90s r'n'b soul.
Pearl
28 May 2013
Barry White- Staying Power
1999
US
This is the perfect thing if you’re single but still want to get some, or if your partner needs to learn a little about sexy soul power. Barry’s voice and words will lead you to the entry of your own imagination. Through a simple combination of good r’n’b beats and Barry White’s obsessive sex mind, Staying Power ends up raising your sex standards.
“Staying Power” is obviously the jewel in the crown. Although there is an even better version of this song on the album Gold, this rendition is still one of White’s best tracks, ever. Here he shines because he does what he truly loves to do: slow and dirty dancing. If you listen carefully, the song has some naughty innuendos. This simple (and much-welcomed) take on the meetings of bodies delivered via Barry’s strong, male, and utterly cool voice makes me think of Barry White as a messenger sent by God, every time. What he sings could have easily been one of God’s finest messages and it sure would have made the Bible ten times more interesting. In any case, this is a perfect entrée en matière to the album.
In “Don’t play games” the female chorus brings just what is needed to enhance the sweet in Barry’s raucous, cavernous voice, and thereby create a harmonious love and sex story.
In “The longer we make love” and its remix version, both Chaka Khan and Lisa Stansfield continue this harmony, this time bordering more on the sex side of the mix. The song displays the sensual complicity we expect from any woman paired with Barry White. In the Chaka Khan version, the constant female breathing sounds in the background certainly enhance the sexual tone of the song, making it the most straightforwardly sexual track of the album. These breathing sounds and Barry’s “blacker the berry” bit (4:11) remind us a little of the sex power characteristic of black blues.
“I get off on you” is a melody that gets you to sing “Baby, baby, baby, I get off on you” out loud, in public, while moving your shoulders in rhythm! Here, it’s the music that sings to you, and the “baby, baby, baby” just take it a step further as if to say: you know, I really do (get off on you). Barry’s few words might be sweet, talking about flowers, sensitivity and all but my imagination, fostered by the tone of the song, tells me otherwise. This is one of my personal favourites.
“Which way is up” would have been better received as the background of a tv scene featuring the cool cops of Miami Vice, but it still works because it’s strategically placed almost in the middle of the album, surrounded by true pearls. The repetitive beat, the constant clap and the late saxophone or horn (or what sounds like one of the two) deliver just about enough sensuality to cool out our nerves, as if this song was only a transition between what precedes and what follows. If you pay attention to the lyrics, you notice that the song brings a weird change of theme. It’s a good “social” tune about finding one’s own way in(to) today’s crazy world.
“Get up” and “Sometimes” take this theme further. Musically, they work in perfect harmony with the rest of the album. Barry’s wisdom doesn’t limit itself to the sensual realm, these two tracks seem to say. In terms of theme and words, one can find an echo to “Get up” in Macy Gray’s “Do something”. Here, however, the message goes through more easily because Barry doesn’t make us sit and listen to what he has to say as in most socially-aware songs; he offers the possibility of choosing to listen with the mind another time and concentrate for a while on the beat and the body. By the end of
“Sometimes” and its original "pum" which punctuates Barry's talk, delivering a social message (on moving one’s ass to get somewhere) with sensual notes in the background has proven a clever choice. Hooked on the music, you listen with a distant ear thinking it’s just another love-sex song. And before you know it, the words get in your head.
“Low rider” (a cover of Charles Miller and War) relies almost entirely on an excellent beat, a great rediscovery. Its particularity lies in the chorus’s surprisingly “distant” vocals. The catchy words and intonation make sure that these two repetitive sentences will be sung along. The rest of the track is sung by Barry’s cool and confident voice. Add to that some definitely black "humm, humm" (3:36) and some “tingaling” (4:07), and you know he’s mostly enjoying himself because he knows that even with cover songs, he stays in power.
And this is what “Thank you” (a cover of Sly and the Family Stone) confirms. Its best part is the rap which suddenly pops up at 3:09 and saves the song from its repetitive beat and chorus. That’s a dancing tune, slowly drawing you in its cool, confident beat.
“Slow your roll” sounds again like it’s some part of a film soundtrack, but as far as music is concerned it doesn’t betray the quality of the album.
The emphasis of the album is on musical presence and throughout the work the strong and researched music follows its sensual (re)quest: it stays in power.
