Tags
bill withers, classic r&b remakes, classic soul remakes, hall and oates and after seven, kelly price ad shirley murdock, lauryn hill and roberta flack, Old School Fridays, rose royce and faith evans, soul music
by vivrant thang on old school fridays
I went way overboard with this one. Just been that kind of week and I needed some good music to get me through.
This week’s theme was remakes. So many places I could have gone with this. The first artist that entered my mind was the King of Remakes, Luther Vandross. Once he remade a song, it became his. A lot of people have been surprised to know that many of their favorites were not his.
I needed some inspiration and found it here and here. I decided to weigh in on which version is my favorite. Some of my choices will probably be blasphemous. Feel free to add your two cents in the comments.
Sara Smile (Hall and Oates v After 7)
Although I LOVE After 7’s version, there’s just something about that blue-eyed soul. Besides, H&O’s version is one of my top fifty songs.)
As We Lay (Shirley Murdock v Kelly Price)
Really like Kelly’s video for this one, especially having Shirley make a cameo. However, this will ALWAYS be Shirley’s song. I really think she recorded this the second she got up out the bed with ‘Husband’)
Killing Me Softly (Roberta Flack v L Boogie)
This might draw some criticism from the few old heads that visit, but I fell in love with L Boogie’s sweet alto on this one. This became my version.
In the second video, Roberta joins the Fugees for the performance, which says a lot. Now that is the perfect combination.
Sweet Thing (Chaka Khan& Rufus v Mary J Blige)
This remains Chaka’s song…if only because she is SLAYING them in that red dress. Another off of my top fifty songs list.
Love Don’t Live Here Anymore, (Rose Royce v Faith Evans w/ Mary)
Don’t beat me down old folks but I got to go with Faith on this one. She got Mary on the joint too! Another perfect combination! Admittedly, I’m biased. Faith is one of my all-time favorite albums from start to finish.
Ain’t No Sunshine, (Bill Withers v. Michael Jackson when he was cute)
Michael’s version is so sweet. But Bill will always own this song. No one else can capture that distinctive sound. I’d like to see the Anthonys give it a try – that would be David and Hamilton)
Head on over and check out the other participants. This is a great theme this week and I KNOW you will enjoy what they come up with.
Electronic Village | Chatting Over Cocktails | Mrs Grapevine | Quick | Marcus LANGFORD | Cassandra | Danielle | Lisa C | Chocl8t | DP | Kreative Talk | MarvalusOne | Regina | LaShonda | AJ | Sharon | Invisible Woman | Believer 1964 | Dee |SJP | sHaE-sHae
SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE 
Michael Jackson when he was cute…girl, stop!
Great picks!!!
i LOVE the song sara smile. such a perfect song.
as we lay – both women brought it home.
of course both chaka and mary j. are legends.
love the song rose royce made into a theme song.
funny, i was just listening to the bill withers song lean on me yesterday.
OMG so much good music, so little time.
Dayum … you went all out with this week’s meme. Thank you very much for taking time to share with us…
peace, Villager
I LOVE hall and Oates and “Sarah Smile” in particular. Bill Withers and Chaka can’t be topped in my book. The original “Love Don’t Live Here” just gets me every time. What a gorgeous song.
Great pics!
-Signed your “namesake” 😉
Wow! You went all out! I had to wright down my notes!!!
Hall & Oats – Sara Smile, can not be beat! I love Hall & Oats!
Kelly looks good in this video and does an awesome job, BUT Shirley Murdock (who is now gospel) just straight laid it down on this track and her version can not be topped!!!
I am not a fan of “Killing me softly” even though it is a classic, But I love Lauryn Hill (back when she was still Lauryn!!) so I guess her version wins by default. This is a popular pick today!!
Man Mary bought some flava to this classic BUT this is Chaka’s song all the way! hand’s down she is killing it, and giving an awesome performance!
Love don’t live here no more! Love this song but have to give this one to Faith!! She took it up a level.
And lastly “Aint no sunshine” I posted this on a previous OSF. All I can say is Bill Whithers! Hands down! No one can touch this!
Whew!! Now that was fun, we should get paid for this!
have a great weekend!
Party over here!!! Great choices… I did Alicia Keyes and Brenda Holloway “Every Little Bit Hurts” hope you get a chance to drop by. SjP
I had to check your blog this morning to make sure you didn’t chose my songs, and sure enough you did. I was going to do Sweet Thing, so I had to go back to the drawing board.
1) The guitar makes the first one a better version, more instrumental, and the falsetto
2) Shirley Murdock, only because Kelly Price didn’t bring anything extra
3) Killing Me Softly Is A Draw, can’t chose
4) Sweet thing, I’m leaning toward Chaka, they almost sound the same
5) Rose Royce Handsdown, this song should never be remade
6) I’m going for Bill Whithers, I like some soul with my music, this man will make you comeback home if he begs.
1)Hall and Oates.
2)Shirley Murdock
3)I like both versions (Killing me Softly)
4)Chaka
5)Rose Royce
6)Bill Whithers
Dang, I’ll be listening to these for a while, you covered the slack of anybody who didn’t post today. lol
Good picks all; the Sara Smile version by H&O is one of my wife’s favorites so I’ll go with them on that.
Glad everyone enjoyed my plethora of choices for Old School Friday! I see the original versions held it down in most cases 🙂 I’m not mad at that!
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