September 2005 List

"Ondule": Mathieu Boogaerts
(Super, 1998)
Aunt Gail has consistently been a source of new music throughout my life and she once again proved her keen ability to entice me with groovy sounds as she and I drove from East Hampton to Manhattan with furniture for my new pad. With the CD player on random, I heard this charming, subdued circus of a song three times during the trip (via the Putumayo French Cafe CD) and have since become a fan of the playfully eclectic Mathieu Boogarets.

"Keep on Hoping": Raul Midon with Jason Mraz
(State of Mind, 2005)
When my friend Lynn and I saw Richie Havens at B.B. King's earlier this year, we also witnessed the amazing guitar virtuosity of Raul Midon. At the time, he'd just landed a record deal with EMI Manhattan and exuded such a palpable excitement that his elastic voice seemed to stretch even further to the edges of the music scale.

"Dreams": Deep Dish featuring Stevie Nicks
(George Is On, 2005)
The dance music duo of Deep Dish originally intended to remix the original Fleetwood Mac version of "Dreams," but Stevie Nicks offered to rerecord her vocals to better suit the contemporary production. I was a bit leery when I learned that one of my all-time favorite songs was getting the millennial dance/club treatment, but Nicks' voice is far raspier now than on the 1977 original, giving the new version of "Dreams" a pleasingly different texture.

"What a Wonderful Thing Love Is": Al Green
(I'm Still in Love With You, 1972)
During the set up for the 9/11 Concert in Washington Square Park this past Sunday, Al Green's inimitable voice floated over the park from the loudspeakers as the I'm Still in Love With You album played. I'd never heard the entire album, so "What a Wonderful Thing Love Is" was new to my ears (I promptly bought the album just to hear that song over and over again).

"Happiness is Just Around the Bend": The Main Ingredient
(Euphrates River, 1974)
Last week at Monster, DJ Warren segued from Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give it Up" to this song, which I hadn't heard before but quickly investigated. Though not many of the Main Ingredient's albums are in print, the full-length version of this spacey slice of soul is on a recently-released compilation so I've been able to relive Cuba Gooding's teasing ad libs ("I'm going where the fun is") multiple times since picking it up two days ago!