My Favourite 45 by Andrew D. Cannes (Yeti)

Andrew Cannes is guitarist with hotly tipped Yeti (pictured left), a harmony-driven psychedelic pop group who are set to release their long awaited debut LP, ‘The Legend Of Yeti Gonzales’ (Get Up & Go records) on June 23rd.

The first single off the album is “Don’t Go Back To The One You Love” a sprawling psyched up song cycle that picks up from where the Beta Band left off and is out now on iTunes and other digital stores or CD and 7″. Check out the video below.

Andrew has kindly taken time out to delve into his record collection to pick out one of his favourite soul singles and tell us why he loves it so much for our ever popular ‘My Favourite 45’ series…

TELL IT LIKE IT IS – AARON NEVILLE

“It’s always amusing to look at a photo of Aaron Neville while listening to his music" says Andrew, "the man is a mountain: muscles everywhere, tight t-shirt with tattoos, earrings. You wouldn’t mess with him in a dark alley. But then you hear his voice, and you just want protect him – the man is crying out for a cuddle. Haunting, delicate and yet raw, Neville’s voice is one of the most unique in the history of recorded music. Dylan once described Neville (along with my other personal favourite from New Orleans, Irma Thomas) as being on a “higher level”. To me, Neville is the badder, New Orleans version of Carl Wilson, with a super-heavy dose of drugs, knock-backs and prison thrown in. In “Tell It Like It Is”, his voice conveys a level of hurt and raw emotion that has become alien to modern music”.

“And what about the first verse? Coupled with Neville’s delivery, it’s a pure knock-out”

"If you want something to play with
Go and find yourself a toy
Baby my time is too expensive
And I'm not a little boy”

“My favourite rhyme in the song is “serious/furious”, mainly because of the way Neville sings it. It simply wouldn’t be the same if it had been, say, Diana Ross”.

“Apparently it took Lee Diamond 15 minutes to write this song, which isn’t as short as it sounds. After all, if you’re going to name a song “Tell It Like It Is” and mean it, you should really get straight to the point”.

Thanks to Andrew for sending us this fantastic article. Keep coming back for more guest contributions. If you are in a band and would like some free publicity send us your views on one of your own 45s and we'll do the rest!

Yeti are Graham Blacow – Drums; Andrew Cannes - Electric, Vocals; John Hassall - Bass, Vocals; Mark “Harmony” Underwood - Acoustic, Vocals

For more information go to the bands’ website yetigonzales.com

Order your copy of 'The Legend Of Yeti Gonzales’ here.