Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: The Valentine's Day Goosebumps Playlist

One of the most wonderful aspects to music about love, romance and intimate relationships is how it can make you want to be in love no matter what your dating or marital status is.  Although my alter ego's favorite music to perform and produce is hip hop, the triumvirate's consensus choice of listening pleasure is R&B because it's one of the best genres at capturing the aforementioned sentiment.  So as a tribute to one of the sweetest, most romantic "holidays" ever conceived, what you all are about to read is what will likely go down as the most difficult "Rave & Favorite Five" I've ever had to consider.  Get your chocolates ready and, depending on your situation, keep your Kleenex handy...

"This Is the Best You Can Do"...Says Who???

Until a recent desire to listen to Freddie Jackson's Just Like the First Time album, I never paid much attention to the lyrics of "Look Around".  I immediately recalled an argument ten years ago with the ex-girlfriend who inspired the New Problem Tuesdays brand.  With writing clearly on the wall, one of her last ditch efforts was this paraphrased declaration: "This is the best you're gonna get!  No one's gonna love you better than me!"  Considering our troublesome behavior, how many weekends I lost to mindless arguments and suffering frequent migraines, I had no desire to go down the same path as Big Dadi and Momma Scribbler during their twelve-year marriage and knew I could do better.  So in this semi-Valentine's Day edition of "Says Who???", I will discuss how these types of assertions can come across as presumptuous...

Scribbler's "Get Out of My Brain!" Countdown of the Month (February 2017)

Picture this: the February edition of "Scribbler's 'Get Out of My Brain!' Countdown of the Month" nearly featured songs primed for Black History Month, leftover Christmas music, nostalgia and shameless plugs all in one post.  Could've been the most interesting combination of songs ever, right?!?!  Well, unfortunately for Gladiator, Ransom Rellic and my alter ego twin A.J. Throwback, the extension of the holiday spirit only lasted until January 3rd while The Jackson 5 whiffed on two shots to get in on this brain space work.  So while this month's lineup may not be as intriguing without that factor, there's still plenty to love about this band of merry misfits including the first re-entry of this series...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: R&B Bands, #1 Maze featuring Frankie Beverly

As I've gotten older, four things must happen to complete any given summer: 1) I must take a trip to Hains Point and watch the sunset; 2) I must have a burnt hotdog at somebody's cookout; 3) I must hear "Summertime" by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince towards the beginning of the summer; and 4) I must take a daytime cruise in my car with the windows down and listen to Maze & Frankie Beverly.  That's how intrinsic this legendary group's music is to my life and they have sooooooo many good songs.  "Happy Feelin's" gives you exactly that.  "Southern Girl" was part of the reason that I swore up and down that I'd end up with a thick chick from below the Mason-Dixon line with the most irresistible accent ever.  "Joy and Pain" is just real and dope.  "Can't Get Over You" just takes me back to a good time in childhood.  "Silky Soul" made me miss Marvin Gaye just like The Commodores' "Night Shift" did.  Even lesser-discussed hits like "Love's on the Run" are memorable because they were just catchy and unmistakably Maze.  Of course, "Before I Let Go"...well, you're just not Black if this song doesn't make you get up and dance.  Like seriously...Henry Louis Gates needs to bring you on Finding Your Roots to question everything you ever knew about yourself.

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: R&B Bands, #3 The Isley Brothers

My love for The Isley Brothers ironically began in 1985 two years after the 3 + 3 lineup formed in 1973 were split into two groups: The Isley Brothers in which only O'Kelly, Ron and Rudolph Isley remained; and Isley-Jasper-Isley, consisting of Ernie Isley, Chris Jasper and Marvin Isley.  The latter trio's most popular album, Caravan of Love (1985), stood out in my memory for three reasons: 1) out of all the records in my dad's extensive collection at the time, the Sahara-inspired cover was the most indelible; 2) their biggest hit, "Caravan of Love," was in constant rotation on the radio and their follow-up single, "Insatiable Woman," captured my attention even more; and 3) as the opening act for Luther Vandross in a 1986 concert at the Capital Centre, they were the first act that I recall seeing live.  (Mind you, Luther never showed, but we won't go there.)  The most memorable part of that concert was the tribute to O'Kelly, who had passed away from a heart attack not long before the show.  From there, I just kept discovering more and more songs to love from all six of the Teaneck, New Jersey  implants by way of Cincinnati because their sound was truly their sound.  It's rock...it's funk...it's soul...it's just a little bit of everything that I love from my favorite bands.  Now here's an honest moment: it took me at least a decade to warm up more to their uptempo stuff because I felt like their strength as a band were their ballads--and I still strongly feel that way.  So let's dig into the five songs that resonate with me the most from my third favorite R&B band of all time...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: R&B Bands, #4 Ohio Players

