Sweet Soul Music: 50-1 (Now counting down 100-51)

[JimDocker]

I have been largely absent from Big Footy for a while and have just discovered this thread. Great work DABM !

I am a huge soul fan from way back but do not know the Northern soul artists as well as I should.

Many years ago, I bought the Atlantic Rhythm and Blues double album sets that covered the Atlantic Label form 1947 to 1974. This covered the beginning of Ray Charles as a superstar and the great Stax artists. I think they were $14.99 per double album at the time. Great value !

I visited the Stax studio last year and it was an amazing experience.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

56. Marlena Shaw - Woman Of The Ghetto

A soul singer who is still going strong to this day but never got many accolades along the way. This song originally appeared on her 1969 album Spice Of Life. However, the live version is the definitive cut of this song, released on her 1973 album Marlena Shaw Live at Montreux, recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival. It was sampled in Blue Boy's hugely popular 1996 track Remember Me.

"How do you raise your kids in a ghetto
Feed one child and starve another"



Also does a killer version of California Soul.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

55. The Four Tops - Bernadette

A vocal quartet from Detroit who helped define the Motown sound. This song is from 1967, another hit written by Motown's Holland-Dozier-Holland writing team. Countless hits, countless honours... too many great songs to list. A soul super group in every sense.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

54. Eddie Floyd - Big Bird

A Stax heavyweight performer and song writer. This 1968 single was written while Floyd waited in a London airport for a plane back to the United States for Otis Redding's funeral. Knock On Wood was his biggest hit but I prefer the power of this song.

 

[DroopStDanny]

Just in case William Bell doesn't appear in your next three posts.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Just in case William Bell doesn't appear in your next three posts.

Nice!

Private Number just missed out.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

53. Solomon Burke - Everybody Needs Someone To Love

The King of Rock n Soul was very unlucky not to make the top fifty. This 1964 single is a killer.

Because Solomon Burke never had a big crossover hit, King Solomon is not as widely known as others from the golden age of soul music. But his dramatic, sonorous voice — seasoned by his days as a boy preacher — is unrivaled in its ability to move effortlessly between R&B, pop, country and gospel. "My grandmother made sure that we listened to a variety of music, and that always stayed with me," says Burke.

"He is Solomon the Resonator," Tom Waits has said, "the golden voice of heart, wisdom, soul and experience."

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

52. The Staple Singers - Why? (Am I Treated So Bad)

First as gospel singers and then as a soul-pop group, the Staples family has maintained a strong following and had several pop and soul hits, usually fronted by Mavis Staples' breathy vocals. The Staples family goes back to Mississippi, where as a young man Roebuck Staples played guitar and sang in local choirs. In the mid-'30s, he and his wife, Oceola, traveled up the Mississippi River to Chicago in search of work, like many of their contemporaries. The Staples had three daughters and a son, each of whom sang from an early age. They put together a family gospel act (which, until the mid-'60s, included all but the youngest daughter, Yvonne) and by the mid-'50s were considered one of the finest vocal groups in the field.

They had their biggest successes in the early 70s when they moved to the Stax label (Respect Yourself, I'll Take You There etc) but I love this recording from 1967.

This song is about the Little Rock Nine, the first black students to attend the segregated Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. In 1957, after in accordance with a Supreme Court ruling outlawing segregation, the nine students enrolled at the school. On the first day of school, they were met with angry protests and blocked by the Arkansas National Guard, as ordered by the governor. President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded by sending federal troops to escort the students into the school three weeks later.

The vitriol the students faced for simply trying to attend an all-white school was shocking, and made national headlines. The incident galvanized the civil rights movement, which drew support from across the nation.

"Why? (Am I Treated So Bad)" was written by the Staple Singers patriarch Roebuck "Pops" Staples in reaction to the protests.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

51. Ben E. King - Stand By Me

Will finish with Ben E. King's seminal and enduring 1961 recording, Stand By Me.



So the countdown is finally over! Thank you for listening to this somewhat indulgent exploration of my music collection. It's given me a good excuse to go back and listen to a bunch of stuff, plus to procrastinate from work for a while.

The beauty of the 60s/70s era of soul is it is almost a bottomless treasure chest of music, much of it forgotten, undiscovered and unexplored, existing on obscure labels, difficult to get hold of, distributed poorly and not widely available. Some soul artists are still staples on FM radio but most are not. Songs and artists that have not been given a new lease of life via use in film/television soundtracks or hip hop samples have fallen off the radar. Why someone like Syl Johnson is a no-name when his body of work is as strong as some of the heavyweights is a mystery to me.

