Back at the bowl

...but this time definitely not going in! No pictures from Atlanta today, I'm afraid, with Beck on the homeward journey and subject to the vagaries of wi-fi, airports and the like. Here it started well, with a splash of sun first thing and even a bit of blue to the sky on the way to work, but it soon settled back into a general grey...

Today's Soul choice is a bit more instrumental magic from the original Bar-Kays. Like Booker T. and the M.G.'s, the Bar-kays were a Stax/Volt house band behind various artists through the early sixties before the legendary Otis Redding adopted them as his backing group. Unfortunately, all but two of them perished in the same plane crash that killed the great man himself in 1967, but not before they released 'Soul Finger' - a fabulous, tight, 30 minute psychedelic soul party record, complete with strident, wailing horn riffs and full-on Summer of Love, Country-Joe guitar, all topped off with the stamping, cheering and shouting contribution of a gang of local kids from the street outside the studio. A great soundtrack to a bit of decorating and the perfect antidote to another cold and overcast January day!.