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

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Everyone else seems to be doing a countdown at the moment. Thought I'd get in on the action. Bit of a change of pace though; Top 50 soul tunes.

Fairly broad genre often with elements of R&B, funk, blues, jazz, gospel, folk... but I've tried to stick to pure soul tunes. Also had to trim out a few areas to keep it manageable (ie blue-eyed soul doesn't get much of a run).

Arthur Conley's Sweet Soul Music provided the thread title but (spoiler alert) didn't make the fifty!

Edit - maximum of one song per artist

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

50: Syl Johnson - Is It Because I'm Black?

Soul music rose to prominence at a time when the Civil Rights Movement was cranking up so many of the songs are highly political. Syl Johnson is a largely forgotten soul singer who emerged from the Chicago soul scene in the 60s and 70s. He was always in the shadow of heavyweights like Al Green but has a pretty amazing body of work and there are some great anthologies floating around. Had a bit of a rougher edge than some soul singers which perhaps worked against him.

At one stage he sued Jay-Z and Kanye West for using a sample from his song Different Strokes. “No they didn’t sample me,” Johnson says. “They stole my music. And my sound and my style. You call it a sample if you wanna, that’s easy. Sample. That’s like somebody steals the tire off your car and you say, ‘Well, they sampled my car.’ What’d they do? They took the tire. So they sampled it.”

This song is the title track from his second album.



I haven't seen this documentary though would love to.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

49: Geater Davis - My Love Is So Strong For You

Southern soul gets a run at #49 with Geater (pronounced 'Jeeter') Davis from Texas.

Died fairly young and only released a couple of full albums, one of which Sweet Woman's Love didn't sell well but is now highly regarded. Had a unique, bluesy voice that had a gravelly quality at times. Was prominent in the 70s, died in the 80s.

This song is from the Sweet Woman's Love album and was also released as a single.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

48: Johnny Daye - I Need Somebody

One of the few 'blue-eyed soul' singers in this countdown. Originally from Pittsburgh, Daye got his break in 1967 when he opened for Otis Redding, after Wilson Pickett cancelled. Redding became his biggest supporter and got him a contract with Stax.

With Otis Redding’s support Johnny Daye’s career looked promising. But tragedy struck on December 10th 1967 when a plane carrying Redding and his band the Bar-keys crashed on its way to Cleveland. Redding died at the age of 26. Johnny Daye: “When Otis died my career died. The mood was gone and nobody wanted to come to work anymore. I didn’t sing again for five years…. Otis loved me. He thought I was going to be a big money maker for him. I was so discouraged. I had nobody.” In the liner notes to The Complete Stax/Volt Singles 1959-1968, producer Steve Cropper stated that "Otis really wanted to do a lot with him. The kid was dynamite. Had Otis lived, he probably would have.”

Daye disappeared from the music scene, leaving behind only a handful of recordings and ended up selling cars. He actually passed away earlier this year.

This 1968 Stax release was the B-side to What'll I Do for Satisfaction but I prefer this song, which was written with Steve Cropper of Booker T & The MG's fame.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

47: Chuck Jackson - Tell Him I'm Not Home


Another soul singer who was raised in Pittsburgh but eventually made his way to the Motown label. Blessed with an elegant baritone voice, his signature tune is his version of Burt Bacharach's Any Day Now. I prefer this song though which was on his Encore! album and also released as a single in 1963. A 'stinging tale of romantic rejection.'

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

46. Booker T and the MG's - Melting Pot

The first 'big gun' act of the countdown so far, this group has been inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.

Best known as the Stax house band, they played on hundreds of records for the some of biggest soul acts around (Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Bill Withers, Otis Redding etc). Their style — bouncy, organ-driven R&B melody with blasts of trebly, country-rock guitar over a swinging, laid-back bass-and-drums groove — became the signature musical foundation for Southern soul.

The most famed members of the group were Booker T Jones (keyboards, piano), Steve Cropper (guitar) and Donald 'Duck' Dunn (bass), the latter two appearing in the movie The Blues Brothers.

