Soulive: Live in San Francisco (Review)

by J-note on November 2, 2009

Many Jazz groups tend to split their albums between live shows and in-studio recording sessions. There are many reasons to do both. Some groups like the idea of “If I mess up a solo, I can also do another take.” Others like the background noise of the fans, and the adrenaline rush they get while playing in front of their fans. Regardless, the funk/soul group Soulive recently newest album Live in San Francisco showed us that a normally studio recorded group can perform great on stage as well.

Soulive’s most successful albums, “Turn it Out,” “Next,” “Doin’ Somethin,” “Up Here,” etc. tend to be more funk orientated then soul oriented. The drummer, Alan Evans, consistently laid down a pretty standard funk beat while the other two members of the original trio, Eric Krasno on guitar and Neal Evans on organ, bass keys and clavinet kept the idea of funk very prevalent in their music. You can distinguish funk from other forms of Jazz because funk is very much about the beat more than anything. Funk music is music you can groove to, you can feel in every part of you body and you just want to get up and dance to. Funk de-emphasizes the melody/harmony that traditional Jazz emphasizes and focuses on the beat. Live in San Fransico has many funk tracks, such as “Flurries” and “For Granted.”

“Flurries,” originally off of the album Next features a duo saxophone section, with rip-roarin’ solos from both. Especially during the alto’s solo, we can hear a ton of interaction throughout the band. While the soloist goes on many consistent licks, Alan Evans will quickly catch on and mimic what the soloist is doing. This is just one part of an incredible track.

As mentioned before, Soulive tends to sound great while in a traditional funk setting. None of the tracks fully switch over a “soul” sound, but one track, “Too Much” comes close. Nigel Hall is a soul singer, and he has no trouble bringing some soul to the stage in San Fran. He beings the track like many soul singers do, talking to the crowd and getting crowd responses. “Do you feel alright, yea?” and “Say yea… Yea!” Neil’s lyrics are most about how his life is difficult. “I’m strugglin’ to pay my rent, I get the feelin’ this ain’t no accident.” The main message behind this song is that it “don’t take too much to wear you down.” His extremely soulful voice work perfectly with the beautiful saxophone voicing’s. While Alan Evans stayed pretty consistent with his funk-oriented beat, it worked perfectly with the soul infused by Neil and the horn section. This sound is a bit unusual from Soulive, but they manage to pull it off without missing a beat. Their fusion funk/soul may sound funny on the surface but worked beautifully in this track.

While so many tracks on this album are very good, my favorite track is probably “El Ron.” This piece is constructed beautifully with numerous horn voicing’s which accompany the guitar soloist. After a very exciting intro, the tune simmers down to a soft mellow sound only to then come back up with exciting power. This track encompasses much of what this album is about: a rockin’ groove and great musical talent to go along with it. Overall, I would give this album a solid B+.

Tracklist:

1. “Up Right”
2. “Backwards Jack”
3. “For Granted”
4. “Too Much”
5. “Hat Trick”
6. “PJ’s”
7. “Flurries”
8. “The Swamp”
9.“El Ron”


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Soulive Plays “Backward Jack” Live @ Fox Theater:

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  • labe

    Lovin the review of Soulive. Didn’t think it would show up on a hip hop blog, but I’m pleasantly surprised.

    • http://www.thagoodlifereviews.com ICECrush

      @labe: Well I’m glad you enjoyed it! One of my friends, “J-note”, is really into jazz and wanted to put up a review. I told him I didn’t really know much about Jazz, and he said it’d be perfect. As long as we can please someone! Thanks for reading!

  • Frieds

    Hey Labe! Thanks for checking out TGLR! Though TGLR is mainly a hip-hop blog, our main goal is to provide entertainment to our readers. Therefore, we have expanded to include jazz, rap, pop, rock, and even country. We’re trying to expand our audience base demographically in terms of musical taste, age, and geographic location. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed this review and I hope to hear more of your comments in the future.

  • http://mozy.com Jack@Email Backup

    Gotta love the guitar solo on the last song of the album and the dynamic tempo changes..

  • Raymond J.

    Great video. Thanks for posting it:-) – Ray J.Mobiltelefon uten abonnement

  • http://lefthandedelectricguitar.org Jeff @ left handed electric guitar

    Hey great post, the video is really cool, I loved seeing all of that excitement happening there, and the music is just my style.
    .-= Jeff @ left handed electric guitar´s last blog ..About =-.

  • http://www.corporateinvestigator.com/background-checks.html Background Check John

    Great video, awesome solo dude!

  • http://www.watchniptuckonline1.com Paul Clough@Watch Nip Tuck Online

    nice video thanks 4 sharing and posting.i love that music its so cool and entertaining love 2 listen this.
    .-= Paul Clough@Watch Nip Tuck Online´s last blog ..Season 7 – Episode 3 – Joel Seabrook =-.

  • http://www.pooltablesuk.com/ UK Pool Tables

    Great video! I have to say the music sounds great! These guys are amazing when they go one live! Eric and Nigel were fantastic! thanks for putting this up!

  • http://worldoftents.co.uk/ Festival Tents

    Not many bands can say they’ve recorded with Chaka Khan, Dave Matthews, Talib Kweli and John Scofield. Nor can many bands open for The Rolling Stones on one tour and have Stevie Wonder sit in with them on the next tour. The musical relationships the band has developed, from the aforementioned artists to Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Robert Randolph, Joshua Redman, Kenny Garrett, Fred Wesley, The Roots, Ivan Neville and so many others, speak volumes about both how versatile these talented musicians are. Jazz, hip-hop, rock, soul, funk, R & B, Blues – musically, there is not much the band hasn’t done.

  • http://edwardscissorhandscostume.org Ed @ Edward Scissorhands Costume

    These guys are really good. I like to hear some of their studio stuff as well because live performances can be a bit patchy sometimes, especially those that are filmed using everyday camcorders.
    .-= Ed @ Edward Scissorhands Costume´s last blog ..About Us =-.

  • http://www.belle-lingerie.co.uk/g29/Freya/ Freya Swimwear

    n continuing what has been a busy year of touring in which Soulive hit old haunts and launched their own festival, The Royal Family Get Down, the band will continue its fall tour in the Northeast. The tour wraps up with a two-night Halloween celebration at the National Zoo in DC and The Neighborhood Theater in Charlotte, NC.

  • http://bettyboopcostumes.org Jane @ Betty Boop Costumes

    I agree – I also think that Soulive sound better in a traditional funk setting. There is a great music scene in San Fran, my only regret is I do not have enough time to experience it. This is a great album and I would rate it slightly higher than your B+.
    .-= Jane @ Betty Boop Costumes´s last blog ..Disclaimer =-.

  • http://www.mlshop.co.il/ Roy@Sound Equipment

    Great post thanks alot, plus the video was such a good adding to it.
    Great blog you have too… Thanks

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    This publish seems to end up remarkable. I will completely utilize this post for my perform and may be really helpful to people much. Thank you.

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    Very nice album! I can’t wait to have one of these.

  • http://onlinediscprinting.com/ DVD Duplicators

    Very nice album! I can’t wait to have one of these.

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