Customer Reviews

Stone Rollin'

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Raphael Saadiq fell in love with that Philly/Memphis/Motown sound on his last album "The Way I See It", and that love continues on his new album "Stone Rollin'".

Like its predecessor, the songs sound like covers of classics but are in fact new compositions with most of the vocals and instrumentation (guitar, keyboard, bass, Mellotron, and percussion) handled by the man himself, with Saadiq crooning, yelping or moving to falsetto as the mood demands.

Opening is the tambourine-laced thumping Soul/Rock "Heart Attack", while the bouncy Blues/Rock "Radio" recalls Little Walter. The titletrack is a midtempo harmonica-laced number, "Day Dreams" is Rockabilly, while the beautiful and breezy "Movin' Down The Line" recalls Marvin Gaye. "Just Don't" features Yukimi Nakano and could have fallen out of Stevie Wonder's seventies song book.

My favourites are the gentle "Good Man" which successfully straddles vintage and modern (and on which he laments his lover leaving during rough times despite his holding two jobs to provide for her), the lush moody "The Answer" (with light martial beats,ovely guitar and delicate horns), and the groovy hidden track "The Perfect Storm" which is so D'angelo.

There isn't a single mis-step on this delightful album. He makes cool seem effortless!

For me this is the very best soul album of the last two years (since Maxwell's BLACKsummer's night)! It is also the very best album that Raphael Saadiq has ever released! I don't quite understand the comments of reviewers stating that he is stuck in the 60's. This album has clearly been influenced by the past, but takes a modern approach with a timeless sound. I have never heard anything quite like "Heart Attack", "Go To Hell", or "Over You," which has a very surprising indie rock sound! Raphael infuses a lot more of his own personality in these songs than he did on his last album "The Way I See It." The song writing is especially fantastic, and I'd argue that "Go To Hell," has the best lyrics of Raphael's career, with some of the most poetic lyrics of any contemporary soul song I've heard. "Over You," and "Just Don't" are also great with unique twists on their titles. Even the production and instrumentation on the majority of tracks have a fuller, more vivid quality. I can't listen to this album without dancing in my seat, and I absolutely love every song on the album. One of my favourites is the hidden track "The Perfect Storm", which nearly sounds like a lost D'Angelo song, but is moreso "Instant Vintage" Raphael Saadiq.

Rollin' through black music history with the ease of a master, he switches between genre interpretations from track to track. There are Sly Stone grooves, Philly soul, rockabilly, Rhythm & especially Blues, an upbeat Ray Charles routine, Motown referencing "Happy Together", Marvin Gaye laments and a jazzy Southern marching band to carry us home. That said, this has a modern, edgy sound, cleaning off all sleepiness, played tight and mean. Saadiq has no time for middlebrow revivals. He pursues the heart and social significance of the classics and in doing so produces one himself.

With electronica and acid rock ruling the music world lately, I decided that I wanted something different. I had read reviews for this album and decided to give it a spin, with no expectations, no particular love for soul, and without any real clue as to who Raphael Saadiq actually is.

And I haven't looked back.

This is a wonderful album of soul, R&B, and pop that really thrusts you back in time. The warmth Saadiq's analog-sounding grooves evoke makes other music sound chilly and hollow in comparison. It sounds silly, but in making this sort of throwback music and infusing it with his own personal strengths and sensibilities as a songwriter, Rafael Saadiq is actually more progressive than anything else... a music maverick in the most wonderful sense.

I can't recommend this enough. Now, off to discover some of his other stuff!

This is a great album. It doesn't have the boundless amazingness and freshness of The Way I See It, but it's really a wonderful set of songs.

Heart Attack gets right to the point with the full force explosion you'd expect from Raphael Saadiq. Then Go To Hell slows things down a little bit eventually swirling into a pretty amazing whirlwind of voices.

Sure there are some songs that sound like they could be lifted right off of TWIS, but there are also some great twists here--especially toward the end of the album. Good Man is smoldering and The Answer ends the album with a really great groove that makes you think twice about where Stone Rollin' took you.

At $3.99 it's a steal. It's still very worth it at twice that much.

Listeners who think Raphael Saadiq is stuck in the 1960's are really missing the point; while "Stone Rollin'" uses the late 60's and early 70's as a jumping off point, this LP actually expands the possibilities of modern rock and soul. Most of these tracks are guitar based and each have a surging momentum and "garage band" immediacy that gives the music a more organic feel. To point out highlights or favorites on this record would do it a disservice, EVERYTHING here works and the 10 tracks flow together beautifully. A modern masterwork.

An instant classic masterpiece. He continues to outdo himself, and I don't know how that is possible. A must buy, and ALL the cuts are excellent.

What a great album he has put out this go around. He is progressing in his lyrics and musicianship from each release. He understands his roots and the roots of the great American tradition. He also has good marketing people behind him and understands the market is eating tunes like this up right now. That isn't a bad thing he cam make some wonderfully beautiful music and make some coin as well. Keep up the good work!

