The Winstons are still together! Wow.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 7 July 2010 04:20 (thirteen years ago) link
Grrrrrr, gonna be out-of-town next Saturday for the Lamont's 20th anniversary show with Lee Fields, Miss Jody, and more.
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 18 July 2010 00:48 (thirteen years ago) link
New Breakout Hit on the Radio!
This strong Blues groove and Latimore's smooth vocals deliver a track that everyone can get into. "Every Day I Have The Blues", by Latimore, takes this classic to a new level
Promo email from Henry Stone Music, that I just received. Not sure if I have heard this one. I saw Latimore at least once (not bad) and I've liked his vocals on most of the recordings I have heard.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 2 September 2010 17:04 (thirteen years ago) link
Been listening to these in recent weeks; in more or less descending order of how much I like them:
Chuck Brown – We Got This (Sweet Venture) -- Washington proto-go-go survivor not Southern soul obviously, and mostly live (just watched the attached DVD last night), but totally relentless and amazing, with a ton of jazz and rock stirred inSweet Angel – A Girl Like Me (Ecko) -- title track has a very good chance at my year-end top 10 singles listEarl Gaines – Good To Me (Ecko) -- died last year, I think?Syl Johnson – Complete Mythology (Advance Sampler) (The Numero Group promo reissue)David Brinston – Beat It Up (Ecko) -- great voice, catchy songs, but his lyrics(see album title) tend toward the gross unsexy juvenile horndog idiocy of too much contemporary r&b, so I'm still on the fence about this: basically, sounds real good if I ignore the wordsSir Charles Jones – A Tribute To The Legends (Mardi Gras '09) -- another great voice, but all cover songs, so likewise marginal; what helps is that the cover songs are not all obvious ones, and he does surprisingly good versions of some of the more obvious ones, too, "rainy night in georgia" and "never can say goodbye" for instance
Also, here's my album review of Luther Lackey's The Preacher's Wife, almost a shoo-in for my year-end top 10 list:
http://www.rhapsody.com/luther-lackey/the-preachers-wife#albumreview
― xhuxk, Thursday, 2 September 2010 17:22 (thirteen years ago) link
Are you on an Ecko mailing list now? I need to review some of their stuff and try to get on it. That is, if they send stuff out. So few writers review this stuff, that I wonder if they only send copies to Southern US radio stations.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 2 September 2010 17:30 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah, it took some finagling, but I actually managed to get on their list. (Mardi Gras's list, too -- They also sent me a compilation that I haven't listened to much yet.) Emailed some of the other Southern Soul labels, too, but haven't heard back.
― xhuxk, Thursday, 2 September 2010 17:41 (thirteen years ago) link
I need to do that. Listened instead this weekend to NPR friendly, easy-listening soul-- Latest Bettye Lavette, Mavis Staples and Lizz Wright. Great voices wasted on ponderous arrangements for the most part. I also listened to James Funk(onetime go-go musician in Rare Essence)who was filling in as the dj on my local WPFW southern soul show. I liked the various Southern soul songs he played more than the Bettye Lavette tune he spun--her slowed-down take on "Nights in White Satin."
― curmudgeon, Monday, 4 October 2010 15:09 (thirteen years ago) link
Lizz wants to be in Sweet Honey in the Rock it appears. She sings a Bernice Reagon song and Bernice's daughter produces several of the cuts. It's just very predictable.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 5 October 2010 13:58 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2010/09/06/100906crmu_music_frerejones
Sasha Frere-Jones should start reading this thread (he used to read ilx sometimes).
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 5 October 2010 17:57 (thirteen years ago) link
Was gonna do a newspaper blogpost on Lizz, but her gig tonight got postponed due to illness.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 6 October 2010 13:32 (thirteen years ago) link
Daddy B. Nice's #97 ranked Southern Soul Artist Luther Lackey is one of the most intriguing of the new generation of Southern Soul artists, a singer-slash-songwriter of the first order. And the best part is that his stuff has a power that hints at great things to come. --Daddy B. Nice
About Luther Lackey
Luther Lackey is the brother of O. B. Buchana (now that's a talented family)and hails from the same home town as Buchana, blues-rich Clarksdale, Mississippi.
I didn't realize he was O.B.'s brother. O.B. made my top 10 for last year.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 6 October 2010 13:41 (thirteen years ago) link
There's barely anything written about Lackey visible via google.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 6 October 2010 13:42 (thirteen years ago) link
x-post--some of the Lizz Wright cd is growing on me.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 6 October 2010 13:43 (thirteen years ago) link
Mel Waiters new song "DownHome people" is great-nice melody and lyrics that capture the character of 50-somethings still into Southern soul music and hanging out.
