You all know what time it is. And please, don’t sleep. Spring is here. I’ll
bet you haven’t heard these in a while, have you?

Old
School Wednesday: Springtime Freshness, Volume I.

From the lesser played cuts:
01 – The Jets – I Do You.
02 – Paula Abdul – My Foolish Heart.
03 – Whitney Houston – Thinking About You.

To the jams:
04 – Gwen Guthrie – Padlock.
05 – The Mary Jane Girls – In My House.
06 – Eurythmics – Who’s That Girl?
07 – Taja Sevelle – Love Is Contagious.
08 – The Brothers Johnson – Strawberry Letter 23.
09 – DeBarge – I Like It.

To the slow cuts:
10 – GQ – I Do Love You.
11 – Heatwave – Mind Blowing Decisions.
12 – Tony! Toni! Tone! – Slow Wine.
13 – Alexander O’Neal – The Morning After.

The tracks from Paula Abdul (produced by Peter Lord and V. Jeffrey Smith from
The Family Stand) and Alexander O’Neal were never released. Whitney’s track
was produced and sung with Kashif.

Enjoy it, y’all. Xquizzyt1
has one for next week, and it’s gonna make you groove. Watch for it.

First thing’s first. Mr. Todd Kelley lit the spot up with his design skills….we’re still working on the site, so any kinks, etc. that you see, let the brothers know. Appreciate it. Now back to our regularly scheduled groove….

It’s cosmic when two people are on the same vibe, you know.

Take Xquizzyt1. Homeslice
that she is, as I was putting this together, I decided to take a break and catch
up on some blog reading two days ago. She posted
her mix which (I kid you not) was more than 60% of the songs here. So, what
did I do? Why, I had to pick up the telephone and call to get her blessing. In
fact, she had so many other suggestions, she’s going to be the doc that rocks
the speakerbox next week. My people, I’m talking:

OSW: The Xquizzyt1 Mix, Volume 1.

01 – Today – Girl Got My Eyes On You
02 – Ralph Tresvant – Sensitivity
03 – Hi-Five – I Like The Way (The Kissing Game)
04 – Lisa Stansfield – All Around The World
05 – Jodeci – Come & Talk to Me
06 – Expose – Let Me Be The One
07 – Chuckii Booker – (Don’t U Know) I Luv U
08 – Mary Davis – Get Nervous
09 – Breakin’ (There’s No Stoppin’ Us) – Ollie And Jerry
10 – Whodini – The Good Part
11 – Mantronix – Got To Have Your Love
12 – Teena Marie – I Need Your Lovin’
13 – Kashif – Say Something Love
14 – Kenny G – What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)
15 – Joyce Sims – Come into My Life

Is this hot or not? Vibe on, my peoples.

Todd made me do it on Monday, and I just couldn’t leave well enough alone. Since it’s
Wednesday, I felt that I needed to come up with mellow cuts for old school which
are some of my favorites. Note that these are just a few of my favorites;
when you have more than 50 songs to choose from its never easy. Here’s my:

OSW/T12:
Low-tempo, old school.

01 – Anita Baker – Good Love. The last song on Giving You
The Best That I Got. I remember playing this song countless times- but even
more than that, I felt Gary Taylor’s lyrics, which made me pay serious attention
to him from that point on. Seriously powerful.
02 – Rufus & Chaka Khan – Live In Me. The first album I ever
bought was Masterjam, and I played this album incessently on my portable turntable.
I also felt that anything that Jerry Hey touched turned to gold.
03 – Donny Hathaway – Someday, We’ll All Be Free. Donny always made me smile. This live release made make me nod my head back and forth.
04 – New Birth – Wildflower. The words and the melodies were
powerful, but even more than that, every man I knew – my stepfather, my grandfather,
one of my uncles – had this song and even played it on my turntable.
The horn section and the breakdowns are priceless. This full version is so striking
and haunting, I’m totally wrapped up by the end of this song.
05 – Prince – Adore. I know all the words to this song…and
I can even ad-lib it. Don’t ask me to do that in front of you, please. One of
his best cuts, in my opinion.
06 – Stylistics – People Make The World Go Round. 1972 turned
out to be a really good year for me. I might have worn glasses and had the blowout
hair (you remember that picture, don’t you?) but I knew all the words to this
song in kindergarten. As a matter of fact, at one time, I even had three remakes
- from The Jamaica Boys, Marc Dorsey, and Karen Ramirez.
07 – Stevie Wonder – For Once In My Life. My mother used to play
this during her parties while I was stuck in the room. When I was growin’ up, Stevie
did absolutely no wrong.
08 – Bill Withers – Let Me Be the One You Need. I had to put
this back on the arby, which is why I have 13. Yes, I bent the rules a litle.
09 – Switch – There’ll Never Be. The guitar solo and harmonies are what got me
hooked, and since this was one of their biggest hits, it stays on my mind.
10 – Alexander O’Neal – A Broken Heart Can Mend. From his first
album, back when Jam and Lewis were breaking into the big leagues. The chords
and the simplicity of this song were just overwhelming to me. Add the lyrics in,
and it smoothed me out. Only drawback: the song was way too short.
11 – Average White Band – A Love Of Your Own. The sooner
you give, the sooner you get to have/a love of your own. Damn. This song
always made me feel hopeful when I didn’t think love was anywhere to be found.

