If you haven`t already discovered this great singer, it`s time for it! Mayer Hawthorne is hell of a talent. The singer, songwriter, producer and multi instrumentalist is from Los Angeles and his real name is Andrew Mayer Cohen. His artist name is a combination of his middle name (Mayer) and the street name he used to live in Michigan (Hawthorne`s Road), where he grew up.

His music is influenced by people such as Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes, Barry White and Smokey Robinson. His debut album “A Strange Arrangement” came out this year and is a fine collection of wonderful soul songs. It´s available via iTunes worldwide. Check out the first single from the album, the nice “Just Ain`t Gonna Work Out” here:

Mayer is currently on tour in Europe.

http://www.myspace.com/mayerhawthorne

]]> http://amiblack.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/this-is-my-country-the-impressions/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:48:12 +0000 Maliki http://amiblack.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/this-is-my-country-the-impressions/ http://tiagovaz.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/432/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:05:55 +0000 tiagovaz http://tiagovaz.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/432/

Pra quem não sabe, eu estudo música!
Pra quem não sabe, eu toco funk!
Pra quem não sabe, faremos um recital no Ao Vivo Music no primeiro dia de Dezembro de 2009.
Repertório: Marvin Gaye, Kind Floyd, The Staple Singers, Curtis Mayfield, Tower of Power, Wild Cherry etc.

1. Ghetto – Hathaway, Donny
2. Inner City Blues – Washington, Grover Jr.
3. Woman Of The Ghetto – Shaw, Marlena
4. Pusherman – Mayfield, Curtis
5. Home Is Where The Hatred Is – Phillips, ‘Little’ Esther
6. Stone To The Bone – Brown, James
7. Expansions – Smith, Lonnie Liston
8. Also Sprach Zarathustra – Deodato
9. Stratus – Cobham, Billy
10. Shaft – Hayes, Isaac
11. He’s A Superstar – Ayers, Roy
12. Superfly – Mayfield, Curtis
13. Summer In The City – Jones, Quincy
14. For What It’s Worth – Mendes, Sergio
15. Steppin’ Stones – Harris, Johnny
16. Nubian Lady – Lateef, Yusef
17. I’d Rather Be With You – Collins, Bootsy
18. Straussmania – Salinas, Daniel
19. Children Of The Ghetto – Pine, Courtney
20. Other Side Of Town – Joseph, Julian
21. By All Means – Mouzon, Alphonse
22. Look Of Love – Hayes, Isaac
23. If You Want Me To Stay – Stone, Sly
24. Why Can’t We Live Together – Thomas, Timmy

Of course, we could be here all day talking about the best live performances on an album… So, I’m just gonna give you a well rounded taste of some classics. Music is amazing like that! There are so many wonderful artists with diverse talent to offer. Get to know somebody new… and get reacquainted with the ones you already love, right here….

To get things started, I thought I might share a lil’ footage of myself Enjoy!

Miss R&B

‘Erykah Badu “Erykah Badu Live”

Great covers, effortless on stage, absolutely classic

Aretha Franklin “Amazing Grace”

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find video footage of a song from her Amazing Grace live  album in 1972 with Rev. James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir. It’s been toted to be one of her best recordings live. I decided to share other footage instead. Enjoy;)

Keith Jarrett “Live in Koln”

The Koln concert… completely improvised, another dimension…WOW!

Sam Cooke “Live @ The Harlem Square Club”

Stirring vocals, with breathtaking drama and unparalleled soul

The Roots “The Roots Come Alive”

Full of energy, classic hip hop nostalgia and dope collaborations

Nirvana “Nirvana Unplugged”

Signature grunge that comes together for an effortless set in New York…

Jay Z “Jay Z Unplugged”

Hip Hop’s Renaissance man…backed by The Roots

James Brown “Live @ The Apollo”

Thrilling, let’s go adrenaline, passionate and soulful delivery…just dynamite

Jimi Hendrix “Band Of Gypsy’s Live @ The Filmore”

A sign of the times…war and self expression… famous for the 12 minute rendition of Machine Gun… Here’s a taste

KISS “KISS Alive 1975″

Electrifying, fist pumping, neck jarring rock!

Curtis Mayfield “Curtis/Live”

His second album came with his solo debut! Very bold and well worth the risk. Brilliance…

Bill Withers “Live @ Carnegie Hall”

Reveals his layered personality which sets up the emotional content of his songs… stellar renditions

Simply divine with a guitar, trendsetting  and smooth as smooth gets

Woodstock

A day to remember in music history… hippies, psychedelics and everything between… an incredible jam session

Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane “Live @ Carnegie Hall”

Two jazz giants… Lost recordings for over 40yrs… skill, expression… enjoy!

