Heat Rocks

We here at Heat Rocks talk a lot about Prince, and this marks the FIFTH episode where we're discussing an album of his. Around in the World in a Day incorporated more psychedelia and a wider variety of instruments, which made for a much more eclectic and unconventional album. This is also Morgan's favorite episode, so we couldn't be more excited to talk about this magnificent album. Wendy & Lisa o...

Oliver's albums Erykah Badu's New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)  (2010) Laura Mvula's Sing to the Moon  (2013) Kendrick Lamar's  To Pimp A Butterfly  (2015) Frank Ocean's  Blonde  (2016) Tyler, The Creator's  Flower Boy (2017) Morgan's albums Thundercat's  The Golden Age of the Apocalypse  (2011) Robert Glasper Experiment's  Black Radio  (2012) Beyoncé's  Beyoncé  (2013) D'Angelo's  Black...

The Albums: Vince Guraldi's  A Charlie Brown Christmas  (1965) Andy Williams'  The Andy Williams Christmas Album  (1963) Stax Records'  Christmas in Soulsville  (2007) Heat Rocks was hyped to have film critic Alonso Duralde  (The Wrap) , one of the hosts of Maximum Fun's movie podcast  Who Shot Ya?  guest with us to talk about our favorite Christmas songs, holiday fare, songs that should play when...

2016 was a hard year, to say the least. We lost Prince, David Bowie, Phife Dawg, Sharon Jones, and many others that year. And on top of that, we here in the US had to reckon with the results of the presidential election. On November 11th 2016, A Tribe Called Quest dropped their final album, We Got It From Here...Thank You 4 Your Service,  with verses from Phife himself. It came at a time we needed...

What's Going On?  On May 21, 1971, Marvin Gaye released his eleventh studio album asking this simple question. It was a risky move, for sure. Gaye was at the height of his career and this new album was heavy, focusing on things affecting his community like drug abuse, poverty, injustice and the Vietnam War. People might not have been expecting this, but it was what he wanted to make. Fortunately,...

We've talked a ton of gospel here on Heat Rocks, but this episode marks the first time we've discussed a full gospel album on the show, and from none other than one of the very first gospel quartets, The Sensational Nightingales.  The group was formed in 1942 as simply The Nightingales, but it wasn't until 1946 and the introduction of the sensational singer Julius Cheeks when the band really began...

This episode originally ran 07/26/2018 The Album: Boyz II Men:  II  (1994) Phil Yu is better known to most as Angry Asian Man...except that he isn't actually all that angry (though he is Asian and a man). Phil started his titular site nearly 20 years ago and since then, it has become an indispensable news resource about Asian American culture, politics and related issues. Phil, along with Jeff Yan...

“Don’t talk, just listen.” Jodeci announced themselves to the world on their 1991 debut album,  Forever My Lady.  They didn’t invent new jack swing but few R&B groups so seamlessly melded the bravado of hip-hop style with soulful pipes that could melt hearts and quicken pulses. Backed by the musical mentorship of Al B. Sure and A&R-ed by a young Uptown intern named Sean “Puffy” Combs, Jode...

Saul Williams is super talented.  The multi-hyphenate artist not only has a way with words, he has an ear for heat rocks.  And apparently kept a fire starting five in his CD changer.  We were fortunate enough to have him bring his ear and words to the booth to discuss Portishead's debut album "Dummy" on Heat Rocks. Brooklyn meets Bristol in Atlanta, at a time when Saul was discovering gl...

The Emotions started out singing gospel as The Hutchinson Sunbeams, but when they signed a deal with Stax/Volt, they changed their name and switched to soul/R&B. They enjoyed modest success during those years, charting on the Hot 100, but Stax was going bankrupt, and The Emotions were left stranded.  The group moved to Columbia Records and met Maurice White, who helped produce the biggest hits in...

Album: Herbie Hancock:  Thrust  (1974)   Thrust  followed on the heels of Herbie Hancock’s genre-altering best-seller  Head Hunters  album, one in which the gifted keyboardist and composer played with new conceptions of fusion jazz and synthesizer technology.  Thrust , in many ways, could be considered a second half to  Head Hunters;  recorded within months of its predecessors with almost all the...

No single artist has come up on this show more than The Purple One and it's not hard to see why. His enormous discography is filled to the brim with timeless records and undeniable fire.  Parade came at an interesting time in Prince's career; it would be the last album he recorded with The Revolution and was, ostensibly, the soundtrack to Prince's film  Under the Cherry Moon , a critical and comme...

Although Grease was originally a somewhat raunchy Broadway musical, the film and the soundtrack (released 2 months ahead of the film's release) has left a lasting impact on millions of young adults the world over. Its relatable themes and catchy tunes have stuck with audiences, even 40 years after its initial release. The soundtrack contained numbers performed by the cast and more than a few songs...

