Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

This mix should persuade those who believe that soul music was dying by the mid-1980s of their error. There is much that’s great on this mix, and among tracks that did not make the cut.

Some of the songs are surprising. Cameo are more usually associated with funk and camp codpieces, not deep soul music as this duet between Larry Blackmon and Barbara Mitchell of Hi Inergy (who featured on Any Major Soul 1976-77). Denise LaSalle, during the time covered by this mix, had a hit with the awful Don’t Mess With My Toot Toot; the song here, an old-fashioned southern soul number, preceded that atrocity  by a year. And those who associate Amii Stewart only with thumping Euro disco will hear another side to the long-legged Washington-born and Italy-based singer. And if there has been a perception that Deniece Williams had sold out to pop with Johnny Mathis duets and Let’s Hear It For The Boy, Black Butterfly (from the same album on which the latter appeared on) will dispel that notion.

The 1980s saw much collaboration and crossing over between jazz fusion and soul. We saw this on the Any Major Soul 1980-81 mix, on which the great Grady Tate provided vocals for Grover Washington. Likewise, here Roberta Flack guests with Japanese saxman Sadao Watanabe on the very lovely Here’s To Love. Likewise Bobby Womack guests on Crusaders’ saxophonist Wilton Felder’s cumbersomely titled but gorgeous (No Matter How High I Get) I’ll Still Be Looking Up You. Womack, who had previously sung on Felder’s Inherit The Wind, was accompanied by Alltrinna Grayson. Grayson was discovered by Womack while singing in a burger joint; when Patti LaBelle dropped out of Womack’s tour, he roped in Grayson (her vocals here suggest that she was an astute replacement for LaBelle).

Bernard Wright, like his childhood friend Tom Browne, had a jazz-funk background and recorded on Dave Grusin’s GRP label, though Mr Wright, on which the featured song appeared, was released on EMI subsidiary Manhattan.

Paris L. Holley is the son of a bandleader for Billie Holliday, and recorded in Chicago, apparently only this one single — but what a magnificent single! Google reveals that there is a music producer and web developer of that name, but I have no idea if that’s the same person.

A few veterans from the 1970s were making comebacks: The Intruders had been recording since 1961, though their breakthrough came only in 1968. After success through the 1970s, two of the trio left to become Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the other member, Eugene Daugherty, became a truck driver. In 1984, he left the road to reform The Intruders with a new line-up, and scored a hit with Who Do You Love. The Spinners went back even further, when as the Domingos they shared the stage with the Four Ames, who’d become the Four Tops. After a stint with Motown and various personnel changes, the Spinners enjoyed their most successful period in the 1970s. Their last big chart hit was in 1980.

And Teddy Pendergrass made his comeback with Love Language in 1984, two years after the car crash that left him paralysed. Truth be told, Love Language was mostly inferior by TP’s standards (he’d hit a final high in 1988 with his Joy LP). In My Time is standard ’80s soul crooning fare, but I think TP’s understated vocals are rather touching.

If I had to choose favourites from this set, the contenders would certainly include the two opening tracks, and the Cameo song and Patrice Rushen’s High In Me from her Now album, the tape of which I wore out driving on the Autobahn in 1984. Hear a podcast interview with Rushen at the fine jazz blog Straight No Chaser.

TRACKLISTING
1. Sadao Watanabe & Roberta Flack – Here’s To Love
2. Bill Withers – Oh Yeah
3. Paris - I Choose You
4. Amii Stewart – Friends
5. Alexander O’Neal – A Broken Heart Can Mend
6. Bernard Wright – Just When I Thought You Were Mine
7. Denise LaSalle & Latimore – Right Place Right Time
8. Wilton Felder feat. Bobby Womack & Alltinna Grayson – (No Matter How High I Get) I’ll Still Be Looking Up To You
9. Deniece Williams – Black Butterfly
10. Cameo - I’ll Never Look For Love
11. Patrice Rushen – High In Me
12. The Intruders – Who Do You Love?
13. S.O.S. Band – Just The Way You Like It
14. DeBarge – Time Will Reveal
15. The Spinners – Love Don’t Love Nobody
16. Teddy Pendergrass – In My Time

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More mixes
More ’80s Soul
’70s Soul

I thought that this series would come to a natural end with 1979, but the early 1980s were not as deficient as one might imagine. The difference resides in the volume of quality and the widening chasm between the great and the utterly abject in the ’80s. A lot of bad soul music was created in the ’80s, and the genre has never recovered. The next couple of installments of Any Major Soul will, I hope, highlight the bright spots in a declining genre.

The two opening tracks, by Clyde Milton and Sam Butler, are apparently quite difficult to find. Both are excellent, and would merit being regarded as ’80s soul classics – if they were more widely known outside the Northern Soul scene. Milton’s single sold on eBay for $199 last month; a promo copy of Butler’s single was going for $500 last week. I have not been able to find out anything about either singer.

