60s/70s Soul Artists We Don't Like

[toomanyhatz]

Either you're poking at me because you love to do that, or you have a persecution complex.

How long have you known me? You don't have a suspicion which one it might be?

You're right. It's both.

[king feeb]

Here the greatness of Kraftwerk is a given, but Ray and Stevie are always on trial. I simply find this to be a bit through the looking glass.

I don't think so at all. I don't see that Ray and Stevie are treated as anything but heroes here on BCB, except for the fact that we note that some of Stevie's later work is undeniably crappy (and also neither one of them can drive worth a shit!).

Also, the greatness of Kraftwerk isn't a given here. They've been the recipients of some of Fartpants' funniest insults.

[Nolamike]

Here the greatness of Kraftwerk is a given, but Ray and Stevie are always on trial.

Ray & Stevie = Awesome
Stevie Ray = Not so much.

[mission]

There are, to my ears, two reasons why this genre of music performed in this time period is so mindbogglingly consistent.

One is the previously mentioned production process, which saw quality tunes get filtered through a label/studio's aesthetics, arranged by people who knew what they were doing and played by cats of impeccable levels of musicianship. And sung by people hungry with the need to be known. You had to hit it or quit it.

The other is a case of my own capacity to appreciate it, given who I am and where I come from. The more orchestrated/slicker stuff is music that is out of my realms of capability. I have no idea how these people made such sounds - they are making music I cannot make and I can't judge it with the same criteria I use to judge rock records of tunes I can conceivably reproduce. When I was playing a lot with my bands, I listened almost exclusively to Coltrane because I didn't spend any time wondering how Jones did that or that or how the fuck did he do that? I knew I could never play like that and could just relax in the sound, without listening to learn or take apart or be analytical with. Same with superfunky 70s shit or super-slick 70s shit - that shit is out of my league.

The downside is the strictures of the forms and the universally high levels of musicianship can wander over to the muddying, el-same-o-same-o end of the all-sounding-a-bit-the-same-to-me spectrum.

The great acts and great songs stick out and cannot be denied but the bulk of it is of a mystifyingly uniform high level of achievement. Like eating lasagne every night. It can sometimes get to a point where I lack the capacity to determine if anything is really good or not and, further, my incapacity to spot the dud tracks makes me question my ability to judge at all.

That may be one of the appeals of "difficult" music. The high amount of unlistenable garbage makes the bright spots brighter.

[Geezee]

There's no excuse, by way of example, for Take a Look at Those Cakes.

Now, hold it right there!

That's a great record.

[Count Machuki]

There's no excuse, by way of example, for Take a Look at Those Cakes.

Now, hold it right there!

That's a great record.

Let's let BCB be the judge...

[Geezee]

the title track is decent enough i suppose - very generic and run of the mill, but groovey enough I suppose - but the rest of the album is terminally dull.

[Penk!]

Here the greatness of Kraftwerk is a given, but Ray and Stevie are always on trial. I simply find this to be a bit through the looking glass.

I don't think so at all. I don't see that Ray and Stevie are treated as anything but heroes here on BCB, except for the fact that we note that some of Stevie's later work is undeniably crappy (and also neither one of them can drive worth a shit!).

Also, the greatness of Kraftwerk isn't a given here. They've been the recipients of some of Fartpants' funniest insults.

Completely agree. I can't imagine the size of the howling, pitchfork-wielding mob that'd assemble if someone criticised Ray Charles around here, but there are plenty of folks who recoil from stuff like Kraftwerk.

[Count Machuki]

the title track is decent enough i suppose - very generic and run of the mill, but groovey enough I suppose - but the rest of the album is terminally dull.

Alright, you've said your piece...

[toomanyhatz]

This is the kind of stuff I wish we were still talking about. Some great posts here.

[Rayge]

This is the kind of stuff I wish we were still talking about. Some great posts here.

And I wasn't even here then to point out that lots of the artists discussed aren't even soul at all

[The Modernist]

This is the kind of stuff I wish we were still talking about. Some great posts here.

A lot of bloody nonsense too.

It was an interesting thread. The premise - that we tend to be much less critical of soul greats, is generally true in my experience, but we're kind of in denial about it. I thought JSJ's post near the beginning of the thread was spot on.

[Goat Boy]

This is the kind of stuff I wish we were still talking about. Some great posts here.

A lot of bloody nonsense too.

It was an interesting thread. The premise - that we tend to be much less critical of soul greats, is generally true in my experience, but we're kind of in denial about it. I thought JSJ's post near the beginning of the thread was spot on.

It's something I've thought for years.

"*insert name of white artist here* that shit is too white, man!"

I think a lot of white music fans are somewhere on the Keith Richards spectrum (heh, heh, those black cats man, heh heh heh)

[The Modernist]

I think a lot of white music fans are somewhere on the Keith Richards spectrum (heh, heh, those black cats man, heh heh heh)

Yep.

[Dr Markus]

N/A

[Rayge]

This is the kind of stuff I wish we were still talking about. Some great posts here.

And I wasn't even here then to point out that lots of the artists discussed aren't even soul at all

Ah, nobody wants to play. Back under the bridge then. I think there's some left-over goat in the fridge...

[Jimbo]

I'll tell you what I didn't like about the 60s and 70s soul music and that was the glitzy costumes and the martial dancing. To illustrate this, in a Cheech and Chong movie when they are starting a band a member comes back with uniforms, these brass-buttoned tight vesty things and Chong says "We look like fucking busboys." And, the 60s 70s soul guys looked like fucking busboys or servants dancing all in unison, all identically dressed. A hell of a statement when we were supposedly liberating ourselves.

[fange]

This is the kind of stuff I wish we were still talking about. Some great posts here.

And I wasn't even here then to point out that lots of the artists discussed aren't even soul at all

Ah, nobody wants to play. Back under the bridge then. I think there's some left-over goat in the fridge...

I'm thinking of running a Soul Cup after the BCB Cup, Ray; if so, I look forward to some lively debates about what's 'the real deal' with you.

[clive gash]

My Roachford picks are ready to go.

[fange]

My Roachford picks are ready to go.

Just stay away from Alexander O'Neal.