Sam Cooke is often cited as one of the fathers of soul music, and rightly so. He had 30 Top 40 hits from 1957-1964, before he was tragically gunned down in the prime of his life. “Fool’s Paradise” wasn’t one of those songs, but featuring his excellent voice front-and-center, it’s a lost treasure worth hearing.
Before Mariah, Britney and Lady Gaga came along, Madonna and Whitney Houston were the women who ruled the pop charts. While most of the music is laughably dated or parodied today, “Into the Groove”, strangely, still has staying power for me.
Beach House is the embodiment of Dream Pop and this song is the lead-off track of their 2012 LP “Bloom”. “Myth” is an instant classic and a great introduction to the band’s work.
The Kinks have recorded tons of essential material over the course of their career. “Waterloo Sunset” may be the most essential of them all.
Solo Ryan Adams stuff can be a dicey proposition but the guy was on fire for 2001’s “Gold” record. The lovelorn, heart-tugging ballad “La Cienega Just Smiled” is the talented Adams best tune and alt-country ‘gold’.
Hopefully you heard Part 1 of the “Purple Rain” Prince podcast. If you have, you know what a Prince mark I was for a good 5 years. In honor of that I’ve compiled his Top 50 Prince favorite Prince songs (until I stopped caring). Here’s #26-50 for you to dive in, pick apart and enjoy.
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Listen as we explore the commercial peak of maybe, just maybe, the greatest living artist of our times (post 1980).
From 1986’s “Raising Hell” the lead-off track “Peter Piper” was rap at it’s finest. Produced by the legendary Rick Rubin, this song has it all for fans of Run DMC.
Motown and Stax don’t have a monopoly on great soul songs. Here’s a bakers dozen of our favorite non-Motown-Stax soul songs!
Shedding his child prodigy label with The Box Tops, Alex Chilton has had a long-lasting impact with Big Star although it was years after the band went their separate ways. “Stroke It Noel” is a short and sweet lost nugget.
