OLD SOUL MUSIC

The Ambassadors - Ain’t Got The Love (Arctic,...

skinnyricky — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:24:00 -0700

The Ambassadors - Ain’t Got The Love (Arctic, 1969)

Can’t get enough of this groove and those backup parts. Also, this song’s kind of about being a dick. But while sounding so good.

On second thought, perhaps he’s simply being brutally honest with himself - that he’s a jerk and a player and he’s telling the listener exactly his romantic habits, however harsh they may seem. Though the lines are delivered confidently, almost with pride, I can’t help but indulge a certain self-hatred with himself. Maybe this is the confession that makes him turn around and be a better man. I dunno. Maybe he’s just an asshole.

Been a while since a post. I’m tryin!

The Dave Hamilton Voices - Because I Love You A striking and...

skinnyricky — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 09:20:32 -0700

The Dave Hamilton Voices - Because I Love You

A striking and unusual piece here. It’s kind of eerie, kind of sweet, kind of dirty. From the great and unsung Detroit producer, composer and musician Dave Hamilton. It appears this is the house band and singers getting down and getting weird.

Linda Jones - Seeing Is Believing (Loma, 1967) While we’re...

skinnyricky — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:20:58 -0700

Linda Jones - Seeing Is Believing (Loma, 1967)

While we’re still talking about playing behind the beat, this is a good example. Check the hits right before “seeing is believing”. Gorgeous song. From her popular Loma record “Hypnotized”.

Debbie Taylor and The Hesitations – All That I Have (GWP,...

skinnyricky — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:31:00 -0700

Debbie Taylor and The Hesitations – All That I Have (GWP, 1969)

One common and very essential intuitive skill while playing soul/funk/R&B is the ability, especially for the rhythm section, to play “behind the beat”. It’s not as simple as rushing or lagging, speeding up or slowing down. It’s a stylistic and expressive mode of playing that can drive the listener to beg for the next note, or sock you in the gut when it finally arrives.

Imagine a point in time that represents the ultimate, precise beat on say 1,2,3 or 4. Then, imagine a circle around that point that dynamically represents the surrounding non-metered time. We’re talking milliseconds before or after said beat. A “perfect” landing of say a bass note would be right on that point. Right on time and sounds perfectly normal. A landing of that bass note slightly before or “ahead” that point would give a different feeling, often a rushed sense of urgency. A landing of that bass note slightly after or “behind” that point also gives a different feeling, which could be described as a feeling of deprivation-then-relief. Or as we’d say in my band, “sitting back on it”.

Psychoacoustically, I believe it’s one of the most fundamentally individuating features of soul/funk/R&B music. This, of course, happens in many styles of music, especially jazz. But this is a soul blog. A 4/4 mid-tempo polka and a 4/4 mid-tempo soul tune feel very different, even though they’re made up of the same essential elements of music, and I think that playing behind the beat is one of the most distinctive reasons why.

This song, sung by Debbie Taylor (a total ace), is one of the more obvious examples of playing behind the beat, ESPECIALLY when the song arrives at the triplet hits on “To give you back” and then moves to the subsequent arrival back to the steady beat ( right after “All that I have”). It almost sounds like they’re on ‘ludes. Listen for the interplay between the drummer and the bass player and then how they interact with the rest of the group. Beyond all of that, it’s just a really great song and performance.

Cheers.

Z.Z. Hill - You’ve Got Me Chained To Your Love There are a...

skinnyricky — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 10:44:00 -0700

Z.Z. Hill - You’ve Got Me Chained To Your Love

There are a handful of really great songs and performances on this Clay Hammond/ZZ Hill comp. This song has been floating in and out of my head for the better part of two weeks. Note some of the melodic and referential elements that may have been derived from OV Wright’s “That’s How Strong My Love Is”

Syl Johnson - Half A Love (Twinight, 1967?) I love this...

skinnyricky — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 10:24:00 -0700

Syl Johnson - Half A Love (Twinight, 1967?)

