Saturday 4 June 2016

Searching for Sugarman - Soundtrack

As the sixties came to a close in 1969 Mexican-American singer songwriter, Sixto Diaz Rodriguez was on the verge of something great. Following a brief and unsuccessful stint with local label Impact Records, the Detroit native had signed a new deal with fledgling Sussex Records and was about to release his debut record Cold Fact. Despite the initial promise of greatness and the quality of the record, Cold Fact was a commercial failure on its release in 1970. When his 1971 follow up record, Coming From Reality also failed to connect Rodriguez left Sussex Records and returned to family life in Detroit working in construction, teaching and even a career in local politics. It seemed as though Rodriguez and his music had disappeared in to obscurity. Thankfully this is just the first chapter in his remarkable story. A few years later and unbeknown to Rodriguez, Cold Fact had become a word-of-mouth, cult classic in Australia and New Zealand. The renewed profile of his music resulted in a 1979 and 1981 tour of Australia supporting Midnight Oil, Men At Work and Split Enz. But it was to be South Africa and in the homes and hearts of the anti-Apartheid liberals that Rodriguez would really strike a chord and achieve the superstar status that alluded him on home soil. Amid wild and fantastical stories of his ‘disappearance’, some even involving an alleged on-stage suicide, two South African fans set out to find out what really happened to their hero, and their investigation led them to a story more extraordinary than any of the many myths they’d heard. Their story forms the basis of Searching For Sugar Man and one of the greatest accompanying soundtracks of all time.

 
 

Thursday 2 June 2016

Joss Stone - Water for Your Soul

The concept of Joss Stone's seventh studio release began to take shape following the formation of SuperHeavy, the multicultural, cross-generational group that released an awkward if free-spirited album in 2011, just before The Soul Sessions, Vol. 2 materialized. Among Stone's bandmates was Damian Marley, who implored the singer to cut a reggae album. Stone was hesitant at first but conceded, perhaps realizing that a drastic switch in her vocal approach would not be required. (She wouldn't even have to avoid using the word "soul" in the album's title.) More importantly, Marley wasn't fooling. He followed through and co-produced this with Stone. The duo devised a set of songs that often uses reggae as a foundation but incorporates a familiar mix of soul, rock, and roots music with light accents from tablas, Irish fiddles, and flamenco guitar. Even when the album deviates most from the singer's previous releases -- specifically in "Way Oh," during its chorus and forced-sounding references to a "buffalo soldier," likely a nod to Marley's father -- Water for Your Soul always sounds like Joss Stone. Her voice remains in debt to classic soul as much as ever. Additionally, she continues to switch from emotion to emotion with full-bore conviction. From one song to another, there are some extreme swings in sentiment. In "Let Me Breathe," she begs for release from a stifling relationship she cannot resist. She follows it with the exasperated "Cut the Line" -- fluid and dubwise, the album's song with the most surface appeal -- where "I can't get over how you're shutting me out" is delivered with the same amount of "help me out here" force. While one can always sense the pain and joy in the mere sound of Stone's voice, some of the songs' lines provoke head scratching rather than knowing nods. Through deep, repeated listening, the album increasingly resembles ragtag emoting. Heard passively, it's all pleasant summertime listening.