Without a Sleeve

Three Hundred Fifty

Artist - Al Green
Album - Truth N' Time
Released - 1978
Label - Cream Records, Inc.
Genre - Soul

Tracks:
Side One
Blow Me Down
Lo and Behold
Wait Here
To Sir with Love
Side Two
Truth N' Time
King of All
Say A Little Prayer
Happy Days

Enjoy!

Is It Really?

Three Hundred Forty-Two

Artist - Lou Rawls
Album - That's Lou
Released - 1967
Label - Capitol
Genre - Funk/Soul

Tracks:
Side One
When Love Goes Wrong
Problems
Reminiscing Monologue
They Don't Give Medals (To Yesterday's Heroes)
Ear Bender Monologue
What Are You Doing About Today
Show Business Monologue
Show Business
Side Two
Please Give Me Someone to Love
Hard To Get Thing Called Love
(How Do You Say) I Don't Love You Anymore
Street Dreams
The Love That I Give

Not since the great Ray Charles burst into the musical firmament has an entertainer illuminated contemporary music with the brilliance of Lou Rawls.  Having a string of smash hit albums to his credit, Lou approaches the materials in tis album with supreme confidence and self-assuredness of a "star."  He knows what to do.  He knows he's right.  And when you know you're right, you an hardly ever go wrong.  And the combining of Lou Rawls with H.B. Barnum's music is a stroke of genius or good fortune (or both) unparalleled since someone at Capitol thought of putting Nelson Riddle together with Frank Sinatra.

What great things to come out of Lou Rawls and what amazing things he has done for this record.

Enjoy!

The End of an Era

Three Hundred Nine

Artist - Prince
Album - 1999
Released - 1982
Label - Warner Bros.
Genre - Funk/Pop/Soul

Tracks:
Side 1
1999
Little Red Corvette
Delirious
Side 2
Let's Pretend We're Married
D.M.S.R.
Side 3
Automatic
Something In The Water (Does Not Compute)
Free
Side 4
Lady Cab Driver
All The Critics Love U In New York
International Lover

A fun fun fuuuuuuuuuuuuun record and if you like Prince, you will NOT be disappointed.  Prince's fifth studio album, 1999 was my year.  I'm saying it was my year because I graduated in 1999 and this song was in heavy rotation then.  Despite that ONE song, this is a pretty fun record.

Enjoy!

Wondering

Two Hundred Seventy-Four

Artist - Stevie Wonder
Album - Talking Book
Released - 1972
Label - Tamla
Genre - Soul/Funk

Tracks:
You Are The Sunshine of My Life
Maybe Your Baby
You and I (We Can Conquer The World)
Tuesday Heartbreak
You've Got It Bad Girl
Superstition
Big Brother
Blame It On The Sun
Lookin' For Another Pure Love
I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)

The FIFTEENTH album by Stevie Wonder.  WOW, I guess no words can express this being his fifteenth album and it coming out in 1972.  Stevie Wonder has a long track record of just pure awesomeness and I've always enjoyed his music since I was a little kid.  At about the age where I was old enough to watch television and watch MTV, I became fixated on music videos from all different areas.  Stevie Wonder is definitely a favorite of mine and as much success as he's had, I'm sometimes forget that he is blind.  A great artist, a great musician, this album is one of my favorites.

Enjoy!

Impressed

Two Hundred Seventeen

Artist - The Impressions
Album - The Best of the Impressions
Released - 1968
Label - ABC Records
Genre - Funk/Soul

Tracks:
Side One
I Love and I Lost
Can't Satisfy
We're A Winner
She Don't Love Me
Too Slow
Amen
Side Two
You've Been Cheatin'
I've Been Trying
We're Rollin' On
People Get Ready
This Must End

For a number of years, The Impressions have rolled along on the crest of success, creating hit after hit on records and in personal appearances, and firmly establishing themselves in the minds of the public as one of the most professional and durable singing groups in the music business.

With every new song written by Curtis Mayfield (and he writes ninety-five percent of The Impressions' material), another meaningful message is added to the repertoire of contemporary music.  Perhaps the impact of Curtis's messages reached its peak with The Impressions' hit recording of "We're A Winner" (included in this album).  Not only did the record follow the customary hit pattern, but it reached the public's ear at a time in 1968 when discontent was erupting among the Negro people and their dissension took the form of violent activity.

Why not love The Impressions?!?!?

Enjoy!

Funk-A-Fied

One Hundred Seventy-Third

Artist - Earth, Wind & Fire
Album - Spirit
Released - 1976
Label - Columbia
Genre - Funk

Tracks:
1
On Your Face
Saturday Nite
Imagination
Biyo
2
Burnin' Bush
Departure
Earth, Wind & Fire
Spirit
Getaway

The seventh studio album by Earth, Wind & Fire, Spirit is FUNKY!  After a mix of records I've been listening to, I wanted to change it up with something waaaay out of left field (using the baseball reference in honor of the Post Season Playoffs), so here we are or here I am blogging about this.  This is a record that makes me think about the younger years of my life and how growing up this was a big influence on my outlook on music today.  Growing up listening to a variety of genres makes me appreciate music a lot more.  So listening to this record made me smile and think of how I use to always dance around in my room as a kid listening to music.  Earth, Wind & Fire is a band to enjoy, play and have fun to.  

Enjoy!

Personal Motto...Maybe?

