8/9/2023 0 Comments Usher confessions vinyl recordThis family group turns “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem” into a shadowy lament, and through their hands and voices, they find a smoldering sensuality beating at the heart of “Silent Night.” If this isn’t already in your regular holiday listening rotation, it’s time to correct that major oversight. This is, in spirit, a down and dirty gospel record with the barest of instrumentation (guitar, organ and drums) and a spotlight on the heart-stopping harmonies of Pops, Mavis, Pervis and Yvonne Staples. Originally released in 1962, it’s a holiday album that doesn’t feel like a holiday album as it does away with all the jingle bell trappings and treacly cheer. If your local record shop is out of copies of the Sam Cooke release mentioned above, ask for this other gospel gem from Chicago legends the Staple Singers. The Staple Singers: The Twenty-Fifth Day of December (Craft Recordings) It’s a tremendous package that should be atop your “To Buy” list for this RSD Black Friday. show, a glossy promo photo of the Soul Stirrers, and the correspondence between Art Rupe at Specialty Records, Cooke and his former group working out the details of his secular shift. The last disc finds Cooke exploring his options as a pop vocalist with demos of early singles like “I’ll Come Running Back To You” and “Loveable.” Matching the greatness of the music is the work David Gorman did to research and recreate ephemera from the era, including news clippings announcing the L.A. The second features three performances from the group’s shudderingly great 1955 performance at L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium. The first collects a dozen of the Soul Stirrers’ best-rapturous music that hits the sweet spot where the spiritual purity of gospel and the bodily concerns of R&B consort. Each record represents a different step of that journey. This lovingly crafted triple 10” collection spotlights the creatively rich but personally fraught period of Sam Cooke’s career as a member of the Soul Stirrers, the gospel vocal group he was a part of from 1950-1956, and as he prepared to leave the group to pursue a secular pop career. Sam Cooke & the Soul Stirrers: The First Mile of the Way (Specialty/Craft Recordings) This month we help get you ready for RSD Black Friday by highlighting four exclusive releases out today and a bevy of other vinyl worth your time and money. Rather than run down every fresh bit of wax in the marketplace, we’ll home in on special editions, reissues and unusual titles that come across our desk with an interest in discussing both the music and how it is pressed and presented. Needless to say, the time is right for the phrase "just another" to be banned from use when discussing him.Record Time is Paste’s monthly column that takes a glimpse into the wide array of new vinyl releases currently flooding record stores around the world. ![]() Numerous chart hits have spun off each of his albums. Another pair - the upbeat "Caught Up" and the aptly titled "Burn" - also rate as some of the vocalist's best moments yet. A small batch of Jam & Lewis productions, including the effortlessly gliding "Truth Hurts," continue to help raise Usher's loverman stock. ![]() The following "Throwback," produced by Just Blaze, sounds like it was made for the sole purpose of trailing Alicia Keys' "You Don't Know My Name." Like that hit, "Throwback"'s sensitively treated soul sample provides a nostalgic tint that complements the wistful, regret-filled tone of the lyrics. ![]() "Yeah!"'s crunk-meets-R&B foundation, featuring an instantly addictive eight-note keyboard vamp and one of Usher's most muscular turns, is so absorbing that Ludacris' 1500th guest verse floats by with little notice. On the other side of the coin, the smartest move Usher makes here is in allowing the Lil Jon-produced "Yeah!" to take its rightful place as the only club track any attempt at doing something stylistically similar would've failed miserably in its presence. At an hour in duration, it could be stripped of five songs and be far more powerful, especially since no one would have to do any wading to get to the meaty parts. Confessions' most detracting factor is its length.
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