Week 52: Let’s Eat!
Ho-ho-ho, friends! :¬)
Week 52 and the Christmas holidays are here, and to me (and most grown-ups) Christmas is more or less all about the food! (Apparently there’s supposed to be some religiousness involved as well, but when you sit there, after that 5th helping of eggnog, full of turkey, stuffing and pie, you kinda zone out and everything becomes a bit blurry.) Yep, it’s ALL about the food, keeping kids happy, strategic positioning under the mistletoe and, naturally, the MUSIC! In the afterglow of a feeding frenzy, music is the only thing that gets through to me!
I always try to find as much good non-Christmasy Christmas music as possible a couple of weeks before the holidays…I’ve long since outgrown the standard Yuletide repertoire – well, Ella Fitzgerald’s “Swinging Christmas” LP still works for me, but that’s about it…even though the “Rudy Ray Moore Christmas Album” LP is part of the decorations this year (I got a still sealed original vinyl from my favourite vinyl shop proprietor as a Christmas gift the other day) it’s a tad too lewd to be played when the kids are around. So, yeah, I stock up on suitable holiday music…like Brother Jack McDuff’s fantastic “English Country Gardens”, Paul Desmond’s late 60’s “Easy Living” or anything from Ketty Lester’s album “When A Woman Loves A Man”– it’s about getting the right mood set, the perfectly luxurious arrangements and sweet, cosy, well-known themes…making the music come across just fine even on a modest volume (or through the cacophony you call family)!
I’ve got another fine example in this category of joyful non-Christmas music perfect for the holidays: The New London Rhythm & Blues Band and their LP “Soul Cookin'” (released on Vocalion in 1969). Pretty obviously a British outfit – we’re talking about a real upbeat bunch of skilled, yet anonymous, studio musicians. The only further info I’ve found is a hunch expressed by the all-knowing soul music purist’s and Hammond B3 connaisseurs over at Funky 16 Corners – they suspect that “the undisputed king of Library music composers” Alan Hawkshaw is involved…one way or another. Of course, it’s an unconfirmed suspicion/hunch, but it wouldn’t be all that surprising – Alan was basically in on all groovy UK recordings of the late 60’s and early 70’s.
Like a Christmas album, the “Soul Cookin'” LP consist of only well-known songs – but the “Jingle Bells” and “White Christmas” repertoire has been replaced with soul music standards like “Green Onions”, “Light My Fire” and “Soul Man”. It’s mostly funky, horn section driven instrumentals with plenty of reverb, but also includes cool vocal renditions of “Harlem Shuffle” and “Dancing In The Streets”. All in all, it’s the ideal Christmas music supplement – perfect for both your ears and your digestive system!
Just listen to this tasty snippet of The New London Rhythm & Blues Band’s bouncing version of Stevie’s “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)”:
Praised by crate diggers and mods alike, yet never re-issued – lay your hands on a copy of the original vinyl here ($30) or here (from $40)!
And now, this is where the entire staff at 4BB Weekly (Soulbrotha, Vincent, Arkane1, Lafayette and DJ LP2) wishes all our readers and listeners a very Merry Christmas! Just remember to nap between meals and to keep the sticky, sugar-rushed kids away from your vinyls, and you’ll be alright!
New London Rhythm & Blues Band – 4BB salutes you! Mad props for making our Christmas even merrier! :¬)
/Lafayette
(Ps. And hey, don’t forget to come visit us again in time for our super special New Year’s post – we’ll make sure to kick-start your brand new year in a truly decade-turning fashion!)
31 comments on “Week 52: Let’s Eat!”
Leave a comment
4BB | Album Of The Week 
Merry Christmas, peeps! And in the holiday spirit, please remember to leave a comment on the post! Para-pa-pa-pam! 😉
LISTEN:
ShareBee >>
MirrorCreator >>
PASSWORD PROTECTED:
Read more about this on our “About” page.
