Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Groan and sexy

Or, at least, our rendition of it.

How'd we come up with the list? Twelve is my favorite number. The music had to fit the mood. And there had to be some sort of semblance of order.

Other than that, there were no rules to the process:

1. Love Drug - Raheem DeVaughn
2. Beautiful Stranger - Madonna
3. Prototype - Andre 3000
4. After the Dance - Marvin Gaye
5. Just Me and You - Tony! Toni! Tone!
6. Telephone - Erykah Badu
7. Adore - Prince
8. Sumthin' Sumthin' (Mellosmoothe) - Maxwell
9. Anytime Anyplace - Janet Jackson
10. Satisfy - Me'Shell N'degeocello
11. Kissing You - Keith Washington
12. Don’t Say Goodnight - The Isley Brothers

I know, I know, I know ... where in the hell did "Beautiful Stranger" come from? To be honest, I don't know. But that song has had me under a spell for a good long while now. The First Lady didn't even bother putting up a fight about its inclusion.

Anyway, since this was about as tough as expected, the First Lady and I came up with some worthy honorable mentions: Love TKO by Teddy Pendergrass; Love Song by 311; Funny How Time Flies by Janet Jackson; Turn Your Lights Down Low by Bob Marley; Careless Whispers by George Michael; Anniversary by Tony! Toni! Tone!; Between the Sheets by The Isley Brothers; Fire and Desire by Rick James and Teena Marie; the Love Jones soundtrack; and almost anything by Sade.

The maestro, Ave, has a very strong list over at his spot too. We both feel the same about "Mellosmoothe" and the FL and I gave serious consideration to another one - it's hard to imagine that D'Angelo didn't make the cut. This time.

15 comments:

avery said...

depending on whether i'd had assistance, and who the assistance came from, Adore would've been a must-add. Prototype is the truth too, but you tipped your hand on that one.

Looks like I need to step up my recent game.

Jack T. said...

Adore is a knockout punch. Gotta love Prince. If only he could get back on that tangent.

Avery, I peeped your list, man. You got a few I didn't think of, and my hat's off to you. With that said, I guess I should throw my chips in and show my cards:

1. Cherry Pie - Sade (someone needs to write an article about her power of men of color)
2. Love's Holiday - Earth, Wind & Fire
3. Here I Am (Come and Take Me) Al Green
4. Again - Janet Jackson
5. Lay Lady Lay - Magnet (ft. Gemma Hayes)
6. Distant Lover (live) - Marvin Gaye
7. Can You Stand the Rain? (a capella) - Boyz II Men
8. Breakin' My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes) - Mint Condition
9. I Wanna Get Next to You - Rose Royce
10. Mary Jane (All Night Long) - Mary J. Blige
11. Baby, It's You - Smith
12. I'm Gonna Make You Love Me - Diana Ross & the Supremes with The Temptations

*Honorable Mentions:
Til The Cops Come Knockin' - Maxwell
Freak Me - Silk (yes I know it's crass and unimaginative, but I was a teenager when this came out and I didn't know any better)
Tonight - Xcape
I Was Made to Love Her - Stevie Wonder
Into You - Funkadelic

I could keep going, but perhaps this subject will be revisited and I'll drop some more then.

blackink said...

@Ave: Your list was straight, fam. We just figured that "Adore" had to be on there somewhere, dig? I might have mentioned this before, but my knowledge of funk is sorely lacking. I gotta get up to speed.

@Jack: You're coming strong, too. The Elements, Rev. Green and especially Sade. Niiiice.

You know, like most every other kid of a certain age, I had a serious jones for Sade. Where is she?

And speaking of crass and unimaginative, I was thisclose to putting H-Town's "They Like it Slow" on the list. So don't sweat mulling over "Freak Me." What can I say? We're children of the '90s.

Jack T. said...

Sade puts out albums when she wants to. The last one was Lovers Rock, which had the memorable single "By Your Side." She can also tour whenever she wants, and she's great live Her fan base, at its youngest is somewhere around our age, and at its oldest, our parents' age. They'll see her whenever she's in town.

Lovers Rock came out in 2000, 8 years after the last Sade record. Sony has confirmed they're putting a new album out this year. No rush. Just like the music.

I would have loved to have seen H-Town and Silk square off in a gyrating competition in 1994. The results would have been hilarious.

blackink said...

Another album, eh? I tell you what, if she ever comes to town, I'm there.

I'm usually not one for concerts but I'd cough up some pesos for that one.

And really, the FL can't make it through an H-Town video without cracking up at all that hard dancing. They dance as hard as Alexander O'Neal sings. Which is nuts.

I should post one later, so people can see what I'm talking about. It's rather ridiculous.

avery said...

h-town. whoa. silk. whoa. sons of keith sweat.

yeah, sade gots the power. i was kinda restrictin my list to lyrics that would enhance the mood, so while 'no ordinary love' the track absolutely belongs (to name one), the unrequited lyrics don't quite match up.

but there was a good clutch of records i cut off, just to try to make it fit on a cd, and it still might not quite make it.

JT, when I saw Cherry Pie, I thought you were gonna throw the whole gig off and come with some Warrant. I was gon' be like, WHOA! If you can put that on a slow jam playlist, you's a bad man.

Jack T. said...

Avery - I got a lil bit of game, but I am not a magician. Any cat that can close the deal with that on his list needs to write a book.

I can't help the Silk thing. I came up in the 90s, so that song may have been on the first time I went to a jr high dance or something. Same thing with Xscape, the Janet cut I went with, Mint Condition, etc.

blackink said...

Yeah, I probably got my slow, arms-at-a-distance, two-step on to Jodeci or Silk or R. Kelly. "Born into the '90s," we were, so to speak.

One thing I'm loath to admit - but will - is that while a lot of songs in the '90s were about sex, few of them were about making love. Especially near the latter half of the decade.

In retrospect, it's easier to see that. I'm not sure that I would have embraced that argument as a teenager.

It becomes much clearer when you do an exercise like this.

avery said...

JT, i ain't have no Warrant goin on, but the next list...well, suffice it to say i might hafta call it non sequitr.

Esquire said...

Not a bad list at all, but I had to throw up my own too over at my site.

blackink said...

You know, Esq, talking about underrated groups, I think Jagged Edge really needs to be included in that discussion. I actually considered a few songs from them for this list but nothing really fit.

But I've got to say, I've bought almost all their albums. They've made a babymaker a time or two in their career.

Jack T. said...

Ave - I almost included my super wild pick - The Coup's BabyLetsHaveABabyBeforeBushDoSomethincrazy. If only I could get through it without laughing.

Bougie Applebum said...

LMAO. Okay I was seriously ready to post my two cents, but after reading Jack T's latest comment (BabyLetsHaveABabyBeforeBushDoSomethincrazy) I can't do a darn thing but laugh and toss up the deuce. lol

What will the sequeal be?
Let'sHaveABabyMamaSinceWeBeenFreedByObama

Gotta Love it.

Jack T. said...

Bougie,

All I can say is listen to the song, if you haven't already. It's the kind of hilarity that could only be the result of frustration. Brilliant, funny, and by the end, kind of poignant.

avery said...

just to tip my hand a li'l bit, one of the songs will be the one for which my playlist was named. unlike some of the choices, which are off rep, that one really happened.

come to think of it, funk doc...he ain't necessarily on par w/ maxwell as far as preferred records, but in actual mathmatical terms during a certain stretch of time? red might'a actually won.