Christmas...with Soul

We getting yuletide, now, here at the Soul Closet. And what better way to do it with Salsoul Orchestra's "Merry Christmas All" from 1976. Pound for pound for my money the second best Christmas song of the past 40 years. Salsoul Orchestra was the at-times 50 piece latin/soul/disco orchestra that backed up Salsoul Record's stable of artists during the label's heyday in the mid-to-late 1970s. "Merry Christmas All" comes from a their successful "Christmas Jollies" album. Denise Montana, who is still in the game, crisply handles the lyrics.

The late, great Eartha Kitt with the sexiest Christmas song on record:


This next clip isn't about Christmas. But its wintry. And it's got Soul:


So if "Merry Christmas All" is the second-best Christmas song of the past 40 years, what's the best one? Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas." Peace...

Whaddaya Know...the Revolution WAS Televised!

..how else to explain this astounding find: James Brown singing "Say it Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)" in a room full of white folks in 1968, and they're clapping and smiling and singing the chorus with him!

You were bad, Godfather. Superbad.

(The show was "Playboy After Dark" by the way.

Cross Promotion, 1969

An amazing find from '69: an ad campaign for Cold Power washing powder and the Godfather of Soul. If you sent in proof of purchase, the good people at Cold Power laundry detergent would send you a 45 record of "Our World" by JB.

That makes sense. Cold Power--the least effective washing powder I can think of--and James Brown were both responsible for a great deal of funk in the late 1960s and early 1970s.