1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Welcome to the Album Nerds podcast with your hosts, Andy, Don, and Dude. 2 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:21,400 Hello, my children. Welcome to the Album Nerds podcast. I'm Dude. I got Andy and Don with me. Andy, how you doing, friend? 3 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:27,800 Hey there, buddy. Doing well. You know, I'm just sitting here. I got the light stims. I lit a single candle. 4 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:32,800 Got a little incense burning in the corner. Don, old chum. What's up? 5 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:35,800 Seems like we got like a high pressure system moving in. 6 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:38,800 It's a low pressure. 7 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:42,800 Oh, it's low. 8 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:50,800 All right. So this is the Album Nerds podcast. It's a podcast. We talk about albums. We love them. And hopefully so do you. 9 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:58,800 We got a great show for you today. We're going to be talking about albums that have songs from the Quiet Storm radio format. 10 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,800 And we'll get a little more in depth on what that is in a minute. 11 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:07,800 But first, we're going to talk a little bit about how we got there, stuff we listened to in the past week to make our selections. 12 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:09,800 And we'll get to those. We'll each pick an album. 13 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:13,800 We're going to answer a question that's loosely related to our Quiet Storm topic today. 14 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:16,800 And then we'll figure out what we learned. 15 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:21,800 And we're going to spin the wheel of musical destiny to find out what we'll talk about on the next episode. 16 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:26,800 But this week, it's all about that Quiet Storm. 17 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:29,800 That's what I'm talking about. 18 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:36,800 Quiet Storm is a radio format and genre of R&B performed in a smooth, romantic jazz influenced style. 19 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:42,800 It was named after the title song on Smokey Robinson's 1975 album, A Quiet Storm. 20 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:51,800 The radio format was pioneered in 1976 by Melvin Lindsay while he was an intern at the Washington, D.C. radio station WHUR-FM. 21 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:56,800 It eventually became regarded as an identifiable subgenre of R&B. 22 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:05,800 Quiet Storm was marketed to upscale mature African-American audiences during the 1980s and fell out of favor with young listeners in the age of hip hop. 23 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:08,800 But its legacy continues into pop music today. 24 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:14,800 Each of us will present an album with a song that would be played on a Quiet Storm radio station. 25 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:19,800 All right. So, fellas, how do we do in this Quiet Storm? 26 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:22,800 Do we have an umbrella? Do we get soaked? What's the deal? 27 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:25,800 Oh, man, I got drenched by some Teddy Pendergrass. 28 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:29,800 Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. I know. 29 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:37,800 It's impossible for your hands to not slowly start caressing your own cheek when you listen to Teddy Pendergrass. 30 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:44,800 Yeah, Teddy P. He goes to another level with the Quiet Storm genre here. 31 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:48,800 So I listened to a couple of his records. Both were pretty awesome in the 70s. 32 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:51,800 L. Green, the Let's Stay Together. 33 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:57,800 A little too bluesy, a little too poppy, I guess, for what I thought the genre sounded like. 34 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:01,800 And I'll shout out a more recent record from a group called Rye called Woman. 35 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:09,800 Came out in 2013. Excellent, you know, kind of soft jazz vocal thing going on and fits this space pretty well. 36 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:11,800 I stumbled on that one, too. 37 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:21,800 And a lot of the things that now would kind of fall into that category are even jazzier, I think, than a lot of the 1980s era Quiet Storm stuff. 38 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:28,800 So, yeah, I did some Pendergrass myself, smoked that Pendergrass. 39 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:34,800 Yeah, I just it felt too uncomfortable to play and talk to you guys about. 40 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:38,800 It's very intimate. Yeah. 41 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:46,800 I don't think I could like I run Zoom, but even making eye contact on Zoom, I can do it and talk about it. 42 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:54,800 Yeah. So Tony Braxton, her first album, Luther Vandross. 43 00:03:54,800 --> 00:04:00,800 I listened to a bunch of his records. The 80s output was probably the sexiest. 44 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:09,800 But yeah, I mean, I kind of stuck in that realm, but then was looking for something that might be a little more modern, at least in this century, barely. 45 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:12,800 And that's where I ended up landing. How about you, Don? How did you do? 46 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:18,800 Well, we had done it before. We did the Barry White, Can't Get Enough, not too long ago. 47 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:20,800 And that would have been a good one to do, I think. 48 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:28,800 I actually I checked out Sade. She's not somebody I ever really paid much attention to, but I know she's highly regarded. 49 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,800 So I did want to spend some time with that record. But I believe you guys discussed it quite a while ago. 50 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:34,800 Diamond Life. Yep, Diamond Life. 51 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:36,800 That would have been my first pick here. Yeah, it's a good one. 52 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:44,800 Yeah. And then Anita Baker, Rapture. I remember, I think I remember watching like the Grammys that year. 53 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:49,800 And she was nominated in like every category. And it just seemed like kind of old people music to me at the time. 54 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:56,800 That's we did that. Andy and I did on the show a while back. And that was exactly what I said. 55 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:03,800 At the time, I thought of it as like old people music, but mostly is because they were they were old enough to have sex and I was not. 56 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:10,800 So maybe that's why I didn't. Maybe someday, buddy. I'll get there. 57 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:15,800 So I ended up kind of going further back in time with my pick. 58 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:19,800 All right. Well, now that the picks are in, let's do this. 59 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:28,800 You chew, chew, chew me. 60 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:40,800 And so students, my children, this is Venus Flytrap inviting you to join me on a telescope ride of incredible distances and joyous harmonies. 61 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:47,800 As we spin, and summer salt into the night of meaty velvet. Now a little taste of honey. 62 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:51,800 Oh, yes. Those telescope rides. 63 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:54,800 What is with the bells? 64 00:05:54,800 --> 00:06:06,800 You know, Venus Flytrap of WKRP had some props and you like to use the chimes and then a gong. 65 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:10,800 In the era before soundboards. 66 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:16,800 Well, for my quiet storm selection here, we are starting with the album that started the whole movement itself. 67 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:21,800 Talking about Smokey Robinson and his 1975 album, A Quiet Storm. 68 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:26,800 This is the third studio album for the soul singer from Detroit, Michigan. 