"Don't Mess With Cupid"---
Buddy Miles ExpressBuddy Miles began his musical legacy at age twelve, when he joined his father's jazz band,
The Bebops. A gifted drummer and vocalist,
Miles has performed with a variety of different bands and artists since then, including
The Delfonics, Ruby & The Romantics, Wilson Pickett, Jimi Hendrix, George Clinton, Electric Flag, Santana, Bootsy Collins, Barry White, Stevie Wonder, The Ink Spots, and
Muddy Waters. His career spans 50 years, during which he's appeared on more than 70 albums, and embarked on six world tours. In the '80s, he also provided the lead vocals for the California Raisins ad campaign, which (despite being kinda irritating) many consider the most successful TV commercial of all time.
It's always seemed to me that
Buddy may have come along a bit before his time. His style varied greatly depending on the particular project he was working on, which seems to have caused him to fall between the cracks when it's come to gaining iconic status within any particular musical genre. His first noticeable shift from making jazz and R&B records came after he joined
Electric Flag, a group whose musical ambition was to successfully fuse soul, rock, blues, jazz, and psychedelia. This spirit of eclecticism continued to guide
Miles as he formed the
Buddy Miles Express.
BME was signed to Mercury Records, and contained the sensational horn section that
Miles had played with in
Electric Flag. "Don't Mess With Cupid" appeared on their debut album,
Expressway To Your Skull (1969). The liner notes on the LP were written by none other than
Jimi Hendrix, who would eventually produce tracks for the group's subsequent LP,
Electric Church. Many of the songs on
Expressway exemplify the fusion of styles that was typical of
Miles' musical palette. I chose "Don't Mess With Cupid" because it's an outstanding tune that leans more heavily towards the soul side than most of the other tracks on the album. However, if you can appreciate music that falls outside of those parameters, by all means,
consider purchasing this LP.
More info about the legacy of
Buddy Miles can be found
here and
there.
"Scars And Pain"---
Jemini The Gifted OneJemini The Gifted One is probably best known for his collaborations with
Danger Mouse, including the underground hip-hop essential,
Ghetto Pop Life (Lex records, 2003). Despite the cult-like popularity of that particular album, I would argue that the Brooklyn MC's best material to date comes from his criminally slept-on
Scars And Pain EP (1995). Polygram/Mercury released a limited number of vinyl promo copies of the EP to create some buzz for an LP that never materialized. There's a great article about the whole ordeal in the archives at
Oh Word.
To be honest, I never got my hands on a copy of
Scars And Pain until just a few years ago. I played it fairly often after acquiring a copy, but then it ended up gettin' dusty until just recently. My renewed interest came by way of the release of
Buckwild's massive
Diggin In The Crates compilation. Both of the songs on
Scars And Pain that
Buckwild produced are included in the collection---the title track, as well as the equally impressive "Story Of My Life". Listening to these joints again, I'm more in tune than ever with
Buckwild's tight beats and
Jemini's skilled delivery. Since
Oh Word already posted "Story Of My Life" a while back, I decided to give you "Scars And Pain"---figuratively speaking, of course...It should definitely give you an idea of how dope it would have been if the recording industry hadn't dropped the ball on this one...
"Spead"---
Soul PartnersI don't happen to know very much about this record, except that it's one of the friendliest grooves I've ever heard. I tried to do a little research, but for the most part, it was to no avail. Googling on "soul partners" yielded some alarmingly unattractive photos of people who are desperate to find someone to...screw. When I searched on "spead", Jeeves couldn't tell me shit either, because he just wanted to know if I really meant "spread". I guess this places you in the unfortunate position of having to trust my somewhat questionable judgment...
What I
can tell you is that the group hailed from Columbus, Ohio. They released a couple of sides on Bell, including "Walk On Judge/Lose The One You Love"(B-758), a single that was first pressed on a smaller label called Holiday. "Spead" originally appeared as the B-side to "Boo Boo" (Bell, B-792). This exceptional tune may be available on other rare funk and groove compilations, but I know for sure that you can track it down on
Hard To Find! Volume 1 (FUNK-O-RAMA Records, 2005). This one is practically guaranteed to get you on your feet, soul children...
Just as an aside, do you think
RZA might be familiar with this track?
