Idolator
You'd think we'd use our big-first-day post-spree to turn you on to some unknown, unbelievable new band that you've never heard before. And in a way, we are—except that our "new band" broke up thirty years ago, and has been largely ignored by pretty much everyone, from the rock-crit fraternity to the new-school music bloggers. In fact, until a few weeks ago, we hadn't heard of Honey Cone, an all-female R&B trio from the early '70s that's been largely ignored by the rock-crit canon. Made up of three '60s session singers—Edna Wright, Shellie Clark and Carolyn Willis—Honey Cone was formed when Motown uber-producers Holland-Dozier-Holland were looking to start their own imprint; the resulting collaboration yielded dozens of fine soul cuts, and one big single, "Want Ads." Sanctuary released the two-disc collection Soulful Sugar in 2002, which features the extraordinary "While You're Out Looking for Sugar" and "The Feeling's Gone," both included below. Depending on how you look at it, we're either a few years or a few decades behind on this one, but we're more than happy to make up for it now.
Honey Cone - While You're Out Looking For Sugar [MP3, link expired]
Honey Cone - The Feeling's Gone[MP3, link expired]
Comments
Love the 'Want Ads' song. They play it on the 60's & 70's channel on 1.FM. Actually, they play a lot of obscure pop from that era. It's nice.
i was always kinda partial to "one monkey don't stop no show." also, i think i'm in love, dibs on the honey cone on the left (http://www.kser.org/shows/dusties/photosa-m/honeycone.jpg)
The one I really love is "Are You Man Enough, Are You Strong Enough?" So brutal! So amazingly sung! Such a guitar part!
Love this band. I happened upon them years ago while working for Nobody Beats the Wiz in DC. Great sound and great writing. A guy I worked with lent me an album to listen to and I was hooked right away.
Man, I remember them. Must remember what age I told people I was before admitting this, though.
Hey, look who made my mother excited! And that is not backhanded. What a pick. If you kept this up, you could really build a readership of music lovers. I mean, it could even grow from there, with Idolator becoming critically acclaimed amongst your peers. And then will come the inevitable mention in the next NYTimes article on blogs..."Idolator, once skeptically looked upon by the network of music blogs already established, has since been welcomed with open arms, due to the strength of their writing, and highlighting of mp3's that only a music blogger's mother could love."
F the 15-25 year olds. 32-60 is where it's at. You sneaky little guys.
Good stuff indeed! Nice call, thanks for sharing - the build-up to the opening lyric on the first one is actually really striking.
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