END OF THE SUMMER OF 08 (O-DUB'S REWIND) posted by O.W.

Soul II Soul: Back To Life (acapella mix)
From 12" (Virgin, 1989)

Bonnie and Shelia: You Keep Me Hanging On
From 7" (King, 1971). Also on New Orleans Funk Vol. 2.

Patti Drew: Stop and Listen
From Tell Him (Capitol, 1967). Also on Workin' On a Groovy Thing.

Bobby Matos: Nadie Baila Como Yo
From My Latin Soul (Phillips, 1968)

Smokey Robinson and the Miracles: If You Can Want
From Special Occasion (Motown, 1968)

Menahan Street Band: Home Again
From Make the Road By Walking (Dunham/Daptone, forthcoming 10/14/08)

Final Solution: I Don't Care
From Brotherman soundtrack (Numero Group, 2008)

Freeway: Let the Beat Build freestyle
From ? (?, 2008)

Q-Tip: Gettin' Up
From The Renaissance (Motown, forthcoming 2008)

Black Ivory: You and I
From Don't Turn Around (Today, 1972)

It's the end of another summer, alas.

Looking back over the summer songs season, I wanted to do the last post on the songs that ended up forming my personal soundtrack the last few months. To be honest, I thought this list would be a lot longer than it ended up being but I wanted to keep it to songs that I kept returning to over and over rather than something I found merely "good."

Soul II Soul's acapella mix of "Back to Life" came at me three different ways: Murphy's Law dropped it at Boogaloo[la] and reminded me how cotdamn fresh it was, Greg Tate's Summer Songs post made me revisit the Soul II Soul catalog and I finally saw Belly which makes incredible use of the song to open the movie. Personally, I grew impatient to actually get to where the beat drops so I edited my version down to about a 30 second teaser before the "Impeach the President" drums kick in. As ML showed me, it's always a fun cut to play out.

The Bonnie and Sheila, I have to admit, I learned about first through a quirky youtube video[1] and I wondered how the hell I didn't know about this earlier. Great little slice of New Orleans funk produced by the great Wardell Quezergue and released on King (the Cincinnati label most associated with James Brown). Words are insufficient to explain to you how much I love this song.

The Patti Drew I owe to Chairman Mao. When I interviewed him for Asia Pacific Arts, he mentioned "Stop and Listen" as an example of a great soul tune that doesn't cost and arm and a leg yet sounds like a million bucks (not his exact words but you catch the meaning). I couldn't agree more. Don't sleep on the equally excellent ballad, "Tell Him" on the same album.

I had totally forgotten about the Bobby Matos and Combo Conquistadores song, "Nadie Baila Como Yo" (nobody dances like me) off the incredible My Latin Soul album until I heard the Boogaloo Assassins play it at their shows. This may very well elevate itself to my top 10 Latin soul songs given how it changes up chord progressions and tepos not once but twice - it's like getting three songs in one; one of the marks of a superior son montuno. I can't believe I slept on this track all these years.

I found the Smokey Robinson and Miracles song during my search through Motown's catalog to find tracks to play out that wasn't part of their Big Chill/Greatest Hits collection and I never failed to be amazed at the generosity of greatness that Motown provided over the years. For those who think Smokey is all droopy ballads, "If You Can Want" is a loud, proud wake-up call of funky power. How has no one ever done a 12" edit of this?

I already wrote about the Menahan Street Band and Brotherman songs already but they're so nice, I had to list 'em twice.

Freeway's freestyle over "Let the Beat Build" goes well with my official, beginning of the summer post where I nodded at Lil Wayne's original. Free, who had one of the best albums of last year that few seemed to notice, murders over Kanye's beat here. After, uh, a million subpar "A Milli" freestyles, I was happy to hear someone pick a different track to rip.

The last song is one I should have started the summer with. Late pass. Q-Tip's had a rough, um, decade so far in terms of being able to get this music to the masses but I'm hoping "Gettin' Up" does it right for him in preparation for his Renaissance album. This is, by far, the best thing I've heard from 'Tip since this and without getting all misty-eyed for my halcyon teens and 20s, listening to Tribe, this song just f---ing sounds good in the way the best Tribe songs just sounded f---ing good. (No doubt, it helps that the sample source is also f---ng good: "You and I" by Black Ivory. Read more here.).

