Press enter after choosing selection

Inscape: The Early Aaron Neville

Author
Michael Erlewine

[Things seldom go as my conscious mind plans for them to and trying harder won’t help me. Instead of a deepening “dharma time,” I find myself examining my music background which stretches back to the 1960s and even the late 1950s. Go figure. Or, is this the dharma-of-music in me that I am finding. Suddenly, dharma seems to be everywhere. Perhaps I am just letting go of being so formal and may find myself walking through that door of formality and going outside the box.]

For example, consider the effect on me of the music of Aaron Neville.

When you see the name "Neville" you think of the Neville Brothers, Art, Cyril, Charles, and Aaron, and perhaps you think of New Orleans and Creole music. And just maybe a few of you might remember Aaron Neville's hit single "Tell It Like It Is," which reached #2 on the Top 10 Pop list and topped Billboard's R&B charts for five weeks in 1967. And Aaron Neville has been active in music and film ever since.

Yet, chances are you don't know his early records on the Minit and Parlo labels, which for me are some of his best work. I consider it very precious music. Let's see if you like it too.

Almost all of it can be found on his album "Tell It Like It Is," which came out in 1966. It is on Amazon.com for something like $5, but the tunes are on YouTube.com and elsewhere, so you can still hear them. And you can get that album in used condition on eBay.

First, let's hear his big hit "Tell It Like It Is," IMO one of the most beautiful R&B/Soul tunes that I have ever heard.

“Tell It Like It Is”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGJyoCHQOTs

This next tune is incredible. Listen to the words very carefully and think out of the box. This is as close to a definition of the illusory nature of reality and the clarity embedded in Samsara as I have ever heard in song. Can you hear it?

"She Took You for a Ride" 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu9-bQsZBmg

Here is another complete show-stopper, sung so gently, yet communicating so much.

"You Think You're So Smart" 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0zgxS4cjcA

And, so it goes. Let your mind relax and listen to what Neville put out so many years ago, as fresh today as it was then. There are not many artists of this caliber.

"Over You" 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ln1Q0gz6aQ

"Since You're Gone" 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrhLNnYi7kI

"Why Worry" 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju0f3HABMfY

"Jailhouse"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2giap0Yyh4

Well there you have the early Aaron Neville, for me always a special treat to listen to, even after almost fifty some years.

Rights Held By
Michael Erlewine