Tag Archives: Soul

Memphis, Music Calendar, Soul

Today: Al Green is 67

al green

I’m thankful for every moment.
~Al Green

The music is the message, the message is the music. So that’s my little ministry that the Big Man upstairs gave to me – a little ministry called love and happiness.
~Al Green

If Al decides to turn into Otis Redding after all, we may look back at this repackaging of his earliest recordings as the beginning of a great stylist. If he decides to turn into Diana Ross, as seems at least possible, we will forget it quickly enough.
~Robert Christgau (in 1972 – review of “Al Green” album)

Let’s Stay Together (Live 1972):

President Obama:

 Wikipedia:

Birth name Albert Greene
Also known as The Reverend Al Green
Born April 13, 1946 (age 67)
Origin Forrest City, Arkansas, U.S.
Genres R&B, gospel, soul, smooth soul
Occupations Reverend, vocalist, producer,songwriter
Instruments Vocals, guitar
Years active 1967–present
Labels Hi, Myrrh, The Right Stuff
Associated acts The Creations, Willie Mitchell
Website Official website

Albert Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green or Reverend Al Green, is an American singer, better known for scoring a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including “Tired of Being Alone”, “I’m Still In Love With You”, “Love and Happiness” and his signature song, “Let’s Stay Together”. Inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, Green was referred to on the museum’s site as being “one of the most gifted purveyors of soul music”. Green was included in the Rolling Stone list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, ranking at No. 66.

al green 2

Love and Happiness (live – HQ):

Al Green was the first great soul singer of the ’70s and arguably the last great Southern soul singer. With his seductive singles for Hi Records in the early ’70s, Green bridged the gap between deep soul and smooth Philadelphia soul. He incorporated elements of gospel, interjecting his performances with wild moans and wails, but his records were stylish, boasting immaculate productions that rolled along with a tight beat, sexy backing vocals, and lush strings.
~Stephen Thomas Erlewine (allmusic.com)

al green 3

Awards:

  • Inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995
  • In 2004, Green was inducted into the Gospel Music Association‘s Gospel Music Hall of Fame
  • In the same year he was inducted into The Songwriters Hall of Fame
  • In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him No. 65 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time
  • He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 BET Awards on June 24, 2009 

On August 26, 2004, Green was honored as a BMI Icon at the annual BMI Urban Awards. He joined an impressive list of previous Icon honorees including R&B legends James Brown, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley

Al Green Live in Chicago 78 (58min):

 Playlist of the day:

Other April 13:

Continue reading Today: Al Green is 67 →

Music Calendar, Soul

Today: Joss Stone is 26

joss stone2

I didn’t write those songs, but I can relate to every one of them… I have.
~Joss Stone

I don’t like listening to music that isn’t real.
~Joss Stone

Fell in Love with a boy:

Wikipedia

Birth name Jocelyn Eve Stoker
Born 11 April 1987 (age 26)
Dover, Kent, England, UK
Genres Soul, R&B, blues, jazz, rock
Occupations Singer, songwriter, actress
Instruments Vocals
Years active 2001–present
Labels Relentless, S-Curve, Virgin, Stone’d,Surfdog
Associated acts SuperHeavy
Website www.jossstone.com

Jocelyn Eve Stoker (born 11 April 1987), better known by her stage name Joss Stone, is a British soul singer, songwriter and actress. Stone rose to fame in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, The Soul Sessions, which made the 2004 Mercury Prize shortlist. Her second album, the similarly multi-platinum Mind Body & Soul, topped the UK Albums Chart for one week and spawned the top ten hit “You Had Me”, Stone’s most successful single on the UK Singles Chart to date. Both the album and single received one nomination at the 2005 Grammy Awards, while Stone herself was nominated for Best New Artist, and in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2004 was ranked fifth as a predicted breakthrough act of 2004. She became the youngest British female singer whose debut album topped the UK Albums Chart. Stone’s third album, Introducing Joss Stone, released in March 2007, achieved gold record status by the RIAA and yielded the second-ever highest debut for a British female solo artist on the Billboard 200, and became Stone’s first Top 5 album in the United States and first non-Top 10 album in the United Kingdom.

