Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Allen Toussaint: Life, Love, and Faith


I have been a big fan of New Orleans soul great Allen Toussaint for years, and I've mentioned him a handful of times in this blog in the past.  Tonight I was pulling out some of his albums, specifically his first few albums, Toussaint, and Life, Love, and Faith, which are my favorite two albums of his.  Do you ever get goosebumps from a particular song?   "Fingers & Toes" does this to me every time.  Off of Life, Love, and Faith, "Fingers & Toes" is one of the most perfectly written pop songs I've ever heard.  Lyrically, such a strong, forward introduction, "What more can I say, I'm sorry"..."So I've made mistakes, girl for goodness sakes, you know I've been more good than bad"...  "So why don't you love, before you start a new love and try to count the good times we've had"...And the chorus, "Bet you run out of fingers and toes, before you run out of the flowers I sent ya.".  Lyrically, such a great portrayal of a ending relationship, but the writer is making a last plea to remember the good times before she decides to move on.  It's a repeater--meaning, I repeat this track continually.

"Soul Sister" is another favorite of mine off of this album.  Great, simple piano chords to start the track, a rattling of the drums, and a "Hey you..." to kick off the vocals.  Also, love the call and response vocals between Toussaint and the backing female vocalist in the middle. 

Life, Love, and Faith is Toussaint's strongest album ever recorded.  Does it completely hit on all cylinders?  It's close.  The only reason I wouldn't say that it completely does it mainly because three tracks "Fingers and Toes", "Soul Sister", and "I've Got to Convince Myself" are definitely the strongest of the lot, and while the rest of the songs are strong, I tend to gravitate towards these three tracks.  I would probably put Life, Love, and Faith in my top top 50 favorite soul albums of all-time, it's a treasured album of mine and my favorite by the New Orleans great. 

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