LET'S GET IT ON! It's the ~~~ 1970s SOUL ALBUMS POLL ~~~ NOMINATIONS AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD

Edd, did you listen to the Di Melo album Moka posted upthread? The vocals make it sound exotic, but otherwise it's almost pure soul.

And I'll add Moondance to the list in my next update.

Dusty Springfield - A Brand New Me

I don't think Ben really belongs in this poll, but "the Brazilian Richie Havens" is a pretty outrageous characterization

Best discoveries of the day for me:

The Human Zoo - 'Gonna Take Me a Ride'
I've seen them described as 'garage soul', but on headphones this sounds like it was recorded in an attic, with the singer in the middle of the room, a transistor radio playing the backbeat on the far left and a few musicians on the right.

Lou Bond - 'For the Establishment'
One of those songs that could go on for hours and I wouldn't care. Those repeating four trombone(?) notes in the last five minutes, just massive.

Excellent picks Arch. This is going to be a hard poll, I think I'd actually prefer to have a tracks poll to highlight stuff in small doses. Too many great albums in here it's impossible to go through them all.

Btw fans of Terry Callier: The New Folk Sound of Terry Callier is probably one of my favorite albums from the 60's but I haven't listened almost anything he released in the 70's. Where should I start?

Shit had no idea he was still alive and making music that 2008 album is sounding great.

Oh wait he died in 2012. Still, had no idea he continued making music...

Listening to 'What Color Is Love" and it sounds very much like Nick Drake but cooler? The orchestration and rhythms are way better and there's some sexy vibe that Nick Drake never had, must be the soul.

The folk/soul and even opera elements are very original... any other artist that had this sort of sound back then?

Check out "Dancing Girl" from the same album, Moka.

Lovely Uncle Terry. I've got a print of What Colour is Love on my wall.

I think that and Occasional Rain are the two to go for, initially at least. The latter is more a suite and more abstract. It's got a pretty stellar cast - Minnie Ripperton's trills on the title track are quite astonishing. Damn the weather man...

this rym list looks good:

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/antreas72heep/make_this_new_thang__funky_papa__my_100_fave_funk_soul_tracks_/1/

Great track from the second Mer-Da album, which is one of my favorite soul records of the '70s: https://youtu.be/Iz4w02ONYIo

"Ain't Nobody Straight in L.A.," from the Miracles' awesome City of Angels:
https://youtu.be/1h6OVwvAiIs

I like those Black Mer-Da albums but I really wish they were better produced, they're just so dry and unadorned. Really would've benefited from some more creative engineering choices, reverb, etc.

Interesting to see everyone's idea of soul from this period. My picks will be straight from the charts mostly.... Smokey, Temptations, Chi-lites, Roberta Flack and such. Anyway this is maybe my favorite music ever.

Found the Trouble Man soundtrack recently. 10 minutes of Cleo's Apartment -> Theme from Trouble Man is heaven. I have no idea really how Marvin Gaye is appreciated since I live in his hometown, other than the praise for what's going on. he has such a deep catalog

you are everything is you ohohhhhh

this rym list looks good:

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/antreas72heep/make_this_new_thang__funky_papa__my_100_fave_funk_soul_tracks_/1/

― a confederacy of lampreys (rushomancy),

This has inspired me to make a list of my own in case a tracks poll is ever run, I'm starting with the more obvious one so don't expect anything particularly interesting or deep cuts until I finish it (hopefully wont take me long... 100 soul/funk songs seems easy):

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/moteldemoka/mokas-top-100-funk-soul-tracks/

Guys, what about reggae soul? Alton Ellis per example was rocksteady but he was certainly related to soul. "I'm Still in Love With You", "What Does It Take?" per example.

I mean he doesn't have the best soul albums by a long shot but he deserves a namedrop so this is me namedropping him.

I will keep an eye on your list Moka. Have you heard the Creative Source cover of 'What Is He...'?
https://youtu.be/bSGLTbXh_JU

And unless I'm completely sick of numbers and spreadsheets after this poll, I'm definitely planning on doing a tracks poll right after we finish the album rollout.

So keep building those temp lists and posting YouTubes! :)

I know the Meshell Ndegeocello cover which is good but doesn't really change much from the original. I did not know this version you posted it's pretty good! Less Soul and more Funk and Disco, reminds me of what The Sisters Love did with Curtis' "gimme your love" (also Danny Krivitz 8 min extended edit from the 80's).

