Skip to main content

Al Green - Talk to Me

With increasing middle class prosperity, the 1920s saw a rise in consumer oriented culture. As buying on credit became the norm, families purchased new, or newly affordable, technologies such as cars, washing machines, refrigerators, radios, and toasters. Women, both black and white, enjoyed new means of self expression during the decade that started with being granted the right to vote. Some paid more attention to clothing and cosmetics, wore scandalously short dresses, men’s hats, and smoked cigarettes. Women, and men, enjoyed the new freedoms afforded by developments in birth control and its gradual acceptance in society.

The blues queens embodied these changes in society. They were glamorous pop stars who performed and appeared in photographs wearing glitzy dresses and jewelry. They headlined large shows that included dancers, comedians, and other entertainers... No longer beholden to the tropes of minstrelsy, blues queens presented themselves as sophisticated professionals. Race records advertisements sometimes included minstrel imagery, but many featured realistic portraits of the artists.

Before the advent of race records, companies marketed all different music styles in one catalog, separating only classical music. They made and sold records aligned with their perception of the tastes of the urban middle class, primarily vaudeville, Tin Pan Alley, brass bands, classical, opera, and Broadway. The new race records applied the principles of ethnic niche markets on a much grander scale.


Al Green - Talk to Me

  • Written by: Joe Seneca
  • Released on: Green Is Blues qlbum
  • Released on: April 1969


"Al Green was known as both a hitmaker and an artist who released consistently engaging, frequently excellent, critically acclaimed albums. His hits continued uninterrupted through the next two years, all becoming Top Ten gold singles."

See previous Song of the Day

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau - Long Before

Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau - Long Before Recorded in: December, 2005 Recorded in: New York, NY Genre: Jazz "Pat Metheny has participated in the academic arena as a music educator. At 18, he was the youngest teacher ever at the University of Miami. At 19, he became the youngest teacher ever at the Berklee College of Music, where he also received an honorary doctorate." See Previous Song of the Day  

David Sylvian - The First Day

When the story of Blues is told to the world, the small town Holly Springs, Mississippi and the North Mississippi region as a whole, is often left out. But, those who know, know that this region is the Hill Country, and it is the home of a style of blues unlike others and continuing to shape popular music culture. Mississippi Hill Country Blues, like all forms of the blues, is deeply rooted in the cultural memories and experiences of those who first performed it. It builds upon the African and diasporic emphasis upon rhythm as not just beats and timing, but giving syncopation and polyrhythm both rhythmic elements, an elevated role in music much like that of the melody. The driving rhythm and aggressive groove, established primarily by sitting on one chord for long phrases, set Hill Country Blues apart from other forms like Delta Blues. Hill Country Blues is the soundscape of the region that includes several counties and towns around Holly Spring, Senatobia, and Como, Mississippi. The r...

Spiritualized - Spread Your Wings

Spiritualized - Spread Your Wings Released in: February 1995 Duration: 6:17 Vocals: Jason Pierce "The first Spiritualized release was a space rock esque cover in 1990, a record which heralded the official split of Spacemen 3. On 15 June 1997, Spiritualized became the last band to play at Factory Records' Manchester nightclub." See Previous Song of the Day