Even when Barry doesn’t speak about sex, his music sensualizes all of society’s concerns and the world in general. It’s not disharmonious, however, because through communicating to and with the senses, Barry is making difficulties much less distant. Everything becomes personalized in Staying Power, thereby allowing us to feel that power that Barry delivers. It doesn’t matter, finally, whether we do have power or don’t, what matters is that we believe we can and therefore start trying. Staying Power promotes the capacity inherent to human nature to redeem itself, again and again.
While not all tracks shine by their original beat or achieve the peak of sensuality, I, personally, would remove none. They’re all quite good in terms of music and singing, and if some are clearly better than others, none breaks or disturbs the harmony of the album.
If the lyrical content is certainly not enormous, it’s sufficient to make its point. The very personal subject matter(s) and Barry’s intimate singing work to deliver an album more aimed at an audience than there to show off Barry’s qualities. Barry White’s intent seems to have been to redeem blacks’ confidence in who they are and who they can be, but anybody, really, can find themselves in the lyrical message of the work. Staying Power has the purpose of making us more relax and confident in our sexual, dancing, social and personal powers, just as Barry seemed to have been.
All in all, this is a very good album, short, with no extravagant transition in terms of style. Barry knows how to associate intonation, lyrics, beats, sensuality and humour to make something catchy in which his audience gets caught up. As his last album, this is work we expected and work well done. Some would say that Barry White always does the same thing over and over again; I’d answer that he seemed to have had enough humility to know where his power lay, what he could do and what he shouldn’t try. Up to his last album, he stuck to what he excelled in and that’s what made him a respected artist among his followers and such a popular personality among the general public. Much more so than the much referenced “You’re my last, my first, my everything” and the likes, Staying Power is worth the detour if one wants to truly approach some Barry White.
Albums recommandés
60s soul.
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A compilation in place of original albums.
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Blues- Cdthèque recommandée
Here again, most are compilation albums, for to find original ones is too hard and costly.
The Rough Guide To Blues Legends Disc 2- Various female artists
Early 20th-century blues.
Not naugthy enough! In fact, the selection puzzled me here: the music remains good, though quite simplistic, but the vocals better decidedly as you work your way through. "When I get low" is catchy but definitely jazzier, so the best blues songs are basically the last two: "One monkey" which just makes me happily yell along, and "Oh what a dream", both featuring very strong female voices. You expect no less from a blues compilation, so I was a little disappointed with the first part of this one. The sex is there but a little drown among the high-pitched vocals and the repetitive sounds; neither is it replaced by something deeper, hum, hum... Okay but not the best.
Early 20th-century blues.
Not naugthy enough! In fact, the selection puzzled me here: the music remains good, though quite simplistic, but the vocals better decidedly as you work your way through. "When I get low" is catchy but definitely jazzier, so the best blues songs are basically the last two: "One monkey" which just makes me happily yell along, and "Oh what a dream", both featuring very strong female voices. You expect no less from a blues compilation, so I was a little disappointed with the first part of this one. The sex is there but a little drown among the high-pitched vocals and the repetitive sounds; neither is it replaced by something deeper, hum, hum... Okay but not the best.
Albums recommandés
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For naïve, sweet schoolgirl hopes, dreams and despair, The Shirelles are the best! They found the formula to make everybody, and I mean everybody, like their association of slow, melodious, nostalgic sounds with upbeat, doo-wop harmonies. They had a lot of influences on countless artists so this is definitely one you've got to know (and you probably already do without knowing it!). Now be aware that you enter a dream world: you listen to this, you think life in the 60s was definitely simpler! Then you listen to some soul sisters and their predecessors, the lady blues, and you get that The Shirelles only adopted a "let's forget our real despair and dwell in white middle-class suburbian utopia" attitude. Still today, though, we all sometimes need a little of that attitude.
60s Girl groups and girlies- Cdthèque recommandée
Here are some of the best the 1960s girlies and girl groups had to offer.
Early, early rythm and blues (nothing to do with today's r'n'b; in the 50s-60s it meant rock'n'roll-like soul music), rock'n'roll, doo-wop.
The Best Of The Girl Groups Vol. 1Very good overview of the hits of the time. Got The Shangri-Las, The Shirelles, The Chiffons, Cher, Betty Everett and so on. Try "Give him a great big kiss", "The leader of the pack", "One fine day", "I wanna love him so bad" and so on.
Just as good: The Exciters, The Angels, Little Eva, Joanie Sommers, The Essex, The Cookies, Carole King...Try "The locomotion", "My boyfriend's back", "Johnny get angry"...
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Indie rock, post-punk revival.
Pearl
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More evenly good than their previous work
with more distinct tracks than in Keep.