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 24 October 2010 04:07 (thirteen years ago) link
Surprise surprise, no mention of Mel Waiters or any other southern soul singer in the new NY Times magazine article on retro-soul (Mayer Hawthorne, Eli Reed, etc.). It's annoying to me that in the thousands of words in this piece there was not room for any acknowledgment of this other thing going on right now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/magazine/14soul-t.html?pagewanted=1&ref=music
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 14 November 2010 15:45 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah, I was thinking the exact same thing. (I saw Mayer Hawthorne live at Austin City Limits, by the way, and he puts on a really entertaining show -- though more quiet storm than Motown, as far as my ears could tell, and he's nowhere near a great singer, and the stuff I've heard on record went in one ear and out the other. Anyway, to act like he's the future of soul music is a joke.)
― xhuxk, Sunday, 14 November 2010 16:31 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAaU_jLDL_E
The Miss Jody Thing line dance
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 18 December 2010 04:38 (thirteen years ago) link
Oh, it's "Ms. Jody" actually
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 18 December 2010 04:43 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.blues.org/#ref=bluesmusicawards_nominees
Denise Lasalle gets love as a blues.org soul nominee and as a Daddy B. Nice nominee
http://www.southernsoulrnb.com/corner2010.cfm
Best CD:
1. Mel Waiters---I Ain't Gone Do It 2. Carl Marshall---Love Who You Wanna Love 3. Earl Gaines---Good To Me 4. Floyd Taylor---All Of Me 5. Luther Lackey---The Preacher's Wife 6. Denise LaSalle---24 Hour Woman 7. Cicero Blake---I'm Satisfied 8. Wendell B.---In Touch With My Southern Soul 9. Sheba Potts-Wright---Best Of Sheba Potts-Wright 10. Reggie P.---The Rude Boy Of Southern Soul
THE CATEGORIES:
Best Mid-Tempo Song Best Club Song Best Ballad Best Song by Longtime Veteran Best Female Vocalist Best Male Vocalist Best Debut Best Collaboration Best Out-Of-Left-Field Song Best Chitlin' Circuit Blues Song Best Cover Song Best Arranger/Producer Best Songwriter Best CD Hardest-Touring Crowd Pleaser.
THIS LIST IS CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 18 December 2010 05:27 (thirteen years ago) link
Mel Waiters is my man. I think I like his voice better than Luther Lackey's. Ms. Jody and Denise Lasalle have great voices as well.
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 18 December 2010 15:43 (thirteen years ago) link
These made my Pazz & Jop ballot this year, fwiw:
ALBUMS#4 Bigg Robb – Jerri Curl Muzic (Over25Sound) 10 points (technically an '09 release, but that never stopped me before)#8 Luther Lackey – The Preacher’s Wife (Ecko) 5 points
SINGLES#3 Sweet Angel – A Girl Like Me (Ecko) (which may or may not technically be a "single," per se', but promo copies of her CD went out with a note that singled it out as the one "suggested cut," which makes it single-like enough for my purposes.)
― xhuxk, Saturday, 18 December 2010 16:14 (thirteen years ago) link
Interesting to see that Earl Gaines album place so high in that "Best CD" list, by the way. I gather that's something of a sympathy vote, since the guy died last New Year's Eve. His post-humous album is good, definitely a keeper, but hardly great, and certainly not better than Luther Lackey's album (which had consistently great songs, though I agree he might not be quite as awesome a singer as Mel Waiters. Whose 2010 album I actually never heard -- maybe next year.)
― xhuxk, Saturday, 18 December 2010 16:19 (thirteen years ago) link
x-post- I had not heard that Sweet Angel song before but just checked it out on youtube. Nice. I like the way she emphasizes the "sh" sound when she says "Bobby Rush"
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 18 December 2010 19:38 (thirteen years ago) link
From that memphis blues.org group's more mainstream bluesy nominations linked to above:
Soul Blues Album of the Year24 Hour Woman, Denise LaSalleBack in Style, Tad RobinsonFeed My Soul, The Holmes BrothersLive In San Antonio, Eugene 'Hideaway' BridgesNothing's Impossible, Solomon BurkeStomp the Floor, Arthur Adams
Soul Blues Female Artist of the YearBarbara CarrClaudette KingDenise LaSalleIrma ThomasSista Monica Parker
Soul Blues Male Artist of the YearBobby RushCurtis SalgadoEugene 'Hideaway' BridgesSolomon BurkeTad Robinson
Only listened to it once, but I was kinda dissapointed in the latest Holmes Brothers album. Not enough energy. Don't think I've ever heard Claudette King or Curtis Salgado.
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 18 December 2010 19:46 (thirteen years ago) link
Tons of these I've still never heard!:
DADDY B. NICE'S FINALISTS: BEST OF 2010 SOUTHERN SOULBelow is a list of finalists--the best in their categories for 2010--for the 4th Annual Daddy B. Nice Southern Soul Music Awards. The numbers below do NOT denote rankings. The award-winner in each category will be announced soon on this page. Music published before 2010 was eligible if the bulk of its chitlin' circuit airplay came in 2010.
