Since the "best rock years" thread seems, by it's very nature, is geared towards pop/rock. How about a thread for soul music? What do you think is the best year for soul music? I could pick 1965, 1968, or even 1971. Noooo, i'm going for 1977 for albums! That was the year for "Aaaah! The Name Is Bootsy"-Bootsy's Rubber Band "Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome"-Parliament "All 'N All"-Earth, Wind & Fire "Rejoice"-Emotions "Maze featuring Frankie Beverly" "Commodores" "Songs In The Key Of Life"-Stevie Wonder "Brick" "Too Hot To Handle"-Heatwave Funk music made a big splash that year. Parliament showed just how "out there" the sub-genre could get! Earth, Wind & Fire released their arguably most artistic statement to date. Silky smooth soul came in the form of the Los Angeles band Maze, and we were intruduced to the part English, part American funk dance band, Heatwave. I'll take a shot a singles later.
Grant- Having learned my soul and R&B pretty much second hand, I don't have a stong enough grasp on dates to begin to give you a thoughtful response. However, since you mentioned 1971, I know off the top of my head that What's Going On (my all-time fave), There's A Riot Going On, Shaft, and probably Al Green Gets Next To You came out that year. If true, 1971 was definitely a good 'un.
Yep, CM, Gets Next To You also came out in '71. As did Curtis Mayfield's Roots, Funkadelic's Maggot Brain, the Chi-Lites' (For God's Sake) Give More Power To The People, Stevie Wonder's Where I'm Coming From, Roberta Flack's Quiet Fire, Bill Withers's Just As I Am, Aretha Franklin's Young Gifted & Black, and the self-titled debuts of Donny Hathaway and the Stylistics. Not a bad year for rock or soul!
Guy Incognito - 1971 was even better than I thought then. Thanks for the additions. I should have known a couple of them, especially the Aretha album (it is never far from my player and, along with Spirit in the Dark, is my favorite individual Aretha album.)
Wow, 1971 would be a pretty hard year to beat! But, for me at least, it'll have to be some year from the '60's to the early '70's for one simple reason: MOR radio stations *played* soul music as a regular part of their programming. It was really cool ~ and normal. The Rhino box set, Beg, Scream and Shout brought so many memories back for me from the '60's. I heard great tunes that I had completely forgotten about. Why are radio stations so ~ for the lack of a better term (it's after midnight here - gimmie a break, OK? ) so darn "programmed"?!? They follow set patterns.... I know it's the way to get better ratings, but ph~lease, give me a reason to start listening again! My appologies for the rant. 'Night.
We've all had this discussion before. After giving it some thought, I decided pop/rock and soul music parted ways in 1973, as far as radio is concerned. Why, I can't quite say. By 1976, "urban" radio was a different experience than top 40, and no, it had nothing to do with disco.
1971 is a truly exceptional year -- however, I'll try to raise the ante with 1972 and go with: Curtis Mayfield - Superfly Stevie Wonder - Talking Book Al Green - Let's Stay Together & I'm Still in Love With You (OK, released at the tail end of '72) O'Jays - Backstabbers Superfly is just so monumental that I had to give some props to '72. I haven't even mentioned solid releases by James Brown and The Stylistics. '71 or '72?? Either year you can't go wrong.
I threw 1977 to get the ball rolling, and I do thing there were some heavy hitters in it, but you guys are right about 1971-72! My bro-tha! Any other opinions out there?
Temtations, Sly, 5th Demension, Tower Of Power, SR & the Miracles, Spinners, J-5, Aretha, Supremes, War...those years.
As we all know there was a hugely successful (artistically and commercially) era of soul music in the early to mid 60s that pretty much ground to a halt on 10 December 1967 with the death of Otis. A quiet period followed before the 70s resurgence.
Soul Music for me basically means Stax and Spooner & pals in Alabama. So, that means 1965-66! The "Hold On I'm Coming" era is what I'm trying to say (it's late)....
