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This past week I added "Hot Buttered Soul" back into my music listening rotation. "Hot Buttered Soul" is part of the Soul music canon, and by extension a part of the Twentieth Century Black Music Canon. Most notably, the album makes me nostalgic for the era in Black music when the music scene was dominated by musicians who were also gifted instrumentalists. I often long to hear about the rise in popularity of five piece soul/rock/funk/R&B ensemble, or some gifted soloist who plays multiple instruments. To be more precise, I am waiting for the next James Brown, Otis Redding, or Marvin Gaye to make his way from the Chitlin Circuit to the mainstream and set the music world on fire.

Unfortunately, this kind of nostalgia can be dangerous. Waxing poetic about golden years long past can cause someone to loose sight of the present and miss out on the future. Additionally, this kind of nostalgia has its own brand of amnesia where only the positive aspects of an era are remembered. It is not 1967 and never will be again-- a good thing. Nonetheless, I do miss the music.

Progress and change beget innovation and invention. I will not pretend that I do not keep T.I. and Outkast in my listening rotation, or bob my head to Lil Jon. For all intents and purposes they are the rap era's version of James Brown, Otis Redding, and Marvin Gaye. Someday, someone might look back on "Atliens" with a similar regard as "Hot Buttered Soul."