joss stone

I’ve Fallen In Love With You:

Stone released her fourth album, Colour Me Free!, on 20 October 2009, which reached the Top 10 on Billboard. Stone released her fifth album, LP1, on 22 July 2011, which reached the Top 10 on Billboard. Throughout her career, Stone has sold 13 million albums, establishing herself as one of the best-selling artists of her time, best-selling soul artists of the 2000s and best-selling British artists of her time. Her first three albums have sold over 2,722,000 copies in the United States, while her first two albums have sold over 2,000,000 copies in United Kingdom. Stone has won two BRIT Awards and one Grammy Award. She also made her film acting debut in 2006 with the fantasy adventure film Eragon, and made her television debut portraying Anne of Cleves in the Showtimeseries The Tudors in 2009. Stone was the youngest woman on the 2006 Sunday Times Rich List —an annual list of the UK’s wealthiest people—with £6 million. In 2012, her fortune is estimated to be £10 million, making her the fifth richest British musician under 30. The Soul Sessions Vol. 2, a sequel to her debut album, was released on 23 July 2012.

Playlist of the day

 Other APR-11:

Continue reading Today: Joss Stone is 26 →

Music Calendar, Soul

Today – The Late Wilson Pickett was born in 1941

Wilson Pickett was born March 18, 1941 and he died January 19, 2006.

A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the US Billboard Hot 100.

The early hit I Found A Love with The Falcons (audio only 1962):

Wilson Pickett was one of the rawest and sweatiest, singing  some of soul’s best  dancefloor grooves. He had hits a plenty:  “In the Midnight Hour,” “Land of 1000 Dances,” “Mustang Sally,” and “Funky Broadway” and more.

He is often a preferred alternative of fans who like their soul on the raw side. He also played an important part in establishing Southern soul as a vital part of the soul genre.

His hits were often written and recorded with the very best of the session musicians in Memphis and Muscle Shoals.

The impact of Pickett’s songwriting and recording led to his 1991 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Land of 1000 Dances – Live:

There are very few songs by “The Wicked” Picket on Spotify so we have included a fabulous radio documentary from BBC.  Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who and a Wilson Pickett fan, tells the story of the soul legend:

I have to include an audio clip of my favourite Pickett recording, Engine #9:

Fantastic song, what a groove!

Other Mar-18:

Continue reading Today – The Late Wilson Pickett was born in 1941 →

Classic Concert, Great albums, Great Concert, List, Live, Soul

30 Best live albums countdown: 23 – One night stand Live at the Harlem Square Club 1963 by Sam Cooke

4 Comments

Sam Cooke Harlem 1

Sam Cooke was one the first to blend gospel music and secular music, the early foundation of soul music. He was the opposite of Elvis: He was a black performer who appealed to a white audience, who wrote his own songs and who controlled his own business.

On Jan. 12, 1963, Sam Cooke was not playing to the white  audiences who knew him only from his earlier records. He was headlining a few concerts at Miami’s Harlem Square Club, he performed for black audiences who appreciated his roots and expected a grittier, more soulful Sam Cooke, which isexcactly what they got! It is indeed  a rougher, rawer and more immediate side of Sam Cooke on display. Sam Cooke’s smooth voice sets the tone but it’s his abillities as an entertainer in world class form that take it to the top.

Sam Cooke Recording at RCA Studios

Cooke was  energized by a recent tour of Europe with former labelmate Little Richard, when he took the stage at the Harlem Square Club in Miami.  He gave us an electrifying set of sweaty, sanctified, manic and masterful soul music. The show was taped for an album which sat on the shelf for twenty years until it was released in 1985.

