Brandon Ousley
@brandonousley
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Music enthusiast. Writer. Creator. Student. Bylines (so far): @discogs , @bandcamp , and others. Inquiries/contact: brandon91writes @gmail .com
Chicago, Illinois
Joined January 2011
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My second for
@discogs
, I wrote on ten (in a perfect world, I wish it was 50) essential albums that sparked a smooth, romantic R&B movement during the mid-to-late '70s into the '90s. This is for those, like myself, who grew up on late-night R&B radio.
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When Raphael Saadiq revealed that the chorus for Tony! Toni! Toné!'s "Let's Get Down" was inspired by Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," I instantly loved "Let's Get Down" even more.
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Just so we're clear—no Grammy feat will ever be as remarkable and historic as Stevie Wonder winning Album of the Year for three consecutively released albums: Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale, and Songs in the Key of Life.
And during his twenties. Never forget.
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Without Googling, name a famous historic battle.
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In light of the 40th anniversary of Prince's fourth album, Controversy, this memorable moment where Arsenio Hall requested the ever-badass Meshell Ndegeocello to "wake Prince up" with her delicious take on the bass riff to "Let's Work" will never escape me.
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The fact that Richard Pryor was a respectable club singer in his early career will live in my feelings forever.
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Sly Stone doesn't get enough props as one of the most elite beat makers and rhythm alchemists in music history. He singlehandedly rewrote the sonic language of electronic percussion as we know it today.
Sly & the Family Stone should’ve won a Pulitzer for “In Time.” Not for the lyrics. For the beat
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What other program would've ever let Stevie Wonder—one of the most prominent musicians of the time—improvise a Black as hell song off the dome on daytime national TV? This was just as the crossover success of "Superstition" and its parent album, Talking Book was taking off, too.
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Album of the day. Today is Patrice Rushen's birthday. No need to overstate her greatness and impact. Her 1982 classic, Straight from the Heart may home some of her larger-than-large anthems. But this exceptional 1979 gem, Pizzazz is a front-to-back killer, too. Enough said.
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Album of the day. 45 years ago today, we tragically lost this giant. Live albums are often sketchy, but Donny Hathaway's 1972 release, Live is one of the most electrifying live experiences captured on wax. His singular voice anchors this jazzy soul congregation unlike no other.
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Album of the day. Happy birthday to one of the best to ever do it, Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. Everyone should know the backstory behind this erotically-charged 1976 opus, I Want You. However, I must emphasize that Marvin Gaye's vocal overdubbing mastery must be studied and honored.
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This could've only happened on Soul Train. Literally.
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This song caught flak from many radio programmers, who dubbed it too risqué and even refused to play it. But Minnie Riperton made it clear during its initial release that it was a song about deep spiritual intimacy, which is obvious in the lyrics.
an R&B song that is sexual, sensual & intimate without being filthy >>>>
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Album of the day. D'Angelo is 50. It's still unreal the sonic and musical masterclass that is Black Messiah approaches its 10th anniversary this year. A true progressive soul opus, these songs flow together as a suite, building both mood and momentum. Astonishing work.
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Album of the day. Master Gil Scott-Heron and his most trusted collaborator, Brian Jackson, made some of the heaviest, righteous jazz-funk ever. Their 1977 offering, Bridges is considered by many to be one of the duo's best in their canon.
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"Nights Over Egypt" is one of the all-time greatest feel-good songs ever made.
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I don't care how much flak these curios from Herbie Hancock's maligned middle period (or "R&B phase") get, there's still several monster gems buried in the bunch. The futuristic vocoder soul of "Come Running to Me" is way ahead of its time.
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Album of the day. Sade Adu is 65 and I couldn't love her more. The band's fourth album, Love Deluxe is a masterclass of seduction and desire, floating somewhere between dub, ambient, jazz, and soul. The musical conversation between Adu and her band is nothing short of enveloping.
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Album of the day. Borrowing from soul, jazz, baroque pop, and psychedelia in equal measures and unscathed by commercial considerations, Minnie Riperton's Come To My Garden is one of the all-time great debuts ever made. Enduringly beautiful and timeless.
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I will forever envy how blessed our elders must have been for these two regal, spiritually enriching masterpieces of Black excellence to drop on the same day.
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Album of the day. 50 years ago, Herbie Hancock furthered the possibilities of funk with this landmark. Nothing more needs to be said except every home should have a copy.
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Vintage photo of the day. (L to R: Jamil Raheem, Eddie Levert, Betty Wright, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson working on Stevie's “All I Do”, during the Hotter Than July sessions.)
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Album of the day. Often polarizing among Steely Dan heads, Gaucho has always been a personal favorite in the Dan canon. Its elegant jazz-pop sheen belies a dark edge with stories about some deeply messed-up people. It's also the greatest end-of-the-'70s album ever made.