69 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:34,800 Really solidified Robinson as a solo artist and songwriter after his career with the Miracles was coming to a close. 70 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,800 Yeah, let's play a little bit of the title track. 71 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:40,800 This is Quiet Storm. 72 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:51,800 Quiet Storm, blowing through my life. 73 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:56,800 Yeah, that song. Wow. I was really impressed by that track. 74 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:00,800 I really came to appreciate this album as a whole after listening to it for a while. 75 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:02,800 He gets a great groove going on this record. 76 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:07,800 Three words I used to describe it are hypnotized by the storm. 77 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:09,800 I think Smokey kind of gets you under his spell here. 78 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:12,800 Kind of works his magics on you. 79 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:15,800 And I don't know, man. I was a believer by the end of this record. 80 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:17,800 Really well written, intriguing songs. 81 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:22,800 It's a pretty short record coming in a little over 30 minutes and only seven tracks. 82 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:26,800 But each one really, I think, stands well on its own, covers a lot of ground. 83 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:31,800 And he really gives a really passionate, charismatic vocal performance, I felt. 84 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,800 His voice is like very soft and smooth and sensual, but it's very nimble. 85 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:39,800 He's like up and down and all over and creating all these interesting melodies. 86 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:45,800 The question when I hear him, especially on this record, when he sings, the way he sings, 87 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:49,800 like I think of silk sheets, but then I thought maybe it's more satin. 88 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:52,800 So what do you guys think? Silk or satin for Smokey? 89 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:58,800 When Smokey sings, I hear violins. 90 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:01,800 He inspired others. 91 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:02,800 Very nice. 92 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:05,800 So silk or satin? 93 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:06,800 Satin. 94 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:14,800 I would go satin, I think. I think, you know, high thread count. 95 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:21,800 From now on, that's how we should rate all albums by their thread count. 96 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:27,800 I think what stood out to me most listening to this record, you know, a fair amount of last week was 97 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:29,800 the great use of woodwinds. 98 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:34,800 That's something you hear a lot of records that we talk about on the show here. 99 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:38,800 A quiet storm, you'd expect some wood to be involved, yeah? 100 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:41,800 Yes, the flute has been utilized. 101 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:46,800 If you don't count saxophone as woodwind, then it is sort of unusual. 102 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:48,800 Yeah, yeah, totally. 103 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:53,800 Yeah, I think the band really holds its own here and plays really, really tight with Smokey's vocals. 104 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:59,800 They're right and locked up through these tracks here and it keeps things moving and kept me really engaged. 105 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:01,800 And I, you know, like I've enjoyed Smokey. 106 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:03,800 I remember him a lot growing up. 107 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:06,800 I feel like he was in all the shows I watched growing up. 108 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:09,800 Smokey was a big part of that scene or whatever. 109 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:14,800 But I never heard this album and I really came to really appreciate it. 110 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:19,800 He had radio hits even into the 80s, so he never fully went away. 111 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:22,800 And he got mentioned in a lot of different songs. 112 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:24,800 Yeah, obviously very influential. 113 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:29,800 Yeah, really was in the forefront of the forest fire cause. 114 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:33,800 Only you can prevent wildfires. 115 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:36,800 Hello there. 116 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:39,800 Am I that predictable? 117 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:41,800 All right, well, here's another track from the record. 118 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:56,800 This is a little bit of Happy Love Theme from Lady Sings the Blues. 119 00:09:56,800 --> 00:10:04,800 So that song actually comes from the film Lady Sings the Blues, which was released in 1972 and was about the singer Billie Holiday. 120 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:08,800 The melody was composed by, I think it's Michelle LeGrand. 121 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:15,800 The melody appears in the film, but Robinson didn't actually add lyrics to the song until after the film was released. 122 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:19,800 The song was originally recorded by Bobby Darin and then by Michael Jackson. 123 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:23,800 So Smokey finally takes a crack at it here in 1975. 124 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:25,800 The lyrics are so cool. 125 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:34,800 I guess that's one thing that kind of surprised me with this album is, I mean, his lyrics are relatively simple, but they're still kind of clever. 126 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:37,800 I just like the line, my life began when happy smiled. 127 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:39,800 That's good stuff. 128 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:44,800 The three words I chose to describe the album, look out Marvin and Stevie. 129 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:51,800 So this is right around that time where you have Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder putting out these epic albums. 130 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:56,800 And it's like Smokey had to answer with his own. 131 00:10:56,800 --> 00:11:02,800 I mean, this one's a little different because it's more romantic, whereas those were kind of tackling social issues and stuff. 132 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:11,800 But I feel in terms of just the hugeness of the record, it still kind of has that big feel to it with all the orchestration. 133 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:16,800 I think it's a cohesive masterpiece, I think. 134 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:20,800 All the songs are unique, but they tie together. 135 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:27,800 I love the 70s R&B because I think they finally embraced the album as a format. 136 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:32,800 Because I tend to think of early Motown and even Aretha Franklin and stuff. 137 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:33,800 Just singles. 138 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:34,800 Yeah, exactly. 139 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:42,800 So particularly Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye really, I think, elevated that genre. 140 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:43,800 I was going to follow up on that. 141 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:46,800 There's some loose concept album elements to this. 142 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:55,800 The album opens and closes and a couple of tracks as well feature kind of like this wind blowing through or stormy background sounds. 143 00:11:55,800 --> 00:12:03,800 Well, I think that those atmospherics and I think Smokey kind of created this romantic world. 144 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:10,800 And I think within that was like stormy nights and stormy under those satin sheets as well. 145 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:21,800 So I think because of how this album was done and those atmospherics and that theme, that's why it spawned an entire radio genre. 