Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack; Live at the Harlem Cultural Festival, 1969] | |
---|---|
Soundtrack album by Various artists | |
Released | January 21, 2022 |
Genre | |
Length | 1:23:45 |
Label | Legacy Recordings |
Compiler | Questlove |
Singles from Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] | |
|
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] is the accompanying soundtrack to the 2021 American documentary film Summer of Soul directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, which covers the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. Like the documentary film, the live recordings did not have an official public release for more than 50 years. [1] The album featured 17 live renditions selected and curated by Questlove, performed over the course of the festival. These songs were recorded by various performers Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone, The 5th Dimension, The Staple Singers, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mavis Staples, Blinky Williams, Sly and the Family Stone, and The Chambers Brothers and featured a range of genres, like rock, R&B, soul, jazz, pop, gospel. [2] [3]
As Questlove had to license copyrights for the track, the compilation soundtrack did not have an official release along with the film in June 2021. [4] It was officially announced on December 9, 2021, with Legacy Recordings distributing the album. [5] [6] "Sing a Simple Song" was released as the lead single from the album on the same date. [7] The album was released on January 21, 2022, in digital and CD; [8] [9] where the physical release had excluded one of the tracks from the album. [10] An official vinyl release of the soundtrack was announced on Target, which released exclusively through their website on June 17, [11] and a general release on July 1, by Rough Trade Records. [12] [13]
Questlove initially considered on including songs that were not in the film, but decided to stick with the music that had already been cleared for release. [14] He assured that the film's deluxe version will have more songs to choose from that, which will be cleared in time for release. [15]
No. | Title | Performer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Uptown" | The Chambers Brothers | 6:07 |
2. | "Why I Sing The Blues" | B.B. King | 2:20 |
3. | "Don't Cha Hear Me Callin' To Ya" | The 5th Dimension | 3:31 |
4. | "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)" | The 5th Dimension | 6:54 |
5. | "My Girl" | David Ruffin | 5:48 |
6. | "Oh Happy Day" | The Edwin Hawkins Singers | 3:56 |
7. | "It's Been A Change" | The Staple Singers | 3:20 |
8. | "Precious Lord Take My Hand" |
| 8:57 |
9. | "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" | Gladys Knight & the Pips | 4:35 |
10. | "Watermelon Man" | Mongo Santamaría | 5:17 |
11. | "Together" | Ray Barretto | 4:41 |
12. | "Hold On, I'm Comin'" | Herbie Mann | 7:03 |
13. | "Sing a Simple Song" | Sly and the Family Stone | 5:28 |
14. | "Everyday People" | Sly and the Family Stone | 2:32 |
15. | "Africa" | 3:15 | |
16. | "Backlash Blues" | Nina Simone | 3:07 |
17. | "Are You Ready" | Nina Simone | 7:01 |
Total length: | 1:23:45 |
No. | Title | Performer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Uptown" | The Chambers Brothers | 6:07 |
2. | "Why I Sing The Blues" | B.B. King | 2:20 |
3. | "Don't Cha Hear Me Callin' To Ya" | The 5th Dimension | 3:31 |
4. | "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)" | The 5th Dimension | 6:54 |
5. | "My Girl" | David Ruffin | 5:48 |
6. | "Oh Happy Day" | The Edwin Hawkins Singers | 3:56 |
7. | "It's Been A Change" | The Staple Singers | 3:20 |
8. | "Precious Lord Take My Hand" |
| 8:57 |
9. | "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" | Gladys Knight & the Pips | 4:35 |
10. | "Watermelon Man" | Mongo Santamaría | 5:17 |
11. | "Together" | Ray Barretto | 4:41 |
12. | "Hold On, I'm Comin'" | Herbie Mann | 7:03 |
13. | "Sing a Simple Song" | Sly and the Family Stone | 5:28 |
14. | "Everyday People" | Sly and the Family Stone | 2:32 |
15. | "Backlash Blues" | Nina Simone | 3:07 |
16. | "Are You Ready" | Nina Simone | 7:01 |
Total length: | 1:20:30 |
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 94/100 [16] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [17] |
Pitchfork | [18] |
DownBeat | [19] |
