A much needed Black Music thread.

[Robert Mugabe]

Just heard this on a PA system for a band setting up on stage. Forgotten how much I liked it. Catchy song. Kick ass back up band.

 

[Insidious Von]

Leadbelly should be getting lots of royalties. Jimmy Page stole Gallows Pole.

 

[Insidious Von]

 

[xmontrealer]

Just heard this on a PA system for a band setting up on stage. Forgotten how much I liked it. Catchy song. Kick ass back up band.

I know this doesn't cut the Michael Jackson version, but I love it. Berry Gordy Jr. kept it in the can when it was recorded in 1971, 2 years after the Jackson 5 version. It was finally released in 2004, as part of the unreleased "David" album also recorded in 1971. Possible reasons copied and pasted from YouTube below the clip. Yes, I've posted it before...

DAVID RUFFIN -"I WANT YOU BACK" (1971)
177,319 views May 4, 2013 It's well known that Motown recorded more material than it could release, but its reasons for shelving material remain a mystery to this day. Ever since the CD reissue boom of the late '80s, this unreleased material has begun to trickle out of the vaults, and when it does surface in such forms as the dynamite double-disc set A Cellarful of Motown!, the music is so good it's hard to believe that it never was released at the time. Knowing this, it should not come as a complete surprise that former Temptations lead singer David Ruffin had a full, completed album shelved in 1971, but hearing Hip-O Select's excavation of that album on the 2004 release David: The Unreleased Album, it's still a wonder that this record sat in the vaults for over three decades, with very few of the songs recorded during the sessions appearing on other records and compilations over the years. Far from being unreleasable, David (titled as such because the album was never given a proper title -- it was given a catalog number and track sequencing, with David Ruffin penciled in as its name, but that was used as the title for his 1973 album) finds Ruffin at a solo peak, not just a singer but in terms of material. He cut the 12 songs that comprised the album, along with the seven bonus tracks from the same sessions that fill out this CD reissue, in late 1969 and 1970, after he had a big solo hit with "My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)," with the intent of releasing the album in 1971. There were a pair of covers of recent hits -- an appropriately heartbroken and seductive "Rainy Night in Georgia" and a rather revelatory "I Want You Back," which added real grit to the Jackson 5's effervescent smash -- but most of this was material written for Ruffin and it played to his strengths. While this music was rooted in Motown's signature sound and performed by the Funk Brothers, it also looked beyond Detroit, adding heavy doses of funk, psychedelia, and smooth soul, filled with galvanizing horns, driving guitars, down-n-dirty clavinets, flourishes of electric sitar, fuzz tones, and wah-wah guitars, all grounded by Ruffin's earthy testifying and tied together by top-notch songwriting. All these elements wound up sounding much hipper than much of the music officially released by Motown in the early 1970, when Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye were just beginning to break free of the studio's formula, and while David and its accompanying bonus tracks are not a masterpiece along the lines of Talking Book or What's Going On (or even Where I'm Coming From, for that matter), it's vibrant, exciting music that still sounds fresh -- arguably fresher than full-length Temptations albums of the late '60s -- which qualifies it as a lost classic of sorts. Why was it lost, consigned to the vaults for nearly three and a half decades? According to the liner notes, nobody really knows. Ruffin wasn't popular among the executives at Motown in the early '70s, and he was also going through a number of well-documented personal problems, so it's possible that Motown simply didn't want to promote him at the time, but it's also true that the label had a number of great records, including Marvin's What's Going On, to release in 1971, and Ruffin had two LPs out in 1970, including a duet album with his brother Jimmy, so the market may have been saturated. We'll likely never know the reason why David was buried, but fortunately it has been unearthed, and it's a reason for hardcore soul and Motown fans to celebrate.

 

[Robert Mugabe]

I know this doesn't cut the Michael Jackson version, but I love it. Berry Gordy Jr. kept it in the can when it was recorded in 1971, 2 years after the Jackson 5 version. It was finally released in 2004, as part of the unreleased "David" album also recorded in 1971. Possible reasons copied and pasted from YouTube below the clip. Yes, I've posted it before...

