What Is Soul

[Guest Mike The Bike]

Did anybody catch James Taylor & Carole King on BBC 4 last night ? i have been listening to their music scince the 70s and as i sat there last night just letting myself get swept away on waves of unabashed nostalgia i got to thinking about the term soul music you could argue that most decent performers sing with the soul i am a guitarist and therefore tend to gravitate toward the singer/songwriter and certainly i would class the likes of Joni Mitchell Carole King James Taylor KD Lang Van Morrison Julia Fordham John Martyn Joshua Caddison.. as having that quality that i would call "soul music" i have often wondered what other music soulies listen to.. besides those i have mentioned i am passionate about Mark Knopfler Roger Waters Peter Gabriel Elton John Ralph McTell all these artists have touched me in a deep and personal way i also love opera and classical music surely all these different genres have something to offer that help us connect with our emotions and on that deeply personal level isnt that what you call "Soul Music" ?

[Guest Matt Male]

Soul is what makes me get up and dance, moves me, gets my heart racing, reaching for a pencil to scribble down a title and artist, spending hours on line searching for a want, makes me say 'what the f**ks this it's brilliant!', divides me and the missus, makes me forget the week at work, lets me meet loads of brilliant like minded people who become true friends after only a couple of hours, is everything i remember it being and still is ever since the age of 12...

That's soul for me.

[Suzannek]

Did anybody catch James Taylor & Carole King on BBC 4 last night ? i have been listening to their music scince the 70s and as i sat there last night just letting myself get swept away on waves of unabashed nostalgia i got to thinking about the term soul music you could argue that most decent performers sing with the soul i am a guitarist and therefore tend to gravitate toward the singer/songwriter and certainly i would class the likes of Joni Mitchell Carole King James Taylor KD Lang Van Morrison Julia Fordham John Martyn Joshua Caddison.. as having that quality that i would call "soul music" i have often wondered what other music soulies listen to.. besides those i have mentioned i am passionate about Mark Knopfler Roger Waters Peter Gabriel Elton John Ralph McTell all these artists have touched me in a deep and personal way i also love opera and classical music surely all these different genres have something to offer that help us connect with our emotions and on that deeply personal level isnt that what you call "Soul Music" ?

I personally wouldn't call them soul music singers, but I would agree that a lot of singers sing with passion and soulfully. I love Patsy Cline and Laura Nyro for example.

Suz

x

[macca]

Did anybody catch James Taylor & Carole King on BBC 4 last night ? i have been listening to their music scince the 70s and as i sat there last night just letting myself get swept away on waves of unabashed nostalgia i got to thinking about the term soul music you could argue that most decent performers sing with the soul i am a guitarist and therefore tend to gravitate toward the singer/songwriter and certainly i would class the likes of Joni Mitchell Carole King James Taylor KD Lang Van Morrison Julia Fordham John Martyn Joshua Caddison.. as having that quality that i would call "soul music" i have often wondered what other music soulies listen to.. besides those i have mentioned i am passionate about Mark Knopfler Roger Waters Peter Gabriel Elton John Ralph McTell all these artists have touched me in a deep and personal way i also love opera and classical music surely all these different genres have something to offer that help us connect with our emotions and on that deeply personal level isnt that what you call "Soul Music" ?

100% agree. I met Ralph McTell at Cambridge Folk in the early 90s, a most unassuming bloke. we sat backstage in the company of one or two of the dubliners and watched him do one blind blake, mississippi john hurt number after another. the folkies just wanted to hear folk club standards like 'streets of london', which he commented on when he came off stage. john martyn definitely had soul, tons of it, a fabulous musician. solid air is incredible. van morrison's caledonian soul orchestra years are great to revisit from time to time though his stuff over the last 20 years or so all sounds the same to me, with very few exceptions. this thread is going to have the purists out in numbers. brace thyself!!

Edited May 22, 2010 by macca

[Guest Mike The Bike]

100% agree. I met Ralph McTell at Cambridge Folk in the early 90s, a most unassuming bloke. we sat backstage in the company of liam kelly of the dubliners and watched him do one blind blake, mississippi john hurt number after another. the folkies just wanted to hear folk club standards like 'streets of london', which he commented on when he came off stage. john martyn definitely had soul, tons of it, a fabulous musician. solid air is incredible. van morrison's caledonian soul orchestra years are great to revisit from time to time though his stuff over the last 20 years or so all sounds the same to me, with very few exceptions. this thread is going to have the purists out in numbers. brace thyself!!

