A while back, a commenter referring to one of my City Pop-themed articles recommended the R&B duo Silk Sonic. To be honest, I hadn't heard about them before but when I was told that the duo consisted of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, my attention was grabbed especially because of Mars since he has been bringing back some of the old funk and soul of my youth through hits such as "Uptown Funk" and "Treasure".
Then, when I heard "Love's Train" (which was released as a Valentine's Day gift of sorts in February 2022) for the first time a few nights ago, I was absolutely smitten. I'd been wondering whether the musical stylings from the R&B of the late 1970s and early 1980s by folks like Michael Jackson, Earth Wind & Fire and DeBarge would make a comeback, and it looks like it has. Electricity was snapping up and down my spine as I heard it.
Silk Sonic's "Love's Train" is a cover of the 1982 original by the R&B/funk band Con Funk Shun and it's also just as scintillating and memorable and mellow and velvety. Along with its Wikipedia categorization of those two genres in the first line of the paragraph, it's also been given the Quiet Storm label.
Now, cherishing my R&B from way back means that I also love my Quiet Storm, too. However, I never gave much thought about what it means and why it has been called that way, and that's considering that a few of my ROY articles over the past few years include representatives of that sub-genre. According to Wikipedia, it's "...a radio format and genre of R&B, performed in a smooth, romantic, jazz-influenced style...and was named after the title song on Smokey Robinson's 1975 album A Quiet Storm".
For me, Quiet Storm means updated postwar cool jazz (Bill Evans) mixed with soulful groove, and whenever the name pops up into my head, the first person that appears is Anita Baker. Her "Sweet Love" from 1986 absolutely floored me when I first heard it on the radio as a university student. Some other examples are Bobby Caldwell's "What You Won't Do For Love" and DeBarge's "All This Love".
The whole story behind the formation of Quiet Storm strikes me as being a fairy tale come true for any person who has ever wanted to become a successful radio DJ. Howard University students Melvin Lindsey and Jack Shuler were working at WHUR-FM in Washington D.C. in 1976 as interns when they suddenly got their chance to go behind the mike, and Lindsey with his buttery voice and his selections of love ballads from the 1950s to the 1970s were hits to the extent that the two guys got their own show. I mean, it would be like if the City Pop-loving YouTuber who first brought "Plastic Love" to the world's attention had been in a radio station rather than behind a laptop. Wouldn't it be something if someone decided to make a movie out of Lindsey's life? Sadly though, the Quiet Storm pioneer passed away at the age of 36 in 1992.
Around Halloween last year, I put up an Author's Pick titled "Well, If You Like Japanese City Pop..." just to showcase any non-Japanese artists who have come up with songs that had that similar Japanese urban contemporary style. So, after thoroughly enjoying "Love's Train", I started wondering whether I could find similar examples of Quiet Storm within Japanese music since City Pop absorbed genres such as R&B, disco, and Latin.
It didn't take too long as it turned out and although you might disagree with my five choices (obviously not comprehensive at all), perhaps you can also give your own thoughts on what might be your J-Quiet Storm choices. And for that matter, what are your favourite Quiet Storm songs? Wiki also has its own list of Quiet Storm.
Mariya Takeuchi -- Every Night (1980)
Tatsuro Yamashita -- Touch Me Lightly (1978)
Yasuhiro Abe -- My Dear (1984)
I think Silk Sonic's cover of "Love's Train" is probably the best cover I've heard of the song, although Dru Hill's version is pretty cool. Also, whenever you get the chance, check out their live performance they did of the song at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards.
ReplyDeleteHi there. I had actually caught that 2022 Billboard Music Awards performance first which got me searching for the original recorded version. Ah, it would be nice if the old soul came back to mainstream pop music even to a small extent.
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