Category: "old music"
RECOVERIES: JUICE CREW GEMS
Kool G Rap and DJ Polo: I Declare War
Craig G: Drop a Bomb On 'Em
From The Juice Crew EP (DWG, 2008)
There's many layers of face-melting madness involved in this project. Let us count the ways:
1) Unreleased Juice Crew tracks from the vaults of Marley Marl? Say what? How have these not seen the light in 20 years?
2) And not just any unreleased tracks. We're talking about legitimately smokin' hot tracks, especially the two Kool G Rap songs on here, not to mention a Big Daddy Kane exclusive, a song from Tragedy, back in his pre-pubescent Super Kids days, and another great cut from the wildly underrated Craig G.
3) Despite what you would expect to be incredible demand for these songs, the EP was pressed up at 350 units. Never to be repressed. Whoa.
4) And did we mention it will cost $80? And is vinyl only?
Give DWG (Diggers With Gratitude) credit - like Kane, ain't no half steppin' here. They designed a product that would blow minds on several levels. I suspect many hip-hop fans will go from, "holy sh--, unreleased Juice Crew joints" to "but wait...$80?" and get stuck somewhere in between.
Full disclosure: I plunked down the $80. I wasn't the happiest dude doing it but I have zero regrets (especially after hearing the full songs). This thing sold out before it was even really publicized so clearly, the price point didn't hurt the EP one bit. Folks may grumble at the exclusivity (though you can bet this will get ripped and put online within days) of it but limited edition items have been a part of hip-hop (and pop music) history for ages. I do feel bad for genuine fans who simply don't have the ends to spend on a project like this though. Maybe Marley will drop these on CD in the future, who knows? (Here's another well-reasoned defense).
But enough with the politics - peep the music.
"I Declare War" is classic Kool G Rap, by which I mean he's still just slicing up MCs lyrically vs. coming with the gangsta/murder raps his later career was known for. It can easy to forget that even though Kane was supposed to be Cold Chillin's most dexterous MC, G Rap was a close-second, flow-wise. This song ranks amongst some of the best I've ever heard from him in terms of presence and lyrical wit. Sick track too - rough and rugged like so many of Marley Marl's late '80s fare.
I also had to roll with the Craig G song here - how could I possibly pass up a song featuring one of my favorite in the Crew, rapping over a track sampling the Jackson Sisters' "I Believe In Miracles" with a little "Blow Your Head" mixed in? Ridiculous.
30SOMETHING
Spoonie Gee: Spoonin Rap
From 12" (Enjoy, 1979). Also on Best of Enjoy.
Paulette and Tanya Winley: Rhymin' and Rappin'
From 12" (Winley, 1979). Also on Death Mix.
As we're wishing goodbye to 2008 - a great year in some ways (Obama!), a terrible year in others (financial meltdown) - it's worth considering that 1979 will mark hip-hop's 30th anniversary. I've been thinking on this point - heavy - of late, not the least of which is that I find it interesting that there's yet to be a major post-hip-hop style of Black music to emerge. I'll have to leave that for a future conversation but it's been a good excuse to revisit some of the songs from hip-hop first year.
There is, of course, some debate around whether hip-hop really brought in 1979 or '78 (or even earlier) but if we use "Rapper's Delight" as the style's global introduction, then '79 feels about right. What's definitely true is that '79 is the first year we see a number of early singles get out there, not just "Rapper's Delight" but also the Funky 4 + 1's "Rapping and Rocking the House" and the early Grandmaster Flash and Furious 5 hit, "Superrappin'."
Of that pioneering cohort, I've always been a fan of Spoonie Gee who, to me, was the first individual MC to really distinguish himself, especially in a field where most of the major rap talents were in groups. It helped that his uncle, Bobby Robinson, ran Enjoy Records which, along with Sylvia Robinson's (no relation) Sugarhill Gang, was one of the major, early rap labels (though, unlike Sugarhill, Enjoy didn't survive for too long). Spoonie was blessed with one of those ultra-smooth voices that were all the rage in the old school years; he just sounded cool on the mic but while he didn't have the fiercest of flows (compared to, say, Kool Moe Dee of the Treacherous Three), Spoonie took the pimp/player style of the blaxploitation era and updated it with wild style.