DISCLAIMER:
17 U.S.C. 107 permits copyrighted material to be used under the “fair use” doctrine without any permission from the copyright owner. As such, as far as these files are concerned, they are clips and/or low quality reproductions of material; As such they should not be used as substitutes for retail copies of the material contained within. No currency or materials in-Lieu of same has changed hands during the download and/or distribution of these files. No monetary reward is expected and/or accepted for the content of these files. No pretense has been, nor will ever be, made that these files and their contents have ever been, or ever will be, of retailable quality.
Still, any artist or legal copyright owner who whould rather not see their music or other creations on this blog, please leave a comment with a valid e-mail address and we will sort things out A.S.A.P. If you do download any music or any other copyrighted material, please delete download within 24 hrs and hit the record shop. Always support the real artists whenever possible!
Mery X-mas Fam!
Right back at ya, Doc! 🙂
Merry christmas to everybody!
Thank you Laf´ for some British soul (after the Aussie Funk a few weeks ago).
I do not know if Alan Hawkshaw is involved, but that is definitely a possibility. Even tho his official myspace does not mention it: http://www.myspace.com/themohawksofficial
hi Laf & Co. first of all, nice holidays and best wishes for 2010! will digest this slice of soul food and looking forward to hear these versions [:-)
peace, E-mile
Thanks, E! 😀
Yummy!!!! Delicious cooking once again from my favourite family on the web. Merry Xmas guys. Much love to yall.
Thanks for the share and Merry Christmas!
Thanks, Laffy 😀
I just got one of the nifty little netbook thingies for xmas from the missus… I’ll get used to the keyboard yet lol
Merry xmas to all, and to all a good and funky night 🙂
Peace and blessings.
Much Thanks For the Christmas Cheer Laf!!
Thanks a lot for this one!!
You’re all welcome to the holiday treats, friends! 😀
thank you for this nice share!!
thank you soooo much for your amazing work! every week another incredible post, unbelievable… 4BB for another decade! happy new year!
Thanks, Thomas! We’ll try even harder next year…and that’s a promise! 😉
/L
Hmm, that video clip doesn’t look as inviting today as it did yesterday! 😉
/L
mmm… food. yep food & good music is what x-mas is all about. many thanks for proving the good music!
Exactly! And thanks! 🙂
/L
many thanks for *providing* the good music!
It was our pleasure, Andre – and a perfect way to honor the Christmas spirit! 😉
Yo this site is amazing but i have one problem i tried to download it but i think im putting it in incorrectly. Could anyone help me with this. Thanks A Million!
I think im putting the password in incorectly.lol
Hehe!
Eh..dunno what you’re doing wrong…but on all older links (not the last two weeks) there’s a link protection landing page before you get to the actual link…on that landing page you’re supposed to fill in a short password that is shown on that page…after that, you’re transported to the link to the zip-file….and when you’ve downloaded the zip-file, you need to fill in the correct password when extracting the zip-file (and you all know the password by now, right?!)…and remember it’s case-sensitive!
Aight…if you need any further assistance (of any kind), just drop me a line!
/Lafayette
Many thanks & a Merry Xmas!
Hey Laf, don’t let anybody hate on the picture of Skinke och Kødboller?lol
All I can say is if you didn’t like the music you gotta like that plate! Man does that cover look good….Yummy. Nice cookin’.
Happy new year my brothers and sisters. I hope the new year brings you love, peace and discovery of the best music you never heard. 🙂
\
Thanks for a wonderful year. SMOOCHES!!!
Right back at ya, Sis’!
Happy New Year, Bowlisha!
/L
Thanks Bowlisha! We are so happy to have friends like you. 😀
Belated Happy New Year 4Brothers!
Never heard of this group, much less the record.
Nuff thanks!
Well, a little late for Xmas, but never for eatin’!! Looking forward to this music I haven’t heard yet. Thank you so much for all you do.
Awesome! I have been looking for this for years. Thank you brother!