Here's a song that I didn't really like when it was on the radio but I find to be a classic now. There are a ton of songs in the last five years or so that have sampled it to great effect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f4CyQto-0E
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Here's a song that I didn't really like when it was on the radio but I find to be a classic now. There are a ton of songs in the last five years or so that have sampled it to great effect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f4CyQto-0E
As much as I love the '80s [[and hated them at the same time), I am probably a bigger fan of the '70s. That was when R&B really came into its own. This cut by the Dramatics rocks and there's no other era when it could have been released.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8krq5V1C03I
Sly and the Family Stone were forgotten geniuses. They were the freshest sound in music for most of their run and I don't think anything compared to them before or since. Although Tony! Toni! Tone! came close to their swagger. And "Family Affair" is so sublime in how little it required as far as vocals and instrumentation. It's both minimally produced and produced to perfection. I don't know how to say what I mean, but I love it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YST-JQ1bREA
There was a period in the '70s when the Stylistics and Chi-Lites were seeming like the logical successors to groups like the Temptations and Miracles. Hit after hit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alvEUFJtMw8
Nothing compares with this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwjsVD23Z3E
Here is a George Clinton song that slipped under a lot of radars. This is more of a soul record in my opinion than a funk song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Huijy3Ufu7s
George Clinton was still doing it way into the 80s some may forget. He has a new album coming out soon I hear. Remember this................from 1985!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KftYcBbSn_U&app=desktop
You couldn't go to a party my senior year in high school without hearing ....Bootsy Collins - "Bootzilla" [[1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=husf6po76mU&app=desktop
The year before that it was THIS!!!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ0XolwVyz8&app=desktop
LOL. I probably posted them both myself. Told you how much I love '70s R&B!
Okay, here's one that I don't remember seeing. One of the all time classic R&B ballads.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT_eOiTwtoQ
Another classic from the '50s. It's racist as hell, but still a great song. My cousin Maryland is on this track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbdAWc4bY_Y
There was a point in the '80s when I dusted off my father's old records and took a break from the songs that were playing on the radio. "Ting-a-Ling" is one of the songs that blew me away when I first spun it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWrjxCmoXXg
Of course, this will always be one of my favorite Dells records. They stayed hot for four decades.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1ozQT8yQXA
And this is proof.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI6X0Mlg-aU
The Skyliners may not technically be blue-eyed soul, but this is a soul record to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngZh6ZSRoYg
The Dells were my favorite group from outside of Detroit. They had so many good songs including this one from 1974:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnuEQU_-dFw
One of the few live performances on Soul Train and one of the rare times Harold Melvin sang lead:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teWaI2vxofg
He would get mad with me saying this, but this is Freda Payne's EX husband........Greg Abbott LOL! No, he is really nice cool guy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc8wmLul3uw
The there was the EPIC, the song that has frozen one of my best summers of my life in my memory. From the Summer of 1986, Patti LaBelle and some guy.......LOL!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsH63qJlIMM
Yes, it was tragic. A lot of folks wouldn't say that Little Willie John's story was tragic, but it was. One of the biggest travesties of music is the fact that "Fever" is best known as a Brenda lee song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx0VPoUFOTY
This is Keith John, Little Willie John's son. His voice is very smooth and makes me wonder why he was not signed to a deal that could showcase it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VGvKL_V40A
That last one was from the phenomenal Do The Right Thing soundtrack. This is a Stevie Wonder song that was on Spike Lee's School Daze soundtrack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhbR8Lywaqg
Also from School Daze, this is a song that I find incredible. It was a jazz record, so of course it didn't get played. Phyllis Hyman singing "Be One".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjpubv-EkL8
"Party Animal" by James Ingram is one of my favorite dance cuts from the '80s. Nothing about this song that I would change.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPTStxHx0c0
Now you are getting deep into my personal stash of favorites. I always play "Fever" by Little Willie John towards the end of the year for some reason. His story was an abomination it was so tragic. His sons have been working for years on bringing it to the big screen. They have had a tough time locating footage of their father performing on television. I would love to see it if some ever surface.
Speaking of James Ingram and Michael McDonald:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3rVtcm6pBE
Third World was fantastic. This song was one of the few reggae songs that crossed over. The first that I recall was "Could You Be Loved" by Bob Marley and the Wailers. This one played for a long time nationally and locally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XySGeNIdY0
This was the song and the segment of "School Daze" that was my favorite......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJOsjlXXfVo
I read where Prince basically did all of the parts on the Time's first album. They took it to another level on "What Time Is It?" but that first album was tight, too. This was the second single behind "Get It Up", but it's my favorite off that first record.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdfDjCCoVDw
And this, from the second. Every song on this album was good. It only has six songs on it, but it still might qualify as my favorite '80s R&B album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byzlQMpOr4M