Yep know wotcha mean i knew Ralph personally for ages bought a guitar of him hitch hiked all over the country to listen to him he was responsible for wanting to make me write and play lotsa people just know streets but there is SOOOO much more sylvia the hiring fair the setting clown etc.. he truly is a great british gem

[Guest Mike The Bike]

Soul is what makes me get up and dance, moves me, gets my heart racing, reaching for a pencil to scribble down a title and artist, spending hours on line searching for a want, makes me say 'what the f**ks this it's brilliant!', divides me and the missus, makes me forget the week at work, lets me meet loads of brilliant like minded people who become true friends after only a couple of hours, is everything i remember it being and still is ever since the age of 12...

That's soul for me.

Yep Mate me to.. couldnt have put it better myself although recently that feeling seems to be eluding me i do a really shitty dangerous thankless job and every sat night i get out on that floor and just dance and get totally lost in the music makin loadsa new friends and at 50 im having the time of my life when i got back on the scene i listened to nothing but Northern for a year no floyd no dire straits nowt but recently have begun to reintegrate all my musical interests and have realised that they all say something about me i now have music to suit my every mood i was just interested in what other people thought about the definition of "soul Music" i suppose its like Jeet Kune Do everyones truth is different we are all going in the same direction just taking different paths

[Guest isis]

"What is Soul?...Soul is a hamhock in your cornflakes"

...from the gospel of George Clinton.

Edited May 22, 2010 by isis

[Guest Phoenix8049]

Yep Mate me to.. couldnt have put it better myself although recently that feeling seems to be eluding me i do a really shitty dangerous thankless job and every sat night i get out on that floor and just dance and get totally lost in the music makin loadsa new friends and at 50 im having the time of my life when i got back on the scene i listened to nothing but Northern for a year no floyd no dire straits nowt but recently have begun to reintegrate all my musical interests and have realised that they all say something about me i now have music to suit my every mood i was just interested in what other people thought about the definition of "soul Music" i suppose its like Jeet Kune Do everyones truth is different we are all going in the same direction just taking different paths

I am like you recently.

Just come back on the scene after a 7 year absence,

I also do a thankless job than can be dangerous.

Listening to nothing but Northern and soul at the moment,although i do like most genres of music as well.

When i think of describing soul music, i think of Big Maybelle,mostly classed as a blues singer,but you can actually feel when she sings as if it is really coming from her soul.

Also Otis Redding who really put soul music on the map as far as this country is concerned.

Stu.

[Guest Mike The Bike]

I am like you recently.

Just come back on the scene after a 7 year absence,

I also do a thankless job than can be dangerous.

Listening to nothing but Northern and soul at the moment,although i do like most genres of music as well.

When i think of describing soul music, i think of Big Maybelle,mostly classed as a blues singer,but you can actually feel when she sings as if it is really coming from her soul.

Also Otis Redding who really put soul music on the map as far as this country is concerned.

Stu.

thanks for the reply mate.. yeah it seems that music in all its forms and incarnations offers us a release or an escape from the rigours of our demanding lives music speaks to us in all aspects of life it can lift us it can drag us down to darker places it can inspire and motivate.. i remember a while ago at prestatyn the last song played on the sunday night was harold melvin "the love i lost" it almost made me collapse into a quivering heap of jelly !! and as i listened to Carole King play "its to late" last night it too bought back emotions that lay buried of people and wonderful times the 70s were a fantastic time for me i discovered so much most of wich is still with me today people go on about hearing records that have been overplayed but there is something to be said for the odd bout of nostalgia now and then eh.. im getting ready to go up to cream cracker tonite and i have every intention of getting totally lost in the music and thats ok but sometimes i just wanna sit back and relive old memories and remember when life was good i just feel that the term "soul" is very subjective and its very difficult to standardise it or pin it down or try to explain it or contain and pidgeon hole it Of all the things that are good in this world music has a language that is totally universal crossing culture and boundaries and connecting people on many levels when im at a nighter i feel that i am connected to everyone in the room and despite all the differences that exist betwewen us the love of the music is the one thing that binds us together creating a common ground that has no boundaries

[Guest Dante]

I was re-reading Harry Potter & last night and there's a bit when it describes the Fenix' singing, and I thought 'That's exactly what soul is':

A sad cry of overwhelming beauty.

It has to be the most geekiest answer to that question, innit? But right on the nail if you ask me.

[Soulsmith]

James Taylor & Hil St Soul

Nice Soul!

