Completing this project has been an incredible
journey. Many more tunes were considered and
recorded to arrive at the collection you're
now enjoying. There are so many incredible songs
out there that picking just a few, proved a
pretty logical, though exhausting, process.
Lists were drawn up and edited and scratched
out and added too... We tracked about 40 songs
all told, which is to say, we plugged in and
threw down the meanest, most artful, most reverent
renditions. Only the magic was kept and the
rest, thankfully, was wiped forever from the
face of the earth (or at least the inner surfaces
of digital hard drives.) Now what exactly constituted
such a “classic and soulful” track
that required us to cuss and fight and stew
and toil over for so many late nights? Well,
here's a brief window into the murky waters
of the jacksoul psyche...
1.
oneSONG (jacksoul original
song) (full length preview) [+]
Why an original? It was ‘impressed’
on me that it was disingenuous to reveal
such strong opinions on soul's history,
if my opinions couldn't be backed up by
a take on soul's future. Though it messed
up my whole cover tune focus, I rebounded
with this little number. I think music can
heal and educate. If jacksoul never makes
another recording, I'll always be proud
that our music was a positive force, for
not just love between couples, but love
of self, community and the world. It's been
a crazy place, this earth, since the last
record. And if we could all exercise some
true tolerance of each others existence,
some understanding of each other's cultures
and accurate knowledge of our common histories,
we would then find ourselves in a much better
world indeed.
By the 80s, white boys from Britain
had grown up listening to enough soul
music, that they were starting to produce
some pretty great tracks with that throw
back, classic vibe. This track was originally
smoother with an emphasis on more falsetto
harmonies, so we pumped it up a bit. It
was amazing to hear British social commentary
over a sweet soul melody, rather than
being screamed over strains of distorted
punk guitar.
Like the field hollers and Blues that
came before, great soul music has the
ability to bridge the spiritual and profane,
especially when discussing a man’s
struggle with addictions, temptations
and general no good behaviour. “Superfly”
is a very honest, pre-gansta portrayal
of street life. It's unapologetic, but
not without pathos for a character who
knows his path is ultimately doomed. Plus
it's a supremely funky groove. Just can't
fight it.
This track is irresistible. I remember
finding it fiendishly funky when I was little,
in a way I already knew, only the Brits
were capable. It's a dense score to some
barely defined madness. Each of the song’s
sections is practically a song unto itself.
Its most soulful aspect calls out loudly
from the lyric. They are the schizophrenic
ramblings of an addict. As a youth, I didn't
know anything about that sort of struggle,
so it was the feverish insistence of the
bass lines and the relentless overturning
drum grooves, which moved me to accept the
convoluted verse that I couldn't fully comprehend.
Twenty-some odd years later, all I hear
are the vivid voices of friends I've lost
to various compulsions and vices. Brilliant.
This is a Canadian classic from the year
I was born. It is a Winnipeg twist on blue-eyed
soul and I always thought it was the Guess
Who's best track. We played this song at
Burton and Randy's induction into the Canadian
Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 2004 and people
reacted like I was singing the national
anthem at the Stanley Cup opener. Crazy
stuff...
Now this track is so steeped in old school
soul, it's crazy. It's a much lighter take
on being bad and while I don't condone taking
anything that you haven't earned, I have
to tell you, this is one of the funniest,
most honest lyrics you'll ever read about
adolescence. ‘A bunch of kids acting
the fool with too much time and too little
to do?’ If there was ever an anthem
for ever bush party you've ever been too,
this is it. The guys were definitely channeling
JB on this one.
One of the best tracks ever. The minute
I heard it, I knew it was more then a "bullet"
or "heat seeker" or whatever its
chart position must have been that week.
Some songs have great melodies and some
have cute stories, but some talk so directly
to your personal and spiritual reality,
that they are not really songs anymore.
They are a part of you. Life, (especially
with the added complications of fame,) is
like living a very surreal, make believe
existence, which is only broken up at odd
turns by startling moments of uncomfortable
truth. This song is the soundtrack to those
moments.
Now, there you go being a hypocrite hater.
You know you sang this song in the car,
in the shower, at the gym and in the damn
grocery store. How you gonna act like you
don't know this song? How you gonna act
like you don't LOVE this song? That's what
I thought.
In my opinion, the best song these guys
ever wrote. We hear so many anthems for
the broken hearted. What about the heart
breaker? Who hasn't brooded over the decision
of how to let go? This song cuts right to
the heart of so many great emotions and
the chords alone could break you in half.
One of the best soul ballads ever.
Eddie Floyd is not as recognizable a name
as Otis Redding or Wilson Picket or Sly
Stone, but his work through the 60s as performer
and writer will stand the test of time.
We had a great time laying this one down
because it's not a song built on virtuosity
or flashy licks, it's just about feel. And
it feels damn good, don't it?
Call me crazy, but by the 90s, it was
the rock band churning out the soul tracks...
Tracks that you knew would transcend genre
and time and deliver some real-ass stories.
This song lyrically captures so much about
"de yout' " and seamlessly fuses
a soaring melody with pulsing beats. Can't
fight it.
One of the most powerful spirituals I
have ever heard, not to mention the unofficial
anthem of the Civil Rights Movement of the
60s. A record exec quite seriously accused
me of committing "sacrilege" by
attempting to improve upon this incredible
song. For the record, my intent was never
to improve upon any of these works. The
goal was to interpret great soul tracks
from the last half century, works that continue
to inspire me, and in this case, a work
that I'm confident will inspire other people
(black, white, yellow and brown) if only
they knew it existed.