12 – Earth, Wind & Fire – Can’t Hide Love. This song stands
out during the last section of the song, there’s two things that are prominent – the brass section
and the vocal harmonics. Classic.
13 – Heatwave – The Star of The Story. I bought The Best
of Heatwave and cursed myself because I didn’t pay much attention to this
song when Heatwave was hot. I concentrated on the disco side of them. I wore
this song out two years ago. It’s impossible for me to describe this song fully.
It just hits me in all the right spots. It cheers me up too.

There’s plenty more- but that’s what OSWs are for, right?
Groove with me.

We continue the macking vibe this week, ladies and gentlemen- a continuation of the mackdaddy vibe.

Old
School Wednesday: Mackdaddies, Take II.

This time, we’re starting with the mellow cuts:
01 – Michael Cooper – Gotta Get You Undressed. The title alone
is enough to make a woman take notice, but it’s all about him growling near
the end. Wish I could do that.
02 – Alexander O’Neal – All True Man. ‘ And then more of the
same. With Alexander growling, how can you possibly refuse him?
03 – Gary Taylor – Tease Me. A low-key romantic song in full
effect. By the time the song gets to the ending, there’s a serious meltdown
from your date, right?
04 – Bill Withers – Let Me Be The One You Need. Way back before
the word ‘mack’ was used frequently, Bill Withers had the voice that captivated
the women – including my mom. The way his vocals crescendo and soar near the
end should create a meltdown with your date.
05 – The Art Of Noise – Moments In Love. This trio had quite
a few fantatic tracks, but this aria of love was a serious macking song in high
school and college. 10 minute of pure bliss.
06 – After 7 – Ready Or Not. Don’t lie, man. I know you (tried
to) hit these notes like Kevon did.

And now we’re stepping into the mid-to-uptemo cuts.
07 – George Benson – Give Me The Night. I’m sure you know this
one. The guitars and horns are on point. Pop quiz: 1) Who’s the producer? 2)
Name the primary background vocalist.
08 – Kenny Lattimore – Just What It Takes. Smooth macking.
09 – Shalamar – I Can Make You Feel Good. This cut just barely
made the US R&B top 40 in 1982, but the best things I loved about this song
were the bassline and the lyrics on the bridge, which are more conversation
than rhyme, hence the mackin’.
10 – Midnight Star – Midas Touch (Extended). Extolling the
virtues of the element AU.
11 – Cameo – Attack Me With Your Love (Extended). When you
want to be touched, fondled, and pleased.
12 – Ready For The World – Digital Display. When touching someone
is more than just an analog kinda thing.
13 – Blackstreet – I Like The Way You Work. Accompaniment to
the above track.

Vibe with me.

Alright, I’m back, and haven’t had much to blog about all week. I was all set to do a Bakers Dozen, but came up with nothing
since everybody and their mother blogged about the Oscars, so I laid in the
cut, getting ready for the next Old School Wednesday. I was all ready, set,
go with the Mackdaddies, part II, but then I got a special request, and as you
know (or don’t know), I live for special requests.

Some time back when I started doing radio blogs, I did one with nothing
but Flytetyme cuts. Two computer crashes and several blog space issues later,
it was deleted. So imagine it- here I am, and, as the week starts up, Todd
makes a request:

Todd: next OSW: you need a Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis Thing.
Todd: so you can throw some Human League up in that b!tch

And of course, I go to KB and he says:

EJ: Todd wants me to do a Jam and Lewis arby.
KB: I miss the old one
EJ: did someone tell him about the floodgates?
EJ: oh, i can EASILY do that 10 times over. want me to resurrect it?
KB: That would satisfy TK.
EJ: alright, i’ll put the mackdaddy over to the side.
EJ: the things i do for my brethren.
KB: it’s SO appreciated though

And that – along with Jam and Lewis appearing on Half and Half on Monday, and well….you know I had to do it.

Old
School Wednesday: Flytetyme- The Overlooked Cuts.

I could have easily done a Flytyme radio blog with nothing but hits from them,
or better yet, an all-Janet Jackson one…these things are easy, and could keep
us satisfied for quite a while. The more and more I thought about it though,
the more appealing this radio blog became. This arby consists of the sons from
the dynamic duo that were never released as a single, or when they were released,
were seriously overlooked. Check it out: