lee fields again

For years, I had a nasty habit of missing Lee Fields' concert appearances, especially in Montreal.

That unlucky streak broke in 2009 when I caught him perform at the Daptone Records CMJ Showcase along with Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and future favorite Charles Bradley.




Fields triumphantly arrived on stage and got something of a hero's welcome from the crowd. His performance at the showcase coincided with the release of his My World album. His showmanship was slightly different from Bradley's but we knew they gave us 100% during their sets.



I was pleased to learn Lee Fields & The Expressions will be returning to Montreal on May 3 for a performance at L'Astral.

I saw it as a perfect opportunity to end my streak.



It was good to have a more Lee Fields focused concert this time as opposed to him sharing the bill with other artists. From what I saw, most everyone in attendance enjoyed the show. So much so that I had never seen people scoop merchandise so quickly after a performance. 

My streak is officially broken.  If you haven't seen Lee Fields live, do what you can to chalk up a show to your win column. 

I had already been happy with the Lee Fields performance at L’Astral in May. To learn Lee Fields was going to be in Montreal again before 2012’s end was even more of a delight

I have never caught a performance twice in one year of any artist before.  Lee Fields enters into a special league of his own.

There were many elements that made this Lee Fields night special. Good fortune once again allowed me to catch the soul singer’s second Montreal performance. The Cabaret Du Mile-End venue was also closer to home literally and figuratively.

History repeated itself when Lee Fields triumphantly took the stage after the opening act. It did not take long for the spectators to fill the dance floor area in the middle of the tables and chairs surrounding the stage.

Throughout the set, I was debating which Fields album I would want to bring home the most among them. Songs from Faithful Man became even more familiar to me without Fields having to announce where the songs could be found within his Truth & Soul discography.

My personal attachment is to My World. That was the album he released and promoted when I first saw him perform in 2009 after many missed opportunities.The album cover has a nostalgic element for me as well.

Connoisseurs know that Could Have Been can be found on the Daptone Gold collection.  From the moment the ballad began, I told my +1 the name of the song seconds before Fields belted the title.

Fields did a cover of a 1970s funk group classic at both L’Astral and Cabaret Du Mile-End.  For fear of messing with fate, I will not name the group or song now I will just hope that his rendition does appear on a subsequent album sooner rather than later.

History repeated itself at the merchandise table as well. Again, patrons packed vinyl copies under their arms and cleared the venue. With Lee Fields at the table, there was a great chance they were signed.

I was privy to information after the Astral performance.  Apparently, Fields was not well and that explained why he did not place himself at the front to sign autographs or take photos with fans.

The Lee Fields I saw in Cabaret Du Mile-End had the verve and sprite of an evangelist. He very well could have cured anyone that was ill that night. Not only did Fields spin, shimmy, shake and stroll but jump he did. He must have wanted to do whatever he may not have done on stage in May in October. As someone that can compare the two performances, I was able to identify the subtle difference. 

Perhaps the only clue to know which Lee Fields you’re dealing with is how high and often he leaps into the air. After having met him, the My World autographed and being photographed with him, I felt like soaring in the air that night. I was given further proof that a Lee Fields night is an uplifting experience. 

Thank you to the good people of Truth & Soul Records, Lee Fields and musicians, Evenko and Cult MTL for the soulful soiree.

Casey Kasem

As much as I liked Bill Haugland as a kid, I didn't care about the news even if he was on the television set. The only news broadcast that interested me was on Saturday afternoons following American Bandstand. It was hosted by Casey Kasem and called America's Top 10.
Casey Kasem was not young or hip in those sweaters but had the vital information I needed to know, see and hear. He told me the 10 most popular songs in North America each week.


I distinctly remember the 1983 episodes of America's Top 10 because I began listening and learning the pop music scene at that time and was seeking information from any and all sources.


Casey Kasem also hosted American Top 40 on the radio. It would play on Sundays and I would record songs onto audio cassettes. Ryan Seacrest replaced Casey Kasem as host and is now for a the new generation what Kasem was for mine.


Kasem is one of my sources of inspiration for what I do as far as The Suite Delight radio show is concerned.







I thank Casey Kasem for his Hanna-Barbera voice work and being an influential part of my life and entertainment.

Luisa Maita

I first learned of the name Luisa Maita in 2010 while I was RPM Director. Her debut album, Lero-Lero, presented me a chance to hear more sounds similar to Astrud or Bebel Gilberto and I always kept her in mind. 

 

The Maita Remixed album was right up my alley also. It combined my love for female vocalists along with the modern electronic music production I was exploring and charting. 