It is a fantastic recording and maybe it shows us what direction Mr. Cooke could have gone. But instead he got an eighteen month period which would see his baby son die, see the recording of some of his finest music, and then his all too early death.

One night stand! Live At The Harlem Square Club is one of the finest live releases I know of, worthy of standing next to James Brown’s landmark Apollo Theater date (recorded just a month earlier) and also worthy of the 23rd place on my list of the 30 best live albums.

samcookepic

It is one of the great moments in the history of soul music, heck, any kind of music! 

Rolling Stone Magazine  ranked it at 443 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time:

Cooke was elegance personified, but he works this Florida club until it’s hotter than hell, while sounding like he never breaks a sweat. He croons “For Sentimental Reasons” like a superlover, and when the crowd sings along with him, it’s magic.

Peter Guralnick (in his book Dream Boogie:  The Triumph of Sam Cooke):

There was nothing soft, measured or polite about the Sam Cooke you saw at the Harlem Square Club; there was none of the self-effacing, mannerable, ‘fair-haired little colored boy’ that the white man was always looking for. This was Sam Cooke undisguised, charmingly self-assured, “he had his crowd,” said [guitarist] Clif White approvingly – he was as proud as he has been raised to be, not about to take any scraps from the white man’s table.

For me the difference from his studio work and this live album is clearest on Chain Gang. Listen to the two songs from the two minute mark, strike that, listen to the whole song. Both versions are great but the live version is raw, fantastic distillation of Soul! The way he switches from smooth, velvety voice into a gritty rasp, it is amazing, what an “instrument” he had.

Chain Gang:

All the songs are darker, more raw, more sexual. Cooke is twisting the audience around his finger and he sounds like a man who has  earthly desires to attend to. It is raw soul, and I never thought I should say that about Sam Cooke!
Continue reading 30 Best live albums countdown: 23 – One night stand Live at the Harlem Square Club 1963 by Sam Cooke →

Classic Concert, Funk, Great albums, James Brown, List, Live

30 Best live albums countdown: 24 – Live at the Apollo by James Brown

1 Comment

“When I’m on stage, I’m trying to do one thing: bring people joy. Just like church does. People don’t go to church to find trouble, they go there to lose it.”
– James Brown

“Our whole thing was based on James Brown. We listened to Live at the Apollo endlessly on acid. We would listen to that in the van in the early days of 8-tracks on the way to the gigs to get us up for the gig. If you played in a band in Detroit in the days before The MC5, everybody did ‘Please, Please, Please’ and ‘I Go Crazy.’ These were standards. We modeled The MC5’s performance on those records. Everything we did was on a gut level about sweat and energy. It was anti-refinement. That’s what we were consciously going for.” 
– Wayne Cramer, MC5

One of the best live albums in music history, James Brown – Live at the Apollo was recorded october 24 in 1962.

My favourite moment: The whole horn infused “Think” that borrows heavily from jazz legend Charlie Parker in the way Brown scats over the band with the crowd participating enthusiastically. Not remotely like the studio versions and terribly good!

Lost Someone (audio):

Before the release of the classical and hugely influential ‘Live At The Apollo’ in 1962, James Brown was something of an unknown quantity outside of the R&B charts of the US south. Staying on the pop charts for 14 months, and peaking at #2, it’s a demonstration of Brown’s self-belief that he (himself!) had financed and released the recording when his label saw no sense in releasing a live album that featured no new material. Brown went on to record several more albums at the Apollo over the course of his career, including 1968’s Live at the Apollo, Vol. II (King), 1971’s Revolution of the Mind: Recorded Live at the Apollo, Vol. III(Polydor) and Live at the Apollo 1995 (Scotti Bros.).

Night Train (not the Apollo show but a great video clip from The T.A.M.I. Tv-show!):

Continue reading 30 Best live albums countdown: 24 – Live at the Apollo by James Brown →