June 2008 Archives
Black Music Month '08: Perfect Combination--The Soul Duets
Tags: Brenda Lee Eager, Duets, Jerry Butler, Johnny Gill, Marvin Gaye, Michael Henderson, Rick James, Roberta Flack, Stacy Lattisaw, Stephanie Mills, Tammi Terrell, Teddy Pendergrass, Teena Marie
This is the third in a series Black Music Month Playlists that will explore common themes explored in the Soul Music Tradition.
***
In 1984, Stacy Lattisaw recorded "Perfect Combination" with Johnny Gill. Lattisaw was a teen sensation recordings hits like a remake of The Moments' "Love on a Two Way Street" and "Let Me Be Your Angel." Atlantic hoped to capitalize on her success in order to break a teen-aged Boston vocalist by the name of Johnny Gill. It would still be years before Gill's body would catch up to his grown man vocals and eventually an audience that appreciated his talents. But "Perfect Combination" was an earnest attempt to capture that Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell magic. When Lattisaw was on the downside of her career and Gill's star was finally on the rise (courtesy of his spin with New Edition) the two collaborated again on "Where Do We Go from Here?" The songs with Lattisaw and Gill are a reminder of other great Soul and R&B duets, like those below.
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough"--Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" borders on being cliché, as it is so often referenced as the quintessential Soul duet. True there's an innocence and sexiness that's palpable in this classic pairing of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell and Motown milked it for all they could releasing three album's worth of material by the duo including classics like "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing," "You're All I Need to Get By" and "Your Precious Love", the song that Terrell was signing when she collapsed in Gaye's arms at a concert in Virginia in 1967. Ironically, Gaye and Terrell weren't even in the studio together--Gaye added his vocals long after Terrell laid down hers. Yet the energy is real and for that we can thank the writers, Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, who gave Marvin and Tammi songs drawn from their own romance. Terrell died tragically in 1970 of a brain tumor.
"Ain't Understanding Mellow"--Jerry Butler & Brenda Lee Eager
Jerry Butler had been in the music business for nearly 15 years and was on the third stage of a career that began as the lead vocalist of The Impressions (with Curtis Mayfield). Butler was on the downside of the most popular point of a career that was largely resuscitated courtesy of Leon Huff and Kenny Gamble (a few years before PIR) when he teamed with Brenda Lee Eager for the ultimate breakup song "Ain't Understanding Mellow." This was serious grown folk music about a man showing appreciation for a partner, who was honest enough to admit to her love for another man. In turn she shows appreciation for him understanding her situation. This ultimately a song about a couple who were grounded in friendship, even as the romantic relationship starts to sour. And yeah, what's the deal with that title?
"At the Concert"--Roberta Flack & Michael Henderson
Roberta Flack recorded a series of legendary duets with the late Donny Hathaway, much if it drawn from their 1972 recording Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway which included the lovely "Where is the Love?" and the nationalist era staple "Be Real Black." Hathaway was in a deep depression when Flack again found him with 1978's "The Closer I Get to You." The two had just finished two tracks when Hathaway fell to his death in January 1979. For her part, Flack found another willing partner in Peabo Bryson with "Tonight I Celebrate" in 1983. Less known is Flack's appearance on Michael Henderson's 1977 recording Going Places. Henderson, who at one time played with Miles Davis in his fusion band, possessed a vocal quality every much the peer of fellow bassist Larry Graham and other such as James Ingram. Though he lacked the promotional push that his talents deserved, "At the Concert" is a sprawling piece of jazzy Soul that very much represents a novel collaboration on the part Henderson and Flack.
"Two Hearts"--Teddy Pendergrass & Stephanie Mills
Teddy Pendergrass was at the top of his game and Stephanie Mills had finally delivered on the promise of all those nights on stage performing in The Wiz. For Mills, there was no better choice than Pendergrass to help maintain some of the momentum that would bring her greater popularity in the late 1980s. Pendergrass and Mills had collaborated the year before with a version of Peabo Bryson's "Feel the Fire." "Two Hearts" had a lighter touch perfectly pitched for the stepper-set.
"Happy"--Teena Marie & Rick James
Everyone remembers "Fire & Desire" the Teena Marie and Rick James classic that practically defines the slow burning R&B ballad. Rick James was living off of the brilliance of 1980's Street Songs and Marie was having her break through moment with It Must Be Magic when Quiet Strom programmers picked up on "Fire and Desire." And of course when Marie finally weighs in with "love them or leave them" midway through, the song took R&B to new heights making us all forget about the significance of their interracial desire as recorded on wax. When James went back in the studio for 1982's Throwin' Down, he again collaborated with Marie on the largely forgotten "Happy", though this time, he matches Marie note for note, marking one of his singularly great performances.
Black Music Month '08: The Thom Bell Sessions
Tags: Linda Creed, Philadelphia International Records, Phyllis Hyman, The Delfonics, The Spinners, The Stylistics, Thom Bell
This is the second in a series Black Music Month Playlists that will explore common themes explored in the Soul Music Tradition.
