r&b Archive
16 Oct 2013
Shuggie Otis at The Orange Peel, Asheville NC 9 October 2013 (Part Two)
Continued from Part One… Once the doors opened, we entered and secured our barstools, settling in to wait for the show. Minutes earlier, the Orange Peel’s Facebook event update status had informed us that the opening act had canceled last-minute, and as such Shuggie Otis would be taking the stage earlier than usual. At this
15 Oct 2013
Shuggie Otis at The Orange Peel, Asheville NC 9 October 2013 (Part One)
One evening early in September 2013, I was on the phone with a good friend. “Shuggie Otis is playing next month at The Orange Peel,” I announced. “What?! No…” Clearly I was mistaken, he thought. “He’s dead.” No he’s not, I assured my friend. But that belief is a common, understandable mistake. Son of famed
18 Jul 2013
July Capsule Reviews, #3 of 3
Today I present yet four more capsule reviews. Today’s crop includes reissues on the Real Gone Music label. RGM is committed to unearthing long- (and unjustly-) forgotten music, and these four titles — all from the too-often-maligned decade of the 1970s – certainly meet that standard. My self-imposed limit for this particular exercise is 150
16 Jul 2013
Album Review: Various Artists — The South Side of Soul Street
Not meant to diminish in any way the staggering contribution Stax made to popular music, but that Memphis label was not the be-all and end-all for quality Southern soul music of the 60s and 70s. And while every time a compilation of previously-overlooked music comes out – Los Nuggetz, for example, or the deep-archival comps
05 Jul 2013
Pygmies, Green Bullets, and Shitty Amps: Getting Loopy with Randall Bramblett
Randall Bramblett began his professional musical career in the 1970s. Working solo and then as a member of Sea Level, Bramblett crafted songs that synthesized a long list of American musical forms: soul, rhythm and blues, rock, and even gospel flavorings. The highly regarded musician recently released The Bright Spots, his eleventh solo album. He
26 Jun 2013
Album Review: Pulp and Pop Culture Box Vol. 1
You know what’s cool? When the compiler of a collection of music makes no outsized claims of cultural import about the music. Sometimes it’s art, for sure, but sometime, it’s just…fun. That’s certainly the case with Rock Beat’s new Pulp & Pop Culture Box Vol. 1. One hundred-plus tracks filling four CDs, it’s jam packed
03 Apr 2013
EP Review: Nakia – Drown in the Crimson Tide
Deftly walking the tightrope between crafting classic soul and serving up something contemporary, Nakia‘s EP Drown in the Crimson Tide has it both ways. Remaining true to the style and spirit of southern-fried soul of the Memphis variety, Nakia still sounds current; there’s no artifice nor hamfisted retro pandering in his six self-penned tracks. The
28 Mar 2013
Album Review: Albert King – Born Under a Bad Sign
Here’s one often reliable method for discerning whether an album is an important one: when you first hear it, do you recognize several of the songs via popular cover versions? I didn’t grow up with the blues; I’m the product of a white, middle-class suburban family; any “ethnic” music I heard growing up in south
26 Mar 2013
Album Review: Freddie King – The Complete King Federal Singles
Freddie King was a big man with a big guitar sound. An important figure in the history of blues, he’s also one of the most accessible artists in the genre; his influence upon rock artists has been such that when rock-tuned ears hear him, it feels right, familiar somehow. His good-timing approach owed a lot
25 Mar 2013
Album Review: Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective
Seven CDs represents quite a lot of music. And all of the music on Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective was recorded in the space of six and half year years. The earliest tracks date from spring 1965, and the latest cuts were recorded in fall 1971. But the 129 tracks span an impressively wide stylistic