Rewards With Repeated Listen : Raphael Saadiq- Good Man

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Retro RnB/Soul artist Raphael Saadiq can really hit the spot with some of his music, and yet other times he seems like he's trying to be cool just a bit too much.

Take for instance the masterful 'Skyy Can You Feel Me' from critically acclaimed album 'Instant Vintage' or the edgy 'Rifle Love' then juxtapose with records like Sure Hope You Mean It which have such a close an affiliation to Motown that you wonder if it was in fact part of the legendary Detroit label's output.

On this first single from album number 4, he's definitely grasped an opportunity to blend both vintage soul with a modern twist. On Good Man he makes a statement about trying to do the right thing to support his family including working two jobs putting food on the table and loving the Lord.

Here too he has carefully crafted a very decent piece of cinema (directed by Isaiah Seret (Gogol Bordello’s “Immigraniada”) which pauses mid-way for a piece of controversial female fight-club footage whereafter his 'Lady' frames him for a crime he didn't commit and in the process he is humiliated. All because he can provide love but not an abundance of money. However the song doesn't end there and we see the moral to the story come the end.




In a similar vein to Aloe Blaccs I Need A Dollar (see previous album review on this blog), he uses the sample-soul sound to his advantage, overlaying thoughtful lyrics to a sassy RnB-come-neo soul hook written and performed by Taura Stinson (Destiny's Child). If Saadiq wasn't on this record now, then Marvin Gaye wouldn've been. Times are lean and people are more likely to be working two jobs, something Saadiq grapples with on this timely song.

Well worth spinning; this should be considered a modern soul classic. *****

Taken from the new album Stone Rollin , due for UK release on March 21st

It's All Happening Now

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About 9 years ago, when at college, I was in Imperial Records on Park Street Bristol, the shop full of people browsing through the racks- new and old vinyl and some cd's and tapes too. It's been sorely missed, as it was one of those shops with an authentic musty smell, the sort you normally only get in 'proper' record shops. Whilst browsing I overheard a fellow punter saying 'This Lewis Parker record is really good' as it was playing over the shop speakers.

It's a true thing that one person's recommendation is worth more than any TV ad. It's person to person that counts sometimes. And 9 years later, this overheard P2P recommendation worked. I found myself strangely drawn to Parker's sophomore album as if a missing friend I hadn't seen for a very long time (and who wasn't on facebook).

So my quest began again, firstly, was the album on Spotify for me to rekindle my memory 9 years ago of the album? Luckily, this was a tick, and so for the next two weeks on and off, I tuned in. Again going through track-by-track, reminded each time of both the great production on the album, the original b-boy beats, Parker's raw voice and homegrown lyrics, spinning stories that make you think and challenged you in the same way that Tribe, Beastie Boys and DeLaSoul did.

Having satisfyed myself that I should own a hard-copy of the album, I went onto HMV, signed up to their Pure card because you get points (good ones), and dropped the album into the online basket.

4 days later and i'm playing the CD at home and boy was the 9 years and 4 days delivery time worth the wait.


Lewis Parker- "It's All Happening Now (The Ancient Series 3)"- hmv.com

Make The Road By Walking

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Seeing as i've left over a month since my last post, I thought i'd share with you an album with some great artwork, that I appreciate every day as my desktop image.

Dunham Records is an offshoot of the infamous Daptone label (The Dap Kings, Sharon Jones), and their first album came from the Menahan Street Band. Menahan Street is the very same as Daptone studios are situated.

The layout here is hugely enjoyable- the cars, the people and activity going on below all seem perfectly set, creating an impression of hustle without too much noise, and the music is brilliant. The title is apt too, saying life is about the journey and walking the path.

Sometimes with music the artwork can be the last thought when making an album, but getting it right and creating a perception that makes people want to listen to it is critical.

I'm hoping that my next outing here will continue on the artwork-and-music theme, as i'm undertaking a special project, so keep watching this space!

The cover art to Make The Road By Walking , 2008

2010- end of year review

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So seeing as we're nearly in 2011, here are 10 of the albums that have really stood above the rest for me this year.

This list features on Amazon here

Ty- Special Kind Of Fool
Possibly Ty's best album yet, and his debut on BBE this could be hiphop album of the year. Lyrically sharp, funky and as ever with Mr Chikoke- personal.

Aloe Blacc- Good Things
Politically shrewd, soulful and forward looking, Blacc paints a picture of America 2010. This is Blaccs moment as he glances toward Gil Scott Heron and Bill Withers. Featuring I Need A Dollar, big hit.

Shad- TSOL
A stellar album from one of Canada's finest up and coming hiphop artists, TSOL has Christian roots lyrically but boy is this record funky. If you like Pharcyde, check this.

Travie McCoy- Lazarus
This isn't me going all commercial, but this is an excellent pre-party album, irresistibly catchy (unfortunately). And Billionaire says something about modern society.