   

When I found out she was returning to Montreal for a performance at the RialtoTheatre, I did what was necessary to catch the show after having missed her previous visit to my fair city. 



It was not only my first Luisa Maita concert performance but my first time in the legendary Rialto Theatre as well.I have always known that the audience is seated during the performances and did that upon my entrance into the venue.

 

The ambiance in the Rialto and her small combo of musicians reminded me of The Montreal International Jazz Festival which had already concluded for 2012.It would not be a surprise to me that she is listed among the Jazz Festival’s performers in the near future.

The music performed that night was courtesy of the debut and upcoming album. At nearly 2 hours with an intermission in between, the audience was truly introduced to Luisa Maita’s music.That, in effect, was my purpose for attending the show.

 

Luisa Maita mingled with patrons like me after the performance signing autographs and posing for photographs.Within the little time I got to speak to her, I found out a new album could be released as early as spring 2013.

Above is one of her videos to prepare you for her next concert performance in your town.

 

 

The Bee Gees - Odessa (1969)

In the midst of May 2012, Robin Gibb was fighting for his life.  By the end of the month, we mourned his loss.

I got the unfortunate news of Robin Gibb’s death via text message that night. I got out of the subway to read he died.

I bore the bad news to some DJ friends of mine and one remembered I am a Bee Gees fan.  

Lamplight is one of the most gorgeous songs The Bee Gees ever recorded but from my perspective was too operatic for radio.

The creativity and talent put into the album managed to undo the group.  Odessa was too grandiose for the time and suffered the fate of being The Bee Gees’ and rock music history’s overlooked masterpiece.

My rejuvenated interest in their music for the last year or so makes Robin Gibb’s death all the sadder.

I learned the Brothers Gibb broke up temporarily after the release of Odessa. They reunited two years later.  That album should make for an interesting, future post.

Lee Fields & The Expressions

For years, I had a nasty habit of missing Lee Fields' concert appearances, especially in Montreal.

That unlucky streak broke in 2009 when I caught him perform at the Daptone Records CMJ Showcase along with Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and future favorite Charles Bradley.



Fields triumphantly arrived on stage and got something of a hero's welcome from the crowd. His performance at the showcase coincided with the release of his My World album. His showmanship was slightly different from Bradley's but we knew they gave us 100% during their sets.

I was pleased to learn Lee Fields & The Expressions will be returning to Montreal for a performance at L'Astral.

I saw it as a perfect opportunity to end my streak.




It was good to have a more Lee Fields focused concert this time as opposed to him sharing the bill with other artists. From what I saw, most everyone in attendance enjoyed the show. So much so that I had never seen people scoop merchandise so quickly after a performance. 

My streak is officially broken.  If you haven't seen Lee Fields live, do what you can to chalk up a show to your win column. 

Lee Fields & The Expressions will be releasing a new album on Truth & Soul Records.  Here's the video to Magnolia to tie us over. 

Bee Gees - Mythology

I’ve been playing The Bee Gees like crazy for about a year. I removed most of their music from my Sansa Fuze+ MP3 player but still kept a handful of songs to enjoy.

The good people at Rhino put this 4CD collection together to commemorate the group’s 50th anniversary. With most Best-Of, Greatest Hits, Ultimate or Definitive sets, some songs can and will get omitted from the track listing. Such is the case with Bee Gees Mythology. The Bee Gees have countless cuts that could or should have been hits.



I will say that the omissions of World, Every Christian Lionhearted Man Will Show You and even One are glaring.



After multiple listens of Mythology, including now as I write this, I will not fault the creators too much because as the liner notes state, The Bee Gees themselves selected the songs.



This proves that individual tastes are unique and not everyone can be happy with a greatest hits package. Where the Bee Gees are concerned, there is more than enough to be happy with on one disc of their music let alone four.

Carolyn Franklin

During a summer not too long ago, I went to a local record store and happened to think about Aretha Franklin while I was browsing. I thought about how I couldn't play Aretha Franklin on my show as easily as I would like because of regulations. Suddenly I remembered Aretha had singing soul sisters in the 1960s.

I held in my hands Carolyn Franklin's debut album from 1969 on that day. It was a first pressing, had a $20+ price tag and not one song I knew. I sampled and enjoyed the vintage soul stylings but didn't see myself shelling out that much money for an album I knew nothing of and would not get to play all often, including on The Suite Delight radio show. I rather reluctantly put the record back.

