My Life In Songs | Gordon

It's time for another Life In Songs. This week's entry is one from a very good friend of mine. He's a funk connoisseur, music purist, and all-round thoroughly nice chap. He makes the best toast you've ever tasted and what he doesn't know about Earth, Wind & Fire and Stevie Wonder ain't worth knowing. Here's Gordon's Life In Songs. 

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Earth, Wind & Fire - In The Stone

Ah, The mighty elements of the universe. Where would we be without them? This is where it all began for me. My parents didn’t have a record player at home for years, so my older sister was the guardian of music in our house and I used to borrow her cassette tapes (remember them?) with (or...erm...without) her permission. I remember one day in 1986 during the summer holidays I played this song on her old Aiwa personal cassette player and I was hooked, it just blew my mind and as strange as it may sound now, a part of my mind that I didn’t know existed just suddenly opened up to me and changed my attitude to popular music forever. A stunning track from a simply brilliant band.

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Michael Jackson - Off The Wall

This always reminds me of when my dad took me to Jamaica in 1987. By then I had my own portable cassette player and I used to play it all the time while I was there. I love the eerie start to the song and how the rhythm guitar and the keyboards, courtesy of George Duke, just drives it along aided by the incredible horn arrangements by the legendary Jerry Hey and the Seawind Horns. It's no coincidence that John Robinson, whose initials are J.R lays, down a super-bad drum groove complete with his trademark shuffling rumbling hi-hat; and of course who can forget Michael Jackson's delicious vocals. I virtually played this song to death when I was a kid and I still have that old, battered and worn out tape.

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Roy Ayers - Sweet Tears

I love uncle Roy. Only Roy Ayers can make a sad song about a break up and turn it into a sweet joyous odyssey. I was in my bedroom in 1988 when this came on the radio and promptly made me jump out of bed, which was a task that my parents rarely achieved. The string arrangements are exquisite with lovely chords and although the lyrics are repeated I never felt that it was unnecessary. The way the prickly bass line interacts with the shrieks from the guitar is so bad. It was the first time I had heard a vibraphone solo and I was mesmerized by it - what an introduction! The musicianship is of the highest order as you might expect from Roy Ayers with some incredibly tight and articulate performances all round. With that one track my perception of the xylophone, sorry, I mean vibraphone, changed from being a toy that toddlers played with into a serious and funky musical instrument.

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Don Blackman - Holding You Loving You

There are so many great records I could have chosen but I’ve decided to go with this one because it has such an interesting and imaginative vibe to it. I begged an old friend to do a “rare groove” tape for me in 1990 and when it finally came this was on the B-side. It has such an unconventional approach with that superb shuffling groove and a deep pulsating, meandering bass line which instantly had me reaching for my air bass guitar. I really liked the way the delicate piano playing with the swirling strings and synths are in marked contrast to the subtle but insistent sound of the hi-hat which propels the song. Before that I had never listened to a mid tempo record where all the parts sounded so different from each other yet work so well together. Genius.

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Modulations - Rough Out Here

This track was on a rare groove compilation I bought back in 1996, which I lost when I moved house. The lyrics are insightful and desperate, and probably more relevant now given our present economic situation than when they were first written. This song has everything bass, percussion, strings keyboards; and never have had I heard a song that oozes such frenetic urgency. It's brilliantly produced, the attention to detail is fantastic, the instruments pop up all at the right times and never sounds cluttered. The great thing is that I found the record to be danceable. Who knew that a song about economic misery could make you move?

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Patrice Rushen - Let The Music Take Me

Patrice Rushen is the queen and also a musical genius and that’s just the way it is! The problem with Patrice Rushen is that she has made TOO many great records, and I have to pick one. The record I’ve chosen is let the music take me from her sensational album Pizzazz. I first heard this at Gary and Anna’s barbecue in 2009, and I nearly choked on the burger I was eating! At first I thought I was listening to The Emotions and I demanded Gary tell me who it is. When I heard it was Patrice Rushen I couldn’t believe it. Up to that point I thought Patrice Rushen was a one-hit wonder whose biggest hit was Forget Me Nots, and not a highly accomplished musician. This song has such a great swing to it. I love everything about it from the thumping of the drum kicks, the blistering horn arrangements, the twisting bass and the delightful keyboard solo. 

Another great thing about this song are the lyrics which aren't just about dancing, but how to cope in difficult times. Some of the words say “Life has no guarantees, so when things get out of hand pick yourself up and start again.” Wonderful, and a great reminder to me that music is isn’t there to just to sell records, but to inspire people.

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