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Soul music
Music Sound
Soul music
Boogaloo | Chicago soul | Funk | Neo soul | Girl groups | Soca music | Memphis soul | Modern soul | Motown Sound | Neo soul | Northern soul | Philadelphia soul | Psychedelic soul | Soul blues
Soul music is a combination of
rhythm and blues and
gospel
which began in the late
1950s in the United States. Rhythm and blues (a term coined by music writer and
record producer Jerry Wexler) is itself a combination of
blues and
jazz, and arose in
the 1940s as
small groups, often playing
saxophones,
built upon the blues tradition. Soul music is differentiated by its use of
gospel-music devices, its greater emphasis on
vocalists,
and its merging of religious and secular themes.
The story of soul
Sam Cooke, shown on the cover of his 1964 album Ain't
That Good News, is considered one of the founders of soul music
Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and James Brown are commonly considered the beginnings
of soul music. Solomon Burke's early recordings for Atlantic Records codified
the style, and as Peter Guralnick writes, "it was only with the coming together
of Burke and Atlantic Records that you could see anything resembling a
movement." Burke's recordings, in the early 1960s, of "Cry to
Me," "Just Out of Reach" and "Down in the Valley" are considered classics of the
genre.
In
Memphis, Stax Records produced recordings by Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and
Don Covay (Covay also recorded in New York City for Atlantic). Joe Tex's 1965
"The Love You Save" is another classic soul recording. An important center of
soul-music recording was Florence, Alabama, where the Fame Studios operated.
Jimmy Hughes, Percy Sledge and Arthur Alexander recorded at Fame; later in the
1960s, Aretha Franklin would also record in the area. Fame Studios, often
referred to as "Muscle Shoals", after a town neighboring Florence, enjoyed a close relationship
with Stax, and many of the musicians and producers who worked in Memphis also
contributed to recordings done in Alabama.
Another important Memphis label that produced soul recordings was Goldwax
Records, whose owner was Quinton Claunch. Goldwax signed O. V. Wright and James
Carr, who would go on to make several records considered essential examples of
the genre. Carr's "The Dark End of the Street," written by Chips Moman and Dan
Penn (often incorrectly credited to Dan Penn/Spooner Oldham), was recorded at
two other important Memphis studios, Royal Recording and American Sound Studios,
in 1967. In addition, American Studios owner Chips Moman produced "Dark End of
the Street," and the musicians on the record were his house band of Reggie
Young, Bobby Woods, Tommy Cogbill and Gene Chrisman. And Carr also made
recordings at Fame, utilizing musicians David Hood, Jimmy Johnson and Roger
Hawkins.
Aretha Franklin's 1967 album I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You is
considered one of the most important soul recordings of the 1960s, and features
her biggest hit, "Respect".
Aretha Franklin's 1967 recordings, such as "I Never Loved a Man That Way I
Love You," "Respect" (a song originally by Otis Redding), and "Do Right Woman-Do
Right Man," are commonly considered to be the apogee of the soul-music genre,
and among its most commercially successful productions. During this period, Stax
artists such as Eddie Floyd and Johnnie Taylor also made significant
contributions to soul music. By 1968, the soul-music movement had begun to
splinter, as James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone began to expand upon and abstract both soul and
rhythm and blues into other forms. As Guralnick writes, "More than anything
else, though, what seems to me to have brought the era of soul to a grinding,
unsettling halt was the death of Martin Luther King in April of 1968."
Howard Tate's recordings, in the late 1960s, for Verve Records, and later,
for Atlantic, produced by Jerry Ragovoy, are another important body of work in the soul genre.
Later examples of soul music include the recordings of
The Staple Singers, such as "I'll Take You There," as well as the 1970s
recordings, done at Willie Mitchell's Royal Recording in Memphis, of Al Green.
Mitchell's Hi Records continued the tradition of Stax in that decade, releasing
not only many hits by Green but also important contributions from Ann Peebles,
Otis Clay, O. V. Wright and Syl Johnson. Bobby Womack, who recorded with Chips
Moman in the late 1960s, continued to produce soul-music recordings in the 1970s
and 1980s.
Detroit was another city which produced some important late-soul recordings;
producer Don Davis, from the city, worked with Stax artists such as Johnnie
Taylor and The Dramatics. The Detroit Emeralds, on early-'70s recordings such as
"Do Me Right," are an important link between soul and the later disco style.
Motown Records artists such as Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson contributed to the evolution of soul music, although their
recordings were conceived in a more overtly
pop music
vein that those of Redding, Franklin or Carr.
Although they are somewhat different from classic soul stylistically,
recordings by
Chicago-based artists such as Jerry Butler and The Chi-Lites are often considered part of the genre.
Music produced by white musicians which is stylistically similar to black
soul music sometimes is called
blue-eyed soul.
