Arthur Conley, Sweet Soul Music | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 196^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2023), we recollect and reflect on “Sweet Soul Music” by Arthur Conley. 

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 196^th and final edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2023), we recollect and reflect on “Sweet Soul Music”, performed by Arthur Conley.

“Do you like good music? / Huh, that sweet soul music / Just as long as it’s swingin’ / Oh yeah, oh yeah.” “Sweet Soul Music” marked the first and biggest hit by soul musician and Otis Redding protégé, Arthur Conley (1946 – 2003). How big was this ode to soul music? Well, the opener from his 1967 album, Sweet Soul Music, peaked at no. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Epic! “Sweet Soul Music,” penned by Conley, Redding, and Sam Cooke would be the sole top-10 pop cut for Conley.  Notably, Cooke was deceased by the time “Sweet Soul Music” arrived (he died in 1964).  Cooke gets a writing credit thanks to a prominent interpolation of his song,  “Yeah Man” (“Do you like good music? / Crazy ‘bout music / Any old music / Yeah, yeah”).

“Sweet Soul Music” is the ultimate tribute.  Arthur Conley encourages dancing to the music – “Ah, going to a go-go.”  He also spotlights marvelous musicians –  Lou Rawls, Sam and Dave, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding (of course), and James Brown – and in some cases, their respective, groundbreaking songs.  A prime example: “Spotlight on Sam and Dave, y’all / Ah, don’t they look great, y’all / Singing, ‘Hold On I’m Coming’ / Oh yeah, oh yeah.” Oh yeah, indeed! There’s no way you listen to the vintage “Sweet Soul Music” and you don’t appreciate the great music that precedes, as well as the greatness of the song itself. “Sweet Soul Music” is one of the giant soul songs of the 1960s, period.  What better way to end 2023 than highlighting it!

🎙 Arthur Conley • 💿 Sweet Soul Music • 🏷 Warner Music Group – X5 Music Group • 🗓 1967

Arthur Conley, Sweet Soul Music: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 196 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Warner Music Group – X5 Music Group; OpenClipart-Vectors, Speedy McVroom via Pixabay]