Mike

A heavy Monday morning here and so to keep with the mood here's a heavy article highlight... While doing some research recently I stumbled across the below on Google Books. It's a Google Books preview of a book titled 'The Place of Music' that was written by Andrew Leyshon, David Matless, George Revill and was published by Guilford Press back in 1998. The book at first look is quite serious content wise with opening statements such as 'Music is omnipresent in human society, but its language can no longer be regarded as transcendent or universal' and later 'Covering rich and varied terrain—from Victorian England, to 1960s Los Angeles, to the offices of Sony and Time-Warner and the landscapes of the American Depression—the volume addresses such topics as the evolution of musical genres, the globalization of music production and marketing, alternative and hybridized music scenes as sites of localized resistance, the nature of soundscapes, and issues of migration and national identity' However amongst the chapters In the book, the third one in fact, there is a chapter title that did catch the eye... This third chapter is titled 'Welcome to Dreamsville: A History and Geography of Northern Soul' and is credited to Joanne Hollows and Katie Milestone. This chapter examines fairly heavy aspects of 'northern soul' with it seems its main reference being 'Long After Tonight Is All Over' by Stuart Cosgrove. Its quite long and serious - 20 pages and three of them are listing references, and while maybe not something for a casual read it may be for some something to bookmark for later reading The book itself is available for purchase (the details follow below), though the chapter in question is available to read online via the Google Book preview which is linked below The Place of Music Andrew Leyshon, David Matless, George Revill Guilford Press, 1998 - Social Science - 326 pages Welcome To Dreamsville: A History and Geography of Northern Soul

Well if you have been enjoying the recently released Soul Jazz Records 'The Lost Queen Of New Orleans' Betty Harris Album then you may be interested to hear that you can get to see the real world version soon! As just been posted in the Soul Source Event Guide 'Live' section, a date has been announced for a live show in Manchester Uk, in a few months time! A two birds post, first here's the album details, followed by the Manchester event details! Betty Harris’ The Lost Queen of New Orleans Soul features all of her classic deep soul, sister funk and northern soul songs recorded in New Orleans in the 1960s - all written, produced and arranged by the legendary Allen Toussaint, and featuring the cream of New Orleans musicians and the incredible Meters. All of these singles featured here were released on Allen Toussaint and his business partner Marshall Sehorn’s local New Orleans label Sansu, widely distributed in the southern city but in only limited quantities elsewhere. As a consequence, Betty Harris’ music failed to achieve the commercial success of other New Orleans artists such as Lee Dorsey (who she recorded with) and The Meters (who backed her). And so at the end of the decade she stopped recording, retired from the music business to raise her family in Florida. This is no reflection of the stunning musical quality of all these songs which encompass everything from southern soul, heavy funk, deep soul ballads and northern soul. Betty Harris has been a cornerstone of Soul Jazz Records’ New Orleans Funk and New Orleans Soul compilations. Always soulful and always funky, Betty Harris’ music contains the essence of New Orleans music. She is the Lost Soul Queen of New Orleans. This collection is released on CD, heavyweight gatefold double LP vinyl (+ download code) and digital and comes complete with full biography, original label artwork. To coincide with this album New Orleans legend Betty Harris will in the new year be performing two rare live UK shows at the 100 Club, London on Feb 17,2017 and Band on the Wall, Manchester on Feb 18, 2017. Social Music Player - Deezer (login to Deezer for full effect) Juno Records Preview Player 2×LP £17.99 CD £11.99 https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/sjr/product/the-lost-soul-queen-of-new-orleans Track Listing: 1 There's A Break In The Road 2:51 2 12 Red Roses 2:31 3 Mean Man 2:41 4 I'm Gonna Git Ya 2:19 5 Ride Your Pony 3:11 6 Show It 3:02 7 I Don't Wanna Hear It 2:06 8 Bad Luck 2:33 9 Hook, Line 'n' Sinker 2:41 10 Lonely Hearts 2:55 11 What A Sad Feeling 2:21 12 What'd I Do Wrong 2:50 13 Trouble With My Lover 2:48 14 Sometime 2:35 15 I'm Evil Tonight 2:23 16 Nearer To You 2:55 17 All I Want Is You 2:20 Manchester Live Show Details BETTY HARRIS - MANCHESTER - SAT 18 FEB 2017 - Band On The Wall

