596 Mary J. Blige - My Life (1994)

 596 Mary J. Blige - My Life (1994)

Studio Album - R&B



About the Act:

Mary J Blige is an American Singer, Songwriter, Rapper, Actor and probably other entrepreneurial things as well. She is a bit of the Soul/R&B/Hip-Hop cliche with massive success couple with a turbulent personal life. She is credited with popularising a mix of Hip-Hop and R&B

About the Album:

This was her second album, and considered to be her breakthrough. Like many contemporary Hip-Hop albums there is a plethora of samples and producers involved.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

I will now give a short, and possibly extremely wrong history of Soul music. I would call this album Soul, but it is listed on Wikipedia as R&B, and I could not tell you the difference after 1980. Right, here we go.

In the late 40s, into the 50s, Ray Charles blended Black Gospel music (church music) with Rhythm and Blues (popular black music) to make soul. This was picked up by Motown in the 60s and turned into a hit machine. Also James Brown started to do some quite rhythmic things, that formed the foundations of Funk, which was like, really groovy, and a bit bonkers, which led into the 70s. In the 70s you started to get gentler, string-section drenched soul, first from people like Marvin Gaye, and then from people like The Floaters and Commodore. The dancy side of things developed into Disco, and so glitter balls were born. Into the 80s, and we get the mega-pop of Michael Jackson, which is dancy, and softer things like Whitney Houston. Vocal gymnastics are important and production was very, very important. This led to things like Solid by Ashford and Simpson and Womack and Womack. Meanwhile, out of the mainstream, rap and Hip-Hop were developing a following. Into the 90s and sampling and soul collide, with vocal groups like En Vogue bringing a certain vibe to the charts. After that I got old and stopped paying attention to the charts, so I don't know how it relates to the minimal pop of today, maybe it doesn't maybe what constitutes Soul now is Nicki Minaj.

This is slap bang in that 90s bit, and apparently was a breakthrough for the Hip-Hop/Soul collision. The way in which it is hip-hop is a) lots of samples and b) occasional interludes. Hip-hop loves the interludes. Oh, and lots of producers. However, although there are a few tiny bits of rap, this is not rap. Actually, in some ways I think this is a manifesto of soul from the 60s to the 90s. There are Motown sounds here, there are overblown strings and extended chords of the 70s, seriously, some very fruity chords are used, and I mean that in a good way. There are the vocal gymnastics of the 80s, and there are the vocal harmony production techniques that would signify the 90s, but I gather that this album was a bit of a clarion call towards that.

I think Soul is tricky, because the soul of Soul is the undefinable feeling of soulness, of pathos, and of a sort of grunting noise that defines gutsiness (not literally, but used in describing it). It's Bum-Chicka-Wa-Wa, it's grooves that are irresistible, and vocals that give you goosebumps. The problem that I have is that there seems to be a lot of music that has the form of soul, without the soul of soul. 

Somehow this album pulls off that balance, it has grooves, it has pathos, it has that soul, while still being very produced and technically meticulous. There are some most groovy grooves, and some great basslines, and the vocals float about like a butterfly, backed up by backing vocals blended so they sound like a string section, warm and harmonic and blanketty. I listened through twice, and it is a relatively long album. By the end of the second listen I had bought into it quite thoroughly, the vocals wash over you and the music is something you can get lost in, like Ikea. I found myself enjoying the gentler songs too.

Apparently the lyrics are charting her abusive relationship and mental struggles and substance addictions. Until I read that I had mostly heard love/relationship songs and some pro-God stuff. I didn't give it much thought, to be honest, I was enjoying the music and assuming the words were superficial.

I am not generally a soul fan, which is why my history of soul is so likely to be mostly bunkum. I did find, though, in the end, that I was a fan of this album. I genuinely was won over and loved it. Well done Mary.

8/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1OQ5l5rHKqUumPpn559zJC

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH_QLWlQVieV1CRn-1V7xU5TeI8a-R39L

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Life_(Mary_J._Blige_album)



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