curtis Mayfield – We’ve Only Just Begun (1971)
9. Bill Withers – Everbody’s Talkin’ (1971)
10. Four Tops – California Dreamin’ (1969)
11. Jermaine Jackson – Homeward Bound (1972)
12. Maxine Brown – Reason To Believe (1969)
13. Billy Paul – Without You (1976)
14. Etta James – Take It To The Limit (1978)
15. Lou Rawls – She’s Gone (1974)
16. Natalie Cole & Peabo Bryson – What You Won’t Do For Love (1979)
17. Gladys Knight & The Pips – The Way We Were (1974)
18. Barbara Mason – Everything I Own (1972)
19. Merry Clayton – Suspicious Minds (1972)
20. The Supremes and The Temptations – Can’t Take My Eyes Off You (1969)
21. Grady Tate – I Think It’s Going To Rain Today (1970)

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It’s been a more than a year since the last Covered With Soul. This one is rather good, I find. And a pretty mixed bag: from Al Wilson’s astonishing version of By The Time I Get To Phoenix to Betty Everett’s cover of Big Mama Thornton’s Hound Dog to the Isley Brothers fuzz guitar-driven take on Carole King’s It’s Too Late.

This is only the second Covered With Soul mix in three years, so savour this. If you’ve missed any of the previous 22 mixes, I think most are still live.

As always, CD-R length, home-covered covers, PW in comments.

1. Dee Dee Sharp Gamble – I’d Really Love to See You (1977)
2. Dorothy Morrison – Fire And Rain (1970)
3. Blossoms – Grandmas Hands (1972)
4. Lyn Collins – Backstabbers (1975)
5. Isaac Hayes – I’ll Never Fall In Love Again (1971)
6. Al Wilson – By The Time I Get To Phoenix (1968)
7. Blue Magic – Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely (1974)
8. René & Angela – Hotel California (1980)
9. L.V. Johnson – Try A Little Tenderness (1981)
10. Randy Crawford – Trade Winds (1981)
11. Samuel Jonathan Johnson – What The World Needs Now Is Love (1978)
12. The Smith Connection – ‘Til There Was You (1972)
13. Clydene Jackson – Tammy (1975)
14. Betty Everett – Hound Dog (1964)
15. Four Tops – Last Train To Clarksville (1967)
16. Maxine Weldon – My Way (1975)
17. The Isley Brothers – It’s Too Late (1972)

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More Covered With Soul

What needs to be said about the genius of Aretha Franklin and her influence has been said. One part of that genius was her ability to take possession of other people’s songs. Mention songs like Respect or Say A Little Prayer or Spanish Harlem, and few will say Otis Redding or Dionne Warwick or Ben. E. King. When Aretha took those songs, they became hers.

Many others she re-interpreted in such a way that her version would become virtually a different song, not infrequently eclipsing the almost ineclipsable. Consider what she did with the Beatles ballad The Long And Winding Road or Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water — both fine ballads beloved of crooner types — by giving them a bit of gospel. The Beatles track acquires a depth neither the composition nor Phil Spector’s production suggested in The Beatles hands. The S&G track acquires a spiritual dimension that was hinted at in the original but not quite realised

So by way of tribute, here is a mix of Aretha Franklin singing other people’s songs. In the parentheses I cite the respective song’s original performer.

As always, the mix is timed to fit in a standard CD-R length, includes home-shouted covers. PW in comments.

1. Soulville (1968 – Dinah Washington)
2. Groovin’ (1968 – The Young Rascals)
3. Until You Come Back To Me (1973 – Stevie Wonder)
4. You’re All I Need To Get By (1971 – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell)
5. Long And Winding Road (1972 – The Beatles)
6. Young, Gifted And Black (1972 – Nina Simone)
7. People Get Ready (1968 – The Impressions)
8. A Change Is Gonna Come (1967 – Sam Cooke)
9. Drown In My Own Tears (1967 – Sonny Thompson)
10. Bridge Over Troubled Water (1971 – Simon & Garfunkel)
11. Don’t Play That Song (1970 – Ben. E. King)
12. A Brand New Me (1972 – Jerry Butler)
13. Tracks Of My Tears (1968 – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles)
14. The Weight (1969 – The Band)
15. Dark End Of The Street (1970 – James Carr)
16. Eleanor Rigby (1970 – The Beatles)
17. Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing (1974 – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell)
18. Something He Can Feel (1976 – Irene Cara)
19. Oh Happy Day (with Mavis Staples) (1987 – Edwin Hawkins Singers)
20. Ever Changing Times (with Michael McDonald) (1991)
21. I Dreamed A Dream (1991 – from “Les Misérables”)

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Covered With Soul
1970s Soul

It has been more than two years since the last Covered With Soul. This collection draws from a wide range of genres to produce what I think is a pretty smooth flow of good soul music.

