Soul for Sickies

So I'm on my third day of having this horrible cold/cough/stuffy ears and head.  I can barely breathe, and it's hard to think.  But above all, it's hard to listen to music!  Isn't that the worst!  There isn't anything worse than wanting to crank up the volume on a Bobby Womack compilation that I was grooving to the other day, but now I can't handle it because the music and vocals are just too noisy for me right now.  I tried listening to a Dixie Hummingbirds gospel-soul album that I bought last week and had to turn it off immediately because the vocals were pushed too far up in the mix and it started giving me a headache. 

This problem got me thinking more about the music I enjoy and the music I can't enjoy right now due to not feeling 100%.  In between my frequent naps I've begun noticing what soul music works for the sickie and what doesn't (I think you could also exchange "sickie" for "hangover" and it would work just as well!)

What doesn't work:  Too loud of vocals.  O.k., I LOVE Etta James!  She is one of my five favorite female singers of all-time.  I love the passion and intensity in her vocals, but unfortunately her vocals are too much for the sickie soul.  Even on albums like At Last where some of the music and songs are relatively quiet, Etta just doesn't work for the sickie soul because that voice, as wonderful as it is, is just too powerful for the sickie soul to handle.  Tell Mama:  The Muscle Shoals Sessions really doesn't work either, as both the vocals and music are loud.  You could put in Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, and Donny Hathaway in there as well (all up there as my favorite singers--maybe because I love them so much it makes more focus and listen to their vocals more which is tough to do when sick?).  

What works:  Soothing vocals.  Bill Withers works on so many levels in regards to this.  Besides Withers possessing a soothing voice, he is also one of the best songwriters ever.  The man never wrote a bad song, Really, a sickie can listen to his first three albums, Just as I am, Still Bill, and 'Justments all the way through and even though there are songs that are more upbeat than others, they never overpower and bother a sickie's headache.  I would also put Lou Bond's album Lou Bond up there, as well as any of Terry Callier's albums, specifically Occasional Rain or What Color is Love?  Soothing vocals are the key that soul singers like Callier, Bond, and Withers all possess to a T.  Also, I could throw in Marvin Gaye as well, even though maybe it's a bit unexpected.  I was suprised to notice that I could listen to Marvin Gaye yesterday with ease (Let's Get It On), but later I did think about the fact that his vocals are somewhat soothing, even if the orchestration and music of some of his songs can overpower at times.

What doesn't work:  Busy orchestration/overpowering music.  Any of the Gamble/Huff Philly Soul-style music does not soothe the sickie soul.  It's fabulous music, and on an average day I love to listen to these albums, but they don't work on a sick day.  The O'Jays Backstabbers?  No.  Jerry Butler The Iceman Cometh?  Hell no.   Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes?  I said NO!   

This concludes our talk about what to listen to, and what not to listen to, if you're a soul sickie.  Hopefully, you found this to be enlightening, and if you have any further suggestions, feel free to do so!  In the meantime, here are a few tracks that are soothing for sickie soul, in case you are struggling as I am, as I am now heading back to bed.  Enjoy!