'Shake it like a bowl of soup ...'

The public radio station I listen to (PBS 106.7) plays a remarkable amount of what its DJs call 'black soul music'. There's also 'acid' country, electronica, gospel, jazz, bluegrass, vocal standards, Americana ... even an Aussie tune or two. Overall, it plays a more informed selection of North American music than I've ever heard in, well, North America. That includes my former employer, 120-channel Sirius Satellite Radio.

So, however incongruously, moving to Melbourne has left me addicted to soul music. Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Al Wilson, Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield -- good god! I recently downloaded a reissue of Otis Redding's 1966 release Otis Blue. Backed by the Stax house band -- a little entity called Booker T and the MGs -- Redding sings with the force of a church choir and passion of a possessed preacher who's got but one chance to regain a wayward flock.

The effect is transformational.