A change has come

+ Sam Cooke, in 1964. Did he know?. He was killed before the song was even released!

+ Hear it:

* One *Two *Three

I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh and just like the river I've been running ever since
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

It's been too hard living but I'm afraid to die
Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

I go to the movie and I go downtown
Somebody keep telling me don't hang around
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

Then I go to my brother
And I say brother help me please
But he winds up knocking me
Back down on my knees

Ohhhhhhhhh.....

There been times that I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

+ I hope, a change has come!

Johnny el Sureño - Hearts of stone

*One *Bonus (don't call me baby)

You stare in the mirror at the lines in your face
And you try to see, girl
The way things were when we were at your place
In the days it was just you and me, girl
And you cry because things ain't like before
Well don't you know they can't be that way anymore
But don't worry baby

CHORUS

I can't talk now, I'm not alone
So put your ear close to the phone
'Cause this is the last dance
This is the last chance for hearts of stone

If there was something, baby, that I could do
Something that would last, honey, I would
But we all know, girl, especially you do
How you can't return to your past, no
So girl close your eyes and I'll be there
Hold me once more and we can go anywhere
Ah, we could

CHORUS

And you cry because things ain't like before
Well don't you know they can't be like that anymore

+ His place + Wiki

It's not simple but Van just does it simple!

+ The man in the picture is serious, reflexive, it could serve as a roman emperor in an epic movie about the Roman empire. In its bourgeoning era, of course. Or the king of the spanish empire round sixteen century. Or just a blues singer. Great photo and cover!

+ Keep It Simple is Morrison’s first album of new material in two years. The man itself explain what will you find there:

“People don’t remember what you did, or what happened, or how you got here,” he says. “I didn’t get here the easy way. It’s people who don’t know me. They don’t actually look at what this guy’s actually been through. They see the big versions of what’s supposed to be me – but they don’t know my biography really. That’s what this whole record’s about.”

+ Ok, great music is what you find in any Van Morrison job. Keep it simple is no exception. Two superb blues pieces just as a start (how can a poor boy, school of hard knocks), rest (what a rest), another blues (don't go to clubs anymore), soul (lover come back), northern irish paintings, and much more, all with emotion and depth.

* You can get a good glimpse of the record by visiting his space.

* You can also listen to and watch soul.

* There is another player at the Lost Highway Records web.

* And, here, you can get a stream of “That’s Entertainment”.

Raul Midón, soulatin pop

+ This man you have to discover. The first song in his new job, a world within a world, called pick somebody up uses
arrangements lost two decades ago. Those violins recall us of real soul music. His blend uses that old soul music adapted to today's pop taste. I am sure his producer, son of legendary Ariff Mardin, has hit the target with those wonderful songs.

+ Raul Midón, a New Mexico-born, New York-based writer/vocalist/guitarist burst onto the scene in 2005 with his audaciously original debut album, State of Mind, and he's followed it up with an even more memorable song cycle, one that substantiates the depth of his talent and the degree of his dedication. A World Within a World, the title of the new album (Manhattan Records, Sept. 25), might refer to the status of pop music within the culture as a whole; it could also describe the expansive interior realm that this single-minded artist, blind from birth, has created with his imagination.

+ Midón was born in Embudo, N.M., to an Argentinean father and an African-American mother. A passionate music lover for as long as he can remember, Midón started playing drums at age 4 before shifting his focus to the guitar. He turned down a scholarship in creative writing offered by the University of New Mexico after being selected by the University of Miami for its highly regarded jazz program. Staying in Miami after graduating, Midón became an in-demand backup singer, working primarily on Latin projects for artists like Julio Iglesias, Shakira and Alejandro Sanz, while moonlighting as a club performer, sprinkling the requisite cover songs with the original tunes he was starting to write.

+ In 2002, when Midón felt he was ready, he walked away from his lucrative profession in order to pursue a solo career in New York City. “I wanted to become an artist and do what I wanted to do instead of being someone else's hired gun,” he explains. When Midón performed for the legendary producer/arranger Arif Mardin, fresh off the recording of Norah Jones’ breakthrough album, Come Away With Me, he offered the newcomer a deal on the spot-it would be the final signing of Mardin's long career. Raúl readily accepted, eager to form a partnership with the highly skilled veteran and with Arif's multi-instrumentalist son Joe. Father and son co-produced State of Mind, which garnered critical accolades for its heady fusion of old-school soul, timeless pop, Latin, jazz and the singer/songwriter idiom. Intrigued by what the youngster was cooking up, Wonder himself appeared on one track.

+ For A World Within a World, recorded after the death of the elder Mardin, Midón and Joe Mardin tightened the focus, with Joe laying down the grooves and playing additional instruments behind Midón's vocals and guitar parts on the majority of the tracks. “Like his father, Joe is a producer in the old-school sense of the word,” says Midón. “He's interested in how a record sounds; he can do arrangements and conduct an orchestra-which he did on 'Pick Somebody Up.' Joe brought the value of making an album to the project, as opposed to just a collection of songs.”

+ This is not your average pop record-not by a long shot. With A World Within a World, Midón has fashioned an album that is at once audacious and accessible, of the moment and suffused with history; it's personal yet universal, uncompromising yet inviting. This is that rare sort of pop album that could actually make a difference, and as such, it stands right alongside the pivotal works of the artists who inspired it.

+ Please, visit his space to listen to some of his songs.

Sly & The Family Stone's Greatest Hits

+ You know these guys, the only thing you have to do is listen to the music. Well, in this case, dance to the music!

+ It was almost 4o years ago today. Sylvester Stewart was about to win his place in rock history, together with other hippys in San Francisco's summer of love. Oh, boy, they probably wouldn't wear flowers in the hair, but I can tell you that his and his group clothes very well reflect that sunny era. His songs also!

+ They are not very well known in Spain, but every rock connoisseur has to remember them as a wonderful surprise in The Festival of Woodstock. The band performed their set during the early-morning hours of August 17, 1969. The movie was of course seen in Spain later!

+ There was a time where Motown sound was going to be replaced by something we can call psychedelic soul. Listen to Life to know what I mean. Even The Beatles's infectious Obladi, Oblada is there!.

+ Visit and learn the history of Sly and the Family Stone.

* Listen to Life.

* Listen to Fun.

* Listen to I Want To Take You Higher.

* Listen to Stand!

* Listen to Dance to the music.

* Listen to Everyday people.

* Listen to Everybody is a star.

+ If you are interested, visit the link or your favourite record shop!

FoW, simply great!

..... The new album by pop rock musicians Fountains of Wayne is just great. Impressive collection of pop songs. I hope you know how to get to listen to the songs. If I would have a rock group, those would be the songs I (we) will (surely) play.

.... Right now, strapped for cash really breaks me down, this better me good gets me singing all day long, someone to love is to show Dover (spanish group with disco ambitions!) how great songs are made (yeah, I know, they also know, it was just a joke), and trafffic and weather is the song.

.... Maybe they' ve made it. The perfect pop song. Oh, boy, I wish they still pursue the task some more dozen of years!.

+ Check out FoW in my space. I95 and someone to love video are there!

+ Two more mp3s (Hotel Majestic and Fire in the canyon) in a Plague of Angels.