Great Big Sounds: Buy This Album: Darondo "Let My People Go"

From the schools of Al Green, James Brown and Curtis Mayfield came Darondo. Once a contemporary of these greats, Darondo, a rumoured former pimp, disappeared for a few decades and has recently re-emerged at SXSW in Austin after the release of Let My People Go.

The album is a collection of Darondo's singles from the early 70's and a few recently discovered gems from the same period. I'm anxious to hear what he sounds like today and hope he records soon because what I'm hearing on Let My People Go is "amaaaaaziiiiing" (I say in my best falsetto voice).

It's exciting to hear badaaaaaasssss soul music for the first time. So many of the great hits get replayed over and over again due to radio, advertising, and . . . I dunno . . . Tarantino movies and they can sometimes lose their edge after so many listenings (not just a flaw of soul music, mind you). That's why there is something soul stirring about hearing a great old R&B record for the first time and this is just the way I felt when listening to Darondo.

From the politically motivated title track to the all out sex jam of "Legs," Darondo gives you everything a good soul record should. It makes you want to vote and it makes you horny. He even has a song about his momma and poppa. The dude was probably a pimp which-- I'm sorry-- makes him cool. A pimp from the 70's? I mean, c'mon-- awesome. Even awesomer is a pimp who loves his mom and dad.