Best CD: 1. Mel Waiters---I Ain't Gone Do It 2. Carl Marshall---Love Who You Wanna Love 3. Earl Gaines---Good To Me 4. Floyd Taylor---All Of Me 5. Luther Lackey---The Preacher's Wife 6. Denise LaSalle---24 Hour Woman 7. Cicero Blake---I'm Satisfied 8. Wendell B.---In Touch With My Southern Soul 9. Sheba Potts-Wright---Best Of Sheba Potts-Wright 10. Reggie P.---The Rude Boy Of Southern Soul
Best Mid-Tempo Song: 1. Older Woman (Looking For A Younger Man)---Denise LaSalle 2. Meet Me Tonight---Mel Waiters 3. If They Can Beat Me Rockin'---Vick Allen 4. If She's Cheating On Me, I Don't Wanna Know---Luther Lackey 5. Turn Road---Mr. Ivy 6. We Don't Get Along 'Til We Gettin' It On---O. B. Buchana 7. Trying To Please Two---Doctor D. 8. Personal Matter---Wilson Meadows 9. I Ain't Gone Do It---Mel Waiters 10. She Threw A Monkey Wrench In My Game---Walt Luv 11. Everybody Knows---The Revelations f/ Tre' Williams 12. Knock My Boots---Larry Milton
Best Club Song: 1. Get Out---Pat Cooley 2. I'm The Man For The Job---Lee "Shot" Williams 2. Brand New Man---Captain Jack Watson 4. Preacher Man---Reggie P. 5. Ride It Like A Cowboy (Zydeco Remix)---Kenne' Wayne 6. Slap It Tap It---Jim Bennett 7. The Bop---Ms. Jody 8. Let's Party---Cherone Brown 9. Everything's Going Up---Mel Waiters 10. Too Much Booty Shaking---Jonothan Burton 11. You Make Me Want To Pop A Pill---Ghetto Cowboy 12. P's & Q's---Reggie P. & Sir Charles Jones
Best Ballad: 1. Birthday Suit---Certified Slim 2. I Didn't Wanna Wake Up---Charles Blakely 3. All Of You, All Of Me---Floyd Taylor 4. The Preacher's Wife---Luther Lackey 5. Everybody Makes Mistakes---Bigg Robb 6. Outside Man---John Cummings 7. I'd Rather Be By Myself---Sweet Angel 8. Best Time I Ever Had In My Life---Wendell B. 9. Be A Man---Pat Cooley 10. Why Did You Lie---Jabo 11. You Deserve Better--100% Cotton 12. The Crying Zone---Bigg Robb 13. You Ain't The Father Of The Child---Sir Charles Jones 14. Baby Daddy---Bobbye Johnson
Best Song By Longtime Veteran: 1. I Ain't Gone Do It---Mel Waiters 2. Am I Mr. Right---William Bell 3. My Old Man & Mrs. Jones---Pat Brown 4. Pop That Thang---Big G. 5. Mr. Right Now---Latimore 6. Sorry (Didn't Know It Was Your Mama)---Lenny Williams 7. I've Lived It All---Carl Marshall 8. Into Something---Cicero Blake 9. Beat It Up---David Brinston 10. She Told On Herself---T.K. Soul 11. Older Woman---Denise LaSalle 12. What Do The Lonely Do---Joy 13. Blind Snake---Bobby Rush 14. Gotta Good Woman---Lee "Shot" Williams
Best Female Vocalist: 1. No Ordinary Pussycat---Ms. Jody 2. I'll Be Your Cheating Woman---Jill Sharp 3. Last Night Was Your Last Night---Sweet Angel 4. Be A Man---Pat Cooley 5. All About You---B.B. Queen 6. My Man (I Won't Let My Baby Down)---Lina 7. Baby Daddy---Bobbye Johnson 8. Reality Slowly Walks Us Down---LGB 9. You Won't Miss Your Water---Falisa JaNaye 10. Cheating On The Back Streets---Adrena 11. Older Woman (Looking For A Younger Man)---Denise LaSalle 12. Love That Keeps Us Holding On---Katrina Jefferson 13. Only Time I Get Lonely---Stephanie Pickett 14. Stuttering---Karen Wolfe
