The History Book Club discussion

This is the thread dedicated to the discussion of the musical genre: Soul Music



Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues.

According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, secular testifying."

Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and extemporaneous body moves, are an important feature of soul music. Other characteristics are a call and response between the soloist and the chorus, and an especially tense vocal sound. The genre also occasionally uses improvisational additions, twirls and auxiliary sounds.

Source: Wikipedia

Soul Music

There is a great overlap between R&B and Soul as this list implies: (with links to the actual songs)

http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages...

Curtis Mayfield has a great song called Soul Music on the 1976 album "Give, Get, Take and Have"


As to Soul singers - male - my favorite is Teddy Pendergrass with his first solo album.

Teddy Pendergrass

Curtis Mayfield

http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages...

Any favorites you would add to the list?

A nice list of Black music - but there's everything here, R&B, Soul, Funk, even Rap... also sometimes the choice of songs for certain artists, hmmmm
Well, taste differs.

Garret wrote: "http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages...

Any favorites you would add to the list?"

"Patches" by Clarence Carter in the top 100? Really? Seems almost more of a country song to me, I have a hard time thinking of it as top 100 Soul. Interesting choice. I do love lists like that though, it reminds you of stuff you haven't heard for awhile and let's you reflect on what a total body of work like that represents from the musical artistry standpoint.

I agree, I thought this list would spur some strong responses.

A brief history of soul music

Pop-Soul

Only Sixteen by Sam Cooke

Youtube: (Original recorded in 1959)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANDbq0...

Love Sam Cooke, what a classic!

I am glad you liked it Alisa.

Charles Bradley: No Time for Dreamin' (Soul/R&B)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_lAms...

The World (Is Goin' Up In Flames)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTy7ug...

Check out the album!!!!!

Joss Stone: Understand

note great backing vocals by Joss and Betty Wright, terrific organ: Timmy Thomas, Wurlitzer: Benny Latimore, Moog: Raymond Angry and Percussion: Ignacio Nunez

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mb0hv...

Joss has a new album out LP1 produced by Dave Stewart and Joss

Here she is together with Jeff Beck:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7ECdY...

and the original by the master himself, Curtis Mayfield:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOXmaS...

but wow, here we have The Blind Boys of Alabama performing the same song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVaCWv...

More BBoA: Way Down in the Hole (remember The Wire?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzIuUW...

Together with Solomon Burke: None of Us are Free
(according to the cd booklet the Boys walked into the studio, Solomon started singing, the Blind Boys fell in, did the song and that was it - they walked out together - one take, no overdubs, nothing.

My favorite tune from the same Solomon Burke album:
Flesh and Blood:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C0gm-...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hv6sQ...

Gee Andre, what great adds and links for all of us to enjoy. Terrific.

Some of you probably watched The Lincoln Lawyer based on Michael Connelly's terrific novel.

Here's the title song, Bobby Bland: Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City (there's a slight problem at the start of the tape - and for some reason someone added a dark "yeah" to it... thank goodness it just happens twice...)

(Bobby Bland often also recorded under Bobby 'Blue' Bland usually with a pretty melodic mix of R&B, SOul and Blues.
I'm glad this movie pulled him out of the box once again for everybody to discover and enjoy. A marvelous musician!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elBBhK...


The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

One of the forgotten soul singers is James Carr who recorded at the small Goldwax label. He struggled with mental illness and it affected his career....but his "Dark End of the Street" is a classic. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzcdNw...

Thank you Jill; a great ballad.

Yes, it is one of my favorites. Another artist that can be considered soul or r&b, depending on your definition is Big Jay McNeely, a "honking" sax player/singer. He is a friend of my cousin who is a rock historian. Big Jay is alive and well in Los Angeles and still performs periodically at 8o years of age.. Here is one of his more famous works...."There Is Something On Your Mind".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpsM3I...

Stevie Wonder live on Sesame Street in 1973: Superstition - nice and tight!!! (also check out the little girl in the background doing some serious headbanging...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ul7X5...

Stevie having some fun with Grover

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8lUnI...

Texas Blues Giant Stevie Ray Vaughan giving us his version of the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX-GJ4...

and once more, jamming with Stevie ... and Jody Watley and others

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wspw2D...

Great adds Andre, I am looking forward to some good listening.

Bentley wrote: "Great adds Andre, I am looking forward to some good listening."

Sure, where would we be without the amazing talents of the two Stevies...
There is another video on youtube of the song, with Stevie and almost the same band performing it live on the German TV program Musikladen - but huge credits run trough about a quarter of the song, ruining just about everything so I skipped it - but the guitar was better... Well, we can't have everything now can we?

Well we can always hope. (smile)

and do a little dance in the meantime

Smile (lol)

Talking about movin them hips, feet, the whole shebang:

James Brown: Good Foot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DAfBZ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdz88M...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IxdMv...

Ashford and Simpson:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blSh3W...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwNNMC...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgCqf7...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GePtiP...

Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson performing some songs from what I consider to be their best albums.

of course they wrote numerous songs for other artists. One famous example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOAMl2...


Chaka Khan with the original video of I'm Every Woman


Below a live performance of Nick and Valerie together with Chaka and many others from the original gang:

Quincy Jones: Stuff Like That (written by Nick and Valerie, Quincy, STeve Gadd, Richard Tee and Ralph MacDonald)

But first the song as it was originally released:

http://www.viddler.com/explore/GStron...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EF1Uu...

Chaka Khan in 1975 with Rufus (Tony Maiden on lead guitar)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ANMN1...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS_yda...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fd95T...

They wrote some great music together.

They sure did - and they were a great couple.

The making of the milestone album: Songs In The Key Of Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWPSV_...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvAbPm...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ93sq...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYOtJz...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZDn7p...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi-BUg...

Stevie Wonder

The marvelous Marvin Gaye:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9KC7u...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uj2wO...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdHhxx...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyIUR9...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT-d7X...

Marvin Gaye

Thanks for that one Andre........how I love Marvin's music. Think of the music he could still make and what we are missing!!

Jill wrote: "Thanks for that one Andre........how I love Marvin's music. Think of the music he could still make..."

Jill, with the music industry in its current state I doubt MArvin would feel at home in the here and now.
He was under constant pressure back then and only when he managed to fight himself free from the executives was he able to come up with something new, refreshing and so very much him.

More Disco than soul but still great fun:

Van McCoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL2QWt...

Oh yes......... I had forgotten about that tune that had everybody dancing back in the day (even me, I must admit). Somewhat of a one hit wonder but very catchy.
So many singers of the time jumped on the disco bandwagon, some successfully and some with lesser results. Since there is not a disco thread, let me just add one more by the beautiful Diana Ross.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrBYKs...

And back to soul with Maxine Brown.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV76PK...

Sadly I can't watch your Love Hangover clip in Germany due to Gema Rights but I think I (yes, once again) posted another clip somewhere else...

Also nice from the same album (I can't find the original on youtube, here it's from another album live and she adds Send In The Clowns...):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohzmFE...

Diana Ross

Is there any way that I can tell if the Gema Rights apply to a particular youtube clip? I hate to put them up here if you can't watch them.

Jill wrote: "Is there any way that I can tell if the Gema Rights apply to a particular youtube clip? I hate to put them up here if you can't watch them."

Sadly, no. But thanks.
I know the song and the album by heart.
The cover and the back cover are terrific! Some of the best portraits of DIana ROss ever made. Victor Skrebneski.

Victor Skrebneski

My favorite album art of Diana Ross is on her duet album with Marvin Gaye, called "Diana and Marvin". Simply beautiful. A good album too.

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/4...

True, a very nice album.
I liked Love Hangover better - here's the version I put up somewhere else (sadly the terrific guitar/base line and with that the tension is missing.....but what can you say, it's Vegas...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEIC42...

I also loved:

Diana ROss:

Last Time I Saw Him - they reissued the album a few years ago with nice extras..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_Ll_J...

Too bad she had to be on the Muppet show....ugh I couldn't stand them.....I know, I know, I am in the minority.

I saw the Supremes in Pittsburgh before they were Diana Ross and the Supremes and Florence Ballard was still with them.....with their sequined gowns and surreal hair. Were they good?.....you bet they were. And they sang this song first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDPjYZ...

Jill wrote: "I saw the Supremes in Pittsburgh before they were Diana Ross and the Supremes. Were they good?!? ..."

They were fantastic!

Great discussion and adds guys; thanks.

Jill wrote: "Too bad she had to be on the Muppet show....ugh I couldn't stand them.....I know, I know, I am in the minority..."

There seems to be a problem with Diana's albums' rights over here. I can't access any of the original clips.
In came the Muppets...
I must say I love them and with this song I think they fit perfectly because the original version also had a kind of humorous sparkle to it (you know, the Old Style Jazz hook).

See, I told you I was in the minority!!! ;>o

Jill wrote: "I told you I was in the minority!!!"

No problem - thank God we're all different.

A life ended way too soon, I never tire of the music of Luther Vandross:

Never Too Much - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv7y6P...

Power of Love - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlLsbL...

Stop to Love - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHGyip...

What a beautiful voice! I love that he was always singing about love. What a talent.

Woot! Adding a few links:
by luther Vandross
Craig Seymour

Alisa wrote: "Luther Vandross..."

Nice, ALisa. I also liked him for backup vocals where he often added the little spark.

One funny note on the side: did you know they wanted to make Lenny Kravitz the "new" Luther Vandross as "Lenny K." before he signed to Virgin America...
Thank goodness Jeffrey Ayeroff and Jordan Harris got there first and let him be..

luther Vandross
Lenny Kravitz

Always on the Run:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK7yTg...

Lenny K????? What a ridiculous idea....first, Kravitz is a talent of his own and doesn't have to be the "next" anyone..........second, who could be the next Vandross. There was only one and he is sorely missed.