Norma Fraser, “First Cut is the Deepest”
Jerry Jones, “Still Water” (find it on Studio One Soul)
Forgive the sad medium, love the wonderful song.
Reigning Sound, “Broken Things”
Vocalist Greg Cartwright scolds an ex-lover on this organ-heavy blast from Reigning Sound’s 2009 album, Love and Curses. “Still going round your head/All the things you should’ve said/But you can’t hang a heart on a love that’s dead/Don’t you know anything?,” he spews at this certain someone as the song moves from verse to chorus by way of a classic guitar boogie. Cartwright’s raw vocal delivery and brutal honesty make this more than just a run-of-the-mill garage-soul throwback.
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - “Inspiration Information” (Shuggie Otis cover)
The first time I heard Shuggie Otis I was probably hand-folding 1,000 brochures or photocopying the contents of some lawyer’s case file. Truthfully, the specifics of the moment escape me years later. What hasn’t left me is the burned-CD copy of Otis’s 1974 album Inspiration Information I had in my hands as I left for home that day after clocking some overtime at the print shop where I worked. My boss turned me onto some choice music during my tenure as a paper expert, and that disc is among the best.
I just discovered this cover of the album’s title track by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. Jones really nails the vocals, not surprisingly, and the horn treatment is awesome, even if the song as a whole lacks a bit of the original’s punch.
