Abstract Index playlist - December 27/06

This was the last radio show of 2006, so I'm not going to repeat my end of year spiel from the previous post.

The holiday show is always low key, full of familiar tunes from the year gone by. One disc I forgot to mention in my roundup of most-listened to music was The Roots Lover, an amazing double disc collection of Sugar Minott's work from 1977-83.

Sugar is one of the great Jamaican voices of all time, with a hushed but impassioned soulfulness every time out. There's a reason he's called Sugar - even the most desperate tunes sound so sweet coming from him. He's still sounding as good as ever on Radiodread, turning in an unbearably restrained performance of "Exit Music".

The Roots Lover saw him work primarily with the Roots Radics, who provide him with slow rolling, binshaking grooves and enigmatic guitar fills. Minott is a very versatile artist and producer who put out somewhat different sounding tunes with Sly and Robbie and Bullwackie during these years, ranging from the totally futuristic to Michael Jackson reinventions. He reinvested much of his income into "youth promotion" of artists on his Black Roots production company which has remained a vital concern to the present day.

let yourself go/there was a time/i feel alright - james brown (polydor)

jesus rhapsody pt. 1 - preacher and the saints (numero)

capricorn's thing - dennis coffey (vampisoul)

towering inferno - green arrows (analog africa)

kelen ati leen - orchestra baobab (oriki)

yaz gazetici yaz - selda (finders keepers)

kolum nerden aldin zanciri - edip akbayram (shadoks)

dalida - boom pam (essay)

gankini horo - lubo alexandrov (enja)

analog shantytown - glissandro 70 (constellation)

the last days - mike shannon (scape)

couch - drumheller (rat drifting)

fearer - burnt friedman/jaki liebezeit (nonplace)

big m - kahil el zabar (delmark)

the tortoise - frequency (thrill jockey)

i will you - feuermusik (independent)

after christmas - jackie mittoo, pablove black, devon russell (studio one/soul jazz)

horns cut - twilight circus/matics horns (m)

victim version - dub guerilla (enja)

zentown - zentone (jarring effects)

creation - djosos krost feat. jah bobby (quango)

hold on - sugar minott (moll-selekta)