A-Trak

I had the privilege of attending the Igloofest kickoff with A-Trak among the night's headliners.

The lesson was learned on the night of my first Igloofest to dress extremely warm. I wore my warmest winter coat, a tradition I would follow up to this year.

A-Trak was already on the stage by the time I finally made it to join the large partying crowd.



Before 2011 ended, I was lucky to have found a copy of Sunglasses is a Must, the comprehensive and entertaining look into A-Trak’s rise to prominence. It is interesting to note his transition from hip hop DJ dynamo to dancefloor groove director. Although my transition mirrors his by my now incorporating electronic music in my repertoire, I knew next to none of A-Trak’s set with the exception of two songs.



I was caught up in taking photos and watching the youthful crowd dance around me for most of my time at Igloofest but was not that pre-occupied to wonder when Barbra Streisand was going to drop. The answer arrived at the end of A-Trak’s set when he brought the song in. I was very happy to hear it as was the crowd swarming me.



I thank the good people of Igloofest for putting together the best and only reason to party in the Montreal winter cold.

Bonobo - Black Sands (2010)

Black Sands represents an album done right. 

If I were able to do so, I would frame a vinyl copy of Bonobo's Black Sands and hang it on the wall. The only problem with that is not being able to play the album unless I had another copy. 



At present, I have neither a vinyl copy of the album or frame to speak of. At least I made my point about how I feel about the album.

I love Kong, Eyesdown and any other track featuring Andreya Triana.

Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

I saw the name Marvin Gaye on old 7” singles while growing up and distinctly remembered Sexual Healing was a huge hit in the summer of 1982. 

As I was exploring the late 1960s/early 1970s sounds, I did some research on Marvin Gaye’s music and history.




The duets with Tammi Terrell were the most magical. They looked and sounded perfect for each other. Because their timeless chemistry is still felt and perceived to this day, it is very easy to romanticize their recordings and one can only imagine them as the Romeo & Juliet of Motown Records. 

They were probably marketed as such but it is not a far stretch of the imagination to see them as lovebirds making music for lovebirds. Terrell dying in Gaye’s arms while on stage could on hand invite comparisons of Romeo & Juliet but it was responsible for Marvin Gaye creating his own masterpiece, What's Going On, which could be considered the musical equivalent of Shakespeare’s great literary works.

Labelle

I was told not too long ago that Labelle’s Lady Marmalade was the #1 single on Billboard’s chart during the week of my birth.

A little research on my part confirmed that fact and explained why I gravitate towards Labelle the way I do.

Nightbirds and Phoenix are easy enough finds.

What I aimed for was their album with the cover version of Cat Stevens’ Moonshadow.  I first heard their rendition on a Mastercuts compilation and was blown away.  That discovery was again made during my initial days of branching out from the more obvious and accessible funk and soul tracks.  

To my knowledge, their version of Moonshadow can be found on their album from 1972. I found that album reissue a few years ago. It was the most expensive of all my Labelle albums

Bonobo

I was a bit surprised, but still thrilled, to hear Bonobo's Black Sands was getting remix treatment at the time.

My logic was that if the magic of the original Black Sands repeats on the Remixed album, the remix album could also make its way onto future playlists of my former radio show.

I remember going nuts and straight to Twittter when Andy Williams played Kong on a late 2012 broadcast of The Goods.

I wanted to see Bonobo & Andreya Triana live at Le National when they were last in Montreal but it didn’t happen.  I just got re-acquainted with this earlier work and waited patiently until my next opportunity.



In addition to Bonobo's most recent album called The North Borders, his Late Night Tales compilation was released late in November 2013.

Bonobo performed at Metropolis for the 2014 Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.

Marvin Gaye & Diana Ross

His album with Diana Ross intrigues me because the two Aries artists were paired for one album. I’m curious to know about their dynamic while working together.

I presume their respect for each other was mutual because she recorded a song dedicated to him after his death and from what I’ve learned, he vowed to never record with another female after the death of Tammi Terrell.  

Knowing that Marvin was a stubborn kind of fellow it would only have been a female artist of the caliber of Diana Ross for him to reconsider his position against future female collaborations.

Rod Stewart & Faces

I learned that when Rod Stewart and Ron Wood left The Jeff Beck Group, they joined the members of The Small Faces.

I knew Rod sang the vocals on Stay With Me but then realized that Faces had albums as well. 

That meant I had more 1970s Rod Stewart music to check out!

I'm still amazed at how Rod Stewart's Mercury Records music was apparently more popular than his Faces songs. Stay With Me was their biggest hit and it was not even a Top 10 single from what my research told me.

Luckily we are in an Internet era and I was able to compile my own Good Boys... When They're Asleep compilation. 

I played it so much that I eventually decided a CD-R does none of the music justice. I sprang for the imported Rhino CD at HMV. There were vintage photos and chart information to keep me happy.

While at Chapters, I discovered there is a book about Faces and might pick it up.

The Small Faces/Faces were announced as Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees.

I couldn't be more ecstatic about that news.

Teddy Pendergrass

Eddie Murphy’s impression of Teddy Pendergrass in Delirious or Comedian was my first introduction to what I could expect from the legendary Philly soul recording artist.

I was a boy at the time of Teddy Pendergrass’ heyday. Who Harold Melvin was or that his notes were blue were details that I had little time or interest.

It would take my late 20s to have a vested interest in those details. Audio Architech placed the Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ Black & Blue album in my hands very early upon our meeting each other.  That ignited my interest in the Philly Soul sound. 

During one of my pilgrimages to Mecca, I bought a vinyl copy of the album below minus the album cover just so I could have their version of Don't Leave Me This Way. 



I would go on to pick up a number of Teddy Pendergrass albums that crossed my path over the years.