Whilst best remembered as the Stax house band, they also released many of their own albums and singles including a complete re-working of Abbey Road (album called McLemore Avenue). They had a massive hit single early on with Green Onions and also later with Time Is Tight but I prefer this song which is the title track of their last Stax album in 1971. A behemoth of a song with the band firing on all cylinders.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

45. Gloria Jones - Tainted Love

A famous song but not nearly as famous as Soft Cell's cover version. In fact this 1964 original didn't even chart! It was written by Ed Cobb for Gloria Jones, a singer who he had discovered as a teenager. Cobb also wrote hits for The Standells (Dirty Water) and a few others.

Jones' solo career wasn't particularly prolific and she became a songwriter for Motown records. Later she sang backing vocals for T-Rex and had a long term relationship with Marc Bolan. They had one son (Rolan Bolan). She was the driver of the car that crashed, killing Bolan in 1977. They were both drunk having been out at a restaurant that night. It was ruled an accidental death.

Personally I prefer this version to the Soft Cell one, even though it sunk without trace at the time.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

44. The Detroit Emeralds - You're Getting A Little Too Smart

A vocal group from Arkansas they made their way north and were part of the Detroit soul scene in the late 60s and early 70s.

Their first recordings were done in Memphis but then had vocals and sweetening added in Detroit. They found a winning formula with this strange hybrid method of recording which was repeated again and again to produce a sound for the group that combined the down-home funk of Memphis with the sophisticated soul of Detroit.

Their initial incarnation was as a group of four brothers but that broke up, two of the brothers branching out with a friend of theirs. Their prime was 1970-74 with several hits along the way but by 1974 they were splintering, egos clashing and things broke apart.

Their biggest hit was the dance floor filler Feel The Need In Me which came when soul was drifting into disco but I much prefer their soul cuts. This song was released as a single in 1973, though the track below is the album version:



Another great song of theirs Baby Let Me Take You (In My Arms) was sampled in De La Soul's Say No Go. Too good not to include here as well.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

43. Doris & Kelley - You Don't Have To Worry

A really haunting, trippy, psychedelic vibe to this single which was released in 1967. I believe it is one of only two recordings that 'Doris & Kelley' made. I have no idea what happened to them or why they weren't bigger. Brunswick Records was releasing stuff from Little Richard and Jackie Wilson at the time so wasn't some obscure label that went bankrupt or anything.

Guts did a remix of this song which appeared in the Soundtrack to Will Smith's stinky 2015 movie Focus. Has also been sampled by 50 Cent and Common

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

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.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

41. Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - Beggin'

Massive group from New Jersey, 100+ million records sold, crossed over a few genres rock, pop, soul, disco. Their prime was the 1960s and since that time there have been a heap of line up changes plus the lines have blurred between the group and Frankie Valli's solo work.

This was the second single from their 1967 album New Gold Hits. Bob Gaudio (their keyboardist) wrote it. They have plenty of songs more popular than this one but it just has an infectious hook that I can't go past.



A remix was used in an adidas commercial in 2009 which gave the song a new lease of life.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

40. Bobby 'Blue' Bland - Gotta Get To Know You

Known as the 'Sinatra of the Blues,' Bland was a blues/gospel singer from near Memphis who had a really gravelly voice. He's in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame but never regarded quite as highly as the 'big dog' blues and soul acts of his era. Turn On Your Love Light is one of his best known and most covered tunes, he sang I Pity The Fool long before Mr T borrowed the phrase and Ain't No Love In the Heart Of The City is perhaps another of his best songs.

During the 60s Bland placed more than a dozen records in the R&B top 10, reaching No 1 with I Pity the Fool and That's the Way Love Is, but his kind of soul music was being eclipsed by the catchier sounds of Motown and the funkier ones of Stax.

