Willie Mitchell is certainly not a household name, but his productions rank among the best of soul music. While Mitchell was an artist in his own right, he is best known as the vice-president of Memphis soul label Hi Records and the producer of some of the label’s biggest hits, including Ann Peebles’ “I Can’t Stand the Rain”. Of course, no conversation about Hi Records or Willie Mitchell would be incomplete without mentioning the work he did with Al Green. The two formed one of the greatest artist/producer alliances in modern pop music history-spinning off classics ranging from “Let’s Stay Together” and “Love & Happiness” to “I’m Glad You’re Mine” and “Simply Beautiful”. Mitchell died today in Memphis at the age of 81.
Mitchell’s production style was never ostentatious. His songs generally tended to simmer, which made him a perfect fit for Reverend Al. The songs had a churchy quality to them but were certainly romantic if not downright sensual. That push and pull between religion and worldliness is what defines soul music, and very few people composed and produced it better than Willie Mitchell.
Check out “Simply Beautiful”, my favorite Al Green song. Everything fits together perfectly-gently strummed guitar (with a hint of country/western flavor), the organ that pops in a minute or so into the song, Al’s practically whispered vocal. Perfection. Today’s R&B producers (who are not really producers but beatmakers-there’s a difference) should take note.
Welcome to January, folks. The flood of releases has slowed to a trickle, but it hasn’t totally died off. Here are a few of the releases attracting people to stores or their local DSPs this week.
Ke$ha “Animal”-True story. I don’t recall having EVER heard Ke$ha’s “Tic Toc”, despite the fact that it’s been the #1 record in the country for the past two weeks and recently broke a record for most legal downloads in a week. So in order to not seem totally out of touch, I’m listening to the song in the background while I type this. I don’t think I’m gonna be able to get through this whole thing. Granted, I come into this prejudiced: strike 1 for Ke$ha is that she sang the chorus of Flo-Rida’s obnoxious “Right Round”. Strike 2 is that she has a stupid-ass dollar sign instead of an “S” in her name.
Sorry, I just had to turn that off-it’s terrible. Give me Robyn. Give me Lady GaGa. Hell, I’d even take Fergie over this crap!! No wonder people talk so much shit about pop music these days. Anyway, for those of you who would be interested in this (and God help you if you are), her debut album comes out today. Watch it become a huge hit.
Katharine McPhee “Unbroken”: Show of hands-how many of you remember Katharine McPhee? She’s the chick that placed second to Taylor Hicks (and beat out Elliott Yamin and Chris Daughtry) on American Idol back in 2006. Of course, she wound up selling the least out of the four. This is probably because she gave off the vibe of a mature jazz/standards diva on the show and then wound up doing a complete 180 and making a Beyonce record. Still, one must admire the fact that she still has a major label contract (with legendary jazz label Verve, at that!). Her sophomore release will probably be a little more in line with what we heard from her on “Idol”.
Kanye West “Storytellers”: Is Kanye’s career over? This CD/DVD won’t tell us the answer because it was recorded at the beginning of 2009, a good nine months before Taylor-gate. I’m not sure what the purpose is of releasing this, since there was a point in time when it came on every half-hour on VH-1 and VH-1 Soul, but for those interested in hearing Kanye’s slightly unhinged ramblings, this one’s for you. Me, I’ll just wait until the next studio album.
(By the way-I don’t think Kanye’s career is over. You think the average Kanye West fan gives a fuck about Taylor Swift?)
Jackson 5/Michael Jackson: Reissue Campaign: The Jackson onslaught continues. Universal has remastered and re-released every Motown-era Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson solo album, with the exception of the first two, “Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5” and “ABC”, which are still available in a two-fer package. Vinyl junkies can also rejoice, because these reissues are also available on wax. And if you know how difficult it is to find vinyl copies of some of these albums, you’ll truly appreciate the re-release. Personally, I’ll be picking up a few of these to fill a couple of holes in my collection.
Anyway, that should be more than enough to satisfy you music junkies. Get a full list of this week’s releases here.
My major prediction for 2010? TONS upon TONS of unreleased Michael Jackson music is going to hit the internet and the airwaves. The first example of this is “Another Day”, a song that’s leaked all over the interwebs. It represents a collaboration between Michael and rock star Lenny Kravitz. Lenny acknowledged working with Michael at one point, and honestly speaking, it would have been cool to see what the two could have done together.
If the song itself sounds familiar, that might be because after Michael decided against using it, Lenny kept it for himself and released it on his album “Baptism”, renaming the song “Storm” and adding a verse by Jay-Z. It was probably the only worthwhile thing on that entire damn album.
“Storm” wasn’t a particularly big hit, so it’s definitely feasible that the MJ version can be released and be huge. Michael definitely sounds like he was giving his all on the track vocally. Stay tuned. I’m sure there’ll be much more to come.