The great downside of music’s move toward digitization is the end of liner notes, the record industry’s equivalent of YouTube’s “Related Videos” feature. Microkhan fondly recalls discovering Donny Hathaway via the notes from The Chronic; half the hooks on that album were copped from the great-and-troubled legend of Chicago soul.
Nowadays, alas, you have to be motivated to use The Google when struck by a sample. So it went for years with Smif-n-Wessun’s “We Came Up (Crystal Stair),” which opens and closes with some truly memorable crooning. But by who? With the help of Elbows, we finally hunted down the obscure soul nugget at this great song’s core: It’s Bobby Reed’s “Time is Right for Love” (above). Well worth a listen this afternoon, as you gently slide toward that reward called night.
p m // Apr 29, 2009 at 9:17 pm
…also sampled by saint etienne for ‘spring’ on foxbase alpha.
original available on the rather excellent soul spectrum II comp (BBE records).
Brendan I. Koerner // Apr 30, 2009 at 11:10 am
@p m: Many thanks for the rec on the Soul Spectrum II comp. Just added it to my wish list; whole bunch of artists on there I don’t know, but who are doubtless worth a listen.
Will have to check out the Saint Etienne track, too. They were huge during my Dublin days.