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Album of the day. 45 years ago, Marvin Gaye released one of the all-time great soul operas, Here, My Dear. A deeply emotional work chronicling the tumult and dissolution of Gaye's first marriage to Anna Gaye, Here, My Dear weaved his personal pain with unparalleled artistry.
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Album of the day. There's no way to understate The Gap Band's impact. Their role in fusing modern elements into the funk canon right at the height of the post-disco era. Their sixth album, Gap Band IV, remains one of the definitive synth-funk showcases of the early '80s.
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I was never the same when I discovered that he conceived the funk vamp in his head while watching this classic scene from the 1968 Western, Once Upon a Time in the West. A clear precursor to how he'd approach the film score for Shaft two years later.
- what Isaac Hayes did to “Walk On By” is actually wild.
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Finally found a copy on vinyl this past week after searching high and low for years. It's a white label promotional copy in near mint condition, too.
What's the last vinyl album you purchased?
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Now that we have worthy documentaries that highlight the complicated life and artistry of Donna Summer and Little Richard, Natalie Cole is very much deserving of one as well. What an illustrious, yet tragic life she lived.
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Album of the day. A major turning point for the Ohio Players, Skin Tight was the Dayton band's first outing for Mercury Records. Known for being masters of street funk that crossed between R&B and jazz, Skin Tight boasted a fuller production and a greater emphasis on horns.
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Album of the day. Donald Byrd knew what he had in his former Howard U students and protégé band, The Blackbyrds. 1977's Action is easily one of the band's finest works—a mellow jazz-funk offering chock full of classic jams that are the perfect soundtrack for any laid-back summer.
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The only album that matters today, tomorrow, and forever. Happy birthday, Innervisions.
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Folks who don't acknowledge that Stevie Wonder's classic run truly began with the criminally overlooked Where I'm Coming From and capped with 1980's Hotter than July should be left in 2023 and beyond.
Between the years of 1972 to 1976, Stevie Wonder, just 21 to 26 years old, had what might be the greatest 5-classic album run: Music Of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale, and Songs in the Key of Life.
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But Black radio programmers knew better and made it a turntable hit.
Stevie Wonder “all I do” wasn’t an official single for the album and that blows my mind.
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Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were masters of concocting complete album experiences during their '80s prime. Alexander O'Neal's Hearsay is definitive proof of this.
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The Five Heartbeats is one of the most quotable Black dramas ever, but this musical number was always comical to me. The timeline was 1972 with everyone in Afros and chop sideburns, yet this cut sounds like a keytar-laden new jack swing hit from 1988. Make it make sense.
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An album. It still stands up well 15 years later.
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Album of the day. It's hard to believe Van Hunt's self-titled debut turns 20 years old today. A genre-defying maverick in the vein of Prince and Lenny Kravitz before him, his tasty cocktail of classic soul, funk, rock, and blues was a breath of fresh air and remains stunning.
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I'm so glad the mental health of seniors during COVID-19 lockdown is being touched on during this season of Queen Sugar.
#QueenSugar
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Album of the day. There's no better way to celebrate Ms. Diana Ross' 80th birthday than with one of her best albums, 1979's The Boss. This found her reuniting with the great Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, who gave her an urbane R&B sound with a sleek disco sheen.
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To celebrate what would've been the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin's 82nd birthday today, I wrote on five underrated albums from her '70s period on Atlantic Records for
@discogs
. Very proud of this one.
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Album of the day. James Brown's greatest studio album, The Payback is 50. Originally intended as the soundtrack for Larry Cohen's Black Ceasar sequel, Hell Up in Harlem, the Godfather of Soul served up a double album's worth of heavily dense, extended prog-funk monsters.
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Album of the day. Celebrating the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, Mary J. Blige's birthday with one of her best albums, 1999's Mary. A brave foray into elegant adult-oriented R&B, who else could be ballsy to get Aretha, Elton, Eric Clapton, Jadakiss, and Lauryn Hill on the same album?
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The fact "U Send Me Swingin'," "10 Million Strong," "Someone to Love," and "So Fine" are all on the same album is crazy.
Today is the 30th anniversary of Mint Condition's second album, "From the Mint Factory."
What are 2️⃣ of your favorite songs?
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Album of the day. To know that RCA executives kept this masterclass of a live show under lock and key for two decades is beyond criminal. They initially deemed it "too Black" to release. Thank God this wrong was corrected, as it's the definitive proof of why Sam Cooke matters.
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Album of the day. I always get the feeling Chaka Khan cut this 1980 powerhouse of uptown funk, soul, and post-disco just for the hell of it. Naughty is like a once in a lifetime jam session boasting Chaka's big, volcanic voice and all-star players firing on all cylinders.
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All I know is it's reassuring that this great band is now getting their long-overdue 21st-century recognition beyond "Low Rider."
