Articles tagged "soul"

News

R&B and its offshoots deliver a message that crosses racial boundaries

by Brian McCollum [Detroit Free Press (MCT)]

[3.Jul.08] :. It fused the heart of the blues, the energy of jazz and the transcendence of gospel music to become one of the most formidable musical forces in American history. For legions of musicians and their...

PopWire

 

20 Questions Feature

Deborah Bonham

by PopMatters Staff

[30.Jun.08] :. Sweetly soulful and powerful (think Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin), blues-rock singer-songwriter Deborah Bonham chats with PopMatters 20 Questions about Paul Rodgers, a beautiful ex-racehorse named Jack, and other inspirations in her life and music.

20 Questions

 

Music Feature

Standing Under Stars: An Interview with Rahsaan Patterson

by Christian John Wikane

[16.Nov.07] :. The innovative soul stylist tested the concept of God and what did he find? Patterson talks to PopMatters.

Recent features

 

News

The Temptations are turning back the hands of time

by Leonard Pitts Jr. [McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)]

[25.Oct.07] :. Singer Richard Street was once asked if the fact that the Temptations’ lineup was about as stable as the San Andreas fault was detrimental to fan loyalty. How can you love a group when you...

PopWire

 

News

Soulful rejects from Aretha Franklin’s storied vault

by Terry Lawson [Detroit Free Press (MCT)]

[15.Oct.07] :. With a couple of exceptions, Aretha Franklin - or as a poet once deftly described her, “aretha/crystal jukebox queen of hymn and him” - is like many of the other great pop, soul and jazz...

PopWire

 
PopMatters Pick

Music Review

Ike & Tina Turner: The Ike & Tina Turner Story

by Christian John Wikane

[12.Oct.07] :. Definitive in nearly every possible way, The Ike and Tina Turner Story is the exclamation point on an act that bridged together rock and soul.

Recent Music reviews

 

Dephazz: Days of Twang

by Dave Hoffman

[4.Sep.07] :. Days of Twang revisits familiar terrain with Pit Baumgartner’s trademark mix of laidback electronica, jazz, and soul.

 

Margie Joseph Reclaims Her Soul: The Interview

by Christian John Wikane

[20.Aug.07] :. Atlantic Records matched one of the most soulful female vocalists of the '70s with one of the all-time greatest producers. Three decades later, why is Margie Joseph not singing all the way to the bank?

 
PopMatters Pick

Music Feature

Reflections: Motown in 1967

by Zeth Lundy

[17.Aug.07] :. The latest installment in Hip-O Select's impressive reissue series, The Complete Motown Singles, Volume 7: 1967 collects every A-side and B-side released that year, including planned and deleted singles, as well as alternate and promotional mixes -- 120 tracks in all.

Recent features

 

Soul legend Al Green lets his voice be heard on a variety of topics

by Len Righi [The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) (MCT)]

[7.Aug.07] :. Al Green’s voice is hoarse. Not just a little rough, mind you, but harsh, grating, rasping. Can this man struggling to speak into the phone in his Auburn, Mich., Holiday Inn room really be...

 
PopMatters Pick

Music Review

Betty Davis: Betty Davis / They Say Im Different

by Dan Nishimoto

[18.May.07] :. Funk's first feminist Betty Davis resurfaces.

Recent Music reviews

 

Aptly named British pop star Amy Winehouse battles life at the top

by Jon Bream [Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (MCT)]

[9.May.07] :. Amy Winehouse has big hair, a big hit in her native England and a big, bad reputation back home. Winehouse is fast becoming the new name for her liver, a presenter joked at the prestigious Brit...

 

Stax Records turns 50, looks to a soulful future

by Nick Cristiano [The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)]

[2.May.07] :. In the 1997 book Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records, author Rob Bowman called the storied Memphis soul label a “grand accident.” Now the “accident” that...

 

Deniece Williams returns in fine form to cover some classics

by Mario Tarradell [The Dallas Morning News (MCT)]

[26.Apr.07] :. When Deniece Williams decided to return to R&B, she took a trip back in time. “Love, Niecy Style,” in stores this week, is her first soul record since 1996’s “Love...

 

Anthony Hamilton: Southern Comfort

by Damon Percy

[26.Apr.07] :. Neo-soul singer Anthony Hamilton possesses one of the best voices to emerge in the music industry over the last several years.

