keepitonshuffle@whateversinmyhead.com – Blog 69 or If The Fool Would Persist In Their Folly, They Would become Wise!

As regular Followers will know we can never get enough of Old William Blake here at Shuffle Towers – & the ‘Fool’ quote is from his ‘Proverbs From Hell’ – Now Personally Me & The Monkey are more into his ‘Sixty Iron Doors & Sixty Golden Palaces’ Gig, which has got me through more than One challenging meeting & the First Track today has a bit of a ‘Blake-ian’ sentiment going on with its’ lyric, “Nobody Can Know, Walls of Glass & Steel on Deptford Green” – Old Willie would have loved the Deptford reference as well – & this is a cracking track from Jools Holland & His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra – Called, “Enchanted Castle” & it also has a blistering trade mark Piano Solo from Jools to boot – Great Stuff; & this is followed in Consumate Style by the Wee Shuffly One, by Firstly – Van Morrison & the Classic Studio Version of, “St Dominic’s Preview” – Secondly by Nancy Wilson from her Fabby LP, ‘All In Love Is Fair’ – O No It’s Not Nancy – & the track she is singing for us is called, “Try It, You’ll Like It” – & Thirdly by Corinne Bailey Rae & the Heartbreaker, “I’ll Do It Again” – Now that’s Love and How she ever Had the strength to sing such a Personal Song is what makes a Truly Great Artist – I won’t repeat the Story here, but check it out and then just go OMG – Wow!!

Carol King & James Taylor next with a lovely Live Version of, “Blossom” – Beautiful & It Fills You with Life, Love & Hope!! GEAR CHANGE – Prince Sampson now with a No Messing Jazz Version of, ‘ Let The Sun Shine Through” – & this is followed in turn by a Great Luther Vandross track, “Creepin” – Sultry comes to Mind!!

One of my ‘Soft Spot’ Groups next, Atlantic Starr & the Fabby Smoochy cut, “Don’t Take Me For Granted” – & this always reminds me of a Great Little stay I had in a very Grand Hotel right on the Beach and just up the Coast from Den Hague one Summer in the early Noughties! Some Doo-Wop Soul follows from Ace Spectrum &, “I Don’t Want To Play Around” – which just takes off three quarters of the way in and becomes Soul Salsa – & It’s expertly followed by another Grace Jones track, “La Vie En Rose” – & I’m pretty sure this version is the Dimitri Remix, who I understand never goes anywhere without his Little Monkey – & this a Very Good version but my Favourite still remains Louie Armstrong’s Slow Swing cut with a bit of Rag Time thrown in – So Louche!!

Cripes – its’ Carole King & James Taylor again with a Live & Joint, “It’s Too Late” – The Wee Shuffly One is in his Element; & this is followed by the mighty Whispers with a great track from their Early 1980’s period, “Keep Your Love Around”; Which in turn is quickly followed by a Soul Inspired Peggi Blue giving us, “Can’t Go Back” – & next up is Lenny White & Twennynine &, “Best Of Friends” – What a marvelous set of Tracks – Hats Off to Msr Le Shuffle!!

Finally Today we go back to the 1960’s with Gene Pitney &, “I’m Gonna Be Strong” – They certainly don’t write them like this anymore – & to Kiss us Goodbye is the Superlative Willie Nelson from his great CD, ‘Willie At The Wheel’ & a Fantastic Country Swing Beat version of, “I’m Sitting On Top Of The World” – It’s very Dry & very Rye & very Cool! So, Keep The Faith & Me & The Monkey will Keep It On Shuffle 🙂

keepitonshuffle@whateversonmymind.com – Blog No. 21

I’ve been Tweeted and asked why no Alvin Stardust – Good Point, he’s in The Shuffle somewhere, but I’m not going to Cheat and skip to him – Say His Name & He Will Come, Probably! Anyway, Eyes Down and who’s first off today? The Detroit Spinners no less with, “Rubberband Man” – Which means that we are continuing in the groove from Blog No. 20, Great Stuff!; GEAR CHANGE next, but it’s a marvellous one which takes us into some smooth Country with Kenny Rogers sans The New Edition, &, his version of “Green Green Grass Of Home”; Well that’s softend me up nicely for what now follows – The great Stephen Bishop with a brilliant song he wrote himself, “Never Letting Go” – I’m afraid The Ole Incurable Romantic is back, Big Stylee!; Oh Dear, look what’s next – I’m going to have to buy Mr Shuffle a drink – for it’s Teddy Pendergrass with the superb, “It Don’t Hurt Now” – Smoking!; The first showing next for Wings with, “Let ‘Em In” – Now did Billy Paul write this, or just cover it? I must say I’ve got a soft spot for Wings and do you know, for some reason they remind me of Felixstowe in the miid-70’s…I know, Weird!; Luxury Soul/Smooth Disco, or whatever esle you might like to call it now, with the great track, “Do You Feel The Same” – but unfortunately it’s by an Unknown Artist??; Continuing in the groove though is now The Real Thing with, “Love’s Such A Wonderful Thing” – I remember first seeing these guys backing David Essex – They went on to do some great stuff through the 1970’s and early 80’s, &, along with ABBA remind me of Richmond (London) and the very hot summer of 1976! Next another Corker and back into the Country groove with Merle Haggard &, “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here & Drink” – & why not, I know I’ve been guilty of doing just that in my mispen youth; And finally today, a rather fabby contemporary Funk Track from the Uptown Funk Empire beating out, “Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now (Feat. Noel McCoy)” – Oh Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! So, Keep The Faith Till Next Time & I’ll Keep It On Shuffle, For Sure! 😉