Thursday 15 September 2011

The Soul Mixtapes Top 11 LP's of the 90's


So, another Top 11 mix. We've done the Noughties and the 80's, now lets take a trip back to flat tops, New Jack Swing and the Fresh Prince......nahhhhhhhhh. Forget that. The decade started pretty....Wack......but halfway through Neo-Soul was born, and essentially, artists decided to make music again taking inspriration from the 70's.

OK. Lets get down to it. My choice for Top 11, in no particular order.

4hero - Two Pages
Driza Bone - Conspiracy
Camp Lo - Uptown Saturday Night
Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Lucy Pearl - Lucy Pearl
Eric Benet - A day in the life
Blaze - 25 Years Later
D'angelo - Brown Sugar
Jamiroquai - Return of the Space Cowboy
Maxwell - Urban Hang Suite
Adriana Evans - Adriana Evans

Most of these LP's need no introduction. So ill say something about a few.

Adriana Evans - IMO, the LP that birthed "Neo Soul". Pre Brown Sugar. (CORRECTION: Post Brown Sugar....but to me for some reason...pre! I do think though that this LP influenced the Organic sound more than Brown Sugar which kicked the door down of New Jack Swing. THX MIMI SOUL) Like a breath of fresh air, organic and soulful.

Blaze - One side featured thier brand of excellent house music, the other? A virtual history of 70's Black Music. Influences from Curtis to Stevie. Absolute class.

4hero/Jamiroquai - Cutting edge; Jazzy; Soulful; featuring actual musicians. 2 of the best LP's from any decade IMO. And British. :)

Camp Lo - 70's inspired Hip Hop? This is it. From the samples to the House of Bamboo references, to the 70's pimpalicious flow. My choice for Hip Hop LP, though I know Hip Hop heads will widen thier eyes.

And thats it. Except the one I always forget. Dont think I dont love you Erykah, cause I do. Ever since I first heard "On & On" and saw you double billing it with Jamiroquai in the UK back in the day. I dont know why I havent put an LP of yours in one of my lists. Cant work it out. My bad. But here you are in spirit.





The Soul Mixtapes Top 11 LP's of the 90's

5 comments:

SoulNRnB said...

1.4Hero - Star Chasers
2.Driza Bone - Brightest Star
3.Camp Lo - Coolie High
4.Lauryn Hill - Lost Ones
5.Lucy Pearl - Everyday
6.Eric Benet - Love of my Own
7.Blaze - All that I should know
8.D'angelo - Me and those dreaming eyes
9.Jamiroquai - Space Cowboy
10.Maxwell - Sumthin' Sumthin'
11.Adrianna Evans - Love is all around

Philip Clark said...

Pretty good list.

Philip Clark said...

For me, I would have thrown in, somewhere...

Zhane - Pronounced Jah-Nay
Groove Theory - Groove Theory
Brand New Heavies - Brother Sister

Mimi Soul said...

Hi

I truly love the adriana evans lp truly a modern soul classic but it's from 1997 and brown sugar is from 1995

Peace

SoulNRnB said...

Mimi - WHOOPS - You are right. Corrected in Blog. Thank you thank you! Somebody reads this!!

Philip - All 3 are excellent LP's. Zhane especially had some great R&B on it and Groove Theory were also at the forefront of the return to Soul......

As for BNH; I actually prefer the self titled LP with Dream Come True and Stay This way, a tune that gives me shivers!