I love this recording. It’s got so much grit and weight behind it. I love how the bass and drums interact. Syl’s the man. This is from the Numero Group boxset. Note: I’m unsure why the title on the 45 is inaccurate.

Swamp Dogg - Total Destruction To Your Mind Alive Naturalsound...

skinnyricky — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:30:00 -0800

Swamp Dogg - Total Destruction To Your Mind

Alive Naturalsound records recently reissued this notoriously awesome record by “Maverick” soul singer Swamp Dogg.

David Marchese over at SPIN wrote an excellent article on Swamp...

skinnyricky — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:30:00 -0800

David Marchese over at SPIN wrote an excellent article on Swamp Dogg to accompany a reissue of his sought after record “Total Destruction To The Mind”. It is deeply entertaining, motherfucker. -RICKY

“Total Destruction to Your Mind, the first Swamp Dogg album, begins with the title track, wherein Williams, winking at the Beatles, sings about sitting on a cornflake riding on a rollerskate as his voice is surrounded by curling guitars and blammo horns and the music keeps freaking out from there. He prophesizes a post-bomb wasteland where kids have never known rain or rock’n’roll. Psychedelic music blows his mind, so his patience grows thin with the synthetic world we’re living in. He laments being born blue instead of orange-skinned and green-haired like everyone else. He razzes rednecks. He pitches snake oil called “Sal-a-Faster.” He wonders about mama’s baby and daddy’s maybe. His voice is boisterous, jovial, quizzical; his melodies sly and punchy. The music — given perfect shape by its craftsman’s hand — suggests a quirky avenue that black music might’ve pursued if funk hadn’t fomented instead. And it came packaged with a cover that showed Swamp sitting in shorts on a garbage truck, wearing a graduation cap.”

Read the entire article by clicking below:

(via Tha Real Mother****ing Doggfather | SPIN | Profiles | Spotlight)

Apologies for not posting, I’ve been on a bit of a break...

skinnyricky — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 13:04:00 -0800

Apologies for not posting, I’ve been on a bit of a break from the internet. I miss this blog.

Truth & Soul is at it again with a debut release from Lady. If you enjoyed Lee Field’s “Faithful Man”, I think you’ll like this. It has a lot of pop crossover potential while still being really well-written, produced and performed. Stream the entire album via the link below and Pre-Order over at T&S. (via Lady Fuse Motown, Hip-Hop on Self-Titled Debut Album Premiere | Music News | Rolling Stone)

Marvin Gaye - I Want To Come Home For Christmas Merry Christmas...

skinnyricky — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 10:22:40 -0800

Marvin Gaye - I Want To Come Home For Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you lovely soul people. Here’s a really beautiful song by the man Mr. Gaye.

Every Christmas I release the complete Old Soul Music archive for you to download and enjoy. I’ll be compiling it today and will post soon. Much love, xoxo.

RICKY

10songsblog answered your question: “You don’t have to understand, just...

skinnyricky — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 19:02:46 -0800

10songsblog answered your question: “You don’t have to understand, just listen”

youtube.com/watch?v…

MY GOODNESS THIS IS GREAT -RICKY

"You don't have to understand, just listen"

skinnyricky — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 18:24:00 -0800

(links appreciated) All y’all follow this blog for a reason, what have you been listening to?

The Persuaders - Love Gonna Pack up I’d be surprised if...

skinnyricky — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 18:12:00 -0800

The Persuaders - Love Gonna Pack up

I’d be surprised if Lee Fields’ “Do You Love Me”, intentional or not, is unrelated. When you continue on a tradition of an era or musical style, borrowed idiomatic elements are important. You make it yours as Lee does by simultaneously paying homage while doing your own thing. Both of these tracks are good shit.

ZZ Hill - The Chokin’ Kind ZZ’s take on Joe...

skinnyricky — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 17:37:00 -0800

ZZ Hill - The Chokin’ Kind

ZZ’s take on Joe Simon’s tune. Great arrangement, great groove. It contrasts the heavy sentiment of the lyrics. ZZ’s got some smooth grit, yes sir.

