random old r&b you are loving

i used to do a lot of a capella singing and have always wanted to sing this one with a group. such a cool tune.

that's awesome. i sound like an angry frog when i try to sing, so that shit is mad impressive to me, dude.

here's an underrated group:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwZfjDQtOro

loose ends — "you can't stop the rain"

excellent. I've been jamming a lot of that smooth R&B from 80s and 90s lately.

this track hits the spot too - they were British?

this has been one of my nighttime slow jamz lately

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdIOlNMXvwo

mista - blackberry molasses
keith sweat - i'll give all my love to you
mariah carey - can't let go

brian mcknight - one last cry

another heavy favorite by 702 in a similar theme: "get it together"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhXOTTk2Of4

so, when i first started djing, at like age sixteen, my dj name was "dj spin." i made mixtapes. so many friggin` maxell tapes. anyway, one of the series of mixes that i made was "slow jam spin." i think we got up to like volume five? so yeah. the 90s r+b slow jam is kind of hallowed ground for me.

maybe ten people —EVER— actually heard any of those mixes.

sorry one more shout for another heavy hitter: "funky ride", one of the best 'fake funkadelic' jams ever:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2gZiL7NjMg

outkast was the fucking greatest ever.

just an interlude, but it's beautiful and it's what i need on this otherwise gloomy day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCYzB9kkTz0

that’s Boyz II Men • Khalil.

Neanderthal, I’m just gonna keep ID’ing the tracks you post, for searching purposes and, you know, Posterity. So many of these video links end up dead, making threads like these barren.
I missed Shai’s “Comforter” earlier.

good call, sorry about that - I'll label them ongoing

Sparkle-Be Careful- saddest song ever
Eric Benét-Harriet Jones
Ronald Isley-Contagious

Divine - Lately
https://youtu.be/yybS6pHRaCc

Already posted about this on Twitter, but this song popped into my head the other day, and I was SO UPSET when I learned that it's not on Spotify!!!

something a little more uptempo. and honestly, another one of my favorite songs of the 90s. . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5IEGUuhAtI

yvette michele — "let's stay together"

the whole album is fantastic. i was a huge fan back then and have fond memories of buying the album on its release date. it came out the week before i started my sophomore year in high school, so it's pretty much peak nostalgia at this point. album still holds up, too. very much "fake mary j", but killer production and i love her voice, so i was okay with it. and plus, it taught me the invaluable lesson of being nice to short people.

so andy just reminded me of something that i had completely forgotten. . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKEn47RKU4E

(song is the "oh honey" remix of "kissin' you" by total)

i had this on a cassette single that had the original (raphael saadiq produced!) mix and this remix on both sides of the tape. and i had an auto-reverse player, so i often played just those two mixes over and over again, but the remix was my preferred version. i picked it up at sam goody one day when they were having a rare promotion where they would put cassette singles on sale; certain titles would be three for $7 (+sales tax, of course). you had to buy three to get the deal, otherwise it was just regular price and most cassette singles were $2.99, so it was kind of buy two get one free. anyway, i had two other tapes i wanted (probably hiphop titles; there's some debate as to what they were) and just bought the total one so i could get the deal. it ended up being my favorite, or at least the one i played the most.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8hPPId_8_s

this remix always made me feel like the more well-known album version was a sick joke.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Groove Theory • Tell Me (BKNY R&B mix)

(hey, just picking up the slack)

aiiiyyeeeee, sorry. forgot my manners. =/

tssk!

(good remix btw, as for the original: you got the *sick* part right)

Maybe too old but
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lxp7WVXiXU

oh dear

that would be

Lee Moses • Bad Girl

Oh, okay, I see, sorry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPtIUPdkClg
The Marvelettes • No More Tearstained Makeup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l2sUT6U4kI
Martha & The Vandellas • No More Tearstained Makeup
(Written by Smokey Robinson, in case you couldn’t tell)

brandy - 'you're always on my mind' (1994)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1REudWlmE-Y

classic deep album cuts are my favorite cuts.