By the early 1970s,
soul music had been influenced by
psychedelic rock and other influences. The social and political ferment of
the times inspired artists like Gaye (What's Going On) and Curtis Mayfield (Superfly)
to release album-length statements with hard-hitting social commentary. Artists
like James Brown led soul towards more dance-oriented music, resulting in funk
music; funk was typified by 1970s bands like Parliament-Funkadelic, The Meters,
and James Brown himself, while more versatile groups like War, the Commodores
and Earth, Wind and Fire also became popular. During the 70s, some highly slick
and commercial blue-eyed soul acts like Philadelphia's Hall & Oates achieved
mainstream success, as well as a new generation of street-corner harmony or
"city-soul" groups like The Delfonics and Howard University's Unifics.
By the end of the 70s,
disco was dominating the charts and funk.
Philly soul and most other genres were dominated by disco-inflected tracks.
During this period, groups like The O'Jays and The Spinners continued to turn out hits.
After the death of disco in the early 1980s, soul music survived for a short
time before going through yet another metamorphisis. With the introduction of
influences from
electro music and
funk, soul music became less raw and more slickly produced, resulting in a
genre of music that was once again called
R&B (although the term is no longer an acronym), usually disinguished from
the earlier rhythm and blues by identifying it as "contemporary R&B".
Today the North of England is a bastion of "The Music" aka Soul Music,
with many of the most prolific collectors in the world residing and/or
socialising there. Both the
Northern Soul and
Modern
soul genres flourish in the clubs of that small strip of land, spanning from
Liverpool to Leeds and from Preston down to Stoke.
Genres of soul
Blue-eyed soul
Usually performed by white artists, blue-eyed soul is often characterized by
catchy hooks and melodies. It arose from a mixture of Elvis Presley and Bill
Haley-derived
rockabilly
and
Dion and
The Four Seasons-inspired doo wop; other performers include Righteous Brothers,
Hall & Oates, The Rascals, Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, Dusty Springfield,
Boy George, George Michael. David Bowie's Young Americans album is widely regarded as a late classic of the genre.
Detroit (Motown) soul and Northern soul
Dominated by
Berry Gordy's Motown empire and often referred to as the "Motown Sound", Detroit soul is strongly rhythmic and influenced by gospel. It often
includes handclapping and a powerful bass line, and includes
violins,
bells and other untraditional instruments. Motown's house band was The Funk
Brothers. Other performers: Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson & the
Miracles, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, The
Marvelettes, Mary Wells, Diana Ross & the Supremes, The Jackson 5, The Four
Tops, Stevie Wonder; songwriters: Holland-Dozier-Holland, Norman Whitfield,
Barrett Strong, Smokey Robinson, Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, Ivy Jo
Hunter, Roger Penzabene.
Northern Soul is a style of music with associated dance styles and fashions
that developed in the 'North of England' in the late 1960s. In the beginning the
dancing was athletic, featuring spins, flips, and drops. The music originally
consisted of obscure American soul recordings with an uptempo beat, very similar
to and including Tamla Motown, plus more obscure labels (e.g. Okeh) from
Northern cities like Detroit and Chicago (in contrast to Southern styles like
Memphis soul). By 1970 British performers were recording numbers for this
market, and the scarcity of soul records with the required beat led to the
playing of stompers, or records by any artist which featured the right beat. The
phrase 'Northern Soul' was coined by English journalist Dave Godin sometime
around 1971 when writing his column in Blues and Soul magazine. Northern Soul is
amongst the most expensive of all musical genres to collect and the movement has
set new heights in the resale market of obscure vinyl. Many hundreds of 7" discs
have now broken the £1,000 [c.$2,000] valuation barrier, with some even dwarfing
that sum. For example, Frank Wilson's "Do I love you" was sold, several years
ago, for £15,000 [c.$30,000]. The value of many discs has appreciated due to a
combination of factors such as the quality of beat, melody and lyric [virtually
always deeply touching the listener, by expressing heartache / pain / joy due to
the vagaries of romantic love] in combination with rarity. Most Northern soul
artists were having a go at stardom without all of the necessary ingredients
being in place. Low-budget, independent labels simply couldn't deliver the
necessary promotion, nor radio play. Thence, the often very talented artists
with superb compositions, had to go back to their day jobs, thinking themselves
failures, with the records being poorly promoted and sinking into obscurity,
never to be heard outside of Northen England again!
Modern soul
- For more details on this topic, see
Modern soul
Modern soul is a term coined in Northern England and was born out of Northern
Soul. Its birth can arguably be traced back to a single event. One night in the
mid 70s, Ian Levine, a DJ at the
Blackpool Mecca soul club played a new release by a group called The
Carstairs. This caused a falling-out within the followers of Northern Soul
music. Some wanted to stick with the traditional "stomper" sound, whilst some
were ready to move on and explore the new releases, seeking and accepting a
richer, more intricately-produced and complex-sounding, Hi-Fi friendlier
product. New releases were thereafter referred to as "Modern Soul" by the soul
fans. A new genre that has flourished - it is alive and well in 21st Century
England - had been born.
