tREBLEFREE R&B - May 2008
May 1st, 2008“May” I continue the grooves?
Hey, it’s my birthday month – I get a corny pass – LOL!!!
Welcome to tREBLEFREE R&B for May 2008.
I’m celebrating 33 years on Earth this month. It’s a milestone to me, because it’s the speed of a record. How’s that for nerdy?
Anyways, uknowhowwedu (©Bahamadia), here’s a link to the mix, and here’s the notes:
A brief search of Mr. Monk’s name would lead you to believe that he wishes he never recorded this song. At least, it certainly seems that way.
“Bon Bon Vie” has been a favorite song of mine for about 5 years now. The reason it hasn’t been in my list of favorites longer, is because 5 years ago, I didn’t know it existed. I actually thought Teddy Riley came up with that music himself when Blackstreet remade “Bon Bon Vie” for their debut album in 1994.
Since I wasn’t hip to T.S. Monk during his 80’s days, it’s not easily clear to me why he no longer does R&B. What I have found though, is that after his last R&B record surfaced in 1982, it wasn’t until 1991 that he returned to releasing recorded material, along with a return to his jazz upbringing for said material, and playing more prominently on his chosen instrument, the drums. According to Scott Yanow of the All Music Guide, T.S.’s work with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz (which T.S. formed in 1986) inspired the drummer to return to the genre he cut his musical teeth on.
2. Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers - Bustin’ Loose (Part 1)
If it were not for my cousin Cedric (who by the way is one of the main culprits behind my rampant love of music to this day), I would have never known about Chuck Brown.
Some years ago (read: I don’t really remember how long ago it was), that same cousin gave me the 12” single for the song that appears on this month’s mix. It became a song that I grew to love and know very well, but for some reason, that appreciation never turned into a desire to want to know more about Chuck Brown. I settled for knowing that he was real big in the world of Go-Go music. I wasn’t even aware that an album followed this song’s release.
In fact, this year the single and the album are 20 years old.
The party vibe on this song is undeniable. The groove on it is just so addictive to me – maybe it’s the B-3 in there.
Whenever y’all feel like it, go on ahead and keep the party goin’ for another 10 minutes.
3. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Could You Be Loved
Reggae is one of the gaps in my musical knowledge. I know a little, but not enough to win that category on Jeopardy.
Bob Marley’s music was a starting point for me of sorts. Since greatest hits albums are usually the best place to start, “Legend” was added to my collection a few years back.
Even though “Legend” is where I pulled this song from, a little research showed me that “Uprising” was the original album it came from. “Uprising” was the last Bob Marley album to come out in Bob’s lifetime, as he died less than a year after it was released.
As I have researched more about reggae, I have found that most reggae seems to share a certain consistent rhythm – much like blues. In all honesty, that stopped me from researching reggae any further, but I still keep my mind open.
Ever since songs from Bluey Maunick’s group Incognito graced the airwaves of WJZZ in Detroit almost 16 years ago, I have been keeping an eye out for whatever they release.
As evidenced by the song I included in this month’s mix, this would include buying a used promo CD single for “Still A Friend Of Mine” from a local record store when I saw a song on there that I had never heard of.
My educated guess? This is from the sessions that birthed the “Positivity” album, which saw release in America in 1993. The vocalist is Mark Anthoni, the same cat that did the co-lead vocal on “Still A Friend Of Mine”.
5. Teena Marie - You Make Love Like Springtime
The true diehard tR&B fans (all 2 of them) will call my inclusion of this song on this month’s comp a repeat. The July/August 2004 mix is where I first featured it. Considering that I like the song so much and I didn’t have it in a mix that many of you had heard, I thought it was time for a repeat performance.
After having had her first album produced by Rick James and her second one produced by Richard Rudolph, Teena took matters into her own hands for “Irons In The Fire”, the album from which this track was taken.
6. D*Note feat. P.Y. Anderson - The Garden of Earthly Delights
I gotta thank my man DVS for this one…good lookin’ out sir.
When you interact with others, the interesting thing about music is how each person arrived at a particular musical point in their lives. While discussing that with DVS one day, he mentioned this group, D*Note. He passed this album to me of theirs, and I checked it out.
What he gave me turned out to be their second album, “Criminal Justice”.
