It’s been sometime since I (rich) posted about upcoming music. The main reason is that I’ve been looking back these past several months. Perhaps it’s because this is the 30th anniversary of the summer of love and soul. Another reason is that radio is not what it used to be. (Mine is pretty much stuck on a blank station for my iPod.) But instead of getting into yet another gripe session about how bad radio and music is today, I want to reflect back on some good tunes worth putting back into your cd player or uploading to your iPod.
Sly and the Family Stone. I uploaded recently a wonderful two cd set I bought some years ago called The Essential Sly and the Family Stone after reading a Vanity Fair article about Sly. Sly’s band was made of blacks and whites who made music for everyday people. You’ll also hear the source of so many samples over the last decade or so.
Marvin. When I visit San Francisco I HAVE TO go to the Haight and stop in on Amoeba Music. I bought a deluxe edition of Off the Wall along with an extended version of Eye Would Die 4 U. But the CD I’ve been playing the most is a two cd version of What’s Going On. If you’ve only heard the title track or some of the singles off the record, do yourself a favor and listen to the entire album in sequence. It’s a plea to his community about the state of their lives, their world, their government, and their relationships. The track “Save The Children” is damn near mesmerizing. The liner notes have a minibiography on the recording of the album. A second disc has a live concert featuring the songs from the album.
Michael. If you don’t know the difference between Soul and R & B, compare Off the Wall with What’s Going On. You’ll begin to see the difference. I actually didn’t have any Mike albums on CD until I picked this up. My sister and I had the LPs back in the day and I never upgraded Mike. I’m correcting that problem. Off the Wall was when Mike was with Quincy and made music to dance to. This album will make you see where The Brand New Heavies get inspiration.
As for new or upcoming releases: Finding Forever by Common. Planet Earth by Prince. The Daily News by Donnie (you know, the guy from Welcome to the Colored Section.). And Desire by Pharoahe Monche. Pharoahe has an excellent remake of Public Enemy’s “Welcome To The Terrordome” for 2007.
Filed under: Music
