Soul America on BBC

Moominpapa

Anybody else watching this? I'm not often a fan of these music genre documentaries but this one I think is better done than many.The interviewees are generally OK, and some are really good. The music of course is fabulous (if you like soul). Best of all is the historical footage. I just watched the second episode. I was going to give the gold star to some studio footage of Isaac Hayes doing the Shaft theme, but it got pipped for for place right at the end by some footage opf Stevie Wonder doing "Living for the City". Stevie Wonder is a fecking musical force of nature and will not be denied. He lays down one of the great keyboard tracks of the 70s, then takes the drum stool to lay down the drum track! Class act.

TheOtherDennis

Been recording it, and I'm saving it up for a proper binge. Can't wait,I love all that stuff, I grew up on it thanks to three older sisters.

duotone

Is this on BBC4?

Moominpapa

duotone said:

Is this on BBC4?

Not sure where it is being broadcast originally - I'm watching it on iPlayer

exocet

duotone said:

Is this on BBC4?

Yes 

jonnyburgo

I will watch, I love this stuff

guitars4you

Moominpapa said:

Anybody else watching this? I'm not often a fan of these music genre documentaries but this one I think is better done than many.The interviewees are generally OK, and some are really good. The music of course is fabulous (if you like soul). Best of all is the historical footage. I just watched the second episode. I was going to give the gold star to some studio footage of Isaac Hayes doing the Shaft theme, but it got pipped for for place right at the end by some footage opf Stevie Wonder doing "Living for the City". Stevie Wonder is a fecking musical force of nature and will not be denied. He lays down one of the great keyboard tracks of the 70s, then takes the drum stool to lay down the drum track! Class act.

saw Ep 1 - recorded Ep 2 but you have just wet my appetite with the mention of SW and IH - Will watch with interest - I love the groove and intro of Living for the City

Funkfingers

Same archives, different narration.

Difficult to cram the entire story into three hours of television but somebody had to try.

I'm surprised at the lack of references to Miles Davis. Even though he was not a Soul musician, Miles was a colossal influence on what other African-American popular music writers and performers attempted. (Check out the album, On The Corner.)

duotone

Moominpapa said:

duotone said:

Is this on BBC4?

Not sure where it is being broadcast originally - I'm watching it on iPlayer

Brilliant, cheers!

First I thought that it was a repeat, as it sounded familiar. I’m sure I haven’t seen it before.

Watching it now 

boogieman

Stevie Wonder was epic in that era, before he went all MOR and schmaltzy. I bought Inner Visions again recently, I had it on vinyl originally but it got lost somehow. What a brilliant album, not a duff track on it... and that Moog bass sound is just sublime. 

guitars4you

Moominpapa said:

Anybody else watching this? I'm not often a fan of these music genre documentaries but this one I think is better done than many.The interviewees are generally OK, and some are really good. The music of course is fabulous (if you like soul). Best of all is the historical footage. I just watched the second episode. I was going to give the gold star to some studio footage of Isaac Hayes doing the Shaft theme, but it got pipped for for place right at the end by some footage opf Stevie Wonder doing "Living for the City". Stevie Wonder is a fecking musical force of nature and will not be denied. He lays down one of the great keyboard tracks of the 70s, then takes the drum stool to lay down the drum track! Class act.

saw Ep 1 - recorded Ep 2 but you have just wet my appetite with the mention of SW and IH - Will watch with interest - I love the groove and intro of Living for the City

guitars4you

Ref Shaft - never knew it was recorded on an LP Custom (by the looks of that video) - Just assumed, for some reason it was a Strat 

exocet

guitars4you said:

Ref Shaft - never knew it was recorded on an LP Custom (by the looks of that video) - Just assumed, for some reason it was a Strat 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-ytse0J0u8

Moominpapa

Just watched the 3rd & final episode of this series. I think what says it all for me about the late 70s and 80s soul is that in the programme, as they are starting to talk about Luther Vandross, there's a 30 second or so segment showing him working in the studio with Bowie on Young Americans - and musically that was the most interesting moment. The rest was a litany of singers with great voices doing songs that were so blandly MOR I hated them at the time and I hated them all over again when I heard them on the show. You hear these people - Marvin Gaye, Peabo Bryson, Anita Baker, Teddy Pendergrass - with amazing voices singing this awful overproduced, beatless, funkless shite and it just makes you want to pound your head on the table. At the end, as they talk about how hip hop on the one side and bland pop on the other were absorbing soul and basically disappearing it as a genre all I could think was thank the gods for that because it had died a long time ago and the corpse was really stinking up the place. All in all it's a good series and if you are interested in music history you should definitely watch it - but be prepared for a story of decline.