Real-life giggle at this piece of dialogue at the end of Ain't Nobody Straight in L.A.:

- "Some of the finest women are in the gay bars."
- "Hey but dig, Bob, how do you know they women?"
- "Well uh..."

definitely anticipating the tracks poll because there are some great soul records by people who didn't get records (patti jo comes to mind first but also gloria ann taylor)

Are soundtracks allowed? If so I'd like to nominate The Wiz OST, if only for Michael Jackson's funky as hell 'You Can't Win'

Also I've just discovered 'Medley' on the 5th Dimension 'Portrait' album from the master list. This is spectacular - the funkiest version of the American Declaration of Independence(!) I have ever heard.

patti jo comes to mind first but also gloria ann taylor

OTM

One of my favourite albums on the list is Smokin' by Greg Perry. The last two songs are some of my favourite productions in music ever. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes the slicker side of 70s soul.

https://youtu.be/1ZtQivd797k

My favourite album on the entire list is Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta. I know she already has fans on here but if you don't know that record it's well worth hearing. Her voice is incredible and the songs every song is a winner. The second side is kind of like the soul Abbey Road, but without the filler.

https://youtu.be/t4Ug_-WYey8

Another gorgeous album on the list is 2nd Resurrection by Stairsteps. Again, the production is just so good. This song is as lush as soul music gets.

https://youtu.be/dZ-u_0-KiC8

Are soundtracks allowed?

Some Ohio Players
https://youtu.be/Y47G-Wa4qfs

Slave - Slide
https://youtu.be/y1tKTjRgJuE

Black Nasty - Talkin To The People
https://youtu.be/B1LV1OsD4cU

My fave piece of music from the 70s
Chairmen Of The Board - Life & Death
https://youtu.be/H0jDFLjJHdw

The best hit single/anthem that never was
Mandrill - Ape Is High
https://youtu.be/kr55GRDYpkg

Mutiny - Lump.
https://youtu.be/LuxIYhnapUs

Guaranteed to get your asses moving

~~~ Nominations updated ~~~

Paul Kelly's 1970 "509." I believe this was cut in Muscle Shoals.
https://youtu.be/zJDhfl3RpNU

xp We have exactly 1111 albums at the moment!

Howard Tate's "Little Volcano," from Reaction, not his best album, but this is a great track.
https://youtu.be/JpZ3bPZdtek

Awesome picks, everybody. My tip of the day:

Alice Clark - Charms of the Arms of Love

Cameo - Rigor Mortis
https://youtu.be/nQY1jCbrC2k

Maia and Ben live '81:
https://youtu.be/Sce1SSzuNzs

I don't care for the Meters' later albums because they lost the eccentricity that made the best of their Josie instrumentals so great, but this 1970 track is a master class in drumming and a great example of the interplay they had before someone convinced them they had to be a vocal group. Beefheart shoulda got Ziggy Modeliste to play with him.
"Rigor Mortis"
https://youtu.be/tgdKApyrtuA

Added a few more tracks to my list... I think I'm on 13 now. So want to ask some questions about 'Where Are We Going?', hopefully one of you is geeky enough to know the full story.... I've been in love with that song for the past years and adding it to the list I noticed a strange story. Here's the song:

Donald Byrd version: https://youtu.be/tTFFt8bimp4
Marvin Gaye version: https://youtu.be/56AgF4gSSZQ
Falcon Punch - Donald's Bird (nice remix of Donald Byrd's version): https://youtu.be/W7TCRdBE6Ns

So, this song was originally written by Marvin Gaye for his 'Let's Get It On' album in 1972 but the song was never released and got shelved like for 30 years. Donald Byrd loved it and released a version with some really smooth arrangements a year later. Question is: anyone knows the full story? Why was the song shelved when it could've been one of the best cuts in an already classic album. How come Donald Byrd got the song? Was he friends with Gaye? Just tell me anything you know about this song I love it.

Larry Mizell interview from 2006. I bet Motown had more than one set of producers trying to cut with Gaye, and perhaps Motown wasn't happy with the Mizells' results. I've never read anything about Donald Byrd and Gaye, and don't know if there's anything out there that goes into more detail on this. But there is a documentary in the works about What's Going On. The song was done after that album, not during the sessions--see below.

No, we made three cuts. It was three, right? Marvin only overdubbed only two of them with vocals. What happened was, Marvin was in a sophomore slump after What’s Going On. Berry Gordy thought it was too political, but when he put it out it influenced everybody, it just knocked everybody out. So Marvin had to come up with something else and he was tripping, he was in a creative slump. So Motown had meetings to bring in other producers to write tunes with Marvin, and Marvin’s perfectly capable of coming up with smash hits off the yin yang. But this time the procedure got started, Marvin agreeably went in and did the overdubs. And then we came to our senses; there were other politics happening, too, but the records got shelved. It ended up, this particular song and the other one, the one that got released on Marvin, "Where Are We Going," since we knew they weren’t coming out we cut those songs on Donald Byrd. If you notice on the Donald Byrd album the publishing is listed as Jobete, which is Motown’s publishing company. We were anticipating they would never come out but after Motown was sold to Universal "Where Are We Going" came out. Yeah, it was supposed to be the follow-up. After working at Motown we moved forward to start our own production company, Skyhigh Productions.

Thank you! Donald Byrd's version is amazing but it would be perfect with Gaye on vocals. Which I had the ability to mash em up.