Category Archives: Soul

Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue

Dusty Springfield, with her big voice, big bouffant, and hits like “Wishin’ and Hopin’,” “The Look of Love,” and “Son of a Preacher Man,” may have been the queen of ‘60s blue-eyed soul. She wasn’t the only ‘60s white soul … Continue reading

Posted on by Little Danny | Posted in Soul | 11 Comments

Walls of Sound

“Wall of Sound” is one of those descriptors that’s been tossed around for years in discussions of pop music. The phrase, though, is genuinely serviceable, referring generally to the ‘60s pop production style of erratic Los Angeles studio wizard Phil … Continue reading

Posted on by Little Danny | Posted in Soul | 21 Comments

Soul woman

This week: Late ’60s R&B; records, that fertile medium where the cross-over popularity of soul music and the voices of female empowerment and social consciousness were all beginning to intersect in a profound way. 1. Jean & The Darlings, How … Continue reading

Posted on by Little Danny | Posted in Soul | 10 Comments

Bay City Rollin’

(Ed. note: A terrific guest post this week courtesy of O-Dub, well-known to many of you as the proprietor of the one best and longest-running music blogs out there, Soul Sides.) I don’t remotely profess to have a very deep … Continue reading

Posted on by Little Danny | Posted in Soul | 20 Comments

Funk and the blues

Blues progressions and funk rhythms are one of those fusions that worked well for a time. Lowell Fulson’s “Tramp” and Alvin Robinson’s “Down Home Girl” spring to mind here. It was combination that worked best in the 1960s – a … Continue reading

Posted on by Little Danny | Posted in Soul | 12 Comments

Girl trips

This week, three female harmony-soul records from the early ’70s. Their production styles are wildly different, but they’re all suffused with the lightly trippy aesthetic of the era. 1. The Three Degrees, Collage (Roulette) An enduring Philadelphia female vocal trio, … Continue reading

Posted on by Little Danny | Posted in Soul | 15 Comments

The Shingaling

The Shingaling, like the term “boogaloo,” refers to two separate (but related) mid-’60s pop phenomena. There’s the “shingaling” synonomous with Latin Soul – jazzed-up guajiras and mambos with an R&B kick, sung in English and Spanish by younger Nuyoricans. Possibly … Continue reading

Posted on by Little Danny | Posted in Soul | 8 Comments

Chicago soul

Chicago was, in addition to being one of America’s greatest music cities, an epicenter for soul music in the ’60s and ’70s. As cities, only Detroit and Philadelphia rivaled Chicago in terms of a sheer abundance of independent record labels … Continue reading

Posted on by Little Danny | Posted in Soul | 2 Comments