As the knockout punch, here's one of my personal favorite of his hits.

RIP Teddy P

Diana Ross & The Supremes

By default, Diana Ross & The Supremes is the girl-group of my life.

Their singles on vinyl records were the ones I grew up seeing the most in my house as well as other households.

It would take my being a lot older and a few Motown documentaries to inform me of the context of the song Someday We'll Be Together. 

It was the last hit single with Diana Ross sang with The Supremes before her solo career was launched.

N.W.A.

As proven many times on this blog, I was never the biggest West Coast hip hop fan.

I didn't care for the profanity. I felt they lacked the lyrics, flavors and vibes I was looking for and got from East Coast hip hop.

NWA were the epitome of gangsta rap, even more so than Ice-T because there is strength in numbers after all. By the time I learned about the supergroup, I knew they were a force to be reckoned with. To give them credit, my fascination with clans, posses, crews and cliques quite possibly started with the West Coast gangsta rappers.



Straight Outta Compton was no album to be seen with or heard playing in the presence of parents for fear of them cutting off the hip hop music pool circulating in the high school hallways.

I believe the Express Yourself 12” single has one of the images that has stuck with me to this day. Working from memory, Express Yourself was the album’s only radio friendly track. NWA & The Posse are seated at what looks like bleachers of a baseball/football field. Among that mob are about half a dozen eventually-will-be-hip-hop-legends. Dr. Dre and DJ Yella were part of California pioneer hip hop group World Class Wrecking Cru. MC Ren was quite the lyricist. Ice Cube was the quintessential angry young man. Eazy-E was a legend in his own time and group. 



The breakup of NWA shook me. My stubborn rationale was that the West Coast hip hop supergroup would dominate their market up to today but alas that was not the case. As with most group breakups, I was saddened by the news and tried to make sense of it. I found myself having to claim a set among West Coast MCs that I otherwise would not have thought much more than necessary about.

The post-breakup NWA album was an interesting listen. There were a few elements I picked up after hearing it a few times. With Ice Cube absent, MC Ren must have felt he had to further step up as a lethal lyricist. For whatever reasons, I feel the most impact from Ice Cube’s departure from Dr. Dre. As cathartic as the album is, the production reveals itself for Dre’s anger and hurt over the dissolution of the supergroup. Ironically in some cases, the production quality resembles that of The Bomb Squad whom Ice Cube employed for his 1990 debut and the Kill at Will EP.

By 1992 the split was evident with MC Ren, Ice Cube and Eazy-E 
releasing solo records. Dr. Dre would go on to release a classic album of his own that will eventually be written about here.  

I was too East Coast to care more than I had to about Eazy-E. 

  

I did care about his unfortunate death. He didn’t have the lyrics or flavor I needed but I knew he was a hip hop legend.

The California crew are potential Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees.

Scott Hardkiss

Scott Hardkiss is a name I learned of during my time as one of my former radio station's RPM Director.

Last I checked on him, he was busy releasing numerous EPs and singles.

I did a little research to learn the name is somewhat legendary among electronic music circles.



I’ve since kept my eyes and ears open for anything related to him and his label.

Unfortunately, I learned Scott Hardkiss had passed away.

Prior to his passing, he discovered my post mentioning him and retweeted it a number of times.  Although that was the sum of our exchanges and communication, the news of his passing saddened me. 

RT@Lovedirtybeats RT@DJSolespin Hardkiss is another name legendary in the electronic music. Eyes/ears open for anything

RIP Scott Hardkiss

Aretha Franklin

While digging in the crates at a Montreal record store summers ago, I found a later pressing of Aretha Franklin's Greatest Hits.

I bought it along with some other records to make up the sale criteria. 

As a boy, I saw a copy of that album along with some other old records.

I am old enough to remember her Jump to It single when it was released.

I also remember seeing the classic footage of her singing Respect and understood that she was
singing for as long as my parents were alive.

By the time I was old enough to ask my parents to buy records for me, Freeway of Love and Who's Zooming Who were released.  The Freeway of Love album would have been one I wanted but I didn't have enough of a connection or desire to add her music to my fledgling record collection.

I knew you were waiting for me was still a hot single but I might have been waiting for something more to gravitate me towards her music.

Aretha Franklin was a singer of my parents' generation. The proverbial script was flipped when she teamed up with The Fugees for a remix to A Rose is Still A Rose.

A close family friend happened to have had the I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You CD in his collection and I believe it was after I checked the track listing that I realized I could no longer be flip about Franklin's music.

Upon understanding that the album had up to 4 of Aretha's first Atlantic Records classics, I realized that even the songs that weren't hits could be just as good or even more incredible. My quest for Aretha Franklin's Atlantic Records discography had then just begun.

I have since found all of Aretha's Atlantic Records releases.  I nearly bought a second copy of one of those albums last year at one of my annual record shopping spots.  It was the brown, 1974 album with a split sleeve and cheap enough price for me to consider it.  I resisted the urge to get and repair it.  I decided it best to put that little money towards something new to my collection or nothing at all.

That is my love for Aretha Franklin music, and repairing split record sleeves, on display.

RIP & Respect to Aretha Franklin.

The Zombies

Melanie Fiona’s Give It to Me Right owes a lot of its groove to The Zombies.

Years ago, I was at a record store doing some browsing and came across a Best of/Greatest Hits vinyl of The Zombies. 

It did not have Time of the Season among its track listing! I placed that album right back in the racks.

It would be years later that I would learn Time of the Season was the last big hit for The Zombies.

Their singles She’s Not There and Tell Her No were recorded at the peak of the 1960s British Invasion.

No matter the season, Time of the Season is my iconic Zombies single.