Category: R&B
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Hannes ‘When The City Sleeps’ (2021)
When The City Sleeps settles in with the easy charm of late-night bedroom pop, the kind of handmade sentimentality that comes along with lo-fi and heavily autotuned vocals. Hannes has a knack for making even the simplest melodies feeling honest and lived-in. There’s no big showmanship on display here, just a natural voice carrying songs…
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Black Pumas ‘Black Pumas’ (2019)
Eric Burton’s rich smoky vocals and Adrian Quesada’s warm analog production shape a vintage sound on Black Pumas debut self-titled album. When it was released in 2019 it immediately turned heads for a handful of reasons. The two-man operation channeled the spirit of classic R&B, psychedelic grooves, and slow-burn funk into a gorgeous sounding record…
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Eddie Murphy ‘How Could It Be’ (1985)
Eddie Murphy’s fearless stand-up, unforgettable Saturday Night Live sketches, and his ability to bring humor, charm, and swagger to every role he played is infamous. But not many people have any idea Eddie Murphy was actually a pretty damn solid musician as well. And in 1985 at the height of his fame as one of…
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Corinne Bailey Rae ‘Corinne Bailey Rae’ (2006)
Simply said, “Put Your Records On” is such a damn good R&B song. The groove, Corinne Bailey Rae’s vocal performance, the harmonization, the vibe, all of it. The whole thing feels so darn warm, like a sunny summer day in Los Angeles as you walk out your front door to grab brunch with some friends.…
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Toni Braxton ‘Toni Braxton’ (1993)
1990s R&B was built on a foundation of deep sultry grooves and powerhouse vocal performances. The genre often featured slow-burning ballads and mid-tempo jams that highlighted the rollercoaster ride found in romance. And damn is that production style iconic– lush, polished tracks using warm synth pads, deep basslines, and crisp drum programming that put every…
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George Michael ‘Faith’ (1987)
After rising to fame as the lead singer of Wham!, George Michael left the teenybopper persona behind in a bold transformation from pop heartthrob to serious musician– Faith sees Michael writing and producing all the songs while also playing many of the instruments himself. It’s the quintessential debut solo album that showcases Michael’s versatility across…
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Lauryn Hill ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’ (1998)
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill redefined hip-hop and soul music almost immediately after it was released. At the time Lauryn Hill was already a respected member of the Fugees, but following a somewhat tumultuous breakup of the group. she was determined to create something entirely her own. Drawing inspiration from her new experience with motherhood,…
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TLC ‘CrazySexyCool’ (1994)
CrazySexyCool is the one of the albums I immediately think of when someone brings up 90’s R&B. The big heavy snare and bass drum beats, soulful melodies, and empowering lyrics is like listening to a little time capsule that takes you back to a time when pop music had some real substance. Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins,…
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Tina Turner ‘Private Dancer’ (1984)
Following a divorce from her husband Ike Turner, whom she had carved out an incredibly successful career as a husband-wife duo, Tina Turner’s career was at somewhat of a crossroads. Despite her world class vocal talent her first four solo albums were nothing short of a disappointment– Acid Queen was the only one that made…
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Grover Washington Jr. ‘Mister Magic’ (1974)
As a kid one of my fondest memories was going on trips with my parents during the weekend to local record stores to purchase albums. These of course were the halcyon days when an experience like going on a Saturday drive with your father to Fry’s Electronics (a local big-box store that had an incredibly…
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Nina Simone ‘Wild Is The Wind’ (1966)
When I first heard Wild Is The Wind it caught me completely off-guard. It was a beautiful summer morning in sunny Northern California, I was driving the kids to daycare, and they were in an exceptionally good mood giggling in the backseat. I was feeling inspired after a night out where I met about 30…
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Stick Figure ‘Wisdom’ (2022)
Scott Woodruff is the frontman and creative center behind Stick Figure, a reggae-based outfit who has risen to prominence over the last two decades since releasing his 2007 debut The Sound of My Addiction. I’m an absolute sucker for any self-taught (and self-produced) musician, and Woodruff’s DIY approach instantly appealed to me considering the parallels…
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Dusty Springfield ‘Dusty in Memphis’ (1969)
Dusty in Memphis is Dusty Springfield’s magnum opus, an amalgamation of Memphis soul and British orchestral pop that over time has grown in stature to be regarded as one of the all-time great albums. The album was actually a pretty significant commercial flop upon its release 1969 (even with top 10 single “Son of A…
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Kool & The Gang ‘Celebrate!’ (1980)
Celebrate! marked the end of Kool & The Gang’s hipness as the band transitioned from ultra-smooth funk practitioners to the radio-friendly R&B disco group that shot to the top of the charts with this platinum selling album. Artistic bonafides aside it’s hard to argue with the results– lead single “Celebration” was a smash hit, and…
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Four Tops ‘Four Tops’ (1965)
Last week we talked about the universal appeal of Motown, and we’re back on that glorious kick again here this week with Four Tops self-titled 1965 debut album. The Four Tops were a part of the Motown Sound that took the world by storm in the 60’s alongside other iconic groups like The Temptations, The…
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Kirk Franklin ‘The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin’ (2002)
Kirk Franklin is a modern contemporary gospel singer and this live collection of some of his most popular songs. The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin was recorded live at Lakewood Church, a non-denominational evangelical megachurch in Houston, Texas that has one of the largest congregations in the United States with about 45,000 coming through its doors…
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Rhye ‘Woman’ (2013)
Rhye burst onto the scene in 2013 and immediately grabbed me with the airy tenderness of vocalist Mike Milosh’s vocals. At the time I was literally completely unaware the singer on Woman was, quite literally, not actually in fact a woman. Whether it was the relative secrecy behind the band at the time or the…
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Whitney Houston ‘Whitney Houston’ (1985)
As I’ve mentioned before there are only two singers in the GOAT conversation for me– Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston. They are two different types of singers (you can read our recap of Aretha’s 1972 album Young, Gifted and Black to understand why her soulful delivery is so damn special) but from a technical perspective…
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Solange ‘A Seat at the Table’ (2016)
Solange’s A Seat at the Table is a terrific album. Much like Thursday’s War All The Time, this is an album meant to be experienced from front to back, an art piece that is more than the sum of its parts. Throughout A Seat at the Table Solange invites us into her home to discuss…
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Janelle Monáe ‘Dirty Computer’ (2018)
Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer is a cyberpunk dream trip through R&B and pop influences, bouncing around like a pinball amidst the synths, spacey guitars, and percussive elements. There’s an air of hope underpinning each track on the record, a sense of self exploration which drives everything forward thematically. When combined with all of the hooks…
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Sam Smith ‘In The Lonely Hour’ (2014)
When I first heard Sam Smith’s debut album In The Lonely Hour, I was immediately reminded of the same things that struck me when I first heard 21 by Adele. Undeniable and generational vocal talent, timeless musical arrangements, piano-driven ballads, and an innate ability to draw the listener in and make them feel like they’re…
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