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Sour Soul (album)

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Sour Soul
Studio album by
BadBadNotGood and Ghostface Killah
ReleasedFebruary 24, 2015
Recorded2014
StudioDunham Studios (Brooklyn)
Kingsway Studios (Toronto)
Genre
Length32:55
LabelLex Records
ProducerFrank Dukes
BadBadNotGood chronology
III
(2014) 		Sour Soul
(2015) 		IV
(2016)
Ghostface Killah chronology
36 Seasons
(2014) 		Sour Soul
(2015) 		Twelve Reasons to Die II
(2015)
Singles from Sour Soul
  1. "Six Degrees"
    Released: June 20, 2014
  2. "Tone's Rap"
    Released: June 20, 2014
  3. "Gunshowers"
    Released: October 17, 2014
  4. "Ray Gun"
    Released: January 9, 2015

Sour Soul is a collaborative studio album from Canadian jazz instrumental hip hop band BadBadNotGood and Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah. It was released worldwide on February 24, 2015.[1]

Production

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Sour Soul is the collaborative album from for which BBNG and Ghostface Killah sought inspiration from the music of the 1960s and 70s. This included the recording techniques and production of that era, eschewing sampling in favor of live instrumentation.[2] All tracks are produced by Frank Dukes, with additional production from BadBadNotGood and Wayne Gordon.[3][4] MF DOOM, Elzhi, Danny Brown and Tree contributed feature guest spots. Ghostface does not appear on tracks 1, 5 and 12, which are instrumental tracks.

A majority of tracks were recorded in Thomas Brenneck's Dunham Sound Studios in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with contributors from New York soul revival scene including sessions musicians from The Budos Band and Daptone Records engineer Wayne Gordon. Other recording sessions took place in Frank Dukes' Kingsway Studios with contributions from Toronto artists River Tiber and David Lewis.[4]

Sour Soul (Instrumentals)

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As a companion record, Lex Records simultaneously released an instrumental version of the album.[5]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.3/10[6]
Metacritic76/100[7]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[8]
Billboard[9]
Drowned in Sound9/10[11]
Exclaim!6/10[10]
HipHopDX[13]
Paste8/10[12]
Pitchfork6.2/10[14]

Sour Soul has received generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 76, based on 27 reviews. In a mixed review for Exclaim!, Eric Zaworski noted that the record "hurriedly finishes without giving its concepts enough time to bloom," further explaining that "the production is top-notch, but Ghost rarely shifts into uncharted lyrical territory, holding back Sour Soul's otherwise consistent production."[10]

In an extremely positive review, giving the album a score of 9 out of 10, Sam Moore wrote for Drowned in Sound that "Sour Soul is sublime." Adding that "rather than standing around starstruck, BBNG have more than proven their worth as Ghostface’s backing band."[11]

The album was a short-listed nominee for the 2015 Polaris Music Prize.[15]

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Mono" (instrumental)
  • Frank Dukes
  • Alex Sowinski
  • Matty Tavares
  • Chester Hansen
  • Dennis Coles
0:58
2."Sour Soul"
  • Dukes
  • Sowinski
  • Tavares
  • Hansen
  • Coles
  • Wayne Gordon
2:45
3."Six Degrees" (featuring Danny Brown)
  • Dukes
  • Sowinski
  • Tavares
  • Hansen
  • Coles
  • Gordon
3:40
4."Gunshowers" (featuring Elzhi)
3:03
5."Stark's Reality" (instrumental)
  • Dukes
  • Sowinski
  • Tavares
  • Hansen
  • Coles
2:12
6."Tone's Rap"
  • Dukes
  • Sowinski
  • Tavares
  • Hansen
  • Coles
2:58
7."Mind Playing Tricks"
  • Dukes
  • Sowinski
  • Tavares
  • Hansen
  • Coles
2:37
8."Street Knowledge" (featuring TREE)
3:24
9."Ray Gun" (featuring MF DOOM)
  • Dukes
  • Sowinski
  • Tavares
  • Hansen
  • Coles
  • Tommy Paxton Beesly
  • Leland Whitty
3:07
10."Nuggets of Wisdom"
  • Dukes
  • Sowinski
  • Tavares
  • Hansen
  • Coles
2:11
11."Food"
  • Dukes
  • Sowinski
  • Tavares
  • Hansen
  • Coles
3:23
12."Experience" (instrumental)
  • Dukes
  • Sowinski
  • Tavares
  • Hansen
  • Coles
  • Beesly
2:37
Total length:32:55