146 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:25,800 So that's pretty cool. 147 00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:27,800 Take that Marvin. 148 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:28,800 OK. 149 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:32,800 Why don't we play what was the lead single from the album? 150 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:34,800 This is Baby, That's Back At You. 151 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:54,800 I love the flutey stuff going on there because his voice works with it so well. 152 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:58,800 The quality of his voice does have it does have a woodwind quality to it. 153 00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:02,800 Yeah, something airy to it like that's unique. 154 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:09,800 Yes. So that song just really has a great vibe to it, expresses romantic sentiments. 155 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:20,800 Obviously, I think it probably came from someone saying I love you and saying back at you, you know, because I feel like all the feelings are bouncing back and forth between them. 156 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:21,800 I like that. 157 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:23,800 It feels like fresh love. 158 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:31,800 So three words I used to describe this album, gusting vocals forecasted as I alluded to earlier that the airiness. 159 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:40,800 The airiness of all of it, the instrumentation, his voice, the storm rain theme, like it feels like you're caught up in this. 160 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:51,800 And sometimes that's what love can feel like, especially in the early stages of a relationship that it does feel like there's this quiet storm brewing and it's. 161 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:55,800 You can't control it, you know, and I think that's the sums it up fairly well. 162 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:57,800 The album is lyrically compelling. 163 00:13:57,800 --> 00:13:59,800 Every song held my attention. 164 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:05,800 It went too fast, which is pretty short, but his just his voice is so well suited to this. 165 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:08,800 You know, and he's still trying to do it. 166 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:09,800 80 something years old. 167 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:12,800 The album that came out this past year, Gazzams. 168 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:14,800 Let's not bring Gazzams into this. 169 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:16,800 Well, he talks about eargasms and different. 170 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:22,800 It's all different kinds of Gazzams that this person brings these shutters of joy to him. 171 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:25,800 Yeah, I watched a performance of his. 172 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:26,800 I didn't name the album. 173 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:34,800 But along that point, I watched a performance of him from like a year or two ago to like an hour and a half long concert. 174 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:35,800 He was really good. 175 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:40,800 He's still like dancing around and still getting the ladies to scream at him. 176 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:41,800 All right. 177 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:42,800 Well, I don't know. 178 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:45,800 I'm debating how the fame for this. 179 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:46,800 I really like it. 180 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:50,800 It's not exactly given me Gazzams, but. 181 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:57,800 Well, you know, no, no, no, no, smokey can get away with it. You, sir, cannot. 182 00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:00,800 Yeah. All right. All right. 183 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:05,800 I didn't think we'd have a quiet storm album in the Hall of Fame, but I'm going to I think this one's worthy. 184 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:13,800 So, yeah, I'm going to I'm going to nominate Smoky Robinson's Quiet Storm for the Album Nerds Hall of Fame. 185 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:14,800 I think it's a very unique record. 186 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:20,800 The sound, you know, obviously created kind of a subgenre here and every track is really strong. 187 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:23,800 So, yeah, it's I think it's a Hall of Fame worthy for me. 188 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:24,800 What do you guys think? 189 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:25,800 Yeah, I think so, too. 190 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:28,800 He's a legendary voice and he's a legendary songwriter. 191 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:31,800 And I think this is probably the the album to put in. 192 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:33,800 I had never heard it before. 193 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:38,800 Honestly, like I wasn't that familiar with his solo output. 194 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:48,800 So, yeah, absolutely. It genre defining his his contribution to changing music in that period, changing what soul music could be. 195 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:49,800 So right on. 196 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:52,800 All right. Well, that was Smoky Robinson. 197 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:53,800 A quiet storm. 198 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:56,800 I'm good enough. I'm smart enough and doggone it. 199 00:15:56,800 --> 00:15:57,800 People like me. 200 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:06,800 If you're enjoying the show and we deeply hope you are, do us a solid and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. 201 00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:10,800 Maybe we made you laugh or you discovered an album you enjoy. 202 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:15,800 Leaving a review keeps the show going and helps other music fans find us. 203 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:16,800 All right, my children. 204 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:18,800 This is WKRP in Cincinnati. 205 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:22,800 You're listening to Venus Flight Rap, the first officer of funk. 206 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:26,800 Clarence from the tower seatbelts fastened. 207 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:27,800 Headphones on. 208 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:29,800 The students will start dancing. 209 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:39,800 Well, my pick for a quiet storm record goes back a couple more years to 1973. 210 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:42,800 This is Killing Me Softly by Roberta Flack. 211 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:52,800 It's the fifth studio album by the vocalist and pianist born Roberta Cleopatra Flack in Black Mountain, North Carolina in 1937. 212 00:16:52,800 --> 00:17:00,800 Let's hear the one song that was listed on several of the quiet storm song lists. 213 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:12,800 This is Killing Me Softly with his song. 214 00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:23,800 So that song was composed by Charles Fox, who's kind of a semi-famous film composer, actually did the music for one of Dude's favorite films, Strange Brew. 215 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:33,800 It features lyrics by Norman Gible, who actually did a lot of lyrics for television themed songs like Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. 216 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:45,800 And we also have well, well, to put it in context, TV show theme songs used to actually be full length songs, many of which got played on radio as well. 217 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:48,800 Now, you know, they're much shorter, generally speaking. 218 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:50,800 But yeah, they were epics back then. 219 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:51,800 Yes. 220 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:55,800 And this also featured lyrics from Lori Lieberman. 221 00:17:55,800 --> 00:18:05,800 And then actually Lieberman was inspired by a Don McLean performance she attended in 1971, particularly of a song called Empty Chairs. 