"Updating" is also how Paul Winley approached hip-hop. He had initially gotten into the music biz in the 1950s, riding the doo wop wave, and by the mid 1970s, Winley had turned towards funk, perhaps best-known for the Harlem Underground Band of "Smokin' Cheeba Cheeba" fame. As hip-hop began to emerge in New York, Winely was quick to capitalize and drew on his own family's skills to help him get into the scene. His daughters Paulette and Tanya Winley put out a few singles in the early '80s, most produced by mother Ann Winely (a family affair, indeed). 1980's "Vicious Rap" was a superior single but for '79, "Rhymin' and Rappin'" was still an astounding track, combining a rollicking piano loop with the distinctive, piercing voices of the Winley girls.
RIDING OUT OF 2008
Since I spend so much time buried in older music, my end-of-the-year lists can never properly be based around just new tunes. Especially in 2008, I'm certain I spent considerably more time listening to music from 30-40 years ago than I did new material and so my list of favorites would feel artificial without including old and new together. With that, onto my picks of the year.
NEW:
Solange Knowles: I Decided
From Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams (Geffen, 2008)
When I first heard this in early summer, I kept thinking, "it's got the build-up of a Supremes song but then never delivers. The Neptunes' beat just felt weird as a result and I initially dismissed it. Yet, each time I'd hear it, I'd just want to keep listening longer, maybe subconsciously waiting for the "real" beat to drop, but whatever the case, I soon enjoyed it for what it was - infectious pop in the best tradition of Ross and her Supremes. This was, much to my surprise, my favorite pop single of the year.
Q-Tip: Getting Up
From The Renaissance (Motown, 2008)
Not that I haven't already written enough about Q-Tip this year but I'm still marveling at how good a comeback he's made. It's one thing to want to champion an artist, it's another thing when they exceed your expectations. Q-Tip's return was set off by the excellence of this first single that told you some of his ol' magic was back.
Raphael Saadiq: Seven
From The Way I See It (FYE Exclusive) (Columbia, 2008)
For all my reservations, I still think Saadiq pulled off one of the best crafted albums of the year, bringing together a masterful blend of '60s soul styles onto one album. However, my favorite song of his this year was actually a bonus cut from the "FYE exclusive" version (who the hell is FYE?): "Seven." I was told that this song is actually a veiled reference to Michael Vick (#7) and if you listen to the lyrics with that in mind, you can hear it. Even without that weird, pop culture nod though, I like how everything on this song comes together: the reverb on the melancholy guitars, the tap of the tambourine, and most of all, that synthesizer that comes in on the chorus with its buzzy texture.
Menahan Street Band: Home Again!
From Make the Road By Walking (Dunham, 2008)
Funk instrumental albums are a relatively rare breed but Brooklyn's Menahan Street Band pulled off one of the slickest albums in that vein this side of the James Brown Band circa Popcorn. Off that, I couldn't stop listening to "Home Again!" which has this beautifully laid-back feel thanks to the mellow guitar and horn section. Not sure why they put a ! on the title of such a languid composition but I'm more than happy to shout its praises.
Mayer Hawthorne and the County: Just Ain't Gonna Work Out
From 7" single (Stones Throw, 2008)
This Detroit native turned L.A. transplant takes Allen Toussaint's drums and lays it under a simple but catchy melody and then unleashes that soulful falsetto to get the groove right. Heartbreak rarely sounded so achingly sweet.
OLD:
Edwin Starr: Running Back and Forth
From War & Peace (Gordy, 1970)
My friend Hua Hsu put me up on this after I had bugged him for some music recommendations. The best known song off this album is, of course, Starr's "War," and it's easy to have lost sight of this other track compared to the sheer magnitude of "War's" success and iconic stature. But this song oozes with classic Motown production strengths of its era (RIP Norman Whitfield!), especially in its brass and the driving push of the sound bed. Seriously, try to piece apart all the little bits of the music; it is dense yet comes off sounding clean and simple. In contrast to Starr's forceful polemicizing on "War," here, he's in classic love man mode, trying to kick some game. (Bonus points for the Sam Cooke nod on the bridge).
Labi Siffre: A Little More Line
From S/T (Pye, 1970)
This British singer, songwriter and poet has a voice you can't soon forget - it's not the most powerful, nor the most dynamic - but it is so distinctive and soothing, it stays with you long after the song's end. I especially love how this song builds from an almost hymnal opening only to swell in size and sound with the string orchestration and some killer work on the drums. Siffre's entire catalog from the '70s is classic material (even if many of you probably have never heard of him). This was from his debut album and it's just as good of a place to start as any to enjoy his gifts.
