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Track Listings
| 1. The Perfect Storm |
| 2. Heart Attack |
| 3. Go To Hell |
| 4. Radio |
| 5. Over You |
| 6. Stone Rollin' |
| 7. Day Dreams |
| 8. Movin' Down The Line |
| 9. Just Don't |
| 10. Good Man |
| 11. The Answer |
Product Description
Review
It’s always nice to hear a soul singer who genuinely revels in the job title, and Raphael Saadiq has taken his responsibilities seriously for some 20 years now: first as one third of the nu-soul vocal trio Tony! Toni! Toné!, then as a solo singer. Each manifestation has been hugely successful, confounding expectations to take inherent soulfulness in any direction possible. Stone Rollin’ continues that approach, with a vintage rhythm & blues eclecticism that puts you in mind of early P-Funk’s musical hyperactivity, when artists messed about with whatever black music took their fancy and turned it into their own.
Tracks Heart Attack, Go to Hell and Stone Rollin’ all live up to their hard-rocking titles, providing invigorating blasts of the sort of self-celebratory rock-inspiring funk reminiscent of Sly Stone or vintage Bobby Womack. A big helping of urban blues is carried into Radio and Over You, which occupy that raucously joyous place where R&B originally met rock’n’roll. However, all of this is anchored by Saadiq’s handling of melodies, in both the vocals and the playing (most of which he handles himself). Everything is so assured that it doesn’t matter how hollerin’ it gets, everything still sounds like a song.
On the quartet that closes the album we really get what the singer is all about. Just Don’t, The Answer and Good Man are irresistible mid-tempo soul numbers, with such a light touch to the arrangements that big orchestrations never overwhelm the vocal harmonies. It’s a totally natural swing, one that Saadiq has always effortlessly pulled off; it makes the complex seem so easy on the ear that you’re seduced by the half-hidden touches and flourishes without even realising you’re paying attention. Just Don’t showcases Tony! Toni! Toné!-style vocals, The Answer is wistful jazz/funk, while Good Man has more than a touch of Willie Mitchell about it.
Worth the price of admission by itself, though, is Movin’ Down the Line, a sunny, relaxed and breezily rocking, deceptively simple piece of work. It has every bit of digital snap needed to succeed among today’s sounds; but Saadiq’s masterful use of a big brass section lurking w-a-a-ay into the background picks the tune up and puts it down in a completely different era. The song turns out both laidback and urgent at the same time, and is utterly irrepressible for it. Pretty much like the rest of this album, on which such Saadiq trademarks work their magic once more.
--Lloyd Bradley
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
CD Description
Known for defying the confines of working within one genre, this standard bearer for "old school" R&B returns with a new release that celebrates the classic sounds of 60’s and 70’s soul with a futuristic twist. Featuring ten new tracks, Stone Rollin’ is the follow up to Saadiq's 2008 solo album The Way I See It, which boasted four Billboard R&B chart singles and was nominated for three GRAMMY Awards including Best R&B Album.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By wj armstrong
Format:Audio CD
Raphael Saadiq is forty six years old. That fact alone will be enough for many soul music fans of a certain vintage to take a sharp intake of breath. I suppose you might draw a little solace from his unduly youthful appearance (or then again maybe not...) But of course first you would have to know who he is, because this guy has spent much of his prolific career somewhat under the radar.
Guiltily, it's taken me a while to catch up to his latest release Stone Rollin, but I'm mighty glad I have. On first listen it seems a relatively straightforward continuation of the `neo-soul' style genre he's already helped establish, covering all the usual bases - jazzy swing, strutting blues and Motown sugary sweetness - a quick listen might make you think many are indeed mere pastiches, but settle down and pretty soon a unique specialness begins to emerge...
There's a very intelligently crafted sonic continuity running throughout, acting to bind some apparently disparate strains together, which makes it that rarest of modern beasts - an album that demands you listen to the whole damn thing... And `Down the Line' is a track that would take gold in any era.
Guiltily, it's taken me a while to catch up to his latest release Stone Rollin, but I'm mighty glad I have. On first listen it seems a relatively straightforward continuation of the `neo-soul' style genre he's already helped establish, covering all the usual bases - jazzy swing, strutting blues and Motown sugary sweetness - a quick listen might make you think many are indeed mere pastiches, but settle down and pretty soon a unique specialness begins to emerge...
There's a very intelligently crafted sonic continuity running throughout, acting to bind some apparently disparate strains together, which makes it that rarest of modern beasts - an album that demands you listen to the whole damn thing... And `Down the Line' is a track that would take gold in any era.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Susieqt
Format:Audio CD
I brought this album for my other half and It's not that often that we come across an album that creates such emotive feelings in us that we find everytime we play it, takes us on a journey full of wonderful surprises. The track "Good Man" is played ad nauseam in his car, to the point where in the short time that he's owned the album, he's in danger of it being worn out. The album has differing genres for certain tracks from Mowtown, to Soul and R&B. In delving into various styles, you get a flavour of what Sadique was perhaps thinking when he put the music into this album, that is to create words and music to take you through al the senses. This album is so very special and will be one that we will enjoy listening to often and for many months to come.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
It celebrates the classic sounds of 60's and 70's soul with a futuristic twist.
