I know there are UK soul fanatics but there don't seem to be too many on ILX and the ones that are don't seem to be interested in a thread with Chitlin in the title. La Dee Dah. As you were.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 27 November 2008 14:41 (fifteen years ago) link
Damn this Ms. Jody song I'm hearing now on WPFW (89.3 and online)is great--It's a dance song--"we were getting down in the club, doing the Ms. Jody thing" I love her voice and the synth beat is better than the standard Ecko type that soul fanatics sneer at.
Now he's playing a male vocalist singing "This party is a mutha y'all" with some line about booties in his face...
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 6 December 2008 18:16 (fifteen years ago) link
Big Bootie Betty
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 6 December 2008 18:17 (fifteen years ago) link
That's OB Buchanan drawling about Big Bootie Betty in his song "This Party is a Mutha Y'll" and I'm not sure what the Ms. Jody song is called.
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 6 December 2008 18:22 (fifteen years ago) link
Listened to the Ms. Jody album. It's great
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 13 December 2008 16:35 (fifteen years ago) link
It's a cd of the year even if you don't see it on any best of list except mine. If you like Denise Lasalle you should like Ms. Jody. Yes it's on Ecko, but the standard Ecko synth work is not annoying here
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 21 December 2008 17:48 (fifteen years ago) link
The thread title now correctly spells Ealey's name. Thanks moderator
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 21 December 2008 18:20 (fifteen years ago) link
Gonna miss Sir Charles Jones Saturday night at Lamonts in Pomonkey because of our family Chanukah party. I bet my blurb(revised by the editor a bit, grrrr) for it at dcist.com will inspire thousands to check it out. Ha. Lamonts still does not have a website.
Miss Jody cd is still sounding great. I just can't get the Ecko label production haters to give her a chance
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 25 December 2008 17:37 (fifteen years ago) link
http://bluescritic.com/SSVoting2008.htm
bluescritic.com southern soul voting poll
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 28 December 2008 18:33 (fifteen years ago) link
CHOOSE One From Each Category
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEST Southern Soul, Rhythm & Blues Album
WHO'S GOT THE POWER Marvin Sease MAN UP Stan Mosley TIME SERVED Omar Cunningham I'M A BLUESMAN'S DAUGHTER Sheba Potts-Wright I'M A WOMAN Nellie 'Tiger' Travis MY STORY Sir Charles Jones KEEPIN' IT REAL Jeff Floyd TRANSFORMATION Wilson Meadows SWEET SEXY SOUL Will Easley I NEVER TAKE A DAY OFF Ms. Jody LOVE IS A BAD HABIT Reggie P RETURN OF THE LEGEND Rue Davis YOU'RE THE BEST Kenne' Wayne LOVE CHRONICLES Archie Love THE UPRISING Clarence Dobbins STILL STANDING The Soul Children SOUTHERN SOUL COUNTRY BOY O.B. Buchana
Southern Soul Blues Song Of The Year
A WOMAN KNOWS Willie Clayton IT'S FRIDAY (TIME TO GET PAID) Lee 'Shot' Williams I'M COMING COME Marvin Sease FIRE Lebrado ENERGIZER BUNNY Ms Jody LOCK MY DOOR Jeff Floyd MY LIFE Omar Cunningham WHEN YOU PACK YOUR BAGS Vick Allen I LIKE THIS PLACE Carl Sims OLDER WOMAN YOUNGER MAN Pat Cooley I'M A WOMAN Nellie 'Tiger' Travis STUCK The Rhythm All Stars OBAMA Chick Willis POPCORN MAN Patrick Green DA TWIST Team Airplay All Stars
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 28 December 2008 18:36 (fifteen years ago) link
Alas my little preview item of Sir Charles Jones at Lamonts Saturday 12-27 was the only online mention of the event I could find (other than my posting here). As I was busy with a Chanukah party I did not make it and found no reviews of it anywhere. Sad. Guy can sing.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 31 December 2008 18:19 (fifteen years ago) link
My edited preview item was at dcist.com (Editor substituted the word "sluts")
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 31 December 2008 18:20 (fifteen years ago) link
Not exactly chitlin circuit soul, but Skip Mahoney & the Casuals, and the Jewels (all female group that once toured with James Brown and had a minor '60s hit with "Opportunity Knocks") will be at the Chateau in DC inauguration weekend (the 17th I think) while the Delphonics will be doing a gig with Memphis Gold and others at a Crystal City hotel (forgot the name) on MLK day, the 19th.