Alton Ellis: What Does It Take To Win Your Love
From Sunday Coming (Coxsone, 1971)
There is something humbling discovering this song the year of Ellis' death. My awareness of him preceded his passing but I had been giving Ellis' cover of Jr. Walker's hit much spin in the first part of the year that when Ellis passed away in October, I found myself coming back to his catalog again and again. Ellis was arguably reggae's finest soul man, not just with his covers but also original compositions.
The Impressions: I'm Loving Nothing
From This Is My Country (Curtom, 1968)
In a year of Obama's ascendency, there are no doubt more apropos songs from the Impressions' catalog but the song of theirs that will haunt me is "I'm Loving Nothing." Its beauty seems almost profane given that this is all about the death of love. Not something you'd want as a first dance at your wedding but doesn't it sound like an embrace rather than slow turn away?
Bonnie and Shelia: You Keep Me Hanging On
From 7" (King, 1971). Also on New Orleans Funk Vol. 2.
King is best known as the home of James Brown for many of his pivotal funk productions of the late 60s but at least for this single, the Cincinnati-based label picked up a slice of NOLA funk thanks to this excellently produced tune from Wardell Quezerque. One of my new favorite femme funk tracks, "You Keep Me Hanging On" reminds me a lot of the snap and sass of Jean Knight's "Mr. Big Stuff." Hang with it.
BOTH OLD AND NEW:
Alicia Keys: Teenage Love Affair
From As I Am (J Records, 2007)
I know this album came out in 2007 but, um, I just started to listening to it this past week and "Teenage Love Affair" has been on constant rotation since. Single-song-repeat rotation. Part of why I'm so taken by it is how Jack Splash juices up the loop from the Temprees and gives Keys' tune such a richness and catchy drive. The other half is how Keys handles this song with just the right blend of coquettish sexuality and chaste charm. I think I have a school boy crush on "Teenage Love Affair."
DJ Day: What's Goin' On (DJ Day Edit)
From 7" single (MPM, 2008)
This single just came out a week or so ago and it finds California's DJ Day reworking an alternative version of Marvin Gaye's classic "What's Goin' On" in a way so clean and organic that even Motown fanatics would swear it was a lost tape from Motown's vaults. I don't know why it sounds so perfect with the season but there's something warm and comforting about this that makes you want to wrap yourself in it.
LORRAINE ELLISON AND ROBERTA FLACK: GOING EPIC
Lorraine Ellison: Stay With Me
From Best of Loma Records (Warner Bros, 1995)
Roberta Flack: Gone Away
From Chapter Two (Atlantic, 1970)
Folks are often surprised when I admit to having heard certain songs "for the first time," as if my work as a critic, DJ and fan somehow equals omniscience over all things soul. Let's face it - any single genre of music is so vast and immense that even the most dedicated fanatic can't possibly master everything that's out there, let alone for a massive category such as "soul."
So, on one hand, that means I'm inevitably going to be behind the curve on certain artists/labels/songs, even some that may seem obvious to others. But the upside to this - and it's quite an upside indeed - is that there's never a shortage of discoveries for me to make. As such, music is a love affair where your affections are renewed all the time, with each new listening.
For me, this point was brought home the other day when I went to see an early cut of The Boat That Rocked (a fictionalized, comedic take on the offshore British pirate stations of the mid 1960s). During one key scene in the film, one of the characters lip-synched to this incredible female soul song and within minutes of leaving the theatre, I was trying to track it down and it turned to be relatively easy: "Stay With Me Baby" by Lorraine Ellison.
I confess: I really didn't know much of anything about Ellison though her name rang some vague bell. As it turns out, "Stay With Me Baby" (later just renamed "Stay With Me") was her biggest hit, originally recorded in 1966. Written by Jerry Ragovoy, "Stay With Me" has ascended into musical lore given that it was allegedly recorded at Loma Studios when Frank Sinatra had cancelled a session at the last minute. Rather than waste the opportunity, Ellison was brought in to record "Stay With Me" and was able to make use of that huge orchestral backing.
It's a testament to the power of her voice that she manages to stay over that huge horn section. To put it simply, "Stay With Me," feels epic in its size and power - a display of vocal prowess that doesn't seem to be for the sake of, but rather expresses the full tumult of the emotional desperation the song is meant to convey.
Maybe this is just me but I immediately thought of "And I Am Telling You," from Dreamgirls which has a similar affect. One wonders if the songwriters for that musical had Ellison's song in the back of their mind.
Also, when it comes to epic songs, I always think to Roberta Flack's "Gone Away," a cover of the Impressions' song. Flack has rarely sounded so powerfully impassioned and as good as the original is, she kills it here, especially backed by Joel Dorn's exceptional production.
