best R&B songs

[dslaw]

Can't keep mentioning Brothers Johnson without this one

[Erik]

Plenty of candidates from the Soul/Funk/R&B song draft we did 7 years ago:

http://forum.rotojunkiefix.com/showthread.php/3191-Soul-funk-R-amp-B-draft-thread?highlight=soul%2Ffunk%2FR%26amp%3BB

[DMT]

40 deep, dayum!

[chancellor]

40 deep, dayum!

Wow...that was impressive. Was great to walk through that again. ManCalledFoot came up with some really interesting picks in every music draft.

[Erik]

It is probably my favorite music draft that I’ve done here.

Would someday like to do a song draft of an R&B legend like Stevie Wonder or James Brown.

[Fresno Bob]

It is probably my favorite music draft that I’ve done here.

Would someday like to do a song draft of an R&B legend like Stevie Wonder or James Brown.

I would participate in a James Brown draft, but the problem is that his catalog is too deep. My favorite music drafts have been the Zepplin, Bowie and Tom Petty drafts where you had to really dig at the end

[madducks]

Paul Shaffer put together this incredible group of musicians to perform "Let's Stay Together" for the Late Night 7th Anniversary show in 1989. And along with the original artist Al Green, they take this song to an entirely new level.

Lead Vocals: Al Green, Toni Childs
Backup Vocals: Darlene love, Patti Austin, Melissa Etheridge
Lead Guitar: Carlos Santana
Rhythym Guitar: Sid McGinnis (Late Night Band))
Bass Guitar: Will Lee (Late Night Band)
Horn Section: Tower of Power + Late Night Band w/David Sanborne
Piano: McCoy Tyner
Keyboards/ Late Night Band Leader: Paul Shaffer
Percussion: Tito Puente
Drums: Anton Fig (Late Night Band)

[Erik]

As cheesy as his TV persona could be, Paul was connected.

He was actually the one who put together the Blues Brothers Band and was supposed to be in the movie, but he was replaced after falling out with Belushi and Aykroyd.

[madducks]

Guitar by Lee Ritenour, lead vocals by Erik Tagg

[Teenwolf]

Love King Coleman. Not sure what genre this would exactly fit into, doo-wop?

I loved reading through that draft thread too. I'll add a few obscurities here.

[Teenwolf]

Wendy Rene is one of my absolute favourite classic R&B singers. The main riff from this song has been sampled in many many hip-hop songs, most famously sampled by Wu-Tang Clan. Her greatest hits stand up to anybody's. Such a cool voice.

[Teenwolf]

Some very provocative album artwork. Nino Ferrer was huge in France. Not sure if they're standing in front of a cotton field or tobacco, but it definitely catches your eye. This is maybe more neo-soul than R&B, but I'm not great with differentiating these sub-genres.

[Teenwolf]

You guys familiar with Charles Bradley? He was a dirt poor James Brown tribute performer for decades, and only became celebrated in his final 10 years of life. In those 10 years, he put out 3 full-length albums that are all absolutely amazing. I consider him untouchable. You might recognize this cover of Black Sabbath's "Changes" from the intro to the Netflix show Big Mouth (always makes me sad to hear it).

[Teenwolf]

One more from Charles Bradley, this one an original.

[Teenwolf]

I danced to this song at my wedding. Mighty Hannibal has a couple of other tracks that are more celebrated, particularly "The Truth Shall Set You Free", a funky track about giving up drugs for Jesus.