What Are You Listening To? June 2018

[Nickyboy]

The Harder They Come (Soundtrack - various artists) - (1972)

This week have been listening to a number of albums from 1973 (a pretty damn good year IMO), and turned to this one today after seeing it listed as one of the important albums of 1973. Forgot until I posted that it was actually released 1972 - undaunted I'm listening anyway. Clearly it was on the list because it gained steam in '73. Plus it's a comp anyway of songs from even way back in 1967. Plus, I just wanna listen to it

Addendum: man, I just love "Many Rivers to Cross" by Jimmy Cliff - so tremendous and he belts it out. Haven't seen Jimmy on the Acclaimed Music list yet but he's gotta have some numbers to come

Fantastic soundtrack, just a so-so, middling, disjointed movie in search of a great soundtrack. Which it found.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Yonatan Gat - Universalists (2018)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Rolling Stones - Goat's Head Soup (1973)

 

[JazzyRandy]

Mos Def - True Magic (2006)

 

[JazzyRandy]

Spyro Gyra - Breakout (1986)

 

[JazzyRandy]

Yellowjackets - Yellowjackets (1981)

 

[JazzyRandy]

Urban Knights - Urban Knights (1995)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Fela Kuti - Gentleman. (1973)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy (1973)

 

[Nickyboy]

Urban Knights - Urban Knights (1995)

That's a hell of a line up! I need to give that one a listen.

 

[JazzyRandy]

That's a hell of a line up! I need to give that one a listen.

The lineup looks great, and that's before realizing that Maurice White produced the album. It's a very good album. The biggest problem with it may be sky-high expectations. Leave those at the door, and this is a fine listen.

Listening to it, it really does sound like a cross between a Grover album and a Ramsey Lewis album with a little Fourplay (who they obviously based the setup on) thrown in. Jazz fans who are very specific in drawing lines about what is acceptable should skip this. Looser Jazz fans should appreciate it, even if a couple of the vocal tracks don't click with them.

I just ordered the next two albums by the group. I'm a little worried that the lineup shifts a little (to a lot) with each release, but Ramsey Lewis is the anchor, so I'll give them a shot. I'm sure I've heard (owned?) them before, but I don't have them now. Maybe I loaned them out years ago ...

 

[JazzyRandy]

The Crusaders - Those Southern Knights (1976)

 

[JazzyRandy]

Earth Wind & Fire - Earth Wind & Fire (1971)

 

[JazzyRandy]

David Binney - Barefooted Town (2011)

 

[JazzyRandy]

Max Roach - We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite (1961)

 

[JazzyRandy]

Meshell Ndegeocello - Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape (2002)

 

[JazzyRandy]

Robert Glasper - Black Radio (2012)

5 Stars on AllMusicGuide.

Black Radio creates an entirely new context for popular music in its near erasure of boundaries. It is the sound of the future -- even if no one knows it yet.

Six years after this was released, I wonder if anyone knows it yet?

 

[JazzyRandy]

Nathan Eklund - Trip To The Casbah (2009)

 

[lpfreak1170]

Lesley Gore - I'll Cry If I Want To (1963)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

The Isley Brothers - 3+3 (1973)