222 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:12,800 So, you know, all that. That's Don McLean, which is kind of surprising. I pictured it being Marvin Gaye. 223 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:16,800 That's what I always heard, you know, like strumming my pain with his finger. 224 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:21,800 Like this is someone that's got a moving voice, not a meh, meh, meh type of voice. 225 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:28,800 And apparently Lori was was moved. I always heard that this was inspired by Marvin Gaye. 226 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:36,800 Roberta Flack saw him and was writing about him. But it was like 17 other people writing and not her. 227 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:40,800 Lieberman actually recorded the song in 1971. 228 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:41,800 Did you listen to it? 229 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:42,800 Yes, I did. 230 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:43,800 How was it? 231 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:47,800 It's all right. 232 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:51,800 She's no Roberta Flack and she's no Lauryn Hill. 233 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:57,800 Anyway, so the three words I chose to describe the album are warm, sophisticated soul. 234 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:03,800 I think Roberta Flack has a unique place in the world of R&B and soul. 235 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:11,800 You know, she doesn't sound like like the others and she seems to be, you know, just as informed by classical music as R&B and soul. 236 00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:18,800 She has a pleasant voice. I mean, it's a lovely voice, but it's not, you know, she's not Aretha Franklin. 237 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:20,800 It's more about the song. 238 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:29,800 You know, I think a lot of times with people like Aretha Franklin, the songs are just sort of like a device for her to kind of show off her vocal talents. 239 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:36,800 And I think Roberta Flack does a good job of bringing the song and the lyrics and the melody to the forefront. 240 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:45,800 You know, in some circles, people would criticize her for kind of like a lack of edge or rawness or a lack of soul or something. 241 00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:49,800 But yeah, I really enjoyed this album. I like her voice a lot. 242 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:51,800 I think there's a lot of sincerity in it. 243 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:57,800 There's sadness. And of course, that's often what draws me in is melancholy. 244 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:02,800 And there's a sadness and a vulnerability in most of these songs. 245 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:08,800 And I think it's a you know, it's an interesting collection, you know, with lots of different songwriters represented. 246 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:15,800 Janis Ian, Leonard Cohen and so on. But I, you know, overall, I think it's, you know, it's a solid record. 247 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:17,800 Anyway, well, let's hear more. 248 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:33,800 There's a Leonard Cohen song, Suzanne. 249 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:40,800 Damn. You know, one of the things I like about this song is it's it takes you on this journey. 250 00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:47,800 And she does such a great job of taking Leonard Cohen's story about about his friend, Suzanne Verdahl. 251 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:53,800 And the lyrics vividly portrayed like the rituals they would do when they would hang out together. 252 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:59,800 He would visit her in Montreal Harbor and they would have tea and stroll the old Montreal. 253 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:04,800 And and he just describes all this stuff so perfectly. 254 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:10,800 And the you know, that she goes to Salvation Army and you can just picture this person and these encounters. 255 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:22,800 But the way that Roberta Flack is able to the way she uses her voice, it's smoky like in a way in terms of the what she can do with it, the kind of emotions that she brings out. 256 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:32,800 And there are very few performers like this that don't that really, at least from what I saw, don't write a lot of their own stuff that make things so much her own that it doesn't matter. 257 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:38,800 You know, and they're her songs. The three words I used to describe this album were sing us a song. 258 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:46,800 You're the piano woman. It kind of is it's that same kind of feel like Billy Joel and his early stuff would would portray. 259 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:56,800 I mean, she's better vocally, but it feels like a piano bar singer just belting it out, you know, and it's warm and inviting. 260 00:21:56,800 --> 00:22:04,800 And the album covered more styles than I expected, but the soul shines through regardless of the type of song and Killing Me Softly. 261 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:07,800 Obviously, she just nails that song, too. 262 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:12,800 Yeah, no, I totally agree. It's mostly record or as an entire record cover song stuff. 263 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:18,800 Yeah. Well, they're not they're not necessarily covers. They're just not written by her. Some written for her. 264 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:34,800 Yes. All right. Well, let's hear another one. This is No Tears in the End. 265 00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:38,800 Yeah, that's probably my favorite cut off of this album here. 266 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:47,800 I love the sort of like she had some gospel and some soul flavor on that track and some good, good horns and percussion come in and help move things along. 267 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:51,800 Three words I use to describe this album are killing me with inconsistency. 268 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:54,800 That is great. 269 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:59,800 I like a bird of flack. I've listened to a lot of her records for this show. 270 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:07,800 I think this collection of songs is just average in my opinion. They're good, but they don't fit very well together as an album. 271 00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:13,800 At least I didn't feel like listening through this. They're just kind of all over the place in terms of tone and style. 272 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:18,800 Obviously, Killing Me Softly is a classic and I think her version is the definitive version. 273 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:27,800 But the other tracks, I know Jessie was like the second single out this album I believe and a pretty popular song at the time. 274 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:32,800 Man, I could not get into that song. I felt like that was just totally derailed the record for me. 275 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:40,800 It's a very quiet song about someone named Jessie and I felt like the whole album just came to a grinding halt at that point. 276 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:46,800 There's a few interesting moments after that. I did appreciate Suzanne. I thought that was a pretty cool closer. 277 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:50,800 But then When You Smile is almost like a show tune sort of. 278 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:57,800 It is. Yeah, that one's been done a bunch of times. I was not super into that either. It felt like it was from a musical. 279 00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:04,800 Yeah. But she's great on piano and her voice is unique and I think high quality. 280 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:10,800 I mean, I enjoy the record as a whole. It's a Quiet Storm album. I don't know if it fits that genre perfectly. 281 00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:13,800 But you know, there's definitely some elements here for sure. 282 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:15,800 There's some drizzles. 283 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:19,800 Yeah. Partially cloudy. 284 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:25,800 Okay. So from 1973, that was Killing Me Softly by Roberta Flack. 285 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:29,800 Ah, Flack! 286 00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:30,800 Nice. 287 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:39,800 Excuse me. I'd like to ask you a few questions. 