While not as big a hit as "Killing Me Softly," "Gone Away" became one of Flack's signature songs, even performed here in Ghana in 1971:
A MOUNTAIN OF MOTOWN
Tags: motown
Mary Wells: Two Lovers
Marvin Gaye: I'll Be Doggone
The Supremes: The Happening
Eddie Kendricks: Shoeshine Boy
T.G. Shepherd: Devil in the Bottle
Brenda Holloway: You've Made Me So Very Happy
All from The Complete Motown #1s (Motown, 2008)
As for many children of baby boomers, Motown was my introduction to soul music thanks to what I'd hear my dad listen to in the car. But even though I - like millions of Americans - would become intimately familiar with Motown's train of hits over the years, it took much longer for me to actually, truly appreciate the label's musical aesthetic.
I think partially that's because even though Motown was my entryway into R&B, it was Southern soul - Al Green, Aretha Franklin with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, Stax, etc. - that was my first love when it came to rhythm and blues. And while the whole Detroit vs. Memphis dichotomy is overbaked (the two unquestionably inspired one another through the years), for a long time, by throwing my camp in with Soulsville, that meant a frostier relationship to Hitsville. Motown's sheer ubiquity certainly didn't help, especially when I wanted my musical tastes to run deeper than The Big Chill soundtrack.
But once you get past the snobbery of not wanting to like what a billion other people like, it's hard to deny the beauty and polish of Motown, whether you're talking about the incredible songwriting from folks like Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder to Holland-Dozier-Holland's expert writing and production to the musical mastery and output of the Funk Brothers. Alas, I don't have the space to rap rhapsodic about the complexities of Motown's grandeur, but you can read up on your own.
Just in time for the holidays, Motown has put out an impressive new, 10 CD boxset called The Complete Motown #1s which compiles, from 1960's "Shop Around" (The Miracles) to 2000's "Bag Lady" (Erykah Badu), all 191 of Motown's chart-topping hits (plus 10 bonus songs). All this is packaged inside a stunning box designed to look like the original house Motown called its home. Good packaging may feel like a lost art these days but I have to say; this one knocks it out the park.
This said, I do have some nitpick critiques to make and I'll just get these out of the way first. To begin, organizing an anthology by focusing exclusively on #1 hits is normally the compilation equivalent of preaching to the choir. You're basically selling people the songs they already know. It's lucrative, to be sure (just ask these guys), but musically speaking, it's not meant to be adventurous.
Moreover though, it also raises the question of how you define what a "#1 hit" is and the compilers deployed some creative means in order to arrive at 191. Most of these songs were #1 on either the Billboard pop or R&B charts and that's perfectly reasonable, but at times, they also dip into other magazines like Cash Box and Record World when the Billboard charts are not, shall we say, cooperative? The biggest stretches are for songs like the Commodores' "Lady (You Bring Me Up)" which was #1 in the late summer of 1981...in New Zealand. At that point, you have to wonder if they're just trying to pad the numbers.
That said, in all fairness, this boxset isn't trying to be anything more than it is: the greatest of greatest hits collections and Motown hasn't exactly slumped in plumbing the full depths of their catalog through other means, including the incredibly, exhaustive "Complete Singles" series, which (so far) has stretched from the first volume which covered 1959-61 up through the upcoming volume 11a which is just for the first half of 1971. (These series also fill in my other beef with the Complete #1s: the lack of liner notes in the booklet (which does have great photos and full discographic info). That's not to mention the equally compelling Cellarful of Motown series of unreleased and rare vault selections.
As for the upsides of the boxset, the first is that despite having what you would think is song after song of "obvious" hits, it's easy for even a seasoned Motown fan to get reacquainted with more than a few songs that weren't always as monster as, say, The Supremes' "Baby Love" or the Temptations' "My Girl." For example, I had forgotten about how excellent Mary Wells' smoky ballad, "Two Lovers" was or how Marvin Gaye's "I'll Be Doggone" was so subtly funky and melodic at once. And then there were songs I had never heard before, including The Supreme's "The Happening" (a #1 pop hit in May 1967) or Eddie Kendricks' "Shoeshine Boy", a slick 1975 R&B hit. You also get the idea that the compilers probably had a kick in including Motown's two country hits, both by T.G. Shepherd who recorded for the Motown subsidiary, Melodyland and scored #1s in 1974 and '75.
