Pleasure, Peace & Pain: Funky Chill Out Love Songs

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Basically, love songs contain three possible themes: pain (things are going downhill), peace (things are going steady) and pleasure (things are going uphill). And my definition of a love song is a broad one: songs about love for someone special as well as love for mankind in general.

Two tracks are from new compilation albums. The first one, ‘Deep inside of you’ by The Harden Brothers, is from ‘Message In Our Music’, out on Favorite Recordings. And the second one, ‘Free and easy’ from Satyr, can be found on ‘Soul Festival’ (1971-1979 soulful floorfillers), released by Expansion Records. Both albums contain wonderful (rare) soul songs.

Maggie MacNeal used to be one half of the successful Dutch duo Mouth & MacNeal. Their biggest hit was ‘How do you do?’ that peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972. Two years later they became third in the Eurovision Song Contest (which was won by Abba). After a quarrel Maggie MacNeal went solo in 1975.

The closing track by The Midnight is from their album ‘Nocturnal’. The song is brand new, but it could have been taken from the ‘Lost in translation’ soundtrack. This beautiful movie, starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, is about the grey area between friendship and love. Go and see it, if you haven't seen it yet!

By the way, the fantastic new album 'Spaces for strangers' from Sarcastalites is out tomorrow! All eight of the original, ‘70s style disco songs are written, arranged, performed, and produced by singer and bass player Gwen "G.T." Thomas, and for the mixing and mastering, she recruited a team of 6 female engineers.

Enjoy! Next up is a new part of Eddy's 80s Grooves.

Tracklist:

Johnny Bristol – Strangers In The Dark Corners (1978)
Bill Withers – Tender Things (1977)
The Harden Brothers ‎– Deep Inside Of You (1981)
Fleetwood Mac – Dreams (1977)
Marvin Gaye – Life Is A Gamble (1972)
Satyr ‎– Free And Easy (1976)
MFSB – Love Is The Message (1973)
O.C. Smith – La La Peace Song (1974)
Minnie Riperton – Love And Its Glory (1975)
Maggie MacNeal ‎– Fools Together (1977)
Barbara Mason ‎– World In A Crisis (1974)
B.T. Express – Give It What You Got (1974)
South Shore Commission ‎– I'd Rather Switch Than Fight (1975)
Al Johnson – I’ve Got My Second Wind (1980)
Kalapana – Freedom (1976)
Kenny Rankin – Peaceful (1967)
Marilyn Scott ‎– Let's Be Friends (1979)
Carpenters ‎– This Masquerade (Mascarada) (1973)
Jerry Butler – One Night Affair (1972)
Sarcastalites – Earth Is For Friends, Space Is For Strangers (2017)
The Midnight – Tokyo Night Train (2017)

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