Intermediate Soul Mixtape (Volume One)

Today marks the completion of my first proper soul mixtape, which is entitled Intermediate Soul.

It includes a number of different subgenres spanning at least a couple of decades, that all more or less fall under the banner of soul and funk, broad styles of largely African American-oriented music from the latter half of the 20th Century that I’ve been a fan of for long enough now to have accrued many desert island favorites. This is some of my favorite art made by anyone in any medium, in fact.

The tracklist is as follows…

Side A

Harrison – “Uncle Soul”
Dee Irwin – “I Only Get This Feeling”
Ernie K-Doe – “Mother In Law”
Patti Drew – “Tell Him”
Bobby Reed – “The Time Is Right For Love”
Sparkels – “That Boy Of Mine”
Bobby Rich – “There’s A Girl Somewhere (For Me)”
The Precisions – “Such Misery”
Dena Barnes – “If You Ever Walk Out Of My Life”
Mami Lee – “I Can Feel Him Slipping Away”
Tangeers – “Let My Heart And Soul Be Free”
James Brown – “Why Did You Take Your Love Away From Me”
Yvonne Fair – “Say Yeah Yeah”
Wilmer & The Dukes – “Give Me One More Chance”
Edwin Starr – “Running Back And Forth”
Zu Zu Blues Band – “Zu Zu Man”
Jimmy Burns – “I Really Love You”
The Jades – “Lucky Fellow”

Side B

The Hamilton Movement – “She’s Gone”
The Montclairs – “Hung Up On Your Love”
Swiss Movement – “I Wish Our Love Would Last Forever”
Roddie Joy – “Come Back Baby”
The Fabulous Dynamics – “Get Hip To Yourself”
The Esquires – “Get On Up”
Rokk – “Patience”
Pure Essence – “Third Rock”
Brother To Brother – “In The Bottle”
Frazelle – “Today Is The Day”
Lemuria – “Hunk Of Heaven”
Odyssey – “Battend Ships”
Split Decision Band – “My Love Just For You”
Beau Dollar & The Coins – “Soul Serenade”

I call this tape Intermediate Soul because it goes beyond the well treaded stables of Motown and Stax, for instance, but is still comprised of music that isn’t impossible to track down these days. Essentially what we have here is a compilation made from a handful of vintage 45s, several high-quality bootlegs, as well as some reissued cuts (from LPs and CDs), some of which may have at one point been very obscure but are now more widely available. (Several of these tracks were reissued by the likes of Grapevine, Numero Group, Athens of the North, Jazzman, etc.) So while I’m not at all a digger/”tastemaker” type, or a proper DJ bringing “unknown” tracks to light (as would be befit an “expert-level” soul outing, perhaps?), this mixtape still cooks!

Upon finishing it I realized that a bunch of all-time favorites didn’t get included (not enough room, unfortunately), so maybe by the end of the year an Intermediate Soul Vol. II will be in the works.

This tape isn’t available for purchase anywhere, but if you know me, hit me up and we’ll see if we can get you a copy in due time.

Up at 4 A.M. (The Definitive Version)

This week sees the release of Up at 4 A.M. (The Definitive Version), a revamping of sorts of the debut Tired of Triangles album from a few years ago, available now for the first time on CD as well as 24-bit digital download. All eight songs were remixed, with a few overdubs added or replaced to take advantage of finer software/gear and my ear for putting together better mixes. The album was professionally mastered and I’m now much happier with the recording as a whole and feel great about it being the third release on Kaji-Pup Records. And as you can see the artwork turned out pretty nice, if I may be so immodest.

This is kind of an “insular” and moody album, made for late night listening, so if you want a party record I’m afraid Up at 4 A.M. (The Definitive Version) won’t do the trick. But if you’re game for a good solo rock outing that explores a variety of emotions in just under 22 minutes, this is the gift that keeps on giving. I’ve had to listen to it a zillion times in preparation for the release, and after all of the trials and tribulations that were endured to bring it to light, I’m still fond of it.

You can stream/purchase Up at 4 A.M. (The Definitive Version) on Bandcamp at: https://tiredoftriangles.bandcamp.com/album/up-at-4-a-m-the-definitive-version

Or, if you like, you can listen to it on Spotify here.