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 10 January 2009 22:00 (fifteen years ago) link
Lots going on in the area over that time period, if you can afford it. I wonder if Lamont's is doing anything special?
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 10 January 2009 22:02 (fifteen years ago) link
The Blues is Alright Tour 2009 all across the US of A in February and March...well mostly the South with all of my and your faves
http://www.heritageentertainments.com/
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 1 February 2009 06:34 (fifteen years ago) link
I think I will be able to see the DC area show at the Showplace Arena. Should be great.
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 14 February 2009 20:17 (fifteen years ago) link
Heard the Gator on WPFW play a raunchy fun number by Lee Shot Williams today, among other nice cuts
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 14 February 2009 20:18 (fifteen years ago) link
Lee's song-"Everything I like to Eat Starts with a 'P'"
pasta, pecans, you know...
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 15 February 2009 18:27 (fifteen years ago) link
Southern Soul Top 20 Countdown 2-28-09
1.1. The Beauty Shop Omar Cunningham2.2. I Cant Stand The Rain Willie Clayton3.3. Man Enough Karen Wolfe4.6.Gone on Marvin Sease5.5. What If He Knew Floyd Taylor6.12.Keep A Light In The Window William Bell7.4. One Night Stand Andre Lee8.10. Soul Clap TK Soul9.8. Another Kind Of Fool Bobby Rush10.7. Wash Your Hands Lola11.8. Starlight Diamond Kenny Neal12.14. The Recipe Bigg Robb13.13. Slippin and Hidin Willie Hill14.9. Just Because Hes Good to you O.B. Buchana15.14. Cheat On You Bobbye16.* Look Good For You Carl Marshall17.15. I'm Gonna Party L.J. Echols18.12. Sang No More Calvin Richardson featuring Omar Cunningham19.16. Woman Nellie Tiger Travis20.18. Lock My Door Jeff Floyd
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 1 March 2009 21:13 (fifteen years ago) link
I gotta recruit someone else to post on here also...
― curmudgeon, Monday, 2 March 2009 01:13 (fifteen years ago) link
Some of this stuff is great, really. As good as autogoon rap, School of 7 Bells, mambo merengue, Berlin techno, out-there jazz, Jazmine Sullivan, Nigerian reissues, Dennis Wilson outtakes, or whatever it is you're listening to.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 2 March 2009 14:35 (fifteen years ago) link
As good as autogoon rap, School of 7 Bells...
Ha! I actually read this thread religiously, just don't have much to contribute as my local public radio show that used to play a bunch of this stuff no longer exists, and the artists NEVER tour here (Minneapolis.)
― Dan Peterson, Monday, 2 March 2009 16:51 (fifteen years ago) link
At least someone's reading it. I was looking at the tour schedule for that latest tour, and I see a Philly show as the farthest one North (no New York City !) and while it goes over to Texas it's via a Southern route. Amazing.
Now I know some folks years ago used to snear at the cheesy synth sound on Malaco and Ecko label releases, but I think the keyboards they're using now are sounding better these days.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 2 March 2009 17:05 (fifteen years ago) link
Just discovered that the big soul tour is promoted by North American Entertainment, a company based in Connecticut (although they never book music there or in nearby NYC). They also promote 'urban' plays...Tyer Perry kind a stuff.