A friend recommended this next pick and I dedicate it to him.  My old friend Jeremy, who I met at Cutler Ridge Middle School back in 1992 and he loved Prince.  For my one hundred seventh:

Artist - Sly and the Family Stone
Album - Fresh
Released - 1973
Label - Epic
Genre - Soul/Funk


Tracks:
In Time
If You Want Me To Stay
Let Me Have It All
Frisky
Thankful n' Thoughtful
Skin I'm In
I Don't Know (Satisfaction)
Keep on Dancin'
Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be Will Be)
If It Were Left Up To Me
Babies Makin' Babies

The sixth album by Sly and the Family Stone, Fresh has a personal motto I pretty much live by.  Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be Will Be) is very true.  How much of a coincidence can writing about my personal motto and watching one of my favorite movies, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  I believe they both tie in together, somehow, or maybe I just want to believe that they do.  Anyway, this album was ranked 186 on Rolling Stone's Top 500 albums of all time.  

Enjoy!

Softer Sides

In lieu of a hardcore day, please meet my ninety-fifth pick.

Artist - Mulatu Astatke

Album - Mulatu of Ethiopia

Released - 1972

Label - Worthy Records

Genre - Funk/Jazz, Soul, International

Tracks:

Side 1

Mulatu

Mascaram Setaba

Dewel

Side 2

Kulunmanqueleshi

Kasalefkut-Hulu

Munaye

Chifara

Once again Mulatu Astatke, has come to us from Ethiopia, with a new and different sound. He has interwoven into his fantastic arrangements, the beautiful Ethiopian five tone scale and the Afro-American soul and jazz sounds.  The melodies and rhythms, pulsate through your mind hours after hearing them.  This is a record you cannot play just once.  It is musically addictive, especially when the volume is turned up. -- Gil Snapper

Those statements above are absolutely true.  This album is so good in so many ways and of course let's not forget the sound, which is fantastic.  Instrumental music is what I've been enjoying lately and anything that ties in a flute in the mixture makes me happy, seeing that I used to play flute.  I would really love to start playing it again, but we shall see.  

Enjoy!

In the Sky

It's been a while since I dedicated an album to someone, so here I go.  This album is dedicated to someone I met online years ago, who still remains a mystery to me.  He is one that I've corresponded with, talked music with and he even recommended to me my ninety-fourth pick.  He is a West coaster who shares with me his stories of venturing off to new lands, talks about relationships he's had and his work.  He even sent me a card with a classic picture of the Space Needle, because he knew how much I loved Seattle.  This album is dedicated to you...Felix!

Artist - Dorothy Ashby
Album - Afro-Harping
Released - 1968
Label - Cadet Records
Genre - Soul/Jazz/Funk


Tracks:
Side One
Soul Vibrations
Games
Action Line
Lonely Girl
Life Has Its Trails
Side Two
Afro-Harping
Little Sunflower
Theme from 'Valley of the Dolls'
Come Live With Me
The Look of Love

As described above in my intro to this record, I thank my friend for recommending Dorothy Ashby and basically changing my life.  Hands down, a top 20 album, Afro-Harping is a mix of jazz with an exotic touch to it.  This album is good to listen to when you want to relax and I'd have to say that before listening to Dorothy Ashby, I never thought of a harp and jazz as a combination of a great sound.

Enjoy!

Extended Play

A unique band, a band a friend recommended and a band that I've grown to love.  My eighty-ninth pick.

Artist - The Budos Band

Album - The Budos Band EP

Released - 2009

Label - Daptone Records

Genre - Afro-Beat, Funk, Jazz

Tracks:

Side One

Hidden Hand

Mas O Menos

The Proposition

Side Two

Ephra

Nobody's Bulletproof

Smoke Gets In...

This multi-membered band from Staten Island, New York brings such an amazing beat and feel that one can only categorize them as a great instrumental band.  This EP was recorded between their first and second album, with a track listing of six songs that deliver a great composition of instruments and rhythm like no other.  It amazes me that bands of this nature are around, I mean music in general is interesting in it's own right, but a band such as this, it's breath-taking (to me)!  I thank my friend for introducing me to this band and to many artists he also recommended.  I think that someone should definitely keep an open mind to music, whether they like it or not, but just take it in and think about the process of how a band becomes a band.  Then you can figure out if you like it or not.  I do like the Budos Band, for sure.

Enjoy!

Powerful Women

I have a lot of respect for powerful women in life, for I sometimes feel I am a powerful woman.  To celebrate the fierce in independent women, here is my seventy-fourth pick.

Artist - Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Album - I Learned The Hard Way
Released - 2010
Label - Daptone
Genre - Soul, Funk


Tracks:
Side One
The Game Gets Old
I Learned The Hard Way
Better Things
Give It Back
Money
The Reason
Side Two
Window Shopping
She Ain't A Child No More
I'll Still Be True
Without a Heart
If You Call
Mama Don't Like My Man

The fourth album by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, I Learned The Hard Way is fantastic.  You have the beats and sound of soul/funk mixed in with the emotional lyrics PLUS the sound of Sharon Jones' voice.  This is perfection at it's best.  I have to admit that Window Shopping is my favorite song on this record next to I'll Still Be True.  I love love love this album and I remember when I first heard it, I had it on repeat for a while.  It's not necessarily easy for me to fall in love with music like I have with this album, but when it touches my soul, it's definitely a keeper.  Let's just say I have a passion for music and just great things, but when an album has such amazing tracks that compliment each other to give a message, it is worth purchasing and owning.

Enjoy!