This was the #1 song in the country 40 years ago. That’s a pretty hip AM station, but that’s a lot of the inspiration behind this series, a time before segmentation ruled the day. To illustrate that point even further Sly & The Family Stone shared the Top 10 that week with acts as varied as: Sonny & Cher, Three Dog Night, The Chi-Lites, The Jackson 5, Melanie, Isaac Hayes, Bread, Don McLean and David Cassidy.

I’m not sure if there is that much diversity in sound these days.

From his work with Motown’s the corporation to productions with his brothers Larry and Rod, Fonce Mizell was a musical force to be reckoned with. Much more than any words that I could write, please set aside some time to view this video shot a few years ago at The Red Bull Music Academy in Melbourne, Australia. There is a historical context contained in this video that can only be gleaned from listening to the first hand accounts of the persons who were there. On a personal note, I would like to say how much I have been inspired by Mr. Mizell’s contributions to the world of music. May he rest in peace.

#4

Now you shouldn’t have to wonder about this question with your true Valentine.

#3

See above.

#2

Now did you really think we could have this countdown without this cut?

Ahh… what better time to wax philosophically than a Monday morning. Yeah right. But something has been on my mind for a while now and I just wanted to commit a few words to what I’ve been thinking about.

I’m wondering if this concept of “Grown Folks Music” has always been with us? Is it a natural progression in musical taste as one matures? Or is the concept a fairly recent development( and by recent I mean the last 20 years or so) spurred on by a perception of a downgrade in the quality of popular music. Really and truly that’s what we are discussing here, popular music because there has always been great music that for one reason or another does not become popular so unfortunately it is not part of the discussion. (more…)

Here is the 1972 original by Lori Lieberman and as the story goes, Roberta Flack was on a cross country flight from New York to L.A. and heard this on one of the airplane’s in-flight music stations. As soon as she landed she phoned producer Joel Dorn and said she had “the” song that they needed to record. When Roberta arrived back in New York they put the session together and recorded in an hour and a half or two hours tops. As they say the rest is history. (more…)

20 years ago this week this song was #1 on The Billboard Charts. Definitely a song of the Summer of ’90. A fitting tribute to the J5. (more…)