The Commodores “Live”

One of the greatest soul R&B band albums live… classic after classic

Earth, Wind and Fire “Gratitude”

The infamous Earth, Wind and Fire super band with Phillip Bailey delivering one of our favorites leads…

Bob Dylan “Bootleg series Volume 4″

Can’t ignore his huge impact on music… strange, extraordinary poetic power tucked into musical genius

Johnny Cash “At Folsom Prison”

Raw passion, unadulterated humanity… a very influential musician of the 20th century

Bruce Springsteen “Live 1975-1985″

Inspirational with an X factor that makes him a people’s champion

Donny Hathaway “Live”

Couldn’t pick just one video… capturing his essence is well worth it

Marvin Gaye “Live”

Golden pipes, dripping soul with non-stop sex appeal … Mr. Marvin Gaye

This one made me have to stop and think for a bit. You know how hard I tried to get some funk up in here, but then I said naw, lemme be good and do the thing right.

Besides, what could ever be more inspirational than Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground?

And (just as a quick diversion) you gotta love what  the Red Hot Chili Peppers had to say about this…

But now getting back to the meat of the theme of inspiration, this song by Sly and the Family Stone is, to me, one of the greatest inspirational soul tunes of all time…

And then, I mean, you can’t even begin to talk about inspirational music without talkin’ ’bout Curtis Mayfield!

But before we go, check out what my man Jeff Beck had to say about Curtis’ tune…

SHAMELESS PLUG: Read my wife’s blog @ The “D” Spot Redeux

Some early mornin’ funk for getting your life together, a song called Underground by Curtis Mayfield. If I don’t get my life together at least i will be gettin down…

I know, right? For the past two days, Magic iPod has started my day with “Little Child Runnin’ Wild”–a classic from Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly soundtrack.

It’s amazing how a song can change your immediate environment. During this morning’s dreary commute, “Little Child” briefly transformed Sunnyside into Harlem circa 1970, and me into a badass. When in reality I was walking past PS 150’s gazebo and hoping to see the Tamale Lady at the train station.

If I hear this song again tomorrow, I think I’m gonna dream of Youngblood Priest chasing me up the steps to the 7 train. But then just when he’s caught up to me, I’d say: “You better take real good care of me. Nothing, nothing better happen to one hair on my gorgeous head. Can you dig it?” And walk away.

[Aaaand SCENE]

(Photo: http://www.urbanbeatmovement.com/)

♣ We Can Do Better All By Ourselves ♣

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

DETROIT — It has been just over a month since I last checked in with you guys in the bloggosphere. For that, I sincerely apologize. But now that I’m back, I’m here to put a foot up the ass of someone who has been dodging it for a long time. That man is Tyler Perry. I know what you’re probably thinking: “But Jay, his movies are so touching and uplifting and they have a really valid, positive message that everyone can relate to.” The problem is, while that may be true, I can never seem to get to the proverbial “knowing is half the battle” moment in any of his televised/motion picture fecal matter because I’m too busy being assailed and bombarded by just about every modern negative black stereotype you can think of, with the ringmaster of this circus loudly prancing around like a taller, lighter, slightly younger version of Flavor Flav wearing your Grandmother’s Dress and a wig instead of a Viking helmet and a clock.

I just turned 30 last month. Turning the clock back 20 years to 1989, I was 10 years old and was growing more and more intrigued by this music called Hip-Hop. You see, back then, Rappers used to have these things called lyrics. Often those lyrics were integrated into Black Cinema much in the same way Curtis Mayfield and Issac Hayes were an integral part to 1970s Blaxploitation. The 1980s and 1990s answer to the over the top classic movies such as Shaft, Superfly, The Mack, Truck Turner, Foxy Brown, etc. came from people like the Hughes Brothers (Menace II Society), John Singleton (Boyz N Tha Hood), and a groundbreaking cat from Brooklyn named Spike Lee. The first Spike Lee movie that I recall seeing was Do The Right Thing. The message in his movies was like good old fashioned blunt-force trauma to the head. It very unabashedly told of the struggle of Blacks in the United States in what was much more modern day language. Spike’s creativity carried over into the legendary film Malcolm X.

Say what you will about some of the subject matter of his films, the messages, the treatment of women, etc., the man is a legitimate ground breaker. So when Spike decided to shoot (Pro Wrestling Lingo Alert!) on Tyler Perry during an interview back in May, you could kind of understand why he may not exactly have been a fan of “Madea”. Quoting Spike’s interview with former BET reporter Ed Gordon:

“We’ve had this discussion back and forth. When John Singleton [made 'Boyz in the Hood'], people came out to see it. But when he did ‘Rosewood,’ nobody showed up. So a lot of this is on us! You vote with your pocketbook, your wallet. You vote with your time sitting in front of the idiot box, and [Tyler Perry] has a huge audience.

Ok, so for now, it seems like everything is sunny and rosey, until Spike started to be Spike:

“We shouldn’t think that Tyler Perry is going to make the same film that I am going to make, or that John Singleton or my cousin Malcolm Lee [would make]. As African-Americans, we’re not one monolithic group, so there is room for all of that. But at the same time, for me, the imaging is troubling and it harkens back to ‘Amos n’ Andy.’”

