Professor Eddy

Unsplash Enjoy an easy way to wake up for Mixcloud subscribers only! The 70s soft rock covers on his album Some Guys sound, according to singer Jonathan Coulton himself, “exactly like the originals.” And I have to admit that they do! 😊 The original version of Arianne appeared on Johnny Mathis’ 1973 album Killing Me Softly With Her Song . Rod McKuen, who recorded the song for his album Sleep Warm two years later, once said that it originates from a French poem. Christian Roudey wrote the lyrics and music for the song, Martin Charnin made the English translation. “Arianne is April morning That comes rippling through my window She's the smell of coffee brewing On a quiet, rainy Sunday She's the purring of a kitten That has made my neck a pillow for his head…” Tracklist: Galdston & Thom – Savannah Sunny Sunday (1977) Brotherhood Of Man ‎– California Sunday Morning (1971) Johnny Mathis – Arianne (1973) Mystic Moods – The Morning After (1975) Jonathan ...

Unsplash Relax and enjoy! The track from Stevens Scott & Dee is taken from the brand new compilation album Praise Poems Vol. 7 , out on Tramp Records and Cléa Vincent's song is from her just released EP Tropi​-​Cléa 2 . I selected Sing from Now & Then , the legendary fifth album by the Carpenters, released in 1973. The title for the album was suggested by their mother, Agnes. The album featured a wonderful three-panel cover, showing a panoramic view of Karen and Richard driving past the Carpenter family home in Downey, California. The car pictured on the iconic cover is Richard's Ferrari 365 GTB/4 ("Daytona"). Tracklist: Sociedad Organizada En Sonido – Buscaya Da Yada (1975) Gilles Rivard – Ca Va, Ca Va Brazilia (1981) Billy Paul ‎ – Mrs. Robinson (1970) Barbara Gryfe – I’ll Never Fall In Love Again (1970) [Re:Jazz] – People Hold On [Alternate Acapella Take] (2004) Cris Delanno – I Heard It Through the Grapevine (2017) Angel "Pocho...

Joan Smalls (Michael Kors) Naturally created in California, sunshine pop was a mid-'60s mainstream pop style typified by rich harmony vocals, lush orchestrations, and a happy-go-lucky mood. The genre began as an outgrowth of the 1960s California Sound and folk rock movements. It was often mildly influenced by psychedelia and its light tone became the trademark of the Californian yacht rock sound the next decade. Sunshine pop largely consisted of lesser-known artists who were inspired by more popular groups like the Beach Boys and the 5th Dimension. It enjoyed mainstream success in the latter half of the decade, with many of its top 40 hits peaking in the spring and summer of 1967, especially just before the Summer of Love. Popular bands include the Mamas & the Papas, Spanky & Our Gang, and the Association. Later soulful elements popped up in the genre with acts like Rotary Connection (produced by Charles Stepney) and Friends of Distinction. Sunshine pop disappeared in ...

Kandace Springs I went down to the vaults from Capitol and affiliated labels, like Blue Note, EMI, Stateside, Liberty and United Artists again. Beautiful singer Kandace Springs (picture) is one of the upcoming flag bearers of Capitol/Blue Note. About two years ago Kandace Springs sat down at the piano at Capitol Studios and sang an impassioned version of Bonnie Raitt’s ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me.’ Stunned by her arrangement and performance, Blue Note Records President Don Was offered her a record deal on the spot, after hearing only one song. Prince heard her cover of the Sam Smith song ‘Stay With Me’ online and asked her to perform at Paisley Park on the weekend celebrating the 30 year anniversary of ‘Purple Rain’. Kandace is working on her debut solo album with some big names, like abovementioned Don Was and Eli Wolf (Norah Jones) for quite some time now. For some reason the release must have been postponed, because it was announced for 2015. Tracklist: Mystic Merlin – Just...

Enjoy this new part of ‘ Groovy, sexy and soulful ’! The opening track, ‘Fly away’ by Abraham (Abe) Battat, is a righteous combination of sonorous jazz guitar, crackling drums and warm acoustic piano. Floating through the tones as if in a private concert for you in your very living room, it is an earnest, honest vocal performance bringing a rainbow message of freedom and liberty to the world. The song is on a new compilation album called ‘Praise poems’ part 2, out on Tramp Records and originally the b-side of ‘Listen here’. Picture: Claudia Cardinale Don't forget to listen next week, then there will be a new Smooth Sailing part! Tracklist: Abraham Battat – Fly Away (1965) Bonnie Dobson – Milk And Honey (1970) Ambrosia ‎– You're The Only Woman (You & I) (1980) Richard Martian & Co – Dawn (Part II) (1960s) Paqua – We Came Far (2014) Finnigan & Finlon – Seasons Of Doubt (1970s) Pointer Sisters – Don’t It Drive You Crazy (1977) Robert Palmer ‎– Re...