Best Male Vocalist: 1. Mister Can I Shine Your Shoes---Luther Lackey 2. Meet Me Tonight---Mel Waiters 3. If They Can Beat Me Rockin'---Vick Allen 4. We Don't Get Along Until We Gettin' It On---O.B. Buchana 5. Birthday Suit---Certified Slim 6. Brand New Man---Captain Jack Watson 7. I've Lived It All---Carl Marshall 8. You Ain't The Father Of The Child---Sir Charles Jones 9. Same Soap---Omar Cunningham 10. Knock My Boots---Larry Milton 11. I Didn't Wanna Wake Up---Charles Blakely 12. Everybody Knows---Tre' Williams w/ The Revelations 13. Come On Let's Dance---Donnie Ray 14. Best Time I Ever Had In My Life---Wendell B. 15. Wanna Make Love---Floyd Taylor
Best Debut: 1. Trying To Please Two---Doctor D. 2. My Man(I Won't Let My Baby Down)---Lina 3. Birthday Suit---Certified Slim 4. Turn Road---Mr. Ivy 5. Outside Man---John Cummings 6. Brand New Man---Captain Jack Watson 7. Cheating On The Back Street---Adrena 8. Mind Your Business---Heart 2 Heart Band 9. Ain't Going Your Way---B.B. Queen 10. I Didn't Wanna Wake Up---Charles Blakely 11. Falisa JaNaye---You Won't Miss Your Water
Best Collaboration: 1. We Both Grown---Willie Clayton & Dave Hollister 2. P's & Q's---Reggie P. & Sir Charles Jones 3. Haters Gone Hate---T. K. Soul, Vick Allen, Omar Cunningham 4. No Ordinary Pussycat---Ms. Jody & J. Blackfoot 5. Good Lovin' Testimony---Carl Marshall & Rue Davis 6. Family Reunion---Bigg Robb & Shirley Murdock 7. Forever Young---Gregg A. Smith, Bobby Rush, Lucky Petersen, Carl Marshall 8. That Girl Belongs To Me---Charles Wilson & Willie Clayton 9. Reach Out---Stan Mosley, Carl Marshall, Rue Davis, Lil' Buck & Jamonte Black
Best Outa-Left-Field Song: 1. I'm Going Solo---Narvel 2. You Deserve Better---100% Cotton 3. Reality Slowly Walks Us Down---LGB 4. Tired---Kelly Price 5. America Rises And Shines---Bobby Bowens 6. Cassanova (Zydeco version)---Lynn 7. Just One More Day---Randy "Wildman" Brown 8. A Girl Like Me---Sweet Angel 9. Don't Blame It On Me---The Winstons
Best Chitlin' Circuit Blues Song: 1. Repo Woman---Gwen White 2. Ex-Wife Blues---Cherone Brown 3. Don't Do It---Bobby Connerly 4. Bitter With The Sweet---Kenny Neal 5. Blind Snake---Bobby Rush 6. Forever Young---Gregg A. Smith, Bobby Rush, Lucky Petersen, Carl Marshall 7. Too Many Mechanics---Cream Of The Crop Blues Band 8. Jimmy---The Real Brown Sugar 9. I'll Be Your Cheating Woman---Jill Sharp 10. Let's Party---Cherone Brown
Best Cover Song: 1. Older Woman---Denise LaSalle 2. Sam---Angel Sent 3. Barbeque---Mel Waiters 4. Cheat Receipt---Denise LaSalle 5. Return Of The Mack---The BarKays 6. Back In The Streets Again---Ms. Jody 7. Good Lovin' Testimony---Carl Marshall w/ Rue Davis
― xhuxk, Thursday, 30 December 2010 16:47 (thirteen years ago) link
The Denise Lasalle one is uneven and disappointingly formulaic. Well, actually it's worse than uneven. The formulaic blues chords on some songs and the standard chitlin circuit lyrics re cheating guys, older women sex drives and particular needs are all kinda of meh. But there are a few great cuts there and I always love her voice.
The Mel Waiters one has grown on me alot even if a few of the cuts have a kinda boring "quiet storm" format/ adult r'n'b boring production aspect (as if he wants to be a Luther Vandross imitator without Luther's distinctiveness).
Speaking of Luther's, I still am struggling with Luther Lackey's voice. It's weird, I can listen to bad-voiced rock singers and he's better than that.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 30 December 2010 17:02 (thirteen years ago) link
I've never heard many of the listed items.