When I think of a band that epitomizes funk, you'd be hard pressed to sell me on many other bands than the Ohio Players.  Probably like most people from the tail end of the Generation X spectrum, my first introduction to the Dayton, Ohio band was "Fire" and, even as a young boy, I realized quickly that the song lived up to its namesake.  However, like everyone else in my "Rave & Favorite Five", I began digging deeper into their catalog, hearing more of their songs and falling more in love with their sound with each new discovery.  Not to mention that as a teenager with a growing penchant for crate digging as well as an eye for anything and everything aesthetically pleasing (or what can also be seen as "raging hormones"), I was convinced that no one was touching their album covers...well, at least "touching" in the sense of being as dope.  Ultimately, although they jammed on their most popular uptempo songs like "Skin Tight" and "Rollercoaster", I gravitated more towards their ballads as you will see in the revelation of my top five favorite songs by the Ohio Players.  Let's roll...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: R&B Bands, #5 War

Ya know...I'm starting to feel like the old man who always has a story about everything.  However, if you don't have a connection to the people, music and things worth mentioning, then maybe the connection really isn't that deep after all.  So in high school, my homie used to push either his father's Ford Thunderbird or his mother's Lexus ES300, scoop a bunch of us to ride around the city and listen to a bunch of good music.  In between listening to 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Maxwell, Aaliyah, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott and the like, we'd bump the classics from Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Sade, Santana and, of course, War.  Between some of their most popular hits like "Spill the Wine", "Low Rider" and "Why Can't We Be Friends", I had always known about them but never really got into them.  However, as a teenager who was becoming more musically open and inquisitive, taking these cruises put me on notice even more.  After a while, War not only became a staple in my long rides around the city and up and down the East Coast, but the Long Beach-based band also helped to shape my love for the California funk, R&B and soul sound fused with undeniable Latin influence as well as became one of my favorite groups.  So without further ado, allow me to share my favorite five songs from my No. 5 favorite band of all time...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: R&B Bands, #2 Earth, Wind & Fire

Everybody has a top five list of something.  Sports cars...TV girlfriends...sitcoms...rom-coms...cartoon characters...sneakers...candy bars...you think of it and I guarantee that you have it.  Even if you have to sit around and think of it for hours on end like the madman that you are, you can come up with several lists nevertheless.  Because I am that obsessive madman-slash-nerd, I have been pondering for the past week as many top five lists as I possibly can and I'm nowhere near finished.  My formula is very simple: if I'm stuck on an island for at least the next five years and I'm only stuck with five particular people, artists, albums, songs, movies and the like, then these are the five that I choose pursuant to the subject.  Note that there will be times when I break down the technical quality less often than I will speak on how the subject of my affection makes me feel or transports me to a certain place and time.  Hence, I bring you my new weekly series, "Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five", and begin with my favorite R&B bands of all time.

In a time when it seems like people in the spotlight and even producers often prefer to be lone rangers, listening to a good band reminds me of the beautiful synergy that can occur between different personalities to make one sweet sound.  There are very few bands in the annals of music history who have made music at the elite level of harmonious fusion as Earth, Wind & Fire.  With legends like Miles Davis, Quincy Jones and Dionne Warwick hailing EWF as their favorite band of all time, it's hard to deny their spirited sound, vivid imagery and cultural influence.  Now, the most astute reader might have noticed their rank and thought two things: 1) why are you doing your No. 2 band before your bottom three and 2) if Earth, Wind & Fire is your No. 2, then who the heck can you possibly have as your No. 1?  First, considering that the late, great Maurice White passed away last Thursday at the age of 74 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease, I had to disrupt the order a bit.  Second, you'll have to wait until the March 10th edition of New Problem Tuesdays to find out who's the top dawg.  Anyways, with a catalog of music that spans over 40 years, there are so many great songs from which to choose, but it was fairly easy to do so.  Without further ado, let's see what songs make my cut...