Let’s pause the tape right there. The operative line in that quote is that we as blacks are “not one monolithic group”. That is apparently news to many Black people because, for one, 85% of blacks have no idea what “monolithic” means, and secondly, Black people tend to think that we need to be in total lock step with each other. We’re to NEVER publicly disagree about anything or dare criticize our own in public, for fear of what message it sends to the “White Man”. Chuckle all you want, but that’s what has actually been said to me about why Spike Lee had no business cracking Tyler Perry. We continue with the true money shot of this interview:

“…I am a huge basketball fan, and when I watch the games on TNT, I see these two ads for these two shows (Tyler Perry’s “Meet the Browns” and “House of Payne”), and I am scratching my head. We got a black president, and we going back to Mantan Moreland and Sleep ‘n’ Eat?”

That was an epic shot because he managed to pub the NBA on TNT, reference characters from one of the most shameful periods of Black American Cinema, and reference a movie that he previously made about the subject matter. If you couldn’t tell, I’m no fan of Tyler Perry. Not his crappy and overly preachy stage plays. Not his one-dimensional, coonish movies. Not his overly corny, and stereotypical TV shows (I’ve watched all of three minutes of House of Payne before becoming nauseous). His lame response to this whole thing of “Madea” being based on people he grew up with and the sheep who love his movies demanding that Spike do everything from say nothing to congratulate him to “not saying his name” just continues to annoy me.

Like I said earlier, you can sell me the BS that all of his movies have this great and lovely message, but if all I’m drawing from it is that there is some Black Woman invariably done wrong by one black man, Madea jumps in midway through and does her “comedy” Bojangles routine, Another black man (usually of the opposite complexion) rides to her rescue, more Madea nonsense, Game Over, and the women have something to talk about while they get their hair done…then there’s a distinct failure to communicate here. However, in the spirit of full disclosure, I have seen one Tyler Perry movie from beginning to end: Why Did I Get Married? Not coincidentally, it was one of the three Tyler Perry movies that doesn’t feature Madea the Dancing Coon. The movie itself was actually pretty good. It got off a strong message that black couples go through the same issues as all couples, and was startlingly realistic (albeit the acting left something to be desired). The thing is that particular flick got the point across w/out having to bring Madea out waving a pistol and smoking a square. And it didn’t do nearly as well as the others. You see where I’m going.

The reason why Spike Lee was not out of bounds with what he said is simple. In the early 1990s, He drew heat for addressing what the mainstream American public saw as controversial. That would be Race relations…something that we’re still a bunch of pussies about dealing with mind you. Spike’s movies, especially early on, were troublesome. Conversely, Tyler Perry is safe. Tyler Perry’s movies are never going to cause any real mainstream controversy. They really aren’t going to make you think. He refers to Madea as “Bait” to draw in viewers to his “positive message”. And yes, there are many people who can stomach the wacky hi-jinx and hilarity of Madea, so the bait can nab you the fish. But at a certain point, the fish can snatch the bait, and escape off the proverbial hook and swim along to something else and then what are you left with? It’s bad enough that people of all races have preconceived notions about what black life is like. And some sugary sweet, yet horribly mediocre movie with a latent, clandestine message isn’t gonna change what many of those people think of us.

But as Spike said, we as blacks are not one monolithic group of people. Therefore, we don’t all have the same tastes, nor do we always stand in lockstep with each other on everything, in spite of the numerous people thinking that we have to do so to preserve some face of “Unity” and in essence, look good in front of the white man. To that, I call BS and say “F–k Unity”. This isn’t 1836, and we’re no longer on the plantation. I don’t care if “other races” see us bickering and arguing over something philosophical. It’s good to disagree. And once again just because a Black person wrote, starred, directed, created, sang, rapped, or danced in it doesn’t mean I have to admire, support, like, or appreciate it or them. And just because he makes money off of it doesn’t mean I have to show him/her love and respect it. Fox News gets higher ratings on average than CNN. That doesn’t make what they say legit, that just means a lot of hillbillies have cable.

In closing, Tyler Perry is free to make all the movies, TV shows, and stage plays he wants. That’s his right as an American. It’s my right as an American to choose to watch something else, and to have a problem with the characterizations in his films, shows and plays. Stereotyping is prevalent in everything. That’s never gonna change unless we stop being cowards and start staring it dead in the face. The day we start doing that, and stop worrying about what the “white man” will think, is the day we can have two influential people have a disagreement and it ends in some form of civility and doesn’t disintegrate into some juvenile, girly bed of BS where everyone gets called “haters” and “jealous”. As Common once said: “If I Don’t Feel It, Then I Don’t Feel It. Doesn’t Mean That I’m Hatin’”. Spike Lee, Thank you for speaking up for us. Tyler Perry, get your money and all that, but how about you try to fish w/some better “bait” and you would be amazed how many more fish you can catch.

Until Next Time, That’s The Way It Is, Monday October 26, 2009. The 28th day since the Detroit Lions’ last Victory. Take Care, God Bless, Always Dare to Be Different, and G.O.M.A.B. Σ

Simple post tonight: based on the last few weeks, I’m going to write up a list of must-listen-to albums. Even if you’ve heard them before, go back and bend an ear to the music. You won’t regret it.

Check out the world premiere of Raheem DeVaughn’s new video Bulletproof featuring Ludacris. Raheem’s new track samples the legendary Curtis Mayfield The Other Side of Town.

