Im gonna need help from every strutter that feels like I do, and I know you are out there...anybody feel like Donny Hathaway is a tad overrated? I get it, but it doesnt really move me like some folks...some folks think he hung the moon, but me...ehhhhhh....
I don't think he's overrated so much as uneven.
While I think he's a lot more listenable than Roberta Flack (who had a similar sound), I have never heard a Hathaway elpee that was good all the way through. There was always this trying-too-hard vibe I get from him, like he was attempting to be sophisticated and lowdown all at once.
There's a whole lot of skiparounds on his albums, but if you strung the good tracks together (and threw in "This Christmas," "Where Is The Love" [w/Flack], and the theme from Maude as bonuses), the hype would be justified.
I have never heard a Hathaway elpee that was good all the way through
I listen to "Everything is Everything" and the Live album straight through without the slightest desire to skip. Later albums, some tracks get skipped.
Jackson Browne still gets all sorts of respect for writing that song when he was 16. That's the kind of feat that's humbling to anyone trying to record music.
Comments
Hathaway or Gladys Knight?
Con Funk Shun > Byrds > Dylan
Season of the Witch
Lou Rawls > Bloomfield, Cooper Stills > Julie Driscoll > Terry Reid > Donovan
Light My Fire
Rhetta Hughes > + 20(x) > Doors
A favorite song of mine.
I have a 90 minute tape of just some of the versions I like.
Sivuca is not one of them. Too fast and jaggedy.
Not sure if I have a favorite, but Roland Kirk's is fun.
Maybe Willis Jackson (Harlem Underground) is my favorite.
I don't think he's overrated so much as uneven.
While I think he's a lot more listenable than Roberta Flack (who had a similar sound), I have never heard a Hathaway elpee that was good all the way through. There was always this trying-too-hard vibe I get from him, like he was attempting to be sophisticated and lowdown all at once.
There's a whole lot of skiparounds on his albums, but if you strung the good tracks together (and threw in "This Christmas," "Where Is The Love" [w/Flack], and the theme from Maude as bonuses), the hype would be justified.
I listen to "Everything is Everything" and the Live album straight through without the slightest desire to skip. Later albums, some tracks get skipped.
Absolutely. I played this for some friends the other day, and one of them thought it was a great cover of that Sheryl Crow song.
and the Prophets of Soul do a cool version of Ain't No Sunshine on their Gregory James Edition album
Faith No More > Commodores
Am I joking?
And yes, again I like both versions but the way Spanky/HB Barnum flipped it is fantastic
haven't even heard jackson brown version!!
i think this thread is about entire songs. not one random lyric.
Wrong.
And "She Comes in Colors" is like a top 5 Love song ... while "She's a Rainbow"
is like the 1224th best Rolling Stones song.
Stevie Wonder - Blowin In The Wind
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q-owh9pkSc
the side-long nina simone version slays them all
I've been looking for this for years. Never heard it but folks rave about it
b/w
Song of Leonard Cohen is one of my favorite albums. There aren't too many covers of that stuff that I would take over his OGs
Like Dylan, I think most any cover of a Cohen song is going to better than the original. I guess I just like singers who can express the melody.
Famous Blue Raincoat is hard to find and raved about because audiophiles put such a premium on the audiorecording, not the music.
It is very understated and was not memorable to me.
Maybe it just didn't live up to the hype.