Yes – The Shuffle Monkey is Back and back doing what he does best, Oh Yes – & rather like good old Adonais of whom Percy Bysshe Shelly wrote on hearing of the death of John Keats in 1821 – “Peace, peace! he is not dead, he doth not sleep – He hath awakened from the dream of life” – That’s the good Shuffle meister for you!
So, as it’s been a while what’s this Blog about? Quite simply, it’s about Keeping The Faith for All Good Music and Letting The Shuffle do it’s thing!
The Shuffle Monkey & I now have over 12,600+ tracks loaded onto the iPlayer & available to us wherever & whenever (internet connection willing) via iCloud – Do we feel liberated? Do we feel powerful? No, but we sure do feel funky!!
And the numbers of tracks grows every day! Each carefully chosen from our funky and soulful past & they all mean something to the monkey & I.
Plus 12,600 adds up to over 35 Days of pure continuous listening pleasure if you were to do it in a Oner! But that’s not the name of the game Here – Every time we KeepItOnShuffle it’s a capture of the Dozen or so Tracks which Msr Le Shuffle randomly picks out of His little Bag & it sure is an eclectic Mix – Anything can and does pop-up & it’s Personal, Quirky, Inspiring…?
Certainly judging by many of the comments received over the past wee while from right across the World too, all of you seem to have found this an interesting Trip and the whole idea rather Inspiring!! That’s great and Thank You. We’ll certainly keep doing it now & for a little while longer to boot!
So, let’s press Shuffle and see whether today’s journey will strike a chord! Of course, as I’ve said before, the journey’s not just about the music, but the order in which the tracks play and we don’t edit or play around with that, just record in real time: &, just like Proust’s “Madelienes”, it’s the memories and the remembrances they invoke and indeed, what they inspire! The very essence of the Human Condition.
As an adjunct then to whatever else you may do, I hope this will continue to inspire you to go and search out and listen to today’s tracks when the Monkey & I list them in the order they play as part of this Blog. Do so in the same order because that is where the real surprise and the real delight will be – right there in that change between one type of music, mood & tempo and another. Go with the flow and let that track that comes right out of left field catch you and put you right back in a moment when… !
And I also hope you continue to enjoy some of the stories and memories they invoke for me as well!!
Happy travelling on your “Whatever’s In My Head” journey & remember, Keep The Faith & We’ll Keep It On Shuffle!
And Yes Today we take the Train – Well it sometimes beats the Bus? – as Gladys Knight kicks us off again Today with the Classic, “Midnight Train To Georgia” – Such Soul, Such Passion, A Story – The Whole World in the Lyrics of a Simple Love Song!; And this is quickly followed by a veritable Steam Train of a GEAR CHANGE with Iggy Pop & The Stooges and they Pound us into submission – Willing Submission – with, “Search & Destroy” – Essential!
An interesting Bowie link – & Look out for a great recent Publication of some brilliant Photographs of Sir Bowie from the 70’s – Anyway, this connects Lou Reed to Mott The Hoople who play for us, “Sweet Jane” – & didn’t Bowie produce Albums for each of these artists as well as playing Sax & doing Backing Vocals etc on at least 2-of-the-3 – if not all 3? i.e. Lou, Iggy & Mott.
And this is followed as only the Shuffle Monkey knows how with Stephen (Tin Tin) Duffy &, “Kiss Me” – He was out of Duran Duran by then; & Msr Le Shuffle switches to Spain – & that is why we love him – Coz here is Malu with, “Caminante Nocturno” – & yes me and the Monkey have seen Malu in a packed Placa Mayor in Madrid – Oh Yeah. & light up the Marlborough!
Ooh – Some other sort of stuff now – with first, The Force &, “Rock Your Baby (12″ Version)” – Completely utterly right there circa 1977-8 DISCO – This is Chris Hills et al – Lacy Lady, The Copford Windmill, Tracy’s...; & this is followed by an ultra Jazz Funk Groove with Eddie Henderson &, “Prance On” – The Disco Monkey is spoiling us!!
GEAR CHANGE again though next as Hotlegs pulsate into view with an early – 1971? track – “Neanderthal Man” – Now Hotlegs were basically Godley & Creme who went on to form the nucleus of 10CC (It might have been the other two though… ? Stewart & ?) – Anyway, I know, If I was referring to notes and did my research it would be interesting – But where’s the fun in that!! 10CC took their name of course from – Yes, You Know – The average amount of Ejaculated Seamen – Now I don’t know about you, but Glass in Hand, who goes about measuring that?? And I’ve seen ‘There’s Something About Mary’ & Well, there’s more then 10 ml in Cameron Diaz’s Hair, Buddy!
Some Great Soul/Disco next though with Shirley Jones sounding very much like the Jones Girls obviously, on “Finally”; & this is followed by another Amazing GEAR CHANGE from the Shuffle Monkey with Bad Company &, “Rock Steady”!
Back to Jazz Funk with Patrice Rushen &, “Message In The Music”; And we stay in this Great Groove with Incognito – Hi Bluey!! & something Pretty recent from them – The Brilliant, “Everything We Are”; Which in turn is followed by a true Masterpiece in Modern Soul with Eddie Billups singing, “Shake That Dream” – I think we’ll tweet that later through @desfume; Which in turn is followed by Prince &, “Cream” – Now, Why Oh Why Wee Monkey here is my Question – “Why Couldn’t that have followed Hotlegs?”
And Finally today, some Classic Smooth Soul from Sylvia with, “Sweet Talk” – Who is not only remembered as well for “Pillow Talk” – but also founded and run the SugarHill Record Label – Rappers Delight et al!! And this is followed on the slide down to Grace by Terri Gonzales &, “Treat Yourself To My Love” – & then Norman Connors plays us out with the Classic, “East 6th Street” – Which also features Aquarian Dream – So Keep The Faith, Coz – I Got A Thing For You And I Can”t Let Go, &, What I’d Do For Love (Bobby Caldwell)… Meanwhile, We’ll Keep It On Shuffle, here at Shuffly Towers 🙂
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