In all honesty, I wasn’t diggin’ the album as a whole, however, when “The Garden Of Earthly Delights” comes on, the lead vocal sounds familiar, AND it manages to knock me out. P.Y. seems to sing with such flair and care, and she slowly works her way to reckless abandon. Make no mistake, P.Y. is a SANGER. There is a difference.
While given the birth name Pamela Anderson, discogs.com says that she goes by P.Y. to help distinguish her from the model that you all are more than familiar with. Even though she isn’t as famous as the model who shares her name, the family line she comes from is just as powerful. Her sister is Jhelisa, her cousin is Carleen Anderson, and her aunt and uncle are Vicki Anderson (aka Myra Barnes) and Bobby Byrd. Both Bobby and Vicki worked with James Brown.
7. Jamiroquai - You Give Me Something (Mike City Remix)
Jamiroquai is a group I heard of when I first saw the video for “The Return Of Space Cowboy” in 1994. The groove of the song and the quirkiness of the video kept my attention long enough to keep up with whatever they put out.
Fast-forward to 2001, “A Funk Odyssey” was the second Jamiroquai album in a row that underwhelmed me. At the same time, Mike City was R&B’s hit man of the moment, having written and produced songs for Carl Thomas and Dave Hollister that went on to do well on the radio. Even though Mike City’s songs were R&B hits, the songs were still well written and had a pulse to them. It wasn’t just some mindless R&B designed to make a quick buck.
Rummaging through the singles bin at a local record store was how I found out about this remix. I truly consider this remix one of the gems of my collection, and it gives me great pleasure to present it to those of you who aren’t familiar with it.
8. Blackstreet - Joy (Cool Joy)
In the spring of 1995, Blackstreet released “Joy” as a single. It sat on the album since June of the previous year, only being acknowledged by the fans who bought the album.
Among the mixes on the single, were the album version with a string section added, an upbeat mix with slightly more bounce to it, and the one I included in this month’s mix. I was especially impressed with the different vocal performance on the “Cool Joy” mix and the way the music was arranged. I never heard anyone talk about this mix, so I just kept it to myself as one of the better R&B records that I have heard…until now.
9. Smokey Robinson - Quiet Storm
Believe it or not, Smokey Robinson indirectly gave birth to a sub-genre of R&B.
According to Craig Lytle of the All Music Guide, Cathy Hughes, the owner of Radio One, was the general manager at Howard University radio station WHUR during the early ’70s. During her tenure there, she created a format that she called “the quiet storm”, using Smokey Robinson’s composition as the theme song. After a while, it caught on around the country and evolved into a new market. Although I’ve pretty much given up on radio locally, every once in a while I turn on the radio late at night and I hear slow R&B songs with the quiet storm theme. It’s actually quite relaxing.
10. Dave Hollister - Doin’ Wrong
Dave’s second solo album got a jump start by the composition that Mike City wrote and produced, but the minute I heard the whole album, it was “Doin’ Wrong” that got my attention. It also became my favorite song of the record.
The hip-hop head in me was so impressed by the music in the background, but Dave’s vocal over the music was just as incredible.
tREBLEFREE is also a jazzhead. That’s why I found the original sample that Chucky Thompson used to be as equally as incredible as the song Dave released. “Cape Wrath” was the second of six total albums that saxophonist Dick Morrissey and guitarist Jim Mullen co-headlined.
11. Angela Winbush & Ronald Isley - Lay Your Troubles Down
He’s probably gonna hate me for this but I have to say it…LOL…
My friend Sleepy is the reason I included this song in this month’s mix. He ACTUALLY thought that “Treat U Right” was Angela Winbush’s first solo material after her successful string of hits with Rene Moore, who was the brother of Rufus’ bassist Bobby Watson. Just to educate him, I slid him this song.
I can remember when this album came out. Angela’s previous album was something I didn’t get a chance to check out, but “Angel” had been getting extreme play on the radio. The first single for “The Real Thing” album did well in radio and video play, and when “Lay Your Troubles Down” became released as a single, it launched the album into the airwaves and video outlets. I couldn’t go ANYWHERE without hearing that song at least once per day.
12. Bloodstone - We Go A Long Way Back
Finding out Bloodstone was the artist behind this song was a shock at first. The only song I had heard from them was “Natural High”.
The Isley Brothers signed them to their T-Neck label, releasing the album that contained this song in 1982. Prior to that, Bloodstone’s biggest achievement was their role in the 70’s blaxploitation film “Train Ride to Hollywood”. Read more about Bloodstone here.