288 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:47,800 Now it's time for Deep Questions by Dom. 289 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:51,800 So radio DJs help to shape the Quiet Storm sound. 290 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:57,800 What DJs do you consider among the most influential to yourself in the music scene? 291 00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:00,800 Besides DJ Tanner. 292 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:09,800 I mean, the first one that came to mind for me growing up was Casey Kasem, you know, his Countdown show on Saturdays, I want to say it was, or Sundays. 293 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,800 You know, he was kind of a douche, but he did have an iconic voice and... 294 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:14,800 Wow. 295 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:15,800 At least that's what I thought. 296 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:17,800 Did a lot of cartoon voices too. 297 00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:19,800 Yeah, Shaggy from Scooby Doo. 298 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:23,800 He's Shaggy? No kidding. I did not know that. 299 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:30,800 And I'll give a shout out to a local DJ who did influence me a fair amount in terms of my exploration of like indie music. 300 00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:35,800 There's a local station here called WBER in Rochester. 301 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:38,800 WBER, the only station that matters. 302 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:42,800 One of their long time DJs, Joey Gusto. 303 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:46,800 Gusto? I feel like that's a missed opportunity to be Joey Gusto. 304 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:49,800 I think it's Gusto. Am I wrong, Dom? 305 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:54,800 I thought it was Justo. Let's not tag him. 306 00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:58,800 His first name is definitely Joey. 307 00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:04,800 Anyways, he did a great independent music show that I got into and introduced me to a lot of new artists. 308 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:05,800 I appreciated him. 309 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:10,800 I'll just throw out there, I mean, Howard Stern, obviously not like a music DJ. 310 00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:11,800 He was. 311 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:12,800 Yeah, initially he was. 312 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:22,800 But then he kind of created his own talk radio format, which growing up in the 90s was pretty enticing for a teenage kid to listen to. 313 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:26,800 It was pretty into him for a while. 314 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:27,800 How about you guys? 315 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:36,800 Well, for me, there was a radio station when I was like middle school age and they play like all the top 40 stuff. 316 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:39,800 And there was this DJ on there called Hot Scott. 317 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:41,800 Hot Scott. Nice. 318 00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:45,800 I actually like he was on some local TV commercials and stuff. 319 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:49,800 And Hot Scott. And I couldn't stand him. 320 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:52,800 But I like the station. So. 321 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:57,800 So, yeah, I think for me, it was just those regional guys with the goofy names. 322 00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:01,800 And of course, Wolfman Jack. 323 00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:12,800 He was he was known through the 60s for like kind of almost pirate radio type of thing and into the 70s where he had this really kind of voice like this. 324 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:13,800 Wolfman Jack. 325 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:19,800 Exactly. And he ended up like on cartoons and stuff in the in the 70s. 326 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:26,800 So he was just kind of like this pop cultural character that just had a cool name. 327 00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:31,800 And then, of course, Wink Martindale, host of Tic Tac Doe Game Show. 328 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:34,800 But before that, he was a he was a DJ. 329 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:40,800 He's kind of known for breaking Elvis Presley on WHBQ. 330 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:44,800 They started playing Elvis Presley's That's All Right on July 5th, 1954. 331 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:55,800 And he was forever linked to Elvis and a lot, you know, Dick Clark and a lot of a lot of guys that we know from from TV and from music related television. 332 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:57,800 All came from radio back in those days. 333 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:02,800 So I'll quickly shout out to the poor man's Casey Kasem Rick Dees. 334 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:06,800 Yes, I remember like American Top 40 would be on Sunday mornings. 335 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:09,800 But if I was listening at Saturday night would be Rick Dees. 336 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:10,800 Yep. Yep. 337 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:15,800 And remember, there'd be like a segment where it was I forget if it was a song that stunk or something. 338 00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:17,800 Dees Sleaze. 339 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:19,800 Remember that? Oh, yeah. 340 00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:27,800 I was actually, you know, when I saw this question, I was thinking of Shadow Stevens. 341 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:30,800 Oh, that's another good one. 342 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:32,800 Smooth pipes. 343 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:34,800 No, I was actually a more obscure pick. 344 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:39,800 There was a show that was syndicated on a local radio station called Rock Over London. 345 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:40,800 Oh, here we go. 346 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:42,800 That, of course, featured music from the UK. 347 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:48,800 And there's a guy named Paul Sexton who has a really, really nice. 348 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:51,800 Yeah. And a nice British accent. 349 00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:55,800 So just everything, just any artist's name he would say, I'd be like, oh, that sounds really cool. 350 00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:59,800 I got to check that out. 351 00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:02,800 Anyway, so who's your favorite radio DJ? 352 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:05,800 Hit us on the socials, Instagram, Facebook and threads. 353 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:09,800 Also the Discord, AlbumNerds.com slash Discord. 354 00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:11,800 This is Venus, my children. 355 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:13,800 Here we sit. 356 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:16,800 And let the sounds of music creep in our ears. 357 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:21,800 Soft stillness in the night become the touches of sweet harmony. 358 00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:22,800 Oh, Mr. 359 00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:26,800 Wow. 360 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:36,800 OK, so I went a little more recent with D'Angelo and his album Voodoo from January 25th, 2000. 361 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:39,800 So at least we made it into this century. 362 00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:44,800 So Michael Eugene Archer, better known by his stage name D'Angelo, 363 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:48,800 American singer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, 364 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:54,800 and has three full length studio albums over a super long career. 365 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:56,800 Fascinating character. 366 00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:59,800 The album Voodoo was his second. 367 00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:02,800 It incorporates elements of funk, soul, jazz and rock. 368 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:05,800 So this is Untitled. How does it feel? 369 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:09,800 I'm going to make love to you woman. 