DAVID RUFFIN -"I WANT YOU BACK" (1971)
177,319 views May 4, 2013 It's well known that Motown recorded more material than it could release, but its reasons for shelving material remain a mystery to this day. Ever since the CD reissue boom of the late '80s, this unreleased material has begun to trickle out of the vaults, and when it does surface in such forms as the dynamite double-disc set A Cellarful of Motown!, the music is so good it's hard to believe that it never was released at the time. Knowing this, it should not come as a complete surprise that former Temptations lead singer David Ruffin had a full, completed album shelved in 1971, but hearing Hip-O Select's excavation of that album on the 2004 release David: The Unreleased Album, it's still a wonder that this record sat in the vaults for over three decades, with very few of the songs recorded during the sessions appearing on other records and compilations over the years. Far from being unreleasable, David (titled as such because the album was never given a proper title -- it was given a catalog number and track sequencing, with David Ruffin penciled in as its name, but that was used as the title for his 1973 album) finds Ruffin at a solo peak, not just a singer but in terms of material. He cut the 12 songs that comprised the album, along with the seven bonus tracks from the same sessions that fill out this CD reissue, in late 1969 and 1970, after he had a big solo hit with "My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)," with the intent of releasing the album in 1971. There were a pair of covers of recent hits -- an appropriately heartbroken and seductive "Rainy Night in Georgia" and a rather revelatory "I Want You Back," which added real grit to the Jackson 5's effervescent smash -- but most of this was material written for Ruffin and it played to his strengths. While this music was rooted in Motown's signature sound and performed by the Funk Brothers, it also looked beyond Detroit, adding heavy doses of funk, psychedelia, and smooth soul, filled with galvanizing horns, driving guitars, down-n-dirty clavinets, flourishes of electric sitar, fuzz tones, and wah-wah guitars, all grounded by Ruffin's earthy testifying and tied together by top-notch songwriting. All these elements wound up sounding much hipper than much of the music officially released by Motown in the early 1970, when Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye were just beginning to break free of the studio's formula, and while David and its accompanying bonus tracks are not a masterpiece along the lines of Talking Book or What's Going On (or even Where I'm Coming From, for that matter), it's vibrant, exciting music that still sounds fresh -- arguably fresher than full-length Temptations albums of the late '60s -- which qualifies it as a lost classic of sorts. Why was it lost, consigned to the vaults for nearly three and a half decades? According to the liner notes, nobody really knows. Ruffin wasn't popular among the executives at Motown in the early '70s, and he was also going through a number of well-documented personal problems, so it's possible that Motown simply didn't want to promote him at the time, but it's also true that the label had a number of great records, including Marvin's What's Going On, to release in 1971, and Ruffin had two LPs out in 1970, including a duet album with his brother Jimmy, so the market may have been saturated. We'll likely never know the reason why David was buried, but fortunately it has been unearthed, and it's a reason for hardcore soul and Motown fans to celebrate.

Sounds like a hit.

Heard a couple of interviews with Tommy Chong about his involvement with Berry Gordy. Most recently on Mark Maron's WTF podcast. Tommy had an amazing history.

 

[K Douglas]

ok dougie....tell me how you know from Johnny Guitar Watson......i thought maybe me and 40 other people knew from him................oh and BTW..i have this album in my collection................thumbs up to KDouglas

Found his music from about 20 years ago. His Superman Lover was sampled on a hip hop record by Redman back in the 1990's so I looked up his discog. Forgot about him over the years then he appeared on my YT feed the past week so here we are. That's awesome you have him in your collection, I can't imagine too many Canadians do.

 

[K Douglas]

Just heard this on a PA system for a band setting up on stage. Forgotten how much I liked it. Catchy song. Kick ass back up band.

Timeless. When you think J5 this one immediately comes to mind for me. I play it all the time.

 

[Robert Mugabe]

While we're on a Jackson kick, I always liked this one

 

[K Douglas]

I know this doesn't cut the Michael Jackson version, but I love it. Berry Gordy Jr. kept it in the can when it was recorded in 1971, 2 years after the Jackson 5 version. It was finally released in 2004, as part of the unreleased "David" album also recorded in 1971. Possible reasons copied and pasted from YouTube below the clip. Yes, I've posted it before...

