Not Just A Song...This Is For Real...
How in 1990, an Anita Baker album track reflected what I was going through...for real...
I have often commented to those who may ask what music, specifically soul music, means to me and why my entire 60-year career been dedicated to sharing this vibrant art form.
It’s either been directly by selling records from back when I was a teenager in London in 1965 at Musicland (followed by Soul City, Contempo and in the age of the CDs, through my Soul Music Store online) or through my decades as a reissue producer or as a scribe for the past five decades-plus via Blues & Soul, Billboard and SoulMusic.com.
Why?
The answer is actually relatively simple: from the first recording that resonated with me in 1964, Dionne Warwick’s eternal “Walk On By” on, I connected with the songs, with the music, emotionally (and I would say, spiritually).
Back then, “Walk On By” (and other Burt Bacharach & Hal David-penned tunes interpreted so deftly by Dionne’s lilting soprano) was all about my schoolboy crush and unrequited love for Marilyn W., who went to the girls’ school across the road from the grammar school I attended.
Never an ‘intellectual’ study for me, music has been (and continues to be) the tapestry weaving gently through this incarnation, a constant presence wherever I’ve been and sometimes showing up in the most unexpected places - like on a short vacation to Greece in 1972 when I was dipping my toes into the beautiful blue sea and heard a familiar sound: a man on a bicycle was blasting “The Nitty Gritty” by Gladys Knight & The Pips through his transistor radio!
Anita B…
1990 or thereabouts: I’m in love with Anita Baker’s “Compositions” album.
I was also ‘smitten’ by a handsome guy named Victor if not quite in love…
I had worked with Anita for a few years before. Our first encounter was just before the release of her groundbreaking “Rapture” album in March 1986 when I interviewed her for the short-lived but excellent UK publication, “The Street Scene.”
Subsequently, I conducted further cover story interviews with her for “Blues & Soul” twice in 1987 and wrote her 'official’ Elektra Records’ bio for her third afore-mentioned set. Over time we got to know each other as fellow Aquarians and when she discovered that I had a ‘way’ with lyrics, we ‘almost’ wrote a song together! That’s a story for another time…
One standout memory was when I called Anita at her home in Grosse Pointe to let her know that “Compositions” had been nominated for a Grammy Award. As I recall, as a member of the Board of Governors of the Los Angeles chapter of The Recording Academy, I attended the early morning announcements of nominations. I’ll never forget Anita’s reaction! She screamed (happily) through the phone and when she won what would be her tenth Grammy award at the time, she called me out in the press room at the Grammy awards to acknowledge that I had been the one to break the news!
Giving You The Best That I Got…and an enduring friendship
Anita’s three Elektra albums (and her Beverly Glen debut set “The Songstress,” reissued by Elektra and for which I got to write liner notes) had plenty of songs I could relate to and in particular, “Giving You The Best That I Got,” a tune my L.A. neighbour, Forrest heard me emoting one afternoon when I had the door to my living room open.
Singing with emotion along with Anita (who I credit for having me discover the ‘lower’ parts of my vocal range!) caught Forrest’s ear and he stopped to say ‘you sound good!’ which led to the beginnings of a strong friendship which endures to this day and has included a musical collaboration when Forrest contributed his excellent rapping skills to my first CD, “Reinvention.”
No One to Blame…and a reminder of another guy who got away!
Back to Anita’s “Compositions.” When I say I loved that album, I truly did. Every song. I didn’t hurt that Anita had played me some the tracks in progress when we met in L.A., went Christmas shopping (well, she did - I watched!) and she gave me a ride back to my apartment.
“Lonely,” “Love You To The Letter,” “Whatever It Takes,” “More Than You Know,” “Soul Inspiration,” “Talk To Me,” “Perfect Love Affair”. Gems one and all.
And then there was “Fairy Tales” (to which I could most decidedly relate) and the song that sparked the memories when it popped up on my Spotify playlist a week or so ago: “No One to Blame.”
I met Victor at a benefit at the Catch One club for The Minority AIDS Project, founded by my dear dear friend Archbishop Carl Bean. I don’t remember what we talked about or really if we said more than a few words. Just ‘hi, how’s it going,’ kinda stuff.
He had a beautiful smile, a pleasing disposition and he was, as some of my friends might say, f-i-n-e! And I mean, FINE.
We didn’t exchange phone numbers and I figured given we were both volunteering for MAP, we’d likely run into each other again.
A month or so went by. I was walking past a small coffee shop on 6th Street blocks from my apartment on Dunsmuir. I looked in the window…and there was Victor, sitting by himself. “What are you doing here?” I said with a twinkling smile.
I waved at him and walked inside. We began to talk. Seems like he was having a challenging time and if memory serves me well, it had to do with matters of the heart. “I live down the street,” I said and bravely invited Victor to - in the words of Bobby Womack, later interpreted by Rufus wth Chaka Khan - “stop on by.”
What happened next?
We sat in my living room and as a recall, we talked for quite a while. I was conscious not to sit too close given how attractive I found Victor to be. He sensed it…
“I try to hide what I'm feeling… don't want you to know…”
I believe we met up once or twice more and Victor could tell that I ‘liked’ him. Maybe because he was coming out of a Tuesday (or Wednesday through Monday) Heartbreak, he wasn’t up for any romantic encounter…
“You know that I tried to resist you… but I'm losin' my fight…”
I was left to listen and sing along with Anita’s masterful music, echoing words that I wished I could say to Victor…
“Yes, I've been around and I watch you…I know you're the one. And I see you and I cry inside…the moment has come”
The last time I saw Victor, he was at a party. He was dancing - and I mean, slow dancing - with a good friend of mine, who also happened to called Victor! Apparently, they had been ‘hangin’ out’ for a while.
I’d be lying if I didn’t get in a huff (with no ‘gamble’ present). I let my friend Victor - with whom I’d shared my ‘interest’ in the other Victor - that I was not happy that they had been ‘doing the do’…
“No one to blame, baby…if I miss this, 'sho would be shame…”
As I listened to Anita’s melifluous tones over and over, singing along with fervor, I couldn’t help but consider that if I had asked Victor on a date, I might not have experienced Ms. Baker’sl lyrical wisdom…
“Life offers no prize, no guarantees, baby, for missed opportunitites…”
After Victor’s brief fling with my friend Victor, I spoke with him on the phone and he told me he was moving to Atlanta. Never saw him again.
He joined a list much longer than I’d care to disclose of “those who got away.” the guys that were ‘if only’s, the ‘friends who could have been lovers…if only…’
Music. soul music in particular continues to provide such a vast well of amazing songs with real-life lyrics. “No One To Blame” remains an all-time favourite, hence it’s on repeat on playlists such as the one I created with my friend Terrence, “Heart-to-Heart, Soul-to-Soul” along with another Baker staple, “Good Love”.
And on the same playlist, there’s “At The Concert” by Michael Henderson & Roberta Flack…about which I have more than a word of two to say….on a future Substack post!