Steve Cropper RIP

Another musical genius joins that great gig in the sky. If all Steve Cropper had done was to co-write (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay that'd be enough, but he played on some of the greatest soul songs of all time too. Oh hang on...he also co-wrote Knock On Wood and In The Midnight Hour too?! Not too shabby eh? Here are just three other tracks that Cropper added a little magic to...

Dr. Ice Cold - Room Service

Another instant classic from Room Service. Drop this at the Christmas party and you're guaranteed to pull. Hell yeah. 

Gemini Rising - New Orleans Saxophone Ensemble

Managed to limit myself to just the two CDs over the weekend, one of them a compilation of New Orleans music entitled Jockomo Jockomo (you can pick it up online for less than a fiver). It's a cracking comp featuring, amongst other gems, this track. Cool eh? 

Frightening Machines - Katherine Priddy

How beautiful is this track eh? It seems pretty appropriate for this time of the year too, when most of us are counting down the days until we can chill out a little over Christmas. Next year sees Katherine embark on her biggest solo tour to date, including one (a home town gig) at the legendary Town Hall in Brum.   

The Package - De La Soul

Loving the current single from De La Soul, a real summer vibe...even though it's currently hovering above freezing in the UK right now. 

Jimmy Cliff RIP

Just a few days after losing Mani now Jimmy Cliff's passed away. We saw him play an amazing set in Brum about 20 odd years ago when he was a mere 60-ish and I think he continued to play live until fairly recently. How about this for a performance eh? 

RIP Jimmy. 

Mani RIP

You know you're getting on in years when the people from the bands you grew up with start popping off to that great gig in the sky. A few weeks ago we lost Dave Ball and now Mani's gone at just 63...I say 'just' 63...I suppose that's not a bad age all things considered and, let's face it, the dude fitted a lot more into his life than most of us. 

In my humble opinion The Stone Roses' self titled debut album is one of the top 20 albums of all time. Of course it all went a bit tits up after that but I was lucky enough to see the reformed Roses play V Festival (they were supposed to play Glasto '95 but Squire broke his collar bone, so we saw some band called Pulp instead...I wonder what happened to them?). 

Between the split and the resurrection Mani went on to play with Primal Scream during arguably their best and most experimental period.

It's his work with the Roses that people are quite rightly looking back on today though and here are a pair of absolute 24ct gold bangers...

I Wanna Be Adored? Mission accomplished I reckon Mani. RIP.