(February 2021) Episode 315 is NINA SIMONE. There is so much that is remarkable about Nina Simone. Her deep and expressive voice, best suited to the jazz tunes of her early career IMO. Her skills on piano, arranging and songwriting. The diversity and eclecticism of her musical tastes (from gospel and blues to The Beatles and Hall & Oates). Her independence and activism for civil rights. She owned the 1960s.
Favorite album: Pastel Blues
Favorite song: Four Women
Compared to expectations: same
(January 2021) Episode 311 of the “opus project” is MARVIN GAYE. His silky voice and songwriting tracked and defined the arc of R&B through its evolution in the 1960s and 70s. That voice could be sweet, sexy or serious, and matched well with female vocalists on several duet albums. The peak are the early 70s albums that melded sophisticated soul with social commentary and an assertion of artist independence from the Motown label.
Favorite album: What’s Going On
Favorite song: I Heard It Through the Grapevine
Sexiest song: Let’s Get It On
Favorite duet album: United (with Tammi Terrell)
Compared to expectations: same
(November 2020) Episode 300 is ARETHA FRANKLIN. If there were a Mount Rushmore of American Voices, the Queen of Soul would surely be on it. And yet, at risk of sacrilege, I find her voice to be too overpowering at times, dominating songs and even entire albums that would benefit from a little modulation. Her 60s classics are essential (also providing a soundtrack to the civil rights era) and her talents defined soul through the 70s, but avoid anything from the late 70s and 80s.
Favorite album: Lady Soul
Favorite song: (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
Favorite song written by Aretha: Think
Worst album: La Diva
Compared to expectations: ↓
(October 2020) Episode 287 is THE SUPREMES. At their mid-60s peak with the Holland–Dozier–Holland songwriting team, they churned out so many hits that are seared into our collective brain, rightly earning them the reputation as the top Motown act. I thought it was unfair to Mary and Florence (then Cindy) to rename them ‘Diana Ross and the Supremes,’ but the value of Diana’s contribution was revealed by the declining quality of recordings after she left. Their discs provide a history of the Motown evolution from doo-wop to the pop-soul merger, psychedelic soul, gritty 70s soul and disco.
Favorite album: The Supremes A’ Go-Go
Favorite song: Love Child
Compared to expectations: same
Episode 282 is RAY CHARLES. If you had to describe American music in the form of one person, it would be Ray Charles. He melded blues, R&B, jazz, and gospel into what we now call soul, helped integrate country, and reached out into pop standards and modern pop. A legend. That said, the albums themselves, especially after the mid-60s, are generally weak sauce. I recommend a greatest hits collection or, better yet, video of concert performances as his smile and sway light up the venue.
Favorite album: Doing His Thing
Favorite song: What’d I Say
Compared to expectations: ↓
(May 2020) Episode 265 is CURTIS MAYFIELD including his time in THE IMPRESSIONS. I dig late 60s-early 70s soul/funk, a sound Mayfield helped create and mastered. That sweet falsetto is so distinctive. I began with his time in The Impressions to get a full sense of his evolution from R&B into soul and the strong social commentary that characterized his work. His quality dropped off after Superfly, into banal disco and then bland 80s adult contemporary soul.
Favorite album: Superfly
Favorite song: Freddie’s Dead
Compared to expectations: same
(May 2020) Episode 264 is LITTLE RICHARD. The music and style of this Founding Father are encoded in the DNA of the rock and roll. Impossible to quantify the influence of his late 50s albums and singles. But that’s all you need to hear. His voice and charisma do lift some later recordings, but most of the rest is either gospel or a retread of previous material.
Favorite album: Here’s Little Richard
Favorite song: Keep A-Knockin’
Compared to expectations: same
(April 2020) Episode 259 of the “opus project” is STEVIE WONDER. Everybody loves Stevie and knows his hits. But you should dig deep into his albums, particularly from his “classic” period of 1972-76, to really appreciate his (inner)vision and talent as a song composer and multi-instrumentalist. Those albums are essential listening — the diversity and mixing of styles, the integration of synthesizers, the social commentary. His early teenage prodigy recordings are dispensible; the late-60s, early 70s albums a mixed affair, and the 80s pop cringe-worthy.
Favorite album: Innervisions
Masterpiece: Songs in the Key of Life
Favorite song: Superstition
Worst song: I Just Called To Say I Love You
Compared to expectations: ↑
(November 2019) Episode 237 is THE CRYSTALS. Another fine girl group from the early 1960s. Their song “Then He Kissed Me” is famous from the long tracking shot as Henry and Karen go into the club in Goodfellas.
Favorite song: Da Doo Ron Ron
Compared to expectations: same
(November 2019) Episode 236 is THE RONETTES. I normally eschew acts that don’t write their own songs or perform their own instruments, but I have a thing for the 60s girl group sound, and The Ronettes were among the tops.
Favorite song: Be My Baby
Compared to expectations: same
Opus Project 