Maxwell – BLACKsummers’night (2009)

• 01 – Bad Habits: Un tema perfecto para abrir el álbum, con su sugerente inicio y su crescendo basado en el buen hacer de unos arreglos con banda real, y una interpretación vocal a la altura. Si bien Maxwell nunca ha sido un gran cantante en directo, en estudio siempre ha estado perfecto, y elegante (algo difícil en estos tiempos). La sorpresa de la canción es la inclusión de la guitarra acústica. Muy bueno. 9/10

• 02 – Cold: Aquí cambia un poco de registro e introduce ritmos más funk, con unos metales de nuevo en primer plano. De todos modos, me parece que no es una canción redonda, la melodía se queda a medias, sobre todo comparada con el tema anterior, y el tema no se desarrolla lo suficiente. 5.5/10

• 03 – Pretty Wings: El Gran Tema del álbum, y el primer single. Una balada con una melodía preciosa y pegadiza, arreglos de primera, un Maxwell inspirado haciéndose sus propios coros, cambiando de registros vocales. Puede que su falsete no esté tan afilado como antes, pero lo que han perdido sus cuerdas vocales lo ha ganado en madurez interpretativa. A partir del break del minuto 2:55 el tema se vuelve pura magia. 9.5/10

• 04 – Help Somebody: No, no es una versión de la canción de Earth, Wind & Fire, es un tema totalmente diferente, pero no deja de tener cierto aire old skool. ¿Quién dijo que este hombre no es un compositor de talento? Maxwell encuentra un buen balance aquí, y durante casi todo el disco, entre lo clásico y lo moderno, entre sus influencias del soul setentero y su alma de neo-soul. Pero no cae en el simple cliché, siempre equilibra la balanza. 7.5/10

• 05 – Stop The World: Quizás uno de los arreglos más “anónimos” del álbum, poco llamativo, pero su interpretación vocal salva la canción. Hay un toque de ingenuidad a veces en su voz que ni siquiera había oído en Marvin Gaye, salvando las distancias. 5.5/10

• 06 – Love You: Otro de los punto álgidos del disco. Las ventajas de tener una banda tocando en directo, a diferencia de tantas buenas canciones desperdiciadas en tantos discos de neo-soul debido a la frialdad de los instrumentos digitales. El toque maestro lo dan las congas, creando un ambiente muy Blaxploitation, un groove muy a lo Curtis Mayfield. Puede que la melodía no sea nada del otro mundo, pero Maxwell se la cree al cantarla, y eso se nota. 8/10

• 07 – Fistful Of Tears: El inicio es un homenaje total a The Beautiful Ones de Prince, una de las claras influencias del disco. De todos modos, el tema no llega muy alto, queda más bien algo repetitivo, aunque Maxwell supo no hacerse pesado y dejarlo en una duración bastante adecuada, sin alargarse más de la cuenta. 6/10

• 08 – Playing Possum: Una buena canción para acabar (supuestamente) el disco. Con sus toques de percusión profunda que me recuerdan al final del álbum Let’s Get It On, de hecho la canción tiene algún otro parecido, pero por supuesto no alcanza para nada ese punto de genialidad. No es un tema totalmente conseguido, aunque sí funciona bien como pseudo-cierre. 6/10

• 09 – Phoenix Rise: y aquí llega la sorpresa, un tema instrumental para terminar por segunda vez. Aunque el tema tampoco es nada especial, el efecto sorpresa tras la anterior canción le añade carisma, y la banda puede lucirse un poco. En fin, un disco que se hace bastante corto, algo raro últimamente, y sobre todo, un disco que gana con cada escucha. 6/10

NOTA MEDIA: 7/10

Ok, I hate “Best Of” lists just as much as you do. That’s why I’m just calling this my “favorite” list so there isn’t the feeling of who is better than who. I like to write songs when I’m not writing this blog or herding cattle on the range, and have delved into many a great one and pulled it apart to discover what lies within. Most of the time I’m left with nothing but a bunch of words that sound cool together, but are meaningless and shallow. A great song is like a children’s book – when the story is over and the pages are closed, the world created by the author continues to exist within the reader’s head, and echo of the tale lingers and develops a life of its own.

Great songwriters are capable of creating a world we can live in beyond the limits of the song’s duration. Their words toss and turn in our dreams, their melodies drift in our minds and out of our mouths on the elevator to work, and by the end of the day we can’t wait to get back to our record player, put that needle down and relive the moment one more time. A great song lives and breathes and has a personality all its own. The greatest writers have entire albums full of these songs that actually exist as characters in our minds. If you let them, these writers may climb into your conscience too, and you may feel as if you know them. But you cannot really know this person, no matter how you long to, because their existence is a fabrication of their own design, just like their songs. Even those who are related or married to a songwriter cannot claim to know them. They are the modern shapeshifters of society, taking on forms of different characters and moods, living in different times and places all at once. I bet few songwriters would even claim to know themselves.

Now to the list. These are people that I have wanted to meet and thank for making the world more bearable. Another part of me doesn’t want to ruin the fantasy of who I think they are, and I also wouldn’t want to bother them. But if they ever happen to sit down next to me at a bar, I’d treat them as if they were an old friend, because in my mind that’s what they are.

