Gone Away

Sorry, I've been "Gone Away" for over a month.  Work has taken up a lot of my time, and with that on top of being busy with my two kids, sometimes the blog gets neglected for awhile.  Speaking of "Gone Away", that Curtis Mayfield tune gets me every time.  Written by Mayfield for The Impressions album This is My Country, it's such a heart-breakingly great tune.  Roberta Flack's version off of the excellent Chapter Two album is an excellent version as well.  Both versions of "Gone Away" are repeaters for me. 

Master Rocker

I'm not necessarily a HUGE fan of pianist Bernard Wright's 1981 solo debut 'Nard, but there are a few tracks that hit on all the Dave Grusin/smooth jazz cylinders, most notably "Master Rocker".  If I was a DJ playing out, I would play the crap out of the track "Master Rocker".  Instead, I play it at home on the headphones and get my pleasure that way.  "Master Rocker" has got it all-nice drumming, great touches on the electric piano/keyboard, nice use of horns, it's all tastefully executed.  While there some definite misses on 'Nard, the tracks the hit, like "Master Rocker", make this album worth checking out.

Love Me Forever

The track, "Love Me Forever", off of Carlton and the Shoes album of the same time, is one of those perfect soulful, rocksteady tracks from the late 60's that I can listen to repeatedly and never tire of it.  I've been continuing to listen to a lot of dub and reggae music from the 60's through 80's in the past month (the uncharacteristically warm 70's and 80 degree weather in Seattle during this time of the year will do that for ya!), and will probably be featuring some more music from that genre in the coming month.  In the meantime, listen to "Love Me Forever"--such a beautiful melody, and I love the horn line that leads into the vocals.  Perfect!

Dub Plates

Back in the day, I went through a heavy Dub-Reggae phase, then later in life I turned to Rocksteady and Ska.  Over the past few weeks, I've been revisiting some of my favorite dub and reggae albums over the years.  Besides the obvious choices like Lee 'Scratch' Perry, King Tubby, and Augustus Pablo, I've also been listening to a lot of Keith Hudson.  This album is crazy, swampy dub-reggae:

Check out some of these tracks.  Hudson's off-key monotone vocals, and the backing female vocals, along with his magnificent production, make this a great listen.

Carlton and Family Man Barrett's Macka Dub has been a recent find for me, and I've been playing it quite a bit since I picked it up:

 Other more obvious favorites for me in the dub genre include:  Lee 'Scratch' Perry Roast Fish, Collie Weed, and Cornbread (my favorite dub album and the first one to introduce me to the world of Dub), Augustus Pablo's Original Rockers, as well as Augustus Pablo's King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown, Burning Spear Marcus Garvey/Garvey Ghost, and Lee 'Scratch' Perry's Superape.  I'm sure there are a few more up there for me, but these are the ones that I really enjoy off the top of my head.  Of course, as Summer rolls around, I may be posting more upon the topics of Dub and Reggae, as I tend to pull out the Dub and Reggae favorites around the Summer season, so stay tuned!      

Szabo Songs

I've been listening to lots of Gabor Szabo over the past few months, grooving to the instrumental sounds of the Hungarian-Gypsy guitarist.  Years ago I was given a copy of Spellbinder, and somehow it didn't quite connect with me at the time.  I wasn't until recently when I picked up both Jazz Raga and Dreams (especially Dreams) that my mind began getting blown.  I've also recently turned back to Spellbinder and can't believe that I didn't love it when I first heard it years ago.  Here are a few of my favorite tracks off of Dreams:

Cop this album Dreams if you can, listen to it with the lights out, and your mind will be blown. 

Also, Jazz Raga is great and was reissued by Light In The Attic a few years ago.  Well-worth picking up, as besides Szabo's gypsy guitar, it also features some great sitar flourishes throughout the album.  "Walking on Nails" features a rare vocal courtesy of Szabo himself. 

Stark Reality: Acting, Thinking, Feeling (The Complete Works)

I don't know what to write about The Stark Reality.  You can probably google them and find tons of bloggers that have written wonderful superlatives about them, and describe the sound of the band better than I.  Let me just say that I was pumped to pick this up the other week.  Previously all I had of The Stark Reality was the compilation Now, which was nice but I really wanted to full deal.  The Stark Reality was a groove machine--a band that existed in the late 60's/early 70's, and were a combination of jazz, rare groove, and soul (with a little psych thrown in).  No one sounds like them.  And come on, an electric vibraphone, who can beat that!  Included in the Acting, Feeling, Feeling (The Complete Works) is the classic album in its entirety Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop, a crazy album written for a public television show for kids which featured vibraphonist Monty Stark.  It's great music and well worth picking up!  The first clip I have posted is footage from the children's show (I wish I was one of those kids!), along with the music of Stark Reality performing live.  The three clips following are individual tracks from the album Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop.

 

Throwback to the 90's: Hey Mr. DJ

I'm a sucker for solid 90's R&B.  While I enjoy the obvious favorites by Erykah Badu, and D'Angelo, a lot of R&B sounds a little dated and not quite as good as I once thought.  However, I would never put TLC CrazySexyCool (that album still sounds modern to this day--a classic) or Zhane Pronounced Jah-Nay albums in the "dated" category.  I've been pulling out Zhane's Pronounced Jah-Nay album a lot recently, and it holds up extremely well.  Their first, and best, of their two released albums, Zhane's debut contains their one obvious hit "Hey Mr. DJ" but there are so many other solid tracks to dig.  Case in point:  "This Song Is For You".  This track contains a solid beat, nice echoey guitars, floating keyboards, and the melting vocals from the lovely ladies.

 "Sending My Love" is another one of my favorite jams off of Zhane's classic.  The feeling is similar to "This Song Is For You".  A nice jam. 

And of course, concluding with their big hit, "Hey Mr. DJ".  Always a track to throw on while having a classic 90's R&B party.  (Follow it up with Mary J.'s "Real Love")