By the way, if I had to pick my absolute favorite song of the summer...surprisingly, it'd end up being Solange Knowles' "I Decided." Don't ask me why but this has stuck with me the entire time through without ever ceasing to be pleasurable.

And with that...I bid all you adieu until next May but hope you keep the memory of summer in your mind alive until then.[2]

[1] Don't laugh - he dances better than you.

[2] Unless you live in the Southern Hemisphere.

SNIPPING SIMPLY posted by murphyslaw

Bill Withers: No Hands, Gramma (Re-edit by Shoes)

Taken from the whitelabel 12" (2008)



Barbara Acklin: I Can't Be Myself (Floorman Re-Edit)

Mp3 taken from here



Chic: I Want Your Love (Re-Edit by Todd Terje)

Taken from a mix cd that a friend gave me... (a few weeks ago)



James Brown: Sayin' It And Doin' It (Sugarloaf Gangsters Mix)

Taken from the album Doin' James on Gamm (2008)



Chaka Khan: Every Little Thing (Barna Soundmachine Edit)

Taken from the whitelabel 12" (2005)



Ralfi Pagan: Didn't Want To Have To Do It (4 Hero Remix)

Taken from the album I Like It Like That: Fania Remixed on Fania (2008)



"Simplify, simplify." --Henry David Thoreau



I've always liked that quote. And let it be known, friends, that as sure as it applies to the great quandries of existentialism, so too with... a proper re-edit.



The beauty of a good re-hashing of somebody else's (hopefully) already realized work is the subtle accentuation of elements already present to form a just-barely-ever-so-slightly-more groovy groove. A more slinky slink. A more rifftastic riff. Likely, but not necessarily limited to the intention of moving a dancefloor more provocatively.



But pay heed re-editors and re-mixers, because often the song itself doesn't need too much work... Your job is to find those few subtle elements and re-establish them as the cornerstones of the whole shebang. All you're looking for is one narrow window--a guitar line, a bass burble, a drum break--and suddenly a 3 minute song becomes 6, a piano spurt becomes a great anticipatory soliloquy... and a dancefloor becomes a temple to your work.



The tracks: These are some of my current favorites in the re-edit department. Some for their obvious potency on a dancefloor (Chaka Khan, James Brown) others for their truly fine interpretations of the originals (Bill Withers, Ralfi Pagan). I do feel a need to emphasize just HOW amazing "Didn't Want To Have To Do It" is... This song for me has been a frickin' revelation. As a long time fan of Mr. Pagan (and 4 Hero, for that matter), this little number absolutely guts me, leaving me panting, sweating and begging for more.



The rest I'll let speak for themselves.



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ALSO. Tonight is BOOGALOO! @ The Short Stop in Echo Park (1455 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles,90004)



For those of you who haven't made it out yet... QUIT SLEEPIN'!!! Thursdays are your weekly chance to get up on joints like these while getting down on the dancefloor. Holler.

Land Of 1000 Remixes posted by Captain Planet

Erykah Badu : Honey (Capt. Planet Remix)
exclusive freshness

Red Astaire : Love To Angie (Remix of Angie Stone's "Wish I Didn't Miss You")
taken from the album "Nuggets For The Needy" on Homegrown

The Doors : Break On Through (Bossarocker Remix)
taken from the whitelable 12" available here

Gang Starr ft. Nice & Smooth : DWYCK (Little Kids Remix)
taken from the whitelable 12" available here

Pretty much fell in love instantly with the new Erykah single (and accompanying video), so when I got my hands on the acapella, I went to work right away. It's no secret that I have a serious talkbox fetish, and as you can hear, this has been manifesting itself overwhelmingly in my work lately. But who's complaining? All vocoder and instrumentation by yours truly.

I'm also posting some of my crate staple whitelables that never fail to stir a crowd in motion. In the era of iPod DJs and Serato tricknology, I find that it's just as much about how you present a song as it is about the actual song itself that you're playing. Tasteful, creative remixes like these bring a whole new life to tracks that otherwise might be a little too played out or were never really dancer friendly to begin with.