Within days, the Carolyn Franklin record was on my mind and I began to feel I would shell out for it. I went back to the store and it was gone. I got to the point that I was preparing to order one online. Knowing that I was taking my pilgrimage to Mecca for CMJ, I felt I stood a great chance of bringing a Carolyn Franklin album on home with me.

Days in New York passed and I felt my hopes of finding a first Franklin were flitting away.

 

Near the end of my New York stay, I visited a record store that I had already been to making sure I left nothing substantial behind. As I was turning to make my way up the stairs, the first Carolyn Franklin album was wrapped in plastic among other valuable vinyl records on the wall facing me. The Franklin album would be the most I would spend for a single album. I snatched it off the wall and breathed a sigh of relief mixed with bittersweet irony.

I'm not sure if I willed myself to find the album in New York or the album in New York willed me to find it. What I do know is that I was not going to let it slip by me a second time. If I had to learn my lesson by paying more for it, so be it. It appears I was destined to be united with that album.

I waiting to unleash a Carolyn Franklin cut for The Suite Delight radio show audience.

At the price I paid, I can safely say it went from a New York record store wall to a Montreal crate digger's wall.

Welcome home and rest in peace Carolyn Franklin.

Mobb Deep - The Infamous (1995)

1995 was a great year for hip hop music and albums like The Infamous prove that.

One of my domino-playing crew members played the album for us when it was released and I knew the album was a classic long before we reached Drink Away The Pain. What I didn't know was when I would get my own copy to add to my own collection.

The Infamous was leaps and bounds better and more significant than the 1993 Mobb Deep I remembered. The Infamous is a must-own.


A distinct memory I have related to Mobb Deep was a Source Magazine photograph of Havoc, Prodigy joined by Nas & Raekwon in what looked like a recording studio. I don't remember if that photo was in a magazine published before or after The Infamous' release but I remember thinking those four would be working on a sick track if it were recorded.

What an album! Temperature's Rising, Up North Trip, Give Up The Goods, Survival of the Fittest, Eye For An Eye and of course Shook Ones, Part. 2 await the listener and I nearly listed half the album off of memory.

The Mobb Deep magic would repeat with Hell on Earth but that is another album and potential post.

The duo celebrated some twenty years of hip hop music history.

Now, we celebrate the life of Prodigy who passed away June 2017.

Robin Gibb

I got the unfortunate news of Robin Gibb’s death via text message. I got out of the subway to read he died that day.

I bore the bad news to some DJ friends of mine and one remembered I am a Bee Gees fan. As per tradition as we approach the beginning of May, I will post about the group's single First of May tomorrow. 

Gibb’s passing touches me personally.  My rejuvenated interest in their music for the last few years or so makes Robin Gibb’s death all the sadder.

I extend my condolences to Barry and the Gibb family.

Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe (2012)

My prayers were answered in January when I was on Twitter and asked when will there be a new Santigold album for us to partake in. Someone replied that I wouldn't have to wait too long but that wasn't reassuring.  I posted the video to her single and waited.

In the same week of Santigold's second album dropping, two friends brought her name up in our discussions.  It appears that I was not the only one peeping the calendar. 

The Montreal Mirror gave Master of My Make-Believe a 6/10 rating which immediately got me on alert.

Before I continue, I must state again that Santigold's debut is one of the best albums released in the past decade.  I have not heard an album as brilliant as her debut in a long time. When the chance to buy the CD was presented to me, I seized the day, chance and of course the disc.  I have yet to own the vinyl but will try to correct that shortly. 

After reading the Mirror review and my first listen of  Master of My Make-Believe, I can understand why it was graded as such.  I did what I could to listen to the album with objective ears and not those of one expecting Santigold to blow my mind with her music again.  It was slightly difficult to not have flashbacks of the previous album and compare cuts.



Big Mouth didn't really grab me at first listen but it grew on me just like L.E.S. Artistes years ago.



I saw the Disparate Youth video minus the music.  It is my favorite song from the album.  Even after the second listen of the album the next day, it is quite similar to Shove It, my favorite from her debut, in tempo which could explain my affinity to the song. 



I say again that I love Santigold and her music.  Her originality and creativity intrigues me and peaks my own when I hear her.  I, like most of her fans, waited four years for Master of My Make-Believe.

Billy Paul

I always knew him as the singer of Me & Mrs. Jones but cared little about either because it was a ballad.  

It would take me years to understand the musical and thematic implications of the song. 

For whatever reason, Me & Mrs. Jones was the only song I knew of Billy Paul for most of my life.  There is a strong chance that Billy Paul’s  me & Mrs. Jones 7” single was the first might be the only one I’ve ever seen of his that I had ever seen in my life. 