***
When Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff were finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year, it put again placed a focus on the legacy of "Philly" Soul. The success of Philadelphia based acts like Boyz II Men, Jill Scott, The Roots, Musiq, Eric Roberson, Jaguar Wright and Kindred the Family Soul has helped give the very idea of Philly Soul contemporary cache. But all too often memories of the classic days of Philly Soul fail to recall the impact of Philly based doo-wop acts, which featured high-pitched lead vocalist and many of the forgotten musicians and producers that gave the city its signature sound. At the height of their power, Gamble and Huff managed Philadelphia International Records (the groundbreaking black boutique label) and presided over a music publishing company known as "Mighty Three Publishing." The third member of that triad was Thom Bell, a staunchly independent, Caribbean bred musician and producer who always resisted joining into the Philly International's camp. Instead Bell chose the role of the free agent, who would have the liberty to work with artist that he wanted to work with. The product of that independence are definitive Soul recordings from The Delfonics, The Stylistics and The Spinners. Here's a playlist of some of the best of the Thom Bell Sessions:
"La-La (Means I Love You)"--The Delfonics
The Delfonics were the first Philly Soul group that Thom Bell had regular success with. They would never reach the supergroup status of groups like The Stylistics and The Spinners, but like their New York City based peers The Main Ingredient, they were the quintessential East-Coast Soul harmony group of the late 1960s. And "La-La (Means I Love You)" is just timeless, from the simplicity of the lyrics: "Now I don't wear a diamond ring and I don't even have song to sing, all I know is la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la...la mean, I love you" to the earnestness of lead singer William Hart's soaring falsetto. The genius of the song was not lost on a young Michael Jackson--a big fan of Hart--who recorded his own classic version of the song on the Jackson Five's ABC (1970) recording.
"People Make the World Go 'Round"--The Stylistics
As would be a regular occurrence with Bell, once he did all that he could with a group, he would move on to the next challenge. That next challenge was Russell Thompkins, Jr. and the Stylistics. Thompkins, who is one of the most legendary falsettos of all time, fit perfectly into Bell's Philly-Soul sensibilities. With new writing partner Linda Creed in tow, the Stylistics recorded a string of simply classic recordings including, "You Make Me Feel Brand New," "Betcha by Golly Wow" and "Break Up to Make Up". Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and Al Green, notwithstanding, Bell's work with the Stylistics in the early 1970s was the definitive Soul sound. But I always go back to that very first album, when the stakes were less, and find the brilliance of "People Make the World Go Round." Powerful and subtle social commentary (with the winds of change literally blowing in the background) with an insurgent energy that aimed to find the human connection of it all. The song was never more powerfully employed that in the opening segment of Spike Lee's 1993 period piece Crooklyn.
"You Are Everything"--The Stylistics
"Today I saw somebody who looked just like you/she walked like you do/I thought it was you/As she turned the corner/I called out your name, I felt so ashamed, when it wasn't you..." Damn. Thom Bell and Linda Creed wrote those lyrics only a short time after Bell mistakenly believed that he saw someone he knew in the street. And I cite these lyrics to again highlight how Bell and Creed often took simple everyday experiences and turned them into lyrics and melodies that just tugged at the heart. I mean damn, who hasn't thought they saw a long lost boyfriend and girlfriend walking across the street or on a passing subway train and then spent the next hour lamenting about what could have been? Cards on the table, I'm a romantic cat, and Ne-Yo ain't writing nothing like this.
"I'll be Around"--The Spinners
When signed to Motown in the late 1960s, The Spinners were little more than an afterthought. After a still youthful Stevie Wonder provided them with the gift, "It's A Shame," in 1970, the group bounced to Atlantic (sans co-lead vocalist GC Cameron) with Philippe Wynne joining Bobby Smith on lead vocals. As the story goes, Atlantic offered Thom Bell the opportunity to record any act on their roster (which at the time included Donny Hathaway and Aretha Franklin) and he choose The Spinners. The rest is history, as the B-side of the first Spinners/Bell single, "I'll Be Around" can still be heard on cell phone commercials 35-years after its release. Classics like "Could It be I'm Falling in Love," "Mighty Love" and everybody's favorite mama song, "Sadie" would soon follow.
"Old Friend"--Phyllis Hyman
Bell's writing partner Linda Creed was diagnosed with breast cancer in the late 1970s and as Bell began to retreat from day to day activities in the recording industry, Creed sought other writing partners, including Michael Masser, with whom she wrote "The Greatest Love of All" (initially recorded by George Benson, but a major pop hit for Whitney Houston in 1986, the same year that Creed succumbed cancer. In the backdrop of Houston's success, the late Phyllis Hyman released her career defining release Living All Alone, which included one of the last major collaborations between Creed and Bell, with "Old Friend."
Black Music Month 2008: In the Midnight Hour: Soul for Lost Love and Crises of Faith
Tags: Aretha Franklin Bobby "Blue" Bland, Black Music Month, Dorothy Moore, Mable John, Soul Music, The Staple Singers
This is the first in a series Black Music Month 2008 Playlists that will explore common themes in the Soul Music Tradition.
