Soul Deep - Bbc4 @ 9.00 Tonight

[Guest Bernadette]

For anyone who missed it first time around this 6 part series in being repeated starting tonight.........

Soul Deep 1/6. The Birth of Soul - This major documentary series tells the story of the rise of black popular music. Once the party music of an oppressed minority, it is now the biggest single influence on global popular culture today. It begins with the remarkable story of Ray Charles and how he merged the Saturday night rhythms of the dancehall with the Sunday morning emotion of the church to create a new sound that would become known as soul. Set against a backdrop of racial segregation, this first programme recreates the heady world of the 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues scene from which Ray Charles emerged, and also features artists such as Louis Jordan, Ruth Brown, Big Joe Turner, Fats Domino, Little Richard and James Brown . Featuring rare and never before seen archive, including a previously unseen interview with the late Ray Charles himself.

If I remember rightly the first 4 episodes or so were excellent covering the early roots from the 50s and 60s BUT after that it was alike a runaway express train where the 70's & 80's were skimmed over (not even a mention of Gamble & Huff ) and then the last episode seemed like a promotion for Mary J - as much as I like her! Anyway aside from those gripes its still worth watching

[Guest lolmil]

For anyone who missed it first time around this 6 part series in being repeated starting tonight.........

Soul Deep 1/6. The Birth of Soul - This major documentary series tells the story of the rise of black popular music. Once the party music of an oppressed minority, it is now the biggest single influence on global popular culture today. It begins with the remarkable story of Ray Charles and how he merged the Saturday night rhythms of the dancehall with the Sunday morning emotion of the church to create a new sound that would become known as soul. Set against a backdrop of racial segregation, this first programme recreates the heady world of the 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues scene from which Ray Charles emerged, and also features artists such as Louis Jordan, Ruth Brown, Big Joe Turner, Fats Domino, Little Richard and James Brown . Featuring rare and never before seen archive, including a previously unseen interview with the late Ray Charles himself.

If I remember rightly the first 4 episodes or so were excellent covering the early roots from the 50s and 60s BUT after that it was alike a runaway express train where the 70's & 80's were skimmed over (not even a mention of Gamble & Huff ) and then the last episode seemed like a promotion for Mary J - as much as I like her! Anyway aside from those gripes its still worth watching

and here's a link

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/