Name: Is It Because I'm Black
Brand: Numero Junior
SKU: 30021033
Price: 17.12 USD
Availability: InStock

Is It Because I'm Black

Rating

Album: Is It Because I'm Black
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Don't Let Your Love Fade Away	More Info...
2)	I'm Gonna Get Your Thing	More Info...
3)	I'm Gonna Get You	More Info...
4)	The Hen Part 1	More Info...
5)	Cry Night and Day	More Info...
6)	I've Lived the Life	More Info...
7)	Mini, Mini Afro Twist	More Info...
8)	I'll Never Be Satisfied	More Info...
9)	You Confuse Me Baby	More Info...
10)	Baby Your Love Is Amazing	More Info...
11)	Lookin' Good	More Info...
12)	Daddy Don't You Know About Sugar Be	More Info...
13)	Whatever You Do (Do It Good)	More Info...
14)	Is It Really That Bad	More Info...
15)	Baby Be Good	More Info...
16)	All Along I've Loved You	More Info...
17)	I've Got to Have Somebody's Love	More Info...
18)	Super Black	More Info...
19)	With Fun in My Life	More Info...
20)	Reaching for Our Star	More Info...
21)	Nothing I'd Rather Be	More Info...

Album: Is It Because I'm Black
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Don't Let Your Love Fade Away	More Info...
2)	I'm Gonna Get Your Thing	More Info...
3)	I'm Gonna Get You	More Info...
4)	The Hen Part 1	More Info...
5)	Cry Night and Day	More Info...
6)	I've Lived the Life	More Info...
7)	Mini, Mini Afro Twist	More Info...
8)	I'll Never Be Satisfied	More Info...
9)	You Confuse Me Baby	More Info...
10)	Baby Your Love Is Amazing	More Info...
11)	Lookin' Good	More Info...
12)	Daddy Don't You Know About Sugar Be	More Info...
13)	Whatever You Do (Do It Good)	More Info...
14)	Is It Really That Bad	More Info...
15)	Baby Be Good	More Info...
16)	All Along I've Loved You	More Info...
17)	I've Got to Have Somebody's Love	More Info...
18)	Super Black	More Info...
19)	With Fun in My Life	More Info...
20)	Reaching for Our Star	More Info...
21)	Nothing I'd Rather Be	More Info...

Performer Notes

Syl Johnson's first album, Dresses Too Short, was fairly innocuous good-time soul, but he'd obviously been doing some thinking about the world around him in the interim between that and his second release. Is It Because I'm Black is characterized by socially conscious songwriting, especially in the seven-and-a-half-minute title track, an elongated, serious statement of black pride with a sad funk-blues groove. It wouldn't be fair to call Johnson a bandwagon jumper; this was before Sly Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On and Marvin Gaye's What's Going On had made realistic ghetto songs chic, and it was a fairly gutsy move for a minor soul singer such as Syl to put such material at the forefront. While nothing else here matches that lost mini-classic, there are some good cuts along similar lines in which Johnson pleads for tolerance and justice, including covers of jazzman Oscar Brown's "Black Balloons,"Joe South's "Walk a Mile in My Shoes," and, less successfully, the Beatles' "Come Together." ~ Richie Unterberger