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...
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...
Whenever Party City runs their annual Happy Halloween advertisements featuring "Thriller", the man responsible for the original musical arrangement and lyrics to one of pop's most iconic songs is Rod Temperton. When I heard about him succumbing to a battle with cancer weeks before his 67th birthday, I was befuddled after I was singing Temperton's praises for his work with Quincy Jones on Michael Jackson's Off the Wall album a day before hearing of his death. He was part of the reason why I was excited to get a copy of the Thriller album because the liner notes put me front and center with his genius. Making his claim to fame as the keyboardist and songwriter for British R&B band Heatwave, Temperton's pen has part of hits like "Stomp!" by The Brothers Johnson, "Baby, Come to Me" by Patti Austin with James Ingram, "Yah Mo B There" by James Ingram featuring Michael McDonald, the Oscar-nominated"Miss Celie's Blues" from The Color Purple (co-written with Jones and Lionel Richie) and the original lyrics for "You Put a Move on My Heart" by Quincy Jones featuring Tamia (originally recorded by Mica Paris in 1993). The rest of his impressive resume includes work for Rufus, Bob James, Herbie Hancock, Klymaxx, Jeffrey Osborne, Aretha Franklin, The Manhattan Transfer, Siedah Garrett and Stephanie Mills. So although 2016 continues to be the worst year ever, New Problem Tuesdays takes this opportunity to do what we've done all year long: celebrate the best from our fallen heroes. If you knew nothing about "The Invisible Man" before, then get ready to sing along...
Before finalizing the "In Heavy Rotation" post for this month, I had two other artists in mind and only four in total. Upon the passing of music icon David Bowie, whose artistry I have always had a profound respect for, I wanted to do a review of his posthumous album released earlier this year, Blackstar. Another person whose name has been popping up consistently on my Facebook timeline is West Coast hip hop artist Locksmith, but it's been more for his series of freestyles that have been flooding the Internet. Nevertheless, I was interested in giving his 2015 studio release, Lofty Goals, a shot. However, with the recent resurfacing of Tweet and the rise of newcomer BJ the Chicago Kid, it seems like R&B is beginning to have a resurgence of sorts. Thus, I wanted to make this month's edition a somewhat-impromptu tribute to R&B/soul music in all of its different representations while implementing a new facet of "In Heavy Rotation" with my "Throwback Pick of the Month". The beauty of this month's post is that although it's music under the umbrella of a particular genre, these artists embody the age-old adage, "No two snowflakes are alike." Also, three out of five of these picks came highly recommended from social media and beyond, so I wanted to show love to my friends and fellow music lovers to let y'all know that I respect your musical palates tremendously. Go time...
Since a lot of my Black History Month celebration has been spent tackling some heavy, but necessary subjects, I decided to end this special month on a lighter note: music. Now as you all might know, it's very easy for me to wax nostalgic about my favorite artists in R&B/soul and hip-hop/rap. However, what will be commonplace in the "Heavy Rotation" series is that I'll always seek to give my musical palate more of a challenging taste test. The best way to break down the four albums that I decided to give a spin for Black History Month is to begin each one with an "Honest Moment" to either highlight the ease or the difficulty in giving each album a fair shot. With that, let's give it a go...
Before today, I never realized that the late, great Marvin Gaye was murdered one day before his 45th birthday in 1984. I remember being in pre-kindergarten when it happened and that being one of the first occasions when an artist's death affected me because I absolutely loved--and still do love--his voice and his music. Marvin Gaye could give you silky smooth and semi-rough all in one record. He truly sang with soul because he had such a troubled spirit, so you felt every emotion with which he sang and could relate to his joy and pain. Furthermore, he's one of the few artists that could adjust with any change in the musical climate, and that's part of what makes him such a dope and unforgettable artist.
Yes indeed...everybody loves the sunshine, and there aren't too many R&B aficionados and overall music lovers who don't love this song. This is just one of many dope songs from the catalog of Los Angeles native Roy Ayers--this being his most popular song from his 1976 album of the same name. Of course, 80s and 90s babies are familiar with it as the springboard sample for the title track to one of the best R&B albums of the past 20 years from Mary J. Blige's 1994 My Life album--although hip-hop acts like Brand Nubian, Common and Mos Def have borrowed it as well. However, with distinct vocals and a beautiful musical marriage of jazz and R&B, it's just a smooth song that makes you want to lay out in a field somewhere on a hill and be one of the "folks gettin' brown in the sunshine". Shout-out to mom (Mrs. Scribbler's mother) for throwing this one out there on my Facebook page, and I'll be plugging some of the album tracks in the near future.
So Mrs. Scribbler and I were having husband and wife time recently--no, I will not share the details, although I'm sure you don't wanna know--and this song was playing in the midst of a really good set on WHUR's "The Original Quiet Storm". (For the record, there really is nothing better to listen to for good R&B on a Sunday night, which has been their "touch the sweet spot" night as far back as I can remember.) Many of you 90s hip-hop/R&B heads may recognize this classic (from his 1979 Don't Let Go album) from "Tonight's Da Night" by Redman and "Tonight's the Night" by Blackstreet, and just from the lush and appealing first 20-30 seconds, you can see why this sample bolstered the likeability of those tracks. It's funny because a co-worker and I were just having a discussion about Isaac Hayes' vocals, and while he said that he never really cared much for Hayes' voice, I always felt like his melancholic but smooth tone worked for his songs. Along with "Walk On By", this song is a prime example of that. I mean, could you really envision somebody like Eddie Holman singing over music like this? (Eddie Holman = the "Hey There Lonely Girl" guy for those who never know singers by their name or can barely tell other people the name of a song.) Anyway, if you need a song to either set the opening tone or simply add to your "quality time" playlist, please listen to this one and consider the possibilities...Mrs. Scribbler had a nice night, and [in my Forrest Gump voice] that's all I have to say about that.