Personnel

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Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.[16]

BADBADNOTGOOD and Ghostface Killah

Additional contributors

  • Frank Dukes – producer, engineer, mixing, vibraphone
  • Leland Whitty – saxophone, viola
  • Tommy Paxton-Beesley – cello, violin, trombone, guitar, organ
  • David Lewis – tuba
  • Thomas Brenneck – guitar (track 4)
  • Wayne Gordon – guitar (track 3), production, engineer
  • Jared Tankel – baritone saxophone
  • Billy Aukstik – trumpet
  • Nadav Same Nirenberg – trombone
  • Freddy DeBoe – tenor saxophone
  • Stephen Koszler – mixing
  • Noel Summervile – mastering

Charts

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Chart (2015) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[17] 54
Australian Hitseekers Albums (ARIA)[18] 1
Australian Urban Albums (ARIA)[18] 5
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[19] 196
US Billboard 200[20] 109
US Top Rap Albums (Billboard)[21] 6
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[22] 9
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[23] 12
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[24] 12
US Vinyl Albums (Billboard)[25] 5

References

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  1. ^ "BADBADNOTGOOD III :) on Twitter: "FEB 24 SOUR SOUL DROPS WORLDWIDE!!!! HUGE THANKS @GhostfaceKillah @FrankDukes @LexRecords". Twitter.com. 2015-01-08. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
  2. ^ "Sour Soul, by BADBADNOTGOOD". BADBADNOTGOOD. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  3. ^ "Ghostface Killah & BadBadNotGood - Sour Soul - release date, reviews, buy". Undergroundhiphop.com. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
  4. ^ a b BadBadNotGood & Ghostface Killah – Sour Soul (2015, CD), retrieved 2021-03-13
  5. ^ "BadBadNotGood & Ghostface Killah - Sour Soul (Instrumentals)". Discogs. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
  6. ^ "Sour Soul by Badbadnotgood & Ghostface Killah reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  7. ^ "Critic Reviews for Sour Soul". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  8. ^ Jeffries, David. "Sour Soul – BadBadNotGood / Ghostface Killah". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  9. ^ Kennedy, John (February 23, 2015). "Album Review: Ghostface Killah & BadBadNotGood's 'Sour Soul' Sounds Sweet". Billboard. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  10. ^ a b Zaworski, Eric (February 24, 2015). "BADBADNOTGOOD & Ghostface Killah - Sour Soul". Exclaim!. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  11. ^ a b Moore, Sam (February 16, 2015). "Badbadnotgood & Ghostface Killah Sour Soul". Drowned In Sound. Archived from the original on February 19, 2015. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  12. ^ Spinelli, Adrian (February 2015). "Ghostface Killah and BADBADNOTGOOD: Sour Soul Review". Paste Magazine. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  13. ^ Spinelli, Adrian (February 25, 2015). "Ghostface Killah & BADBADNOTGOOD - Sour Soul". HipHopDX. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  14. ^ Patrin, Nate (February 16, 2015). "Ghostface Killah BADBADNOTGOOD: Sour Soul". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  15. ^ "2015 Polaris Music Prize Short List is Here". 16 July 2015.
  16. ^ "BadBadNotGood & Ghostface Killah - Sour Soul". Discogs. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  17. ^ Ryan, Gavin (March 7, 2015). "ARIA Albums: 50 Shades Of Grey Tops Chart For 4th Week". Noise11. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  18. ^ a b "ARIA Report" (PDF). ARIA Charts. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-03-17. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  19. ^ "Ultratop.be – BadBadNotGood & Ghostface Killah – Sour Soul" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
  20. ^ "Badbadnotgood Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
  21. ^ "Badbadnotgood Chart History (Top Rap Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  22. ^ "Badbadnotgood Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard.
  23. ^ "Badbadnotgood Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard.
  24. ^ "Badbadnotgood Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  25. ^ "Badbadnotgood Chart History (Vinyl Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
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