Rolling Stone | [20] |
Prior to the official release, Cleveland Magazine's official report for the week's (January 21–27) music releases, featured Summer of Soul soundtrack topping the first position in the highly awaited albums. [21] It received generally positive reviews, with Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the album a score of 94 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". [16]
David Browne's four-star review for Rolling Stone, stated "The soundtrack for Questlove’s acclaimed music-festival doc shows the way R&B and soul were moving in inspired new directions by the end of the Sixties". [20] Pitchfork's Stephen M. Deusner gave 8.8 out of 10 to the soundtrack and exclaimed that the soundtrack "tells a nuanced story of Black creativity and perseverance at the end of a transformative decade". [18] Deusner also opined "It’s alarming how many of the issues cited by artists and presenters persist today—police violence, systemic racism, poverty, cultural erasure—yet that makes the music sound fresh, lively, relevant in its celebration and commiseration. Both the film and the soundtrack bear that weight of history gracefully and jubilantly." [18]
Daniel Margolis of DownBeat wrote "Fair point, but perhaps it’s for the best that this isn’t present on the album, because what you’re left with is the pure joy of the music, and the connection between the performers and the audience. The movie ends with the film and music industry’s disinterest toward what happened — notice that this soundtrack hasn’t been filling used vinyl crates for decades. Regardless, it’s here now." [19] Andy Kellman of AllMusic stated "Anyone who has seen the film won't be surprised by the remarkable quality of the recordings, bearing minor blemishes only the stuffiest audiophile would care about. Even if the fidelity was halved, there would be more than enough power and sociopolitical context in these performances to induce goose bumps, tears, and other physical and emotional reactions. The succession of voices is astonishing. This and the film belong in every library on the planet." [17]
It was named as "one of the best albums of 2022" by Rolling Stone , [22] Pitchfork , [23] NME , [24] NPR , [25] Stereogum , [26] Paste and Okayplayer for their half-yearly lists. [27] Collider and Little White Lies ranked 8th and 10th, respectively, in their "best soundtracks of 2021", despite the soundtrack being officially released in 2022. [28] [29] Writing for Collider, Kareem Gantt had said "The soundtrack was even more dynamic, featuring some of soul and funk's biggest hitmakers, from David Ruffin's 'My Girl' to the funky baritones of Sly & The Family Stone, who had two cuts make the sizzling soundtrack. The musical revolution wasn't televised: it was caught on vinyl." [28]
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label | Version(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Various | January 21, 2022 | Legacy Recordings | Standard | [30] | |
United States Europe | CD | [31] [32] | |||
June 17, 2022 | Vinyl | Ultra | Target exclusive | [11] | |
July 1, 2022 | CD | Standard | [13] | ||
Canada | February 4, 2022 | Sony Music Canada | [33] | ||
Japan | March 30, 2022 | Sony Music Entertainment Japan | [34] |
Chart (2022) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Compilation Albums (OCC) [35] | 1 |
UK Soundtrack Albums (OCC) [36] | 5 |
US Billboard 200 [37] | 12 |
US Pop Albums (Billboard) [38] | 8 |
US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard) [39] | 3 |
Michael Eugene Archer, better known by his stage name D'Angelo, is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He first garnered attention after co-producing the single "U Will Know" for R&B supergroup Black Men United. His debut studio album, Brown Sugar (1995), was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and received widespread acclaim from music critics, who have credited the album for ushering in the neo soul movement. His third single, "Lady", reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, having served in the same role on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from 2009 to 2014. Current regular members of The Roots on The Tonight Show are Captain Kirk Douglas, Mark Kelley, James Poyser, Ian Hendrickson-Smith, Damon "Tuba Gooding Jr." Bryson, Stro Elliot, Dave Guy, Kamal Gray, and Raymond Angry.