Daddy B. Nice's TOP 25 SOUTHERN SOUL SONGS OF 2010
1. "If They Can Beat Me Rockin'"--------------Vick Allen Vick Allen comes of age with his finest work to date, and the gifted, songwriting-savvy artist does it with label-mate Omar Cunningham's hootenanny-style song. 2. "I Lived It All"----Carl Marshall This isn't the guru-of-love, father-figure Carl Marshall you know today. This is the autobiographical, "in extremis" Carl Marshall dispensing the raw emotions of youth with a hurricane force you may not have known he possessed. 3. "My Man (I Won't Let My Baby Down)"------------Lina The most mind-blowing recording by a new artist since LaMorris Williams' "Impala". Recorded in California in 2008, it seeped into the chitlin' circuit this fall via WMPR'S DJ Handyman. 4. "Knock My Boots"--------------Larry Milton Who would have imagined that a "Slow Roll It" knock-off (and an underground hit at that) could make you forget the Love Doctor's star-crossed classic? In the space of four atmosphere-packed minutes Larry Milton goes from journeyman to genius. 5. "I'll Be Your Cheatin' Woman"----------Jill Sharp Real life--the tough side, with no fronting--suffuses this excellent, rap-tinged, slow blues by a young South Carolinian produced by Harrison Calloway. 6. "Brand New Man"--------------Captain Jack Watson The best Carl Marshall dance groove ever. When the echo effect comes in with "For the last five years" and "I was lonely for love," you're wishing Captain Jack was bellowing the words with stadium-sized reverb. 7. "Turn Road"----------Mr. Ivy In tried and true Southern Soul fashion, this keenly-arranged tune about a young man bullying his girlfriend into making love outdoors transcends its low-budget production to become an authentic love anthem. 8. "Meet Me Tonight"-----------Mel Waiters A man with white whiskers shouldn't be able to make music this sweet and original. Stressing the unhappiness at the root of their infidelity, Mel evinces a surprising amount of sympathy for the unfaithful lovers. 9. "I Didn't Wanna Wake Up"-------------Charles Blakely For sheer Willie-Clayton-esque beauty in 2010 you couldn't do better than newcomer Charles Blakely's exquisitely-produced ballad, the one with the lines, "We were making love/ And we looked like the number 69." 10. "We Don't Get Along Until We Gettin' It On"-----------O. B. Buchana O. B. delivers a clinic in singing Southern Soul. The smooth falsetto-ranged chorus (O. B. himself, actually) gives the song just the extra dimension needed to balance Buchana's acrobatic, gunnysack-rough leads. 11. "Trying To Please Two"---------------Doctor D. Jackson, Mississippi's Doctor D.'s debut, "Trying To Please Two" boasts the finest chorus of any song of this year, bar none. 12. . "No Ordinary Pussycat" ---Ms. Jody and J. Blackfoot "No Ordinary Pussycat" is actually an under-played version of the "Meow" song from J. Blackfoot's Woof Woof Meow CD in which Ms. Jody contributes 95% of the hair-scorching vocal. 13. "Everybody Makes Mistakes" ------------Bigg Robb From Bigg Robb's overlooked Grown Folks Gospel: Songs Of Encouragement, "Everybody Makes Mistakes" transcends its gospel package, tones down Robb's perfectionism somewhat, and ends up becoming one of the most heartfelt and emotionally-solid songs Robb has ever recorded. 14. "Baby Daddy"-------------Bobbye "Doll" Johnson Like a beauty mark on the cheek of an actress, a couple of off-pitch notes can't mar the appeal of this tuneful girl-group throwback brimming over with authentic innocence and longing. 15. "If She's Cheating On Me, I Don't Wanna Know"-------------Luther Lackey The lullaby-like melody and the gospel-drenched choruses have the familiar feel of a childhood nursery rhyme. The lyrics embellish Lackey's reputation as Southern Soul's resident wit. 16. "Be A Man"---Pat Cooley Pat Cooley continues to impress with this acoustic, Latin-flavored record showcasing her in a minimalist arrangement with stunning results. 17. "Birthday Suit" ----Certified Slim This classic, understated, William Bell-style ballad features carnal lyrics ("I wanna see you in your birthday suit") delivered with a rough tenderness bordering on awe. 18. "Older Woman (Looking For A Younger Man)" ---------Denise LaSalle May be Denise LaSalle's best-ever vocal outing. Her verse-singing has a firm, familiar sweetness and her long voice-over rant on men and aging is the best series of one-liners on the subject ever recorded. 19. "The Best Time I Ever Had In My Life"---------------Wendell B. Contemporary Southern Soul's true successor to the deep, barrel-chested soul of Ronnie Lovejoy. 20. "All Of Me, All Of You"----------Floyd Taylor He may be the son of Johnnie Taylor, but he could be the son of Johnnie Mathis, the now-neglected superstar of the fifties who sold millions of records catering to the nation's romantic dreams. 21. "Preacher Man"------------------Reggie P. Reggie always disappoints--well, ALMOST always--but you take what you can get because lurking beneath all the stage fright and petty limitations he imposes on himself is the greatest soul-singing voice of his generation. 22. "I Ain't Gone Do It"------------Mel Waiters Waiters works hard on his hooks, and it's reflected in his popularity. Here he accomplishes the hardest feat in the music business--an aging artist redefining himself, making his music sound new and relevant. 23. "The Crying Zone" -----------Bigg Robb & The Problem Solvas Contemporary Southern Soul music was a reaction to just this kind of "techno" music, which makes Bigg Robb's achievement in winning over the Southern Soul audience all the more remarkable and impressive. His synthesizer-enhanced vocals have become like another "human voice" to us. 24. "We Both Grown"----------Willie Clayton & Dave Hollister Willie Clayton seems to be in the equivalent of his late-period-Beatles phase. His freshest-sounding recent songs--this one and "Boom Boom Boom"--have that studio-wizardry aura about them. 25. "Mister Can I Shine Your Shoes" -------------Luther Lackey The two opening verses will leave you gasping with amazement. Most overlooked song of the year.
