Soul Strut 100: # 27 - Donald Byrd - Places and Spaces

RAJ

I will slowly be unveiling the Top 100 Soul Strut Related Records as Voted by the Strutters Themselves.

# 27 - Donald Byrd - Places and Spaces



The list so far:

# 100 - Jr. and His Soulettes - Psychodelic Sounds
# 99 - Sir Joe Quarterman & Free Soul
# 98 - Donny Hathaway - S/T (1971)
# 97 - Bernard Wright - ???Nard
# 96 - Tom Scott - Honeysuckle Breeze
# 95 - People Under the Stairs - Question in the Form of an Answer
# 94 - Harlem River Drive
# 93 - Black Moon - Enta Da Stage
# 92 - Marvin Gaye - Here, My Dear
# 91 - Muddy Waters - Electric Mud
# 90 - Les McCann - Layers
# 89 - Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
# 88 - Leroy Hutson - Hutson (1975)
# 87 - ESG - S/T (1981)
# 86 - Can - Tago Mago
# 85 - Bohannon - Stop & Go
# 84 - WILLIAM DEVAUGHN - Be Thankful For What You Got
# 83 - Power of Zeus - The Gospel According to Zeus
# 82 - Gang Starr - Hard To Earn
# 81 - The J.B.???s - Doing It to Death
# 80 - Parliament - Osmium
# 79 - McNeal & Niles - Thrust
# 78 - The Lafayette Afro Rock Band - Malik
# 77 - Earth, Wind, and Fire (1971)
# 76 - Dr. Dre - The Chronic
# 75 - Black Sabbath (1970)
# 74 - Trap Door / An International Psychedelic Mystery Mix (2006)
# 73 - Bob James - One
# 72 - Matthew Larkin Cassell - Pieces
# 71 - The Beginning Of The End - Funky Nassau
# 70 - Big Bear - Doin??? Thangs
# 69 - Steely Dan - Aja
# 68 - Quasimoto - The Unseen
# 67 - Curtis Mayfield - Curtis/Live! (1971)
# 66 - Al Green - Im still in love with you
# 65 - The Beatnuts - Street Level
# 64 - Archie Whitewater - Archie Whitewater (1970)
# 63 - Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Mecca & the Soul Brother
# 62 - Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
# 61 - The J.B.???s - Food For Thought
# 60 - Don Blackman (1982)
# 59 - Niagara - (Tiddies)
# 58 - Can - Ege Bamyasi
# 57 - Whatnauts - On the Rocks
# 56 - The Mohawks - Champ
# 55 - McDonald and Giles (1971)
# 54 - Darondo - Let My People Go
# 53 - Dorothy Ashby - Afro Harping
# 52 - Beastie Boys - Paul???s Boutique
# 51 - Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu of Ethiopia
# 50 - Lyman Woodard Organization - Saturday Night Special
# 49 - Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul
# 48 - Lyn Collins - Think (About It)
# 47 - James Brown - In The Jungle Groove
# 46 - Bill Withers - Still Bill
# 45 - Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
# 44 - Silver Apples - S/T
# 43 - Mobb Deep - The Infamous
# 42 - Lyn Christopher (1973)
# 41 - Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson
# 40 - Gang Starr - Step in the Arena
# 39 - Diamond D - Stunts, Blunts, & Hip Hop
# 38 - Terry Callier - What Color is Love
# 37 - David Axelrod - Song of Innocence
# 36 - The Invaders - Spacing Out
# 35 - Leo Sayer - Endless Flight
# 34 - Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
# 33 - DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist - Brainfreeze (Mix)
# 32 - Michael Jackson - Thriller
# 31 - DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
# 30 - De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
# 29 - Ray Barretto - Acid
# 28 - The Sylvers - II

Please discuss your reactions to this record. The thread will be archived later here.

