Album of the Week - Bob & Gene

Posted Tuesday, January 23, 2007 @ 08:12 in Music by Jason Newman

Anyone who reads the mag knows that we cover a lot of music in the reviews section. Sadly, though, we just can’t get to everything. So, in the interest of highlighting upcoming albums that we think deserve a little shine, we bring you our new “Album of the Week” feature. Every Monday morning, (Yeah, we know it’s Tuesday, but we were still giddy off a Rage-induced high.) we’ll spotlight an album worthy of your time and discriminatin' ears, with links to samples if we got 'em. Enjoy.

Bob and Gene
If This World Were Mine…
(Mo Do/Daptone)

The mid-1960s were a groundbreaking time for soul music. With labels like Motown and Stax already responsible for classics we still bump today, countless record labels sprang up that, while low on resources, recorded music that immediately cut to the listeners’ emotional center. In Buffalo, NY, a city whose soul music discography seemingly begins and ends with Brian McKnight and Rick James, a tiny label named Mo Do was started by local singer/musician William Nunn to record local teenagers in his basement/recording studio.

Two singers who laid down tracks there were Nunn’s son Bobby and his friend Eugene Coplin, who, under the name Bob & Gene, cut some songs but never finished a full-length. With Daptone’s release of If This World Were Mine…, nearly 40 years after the first single was cut, the label brings a timeless compilation of soul and funk tracks that could battle for supremacy with any of the bigger players of the time.

Written when the duo was 15 and 16, respectively, Bob & Gene’s lyrics – simple, yet enduring tales of love lost and never found belie their ages. “Gotta Find a Way” and “You Gave Me Love” owe more than a little to The Miracles, while “Somebody’s Doin It (War)” have vocal melodies ready for The Jackson 5. Yet the unadulterated excitement the duo has for the songs extends to the listener, transcending any notion of the dreaded “derivative” tag.

Yes, the album has the requisite deep funk essential to any Daptone record, but it’s slow, soul ballads that dominate throughout. “Don’t Leave Me Girl” sounds like Berry Gordy’s stable blended with a 40s jazz ballad, while “I Can Be Cool” has the title as the chorus that’s begging to be sampled and sped up. (Don’t forget us in the liner notes, Kanye.)

In the end, though, what separates Bob & Gene’s tracks from any of the thousands of unrecognized soul and funk tracks recorded at the time in basements around the country? Absolutely nothing. And for that, we should be thankful.

For more info, check out Bob & Gene's Myspace page here . (They haven't aged a bit.)

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