One groove to rule them all

10:25am 12 Mar 2010 24 comments

One of my favourite drum grooves of all time is Rosanna by Toto. It's a staple; a stock-standard for many people (especially drummers).

Anything Jeff Porcaro played on could be considered a favourite drum groove for many - especially his work on this album. But as the drummer for Toto he recorded one of the great drum grooves in pop music.

Listening to it recently on YouTube (the link is above) I started to hear how obviously Bernard Purdie was being referenced. Purdie is one of my favourite drummers - and his "Purdie Shuffle" is a template of sorts for funk and pop drummers. Purdie was also one of the great drummers for Steely Dan - so it's a given that he would be an influence on Porcaro's playing, being that Jeff worked with The Dan.

Rosanna comes from Porcaro combining the "Purdie Shuffle" with John Bonham's own approximation of the "Purdie Shuffle". Bonzo used it for the Led Zeppelin track, Fool In The Rain.

Take a pinch of Purdie and a scoop of Bonham and that's how Porcaro invented the groove for Rosanna.

Hollie Smith has a new album coming soon

03:51pm 10 Mar 2010 43 comments

The following is an excerpt from a review I wrote of a Hollie Smith gig in 2007. Her debut album, Long Player was out. And I felt like sticking a pin in the balloon. I say that not to be a party-pooper, but because I didn't get the hot air and pointless celebrations.

"Surely the gimmick for Hollie Smith is that such a big voice shouldn't come from a diminutive frame; the funk and soul stolen from Aretha Franklin, via Erykah Badu, and served up with a slowly sizzling sauté is flavour of the month, thanks to time spent singing with Fat Freddy's Drop and TrinityRoots - and as part of the Fly My Pretties crew.

To watch Hollie Smith live is to feel like the only person in the room who doesn't get the joke; or, alternatively, to be the only one laughing when all around it seems so serious. The problem with Smith's songs - basically just grooves for her to hang her pregnant wailing over - is that they go nowhere. And they're never in a hurry.

The magic is over as the track finishes, but then we hear and see it all again. Slow-burning soul-jazz hook, a brittle-funk groove, churchy organ chords, gulps of gospel; then a breakdown for the audience to catch their breath and scream "Hollie we love you", then it builds to a swelling crescendo. Press play and repeat.

Smith seems nice enough, a little shy, and the band is sharp (possibly a little too slick, never stepping their collective foot down past cruise-control).

Download a free Phoenix Foundation song

12:40pm 10 Mar 2010 11 comments

Remember - a while back - we offered you a free Connan track. Well today - here - exclusively at Blog On The Tracks you will be able to download and hear the new song from The Phoenix Foundation.

It's called Buffalo and it is the title track of the band's upcoming fourth album.

The record is completed; it will be released next month. It will be released in a limited edition vinyl run as well as being available as a download and as a CD.

From 2004's Horsepower, on to 2005's Pegasus and then 2007's Happy Ending the Foundation has shown a progression with each album. And the Merry Kriskmass EP, released late last year, whetted the appetite for Buffalo.

And here is some more information about the album Buffalo.

Selected tracks from Buffalo will be made available before the April release. And this starts with the title song - serviced to radio next week and available to download for free from tomorrow for a limited time.

But if you want to hear it even earlier then you have come to the right place. I have the link a day early...

Mark Linkous RIP

12:07am 10 Mar 2010 22 comments

I meant to write about this the other day - as I'm not sure all the mainstream news sites will cover it. Mark Linkous died in the weekend. It was suicide.

A friend had left me a message, early Monday morning. It said "no more Sparklehorse".

I knew, straight away, from those three words, that he meant Linkous, leader of Sparklehorse, had not only died - but had ended his own life. Sure enough...

Linkous, like Mark Everett from Eels (as just one other example), basically was Sparklehorse. He wasn't so much the leader of the band as he was the creator of the pseudonym - and the music that came from it.

And Sparklehorse released some beautiful songs. Here's Homecoming Queen from the first album, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, released in 1995. I also really love Rainmaker from that album.

Meat Loaf interview: teaser

03:00pm 09 Mar 2010 10 comments

The following are five questions that I could have asked Meat Loaf to send him over the edge:

1) Jim Steinman said he is the one with all of the talent behind the album Bat Out Of Hell. What are your thoughts on this?

2) Why did you release an album under the name Andrew WK?

3) Why is it that you have released two kinds of albums - ones with Bat in the title that sell - and ones that don't and, erm, don't?