Appealing to my desire to want to go beyond just the top of the charts, I appreciate the bonus tracks, which were all Motown songs recorded by other artists who then hit #1 with them. This includes a few songs which you would have thought were #1s originally, such as Martha and Vandellas' "Dancing in the Streets" (which later would become a #1 hit - albeit done astoundingly cheesy - for David Bowie and Mick Jagger in 1985). But that also included a few songs that I didn't realize originated with Motown, such as "You've Made Me So Very Happy" which I've always associated with Blood, Sweat and Tears in 1969 but was first recorded by Brenda Holloway in '67 (and done beautifully, I may add).
Analyzed by chronology, one of the things that surprised me about the Complete #1s was how quickly the comp is done with the '60s, which I've always considered to be the label's halycon era; by midway through Disc 3 (and this is a 10 disc set, remember), we're already into the '70s. Of course, those first three discs also contain probably the best known Motown hits within America's collective memory, in terms of what we think of when we think "Motown."
I was also struck at how strongly the sound of Motown shifted even as early as 1969 or so. New artists like the Jackson 5 with "I Want You Back" or producers like Norman Whitfield, working with the Temptations were radically shifting the style of Motown, partially in a nod to the changing sounds around them but also as a result of infusing the label with new blood. Equally striking is what ends up missing from Motown's 1970s era - many songs you might associate with the label's talented roster weren't, in fact, ever #1 singles, such as Stevie Wonder's "Love's In Need Of Love Today", arguably one of the greatest composition he ever recorded. Likewise, while Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" is duly represented, he doesn't appear very often after that (only twice) but it's not as if Gaye's career ended in 1973. What you realize is that Motown's great achievement wasn't based around singles any more (even though the label enjoyed a slew of those still); it was really about albums at that point - a quality of Motown's greatness that, unfortunately, this comp can't capture given its basic concept.
This has to be contrasted against the vast breadth of the offerings though - even if just looking at singles isn't the most accurate way to appreciate Motown's evolution, it is awe-inspiring to realize that the same label that brought you the Marvelette's "Please Mr. Postman," would be the same one to also drop Obama's favorite, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" by Stevie Wonder, Rick James' "Superfreak" and Boyz II Men's "End of the Road."
In the end, the Complete #1s is designed for the populist Motown fan, the one who will be drawn to its consolidation of 40 years of chart-topping smashes nicely boxed (and seriously, it is nicely boxed) into a neat, simple package. Ideally though, it's meant to serve as a starting point rather than end. Once you cross the recreated door on the box's front, it's easy enough to lose yourself within Motown's sprawling house of hits.
PHILADELPHIA FEELING
Tags: philly
The Delfonics: Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time
Spinners: I'll Be Around
O'Jays: Give the People What They Want
Teddy Pendergrass: Love TKO
All from Love Train: The Sound of Philadelphia (Sony, 2008)
'Tis the season for Philly soul. Right now, a series of media forces are all converging around the release of Love Train: The Sound of Philadelphia, a new 4-CD boxset which came out in October. Last week, the engineers of the Philly sound, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff were on NPR's Fresh Air, talking about their legacy and right now, various PBS stations are carrying a two-part television special (check your local listings; PBS.org was surprisingly of little help).
Maybe it's because I listen to Philly soul joints quite often and maybe it's because I had started reading John Jackson's exhaustive biography of Philadelphia soul, A House on Fire, but I was surprised to learn this recent attention is unusual. Motown/Detroit and Stax/Memphis have had lavish compilations, books and documentaries showered upon them over recent years but apparently, not so much Philadelphia Int'l Records (PIR), the label founded by Gamble and Huff that would become the prime engine (though not the only one) behind the Philly sound.
Love Train is meant to rectify that - at least partially - and its 71 songs, many of them now familiar to us as soul classics, are meant to remind us of how big an impact PIR has left on the pop music world. Certainly, there's no shortage of incredible hits on here; a few personal favorites would include The Delfonics' masterful sweet soul ballad, "Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time," The Spinners' catchy, "I'll Be Around," William Devaughn's summertime cruising classic, "Be Thankful For What You Got", the O-Jay's crackling bit of funk, "Give the People What They Want," Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' magnificently mellow, "Hope That We Can Be Together Soon," and Teddy Pendergrass' monster slow-jam, "Love TKO."
