Damn I thought those other tracks were great, but this is awesome!! So lush, sounds like a '68 Delfonics tunes. I wonder if Thom Bell had anything to do with this track.

http://www.soulbounce.com...is_sim.php

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Raphael


the vocals are errily spooky, but nice

Wow! I wasn't expecting that. . .nice!

he sounds good. very ..stylistics-ish.

its lovely

Nicely produced but zzzzz!

It's very derivative, but considering the current climate of R&B these days, it's a blessing. That was highly enjoyable, albeit brief.

I think Saadiq will finally live up to his potential.. At least I hope he does.

Wow it's great,here is another one.
http://www.youtube.com/wa...ltZ0jDmtWw

chuckaducci said:

The man has been in the game since the late 80s, is pretty much the God-father of Neo Soul, was the brains behind Lucy Pearl, and is a hit writer/producer to boot - How much more potential does he need to "live up to"?

The Way I See It, I know where my money's going on September 16.

marzellus said:

Not a bad one, but the weakest of the four songs I've heard from the upcoming album. Thanks!

MuthaFunka said:

Amen!!!

jthad1129 said:

yeah doesn't sound like him at all, but he did that on one of tracks on the last TTT album too.
[Edited 8/3/08 17:09pm]

marzellus said:

Damn love this track!!! Can't wait until Sept. 16th!!! I will definitely be at the record store to get this one!!!

RipHer2Shreds said:

for real. I'll be in birthday bliss too by that time, my b-day is Sept. 30th!

Damn the "100 yard dash" track.....HOTT!!!

Reminds me of the songs that came out in the late soul 60's....the man has definitely been doing his homework from that era. This time around his songs sound timeless!!! OH can't wait until SEPTEMBER 16TH!!!

Sounds like September going to be the month of good albums, gotta pick up Jennifer Hudson's new cut that month too!!!

You know as a youngster I still remember gettin my ass beat for taking my brother's TONY, TONI, TONE "cassettes". And man did that suck!! But you know I would still take an ass whoopin for some Raphael music. He is an amazing Artist. Sooooo Underated!

I am a longtime TTT fan, but I'll say it since noone else has:

Raphael is a pretender and has no style of his own. Ray is the epitome of why neo-soul sucks. From the first 3T record right up to this song, he's always content to rehash the work of someone else. Do you know how easy that is?

Tony Toni Tone single-handedly killed real soul music. They were the first R&B band to get a ton of respect, from critics and fans alike for music that featured sampling and interpolating old songs into "new" songs. Basically they used hip hop production techniques and live instruments to make soul. And it was cool as long as we had real music and bands out there.

But since then all we get is the same tired unoriginal BS. Everybody trying to be somebody they are not.

It's one thing to be influenced by the past, but this cat is usually jacking whole sections of music and lyrics. Ray = Lenny Kravitz = Michael Bolton = Hall and Oates, etc. They have a song or two of originality, but mostly ride on the inspiration and hard work of real musicians and songwriters that came before them. Yes I know dude can play a little bass and guitar. So what? Doesn't give him credibility. Back in the day, everybody played a little something.

In today's talentless music industry, he stands out and that is pathetic. How many Grammys has the cat won? 10? I know it's a lot. But why? What are we celebrating? Who can't paint by numbers?

Some of these guys in R&B right now, if they were not black, and made the exact same music... people would laugh 'em off the stage! We'd be like, why is he jacking Al Green? Why is he jacking Curtis Mayfield? Why is he jacking Marvin Gaye? Isn't that a Stylistic's song? But instead we cheer them on, for sounding like these guys. It's sad. Maybe we've forgotten what real music is supposed to sound like. Maybe we've lowered our expectations because we know that their aren't many "real" artists on the scene anymore. Maybe we're tired of holding our breath waiting on the industry to deliver the next Prince or Stevie or Aretha.

With that said, though, I'm all in for the new Ray Wiggins cd too. Just like I was for everything else the cat has done since '88.

funksterr said:

All that you said could honestly be said about 98% of ALL musicians. There's a thin line between "influence" and "ripping off" and just about every musician has done both. Singling Ray-Ray out is useless to me.

