15 soul/funk/disco cover versions, this time:
Chaka Khan, Keni Burke, Richie Havens, The Isley Brothers, Dionne Warwick, Roy Ayers a.m.m.
covering tracks by:
Fleetwood Mac, Hall & Oates, Carole King, America, Bobby Caldwell, Little Feat, Seals & Crofts, The Doobie Brothers, Todd Rundgren a.m.
1 MEL & TIM – Keep The Faith
2 IMPACT – Sara Smile
3 BILLY PAUL – It’s Too Late
4 ESTHER PHILLIPS – I Hope You’ll Be Very Unhappy Without Me
5 JOHN EDWARDS – Tin Man
6 ROY AYERS – What You Won’t Do For Love
7 ARNOLD MCCULLER – Gringo
8 RICHIE HAVENS – Dreams
9 BRENDA RUSSELL – I Want Love To Find Me
10 PATTI LABELLE – Monkey See - Monkey Do
11 THE MAIN INGREDIENT – Euphrates
12 THE ISLEY BROTHERS – Listen To The Music
13 DIONNE WARWICK – Dedicate This Heart
14 CHAKA KHAN – Fate
15 KENI BURKE – Love Is The Answer
Welcome Back, friends, to the Yacht Soul cruise that never ends!
This theme, explored at length in the previous installment of this series, is a fertile one that just keeps on giving, and give it certainly does on the tracks we have dug up for your perusal, enlightenment, edification and enjoyment on Volume 2.
For those just joining us, the concept here concerns R&B and soul artists mining the songbooks of their white contemporaries for cover versions that serve the dual purposes of potentially garnering some crossover radio airplay as well as introducing great songs to segments of the listening public who might otherwise miss them. Some of these versions might have come about because they were personal favorites of the artist in question, others might have been strongly suggested by their labels or by the publishing company, but all of them provide an entirely new perspective on what were already fantastic songs to begin with.
So there you have it--a further dig into this nebulous concept that reveals more unexpected connections and crossed paths. Understanding the hows and whys of the way these particular covers and collaborations came to be is as fascinating as just enjoying the music itself, and there really is a lot of great music to dig into this time around! We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we did putting it together.