370 00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:11,800 Gonna lay you down by the fire. 371 00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:12,800 Oh, he's good. 372 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:14,800 Oh, D'Angelo. 373 00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:33,800 Yes. 374 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:35,800 So Untitled, how does it feel? 375 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:38,800 That song was pretty big, 376 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:42,800 conceived as a tribute to the iconic musician Prince, 377 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:46,800 who was obviously an influence of D'Angelo's vocal style. 378 00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:52,800 And the production of the song was a collaborative effort with D'Angelo and Raphael Siddiq, 379 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,800 who we've talked about before from Tony Tony Tony. 380 00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:57,800 And that kind of tracks, right? 381 00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:03,800 You know, Raphael Siddiq's solo stuff is very quiet stormish as well. 382 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:06,800 The recording session took place at Electric Ladies Studios. 383 00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:12,800 Features a signature 6'8 time, which usually Don gets into, 384 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:16,800 but it does have this distinctive feel that aligns with traditional soul. 385 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:20,800 But it also sounded very modern with the hip hop oriented beats, 386 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:24,800 but then still Quest loves drumming being very organic sounding. 387 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:30,800 And yeah, I mean, the songs lyrics are basically very sexy. 388 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:34,800 It's about intimacy and a super sweaty song. 389 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:41,800 Do you guys remember its influence at the time, the video where he's like, appears to be nude? 390 00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:42,800 You guys remember that? 391 00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:45,800 He's got those lower abs like that triangle. 392 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:46,800 Oh, I know. Yeah. 393 00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:49,800 How demand is out of this world. 394 00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:50,800 I don't know. 395 00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:51,800 Yeah. 396 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:57,800 All the time I was working at a music store and we had a in store play DVD music videos 397 00:31:57,800 --> 00:31:58,800 and a couple of TV screens. 398 00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:01,800 And when that would come on, 399 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:04,800 I've never experienced this before or since. 400 00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:13,800 Every lady didn't matter how old, race, religion, nothing mattered. 401 00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:17,800 If that was on, they were staring at the screen. 402 00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:21,800 It was, it was, I always felt very uncomfortable standing at the counter 403 00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,800 with like five or six ladies staring at D'Angelo longingly. 404 00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:29,800 So, mission accomplished on that one, D'Angelo. 405 00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:30,800 He's a good looking guy. 406 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:31,800 Yeah. 407 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:34,800 The album in three words, Enigmatic Soul Elevation. 408 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:39,800 It brought it to, it brought this neo soul thing to a different level with the hip hop influence, 409 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:44,800 with his ragged vocals, just a masterpiece. 410 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,800 And I'm really annoyed with myself for ignoring it at the time. 411 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:50,800 I wrote it off as being sex late and garbage. 412 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:53,800 It didn't have any substance, but man, was I wrong. 413 00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:56,800 It's a long album, but I really enjoyed it. 414 00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,800 Why don't we move forward? 415 00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:01,800 Let's listen to a little bit of Send It On. 416 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:19,800 I think that was the fourth single from the album, the first one they recorded. 417 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:22,800 It's about his newborn son. 418 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:28,800 Really, his lyrics are so, I don't know, they feel deep, but they're hard to deconstruct. 419 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:33,800 I mean, a lot of times they just feel not nonsensical, but they're more about the vibe 420 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:36,800 and the feeling and the emotion behind things. 421 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:39,800 But I really love his performance on that track. 422 00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:42,800 I mean, the whole album is just, he's great on this. 423 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,800 The three words I used to describe it are deep and steady. 424 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:50,800 I feel like everything about this record is just like dense and just has a lot of depth to it. 425 00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:54,800 I mean, obviously the bass and the drums are there, but just the vibe, 426 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:58,800 everything about this record just has a great vibe to it. 427 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:01,800 I mean, it's kind of sleepy and muted sounding, 428 00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:06,800 but I think there's a lot of cool details and precision. 429 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:12,800 When listening closely, there's a fair amount that's happening here and it works. 430 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:13,800 It works well together. 431 00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:17,800 I mean, I think it might be one of the better sounding records from the 2000s. 432 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:20,800 I can think of everything just sounds great. 433 00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:21,800 Mixed really well too. 434 00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:22,800 Yeah. 435 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:23,800 Yeah. 436 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:28,800 Well, the Soul Quarians, he's a member of the Soul Quarians. 437 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:29,800 You familiar with this, guys? 438 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:30,800 What's that? 439 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:36,800 Rotating collective of experimental black music artists during the 1990s and early 2000s. 440 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:43,800 D'Angelo, Questlove, J Dilla, Erykah Badu, Pino Palladino, Tlaib Queli, Common. 441 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:44,800 Q-tip. 442 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:49,800 A bunch of those people would come in and out of each other's projects. 443 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:57,800 And the number of contributors to this album, guitarists and composers and Questlove doing the drums 444 00:34:57,800 --> 00:35:02,800 and a lot of the roots being involved, it definitely has that feel. 445 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:09,800 It felt super modern, but also super throwback for the time. 446 00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:14,800 The only track left and right was the only one that I found to be... 447 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:16,800 Yeah, I totally agree, man. 448 00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:18,800 That's the track with Method Man and Red Man on it. 449 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:19,800 Yeah. 450 00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:23,800 It's just the style of the time. 451 00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:29,800 The song itself sounds pretty cool, but their verses in particular, it's not for me. 452 00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:32,800 It's a little too graphic and not... 453 00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:39,800 Part of what makes stuff Quiet Storm to me and sexy is when it's innuendo. 