Sons of Soul is the third studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by American R&B

Contemporary R&B

Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...

 group Tony! Toni! Toné!

Tony! Toni! Toné!

Tony! Toni! Toné! is an American Soul/R&B group from Oakland, California, popular during the late 1980s and early to mid 1990s. During the band's heyday, it was composed of D'wayne Wiggins on lead vocals and guitar, his brother Raphael Saadiq on lead vocals and bass, and their cousin Timothy...

, released June 22, 1993, on Wing Records

Wing Records

Wing Records was a record label subsidiary of Mercury Records, founded in 1955, that enjoyed its greatest success during the late 50s. In 1986, the label was revived by Mercury's parent company PolyGram and, just before its final fade, the label enjoyed a brief success with then new R&B singers...

. It was produced entirely produced by the group, who intended to pay homage with the album to their musical influences. Recording sessions for the album took place at various recording studios in California, including Air L.A. Studios, Jam Studio in Oakland, Paramount Recording Studios, West Lake Audio

Westlake Recording Studios

Westlake Recording Studios is a well-known music recording studio in West Hollywood, CA.-History:The studio was founded as Westlake Audio in the early 1970s by Tom Hidley, and is credited as "one of the first big commercial efforts to produce acoustically standardised 'interchangeable' rooms"...

, and Paramount Studio in Hollywood, J.Jam Recording in Oakland Hills, and Paradise Recording Studio in Sacramento, as well as Caribbean Sound Basin in Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

. The group recorded approximately 40 songs in the sessions for the album.

The album bridged the gap between commercial and critical success for the group, and helped Tony! Toni! Toné! become one of the most popular R&B acts at the time. It charted for 43 weeks on the US Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

, peaking at number 24, serving as the group's highest-charting album in the United States. The album produced five singles, including the gold

RIAA certification

In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...

-shipping, top-10 Billboard

Billboard charts

The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...

hits "If I Had No Loot" and "Anniversary". On November 14, 1995, Sons of Soul was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America

Recording Industry Association of America

The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

 (RIAA), for shipments of two million copies in the US. By 1997, it had sold 1.2 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan

Nielsen SoundScan

Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...

.

Critical response

Sons of Soul received general acclaim from music critic

Music criticism

See also Music journalism for reporting on classical and popular music in the media.The Oxford Companion to Music defines music criticism as 'the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres'. In this...

s upon its release. Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

complimented the album's classicist influences and contemporary sensibilities, calling it "a prismatic record from a maturing group". Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

writer Greg Kot

Greg Kot

Greg Kot is an American writer and journalist. Since 1990, Kot has been the music critic at the Chicago Tribune, where he has covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and business issues...

 gave the album three-and-a-half out of four stars and dubbed it "the most accomplished merger of hip-hop

Hip hop

Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...

 attitude with a '70s R&B aesthetic" and wrote that the group "delivers funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

 and soul

Soul

A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...

 with street-smart attitude". He compared lead vocalist Rapheal Wiggins

Raphael Saadiq

Raphael Saadiq is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Saadiq has been a standard bearer for "old school" R&B since his early days as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! He also produced songs of such artists as TLC, Joss Stone, D'Angelo, Mary J...

' singing to "a young Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder

Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...

" and added that "the guitars evoke Memphis soul

Memphis soul

Memphis soul, also known as Memphis Sound, is stylish, funky, uptown soul music that is not as hard-edged as Southern soul. It is a shimmering, sultry style produced in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax and Hi Records in Memphis, Tennessee, featuring melodic unison horn lines, organ, bass, and a driving...

, while the turntable scratching

Scratching

Scratching is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with hip hop music, since the late 1980s, it has been used...

 and slinky rhythms are straight off an Oakland street corner". Gil Griffin of The Washington Post

The Washington Post

The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

commended the group's "adulation for classic soul music" and called the album "nostalgic, hip and atmospheric through its colorful textures", writing that "it manages to pay homage to the past while sounding very much up to date".

James Earl Hardy of Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

called it "a 15-song tribute to the classic soul of Motown

Motown Records

Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...

, Sly Stone

Sly Stone

Sly Stone is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly & the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of...