DAVID RUFFIN -"I WANT YOU BACK" (1971)
177,319 views May 4, 2013 It's well known that Motown recorded more material than it could release, but its reasons for shelving material remain a mystery to this day. Ever since the CD reissue boom of the late '80s, this unreleased material has begun to trickle out of the vaults, and when it does surface in such forms as the dynamite double-disc set A Cellarful of Motown!, the music is so good it's hard to believe that it never was released at the time. Knowing this, it should not come as a complete surprise that former Temptations lead singer David Ruffin had a full, completed album shelved in 1971, but hearing Hip-O Select's excavation of that album on the 2004 release David: The Unreleased Album, it's still a wonder that this record sat in the vaults for over three decades, with very few of the songs recorded during the sessions appearing on other records and compilations over the years. Far from being unreleasable, David (titled as such because the album was never given a proper title -- it was given a catalog number and track sequencing, with David Ruffin penciled in as its name, but that was used as the title for his 1973 album) finds Ruffin at a solo peak, not just a singer but in terms of material. He cut the 12 songs that comprised the album, along with the seven bonus tracks from the same sessions that fill out this CD reissue, in late 1969 and 1970, after he had a big solo hit with "My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)," with the intent of releasing the album in 1971. There were a pair of covers of recent hits -- an appropriately heartbroken and seductive "Rainy Night in Georgia" and a rather revelatory "I Want You Back," which added real grit to the Jackson 5's effervescent smash -- but most of this was material written for Ruffin and it played to his strengths. While this music was rooted in Motown's signature sound and performed by the Funk Brothers, it also looked beyond Detroit, adding heavy doses of funk, psychedelia, and smooth soul, filled with galvanizing horns, driving guitars, down-n-dirty clavinets, flourishes of electric sitar, fuzz tones, and wah-wah guitars, all grounded by Ruffin's earthy testifying and tied together by top-notch songwriting. All these elements wound up sounding much hipper than much of the music officially released by Motown in the early 1970, when Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye were just beginning to break free of the studio's formula, and while David and its accompanying bonus tracks are not a masterpiece along the lines of Talking Book or What's Going On (or even Where I'm Coming From, for that matter), it's vibrant, exciting music that still sounds fresh -- arguably fresher than full-length Temptations albums of the late '60s -- which qualifies it as a lost classic of sorts. Why was it lost, consigned to the vaults for nearly three and a half decades? According to the liner notes, nobody really knows. Ruffin wasn't popular among the executives at Motown in the early '70s, and he was also going through a number of well-documented personal problems, so it's possible that Motown simply didn't want to promote him at the time, but it's also true that the label had a number of great records, including Marvin's What's Going On, to release in 1971, and Ruffin had two LPs out in 1970, including a duet album with his brother Jimmy, so the market may have been saturated. We'll likely never know the reason why David was buried, but fortunately it has been unearthed, and it's a reason for hardcore soul and Motown fans to celebrate.

Thanks for posting this I love this version. The bass is definitely more pronounced. Sounds like signature James Jamerson.

 

[K Douglas]

While we're on a Jackson kick, I always liked this one

Great track. Jermaine had some jams. I loved this one too (might have posted before)

 

[K Douglas]

Let's not forget Jackson sister Rebbie's hit song 'Centipede'. Michael on background vocals.

 

[K Douglas]

I have this 12" record in my collection still. One of the few non Jackson family songs where Michael adds vocal support

 

[K Douglas]

1970's Kool & the Gang were more on the soul tip. In the 1980's their signature sound became more pop/r&b feeling
I preferred 70's Kool & the Gang but this was an 80's bop

 

[K Douglas]

I had this CD and played it extensively. This jam got overshadowed by Keep on Movin and Back to Life but damn its so dope. The 12" mix here incorporates a harder drum beat

Cause its all about expression

 

[K Douglas]

One of my ATF hip hop songs. O.C. 'Time's Up'. The Diggin in the Crates Crew was SO dope in the 90's

Here's the sample: 'A Day in the Life' by Les DeMerle. A jazz remake of the Beatles classic tune

Buckwild killed it with this production.

 

[K Douglas]

Herbie was so ahead of his time with this sound. I can't believe this is from 1976

 

[K Douglas]

I've never heard this remix in my life until earlier this week.

 

[K Douglas]

DJ Quik was a west coast hip hop producer/MC, big in the early 1990's. This is a diss track of fellow west coast artist MC EIHT
It contains one of the best diss lines I've ever heard
"Ya you left out the G because the G ain't in you" G is slang for a stand up dude (a homie)

 

[K Douglas]

Damn I love this remix. I had this on cassette back in the day. Teddy Riley (the Godfather of New Jack Swing) doing his thing on production

 

[K Douglas]

OK last one for now. On the smooth tip. Ah Freddie was the man