Ahmir K. Thompson, known professionally as Questlove, is an American drummer, record producer, disc jockey, filmmaker, music journalist, and actor. He is the drummer and joint frontman for the hip hop band the Roots. The Roots have been serving as the in-house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon since 2014, after having fulfilled the same role on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Questlove is also one of the producers of the 2018 cast album of the Broadway musical Hamilton. He has also co-founded of the websites Okayplayer and OkayAfrica. He joined Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University as an adjunct professor in 2016, and hosts the podcast Questlove Supreme.
The Virgin Suicides is a score composed by French electronic music duo Air for the 1999 film of the same name by Sofia Coppola. It was released on 23 February 2000 by Virgin Records. The album was nominated for Best Soundtrack at the 2001 Brit Awards. The French edition of Rolling Stone magazine placed The Virgin Suicides at number 49 on their list of the 100 essential French rock albums. In 2014, NME placed the album at number 11 on their "61 of the Greatest Film Soundtracks Ever" list. In 2019, Pitchfork placed the album at number four on their "Top 50 Best Movie Scores of All Time" list.
Claus Wilhelm Nicolai Dunger is a Swedish singer and acoustic songwriter from Piteå in Sweden. He has released twelve EPs and albums, singing primarily in English, and collaborated notably with Will Oldham, the Esbjörn Svensson jazz trio and Ebbot Lundberg. He also records under the alias A Taste of Ra as well as his birth name.
Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture is the original motion picture soundtrack for the 1978 film Grease. It was originally released by RSO Records and subsequently re-issued by Polydor Records between 1984 and 1991. It has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time, also ranking amongst the biggest selling soundtrack albums of all time. The song "You're the One That I Want" was a U.S. and UK No. 1 for stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.
The Harlem Cultural Festival was a series of events, mainly music concerts, held annually in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, between 1967 and 1969 which celebrated soul, jazz and gospel and black music and culture and promoted Black pride. The most successful series of concerts, in 1969, became known informally as Black Woodstock, and is presented in the 2021 documentary film Summer of Soul.
Amy is an original motion picture soundtrack to the 2015 film of the same name. It was released by Island Records on 30 October 2015. It is the second posthumous compilation album by English singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse. It features original tracks, covers, previously unreleased versions and demos that were included in the documentary and also features music by Brazilian composer Antônio Pinto. The Name of the Wave by British musician and producer William Orbit also makes an appearance on the soundtrack. The soundtrack peaked at number 19 on the UK Albums Chart.
Trolls: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 2016 DreamWorks Animation film Trolls, released on September 23, 2016 by RCA Records. The soundtrack is produced primarily by singer Justin Timberlake, Max Martin, and Shellback. It features work from Timberlake himself, along with Anna Kendrick, Ron Funches, Zooey Deschanel and Gwen Stefani, who all voice characters in the film, as well as Earth, Wind & Fire and Ariana Grande. The album was certified Platinum in Australia and Double Platinum in the United States. The song "Can't Stop the Feeling!" was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Grammy Award.
Call Me by Your Name: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the 2017 romantic drama film, Call Me by Your Name. It features songs by The Psychedelic Furs, Franco Battiato, Loredana Bertè, Bandolero, Giorgio Moroder, Joe Esposito, and F. R. David, with compositions by John Adams, Erik Satie, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Maurice Ravel. American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens composed two original songs for the film, and the soundtrack also features a remix of his track "Futile Devices". Stevens's original song "Mystery of Love" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 2018 ceremony. At the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, "Mystery of Love" received a nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media and the soundtrack received one for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.
Solo: A Star Wars Story is the soundtrack album to the 2018 film of the same name directed by Ron Howard, which is the second instalment in the Star Wars anthology series. The score is composed by John Powell, with the Han Solo's theme conducted and composed by John Williams, whom he had collaborated for several Star Wars films, was included in the album. Williams further composed several demos, that were not included in the soundtrack but was released in the deluxe edition. Besides composing the original themes, Powell also incorporated Williams' music from Star Wars films.
Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) is the soundtrack for the 2018 horror film Suspiria, composed by the English musician Thom Yorke and produced by Yorke and Sam Petts-Davies. It was released on 26 October 2018 through XL Recordings.
Soul: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the 2020 Disney-Pixar film Soul. The soundtrack is a compilation of all 23 score pieces by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross from the Soul: Original Motion Picture Score vinyl album as well as 16 original songs by Jon Batiste from the Music from and Inspired by Soul vinyl album. All three albums were released through Walt Disney Records on December 18, 2020.
Summer of Soul is a 2021 American independent documentary film about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in his directorial debut. It had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 28, 2021, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the documentary categories. It had a limited theatrical release in the U.S. by Searchlight Pictures on June 25, 2021, before expanding and being released for streaming on Hulu the next weekend.
The music for the 2021 American film Dune was composed, conducted, and produced by Hans Zimmer. Zimmer wrote several soundtracks of music for the film, including for its sequel, and heavily utilized choir—specifically female voices—percussion, and strings in the score's instrumentation, as well as acoustic and wind instruments. New, hybrid instruments were fabricated to conceive the "otherworldly" tonal desert sounds heard in the film. The music has been described as the composer's most "unorthodox" and experimental yet. In addition, the score for the film earned Zimmer his second Academy Award for Best Original Score. When Dune: Part Two was announced for a 2023 theatrical release, it was revealed that Zimmer had begun work on the film's music and had over an hour of music to assist the filmmakers in planning the film.
Judas and the Black Messiah is the soundtrack to the identically named 2021 biographical crime-drama film. Two soundtracks — Judas and the Black Messiah , consisting of film score composed by Mark Isham and Craig Harris, and Judas and the Black Messiah: The Inspired Album, consisting of incorporated film songs, were released by WaterTower Music and RCA Records on February 12, 2021, the same day as the film's theatrical and premium video-on-demand release on HBO Max. The soundtrack and score received positive critical acclaim. The original song "Fight for You", which was featured in the film score album, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 93rd Academy Awards.
The United States vs. Billie Holiday is the soundtrack album to the 2021 film of the same name, released on February 19, 2021 by Warner Records. The film is based on the life of singer Billie Holiday, and also from the book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari. Directed by Lee Daniels, it features Andra Day performing the titular character. The soundtrack featured several compilation of songs composed and performed by Day. She also wrote the original song "Tigress & Tweed" and had co-produced the album with Salaam Remi, and Raphael Saadiq and Warren Felder. Lynn Fainchtein and Daniels were the music supervisors.
The Lego Batman Movie (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2017 animated film The Lego Batman Movie, which is the second instalment in The Lego Movie franchise. The film is based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, and other primary characters from the DC Universe and the Lego DC Super Heroes' Batman toy line. This is the first and only film in the franchise not to be scored by Mark Mothersbaugh, instead Lorne Balfe scored for the film. The soundtrack to the film was released by WaterTower Music, through two-disc CD formats and for digital download, on February 3, 2017, a week prior to the film's release. A vinyl edition of the soundtrack was released on May 19, 2017.
Halloween is the soundtrack album to the 2018 film Halloween, which is the eleventh installment in the Halloween franchise and a sequel to the 1978 film of the same name. The film was directed by David Gordon Green and written by Green, Jeff Fradley, and Danny McBride. It stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle who reprise their roles as Laurie Strode and Michael Myers, with stuntman James Jude Courtney, who also portrays Myers.
Halloween Kills (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2021 film Halloween Kills, directed by David Gordon Green; a sequel to Green's Halloween (2018) and the twelfth instalment in the Halloween franchise. John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, who previously scored for the first film, returned for the sequel. As similar to the predecessor, John had reused the original theme from the 1978 film using modern interpretations.