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Main Ingredient vs Chi-Lites vs Stylistics

SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
edited July 2005 in Strut Central
Ok, it wasn't actually a "battle of the bands," but I saw a great free show at the outdoor Hatch Shell in Boston tonight of these 3 groups (the Bluenotes minus Harold Melvin also played, but I was tuning up my Basso and got down there late) - I don't think Eugene Record was touring with these Chi-Lites, although it was strange to see them the day after he died...they gave him a nice tribute from the stage.Anyway, there was NO competition, and NO question why The Stylistics headlined...they killed it!! Voices still strong, band was tight, the moves were all perfect...these guys had it goin' on. Their "medley" (an unavoidable event for any of these acts, all 3 did at least one) was the best, their hits sounded awesome. They even brought out the Moder Soul for Moder Folls with "Hurry Up This Way Again," and went to the 70's album cut cover of "It's Too Late" by Carole King. Harold Brown, the replacement falsetto for Russell Thompkins Jr, makes it seem like the original lineup, his voice is just as good as Thompkins, if maybe a bit TOO similar.Chi-Lites and Main Ingredient were good, Chi-Lites had an AWESOME entrance, and I probably like the Chi-Lites records more...but the Stylistics were the masters tonight!

  Comments

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    The new falsetto cat for the Stylistics does channel Thompkins' vocal delivery. That's probably not to stray away too far from the original works, which is what the nostalgia circuit/fans want to hear. Its all to the good in my book.
  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    The new falsetto cat for the Stylistics does channel Thompkins' vocal delivery. That's probably not to stray away too far from the original works, which is what the nostalgia circuit/fans want to hear. Its all to the good in my book.

    All true. One thing that was cool about both the Chi-Lites and the Stylistics is that they didn't just go "oldies" style, the Chi-Lites opened with "I Like Your Lovin' (Do You Like Mine)" to milk the strength the Beyonce sample gave that track, and dude made a speech at the mid-point about how they had won "7 Grammies in the last year(s?)" and named off all hits that sampled Chi-Lites, saying, "that's OUR music." More power to 'em, and the 1980 track the Stylistics did was one of the real highlights, it had a nice beat and was mostly a long funky instrumental with a short, powerful vocal part - they did "Rockin' Roll Baby," which I really can't stand...but the crowd seemed to get really into that one, it makes the little kids dance and shit. Main Ingredient had a nice long gospel section that was cool, too, and Cuba G had pretty legit vocal chops.
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