Deep Album Cuts Vol. 190: Tony! Toni! Tone!
I've always wanted to cover both Tony! Toni! Tone! and Raphael Saadiq's solo career in this series, but I wasn't sure which to do first, or if I could squeeze them into the same playlist, since they each have only 4 and 5 albums, respectively. But I decided to just start with the group's catalog and get to Saadiq later.
Tony! Toni! Tone! deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):
1. Love Struck
Tony! Toni! Tone! deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):
1. Love Struck
2. Not Gonna Cry For You
3. Who's Lovin' You
4. Sky's The Limit
5. Oakland Stroke featuring Vanessa Williams
6. All My Love
7. Me And You
8. What Goes Around Comes Around featuring General Grant
9. I Couldn't Keep It To Myself
10. Tell Me Mama
11. Castleers
12. Waiting For You
13. Weather 42
14. Lovin' You (Interlude)
15. Lovin' You
16. Annie May
17. Let Me Know
Tracks 1, 2 and 3 from Who? (1988)
Tracks 4, 5 and 6 from The Revival (1990)
Track 7 from Boyz N The Hood (Music From The Motion Picture) (1991)
Tracks 8, 9, 10 and 11 from Sons Of Soul (1993)
Track 12 from Poetic Justice: Music From The Motion Picture (1993)
Track 13 from Mi Vida Loca (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1994)
Tracks 14, 15, 16 and 17 from House Of Music (1996)
I included 3 of their contributions to soundtracks, "Me And You" was released as a single but it never charted or had a video. I think "Waiting For You" is about as good as any of the songs on their albums, so is "Just Like My Papa" from the Jason's Lyric soundtrack but that unfortunately isn't on streaming services. Come to think of it, Saadiq's great early solo singles were for Higher Learning and "The PJs," he and Tony! Toni! Tone! were really reliable when it came to soundtracks.
"Oakland Stroke" wasn't a single in the U.S. (Vanessa Williams wasn't a really big star yet at that point) and isn't on their greatest hits compilations but, oddly, it was their third-biggest hit in the UK. It's funny to think that Tony! Toni! Tone! was labeled as a 'retro' act from the very beginning, because all the beats and synths on those first couple albums sound as timestamped to me now as any other R&B from the late '80s and early '90s, a lot of these could have been Bobby Brown songs.
Over the course of their four albums, I feel like they just kept getting better and better. I like the early stuff too, but I feel like they grew into a more laid back sound with more live instrumentation, and Sons Of Soul was recorded in Trinidad and has a great Caribbean flourishes, including two guest spots from Trinidadian artist General Grant. I'd also recommend checking out the album version of "Anniversary" on that record, I had no idea that the single was edited down from this 9-minute epic.
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