I’m starting to think that the Leeds Festival site is centred around some sort of wormhole in the space / time continuum, as the best part of two months seems to have dropped away from my life and I have barely noticed them. As a result it appears that I have found myself quite spectacularly behind when it comes to show updates and playlists, so I’ll endeavour to bridge the gap and bring these READMYBLOG posts up to date.

However, I don’t really think we should go any further before we mark the sad passing of Solomon Burke, who gone done went and karked it on a plane earlier this month whilst traveling to a series of gigs in Holland.

James Brown liked to refer to himself as The Godfather of Soul, but not only was Brown something of an over-rated fat face, he also operated on something of a misnomer. Brown’s huhs and hahs and the seeming continual need to repeat his name every four seconds in case we forgot it was more funk than soul, whereas Solomon Burke’s was a voice which tore at the heart as well as moved the feet. I make the comparison only because Burke’s early influences from church gospel mixed with rhythm & blues made him one of the true early godfathers of the Soul genre, though Burke himself liked to call himself The Godfather of Rock & Soul. Continue reading →