{"id":376,"date":"2006-12-08T18:20:05","date_gmt":"2006-12-08T17:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/?p=376"},"modified":"2006-12-09T13:03:24","modified_gmt":"2006-12-09T12:03:24","slug":"they-have-made-me-so-very-happy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/?p=376","title":{"rendered":"they have made me so very happy"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
apologies for the quietness. <\/FONT><\/DIV>
reasons are nothing more than a strange mood has descended upon ireallylovemusic<\/EM><\/STRONG> hq.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
any music that has been created in the last 10,20,30 years has just not felt right for the last few days, to such a degree that i have virtually listened to nothing else other than soul reissues on emi imprint $tateside<\/EM>. <\/FONT><\/DIV>
this has therefore meant that unless you want me to tell you that i think that the compilation by lou rawls<\/STRONG> i cant make it alone (the axelrod years) <\/EM>that was released back in 2004, <\/EM>and the 2 cd set released in 2006, the edge of music (an exploration of 50 years in music) <\/EM>by david axelrod <\/STRONG>are possibly the best albums i have ever heard, i don’t really have a lot else to report upon.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
but, the simple fact of the matter is that i can’t stop listening to these two releases. there is something about the use of stunning drums, often provided by earl palmer (later sampled by dj shadow of course), funky guitar licks, pumped up horns, and in the case of the tracks with lou rawls<\/STRONG>, that rich velvet soaked voice. the combination of passionate soul music and crystal clear funky productions just makes the joining of these talents sheer perfection, and so whenever i have tried to listen to something modern, i just get an urge to check out these 2 releases once more, as i seriously don’t believe anything comes close to this old school partnership.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
of course, the david axelrod <\/STRONG>set does stray into rather extreme territories including prog and improvised jazz, but repeated listens and its a veritable feast for the ears, despite the fact that the majority of the tracks were recorded nearly 40 years ago they sound dynamic, vital and totally fresh.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
not often i use the words fucking genius<\/EM>, but in davids case, i think the case rests m’lord.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
and for those of you concerned i just hopped on the axelrod express post dre<\/STRONG>, no, it’s nothing to do with dre<\/STRONG> or dj shadow. <\/STRONG>i discovered this heavenly partnership purely by chance back in 1986 when the nme, for whatever reason, tied up with the relaunched $tateside label, and produced a cheapo cassette, whats happening stateside. <\/EM>as my format of choice the cassette was a top playlister for me and my trusty but battered bloodred boombox. prior to that tape, 60s soul meant very little other than radio sanctioned motown hits, and a bit of otis redding<\/STRONG>. anyway, amongst the cassttes great r-n-b stompers (ike and tina <\/STRONG>!), and soundtracks of heartbreak (irma thomas!<\/STRONG>) was a track by lou rawls<\/STRONG> that just did something special to me. so spurred into action, i tracked down the soul serenade <\/EM>compilation by lou and again my heart soared at the splendour on offer. amongst the jazz styled cover versions, and live tracks was the highlight dead end street <\/EM>by lou with david on production. i can’t tell you how many times i rewound and replayed that track, it became lodged in my inner being, becoming an eternal earworm that i loved more and more with each mental spin. then the cd format took over cassette, and i no longer had the boombox, so the song stayed an internal memory for far too long, until i once again found the track hidden away on a david axelrod compilation that i had been sent way back (anthology 2<\/EM>), and so the love affair with it began all over again, in proper dazzling hi-fi quality.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
however, i still <\/FONT>i had no idea of the backstory, involving grammys, life threatening car crash accidents, the longterm partnership involved between lou and david, and the sheer volume of music they recorded together, that is until i received the compilation as above.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
then the scales fell away, as the excellent sleevenotes, by soul-n-funk connoisseur dean rudland, brought the whole story into my life. so all these years later, i still listen to these fantastic cds on a far far too regular a basis, but that’s because of one simple reason : <\/FONT>they rock and soothe more than anything i have heard in 2006. <\/FONT><\/DIV>
sorry to all you newcomers, but i urge you to check out the underlying funk of bring it home to me, <\/EM>the heartfelt emotions of soul serenade, <\/EM>the opening intense bass line and build up of evil woman, <\/EM>and of course, the first ever rap record, dead end street <\/EM>and tell me honestly if this aint some of the best soul music to ever be created, i certainly think so.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
<\/STRONG><\/FONT> <\/DIV>
david axelrod – <\/STRONG>more detail<\/EM> : an truly excellent interview with david is online : here<\/A><\/FONT><\/DIV>
lou rawls<\/STRONG> – more detail<\/EM> : here<\/A><\/FONT><\/DIV>
<\/FONT>$tateside records<\/STRONG> – more detail<\/EM> : here<\/A><\/FONT><\/DIV>
<\/FONT> <\/DIV><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  apologies for the quietness. reasons are nothing more than a strange mood has descended upon ireallylovemusic hq. any music that has been created in the last 10,20,30 years has just not felt right for the last few days, to such a degree that i have virtually listened to nothing else other than soul reissues […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-everything"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ireallylovemusic.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}