Those genres include rock (Come Together), 1960s pop (Windy, You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do) and ’70s pop (Spirit In The Sky, Your Song, Mr Bojangles), folk (Fire And Rain, Where Have All The Flowers Gone, Tin Man), country (For The Good Times, Break It To Me Gently, Misty Blue), and standards (Unforgettable, The Glory Of Love, It’s All In The Game, Fever, even I’ll Build A Stairway To Paradise from the MGM musical An American In Paris) .

And there is a soul version of the Irish song Danny Boy which strips that old chestnut of its accumulated kitsch and gives it a soul treatment which sounds a decade older than its year of release, 1981. It is performed by LV Johnson, who had more success as a songwriter than he did as a recording artist, alas. He died in 1994 at the age of 48.

One country track here may be more famous as a soul number, but not in the featured version. Misty Blue was written for Brenda Lee but became better known in Eddie Arnold’s version. Its biggest success, however, was in the southern soul version by Dorothy Moore, which hit the Top 5s in both the US and UK — three years after it was first recorded. The present version by Joe Simon from 1969 is the missing link. Coincidentally, it was also a minor hit three years after it was first recorded.

As always, CD-R length, home-covered covers, PW in comments.

1. Dorothy Morrison – Spirit In The Sky (1970)
2. Earth Wind & Fire – Where Have All The Flowers Gone (1972)
3. Clydene Jackson – Mr Bojangles (1975)
4. Maxine Weldon – I’ll Build A Stairway To Paradise (1975)
5. The Manhattans – Fever (1974)
6. Brothers Johnson – Come Together (1976)
7. Bobby Womack – Fire And Rain (1971)
8. Isaac Hayes – For The Good Times (1971)
9. Joe Simon – Misty Blue (1969)
10. Al Jarreau – Your Song (1976)
11. Chocolate Milk – Tin Man (1975)
12. Aretha Franklin – Break It To Me Gently (1977)
13. L.V. Johnson – Danny Boy (1981)
14. Eddie Holman – It’s All In The Game (1970)
15. The Dells – The Glory Of Love (1969)
16. Gene Chandler – Unforgettable (1970)
17. Carl Graves – Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (1975)
18. Billy Paul – Windy (1970)
19. Vivian Reed – God Bless The Child (1976)
20. Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway – You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling (1972)

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More Covered With Soul

Are soul tracks covered by other soul artists much different from the original? On this mix, they are.

This series has shown that soul, more than any other genre, offers the flexibility to interpret a song. Take The Dells” version of Otis Redding’s Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay; more known for their balladeering The Dells give it a funk twist, with an interlude that sounds inspired by The Beatles or Beach Boys. It”s the dock of the bay, but not as Otis knew it.

Baby Huey reinvents Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come, investing the sort of drama which Isaac Hayes lent his interpretations of Bacharach/David songs. It”s glorious.

And check out New Birth turning Rufus Thomas’ novelty hit Do The Funky Chicken into a jam.

As always, this mix will fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-covered covers.

1. Mary Wells – Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie (1968)
2. Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band – Hold On I’m Coming (1966)
3. Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Band – Get Ready (1968)
4. Lyn Collins – Mr. Big Stuff (1973)
5. The Dells – Dock Of The Bay (1969)
6. Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose – Let’s Stay Together (1972)
7. Bunny Sigler – Love Train (1975)
8. Penny Goodwin – Trade Winds (1973)
9. Major Harris – Sideshow (1974)
10. Brother To Brother – I Wish It Would Rain (1974)
11. Zulema – If This World Were Mine (1972)
12. Eddie Floyd – Warm And Tender Love (1967)
13. Baby Huey – A Change Is Going To Come (1971)
14. The Chi-Lites – Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) (1972)
15. Gladys Knight & The Pips – Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) (1973)
16. Smoked Sugar – I’ve Found Someone Of My Own (1975)
17. The New Birth – Do The Funky Chicken (1970)

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(PW in comments)

More Covered With Soul

Twenty Covered With Soul mixes, and still there are some mindblowing tracks. Just check out Thelma Houston doing to Jumpin” Jack Flash what Mick could only dream of.

Bobby Womack recorded his take on All Along The Watchtower for the 1973 Facts of Life LP, which it closes. About half of the tracks on it are cover versions, which is actually an improvement on previous albums “” unless you love, as I do, Womack”s ability to cover any song, be it a crooner”s standard or a psychedelic rock song, and make it his own.

