I've recently been replaying the David Toop compiled CD Sugar and Poison : Tru-Life Soul Ballads For Sentients, Cynics, Sex Machines & Sybarites (1996, Virgin Records Ambient Series). The odd track aside it`s a great comp, a personal favourite, and like any other Toop assembled (or `curated`) disc, it`s well worth picking up. The man certainly has ears!
A simple request - I`m now searching for tracks of a similar nature to make up another CD or two for my own listening. I`m struggling, however, to find the material. Not including different tracks from artists on the Toop discs, I only have a short list so far :
Stevie Wonder; Syreeta (not sure which yet); Chocolate Milk - `Time Machine`; Marvin Gaye - `After the Dance` (vocal) or something from Here My Dear album.
Anyway, I`d be grateful if people can suggest things; either new artists or different songs from the same artists below.
Here`s a Toop quote on the uncanniness of the soul sound he was looking when compiling the CD. Below that is the 2 CD track-list
With that particular compilation, I was sick and tired of the way soul ballads had been dismissed as romantic escapist drivel over the years by intellectuals of all persuasions and colours and then ended up being packaged by record companies as generic fuck soundtracks. The relationship between the notes, the artwork and the music was an attempt to create unease, to make a gentle push towards listening at a depth beneath the preconceptions about what was being said in the lyrics, the vocal techniques, the tempo, the type of chords, the arrangements and all the other indicators of genre stereotypes. I suppose some people thought it was a fuck soundtrack for manic depressives. Personally, I find that album overpoweringly romantic, even though it's supposed to be a bit disturbing, but then romance is disturbing in itself.
Sugar and Poison Track-List.
1.1 Johnny "Guitar" Watson - I Want To Ta-Ta You Baby 5:42
1.2 The Isley Brothers - Sensuality 6:45
1.3 Betty Everett - Bedroom Eyes 3:49
1.4 Sly & The Family Stone - Just Like A Baby 5:03
1.5 Tashan - Chasin' A Dream 4:30
1.6 Curtis Mayfield - When Seasons Change 5:17
1.7 Loleatta Holloway - My Way 5:17
1.8 Al Green - I Didn't Know 7:42
1.9 Isaac Hayes - Never Can Say Goodbye 5:04
1.10 Dennis Edwards - Coolin' Out
1.11 Mr Fingers - What About This Love 6:29
1.12 Ken Burke - Risin' To The Top (Give It All You Got) 4:34
2.1 Smokey Robinson - Cruisin' 4:18
2.2 The Stylistics - People Make The World Go Round 3:25
2.3 Meli'sa Morgan - Do Me 5:08
2.4 Eddie Kendricks - Honey Brown 4:46
2.5 Loose Ends - Hangin' On A String 3:27
2.6 Allen Toussaint - Southern Nights 3:27
2.7 Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - Nocturnal Interludes 3:18
2.8 Zapp - Computer Love 4:39
2.9 Bootsy's Rubber Band - Vanish In Our Sleep 5:43
2.10 Bobby Womack - If You Don't Want My Love Give It Back 2:48
2.11 O.V. Wright - That's The Way I Feel About Cha 4:19
2.12 Charles Jackson - Passionate Breezes 4:22
2.13 Luther Vandross - The Other Side Of The World 5:42
2.14 Chic - At Last I Am Free 7:08
The quote is an excerpt from an online interview at Tangents. The full text is here :
http://www.tangents.co.uk/tangents/main/pre-2001/notionofsound.html
Thanks!
A simple request - I`m now searching for tracks of a similar nature to make up another CD or two for my own listening. I`m struggling, however, to find the material. Not including different tracks from artists on the Toop discs, I only have a short list so far :
Stevie Wonder; Syreeta (not sure which yet); Chocolate Milk - `Time Machine`; Marvin Gaye - `After the Dance` (vocal) or something from Here My Dear album.
Anyway, I`d be grateful if people can suggest things; either new artists or different songs from the same artists below.
Here`s a Toop quote on the uncanniness of the soul sound he was looking when compiling the CD. Below that is the 2 CD track-list
With that particular compilation, I was sick and tired of the way soul ballads had been dismissed as romantic escapist drivel over the years by intellectuals of all persuasions and colours and then ended up being packaged by record companies as generic fuck soundtracks. The relationship between the notes, the artwork and the music was an attempt to create unease, to make a gentle push towards listening at a depth beneath the preconceptions about what was being said in the lyrics, the vocal techniques, the tempo, the type of chords, the arrangements and all the other indicators of genre stereotypes. I suppose some people thought it was a fuck soundtrack for manic depressives. Personally, I find that album overpoweringly romantic, even though it's supposed to be a bit disturbing, but then romance is disturbing in itself.
Sugar and Poison Track-List.
1.1 Johnny "Guitar" Watson - I Want To Ta-Ta You Baby 5:42
1.2 The Isley Brothers - Sensuality 6:45
1.3 Betty Everett - Bedroom Eyes 3:49
1.4 Sly & The Family Stone - Just Like A Baby 5:03
1.5 Tashan - Chasin' A Dream 4:30
1.6 Curtis Mayfield - When Seasons Change 5:17
1.7 Loleatta Holloway - My Way 5:17
1.8 Al Green - I Didn't Know 7:42
1.9 Isaac Hayes - Never Can Say Goodbye 5:04
1.10 Dennis Edwards - Coolin' Out
1.11 Mr Fingers - What About This Love 6:29
1.12 Ken Burke - Risin' To The Top (Give It All You Got) 4:34
2.1 Smokey Robinson - Cruisin' 4:18
2.2 The Stylistics - People Make The World Go Round 3:25
2.3 Meli'sa Morgan - Do Me 5:08
2.4 Eddie Kendricks - Honey Brown 4:46
2.5 Loose Ends - Hangin' On A String 3:27
2.6 Allen Toussaint - Southern Nights 3:27
2.7 Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - Nocturnal Interludes 3:18
2.8 Zapp - Computer Love 4:39
2.9 Bootsy's Rubber Band - Vanish In Our Sleep 5:43
2.10 Bobby Womack - If You Don't Want My Love Give It Back 2:48
2.11 O.V. Wright - That's The Way I Feel About Cha 4:19
2.12 Charles Jackson - Passionate Breezes 4:22
2.13 Luther Vandross - The Other Side Of The World 5:42
2.14 Chic - At Last I Am Free 7:08
The quote is an excerpt from an online interview at Tangents. The full text is here :
http://www.tangents.co.uk/tangents/main/pre-2001/notionofsound.html
Thanks!