THE BEST OF EACH DECADE:

50’s – Hank Williams – The original “Songwriter”, and one of the greatest of all time. Before this you have the Tin Pan Alley scene, but no one man could cut to the chase the way Hank did, and no one has come close since. “Cold, Cold Heart” is one of the saddest songs ever written. Definitely the greatest songwriter of the 50’s.

60’s – Bob Dylan – What a bastard. How can you be such an anemic prick, sneering and jeering your way via lies into people’s hearts and minds, first with a fake smile, then behind dark darting sunglasses, only to tell them all to go fuck themselves? You write nimble poetry that connects far-off distant memories in our minds and make us thing we know what’s going on, then leave us in the dust like all your forgotten lovers. I hope you can forgive yourself what you’ve done to us, Dylan – I definitely have. You’re still the greatest songwriter to come out of the 60’s, and you’ve done pretty well for yourself in the 70’s and 2000’s, too.

70’s – Neil Young – Neil is friendlier, furrier, and more rustic than Dylan. If Dylan is New York, Neil is Half Moon Bay. Still, a darkness underlies every word the man has written, and sadness is ultimately the subject of most of his greatest songs. What makes Mr. Young so great must be the same thing that makes Steinbeck great - everything is simple, straightforward, and seemingly contemplative of the human spirit, which is treated with reverence and fear. Very few songwriters can put so much of themselves in their songs without it coming out pretentious. Neil’s got my vote for the best songwriter in the 70’s, moving from After the Gold Rush and Harvest through Tonight’s the Night, On the Beach, all the way to Rust Never Sleeps.

80’s – Bruce Springsteen - He is both seductive and honest in his approach to songwriting. Never mind that his voice sounds like warm leftovers after about the fifth song, no one can write a song for the workin’ man like the Boss. His stories appeal to the most basic needs of humans, to be loved, to honor brotherhood, to make quick money and go to Atlantic City. If only judged by Nebraska, he would still come out on top as the greatest songwriter of the 80’s.

90’s – Elliot Smith – Yes, I know he was kind of pathetic and whiny. So was Dylan and Hank Williams. Songwriters are like little brothers - they always get beat up, and instead of fighting back they brood in their rooms for days to perform some act of genius that makes you feel like a jerk for picking on them in the first place. Mr. Smith must have spent weeks in his room, shooting up and drinking vodka in a mad depression, in order to create the incredibly fragile ballads that he is known for. I am aware that most of his songs are about dope and suicide, but no one writes such brilliantly bitter pop melodies that leave you wondering whether heroin is such a bad thing after all (except maybe John Lennon, Elliot’s idol). I guess it was, considering it’s elemental in Smith’s suicide stabbing(!?!). Definitely my favorite songwriter from the 90’s.

00’s – Ryan Adams – Jesus Christ, not again. Another twitchy genius with big mouth and bad hair making snarky comments that cause discomfort. It’s like Dylan all over again, isn’t it? Well, not exactly. Adams is by far the most prolific artist of his  generation, releasing so many albums in the past 10 years it’s ridiculous, starting with the indespensable Heartbreaker. The good news is that he is now “retired” from songwriting after cleaning up off drugs and alcohol, and spends his time writing novels, recording joke heavy metal albums, sleeping with new wife Mandy Moore, painting, and writing blogs about arcade games. What a delightful twist! Actually, I really wish he would get back to writing songs again, because no one can tell lyrical tales of pain and heartbreak in late-night diners over coffee and cigarettes like ol’ Ryan Adams. This decade isn’t over yet, but I’m calling it now:  best songwriter of the 00’s.

OTHER FAVORITES:

Gram Parsons – It took me a little while to forgive him for singing out of tune on most everything he did, but it actually accentuates the earnest sense of urgency that makes his music so endearing. Gram is not the ”Golden Prophet” that he is often revered as, rather he was a lost young man with a difficult emotional past that he channeled into great songs. Most interesting is that his concept of “Cosmic Country” is right on – his music inspires a humanitarian empathy that can’t be ignored.

John Lennon – Definitely not Paul McCartney, Lennon was the antithesis of happy safe pop music. This is one is so obvious, but I really like his post-Beatle catalog the most, as he delves deeper into the personal darkness that made him so such a tragic figure (even if he wasn’t murdered, he was still a tragedy). The most loveable basketcase I can think of, Lennon proved that being a genius songwriter doesn’t change the world, but it definitely makes it more bearable to live in.

Kris Kristofferson – Most people don’t know that Kristofferson wrote hits like, “Me  Bobby McGee”, “Sunday Morning Coming Down”, and “Help Me Make it Through the Night”. Plus, he was in the Highwaymen and is a great actor (which has nothing to do with his songwriting, I know). He evokes feelings of the best of times, along with the worst of times. Without sounding too much like a Dickens novel, I can’t live without him.

Lefty Frizzell - A lesser-known contemporary of Hank Williams, Lefty wrote some incredible songs in his short career, most notably the ones covered by Willie Nelson. “If You’ve Got the Money” is the #1 sugar mama track, and that was waaaayyy before it was cool to have one.

