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Early seventies soul


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Old 29-11-2013, 19:13
Glenn A
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Anyone find this to be an exciting time for soul, with edgy songs like Ball of Confusion and War, the Diana Ross less Supremes being just as good without her, James Brown at the peak of his career and The Jackson 5 kicking off a very successful career that in the case of Michael lasting 40 years?
It's a shame that the music was so good between 1970 and 1973 that it went a bit Pete Tong in the mid seventies, but by then disco was taking off and many soul stars finding new careers in disco.
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Old 29-11-2013, 22:34
mgvsmith
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I thought Stevie Wonder did his best work 72 - 76 ( Talking Book to Songs in the Key of Life). And The Temptations produced some fine work (All Directions, Masterpiece). It was a great period.

I had to think about mid-70s. The Doobie Bros had a great album in '76, Takin It to the Streets, soulful enough. Rose Royce had Car Wash in '76. The Bros Johnson had 'Strawberry Letter' in '77, so that may be later 70s. But I remember Funkadelic, Parliament and George Clinton having a great rep mid 70s but I didn't listen to them until late 70s right enough.

O'Jays - Love Train 1972)

Dobie Gray - Drift Away (1973)
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Old 29-11-2013, 22:34
Smudged
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Candi Staton - I'm Just A Prisoner (Of Your Good Lovin) (1970)

Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up (1970)

Doris Duke - Feet Start Walking (1970)

Eddie Ray - Glad I Found You (1970)

Laura Lee - Women's Love Rights (1971)

Ann Peebles - Trouble, Heartaches & Sadness (1971)

The Staple Singers - I'll Take You There (1972)

Jean Knight - Carry On (1972)

Annette May Thomas - Keep My Baby Warm (1973)

Ann Sexton - You're Gonna Miss Me (1973)

Millie Jackson - I Cry (1973)

Stevie Wonder - Higher Ground (1973)
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Old 29-11-2013, 23:14
Blondie X
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I'm a massive Philadelphia fan so the early 70's tunes are some of my biggest loves.

I wasn't around to hear them fresh (only born in 70) but I can remember hearing the songs at home as a kid and ever since.
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Old 30-11-2013, 09:02
U.R.Correct
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Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes, Al Green and Billy Paul are some of my favs from then. Still play them loads
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Old 30-11-2013, 13:54
Glenn A
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I'm a massive Philadelphia fan so the early 70's tunes are some of my biggest loves.

I wasn't around to hear them fresh (only born in 70) but I can remember hearing the songs at home as a kid and ever since.
The best period was 1970 to 1973, soul got a bit weak by the mid seventies, but there again disco was taking over. Another good track from the early seventies is Trucking by Eddie Kendricks.
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Old 30-11-2013, 17:25
brouhaha
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Candi Staton - I'm Just A Prisoner (Of Your Good Lovin) (1970)

Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up (1970)

Doris Duke - Feet Start Walking (1970)

Eddie Ray - Glad I Found You (1970)

Laura Lee - Women's Love Rights (1971)

Ann Peebles - Trouble, Heartaches & Sadness (1971)

The Staple Singers - I'll Take You There (1972)

Jean Knight - Carry On (1972)

Annette May Thomas - Keep My Baby Warm (1973)

Ann Sexton - You're Gonna Miss Me (1973)

Millie Jackson - I Cry (1973)

Stevie Wonder - Higher Ground (1973)
Nice selection. Particularly good call for Doris Duke. I'm A Loser is one of my all-time favourite albums.

Love the Al Green albums from this period too.
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Old 30-11-2013, 17:30
Inkblot
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I only discovered this song recently but it's superb.

Lou Bond - To the Establishment

Some more 1970s soul from the masters of political and social commentary:

Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues

Esther Phillips - Home is Where the Hatred Is

Gil Scott-Heron - Your Daddy Loves You

Curtis Mayfield - We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue
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Old 30-11-2013, 18:41
Glenn A
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" White" American music like rock and pop seemed to have gone stale and in the case of The Osmonds unbearable in the early seventies, Britain led the way in pop and rock then, but soul was America's big selling point in the early seventies. I was listening to Up the Ladder to the Roof by The Supremes and this is as good, if not better, than anything they did in the sixties. Also Diana Ross made some good music on her own.
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Old 01-12-2013, 08:58
mushymanrob
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im firmly a fan of 60's soul... for me it started to go pete tongue in 1970, by 73 (so kinda agree) it was dire... i hated sweet soul / philly, there was something creepy about it with its sex agenda. a far cry from the raw soul found on labels like stax and atlantic that concentrated more on emotion, the emotion of love, as opposed to just sleazy, grubby, overtures found on alot of philly tracks.

i accept that 70's stevie wonder is generally regarded as his 'best' most creative period, but for me it wasnt a patch on his 60's material. 'uptight (everythings alright)' 'i was made to love her' etc pure brilliance imho.

for me, i liked some early 70's soul, indeed 'ball of confusion' was good, and great acts like johnny johnson and the bandwagon, chairman of the board, and hot chocolate, produced some great music, but generally i much preferred the 60's flavour.
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Old 01-12-2013, 09:13
mgvsmith
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im firmly a fan of 60's soul... for me it started to go pete tongue in 1970, by 73 (so kinda agree) it was dire... i hated sweet soul / philly, there was something creepy about it with its sex agenda. a far cry from the raw soul found on labels like stax and atlantic that concentrated more on emotion, the emotion of love, as opposed to just sleazy, grubby, overtures found on alot of philly tracks.

