Bettye Swann – Make Me Yours
from the album Make Me Yours on Money (1967).

Smith – Baby It’s You
from the Death Proof Soundtrack on Warner Brothers (2007) and originally from A Group Called Smith on Dunhill (1969).

Greetings loyal ear fuzz listeners/readers. It has been ages since I connected with you for some music and thoughts. My apologies for my absence, and my thanks to the ear fuzz team for all their insightful musings and additions. A recent discussion here at fuzz HQ has led to some thinking about the nature of audioblogs and ours in particular. The access to any and darn near all music now has become (nearly) overwhelming. When in the past I could find some jazz nugget or even sample-based beat construction in my collection and write a post for tunes that had no internet presence beyond crazy virus laden Belarussian mp3 download “stores,” probably the whole album is now zipped up somewhere waiting for you along with every deleted single by the artist/producer/label. For better (Numero Group and Now and Again) or worse (no names named) we’re approaching the point of every tune being dug out of the crates on online. And what does all this access give us beyond a restructuring of one’s definition of “rare” groove? It means we can always, eternally be awash in new music. So much of it can be beautiful and eye-opening that this is a thrill…and so much more of it can be unenjoyable garbage that it can be discouraging until that next diamond shines through. Hmmm…just like the old days, but faster and quicker and less sore knees from the boxes on the floor. And just like those good ol’ days, the key is often the connective tissues that puts songs, albums, artists, images, and memories together for us. I know I’m not saying anything too new with this paragraph, but that almost goes toward proving my point.

Before I ramble too far afield, I’ll stop and say, “It is good to be back. I hope to share some music and thoughts that might inspire, improve, or intensify your life however briefly before your on to your next discovery.” To get me back in the groove, I’d like to offer up two of my favorite songs of 2008 (it has been a long time). Both of these tracks where huge hits in their day (the late 1960s), but neither had never really entered my brain until last year. Since that time they’ve remained delightfully lodged and have introduced me to more new and exciting things. Each is a powerful, heartfelt soul lament by a female vocalist…Swann’s is an original by the artist and both launched and proved the zenith of her career & Smith also never reached the heights achieved by their perfectly different version of the Burt Bacharach tune originally made famous by the Beatles and the Shirelles.