Listen Up: 6-12-12

1. Swim Good –  Frank Ocean – Ocean proves himself not in the bigger moments, but in this perfectly formed modern soul also ran,  with a flipped out auto tuned middle, and treated keyboard backing track. Ocean doesn't have the voive he needs but he has the one he has, and here he uses a good simile and a fine melody, clever beat and strong backing for a minor but pleasurable song – Grade: B+

2. National Anthem – Lana Del Rey – Sunday night, she left this deft hip hop singalong for last and best – Grade: B+

3. Stay With Me – James Brown – From his New York years, this is a great melody or if you prefer, something of an oddity – Grade: A-

4. Carry On – fun. Piano based melody that slowly goes from singer-songwriter to show tuner – Grade: B+

5.Adrenaline Nightshift – Japandroids – Power dup teaches the world had it works – Grade:A

6.Time Spent In Los Angeles – I'll give em this one anyday. Interested to catch em at Summerstage June 16th – Grade: A

7. Someday We'll Be Together – The Supremes – I am already on a James Brown kick and the last thing I have time for is the Supremes! – Grade: A+

8. Sha La La La Le – The Small Faces –  Or the Small Faces… Spotify have a great singles compiliation – Grade: A

9. You Can Call Me Al – Paul Simon -This is a real demo: just the basic riff and the drums – Grade: B+

10. One ADter 909 – The Beatles – One reason they didn't release it back when – Grade: B