WARMER MIXTAPES #610 | by Rowan Martin
Photos by Nick Pomeroy and Scott Trindle.
1. Donald Fagen | The Goodbye Look
From the Steely Dan singer’s solo album The Nightfly, this gem features frantic xylophones, a cheeky conga beat and possibly my favourite lyric ever: Won’t you pour me a Cuban Breeze Gretchen?...
2. Boz Scaggs | It’s Over
Probably my favourite song off the classic Silk Degrees album. This is white boy Soul at its finest: Melancholy and defiant.
3. The Invisible Man's Band | All Night Thing
The sort of song you want to hear at every party you go to but don’t. It has whistles, brass, a giddy key change and lot of very virulent young men ad libbing into one mic.
4. Ray Parker Jr. And Raydio | Still In The Groove
If you don’t dance to this it‘s probably too late for you. A five minute P-Funk instrumental with a ghoulish bassline and sheer acres of Funkiness.
5. Prince Charles And The City Beat Band | City Life
All my life I’ve been a hustler sings Prince Charles, with a mixture of Nonchalance and Pride. This is a gritty, nasty Urban Funk track with incredible energy behind it.
6. Aztec Camera | Deep & Wide & Tall
Roddy Frame is the master of writing sugary Pop songs and then hanging profound words on them. The repartee between him and the girl backing singers is pretty wonderful. Think Beauty School Dropout with added 80s bombast.
7. Prefab Sprout | When Love Breaks Down
Paddy McAloon is curiously underrated in the pantheon of British Pop. This is probably my favourite of his many great songs. Ethereal production and a lyrical story that is both Poetic and Frank.
8. Fatback | Girls On My Mind
Lyrically dubious but musically magnificent. It has all the hallmarks of Fatback: smooth group vocals, heavy synth bass, whacky Jazz chords.
9. Barry Biggs | Love Come Down (Evelyn "Champagne" King Cover)
Incredibly naff but oddly beguiling cover of the Evelyn King classic, sung by a large Jamaican gentleman in a sort of Electro-lover’s Rock production. Barry’s a voice of liquid gold.
10. Janet Kay | Silly Games
There’s something about this Melancholy British Reggae track that I really can’t get over. It must be the contrast between the Sadness of the lyrics and the cheerful, upbeat nature of the Music. It either sounds like ruined hope or hopeful ruin, I couldn’t say.
