Friday's My Inner Lester Bangs: "100 Yard Dash"

So I know I don't post much, but mainly that's because it's visit time here in the SA.  We've got the high level visit coming, and I'm running around like a lunatic making sure everything goes to plan.  Lovely English Lass is in charge of the Meet and Greet (being held here and NOT at the Embassy in Pretoria) and is doing a great job for someone that has only been on the job for 2 weeks.  But, MILB is back because I needed something to take my mind off the crazy.

Raphael Saadiq was the front man for Tony! Toni! Tone! which everyone who was in the US knows from the early 1990s.  Quite a fun sounding band, with New Jack Swing hits like "Feels Good" and "If I Had No Loot" making the rounds.  After the band broke up, he formed a new Super Group with Dawn Robinson from En Vogue and Ali Shaheed from A Tribe Called Quest (one of my favorite Rap groups of all time) to form Lucy Pearl.  Nice throw-back sound, but it didn't last.

Saadiq is what you'd call a traditionalist.  His album from 2008, The Way I See It takes you back to the 1960s Motown sound, and even includes a guest appearance from Stevie Wonder.  (Surprisingly, Stevie just plays the harmonica.  And of course it sounds just like a Stevie Wonder harmonica would sound.)  Saadiq is very much in tune with his music, and does the unexpected.  When everyone else is looking forward with Space-age beats, or huge drums, a la Timberland, he's moving back to the sound of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell and The Four Tops.  I mean, who has the cajones to ask one of the greatest song writers/singers/performers in modern music history, and only ask him to solo on his harmonica.  The man who wrote, sang and performed every instrument on the recording for "Superstition" (still what  I think of as one of the greatest songs in Rock) comes to guest and does a harmonica solo.  That's some self-confidence.

He even presented himself as a man of that time period, wearing form-fitted suits and skinny ties with horn-rimmed glasses.  Just the kind of guy you'd see walking out of a club in 1964.

The song I like best from that album is called "100 Yard Dash".  Amazing throw-back, and one that stays with you when you hear it.  It's got the mono sound going, the bass walking up and down the register, and the tinny sound from an early Motown record, with the breathless background singers working too.  Musicianship is all over this work, and the horns and saxaphones hit the right era as well.  When he sings: "You're Love is Stronger/ and it feels like every day it's getting longer/I feel your love like a monkey on my back" you actually can see this man struggle with the girl.  It's evocative of another time, when soul music was an expression.  Songs like "Night and Day" and "How Sweet it is (to be loved by you)" always gave you a certain feeling, and "100 Yard Dash" does the same.  It's meant to be both forward looking and a tribute at the same time.  The fact that he succeeded is amazing.

I always feel like music is supposed to make you feel something.  Disposable stuff that's always been around gives certain people a thrill, I suppose.  I'm sure that right now a girl (or boy, I'm not generalizing) who grew up with NKOTB or Backstreet Boys will tell you that when she hears a certain song, then it takes them back to where they were and how they felt as a 13 year old.  The differences is, with certain styles of music, even if you don't like it you can tell it's very good.  People that don't like classical music can listen to something by Liszt can probably tell it's good.  Even people that don't like soul music will be able to tell that this is a great recording.

Go on, listen to it.  It may not be your cup of tea, but you'll definitely be able to tell that it's a great piece or music.  And who knows, maybe you'll like even like it.  Me, I'm going to listen to it again, and then get on with my day.  I need my happy space for this visit, and for some reason this song puts a smile on my face.