Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now" is commonly agreed to be the first reggae hit in America. In addition to his version, this week's mix features takes by two great American musicians, Ray Charles and Willie Nelson.
Other stuff: Kanye West's collaboration with Consequence and Cam'ron "Gone", Terry Callier's sound collage "Hidden Conversations", golden age hip hop from Masters of Ceremony with "Cracked Out", Ike & Tina Turner's catchy "A Fool In Love", Kool Keith's odd "Livin' Astro", Bob Dylan's wry "Sweetheart Like You", Aretha Franklin covering Elton John's "Border Song", a second take of "I Don't Know What Kind Of Blues I Got" by Duke Ellington's Orchestra with Herb Jeffries on vocals, Al Green's dreamy "I Didn't Know", Little Willie John's pleading "I Need Your Love So Bad", an acoustic demo version of Elvis Costello's "Mouth Almighty", Guy Davis's gritty cover of Bob Dylan's "Sweetheart Like You", Hank Mobley's gorgeous "My Sin", Diana Ross duetting with Lionel Richie on the irresistibly cheesy "Endless Love" and a mash up of Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" over Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" called "Troubled Healing".
I love almost everything Marvin recorded, but have found the production on his "Sexual Healing" era to be dated and uninteresting. The lyric works much better here with Simon & Garfunkel's piano and chorus.