The Hundred In The Hands- The Hundred In The Hands
Very under appreciated album, you'll like that if you were a fan last year of Ladyhawkes album. The track Pigeons stands miles ahead.

Bonobo- Black Sands
Four albums in and Simon Green still has an ability to surprise and delight. In Black Sands he has created a beat record influenced by the contemporary and the oriental.

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings- I Learned The Hard Way
She makes follow up albums seem easy and seems to get better with age, but this record is too catchy to put down,  12 very well written songs, accompanied with knockout funk flair by the dap-kings.

Harper Simon- Harper Simon
Always difficult to be in your dad's shadow, but Harper's album proves he can stand on his own two just fine (even if his dad did co-write a couple). One of the best debuts you're likely to hear.

Hauschka- Foreign Landscapes
Pretty much Man With A Movie Camera 'Part 2', the German born producer eloquently paints intricate and often mood-setting glacial soundscapes.

Nite Jewel- Good Evening
Okay so this is late 2009, but can you date it? Lo-fi 80's synth pop which looks towards Kraftwerk. Recorded in a bedroom and all analogue,  dark & deep, lo-fi is back and long live cassette.

Playlist: Welcome To Jazz Club Vol 1

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Welcome To Jazz Club Vol. 1

Over the last 4-6 months i've been compiling a playlist of some of the best traditional Jazz as well as more contemporary artists such as Elizabeth Shepherd, Esperanza Spalding, Build An Ark, Robert Glasper Trio, Nick Rosen and more. It felt kinda right to release it to the world at this present time, firstly because i didn't know what else to add or take away from the compilation. The twenty or so tracks, seemed to have a good harmony about them and secondly I felt that the records included had the right fit for an introduction and yet also those experienced in the genre might discover something new if i'd got it right.

The playlist is themed around accessible Jazz, but not necessarily ignoring the experimental. For instance, although we start with Nick Rosens uplifting morning of Twin Harbours and Blue Note's Robert Glasper Trio, soon pops up Rashaan Roland Kirk's cover of Ain't No Sunshine. Here is a Jazz record which is broody yet playful (Kirk tries to sing through his flute) and yet also from an artist of much repute, this one of his seminal works. Speaking of seminal works, the full version of My Favourite Things by John Coltrane also had to go in. The fact that the whole of the 4 track EP was recorded in 3 days and produced something which gets better with age is testament to the talent of the players involved. The vintage of Coltrane is nearly matched by the Egyptian Jazz of Pharoah Sanders who actually gets two spots on this hour long playlist. Firstly his record Astral Travelling, a classic from his LP Thembi, and secondly a group called Build An Ark who excellently covered You've Got To Have Freedom in 2004.

Roy Ayers, an artist who I own many albums by, appears with Mystic Voyage with an R&B come Jazz record. I guess this is really JazzFunk but it's groove is jazz and Ayers tinkling on the vibraphone is always something else.

Seven Bucks by Elizabeth Shepherd is one of the few fully vocalled records on this collection but the double bass, percussion, lyrics and upbeat message, for me adds to the idea that this genre is not easily date stamped.

Ronnie Foster's Mystic Brew was sampled to perfection by Tribe Called Quest, but the original stands the test of time, simply stunning lounge come R&B jazz. It wasn't available on Spotify but very much reminded me of Challenge by Travis Biggs for it's tempo.

Hank Mobley's Ballin- I love how this tune has a sort of hiphop name and starts with some flair; definite crowd pleaser. The harp is a much under appreciated/used instrument in Jazz, more often used in classical music, which is why Afro-Harping by Dorothy Ashby bucked the trend in 1968 using the harp as the main instrument and placing everything else around it. I chose to use the track 'Games' from the album but could have easily included anything else although it is very swinging 60's in places. What i'd liked previously about George Benson, whose track No Sooner Said Than Done is included here, was his work with Kenny Dope, Louie Vega on Masters At Work Nuyorican Soul album.

Beyond these selections, records by Azymuth, Weldon Irvine, Dave Brubeck, Pat Methany, George Duke, Terence Blanchard and more help to create this first compilation.

Full track listing below or click here to open the playlist in Spotify.

The next chapter has already started, but that can wait until 2011, keep posted here to see when that will be.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did putting it together..