Leonard Cohen – If Gram Parsons is the loveable boy-child of songwriting, then Cohen is definitely the Ice King. His lyrical content is seductive without frills, and while Parsons will sing about the Armaggedon with cautionary hope, Cohen will sing as if it has already happened and he is the product of the fallout, mourning the loss of innocence in a land ravaged by sin and overconsumption. It’s no wonder that his adult themes of cheating wives and fallen kings resonate so well with the Hollywood crowd and strip clubs. His voice is the last shred of humanity left standing in Babylon, and it’s like we’re listening to the folk music of the future. I’m guessing that this bard would have fared well in the world of “Total Recall”.

Loretta Lynn – People give Taylor Swift so much credit for being so young and writing her own songs. They forget it’s happened before, and it was done better in the past. Loretta’s about the same as Swift, except she had already had a couple of kids and was married to a no-count drunk which gave her much more interesting things to sing about. She was also poor and uneducated, but that didn’t stop her from becoming one of the fiercest female voices to ever stick up for the forgotten housewives in America. With song titles like, “The Pill” and “Fist City” Loretta could be considered one of the first feminist songwriters. If she isn’t the first, she most certainly is the best of the lot. A special place in my heart is reserved only for this strong woman.

Lou Reed - Inspiring generations of noisy garage bands is easily forgiveable when you write a song like “Heroin”, which has never  before or since been matched in meniachal intensity. The voice of the urban New York underground, Reed has never played it safe lyrically, and almost always delivers in creating the paranoid, zonked-out feeling of hanging out with a tranny, midget twins, and a drug dealer at one of Warhol’s parties. Even Nico could sing his songs and they sounded cool.  Not to mention that his solo exploits, while often scattered, continue to display his mastery of the language of filthy human resiliency.

Lucinda Williams – The queen of modern country, or Americana, as it is now referred to. She has the wail and moan of Hank Williams in her leathery voice, but what makes her so amazing is that she is poetic without being flowery. Much of the themes in her music (especially the more recent “West”) are biographical in nature, conjuring images of single mothers driving buicks in the desert. The forlorn sadness captured in her stark imagery reflects both spiritual and existensial realities, and her writing abilities continue to stretch outward successfully. Definitely the strongest and most responsible female voice of modern songwriting, Williams just keeps getting better and better. I can’t wait to see what she does next. 

Merle Haggard - Never before has the voice of the prisoner been so well emoted as with Merle Haggard. If it just came down to songs about leaving behind mama and getting into trouble, then Merle would be well ahead of the game It just so happens that he also wrote some of the best ramblin’ train songs of all time, too. Try to understand the humor and irony in songs like “Okie From Muskogee”, “Workin’ Man Blues” and “Fightin’ Side of Me”, and you’ll find yourself a happier person. You can’t play a single juke joint from here to Texas without knowing some Merle Haggard.

Townes Van Zandt – The most depressing human on Earth. Seriously, why do you have to do this to us, Townes? What I like best about his music is that for a second you think things are looking up, and then he swoops in like a bird of death and kills all hope. I can’t listen to him too much, but his music fills an irreplaceable void in my life – the depressed space. “Waitin’ Around to Die” pretty much tops the charts of all-time biggest downers, and makes Neil Young sound like Bob Marley. He also writes great story songs like “Pancho and Lefty”, too.

Willie Nelson – He definitely is a beloved country icon, but before Willie was famous for being Willie, he wrote “Hello Walls”, “Mr. Record Man”, and Patsy Cline’s best song, “Crazy”, and sold the rights to them all for less than a bag of weed. Of course, he’s written hundreds of great songs since then, and continues to pump out one great tune after another to this day. The best part about Willie is his sense of humor, and when I heard “Cowboys are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other” I nearly died laughing. Please ignore the fact that he lets people like Toby Keith and Kid Rock sing on his albums. Please at least try.

Great songwriters who should be on this list but aren’t (with excuses):

Alejandro Escovedo - I must confess, I only own one album (Boxing Mirror), but the words are awesome!
Beck - If humor were the main criteria for a great songwriter, he would be #1.
Brian Wilson - He loses points for writing songs about surfing. No one wonder he went insane.
Buddy Holly - I love Buddy Holly, he wrote perfect pop songs. But Carole King isn’t on this list either.
Cat Power - Sometimes her words are gibberish, other times fantastic. Keep writing, Cat!
Curtis Mayfield - Songs for the ghetto, I guess. Curtis is a political spokesman, but he isn’t a lyrical genius.
David Bowie - I’m also tempted to add him now, but his words don’t quite carry the power of some of the other cats.
George Jones - A great songwriter indeed, but his songs never sound as good when someone else sings them.
Jim Morrison - Really more of a poet than a songwriter, don’t you think?
Keith Richards/Mick Jagger - Rock n’ Roll isn’t supposed to have good lyrics. These guys do it for me, but I’m not taking the words to “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” with me to the grave.
Neil Diamond - The man did write some amazing songs, but the schmaltz aspect of his act has always detracted from his genius.
Nick Drake – Neil Young and Townes are depressing enough. I can’t take it any more!
PJ Harvey – She is fun to listen to, and her lyrics aren’t burdened with depression and sadness. I need those in my songs.
Ralph and Carter Stanley - Bluegrass couldn’t exist without these cats. But cautionary religous tales about drinking too much just don’t resonate much with me. I never knew why:)
Robert Hunter – I love his lyrics, they have important life lessons in them. But clever they are not.
Roy Orbison - He definitely wrote great songs, though I can’t exactly admit that he is one of my favorites.
Tom Waits - Awesome lyrics, hideous, overwraught voice. I can’t stand his music.
Stevie Wonder - What a fantastic writer, especially his melodies. But one of my favorites? I gotta say close, but no cigar.
Willie Dixon - The greatest blues songwriter ever, to be sure. But seriously, how hard is it to write a blues song?
Win Butler – Pretty good, pretty good. I’ll make the decision when more albums are released.
Woody Guthrie – Ok, I know he’s great. I’m just not educated enough on his music to make a valuable assesment. Maybe when I finally get enough cash together to get some of his records…