Starting with my homie Red Astaire's masterpiece (this has become one of my signature tunes that I've played perhaps every single gig since first copping it from him a year ago), Angie Stone gives a little something back to the B-Boys and B-Girls. My theory is, this track will 100% GUARANTEE that someone in the house will start uprocking- test it for yourself! Also, be a champ and pick up the whole album, which is jampacked with other remix hotness (funky Latin reworkings of hip hop classics, a bossa version of D'Angelo, and another 12" favorite of mine "Tito"), and get your money's worth on an album for once. Murphy posted the reggae remix to this one a while back, and while that one certainly has it's appeal, this one's better suited for the dancefloor methinks.

The Bossarocker Remix first cracked my head open when I was getting loose to one of Gilles Peterson's notoriously glorious DJ sets at the packed and sweaty Canal Room here in NYC. By the time the second "is everybody in?" dropped, people all around me were buggin' out. Been out for a while now, but this is another one of those 12"s that I just haven't been able to take out of my crate (since I jacked it from young Murphy! haha - you can have it back now). Get a copy for yourself (with a funky B-side rework of "Fever") right here.

Another bossa remix that easily works into the same set is this Little Kids version of DWYCK. Who are the Little Kids? I don't know, but I'm waiting to hear something else from them. This one is a perfect mid-tempo bridge that can help you cross over from a hip hop set into some Latin or Brazilian- or just bounce while stuck in traffic. COP IT HERE.

3 QUEENS posted by O.W.

Candi Staton: Too Hurt To Cry
From Stand By Your Man (Fame, 1971). Also on Candi Staton: The Fame Years.

Holly Golightly: My Love Is
From Slowly But Surely (Damaged Goods/Revolver, 2004)

Amy Winehouse: Love Is A Losing Game (Truth and Soul Remix)
From 12" (Universal, 2007)

*This is my first post that will be cross-posted over at Captain's Crate as part of our Soul Crates experiment in content sharing.

I talked about Candi Staton's Fame output the other month and that got me back into listening more of her songs and came upon this great one from her Stand By Your Man album. Love the tinkle of piano that begins this and really, Rick Hall produces this beautiful, with such a rich, soulful quality that Staton plays against wonderfully.

With the Holly Golightly...I was trying to find the original version of "My Love Is," done by Little Willie John, after watching Lonestar again for the upteenth time but alas, it's a hard song to track down digitally speaking. But lo and behold, I found this cover by Golightly and despite my initial reservations, she's actually rather perfect for the song. Her light, almost ethereal voice goes with the song's dreamy, haunting qualities; this is what you'd want to hear playing on the cheap jukebox in some coffee and pie diner off a decaying highway.

Speaking of decaying - snap! - Amy Winehouse might be the biggest pop train wreck not named Britney of the last year or so but we're still enamored with her musically. Plus, when the folks at Truth and Soul get the nod to remix "Love is a Losing Game" (one of our favorite songs off the last album), then we perk up and listen. And smile. Great remix, really strips this ballad down and remakes it with a minimalist but mesmerizing melody (I didn't plan that alliteration, seriously). We likee.

EIGHT IS ENOUGH posted by O.W.

Ben Westbeech: So Good Today
From Welcome to the Best Days Of Your Life (Brownswood, 2007)

Candi Staton: I'm Just a Prisoner
From I'm Just a Prisoner (Fame, 1970). Also on Candi Staton: The Early Years.

Timmy NcNealy: I Am So Glad You're Mine (snippet)
From 7" (Shawn/Truth and Soul, 1972/2007)

Hank Ballard: With Your Sweet, Lovin' Self
From 7" (King, 1969)

Bronx River Parkway and Candela All-Stars: Aqua Con Sal (snippet)
From 7" (From Truth and Soul, 2007)

The Three Souls: Herby's Tune
From 7" (All-Indy, 196?)

Donny Hathaway: Lord Help Me
From 7" (ATCO, 1972) Also on Extension of a Man.

UGK: One Day
From Ridin' Dirty (Jive, 199)
Here's an irony for you: I switched to audioblogging after doing 10 years of radio because, frankly, I found radio a bit exhausting. But nowadays, with teaching and family, blogging (at times mind you, only at times) feels like the burden. So instead of doing a few mini-posts, I'm back to cooking up mini-sets. I'd appreciate any feedback people have, namely over whether or not these 20+ minute mixes are more to their liking than single-song files. Personally, I like it better since I think music should be listened to in a sequence rather than bits of free-floating atomic units (I'm old school like that).

