SERIES RETURN: Chuck Small’s Record Relays – Volume 6 – Six Degrees Of…

It’s time for a new round of Record Relays:

In the first five installments, I pulled most of the tracks from CDs I had made to store the tracks on my iPod…

This set? It’s more of playing a musical variation on “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.”

I took two collaborations I enjoyed from 2009 and challenged myself, to see how I could get from one to the other. There might have been quicker ways, but here’s the route I took.

Hope you enjoy the stops along the way.

I’ve liked British singer-songwriter David Gray’s work since I became familiar with it on his U.S. breakout album White Ladder. His team-up with Lennox on this track from his 2009 CD Draw the Line was one of my favorites of that year.

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This track from Gray’s 2014 collection Mutineers feels a little less organic than the Lennox duet. But its “two worlds colliding” vibe mirrors Gray’s ode to unbridled passion.

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Talk about worlds colliding! Teaming with guitar legend Beck and once-and-again Matchbox 20 singer Rob Thomas yielded country-rock grit on this track from Rimes’ Spitfire album.

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An MTV favorite from Beck’s album Flash, it’s hard to believe this 1985 cover of the Impressions’ hit, written by Curtis Mayfield, stalled at No. 48 on the Hot 100.

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Stewart may have been singing about listening to The Miracles, but the vocal group who sang with him here was not Smokey Robinson’s former combo, but rather Motown’s top group of the ‘60s and ‘70s. This Top 30 hit was on Stewart’s 1991 Vagabond Heart album.

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By 1985, Hall and Oates had solidified their status as the top duo of the rock era, and they used some of that cachet to pay tribute to the soul music that inspired them. They teamed with the two former Temptations leads for the album Live at the Apollo that yielded this Top 40 medley.

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On the other hand: By 2018 Hall and Oates were primarily a nostalgia act on their way to an acrimonious breakup. This collaboration with the pop/rock group Train offered a last nod to their hitmaking days and the town that formed them.

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A playful track from Train’s 2014 Bulletproof Picasso collection, this was released as a promotional single but failed to catch fire. I have no idea why – I liked it more than any of the album’s official singles.

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This emotionally raw R&B ballad from 2013, which Ambrosius co-wrote, highlights her vocal strengths. She originally broke through in the duo Floetry before going solo.

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This midtempo duet comes from Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad collection. It hit No. 7 on the Hot 100 as the third single from that album, following “Umbrella” and “Shut Up and Drive” and preceding “Don’t Stop the Music,” all likelier remembered.

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Talk about a hot-and-cold performance. Maroon 5’s Adam Levine rarely put his oily charisma to better effect than in the video of this track, and Rihanna matches him feint for feint. This track is both on Good Girl Gone Bad and Maroon 5’s It Won’t Be Soon Before Long.

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This was a much bigger Billboard hit than the Rihanna duet (No. 1 vs. No. 51.) But I confess I don’t like it as much. Not sure whether it’s due to overplay, the preciousness of the lyric or the “ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo.” It’s only when Christina Aguilera comes in that it feels like a song and not just a riff.

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The original version of this Artpop track, featuring R. Kelly, was the most polarizing in Lady Gaga’s admittedly controversial career. This version, which substitutes Aguilera’s vocals, retains the edge of the lyrics without the grossness of its initial guest.

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From the Born This Way collection: This duet marked the final Top 10 appearance, although uncredited on the single, by guest saxophonist Clemons. He died later in 2011.

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Clemons’ sole pop hit outside of his work with the E Street Band, or with artists such as Lady Gaga or Aretha Franklin. This went Top 20 in early 1986. It includes background vocals from actress Daryl Hannah.

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The two artists provide a lullaby of the two Beatles’ Abbey Road tracks on the Disney for our Children collection, a 1991 benefit for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. This track is not available on Spotify although you can listen here via YouTube.

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From the soundtrack to the film An Officer and a Gentleman, this track remains derided by lots of Cocker rockers. (Stereogum reviewer Tom Breihan gave it a 2/10.) I don’t care. I admit my love for the song can’t be separated from my enjoying the movie.

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This take on a Jimi Hendrix composition comes from Santana’s 2010 collection Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time. Honestly, it’s not my thing, although guitarists may like it more. It does, nevertheless, get us from Cocker to our next artist.

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Now this song? I love. Which I guess, shows my preference for pop/rock. The first time I heard this track from the Shaman CD, I thought of New Radicals’ “You Get What You Give,” so I wasn’t surprised to find the same songwriting team crafted both. And Santana’s guitar work does a great job playing off Branch’s vocals.

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This is another track you’ll have to find on YouTube rather than Spotify. It’s OK, though Timbaland’s production elements really overwhelm the song. If you’re a Timbaland fan, this could be a good thing.

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The Timbaland production is dominant here, too. But Furtado pulls off an attitude of her own that prevents her from being overwhelmed by it all. It’s a lot of fun. From Furtado’s CD Loose.

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It took us 22 tracks to get here, but we made it: From British singer-songwriter David Gray to British singer-songwriter James Morrison.

Neither is a core act in the U.S., but I like both of their work a lot. Here, Morrison pulls Furtado in more of an AC direction than her work with Timbaland. I think she succeeds just the same.

Here’s the Spotify set for 20 of the 22:

Which one is your favorite?

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