― xhuxk, Friday, 7 January 2011 23:10 (thirteen years ago) link
That Vick Allen #1 song is almost contemporary pop-r'n'b
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okq7Tg4bpUM
― curmudgeon, Monday, 10 January 2011 05:13 (thirteen years ago) link
I like the Carl Marshall one--a bit more than the Vick Allen one. Not many youtube views-1,691.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 10 January 2011 05:22 (thirteen years ago) link
Daddy B Nice on his blogpage, on the year in Southern Soul:
SOUTHERN SOUL 2010: THE TUMULTUOUS YEAR THAT WASNo use trying to tie a pinafore on a pig. 2010 was a year of dread and discontent in the Southern Soul community. If Southern Soul was the baby of the blues, it was at that awkward, half-grown stage (like a teenager) trying mightily to define itself. A scene had been created--a scene that frankly didn't exist ten years ago. The accomplishments of the decade were fairly spectacular. No one will ever be able to take that away from the music-makers of Southern Soul. And yet, with newfound influence came a lot of fighting, backbiting and paranoia. Agendas conflicted, and each player believed fervently it was his or her way or assured doom for the music. What was needed was some trusting, forgiving, motivating and cooperating. All of this played out in the continued hard times of America's most stubborn economic depression since the 1930's. As CD sales remained sluggish, artists and producers alike became more reluctant and more discerning in what projects, if any, they took on. Concerts, increasingly with "meet-and-greets" with fans, helped pump some dollars into the pockets of performers, but concerts had to be promoted wisely. Some that didn't failed. Southern Soul's Internet media scene absorbed some hits. At WMPR longtime deejays Ragman and Outlaw vacated their spots. Chico's Radio went through more changes than a chameleon on a Madras shirt, surviving in the end. But Chitlin' Circuit, another major site and source for Southern Soul, just disappeared. One day it was there, the next day it wasn't. Of the industry's labels, Malaco and Ecko and Waldoxy Records survived but pulled back their production of albums. Newcomer CDS continued its run but by year's end confided it too would be scaling back. And Wilbe, Soul 1st, Ifgam, Brittany, B&J, Milaja and other small independents for the most part simply hunkered down. But it wasn't all gloom and doom. The Blues Is Alright tour maintained. Extravaganzas like the Jackson Music Awards and the "Jus' Blues" awards in Memphis added buzz. And new Internet sites like Get Blues Info (offering instant music video access to all the stars) and Soul Blues Report (monitoring Southern Soul news across the nation) were welcome godsends. And new talent--Jill Sharp, Mr. Ivy, Lina, Doctor D., Certified Slim, Captain Jack Watson, Charles Blakely, Adrena and more--swept into the vacuum left by cruising or sidelined veterans.
Above all, 2010 was the year of Mel Waiters. . . The star finally released the bounty from his recording hiatus, rolling out his new CD and one big Southern Soul single after another--"Everything's Going Up," "I Ain't Gone Do It," "Meet Me Tonight"--topping the Southern Soul singles charts time and again. Waiters accomplished perhaps the hardest feat in the music business: an aging artist redefining himself, giving his well-known "brand" daring tweaks to make his music sound new and relevant. And nowhere was this magic more evident than in the title tune of his I AIN'T GONE DO IT album, in which he confessed to trying Viagra ("didn't do a thing") and begged off trying to keep up with the clubbing life. It was also a big year for Carl Marshall, who as Dylan DeAnna's right-hand man and producer at CDS continued on one of the most productive tears of his or any Southern Soul man's creative life, writing, producing and generally "fathering" an incredible list of albums in addition to his own highly-praised solo CD. It was also a big year for producer/arranger Harrison Calloway--in demand seemingly everywhere--and for producer/performer Bigg Robb, with two typically well-crafted CD's to his credit. The women of Southern Soul didn't fare as well in 2010. Excepting Denise LaSalle and Pat Cooley, not much of note happened. Were the musical formulas that female artists used to "package" their songs for the so-called "chitlin'-circuit" market becoming too familiar, too "yesterday"? Perhaps so. The emergence of new stars like Lina (from California, of all places), whose "My Man (I Won't Let My Baby Down)" had deejays on their knees in the latter months of the year, and Jill Sharp (from the Carolinas), whose bluesy "I'll Be Your Cheatin' Woman" (produced by Harrison Calloway, incidentally) drew similar rave reactions, was based on the fact that they sounded fresh and original. There were many memorable lines in 2010, from Pat Cooley's admonition to "stop feeling sorry for yourself" and "be a man" to Jill Sharp's,
"Tried hanging with my friends To see if I could ease the pain. But the only thing that brings me around Is when I see that dirty, low-down, cheating man."
There was Charles Blakely in his tenderly-sung ballad, "I Didn't Want To Wake Up."
"We were making love, And we looked like the number 69."
And there were the frenzied and fruitless demurrals of Mr. Ivy's girlfriend to having intercourse in the outdoors on the "Turn Road" and Denise LaSalle's rant on getting older and dealing with men in "Older Woman." But the wittiest lyric--at least for Southern Soul insiders familiar with O. B. Buchana--had to be Luther Lackey's jaundiced lament on a wayward wife.
