Modern soul records sounding better than when they were released

[Guest woolie mark]

I wouldn't have listened to this when it was released.....too retro.  But it sounds really good to me now.  Even cheaper than chips.

 

Edited November 5, 2017 by woolie mark

[Woodbutcher]

If it sounded "too retro" in 1980 how can it not sound like that 37 years later ... ?

Anything that uses that bloody awful "pew-pew-pew" disco synth drum through it reminds me of the dreadful sour-faced Kelly Marie and her nasty "Feels like I'm in love" from the same year , for that reason alone it's destined for my personal Room 101 , alongside all the other dreadful eurodisco tripe that folk try and pass off as modern soul these days in the desperate search for something new to play ... 

 

Edited November 5, 2017 by WoodButcher

[Steveh73]

Not sure why it would have sounded retro in 1980 (the production being pretty typical for that time) but it sounds good to me and I like those syndrums.

[Mickey Finn]

I liked it at the time and can remember buying the Ensign Records 7. Still ok to these ears.

The retro thing depends a lot on the timing - some then state of the art 80s stuff sounds woefully overproduced and clunky today, whereas early 80s "retro" sounds then are often sounding very much fresher today than they were back then. Seemingly obvious hits are not hits because they fail to stand out in circumstances that are different to when these tracks are later recognised for their greatness. 

As for Kelly Marie ... well, I have a similar thing about Anita Ward's "ring my bell", which was written and produced by Frederick Knight of all people. No Munich Machine in sight but the same pew-pew-pew.

It's good that there are people crate digging for undiscovered and rare tunes that merit a soul audience. Soul Sam is still one of the leaders in unearthing late 70s early 80s tracks that deserved a proper chance the first time round but didn't quite make it. I wouldn't want to be stuck with the jazz funk or modern soul equivalents of the NS top 500 - especially for jazz funk the tracks are longer which means it's more like the top 100. And I've complained on here before about modern jocks playing it totally safe. The classics sound so much better when they are played alongside the less familiar. And even better alongside eurodisco 

[Roburt]

Lots of stuff that was quite soulful in the middle of the disco era was dismissed at the time (coz the instrumentation sounded too much like stuff getting mainstream disco / radio play. With the passage of time, some sounds have dated whilst others seem fresher now than then . 

Here's two (one being a slow dancer) I like ... from Marva Hicks ....

 

[Roburt]

Another one I like (& seeing as I'm in Florida, quite appropriate) .....

 

[Guest woolie mark]

13 hours ago, steveh73 said:

Not sure why it would have sounded retro in 1980 (the production being pretty typical for that time) but it sounds good to me and I like those syndrums.

From my memory, the syn-drums ("pew pew" type thing) was long gone by 1980, seems like more of a 70s pop-disco thing to me.  I always hated this in the version of Curtis "How can I tell her" which has it.

14 hours ago, WoodButcher said:

If it sounded "too retro" in 1980 how can it not sound like that 37 years later ... ?

There are loads of records from the late 70s and early 80s which I listen to now, but when they were released I didn't like them because I thought they sounded outdated.  Another example would be the Hudson People record I posted in the jazz funk thread (the guitar would have been too "soft rock" for me back then - although interestingly it seems Chris Hill/Robbie Vincent tried to remove the "rock" guitar when they remixed it) which I love now.  There are loads of others, just can't think of them now.

Edited November 5, 2017 by woolie mark

[Guest woolie mark]

6 hours ago, Roburt said:

Lots of stuff that was quite soulful in the middle of the disco era was dismissed at the time (coz the instrumentation sounded too much like stuff getting mainstream disco / radio play. With the passage of time, some sounds have dated whilst others seem fresher now than then . 

Yeah.....spot on mate 

[Cover-up]

When these tracks were being released, most people were just looking for 60s stompers and new sounds were still turning up. Thirty years on, these 80s tracks are now even more retro than listening to 60s tunes was in the 80s...  

Edited November 6, 2017 by cover-up

[Guest woolie mark]

11 hours ago, cover-up said:

When these tracks were being released, most people were just looking for 60s stompers and new sounds were still turning up. Thirty years on, these 80s tracks are now even more retro than listening to 60s tunes was in the 80s...  

Yeah, I often think that.

Like when Soul Bowl had the Hamilton Movement on their list for £1 in 1976 it probably didn't get hardly any attention at the time.