i accept that 70's stevie wonder is generally regarded as his 'best' most creative period, but for me it wasnt a patch on his 60's material. 'uptight (everythings alright)' 'i was made to love her' etc pure brilliance imho.

for me, i liked some early 70's soul, indeed 'ball of confusion' was good, and great acts like johnny johnson and the bandwagon, chairman of the board, and hot chocolate, produced some great music, but generally i much preferred the 60's flavour.
A much overused phrase but Hot Chocolate are genuinely one of the most underrated bands in British pop music. And one of the few bands that actually did develop their sound throughout the 70s.
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Old 01-12-2013, 09:19
Janey B
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A much overused phrase but Hot Chocolate are genuinely one of the most underrated bands in British pop music. And one of the few bands that actually did develop their sound throughout the 70s.
I loved their songs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cllpZSk95yQ
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Old 01-12-2013, 09:29
mgvsmith
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Old 01-12-2013, 09:31
Janey B
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So You Win Again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfLdiqp8Olc
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Old 01-12-2013, 09:33
Janey B
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I love No Doubt About It
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr9fRIIziXY
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Old 01-12-2013, 09:41
mgvsmith
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I liked them originally because there was a bit of social consciousness about them alongside the sexy, innovative music.

A Child's Prayer
Put your love in Me

This will eventually get me to saying the 70s were the best period in pop yet again!
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Old 01-12-2013, 10:21
mushymanrob
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early 70's hot chocolate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucpEWAEtcHU

you could have been a lady
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Old 01-12-2013, 11:22
Inkblot
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early 70's hot chocolate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucpEWAEtcHU

you could have been a lady
It's good but it's not soul. Funk-pop maybe?
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Old 01-12-2013, 11:29
mgvsmith
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It's good but it's not soul. Funk-pop maybe?
Don't start this genre nonsense, genres exist to be defied and they are only labels anyway. Brother Louie and Emma are as soulful as any music of the time. Soul isn't just a style it's an approach to music drawn on experience and Errol Brown fits the bill with that. Hot Chocolate cut across genres like many artists do. Which category would you put Van Morrison into?
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Old 01-12-2013, 14:12
Inkblot
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Don't start this genre nonsense, genres exist to be defied and they are only labels anyway. Brother Louie and Emma are as soulful as any music of the time. Soul isn't just a style it's an approach to music drawn on experience and Errol Brown fits the bill with that. Hot Chocolate cut across genres like many artists do. Which category would you put Van Morrison into?
I agree that soul is something musicians can have regardless of genre - a folk singer can have soul, a classical violinist can have soul, but that doesn't mean they play soul music.

Van Morrison is unclassifiable. A bit of r'n'b, a bit of jazz, a bit of folk, a bit of blues, a bit of country... he's his own genre.
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Old 01-12-2013, 16:35
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I LOVE Donny Hathaway, he's my all time favorite soul artist. I find songs like 'I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know', 'Someday we'll all be Free' and 'Giving Up' to be timeless classics and his version of 'A Song for You' is the best that's ever been done imo.

I also love some of Stevie Wonder's work in the 70's, especially 'Superstition', one of the best tracks ever recorded. Marvin Gaye, if considered soul and not solely blues, also delivered good music, like 'Let's Get It On'. And 'Wishing on a star' by Rose Royce is magic as well.
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Old 01-12-2013, 21:58
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the early 70s was the best period for soul for a number of reasons. recording and production technology had matured and artists were starting to get greater elements of freedom from record companies post woodstock. both stevie wonder and marvin gaye managed to negotiate with motown to move away from the 3 minute pop hits to make some of the greatest music ever recorded, such as what's going on and talking book.

you also had isaac hayes, curtis mayfield and al green at their best, and then you have the funkier soul acts like sly and the family stone, funkadelic/parliament, earth wind and fire, the commodores, and the ohio players.

studios were beginning to realise how much profit could be made from black audiences, so more music was released to cater for the audience, more movies were made to appeal to that audience too, such as the notorious blacksploitation flicks which in turn led to some fantastic soundtracks

the early period of the 70s in particular was fantastic as you had a mix of artists inspired by each other and working off each other, from miles to santana, sly and clinton and james brown. some of the artists like miles, james and stevie recorded considerable amounts of fantastic work in 2 year periods with 2 double albums and 2 single albums in a 2 year period for some, and great stuff too as the labels gave them artistic freedom and the artists wanted to embrace that and create more challenging tracks rather than stuff to play on radio, and being able to write and perform themselves instead of fronting tracks written by one person, played by an in house band and given to the artist to sing on. artists like stevie and marvin were desperate to get away from that stuff and look what happened when they did
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Old 01-12-2013, 23:31
CoreenBaconskin
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before my time but I love 70s soul Issac Hayes, Ann Peebles, James Brown. Lovely stuff - Sly & Family stone too - Stand!
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Old 01-12-2013, 23:36
Pea1
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Earth, Wind and Fire. The Temptations. Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes. Isley Brothers.
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Old 02-12-2013, 08:33
mushymanrob
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the early 70s was the best period for soul for a number of reasons. recording and production technology had matured
from a personal pov, i preferred the raw sound, i think soul doesnt need to be technically well produced to have its impact, but like i say, its a personal pov.
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