The Essential Soul thread

[bhoywonder]

As the search is defunct I can't check if there's been a thread about this, but I picked it up on Saturday and it knocked me out.



What a wonderful record. It's incredible the number of singers and records that I've never even heard of, let alone heard, that have the capacity to make me rave and rant. I was chatting with Owen recently about how I'd come up against a bit of a brick wall with buying soul records and that I'd begun to get a bit frustrated with having bought a few things of late that I'd seen raved about that I found a little average, so it's superb to find that there's still loads and loads yet to find.

If you don't know this record, I urge you to pick it up at your earliest convenience.

[Kenji]

What a wonderful record. It's incredible the number of singers and records that I've never even heard of, let alone heard, that have the capacity to make me rave and rant. I was chatting with Owen recently about how I'd come up against a bit of a brick wall with buying soul records and that I'd begun to get a bit frustrated with having bought a few things of late that I'd seen raved about that I found a little average, so it's superb to find that there's still loads and loads yet to find.

If you don't know this record, I urge you to pick it up at your earliest convenience.

I prefer Honest Jons Candi and Bettye compilations, but I like this one a lot too.

Which albums did you buy you "seen raved about" but are "a little average" ?

(It's interesting, I think because sometimes I agree with this too...)

[bhoywonder]

What a wonderful record. It's incredible the number of singers and records that I've never even heard of, let alone heard, that have the capacity to make me rave and rant. I was chatting with Owen recently about how I'd come up against a bit of a brick wall with buying soul records and that I'd begun to get a bit frustrated with having bought a few things of late that I'd seen raved about that I found a little average, so it's superb to find that there's still loads and loads yet to find.

If you don't know this record, I urge you to pick it up at your earliest convenience.

I prefer Honest Jons Candi and Bettye compilations, but I like this one a lot too.

Which albums did you buy you "seen raved about" but are "a little average" ?

(It's interesting, I think because sometimes I agree with this too...)

I've not yet got the Bettye Swann one, but I think I prefer this to the Candi Staton.

As for the albums you ask about, I can't actually think of any of the top of my head... give me a moment to think about it.

[Guy E]

I just got a CDR copy of the O.V. Wright Back Beat Box, released in Japan in 1990. It's amazing. It contains his four albums from the label and a 17-track disc of singles and rarities:

8 Men and 4 Women
Nucleus of Soul
A Nickel and a Nail
Memphis Unlimited
Treasured Moments

Five CD's, although it easily fits on three. I had about 2/3's of this stuff on LP, 45 and various CD comp's of his output, but it's great having the real deal. Incredible soul music.

[Count Machuki]

THE IMPRESSIONS- Ultimate Collection

I really like the early stuff on this compilation, particularly the "gospel"-inflected songs such as "Amen," "You Must Belive Me" and "People Get Ready"...but really, it's a lovely listen and I was wondering whether this was the best Impressions compilation avaliable, and where I should go next. Any suggestions?

That's from a NP thread, and I've already got some advice from Yves, but if anyone else has some extra pointers, that would be great. Essentially, I'm gravitating towards the "deeper," more harmony-based side of their work- the stuff which, to these unaccustomed ears seems to be more rooted in gospel. It's a cliche, perhaps, but what I'm enjoying right now is the richness of their sound, it's very comforting, if that makes sense.

i hear you, TRSP, but don't forget the throwaway numbers, great in their own right as stabs at the charts. curtis could churn them out with the best of them...makes the fact that he decided to write real lyrics all the more powerful...

NP -
I love you (yeah) - the impressions
to be followed by...
I love you (yeah) - the action

really a fun track.

[Kenji]

As for the albums you ask about, I can't actually think of any of the top of my head... give me a moment to think about it.

2 artists I can think of:

Sam Dees
Alice Clark

Some of their songs are amazing, but they have a lot of bad ones (usually because of production...)

[BARON CORNY DOG]

/images/artist_ovwright_side.jpg[/img]
I just got a CDR copy of the O.V. Wright Back Beat Box,

The other Holy Grail!

[cheifwhat]

essential...

[cheifwhat]

and if anyone was planning to send snowdog that issac hayes, don't, i'll be seeing him on wednesday

[cheifwhat]

there's been no mention of any northern soul artist like dobie gray or jackie edwards

did gloria jones only ever do tainted love? did all those northern soul peeps only ever do singles?

what about arron nevil? i heard 'hercules' recently and i love it (i play it most fridays when i DJ in the bar in brick lane)

anyone know this...?




Lou Pride? i bought this from jazzman records (it contains three 45s) and the song 'i'm com'un home in the morn'un' is fantastic. (i have them on mp3 as well).


and may i also recomend





she duets on one song with the now deceased 'lee fields' anyone know anything about him?

