Seven Steps to Heaven is the product of two separate sessions recorded during Miles' search for a new sound in early 1963. Victor Feldman, a young Herbie Hancock and an even younger Tony Williams play with George Coleman and Ron Carter on Basin Street Blues; I Fall in Love Too Easily; So Near, So Far; Joshua ; the title track, and more.
Miles' quintet (with George Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams) was a band for the ages, one that performed with an incandescent beauty remarkable even for them on February 12, 1964 at Lincoln Center. Their explorations of All of You; Stella by Starlight; All Blues; I Thought About You, and the title classic are joined by revelatory new notes by Carter!
Expanding on the concepts of the surprise hit Time Out, this album is all at once darkly ruminative, melodic, dissonant and engaging! Includes Bluette; Unsquare Dance; Bru's Boogie Woogie; Blue Shadows in the Street; Far More Drums, and more.
Love, relationships, money and power-those were the themes of this 1973 LP, a classic O'Jays blend of funky soul and social commentary. Their R&B smashes Put Your Hands Together (the #2 hit and a bonus live version) and for the Love of Money (#3 hit) join This Air I Breathe; People Keep Tellin' Me; Don't Call Me Brother, and more!
The romantic comedy Singles, in part a homage to director Cameron Crowe's hometown of Seattle, was released at exactly the right time (summer 1992). Nirvana's Nevermind had symbolically knocked Michael Jackson off the top of the album charts at the beginning of the year, and the underground buzz about Seattle bands like Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam was beginning to find it's way past circles of indie aficionados and open-minded hard rock fans and into the mainstream. Singles helped crystallize the idea of the "Seattle scene" in the mainstream public's mind, and it was also one of the first big-selling '90s movie soundtracks (it went platinum and reached the Top Ten) to feature largely new work from contemporary artists. The soundtrack's strength was the way it was so firmly rooted in place - where future soundtrack extravaganzas simply contrived to gather as many big-name acts as possible, Singles focused specifically on Seattle-area music (quite logically, given the film's plot and setting), which gave the album the feel of a cohesive document... -Steve Huey.
Those Gamble-Huff productions, Teddy Pendergrass on drums and vocals these guys were Philly soul superstars! And this 14-cut collection has every hit they notched for Philly International during the '70s If You Don't Know Me by Now; the Love I Lost; Bad Luck; Wake Up Everybody; Hope That We Can Be Together Soon, and more, with notes!
10 Top 40 hits, eight Top 40 LPs Cuba Gooding was all over the '70s like his thespian son was all over the '90s. His R&B group The Main Ingredient was one of the most soulful of the era, and here are 16 of their best: The title smash; Happiness Is Just Around the Bend; Rolling down a Mountainside; Spinning Around (I Must Be Falling in Love); Just Don't Want to Be Lonely, and more!
Sam's gospel and pop sides have been well-documented elsewhere, but his bluesy side's been a little overlooked. So, RCA's put together a 20-track album drawn from three of Sam's albums, Mr. Soul, My Kind of Blues and Night Beat, to show off his roots. Includes Little Red Rooster; Driftin' Blues; But Not for Me; Smoke Rings; Fool's Paradise, and more.
