VARIOUS ARTISTS / “Feel Like Making Love Mixtape”
Source: Breath of Life (BoL Mixtape September 13, 2010
Like we say on the street, although she didn’t compose it, Roberta Flack owns “Feel Like Making Love.” So what had happened was, I was going about my daily business when I had to double-check a reference for another writing project, and during the fact checking some reference to the song popped up and that was a “hummmmm, I wonder if…” moment.
And sho-nuff, like angry whites jumping on Obama, there were a bunch of versions, and although I’m sitting on a cover selection that I completed and then put off when I got that Michael Jackson Mixtape two weeks ago, I immediately got to work putting the tape together.
I don’t know if yall want to hear all of this. I really don’t have that much to say about the song and only slightly more about the different selections but just in case someone is interested in how the process works, it goes like this: I am a devotee of chaos theory. I understand the more you look (assuming you know how to look), the more you see.
Kalamu’s corruption of the chaos theory states: curiosity and openness to what’s swirling around outside the self offers more inspiration and information than can ever be secured by simply looking for needles in haystacks. In fact, a haystack is not the best place to look for a needle, even if one is there… or something like that.
Anyway… the deal is we try to keep BoL fresh by making it up as we go along. Improvising is at the core of my approach to creativity but improvisation requires a lot work and constant practice. In the case of these Mixtapes a song idea is the least important part of the process.
The implementation is the issue. You can know all the theory you want, but it’s like Harold Battiste questions: “but can he blow?” Can you actually put the stuff together? Each Mixtape requires a minimum of four or five listens to all the initial selections to decide on sequencing and which tunes will make the cut. Then I’ve got the engineering process of putting the tape together, which includes designing and producing the cover.
To put it another way, when one Mixtape goes up, I’ve already started working on another. The write-up that accompanies the tapes are usually the last thing done other than the actual mechanics of posting to the website, which is a whole other story and generally takes at least six or seven hours—putting the hot links to Amazon is time consuming but one of the reasons we do it is because somebody always wants to know where they can get the music, so if the stuff is commercially available, we tell them where they acquire the music.
Of course, it is not prudent to post instructions on non-commercial acquisition of material that “legally” you’re not supposed to have—so in those cases I don’t say anything. The music is there and the download instructions are on the BoL website.
This “Feel Like Making Love” Mixtape is a hell of a ride: slow, fast; funky, sophisticated; vocals, instrumentals; all the stuff a good Mixtape should be. It surprised me and I spent a bunch of hours putting it together. In fact, I spent more time on this one than on any other recent tape.
BTW, Roberta you got jacked. Gladys, the baddest, done stole your song. Check it out.
—Kalamu ya Salaam
P.S. I forgot that back in June 2006 we did a mini-feature on “Feel Like Making Love.” We had five tracks, the Roberta Flack original, the D’Angelo funk fest and Nancy Wilson’s electronic treatment were included. A different version by Marlena Shaw was also included. In case you want to read what we had to say back then, you can go here and check it out.
“Feel Like Making Love” Mixtape Playlist
01 The Best Of Roberta Flack
02 Jazz Ballads Vol 2 – Bobby Lyle featuring Will Downing
03 En Attendant Minuit – Roy Ayers
04 Voodoo – D’Angelo
05 Absolutely – Jocelyn Brown
06 Unexpected – Lumidee featuring Shaggy
07 Vol. 2 – Los Hombres Calientes
08 Con Sabor A Salsa – Oscar G Cruz
09 Live In Tokyo – Marlena Shaw
10 Workin’ – Don Braden
11 Godsend – Nancy Wilson
12 Beautiful Ballads – Gladys Knight & The Pips
13 Imaginary Man – Izit
This entry was posted on Monday, September 13th, 2010 at 3:05 am and is filed under Cover. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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