Out last month from Timmion Records sub - label Stylart. Described as deep with a beat, this recent released track does have shades of the Bobby Sansom about it. Flip is a part 2 which adds something to the main version and works well Can read and listen below 1 Bobby Oroza - This Love, Pt. 1 [Timmion] 2 Bobby Oroza - This Love, Pt. 2 [Timmion] Timmion sub-label rolls out another deep with a beat beauty with singer Bobby Oroza. Bobby's own story in soul music is still mostly unwritten, but listening to this effort he might have something cooking. Bobby's "This Love" is unpretentious music about love, romance and heartache, that should take your mind towards Californian sunsets and gleaming vehicles. Stylart is the new story of underground soul in Finland, and it's only getting started. Hop on for the ride. released October 14, 2016 https://timmionrecords.bandcamp.com/album/this-love

Donny Hathaway Live - Details of a new book by Emily J. Lordi from Bloomsbury Academic, both kindle and paperback format are now available. The company blurb below, a preview follows In January of 1979, the great soul artist Donny Hathaway fell fifteen stories from a window of Manhattan's Essex House Hotel in an alleged suicide. He was 33 years old and everyone he worked with called him a genius. Best known for “A Song for You,” “This Christmas,” and classic duets with Roberta Flack, Hathaway was a composer, pianist, and singer committed to exploring “music in its totality.” His velvet melisma and vibrant sincerity set him apart from other soul men of his era while influencing generations of singers and fans whose love affair with him continues to this day. The first nonfiction book about Hathaway, Donny Hathaway Live uses original interviews, archival material, musical analysis, cultural history, and poetry to tell the story of Hathaway's life, from his beginnings as a gospel wonder child to his final years. But its focus is the brutally honest, daringly gorgeous music he created as he raced the clock of mental illness-especially in the performances captured on his 1972 album Donny Hathaway Live. That album testifies to Hathaway's uncanny ability to amplify the power and beauty of his songs in the moment of live performance. By exploring that album, we see how he generated a spiritual experience for those present at his shows, and for those with the privilege to listen in now. Table of contents Acknowledgments II. Overture: Endings III. Prelude: “A Song for You” IV. First Movement: Beginnings V. Second Movement: Donny Hathaway Live VI. Third Movement: More Live VII. Last Movement: Afterlives - See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/donny-hathaways-donny-hathaway-live-9781628929805/

Some layout improvements for the 'event list' feature in the Soul Source Event Guide When browsing events you do have 4 options to view the events by 1. Week View - The default view - the current week ahead 2. Month View - The 'calendar' view - the current month 3. Day view - The daily view - a certain days events 4. List View - A list view - the next upcoming 100 the 'list view ' has had some layout improvements you can now use it to get a list of all upcoming weekenders, allnighters, live events etc etc as always a picture says it better Now fully featured like the other 'views'- eg if you hover over an event you get all the event guide info - rsvps, map, # of comments, address etc away you go The Soul Source Event Guide - free and easy!