YOU BEAT ME TO THE PUNCH -

Edited May 22, 2010 by Soulsmith

[Mick Howard]

James Taylor & Hil St Soul

Nice Soul!

YOU BEAT ME TO THE PUNCH -

Mike

Soul is a pretty difficult thing to put ones finger on particularly when you discover that a tune which you have always believed was sung/played by afro-americans isn't. To me then its a feeling both from the artist and yourself so I guess you are right in a way although I don't get most of those artists you mention.

Mick

P.S. I have an eclectic taste in music (so I'm told) and like loads from punk to reggae to rock but most of that 'ain't Soulful.

[Guest Mike The Bike]

I was re-reading Harry Potter & last night and there's a bit when it describes the Fenix' singing, and I thought 'That's exactly what soul is':

A sad cry of overwhelming beauty.

It has to be the most geekiest answer to that question, innit? But right on the nail if you ask me.

Thanx for the reply mate Yep thats it spot on if it connects on some level then to the listener that is by default "soul music" surely

[boba]

"What is Soul?...Soul is a hamhock in your cornflakes"

...from the gospel of George Clinton.

haha, that song is the first thing i thought of when i saw the subject line too, i was thinking of the ashy kneecaps line

[Ljblanken]

i can sort of agree... to a point.

besides soul, i have a huge collection of hardcore, grindcore, black metal, crust and related stuff (think bands like 'kiss it goodbye', 'born against', 'man is the bastard', 'torches to rome', 'antioch arrow', 'second story window', 'wounded knee', 'blown-apart bastards', 'luzifers mob', etc). i'm sure most folks on here would find this stuff un-listenable, but it is undeniably very primal and emotive music, but not really 'soul'.

[nrc]

I also watched the show being a fan of Carol king. If you look at the number of songs that Goffin/King wrote together, it was a phenominal amount , both for white and black artists. whether you can class them as soul music i don't know . But they had to be one of the best Writers/arrangers of that era.

[Guest Mike The Bike]

I also watched the show being a fan of Carol king. If you look at the number of songs that Goffin/King wrote together, it was a phenominal amount , both for white and black artists. whether you can class them as soul music i don't know . But they had to be one of the best Writers/arrangers of that era.

Haha

well im glad someone watched it she was just great wasnt she ? and of course you are correct together they wrote some great tunes and james well he just gets better with age one of the best gigs i EVER went to was james taylor at the albert hall back in the 80s just superb !!!! hey thanks to everyone who replied it has been interesting see tou out on the floor sometime somwhere im the one wearing the LOUD hawian shirts doing my thing on the floor

[Guest nhsoulie]

not a chance the lot of you are talking shite soul is what most poor black americans are born with them proud people who get treated like shit too this day by middle america no exeptions never in a million years is guitar based music soul thats what all them leafy surry boys listen too

no offence just my opinion ha ha

[Guest nhsoulie]

thats why iam a soulboy nothing but the black voice does it for me ohhhhhwi

[boba]

not a chance the lot of you are talking shite soul is what most poor black americans are born with them proud people who get treated like shit too this day by middle america no exeptions never in a million years is guitar based music soul thats what all them leafy surry boys listen too

no offence just my opinion ha ha

i'm glad curtis mayfield didn't play the guitar.

Edited May 24, 2010 by boba

[Dave Moore]

i'm glad curtis mayfield didn't play the guitar.

Or Dave Hamilton.

Regards,

Dave

[Guest nhsoulie]

yeah you know what i mean that music where guitar drowns everything else owt

[Harrogatesoul]

Or Dave Hamilton.

Regards,

Dave

Or god forbid Steve Cropper

[Guest proudlove]

Or god forbid Steve Cropper

George Benson?

[Guest nhsoulie]

you know what i mean they was saying pink floyd and shit was soul over my rotting corpes it is

[Suzannek]

thats why iam a soulboy nothing but the black voice does it for me ohhhhhwi

So you don't see Dusty Springfield's voice as soulful cos she's white and who was remotely suggesting that Pink Floyd or their ilk was or is soul NO ONE!

Suz

x

[Guest nhsoulie]

just my opinion was havin this condversation last night with me main man john boy at radcliffe i dont rule white out but black is best surely?

BLACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

[Suzannek]

just my opinion was havin this condversation last night with me main man john boy at radcliffe i dont rule white out but black is best surely?

BLACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

Well the majority of soul music is recorded by black artists

Suz

x