Sunday, January 11, 2009

BEST OF '08: RAPHAEL SAADIQ'S THE WAY I SEE IT

I've never really followed Raphael Saadiq's career too closely: I enjoyed some songs by his first band Tony! Tone! Toni! and then by Lucy Pearl. He's a talented guy: in recent years, other than doing his own solo stuff, he's also produced for D'Angelo and Joss Stone, among others. 

This album is pretty ballsy, in that it makes very few references to the present (other than a Jay-Z cameo).  It's like a love letter, or a thank you letter, to old school Motown. Which might not work if it were covers (there's been so many covers of Motown songs over the years) - he has written great new songs in the style of classic Motown. And if you think that's easy to do, then try it. I bet even Smokey Robinson probably heard "100 Yard Dash" and wishes he wrote that one. This is a great album, check it out. 

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