Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture

In this episode we conclude our survey of 1970s spiritual jazz with some lesser known cuts from the canon. Several of the tunes here were once hard-to-find collectors items, but the renewed interest in this body of work has led to reissues and an enlarged audience for these awesome pieces. Tim and Jeremy discuss the various religious sources on the practitioners of spiritual jazz, from Buddhism and Hinduism to African and Gospel influences. They unpack the problems with the term ‘spiritual’, consider this music’s utopian horizons and conduct a little reception history of how this sound lost and found an audience. 

Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod
Loveisthemessagepod.co.uk
Produced by Matt Huxley

Tracklist:
Benny Maupin - The Jewel in the Lotus
Toudie Heath Kamili - Kuumba
The Pyramids - Birth / Speed / Merging pt.1
Shamek Farrah - The World of the Children
Alice Coltrane - Transfiguration
Sun Ra - Lanquidity

This is an excerpt of a patrons-only episode. To hear the full thing, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

In this patrons episode Tim concludes his two-parter on Boy George’s summertime single ‘We Will Dance Again’. Tim recounts George’s comments on the AI-assisted writing process, the visit to the Nova Exhibition that inspired the composition, and gives the lyrics a rigorous analysis. Elsewhere in the episode Tim unpacks the definition of genocide, looks at the international response to Gaza, shares Palestinian music old and new, and updates the show to include the fallout from the recent Ed Sheeran and Macklemore situation. 

Tracklist:
Yampano - Kwibuka 31 (Twamaganye Abapfobya Genocide)
Kneecap (ft Fawzi) - Palestine
Fawzi - Castro
Atef Swaitat - Palestinian Bedouin Psychedelic Dabka Archive
Swarup - Live at Universo Paralello 2023 
David Rovics - From Auschwitz To Gaza
John Jacobs - Instagram post
Macklemore - Hind’s Hall

Today we’re taking it back to the early 70s as we begin a mini-series on spiritual jazz. Psychedelic, cosmic, astral: all words associated with a set of releases somewhat maligned at the time but now firm favourites on our turntables and across the globe. Tim and Jeremy cue up Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler, Lonnie Liston Smith and of course the great Alice Coltrane for a journey down the streams of consciousness. They examine the genealogy of the term spiritual jazz and the pre-history of some of its early progenitors, dig into the the various belief systems of universal love and peace, examine the Indian influences on both the music and the metaphysics, and give some time to the looming figure of Miles Davis in all this. Plus: an unexpected visit from Louis Armstrong.
Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod
Loveisthemessagepod.co.uk
Produced by Matt Huxley

Tracklist:
Pharaoh Sanders - The Creator Has a Master Plan 
Louis Armstrong - The Creator Has a Master Plan
Louis Armstrong - Give Peace a Chance
Albert Ayler - Music is the Healing Force of the Universe
Ahmad Jamal - The Awakening
Gary Bartz NTU Troupe - Celestial Blues
Alice Coltrane - Galaxy in Turiya
Lonnie Liston Smith & the Cosmic Echos - Astral Traveling

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only show. To hear the full thing, plus dozens more like it, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod to sign up.

In this episode Tim responds to Boy George’s recent musical offering, ‘We Will Dance Again’. To respect BDS, we won’t be playing this AI-generated apologia for the Gaza genocide, or anything else from George’s catalogue, but Tim does explore the British singer’s confused history of political pronouncements on this and other issues, alongside some contemporaneous synth-pop from his New Romantic heyday.
Elsewhere in the episode Tim talks about his own Jewish upbringing, the history of Israel, the nation’s participation in Eurovision, current reflections on the horrors being perpetrated in Palestine, and some modern and vintage Palestinian liberation music. 

Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod
www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk

Tracklist:
The Equals - Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys 
Visage - Fade to Grey
Heaven 17 - (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thing
Kofia - Leve Palestina
Roger Waters - Comfortably Numb Re-Imagined

Love is the Message returns from our summer break just in time for the Bank Holiday Weekend, which in London means one thing: Carnival. In this episode Jeremy and Tim cover the history of Notting Hill Carnival, the largest such event in Europe. They discuss patterns of Caribbean migration to the UK, traditions of carnival from Ancient Greece to Trinidad and Rio, and the particular story of Notting Hill, with its steel bands, dub sound systems, parade and party. They return to Lovers Rock, consider legendary stages like Aba Shanti, Good Times and Saxon, and interrogate how Bakhtinian and Deleuzian ideas can be applied to this unique expression of Black British culture. Plus: David Mancuso in Trinidad, and a young Jeremy tries to buy Pass the Dutchie. 

If you’re going to Carnival this weekend, enjoy yourself and take plenty of water!

Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod
Loveisthemessagepod.co.uk
Produced by Matt Huxley

Tracklist:
Laurel Aitkin - Boogie in my Bones
Hells Gate Steel Orchestra - Ah Love It Here
Sir Coxson - King of the Dubb Rock
Louisa Mark - Caught You in a Lie
ASWAD - Concrete Slaveship
Smiley Culture - Cockney Translation
Papa Levi - Mi God Mi King
Ted Taylor - Ghetto Disco (Norman Jay Edit)
Cajmere - Brighter Days
Aba Shanti-I - Zulu Warrior
Moliy x Shenseea x Skillibeng - Shake It To The Max