Monday, January 12, 2009

Saadiq: Soul's Jizm

Raphael Saadiq has been one of my favorite musicians for years, going back to his historical role as the leadman for Tony! Toni! Tone! With that family group, he kept the idea of a self-sufficient R&B band afloat for the New Jack era and capped it off with a classic, House of Music, that basically created the blueprint for neo-soul. Saadiq's solo release last year, The Way I See It, sounds like an evolution of that blueprint. Saadiq uses his modern production know-how and long honed songwriting genius to concoct a set that sounds vintage '66-'72. Its like his challenge to the Daptone/Ronson retro gems of the past few years. Definitely one of my favorite records last year. Here is a shallow Billboard interview:

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