You know what we don't talk about enough? How we never put funk bands in the conversation when we're talking about the greatest bands of all time
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A strong album where the follow-up was even better.
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Album of the day. Remembering Teena Marie, who died on this day in 2010, with her 1990 release, Ivory. Many longtime fans slept hard on this because of her foray into new jack swing. But it's stuffed with some of Lady T's best, like her last classic slow jam, "If I Were a Bell."
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Album of the day. Happy 20th to one of Janet Jackson's criminally underrated albums, Damita Jo. It may have been polarizing for its time, but its breezy, sex-positive R&B charm still holds up as well as it did in 2004. Some of Jackson's prettiest cuts are on this one.
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The only album that matters today. Happy 50th to Funkadelic's fifth album, Cosmic Slop.
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Album of the day. There's nothing better than a burst of positivity and inspiration from Earth, Wind & Fire on this unseasonably warm March weekend. Probably one of the more underappreciated albums from the band's classic period, Spirit is pure gospel funk. One of their best.
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40 years ago today (April 7, 1981), Rick James' career-defining album, Street Songs hit stores. The late great Gerald Levert detailing how Rick was deeply influenced by his father, Eddie Levert's vocal style will forever be the cackles of all cackles.
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Repost a great album from the 2000s (2000-2009).
Donnie - The Colored Section
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Album of the day. Meshell Ndegeocello's landmark debut, Plantation Lullabies dropped 30 years ago today. A gripping showcase of Ndegeocello's brave Afrocentric worldview and effortless blending of musical styles, this set a precedent for what would be coined as "neo-soul."
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A PERFECT album from the 1990s that ISN'T Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden or Alice In Chains.
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Name one PERFECT album by a female artist.
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The way my heart dropped while reading this headline.
George Clinton, 82, the legendary frontman of the Parliament-Funkadelic, is about to get his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 🎵 ⭐
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They are three influential bassists whose distinctive styles typified the progressive funk sound of the '70s.
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While it often gets dwarfed by Michael Jackson's towering Off the Wall and Thriller, The Jacksons' Triumph is studded with pure funk heat. A true early '80s R&B gem.
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Album of the day. Today would've been Luther Vandross' 73rd birthday. Believe it or not, this 1976 disco-soul curio (with its gaudy glam rock-looking sleeve) is the true first release of his career. Before his solo career took flight, he was part of a vocal group called Luther.
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Album of the day. Am I the only one who adores the slick West Coast sound of the late '70s and early '80s? Super producer Jay Graydon and master vocalist Al Jarreau's winning collaboration was an inspired one, spawning some of the most soulful jazz-pop hybrids known to man.
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Luther Vandross
Isaac Hayes
Donny Hathaway
Leon Ware
Barry White
Curtis Mayfield
Minnie Riperton
Miles Davis
Donald Byrd
What deceased artist would you have liked to see do an NPR tiny desk concert?
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Album of the day. Happy 45th to Parliament's most outrageous and loopiest creation of all, Motor Booty Affair. An aquatic funk opera on the funky goings-on in the underwater city of Altantis. (Also, check out Overton Loyd's elaborate cartoon album art and pop-up packaging).
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Album of the day. Caught up in the classy soul spell of Blue Magic. One of the great vocal groups from the Philly soul's golden age, Blue Magic picked up the baton of The Stylistics and The Delfonics. And who can ever forget their killer falsetto lead and songwriter, Ted Mills?
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Album of the day. Happy 40th to DeBarge's magnum opus, In a Special Way. Hands down--case closed, one of the best soul albums of the 1980s. How many careers in modern hip-hop and R&B would even exist without lifting and referencing from this?
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Album of the day. The lithe and supple voice of Marlena Shaw (1942-2024) was an exquisite delight. Her 1977 Columbia debut, Sweet Beginnings, is a first-rate showcase of her foxy style of soul and jazz in a sleeker mode, full of seductive elegance and street-smart wit.
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Album of the weekend. Celebrating funk genius George Clinton's 82nd birthday with one of Funkadelic's later gems: a decade-closing manifesto to "rescue dance music from the blahs." Along with containing some of the slickest dance anthems in the P-Funk canon, this cover is iconic.
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Album of the day. The consensus on whether The Songstress or Rapture is Anita Baker's best will forever be debatable. But I was always a Compositions guy. Baker averted trendy styles in Black pop and stayed true to her contemporary pop-soul sound with an even jazzier ambiance.
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Tomorrow marks the 30th anniversary of Michael Jackson's Dangerous and there's still no deluxe reissue. Sad.
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Album of the day. Happy 50th to The Isley Brothers' 3+3—one of the seminal crossover albums of the '70s. With some younger blood in the group, the Isleys transformed their sound from straight-up R&B into an exhilarating pop-rock-funk-soul hybrid that became their trademark.