I'll come back to the merits of Love Train as a boxset in a moment but to riff on just the sound of PIR...I always thought Philly soul was almost like a logical progression directly out of the Motown sound, in other words, if you took what Holland-Dozier-Holland was doing circa '66 and imagined what it'd sound like in '71, voila! Gamble-Bell-Huff. It's not that the latter were derivative - or better said, what R&B outfit wasn't influenced by Motown in that era? - but rather, there's something in the clean arrangements and glossy production that reminds me of Motown's style (with a healthy dose of Chicago's multi-harmony vocals sprinkled in). It also doesn't hurt that PIR inherited a few acts from Motown, including the Jackson 5 for a quick spell, but especially the Spinners, who had a solid career with Motown but then blew up even bigger with PIR.
But whatever general stylistic differences may have existed between the two competitors, in the 1970s, it's hard to deny that PIR's successes - and I don't just mean in sales - easily rivaled that of the Motown juggernaut. Motown's '70s output really peaked around 1971, the year PIR began recording in earnest and in terms of overall consistency, PIR took a big part of the lead in shaping the sound of soul throughout the rest of the 1970s, especially up through the much maligned disco era.
In capturing the breadth of that sound, Love Train does as good a job as you can ask but at the same time, it is - after all - a greatest hits compilation. As such, it suffers from the same problem as all boxsets of this nature; it's preaching to the choir by serving up the songs you already know. That's not meant to be a harsh criticism - a set like this is a great point to begin with and therefore, a necessary first step - but as a soul fan, I'm more looking forward to a future anthology that goes deeper into other songs beyond the chart-toppers. That's what's happened in recent years with labels like Motown and Stax, where there has been a massive effort to plumb the depths of both to find new material to assemble (on that note, so far, Motown's been killing it, especially with their Cellarful of Motown series, but given Stax some credit for their whimsical, Soulsville Sings Hitsville which compiles Stax artists covering Motown songs).
As I said, I'm hoping Love Train isn't a high-point for exploring the magic that is TSOP; let all this new attention be the starting line for far more explorations in the years to come.
JIMMY HUGHES: ALMOST FAME-OUS
Jimmy Hughes: Steal Away
Jimmy Hughes: Neighbor, Neighbor
From The Best of Jimmy Hughes (FAME, 2008)
Leon Austin: Steal Away
From 7" (King, 1970)
When people talk about "Southern soul," inevitably, Memphis' Stax Records tends to come to mind first. After all, Stax/Volt was as vital a force in '60s soul as Motown and given their connection to Atlantic Records only expanded their reach. But the story of Southern soul isn't complete without the recognition of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Beginning in the early 1960s, the vaunted "Muscle Shoals Sound" helped influence a generation of soul, blues and rock n' roll musicians and helped make Muscle Shoals one of the capitols of South below the Mason-Dixon, alongside Memphis and Macon (GA).
It began with Rick Hall, an eccentric White musician and entrepreneur, who helped found FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) in the late 1950s. Jimmy Hughes was one of his first major finds - a local singer who, like many soulsters of that era, came into R&B through gospel. You can hear that influence clearly on many of his songs - there's something in his elongated syllables and dramatic upswings of voice that has a touch of Sunday morning vigor to it - but unlike some of more famed falsetto types to come out of the same tradition: Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, Al Green, etc., Hughes' had a mellow tenor that worked well on more polished tunes as well as the grittier blues he turned out.
Hughes was never as big of an artist as others from the South such as Otis Redding, William Bell or Solomon Burke but his output was prolific enough to churn out dozens of songs and carve out a career that spanned the '60s through early '70s. He was also responsible for one of the first major R&B hits to come out of Muscle Shoals - "Steal Away" from 1964. It's a slow, heavy ballad sprinkled with some tinkling blues piano from Ray Stevens and David Briggs' subtle organ, huffing in the background. "Neighbor, Neighbor" comes from two years later and you can clearly hear how proto-funk influences have crept in with Jerry Carrigan's snappy backbeat plus John Sandlin's guitar licks. What you hear there is the evolution towards the full-fledged Muscle Shoals Sound that artists such as Aretha Franklin and Percy Sledge would make historic use of but the rhythm section clearly has their chops down.
The surprising thing though is that the FAME house band - at the time - was exclusively White. That wasn't wholly unprecedented - Stax's vaunted MGs were thoroughly interracial - but it still must have shocked the unaware, coming to record at FAME, that their classic soul sound was the product of an all-White band (members of that band later broke from FAME to form the rival Muscle Shoals Sound Studio). At the very least, the story of Muscle Shoals raises some interesting questions around our assumptions of race, music and authenticity.
This Hughes CD is the first offering from a newly reinvigorated FAME Studios; one can only hope they make as much of their storied catalog available again.