Hey, wait Peter! 1967 is when Aretha Franklin went back to church! Hmmm,, The Dells-"Stay In My Corner"-1968 The Fantastic Johnny "C"-"Boogaloo Down Broadway"-1968 James Brown-"Cold Sweat"-1967 Isley Brothers-"It's Your Thing"-1969 Archie Bell & The Drells-"Tighten Up"-1968 Young-Holt Unlimited-"Soulful Strut"-1968 Johnnie Taylor-"Who's Making Love-1968 Barbra Aklin-"Love Makes A Woman"-1968 The Esquires-"Get On Up"-1967 Aaron Neville-"Tell It Like It Is"-1967 The Temptations-I Can't Get Next To You"-1969 The Temptations-"I Wish It Would Rain"-1968 Smokey Robinsobn & The Miracles-"I Second That Emotion"-1968 The Sweet Inspirations-"Sweet Inspiration"-1969 Booker T & The MGs-"Soul Limbo"-1968 ...and a whole boatload of Aretha Franklin!
Yes you're right. All great songs, but many of these artists were at or near the end of their prime periods with a few notable exceptions like Aretha and of course the Isley Brothers. I guess the era I was talking about is the one Steve refers to above. Of course, the whole soul genre was so big and of such high quality that you could pick any year from the early 60s onwards and list a few dozen classic songs. In saying "early 60s" I'm adopting the common definition of soul as being r'n'b plus strings. Whether it can be so specifically defined is questionable.
Peter, Yeah, definition is a matter of opinion. As many of you can define soul as a style of the 60s, many people will say it is the mid-70s, sadly, a time at which radio divorced soul from pop/rock. Also, the late 60s period I mentioned was full of R&B "one-hit-wonders" ,much like soul music of the early 70s.
MY question is, for anybody who loves the 60s and early 70s soul, why did you stop listening as time rolled on? I ask because with the exception of JeffH and Bob Lovely, no one mentiones the music past 1971 or 1972.
Well, I never did stop. Stevie Wonder/Isley Bros./Sly and on into the 70's. I guess I just think of later stuff as Black Music. The black jocks that I used to engineer for in the middle 1970's wouldn't be caught dead uttering the phrase "Soul Music" on the air....Too old-fashioned for them I guess...Their catch-phrase was "Beautiful Black Music".
You know Steve, I shy away from the term "Black music" because it offends mainly white people nowadays. Many prefer the term R&Ball around. But, "soul" was the word of the late 60s and 70s, so I use it to specify the period. "Black music" was used briefly in the 80s. Of course, there is no difference in the music until the 80s.
I guess, Grant. But I'm totally used to it. It's an industry term and has been for a really long time. I mean, think about it, record companies don't have "Soul Music" departments, they have Black Music departments and HAVE had since around 1973. So, I'm totally used to the term. Doesn't offend me in the slightest...
I always felt that "Soul Music" was a description and "Black Music" was a definition. Either way, I love Soul/Black Music. My wife is a Soul/Black Music fanatic!
I have to agree with Steve. For me as well, Soul means Stax, Fame and Hi--it simply doesn't get any tougher than that. If you were to ask me what the two best/toughest soul records were, I'd answer in a heartbeat: Wilson Pickett's "Wicked Pickett" and "Hey Jude" from 1968 and 1969 respectively. All to say that picking a specific year is pointless, though I'd sure go with 1965-1969 as Soul's "Golden Era."
Yes, these departments were mainly created to better market the music to black listeners and buyers. It was basically an outgrowth of the Harvard Report done in the late 60s. CBS Records commissioned Harvard University to research the black music market to find out how to compete with independants like Stax, Atlantic, and Motown, as the majors didn't have a clue. The marketing was carried to the point of Capitol Records stamping soul oriented records with a red label in the 70s so they could be easily identified. CBS Records used a symbol on their labels. Back to the term. The reason the term "black" is no longer used by Billboard is because they felt it was too exclusive or divisive. What do you call artists like Teena Marie, Bobby Caldwell, and AWB?