Sonny Knight & The Lakers have just announced that they're taking pre-orders for their sophomore studio album, "Sooner or Later". With the first 200 LPs being hand-numbered and pressed on clear wax and available for pre-order through the Secret Stash records online store (the link is at the bottom of the page). The album 'Sooner Or Later' isdue out 18th Nov 2016 Sooner or Later - The official youtube music video Sooner Or Later Track List - Read and Play Sooner Or Later Your browser does not support the audio element. How Long Until Someday Your browser does not support the audio element. Stronger In The End Your browser does not support the audio element. Help Me Your browser does not support the audio element. I Could Never Get Tired Your browser does not support the audio element. It's Over Your browser does not support the audio element. The Cry Your browser does not support the audio element. It Had To Change Your browser does not support the audio element. Why? Your browser does not support the audio element. Oh, Mary Your browser does not support the audio element. 'Sooner Or Later' Press Release Sonny Knight And The Lakers to release sophomore studio album, “Sooner Or Later,” via Secret Stash Records on November 18, 2016 Vitality is defined as the power to live or grow, and perseverance pertains to the qualities of moving forward when an obstacle stands in your way. The music of soul man Sonny Knight brims with these essential life traits because he exudes them. Along with his 7-piece powerhouse band, The Lakers, the 68 year-old retired truck driver has created a sound that extends much deeper than throwback soul. After the band's 2014 debut album, I'm Still Here, which came to fruition much sooner than anyone expected, Sonny Knight and The Laker's released a live double album the following year. Now, the band’s sophomore studio set, Sooner Or Later, explores themes of overcoming adversity, love found, love lost, and societal observation. Where their debut might be likened to steering a bike before turning the pedals, considering how they wrote and recorded it before road testing their songs and individual strengths, their latest effort sees the wheels fully in motion. With performances across the US and Europe in theaters, performing arts centers, festivals and night clubs, Sonny and the band have tightened their unity and discovered what each member brings to the table that can further the collective’s playing. By doing so, the group was able to gain a greater understanding of what their best material was through performing it on the road night after night. What results on Sooner Or Later is a rarity by today’s recording standards. Of the 10 songs that were taken into Secret Stash’s brand new studio, all made the final cut. Rather than track a bunch of material and pick out the best parts later, Sonny and the band hit the studio knowing exactly what the record would be, perfectly encapsulating a snapshot in time for the artist. By focusing less on so-called groove makers and more on the songwriting process, Knight and company harnessed the power of the different genres that came together to shape what we have come to know as soul music over the last 50+ years. Gospel, country, and blues were all melded into a record that takes you on a journey through life’s questions and emotions via nine originals and a cover of Lonnie Mack’s “Why.” From the opening wail of Cole Pulice’s sax to Eric Foss’ syncopated drums, the title track is a pure party jam. Sonny Knight soon owns the stage, however, with his trademark guttural punches that land somewhere just this side of a Wilson Pickett shouter. Knight’s vocal abilities to command a track extend to more plaintive numbers like “Stronger In The End” as well. Singing with a much more tender tone early in the song before exploding midway, the recording also possesses the backing of a band that effortlessly combines elements of the Muscle Shoals Horns with the sound of 1960s gospel music to further advance its message. The Muscle Shoals influence is even more prevalent on keyboardist Sam Harvey-Carlson’s penned “The Cry” with its triplet-laden guitar and understated but beautifully arranged horns. Expanding their palette, the Lakers enter a blues-oriented R&B with “Why” that showcases a brooding, stirring sentiment thanks to Knight’s loose jazz-like phrasing on the verses and forlorn howl on the choruses. It also serves as a platform for the best individual instrumental performance in the band’s catalog thus far with Blair Krivanek’s passionate guitar solo drenched in a mournful, heartbroken tone. Album closer “Oh, Mary” recalls the spiritual “Mary Don’t You Weep” that has morphed into a gospel standard throughout the years. What starts as a simmer increasingly builds as a reverb-soaked horn section masterfully release a reflective cry that soon leads to an emotional boil of expelled tension, creating the perfect backdrop for Knight’s poignant vocal which is undoubtedly the linchpin of the song. While not intended to be an overt political statement, he instead wrote “Oh, Mary” to focus on the human emotions connected to unnecessary violence. When asked about the murder ballad written from the perspective of the victim, Knight responds, “It’s in your face right now. All you gotta do is turn on the TV, and there it is. All this killing needs to stop.” In the wake of recent events, the song has forged a powerful connection with many of those who have seen its performance live. During one performance in a New England bar, the band watched two young women in the front row with tears streaming down their faces as they worked their way through the heart-wrenching song. Knight’s vast array of life experiences inform a worldview that give him a unique perspective on the song writing, expressive, and storytelling process. While he was enamored with gospel music during his youth, which eventually led him to recording his first single in 1965, he soon found himself exploring other opportunities. From a deployment in Vietnam to a job as a long haul trucker, that it hasn’t been a linear path has made him a more attuned performer. Combining this hard-earned experience with a vivacious band whose members are half his age, the songs and performances are a perfect blending of observation, promise, and energy, thanks in some part to their collective globetrotting adventures playing for audiences of many different backgrounds. Sooner Or Later will be available on CD, vinyl, and cassette at your favorite retailers as well as through digital outlets. As Secret Stash has done for most releases from their catalog, a limited edition coloured version of the LP will be available for pre-order through their online store. Sure to grab a hold of a public yearning for a deeply riveting musical experience, the album releases on November 18, 2016. Press Inquiries/Interview Request: Leslie Inocian | Secret Stash Records | 612-466-2224 | leslie.inocian.a@gmail.com Pre-Order Now http://shop.secretstashrecords.com/collections/frontpage/products/sonny-knight-and-the-lakers-sooner-or-later