Motown fans are liable to argue the relative merits of Diana Ross vs fellow Supreme Florence Ballard. Diana became a diva megastar, and deservedly so. It takes nothing away from Ross to say that the tragic Florence was the more talented soul singer. After her acrimonious break with Motown, Ballard recorded an album for ABC, which the label did not release (it never has been issued, as far as I know). Instead two singles were issued, both failing to chart. Ballard”s excellent version of Little Anthony & the Imperials “˜s 1964 hit Going Out Of My Head was the b-side to the first of these, the unimpressively produced and not at all promoted It Doesn”t Matter How I Say It (It”s What I Say That Matters).

I love the instrumental break in Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes” version of Everybody”s Talkin”, with Teddy Pendergrass on vocals. It appeared on a compilation charity album released by Philadelphia International Records titled Let”s Clean Up the Ghetto, produced by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff. It also features The Intruders, represented here with a fine interpretation of the Carpenters” Rainy Days And Mondays.

Also covering the Carpenters is Al Wilson, doing I Won”t Last A Day Without You in a medley with Let Me Be The One. It”s very lovely, though it also makes me want to hear Karen sing the original.

Two songs here have been covered to death: Yesterday and Bridge Over Troubled Water. But the two featured here are worth hearing. Carla Thomas” version of Yesterday was recorded live on a revue with Booker T & The MG”s, Carla Thomas, Sam & Dave, The Mar-Keys, Eddie Floyd and Otis Redding.

I must confess to not being very enthusiastic about Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell“s cover of Something Stupid. It is included here for the sake of interest rather than on the merit of quality.

I”ve updated links to previous Covered With Soul mixes recently.

As always, this mix will fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-covered covers. PW in comments.

1. Thelma Houston – Jumpin” Jack Flash (1969)
2. Bobby Womack – All Along The Watchtower (1973)
3. Brothers Unlimited – Spoonful (1970)
4. Bobby Powell – Crazy Love (1973)
5. Randy Crawford – Desperado (1977)
6. Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – Everybody”s Talkin” (1977)
7. The Main Ingredient – By The Time I Get To Phoenix/Wichita Lineman (1970)
8. Florence Ballard – Goin” Out Of My Head (1968)
9. The Dells – One Less Bell To Answer (1971)
10. The Ovations – Hooked On A Feeling (1972)
11. The Intruders – Rainy Days And Mondays (1974)
12. Major Harris – Like A Rolling Stone (1969)
13. Roberta Flack – To Love Somebody (1971)
14. Carla Thomas – Yesterday (Live) (1967)
15. Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell – Somethin’ Stupid (1967)
16. Al Wilson – I Won”t Last A Day Without You/Let Me Be The One (1974)
17. Nancy Wilson – Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)
18. Maxine Weldon – I (Who Have Nothing) (1971)
19. Sharon Cash – Nature Boy (1970)
20. The Deidre Wilson Tabac – Get Back (1970)

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This is the second Motown edition in the Covered With Soul series, following that on Volume 17. One song sums up the series: Margie Joseph’s version of The Supremes’ Stop In The Name Of Love. It begins as a straight cover until halfway through Margie goes freewheeling with the song in the manner of Isaac Hayes.

Cloud Nine opened the first Motown edition in the series, in Marvin Gaye’s version, and it closes this mix, in an interpretation by the Mar-Keys which gives the appearance of having been created with the aid of certain mind-altering substances.

As far as I can tell, two of the songs here were released on Motown: The Undisputed Truth”s take on The Temptations’ Just My Imagination and The Dynamic Superiors’ version of Marvin & Tammi’s Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing. One little twist here is that For Once In My Life, the Stevie Wonder hit covered here by the magnificently named Rosetta Hightower, was originally recorded by Jean DuShon, whom we hear doing Marvin Gaye’s Hitch Hike.

And if the voice of James Gilstrap, featured here with a cover of Marvin Gaye’s Ain’t That Peculiar, sounds familiar, it might be because you hear him dueting in the first verse of Stevie Wonder’s You Are The Sunshine Of My Life.

1. Anna King – Come And Get These Memories (1964)
2. Jean DuShon – Hitch Hike (1964)
3. Calvin Scott – Can I Get A Witness (1972)
4. David Porter – The Way You Do The Things You (1970)
5. The Undisputed Truth – Just My Imagination (1973)
6. The Main Ingredient – Superwoman (1973)
7. The Dynamic Superiors – Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing (1975)
8. Aretha Franklin – Tracks Of My Tears (1969)
9. Jackie Wilson – You Keep Me Hangin’ On (1968)
10. Linda Jones – Dancing In The Street (1972)
11. James Gilstrap – Ain’t That Peculiar (1975)
12. Mike James Kirkland – Baby I Need Your Loving (1972)
13. Margie Joseph – Stop! In The Name Of Love (1971)
14. Thelma Jones – I Second That Emotion (1978)
15. The Jackson 5 – Standing In The Shadows Of Love (1968)
16. Roberta Flack – You Are Everything (1978)
17. O.C. Smith – My Cherie Amour (1969)
18. Erma Franklin – For Once In My Life (1969)
19. Rosetta Hightower – Stoned Love (1971)
20. Donnie Elbert – Heard It Thru The Grapevine (1974)
21. The Mar-Keys – Cloud Nine (1971)

