A Little Bit of Soundtrack Lovin’: Save the Last Dance

It’s that time again, people.

That is, it’s time for my next post in the Soundtrack Lovin’ series! And this post is being dedicated to another favorite movie of mine - Save the Last Dance (2001). It’s about a white girl whose mother dies suddenly so she is forced to move to a very urban, largely African-American populated part of Chicago with her estranged father. Having to, of course, switch schools to a predominantly black school, she meets a black guy and the two bond over their love of dance while facing interracial relationship challenges; he also helps her rediscover her forgotten love for ballet. It’s a lovely movie, really. It features Julia Styles and Sean Patrick Thomas, who provides major  eye candy for the ladies.

The soundtrack is really slammin’ (that’s some slang from the movie) and and I really hope you guys take a chance to listen to it or at least watch the movie.

Ayolah

You Make Me Sick – P!nk

And most people don’t even know about P!nk’s R & B days.

Crazy – K-Ci & JoJo

Only You – 112 (feat The Notorious B.I.G. & Mase)

And my personal favorites…

You Can Do It – Ice Cube (feat. Mack 10 & Ms. Toi)

I really wish I could have found a video for this scene on YouTube because this is honestly one of the best parts of the movies. Sarah (Julia Styles) has been learning how to dance with a little bit of flavor from Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas) and she finally showcases a routine he taught her at the local club. The routine is widely loved, of course.

You – Raphael Saadiq  (feat. Q-Tip & Snoop Dogg)

Murder She Wrote – Chaka Demus & Pliers

This is one of the BEST dance songs. EVER. And I’m still listening to it years later and it was first released in the 1990s. I think that’s saying something. This scene from the movie is also really awesome.

U Know What’s Up – Donell Jones

A Spiritual Experience

Last weekend, I ventured out to the Middle East Downstairs in Central Square to see Gentlemen Hall.  Pleasant surprise: also seeing Spiritual Rez.  I would not normally say that a reggae-funk-ska band is my thing, but they absolutely blew me (us—me and bestfriendEden) away.  Visually (in spite of the fog machine blowing into my face) they were quite interesting, ranging in height from probably 4’10-6’4; they all had different hair (long dreads, short dreads, beautiful blonde straight hair that made me really jealous, brown curly mop of hair like mine), dress styles, and onstage presences.  Lead vocalist Toft Willingham (right?! Toft! Willingham!) had unparalleled energy but also a super mellowness and knew how to move like nobody I’ve ever seen, and bassist Jesse Shaternick was focused-but-grooving in a super intense way, and it made his hair wobble along with the bass strings (believe me.  It was fascinating.).  Van Gordon Martin, he of the longest dreads ever, upped the energy with some long, but very creative guitar riffs, and he and Willingham played off each other well, better than I’ve seen many lead vocal/lead guitar combos.  The horns—Kory Stanbury on sax and Bryan House on trombone—tempered the intensity of the guitars and added some much needed vibrant liveliness match the rest of the band.  Finally, Ian Miller, on drums, grounded everything along with Shaternick.  Whenever I see a live show, I always notice the individual instruments—I like being able to hear each part separately, even as they play with part of the whole.  I think it makes for a more cohesive sound, even though that seems counterintuitive.

Anyways, enough babbling.  Spiritual Rez was really great, is my point. Some things for you:

Baby’s Mama

Lioness

More Than I Am

Willingham is a bit whiny on the album version, so here’s live from the show we were at (we’re the short people next to the tall guy in the front right up against the stage, but we’re not the girl rocking out real hard)

Also, free downloads on their myspace page.

Happy Wednesday! Check back next week for the last post of the semester!