14 April 2011
By casabig
Format:Audio CD
This standard bearer for "old school" R&B returns with a new release that celebrates the classic sounds of 60's and 70's soul with a futuristic twist.
"He cut his teeth touring with Prince and singing with R&B group Tony! Toni! Toné! and has become something of a standard-bearer for old school rhythm'n'blues in his solo career.
"Stone Rollin'" is an immaculate, eminently palatable throwback to the sweet soul sounds of Al Green and Marvin Gaye, spiced up with 60s dance grooves, beat pop and glimpses of the big band boogie of Sly Stone.
"What's Going On" is an obvious touchstone for Go To Hell's graceful, uplifting orchestral arrangement and The Answer iss gentle call for collective and individual responsibility.
But unlike breakthrough albums by Amy Winehouse and Plan B, Saadiq's painstaking retro pastiche neglects to inject a 21st-century spin on its influences". F. Shepherd
It clocks only 37 minutes, and this may be a criticism, since it is a little bit short and one or two more songs would have rounded this album out a bit more.
But he has produced a few gems in "Heart Attack", "Go To Hell" and "Good Man".
It's worth a listen for those who love a bit of nostalgic 60s inspired music and there's no one better to bring it to you than Raphael Saadiq.
"He cut his teeth touring with Prince and singing with R&B group Tony! Toni! Toné! and has become something of a standard-bearer for old school rhythm'n'blues in his solo career.
"Stone Rollin'" is an immaculate, eminently palatable throwback to the sweet soul sounds of Al Green and Marvin Gaye, spiced up with 60s dance grooves, beat pop and glimpses of the big band boogie of Sly Stone.
"What's Going On" is an obvious touchstone for Go To Hell's graceful, uplifting orchestral arrangement and The Answer iss gentle call for collective and individual responsibility.
But unlike breakthrough albums by Amy Winehouse and Plan B, Saadiq's painstaking retro pastiche neglects to inject a 21st-century spin on its influences". F. Shepherd
It clocks only 37 minutes, and this may be a criticism, since it is a little bit short and one or two more songs would have rounded this album out a bit more.
But he has produced a few gems in "Heart Attack", "Go To Hell" and "Good Man".
It's worth a listen for those who love a bit of nostalgic 60s inspired music and there's no one better to bring it to you than Raphael Saadiq.
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4.3 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great album
One of the best soul albums of our time
Saadiq is a genius , modern sounding yet retro
Would highly recommend it to anyone
Saadiq is a genius , modern sounding yet retro
Would highly recommend it to anyone
Published 13 days ago by Carlomcc
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wikid Tunes
This is my first album by Rapahel, finally discovered his unique sound and do I like it? Hell yeh! every single track a killa. Read more
Published 23 days ago by Tony Philbert
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect
I love this album, great soul vibes and catchy lyrics. Went down a treat with my mum who loved the Motown era.
Published 12 months ago by GlitterJunkie
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great album but BEWARE SEEING HIM LIVE / in concert
Love the album. Though soul doesn't have much to say beyond "I did wrong"or "look after the kids" unlike in the day of one of Saadiq's mentors, say, on the unbeatable Superfly... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Simon Turner
1.0 out of 5 stars
Whatever happened?
Raphael Saadiq is obviously a really talented guy.
Whether there was deliberate attempt to make this album sound 'retro' I don't know, but more often than not recordings from... Read more
Whether there was deliberate attempt to make this album sound 'retro' I don't know, but more often than not recordings from... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Primary
4.0 out of 5 stars
Check it out now, the funk-soul brother
Wowsers crushed velvet trousers, what a find. Like some kind of melting pop of sixties and seventies soul, funk and pop given a contemporary twist. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Mr. A. P. Jennings
3.0 out of 5 stars
R-e-s-p-e-c-t
Between the first song, which reminds us of 'Stand!' era Sly & The Family Stone and the ghost track tacked at the end of the CD, that recalls 'Family Affair' era Sly & The Family... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Stan FREDO
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another winner for Saadiq
A new Raphael Saadiq album is always something to celebrate, he is constantly interesting and holding down the quality and the new album Stone Rollin' is no exception. Read more
Published on 11 May 2011 by Audio Texture
5.0 out of 5 stars
'Movin' Down the Line' - the song of the year.
The BBC review has this just right. The last four tracks tell us everything about the talent and production skill that Raphael Saadiq has and are the basis for my five stars. Read more
Published on 5 May 2011 by Douglas Miller
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vintage Soul With His Own Strut
Anybody familiar with Raphael Saadiq's 2008 album "The Way I See It" will know how that particular album successfully captured the essence of Motown's peak recordings in it's... Read more
Published on 14 April 2011 by P. Gates
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