Soul Of The Departed

We are still trying to right our barbaric ways.  Sunday (Nov. 2) is the celebration of All Souls’ Day, remembering those souls who may be on the way to heaven, but for some reason they haven’t arrived yet.  Yesterday we name checked the Saints, those beatific types who are already upstairs partying with the Man; All Souls Day is for those who haven’t gotten there yet because of a minor infraction and they’re still serving their time.  The Catholic church says they haven’t yet achieved the “Beatific Vision.”

So today, let’s flip our catechism to those dearly departed who achieved their “Beatific Vision” while they were on earth – yes, I’m talkin’ about Soul singers!  “Do you like good music?” (Let’s hear an “Amen!”) “Ha! That sweet soul music!” This is dedicated to those soul singers who are no longer with us.  Don’t they all look great, ya’ll?

MP3: “Please, Please, Please” by James Brown, R.I.P.

MP3: “Can’t Stop A Man In Love” by Wilson Pickett, R.I.P.

MP3: “Hands Off My Baby” by Mary Wells, R.I.P.

MP3: “Never Can Say Goodbye” by Isaac Hayes, R.I.P.

MP3: “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” by the Four Tops (Levi Stubbs, R.I.P.)

MP3: “What A Woman Really Means” by Donny Hathaway, R.I.P.

MP3: “I Love You More Than Words Can Say” by Otis Redding, R.I.P.

MP3: “Breakfast In Bed” by Dusty Springfield, R.I.P.

MP3: “Drown In My Own Tears” by Ray Charles, R.I.P.

MP3: “Ain’t That Peculiar” by Marvin Gaye, R.I.P.

MP3: “Strokin'” by Clarence Carter, R.I.P.

MP3: “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” by the Temptations (Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams and David Ruffin, R.I.P.)

MP3: “We’re A Winner” by the Impressions (Curtis Mayfield, R.I.P.)

MP3: “Chain Gang” (live) by Sam Cooke, R.I.P.

MP3: “Sweet Soul Music”  by Arthur Conley, R.I.P.

Summer, Final Edition 2008

Summer’s fading away – so here’s a grab bag of summer, sunshine, beach and just cool songs, some new and some old.  Enjoy!  (Thanks to L.A. correspondent Randy Fuller for some of the songs and mashups you find here.)

MP3: “Summer, Highland Falls” (live) by Billy Joel

MP3: “Constructive Summer” by The Hold Steady

MP3: “Summer Of Pain” by Witch Hats

MP3: “Special Bong Olympics” by Barking Spiders

MP3: “The Inconvenience Of Truth” by Carbon/Silicon

MP3: “Lost Coastlines” by Okkervil River

MP3: “Long Summer Days” by the Moody Blues

MP3: “Sunshine Lies” by Matthew Sweet

MP3: “Sun Is Shining/Sunshine Superman” by MaxwellJump

MP3: “Claire De Lune” by the Tomorrow Men

MP3: “Czar Of The Surf Guitar” by the Illuminoids

MP3: “The Boys Of Summer” by the Ataris

MP3: “Ain’t No Sunshine/Lonely Avenue” (live) by Isaac Hayes

Bonus video: “Help Me, Rhonda” by Al Jardine, Steve Miller and Flea

Isaac Hayes, R.I.P.

Isaac Hayes was, in his prime, one BAD mo-fo.  “Theme from Shaft,” Hot Buttered Soul, his moments from Wattstax, the songs he wrote for Sam and Dave, even his work on “South Park” had an element of danger, dignity and coolness.  He made people understand soul music.  He did that by showing he could wring soul even out of songs by Jimmy Webb (“By The Time I Get To Phoenix”) and Burt Bacharach (“Walk On By”).  But nothing could be badder than his music from the movie Shaft.  “Who’s the black private dick that’s a sex machine to all the chicks?”  The Black Moses is gone.

MP3: “Walk On By”

MP3: “By The Time I Get To Phoenix”

MP3: “Never Can Say Goodbye”

MP3: “Ike’s Rap III/Your Love Is So Doggone Good”

MP3: “Rock Me Easy, Baby”

MP3: “Soulsville”

MP3: “Theme From Shaft“

MP3: “Soul Man” (by Sam & Dave)

Stickin’ It To The Man!

 

You know the drill: can’t sleep, get up, start watchin’ TV.  But one night I flipped past Turner Classic Movies and they had one of those great blaxploitation movies from the 1970s.  Didn’t catch the title, but Fred Williamson was blastin’ pimps and the fuzz with a machine gun, beddin’ buck-naked babes and generally stickin’ it to The Man.  Thanks, TCM, that sure fits my definition of “classic” and I wound up getting no sleep that night!

In the early 1970s, Hollywood determined there was an eager audience for movies made about black Americans.  So they started crankin’ them out – most were cliché-filled, violent films that wildly played up the stereotypes of the day.  You had yer revenge dramas, like Coffy, where a hot, sassy mama (Pam Grier) tracks down the dealers who got her sister hooked on the big H.  And you had yer private dick dramas, like Shaft and Slaughter.  You also had anti-heroes, like Ron O’Neal’s Superfly or Fred Williamson’s Black Caesar; they were the grandaddies of today’s gangstas.  Of course each one had enough pimps, players, gunplay and get-nekkid women to keep the audiences coming back for more.