It must’ve been tough growing up as Oliver Wang. First of all, any kid named Oliver is going to get some shit, and with a last name like Wang, well, I can only imagine. So it must be sweet vindication to grow up to be Oliver Wang, media-savvy journalist, pop-culture scholar, music blog forefather, and unrepentant cratedigger. Ever the overachiever, he started Soul Sides as a sort of spillover from his published reviews and a way to share with the world his personal obsessions that weren’t getting exposure anywhere else. Eventually the site transitioned from 30 obscure LP reviews a month to a few choice 7-inches a week, and with the addition of MP3s in 2003, an audioblog was born. Being an elder statesman of sorts in the music-blog world gives Wang some clout: he’s written a widely respected guide to starting your own music blog, and -- according to Zealous Records press at least -- he was the first blogger to come out with a physical, purchaseable collection of music. So how do you keep freeloaders from feeling ripped off for having to buy something they normally get for free? Give ‘em a bunch of stuff that never even made it onto the website. And while that might have been enough to make Vol. 1 a hit, for Vol. 2, O-Dub did that and more, scouring his bins to come up with a broad view of soul cover songs.
These days, cover songs are sort of second-class citizens. They’re relegated to novelty treatments and artists who need to pad out their setlist. And covering something that just came out? In a non-ironic sense? That’s just unheard of. And yet, up though the mid-'70s it was perfectly acceptable to record your own version of a song you thought was good, even if it had just come out. A good song should be open to many different interpretations. Consequently, on Soul Sides Vol. 2: The Covers, we get a taste for the many different strains of soul music.
Kicking off with Sharon Cash’s scorching run through “Fever,” Volume 2 sets the bar for a set of gritty, gut-wrenching interpretations. Al Green is repped twice, first with his giddy romp through The Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” then his own “Here I Am” gets a sultry, smoky spin courtesy of Marcia Griffiths. Byron Lee gives “Express Yourself” a reggaefied marching band treatment, which actually sounds way better than that description would suggest.
Wang also includes contemporary bands playing what he would call retro-soul, such as Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra and El Michel’s Affair, who give Isaac Hayes’ sentimental “Walk On By” a complete overhaul, turning it into something in between dub and soul. Sonically, these tracks are virtually indistinguishable from songs 35 years older, a testament to the reverence many of today’s bands feel not just toward the music of their parents, but to the rich analog production that gives classic soul its, well, soul.
Of course the proliferation of blogs covering exclusively old soul music is testament to how fresh this music remains to so may ears. Wang is wise to cover the spectrum of soul, which keeps this collection from sounding one-dimensional, even if it doesn’t necessarily attain a sense of unity. Nevertheless, you’ll certainly be able to mine this for your own mix, thereby implying that you’re not only down with the original, but you’ve got a burner that totally sheds new light on a song you thought you knew. Thanks to blogs and collections like this, your non-dusty fingers can still use your laptop while sounding like you spent hours digging through musty basements.
1. "Fever" by Sharon Cash (Peggy Lee)
2. "Feelin' Alright" by West Coast Revival (Traffic)
3. "I Want To Hold Your Hand" by Al Green (The Beatles)
4. "Home Is Where the Hatred Is" by Esther Phillips (Gil Scott-Heron)
5. "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" by Marcia Griffiths (Al Green)
6. "Che Che Cole" by Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra (Willie Colon)
7. "Kissing My Love" by Spanky Wilson (Bill Withers)
8. "Let's Straighten It Out" by O.V. Wright (Latimore)
9. "It's Your Thing" by Cold Grits (Isley Bros.)
10. "Express Yourself" by Byron Lee and the Dragonaires (Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band)
11. "Walk On By" by El Michels Affair (Burt Bacharach/Isaac Hayes)
12. "Viva Tirado" by Los Mozambiques (Gerald Wilson/El Chicano)
13. "Be Thankful For What You Got" by Donovan Carless (William DeVaughn)
14. "What A Man" by Laura Lee (Linda Lyndell)