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 7 March 2009 04:37 (fifteen years ago) link
Tyler (spelling)
Mel Waiters' Throwback Days cd from a few years back is great. Was listening to it last night. Some of the lyrics go beyond the genre's cliches, and the melodies and instrumentation do as well. I think he does an online radio dj thing once a week too. I need to check that out some time. I'm planning on going to see him Friday night in Upper Marlboro.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 9 March 2009 15:00 (fifteen years ago) link
Could you make a top ten of your fave Chitlin Circuit soul singles/albums, curmudgeon, please?
― Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 9 March 2009 15:19 (fifteen years ago) link
I'll try. Me, Chuck Eddy, Christgau and I think maybe Matos and the late Rickey Wright all voted for the 2007 Motel Lovers comp in the January or February '08 published critics polls (Voice and/or Idolator). That's a nice survey of recent songs in the genre.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 9 March 2009 17:20 (fifteen years ago) link
Well, right, I have that one. But you're clearly so knowledgeable about the genre (or subgenre or whatever) that I'd love to hear, e.g., what YOU would do if Trikont entrusted you with Motel Lovers (or something akin to it). No biggie if you can't, though. (xhuxk, top ten away too if so inclined).
― Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 9 March 2009 17:29 (fifteen years ago) link
Oh, thanks. Will do. Mostly off the top of my head I love Ms. Jody's I Never Take a Day Off album from last year, Mel Waiters-Throwback Days from a few years ago, Denise Lasalle-Pay Before You Pump album, and a Barbara Carr best-of on Ecko. I have heard great songs by Sir Charles Jones, OB Buchana, Theotis Ealey, Willie Clayton, and Lee Shot Williams.
I gotta go write a blog post for my local alt-weekly on Mel Waiters and the show coming up on Friday...
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 10 March 2009 00:38 (fifteen years ago) link
Friday night, DC area folks, is Mel Waiters, Clarence Carter, Roy C.,Latimore, and Marvin Sease at the Showplace Arena. They're advetising the show just on WHUR, that plays post-Luther Vandross style quiet storm mellow r'n'b. No media ads, no press releases to mainstream print media as far as I can tell.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 12 March 2009 14:06 (fifteen years ago) link
I went to the show. There were good and bad aspects to the performances--good=soulful voices and tunes; bad=over-the-top dirty old man thrusting and gyrating and too obvious lyrics. Yea, I know, that should not be a surprise. The bill drew a crowd of several thousand. For those into demographics, I think I was the only white person there under age 50, and one of about 5 white folks. Yes I know many African-Americans and others frequently find themselves in the minority at places. The average age was from around 49 to 70. Lots of women howling for the performers.
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 14 March 2009 22:05 (fifteen years ago) link
Only newsprint coverage of the show--a preview in the Prince George's County Gazzette; blog coverage-mine at the City Paper and a DC tv channel 4 item. No mention in the Washington Post before the show and no review of the show.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 16 March 2009 13:56 (fifteen years ago) link
So who does the "Southern Soul Party" (I assume that's its name) song where he keeps saying the party is at a golf course (!?), and they're going to play Johnny Taylor and Tyrone Davis songs there and serve cole slaw and chitlins and stuff? I heard that one on 88.7 in Austin this afternoon (community radio, I think), and liked it a lot. No idea if it's current or not, and Google is no help. They also played another song that mentioned Johnny Taylor and Tyrone Davis, this one about a lot of singers who'd "gone home" by dying (tons of soul guys, not all Southern, plus Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, Janis Joplin, Tupac, and Biggie Smalls). I'm not sure whether the show just comes on Wednesday afternoons or what, but it was very cool.
― xhuxk, Thursday, 19 March 2009 04:21 (fifteen years ago) link
Mel Waiters, who is from and lives in San Antonio, did a tribute to Johnny Taylor and Tyrone Davis in his appearance live last week, and mentioned them as his faves in the interview I did with him. I love and highly recommend his last cd Throwback Days (on Waldoxy, a Malaco subsidiary). Waiters was once a fulltime dj, but now just records a weekly program that's syndicated (online I guess).