454 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:40,800 Yeah, it's a little more subtle. 455 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:43,800 Not just stuff about asses or whatever. 456 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:44,800 It's just not... 457 00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:46,800 You need to be hinting. 458 00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:47,800 Yeah. 459 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:52,800 It's supposed to be a little less misogynistic, I think. 460 00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:57,800 So that's the only song I think has not aged well, but otherwise they're all awesome. 461 00:35:57,800 --> 00:35:59,800 Chicken Grease has that funky... 462 00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:01,800 Oh yeah, I love that track. 463 00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:06,800 ...feel and then Pino Palladino playing the bass. 464 00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:11,800 The bass throughout this album is just so... 465 00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:12,800 And the guitars have that. 466 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:15,800 They have a liquidy feel almost. 467 00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:17,800 Got that wobble. 468 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:22,800 Yeah, which adds to the sweatiness throughout the record. 469 00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:29,800 I would say it's got a loose hangout vibe to the record because it has got that big 470 00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:30,800 group collaborating. 471 00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:33,800 But like I was saying, yeah, it feels very meticulously structured when you listen to 472 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:34,800 it. 473 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:35,800 I don't know. 474 00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:38,800 It's a strange middle ground they found. 475 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:45,800 Why don't we enjoy a little bit of the Devil's Pie? 476 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:57,800 So that song was composed by D'Angelo and DJ Premier, who I believe we've talked about 477 00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:00,800 before because he was a member of Gangstar. 478 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:01,800 Yes. 479 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:06,800 And that's definitely one of the most hip hoppy tracks on the album. 480 00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:07,800 And it's the second one. 481 00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:10,800 So I think it gives the record some good momentum. 482 00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:17,800 And the song basically just deals with your excess money and commercialism. 483 00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:23,800 So the three words I chose to describe the album are a quiet derecho. 484 00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:25,800 Do you guys know what a derecho is? 485 00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:27,800 It doesn't sound like you do either. 486 00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:30,800 I don't know if I pronounced it right. 487 00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:32,800 It's like a storm that kind of... 488 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:37,800 It's a series of wind storms that just continues and continues for a long time. 489 00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:38,800 Okay. 490 00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:39,800 That's perfect. 491 00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:40,800 Right. 492 00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:43,800 So this is a long musical journey. 493 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:49,800 So it transcends quiet storm in a lot of ways. 494 00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:57,800 It was fun starting with Roberta Flack and then to Smokey and now to this because you 495 00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:00,800 have that hip hop influence that comes in. 496 00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:07,800 I'm generally not a huge fan of music from this era because again, I also worked at a 497 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:09,800 record store at that time. 498 00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:13,800 There was just a lot of stuff that I wasn't into at the time. 499 00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:17,800 But this is one that certainly stands out from that era. 500 00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:24,800 And it's kind of borrowing sort of like the best from each realm, from R&B and from hip 501 00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:25,800 hop. 502 00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:27,800 You mentioned Tony, Tony, Tony. 503 00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:31,800 Remember we did that Tony, Tony album that I think was from like 1990. 504 00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:36,800 It's amazing the difference sonically between that album and this one. 505 00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:40,800 It's completely different even though it's sort of loosely within the same genre. 506 00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:45,800 It's got a lot more of that hip hop, that low end bass in this that you didn't have 507 00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:46,800 in the Tony, Tony, Tony. 508 00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:50,800 Of course, the Tony, Tony, Tony maybe had a little more jazz, but there's elements of 509 00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:51,800 jazz in this as well. 510 00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:52,800 Yeah, for sure. 511 00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:59,800 And we can't get into all the songs like Spanish Joint, which has a salsa influence and Feel 512 00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:03,800 Like Making Love, which a Roberta Flack cover. 513 00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:08,800 Supposedly that was supposed to be a duet with him and Lauryn Hill and some tapes went 514 00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:11,800 back and forth, but it couldn't get done. 515 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:17,800 Oh, I also read that Lenny Kravitz was brought in to like do some guitar or something on 516 00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:24,800 one of the songs, but he said that he couldn't because the drum tracks were inconsistent 517 00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:26,800 that he just couldn't find the groove. 518 00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:32,800 And I think that's part of what makes this good is it does have, I read that Quest Love 519 00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:34,800 in particular said it needed to feel natural. 520 00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:38,800 So if there were mistakes, if I was off tempo, we went with it. 521 00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:39,800 That was the vibe. 522 00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:44,800 I think that's part of what makes this not feel like that era. 523 00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:47,800 Music felt very canned, right? 524 00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:49,800 Very by numbers. 525 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:55,800 And this has, it has those elements, but the rawness and, you know, it's sort of like Alicia 526 00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:58,800 Keys from the same timeframe. 527 00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:00,800 I ignored both and I regret it. 528 00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:04,800 And I'm thankful to the show for bringing me around. 529 00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:08,800 I'll be honest, like the main reason I didn't listen to this record in 2000, I was embarrassed 530 00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:15,800 to have his abdomen like associated in my record collection or on Spotify or whatever. 531 00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:20,800 Coming back to it though, it's almost as good as Black Messiah in my opinion. 532 00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:24,800 Yeah, I mean, it's a different subject matter. 