For a bonus track, I included a cover of "Steal Away," done by Leon Austin from the late '60s, produced by another son of the South: James Brown. Austin's energetic take is dramatically different from the more somber original; if not the for the lyrics, you'd never guess they were based on the same song.
Q-TIP REVISITED: THE RENAISSANCE
Tags: samples
Q-Tip: Won't Trade
Q-TIp: Believe (feat. D'Angelo)
From The Renaissance (Motown, 2008)
Ruby Andrews: You Made a Believer Out Of Me
From 7" (Zodiac, 1969). Also on Casanova.
Large Professor: For My People
From The LP (Geffen, unreleased, 1995)
I know I just wrote about Q-Tip the other week but having sat with the new album for a few...I have to say, this is one phenomenal album. I know I may be biased - like many rap fans who grew up in the 1990s, Q-Tip and A Tribe Called Quest might very have been to us what the Beatles were to my parents' generation. Especially given that Q-Tip has been incognito now for the last 9 years, since Amplifeid dropped (and Kamaal The Abstract did not), Q-Tip's coming back into the game at a risky time. Young bucks don't necessarily know him and old heads might have too-high expectations after such a long hiatus.
I can't speak to whether The Renaissance is going to intuitively appeal to the same cats bumping T.I. and Young Jeezy (though, in T.I.'s case, maybe they are) but as an old head, The Renaissance not only reminds us why Q-Tip was one of our favorite MCs a decade but he's also - remarkably - improved in that time off. I can't think of too many other rappers who could claim that but Tip's upgraded his flow. It's more rhythmically complex, more in-the-pocket yet can play off the beat when it wants to. Listen to how he just darts effortlessly on "Won't Trade" - this is not the same laconic, breezy flow from the days of "Bonita Applebaum."
Personally, I was also tickled by the fact that Tip uses one of my favorite femme funk singles of all time: Ruby Andrews' "You Made a Believer" out of me. Andrews' original is ferocious - I think that's the Brothers of Soul backing her and they cook up a monster of a funk mover here.
Q-Tip's sample choice actually has some Native Tongues resonance since De La Soul used the same loop all the way back in 1989 for a bonus skit called "Brain Washed Follower."
However, as I just suggested, Q-Tip is still down with the Abstract Poet vibe, recreating some of the magic of the Tribe era with songs that have a rich, emotional resonance thanks to the soul and jazz stylings and accented by Tip's own philosophical meditations. A track like "Believe" (the album's penultimate song) embodies the same qualities that Tip's embodied throughout his career - putting the MIA D'Angelo in the mix only enhances the sweetness.
I was enjoying the track so much, I didn't notice this right away but it dawned on me that it sounded familiar and then it hit me - this version of "Believe" interpolates a very similar beat to what Large Professor cooked up all the way back in 1996 for his doomed solo debut, The LP. In some ways, the two men share more than just musical tastes - both had bitter label experiences resulting from unreleased projects. Though Large Professor's new Main Source hasn't garnered the same attention (or strong reviews), there's a nice serendipity to having the unreleased song from one man's album being remade for the comeback album of the other.
Seriously though, The Renaissance is a great listen; highly recommended. (Be sure to check out "Move," an incredible two-part song.)
Lastly, we have to acknowledge and celebrate what an incredible new day it is in America:
MUSIC FOR OUR MESS-AGE
Tags: mixtapes
Whatever you may think of Barack Obama as a potential president, it's undeniable that his candidacy has spurred a reaction from the hip-hop community the likes that I haven't seen in a generation. I don't want to go off on the typical "rap these days is so apolitical, blah blah" routine but let's be honest about this - for the last eight years, in one of the most divisive political climates we've seen since the Vietnam War era, the amount of political content in hip-hop has been stagnant at best, regressive at worst. You can blame that on apathy (or equally/more likely - media consolidation that's cut off avenues of dissent in mainstream music) but whatever the case, it's only in the last few months that I've really seen a major change and that's largely because of Obama.
The symbolic import of potentially seeing a Black person become president cannot be understated. Pundits joke about Obama being treated as a Messiah and while there is certainly a significant amount of facile hype, for several generations of Americans, the prospect of seeing our national leader finally be someone other than another White guy justifiably fills folks with sense of giddy excitement. Heck, I'm not even sure I like a lot of Obama's policies but even I can feel the power of the moment. Symbolism may not translate into material improvement but symbolism is important, especially in a society through which so many mythologies are woven.
