Listen to Soul! - Exploring a Musical Genre

Listen to Soul! Exploring a Musical Genre provides an overview of soul music for fans of the genre, with a focus on 50 must-hear singers, songs, and albums that define it. This book provides both an overview and a critical analysis of what makes soul music in the United States. A list of 50 songs, albums, and musicians includes many of the best-known hits of the past and present as well as several important popular successes that are not necessarily on the "best-of" lists in other books. Like the other books in this series, this volume includes a chapter that focuses on the background of soul music followed by 50 critical essays on must-hear albums, songs, and singers. Chapters on the impact of soul music on popular culture and the legacy of the genre further explain the impact of these seminal compositions and musicians. This volume additionally includes a greater focus on soul music as a genre, making it a stand-out title on the topic for high school and college readers.

List of contents

Series Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments

1. Background
2. Must-Hear Music
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough": From Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell to Diana Ross
Beyoncé
Blue-Eyed Soul: The Men
Blue-Eyed Soul: The Women
Boyz II Men
James Brown: Live at the Apollo
James Brown: Two Mid-60s Hits: "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag"
Mariah Carey
Ray Charles: "I Got a Woman"
Ray Charles: "What'd I Say"
The Commodores and Lionel Richie
Sam Cooke: Ain't That Good News
D'Angelo: Brown Sugar
The Drifters
Aretha Franklin: I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
Aretha Franklin: "Think"
Marvin Gaye: Let's Get It On
Marvin Gaye: What's Going On
Al Green: Greatest Hits
Isaac Hayes: Hot Buttered Soul
Lauryn Hill: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Whitney Houston
The Impressions: "People Get Ready"
The Isley Brothers: The Heat Is On
Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5
Etta James
Alicia Keys
Ben E. King: "Stand by Me"
Gladys Knight and the Pips
John Legend
Curtis Mayfield: Super Fly
Wilson Pickett: Land of 1000 Dances: The Complete Atlantic Singles, Vol. 1
Elvis Presley
Otis Redding: Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul
"Respect": From Otis Redding to Aretha Franklin
Minnie Riperton: Perfect Angel
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
Sam & Dave
Nina Simone: Feeling Good: The Very Best of Nina Simone
Percy Sledge: "When a Man Loves a Woman"
Dusty Springfield: Dusty in Memphis
The Staple Singers: Be Altitude: Respect Yourself
The Supremes
The Temptations
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Jackie Wilson
Bill Withers
Stevie Wonder in the 1960s
Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life
"(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman": Aretha Franklin and Carole King
3. Impact on Popular Culture
4. Legacy

Bibliography
Index

About the author

JAMES E. PERONE is Emeritus Professor of Music at Mount Union College. His previous bio-bibliographies include Howard Hanson (Greenwood, 1992) and Elvis Costello (Greenwood, 1998). He is also the author of a number of bibliographies including Musical Anthologies for Analytical Study (Greenwood, 1992), Orchestration Theory (Greenwood, 1996), Harmony Theory (Greenwood, 1997), and Form and Analysis Theory (Greenwood, 1998).

Product details

• Authors: James E Perone, Perone James E.
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 24.07.2025
• EAN: 9798216219484
• ISBN: 9798216219484
• No. of pages: 248
• Series: Exploring Musical Genres
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Music > General, dictionaries; USA, MUSIC / History & Criticism, North America, MUSIC / Reference, United States of America, USA, The Americas, Music: styles and genres, Music: styles & genres, MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Soul & R 'n B