How Much R&B and Soul Can You Take?

Maybe I could write an encyclopedia about R&B.  There's something about R&B music that either "hits" you or it doesn't.  R&B hits me, and I love it.  What I'm about to write isn't racial - it's MUSIC.  I'm well known for not really liking "white music" - but there are some very strange exceptions.  Mostly, I think "white people music" is lacking.  I feel no punch, no groove, no funk - there's just no SOUL.  It doesn't hit me - it seems empty.  Too much guitar, solos, synthesizers, too busy, too much going on - not enough groove. 

R&B music requires a solid rhythm track.  The rhythm section is drums, bass, guitar and keyboards.  Everything else "lives" on top of that foundation.  When there's no foundation, the song collapses.  The world's greatest R&B singers would sound like a joke without solid rhythm tracks under them.  

I put this page together just for you.  How much R&B and soul you can take?  I hope this music HITS you.  Gettin' HIT feels good sometimes - if we're talking about music.

Let's try on some R&B.  I think I could easily put 1000 songs here, just to get started. 

■ Get Out My Life Woman ■ Boogaloo Down Broadway ■ I Play Dirty ■ You Can Make It If You Try ■

■ Twenty Five Miles ■ Barefootin' (original) ■ Baby, I Love You ■ Before The Bullets Fly ■ Deborah ■ Mojo Woman ■

■ He's So Fine ■ Barefootin' ■ One Fine Day ■ Stir It Up ■ Nutbush ■ Get It On ■

I have the feeling this is all synthesized, but I like it anyway. 

■ Expressway ■

If the above R&B hit you, this will too.  Can you figure out who it is?

Maybe I'm crazy.

This is "white people music", but I easily hear how funky it really is.

The groove is right there in the bottom, the rhythm section carries the songs,

makes the foundation for the singers to sing. 

I feel these songs really have SOUL.

■ Right Time Of The Night ■ Love Letter ■ My Boyfriend's Back ■

■ You Won't See Me ■ Long Run ■ Uptown Girl ■ Fins ■

■ The One That I Want ■

(completely ignore Travolta - Olivia is singing this!)

Time and space limited what's on this page.  Maybe I'll add to it some day, but it would take years to list all the awesome soul songs - I have hundreds, possibly thousands of serious R&B and soul songs.

You might also find some interesting songs here. 

For whatever it's worth, this page was created to HONOR and SHOW RESPECT to the writers, artists, and musicians that recorded these songs.  All the songs are copyrighted, and my hope is that I'm not violating anyone's rights in any way.  I wanted to share some genuine SOUL with people who may never have heard it before.

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