Would love to hear from other posters about songs I've missed or overlooked. I probably lean towards the 'stompers' and upbeat numbers rather than the slower more soulful tunes which is reflected in the list and I'm sure I've skipped out plenty of gems. Would be interesting to see lists from others.

Do you like good music
That sweet soul music
Just as long as it's swingin'
Oh yeah, oh yeah

 

[Fossie 32]

42. The Marvelettes - I'll Keep Holding On

A Motown girl-group overshadowed by groups such as The Supremes but remembered for delivering Motown's first #1 single (Please Mr Postman, which featured Marvin Gaye on drums).

Generally speaking I'm not really a fan of slooooow weepy love ballads with lavish strings that girl-groups churned out by the truckload, nor the bouncy, summery, sugar and spice bubble gum stuff they did. This song though is a bit darker, has a bit more punch to it with a solid backing section and great vocal. It was a reasonably popular single from 1965 and their best song IMO.

Then there were Margo and the Marvettes - one of my old faves - and from Our Wee Country!

 

[Fossie 32]

69. Fontella Bass - Rescue Me

A star for Chess Records out of Chicago, this 1965 single was her biggest hit.

Driven by a bubbly bass line, the song features Bass’s high-spirited voice in wholesomely amorous lyrics like “Come on and take my hand/Come on, baby, and be my man,” as well as some call-and-response moans that Bass later said resulted from a studio accident. “When we were recording that, I forgot some of the words. Back then, you didn’t stop while the tape was running, and I remembered from the church what to do if you forget the words. I sang, ‘Ummm, ummm, ummm,’ and it worked out just fine.”

Good story Its been used on an ad hasn't it? I know I have heard it a lot lately...

 

[Fossie 32]

61. Bob & Earl - Harlem Shuffle

Recorded in 1963, it was based on a number called "Slauson Shuffletime" by another Los Angeles singer, Round Robin. When released on the Marc label, Harlem Shuffle became a modest hit on the R&B chart. Its vocal interplay directly influenced later duos such as Sam and Dave. However, its main success came as late as 1969, when it was re-released in the UK and became a Top Ten hit there. Reportedly, George Harrison called it his favourite record of all time. House of Pain later sampled the song's opening horn line in their breakthrough single "Jump Around".

I saw Baby Driver recently and was pleasantly surprised when this track made a prominent appearance.

Cant find the music but they used those first notes on Amber Lady

 

[Fossie 32]

60. Robert Knight - Everlasting Love

After performing sporadically during his college years, Knight was offered a contract as a solo artist by the Rising Sons label. His first recording, Everlasting Love, written by label owners Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden, was a success, reaching number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was an even bigger success in the UK the following year when a version by pop group Love Affair reached No. 1, ironically preventing Knight's version from progressing further than No. 40.

U2 recorded a version in 1989 as a B Side to their single All I Want Is You.

It's been recorded a heap of times but IMO the original version is the best.

Very nice. The Town Criers version is my fave. Not as soulful though

 

[Fossie 32]

53. Solomon Burke - Everybody Needs Someone To Love

The King of Rock n Soul was very unlucky not to make the top fifty. This 1964 single is a killer.

Because Solomon Burke never had a big crossover hit, King Solomon is not as widely known as others from the golden age of soul music. But his dramatic, sonorous voice — seasoned by his days as a boy preacher — is unrivaled in its ability to move effortlessly between R&B, pop, country and gospel. "My grandmother made sure that we listened to a variety of music, and that always stayed with me," says Burke.

"He is Solomon the Resonator," Tom Waits has said, "the golden voice of heart, wisdom, soul and experience."

I guess the Newbeats liked the tune......

 

[Fossie 32]

Another great Martha and the Vandellas track

 

[Fossie 32]

My fave Supremes song

 

[Fossie 32]

My fave Four Tops song. Love Bernadette too

 

[Fossie 32]

Love the Exciters' Tell Him and He's Got The Power

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

My fave Four Tops song. Love Bernadette too

Awesome

 

[Fossie 32]

The Essex were sweet with Easier Said Than Done and A Walkin' Miracle

 

[Fossie 32]

Wonderful track