I keep saying I’m going to get into the swing of things, but I’m mostly just relaxing these days. I’m behind on my reading, and need more sleep, but I’ve got time for the music. Here we go…..

Old
School Wednesday: Autumnal Equinox, Volume 2.

01 – Confunkshun – Straight From The Heart
02 – Anita Baker – Will You Be Mine?
03 – The Isley Brothers – Groove With You
04 – Chante Moore – Wey U
05 – Angel Grant – Kisses Luv Lips
06 – Bill Withers – Lovely Day
07 – Marvin Gaye – Heavy Love Affair
08 – Donald Byrd – Wind Parade
09 – The Main Ingredient – Happiness Is Just Around the Bend
10 – Boz Scaggs – Lowdown
11 – Slave – Wait For Me
12 – Aurra – Who Are You?
13 – Leo’s Sunshipp – Give Me The Sunshine
14 – Stevie Wonder – Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)

While I personally think the whole selection is great, I’ve definitely been into Leo’s Sunshipp’s track, Give Me The Sunshine, which you can get from Midnight Soul, Volume 2, as well as We Need Each Other, which is what I picked up last weekend.
Wind Parade is from Mizell, which is a Mizell Brothers compilation which I’ve constantly been rotating. If you’re a fan of Donand Byrd and Bobbi Humphrey, I’d advise you to pick the CD up. Qamar got me into Slave, so I’ve been rotating Show Time/Visions Of The Lite this week. Then there’s Aurra’s Who Are You, which Fresh! got me into, and…well, as you can tell, I could go on and on about this music.

Hope you enjoy it.

I’ll be playing this around my relatives all weekend, while I go by each of their
houses and eat their food.

Old
School Wednesday: Thanksgiving Mix, 2005.

01 – The Brothers Johnson – Light up the Night. Produced by Quincy Jones.
02 – Five Special – Why Leave Us Alone.
03 – The Jacksons – Everybody. Special thanks to KB
for dropping this to me when I couldn’t find it.
04 – Stephanie Mills – Put Your Body In It.
05 – Val Young – Seduction (Extended). Written and produced by Rick James.
06 – Patrice Rushen – Haven’t You Heard. The all-time classic.
07 – Chaka Khan – Move Me No Mountain.
08 – Marvin Gaye – Turn On Some Music. All instruments and vocals
by the man himself, Marvin.
09 – Alexander O’Neal – Love Makes No Sense.
10 – Ramsey Lewis – Sun Goddess.
11 – The Main Ingredient – Everybody Plays the Fool.
12 – Love Unlimited – Gotta Be Where You Are.
13 – The Isley Brothers – For the Love of You.
14 – Anita Baker – Angel.
15 – Deniece Williams – It’s Gonna Take a Miracle.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Collaboration has it’s advantages. I couldn’t think of a name for this mix. KB,
the collaborator, helped me out- with a little wry humour of course……

EJ: Alright, come up with a name for it.
EJ: I don’t think you want it to be KB’s Adolesence, Volume 1, right?
KB: Special place in hell for you, my friend.
EJ: Purgatory has many levels. I’ve already moved in.
KB: Hold up, let me take a look at the lineup again.
KB: "Growing Pains"
KB: It fits every song except the Dynasty one.

And that’s how Old
School Wednesday: Growing Pains came to be.

01 – Imagination – Just an Illusion.
02 – Princess – Say I’m Your #1.
03 – Cameo – Back and Forth.
04 – The System – Don’t Disturb This Groove.
05 – Tyka Nelson – Paris.
06 – Herb Alpert – Rise.
07 – Dynasty – Adventures In The Land Of Music.
08 – EFUA – Strawberry Boy.
09 – Juicy – Sugar Free.
10 – The Main Ingredient – Spinning Around (I Must Be Falling In Love).
11 – L.T.D. – Love Ballad.
12 – Force M.D’s – Tears.
13 – Chuckii Booker – You Don’t Know.
14 – Loose Ends – You Can’t Stop the Rain.

