I was interested to hear the Madcon version of the 60’s blue eyed soul classic Beggin’ recently. I must admit, I don’t tend to try and keep up with “the kids” in terms of chart action (the most recent record I bought, which I got today was Dandy Livingstone - Rudy (a message to you) on Ska Beat if that gives you an idea - yes the one that was later covered by The Specials)…
A friend of mine was raving about how great it was and how it was good to see northern soul music being reinterpreted for a new generation. I guess one could argue that, though Beggin’ isn’t exactly the epitome of soulfulness for many soulies. It’s a good classic dancer, and anything that has an uptempo beat AND vibes can hardly do no wrong, but it’s not really a rare soul heavy weight. I guess the Duffy bandwagon is in full swing and I suppose I’d much prefer to hear a load of 60’s pop soundalikes - bandwagon or not, than a load of shouty tuneless aggressive hip hip, so I’m trying hard to bite my tongue so as not to come across as a sanctimonious elitist rare soul loving twat, (which I doubtless am).
You can hear it below (I can’t embed the actual video that comes with the Madcon version)
and here’s the Timebox 60’s original also from Youtube (I think it was from either ‘67 or ‘68 - thumbs up to the person who put this together - nice job!):
I have to say, I personally much prefer the Timebox original, but heck, that’s just the kind of fuddy duddy guy I am. The northern soul scene is the keeper of literally THOUSANDS of brilliant records that are unknown to the mainstream…. I mean literally thousands of records that would absolutely urinate over 99.9% of the songs that are written for the pop market. So, back to Madcon, is this the tip of the commercial iceberg, or just a bit of inspired pop frothiness?
Whichever the case may be, please got just don’t let it end up like Ernie K Doe’s brilliant “here come the girls”…. hammered into the ground by Boots of all people…. ya couldn’t make it up… GET A NEW GIMMICK BOOTS WE’RE SICK OF THAT ONE NOW……
