Picking through my local Goodwill CD collection has gotten me listening to some R&B lately, which is a little outside of my usual tastes.
I’ve really been enjoying Alicia Keys’ Songs in A Minor both musically and for evaluating equipment. I find her enjoyable because of the clear Jazz influence, the extensive use of piano and other acoustic instrumentation, songs that actually have some development (I’m not real big on repetitive music) and of course Alicia’s beautiful voice. Songs like The Life seem really good for testing headphones too, as they have a good mix of instrumentation and vocals and include some deep bass beats too. Also, the intro to Piano & I has some highly sibilant vocals, so it’s good for exposing any sibilance in my gear and EQ settings.
Another album I picked up is D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar which is a real classic. I’m not enjoying it as much as Songs in A Minor but it does have some good beats and scratches that primal rhythm itch.
The third R&B (really Neo Soul) album in my current rotation is Joss Stone’s Mind Body & Soul. My wife and I saw her perform years ago at a local music festival and remember really enjoying the performance. The album captures some of that energy and her incredible voice, though acoustically it’s not doing much for me.
Lately I’ve wanted ‘more’ music, bigger sound, horns etc.
So I’ve been rebuilding my classic R&B library starting with 4 Tops, Temptations, Smokey Robinson,
and Etta James to name a few.
Since we’ve covering other genres figured we needed a blues discussion.
Lately I’ve been focusing on Lonnie Mack, Delbert McClinton and SRV with a strong smattering of
Howlin Wolf, John Lee Hooker and Houndog Taylor.
I found this really interesting CD “Voodoo Blues” with the hokiest cover I’ve ever seen (Its actually embarrassing and more than a little demeaning) but the music is great, think it cost me a whole $2.00 at half price books
@zOrk Prefer Gary Moore to Jeff Healey. I’ve been a huge SRV fan since he hit the scene. Along with delving into more ‘classic’ blues I’ve been hitting the English Blues pretty hard, I’m a sucker for Ten Years After and Alvin Lee. His duo with George Harrison on The Bluest Blues is one of the best songs I’ve heard in a while.
To the Mods, do you really think R&B and Blues should be combined? I always thought of them as two distinct genres. Not complaining just asking.
Another really good Texas Blues artist I’ve been listening to is James Hinkle from the Ft. Worth music scene.
highly recommend his CD Someday which is available for download (FREE!) here:
been listening to a lot of Mick Abrahams (Jethro Tull’s 1st guitarist) he recorded a lot of good music on Gonzo Records that are not widely distributed. Also a bunch of Johnny Winter’s later work.
Found an interesting site. Jazznblues club (dot.com) that offers downloads. I prefer to actually purchase music to support artists but this site has FLAC & APE formats of music that is not available elsewhere.
They also have a considerable Jazz collection.
Gee that all sounds like an advert for the site, that is not my intent.
and apologies for bumping this zombie thread.
I just picked up Johnny Winter Step Back and it’s outstanding. Recorded in 2014 and release posthumously. It has a who’s who of blues rock contributors including Eric Clapton, Dr. John, Billy Gibbons and Joe Bonamassa to name a few. Highly recommended even if you’re not a blues head.
Will add a few of my favorite R&B artists and tracks here.
This is from 2020 by a lesser known artist named Kadeem Tyrell. Nice flav on this. Not sure how I happened to run across it. I like the understated approach on the vid as well.
