Tuesday Playlist: Angelas Galore
What's better than one version of one of my favorite songs? More than a dozen versions, of course
Busy day in these parts! It's coming up on 10:30 in the PM out here, and I haven't had a single minute to write a goddamn thing. But I don't want to leave you empty-handed, so I'm kicking off a new Tuesday series by sharing a playlist I made this morning as 50 percent goof, 50 percent sincere tribute to one of my favorite songs of all time.
I am referring, of course, to "Angela," the endlessly delightful instrumental written and recorded by Bob James for the classic sitcom Taxi. It occurred to me that it might be fun to see how many artists have covered "Angela," and I was right; although none of these covers come anywhere close to replicating the magic of the original, they're all worth hearing in their own right, and some even manage to do fresh, unexpected things with the song — like the solo guitar version, for example, or the, uh, "Cuban Grooves" version.
Back at it tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy getting smooth as hell.