Good Stevie Wonder does nothing for me. Middling Stevie Wonder does less for me. It’s hard for me to even care enough about this record, which doesn’t have any of his biggest hits on it, and which fails to move me, like all of his records. But I guess I have to try. (That’s what …
Tag: Pop Soul
Private Dancer (1984) by Tina Turner
For my entire album-listening life I’ve struggled with interpretative records (i.e. albums where every song is a cover or, at least, not written by the performer) which didn’t explicitly market themselves as covers record. I think I have struggled with this kind of music so much because of the music I listened to in my …
The Young Mods’ Forgotten Story (1969) by The Impressions
Despite his fame, I don’t know Cutis Mayfield’s music very well and I don’t know the Impressions at all. I have only ever heard Mayfield’s most famous record and this is my first ever Impressions record. The little I know of Mayfield is that his music is slicker than I like my soul.
Like a Prayer (1989) by Madonna
Many years ago I was drinking at a bar in grad school, when the title track came on. A colleague of mine said it was a good song, I scoffed and we got in an argument, with everyone else siding with him and getting annoyed at me for being stupid. For my entire life I …
Open Our Eyes (1974) by Earth, Wind and Fire
I had some serious preconceptions about Earth, Wind and Fire but, fortunately for me, I listened to one of their later albums a year or two ago and learned that I was sorely mistaken about this band.
Dusty in Memphis (1969) by Dusty Sprinfield
I don’t know anything about Dusty Springfield. I do know a little bit of the legend of this record, but that really doesn’t help me much, because I don’t know what she did before this. If I had heard that music, maybe the legend of the record would resonate more, maybe the music would resonate …
North of a Miracle (1983) by Nick Heyward
I know literally nothing of Haircut 100. I first heard about them in a Billboard chart book I had growing up, and that’s as far as it got. I don’t know what they sound like, as I think they were one of those UK bands which just never translated to a North American audience. So …
Can’t Slow Down (1983) by Lionel Richie
He’s just putting out so much music, with an album every two years. It’s incredible. You can’t stop him and he won’t stop himself. Ahem…
3+3 (1973) by The Isley Brothers
I know the Isley Brothers more by reputation than by their music. I know their most famous song, and I know the most famous song from this record, but that’s about it. (Also, I may have forgotten that “Shout” and “That Lady” were by the same band until I listened to this record.) This record …
Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul (1963) by Ray Charles
This record was a big success but, despite some positive reviews, doesn’t have the greatest reputation. (Example: the Allmusic review is 4 stars but really feels like a 3 star review.) The idea is that its source material is [i]too[/i] diverse. I call bullshit.
janet. (1993) by Janet Jackson
As I say all the damn time, coming at an artist backwards is a bad idea. And yet here I am doing it again. This is only the second Janet Jackson album I’ve ever heard, but the first one I heard was the sequel to this one. The problem for me is that the sequel …
Symphony or Damn (1993) by Terence Trent D’Arby
Somehow I managed to grown up when D’Arby was releasing music and completely avoid him. We listened to an Oldies station primarily, so we didn’t hear him there. And I swear I never saw any of his videos. (If I did, I didn’t see them enough to remember them.) So all I knew was the …
Eli and the 13th Confession (1968) by Laura Nyro
I was barely aware of Nyro when I listened to this record – I had heard her name, likely from seeing it listed in credits and mentioned here and there I guess, but I didn’t know what I was in for.
Thriller (1982) by Michael Jackson
Much like Bad, so many of the songs from Thriller were hits when I was a little kid that I know more of this record than I could have ever imagined. That knowledge once again puts me in a weird position, having the memory of what some of these songs sounded like to me as …
Saturday Night Fever Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1977)
I don’t like disco so you can imagine that when I found out this was a double album I was… unhappy.
Faith (1987) by George Michael
I have never had any desire to listen to George Michael. Nothing about his music has ever really struck me. I find myself listening to this record only because of my podcast. It’s a weird combination of cheese and kitsch with earnestness and bravado. As someone who has only recently started (seriously) listening to music …
Midnight Love (1982) by Marvin Gaye
I don’t know Marvin Gaye at all, beyond his most famous singles. I guess his Motown stuff is just too slick for me, so I never bothered. I still mean to listen to What’s Going On at some point but I just haven’t gotten there. I don’t know much about his personal life, either, beyond …
Lionel Richie (1982)
I do not like Lionel Richie’s aesthetic: he is slick and sappy at the same time. That is a recipe for disaster, in my eyes (ears). But Richie has a rather incredible knack for melody. These songs are catchy, but it’s not just that. Some of his melodies for the ballads are super compelling, they …
Talking Book (1972) by Stevie Wonder
Of all R&B artists, I have been familiar with Stevie Wonder about as long as any, because Wonder was acceptable to the Oldies station I grew up with to a much greater extent than most of his contemporaries. (There was Motown of course – just the hits! – and a few Ray Charles hits, but …
Bad (1987) by Michael Jackson
I grew up with “Fat” and have a hard time separating the real song, the title track of this record, from its parody. But I haven’t listened to “Fat” in so long. Listening to Bad for the first time (and to the remaster, no less), I can’t help but wonder, “does “Fat” sound this terrible …
Whitney (1987) by Whitney Houston
This is one of the most commercially successful albums of its era, so I guess that’s why I felt I had to listen to it. But if I learned one thing from this album, it’s that the things that I like about music and the things that most consumers like about music are not the …
I Stand Alone (1968) by Al Kooper
When I was younger, I was utterly fascinated by Kooper’s career: how he went from a successful songwriter to a less successful session guitarist to one of the best rock keyboardists of his era (or, perhaps, ever) and the major creative force behind some interesting ventures in the late ’60s. But, for whatever reason, it …