13. Coko feat. Faith Evans, Fantasia & Lil’ Mo - Endow Me
After SWV disbanded in 1998, Cheryl Gamble Clemons started her solo career. Despite the beautiful vibe of its’ first single (“Sunshine”), her solo debut, “Hot Coko” didn’t fare too well. From 1999 to 2005, Cheryl had work on several R&B and gospel projects, all leading up to her gospel debut, “Grateful”, which was released on the Light/Artemis label in 2006.
For those of you who are not aware, “Endow Me” is originally by the gospel group known as The Clark Sisters. It was originally released in the early 80’s on the “You Brought The Sunshine” album, which was released on Sound Of Gospel records. I recommend you read this to get caught up.
As far as the original version of this song, I’m going to use my webspace here to make a statement that needs to be heard:
ARMEN BOLADIAN OR WHOEVER IS RUNNING SOUND OF GOSPEL RECORDS AT THE PRESENT TIME DESERVES TO BURN IN HELL.
“Daaaaaaang tREB, tell ‘em why you mad!!”
Here’s why I’m mad. In 2002, Sound Of Gospel Records started putting out reissues of The Clark Sisters’ older albums. They recorded 5 albums for the label as a group, Elbernita “Twinkie” Clark (the songwriter and organist/pianist of the group) released two solo albums, and their mother, the late great Dr. Mattie Moss-Clark even recorded a couple albums for the Sound Of Gospel record label.
ALL OF THESE REISSUES SOUND LIKE COMPLETE AND UTTER CRAP.
After years of actually looking forward to hearing the early albums by The Clark Sisters, I saw that these reissues were made available. I purchased two copies of the “He Gave Me Nothing To Lose/Count It All Joy” reissue – one for myself, and one for a friend of mine who is the biggest Clark Sisters fan I know and a good singer herself to boot (Hi Tekana!!).
What I heard on the CD I purchased totally floored me. And not in a good way.
It is disrespectful to the life and legacy of Dr. Mattie Moss-Clark, as well as to these women themselves to release such horrible reissues of these albums. It is my sincere hope that somebody of note in the music industry will get a hold of these albums and release better reissues of these albums. I simply refuse to believe that the original master tapes sound this bad.
Anyway, to end this on a happy note, check out the performance below. It’s Coko, Fantasia, Lil’ Mo and Kierra “KiKi” Sheard (Karen Clark-Sheard’s daughter) performing “Endow Me” at last year’s BET Celebration Of Gospel. For some reason, when it aired, the performance was edited. Click here to see the full unedited performance.
14. The ARC Choir - Guide My Feet
Closing things out this month, is The ARC Choir. ARC stands for Addicts Rehabilitation Center. Every member of this choir is a former drug addict that has turned their life over to God. Jazz bassist Curtis Lundy was the director of the choir on the album this song comes from. I chose this song to close this month’s mix out because I didn’t to go with the obvious selection by them, the title cut of their Mapleshade Records debut, “Walk With Me”.
James Allen, an ex-heroin addict himself, started the ARC in 1957 on the second floor of the Manhattan Christian Reform Church under the leadership of Rev. Eugene Callender.
In the early 1960s, ARC, not wanting affiliation with any denomination, broke away from the church.
Adding to that, the actual recording of this choir and how it was made is amazing itself. Mapleshade Records, a label which releases music in genres such as Blues, Country, Classical, Gospel and Jazz, is an audiophile’s dream. Mapleshade designs and builds all of their electronics, including microphones, tape recorders and wires, sometimes modifying commercial equipment to meet that goal. They record all of their releases live to two-track analog tape using 2 to 4 microphones, all while going without the use of any extra EQ, reverb or noise reduction. Their recordings and techniques have been reviewed and admired by many publications, such as Stereo Times, CD Review, Down Beat, the Washington Post and the Baltimore City Paper.
If you wish to purchase the CD that this song comes from, you can do so at their website.
Thanks again for checking out another month of tREBLEFREE R&B. I hope you all enjoy the mix. I would like to wish a Happy Birthday to all the Taurus and Gemini R&B lovers out there. Use the whole month to celebrate!
tREBLEFREE R&B is a monthly, non-profit, ad-free online e-zine dedicated to bringing you the best in all music with a rhythmic twist. Be sure to research these artists further in your own time if you like what you hear. As always, any questions, comments, concerns or thoughts can be sent to me via e-mail at treblefree [at] gmail dot com.