In this lineup:
1. Four of these artists are British acts.
2. One of these songs was sampled by the rap act Camp Lo.
3. One of these acts had Cuba Gooding as a member.
4. One of them is a close relative of Prince.
5. One of these acts was also produced by the same production team that produced
Rick Astley.

Give it your best shot.

It’s that time again.

Old
School Wednesday: Autumnal Equinox, Volume 1.

01 – Odyssey – Inside Out [Long Version]. Will
requested that it be pulled out of the vault again. I was happy to oblige. The
bassline and the string arrangements of this track are incredible, even more so
that they were masterminded by Mark Adams from Slave.
02 – Marvin Gaye – Funk Me. J.
had the cut and I went wild when I heard it and I had to have it. The arrangement
is superb.
03 – Kashif – Stone Love. I haven’t played Kashif in a while and he fit
right in.
04 – Ray Parker Junior – For Those Who Like to Groove. An instrumental
I hadn’t heard in a while. Once I got the blessing from Fresh!,
I had to drop it.
05 – Pieces of a Dream – Fo-Fi-Fo. Bernie
had me pull it out, and I was glad to do so. This cut just missed the Philly Soul
mix.
06 – Will Downing – Do You? From Will Downing’s first LP, Will Downing.
This was one of my favorite cuts that never got any airplay.
07 – Michael McDonald – What A Fool Believes (ft.The Doobie Brothers).
Todd made me pull him out,
and I had to put this track in.
08 – Pride ‘n Politix – Nights. I saw this melanin-free duo on Video Soul in the 80′s
interviewing with Donnie Simpson and bought their CD a couple of years ago from
the cut-out bin. My favorite cut from their CD, Changes. I’m 99% sure
no one has heard this cut.
09 – Ray Parker Jr and Raydio – You Can’t Change That. Since I pulled
the instrumental out, I had to hear this too, and couldn’t get away with it.
10 – Rufus & Chaka Khan – Please Pardon Me (You Remind Me of a Friend).
This track was in my head, which provided the segue to…
11 – Womack & Womack – Baby I’m Scared Of You, which Charlie from
Flowink had brought up in conversation,
and dropped to me.
12 – Deniece Williams – Free. Provided to me by no other than James from
J-Notes. Allowed me to slow things
down a little.
13 – Jasmine Guy – Just Want To Hold You. Male vocals by James Ingram. Quite possibly my favorite
track from her CD, Jasmine Guy.
14 – Troop – You Take My Heart With You. From Deepa.
15 – Daryl Hall & John Oates – She’s Gone. This cut wasn’t on the
Rock and Soul mix. I’m sure none of you forgot this one. I know I didn’t.

16 – Alexander O’Neal – When The Party’s Over. Obi,
GrantLove, and
Chica all know I had to finish off with this cut.

Enjoy.

Leaves are falling from the trees, love is in the air. By request:

Old
School Wednesday: The Need 4 Love.

01 – Anita Baker – You Bring Me Joy
02 – Norman Connor with Jean Carne and Michael Henderson – Valentine Love.
03 – The Emotions – Don’t Ask My Neighbor.
04 – Cameo – Sparkle.
05 – Nu Colours – Didn’t Any 1 Tell You
06 – Kenny Loggins – Love Will Follow
07 – Michael Franks – The Lady Wants to Know
08 – Minnie Riperton – Can You Feel What I’m Saying
09 – D-Influence – Funny (How Things Change)
10 – Cherrelle – Everything I Miss At Home
11 – Alexander O’Neal – Sunshine
12 – Angel Grant – Well Okay, I’ll Say It…(I’m N Love W/U).
13 – Troop – Come Back To Your Home
14 – Rhonda Clark – Stay Here, Stay Near
15 – Kiss the Sky – So Easy

Note: one of the tracks features Stevie Wonder, two of the tracks are from England, and four of the tracks are from Flytetyme.
I’ll let you guess which ones.
Enjoy.