R&B and Soul Classics (1945-1975 or so)

[Amor de Cosmos]

Really? That's tragic.

[Etienne]

https://twitter.com/theQuietus/status/1491474878511333381?s=20&t=cLU7CY_sIceEjE6AXhC2Ug

[gjw100]

This has been getting a mention on Twitter this morning, following the BBC's Labi Siffre documentary. 'The Vulture' (1975) is a song that I'd not heard before but, as has been noted, it's fair to assume that Jay Kay has listened to it a few times.

[Sam]

I'm pretty sure I first heard about Labi Siffre after reading Jay Kay recommend him in an interview about his favourite records (which was definitely where I first heard about Pleasure, who I posted a video of on the previous page). I later found out that I had, of course, already heard one or two of Siffre's songs before then, but that's a very different thing from having heard of Labi Siffre.

Anyway, to wake the thread back up, here's one of my favourite pick-me-up tunes, from James Brown and P-Funk collaborator Fred Wesley.

[gjw100]

Anyway, to wake the thread back up, here's one of my favourite pick-me-up tunes, from James Brown and P-Funk collaborator Fred Wesley.

I haven't heard that in years. A Robbie Vincent Saturday morning staple back in the day. Great tune.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Great letter about Betty Davis on Guardian obits page today

[Amor de Cosmos]

Cheers, I'll check it out.

[Sam]

Not that anyone on this thread hasn't heard it a million times, but what the hell. The full twelve-minute cut of 'Papa Was a Rolling Stone' never gets old. The single version is one of my dad's favourite songs, which is one of the relatively few things we agree on. (We get on absolutely fine; we just disagree about almost everything apart from music.)

[Sam]

And if you've not got twelve minutes to spare, here's a much shorter one I'd somehow forgotten about but that just popped up on YouTube: Otis Redding's version of 'Stand By Me'.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Oh Little Boy (What Did You Do To Me?) — Mary Wells

My first album was a Mary Wells album. She was perhaps the first female singer, certainly the first black female singer, who's voice I adored. I still do.

[gjw100]

A classic from 1973 to mark the recent death of Timmy Thomas.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Peter Guralnick's 'Sweet Soul Music' rates Solomon Burke very highly. e.g. 'Cry To Me' (1962):

This song is the most famous on this thread by a massive distance, because its on the dirty dancing soundtrack

[RobW]

To The Bitter End - Bobby Hill

[Sam]

Look, I'm younger than most (all?) of you on this thread. I'm not going to post anything you've not heard before. But the great thing about soul is that it doesn't have to be something you've never heard before to be a fucking banger. Also, All Directions is one of the greatest albums ever recorded. They could even put this on it at half the sound quality of every other track, and have it be the best thing on the record. That is all.

[Satchmo Distel]

Earliest Trans R&B chart hit? Any Other Way - Jackie Shane (January 1963), #49 on Cash Box (possibly also the first single to use 'gay' in its modern meaning):

[Satchmo Distel]

Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway - The Closer I Get To You:

Same artists - For All We Know:

[Amor de Cosmos]

Oh that's nice!

Here are the Chantels from 1957 with Maybe, which is frequently referred to as the first hit of the early 60s "Girl Group" era. (It really wasn't but that's how these things roll.) All five of them were students from St Anthony of Padua HS in the Bronx. The oldest girls were sixteen, the youngest fourteen. Unusually they came from a classical rather than gospel background. Arlene Smith, who wrote and sang lead on Maybe, performed at Carnegie Hall when she was twelve years old. She had one heck of a set of pipes:

[Satchmo Distel]

Another Chantels gem - He's Gone:

[Satchmo Distel]

Tell Him - Exciters (January 1963)

[Satchmo Distel]

Barbara Lewis -- Hello Stranger (June 1963), Latin-flavored R&B on Atlantic

[Amor de Cosmos]

"Shoo bop shoo bop, my baby, OOOOOOO! Seems like a might long time."

On my gravestone I think.

[Satchmo Distel]

Ray Barretto - El Watusi (could also go on the jazz thread, but it made the R&B chart which is where I encountered it)

[Satchmo Distel]

Martha & The Vandellas - Quicksand (live, faster than the single):

[Satchmo Distel]

"Hope That We Can Be Together Soon" by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes feat. Sharon Paige

[Satchmo Distel]

Gospel roots: "More Than A Hammer & Nails" - Staple Sisters