Simon

Nick Rosen- Twin Harbours
Robert Glasper Trio- No Worries
Hank Mobley- Ballin'
Bobby Hutcherson- Head Start
George Duke- Alone 6AM
Build An Ark- You've Gotta Have Freedom
Elizabeth Shepherd- Seven Bucks
Rahsaan Roland Kirk- Ain't No Sunshine
Dorothy Ashby- Games
Pat Methany- Son of Thirteen
Esperanza Spalding- The Peacocks
George Benson- No Sooner Said Than Done
Pharaoh Sanders- Astral Travelling
Terence Blanchard- D's Choice
Azymuth- Butterfly
Weldon Irvine- Music Is The Key
Roy Ayers- Mystic Voyage
John Coltrane- My Favourite Things
Ronnie Foster- Mystic Brew
Dave Brubeck- Take Five
Eugene McDaniels- Jagger The Dagger

Aloe Blacc- Good Things

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The second album from Aloe Blacc, the former hiphop artist turned soul singer, is a box of treats evoking memories of Bill Withers, Motown and the political activism of Gil Scott Heron.

Beginning this sophomore is I Need A Dollar, the worldwide soul come R&B hit that looked towards Gil Scott Heron’s The Bottle and even the bible in the line ‘I don’t know if I’m walking on solid ground because everything around me is falling down’. The record portrays the hard quest for money to pay the bills and reaching a hand out for help, Blacc asking if people would share their dollar with him. It makes a shrewd political point about modern America, draws empathy and shows Blacc at his absolute peak. Plus instrumentally, it’s some tune, produced along with the rest of the album by the Truth & Soul duo of Jeff Dynamite and Leon Michels.

Following this is a tough thing to do, so it’s a surprise that Dollar is followed by an opposite in Green Lights, which sounds like a record Bill Withers might raise a knowing smile to. It’s upbeat message “Something special happened today, I got green lights all the way, no red light to stop me” is accompanied by a west coast beat, an organ that punctuates and blaccs backing harmonies creating ever more texture. Good Things, the title track which crops up ninth in the run order, is to Blacc what Lovely Day is to Withers.

Hey Brother meanwhile is sheer blaxploitation soundtrack, with it’s Shaft-esque wahwah guitar and hammond working throughout. The melacholy of Life So Hard again shows Blaccs willingness stand on a soapbox, this time he’s on point about ‘bailing out the banks’ and a recession hit America. Femme Fatale, the perils of falling for a perfect 10 girl, contains a big hook, and shows the Motown influenced edge to the album. The simple message of Loving You Is Killing Me suggests that although this album is quasi-political, it is also about the writers personal stuggles with relationships.

Aside from I Need A Dollar, one of the other tracks proving a possible zenith is ‘If I’ , the record in which Blacc questions whether people would pray for him, cry for him, dance with him and if ‘I tell a lie, will you fall with me?’. There’s no doubt the intention is to have the listener hooked on each questioning word.

The album should end on the ballad about the artists growth from boy to man in the teary ‘Mama Hold My Hand’, but actually ends on a slightly odd Sgt Pepper esque 1m39 of instrumental. A glitch, but not enough to change the overall sentiment.

Overall this is a superb follow up, bettering his debut and quite possibly his best work to date. Good Things is tour-de-force lyrically, poetically, creates a sound political message and drips with Blaccs honeyed voice.

This year the only artist on the lips of soul boys and girls worldwide should be his.

9/10

The Legacy Of Rotary Connection

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I’m originally penned this having just helped do some washing up after a visit home and a quality Sunday roast (made up of chicken, sausage, stuffing, leeks, potatoes and a hearty helping of white sauce). Soul stew indeed :).

I put on a two disc of Rotary Connection, the band which launched Minnie Riperton (Loving You, Two People, Inside My Love) and which was founded and co-produced by Marshall Chess, the son of Chess records owner Leonard. Listening to each song, I was further reminded of their lasting impression on modern music as well as at the time they were active. The band itself were releasing records between '66 to ’74, during which time they created an exciting mix of big sounding psychedelic soul fused with elements of jazz, American folk and a touch of country.

Connection created songs that we can only fully appreciate the impact of some forty years later. They’re most famous for the record Black Gold Of The Sun, taken from their 1971 album Hey Love which has since been given a retouch by 4Hero and covered by Masters At Work on the Nuyorican Soul album. However as a group they have influenced many other artists, especially those in HipHop; notably A Tribe Called Quest, Common and The Fugees.

Memory Band is the most notable in the way that A Tribe Called Quest sampled the sitar strokes for Bonita Applebum and also used by the Fugee’s in Killing Me Softly, itself an updated version of the Roberta Flack classic. Love Has Fallen on me was resung by Lily Allen and keys replayed on Common’s Drivin Me Wild. Souls Of Mischief of 93’ til Infinity fame used ‘Respect’ to influence The Name I Called Myself and Jay-Z used Burning of The Midnight Lamp on an intro to his album Vol 3…Life & Times of S Carter.

Sampling aside the band created a big sound which still allowed the elements within the song to breathe. Everything feels organic and loose, fitting with both the times and the musical outlook of the band. This makes such listening to their music feel positively life-affirming.

If you haven’t got any of their albums I’d highly recommend Black Gold: Very Best Of
Or check it on Spotify
 
So Rotary Connection, we salute you.