I've been on a massive Brandy binge lately thanks to Moesha finally appearing on Netflix

been spinning this old playlist I pulled together of slept on R&B jams lately
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4w9yhobquqPfBCEVS4aKpd?si=KgfntFK6Qe2r6CDurBrw-g

I was loving Lovecraft Country for the old stuff tehy were p[laying and wishing they'd avoid newer sounds.
Do love that stuff from jumnp blues in teh 40s through to the point when it evolves into something more recognisable as soul and protofunk and things.

Have had bits of Bobby Bland running through my head and want to pick up that Solomon Burke set soon.
Not going to get to browse places like FOPP, Honest Jon's and various other places in London this Xmas which is a shame.
BUt assume they may not be open for things like that at the moment anyway.

Does Imagination count? Because episode 3 of "Small Axe" reminded me how genius "Nightdubbing" is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voejP1oCyWM

mentioned upthread, but they were ahead of their time, love me some loose ends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxWoP1v4rKI

while i'm at it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoiu3RhQ3ZI

one last oldie goldie

as noted upthread: please label the tracks you’re posting, both for searching purposes and Posterity. so many of these video links end up broken, making threads like these barren.
merci beaucoup!

ah, ok , sorry, tracks i posted above are
1) loose ends - magic touch
2) little annie - deep shadows
3) cameo - she's strange

oops - little ann, not little annie...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-FLTzO2gEw

Would like to go back to something for a moment. And if you know Golden Age era hiphop and have pressed play on the above link, you probably have already recognized one of the most absolutely infectious and carefree moments in recorded music. The song that channeled that moment is 'Evil Vibrations' by The Mighty Ryeders. It's a song that has been compiled many times because of its hiphop notoriety and we have subsequently heard it a lot. It's a song that Andy knows well enough to of course know all of the words, but also all of those little one-off inflections and imperfections that make it such an absolutely classic track. The way the sax solo is constantly up and down in the mix throughout its duration, as if the player couldn't stay near the mic for more than two seconds, when the initial verse harmony hits when the second vocalist come in there's this funny little vocalization — too many things that Andy has noticed, because I have listened to it a lot.

The band that created that masterpiece only ever released one poorly distributed album in 1978 and seems to have promptly disappeared — though Andy can't remember reading about them in Wax Poetics, that does seem like the kind of place where one may have read about them in the 21st century. We had never heard the album until very recently. It was reissued in the early 90s by the great Luv`n`Haight label and has stayed in print via vinyl reissues in recent years, which is terrific. We finally decided it was time to seek out the album after 'Evil Vibrations' recently showed up in an unpredictable way. And wow, am very glad we did. Not so much in actual music, but in the vibe of the magnitude of this hidden masterpiece, Andy would absolutely liken it to Shuggie Otis, 24 Carat Black, or maybe even David Axelrod in terms of how its greatness is only matched by its obscurity. As for actual sonics, it would seem like the group was probably big fans of Earth, Wind, + Fire (and it would have been amazing to see them get a larger budget and chase this sound a little more seriously) and some of the more mid-tempo numbers are reminiscent of the Come Into Knowledge album by RAMP (if you know that one, which you should). For the most part, it's just that kind of mid-70s funk that is so recognizable and likeable — but there's some ballads in there and they're just as great. It's been one of the only things we've been listening to lately and it's one of Andy's favorite things to have come along in quite a while.

That song sounds so crisp, like the tapes were packed in nitrogen for maximum freshness

hadn't thought of this song in an eternity. used to love both the original with its Soul II Soul beat and the post-MJB breakthrough remix by fresh new r&b soundmasters Mark>Cory Rooney and Mark Morales:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJFk4GlT8SI
Trey Lorenz • Photograph of Mary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK4QCY6Q8g4
Trey Lorenz • Photograph Of Mary (Rooney & Morales Remix)

(spurred by the Trey convo here)

don't remember the song, but am definitely enjoying both versions right now. thx.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxJAsHQ31og

(tony toni tone` — tell me mama)

was this a single or is sons of soul just that much of a classic?

The Bar-Kays - Running In And Out Of My Life (1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMb_MZpW-Rw
For a while I only knew the Bar-Kays for their monster funk jams but damn do they know how to slow it down. Some amazing plaintive falsetto harmonies in this one. It feels appropriate that this came out the same year as Prince's self-titled.