Ruby Wilson has had a prolific if not necessarily high profile recording career, releasing ten albums. She has performed with the likes of Isaac Hayes and B.B. King, and apparently is a hugely popular on the Memphis circuit. She suffered a mild stroke in June last year, and has recently taken to the stage again. Check her out on Facebook, where visitors can learn how to donate towards her medical bills and order her greatest hits CD.

The Movers provide a fix of South African soul-funk. I can’t recall from which excellent site I got this track from, but I ought to express my appreciation for it.

The late Grover Washington Jr is not an obvious choice for a soul compilation, but Be Mine (Tonight) from the excellent Come Morning album does fit the bill. Grady Tate, a terribly under-appreciated singer, delivers the cool and very sexy vocals. The smash of the cymbal in the midst of the instrumental break at 5:45 is one of my favourite moment in popular music.

Con Funk Shun were founded in 1968 and after 1972 worked as a backing band at Stax. During that time they released a few albums on a local Memphis label. Their breakthrough came when they were signed by Mercury where they released a string of albums of varying quality.

Odyssey are better known for their great disco numbers, such as Native New Yorker and Going Back To My Roots. If You’re Looking For A Way Out is a slow soul song that will melt your heart, telling the story of a break-up from the point of view from a woman who still loves her man but has given up.

TRACKLISTING:
1. Clyde Milton – I’d Rather Leave On My Feet
2. Sam Butler – I Can’t Get Over Loving You
3. Grover Washington Jr feat Grady Tate - Be Mine (Tonight)
4. Maze feat Frankie Beverly – The Look In Your Eyes
5. The Dramatics - You’re The Best Thing In My Life
6. Ruby Wilson - Seeing You Again
7. Lou Rawls - I Go Crazy
8. Odyssey - If You’re Looking For A Way Out
9. The Jones Girls - At Peace With Woman
10. The Movers – Give Me A Day
11. Chaka Khan – Heed The Warning
12. Mtume - So You Wanna Be A Star
13. Tavares - I Don’t Want You Anymore
14. Patrice Rushen – Message In The Music
15. Ebonee Webb – Do Me Right (Everybody Needs A Little Love)
16. Con Funk Shun – All Up To You
17. Peaches & Herb - I Pledge My Love To You
18. Commodores – Lucy

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And a few bonus songs which didn’t fit on the CD-R length mix, of which Al Jarreau’s Spain in particular is quite astonishing:

Al Jarreau – Spain.mp3
Earth, Wind & Fire – I Wanna Be With You.mp3
Larry Graham – One In A Million.mp3
The Crusaders feat. Bill Withers – Soul Shadows.mp3
Ray Parker Jr – A Woman Needs Love.mp3
Teena Marie – I Need Your Lovin’.mp3
Stephanie Mills & Teddy Pendergrass -Two Hearts.mp3

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More Any Major Soul

1. Crusaders feat. Randy Crawford – Streetlife (Full version)
2. Average White Band - Let’s Go Around Again
3. Dan Hartman – Relight My Fire
4. Linda Lewis – Class-Style (I’ve Got It)
5. Webster Lewis - Give Me Some Emotion
6. Diana Ross – My Old Piano
7. Luther Vandross - Never Too Much
8. Billy Ocean – Whatever Turns You On
9. Patrice Rushen – Number One
10. Quincy Jones – Ai No Corrida
11. Peaches & Herb – Shake Your Groove Thing
12. Third World - Try Jah Love
13. Taste Of Honey – Boogie Oogie Oogie
14. Commodores – Brick House
15. Chaka Khan – I’m Every Woman
16. Yvonne Elliman – Love Pains
17. Rick James - Super Freak

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More Any Major Funk
More Mix CD-Rs

In December I posted a funk/disco mix-tape (meaning the songs don’t fade into each other), covering the golden era 1978-1983, and fitting on one CD-R. It was downloaded more than 1,300 times, and received the grand total of one comment. But that commenter was so pleased with the Any Major Funk mix, he or she asked for a follow-up. So, for that kind soul, here’s Any Major Funk Volume 2, which had me partying it down big time during its compilation. Get funky!

TRACKLISTING
1. Bell & James – Living It Up (Friday Night) (1978)
2. Jimmy ‘Bo’ Horne – Dance Across The Floor (1978)
3. Central Line – Walking Into Sunshine (1981)
4. Oliver Cheatham – Get Down Saturday Night (1983)
5. Brenda & the Big Dudes – Weekend Special (1983)
6. The Whispers – And The Beat Goes On (1979)
7. Third World – Dancing On The Floor (Hooked On Love) (1981)
8. Patrice Rushen – Forget Me Nots (1982)
9. The Emotions - Best Of My Love (1978)
10. Sister Sledge - Thinking Of You (1979)
11. Diana Ross – I’m Coming Out (1980)
12. Chic - My Feet Keep Dancing (1979)
13. Kurtis Blow – The Breaks (long version) (1980)
14. Thelma Houston – Saturday Night (1978)
15. Level 42 - Starchild (1981)

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