The Insulting Cabaret 2010: Love & Hate DJ Set

* ‘I’m In The Mood For Love’ - Persuasive Percussion

Compiling a list of love songs to combat Jason’s Hate list is harder than you’d think. There are just thousands of great love songs in the world that I thought I would go back to my old record collection as a place to start. I used to DJ lounge and easy listening many years ago, what better way to begin than with one of the very first quadrophonic stereo sound records from 1959. Persuasive Percussion was released on Command records run by violinist and recording engineer Enoch Light, a pioneer of recording music for ‘audiophiles’. Sounds bounce between the speakers and have a depth never heard before 1959. This version of I’m In The Mood For Love captures this technique brilliantly and I am sure the song’s original composer Jimmy McHugh would approve. It’s been recorded by everyone from Shirley Bassey and Aker Bilk to Rod Stewart and Amy Winehouse. In fact put the title into Youtube and you’ll stumble across some gems, and some horrors - avoid the version by Kenny G, the jazzy/reggae-esque version by Jay Kay and Jools Holland, but do pause to take in this super-loungey version by Japanese jazz guitarist Satoshi Inoue.

* ‘Is This Love’ - Bob Marley

Is This Love is arguably the best known Bob Marley song, released in 1978 on ‘Kaya’ it peaked at 9 in the UK charts. Unlike the homophobic Buju Banton track in Jason’s Hate list, Marley’s music reveals the true nature of reggae - love and good vibes. Most people discover Marley in their teens, perched on a bean bag in a mate’s house rummaging through old vinyl, as it was in my case, and hearing the first thudding, twanging chords of this song would send you spinning. How could I go back to listening to Shaggy (‘O Carolina’ was big at the time) when this was the real, pure deal?

* ‘I Want Your Love’ - Chic

Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards have given us some of the funkiest bass lines in popular music. The bass on I Want Your Love is just so groovy and ice cool. Never cheesey, Chic truly lived up to their name in the hey day - and let’s not forget that the riff from ‘Good Times’ formed the basis for one of the biggest (and first crossover) rap records of all time, and still a staple on wedding playlists around the world, ‘Gangsta’s Delight’ by the Sugarhill Gang. To be able to play I Want Your Love, with it’s crystal clean lines, simple message and bumpy bass line after some particularly nasty track from Jason’s list fills me with glee.

* ‘My Love’ - Paul McCartney

Love him or hate him, Sir Paul has written one of the best love songs of all time with this little ditty. Ok, I could have put in ‘All You Need Is Love’, ‘In My Life’ or ‘And I Love Her’ etc by The Beatles… but I settled on this one from Macca. Delighting in it’s cheesiness, the languid guitar solo and the lazy strings - ‘woah, woah, woah, waaaw’, sing along now ‘My Love does it goooood’. From Wings’ 1973 album Red Rose Speedway, it’s a sign of the eighties Paul to come, we’d had a smidge of it with ‘Yesterday’, but now you get the feeling that Paul is in LOVE for the first time (it’s written for Linda) and is his own boss, so will hit the cheesiest heights he can.

* ‘This Guy’s In Love With You’ - Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass

Mmmmm a Burt Bacharach/ Hal David classic. I’ve always had a soft spot for Herb and his brass… did you know that he is the ‘A’ in A&M Records and that he signed The Carpenters? Did you know as of 1996 he had sold 72 millions albums worldwide? That at the ripe old age of 75 he is still recording and er, sculpting? http://www.axiom-media.com/work/pmca/_images/_exhibits/1/exhibit_full_3.jpg Not bad for a guy who plays the trumpet. You could say that what Bob Marley did for reggae, Alpert for did for mariachi music, his versions of classic hits, and original recordings, scored him six Grammy awards, fifteen albums won gold discs, and fourteen won platinum discs. Strangely enough Alpert rarely sang on his records, this track was a rare number 1 hit that featured his vocal. Notable covers include Faith No More, Noel Gallagher and The Bad Plus.

* ‘All Of My Love’ - Led Zeppelin

Robert Plant recorded this song as a tribute to his song who died of a stomach infection in 1977 at the age of 5. He recorded the vocals in one take. Listen to the song again and it will break your heart. The band had started to drift by this stage, In Through The Out Door saw Plant and bassist John Paul Jones (synth solo) working on the songs together and Page and Bonham adding in their parts later. Not a band you would traditionally associate with a love song, but this is one of the purest kind.

* ‘Baby I Love You’ - Aretha Franklin

You can’t have a love list without Aretha Franklin’s huge voice belting out ‘Baby I Love You’, this is from her Aretha Arrives album released in 1967 and it was a huge hit for the Queen of Soul. Aretha Franklin has had a major album in every decade of her career, garnered seventeen Grammys and has worked with the likes of Carole King and Puff Daddy. She’s a regular at most major American international events, including Martin Luther King’s funeral and Bill Clinton’s inaugural gala - long live the Queen.

* ‘Let The Sun Shine In’ - Hair Goes Latin (Edmondo Ros and his Orchestra)

Is there are happier, sunnier, hopeful record in the world than Let The Sun Shine In? From the Hair musical originally played in 1969 comes this joyous song, full of love and an anti-war anthem used as a rallying cry against the Vietnam war. Edmundo Ros is a Trinidadian of Venezuelan/ Scottish descent who made about a million latin orchestral records. He owned a nightclub just off Regent Street in London called The Coconut Grove and is also a ‘Mason’ - never really sure what that means, but kind of don’t want to ask! In 2000 at the age of 90 he was awarded an OBE. Hardened fans may not have approved of a Hair tribute, but it works, as the people on the Lounge Legends blog rightly point out - he even makes Manchester, England sound like a hot, fiery salsa tune - not easily done! They’ve offered up the whole album for download on their blog, click on the link above and turn it UP.

* ‘Dat’s Love’ - Connie Francis

During my easy listening phase I disovered Connie Francis and her voice blew me away, so warm, so honeyed, and brilliant dramatic intonation. Dat’s Love is a cheeky, catchy, rousing ditty that has her laughing at her the follies of relationships and makes you laugh right along with her. Connie Francis was the youngest artist to play Las Vegas, the first female to have two consecutive number 1 hits and performed for the Queen before she was 30. Gloria Estefan recently wrangled with her to make the film of her life story (and lost) and apparently Dolly Parton has also shown the same interest.

(more tracks to come!)