Released on Gordy album Black Magic, 1972
An Ashford and Simpson composition.
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Ramsey Lewis - Wade In the Water
Released on Cadet Records album Wade In the Water, 1966
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Bunny Sigler - Singer, Song-Writer, Multi-Instrumentalist, and Record Producer
"Sigler continued to work as a songwriter and producer for artistes including the Whispers, Ecstasy, Passion & Pain, Carl Carlton, Jackie Moore, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, The Roots, Billy Paul, Lou Rawls, Patti LaBelle, Stephanie Mills and Curtis Mayfield." - article and video on BLACK MUSIC AND HISTORY
One of the oft-forgotten force and personality in the Soul and RnB world.
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Aaron Neville - My Brother, My Brother
Released on A&M Records album The Grand Tour, 1997
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Marcel Smith - I'm Coming Home To You
Released on Little Village Records album From My Soul (2023)
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Sam Cooke And the Song That 'Almost Scared Him"
NPR staff article (February 1, 2014) and audio heard on All Things Considered.
"In the fall of 1963, Cooke faced a direct affront: He and his band were turned away from a Holiday Inn in Shreveport, La.
Cooke was arrested and jailed, ... "A Change Is Gonna Come" was written within a month or two after that."
Sam Cooke And the Song That 'Almost Scared Him'
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Evelyn Freeman - Didn't It Rain
Released as a United Artists Records 45 rpm single, 1964
This raucous Gospel/Soul/Blues/Funk classic was written by Evelyn Freeman (pianist, organist, songwriter, arranger, and educator) and her husband Tommy Roberts. Based on a 1948 Sister Rosetta Tharpe arrangement, it initially was only a 1962 regional hit in the Northern California Bay area. United Artists picked it up and in 1964, with their national distribution ability, it went national.
The Band, House M.D. aka Hugh Laurie, Tom Jones and others have covered it. Tis one of those recordings that should be much longer, say 6 - 10 minutes to appreciate the groove. As it is, just play it over and over and over...
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Stylistics - People Make the World Go Round
Released on Avco album The Stylistics, 1971
Song reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #6 on the Billboard Soul Singles charts. Has often been sampled by the likes of Naughty by Nature (World Go Round) and Snoop Dog and Dr. Dre (Fore Play).
"The ups and downs, a carousel
Changing people's heads around"
A very lush Philadelphia-soul number satirizing the problems of the early 70s; however, Russell Thompkins Jr.'s falsetto rendering will keep it forever popular.
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Artistics - Hard To Carry On
Released on Brunswick album The Articulate Artistics, 1968
Originally formed at Marshall High School in Chicago, Illinois and performed at the Democratic National Convention in 1960. Major Lance discovered them, helping to sign them to OKeh Records.
I'm thinking that Tommy Green sings led on this recording since he was the primary lead starting in 1967.
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Interview: Jerry Wexler
GAB ARCHIVE/REDFERNS/GETTY
As a founder, songwriter, and producer at Atlantic Records, Wexler was a vast influence on the development of American music in the 1950s through the early 1980s, particularly in the Soul/R&B genre. Aretha Franklin (pictured above), Ray Charles, The Drifters, Ruth Brown, Wilson Pickett, Dusty Springfield, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, and George Michael were just a few of the artists he influenced.
"Well, yeah, the story is that when Otis Redding did it, it was entirely a different song. The sock it to me's were Aretha Franklin's idea where she injected into the song, which connoted a certain idea of social respect, probably the notion of ethnic respect, combined with a little judicious lubricity on her part." - Jerry Wexler
This 1993 interview (audio and text) was conducted by Terry Gross for NPR's Fresh Air...
Roots of R&B: Record producer Jerry Wexler
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