But less melody and perhaps too much originality
spread around and reworked to actually be original,
kind of in the spirit of the B-52's.
Cdthèque recommandée
Nellyville- Nelly
Hip hop.
Don’t look
for a social message in here. Just enjoy yourself 'cause you won’t get that
many chances in later male hip-hop to get such a mix of catchy sounds rapped
over but on which you can actually dance. I didn’t listen to much hip hop at
the time so that was one album that always struck me as perfect. Perhaps not
the most original or thought-through hip hop work of the early 2000s, that’s precisely
where Nellyville finds its power: it achieves lots effortlessly and just sucks
you right into the mix. Aside from the obvious “Dilemma”, “Hot in herre”, other
pearls include “Dem boyz,” “Oh Nelly,” “Pimp juice,” “Air force ones,” “Splurge,”
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That's a classic of my childhood, and for anyone living theirs now, I pity you: growing up not knowing TLC, what is wrong with the world...! Forget all the girl bands that came after, Destiny and so on, TLC was the cream of the cream, if only for "No scrubs", "Baby-baby-baby", "Waterfalls" and "Diggin' on you". That was girl power right there, back when the term didn't sound so ridiculous and all women's video clips featured a bright futurist cubic room as their background. I mean, how badly can you fare with titles like "Silly ho", "Come and get some", "Damaged", "Red light special", "Girl talk" and its notable "you got to lick it before you stick it"? Go-od message, by the way! Pearl
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Not the best showcase of her talents when compared
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her own style, offering a nostalgic ambiance work. "Caligula"
"Do Something", "Still", and "I've committed murder" are the next most interesting tracks.
Osmium...Plus- Parliament
Funk.
What can
come out of the performance of extremely skilled musicians who create a whole
thing out of faulty singing? Oh, a
rich, luscious,
pure pearl of an album! A pillar in black music and one of the greats of
musical history. “I call my baby pussycat” will take you on a
road from which you won’t get out quite as sane as you were when you
came in. You
will love things you don’t approve of like the catchy intro discussion
to “My
automobile” followed by its awful message which would never pass today,
yet to
which you can’t help but sing along. And you will love the too funny
“Little ole
country boy,” the disjointed singing on the ballads “Oh Lord,” and
“Silent
boatman,” the heady sound of “Moonshine Heather,” the hard-rockish “Red
hot
mama” (on the reissue) and “Funky woman,” the gallop of “Nothing before
me but
thang,” the rock gospel of “Come in out of the rain” (reissue), the
psychedelic
influences of the aptly name “Fantasy is reality” (reissue)... And
you’ve gotta
love lyrics like “I’m free because I’m
free of the need to be free” or “my mind is mine and mine my mind will always
stay.”
Crazy Clinton, vibrant guitar envolées, screeching bagpipes, yodeling, yelling, high-pitched vocals, lively hollering, everything, and I mean everything, from the playing to the singing, is over-the-top, 200% pure energy. That’s pure music. Makes you remember how talented we are and can be… Pearl
Crazy Clinton, vibrant guitar envolées, screeching bagpipes, yodeling, yelling, high-pitched vocals, lively hollering, everything, and I mean everything, from the playing to the singing, is over-the-top, 200% pure energy. That’s pure music. Makes you remember how talented we are and can be… Pearl
Psychedelic soul.
A compilation which introduces nicely this classic of soul. It ranges from bubbly effortless tunes like "Beauty is only skin deep" and "The way you do the things you do" to the pearls of musical history "Papa was a rollin' stone" and "My girl". "Ain't to proud to beg", "Get ready" and "I can't get next to you" will make you line dance the cha cha of the band, while the psychedelic "Cloud nine" and "Superstar" will get you to rock along the "A-who, who, awho, who..." and "higher higher higher!"
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What I like about it is your tenderness" or, especially when you imagine Whoopi's raised non-eyebrows: "And it seems nobody's interested in learning but the...(teacher.)" Pearl
Albums recommandés
Weird mix between neo soul, r'n'b influences, and pop rock.
Not the best showcase of her talents when compared
to the single track "I try" but she's certainly developed
her own style, offering a nostalgic ambiance work. "Caligula"
"Do Something", "Still", and "I've committed murder" are
the next most interesting tracks.
Slightly crazy, lyrical neo soul. Hence the title.
As an album, I personally prefer this one to her
first work; there's more originality to it and it would
have been a pearl had it been shorter of 2 or 3 tracks
which add nothing to it.