The beautiful cover of John Legend's 'All of me' by Nikki Oosterwijk on my latest cloudcast inspired me to create this eighth part of ' It's soul covered up '. Having just released her 'Lullabies for lost girls' EP, up-and-coming Montreal-based pop singer/songwriter and performance artist Callia Bara is already gearing up to release her new EP, 'Sex bomb'. Ahead of its release, Callia has just unveiled the EP's second single entitled 'BTS' (Behind The Scenes), which once again sees her collaborating with Brazilian producer Ftureable . He also produced the EP's first single 'Summa That' (source: Wonky Sensitive ). Mr President (picture) brings the soul and disco sound from the mid-seventies (MFSB, Roy Ayers, Love Unlimited Orchestra) into 2014 with his new album 'Hips shaking', just like Dr Who did with his Tardis! The track from Mongo Santamaria can be found on ' World’s funkiest covers ' that ca...

Remy Martin Enjoy this 33rd part of ‘ Groovy, sexy & soulful ’! One of the tracks is the sublime ‘Night people’ ('Yeah, baby, yeah') from The Leaders. Songwriter Carl D'Errico remembers: “Ted Cooper, Carl Spencer, Eddie Rabbitt and I wrote a song called "Night People" where the demo turned into the master. The four of us were hanging out at the office and decided to write a song together. Carl Spencer sang the male vocal and I'm not sure who did the female vocal. That's Eddie and me struggling in the background with our falsettos to sound like a female backup group. Teddy got a deal with the Fontana label for the demo and came up with the brilliant name for the group, the Leaders.” ( http://www.spectropop.com/CarlD ) If you stick to the end, you can hear a track from the professor himself, called 'Counting down tonite' 😊. Track listing: The SOS Band – Even When You Sleep (1986) Toni Braxton – You’re Making Me High [Mr Leigh The Sky E...

For this seaside edition of ‘ Groovy, sexy & soulful ’ I chose to play two songs from the latest episode of Late Night Tales , which is compiled by Norwegian electronic duo Röyksopp . In the true spirit of the series , the record is a vibrant trip through the weird and wonderful. It touches on every nook and cranny of Royksopp's record collection, exploring electronica, synth-pop, folk, jazz, soft rock and a couple of new recordings from the band themselves, like ‘Daddy’s groove’, which I selected for this 26th part of ‘ Groovy, sexy & soulful ’. The other track I selected from Late Night Tales is the wonderful and joyful ‘Hello beach girls’ from John Schneider Jr. The beautiful picture from Seymour Templar was inspired by that song. Enjoy! Tracklist: Maysa Feat. Bluey – Good Morning Sunrise (2013) Röyksopp – Daddy’s Groove (2013) Le Youth – Cool [R&B Edit] (2013) Chlöe Howl – Rumour [Yacht Remix] (2013) Richard Schneider Jr. – Hello Beach Girls (1977) T...

It is very sad that pianist/singer/writer Don Blackman died last week. I remember hearing 'Holding you, loving you' for the first time (on 'Another late night' from Zero 7) and I couldn't believe that the guy who made that beautiful song released only one album...  Blackman was born in Queens, NY, grew up surrounded by jazz influences; a cousin was McCoy Tyner's friend and saxophonist Charles McPherson (a Charlie Parker disciple) was Blackman's neighbour. Blackman played with McPherson's group in 1968 alongside Sam Jones and Louis Hayes when he was 15 years old. He switched to electric piano and toured with Parliament/Funkadelic in the early 1970s. He later became an original member of Lenny White's Twennynine (‘Peanut Butter’), a key piece in Jamaica Queens' 1970s' jazz-funk explosion. A deal with GRP/Arista birthed the solo album ‘Don Blackman’, including 'Heart's desire', in 1982. It was a wonderful collection of songs that ...

After seeing two superb movies, Silver Linings Playbook with Oscar winning actor Jennifer Lawrence (picture) and Flight with Oscar nominated actor Denzel Washington, I got inspired to create this mix. All of the tracks have big parts in movies, although the male character in Silver Linings Playbook, played by Bradley Cooper, hates ‘My Cherie Amour’ from Stevie Wonder… It’s nice to see Denzel Washington putting in a tape and listening to ‘Ain’t no sunshine’ from Bill Withers in Flight (don't see that movie if you have a fear of flying...). Enjoy! Tracklist ( in parentheses the names of the original soundtracks ): John Legend – Who Did That To You? (Django Unchained) (2012) Minnie Riperton – Inside My Love (Jackie Brown) (1975) Johnny ‘Hammond’ Smith – Soul Talk 1970 (Soul Kitchen) (1969) Bill Withers – Ain't No Sunshine (Flight) (1971) Marvin Gaye – Cleo’s Apartment (Trouble Man) (1972) Marvin Gaye – Trouble Man (Trouble Man) (1972) Marlena Shaw – Last Tang...