Southern soul
Generally refers to a driving, energetic soul style combining
R&B's energy with pulsating Southern
gospel
music sounds, as produced at
Stax in Memphis. Stax self-consciously nurtured a distinctive sound, which
included putting vocals further back in the mix than most contemporary R&B
records, the use of vibrant horn parts in the place of background vocals, and a
focus on the low end of the frequency spectrum. The vast majority of Stax
releases were backed by house bands Booker T and the MGs (which included soul
legends Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, and Al Jackson) and the
Memphis Horns (the splinter horn section of the Mar-Keys), and the label counted
Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Sam & Dave, Rufus Thomas, William Bell, and Eddie
Floyd among its stars. People interested in learning more about Stax's
history and music are advised to check out Peter Guralnik's Sweet Soul Music
(which also serves as a very poetic primer on Soul in general) and basically
anything by Rob Bowman (who seems to have talked with nearly every still-living
person who was connected with Stax).
Memphis soul
A shimmering, sultry style of soul music produced in the 1960s and 1970s at
Stax Records and Hi Records in Memphis, featuring tasteful, melancholic, melodic
horns, organ, bass, and drums, as heard in recordings by Hi's Al Green and
Stax's Booker T. & the M.G.'s. The latter group also sometimes played in the
harder-edged Southern soul style. The Hi label's Hi Rhythm Section house band
and Willie Mitchell's production style developed the signature, surging soul
style heard in the label's many hit recordings of the 1970s. Some Stax
recordings also fit into this style and had their own unique sound.
Neo soul
- For more details on this topic, see
Neo soul.
A mixture of 1970s soul-styled vocals and instrumentation with a contemporary
R&B sound and hip hop beats and rap interludes, neo-soul first
appeared, after previous permutations in
new
jack swing and
hip-hop
soul, in the mid-1990s with the work of Tony! Toni! Toné! and D'Angelo.
Lauryn Hill, Musiq Soulchild, The Roots and Alicia Keys began massively
popularizing the sound. Other performers include Jill Scott, Jaguar Wright,
Erykah Badu, Adriana Evans, Maxwell, and India.Arie or even English-born Joss
Stone and Tom Fox
Philadelphia soul
Based primarily in the output of the
Philadelphia International label, Philadelphia soul had as distinguishing
characteristics a lush orchestral sound and doo-wop-inspired vocals. Thom Bell,
and Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff are credited as the founders of Philadelphia
soul, which was dominated by artists such as The Delfonics, The Stylistics,
Patti LaBelle, The Three Degrees, MFSB, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, and
McFadden & Whitehead.
Psychedelic soul
A blending of
psychedelic rock and soul music in the late-1960s
that paved the way for the mainstream emergence of
funk music
a few years later. Principle figures included muticultural band Sly & the Family
Stone, The Fifth Dimension, and, with producer Norman Whitfield, The Temptations
and The Undisputed Truth.
Samples
-
Download sample of
Ray
Charles' "What'd I Say", the most well-known hit from Charles, a noted
R&B and soul
singer
-
Download sample of
Otis Redding's "Mr. Pitiful", one of the most well-remembered songs from
this soul great
-
Download sample of
Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools", one of the biggest hits of
Franklin's career and a still well-known soul and
R&B song
-
Download sample of
The Delfonics' "Ready or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide From Love)" from
The Sound of Sexy Soul, one of the pioneering recordings of
Philly soul
-
Download sample of
Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" from What's Going On, a seminal soul album led by the hit title track,
What's Going On transformed the genre from single-led pop to cohesive
albums with socio-political lyrical content. "What's Going On", recorded
despite condemnation from Gaye's
record label, became a hit and has since become one of the most
well-known anti-Vietnam
protest songs
-
Download sample of
D'Angelo's "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" from Voodoo; accompanied by a controversial video featuring nothing but
the nude singer, D'Angelo, who is one of the most renowned male artists of
the
hip hop/R&B/70's soul fusion
neo soul
External links
References
- Miller, Jim (editor) (1976). The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of
Rock & Roll. New York: Rolling Stone Press/Random House.
ISBN 0-394-73238-3. (Chapter on "Soul," by Guralnick, Peter. pp.
194-197.
- Escott, Colin. Liner notes for The Essential James Carr. Razor
and Tie Records, 1995.
Home | Up | Doo-wop | Hip hop soul | New jack swing | Quiet storm | Soul music
Music Sound, v. 2.0, by MultiMedia
This guide is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
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