 

Mum’s pretty much the word for Aretha Franklin

by Thor Christensen [The Dallas Morning News (MCT)]

[25.Apr.07] :. Aretha Franklin plans to tell her life story twice—first in a stage musical due out next year, followed by a film version. But neither is likely to give the full picture. When it comes to...

 

30 years ago, Sly Stone’s music led the national dialogue on race

by Terry Lawson [Detroit Free Press (MCT)]

[17.Apr.07] :. In 1969, I was summoned to the office of the jewelry store attached to the record store that I managed. The idea was you would come into the record store for a $5 LP and be enticed next door for a...

 

Macy Gray: Big

by Mike Joseph

[13.Apr.07] :. It’s hard to imagine that Macy’s lost her mojo already, but after two straight mediocre albums, it definitely appears there’s a spark missing.

 

Various Artists: The Birmingham Sound: The Soul of Neal Hemphill Vol. 1

by Zeth Lundy

[6.Apr.07] :. Like other recent reissues of rare R&B and soul music, this is a glimpse into a recess of region-specific American music that has gone largely unheard for three or four decades.

 

Johnnie Taylor: Live at the Summit Club

by Zeth Lundy

[30.Mar.07] :. Gritty 1972 club set by the 'Philosopher of Soul' is released for the first time on the reactivated Stax label.

 

In Memoriam: James Brown

by Matt Rogers

[23.Mar.07] :. It’s a mistake to compare James Brown (or anyone else, for that matter) as a showman at 70 to what he was like at 40, 30, and 25. But, until the last, Soul Brother #1 still brought the funk.

 
PopMatters Pick

Music Review

Lewis Taylor: The Lost Album

by Christian John Wikane

[1.Mar.07] :. Lewis Taylor's admirable perseverance begets a modern day masterpiece.

Recent Music reviews

 

Soul Power

by William Glasspiegel

[3.Jan.07] :. Though James Brown's body was lying in state at the Apollo Theater, on the streets of Harlem, his spirit seemed to be everywhere.

 

The Last Soul Brother: James Brown (1933-2006)

by Mark Anthony Neal

[2.Jan.07] :. The humanity of the man -- with its funky and messy flaws and frailties -- could never sustain the myth, so much so that the image of the man who gave Black Power its soundtrack became a harsh reminder of its fractured legacy.

 
PopMatters Pick

Music Review

Anthony Hamilton: Comin’ from Where I’m From

by Matt Cibula

[9.Apr.04] :. Anthony Hamilton’s voice is a thing from God, a soaring pleading hard-edged thing, thick in that southern way, Al Green one minute and Otis Redding the next, a thing to treasure.

Recent Music reviews

 

Gerald LeVert: Stroke of Genius

by Mark Anthony Neal

[5.Dec.03] :. LeVert has simply put in the work, rarely taking creative or stylistic risks, and easily becoming, if not the greatest, at least the most consistent male R&B artist of his generation.

 

Macy Gray: The Trouble With Being Myself

by Cynthia Fuchs

[1.Aug.03] :. The wonders of Macy Gray are multifarious. By turns ferocious and vulnerable, seductive and schemey, she appears an artist with range and ambition, not to mention a complex emotional history that informs everything she does.

 
PopMatters Pick

Music Review

Aretha Franklin: The Queen in Waiting: The Columbia Years (1960-1965)

by Mark Anthony Neal

[18.Oct.02] :. Arguably one of the most important recordings done by a black artists in the post-Civil Rights era, throughout Amazing Grace Franklin seamlessly weaves through traditional sacred recordings.

Recent Music reviews

 

Gerald Levert: G

by Mark Anthony Neal

[7.Mar.00] :. Gerald Levert is never gonna take the risks that say a D'Angelo or a Maxwell have and his music is never going to be mistaken for that of The O'Jay's and Gamble and Huff.

 

Gerald Levert: G

by Colin Ross

Gerald Levert returns with his second offering since a brief liaison with the R&B supergroup LSG (Johnny Gill & Keith Sweat).

 

Macy Gray: The Id

by Mark Anthony Neal

What Gray possesses is a distinct voice and even more distinct personality that has given her the kind of visibility that she could have never imagined-the gawky brown girl with the squeaky voice has perhaps “queered” our perceptions of “The Diva”.

 

Gerald Levert: Gerald’s World

by Mark Anthony Neal

Gerald Levert is arguably the most consistent R&B vocalist of this generation.

 
 
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