For this 7th part of ' (It's) Soul Covered (Up) ' I again selected cover versions that sound at least as good or even better than the originals! Artists like Prince, the Stylistics and Bryan Ferry made some very nice covers themselves, but their self-penned songs were reinterpreted as well, as shown in this seventh edition. 'Is you love strong enough' from Bryan Ferry for instance was originally written for the movie 'Legend' (starring Tom Cruise) and the cover version that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross made was used for 'The girl with the dragon tattoo' (starring Daniel Craig) that came out last year. Mayer Hawthorne (picture) visited my home town a couple of weeks ago. The track from Sugardaddy is taken from the new compilation album ‘ LateNightTales: Music for pleasure ', which is mixed by Tom Findlay (Groove Armada). More on covers and originals on Second Hand Songs and Originals . Enjoy! Tracklist (in parentheses the originals): Susa...

This weather forecast is introduced by an expert, the one and only Prince Charles! :-) Keeping it in the royal family, so from Prince Charles to Carole King is a small step... ;-) Two of the songs are compositions from Carole King (Crying In The Rain and It Might As Well Rain Until September). King was most of all a songwriter in the 1960s, before she became successful as a singer-songwriter in the 1970s. Together with then husband Gerry Goffin she wrote songs for The Drifters, The Righteous Brothers, their babysitter Little Eva and quite a few girl groups (who would influence Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse later on). Carole King made demos of her songs, so the performing artists would know how the compositions should sound. Those 'legendary demos' are available on cd now and they sometimes sound better than the recorded versions! Carole King gives the songs a softness and a sensitive touch that makes them deeper and richer. Enjoy! Picture below from Ivan Kobyakov . Tracklis...

First of all al little bit of Q&A to introduce this funky chill mix... Question: What the f*** is funky chill? Answer: My dj style is hard to describe, but I often call it 'funky chill'. I play relaxed dance music with its foundation in the 1970s and early 1980s. It's a melting pot of soul, disco, funk, jazz, folk, psychedelic and all the genres in between. Perhaps I should say: this is the music that makes me happy, a collection of chilled out tunes compiled by a guy in his forties. These are songs for listeners who like to nod their heads to the beat in stead of nervously moving their legs... ;-) Enjoy! Tracklist: Ray Barretto – Pastime Paradise (1980) The O'Jays – Paradise (1976) Second Image – Paradise (1985) Peabo Bryson – Paradise (1980) Minnie Riperton – Adventures In Paradise (1975) Maxine Weldon – I'll Build A Stairway To Paradise (1975) Black – Paradise (1987) Lana Del Rey – Dark Paradise (2012) Peter Jay – Paradise Garden (1960) Pa...

This sixth part of ' It's soul covered up ' is most of all a tribute to Donna Summer (picture). The one and only Queen of Disco died of cancer yesterday. I felt really sad when I heard the news. I have a weak spot for her from the moment I saw her on Dutch television in 1974. I bought all her singles from then on, like the masterpiece 'MacArthur park' that I selected for this episode of ' It's soul covered up '. The original was sung by Richard Harris in 1968. The most remarkable cover version of this sixth edition is probably the one from Ladders. It's in fact a solo project from Andy Scott, bass player of glam rock band The Sweet. He turns the Motown classic 'Gotta see Jane' from Canadian singer-songwriter R. Dean Taylor into an interesting combination of rock, disco and new wave (by the way, the keyboards sound almost exactly the same as in 'Laugh and walk away' from the Shirts). Scott makes the song even more threatening than...

Enjoy this 5th part of ' It's soul covered up '! For the 5th time I chose cover versions that sound at least as good or even better than the originals. The album 'Soul 2' from Seal, from which I selected 'Love TKO', isn't that good, to be honest. He reinterprets soul classics in quite a boring, non-creative way, but I like his version of the Teddy Pendergrass classic. He probably had his marital problems with Heidi Klum in mind, when he was recording it, don't you think? He sounds very inspired, anyway. The song was first recorded by David Oliver on his album 'Here's to you' that came out in 1980. He sadly passed away two years later. One of the best blue eyed soul singers of the moment is Joss Stone (picture right). I don't particularly like her latest album and her performances on SuperHeavy with Mick Jagger and Dave Stewart, but her first two albums still sound great. The song from Incognito is from their latest album 'Su...