This little slice of joy has been the 2021 jam in the dilettante household: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RQipIV5mIs

^^ Honey Cone • One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show

lucky daye — 'ready for love' (2020)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb348qszqo4

just came across the whitehead bros album 'serious' from '94

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5kXTT4ZN34
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqmKCd0BC1Q

I don’t think I had ever heard “My Boo (Hitman's Club Mix)” until today – what a glorious track

surely an alltimer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7_PQL0r9Ok

myra barnes — "the message from the soul sisters" (1970)

aaliyah — "it's whatever" (2001)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq4WNND_0zw

intensely beautiful. another alltimer vote from me.

cherrelle + alexander o'neal — "saturday love" (1985)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efLcgUQmyT8

jam + lewis, of course! that middle eight ("never on sunday, monday's too soon. . .") has basically taken over my subconscious. holy hell, this is a tune!

i'd like to go back to the classics for a moment—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9AxynJ5v_A
bohannon — "singing a song for my mother" (1973)

mint condition - sometimes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM3BqGXkZwc
more of rock song but was just listening to definition of a band and was kind of blown away by it.

"This was played at Watts Club Mozambique In Detroit , MI male exotic male strip club classic jam r.i.p. watts club Mozambique"

classic internet comment

I wasn’t consciously aware of “Swing My Way” by K.P. & Envyi – tho looks like it was a fairly big hit, I’m sure I heard it at the time. The breakdown section is great…

I adored that record when it came out…all time classic imo

yeah, that's a certified banger back where i'm from. i consider it just a small tier below other alltimers like "my boo"

top shelf mid/late-90s r&b/bass hybrid for sure

erm?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAck_yq0nv8

idesia - "nu" (2015)

not something super old, but a jam that's been on my mind a lot lately-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSZRxo6Qz6k
jenevieve - "deep in the shallow end" (2022)

i love her, btw. first found her thanks to ya'll + this ep is still her most recent thing. this song closes it out + i am at a stage with it where i'm deep diving into the lyrics. but what a bop! the mildly peter hook-y part, the chorus that's ripping off something i can't place rn, the whole 'underneath the wave' coda... this jam is an entire meal.

Yeah, this is really nice... "Love Quotes" (from the same EP) was one of my faves that year :)

another not terribly old thing, but noteworthy. check out sophiethehomie-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MMFYjI7_uc
"natural disaster" (2021)

and here's "rise" from 2020-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gb9gU_liqQ

+here's an eliza remix i missed at the time, but is maybe my favorite thing i've heard by her:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq-6FLohdgw
eliza - "whoever you are (for you) - ones remix" (2023)

finally, how about some russian pop that borders on 90s revival?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVh9fCO99gU
луни ана - "tell me why - remix" (2022)

be careful with /\this one/\ as it's under 2 minutes in length and 'just one more time' has turned into 15 minute marathons a few times by now.

and here's a legitimately old school one whose faux roger troutman vibes are really hitting the spot presently-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqDEu7e5Ls8
soul for real - "every little thing i do (linslee remix)" (1995)

lynda dawn - "fonk street" (2019)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-ezGIMv0GY

she's v dope btw check her out!
https://lyndadawn.bandcamp.com/music

guys―
okay, yes. lots of postings lately. but this is important:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP0JefaBKuo
maria isabel ― "love song" (2021)

there's a... i just... the thing was i had...

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Db-esueXgI/VdWCSwMewZI/AAAAAAAATRs/mfthDsaKuwc/s1600/kid-crying-interview.gif

me with that one on repeat like

https://sayingimages.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/kill-me-again-meme.jpg

this piece of history recently made it back to streaming platforms-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5C_h61W-p4
eddie bo - "from this day on" (1966)

have recently been very into roberta flack's feel like makin' love, which is a really cool album in the grand tradition of "artist signs a big contract and then pisses off their label by falling way behind schedule self-producing something artsy and not full of hits." kind of appropriate that d'angelo's voodooo had a cover of the title track.

there's a 12-minute song written by stevie wonder, it looks like he's performed it here and there but never issued his own recording of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcDBwb296ik

big tune, maybe my favorite roberta flack.

i made a beat out of it about 20 years ago lol

el debarge - heaven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOS25abZonE
produced by polow da don

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cxnDIRiu2o
Keni Burke - Night Riders

vespre ― "back to me" (2021)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUGpjJB-LmM

