New Favorite Album – Mark Ronson Version

Yes, really.

Mark Ronson’s Version is an absolutely fantastic album. I’ve been listening to it all afternoon (well, in between Grindhouse and talking on the phone to S about music and H about film).

It hits all of the elements I love: 60s soulful, funky arrangements, British (for the most part) pop songs, British pop singers.

It’s like he knew and made the perfect Musette album. In reality, it means I have extremely universal taste. It also means we’re on the cusp of a complete motown revival now that our English friends are leading us back to rediscovering our own music. Again.

The album is released on Monday in the UK and can be purchased from Amazon and the complete album is streaming on Mark Ronson’s myspace.

Listen to the first single:
Mark Ronson featuring Daniel Merriweather, Stop Me (The Smiths cover)

 

Marvin Gaye’s Forgotten Here, My Dear

Spinner has an interesting article about Here, My Dear, a Marvin Gaye album with which I was not familiar. According to the article:

As part of a 1976 divorce agreement, Gaye was required to assign royalties from his next project to his estranged wife.

Gaye’s initial plans to submit a half-hearted effort were scrapped as the singer immersed himself in some painfully cathartic songwriting. The resulting album, pointedly titled ‘Here, My Dear,’ frankly and acidly chronicled the marriage, from its blissful beginnings (‘I Met a Little Girl’) to the bitterness of breakup (‘You Can Leave, But It’s Going to Cost You’) and admissions of extramarital affairs (Gaye eventually married Janis Hunter, daughter of the comic jazzman Slim Gaillard).

 

"Retro Soul" Primer on Soul-Sides.com

Check out the Retro Soul primer on Soul-Sides.com.

There are links to songs from Amy Winehouse, including a new live version of “He Can Only Hold Her,” Sharon Jones, The Poets of Rhythm, Breakestra, and Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators.

 

Amy WInehouse & the Dap-Kings?

Check out Soul Sides for a great post about Amy Winehouse, her band, and issues of race.

I have been listening to Back to Black (or large parts of it) for months and I never realized she was backed by two of the Dap-Kings.

Of all of the music I have slept on in recent years, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings may be the most egregious. I’ve only been listening to them for months, instead of years, because I never knew they existed. (How embarrassing is that?)

Download:
Mp3: <a href=”http://www.divshare.com/download/256228-055“>Amy Winehouse, Rehab
Mp3: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?.

Buy:

Amy Winehouse, Back to Black on Amazon.

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Naturally on Amazon or eMusic.

 

New Soul Music – Aloe Blacc

When I hear I really great new song, I have to hit replay and then I need silence. Then I email all of you to say “you have to buy this now!”

It happens rarely.

The last time I can remember doing it was John Legend’s first album, which I bought because I read a review that compared him favorably to the Titans of Soul (Smokey, Stevie, and Marvin). Before that, it was D’Angelo’s Voodoo and Charlie Hunter’s Songs from an Analog Playground, which are in my top-10 albums of all time. (I ended up buying at least 5 albums of each from Amazon and shipping them to [some of] you.)

Ian on Notes from a Different Kitchen posted a few new soul tracks this morning.

I downloaded Aloe Blacc’s Gente Ordinaria, which hits all of the things I love: it’s a cover of Ordinary People in Spanish, but where the original is a spare piano track, this is a lush tropical arrangement with horns and drums. Because it couldn’t get better, he also throws in the “la las” of My Cherie Amour.

Check it out here (Gente Ordinaria, Aloe Blacc) and then buy the album here.

In case my exhortation is not enough to convince you, here is part of the review from The In Crowd:

It’s hard to really do this album proper justice in a review: dude basically takes sounds from the entire spectrum of the black musical disapora from jazz, blues, black folk field music to R&B, afro-latin jazz and hip hop and distills it down to a single, thoroughly modern yet unique sounding album.

So, buy it. Now.

 

Neo-Soul Music ( or New (ish) Soul (ish) Music)

B, my favorite DJ/realtor, called today for recommendations for neo-soul music.

Here are some artists to check out. You may already have them, but, if not, buy this stuff quick!

I am taking more of a Pandora approach, so not everything is necessarily categorized as “Soul,” but it fits together musically.

Amp Fiddler

A first heard this at a listening station at Borders a few years ago.

His album Waltz of a Ghetto Fly is well-worth buying.

Mp3: You Played Me, Amp Fiddler.

Lemar

This Lemar track “50 50″ comes from the Live Lounge.

You can find his music at Amazon.

Mp3: 50 50, Lemar

The Brand New Heavies

With N’Dea Davenport back in the mix, it sounds like vintage BNH.

You can find their new album on iTunes.

Mp3: I Don’t Know Why (I Love You), The Brand New Heavies

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings

I was introduced to this band by Idolator.

They are just amazing.

Mp3: How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings.

Amos Lee

Amos Lee is an artist on Blue Note. I bought his new album though I am not 100% sold. You can find it here on
Amazon.

He’s in my rotation, though, and I am keeping an open mind to see how he develops.

Mp3: Sympathize, Amos Lee.

Esthero

Her latest album is filled with Lounge-y goodness. I listened to her a lot at the end of last year and the album really held up. You can find it on iTunes and
>Amazon.

Mp3: Everyday is a Holiday, Esthero