Showing posts with label donny hathaway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label donny hathaway. Show all posts

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Donny Hathaway - "What a Woman Really Means" (1973)


TRACK OF THE DAY


WAV - MP3

A Donny Hathaway track from 1973 I'd never heard ? WTF ?

A few weeks back I was talking music with an old friend, and we got to talking about how much we both love Hathaway's final studio album, "Extension of a Man" from 1973.

There's a multi-layered melancholy when listening to it - the passion of his extraordinary voice, songwriting and arrangements mixes with the poignancy of the promise that it showed, in the knowledge of the fact that he jumped off a building six years later, deep in depression.

"Yes", said my friend, "that's why that extra track from the sessions on that Atlantic comp a few years ago was like a gift, so unexpected ... "

Extra track?

"The Atlantic Unearthed comp ... unreleased tracks from Atlantic artists".

Blink.

And so I discovered that I'd missed the 2006 release of a Donny Hathaway song, coming from the same sessions as one of my favourite 70s soul albums ... Maybe I'm the last person on earth to discover it, maybe not. I decided that if even one of you haven't heard it, it's worth a post. It wouldn't have been the best track if it had made the album, but it gets me when that chorus kicks in halfways through.

Download above, 320 MP3, or just have a listen.

"Extension of a Man" link goes to "Rare & Groove Jazz"

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Track of the Day : Donny Hathaway - "This Christmas" (1972)




I hate christmas songs, except when Donny Hathaway is singing.
This is a 1972 track written by Hathaway and Nadine McKinnor. After he committed suicide in 1979, The Whispers wrote "A Song For Donny" using the chords and melody with new lyrics. While that one's a little cheesy for me, this one is the only Xmas song I can handle. "This Christmas" has apparently been murdered by a few Idol contestants recently, but the original's still a great track.

DOWNLOAD WAV - MP3

Still busy and unable to blog properly here, but thanks for still dropping by!
The current craziness finishes next week and I can start to treat you with more Harold Vick, Renee Geyer, Don Burrows, East Coast and more ...

If anyone's in Sydney this afternoon, drop in for below, I'll be the sleepy looking guy on keyboards ...