I will disagree and say that the tonies did have their own style.
However i will agree and say that you're right funkster about the
band sampling and interpolating old songs into new songs. They
did this frequently on the Sons of Soul album. I know there were
a few songs on the album where the band used more than one
sample for the same song particularly if i had no loot.
I understand where you coming from a bit because raphael was influenced
by sly and graham central station growing up in that neck of the woods and
you know this guy have played a curtis mayfield record or two but even
though the tonies would from time to time cater to the new jack audience
they did well enough to carve out gems like the blues, born not to know,
whatever you want, anniversary, etc.

I dug raphael first two solo albums but so far i'm not feeling this
project.
[Edited 8/4/08 9:33am]

Actually I think it is great that he is paying homage to the 60's soul (motown, wall of sound) era. I could see if he was doing it all wrong, but the brother actually did his research and used all original (analog) equipment and recording styles. He has this shit down.

I don't get armchair quarterbacks now and days. Why are people so afraid and against technology (samples)? If you knew exactly what went into sampling to make a good song I think you would have more respect for it. Some people do overkill it by looping something then putting new lyrics on it. But the whole thing is about taking something old and making something new. The Toni's were bad as hell as a band (meaning good). Nobody in R&B had put out albums like Sons of Soul or House of Music at the time they did. There is something to be said about that. Those two records alone sold me.

Also, I don't believe in the term neo-Soul. WTF does that mean? You had cats that were doing bubblegum R&B (which I cannot stand), then you have soul music. When cats got tired of that bubblegum R&B they went back to good ol sould music (albeit updated) now it's neo? So when groups start coming back out singing those cheesy Boys 2 Men melodies is it going to called "Neo R&B"?

Food for thought.

missfee said:

You took the words right outta my mouth!

co-sign 100%

[Ho-hum. It seems like I have to explain this every 3 months or so in here ]

Neo Soul is - "The old school Soul Music (60s/70s) being paid homage to and kept alive by the new (Neo) school Soul Artists" - That's it. I'm tired of people acting like they don't wanna think beyond what they hear from those people who complain about the title of the genre. I mean, it's like the "in" thing to do now: "I hate the term 'Neo Soul'".

MuthaFunka said:

Spare me the history lesson dude, I'm familiar with Raphael Saadiq.

And I'm not sure you're aware of it, but mentioning the fact that Saadiq was involved in that spotty, boring ensemble Lucy Pearl coupled with releasing mediocre solo ventures proves that he's yet to release an album that's actually spot on.

Here's a quick history lesson fer ya! - This dude wrote/produced:

Soul Sista
Untitled (How Does It Feel?)
Lay Your Head On My Pillow
Wild Child
I'm Still A Man
I Couldn't Keep It To Myself
Anniversary

...I can't think of a single tune on his solo albums that equal or surpass the musicality of those tunes listed above.

chuckaducci said:

Obviously you needed to be schooled or else you wouldn't have used the ridiculous term "potential" on an "DISTINGUISHEDLY ESTABLISHED" artist such as Ray. Wake up. Oh, and trust and believe, you didn't "teach" a damn thing with that weak list of production work. But way to get your "Google on".

MuthaFunka said:

The "in" thing. Funny.

Dude, soul music is just that-Soul music! Last I heard there wasn't a decade attached to a genre. This term Neo Soul gets me because all it is is brothers and sisters relying more on real instruments and actual good song writing. That's not Neo (new). Some of these artist that are labeled "Neo Soul" aren't doing anything that sounds like old school soul records. When this term was first coined I hated it (just like many of the artist who do this music). It's not homage to old school, it's artist who actually want to do more than that cookie cutter r&b shit.
[Edited 8/5/08 5:46am]
[Edited 8/5/08 5:47am]

WOW!!!!!
BABY MAKING MUSIC FOR THE 4TH QUARTER!!!!!

I like it The only R&B I like these days is R&B that sounds like old (classic) R&B.If Raphael came out with something that sounded like 2008,I probably wouldn't even buy it.

I like both tracks that were posted. They're easy to listen to. Yes, they are derivative as hell, but at least they are well done and not the hack jobs that some other artists could have thrown out there, i.e, no attempt to add a hip beat, no flavor of the month guest singer and no rappers.


spellingedit
[Edited 8/6/08 8:42am]

SoulAlive said:

Why? I thought "Instant Vintage" sounded good for '02 when it came out.