533 00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:31,800 Black Messiah touches on some of that, but this doesn't get into social injustice and racism 534 00:40:31,800 --> 00:40:32,800 and stuff too much. 535 00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:36,800 I mean, Devil's Pie gets into a little bit of life on the streets and the temptations 536 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:38,800 and all that. 537 00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:43,800 But yeah, man, I'm super impressed and all three of his records actually, I'm going to 538 00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:46,800 nominate this for the album Nerds Hall of Fame. 539 00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:54,800 I especially love it when I find an album to nominate that I was unfamiliar with before 540 00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:56,800 doing it for the show. 541 00:40:56,800 --> 00:40:57,800 I love that. 542 00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:00,800 That's part of what makes this so much fun. 543 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:03,800 So to guess from me, I said a bunch of stuff. 544 00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:04,800 How you guys feel? 545 00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:09,800 Can we have two D'Angelo albums in there? 546 00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:12,800 Yeah, yes, of course. 547 00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:15,800 I mean, you can have more than one Pink Floyd album in there, more than one Marvin Gaye, 548 00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:17,800 and D'Angelo doesn't have much output. 549 00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:19,800 It just happens to be awesome. 550 00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:21,800 Yeah, he takes his time with them. 551 00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:26,800 And this feels like an important album, especially considering that neo-soul movement 552 00:41:26,800 --> 00:41:30,800 and how influential it was and really defining what that was going to sound like at this 553 00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:31,800 time period. 554 00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:36,800 Yeah, I'm a huge fan of his and come to appreciate him a lot over the last couple decades. 555 00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:42,800 Yeah, I definitely see this as a standout album in that era. 556 00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:45,800 I'm not even sure it's a criticism. 557 00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:52,800 I listened to this so many times in the last week and I never found myself getting melodies 558 00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:54,800 stuck in my head or anything. 559 00:41:54,800 --> 00:41:57,800 There weren't any recurring melodies. 560 00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:02,800 Did you have Devil's Pie pounding through your head for a week? 561 00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:04,800 A little bit. 562 00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:06,800 But anyway, but that's okay though. 563 00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:12,800 I don't think every album has to have that and it has more, it's a vibe record, I think, 564 00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:17,800 and it has kind of a consistent vibe throughout it and he really does a great job with that. 565 00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:18,800 So I'll vote yes. 566 00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:22,800 Wow, a quiet storm got pretty loud. 567 00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:25,800 Two album nerds Hall of Famers. 568 00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:29,800 Alright, so D'Angelo, Voodoo, go check it out. 569 00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:32,800 While you're there, you might as well listen to his whole discography. 570 00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:38,800 It'll only take you a few hours. 571 00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:45,800 Alright, so we all explored this sort of mysterious, I don't know, perhaps a better defined genre 572 00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:49,800 than some of the other ones we've discussed in the past, like Yacht Rock. 573 00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:52,800 So what did we learn? 574 00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:57,800 I think for me, I've been listening to so much streaming music the last couple decades, 575 00:42:57,800 --> 00:43:00,800 I've really discounted radio completely. 576 00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:05,800 The value of the DJ, man, they do bring some atmosphere and some context 577 00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:10,800 and when you create a show like a quiet storm show, like that format, it's a cool groove. 578 00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:15,800 There's a local jazz station that does something like that and I kind of like listening to that. 579 00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:21,800 It's very different than listening to a streaming album or a random collection of songs. 580 00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:24,800 It's cool, the DJ does have some value. 581 00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:30,800 Yeah, for me it was really just about succumbing to that sound. 582 00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:32,800 I mean, I've always been aware of it. 583 00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:36,800 There have been songs that I think fit into that and I've heard those radio stations back in the day, 584 00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:43,800 but just letting myself just drop the umbrella and get soaked, it was awesome. 585 00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:49,800 Yeah, I think, I mean, it's a genre that I've always been somewhat adverse to 586 00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:54,800 and I also I think kind of needed to warm up to it. 587 00:43:54,800 --> 00:43:58,800 Yeah, I mean, God, it's just amazing that we chose, 588 00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:01,800 that we ended up putting two of these records in the Hall of Fame. 589 00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:03,800 I would never have thought that. 590 00:44:03,800 --> 00:44:07,800 But yeah, it's pretty cool, a little more depth than we expected. 591 00:44:07,800 --> 00:44:08,800 And that's one to grow on. 592 00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:20,800 I'm your density, I mean your destiny. 593 00:44:20,800 --> 00:44:24,800 All right, boys and girls, gather around the radio 594 00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:29,800 and let's find out what the Wheel of Musical Destiny has in store for us next week. 595 00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:39,800 Your musical destiny is twofold. 596 00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:41,800 First, you should get down. 597 00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:44,800 Secondly, and more importantly, you need to get funky. 598 00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:50,800 You will be exploring albums with funk elements or a funk fusion, if you will enjoy. 599 00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:52,800 Let's get funky. 600 00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:56,800 Just a quick reminder, there are two ongoing album nerds Hall of Fame, 601 00:44:56,800 --> 00:45:05,800 Votes in Progress, go to our website and Discord to cast your vote for the 1982 album Avalon by Roxy Music, 602 00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:07,800 as well as Sly and the Family Zone. 603 00:45:07,800 --> 00:45:09,800 There's a riot going on. 604 00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:15,800 Voting is underway and will be open for another week or so, 605 00:45:15,800 --> 00:45:19,800 but there's a riot going on, so get your votes in as soon as possible. 606 00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:21,800 What's your favorite funk inspired album? 607 00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:22,800 So what else are you listening? 608 00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:26,800 Let us know. Join fellow album nerds on Discord at albumnerds.com slash Discord. 609 00:45:26,800 --> 00:45:29,800 You can email us at podcast at albumnerds.com. 610 00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:32,800 Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and threads at albumnerds. 611 00:45:32,800 --> 00:45:36,800 Also, please subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite podcast app. 612 00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:41,800 If you'd like to support the show, you can do so via PayPal at albumnerds.com slash support. 613 00:45:41,800 --> 00:45:44,800 All right. Thanks for listening once again to the album nerds podcast. 614 00:45:44,800 --> 00:45:47,800 We'll catch you next time when we get funky. 615 00:45:47,800 --> 00:45:49,800 See you next week. 616 00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:54,800 Drumming my pain with this finger. 617 00:45:54,800 --> 00:45:57,800 Singing my life with this word. 618 00:45:57,800 --> 00:45:59,800 Get your heart out, Roberto. 619 00:45:59,800 --> 00:46:03,800 I thought you were going to throw it up one time. 620 00:46:03,800 --> 00:46:06,800 Did you find yourself doing that when listening to her version? 621 00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:20,800 That's pretty annoying.