I had seen the 360 degrees album cover but heard nothing else from it or Billy Paul. I would later see the album 360 degrees of billy Paul and consider it to be the only reason to own the album.

In the late 1990s/early 2000s when the crate-digging movement to find soul and funk originals of hip hop songs was developing in Montreal, compilations were treasure maps to astute students.

The first Stand Up & Be Counted compilation introduced me to Billy Paul’s track East. 

The Stand Up & Be Counted compilation introduced me to East, my favorite billy Paul song. 

Considering all I knew of him was a monstrously successful ballad, East was a refreshing and invigorating chance of pace.  The driving pulse of the song is right up my alley.  

It blew me away because it was a far cry from the Mrs. Jones jam.  I had not thought or heard the song until Christian Pronovost played the song during his 24 Hours of Vinyl set at Death of Vinyl record store.  I have yet to find the album with East in my crate digging but found his Let ‘Em In album.

The success of his Me & Mrs. Jones single may have caused me to reduce Billy Paul to a one-hit wonder but time proved that he has a few gems in his catalog to check out.

Michael Jackson

I believe Michael Jackson set a trend that saw followed throughout the 1980s.

I use Michael Jackson and the 1980s because as I’ve stated before, they are the basis of my popular music knowledge and cultural experience.

I saw Michael Jackson dominate the popular music world with his Thriller album. From that point onward, I have watched musicians, singers and bands have their own Thriller-like sequel level of success.

In second grade, a classmate brought an album to school for either a regular party or our end of the year party. That album would be the most important album of my life.




The album cover was of a young black man in a white suit, leaning on his left side with a black background.

At the back, it informed me that the nine songs were produced by Quincy Jones.

One or two songs from it played and I was mesmerized. I opened the album to see the young black man posing with a tiger cub. I knew from that day I had to have a copy of it.

I remember writing my mother a letter describing the album cover and title. I drew the album cover and mentioned the tiger cub too. I possibly talked to her while she was at the record store and she told me she couldn't find an album with a man and tiger cub inside. I told her to follow the drawing I put in the letter. I saw my Mom opening the door with a Sherman Records store bag in her hand! I greeted her and took the record from her hands. I ran up the stairs, grabbed a knife and sliced the record open with the precision of a surgeon. I had to calm myself down to avoid scratching the record or cutting the sleeve. I ran to my room and played Wanna Be Startin' Something. I remember my Mom saying something to the effect of that record was not for me, but I knew it was bunk. Who else asked my Mother to buy that album and went through the pain-staking detail to draft her the letter?

 

That album symbolized the transition in my life from Disney, Passe-Partout and Fat Albert & Cosby Kids albums to the world of 1980s pop music. No longer could I continue with children's records. It was a turning point that I didn't know was upon me. I was getting older. I was entering the world of my best friends' older brothers and sisters. I was starting to walk the musical path of my parents and their friends.

Thriller would go on to be the biggest-selling album of 1982-84 and open doors for Lionel and Prince to follow as the most influential artists of my life.

I am old enough to say that my earliest knowledge of Michael Jackson was from seeing him play The Scarecrow in The Wiz with Nipsey Russell and Diana Ross.

I knew the name from my mother's 45rpms. Michael Jackson was a little boy on some of those songs. I saw his picture on the Destiny and Triumph albums. I remember it from Off the Wall. I didn't place the man on the cover as the same person from all those other albums and songs. It seemed like I was experiencing him for the first time, but yet I knew him all along.

The morning after his death, I watched Canada AM and I saw footage that really brought it home for me. They repeat their news stories and footage every morning, every few minutes and every time I saw that footage, I felt it. It was footage of three to four young men dancing in the street to Don't Stop Til You Get Enough.



I cried when I saw that because the man who created the music that united the world was dead. The Seinfeld finale had a montage using that song as the music to several dance sequences. I not too long ago realized how that song's production is incredible.

Speaking of Michael Jackson, Prince squeezed in a mini-Michael tribute. Although Prince did not sing the Michael songs personally, it was well-received by the groove-hungry crowd.



Michael, thank you for your music, dancing and influence on popular culture. You were extremely influential in my life. You were the older brother I never had. You are strongly responsible for the blog. my radio show, my DJing, as well as my musical knowledge and taste. I am writing this sooner than I would have liked, but it has to be said.

We love you Michael and always will. R.I.P.

The biopic is scheduled for release in Canada today.