y2funkysoultrainlive ( or, at least... lip synced )
December 21, 2012 10:55 AM   Subscribe

 
Don't forget the acoustic funk of Bill Withers
posted by priested at 11:11 AM on December 21, 2012 [2 favorites]


Owww, she's a brick . . . house . . .
posted by Phyllis Harmonic at 11:18 AM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


Best post of the day right here.

Seriously one of the biggest disappointments of my life is never making it onto Soul Train. There's no reason to think I WOULD, mind you, but still.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 11:39 AM on December 21, 2012


I dig.
posted by SounderCoo at 11:57 AM on December 21, 2012


And, of course, the obligatory link to Sly & The Family Stone - Thank You For Talkin' To Me Africa yt is in order, too.

OMG. Now I have to go pull out the vinyl. YouTube just doesn't cut it.
posted by fuse theorem at 11:59 AM on December 21, 2012


Needs more Yellow Magic Orchestra

seriously, worth enduring the 15 second pet food ad ...
posted by philip-random at 12:01 PM on December 21, 2012 [2 favorites]


Isley Brothers- Who's That Lady
posted by y2karl at 12:07 PM on December 21, 2012


I'm glad that Sly & The Family Stone's Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) is live, I thought everything was lip-synced. What a funktastic band they were.
posted by tommasz at 12:28 PM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


I thought that when you said "get down on it", you meant get down on it. Sadly, KatG seem to have not done that on Soul Train, yet they did establish that they were unable to maintain an adequate supply of that funky stuff, yet somehow, somehow, were able to achieve a sufficiently modest altitude in a subtropical rain forest.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:11 PM on December 21, 2012


The Papa Was a Rolling Stone one is fun for checking out which fashions still work today. Jeans and t-shirts and jeans and jackets seem eternal (except for the guy with the heart embroidered over his dick), and most of the simple dresses too. Various flowing scarves and most of the shiny fabrics, not so much. Though there's also another group which looks odd, but in a hipster sort of way, so I guess those would be those who went out of fashion and are coming back in. Some of the bow ties and widelapel jackets and so on.
posted by tavella at 1:14 PM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


Can't wait to get off hold so I can listen and shake my groove thing.
posted by immlass at 1:34 PM on December 21, 2012


....I don't know - the cuts of all the clothes is just so weird and different and awesome, but I don't think it'd work today. Getting clothes together for soul night, and trying to emulate Soul Train, in Denver, at least, is a hobby, in of itself.
posted by alex_skazat at 1:46 PM on December 21, 2012


I have to throw in this awesome line dance edit by "The new French sound of blue-eyed soul: Moon Shoes."

Boogieland
posted by Toekneesan at 1:51 PM on December 21, 2012


And yes, that's Fred "Rerun" Barry right at the beginning there. Beige and brown sweater vest, 13 seconds in.
posted by Toekneesan at 1:56 PM on December 21, 2012 [4 favorites]




I'm glad that Sly & The Family Stone's Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) is live, I thought everything was lip-synced. What a funktastic band they were.

That was what inspired the post -- it was so obviously live. And a rare event for them even then.

I saw Sly once in the early 1980s. He was supported by this crackerjack R&B top 40 band -- I mean, they were so tight and they followed him so close. And he lead them off through a medley of Sly & the Family Stone greatest hits, and took a break . So, as I was still writing for the Rocket then, I drifted down to backstage to see what was happening. And when he came out for a second, his eyes were glazed and vacant. And when he came out for the second set, well, he started a song and then went right to same medley with which he opened.

Man, his eyes were open but he was gone, whereabouts unknown.

So, I was struck by the clip and how happy and together the whole band seemed. Those were different times.
posted by y2karl at 2:05 PM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


Speaking of the Mavis Staples, she recently joined Sean Lennon and Jeff Tweedy on Colbert to sing Happy Xmas (War is Over). Sean's performance here is what really caught my ear. Holy shit, he sounds like his dad. It's not Ms. Mavis's best work, but I still loved this.
posted by Toekneesan at 2:42 PM on December 21, 2012


Cajmere - The Percolator (New Dance Show. Detroit, MI)
A Number of Names - Sharevari (The Scene. Detroit, MI)
posted by cloeburner at 2:50 PM on December 21, 2012