ALBUM: Superfly [Original Soundtrack]

I LOVE that line. “You know you got this fantasy in your head about…gettin out the life and…settin the corporate world on it’s ear…what the fuck you gonna do except hustle…except pimpin…and you really ain’t got the stomach for that.” Heard it first on Jay-Z’s Kingdom Come.

Curtis Mayfield was most definitely JAMMIN!!!

I remember where I was when I first heard this: the local round-the-way record store.  The carpet was checkered with the maytag logo in bittersweet on brown (harkening back to the store’s past life).  There we stood in a communal experience that began with the shop owner saying, “You’ve got to hear this record”. We stood waiting.  Waiting melted away to awe.  Nine minutes later we knew life was a bit different…just wait for the progression of the track.  It blossoms and eventually bursts.

“Dancing Girl” is from the album, “What Color is Love” (Cadet, 1973).  A great record for a chilled autumn day.

Terry Callier was a childhood friend of Curtis Mayfield and co-wrote numerous Chicago Records for artists as diverse as the Soulful Strings, The Dells, and Garland Green.  He spent much of the eighties and nineties as a single father, raising his daughter, Sundiata, and working at the University of Chicago.

He returned to recording in the late nineties to critical acclaim, and released “Hidden Conversations” (his fifth album in 10 years) this year.  It features Massive Attack.

Jive on…. Jive on.

Blues music was born in the African American communities in the United States in the late 19^th century as an outlet for the downtrodden and oppressed, an escape valve for the sad or disheartened. Blues music, originally ignored by recording studios and the white American public, was a raw, soulful cry that rose from African American communities and quickly influenced musicians of all backgrounds. The Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s impelled a stronger interest in American roots music, and specifically the post-war sound of the blues, with the added inclusion of the electric guitar. African American artists used soul and blues music to voice the injustice of inequality, and to cry out for a long-needed change.

Nina Simone – Backlash Blues

One example is Nina Simone’s Backlash Blues. This 12-bar blues piece opens with an instrumental introduction and includes Nina posing questions to “Mr. Backlash.” This exchange is characterized by a call and response between her and a guitar. In addition to the steady rhythm provided by a guitar, drum, harmonica, and piano, the song has an instrumental solo in the third verse. By returning to the 12-bar blue style, Nina is appealing to the entire African American community to create a united front. She is also implicitly suggesting that the community should draw strength from its rich heritage.

Nina passionately uses blues elements to paint a frustrating picture of racism: “You give me second class houses,/ And second class schools/ Do you think all colored folks/ Are just second class fools?” Yet while she describes her lack of opportunity and her victimization, she raises a civil rights warning: “But the World is Big/ Big and Bright and Round/ And it’s full of folks like me/ Who are Black, Yellow, Beige and Brown,” and ends the song with resonating hope for Civil Rights: “Mr. Backlash, Mr. Backlash,/ Just What do you think I got to lose/ I’m gonna leave you/ With the backlash blues. You’re the one will have the blues not me/ Just wait and see.”

This song is an example of the Civil Rights blues movement that fought against the hegemony of a white, segregated America. The bluesy feel of the song captures the sadness and the pain of inequality, while the African American roots of the genre further empower the message. To this day, there is a struggle to create a more egalitarian world and the work of Nina Simone, as well as other blues and soul artists, has continued to serve as a source of inspiration for modern artists everywhere.

For more examples of the blues, check out the following videos by some blues greats from Sam Cooke to Curtis Mayfield.

Zach Zwarenstein

Nina Simone – Why

Sam Cooke – A Change is Gonna Come

Langston Hughes – The Weary Blues

Curtis Mayfield – Movin’ On Up

“You’re So Good To Me” de Curtis Mayfield a été samplé la même année (1994)  par des rappeurs Ill Al Skratch  et une chanteuse : Mary J. Blige.

Curtis Mayfield en 1979 en est (déjà) à son douzième album.  Bien que tenté par le disco il accouche encore de ce titre aérien et smooth. Ma-Gni-fique.