Classic recordings like Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour" and Ray Charles's "The Night Time is the Right Time" gave witness to the magic of the night, but the midnight hour is also a time for reflection and prayer. The following playlist examines the themes of lost love and crises of faith as they might be experienced late in the midnight hour.
Bobby "Blue" Bland--"Chains of Love"
Not enough people talk about Bobby "Blue" Bland these days, though his signature hiccup (if you could call it that) is one of the more classic idiosyncrasies in the history of American pop music. Give Kanye West and Shawn Carter some credit for recovering "Ain't No Love In the Heart of the City," a great Bland track no doubt, but not representative of the classic sides he laid down for Duke in the late 1950s and 1960s. Tracks like "Turn on Your Lovelight" (see the opening montage in Eve's Bayou), "That's the Way Love Is" or "Cry, Cry, Cry" are quintessential Bland. As the latter song displays, didn't nobody beg better than Bobby "Blue" Bland in his day and "Chains of Love" is classic example. In the song Bland laments the power of a love that he can't extricate himself from ("now I'm a prisoner"), as he begs for his lover to stop holding him hostage if she's not gonna love him back ("if you gonna leave me, please set me free"). But it is the last verse that gets at the sense of despair as Bland sings, "well it's 3 O' Clock in the morning, lawd and the moon is shining bright...and I was just sitting here wondering, lawd (hiccup) where can you be tonight" and you can just imagine this man sitting on his porch rocking his body back and forth recalling the classic "Trouble in Mind" ("I'm going down to the river...if the blues don't get me, I might have to rock on away from here."
Mable John--"Your Good Thing is About to End"
Mable John is probably best known as the sister of the late and tragically forgotten Little Willie John ("Fever"), but she was also a vocalist on the Stax label in the mid-1960s. John languished as Stax for lots of reasons, including the inability of the label to better promote the women on its label, save Carla Thomas. But John did leave some gems and "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)"--laced with those classic Stax horns--is one of those gems. "Your Good Thing" presents the woman's view on the man whose taken her for granted, but it's John's voice which just screams defiance that makes the track such a treasure. The track was brilliantly featured in the recent documentary, Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story, as the soundtrack to the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. The scene in the film is a reminder that this music was never just about romance and partying, but that the very sound of the music resonated in the world that black folk struggled to make for themselves.
Aretha Franklin--"So Long"
Aretha Franklin was on fire when Atlantic released the oddity Soul '69. Having established herself as the centerpiece of American popular music in 1967, Franklin chose to stretch out and record tracks that spoke to her comfort with the genres of Blues and Rhythm & Blues such as Percy Mayfield's "River's Invitation" and "Today I Sing the Blues" (like the sides she recorded for Columbia prior to the legendary move to Atlantic in late 1966). "So Long" was one of those tracks. Coming in at nearly 5-minutes, "So Long" is one of Franklin's singular achievements as she channels the influences of Dinah Washington, Esther Phillips, Clara Ward and so many others as well as singing to the emotional dramas of her own life (her difficult marriage with Ted White). And yet she still simply holds up the blood-stained banner for the best of Soul music. "So Long" signals the beginning of Franklin's artistic peak (not commercial), culminating with Amazing Grace (1972) and the underrated If You Don't Think (1974)
The Staple Singers--"You Gonna Make Me Cry"
The Staple Singers came to Stax, after the great purge of 1967--Atlantic's taking of all of Stax's masters--and were a focal point of Al Bell's attempt to rebuild the label. They were largely known as a Gospel group--but began to transition into general uplift music with classic recordings like "Respect Yourself" and "I'll Take You There." Of course you can't talk about the Staples without chatting up sister Mavis (Dylan's secret boo) whose voice maps a range of pains, pleasures and desires that we've never had language to describe (though Daphne Brooks will one day). And that's why the not-often remembered "You Gonna Make Me Cry" deserves attention as one of the group's most important performances. This is a song about despair, but not simply that "you don't really love me no more " despair but that "the kids need knew shoes and what we gonna eat for dinner?" level of despair. This is a song of betrayal--as much about the betrayal of some man, as it is the betrayal of the State. Another quick reminder that the personal is the political.
Dorothy Moore--"Misty Blue"
A few years ago, Mary J. Blige gave "Misty Blue" a spin on her live recording and it seemed apropos for her to give some tribute to a performer who is remembered, at best, as a one-hit wonder--if she is remembered at all. For a few years though in the 1970s, while so many had become addicted to the rhythms of Disco, Al Green was in the midst of spiritual crisis and Soul music had generally lost it geographic bearings, Dorothy Moore held down Southern Soul. Tracks like "I Believe You" and her take on Willie Nelson's "Funny (How Time Slips Away)" never became national hits, but were emblematic of an artist that took the tradition seriously. "Misty Blue" (1976) was a major hit and achieves its success in its simplicity--Soul music with a country twang. It was the last commercial gasps for a generation of artists like Moore and Joe Simon, though many would remake themselves in the world of Gospel music.