"Tell Me Baby"---
Garnet MimmsThe greatest success that
Garnet Mimms enjoyed was his original version of "Cry Baby", a track that would later become an essential component of
Janis Joplin's repertoire. He scored a few minor hits after that (such as "Baby Don't You Weep" and his wonderful cover of
Jerry Butler's "For Your Precious Love"), but the undeniable value of his material somehow didn't translate well in terms of sales. Regardless of this oversight,
Mimm's vocal abilities were on par with the likes of
Jackie Wilson and
Sam Cooke, and his style was definitive in the sense that it had a major impact on the evolution of the deep soul sound.
I chose "Tell Me Baby" (1964) to represent
Mimms for a few reasons. For one thing, it's one of the only "baby" songs he
recorded that wasn't covered by
Janis Joplin, since in addition to "Cry Baby", she also offered a rendition of his single, "My Baby". Nothing whatsoever against
Janis, but that fact alone makes this track unique. Also, the song proves that
Mimms could effortlessly rise to the occasion of a song with a more funky, uptempo vibe, despite primarily being recognized as an accomplished balladeer. The man truly exhibited soul power, no matter what he was singing.
If you plan to begin an education on
Mimms' material, I would suggest starting with
The Best of Garnett Mimms: Cry Baby. It features most of the songs that he recorded between 1963 and 1966, and includes "Tell Me Baby" + 24 other outstanding soul gems.
More about
Mimms here.
"Luchini AKA This Is It (Destruments Remix)"---
Camp LoCamp Lo is comprised of two MCs from the Bronx,
Sonny Cheeba and
Geechi Suede. They emerged onto the hip-hop scene in 1996, when their first single "Coolie High" (from the soundtrack to
The Great White Hype) reached #25 on The Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart. Their next single, "Luchini AKA This Is It" reached an even higher commercial plane by reaching #5 on the rap charts, and crossing over into the top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100. Both songs were included on the duo's classic debut LP
, Uptown Saturday Night (1997).
It's difficult to explain how this group fuses raw hip-hop sensibilities with jazz and funk overtones in such a smooth and effortless manner. They remind me of
Outkast in this way---I frequently have no idea what the fuck they're talking about, but I can't help nodding my head in agreement anyway. Many of their lyrics are based on blaxploitation-era slanguage, and even though I'm somewhat familiar with that terminology, I
still can't always comprehend their meaning. It's not important in this case...trust me. Their unique and original style, coupled with stellar production by
Ski,
makes this album a worthwhile listen every time.
Since most hip-hop heads have already heard this record, I thought I'd put a different spin on things with this chillin' little remix of the joint from the compilation
Reworked 4. I already know that some of you won't like this, but in that case, may I suggest a blunt or two?
Check out more about
Camp Lo here.
"No Money Down"---
Jerry ButlerOne of the main reasons why
Jerry Butler is such a significant figure in music history is because he embodies the connection between gospel, doo-wop, and soul, having been proficient at performing all three.
Butler was born in the South, but at age three he moved to Chicago, growing up in what would later be known as the Cabrini-Green Housing Projects.
Butler's first music lessons were learned in church, where he would ultimately end up singing in the same choir as
Curtis Mayfield. The two would eventually begin performing secular music together as well, perhaps most notably as members of
The Roosters, who evolved into
Jerry Butler & The Impressions. The group's first hit came in 1958 when they released "For Your Precious Love", a song that
Butler had written the lyrics for at sixteen years of age. That same year,
Butler departed from the group to focus his energy on a solo career.
It's utterly impossible to do justice to an artist of
Butler's caliber within the space of a few paragraphs, so I'm leaving that to
the experts. Also known as "The Ice Man" (presumably because of his cool vocal stylings),
Jerry Butler has released a wide variety of records that should be essential listening for fans of many different musical genres. I grabbed "No Money Down" out of the crates for this post because it's an engaging cautionary tale that soul and R&B fans should easily embrace. I also thought of my hip-hop enthusiasts, who will recognize this track as the sample
Kanye West used on "Dreams" by
The Game. This song can be found on
Jerry Butler: The Philadephia Sessions---The Iceman Cometh, Ice On Ice, And More.
Word From Your Moms:
"I have been thinking about the notion of perfect love as being without fear, and what that means for us in a world that's becoming increasingly xenophobic, tortured by fundamentalism and nationalism."---
bell hooks.
