Scott Walker - It's Raining Today (Phillips, 1969)

Peerless, lugubrious elegance. And what a cover photo too.

Ah, Scott1, Scott 2, Scott3 and Scott4. Is there a better run of albums by an artist? Answers on a postcard...

Pick almost any song - the Scott Walker originals or the Jacques Brel covers - all are beautifully constructed, orchestrated and sung. The themes are intriguing, challenging, surprising.

'It's Raining Today' shimmers into being on cloud of gossamer strings, a warm, rich guitar strums out a gentle progression. And then, then.. the voice. A steady, sonorous voice that rises up from a sixties bed-sitting room and reminisces on love and loss.

Spectacular.

Download Scott Walker - It's Raining Today (Scott Walker mp3) (Box.net)

Stevie Wonder - I Don't Know Why I Love You (Motown, 1969)

Gritty, minimal love song with a tang of bitterness and frustration. 

It's about time we had some Stevie Wonder. This is the original version of the song that BEF and Scritti Politti's Green Gartside turned into a floating, synthetic soul fantasy in 1991. The b-side of 'My Cherie Amour', it's grittier and more emotional.

Fantastic stuff.

I'm obviously tempted to blog the Rolling Stones 1975 version tomorrow but that would have been somewhat excessive. Good record though.

Download Stevie Wonder 'I Don't Know Why I Love You' (Soul, Tamla Motown, mp3) (Rapidshare)

Chicago Transit Authority 'I'm A Man' (Columbia, 1969) (mp3)

Bizarrely, this is the same band that, once shortened to Chicago, went on to give the world the longest unbroken series of soft-rock ballads in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. I haven't checked the facts but that's probably true.

It's bizarre because the album version of 'I'm A Man' is a funky, groove-a-thon and, to me anyway, sounds like a precursor to the likes of ESG or Liquid Liquid ('Cavern' is definitely the product of cosmic reverberations of the bass-work on this track).

What starts as a pretty groovy cover of Spencer Davis Group's organ-heavy 1967 single - and a strong contribution to the template for first two or three albums of The Charlatans' career - breaks down after three minutes into a Latin percussive work-out. It builds in intensity and rouses itself to full power through some octopus drumming and ever-present wood-block tinks. It's a monstrous rhythmic orgy and when the organ drops back in accompanied by some searing guitar, you are ready to frug.

A most unexpected surprise.

Download Chicago Transit Authority 'I'm A Man' (mp3) (Box.net)