This, I'm suggesting, explains why there's been so many "Obama mixes" created over the last few weeks, now circulating through the interweb. And I, for one, am genuinely impressed by these acts of inspiration. Here's a Side Dishes pick through some of the better ones:
King Most is a Bay Area DJ who first released this about a month ago. Most's mix is built around a series of songs that, thematically, match up with what he sees as the spirit of the candidate. The track selection begins excellently with with Smoked Sugar's "I'm a Winner" and from there, Most crafts a party mix that jumps from contemporary soul remixes (Erykah Badu's "Soldier") to some classic, dusty crate funk (Skull Snaps' "It's a New Day") to politicized hip-hop (Pitbull's "American War"). The mixing is smooth and consistent with a little flavor thrown on top but not too much. At various points, Most mixes in speeches and other spoken word bits to remind you that's there's a message behind the music.
Z-Trip's known for his eclectic mixes and this one is no different. Like King Most, Z's set is based off of thematic resonance with the election season - songs meant to inspire, uplift, outrage, etc. Keeping things on the hush, there's no tracklisting but from my ears, I caught some Last Poets, Public Enemy's "Black Steel In the Hour of Chaos," a Bob Marley cover, Arrested Development's "Everyday People," and...NuShooz's "I Can't Wait." Throughout, Z-Trip also sprinkles in bits from Obama's speeches, using them to play against the songs (as he does with that NuShooz track). His penultimate song? Sam Cooke's "A Change Gonna Come" - somewhat predictable but its impact is felt all the same.
Ok, technically, this isn't really an Obama mix since the bulk of it is like any other DJ Premier mixtape you'd hear - joints he produced, lots of mixing and cutting, etc. The main difference is the intro where Premier goes mad DJ on folks (as only Primo can). Here's the highlight: "if you want change, it's up to you motherf*ckers! Everywhere I go, across the world, people fight for their rights! Here in America, motherf*ckers is p*ssy, acting like they can't do sh*t, start doing some sh*t, otherwise you ain't doing sh*t! Make sense? It does now, because I said so!"
That alone is worth the time to download.
By the way, there was one other prominent mix:
And oh yeah: go vote on November 4th. You can't hope for change and not play your part by at least taking yourself to vote.
ALTON ELLIS: ROCKSTEADY SOUL
Tags: in memoriam
Alton Ellis: Get Ready (for Rocksteady)
Alton Ellis: I'm Still In Love With You
From Sings Rock and Soul (Studio One, 1967). Also on I'm Still In Love With You.
Alton Ellis: What Does It Take To Win Your Love
From Sunday Coming (Trojan, 1970)
Alton Ellis: Ain't No Music
From Many Moods of Alton Ellis (Tele-Tech, 1980)
My introduction to Alton Ellis came a few years back when a friend played me "Ain't No Music," Ellis flip on the Four Tops' "Ain't No Woman." I didn't know anything about Ellis at the time, except as the "Godfather of Rocksteady" but as I began to dig more into his catalog, the more enamored I became with it.
Ellis is widely considered the Jamaican singer prior to Bob Marley's ascendence. That's a tough shadow to sit in and Ellisr rarely enjoyed the kind of international recognition of some of his later peers. Despite that, he was one of the pivotal figures in the evolution of reggae, especially as an artist who understood how to transform American soul music with the ska and rocksteady rhythms he was so familiar with.
Remember that Jamaica's close proximity to the U.S. meant that a constant flow of American music came via radio and tourism. For a generation of Jamaican youth, the R&B hits of the '60s would become part of their musical heritage as well as a template to influence the growing ska movement. Ellis may or may not have "invented" rocksteady but as the first to give the style its name, he intuitively understood how to adapt the "rhythm and blues" of "R&B" and distill it into powerful, distinct bassline rhythms, upon which he sang his own version of the blues with a rich, sweet tenor.
The result is some of the best soul music ever recorded south of the border and a predictor of what would follow as rocksteady eventually morphed into reggae. What I've selected above is a teeny sampling from Ellis' overall catalog but they're amongst my very favorite reggae soul tunes.
The first three are taken from Ellis' early years experimenting with rocksteady, including the inaugural song to the genre - "Get Ready (For Rocksteady)" - and his sublime ballad, "I'm Still In Love With You." Ellis was equally adept with covers, as evinced with his incredible version of Jr. Walker and the All Stars' "What Does It Take to Win Your Love?" (Also check out his cover of Laura Nyro's "Gonna Take a Miracle").
RIP to the Original Rude Boy!
