Leon Bridges: Retro Soul/R&B..WOW.

Thanks for the tip on Solo!

 

Finally had a chance to sit down with the LP. Cut at MPO. This thing sounds great through my Sherwood s5000II. The vocals are relaxed and the recording is reverby and warm. Horns and organs are rich. There's definitely some magic missing in both the recording and song writing, but he has a good bit and (for the most part) pulls it off. "Pull Away" is worth the price of the LP. That song does it for me.

 

Thanks for the review! Yeah, that Pull Away tune is great.

 

I think it's a strong effort for what it is: pleasant retro vocal soul in the early stax style.

 

Sam Cooke for example as far as I know sang other musicians songs. I'm not comparing but give Leon a chance! This guys performs his own material, he is not 'studio' thing as well.

 

I think this is a great debut and hope that Leon will have a great future and won't fall into obscurity. I also would like him to overcome his 'retro-thing' in terms of imitation. This means that he should write far more greater songs and employ more complex arrangements.

We also need to mention two guys from White Denim who basically discovered Leon, co-wrote, played, recorded and produced this album. Austin Jenkins (guitarist) and Joshua Block (drummer) did a great job. I much prefer their stylish and unshowy work on this LP especially comparing with their terrific and busy playing on White Denim albums.

 

I did not know that! I love Whire Denim!

 

Actually...Sam Cooke was an extraordinary song writer and sang his own material....

 

i'm friends with leon (we're both from fort worth) and have jammed with him at open mics a few times.
he was literally plucked from the local scene almost overnight and thrust by columbia into the media machine.

he is the sweetest, most humble dude, who just writes his songs and does his thing, and somebody saw a potential in him and went straight in for the kill

i agree, the songwriting isn't top notch. i don't really care for the production on the album either. i am good friends with many
of the people who played on the album, and really good friends with 3 of his band members. it's fun to see people you are close with
riding a meteoric wave like this.

i'm hoping he will progress further and maybe make a better sounding and more thought out record song-wise

 

What's wrong with you man?
First LP - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_by_Sam_Cooke he wrote only one song.
Second - covers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encore_(Sam_Cooke_album))

I know that he wrote great songs but performed a lot of other people's material.

 

Nice info! Who are guys that play bass and lead guitar in Leon's band?

 

Streaming the album from Amazon Prime, I like it a lot. Recently I have been listening to the 9-CD Stax Volt Singles 1959-1968 box set having purchased it a few months ago. There are a lot of songs on the box set I wasn't familiar with, sure didn't get any play in the midwest when I was growing up. Most of the songs and artists I wasn't familiar with I don't like. The Atlantic box set that covers that label's music from the era also had some music I wasn't familiar with and didn't like, no surprise. Given the fact there are decades worth of music in the genre I like, early music I didn't hear when it was new is going to be judged unfairly by me for the time of its release, can't be any way around that.

I didn't pay any attention to Fante with his attempt but did see Saadig a few times on TV without following up to hear what he has recorded, I don't really have an opinion on either of those artists yet. The Leon Bridges album is really good in my opinion, I like the music and think he did extraordinarily well with it. What can music like this do in today's marketplace, who knows?

 

My daughter turned me onto Leon. Cool stuff.

 

That's an interesting story! Plucked from the open mic seen right to Columbia...wow. I guess this is typical though. Maybe the hardworking touring machine thing is drifting. There's always big artists that seem to come from nowhere, esp. when they originate locally.

Have you heard any feedback on how the band likes the sound of the record, or anything about the production/recording process?

 

Thanks for the inside scoop. It is obvious he is a very nice, sincere fellow.

 

C'mon dude:
http://songwritershalloffame.org/songs/detailed/C117

 

For the record, I LOVE the production. I will take this any day of the week over a canned Pro Tools, still born POS.

 

the bass player is Andrew Skates. most recently he played keys/guitar with Quaker City Night Hawks (another awesome local band)...he also used to play keys with Telegraph Canyon.

the guitar player is Kenny Wayne Hollingsworth. he most recently played guitar with The Orbans.

the sax player is Jeff Dazey...he and i have played in a few projects together, and he most recently was in JJ Grey & Mofro. all really cool and talented fellow Fort Worthians. so proud to see these guys doing so well!!

 

Thank you, good man!

 

Yes he did and there isn't anything wrong with covers. In fact, most of these "singer/songwriters" can't write very well and IMVHO would benefit by much more collaboration and singing covers. Over the years, I have heard many great singers who weren't very good songwriters and most didn't have very long careers.

Sometime around the 70s it became a stigma to do covers (in pop not jazz) and we now have generations of music fans that buy into that specious concept. Don't get me wrong, there are great singers who are great songwriters but for each one there are dozens of great singers that are mediocre writers and dozens of good writers that are mediocre singers. Which means that we are subjected to lots of lousy music.

 

http://www.stereophile.com/content/leon-bridges#gyOqx1DWv5O1dqWe.97

Nice write up.

 

http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2015/07/30/leon-bridges-played-deep-ellum-last-night/

It's impossible not to love this kid.

 

+1000!

 

Awesome stuff... Some of the best new music I've heard to date. Seeing him live on his upcoming tour, looking forward to it!

 

Check out Anderson East for a slightly different take on the same flavor..more Country Soul..but nice.