I first heard this song via a cover by Foghat (which is really cool itself) then dug up the original. The intro is by-the-numbers soul and it doesn't immediately leap out at you but it then quickly slips into a really cool groove. The song was on 1967's Spotlighting The Man album and was later released as a single. It sold poorly and appears on none of his Best Of CD's but is my favourite song of his.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

39. Lyn Collins - Think (About It)

Lyn Collins was a soul singer who worked with James Brown in the 70's - she was known as the 'Female Preacher' in his stage show. She also released a couple of albums and a few singles in her career. This funky little number was written by James Brown and was backed by his band, the JB's.

She possessed a powerful voice but didn't really get much recognition during her life time until this song started getting sampled (has been sampled numerous times) which brought it to a wider audience.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

Awesome countdown so far man

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

38. Lamont Dozier - Going Back To My Roots

Holland-Dozier-Holland were a crack songwriting team who churned out hit after hit for a string of Motown artists in the 1960s; The Supremes, The Four Tops, Martha & The Vandellas, Marvin Gaye and countless others.

"Once we knew what we were going for, we realized we had the sound of young America. The music brought people together. It was one of the more significant things, even more than the politicians making speeches. I feel that the music we did at Motown did more for race relations than any politicians or laws being implemented at the time. If you stop to listen to the music, whatever your beef is, it will go away." - Lamont Dozier

The relationship eventually turned sour. The trio got in a dispute with Motown founder Berry Gordy over royalties and they left the label. Dozier later split from the trio itself and went out on his own as a solo artist. He didn't have nearly as much impact as a performer as he did as a songwriter for others but did nail this epic piano attack which comes from his 1977 album Peddlin' Music On The Side.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

37. Dee Clarke - Nobody But You

Born in the south but made his name in Chicago as an R&B/Soul singer with a sweet tenor voice. This uptempo love song was his first single from 1958 and is one of the earlier releases to feature in this countdown. Had his biggest hit in 1961 with Raindrops but never scaled those heights again and faded into obscurity.

 

[DapperJong]

I'm gonna post a few rarities that I own on 45. Great thread Drugs Are Bad Mackay?

36. The Ordells - Sippin' On A Cup Of Coffee.



This is the only 45 this band released. Dionn was a label that operated out of Philadelphia.

 

[HalloweenJack]

Awesome. I look forward to the remaining songs.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Nice!

Would love to hear others. So many songs from the 60s and 70s that are out of print, were not promoted well at the time for some reason or have just faded into obscurity.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

36. Major Lance - I Wanna Make Up (Before We Break Up)

A northern soul artist whose bouncy, energetic style filled dance floors in the 60s and 70s. His 1963 single Monkey Time helped launched the 'Chicago sound.' He actually moved to the UK for a portion of his life to cash in on the popularity of northern soul.

He was friends with Curtis Mayfield, who called Lance a "sparkly fellow, and a great basketball player, which is probably how we met. His hero was Jackie Wilson, and he was always coming round and looking through my bag for songs that I'd written but didn't want to do with the Impressions. He was pretty good at picking them, too."

An artist who possibly suffers by not having an absolute standout single that defines their career, gets used in tv commercials, movie soundtracks etc. A bit like Syl Johnson who came in at #50. Still has a really strong body of work though.

Almost went with another track You Don't Want Me No More but settled on this one. Was released as a single in 1971 and didn't chart. Not in any of his Best Ofs but one I really like.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

35. The Impressions - We're A Winner

Getting serious now. Into the big guns. [Note - I've separated The Impressions and Curtis Mayfield's solo career]

The Impressions were formed in the late 50's. Original singer Jerry Butler departed after a short while with Curtis Mayfield taking over. They had a string of massive hits in the 60's, writing several inspirational anthems for the civil rights movement. Curtis embarked on a solo career in 1970.

This uplifting 'black pride' single from 1967 hit #1 on the R&B charts. It was also the title track from their 1968 album.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Should probably have mentioned in the OP that I've only put a maximum of one song per artist in the countdown. So yeah... on with the show!