[BARON CORNY DOG]

there's been no mention of any northern soul artist like dobie gray or jackie edwards

When you re-read the title of the thread, you'll find it says "essential soul"

[The Modernist]

there's been no mention of any northern soul artist like dobie gray or jackie edwards

When you re-read the title of the thread, you'll find it says "essential soul"

I think Chiefwhat got it right actually.

Out On The Floor is overrated (and arguably isn't even soul), but the general point Chiefwhat makes is a good one, that often the "essential" things are the one off obscure things that are kept alive through the enthusiasm of scenes like Northern Soul.

[cheifwhat]

there's been no mention of any northern soul artist like dobie gray or jackie edwards

When you re-read the title of the thread, you'll find it says "essential soul"

I think Chiefwhat got it right actually.

Out On The Floor is overrated (and arguably isn't even soul), but the general point Chiefwhat makes is a good one, that often the "essential" things are the one off obscure things that are kept alive through the enthusiasm of scenes like Northern Soul.

you mean 'essential' is a sub genre?

you're shitting me right?




THREAD KILLA!!!!!!!

[Count Machuki]

lee fields, dead? i knew joseph henry had passed on, but...well:

what a drag.

-->
<--

at any rate, i've only ever heard one other gloria jones number, a deep soul track with a slow burn on it. it's no tainted love.

NORTHERN soul is needlessly obscure by nature, i reckon, but that doesn't make it off limits. me, i'd love to do a ethnographic study on northern soul subculture, but i'd have to move to england...d'oh!

[Count Machuki]

re. nevilles:

this is a great 2-disc comp., separated by brother. like a dual greatest hits of the early days. some fine N.O. r&b here...standing on the verge of being deep funk.

[Guy E]

like garage punk, it was the 7" single which defined the genre.

whilst most of the essential albums have been listed here, this thread does highlight why very few soul albums make top ten lists. imo.

The reason Soul albums don't make Top 100 lists in rock magazine polls is because virtually all music fans start with a racial bias in their listening habits and try as one might, it never gets completely erased. I'm a big fan of Soul music, but this is true for me too... there's always a trace feeling of being an outsider. Albums by black artists never sold particularly well to white audiences and most of us have discovered the music retroactively, which makes it less "essential" on an emotional level. It's also something of a crapshoot as to what albums people have investigated, so there's not a clear consensus among white listeners as to what the "essential" albums are within the pantheon of Soul artists.

It's probably better to just think of the music separately rather than as a competition... The Blue Nile are better than James Brown! The charts have always been separate, the audiences are generally segregated... there's no need for MOJO et. al. to feign objectivity in these matters. It just makes them look silly.

[Count Machuki]

like garage punk, it was the 7" single which defined the genre.

whilst most of the essential albums have been listed here, this thread does highlight why very few soul albums make top ten lists. imo.

The reason Soul albums don't make Top 100 lists in rock magazine polls is because virtually all music fans start with a racial bias in their listening habits and try as one might, it never gets completely erased. I'm a big fan of Soul music, but this is true for me too... there's always a trace feeling of being an outsider. Albums by black artists never sold particularly well to white audiences and most of us have discovered the music retroactively, which makes it less "essential" on an emotional level. It's also something of a crapshoot as to what albums people have investigated, so there's not a clear consensus among white listeners as to what the "essential" albums are within the pantheon of Soul artists.

It's probably better to just think of the music separately rather than as a competition... The Blue Nile are better than James Brown! The charts have always been separate, the audiences are generally segregated... there's no need for MOJO et. al. to feign objectivity in these matters. It just makes them look silly.

great post.
still, i connect with soul music on an emotional level every day.

[Guy E]

I just got a CDR copy of the O.V. Wright Back Beat Box.

The other Holy Grail!

It was worth hunting down. The various comp CD's do a good job of cherry-picking the highlights, but hearing the albums in whole is fantastic. There's a clear Sam Cooke influence on his earlier stuff that I'd never really focused on. Probably more Sam Cooke meets Bobby 'Blue' Bland, which is a great earthy sound and makes sense with the Don Robey Back Beat/Duke association. Then when Willie Mitchell nails his production sound things gets very heavy. A Nickel and a Nail is a classic album.

All OOP and they will probably remain so unless Hip-O-Select take my advice.

[Guy E]

still, i connect with soul music on an emotional level every day.

I do too (how can you not, it's wildly emotional music) and with kids growing up listening to Hip Hop the barriers will probably continue to erode. But the point is, it's probably best to just recognize it as a separate entity like Jazz and not compare the apples to the oranges. Inducting Miles Davis into the RnR Hall of Fame bothers me. Sure, he broke down all kinds of barriers and invented new musical language, but it just feels so self-congratulatory on the part of the HoF to induct him... "Oh, we have broad tastes, we're hip."

[bhoywonder]

I sort of agree, Guy, but would go further that to define or pigeon-hole any music at all is a fruitless and pointless, not to mention impossible, task. As Jesse Jackson said...