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 19 March 2009 04:27 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, Mel Waiters' "Smaller The Club" was maybe my very favorite track on that great great great Trikont Motel Lovers comp two years ago, though Google is still inconclusive about whether he has a song called "Southern Soul Party." (Also wondering now whether the radio show I heard may have actually been his syndicated one, and not an Austin-originating thing.)
― xhuxk, Thursday, 19 March 2009 15:37 (fifteen years ago) link
― moe greene dolphin street (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 19 March 2009 19:56 (fifteen years ago) link
Ha ha, today the same Austin station played a great song called "I Need A Bailout," where the singer asks Obama for money to help him pay his phone and cable bills. Again, no artist back-announced, though.
― xhuxk, Friday, 20 March 2009 01:55 (fifteen years ago) link
Here's a list of current southern soul that gets radio play
http://bluescritic.com/southernsoulsinglescharts.htm
Not sure if that one's on it. I think I heard it---either on the Saturday afternoon WPFW show I listen to or between acts at the Southern Soul tour gig I saw last week.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 20 March 2009 13:21 (fifteen years ago) link
No bailout song on that list, as far as I can see, but apparently "Southern Soul Party" is by somebody named Floyd Taylor; here's a bio of him:
http://www.malaco.com/Catalog/Blues-R-B/Floyd-Taylor/list.php
Also hadn't noticed that you said Mel Waiters' show was syndicated online, which means it's probably not the over-the-air one I heard after all. Which may not be merely a specialty show, seeing how 88.7 was playing more Southern soul on Thursday. Need to do more research on this, obviously...
― xhuxk, Friday, 20 March 2009 13:43 (fifteen years ago) link
Also noticed a Betty Padgett song on one of those playlists; here are a couple things about her new album I posted on Rolling Country last week:
Best old-school soul-revival I've heard in a long time is Betty Padgett's Luv N' Haight on Ubiquity -- real good covers of "My Eyes Adored You" (smooth reggae) and "Rockin' Chair," plus "Sugar Daddy" is the catchiest, warmest, most propulsive early (as in mid '70s) disco facsimile in recent memory. Also, the gal can sing. (Apparently this is a comeback, but if I skimmed her bio right and she did indeed record in the '70s, I never heard her.)
― xhuxk, Friday, 13 March 2009
Turns out on subsequent listens that Betty Padgett is maybe a more average B-or-C-level soul voice than I implied in my post yesterday (and her covers of the Frankie Valli and Gwen McRae are less astonishing than I may have implied), but I still like her album, especially her very convincingly disco-bubbly single "Sugar Daddy" (incl. its second version with background party voices), where I'm pretty sure I read in an email press release earlier this week that she's backed by Detroit indie-rock Afrobeat nine-piece Nomo (whose first couple albums sounded funky enough, but whose upcoming one doesn't hold my attention for some reason. Never heard their third. Do like where they're coming from, however.)
― xhuxk, Sunday, 15 March 2009
― xhuxk, Friday, 20 March 2009 14:07 (fifteen years ago) link
I just heard "Southern Soul Party" on the radio and yep, they said it was by Floyd Taylor, who I'm pretty sure is the late Johnny Taylor's son.
Here's what Daddy B. Nice said about Floyd's most recent Malaco release:
Boy, I was wrong about this one. I never took to "You Still Got It," the first title-cut single from the CD of the same name. It was just a little too vanilla, but since then song after song has pushed its way onto the Stations of the Deep South air waves: "Southern Soul Party," "I'm Hooked On These Blues," "I Miss My Daddy," "If You Catch Me Sleepin'". . .
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 21 March 2009 18:34 (fifteen years ago) link
That bio you posted says Floyd was raised by his Mom in Chicago and that his dad is/was Johnny Taylor.
