Live Soul

Jamie Lidell – You Got Me Up (Live at the Scala, London) – Multiply Additions (WARP 2006)


Otis Redding – Respect – Live in Europe (Atlantic/Stax 1967)


Donny Hathaway – What’s Going On – Live (Atlantic 1972)


First of all, I absolutely love soul music. Everything about it appeals to me; the pure emotive power, the full-bodied, octave-scaling voice, the usual mellow funk accompanying as background music, the lyrics either filled with extreme longing, undying love or political prowess and the way it demands me to sing along with my constantly cracking, completely horrible voice and that squinty impassioned facial expression. Absolutely my favorite genre with vocals. The soul greats like Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, James Brown and Otis Redding are constantly on the top of my Itunes ‘Top 25 Most Played’ and Last.fm pages, because once you start listening to soul music, there is no turning back without a significant silence break.

My favorite album of 2005 was without a doubt Jamie Lidell’s Multiply, a futuristic take on Stax and Motown of the late 60s, early 70s. Goddamn did I wear that album out in the first few months I had it, but it still has yet to get old even with listen after consecutive listen and only at a brief 10 songs. Well imagine my excitement when in my office yesterday I opened a package from WARP and slowly slid out Multiply Additions, an accompaniment including live tracks, remixes and even a ridiculously amazing Mara Carlyle cover of ‘Game for Fools’ featuring just her deep soul voice (which is amazingly similar to Lidell’s) and a ukulele of all instruments. Since it has been a year since Multiply did drop, a new record would have also been more than welcomed, but honestly this is just as exciting. Lidell absolutely kills 2 live tracks, Four Tet, Herbert, Luke Vibert and Mocky all contribute quality remixes, the title track and the first single, ‘When I Come Back Around,’ are reworked for freshness, Herbert concocts a ridiculous instrumental version of ‘Multiply’ and of course the fantastic Carlyle cover. Needless to say, I am more than content, if not ecstatic. Lidell’s voice is pristine on the live tracks and is accompanied by a band of surnames (mostly Berlin scenesters) including Mocky, Taylor, Savvy, Shax, Feist and Gonzales on keys. It got me to thinking about some of my favorite live soul tracks, which I have included for your ears’ enjoyment.

Jamie Lidell – You Got Me Up (Live at the Scala, London) – Multiply Additions (WARP 2006)
Jamie Lidell is a skinny British late 20-something year old white kid who was blessed with a voice that conjures memories of Otis Redding with the vocal range of Al Green. Before this Multiply, and album 5 years in the making, he was part of the experimental electronica duo Super_Collider with Christian Vogel, which was a pretty far reach from his current material. Lidell inspirited the powerful soul music of the late 60s, early 70s from labels like Stax who were not afraid to experiment with their music. Multiply is far from retro though, it also enlists finely programmed electronics and playful synths to create a timeless sound that looks forward while embracing the past. The possibilities seem endless for the young Lidell, and I for one will be eagerly following him every step of the way.

Otis Redding – Respect – Live in Europe (Atlantic/Stax 1967)
Otis Redding ranks up there with the likes of Buddy Holly and Jimi Hendrix as far as ‘what if’s’ are concerned in the history of popular music. At the time of his death, a very young 26, the Georgia native was just beginning to tap into his near endless potential, recording '(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay' just days before the tragic plane crash that claimed his life as well as four members of his backing band, The Bar-Kays. Redding’s popularity at the time was so great that he was crossing racial and genre boundaries culminating with his breakout performance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in the spring of 1967 (the same year of his death). He single-handedly built Stax Records from the ground up with his record sales in the 60s, epitomizing deep soul in the process.

Backed by Booker T. & the MG’s, this is the opening cut from Live in Europe, a collection of songs recorded during his first (as well as the first Stax tour across the Atlantic) and only tour through Europe. It was the last album he would see released before his untimely and tragic death in 1967. ‘Respect’ in it’s original form has a quite different meaning than Aretha Franklin’s much more popular female-empowering version. In any form, it is a wonderfully written song.

Donny Hathaway – What’s Going On – Live (Atlantic 1972)
Hathaway is sadly often left out of the big soul names these days (Redding, Wonder, Green, Gaye, Brown) mostly because of his scant output and tragic suicide in 1979. His voice is extremely smooth and romantic, but he also has the chords to really wail on a song. Hathaway got his start in the 60s mostly behind the scenes, working as a session keyboardist, songwriter, arranger and producer for everyone from Aretha to the Staple Singers, but didn’t really start gaining momentum until teaming up with Curtis Mayfield. While working as the house producer for Mayfield’s Curtom label, he put out his own material including the socially aware classic soul cut, The Ghetto, which was a precursor to Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. Hathaway’s only stint with chart-topping success was while teaming up with Howard classmate Roberta Flack. His career slowly declined as the 70s progressed, but was revitalized in 1978 with another Flack duet. In 1979 though, Hathaway was found dead after falling from a 15th floor window with no apparent struggle (the glass had been removed neatly). Though the truth was never uncovered, investigators deemed it a suicide after finding no evidence of anything else.

I included Hathaway’s take of ‘What’s Going On,’ recorded less than a year after it was originally written by Gaye. I would of certainly used ‘The Ghetto,’ because it is certainly a much better track on the same album, but it is 12-minutes long. So do yourself a favor and go get this album, because it is absolutely amazing.