Yes, online merchants offer a vast selection and competitive pricing the likes of which we couldn't imagine a couple of decades ago, but there's a lot to be said for the local music store. Granted, it carried only the merest selection of gear, but if you needed a cable, drum stick, or guitar string in a hurry, you could pop in and grab one without having to wait for the big brown delivery truck to trundle up to your door. The music storesĮven as we write this, another mom n' pop music equipment store in our hometown has announced its imminent closure.
If we can't be bothered to actually perform the chorus three times, why should the listener be bothered to listen past the second verse? 3. So many shortcuts to perfection are, in fact, the fast track to sterile, lifeless music. Modern DAWs offer so much power and flexibility when it comes to arranging and rearranging that they can potentially foster laziness and complacency. Why sing the chorus three or four times when you can just cut 'n' paste the first one across the whole song? In fact, why bother getting it right even once when you can simply call up Melodyne and knock the bothersome thing into pitch and time? Gil Scott-Heron wrote achingly about alcoholism in the Black community on "The Bottle," while TLC sang about the impact of AIDS on "Waterfalls." Marvin Gaye ("What's Going On") and Bill Withers ("I Can't Write Left-Handed") spoke out against the Vietnam War using different perspectives.įrom timeless love songs to heartbreak healers and surefire uplifters you'll want to dance to, these 30 songs illustrate where R&B was in its early days, how it has developed since, and where it's going in the future.Modern DAWs offer so much power and flexibility when it comes to arranging and rearranging that they can potentially foster laziness and complacency.
While many an iconic song has been written about blossoming love (Etta James' "At Last," Al Green's "Let's Stay Together") or romantic strife (Nina Simone's "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," Teddy Pendergrass' "Love T.K.O."), plenty more R&B records carry urgent social and political messages. Some of the most fruitful periods in modern music came in the world of R&B, including Motown, the Philly soul scene, and even the 21st century wave of alternative R&B. Like jazz before it, and hip-hop in the ensuing years, R&B came out of Black America, bringing previously marginalized stories and perspectives into the ears of millions of listeners, first in the U.S. Whether the instrumental is a lush Motown arrangement with swooning horns and strings or a slinky digital creation, it has to add depth to the record and make the singer sound better. A powerful, vulnerable vocal performance-the kind that artists like Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, and Solange have delivered in spades-is key. The sound of R&B has changed tremendously in the last 75 years, but the ingredients that make a timeless soul track remain the same.
0 kommentar(er)