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(PW in comments)

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More Covered With Soul

Following on from the theme of Covered With Soul in Vol. 5 and Vol. 11, this edition comprises soul covers of other soul songs. One might quibble that “For Your Love” is not really a soul song (nor is, originally, “Try A Little Tenderness”), but it seems to me that Freddie Scott”s version was inspired by the 1967 hit version by Peaches & Herb.

The fun with this series is in wondering in what direction soul singers might take a song. Sometimes the results are quite breathtaking. One of the best examples of that is how The Temptations turn Bill Withers” simple “Ain”t No Sunshine” into a seven-minute plus epic.

As always, this mix will fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-covered covers. PW in comments.

1. Philly Cream – Soul Man (1979)
2. Zulema – Love Train (1974)
3. The Spinners – O-o-h Child (1970)
4. Lyn Collins – Try A Little Tenderness (1975)
5. Sharon Cash – Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay (1970)
6. Vessie Simmons – A Change Is Gonna Come (1971)
7. Al Wilson – I Stand Accused (1968)
8. Billy Paul – Let’s Stay Together (1972)
9. Diana Ross – I Love You (Call Me) (1970)
10. Kimberley Briggs – My Whole World Ended (1972)
11. Wayne McGhie & the Sounds of Joy – Take A Letter Maria (1970)
12. Joe Simon – What A Wonderful World (1976)
13. Freddie Scott – For Your Love (1967)
14. Esther Phillips – Do Right Woman, Do Right Man (1972)
15. Cissy Houston – When Something Is Wrong With My Baby (1970)
16. Ann Peebles – Chain Of Fools (1969)
17. The Intruders – Be Thankful For What You Got (1975)
18. Tina Turner – Back Stabbers (1979)
19. The Three Degrees – Who Is She (And What Is She To You) (1975)
20. The Temptations – Ain’t No Sunshine (1972)

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What took me so long to do a Covered With Soul of Motown songs? This compilation begins, appropriately, with a Motown giant, Marvin Gaye, covering one of the great songs by other Motown giants, The Temptations. And that is followed by a track by a lesser known group whose records were issued by Motown , Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers, covering a song best known in Marvin Gaye’s version  (you’ll remember them from Any Major Soul 1968 as the group that included Cheech’s sidekick Chong and whose leader discovered the Jackson 5).

Some of the songs are well-known even to the cursory follower of Motown. A couple of others may be unknown to such people. They would do well to check out the Motown recordings of Junior Walker & The All Stars’ What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) and The Originals’ Baby, I’m For Real.

Purists might question the inclusion of Dusty Springfield in a soul mix. Actually, true purists won’t; just listen to Dusty sing Rita Wright’s I Can’t Give Back The Love I Feel For You. EDIT: There’s a second Motown edition of Covered With Soul.

As always, the mix is timed to fit in a standard CD-R, and includes covers. PW in comments.

1. Marvin Gaye – Cloud Nine (1970)
2. Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers – I Heard It Through The Grapevine (1968)
3. S.O.U.L. – My Cherie Amour (1972)
4. Aretha Franklin – You’re All I Need To Get By (1973)
5. William Bell – You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me (3:28)
6. Donnie Elbert – Stop In The Name Of Love (1974)
7. The Spinners – My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me) (1970)
8. Gladys Knight & The Pips – For Once In My Life (1973)
9. Carolyn Franklin – You Are Everything (1976)
10. Willie Hutch – I’ll Be There (1973)
11. Hearts Of Stone – What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) (1970)
12. Rosetta Hightower – Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (1971)
13. Rhetta Hughes – Baby, I Need Your Loving (1969)
14. The Five Stairsteps – Oooh, Baby Baby (1967)
15. Esther Phillips – Baby, I’m For Real (1972)
16. Martha Reeves – Ain’t That Peculiar (1974)
17. Dusty Springfield – I Can’t Give Back The Love I Feel For You (1968)
18. Vessie Simmons – Back In My Arms Again (1971)
19. Carl Graves – That’s The Way Love Is (1975)
20. The Bar-Kays – I Was Made To Love Her (1972)
21. Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Band – Get Ready (1968)
22. David Porter – Reach Out And Touch Somebody’s Hand (1972)

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