, and Isaac Hayes

Isaac Hayes

Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...

 [...] It's fresh, funky, fierce, and it feels good". USA Today

USA Today

USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

s James T. Jones gave it three-and-a-half out of four stars and noted "infectious, instrumental-driven grooves that owe much to Sly Stone". Christopher John Farley

Christopher John Farley

For the late comedian and SNL actor, see Chris Farley.Christopher John Farley is a Jamaican-born American journalist, columnist, and author.-Early life and education:...

 of Time

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

found the album "more sophisticated, emotionally and musically" than Tony! Toni! Toné!'s previous albums and called it "a graceful album [that] transports the sweet soul sounds of the past into the '90s". Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

writer praised the group's "loose-jointed, eclectic and groove-conscious" style and commented that they "improves on the formula with quirky lyrics and musical segues that keep matters lively". Elysa Gardner of Vibe noted "great songwriting" on the album and commented that "the Tonys can be a reverent bunch, whether serenading a lover or paying homage to the legends of soul".

Retrospect

In a retrospective review, Allmusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...

 commented that the group "received their greatest chart success, without compromising their music", writing that "it was still the finely crafted, highly eclectic and funky pop-soul that distinguished their first two albums, while the band's songwriting and playing had improved". Yahoo! Music

Yahoo! Music

Yahoo! Music, owned by Yahoo!, is the provider of a variety of music services, including Internet radio, music videos, news, artist information, and original programming...

's Scott Wilson wrote that "their production smarts come firmly to the front here". Viewing its ballads as improved from those of The Revival

The Revival

The Revival is the second studio album by American R&B group Tony! Toni! Toné!, released May 8, 1990, on Wing Records. It was produced and arranged primarily by the group, with additional production by Foster & McElroy...

, The New Rolling Stone Album Guide notes Motown and New Jack Swing

New jack swing

New jack swing or swingbeat is a fusion genre spearheaded by Teddy Riley and Bernard Belle which became extremely popular from the late-1980s into the mid-1990s. Its influence, along with hip-hop, seeped into pop culture and was the definitive sound of the inventive Black New York club scene...

-influences in the album's opening "five-song tour de force", followed by "a series of ballads as sexy as they are sweet", adding that "Raphael Wiggins' high tenor glides as smoothly and confidently as his songwriting". Amazon.com

Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...

 editor Geoffrey Himes stated, "Much more important than the influences, old or new, is the high quality of Ray Wiggins' singing and songwriting, which marries rhythm, melody and meaning as effectively as his heroes once did".

Track listing

All tracks were produced by Tony! Toni! Toné!.

Sample credits

• "If I Had Not Loot" contains a sample of "Knock on Wood
  Knock on Wood (song)
  "Knock on Wood" is a hit 1966 song written by Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper and originally performed by Eddie Floyd. The Eddie Floyd version peaked at number twenty-eight on the Hot 100, and spent one week at number one on the soul singles....
  
  " by Eddie Floyd
  Eddie Floyd
  Eddie Lee Floyd is an American soul/R&B singer and songwriter, best known for his work on the Stax record label in the 1960s and 1970s and the song "Knock on Wood".-Biography:...
  
  .
• "My Ex-Girlfriend" contains a sample of "M'Lady" by Sly & the Family Stone.
• "I Couldn't Keep It to Myself" contains a sample of "Hunk of Funk" by Brother Jack McDuff.
• "Gangsta Groove" contains a sample of "Sweet Sticky Thing
  Sweet Sticky Thing
  "Sweet Sticky Thing" is the name of a popular song by funk band Ohio Players. Released from the classic 1975 album, Honey, the song spent a week at number one on the Hot Soul Singles chart. It peaked at number thirty-three on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart...
  
  " by Ohio Players
  Ohio Players
  The Ohio Players were an American funk and R&B band, most popular in the 1970s. They are best known for their double #1 hit songs "Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster".- Biography :...
  
  .
• "Tonyies! In the Wrong Key" contain a sample of "Soul Power '74
  Soul Power
  "Soul Power" is a song by James Brown. Recorded in 1971 with the original J.B.'s and released as a three-part single, it was a Top Ten R&B hit. The song also appeared on the 1972 album Soul Classics...
  
