Top 5 Lists
ERIC ORR
(Visual Artist / Creative / DJ / Qualified Builder / www.ericart.org)
Top 5: Favourite Soul Songs
1. Rick James - Glow
2. Curtis Mayfield - Right On For The Darkness
3. Marvin Gaye - I Want You
4. Isley Bros - Groove With You
5. Barry White - It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me
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PETER MAC
(Author / DJ / Hallelujah Picassos / Dub Asylum / www.dubdotdash.blogspot.com)
Top 5: Reggae Got Soul
There's a long tradition of Jamaican artists reworking songs they heard on the radio waves drifting in from Miami, taking R&B, Motown soul, Chi-town grooves and Stax vibes and making them their own. Their ability to invert contemporary tunes into something fresh and unique continues even today - check Busy Signal's clever reworking of 'Royals'...
1. Jimmy London - I'm Your Puppet
Gorgeous rendition of this song from the crooner Mr London. One of my DJ mates back in the Bassteppa Sound System used to tease me whenever I'd play it, saying "Hey Pete, he's singing 'I'm your pub pet!'" Cheeky git.
2. Pat Rhoden - Living For The City
On the Trojan label, there's a killer 3CD boxset of a ton of soulful reggae covers, but this one is tops in my books. Stevie done reggae style is always gonna make you smile.
3. Leroy Sibbles - Express Yourself
LA classic gets transported to JA. Still funky as hell. Respect, Mr Sibbles.
4. The Marvels - Rocksteady
Aretha gets skankified. Comes up trumps.
5. Shark Wilson and the Basement Healers - Make It Reggae
Straight up inversion of the Godfather of Soul, or just some crazy ish from the islands. Who knows? This rocks my soul. Make it reggae!
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MURRAY CAMMICK
(A true doyen of the local scene - listen to him on bFM, 1pm Fridays)
Top 5: My Funkiest Concerts of the 20th Century
1. The Commodores, Auckland Town Hall, May 1977
'Brickhouse' blew our minds and they shot confetti cannons into the crowd, so the bros with afros lit up like Xmas trees.
2. Tina Turner, Auckland Town Hall, Sept 12, 1977
A high energy early solo show with Tina fresh out of the Ike and Tina Turner review.
3. James Brown, The Metro, Melbourne, Feb 8 and 9, 1988
He was okay at the Shoreline, Takapuna in 1978 but this time the James Brown band, with Maceo Parker on sax, played beyond perfection.
4. Barkays and The Trammps, New York, Oct 14, 1994
It was the first time these Stax label pioneers played New York in twenty years and they slam-dunked their big hits using tiny Korg keyboards.
5. Bootsy's Rubber Band, San Francisco, 1994
The sound system was quadrophonic with speaker banks near rear of hall facing back toward the stage. Bernie Worrell was on keys and after five minutes I hit funk overload, I wanted to run outside and tell somebody.
(All taken from issue #3 of the 'Soultearoa Shakedown' fanzine)