Commissioned's Number 7 - Christian new jack swing! As is almost invariably the case with R&B albums of the age, the slowies bore me and the dance tunes the opposite.

riffy rambly rigmarole re:r+b

really nothing to add, just been going back to the breakwater albums and... big sigh, they're so very classic. i don't mean to be a posturing hipster doofus, but as a dj looking for vintage steppers to help me do my job more efficiently, "say you love me girl" was a pretty solid find when i took a chance on this expensive import compilation sometime in 1999 or 2000. their 2 arista albums were ones dusty groove always managed to keep in stock, so the mid-90s japanese cd reissues were procured not long after. by the time daft punk paid homage to "release the beast" a few years later, i was familiar enough with the group to have certain feelings about "robot rock."

after some time, i can't stay mad if it directs curious folks to check out "release the beast" and possibly more by these guys. that song is a much more jacked up shot of groove than the band's usually much mellower sound. good overall or not, that riff is undeniable regardless of the context. even though "say you love me girl" is probably their song i go back to the most ―it was the first thing i heard, after all― i prefer the first album.

since "robot rock" a lot of folks have retroactively looked at the band as having a p-funk or ewf sound and... i mean, yeah most r+b groups back then did. but breakwater has a lot of positivity and, damn i hate this, just a different kind of aesthetic. i called it 'modern soul' at the time. uptempo, not quite disco, kinda MOR musically sometimes, but not pure saccharine 'ooooh baby' ballads either... stuff like maze, leon ware, the late 70s/early 80s gil scott-heron albums, gwen guthrie, bernard wright―――――a lot of the arista roster back then, come to think of it... yeah, i like all that stuff a lot but breakwater's albums feel like an anamoly, even within that scene. i always think of the intro to "work it out" when i'm trying to articulate why i find the mood of breakwater so simultaneously unique+appealing. i have not the music theory chops to do it justice with words, but i'll do my best: there's a shift in the tone of the music when the drums kick in that takes me from an unsure feeling to a more 'cautiously optimistic' mood. and maybe that's the title coloring my thoughts, but i have to believe the music begat the lyrics here because it's just too perfect:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuHz-VYCm3w
breakwater ― "work it out" (1978)

however you wanna describe the first 30-40 seconds of that song, it's burned into my memory.

.....baby!

***C R A C K***

HANG ON!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMK36Onc-6Y

THIS IS A HIGH CALIBRE VIBE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

breakwater ― "that's not what we came here for" (1979)

and plus, the harmonies!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuQk4M4g-eM
julius brockington+magic force ― "this feeling (freedom)" (1974)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_Oz_SW1Hek
jazzyfatnastees ― "unconventional ways" (1999)

album remains a personal classic. considering adding mercedes martinez to my 'best singers' list. crazy how often i've heard her voice, but it was mostly through background and guest work on hiphop records (only singer more elusive in that sense is vinia mojica). second and third albums aren't on streaming; jazzys discography was diminishing returns unfortunately. never got to see them live.

theonceandfuture was a release day acquisition in 1999, and it still holds up. i think a lot of it was conceived right as the roots were starting things fall apart, and ?uestlove, scott storch, and leonard hubbard are among the band. it's a beautiful album, sonically. i don't have much to say about that; i don't want to be like, "oh it's so perfection!" but just know: this kind of pleasant nocturnal groove is my favorite kind of music, and they're doing some exceptional work here. harmonies+vocal arrangements are killer throughout. i played it A LOT when it was recent and may have subsequently grown old on it by my mid 20s. still revisit sporadically, so it's one that i've always kept on physical media; which i think is a damn high rating in and of itself. one of the easiest five mics ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4P6B-5wGUY
D'Angelo - Bitch (Unreleased) [1996]

hi kim hill is on bandcamp finally:
https://kimhill2.bandcamp.com/album/suga-hill
https://kimhill2.bandcamp.com/album/summertime-in-aspen

there's a bootleg bandcamp page for suga hill as well, which i've reported and will not be sharing the link to. i recommend everyone do the same.

I grab any Missy Elliot I stumble across since I had my head up my rockist ass when her albums first came out. She’s great, of course, but I just came upon Under Construction and man that is a good one. Fucking hell.