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Album of the day. Happy 45th to funk's Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem: Funkadelic's 1978 masterpiece, One Nation Under a Groove. George Clinton and his P-Funk empire pumping out classic after classic during their heyday is nothing short of astonishing.
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Album of the day. Sundays are for the late great Donny Hathaway, who would've been 78 years old today. His deep gospel underpinnings shine so purely on this masterful 1970 album, Everything is Everything, which stands as one of the all-time best debuts in music history.
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Album of the day. The second of three collaborations between singer-songwriter Terry Callier and producer and arranger, Charles Stepney, What Color is Love is undeniably one of the greatest albums few have heard. A stirring musical collage of majestic beauty and timelessness.
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Album of the day. Chaka Khan's solo debut dropped 45 years today. Yes, this is the album that gave the world "I'm Every Woman," but what I always loved most about this album is how the grit and fire in Chaka's voice was captured within Arif Mardin's lush production.
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Album of the day. Stephanie Mills made a career-defining pivot when she teamed up with the great production duo, James Mtume and Reggie Lucas for her third release and 20th Century debut, What Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin'—A stellar synthesis of classic soul and proto-hi-NRG disco.
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Album of the day. By the early '70s, soul-jazz piano vet and singer Les McCann adapted his sound into an electronic-based, spacey funk style. This 1973 groundbreaker, Layers, is an analog synth wonderland with some of the most elegant Rhodes piano work known to man.
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Album of the day. This is in my ever-large desert island albums list. It's also one of the best dollar-bin finds ever. A dazzling clash of 1930s big band, disco, Latin, and funk exuberance, courtesy of Kid Creole, Coati Mundi, Cory Daye, and Stony Browder. What more can be said?
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Album of the day. Dexter Wansel was a major figure in the Philly soul scene in the '70s and '80s, helming classics from everyone under the Philadelphia International banner. But he took a step into proggy soul and jazz-funk with his beloved space-themed 1976 debut, Life on Mars.
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Album of the day. Happy 50th to The O'Jays' masterpiece, Ship Ahoy. A highlight of classic '70s soul, this is the Ohio trio's most ambitious and socially conscious work yet—diving into everything from capitalism to pollution, even stretching back to the ugly horrors of slavery.
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Sly & the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On fits the bill. Aside from it being known as a coke-fueled folly as well as an end of the '60s hangover, its dense, lo-fi funk murk is part of the album's sonic charm.
What’s a classic album or song that you feel isn’t mixed the best? Whether the volume is too low, vocals aren’t sharp, bass distorts, etc etc
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A great headphones album by an artist that's not Pink Floyd?
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Album of the day. One of jazz's all-time great chameleons, Herbie Hancock turns 84 today. Revisiting one of his last forays into jazz-funk, Secrets. It's very much in the vein of Head Hunters, with flamboyant guitar textures from top Motown session guitarist, Wah Wah Watson.
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Album of the day. Honoring the great Joni Mitchell's 80th birthday with her 1976 classic, Hejira. An emotional and beautifully complex travelogue of an album, overflowing with Mitchell's vivid lyricism and enhanced by the brilliant distinctive bass work of Jaco Pastorius.
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The Àngela Winbush appreciation I'm seeing across my timeline is incredible.
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Album of the day. Happy 40th to Luther Vandross' third solo album, Busy Body. Of all the albums from his great '80s run, this is often treated as the underdog. Luther was adept at laying his timeless tenor onto some white-hot dancefloor jams as well as on a slow jam serenade.
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🤯
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Album of the day. By the mid-'70s, Roy Ayers and his band, Ubiquity were on a winning streak. Best known for the much-sampled moody classic, "Searching," this 1976 gem, Vibrations established the band's stylistic transition from heady jazz-funk to smooth soul and disco.
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The absence of liner notes for R&B and soul reissues is utterly upsetting.
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Do yourself a solid and blast some Patrice Rushen today.
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I remember in an interview Philip Bailey admitted that nearly none of Earth, Wind & Fire didn't know what a "Serpentine Fire" was or why Maurice White wrote it.
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Album of the day. The late great Esther Phillips would've turned 88 years old today. The emotive, smoky-voiced singer had a long and storied career on Kudu Records. But this 1972 offering, Alone Again, Naturally is one of her finest. Powerful soul and master musicianship.
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One band, four perfect records.
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Album of the day. Sundays are for classic Maze featuring Frankie Beverly. In one of their most succulent albums, 1980's Joy and Pain, the band continued their winning streak with an easygoing melding of soul, funk, and jazz while employing airy synthesizers into their sound.
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I regard Talking Book as not only my favorite Stevie Wonder album, but as the greatest album ever made. But Stevie Wonder's 1971-1980 run is one of the most superlative in all of music history.
Songs in the Key of Life might be Stevie Wonder's greatest musical achievement, but
#Innervisions
, released today 50 years ago, is his Best album.
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