Cdthèque recommandée
Drawing heavily on blues and country, but definitely rock.
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8 tracks worth a try.
After Laughter Comes Tears- Wendy Rene
60s soul.
This is a compilation for an original one is hard to find. Beautiful, high-pitched voice, dancing beats and catchy rhythms that make you sing along. Some of the best tracks are "After laughter", "Bar-B-Q", "Give you what I got", "Your love is all I need", "Young man". Think Aretha Franklin's kind of music with different themes, a different voice, and a less serious, sad feeling. Basically, Aretha mixed with 60s girl groups' lightness.
At Last: The Best Of - Etta James
Mesmerising bluesy soul, a must!
She yells,
she growls, she whispers, she church sings, she hollers… She’s a woman. Complex
and mature. Etta James is a million different singers at once; she makes you go
through a whole range of emotions_ often desperate, by the way. This isn’t for
little girls.
A lot of covers featured here, but we’d be in a much darker place without those jewels. When Etta sings your work, you, the inventive artist, get sent off, in the shadows. Uh-uh! Stick to your place. She just does it better. Pearl
A lot of covers featured here, but we’d be in a much darker place without those jewels. When Etta sings your work, you, the inventive artist, get sent off, in the shadows. Uh-uh! Stick to your place. She just does it better. Pearl
New Orleans jazz.
My ear has always been more soulful than instrumental, but I generally look for something allying the two. Here, however, Trombone Shorty doesn't mix the two as often as he separates them. Result: 'tis a good listening but not one that requires you listen attentively; by contrast, his concerts are ten times better. There's too much of a dissidence between the slightly repetitive instrumental tracks which render his live shows so powerful and the more neo-soul songs; the album doesn't always work well as a whole, though each singular track has something to offer. "Neph", "Fallin'" "928 Horn jam", "In the 6th" and "One night only" come close to match the power of "Something beautiful" and it's telling that the best track is a sung one. That being said, you've gotta like the trombone here, otherwise you're in for an artistic nightmare...
Ska.
Think African beats mixed with instrumental craziness that makes you dizzy, whiny Jamaican and British voices, (pseudo-)socio-political messages, add a lot of onomatopoeia, loud choruses, hand clapping, and you've got ska at its best: very creative, teasing, bouncy till it's got your head in a whirlwind. Pearl
Black And Blue- The Rolling StonesShould I even...?
Well, it's only rock...but the really good kind! The instrumental one, the kind that, if you were to remove all lyrics, would still get you going.
For the blues of "Melody" and "Fool to cry" alone, you should love this album! "Hand of fate," "Hot stuff," "Crazy mama," and their cover of "Cherry oh baby" are next in line. Pearl
Born- China BlackPop-ish kind of neo soul.
Now, wikipedia tags the only album from the duo "pop-reggae." Y...es... There may be a strong reggae style in "Where" but the other tracks confine the influence to one or two instruments recalling the most recognisable reggae sound and not much beyond that. And hey, reggae was a major thing of the late 20th century so really, what kind of good soul music isn't a little influenced by it ?! The lyrical content, the atmosphere of the album stick to soul and the music is so pack(ag)ed that it's closer to 90s quality pop. So don't expect any rhythmic, wise, weed-smoking philosophy. It's definitely, and just, urban music. Think Charles & Eddie in a more loaded, less original and diversified form. But it's good music. "Searching," "Born," "Stars" and "Almost see you" are the best way to start.
Weird...The kind of music that does much more than music, you know...
You get what I mean when you know that this was co-produced by Damon Albarn. So, mix a Gorillaz-type of experimentation with weird soul/r'n'b, some African influences in the lyrics and you get the feeling of listening to actual black-veteran soul, and I'm not talking about music anymore...Basically, the cover says it all. Though, I would add, not all musical experimentations sit well with Womack's vocals and intent...
4 very great tracks in "If there wasn't something there," "The bravest man in the universe," "Love is gonna lift you up," and "Nothin' can save ya." And what a voice!
Alternative rock.
Aha! Pearl
Albums recommandés
Afro punky reggae party.
Not technically an album, this EP contains only 3 songs but what songs! You may hate punk, you may hate even rock, you may hate anything to do with reggae and you may hate raucous, scratchy types of singing but put all these together, add African beats, and you've got yourself something impossible to hate.
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Glamorously decadent glam rock with
strong pop and some electro influences.
Perhaps not always uniformly good, this album
still contains some of the best dancing beats that
pop rock had to offer in these last years.
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