Also, congratulations, President Obama. We’re better off.

Dyke and The Blazers - Runaway People I got a root canal the...

skinnyricky — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 19:20:00 -0700

Dyke and The Blazers - Runaway People

I got a root canal the other day and was listening to this on my headphones in a vicodin-induced state and realized how brilliant of a song, arrangement and performance this is.

And I say performance because realize the way they recorded records was live, or at least in a series; rhythm and horns with strings, then vocals, then maybe lead. Most modern albums rely heavily on technology to order and dictate the performances, the sound quality. This is a room full of people playing music (noting, possibly that they may be in relative isolation booths). It’s a sign of the times nowadays when they try to emulate how they used to make records, when all they’re really doing is trying to capture how people actually perform music.

Hello! I am a college student in need of help. I have to write an essay for monday about the birth of soul music, and I've been googling stuff but the only thing with actual information I've found was the wikipedia page lol. I was wondering if you knew any websites or books I can read about it, and if you could tell me something I'd be eternally grateful. Thank you so much, your blog rocks! :)

skinnyricky — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 13:58:00 -0700

Hi fancybecks,

Thanks for your question. It is such an impossibly huge question, the birth of soul, you could take it academically in dozens of directions. In a very general sense, realize the intersections of black/white gospel, blues from various regions, tin pan alley, jump-blues, jazz of varying styles and regions, country music, doo wop, country & western. Here are a few articles to consider and a couple books:

http://www.scaruffi.com/history/soul.html

http://www.timeisonourside.com/STSouthSoul.html

http://www.sirshambling.com/sir_shambling/articlelist.php

http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Soul-Music-Southern-Freedom/dp/0316332739

http://www.amazon.com/Say-It-One-Time-Brokenhearted/dp/074754137X

One big problem you’re probably running into is research that falls into the “nonacademic” category. Collectors, bloggers, Rolling Stone-level musicology. This isn’t very helpful for a college-level paper. Musicologists and cultural anthropologists have yet to create a sizable body of work that explores the cultural tradition and history of soul music. Basically, it’s not a paper you can write in a weekend as you need to take time to read and absorb many snippets of information, verifiable or not. I’ve been “studying” it for a long time and I’m still trying to understand.

WHATEVER YOU DO, please don’t reduce your paper to Motown, Stax and Hi records. It’s so much greater than that.

Tobi Lark – Sweep It Out In The Shed A 1966 single from Tobi...

skinnyricky — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 10:15:56 -0700

Tobi Lark – Sweep It Out In The Shed

A 1966 single from Tobi Lark, a revered singer particularly in Northern Soul circles. This is a second track from Dave Hamilton’s Detroit Dancers compilation. I love the backup singers. Hope all is well with you fine looking people.

Little Ann - What Should I Do? Sorry for being MIA folks....

skinnyricky — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 10:34:24 -0700

Little Ann - What Should I Do?

Sorry for being MIA folks. Here’s a sweet track by Little Ann from a pretty cool comp.

Hello! LOVE this site. I'm a singer and i'm singing at a soul night but i have to have a backing track to my songs!! I've chosen to do 'Rueben Bell and The Casanova's' 'It's Not That Easy' BUT there is no way of removing the vocals from the track. I was just wondering if you knew of anyone in the world who has instrumentals of old soul tracks??? Do they exist, where they ever recorded? Leila

skinnyricky — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 10:10:49 -0700

If the recording were in stereo, there’s a trick to mostly cancel out the vocal track, however that recording is in mono, so it’s not possible. Your best bet is to 1) Start a band or 2) Record an instrumental version yourself.

For you folks wondering, Leila is talking about this track, also featured on one of my mixtapes.

Cheers,

Ricky

Ike Turner & The Kings Of Rhythm - Funky Mule (Pompeii,...

skinnyricky — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 19:19:03 -0700

Ike Turner & The Kings Of Rhythm - Funky Mule (Pompeii, 1969)

A hot instrumental. That’s all I got.