About


Reuniting with Larry Mizell, the man behind his last three LPs, Donald Byrd continues to explore contemporary soul, funk, and R&B with Places and Spaces. In fact, the record sounds more urban than its predecessor, which often played like a Hollywood version of the inner city. Keeping the Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, and Sly Stone influences of Street Lady, Places and Spaces adds elements of Marvin Gaye, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Stevie Wonder, which immediately makes the album funkier and more soulful. Boasting sweeping string arrangements, sultry rhythm guitars, rubbery bass, murmuring fl??gelhorns, and punchy horn charts, the music falls halfway between the cinematic neo-funk of Street Lady and the proto-disco soul of Earth, Wind & Fire. Also, the title Places and Spaces does mean something -- there are more open spaces within the music, which automatically makes it funkier. Of course, it also means that there isn't much of interest on Places and Spaces for jazz purists, but the album would appeal to most fans of Philly soul, lite funk, and proto-disco.


http://www.allmusic.com/album/places-and-spaces-mw0000616571

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Media

fishmongerfunk

I like all his mizell albums but this is the jewel for me. His horn lines are focused, did he ever play better?

Mr. Attention

YES. The Mizell Brothers are my heroes! You can't really go wrong with any of the Mizell/Byrd records from this period, but this and 'Stepping Into Tomorrow' are particularly special.

Byrd and Fonce Mizell are alive and well in my crates!

DJ_Enki

crabmongerfunk said:

I like all his mizell albums but this is the jewel for me. His horn lines are focused, did he ever play better?

This could very well be the pinnacle of that sound. Great front-to-back record. And obviously it's a goldmine for a young Timmy Digalot sample spotter.

St. Cornelius

This Timmy Digalot sample spotter definitely geeked out hard upon hearing this album for the first time. Oh shit! Buck 'Em Down! Stray Bullet! Ba dump, bada woooooooooooooooom.. ahem

drbrownscelray

Many years and many raers later, this is still one of the best records I own. b/w It sounds like spring.

finelikewine

I must confess that I listened today for the first time to this record. That's because I don't own it and I have never been lucky enough to find it in the field. Speaking about sample spotting, the strings in "you and the music" sound totaly familiar to me, but I can't place it where I heard it before. Does anyone know who sampled/replayed it?

cookbook

RIP to the legend

Jonny_Paycheck

finding true Mint on this one is extremely tough.

I was looking at a friend's collection, and this guy is a titan in the game who shall remain nameless... dude had perhaps 6-7 copies of this and none were true mint. He was still searching.

This is one I'd have liked to see higher, absolutely one of my favorite records and one that just blew the game wide open for me when I first heard it. Still spends lots of time on the turntable, often getting flipped right back over when it's done, and I think I too have several copies in varying stages of VG to VG+. wmic and all that

Possum Slim

Just finished listening to this and Stepping Into Tomorrow about an hour ago. Surely the Mizell's finest and about as close to a 10/10 as it gets, the first 4 tracks are almost faultless to me.

stratasphere

I found Gears in no time when I first started collecting. It took me almost three years to snag a copy of this one because no one wants to give up theirs. I've only seen it in the field four or five times and I was lucky to get two of those VG++/EX copies for 10.00 each, The Mizells were at their finest during this period.

Possum Slim

Gears is probably my second favourite Mizell album although Blacks and Blues would push it close.

LoopDreams

LOVE this LP, and it DOES sound like spring. Found a clean clean copy in the garage of Bob Mays' place in Detroit a couple of yrs ago for a fiver. Weird, but it made my day big time.

kala

i find a vg/vg+ every other weekend "on season"in ny/nj
still have yet to mint up

Rishan

my first non rap record back in like '00-'01. introduction to the game and a perfect record to me. always see this for silly money in London. can understand why, even though it's not raer

DustedDon

i've seen this record going for $20 to $30 on ebay auctions which i found kind of odd. i have a shrink wrapped NM copy that i think i paid $4 bucks for. great album.

dukeofdelridge

heartening to see struttmasters like this as much as I do

got mine for 5 bucks, in the aforementioned "better than expected but not mint" condition

I think it sounds more like summer than spring, but whatever. Never far from the turntable.

DJBombjack

drbrownscelray said:

It sounds like spring.

This

tabira

DJBombjack said:

drbrownscelray said:

It sounds like spring.

This

Especially the title track and Wind Parade. Sonic joy rides

Possum Slim

Dominoes is the best for me, think RAJ posted the extended version above, glorious stuff.

bobbylondon

Ahh yes... Wind Parade is tops.