Customer Reviews

Sin & Soul & Then Some

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

On occasion, a musician, his accompaniment, and the engineering team recording the work, are so completely in sync that their performances are connected in a way that borders on telepathy. Such was the case with the magic first album of Oscar Brown, Jr., "Sin & Soul...And Then Some".

Perrenial favorite "Dat Dere", a fun wordplay on the wonder of ever-questioning children, is just one of many highlights on this disc.

At least two songs play on the cry of traditional Southern street vendors plying their trade from their wheeled carts. In both "Watermelon Man" and "Rags and Old Iron", Brown turns the routine patter of the street vendor into splendid commentaries. "Brown Baby" and "Afro Blue" are both gentle, quiet lullabies, and very engaging. "But I Was Cool" is a comedy of errors suffered by a heartbroken man, and "Somebody Buy Me a Drink" is the flip side to that coin, a bluesy lament on a similar topic.

One of the many surprises here is "Bid 'em In", a proto-rap about slavery. The song is certain to provoke thought, if not passionate reaction.

Five unreleased tracks are added, four of which comprise an unsuccessful musical that Brown was working on. "World of Grey" is a thoughtful commentary. Songs like "Mr. Kicks", "Forbidden Fruit", and "Hazel's Hips" make you want to see the play, for it must have been scandalous fun.

This is an excellent, excellent jazz-blues album, which was not only a classic in its own right, but is made even more so by the addition of the five previously unreleased tracks made during the same sessions.

If you ever want to hear magic, then this is the album to play.

Oscar Brown Jr., one of the great treasures... more people should know of this man and this recording. Touching, funny and profound. Mr. Brown gives each of the pieces a different unique reading. He becomes the central character of the story within the song like a part-actor, part-poet, part master musician. I was amazed when I first heard this quite a few years ago and still am. This album is artistry at it's highest. In many discussions there has been the question: "What is Soul"? Soul is Oscar Brown, Jr.

that line actually is in a song on "heaven and hell", Oscar brown jr's companion album to this one, which columbia/sony haven't yet reissued -- though both albums can be found on ONE cd on some obscure italian label!! all my friends throughout the years who have listened to this album as well as "heaven and hell" -- and believe me, they all invariably sat down and listened to both albums right through, because they're so incredible, these are SEVEN STAR records, with not a dud song anywhere in sight, just a continuous string of pearls, no argument, no questions asked, these are simply the two best popular records of the sixties, topping everything, and that includes all the great records the beatles, dylan, hendrix et all came up with, THESE are the Mt Everest and K2 of that decade -- and so, let me make my point, all these friends, listening to Oscar Brown jr, instantly understood one very important fact about "Beggars Banquet", the Stones' masterpiece of 1968 or thereabouts. How INSPIRED those kids, Mick Jagger and Co., must have felt after listening to Oscar Brown Jr, and of course their own work really IS very nice. But what you understand after listening to Oscar Brown Jr's record is that the Stones' effort is like a school kid's essay, after you've read a classic. THIS is the original source of that inspiration, and it is a masterwork and a classic, ahead of all comers. Buy this record now and treasure it for the next 40 years, as I have done for the past 40. (amen, no BS)

I've owned this album 3 times in my life. The 1st time in the early 60's when it first came out, again in the early 80's when found it in a small record shop, and now for the third time after finding it here. These songs have had a life long impact on me personally. "Bid 'Em In for instance is about a young black girl being sold at auction, it gives me chills I can actually feel that poor girls embarassment. As a young man of 17 years I would fall asleep to this record and when "Somebody Buy Me A Drink" would play it inspired what may have been my most sincere prayer, "Please God don't ever allow me to become like that man in the song." "Signifyin' Monkey" is a particular favorite, I know every word. I can't sing a note but I have repeated it as poem to my kids for 25 years. To this day they will ask me to tell them why monkeys live in trees and I look forward to my grandchildren asking as well. This past weekend we went to Cape May, N.J. and to my surprise there was a Jazz Festival going on and to my greater surprise Oscar Brown Jr. was one of the entertainers. Honestly, I didn't know he was still entertaining or alive for that matter. Well he's alive and put on a great show. I've just ordered another of his CD's and I hope he puts out many more. The bottom line is if you enjoy jazz, YOU MUST OWN THIS CD!

My musical tastes are mostly classical, but Brown is of such calibre that he easily fits in with Shostakovich, Beethoven, Weber, the great composers. Each song has the ability to take you into a separate complete universe..."heaven and hell".
I reckon that Brown is America's greatest living vocalist.

I have been listening to Oscar Brown Jr. since the sixties when this album first came out. My mother loved 'But I was cool'. I recently saw him in person in Chicago along with his two daughters Maggie Brown and Africa Brown, both of whom are fabulous singers. Oscar at seventy-five years old was still in great voice and gave a wonderful performance. He sang new songs as well as beloved old ones and had the audience in the palm of his hand. It is a shame that such a talented man did not receive wider recognition. Oscar is not only a songwriter, but a playwright and poet. And those are only the talents that I know of, he most likely possess even more! Genius such as his is rare!

When I was in the Peace Corps in W. Africa in the late 70s, my mother would send me audio cassette tapes of the jazz radio show from home. On one of the tapes was a recording of "Dat Dere." Just before the tape ended, the radio announcer, China Valles, identified the artist as Oscar Brown Jr, of whom I'd never heard before then. When my Peace Corps tour ended and I eventually came back home to South Florida, I looked up the album and I have loved it ever since. I agree with everything all the previous reviews here have said; especially the description of Mr. Brown and this work being the highest expression of art. It is a wonderful collection that all can deeply enjoy.

Oscar Brown Jr was one of a kind. A wonderful baritone voice, a wonderful way with words, a historian's eye for what was going on and a journalist's eye for reporting. He was fully as much the voice of the 60s as Dylan, only he sang better, and he did swing. Oh my did he swing. My all time favorite album was Between Heaven and Hell, but that hasn't been rereleased as yet. Two songs from that album are here, though. Mr Kicks and World Full of Gray. He felt the Black experience, but I'm not Black and I loved his songs. One fantastic song I haven't heard since the 60s is Elegy. Oscar Brown Jr will be missed. Buy this CD before someone realizes that it's meaningful music and takes it off the market.

Oscar Brown, Jr. is a consumate artist. He was hip before there was Hip. This CD will make you think.

....my Uncle Jim gave it to me when I was about 7 or 8, thereabouts, but I actually did not play it until I was in my 20s. I don't know why, it just happened like that....well, see, I got more into jazz and blues when I was in my 20's. Me and my buddies back then tripped about "Signifyin' Monkey" because it was always something that was told to you in rhyme by either one of your dad's buddies or one of the ol' guys at the corner barber shop. Those guys always went "...do ya know about the signifyin' monkey", and whether you did or did not, they told the rhyme, anyway....

But, however, since one of my passions is listening to great music of all kinds, I did not stop there on this LP. I also dig Brown's cover of "Afro Blue" and the great "But I was Cool"...Brown also wrote another of my favorites "World of Trouble" by Lou Rawls (I'm guessing Lou wrote the introductory narrative).

And now, it is offered thru Amazon.com. I am amazed, to say the least...