King Khan and The Shrines

You gotta listen to King Khan and The Shrines. It’s an Indian-Canadian dude who with his buddy BBQ turns out explosive German garage funk. It’s like Mick Jagger hung out a lot with James Brown and was backed up by the bass player for Sly and the Family Stone and horns and an organ arranged by Brian Wilson, all jamming in the Stax studios. In other words, so much fun it should be illegal. Watch!

This album, The Supreme Genius Of King Khan & The Shrines, is certainly going to be on my year-end best-of list. Go! Be sure to listen to a couple, because their sound varies, but def wait around for Torture and Took My Lady Out to Dinner.

Download these songs: the sweet little ditty Welfare Bread, Burnin Inside, and I Wanna Be A Girl.

I remember my local record store clerk telling me she was way into the The King Khan & BBQ Show disc, but I stupidly ignored her. Boy am I sorry now. Also, it makes me want to check out these dudes’ former band The Spaceshits.

Chaka Khan, Al Green, Diana Ross & The Supremes, etc.

I totally missed the great Chaka Khan‘s double-Grammy disc Funk You (listen/buy). For fun, here are three very different YouTubes of her, a classic song, her on drums, and a jazzy tune.

Muzzle of Bees introduced me to the disc Dirty Laundry: The Soul of Black Country. Review here, tracklist here, and buy it here. We’re talking a great compilation here, including James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, The Pointer Sisters, Bobby Womack, Etta James, etc.

Stop, children, what’s that sound … everybody look at this delicate but soulful cover of Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth covered by Sergio Mendes & Brazil ‘66, which you can download at Aquarium Drunkard. Buy the disc.

Aquarium Drunkard also alerts us to the amazing double disc of Diana Ross and The Supremes rarities, available here. Find their cover of Stevie Wonder’s Uptight for download here. Also, you can stream Diana Ross’ recent album of just covers, I Love You, in its entirety here.

In late May, Al Green comes out with a new disc Lay It Down that is evidently star-studded, as if Al weren’t enough. Preview a track at Soul Sides; it’s Al with Anthony Hamilton (my review of him) performing You Got the Love I Need Babe. You can also stream Al Green’s remastered greatest hits album here.

By the way, if you get a chance to see Al Green live, pay the money and sit in the front. It’s a life highlight. Check the tour dates, such as his shows co-headlining with Gladys Knight!

To bring this post full circle to yesterday’s, the Estelle/Kanye song American Boy contains the lyric “The Pips at they Gladys.” Fun!