  " by Maceo & the Macks
  Maceo Parker
  Maceo Parker is an American funk and soul jazz saxophonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s, as well as Parliament-Funkadelic in the 1970s. Parker was a prominent soloist on many of Brown's hit recordings, and a key part of his band, playing alto, tenor and baritone saxophones...
  
   and a drum sample of "You Can Make It If You Try" by Sly & the Family Stone.

Notes

• "Dancehall" features a rap by Trinidadian dancehall
  Dancehall
  Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...
  
   rapper General Grant.
• The segue
  Segue
  A segue is a smooth transition from one topic or section to the next.-In music:In music, segue is a direction to the performer. It means continue without a pause. It comes from the Italian "it follows". The term attacca is also used in classical music.For written music it implies a transition...
  
   track, "Times Squares 2:30 A.M.", was recorded by the group on the street using a tape recorder.
• "Castleers" was also the name of Tony! Toni! Toné!'s Castlemont High School
  Castlemont Community of Small Schools
  Castlemont Community of Small Schools is a community of three small schools in Oakland, California, created by splitting up Castlemont High School, formerly known as East Oakland High School...
  
   musical group.

Personnel

Credits for Sons of Soul adapted from Allmusic.

• John Affoon – engineer
• Gerald Albright – saxophone
• Ali – programming
• Enrique Badulescu – photography
• Gerry Brown – engineer, mixing
• Ray Brown – trumpet
• Joe Capers – engineer
• Brian Carrigan – engineer
• Peter Corant – pedal steel, steel guitar
• Ed Eckstine – executive producer
• The Fat Lip Horns – horn
• Clare Fischer – arranger, string arrangements
• Earl Garner – trumpet
• General Grant – performer
• Andy Grassi – engineer
• Dave Jahnsen – engineer
• Anthony Jeffries – engineer
• Ken Kessie – mixing
• Kelle Kutsugeras – costume design
• L.A. Jae – programming
• Craig Long – engineer
• Bill Malina – engineer
• Nick Marach – acoustic guitar, guitar
• Bill Ortiz – soloist, trumpet
• Neil Perry – engineer
• Phase 5 – programming

• Lenny Pickett – tenor saxophone
• Sean Pollard – engineer
• Bob Power – mixing
• Herb Powers – mastering
• Timothy Christian Riley – drum programming, drums, keyboards, producer, programming, synthesizer, synthesizer horn
• Aaron Rudden – engineer
• Mike Scapelli – engineer
• Kirt Shearer – engineer, programming
• John T. Smith – guitar, upright bass
• The SNL Horns – horn
• Norbert Stachel – woodwind
• Maurice Stewart – programming
• Mark Sullivan – production coordination, project coordinator
• Ali Tabatabaee – programming
• Terry T. – programming
• Tony! Toni! Toné! – producer
• Kenneth A. Van Druten – engineer
• Charles Veal – soloist, string arrangements, violin
• Carl Wheeler – keyboards
• D'wayne Wiggins – bass, drum programming, drums, guitar, producer, programming
• Raphael Wiggins – bass, drum programming, drums, keyboards, producer, synthesizer bass
• Jon Williams – trumpet
• Benjamin Wright – string arrangements
• Frank Wright – arranger
• George Young – alto saxophone
• Reggie C. Young – trombone

Album

Chart (1993)	Peak position
UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	66
US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	24
US Billboard Top R&B Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...	3

Singles

Year	Song	Chart	Peak position
1993	"If I Had No Loot"	UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	50
		US Billboard Hot 100	7
		US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play	45
		US Billboard Hot R&B Singles Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...	8
		US Billboard Top 40 Airplay Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart...	5
	"Anniversary"	US Billboard Hot 100	10
		US Billboard Hot R&B Singles	2
		US Billboard Top 40 Airplay	20
1994	"(Lay Your Head on My) Pillow"	US Billboard Hot 100	31
		US Billboard Hot R&B Singles	4
	"Slow Wine"	US Billboard Hot R&B Singles	21

External links

• Sons of Soul at Discogs
  Discogs
  Discogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
  
  
• Sons of Soul at Acclaimed Music