In his nearly 25 year career, Raphael Saadiq has made the music he wanted to make- even if it cost him the fame he wanted. While he has seen success with his former group Tony! Toni! Tone!, he initially had trouble getting his solo career off the ground. The Tonyies' quiet storm fave "Me & You" from the soundtrack to the 1991 film "Boyz N The Hood" was basically a Raphael Saadiq solo track in all but name. A few years later, he recorded another song for another John Singleton film "Higher Learning"- "Ask Of You", this time, under his own name. Then in 2000, he released the short-lived supergroup project Lucy Pearl with Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest) and Dawn Robinson (En Vogue). After a decade of recording solo songs and writing and producing for other artists, he finally released his solo debut, the funk-inspired "Instant Vintage" in 2002. While the record was critically acclaimed, sales and promotion were slow, largely due to Universal Records' questionable history with rhythm and blues. So, he left Universal Records and released his sophomore album "Ray Ray" under his indie label Pookie Entertainment in 2004. After a four year hiatus, he resurfaced on major label Columbia Records for the Motown-influenced "The Way I See It". The album got favorable reviews, but he was seen as following the trend of throwback soul popularized by Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black" and later pop singers Adele and Duffy. Ironically, Raphael travelled down this road with Tony! Toni! Tone!'s 1996 swan song "House Of Music"- which predates Winehouse's album by ten years. Being that he's seen the highest sales of his career as a solo artist for "The Way I See It", there was the likelihood of him doing another album along the lines of it- which brings us to "Stone Rollin'".

While he does stay in the lane of throwback soul, this album is less like Motown Records and more like Stax Records. The opening track "Heart Attack" bears a rhythm arrangement that's noticeably similar to Sly & The Family Stone's "Dance To The Music". He ponders on the concept of his faith being tested on "Go To Hell", and personifies R&B music as an aggresive woman on the first single "Radio". He longs to hold on to a lost love on the rock-infused "Over You", and sings about a woman's physical attributes on the title track "Stone Rollin'". On the country and western influenced "Day Dreams", he wishes to buy his significant other something that's out of his price range and has a special appearance from steel guitarist Robert Randolph. He channels Marvin Gaye's "Troubled Man" on the uptempo "Movin' Down The Line", and gets assistance on "Just Don't" from Larry Dunn of Earth, Wind & Fire and Yukumi Nagano of the indie pop band Little Dragon. He confronts a woman over her infidelities on the ballad "Good Man" and gets introspective on the closing track "The Answer". Following "The Answer" is the hidden bonus track "The Perfect Storm" which features a guest appearance from Larry Graham of Graham Central Station. Overall, Raphael Saadiq's "Stone Rollin'" is a good record, but would have been better if Saadiq wasn't so adamant about repeating himself this time around.

On his second `vintage' outing Stone Rollin', Raphael Saadiq amps up the retro-soul vibe to the nth degree. Responsible for the majority of the songwriting and production, Stone Rollin' could have been released in the 1960s and not missed a beat. That said, the retro sound cultivated on Stone Rollin', Saadiq's fourth studio effort (excluding live set All Hits at the House of Blues) sounds incredibly unique and exceptional in 2011. Retro is back and Saadiq articulate and accentuates it extremely well. Stone Rollin' should no doubt be a front runner for Best R&B album at the 2012 Grammys given the authenticity exuded here. Commercial it may not be, unfortunately, but artistically, Saadiq makes a huge statement with such a vintage effort. And did we mention that Saadiq hones in on his multi-instrumental talents; he plays drums, bass, guitar, and mellotron (think The Beatles)!

"Heart Attack" opens the album exceptionally with a superb tambourine-driven groove. From the opening seconds, one hears the influence of the 1960's, capped off by the soulful-vocal production on Saadiq's lead vocals. A big bass line buttresses the production. The songwriting is spot-on, particularly on the refrain: "You givin' me a heart attack, girl, I want you back/I just can't stand it no more..." "Go To Hell" may be the album's best number, intact with live instrumentation (strings and horns). The songwriting is superb and Saadiq escapes the standard verse/chorus format by changing the lyrics on each `hook': "I need to feel this water falling down over me/falling down over me..." (Verse 1) or "But we have the power moving from sea to sea, moving from sea to sea..." (Verse 2). The smartest moment may be Saadiq's ad libs towards the end of the cut in which he sings over exceptional background vocalists singing "let love bring us together." "Radio" is none too shabby itself, featuring the title's hook line "I'm stone rollin' darlin', stone rollin' darlin'..."

"Over You" is the album's briefest cut, but the rock and roll-soul edge is unique. Big drums and sound production work help to craft this cut, not to mention best line "Girls everything is okay, when you kiss me that way..." "Stone Rollin,'" the title cut is valedictory, featuring a `deep soul,' Memphis sort of groove reminiscent of Al Green's 1970s work. Guest Darrel Mansfield plays a mean harmonica here - Stevie Wonder + Blues allusion anyone? The use of mellotron by Saadiq here is brilliant adding some great effects. Again, songwriting aids the success of this album and the title track is no different: "... Big booty woman, turn me loose/I need to go home, I can't stand your moves/you see your high heels, are killin' me/It's like a valentines heart shakin' me..." "Day Dreams" is effective as well, speeding the tempo and featuring some clever, `tongue-in-cheek' background vocals.

"Movin' Down the Line" is as effective as everything else as is "Just' Don't," a five-minute plus juggernaut featuring Yukimi Nagano and a two-minute instrumental out-tro. Again, live instrumentation is so nice to hear. "Good Man," which finds Saadiq honing in on his clavinet skills (another Stevie Wonder reference?) is exceptional, finding co-songwriter Taura Stinson handling vocal duties on the chorus: "I'm a good man food on the table, working two jobs ready willing and able. check..." "The Answer" closes the album (and features a hidden track that features legendary soul singer Larry Graham) introspectively. "The Answer" reminds one of a number Marvin Gaye may have recorded on his What's Going On, which was an album very concerned about mankind, etc. "The Answer" possesses that same vibe.

Overall, Stone Rollin' is exceptionally well-crafted and thought out. While Saadiq focuses on the 60's and 70's soul idiom, he does so by varying the sound of the album throughout, which is the mark of a true musician. For anyone who enjoys an authentic `soul' album, this one is one you should add to your collection. A fine addition to Saadiq's already rich discography.