Monday, February 09, 2015

The Crusaders - Street Life

Back when I was a kind, my musical tastes were strangely much more diverse than now. One of the albums that I heard a million times over (I'm thinking I was 13?) was the Crusaders' Street Life. The Crusaders were a light soul/jazz/R&B fusion band who apparently have been around in some fashion or other since the early 1950s but they really hit it big in the 1970s when jazz fusion as a category made some big money. Their biggest hit was Street Life (1979) which featured guest singer Randy Crawford, who had (maybe still has) a fantastic R&B/jazz voice.

I don't know what it was about that album that I loved so much. Soon of course, I got all self-conscious and began to listen to soulless grown up music, but after so many years, I just got the album, and sure enough, the title track still for some reason reminded me of being 13. It's light, it's ebullient, it's not deep, but it somehow still packs a punch. Here is the 11 minute version:

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Had good taste for a 13yo. :)
Remember Marvin Gaye? Or Martha and the Vandelas? Dusty Springfield?


Have you come across coke studio mtv? https://www.youtube.com/user/cokestudioatmtv/videos

That was the Indian one.

Looks like they've come up with their own version CloseUp Fusion Lounge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btuzv2rWFJY

Watcha thing?

spaceman said...

Cool! Thanks! Liked it!

Sir Wotalot I Gotalot said...

The "11-minute" version is somehow 5½ minutes long?