Anyway - here's the latest mega-post.

I have to thank Soul Sides reader, Ronnie Reese, who put me up on my current heavy-rotation player - "So Good Today" by the UK's Ben Westbeech. I'm a little surprised I didn't catch wind of this sooner, only because Westbeech is signed to Gilles Peterson's Brownswood label and I tend to follow Peterson's music. In any case, Reese was trying to put me up on the Dap-Kings mix of the song but I have to say: I rather prefer the original version. Sure, it's sugary sweet and probably only a touch less hippy-happy than, say, "Young Folks ," but to me, this is the perfect "start-your-day" song. Much better than waking up to that "ENH! ENH! ENH! ENH!" of the typical clock-radio. Dig the video too.

The Candi Staton is very, very overdue. I should have blogged about this a couple years ago, when Astralwerks put out that amazing Candi Staton: The Early Years anthology, featuring some of her best songs with Rick Hall's famous Fame studio in Muscle Shoals. I was reminded of this, pulling out songs for that recent Sharon Jones gig, and reminded about how insanely awesome "I'm Just a Prisoner" is. Seriously, it's G.O.A.T. status and I don't mean Capra aegagrus hircus. You gotta love how the song builds in intensity; it's not far past 3 minutes yet it sounds absolutely epic.

I follow that with one of the best reissues I've heard in a while; a cover of Al Green's "I'm So Glad You're Mine" done by the great Timothy McNealy, and re-released by our valued colleagues over at Truth and South in Brooklyn. This one is mega-mega rare, originally appearing on Shawn and what I appreciate about it is how McNealy strips down an already stripped-down song...it's lo-fi but in this affecting, acoustic, intimate way. I only hooked up a snippet: cop the entire thing (hopefully, T&S will get a digital sales system set up soon).

The Hank Ballard side comes from a stack of 45s my man Justin Torres broke me off with a few years back but I had misfiled a bunch of them and only recently rediscovered them. This was part of a batch of James Brown-produced singles and the deeper I get with that catalog, the more impressed you get at just how many songs from the '60s, including a song like this Ballard cut, managed to carry that signature JB sound without having to smash you ever the head with it, ala "Think" or "More Peas" (so we're clear: I like being smashed in the head by JB-production). Sweet funk like this makes my day.

Back to Truth and Soul, just wanted to hit ya'll with a quick blast of Latin funk from their Bronx River Parkway recordings (I believe a full-length is imminent). As usual, a solid dancefloor cooker that's a good transition song for the Latin newcomers but doesn't dumb it down for the real heads either.

The Three Souls jazz tune is off another 45 I re-discovered from Torres' batch. This is an interesting single out of Indianapolis, given that the A-side, recorded with a vocalist named Aretta is a soul cut whereas this, the flipside, is obviously a straight-ahead jazz track and my, my, my...what a nice one at that. Much as I appreciate the soul jazz era of the late '60s/early '70s, it's "soulful" straight-ahead jazz like this which I never get tired of listening to. If anyone else has recommendations for albums in a similar sounding vein, let me know.

The Donny Hathaway is something I originally posted back in February and I was under the mistaken impression that it had been a previously unreleased cut, put onto the Extension of a Man CD. As it turns out, it had come out...but only on 45. Given that I just reacquired the single, I wanted to put it up again especially since it is, hands-down, one of my favorite Hathaway songs (which is saying a lot). So sublime and socially conscious to boot.

Lastly, I end with a song that was suggested to me by Soul Sides reader Laughlin Siceloff as part as a two-song, Pimp C dedication. I thought it'd actually work nicely as a coda here, in the memory of a rapper who passed far, far before his time. R.I.P.

JONESIN' FOR 50 posted by O.W.

50 Cent: I Get Money (I Dap Money Remix)

A Soul Sider (Andrew G.) sent this in: a remix of 50 Cent's "I Get Money" using a Sharon Jones and Dap-Kings song. Heck, if Jay-Z can flip about the "Roc Boys" over the Menahan Street Band, why not this? Reminds me of that Clipse/Lee Fields blend from last year.

Verdict?