Lucy Pearl

The post on Raphael Saadiq a few days ago got me thinking about his under-discussed discography. Tony! Toni! Tone! is pretty well established, if still under-rated, in the pop canon, and people are starting to come around on his heretofore brilliant solo career. What may be receding into the popcult ether is Lucy Pearl, one of a relative few soul supergroups that only lasted for about a year. Under Saadiq's lead, Lucy Pearl's Voltron was completed with the production wizardry of Ali Shaheed Muhammed of A Tribe Called Quest and Dawn from En Vogue. Yes, Dawn has a last name (it's Robinson), but it has always just felt better to say "Dawn from En Vogue". Despite the superstar weight this group supported for almost a year, the music sounds remarkably casual and comfortable, a Saadiq specialty. Like most of the man's work, the Lucy Pearl stuff turns out to be immaculately constructed and arranged after the pure low-key pleasure is drained from it. Let's take a look at "Dance Tonight":

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:

Anthony Hamilton's Back!

Explain this to me: if I want to see the best semi-mainstream hip-hop and soul acts stepping out to premier their new stuff, apparently I should be paying closer attention to The Ellen Degeneres Show. I guess in addition to being a very funny lady and a pop gay icon she is also a canny appreciator of good music. Anybody who dances so damn much has to be. Anywhuh, Anthony Hamilton is back with a new abblum, and Ellen was hip to it before I was. She's good. Hamilton is right up there with Raphael Saadiq in the underappreciated soul king sweepstakes. Squeaking in at the end of the year, Hamilton has dropped an album whose title can function as an unneccesary preface to a statement. Hot on the heels of Saadiq's The Way I See It comes Hamilton's The Point Of It All. Soon I'll investigate...