The Album: Whitney Houston  My Love Is Your Love (1998) What was initially supposed to be a greatest hits compilation ended up being a full-on album. Whitney got everyone on this record. Babyface, Kelly Price, Faith Evans, Missy, and even Mariah Carey, all came into the studio to help create a true heat rock; four times platinum, six Grammy nominations, and the Oscar for Best Original Song/ Writer...

The Album: Nina Simone  To Love Somebody  (1969) Nina Simone's discography is vast and full of true fire, but  To Love Somebody often gets overlooked. Perhaps it's because it was released right after 'Nuff Said  and  Nina Simone and Piano , both fantastic albums in their own right. And although the album contained almost all covers (Revolution 1 and 2 were credited to Simone and Weldon Irvine), sh...

The Album: Karen Dalton In My Own Time (1971) In My Own Time was the second and final studio album by Karen Dalton, a musician who preferred to stay out of the spotlight. She didn't enjoy much commercial success when she was here with us, but the impact she left on the world is immeasurable. Artists like Joanna Newsom, Nick Cave, and Bob Dylan have cited her as an influence (Dylan would even back...

The Album:  Wild Style soundtrack (1983) Wild Style  began as a low budget but ambitious film project, centered around Zoro, a young graffiti writer swashbuckling his way through the style wars of early ‘80s New York. Directed by Charlie Ahearn and starring Lee Quinones as Zoro, Wild Style would become more of a quasi-documentary of hip-hop’s on its cusp from South Bronx street culture into the gl...

The Album: Sam Cooke  Portrait Of A Legend  (2003) Legendary soul singer Lee Fields (Daptone, Truth & Soul, Big Crown Records) stopped by Heat Rocks to discuss the 30 tracks compiled by ABKCO records on Sam Cooke, Portrait of A Legend, released in the summer of 2003. The album covers multi-genres including gospel, pop and soul - Sam's hits, during his storied 15 year career which ended tragically...

The Album: M.I.A.  Kala  (2007) In 2005, when M.I.A. dropped onto the pop scene with her debut, Arular, heads weren’t quite ready. It was like she brought the full force of Global South dance culture in with her — gloriously bombastic — and the Sri Lankan/British singer/rapper simply didn’t sound like anyone else on the charts. For her follow-up, the idea on paper seemed smart: why not pair M.I.A....

The Album: João Gilberto  João Gilberto  (1973) Before the summer got away from us, we wanted to record one more episode for the season and we invited a guest to pick the perfect LP for the end of the summer. We were not disappointed... João Gilberto was as integral to Brazil’s bossa nova movement as Ray Charles was to soul or Run DMC was to hip-hop; it’s impossible to imagine its sound and style...

The Album: Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings  100 Days, 100 Nights  (2007) On the occasion of our 100th episode, we decided to devote a Host’s Choice episode to talking about the breakout 2007 album from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Coming out hot on the heels of Amy Winehouse’s best-selling Back to Black (2007) which featured the Dap-Kings horn section, 100 Days, 100 Nights made it clear who the qu...

The Album: Earth, Wind & Fire  That's The Way Of The World  (1975) On March 15, 1975, Columbia Records released "That's The Way Of The World" the sixth studio album of Earth Wind & Fire, a band of 10 members who fused rock, jazz, funk and soul. The album sold five million units, and won a Grammy for the single "Shining Star" (Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group). Produced by Maurice White and C...

The Album: Nina Simone  It Is Finished  (1974) It Is Finished is an ominous title, least of all given where Nina Simone was in her personal life at the time. Much of the early ‘70s had seen the High Priestess of Soul escaping to Barbados, first to avoid a troubled marriage, then to avoid the IRS. But RCA Records lured her back to New York to tape a live show, much of which would go into It Is Fini...

Guests: Quetzal The Albums: Alé Kumá:  Cantaoras   (Alé Kumá, 2002) Mary J. Blige:  What's the 411?  (Uptown, 1992) The Smiths:  Louder Than Bombs  (Rough Trade, 1987) Kendrick Lamar:  To Pimp a Butterfly   (TDE, 2015) Note: This is a rerun of an episode from 2018 that has been re-edited and remastered. We wanted to dedicate an episode to talking about the music of summer, easily the one season th...

The Album: Rufus & Chaka Khan  From Rags to Rufus  (1974) Los Angeles soul singer, Jimetta Rose, has been making music for a long time, working with artists like Talib Kweli, Meshell Ndgeocello, and Shuggie Otis. Her velvety smooth vocals and thoughtful writing made her a force of nature in the LA music scene, bodying anything from R&B to jazz, to rap, and so much more. Jimetta was on a journey, s...