I heard a nice (new?) song "Upside Down" from Shirley Brown. Plus I like "I'm Gonna Change," which is the second catchy powerful voiced tune I've heard from O.B. Buchana. It's got a nice little spoken word portion. He also mentions Tyrone Davis and Johnny Taylor in the song plus Jay Blackfoot and Sir Charles Jones and others. I may have to get O.B.'s "Southern Soul Country Boy" album
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 21 March 2009 18:44 (fifteen years ago) link
Mel Waiters radio show is on southernsoulradio.com They just played that Shirley Brown song I mentioned.
http://southernsoulradio.com/#
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 21 March 2009 18:55 (fifteen years ago) link
R.I.P. Eddie Bo. See the separate thread on this New Orleans great.
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 21 March 2009 18:57 (fifteen years ago) link
Miss Jody and Denise Lasalle rule. Jody's coming to Lamonts in Pomonkey May 23rd to do the Miss Jody thang...(that's a dance y'all)
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 7 April 2009 14:21 (fifteen years ago) link
So that Southern Soul show on Austin public station 88.7 actually played Theodis Ealey's "Stand Up In It" (see thread title), which I'd strangely never heard before, yesterday. Pretty wacky sex song! I liked it, though I've heard better songs on the show. I'm a little torn right now about current/ recent Southern Soul's tendency to go for the easy joke (many of which jokes aren't as funny as they intend to be) or the easy sex shocker (basically none of which seem as shocking as they intend to be.) But when the genre goes for straight blues/soul emotion (at least judging from what's on that show), it frequently seems to veer toward the generic. I dunno, I gotta say I was actually disappointed by the songs the station was playing yesterday; assuming they're playing the genre's hits and best tracks, pickings may be slimmer than I expected. (There was also an update of Levert's "Casanova" with a sort of semi-zydeco rhtyhm, only it was called "Roll With Me" or something like that. Not bad, not great.) Also not convinced that many (any?) of the current artists could hold their own against, you know, Johnny Taylor or Tyrone Davis or Z.Z. Hill (or Millie Jackson), and I get a little tired of those names being dropped so often in songs in an apparent stab to leech off their greatness (reminds me of how country singers are always dropping Hank's and Willie's and Waylon's and Merle's names, which has ranked with the genre's most boring cliches forever.) Still going to try to keep tuning in, though, to see what turns up on the show. And still wonder who did that "I Need a Bailout" song I heard.
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 7 April 2009 16:06 (fifteen years ago) link
Not that I particularly care about being shocked by sex songs; it's more like, why are they even trying? Reminds me of what Xgau wrote in 1987 about Marvin Sease's ten-minute "Candy Licker" (which I like anyway, though more in its shorter 45 version): "not so much audacious as preposterous." And usually the sex songs aren't even all that preposterous, truth be told.
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 7 April 2009 16:15 (fifteen years ago) link
And to point a spotlight on the elephant in the room: If this kind of music was "anachronistic" 22 years ago (as Xgau said in that Sease review), what does that make it now that 41 years have passed since "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay"? And what does it mean that I still get way more out of this stuff than the vast majority of current r&b, which usually just strikes me as constricted and joyless in comparison? At least Southern Soul still seems written by grownups. (Basically it makes me an anachronism myself -- and not much different all the sticks-in-the-mud who are always saying current country music can't stand up to the country music of decades ago. Still think I'm right, though.)
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 7 April 2009 16:38 (fifteen years ago) link
Speaking of country, from the Rolling Country thread, here's me talking about the new Buckwheat Zydeco album:
Rolling Country 2009 Thread
And here's something about related music played on the Austin station that airs that Southern Soul show:
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 7 April 2009 16:41 (fifteen years ago) link
By "vast majority of current r&b" above, I obviously mean "stuff that gets played on contemporary r&b/hip-hop-stype stations and often crosses over to pop stations." Southern Soul being released now would technically be "current r&b" too, I guess, but it doesn't exactly sound modern or up-to-date. As with current (popular) country, I don't get the idea it now incorporates many production innovations that were developed after the '80s. (Though it's interesting that music that was considered "pop r&b" around when Marvin Sease was hitting with "Candy Licker" seems roped in as part of "old school" now.)
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 7 April 2009 17:24 (fifteen years ago) link