Soul on Sunday - Gonna Getcha Back / Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Loves

Went to see Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Loves on Wednesday. If you're not aware of them then they are a soul/R&B band who remind me of a cross between early James Brown (think Live at the Apollo) and James Carr. If you really aren't aware then get yourself this album.

I saw them last at Latitude 2008, in the Music and Film tent at about 1 in the morning, and they were one of the highlights of the whole festival. Could they cut it when I was much brighter of eye and bushier of tail? Oh yes, very much so. An energetic performer, it's on the up-tempo songs that he really shines, notably on The Satisfier and set closer, Take My Love With You. He tries out a couple of new songs and also does a short solo set including some songs from his pre "and the true loves" past. There's also a cover of the Ace Of Spades from a recent EP which still doesn't seem to have been released over here.

Here's Gonna Getcha from Wednesday (picture poor, sound pretty good):


And here, as a special bonus, is Take My Love With You in Madrid last year:

Super Furry Animals - Inaugural Trams

The new Super Furry Animals album, Dark Days / Light Years is something of a return to form in my opinion - I never really got on well with the psyched out likes of Hey! Venus. The fun is definitely back on the agenda, notably on this song which features a rap in German from one of Franz Ferdinand about public transport. Possibly.

Soul on Sunday - So In Love / Curtis Mayfield

I've got some kind of weird ear infection thing going on so it feels like my head has been pumped full of cotton wool at the moment... despite that I know that this is amazing. Taken from the album "There's No Place Like America Today" which featured in a book called 1001 albums you must hear before you die...

The Greatest

I went to see "17 again" tonight. I enjoyed it rather more than I probably should have, given that I am neither 15, nor a girl and thus entirely underwhelmed by Zac Efron. I did find it extremely funny however, particularly the geek humour. Anyway the climax of the film is soundtracked by one of my favourite songs of the last few years, The Greatest by Cat Power (from the album of the same name), so here she is, singing it on Jools.

Soul on Sunday - Someone Out There / The Flirtations

If you've got three hours to spare this bank holiday Monday (and you're in the UK), get yourself over to the BBC website and listen to Mark Lamarr's show from Friday night. He had the Flirtations in for a session and it is well worth the listen.

Here they are doing their thing in 1969 on Spanish TV.

Soul on Sunday - Yes To The Lord / The Stovall Sisters

Some heavily gospel-influenced soul for you this week, and I make no apologies for selecting from the same album as last week. This trio of sisters performed backing duties for a host of well known names, not to mention being the Ikettes for a brief period in 1970, but this is from their own album.

Get Loaded in the Park 2009

In the end I just couldn't resist, the line-up looked just too tasty for words - I will be at Get Loaded in the Park 2009... Orbital are headlining (I've talked about them before!) which is very exciting.

The undercard is pretty amazing too.

Royksopp will be doing their live thing, supporting the pretty amazing new album, Junior. It's a lot more pop/dance than their breakthrough LP, Melody Am, and guaranteed to get me dancing. Here's the single, Happy Up Here.



They've only announced a couple of other live bands, they include Esser


and Marina and the Diamonds


It's going to be a busy summer!

Also playing live are Miss Kittin and the Hacker, who do electro/ravey type stuff. They've a new album out soon, however this is a bit older: