Tag: R&B

501. The Four Tops

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(June 2023) Episode 501 is THE FOUR TOPS. Motown superstars, their hits have become indelible parts of our culture, powered by the songwriting giants of Holland-Dozier-Holland.  They’re also remarkable for their durability, a foursome from high school that lasted decades. Not to detract from their signing talents, the Four Tops do feel like a corporate product of the label, at least in comparison to artists like Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder who branched off toward their own unique and creative sounds. The Four Tops kept it up through the 70s and 80s, but their treatment of funk and disco lacked spark and edge.

Favorite album: Reach Out

Favorite song: Reach Out I’ll Be There

Favorite post-Motown album: Main Street People (1973)

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: A collection of their greatest hits is enough

427. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins

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(July 2022) Episode 427 is SCREAMIN’ JAY HAWKINS. His contribution to the emergence of rock-n-roll was primarily his wild and macabre stage performances, making him a pioneer of shock rock.  The music was a mix of blues and R&B delivered in his booming operatic baritone, but is more style than substance.

Favorite album: At Home With Screamin’ Jay Hawkins

Favorite song: I Put A Spell On You

Most Realistic Song: Constipation Blues

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: just as a novelty

401. Barry White

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(April 2022) Episode 401 is BARRY WHITE. “If chocolate fudge cake could sing, it would sound like Barry White” – the baritone-bass voice that catalyzed countless romances. Smooth, soulful, iconic. 

Favorite album: Stone Gon’

Favorite song:  Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up

Favorite instrumental (could it get any more 70s in here?): Love’s Theme (credited to Love Unlimited Orchestra)

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: essential in any spin of 70s soul

388. Jackie Wilson

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(February 2022) Episode 388 is JACKIE WILSON. This was a disappointment. He had a strong voice with a big range, and he was a hitmaker and showman. But his version of R&B and soul comes off as milquetoast, laden with sappy strings and chrome and lacking in emotional depth.

Favorite album: Jackie Sings the Blues

Favorite song: (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: look elsewhere for your soul

328. Sam Cooke

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(April 2021) Episode 328 is SAM COOKE. There’s a reason they call him the King of Soul. It starts with that glorious voice, and continues with catchy tunes that bridged appeal across Black and White audiences (not to mention his civil rights activism). It’s a tragedy that we never got to see what he could do as soul music got more gritty, socially-conscious and funky in the later 1960s. 

Favorite album: Night Beat

Favorite song: Lost and Lookin’

Compared to expectations: same

315. Nina Simone

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(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

311. Marvin Gaye

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(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

300. Aretha Franklin

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(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: ↓

287. The Supremes

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(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