KUNG FU: Opinions? We got 'em!

What's going on ?

What happened to social consciousness in Soul music ?  Just like the seventies we're living in an era with a lot of turmoil ; environmental problems,climate changes,political conflicts etc.

But unlike the seventies we're still waiting for the first concept album dealing with all these  subjects.

Berry Gordy first rejected Marvin Gaye's "What's going on " stating it was not
commercial  enough and now it's considered  by many people as one of the best Soul Albums ever
made !
And it includes 3 number one R'n B tracks !  In the early seventies a lot of R'n B artists had big commercial success with social conscious tracks: Edwin Starr,Mike James Kirkland,Curtis Mayfield , The Temptations etc.
So why are there no artists doing concept albums ?
In the last couple of years we had a few artists who have attempted to write a couple of
social conscious songs. A good example is Gerald Levert's album "Do I speak for the world",
released in 2004 with the track "Crucify me ". But until now ( may 2006) we haven't heard
the word "Iraq" in a song yet and the last count for the word "Vietnam" in a soul song is 73 !!

So Maxwell ,D'Angelo, Erykah Badu step out of early retirement and sharpen your pencils and
give us a new SOUL MASTERPIECE !!


Just my imagination ( running away with me)

Whenever the festival season is arriving here in Europe during summertime ( North
Sea Jazz  Festival, Montreux Festival etc) our dreams of seeing our American Soul Stars are
always  shattered when the final line -ups are published.
The North Sea Jazz Festival programmers for instance have no imagination at all in
booking  Soul stars.  In fact you can pick any program of the last few years Tipp-Ex a few
names and  dates et voila you get this years line-up which probably includes : Al
Jarreau,Chaka Khan,  Joe Zawinul and George Duke !
Of course we've seen great gigs at the North Sea in particular the concerts of Al Green have
always gone down very well !
But why not book some artists who have not performed in Europe before ?
The arguments the North Sea Jazz management uses are not valid , for instance :
"Too expensive" or "nobody knows them in Holland".
North Sea Jazz sells out every year ( it's a three day fe$tival !) and it also
receives a big grant from the Rotterdam City Council !. So they never have to worry about the finances !
So in the coming years we would like to see : The Dramatics, Smokey Robinson, The
O'Jays,  The Whispers, Betty Wright, Bloodstone, Little Anthony & the Imperials, Lloyd Price, J Blackfoot.... but hurry up before it's too late.......


Cover Me

Seeing your favourite artist perform live for the first time is always very
exciting. Expectations  are very high and sometimes too high...
Over the past years we have been travelling a lot just to see our heroes live. In
many cases(The  Dells in Stoke -on-Trent, Bobby Bland in NYC ) we were rewarded with stunning gigs.
But other times our experiences were not so good !
One of the main reasons is the fact that some artists think they have to please the
audience  by giving them cover versions !  In october 1998 we flew to London to see one of the best singer/songwriters
perform: Sam  Dees. To our astonishment he started the gig with "In the midnight hour" and the
proceeded with even more covers !  "Mustang Sally" anyone?
Closer to home in 2002 Prince Phillip Mitchell performed here in Amsterdam and what
did we get ?.... Right ! cover versions and not one but at least five !
Of course one or two covers at the end of a gig are welcome but when artists start
to prefer cover versions instead of their own great songs we're wondering what has
gone into their  minds !
Even recently in 2005 we saw Leela James perform twice at the Paradiso in Amsterdam.
And what did she do ? ( besides a lot of running,arm waving and stretching out
songs too  long ? ) ... Right ! give us cover versions and the "forgot" to do her own best and
totally  stunning song "When you love somebody" .
So to all the artists out there please stick to your own material and when you
really want to do  a cover pick something original like "Somebody's gotta win" by The Controllers !


Talking loud and saying nothing

Bla,bla,bla,Ring,tring,ring,Bla,bla,bla, yep that's all you hear during gigs these
days.  People talking like they haven't seen each other in decades.
Mobile phones never stop ringing,people answering calls right in front of the stage !!!
Why do these people even bother go to gigs at all ?
From an artists point of view it must be very hard to get your ( sometimes very
emotional)  message across .  Very recently we saw Candi Staton perform here in Amsterdam . Candi is one of our
favourite  singers of all time. Her recent CD includes a classic in the making "His hands".
She performed this song in London to a total quiet audience. So we were expecting
the song  in Amsterdam as well but she unwisely decided not to do it because the audience
produced the  same noise level as during a Cup Final or Super Bowl.
Maybe a sign like they have at the Jazz Cafe in London can be introduced worldwide:
STFU,  SHUT THE FUCK UP !!!!!