Ill Al Skratch duo de Brooklyn pose sur la boucle de Curtis (produit par les Trackmasters je crois)  aidé par “Mr Loverman” Brian McKnight au refrain. D’accord, le clip est plein de clichés (les groupies, les benzs…) mais c’est tellement bon !

Deuxième album de Mary J. Elle est jeune, porte des perruques blondes, prend beaucoup de drogue et se fait “malmener” par K-Ci de Jodeci.  Le clip de Hype Williams est frais et Mary…est Mary :  elle avait le  “swag” avant que ce mot soit vidé de son sens.  Un classique.

RIP Mr Mayfield, long live the Queen Of Hip-Hop Soul et  Ill Al Skratch tenez bon la famille !

C’était juste un puzzle de mots et de pensées.

Who Does it Best ? Al Green or Curtis Mayfield?

That’s the question, the only question!

There is only one question. Who does it best? My love of music is what has triggered this burning question.

Now, before we go any further, let me just explain one thing (before all of my nearest and dearest bombard this blog with their comments). When I say I love music, I do.  Although a bit of a soul gal, I do listen to almost anything and all genres (except punk and not too much rock please).

Anyhoo (to steal a favourite term of a mate), there I was having one of those ‘glass of wine, playing my music” sessions and was  listening to “People Get Ready” (that’s the real title, honest!) by the wonderfully soulful Al Green. I then dipped into my collection and played the version by Curtis Mayfield (oooh maan!).  Both are beautiful. Trust me!

It was then that I thought “Who does it best?” Now I have my opinion (subjective obviously). But what do you think? Go listen to them and then vote on WHO DOES IT BEST? Oh and don’t forget to check in soon to see how the versions between U2, Bob Dylan, Joss Stone, Rod Stewart, Dusty Springfield and Ziggy Marley all compare on “Who does it best?”.

Artist: Curtis Mayfield
Album: Superfly
Year: 1972
Quality: VBR V0

“What is the best word one could put in a song?” is a stupid question from almost every angle, but consider this:  psychologists at the University of Florida have developed a list of Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW) by crunching questionnaire responses to “How does this word make you feel?” for hundreds of words.   There are best words, it turns out, in the sense that certain words score highest for making people feel good:   on a 1 to 9 scale, “triumphant” is a top word at 8.82; “love” is 8.72.[1] (The results raise all sorts of questions.  How could “hell” be 2.24?  Maybe a few people misread it as “hello”?)

Of course the meaning of your peak experiences in songs has to do with combinations of elements, never with one element alone, but still you can think about which words you tend to warm to.   Aw, admit it:  one of them is “love.”  There’s no way “love” won’t be one of the ultimate buttons to push in a human being.[2] Precisely for that reason, though, it will often be used lamely and lazily, so let’s set it aside (though I can’t refrain from asking:   When has the word “love” sounded most powerfully in a rock context?  Is it when Reg Presley says “I love you” in “Wild Thing”?  Probably not).

For me, another top contender is “people” (7.33).[3] Not as in the famous Barbara Streisand song (people, people who need people, are the luckiest people in the world)—but my strong negative reaction in that case is a pointer to something big that deserves better treatment.  “People” gets to me whenever it’s set on a political horizon, somehow rallying people together.  Apparently I really want to feel rallied.

But don’t rally me shallowly.  Don’t just push the button.  I’m afraid The Rascals’ “People Got To Be Free” doesn’t specify a cause well enough, and there’s too much pop sunshine there for a sense of urgency.  John Lennon’s “Power To The People” is unfortunately just a slogan.  But when I hear of “all the lonely people” in “Eleanor Rigby”; when The Doors assert, with eerie coolness, “People Are Strange”; when Joni Mitchell sings desperately of the trap of “People’s Parties”; when Steely Dan sees “the poor people sleeping with the shade on the light” while “all the stars come out at night” in “Show Biz Kids”—these are definite causes, and serious, and the problem of collective life rushes into me through the gateway word.

“People Get Ready,” the much-covered Curtis Mayfield song said to be inspired by the 1963 civil rights march on Washington, is preeminent among the “people” appeals.

People get ready
There’s a train a-coming
You don’t need no baggage
You just get on board
All you need is faith
To hear diesels humming
You don’t need no ticket
You just thank the Lord

Here “people” really works as the gateway to everything since it’s always the already-went-by first word, a summons word, not a sentimental button to be pushed repeatedly.  In Eva Cassidy’s version, the singer’s flexing of the melody marvelously combines a dreamy meditative openness (who are we? what is going on?) with a surging eagerness to get on that train to Jordan, to finally see the point of being “people.”[4]

[2] Speaking of buttons, “orgasm” scores a whopping 8.32; but who has used it effectively in a song besides the Buzzcocks in “Orgasm Addict” (1977)?

[3] Remarkably, according to the Corpus of Contemporary American Language list of frequency in general use of English from 1990 to 2009, the most frequently used word that isn’t a little hard-working article, demonstrative, pronoun, or auxiliary verb is “people.”

[4] Joss Stone’s version in Jeff Beck’s 2007 show at Ronnie Scott’s is great in much the same way, but a bit harder-edged.