"If she's with Marvin Sease, He's a candy licker. If she's with Theodis, He's standing up in it. But I'm in trouble If she's with my brother. If she's with O. B., He ain't playin' with it."
― xhuxk, Friday, 14 January 2011 14:39 (thirteen years ago) link
Meanwhile, I've been liking the new O.B. Buchana album on Ecko, That Thang Thang.
And even more so, I've been liking these songs, from Daddy B Nice's year-end lists (in approximate order):
Carl Marshall – I Lived It All (2010)Lee "Shot" Williams – I'm The Man For The Job (2010)Denise Lasalle – Older Woman (2010)Carl Marshall feat. Rue Davis – Good Lovin’ Testimony (2010)Mel Waiters – I Ain't Gonna Do It (2010)Pat Cooley – Be A Man (2010)Lina – My Man (2010)Floyd Taylor – All Of Me, All Of You (2010)The Revelations featuring Tre Williams – Everybody Knows (2010)O.B. Buchana – We Don't Get Along Until We Gettin' It On (2010)
― xhuxk, Friday, 14 January 2011 14:41 (thirteen years ago) link
Interesting essay, and fascinating how this soul world exists now on the internet, but it's even more cut off seemingly from the "mainstream" music media than country. No Jon Caramanica in the NY Times reviews for any of these folks, let alone Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Village Voice, etc.
OB's 2009 cd made my list last year. Haven't heard his latest. The Mel Waiters grew on me even if some is too 'quiet storm' polished. Re women, the Denise Lasalle has some great cuts and many formulaic ones. I heard some nice Miss Jody songs but Daddy B. Nice doesn't seem crazy about her latest. I think she has a new 2011 one coming shortly.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 14 January 2011 15:09 (thirteen years ago) link
So what's the deal with Willie Clayton? He's got a song called "Tonight" on Billboard's Urban Adult chart this week, along with the Kems and K'Jons and Avants and Mary Marys and Freddie Jacksons and El Debarges and R. Kellys and Faith Evanses etc. -- and, as far as I can tell, he's the only Southern Soul/Blues guy who does. Except this song isn't all that Southern Soul: Just an okay middle-class grown-up r&b ballad, pretty slick and not very gritty. I don't mind it or anything, but I'm curious what his other stuff's like, and how much of an anomaly his charting with this is. (Maybe he's made an attempt to cross over in recent years? Just looking at the album covers of all his albums on Rhapsody -- there's a bunch -- the more recent ones sure seem to look more urbane.)
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 18 January 2011 22:20 (thirteen years ago) link
Not sure what's the deal with Willie. I have seen his name for years but never investigated him. Maybe I should listen to DC's WHUR, a quiet storm station that plays all this slick and not very gritty stuff.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 19 January 2011 16:55 (thirteen years ago) link
Just realized that this (which I wrote about upthread in the middle of 2009) Real funny mostly-talked song on the Southern Soul show today: Krystal (or Crystal?) Somebody, "Stop Telling Everything You Know." Girl who sounds like the girl in "MyBabyDaddy" (B-Rock? The Bizz? whoever) catches her dad kissing a woman who isn't her mom; her dad, who sounds like Snoop's dad asking him for five dollars in the "Gin and Juice" video, claims he was just helping the woman get something out of her eye. Daughter asks then how come her lipstick was messed up when Dad finished with her eye. (End of song, he helps her with her dress, too.) must be this (which Daddy B Nice wrote about in his 2009 roundup), cut-and-pasted upthread: Unckle Eddie's "I'm Gone Tell Momma" with schoolgirl-sounding Crystal Dylite
And this (which I wrote about upthread around the same time): duet from what sounded like a gruff old mean jealous husband guy and a sweet-voiced and trusting young wife lady that seemed to be called "Two Different People" turns out to be, apparently, by J. Blackfoot (who turns out to be Sir Charles Jones's uncle, I just found out yesterday).
― xhuxk, Sunday, 30 January 2011 19:20 (thirteen years ago) link
J. Blackfoot is Sir Charles Jones' uncle. Interesting.
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 30 January 2011 19:26 (thirteen years ago) link
Actually, just noticed Kevin John Bozelka asked about that Unckle Eddie song upthread, too. More from Daddy B Nice:
5. "I'm Gone Tell Momma" --------------------Unckle Eddie w/ Crystal DyliteThe tale of a would-be player brought down by his precocious school-aged daughter (enacted by Crystal Dylite), who is bound and determined to "tell Momma" every last little transgression committed by Daddy in the course of the day's errands. Every venial sin of the chitlin' circuit is catalogued, although it's the relatively tame lines that are most hilarious:"I told him, 'Momma's gonna get youFor changing it from the gospel station,'And he told me he ain't worried about you."Unckle Eddie makes a huge grab at Poonanny's comedy throne.