On Tuesday morning I almost fell out of my bed when I heard the incredible ‘Video games’ from Lana Del Rey. I rushed to my computer to find more information about this singer. I started to like her even more when I saw her beautifully composed retro clips on You Tube . Her voice is a cocktail of Duffy, Amy Winehouse and a young Nancy Sinatra and her looks remind me of sixties icons like Brigitte Bardot. All my Facebook friends seemed to like her as well, although they complained about her lips and her bored look… ;-) At the moment she's in the studio working on songs with Damon Albarn (Blur) and good old Bobby Womack. Enjoy part 4 of Groovy, sexy & soulful ! Btw, if you like b/w photography check out the wonderful pictures from Vivian Maier . They are the best I’ve ever seen! Tracklist: Spyro Gyra – Island Pond (2009) Azymuth – Carnaval Legrand (2011) Rose Royce – Love Don’t Live Here Anymore [Professor Eddy VS Matty Wainwright Remix] (2011) José González – Killi...

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference . ' The Road Not Taken '/Robert Frost Playlist: Bill Withers – Heartbreak Road (1974) Brown Hill – Running (2011) Booker T. Jones – Walking Papers (2011) Johnny Pate – You Can’t Even Walk In The Park (1973) The New Mastersounds – Walk In These Shoes (2011) Bruce Cloud – Walk In My Shoes (1969) Marvin Gaye – The End Of Our Road (1968) Mayer Hawthorne – The Walk (2011) Melba Moore – Walk A Mile In My Shoes/Twenty Five Miles (1971) Shara Nelson – Down That Road (1993) Mo’ Horizons – Hit The Road Jack (2000) Goldfrapp – Road To Somewhere (2008) Percy Sledge – True Love Travels On A Gravel Road (1969) Nouvelle Vague – Road To Nowhere (2009) BYentl – One Foot Out The Door (2011) Julee Cruise – Summer Kisses Winter Tears (1991) She & Him – Ridin' In My Car (2010) Duane ...

Yes, I’m back from my (imaginary) trip to Rio! ;-) .  ‘Back from Rio’ is mixed in 115 BPM. The title is inspired by an album from Roger McGuinn, the singer of the legendary rock band The Byrds. Twenty years ago he made a very nice solo album that was called ‘Back fron Rio’, although there wasn’t any Latin song on it. I liked the title, so I used it for this mix. It’s meant to warm you up for the world championship soccer and the Olympic Games that will be held in Rio de Janeiro in a few years’ time. By the way, not all of the songs are South American, some of them have a Cuban background as well.  Enjoy! Tracklist: Donald Fagen – The Goodbye Look (1983) Bachman-Turner Overdrive – Looking Out For Number 1 (1975) Alice Smith & Aloe Blacc – Baby (2011) Zuco 103 – Espero (2008) Gretchen Parlato – On The Other Side (2009) Fania All Stars – Picadillo (1976) Sergent Garcia – Yo Soy Salsamuffin (2011) Snowboy And The Latin Section – Snowboy’s Special (2008) John...

In the Netherlands it has never been as dry in springtime as this year, which is a disaster for farmers. Just like my grandfather who was a farmer, I like some heavy rain after a sunny day! Rain, rainbows and the lack of sunshine are the themes of these soul songs. Some are classics, others are relatively unknown. A rare one is the song from Marv Johnson. He recorded the first single on Tamla from Berry Gordy, called 'Come to me', in 1959. He had some success in the early 60s and stopped recording for Motown in 1968, but continued working for them in sales. He recorded ‘Save my love for a rainy day’ (a big Northern Soul tune for The Van Dykes later on and also recorded by Undisputed Truth) in October 1967. For some mysterious reasons it stayed on the shelves until 2002 when it was included on ‘A cellarful of Motown’. In 1993 Marv Johnson died of a stroke at the age of only 54. ‘Ain’t no sunshine’ is performed by the Emotions ('Boogie wonderland', 'Best of my love...

This is a soulful tribute to Burt Bacharah. The guy celebrated his 83rd (!) birthday on the 12th of May. His melodies and arrangements are always wonderful. The poetic and sometimes very deep lyrics of Hal David and Carol Bayer Sager (his ex-wife) make the picture complete. Bacharach and David delivered probably their best work with Dionne Warwick, but there are many artists who have made beautiful interpretations of Burt's classics. This mixtape is a proof of that. Celebrate with him and enjoy his magic sounds with those incredible trumpets. My tribute starts with the original version of 'Always something there to remind me'. It was covered by Sandie Shaw and a few years later by Dionne Warwick. There's an interesting new wave/electro version of it by Naked Eyes (led by Rob Fischer who became one half of Climie Fisher later on). 'Arthur's theme' has been recently covered by Fitz and the Tantrums for the remake of the movie ' Arthur '. And Boyzone...