Soul Nirvana

After cranking out so many posts in the last few weeks, I wasn't planning to post today--but there's something out there you've got to hear.

All of us who love music have a handful of records we remember fondly from back in the day but have, for one reason or another, been unable to lay our hands on. The record that's been at the top of my most-wanted list for a long time is a gorgeous record from my earliest days of listening to the radio: "5-10-15-20 (25-30 Years of Love)" by the Presidents, a classic one-hit wonder whose moment of fame came at Christmastime of 1970, when they reached Number 11 on the Hot 100. The last time I saw it for sale anywhere was on an out-of-print volume of Rhino's Soul Hits of the 70s series at a prohibitive cost, so I've done without it. Up until today. The Stepfather of Soul is celebrating his first anniversary as a blogger this week, and today he put up this superb soul rarity. You don't want to miss it, so stop by, listen, and leave Jason some anniversary greetings. And watch for his anniversary podcast coming soon--as his podcasts frequently are, it's likely to be filled with further transmissions from Soul Nirvana.

While I have your attention: Another friend of this blog, Homercat at Good Rockin' Tonight, put up a dead-on rant about the latest list of nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He suggests that if R.E.M. gets in before several overlooked acts from the 1970s--the Doobie Brothers and Jethro Tull, to name two of the most egregious omissions--there's something seriously wrong with the induction process. Although we kind of knew that already, when ZZ Top got in.

And one other thing: Sometimes a band's name is all you need to know about whether you want to hear them or not. Take Hoobastank, for example. If you're a band stupid enough to think that's a good name, I'm not going to bother with you. But on the other hand: A band called Jesus H. Christ and the Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse deserves at least three minutes of my time, and yours. Thanks to Nathaniel at I Guess I'm Floating for including JHC and the FHotA in his Halloween mix.