― xhuxk, Sunday, 30 January 2011 19:39 (thirteen years ago) link
Also, upthread last year I asked about a Southern Soul "Smooth Operator" song I heard on the radio that references Sade's song of the same name; turns out that's a song from 2007 by Donnie Ray (whose new album Who's Rockin' You has great singing and a few super catchy tunes, but I wish had better songwriting. Still, I'd say it's as playable as the new R. Kelly or Eldra Debarge albums -- both of which I also like, but which I'd like more, and which would seem somehow less perfunctory, with more distinctive/memorable lyrics.)
― xhuxk, Sunday, 30 January 2011 19:45 (thirteen years ago) link
Also, speaking of Sir Charles Jones, and of something else we were talking about way upthread, he does a great, great Jody song, called "Better Call Jody," on his self-titled 2000 debut album.
― xhuxk, Sunday, 30 January 2011 20:11 (thirteen years ago) link
"I'm Gone Tell Momma" --------------------Unckle Eddie w/ Crystal Dylite
Oh awesome! Thanks for letting me know the song title. Man this stuff is obscure. Google gives just 32 results for "I'm Gone Tell Momma" and "Unckle Eddie."
― Kevin John Bozelka, Wednesday, 2 February 2011 09:49 (thirteen years ago) link
Jerry at the boogiereport.com is e-mailing that "reliable sources are reporting that Marvin Sease has died."
RIP Candylicker?
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 8 February 2011 21:33 (thirteen years ago) link
hey curm, haven't read this thread so sorry if it was mentioned, who is the guy who plays this stuff saturday afternoons on 89.3 WPFW? he's hilarious and plays some serious jams.
― Moreno, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 02:22 (thirteen years ago) link
That's "the Gator". I forget his real name. He is funny, often unintentionally,and does play some good Southern soul.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 13:04 (thirteen years ago) link
from boogiereport.com e-mail:
On Tuesday, February 8, 2011 singer Marvin Sease passed away unexpectedly. He resided in Vicksburg, MS. He was 64 years old.
A celebration of Marvin Sease's life will be held on Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 1:00 p.m., at Word and Worship Church located at 6286 Hanging Moss Rd. in Jackson, Mississippi 39206. The event is open to the public. Bishop Jeffery A. Stallworth is the designated pastor for the church.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 20:14 (thirteen years ago) link
RIP Marvin. In those 64 years, though, he got plenty of good licks in.
What I wrote about him in an Idolator column a couple years back:
MARVIN SEASEThis Tennessee-based Southern soulster, who was born 62 years ago in South Carolina and whose Who’s Got the Power enters the Blues Album chart at No. 6 this week, sings about his chosen topic more than anybody ever has. And it’s a pretty intriguing topic, to say the least. His signature song “Candy Licker” was a huge hit on jukeboxes throughout the South in 1987, and it’s still the first song on his MySpace page, where his slogan is “Hey, let me be your candylicker, baby.” The chorus of the second song on his page goes “put your condom on your tongue/lick me til I come/ baby, I’ll do the same for you”; toward the end of said number, Marvin includes a spoken-word part where he tells both the ladies and the fellas not to be ashamed. His sound is basically ‘70s chitlin circuit, with occasional early ‘80s jheri curl production values to keep things up-to-date; “Hoochie Mama," for instance, features Zapp-style robot-funk freakazoids reciting the names of several of the United States – beat that, T-Pain! Quality cuts on the often-gloopy 2006 Jive/Legacy comp Candy Licker: the Sex & Soul of Marvin Sease include “I'm Mr. Jody," a backdoor-man boast beginning with an ominous phone call, and the 12-step fix-your-life number "I Gotta Clean Up." But though some of his cheating songs do not muff-dive whatsoever, his discography nonetheless includes titles such as Do You Need A Licker? (1994) , A Woman Would Rather Be Licked (2001), and Live With the Candy Licker (2004.) His MySpace page, sadly, has not been flooded with cunnilingual comments.
And my (partially pre-purposing some of the above) Harp review of his best-of CD, a year or two before that:
MARVIN SEASE Candy Licker: The Sex & Soul of Marvin Sease (Jive/Legacy) The Zapp-style robot-funk freakazoids in “Hoochie Mama” recite the names of several states, and much of the rest of this Southern soul retrospective gets a good '70s smooth-jazzy funk-disco groove going, often with pre-old-school preacher’s sermon raps and not always with lyrics about muff-diving. One ballad sounds like "Tell it Like it Is”; the bookends, "Do You Want a Licker?" and “Candy Licker 2005,” are too silly to complain about. But the peaks are the 12-step fix-your-life number and the backdoor-man Jody song that starts with an ominous phone call.
― xhuxk, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 20:28 (thirteen years ago) link
Not sure who else cares here, but I decided to give Sease his own thread:
Marvin Sease "Candy Licker" RIP
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 20:32 (thirteen years ago) link
There's a Marvin Sease tribute song out
― curmudgeon, Monday, 28 February 2011 17:27 (thirteen years ago) link
And a new Miss Jody album
I need to go to Ecko's site and see what they've released in '11.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 2 March 2011 18:05 (thirteen years ago) link