Exclusive Shindig! Qobuz playlist #19: Soulful Sirens In The Age Of Aquarius

We’re very excited to be media partners with the truly unique online streaming platform and download store Qobuz. This month, the 19th of our monthly bespoke playlists, which take in all manner of genres and sub-genres, scenes and beyond, then and now, looks at women in soul and rock of the late ’60s and ’70s that took countercultural vibes into new sounds

Soul and R&B were cornerstones of ’60s music both popular and counterculturally. It affected everything. This playlist focuses on the ladies, black and white, popular and underground, solo or fronting or featuring in bands. The feel, on the back of the brilliant new Jeannie Piersol collection The Nest (High Moon), is how soulful music across the late ’60s and early ’70s was so closely informed and part of the hippie culture. Sly & The Family Stone embraced Black soul music, hippie-rock, and were both multi-racial and mixed-sex. Rose Stone was a strong force. Her vocals on ‘I Want To Take You Higher’ lifting Sly, Freddie and Larry Graham’s vocals into the stratosphere. Both her and Cynthia Robinson were undoubted psychedelic soul queens.

 Jeannie Piersol was signed to Cadet Concept. Piersol was a product of the San Francisco ballroom scene who had come up through the ranks with her own bands The Yellow Brick Road and Hair and was close friends with Grace Slick and her brother Darby. The two singles captured the same progressive approach to soul music as The Rotary Connection, who’s Minnie Riperton sings backing vocals on the fabulous second one ‘The Nest’ (1969). Janis Joplin played the same haunts, but unlike Piersol became a huge force. Joplin played with folk, country and soul in the best West Coast tradition. Her two entries here, Big Brother & The Holding Company’s ‘Down On Me’ (the band’s debut with Janis Joplin) and the solo release ‘Move Over’ (from her second solo album Pearl) go some way to show how perfectly she blended these forms. Also from the West Coast scene: Fifty Foot Hose, The Mojo Men, Mother Earth, The Loading Zone, Grootna, Cold Blood, and Smith. There’s definitely a whole lot of soul going on here, some entries obvious, others less so. Ruth Copeland was from the north-east of England, making her way to Detroit and hooking up with Motown and George Clinton. Her two late ’60s Invictus albums are loaded with gems. Similarly, Martha Veléz, an American singer/actress of Puerto Rican descent, nailed the soul-rock vibes on her rousing ’69 album Fiends & Angels, with ‘Swamp Man’ capturing that Stonesy swagger. Tina Turner influenced Mick Jagger massively, so her covering ‘Honky Tonk Women’ returned the dues, and it must be said that Tina was immensely important at this time, allowing other soulful shouters to embrace soul, funk and rock all at the same time. Merry Clayton, PP Arnold, Linda Tillery, Deidre Wilson Tabac, The Undisputed Truth, Madeline Bell, The 5th Dimension, and Minnie Riperton were all Black singers, schooled in soul music. All adapted to the new musical era with aplomb. Whilst primarily American (with Arnold and Bell being Americans based in the UK) blue-eyed soul singers in Britain and Europe played with the musical melting pot in a wonderfully jazzy and funky-rock style, from Julie Driscoll (who’s take on ‘Let The Sunshine In’ is iconic) to the early ’70s blues-soul shouter Maggie Bell, both solo and with Stone The Crows, and Elkie Brooks with Vinegar Joe). Sandie Shaw’s unique cover of ‘Reviewing The Situation’ from Oliver, is full of funky organ, and has a strong groove, even it isn’t quite soul. Besides, what is soul? It’s all somewhat subjective. So with that, all-female rock legends Fanny’s cover of Smokey Robinson’s ‘Ain’t The Peculiar’ and Linda Ronstadt’s beautiful take on ‘Dark End Of The Street’, Laura Nyro’s funky Duane Allman collaboration ‘Beads Of Sweat’, Bobby Gentry’s smoky ‘Fancy’, and singer-songwriter Laurie Styvers’ ‘All I Had’, more than tick the “soul box” and allow a change of pace from the straight ahead soul and all-out funky-rockers.

All of these tracks are gathered from a fascinating period for music, when genres and styles were not under scrutiny, but this three-hour set should do more than enough to thrill both soul and rock fans alike.