Uppercut!

Jab, jab, jab!

Left hook!

Oww! (Straight right to the ribs…)

Hey! glad to see ya back here. The above was some of the “action” from yesterday’s Summertime At The Grill - Soulbrotha vs. Tgrundy mix #1. He and I got engaged into a “can you top this!” battle as we were collaborating on a playlist for RIBS this week. Well, one mix turned into three and it’s action reminiscent of those great heavyweight battles between Ali and Frazier… and YOU get to be the judge!

Well, the second round is about to begin… time for me to “float like a butterfly, and STING LIKE A BEE!”

Ding, ding…

Popularity: 2% [?]

Ready for some FIREWORKS for the 4th of July! As Michael Buffer would say, “Let’s Get Ready To R-U-M-B-L-E!!!”

So, my good friend Soulbrotha (of the fantastic 4BB blog, that’s “Four Brothers Beats” if you don’t know) and I decided to do a little collaboration on a playlist. He would choose a song or two then I would choose a song or two and we’d end up with a nice little funky playlist for you all to enjoy while you were outside enjoying your holiday weekend. Sounds innocent enough, right.

Well…

When you have two guys that enjoy music as much as he and I do (and have no problems boasting about their knowledge of that music {smile}) you know what inevitably happens… it quickly became a game of “can you top this!” with each of us trying to out do the other one with his next musical selections. And, of course, there was much trash talking along the way! Whoo-Hoo, I haven’t had this much fun making a playlist in a long time! Did I say, “a playlist”? Ha! What started out as a single playlist has evolved into a total of 3 playlist mixes, since neither one of us wanted to stop nor concede to the other. I’m posting the first mix today and the other two tomorrow and Saturday so you’ll have plenty of music to take you through your holiday weekend.

OK! Ding, ding, round #1. “Let’s get it on!”

…

Popularity: 5% [?]

UPDATE (06/27/08): Hey Peeps, just realized that there was a problem with the MP3 file download. It has been fixed, so if you DL]d the file before this morning I’m asking that you DL it again so you can get the good version of the file. My apologies for the error and inconvenience.

Piping hot and finally out of the oven!

Some “funky” RIBS today courtesy of 3 artists that were HOT back in the day, but that folks seldom talk about these days…

1. Dennis Coffey
2. Billy Preston
3. New Birth

Once I decided (and “Thanks” must go out to the “PodFather” for his help with the selections this week) to feature Dennis Coffey, it only made sense to bring Billy Preston into the mix. Dennis’ big hit, Scorpio (some serious musical HOTNESS there!) was out around the same time as BPs Outa Space (or at least that’s how I remember it all these years later {smile}). When I hear one of these cuts the other almost always immediately comes to mind.

Our third ingredient in this week’s batch of soul food is another funky outfit that had a very good run back in the 70s, New Birth. Their version of Bobby Womack’s I Can Understand It still ranks as one of my favorite versions of that song, and Got To Get A Knutt is just one of those funky, “fun” songs that always brings a smile to my face.

So… take a seat, pile your plate high and dig in. Oh and when you’re finished here don’t forget to check out the question I posed in the previous post:

What Is “Soul Music”?

I’m curious as to how folks today define soul music and who you all think are the soul artists active today that we’ll be talking about years from now.

…

Popularity: 12% [?]

OK, so I’m listening to one of my favorite podcasts this past Friday morning, the Friday Favecast by Fave, and at about the 16 minute, 30 second mark he asks a question that I have *NOT* been able to stop thinking about:

“WHAT IS SOUL MUSIC?”

He goes on to define the question further by asking, “How do you explain to a cat over in the UK or over in Japan or Paris what “soul” is?”, especially if they have never heard it before.

“WHAT IS SOUL MUSIC?”

Ever since then I have been thinking about this question and, to be honest, have even become a little obsessive about it. I had to laugh the other day when I noticed that with every song I play or hear now, inevitably I ask myself, “Is this soul?” Like I said… obsessive. {smile}

Well, I thought I would enlist the help of my RIBS readers and throw the question out to all of you. What is soul music to music to you? How do you define it? What is the history of soul music? How would you explain what it is to someone who has never heard it?

I have been researching this topic off and on for the past week and most of what I have read centers around soul music as a “feeling” or an “emotion” that a person has when listening to or singing this music. While that is very much an integral component of soul and I don’t disagree with that definition, I do want to offer another viewpoint as an additional (and very important) component of what soul is:

Soul music has it’s roots intricately intertwined with the experience of Blacks in America to survive and persevere, especially during the years of slavery and its aftermath.

If you break it down there are four different sources which have shaped soul: racial, geographical, historical and economic factors. From a ‘technical’ point of view, it is the merging of R&B and Gospel in the late 1950’s. Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, James Brown and Solomon Burke are commonly regarded as the pioneers of this style of music.

Agree? Disagree? And what about “soul music” today in 2008? Just like I can name Ray, Sam, James and Solomon above as the beginnings of soul, who are the “soul” singers of today that we’ll be talking about 20, 30 or 40 years down the road?

Looking forward to some interesting discussion…

Powered by ScribeFire.

Related articles

• James Brown’s effects to be sold [via Zemanta]
• After 38 Years, ‘Soul Train’ Gets New Owner [via Zemanta]
• Al Green proves `the Reverend still got it’

…

Popularity: 11% [?]