{"id":807474,"date":"2020-05-15T06:38:31","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T12:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=1000267"},"modified":"2020-05-15T06:38:31","modified_gmt":"2020-05-15T12:38:31","slug":"anthony-hamilton-pays-tribute-to-rick-james-on-gleaming-single-back-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/anthony-hamilton-pays-tribute-to-rick-james-on-gleaming-single-back-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Hamilton Pays Tribute to Rick James on Gleaming Single \u2018Back Together\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Anthony Hamilton<\/a> tries to rekindle a failed romance \u2014 over a flip of Rick James<\/a> and Teena Marie\u2019s classic ballad \u201cFire and Desire\u201d \u2014 in the misty-eyed \u201cBack Together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamilton has long possessed one of R&B\u2019s great voices; some days, it seems like he\u2019s the last vestige of a vital southern soul tradition that persisted from Otis Redding through Jodeci but now seems nearly extinct. Hamilton\u2019s power is on full display in \u201cBack Together,\u201d especially during the chorus, which is grainy and graceful and pleading in all the right ways.<\/p>\n

Why the Rick James sample? \u201cGrowing up listening to \u2018Super Freak\u2019 and \u2018Fire and Desire\u2019 made it impossible not to want to sing,\u201d Hamilton said in a statement. \u201c9th Wonder flipped the sample right in front of me. I wrote the song in a way to make it feel like Rick was singing along with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFire and Desire\u201d comes from a glorious school of R&B balladry, now sadly defunct, in which songs would open with a long soliloquy. Other members of this club include Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes\u2019 \u201cI Miss You,\u201d Isaac Hayes\u2019 \u201cIke\u2019s Rap III \/ Help Me Love,\u201d and George Jackson\u2019s \u201cDear Abby.\u201d The simple act of starting the track with a monologue heightens the listener\u2019s anticipation for the actual singing, making the arrival of soaring vocals all the sweeter.<\/p>\n

Rick James was at the peak of his popularity in 1981, when he released \u201cFire and Desire\u201d as part of his Street Songs<\/em> album. The LP included two of his most successful singles, \u201cGive It to Me Baby\u201d and \u201cSuper Freak,\u201d which were driving funk records.<\/p>\n

\u201cFire and Desire\u201d was a totally different thing, a full-throated, seven-minute-plus ballad in 6\/8 time featuring a scorching vocal from Teena Marie, who hits some whistling notes that defy logic. But James holds his own, launching into his first verse with a sky-high cry. It\u2019s such an impressive entrance that the band suddenly slows the tempo, as if they all need a minute to recover.<\/p>\n

In an email, 9th Wonder said, \u201cI just wanted to find a way to mesh the generations together by sampling.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Popular on Rolling Stone<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anthony Hamilton tries to rekindle a failed romance \u2014 over a flip of Rick James and Teena Marie\u2019s classic ballad \u201cFire and Desire\u201d \u2014 in the misty-eyed \u201cBack Together.\u201d Hamilton has long possessed one of R&B\u2019s great voices; some days, it seems like he\u2019s the last vestige of a vital southern soul tradition that persisted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-807474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-11 00:34:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}