34. Jerry Butler - Never Give You Up

Born in Mississippi but raised in Chicago, Butler was friends with Curtis Mayfield and was the original lead singer of The Impressions. He co-wrote their 1958 hit For Your Precious Love, regarded by some as the first soul record. There was some jealousy when the record company dubbed the band 'Jerry Butler and the Impressions' for marketing purposes. "Fame didn't change me as much as it changed the people around me," Butler said of the issue years later. He soon left The Impressions to focus on a solo career.

He was dubbed the 'Iceman' by a Philadelphia DJ after a 1959 performance in Philadelphia where the public-address system went out and Butler kept singing, holding the audience and filling the theater with his big baritone.

"People always want to compare Chicago to Motown, and you can't do it. Motown was very stylized and very limiting to the writers and performers," Butler said. "The reason Chicago had no distinctive sound is because it had so many. You had Earth, Wind & Fire that came out of here. Minnie Ripperton came out of here. Curtis Mayfield, Mahalia Jackson, Muddy Waters."

He's a contemporary of Mayfield, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, the Temptations etc yet today Butler is more of a connoisseur's choice, not heard on the radio, even on oldies stations, as often as those other artists. He's now a politician, and has been a Commissioner for Cook County, Illinois for many years. Interestingly the Blues Brothers 'mission from God' finished at the Cook County Assessor's Office where Steven Spielberg himself took payment to keep their old orphanage open.

This single from 1968 made a bit of an impression in the charts.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

33. Darrell Banks - Don't Know What To Do

The next artist is a bit of a tragic story. Was only prominent for a few years (1966-70) and had just signed with Stax when Banks was tragically killed, after being shot in the neck by an off duty policeman called Aaron Bullock, in Detroit in February 1970. He was aiming a gun at the officer, who had been having an affair with his girlfriend, Marjorie Bozeman. She had previously been trying to finish a relationship with Banks.

Banks' 1966 single Open The Door To Your Heart was a club classic. A British release was planned but cancelled because the label didn't own the rights. Open the Door was his only hit. When he died the money made from Open the Door to Your Heart was long since gone and Banks was buried in an unmarked grave. Darrell Banks's sad story only adds to the myth around this lost single. A few years ago a single rare copy of the British release was uncovered and sold for £11,000.

The song I've chosen though is Don't Know What To Do, from his 1969 album which was ironically called Here To Stay.



I ummed and ahhed about which Banks' song to include here. I'm Knocking At Your Heart was also knocking at the door. Didn't quite get the nod but is also a great song.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

32. The Undisputed Truth - Smiling Faces Sometimes

The brainchild of producer Norman Whitfield, The Undisputed Truth was a recording act designed to explore more psychedelic soul sounds than the usual Motown fare. Described as 'Motown's answer to Funkadelic' the band were often dolled up in large Afros and white make up:

This song was originally written by Whitfield and Barrett Strong, and was recorded by both The Temptations (another group Whitfield produced) and The Undisputed Truth in 1971. The Temptations' version was a sprawling 12 minute opus with large instrumental sections whereas The Undisputed Truth's version was a punchier, more ominous sounding single. It was their only Top 40 hit in the USA.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

31. The Spinners - I'll Be Around

At various times also known as the Detroit Spinners, they started on the Motown label but failed to make much of an impact, even suffering the indignity of chauffeuring the big artists around to make ends meet. The 60s came and went with minimal success and they needed a change. They struck gold in 1972 by signing with the Atlantic label and a new producer Thom Bell (the Delfonics, the Stylistics). Their first single for Atlantic, How Could I Let You Get Away, only reached #77 but the B Side I'll Be Around unexpectedly caught fire and was being played by DJ's everywhere. It became a gold record.

This record set the style for a long string of 1970s hits - a more energetic, peppy sound that people could dance to. Probably closer to the Philadelphia sound than the usual Memphis sound of Atlantic. They became one of the biggest soul groups of the 70s.

I find a lot of their songs a bit 'syrupy' to be honest but love this one