Mixtapes - Part 1 in a series
The best of lists that pop up at the end of the year are often hobbled by chronology or genre. It suggests that listening begins in January and ends in December or that people are experts in only one kind of music. People never really only listened to that which was made in one year, and the modern rock crit area was birthed by professional nostalgists and crate diggers. In asking a variety of professionals to mark what they were really listening to while maintaining the concept of an annual I didn’t want to engage in that act of crate digging, but I really did want to get a sense of what people were listening to. Think of it as the games people play with mix tapes, if mix tapes where really about what people listened to in 2006. The entries, comments (if offered) and biographies (if offered) are written by the critics (with their own eccentricities) themselves and they are arranged by their arrival in my inbox.
Charles Hughes
Top Ten (Re-)Discoveries of 2006:
Bio:
Charles Hughes is a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he received his MA and BA in Afro-American Studies. He runs Shot Of Rhythym. (http://shotofrhythm.blogspot.com), He occasionally contributes to a few other websites, and has published writing on music, race and American history in a variety of outlets. He’s also a musician and songwriter, and his current band Blixie released its debut album in 2006.
Songs:
1. 'How We Gonna Make The Black Nation Rise?' – Brother D and the Collective Effort -From Big Apple Rappin’ (Soul Jazz Records)
A pre-'Message' hip-hop anthem with politics and rhythms that still sound timeless.2. 'Suds In The Bucket' – Sara Evans -From Restless (RCA Records)
A bright, brash, and decidedly un-conservative ode to women’s sexual liberation. Girl Power!3. 'Footprints On My Heart' – Annette Snell -From The Dial Records Story (Kent)
A minor, tragic figure in Nashville’s interracial R&B scene, Ms. Snell proves on this aching track that – had she lived – she could’ve stood with most of soul’s first tier.4. 'Dance Me Down Easy' – Irma Thomas -From A Woman’s Viewpoint: The Essential 1970s Recordings (Kent)
Country, soul and disco join hands on a dance-floor located somewhere between Studio 54 and Gilley’s. Produced by Dan Penn.5. 'Why Do We Carry On (The Way We Do?)' – Sandy Posey -From Born A Woman: Anthology (Raven)
Gospel country-funk from a pop songbird who managed, over the course of her career, to work with a sizable portion of Southern soul’s musical/songwriting core.6. 'All In Together Now' – Ol’ Dirty Bastard -From Nigga Please (Elektra)
Hip-hop’s fallen trickster prince at his most righteously unhinged.7. 'Funk You Up' – The Sequence -From Best Of The Sequence (Deep Beats)
An old-school jam from an all-female crew, proving that b-girls were willing and able to rock the party from the very beginning.8. 'Burning Love' – Dennis Linde -From Writing For The King (Follow That Dream)
The demo recording, by the songwriter, of the King’s last hit. CCR meets Stax.9. 'Got To Be My Love' – DJ Greyboy (feat. Sharon Jones, Quantic and Paul Nice) -From Soul Mosaic (Ubiquity)
Grooves as deep as the Grand Canyon, and the Divine Miss Jones preaching across the horizon.10. 'Flyin’ Shoes' – Lyle Lovett -From Step Inside This House (MCA Nashville)
A beautiful re-creation of a Townes Van Zandt masterpiece; Lovett is at least as good a stylist as he is a songwriter. Let us pray.
Albums:
1. Excellent Sides Of Swamp Dogg, Vols. 1 & 2 – Swamp Dogg (SDEG)
Psychedelic soul-rock-country from a certified eccentric-genius. Gospel balladry next to radical politics next to pure energy. And some jokes.2. Dedication/On The Line-Gary 'U.S.' Bonds (Gott Discs)
Bruce Springsteen’s collected collaborations with Mr. Bonds, not only rejuvenating his career, but giving the underrated artist his best records so far. Pop music at its most celebratory and communal.3. Jackie-Jackie DeShannon (Atlantic/Rhino Handmade)
Sing it one time for the broken-hearted.4. The Session-Jerry Lee Lewis (Polygram)
Thirty years before his latest comeback, The Killer shows a previous generation of admirers who’s boss.5. Emancipation-Prince (NPG/EMI)
An under-appreciated box of fascinating musical treasures from His Royal Badness, and one of his best balancing acts between jazz abstraction and R&B/pop songcraft.6. Rockit-Chuck Berry (Atco)
From 1979, the last good Chuck Berry album. His most explicitly country album, and also his most explicitly political.
7. Geto Boys-Geto Boys (Rap-A-Lot)
I’m sorry, Fat Possum Records, but this is the real punk blues.8. Songbird-Eva Cassidy (Blix Street)
An astonishing vocal showcase, the artistry of which too often gets hidden behind its background-music reputation.9. Essential-Ronnie Milsap (RCA Nashville)
Milsap probably wouldn’t have been as popular if people had realized that he owed more to Luther Vandross than Hank Williams.10. Tattoo You-Rolling Stones (Virgin/Rolling Stones Records)
The second side of this album – which I’ve loved for years – is the Stones at their most delicately soulful, falling down in the groove and flat refusing to get up.