L.T.D.'s (Everytime I Turn Around) Back in Love on Soul Train. Holiday protip: the extended dance mix is the perfect length and tempo for kneading a Christmas stollen.
posted by apparently at 2:52 PM on December 21, 2012


Al Green’s Jesus is Waiting from Soul Train is a masterpiece of restrained, slowly-building power. It’s one of the greatest live music clips I’ve seen on youtube.
posted by ferdydurke at 3:48 PM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


Stevie Wonder - Superstition (1971)

It's not live, but there's a nice Q & A at the beginning and a fantastic "instant composition for the Soul Train gang" afterwards.
posted by Room 641-A at 4:23 PM on December 21, 2012


Surely the Soul Train peformance that no such list is complete without would be David Bowie playing Golden Years.
posted by Grangousier at 5:09 PM on December 21, 2012 [2 favorites]


Love Joe Tex. His preaching songs embody a moral position with a side dish of humor which is missing from contemporary music. Check out WFMU's Rock'n'Soul Ichiban blog Joe Tex month for mp3s of lots of Joe Tex musical gems.
posted by larrybob at 5:09 PM on December 21, 2012


Stevie Wonder - Superstition (1971)

It's not live


Well, here's one that is live (in the studio) and it kicks cosmic ASS. Interesting to hear it done like this with just the one trumpet player (as opposed to a full horn section on the released version), and that's one kicking horn player. The conga is a little clunky, and was left off the final version, I believe.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:11 PM on December 21, 2012


Oh, and, y2karl, I've seen you remind folks here and there in the past that a tip of the ol' 'previously' hat is good form here at Mefi, so...

Soul Train, previously. I think one or two of your links are there, as well :)
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:16 PM on December 21, 2012


If you're in Oakland and in need of a Soul Train fix, get yourself down to Souley Vegan for a meal and sit at one of the tables that can see the TV in the back room.
posted by Lexica at 5:45 PM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


Well, here's one that is live (in the studio) and it kicks cosmic ASS.

No link? Sad face.
posted by Room 641-A at 5:56 PM on December 21, 2012


No link? Sad face.

D'oh! Here it is.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:58 PM on December 21, 2012 [2 favorites]


"Superstition", live from Sesame Street. Only one dancer, but man, that kid is rockin' out with a vengeance.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:20 PM on December 21, 2012 [5 favorites]


If you want to know the truth about it...

Bad Luck. That's what you got - that's what you got
posted by she's not there at 6:49 PM on December 21, 2012 [2 favorites]


Oh, yeah. How I loved "Soul Train". It was like a lifeline to what I knew the real world had to be like into my tiny little all-white farm town childhood.
posted by Sidhedevil at 7:16 PM on December 21, 2012


Live!

WAR - Low Rider

It's going to be a long line dance out of this rabbit hole....
posted by Room 641-A at 7:29 PM on December 21, 2012 [4 favorites]


Did somebody say line dance?

Earth, Wind & Fire - Mighty Mighty
posted by gimonca at 8:53 PM on December 21, 2012


I love this post with the burning intensity of a thousand suns. Clearly I was born two decades too late.
posted by gnutron at 8:56 PM on December 21, 2012


Did somebody say line dance?

wait
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:57 PM on December 21, 2012


I think we were a better nation when we all watched the same shows.

My parents, who grew up to be paranoid, right-wing, NRA-loving wingnuts used to have us watching Soul Train and the Solid Gold Dancers. And all the black family sitcoms seemed to be on right alongside Taxi and Mel's Dinner and Kung-fu Theater and goddamn Hee-Haw.

We'd be a nation less divided if we all sat down once a week and watched the Soooooooooooooul Train!
posted by amanda at 9:18 PM on December 21, 2012 [4 favorites]


I've spent years wondering if that was Sukiyaki that Snoop/Slick Rick was quoting at the start of Lodi Dodi, and if so, how the hell it managed to get there? A Taste of Honey was obviously the missing link.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:48 AM on December 22, 2012




Johnnie Taylor - Disco Lady
posted by y2karl at 1:23 PM on December 22, 2012


Not to mention Johnnie Taylor - Who's Making Love from four years earlier.
posted by y2karl at 1:31 PM on December 22, 2012




Is that first dude in the EWF line dance Shabba Doo?
posted by professor plum with a rope at 12:57 AM on December 23, 2012


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